Nineteen

Today I listened to music until around 2am on my aunt's laptop. I woke up at ten. I played a bit of DotA. I went for lunch at Island Creamery's Burger Shack. I met Bryan and Juzzie at Serene Centre. I got a free scoop of ice-cream at Island Creamery. We bummed around the comics shop for a bit. Juzzie and I waited for the rain to stop so we could get home. I played a bit of Final Fantasy Tactics: Advance on my aunt's laptop. My family brought me out to dinner at this ramen place. After dinner I followed them as they walked around the riverside. When I got home, I ate some cake and came up with a few OM problems. Then I went to sleep.

Well. I guess they can't all be special.
The Edna Man

The Genius of Tim Minchin

Hi. Today we're here to talk about the genius of Tim Minchin. Warning, most of the content of this post is NSFW.

I'm going to call Tim Minchin a mixture of Jason Mraz and Weird Al Yankovic. He does novelty songs, but he's such a manipulator of the English language it's mind-boggling. And it's not just that, but his piano is some unidentifiable rock-and-roll/jazz-blues mix which sounds really awesome. It's satire, nice music and wordplay. What else could you want?

5. Some People Have It Worse Than I


Nice satire here, and a nice melody. His ending riff is quite exciting. And just listen to the content.

4. Rock and Roll Nerd


Starts with a ballad, and it shifts to a rap-rock hybrid thing. It's hilarious. Listen to the words, they are awesome.

3. Inflatable You


Another hilarious song, its rhymes are brilliant. VERY NSFW. I love the way he rhymes in this one.

2. So F**king Rock


Not much words in this one, but awesome music. I have always been a fan of the way you can start with one instrument then build up individual kinda-loops of each instrument and put them all together in an awesome melody. He says the f-word more than an army sergeant, so use headphones or turn down volume, but only into the middle of the song. His lip-syncing and actions are also really well done.

1. Prejudice


This one is (obviously) my favourite. Misdirection is not only used by magicians and con-artists, but man when comedians use it, it is freaking hilarious. And the wordplay: MAN. Channeling Mraz's spirit, or something. I mean, it's not only the rappers who can do it, right? Epic brilliant.

Because only a ginger can call another ginger 'ginger',
The Edna Man

Family Antimatters

I love my family. I love my parents.

So today I get a call from this modeling studio who scouted me last month and said they would like me to come down for an interview on Monday. Well, obviously I had no idea I looked this good, and I am actually quite excited about going for an interview and seeing what the modeling career is all about.

I tell my mom. And she immediately freaks out and switches to her high-pitched "what-the-hell-did-you-just-say?" voice. She freaked out because I told her the interview was at five and she doesn't understand why they "have to interview me at night". She freaked out because "This isn't for some audition or anything, right?" when I told her it was in interview. And she freaked out and asked me to bring a friend along because she asserted that these places are dubious.

I tell my dad. His first words: "Don't waste your time, lah."

I love having open-minded, supportive parents.

I'm sure if you had them, you'd love them too!
The Edna Man

The Existentialist and the Army

The major slowly put down the mugs of coffee and casually saluted the sergeant, who was standing ramrod straight and looked as though he could smash the table into two when his hand came down. “Rehatkan diri, soldier,” said the major, and the sergeant relaxed.

“Major Lee, you’re here to interrogate the prisoner?”

“Heard he was giving you a lot of trouble,” said the major, looking into the room through the one-way mirror. Though he was handcuffed to the chair, the prisoner seemed to be singing to himself, swinging his fingers and tapping his toes to the music only he could hear.

“Never seen a case like him, sir,” said the sergeant, folding his arms across his chest. “Worse than the worst street gangster we’ve recruited.”

The two soldiers stared at the prisoner for a moment. “Let me speak to him,” said Major Lee.

“It’s no use, sir,” said the sergeant, picking up the keys and moving towards the door. “He hasn’t cooperated with anyone below your rank, and there’s no reason to believe he’s going to start cooperating with you.”

“But you shoot all the bullets anyway,” said Major Lee, picking up the mugs, “hoping one of them hits.”

The door opened with a creak. Major Lee strode over to the other end of the table and set down his mugs again. The prisoner was still singing, though softer now, and he was eyeing the major with a mixture of apprehension and revulsion.

“Good evening, soldier,” said Major Lee.

“Do you know what’s worth fighting for?” sang the prisoner, ignoring him. “When it’s not worth dying for?”

“Shouldn’t you be asking yourself that?” asked the major, and the prisoner went silent immediately.

“Acknowledge the major!” shouted the sergeant suddenly, causing the prisoner to jump, but he kept silent and just eyed the major with a mixture of apprehension and curiosity.

“RECRUIT TAN, ACKNOWLEDGE THE MAJOR!” the sergeant roared. He was about to smack the prisoner’s head, when Major Lee held up his hand and said, “That’s enough, sergeant.”

The sergeant put his hand down slowly.

“Sergeant, I would like you to uncuff this soldier and leave the room, please.”

“But sir,” the sergeant protested, “the prisoner is supposed to be restrained at all times by regulation, and-”

“Sergeant,” said the Major lightly, “that is an order.”

The sergeant stared blankly for a moment, then bent down and unlocked the handcuffs binding the prisoner to his chair. Without a backward glance, he took the cuffs and retreated from the room.

The major was left with the prisoner, who was rubbing his wrists awkwardly, but still keeping an eye on the major.

“Here,” said Major Lee, sliding a mug over the tabletop. “This one is for you.” The prisoner glanced at the cup for a second, before locking his eyes back on the major’s.

“Don’t worry, it’s not poisoned,” said the major, taking a sip from his own.

Still watching the major cautiously, the prisoner slowly reached for the cup and took a sip. Realizing it was only lukewarm, he drained it in one.

Once the prisoner wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, the major spoke. “So, why are you here, soldier?”

The prisoner snorted. “Soldier? I’m in training. I’m no soldier.” He reached between the lapels of his shirt and pulled out something on a ball chain. “See this? These are my identification tags. They’re not dog tags. I’m a recruit. Lower than a dog.” He let the chain drop onto the front of his shirt. “That’s the first thing I learned here.”

“You’re more valuable than you think,” said Major Lee. “You’re training to become a soldier.”

“What is this, good cop, bad cop?” asked the prisoner, running his hand across his shaved head. “Maybe I should work toward something more in my reach first, like, maybe, I don’t know, the canine unit?” he said sarcastically.

The major did not respond, but stared at the prisoner for a while. He opened a file which was on the desk. “So, Recruit John Paul Tan Shuo Ren,” he said, reading from the notes inside, “you haven’t answered my question.” He looked up. “Why are you here?”

“I know what I’m fighting for,” said Recruit Tan, and a shadow flickered across his eyes as he added, “and I think it may be worth dying for.”

“What was that?” asked Major Lee, looking puzzled.

“That was the answer to your question. Your very first question. ‘Shouldn’t you be asking yourself that?’ That question.”

“Ah,” said the major, remembering the lyrics that the prisoner was singing as he entered the room. “So, what are you fighting for?”

The prisoner gave him a long, hard stare, before replying a single word: “Freedom.”

Major Lee was slightly put off by this answer. “Well, it’s a good thing you are in the army, because that is exactly what we are fighting for. To protect the freedom of our nation and safeguard our-”

“Save the speech,” interrupted the prisoner. “I’ve heard it six times from six different officers of six different ranks before you came along. And anyway, that’s not the type of freedom I was talking about.”

The major smiled. “Don’t you think that’s worth protecting? Don’t you think that the freedom of this nation is something worth fighting for? Don’t you think-”

“I’m sorry,” interrupted the prisoner again, “was I supposed to think? To actually use my brain and think? Because I thought I was in the army. A recruit in the army doesn’t think.”

“That’s not true,” said the major again. “We’re currently developing the holistic army, with soldiers that think for themselves in battle situations and-”

“Yeah, that’s why the sergeant had to blindly follow your order when you told him to uncuff me,” the prisoner said sarcastically. “Because he could think about it.”

The two men stared at each other in silence. Finally the major gave in. “Look, I’m not here to discuss army regulations. I’m here about your arrest. It says here in your arrest report that you were apprehended for five counts of subordination, one count of desertion and three counts of cowardice.” The prisoner was silent. “It also says here that you physically assaulted your commanding officer. Why did you do that?”

“I got irritated with his swearing,” replied the prisoner.

“Swearing? You mean profanities? Why didn’t you report it to your officer in command?”

“Sure, because he doesn’t swear like a sailor in an R21 movie.”

“That doesn’t mean you can just punch your officer like that,” said the major.

“Actually, I think I can,” said the prisoner. “It’s really easy. I just lift up my hand, like so” - he raised his right arm to demonstrate - “and clench it into a fist” - he did so - “and draw it back and punch-”

“That isn’t what I meant,” said the major, his calm demeanor belying a more worried soul. “You can’t do it because there are rules and laws in place and-”

“Technically, the rules and laws only enforce consequences for your actions,” the prisoner said, tapping his fingers on the table. “There is nothing stopping you from breaking every rule and law in existence, if you were not worried about the consequences.”

The major stared at the recruit, not believing that someone could be this remorseless. “So you are not afraid of imprisonment? Of being behind bars for the rest of your life?”

“It is not my choice to be afraid. I can choose not to be afraid, so I cannot fear.”

“What?” asked the major.

“Look, Major-” the prisoner stared at the nametag above the major’s breast pocket - “uh, Lee,” the prisoner began, then stopped. “Do you have another name? A first name? Or a Chinese name? Because I cannot call you ‘Major Lee’. It’s too hilarious.”

The major looked at the prisoner, wondering if he could reveal his full name. Then he said, “My first name is Percy.”

“Right, Percy.” The prisoner leaned back in his chair, resting his head in his hands. “You’re different from all the other officers who have come in to interview me. You’re smarter. A little bit. And less prone to shouting and violent behaviour. That’s good. That’s interesting. That’s why I’m actually talking to you.”

The prisoner leaned forward in his chair and fixed his eyes on the major. “What do you know about existentialism?”

“Not much,” confessed the major. “Never did follow philosophy.”

“It’s a philosophical idea,” said the prisoner, “which denounces the meaning of human life. No,” he said, seeing the look of worry which slipped across the major’s expression, “I don’t mean that life is not valuable. I’m not a murderer. Existentialism says that there is no intrinsic meaning in life. Life has only as much meaning as what we put into it. We chart our own course, we choose our own destiny, we make our own lives meaningful.

“So the central idea of existentialism is choice. We can choose to do anything. For instance, I can choose to get up, take this chair and bludgeon you to death. I won’t do it; the thought of murder disgusts me. But I could do it, you see? There is no one stopping me from doing it but myself.

“That’s what I realized yesterday, after doing about a million push-ups in the scorching sun on the blazing gravel, being shouted at and verbally abused, being physically and mentally tortured. I realized that it was not the officers, or the sergeants or anyone more senior than me who was abusing, torturing me. I was torturing me. I was the one following them. I was the one listening to them. I was the one who was carrying out their every command. I realized I didn’t have to. I realized I could choose to stop at any time. So I did.

“They had us on the ground again, in the middle of the night. To hell with the ‘seven hours of uninterrupted rest’, right? So I told myself, enough is enough. I chose to recover prematurely. I left my squad and went back to my bunk. Of course they shouted at me. But what can they do?

“So here I am. Because I realized that I didn’t have to listen to your commands or follow your orders. You can arrest me, imprison me, throw me behind bars, execute me. That is your choice. But you can’t make me go back to the physical and mental torture. You can’t make me do anything.

“That is my choice.”

-----
It might be a little contrived. But it's a story. The Major's full name is Percy Lee Sun Tzu, Percy being a reference to General Arthur Percival, General Commanding Officer of Malaya during World War II, and of course Sun Tzu and his Art of War. John Paul is a reference to Jean-Paul Sartre and Shuo Ren is a reference to Søren Kierkegaard, both major figures in existentialism. The song lyrics is from 21 Guns by Green Day. Most of this is pieced together from army stories from people I know.

Well, it's just an idea I had. I realize I can't really make my characters sound non-western, probably because I read too much.

I'm only fear that I lose control of myself.
The Edna Man

A Whole Life So Lonely

It's a week after Chinese New Year. The most exciting thing that happened this year is that it became a Tiger year. My little nieces are really cute. I tried to spread the love of Bartok, but to no avail. Maybe next week. No prawn crackers this year, sigh.

The more physical and obvious aftereffects of Love Hina has worn off, I think. But there's still a lot of undercurrent, I feel. Like a friend told me, something about the story echoed with my soul. Maybe I'll carry it from now on, wherever I go. I just have to make sure I don't set any standards.

I watched The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzimiya, which I was led to through the ending theme, which is really nice. Unfortunately, I fail to get what is so awesome about it. Must be taste I guess. But I love the cinematography and I loved the epic space simulation game. That was hilarious. I fear that I might be slowly turning otaku. I am interested in learning Japanese now.

I also finished reading the first Maximum Ride trilogy, the one that Daniel bought in the US and I borrowed to read on the train rides. I read the fourth book and find out that there's a second trilogy, with the sixth book not released yet. Graah. Now I have to wait again.

Speaking about fictional characters blogging in real life, Hui Jun has started a blog by his new character. I am interested in seeing how it turns out. I am also interested in seeing if I can fit TNN into it somehow. Isn't it strange that it's been four years since Naphtali but we still all remember it as TNN?

OM has started again. I feel so rusty, even though it's my third time doing it. Some people change, and some people don't. And some things don't either. I'm always meeting new people I can never keep track of. Oh well. There's a new coach called Tess, who was in RGS's Players, and I guess her acting is pretty good, but I don't think she's done much spontaneous. Will have to wait two weeks to see. It feels good acting up again.

Life is really boring when everyone is at camp. I got my letter on Chinese New Year, going in April 12th.

Then you come and ease the pain,
The Edna Man

Love and Hope

Today, I just finished reading a manga.

It's kinda weird... I never read much manga before. I'm not as otaku as a lot of people I know. Bryan first got me with The Legend of Koizumi last month. It's in that kinda of weird-awesome-completely-"badass"-kind of comedy genre, but I guess it's good for a laugh.

Today, I just finished reading Love Hina.

Have you ever liked a story enough to throw yourself into it? To devote your entire soul to the characters, the plot... what will happen, what happens in the end? That you come to care so much about people... who aren't actually real?

People laugh when they say I want to become a writer. They say that being a novelist is not a survival ambition in this country I live in. Either that, or they go the technical way and think "speechwriting" or "journalist". Nobody appreciates the value of a good, powerful story.

Right now, my arms and hands are numb. My feet are numb. There's a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. I'm kinda sweaty, and there's a feeling like there's something constricting my diaphragm.

Is this love? Or loneliness?

Love Hina is a manga of the harem genre. Simply put, harem mangas usually have one male lead character surrounded by a supporting case of female characters (or vice versa, as in with the genders reversed). It's also notorious for showing lots of ecchi fan-service, but I'll let you google that for yourself. It's also a comedy, and sometimes, the exaggeration gets kinda funny.

But that's not the reason I feel like this now.

Sure, it may be a harem manga. Sure, it may be an ecchi comedy. Sure, many people don't like it because it's unrealistic. It's just a story after all.

But it's a story about life. A story about people, and the things they do. It's a story about relationships. Friends and family. About courage, romance, and improvement. About the weird things people do when they like someone else. Most of all, at its core, it's a story. A story about love.

And that Gives Me Hope.
The Edna Man

Stop: Storage Time!

Melbourne, Australia -- Don't you just hate it when you're late for a meeting but the multistorey carpark is full, then vowing to be early next time so you can get a parking space, but never do?

Drivers would be delighted to find out that Seah Industries has solved the problem of limited parking space. Utilizing their groundbreaking time-travelling technology which they unveiled just last year in August 2012, Seah Industries has managed to commercialize the time-travel phenomenon.

Dubbed ChronoParking, the new system takes advantage of time, instead of space, in modern parking lots. "Carparks are always full during peak periods and usually empty after hours," said a spokesperson for Seah Industries at a press conference yesterday. "ChronoParking merely sends cars into empty parking lots in the past or future, allowing carparks to hold 'more than their capacity', allowing patrons to spend less time driving around looking for parking space."

Time travel has been a subject of controversy since its discovery in July 2012, when Seah Industries co-founder Dr. Jarrel Seah, then only 21, invented the first time machine and proved the existence of parallel universes. Since then, many advocate groups and government organizations have suggested that time travel should not be commercialized, lest it "falls into the wrong hands and history changes forever", according to the mission statement of Singularity, a non-profit organization which advocates against the proliferation of time travel.

Nevertheless, Seah Industries is confident with its new system. "A lot of safety measures are in place to ensure that history does not get rewritten," said Dr. Levin Tan, Seah Industries' leading scientist in the area of time travel. "For instance, the system preferably sends vehicles into a future timeline, when the interactions of cause and effect should be minimal on our present." Other measures include bomb-detection scanners and a ChronoShield plating around each parking space, to minimize the radiation of time particles called "minuteons", which can play havoc with the timestream.

"Imagine the future," said Dr. Tan, "where cars can be diverted to the same road at a different time to ease rush hour congestion." He adds, "This technology is the future, and also the past, and present."

----------

Inspired by rush hour carparking at Anchorpoint and Ikea yesterday. Set in the TNN 2012 universe.

The Edna Man

When The Saints Go Marching In

It's been a while, hasn't it? It seems so long ago that we got our IB scores, and finishing exams seems even further back in time. So many things have happened in these two months: playing mahjong, Christmas parties, happy outings, games, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, getting sick, getting downgraded.

And so now here we are. Bordering on the edge next scheduled life event which will bring people closer while also tearing them apart. After this, there's no more holidays. No specific time set aside for the so-called "less important" things in life. Everyone on their own path in life, not knowing when they will converge again with the paths of the people who they have walked with for the earliest parts of their lives.

By Thursday, so many people will have gone in. And after Friday, my MSN list will drop to less than half. What will I do then? When everybody's gone, what will you do? I am suddenly reminded of the Left Behind series, which is about the events immediately following the biblical Rapture, and I get the feeling that it won't be so different in three day's time.

Have you ever wondered if you were not designed for this world? That you like doing things that the world deems unimportant; and those that the world wants you to do, you don't like doing? Haven't you seen people who seem to just fit in to the expectations of society, who love being doctors and lawyers and engineers, who love making money and creating businesses and organizations and making more money?

Oh Lord I want to be among the number,
The Edna Man

Less Than 45

Less Than 45 parody of 1985 by Bowling for Soup

Woohoohoo
Woohoohoo

Debbie just hit the wall
She thought she had it all
Great World Lit essay
Excellent TOK
Her dreams went out the door
When she received her score
Only got forty-two
What is she gonna do?

She was gonna be an doctor
She was gonna go real far
She was gonna be a judge
Or maybe a superstar
Prestigous scholarships
Now look like comic strips
Looks at her average points
And wonders how she'll apply for

John Hopkins, and Princeton,
Imperial College London
There was Cambridge, Trinity
And places still at MIT
Her parents share her stress
No point trying NUS
'Cause you can't, can't just apply
With less than, less than, less than 45

Woohoohoo
(Less than 45)
Woohoohoo

She’s done all the IAs
Footnotes every line
CAS, Mathematics
Every sine and cosine
She had interviews
Student Council through and through
Thought she’d get a shot
At something in a high paid slot

Where’s the scholarships and the invites?
Maybe she'd do better jumping from a great height
When did 'below forty' mean 'no degree'?
Whatever happened to offers, career fairs,
(All the millionaires from)

John Hopkins, and Princeton,
Imperial College London
There was Cambridge, Trinity
And places still at MIT
Her parents share her stress
No point trying NUS
'Cause you can't, can't just apply
With less than, less than, less than 45

Woohoohoo

She's crying in the dark
Thinking of the cash she needs to re-mark (Re-mark)
And now lowering becomes a factor
I guess it's time, time
Time!
To give up

Hopkins, and Princeton,
Imperial College London
There was Cambridge, Trinity
And places still at MIT
Her parents share her stress
No point trying NUS
'Cause you can't, can't just apply
With less than, less than, less than 45

Woohoohoo

John Hopkins, and Princeton,
Imperial College London
There was Cambridge, Trinity
And places still at MIT
Her parents share her stress
No point trying NUS
'Cause you can't, can't just apply
With less than, less than, less than 45

----------
Just in case, you know, for disclaimer's sake, this is supposed to be a satire, so preemptive thanks for all the comments about how this is unrealistic, but yeah, I know. And the name 'Debbie' I kept from the real song, so any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental, etc etc.

On the Brink of Success or Failure

This is it. Tomorrow is the day. Judgment day. Hours of planning, days of meticulous hard work, it all comes down to tomorrow. One way or the other, the result will be success, or failure. Either way, it was fun while it lasted, and I guess I have no regrets.

Sometimes I wonder why I chose to do this. It was a big decision, full of possible repercussions, least of all was tomorrow's. But it is done, and as I sit here writing this, full of anticipation of the events to come, I realize that there is no turning back. I can't just give it all up and fail to appear tomorrow. So many people have stakes in this, and I think they'd want to see how it turns out in the end.

Maybe it would be best if there were instructions on how to deal with this kind of thing. Like a handbook, which would guide you through the process a step at a time, helping you along your path. That would be nice. But it wouldn't fit into the bag.

For those in the know, you probably would have gotten it by now.
The Edna Man

Beep beep boop bap beep beep

And so, with a simple sound, I realize that I am now a man.

From a boop-boop to a bip. How far I have traveled, eighteen years and I now pay adult fare.

It brings it all on to you. It's a quarter-life crisis. You're now one of them. You're now supposed to be one of them.

What if I don't want to? What if I go kicking and screaming?

Because I can never grow up. Not into this world. I'm not like other people.

Don't kill a child. You can't kill a child.

This world can.
The Edna Man

Different

From here.

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them, disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward. Maybe they have to be crazy. How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written? Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels? We make tools for these kinds of people. While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

Some of you may recognise that as the famous Apple ‘Think Different’ text, others may not, but I guess whether you’ve read it before or have read it for the first time there, we can pretty much all agree that it’s an inspiring piece of text. The thing that surprised me was that when reading through it I realised that all you need to do is change one tiny piece of the text to change the whole context of it.

“We make tools for educate these kinds of people”

In my mind, that’s now one hell of a motto for a better education system.

Let’s face it; the current education system just doesn’t know how to handle these kinds of people. “The round pegs in the square holes,” as Apple refers to them. The system doesn’t understand creativity. It robs all students of their creative consciousness and replaces it with structure, structure, and more structure, only to prepare them for a 9-to-5 job, Monday to Friday, every week of every year for the rest of their lives. Art, Music, Drama… you name it, the current system has a course for it. But that course doesn’t do any form of justice to the many greats that have over hundreds of years created amazing works and done incredible things, demonstrating how beautiful these arts can be. Students aren’t told to let passion drive them forward, or let their inspiration flow and their imagination stop at nothing. They are told to follow the rules, and do whatever it takes to get a ‘pass.’ Where would we be if Bach was told his Brandenburg concertos ‘didn’t quite meet the required standard’? What would have happened if Van Gogh was told his paintings just ‘didn’t make sense’?

It doesn’t stop at the arts. The suppression of creativity is seen in all fields of learning within the current system, giving no room for our real geniuses to shine. And why? Because the system has an obsession with testing, and at the end of the day you can’t test real genius, because you just can’t grade it. Who really has the right to say that a piece of music is an A or B or whatever else? Why should someone sitting in a fancy government office be able to sit there and write the rules that decide whether this piece of writing would make the grade or not? Why can’t the people deciding our futures for us be content with having some classes that have no exams? Classes that are solely there to help stimulate the different skills we all possess, without having to put us under the constant pressure of being bombarded with test after test and grade after grade. Do they see this as ‘non-educational’?

Think of the wealth of talent that is being and has been squandered due to this system. How many people would have become the next great composer if they had been given just that little bit more leeway? How many people would have had the courage to write their own novel, because they wouldn’t have been told they ‘weren’t good enough’? How many people failed to ever recognise their own potential because they were too busy striving for the best grades possible? Only so they could get a ‘good’ job in an office, with a ‘good’ salary.

Don’t get me wrong, we need the people in offices to do the things that keep our public services running and our economy going, but we also need the people who create, invent, and change things. We need the people who “sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written,” because Apple is right; they push the human race forward, and have done for as long as the human race has been around. But they can’t continue to do so if we don’t help them realise they are capable of doing so. They can’t invent the cure for cancer, or compose a great symphony, or write a magnificent piece of literature if our education system tells them exactly how everything should be, and what they should learn, and what they are aiming to do with their lives. Give them the opportunity. Let them decide.

We make the mistake of thinking that the people that do well in school are the ‘smart’ ones, but that isn’t always the case. These people may just be good at retaining information and reciting it back under pressure, or may just be good at problem solving. Our schools teach these kinds of people well, because they know how to deal with them. All you need to do with these people is throw facts and figures at them and tell them they need to know them to pass, and get become qualified to get a good job... which is not even proper learning. There is no regard there for our creative ones, or even the ‘smart’ ones who can probably do so much more given the opportunity. There is no other option, no fork in the road, not even a way to have the best of both worlds. Just one path for everyone to follow, with the same goal in mind—to fit in, and become another round peg in a round hole.

Let me make myself clear right now that this is not a dig at teachers, who do a superb job. What it is, however, is a cry out to the people in suits who decide what we learn and how we learn it to change their philosophy. To realise that some people can achieve more, and that the people who will eventually find the cure for cancer, or create the next breakthrough piece of technology, or discover new planets and galaxies are in our schools. These children/students or whatever you want to call them are waiting on these people to realise and do something to help them on their way to greatness. To give them the opportunity to shine, and achieve things that both us and them can’t even imagine yet.

It really is time for our education system to start ‘Thinking Differently.’

-----

What do you wanna be when you blow up?
The Edna Man

Top Ten of 2009

Hey! 2009's almost over, and instead of griping over the past and wishing for a better future, I'm going to start this annual thing which recaps my best moments of each year, with the hope that they will be just as scintillating in the years to come! It's written in bits and pieces over the year, starting in June, but next year I'll start from the very beginning (Do, re, mi!).

1. Odyssey of the Mind Coaching: 2009 (Written: 16 Jun 09)
Ahahaha... no surprises that this would be on the list! Possibly one of the best experiences of this life or any other lives I had, have, or will ever have. I really had fun meeting all these new friends, and acting is a real blast, no matter what anybody says or calls me. I think possibly the best is the actual day of the national competition, and especially the prize ceremony, because I was on tenterhooks (wow, I actually used an obscure word) the whole time and it is AWESOME to jump up on your seat while cheering your voice out when one of the teams wins. Sad that World Finals was cancelled though. Meh. AH WELL STILL A HAPPY MEMORY!

2. The "Brack Obama" Joke (Written: 21 June 2009)
Oh yeah this one was a classic. Well, I was sitting on that joke for days, but with no opportunity to use it (is this how all comedians feel?). So there I was, sitting in an English class about Hedda Gabler, and wouldn't you know it, Ms Rachel Cheung asks me to read the stage directions about the first appearance of Brack. Talk about timing! Without skipping a beat, I instantly said, "Who, Obama?" and while it didn't get hilarious laughs, it triggered the standard eye-rolling response, so I guess it was good. And hey, I didn't get to waste a good joke.

3. Biking for the Second Time (Written: 21 June 2009)
Last week I went biking for the second time in my life. As I mentioned in that post, I think it was great that remembered how to do it the second time. Nothing like biking on speed! Now all I need to do is train more then we (most probably just I) will be able to rocket all the way up to Russia and back! Woohoo!

4. Finishing v3.0 of Don't Forget the Lyrics! Powerpoint version (Written: 21st June 2009)
This was thrilling enough, considering I finished everything happily at 3am in the morning. The high was absolutely fantastic, and I couldn't sleep for an hour after that. It's really satisfying once everything falls into place, and all the code that you spent hours searching for FINALLY WORKS. Then I made the Interactive Tutorial, which was quite fun as well, and right now I think the whole thing is just brilliant!

5. Animusic! (Written: 31st December 2009)
Oh man, if you still don't know what Animusic is, man you are missing out. Search it on Youtube. It's an awesome visual and aural treat that will leave you breathless. When I first found out about it, I couldn't stop spreading it around, because it was so awesome. Acoustic Curves and the Pipe Dreams are my favourites, and Future Retro is nice too.

6. The Giant Porcupine Sighting (Written: 31st December 2009)
OH MAN THIS IS A GREAT STORY. So I was on the bus with Hui Jun going home after school when the 74 stops at the Sunset Way bus stop. We were sitting on the upper deck and so the roof of the bus shelter blocks most of the view of the pavement. Anyway behind the roof someone was carrying one of those spiky brooms over his shoulder, so only the brush was visible. So Hui Jun gets distracted in the middle of our conversation, stares out the window and goes, "Oh my god it's a giant porcupine." So obviously, I crack up. And after I've composed myself, and able to breathe again, I ask him, "Why did you think that was a giant porcupine?" And he goes, "I dunno! I mean, at first I thought 'lion' but I knew lions don't live in Singapore!" And then I just crack up again.

7. GEP Chalet (Written: 31st December 2009)
Ahh, chalet. I missed last year's for WoW, so I came back this year with a vengeance. (Well, no, not really.) Between barbecuing with David and watching Fatal Frame for the first time in my life (FREAKING SCARY AND DISTURBING), it was loads of fun. I also got to try a bit of Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, which was quite interesting.

8. Movies: Avatar and Up (Written: 31st December 2009)
Avatar was my movie event of the year. Transformers was action-packed and had interesting graphics, but this one had a whole WORLD. I really love the imagination and detail the creators put into it. It was a spellbinding totally-worth-it of 161 minutes. And Up was nice too, a nice little family movie which was heartwarming and generally awesome Pixar. Kevin's a girl?

9. Prom Night (Written: 31st December 2009)
Technically, prom itself wasn't that fun. It's for famous people to rub elbows with other famous people and not much for an inconspicuous guy like myself to do. I liked my costume though. It's the first (full) costume I ever had, if you discount those I had in OM which didn't really look like the real thing. No, the real fun was before and after prom, where we crashed in a sweet suite Ernest('s mom) booked at Raffles Town Club. I rarely get to play platform games, so it was lots of fun.

10. Youtube (Written: 31st December 2009)
It's not Youtube exactly, but all the awesome things that are there. Instrumentals for karaoke, for example, and also the Onion News Network, which is freaking hilarious. Other memorable Youtube moments this year include Improv Everywhere's many musicals, which are always awesome whenever they appear, and The Spectacular Spiderman which is the best Spiderman TV series ever made so far.

It's gonna be a happy new year!
The Edna Man

Judgment

Can you feel it? Can you feel the judgment?

They should be done by now. All over the world, they should be done by now. There's only one week left. It's all over. You have been judged. Can you feel your whole life, the rest of your future, hinging on a simple, single, two-digit number?

This is as close to Fate as it gets. From now till then, there's no changing anything. The score is fixed, the die is cast. One might say that it has already been since you wrote that final answer. But people are fickle and unpredictable, and only when the ticks and crosses are all tallied, then your fate is cast in stone.

Can you imagine knowing it now? Seven days before the day of reckoning. All you need to do is find those that belong to you, and add them up yourself. You don't need a ceremony to reveal the verdict. You have already been judged. It all exists. You just don't know it yet.

It's all there. One way or the other, you've already been acquitted or condemned. Right now, your life has swung into one of the two paths, one of the two categories, one of the two compartmentalized boxes. Right here, right now. It has already been decided. There is no turning back.

Can you feel it? Can you feel the weight of the future crushing your soul and rending your consciousness, strangling your hopes and dreams and ambitions by festering in your anticipation and feeding on your worries before it threatens to burst out and consume your every nightmare...

And then you wonder, why?
The Edna Man

Avatar Runemarks

It's past 1 a.m. and I just got home and my parents aren't killing me. I feel old.

I just got home watching Avatar and it was awesome. I love the world, and I loved how the visual effects really brought out the world of Pandora. Missed the opening minutes though, so I'm not sure if Pandora is on another planet or an alternate dimension or what. I'm guessing planet. I thought the helicopter-lizards were quite cool. Oh, and I don't really understand the biological or evolutionary advantages of moss luminescing with applied pressure. Wouldn't that just attract predators (or herbivores)? But the effects were awesome, really loved the glowing mushrooms and the Tree of Souls. Interesting ecosystem there, interesting world. I wouldn't mind watching it again. Oh and since the movie ended past midnight, it was a race against time to the MRT station to see if we could catch the last train, and another race to the bus stops to catch the last bus, frantically scanning the large maps along the way. I felt rather Bourne-ish as I was doing that. Quite an exciting little adventure.

A couple days ago I finished reading Runemarks by Joanne Harris, and before that, Here Lies Arthur by Philip Reeve. Awesome books, awesome storytelling. A peculiar connection between these two books is that they are (possibly) meta-commentaries about stories in general. Actually, Reeve's book probably had more of it. Here Lies Arthur is a tale about King Arthur, Lord of the Britons. Except this wasn't the honourable Arthur from legends; he was nothing more than a gang boss, offering protection from the Saxons to the settlements scattered across Britain and demanding protection money in return. And the stories of Arthur's good name was spread by his trickster and bard, Myrrdin (sound familiar?). I knew enough about the legend of King Arthur to know that this was an excellent story. You have a well-known tale and you subvert it using easily-recognizable characters in a whole new setting (much like Marvel: 1602).
There was an undercurrent of tricksters in Runemarks as well, with Loki. Another book with the same vein, and another brilliant world with excellent storytelling. The only thing I found annoying was that the author didn't really focus on the "main" character throughout the whole thing, but it was possibly due to the type of story the author intended to write. Still good though.

The other medium I have recently discovered is The Onion News Network. It is HILARIOUS. I love the subversion, and I absolutely love the way they do it so professionally and so deadpan. It is brilliant. What it must be to work there.

"That's what we need. Another bloody oracle."
The Edna Man.

Dream Sequence #004

Okay, I just woke up, and I need to write down this dream.

I don't remember much now that I'm awake, and there was a whole blockbuster's worth of material in this dream. Basically, there is this land with two races, I think, a more human-ish one and a more elvish one. At least, I assume elvish because they wear more green and leaves than the other race. They use bows and arrows, but the main character (first person point of view) is learning a form of exaggerated martial arts where you have colourful bolts of energy flying around whenever you perform a movement. He learns it from a master, who he develops a powerful relationship with. If I remember correctly, both are elvish, because it makes whatever comes next have a lot of sense. Then something happens, something about an enemy inviding, and I think they have to flee to the shelter of the nearby fort. I remember clearly that the fort had a postern gate, carved out of rock in the side of a mountain.

Once in the fort, the protagonist and his master are able to train in the royal swimming pool, which is supposed to have benefits which I can't remember. (The extra spinning ability, perhaps. There was this bit I remember where the protagonish spun around, crossing his hands in front and behind him as he went, launching energy bolts shaped like small blue or yellow birds at his teacher, while he blocked them with a red ring of energy around himself.) The royalty, the king, has this thundercloud floating over his head, with lightning striking occasionally, and the prince has a smaller cloud, shaped like a leafy sea dragon. Again something happens, which I can't remember, and the humans have little trust for the elves, and one of them in particular is extremely bowstring-happy, willing to shoot anyone whom he thinks has turned traitor (and he thinks most elves have). So anyway the master is showing the protagonist a map of the whereabouts of his family, which he needs to go back and protect, when there is this cinematographic zoom-in of the trigger-happy soldier snapping his face backwards upon hearing the name of the village, and then the protagonist goes up to him and demands to know why hie is eavesdropping on the conversation. They almost fight, but are stopped by the image of an elf leaving by the postern, which if I failed to mention before, is carved into the mountain and is about ten metres tall. So the guy promptly draws his bow, and the protagonist tries to stop him, and he promptly gets shot in the side like, four times. And if you recall, it was all in first-person, so technically I got shot in the side like, four times. And it was helluva painful. I think I stumbled backwards into a pit, and that's when I woke up.

I have a feeling that this dream was inspired by Marvel: 1602, Xi Min and JX's new fantasy world, and The Two Towers soundtrack, all combined. Creepy.

The Edna Man

Marvel: 1602

So I just came back from the National Library today feeling extremely happy since I discovered that my premium membership only expires in four days which meant that I could borrow an unhealthy number of books home. Sad that they discontinued their double-limit policy though.

Anyhoo, the first of my eight-book spree is Marvel: 1602, written by Neil Gaiman of Sandman and Stardust fame, as well as a number of other titles which I am not familiar with. And I have to agree that Gaiman is a kind of storytelling genius. I now am very willing to read Sandman.

The story is interesting, though after a couple of years reading comics, is somewhat typical of the genre. The way Gaiman crafts it, though, weaving fundamental and recognizable Marvel characters into the historical setting, is pure brilliance. I had great fun identifying the people before the plot revealed their names and identities, and it was fun waiting for Peter Parker to get bitten by a spider (screw you, Gaiman, for drawing that out for so long XD). It was good, good, good, and I enjoyed it so much, so thanks Mr Gaiman, for an hour of entertainment and a lifetime of inspiration.

"A universe in which no story can ever truly end; in which there can be only continuances." -- Richard Reed
The Edna Man

Prom Birthday Chalet Musical 3

You can tell how much I've been playing by the huge delay between posts. So anyway there's been much going on. Going in order:

Prom was a blast on the 23rd of November. The Phantom of the Opera Was Here, inside my mind. Pity there wasn't any chandeliers to crash into the middle of the ballroom, sigh. Oh, and it doesn't matter how awesome you are, if you're not famous, screw it. But still, it was nice playing the Phantom and having a cloak to swish around and draw around you dramatically as you leave the room and stuff. But I guess the Phantom must have been left handed or something, because it's damn hard to eat with that mask on. (Or maybe he takes it off. Oh yeah.) Anyway, was one of the only few people with a mask, unless you count girls' eyeshadow, which was WAY FREAKY and looked so gothic and vampish. But well. Never understood them anyway. Ernest had this awesome British costume thing with a pipe and hat and a suit which looked so close to a tuxedo that it was almost as if Mr Bond himself had entered the room. Hui Jun looked like Willy Wonka with his humongous top hat and cane and paedophilic mannerisms. Levin went as a mad scientist, with a Russian accent but he looked more Einstein-ish than Russian.

Prom itself wasn't very exhilarating. There were a couple of performances but the sound system wasn't good enough to carry it across the ballroom. No dancing. Food just came and went. Took some pictures, and went off to Raffles Town Club where Ernest had booked a suite. We had bowling earlier in the afternoon (I am thinking of learning how to do it properly) and played games through it mostly. It's quite fun playing Rise of Apocalypse with more people, but Lord of the Rings was DAMN HARD and DAMN STRESSFUL. But yeah, had much fun anyway.

And so I've been introduced to a new MMORPG. I tried BrightShadow right after exams ended, but I found it to be getting too monotonous after level 20 (I was a mage and had little late game variety). So after prom the guys got me into NeoSteam which I'm still playing now and am quite happy with it. It's great because it can run on my com, end of story.

Oh, midway between this and the next thing was double back-to-back birthdays of Juzzie and XM. Juzzie's was quite fun and I met a couple of new people I'll never see again, and XM's introduced me to Valkriya Chronicles which is an AWESOME Turn-Based Strat with a novel combat system. (As Jonny would agree, the main character is also quite cute.)

Well not long after that it was GEP CHALET which was an awesome blast. I missed the last one because of WoW last year, so this year I came back with a vengeance. I feel a bit guilty because I didn't help out as much, but I guess I helped out where I could. (Better that SOME PEOPLE who didn't help out at all!) But it was mostly a gaming chalet, with Borderlands in the bedrooms and PS3 in the hall and Starcraft matches as after-dinner entertainment. But I think the highlight of the many chalets is Fatal Frame, and this year I forced myself to stay awake to watch it. I can understand why it's such a communal game, as anyone playing it alone in the dead of night must either be insane or blindfolded. The game's creators do make the player freak out most of the times, and SZ was just hilarious to watch playing (Jew film!). But I admit that I wasn't really freaked out by the ghosts, but it was more of when the audience shrieked in terror that made me jump. But still, the plot of the game was quite disturbing, and the ritual was damn freaky. It still freaks me out whenever I think of the Blinding Mask and the Rope Maiden Ritual. Apparently, the next two Fatal Frame titles are even more freakier, because there's something about a twin strangling her sister and a whole village of undead. Yeah.

So that's been most of my activities for the past fortnight or two. Then Saturday I watched High School Musical 3: Senior Year and I LOVED IT. Okay, the plot stinks, quite badly. BUT THE MUSIC IS AWESOME. I can tell they really pulled out all the stops for the feature film, because the cinematography was just brilliant, and some of the sets and scenes were amazing. The Broadway style song, I Want It All, was stupendous, I think my favourite, because of the elaborate set and the costumes and the whole musical-ishness of the piece. Loved it, totally. Oh and then there was the awesome rotating corridor in Scream which I though was quite cool because it made it like a real music video. I think it would be awesome fun to be a cast member on a production like this.

And so that's all for now. I'll see what other awesome stuff I'll be doing these next two months of freedom.

Who says we have to let it go?
The Edna Man

FREEDOM

FREEDOM

FREEDOM



Fastest Puzzle Solvers
1. Herrick (14)
2. Hui Jun (11)
3. Boey Yang (9)
4. Levin Tan (8)
5. Kuang Kai (8)
6. Darrell Neo (7)
7. Justin Poh (2)



FREEDOMMMM!
The Edna Man

COUNTDOWN DAY FIFTEEN FINAL DAY

Collapse all your wave functions to become unmarried,
Like Jenga except you shout at the last card,
Of The Jet Li and ultimate rings of power,
And hitting Shift+OMG!!!!!
The Edna Man

COUNTDOWN Day 14

One less than a crowd is better than one head worth more than those in the bush,
The Edna Man

COUNTDOWN Day 13

Hendiatris, Rings of Elven Power, nautical red between blue: Hat-trick!
The Edna Man

COUNTDOWN Day 12

Seasons, the Horsemen of Apocalpyse, the Beatles, Suits, Noble Truths, Elements

COUNTDOWN Day 11

Click the Maroon and Take a Jackson Famous for Fighting on a Fatal High,
The Edna Man

COUNTDOWN Day 10

Iron for the birthday, bronze carried long;
Wood from the burning, stone out of song;
Fire in the candle-ring, water from the thaw;
Signs of the circle, and the grail gone before,
The Edna Man

COUNTDOWN Day 09

pH neutral, Roman hills, Signs of the Apocalypse: Jackpot!
The Edna Man

COUNTDOWN Day 08

A Beufort gale, a Great Richter, a devastating Torino collision
The Edna Man

COUNTDOWN Day 07

Pluto's Cloud,
The Edna Man

Adventures

You don't know about me, without you have read every other post on this here journal, but that ain't no matter. This journal was made by Mr Kevin Low, and he told the truth, mostly. There was things he stretched, but he mainly told the truth.

Well, one or two years run along, and it was well into November, now. I had been to school most all the time, and now it was the examnations, where they test you on most everything they learned you over the years. There ain't nothing worse a body can't handle, except maybe some teachers I knowed. I don't take much stock in her, anyway.

One day I happened to strike an idea. I says to myself, I couldn't see no profit in this commentary-writing business, so why don't I write my commentary in the author's style? Won't it show them that I knew their style better than the author himself? I reckoned it would be fun, and exciting, and warn't any harm in it.

So I tell Tom Sawyer about it. He said, "Why, where was you raised? Would Shakespeare write in Dicken's style? Or Jane Eyre? No, he wouldn't. Because it ain't in the books so, that's why. Now, do you want to do things regular, or don't you? Don’t you reckon that the people that made the books knows what’s the correct thing to do? Do you reckon you can learn them anything? Not by a good deal. We got to do it proper, with quotes and all, and blame it if we don't get it right."

I didn't believe him. It had all the marks of a Sunday school.
Unck Ednn

COUNTDOWN Day 06

Tetractys Thousand Thundering Typhoons,
The Edna Man

COUNTDOWN Day 05

World War I ended at the last possible moment
The Edna Man

COUNTDOWN Day 04

Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Ares, Hermes, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Hestia
The Edna Man

COUNTDOWN Day 03

REMEMBER REMEMBER THE FIFTH OF NOVEMBER



Paraskevidekatriaphobia,
The Edna Man

COUNTDOWN Day 02

What does Johann Sebastian Bach have in common with Sonnets?
The Edna Man

COUNTDOWN Day 01

There's never a wish better than this,
The Edna Man

GOOD LUCK, EVERYBODY

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the COUNTDOWN.


Merry Mugging to all, and to all a good night.
The Edna Man

Karma

The days flowed by like water. Swiftly the wheel for formations turned, and soon the cycle of examinations was upon him once again. Like ants, the child people worked. Like ants, the child people worked towards their goals, their individual desires, their eyes never wavering from that goal, that final perfection.

It was during this procession towards the end of days that a thought struck Uncletheddna. In the process of meditating on his sacred texts, he thought, wouldn't it be fun, wouldn't it be interesting to write his commentary verses in the style which the manuscripts were originally written? Wouldn't it show, wouldn't it express that he knew of the style in which it is written like the back of my hand? For what better way to show understanding, to show knowledge, than to produce an imitation, to reproduce the original?

His heart laughed at the thought. It would be a symbolic cycle, a renewal, a circle. It was karma, that fateful cycle of events, which would have the reader in the examiner, and the examiner in the reader. And his heart filled with delight at the thought.

This, o reader, are some of the thoughts which have crossed my mind.
Uncletheddna.

Only Human After All

So I was watching Improv Everywhere's latest musical when I click on a link for one of the photographers and I find her blog. It's rather nice, since it's more of a photoblog, and her photographs are really quite nice (and her cat is adorable). So halfway down I find a link to her husband's website and apparently he's a freelance filmmaker. There's an awesomely choreographed video on the front of his site (when you first visit) which reminds me of this video which I've seen before, which is awesome in its own right (the music isn't very though). So anyway if you browse around the site and come across the videos, the first one that opens when you click that tab is a rather interesting video about the buskers in New York (if you don't see that video then click the picture of the glue bottle on the right). Aside from the video, which is both heartwarming and heart-wrenching at the same time, the song, which I assume is written by the busker with the guitar and harmonica, is a really nice one. I couldn't find the lyrics anywhere, so I guess it's an original song. But it's nice.

-----
Only Human After All (?)
Well if I was a fountain
Would your wishes bring good luck?
And if I was a jacket
Would you always hang me up?
But if I was a jukebox
Would you play me all the time?
And if I sold my guilty soul
Would you pay any (mind)?

Well if I had direction
I'd be sure to steer you right
And if I was a freight train
Would you ride me every night?
But if I was a season
Would you catch me when I fall?
And if I gave you everything
Would you just take it all?

But if the answer's yes
To the questions I already know
There would be nothing left to prove
I wish I had the time
But you're fine
With my fate on the line
Don't need to know the truth
It might just break your heart in two
And I've done sniffed up all my glue
The (new) conclusion that I drew
I guess I'm only human after all

Well if I was a smile
Would you turn me upside down?
And if I was a whirlwind
Would I spin your world around?
But if I was a hotel room
Would you be here to stay?
And if I went and stood you up
Would you just walk away?

Yeah, if I was a riddle
Would you see me as a joke?
And if I was a pocket
Would you come and take me broke?
But if I was a junkie
Would you try and get me fixed?
And if I was a cigarette
Would you decide to quit?

But if I'm never there
Don't despair
'Cos I don't really care
As long as I'm not getting caught
Now just escape the pain
Of (this stain)
Let me level my brain
From your forget-me-nots
(Me tell) you give it all you've got
So watch me take me another shot
You're bound to make my stomach rot
Forgot I'm only human after all

Well if I was expensive
Would your wallet set me free?
And if I was a letter
Would you ever let me be?
But if I was a stop sign
Would you still be on the go?
And if I was a roadmap
Would you let me take you home?

But if I sing my song
Is it wrong
If you don't sing along
But still support me in the end?
'Cos like the setting sun
It's been fun
But it's over and done
I'm moving on my friend
Until the day we meet again
I'll wallow in my medicine
And know that I'll feel better when
You realize that I'm human after all

-----

In other news, I've learned what esoteric, meningitis, and scuttlebutt mean from playing Clockwords.
The Edna Man

Clockwords

Hey, so exams are coming closer and all that, but what better way to spend your time before eminent doom arrives than playing games!

Clockwords is an awesome word game which is slightly different from other word games (like Text Twirl or Bookworm). It's awesome awesome fun and it's replaced my "Take a Break, have a GAME!" game of choice lately. It's like Tower Defence, Scrabble and a Typing Speed Test all in one! Go try it, and you can tell your mom that you're improving your English or something.

In other news, Improv Everywhere has a new musical.
The Edna Man

Once Upon a November

Wake Me Up When November Ends, parody of Wake Me Up When September Ends by Green Day
Year Five has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up when November ends

Like my other friends in class
Three more weeks will go so fast
Wake me up when November ends

Here comes exams again
Mugging day and night
Textbooks to cram again
And more essays to write

As my memory fills
Anymore and it overspills
Wake me up when November ends



Prelims have come and passed
The stakes are high and the die is cast
Wake me up when November ends

Time makes its slow advance
Like we're working in a trance
wake me up when November ends

There goes my brain again
You won't comprehend
Drenched in my pain again
Awaiting for the end

All the things I have revised
Didn't work as advertised
Wake me up when November ends


[[Instrumental]]


Once we get that forty-five
I'll reawake and come alive
Wake me up when November ends

Two more fortnights of IB
Just two months and I'll be free
Wake me up when November ends
Wake me up when November ends
Wake me up when the papers end

-----

Apparently people are willing to lie through their teeth for their curriculum vitae. Say hello, all you University Application Deans!

Maybe I've been the problem, maybe I'm the chance of rain
The Edna Man

My First Children's Day

Hooray, blogger seems to be fixed. Back to regular updates!

This has been a really nice half-week, with lots of fun for all the family. Not only are prelims over, I spent three days out of the house! (Not consecutively, of course.)

So after the stats exam on Monday we had one of those famous "class" outings. We headed down to Cineleisure and had a brunch at Burger King (I'll have a Croissant-wich and some fries and coke on the side). Because nobody knew which movie to watch, we ended up deciding on Whiteout, which was at like, 1.30pm, 2 hours away. So we went to hunt down a LAN shop while Justin got his Omnitrix fixed, and managed to find one who was willing to hide our school-uniformed customership in the back. Played CounterStrike for about an hour; Jun Siong is a damn good (and damn irritating) sniper. But meh, I got better over time. Then we went back to watch the movie. It wasn't too bad, but the plot was a bit forced, I think, and there wasn't really a point to the story or anything. But yeah, still thrilling.

After that we split up because of differing agendas; Ernest and JS went to play badminton, and the girls went to watch Gamer, while Levin, Mong and Justin went to get computer parts. So I wandered over to Kino and lost myself in the comics section (again), and I just have to say that Marvel's Secret War event looks amazing, and so does DC's Blackest Night. Sigh.

Then on Tuesday, I went over to Hui Jun's house again for an afternoon of fun and laughter. Played X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse for a while, which was kinda infuriating because some people just want to destroy everything with a health bar, even though it's not necessary. It felt nice being experienced at a game for once. Oh yeah, before that Ernest was thrashing me with Soul Calibur, which he was competition-trained at until Sec 1 before he decided to give it up. I guess I will never be good at fighting games. So after X-Men we returned to Raving Rabbids, which is this Wii party game. It has an awesome TapTap-esque minigame, and awesome dancing one, so yeah!

Then at night, we started a game of Munchkin with JC's brand-new expansion packs, with dungeons now which affect all players. It was quite fun, especially the gender-changing one, but I had to leave halfway to make sure I could catch a bus back. But before I did I borrowed three books from Hui Jun; more on that later.

Okay, then yesterday was a full morning of OM-related activity. First I'm supposed to wake up at 8am but for some reason I must have been so tired that I switch it off while not even waking up, and it's only at like, 9.20 does my mom come in and ask me what time I have to be at MGS. Aaah! So I rush out of the house and get on the first bus down to the school, and I apparently make it just in time to surprise the OM girls for Children's Day. Ta-dah! Well, I didn't manage to get any sweets but Mrs Hah had a whole fridge of them (literally, stockpiles of it) and I just helped give them out. Meh. Oh well. So June and I hung around until the Children's Day concert, which I was quite curious to see, seeing that I haven't watched a Children's Day concert for about six years. It was quite awesome, actually, seeing the teachers go up and perform for their students. I think that it's brilliant; it really reminds the teachers that they're not just there to teach, but to make them happy, which is great. Hints for Youth Day, instead of just ice-cream.

So then June and I went down to town for lunch, chicken rice a la carte. We wandered around town, shared an Auntie Anne's pretzel which I haven't eaten since I was ten or eleven, I think. (Actually, "shared" is a bit of a euphemism; June claimed she was full and only accepted a small chunk.) Then it was off wandering around Kino (again) and we found this AWESOME series of books. They're like textbooks, but all in manga style. That's right. Typical Japanese manga girls and nerdy-looking boys explain Newtonian physics, molecular biology and calculus. June was complaining how she never had these books in her time.

After that June said she had never explored Orchard Ion, so naturally an expedition was in order. Thank goodness this time I managed not to get lost, and we wandered around looking at posh tea houses and expensive fashion accessories. Then it was time to go home.

And what I've been doing at home is reading. Lately, Hui Jun has been like a library to me, and I've been borrowing from his extensive (read: he has books shelved behind his books) collection. I'm supposed to do a review on them soon, so keep your eyes out for that. In order: Garth Nix's Keys to the Kingdom series, then Trudi Canavan's The Black Magician series, and now two of Eoin Colfer's: The Supernaturalist and The Wish List, as well as Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code, which is the only one I haven't yet read. Will get to the reviews soon, I guess.

Happy Children's Day!
The Edna Man

The Sad, Sad Situation

Link: "Wanton Disrespect from Another School"

I refer you to the above forums for more information about this post.

Firstly, you can see that Singaporean Internet commenters are no different from American Internet commenters (seriously NSFW). Nice to see civility taking a backseat when hiding behind the anonymity of teh interwebz.

I think most of the people condemning the act are too quick to judge. They are quick to blame the teachers, the school, the education system, before getting the full story on the situation. I think the intent of the initial forum poster, to rile up emotions on this event because of the apparent shocking nature of the pictures, was achieved quite well. People tend to react more violently or strongly to images or events which throw a wrench in their system, which might affect their rational judgment about the situation.

From what I can gather about the nature of the project the students were supposed to undertake, I think that it is brilliant. This is the kind of education method I prefer: something which exercises creativity and exploration, not just extraction from a textbook. I think it is effective because you can see how the students really got into the role-playing and the systematic process of taking over the rival school. On the basis of understanding the mindsets of colonists and putting the student in their shoes, which was allegedly the aim of the exercise, this was a fantastic idea. However, what was not mentioned was the aftermath: learning from your mistakes. After all the laughter and humour was over, did the teacher explain the detrimental possibilities of their plans? Did he or she take them back out of context and ask them to look at what they had thought up? Did the students recognise the potential of the atrocities they might commit if they had the opportunity to put their plans into action? That should be an important lesson here as well, not just the understanding of colonists.

That aside, we return to the "public's" reaction to this so-called "despicable slandering". First comes the Victims, who are offended by the "stereotypes" portrayed and demands that teachers be sacked, schools admitting apologies, ministries coming in to investigate, and all that jazz. These are the same type of people who hate Islamists just because of a few fundamentalists. I will never understand the human tendency of association, especially the Singaporean idea of "each student represents the entire school". In any organization (especially those in which membership is not voluntary), there will be rebels, or at least deviants who do not totally believe in whatever mission or ideal that the organization represents. But thanks to the media, these anomalies are hyped up to such an extent that the layman thinks they represent the entire organization.

I've been studying statistics for the past few months, and one of the basic principles of sampling is that a sample is never an exact representation of the population. It gives indicators, sure, but is not a photocopy. Once that is understood, then the second concept to understand is that correlation does not imply causation. So, a few students with the propensity to think up such ideas and with the intelligence to post them on a public domain does not immediately mean that the entire school is like them. As if schools could control the every action and thoughts of every single student that passes through their halls. The same argument applies for all the people who believe that the whole ACS fraternity is highly offended. Some commented that they found it highly amusing and mostly harmless; for who can blame them? They must have done it in their own time as well.

Then there are also the slights on racism, discrimination and stereotypes. Those happy people who believe in the racial integrity of our stable country insist that these type of stereotypes and generalization, if applied to the more emotionally-manipulating subject of racism, will bring instability to our great nation. To these happy people, I invite you to watch a liberal musical called Avenue Q, in particular a song called Everybody's a Little Bit Racist. If you understand what it is trying to say, you will see that everybody makes little judgments, not just based on race, but on whatever organization or stereotype you belong to. And the whole idea is not to escalate it to such violent, rioting levels, but to accept it as part of human nature.

So there is my take on this whole shebang. Now to get back to stats.
The Edna Man

Scallywags and Scoundrels

Ahoy me hearties! Terday be anoth'r Talk Like a Pirate Day, and woe betide it falls on a Saturday, with naught a social gatherin' all day. Talk Like a Pirate Day ain't much fun, if yer don't have nobody ter talk ter.

I allow'd meself ter write me cap'n's log terday, being one o' them special days and all, and since I miss'd September 1st 9th and 11th, I made sure ter commemorate tha special occasion.

It ain't much fun, like I said, but me be studyin' me organic alchemy to tha excitin' instrumentals o' tha Pirates o' tha Caribbean soundtrack. S' better than naught.

Ye bilge rats and landlubbers should be more appreciative o' tha special days o' tha year, as they be making tha borin' and mundane inter somethin' diffrent and un-monotonous. But well, one mate's treasure chest is another mate's booty, if ye know what I mean.

Avast, and belay that bilgewater.
Cap'n Edna Mann

Bike Trip!

So we went biking on Friday and I'm only writing about it today. Partly because of distractions and partly because damn Blogger is screwing up its XML or something. It really puts me off writing when the formatting of the submit form is all over the place.

Anyways, bike riding was awesome. As expected, not many people came, but a couple new faces this time. We took a different route from before, but ended up at a place with cheaper rentals than before, in a way. And what an epic bike journey it was. We cycled all the way down to Changi Airport, which was a first for me (I can do turns now!) and EPIC when we tried racing the planes taking off. Unfortunately, the bikes from this rental place were so overused that my gear-change system didn't work and I was stuck on high for most of the ride, meaning that I couldn't coast, limited to short bursts of speed. Still, not as bad as Guangda, whose rear tyre somehow acquired a dent which interfered with his braking system, causing him to pedal with all his might just to keep moving.

Arun and Charmaine joined us for dinner, at Carl's Junior (best place after a three-hour bike ride) over a fascinating discussion about superstitions and the supernatural. It was really interesting, coming from the skeptic point of view, and it's good because you keep your mind open to all the various possibilities and explanations. Huh.

Anyway, on the MRT ride back, there was another interesting conversation about NS with the China scholars. After I changed to the red line, I let an old man take my seat on the train. One of the few times I actually had a seat on the train to give up. Anyway, he didn't sound as grateful as some of the other elderly I've helped; not that I'm expecting, I just noticed he was different. But good karma goes around, I guess, because the bus driver waited for me while I hobbled to the bus stop with my injured leg.

That's about it I suppose. Mugging is back with Prelims, and there's no break to the IBs, so.

Need to fly away in a costume of colours,
The Edna Man

Holding out for a Teacher

Holding Out for a Teacher - Parody of Holding Out for a Hero by Bonnie Tyler

Where have all the tutors gone?
And where are my textbooks?
Where's the stupid search engine
Telling me to look?
All these facts and figures are running through my brain
I need help to sort through my head before I go insane!

I need a teacher!
I'm holding out for a teacher till the end of the term;
He's gotta be smart
And she's gotta have heart
And he's gotta be friendly but firm
I need a teacher!
I'm holding out for a teacher so that I can learn
She's gotta be sure
As an entrepreneur
Or the finals and exams will burn
Exams will burn

Though this class ain't perfect
And it just gets on your nerve;
Idiots and geniuses,
Taken from both ends of the curve.
But ask yourself one question; ask your own true heart:
Would your life be better if we spent our year apart?

I need a teacher!
I'm holding out for a teacher 'till she marks my essay
Don't come into my dorm;
Sign my CAS form;
Don't tell me it's another survey?!
I need a teacher!
I'm holding out for a teacher until Teachers' Day!
Jarrel Seah can't explain,
His words are too arcane
And it leaves me in more disarray
More disarray

"Madam could you please write my testimonial?
I need to apply for Uni."
"No please don't confiscate my
MP3!"

Through the toilet breaks and long timetables
Fire drills without smoke
We will all study hard
So we can get your jokes

I need a teacher!
I'm holding out for a teacher who is also a friend,
Don't need no professor;
Or Internal Assessor;
Or someone who just condesceneds;
I need a teacher!
I'm holding out for a teacher who really comprehends
We gotta remember
'Cos the end of November
Doesn't mean that these friendships must end
Friendships must end

-----
My tribute to all my teachers, past and present. Happy Teachers' Day, y'all!

In other news, today's T-Day performance was one of the best EVER. I mean, I don't know how the older teachers are going to appreciate the hip-hop and stuff, but having the Senior Admin in feather boas and a sparkly top hat must surely make any performance an instant sellout.

Somebody give me a grade!
The Edna Man

Got these Chains on Me

Got these Chains on Me - Phineas and Ferb
I woke up this morning, and the world was gray.
Haven't seen the sun since they hauled me away.
The boss man says there's no use in trying,
He won't let me color outside of the lines.

Got these chains on me,
And they're draggin' me down.
Got these chains on me,
Hear that clanking sound?
Got these chains on me,
Mister, hear my song
Don't say imagination is morally wrong

Mm-hmm
Drink of water, boss?

As long as I've been here I got nothing to show,
Try to make something but the boss says no
Wanna be creative but the man won't hear it
That big boss man, he's trying to crush my spirit

Got these chains on me,
They won't let me fly
Got these chains on me,
Won't tell me why
Got these chains on me
Mister, hear my song
Don't say imangination is morally wrong

No, they won't let us dance or bang that gong,
Cause they say imagination is morally wrong.

How Many Times Has This Happened To You?

-----
Images taken from here and here. Don't ask why both have hoodies; I was searching for one for the emo model but found the girl to be quite nice.

On second thought, I should have hosted this on my devart.

Order now and we'll throw in a Soulmate^TM ABSOLUTELY FREE!
The Edna Man

Coming Soon...

Levin started it with his H1N1 movie. Then I wore my hoodie out in a public place. Thought about how the shield could be a symbol for some secret society. One thing led to another. Need more photoshop skills though.

How free are you?
The Edna Man

Music and Lyrics

Yes, I realize that I've been to way too many FoA performances this year. I couldn't help it! The sounded good beforehand and well, I had friends there. What's a guy to do? I guess, being the last year of seeing these people perform, I might as well just go. And I wasn't disappointed.

Levin can sing Jazz! And Ernest... well, we all knew Ernest could play anything with a trumpet, so no big surprise there. But still the music was awesome. THEY CHANTED HOIST THE COLOURS. Instant-win in my book. Oh, and now I feel like going to watch all the Broadway musicals that I've missed over the past few years.

Things to do:
1. Movie poster
2. Superfriends story
3. Review Keys to the Kingdom
4. Parody Graduation
5. Write song
6. Satire PQs
7. Story about procrastination, destiny, Venice/Paris

Probably won't be doing them so soon, since there's something screwy with Blogger and the stupid post interface is HTML-ing up somehow. Ahh well. Will try for story next.

IF YOU WERE LOOKING FOR A SIGN, THIS IS IT
The Edna Man

Up

And so my parents dragged me out for a movie anyways.

Up was nice. You can't go wrong with a Pixar movie, that's for sure. The 3D effect was quite nice, for a change of boring 2D. Seems like all the upcoming movies are aiming for the 3D visuals now. Wonder how that'll change things.

It must be nice to fall in love. To go to the ends of the earth for someone else.

In other news, this year's NDP was quite nice. Nice music. Funny. Rare, that one. It was really colourful this year too, I noticed. Mmm.

Things to do:
1. Movie poster
2. Superfriends story
3. Review Keys to the Kingdom
4. Parody Graduation
5. Write song
6. Satire PQs
7. Story about procrastination, destiny, Venice/Paris

Thanks for the adventure. Now go have yours!
The Edna Man

Tainted

I got food poisoning over the weekend. From Friday, to be precise. Still don't know what caused it, but I had gut-wrenching stomach pains, and coupled with the fact that I couldn't sleep but was really really tired, gave me a hint of delusional mumblings. Then came the vomiting, and everything fell into place.

Well, check "Get food poisoning" off my Life's To-Do List.
The Edna Man

Decrypting a Printer

Wednesday, Jarrel Seah and I got interested in a printout from Neil's printer which has this mass of gibberish on it. Due to some printing error (probably the buffer memory), the characters all got replaced by its precedent (probably also by the ASCII, numerically). So we spent the better part of an hour decrypting the binary Caesar shift and generally having a lot of fun. Seems awesome to cryptography in real life, though I assume it wold never be so easy. I mean, we had an awesome crib in the form of a URL, so that pretty much gave the game away.

Still, it was quite fun
Sgd Dcm9 L9m

Down in the History Books

Just a thought while doing war poems. I noticed that we have no problem calling those war recruitment posters "propaganda" but now we dare not even mention the word. Why? Which led me to think: the best way to run a country is to imagine you are a historian from the future writing about yourself now. Is what you're doing now considered "propaganda" to those future historians who have not the bias you have?

Just a thought.
The Edna Man

Oh vassal, miscreant

So I've come back from the Drama Festival of Arts: The Thwarting of Baron Bolligrew. And I guess it's kinda okay, much more comprehensible than the avant-garde performances of three days ago (sorry). I guess it's quite pffft that they don't do pure comedies anymore, because these days, with all these tragedies, we do really need a good laugh. Joshua and Jesmond almost did the Thriller dance in the intermission though, which was exciting.

Speaking of tragedies (sigh), it's quite something to be critiquing the play, noting the use of foreshadowing and irony throughout. And man oh man, the freaking use of RHYMING COUPLETS TO END THE PERFORMANCE. DAMN YOU SHAKESPEARE.

Dear sir, forebear,
The Edna Man