Praised by the Wise

"...the beginnings of cosmic religious feeling already appear in early stages of development eg. in many of the Psalms of David and in some of the Prophets. Buddhism contains much stronger elements of it. The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend a personal God and avoid dogmas and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual and a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description. If there is any religion that copes with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism."

Albert Einstein, Nobel laureate for Physics and Time magazine's Person of the Century

Professional Internship, II

after i told him about my PI situation and that im getting desperate in Phase 2, this was what Thusitha de Silva, our Business Journalism teacher, replied me.

Thiam Peng,

Stay cool, young man. You are good at what you do, so don't let such technical issues get you down. I have no doubt that you will secure something. The world works in mysterious ways and your first choices may not always be the best choice for you. Things have a way of working out. It's sometimes difficult and/or annoying to live through the uncertainty, but when you look back in your life, you may find that it all makes sense.

Cheers,

thus

=) this is why we love the man.

thank you, thus. although i knew nuts about finance reporting and still dislike it, you made this one of my favourite classes of my uni life.

a robbery, but reminds us all why sports is magic

i still cant get over this, what was undoubtedly the biggest test and major checkpoint of Michael Phelps' record breaking gold haul at the Beijing Olympics. probably the toughest challenge to his assault on Mark Spitz' seven golds at a single Games, with many believing the US were the underdogs, the win provided the ultimate push for Phelps to go on and eclipse the mark. it was the point of no return.

i cant get over it coz it was not their win. it was not his gold. it was France's. even the Australians were contenders. but hats off to Team USA. in a race that saw five countries go below the previous world record, with many individual swimmers clocking unbelievable and never-before-seen laps, it was arguably one of all sport's greatest single event.

congrats (and Phelps although many people have said it u really need to buy him a Ferrari or something) Jason Lezak on an incredible 46.06 split, destroying Alain Bernard and the logic of what human beings can do.





let's look at numbers.

"before the prelims at these Games, the world record stood at 3:12.46, set in 2006. during the prelims, the US team broke that record, swimming 3:12.23.

one day later, in the Olympic final, to go and then chop 4 seconds off that mark is insane. it took 20 years (1988) for the record to drop 4 seconds to the 3:12 range.

the times in the prelims were so fast that it took 3:13.8 to get into the final. Russia, at 3:14.07, a second and a half off the world record, not good enough to make an event.

the Americans, French, Australians, Italians and Swedes smashed the world record together, in one swim. world record-breaking times for the Italians and Swedes, yet no medal.

Phelps swam the lead-off leg for the Americans in 47.51. the world record going into the race was 47.50.

to his left, in lane 3, Eamon Sullivan of Australia touched home first, in 47.24, a world record in the 100m (lead-off legs are eligible for national and world records).

the fastest Olympic lead-off split before this race was South Africa's Roland Schoeman, with a 48.17 in 2004, slow by now."

bound to be remembered as one of the miraculous moments of the Olympics.

Praised by the Wise

"...a man of strong will, authoritative and proud, but of gentle manner and speech, and of infinite benevolence. He claimed enlightenment but not inspiration; he never pretended that a god was speaking through him. In controversy he was more patient and considerate than any other of the great teachers of mankind.

Like Lao-tze and Christ, he wished to return good for evil, love for hate; and he remained silent under misunderstanding and abuse."

Will Durant, American historian, philosopher and Pulitzer Prize winner

Professional Internship

my mac crashed and i lost my resume and portfolio. just before SPH's window closed. so i didnt apply.

it slipped my mind The New Paper is under SPH. shit.

Today turned out to be a self-source. and i forgot until the window closed too.

ESPN was removed from this year's list because they no longer needed interns as certain operations moved elsewhere.

rejected by Pakistan's Dawn Media, which im dumbfounded about.

Phase I opens.

Reuters didnt even shortlist me for an interview. im surprised.

got a shot at AFP. competing against people like Terence (The Online Citizen's deputy editor), Fabian (Nanyang Chronicle's editor-in-chief) and Kerrie. for a sole position. and we all lost to a certain Idayu no one knows.

now, Phase II.

then will two at once woo one

another end of a semester, another emo time.

i always spoke of the power of drama, how this subject has such a different mental process compared to others. at the end of it, because of the effort put into performances and friendships built, we always feel so strong for it.

Playwriting was forgettable. in contrast to CDP101 and Acting Workshop, this CDP434 didnt end on a sad farewell. it was celebratory (which can also be a cause for emo-ness). i guess this is a good feeling.

like my Playwriting class, i came up against some sterling individuals (demoralising if you think of grades), and i must say it was overall a good experience, learning quite a bit from them.

although i was apprehensive at first, i think my final group worked out well. note that my emphasis isn't on "performance", but "group". the performance was great, no doubt, but the team had much fun, i must say. such a weird combi but such sparks.

Ling, you're creative but inwardly stubborn and demanding. it's not a bad thing. it's bad if it's outwardly. what's great about you is that you're understanding and always listens. seldom do we get creative people who are understanding. and you're loads of fun.

Clara, you're good and you know you're good, and at times you will make people feel lousy. but your EQ is high and you always know how to clean it up. it's just your strong character i must say. it was nice working with a creative combi of you and Ling. there wasn't dictatorship, yet there was direction.

Sharlene, you're just fun and funny lah. this is nothing more than what it seems and i hope you go out there and fall in love someday but i wanna say i adore you to bits. haha.

Sufyan, to put it into perspective, it's always important to have another male. ha. and you never failed to be that. you're relaxed, efficient, and pragmatic. if Ling and Clara are the highway, you're the speedbump. it's not slowing things down, but ensuring safety. thanks for being that other male.

and oh, my virgin Shakespeare experience. yes i was a Lit student. but i never touched the Bard for that 6 years (except for a brief period in AJC). i hated him and his language. was freaking terrified when we chose to do Midsummer Night's Dream. ok it was just one scene. but still!

O Helena, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine!
To what, my love, shall I compare thine eye?
When thou hold'st up thy hand: O let me kiss
This princess of pure white, this seal of bliss!

Lysander, keep thy Hermia; I will none:
If e'er I loved her, all that love is gone.

Now follow, if thou darest, to try whose right,
Of thine or mine, is most in Helena.

only when you get his language, then you know how talented (an understatement) he was.

as some juniors remarked, we are very pro already (lol!). and they expressed their awe at our course requirements, our scripts, and our sets. they said our sets owned theirs. i never thought so and couldn't really make out why. until i took a step back and reflected, then i realised. CDP434 is no joke. although it isn't tough, we've come far enough. i can say certain standards of theatre are now intrinsic in us already.

Acting Workshop and Playwriting sort of shook my confidence. but Alternative Media restored it a bit (although i totally screwed up my presentation).

a shout-out to the rest of the class!

the old friends Eugene, Chunyan, DJ, Rez, Pamy, Weelie and Sylvia. last time round was Annie, who was graduating and was the last time we're seeing her. this time it's Eugene and Rohana. the former the irritating market-spoiler whom i respect and love so much, and the latter the only person i took all my drama modules with.

love you guys and we'll always be friends.

Praised by the Wise

"It was a turning point in the religious history of man when a reformer, full of the most earnest moral purpose and trained in all the intellectual culture of his time, put forth deliberately, and with a knowledge of the opposing views the doctrine of salvation to be found here, in this life, in an inward change of heart, to be brough about by perseverance in a mere system of self-culture and self-control."

Professor Thomas William Rhys Davids, British Oriental lexicographer and the first person to chair comparative religion in a British university.

we are sheep.

"Singapore is one of the few countries in Asia that does not allow its citizens to freely and openly assemble even though our constitution guarantees us that right. Even the governments of China, even Cambodia and Malaysia allows public gatherings.

The only countries in Asia that continues to outlaw public rallies and protests are North Korea, Vietnam, Burma and Singapore. We are in bad company.

Without public gatherings, apartheid would still rule South Africa today, blacks in America would still have to go to a separate toilet from the whites, Taiwan would still be labouring under a dictatorship and Hong Kong would not be able to beat back China’s intentions to impose Article 23. If we did not have public gatherings Singapore would still be a British colony.

Mahatma Gandhi once said: "Democracy is not a state in which people act like sheep." I was in Australia and observed how sheep behaved. For anyone to control the flock in such a manner three factors are crucial: There must be fear, you must deprive the individual animal of information, and you must make sure that those that step out of line are quickly chased back in. Of course it helps to have a bunch of dogs running around.

Can it be that Singaporeans are really so incapable of expressing ourselves in peaceful protests and demonstrations? Are the Brits somehow more responsible than us, are the Japanese somehow superior in their political thought, are Hong Kongers somehow more trustworthy, are our Malaysian counterparts better citizens? Or is it that our government is simply more repressive than others?

The question is not whether one country holds elections or not but whether the elections are one, genuinely free and fair, two, whether voters have access to information through a free media, and three, whether there is freedom of association, speech and assembly. None of these conditions exist in Singapore.

If elections are the only measure of whether a country is democratic or not, then Cuba, former Soviet Union, the Philippines, Iraq and Indonesia are all democracies because Fidel Castro, Marcos, Suharto, and Saddam Hussein, all conducted elections."

Dr Chee Soon Juan
International Youth Conference for Democracy
July 26, 2003

This is it.

i just caught Michael Jackson's This Is It with mabel.

im blown away. im just so touched. enough said.

having grown up with Michael and his music, now that he's gone, and this is his final footage just before he left, it meant a lot as a sort of sending-off or tribute to him. his magic is phenomenal. to be in his presence was electrifying.

for a good first 30 minutes of the film i was on non-stop goosebumps. it was nice seeing Michael again, in all of his glory and element. and it is indescribable to witness that he's at the top of his form and nowhere near what the media tried to paint him as struggling to cope with a concert series that finally got too big for him. he hasnt changed one bit. still full of love, and proving that talent sticks. his vocals are as before, his dancing crazy for a half-centenarian, and his heart... still enough space to fit the whole world.

feels like Michael hasnt left us at all. feels like we can still look forward to his concert.

before you start on "oh another melodramatic outpouring of adoration", i want to disclaim first, you all are missing the point.

what business is it of reviewers of the film? there isnt even a need for one. this film was made for Michael's fans. we don't need to know if it deserves how many stars in your high-brow world.

it being "nothing we don't know"? This Is It was never a documentary. there's no investigation, no opinion, just Michael's rehearsals footage. it is simply a chance for us to catch a final glimpse of him and how the concert would have looked.

it being one-sided? hello?! the film is a celebration of Michael Jackson. you may find the interviews with dancers and musicians who were inspired by him forced and cheesy, but to us they cant be more real. so many of them were at a loss to be able to perform with Michael.

the people around him were in awe. Michael isnt just another singer or celebrity. this man is Pop. he had creative control over the music, the choreography and everything about a concert.

probably. considering he's a songwriter who made some of the greatest pop music in history, a dancer who inspired thousands, and probably done more concerts than director Kenny Ortega has.

he also looked a little unreasonable at times. but the man's a perfectionist, we know it. Ortega even made the effort to insert footage of the keyboardist arguing with him, so the film won't look so authoritarian and delusional.

i don't even care if Ortega is trying to make up for some monetary loss over the proposed London's This Is It. can you imagine how much pain and disappointment these people have gone through? so much effort have gone in to make it happen. the worldwide dancer auditions, the special effects, the million-dollar videos. if i were them, even if the film is shown free-of-charge to the world i wouldn't mind.

all-new Smooth Criminal, Earth Song and Thriller. moving renditions of Human Nature, I Just Can't Stop Loving You and Man In The Mirror. his final work, This Is It. and when Michael did I'll Be There again, i wanted to cry. This Is It the concert would have been a smash hit.

im definitely gonna get the dvd as soon as i can and run it over and over again.