My Communications and New Media (CNM) lecturer/examiner is such a joker.

The CNM final exam consists of 50 multiple-choice questions. Don’t gloat, because some of the choices were really close so it was “mee-nee-my-nee-mee-nee-mo”…

Anyway here are some “choices” spotted on the exam paper. Excuse my vague memory of the exact structure of the questions…

(A question asking about a certain concept and its definition…)
Choice (e): I received an SMS from my friend when the lecturer was explaining this concept so sorry, I don’t know!

(The ‘sequel’ to the above question…)
Choice (e): I was busy replying to my friend’s SMS when the lecturer was explaining this concept, so I don’t know!

(A question asking for an issue that is relevant to the given concept)
Choice (e): This is a totally “irrelevant” question!

* * *

Ken and I watch Immortality in the evening at the Esplanade Theatre.

Immortality is this grand Chinese musical that is built to impress. Already when we enter the theatre we are greeted by a stunning stage setup: extended from the usual stage floor is a shallow pool with three bridges spanning it. The stage has been designed for some forest setting: plants hang from the roof of the stage; rocks in the pool; plants beside it; plants all over the stairs to the stage…

The lighting was terrific too! There was a combination of multimedia projection, with lighting sourced from all over the theatre – from the ceiling to the back of the stage to the audience wings.

I’m not sure if the sound designer has installed speakers at the back of the auditorium, where the audience is sitting, or the Esplanade already had such a layout for their sound system. In any case, the sound designer seeks to achieve surround sound effect, which makes the audio aspect interesting.

Only the actor as the Jester and the actress playing Jin, the golden sunbird, are good. The supposed lead, Sha, is very weak in his low notes and constantly gets drowned out by the music accompaniment. The supporting actress who plays the Fish – the bird’s friend – tends to go sharp very easily. At one point this jarring effect sends me tingling in sickness – I just wish she stopped singing!

They have a huge cast, but the singing doesn’t come out. Most of the time we cannot hear what they are singing – either they do not have powerful vocals or the sound controller has upped the music too much.

Not sure if they have a live orchestra, or the music was pre-recorded as minus ones. I thought I saw music stand lights and bobbing heads at the back of the stage, behind the last row of lights.

The underscoring and orchestration are good, especially the music for the battle scenes. There are too many irritating ballads that do not have much uniqueness and are always scored in the same style – always opening with a piano. So when I hear the smooth-playing of the piano: “Oh no, here we go again…” Unfortunately there isn’t much distinction in the orchestration either – it failed to contribute the spreading of magic, which was successfully achieved in Wicked the musical.

The story is another thorn – Ken and I have no idea what is going on. We only know that the archaeologist Sha has lost his memory, and to invoke his remembrance of the past the Jester takes Sha, who is his master, back in time to experience all that has occurred, to the extent that Fish is killed during a battle brought back from time… till now that’s all I know about the story. What aids the confusion is that there is no sense of time in the staging – everything seems to happen in chronological sequence – we do not get the feeling that we are going back to see the past.

Nevertheless the scope of this musical is to be admired greatly – it shows the boundaries that the stage can be pushed (literally and metaphorically) to wow the audience, and Ken and I are really inspired to recreate the same scale for our musical about Insects in the future.

Pretty interesting questions for History exam

Section I (choose any ONE question)

Q1
What themes can we use to discuss the history of Asia that do not place an emphasis on geographic categories such as “Southeast Asia”, “East Asia” and “South Asia”? Discuss at least three themes and show how they cut across all the regions listed above while using examples to illustrate your points.

Q2
You are at a job interview and the interviewer asks why you took HY1101E. Explain to the interviewer how the material in the course is applicable to “real” life.

Section II (choose any ONE question)

Q3
Japanese imperialism in Asia was far more destructive than European colonialism. Do you agree?

Q4
Imagine you were born in 1900 and lived for a hundred years till 1999. In which of the following countries – China, India or any Southeast Asian country – would you have liked to spend your life? Discuss your answer by analysing the major developments that took place in any ONE of these countries in this time.

Q5
If you were asked to weigh the pros and cons of colonialism in Asia, what would you write?

I did Questions 2 and 5. For Question 2, either I

1. Didn’t study deeply enough to do a more ‘specific’ question or
2. Trying to act smart or
3. Am a risk-taker (surprise, surprise) and so challenge myself or
4. Have a weird fascination for weird questions or
5. Was reckless or
6. Was just plain stupid

* * *

After the paper we are held up for half an hour.

The invigilators, upon counting, realise there is one extra answer booklet. You see, each answer booklet contains ten pages of writing paper. When you’ve filled them all up, you can request for another booklet to continue writing in. But when you submit, you have to tie both booklets together.

They count again, then realise there’s another extra answer booklet. Oh jeez.

So there are several possibilities to the mystery.

1. The person didn’t tie the booklets
(a) The invigilator collected but didn’t check that the booklets were tied.
(b) The invigilator didn’t know that the person used two booklets because the booklets were placed in such a way that it looked as if only one booklet had been used.

2. The string came lose during collection, and nobody could do anything about it because both booklets had already been separated from one another.

If you have other conspiracy theories please feel free to add.

Half of the hall is taken up by us History students, the other half by some other module. We finish at 7:00pm, the other finishes at 7:30pm. When the invigilator for the other side informs the candidates to stop writing, we’re still sitting in the hall…

Tough luck.

And the invigilator has to emphasis the warning to ensure that the candidates hand in their scripts properly. She adds, “The HISTORY students are having a problem with their papers…”

Thanks, yeah.

We History students are dismissed just before the other group is given permission to go too. So much for the making of examination history…

I have no idea what happened.

I am typing notes when the laptop screen (I have multiple monitors, the other being a 20-inch LCD monitor) suddenly goes dark and lo and behold, the next thing is the display has transformed into portrait setting.

There's something not write about the way this headline (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061125/ap_on_re_eu/britain_poisoned_spy) has been written:

Ex-KGB spy blames Putin for his death

It seems to imply that after death the deceased, Alexander Litvinenko, returned to accuse Putin for causing him to die.

A sentence in the article disproves the headline: 'In a dramatic statement written before he died, the man called Russian President Vladimir Putin "barbaric and ruthless" and blamed him personally for the poisoning.'

Which means that Mr Litvinenko made the declaration prior to his death - which should have been stated much more clearly in the headline.

Sorry... I'm just disturbed by the way the headline appears every time I log into my Yahoo! mailbox during the time the article has been there.

Woo hoo managed to stay up all night. Quite productive considering it: I type and re-organise notes for my readings while chatting. Typing notes is menial work, anyway in the day I had scribbled the points in handwriting, so all I need is the help of the flexibility of the computer to organise my notes properly, as I am very disorganised (ironically to avoid multiple cancellations on the foolscap pad) when it comes to handwritten work.

I last till 1pm today, when my body proclaims it needs a short hibernation. So I nap for about four hours before a phone call jolts me back awake. Now feeling quite fresh.

I realise that sitting down makes you sleepy even more. I have had this experience since schooling days, especially after a heavy lunch - man, it's torture sitting at the desk trying to listen to a lecture without nodding off. All the food has gotten into the eyebrows.

This is the way to go for the future. Means more work can be done and I don't reprimand myself for sleeping more than I should. Cheers.

My name hooks with my profession!

AUGUSTrator
(orchestrator)

Goodbye, Grundig

The old television set fizzles and dies. I think it's about 20 years old. It was bought around the time I was born (1985). So it's the main television set in the house until 1998, when we moved, and my parents bought a wide-screen Panasonic DDD (note: still using CRT). The Grundig went to the master bedroom for my parents to use.

2004: moved house again, the Grundig remains with the master bedroom.

Until lately it finally drew its last breath - or shot.

*Speaking about CRT - remember how those large-screen television sets used to be the symbol of economic well-being? The economic gap of televisions seems to be closing: plasma TV sets are becoming so widespread and affordable.

Looked out of the window, heard the thunder, realised this’ been going on for the past few weeks. ‘Tis the season to be showered, hua-la-la-la/哗啦啦啦啦, 浪花一朵朵

Yeah, to cut the nonsense short (because it continues below) I just remembered suddenly we can’t really smell the haze anymore – instead we smell the rain and *sniff sniff* the flu...



------- Bird flu -------
One flew over the cuckoo’s nest
One enough to spread and kill the rest



Enough nonsense.


* * *


Parody on SESAME STREET

Rainy days chasing the haze away
Not again, we’re seeing bus fares raised
Can you tell me what’s today
What’s the news that’s happenin’ today?

One day yet another disarray
One day goes without a killing case
Can you tell me what’s today
What’s the news that’s happenin’ today?

Torture happenin’ in Guantanamo Bay
Human rights going down the drain
Can you tell me what’s today
What’s the news that’s happenin’ today?

World peace is all bullshit, strife’s to stay
Peace’s a vision that’s so far away
Can you tell me what’s today
What’s the news that’s happenin’ today?

Nothing good occurs everyday
Not a day without disarray!

I started a joke…

I notice there is some ‘connection’ between German words and Singlish words, particularly after seeing the word ‘aber’ which means ‘but’ in German.

Phua Chu Kang, the comedic madcap (now not so – thanks to fatigue) contractor, used to be admonished by the Powers that Be, our former Prime Minister Mr Goh Chok Tong recommended, in front of the entire nation during his National Day Rally speech, that he go for English remedial classes. Within the next few days the Straits Times published articles about Singlish – about what was the appropriate English word to replace the Singlish one. One of the words was ‘ah-ber-then’ which functions something like ‘duh!’

And it happens that German has a word ‘denn’ (which means ‘because’, and not ‘then’ as its pronunciation suggests).

Hence ‘aber denn’

So I post it up on the IVLE forum for German Level 1.

Sian… exams coming up in about week… people are constantly reminding me about them.

Weizhang (at Buddhist Fellowship, while I was rehearsing with the choir): Hey, exams in ten days time! What are you still doing here? (albeit jokingly, but sufficient to jolt me to my senses)

Huiling (after practice, during the mini jam session): Okay, two more songs, then August’s got to go home to study!

Darren Choo’s, my classmate in English Language tutorial, suffixes to his MSN nick: 10 more days! Lai ah! (*Come ah!)

Exam seating plan is out.

Damn I have no mood or motivation to study. All day long I keep thinking about the projects and tasks that I will carry out once the last paper is over. This week and next will be dreadful…

I love my subjects, but I hate knowing that I have to do prepare them for examination. It just kills the interest. I like reading the materials from reference books that we’ve been given – call me crazy but I’m mesmerised by the daring of some of the writers, especially those who comment about politics in my Singapore Society course pack. They’re not direct like Chee Soon Juan, but they seem to be knocking at your door and slipping a letter underneath.

I detest it even more that my educational abilities and prowness are judged by a stupid letter or a few numbers. Heck, aren’t there other factors to be considered? If you flunk a test does it just only mean, “Work harder?” Come on, there are other aspects that could have commissioned you the F! I appreciate if someone helps me find out what was behind the F instead of accusing, “You should have worked harder.” To it even crudely, “You asked for it.”

* * *

Training in choir-writing has paid off.

The Gingerbread Man (GBM) musical has one song called Come the Light – it is sung acapella. It works. I am pleased with the results.

The new choral arrangements for the Buddhist Fellowship Gala Dinner went off without much changes this round – I was initially apprehensive that there would be – as usual – so much changes that we would have to re-issue new scores all over again.

And waste a lot of paper again (one score averages five to six pages).

My History lecturer, Dr Mark Emmanuel, was asked to come up with a short message for the marriage of one of his friends. He said, "Both of you are historians of one another."

"You are your wife's historian, because you create meaning in her life. Your wife is your historian, because she creates meaning in your life."

"Life is meaningless if no one remembers it. One is always producing memories. Everyone is always a historian. We are givers of meaning - we give meaning to life, because we write these memories down. We are each others' historians."

LETTERS HOME 2006

Venue: Esplanade Concourse
Date: 31 December 2006
Time: 6-9pm

Synopsis
This year’s edition of “Letters Home” features two different segments repeated three times over the course of the evening. The element of music is used to set the mood, enhance the content and link the letters together.

“Missing Home” opens with a piano piece features letters and memories from people away from home which will include songs or rhymes from their childhood.

“World Peace” features letters, music and songs from people who are in situations around the world affected by the fight for world peace, as well as letters of friendship.

Cast:
Chermaine Ang
Gerald Chew
Bridget Therese
Jatish

Pianist:
August Lum

Producers:
Koh Chieng Mun
Peggy Ferroa