Back and forth.

Zoom

2009-04-22T01:14:00.006+08:00

One May's Depression, coming right up.

Attachment's quite all right, but I can't help but feel that I'm not at the top of my game. Not yet anyway. I mean...I'm trying my best for now..the colleagues are friendly and all, the food's better than I had expected...but I can't help but get this "lopsided" feeling when reflecting back upon the day. Like...one of my marketing colleague mentioned, "you must really love books to love this job"....but I really like newspapers instead...hmm...and you get a couple of classmates asking "how did attachment go?" and you feel like answering, "good, except it might be better if I'm allowed to change it twice like you did".

Cynical man strikes again!

Will update a bit more next time...but now...

'Nuff said. Sleep.

Coming to you soon...

2009-02-22T01:38:00.009+08:00

Ahh.

Even though Valentine's Day is already over, there's nothing quite like going up to going up to your friendly Zeeba Neighba and going, "hey, be my food".

If it doesn't work, you can always count on someone...or something..lurking in the shadows...

It's Cupid! Uh...I mean...Cu-pig!

Coming to a store near you.

Or rather, just check out Stephan Pastis' Facebook page for more updates.

Stephan's Page

He's the creator of American Newspaper comic strip series Pearls Before Swine, winning the National Cartoonist Society award in 2003 and 2007.

Funny, provocative, he's been there and done that, and attracted his fair share of criticism as well.

Feel free to check out his work. I especially like his strips involving wordplay and puns. For example: 10.12.08

Dawn

2009-02-20T01:55:00.003+08:00

Plus other random snapshots which I have uploaded to Facebook. These are taken at around 6-7 am in the morning, when I'm feeling all dazed and such.

On another note, does anyone have any part-time job offers?

I went to my agency, and all they had was a single job available.

"The market is bad"...all right..now I experienced it first-hand.

I'm seriously sick of people saying to me that "the company is cutting costs" >.>

Half-time

2009-02-10T18:07:00.003+08:00

Two down, two more to go.

Well, the first two were a BIT better than I had expected, but tomorrow's the IMC paper and as I predicted...I bet it's going to be tough...or maybe we could be given yet another lucky break...hopefully?

Today's question on "Standard error" really killed a lot of us though.

E.g Shi Yan: "Wah, got raped by the standard error question le. I thought the formula was going to be provided"

I wished that I had brought some sort of instrumental CD to help with the revision ._.

Maybe something like a compilation CD by Joe Hisashi? He's best known for composing most of the instrumental pieces used in animation films by Studio Ghibli,like The Wind Forest (Tonori No Totoro) and One Summer Day (Spirited Away).

I admit, these couple of days, I found myself going home, taking a short nap, waking up, frantically pacing around the room and spazzing out going "omg I'm late for the exams!" before calming myself down and finding out that it's still the same day -.-

Two more to go!

All the best to all!

What...resumes are supposed to be submited? Sigh.

Two more days

2009-02-08T00:14:00.003+08:00

To the start of exams.

Anyone started freaking out yet?

I'm just going to take them on one at a time...

On a scale of confidence...how would you rate yourself?

For me, I'm 50/50. It depends on what kind of questions would be given to us.(Simple ones like "how much does it cost for 1 advertising slot on variety big brother" (without any of those premium loadings etc. heh.)

Among the four...I would rate IMC as the hardest?

That's a pity..as I was gunning for..well...haha...a reasonable grade...but I don't really think I performed well as an overall for this semester.

Bleh. Seems like Uni's sort of out of the question for now...or is it? I need to make it up for the attachment and TEP=/

Well, that's about it. I don't think I'm going to update until the exams are over.

So...anyone got any job offers? I need something to occupy myself with during the holidays..ahah. Here's hoping that the chalet goes ahead, with only a year of studies remaining and all that...you know..

After the "gong xi fa cai" trailer...

2009-02-04T10:52:00.003+08:00

Seems like the official trailer for Transformer 2 got released (during SuperBowl).

You can watch the HD version by clicking the video above.

Can't wait for June=D

It's time for another round of butt-kicking or as MJ said, "visual orgasm".

Anyone else want to go and watch it together?

On the 2nd day of Open House...my schedule gave to me...

2009-01-10T02:55:00.005+08:00

2 hours of Jap make-up classes. I took a look around the Media Booth of a bit, before heading to class at the S Block (language block).

Meh. Seriously I should not have gone for the make-up lessons. Syafiqah and Imran were both missing in action, so I felt pretty weird in the class by myself. I'm still lamenting the decision to put all of us in different clases. Family and Youth Work people sure don't need to worry much about that...roleplay in 2 weeks. Oh great. Mangosteens? What the heck?

Sidetracking: For one of my DMSM project, I'm working on a campaign for Coca Cola, while in reality, I prefer Pepsi (most probably due to the colour of Black and Blue). Ironic isn't it?

Anyway, congrats to DMSM's All Media Rejects for getting second in NYP Got Talent (in no way whatsoever related to America Got Talent, Britian Got Talent etc etc).

Send a shoutout sms to the Band and it was read out by Soo of 987 FM around 1 am or so. Coincidentally, she was one of the host for the first-ever Night Open House (also in no relation/no pillaging/stealing of idea from the first-ever Night race), along with her colleague Mr Young, of AM Mayhem and "hahahahahahahahahahhahahaha" fame.

Check out this video for the reference:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=79132260077&oid=18988922347

Don't really think any of them managed to hear it on Radio though=/

Haha I really hope Gimz's tutorial on Radio can go through, since I got allocated 8am-12noon for 987 FM. It will be even better if it's an ICA. lol. I wish...

Here's a video of their performance, uploaded by Awesome Thomson, the Bassist for the band.

Going out with a bang

2009-01-01T01:48:00.002+08:00

And so, another year draws to a close.

I dunno about you, but 2008 was a year of ups and downs for me...the same as always I guess.

Well, got to meet some new people, learn new stuff etc etc.

Still, when it comes down to the projects...hmm...guess I haven't really stepped up a gear on it yet.

Some of the highlights of the year for me?

Hmm...I don't really remember much...

Working as a crew member on a feature film...

...and well...I must admit that this semester seems a bit dull compared to the last few semesters that we had...but I quite enjoyed the day that we went for the Don't Forget the Lyrics recording, as well as the visit afterwards to Clarke Quay.

Ah..and the 987 RSVP party I guess. I was pretty delighted with the way it worked out and was pretty pumped up when the thing ended.

Mmm the semester's going to draw to a close soon...in a couple of months? Around there I suppose.

Attachment? In some ways...I am looking forward to it...in some ways...I am a bit hesitant. What if I get posted to some attachment that I absolutely don't have a clue in? Gah. Referring to The New Paper articles, I already started thinking if I'm really capable of matching their standards (in terms of writing and photography)

Heh. Some practice wouldn't hurt I suppose...

I wonder how the selection process would be..and where are some of the other classmates wanted to be posted to...well...the amount of space are limited..so I can't really expect to be posted to a same location with someone that I am more familiar with.

Maybe it's time to meet new faces and hopefully...shake off more of the awkwardness in me in the process? Heh.

Deadlines are looming over the horizon..and things could get ugly...well...let's buckle up our seat belts in preparation for the bumpy road ahead.

It ain't worth worrying about things in the future...so I guess we can only take things one thing at a time for now.

and with reference to the title, check out the Pearls Before Swine nuclear war crisis. This particular strip had me cracking up, because my memories were jolted and I managed to get the reference.

Pearls Before Swine 26/12/08

In case you are wondering what's the reference is, you can check out this video

Major Kong. One of the most classic roles ever. Haha. Check out "Dr Strangelove Or: How I learn To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb" if you have the chance to.

Well, no one knows what lies ahead. With best wishes, I hope that each and everyone of us will have a fulfilling new year ahead of us.

You know...

2008-12-28T04:30:00.004+08:00

It's quite a nice feeling when you managed to locate some old friends that you lost contact with doesn't it?

I got inspired by my friend Peng Hong's posting of one of his Primary school picture that I posted a couple of Primary school class pictures as well.

After the tagging was done, the amount of inbox flooding...

Whoooooo.

9 new notifications in 2 minutes or so...haha.

Thanks to a friend of mine who helped to tag the others that I lost contact with, I managed to add some of them to my buddy list.

Haha...when I saw some of my Primary school mates adding one another, I don't know if it's the proper term to use...but warm and fuzzy feeling? Lol.

Some of the comments that the photo received...

"OH MY GOD?!?!"

"oh dear God save me EWWWW"

"HAHA TELL ME ABOUT IT. DON'T EVEN ASK ME WHY MY HAIR WAS IN THAT STATE LOL."

to

"whoever put up this fasdf pic"

Even though it's kinda agreed that it's a bit unglam, but don't the memories suddenly flood your head upon looking at the photo? Flashbacks and such? XD

Some of them have changed until I went "terhyergwfqw!"

MSN convo with the guy who posted the pri sch photo:

27/12/2008 11:53:27 PM (Y.M)" [ひろし] [KaM1z] eh..and that's zixin?
27/12/2008 11:53:33 PM (Y.M)" [ひろし] [KaM1z] couldn't recognise her
27/12/2008 11:53:34 PM (Y.M)" [ひろし] [KaM1z] lol
27/12/2008 11:53:38 PM [ひろし] [KaM1z] (Y.M)" yeah, goh zixin
27/12/2008 11:53:41 PM (Y.M)" [ひろし] [KaM1z] yup
27/12/2008 11:53:42 PM [ひろし] [KaM1z] (Y.M)" yeah.. she changed so much le
27/12/2008 11:53:46 PM (Y.M)" [ひろし] [KaM1z] sitting beside nelson goh de
27/12/2008 11:53:54 PM [ひろし] [KaM1z] (Y.M)" i din even recognise in the first glance
27/12/2008 11:53:56 PM (Y.M)" [ひろし] [KaM1z] or is it nelson tan?
27/12/2008 11:54:00 PM (Y.M)" [ひろし] [KaM1z] forgot le
27/12/2008 11:54:00 PM [ひろし] [KaM1z] (Y.M)" nelson tan
27/12/2008 11:54:02 PM (Y.M)" [ひろし] [KaM1z] lol'
27/12/2008 11:54:03 PM [ひろし] [KaM1z] (Y.M)" haha
27/12/2008 11:54:07 PM (Y.M) [ひろし] [KaM1z] ya...bird laying egg (*note* pretty childish back then, but nel=niao (bird), son=shen(giving birth to/laying), tan=dan (egg)),
27/12/2008 11:54:08 PM [ひろし] [KaM1z] (Y.M)" his name easy remb

Haha anyway, when I have the time, I'm probably going to dig through my pile again..and see if I can conjure up the Primary 4 class photo =O

All right...should be off to sleep...need to meet up at 1pm...minutes minutes minutes...wish there's a motivation pill somewhere...

Gyrrk!

2008-12-28T01:06:00.004+08:00

Just brought my long-sleeved shirt for law...and from the looks of it...if the topmost button remains closed for more than 5 minutes...I would probably suffocate to death...well...good luck to all for the ICA.

Round and round it goes...

2008-12-22T23:55:00.000+08:00

Chanced upon this when I was eating some tang-yuans (Chinese mochi balls with fillings inside) and happened to re-watch one of the old episodes sitting on my laptop.

http://moura.jp/uranai/sushi/index.html

Apparently, it's a personality test and for this application, from a revolving wheel, you get to choose five dishes of sushi to represent five different aspect of life.

With the 1st plate being Love, 2nd being Wealth, 3rd...I would hazard a guess at "A wish that you had since you were born"? Haha...literally translating it...4th refer to your view about family, and last being...uhh...your ideal role model? (The last one was a hazardous guess as well.)

Well, I know horoscopes/personality tests are not very accurate, but this one looks quite interesting to do.

-Click on it to enlarge-

You can translate the results via Babelfish http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_txt, so keep in mind that the sentences might sound a bit weird, since it is just a basic translation.

It seems like I'm a Nattou nigiri sushi type ._.

Why is that? I don't really like nattou.

I would rather prefer Tamago/Salmon/Unagi...

In the type which reason compared to respects sensitivity, the type which favorite dislike have been clear. Because it is delicate, when one time projecting part the lottery he grows hoarse, there is a surface which immediately loses self-confidence.

1st plate: Salmon

Once, when it falls to love, it is the passionate house where you cannot forget the thing of that person. Thinking of the thing of the partner, it is good because to fall to the circumstance that either work is not attached to the hand?

2nd plate: Salmon roe

A how it will do without the glory [tsu] [pa] [ri] the person. The money is poured into those where the person suddenly is easy to catch to the eyes from those which are not visible not to spare.

3rd plate: Unagi (?)

Big ambition, it has dream always, the person where the yearning to super first-rate ones is strong. It becomes with utmost effort because ideal is actualized. First there are no times which the person you say and become the appearance.

4th plate: Tamago (?)

The person who seeks the home which it stabilizes. There is a warmth and there is an atmosphere which makes the [bo] of the [ho], we would like to build love rich home.

5th plate: Cucumber maki rolls

Parenthesis good quality of the surface compared to, the person where the thinking where we would like to be complete the inside is strong. From everyone [chiyahoya] before being done, you would like to make by your perfect.

O.O"

I have totally wno idea what the last one mean.

Haha still, having a personality test based on sushi is still pretty cool.

All right..I should be off...there are still a couple of group meetings in the morning..

Mmm...nigiri sushi...

Last week...

2008-12-18T01:46:00.004+08:00

Ochre Pictures used my house for a location shoot.

It was only on a one day basis though. I'm not really sure if they are going to request for another shoot.

It was for some sort of family drama on Channel 5 I heard.

Coming back from a Japanese Oral test, which I felt I did rather crappily in, don't mind if I didn't snap as many pictures as I would like to.

I must admit. The atmosphere at my house was kind of tense and weird at times, as they seem more interested to get their work done.

As a result, I don't really know how how I can offer any help at all...haha yea..Eileen, one of the Ochre crew, acted as some sort of "go-between" between the crew and my family, requesting if some items can be borrowed/if there is any hot water at times.

She seems rather friendly, compared to the rest of the crew, which were well...curt.

After a while, one of their calefares appeared at my doorstep and upon my first glance at him, I did a double-take. Eh? Didn't I see this guy before?

He also glanced back at me quizzedly, and almost at the same time, we asked each another, "Here?"

It turned out to be Keong, one of the actors that was on the set of Here back in March. Haha. Coincidence eh?

He told me that he thought that I was part of the crew and soon afterwards, we were discussing a bit about Here and King Lear, a stage project that he had appeared in.

The Ochre intern (the one in the blue dress/black shorts) said, "oh, you guys know each another?"

As the crew wanted to shoot a scene in my sister's room, Keong and I moved to the kitchen table, where I showed him some of the pictures I took during the production of "Here".

In exchange, he also showed some pictures from another project that he volunteered for, a "made by NUS student feature" called Cashless, about how a guy wanting to transfer his money to his mother ended mistakenly transferring his money to a "Ah Seng", played by Keong.

http://cashless-nustudios.blogspot.com/

Looks pretty interesting.

As we waited for his scene, he also showed me a video that he took of his dogs.

Due to limitations by the HDB, he had no choice but to sell off the three Shih Tzu puppies. He is still looking for a family to take them in, so do enquire about the price if you are interested, but remember, pets are meant to be a part of the family. Don't rush into it without knowing what you are getting yourself into.

Some of the other pictures.

^My mom's old camera.

Truth to be told, I only took these few pictures, as I wasn't very familiar with the crew and well..haha..don't want to obstruct them so much...so I was trying to keep myself out of the way.

Afterwards, Eileen had Keong to sign a payment contract.

Whoo. You just need to lie down for a 1 minute scene, twitch your eyebrows and you can collect payment?

Hmm..I wouldn't mind becoming a calefare ^^"

"You brought a snack!"

2008-12-17T05:40:00.003+08:00

That about sums up my favourite part of Twilight.

I caught the sneak preview last Tuesday, courtesy of free tickets from Shaw, that came as part of the door gift for the 987 RSVP party.

Even before I caught the movie, I don't really have any idea what it is about, except that it is about Vampires and that the good guy is called Edward and the bad guy is called James.

Yea. That's about it, considering that the information is available in the form of "root with team Edward" and "root with team James" superpokes.

The book didn't particularly jump out at me, until the two weeks that I spent working at Suntec's Harris. Tagging 150 copies of Twilight, Eclipse and New Moon? You can't go wrong with that.

I was like "oh...I think I heard of this before"...but I wasn't really sure what it was all about.

Then, over at Great World City's Harris, it was featured as part of Children's day promotion.

The sneak preview took place at Shaw@Bugis Junction, and with the extra ticket that I had, I took my sister along. Pei Jun, Khad, Feng Ling and three of her friends, were there to catch it first hand as well.

I will be honest. Their Bugis Junction outlet isn't the most attractive movie theatre out there, but like most Singaporeans would say, why would you complain when the tickets are free?

For the record, I would say Vivo City's GV is one of the best, with their stadium-styled sitting arrangement and lush seats.

Heh...it's been so long since the class got together for a movie hasn't it? I still kind of remember Transformers and Ocean's Thirteen...and the walk to Somerset MRT...kinda surreal reflecting back on it=/

Ahh yes. It's free-sitting and since Pei Jun and Khad reached there slightly later than us, the six of us helped them to reserve the seats.

The movie took a while to start, but I found the lack of commercials and trailers a bit jarring. It was the same for the time when Royston Tan went down to Jurong Point's GV for 12 Lotus...hmmm...

It wasn't long before excited shrieks jolted me out of my mild sleepiness, since I went there straight after school ended...

As the Cullen family made their way one by one into the scene, the rumbling steadily got louder, but it was when Edward appeared that the theatre went up in raptures.

Sure, it might not rival Maria Sharaporva's shriek, but it was still pretty deafening at the same time. The only sound similar that I heard before was of my sister watching her DBSK videos on youtube...

Without spoiling much, I can only conclude that ,with a few laughs here and there, it can still pretty much keep a non-fan like me entertained.

Well, enough to not make me feel like the two hours was a waste.

I have to say though...the pacing was a bit eratic at times and things jumped pretty quickly from one thing to the other

Also, I thought James would have a lot more exposure time than that. It was pretty brief...for a bad guy...if that sums up his appearance in the Twilight series, I would feel pretty bad for the guy who played the bad guy, considering that he had such a cool line, for a bad guy that is.

Jumping from bad to dad, Billy Blurke gains my approval for his portrayal of Bella's dad Charlie Swan. I thought he nailed the hesitant father figure, who had just managed to reunite with his daughter.

He didn't really know how to communicate with her, but through the little actions that he did, I could really feel that he cares for his daughter.

Ok. On to the film. Product placements are rather obvious (Is that an Apple?-Khad), while Chevrolet decided that their main sponsorship of Don't Forget the Lyrics Singapore wasn't enough, and decided to ship a couple of their discontinued models to the Swan family.

If that wasn't balant enough, I don't know what that is. Maybe it's already stated in the novel. I have no idea.

At least it isn't as balant as First Class's debut episode, which had a roly-poly boy offering his classmates (out of a A1 crispy puff plastic bag that he is carrying,) "want a currypuff?"

Aww, doesn't he sound all so innocent and cute. Not.

Even though local shows crave sponsorship, there ought to be a limit somewhere...even En Bloc...they had the Eldest Brother (Darren Lim) working at the company that sponsored them...and I was treated to a full-frontal view of their office building.

Oh joy.

When Ms Michelle Chang was here, I should have asked her why do Channel 5 insist on using Jade Seah, when all she can contribute is nothing but being a vase, getting users to turn off their TVs when it is time for the Beijing Games highlights, or perhaps, her most famous faux pas in which she send viewers gasping and the heart-beats of the censorship board racing by emitting the four letter word.

Ah yes. I have disgressed quite a bit.

I was wondering if the tall trees scene was real, or did they simply do it off a green screen...

and finally...Bella who?

Pot Smoking Bella you mean?

Who cares for her when there's Ashley Greene on the show?

Her character Alice had a pretty dynamic soulmate thing going with her co-star Jackson Rathbone.

They are the two on the right.

Back to my perceptions as a male viewer, there need to be more James. More action. More bad-ass.

That's a fight scene? It was kind of a let-down for me.

On a brighter note, watch the spoof trailer that Evil Iguana productions did for the movie. It certainly made me chortle at some points. Props goes to FL for pointing it out on her blog first.

As for the rating, call me a miser, but I would only give it 3 out of 5 stars.

While fangirls will lap it up, the film sorely lacks a little bit of something else for the more neutral viewer.

Will I watch the follow-ups?

That depends...

On whether my sister will drag me to the theatre next time.

A point to note to all devoted fans: keep an eye out for a cameo by author Stephenie Mayer.

I didn't know about it until my sister pointed her out to me.

Although my sister doesn't really think Stephenie's writing is really THAT strong (no haters please), she still enjoy the series none the less.

Will the film do well in the box office?

$37 Million on its opening day itself in the US?

Obviously.

Even if there are not really much neutral viewers, the rabid fangirls will definitely keep the coffers churning.

Oh yea...something that I encountered last week.

My sister and I took the last train home (Train's destination: Last Train To Kranji) and while we waited for the last bus of the night, I noticed a middle-aged woman talking to two malay girls.

At first she was asking them where did they buy some of their accessories, but soon later, I heard one of the malay girls asking where the nearest toilets were.

All was quiet for a while.

Suddenly, the woman burst out in Chinese (note: she spoke in a mixture of Chinese and English),

"Pervert"

I looked up and I was like "wah?"

"Danny from Block 770 is a pervert. So is Kenneth from Block 820."

She rambled off a couple of names and I thought "oooookay...who the hell are they anyway?"

My sister was also startled.

Dropping her voice, she remarked.

"Danny, that no good pervert. He laid his hands on so many young girls and steal their organs. Now young girls in Yishun dying everywhere".

What the?

Stealing organs? Dying? In Yishun? Was there such a thing?

I am beginning that the two Malay Girls used the toilet as an excuse to sneak off.

"The two teenage sisters at block 734. He laid his hands on them. Such a pity. The younger one was so pretty."

Her voice suddenly became more agitated and she went,

"I am prettier than her."

Hey lady, you are sounding a bit delusional there as well.

My sister lean over to me and whispered, "do you think that she think that you are going to do something to me?"

Indeed the thought did cross my mind, and it was a very uncomfortable 9 minutes as she pranced around with her heavenly voice overflowing.

I tried to look around at the night sky and the surroundings, but to borrow a phrase, "like drills digging into my head".

I tried to put my head upon my lap and pretend to sleep. No good. Her voice gets clearer. As a result, I tried singing "Tis' the season to be jolly fa lalalalala la la la la" to myself, but to no avail.

As a last resort, I whipped out my copy of The New Paper and pretended to put it very close to my face.

My sister was also trying to ignore her, but then the lady shouted to my sister asking "Hey Xiao Jie (young lady), ni zhi dao na li you mian fei de lu (add two dots on it) shi ma?", which translates to "hey young lady, do you know where can I find free lawyers?

My imouto looks a bit taken-aback, and gave a abrupt "no" for an answer.

I then motioned to the New paper and pretended to read some of the articles out word by word with her.

"Scolari happy with Chelsea's performance as Anelka..."

Yea. Those are not the exact words but you get my point.

The lady started to mumble to herself and later burst out by saying that policemen do not deserve their bonuses, as they are not doing their job properly.

"They never catch that Ah Qiang."

"He should go to hell. He is a ______. His mother should go and die for giving birth to him."

At this point, I leaned over and whispered, "wanna walk home?"

"His mother's ______ is smelly."

Okay...that is definitely stepping over the line. It's not something I would ever say in polite company, much less to strangers whom I have never met before.

Clearly, this woman had some issues to deal with. Now you are berating about someone and hurling vulgarities at him in front of teens? Grow up already.

Thankfully, the other service (804) soon arrived, and she was gone, but not before my sister went "ewww" and pointed at some spit that the lady spat onto the ground

When I said she have some issues, I suspect them to be more mental in nature.

Quite frankly, I am quite spooked that there is someone like her running about freely. If she got mental problems, which my sister and I agreed wholeheartedly with, she should seek treatment.

Luckily, my sister and I are more tolerant. I wouldn't fancy other parents enjoying some random stranger sprouting vulgarities to their kids. In extreme cases, some might even show her a thing or two. I don't really fancy that to happen.

One question boggles my mind though.

Do I really have such a pervertic face?

Swinging in the rain

2008-12-15T03:10:00.006+08:00

There's nothing like a morning drizzle to make the bed seem a lot more appealing than usual.

The coolness of the air surrounding the house.

The inviting cosiness of the bed

I am by no means a morning person.

Heck, give me a holiday and I will probably only go to sleep sometime after 3 am or so.

I like the rain.

By that, I don't mean getting drenched head to toes.

Sure, my affinity's more to cold than hot.

Someone asked me before I would rather die of the heat or the coldness...do you have to ask? =P

I like the coldness, as it makes me more alert, or maybe to provide more comfort as I drift off into slumberland and my dreams go wild.

I never really did remember any of my dreams...although sometimes I woke up and found myself thinking..."woah...what the heck was that dream about?"

I had one several back which saw myself imaging a couple of my primary school friends decked out as the Emperor and Empress of China, and I was flying down on a flying-fox kind of thingy to report something to them.

Any idea what does that mean? I am not really sure either.

When I was younger, I often had a lot of..well...not so pleasant dreams, such as the steps of the escalators suddenly disappeared, and it resulted in me toppling down from the top into the greenish glow, before waking up with a start.

A lot of Singaporeans are already complaining that it seems a lot hotter...well...in a perspective, I think a hotter climate makes the greenery a lot more nicer for photography, I don't really mind the occasional rain-fall.

I remember back in Secondary School, there was one time where my NPCC squad had to do some marshalling duties.

My first thought was...

HOT!

In our full uniforms? White gloves?

Luckily, there was a downpour and my mates and I were quite delighted with it, literally standing right in the middle of the road and getting soaked to the skin.

Nothing's more refreshing than rainwater when you are standing in some clumbersome clothing.

Then again, even on normal days, where the sun gets boiling hot, there are a couple of people who must turn off the air-corn no matter how warm it was *cough*

Those sitting at my table started noticing, and nudging one another to turn it back on. That's one area I don't really understand. When the air-corn gets turned off in class, the air gets stale and dry. We guys are particularly sensitive to heat...or maybe we are just more tolerant towards coldness (interpret that in whatever way you want)...I'm just glad than we don't stumble out from class, looking like a dried-up peking duck roll.

Oh...where was I again? Oh yea. Today's weather was quite excellent for me, as it was moderately cool for the entire day.

Frankly, Sunday Film Arts have really improved from the old Arts Central, since they are showing more relevant and recent films. From Animation for November, to Japanese for December, I wonder what January's theme would be?

So, the film featured today (or yesterday, if you must insist), was Swing Girls.

A 2004 film which talked about how a bunch of giggling Japanese school girls were forced into a band when the bentos (lunch box sets) that they were supposed to take care of caused the entire brass band to fall ill.

One regular band member,Nakamura Takuo, who handles the cymbals, then turned band leader as he tried to bring the whole group, which feature two rock chicks, a low self-esteem girl and a whole gang of ditzy girls under control.

Without realising it, all of them soon developed a love for Jazz.

Wow...what can I say? Being broadcasted after Udon, which I quite liked, this chirpy film caught my eyes as well.

My sister was also able to caught it, and we ended up laughing at most of their on-screen tactics.

Although some of those were easily predictable, the way that they carried their tasks out was still a hoot to watch. Not a surprise, seeing as Swing Girl was directed by Shinobu Yaguchi, the same director behind the ever-popular Waterboys.

Question: Wine+fire=?

There was just something about the hyperactive personalities that made it a joy to watch, and that's considering that most of the cast members are from the actual band itself.

If you haven't watched it yet, please do so, either by renting or well, catching future repeat broadcasts.

For those who have watched the film, which Swing Girl do you like better?

My sister likes the drummer Naomi Tanaka, while I thought Kaori Sekiguchi (played by Motokariya Yuika) stood out.

Oh, there's the dolphin trainer guy from WaterBoys acting as their Maths teacher as well.

Worth a look, if you are interested...and also if you are a fan of comedies like me.

Hint: I think it is available on Crunchyroll in two parts.

Here's one of the final songs that they did.

Sing Sing Sing (With a sing) by Benny Goodman. Enjoy.

2008-12-03T21:58:00.008+08:00

A rawclipx video of the event, which PJ pointed out to me 15 minutes or so ago.

They were recording when I was trying to take some pictures? Haha I didn't know.

For more videos, you can try this link:
http://rawclipx.podcast.sg/search_all/i_/q_party#

They had a photo collage where they used my picture of the crew as the first/cover photo.

When I saw that, I was like comparing my photo and the photo in the video to check if it is mine..haha.

Incidentally, it is this photo=P

Will upload more pictures tomorrow.

Back to revising.

Random late night musings

2008-12-03T04:10:00.006+08:00

Haha. It's 4 am now. Trying to figure out how exactly to break down the budget when we are aiming for zero dollars spent.

Guess I will have to come up with some reasons to back up why we don't need any expenditure etc etc.

and no, I didn't come to school on Monday because "my body clock screwed up"...more because of a cold that has been bothering me for quite a few days now, as well as a nagging nose problem.

Even the doctor said that my nose is sensitive-.-

Logged on to MSN for a non-existant meeting but well...I have to admit that this particular semester is a bit draggy in terms of projects. Somehow, the motivation just doesn't seem to be as strong as before. Maybe after a period of time, everyone got kind of bothered by the monotony of it all?

For more than one and a half year now, my classmates and I have known each another. Maybe we are just getting a little bit too used to it. Sometimes, with closeness, you can't avoid drifting apart.

With attachment coming in a few months, I am still struggling to decide what I want to do. The New Paper? Sure. I like it a lot. I like the environment....but I haven't really been given a taste of what it is like to step into the boiling cauldron called "newspaper deadlines". I'm not even really sure that my articles are up to standards at times.

Advertising? Hah. Definitely not for me. I can't draw to save my life, except for some lousy small sketches during my holiday part-time job. Was bored and decided to draw objects in front of my eyes. The effects were...okay..let's say that I am still rediscovering the pen ._. It's been what? 6 years since I did that?

Not to mention that I drew those in front of Guo Hong from DA, whose artwork is fantastic. Sigh. Looks like I still need to buck up a lot.

Speaking of which...I haven't even blogged about my holiday part-time job...lol...even though I took some pictures here and there. Do you see the extent of my procrascination? I am going to blog about it...sooner or later...but only after this second rush of projects are over....

I sometimes feel that life is mundane. Yea sure. Call me a stay-at-home guy or whatever.

I only felt really close to my primary school friends. Then secondary came and all of us were split-up. So much for the alliance of five.

I sometimes really wish that I could be more outspoken about things. I sometimes really wish I didn't over-estimate myself and throw myself headlong into HCI. I should have weighted the objectives then, but I was naive and I didn't really know anything at all.

The result?

4 wasted years.

I can't help thinking that my current classmates only know me "post-secondary school", not the cheerful, bubbly, talkative person I was back then.

To say that HCI shattered my confidence was an understatement. I went there naive as ever, and generally did what I did during primary school, and assumed everyone as my friends, only to be dealt a reality check.

I never really did fit in very well, as most of them are either from Nanyang or other top primary schools and as a result, they are always doing stuff together. It doesn't help that there was only one other guy from my primary school who went to HCI, and he wasn't in my class.

As usual, I tried to keep myself out of conflicts etc.

I once got upset during primary 4 when someone accused me of being a thief and bited him on the knee. Yea. Looking back at it, it was pretty stupid of me. But Primary 5 was when the five of us boys would just gather together and make a fool of ourselves, having fun in the process.

Back to Secondary one. The teasing didn't stop and although I didn't show it, it really affected me. My studies suffered and my weight began to balloon. I even remembered one occasion where I told one of the class' resident trouble-maker that I regarded him as a friend, and his reply was "really? I never regarded you as one."

Secondary 2, it was still the same class. There was this particular incident where the Geography teacher lashed out at me and demanded to know who my friends are in the class.

No one stood up. After what seemed like an eternity, three classmates that I usually hang out with stood up rather hesistantly.

Well. After 2 years. 3. Great.

In Secondary 3, we were split into different classes. This time, it features different classmates. The 3rd year was overall, not bad.

4th year came and with the addition of a quite number of new students (mainly those sitting for the o levels), the whole class began to seem like a zoo all over again. I don't really see eye-to-eye with 3 particular guys, as they are always trying their best to cause trouble. Attention-seeking? I don't really know. Then again, we don't argue and we certainly don't fight. All was well.

Then one day, on the day of the A maths paper, I came back into the classroom after flag raising and found the entire whiteboard scribbled with insults towards me, with Ru Jin writting "man (the "man" from my name) zu xi" (chairman slow, translated), along with a slew of other words that definitely don't fall into the "praise category".

I only remembered myself swelling up with anger, my hands crushing the copy of newsweek that we received for our reading period.

Apparently, they had stayed back the previous day, and some idiots thought that it was fun to write insults towards their classmates. They had forgotten to wipe if off the boards. How nice.

Thinking back about it, WHAT THE FUCK HAVE I DONE EXACTLY TO DESERVE THAT?

Did I meddle with their life? Did I piss them off with any off-hand comments? No. I chose to isolate myself after the sec1/sec2 debacle and just keep to my own seat.

I was sorely missing my primary school friends. All the motivation, gone. For someone like me who depends on friendship, every word on the board was like a arrow searing through my flesh.

Apparently they thought I was a easy target and just wanted to have some fun.

Oh. How nice. They pretend to be all intellectual and mature in front of female visitors and behind it, you get people like Ru Jin, who use a copy of the newspapers to roll it up and...pretend it was something and proceed to stroke it...yea...you get my drift.

I have also heard tales of lower secondary students making a sudden movement towards their classmates in the toilets and proceed to grope them.

Did I mention that one of my 4P classmate, was almost recruited as a pole dancer for Club Momo? The reason he was denied the chance was because he was under 18. Did I mention that he likes to pose in translucent underwear in his blog as well? I didn't view the photos. My other perverse classmates did. It was either that or viewing nude pictures using the school computer...yea.

Seems like single-sex schools aren't all cracked-up as they said it is. Behind all the awards and stuff, they wouldn't want to publish the hidden stuff do they? The ones I listed are only a small section. There are a lot of other tales, but I didn't really care about those.

Anyway, the day that O levels ended, I was glad that I finally got out of that hell-hole.

When it came down to picking the route after O levels, I didn't really have any idea what I was going to pick. In fact, it was during SP's orientation that my mom suggested Media.

I didn't really think about it until then, but out of all the courses, nothing really appealed to me. Media sounds pretty interesting...so why not?

Countary to what others think, I didn't put Ngee Ann as my first choice, as I was determined to avoid the Bukit Timah area as much as possible.

SP...didn't really fancy my chances.

RP, quite new, don't really know about it...

TP...the walk-around with one of my pri sch "gang of 5" friend Song Hao left the two of us dizzy.

So why not NYP? Since it's the closest to my home and all. Hahah. Lazy excuse...I know.

I remembered gingerly approaching one of the SBM lecturers with my results, and asking if it is enough for me to enter the course. To my great relief, they said it's most likely possible.

I actually thought I would have to settle for one of the courses that I don't realy find suitable for me...such as nursing. Can you imagine? Hah.

Well, as it turned out, I made it into the course by the skin of my teeth.

I remembered feeling all nervous and stuff, at the prospect of maybe encountering similar kinds to my secondary school classmates.

As it turned out, my classmates turned out to be, as described by my sister, "pretty nice". It doesn't really have any obnoxious males that would do anything to get the attention of girls, while at the same time, there aren't really any primma donnas in the class as well.

If you asked me, I would say that it's quite well-balanced. For me, that is. I have no idea about what the rest of you think.

As I was relating the stuff about Secondary school to my sister 3 weeks ago or so, well, I felt kind of relieved that, through the luck of the draw, I ended up with this class. If we haven't met, who knows, we might just bump shoulders on the streets and not give a dam. My sister said that, I actually got a pretty nice class. I like to think of it that way as well.

Frankly, now that we are more than half-way done with our course, the realization that the class might be split apart come 2010 is staring right back at me.

Considering that this is our last academic semester, and that attachment will most likely isolate us for six months, followed by TEP, which splits us into several groups depending on which areas we want to pursue, the odds of us bumping into each us might be quite limited, which is a stark picture that Edwin painted out for me a couple of weeks ago when I handed up the ICA to him.

If you want my honest opinion, I think some of us might take things for granted at times. When we are seperated, the males go to mandatory NS and the females are free to pursue either studies or work. By that time, we might suddenly have regrets, like I did for primary school. Therefore, before it is too late, create a lot of memories as a class together. You will never know when we might meet again once our poly lifes are over. When it comes down to that, do organise frequent catch-up sessions yea?

If I'm able to, I would like to pursue studies after NS...that is if the grades allow me to...but that would also have to depend on the circumstances. I would like very much to pursue photography, although I am still lacking in the self-confidence part. Main reason would be to improve my techniques and to learn new skills. I don't really rate my own photography highly. I wish I could know how to work those colours perfectly and capture images at perfect timings, to take pictures which, everytime I look back at it, I can feel a smile on my face and a sense of satisfication....but...that's still quite a few years down the road.

If I'm able to, I would really like to work as a photographer on TNP, like Gavin Foo or be an apprentice to Mohd Ishak, whose photos featured in TNP have won quite a few awards. I would be able to expose myself to current events throughout the world, get a sense of anticipation at new upcoming projects and also, to get my work recognised.

Or maybe that's the "blogging-at-5:28 am" effect. Hah. I tend to have rather unrealistic goals at times. Without hard work, you can't achieve anything. Sadly to say, I have been guilty of being lazy plenty of times.

Sometimes, I can't really fall asleep. I would just stay up all night thinking about certain stuff or indulge myself whenever a sudden burst of "inspired blogging" happens. It might not be a good read...but whatever. They say blogging provides some relief...and ranting what I felt about Secondary school felt kind of good.

Even now, I still wished that I had chosen another secondary school instead. Looking at the different cliques at the different shopping centres and fast food resturants, I couldn't help but feel a tinge of a jealously.

It might be a bit shallow of me to say this, but I sometimes feel out-of-touch with friends at times. Take my long-time neighbour for example. He lives at the other end of the corridor, 2 floors down. We used to be quite tight during primary school...but with us being in different schools...yea...it's stuff like this that makes me realize that in the end, we don't really understand our friends as well as we would wish to.

Haha...I felt that I am on a path to recovery. I beamed with pleasure whenever someone paid me a compliment, saying that I have changed from my earlier entrance into poly life, be it through msn, or casual remarks, or unexpected events like a classmate turning up at your parent's healthy breakfast shop one fine morning and relying the information to her. My apologies is that I am not really good at paying compliments myself though...

I must admit, I still feel really self-concious at times. Same old clothes. Same old boring attitude. I know...not really the type that draws others towards him is it? Haha. Well, that's the truth. At least, that's what I think.

I know I really need to work on it.
It might sound corny and w/e, but in a way, I am really glad to meet this class and at the same time, widen up my limited social circle by a bit. If you take in account, my primary school friends and my current poly friends, that number isn't really impressive at all is it? ahha.

In lieu of the after-event, I must really give my thanks to the three guests of mine that came down for the Twilight party.

Initially, I was worried about the final arrangements and how things will pan out, but the results were beyond my expectations. All three of them seemed to enjoy the party and personally, getting up close and personal with some of the radio DJs really made my day as well.

I was also surprised that I agreed to par-take in the make-up session. Hahah. That really surprised even myself. I bet quite a few of you didn't really expect it as well right? Ahahahaha.

Although quite a few were unable to join due to commitments, I really want to sincerely thank you guys as well. At least you guys didn't turn me down flat...ahaha.

I admit I was in a bit of a pickle when the third guest was not confirmed...but as Shaman King's Asakura Yoh would say, "everything will work out in the end", and that was my mantra as the SMSes and phone calls were traded fast and furious...and in the end, it did.

and so...thanks to Candy, aka Pei Jun, who had to run down Clarke Quay Mrt's 90 steps barefooted to reach her last train to Punggol,

to Olivia, who made it to the party even though she had only just returned back to Singapore from her holiday,

and to Feng Ling, who was dragged down by Olivia and who took quite a few pictures for the 4 of us.

I will be blogging more on the party on Thursday, after our ICA is over. That's a promise. (But remind me yea?)

If anyone have anything against this post, please contact me about it, so that I can delete/edit it if necessary.

Fancy a...

2008-11-26T01:15:00.003+08:00

Bak Kut THE Meal?

Eh? There's only Bak Kut? Where's the tea?

The stall's located at NYP's Koufu, for those who are interested.

According to Hendrick, their instant sauces are superb, but their chicken SUCKS.

Be warned.

Remember the original "Wassup" Ad?

2008-11-17T06:53:00.001+08:00

Well, here's a look at the guys again, 8 years down the road.

Came across it while surfing for ads related to Tiger Beer. Thought those who have not watched the 2008 version yet would find it ironic=P

It's weird when...

2008-11-16T02:32:00.009+08:00

As some of you know, Yishun's Northpoint have been going through a spate of renovations recently.

Along with the newly constructed expansion building, they have been slowly moving everything over to the B2 section, which was opened to the public a couple of months ago.

Some stalls which moved there included Sushi Deli and Old Chang Kee, along with new shops and the usual franchises like "Pie Kia", "Chewy Doughnuts" etc.

Recently, a whole chain of shops opened, and little by little, the crowd started to get a bit bigger, up from the small trickle of people that usually just brush past the shops undergoing renovation out of curiosity.

I admit I was one of them.

Uusually everyday after school, I would take the unconventional route to observe and check out the new and upcoming stallsat the B2 area. It's quite a different experience from the past, where the area was quite small and generally dominated by Cold Storage.

With the underground passage from the B2 entrance to the expanded area, seeing new stores popping into life was quite a refreshing experience. I remembered when there was just concrete and empty shophouses.

Now, Christmas decorations. Crowds.

On the 14th of November, it was the official re-opening of the Yishun Library at the fourth level of the expanded area.

I decided to check it out the following day.

After arriving at the interchange, I made my way to the expanded area and my first thought was "wow".

The area, with only a few curious visitors a couple of days ago, was suddenly teaming with life.

Suddenly, I felt a bit of my old crowd phobia acting up again.

The Library, was disappointing.

Well, that's the general layout, or how I remembered it to be.

First of all, LACK OF COMICS!

The librarian replied meekly and said that there isn't a main comic section yet. All that is available are some Cathys, For Better or Worse and old copies of The Far Side. No Foxtrot/Pearls Before Swine.

Sigh.

Secondly, why is the Children section located right smack in the middle of the library?

I was already slightly put off by the sheer volume of people in the library, but screaming and wailing kids and babies just ain't my idea of "exposing them to books".

The entrance is on one side, which means that you have to walk quite a round-about way to get to the other side you want.

Their cafe was rather drab. Even the school's HotShot Cafe looked better.

I didn't spend long in the library. Even though it's brand new and all, the feeling of tranquility just isn't there at all you know? Woodlands' at Civic Plaza and Bukit Merah's libraries get my votes. There was a big hooha about the Jurong West library when it was first opened...but I haven't frequented it since 2005 or so...By the way, the coffeeshop next to Bukit Merah library gets my vote for most pathetic coffeeshop I have seen. 4 or 5 closed stalls. Only the Chicken Rice, roti prata stalls are open, along with the drink stalls. Eating in a empty coffeeshop...is just demoralizing..you know? What could be done? Don't ask me. I don't eat there, especially when Queensway's Chicken Curry Rice is just a few bus stops away =D

Have bus pass, will travel. Anyone got any other curry rice stalls to recommend?

So there I was, riding down the escalator when previously, a place which I thought as a restaurant turned out to be a food court of sorts.

Eh?

なに?

A Japanese themed "food court"?

おもしろい...

Let's check it out...

Named Ishi Mura, which can be literally translated to "the village of stone" in Chinese, it is a concept thought up by none other than the same firm behind the line of Sakura buffets.

Other than Northpoint, another two likely spots that Ishi Mura would expand to are as one of the tenants for City Square mall and the other being in Tampinese.

Over at this quaint little area of the shopping centre, you can feast on either a

Rice burger

or everyone's favourite

Bento set (lunch box meals)

I only took a couple of pictures...since it was near Dinnertime and the number of patrons were seriously piling up.

Other than the two shops that I mentioned, there's the obligatory Ramen shop, カレー (karee) rice stall, a sushi/sashimi (pick up and pay) corner, a mix between pasta and pizza outlet and not to forget, the age/yaki grill stall.

What's unique about the sushi/sashimi corner was that, on the topmost racks, above the raw food, are Japanese brand candies and chocolates such as Pocky and the likes.

At the other end of the corner, drinks can also be purchased, but it's around $1.50 for a 330 ml can of Pokka Green Tea.

Japanese drinks are also available, such as the ones at Daiso.

However, when they were 2 for $2 at Plaza Sing's Daiso, over here, one can sets you back by $2, which is obviously a rip-off, especially if they don't have the honeydew-flavoured drink.

But! The 16 pieces of maki sushi sets are here ^^ $2.40 for 16 pieces.

Quite worth it isn't it? Although I did not really spot any containing Salmon...

Well, I was so fascinated by the place that I walked around several times, before deciding to ask my sister to check out this place.

Her initial thought was that this is a restaurant as well.

"Why is this new section of Northpoint filled with so many people?"

"Does so many people even live in Yishun?"

Yea...a bit on the dramatic side...but honestly, the numbers were quite surprising.

She managed to get a seat and off I went to help her buy her dinner.

From the Omelette stall, I brought the "Ebi (prawn)" meal.

Served in the nomiyaki style, fans of Japanese cusline can surely recognise the two sauces primarily used in Takoyakis, not to mention the seasoning as well.

One surprising thing about this dish is that there is no rice.

Instead, their way of cooking it is usually to, crack an egg over the stove, dump a standy-by pile of cabbage and corns , add in the prawns and you are done.

As for me, since I wasn't sure about what to eat, I decided to go for the Age/Yaki stall's combo set 3.

The set consists of rice as well as three pre-determined sticks.

I was given a fried lady finger wrapped in bacon stick (foreground), a Jin Zen Gu (golden needle mushroom) wrapped in bacon stick, as well as a unagi stick.

I'm not really a fan of lady fingers...and although golden needle mushrooms are ok for me, it does take some using to as the texture of the mushroom contrasted against the chewy bacon strips.

The unagi's pretty much my favourite stick out of the three.

Well, I tried a bit of my sister's...and I must say that their nomiyaki set taste quite refreshing.

Where was I? Ah yes. Coming back to my title. It's weird having the staff workers shouting irasshaimase when I can't even heard it clearly above the din of the crowd.

What's more ironic was that most of the chefs are from China. Most of them probably wouldn't give a dam about saying the greeting and even if they do, it's probably half-hearted.

With that saying, the service standards could certainly be improved by a bit. No..make that a lot.

The nomiyaki stall had such a long queue...and it was probably due to a hestiant build-up between the cashier and the two China cooks. They really need to refine their order-taking process.

Also, the walkway on the right side of the food court( point of view from the inside), where most of the stalls are located, is DAM narrow.

Imagine 12 people trying to dance a jiggle around their way to their tables while carrying a hot bowl of ramen/big plate of rice etc. Not very smart of the management is it? I mean...narrow's fine...but that's for off-peak hours. For peak hours?

An absolute nightmare.

I have not tried the sushi yet...but at $2.40 for 16 pieces?

Bye bye Sushi Deli, Hellooooo Ishi Mura!

So yea, the next time you are in the area, feel free to pop in and take a look around.

Who knows, maybe I might even be able to take my classmates there some other time=P

-Untitled-

2008-11-09T02:41:00.005+08:00

Here's a couple of "sneak shots" that Patrick Storey, the guy Thomson and I were under during the filming in March, took when we are unaware of it.

yes...the camera lying in my lap was what I used back then to take 600+ pictures of during the filming process=D

(I like the contrast here=P)

Yosh...so I'm just about done (I think) for my project objective parts...I had to type it out in Notepad...since the trial for my laptop's Microsoft office has ended...and I haven't really purchased it...tomorrow...I shall attempt to fine-tune some of the feeble articles that I typed so far (gah stupid DBS article...sports should be more interesting to work on...)...and finally get started on my project for Lena...yea..I am a procrascinator...I know...

Over these few days, whenever I tried to imagine the first contestant for Don't Forget the Lyrics, the image of Lena in a orange dress just keeps popping into my mind.

Was it or are the two of them sort of alike?

A case of too many Ns?

2008-11-08T18:44:00.002+08:00

I was going up the escalator when a sign at the newly-expanded section of Northpoint caused me to do a double take.

Notice anything wrong?

As this comes under the franchise which services chicken briyani of the utmost "delicious" and "cheap" variety (sample taken on a lunch trip with some of my poly friends at AMK hub sometime back), which I "would say" that their food is really "value for money", I am not really surpised.

Who knows, if you are lucky like me, you might even find a hair inside your meal.

Ain't that a bargain?

Random ramblings

2008-11-08T18:01:00.002+08:00

Mini written test 2!

Well, at least I managed to memorize the Hiragana from row a to row H now...including a few here and there from the M row to N row...(ma, me, ru, ro,n)..the others of the M to N row..still need to work on it...

The only one that I forgot from the "a to h" row was the "( て)Te" symbol-.-

I had written the " す (su)" symbol correctly...but I had a feeling that it was wrong..so I flipped it from left to right...then Ai-Sensei had to correct me...so that was pretty pointless...isn't it?

But she said that overall, my list was "not bad" so...there's certainly some improvement there...=D

Then she had us write a bunch of words, from "China", to a-ri-ga-to-u-go-za-i-ma-su, to even Uzumaki Naruto? What the heck? I don't even watch that series...why couldn't she come out with "Mugiwara Ichimi" or something?

She even asked us to write her name "kaburaki ai" in Hiragana D=

Well...overall it was quite ok...though I could definitely use some revision for the silent and long sounds...reminded me of the first written test, where she had us write "se-ka-i" and proceeded to sing "sekai no kodomo" in a absent minded tone ._.

She also had us to write "sa-ka-na", which mean "fish". However, it's kind of distracting when she's weaving in and out between the tables, and singing "SA-KA-NA,SA-KA-NA, SA-KA-NA"..

For last Thursday's lesson, she had us introducing ourselves as students...of SBM...so we had to go like...

"bi-ji-ne-su-me-ne-ji-me-n-to" gakkou no gakusei...or something to that extent...and Imran was "lucky" enough to get picked to pronounce it =D

I have to get back to the books and try to revise it a couple of times though...

After lessons, I didn't feel like doing my usual routine of Thursday beef noodles...so I went to the Yong Tau Foo shop at Ang Mo Kio (next to Courts)...but when I reached there...

THE WHOLE PLACE WAS FREAKING EMPTY!

Seems like the food centre is going through renovations...ahh...then dunno what to eat...so I took 135 to Marine Parade for the beef noodles...

"Uncle, San kuai, bai mein, gan de" (Uncle, a $3 dry version with white noodles).

"Xian Zai San Kuai Ban le!" (It's $3.50 now)

What the freaking ...

Gah everything is increasing, except for their portions...

Well, back to the thinking up of headlines.

Take me out to the bar game...

2008-11-06T01:39:00.006+08:00

Happy Birthday to the Bday Gal!

Yes. That's a unglam picture =D

Just now, a number of us headed to Suntec for a celebratory meal. I thought Hendrick wanted to share both courses with me...so I didn't order a set meal for myself until he pointed it out...-.-

The set that I had was quite good, with some sashimi as well as some tempura thrown in at the side.

The Japanese mayo sauce contains way too much onion for my liking though.

After that, we headed to the nearby DXO, where a one day membership cost $1 per person. Initially, I thought that we were going to stay inside, but the dim lights made it hard to read what's on the menu. As a result, we moved outside, where according to Hendrick, everyone were getting their one dollar worth of entry fee from the cashews and nuts provided, as well as Olivia receiving a gift in the form of a song from DXO's musician, which was "Always Be My Baby".

Having experienced my first outing to a bar last Friday, I resolved to buy a drink this time round.

However, no sooner had the orders been placed, when Olivia announced that she had to go. With that, three others announced that they had to go as well.

We were sort of stunned, and when Jen's group returned, they stayed around for a short while, before telling us that they had to go as well.

12 people down to 4 people.

D=

Suddenly, part of the mood seems to be gone.

The drinks arrived and for me, it was a Cuba Libre, which is a combination of rum, limejuice and coke.

Hmm...could get some using to.

Luckily, for the first glass that I drank, I don't appear to be TOO overly drunk.

I was feeling a bit light in the head and the other three commented that I looked REALLY red in the face o.0

At least I'm still walking straight..and that nothing inappropriate was said...=D

The other three (MJ, PJ, Hendrick), ordered a Heineken bottle each...and repeatedly egged me by offering to treat me to another drink. I suspect they have an ulterior motive...har har. You are not fooling me.

Afterwards, a guy came over to us and asked us to complete some survey questions. With that being done, he gave each of us a drink coupon, which can be exchanged for a house brew!

wahahahah. The friends who left missed out on this one=/

Call me stupid...but I decided to play it safe and order a sprite...since a cocktail already had some effect on me, I don't really want to chance it.

Not with the three musketbeers thrusting their drink coupons at me and insisting that I order something...

Hendrick ordered a dry whisky which turned out to be quite strong in the alcohol value, while MJ and PJ had a volka. The drinks were in more or less the same colour..and I was half-expecting one of them to suddenly do a switch-a-roo...which would be quite dangerous indeed...

When we answered the survey questions, all of us had a answer in common. For experience, we all voted "quite good", adding that if the empty seats at our table have less vacanies, it would be a much more enjoyable experience...but oh well...everyone have commitments and stuff...

What should be on top of our list the next time we go and visit a bar with our friends again?

Stalk the survey guy. That's what we should do.

ahahhahahah.

Dressed up in various guises for free drinks. This plan, I approve.

All right, got to go and do my Japanese assignment, which I have been putting off for quite a while due to procrascination...it's weird how I can get so fired-up for some insight papers which reward little marks while general business stuff have been pretty ho-hum. Guess I just like assignments which allows us to express free speech, instead of digging up the useless market data at times. Boring!

What if all exam papers are abolished and insight papers are used for a large chunk of the marks? Hahahahahah. I wouldn't mind. At all. Certainly not.

So anyway, Cya the next time I cya. As you can tell, this is not a very polished post, since it is because although I am thinking quite clearly, I can't help but feel a bit sleep-deprived, hence the weird sentences stringed together.

The next time we go out to bars...if you guys aren't buying a drink, at least stay back a bit longer yea?

YOU HEAR ME? *stares*

Oh...and that to remind me not to bring such a big bag the next time we are going out...I am a newbie at this...so be patient with me...haha.

Nites...

はじめまして!

2008-10-17T00:16:00.001+08:00

Had my first Japanese class today...and what more can I say?

Our lecturer Kubaraki turned out to be a female and she started off by asking us to refer to her as Ai-Sensei, as her full name is Kubaraki Ai.

Talking to us as she wrote her name out in Hiragana,
"Ai-Sensei means Love Teacher!" with that, she drew a heart around "ai".

Well...she certainly seems a lot more hyped up compared to certain drab and dull part time lecturers that we had recently eh?

Ai-Sensei emphasised a lot more on communication, rather than that of writing. However, that still didn't spare us from her asking us to memorize the first six sets of hiragana, from the "a,i,u,e,o" line to the "h" line, passing "k,s,t" and "n" on the way.

Sounds a bit intimidating=/

Oh...I'm in the same class as Syafiqah, along with DA's Imran. Would be nicer if there are more of our classmates in the same class though...

We started off by introducing ourselves in Japanese...eg.

Hajimemashite (Nice to meet you [it's only used for the first time when you are meeting someone])

(name) des(u) (I'm ____)

Dozou yoroshiku onegaishimasu (Do take care of me/I'm going to rely on you)

We had to do it one by one and frankly, being the last one is kind of getting on my nerves.

The three of us shared a table with another classmate by the name of Jasmine, while there were quite a unique mix, though most tend to stick to their own table...so...for interaction...hmm...let's adopt a wait and see approach to it...

I also remembered a couple of guys brushing past the teacher without asking for permission, which was frankly, quite rude. One of the guy seemed to be engrossed in looking at (his notes!?) all the time and in my opinion, wasn't paying attention at all. Same goes for the guy in the red jacket, who seems out of sync during the numbers recital.

Just in case you are wondering, our teacher made us remember the numbers...let's see..

Explanation using her style:

Ichi (Itchy)-One
Ni -Two
San -Three
Yong (yong! You know, swimming? You yong!) [Frankly, when she said you yong in Chinese, I thought that she was quite proficient in her chinese.] -Four
Gou (GO! IKE! Let's go!) -Five
Roc-ku -Six
Nana (Nana the manga, it is also often used for names of girls.) -Seven
Hachi [I remember this by thinking back about the octopus character
in One Piece=P] -Eight
Kyu (by adding a stroke at the bottom of 9, she turned it into a "Q". "Kyu!")
Ju -Ten

Continuing on, from one person to the next, we had to recite the numbers...eg.

Syafiqah said "Hachi Ju Hachi" (88), Imran said "Hachi Ju Kyu" (89), I would have to say "Kyu-Ju", using the 9 with a 10 behind to reference 90.

The two guys keep getting caught out of focus and had to be prompted repeatedly by their own coursemates -.-"

Well, luckily we managed to go all the way to Hyaku (100) without anyone messing up...if not, we would have to repeat from 11. Imagine if the teacher asked us to recite from Ichi to Sen (or is it Ikusen?) [1000]

One of the guy's ringtone went off and we were treated to Ai-Sensei doing a improvised dance to the trance ringtone o.0

As the guy went outside to answer the phone (without asking for permission...again....), Ai-Sensei turned to us and said "Da-mei! In class, handphone, turn off!"

Her English isn't that bad...though it's a bit tingled with her accent, and she tends to slip some Japanese words here and there, such as asking the class to shut up. (Urusai!)

[small note] On a forum, I had a guy trying to imitate Shakugana No Shana's Shana and telling me to "kudasai, kudasai, kudasai", when Shana is actually using "urusai" X3...that was stupid of him...in a sense, he is saying "please, please,please" to me...[/small note]

Hmm...the first Japanese lesson turned out to be quite interesting...it's kind of like a breath of fresh air, since the only "memorable" lesson that I had to sit through was one 3 hour experience that I had to use sheer willpower to stay awake.

Already the nicknames are popping up. Male version of (*insert name here*), Chee Chong Fun (courtesy and copyrights to Jennifer, who came up with it in the first place) and a lot more.

When compared to part time lecturers (except for Randal...who's quite ok actually), Japanese lecturers DO seem to be a lot more energetic eh?

Extra-hyper? If that's the term to use?

Hmm...and for my post...even though she said using english letters to remember Japanese letters are bad...guess I have to download the Japan software another time.

Anyway, give me a break. I'm still new at this stuff. Hopefully, I will begin to pick up quite a bit and get more familiar with the Hiragana wording.

As for verbal revision...hmm...I suppose that's where animes come in?=P

SWING!

2008-09-22T04:56:00.014+08:00

It means "Saving-Water-Is-Not-Good."

At least, that's what my experience at the SWING KPE event told me.

The event was held last Sunday on the 14th, to celebrate the soon-to-be-opened Kallang-Paya Lebah expressway (which, of course, was already in action by the time this late post was posted up).

Hailed as South-East Asia's longest underground expressway, naturally, gave a lot of Singaporeans something to crow about, especially among the government.

My dad and I woke up right around 5 am, managing to catch the first 969 direct bus to Tampinese MRT, which was one of the two places with shuttle bus services for the event, with the other being Hougang.

The run was split into two sections. The 10 kilometres (open), and the 5 kilometres (for those community centre groups etc etc)

The sun had barely risen as we made our way to the starting point.

Over here, teenage part-timers were handing out lanterns for those taking part in the five kilometres in a bid to break the Guinness World Record to become the largest lantern parade in the world.

The record was held by Germany with around 2000+ people until it was smashed by the amount of people at KPE. According to reports...there are around 5000 participants for the 10k race while there was a whooping 10000 participants for the 5km "leisure stroll".

Decked out like a carnival, I was quite literally hoping to see some sort of fiesta there. On hindsight, I ought to have transferred the pictures that I took during my part-time work...but that's another post all together.

To tell you truthfully, I wasn't concious of the large amount of people at first, mainly because my dad and I were considered two of the earliest to arrive.

This photo attest to that.

Slowly but surely, the place began to fill up.

DJ Glenn Ong from Class 95 FM was there, along with a 95.8 FM DJ whose name I have forgotten in my current state of befuddled sleepiness.

Teo Chee Hean and the Transport Minister arrived.

Yes...that blurry guy at the back.

What's this? Seems like a few performers decided to drop in for a visit.

Let's post for the crowd!

As well as get taken sneak shots of...

Le Bubble' Guy.

There were other performers as well, but from where I am, I couldn't really see them, except for maybe one or two rings of flames that erupted into the air behind the 10km crowd.

I actually quite liked this shot. Surprise surprise.

The crowd began to get a bit restless

Either watching the proceedings,

or simply staring into the distance.

The moment drew closer and the front area steadily became more packed.

Glenn Ong announced, "now let's invite our personal trainer Fiona to lead us in some warm-up exercises!"

No. Not THAT Fiona (xie). Some other Fiona.

"Would Mr Teo Chee Hean like to join Fiona on stage for the warm-up?"

He had already done his warm up, hence a blank stare back at Glenn. A moment of awkwardness ensured.

Getting back into his grove, Glenn invited Fiona to proceed on with her drills.

Hang on...wait a moment...the organizers are asking us to do a warm-up? When everyone is squished together like sardines?

A few of the runners exchanged bemused looks at each another and they were probably thinking of the same thing as me.

"Let's start!"

Let me name some of the warm up moves that I saw...step-on-the-feet-of-others, pummel-others-in-the-back, headers to name a few. A few like me, who doesn't know what to do, opted instead to jog on the spot.

Even by doing so, we still could not avoid sacrificing the toenails of a few unfortunate souls.

Fiona then started doing the "side-kicking" motion. I glanced at the mass of people and thought "genius".

At this rate, more people are going to be injured even before they begun to run.

I mean seriously. Do these warm-ups before the runners are gathered together yea? It makes so much more sense to me rather than clattering into each another.

(To all males: the person in the white shorts and a orange stripe is male. Do not fall for trap! No seriously. Do not be fooled!)

We were flagged soon afterwards and immediately, I felt myself being shoved and pushed around like a pinball, like those shoppers eager to get to the annual Great Singapore Sale.

Woah calm down!

The lights slowly began to dim and we embarked on a 2km stretch of the tunnel that was darkened on purpose, for the Guinness record.

I heard a few snatches of song and for a short foolish moment, I thought there were live bands playing in the tunnels.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be some subwoofers that were blasting out the music.

Ahh...anti-climax.

Blasts of "TURN ON THE RADIO! LISTEN TO MY FAVOURITE SHOW!" drilled their way into my ears, courtesy of the booming voice of Don Richmond, one half of the "Don and Drew" duo.

Remember the first part of my post? They had some bottles of our lovely Newater for us to drink. However, why is it that the more I drink it, the more my throat burns? Can't they get any sponsorship with Gatorade? They are waaaay much better than newater in my opinion.

Empty and half-empty bottles littered the sides, which left me quite speechless, much like the time when I decided to check out Comex, only to see all the leaflets being stomped and trampled to the ground. Goodness know how many trees have they murdered for it.

The weird thing is, some parts of the tunnels seem almost totally devoid of any form of humidity at all, whereas at some certain parts,

like this one with the air turbines, I had gusts of wind blowing at me at full blast. Even when I was standing still, I could feel myself being blown forward. Pity the ventilation system of the whole tunnel could not be regulated and kept at roughly around the same speed.

I wouldn't really mind being blown all the way through the 10km route though.

At the end, they had a collection area where you can get your goodie bag as well as a "Certificate of participation", which was also stomped in the ground by quite a few people.

It was only after the event that I realised how many people there were.

Scores of people packed the shuttle bus and the scene was quite hair-raising to say the least.

As my Dad and I walked out, I heard Jean Danker saying that "His Excellency S.R Nathan is about to arrive". It was about 10 am. Most of the participants were ready to go home...and he's only appearing now? Isn't it better if he had waved us off or something?

Abandoning us in favour of a double mutton+one kosong to fill him up before coming...

._.

Nothing much to say about that really. My Dad and I chose to take the public bus back to the bus terminal. It was packed full of people and I wasted my time away staring at a indian professor sort of person, who thought that plastic bags can be considered as a human being and chose to display them prominently instead of offering one of the many tired runners a seat.

Greaat.

Singapore needs more of this type of awesome people.

How public-minded.

Applause!

Treating plastic bags for a human being. Maybe they like to dress up the bags as well.

Instead of catching 969 back, we decided to buy a meal over at the nearby Macdonalds.

Yea...the one in Tampines.

The one where rats dropped out of the ceiling two Saturdays ago.

The issue which I only read about in (what else?) The New Paper three days later after the run is over.

3 days.

2 weeks.

No freaking notice at all.

Riiight...

My Dad and I managed to hit the jackpot.

Wazzah! Banzai!

I'm swearing off that particular area. No wonder that Macdonald staff member seems to be extra helpful and polite, which shocked me quite a bit. Were all the other diners unaware as well?

Without a single bit of notification...you got to admit their ethical way of doing business eh?

Well, after that, I reached home, and in the midst of playing some games with a friend, I fell asleep, only to wake up at 8 pm and managing a feeble and weak apology of "sorry...fell asleep" to him, before spiralling off into the dreamland yet again.

I woke up the next day at 4 am.

As some people might say,

"Awesome."

A question...

2008-09-07T03:33:00.003+08:00

What does pizza and newspapers have to do with each another?

Why...everything of course.

Last thursday, it was a day to be joyful for, as it marked the last day of the examinations.

Nevermind that the final paper (media market research)was quite a pickle and I sort of took a chance on some of the questions.

The experience that I got was sort of emerging from a raging blizzard. A feeling of certain doom and a "oh well" afterthought. What's the worst that could happen? At most, those who failed would have to attend MMR lessons for the next school year...nuuuuuu....*spirals down*

Well anyway, I digressed quite a bit from what I wanted to say (or rather typed) in the first place...

As others are busy rejoicing, I headed to the side gates and waited for what seemed like quite a long while for service 159 to come.

While waiting, I saw a couple of my classmates walking down the stairs one after the other.

Despite my random jumps to get their attention, they didn't notice the lurker at the other end (me).

One by one, I saw them leaving as the buses roared away, leaving me in a blazing trail of dust.

Ahh well. 159 finally came and it's off to Toa Payoh.

After taking a inter-town bus, I arrived at...

Upon a closer look, you can see the SPH building in the far distance.

Admittedly, the only time I had gone inside was only to the reception to pick up a prize my sister won previously.

I squinted at the printed out copy of the email that I was holding.

"Annexe Block level 6?"

"Where the heck is it?"

After following some signs, I took the lift up and...lo and behold.

Eh? Is this...

Stepping inside and looking around, I was directed to a orange pillar with a huge orange exclaimation sign on it.

Yea. As it said.

Unfortunately, the person in charge of the prize seemed to be out for lunch, but I was fine with loithering around, since it was the first time that I entered the "TNP" office itself.

There were signs all over the desks, displaying the names of the contributors, with a "::NEW!::" included inside, if they have just joined the team.

There were also plasma TVs, mainly at the Noon Sports section...for the guys to watch their football no doubt...

Sitting at a area which was probably meant for discussion, my head whipped in all directions as I took in the sights, the surroundings of the place I was at.

The lady that I spoke to joined her other colleagues at another section of the newsroom. As she was about to walk away, I distinctly heard her saying to another colleague, "hey, there's pizza. Where's Michelle? Ask her to come!" Apparently, they often had "Pizza days". I'm jealous=/

All of a sudden, someone caught my eye.

Even so, I did a double take when I saw his face.

Looking as though he walked out of the papers, was Brian Miller himself. Everyone who read the sports section would know who he is,one of the TNP's top tipster for the EPL matches.

"Oh? What is he here for?"

"To collect a prize...but _____ is out for lunch."

"What prize?"

"Ahh...just a small token from the sponsors for the Postman entry." I replied. "Just for being mentioned...not as the letter of the week.." I hastily added.

I told him that I enjoyed reading his posts and he had a sort of bemused look on his face.

"Why...thank you. Why don't you sit over there? You can watch some Olympics action while waiting."

Still sort of bemused, he motioned to the TNP Afternoon Sports section.

"Ahh...okay...sure."

Giving me a desk located right next to him, he handled me the remote.

"You can change to other channels if you want".

Well...there was Javelin on TV...my "FAVOURITE"....and Table Tennis action on the other TV at the far end. I didn't do so though, partly because I thought he was watching it and partly because I have no idea how to work the controls, since I dunno which buttons was which=/

"Do you want some pizza?"

"Uh...nah. I think I'm fine."

Nevertheless, Mr Miller called out to a colleague who was walking towards the growing crowd, "get some for him". I was feeling sort of flattered by his motion, as he was someone with a vast amount of journalistic experience.

Yea...it's a bit corny...say what you like, but Brian Miller is one of the more recognisable faces of TNP for me, together with Yeoh Wee (we eat together) Teck and Jeanmarie (I am a movie reviewer and I love to give spoilers in my weekly columns) Tan. Seriously, just last Sunday, her column on Wall-E gave away some crucial parts away. I hate it when that happens.

While waiting, I took some more snapshots. Note that I'm not particularly pleased with some of the earlier ones I took...these are a bit better...I think...

Random snapshots from the desk I was sitting at: (only took a few though)

He gave me a copy of that day's paper, saying that there's still a lot left. I appreciated the gesture...but I have already brought one before stepping into SPH =(...and exchanged the mast for the 7 Eleven promotion thingy...I was supposed to get a 500 ml Coke Light bottle and the crappy blk 111 7 Eleven (which is undergoing repairs, gave me a bottle of plain water. It's not even chilled...CHEATS! Actually when I met Brain Miller, his attention was drawn to the torn front page. I think he though that I befouled the publication or something...seriously...why tear out part of the page when you can use something simple like a stamp?)

Whoo. Jade Seah. My favourite. It was about her "moment of folly" live on air. I had a great laugh about it when I heard the news. I wasn't really crazy about "Today in Beijing", not with her as one of the hosts. Other people have commented something like "everyday at 11 pm, until when TIB is over, is the time when the TV stays firmly switched off."

I couldn't agree more, except that I have my Animania to watch on Arts Central.

"They are even able to pick out a small error like that?" He asked.

"I don't really like her either." After saying a short piece about her, I asked him for his opinions.

He gave a begrudging laugh and didn't reveal much, though I interpreted from his body language as in that he did rather much prefer a more capable host as well.

Can't act and when you put her on as a presenter, what does she do? She swears. It's scary how Channel 5 is so adamant in featuring her lately, from Beach Ball Babes to TIB and recently, First Class. Guess what. I don't really watch them. I'm surprised at them saying how "she was a breakout success" and stood by her, saying that compared to other seasoned presenters, "she provided us with a breath of fresh air".

Oops. The Channel 5 spokesman must have meant "foul air."

Seriously, I get the feeling from the article that most viewers are baying for her blood, and for someone to replace her. Even as I typed, the thoughts of it that flashed through my head seemed like they wanted to tear the iron-wought gates of MediaCorp down and rush in as a mob, crushing everything under their feet.

A roaring success? Makes me think of Umbridge and her term as a Defence against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts doesn't it? Heh. Typical corporation replies.

Some comments on the First Class forum went "Jade Seah look so lau tu (old-fashioned) in those specs. So cute!"

"She is so funny! So klutzy!"

My look as I read those comments made me shrivel up a little on the inside. Honestly, I think some people just go for anything that moves. Especially during the Getais. You notice that in most elderly men, peeking in from the sides of the stage area. That's what I thought from a previous TNP picture.

Eh...anyway...where was I?

Oh yea...anyway...the lady in charge (of the keys) returned.

As Wall-E would say, "Ta-dah!"

Speaking of which, I still haven't really watched it. General feedback was good, although Guo Hong told me at work that he thought it was "boring".

I didn't really want the pizza in the first place, as I was taken aback from the offer and that I was going to go for lunch later.

Oh well. Thanks for the offer...I shall devour it then...

itadakimas!

Mmm...Hawaiian flavour. Is that a tomato in there? Love the burnt cheese =D

Mr Miller engaged in some sports talk with me, then I was surprised to hear him saying that the table tennis women are out of contention, since there were still some stages to go. Maybe I misheard. Anyway, for the Gao Ning saga, on one hand, the coaches were kinda irresponsible...since they decided that the women team stands a bigger chance...then again...there's some truth in that.

Ranked World number 12, he could have beaten his opponent easily by his own can't he?
To be blunt, spare us the excuses that he felt betrayed. If he got what it takes, take out his opponent and prove it to his coaches and demand an explanation later. That would change some opinions wouldn't it? Why wimp out and fade out like a light from a burnt matchstick?

The STTA president said something to the tune of "crushing his Olympics dreams". What dream is there? Most athletes said that they know that they don't have a chance of winning and that they are only there for the experience doesn't it? Does having a coach make him invincible? It's just tactics. Not every tactics will work. If you are a good player, you will naturally know how to change and adapt to your opponent's play.

When I heard about the women team winning the silver medal, I was like..."ho-hum".

"Oh good." That's my reaction. Pardon me but I'm one of those more against the "buying" of medals. To a certain degree, I thought that they are just chinese players who are forced to look somewhere else because they cannot break into their local team. Look around the world. From Amercia, to Holland...their players don't look like their counterparts...but rather as someone who was born and raised in China. Wang Yuegu didn't had a coach as well I think...and she complained about it...honestly, if she had worked on her fitness, she would have stood a much better chance.

Remember the finals match? I laughed when the commentator said that Wang Yuegu was finally getting some exercises when she went to retrieve the ball, stepping over the barriers. Not quite my idea of Liu Xiang. She is 28? She look well into her 40s for goodness sake. My jaw hit the floor upon learning that she's more than a decade younger than what I thought she was.

and back to the newsroom topic again...

Brain Miller suddenly asked me for my name.

"What for?" was my first thought.

Thinking that it was for communicating, I gave him my short name. With a start, I suddenly realised that he was about to write something down. Quickly, I showed him the bundle that I got, with my name in the sticky yellow tape.

(he was scribbling something when I took this...and the lag speed that my handphone camera takes is just....*shakes head*...that explains the bluriness of the left hand...but overall, still works. Meh.)

Glancing upon the title, I thought he gave me a Spanish book.

Then I cleared my senses and things seemed a lot more logical to me now.

"It's a copy of my previous columns. Thought you might like to read through them."

Whoo. I know it's not like meeting a "ah-jie" or something, but still, I really appreciated the unexpected move.

He told me that he had already finished up for the day, so that was not really anything for him to do now, and that he was going to head home soon. We enquired to each another and...East Coast? That's quite a distance away...their work usually ends around 4 am...sounds like my kind of time to me...=)

I asked him about a few things, including as to whether there is any poly interns at the moment.

"At the moment? Nope. We had one back during Euro 08 though."

After staying a while, I thanked him again and left for lunch. As I passed by one of the sub-editors' cubicle, I saw what I thought was some goodie bags. Taking a closer look, they turned out to be what seems like a dozen pizza boxes.

Hopefully we will meet again soon. However...for that to happen, I really need to brush up on my journalistic skills a bit eh? (of Bs and Ds...oh my T.T)

Lunch was at Block 111, Good Year Local Hainanese Chicken Rice Ball. Agreed by many as being unique, I had a rather average experience earlier in the year, mainly because I wasn't pleased at how my order was forgotten and I had to queue again. This time, with a spring in my steps and still feeling a bit "high" from stepping into one of the places that I thought I would never be, the ordering process was a bit more successful, although it takes as long as usual, due to them having a booming business.

$3.50. Two Chicken rice balls, a plate of chicken and a bowl of soup. Might be a bit steep but it's still quite all right, considering that the food came with quite a bit of reputation.

Of course the main attraction have to be the balls. The chicken rice balls that is. I'm not really a big fan of chicken rice chili, but rather go for sweet sauce. Pour a little, split it with your spoon, mmm. That's not saying that I don't like chili...but I tested a bit...and I found myself wanting to dive headlong into a swimming pool. It's quite lethal...for a guy like me who eats a minimum sum of chili...I'm more into KARE! Curry!!! A rather good curry rice bowl stall in the "2nd district (the chinese would say "er-tou"" market had moved away...ahh well...

and of course...the chicken. Nicely marinated, with a lime at the side for you to squeeze into the dish for some extra dash of flavour.

and that's all I am going to blog for now. Until I feel like it again that is...whoo...one more week until the current job ends...and then I shall see if my agent can offer me another one...

Oh...note that I meant to post it on the 28th...but...oh well.

Cream crackers. Oh my.

2008-08-27T00:16:00.003+08:00

I was watching the TV, when a advertisement for 12 Lotus came up.

"Meet the Director and Cast of 12 Lotus"

Hmm?

Exclusively for Golden Village cinemas,on Sunday, there's one at 1:15 pm at Jurong Point and another at 4:20 pm over at Tiong Bahru Plaza.

Well...my parents wanted to watch it...so...why not?

We decided to head over to Jurong Point and I think we were just about in time. There were still quite a few seats available, albeit being at the corners.

It must have been like...what? 5 or 3 years since I have been there? The last time I remembered, my npcc squad was assigned to this area for flag day. That's about it.

We chose the earlier timeslot since my sis wanted to catch the closing ceremony...the same goes for my parents as well.

At 1:15 pm...not a single soul was stirring...all eyes on the entrance...

at around 1:25...finally we heard a announcer saying, "Let's welcome Royston Tan!"

So here enters the Director, as well as the "cast"...a solitary figure in the form of Hao Hao, who acted as "Xiao Fei Xia".

Firstly a note...I was sitting quite far away...so I couldn't really get a close shot...so yea...

The director and the "cast"

Hmm...if I am not wrong...the cast usually consist of two or more members doesn't it? Seem like not everyone have the same definition as me...

Royston Tan started off by introducing us to the film, saying that it chronicles the life of the main character, whose name is "Lian Hua", or Lotus in English

"Around 70% of it is based on Liu Ling Ling's real life." There was definitely something ominous about this sentence.

Hao Hao, a taiwanese artiste, conversed with Royston Tan in a manner which seemingly wanted to involve the audience...but still...I just can't help but think that the whole thing seems very "rehearsed" and fake.

After wishing us a "hope you enjoy the film", they were gone, sooner than you can say "cheese".

Funny. I was expecting the interaction to last a lot longer.

Instead, it was "hi and bye".

My mother arrived slightly late and according to my father, who went outside to usher her in, Royston Tan and Hao Hao were at the ticketing booth interacting with those who were queuing up.

Darn figures. Queuers>those in the theatre itself...since we have already purchased the ticket anyway right?

Here, I would like to smile and go "hypocrite". Guess everyone is guilty of that once in a while. If most had known that the interaction would be taking part outside of the theatre itself,it would made more sense to wait outside instead of buying the earlier price tickets isn't it?

Ahh...never mind that.

Let's move on to my opinion of the movie itself.

Well...with 881 as his last film, there are BOUND to be some comparisons between the two movies.

While 881 was more on the rivalry between the Papaya sisters and their Durian counterparts, 12 Lotus, a song sang during "881", was used to portray the life of a little girl by the name of "Lian Hua", as she grew up, with the one dream of singing "12 Lotus" to the Goddess of Mercy herself.

If you don't want to be spolit one single bit, my advice would be to skip the following.

A basic sypnosis:Lian Hua grew up among the getais as her father was one of the band members. A performance of the song "lian hua" one particular night had her hooked on to it.

Growing up with no mother and a abusive father, she took shelter in a mini-statue of the "Guan Yin" (Goddess of Mercy) that she regarded as a safety charm.

She was later shown in her teenage years, a rising prospect of the Getai and having whatever money that she earned gambled away by her gambler of a father.

She became friendly with a small boy whose stage name was "xiao fei xia", or as the subtitles said, Astroboy. Over a small period of time, she began to get noticed by Ah Long (played by Qi Yuwu), who is the reigning "Prince of Getai".

They slowly began to warm up to one another and eventually formed a 3 piece band.

While everything seem
among the getais as her father was one of the band members. A performance of the song "lian hua" one particular night had her hooked on to it.

Growing up with no mother and a abusive father, she took shelter in a mini-statue of the "Guan Yin" (Goddess of Mercy) that she regarded as a safety charm.

She was later shown in her teenage years, a rising prospect of the Getai and having whatever money that she earned gambled away by her gambler of a father.

She became friendly with a small boy whose stage name was "xiao fei xia", or as the subtitles said, Astroboy. Over a small period of time, she began to get noticed by Ah Long (played by Qi Yuwu), who is the reigning "Prince of Getai".

They slowly began to warm up to one another and eventually formed a 3 piece band.

While everything seems to be going all rosy for her, with Ah Long proposing to her, she was going to find out that...life isn't always a bed of roses.

Anymore than that and it would have been a serious spoiler.

What do I think?

Hmm...frankly, I wasn't really agreeable with the character of Xiao Fei Xia to be honest. I thought of the little boy was.."annoying and doesn't contribute one bit at all", with his pacing around and balant attempt by the producing team to let audience members go "aww how cute".

My sister felt the little boy should have been acted by someone else. The little girl did a good job as a young lian hua. No complains about that. Xiao Fei Xia just doesn't seem to be that solid of a character to me.

Actually...why Astroboy? After that Japanese anime character? Xiao Fei Xia was created after Peter Pan wasn't he? It's a damn distraction whenever they said "xiao fei xia" and I saw the subs as being "astroboy".

The usual song and dance routines were there...and admittedly, I thought the transtition from one scene to another was pretty subtle and well done. I was reminded of "Cut" though.

The grown-up Astroboy...can't figure out why he must insist on putting on his getai wear everywhere and any time of the day.

Astro's girlfriend Xing Xing, another getai singer, made an appearance, however brief as it is. My opinion of her character? Pointless and useless. She appeared and promptly started to do some weird chase with Liu Ling Ling while giving highly exegerated yelps of pain, which made my skin crawl everytime she did that.

Find a better person please.

The songs and dances wouldn't disappoint anyone but still, I don't really think the main soundtracks have that much of a impact as the theme song for 881 一人一半感情不散 (Each of us shall take half, and with that, our feelings will not be apart) had.

I like the way how Royston Tan used the 12 chapters of the song to show us Lotus at different stages of her life.

From a naive little girl

To a teenage girl full of hope and dreams

To someone who had a traumatic experience

To someone withdrawn and locked with their own world (=O sounds a bit familiar there...)

To someone broken and who have gave up hope in life itself.

Well...as much as I would like to avoid the comparison, I can't really help myself.

Comparing 881 with 12 Lotus, 12 Lotus undeniably has a lot more darker theme to it, if you have already watched 881, with the bubbly songs and rivalry between the two groups, you will be surprised to see how different the two films are. 12 Lotus have taken a rather big step and told the story of Getai from a completely different viewpoint.

There were in total 3 different portrayals of Lian Hua, from the little girl, to the teenage years (played by Mindee Ong), to 20 years later, a withdrawn Lian Hua (played by famous getai singer and host Liu Ling Ling), who was trapped 20 years ago in her own world.

Yeo Yann Yann, who was casted opposite Mindee Ong in 881, had to make do with a very small part in this film, so small that it was almost insignificant.

I felt Mindee Ong and Liu Ling Ling really brought a different feeling to this film through their respective portrayal, even though I have to agree that Liu Ling Ling seems to outshine Mindee by quite a bit, due to her comedic timings.

Singer Stephanie Sun had a cameo as the Goddess of Mercy while hairstylist David Gan, was back to his best as...who else? A hairstylist.

My overall feeling was that, although 12 Lotus was a brilliant piece of work, somehow, I still preferred 881 a tad better. 12 Lotus shone with the director's decision to cast a different perspective to the getai scene, having noted down quite a bit of information from Liu Ling Ling herself.

However, the feeling that 12 Lotus gave us was a lot darker compared to 881. The melancholiness was something that the upbeat trailer did well to disguise. The movie had its cute moments though, including one off-screen moment when a little girl, upon seeing the image, yelled out in her cute voice "穿衣服!" (Wear your clothes!) directing it at Qi Yu Wu,who was appearing topless in a scene.

For his next project, I hope that Royston Tan can take up a different genre, apart from the song-and-dance (Cut, 881 and now, 12 Lotus), so that we can see how much he has improved since "15" and "4:30"

Well, after the movie ended, we headed down the cinema stairs

and headed to Jurong Point's 翡翠小厨 (Crystal Jade) for a early dinner.

Xiao Long Bao.

Drunken chicken

Zha Jiang Mein (Uh...noodles with fried ginger sauce? Literally translated...not sure if it is correct)

Some sort of recommendation that they had on the menu.

After that, we headed home.

Well...I really felt that the meeting session with the director and the "cast" should have lasted longer...but while my father was outside the theatre for a while, he spotted Royston Tan and his "sidesick" and got the two of them to sign on the ticket subs.

Oh...by the way, with the Autumn festival approaching, is there anyone in need of mooncakes? My friend, who is on assignment, have quite a few boxes of mooncakes on offer.

If any caught your fancy, do let me know, either through the chat box on the right or leave me a message on MSN (whether offline or not, I will reply it). Just a note...the last order will be on the 1st of September.

Thanks and for those who are having your holidays, enjoy it. For those having your exams, good luck for them.

I'm off. I need to rise up bright and early tomorrow...and the chances of me oversleeping yet again is pretty high.

I kid you not.

Rant

2008-08-23T01:33:00.001+08:00

I received a call today, some time around 12 noon, from the Yishun branch of Popular.

"Are you the one who applied?"

"Yes. For part-time"

"Ahh...but we have enough part-timers...we only require full-times"

With that, a bye and a click.

Ah well. No biggie. What seemed like a sure-fire job suddenly evaporated into thin air, since I thought with one of my former colleague from marine parade introducing me and all...

Well..it would be good to earn some money early on in the holidays...especially with that laptop of mine still missing in action...

then here comes the part that I want to rant about.

Soon after that, I called in to Acer, for I was told that the trade-in period will be at the end of August and even though the technician promised to call me once he has any more information, I haven't received a single call from him.

After being directed to their customer service department, I asked the lady in charge of the trade-in period.

"Oh..it's over."

Over?

"When was the trade-in period?" I asked

"End of July"

July?

What the %$^*!?

"But I was told that it was going to be around the end of August, and that the technician told me that he would call me with any more information. July...so does this mean I have to pay the repairs fees now in order to have my use of the laptop back?"

"I guess so...sorry"

With pulsating breaths of anger and indignantion, I replied using a voice that I hope would drive home how DELIGHTED I am for their PROMPT and USEFUL and ACCURATE "information".

"Greeeeeat. Thanks"

With that, I put down the phone quietly. This isn't the fault of the call receiver.

Even so...why can't they bloody hell give me the accurate date in the first place?

Call me back? Where's the call? Busy? Yea I'm sure. Customers priority. Pfff. A simple phone call would have just taken 30 seconds of their time wouldn't it?

July? That's a miss of at least one month.

So what other choice do I have now but to pay the repairs fees when I was hoping to trade it in for a new model?

Acer definitely deserves a round of applause.

Thinking back about it, I should have just paid the fees in the first place shouldn't I? Instead of waiting for two months with no idea of when the trade-in period would be, hoping that the technician would call me with the information. That's two months of usage of a 1 gig laptop gone.

I had to stick with a 256 mb ram home computer that hangs ever so often and performs at minimum speed.

Whoopee.

Here's a random short four-line poem.

"So here to you, the Acer technician. I salute thee.

Hopefully, the next time I go down to Acer, it wouldn't be you I see.

If it is so, you may jolly well find,

myself giving you a piece of my mind".

Meh. The poem is bleh. The quality of this pathetic poem suits their "wonderful" level of customer service though.

The final lap

2008-08-20T23:45:00.007+08:00

How appropriate is it that our exams are ending? With the Olympics drawing to a close this Sunday.

Hopefully, we will not encounter any more fake lip-syncing little girls and digital edited fireworks. Although I understand their desire to put up a good show, isn't that being a BIT too unethical?

All the hoo-ha about Liu Xiang's pulling out of the games...I was in two minds about it actually...then again, if he really suffered an injury, it would be better to pull out wouldn't it?

The chinese newspaper Lian He quoted a 70 year old grandfather saying that Liu Xiang did not have the guts to run. He should have at least tried to finish the race...

...and what? Finish among the last few and ending up aggravating his injury? So that he might even be disabled for life if he pushed himself so hard? Some people are just simply being illogical to the point of being irritating.

You want some of my thoughts? Sure. The China people are passionate. Good to see that. However, have you seen some of the ways they celebrated?

For the women beach volleyball, my sister was watching it as well. The camera zoomed in on one sole female supporter...and the next moment, millions around the world are exposed to her armpit hair as she raised her arms.

Wow. Congrats. You are famous now.

For other events, I swear they play the weirdest songs at the weirdest moments.
Other than the typical "“遥远的东方有一条江，它的名字就叫长江" propaganda song being played like twice every few minutes, which can get pretty irritating. Especially since it was infused with some sort of weird disco beat. It's pretty disturbing.

Not as disturbing as tens of thousands of ordinary China citizens gyrating to the music, albeit a bit...you know..."goosebumps inspiring"?

I remembered some visitors to our school, who would JUST SNAP AWAY AT ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING.

Snap snap snap.

Daylight corridor.

Flash on.

Snap snap snap.

Seriously.

I have seen people snapping away with flash in the middle of a bright day. Not just the visitors.

I mean...what the heck? Flash isn't everything to photography taking you know?

There were also a few chinese visitors who walked into the multi-cam studio snapping away. Lucky there wasn't any recording going on...if not...yea...you get my drift don't you?

Once every four years, when the Olympics are here, I got to admit that my guilty pleasure at watching the table tennis matches. Sure. Sometimes it gets a bit boring...at other times...the flurry of exchanges....woah.

I especially liked the long rallies, of the players curving the balls back, and allowing the opponent to smack the balls as hard as they want to.

I remembered last Saturday...after the "revision" with Juliet at Parkway Parade...and after a bowl of...

(It's at marine parade...so why not? =))
I got on bus service 31, which was heading back to Toa Payoh.

I meant to get off at the Kallang MRT stop, but the semi-final team match between Germany and Japan had me hooked. One particular rally caught my eye...the German guy was just smacking it as hard as he could and the Japanese guy just kept curving it back, backing up all the way into the barricade. Germany eventually won that point...but whooo...quality gameplay.

Here's a video that I found. It's a stunt..but still amazing none the less.

Wahahah finally found it. One of my favourite table tennis videos of all times.

Is it me...or is anyone else getting of the endless Olympic coverage as well? Now that most of the events are over, there's not really anything else to watch...is there?

*turns on TV*

Javelin and running. Whoo. Excitement.

I think I did rather put on a night cap.

Exams are finally over, and the feeling that I got was that the exam papers seem to be getting more difficult with each passing day...heh.

Well...I'm just hoping that I pass all of it...I wouldn't fancy another term of Media Market Research...no thanks.

Random ramblings

2008-08-18T03:48:00.004+08:00

So last Friday...marked the first set of examination papers that the year 2 students in my course had to take.

What's your method of preparation?

For me, I was feeling quite nervous about it, so I didn't sleep prior to the paper =D

I always wondered if sleeping with your notes under the pillow would help, with the typical desperate "osmosis" knowledge transfer method.

So after a while, after reading my notes and getting a bit tired of it, I took out a book and started to read it in a effort to keep myself up and awake.

Can't wait for Nov 22. Oh wait. Release date is now pushed back to Summer 2009.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Warner Bros made the move because they wanted to target the lucrative summer blockbuster market...hmm...greed triumphs over all eh?

At around 7 am, I made my way to my nearby market.

Ahh. Kind of miss observing the surroundings around me as things stir into life...since I'm always sleeping past that moment.

Random generic shot

I have already forgotten how empty the market looks in the morning, with all the stalls closed.

Wait. That shot isn't very nice.

Ah. There we go. A bit better.

For some reason, I like walking around in supermarkets. Especially the one at my market at times when the crowd is quite small, and Yishun's Cold Storage ranks as one of my favourite place to walk around when I'm returning home from school.

Too bad that it's closed for renovations at the moment. With the expansion coming about, I swear it's like half of Level 2 and level 3 got barricaded or something. You can't hardly find anything there.

Crossing this corner of the coffee shop...

Wake up and smell the...chicken wings?

Apparently I was so dazed just now that in a conversation with two others, I was typing fried chicken wing as "friend chicken wing". Wow.

My favourite shot of the day. The others are just average crap. I was surprised that this shot turned out pretty well, since it was a sneak shot while the auntie was helping to prepare my take-away breakfast of Mee Siam+fried chicken wing.

All yours for $3.10 =)

I didn't take any actual shots of the food...as...mee siam...how do you make it appetising to look at? A plate? Maybe next time. Leslie Tay I ain't D=

Oh...the sun is shining quite brightly by now (8 am+). Let's try a shot.

Ahh. Slanted.

Slight improvement. I was pressing the side of my body to the wall in a "T" shape and trying to snap a picture of it.

1PM. Time to set off. Budget....argh.

Well...it's hard to study in the library when there's a ongoing olympics coverage on the TV. What's more, the semi-finals match between Singapore and South Korea. If it's Olympic coverage, one event that I wouldn't miss will definitely be the table tennis matches.

Guess I have to make an exception this time round ._.

Olympics->Look at notes->olympics->look at notes->Feng Tian Wei had a brilliant rally against the South Korean->enrapted look on the face->three other coursemates reminding me not to write the scores in my exam papers afterwards->leaving with 45 minutes to go before the exams start-> NOOOO WHY!?->Reluctant last look at the plasma tv screen.

With every passing minute, more of my classmates appeared. Finally. The 10 minutes allocated to us to look through the exam papers.

First question->heart leapt->"Hey! I can do this!"->"Uh...this one...."

Luckily, thanks to a tip-off in locating them, past year exam papers DO help a bit, since I saw a couple of repeated questions...eg "list 3 things a production manager need to do after the completion of a project", as well as the "5 steps to construct the budget".

Hearing my classmates rattle some of the things off during revision in the library did un-nerve me a little, especially since they are the ones who used nicks such as "I did not study at all for the exams" for their MSN. Hint hint.

5 steps to construct a budget...I think I can do this...let's see...

The
Doctor
Can
Eat
Apple

Target desired profits
Determine operating expenses
Calculate gross profit margins
Estimate sales revenue
Adjust budget

"Yesh! 5 points in the bag!"

I was pretty surprised I managed to nail the three tools used as well (or so I think)

The final question about budget...well...thankfully there were some definition questions in the front...but I am unsure if I was correct for the usage of the budget.

For the calculations, there was mainly a lot of guesswork involved...for me that is...hopefully everyone caught the "18 months" trip info in the question.

My final answer was 560,000...is that correct? I'm not sure how many of my coursemates got this answer as well...but I think there's quite a few=D

Question 2...is it a Traditional type? Hybrid type? -> Pure E-business?

Guess what. I chose hybrid type. I thought that it would be the correct answer but nooo...MJ said that it was a pure-e-business type, since he had already read the new paper piece about the type of operations that the F1 ticketing system is. That put several doubts inside my head=/

It was probably around 7 pm before I reached home.

Heh...wished that I could have taken a better picture of this...on a more elevated platform maybe?

Under my block, they are already getting ready for the ghost festival celebrations.

Just one question.

Why is this figurine being blindfolded?

Exam blues

2008-08-12T09:24:00.002+08:00

It's that period of time again...are you feeling the same way as I am?

If so, relax. Chill. Have a break, have a Kit-Kat.

Let's just hope that the skies wouldn't be as gloomy as last week...although all of us might welcome a refreshing shower of rain...

So anyway...fans...mark September 22...as Heroes season 3 is coming back!

Yea..old news. Anyway, I hate how the Olympics are distracting me. Now that the plot is set to heat up after the Writers Strike is finally over....

"Speedy new character debuts on new season of NBC's 'Heroes'

Meet Daphne, the speedy new character on NBC's "Heroes," who plans to give the show's superhumans—especially time traveler Hiro and his sidekick, Ando—a run for their money when she debuts on the popular NBC series' upcoming third season, which went back into production last week

Brea Grant doesn't know much about her mysterious new character. Daphne's superpower allows her to operate at three speeds and leave a supersonic wake in her path when Hiro stops time. Grant's not sure where Daphne is from, but she does know the Speedster—that's what she calls herself—has been on her own for a long time.

Her character is supposed to be Hiro's Joker," said Masi Oka, who plays Hiro. "Batman has The Joker. Hiro has Daphne. This is the season where Hiro finally finds his arch nemesis, and it happens to be this Speedster. I kind of equate it more to Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, except Daphne says more than 'meep-meep.'

(First noticed it on MediaCorp Channel 5's forums) I knew it was in Sep...but didn't really pay much attention to it until now.

Are you getting excited? I sure am...

From my revision, let's add in two more examples.

En Bloc nailed the "technical quality" for me, but lacked in the "function quality" for MediaCorp Channel 5. For "First Class", it failed at both for me.

Some blokes in the forum are going on about how they like Jade Seah in their "lao tu (old-fashioned)" look, especially with the specs.

I laugh at them.

Niamah!!!

2008-08-11T01:14:00.002+08:00

That was the slogan for Mr Patrick Teoh's blog, in case anyone of you are wondering.

First ever encounter with him was back at my Aunt's Laurels supermarket at Pandan Valley, in the Commonwealth area, when they were filming "En Bloc" back then.

I remembered hiding behind the counter, observing the crew and cast in action, before venturing out to take a closer look at them.

Stars present that day included Darren Lim, Nat Ho (PJ: Aiya, if there's Nat Ho, you should have told me to go along!), Patrick Teoh and June Lim (a veteran actress over at MediaCorp)

It was the first encounter with June Lim for the first time in 12 years, as her daughter Mei Qi was in the same kindergarten as me. She would occasionally tag along as a parent volunteer and took care of me and my sister. I probably mentioned it before...that I couldn't recognise her immediately, for she was wearing a wig.

I began to found her familiar and asked the production assistant next to me if the actress that I am looking at had acted in "Kinship" before.

Her answer was a "probably" and during a filming break, I chased after her down the aisle as she laden her arms with Indian Crackers. She brought for it and was handling them out to the cast and crew. She then walked down the far right of the supermarket before I asked her:

"Excuse me, did you act in Kinship before? As (insert character name)'s mother?"

Indian Cracker in her mouth, she turned at me and had a puzzled look on her face.

"Yes...?"

"Are you Mei Qi's mother?"

She was positively confused then.

"I'm YM! From back during kindergarten! You know...Greentree montessori?"

Her eyes widened in shock.

"OH! YUEN MUN!?"

She seized me and sized me up.

"You have grown so big!"<-Typical adult greeting to the younger generation *roll eyes*

Haha...well...the encounter was definitely unexpected. It was a pleasant surprise though...

The props guy that I repeatedly questioned about life in poly was Shane Mok, a guy that had just graduated from Singapore Poly's Media course. He was attached to the production house and they were rather pleased with his work, hence they hired him, maybe at least until he gets called up for National Service.

He said to add me on MSN. He probably forgotten though =.=

Come to think of it...it was also the first time that I met Uncle Peter...the same lights gaffer who was later also attached to Ho Tzu Nyen's feature film "Here". I was observing them from the outside of the supermart, as they were trying to film a scene involving the shutters. There he was, puffing away on a ciggy.

He looked at me and asked, "you wanted to go in? You can, you know."

Then when I was attached to the film with the other two friends of mine, the first time when I saw the lights crew, I had a feeling of Déjà vu. Did I see him on "Home Decor Survivor" before? Or was it somewhere else?

A nagging feeling told it that it was from the "En Bloc" set though.

Then one day, during lunch, while munching into our usual "fried rice with plain water, featuring a special appearance by either a fishcake or a five-spice-roll", he asked me..."did I see you somewhere before?"

"Hmm? What? En Bloc? I was the guy at my Aunt's mart."

"OH! No wonder..."

After that, he briefed me sometimes on how things were going on the other set.

"Oh...we have just finished filming the last episode."

Ah yes. Let's swerve back to my original topic.

Remember my MSN nick?

I actually quite like Calefare, especially with the whole "set within the set" part of it, which was kind of a throw-back to my 2 weeks as a arts department member...or "props guy". As I was watching the show, I was actually hoping to see Uncle Peter or Zul popping up and arranging the lights.

Hendrick said it was a rip-off of "Extras" though. Ah well. In my opinion, it's still definitely better than "First Class" though. My mind-set was, since it's the National Day and all, let's just watch the first episode and not tune in to the rest.

In the opening dream sequence, as I watched the pregnant girl (with an obviously fake stomach) getting all "emotional" and thanking the teacher for his help and that she will name the baby after him, "whether it is a boy or girl"...to be honest, the first time I saw the girl, I already kinda knew what was going to come.

I felt a sudden chill down my spine, as goosebumps apppeared.

Nicholas Lee. The days of "Under One Roof" is already over. Give it up. Acting as the vice-principal Jay Chow, I felt my desire to continue watching the show, plummet like a boulder dropped from the heights of the Himalayas mountain.

My sister, who was watching the show as well, stated that she "hated" him. More of his role actually. There's a certain level of fake that you can stoop down to.

Oh..what's more? A stereotypical fat boy whose mother is so obsessed about him, that she was allowed to attend school along with him, as well as calling him "boy boy" and buying him outside food?

Oh...for the record...the sponsored food that she carried into the school was NOT OBVIOUS at all. Sad how some shows had to resort to displaying their sponsors so prominently. A bit yes...but NOT SO OBVIOUSLY? I suddenly feel like having some 1A currypuff later...they are the best! (insert your tm, copyright, registered trademark crap here)

Remember "Always on your mind", the drama series about SARS, which starred Fann Wong?
I remembered a scene where the doctor collasped in the streets, and the drink that he was drinking, rolled dramatically away, displaying its contents and the "Jaja liang teh" logo. That was definitely not obvious as well.

Though "Holland V" was a good show, the drink containers in their Nasi Lemak shop...wasn't it chokeful of "ja ja liang teh" as well? At barbecue or party scenes, you would have Mo Wan Wan telling others, "nah,have a ja ja liang teh". Apparently the theme of the party is "ja ja liang teh", as everyone clearly showed that the words "plain water" do not exist in their vocabulary.

I mean...seriously...even "The Showdown" with their Burger King billboard right in the middle of an event..

Oh yes...where was I?

DID I MENTION FIRST CLASS FEATURES MARK ZEE AND JADE SEAH AS WELL?

My favourites=)

Seeing as I was re-reading The Deathly Hallows recently...I guess you can call them after characters in the book...Undesirable No. 1 and 2. Why not? It's a good match for the two of them. Seeing as I'm getting distracted by the Olympics, I can't really bear the thoughts of seeing her on screen everyday at 10 pm, althought the highlights would interest me.

You know what, let's not watch the daily highlights. Way TOO MUCH of Jade Seah for me. You know what. I am going to give her some credit. Presenting? Yea..I guess she would pass, since the script's prepared and all that. Acting? To use a popular Singaporean term, "cannot make it."

First Class.

Crass jokes ("Chicken wing! Chicken wing! 1 dollar!" auntie)

Horrible acting (featuring Shelia, the girl who won the second kids central one minute of fame or smth like that...hearing her voice just make me want to curl myself up and blast the television to pieces. She was just trying to act cute [ WHICH FAILED] with some kind of fake british accent or something, making her voice unnecessary high to the point of being plain torture just to hear it. Of course, the wonderful Jade Seah, who should win some sort of Asian TV award for best Comedic actress. I mean...seen the trailer? "QUIET! DO YOUR WORK!" even something simple like that...and she can't make it believable?)

Kinda reminds me of King Lear Project's "green shirt guy", whose line was just to say "Edmund is dead, my lord". The reason I called him that was because Thomson and I had met him before, at the setting up of the Singapore International Film Festival party.

If it's just a small part, at least make it believable. That's more for JS. The edmund guy did pretty ok, except I dunno why all of us just had a urge to laugh at him or something.

Especially Jake aka Jia Ming. He told me not to laugh and he was the one who always cannot resist doing that himself-.- The reason I laughed was because when someone usually laugh, it acts as some sort of trigger for me or something. Remember that time during the library cafe performance with the recorder performancers? Even if I find it only a bit funny, a laugh from others might just trigger me off.

Oh...and also sound effects. Comedies aren't meant to be a Bugs Bunny cartoon. If they are going for slapstick humour, it didn't work. Not at all. Just a urge to dunk their heads in the toilet bowl, especially Shelia with that false personality of hers.

My overall rating for Calefare: 3.5 to 4 out of 5 stars. Seeing Edmund Chen acting in a unlikely role was pretty amusing. Have to wait for future episodes to give a more accurate gauge.

My overall rating for First Class: 2 stars. Actually, to be honest, it's just one star. I'm just adding one star for the fact that Patrick Teoh is in it. I don't think that I will continue to watch this cringe-worthy show though. Sorry Mr Teoh. Let me know if you have other better projects in the future.

Seeing Patrick Teoh appear on the show, I felt compelled to tell him what I think of the it.

"Hi Mr Teoh, I'm here again. Pardon me for saying so...but to be honest, I find En Bloc to be of a higher quality compared to "First Class". I just feel the urge to cringe everytime I look at Jade Seah"

Due to space constraints, I added in one more sentence, "Hope you are well."

I saw his reply, which was barely 2 hours after mine.

"hi (insert name here). since i am a member of the cast i don't think it is right me to comment on the show in public la.LOL...Yes I liked En Bloc very much."

"But I guess there just weren't enough people in Singapore who shared my enthusiasm. Hahahaha. Thanks for watching."

Why was something like "First Class" shown on National Day, where high ratings can be definitely obtained, while "En Bloc" gets thrown aside, even though it's a good show? Some said, "meh, the En Bloc issue was so over ago." I say, it's because some people don't know the good stuff from the crap stuff.

Here's hoping for En Bloc season 2.

If there's a "First Class" season 2, someone please.

Restrain myself from making a crack in the wall, with all the headbutting that I am going to do.

A crack on the wall, or a crack on my head. That I would never know.

"Just a little kiss !"

2008-08-09T00:47:00.002+08:00

I found that, after all the Multi-cam experience, I have learnt how to understand multi-cam directing more.

Why. Take the pre-opening introduction show of Channel 5.

Featuring Mark Richmond, Jade Seah and some unknown chinese guy.

Let's check...I think his name is Paul Sng if i am not wrong...

Mark Richmond was caught looking into the wrong camera, before hastily correcting his mistake, maybe due to a signal by the floor manager or his noticing of the "on" light on the camera.

Afterwards, while Paul Sng was reading something out, the image suddenly switched to Mark Richmond lazing around for a bit. He looked surprised at seeing himself on the screen as his mouth opened and closed like a goldfish, with a look of mixed surprise and anxiety, before it was cut back to a 2 shot of Jade Seah and Paul Sng.

Guess even the pros mess up sometimes=/

Before, I also remembered the newscaster for Channel U's weekend show joking and laughing with the floor crew, slapping away at her knee.

Just a little question...why of all people...why JADE SEAH?

I find her irritating and plastic. My sister have the same opinion of her as well.

Her acting during "Beach,Ball, Babes" was "commendable". The two of us would then probably try to imitate her way of speaking and stiff movements.

"Why is she wearing that spectacles? It looks ugly. Are they trying to make her look cute or something? bleh"-my sister.

That was in reference to a "First Class" trailer. "First Class", in case you do not know, is this upcoming Channel 5 "comedy" which would be showing right after calefare. It is about this new teacher who had his dreams about teaching shatter, while Jade Seah acts as a "fierce" teacher who had a one-way affection for the new teacher.

Oh. Did i mention Mark Zee is making an appearance as the Physical Education teacher?

HOW EXCITING!

The guy who has been featured in print ads behind The New Paper for some sort of silm-down pills which had him acting as some sort of superhero, who fought some sort of cartoon villian called "doughtnut guy" or something like that, who have a 2000 lbs "Doughnut of doom" or something like that as his evil weapon or something like that.

The guy who outlived his 15 minutes of fame after the dismal "Eye for a guy", which should be themed "pick one out of the contestants and fake a relationship with him for a show in front of the camera and after a few weeks, break up with him" instead.

If I am not wrong, they had a second season, featuring Denise Keller.

What happened to the show winner Howard Lo? Same thing ain't it.

The Beijing Olympics opening ceremony was also quite spectacular, with Zhang Yimou's usual style shining through, with hundreds and thousands of extras...umm...I mean "performers" getting together, much like Zhang Yimou's films, like "Hero" and "House of Flying Daggers", with much emphasis on a lot of people and the use of vibrant colours.

The colours used for the "green light babies" did not sit too well with my sister though..as she felt the lights on the ground platforms were kind of like "disco lights"

My sister and mother both preferred a rather more "traditional" type of performance, voicing their disdain for some of the performances which involved anything to do with "techno".

For the Tai-chi performance, the initial rings of light made the tai-chi masters look like they are travelling in time, flailing their arms like they are falling through a time crack.

It was a suggestion which caused my irate sister to kick out at me.

There was a particular performance where they formed words, which kept rising and falling in level.

"Wow cool. How do they do it?"-My sister

"Probably technology"-My mom

"Nah...they have people inside and standing up and bending down. See their feets?" was my lazy reply

The two of them probably did not really believe me, until the performance ended, and all the performers suddenly popped out of their boxes and waved to the camera.

"How anti-climax!"-my sister.

Well...turned out that Singapore was the 188th country to march out..and there wasn't much shots...just a wide shot and a zoom-in on Lee Jia Wei. Meh.

It was around...10:58 pm I suppose?

I saw a few cases where the cameraman's thumb got caught inside the frame, leading to a blurry unidentified object.

The part where they lifted the former althele into the air to lit the torch was pretty corny though. My sister was laughing away as he went on a typical stereotyped martial arts-inspired "wall run", being chased by a scrolling parchment.

The announcer made the two of us laugh when he announced, "he's just a bit away! Just a little kiss!"

Overall, it was very elaborately planned.

Good luck to Team Singapore!

Good luck to all for our exams for the next couple of weeks!

Wrong usage

2008-08-08T23:49:00.002+08:00

Just a little bit of something from a game forum that I frequent.

"if i were to be so infamous like yours, my name wouldn't have imposers"

My reply: "I would like to question the meaning behind that sentence. Do try to use the dictionary if you are unsure of whatever word that you are using."

"The first... i was referring as an example. You not being active most of the while. Doing your studies or work. And i playing with the ___ community."

How does the "infamous" word apply to this?

My reply: "Infamous mean "being famous for something bad". If you wanted to use it in the context of me not being well-known, well, that was embarrassing. For me to watch...that is."

"Do you think i want to be in this spot? Why not ask this guy, why he didn't use your name? Accept the fact that i am slightly more active than you, after your laptop broke down.-story ends here- i played more, you played less."

This only served to confuse me more.

"And the infamous word....i take it back. Maybe you misunderstood it. As in non-active."

Apparently he thought that "infamous" implies either "not famous", or "not active".

My reply:

The standard "open with a quoted source" post

"Here is the definition of infamous from Dictionary.com

"1. having an extremely bad reputation: an infamous city.
2. deserving of or causing an evil reputation; shamefully malign; detestable: an infamous deed.
3. Law. a. deprived of certain rights as a citizen, as a consequence of conviction of certain offenses.
b. of or pertaining to offenses involving such deprivation."

As I said, if you do not understand the words at all, don't use it at all. I will only feel like a English teacher trying to correct a mistake my elementary school student made.

"Accept the fact that i am slightly more active than you, after your laptop broke down.-story ends here- i played more, you played less."

Since when was I bothered by the fact that I am not active?

Play more? Play less? Does that really make a difference?

Apparently you are stuck in some sort of delusion that I crave to be famous for some sort of weird reason. As I said, if you have some sort of idea that you are "famous", think again. You are rather more of a "infamous" type (used correctly in its context this time round), mostly for threads about every little thing and everyone that went against you. I'm rather satisfied with my status as a average joe. Thank you very much.

Thinking back about it, by using this sentence, you are actually proud that someone copied your name? lol. I will find it weird that anyone would want to copy my generic ign. By sticking to my original ign, what are the chances of someone copying my name? Your posts really lack logic sometimes.

"I play more, you play less"

Congrats. You win in terms of gameplay. Let's pop the champagne and celebrate into the night!

That was sarcasm in case you failed to recognise it, as with my first post.

As with your comment about "useless comments", my post is just to check against loopholes made by others. Feel free to do a check of my last few posts and see whether if they are made against comments pinpointed against me?

Just to remind you again...

infamous does not mean "not famous". Don't use it in your essays. Your teacher would have a laughing fit, as I did.

As I said, I am just commenting on comments people made about me. Feel free to ignore this and avoid being a flamebait by answering back without understanding what I am talking about in my post. The first post was made in jest. Sucks if you did not understand it and thought it was a flamebait that I made myself.

"Infamous" does not mean "not famous" or "not-active". Two totally different things. PLEASE. Do take note of that and avoid using it incorrectly.

I had a encounter with this guy. The first moment that I saw him, I knew straight away that it was an imposter. That was the viewpoint that I wrote my first post on. As I said, some of you are just harping too much about my post. Try to see it from another angle. Oh wait...forget it. You probably can't understand it still."

Ahh well.

I guess I was bored...that's why I bothered to reply to his posts, in between of watching the Opening ceremony and making random puns with my sister.

Oh wait. I kinda forgot them D=

Spiiiiiin

2008-08-06T00:34:00.002+08:00

Since I am bored and all, let's do one of those generic quiz thingies! Yay!

Link to the person who tagged you: _____________ (none...stole it off my sister's livejournal)
- Post the rules on your blog.
- Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
- Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.

1. Whenever I step off the bus at my bus stop, I will usually take care to avoid stepping on a particular step (of the steps leading upwards from the bus stop to the mama-shop) or something like that. Call it superstition if you like. I sometimes like to mix the combos together, thinking that, by doing so, I will probably have better luck the next day.

2. I usually make a beeline for the left-most seat at the back of the bus, unless I suddenly decide to sit another area of course. However, I get kinda pissed off when someone else that I do not know managed to get the seat ahead of me. I will probably scowl at them or something, then sit at the right-most seat if it's still available.
If I had a bad day, I will personally wait until I manage to get the seat, even if I had to wait for the next bus. It kinds of help to cheer me up a bit. If I am feeling on top of the world, getting that seat just serves to boost my emotions up a bit higher. Sounds stupid eh? Maybe...haha

3. I am a self-loather. Out of the photographs that I took, it will probably take around 20 photos before I find one that I like. To find one that I really like...a hundred or more? I personally think that I have a lot to do to improve my techniques...if you want me to give myself a actual rating...2/10? Truthfully, I think I'm only half-baked in the basics part, comparing to other classmates and friends that I know.

4. I like the cold. Someone had asked me previously...what is better? To die because of heat or because of coldness? The answer is quite obvious isn't it? The chill would be a much more peaceful way to leave the earth. I used to wake up sneezing away like there's no tomorrow...and a couple of hours later, I'm all fine and raring to go. Rainy days+the air-conditioning of the bus blowing straight into your face=Ahhh...

5. I dislike wearing glasses when I'm reading my comics...uh...I mean books. I can see quite clearly without glasses for a short distance...it's the long distance that is blurry for me

6. Personally, I like to keep a mental note of all the places that I have been to and the people that were there and reminisce about past events whenever I pass by the area again.

As with all of the other quiz thingies,just feel free to do it yourself.

If you are bored.

Like me.

Two more projects to go...and I am getting jumpy, as things are not really progressing as I would want it to be for a particular project...sigh.

YTFoooo

2008-08-04T01:09:00.003+08:00

Last Friday, after classes ended at around 6:45 pm, I hitched a short ride over to the Ang Mo Kio area to have my dinner.

Enter this food court, located at blk 727, which is right next to Courts.

Two of the stalls with noticably the longest queues are probably the Chai Chee Bak Chor Mee franchise and the yong tau foo stall.

Before I tried the ytf, I was hooked on to Chai Chee's fried dumpling noodles. Maybe it's because I have a preference for their noodle base, which contains quite a subtle hint of vinegar.

Actually, the main reason I ate here was because previously, I was exposed to it, after getting my work done with my project team at the AMK library. Three of us tried the noodles.

Wow. Not bad.

It was later, based on my project mate's recommendation, that I tried the ytf.

It was probably during the period of time when we were working on the PR report. 3 consecutive days of meeting up and working it out.

1st day. Chai Chee.

Second day. Initial tasting of the blk 727 ytf.

This brand goes by their signature "Ampang" sauce, as well as its soup base. The first time I tried it, I was literally bowled over by the hearty taste of it all...especially with a egg beaten into the soup...mmm.

The pieces are around 40 cents a piece, with laska gravy/ampang sauce and the noodle/rice at 40 cents apiece as well.

If you ordered it dry, and with rice,as well as the sauce,they give you the ingredients that you picked on a plate, a steamy bowl of rice, as well as a bowl of soup.

The third day, as I liked the taste previously, the two of us ordered the same thing again.

We ended our meeting earlier...it was around 11am I guess? Hmm...the essence of the soup was not really "captured" at that time yet...and to my surprise, I was not allowed to have the egg beaten into the soup, which they had done so the previous day=/

One of the ingredients that I picked...turned out to be fried cauliflower as well...yucks. My love for cauliflower is only average. In soup? Still passable. Fried? Dam.

So...last Friday marked the third time that I will be eating it again. During this period of time, whenever I felt like having ytf, I would eat at a stall in Yishun, which is pretty near Yishun's famous dessert stall at blk 928/927, which is behind the bus interchange.

6 selections and a bowl of rice/noodles and soup for $2.50...it's not bad...but...there's not really any sauce for me to savour it with. I like the seaweed soup though. Quite refreshing. Finish your meal off with a ice jelly cocktail from the mentioned dessert stall...and violia. One quite-happy ym. If only it's the ampang sauce...

Sometimes, I find it amazing something this plain:

Can change into something like this:

or this:

Your typical meal would look like:

Frankly, considering the time that I went there, I thought that, while the sauce still hits the spot, it's a bit watered down and lacked the "oomph" that it packed the first time I tasted it.

The soup also seemed to be a bit lacking. Not only did they give me only a half bowl of soup, their usual kick in the soup wasn't really there.

The offending party:

It wouldn't hurt if they used fresher garnishes as well. I hate having the taste of the soup affected by the garnish taste.

Ooh...something right out of school:

The two auto-focus shots..

Clear background

and focused foreground

Still have no idea how I did that with my crappy handphone camera..haha.

Well...every hawkers have their "on" and "off" day.

Just a random bit of info...the old airport road Nam Xing (Hougang) hokkien mee uncle was featured in today's Xian Zai ZB. It's about how the uncle along with a few other hawkers would have their recipes lost forever when they retire, as their children are unwilling to inherit the business. Foodies everywhere would moan=(

I tried going there one day, my first foray into the Old Airport road hawker centre. The place was huge and signboards were everywhere. I actually saw the stall itself but I wasn't sure if it was the right one, since my brains were all fuzzy that day.

Turned out it was the right one.

Except it was closed.

So my encounter with the legendary Hokkien Mee might have to wait another day T_T"

My mother mentioned that she tasted it during her childhood, when she was still living in Hougang. Fancy that. Legends shouldn't be forgottened.

Ah...where was I?

So anyway...on a good day, I would rate the yong tau foo as a 3.75/5. Although it's good, it's way kind of inconsistent for me to give a accurate rating. My advice would be to try it during the afternoon.

Maybe that is the period of time when the soup is at its best? The time when I first tasted it was around 2:15 pm, give or take a few minutes.

The fried dough fritter with fish meat inside was delicious though. I'm definitely going to add it to my bowl the next time I try it again.

So long...and good night...

Aftermaths of a project discussion meeting

2008-08-03T15:43:00.000+08:00

Of a typical movie review full of gibberish and more

2008-08-02T14:24:00.002+08:00

Hmm...I just watched Red Cliff yesterday and it's a retelling of the famous "Battle of the Red Cliff" from the Three Kingdom series.

Starring stars like Tony Leung and Takeshi Kaneshiro and directed by reowned Asian film-maker John Woo, I was expecting more.

Honestly...a lot more.

Firstly, a word of advice. The entire movie was split into two parts as it was too long and this is only part 1. So...if you are one of those who can't bear to pay $6 for a ticket, only to have a "To be continued" ending, stay clear of it.

$12 (student price@Cathay)for the entire movie? I'm not really sure if it is worth it, especially since I have just watched "Wanted" on Tuesday...and I can still feel the rush that it gave.

Red Cliff? Unfortunately no.

Takeshi to me, was ok with his character Zhu Ge Liang, who is the chief Army Strategist for Liu Bei's camp. It was also his lines that lead to the audience laughing at times, which is really quite few...but that's beside the point.

Yes...there's beautiful cinematography.

However, there are some scenes which featured a lot of civilian extras.

Too many, until I had a slight headache looking at them.

A case of less is more? I don't really think the usage of the mass extras were really efficient. Others might disagree with me...especially since I am comparing it to the scale of the LOTR battle scenes.

Zhou Yu's trusty general Gan (Shido Nakamura) seems to have only one expression pasted on his face for the entire length of the film, which is a mixture of a scowl and a snarl. I'm not saying that's how he looks like in real life, just that to me, h's only wearing one expression throughout the film.

The battle scenes were beautifully executed. In fact, the part with the Eight Triagrams (bagua) formation, was probably the favourite scene for all four of us guys. (SY, his DA friend Guo Hong and a classmate of theirs from secondary school)

Why couldn't there be more action sequence like the Formation battle? It's probably the letdown factor for me.

It's just like what Guo Hong said.

"It lacked punch."

I couldn't agree more.

Also, WHAT is with the excessive usage of "Dissolve" effects during the post production period?

Lin Chi Ling (acting as Xiao Qiao), as a newcomer, was hardly noticable. She did nothing to boost the film and her chemistry with Tony Leung was as dry as the Sahara Desert. Afterall, the main point of the movie is how Cao Cao started the wall because he lusted for her beauty.

If you ask me, from a neutral point of view, I think Lin Chi Ling is WAAAAAY overhyped. Why do I keep hearing her being mentioned in Taiwanese variety shows? I don't give a dam. Give me my mindless entertainment back please.

To add on to a point GH made...

There was a scene where Xiao Qiao exposed her stomach. True to GH's self, he joked that he would probably have given it a higher star rating if it was higher.

I find myself yawning at parts (maybe I didn't get enough sleep) and wishing that it would get to the next action sequence quickly.

You got to admit snapping off spears and thrusting it back into the bodies of their original owners was cool though.

GH and SY both felt that if the rating was NC16, they can get to show "the real stuff".

Frankly, I agree. However, I feel that it might affect their box office takings, as seen in the case of Warlords (I still remember the line..."qiang qian! Qiang liang! Qiang niang men!" which means "Steal their money! Steal their food supplies! Steal their women!")

As with other "epic China history" movies, there's of course the obligatory "Arrow shower" scene. An "epic China history" war movie isn't one without it...am I right?
From "Hero" to "Warlords" to "Curse of the Golden flower" ...which I might add...COTGF still have my favourite arrow rain/shower scene out of all the movies.

My rating? 3.5/5 stars. GH gave the same rating for it as well=O Frankly, I enjoyed "The Warlords" a lot more. The pacing is a bit suspect. Too draggy and not enough action scenes. Spreading it into two seperate movies isn't my idea of fun as well.

The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolution this ain't. At least those two had a proper ending. I left the theatre feeling sort of disatisfied.

Well...to be truthful, this movie trip was pre-arranged...on the day itself, my other classmates suddenly thought of going to watch "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor". I wanted to join them...but...since I had already arranged with the two...=/

We were actually debating over The Mummy and Red Cliff when we were queuing up for the tickets though...but since it had already gone past 2:45pm...

On the way back, SY and GH met another secondary school friend of theirs, who told them that someone he know rated "The Mummy" as one star. On Rotten Tomatoes, they rated it as "10% fresh". A friend of mine who have watched said that she thought it was quite funny though...so maybe it's worth a look?

Some of the other upcoming movies I am anticipating includes Royston Tan's 12 Lotus, The animation feature of Star Wars (I'm not that big a fan...but it looks quite nice...a different perspective of the Star War storyline? Bring it on=) ) and of course...the highly-rated Wall-E, which would probably make my lecturer burn several more holes in his pockets for the merchandise and the likes to please his son eh? =D

If anyone is up for watching any of these movies, don't hestitate to arrange some more movie outings eh? =D If there's any other recommended movies, do let me know as well.

Contrast

2008-07-30T16:19:00.002+08:00

Just a short filler post...

Two random pictures...

Same tree, two different perspectives.

Shall blog about my heritage weekend a couple of days later or so...not really in the mood right now =D

Song in my head

2008-07-30T15:23:00.000+08:00

One of my favourite songs ever since it was first introduced to me by a friend.

Here's the video, since it can't fit in the right sidebar.

I guess I shall stick with the Killers for my blog song for now.

From the Dark...

2008-07-22T16:27:00.001+08:00

My supposedly lonely trip to the theatre had to be changed.

With the inclusion of two fellow common movie enthusiasts who hopped in for the ride that is.

I just arrived at school for the feedback thingy (which is absolutely useless by the way) and bumped into the two of my friends by accident. I didn't even really notice that the one sitting at the computer next to mine was my classmate.

Well...so after I collected my "Wanted" pass from Azhar, we were pondering about where to go....so....the cinema...heck...why not?

THe three of us watched the 12:30 pm slot and wow, amazing is the word to describe it.

I admit that I thought the movie was being overhyped a bit, especially with the unfortunate passing of Heath Hedger.

The action was amazing and the audio effects shocked me at some points of the movie.

Gary Oldman, Christian Bale , Heath Ledger and Morgan Freeman all put in an amazing performance...

and is there anyone who don't love the armoured Batmobile?

I like how I couldn't guess how long the film was running at different intervals. The plot just keeps on developing and developing and it was interesting the way the Joker traded barbs with his opponents.

If you haven't seen it, what are you waiting for? Go catch it.

My ratings: Easily 5 stars. Enjoyable. You probably wouldn't feel any cognitive dissoance for this one.

Regarding the hype surrounding the calls for Ledger to get a posthumous nomination for an Oscar.

If he was alive, I would definitely agree. However...posthumous? Does it really matters that much? Who will appreciate it? His kids? While the gesture is done in goodwill, wouldn't you agree that there are others out there more deserving of a shot at the coveted top prize of Acting?

Just remember him. The splendid performance that he gave. That alone should be enough.

Oh....and another thing...

Why so serious?

Will write for free shirt

2008-07-21T01:25:00.003+08:00

The shrill ringing of the alarm roused me up like a rude slap to the face.

My handphone alarm.

ME?

The legendary guy who can't even be woken up by 3 alarm clocks, countless shakings by my mom and the occasional loud roars by my dear sister telling me that it's late and I need to get up.

Oh...but I was feeling sick the day before...and try as I might, I couldn't even finish that night's Animania, which featured Shakugan No Shana and Zero No Tsukaima: Princess No Rondo.

I kept nodding off and despite my efforts, the guardians of slumberland hauled me away.

Before that, it was more or less the same thing. I tried signing in to MSN as I kept nodding off. Several friends asked me how I was feeling...thanks for the concern=)

If it was back at my Secondary school, if you are sick, or most specifically, me, they would just bang hard on your table or something childish like that, hoping that the mild tremors they causedwould add on to the headache.

Such a difference between Secondary school and Poly eh?

So anyway...the computer (yes...the home one...) was in my parents' room. After someone asked something, I would reply, then I would flop back onto my parents' bed like a dead fish, then the MSN alert tone that you and I are so familiar with would jolt me back up again, with my expression like this:

It lasted only for a split second though.

When I reach the monitor, my expression was probably like this:

or this

Anyway, I "loss conscious" out of my own will at around 11:20. NEW RECORD!

Any messages that I did not reply, my apologies.

The next day, at 6 am, (which was last Friday by the way), after giving my handphone alarm the knockout, my sister came into the room and hurled me with a blast of "YOU DIDN'T TURN OFF THE COMPUTER WHEN YOU FELL ASLEEP!"

Yea...so...

My dad tapped me on the shoulder and told me, "today's New Paper have arrived. Your sis and I are setting out. Cya."

Normally, I would be up and jumping at it. However, I just mumbled a "hmm? mmm...bye..." without really opening my eyes.

It was around 8 am or so before I really woke up for a while...before heading back to bed.

When I finally begin to read that day's copy of The New Paper, I resisted the temptation to flip to the back immediately.

Slowly and slowly.. (flip, flip, flip,flip,flip)

Page by page.. (flip, flip, flip,flip,flip)

Gently and most deliberately.. (flip, flip,RIIIIIP, flip,flip)

Then I saw the New Paper postman (TNP postman) section.

Oh...they published my view.

At that time, I wasn't really fully awake yet.

Then I thought...

"Hooray"

Then I went back to sleep.

How nice. This is the first time I am writing in and they are already publishing my view.

I guess it also doesn't hurt that the seven people who managed to get their views published get a small token from July's sponsor Diadora =P

It helps a bit with coping with the disappointment of not winning Channel 5's online contest=/

A picture of the sponsored prizes. No. I wouldn't be getting the shoes, but I will be getting a polo T-shirt and shorts. Just nice for future Jersey Days eh? If only a football was also included...

To think my MSN nick used to be "will work for shirt" eh? Back when Thomson and I helped to set up the Singapore International Film Festival party @ Loof bar.

Seeing your name in the newspaper+token gift+hopefully-extra-credit-from-your-journalistic-writing-lecturer?

*cough*

I haven't been really doing so well for this module. Meh=/

That's beside the point for this post though.

Although it was published, it really suck when they have to condense and edit what you typed when your view was not chosen as the letter of the week.

This can lead to a sentence like "I believe there will be unrest in the locker room and Chelsea will miss Lampard if he leave".

No matter how I read it, it seems sort of weird to me.

Maybe a "that" after the "and" might help a bit...

"I believe there will be unrest in the locker room and that Chelsea will miss Lampard if he leave". Sounds a bit better, wouldn't it? Maybe it is just me...

The winner for this week was really good in his assessment though.

Here's my view that I submitted. There was another one, but this got chosen.

"If you ask me, out of the four clubs, Chelsea and Man United are the two clubs that are going to be affected the most.

In terms of challenging for trophies, Christiano Ronaldo has been slamming in the goals, while Frank Lampard has always been a vital cog in Chelsea's midfield.

However, it would be hard to trust Ronaldo to reduplicate his form of last season, even if he did stay on. Man United should just cash in on a want-away "slave" whose greedy heart yearn for "greener" pastures.

On the other hand, Frank Lampard, although not as prolific in terms of goals, was an important and integral part of the Chelsea team, even more so than what Michael Ballack or Essien could contribute.

Lampard's name have been associated with Chelsea's name for a few years now and for the title of "Mr Chelsea", he would definitely put up a good tussle with John Terry for it.

Man United can always depend on other players to bang in the goals, but to the Blues, they will definitely miss Lampard more in terms of teamwork and long-term contribution to the club."

Maybe I focused on these two a bit too much=/ I shall try to explore more angles another time...

Thomson said that he's going to write in too and challenge me.

=)

Bring it on.

Oh Juliet, oh Juliet...bu yao tuo ni you dai shui...

2008-07-17T03:00:00.001+08:00

It's strange...here I am, trying to type something up for Juliet...while at the same time, I can't resist pressing the Alt Tab buttons, switching from the sad little piece of document to a blog.

Not just any blog.

XX? Can't really stand her bitchy ways...

KS? His blog is a good read...but it's getting more and more commercialised with each passing day...

Presenting to you....

ieatishootipost!

Most of you might have already heard of him. To be honest, I only came across his blog when I was googling "Mr Wong's Seremban Beef Noodles".

It's amazing how many blog posts about food you can browse through when you are totally bored with project work.

One post at a time...

Tian Tian chicken rice. Mutton bone marrow soup. Marine Parade's wet kuay teow.

Omg...I suddenly feel myself feeling more and more hungry...and you know what? I'm currently tuned in to Channel 8 as part of "research".

A cooking show.

GAWD.

Don't you find it weird how some random teenage guy can just suddenly think about food at...2 am?

I have such a urge to hop into Bus Service 76 after school, go all the way to Old Airpot Road and sample their Hokkien Mee that Dr Leslie Tay and other foodies deemed a "makansutra legend".

Quite frankly, my choice of comfort food have been quite limited. It's either Queensway's Curry Chicken Rice, Mr Wong's Seramban Beef Noodles at Marine Parade Food Centre and maybe Yishun central's dessert, 925 Chicken Rice and 928's Xiao Chi Laska. Other than that, just basically Mee Siam and Bee Hoon with vegs, taiwan sausage and a fried chicken wing? On other days...I usually buy economic rice back for dinner...that's about it.

I definitely need to broaden my horizons eh? Especially with so much good food that I haven't tried...

Well...I shall see how it goes tomorrow...

OLD AIRPOT ROAD HOKKIEN MEE! I'M COMING FOR YOU!!!

Yea...don't mind this post...I'm in a bit of a stupor right now due to the hungriness...

Famous Amos anyone?

2008-07-15T23:07:00.002+08:00

Anyone want to buy some cookies or chocolates?

My friend is doing some personal selling for her module.

Do let me know if you need any of the above. I will then convey the message to her.

Thanks!

P.S. Cakes are included too. Anyone celebrating their birthday soon? You know where to find your cake...

Notice:

2008-07-14T01:01:00.002+08:00

Just a short plug for your help here.

I was planning to do some random thoughts post, but I guess I will leave it until another day or so.

Help my group out and go to http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/56387/mediacorp-channel-8 to answer a few simple questions.

Also, if you are a NYP student, and you are planning on buying something from OTHER THAN Cheers and the bookstore, help my friend out wouldn't you?

She's Hui Jia, my friend whom I sat beside with for the entire period during Primary 5

She's currently having her attachment and this is one of their tasks.

Applicable to Giordano, PrettyFace, Fusion, Friendz, Valueshop, and the Bazaar, all you have to do is to ask the cashier to key in her admin number, which is 072952R, on to the receipt.

I will then keep and pass it to her.

Thanks for helping! If anyone have a receipt to drop off, they can contact me personally or through either the "comments" or the tagboard.

Of a typical Monday and stuff

2008-07-07T23:44:00.002+08:00

Happy Birthday Azzie!

Also known as our lecturer Mr Azhar...

Right...so today...we suddenly realised Edwin's lecture was a E-lecture.

BANZAI!

So...we got a couple of hours to do anything that we wanted to...such as going home...etc etc.

Well...my original interview was scheduled at 3...so I'm able to move it up =D

Anyway..my many thanks to Sharon for landing me her friend Melissa as a interviewee.

I think I should be able to start on writing tomorrow...too exhausted for today...

Hmm...after that...went around NYP's shopping arcade for a while with a friend,deciding on what to buy as a token of appreciation for Ms Anne Heu, the production manager who helped us with our group interview a couple of weeks back.

At the same time...also claimed my "Duffy CD gift pack"...

...well...other than Duffy's Rockferry...to be frank...I am quite disappointed...3 other CDs of unknown singers...and they seem to be from a while back...I was expecting Maroon 5, One Republic, MCR or something to accompany Duffy's Rockferry=/

A photo that I just took...time=11:44 pm

BBC's The Blue Planet (Music by George Fenton from the BBC TV series),Meat Loaf's Bat Out Of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose? Sounds like screamo to me...one of the songs...In the land of the pig, the butcher is king? *Dazed*

and Noisettes "What's the time Mr Wolf"?

o.0

Well..if the accompanying CDs are something like that...I would rather win a slingbag or something from 987 FM=P

Greedy? Well...maybe...

After that, it's another series of long bus rides as I travelled to Queensway for some Curry Chicken Rice.

I like their Curry...but their rice can be improved....by a lot. Heck. I think the rice that I cooked myself is better than theirs.

Afterwards, during my bus ride on Service 195, I heard two boys daring each another to "press the buzzer"

This is what I heard...

Boy A:"Press the buzzer and you are a man!"
Boy B:"If you are so man you press the buzzer la!"
Boy A:"You press then I press lor"
Boy B:"You don't press then you are a zar-bor (woman)!"

They got off at Tiong Bahru Plaza and I gave them a sidelong glance, the two of them, wearing loose fitting yellow clothing and looking fittingly like two delicious little banana muffins...okay...maybe I am lying about the delicious part..

As they got off, I heard them still going on about it..I saw one of the taller boys eyeing the buzzer as he got off, covering his hand with it and giving a sideway nod at the boy next to him.

"Get off must press buzzer har"

People are so easily amused these days isn't it?=/

Made my first forray into Bugis Street afterwards...yup...and I barely made it out alive D=

Too bad I'm broke now...especially with waiting for the Trade-In period for Acer, which is around the end of August...can't capitalize on the GSS...repairs would cost $460 and trade-in is around 300-700...they better bloody hell charge me the lesser amount...

I HAVE TO GO THAT LONG WITHOUT MY LAPTOP? OH NOES!

Dang. It sucks having to use a home computer with 256 mb of RAM. It's so fast it's amazing.

Meh...and with one 3D game's Closed Beta coming...

A archer video

The Curry Chicken rice was lunch. Afterwards, made my way back to Tiong Bahru for some 178 Lor Mee...and some of my classmates claim I don't eat...heh=X

Taken last week, after I visited Acer to hopefully "fix" my laptop.

You know you want it...

By the time I got back to my nearest interchange, it was already around 8 pm.

I'm going have to try to rest early for today...and be up and ready for tomorrow...and start working on my feature report.

Until then, cya.

Guess what

2008-06-29T15:41:00.006+08:00

Yep...that's what happened=/

MY LAPTOP IS SCREWED! WAHAHAHAHAH

I can't even start it...

Guess I have to send it for repairs now...

Will all of my data be lost? Most probably...ahh well...

It had to happen with all those project deadlines coming up too...hopefully...it will be fixed soon?

It had to happen just after the warranty expired as well...go figure.

A large portion of my pay for King Lear might go to waste ._.

It's a conspiracy...I swear.

If it's pictures you seek, it's pictures you get.

2008-06-23T00:22:00.003+08:00

I suppose I can post a few up...but not too many...regarding The King Lear Project...most are just random shots...

National Library at Victoria Road...

The theatre on the outside

Inside the theatre

Our verification pass

Waiting for our cue

Where we usually go for lunch and dinner (Bras Basah Complex)

Going home

King-Learian Idol?

I have some more pictures...let's see....5...10...20....50...100+? =P

Considered quite few though... *says the guy who took 690+ pictures during the filming of "Here" D=

Disclaimer: Some of them are quite blurry though...[Jon (the production manager) managed to snap two eerie pictures including one of a figure which seem to be a little boy dressed in blue...standing at the end of the corridor when in reality...there was no one there...and one given to him by the lights gaffer, who took a picture of a empty room with a mirror in it...there was a shadow in the mirror...but there was no one standing in place of where the shadow is...]

I couldn't show the rest...as I am practicing self-censorship=P

Yea. That was a lousy attempt.

Well...if I posted them up, Fran would probably come charging towards my house, kidnap me and grill me over a barbercue or something D=

It's getting late..I should be going off...back into the world of PROJECTS!!!

Oh...don't we love them? =)

Nothing shall come of nothing

2008-06-19T19:00:00.001+08:00

Last week, over a period of 4 days, I landed myself a stage hand role in Ho Tzu Nyen/Fran Borgia along with Mel, Thomson,Andrea and Vanessa. My fellow co-workers on the feature film "Here".

For "Here", Ho Tzu Nyen was the director, while Fran, the founder of Akanga Films, took up the role of the producer.

The four of us received a phone call from Karen, who is in charge of logistic matters over at GSM media, asking if we would fancy the roles.

They were looking for 8 people in total, so they roped in...

Safith, Jia Ming, Issac, Darren.

For our first briefing, we headed to Lasalle College of the Arts, where they are undergoing rehearsals.

To be honest, it was my first time there and the unique shape of it mesmerized me for quite a while.

The others came shortly after and we were introduced to James Page, the set director. After a short debrief, we are free to go, but not before Fran said pointly to me: "No cameras allowed".

I could swear his eyes were looking straight at me-.-

As for Monday night, we met at the Drama Centre theatre over at the National Library off Victoria Road...bascially just to test if we can lift the weights and what's not.

Well...then the four days started...13.5 hours....I would be lying if I say that it is not exhausting=P

Anyway...for Tuesday...we practiced a bit of setting up for Wednesday Night's performance, which involved setting up three different sets for the performance....King Lear as God, as Madman and as Everyman.

On the night of the 1st performance, it all went quite smoothly, which I am glad.

The second didn't seem as smooth sailing as the first though...but thankfully the strong performance by the crew pulled the whole thing through.

The third night...well...all of us had quite a easy job, which is to clear the stage, in charge of the stretchers carrying King Lear's three daughters.

Patrick, the Art director we were under for the film project, came down to watch us on Wednesday and Friday, so did Jon, the production manager for "Here", who came down on Friday.

Heh...kind of miss working with them...

Well...not saying that the theatre crew aren't good...but...they are not as interactive as Patrick, Jon and the rest?

Lu, the stage manager for King Lear, was friendly to us.

Can't say the same for Evelyn the production manager though...her voice impressions just give me the creeps.

James...well...he is a nice guy....but he's a bit isolated from us...whenever we are waiting for the next scene, he would just sit in the wheelchair by himself and play Tennis on his handphone-.-

Jed (or jack, or w/e)...hmm...Mr Rudeness personified?

He have more experience compared to us...I don't deny that. His personality though, leaves much to be desired. Let's see...he would always tell us to use our "common sense"...and I can hear his voice dripping with oiliness everytime he told us that "it's better to be slow than to injure yourself. Your safety is more important." Sure...it's true...if only he can be more convincing...he wouldn't win any academy award for that. Also, as Issac mentioned, he once wanted to ask for three stage hands, instead he said: "Can I have three shits to help me?"

He later then corrected it, saying, "you guys are not the shit, I am the shit ok?"

What a way to mark his professionalism. Applause!

The problem is, all of us heard his first sentence.

I also remembered during rehearsal for the setting up of the collapsible blocks, he came over and told me with a pissed face that I was at the wrong position and asked me to go to the other side. In fact, I was standing at the right position. Wow. He's a genius.

The other time, we were preparing the plastic sheets used for the storm scene and he had just cut off a part of it. Expecting him to hand it to me to throw it away, he just looked me in the eye and threw it to the ground.

For the stretcher rehearsal scene, he was at the leading stretcher and he was supposed to be the cue for the rest of us to move on. He made a mistake as someone had not finished his lines yet. He just got down again and pretended like it wasn't his fault, causing the director to point it out to us.

Ahh well.

The cast were totally awesome though.

For the first night, we had Ramesh Panicker, K. Rajagopal and Gerald Chew (best known to us as the vice-principal of the Moulmein high school series) acting as King Lear in the respective God/Madman and Everyman scenario

In the three daughters, we have Tan Kheng Hua (Phua Chu Kang's Margaret Phua) as the eldest Goneril, Janice Koh as Regan the second daughter, and Oon Shu An, who appeared in Becoming Royston, whom all of us agreed that she is hot as well =D

Ho Tzu Nyen and Fran Borgia invited back quite a few of the cast for Here as well, mainly as audience members who are planted into the audience themselves.

Well...overall...it was exhausting but fun nontheless.

I got to mingle with a few other coursemates, although I tend to be a bit of my usual self sometimes=/

Ramesh revealed to us that he runs a media company and that he only act in theatre every 1-2 years. We are invited to send in our resumes to him =D

After Friday's performance ended, I stayed back for a while, helping Andrea and Vanessa to pack the "Giant Sausage".

"Kinda like scooping popcorn" They said.

There was even a humongous inflatable ball in it o.0

I wonder which part of the sausage was it used for...Lu was kind enough to give it to Jon, who took it home to use as a seat

It was past Midnight and although there's a party, most of the other stage hands had already gone home.

Special thanks to Jon, who sponsored Van and me a trip home =D

Pictures? Well...I have some...but I don't think I can post it up here D= They will most likely remain in my own private cache though...

After the night's performance and while they were waiting for a taxi, I could sense Fran's eyes boring their way into my camera, resulting in me getting nervous and capturing yet another bad shot D=

School's gonna restart soon....but I am looking forward to the next project with Tzu Nyen/Fran/Karen and Co. ...if they decide to hire us back.

Jam n' Hop

2008-06-09T16:03:00.002+08:00

Jam N' Hop 08 for NYP took place on the 23rd of May.

My meeting for Edwin's PR project ended and after a bowl of Yong Tau Foo (didn't taste as good as usual..the two of us must have came too early), I headed to NYP via the bus.

What's with the crowd?

It's little girls singing!

Well anyway...turns out I arrived there much more earlier than I anticipated...so...I hid outside A322A, occasionally hearing some of the graduates having a hearty time and what's not, check my email
and forum on my laptop

Right-o...back to the main stuff.

MJ was setting up the audio and stage along with Jack, Ida and Olivia.

Safith was also there along with his band Trella and soon afterwards, Void Deckz, a band making their debut performance, was the first to sound-check, followed by Trella. At around 7:45 PM, people are starting to stream in

Let's get the party started

Some behind-the-scene shots

Writing thank you notes to the band

Dicki

Mia. Chief photographer for the SU group

"What? Another picture?"-Dicki

DJ Sha, the guy who got everyone moving to his playlist, which included "all the small things" by Blink 182, "Nasty Girl" by Nitty, "Please don't stop the music"-Rihanna, "Helena" by MCR and of course...the ever so popular "Low" by Flo Rida -.-

I also saw Pei Jun, Jia Xin, Sean , Beatrice, Mel and Jen, as well as Haikal.

Fun with light sticks

Dicki made ^. I have nothing to do with it.

On the way to the MRT

In order to thank me for coming down, I was awarded with "The Glowstick of Honour"

The Glowstick of Honour =D

Ahh well...that's all for now...got to head off to the National Library at Victoria Street.

For those of you who are not aware, Mel, Thom and I and some previous colleague at the film production team are going to help out as stage hands at the upcoming King Lear drama production at the Drama Centre Theatre at the third floor.

Come down and support us if you have the time (and maybe money) to=P

Cheerio.

Off to catch my direct bus from the Yishun MRT.

Bus pass rules D= (Says the cheapo in me)

Before I go...

2008-06-04T01:06:00.003+08:00

I suddenly remembered something.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CINDY!

Yup...my sister's birthday just passed...it was on the 3rd of June.

She's offically 16 now. No more worrying about those NC16 shows...(next target: M18)...and no...cindy isn't already her real name as well. Add a sin in place of the last part of my name and there you go.

She gets a lot less teasing from others of being from China as well.

I swear people keep asking me..."Are you from China?" "Your surname is Yuen so your name is Mun is it?"

Blah.

Bloody irritating. It's irritating when my name get pronounced as "Yuen moon" as well.

Guess it can't be helped.

Anyway I am digressing away from the main topic here.

She currently studies at St Nick Girl School (which is located quite near to NYP)...and her O levels are drawing ever so nearer.

According to her teachers, she should have no problem making it into a JC...haha...she told me that she might be aiming for Victoria JC though...isn't that a bit far from where we live?

Well...I don't really know if I have been a good enough brother...but I definitely know that I have a uncanny ability to piss her off time to time though.

Here's to a lot more years ahead as siblings =D

She got a T-shirt featuring her favourite korean boyband DBSK from her classmates X.x

Woah...haha...I'm just gonna wait until the holiday starts for me before bringing her to buy the DBSK CD that she has been eyeing.

*poke my partially empty wallet*

._.

1 down, 2 to go

2008-06-04T00:53:00.004+08:00

Ahh. 1 ICA test done and dusted with.

Two more to go though.

For me...uhh....guess the test is about ok for me...even though I seem to crap a lot at certain questions. Internal/External validity?
Hope that I got the answers right...

Hmm...my Edwin "1 page" reflection ended up as 4 pages +++.

1152 words =D

I had typed my draft on my laptop beforehand, and printed it out, before copying it into a newly purchased foolscap booklet.

I am not kidding when I said that it feels my hands are going to go numb. Ahh...submitted to Edwin himself...also included a "typed copy" just in case if my handwriting is too "scribbly" for him. Was about to message Beat when I received a call from SY asking about the reflections.

Took the bus back...and brought myself a bowl of Yishun laksa =D

I have no idea why...but I had a craving for it for quite a few days now...and it was closed yesterday ._.

After our ICAs end for this week, I would probably head down to Marine Parade food centre to grab myself another bowl of Mr Wong's Seremban beef noodles.

Queensway Shopping Centre's curry chicken rice hits the spot as well though...I suspect they recognise me by now...the one who always order a plate of curry chicken rice as well as the coconut drink..

Well...excuse me for this feeble attempt of a post. I should really go and get some sleep...maybe I might be the first one to arrive for class?

Haha...I will leave the less mundane posting for another day.

Nights....*nods off*

A quick note

2008-06-03T01:05:00.002+08:00

I know I said I will update on the Jam n' Hop...but looks like it might have to wait another three days or so, when our ICAs are all over (for this term at least).

Right now I am trudging my way towards my few sheets of notes for Juliet's...but frankly, I think my bedsheets look more appealing to me.

I am currently typing up the draft for my reflections for Edwin's E-lecture as well...why we have to write it by hand is beyond my comprehension...especially since I REALLY REALLY REALLY think that a neat typewritten copy is so much better than my horrible scribble.

My opening is looking good so far. Shown it to two of my friends and their reactions were "ARE YOU FREAKING SERIOUS?" and "you are going to over-write you know".

=D

The same happened for my movie review and reflections for a guest lecture (ironically Ms Juliet Ng's).

1,600+ words.

For each.

More might not represent more marks...but what the heck...it gives me a sense of satisfaction when I finally finished typing up a bunch of stuff.

This should not have applied for my journalistic writing ICA though ._.

502 words...over the word limit by 252 words...hoo boy...I am going to get so screwed.

I wonder how did I manage not to read that sentence in the first place...

Ahh well...I should be going off...good luck to all for the triple bonzana ahead.

YAHTAC

2008-05-28T22:10:00.003+08:00

One thing I am puzzled about...is how some organization tend to be ever so rigid and stubborn about their so-called "policies".

It's just a few months. The "NC16,M18, R21" policy should just be based on the year itself shouldn't it? What a stupid rule.

Imagine someone born in January and someone born in December. The January person managed to get some tickets and wanted to invite his friend to watch a movie.

But wait! The friend is unable to watch because his birthday is still a few months away!

If you ask me...it's just...really retarded.

If you are born in 1990, then you are legal to watch M18 movies. That's that. Shouldn't it be that way?

Why do they have to require people to have "CELEBRATED" their birthdays? Do the movie viewers gain a few maturity points once their birthday reaches?

On the day of my birthday, I felt exactly the same as I did at the start of January, which was 3 months before April. Do I feel any thing special when I turn 18?

Level up?

+Int
+Ability to understand M18 movies?

I don't really think so. Totally bull**** if you ask me. MDA should just switch it according to year...that make more sense shouldn't it?

Why...what kind of technological age are we living in right now?

People as young as 13 or 14 have the tool we call the "Internet".

Show them a M18 movie and they would probably scoff at how tame it is.

The issue could be resolved if the tickets could be exchanged...but no...they said: "It was issued by HP so you will have to approach them directly"

Sure...I would...if there's already a HP ticketing booth right next to them!

Where in the blazes should I go to find the PR person for HP and exchange my tickets?

Furthurmore, if they had already exchanged the ticket, I would have purchased a couple more tickets for the "PG" show.

If I am to retain the M18 tickets, there's no point buying tickets for a PG show would it? Afterall, the aim is for me and my friends to WATCH TOGETHER isn't it?

Well...company policies...sure...I would be more convinced if the ticket collectors did not tell me that they "close one eye" on the "few months" issue.

Ahh...sorry for digressing too much here...

Sorry to all those that I have to turn down, after I asked you guys to come along in the first place.

I will blog about Jam n' Hop maybe a couple days later or so...after we are done with the ICAs=/

Journalistic writing...heh...there's really still a lot for me to learn...hopefully I wouldn't screw up..I already did so for my first 3 exercises...

Multi-cam...a tough pickle...it will only get harder from now on=/

Ending with a random thought:

You know the teenage boys dressed in a black and red SMRT T-shirt at the different bus interchanges throughout Singapore?

I wonder if they do any real work at all? From what I see, they just spend their typical working day walking from one end of the interchange to the other, sitting on the rails and either check their SMS or talk to each another.

I wonder what's the pay like. If it's $5 an hour and above, I wouldn't mind working part-time over there during my holidays.

Getting paid to do nothing? Who wouldn't want that?

I can walk, I can check my SMSes (although there's really nothing to check), I can sit on the railing all day. Look at me! I can be a SMRT part-time employee! (Hey! It ryhmes!)

That was me trying to be sarcastic...for those who can't figure it out. Or maybe I just plainly fail at it.

Until then, cheers.

Don't really mind me...it's just kind of a tiring day...with all the traveling and what's not.

(10 am) YCK-> (12 noon) Dohby Ghaut-> (2 pm) Boon Keng MRT-> (3:35 PM) Marine Parade (mr wong's seremban beef noodles+catching up with old Popular colleague)-> (6 PM) Queensway (I love their curry chicken rice...did I mention it already? I need all of the comfort food I could get with being so frustrated at the way things operate at YAHTAC. You probably know which organization I am talking about.

Again, sorry to all those whom I had to turn away..really sorry.

Here I am...

2008-05-12T04:13:00.018+08:00

It's 4:13 AM right now...

I know I should be getting to sleep...but I can't really fall asleep you know? Being the nocturnal being that I am=/

I will probably appear as a a zombie the very next day at school....but whatever...haha.

First of all, congrats to both Liana and MJ turning legal=P

Kudos to the planning team for the party last Friday over at the Pitstop Cafe.

To be frank, it's my first time there...and well, it seems like a very cosy place to be.

A bunch of us (around 8) sneaked away from school, citing "going home" as a excuse.

Hmm...the route there seems very familiar...ahh...the Electrical company that Shane and I went to was just across the street from where the cafe was.

Flashback: "Hi aye yi aye! I'm a little butterfly!" top 20 techno music was blaring in the background as the person in charge gave Shane, Porkie and me forms to fill up.

So...what are you interested in learning?

"Meeting up with people"

"Learning how to improve on communications"

The person then turned to me...

"And you?"

"Huh? Uh...I have no idea...media?"

Ahh well...sorry for being irrelevant there.

As soon as we heard MJ was approaching, all of us edged closer to the doorway.

MJ poked his head in, looking very blur, as poppers and party string rained down on him in torrents.

I was pretty surprised he really didn't suspect anything...lol

Anyway, seems like Fish and Chip and Chicken Chop with Teriyaki Sauce are the top favourites from the menu.

I had the pepper steak though. It's pretty good, although some others said it's quite chewy while the one sitting next to me couldn't stop praising it...haha.

We had a mini food exchange there and before long, it was time to play the board games.

Imagin (Correct game title please? I kinda forgot X.x). Some sort of "Personality" type of quiz maybe? In a oval shaped "player" land, names are written inside each sections. The players take turn to throw the dice and based on the amount of dice points, they would have to move from the "Start" position to the players.

Once the "Game token" lands on a player's name, the one who threw the dice need to pick out a card and read.

For example: If _____ was a school lesson, which one would he/she be?

You are supposed to insert the player's name inside the empty blank and read it out, a total of 6 different choices.

Each participating members have 6 cards of one colour to choose from, for the option that they think will most probably be the most popular answer, often with amusing results.

Our two game marshalls, Zed and Winston, are very sporting and friendly. Zed had quite a few girls swooning over him though...hahaha =P

Ida also surprised MJ with a couple of his friends from Church and before long, it was time to cut the cake.

Cue mass phototakings and stuff.

I was using my handphone camera and most were sneak shots...so the end results are pretty blurry...sorry about that...not to mention my handphone ran out of space-.-

Still adapting to using it=/

I will try harder next time >.<"

Khad, Joyce, and Nissa shot most of the photographs though. I suspect there will be a mad rush for them once they are ready =P

I haven't seen the pictures taken by the others except for some of Khad's...and they simply look amzing...sad to say that I don't really have any of my own photos to contribute...sorry to disappoint you guys...

Tucked away at a corner

It's Right up here!

Up where? Gulp...this long flight of stairs?

Let's get the party started

Known in card games as a set. The Diamond, Clubs, Hearts, and the grumpy one D=

Game on!

What? Are you kidding me?

Lost...anyone?

There's a saying. If it is delicious cake, you must eat it.

"Rawr!!! FOR SPARRRRRRRRRTA!"-MJ

2/3 Darlings

"I gave my love for you, it's all I wanna do, everytime I dream I feel brand new."

Lol. Just joking.

Ice lemon tea? Green tea? Peach tea? We report. You decide!

Lights out=)

Iron man

2008-05-07T00:21:00.002+08:00

Yup...so today, I headed down to AMK Hub to watch Iron Man, since the hype's all around and I can't really resist it=P

I watched the 4:15 slot and if you ask me, there aren't really a lot of other people around...mostly guys...haha...afterall...it's a action flick.

The plot basically goes like this: Tony Stark, owner of Stark industries, a leader in weapons technology, was captured by some terrorists. Ordered by them to build Stark Technology's latest weapon the "Jericho Missile".

However, he lied to them and together with the help of a fellow captured engineer, he build a crude armour and managed to escape successfully.

Realizing how his weapons were hurting people, Tony Stark decided to end his weapon supplmentation once and for all, leading to a media frenzy. During his self-imposed period, he continued to modify and test out the armoured suit that he's developing, stating that he wants to use it to destory all Stark Industries weapons owned by Terrorists.

However...he did not realise that his prototype of the suit was recovered from the sands...and it landed in the hands of evil...

I, for one, enjoyed the movie immensely, especially with all the special effects CGI and stuff. They said it's a man's romance to wear armour you know...^^ probably explains why Tony's long time friend Lt Colonel James Rhodes...

Well...even if it's a show geared more towards boys, I feel that everyone will definitely enjoy it=P

Just one reminder: remember to stay back after the credits for the Stinger, which gave a slight hint into the next Iron Man sequel, due to be out in around 2010.

A look back

2008-05-06T08:02:00.003+08:00

At the first week...

A bit delayed..but yea...haha.

Well...on Monday...I got to school at 9:40 am...and it turned out that Gimz' lessons were cancelled...so it's off to the library...where I stayed with a few other classmates, who also got tricked...and our next lessons was at 2 pm or something? 4 hours in between...wow.

Hmm...firstly...there's quite a few modules based on theories...and it looks like I MUST definitely go to sleep a lot earlier...if not I don't really think I can focus much in class...you will notice me going all glassy-eyed and stuff.

It's only the first week of school...and we already have a ICA brief for Multi-cam o.0

Kinda...dunno what to feel..excited and nervous? Not really THAT "excited"...I shall see how it goes first...

National Education...it's too big of a class...and I'm DEFINITELY sure it is not brainwashing...or a waste of time.

All of the video slots were taken up...so no choice but to do the "project" thingie...head down to a significant place of history and take a picture and write a report about it..hmm...

Ms Juliet Ng seems quite nice...and I'm sure glad that there weren't any self-introductions involved...although there was a true or false session...bleh...my questions sucked =P

Was there anything else?

I can't remember...

To end off...

WHY ISN'T THE MAY ISSUE OF FIRST OUT!!! It's already 6th May...I'm sick of seeing the april copy still on sale...

Sinema Night

2008-04-24T23:16:00.001+08:00

On Monday Night, I met up with two of my friends for Objectifs Films Night, a showcase of 5 past SIFF (Singapore International Film Festival) Silver Screen winners (Short films)over at Sinema Old School, located at Mount Sophia Road, behind The Cathay.

Setting off at around 6:45, I took Bus Service 857 and sat there dazed for about more than an hour as the Air-cons are kinda non-existant and it's getting pretty stuffy >.>

I was supposed to meet them at Dohby Ghaut MRT at 8 PM...but at 7:55PM, the bus only reached The Esplanade by then...so I decided to get off at the junction at Raffles City and catch the MRT.

Yea...a bit retarded when I could have just taken the MRT..but...oh well.

Later, met up with one of them and we proceeded to look for Sinema, for we don't really have any idea where it is located.

We asked the information counter and from there, we went to the right side (or left side...if you are basing it on the perspective of the building itself=/), went through a squeezy walkway, climbed up like 100+ narrow steps? to reach Mount Sophia Road.

The school wasn't anywhere in sight though.

We asked the secruity guard in charge of the Cathay Residence and he said...

"HAR!? Cinema is it? Climb down these steps, turn right and there it is!"

"...We are looking for Sinema with a S...not The Cathay..."

Ahh...we just decided to look around the bend and hey presto!

There's the OldSchool!

However, we are sort of debating whether to come back next week...as it's already past 9 PM, the supposed screening time.

"Well...it's better to catch all of it than to miss a bit of it..."

We caught up with the remaining of the Trio by climbing down and meeting up with her.

Her curiosity led us to climb back up and show her where it is located.

We walked into the OldSchool shop, which was filled with local film posters and what's not.

Lucky 7 T-shirts, City Sharks trailer showing on a TV screen, Singapore Dreaming and other DVDs all displayed neatly on a side shelf, Gone Shopping and Talking Cock the movie posters displayed behind the cashier and more.

Quite artistic...always deserve a second look =D

As we continued to glance at the surrounding merchandise, a guy wearing a "Crew" T-shirt came into the room.

He looked at us puzzled and asked "Are you guys here for the screening?"

"Eh! Hasn't it already started!?"

"Nope...we haven't started it yet...if you guys want, we are going to start soon"

So...we managed to catch it on the day itself after all =D

"GREAT SUCCESS!"-Borat

It consisted of a total of 5 past Silver Screen (short films) Film Winners, with Autograph Book by Wee Li Lin up first.

Frankly, I think I have seen this short film before...just couldn't remember when

Two 12 year old friends have their friendship tested when jealously over their "Autograph books" arised.

Very nicely paced and humourous. I really like the individual "autograph sign-offs" scenes, especially when they reused a couple of the same scenes, but in the perspective of two different autograph books.

"Gimme a M, Gimme a E! Put it together...and remember ME!"

Second up.

Di (Little Brother) by Michael Kam

Very nice opening. Attaching a toy plane to the camera and twisting it around to simulate flight patterns? NICE! I like how natural the two kids are at acting. Actually, being real brothers, they got a sense of chemistry right from the start.

The fighting scene...I noticed quite a few of the audience members were wincing with every punch..my friend included...haha.

Hmm...what's up next?

I might be a bit confused...so I will go with Boo Jun Feng's Katong Fugue first.

I have worked under Jun Feng before, when Thomson and I are both helping him to set up the SIFF party, although we only carried a few things here and there...=P

At that time, I didn't realise he was a director until he told me about it...mainly because he looks quite young.

I caught his short film Keluar Baris a while back during the SIFF and congrats on him winning Best Film and Best Director for this year's SIFF with it, even though I strongly felt that Fran Borgia should have won something with his short film "Para Asia".

As again, frequent usage of voiceovers.

It's a bit deep.

The film is about how a mother, played by Neo Swee Lin (best known for playing Phua Chu Kang's Grandma), tries to reach out to her gay son, who's locked away in a world of his own, playing away on his piano all day.

What's most prominent about this short film is the hurt the mother felt from her son...she feels that he's not being open enough towards her and she is desperate to rescue him, as for what I gathered from the film, through the usage of the beach and early childhood footage of the male lead, the mother is certain that she can still reach out to the boy and connect to him one day.

"I know as long as I keep walking along the Beach, I will definitely bump into you one day..."

4th. Quietly.

A Japanese film by Oon Jit Fong, this short film is centered around a Grandfather, who seems to be convinced that the lifes of his other family members move around too fast, so fast that they can't appreciate nature itself.

Although he seems to be a rather bumbling sort of forgetful grandpa, I sort of felt that he's actually quite contented with life, unlike the other busy members of his family

The working and gruff father (The Grandpa's son)

The housewife whose cooking isn't appreciated by the others

The gaming son

Also, due to him feeling contented with life, he felt that it is fine for him to pass on to the next world, for he is very assured with life itself, for all the beauty in the world and he didn't have any regrets left in the world itself.

After his passing, life in the family continued as usual, with the son continuing his gaming in front of his grandpa's former rocking chair.

The director hinted that the death of the Grandfather have affected him in some way, for the grandchild was seen pushing the pause button on his game console, getting himself into the old rocking chair, and for the first time, managing to see the beauty of the night sky in his grandfather's perspective for once.

"It's getting cold around this time of the year...don't you think so? I sense winter is coming"

Lastly on the shedule: The Secret Heaven

A adorable little girl.

A toilet.

A over-anal-about-piano-lessons-mother

"It's time for your Piano Lessons!"

"I don't want! My stomach hurts!"

Low-down on the plot.

It's your typical family of four.

One older sister and one little girl.

See, both of them are forced to go for piano lessons, even though the little one dislike them immensely.

Whenever the little girl refuses to practice her piano, the mother would tempt her with homemade "cha kuay tiao".

After a while, she saw her father rubbing on some medical oil

"What is that?"

She asked

The father told her "it's poisonous! If you drink it, you will have stomach ache!"

Her sister told her "if you drink it, you will die!"

"What is die?"

"Uh..it means that you wouldn't wake up tomorrow"

Finally, the little girl was seen taking the medical oil off the table in the middle of the night and going into the toilet by herself.

The next day, the little girl couldn't be shaken by her mother no matter how hard she shook. Scenes of the little girl playing with other children in a "Grassy Heaven".

Suddenly...the little girl woke up!?

My opinions: This film is very clever and very cute at the same time =D

If you have to ask me, I enjoy all 5 short films shown.

Based on personal enjoyment though...I prefer Autograph Book, Di and The Secret Heaven more though.

No offense to the other films, for I thought each and single one of them are awesome.

Later, headed to Macs for a late night snack...haha.

Thanks for the great time that I had guys=D

If, by any chance, any of you guys are interested, there's another screening this coming Monday at Sinema OldSchool, at Mount Sophia Road, behind The Cathay.

Ticket prices are $5, with Senior Citizens and Student prices at $4. Remember to bring your school identification card along.

More details are available over here:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=13573807406&ref=share

Do check it out.

For $4, I would say that the event is well worth it.

The seats are very comfortable as well.

Good for organising screenings and etc stuff eh?

*hint to my classmates*

Singapore International Film Festival Short Film Selection

2008-04-14T07:12:00.002+08:00

Last Saturday, I was at the Substation, which is a rather small and cosy theatre of sorts, to preview the 7 short film finalists.

Thanks to Fran, who scored us some tickets as his short film Para Asia (For Asia) is one of the seven short films being shown.

Things kicked off at 11 with Boo Jun Feng's Keluar Baris, which is mainly about a young Singaporean's struggle and thoughts about entering National Service, barely 2 days after returning from studying abroad in Europe.

I quite like it...there seems to be quite a heavy usage of voiceovers for certain parts though...and I had to agree with some of my production colleagues...the casting could be better for the part of the "Father", who seems rather fake at times.

Michael Tay's Wet Season is up next.

A tribute to his father who died quite a while back, I find it touching and quirky at the same time, with live action and stop motion animation rolled into one.

The Chinese title is called "Shui Ciang", which literally can be referred to as "Water Gun". At first I was like...huh? Then later...I went "oh.." then "..."

Fran's was up next.

A beautifully shot movie about how a man learns to adapt and treasure the lost of his loved one Maia.

Although Fran asked us to clap before the screening, we didn't really do so...because...it would be sort of weird...I mean...the short film wasn't just good...it was FANTASTIC! But not the kind that you applause..you know? More like that sort that leaves you spellbound in your seat.

4th: Love Me Love My Dogs.

Let's be honest here.

Boring, boring , boring.

I mean...if it's about dogs it's fine.

However, the short film is done in a interview-style and it lasts for around 15 minutes.

Way too drawn-out if you ask me.

If you want my honest opinion...it seems to me as though the female owner had some sort of operation or something.

She seems manly...and she sounds manly....quite frankly, it's freaking me out at times.

I don't think I am the only one who think that. A ABC friend of Fran and company's apparently had the same thoughts as me.

Love Me Love My Dogs?

Your Dogs? Sure. You as a person? No thanks...I mean...you are actually choosing dogs over actual human beings?

"If I had to choose between my dogs and my son (even though I didn't give birth to him), I would choose my dogs. I can't imagine how I can live without them"

Boy. They were not kidding about "her extreme love for dogs".

Thumbs down from me for this short film.

5th Up: My Home My Heaven

When I caught the trailer at the SIFF party, I was instantly hooked by the shooting location, which I recognised as the mosque near Yishun Central Library.

To be frank, that was about the only draw for me.

The rest of the film is pretty predictable stuff, harping on some stereotypes or something like that..

"Malay boy released from boys home, end up working at mosque for his father, brother gave him money made from stealing motorcycle parts, he "accidentally" knocks over the donation box for the mosque and pocketed the coins, but was spotted by his father. Cue: Hard slap. Rewind back to boys home"

6th: Kallang Roar

Lots of analogies involving Singapore football, tatics, chinese chess pieces and...kueh lapis?

Well...it's quite all right for me..

7th: Silent Girls

My friend thinks it is confusing.

Haha.

Actually...I also find it confusing at certain parts as well..

Is the girl who bedded the "Dream Guy" for $200 doing so in order to protect the girl whose video with her boyfriend got leaked *cough Tammy cough* (most probably by her boyfriend)?

If the boyfriend leaked the video, why is the girl so trusting as to bed him again?

So basically the "Dream Guy" girl loves the "Leaked Video" girl but was afraid of showing her feelings fully because of the "LV girl"'s boyfriend?

So she is sleeping with the dorky "Dream Guy" for money so as to protect her in the dark? Why did "DG" girl write in her diary that she thinks of DG as a nice guy when his only intention was to have sex? Just because he paid you money? Why sleep with him again even when you and your "gal friend" are not in any financial needs in the middle of the flick?

Anyway...it was quite confusing and I was left a blur sotong at the end of the day.

In the end, I still prefer Wet Season and Para Asia more.

Wet Season got a touch of quirkiness to it while Para Asia stoods out for being a silent film and the amazing camerawork. Inspired and soulful acting by the male lead as well.

As the crowd streamed out of Substation, I overheard quite a few of them gushing over how they like Para Asia the best of all, although Fran seemed quite oblivious to it=/ It was raining...so...it was pretty crowded outside..couldn't help but overhear..

The group of us...around 6 to 7, ran through the rain and headed to The Pizza Place for lunch.

Thanks to Ai Ling who treated us lunch =X

Fran wasn't feeling quite full...so they decided to buy a 12 piece box of doughnuts from Doughnut Factory.

Fran and the ABC guy had a mock doughut eating contest and after his third one, the ABC guy was groaning and rubbing his stomach, complaing that the sugar glaze is gonna clash with the kaya or something

"Oh...my head..."

Well..I had only one...cause I was feeling quite full...but the doughnut is pretty good=D

Afterwards, I headed by myself over to the National Library for a while before heading down to Tangs Orchard, where the Muttons to Midnight as well as Soo Wei of Say It With Music are hosting a event to promote Tangs.

Managed to talk a while to Justin Ang, who told me that they were at NYP recently to help with the intake for year 08.

He also told me that it might take two weeks or so before someone will call me about my prize collection info...but it was quite interesting observing them in person though x)

Production

2008-04-01T13:44:00.006+08:00

I apologize for the lack of updates...

As of one week ago, the two weeks spent filming the feature film finally came to an end.

Although it was quite short compared to normal filming shedules, I had a great time working with two of my fellow classmates, as well as all those new people that I met over there.

A shoutout to the following people:

Jack-The main camera guy

Zul-The guy who's always wearing a awesome shirt

Uncle Peter-The gaffer. A person who never fails to amuse the rest of us. Before this, met him by chance on the set of En Bloc..

"Eh...you look familiar...where did I see you before?" "Uh...En Bloc? I'm the guy who kept tagging along"

Vincent-The sound man

Augustine-A graduate from Ngee Ann Poly, he gave some advice and told us his studying experiences.

You Jin-aka Bae Yong Jun, aka Ah Boy.

During the two weeks that we are under attachment, Peter and the rest of the camera/lighting crew kept calling him "Ah Boy"...and the name stuck.

It's always "Ah Boy" this and "Ah Boy" that...and Thomson and I kept getting tricked that they are calling us. Dam

Ho Tzu Nyen-The director. Strikes me as a guy who is quite down to earth. Always dressed in a pair of boots so he looks quite goofy most of the time=P

Fran Borgia-The producer. Hmm...as a person...he's quite all right...but when he goes into working mode...>_> Well..he turns all serious and stuff...one of my friend calls him a "gan cheong spider" =X

Some of us like to tease him on his accent though=P He always pronounce Karen as "current" and Jon as "Yom". One of the thing that he usually shout is "Silence please!" which we heard as "Silant peas!" No offence Fran=P If you are reading this...

Karen Phan-The person in charge of contacting the talents. Quite tall...and skinny...kinda strikes me as a ballerina or something. The other two girls from my course are under her.

Celina Zeng and Vanessa Zeng-The sister pair=D One in charge of the wardrobe, the other one in charge of planning details

Johnathan Ng-Likes to joke sometimes...but when he get serious...hmm. A guy who is serious when it comes to work

MAx Quek-Eh...Yaya papaya. Everyday he only seems to come to the location for 15 mins tops before speeding off in his Mercedes. n my opinion...even the two indian workers under him work much harder.

Patrick Storey-The guy Thomson and I are under. Likes to crack a joke and tried to teach us the "Americanised" way. His name is usually shouted by Fran, along with Jon's. "PARTRIC! WE NEED YOU HERE!"

Usually when Fran ask us to do something, Patrick would say "nah that isn't necessary. Ignore him." Being the main person behind the props, he like to pay attention to details and to dress up the sets.

Two things usually heard from him: "Nah I'm fine." "What's up G?"

Last but not least...the bus driver Uncle Teo Mok King.

The real life uncle of both Celina and Vanessa, he strikes me as a rather kind person. When he's not ferrying the talents, he would be wandering around looking at the filming, or picking up jackfruits ^^"

What I am most surprised about is that he lives right next block to me. I have to thank him for ferrying me home everyday for the last few days after he dropped Celina and Vanessa off at their block (which is right above the Yishun Central Laska Store....*drools*)

Haha..and of course my fellow course mates...they should know who they are =D

Details about the film? Nah. Can't release them. (*whisper* If not I wil get sued =P)

All I know that it is targeted for a late 08 or early 09 release...perhaps to make it to next year's Singapore Film festival...maybe?

Well...when more details are announced, I will post them right here.

With the ending of the 2 weeks working as a props assistant "technically...Arts Department Assistant", I don't think I will be working in another part time job...since all of their commitment rates are more than a month-.-"

Oh well...it's too bad...more experience would be nice...I tried going back to Popular after the filming and enquiring about possible employment. Even though there seem to be spaces, I haven't heard back from them...

Oh yea...if you don't mind, I did rather much stay off fried rice for my meals...at least for the time being...not after experiencing one who week of "Mineral water+fried rice (tom yam, tomato, pineapple)"

Until then...cya!

En Bloc

2008-03-07T05:23:00.001+08:00

So anyway...on Sunday 24th of Feb, I headed down to my Aunt's Laurels Supermarket located over at Pandan Valley near Clementi to take a look, as she gave me a call a day earlier, saying that a crew of people are going to borrow her workplace for some filming...and she was asking if I am interested in going down to take a look.

I think I arrived there sometime around 11 AM...noticing that they are setting up some stuff...peering from a far distance, I slowly made my way forward.

At first they thought that I was another customer...

"It's ok to go in"-said one of the crew member

Once inside, from behind my uncle's counter, I spotted a couple of faces that seem familiar to me..

Eh...isn't that Darren Lim?

This guy...he looks familiar...is he Nat Ho?

My aunt was somewhere in the back and she introduced me to one of their assistants, who, according to her, had just graduated from Singapore Poly's media communications course.

Introducing himself as Shane (coincidence? =/), he explained some of their roles.

Peeking over his shoulder to look at the stack of paper that he is holding, I saw En Bloc written on it.

I was like "huh? Why would they be doing with documents for En Bloc?"

Then later I enquired about the name of the show...

"En Bloc" Shane told me.

Ah...that make sense I guess...and Pandan Valley is quite a old estate too...a nice and suitable setting for a show about En Bloc sales...I still remember running around and playing with those stuff inside my aunt's mart when I was a little kid...haven't been back there for quite a long while...

While passing by the director, who turned out to be quite young...aged 20+, I heard Shane mention something about the trailer of the show to him

"Oh...it's showing already? How was it?" Asked the Director

"Hmm...quite arty-farty if you ask me...especially with the opening shot of the shutters being pulled up."

Seeing as I had nothing else to do, I just decided to tag along throughout the whole of the supermart. They don't really mind it though...some even referred me to "production assistant for a day" lol =/

Shane had to do some stuff like rearranging some of the merchandise, looking after the comic drawings (for Darren Lim's character Andrew, who's a aspiring comic artist but his father greatly disapprove of his hobby and wanted him to carry on running the supermart, for he himself might be retiring soon.)

Other than Darren and Nat, there was also this other guy who seems oddly familiar...I only heard others referring to him as Patrick Teoh and I had to look him up on the internet...seems like I am really forgetful...

Oh...the guy who played the Daddy in Daddy's Girls!

Darren Lim also brought his dog along, which was frankly...quite freaking huge @@ It's very playful though...

Some of their scenes took several retakes, as sometime the framing might be weird, not enough facial expressions etc. Once, I noticed on the Director's viewing set that Mr Patrick Teoh's watch caught the light and thus, created a bright reflection...that of course, was also reshot by them.

In a scene between Nat Ho, Mr Teoh and the mother, Mr Teoh accidentally cracked the kaya open as he held on to it.

Speaking as he is licking his fingers, "mmm! It's sweet!" The whole crew laughed and Shane was sent to pay for the Kaya, along with a loaf of bread and a couple cartons of milk.

Then the woman playing the mother....she look even more oddly familiar...

Afterwards, while they are taking a break, while she was picking out some Indian Crackers to eat, I approached her and ask, "excuse me, did you act in Kinship?"

Looking at me with a surprised look, she said yes.

"As Wenya's mother?"

"Yes...?"

"So you are Meiqi's mother right?"

For a moment she seemed sort of confused...sensing her puzzled look, I told her, "I am Yuen Mun! Do you remember me? Mei Qi's kindergarten friend!"

She appeared stunned for a few seconds...then...she burst into a excited "OH! YUEN MUN ! Wah! I can hardly recognise you now!" , while clasping my hands and examining me closely (ok..maybe not exaggerated to that extent =X)

Well I will be darned.

What are the odds of that happening...reunioning with someone I haven;t contacted for like 12 years?

Her daughter Mei Qi used to go to the same Kindergarten, which is Green Tree Montessori. Sometimes, when we have field outings, like to Northpoint's Cold Storage in 1995 or to the Zoo, she would tag along and help as a parent volunteer.

After "graduation" didn't really keep their contact numbers so...considered as 12 years worth of loss contact=/

According to her, her daughter is now at Ngee Ann, a media student as well.

That's not all...turns out that Michelle knows her (June Lim) personally...and is even in the same church group as Mei Qi.

What are the odds...=X

Lucky 13

2008-02-26T02:10:00.002+08:00

It's been 13 days since I last blogged.

Okay, 14 if you insist.

On the 3rd day of the CNY holidays, some of my ex-classmates decided to meet up for a gathering along with our former form teacher Mrs Ruth Ann.

So anyway, the meeting point turned out to be Sushi Tei over at Takashimaya, Ngee Ann City.

I turned up earlier than the rest and looked as my form teacher went in ahead of me=/

Haha...didn't feel like interacting 1 on 1 with her yet...so I continued seating at the taxi stand area.

Chih Jiang, Jing Ling and Jia Haur reached Sushi Tei soon afterwards though...as the place was quite full, our teacher sent us to walk around a bit at the main Taka interior..

Borvorn, Jeremy and Swee Keng reached Sushi Tei as well...and by sheer coincidence, we ran into another of our classmate Owen over at Sushi Tei-.-

XXXXX
-----
XXJY

I was seated right at the lower end of the pathetic diagram that I used, right next to Jia Haur.

From left: Jing Ling, Chih Jiang, Owen, Jeremy, Swee Keng, Jia Haur, Mrs Ann, Borvorn and me

The plate of Yu Sheng my teacher said she "sponsored"

My portion=D

Well...we decided against the buffet and hence, each of us ordered our own portions.

Based on Jia Haur's recommendation, I ordered the Yakitori Don
("Grilled chicken on stick" rice)

Mmm...looks good doesn't it?

It taste quite nice...although I feel the chicken is a little bit dry...

Jeremy, SK and Borvorn studying the menu

CJ (Alexander) sipping his drink

"Beef is good. You must soak raw beef in soup. It's nice."-Mrs Ann

Jia Haur blocking the way=/

Taken by our teacher

So anyway, after that, we walked around Taka some more, with chocolate displays all over the place, for Valentine WAS coming...and Jeremy wanted to ask my teacher's help in buying a gift for a girl that he likes...=X

Swee Keng and Jeremy went off first...well actually, Owen went off in the middle of the meal, saying "thanks for the handroll" to JH.

Our teacher went off as well...and so there are five of us left.

Borvorn's and Jing Ling's minds can't help but think of lan gaming...so there was no way JH can persuade them to go and play pool...

Chih Jiang was also leaning more towards Lan Gaming...

so...=/

Actually I was fine with either...but JH said if there's no one going, he will go there and play by himself-.-

Sounds rather boring...so...I went ahead and joined him for pool over at the Cathay Cineleisure.

He's a sharpshooter >.> every shot that he made is like going where he wanted lol...then later we played a few rounds of 9 ball...won 4 matches on the trot lol...suspect that I am lucky=/

His trademark phrases are "Wah chi-!", which he said often when he hit the wrong things...such as hitting the 8 ball in one pocket, but the white ball rolled into another...effectively causing him the game...lol

Then he keep saying that his jeans are too loose for him and keep pulling them up-.-

"Wear a belt..." I told him..."if you want to show off your six-pack, show them off to Jacintha...not me..."

So anyway...when we went to the counter to pay up, the total amounted to $38.20

!!!!! That was the reaction for both of us.

Eh...thinking back about it..we played from around 3 to 7 pm+...but even then...it still doesn't really make sense..lol...$9++ per hour?=/

Afterwards...we just headed to Somerset and went our seperate ways, me to Yishun...and he to Kembangan.

All right. I am off.

Nites.

GO-OOO-OD MORN-ING SIN-GA-PORE!

2008-02-12T12:58:00.000+08:00

So anyway, due to the re-filming, my group was unable to watch the movie that the rest of the two classes are going to watch, which is "Private Parts", a movie based on the autobiography of shock jock Howard Stern.

Well...it was a bit disappointing when the make-up movie that our lecturer made us to watch turned out not to be "Private Parts", but rather "Good Morning Vietnam", a 1987 movie starring Robin Williams and Forest Whitaker. The movie depicts the life of new radio personality Adrian Cronauer in the AFRS (Armed Force Radio Saigon)

To be honest, the movie was not bad as well.

After that...as we have two hours to kill before the guest lecturer arrives for Randal's class...

Air-con...comfy seats...haha...thus the four of us decided to stay in A322A and sleep away...

Hmm...the Dreamweaver ICA...pretty all right I guess...

Anchor..check

Doc link..check

Web link...check

_blank...check

hopefully it will get me another B..haha..

Well...this post is about one week late...lol...since I have been busy with CNY and such (read: being lazy)

Anyway, yesterday morning, managed to call through to Dan and Young of 987 FM yet again...haha

"Are you preparing to go for either school or work"

"Nope...I'm currently having a study week...don't have to go to school for this week at all"

"What are you doing up so early then?"

Actually I was playing some games lol

"Erm...listening to the radio"

"Well, that's obvious"

I participated in their segment "5 in the morning", where you get to choose one song of out 5 choices given to you by the DJs.

Their theme for yesterday was songs starting with "Don't"

1. Don't Lie (Black Eye Peas)

uhh..next

2. Don't Matter (Akon)

not really...

3. (Kinda forgot which song it is -.-")

4. Don't Cha (Pussycat Dolls)

o.0 definitely not

and finally the last choice...

5. Don't tell me (Avril Lavigne)

haha...of course I picked the last one...

Right...shall get started on "revising"...

Happy Year of the Mouse!

2008-02-07T02:14:00.000+08:00

A happy Chinese New Year to all!

I would update about my previous days....but maybe sometime later...haha...lazy for now. =D

That's another two down

2008-01-31T02:20:00.000+08:00

Well...been a long time since I actually scored a A...not since my ICA 2 for production last semester lol.

Just got back my Media Finance and People Supervisory Management marks.

38/40 and 13/15 respectively.

Even though the weightage is small, I'm still quite pleased with it...suspect I got lucky...haha

Shi Yan was his usual imba self yet again.

40/40 and 14.5/15 @.@

So anyway...to divert back on topic, today I had to interview my lecturer Mr Azhar for my broadcast presentation module, along with 6others.

I overslept a bit and had to take a cab there...

6.60 for a trip from Yishun to NYP in Yio Chu Kang...nice.

Money for two bowls of Mr Wong's Seremban Beef Noodles down the drain T.T

Hmm...Raudha was up first, followed by MH (Why am I always the second one?)

After that...Sean hasn't reached yet so Edwin poked his head into the waiting room and said: "YM, you are up next."

I wasn't expecting that at all -.-

With a feeling of doom, I headed over to the room, to see Mr Azhar spinning around in his chair drinking a cup of coffee.

"Hello!" I said

"Hello." He said.

"Relax, take your time" said Edwin

Hmm...the interview process went pretty all right I guess? Except that sometimes I tend to get caught off-guard by Mr Azhar lol...it's kind of weird to explain...but he's kinda shifting from informal to formal type of answering =X

"Where was your first outlet located?"

"Oh...my wife and I set up a stall at the void deck..."

Uhhh...

One thing that I didn't expect was him naming his wife as his "business partner".

My family support question had to be changed to his son...haha.

"For example...if I had a 8 year old son, whom I think is a bit too hyperactive, how can "Your Gym" help my son?"

"Oh...you have a son? Are you married?" He asked with widened eyes while looking at me

and yes...I tend to focus on my script more...it feels funny looking right into his face >_>

In the afternoon, my storyboarding team had refilming, as we encountered a technicial error last week for editing.

Thanks to MJ, Ida, Safith and Beat for helping our group =D

Filming went pretty well...

Brandon (my nephew) gave us a shock when he actually fell down for a scene where we asked him to fall...

to make things a bit more "=X" both of his parents are present during the scene...

Yea...thanks to the seniors who helped us with obtaining the equipment, mainly MH's sister Ming Yi

Here's hoping that editing goes well tomorrow.

I will be off...to type peer evaluations out for the Media Buying and Sales Negotiation presentation tmr...

Introducing...a blog song!

2008-01-26T14:51:00.000+08:00

I was browsing my friend Wei Qiang's blog when I chanced upon his newest blog song.

Six songs collide by Norwegian Recycling.

Hope WQ doesn't mind if I use it as my blog song as well...haha.

Take a listen...out of the six, Three Doors Down's Here Without You and Five for Fighting's Superman are involved as well.

Lyrics taken off justsomelyrics.com

Well then, you done done me and you bet I felt it
I tried to be chill but you’re so hot that I melted
I fell right through the cracks, and I’m trying to get back
before the cool done run out I’ll be giving it my best test
and nothing's gonna stop me but divine intervention

I reckon it's again my turn to win some or learn some
I won't hesitate no more,
no more, it cannot wait I’m yours

The dawn is breaking
A light shining through
You're barely waking
And I'm tangled up in you
Yeah…

Well open up your mind and see like me
open up your plans and damn you're free
look into your heart and you'll find love love love
listen to the music at the moment maybe sing with me
Ah, la peaceful melody
It's your god forsaken right to be loved loved loved

But I'm open, you're closed
Where I follow, you'll go
I worry I won't see your face
Light up again

Even the best fall down sometimes
Even the wrong words seem to rhyme
(I’m sure)
Out of the doubt that fills my mind
(there's no need to complicate our time is short
this is our fate, I’m yours)
I somehow find, you and I collide

I can't stand to fly
I'm not that naive
I'm just out to find
The better part of me

I'm more than a bird
I'm more than a plane
More than some pretty face beside a train
And it's not easy to be me

Was it not enough stimulation
Hit by a brick the other day, just when I thought that I’m okay
You didn't like my conversation
I can't come up with something new
It doesn't really matter what I do

So here’s my observation
You could never see it through my eyes
And I’m too tired to try

I was lost and alone
trying to grow
making my way down that long winding road

And no reason no rhyme
like a song out of time
and there you were standing
in front of my eyes

how could I be such a fool
to let go of love and break all of the rules

girl when you walked out that door
left a hole in my heart
and now I know for sure

I’m here without you baby
But you're still on my lonely mind
I think about you baby
And I dream about you all the time
I’m here without you baby
But you're still with me in my dreams
And tonight girl (I’m yours)

And don’t lie and say you’re over me
It don’t mean nothing I’m always getting over you

I was lost and alone

But you're still on my lonely mind

It cannot wait I’m yours

I can't stand to fly

You finally find, you and I collide

I'm just out to find

You finally find, you and I collide
You finally find, you and I collide

Well...

2008-01-22T01:17:00.000+08:00

The MFM test is over...

I think I did pretty all right...depending on whether I got my tax amount correct...-.-"

So...another ICA done and dusted with =D

Headed with the usual group for some makan @ koufu

Before entering the foodcourt, something funny happened...haha...shall not mention anything else...

Anyway, I decided to try something different for once.

"One Zaru Soba please"

Hmm...basically it's Japanese Cold noodles...and they usually serve it along with a bowl of gravy made with light soy sauce.

Hmm...the initial taste was not bad...good if you want something cold on a warm day...other than that, the zaru soba tasted pretty average I guess.

I personally like the taste of light soy sauce...but I think I'm suffering from a inflammed throat lol T.T

Better to take care than damage it furthur eh? Hence I tried to use as little gravy to douse my soba in.

I polished my meal off with the usual ice lemon tea...definitely better than the (to quote Hendrick:) "diabetes-inducing teh pin (Ice Tea)" that they prepare.

Honestly, I admit to having a sweet tooth...but that's definitely a TAD too sweet.

On another note...for Broadcast presentation ICA 3 ...

I AM SUPPOSED TO INTERVIEW MR AZHAR?!?!?!

Oh gawd..."Body Gym" somemore...in fact...out of the four potential interviewees, I think only Mr Chong's match him-.-

Shark expert?

ROFL

"Eh Edwin har, this sat I got wedding dinner you know. You want to come down? It's at the Pen Pacific. Got lobster, teppanyaki and double-boiled shark fin with crabmeat! Shoik or not?"

"Can't. I...must...save...the...sharks!"

"Oh ya...if I don't eat the shark fin, does that mean that I can pay you less ang pao money har?"

I wish that it is a bit more realistic...haha...or maybe that's just me.

Sigh...

2008-01-20T22:29:00.000+08:00

What's with the weather nowadays...

It seems that quite a lot of people caught the sick bug...I myself included...

Definitely not good...especially with next week approaching...

Remember how I typed about feeling chilly the night before?

I resisted using my fan...but even then, I will feel too stuffy, sort of like afraid of the heat and cold at the same time.

I should probably revise for the tests...but I can't seem to remember anything...I just feel very drowsy...and sort of dazed...like my head is spinning.

This afternoon, I fell asleep while revising...

I woke up around 6:30...and saw a missed call on my handphone.

"Hey YM! Do you know what is Net Fixed Asset? It's on page 12"

Still groggy, I muttered a "sorry, I am not sure" to my friend.

I don't even feel like eating dinner...even when there's chicken.

I felt like drinking some apple aloe vera...but even after drinking it, my throat still feel parched and a bit oily at the same time.

Shrug...I don't even feel like listening to the radio right now lol...I just get a headache whenever something I dislike comes on...like Ashley Tisdale's "He say,she say" for example >_>

Bah.

Wishing all those feeling sick to recover soon.

Ciao. Off to do (meaning attempt)some more revising

Edit@11:12PM: Oh wait...I figured out how to get Net Fixed Asset.

YATTA! I guess...

Next week...

2008-01-19T23:43:00.000+08:00

MFM test on Monday

PSM test on Tuesday

Filming on Wednesday

Editing on Thursday

POMM presentation on Friday

It would be a miracle if I manage to get through everything...with semi-decent marks...

Right now I am trying to revise...but my mind can't seem to absorb anything in...and my bed is calling out for me...

It's pretty chilly tonight don't you think so?

Brrr.

Good luck to everyone next week...I think I will be heading for bed soon...

"WHO WANTS SOME MILO?!"

2008-01-13T00:56:00.000+08:00

NYP had their open house from the 10th to the 12th of March and I decided to head down to take a look.

"WHO WANTS SOME MILO/NESCAFE?!" shouted the Emcees

I was like "woah o.0"

The prizes of milo seems a bit random...haha.

They had two kinds of game shows

Call-neck-me where 5 people have to try to link up the last word of a show/character etc in 10 secs

eg. Simpsons-> Superman-> NYPD -> Digimon-> Naruto etc

Movie strip where 4 people are called up onto the stage to identify 5 movies from a short video clip.

I could only identify 4/5 at best lol...didn't really watch the covenant.

I was there on Friday for a longer time than Thursday and the people are just streaming in ._.

Originally, they planned to end the show around 2 pm+ and ended up ending it only 4pm+.

Haha...I bumped into Addy as well...actually, I was pretty blur and didn't notice her...until I received a sms and while I was replying her, she suddenly pop out next to me.

"Hey YM! I just now call you ym again and again but you didn't notice!"

Haha...and to think that she was one of those who won a milo from answering the question...I think I really blur liao =.="

Safith went up to sing and I also saw Liana dancing with a couple of other girls.

After the show ended, Mr Azhar, Ms Soo, as well as the seniors are like asking all of us to take some of the stuff home

"We got 80 boxes of these" said a senior when referring to milo and nescafe.

"We could open a shop selling these after the open house" remarked another senior.

True.

Ms Soo was like "Hey YM, do you want to take anything home? We got a lot of milo over there"

"I'm already happy with my Heroes stuff" I told her. =P

After that, Joyce and I saw her heading off with a big bag of Nescafe and Milo

"Hey, you think so easy to bribe people har?" Ms Soo said when asked about it by Joyce

lol.

Anyway...Mr Azhar also shoved a pack of milo into my hands.

I was like "uh...Mr Azhar, I don't really need this"

He was like "aiya, take home and score points with your mother la!"

So...anyway...here's hoping for a plentiful amount of applicants into the course.

I remembered how excited I was when I found out that I was accepted into the course.

"Yes! I didn't get into Nursing!"

No offence to Nursing students anywhere =X It's just that Nursing and I doesn't really fit together. Can you imagine?

It's been quite a long day spent on traveling...I'm kind of tired...goodnight...ciaos.

What ifs

2008-01-10T05:05:00.000+08:00

Life is full of "what if"s...don't you think so?

We often find ourselves wondering...some things...could we have done it better? What if we could rewind time?

Before entering NYP, I found myself thinking of quite a lot of "What if"s

What if I had gone to ____? Would it be better there?

What if my new classmates turn out to be like my secondary two classmates?

What if I flunk the O levels?

Till now, I still find myself thinking quite a lot of "what if" questions.

What if I sleep earlier? Would I grow taller?

lol. Nah. I'm not being serious about that one...although sometimes I kinda wished that I'm taller...

I have no idea why...these few days, I kind of feel a kind of lethargic feeling...just dragging myself to school and back again.

The occasional bumping into of primary school friends never fail to spark me up a little...even if it's only a fleeting moment.

Today I just bumped into Wei Qiang,a very good friend (and neighbour) back from primary school. Haha...haven't caught up with him for quite a long while...long until it's kinda awkward...haha...anyway...we agreed to meet up for some basketball when the two of us are free=P

It's kind of hard to settle on a time though...since his JC shedule might clash with my jumbled-up poly shedule.

Well...he's one of what I considered as a best friend back in Primary School...that's for sure=P

Other than Qiang, I used to be quite close with a bunch of other friends.

Jun Wei, Song Hao, Yu Hang and Zhong Xian from Primary 5.

Haha..we are always seated together in a bunch. I remembered our favourite show was "The Reunion", which was a Channel 8 drama back in 2001 starring Chew Chor Meng, Terrence Cao and Tay Ping Hui. We would go around humming the tune together and generally, make a whole lot of noise.

"Sei shuo wo bu gan...bu gan..bu gan"

Jun Wei (Studying in National JC)
-The "Yan Dao" of the class. Nicknamed after the popular character Yandao aka Handsome of the old Channel 8 sitcom "Bo Ying Ren" or literally "The broadcasters"

Famous for: Teasing the girls, striking the "Yandao" pose, which was the "7" sign on the chin

Random fact: He appeared as "Zack" back in the last episode of Kids United on kids central. He appeared in a couple of other shows as well...haha. I remember reading out the Coach's lines to him in class

Yu Hang (Studying in NYP)
-The PRC. Haha...nah. He came to Singapore with his family when he was aged 2. He pretty much gotten rid of the "Mainland slang" when I first met him. He's often seen with Song Hao and the two of them get into mischief a lot. Avid gamer. Haha...all those hours of playing "Heroes 3" at his house

Random fact: He got mad chinese chess skills. No one really dare to challenge him =D

Song Hao (Studying at YJC)
-The joker. Very boyish, like to crack a lot of jokes. He's very hyperactive and tend to get into a lot of trouble lol.

Random fact: He's actually very smart. It's just masked over by his tendency to get into mischief lol

Zhong Xian (Studying at SP)
-Haha...the tanned and slightly grumpy one. He sometime tend to make noises of frustration whenever we tease him. Likes to laugh a lot.

Famous for: For being constantly linked by the four of us to Hui Jia (currently studying in NYP as well) who is his neighbour. Of course, back in primary school, everyone are like that aren't they?

OMG you love Janice!

yea...you get my point.

Anyway...a interesting thing about Zhong Xian is how his face would get tomato red whenever he is embarrassed or angry about something...haha.

Qiang: My classmate for Primary 3 and 4. We have been neighbours for 17 years and counting XD.

I remember back during the primary school days...whenever either of us are sick, the other one would help him to take home the homework. Ahhh...sure seems like a long time ago lol.

He like to play basketball a lot and last time, I would go to his house and we would play "Metal Slug X" as well as "King of monsters" on his playstation =P

He have a liking for contempoary hits as well...like Mr Brightside by The Killers =D

Random fact: He have a 15 year old sister as well (going 16)...same as me lol. Our sisters get along very well as well =P

Haha...my sister and I often wondered...what if their family had been our direct next-door neighbours instead?

I would very much prefer them over the chain-smoking, hokkien expletive spewing lady next door. No offense...but hearing her coarse voice shouting into the phone everytime I return home from school can give me quite a headache.

KANNASAI! SIM GINA!

>_>

Anyway...there's also another friend called Nava. He emigrated to Australia though...haiz. Guess I can't preview the new Harry Potter movies with him anymore.

Woah. Look at the time. There are storyboards to be done and later, I'm going to head down to NYP for the open house.

Haha...I didn't attend the briefing yesterday, even though I was in school discussing projects with other group mates. That's because I'm only volunteering myself as a handyman...and that's a insignificant role isn't it? So...my presence was not really required=P

What if I learn to sit straighter?

What if I try to speak more clearly?

Haha...I don't know.

It's the weekend!

2008-01-05T11:49:00.000+08:00

Well...the first school week has just ended...

It's pretty all right I guess...

Maybe kind of tiring? Haha...because sometime I just feel like nodding off.

Note-Random ramblings:

"Monday- started off the day on a bright note, meeting everyone once again for the new semester. Some of them are dressed up very nicely as they are going off for the countdown once the lessons are over

Tuesday-Public holiday...stayed at home and stoned. lol

Wednesday-SY didn't come for Monday...so he appeared quite shocked when I told him that there are make-up lessons lol. Azhar showed us some funny commercials...which is quite an interesting lesson...if you can call that one... ^^"

Thursday-Supposed to meet my storyboarding group...but I overslept...and came late...sorry about that >_>

Friday-No media finance lessons =D that mean that we can start school an hour later...wanted to show the funny clips that I found but Azhar ended the lesson-.-" oh well...another time then...went to the multimedia viewing room with a bunch of people and watched the ending part of robots as well as Ratatouillie (spelling?). I dozed off halfway through the two shows though...lol."

Already, it's been quite a nice start to 2008...encountered 4 different old friends over 3 days ^^

Wednesday- Saw Hui Jia at the "Marketing" shop at NYP's shopping arcade, back at Yishun MRT station...bumped into Christine who gave me a smile and a wave.

Thursday- After night classes ended, I boarded my bus and sat at my favourite seat (which is the left-most seat at the back of the bus ^^) I noticed someone looking at me and I looked back...eh...this girl looks familiar...

Is it possibly Meijie?

Haha...turn out that I was right

She sat down and asked me: "Hey! Which school are you at now?"

We chattered for a bit then we also noticed Aloysious who was standing at the middle compartment of the bendy bus.

I pointed him out to MJ and she sighed "yea...I waved to him but he doesn't seem to recognise me >_>"

Haha...seems that Aloy only recognised me...

Friday (yesterday)- After returning from AMK Hub with some sushi, I saw Seet Teng getting on the escalator with her mother...she didn't recognise me though...because her view is obstructed by the surrounding crowd...>_>

After I got back home, I was shocked to hear that local comedian MC King had passed away at the age of 39. Thank you for bringing joy and laughter to our lives and your contribution to local television. May you rest in peace.

On another note...my new year resolutions?

Hmm...

I resolve to try to be less awkward

*listens to the shout of my classmates*

CANNOT SAY TRY! MUST DO!

I resolve to sleep much earlier

I resolve to keep things to myself less

Is there anymore? Hmm...I will think of them later...

On another "another note"

The Open House for NYP will be on the 11th, 12th and 13th of Jan next week from 11 am to 6pm. Do go down to show your support=D

9 of my classmates have already been recruited by the designated recruiter Colonel Soo. A few of my other classmates have been appointed to appear for "interviews" =P

Me? I volunteer myself as "Handyman" lol.

If you got anything that need to be moved,feel free to ask me...that's what I told Ms soo.

Along with me...I dragged Shi Yan along as well lol..so he's probably operating in a dual role of "interviewee and handyman"

XD

Right...that concludes my second post of the year. I'm heading down for my cousin's wedding tonight...hohoho..tomorrow..I might head down to my old "Hokkien Huay Guan" to poke around...

The 98.7 top 10 list

2008-01-02T00:47:00.000+08:00

Happy new year to one and all.

What resolutions do you have for this year?

640×480? 1280×720?

Seriously...I haven't really given much thought about it yet=P

While most had plans of their own for the countdown, I stayed at home and listened to the top 100 songs countdown on 98.7 FM.

Yea...kind of boring isn't it? Oh well=/

The Black Parade won Album of the year while Justin Timberlake's Futuresex/Lovesound came in a close second.

Here's the top 10 songs in reverse order:

10. Bouncy Bouncy Smack Smack-Don and Drew

Some people absolutely hate this song while others simply love it=/

9. Beautiful Girls-Beautiful Girls

Can't argue here

8. Don't Matter-Akon

Personally, I don't really listen to this song much...

Mika had Love Today placed somewhere in the fifties and Grace Kelly at number 12 (if I remembered correctly)

7. Girlfriend-Avril Lavinge

Hey hey you you! Definitely a worthy contender

6. What I've Done-Linkin Park

Nice song. Probably noted as the closing song for Transformers, which was 987's movie choice of the year.

5. Irreplacable-Beyonce

To the left. To the left. I had a laugh when people called in to 98.7, requesting for Beyonce's "To the left"

4. Smack that-Akon

Uh...no offence...but no thanks. Don't really like it.

3. Hey There Delila-Plain White T's

Enjoyed by people everywhere, even if they are a thousand miles away.

2. Umbrella-Rihanna

You can stand under my umbrella..ella...ella..eh..eh

To be honest, it's quite a nice song, but there's something about it that makes you go "ARGH!" everytime it is played. One of the most successful yet irritating song of the year ;P

Drumroll...

Presenting 98.7 FM's song of the year!

Number One...

"Welcome To The Black Parade"-My Chemical Romance

Well..they actually started broadcasting the song starting from sometime around October 2006...I still remember hearing the songs being played on the airwaves incessantly while I was preparing for O levels last year at the boarding school...and I would sing it just to annoy my Secondary four classmates lol.

School's officially restarting...good luck to all=D

Quiz Time

2007-12-27T00:47:00.000+08:00

Instructions: Please do the entire quiz. It isn’t hard, and apparently, it’s great when you start to see your friend’s answers. Okay, here’s what you’re supposed to do! Change all of the answers so that they apply to you. Then, tag 5 other people to do this quiz! The theory is that you will learn a lot of little known facts about your friends.

1. Time of starting This?
-27th December, 12:18 AM

2. Were you named after anyone?
-Nope

3. Do you wish on stars?
-No.

4. When did you last cry?
-Sometime around last year.

5. What is your favourite meat?
-Chicken.

6. What is your most embarrassing CD on your shelf?
-N'Sync's No Strings Attached.

7. If you were another person, would YOU be friends with you?
-I guess so

8. Are you a daredevil?
-Not really.

9. How do you release anger?
-Pummel my pillow to a pulp? Nah...just kidding. I usually keep things to myself as I don't really have someone close to confinde in. If I get really angry, I did go to a deserted area and shout it out.

10. Where is your second home?
-No where.

11. Do you trust others easily?
-You can say so.

12. What was your favourite toy as a child?
-Power Rangers Megazord. Ssh.

13. What subject in school do you think is totally useless?
-Physics?

14. Do you use sarcasm a lot?
-Maybe.

15. Have you ever been in a mosh pit?
-My Chemical Romance concert @ Max Pavilion (if that counts)

16. What do you look for in a guy/girl?
-Personality

17. Would you bungee jump?
-Who knows.

18. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off?
-I usually just slip into them

19. What’s your favourite ice cream flavour?
-Strawberry (No. 1), I like "Durian" and "Cookies and Cream" flavours as well.

20. what are your favourite colours?
-My favourite colour is Blue. Black and white are quite nice as well.

21. What is your least favourite thing?
-Cigarette smoke.

22. What/Who do you miss most right now?
-No idea. I am on one hand, wishing that the holidays would end soon as I'm very bored while on the other hand, I am dreading the projects that are waiting around the corner.

23. What are you listening to right now?
-Taylor Swift's Teardrops On My Guitar on Mediacorp Radio Perfect 10 98.7 FM

24. If you were a crayon, what colour would you be?
-Blue.

25. What is the weather like right now?
-Reddish dark. (Most probably that it will rain tomorrow)

26. Last person you talked to on the phone?
-Generic answer: My dad.

27. The first thing you notice about the opposite sex?
-Hair.

28. How are you today?
-Kind of bored. I'm going out for a walk around tomorrow though...hopefully it will be better.

29. Favourite drink?
-Apple Juice with Aloe Vera bits. For soft drinks, I like Miranda Green Apple and F&N Zesty Zappel. Ice Lemon Tea and Ice Green Tea is great as well.

30. Favourite alcoholic drink?
-None.

31. Natural hair colour?
-Black. Some people thought that I dyed my hair brown though.

32. Eye colour?
-Brown.

33. Wear contacts?
-Nope.

34. Siblings?
-One sister.

35. Favourite month?
-December.

36. Favourite food?
-Japanese food and chicken-related food items.

37. Last movie you watched?
-Warlords.

38. Favourite day of the year?
-April 15th.

39. Have you ever been too shy to ask someone out?
-No idea.

40. Scary movies or happy endings?
-Happy endings.

41. Summer or winter?
-Summer.

42. Hugs or kisses?
-Hmm...hugs. If it's between guys, a handshake is fine. Thank you very much.

43. What book/magazine are you reading?
-Tian Jie Wu Xian 21 by Wee Tian Beng (local comic illustrator)

44. What’s on your mouse pad?
-Nothing.

45. What did you watch on TV last night?
-Burst Angel on Arts Central.

46. Favourite smell?
-Food, my bed.

47. Do you regret ever breaking up with someone?
-No experience hence no comments.

48. Time of finishing?
-27th December 12:43 AM

49. Tag 5 people.
-Wei Qiang, Addy, Spiccy, DLL and Mitsuki.

Merry Xmas

2007-12-25T03:12:00.000+08:00

As the clock strikes twelve, (ok. Maybe it didn't. I am typing this out as the clock strikes 3 am)

I would like to wish everyone a merry xmas.

To my family,
Wei Qiang,
Jun Wei,
Song Hao,
Nava,
Zhong Xian,
Yu Hang,
to everyone out there who embrace the christmas spirit,
and lastly,
to my classmates cum friends at NYP

There's nothing quite like listening to Xmas songs everywhere...from shopping centres to the NTUC located in my market...even though it tends to get stuck inside your head.

My favourite is "Last Christmas".

"Last Christmas, I gave you my heart, the very next day...you gave it away..."

What's yours?

Have a nice Xmas and here's hoping 2008 will be a fantastic year for you.

MCR concert

2007-12-21T23:47:00.000+08:00

Well...sorry for the late update.

I just returned from Malaysia this morning around 4:48 AM X.x

Haha...I know this is kind of late...but here's my brief account of the MCR concert =D

That sums up how long the queue was...and that was still at quite a early stage

Ida and her cousin resting

The envelope given to me at the counter

A congratuary note

Attached with it: My entry ticket

It's a common sight that night.

Food is essential (Max Pavilion canteen)

...and the gates open...

I didn't really take any pictures inside...but if you want, Thom and Khad took quite a few of them.

The concert started quite late...I think it is around 8:50 PM?

The crowd were chanting :"MCR! MCR! MCR!"

Balloons which look like _____ were floating around the air, being batted around by playful fans.

The crowd was growing restless.

They wanted some MCR and they WANT IT NOW!

Suddenly, the multiple subwoofers blasted out one of MCR's song.

A lot of people shrieked in excitement but it turned out to be a false alarm >_>

and then...

MCR EMERGED!

With Gerard Way and the gang belting out their signature songs, they worked the crowd into a frenzy.

Gerard Way: "IF PPL FCKING FALL DOWN, YOU MOTHERFCKING PICK THEM UP! YOU FCKING GOT THAT?"

That about sums up the mood that night.

I could imagine a few shocked parents who took their 8 and 9 year old children to the concert picking up their jaws from the floor.

After a few fast and furious songs, Gerard Way grabbed the mike stand

"I expect all of you motherfckers to know the lyrics to this song and sing along to it"

With the first key struck, you knew what song is about to be played.

"Deng..."

It was like a volcanic eruption occured among the crowd.

OMG! WELCOME TO THE BLACK PARADE!

someone mouthed

Everyone started whipping out their cameras/recorders and sang along to it.

"When I was...a young boy...my father...took me into the city...to see the marching band...he say one day...you grow up...will you be...the savior of the..."

I could feel the floor vibrate with every beat of the music. I felt my throat get dry very quickly even though I didn't really shout.

For a large part of the concert, my view was being blocked by three tall guys standing together. Luckily, they went off soon afterwards.

There are some pretty bimbotic female MCR fans around me.

To put it rather unkindly, they nudged their butts in all directions like they are having a seizure or some sort.

I also felt myself going deaf after several of them did the high-pitch eagle scream.

Ow.

There was also a foreign-looking girl with her boyfriend .

She was gyrating to his body (well...not in tune to the music...) and looked barely 14.

Right. As some people would say: "DO NOT WANT!"

I had to adopt a defensive stance that night, as there was a lot of pushing and shoving around.

I bet Khad pratically went crazy went MCR played her favourite song "I don't love you"

I was kinda surprised that they didn't play Disenchanted though.

MCR closed with the song "Famous Last Words" in a rather abrupt manner.

I was kinda expecting more...haha

Afterwards, met up with Thommy and the rest.

Lucky him=P

He got his shirt autographed by all the MCR members. I could see several people gawking at his shirt in envy...haha.

Well...overall, it's quite a experience for me=D

This probably sums it up the best.

Khad: "Your first concert? and it is My Chemical Romance?!? OH MY GAWD!"

Unexpected

2007-12-10T21:59:00.000+08:00

Today, I was about to head to the leature theatre for Ms Wong's test when I checked my handphone.

Congrats! You are one of the four lucky winner for the My Chemical Romance concert tickets!

I did a double take and read it again.

My first reaction was "are you freaking kidding me?"

Later, I told some of my friends and they were like "omg you are so freaking lucky!"

Turned out that I only won one ticket...if only if it is a pair...well...that's what the I interpreted the contest advertisement as..."2 pairs of tickets to be won!" They should have just typed something like "4 tickets to be won!"...I could have gotten another friend to go with me (or maybe my sister)=X

I seriously dunno what I should wear..lol.

I guess my hurley shirt +black jeans?

I will look kind of weird though.

lol.

The Big Apple

2007-12-08T20:41:00.000+08:00

By now, Randal should have reached New York.

I can more or less visualize him looking at the surrounding billboards in excitement, before raising both his hands into the air and shouting.. "Yatta!"

Or maybe that's just me.

Shrugs.

Diss-enchanted

2007-12-06T02:47:00.000+08:00

Time for a short movie review update!

Potential *small* spoilers ahead. Do take note!

Enchanted is a unusual "fish out of the water" sort of flick.

The main reason being a mix-mash of classic 2D animation and good old reality.

The tale begins when Giselle, a naive and gentle young girl, dreamt of meeting her prince charming.

Singing along with her animal friends, her day was interrupted by the uninvited presence of a orge, who was fixated on eating her for a snack.

In a bid to escape, she climbed onto a tree, which began to lean precariously to one side.

She lost her grip and fell, straight into the arms of a young and dashing prince by the name of Edward.

It was love at first sight for the two of them.

However, when Giselle arrived on the day of their wedding, the evil stepmother of Prince Edward, Queen Narissa, was determined not to let them as Edward will become the king after his marriage and she will lose her crown.

She disguised herself as an evil witch and tricked Giselle into wishing to a "wishing well", which consist of a flowing waterfall along with a very deep hole, with no visible bottom.

She pushed Giselle into the hole and shrieked with triumph, unaware that one of Giselle's furry friend was watching her.

Giselle landed in the real world, where she attracted a lot of curious stares at her outlandish wedding dress.

After wandering around for a while, she bumped into Robert Philip, a divorce lawyer, who was bringing his six year old daughter back from school.

Initally, Robert found it quite a bother to deal with Giselle and her "I must go back to the castle" talks and treated her with "Ya ya, whatever."

He wanted to send her away, but his daughter Morgan, who is a big fan of fairytales, begged her dad to let Giselle stay.

While Giselle adapts to her strange new environment, on the other side, Prince Edward,along with Giselle's chipmunk friend Pip, came rushing down into the real world in a bid to rescue her.

Unknown to them, the wicked queen sent her henchman Nathaniel down as well, lying to him that by doing so, he will earn her affections.

She gave him three poison apples.

Three apples.

Three chances.

Use them well.

Hence, the madcap begins.

Will Nathaniel succeed?

Will Queen Narissa ever fall in love with Nathaniel?

Will Prince Edward resuce his princess?

Will Giselle get her "true love kiss"?

Will Robert and his girlfriend of 5 years Nancy finally marry?

Most importantly...will there be a happy ending?

On another note...

I went to watch the movie yesterday with nine other friends from poly. Some might have gone too...but they have already watched it...haha.

Wednesday is the best day to watch a movie afterall...with the ticket price being $6 for a student.

My personal view of the movie:

I mentally gave it a amount of stars when I saw the beginning.

Not to my surprise, the amount of stars I rated for the movie remained the same after the movie.

3.5/5 stars

Don't get me wrong. It's a pretty good flick. I like all the singing and dancing scenes, especially the park scene.

"How does she know that you love her..."

Yup...in fact...I was thinking that the African-American musician trio are going to pop up later in the flick again, much like the two Guitar Brothers from Something About Mary.

James Marsden (Cyclops anyone?) was a hoot as the bumbling Prince Edward.

Anyone recognised Peter Pettigrew? Yes...the same actor (Timothy Spall) played Nathaniel.

I was like "OH! That guy!"

If you ask me who my favourite character is...it probably have to be Pip the chipmunk.

Who don't love his charades scene? =D

Why 3.5 stars then?

Frankly, after watching it, I didn't really feel a tinge of excitement, unlike Transformers and 881 for example.

I just feel that the flick is...well...medicore. Some funny parts here and there, definitely well above the borderline but still not what I would consider as " **** and above".

The climax disappointed me as well.

I was cringing in my seat, thinking "oh please let this be over".

Some of the parts are pretty predictable too...

Overall, this is quite a okay flick.

If you got the time, why not head down to your nearest cinema with either your friends or your family?

It's definitely enough to sedate your kids for close to two hours.

YM's rating: 3.5/5
FIRST move magazine's rating (found in the December issue): ****

My rating terms:

*****-Simply marvelous
****-Required viewing
***-If you got the time, why not?
**-I did rather spend the money on sushi
*-Pathetic

CY Bazaar and CY forum group meeting

2007-12-02T14:17:00.000+08:00

Last Saturday, 24th of November, I headed off at roughly around 9:45 AM to Redhill for the Chuang Yi Bazaar, which is from the 23rd of November to 2nd Dec

Reached there around 11:10 AM.

Rather than take a bus, I walked through 2 clusters of HDB flats, before crossing a busy road.

CY's building is somewhere behind the Bukit Merah Library...at Blk 1003 of the JTC corps warehouses.

This is how the building look like

It is definitely much easier to find...compared to last year, when CY was still located at the Alexandra Distripark near Vivocity.

The first thing I saw was this:

Second floor...oh...ok.

There are three rooms in total.

One bargain section (one for $1, 10 for $5...but all these are generally some older manga. I saw a few that are yellow around the edges...but if you don't mind that...shrugs. The manga over there are shrink-wrapped as well.)

One "Current titles" room-at least 20% off

One new addition this year: the merchandise room

The basic layout of the bazaar sale

The actual layout

Actually...my main objective there is to buy a set of Negima figumates. (like lego they say, except you cannot stack them on top of one another)

I took a look around the merchandise room, but I cannot seem to find any of the figumates that I wanted...hence, I asked one of the female part-timers working there.

"Sold out" She said

"A guy came by yesterday and brought the two boxes that we had"

I was thinking "what the..."

Even selfishness got to have a limit as well right? >_>

Ahh...if only if I didn't had morning lessons on Friday...

Grumble...

I was feeling a little under the weather, so I headed to a Macdonalds some distance away for a drink.

"Auntie. A large sprite please"

Later, she gave me a large fries.

I gave her a quizzical look and said that I wanted a large SPRITE

She went "oh I thought you said you want large FRIES"

SPRITE/FRIES

._.

Oh well...I told her that I will take both anyway..

mmm...curry and barbercue sauce.

Sweet and sour sauce is nice as well...but I prefer using it for nuggets =D

Later, on the way back, looking at the scenery, I suddenly felt a impulse to take some photographs lol.

Including the pictures up there..

Here's some random shots.

Later, I decided to rummage through the gachapon boxes (like a auntie digging for clothes during the great Singapore sale a forum member said)

Those are mostly pokemon figurines...with the exception of some anime mini figurines as well.

I managed to dig up a set of Bleach handphone assortments.

1 for $1.50, 4 for $5.

I brought 6 and so it came up to $6.50.

The manga titles did not really catch my attention and hence, the set was all that I purchased.

My new HP strap=)

Afterwards, I headed off to City Hall for the CY forum members gathering.

Along with Wacky, another member there, it was my first time meeting up with the others and so yea...the two of us felt kind of awkward lol.

In total, there are around 10 people. We headed to Sakae Sushi at Marina Square, where Wacky and I only had drinks.

I didn't eat mainly because I ate a packet of fries earlier...

Later, Mitsuki and Donlaughla (Dll) went off together. Caulibeam and Kochou went off since they had something on as well.

BRC was egging Wacky and me to talk to her and MF more...

They also said that I am the oldest there yet I look the youngest.

Whether that is good thing or not...I am not very sure...

BRC:" I LIKE TO BULLY SEC ONES!"

-.-"

They are talking about going to Douby Ghaut...but I decided to head off first.

I went to Queensway shopping centre...then took a walk around.

Before that, I ate a plate of the curry chicken rice.

It's right there with the "Katong spoon laska" stall.

Both are quite nice actually...for the curry chicken rice, the curry is just nice.

Smooth and with just the right bit of "shoik" factor in the spiciness of the curry for me, my only complaint is that the amount of rice they served is too meager...but of course...you can always ask for a extra bowl of rice...both the curry chicken rice and katong laska are sold at $3.

The area is usually crowded with people waiting for seats, especially around dinner time.

I found myself redoubling my steps as I peeked in and out of stores on the 1st and 2nd level.

I seriously think I need some help selecting lol...I'm too indecisive ._.

Brought some shirts with some rather average designs...to be honest...I prefer my two "Element" shirts...haha...but these shirts will do for the moment I guess...also brought one with a rather nice design ^^ kind of big though...

Right...I'm off...

To crack my head open for roleplaying ideas...as well as storyboarding...

Nation building? That's a tough one...

Chl 8 Sat night movie

2007-11-18T01:30:00.000+08:00

I just love it whenever Channel 8 broadcast one of Stephen Chow's classics=D (or Jackie Chan for that matter)

Just now, I had only just finished watching Jacky Wu's Fun Club at 11 pm when I decided to switch over to Channel 8.

Ah! A movie of his is on! This brought a smile to my face.

Today, the movie shown was "Flirting Scholar"

In it, Stephen Chow stars as Tang Bo Hu, a reowned scholar in Ancient China.

He is known to be a flirt and is the aniki (gang leader) of what commoners usually refer to as "Jiang Shan Si Da Cai Zi" ( The Four Great Scholars of Mountain Jiang)

One day, they are fooling around as usual when Old Madam Wan of the Wan household walked past in her sedan, with her "4 fairies" maids in tow.

The 4 faeries are all known for their striking beauty and among them, the one they call Chun Xiang (literally meaning Spring Fragrance), attracted the most attention.

Fascinated by Chun Xiang, Tang Bo Hu then sneaked into the Wan Household as a servant in order to chase after her.

However, he cannot reveal his real identity as Old Madam Wan's moral enemy is Bo Hu's father, who broke her heart years ago.

Seething with anger, she vowed to hunt down his son (Tang Bo Hu) and kill him to heal her broken heart.

With so, Bo Hu got known as servant no. "9275" and embarked on his journey to win the heart of the fair maiden. Will he ever succeed?

Haha...another thing I like about this type of movie is that it's a "generation-bridging" type of movie, which means that everyone regardless of age, can get together and have a good time watching it.

I'm off...tomorrow...I must try my best to get started for the ICAs ahead...*storyboarding....mumble mumble* *PSM-think of script ideas* *Randal's-preparing for week 7...*

Good luck to the first batch of presenters for Randal's ICA next week.

Cheerio!

Random thought: Wow! I have gone a month without drinking a Slurpee! (Not since the time when I tasted a coke with a bloody flavour...while working at Popular...the machine seems to be sort of...weird...I guess. Yuck.)

Sleepy days and Fridays

2007-11-17T12:12:00.000+08:00

We had another 3 hours break yesterday, hence we headed to the library to slack around for a bit.

Later, 5 of us went to Macs for lunch, before heading to Wendy's...

As it was still early, we headed to a empty classroom and while some of them played championship manager, the rest of us watched the Simpsons halloween special that Hendrick transferred over to my laptop.

It is quite a nice episode =D

"Aren't you going to fly with the power of love?"

Later, the two lecturers enquired about the lack of numbers in the classroom...

We kind of laughed when she mentioned PJ and Joyce...the two had gone to meet their idol Danson Tang Yuzhe in person and from the looks of things, seems like they had a pretty good time.

Afterwards, the whole class scattered, some going for sushi, some going to meet their friends and some returning home.

K...off to buy lunch from the market...

Bye.

So...what did you do today?

2007-11-16T00:07:00.000+08:00

With Azhar in reservist and Ms Soo's lab lesson being cancelled, my class and I found ourselves with a 29 hours gap in betwen lessons (we ended Wed's lesson at 1PM while Shariff's starts at 6.30.)

So...what did I do?

Nothing much...just slacked around and stoned around for a bit...

I finally got some time to read the comics I borrowed from AMK library a couple of weeks back, when I was there with SY to discuss about Shariff's first ICA.

Let's see...

3 Zits sketchbooks, 1 Foxtrot collection (Orlando Bloom ruined everything!), 1 Garfield, Two Dilberts and 1 Farside.

I have read most of these...except maybe for Zits' Pimp my lunch and Garfield's Older and Wider.

Among these, my favourite got to be Foxtrot by Bill Amend =D

My favourite character have to be Jason...while Peter Fox is a dead ringer for MJ with his appetite.

Next up, Zits is a very good read as well.

It is about Jeremy Duncan, a typical 15 year old teenager who tries everyday to avoid being embarrassed by his parents, look forward to getting a license, become a rock god.

Being teenagers, I'm sure many of us can somehow relate to some of the gags.

Sometimes, when I read it, I can't help but get tickled and go "lol! How true..."

On the other hand, seems like Shi Yan met up with Thomson and his group members to discuss their PSM module project.

(3:26 PM) -Shane- : wherre u??
(3:26 PM) +Mr Round+: home
(3:26 PM) -Shane- : on the bed??
(3:26 PM) +Mr Round+: ya...why?
(3:26 PM) -Shane- : sexy time..!!!!!!!!!!!!

(3:31 PM) -Shane- : HAHA
(3:31 PM) -Shane- : NOOO COMICS
(3:31 PM) -Shane- : SEXY TIME!!!!

(3:33 PM) -Shane- : ALAMAK
(3:33 PM) -Shane- : WHAT ARE THE SCENARIOS?
(3:33 PM) -Shane- : HENTAI?
(3:33 PM) -Shane- : HENTAI ROLE PLAY
(3:33 PM) -Shane- : WOOO HOOO

of course...all those are typed by Thommy...

I knew that something seems different...but I didn't realise it until they told me later in school lol.

The aftermaths...

2007-11-14T15:26:00.000+08:00

Had our ICA 1 for Edwin today.

I thought that everyone did great.

I think I did ok...

I couldn't quite handle my nerves...blah.

Stuttered on a few words and there are these awkward pauses here and there at the end of sentences...

I'm all right when rehearsing by myself...but when it comes down to the actual thing, I'm a bundle of nerves.

Olivia helped me to time my presentation

3 minutes and 14 secs.

Aiyah...definitely not good.

Anyway, let's just give a sigh of relief that it's finally over. No more ICAs this week. Hooray.

Went to Macs with the others for lunch...MJ and SY had BBQ chicken rice while I ate the Fish and Fries from Grinning Gecko. The others had Macdonalds.

Later, some of them went home, while MJ, Ida, Sharon , Khad and I met up briefly to discuss Ms Soo's ICA.

Afterwards, I managed to catch up with Hendrick and Olivia at the MRT station.

Olivia was going out for another outing with her clique while Hendrick is going home.

Ahh...hello there bed.

Let me just get my pillow and bloster...

...and it's Destination: Slumberland for me...

Yatta!

2007-11-13T03:33:00.000+08:00

Hmm...the test didn't turn out to be as bad as I thought...

Most of the questions were quite managable...except for 1 (c) that is...

Transduction.

WHAT THE RUDDY FISH IS THAT?

Most of my classmates don't know either. I can't even find it in the notes! Or maybe I'm just too sleepy...

Thommy, Yan Yan and the others thought up of quite a nice way to remember the three standards of SDTV...

PAL is your friend! NTSC is the brother of NTUC! SECAM is Spycam's brother!

Of course, there are some other versions cooked up by them, which I wouldn't mention here.

Got home and slacked around (read: procrascinate)for a bit

My sister and I were looking forward to the premire of "Heroes" on Channel 5. (Yea...because we don't have cable unfortunately)

"So cuuuuute!" Gushed my sister at Hiro Nakamura aka Yatta! man [played by Masi Oka]

My dad was starring at the television screen with a bemused look on his face.

Ahh...I should get a move on with my article writing...

ciao.