February 2012
4 posts
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Edging Closer
Life for me right now is writing my journalism Final Year Project, lectures, interviews, job hunting, and waitressing - leaving me tiny pockets of time for my friends and family. It’s still not so bad, but it’s going to get increasingly crazy as we approach March 27, the deadline of our 10,000-word feature on the Malay underclass in Singapore.
It’s going to be an interesting...
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The Assange Character
Absolutely intrigued by geniuses like Julian Assange.
Here’s an excerpt from a CNN article, Julian Assange: Loathed, admired, here to stay.
He was just 16 when she bought him a Commodore 64 computer in 1987. Assange attached a modem to his computer and began his journey into the new computer era.
“It’s like chess,” he told New Yorker magazine. “Chess is very...
January 2012
8 posts
1 tag
Laissez Faire
Going through an interview I did with a single mother who is living in a L-shape (where the house has no rooms, only one common area, and a toilet and bathroom) apartment. She earns $1300 a month, and with that, she supports her mother, as well as her 2 children. Her kids are borderline in school, and she says that it’s bad influence that causes it.
It is very easy to label her as a...
No Money No Point
Me: Do you know, I'm 0.15 away from a first class honours degree?
Mum: Then? Got money one or not?
Seriously... Chinese parents and their insatiable expectations.
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“In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die.Where you invest your...”
– Mumford and Sons
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Age of the Algorithm →
Albeit very very long, this is a fantastic read about how algorithms are creating and influencing the type of content that used to be only be possible with the human brain - news, screen plays, and web articles. Algorithms, with its ability to calculate how lucrative certain words, phrases, or structure can be, are dictating what we consume.
I’m just hoping that consumers get more savvy and...
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December 2011
14 posts
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“As every media critic learns, the worst sin of our press is not its blatant...”
– Danny Schechter in his article, The year’s top story is not getting coverage.
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2011's Best Albums
The past year has been a very kind year to original music. The pop charts were graced by Adele and Lady Gaga, both of whom write their own songs, and are legendary in their own right. It has been a while since popular music caught my attention, and I’m glad these ladies are here to stay.
But as with all pop albums, I only took a liking to the popular singles. It is the melodious vocals and...
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Life, Death, and 50/50
I cried pretty fucking badly watching 50/50. Because it was about the thing I’m most afraid of - having to face the death of a loved one. The immense fear of losing a friend or family to death is the only thing I wish could be removed from me. It haunts me now and then, when even the slightest mundane thing can set off a chain reaction in my imagination.
I just can’t imagine losing...
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Great Expectations
Great Expectations (1998) remains one of my favourite films of all time because it is so beautifully made. It is tender, sensual, heartbreaking, and dramatic. I think a review needn’t follow because you just have to watch it to understand why I love this delicate film so much.
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Tiesto Is God
source
Exactly a year after my virgin Tiësto experience at Zoukout, I had the chance to see him live again last Saturday night at Heineken Thirst held at Sepang, Malaysia, about an hour’s drive from Kuala Lumpur.
And there is just so much to rave about his raves.
First, his stage set up was gorgeous. The video backdrop played clips with crisp lines, fun topographies, creative displays...
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Bye Bye School
With just 1 module left for university, I can safely say that learning only made up a small bit of university. Out of the 27 modules I’ve taken so far, I’ve only really enjoyed and genuinely learnt a lot from 4 modules. That’s 15% of my entire 4 years of studying.
Person and Society - A fundamental sociology module that opened my mind to poverty, the class systems within...
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November 2011
13 posts
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Image Infestation
Quite sick of the fact that I scroll through tumblr, pinterest, and my RSS reader and look at all these meaningless images just because there is nothing else to do.
I would rather take long walks, lie in the park, or cycle around town — all of which won’t be enjoyable here in the fucking tropics.
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The Phantom Band
Phantom Planet, in my opinion, is one of the best pop rock bands that surfaced in the 21st century. But somehow, although they offered something different within a popular genre, they never got big. I never understood why people called them a one hit wonder after they did California for The O.C. because they have a ton of easy catchy songs, which unfortunately, never caught on with the...
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“I’m only going to heaven if it feels like hell.”
– Hot Chip
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Meet The Stans with Simon Reeve
I’m on to another documentary by Simon Reeve, called Meet the Stans. He travels to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan in this four-part series.
The first episode was on Kazakhstan, and check this out guys:
Because this documentary was made in 2003, we get a glimpse of young Simon Reeve; still as geeky and adorable. He does an introduction at the beginning of the episode,...
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Ever-changing
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So now LTA has a big new project, to construct the North-South Expressway (NSE). Apart from more construction sites for the island, it means that Singapore’s landscape is going to go through yet another major change, and more people will have to be uprooted due to land acquisition. So say bye to Rochor Centre (pictured above), because the iconic flats will be gone soon.
I get...
Push It
Not sure how I’m going to handle the next two weeks of working and studying. This requires a certain amount of discipline, which is, even for my standards, quite difficult. I work 9:30 to 6:30, come back, have a bath and dinner, and at 9, I got to cover at least 2 chapters of notes.
Since I only just started work at propertyguru.com.sg, workload is not that much. So I had time here and...
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October 2011
9 posts
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Re-packaging News
I think all broadsheets should be re-designed into tabloids. It’s just such a hassle to handle those large flimsy pages. So many times, I’ve seen people make a fool out of themselves trying to wrestle with broadsheets in public transport. Although sometimes, it is quite amusing to see them try to turn the page and fold it into a single page while trying not to knock the person beside...
Turning Into Mush
I learnt something about myself today. The more free time I have, the less I accomplish. And because I haven’t been very active, placing myself in front of the laptop for most of the past few days, I became very restless, distracted, and unmotivated. And that only resulted in more frustration.
So after this mini assignment is cleared, I shall make a point to not stay home for more than a...
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Decoding 4D
Mum: Wah, yesterday first prize 1010, today 0303.
Me: What's the link?!
Mum: No lah, just this kind of number lor.
Invasion Of The Bugs
I just woke up but I feel absolutely spent because of my dream.
I dreamt that I was at home with my family, and out of nowhere, a MOTHER FUCKING HUGE swarm of bugs passed through the neighbourhood. So immediately hundreds of cockroaches, locust, and other miscellaneous insects started invading our home. I started screaming like a pussy I am when I see insects, and rushed to shut all the...
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September 2011
10 posts
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THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
As a journalist, and more so as a student journalist, you are most dependent on the kindness of strangers. We pry into people’s lives, ask personal questions, make strangers uncomfortable, annoy them with our emails, and then completely cut off all ties when our article is done.
No matter what agenda some of them may have, I can not express how much gratitude I have for everyone who has...
At The Crossroads
Will we really fuck up our lives if we just wake up one day and decide to go down that hedonistic route?