The Day I Finished The 1st Econs Mid-Year Paper

Econs was pretty ok. Thank God.

Me, Kitson, Jok, Anita, Mel and Kia Puay went to have Tom Yum at the Tom Yum place after that and we talked about really weird stuff.

First it was body hair, then we got into more detailed stuff like armpit hair, facial hair, leg hair, whether waxing is better or shaving, Vit or no Vit, and that sort of thing. Subsequently, we got into moles, like how many we've got, and what moles at the different points of our body meant and yadda yadda yadda.

They were very personal topics, but it was strangely interesting though. Heh.

127 more days to the A's... *sigh*
Having my Lit paper tomorrow.
Back to the books!

The Day I Talk About Disney Cartoons & Disney Songs

While we were coming out of the cinema from watching the Pixar animated film, Cars, my little cousin Xavier, six, asked me this question, "Liwei kor kor, why are the Disney songs not nice anymore?"

Well, I wanted to reply, cos Pixar's cartoons are just distributed by Disney and are therefore, not exactly Disney cartoons, so you can't expect them to have nice songs. But he wouldn't have understood me anyway, so I said,"Why don't you grow up to be a nice song-writer and write nice songs forDisney cartoons next time?"

I smiled and turned around to his sister, Shelia, nine, and said, "Don't you think so?"
She just smiled back.

After sending the kids home, I pondered about his quesion for a little longer. Then I thought, hey, that little kid is right. Disney doesn't have nice songs in their cartoons anymore. Heck, they don't even produce decent cartoons anymore. Have they really lost it?

History of Disney Animation & Music
When Walt Disney's first animation feature, Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs was first released 1937, it contained songs that were inspired from the era of the 1930s, which were still styled pretty classically. Think opera and you'll know what I mean. Then in 1940, the classic Disney film, Fantasia was premiered. It was very creative and appealing because orchestra masterpieces of the grandfathers of classical music, from Bach to Beethoven, were reinterpreted by artists into different animated shorts that told many fantasy-themed stories. The music was beautiful and the art was equally magnificent.

In 1967, a blues-inspired film, The Jungle Book, was released. This movie was also the one which introduced the world to two of the timeless Disney classics, "Bare Necessities" and "I Wanna Be Like You".

Success & Downfal & Uphill climb (again)
The movie that began Disney's decade-long period of successful animated movies premiered in the late 80s. The Little Mermaid, which came out in 1989, grossed over US$200 million worldwide. Subsequently, hits like Beauty and The Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas, Hercules, Mulan and Tarzan were churned out from Disney's studios.

These movies also spurned Disney hits like "Beauty and The Beast", "A Whole New World", "Can You Feel The Love Tonight", "Colours of the Wind" and "Reflection", to name a few.

In the late 90s (I'm sure all of you remember), began Disney's downhill topple from "top animation studio". It began producing what we would affectionately call a "chain of flops", from The Emperor's New Groove to Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Remember the cringe-worthy Lilo & Stitch in 2001? Not only did the music suck (think Taiwanese now-defunct boyband F4), the movie was half-baked, uninspired and unappealing, to say the least.

Late last year, a little chicken began Disney's revival. Chicken Little was not fantabulous, but it was a good start, other than the fact that the whole "mai-ya-hee-mai-ya-hoo" from the stupid chicken dance adverts was irritating the shit out of every sane person.

Pixar's Help & Future of Disney
Thank God for Pixar.

By merely distributing the renowned digital animation studio's movies, it has saved their butts countless times. While they were busy making crap that is Brother Bear and the unforgettable (not in a good way) Home on the Range, Pixar's toys, bugs, monsters, fish and even superheroes raked in big money and awards.

So I guess getting poorer by US$7.4 billion's worth it.
(PS: If you don't already know, they paid that price to buy Pixar over)

Now, let's just hope that they can start making good music again. To start, they could seek help from Alan Menken (composer of songs from The Little Mermaid, Beauty and The Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas etc) again.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

By the way, Cars was really good. What will Disney do without Pixar? Heh.

The Day I Do Some Stupid Quiz

The Quiz

1. Do the following without complains
2. Choose 5 persons to do this after you completed yours
3. Leave a tag on the persons' tagboard to say he/she have been tagged

Favourites
Favourite Colour: Green

Favourite Food: Tom Yum Goong

Favourite Song: Missing Me (RJ Helton)

Favourite Movie: A la folie... pas du tout (He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not)

Favourite Sport: Swimming

Favourite Day of the Week: Friday! Cos it's clubbing night!

Favourite Ice Cream: Island Creamery at Serene Centre. They have teh tarik ice cream somemore!


Currents
Current Mood: Lethargic

Current Taste: Mint from the toothpaste.

Current Clothes: Underwear and singlet.

Current Desktop: X-Men First Class

Current Toenail Colour: Au natural(which GUY paints his toenails?!?!?)

Current Time: 10:45am

Current Annoyance: My stupid neighbour's perpetually barking dog.

Current Thoughts: Why in the @#$%!& am I even doing this stupid questionnaire?!?!?!


First
First Best Friend: Jerome Ng. He's a year older and we've been mates since we were babies.

First Crush: Some girl called Jermaine. I think I was in nursery...

First Movie: Something Disney. I was always a Disney kid. I think it was Fantasia.

First Lie: "I dunno how it got there!" I was in Primary 1 and I secretly snuck some coins from my own piggy bank into my bag because I wanted to buy sweets.

First Music: My Dad's singing? He's always singing, even before I was born...


Last
Last Cigarette: I don't smoke.

Last Drink: Milk. Oooh. Choose only HL

Last Car Ride: Last night, to get home from church.

Last Crush: Maggie Q!!!! HOT HOT HOT!!!!!!!!!!!!! *drools*

Last Phone Call: Shaun Kumar. He called to ask what time we were supposed to be in school tomorrow.

Last CD played: Frank Sinatra's Greatest Hits


Have you ever
Have you ever dated one of your best friends: Nope

Have you ever broken the law: Jaywalking! But I don't do it very often, no.

Have you ever been arrested: NO WAY!

Have you ever skinny dipped: Nope.

Have you ever kissed someone you don't know: Yeah, some random girl while clubbing.


The lucky 5 will be (by no order of merit)...:
* HyeSung
* Esther
* Jok
* Brenda
* Kitson

The Day The Cardinal Came To Singapore

Last night's mass:
Served mass at The Cathedral last evening for the Cardinal's mass that celebrated 25 years of diplomatic ties between the Republic Singapore and the Vatican. There was also the unveiling of the statue of the late Pope John Paul II. There were like 40 priests from all the parishes in Singapore and several bishops from around the region. It felt amazing just to be there... Because it was a mass celebrated by the Cardinal (and the presence of one of our minister's, George Yeo), there were hordes of cameramen. Cue constant and irritating flashes.

And Jevon appeared on the Channel 5 9pm news because of that! Haha... So much for 5 seconds of fame.

Last night's Singapore Idol
And I just watched the performances of the final seven Singapore Idol contestant's that I missed last night, of which, one girl who sang a Christina Aguilera song really stood out. And I don't mean it in a good way.

The judges were so obviously biased towards her, giving her positive comments and all.

Moral of the story: When you don't have a big enough voice, don't sing a song that's too big for you. You'll end up screwing it and make the home viewers squirm in their seats.

Well, on a lighter note, there was a really outstanding performer from last night's seven, who sang Aretha Franklin's Chain Of Fools. She was the type of girl who could handle such "big-voiced" songs. Fingers crossed that she gets through.

I just hope that Singpore's not deaf.

The Day I Talk About Mugging & It's Benefits

Mugging for exams should be banned. No, seriously. Not only does it breed a whole new generation of bookwormish and unintelligent "intellectual" leaders of the future, it also turns the bunch of us into mindfucked and pickled-brain zombies.

Not that I should be making a big deal out of this cos the education system has been like this since the dawn of mankind (or should I say, "Singaporean-kind") and that I should live with it.

Here are some great sites for the zombies out there to enjoy and defrost you brains with:

For fugly celebrity fug-ups, visit www.gofugyourself.com

For music lovers, visit www.pitchforkmedia.com

For gossip mongers, visit www.defamer.com

For couch potatoes, visit http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/ and www.tvtattle.com

For general tabloid news, visit www.aintitcool.com

For comic lovers, visit http://www.newsarama.com/

The Day Anthony Comes To Singapore

Yup, you've heard me right.

Another one of my Indonesian cousins is in Singapore for a holiday.
He's Anthony, and he's 1 year younger than me.

Haven't seen this kid in bout 4 years and now he's taller than me.

They all HAVE to be taking something I don't know about, don't they? Some grow-tall pill or growth-spurt injection? Right?

Well,will somebody PLEASE get me a grow-tall pill cos I desperately need one! All of my younger cousins (with the exception of the primary school kids, but someday soon... Just you wait.) are growing taller than me! I feel so, erm, under-endowed (if there's even such a word)...

139 more days to the A Levels.... Bleargh... *nervous nausea*

Oh yes, MY BITCH IS BACK FROM THE UK!
I'm so happy... :D

The Day I Talk About North Korea

Just watched a documentary about the least known country in the world, North Korea.

I know, what's so interesting about it right?
Well, for starters, they are a very self-contained socialist country. In other words, a really communist state. In fact, they are so communist, even Mao would blush in his grave.

The Americans (pro-Democracy people, or so they say they are) hate them, the world knows close to nothing about the North-Koreans hush-hush lives, that's why the BBC documentary on them was worth watching.

The documentary had two main protagonists, both teenage girls, and were both involved in the Mass Games. The Mass Games is a glorification of communism in the form of a mass display consisting of marching and dancing, which showcase the unity and brotherhood of the country. They spend months of hard work, sweating and toiling in preparation for the performance as they want to express their gratitude toward their great leader, General Kim Jong Il.

We are then shown footages of their rigorous regimental gymnastics training as well as clips of the girl's propaganda-ish "history of revolution" lessons that demonize the democratic Americans as opressors and possible invaders that will destroy the peace and happiness that North Korea is enjoying.

Well, you can't exactly blame them for hating the Americans so much, can you? They made alot of noise about how North Korea shouldn't have nuclear power, about how Kim Jong Il is constantly repressing his people, how democracy should be practised around the world, and that North Korea should switch to it as well because communism is evil and all that yadda yadda.

So much for the talk about "accepting and embracing diversity". I mean, for God's sake, North Korea isn't even trying to force communism down your throat (or anybody's throat,for the mater) and there you are calling them names as well as attempt to force-feeding it democracy. Don't get me wrong though; I'm happy that Singapore is a merito-democratic society and I'm not about to go pro-communist. At all.

I mean, if the people are happy living in the delusion of a perfect communist state, then why can't they just be left alone to think what they want to think? I simply cannot comprehend how those hypocritical democrats can justify their stand on "accepting differences" when they evidently cannot.

After watching the documentary, I did feel kinda sad for the North Koreans though. I can't imagine a day with only one tv channel (that broadcasts propaganda for only five hours daily), frequent blackouts (in preparation for possible attacks), no freedom of speech (at least we do get some amount of it here), no computer...

At the end of the day, it only boils down to one thing: You got to take the good with the bad.

The Day I Talk About Flunking The A Levels

I had a premonition last night:

I'm going to fail my A's!

DIE....................................

I've been completely (for lack of a better word) mindfucked. Whatever I've been studying hasn't been sinking in! How?! It's not as if I haven't been studying, but I just can't seem to absorb.

If this carries on, I'll definitely flop my A's.
>.<

The Day I Went To MOS

MOS was fun!
Well, later into the night, that is.

Was there with Kenny at bout 10 plus, and there was no crowd. AT ALL. I thought, hey, it's the World Cup kick-off tonight, so maybe people wouldn't come. Anyway, we got so bored (and angry at ourselves for paying the cover charge already) that we were contemplating whether or not to leave that place for Attica instead. So he decided that we should to call our friends down.

I know, super RANDOM right? I thought so too. Anyway, so we were there, outside 54 (the retro room), sms-ing and calling our friends. Like bloody retards. In the end, noone could make it anyway.

Then the crowd started pouring in. That was when I actually started having fun.

After having some drinks, we danced the night away at 54, followed by a visit to Smoove (the R&B place). It was there where we finally managed to dance up to some hot babes; They were amazing.

I must say, I really enjoyed MOS. Can't wait to go back there after the mid-year's!

The Day I Got A Haircut From Some Faraway Place

I got a new haircut!
Will post a pic soon (when I get my damned webcam up and working again).

Woke up bright and early today to meet Errol for breakfast at his area, at the faraway east-side of the island called Marine Parade, cos he was bringing me to his salon for my haircut. Funny thing is, I stay in Serangoon. I know, you think I'm nuts. Then again, we all do stupid stuff for the sake of beauty la. It was a really long bus ride.

After breakfast at Burger King, we walked around Parkway Parade in search of his "neccesities", which included male facial wash and a pair of new earphones (his dog chewed up his earphones last night, or so he says.)

We couldn't find the facial wash, but we did manage to get the earphones after spending a loooooong time at Best Denki.

THEN, he finally brought me to the place to get my haircut.
The salon's at this old building behind Roxy Hotel (some Hotel 81-ish hotel opposite Parkway Parade. At least that's how it came off to me when I saw it). It's really OLD. Think Paradiz Centre or Peace Centre at Dhoby Ghaut and you'd get a rough idea of how it looks like.

So there we were, rotting our asses off waiting at the salon cos the hair director was busy perming some old hag's frizz. And we talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and... You get the idea.

When it finally came to my turn, the director aka Jonathan, snipped here and there and voila! My haircut was done. Really professional... Haha. Then I had my hair washed. And the best thing is, it only cost me $14! Compared to the $33 cut at It's Hairy! and a $25 cut at Roy's (both salons are located at Far East Plaza), this was definitely the most value-for-money.

I'm so glad that I have friends who are willing to share good stuff. That's what friends are for innit? Heh...

[*edit] And thanks to Meifeng and Tammi for always being there for me, including introducing me to Tom Yum. Hahahahahahaha. And yes, you too, Jiapei. ;) [*edit*]

The Day I Got My MOS Band

Finally got my hands on The Band today, and at the same time, blew $25. A hefty sum for priority entry, if you ask me. But it's worth it. :D

After studying in school till bout 1.30pm, I headed down to Dhoby Ghaut to get The Band at MOS' head office. Then I got a message from Idiot, who wanted to meet me for lunch. In the end, I had my lunch on my own cos that idiot was late.

At Plaza Singapura, as I was queueing up for some Tako Yaki, I heard some girls whispering (loudly) "Eh, that one "The One" one hor? Hehe..." I turned around, and saw some NY J2's walking past. Shouldn't have worn my school uniform out. I hate being recognised! >.<

Anyway, I got my Tako Yaki, then proceeded to the Kopitiam on the fifth floor for the Steamboat Fish Soup. Yummmmmm... I also bumped into some of the NY J1s there as well. What a small world Singapore is. Heh.

Idiot finally arrived at around 4 plus (really idiotic lor, come so late... ), and we walked around before deciding to go to TCC for coffee. On our way there, I bumped into Glyn, my friend who was one of the facilitators of the events management company I performed for. She was shooting some MTV dedication show, and pulled me aside to make a dedication (with Idiot in tow, of course). Really fun... (-_-U) After that, she talked to me about how terrible it is to get a Mass Comm degree (she's in her second last year and doing her attachment at MTV) and how I should NOT go into Mass Comm cos it's "a stupid degree". "Get into Law," she said.

Yeah right. If only it was that easy.

Anyway, it was pretty good insight to the industry.

After that chance meeting, we finally settled down at TCC and had an enjoyable evening chatting.

Gotta go back to mugging. Urgh.

A Levels SUCK.

The Day I Talk About Star-Making Reality TV Shows & The Reality of The Entertainment Business

I've been asked this countless times recently, so I'll just state my stand here clearly today:

I did not join Singapore Idol because I don't want to receive exposure on such a large scale. At least not for now. I've taken part in Campus Superstar last year and was eliminated in the second round due to my "mature" look (yes, remember those little kids who affectionately call me "Uncle"? Apparently, even the adults think so too.)

Reality TV shows that pose as superstardom platforms are all in the rage in Singapore, thanks to the wildly successful first season of our local spinoff of the Idol franchise. It spun out overnight superstars Taufik Batisah, Sylvester Sim, Olinda Cho and the ever loving Maia Lee. It was also the show that jump-started the incubated desire within young people everywhere for instant fame. Thus, other shows similar to the Idol format, like Star Idol, Project Superstar, Campus Superstar, Superhost, Superband, Anugerah, Vassantham Star, which pay tribute to the whole vote-for-your-favourites-if-you-want-them-to-win sure-sell format.

I admit, there was a period of time when I was caught up in the whole quest for fame thing, that's why I joined Campus, but I was thrown back into the reality of the world when I got the boot. You see, in shows like these, there can only be one winner. And the contestants that the public gets to vote for are all handpicked by the judges beforehand, be it that they have talent or not. In this pragmatic world, looks IS everything. Sadly, it was what I lacked. But hey, at least I was given the reality check.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The one thing that many people who join these shows forget is that the fame that comes instantly can also dissipate as quickly. Look at the season one finalists of Idol, for example. Taufik is not-that-hot in Singapore now (but I hear he's quite popular across the Straits and in Brunei) even though he was the first Singapore Idol; Sly has almost completely disappeared into obscurity, and was hardly ever heard of since his mother's run-in with the law; Olinda can be seen in the occasional advertorial spreads in the broadsheet for some slimming centre (but you gotta admit, she did slim down); Maia's debut album was an in-your-face flop. The only person who does seem to have somewhat of a career is Daphne, who's hosting some online subscription-based show about the latest season of Singapore Idol. But that's nothing to shout about. Really.


Here's a quote I got off somewhere on the net about American Idol from Andrew Wallenstein, senior TV reporter for The Hollywood Reporter:

"Pop culture has a short-term memory, and as much as we embrace these people who are great contestants year in and year out, for some reason we forget them two weeks after the show ends. And I think the problem is there is only so much room in our hearts for these big winners."

In Singapore Idol's case, it's even worse cos the winners (aka Final Two) don't even seem to have a place in our hearts anymore. Sad as it may seem, it is the reality of fame gained by reality tv shows.

In the field of reality television, with each new season, new contestants gain their fifteen minutes of fame, while the participants of the previous seasons take a back-seat and in worse cases, disappear back into obscurity.

So Weilian, Kelly, Junyang, Sihuey (all four are alums and finalists of Channel U's Project Superstar with record deals), better make your kill fast and furious because when the next season comes, it's most likely"we love you" to the new "superstars" and "ta-ta!" to you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For those who yearn fame and the supposed fortune of celebrityhood, these shows are surely platforms for a career in the industry. However, nothing comes without sacrifices, so before you take your first step in taking part in such "competitions", ask yourself some questions:

• Is it really worth it to sacrifice your privacy and the privacy of your family (supposing you have one) for the glitter of fame?
  
• Are you doing it for the love of your expertise/delusion or just plainly for the sake of becoming famous?
  
• Do you have a/an contingency plan should you be unable to make it in the competition?
  
• Can you take criticism?
  
• Can you accept failure?

If you can't answer yes to all the above questions, then perhaps you're not ready yet.

The Day I Talk About Pre-U Sem 2006

It's finally over. Over over OVER.

Pre-U Sem was an enriching and fulfilling experience. I learnt so much from the presentations by thr participants of different JC's as well as the speakers that were specially invited for the Panel Discussions.

Like all camps that I've attended, I've made some very valuable and close friends from other colleges. It's been a wonderful five days, especially during the "guerilla filming" of our short documentary on TheatreWorks on the fourth day. Can't wait to meet up with them again!

On a less cheerful note, Emmanuel left for UK last night after Pre-U Sem for his Lit trip. *sigh*
Sad...

It's 148 days to the A's and 3 weeks to mid-year's. Gotta start mugging...