Y.U.so.K.po

Moved on...

2010-09-02T21:55:00.000+08:00

Moving on with the time/tech to Tumblr. =)

En-X is Brighter than the Sun

2009-12-15T15:31:00.020+08:00

Ok I kinda promise to tell Alvin, the lead singer of a local band En-X who also happens to be my ex-student many years ago, what I thought of his band's debut album... here it is:
When I first got the physical album, my first reaction is "Wow great cover!" I love the minimalist approach... how clever and sleek it looks. I like in the inlay too - simple but it works aesthetically. That kinda makes me want to listen to the CD! Haha... I like this old school feeling of having a CD in your hand, looking at the design and flipping through the booklet. Digital downloads can never replicate this feeling.

Anyway back to the album, which is called Brighter than the Sun. I must say I really like the music arrangement of almost all the songs. It sounded a lot more versatile than other local bands, which has an overwhelming 'band sound' with lots of, sometimes excessive electric guitar. Not that it's bad but variety is good. I love many of the intro to the songs which makes me want to listen to the rest of the song, particularly Choices which is one of my favorite, if not my favorite track. Production wise, all the songs sounded very polished and finished. I guess having them mastered in New York does make all the difference.

Generally I don't really have a taste-bud for rock music, particularly the more heavy ones but occasional pop/rock music is good. And I find myself liking several tracks from this album, which is pretty pop/rock and radio friendly. Besides Choices, I've given Never Be The Same, Love (Everything will be Alright), the title track - Brighter than the Sun and Breathe several more 'spins' or playcount than the rest. They have good melody or arrangements which gave me a deeper impression.

Besides the arrangement, Alvin's voice also stands out from the rest of the local band crowd, at least to me. He mentioned about some singing technique which he paid quite a bit for the vocal class... can't remember what it is though. I must say it took me a little while to get used to it, mainly because I know him and his singing voice differs greatly from his talking voice, which is not uncommon actually. I like his kinda airy/breathy singing style (I hope I got the terms right) but I do think he needs to work a little more on getting the words out a little more clearly. On some of the verses/songs, I couldn't make out what he is singing about... which brings us to the lyrics!

To be frank, like many listener (I think), I really didn't pay much attention to the lyrics. OR it's not strong enough to stick to my head. I made an effort to read through some of the songs and I do think it tends to be a little too fragmented and kinda fancy with a lot of imagery or visual descriptions. A little too romantic for me i guess? Haha... Anyway I understand it's not easy to come up with good lyrics and it's really first time good effort so keep it up! =)

I'm really glad I have the time to finish listening to this album. These days it's really a challenge for me to listen to one whole album. Sometimes, I would listen to an album just once and those songs which don't get my attention wouldn't have a chance of getting heard more than halfway and will not make it for a second spin. So I'm glad this album has enough good elements to keep me interested and sit through it. And I'm not saying this because I know one of the band members. Those who know me would know that I say what I mean. And I try to be constructive with my criticism.

Finally, I think we should support our local arts & music scene. But we should not support it just for the sake of supporting. It needs feedback and reality check, or else it will not grow or mature. And I sincerely think En-X deserves our support. You can listen to their album at their Facebook or MySpace account and be a fan/friend. You can also see Alvin's rendition of other pop songs on their YouTube account. If you want the album, you can contact them on Facebook or MySpace.

All the best Alvin, Benjamin and Vanessa! Hope to hear your songs on the radio soon, if it's not already being played!

2009 - A Year of Change

2009-12-14T01:04:00.003+08:00

2009 is a year of change for me.

Both at home and at work.

For better. For worse.

Nikie died. =(

Both my 'partners-in-crime' left the country. =(

Mum got sick. =(

I got a promotion... =)

...but I have to give up my teaching subject of 10 years. =(

Then there's my health... =/

Can't wait for 2009 to be over. =(

2010 will be better!!! =)

Update

2009-09-07T23:12:00.003+08:00

I am seriously wondering if I should bother to blog again. Many I know have moved on with Facebook and Twitter. But i guess blog still have it's place... for now.
Blogger's composing website is so screwed up! The layout is coming out wrong! I'm sending this entry by email... IT BETTER WORK!!!
Been feeling kinda frustrated... for many reasons. Hope to get over them soon... one at a time.
MY AIR-CON IS MAKING VIBRATING NOISE!!!
iPhone 3GS. Buy. Don't buy. Buy. Don't buy. BUY!!!!.... Don't buy. ARGHHHHHHHHHH HOOOOWWWWW!!!! Stupid Singtel.
Sometimes I feel that I've made the wrong choice. Other times, I'm glad I did. Life is confusing.
Boston has not been too exciting for me. Probably coz I was tired and alone. Gives me second thoughts about travelling on my own again. Regardless will upload some photos from Boston soon.
Wanted to get something for my class on the last day of term 3. But was then preoccupied and didn't manage to do so. I felt bad initially but... I realised soon that I shouldn't.... then I feel sad instead... maybe it's just me.
Note to self: Move on Mr Wang... move on...

Making a resounding statement...

2009-07-23T19:18:00.007+08:00

It's not everyday you get a chance to make a resounding statement to our president, the education minister and a bunch of important people...

"Valedictorian Speech – 23rd July 2009 by Loo Zihan

Chancellor, Nanyang Technological University, His Excellency President SR Nathan.

Minister for Education and Second Minister for Defence, Dr Ng Eng Hen. Excellencies, Pro-Chancellors, Chairman and Members, NTU Board of Trustees, NTU President Dr Su Guaning, Distinguished guests, Graduates and family members, Alumni and friends of the University, Ladies and Gentlemen, a very good morning to you.

My name is Loo Zihan and I am part of the very first graduating batch from the School of Art, Design and Media.

I say this opening line with much pride. Today, we are not only experiencing a personal rite of passage but also witnessing local history in the making. Thank you NTU, for having the foresight to set up a degree programme focusing on the Fine Arts.

The original draft of my speech was composed of words like “integrity” and “breaking new boundaries” but a recent incident put a reality check on what I have to say.

Last Friday, I received a note informing me that the poster for my thesis film was deemed “inappropriate” to be displayed during this convocation ceremony. My first thought was to make the changes to the poster as required – but subsequently, as I was practicing for this speech, I realized that I could not say the words I drafted originally with conviction and authority by subjecting my work to censorship which I did not understand. I felt a sense of responsibility to my fellow graduates, who have voted me in as Valedictorian to speak up on their behalf.

After all, the poster in question was on display for more than 2 weeks with the public and other VIPs in attendance at our School of Art, Design and Media’s opening ceremony where it drew no criticism.

I admit, in the past, some of my projects have been deliberately provocative, however, I believe strongly that this image was not such an example.

Rather than subject the poster to changes, I decided to withdraw it from the exhibition.

As we move on into the “real world”, we will face challenges to the way we choose to express ourselves and our ideas. Some of these challenges may be reasonable, while others are not.

We will have to face these challenges objectively rather than emotionally, stay true to our convictions, seek compromise when necessary or appropriate, but be brave enough to stand firm when it is not.

As artists, we should not only strive to produce great art – but also bear responsibility for the art we produce. Otherwise, we betray ourselves, and our audiences.

I charge you all to take on this responsibility with pride, fortitude and courage. Together, I hope we continue to dedicate ourselves to being the vanguard.

For every pioneer that ventures forth, there are people who have supported him thus far to make his journey possible.

They put up with our late night project submissions, chauffer us around to meet deadlines. They are our last bastion of hope we can rely on, for anything, from prop-making to sending that thumb drive down to school to starring in our tutorial projects.

To our family members, for your unbridled confidence in us, I would like to say thank you.

Life ahead may not be a bed of roses, but it is for moments like today that you can truly be proud of us. When you know you have created something special, and that we will be making a difference in this society.

I would like to invite the graduating class of 2009 to stand and join me in giving a round of applause to our relatives.

A final word to my fellow graduates – Let our graduation not be the end but be a new beginning. I urge you to carry on and fulfill the role of the artist in society, to think, to question, and to challenge.

Thank you."

Great job Loo Zihan!

Another one....

2009-07-20T02:02:00.006+08:00

After Sean Kingston,
Esmee Denters,
Marié Digby and
Charice Pempengco,
here's yet another kid who got discovered online and signed by a record label... 15 years old Justin Bieber.

Despite his kiddish voice, I must admit the song's quite well written. I can imagine how much better the song would sound if sung by Usher or Chris Brown... In fact he was signed by Usher...

I hope a certain Mr Tan gets the hint and do it soon... =p

MJ

2009-06-27T00:50:00.006+08:00

The world was shocked by the passing of Michael Jackson who was planning a final world tour to get himself out of debt...

Guess how the world deals with the loss of a music icon...

[from iTunes Music Store 27 June 2009]

How sad is it that we only remember his music after he has left us...

He's gone...

2009-06-22T23:25:00.006+08:00

Nikie passed on last Wednesday night. He has been with us for 15 years.

Eventhough we all see it coming, it was tough. And I didn't even get to say my last goodbye before he was put out of suffering. I was in Melbourne. I feel bad. Really bad.

Today I fly back back home from Melbourne, knowing that Nikie will not be home to greet us anymore... needs some getting used to.

Miss him.

So much.

back?

2009-05-08T21:52:00.003+08:00

ok i am back. for now.

kinda lost motivation to blog these days. actually this is my 3rd attempt to put up a blog entry. The last 2 ended up no where..... more like incomplete. So let's hope i finish this one.

For a start... i'll just give some random thought and happenings recently.... shall not dwelled about what i had done the past... erm...5 months?

Here we go...

1. I bought myself a Macbook Air. A refurbished one. It was cheap enough for me to probably kick myself if I didn't get it. Also for the fact that I felt like getting something for please or reward myself! But the sad thing is, it's been like almost a month since I got it and I still hardly used it! I just didn't have the time to transfer stuff from my Macbook to make this my main mobile mac. Maybe i can do it this long weekend...

2. My left ear suddenly feels numb for no good reason. Wonder what's wrong. Trying to ignore it now.

3. Awards Day today in school. It went well. Well no major hiccups and think our kiddos manage to impress the audience with their performances. Congrats to all recipients and my AV crew for a job well done. =)

4. My trip to MIT in Boston was cancelled. SHUCKS. Suppose to attend a new media conference there this past week. Stupid swine flu. Was actually too busy with work to feel disappointed about it when I was told the cancellation of my trip. But the disappointed feeling came this week..... especially when everyone start asking me about it! Hope there's no other stupid flu like some stupid dog or cow flu the next time I have the chance to travel to US.... whenever that is!

5. I need a new mattress. Been thinking of getting a new one for 2 months now but the one I like is like... blardy expensive man. Blame myself for having expensive taste. Haha... but it's seriously damn comfortable. Shall wait for the next Robinson sale.

6. I really hope to do myself a huge favour. But its so impossible. Really.

7. This person I know... really... needs... to... just... have a better self awareness. Loud Loud Loud Loud and LOUD!!! DAMN LOUD. ARGH! OK rant over.

OK that's all for now. If anyone is still reading at all... haha... Happy long weekends!

好想要揮霍

2009-02-14T00:21:00.004+08:00

It's amazing how sometimes a silly unimportant moment can really affect how you feel for the next few days... time to get over it. Again.

at this moment... I love this song!

coming soon

2009-02-05T01:02:00.000+08:00

Flesh & Bone

2009-02-03T23:10:00.002+08:00

Written, arranged and vocals by Shawn Tan.

If i own a record company, I would sign him on!!!

BLARDY CANNOT BELIEVE IT!!!!

2009-01-15T21:29:00.004+08:00

Jason Mraz Concert tickets sold out in less than 3 days!!!!!

@)!#$*&!^@*#&#&!$)*@&$)!&!

I should be blogging...

2009-01-03T23:12:00.002+08:00

... about my Taipei trip;

... about the Christmas gatherings;

... about my new year resolutions;

... about what i dislike the coming CNY;

... erm...?

But i seriously don't have the mood to do so.

Oh well.

Until I do, you have a happy 2009... while I try to figure out why we need to be happy about it... =p

Merry X'mas everyone!

2008-12-25T23:14:00.003+08:00

Hope you had a great one!

Will blog about my fab taipei trip soon!

Geek post

2008-12-15T00:57:00.001+08:00

This is SO COOL!

Apple's latest web ad goes outside the usual bounds of traditional banner ads by affecting other portions of Yahoo's page:

Religulous

2008-12-13T15:07:00.006+08:00

I'm so sure this movie is going to be banned, if not already banned, in Singapore.

I so wanna watch this to see what Bill Maher has to say... guess will have to wait for its DVD release!

Randomness part V

2008-12-06T18:23:00.011+08:00

Everyone's complaining about Kylie's scaled down in Singapore (and the rest of Asia) concert in the papers! I so totally agree... the most expensive tickets in Europe is cheaper than the most expensive ones here! What the hell...
I know I've said it before but I have to echo what my friends have also been constantly repeat - I CAN'T WAIT FOR MY TAIPEI TRIP IN 10 DAYS!!!
I spent a good 6 hours tidying up my room. Threw away loads of magazines! I should really stop buying them!
My air-con is STILL BLARDY LEAKING!!!!!!!!
I really need to watch all those DVDs I bought!!!

6. I luv the DC/Marvel parody on YouTube!!! It's so creatively hilarious! See for it yourself!

7. The best ideas are sometimes the simplest ones. Here's "Where the hell is Matt?" [watch in HD!]:

Random song

2008-12-02T21:40:00.004+08:00

Recently I've been setting my iTunes to randomly play any songs on my library of over 7000 songs, some of which I have never really heard!!!

Today, the track below was played. For some reasons it made me pay attention to it. It's a piece of music from a movie soundtrack. Really like the arrangement... quite emo. Haha! Thought I should just share it here... let's see if anyone can remember this theme song from a rather famous japanese movie. =)

YouTube: makes Your-dream-come True!

2008-12-01T00:17:00.006+08:00

YouTube has yet once again made another person famous and her dream come true. This very talented, and even more lucky person is a 16 years old girl from the Philippines, Charice Pempengco.

From my understanding, videos of her live performances singing big songs by Whitney & Celine, was uploaded to YouTube and have garnered enough hits to get noticed by Oprah Winfrey, which not only got her on her TV show, Oprah called up David Fosters (the producer who discovered artists like Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Josh Groban and Michael Buble just to name a few) and strongly recommended the girl to him!

She has since been invited to performed with Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli on their respective concert, performed on various TV shows and events like the Andre Agassi Charity Concert, David Foster's star-studded tribute concert, Macy's 2008 Parade, The Oprah Show - TWICE, and I'm quite sure countless I am unaware of.

Google her name and you're sure to find videos of the above mentioned.

Now, a more... personal opinion. She's no doubt an outstanding singer and has been really fortunate to perform with many celebrities. But that does not make her a star...YET. Just look at Esmee Denters, another lucky girl from Holland who also got featured by Oprah and sang with celebs like Justin Timberlake, OneRepublic and Natasha Bedingfield. When she released her own song, it didn't even scratch the chart in US! Only goes to show, yet again, it takes more than talent to be a famous singer... and even more to be a celebrity singer or artist. Look at American Idol... how many winners actually made it big. 'Nuff said.

But then again, this girl has DAVID FOSTER man... which makes a HUGE difference. She is not just lucky... she is damn blardy lucky! Let's hope she can have some good songs coming her way... and carry her own songs as well as she did with other artists' songs. Somehow i feel, without doubting her singing ability, she tends to imitate the original artists when she sings all the other songs. She needs her new style. Big lungs singing is so passe, furthermore... one Celine Dion is enough... and no one should even consider taking over Whitney Houston, eventhough she's sadly now a drug addict... in recovery i think?!

Anyway here's a video of her on Oprah, singing a Celine Dion song with David Foster on the piano, ending with an invitation by Celine Dion herself, asking her to sing at her concert in NYC. It obviously made her cry... how drama can you get!?!!!! Oprah sure knows how to make good TV... hahaha!!!

Charice on Oprah - Part 3 - Celebrity bloopers here

Happenings in Nov...

2008-11-29T00:47:00.024+08:00

Been taking most of my photos these days with my iPhone rather than my digicam. So the quality's not been great... well at least I capture some of the happenings in Nov... Here they are!

***

Another B.Day Celebration in school!

Bangkok Retreat!!

It was kinda more fun than I've expected it to be. Great hotel and even better company! Thanks gang! They know who they are! Here's some random photos... =)

Bye Bye Lofty!

We bid our final farewell to my colleague who has flown to Spain for his retirement. He's a really cool guy, even at retirement age! Gonna miss him and wish I have my own resort to spent my retirement when it's my turn!

A student's bday party!

Went to a birthday party of a student of my form class. It was... quite creative and interesting... But i think i'm kinda overaged for this kids party. Oh well I guess I went coz I probably won't be teaching the class next year. Anyway they were taking photos for the award winners... yes they gave out class awards! How cute is that! Haha...

My New Mug!
A colleague accidentally broke my fav mug which I've been using for 8 years. And I saw it being broken and can't do anything about it. =/ Oh well it's ok. Give me an excuse to get a new one, shown below! I luv it! It has the 'naughtiness' of my old mug! FYI, that brown 'stain' is not a stain... it's part of the design! Haha...

KylieX!

Initially I was kinda disappoint at the stage design... it doesn't look impressive enough for an international act. But when the concert started, the music was all that matters! The huge LCD at the back also made up for the lacking in props. Had a really good time with my friends! It's feels like a fantastic club with great live music and performance! Almost everyone stood and dance to the songs most of the time! Great fun! Great company! =) If only I had remembered to bring my camera... DAMN! Here's my only LOUSY shot.

Japan Media Arts Festival!

I think everyone should go see this exhibition! Regardless if you're a newbie to the arts or an artist! There's really no doubt how creative the Japanese are... especially with their approaches to art. Simple yet beautiful! I love it! There's alot more than what I've show here... if you're free, go to 8Q@Singapore Arts Museum to see it! And if you still don't know by now, admission is free every Friday night from 6pm to 9pm! =)

Projection of image outside SAM

This is a REALLY COOL PIECE OF TECHNOLOGY ART!!!

Really makes me wonder how they make the square 'glow' as you walk around it!

This is another cool piece of video art. Dots, lines and rhythm. Simple and yet creative!

Model of a manga character... i think. Looks awesome!

The 8Q building. Looks nice at night!

Avenue Q!!!

Avenue Q was another great show I watched this month! I knew most of the songs already but nothing beats seeing a live performance of it! And seriously, the Filipino cast quite blew me away with their singing! I was initially disappoint to find out it was a Filipino cast instead of a US or Australian cast but it turned out quite well! Glad I went! =) No photos for this event though... didn't bother taking.

Anyway, what I like about Avenue Q is how the songs bring up very genuine and taboo topics in the society. While some are more controversial than others, the one which kinda struck me is not those socially sensitive ones, but the one about going back to college... the lyrics goes like this:

KATE MONSTER:

I wish I could go back to college.

Life was so simple back then.

NICKY:

What would I give to go back and live in a dorm with a meal plan again!

PRINCETON:

I wish I could go back to college.

In college you know who you are.

You sit in the quad, and think, "Oh my God!

I am totally gonna go far!"

ALL:

How do I go back to college?

I don't know who I am anymore!

PRINCETON:

I wanna go back to my room and find a message in dry-erase pen on the door!

Ohhh...

I wish I could just drop a class...

NICKY:

Or get into a play...

KATE MONSTER:

Or change my major...

PRINCETON:

Or f*** my T.A.

ALL:

I need an academic advisor to point the way!

We could be...

Sitting in the computer lab,

4 A.M. before the final paper is due,

Cursing the world 'cause I didn't start sooner,

And seeing the rest of the class there, too!

PRINCETON:

I wish I could go back to college!

ALL:

How do I go back to college?!

AHHHH...

PRINCETON:

I wish I had taken more pictures.

NICKY:

But if I were to go back to college,

Think what a loser I'd be-

I'd walk through the quad,

And think "Oh my God..."

ALL:

"These kids are so much younger than me."

And it just so happens that I have to walk by SMU recently to go to S.A.M. Really reminds me of this song yet again...

***

So that's it for most of Nov... hoping for an even more relaxed and exciting Dec!!!

Olivia & Nathan

2008-11-17T00:34:00.015+08:00

Wanna personally recommend two young local artists. No not those in the Mando-pop music industry. There are actually several local english artists who have managed to garner some attention mainly through word of mouth of how good they are. Actually, Corrinne May got known this way too. While some might not agree with me, you are entitled to your own opinion.

Many might have already heard of Olivia Ong. I really like her voice and her bossa nova renditions of many evergreen songs. Her first album, A Girl Meets Bossa Nova, was released in first released in Japan when she was 19 and sold considerably well considering Japan's highly competitive market. When the album was finally released here in Singapore, it was highly recommended by many local CD shops... well at least that's how I first got to know her. Been following her ever since. I later found out that she previously formed a trio to brave the Taiwan mando-pop market with little success before her solo effort. That behind her now. She has now 2 other relatively successful Bossa Nova style studio albums [A Girl Meets Bossa Nova 2, Fall In Love With Olivia]. And recent she released a greatest hits collection! She actually released 2 pop albums with original songs but it didn't do very well I think. Stick to bossa nova, girl!

My first and still a favorite song of hers is Fly Me To The Moon from the first album. I love the arrangement! Take a listen!

From a young girl to a young boy, Nathan Hartono. He's the one who did a new version of Where I Belong and performed it during the NDP this year. Yes I know I know but give him a chance la... It's really not that bad if we don't compare it with the original style of the song. By the way he has released 2 albums [Let Me Sing! and Feeling Good] and a live DVD, staged two sold-out solo concerts at Esplanade and performed at many corporate events and functions. All this before he was even 17. He's still in JC now and a schoolmate of my ex-student. I'm not too sure how well his albums sold and frankly I didn't think much of the original songs on his first album but I am very sure he can sing pretty well, LIVE! I was truly quite impressed with his live performances, particular his performance at Esplanade which was recorded and released as a live album. Also heard him live on the Acoustic Lounge programme of radio station Power98 where he sang live. He was good! Just hope he has a better produced album. =)

I particularly like his jazzy rendition of Everybody's Changing originally sung by Keane. Take a listen. Bear in mind he was only 16 then and this was recorded in front of a LIVE audience in one take!

Give our local talent a chance!!! =)

Have you figured?

2008-11-14T00:34:00.005+08:00

Here's what the last entry was about... Just in case you have not figured out...

Deepa-raya (Deepavali and Hari Raya) Celebrations in school. I must admit that my previous school, being a traditional all-chinese boys school, never really even attempted celebrating Deepavali nor Hari Raya so it was really new to me! Though I was not really there when the actual celebration took place due to reservist, I managed to catch the rehearsal which was already good enough for me! As usual, I enjoyed the performance put up by the kiddos! I don't say it coz I'm from the school... people who knows me knows that my standard and expectation... well let's just say it's not exactly low. =p
We had popiah in school! Have to make them ourselves... i can't exactly remember why we had them... maybe to celebrate the end of the term? =/
Celebrated two friends/colleagues' birthday at Bruise located at Sentosa. Great food, great ambience and great friends. What else can you ask for. =)
School's early X'mas concert! Not bad... it was a 'warm' concert indeed! Haha!
Wang Lee Hom Music-Man Concert!!!!! WOOHOOO.... almost went deaf but who cares!!!! It was great!!!!
Dinner at Spaces@Humble House just before watching Avenue Q at the Esplanade! They not only make local hawker cuisine looks high class, they make them taste good too! At a 'high class' price too of coz! =)
Two artworks i like at the Singapore Biennale. Think it was not very well attended. Went on a Sat afternoon. Haiz... there's much to be done about educating Singaporeans to step into museums and exhibitions for arts sake and NOT FOOD!
Class and faculty photoshoot! Though it was very last minute but glad that we did it!!!
A gift I made for a wonderful colleague who just retired. =)
Our farewell dinner for this wonderful friend. =)

Ok I'm off to Bangkok for a school retreat over the weekends! Gonna be back on sunday night... wanna remind myself here to blog about some local singers in my next blog... No not those in the chinese market but those who sings english songs... till then... sawa decrap or watever la!?!

Go figure!

2008-11-10T00:12:00.009+08:00

Promised to blog but no time to blog... so just gonna throw some photos. Go figure ya?! Haha...

Random Facts: Do You Know?!

2008-10-28T00:15:00.009+08:00

Bleeding Love is written by OneRepublic's leader singer Ryan Tedder and teenage pop singer Jesse McCartney. I wonder how much they are getting for royalty since this song is getting airplay all over the world!
The Pussycat Dolls actually opened the MTV Asia Awards 2004 held in Singapore. I was there at the awards back then (my sis works for MTV Asia then) and like many others, I have no idea who they were. Different story now.
Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours" official MTV has now been viewed over 28 million times.... 28 637 362 to be exact! And counting! Go add more views to the count here.
Singapore has an iTunes Store now BUT they sell only applications for iPhones/iPod Touches. From my understanding, the reasons for not being able to sell songs online here has to do with the complicated copyright and royalty issues by the various record labels which differs from country to country. Of course there's also the concern about the fact that there is a lack of respect for IP in Singapore, and Asia, in general... Haiz... we're so behind.
I made pocket money from eBay way back in 1998 when I was still in university. eBay was relatively unknown in Singapore then so it was less competitive. I sold mainly local special editions of CDs and VCDs, which included bonus tracks or gifts not found in the US/Europe versions. They are very sought after by fans, particularly in the states. I remember the highest I've earned from a single item was a US$40 profit margin for a NSYNC VCD! LOL!!! I made about 2k over a year, which is not bad for something I do part time and for fun. =) I've stopped since I started working due to a lack of time. Also by then, eBay has became common knowledge, there's too many people selling what I was selling! Profit margin dropped so much that it is not worth the time and effort anymore. I still buy from eBay these days though...
I used Microsoft Windows for more than 10 years before I switched totally to Mac in 2003. So don't say I am biased against Microsoft!!! It's coz they are just BAD! BWAHAHAHAHHA!
I own hundreds of comics books from my sec school/JC days. I can't bear to throw them away and have no idea where to put them for sale! If only we have a genuine Comicon in Singapore like the ones in the States. The one we had recently is pro jap/anime which is not exactly the same. =/
I own over 2000 CDs and DVDs... and counting... =p

Ok I'm out of ideas/facts. More in the future!

Polaroid fun!

2008-10-24T23:01:00.007+08:00

Found a fun software which makes any photos of yours looks like it came from a Polaroid camera! It looks quite authentic and cool!!! Take a look!

Cool right... best of all it's FREE!!! And it's for Mac only for now! So if u own a mac, GET IT HERE AND HAVE FUN!!!

Geek Rant!!!

2008-10-17T00:05:00.004+08:00

WHAT IN THE WORLD IS APPLE DOING!!?!?!?!

They removed the FIREWIRE from the new line of Macbooks!!!!!!

WHAT THE HECK ARE THEY DOING!!!!!!!!!

Firewire is what makes a mac a mac!

It allows import of high quality DV/HDV videos from camcorder...

It allows the macbook to go into the target disk mode, basically converting your laptop into a hard disk so that it can be connected to another macbook as a hard disk, which is essential for migrating data and troubleshooting...

It allows faster and more stable file transfer to and from external hard disk than USB transfer! (At least from my experience!)

The new Macbook CANNOT do all these anymore!!!

What The Hell!!!

I see what they are doing.... they are forcing Apple fans like myself to go for the higher end Macbook Pro to get the firewire! Even though I must admit that if I am to get a new mac laptop for myself, I will go for the Macbook Pro... but that's not the point! They are depriving entry level mac users from something which makes Apple's Macbook more superior than the windows laptop in terms of not just software but hardware! And for organisation like mine which purchase Macbooks for all teaching staff, they are SO gonna be deprived from the advantages mentioned above, particularly the import video functions! I feel like they are downgrading themselves to a windows PC now. I can't help feeling upset though I know there is really nothing I can do about it.

I hate to say this but I think Steve is getting senile.... can someone more sensible please take over before worse things happen...

*sigh*

Rant over... and out.

Random Photos

2008-10-09T20:02:00.002+08:00

Young artists at work...

They were discussion how to improve their work.... I think.

Why I need storage solution...

Why I need even MORE storage solution!

My data storage solution is quite ok. =p
All 3 ext HD combined is still less than 1TB though. =/

I can't wait for it to be really!!!

An art installation by a colleague... Bringing a different meaning to art by pencil. =)

~the end~

news

2008-10-05T00:45:00.014+08:00

=) news

A friend of mine got featured in the papers!!! Woo hoo!!! So glad that his short film Blood Ties is going to be made into a full length feature film! I actually knew about sometimes ago. Guess this time round I won't be involved in producing the motion graphics anymore... haha... =p

And I'm also glad to know that 2 of my favourite local shortfilm directors, Wee Li Lin and Boo Junfeng are also working on their feature film! Li Lin's 1st feature film "Gone Shopping", to me, is not as accessible to the public as it probably would like to be. The story didn't gel very well. Her shortfilms' much better so I was kinda disappointed when I first saw it at the gala premiere. Heard she edited the movie for the DVD release but I doubt I will be getting it. Hope that her new movie, Forever, would be better.

Saw this teaser poster of Boo Junfeng's new movie from his blog. I really like his style. Can't wait for this movie.

=( news

I recently found out that someone I know made a choice which seems to suggest that the person has given in to temptation. I was so disappointed. The decision seems to have gone against what we used to be so passionate about. It made me see this person in a different light. On one hand I can understand the situation this person is in... but at the same time I heard more of how this person who was supposedly righteous turns to a "spy", a backstabber and a hypocrite. This goes to show how an unhealthy environment can change a person for the worse, especially so if he or she is not strong willed enough. I really hope what I've been told is not true but I have a feeling that it is. How sad. Another reminder of how unpleasant the real world can sometime be...

=/ news

Exams starts next week. Marking and remarks ahead. Oh dear.

^_^ news

Now here's something to look forward to: Wang Lee Hom Music-Man Concert, KylieX2008 Concert, Avenue Q musical, Wildrice's end of year pantomime "Snow White" and my Taipei tripin Dec! Woohoo!!! Can't wait!!!

the past few weekends

2008-09-27T23:12:00.011+08:00

Been quite busy the past 3 weekends.. didn't really get to enjoy myself at all. Was either attending workshops (yes over weekends!), marking or setting exam papers.

Not been to any performances for a while now. And I still can't believe I actually FORGOTTEN to attend a performance last month. So upset with myself. Bought the tickets of this sell out show ages ago and then both myself and my friend FORGOTTEN about it. I'd even put it in my iCal (my calendar on my mac) but I must have been busy or tired, I didn't check it! Should have set an alarm for it, which I usually do! Damn it! Wasted another $40 bucks. Well luckily they are staging the show again so will watch it next time when they do. What performance is it? It's called "Own Time Own Target", part of the Theatre Festivals. It's about NS... haha... yes it always strike a cord with any Singaporean guys... which reminds me of my reservist during the last week of oct... 2nd time in a year... -.-

Anyway, looking through my iPhoto to see if there's anything to 'show and tell'...

Some photos I took at the school touch rugby tournament. Was trying out with the SLR camera we got. I think I will eventually get a SLR camera... just not now.

I finally tidied up my desk during the school Sep break! So proud of myself then... but it's getting messy again... =p

It's been in my bag for like more than 8 months now... I wanna spend these more than 300 bucks worth of vouchers... SOON!!!

This was the shop I saw at the Hougang Bus Interchange. I couldn't help laughing when I saw it! What a name! Try splitting it into 2 words and changing one of the 'a' to an 'u'... and you get... well a body part! LOL!!!!! =p

This is my 1st iPod. The 3rd generation, 20GB model. I can't bear to sell it and I think it still looks cool eventhough it's like 4-5 generation behind the current one! I had to open it to change the battery, which cost me surprisingly little... less than 15 bucks from eBay! Quite worth it considering I can use it as a hard drive or a backup for my music library.

Our last lunch time concert before the exam starts... it's usually very well attended thanks to the support from both students and staff. Looking forward to the next one... which I think has a Christmas theme!

Another one of my colleague has her joint exhibition with her friends at OldSchool. As you can see it's called "Insert Title". I like what she her art installation you see above which I have inserted my own title... "Heartprint". I really like another installation shown above... which I've decided to call "Searching". Why? Go see and find out your meaning in the arts. Haha...

This is our beloved Nikie waiting outside the vet. Cute? Haha... Were there for more than 2 #%*@&^@! hours. And it cost 170 bucks to find out that my 14 years 5 months old (that's like 100 year old human years!!!!) beagle has heart murmur and liver problems... common problems for old dogs. =( Oh well, he's still quite active and eats well considering his age so we just have to take better care of him. And, once again, if you are wondering about the scar around his face, it's been there when my family got him since he was 6 months old. Think he's been ill treated by the previous owner... who happens to be my dad's friend, so we really didn't ask. But he's been in good hands since! =)

Ok back to marking now...

Somethings

2008-09-19T18:56:00.008+08:00

I was trying very hard to get on with my work today but I just can't concentrate for some reasons. Something's been on my mind... no it's not really about Gary... but then again, it could be sparked off by it subconsciously.

Anyway I think the closure came for me as we send off Gary's fiancee, Joanne, and her family that night at the airport. They were escorting his body back to Glasgow. It was really emotional for all of us and i guess we all dealt with it in our own way. As mentioned during today's psy debrief for the teachers (yes we had one too), Gary would probably want us to move on and worry about how his loved ones would be taken care of... his family, his friends, his colleagues... and of course his students. For us at school, we hope that we will be able to find someone who will be able to take care and inspire the kids as much as he had, eventhough I know it will never be the same.

On a completely random and separate note, somethings are just not possible and we just have to force ourselves to move on. I keep telling myself that... it's easier said than done but... I wish... well... but I really have to move on...

A friend did something recently which is a sign of trust. I'm quite envious.... and can only give my blessing.

Ok.

That's it. Just need to get it off my chest. End of random emo thoughts about... somethings. For now.

Departed

2008-09-18T01:24:00.004+08:00

We were walking back towards the carpark after sending them off. For no reason I looked up saw a word we would expect to see on a flight schedule board...

DEPARTED.

He left Singapore today.
He left us last Saturday.

He left us sad because we've lost a friend and fellow educator.
He left us mad because we didn't get to say goodbye.

His departure made me realise once again how fragile and unpredictable life is.
His departure made me realise this can happen to anyone... including me.

Cliche as it may sound...
Live you live well and make every day count.

We're already missing you, Gary.
Rest well.

Dedicated to mrbrown and singlish!

2008-09-14T18:59:00.009+08:00

TalkingCock in Parliament, Ruby Pan

She's really really good with accent! All six of it!!!

Mr 'Light' Brown - Singlish Security Lecture (encore!)

Foreigners 'enjoy' our singlish too! The boy is good! haha...

Sophisticated Baby by the Wah Lau Gang!

Hear the Ah Beng sings! I still laugh everytime i hear it! And you MUST wait for the last line of every chorus!!!

mv fav new song! SO WHAT!?

2008-09-09T21:12:00.008+08:00

I luv it! It rocks!!! I forgotten I like Pink too! Next to Jason Mraz that is! Haha... And she's back with a kick a** song! Woohooo!!!

****

Tristan Prettyman!

Also taking this opportunity to mention a lesser known female artist I like. She's Tristan Prettyman and she's probably best described as the female Jason Mraz! This song is from her debut album called "Twenty Three" released in 2005. Her new album "Hello" is out now but I still like her 1st album better. Here's one of my fav song... a duet with, who else, Jason Mraz! "Shy That Way". Live version! Enjoy!

Look what i found!

2008-09-02T01:18:00.009+08:00

For the boys and girls... this item you see above its known as the Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format.

Yes yes it is like.... 17 years ago!!! And for the 'folks' to reminiscence ... Why You So LIke Dat!?

Total randomness part IV (?)

2008-08-31T23:20:00.010+08:00

The one week break is here!!! Yay!!!
And I have to spend it finishing all my unfinished work!!! No more yay!!!
A lot more people's reading my blog than I am aware of.... so I have a "not-so-teacher-ish english" blog ay... I take that as a compliment ya? Hm...
My 1st Teachers' Day celebration in the new school was nice... thanks to the kiddos for all the efforts and the gift of thanks. Like I said before... the cards with personalised message meant a lot more to me than gifts... still appreciate all the gift though! Thanks guys/gals!!!
I just confirmed my Dec holiday trips with friends! And we've book the flight and hotel already! Woohoooo! Taipei here I come.... AGAIN! LOL!
After queueing for an hour at midnight on 22 Aug then leaving the ridiculous queue, 2 complain letters, and waiting for another hour at a Singtel Hello shop on 26 Aug, I finally willingly get 'ripped off' to get an iPhone!!! A white 16GB one!!! It's really cool!!!!
The iPhone will be 'cooler' if Apple included SMS forwarding, sending contacts, MMS ability, video recording ability and sending files by Bluetooth!!! But in return, I got a cool ipod cum phone with a huge touch screen which allows me to install tonnes of useful and fun-but-trashy applications on the phone! Oh well.... nothing's perfect. You win some, you lose some. That's life.
I need to tidy up my messy room man...
I watched Wall.E!!! It's cute, cute, funny, cute and touching too! Good story too! Did I say it's cute?!?
Other than the kiddos, the staff had our own little Teachers' Day celebration too.... kind of? We had a painting activity while having a catered lunch! Yup that's what you get in an arts school! I had fun! Quite happy with my work... haha... it's among one of them below... Guess which one! The rest are just SOME of those I like! There are many others i like.... I must say we have very creative team! *P.S. the photos are taken with my iPhone!!!*

Went to Singapore Arts Museum twice the past 2 weeks. First was the new wing of SAM called 8Q for the opening of an exhibition "Masriadi: Black is My Last Weapon" by an Indonesian artist. The other one was also the opening of another exhibitions by a Chinese artist.

Both was invited by my friend who's working there now. Generally i think i like the indonesian one (above) better... i just find the Chinese one is a little too "trying" if you get what I mean. Maybe I am just being biased. Well art is liddat. Love it or hate it. There is no in between.
The 8Q building (below) used to be Cat High anyway.... it is really freaky how the school keep 'appearing' in my life.

I luv Mac. I hate Windows!!!!
I hate Mc. I luuuuvvvv B.K.!!!!
Singapore got our first Olympic medal (a silver) in 48 years... erm... I tried to feel proud/happy for Singapore... I really did!!! Now you can't blame me for not trying... =p
Went to Comex for the 1st time in 3 years. Think it was too big, too crowd, and no big deal!!! And the horrible amount of trash on the floor due to excessive distribution of pamphlet!!! As if we've not killed enough 'trees'...
And I wasted $99 on something which didn't work.... gonna go get it changed... have to waste my time travelling to sim lim... t&#@!(#^$(@)&##&*#(#@@^!$!#*@!!!!!
Ok out of random thots...
The end.
For now.
Ok you can do back to work already.
GO BACK TO WORK!!!!

a month long of shows and performances...

2008-08-17T01:58:00.042+08:00

A month full of events... shall get to the point... *warning... long entry ahead*

Other than the CHMA08 and some reminiscing/ranting moments (see previous entries), been pretty busy with work, particularly my school's very first arts festival previously mentioned. Beside work, I went to most the festivals I previously mentioned! Some were better than others... as usual I'll just let the photos do the 'talking'.

Singapore Literature Festival 2008

These are the kiddos from my school at the Literature Festival held last month. Went to give them moral support. as they took part in the Book Trailer competition, which requires them to come up with a live performance of any book they adopt so as to promote the book. Under the guidance of the Eng & Lit teachers, and our head of theatre, they won!!! These are our Year 2 students and not all of them are theatre students, mind you. Congrats to our very 1st competitive medal! haha...

Gary Chao's Concert

Gary Chao Ge's Welcome To My World concert.... In a nutshell, not the best concert I've attended... good singer... just needs more showmanship. And he should seriously just sing more and talk less... at one point he talked so much about love and God that it feels like I am attending a church, not that I have anything against attending church... it's just not exactly the right time and place.

Sky Dance!

Went for the 11pm show for the Sky Dance at 11pm. It's part of the Night Festival @ National Museum. Reached home at 3am that day... You can see more of it from my photographer friend's Flickr account.

My Blue Heaven

From Yeewei's screening of "My Blue Heaven". It's simply hilarious!!! Though it has a lot of "colourful language" I find it very much in context and acceptable as it is some sort of a true reflection of the 80s, when the story was based. It was given a R21 rating for other reasons too... if anyone is interested, catch it while you can! It's gonna screen at Sinema @ Old School on 19 Aug and 26 Aug. Here's more about the shortfilm and the director:

My Blue Heaven / 蓝蓝的天 (World Premiere)
Dir: Yee-wei Chai
2008 / Singapore / 19:40 min / R21
Malay and Hokkien with English and Mandarin subtitles
A homage to the old HDB flats and to the age of the VCR. Ah Boy watches a porn videotape, and it got stuck. Bad news – his father is on the way home. A no hold’s barred short story that encapsulates all the ugly things that the government tries so hard to erase or suppress – porn, drugs, “aguas” (pondans), racial conflicts and the use of dialect.

Biography:
Yee-wei Chai had written and directed several award-winning short films since 2005. In 2005, Lau Sai (Diarrhea) won the Panasonic MDA Digital Film Fiesta Merit Award in the Open Category. Then Loser went on to win Judges’ Pick in Fly-By-Night 2005. In 2006-2007, Blood Ties won 3rd Prize in the 2nd Panasonic MDA Digital Film Fiesta competition, 2nd Prize in the Rebel Planet of Hollywood Short Film Fest in the Horror Category, and went on to screen in many film festivals around the world, including Beijing, Vancouver, London, Los Angles, New York, etc.

My Blue Heaven is Yee-wei’s 4th short film since 2005, and he is scheduled to shoot Blood Ties – The Feature with Oak3 Productions in late 2008.

SingFest 2008
SingFest 08.... Went for the sake of Jason Mraz so I only reach Fort Canning at about 630pm when he was scheduled to perform. By then the place was so crowded and my friend was like way at the front so I ended up standing quite far from the stage but had a clear view still. Despite the crowd, I bump into a friend and an ex-student who is now working as a writer/correspondent of sort for the Rolling Stone Asia magazine, which is actually based in India. He gets to interview all the stars who attended SingFest... how cool is that! Anyway after Jason Mraz, I stayed for Rick Ashley and PCD, then I left just before Alicia Keys came out at about 1030pm. Not a fan la. And no diva for me.

s.o.t.a. arts festival 2008 - in.side.out

This is some prep shots of our very first Arts Fest, which was over last Sat. We stopped school the whole of last week for this event and it was time well spent! The kids have been, as expected, no less than great! There's lots to share but until i'm sure it is fine to share, I'm gonna stop here.... prob will have an entry just on our arts fest.

Random shots
Finally! My car hits the 10 000 km mark!!!! Haha...

They may not look tasty but trust me they ARE! And yes these chocolate from CHocolate Factory make you happy! They are worth every cents of the $25 buck per small tin. Just like cookies from the Cookie Museum at Esplanade! Yum....

CHMA08 recap
Last but not least, would like to credit those who made CHMA08 possible... the people who were hardly seen but doing all the work to make the show possible...

Firstly the teacher in charge of CHMA this year... Ms Chow & Mr Teng! Think they worked their butt off... but I believe Ms Chow, who's seen here holding her dinner which shebrought around without eating on the evening of CHMA this year, needs to manage *someone* besides the boys to make it work.... haha! But still job well done!!

Many didn't realise the two person next to me in the above pic plays a large part in making CHMA since it started in 2003. Mrs Chaillan gave us lots of support for the events... be it supporting the event as a Head of Pupil Welfare at management level or being a judge. She also helped finance the 1st CHMA by using funds from her department, which helped to get the event off to a good start. And till now, she has always been someone I can always turn to for advice professionally and personally. And for Mark Tan, other than being a contestant and winner of the group category for the 1st CHMA in 2003, he has helped to set a standard and defined CHMA when he first hosted it in 2004. A well produced show will fall flat without a good emcee. We have been so fortunate to have Mark all these years... and it has been a privilege to have worked with such a talented and humble young man.

Last but not least, the iMedia crew. I must confess how I missed working with them... particular this last sec 4 batch who has worked on 4 years of CHMA. Particularly the main committee Joshua, Michael, Jit Hin, Melvin, Jerald, Manfred, Darren and of course Ervin - someone I can totally trust my life with! He's gonna be a somebody! So to the guys... thanks for the memories and all the best for your 'O' level this year!

Tribute to those who works behind the scene... thanks to Zhongwei for capturing them...

CHMA08... another good year

2008-07-27T00:51:00.001+08:00

I kept deleting what i wanna say about chma... the is the 5th time i am starting this entry. Have a bit of mixed feelings about this... something i started in 2003... and the year I did not produce is the year I truly get to sit through and enjoy the concert! Though it's a challenge to produce the concert year after year, I must say I totally enjoyed the process... the preparation... the bonding... and the thrill we share when the show was over. No matter how much I miss working with the imedia boys... I am moving on... but I will treasure the memories and friendships we've made for many years to come.

Congrats to the success of CHMA08 and kudos to all teachers and the production crew!!!

And thanks to Zhongwei for taking the photos... all 191 of them!!!
*Hope this flash slideshow thingy below works!*

Some people...

2008-07-26T23:14:00.004+08:00

Some people... thinks too much;

Some people... reads too much in any matter;

Some people... should not over react over a small incident;

Some people... should not roll her eyes when getting reprimanded and made someone else's blood boil;

Some people... should learn from the guys;

Some people... should really just grow up;

Some people... should show their affection for each other at home;

Some people... should talk less and listen more;

Some people... should get a new job;

Some people... should realise they need a life;

Some people... got more than what they deserve;

Some people... deserve more than what they get;

Some people... are just lucky *beep* (=p);

Some people... are a blessing to know.

Do you know these people?

Sadly...

Gladly....

I do.

Festivals to come in Jul/Aug...

2008-07-06T21:51:00.022+08:00

National Museum's Night Festival (18-26 Jul)

Only knew about it today. It's organised by The National Museum and span over 2 weekends. The lined up performances are all in the sky and looks kinda cool! And best of all it's free! Shall make an effort to go for it.

Singapore Short Cuts (12 Jul-2 Aug)

The annual event which showcases local shortfilms is organised by SubStation though they always screen at the National Museum. My friend's new shortfilm "My Blue Heaven" will be showcased so i'm gonna try to queue for the free tickets next Sat morning at the National Museum. Yes I know... how primitive! Have to queue! I rather that they SELL it and make the tickets available online! Haiz... Think I will only go for one of the screening....

SingFest 2008 (2-3 Aug)

Jason Mraz's performing!!!! But the SingFest ticket cost a hefty 200 bucks for one day! I am still wondering if I should go. Even though there's several others decent artists like Jamie Scott, Rick Ashley, OneRepublic and Alicia Keys, I'm only going for Jason Mraz... well maybe for Rick too, for nostalgic reason. It's outdoor at Fort Canning don't make it really attractive for me too but then again I can imagine the concert to be quite high. Hmm....

Guess I will just wait till the last minute since it is a general admission concert and there is no seats or area allocation. There is no advantage or discount for getting it early like many other shows. What's making it worse is that for last year's SingFest, the organiser slashed price at the very last minute. BAD MOVE! Now everyone, including myself, is waiting to see if that happens again. VERY BAD MARKETING!!! The same reasons why CHMA tickets never slash price... nor have the need to! Haha...

Theatre Festival (6-24 Aug)

If I remember correctly, the last Theatre Festival was in 2006 coz i don't remember seeing it last year... maybe I was just too busy then. Anyway glad that it's back. The problem with these plays is that you really have no idea how they will turn out. It's very much like watching movies from film fest... it's a hit and miss situation, you don't really know if it is good. But then again, I guess I should be abit more adventurous. I tend to go for comedy though... hm... have my eyes set on 2 of them already... think will purchase them before the early bird discount is over on the 11 July.

Our very 1st Arts Festival (13-16 Aug)!!!!

YES!!! OUR VERY OWN AND VERY FIRST! It's gonna be cool! I'm involved in the opening and closing performances. It's gonna require massive coordination! Can't reveal too much but really looking forward to it!

Here's a look at our promo bookmark and a peek at our 1st prep/rehearsal...

Mark your calendar now!!!! 13 -16 Aug!!!

Dance Dance Revolution on the iPhone/iTouch...

2008-07-05T15:24:00.003+08:00

...becomes Tap Tap Revenge!

Can have 2 players summore!!!

What else can I say.

LOL!!!!!

Bily Elliot, Monty Python's Spamalot and Avenue Q!!!!

2008-06-29T16:00:00.003+08:00

What I saw in London and thoroughly enjoyed!

The musical version of Billy Elliot showcasing talented boy dancer/actor/singer.

The nonsensically hilarious Monty Python's Spamalot.

And so looking forward to Avenue Q in SIngapore!!!

rant/photos blog (May/June 2008) updated

2008-06-28T22:41:00.017+08:00

*rant starts*

I really wish this person I know will just... disappear for the sake of mankind. Pretentious, rude, act innocent, proud, loud, manipulative, irritating and thinks the world of herself/himself! Yes such idiot do exist. I wonder why they do. These people will go through life the hard way. Seriously... get out of my sight and best of luck you idiot!!

*rant ends*

And here we go with the photos!

*updated - Missed this photo* Went to an ex-colleague's place for a gathering dinner... bought her adorable kids some presents! They've grown so much since i last saw them in 2006!!! Here's them posing with 3D spec!

It's a rabbit. It's a necklace. It's a clock. It also cost S$270. The price of cute.

"Wah! It's bigger than my face!!!"

Whahaha! Can't help myself but to put it up! It's too hilarious not to!

Our potential student who came for audition this june. I helped the visual arts with the portfolio assessment and interview.

iMac G4 meets iMac Intel! Transferring my files is a breeze... though it took more than an hour!

"4:30 The Movie" by Royston Tan VS "4:30 The Novel" by Yeo Wei Wei. I met the director and I know the writer personally!

Tea at Conrad's lounge... nice tea, nice ambience and great service! It's worth every dollar... yes DOLLAR not cents!!!

My sis' graduation ceremony at SIA. Yes she's now a Singapore Girl! Which one's her? Guess lor...

That's all... FOR NOW!

(Can't wait for Avenue Q~!!!)

total randomness part III

2008-06-24T19:22:00.005+08:00

YES! I'm BACK!!!!
(I probably say "back" too many times. )
I finally got my air-con fixed.
I finally got a fan in my room.
Yay.
All I need is a bigger room. -.-
I wish I was in London still.
So much to do this term... *stressed*
I am looking forward to the our very 1st arts fest though!
My external harddisk containing my iTunes Library crashed during the hols. Pissed.
I spent 3 precious days of my hols recovering my iTunes Library and files from the crashed harddisk. Even more pissed.
Spent $170 sending my dog to the Pet Hotel for 4 days. Its blardy expensive!!! Lousy service summore! Highly NOT RECOMMENDED!!!
I am using my brand new 24inch iMac now!!! SHIOK!!!
My bank account got a 'black hole'. *sob*
I have so many unwatched DVD at home. Where got time!!!
I didn't get to sell my M.A.S.K. toys on eBay as planned. sien.
I didn't complete my commemorative C.H.M.A. photobook as planned. Even more sien.
'Kungfu Panda' is really funny! 'The Happening' is sooooo not happening.
I need to tidy up my room again soon.
Wondering where should I go for my next holiday...
He needs to listen more than he talks. He talks too much.
That's all for now.

London 2008

2008-06-14T18:50:00.003+08:00

Thoughts.HolsPlan.SchCamp.ChrisBotti

2008-05-25T22:15:00.008+08:00

Thoughts

Thought I should pen this thought down even though it is over.

Recently i was a little upset by someone's reaction... or rather some seemingly unfriendly non-reaction. I ran through my head what could I have possibly done to upset this person. The bad feeling got stuck with me for almost half a day...

Then it came to me. Why am I even bothered?! This person obviously doesn't know that I was noticeably affected.... I didn't think I did anything wrong... and it's not as if the person's my close freind anyway! So why should I be upset by this person who does not even deserve my attention to begin with!?! I might be too sensitive too... which tends to be the case sometimes. It is just so not worth it! The hell with it. I'm moving on.

Hols plan

And talking about moving on... I finally booked my holiday!!! I'm going London!!! Yay!!! Believe it or not, I booked my holiday when I was waiting for the students to complete their dragon boating activity at the Kallang River. I had the portable internet thingy. =p. I was thinking about where to go the day before since my friends have abandon our plan to Hong Kong the day before. I considered several places and finally decided on London after looking at the various flight fares... and I just wanna go somewhere I feel comfortable since I want a break, yet at the same time not very much in the adventurous mood. So London seems to fit the bill! And after I've decided, I realise that a few of my friends/colleagues are going there too at about the same time! So I think we might end up meeting there! This will be my second time there. The first being in 2000... or isit 2001? Oh well. Anyway back then we stayed very much within London itself coz of the weather in dec so this time round, I'm gonna make day trips out of London coz it's summer over there now. i am SO looking forward to it!!!

That being said, I still need to do some homework to plan my day trips... at the same time I have quite a few stuff to do this week in school. It seems that all my holidays are liddat... I'll always been busy with something before my trips to anywhere... it was either the testimonial... or chma... or something else.... there's always something. Then again... work never ends. Sometimes we need some impulse to get us going. I'm so gonna enjoy my trip... all 7 days of it! =)

Year 1 camp

My school had a 4 days 3 nite camp with our year ones. Only need to stay over one night and it was particularly fun that night as we went for very late supper and had such fun chatting and cracking silly jokes. As mentioned by one of us, it feels very much like we're back to our uni days! Haha...

As for the rest of the camp... I shall let the slideshow video do the talking. Credits goes to Mr R for taking most of the photos.

Chris Botti concert

And I managed to go for the Chris Botti concert. He was fantastic! He can made the trumpet sound so gentle and yet powerful at the same time. Truly a very skilled musician. He was also very generous to have given quite a bit of performance time to his accompanists, who are all very established musicians themselves. One of the is a winner of several Grammy Awards too! Just being picky, the mic used to pick up his trumpet was also picking alot of the air/wind from the trumpet too... it was especially obvious when he's playing the softer notes. But it didn't stop the audience from giving him a standing ovation at the end of the concert!

Next performance to look forward to... Gary Cao's concert in July, Billy Elliot in London and Avenue Q in Nov! Woohoo!

Finally back!

2008-05-18T18:15:00.001+08:00

Finally. Survived semestral assessment!!! It's been a crazy 2 weeks but I managed to squeeze in time to chill... just to keep me sane.

Went to Old School at Mount Sophia again. Saw another local film there.... Smell of Rain. Abit draggy but not too bad la. I luv the nostalgic building there. And the red sofa in the theatre too. More people should know this cozy little place... then again... maybe not!

Went to the new Peranekan Museum on its first opening weekend... been interesting to see the exhibits but didn't take much photo except the one you see below.

He's my ex-colleague! I was moving from one portray to another and then suddenly see his huge face! haha...he's a really nice person who's really great to work with.

Caught Broadway Beng 3... had such a difficult finding friends who can understand hokkien and have not bought tickets. Thankfully finally manage to find one or else my 2nd ticket goes to waste. And if you still don't know by now. for the shows i interested to watch, I'll buy tickets first then look for people to watch with... my way of making sure i don't miss any show i wanna watch coz i either forgotten about it or have to wait for friends' reply until all the good tickets genna gone. The show, is kinda predictable... I think the Beng should move on to some other topics already... he stuck to the old formula to some extend and it's getting a little stale for me. Though still entertaining to some extend, there was no outstanding moments like the one when he sang Rudolf The Red Nose Reindeer at the combined Christmas show with other theatre actors last year.

And while waiting for the show at the library lobby, there was this international dance day thingy going on at the foyer. Saw 2 performances... one is modern dance and another belly dancing. And considering they are probably all amateur dancers i shall be kind... they're not bad for the generic public... and its free so can't be fussy.

That's what I found under my bed. For a year I thought i dropped it somewhere. It's actually under my bed 'buried' between the piles of books under my bed. Now i have a 'spare' watch. Yay. -.-

Anyway here's some of what's been keeping me busy the past month...

Brought kids to the NUS Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research. Yes there is such a museum... well more of an exhibition space actually. But I must say it's quite good despite its size. The only complain I have is getting there. Quite dumb of me to trust the driver to know the way. Went all over NUS to search for a route leading to it and we have to WALK from the main street. It'll help if i was TOLD. Nvm. Lesson learnt.

ID unit... colour mixing! Science fac loves to work with the visual art fac!

The interclass debates during the Earth Week. Year 1 vs Year 2. Motion: This House believes that global warming is the biggest danger facing the modern world. Despite how I dislike the show, I must admit that "The Arena" has added some hype to debating. The kids are really well prepared and the audience love it! It was such fun to watch! Year 1 won!!!

Bonding time for staff... we met as usual on friday... thinking it's gonna be some outdoor game again but it turned out to be playing boardgames... its kinda weird but I guess we had fun. Haha...

Finally... someone forwarded me something from wiki (which has since been delete i think)... about a certain school... i can't help but find it really entertaining. Haha... Forgive me. =p :

"Dress code
Hair and attire checks are conducted twice each school term. Uniforms are compulsory for students. Students from all grades wear a white collared shirt and green shorts. The name tag and school crest is sewn on for primary school students, while it is pinned on for secondary students. The PE kit consists of a white shirt with yellow sleeves and blue shorts. The house shirts are similar in design, albeit for the house name instead of the school name emblazoned on the back. In addition, only socks and shoes are allowed to be worn.

Hair and Attire Checks
Hair and attire checks are conducted twice each school term as part of the school's culture and tradition. It is a tradition that has proved to be successful in ensuring the school's students are well-disciplined, as long hair and ankle socks are often signs of misbehaviour and poor discipline. Students with long hair are seen as hooligans and ne'er-do-wells who break the rules, cause mischief and disrupt lessons, and also possibly smoke and take alcohol outside of the school compounds. Students are asked to line up while the disciplinary teacher inspects each student's hairstyle and attire. Standards are as follows:

Hairstyles:
It may be the year 2008, and gentlemen with slightly long hair may be everywhere, but The School still believes in the traditional standards of the 1970s, when it was at its prime. Its success back then is therefore attributed to the strict hair standards. (Scientific studies show that hair length affects academic results)
Hair must be extremely short. Having slightly medium length hair combed neatly is strictly prohibited as teenagers cannot have the right to leave long hair. Even though Jesus Our Saviour had long hair, we do not follow in his footsteps in this aspect.
Neat, extremely short hairstyle, preferably a "G.I" cut. The role of the school is to make you look as ugly as possible.

A 'sloped' style at the back is compulsory.
Because many students have been suspected to be Skinheads, a totally shaved head is strictly prohibited. Offenders may be suspended.

Students are reminded to look up to the dashing and charming Principal, ***, or revered P.E Head of Department and Discipline Committee Chairman *** as a role model for the hairstyle standards.

Attire:
Socks must be 4 inches above the ankle. Ankle-length socks are a sign of gangsterism and in the real world would be seen as a criminal offence.
Name tag and school badge must be present.

Students who fail the attire and hair check in any single aspect will have their name tags confiscated, and will be given a day to fix any aspect in which they have failed. Students who still have unsatisfactory attire may be suspended."

total randomness part II

2008-05-01T17:16:00.011+08:00

My air con is still not fixed coz the blardy technician missed my appointment.
I still don't have a new fan.
Grr...
Guess why my dog is sleeping at the marble "door mat".
It's the most cool surface he can find in the house! Even my dog cannot stand the hot weather this past week!
The new revised iMac is finally out!!!!!! I am so gonna order it this week and get 15% off from my friend!!! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!
*Fill in the blank* I think I just received my biggest ______ in my whole life! It does pay to take a risk with your career! =)
And finally... for those who have nothing better to do... go on... DON'T PRESS IT! haha...

Put The Big Red Button on your site

Photo blog - Apr 2008

2008-04-24T19:10:00.009+08:00

Had a lousy day today. Talk about it another time.

Here we go with the photo blog!

Yes our students were so obsessed with the rubics cube they actually organised a competition themselves! Never really come across such initiative and enthusiasm in my previous school...

My class clown. *sign* Enuff said.

This shot is from the most horrible movie screening I have EVER been. And I'm not referring to the movie. This is from the screening of the 7 Singapore Shorts finalists shortfilm. It was held at The Substation, which is probably... nono... it IS the most horrible movie screening venue. Not only was the seat super hard and super cramp, the air con seems to blow warm air, the white screen was so stained we can see it during the movie, and we can hear the music from Timbre next door in the middle of the screening. DAMN HORRIBLE!!! Neverever gonna go there ever again! Feel sad for the filmmakers coz it really don't do justice to their work!

As for the Singapore Shots shortfilms, it was just ok for most, considering that many are pretty new filmmakers. My favorite is also the winning film:
Keluar Baris (Homecoming) "A short film by Boo Junfeng about a boy who returns from his studies in Europe, two days before he is enlisted into the army. A sensitive depiction of an 18-year-old's struggle between national duties and personal liberty."

I love how the movie was shot... and the story is very genuine and very simple. Catch the trailer below and maybe in the near future, the shortfilm itself too! And watch out for Boo Junfeng, the very talented 24 year old filmmaker of this shorts. He's the next Royston Tan.

A shot from 2 fridays ago... the staff of my school had a "ball of a time" playing some softball-like game. The students joined us too. It was kinda fun la! Haha... and that's Milon... whom I always tease by calling him Weiming, his chinese name which he totally hates. Haha...

Ok this is from the screening of Lucky7, also part of the Singapore Film Fest. It's a film made from 7 shortfilms done by 7 filmmakers. Each "attempts a 10 - 12 minute segment of a feature film continued by the next filmmaker who knows only what took place in the last minute of the previous segment." Interesting concept and the quality of the production is really good. However, I am not sure if they really linked well, especially when the 7 filmmakers have such distinctively different styles and approaches to their stories. Still it was quite enjoyable and we saw 3 of the filmmaker, which includes Boo Junfeng again! Anyway this was held at Sinema, located at Old School.... a much MUCH better venue than Substation!

The number of email I sometime receive in a day... yes its 58. And it was 710pm when i capture this screen shot. More came in later in the evening...

The David Tao concert. Once word. Awesome~!! =)

The past month also saw me being part of a surprise party for a friend! It was kinda fun. All 7 of us managed to keep it from her and surprised her at a friend's place. We had a great evening... we ate, chat and played board games! =)

Something else happened also in school. A huge news but i felt it was... a little too 'loud' for me to mentioned... haha. Shall not elaborate. =p

So that's all folks!

total ramdomness

2008-04-19T14:18:00.003+08:00

What a blardy hot afternoon.
My fan is not working.
My air-con is not working properly.
I need a new fan.
I need to get my air con repaired.
sienz -.-
I wonder.... am I the last few people who still buys CDs?! you know the round thing with a hole in the middlle...
Just wasted 50 bucks on something online which i could have bought locally. grr...
I need to tidy up my room and find stuff for Earth Day bazaar...
I wish there is 48 hours-a-day during weekends and public holidays...
When is Apple going to upgrade the spec of the iMac!!?!??!! Been waiting for MONTHS! I so need to get a new iMac soon...
I need to plan my june holidays soon... i SO NEED IT!
Off to see David Tao concert tonite! WOOHOO!!!
This is fun.

Open House

2008-04-17T19:12:00.015+08:00

Finally.... overdue photos of our open house.... It. Was. A. BLAST!! Overwhelming respond from the public... all our showcases were packed with no standing room! Here's some photos of what went on...

The Dance showcase. It's my first time seeing an actual ballet dance class/showcase. Damn cool lor! Have to give it to the dancers... They really work their butt off physically!

The pianist at the bottom left corner is our principle accompanist for the dancers, which means he plays the piano as accompaniment when they dance. And he plays without a score and improvise according to the needs of the session. Yup he's at THAT level. Damn amazing seriously.

The theatre faculty showcase. Understood the year one came up with the items on their own. Considering their age and experiences, it pretty encouraging!

The crowds at the curriculum booths.

Didn't have the time to attend the music faculty and visual arts faculty ones coz it's crazy busy that day. I squeezed time from my duty to watch the dance and theatre ones... and I was lucky to be able to watch it on the actual day!

Come next year ya? haha...

Goose bump... Over the rainbow

2008-04-15T00:06:00.006+08:00

I heard this version by the late Hawaiian singer Israel Kamakawiwo'ole before... but somehow when i heard Jason Castro from American Idol singing it live, especially when the strings came on in the middle... i got goose bumps all over. For some reasons... i am truly touched by his version...

Well done Jason! And thank you Israel for such a wonderful rendition.

Jason's version of Israel's rendition:

The original rendition by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole... can't believe such a tender vocal came from such a big man... a gentle giant, as he's been called, indeed...

nostalgic

2008-04-10T23:16:00.001+08:00

Ex colleague sent me this... gosh... makes me miss them so much. =(

That's all. Yup. That's all.

reservist, open house and I'm Yours... officially!

2008-03-30T17:40:00.009+08:00

Ok it's OVER.

THREE long weeks... man... I'm kinda glad it's over. Kinda because I did enjoy some aspect of the ICT. The stuff I did wasn't exactly as demanding, meaning hardly have to use brain so it's not as stressful. Ironically I get reminded of my work for school which didn't really completely stop for me eventhough I'm having resevists training. But I can't really do my school work in camp, so while in camp, I did what SAF has taught all of us to do... alot of waiting and slacking the time away. haha...

Well we were made to wait all the time while the officers decides on the next thing we should do. And so what do we do... we take naps (surprisingly i didn't at all, seriously), canteen break, playing PSP or chess, read newspaper, play cards and of coz, "talking cock"! I found my own clique of friends in the camp, and they are really awesome people. There's Andy, my fellow (primary school) teacher; Keave, a Fujitsu service centre supervisor; Elvin, a manager/supervisor of a watch shop at T3; and Relvin.... erm... which I really can't remember where he works! We stuck together coz we're all in the HQ of my flight.

Anyway we hangout on a daily basis, between 4-8 hours a day and we obviously enjoyed each other's company and got quite close. We looking after each other's back too... if you know what I mean... and we talked alot... about our work... life... and loads of typical male bonding jokes which sometimes can get a little carried away... but all in the name of harmless fun to pass time!

Then of course we have our lunch sessions... which we took the liberty of making it more 'interesting' for us... which is frequently different from the one they provide at the cookhouse... hahaha! Nvm. =X

I am going to miss my army pals and I do look forward to meeting them... for karaoke and drink in a few weeks time. What else do you expect!?! LOL!

And. It's. Back. To. Work. Tomorrow.

I do miss my students too la. My colleagues too. Haha...

****

Next week's our open house and it seems like we've lined up some activities for our visitors. So if you are free and interested to find out about my school... come take a look and say hi! I have no idea what my duty is that day though... will find out soon.

***

He's BAACCKKKKK!!! Mraz is back! FINALLY. Jason Mraz that is. Luv his music. He finally released the song "I'm Yours" which he has sung countless times in his live concert but was never really recorded in the studio or released officially... until now that is! So looking forward to his new album...

The video's very... erm... candid! Just like his music! Anyway ENJOY!

I really shldn't be blogging now...

2008-03-22T00:03:00.005+08:00

I really shouldn't be blogging now... I should get back to setting worksheets and preparing lesson plans despite today being Good Friday and having still one more week to go for my reservists. I am kinda mobbed with work and I'm really not looking forward to the exercise outfield for 3 days next week...

I just feel like blogging. You know... that kind of feeling you get when you have too much to do but you don't feel like doing it and end up doing something else... like blogging! haha...

Anyway I just came back from dinner and having coffee with a couple of my colleagues/friends, whom I have not seen for 2 weeks. It has great to meet up with them and to find out about someone we know getting married within 2 months of knowing each other. It's like something you read only in TV drama series or among celebrities. It's really quite shocking news but I guess it is possible, especially so when the two person are both matured and clear headed enough about married life. They seem to be both very positive (aka really enthu) people who really seem to be meant for each other anyway! I give them my blessing.

Despite having my reservist, I managed to spend a couple of evenings out... to attend a performance by the Tang Quartet at NUS, to watch a movie and to have dinner with friends in town. The Tang Quartet plays really well but i was kinda bored by their more modern pieces, which basically it just shows off their technical skills but doesn't really have any melody. They are really more 'sound' than music to me. Alot of the orchestras are choosing such pieces to show off their technicality but I really enjoy those more melodious ones. Ok enough about that.

Watched Spiderwick Chronicals. Not fantastic. But not bad. All within expectations. Also watched Enchanted on DVD. It was really more hilarious than i thought. You really have to give it to Disney for being able to come up with such entertaining movies which appeals to both adult and children.

I've been wanting to do a photo book for CHMA. A collection of photos from the event from 2003 to 2007, while i was with CH. It's really a momento for myself and my ex-students who have put our hard work to make the event what it is today. THE music event for CH every year. And I dare and am proud to say that this is probably the only event which has been held yearly in CH since 2003... This year, I'm glad that the event is still being carried out without me. I have been putting off this personal project for a really long time. I shall give myself a deadline. June! Yes June! I shall get it done by JUNE! I'll do it in iPhoto and send it for bookbinding... marking an "end" to my... erm.. "work"? =p

Ok It's 1am now. I shld probably go sleep. Can't stay up really late these days. Esp since tomorrow I have a meeting with my colleague. I remembered feeling really tired during an afternoon meeting coz i didn't sleep enough the day before. There was only 3 of us and I had to struggle to contribute to the meeting.

nitezzzzzz....

P.S. Happy Belated Birthday to Abner, Sijian, Ian and Cepheus! =)

Finally can upload photos...

2008-03-15T17:50:00.002+08:00

Ok FINALLY. This is my 3rd attempt to upload the photos and I finally did it! Blogger really need to buck up. Anyway...

This is my kids doing their Mac OSX 101 test after 4 lessons. Think most of them got the hang of it coz other than their weekly ICT lessons, they got to use the mac pretty frequently for several subjects, especially humanities and maths lesson. I must say our curriculum has infused alot of ICT... more than you-know-where! I suppose the people really matters.

I took this one morning on my way to work. Took it while i was at the traffic light inside my car... and nope i didn't get horned.... We don't see this view often so must take!

We had chromatography art lesson where students learn about chromatography and separating colours. After understanding the concept, we let the student create an piece of 'art work' using chromatography. It turned out better than I've expected actually... quite happy about it! =) Gonna scan some of the nicer ones when I get back to school...

I was at Suntec when I tried out the 'GPS like' function of the iPod Touch.... It actually quite accurately locate where I was. It's not GPS. It picks up my location by finding out where my wifi signal come from. Cool ya!!?! However it only works when I am connected by wifi. It doesn't work all the time but I am not complaining. It's just one of those "Wow it can do this?!" but you hardly use the function kind of feature. Just showing of technology la... haha...

Brought a couple of friends to 爱情海 Music Deamer cafe located at marina square a couple of weeks ago. We had some spare time and my friends had never been there so we went. It's been a while since I went there to listen to mainly mandarin pop songs sung live by pretty decent singers with a guitarist or keyboardist. I like the acoustic feel. The standard of the singers varies but the few who performed that night was pretty good. We're like their ONLY OTHER TABLE of customers that night so the performers actually interacted with us from stage and sung a couple of songs we requested. It kinda brings back memory... reminds me of my sec school friends... whom I have kinda lost touch... =(

My school had our very first (and second, which i didnt take any photos) lunch time concert! No it was NOT compulsory for all students and staff to attend but almost everyone came anyway! We pack the whole place! It's really great to be in a school with so much passion, enthusiasm and support! Oh and talent too! The performances put up by the music students were pretty good! Of course we can't be expecting professional standard (yet!) but it's really encouraging and I really look forward to more performances by our kids. Especially those from my form class!

This is Pulau Keppel... or rather Marina at Keppel Bay, which is what it's called now. Met up with my ex-colleagues for lunch and what a great place my friend picked! Really cool! The whole place is really a yatch club on a tiny island near vivocity. It even has it's own cool SAFTI-lookalike bridge!

We had lunch at this place called Prive (with that little stroke on top of the 'e' which i somehow cannot add. -.-) which is, not surprisingly, a really posh restaurant. My understanding is that it only takes reservations and doesn't entertain walk-in diners. But surprisingly the price wasn't that high. I didn't take photos la... was busy eating and catching up with my ex-colleagues, 2 of which I have not seen since I left my previous school... really miss working with them... haiz. Anyway I'm gonna go back to Marina at Keppel Bay again... Prive also has a cafe and bar, which they have been publicizing quite a bit over the radio at Class95. There's a TCC there too on the second floor with quite a nice view. Think gonna there next. =)

And YES we are also looking for him at my school canteen. -.-

Among my friends, I'm probably the last person who has gone to the new T3. Went there with colleagues for late lunch a week ago... I must say it's really huge. Quite nice la... for an airport. I like that they gave travelers a nice view while waiting for their luggage! I dread the waiting... especially at very inefficient airports. Which reminds me... I really better start planning my June trip to... erm... Somewhere!!!

Went to a new colleague's church wedding last week. Was a little surprised she invited her whole class of 12 years old but they kids behaved really well so it's fine. In fact it's kinda pleasant to see them in their own 'stylish' clothing. Haha!

And the 2 kids you see above is Thaddaus and Natalie... SO CUTE RIGHT!?! Haha... All of us think they look alike.... both with braces summore! And they are not sibling but classmates! And they are as pleasant as they look too! Both dancers anyway... guess they need to look good... haha... =)

And this is... Pixie. I think. =p She's sitting next to my friend's 2k (or is it 3?) Dior bag on her dining table. Haha! Went to my friend's place on a lazy afternoon. I think we were suppose to go watch movie or have dinner somewhere but we got too lazy. Oh and of course we were also waiting for our... supposedly-15-minutes-away-but-only-turned-up-one-hour-later diva friend. what's new. -.- And yes I am in THE mood.

Wished I have more photos but that's all I have for now. Hope to take more photos this year... been really under-utilizing my camera the past year! =(

And there's still 2 more weeks or reservists! Got school to prepare and finish work summore! ARGH!!! Will 'try' to enjoy what's 'left'.... -.-

updates

2008-03-09T20:44:00.010+08:00

Wanted to blog yesterday but something's wrong with blogger yesterday...hope there's no problem today If i get beyond this paragraph it means stupid blogger is fine now. Did considering migrating to wordpress but i guess it's too much a hassle. Anyway here we go...

***

stood up. again.

Don't you hate it when you get stood up by a friend? I mean, you set your time aside in the evening to meet your friend when you could have just gone home and rest, or sometimes reject another appointment (which I DID) coz you've already agreed to meet first. So you responsibly put the appointment in your diary so that you will not forget it. Then when the day comes, after a full day of work, though feeling a little tired you still went to meet up your friend after work and hoped that our little gathering will give a pleasant closure to a full day of work. And when reached the place you're suppose to meet, and patiently wait for your friend who always like to be fashionably late for more than 30minutes for no good reasons, you called your friend expecting one of the four reasons why he is taking so long: he is either (i) still home; (ii) just woke up; (iii) forgot that he has another appointment so cannot join us; (iv) we didn't confirm or call him about the meeting place and time, even though we did confirm that we will meet and yet he didn't bother to call and ask. One time, nevermind. Two times, ok. Three times, limit. Four times, means "expect me to be late every time". It just no basic respect of your friend's time. Really. Enough said.

***
reservist

Next week my reservist starts. Three weeks of ICT and it has to start on the week of the school holiday. Even though it's not gonna be very xiong for me but I am going to miss the school holiday, which is usually when teachers have a physical and mental break and/or do some catching up in work. I can't do either while in camp! No rest, no work. And it's back to school right after the reservists. It's just bad timing. Haiz. What to do?! The country needs me. Haha...

***

photos

OK you're suppose to see some photos here.

Having problem uploading the photos. I wonder if it's blogger or my internet connection which has been quite unstable recently. Will upload soon.

***

Recently, I've been so impressed by this contestant in American Idol called David Archuleta. He's only 17 and did a very mature and fantastic version of Imagine. And not to my surprise, he is a veteran performer who has been on several reality competitions before. He has obviously sung Imagine in another show before when he was younger:

Seeing him sings somehow reminds me of a student of mine, Shao Xian, also a talented singer/performer! Shall post photos to compare in my next post!

Anyway I like his performance version at American Idol so much I actually bought the single off iTunes. Yes I got myself a US iTunes account this time. It offers so much more than the Australia one... I can even rented a movie. Anyway I'll leave you with... the idol performance of Imagine:

tired

2008-03-04T00:26:00.003+08:00

Feeling zonked out the past week.

I forgot how tiring teaching can be.

So much to do this week... all coz I have to make up for the 3 weeks i'll be away for reservists. And it starts on the Monday of the school hols. What a good timing. -.-

Summore genna accident recently. Haiz. Tough luck.

Macbook Pro just got updated... really feel like getting one. FEEL LIKE. Shouldn't la. Maybe coz i want some retail therapy. Haha! Must 'tahan' and wait for the iMac to be updated! I am SO gonna get the 24inch iMac this year. Just hope Apple don't take their own sweet time to update it.

Short entry. Back to work/sleep.

*yawn*

Youth Olympic 2010 & Earth Hour 60

2008-02-21T22:13:00.011+08:00

Ok i was 2 hours late when I remembered that the announcement of the host city for the 1st ever Summer Youth Olympics in 2010 happened at 7pm... And Singapore got it! Yay?

To be very frank i wasn't particularly excited about Singapore being a candidate city for this event when I knew about it in Jan along with everybody else. Maybe coz I'm not exactly a sports person. Maybe it's coz I've been too caught up with either work or hanging out with my friends/colleagues... who also didn't particularly talked about it!!! I guess we have other priorities... or better things to do... haha....

Anyway this hype has finally aroused my interest and I actually went to take a look at the official Singapore website as a candidate city. I figured there's one. These days there's a website for anything and everything. And true enough I found it... looked through the Flash enabled website and saw the 2 videos which probably helped us to convinced the olympic committee. One's on our Youth Ambassadors and another the concept video for Singapore's bid. And I must say, they are quite well produced. A little too prim and proper but still well done. Go see!

The only setback in the video... is having Tao Li to speak english in it. Our "Singapore pride" cannot even pronounce "Olympics" properly. Her fellow swimmer in the video didn't do a really good job with his pronunciation too. Quite embarrassing... being a global city and all. The dialog of all our youth ambassadors are obviously scripted but they make it sound even more scripted... if you get what i mean. And ironically, the 2 videos have only been viewed like 1500 times... not alot considering the hype...

Hm... think I'm being picky again... anyway the bottom line is... the video's well produced and I'm glad we got the chance to host the youth olympics! After looking through the concept video.... it seems kinda cool and i'm a little excited about it... especially the part when they say they will involve Singapore schools! =) And most importantly, it's in 2010! It's when my current school would have moved into our permanent campus along Orchard Road!!! Woohoo!!!! Can't wait!

***

And while we wait for 2010... we can consider take part in Earth Hour this year! Guess many already know about it through Facebook. Here's the promo video for Earth Day 2008. FYI, Earth Day falls on 22 April. I know coz i have to think of something to do for my school for earth day... -.-

Yay! I didn't take a month to update my blog!!!!

Has it been more than a month already?!?!

2008-02-10T22:06:00.012+08:00

Ok I know it's been a long time since i last blogged but i didn't realise it has been MORE THAN A MONTH!?!

Gosh.... I, too, wonder what I've been up to the past month... let me check my iCal & iPhoto library...
I won myself a $100 Robinson voucher from my school's annual end of year celebration (or something)! Yay! Not exactly the top prize (which is a 1000 bucks StarCruise Voucher!) but it's really so much better than what I used to have... i still remember the soap with gold leave flake got several years back... So useful hor. -.-

This sort of concluded that 2007 has proven to be quite a lucky year for me. Maybe the change in work environment kinda helped?! Hope the good luck will continue in 2008... =p

And school finally started for me and i get to teach again! Been a year and kinda looking forward to it... not without some concerns though. Hope whatever we've planned and prepared will work out well. =)

Student wise, I had some concern about teaching and handling girls (having previously taught in an all boys school) but I think it's pretty ok so far. Any here's some photos...

My colleagues hard at work preparing for our orientation cum borderless units. We're sawing the bamboo poles which were used for several stations. There were loads of time and effort being put into the planning and preparation of it... much more than it seems actually. But it was worth it i hope.

This was part of orientation... we went to the east coast to build sand castles...

I have a form class now.... my last one was in 2003. I like some part of being a form teacher, or rather a class mentor, as we called it here. Think it's a much more appropriate name! And these are my class committee members. From all boys to one boy. Haha...

This is a one of the several invited speakers sessions we had so far... he's an established manga artist from US i think. Yes not all manga artists are from Japan.

Backstage with the theatre kids.

These are from our CNY celebrations. The students had to audition in order to perform for the concert and from my understanding many were interested. We ended up only having time for a dance item and a skit, which was almost totally done by students... from scripts to directing to props to acting. Naturally they are all from the theatre faculty. I enjoyed their skit!

Went to a colleague's place for tea.... it was fun!

Attended the opening of the SMU Arts Fest. Several of our colleagues, who are also practising artists and musicians, were involved. What's shown here is an art installation done by my visual art colleague. All he used was common thread and paper clips to create this cool "ray of light" effect! We luv it! It's really cool!

This is from the Greek Masterpieces exhibition at the National Museum. Think it's really quite amazing. Went there with a friend but our students were also brought there for english lessons last week. Yes we have cool lessons.... haha.

Oh this is another opening of an exhibition by my colleague. Showcasing works produced by very modern and unconventional use of chinese inks. I like! Several works were sold on the opening day itself!

Jay's concert!!! Yes the one I complained about previously when getting the tickets. Jay has loads of star power... but having seen several other concerts before, it's definitely not the best I have seen. Still it was good to see him perform... while he is at his peak!

Ok these young men used to be my students from iMedia. They are kinda the pioneering batch who made the 1st public CHMA a success in 2004... which has since set the standard. I meet up with them for dinner... it's great that they bothered to meet up... Had a great time catching up with them. =)

Been roped in to help support a local shortfilm which is in production now. This is the production set. Can't disclose too much but it's by Benjamin Tan, an old boy of CH. He's only 20 y/o (I think) and one of his works "Remember Me" has been selected by the Substation to represent Singapore at the Berlin shortfilm fest last year! It's quite good production and quality for an amateur who only got started at 18 and has no training in film production. Here's Remember Me anyway... of which the soundtrack was produced at the iMedia studio.

For ONCE, I took a chance with luck and won myself 10 bucks at my friend's place during CNY!!! Woohoo... Not alot I noe but better than losing! Maybe I should start buying 4D or Toto too? LOL!

Last but not least, I went to watch this Taiwanese theatre production called "What Is Man?". It's really a great show with fantastic actors. I don't think you will get a chinese play of this standard in Singapore... at least not in the next few years. The last local chinese production is a musical called "天冷就回来" which is not bad but there's still alot of room for improvement... oh well, we'll just have to see... Though I support local works but let's not support for the sake of supporting... have some standards too.

That's all I guess. There's really alot more gatherings, performances and exhibitions which I have attended but I just don't have the stamina to blog about them. I KNOW I KNOW.... I really should blog more often! I try ok! i TRY!

Last but not least... (though not my fav time of the year....) Hope you're having a Happy Chinese New Year!

=)

Photo blog (Dec 07) ... YES FINALLY!

2007-12-31T23:00:00.000+08:00

(not in any particular order...)

Yet another free product I got for purchasing a new insurance policy. A Canon photo printer. It's an old model anyway. And before anyone complains about me getting another freebies, MY LESS-THAN-2-YEARS-OLD- 250GB-WITH-NO-MORE-WARRENTY EXTERNAL HARD DISK CRASHED AND THE DATA IS CANNOT BE RECOVERED!!!!!!! ARGH!!!!!! =(

The photoshoot i help arranged... the production shot and actual shot! Quite nice ya?! haha...

From one of the last, if not the last recording session I'll probably be involved in at the studio. =/

Some photos from my Taiwan trip... I'm just too lazy to comment. =p

This was taken near my current school location near Old Airport Road. Notice how huge/wide the drain is and high the water level was coz of rain earlier! This reminded me of Chung Cheng High(Main) which used to flood so badly school gets cancelled!! Woohoo!!! Haha...

The presentation during my Apple Distinguished Educator (ADE) course in Bangkok.

My partners during the ADE course. That's Ian on the left and Greg on the right. Ian's a British teaching in Hong Kong and Greg's an American teaching in Seoul, Korea! It's really cool to have them as teammates coz we're pretty like minded and not "seow-on" like some of them... haha...

My "graduation" cert from my Apple Distinguished Educator (ADE) Course. =)

My form class who graduated from CH in 2003. They are all so grown up now! Yet... many of them are still the same person I know 4 years ago... the quiet ones are still quiet and the cheeky ones are still cheeky! Really brings back memory and the joy and pain of being a form teacher, which i kinda missed actually. I'll finally be one again next year! =)

This was from one of my gatherings i attended around Xmas... yes that's their kids.

You must have hear about it in the news last week... it was like all over the news and papers...

The End. And looks like we need an emo entry next... haha... =p

Zo Gang

2007-12-11T20:06:00.000+08:00

Shortfilm. So damn farnie... yet so true! Go watch!

Ok stop complaining...

2007-12-11T02:05:00.000+08:00

Ok stop complaining la... I update blog now lor...

1. Went to Taipei with my family for a week. We quarreled. But still had fun though. =)

2. Saw local production "Crazy Christmas!". Had a great evening! =)

3. Mother fell and have to send her to A&E at TTSH at midnight. Had to wait 3 blardy hours for her to see a doctor. She cracked her wrist bone and had to be casted for 6 weeks. =(

4. Went to Bangkok for Apple Distinguished Educator Asia Institution 4-days course, fully paid by school. Yay! Stayed at posh hotel, eat good food and met many 'ang mo' teachers from international schools all over Asia (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong and Korea). Not all fun but still enjoyable la. Twisted my ankle though nothing serious. =/

5. Came back. Have to deal with last minute meetings. =(

6. Sien. I want my end of year holiday!!! =(

7. Helped out with a photoshoot. Quite fun! =)

8. Ironically looking forward to 2008 when school starts! =)

9. Can't wait for my bonus!!!!! =)

10. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! Time to give again! =)

11. Looking forward to the my form class gathering next sat. =)

Photos soon!

Photo Updates!

2007-11-16T02:39:00.000+08:00

... at 2.40 am... to keep this blog going...

This was taken during my 2.5 hour wait in line to purchase tickets. And just as I mentioned in the previous entry... IT BETTER BE GOOD!!! Especially for the price we are paying...

No prize for guess right where this place is... Pulau Ubin! Spent a whole day there with my colleagues and a OBS guide to recce thee locations for the school camp next year. As far as I can remember, this is the first time I'm there! The weather was really good that day... quite an enjoyable trip. Was just glad to be out of the office man... haha...

Can u SPOT THE DIFFERENCE?
One's my jailbroken iPod Touch with the additional applications from the iPhone... the other is a jailborken iPhone which can be used locally... Note the top left corner of the screen with the SingTel. I saved my friend 100 bucks. I so deserve a treat. Haha...

Went to Zouk's Mambo night! Been AGES since I last went.... at least 3 years ago. A friend who just came back from Canada never went before and asked us to go with him so we did! All of us was so amused and entertained by those famous (or infamous, depending on how you see them!) 'para para' dancers who gesture and action to the lyrics of the the retro songs played. We stayed till close to 2am.... It was fuuunnn! But can't go these place too often la... the music gets repetitive and boring... or maybe I'm just too old for these things already... LOL!

I was there at A*mei's sellout concert last week!! I actually had a headache before the concert started... glad that it went away as the concert started. She's such a great singer/artist/performer! Truly deserving of her 天后 status! I luv attending concerts... live performance is best!

My colleague at work shocked us with his new hair cut! He used to have a big beard (as seen in his driving license) and a pony tail... then it was just the pony tail... then it became a 'pretty' haricut! We're all getting used to it...

Was out for a gathering with the imedia guys last weekend. So glad to see them again... had a great time! And I seriously missed working with them... =(

My colleagues and I went to this new hip place called Old School for lunch. It is located at the old MGS near our permanent school location in town. I LUVE THE PLACE! It has a very nostalgic feel... the building reminds me of my sec school Chung Cheng High (Main). It is arts hub now for production house, design studio etc. We bump into my colleague's fashion designer friend who used to be work with Club21. We had lunch at this nice restaurant.... service was good but the chicken I had was not very well cooked... as in RAW. It was tasty though... we shall go to another restaurant the next time.

Recording session!!! Patrick has a really nice tone... but recording is really not karaoke... it's very demanding and tiring. He did well for a 1st recording session but there's always room for improvement... it's definitely a good experience for anyone. =)

Went to yet another very nostalgic place for lunch near MOE. It's called Colbar... and they sell this really old softdrink called Sinalco in this tiny glass, the way it was done in the 80s!

I've been waiting the whole year for this... my own workspace at our holding school. So sad right... excited about being in a cubical...hahaha! Finally... a decent place for work. =)

'Leopard' is finally out!!! What's gonna happen to 'Vista'?

2007-10-29T01:17:00.000+08:00

Guess what this photo is 'saying'?

...

GUESS FIRST LA!!!!

...

...

Ans: "Die Vista DIE!!! Muahahahahhaa...."

LOL!!! Yeewei is damn farnie...

I'm so gonna install it this week....

my 'works'

2007-10-19T22:53:00.000+08:00

Apart from my interest in teaching, macintosh, videos and music... i also like to do some design work. Was archiving my HD and finally tidied up all the stuff i've designed the past few years.... thought I might as well put it in the blog. In no particular order anyway.... the following is a collection of some designs which I have done while I was at CH.

* * * * * *

The AVA Club logo

Did this in 2001... i think. A for audio & V for video both joined by the @ = aid... i.e. Audio Visual @(aid)! That was the design concept... not too bad considering it's my 1st attempt at using photoshop to design something.

* * * * * *

The iMedia Logo

My original sketch... the curves are suppose to be film strips...

The final version. Without the 'filmstrip look' coz it looks better this way. Clean and simple. Yep... I'm a minimalist. Had a hard time 'transferring' the design to a digital one. Asked a friend to help me with it but I didn't like what he had done so I tried doing it myself using Illustrator and Photoshop. Glad that I did coz i picked up on Illustrator and more on Photoshop!

* * * * * *

The CHMA logo

This is the original hand drawn sketch of the CH Music Awards logo in 2004. Took me a while to finally come up with it... it was finally 'doodled' out during one of the courses I attended! Haha...

The original 2004 CH Music Awards logo which is still being used all these years. Can see c, h, m and a in the logo? Haha! I actually started designing with the 4 letters in mind.. then halfway through I got stuck and gave up using the letters. But as I reached this final design, it kinda worked out itself coz you CAN actually see c, h, m and a in it! Just be more creative and you will see it!! Haha...

* * * * * *

The 'CH Jive' H2O drink label

The design which was proposed by Yeo's. And it's suppose to be done by a professional graphic designer?!? It looks like a Sec 1 student's work! But I am guessing some cheapsake person didn't want to pay for a proper graphic designer... and ended up tasking me to do it.

And so I did! This is the what I came up with based on requirements given... in ONE DAY!!! Then I passed it to them...

... and it had to be changed to look like this. -.- I like my un-tweaked version better. The 'Care Honesty Service' design which I was provided with is quite an eye sore. Oh well... have to give in to the person who owns the project. =/

* * * * * *

The Speech & Prize Presentation Day 2005 booklet cover

This was done with a friend who entrusted me with it. It's her design concept done by me with my input. We both like it alot1 =)

* * * * * *

The Gentleman Passport cover

This was done again done with a friend. The photos was taken by a student... Ronald I think. He's quite good with design too!

* * * * * *

Farewell Assembly 2001 - 2005

I've been helping to put together all the slides for the Farewell Assembly since 2001 and did my last one in 2005. It's a joy and a challenge to do it for the graduating students year after year... just like CHMA! The best one was the one I did with Keynote! The effects kinda blow everyone away! Haha...

* * * * * *

The Hall of Fame logo

My latest work... a logo I design for a friend again! This logo look like both a star and an 'A', and if you noticed, it is made from 3 ticks in different orientation. Very appropriate for something which is meant to be made into collar pins for students who did well for their exams! This simple logo is actually harder to design because the idea initially was to use a star... which is kinda challenging as the star shape has been used and designed SO MANY TIMES BY EVERYONE so it's really difficult to come up with an original design which also look good... enough for me at least. I must admit I did some research online first to get some inspiration before coming up with this ORIGINAL DESIGN. Just glad to see it being liked and used!

* * * * * *

That's it! It's been fun and fulfilling designing all these... hope to do some more in the future! Let me know ur fav! U noe how to get me... =)

Random Photo Blogging

2007-10-14T17:26:00.000+08:00

Bought this pair of shades from Takashimaya. Though I should get a pair of shade coz driving during the day time can get qiute glaring. It's Amarni sia! Haha... it cost about $240 but i only paid $40 cash! Haha.. the $200 was paid using vouchers I got from the car loan. Heehee... looks like my car is bringing me luck but better not jinx it. Now to think how I should spend the remaining $300 vouchers... =p

This is an article from a one of those female magazine featuring my colleague, Jessie. She's a renown local ceramicist who's work has been collected by some local celebrities and the Singapore Arts Museum. Her work is currently being exhibited in Beijing as part of the Singapore Season festival. She's gonna be teaching ceramic to the Visual Arts students. Lucky kids...

When I saw this in the papers... I told myself my MUST take a photo of it... haha... How often do you have both your alma mater being featured in the papers side by side. And I'm so guilty of not going to that AJC concert coz several of my friends were involved. But they told me really late. Maybe next year lor...

I FINALLY calculated the fuel consumption of my Suzuki SX4... this distance travelled was achieved using 33.51 litre of Caltex Techtron 98 petrol. So if you do your maths it's about 10.441 km per litre, slightly better than the stated 10km/L in the Sunday Times a few weeks back when the car was being featured/reviewed. I suppose it's quite decent for a 1.6litre car?! Oh well... just have to live with it. Maybe I should try another petrol... hm...

The school building is FINALLY taking shape!!! Took so long man... Seriously hope it will be completed by 2009... which shld look something like...

...THIS!

My doggie! Have not talked abt him for a long time so might as well do so. Though he's 13 years old now and he can't hear nor see well anymore... he's still adorable la. =) And he sleeps SO MUCH these days... like 20 hours a day? I guess that's normal. Who says a dog's life is bad!? Haha...

IT'S. A. BIG. AD!

2007-10-04T22:18:00.000+08:00

I luv farnie ads!

1234...

2007-10-03T01:12:00.000+08:00

Only noticed this song when it was used for the new video iPod nano... i wonder how they pick the song for their new ad. Must give it to them... they never pick a wrong song!

The actual MTV is yet another one of the fantastic one-continuous-shot kind of MTV... like the one by OK GO but much more complcated! There's really neat special effects too!

I LUV IT! GO SEE!!!

The ipod touch 'encounter'

2007-10-02T22:48:00.001+08:00

my ipod touch
Originally uploaded by mvu6r

Finally got my iPod Touch... ordered from Apple's website and it was delivered yesterday!

But I wasn't in the best of mood when i received it. Especially when you find out that they screw up the delivery. I ordered 2 iPod Touch coz helped a friend to order one too, but they delivered only one! My sis signed for the one box and when she passed to me I was kinda suspecting it can hold 2 iPod Touch meh... maybe Apple is really downsizing the packaging for environmental reasons. I was shocked to find only one iPod instead of 2! And the acknowledgment slip my sis signed actually said there's 2!!! That means she has acknowledged the receiving of both ipod!

I WAS LIKE..... !*^&@#%@(*&!($&%@R(##&!^(!@*^(!!!!!!!!!

I won't blame my sis coz I wouldnt have known that there's 2 packaging too!! Since it was already way pass 6pm and the office was closed, i immediately wrote an email to complain and notify them about this delivery.

The next day, I couldnt wait for the reply email and called them up but as expected, their customer service call centre is oversea and can only access information online and is obviously not of much help. She said that they will get back to me about the matter. Then in the afternoon the email reply came and, AS EXPECTED AGAIN, they said that their system has indicated delivery of BOTH iPod with acknowledgment and even attached a scanned version of the exact acknowledgment i have with me signed by my sis!

I WAS SO PISSED.

I called up again to outlash to the poor customer service person (like i care then!) and asked them what the hell is going on!?! Then the very 'lucky' woman who answered my call told me that the system has indicated that there's another ipod to be delivered by tomorrow and that she will get the Singapore team to contact me by today before 6pm. That's the second time they told me today.

It is now past 8pm. And i STILL DID RECEIVE ANY CALL!!!

I AM STILL PISSED.

They better get back to me and deliver by tomorrow morning or else I am so going to write a formal letter of complain to them about their inefficiency.

So much for being helpful....

To be fair this is actually the 1st time they screw up. I ordered from them before and they have always been quite prompt. For the many past orders, the delivery person will usually call me before delivery and this time was the 1st time they didn't! If they did I would have the person's number and call back.

Anyway i offered to give the one i received to my friend first but he rejected (and later got impatient -.-... but can't help it i already registered the ipod haha) so I opened it and tried it... and my verdict...

IT'S SO COOL!!!!

The huge screen and intreface makes everything looks so nice! I've been faithfully making sure that I have album art for my songs (with the help of iTunes Store and "Sing that iTunes!" widget) and it has certainly paid off! Haha...

And it's REALLY thin! And the wifi access is hastle free... the YouTube is great... the video is great... and the 'pinching' to enlarge photos and webpage is really really... cool!!! You really have to try it!!!

But sadly, it is not perfect... two of the function found in previous version of ipod has been removed, that is showing lyrics of each songs and enabling disk mode (i.e. using ipod as a hard disk). Also the ability to add Calendar event, a feature available on the iPhone, is not included in iPod Touch. It doesn't make sense to me coz you can add and edit Contacts but why not Calendar?! Like many who has reflected their sediment about it in the mac community, hope that they will enable these 3 features in future updates.

While I am enjoying this jem... it has to be spoiled by the delivery incident.

SIEN. Summore it's... NVM.

*cursing and swearing...*

... gave up thinking of a title...-.-

2007-09-27T22:12:00.001+08:00

The past few weeks have NOT been very exciting... actually thinking back I did meet some friends and watch a movie or two... but it just didn't feel right. Probably coz of work. Been quite brought down by work... quite a bit to do and it's not exactly something I am very familiar with. Guess I will have to press on...

Let's see... what shld i talk about...

Finally watched Ratatouille... nice but I guess it wasn't as exciting as The Incredibles nor as hilarious as Finding Nemo. However I thoroughly enjoyed the pixar short animation film Lifted! Alien needs to be trained too you know! Haha... Go watch it before it's removed from YouTube by Pixar again!

Heritage Conservation Centre

Just went to the Heritage Conservation Centre yesterday. It is located all the way at Jurong Port Road but it is really well worth the visit. Got to see science and arts at work! They do art restoration work there and their labs ROCKS! It's so huge and their work is totally meaningful! These behind the scene heroes at work! Too bad i cant take any photos... We're so going to work with them in the future!

Anyway I think all these visits to various venues the past year have been HIGHLY educational... been to so many enriching visits since I joined the school... it is REAL "Professional Development" .... not some lame sessions i previous experience else where... haha...

I am NOT your chauffeur!!!!

When someone offers you a ride to send you somewhere in his or her car, and there is no one else travelling with you and your kind friend... PLEASE SIT AT THE FRONT SEAT!!!

In case you don't know, it is impolite of you to sit at the back seat leave the front seat empty if someone offers you a ride ... why? Because your friend is not your chauffeur! When you do that (sit behind) it implies that you are treating your kind friend like a chauffeur! And if you have not realise, it is VERY rude. VERY. RUDE.

Many students are very innocently unaware of this simple... well social norm (?) and I don't blame them coz their parents don't tell them about it!!! Many parents ARE willing chauffeurs and always allow their children to sit behind even if there is no one at the front seat. Which is fine... as long as they educate their kids about this!

Old practice? Passe and no longer in practice? I do wonder too... so I just checked with my friend and obviously... it is STILL being commonly practiced. Thank goodness!!!

As my friend has shared with me... "Want to sit behind? GO TAKE A CAB!!!" Haha...

I have been meaning to blog about this many times. Finally remember to do so...

RANT!

Last but not least... i got to know that one of my friend has been victimised by some lousy boss. The feeling of being victimised, especially by someone incompetent, sucks. Big time. Some people are just plain idiots and do not deserve to be at where they are at. What's even more unforgiving are the people who actually puts the person there. A case of how poor judgement leads to another. After countless bad decisions, the person still thinks the world of himself and yet remains 'un-humbled' despite numerous obvious hints and outcomes not in his favour. Yet the person thinks that the fault lies in everyone else. I have come to realise by personal experience that many of these bullies are cowards. You really just need to tell them who is boss by defending yourself and make things clear to those incompetently boss. I hate people who pretends to listen. Waste my time. In fact I guess I am wasting time talking about these fools. Shall not waste my time here.

Hope to have a more exciting week ahead... I so wanna take leave!

elmo!!!

2007-09-15T17:08:00.000+08:00

Elmo is STILL the cute monster more than 20 years ago!

An interview with Elmo in an Australian talkshow... it's SO FARNIE you MUST WATCH!

The interview with the man behind (and under) Elmo! And yes... no joke... it's this man you see!

I wonder if local kids still watch Sesame Streets these days...

Record

2007-09-15T12:47:00.001+08:00

Look at the number of applicant ahead of me.

I'm so going home.

In the news today...

2007-09-13T20:44:00.001+08:00

School of Cool.... School of class!

Starting with the good news... my school is featured yet again today in the Straits Times' Life section! This time is, as my friend put it, a huge 'dun play play' front page article man! The TWO full pages article features the school's very 'power' heads of the various art form. They are all very accomplished talents who are very nice people too! Go read about my nice colleagues!

Setback for 'Fellow' Arts School

In contrast, a 'not-so-good' news about a 'fellow' school in the arts, LaSalle. Been hearing quite a bit about LaSalle since early this year... and I'm not surprised that this happens actually. They have a very cool new building but sad to say their management and structure is not! Reminds me of a certain school again.... haha...

Brave or dumb?

My reporter friend told me about this piece of news... I think this teacher is erm... well... both brave and dumb? Being in a profession which is very traditional in thinking, I must commend him for his bravery for being so frontal about it. Yet at the same time, he can't be so naive that this is NOT going to spread and go SOMEWHERE!?! I mean come on... he is surely aware that he is risking his job by doing this? Well all's said and done. He will just have to live with the consequence for his good or bad judgement. On a side note, I have to agree with his view which has been quoted in the article... that people tend to equate gays with being a pervert or a child molester. Most people seem to have forgotten that there are many more heterosexual pervert in this world. I think some homosexuals are doing much more good to the society than some heterosexual. We should judge a person based on the work he did and how he did it, and not his sexuality. Sadly, the world is still bias and full of opinionated idiots.

Can you feel it?!

I did!!! This morning!!! Didn't feel it yesterday night though... my mum did! And she brought my dog downstairs using the stairs...

...we live on the 12th floor. =p

I hope someone from MOE is reading this!!!!

Seriously! I am quite sure this is NOT the first time it has been mentioned! Someone shld just break into the minister's office and put copies of it EVERYWHERE in the office to make sure he reads it! Like students, some principal needs to be monitored more than others...

Who wants to be a superhero?!?

Seriously this show is really entertaining... had a good laugh AT the contestants. American. They'll do anything. Haha...

The EPL!

....LIKE I CARE!!!!!!!!

-.-

The person who defined "Digital Natives"

Marc Prensky...he was in town to give some workshop today at Temasek Poly. Attended his keynote address. Makes sense but nothing shattering new to me. Think they must have paid a bomb to get him here... though I must give him credits for what he has come up with, sometimes i can't help but wonder how much of it was for the money... haha...

Who's Nathan Hartono?"

Last but not least, something light but worth mentioning... This Nathan Hartono guy is a our very own young version of Michael Buble. Well maybe not 'our' coz i heard he is an indonesian who's studying here. Anyway he's only 16 and I understand he won this Teenage Icon competition 2 years back which got him a recording contact. This is already his second album, which is a live recording of his concert held earlier this year at teh esplanade recital hall. His 1st studio album was NOT BAD for a kiddo. But what I'm most impressed with is his live singing. In fact I think he sounds better live. Lots of potential! So give local talent/production a chance! Listen to his jazz version of a popular Keane song below. He did a good job! Really!

A new way to get noticed...

2007-09-09T23:46:00.000+08:00

No I DON'T mean that you should do something crazy, get it recorded and put it on YouTube...

You just need to perform a cover version of a very popular song like what the following guys did... and get noticed for your talent! At least I noticed!!!

One of my previous student on the piano, playing a theme song from a hit Chinese movie called "Secret", directed and starring Jay Chou. Viewed over 17k times over 4 weeks! Well done Zhi An! =) But don't ask him for the piano scores... he played it off his head so there's none! Haha...

Twins from US doing an acoustic version of Britney Spear's new song "Gimme More"... very different from the original and very well done I must say! Stumble across it while surfing... and it's viewed over 5k times in 2 days!

Well done guys!!! And hooray for YouTube!

Enjoy!

My new...

2007-09-07T18:15:00.000+08:00

...CAR!

Finally... remembered to take a photo of it! It's almost 3 weeks old since i last collected it. It's getting kinda dirty and I didn't really wash it coz of the rain. Think it's about time i do so though. And i STILL haven't tested the CD player! Better remember to do it later...

...MACBOOK (and bag)!!!

Yes SOTA finally issued us our MacBook!!! It didn't come easy... took us sometime to finally get through the paperwork to get it! SO NICE!!! it's faster than my 2.5 year old PowerBook and has more RAM too! So looks like my PowerBook will have to collect some dust...?

And this is the carrying bag with I picked for my MacBook! We get to choose our own casing... Long story behind it but anyway I like what I am using! Victorinox, you know! Not some cheapo unheard brands! Haha....

...IPOD TOUCH...soon!!!

Yes!!! I ORDERED OREDI!!! THE 16GB ONE!!! But will only be shipped from 28 Sep. This is basically free for me since I sold the Nokia N95 for a reasonable sum which will pay for this iPod Touch PLUS i have left over to buy a casing! Heehee

Yes yes.... I know....

...you hate me.

Thank you thank you....

=p

Me & the "Heroes" Part II

2007-09-04T20:05:00.000+08:00

A photo account of the "crazy" day...

Click on photo to see the gallery!!! =)

On top of a cool and great day, I still manage to get a bunch of goodies i got for from Nokia and Star TV...

"Heroes" & Nokia goodies

Me and the Heroes!

2007-09-02T02:37:00.001+08:00

Me and the Heroes!
Originally uploaded by mvu6r

Sat 01/09/2007 16:52 IMG_3681 Posting this from the new Nokia n95 i won from the Heroes contest! Obviously got to meet the cast too! It was a great day!

This past week...

2007-08-26T21:49:00.000+08:00

(in sequence)

... Attended a friend's birthday party at the Bellini Room at St James Power Station. Been a REALLY long time since I went to a pub, this one plays big band/swing/jazz kind of music. Quite nice think will go back again. Though had a upsetting experience going there... friend came much later than the time we arranged, then say wanna watch movie then ended up making plans of his own and left early. Thankfully got people there i know to talk to. And HAPPY B-DAY AGAIN to a certain Ms Teo!!!

... I got my new car and finally got a feel of the price to pay for mobility and convenience. Not that I am complaining... I AM ENJOYING THE CAR! =) And I haven't even taken a photo of it yet!!! Haven't tested the CD player and need to get some basic necessity for the car too... =/

... did recordings at home with some CHMA alumni to try out the new mic! Not bad!

... at work we had a getaway day on Wed. We went to have a sharing session at a conference room in a really nice hotel called Changi Village Hotel. And I got some good news about my pay!!! HR finally came up with a concrete HR structure and pay scale. I think its really attractive! And if anyone from MOE sees it sure wanna come over! It sure pays to be the pioneer! Obviously benefitting from it... that's all I can reveal! it's confidential! haha =p

... visited the School of Arts Design & Media in NTU... the building is SO COOL!!!! It's 3 sloped building 'crossing' each other and the roof top is all grass! GRASS not glass!!! No joke!!! IT'S SO COOL! Letting the pictures do the talking!

... I helped someone with a video project (yet again) though I only know him for a week! It was a pleasure to know the person anyway... fate. =)

... I did a job which someone else is suppose to do. I decided to do it for the person because if I don't things are going to get delayed! Again! Haiz... things you have to do to get things going. -.-

... i met up with an insurance agent... time to think about retirement plan already... =p

... Went to support a student for his participation in a cluster singing competition which was organised by a friend who taught in CH before actually. Well quite an... 'eye-opener'... hahahaha....considering it has been outsourced to be run by a external company which is supposedly professional, it was much to be desired production wise. Though they did invite some rather famous participant from Campus Superstar. Yes very chinese. Coz organised by Chinese dept what... haha. Anyway the CH did really well! Trashed the rest... got 2nd for solo (could have been 1st if not the AV system!) and 1st for group. Great job guys! And CHMA still rawks! Hahhaa... *not shy*

... I watched the chinese musical 天冷就回来 which is completely sold out for the rest of the run! The musical is created based on songs written by 梁文福, who happens to be an old boy CH. And if you don't know who he is, which cave in Singapore have you been staying!??!?! The show's not bad la... though some of the songs are kinda forced-fit into show, the songs made it very nostalgic for people like me who grew up listening to his composition. But I have one MAJOR complain... which is this lousy singer who plays a 'ghost' and gets to sing several songs written for and originally sung by Kit Chan. That blardy actress basically murdered all the songs she sung! She was SO PITCHY you wonder why she was casted in a MUSICAL to begin with! The saving grace was the other singers, especially George Chan, one of the judge from the Channel 5 reality show "The Dance Floor". He spoke mandarin well and sang even better! Really!!! And no he did not dance...-.-

... I got lucky! I won a Nokia N95!!! Shall elaborate in the near future! ;-)

... hm... didn't realise so much happened till i start blogging about it... what a week!

new toys

2007-08-14T21:24:00.000+08:00

No I not trying to record myself. -.-

Seriously I bought the mic on impulse. Haha...

As for the keyboard, i always wanted to pick up the piano or keyboard... since piano is really too expensive, i bought the keyboard. And I actually bought the same keyboard like 3 years ago... which got borrowed and never returned! And I can't even remember who borrowed it! I think it was one of my students who graduated that year. Blardy hell....

Another new toy coming my way this sat! Actually I wouldn't really call it a toy la... coz it needs maintenance and I got it for convenience. Yes i say many times already... my Suziki SX4! Never thought I'll be excited about getting my own car... haha...

Thought of getting another new toy actually... a GSP for use with my car. My colleague has one and its so cool! But after much consideration, it cost way too much for something which I'll probably use once in a very long while.

The next big thing to look forward to is most probably the iPhone! And since Google Map works in Singapore...

...it's another reason to get it!

Corrinne and Royston

2007-08-12T22:03:00.000+08:00

Corrinne

Just remembered that i forgot to blog abt Corrinne May's concert! How could I!!!!

This is my... erm... 3rd or 4th Corrinne May concert since her first album... like 4 years ago? The last time was during Christmas, which I've blogged about, while this time is in conjunction with the release of her new album Beautiful Seed. She sang most of the song from the new album.

As usual she usually gave a quick and brief story behind each song before she sang it. Think it did make a difference when you know how it actually came about. Despite hearing all the song for the first time, I actually kinda remember quite a few! I particularly like On My Way, My Little Nephew and of course... 33. Then again... maybe it's coz Corrinne May's song is also getting a little too similar. It nice and all but the arrangement of the songs sounds just too similar at times. Which brings us back again to that same old argument of whether an artist should change his style to expand his genre. Some did and it didn't work for them.. fans complained... sales drop.... etc etc. While some manage to pull it off. Tricky business. Well I'm still a fan. But I think she may want to explore, just one or two songs from an album, some other genre... like more jazzy stuff? Haha...

Back to talking about the concert... i felt that it was very good performance wise. The video projection of the performance for close up and all was fine... they had some very nice angle... but I do find it kinda distracting at times. But I think there's room for improvement, production and otherwise. Firstly it's the venue. I really don't like the feel of the whole.... UCC. It's kinda out of the way... quite inconvenient to go. Secondly the whole architectural design of the hall was so... cold, figuratively speaking. all white walls... so... convention hall. Just don't have the 'warm' ambience like the Esplanade Concert Hall. Thirdly, I felt the music was not very balanced... the strings ensemble sounds raw (probably due to poor mic placement and mixing) and was often over powered by rest of the band. The piano also lack warmth too... again due to poor mic placement i feel. I really like Esplanade much better. Please go back there Corrinne! Haha...

Anyway here's a video I found at YouTube... a live performance in Chicago, singing a song called Same Side of the Moon, which I really like from her previous album:

She stayed back till 3am to sign autograph after her concert! And one person i know actually queued for 3.5 hour to get her autograph! I so over doing such things... yes i used to queue for autograph in the past for some artists i like. Not anymore. Haha... I should contact a friend who happens to be her church mate...

Go buy Beautiful Seed! =)

Royston

I think i've talked enough about him already... he wrote and directed the movie 881... which i would consider it to be his very commercial production. Much more mass appealing to the general Singapore audience. I think everyone has something to take away from the movie. Hate it or loath it but you can't ignore it!

Despite the seemingly LC nature of the movie, he actually has quite a bit of class. I like how he captured the essence of getai without being too over. I think he is able to switch between... knowing when to be class and when to be a little fun and harmlessly crass. Here's his classy showreel:

There you go... two of Singapore's top 'export' to the world.

Be proud of them.

these days...

2007-08-09T10:37:00.000+08:00

These days... (I)

...been quite stressed with work... got quite a few deadlines to meet and they are not exactly easy to complete. Needs to come up with several fresh, creative, fun and yet feasible ideas for lesson plans as well as ideas for research in ICT for education. Especially the research ideas... it involves quite abit of money... actually ALOT of money and i mean... A. LOT. And involves quite a few external party too... can't elaborate too much anyway.

SO WHO SAYS MY JOB NOW IS VERY EASY!?! -.-

But then I must say still admit I definitely still have my weekends to myself these days. Work really stays within designed hours. Unlike the teaching days when you often have to designate some hours of your weekends marking... well sometimes really no choice. So I do appreciate my work life balance these days.

881 Charity Movie Premier

Manage to catch 881's charity premier on 7 Aug, 2 days before it opens in the theatre, at VivoCity. Manage to catch all the cast and director. They actually came to our theatre to say hi... Quite cool to see them la. Here's some of the photos i manage to take with my phone... wish I brought my IXUS! I don't bring it out as much as I used to these days...

As for the movie itself, I must say it is a far cry from Royston's previous movie 4:30, which was very classy though weird. 881 reminds me of his first full length film 15 which was never shown in Singapore coz he refuse for it to be censored. Both are done in a very MTV style way... very exaggerated, very... fantasized. Since 881 is all about the GeTai, I suppose he tried to capture the spirit of that industry... which in real life is already very drama and exaggerated but I think he did try to stretch it even more!

It's quite fun to watch the singing... yet at the same time it is able to capture the human elements in the show... quite emo at times. Like the strained relationship between the lead actress and her mother who didn't want her to sing in getai though ironically her mother used to sing in getai. Then the other lead actress who actually has an illness, known right from the beginning, but she is trying to ignore it through her passion in singing for getai. The movie also manage to capture the emotional side of super exaggerated 'manager' of the Papaya Sisters. I particularly like it when they suddenly break into a singing session in the movie... both during the hilarious part and the emo part... well it IS being touted as a musical so it is no surprise. Royston made it work... coz I do feel the emotion at those scenes... especially the sad ones...

All in all a very refreshing and entertaining show which sometimes don't make sense but who cares! It's fun to watch... and feel! Haha...

These days... (II)

... I kept bumping into my ex-students. All those who have grown up and are in NS and going to or in uni now. I suppose they hang out in town more often too. I think I am going to see more when school starts for SMU coz my office is just next to SMU School of Business. Anyway I recently met and talked with a couple of my students over 2 days. They are all from the 2003 batch... my most 'xiong' year coz I had FIVE sec 4 classes that year. That also mean I know most students from that year too. They are all in NS and ORDing this year.

And they all initiated to talk to me! Haha.. if you've read my very early post last year, I see it as a good thing... glad that they remembered... and more importantly bothered to say hi. It is... erm... gratifying? Haha... It's also great to see them all grown up and doing well... well... most of the time. =p The only 'sad' thing is that they remind you how long you've been in teaching already... haha..

These days... (III)

... lots of National Day related activities going on... so i guess i wanna do the same. Gonna share something from mrbrown which is, believe it or not, quite patriotic. Well kinda! Haha.. Something he podcasted last year around National Day too... it actually shows a different side of mrbrown, mr miyagi and a very touching side of mrs brown who never appeared on mrbrown's show before. For once, he is not trying to be farnie.

Enjoy!

mr brown's confession

mr miyagi's confession

mrs brown's confession

my second time...

2007-08-04T01:30:00.001+08:00

Istana Invite, originally uploaded by mvu6r.

Actually my 3rd time there. Was invited there before for the President's Challenge Project Y back in 2000. Yeah... Then Mrs Goh, the previous P of CH sent me there before, can't remember which year ... now SOTA sending me again this year for the teachers day reception... I suppose i should feel... honoured?!? Haha... =p

Gonna be there to see the president give some teachers some awards again.

Oh well...

=)

"This I Promise You" by Marcus & Sijian

2007-08-02T22:22:00.000+08:00

A performance by Marcus Sim and Jiang Sijian at the CH Young Performers showcase at VCH on 28 Jul. Both are CH Music Awards (CHMA) alumni, Marcus was a Solo Vocal & Band finalist while Sijian won the Solo Vocal category.

Don't mind the 'air sound'... ENJOY!

Do The Bartman!!!

2007-07-31T22:01:00.001+08:00

Was reminded of this song coz of their recent movie! This song was quite a hit in 1990... yes 1990!!! Think it's still very entertaining after so many years! Especially with the music video!

Must Watch!!!

life goes on...

2007-07-29T22:54:00.000+08:00

So what have I been up to since my last REAL entry on 23 June... I wonder too... haha... so let me see...

death & birth
In the past month or so there were 3 death and 1 birth among the people I know. Two of my friend's father passed away within one week or each other, while an ex-student of CH passed away during a triathlon trial, which I guess many knew about since the media covered it quite a bit. All 3 were of rude shock nature... there were no sign... they were all fine... and out of no where they left us. Really saddening... and reminds us of how brittle life can be and how we should treasure our time with our loved ones. Then came the good news of the birth of my other friend's baby girl.... well life comes... life goes... live it well.

CHMA07
Looking back at my calendar... a large part of my pre-07July has been devoted to CHMA, less my work of course. Making sure the programme were designed & send for printing... ordering the awards... finalising the t-shirts and order... ensuring the stage design and video crew were at task and on schedule... coaching the solo vocals with their songs... and of course the rehearsals! Phew.... I'm glad it finally over... and i say it in bittersweet way. All the hard work paid off... CHMA07 went well thanks to everyone's help and support! Go read my thank you entry at the CHMA blog and see more photos from there!

Freaking !&%$^!#!&^#%(*@%*&@^ IDIOTS
I am still quite upset with the dishonest idiots who sneaked into the hall without tickets. They are freaking cheapskate who deny the crew of their effort through their cheapo and irresponsible act! They really deserve to be cursed and punished by whatever means! I am seriously pissed with these selfish... ass, halfwit, dunce, dolt, ignoramus, cretin, moron, imbecile, simpleton, dope, ninny, nincompoop, chump, dimwit, dumbo, dummy, dum-dum, loon, dork, sap, jackass, blockhead, jughead, bonehead, knucklehead, fathead, numbskull, numbnuts, dumb-ass, doofus, clod, dunderhead, ditz, lummox, dipstick, thickhead, meathead, meatball, woodenhead, airhead, pinhead, lamebrain, peabrain, birdbrain, jerk, nerd, donkey, nitwit, twit, boob, twerp, schmuck, bozo, turkey, chowderhead and dingbat!!!! EVERYTHING I CAN FIND FROM MY THESAURUS FOR THE WORD IDIOT IS STILL NOT ENOUGH!!! .... one more....

A**HOLE!!!!!!

OK that feels better.

Movies & Performances
Other than work and CHMA which is kinda some form of work as well, I've still manage to find time to meet up with friends and watch several movies and shows! So what have I watched the past 6 weeks.... lets check my calendar...

PLAY! A Video Game Symphony at Esplanade... video game music never sounded so good!

The Specialists by Pluck at Esplanade Recital Studio... they. are. amazingly. funny! Yet they play SOOOOOO well! Who says classical music can't be appreciated and presented with comical effects!?!?!

JUMP! Comic Martial Arts Performance at Esplanade... it was hilarious!!! Truly laugh until stomachache that kind! Their martial arts skills are superb too! And they have a whole academy to train up performers for this show!!!

Singapore National Youth Orchestra Concert at VCH... supporting the conductor and my colleague, Soon Lee, who's happens to be Wang Lee-Hom's violin teacher!!!

The Dim Sum Dollies in the History of Singapore at Esplanade... There are just no better Singapore comedic trio! Though it is enjoyable but I still think their best was the one in 2004 with

The Parking Pontianak (LIVE)... BEST!!!

The Parking Pontianak (MTV)...

Giggling Schoolgirls...

and Foodcourt Aunties!

Manage to catch most of the summer blockbuster movies too:

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer... Not THAT bad la... i must say it is cheesy like nobody's business...

Transformer... My fav movie! So nostalgic! Great special effect! Good story telling! I can't wait for Transformer II, II, IV and V!!! Nuff said.

Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix... enjoyable... nice effects... but can someone tell me what's going on between the 2 scene when Snape get into Harry's head? I must say the director seems to be assuming everyone watching the movie has read the books... needs better screenplay...

Gone Shopping... a local film by, NOT Jack Neo, NOT Royston Tan, NOT Kelvin Tong, NOT Eric Khoo, but by a FEMALE director, Wee Li Lin. She has made many short film over the past 10 years and has won several awards for them! I like her style and content, particularly her later works. I think her most famous and recent one is The Autograph Book. Catch more of her works at her website by clicking here. As for the movie, I can't really say i thoroughly enjoy it. It is has an art film slant and I guess there are some point in the movie when I have some problem drawing the links and getting her message she is trying to put through without being too obvious about it... maybe I wasn't trying hard enough. Good effort though! Hope she'll do well in the various international film fest with this movie. And its kinda weird seeing Kym Ng taking the lead role who is suppose to be a rich tai tai... though she did a decent job. See for it yourself in the trailer below

Gone Shopping Trailer

Royston's 881
And talking about local movie, there's another one I am really looking forward to... Royston Tan's 881. I must admit Royston is really a talent eventhough I don't really like all his shortfilm. In my opinion, he directs art film using a more mainstream approach without losing appeal to both audience. The trailer looks really funny... abit like his "15" but put in a getai context! Haha... already sounds interesting! Wait for it when it is released on National Day!

881 "classy" Teaser 2

881 Full Length "look-like-jack-neo-movie" Trailer

last but not least...
Hm... so what else happened these past weeks.... I had like 2 appointment at TTSH to check for kidney stones.... AGAIN.... thankfully all seems fine. Still got one more to go....

And last but not least... I've finally ordered my car...Suzuki SX4!!!! It should be delivered by the end of Aug. Well I quite never thought that I'll be so excited about getting my own car bu I AM!!! Haha... for a start it is a big commitment and I worked hard for it... not like many of my friends who got a car coz their parents helped them with their HUGE first installment. I so totally EARN it myself man...

Alrite time to give it a rest... hope u watched all the videos and clicked on all the links i've bothered to make in this entry!

Will try to update more frequently... and let's hope it's takes yet another month...

=)

Being Singaporean

2007-07-18T23:37:00.000+08:00

I've been hanging around the Esplanadfor the past 2 saturday for shows and saw the crowd for National Day Parade Previews... made that area crowded as if the whole Singapore is there... the whole police force too. -.-

None the less, I must say this year's NDP parade did made me curious. I was hardly interested in NDP parade since many years ago... they've been the same almost every year. A change in venue to the world largest floating stadium/platform makes it much more interesting. Applied for the NDP tickets for this year... sadly, as usualy, no luck. =(

Kit Chan sang this year's national day song "There's No Place I'd Rather Be"!!! Yay!!! Finally. I was wondering when they gonna ask her to do to again. It's written by the Campus SuperStar judge Jimmy Ye... though the song is not really written especially for NDP (it was originally written for an original musical put up by Singapore Poly)... I quite like the song. However I must say it's are not as easily picked up as the older ones like Home and Where I Belong. Didn't like the other one "Will You" at all though. Though I do appreciate seeing some of the theatre people like Sebastian and Emma singing the song, I think the song is just... as bad as the one sung by Taufik and RuiEn 2 or 3 years ago. Eeeks. Wonder when they going to ask JJ to write and sing an original song for NDP... =p

It's looks like kong ba...

2007-07-17T12:55:00.001+08:00

But it's actually just stone which looks like kong ba! Really!

Go see more at the Banquet of Stones exhibition at the National Museum! It's really quite amazing! And it's free admission!

=)

life so busy... blog so dead

2007-07-14T11:10:00.000+08:00

yes i am still gonna make this blog alive...

so much has happened...

death...

birth...

work...

car...

CHMA...

stress...

celebration...

being grateful...

SO much has happened... Shall elaborate soon so stay tuned!

=)

CHMA/work/car

2007-06-23T19:23:00.000+08:00

Been busy and gonna still be... especially for the next 2 weeks, for obvious reasons... *hint... see right* =/

I'm tired just thinking about the stuff that needs to be done at work and otherwise. Yet I am still gonna give myself a break tomorrow. Hopefully can catch FF2 before everyone else has!

The past week was hectic as well coz of CHMA and preparing for Prelude Encore, which was finally over yesterday. Had a taste of what my future students would be like... it kinda feels good to be in a class situation again.

Yet again helped the visual arts, not that I am complaining, to conduct this activity where all 29 of them are to work on a piece of canvas using only square, triangle and circle. A running slide show of sample of artwork done using such simple shapes was shown through out the activity. They move around to work on different part of the canvas and was cued to move by the sound/music played, which changed every 2 minutes. The sound/music also work as a catalyst to affect their mood while they draw. I think it's a great activity!! Not only are the student challenged to work with just simple shapes, the moving around the canvas also forced them to work on what others has done... some form of collaboration! It's a very well thought through activity.

Though the final canvas did looked kinda messy and crowded... considering it was done in less than one hour, it's really not bad! Furthermore, the process and experience that is more valueable, isn't it!? =)

Other than that I also conducted an experiment on crystallisation to demo what actually happens when rocks are formed. Worked with a geography teacher for this trial lesson. Too busy setting up and preparing so no time to take photo la. Haha...

Just received a call this afternoon from the Suzuki sales person... told me the car I am interested dropped 1k due to drop in COE. SX4... Think i am finally going to get my own car this year. Yes FINALLY. Mainly due to my work place which is going to be at inconvenient Kallang for 2 years from oct this year, before moving to our glam campus in town... =/ Oh well... at least it gave me a reason to get a car... SX4! Hope to get it by Sept...

Nice?!? A decision after much consultation and consideration. Now i just need the impulse to pay the booking fee and start a monthly commitment! I think i need a push... it's ALOT OF $$$!!!

Oh well.

I think I better go get the programme design settled by tonight... then got video and stage design still... i really wonder how i get by the past few years...

in the mean time, have fun looking at the random photos taken below...

Hole illusion

2007-06-14T18:01:00.001+08:00

I know probably many have seen this visual illusion draw with chalk outside Raffles City. It's part of the Arts Fest and it's too late to see the real thing now cause they have cleared it already.

I wonder how much they pay the foreign artist to use chalk to draw on the pavement... Don't you?!?

*another random post while on the train =)*

Something for 杰倫 and 光良's fan...

2007-06-13T00:27:00.000+08:00

For 杰倫's fan... how many of his song can you find in this lyric from another song?!?

......

在伊斯坦堡的你　爱情最后的战役中
说了第一九四三句对不起之后
想简单爱却开不了口　倒数后开始与安静斗牛

像龙捲风一扫而过　过去的影像不再有
情话飘散成千里之外一曲东风破　听妈妈的话　别让我受伤

＊你的滥借口　分裂了你我　同一种调调　没有轨迹的痛
　好瞎的借口　飘移了你我　困兽之斗　在在在在在在在在这乱舞春秋

每当孤单的时候　望著那反方向的钟
寻找那暗号让我回到过去生活
相信发如雪你也爱我　现实中完美主义不再有
是老斑鸠提醒著我　欢乐时光双刀挥过
情感像断了的弦好一个黑色幽默　听妈妈的话　别让我受伤

Repeat ＊

(RAP)
外婆　可不可以告诉我　在爱情悬崖有没有我期待的将军等候
园遊会里夜曲美妙弹奏　庆祝开心的朋友　我强颜欢笑的度过
外婆　你可不可以告诉我　在爱情悬崖有没有我期待的将军等候
园遊会里夜曲美妙弹奏　别慌我的超人朋友　你的秘密我会保守

.....

Don't expect an answer from me... you tell me!

And believe it or not... this is from a song called 借口 by SHE.

****

And for 光良's fan... found this a cappella version of 童话 by guys from SAF's MDC.. Music & Dance (I think!) Company. It's really quite well done!!

And I just so happen to know one of the guy called Toshi from this group! Knew him during my school's audition sessions... he was our student helper! I didn't recognise him when I met him eventhough I have already seen/heard this video clip and knew about their group. Only realise today when i was reminded of them and look through their blog! Would have complimented him if i do... Haha... oh well... fate.

=)

Y.U.so.K.po

Moved on...

En-X is Brighter than the Sun

2009 - A Year of Change

Update

Making a resounding statement...

Another one....

MJ

He's gone...

back?

好想要揮霍

coming soon

Flesh & Bone

BLARDY CANNOT BELIEVE IT!!!!

I should be blogging...

Merry X'mas everyone!

Geek post

Religulous

Randomness part V

Random song

YouTube: makes Your-dream-come True!

Happenings in Nov...

Olivia & Nathan

Have you figured?

Go figure!

Random Facts: Do You Know?!

Polaroid fun!

Geek Rant!!!

Random Photos

news

the past few weekends

Somethings

Departed

Dedicated to mrbrown and singlish!

mv fav new song! SO WHAT!?

Look what i found!

Total randomness part IV (?)

a month long of shows and performances...

CHMA08... another good year

Some people...

Festivals to come in Jul/Aug...

Dance Dance Revolution on the iPhone/iTouch...

Bily Elliot, Monty Python's Spamalot and Avenue Q!!!!

rant/photos blog (May/June 2008) *updated*

total randomness part III

London 2008

Thoughts.HolsPlan.SchCamp.ChrisBotti

Finally back!

total randomness part II

Photo blog - Apr 2008

total ramdomness

Open House

Goose bump... Over the rainbow

nostalgic

reservist, open house and I'm Yours... officially!

I really shldn't be blogging now...

Finally can upload photos...

updates

tired

Youth Olympic 2010 & Earth Hour 60

Has it been more than a month already?!?!

Photo blog (Dec 07) ... YES FINALLY!

Zo Gang

Ok stop complaining...

Photo Updates!

'Leopard' is finally out!!! What's gonna happen to 'Vista'?

my 'works'

Random Photo Blogging

IT'S. A. BIG. AD!

1234...

The ipod touch 'encounter'

... *gave up thinking of a title*...-.-

elmo!!!

Record

In the news today...

A new way to get noticed...

My new...

Me & the "Heroes" Part II

Me and the Heroes!

This past week...

rant/photos blog (May/June 2008) updated

... gave up thinking of a title...-.-