Dominatio Per Malum

Channelnewsasia

SINGAPORE: Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said his insistence on bilingualism in the early years of education policy was “wrong”. Instead it caused generations of students to be put off the Chinese language.

It was the official opening of the Singapore Centre for Chinese Language and in a speech delivered in Mandarin and English, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew gave a blunt assessment of Singapore’s bilingual policy.

He said: “We started the wrong way. We insisted on ting xie (listening), mo xie (dictation) - madness! We had teachers who were teaching in completely-Chinese schools. And they did not want to use any English to teach English-speaking children Chinese and that turned them off completely.”

Due to Life, i won’t have the time nor energy to watch movies, much less review them. So, this blog won’t be updated very much. From time to time, if i am very free and it strikes my fancy, i might write something down. Otherwise, this blog is for all intents and purposes semi-dead.

Still, here are some of the films which i recently watched. I may not even bother to write anything about it so just look at the numerical rating.

Australia (2008) 6/10

Way too long and overindulgent. But entertaining nonetheless.

The Girlfriend Experience (2009) 6/10

Stephen Soderberg follows up his epic, 2 part film Che with a small, arthouse flick that uses Sasha Grey as stunt casting. But Ms Grey is surprisingly good in the lead role and the film’s disjointed time-line whilst mildly annoying at first actually enhances the film. While the film looks great, and Sasha Grey provides the requisite eye candy, the film feels distant and the main character remains a cipher, whose motivations and personality never rise to the surface.

Speedy Scandal (2008) 8/10

Despite a totally hackneyed and predictable plot, the film was one of the top grossing Korean films of 2008. And understandably so because it is a great crowd-pleaser and is highly entertaining. Cha Tae-hyun may be repeating the same performance he did in My Sassy Girl but he is so pitch perfect as the comical battered male that you just don’t care that he is recycling his persona. It may not be art, but it sure is entertaining.

Push (2009) 5/10

It has a nice soundtrack. That’s the most positive thing i can say about this film.

Coraline (2009) 8/10

Easily one of the best films of the year and definitely in the running for best animated film (currently only Pixar’s Up seems to be its only challenger) Coraline is a dark, intelligently crafted tale that will win the hearts of adults. Its not really kid friendly and i can best describe it as Pan’s Labyrinth turned into an animated film. Visually, top marks. Its a smart and beautifully rendered film that deserves to be seen.

Yes Man(2008) 3/10

Just Say No to this.

Stage Beauty (2004) 7/10

Claire Danes is good but it is Billy Crudup who gives a phenomenal performance.

JCVD (2008) 8/10

Jean Claude Van Damme in his best film ever. Surprisingly, JCVD is an affectionate, entertaining movie that actually gives Van Damme the opportunity to show off his acting chops. Just as the Wrestler gave Mickey Rourke a new start, JCVD equally gives Van Damme the best film he has ever made. Unfortunately, noone seems to have noticed, but JCVD is well worth taking a look, if only for an amazing extended soliloquy given by Van Damme which is as honest as it is heartbreaking.

Franklyn (2008) 4/10

Bold concept, interesting visuals. But I can’t fucking understand the damn film!

Romeo + Juliet (1996) 3/10

Never ever ever ever let your cast speak in iambic pentameters. The characters speak in Shakespearean dialogue, which unless you are studying R&J as part of Lit class means that the average viewer can’t catch the dialogue. Not even a winsome pairing of Claire Danes and Leonardo DiCaprio could save this overwrought mess.

Suspect X (2008) 5/10

Retarded plot.

Still Walking (2008) 6/10

Very Arthouse and incredibly slow but if you have the patience, Hirokazu Kore-eda weaves an intriguing tale that explores family dynamics. I was a tad disappointed with this because his earlier film Nobody Knows was one of my all time favourite films.

Last Chance Harvey (2008) 6/10

Annie Hall (1977) 6/10

Overrated.

Two Lovers (2008) 5/10

It’s a good thing that Joaquin Phoenix wants to quit acting, because he is not a particularly good actor.

Current Mood: Happy.

Fallout 3 is terribly addictive. I have not been able to do much work these days because of it. Must stop playing. I fear for my sanity once Diablo 3 is released.

I have been fighting fires (metaphorically speaking) this whole week, and every other day there seems to be some new crisis for me to fire-fight. The latest calamity being my computer which has oh so conveniently decided to crash on me, 2 weeks before a major assignment is due. Luckily i have another copy otherwise i would be really freaking out. If there is ever a time for me to feel a sense of anomie, this is it. I realised how much a computer crash sucks up an immense amount of time without you really realising it. You go through the same stages of grief when your computer hangs. First the denial, as you try to fix it, then the anger, frustration, hopelessness and finally that voice in your head that tells you its only a computer. But, its not, because it is the data, the writeups, the holiday photos, the songs all of which take a special place in your heart. Losing all your data is like losing your memory, losing a bit of the past.

Memento Mori. When you lose something that is of value to you, you are reminded of the ephemeral value of existence and how in the end, everything must go. In a way i am grateful for this crisis because it has invigorated me and made me feel alive. When you coast along in life, you tend to take things for granted. When things screw up, it forces you to reassess your priorities. So there won’t be any updates on this site for some time, because i have fires to fight, and miles to go before i sleep. In the end, we return back to tabula rasa. Now if you excuse me, i have a computer to reformat.

and find a strand on white hair. The stress of work is probably getting to me. Concurrent intensives are simply unsustainable. You get burned out by the second week.

After looking through the reading materials for this semester, I have the “why the hell did i choose this course” epiphany. I hope class will be more interesting that the readings.

The birds of prey are circling


American opening-weekend audiences are driven by gossip and “box office winners.” Not enough people trust their instincts. Which family movie would you rather see? An epic set in Australia, or one about a crazy dog? The kids see the trailer on TV, and say: “We want to see the dog!” Well, I sorta liked “Marley” too, except for the dog. But I offer this advice for parents: The kids will see the movie you choose for them, not the movie they choose for you. If you don’t lay down the law, you’ll end up seeing “The Spirit.” You mark my words.

Never mind the “weekend winner” charts. Everybody wants to back a winner. If you’re one of 50 people in a theater, that may mean you are more discriminating than the people who are not filling the other 300 seats. It doesn’t automatically mean you’re (a) a loser; (b) one of them Elites; (c) looking like a nerd in front of your date. Young people, heed this advice: Never marry someone who doesn’t love the movies you love. Sooner or later, that person will not love you. I could go even further, and quote the great French cineaste Pierre Rissient, who instructs us: It is not enough for you to love a movie. You must love it for the right reasons.

Last Lecture Professor Randy Pausch, 47, Dies - Well - Tara Parker-Pope - Health - New York Times Blog

Randy Pausch, the Carnegie Mellon computer science professor whose last lecture became an Internet sensation and bestselling book, has died of pancreatic cancer. He was 47.

What started as a happy week ended on a more somber note, as i am reminded of one’s mortality and the vicissitudes of life. Thus i leave you, dear reader, with Philip Larkin’s ruminations on death:

Aubade

I work all day, and get half-drunk at night.
Waking at four to soundless dark, I stare.
In time the curtain-edges will grow light.
Till then I see what’s really always there:
Unresting death, a whole day nearer now,
Making all thought impossible but how
And where and when I shall myself die.
Arid interrogation: yet the dread
Of dying, and being dead,
Flashes afresh to hold and horrify.
The mind blanks at the glare. Not in remorse
- The good not done, the love not given, time
Torn off unused - nor wretchedly because
An only life can take so long to climb
Clear of its wrong beginnings, and may never;
But at the total emptiness for ever,
The sure extinction that we travel to
And shall be lost in always. Not to be here,
Not to be anywhere,
And soon; nothing more terrible, nothing more true.

This is a special way of being afraid
No trick dispels. Religion used to try,
That vast, moth-eaten musical brocade
Created to pretend we never die,
And specious stuff that says No rational being
Can fear a thing it will not feel, not seeing
That this is what we fear - no sight, no sound,
No touch or taste or smell, nothing to think with,
Nothing to love or link with,
The anasthetic from which none come round.

And so it stays just on the edge of vision,
A small, unfocused blur, a standing chill
That slows each impulse down to indecision.
Most things may never happen: this one will,
And realisation of it rages out
In furnace-fear when we are caught without
People or drink. Courage is no good:
It means not scaring others. Being brave
Lets no one off the grave.
Death is no different whined at than withstood.

Slowly light strengthens, and the room takes shape.
It stands plain as a wardrobe, what we know,
Have always known, know that we can’t escape,
Yet can’t accept. One side will have to go.
Meanwhile telephones crouch, getting ready to ring
In locked-up offices, and all the uncaring
Intricate rented world begins to rouse.
The sky is white as clay, with no sun.
Work has to be done.
Postmen like doctors go from house to house.

Philip Larkin

I Am A: True Neutral Human Wizard (2nd Level)

Ability Scores:
Strength-10
Dexterity-9
Constitution-13
Intelligence-13
Wisdom-13
Charisma-11

Alignment:
True Neutral A true neutral character does what seems to be a good idea. He doesn’t feel strongly one way or the other when it comes to good vs. evil or law vs. chaos. Most true neutral characters exhibit a lack of conviction or bias rather than a commitment to neutrality. Such a character thinks of good as better than evil after all, he would rather have good neighbors and rulers than evil ones. Still, he’s not personally committed to upholding good in any abstract or universal way. Some true neutral characters, on the other hand, commit themselves philosophically to neutrality. They see good, evil, law, and chaos as prejudices and dangerous extremes. They advocate the middle way of neutrality as the best, most balanced road in the long run. True neutral is the best alignment you can be because it means you act naturally, without prejudice or compulsion. However, true neutral can be a dangerous alignment because it represents apathy, indifference, and a lack of conviction.

Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.

Class:
Wizards are arcane spellcasters who depend on intensive study to create their magic. To wizards, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art. When they are prepared for battle, wizards can use their spells to devastating effect. When caught by surprise, they are vulnerable. The wizard’s strength is her spells, everything else is secondary. She learns new spells as she experiments and grows in experience, and she can also learn them from other wizards. In addition, over time a wizard learns to manipulate her spells so they go farther, work better, or are improved in some other way. A wizard can call a familiar- a small, magical, animal companion that serves her. With a high Intelligence, wizards are capable of casting very high levels of spells.

Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

Link here

Lost Season 4 is very, very, very good. And i love the Desomond-centric episodes. They are always so off-kilter, so unconventional.

There is this new series called New Amsterdam. Caught the first Episode and it looks fairly promising.

I’m getting annoyed with Hellgate London. The game is getting increasingly buggy of date, especially with the spinning wheel of death that always forces me to crtl-alt-del. Very annoying. Feels like i’m playing a beta game, and SEA servers is still only on Patch 0.7, which is pathetic.

I’ve realised the benefits of taking multiple 8 cred modules. Both of my 8 creds are slacker than my 4 cred, which is once again a replay of last sem. ICL is this sem’s version of PPL. I seem to have a knack of picking the most insanely difficult modules. It seems to me one of the reasons ICL is so hard is because lawyers have absolutely no idea what the proper principles are, so they just anyhow whack in the courtroom. And judges have a fuzzy idea on ICL, which leads them to write judgments which depart from precedents, which confuse future lawyers and law students. Thus begins a vicious cycle that turns the module into a complex Gordian knot of cases that don’t necessarily make sense and lawyers who draft some really, really bad clauses.

I will probably take a summer module this year, maybe on human rights or something like that.

Dinner last night with the gang was good.

Moving On - WSJ.com What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance? For Carnegie Mellon professor Randy Pausch, the question isn’t rhetorical — he’s dying of cancer.

Dr Randy Pausch’s last lecture is one of the best lectures ever given. Watch it. You’ll be glad you did. It can easily be found on Youtube, just search for his name. There is also a link here.

Yes, i have not written anything substantial of late. Can’t be bothered, i guess. This has been an enjoyable period of slacking. I find that i look forward to checking emails when i go to work. Its like the highlight of the day, and makes slow days far more bearable.

I went to the 10ed sealed the other day. It was fun and i got the foil Reya promo (which incidentally, looks awesome in foil). My sealed deck was crap, and my rares were mostly bad. But i did open an Ambassador Laquatus, which was da bomb. Anyways, we played 7 rounds of swiss and i ended up with a 5-2 record and ranked 9th. I won with combat damage a grand total of 2 games and Laquatus singlehandledly won 8 games for me. Winning by milling: Now that was fun.

And since i have nothing useful to write, i shall leave you all with a poster of My Blueberry Nights, one of my most anticipated movies of the year.

I am on the bench so often that i now keep track by counting the times i’m not on the bench.

Negotiations = Game Theory + Wayang.

My brother is so arrogant that he only bothers to put one choice in his application form, even though he has up to 5 choices because he thinks he will definitely get his 1st choice. The problem is that he is probably right.

Since i have no more lectures for 2 modules, i now legitimately have a 3 day week.

I want to watch Zodiac.