NYS Camp 2010

NYS Camp 2010 - Extraordinaire

2010-08-06T18:37:00.000+08:00

I don't know who would come back to look at the blog but I'll still write this.

Thanks to (Princess) Fiona and (King) Zaidi, for leading the camp and handling one thing after another to make things right. :) Zaidi's phone never stopped ringing throughout the camp, or so I've heard. XD

Thanks to Shumin, for sorting all our budget issues even though you're so so busy, for all your hard work in the planning stages of the camp liaising with the higher ups and all.

Thanks to the Programmers, Zhen Yi, Mei Siew, Yiling, Min Sheng and Sharon, for planning everything from start to end, having to change or modify programmes along the way to suit the amount of time we have and how the camp has progressed, having to sleep late due to meetings and more meetings.

Thanks to the people in Logistics, always working in the background but essential for everything to occur smoothly. And the food. Food is always important haha. So this thanks goes to Ming Han, Jonathan, See Lin, Jeremy, Ashley, Andrew, Choon Yee, Chengxi and Syful (whom I didn't see during camp haha).

Thanks to Jasmine and Amanda, our business managers, for getting so many sponsorships! Time was really rather tight for you two to obtain all these sponsorships but you two have gotten quite a lot of sponsors! :) (There's still a lot of sponsored items left over though, I think the freshies missed them out before they went home.)

Thanks also to my fellow Publicity teammates, Wendy and Shu Ning. I think everyone agrees on how awesome you two have been, coming up with the packing list, shirt, mailer, video, blog, taking photos during camp and so on! Well done you two! :)

Thanks to the GLs, handling everything on the frontlines. You guys represent NYS as it is to the freshies and you all have done a wonderful job! Always keeping up the morale, taking care of the freshies' welfare, ensuring that everything is in order before eating or sleeping yourselves.It's been a lot of hard work managing so many freshies with such a low ratio of seniors to juniors, but you guys have done well! :)

Thanks to the rest of the seniors, SAs or not, who have contributed to the camp, be it talking to the freshies, or helping out as station masters or wherever we had a lack of manpower (which happened really frequently). It would have been difficult without your help!

And of course, a great big THANK YOU to all freshies, for being sporting about camp, for participating and enduring so many things (especially our punking you guys on the first day). We know it must have been rather sian on the first day to be assaulted first with endless mind-draining activities and later physically during initiation night. But you all have been awesome and it's really heartwarming to see you all mix so well during kite flying and dragonboating on the last day. :) The camp's success ultimately depends on how you freshies take to the activities and we really hope that you all have enjoyed yourselves and made many, many friends! Come back next year to create an even better, more memorable camp for the next batch!

I hope I didn't miss anyone out! Let me know if I have. >_<

With lots of love,
Li Hui
Publicity & GL of JJ

2010-07-31T00:00:00.002+08:00

Hello people of M&M (i.e. people belonging to Mr Fantastic and Mystique. sorry we can't think of a better name)

Welcom to NYS 2010. It's back, bigger and better!
Your GLs are:

Kwan Wei Xiang ( wei wei, wei-ge)
-CGL of M&M
-GL of Mr Fantastic
-Mechanical Engineering year 2
- sissy

Amanda Huang (ping-er)
-GL of Mr Fantastic
-Accountancy year 2
-as crazy as her curly hair

Sheryl Seah (xiang-er, super sheryl)
-GL of Mystique
-CBE year 2
-laughs a lot like xiao za bor

Cheryl Tan (shan-er, cui cheryl)
-GL of Mystique
-Mathematics & Economics year 2
- Auntie

well, just come and have fun. it's not as xiong as NBS camp, nor is it a relaxing camp. it'll be a fun FOC! get ready to make new friends and start your life in university with them. I promise you'll have fun even after this camp with your batch of Nanyang Scholars as you guys will meet again during the awards presentation ceremony and the leadership camp, and subsequently, lead NYS camp 2011.

Here, have an artwork!

2010-07-29T16:55:00.000+08:00

I was bored, so I went to make the picture I drew for NYS Camp sometime ago look more presentable. My photoshop and tablet skills are nearly non-existent so that might explain why it looks like this.

Here's a teaser:

Now guess who this is!

On another note, pre-camp and camp are fast approaching! I'm not sure if that's too fast or not fast enough. xD

See you all at pre-camp! :)

Li Hui

EXXXXXXXXXXXXODUS

2010-07-28T22:13:00.000+08:00

Hi Exoduns (i.e. People of Exodus),

It is of obligation that we re-introduce ourselves here on the NYS blog, so don’t get too bored of hearing from us even before we actually meet!

Well, here is a brief introduction of both of us, you GLs…

#1 CGL Jerene

• Chemical Engineering Year 2

• ….

• It’s better to talk face to face huh

#2 GL WeiJian

• Aerospace Engineering Year 2

• Don’t look like one, but I am a PIG

• …

• I agree with Jerene, hope to break the ice on pre-camp!

Can’t wait to meet you all! It is going to be a fantastic camp, if you come prepared with an open mind to play, to have fun, and to meet new like-minded people who may go through the toils and tears in uni with you!

To end off, here is a photo of us,

Your Lovely Eeeeeeeee GLs,

Jerene & WeiJian

OG Revelations Part 4: M

2010-07-25T12:47:00.000+08:00

This is the final OG Revelations post. With this, now all the OGs are known! You might notice that the 8 OGs have been separated into 4 groups, but we won't tell you why. At least, not yet!

Without further ado, let's move on to the last group:

M

7. Mystique

Height: 1.78m

Weight: 54.4 kg

Eyes: Yellow

Hair: Red

Family: Christian Wagner (ex-husband), Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler, son), Graydon Creed (son), Anna Marie (Rogue, foster daughter), Miles Ralph Brickman (husband), Gloria Brickman (adopted daughter), Talia Wagner (Nocturne, alternate timeline granddaughter)

Citizenship: American

Profession: Mercenary, adventurer, former terrorist, government operative, private investigator, model, journalist

Brief Background: Little is known about Mystique’s true identity due to her shape-shifting capabilities. She first appeared as Raven in Ms Marvel #16 (1978) and as Mystique in Ms. Marvel #18 (1978). Since she is able to conceal any aging effects, her true age is unknown. Mystique is so good at pretense that she had risen to the position of Deputy Director of the Defense Advanced Research Planning Agency (DARPA), gaining access to the military secrets of the United States (for nefarious intentions?).

Abilities: She can shape-shift to mimic a human of either gender, complete with accurate retina patterns, fingerprints and clothing. Her power grants her age retardation, increased healing, and immunity to drugs and poisons. Mystique is also a highly skilled combatant, actress, marksman, and strategist in terrorist and commando operations.

8. Mr Fantastic

Real name: Reed Richards

Citizenship: American

Height: 1.85m

Weight: 81.6 kg

Eyes: Brown

Hair: Brown but graying at temples

Education: He has earned scientific doctorates in fields such as engineering, math and physics from California State Institute of Technology, Columbia University, Harvard and State University, and others

Spouse: Sue Storm (Invisible Woman)

Family: Nathaniel Richards (father), Evelyn Richards (mother), Franklin Richards (son), Valeria Richards (daughter)

College Buddies: Ben Grimm, Victor Von Doom, Randolph James, Janus the Nega-Man, Abe Jankovitz, Harvey Jessup (Great Coordinator), and Phillip Zolten Rambow

Brief Background: Raised by his father, Nathaniel Richards, since the age of 7, Reed Richards is perhaps one of the brightest minds of that age. He took college-level courses at the age of 14 and earned various degrees from four different universities under a few distinguished mentors. Reed first appeared in the primary issue of Fantastic Four (1961).

Abilities: He is able to reshape his body at will (i.e. stretch, compress, elongate, contract, expand) with an approximate limit of 1500 feet in length and 1.7 cubic feet in volume. His brilliant mind can be considered especially useful as well.

Note: http://marvel.com/ is a useful site.

Now that the OG writeups are complete, stay tuned for the GL writeups coming next! :)

OG Revelations Part 3: J

2010-07-24T10:34:00.002+08:00

Here comes the third installment! :D

J

5. Jack Jack Parr

Height: 0.76m

Weight: 11.3kg

Eyes: Blue

Hair: Auburn

Family: Robert “Bob” Parr/ Mr. Incredible (father), Helen Parr/Elastigirl (mother), Dash (brother), Violet (sister)

Brief Background: Jack Jack first appeared in the Pixar movie The Incredibles. As the youngest member of the Incredibles family and just a baby, he was initially thought to not possess any superpowers. However, towards the end of the film he attacks the antagonist, Syndrome, with a display of some of his powers.

Abilities and Powers: Jack Jack has a surprising number of abilities, including –prepare yourself – telekinesis, teleportation, levitation, supernatural strength and agility, passing through walls, inflammability, optical laser discharge, metallic transformation, monster transformation, surface adhesion, sharp teeth and acidic saliva. Pixar even created a short film entitled “Jack Jack Attack”, displaying Jack Jack’s powers ~~and how he uses them to terrorise unsuspecting people~~.

6. Jean Grey

Aliases: Redd, Ms. Psyche, Jeannie, Marvel Girl

Height: 1.68m

Weight: 52.2 kg

Eyes: Green

Hair: Red

Spouse: Scott Summers (Cyclops)

Family: John Grey (father), Elaine Grey (mother), Sara Grey-Bailey (sister, deceased), Nathan Christopher Summers (Cable, stepson), Stryfe (clone stepson, deceased), Rachel Summers (Marvel Girl, alternate timeline daughter), Nate Grey (X-Man, alternate timeline progeny, deceased) and about 3 generations of in laws and other people whom I shall not mention here.

Place of Birth: Annandale-on-Hudson, New York City, New York

Citizenship: American

Brief Background: Jean Grey has been around for a long time, first appearing in the opening issue of X-Men in 1963. Given the long time since her debut and the suspiciously long and complicated list of relatives mentioned above, it’s unsurprising that there’s a convoluted story involved. For now, let us understand that as a child of 10, Jean’s telepathic powers first manifested after experiencing the emotions of a dying friend. She was then brought to Professor Charles Xavier who treated her and introduced her to the astral plane. In doing so, a part of her mind manifested as the Phoenix raptor. Professor Xavier managed to shield her from her own telepathic powers until she was mature enough to control them. When she grew up, she became a founding member of the X-Men, a team of mutant trainees under Professor Xavier.

From there on, complications involving the entity, Phoenix, ensued. Time traveling comes free of charge.

Abilities: telepathy and mind reading, initiating astral travel, telekinesis, levitation, generating force fields, flying and stimulating heat molecules to generate concussive blasts.

There's only 2 more OGs to go! Look forward to GL writeups after these are done! :)

OG Revelations Part 2: H

2010-07-23T16:11:00.003+08:00

Next up, we have the H group!

H

3. Hiro Nakamura

Citizenship: Japanese

Height: 1.63m

Weight: 81.6 kg

Profession: former computer programmer at Yamagato Industries, currently a hired hero

Was in a relationship with: Charlie Andrews

Abilities: Space-time manipulation

Weapon: Sword?

Brief Background: Hiro is a character in NBC’s drama Heroes, played by Japanese-American Masi Oka. He first appeared in season 1 episode 1: Genesis. He first discovers his abilities when he makes the second hand of his clock go back one second. However, his close friend Ando was extremely sceptical about his superpowers which resulted in a frustrated Hiro teleporting to Times Square five months into the future. More recently in the series, his control over his abilities to stop time, travel through time or teleport has become rather unreliable.

Tim Kring, creator of Heroes, explains that Hiro was a character who felt trapped in his life and was given the most suitable ability to escape that fate – the ability to teleport out of that life.

4. Harry Potter

Full name: Harry James Potter

Birthday: 31 July 1980 (pre-camp day!)

Eyes: Green

Hair: Black

Family: Lily (Evans) Potter (mother), James Potter (father), Petunia Dursley (aunt), Vernon Dursley (uncle)

Brief Background: It’s Harry Potter. 'nuff said.

Though for the bored, check out the Potter Puppet Pals if you haven’t already. :D

OG Revelations Part 1: E

2010-07-22T16:55:00.007+08:00

There's less than 2 weeks left till camp! I hope everyone's getting excited over it. :D

Some of you may already know which OG you're in, but have no idea about what other OGs will be present in the camp. So over the next few days to a week or so we'll slowly reveal the OGs two at a time, in alphabetical order. Here are the 2 OGs of the Day.

E

1. Elektra Natchios

Height: 1.75m

Weight: 56.0 kg

Eyes: Blue

Hair: Black

Family: Hugo Kostas Natchios (father), Christina Natchios (mother), Orestez Natchios (older brother)

Citizenship: Greek

Education: Columbia University, New York City, New York. However, she did not graduate.

Was in a relationship with: Matthew Murdock (Daredevil)

Weapon of choice: Katana, Twin sais (the ψ-shaped long daggers)

Brief Background: Elektra, a character in the Marvel Universe, first appeared in Daredevil #168 in 1981. There have been two conflicting accounts of her family’s past, but both accounts agree that Christina Natchios died at the time when Elektra was born prematurely. Elektra and Matthew Murdock fell in love while she was studying political science at Columbia University. However, they parted ways after an incident involving Elektra’s father’s death, only to cross paths again after she became a professional assassin and bounty hunter.

Abilities and training: She once studied martial arts from a sensei in Japan and eventually left for a secret organization of martial artists headed by Stick, Murdock’s sensei. However, she had to return to her first sensei. Elektra is highly skilled in martial arts and hand-to-hand combat and is an Olympic-level athlete and gymnast.

2. Exodus

Real Name: Bennet du Paris

Height: 1.83m

Weight: 88.5kg

Eyes: White

Hair: Black

Citizenship: French

Brief Background: Exodus first appeared in X-factor #92 in 1993 in the Marvel Universe. Initially a warrior in the Crusades of the 12^th century, Bennet du Paris’s mutant powers was awakened by the immortal mutant Apocalyse and he was christened as Exodus since. Apocalypse had later banished Exodus to a stasis prison until he was recently awakened by Magneto. Subsequently, Exodus became the leader of the Acolytes, a group which worshipped Magneto.

And… afterwards, a lot of very complicated things happened between Exodus, Magneto, the X-men (Xavier in particular), the Black Knight and other parties.

Abilities: Telepathy, telekinesis and extraction of life energy

Check back soon for the rest of the OG character profiles! :)

Pre-camp Briefing

2010-07-17T11:15:00.001+08:00

Hi freshies! Your GLs will be contacting you very soon after the 18th to introduce themselves as well as to give you further details about the pre-camp and camp. But just to give you a heads-up about the pre-camp, it will be on 31st July, Saturday, 10am at LT5 of NTU.

The map below shows you where LT5 is. But we can't guarantee you won't get lost. I think about 99% of freshies lose their way on campus every year. (: (I myself was late for the interview after getting disoriented.) Anyway, all I learnt from that is, don't always trust the map. It doesn't tell you which buildings you can walk through and which levels are connected!

Click on above image for a clearer view or go to the revamped campus map.

Makeover for Wonder Woman

2010-07-13T13:29:00.003+08:00

Felt that this was an interesting article. Maybe Wonder Woman would no longer be runner-up in our poll.

June 29, 2010

By George Gene Gustines

Wednesday is a good day for Wonder Woman. This 69-year-old superheroine, published by DC Comics, will don a new — and less revealing — costume and enjoy the publication of Issue No. 600 of her monthly series.

The costume ties into an alternative history for the character devised by J. Michael Straczynski, the new writer of the series, and into a quest by DC to shine a critical and creative spotlight on the heroine, who stands with Superman and Batman in its primary triumvirate of superstars, despite her series’s modest sales.

In the reimagining of her story, Wonder Woman, instead of growing up on Paradise Island with her mother, Queen Hippolyta, and her Amazon sisters, is smuggled out as a baby when unknown forces destroy her home and slaughter its inhabitants.

Mr. Straczynski, who created the television show “Babylon 5” and wrote the screenplay for “Changeling” in 2008, starring Angelina Jolie, said in an e-mail message that he wanted to address “the wardrobe issue” as soon as he took the job.

“She’s been locked into pretty much the exact same outfit since her debut in 1941,” Mr. Straczynski wrote. “If you’re going to make a statement about bringing Wonder Woman into the 21st century, you need to be bold and you need to make it visual. I wanted to toughen her up, and give her a modern sensibility.”

He added, “What woman only wears only one outfit for 60-plus years?”

Given Wonder Woman’s pre-eminence as a female character in the largely male superhero pantheon, her looks have always been a matter of more than casual interest, to both fanboys and feminists. In a 2006 interview about her work on the series, the novelist Jodi Picoult said: “One of the first things I did was ask if we could give her breast-reduction surgery, because as a woman, I know you wouldn’t fight crime in a bustier. But I was somehow shot down by DC.”

The new costume was designed by the artist Jim Lee, who in February was named co-publisher of DC, alongside Dan DiDio. Given the assignment, “my first reaction was, ‘Oh my gosh,’ ” Mr. Lee said in an interview. But he welcomed the challenge: “When these characters become so branded that you can’t change things, they become ossified.”

The new look — with an understated “W” insignia, a midnight blue jacket and a flinty fusion of black tights and boots — is darker than the famed swimsuit-style outfit, and aims to be contemporary, functional and, as Tim Gunn of “Project Runway” might say, less costumey.

Given the hope that the character will one day have her own international film franchise (a feature has long been gestating at Warner Entertainment, DC’s parent company), one test of the design was to imagine how it would look standing next to, say, Batman’s politically neutral ensemble. “The original costume was the American flag brought to life,” Mr. Lee said. “This one is a little more universal.”

Mr. Lee has drawn his share of sexy superheroines (the X-Men’s Rogue among them), some in skimpy costume, and knows what many fans will ask: “Why am I covering up her legs?” Ultimately, he wanted her to look strong “without screaming, ‘I’m a superhero.’ ”

The arrival of Issue 600 is a bit of comic-book sleight of hand, or, as DC calls it, a return to historical numbering. Wonder Woman’s first self-titled series, which begin in 1942, ended with No. 329. The character was then overhauled, her previous continuity erased, and she starred in Volume 2 as a heroine new to the world. That incarnation lasted 226 issues. Another new direction spurred a third volume (and, to collectors who care about such things, another Issue No. 1) that ran for 44 issues. Do the math, and what would have been Issue No. 45 is now Volume 1, No. 600.

The new costume will almost certainly be better received than the curveball thrown Wonder Woman in 1968, when she lost her powers, dressed mod and practiced martial arts. It took the attention of no less than Gloria Steinem to protest the change, and to help get the Amazon back into her star-spangled duds. Ms. Steinem went on to use Wonder Woman, resplendent in red, white and blue, on the cover of the first issue of Ms. magazine in 1972. A cover line proclaimed, “Wonder Woman for President.”

That’s the kind of attention Mr. Straczynski thinks she deserves: “Wonder Woman is a strong, dynamic, vibrant character who should be selling in the top 20, and I’m going to do all I can to get her there.”

For the original NY Times article, click here.

Trailer

2010-07-08T23:44:00.001+08:00

This camp will be as thrilling and mind-blowing as any Hollywood superhero movie. Enjoy the clip! (You can try guessing which movies the snippets were taken from. :D)

Sneak peek

2010-07-08T12:05:00.003+08:00

We're sure many of you are dying to know what's in store for you during the camp. So we'll leave you with a few random photos taken during our seniors camp. If you have not already registered by now, what are you waiting for? Click on that inviting Registration button now!

Registration

2010-07-06T00:34:00.000+08:00

Hi freshies!

To register, simply click here or the Registration link above. We hope you are as excited about the camp as we are. :)

Le nom of the camp

2010-06-30T12:42:00.008+08:00

And just for fun, you can hear the correct French pronunciation here.

We took ages coming up with an appropriate name for this camp. We were so desperate that we had to use an online superhero name generator and even randomly pick letters written on tiny pieces of paper (we ended up with dugjox, moj, heq). But boss finally gave the go-ahead on this one. And to think that Extraordinaire was actually suggested wayyy back by Lihui but no one took it seriously then.

Some other names that were thrown up were:
- Battlestar Alliance
- High Expectations
- Call of Duty
- Pow Wow
- So You Think You are Smart

:) :)

Birth of an awesome blog

2010-06-21T18:25:00.002+08:00

Watch this space for the latest updates about the camp. Do also come back often to learn more silly but fun stuff about the upcoming camp and your crazy seniors who are organizing it. :)