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Saturday, April 29, 2006
Darkwater -vvz

I watched Darkwater for the first time on Channel U yesterday night. It wasn't very scary because the lights were on, my tv was small and my father was making plot predictions every step of the way. By the way, every guess he made turned out correct. Horror movies must be really predictable.

I don't really get the logic of Darkwater. Why is the girl ghost seemingly all-powerful? It's not like she got murdered and there's a lot of yuan4 qi4. She freaking killed herself in an accident no less. Even after Hitomi Kuroki died, the yellow raincoat girl seemed to have power over the former. Hey man, if we're all ghosts, why the heck should I fear you? Anyway, Rio Kanno is so cute, especially when she was staring at the water in the bathtub with her eyes wide open.

I have got to get myself one of those magic red mimiko bags! I'll never have to worry about losing my bag again, ever!


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Yiheng made
10:40 AM

2 Comments:

I like the red mimiko bag effect. Really creeps people out. I'm sorta doing the same thing with Teo Zhaowei's cap since im using it now. Sometimes Bernie finds the cap in the Ops room and throws it in the trash but i pick it back up again and put it back in the Ops room. Its like TZW's ghost will forever haunt Bernie muahaha
By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:45 PM  

Are you sure he knows it's the same cap? Maybe he thinks it's just another jockey cap, they all look roughly the same anyway.
By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:12 PM  

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Catch this show! -vvz


I caught this show yesterday and I'm gonna recommend everyone go watch it because they just added another 2 shows on Sunday and Pam Oei asked the audience to get our friends to buy the tickets. It's only 25 bucks and it's money well spent. I haven't enjoyed a concert this much for a long time. The music is good and Pam is simply hilarious. I would share the jokes but just stating them here just isn't doing the show justice. It's a lot funnier live with a good responsive audience, especially when they include celebs like Tan Kheng Hua and Chua Enlai. The band consists of some talented people too including music director Elaine Chan playing keyboard and backup vocals. This is one unforgettable performance. Pam Oei rocks! And Raffles anthem rocks too!


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8:47 AM

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Friday, April 28, 2006
This week in my universe... -vvv vvw vwv

A short while ago, I wanted to post an entry about something I no longer remember now but never got it because my ideas are often vague floating concepts, never really taking any form substantial enough to crystalize into a single entry. So instead, I shall put all the unrelated stuff into one rojak entry.

First, I'll write about my recent dreams. Actually, I'm mostly gonna write about dreams since reality is so much more mundane. A few days ago, I had this dream that I was taking an exam. It sure was stressful man, which is strange because I never had exam anxieties. I love exams, they make me euphoric, except in dreams. I dreamt I was taking a mythology paper. Time was running out and I had only completed two thirds of the questions. What was particularly frustating was that I was stuck at this particular question about Odin, which I knew I knew the answer but could not recall.

Just when the time was up, I suddenly realized this was a three-hour exam, not two. So I had one more hour. And at this moment of relief, I miraculously recalled that the answer to the question was the Well of Mimir. And then I woke up. This was a particularly interesting dream as I was so conscious yet I did not realize I was dreaming. I did not find it strange that I was taking an exam in a subject that I had never studied in or that I was taking an exam even though I had already graduated two years ago. It's funny how some parts of your brain can be totally shut off while others are wide awake. I mean, I can actually recall that Odin lost his eye at the Well of Mimir but not remember I didn't even take this course!

This morning, I had another dream. In this one, I was in an indoor children playground which features a labyrinth section for toddlers lined with rainbow coloured carpets. I decided to run through the multi storey maze just to check it out. As I entered that section, I sensed that there was a kid just behind me catching up with me. I can't possibly let a kid overtake me right? So I took to the stairs where I can easily lose him (cuz I'm pretty good at running up stairs in real life). This kid is really fast, he's always just that step behind me no matter how fast I run. After sprinting up 5 or 6 floors, I noticed that this playground is weird in the sense that it is so incredibly huge. How many more floors must I go before I find the exit?! Panic was starting to creep in when I woke up, feeling quite tired physically, as if I really climbed all those stairs. Damn! Sleep wasn't supposed to make me tired! And I am now 100% sure I can see colour in dreams. I can still remember the individual strips of reds, yellows and blues on the steps of the carpet covered stairs.

I was surfing through blogs when I came to a site dedicated to codes and cryptography. This stuff is really interesting man. I think I shall place cryptography in my ambitious big list of things-I-want-to-be-good-at-before-I-die, along with number theory, wushu, animation, etc. But like most things in the list, I'll probably not do anything about it. Life is just too short to be a master of all trades, especially when some of those trades are absolutely useless in Singapore. I'm talking about astronomy here.

Astronomy and cosmology. These subjects are definitely among my favourites if not the favourite. However, they provide no immediate economic benefit to Singapore and therefore do not have a place here. A world class astronomer would starve to death in Singapore. That's why I can empathise with the archaeology enthusiasts I read about in the papers regarding the reburied fort. I like archaeology because most of what we know about the mythology of ancient cultures comes from archaeology. It's quite sad to learn that Singapore government does not hire a single archaeologist. We are gradually becoming a country with no cultural heritage. Singapore's overly practical attitude can be quite distasteful. Read the article I've attached at the end of this post to see what I mean.

Talking about the government, I just heard loudspeakers outside my windows repeating the words "vote for PAP". I don't like to comment on politics and I also don't usually write mathematics-related things in this blog. But if you are one of those politics fanatics who has unwavering faith in democracy, the will of the people and the voting process, I suggest you read about Arrow's Impossibility Theorem. Skip to the "Interpretations of the theorem" part if you are not mathematically inclined. If you are a mathematics fanatic like me, there are links to proofs at the bottom. The proofs are quite simple and elegant. I only have 'A' levels math and I find them pretty clear cut.

I'm surprised this entry turned out so long. Oh well, here's the end anyway.


Our Cultural Artefacts “Going Global” by Ng Kong Ling (2002-11-03)

Recent media reports of an excellent local collection of bonsai plants finding a home in Shanghai have sparked a series of reactions. Many have expressed a sense of regret and disappointment. But what has been lost cannot be recovered and the discussion has gradually died down.

Over the years, failure to appreciate the value of cultural artefacts which others embrace with open arms has occurred time and again. So it is unlikely that this latest episode will be the last.

This tiny island-state seems to have no place for precious collections. When will it again turn its back on artists or collectors who are potential donors and who have no choice but to look elsewhere? No one knows.

Yes, our cultural artefacts are increasingly “going global” - we may one day end up having to scour all over the world for local relics or artistic works.

Two years ago, more than 50,000 books and some original scripts and letters which belonged to prominent figures in the cultural and media circles here found a home across the Causeway in a library in Johor Baru.

Sharing the same fate is another large volume of works, among them books penned by Singaporeans and Malaysians, titles on Chinese literature, publications by clan associations here, and collections of calligraphy and paintings. They have also settled down in Johor Baru as there was no place here to keep them.

In 1997, valuable screenplays left behind by Singapore writer Chua Boon Hean, who wrote under the pen name Liu Beian, were donated to the Hong Kong movie museum and became one of its important collections.

A few years back, local collector Low Chuck Tiew wanted to donate some priceless paintings to the National Museum, but when they could not reach an agreement, he decided to give the artworks to the Hong Kong Museum of Art which went on to build a gallery to house them.

It is an irony that the official opening of the Esplanade-Theatres On The Bay and the giving of the bonsai plants to the Shanghai Botanical Gardens were reported in the press on the same day. This also offers much food for thought.

On the one hand, we have pumped millions of dollars to attract world-class and grand-scale art performances, yet on the other hand, we have no qualms about letting go of some half-a-century old precious plants of an artist. Singapore has been dubbed as a venue which keeps importing foreign cultural events. But it seems we are doing rather well too in “exporting” our own cultural artefacts!

The pictures of workers pulling up the bonsai plants by the roots while transporting them are in a sense quite shocking. Bonsai is art in a living form, manifesting itself in a dynamic way the culture of rootedness. Yet they can just be uprooted and replanted overseas. One can’t help but lament if we are destined to remain a cultural desert that has no place even for some bonsai plants.

Of course, one can look on the bright side (to console oneself) and even hail the loss of the bonsai as a gesture to “promote culture”, “encourage exchange”and“share resources beyond national boundaries”.

What else can we do other than finding excuses to explain things away?

After all, it is none of our business. The National Arts Council is responsible for promoting the arts; acquisition of artefacts is the task of the National Heritage Board; and exhibition of artistic works comes under the purview of Esplanade-Theatres On The Bay or the various museums.

Bonsai, which one can place somewhere between art, cultural artefacts and plants, can perhaps be referred only to the Chinese Gardens. The wishes of the donor and the resources and competence of a private organisation are not important factors for consideration.

Many old buildings with historic significance have had to make way for our overriding goal to achieve economic growth and rapid urbanisation in the past decades. Now that we’ve realised the importance of keeping the old world charm of some areas which Singaporeans identify strongly with emotionally and an organisation is prepared to do the job, what we should have treasured and preserved have long vanished.

What we have now is perhaps just a “cosmopolitan” city with little feelings for the past and cultural foundation.

The writer is Citta Bella’s Lifestyle Editor. Translated by Yap Gee Poh


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Yiheng made
10:29 AM

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Sunday, April 23, 2006
Computer resigns! -vwv

Yes, yes, I set the difficulty to minimum but it's still not easy ok. This is the first time I've seen the computer resign. Yeah!


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Yiheng made
4:49 PM

1 Comments:

Haha way to go!!! Looks like you just leveled up!
By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:59 AM  

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Saturday, April 15, 2006
Most ancient kungfu manual -vwv vww

I am sure most people would have heard about the three Singaporeans who went to Japan in search of a Karate master with a secret manual. If you have not, just ask around. Anyway, these guys supposedly found the Karate master who claims that his secret manual is 4000 years old from China. After reading an entry from Book of Aletheia, I went to look up what script was used back then. I know it must be more ancient than the Zuan script used on bamboo scrolls because that was what they used on the Art of War, which is only about 2000 plus years old.

Anyway, 4000 years ago, it was the Xia Dynasty. This is before Feng1 Shen2 Yan3 Yi4 (Investiture of the Gods), before Nezha, Jiang Ziya and gang, before Jia3 Gu3 Wen2 (oracle bones writing) and also two and a half thousand years before Bodhi Dharma (Da2 Mo2) came to China. This is what Xia Dynasty writing looks like. If this was what the manual was written in, there better be diagrams...lots and lots of diagrams.

The moves are supposedly so powerful you can hit a bird flying in the sky. It might sound very impressive now but back in the days of Feng Shen when everyone has some sort of magical weapon, such moves are nothing to boast about. Heheh


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Yiheng made
2:27 PM

2 Comments:

hehe go check out the online manual on shaolin.com!
By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:25 AM  

www.shaolin.org.cn got better manuals, although you can really get yourself crippled or killed by following their insane training methods. Btw, thanks for introducing CGoban!
By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:24 AM  

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Saturday, April 08, 2006
Fun Friday -vvv

Yesterday, I came across this photographic exhibition at Raffles City while I was on my way to the library with Jiangzheng.


It's an exhibition sponsored by Canon, featuring the works of three photographers. The subjects are mostly people, buildings and some landscapes of Hungary and Singapore. Ok, about the landscapes part, I was refering to Hungary. I guess Singapore has limited natural landscapes. By the way, I think the Hungarian girl in the picture above has beautiful grey eyes, although you can't see them from here. Somehow the vibrant colours of the pictures gave me the impression that these particular pictures were chosen to demonstrate the power of Canon printers (and there was a large format Canon printer at the exhibition). The Hungary pictures are quite nice... they make me want to visit Budapest.

We continued to the library for another photographic exhibition. This one is called An Ingenious Reverie - The photography of Yip Cheong Fun.


This is a free exhibition. I'm glad the library holds such free exhibitions. It makes art more accessible to the poor and the cheapskate. Anyway, Yip Cheong Fun is quite an established photographer if you didn't know. His works on display were mostly black and white photographs. There were pictures of chinatown long ago, farms at Potong Pasir, people of various trades, etc. There were also photographic equipment he used back in the old days. I like this exhibition, it's kind of like an artisitic photo documentary of Singapore's past. It also confirms my belief that you don't need ultra high-tech, anti-shake, digital, auto-everything with LCD screen cameras to take good photographs. Everyone who has some free time should come take a look at this exhibition.

I couldn't find any of the books I was looking for so I left the library without borrowing anything. I also forgot to look for a Jared Diamond book that I wanted to borrow. Oh well, I'll probably go there another day.

After dinner, we proceeded to the Asian Civilisations Museum. There are many interesting exhibits here but I was there yesterday primarily for the Power Dressing exhibition. It's half price on Friday evenings and since I had a receipt from the library (there's a promotion going on), it's also buy one get one free, so we essentially went in for a quarter the usual price, not bad. After we paid for the tickets, we were given round green stickers like this:


"Power Dressing: Textiles for Rulers and Priests from the Chris Hall Collection" is an exhibition that features textiles primarily from the Qing and Ming Dynasty. The highlights are the Dragon Robes (long2 pao2) worn by the emperor. Some of the robes are on the brochure here. You can click on the picture for a slightly larger image.


Unfortunately, my favourite robe is not shown in this brochure. It is a blue gold dragon robe during Qianlong's reign. I loved the intricate embroidery using golden threads and the dragon scales that looked three dimensional. The reflection of light on the scales changes as I move my head to see from a different angle.

There is also a small brownish piece of cloth with some faint pattern on it that according to the museum was a phoenix motif, although I couldn't really tell. Anyway, it was from the Warring States period. That's right, it's older than Jesus.


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Yiheng made
1:40 PM

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Random Stuff -vvv

I was playing Go (Weiqi) on Yahoo games this morning against this guy. We had his corner in Seki (kinda like a localized stalemate). He pondered for a really long time and then he left the game! What's the problem with these people?! For your information, this guy has a rating of 1470 while I am only 1162, meaning he can pretty much thrash me any time. If he finds it too boring playing with a lousy player, why start in the first place?!! No sportsmanship!!

A few days ago, I had a really gross dream. You know how the soup of instant noodles looks murky and oily? In my dream, I was at a public swimming pool just like that and somehow I dived in, which is really strange because I'm really not a big fan of swimming. As I swam through the water, I can feel bits of noodles and food stuff get into my eyes (yeah, I wasn't wearing goggles either). I could see blobs of oil floating on the surface and I was trying to find a clean spot to surface without getting my hair oily. When I surfaced, I saw this boy eating instant noodles at the corner of the pool, spilling half the contents of his polystyrene cup into the pool. Eeewww.


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Yiheng made
11:55 AM

2 Comments:

well... dreams have meanings... according to some books lah... like i have no idea how to drive but yet i do have dreams abt me driving from time to time... it just meant i lack control in certain aspect of my life and i need to gain some
By Blogger feathers, at 4:52 PM  

Hey I didn't know you play Go too. The last time I played was several months ago!! Do you use CGoban? We should play sometime...

That aside, your dream - how random is that!??! haha =)

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:18 PM  

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Previous Posts

Swing Along 2009 -vvv

FF13 -vvx

YGBSM -vvw

Tibetan Song -vvx

Unfortunate Side Effects -vwv

Memorable News -vwv

Five Golden Flowers -vvz

Art Appreciation in Singapore -vvw

Openmindedness -vvx

侠客行

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Michael Ende

Those Before

孫子兵法


Paycheck: And Other Classic Stories By
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Mirror Mirror: A Novel
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American Gods
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Garry Lewis, Jim Lammers


Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
J. K. Rowling