moved!

http://valispissedwiththeworld.wordpress.com/

only because:

there's snow till 4th jan (kidding!)

now i can password protect certain posts! (:

glorious.

After what felt like an interminable period of repressed retail compulsions:

Lest you think I've become vapid, it's just the December writer's block. In this drought, recycling proves to be the most painless fix:

Scrooge’s Christmas.
It is a bleak Christmas this year. While the wet weather has been quenching our Christmas spirit, the looming recession is a rain on our buyer’s impulse. Each time my fingers close in on an object for sale, my heart reaches for it only to be thwarted by my mother’s voice in my head: “Now economy so bad…you know the value of money or not.” Of course, this has amounted to insane financial contributions to the F&B industry because when the going gets tough and the tough can’t shop, the tough goes eating.

And if like me, you’re ripe for an exit with Bachelor’s, you might also be asking yourself the million dollar question, in the manner of Shirlyn Tan’s robust rendition, should I stay or should I gooo? Is honours a value-add or really just a perfect alibi to escape the stodgy life of an underpaid working adult with unfamiliar responsibilities?

Because in times like these, graduation is so much more than just that scroll of paper, square hat and the launch of an exciting career. Graduation in this climate could entail unnecessary nerves, shelved graduation trips, loads of discouraging interviews and might possibly culminate in a disappointing job. I paint a grim picture but this is really no time for quixotic career choices.

With Singapore being the first country in the region to fall into this slump, we might even have to review the virtues of our degree, honours or no. Is pumping another 6K* worth of financial resource into this so-called ‘first class education’ going to see any returns other than that yearlong reprieve from the struggle for employment? We might be better off investing in stocks that are hitting rock bottom prices.

Nevertheless, amidst this wasteland of snuffed-out ambitions and unfulfilled retail compulsions, Merry Christmas, we will see better times.

* Local undergraduates.

Source: http://www.sheares.nus.edu.sg/shout/?p=1450

calvin says.

Calvin: "Do you like being a girl?"
Susie: "It's gotta be better than the alternative." (Very true.)

Calvin: "What's it like? Is it like being a bug?"

Susie: "Like a WHAT?"

Calvin: "I imagine bugs and girls have a dim perception that nature played a cruel trick on them, but they lack the intelligence to really comprehend the magnitude of it."

How did Bill Watterson get to be so witty?

venus vs. mars.

Val: "Guys are stupid."

Dick: "If guys are stupid, what do you call a girl who falls for a guy?"

Val: "... A smart girl who made a mistake!"

HAHAHA. Nice save.

of cavewomen and myths.

Let me tell you about the Cavewomen myth in SHeares.

A long, long time ago, at the beginning of academic year 0809 semester 1, in the C block of SHeares, on the godforsaken lands of NUS, there lived 4...cute seniors (one was a frequent guest). Unfortunately, because they were "seniors" and hence of little ogle value to the shallow, red-blooded male species of the land, they were relegated to a solitary retreat in an inconspicuous portion of the estate. 

Nevertheless, life was simple and life was good. Among them, they sang, they skipped, they binged, they mugged, they laughed, they slacked, they danced...you get the idea. While the skirt-chasers of the land chased (young) skirts, they had reclusive suppers, rolled on each other's beds, and filmed incriminating videos of one another in the toilet (brushing teeth!).

Then one fine day, a gang of skirt-chasers stumbled accidentally upon these (cute!) forgotten creatures of the land! Alas! These shallow skirt-chasers have long since had their visions dulled and wits dimmed. When their eyes fell upon these cute! creatures of the land, their bovine faculties could not register beauty and goodness. Scathed by the radiance of these gentle creatures, they drew back in revulsion and screeched terribly. They scampered like hacked crocodiles away from the bewildered (cute!) creatures.

As they recuperated back in their lairs, they passed on, erroneously, the horrors of the forgotten creatures in their mysterious and obscure retreats. Uncertain what to make of these (cute!) creatures and hampered by deteriorating creativity, they called these wonderful creatures 'cavemen' in their vastly inaccurate tales of the untrespassed. 

Cavemen! We changed it to 'Cavewomen' in our discourse, of course (: Like I said, dull-wits couldn't differentiate female from male. For dramatic literary purposes, the intellect and respectability of the male species of the land were slightly compromised. Most of them are nice. Hmm.

i still want a hula hoop

we can hardly stand the wait

please Christmas, don't be late!

nm3222 module critique.

End of sem is approaching and I've promised myself this: a critique on NM3222 Interactive Storytelling. I've never done module critiques before because none of the modules I've done in NUS have been good enough to necessitate this. Since I'm procrastinating as usual, here goes:

THIS IS THE BEST FUCKING MODULE I'VE DONE IN NUS!!!

Ahem, that's not all, obviously…

The module syllabus was comprehensive and very applicable. Alex Mitchell drew very relevant links between theory and practical.

Breakdown of workload:

1. Weekly reflections usually based on tutorial sessions and how they relate to prescribed readings. Otherwise, we would be told to either base it on prescribed online games (again relate to readings) or the software we used.

2. Three interactive games/stories spread over the course of the semester. Chronologically, they were hypertext fiction, interactive story, story generator.

3. Three proposals for our respective interactive stories.

4. Three critiques based on a classmate's proposal.

Now that I've broken it down, it doesn't seem like much work! But believe me, I died and came back to life. And I'm sure my fellow coursemates will agree. But then, the person who did the most work has got to be Alex because he critiqued each and every weekly reflection, proposal, critique and of the course the games. And he stayed up all night with us on IVLE while we were tearing hair apart and having the hysterics because the software would not comply and the deadline is at 8am. (Well, I knew because I saw the forum after that. 'Cos that's the power of working smart!) And he wrote 30 page long instructions for the softwares. And still found the patience to understandingly explain and re-explain the nitty gritties of the software to each student who sought his help.

Lecturers like him do not exist. They live in HappyLand somewhere, a parallel universe to the crapped up one we have here. He must have taken a SorryJet out to research the meaning of 'pissed off'. Oh and they most certainly do not exist in container beings with dreamy, puppy eyes. 

Right I kinda got carried away. Hitchhiker's Guide was on just now and I was thinking of Marvin the Paranoid Android who's one of my best friends.

The core of the module was for us to ponder the true meaning of interactivity. And he did a great job in illustrating the ambiguity that shrouds the term. Course materials were well-chosen to equip us with enough theoretical background to sufficiently contemplate its existence (or non-). Some of the games he recommended even went beyond the scope of this field to dabble in political and moral dilemmas. September 12th (note the date!) is one such 'game'. Basically, through playing it, you should get the sense that killing and bombing isn't going to rid the world of our problems. And I thought that execution was brilliant! There is another one, but I can't seem to find it anywhere. Those games, they simulate real-life emotions that we may not be in a position to really encounter. Like how we had to help this really old lady hobble down the lane in a cemetery where all her loved ones lay dead but we couldn't do it fast enough because she'll start limping and hopping. It gives you a sense of how it feels to be trapped in a deteriorating body, how you can't do anything fast enough, how you scream out to be agile and how every bodily maneuver is a battle against your aging physical capabilities. Another game simulates the anxiety of a mother protecting her crying baby from the approaching soldiers. That is very poignant, it made me cry. I need to find the url.

Along with the interactivity aspect, we had to think about narratives and how the traditional structure of narratives as defined by Aristotle cannot be adapted to postmodern manifestations of it, especially when you bring in 'interactivity'. (And the reason I've put it in quotation is that we haven't yet reached a true definition of interactivity.) And especially if the medium is new media. The best thing about all these attempts at defining business is that he didn't merely tell us so, or force us to see it by reading the boring journals (actually, though, they're among the most interesting readings I've done so far). We actually experience the whole ambiguity and perplexity by going through the process of crafting stories and seeing them being torn to shreds of confusions through the paper shredder of a software. Ariadne, SUDS and WideRuled2.

Anyway, what really killed people in the module was the programming part. Otherwise, I love love love this module. It is new media, literature, philosophy, computing with a dash of socio-political trimmings all rolled into one.

darling joyce.

JOYCE, YOU ARE SUCH A DARLING!

http://iamcrazie.blogspot.com/2008/11/snow-yay-its-330am-in-heidelberg-now.html

I've never seen snow before. But now officially, I've had my name written in snow without ever touching it. For that, you deserve a huge *muack* Joyce!

tralala! have a safe trip home; i hope you meet the sweetest, most adorable and interesting guy on your flight back! hahaha

i am having this impulse to vomit words.

but no time.

can't wait for christmas and christmas balls and christmas lights and santa hats and white, blue, red, green and gold.

i love christmas. it's the bestest time of the year.

absolutely no poverty in singapore.

Revision time!

Or rather time to start studying and stop pretending exams are not gonna happen for me. ):

And every time I start studying for SC2214, I find something that I really should be reading instead of streaming gossip girl. 

Diary of A Singaporean Mind: Sir how high is your Ivory Tower...

cavewomen rarr!

Found these.

Oh my god, we look so young and cute! Hahaha.

Youth.

Sigh. I'm going to be an adult soon.

Don't wanna grow up. What's the way to never-never-land again?

Happy 21st, o-neh. Because there won't be another shot at childhood. (even though you'll always look 6. HAHAHA.)

one year.

I think it's been exactly 1 year since I've had this blog and Guy Fawkes Day is around the corner (:

One year ago, I was frantically rushing an NM2101 project on source credibility of political blogs with 3 dead members. Alone, I prevailed. B+, I think. 

One year ago, I developed a fleeting interest in Singapore politics and started this blog as an outlet for my views. It became a personal blog, an outlet for my thoughts and not-so-secret secrets. A memoir of my randomness and fickle ideas for future references.

One year ago, I couldn't summon enough courage to free myself from a miserable relationship. I was to stay another 5 (6?) months before taking that leap. I like to think I've emerged stronger and more self-possessed, albeit after an emotionally unsettling few months. I've learnt a lot. Like how people can read me like an open book. Not a poker player, obviously. And bless me, I'm proud I didn't self-destruct in the process of finding peace. No rebounds. Binge-drinkings were few and far between. Some silliness without any fatal or lasting damages. And the best part? I don't even need to prove anything now. No spite, no jealousy, no contempt. (Okay maybe a little. Contempt, that is. And occasional disappointment in my bad judgment.) I am not blissfully ignorant of your antics, honey. (Only because there are people who like to watch my reaction.) I'm blissfully apathetic.

One year ago, I was lazy and wasting my life. Today, I am trying to salvage it. Still lazy. But at least I'm misguided no more. Phew!

Singapore Biennale: A Reflection

Wonder, instructs the theme of this year's Singapore Biennale.

With that humble word, we are presented with a profound challenge. And that is indeed the intention of the organizers, calling upon us to explore and question beyond the obvious and the perceived. To embark on an inquest into the arcane topics of existence, beauty and origins, using the art as a starting point.

Unlike other biennales, it is clear that our curators have strived to make this accessible to everyone. But the exhibits are no less deep. With full commitment to the nature of the challenge, outwardly unpretentious exhibits are juxtaposed with their possibilities for deeper interpretations and complex discourses.

Some pieces are strikingly apt, like Terrible Landscapes by Lena Cobangbang. She presents a series of photographs depicting disaster scenes we see in the news on a regular basis. What is refreshing is that all the materials employed in the recreation of the scenes were solely from her refrigerator. In doing so, she has offered two points for us to ponder over. First, the fact that real art is never snooty and exclusive. It neither necessitates fancy materials in its creation, nor bears down on its appreciators with self-absorbed concepts. Second, the approach she has taken in the recreation of disaster scenes facilitates the reopening of such issues in our deliberations. With a different presentation, she has caught us at a weak spot where apathy and desensitization let their guards down.

In the same vein, Address by the Aquilizans challenges us to redefine our understanding of the term 'address' in the context of home and relative permanence. Again constructed of unassuming materials, Address makes use of hand-me-downs donated by the Filipino community as 'bricks' for a 'room' within a room. Dolls, cassettes, clothes, books; everyday items that were rendered invaluable by the infinite memories contained within. Its initially puzzling title pushes viewers to rethink their ideas about home addresses and its permanence. The latter especially in the face of the knowledge that this so-called 'home' has been designed to weather several demolitions and reconstructions biennale after biennale. It pushes us to think about what really is home to us and how temporary it actually is, particularly in an era where expatriatism is a norm.

Xteriors I, II, IV, VIII remains my favourite exhibit in this Biennale. A series of photographic portraits so impressively taken to resemble oil paintings, Xteriors presents a remake of renaissance art with a tinge of rebellious irony. Desiree Dolron's deliberate use of pan-Asian female subjects with androgynous features instills that sense of wonder that comes with ambiguity. The apparent conservativeness that shrouds the theme is palpable at first glance, with overt clues like the high collars, sombre colours and austere style. Linger on, and the subtle piercings and sheer fabric will be brought to attention. Suddenly, in light of the multiple ear, navel and lip piercings, the ethereal and haunting mood takes on a new edge.

To the untrained eye, Singapore Biennale will be a wonder not only because it showcases visually accessible aesthetics, but also because in its strive for frankness rather than the abstract, it leaves room for more unrestrained internalization of the art.

i just want you to know who i am.

What if there were angels? What if angels envied us? What if all they wanted was to wake up, read the papers and feed the dog? Even if they could feel no fear and pain, move at the speed of thought, speak all the languages in the world and hear the song of God.

What if to one of them, one breath of your hair, one kiss of your mouth and one touch of your hand was preferable to an eternity without it?

What if you were so important to him that all he wanted was to know what a pear tastes like to you? What if he had eyes that could see right into your soul? What if he gave up forever to touch you, only to lose you after one night? Will you believe? When they ask you what you liked best, will you tell them it's him?

I love Meg Ryan and Nicholas Cage. How does Nicholas Cage manage to look so tortured, so pained and yet so serene and beautiful at the same time?

You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be
And I don't wanna go home right now

one more crazy idea.

Damn. This is scary shit.

www.hotel626.com

But then, how is this viral supposed to promote Doritos? I don't really see any connection. 

Snacks = scary?

Oh possibly. Incessant snacking causes you to be lethargic and indolent. You fall into this... Forget it. Too much of a stretch. Apparently, I'm still not skilled at smoking. All that deconstructing art in front of school kids at the Singapore Biennale obviously isn't cross applicable. 

But...it's giving me ideas. Like Art History. Like Art History and Curatorship post-grad diploma at ANU. Specifically me studying for a post-grad diploma in Art History and Curatorship at ANU one year from now in Canberra. HMM...tempting. Quaint. Completely mad. Exactly my kind of insanity.