Sinfonia da Vita, Op. 1
Sunday, August 26, 2007
 
Behind-the-Scenes video from The Chronicles of Maria (which I scored music for). Video by Shahdon (http://.shahdon.livejournal.com/), hosted by Nurul.


Watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUxindSHHjs



Original Soundtrack for Maria will be available soon!
 
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
 
Why I have issues
With people who book tables with tissue



With a bag on the seat
It means you’ll be back to eat

With a tissue on the table
Did you going away for good and forget
Or did you want to ditch that packet of paper

Or did you mean to book the table while you go to buy food?

‘Cause when that happens it causes a racket.
‘Twas an unspoken rule that
Tissue on the table means you’re not allowed to sit there
But I didn’t know there was such a rule
And I only made the owner of the tissue brew

Opium can cause wars, so can tissue paper
Make yourself clear about your intentions
Don’t try to deny it.
Don’t hide it.
We know you want to book that table.

(And if you’re an educated kid at NUS you should know better*)


*The writer specifically mentions NUS students because he and his friend have sighted instances of tissue-paper-reservations at the Arts canteen
 
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
 
From an email I received:

BANANAS? Who knew?




Never, put your banana in the refrigerator!!!

After reading this, you'll never look at a banana in the same way again.

Bananas contain three natural sugars - sucrose, fructose and glucose combined with fibre. A banana gives an instant, sustained and substantial boost of energy.

Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world's leading athletes.

But energy isn't the only way a banana can help us keep fit. It can also help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and conditions, making it a must to add to our daily diet.

Depression: According to a recent survey undertaken by MIND amongst people suffering from depression, many felt much better after eating a banana. This is because bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve your mood and generally make you feel happier.

PMS: Forget the pills - eat a banana. The vitamin B6 it contains regulates blood glucose levels, which can affect your mood.

Anaemia: High in iron, bananas can stimulate the production of haemoglobin in the blood and so helps in cases of anaemia.

Blood Pressure: This unique tropical fruit is extremely high in potassium yet low in salt, making it perfect to beat blood pressure. So much so, the US Food and Drug Administration have just allowed the banana industry to make official claims for the fruit's ability to reduce the risk of blood pressure and stroke.

Brain Power: 200 students at a Twickenham (Middlesex) school were helped through their exams this year by eating bananas at breakfast, break, and lunch in a bid to boost their brain power. Research has shown that the potassium-packed fruit can assist learning by making pupils more alert.

Constipation: High in fibre, including bananas in the diet can help restore normal bowel action, helping to overcome the problem without resorting to laxatives.

Hangovers: One of the quickest ways of curing a hangover is to make a banana milkshake, sweetened with honey. The banana calms the stomach and, with the help of the honey, builds up depleted blood sugar levels, while the milk soothes and re-hydrates your system.

Heartburn: Bananas have a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you suffer from heartburn, try eating a banana for soothing relief.

Morning Sickness: Snacking on bananas between meals helps to keep blood sugar levels up and avoid morning sickness.

Mosquito bites: Before reaching for the insect bite cream, try rubbing the affected area with the inside of a banana skin. Many people find it amazingly successful at reducing swelling and irritation.

Nerves: Bananas are high in B vitamins that help calm the nervous system.

Overweight and at work? Studies at the Institute of Psychology in Austria found pressure at work k leads to gorging on comfort food like chocolate and crisps. Looking at 5,000 hospital patients, researchers found the most obese were more likely to be in high-pressure jobs. The report concluded that, to avoid panic-induced food cravings, we need to control our blood sugar levels by snacking on high carbohydrate foods every two hours to keep levels steady.

Ulcers: The banana is used as the dietary food against intestinal disorders because of its soft texture and smoothness. It is the only raw fruit that can be eaten without distress in over-chronicler cases. It also neutralizes over-acidity and reduces irritation by coating the lining of the stomach.

Temperature control: Many other cultures see bananas as a "cooling" fruit that can lower both the physical and emotional temperature of expectant mothers. In Thailand, for example, pregnant women eat bananas to ensure their baby is born with a cool temperature.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): Bananas can help SAD sufferers because they contain the natural mood enhancer tryptophan.

Smoking &Tobacco Use: Bananas can also help people trying to give up smoking. The B6, B12 they contain, as well as the potassium and magnesium found in them, help the body recover from the effects of nicotine withdrawal.

Stress: Potassium is a vital mineral, which helps normalize the heartbeat, sends oxygen to the brain and regulates your body's water balance. When we are stressed, our metabolic rate rises, thereby reducing our potassium levels. These can be rebalanced with the help of a high-potassium banana snack.

Strokes: According to research in The New England Journal of Medicine, eating bananas as part of a regular diet can cut the risk of death by strokes by as much as 40%!

Warts: Those keen on natural alternatives swear that if you want to kill off a wart, take a piece of banana skin and place it on the wart, with the yellow side out. Carefully hold the skin in place with a plaster or surgical tape!

So, a banana really is a natural remedy for many ills. When you compare it to an apple, it has four times the protein, twice the carbohydrate, three times the phosphorus, five times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the other vitamins and minerals. It is also rich in potassium and is one of the best value foods around so maybe its time to change that well-known phrase so that we say, "A banana a day keeps the doctor away!"

PASS IT ON TO YOUR FRIENDS
PS: Bananas must be the reason monkeys are so happy all the time! I will add one here; want a quick shine on our shoes?? Take the INSIDE of the banana skin, and rub directly on the shoe... polish with dry cloth. Amazing fruit!
 
Saturday, August 11, 2007
 
School is Starting
Sung to the tune of Frere Jacques


School is starting, school is starting
Si beh sian, si beh sian
Readings and assignments,
Mugging and confinements
What to do? So boh pian



Translation of Hokkien terms
Si beh: super
Sian: boring
Boh pian: no choice
 
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
 
600th post!

But it's a rant, how inauspicious.


A metaphor:

You know when dogs poo, the owners are expected to clean up the mess - social responsibility. Instead they push this responsibility to someone else

And so now I'm cleaning up the shit left behind.
 
Monday, August 06, 2007
 
In celebration of 30 years of college-building and 20 years of music-making at Temasek Junior College…


MEP@TJC proudly presents
MOTIF TWO
By current students and alumni members



Come and listen to our young and talented performers and composers as we explore both old and new works. Listen to music from East to West, from Classical to Modern 20th Century, in an afternoon and evening of music featuring musicians who are continuing TJC’s music legacy, and from old friends who have graduated and are now pursuing their respective musical journeys, yet have common fond memories of spending time in the music studio.


Presenting…

Much Ado About Nothing Suite by Korngold, Jeux d’eau by Ravel, Die Forelle (The Trout) by Schubert, Swanky by Nigel Wood, Very Metal and Backbeat Breakout by Andy Gleadhill, Ballad of Yubei by Liu Wenjin, Improvisation on Solo Drum by Tommy Wong, Xylophone Concertino by Toshiro Mayuzumi, Quartet 25 by Emily Koh, Chamber Jammin’ by August Lum

…and more!


Details

Venue:
Esplanade Recital Studio

Date:
Sunday, 12 August 2007

Performances:
Current students: 2:30pm
Alumni members: 7:30pm

Tickets:
$15 each (per person/per session)
Available at the door, or order via email:
mep.tjc@gmail.com


About MEP@TJC

Temasek Junior College (TJC) celebrates 30 years of college-building and 20 years of music making in 2007. The institution is one of the pioneer colleges chosen by MOE to set up the Music Elective Programme (MEP) and is currently the only college to offer the programme to students in its Integrated Programme.

MEP@TJC hosts a variety of enrichment programmes for students, such as masterclasses conducted by renowned educators and professionals (Professor Patsy Toh/RAM, Toh Chee Hung/Kingston amongst others), exchange visits to overseas universities and colleges (Royal Academy of Music, King’s College London), participating in music festivals worldwide (Pan Pacific Music Camp, World Music Festival) and also collaborated in mixed-media performances (Suntec City Arts and Design Conference). The first MEP@TJC concert – MOTIF: The Inaugural Montage, was held at the Esplanade Recital Studio in July 2006.

2007 has been an exciting year thus far, and has seen the inauguration of the first ever TJC Piano Competition in July 2007. All proceeds of MOTIF TWO will be used to fund the upcoming enrichment trip to New York City in November 2007.
 
Sunday, August 05, 2007
 
Edirol (by Roland) PCR-M80 61-key MIDI Controller for Sale



Selling Price: SGD300


State of product
+ 1 year 9 month-old
+ Good condition, well-maintained
+ Rarely used out of home studio (at most for two events in a year)


Package
+ Inclusive of AC Adaptor and box (still in good condition)
+ USB cable
+ PCR Editor Software (for customising synchronisation of controls to software)


Features of the product (adapted from the website)
+ Velocity-sensitive keys, which the user can adjust (from light to heavy) to meet his/her comfort
+ Full-assignable controls which user can sync with software-based devices, e.g. soft mixers
+ Powered either by USB attached to computer or AC power
+ MIDI in and out ports
+ Sustain and expression pedal ports


For more information on the specifications, visit the PCR-M80 page on the Roland website here: http://www.roland.com/products/en/PCR-M80/index.html


If you are keen on buying, please contact me at (HP) 9001 2808, or email: auglum@gmail.com, enquires and equipment testing are welcomed.


 
 
Spotted at one of the entrances to Farrer Park MRT Station.

Notice that it's written in English, Tamil and (I think...) Hindi...? There's no Mandarin or Malay.

Obviously targeted at the large-Indian foreign workers...


 
 
Red sky on Sunday morning, between 6.30-7am.

Taken from my bedroom window.






 
Saturday, August 04, 2007
 
Cam-whoring



I go to OCBC to meet with the folks who commissioned the birthday song; they want to make birthdays special for their customers in their banking branches. So what happens is when the staff knows there’s a customer in the outlet who’s birthday falls on that day, they’ll play this arrangement of the birthday song (which I am arranging) and then they will bring gifts out for the birthday boy/girl/man/woman.

After the meeting I decide to go to studio to hang out until my rehearsal at TJC that evening – a good three hours away. I don’t see any point in going home to work because I know that once I start I will be so hesitant to stop that I will be late again for the rehearsal. I have difficulty trying to cure the habit of going late, because I just don’t like to be there early. I will have nothing to do, rant that I have just wasted my own productive time and balk and sulk and the next time swear that I will never leave the house earlier again. Which becomes a stuck mentality: I am always underestimating my own travelling time, including leeway for missing the train.

Anyway I predicted I’d walk to studio, which is about a good kilometre (or slightly more) away, and I always enjoy walking alone. I bring my camera along, hoping to capture some exciting city life – scenes that would have been missed while travelling in a moving vehicle.

The sculpture outside OCBC has been given a nice new accompaniment: a reflecting pool which I later discover – coincidentally I happen to be there when it happens – comes with a mist-emitting device. I think it pzzzzts smoke on the hour.

I take this shot on a whim because I find the colour contrast interesting. The most obvious colours are probably red (from the flag and banners), peach (the concrete) and blue (the taxi and the sky). On the ground the taxi stands out the most because it's bright blue, and there's nothing like that around it. The red National Day decorations stand out too.



OCBC Calculator Building through the reflective pool.




Singapore skyline captured in the reflecting pool.


Confusing perspectives: looks like the water is flowing HORIZONTALLY towards me, but actually it's dripping VERTICALLY towards the bottom of the picture.

This is the source of the mist hohoho





Airwell. There's a glass panelling in the foreground, but it's not very obvious.



Aah, now you should be able to identify the glass more clearly!



I cut one of the small lanes, past the SingTel building and towards the Great Eastern block – the one with the Hans café. I cut through this rather imposing façade with Corinthian columns, and find myself at a charming like garden which separates the building from the refurbished shop houses at the next alley. It is the sound of water which draws me there; otherwise I’d just dismiss it for somebody else’s backyard garden. It’s a lovely little place – think of the secret garden. And this is really a secret unless you know about it while going through these buildings not accessible by road transport. A nice hideaway from the crazy urban culture.



The secret garden


Secret garden's fountain






This is what I call urban jungle: natural vegetation with (rather matching) concrete (colours).


Cross Street.


Traffic junction. Pity the wordy signboard can't come through.


Is this a pong-pong tree?



Hong Lim estate. Beautiful shade of blue and white.


Oh well, there ends the interesting bit. I consider scaling Club Street, through Ann Siang Hill and then ending up at Maxwell Market, but the weather is not ripe for such exploration. And I have activities in the hours to come, not very appropriate to get drenched in sweat. So I take the sheltered path to studio, via South Bridge Road. Hence the end of camera-whoring for the day.

 
Thursday, August 02, 2007
 
Word just got in. Reservist in December. Thank goodness it's just five-days, but it's after exams and before shows... DAMN, DAMN, DAMN!!!
 
DISCLAIMER: I blog on MS Word - and I frequently backlog because I don't have the time to write everything on the same day, so please ignore the TIME of post.

Name:
Location: Singapore

Joker who spends his free time milling around NUS pretending to be a student...

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My Musical Works
sibelius_2's La Scrivere, Op. 2
sibelius_2's More Than Words, Op. 3
Gerald/Proko's Blog
Emz/Dvorak's Blog
Composer Emily Koh's Music Website