Monday, August 31, 2009
Screeching sounds echoed as the boots dragged across the floor. The force of his opponent's attack pushed him back, before he straightened his leg and stood back up. He gripped the grip of his weapon tightly, sweat droplets spreading across it. Before he knew it, a white blur flew towards him. He swung out his weapon, preparing for his attack for his victory. Blue energy pulses starts to circulate around the metal shaft, gathering, concentrating at the main blade. He charged towards the shot, raising his weapon to an attack stance, before it fired a multi-blue stream of fire. He was now on the offence, ready to release his omni-SMASH version 5.
Haha thats a case of a mix between final fantasy 7 and badminton. Claps to me :) FANBOY!!!!
Revealed on [8:28 AM]
Friday, August 28, 2009
Here's a post I've been wanting to do for a super long time, but never had the time to do so. A singer Recommendation post.
Huang Hong Sheng, also called Alien Huang or Xiao Gui, is a new and upcoming singer whom I've really found a liking to. A short introduction on how I came about to know this guy. Hmm if i remember correctly, the 1st time i saw him was on "Yu Le Bai Fen Bai"/"Entertainment 100%" on channel U. He was hosting the show with Xiao Zhu (I can hear sushan screaming "Handsome" from here haha). That has become my favourite entertainment show ever. They provide up-to-date entertainment news, coverage on behind-the-scenes for concerts as well as celebrity fan clubs. And when u put those 2 jokers together, u will surely get a super good time laughing. But then i meerly noticed him as a funny host beside Xiao Zhu.
Then when he released his book "Gui Nu Chuan" along with his 1st-ever single "Gui Hun", thats when i sat up and noticed him. He did the lyrics, rythm and sang it, and its super my style of song. Meaningful lyrics with rock attitude!!! And after a long wait, now he has finally released his EP!!! It includes 2 new songs, rock style "Gui Da Qiang" and a soothing slower song "Bu Xie". As usual, i lik the 1st better, but i must agree that the soothing song is pretty nice too.
So here's the songs, enjoy!!!
Gui Da Qiang
Revealed on [9:49 AM]
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Heroes: What's the definition of a hero? What makes a hero a hero? What must a hero fight for to be counted as a hero?
A man from outer space fighting to save us (Superman), a man who uses a belt to transform and fight monsters (Kamen Riders), a guy who fights his physical and mental scars to salvage what's left of their planet (Cloud Strife), war time hero (Lim Bo Seng) or simply someone that brightened up your day (anyone).
Heroes span across a huge genre, a huge variety but is always around us. I guess this topic is spawned from recent events ba.
Firstly, for GP lessons, there was movie screening of Hotel Rwanda. It was a very informative movie. Bout the conflict between the Hutu and Tutsi, on how cruel it is, how horror and the repercussions. Here are some takeaways i got from watching the movie. In such a society, its real how fight for survival is apparent. Before the conflict even started, main character, Paul, already had planned and put in place safety measures for his family and himself, in the form of favours from several influential people whom he had worked hard to please. Secondly, its how there are people who really do not wish for such conflict, but are simply forced by circumstances to comply. Take the very 1st scene, in their van, paul had to brandish out his "passport" in the form of a colourful shirt just to ensure his own safety. Class Tee??? Lastly, it will be the how the story ended. On their UN buses to the safety camp, they were protected from danger by rebel armies, hiding in the bushes ready to ambush the infiltrators. Isn't it ironic how their onli way to safety, is through what they had just escaped from, all the fighting, all the deaths. Those are just some thoughts that came across my mind then.
Next up, an example from animation, Final Fantasy VII. Was seeing it on channel 5 on sat. It's one of my favourite movies of all time. To side-track from the main topic, a little on the pro-ness of the movie. Firstly, it is definitely the appaling graphics. It looks super real, super detailed, super "interactive" in a way. Second, its jus the fight scenes (yes I am a boy). I've always had a soft spot for fight scenes, especially ones that require close contact, in the form of swords and blades, fist or leg. And FF7 simply has all that, and it is all super well cheographed. And with a little bit of magic thrown in as spice, its simply the perfect formula for me. Lastly, it would be the story development throughout the movie. I liked how brought the movie starts, a short introduction by a little girl. Nothing fancyful, jus an excerpt with graphics. Next is how they detailed the main character's weapon.
Cloud's Personal Weapon!!!
Cloud's super cool bike with his weapons spreaded out!!!For those who have never seen the movie before, refer to the image above (credits to google...). Its made up of a combination of 5 swords all put together, a revolutionary idea i have never seen before. This gives Cloud a super cool style of fighting, able to brandish any combination of sword he wishes. He was the reason why i luved characters wielding huge swords. Oh ya, there's also his freaking cool bike (see picture above). His black/gold bike has a compartment infront that opens and spreads out his swords infront of him...OMG cool to max!!! Back to story development, its how the writer introduced his various swords. In his 1st battle, Cloud uses the 1st sword in battle mode, subsequently sword number 2 in his fight in the forest against the evil three. In his final fight, he was able to summon all his swords, and did an omni slash version 5 (basically flying around his enemy and slashing him with all the swords he has in a very cool way).
Omni Slash V5. You can see the weapons seperating from the huge sword.
Cloud in omni slash mode. He's the gold flash. The long hair is his enemy.Ok thats tat. To main topic, Cloud is a hero in the story for he is the what the people calls "Big Brother". He was originally liked the bad guys, mind influenced, then he came over it and became good. Now he fights to save the people. More than that, he battles a problem that the citizens themselves face, Geostigma, a kind of genetic disease that is cured onli by defeating the enemy. And he has a dark past behind him, a failure to protect friends of his, which made him sad and thus incapable of fighting. So in the end, he overcame it, forgived himself and saved everyone (yay). But him having the same genetic problem as everyone else, and willing to stand up and fight for it makes hima hero in another way...one closer to the people???
Now lastly, my favourite example, Kamen riders. Been watching a new series, Kamen Rider Den-O, during my free time at nite. And something in the storyline really touched my heart that i had to bring it up in this topic. In the series, there's this rider, Sakurai Yuuto. He uses cards to transform himself, but one thing about this outcast, is that his cards are actually people's memories of him. Everytime he finishes his transformation, the card simply disintegrates, along with certain memories of him in other people's mind, even those of his lover's. A sad thing for someone who is fighting to save the world. So this brings about the point, what is he fighting for...is the sacrifice worth it? He fights for the world, which in the end would be forgetting who he is, and he becomes jus a guy in the world, all lonely. Is he counted as a hero too? A lone ranger?
So ya, thats just my take. I am not that good at expressing my thoughts, so I prefer to use examples and hope u all can feel what i felt. In the end what are heroes, I cant conclude, but i can definitely say I love the feeling of having heroes in my heart :)
Revealed on [7:21 AM]
Friday, August 14, 2009
Is it a figment of imagination
OR a portrayal of what we really want
OR sub-consious representation of our feelings???
Whatever it is, dreams is something that we all have, either now, once upon a time or in the not so far future. Dreams allow us to have a centre, for us to lean on, to work towards. In a way, one can say that dreams that are also goals. It is becuase of dreams that we are on our target, that we are able to put in all our effort to strive for. Yet along the journey of attaining it, obstacles are bound to be stumbled upon. Like the stress, the scoldings, lectures, failures faced throughout out our journey. This setbacks disheartens our determination, our will to achieve. So do we jus buckle under these burdens that are ever chained to our feets?
Kanaitai yume ga aru nara
Shinjinakucha negatta hibi wo
If you have a dream that you want to come true,
there were days when you believed it would come true.
Hope you enjoyed the quote. I think its really suitable. In our context, when we 1st entered JC, or even made the choice in our minds to put NYJC as the school of our choice, we are all bound to have the dream, of achieving A's in A-level. Its what made us do what we did, what brought us together, what we have to go through to get it. Yes its true that so far the journey has been tough, and we see tougher days ahead. But take a while, stop and think. Try and recall what is going through our minds when we made our choice, to pursue this dream. Relive the moment, let that enthusiasm, that glimer of hope in our hearts that we will do well relight our lives, so we may see the path ahead of us again, and bravely walk down the path we are losing sight off.
We are all in this together, and we shall walk this path of light together, for our DREAM!
Revealed on [8:28 AM]
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Here we are, standing at the most important phase our JC life, what we have all been strving for so far. Study we are, study we must, study we shun. We are swamped with lots of homework, and coupled with the fact that we still have to study for the tests and all. Its seriously taxing, on mind and on physical. A common phenomenom arises, where everyone walking in sch has a dead look on their faces(ironically I am watching resident evil 2 on tv now), and the atmosphere in school is super tense. Every moment is a luxury, something which we covert for, we hope and pray for. I know its our duty as students, but it is jus had to accept. In light of such events, I am typing this when i havent done any yet. Haiz.
Oh well change of topic.
Here's a quote from the guy who walks the path of heaven, ruling over all man :)
"Eating good food makes a man good."
Let me explain this. Bringing in abit of chinese background, picture the chinese word food, "shi" in your mind. If u analyze the word, its made up of a "ren" and "liang" put together. As such, a man who eats good food, cant possibly go any bad. Hehe. Write it out and have fun with it :)
Revealed on [8:21 AM]
Saturday, August 1, 2009
The practice of or belief in rule by an elite.
That is the society we all live in today. Where paper qualifications rules over all, even though now values in the form extra curriculum activites and cip do count a bit. Being the helpless individuals overruled by majority, we are all forced under such circumstances. And this is what brings us student to where we are today. In midst of post-Mid-Years exam, the fight for grades on paper comes again. One looks at the cert either gets depressed or delighted, as if the paper writes "smile/frown". Are we to let who we become be dictated by meer pieces of paper?
Yet what can we students do about it? All we do is just work and work in hopes of gettin good grades. And then we proceed onto the next level of education and the cycle repeats.
And come to think of it, the cert does not affect our emotions, but extends to other parts of our life as well. Lets take advertisment for example. In econs persuasive advertisment is when a lifestyle is sold to the people. So is the reason why people are accepting this is also because of elitism? We strive to be the best, to want the best, isnt that a form of manisfestation of elitism?
Another more up to topic example. The rise of superhero shows are also a manifestation of our desire to be an elite. The thought of having super powers that make us different from others, someone special in society even though they are masked by their so called "secret identity". Then we start to see a change in how superheros are being portrayed. They start to begin having a weaker side, in the sense that the heros are no longer as powerful as they use to be. They will always start out strong, and then struggle to beat the enemy and thats how we like it. Is that how elitism is taking a softer side, to how it makes it feel closer to us in a sens as compared to characters like superman?
Using another reference closer to me. Other than superheroes like spiderman, u have yr less common but still well received kamen (masked) rider series. These play on a mor realisitc factor, in a way where main characters are mostly normal humans like u and me, who can become riders simply by using a belt. And by linking back to the paragraph above, does maker our heros less powerful or more realistic a better way to tear us aware from elitism? But come to think of, through the course of the show, the main character himself will somehow get either more upgrades or an incresed will to fight that will make him an even stronger hero. Isnt that back to square one again?
Going on further in the topic, is that a reason why subconsiously we "despise" the elites. We look at the unachiveble elites, at a place higher than where we are. And when we are near these people, we "take it out" on them by trying to in a way ostrasize them. Taking ryan as example, he got top honour roll, and people start suaning him about it. Is it a way how we deal with the failure to be an elite in us? (Sorry Ryan that u kena suan, but cant help it :))
So after all that, elitism is something that is part of us and we have to deal. So what can we do...
Quote to end off:
Itsumo ma ni ka boku ha nakusu koto nimo na re
te ni ireta mo no sae yubi wo surinuketeku
Before I knew it, I had gotten used to loss.
Even the things i had gained slip through my fingers.
Revealed on [8:23 AM]