Almost Journalist

Que Sera Sera

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 04 Dec 2013 15:00:00 +0000

"Why do you want to be a journalist?" I didn't have the answer back then and I still don't have the answer now.

Instead I find myself questioning the all-too familiar soliloquy of "When I grow up I want to be"?

When we were kids, we were forced to come up with lucrative ambitions such as doctor, lawyer, accountant and the like.

Have we ever asked, what for? I was about 8 or 9 when I told my parents that I aspired to be a Biologist. I had not even learned division at that time.

At one point I was known as the most talkative student in class, so my mom thought I would be a good lawyer some day. My brother, who was chubby before hitting puberty, was automatically the future towkah gudang beras.

Oh yeah, it was all fun and games "deciding" what your children would be in the future until you realize their true calling. Some kids would actually grow up to be doctors and lawyers while some would just settle for ordinary jobs to make ends meet. The rest are hipsters.

I would say that what I'm doing right now is a cross between "hipsters" and "white-collar". I am in a love-hate relationship with what I do, as anyone is, I'm sure.

Besides the terribly mundane routine consisting of public transports, traffic jams and 12-hour shifts, I'm okay with where I stand today.

Truth is, I never believed in my "cita-cita" or made any efforts to achieve it. It was just something I had to fill in classmates' biodata books. Come on, we've all been there.

If my future children ever tell me that they want to be a doctor/lawyer/accountant/engineer I will bitch-slap them for lying, haha. Okay obviously I won't do that. Instead I will tell them to be truthful to themselves. You want to be a gold miner? Be my guest. You want to be a lap sap lou? Sure.

And you know what? My ambitions will forever be just ambitions and it doesn't matter. Because I was a lawyer for the brief moment when I decided to be one. I was a doctor for the span of 30 episodes of a TVB drama. And I was a Biologist when I was 8.

So, "Why do you want to be..."

To save lives? To uphold justice?

I don't know. I just happened to be here.

Behind the byline

noreply@blogger.com (Chester Chin) — Wed, 04 Dec 2013 11:24:00 +0000

To be a voice of social change that rearranges the world's perspective.

If you folks recall, that was the ambitious answer I provided when the question, "Why did you decide to take up journalism?" was posed during a tutorial class.

Granted, it wasn't the most original thing I had ever said. It's actually a line from a Rachael Yamagata song heh (I can just imagine the mindfuck moment in Song's head when she read this revelation).

But that's besides the point, you see.

I've always held a romanticised notion of journalism, an ideal that I foolishly subscribed to throughout our three years at the Kampar campus of Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman.

Now that I'm a full-fledged journalist at the nation's ahem, leading English-language daily (sorry lah, masuk bakul a bit, can?), you'd probably be wondering: What's changed?

Well, not much really.

I might not be reporting on hard-hitting issues like what our dear friends Shelyn, Lee Xien and Isaac are doing. But if anything, being in the features section is no excuse to take the job lightly.

On several occasions, I've been rudely awakened to the reality of the profession. Most notably, the 3-line Alicia Keys' "concert review". But let's save that story for another day.

What I'm trying to say is; as a journalist, you're working under the scrutiny of the public eye - a fact which is easily disregarded when you're writing your stories on a tight deadline from the confines of the newsroom. All the while hoping the copy clearers won't screw you over for your writing style.

It goes without saying that each job brings with it its own set of hurdles and satisfactions. (So uhm, like please write about your working experience already lah!)

An editor once said to me, "Journalism is a job that rewards the soul."

It all sounds terribly Hallmark-y, but it couldn't have been further from the truth. I constantly learn new things about myself on the job and there's never a dull day at the office thanks to really awesome colleagues and bosses.

But then again, I've only been working for 5 months now. It's true what they say about journalists being a cynical bunch.

XX
Chester

Westlake's Decadent Night Culture

noreply@blogger.com (Chester Chin) — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 15:38:00 +0000

By CALYN ONG, CHESTER CHIN, CHONG KAH YUAN, SONG SOOK KIN and TING ZHAO SONG

Smashed beer bottles, cigarette butts and torn junk food packets.

Walk through the lakeside promenade and Beijing precinct at Westlake in Kampar on a Saturday morning and chances are you will be greeted by these items strewn across the pavement. Moved by this filthy sight, our reporting team decided to look into the matter and discovered a debauched night life culture at the Westlake housing area in this quaint little town

Clean up one’s act : It is more than time for the students to get their act together besides cleaning up after themselves after a night of running riot.

During one of the team’s midnight stakeouts at Jalan Seksyen 1/1 in Westlake, we discovered a group of young people who were engaging in rowdy behaviour. They were shouting and screaming in ecstasy. We tried to approach the group but were stopped by a female member who said in Mandarin, “Don’t come near! War is starting”. Minutes later, they started giving chase and threw a white powdery substance at each other while laughing hysterically.

On the same night, about 100 meters away from this group of students, a black Proton Wira was seen parked across the row of houses along the road. What set this particular vehicle apart from the other cars there was that it was blasting loud music from its stereo. The shocking thing was that all this transpired at the wee hours of the morning when everyone has fallen asleep.

Driven by this course of events, our reporting team approached Danish House Sdn. Bhd. at their office in Manchester. The company managed the majority of hostels at Westlake. Not only that, their company is also responsible for supplying neighbourhood security within this housing vicinity.

When asked for comments regarding this night activities in Westlake, the representative at the Customer Service desk declined to provide an answer. When pressed further by one of our reporters, she hesitated before finally saying that the company can’t divulge such information.

Unsatisfied with this rigid response, two of our reporters went undercover and visited the Danish House Westlake Oxford office. Posing as students with a complaint regarding the ruckus at the Beijing precinct, the Customer Service officer gave our reporters a card that contained mobile hotline number. She then proceeded by telling them that occupants can just ring up the number and security personnel will check out the issue.

With this piece of information, we paid the guard house a visit at night and spoke to Salleh bin Din, a security guard who is in charge of night patrol at the Westlake neighbourhood. According to Salleh, the noise and littering issue in Westlake is nothing new. The Danish House Management has received many complaints from the residents throughout the years.

When asked if the management is doing anything to solve this, Salleh gave the same answer as the one given earlier by the second Customer Service desk we visited. “Yes, a hotline number is provided and the residents can call us if they find the noise too unbearable or probably if they happened to encounter any dangerous situation,” he said. However, Salleh said the security will only take action after midnight, unless if the matter needs immediate action.

He added that sometimes those residents, whom he assumed are also varsity students, will talk back when reprimanded, probably because they are drunk. “All of this is actually quite worrisome because we also have Tan Sri Hew See Tong living right across the Beijing Park,” Salleh elaborated further.

Double bind : The security guard faces some difficulties in warding off the noise and littering issues. Can he fulfill his responsibilities by rebuking the students for the sake of protecting other students?

Tan Sri Hew See Tong, a tin miner-turned-developer is one of the individuals who gave Kampar a new lease of life by getting Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) to set up a campus in the town.

The security guard also voiced his concern over the rubbish littered after the many parties the students have at the Beijing precinct. “We will take down their contact details if we see them having such gatherings. If any complaints of the gatherings received, we will contact them directly. But that is about all we can do, we can’t possibly stop them from drinking or even stop the parties as we don’t have such authority.”

We also found out from some of the Beijing residents that the late night disturbance has been occurring on a regular basis every now and then. When one of the residents, Fong Renee was asked regarding the ruckuses near Beijing Park, she said that it is nothing new and she is starting to get used to the noise at night.

According to Wong Han Hui, a foundation student from UTAR who is also staying at Beijing, her housemates and her would not bother about the noises, but when it is near to examination period, she feels extremely annoyed by the inconsiderate students, and some of them are not even Beijing residents.

What Wong said was true, our reporters observed that the group of students drove and cycled away from Beijing after the party ended. Wong also added that some of the students were acting like illiterate peasants in her past experience. “They were so rude when I personally asked them to tune down a bit, instead of apologising, they just ignore my words. They even turned up the stereo volume!”

The party aftermath that can be clearly seen in the morning has proven that most of the students do not clean after their own mess. To further obtain information regarding the night culture which has emerged in Westlake, particularly the lakeside promenade, we went to the Kampar Municipal Council. With the help of Mohammad Shafiq bin Mohammad Salim, who is an officer in the Sanitation Department, we managed to attain a more in-depth analysis of the littering issue.

Drink it up : Evidences of intoxicant consumptions and dregs is an unbecoming trend bringing close resemblance to the acts of mat rempit in the city.

According to Shafiq, the municipal council has received tonnes of complaints from the public regarding the filthy scene at the lakeside pavement. “It is not just a matter of hygiene, these broken beer bottles left on the pavement can be very dangerous for the people who pass by the lakeside,” said Shafiq.

The lakeside pavement that links UTAR to Westlake is a highly utilised route in the morning. Some use it for jogging while most of the students who live in Westlake walk or cycle to UTAR through that pavement.

Shafiq told us that the council has not come up with a solution other than cleaning up the pavement every morning. He explained that the lakeside pavement is a public place. Therefore, neither the council nor the police have the authority to disallow people from having beer at the lakeside.

“We tried sorting the problem out by reaching the Danish House, but there was no fruitful outcome.” On his personal view, Shafiq commented that when there is a bunch of twenty somethings consuming alcohol at the lakeside, anything could possibly go wrong.

All this risqué behaviour is actually helping to build a non-flattering image of the Kampar varsity students’ community. The booming roars of the stereo so often accompanied by indecent squealing and loud whoopee draw a close resemblance with the infamous mat rempit found throughout the city.

Flotsam and jetsam : The panorama of the lake is tainted by the remaining debris leftovers of the students’ misconduct from the night before.

To make the gap between mat rempits and a bunch of excited hormone-driven undergraduates even thinner, they purchase Guinness and Tiger beers from time to time at the local mini market in Westlake. A shopkeeper who only wishes to be known as Mr Tan told us that his sundry shop which is operating within Westlake has often time sold out many of these beers at night.

When asked why he decided to carry alcoholic beverages knowing that most of the residents are students, Tan replied that it is an individual’s prerogative whether or not to purchase it. “The thing about students is that when there is no parental supervision, they have to take responsibility for their own action. If they want to drink beer, then that is their own choice,” Tan offered and added that he is just a “shopkeeper”.

However, Tan is very skeptical of the security team’s effectiveness. “Sometimes, this problem brings into question a matter of security here in Westlake. What about the securities? Why aren’t any actions taken to reduce the ruckus?” Tan who is from Penang commented.

If a local shopkeeper could have this notion despite being a resident of Westlake himself, then what would others possibly think of the security here? A security that allows the cause of disturbance to run wild and rampant in a neighbourhood where it is mostly populated by students?

To make matters worse, the wrongdoers are varsity students to begin with. When outsiders have a chance encounter of this kind of scenario, it is inevitable that people would link the misconduct of the UTAR students to the university itself. This in turn will denigrate the institution’s reputation as a respectable university.

From a bunch of boisterous, even downright reckless people who pump up the stereo, to people who kick up a huge racket screaming in the middle of the night, these are the epitomical acts of ignorance towards the consideration of others who reside at the Westlake.

While the culprits may not have harmed other residents in any physical way, rumors has circulated that a certain motorbike gang had been going around swinging their helmets at random passers-by along the walkway that leads to the housing area.

Ma Foong Mei, an undergraduate of UTAR, was one of those who were alarmed by the news. “People are saying that these mysterious bikers are seriously injuring students who happen to be walking along the walkway. However, I do not know how far true the rumor is.”

At the moment, night patrols have also proved to be futile. There is only so much a security guard could do before a drunkard retaliates, sometimes dangerously. Students in the midst of studying for their examinations would also have to bear the unwarranted pandemonium.

Perhaps it is time for the ones calling the shots to step up and concoct a better solution to solve this issue before it blows up to a level that could threaten lives and the university’s reputation.

Norse Gods vs. Bloodsuckers

noreply@blogger.com (Chester Chin) — Mon, 16 May 2011 15:41:00 +0000

A mythical god of thunder goes head on with a bunch bloodthirsty priests who hunt down vampires in a prelude to the release of other popcorn flicks in the summer of 2011 . CHESTER CHIN and SONG SOOK KIN provide their two cents on two of this year's blockbuster movies Twitter style!

Follow our resident M&M contributors @chesterchin and @Kaejuu on Twitter as they occasionally tweet about music, movies and a myriad of other random stuff.

中学女生被同学剪发事件

noreply@blogger.com (DecembeR XiaN) — Sat, 07 May 2011 13:42:00 +0000

作者：郭芸贤

就在数个钟头前，面子书再次掀起了一片热潮。这热潮起源不是来自于任何最新球赛，也不是再次有美少年为情自杀，这一切都出自于一段一群同学欺凌一个女生的短片。

在这段短片里，有一位中学女生被一群同学嘲笑，甚至头发还被她的同学用剪刀剪得不成“发”形。那位中学女生在短片中哭泣着，还请求同学们收手。她的同学们不但不收手，甚至还不停地嘲笑以及辱骂她。在短片里，甚至还有一幕是其中一位施暴者作势地把受害者的领带勒在受害者的颈项。

这短片没有正确地说明为何这位女生被同学们欺凌，而只是注明了几位施暴者的面子书户口以及一位施暴者的部落格。

许多网友看了这短片后都为受害者感到怜悯，因此还在面子书开了好几个网页用以辱骂那几位施暴者。许多不满的网友甚至到其中一位施暴者的部落格发泄他们的不满，用了许多不雅的语言与字眼辱骂她。

根据其中一位施暴者的面子书，她说明自己是被人诬赖的，她根本不是短片里的施暴者，她还说了施暴者是另有其人而不是她与她的朋友。

校园暴力的风气似乎已经在马来西亚成形了，每隔一段期间，面子书上便会出现有人被欺凌的短片。对于这种事件的发生，该学校应当负起最大的责任，而马来西亚政府也该对这些事件作出适当的解决方案。

〉〉〉此事件的欺凌短片-----按入便可观看。

这是其中一位怀疑是短片中施暴者的面子书。

其中红框里的句子是当事人说明自己不是短片里的施暴者，而是被无赖的。

这是网友们对于此事件在面子书设立的网页。

这是其中一个本地报纸对这件事件的报导。

对于此事件，作者的看法：

在这短片里学生们的做法是非常不正确的。她们不该因为自己的私欲而对同学作出如此的羞辱。如果想像自己才是那位被人家嘲笑，侮辱，以及被剪头发的当事人，我想请问那些施暴者，你们有何感受？

这短片里的施暴者都很年轻，这是不是就说明了我们马来西亚的教育有多失败？本来作为未来的主人翁的学生们竟然到变成了羞辱同学以及欺凌同学的暴力者？

当施暴者的父母看见自己的儿女如何对待他们的同学？他们该如何面对这一切？

其他父母看到此事件的短片后，该如何保护他们的子女？他们还愿意把孩子交给学校去管教吗？

这一切都是让人痛心的。

人人都不该为了一时的私欲以及贪玩而去伤害人家，这也许会影响你的一辈子。

Dear UTAR's IT Department

noreply@blogger.com (Chester Chin) — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 18:01:00 +0000

For many years now, the UTAR official website has been notorious for being annoyingly bland and sufficiently unattractive. The predominantly simple background and monotonous texts not only reflect poorly on the university's savvy (or lack of it) when it comes to webpage designing but also denigrates the varsity's reputation as a whole.

As a matter of fact, a friend who is studying at a university in New Zealand once told me that the UTAR website was used as a "don't" example during his webpage designing lesson (the veracity of his statement though remains uncontested). Now, wouldn't you agree that this calls for a reform?

First impression matters and in this scenario, I daresay that the website is not doing any justice to the university's image in its mission to be at the pinnacle of education among other respectable groves of academe. In this day and age of technological advancement, the Internet is the primary source of information for prospective students when they are shopping for their choice of education. It shouldn't as a surprise then that the university's official webpage will pop up at the top of the search. However, given the mediocre page layout, the aforementioned students might be deterred from exploring the site more extensively.

Aesthetics aside, what bothered me the most is the fact that the website lacks information that is vital for prospective students. Take the Faculty of Arts and Social Science's page as an example, the Department of Journalism specifically. I was gobsmacked when I discovered that there were hardly any information on the page except for the course structure and synopsis. Even that particular info hasn't been updated since 2009!

Some might argue that the basics such as admission and academic course information are provided. The way I see it, the information just border on a superficial front. What about those who would want more in-depth details? On this, the naysayers would probably refute by claiming that students can head on to the campuses and talk to the counselors. But wouldn't it be less of a hassle for both the students and parents if they can get as much information as possible through the online medium?

In fact, all these extensive information might wow the students and prompt them to head on to the campus and check out the surrounding of the university. Besides, a hundred trees could be saved along the way by limiting the number of glossy pages in the varsity's prospectus booklet.

Putting negative remarks aside, I have to concur that UTAR has made some vast improvements to it's webpage in recent times. The IT department is even doing a great job at ensuring a smoother process during the course registration period (partly thanks to the efforts of a certain Students' Council no doubt). However, these improvements are coming at a painstakingly slow pace.

The esteemed President of UTAR, Ir. Professor Dato' Dr Chuah Hean Teik mentioned that he "hope that as you take a glimpse of UTAR on our website, you will take the first step towards joining our thriving UTAR community" in his welcome message.

In this case, I'd say that the glimpse offered on the website is a less than spectacular one. A shame really considering the fact that this academic institution has state of the art facilities and exceptional as well as experienced teaching staff but that image is shattered by a lackluster first impression in the form of its website.

Yours faithfully

Chester Chin

Haters Anonymous

noreply@blogger.com (Chester Chin) — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 16:01:00 +0000

By CHESTER CHIN

People are getting more bold. Or at least their online persona is. Check out any videos on YouTube and chances are the top rated comments would be ones that have a smart ass criticism about how God-awful the song/ artist/ video direction/ video production/ video lighting/ *insert your choice of complaint here* is. That or they will be defending the video in vain.

If you know what is good for you, you'll stick to the crowd and do the former. Because in the event where you do defend that particular video, you'll probably just end up inciting more hate comments. If you're lucky, you'll be called a faggot. If you're not, well, take a trip down homophobic paranoia lane.

All this critical approach to things would have been a warm welcome in lieu with the birth of a vocal thinking society if not for the hardcore fact that in reality, most of us don't have the balls to say half the things we say online.

"The Internet has given people an artificial confidence in themselves to say things that they wouldn't normally say away from the virtual platform. People feel safer when they have this 'curtain' of anonymity protecting them when they make harsh comments. When they realised such shield exists, it gave them a false sense of confidence," said Julian Gan, a 21 year-old student majoring in Psychology at University of Canterbury.

Song Sook Kin from Taiping shared the same sentiments with Gan.

"One can fully express themselves better when they remove the pressure of being associated with that particular comment," said the 20 year-old Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman Journalism student.

However, this does not mean that she endorses the act of hating anonymously online. Far from approving such acts, Song thinks that is is "cowardly" to post up hurtful comments on online forums and YouTube videos .

"All these anonymous haters probably found comfort in knowing that they can retract their statement with a click," Gan answered when asked for additional reason that prompt people to post up such comments.

This begs the question, does deleting a hurtful comment takes away the sense of pain and humiliation that is inflicted by the remarks made in the first place?

Gan doubts so. "The pain and humiliation does not go away with the removal of the comment. It is very likely that the person who was targeted in the hate comment will never be able to remove that stinging memory from his psyche."

The truth is posting hate comments online has a bigger consequence than say, passing the remark over coffee with your girlfriends. Given the universal quality of the Internet, things might reach catastrophic proportion if you ruffled the wrong feathers.

"With the Internet, it is very easy for things to go viral. In the case where your hate comment becomes the next trending topic on Twitter, it won't take long before it reached the whole world," said 21 year-old Michelle Leong, a student at Sunway University.

"Memorable comments can go viral, international and can do so much damage to a person," Song further affirmed Leong's statement.

If you can't see the magnitude of this scenario. Try picturing someone from an oppressed developing country commenting that the Prime Minister is an imbecile who should probably just stick his rear up a sugarcane on a social networking site. Before you know it, bam! Helloooo evening news!

On a lighter note, this was what that happened to the now infamous Rebecca Black. Her music video Friday garnered so much dislikes and negative comments that it propelled her to the center of the mass media's spotlight who saw it part of their duty to society to further trash her.

Let's take a step back and consider this, is the online platform giving people a reason to hate? Sure, Black's video might have caused an uproar in online forums where people drone on and on about how her music sucks and what not. But then again, no one is going to the street protesting with banners that read "Fuck you bitch, you ruined music for all of us".

"The online platform doesn't give people a reason to hate. It actually gives people a way to find others who share the same opinion as they do on a certain subject," said Gan.

"Why take the hassle to do street protests and hate banners when commenting on YouTube has the same effect?" Song offered. "I don't think online platform gives people a reason to hate, it actually gives people an opportunity to hate. Besides deep down, I believe that all of us have an inner bitchy self, "

Bitchiness aside, we have to acknowledge that online hating goes deeper than the superficial idea of mocking someone's hair or make-up, have a good laugh about it and then log off. You might have the privilege of hiding behind a veil of anonymity but your remark goes to someone who does not enjoy the same privilege of anonymity that you do.

If you're a masochist, then by all means go ahead and hate. But in this context, just don't be a closet freak.

First published in the blog "Happenstance & The Reason Why" dated April 18, 2011.

UTAR Journo Student Awarded 3rd Prize at International Photo Award

noreply@blogger.com (Almost Journalist) — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 10:44:00 +0000

Almost Journalist wish to express our heartiest congratulations to Oh Chin Eng, a final year journalism student from UTAR who clinched the third prize in the Portrait Individual Category at the KL International Photoawards 2011.

Below is his winning photo essay entry:

Photo © Oh Chin Eng

HOME

What do you see in this photo? An old Sikh man with a long beard standing in his house? In a glimpse, that’s all we see. But if we pause and look deeper, there's more we can see. I first met this old man back in 2008 when he was sitting alone on a bench in his neighborhood. I had a portrait of him at that time. After 2 years, I went back to the same place to visit him. He wasn’t there anymore. I was worried but thank God he’s still healthy and staying in his house.

As I stepped into his house, I was mesmerized and fascinated with it. As a Sikh in Malaysia, there’s not much we hear about them in the news as they are the minority and considered as the ‘others’. There’s also less documentation about them. But Sikh people have a very rich culture to share. Just look at his home.

And staying in a plural country, he’s adapting cultures from other ethnicities such as wearing the ‘sarong’. The Sikhs are very closely-knit among their family members and their own community. This Sikh man is just one of the living heritage we have. Behind every old face, there are thousands of stories lying beneath to tell. These are the valuable oral stories that can never be found in the textbooks. A photograph is just another way to document them. And this is what I always do, documenting people through photography, especially older people. There’s beauty I find in them. Although people get old, but they are still the pillar and strength for the family. They should never ever be neglected. Home is where everything started. Home is the place where the story and journey of a person began. Home is where love is. Home is always the best place on Earth. And this is his home.

Oh Chin Eng

Oh's photo essay originally published on the KL INTERNATIONAL PHOTOAWARDS 2011 official website.

伟大的首相

noreply@blogger.com (chians) — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 16:35:00 +0000

作者纪健雄

本人相信有看报章或者时常留意面子书的人都会知道有个国家的首相宣布了一项很“为”人民的一项project。那就是需要花上几十亿的金钱来为国家人民开一人一个email户口。其实这是必要的吗？我相信现代的大多数人民都有自己的email户口，不管是gmail，hotmail或者是yahoo mail，而且还是免费的！这真的是人民需要的东西吗？这是为人民服务吗？坦白说，如果这项project是要来“吃钱”的话。请别这样明显好不好？现在的人民都是有眼睛看的，不会再像以前什么都不管。而且我相信很多人民辛辛苦苦的工作赚钱不是为了享用这些在网上都可以免费和轻易得到的东西。而是能帮到或者有益他们生活上的东西。

当那个国家的首相提出这项project，一位好人更直接的做出回应来反驳他的首相。其实那个国家的首相推出这项project简直是浪费钱。为何他不推出一项让全国子民都会获益的东西，比如全国都能享用Free wireless的服务。这样的活每个子民都可以获益。本人也相信那个国家的人民一定会100%赞同，而且还几乎全部举手举脚吧。其实那个国家的网络服务是经常受到投诉的。因为人民需要付上昂贵的费用来享用超级慢慢慢慢慢慢的网络服务。所以可见如果这项project是多么的帮助人民减轻一些不值得的费用。又加上那国的首相真的可以真正的为人民服务了。。终于。。想起都为那国的人民开心，兴奋吧！

可是别发梦吧！！

那国的首相不会这样做的，因为他的心是黑色的。。虽然本人没有看过。。而且那国的首相”可能“还曾经指使“替死鬼”去帮他炸死人。真是恐怖没人性。也替他可悲。

本人时常都在祈祷。。希望那国的人民会醒一醒了。。要为自己的前途想想如果还要留在那个国家。。因为国家是全部人民的，而不是属于某某”种猪“的。。

再次强调本人真的很不明白那国的首相为什么会提出那么“伟大”的project要来实行。

本人也觉得如果这项project实行后，下届在那国的大选既很大的可能会“变天”吧。也希望真的会“变天”吧。“天”一天不变，那国的人人民也很少会有好日子过吧。。

再次希望那国的人民在下次大选的时候，请！！投出你们自己神圣的一票来为你们的国家带来新希望，新人气，明亮的前途。。

~结束~

以上内容全属个人意见，与本Almost Journalist的网站无关

请别对号入座！！！谢谢

Enough With the Less-than-subtle Sexual Innuendo

noreply@blogger.com (Yuan Shelyn) — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 09:12:00 +0000

By CHONG KAH YUAN

What is the first thing that pops into your mind the moment Japan is mentioned? This is the era whereby all Japanese fashion books such as Kawaii! are always sold out the moment they are released on shelf. The first in chronology is probably fashion, followed by sushi? As for an almost-otaku like me (I am still in denial), it is most probably manga, anime and cosplay.

By the way, otaku actually means someone who is obsessed with either anime or manga, who can be almost called a geek not because they know the differences between a memory slot and AGP slot, but because they spend ALL the time immersed in kawaii girls, shounen hype or drowning themselves with 24/7 fantasy of bishounen with themselves as the main female character. Even in dreams, some of the manga and anime might come back to haunt them, or for those perverted ones, wet dreams.

*Glossary

kawaii- cute

shounen- for teenage boys eg. bleach, naruto

bishounen- cute guys

shoujo-for girls

ecchi-contents which include panty, cleavage and you-know-it

yuri- lesbians

yaoi- gays

mangaka- author of manga

lolicon- sexual preference for yet-to-reach-puberty girls

*end

Most parents hate it when their children develop infatuation for this Japanese bandwagon. The first judgemental impression out of their mouth would probably be, "You are too old to be obsessed with cartoons. Grow up," But the thing is, anime are not cartoons and manga are not comics! To the otaku(s) anyway, I am just an almost-otaku. *still in denial* The thing is, when the teenagers are being labelled as frivolous and immature for their preoccupation with the manga and anime, the adults always have it easier when they baby-step their first shoujo drama or series.

I am almost sure that when your mum and aunt watches t-dramas such as meteor garden, peach girl or bubbles in the summer, or perhaps k-drama like goong and full house, even going as far as being gaga over the cute guys, do they even realise that the depiction of those movies are adapted from manga? For those who pride themselves on the manga or anime virginity, if you really enjoy watching the white-knight-saving-princess routines of k-drama or t-drama, you might not be a full virgin for manga too. Sorry to break your bubble though.

To be fair, I will affirm that the anime and manga has its backlash too. Some of the ecchi manga or anime, are probably meant for boys with raging hormones. Other genre(s) of ecchi manga probably include scenes that will be of interest to those with paedophilic tendencies *yuck* and homosexualities in manga. As for this, it probably falls under the genre of yuri and yaoi. Some of the manga, such as History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi or Rosario + Vampire illustrates females in such a degrading way that it even struck my feminist sentiments as bordering on vulgar. I am sure it felt like a slap across the face for all the females out there too.

A manga with an interesting storyline completed with a twist is good enough to attract my attention, but is there any need to illustrate the more-than-fair-share of cleavage or nipple outline, or even a chest size which looks like you have two melons in it instead of living cells and fats? Perhaps the mangaka thinks that it is too tame and reserved for his/her depraved sexual taste, he/she just need to add more sketches which include a full view of a very voluptuous female derrière topped with pink frillies.

In my opinion, these kind of manga and anime clearly degrade females by defining them either by their chest or hip size. If offends my female sensibilites *yes, I do have one* as downright humiliating for the female sex and undignified version of female sexuality. The manga Dance in The Vampire Bund is a clear turn-on for those lolicon(s), as the main character is clearly a female who has yet to start puberty, yet prances around naked as though we are back to the era of Adam and Eve.

What I am trying to say is, the mangaka could probably try being more sensitive towards its readers. There are a fair share of female audience too for the Japanese manga and anime. Why go out of their way just to slip in those not even subtle evocations of sexually rated scenes just to attract the individuals which allows hormones to rule their mind? As for the continuous rage of sexual innuendos in manga, I personally have no doubt that it will attract more perverse audience eventually. What happens to satisfying the desires of standard readers who are just seeking for a light/leisurely read?

This blog post is a stroke of revelation inspired by Chester Chin's Oops!... She Did It Again which recounts for the English music and Song Sook Kin's Why The Hate? for its relevance to K-pop. Perhaps the Taiwanese trend next?

Why the Hate?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 04:56:00 +0000

By SONG SOOK KIN

The Hallyu Wave, or better known as the Korean Wave has hit the shores of Malaysia since the breakthrough of K-drama pioneers like Autumn in My Heart and Winter Sonata (Bae Yong Joon, anyone?). Suddenly, dying of cancer was the next big romantic thing. Afterwards comes the existence of KPop; made popular by the legendary Rain who came down "through the rooftop". This was followed by a string of other famous KPop artists like TVXQ, BoA and who can forget the infamous Super Junior.

For those who know me, it does not come as a surprise that I'm a HUGE KPop fan not because I'm willing to spend hours ogling at those handsomely carved face or flawless legs... okay, go ahead, slap your forehead in disbelief. I wouldn't say pretty faces do not play a part in drawing me into their music but it's just a tiny part of a BIGGER and BETTER picture. Is it so unbelievable that people might be INTO foreign music as well? Foreign in this case; "incomprehensible" in regards to our limited lingual intelligence.

Then comes the most annoying part. If you are ever an avid fan of JPop or KPop there would be one point in your life where you find sceptics asking, "KPop? You know Korean meh?" To answer your question, mister, no, I do not know how to speak or listen to Korean. How do I magically know Korean when I was born, taught and raised in a typical Malaysian environment where the only hype are sodomy and trees that produce air mujarab? So that was a stupid question, yes? Oh you mean you were trying to be sarcastic? Well, HILARIOUS.

The debate here is whether or not we should listen to music in which the lyrics supposedly makes "no sense" because we do not have prior knowledge of the language. I would retort by saying, "Well, I don't know Chinese (Mandarin) but I do listen to Chinese songs. You don't see people stopping me." and people would inflate that big-ass ego of mine by stating, "But you're a Chinese, it's only right for you to listen to Chinese music." Aha, so that's the exception. It's almost like saying, "But you're a Malaysian. You're supposed to LOVE durians!". Genius, indeed.

My best bet is that it might never occur to you sceptics that music does not only centre around the lyrics. People can still sing along without actually understanding what the hell the song is about. Ever head of a little something called "melody"? It's part of what defines the nature of the song; anger, joy, sadness etc. etc. I have friends who have the ability to tear up over a Korean song without even knowing the lyrics; which only goes to show how great KPop singers are. And then there's something else called translation. A little hassle, but why not for the love of the music?

As a fan of both English and Korean songs, personally I think the one thing that separates these two is the artist itself. While it's been fun fan-girling over Westlife and N'Sync, I think we all eventually got tired of the same old 90's hairstyle and lame dance moves. People needed something new to go insane about. I'm talking about groups here. The "core" of KPop. So don't come telling me about awesome artists like Rihanna, Eminem and Britney Spears.

Bottom line is, music is universal. Haven't you wondered why when natural disasters strike, people start singing to raise money for charity? Music is the invisible bond that links people from all over the world. Everybody knows "We Are the World", the brainchild of Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie. So if there's a Korean/Japanese/French/German version, it's less of a good song just because you don't understand? Stop stereotyping and START listening. Of course I wouldn't say every Korean song out there is good, likewise in America where they have Rebecca Black... But let's not start with that.

All right, let's end this post the old-fashioned way. If you still can't embrace the Korean wave, please in all honesty, fuuuuuuuuuuu...... Take a hike. Blergh.

I Created A Blog! Can't Believe It!

noreply@blogger.com (MilkyMayMA) — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 22:38:00 +0000

By MA FOONG MEI

Like what I've mentioned above, I'm having difficulty accepting the fact that I've finally written a post. Well, it shouldn't come as a surprise considering the fact that I've got the habit of disclosing my feeling, thoughts and whereabouts. My reason of writing this though is as simple as.....dislodging? Perhaps. Just in case you are wondering, what the hell am I doing here being in the midst of people who are overwhelmingly powerful when it comes to writing. (You know I know who I am talking about. Don’t look at others, you are the one I am talking about) LOL. That’s why I really should care about what I can do to contribute a little but not much to the blog.

First of all, talking of my needs. Not the sexual or physical one, mind you. Contrary, it is about my role as a journalism student. We seemed like the special flock who have been labelled as having good writing skills, and we ought to be writing frequently to practice our skills and whatnot. Honestly, never would I thought of having my own byline as I don't think I'm a good enough writer. Therefore, creating a blog post is so not me. Good thing is, I'll change my mindset and start to write for the sake of joining this special flock. Besides, I want to contribute and actively expand Almost Journalist as well as to let more people know our spirit and intention in changing the traditional journalism platform.

Secondly, I was required to have a blog as the establishment of Almost Journalist only become effective for me once I get a personal blog, urhhh. Plus, I need to receive an invitation from our respective and beloved admin to write in Almost Journalist. I can’t believe he really meant it when he proposed the idea of having a shared blog among the undergrad journalists, yea, pointed at us. Ultimately, He made it, I support, and same thing goes to the other outstanding contributors.

But, I am grateful to those who have encouraged me to create a blog. Especially, the admin of Almost Journalist who set up a platform like this whice has motivated me to have a blog. Undeniably, he always have the “positive force” on others especially people who claimed to be a masochist like me. For this statement, those who close with me you will understand where this masochist wording did came from. At last, please allow me to laugh out loud. (LOL)

Oops!...She Did it Again

noreply@blogger.com (Chester Chin) — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 10:01:00 +0000

Reviewer: CHESTER CHIN

Femme Fatale - Britney Spears

There is something deliciously decadent about Britney Spears' seventh studio album. From the shameless Euro pop beats of the opening track to playing Fergie on the will.i.am produced Big Fat Bass, Femme Fatale plays out like the aftermath of a self-pleasuring session. The high is ecstatic, but you're left despising yourself after the whole ordeal.

But just like how any teenagers with raging hormones who went through that self-exploratory period will tell you, Spears' Femme Fatale is so worth the high. Surrender yourself to the sinful bliss of auto-tune and dance away. A little pleasure now and then wouldn't hurt nobody. In fact, you might just discover something good that no other individual can provide. Only in Britney's music people, only in her music can you talk of sexual innuendos without being judged too harshly.

Goobye Lullaby - Avril Lavigne

It's laughable the way celebrities "integrate" music with business. The most apparent would probably be Hilary Duff's 3 minutes track With Love back in 2007. The song was used in an elaborate marketing for her fragrance called (wait for it) "With Love...Hilary Duff". Fast forward four years later, Canadian singer Avril Lavigne is doing the same thing. Lavigne launched a perfume called "Black Star", and incidentally the opening track of her fourth studio album is also called Black Star. Pfft.

My contempt for the "business" of music aside, Goodbye Lullaby is a mediocre offering by the punk princess who brought us Complicated, the teenage anthem of 2002. With the exception of a couple of tracks, most of the album's 52 minutes sound so alike that you're left wondering if Lavigne is making any effort at improving her song craft. There is a glimmer of that angsty singer we love in her rendition of Joan Jett's classic Bad Reputation but that only came about towards the end of the album. By then, it was just too little, too late.

As If! - Sky Ferreira

"Why do some need to be masters? Why do some want to be slaves?" 18-year old singer-songwriter Sky Ferreira asked in the song Sex Rules. Oh boy, here we go again...another photocopy version of Britney Spears, you'd say. But hold it, there is just something refreshing about Ferreira's song on the need for the physical touch. Instead of beating around the bushes and singing things like "I want to take a ride on your disco stick", Ferreira ought to be commended for her bold statement.

My only qualm here is that it is hard to pigeonhole her into a specific genre. While it seemed that the songs are tailor made for the masses, there is some serious lyrical intensity going on here. She is not mainstream enough but neither is she indie enough. Now there are only five tracks on this EP, with Ferreira singing about an ancient lover in the last track. A case of Twilight frenzy or an emulation of Lolita, I've yet to discern. But here is to hoping that this brilliant singer don't fall into a state of oblivion.

The "Write" to be Heard!

noreply@blogger.com (Chester Chin) — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 09:20:00 +0000

By CHESTER CHIN

Blogs are a dying media. Well it is only a matter of time, isn't it? In this day and age where everyone is a writer and the survival of newspapers is a topic of much debate, more and more people are taking to minute writing in the form of Tumblrs and Twitter. Micro-blogging they call it.

Well, if you enjoy the privilege of being labelled a writer, it wouldn't harm to produce a 500-word piece wouldn't it?

On that note, let's hone our writing craft peeps. And while the novelty of this might fuel this blog for the next few days, let's just try to keep it going for a little while longer. Think that the latest move proposed by the Education Ministry is downright dumb? Or that Taylor Swift needs to stop writing about her boy issues? Or that the cafeteria food reminds you of dog shit? Voice it out!

It's cliche to say that the future is uncertain. But given the course in which we're in (we're not exactly majoring in Psychology), there is a HUGE possibility that we're going to have our own bylines in a national newspaper or a magazine or even on online news portals. We are going to be at the forefront of news production.

Start off small with this little project people. Write, post up photographs or poems. Let this be a little trinket that reminds us of our varsity life once we head out to the big bad world. Most importantly, let's write to be heard.