Saturday, November 07, 2009
Swing Along 2009 -vvv

Months of work leads up to this:

-- permalink --
Yiheng made 11:23 PM

3 Comments:

nice
By  those twins, at 8:35 AM  

frgg
By  those twins, at 8:36 AM  

http://jeetblog4u.blogspot.com/
By  Unknown, at 11:06 PM  

Post a Comment

---

 

Sunday, October 04, 2009
FF13 -vvx

Jiangzheng just showed me the new trailer for Final Fantasy 13. Personally, I think it's starting to slide down the uncanny valley.

-- permalink --
Yiheng made 11:03 PM

2 Comments:

Why?? uncanny valley?
By  Jiangzheng, at 10:46 AM  

I think its going up the uncanny valley
By  Soqcrates, at 11:29 PM  

Post a Comment

---

 

YGBSM -vvw

Once in a while, our nation will churn out news that can only be classified under the category of YGBSM, which stands for "you gotta be shittin' me". Here are two recent examples.

1. No need for women to do NS, says PM Lee

A DIALOGUE between Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and around 200 women from various women's organisations yesterday focused on an arguably male-centric issue - national service.
Of the 10 women who spoke, six rose to debate whether NS should be made compulsory for women and children of new citizens and permanent residents, and whether it disadvantaged men, at the People's Association Women's Integration Network Council dialogue.

Asked whether Singapore women are disadvantaged as, unlike men, they do not receive NS allowances as part of their pay, PM Lee assured the mainly female audience that career advancement for men and women alike would depend on the individual's ability.... Full article

First of all, this qualifies as YGBSM news because the debate is essentially similar to cats discussing the quality of pasture grass (My tax dollars are clearly well spent, seeing how the PM is spending quality time to engage in such fruitful discussions). Second, whoever asked whether women were disadvantaged by not receiving NS allowances, the only answer I have for her is, "You gotta be shittin' me".

2. Canal in Bishan to become river Full Article


The government is gonna convert a concrete canal into a river with grassy banks. This is all very nice. Except that when my mother saw the picture, she had this to say:

"Huh?! This is what all the rivers looked like before they got turned into canals wat!"

-- permalink --
Yiheng made 6:04 PM

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

---

 

Sunday, September 06, 2009
Tibetan Song -vvx

Here's a Tibetan song I discovered on YouTube while searching for some other tune I heard in China. I never did find what I was looking for but this song is nicer.

-- permalink --
Yiheng made 3:48 PM

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

---

 

Thursday, September 03, 2009
Unfortunate Side Effects -vwv

City planners have been building an amphitheatre near a particular train station that I go to every morning on my way to work. In theory, this looks very nice, as can be seen in the picture below. And I applaud the efforts.



Unfortunately, they forgot how freaking bright it is in the morning. (see picture below)



Yes, it's that bright. The bus stop beside the train station was already inadequate in providing shade from the morning sun, which shines directly in front. To make matters worse, the reflection off the roof of the amphitheatre effectively triples the dosage of sunlight.



If you intend to take the bus from that bus stop, like I do every morning, you have been warned. Who knows what might happen next?

-- permalink --
Yiheng made 7:38 PM

2 Comments:

You must be overeacting. Maybe they will use light-polarizing coatings for the building.

Or you shd just get a car-pool
By  Soqcrates, at 10:17 PM  

hey! you should write to them about it..
By  Serene Wu, at 11:02 PM  

Post a Comment

---

 

Sunday, August 30, 2009
Memorable News -vwv

For reasons I can no longer remember, I started wondering about the major events I associate with each year, things I can recall within half a minute. Here's what I have. What your list like?

1986
- Space Shuttle Challenger disaster
1994
- Fermat's Last Theorem finally proven after almost 400 years
- Comet Shoemaker Levy 9 crashes into Jupiter (I kept thinking it's 1995)
1997
- Comet Hale-Bopp becomes the brightest comet in decades
- Princess Diana dies
- Mother Theresa dies
- El Nino, Southeast Asian Haze
- Asia Financial Crisis
2001
- 9/11 Terrorist Attack
2003
- SARS
2004
- Indian Ocean Tsunami
2008
- Sichuan Earthquake
2009
- Solar Eclipse of July 22

It seems like disasters are the most memorable to me, especially when they come together, like in 1997.

-- permalink --
Yiheng made 3:54 PM

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

---

 

Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Five Golden Flowers -vvz

I recently dug up and watched an old movie I last saw when I was a toddler. The film is called Five Golden Flowers (五朵金花). Filmed in 1959, it won some awards and was screened in more than 30 countries. The film can be loosely classified as a musical romantic comedy. Even though it was made half a century ago, I think it's better than many movies produced these days.

The plot is simple. The protagonist (Ah Peng, which is the generic name for males of the Bai minorities) meets a girl (called Jinhua, literally golden flower, the generic name for females of the Bai tribe) at a festival. They agree to meet a year later but Jinhua gave only vague directions to where she lives (supposedly to test his resolve in finding her). Ah Peng proceeded to travel the region to look for Jinhua, only to come across many false alarms as there are hundreds of girls with that name. Since it's a happy feel-good movie, the lovers were, of course, reunited at the end.

Set in the period of China's failed Great Leap Forward (1958-1961) movement, the film contains not too subtle displays of optimism with industrialization, communism and all that stuff. People still call each other comrades in those days. As such, this film also provides an interesting glimpse into the political climate of those days, especially with respect to the minority ethnic groups in Yunnan.

Sadly, the lead actress Yang Likun (杨丽坤) led a tragic life, quite unlike that of the character she portrayed. Her other famous movie Ashima was blacklisted during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) and the actress was condemned with the film. Only in her twenties then, She was tortured and subsequently became schizophrenic. Her condition improved slightly after the Cultural Revolution. She eventually moved to Shanghai and died in 2000.

Here's the famous duet scene at Butterfly Spring in Dali (lyrics on the YouTube page). The place is now a tourist attraction.

-- permalink --
Yiheng made 12:53 AM

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

---

 

Sunday, July 12, 2009
Art Appreciation in Singapore -vvw

I made a long overdue visit to the Singapore Art Museum (SAM) last Sunday to see An Unbroken Line, a showcase of the works by internationally acclaimed artist Wu Guanzhong, which he generously donated to Singapore. Wu Guanzhong is one of the few painters whose works I like and who isn't already dead.

Most of my friends have never heard of Wu Guanzhong before but that doesn't really matter to me because these days, anyone who is a media whore, has rich friends or a talent for bullshitting can be a famous artist.

Heck, the Painting of the Year 2009 award went to some photographs of random objects. Apparently, one does not even need to paint any more to produce an award-winning "painting". So what's next year's Painting of the Year? I won't be surprised if it turns out to be a sculpture, a dance or even a rap album!

But what DID surprise me was the crowd I encountered when I entered the SAM. Since when did Singaporeans learn to appreciate art? Most of these people don't look like tourists. But when I arrived at the Wu Guanzhong galleries, the place was oddly empty. So where did everybody go?

To the Toy Fair that happened to be held at the SAM of course! To buy the latest Transformers toys and stuff like that. And to see people dressed up as Stormtroopers and Masked Rider.

Ah well, that's Singapore, I should've known.

-- permalink --
Yiheng made 10:03 AM

1 Comments:

Painting of the year is such a rip-off. But then again I guess art is subjective.
By  Soqcrates, at 12:43 AM  

Post a Comment

---