the artificial construct

Favourite Albums of the Noughties - #1

2011-08-20T04:50:00.000+08:00

#1 Tanya Chua 蔡健雅 - Goodbye and Hello (2007)

A bit of history on Tanya: She first emerged on the English music scene in Singapore as a rocker-type singer-songwriter in 1997. Two years later, she released her first Chinese album, where she had to read lyrics phonetically. She met with middling success with her first three albums, as there was some incongruity with her music and her image, which meant that the Taiwanese audience just didn't take to her. It was only at a new label, Warner, when she released 陌生人 (Stranger), that she found her niche --> singing songs of love and heartbreak from the point of view of a intelligent and sensitive urban woman. There's a certain modern quality to her voice (something I find all Singaporean singers possess) that enables her to connect to both lyrics about surviving in the harsh coldness of cities like Taipei and the struggle to find meaningful contact when you're one soul amidst a million strangers. But there was still something missing in spire of the commercial and critical success Tanya found: She's a songwriter by nature, and due to her weakness in Chinese, she was often getting songs written for her. It wasn't exactly her own voice that she was expressing then.

That changed with 2007's Goodbye and Hello, which I really do believe is a landmark album is the Mandopop world. It had been two years or more since Tanya had released new music, and she had decided in that time to relocate to Taipei so she could improve her Chinese. And unfortunately, she also experienced the tearful end of a relationship. Drawing from her pain, Tanya for the first time ever wrote her own Chinese lyrics - a far cry form the days when she could only read hanyu pinyin. She also took the new role of album executive producer. The result is a soulful rumination of love and loss in the city. Tanya's lyrics were not, and probably won't ever be, as poetic as those of lyricists like Vincent Fang (

方文山), but in their simplicity and stark honesty, she lays bare her emotions, and it is moving and beautiful. There are songs of pure pain, such as the piano-led 空白格 (Empty Space), which is sparse in its arrangement but so evocative and haunting. It's not just all about breaking out the hankies too, as Tanya also sings about the lessons one can learn from failed relationships and move one, like the feisty title track.

The album opens with 达尔文 (Darwin), which talks about how we evolve to become better humans with each failed relationship. The arrangement is gentle, with soft guitar strumming. It's as if she's consoling herself by telling herself how said evolution is good, even though she's still hurting. Goodbye and Hello closes with the same track, except it's now called Darwin II (The Evolved Version). The arrangement is quirkier, brighter. You can imagine her singing this with a wistful smile as she looks back at the past, ready, and importantly, able, to move on.

Goodbye and Hello is my album of the decade.

Stunning song. Gorgeous video. Also a great example of how you don't need big budgets to make beautiful works of art.

Favourite Albums of the Noughties - #2

2011-08-11T06:51:00.002+08:00

#2 Britney Spears - Blackout (2007)

I've always maintained to everyone who asks that I love Britney in a completely non-ironic way. I genuinely believe that she's released some pop classics in her career. Singles like Baby, One More Time, I'm a Slave 4 U and Toxic are as good as anything any indie band-of-the-moment can produce. The only problem was that Brit was one those artists inflicted with filler-itis I'd talked about earlier (Youtube Dear Diary from her Oops... I Did It Again! album for an example). Things improved with 03's In the Zone, which was chockfull of radio-ready hits, but it lacked a cohesive sound. In fact, it was anything but cohesive. Dance pop, hiphop, electronica, balladeering, jamaican dancehall - the album was japalang, as Singaporeans would say. Between '03 and '07 came and left K-Fed, a poorly promoted Greatest Hits package, two babies and of course, the unraveling of Britney, all of which culminated in that infamous shot of bald Brit wielding an umbrella against a paparazzo's car.

It was in the midst of her personal turmoil that Blackout was released in the fall of '07. The Danja-produced Gimme More came first. She opened the VMAs that year with this song, and it was a disaster of a performance that she sleepwalked through, a performance that is now iconic, but not for the right reasons. The video was a mess too, especially for Britney, who had always been a great video artist previously. But these misfires cannot take away the brilliance of the song, which is as club-worthy as any first single club banger should be, and as irresistibly sleazy and dark. "Gimme gimme more," she purrs. It's dumb, repetitive lyrics that pop culture commentators can have a field day interpreting --> Britney's addiction to fame? The paparazzi's hunger for her? The public's fascination for building up and tearing down celebs? Whatever it is, it added an intriguing quality to an already addictive song.

This time around, with Danja taking on a huge chunk of production duties, Blackout had a cohesive sound through and through - edgy urban dance pop. Not a ballad in sight. Second single Piece of Me was yet another amazing meta-Britney moment, even if it wasn't self-penned. Follow-up Break the Ice was the piece de resistance. 'It's been a while. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting, but I'm here now," she coos at the start of this Danja production. Such a perfect opening for a comeback first single. If only, you know, she was sane and all.

Recorded during her second pregnancy, Blackout was undoubtedly a producer's album. You can hardly discern Britney's voice throughout the album, what with all the autotune, vocodering and other various effects her voice is put through in the tracks. Even when you can actually hear her, you can feel that she wasn't all that 'there' during the recording process. There's also nearly zero introspection in the album, which you'd expect from a post-divorce album (the nearest she comes is an oblique reference in the album closer, Why Should I Be Sad). It's party time all album long, and almost like she said, "Screw this," popped an ecstasy pill or two, and danced away.

All of these factors combines to produce a feeling of detachment and discombobulation that the album evokes. This somehow works, giving Blackout the cold, cool feel utterly perfect for the modern urban sound. Blackout's about an impersonal an album as you can get, but it's also pretty darn close to pop perfection.

This scorcher of a song deserved a much better video... :(

Favourite Albums of the Noughties - #3

2011-08-05T17:51:00.001+08:00

#3 Radiohead - In Rainbows (2007)

You can probably discern from my postings that I'm quite a mainstream pop fan. Radiohead was one of those bands that I knew was pretty much at the top of the credibility mountain. I know their songs of course. There was the early guitar-band sounds of "High and Dry" or "Creep", and then the band progressed with the critically acclaimed OK Computer, which I bought and from which I loved "Karma Police" the most. But then they went left-field starting with Amnesiac and bye went their accessibility factor. From "Creep" to "Idioteque" - talk about evolution.

After a mini four-year hiatus, In Rainbows was released in '07 amidst great flurry, though not actually for its content. Rather, Radiohead made headlines for the way it chose to distribute the album, making it available for download on its official website for free (sorta. Fans could pay any price they wanted). Possible industry-redefining move? Not quite, as we're seeing in hindsight. Cynical attempt to grab headlines after a lull? Hardly, when the music could more than speak for itself. Nonetheless, this move, marketing ploy or not, worked a treat in restating Radiohead's commercial credentials, as In Rainbows opened strong on both sides of the Atlantic, no doubt spurred on by four years of pent-up demand.

In Rainbows' commercial success was warranted for sure, as the album was actually a return to form. Gone was the indulgence of Hail to the Thief, to be replaced by accessibility, without sacrificing artistry. There were melodies (!) and energy to be found in tracks like "Jigsaw Falling Into Place" and "Bodysnatchers". "Nude" and "Videotape" provide those trademark Thom Yorke haunting vocals and moody, evocative instrumentation fit for a David Lynch movie soundtrack. And then there's my personal favorite, "All I Need". Just a beautiful, moving melody, low-key production and Yorke's soaring falsetto towards the end - sublime.

Entertainment 2010

2011-01-07T23:06:00.000+08:00

Just for posterity: The list of movies/books I watched/read for leisure in 2010.

The Road
Youth in Revolt
The Hurt Locker
Up in the Air
When in Rome
Precious
A Single Man
Ashes of Time
An Education
It's Complicated
A Serious Man
Shutter Island
Percy Jackson & the Lightning Thief
Kick-Ass
Iron Man 2
Toy Story 3
Inception (x2)
Berlin '36
Food Inc.
The Corporation
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Green Zone
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I
Enchanted
The Kids are All Right
Easy A
Grown Ups
Twilight: Eclipse (on a flight! I love watching brainless stuff on flights!)
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Eat, Pray, Love
Killers
Knight and Day
Sex and the City 2
Capitalism: A Love Story
The Social Network
The Tourist
Tron: Legacy

Favourite of the year: Inception (blockbuster as it should always be done)

Special 'Where did it all go wrong' Award: Michael Cera. Poor George Michael. Jesse Eisenberg used to be mistaken for him. But soon he will be the one people mistake for soon-to-be Oscar-nominated Eisenberg. Cera gave strong, and pretty diverse (imo) performances in Youth In Revolt and Scott Pilgrim (which were both at the very least decent films) but still gets panned for doing the same shtick. Plus, both films sadly flopped. What next? Maybe that long-awaited Arrested Development movie will revive his career.

Books (on top of the dozens for school of course):
Alan Hollinghurst - The Swimming-Pool Library
J.D. Salinger - Franny & Zooey
Alan Hollinghurst - The Folding Star
Josh-Kilmer Purcell - I am Not Myself These Days
Roddy Doyle - Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
Alan Hollinghurst - The Line of Beauty

Yes, Hollinghurst propels himself into the list of my favourite authors! Simply brilliant. Franny & Zooey was wonderful as well.

Singles Selection of 2010

2010-12-31T19:11:00.000+08:00

I gotta admit I really slacked off on investigating new music in 2010, and instead went the nostalgic route and often revisited favourites from decades past. Seeking comfort in the familiar when in a foreign land, definitely. Of course, I still managed to listen to some new music, and I decided to throw together a list of my favourite singles of 2010.

蔡依林 - 无言以对

Jolin does American R&B? Sign me up! Before she hit the big big time with 看我72变, Jolin in fact pumped out quite a few R&B-lite tunes, which I think she has a flair for, because she's got a good sense of rhythm with her singing. This is what she should be doing more, instead of the tired Ah-Lian dance pop numbers.

Take That - The Flood

Robbie's back and takes up a huge chunk of vocal responsibility immediately. Not sure how I feel about that, but I know for sure The Flood is top-notch balladeering, with an urgent and soaring chorus that just builds and builds. Epic! With great vocal harmonies, and some metaphorical mumbo-jumbo lyrics about "learning how to dance the rain" (probably about the band's evolution since its inception), this song is as good as any from the band's 90s heyday.

Marina & the Diamonds - Oh No!

Forget Ke$ha and Katy Perry, Marina is the triumphant pop story of the year! Interesting look, strong voice, quirky lyrics (that she writes herself), strong hooks aplenty - there's nothing not to love here! This song never fails to perk me up! Marina's definitely the best of the batch of 'quirky' Brit pop gals like Ellie Goulding and Pixie Lott. Do investigate!

林俊杰 - 她说

I was immediately predisposed to liking the song when I learned that the lyrics were written by all-time fav, Stefanie Sun, but 她说 is a really great traditional Mandopop piano-driven ballad. And I love the lyrics too! Well done, Stef! Also love the little piano refrain from 记得 after the first chorus. I had a period in November when I was listening to JJ constantly on my commute to my internship, and this song was a regular guest on that play list. Great melancholic sing along on the walk to the train station haha.

Kylie Minogue - All the Lovers

I think if there were to be an aural representation of words like 'bliss' and 'joy', this song would be it. Seriously, this song radiates positivity. Kylie softens her already girlish vocals, and she caresses the lyrics of the song in such an intimate, lush fashion I feel that she is singing/whispering directly to me. The Stuart Price production is brilliant too, especially the breakdown before the final chorus. It is pure, well, joy indeed (minor flaw: the breakdown is so great that there should've been an extended one for the album version of the song). Oh and the video is simply amazing too
.
Robyn - Dancing on My Own

Continuing on the path forged by 2007's With Every Heartbeat, Dancing On My Own is another melancholic lyrics set to a throbbing electropop beat-type song. If it ain't broke and all... And no one does painful yearning quite like Robyn. And the wonderful plinky electronica bits really sets off her wonderful, emotional vocals - sorta a juxtaposition of human frailty and digital cool. A perfect heartbreak song for this millennial era. And it's also my single of the year.

Favourite Albums of the Noughties Pt. 1

2010-08-11T15:46:00.001+08:00

I'm a bit late in compiling my list of the best of the decade, so sorry to my audience of five (though technically, the decade begins with '01 and ends with '10, so I'm in fact early!). Looking back in 10 or 100 years from now, I'm sure that music historians would locate the death of the album to sometime this decade. Consumers, aided by the digitisation of music and the MP3 revolution, altered their behaviour, forgoing album-purchasing in favour of buying individual tracks,, which have been mostly done on the innocuously-termed store we know as Itunes. A whole generation of music lovers has come of age understanding only the instant gratification model of downloading the latest tracks, the singles, the hits. That's not to mention those who've grown up simply obtaining their music through illegal downloads, which dramatically changes their perception of the value of music and that has consequences that will not be addressed here. In sum then, the idea of an album, one with a cohesive concept from start to finish from the recording to the album art, has in this decade begun its slide into irrelevance, methinks.

I'm certainly no different from the type of people whom I've described above. Like them, I've been afflicted with "shuffle mode-itis", and my attention span's gotten shorter such that I rarely play albums from start to finish nowadays. The probably also speaks to the quality of music that's been put out in the recent past, with complacent record companies concerned with producing only 2-3 hit singles per album, then slapping on 7-8 disposable fillers and calling it a day. Who would listen to an entire album then, when you could simply shuffle between hits from your favourite one-hit wonders.

The point of my insanely long preamble, then, is that in today's ADHD world of music listening, an album that can sustain your interest from beginning to end must indeed be something quite special. I've narrowed down my list of albums of the decade to 5, all of which have been, at one time or another, albums that I've played repeatedly, and which still holds my attention from the first track to the last as I went back to re-listen to various albums to come up with this list. They'll not be to everybody's tastes obviously, but I do genuinely believe that there is objective merit to be found in each that no one can not appreciate.

Firstly, here's some of the albums that just missed the cut of my Top 5 of the Decade:

Stefanie Sun - 孙燕姿 (Stefanie Sun) (2000)

Singapore's biggest star (arguably?) emerged the summer of 2000, proving an instant hit in the Mandopop capital of Taiwan, and justifiably so. Her distinct, vibrato-free vocals, coupled with the words and music of local maestros Wei Song/ Si Song, produced classics like 天黑黑 and 超快感. Millions fell in love with Yan Zi at first sight (or sound, rather), and I was one of them.

Kelly Clarkson - Breakway (2004)

For a 13 month stretch between 2004/05, Kelly Clarkson ruled the world, much like how Gaga is the zeitgeist of the scene now. The run of Breakway-Since You Been Gone-Behind These Hazel Eyes-Because of You-Walkaway must be one of the strongest single runs in recent memory (Again, probably only Gaga with Just Dance-Poker Face-Love Game-Paparazzi-Bad Romance-Telephone-Alejandro can top this, and she accomplished this only with a re-release). We know all these hits, and amazingly, more can be found on the album. Would it be blashemy to say that this is Thriller/Rhythm Nation 1814-like in that almost all songs are single-worthy? This is pop-rock at its finest.

Robin Thicke - The Evolution of Robin Thicke (2006)

There are some records that will sound better live. This is not one of those. Thicke always struggles with his trademark falsettos live, but on record, his voice is gloriously smooth and slick, and this entire album is one groovy ride, without being melodically dull. Guests like Lil' Wayne and Pharell add some amazing hip-hop bite. Thicke has consistently been my go-to guy for R&B music since this album.

Jolin Tsai - 舞娘 (Dancing Diva) (2006)

Jolin's an unabashedly commercial artist, with no pretense of artistry. Often, her music comes off as cheesy, or in Singapore-speak, lian/beng-ish (the closest equivalent is probably music for chavs), but, for just one album, everything fell into place. 舞娘 is still as commercial as they come, but there's a certain epic quality to the formula, having been refined to perfection. This was a pop star at the top of her game.

Antony and the Johnsons - I am a Bird Now (2005)

I had never heard anything from Antony Hegarty before this, so it was a strangely disconcerting feeling the first time I listened to his voice, so fragile it's almost cry-like. But quickly, that amazingly unique voice, coupled with his beautiful lyrics (on gender identity), begins to haunt you. Gets minus points because it is a tad too depressing.

Up next: Album #3 in my Top 3 of the decade.

The Holy Pilgrimage Pt. II

2010-07-31T01:27:00.000+08:00

Pt. I of my post on the visit to Old Trafford was a straight-up chronicle of events, and can be found here. This one is about my post-visit observations/reflections.

On the bench!!

1. Consumerism runs amok. After the match, approximately 34539 people squeezed their way into the Megastore. There was actually security personnel who had to perform crowd control, limiting the flow of people into the store. The crowd formed a massive, uncoordinated bloc that waitd outside the entrance, as the store was already bursting with people. They need a Ginomostore, not a Mega-one, methinks. The crowd situation made me wonder if it'd be as crazy if United had lost. Sure, tourists like me would probably still venture in, but I'd guess that regulars might not feel quite as inclined to entertain their kids' requests for that United scrabble set. We're more likely to splash out the cash when we're in a good mood obviously. This really highlights the importance of United maintaining their winning ways given their massive debt: It's not just Champions League earnings, but also merchandise sales, that will be affected.

Dawn of the Dead comes to life

2. The match itself will not be making it into the hall of classics anytime. Both teams played averagely, with many sloppy passes made. In fact, I was kinda shocked at how casual players looked when pinging those passes. Making it look easy, sure, but I still found it slightly disconcerting how unbothered they looked. Both sides had few clear-cut chances at goal, with most of the match being played in midfield and both teams struggled to string passes together.

3. C'est triste que I missed WR10 in action, but I am very thankful to have been able to catch United legends Giggsy and Scholesy in action. Scholes, in particular, was on form that day, and seeing him do his thing in the centre of the park, committing those "oops isn't it cute how he still doesn't know how to tackle" fouls was pure joy.

4. Poor Berbatov. He didn't do well that day, but he didn't fare that badly either. But, every time h got the ball, you could seriously feel the weight of the pressure/expectation the crowd was putting on him. Every time he messed up yet another good scoring opportunity, the collective groan from the stands got louder and ever more frustrated.

Giggsy about to score from the spot.

5. Speaking of disappointments, Michael Carrick was another who faced the crowd's wrath. Underperforming the entire season, Carrick exemplified the whole 'couldn't care less' attitude I described earlier. "Take your time, son", I remember a disgruntled fan in my vicinity shouting. And he would.... only to misplace his pass. Shape up, or ship out, Mister!

6. Nani - Ah, aren't we glad for his revelatory form in the second half of the season. In an uninspiring team performance, it was obvious that Nani was the spark of the squa, the one who proverbially 'made things happen'. Still no Ronaldo, but we'll all be expecting greater and better things to come from him this coming season.

7. Last note on the United squad -- Just want to pay tribute to Evra. Seriously, best left-back in the world (maybe not when playing for La France). ♥

8. Spurs note: Crouch does win those headers, doesn't he? And Gareth Bale was definitely the Nani equivalent for them.

Last chance you were able to hi-five that day! hah!

9. It's sad but I have to confirm that the away crowd is indeed more enthusiastic in their singing/cheering. I think that's the way it is everywhere though. And WC and I sadly were also part of the much maligned prawn sandwich crowd since I didn't know any of the songs and couldn't take part in the singing. *ashamed*

10. On to general thoughts: Attending a football match is nowadays a very wholesome event. Besides the alcohol ban, I was most impressed by how disabled-friendly the club is. There's a big section right at the corner between the East and South ends reserved for fans on wheelchairs, and there's a big MUFC Disabled Supporters' Club, which has its own publicity board inside the stadium. Also, they have a designated hangout area on their own termed the 'Ability Suite'. A big too obvious or cheesy to some perhaps, but I thought it to be a great message.

Also, that day coincided with the anniversary of the Disabled Supporters' Assocation, so that was a 3 on 3 match between some mentally handicapped Spurs and United kids during halftime. I smiled when I head someone near me say "Cone on lads, we're United, we wanna win everything." We lost 1-7 though. Oops.

It's 20LEGEND! O.G. Solskjaer, Reserves manager, leads the squad out to collect their trophy for finishing top of the Northern half of the Reserves League before the match.

11. And finally, another way match-attending is wholesome is how it is very much a family affair. All throughout the stands, there were numerous father-son attendees, including fathers with adorable, excitable children, dads with their teenage lads who might be too cool and slightly embarrassed to hang out with their parental units, and grey-haired men with their grown-up sons. I could easily imagine generations of fans attending United games - Dad brings son brings grandson and so the tradition passes on. Saturaday afternoons would be that special bonding time between father-son as they share the elation of a victory, or the despair of a loss. And eventually, such Saturdays would become amazing, shared memories. I can almost picture a Kodak commercial based on this. NGL, I felt a twinge of envy/sadness seeing these scenes of familial bonding, knowing I never had a decent dad with whom I had memories of joyful experiences. (Sorry, woe-is-me attitude henceforth ceases!)

That is why after the match, this thought came to my mind: maybe Manchester United is too big of an institution today. United is as grand and majestic as football stadiums come, but I couldn't help but envision this rosy, idealised picture of father/son attending their local club's match, where every one's voice mattered, since one's absence wouldn't simply be filled by the next football tourist. Seems like that'd be a more authentic experience, for a lack of a better description. The grandiosity and commercialism of MUFC, exemplified for example by the way the megastore is run like a well-oiled machine and by how skyrocketing season ticket prices are hurting middle/working-class football families, takes away the soul from the experience, this overthinking fan believes.

Farewell to thee, Old Trafford... I will be back!

Why you should care about the success of 'Inception'

2010-07-13T23:52:00.002+08:00

The summer blockbuster season is a time of high stakes for film studios. It's obvious why this is so. Since Spielberg's Jaws opened to, well, jaw-dropping numbers (hur hur) in 1975, Hollywood has successfully conditioned audiences to to expect high octane, larger than life, 'popcorn' movies during the months May through to August. From Raiders of the Lost Ark to Pirates of the Carribean, these summer blockbusters have budgets that run in the hundreds of millions, but have the potential to rake handsome, Apple-eque profits (ok, maybe not quite. But you get the point). Summer blockbusters define the term, 'high risk, high reward'.

Because of the risk of massive losses if an expensively-produced summer movie flops at the box office, Hollywood typically tries to play safe in choosing to produce movies that appeal to the lowest common denominator, which has often resulted in the criticism that summer is the time of dumb, brainless movies. To be fair, there have been many a great summer blockbuster - the original Star Wars trilogy, many of Spielberg's works like E.T. or Jurassic Park, and Nolan's The Dark Knight are just some of the few that come to mind. However, it seems that Hollywood has become increasingly risk-averse in recent years in terms of summer fare. Because of ever exploding budgets (Spidey 3's reported production budget was over 250 million, for example), movies' return on investment have continually decreased, and studios are less and less willing to greenlight original ideas, choosing to bankroll blockbusters only if they already have a built-in audience.

What does this mean? You guessed it - Sequels! Let's examine this summer's movie line-up for example: There's Shrek 4, Toy Story 3, Iron Man 2, Twilight 3, Sex and the City 2, Predators (I don't know how many there's been). If it's not sequels, it's movies based on a book/comic/TV series/video game - Again, Iron Man, Sex and the City and Twilight, The Last Airbender, The A Team, Jonah Hex, Prince of Persia. Remakes/'Reimaginations' is the latest low Hollywood has hit - See Robin Hood, or The Karate Kid (except now with kung fu, and a black kid!). Even when ideas seem original, they're not - Knight and Day and Killers both feature the shenanigans between a gun-toting dude (Cruise and Kutcher) and his clueless, klutzy paramour (Diaz and Heigl) Basically, studios are afraid of plunking down the cash, unless a big opening weekend based on a built-in audience is guaranteed.

I'm not saying that sequels, remakes, movies based on other source material cannot be good. The glowing reviews of Toy Story attest to the fact that they can. It's that this trend has lead to an increase dichotomy where big budgets is reserved for dumb summer fare while quality original material has to be 'indie' and made with about 20 bucks.

Additionally, there's a new trend of 3-D movies. Post-Avatar, studios are hastily converting already shot movies into 3-D ones in post production, resulting in shoddy 3-D productions in The Clash of the Titans (remake!) and The Last Airbender, for example. It's a great excuse to charge higher prices for tickets to compensate for declining sales. Now, I have no problems with 3-,D but the film purist in me does not want 3-D movies to become the status quo for blockbusters. Roger Ebert explains why the 3-D trend is not a good thing here.

This is where Inception comes in. Now the film's marketing has likened it to The Matrix meets Bond, but Inception is definitely an original idea. It's a risky one, what with its high-brow dream-within-a-dream concept, and the only reason Warner Bros was willing to produce the cash for it was Christopher Nolan. Thanks to Batman Begins, and more importantly of course, The Dark Knight, Nolan has essentially become the God of WB, which means he has earned the right to obtain the US$200 million shooting budget needed to realise his vision for Inception. Nolan is also a traditionalist, who refused to release Inception in 3-D because he's not willing to compromise on the loss of certain qualities that would result in a 3-D conversion. Inception is one of the rare summer releases that will screen solely on 2-D theatres.

The film is released this coming weekend and advanced reviews have been more than positive overall. It also has a star-studded cast led by Leonardo Dicaprio. Combine those two factors with the fact that Nolan has garnered himself a legion of fanboys post-Batman (I'm one of them) who will unquestionably support his films and you have a recipe for box office success. Or so WB hopes. Because even with the cachet of Nolan, Dicaprio et al, Inception is still quite a risky venture. Rare is the studio that plunks $200 million in an original summer movie, much less an esoteric one about "dreams states".

This is why you should care about its success. Reviews have not all been published, but I'm willing to hazard a guess this will be a good film. It will most probably end up at 80% fresh on RottenTomatoes. If that, coupled with the "From the Director of the Dark Knight" tagline, does not entice people to the movie, then I don't know what will.

The Dark Knight's success showed studios that dark, serious popcorn fare can make bank at the box office too. But it ultimately was a franchise based on one of the most popular comic book figures in the world. Inception is altogether a different kettle of fish. If it succeeds, Hollywood will perhaps see that it can be worthwhile to take some risks and invest in original scripts for the summer, and not just rely on established franchises. It will perhaps also stem the tide of 3-D films coming our way, and show that a good film done in 2D can and will bring in a large audience.

The future of Hollywood could very well depend on the success of Inception. Hands up those of us who want edgy, challenging and exciting summer extravaganzas! That is why if you love films even just a little bit, it is your duty to go see Inception!

Postscript: I guess if all else fails, we will always have Pixar.

My guide to losing weight

2010-07-01T04:40:00.004+08:00

It's 4.40am, and I can't sleep due to jetlag, having just returned home to Singapore from the UK a couple of days ago. And I suddenly had an epiphany (slight exaggeration) that I felt I ought to share with the world.
It turns out that there is a way to lose weight, or at least not gain weight, even if one is lazy. The key is to have a strong desire for nice teeth.
So everyone knows eating not long before you sleep is not good for you. At night, your body's metabolic rate slows down, so it won't have time to burn the calories of the food you took in. It gets converted to fat instead. A typical sign of a serial supper eater (that's the post-dinner meal, and not dinner itself, for any British readers out there) is a nice round tummy on an otherwise healthy-looking frame.
Like many others, I too have this penchant for snacking before sleeping. These late night World Cup/Wimbledon viewing sessions have not helped the cause. And so in my insomnia tonight, my hunger pangs struck of course. Big time. But, I managed to control myself from eating. Why? Because I had brushed my teeth. And more importantly, because I had already flossed.
See, that, ladies and gentleman, is the key to solving the obesity problem in developed countries. Have kids develop really good dental hygiene habits, and make them as meticulous as possible.
I'm quite thorough in my flossing, taking usually 10 minutes to complete flossing my 28 teeth (4 gone from wisdom teeth extraction). So even though as I'm typing this, my stomach is screaming out in need for the ice cream in the freezer as badly as Tom Cruise needs a hit movie to salvage his career (see: Knight and Day flopping), I resisted. Simply because I thought: I'd have to go through the whole damn process of brushing and flossing again. Too tedious. No way. I get to remain svelte. Yay!
Folks, there you have it. A combination of discipline (to floss nightly) + laziness (to not want to go through the hassle of 10 min of flossing more than once each night) ensures you and your child gets to be slim and trim (and have clean teeth!). Yay again!

[Liability escape clause: This weight loss method has not been endorsed by the FDA. The author shall not be responsible for any grumpiness caused in adherence to the above plan. Results may vary for individuals.]

Just a game?

2010-06-13T06:44:00.006+08:00

So I read Herman and Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent for my tutorial, and while researching for my essay, also visited Chomsky's website where I read several interviews he gave about the book.

This was a very interesting excerpt:
_______________________________________________________________

QUESTION: When we talk about manufacturing of consent, whose consent is being manufactured?

CHOMSKY: To start with, there are two different groups...One is what's sometimes called the political class. There's maybe twenty percent of the population which is relatively educated, more or less articulate, plays some kind of role in decision-making. They're supposed to sort of participate in social life -- either as managers, or cultural managers like teachers and writers and so on. They're supposed to vote, they're supposed to play some role in the way economic and political and cultural life goes on. Now their consent is crucial. So that's one group that has to be deeply indoctrinated. Then there's maybe eighty percent of the population whose main function is to follow orders and not think, and not to pay attention to anything -- and they're the ones who usually pay the costs.

He then continues:

Now there are other media too whose basic social role is quite different: it's diversion. There's the real mass media-the kinds that are aimed at, you know, Joe Six Pack -- that kind. The purpose of those media is just to dull people's brains.

This is an oversimplification, but for the eighty percent or whatever they are, the main thing is to divert them. To get them to watch National Football League.... Take, say, sports -- that's another crucial example of the indoctrination system, in my view. For one thing because it -- you know, it offers people something to pay attention to that's of no importance. [audience laughs] That keeps them from worrying about -- [applause] keeps them from worrying about things that matter to their lives that they might have some idea of doing something about. And in fact it's striking to see the intelligence that's used by ordinary people in [discussions of] sports [as opposed to political and social issues]... You know, I remember in high school, already I was pretty old. I suddenly asked myself at one point, why do I care if my high school team wins the football game? [laughter] I mean, I don't know anybody on the team, you know? [audience roars] I mean, they have nothing to do with me, I mean, why I am cheering for my team? It doesn't mean any -- it doesn't make sense. But the point is, it does make sense: it's a way of building up irrational attitudes of submission to authority, and group cohesion behind leadership elements -- in fact, it's training in irrational jingoism. That's also a feature of competitive sports.
_______________________________________________________________

I thought my coming across Chomsky's insight was really timely given the FIFA World Cup that's just started (and that fact that I just gushed all about Man Utd in a previous post), and the jingoistic fervour and excitement that accompanies it. Ever since reading the above, every time I get my entertain/sports news fix, I think to myself: I'm part of the brainwashed, depoliticized, dumb-ass 80% of the populace. Gulp.

Kenny made a really funny point when I shared this finding to him. This system of distraction was essentially the same one the Romans employed for their citizens - think the Gladatorial activities, which were also meant to divert the citizens' attention away from the problems the Empire might be facing.

The big difference between us and the Romans, however, is that while the Romans got to enjoy their Gladatorial sports for free (entry into the colisseums was free. Bread was given out for free at the shows too), we modern-day dumb-asses actually shell out a lot of hard-earned money to get entertained. The powers that be don't even need to entice us with freebies.

Oh, how we've regressed. LOL.

The Holy Pilgrimage Pt. 1

2010-05-18T05:32:00.027+08:00

Ok, so throughout my travels this past year, I've actually been pretty faithfully journaling each trip, but I've only posted summarized thoughts on them because I didn't think the world needed minute-by-minute accounts of my holidays. But, I decided to break the trend for this trip, because it's Manchester freakin' United! So there'll be 2 parts to this post: the first is a more straightforward chronicle of events and the second will be random thoughts along the lines of this or this. Please excuse the rambling!

only blue you'll see in this post!

Day 1:
So on the historic days of April 23/24, I finally made my long-awaited pilgrimage to the Holy Land, aka Old Trafford, Manchester. Thanks to the generosity of a friend, I manged to snag a pair of season ticket passes and invited fellow Man United fan Way Cherng along for a trip up north to catch United in their penultimate home game of the season against Tottenham Hotspurs.
We took a 0730 train on Friday and from Oxford, it was a 3 hour ride to Manchester Piccadilly station, the central train station there. When we arrived, we took the tram to the stop named Old Trafford which is of course where the stadium is near and also where our hotel was located. After checking in and getting a pub lunch at Wetherspoon's, we proceeded to OT for our stadium/museum tour.
The museum was great, especially the section on the Munich aircrash. I was aware of the history of the tragedy but being there, reading all the info and looking at the photos/old newspaper reports, I really felt kinda emotional. This incident was the football equivalent to the day the music died, definitely. It was amazing how Bobby Charlton bounced back to win the World and European Cup!

And as for the stadium, what can I say. Way better than the Santiago Bernabéu! We got to visit the players' dressing room, where there were tactics white boards and a TV. Just imagine Sir Alex giving one of his trademark hairdryer treatments there!

Treble season, baby!

Legend

After the stadium tour (which inevitably ends at the merchandise store), it was time to shop the vast United megastore, featuring all sorts of crap you can think up of, from Man United candy to rugs. *Sheer bliss* I got a jacket, and a 07/08 Champions' League DVD on the cheap.

MUFC candy? Doubt it's M&S quality though.

...and grass(!) lol.

Sir Alex in his youth! Amazing!

After departing OT, we took the tram back to Manchester city centre, and did a walking tour of it. We had dinner in Chinatown, and the waitress who served us in the restaurant turned out to be local! She was a Malaysian Chinese who had lived in Singapore for a long time, in Tampines even! We went back to the hotel after dinner to rest.

oh, we had time for a helicopter ride around the stadium too.

Day 2 (Match day!):
After an English breakfast at the hotel, it was time to head to the stadium for the game. WC and I each bought a Love United, Hate Glazers yellow and green Newton Heath scarf before heading in. Our seats were on the East end, pretty near to the action really. United attacked our end in the first half, but sadly, all three goals they scored occured in the second, so we only got to see the Ledley King goal up close. Also, Rooney had the audacity to miss the one match that I came to watch? The nerve! =(

Players warming up, doing that zig-zag body twisting thing I used to do during badminton training too!

Players having emerged from the tunnel.

Setting up for a FK. Can't remember if it was Nani or Gigg who took it.

United won the match 3-1 at the end, with Giggsy converting two penalties and Nani contributing an exquisite individual goal that kept our title challenge alive. You could feel the air of hope and positivity lingering after the match ended. It was not to be, as the events in May informed us, but I am so grateful the team won, putting the cream on top of the proverbial strawberries (thought this'd be a more apt metaphor for England, no?) (or the vinegar on top of fish and chips perhaps).
After the match, we walked back from OT to the city centre (the trams being crazily packed, of course), which took some 45 minutes, I'd say. We went to eat at the food court in the main mall there. Western food courts are not quite like those in Singapore, where you have stalls selling a vast array of hawker-type food. Here, food court stalls are more likely to consist of McDonald's, KFC, Pizza Hut, and some sandwich shop. There was, however, a Chinese stall there so WC and I both had roast duck/char siew rice (yes, we both love our Chinese food). Not quite local standards, but mai4 hiam2, buay3 pai4.
Then, we headed to a coffee shop to hang out and read the matchday programme before taking the 1936 train back to Oxford, where Trinity term awaited.

yay! WC looks joyful, to say the least!

remember that, folks!

(W)Hole Again

2010-05-13T00:06:00.006+08:00

Following this post, my jeans are now all patched up thanks to the sewing skills of Melissa. Thank you very much!

As can be seen (ok, maybe not really), she cut away the dangling flab of cloth from the right pocket and used it to cover the hole.
Unfortunately, for the second pair of hole-y jeans, Mel used the same reparation method, except this time she deliberately cut out cloth from the right jean pocket (which is where I always put my wallet. Gotta be careful now!) to use as cover.
Oh well! I'm glad to have my jeans back, now with none of the holes and double the edge!

Journalin' Berlin

2010-04-29T22:30:00.010+08:00

The Berlin Diaries (Isherwood inspired of course)

1. So on the day of the trip, I walk out of my apartment to head to catch my coach to airport. Walking past the neighbouring apartment, I see Hayleigh, who's actually traveling with me to Berlin. But because we booked our flights at different times, we're taking separate flights. She's flying Easyjet from Luton, whilst I'm doing Ryanair from Stansted. I have to wait for her at Berlin Schonefeld airport for about an hour. Meanwhile, our third travel mate, Caleb, is flying in from Paris and meeting us at the hostel at about 2350 that night. Such jet setters we are.

2. You know how restaurants do those really value-for-money set lunches to draw crowds in on quiet weekday afternoons? Well, the Germans of course do that as well, and they term them 'business lunches'. Sounds classier, I guess.

3. Berlin is quite a contrast from other major Western European cities. Unlike Paris or London with their gazillion year old quaint buildings and small, narrow roads, Berlin is half old buildings and half steel/glass minimalistic modernity. Not surprising considering the city was bombed into oblivion half a century ago.

At the Holocaust Memorial

4. Said steel and glass architecture, with their funky shapes, combine with the graffiti found all over to give Berlin a really edgy feel (I've been watching too much Project Runway I think.) The graffiti here is pretty darn cool, gotta say.

5. Oh, also unlike other European cities, there isn't a pigeon population the size of India + China. Sure, there's the odd one or two (or three or four) here and there, but it's not the kind of swarming over you like Singaporeans at a McDonald's circa the Hello Kitty craze that you find in Trafalgar Sq. or outside the Notre Dame.

6. There are tonnes of Vietnamese eateries all over Berlin. Was there a Vietnamese exodus to Germany that I missed out on? The pho I ate at this one restaurant was no where near as good as the one I had in Paris though.

7. Berliners are definitely not quite as fashion forward as Parisiens or Londoners even. The standard uniform seems to be: Hiking boots, jeans, simple top with a weatherproof jacket over it.

8. That said, there're plenty of individuals with outrageous and unique styles that I came across - like dudes with shocking blue or pink hair, as I had expected from what's been termed the new NYC.

9. The Berlin metro system is probably the most confusing one I've come across in Europe. There's the S-Bahn, the U-Bahn, the autobahn (ok not counted), the regular trains, a lack of clear signboards, ticket machines that do not like to accept notes - Efficient it may be, simple to understand it definitely isn't.

10. Had two people coming up to me asking for directions. What, I look German?

11. Gotta talk about my experience returning to the UK of course. The night before my flight, I merrily went over to the hostel lady and asked her how long it would take to get to the airport. She's all, "Haven't you heard? All flights to London are canceled." What!!?? Panic mode ensues. After having a strike derailed my flight back from Italy the previous trip, a freakin' volcano now?? For serious?

So I went on to Ryanair's site and the earlier flight available I could rebook was 4 days later (which still would have been canceled, as it turned out). I went to the train station the next morning to check out train options, but they were fully booked for the next 2 days and it would have cost a bomb anyway (Incidentally, the lady at the train ticketing counter was a majorly unhelpful, unsympathetic, um, person. Ugh.) Luckily, I had checked online the previous night that there were actually buses that ran from Berlin to London (Seriously, who knew?). So I headed to the bus station (on the confusing S-Bahn) located in West Berlin. There, I was told that the bus for that night (one each day) for full, but I could pay first and get on the waitlist and come and see what happens. So I did, and went back to the hostel.

Hours later, I'm checked out and I headed back to the bus station (having a room on hold till 8pm at the hostel in case I didn't manage to get on the bus). I found out I was 2nd on the waitlist. And 10 minutes before departure, we are told there's space! About 5 people on the list got to board. And so I boarded the bus and began the 19 hour ride to London.

The bus passed through Bremen, Hanover in Germany, then crossed Holland, where the customs check is this police van with a (-------> Follow Me) sign on its back that led the coach to a petrol station. Officers then boarded and checked our documents. How nice of them to do that! We didn't even have to disembark haha. From Holland, we went into Belgium and stopped at Brussels. The bus was Paris-bound, so the ones heading to London changed coaches.

From Brussels, the bus continued onto France, stopping at Lille, before arriving at Calais, where we crossed the English Channel using the Eurotunnel. That was the coolest shit. All vehicles basically drive into these long, narrow trains, one after another, and park inside. Then, with the vehicles stationary, the trains ferry us across the Channel and we emerge in Dover. English air at last! From Dover, it took another 2 hours to get to central London. Finally, after 19 hours, Victoria Coach Station! But the journey's not over!
I had to of course take another 2 hour coach journey to get back to Oxford. Good times. A friend had a three day bus ride from Croatia back to London though, so who am I to complain. So 93 euros (bus ticket price) and 21 hours later, I was back home, 1.5 days later than had been planned. My Easter travel adventures finally end, after Wales, Morocco, Italy and Berlin (sorta. still one final weekend in OLD TRAFFORD! Squee!).

Cute huskies make any blog post better.

These jeans aren't made for travelin'

2010-04-27T05:40:00.006+08:00

Here's what about two months worth of traveling with only a backpack (meaning constant wearing of the same pairs of jeans day in and day out) will do:Both pairs of jeans were bought sometime in 2008, I believe.

Yeah, I've no idea why all the tears occur in that specific geographic territory. ;)

Oh, by the way, I'm still wearing them. Gives me an edgy look, no?

Postscript on Italy

2010-04-19T02:54:00.001+08:00

Dates: 31 March 2010 to 10 April 2010
Locales: Rome, Florence, Cinque Terre, Venice, Milan (unscheduled stop)
1. Like France, payment on Italian public transport systems, especially buses, relies on the integrity of passengers. You board the bus from any the front or rear and scan your card in front of the machines installed on the bus. The driver doesn't check. Guess which end we boarded on all the time.

2. Italy must be one of the top ten tourist destinations in the world, and probably higher on a per capita basis. Seriously, Rome, Florence, Pisa and Venice were swarmed with tourists.

3. For such a popular tourist destination, Italy's citizens are unexpectedly not as bilingual as I'd expected them to be, especially in comparison to locals in other top tourist sights like Paris and Barcelona. Of course it's up to foreigners to adapt to the local vernacular always, but it's just surprising for these tourist traps. *shrugs*

4. Where ever there is money to be made, the Chinese will be there. Similar to what I observed in Spain, the Chinese diaspora extends to Italy as well, with many Italian restaurants/bars in Venice actually run by Chinese immigrants. So it's not that they're there opening Chinese restaurants, it's that they're there opening restaurants that sell Spanish/Italian food. It's pretty cool to see the Chinese boss lady mingling and hanging with the locals at the bar, speaking in Italian.

5. The St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican is the granddaddy of churches surely. Talk about OTT fabulosity. Stunning.

6. Speaking of stunning, Michelangelo's David definitely fits the description. It's much bigger than you'd expect, and is pretty awe-inspiring.

7. Something slightly negative now: Not to be sweeping and all, but our impression of the Romans was not really the most positive: There was the snobby waiter who told us snootily that the restaurant was fully booked when it was empty (maybe it was true, but it really looked unlikely. There was the impatient waitress who chided us just because some of us took a bit more time to decide our orders. And the winner: The Roman police. So when Melissa went to the police station to lodge a report for her lost passport, a policeman came out from a room, told her to wait 10 minutes, then went back in. Something important he needed to attend to first? Yeah, the football game which had another 10 min to run! Football's life and death, I suppose.

8. Italian food joints are apparently divided into 3 price/class tiers - the top is the ristaurante, the middle is the trattoria and the casual one is the osteria (which I initially thought was a place which sold oysters mainly - not a bad deduction I contend, given you have pizzerias, spaghetterias, gelaterias and even burgerias.).

9. Posted it on FB, but proud to announce that I had at least one gelato cone a day for 11 days. Mostly two scoops each time, but 3 a few times when I felt extra hungry. If you happen to visit Rome, go to this gelateria called Old Bridge, which you'll pass on your way to the Vatican Museum. Cheap, good, voluminous scoops, and friendly staff who can speak conversational Mandarin.

10. It wasn't just all ancient ruins and museums and churches in our itinerary. We spent 3 days in Cinque Terre, a UNESCO heritage site of gorgeous hilly cliffs, which we spent a large part of a day hiking across. Combine that with the number of stairs we climbed scaling towers in Pisa and Florence, and I swear I do more exercise during vacation then I do during term time.

11. Did the usual McD's in a foreign country visit. Nothing too exotic though, except a McItaly. Hamburgers are 50 cents apiece in Milan though.

12. People must think the group I traveled with was a bunch of gambling obsessed Asians. We were playing bridge any and everywhere that we were stationary for more than 10 seconds. Like waiting in line to board a plane. Asses plopped on carry-on suitcases, out come the cards. Still pretty bad at the whole card-counting malarkey though.

13. Venice is truly a unique sight to behold. No cars, and most of the buildings have been around for centuries, so what you'll see is essentially what people in the 1500s saw.

14. Unfortunately, my food experiences in Italy were a bit of a letdown. Perhaps it's because I'd set expectations too high, but none of the pastas/pizzas I had were of the host-of-a-food-programme-gushing-orgasmically-kind. It's probably also because we ate at cheap joints most of the time of budgetary reasons, but still, people do wax lyrical over plain ol' spaghetti bolognese. Perhaps good, cheap pasta is found only in Bologna (where we sadly only stopped at to change trains).

15. I have to give a shout out to Hilary (that's her anglicised name. It's Hilaria or something like that in Italian), our amazing guide to our Doge's Palace visit. Great narration of the story of Casanova's escape from the Venetian prison. At certain points, the tour group was like a bunch of kids sitting in a library listening spell-bounded to her spinning her tales. Tour guides should all be like her!

16. Those Emporio Armani ads featuring Megan Fox and Cristiano Ronaldo could be found everywhere. Makes sense what with the country being the home of Armani.

17. The original plan was to head back to London from Venice. However, upon getting to the airport, we learn that our flight had been canceled because of an airport staff strike (they had the cheek to be marching for support there! Grr.). Ervin paid 400 Euros to get a BA flight the same day because he had another flight to catch in London the next day, whilst the rest of us stayed another night in Venice, hauled ass to Milan the next day to catch a flight back from there. Only got to see the Milanese train station, and that was it.

18. 'Ciao' is used a lot indeed for greetings. Besides a plain 'ciao!', you can often go 'ciao ciao!" in quick succession. For additional emphasis, I suppose.

Gelato with stunning scenery is always a good way to end a post.

Crossing Musical Borders

2010-04-15T07:49:00.000+08:00

While blogging about the topic of Chinese here, I was reminded of a topic that I've been fascinated by, which is the successful export of Japanese, and to a lesser extent, Korean pop culture to the West relative to the export of Chinese pop culture. Music affioncados in Europe and the States sometimes adore Japanese/Korean pop/rock. Some of my American friends love Korean boybands. Some indie music blogs will post news of Namie Amuro or something. Bascially, one could say that there's some sort of niche audience for J/K-pop in the West, and they've sorta got cult status. It would be 'cool' to like L'Arc-en-Ciel, like how it's 'cool' to like the Animal Collective, if you get what I mean.

It's not the same for movies though. Japanese movies are of course appreciated in the West, with the likes of Kurosawa's Seven Samurai being universally acknowledged as a classic. South Korea's Park Chan-Wook attained cult status too. But Chinese films also get love from the West. John Woo and Ang Lee have crossed over to Hollywood, and directors like Wong Kar Wai, Edward Yang and Hou Hsiao Hsien are respected internationally.

But somehow, that is not the case for Chinese music, which puzzles me. The closest thing I can think of would be Faye Wong when she did 'Eyes on Me' for Final Fantasy. But still, no one was interested in her Chinese work. Even the indie-est of indie music lovers would not be into Chinese music. And I wonder why. Is it the ballad-heavy nature of Chinese music that doesn't translate? Is it that there is more originality to be found in J/K-pop, compared to Chinese pop, which I must say can be highly derivative? Is there some sort of cultural affinity that the West feels towards Japan, and to a lesser extent, Korea? Does Japan's status as a first-world, G7 country have anything to do with said cultural affinity? I don't know. I just feel like there is a lot of good to be found in Chinese music and I'd like for it to gain a wider audience beyond Chinese-speaking shores.

Toilet Debate settled: Up or Down

2010-04-14T04:07:00.005+08:00

I found this and just thought I should post it: It's an economics paper by a Michigan State Uni professor. The link is here. But here's the abstract:

This paper develops an economic analysis of the toilet seat etiquette, that is, whether the toilet seat should be left up or down. I investigate whether there is any efficiency justification for the presumption that men should leave the toilet seat down after use. I find that the “down rule” is inefficient unless there is a large degree of asymmetry in the inconvenience costs of shifting the position of the toilet seat across genders. I show that the “selfish” or the “status quo” rule that leaves the toilet seat in the position used dominates the down rule in a wide range of parameter spaces including the case where the inconvenience costs are the same. The analysis can be applied to other shared facilities that can be customized to each user’s preference.

Here's the evidence you need, guys out there who live/ share bathrooms with women or anyone who insists that the toilet seat should always be down. Just sayin'.
To be fair, I share a flat now with 4 gals, so this analysis doesn't work in my case given the asymmetry in inconvenience costs. Sucks for me!

Random notes on Morocco

2010-03-29T23:57:00.015+08:00

Back from 10 days in Le Maroq!

1. Morocco is really diverse climate-wise. I was expecting dry, dusty landscapes, but while Marrakesh matched my impression, Fez was actually really green, almost Cameron Highlands-like in its cool dampness.

2. Got to ride my first ever camel and donkey. The former is definitely a much smoother ride than the latter.

3. On the subject of camels, they poop. A lot. On our 1 hour ride into the desert, they pooped quite literally every 10 seconds on average. Mostly light pellets, with the occasional plop of a big dump.

3. Spent a night sleeping in the tent in the Sahara desert. Pretty much didn't shower or brushed teeth and just went straight to bed, with boots still on even.

4. Peed twice in the desert, then washed my hands with sand.

5. Saharan sand is incredibly fine.

6. Night time in the vast expanse of the desert was not as dark as I'd expected. With no other light source distracting, the moon actually provides enough light for one to walk around without feeling blind.

7. Asian tourists are rare commodities, especially in Tangier, where two girls accosted us on the street for photos.

8. Moroccans speak French more slowly than the French do, which was great for me as I could understand much more of it. I basically served as the interpreter for the group the whole time and got to practice my French a lot. Their French is not very good, I gotta say. Mine's pretty crappy and still I could detect numerous mispronunciations from various people.

9. Still not a big fan of couscous, which is a popular dish in Morocco. Their beans soup is pretty great though.

10. Due to budgetary reasons, had enough bread in 10 days to last me a lifetime (or at least the next month).

11. Worse olfactory experience of my life in visiting a tannery (leather-making joint). Makes you appreciate the price of leather, as you imagine that the workers have to endure that day in day out.

12. At said tannery, we were sorta threatened. We were promised a free tour, but as we left, were told we had to pay the 'guardian' (bad Arabic-English translation from the guide probably) of the tannery 50dh each. When we refused, he said he could not guarantee our safety afterward then. We settled at 20dh each eventually. "Student discount" for us.

13. Like in Turkey, as we walk in markets, shop owners, random people, touts all shout out "Japonais? Korean? Chinois?" to us. 98% of the time, their first guess is Japanese, reflecting Japan's status as the richest Asian country and hence the one with the most tourists of course. One guy said Singapore in his first try, which was pretty cool. Someone else said Taiwan. Independence-leaning Taiwanese would have been so happy.

14. Speaking of this nationality/ethnicity guesswork of the locals, many like instead to say "Jackie Chan?", then strike a gong-fu pose with requisite sound effect. A whole bunch of soccer-playing kids in Tangier showed off their full repertoire gong-fu moves with enthusiasm as we walked past them. We can anoint Mr. Chan as officially the most famous Asian face globally, methinks.

15. It seems Moroccans are fans of Bollywood. I noticed more of Bollywood titles than Western ones in the pirated DVD shops we came across.

16. Oxonian Singaporeans are all musically talented. Caleb and Elizabeth play the violin, Rachel can do guitar and drums, Junny can do guitar and just picked up the ukelele, which he brought along for the trip. The night in the Sahara, outside our tent, with candles lit, we jammed along with 3 German girls, who were in our same traveling van, to Coldplay, Howie Day, the Beatles as Junny played the ukelele. And for many of the songs, Elizabeth and Junny simply worked out the chords on the spot. I was impressed.

17. Moroccan cities ostensibly have colour schemes, as reflected in the buildings. Marrakesh is orange, Fez is green and Tangier is white.

18. While French carries the day in Marrakesh and Fez, in Tangiers, due to its proximity to Spain, more people speak Spanish and even English then French, it seemed.

19. Medinas (Old cities) are an assault to one's senses. From the donkeys, horses, motorcycles that stream by constantly, to the flies and bees, one is constantly overwhelmed.

20. Had my must-have McDonald's in a foreign country experience in Fez. It was a pretty atas looking setup, gotta say. I had one of the special burgers (outside of the usual McMacs, Fillet o' Fish etc, of which there were 3, that was called "Mythic Chicken". Actual burger wasn't quite as epic as it sounds. Twas basically a McChicken, but larger, and with cheese and tomato slices tossed in. They had awesome fries though.

Kindle-free 2009

2010-03-17T02:04:00.005+08:00

Just thought I should catalogue the list of non-academic-related books I read, which I started to do so last year on Twitter. The bulk of it was done over the long summer, plus one more in December. There is no time for leisure reading during term time for sure.

Fiction:
Max Brooks - World War Z
Cormac McCarthy - The Road
Cormac McCarthy - No Country for Old Men
Robert Harris - Fatherland
Margaret Atwood - Alias Grace
Jamie O'Neill - At Swim, Two Boys
Jose Saramago - Blindness
Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited
David Leavitt - The Lost Language of Cranes

Non-fiction:
Noam Chomsky - Failed States
Michael Pollan - In Defense of Food
Naomi Klein - The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
Leffler M. & Legro J. (Eds) - To Lead the World: American Strategy after the Bush Doctrine
Joseph Stiglitz - Globalization and its discontents
Bertrand Russell - Why I am not a Christian & Other Essays

Of them all, At Swim, Two Boys, The Road, and The Shock Doctrine joined my list of all-time favourites.

华语 Cool

2010-03-06T09:36:00.007+08:00

I've told some friends this, but for some reason, I've grown to appreciate Chinese, whether as a language or as a culture, so much more since I've been overseas for school. I mean, I was never one of the those 'too cool for Mandarin' type of 'banana' Chinese Singaporeans who sneered at those who were not fluent in English and spoke the 'Cheena' language (I saw so many in my course in poly). I speak Mandarin at home, come from a Chinese secondary school, listen to Mandopop, and twice participated in Chinese freakin' poetry recital competitions! But I was still very much Anglo-leaning, in that I craved and consumed mostly Western pop culture, spoke mostly English outside of home, and of course, wanted to head to a Western country for uni. I prided myself in being reasonably bilingual, but the relationship I had with Chinese was one more of utility.

My opinion changed when i headed to the U.S. Somehow, being submerged totally in English became really limiting, even slightly oppressive. And I found myself listening so much more to Chinese music. Stefanie Sun I already loved, but I think the musical love of my college life has to be Tanya Chua (More on her music in an upcoming post, soon, hopefully). I paid closer attention to the lyrics and really grew to appreciate the poetry of it. I youtubed Taiwanese variety shows to watch occasionally. I reveled in heading to Chinatown and getting to speak or try to speak Cantonese everywhere I went. I felt humbled whenever I'd attempt to speak Mandarin to Chinese internationals, but I was always keen to try (The best is this year, where I got to know this American student who's incredibly fluent in Mandarin, and participated in those international Mandarin debates for non-native speakers representing Yale. Wow, I was so humbled by his knowledge of Chinese idioms!)

Also, coming from a young country, I was amazed at the history of New York, just in its architecture for example. The gorgeous brownstones certainly have so much more character than our HDBs! Of course, America was the minor league when I got to Oxford. How utterly mind-blowing it was to see these grand colleges, all built when Singapore was, as we know so well from history textbooks, a mere fishing village! But my point is that seeing all this history in the U.S and especially here in the U.K., I found myself thinking about how as amazing as all of it was, China's got 5000 years worth of history! Beat that, suckers! hah. I don't know, I guess it just brought to me clarity on how deep Chinese history and culture is, and I find myself now wanting to visit China really badly.

This year, I've been reading so much about the Enlightenment in relation to my politics tutorials, and to read of all these thinkers and their universalised theories of good/right and sit in class hearing my tutor talk about them like they're the be all and end all of political theory... I don't know, it irked me slightly because I just felt all of it were developments in reaction to very culturally specific historical occurrences and thus cannot or should not claim to speak for all of men... (ugh, I swear, this made more sense going through my head during tutorial!) I guess my point is that it made me want to find out if Chinese philosophy provided any counter-points, especially since it developed in such different conditions compared to the Western Judeo-Christian world (I'm sure other non-Occidental cultures, like the Islamic world, have really different ideas too)!

Perhaps this new-found appreciation of all things Chinese occurred because something that becomes rare always becomes more valuable. Perhaps it was because once away from Singapore, one can break free from the negative socioeconomic connotations of the language (Ang mo pai4 vs'cheena piang' is essentially cosmopolitan vs heartlander recast in linguistic terms, no?). Perhaps it's because going to places where a lot of people are monolingual, one develops pride in being able to speak two languages. Perhaps it's because, in line with the previous statement, it feels shiok to be able to have fun with friends and shout vulgarities in Chinese in foreign countries without anyone else knowing what we're saying. Whatever it is, I'm glad because it has allowed me to appreciate the language and to want to explore the culture so much more.

I've tried taken concrete steps to do so. For the last summer vacation, I had quite a reading spree, if anyone who follows me on Twitter would notice (how I flatter myself!). I think I read something like 15 books in those four months. And I wanted to read some Chinese books actually. I remember Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma was constantly out on loan in the library, but the Chinese one was available, so I thought: Hey, why not! But I soon gave up =( It seems like 99% of the books in Chinese are printed the up-down, right-left way, which I found so difficult to get through! So, fail for me on that attempt. For now though, I'll just continue to listen to my Mandopop and marvel at the lyrical wonders of Xiao Han, and continue to hone my Cantonese skills at Chinese provision shops/restaurants. I promise though that this summer, I [i]will[/i] get through at least one book in Chinese! I just need to search harder for one that reads from left to right! The pilgrimage to ancestral lands will have to wait a bit though, as I'm not sure when I'll have the money to do so! Ah, I so regret not doing the Beijing Olympics...

Addendum: As much as I've waxed lyrical about the beauty of Chinese and all here, I'm not of Camp 'All Chinese S'poreans should be able to speak Mandarin, if not shame on you". It's cool if you don't, you just don't need to look down on people who do. I do recognise the fact that Mandarin is in no way inherent to Chinese S'poreans. Like all things on our island, the assertion of Mandarin as our 'native' mother tongue was very much engineered by our leaders to achieve their desired social/political goals.

A Penny for Them Thoughts

2010-02-21T23:59:00.003+08:00

I had some (probably less than original) thoughts about the racial and religious composition of the Singaporean community in Oxford (and by extrapolation, Cambridge as well) and its implications and prognostications. But I decided to impose on myself the much-discussed OB markers (real or imagined? still up in the air?) and shut my trap.

In other news, I'm looking forward to Easter break, and more traveling.

Mad Skillz, y'all

2010-02-01T11:37:00.003+08:00

This just needed to be posted:

Cristiano would be proud.

And how about this for a counter-attack?

United at their Fergie-influenced best: Swift, incisive, effective breaks. All hail King Rooney!

The art of the question

2010-01-22T07:58:00.003+08:00

Why should people obey the law?
Why do people obey the law?
Why do people think they should obey the law?

Gotta love political theory!

我已是陌生人了

2009-12-12T07:27:00.003+08:00

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. -- sums up aptly my Oxford experience thus far, I think. There've been moments of sheer exhilaration, and days of utter isolation and despondency. Sometimes, I wish I were less of a sentimental and nostalgic person, and could stop reliving or thinking about past moments. Because that's just it - it's history, so there's nothing I can do to change anything, and thinking about it certainly won't. I should try to forget the past and live for the future. But who or what are we, if not the sum of our histories?

Experience is a dialectic, so even if I can't control how I feel, I can control how I view how I feel. Hopefully, my experiences at Oxford will make me a better person, in every sense of the word. That's all I could ask for.

Life is short. Carpe diem, and be thankful for what I have. It's hard, but I'll try to remind myself often.

The first entirely non-instant meal I cooked in Oxford

2009-10-17T07:01:00.007+08:00

So I've been here in Oxford for close to three weeks now. The city is absolutely beautiful, the work load is ridiculously heavy, but this post isn't about either topic.

For the past two year in NY, I've not really cooked since I had a meal plan package that was provided for with my financial aid. But alas, here, no more free meals, which meant that either I could eat out daily (incidentally, prices here are not out of this world - they're expensive definitely, but no more than in NY, I think. But the difference is that American portions are gigantic, so you can either stuff yourself or tar-pau for the next day. Here, it's back to regular portions. :( ), or I could attempt to save money by cooking.

So I've been doing the whole cooking thing with regularity thus far, with a caveat. Everything I had cooked began with something instant - it was always instant noodles, instant Maggi porridge (which travelled the distance with me), or pasta with instant sauce. To be fair, I'd add lots of fresh veg to those so they were sorta healthy meals. But yesterday, I finally cooked a meal entirely from scratch! I cooked rice (without a rice cooker!), boiled bak choy (damn expensive. 1.83 pounds for TWO large stalks. lol) and fried some chicken breast (method: some olive oil, throw in different herbs shit like oregano, paprika, mixed herbs, ground black pepper, soy sauce, and just fry. lol).

Result:
Voila rice with chicken (I don't know what to describe the style/flavour, lol), bak choy with oyster sauce and fresh tomatoes.

Ok, so the rice was a bit soggy (again - without rice cooker!) and the chicken could be more tender (decided to err on the side of let's not get bird flu or some shit by undercooking it). But I'm proud of it! yay~

Oh, and I cooked extra rice and saved it for the next day where I made fried rice! Apparently, you have to use overnight rice cause it's drier or something. I fried it with tomatoes, sausages and egg. 'Twas edible, if I may say so!

Hopefully, there'll be future editions of Sterling's culinary adventures in Oxford! (Sneak preview: I did bring over chicken rice paste, nasi briyani paste from SG...)