Studying..... on Sat

Went to NTU to study with Gs, Terence and Derrick today and we studied all the way from 2 pm to almost 2 am. Quite a productive day indeed as i finished studying for both my maths and chemistry tests on monday. We were in the library from 2 to 5 pm, open air benches from 5 to 10 pm, and finally tutorial room from 10 to 2 am.

The good thing is that some tutorial rooms in NTU are open 24 hours and the air con is on 24 hours as well. Clarified a number of my queries on chemistry with experts like Derrick and Gs around. After our intensive studying, we headed to a 24 hrs hawker centre in boon lay for our supper. Derrick and i ordered 2 dishes as we were both really hungry.

17 days to my first exam on 12 Apr!

Read more...

Dinner & Supper

Waited for Derrick and Terence's gf to finish watching Angela Chang's campus concert before going for dinner together. After the concert ended, we went inside MLT for a short while to watch her music videos. She sang only 4 songs and left promptly after around 35 minutes.


We noticed her chauffeur at the carpark near MLT and waited for a short while to catch a close-up glimpse of her. I got a blurry shot of her as she was walking quite fast to her vehicle. She was only around 1.5 metres away from me and i was starstruck of course. Too bad i didn't capture another shot of her as my camera's processor is quite slow and her walking speed was quite fast.

After the brief encounter, we headed to orchard to have our dinner and met up with the other half of our jc classmates not from NTU. We loitered around for some time before settling down at Scotts Picnic to have our dinner. Next was more loitering around in Orchard and we decided to have supper or dessert at the famous Rochor Soya beancurd. We all mounted on top of my lorry and i decided to take a break and sit behind my lorry while Terence ferried all of us there.

It's really shiok to have so many people sitting at the back of the lorry passing through orchard road. Feel like shouting at the passerbys walking along orchard road. Haha... Took some pictures during the trip there.

Hair messy liao...... ha...

My eyes are nearly closed due to the wind

One of my classmates commented that some drivers might mistake my camera flash as the road camera flash and we all thought that was very funny. We reached Rocher dao huey in around 10 minutes and each of us ordered a packet of dao huey (soyabeancurd). The soyabeancurd is indeed very smooth, very tasty and not too sweet.

Some of us had another packet of grass jelly and we spent quite some time crapping and joking as usual. Took a group photo together there before leaving.


Meibin wanted to drive my lorry to fetch the rest back to their vehicles in orchard and i allowed as she had drove my lorry before. The journey back to orchard was a little bumpy and most of us were a little worried of mb's driving skills. Nevertheless, i trusted her driving skills and we got off safely.

Read more...

Hectic Day

Woke up early this morning to get Angela Chang's campus concert tickets but it was sold out 1 h 30 mins before the actual ticket distribution! Sad lor! Thought that i will confirm get tickets coz Terence was already queuing and i would be able to cut queue. However, they gave queue numbers to the first 200 people 10 mins before i arrived and i did not get a queue number. Next time i will be more kiasu for sure.

Watched Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon during my elective today. Had watched it previously in the theatres and it once again reinterated Lee Ang's supreme directorial skills after watching Brokeback Mountain not too long ago. Noted several similarities between CTHD and Brokeback Mountain. The locations of the shoot are places which few people frequent or are exotic, eg. the desert, mountainous areas, 18th century buildings, etc. The music is often soft and soothing, Brokeback Mountain has gentle guitar music while CTHD has world famous Yo Yo Ma playing the cello and composer Tan Dun with his soft oriental music. The stories often involve death of different characters and his characters are often oppressed by the patriarchal society. Ennis and Jack are oppressed by the homophobic society while Shu Lien and Li Mu Bai are restrained from marriage due to previous relationship engagements. The movements of the characters are also fluid and elegant; Ennis and Jack riding horses against the scenic landscape, Li Mu Bai, Jen and Shu Lien flying above bamboo forest and buildings.

Too bad Brokeback Mountain was robbed of Oscar Best Picture by Crash. BM should definitely have won and there is no doubt about it in my opinion. I guess the main reason for its loss is due to its controversial theme and homophobic judges. Is love just between heterosexual couples? Definitely not and the film exemplifies this fact.

Went to watch Capote at cineleisure with Clarence after our lessons. Capote is a biopic on Truman Capote, the author of the famous non-fiction book, In Cold Blood. He starts his research on a murder case that investigates the psyche of the murderers. Capote gets acquainted with the murderers and discovers a human side in them. He also gets involved in their sentencing and helps them to employ lawyers to fight their case.

Based on a true story, this movie is centred around Truman Capote, well-acted by Oscar winner Phillip Seymour Hoffman. The story is often uninvolving and we always get to see Capote talking to the criminals, talking to his friends and thinking about lots of stuff. The movie progresses dreadfully slowly and it is tedious in its pace. Although the cast is dedicated in each of the roles, we do not empathise much with the plight of Capote as the quirky, effeminate and emotional writer. A borefest for me indeed.

Went for a run round NTU at night and had supper at a 24 hours hawker centre after that.

Read more...

V For Vendetta

Watched V for Vendetta with Liyuan and Daryl today at West Mall.

V for Vendetta is visually spectacular, verbally profound and violent. The story is about a terrorist, V, who bombed the Old Bailey and intends to bomb the Parliament next. He bumps into Evey, Natalie Portman, by chance and helps her out of a difficult situation. Being the daughter of politician parents who had been murdered by the totalitarian government, she understand the reasons for V committing the crimes and she gradually gets converted to become his accomplice.

We get to know the intruiging background that formed the merciless and vengeful V a few decades back and the politics behind the government's veil of orderlyness and commanding control. "We should not fear the government, the government should fear us people." V proclaims. Indeed, an uprising is escalating and there is nothing much the government can do.

Natalie Portman is great in her role as Evey and her hair was also shaved off in the process. Hugo Weaving, hidden behind the mask is also convincing as an man with great conviction and ambitions, sprouting politically charged speeches filled with "chim" ideologies but yet gentle in his mannerism.

There are quite a number of fights to enhance the entertainment as well as a rich storyline to engage audiences. It is typical Hollywood fare with many added features like fine performances, engaging storyline, political statements and colourful characters. V for Vendetta is good entertainment.

Read more...

Weekend

Went out with my jc friends yesterday for supper and we went to Bukit Timah hawker centre. We spent around 2 hours chatting and eating before heading back. Most of them wanted to try driving my lorry and i gave each of them a chance to drive it around the empty carpark outside. When i was fetching them a short distance to their car at a carpark further away, i performed some stunts to make them feel very "comfortable" at the back of the lorry. Haha...

Went NUS to study with Ks and Jy today and spent most of my time learning computing and some of the exercises i didn't manage to complete during the hands-on sessions. It was time consuming and tedious as my program writing skills was still quite lousy. Fetched Ks and Jy to Holland Village for their dinner and back to NUS before meeting my parents for dinner.

We headed to a newly opened mini restaurant in Telok Blangah area owned by my aunty and uncle for my mother's early birthday celebration. Some of my uncles, aunties and cousins also came the celebration and we had quite an enormous spread of food. It was very delicious and we finished every scrap of food even though we were very full. Took several photos with my family after that.

Read more...

Preparations...

Will be gearing up soon for the exams in 3-4 weeks time. I will have to put in a lot of effort in computing during these few weeks. Can't wait for the exams to be over.

Read more...

Holiday in July

Terence just helped us book 9 tickets to Taipei from 4th to 11th July for $230 per pax. Raring to go but still got 4 months to go. We will be spending 8 days there and it is quite a lot for a holiday. At least we won't have to rush to visit all the places of interest.

Hopefully nothing crops up in july coz the tickets are non-refundable. :)

Read more...

Temptations

After extensive research on digicams on sat night, i decided to buy canon ixus 60 at the IT Show on sunday.

Went out with my family today to pray at a temple and after sending my sister back home, i went to Sim Lim Square to compare the prices of digicams as i already know the prices from the brochures at the IT Show. After asking the price of Canon Ixus 60 at several stores in Sim Lim, i found out that it was actually cheaper here compared to the IT Show. IT Show was selling at $599 with quite a lot of freebies but Sim Lim was selling at just ~$540 with memory card and digital kit bag. I had originally intended to meet Edwin and Terence at the IT Show but i decided not to meet them there and informed them of the cheaper prices here.

Edwin was going to buy some other computer stuff at the IT show and i waited for him at Sim Lim as we planned to buy digicams together.

I did my tutorials in a cafe at a less crowded section of Sim Lim Square for around 2 hours. Next, we searched for the stores selling cheaper digicams and Edwin decided to buy Canon Powershot A430 for slightly less than $300. Quite a worthy camera with 4x optical zoom, 4 megapixels and a cheap price tag.

My turn to decide. I was weighing the pros and cons of buying Canon Ixus 60 although i really like the design, colour, image quality, high resolution, quick processor, optical viewfinder, fast shutter speed, small size, large and bright lcd screen, etc...

This minimalistic camera is so tempting when i hold it. Got a compulsive urge to buy it but after thinking for some time, i decided that it is totally unnecessary for me to buy another digicam.

I must find a very well paying job in the may, june, july holidays so that i can SPEND, SPEND and SPEND without so much hesitation. Hahaha....... Can't hardly wait.

Should be going to Taiwan in July this year with my jc classmates! Jetstar Asia is holding a Super Summer promotion which has air fares starting from $8 which excludes airport tax. The travel period is only from 1 July to 30 Sep this year and the promotion lasts until 14 March. Very good deals indeed. It costs $230 for the 2-way trip including airport tax to Taipei but we have to settle our own accommodation. Shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Read more...

Last Cca Activity

Went for my last Geyong activity for this semester yesterday and the subcom members were singing various songs for us. There were very few people who attended the session as cca scores had already been inputed for semester 1 and 2.

One of the members of our cca gave an incredible rendition of A-Mei's Yuan Lai Ni She Me Dou Bu Xiang Yao. He was able to bring across the emotion of the song and it was really well done.

There were a number of good performers as well until our cca's most talented guitarist blew the competition away. His guitar skills was so impressive that we all remained silent for the 4 or 5 minutes that he performed. Although he did not sing, the music is already so wonderful that everyone's ears were craving for more, seriously. It was the first time i see someone who could play guitar like a "gu zhen" during certain segments of the song. An eye-opener indeed!

We ended the activity rather late as there was a prize presentation for the voting of the Most Courageous, Most Popular, Most Talented and Best Stage Presence. Our president of geyong had also prepared souvenirs for our dedicated participation for the past 2 semesters.


A picture of me and the president of geyong.

Went back home and got my new OCBC debit card. Looks like a credit card to me.

Read more...

Busy day!

I hate computing! Got very fed up with some of the programs that we were supposed to compile today. Feel like thrashing the computer when i couldn't get my program to work, haha...

Went to the IT Show at Suntec with Clarence after our lessons and there was a traffic jam as usual during the peak hours. Arrived after almost an hour in my lorry. We only had an hour for the IT Show as it closes at 9 pm.

I took as many brochures as i can while checking out the prices for digital cameras and desktops. There were a lot of people there as well.

We had our late dinner at the food court after collecting most of the brochures. Drove to somerset carpark as we wanted to watch Transamerica at cineleisure.

Transamerica is a story between a "father" and son, except that the "father" has now become like a mother. Bree is a transsexual who never knew she had a son until a week before her sexual reconstructive surgery. She bails her son, Toby, out from jail for hustling and peddling drugs, and decides to bring him on a road trip to Los Angeles on the pretense that she is a missionary sent by a church to help teenage delinquents.

Slowly, they begin to understand each other more and more and Bree finds it harder and harder not to tell Toby the truth. We get to know their characters better as the movie progresses and the film doesn't shy away from the controversial theme on sexuality and transgender people. It is honest in its protrayal of these people and we get to understand them to a certain extent. Felicity Huffman is extremely dedicated in her role which requires her to put on face prosthetics and fake male appendage, and speak in a deep manly tone. She channels a transsexual with great fervour, making the character rich and layered. Also, Kevin Zeggers is outstanding in his role as the son who endured a painful childhood and has now become the teenager he is today. The onscreen coupling of these characters bring life to the movie as we witness their quarrels, their sacrifices and their bonding.

Transamerica is a personable movie that is constantly engaging, heartfelt and at times hilarous. A movie that is not only about parental love, it explores the compassion and idiosyncrasies that all humans should embrace. Highly recommended.



After the show, i pumped $10 worth of diesel into my tank as the fuel level was quite low and fetched Clarence back home before driving back to hall. A wrong exit to PIE (Changi Airport) proved costly as i was navigating kallang and paya lebar area blindly to find an entrance to PIE (Tuas). My tiny sense of direction brought me back to serangoon and braddell area after driving along Macpherson road. Passed by the outskirts of Hougang before turning in Braddell Road heading to CTE (SLE, BKE). I regretted my decision later as i realized i will be driving a big round from Ang Mo Kio to Woodlands, then Woodlands to Kranji and back to NTU.

After contemplating whether to turn into Yishun exit from BKE, i decided to go for it as i recently just went Chong Pang for supper and i roughly knew the way to Mandai Road which could cut the mileage.

Everything was going smoothly until i turned into a KJE entrance from Woodland Rd which was heading to BKE (Woodlands) and i should be heading towards KJE (PIE, Tuas). Got quite pissed with myself after that as i got into the opposite direction of the expressway not once but twice!

I have to exit the expressway and find a way back to the expressway in the opposite direction which is very troublesome. Got back to my hall after driving for around an hour. Orientation driving indeed!

Read more...

Movies

Went for my elective today and watched Days of Being Wild by Wong Kar Wai. Didn't know that so many major stars acted in this movie, namely Leslie Cheung, Maggie Cheung, Carina Lau, Jackie Cheung, Andy Lau and Tony Leung. It's quite hard to comment on Wong Kar Wai movies coz the ideas are rather abstract and the main characters are somehow detached from our understanding. Like 2046, it is profound and serious, giving us the rough idea instead of presenting it directly in front of our eyes. Nevertheless, the cast is experienced and they deliver a good job in front of the cameras.

Went to West Mall to watch Munich with Daryl after that. Munich is an allegory on violence and its consequences. The massacre of 11 Isreali atheletes in 1972 Munich Olympic Games by Palestinian terrorists had led to a backlash by the Isreali government. The secret service of Isreal has appointed Avner, Eric Bana, to head an assassination mission targeting the Palestinian terrorists. Violence begets violence and the assassins exterminate the terrorists one by one.

Does that make the assassins terrorists as well? Did Isreal benefit from the execution of the terrorists? These are the questions posed by the movie and it is extremely relevant in present times as well. The political message by Steven Spielberg is strong and it makes us rethink the purpose of "justified" violence.

The images of people blown apart by explosives and shot dead are visceral and they only serve to remind us the tragic cycle of violence. The hunters eventually get hunted and those who survive suffer eternal wounds from the paranoia of being killed and their own regrets.

Munich is the least commercial film i've seen by Steven Spielberg and it is indeed quite a good effort.

Read more...

Trip to Science Centre

Went to Singapore Science Centre with my aerospace class as part of the Discovery Course 2 curriculum. We were to redesign or improve on an existing exhibit in the Aviation section of the Science Centre. We were briefed on the project in one of the labs in level 3 before proceeding to examine the exhibits.

We were mostly in a light mood and were happily toying with of the exhibits. Took quite a lot of photos inside.


Aeroplane and helicopter models


Chicks inside incubator!

An exhibit that displays the pitch, yaw and roll of a plane.


Waterworks for us to play with.

We spent a short 1 h 30 mins inside and we brought back to school after the visit. Too bad science centre was closed on monday and they only opened up the Aviation section and some other sections which do not require electricity for students. Some other sections we explored were in total darkness and the speakers was playing soft piano sounds with momentary pauses. Eerie but fun with many people around.

Read more...

Oscar Winners

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
78th Annual Academy Awards Winners

Best Picture
Crash

Achievement in Directing
Ang Lee Brokeback Mountain

Best Actor
Philip Seymour Hoffman Capote

Best Actress
Reese Witherspoon Walk the Line

Best Supporting Actor
George Clooney Syriana

Best Supporting Actress
Rachel Weisz The Constant Gardener

Best Adapted Screenplay
Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana Brokeback Mountain

Best Film Editing
Hughes Winborne Crash

Best Documentary Feature
March of the Penguins

Achievement in Costume Design
Colleen Atwood Memoirs of a Geisha

Achievement in Makeup
Howard Berger and Tami Lane The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

Best Animated Feature Film
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

Best Visual Effects
Joe Letteri, Brian Van't Hul, Christian Rivers and Richard Taylor King Kong

Best Live-Action Short Film
Six Shooter

Best Animated Short Film
The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation

Best Original Screenplay
Paul Haggis and Robert Moresco Crash

Best Foreign-Language Film
Tsotsi (South Africa)

Best Original Song
'Hard Out Here for a Pimp' - Music & Lyrics by Jordan Houston, Cedric Coleman and Paul Beauregard Hustle & Flow

Best Original Score
Gustavo Santaolalla Brokeback Mountain

Best Documentary Short
A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin

Achievement in Sound Editing
Mike Hopkins and Ethan Van der Ryn King Kong

Achievement in Sound Mixing
Christopher Boyes, Michael Semanick, Michael Hedges and Hammond Peek King Kong

Achievement in Cinematography
Dion Beebe Memoirs of a Geisha

Best Art Direction
Art Direction: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gretchen Rau Memoirs of a Geisha

Read more...

Around 1/2 of Singapore

Went to NUS library to study with Ks today. It was not a very productive day coz i was a little sleepy and the tutorials were tough! Took at least 20 minutes to try solving each question and didn't manage to complete most of them. I hate physics and the harder sections for maths differential equations.

We had our dinner at a hawker centre in Holland Village and i let Ks drive my lorry for the trip. We went back to science library after our dinner and studied there until it closed at 10 pm.

I went PS after that as i was going to watch Mrs Henderson Presents with Gs and Derrick. Wanted to watch Munich but Derrick had watched it already. We had a bite in MacDonalds before the movie that starts at 11.55 pm.


Mrs Henderson Presents is a Stephen Frears film about a rich widow, starring Dame Judi Dench, who bought a theatre and decided to spice up the musical scene and gain commercial success by introducing nudity in them. The dialogue between Mrs Henderson and Vivian Van Damm is witty and entertaining but the film itself is not as great as the two actors. The story has limited depth and it does a quite good job to squeeze some content and drama out from it. Judi Dench is totally natural in her role and it was indeed an oscar-worthy performance.

We headed to Chong Pang for nasi lemak after our movie and reached there slightly before 3 am. The food there was indeed delicious and there were quite a lot of people having their supper.

We left after spending 40 minutes eating and chatting and i reached home at 4.15 am. Drove to the west, central, north and back to west of singapore today. Familiarisation of Singapore roads 15% completed.

Read more...

Busy

Was doing my lab report yesterday night and had my cca activity today. Everyone was supposed to prepare a performance for the activity today and most people did not prepare thoroughly for it. The numerous times that many of us forgot our lyrics is proof of it. I sang "Dang Ni Gu Dan Ni Hui Xiang Qi Shui" by Zhang Dong Liang and "Zen Yang" by Penny. Forgot parts of the songs and lyrics but i made some of the mistakes less obvious by repeating some of the verses.

Many of the people who attended today's activity sung very well and there were only a total of eight performers. We then learnt a few simples steps of a dance sequence taught by a fellow subcom.

Drove back home on my lorry after the 2nd last cca session for this semester.

Read more...

Lin Zhi Xuan Concert

Went for my elective in the afternoon and 15 by Royston Tan was screened. I had watched it in cinemas about 2 years back and the film was still effective in bringing across the social problems of teenage delinquents and it humanises them as well as protray their destructive nature in a chillingly sadastic fight scene and their pessimism towards life was affecting.

Went to Lin Zhi Xuan's campus concert after that since Fuli got an extra ticket. There were quite a lot of people who went and the lecture theatre was almost full. He sang quite a number of songs incredibly well and his guitarist, Zhan Zhao Yuan, was very skilled also. Took some pictures during the concert.





Taken at the autograph session.

Read more...

Movies

Decided to watch Hidden and Walk The Line today as these 2 movies will most likely not be screened after wednesday. Didn't really ask around to see who wanted to watch the 2 movies as no one will be as crazy as me to watch 2 movies in 1 day and most people have never heard Hidden (Cache) before.

So i headed to orchard for my own movie marathon driving my lorry. Drove from NTU to orchard and there was a traffic jam for about 10 to 15 minutes along PIE.


Parked at the well secluded One Tree Hill private estate area and walked over to cine. Watched Hidden at 7.10 pm and Walk The Line at 9.35 pm.


Hidden is a french pyschological thriller about a couple who received threats in the form of video tapes. The movie actually isn't thrilling for the most part and there are quite a lot of moments with absolute inactivity. The directing style is uniquely different but still not my cup of tea. The movie fails to excite or even engage audiences with its well-written script. It won accolades for the European Film Fest and garnered Cannes' Best Director though. Bewilderment is my emotional state at the end of the movie which has most people stunned when the movie ended abruptly.


Walk The Line is a biopic on Johnny Cash and it is really well acted by Joaquin Pheonix and Reese Witherspoon. Both leads are natural in their performances and they have incredible conviction in making sure their actions, words and songs match that of Johnny Cash and June Carter. The story revolves around the prolific singer's life, his estranged family and wife, extramarital affairs, and the price he paid for taking drugs. It's reminiscent of last year's Ray but Walk The Line stands out on its own with the great performances and a meaningful story.

After the 2 movies, i walked along orchard road and there were very few people around.


Drove back to NTU feeling rather tired. I need some rest.

Read more...