oh the memories!

Aye how I love this song! heh. Enjoyed jamming/singing/listening everytime. The Darkness Rocks!

Happy/Sad

Well, don't really know how to describe my state of mind now. Obviously I'm elated with this proposition, as it looks very attractive right now. But on the other, demoralized because I was 'given' so much help along the way. Somehow, it didn't feel as accomplished as I had imagined.

It's like, winning a marathon on drugs. Or winning a F1 race using stolen technology. It just don't feel quite right.

Anyhow, it's not that extreme, and I must say I'm mostly delighted how things have turned out.

Imitations...

Well, anyone who's been following tennis would have heard of Novak Djokovic. Ok, young Serb, no.3 in the world etc. He's good ... but everyone should see him in his off court antics mimicking the other tennis stars, ala sharapova, nadal etc. Totally reminds me of how Kevin Spacey did his impersonations of movie stars in the Actor's Studio .... This is good stuff, enjoy!

The side effects of too much tennis ...

I was playing with XX that day. Wham! Slam! Bang! Balls flew everywhere. When we picked up the balls to go home... we saw this...


Truly, ownage...

i'm so pissed...

I'm so pissed with myself today. stupid stupid stupid argh. how can I let something like that happen to me? I really learnt it the hard way... sigh.

The Loss of Individuality

In these recent weeks, I found out that one of my friends, well let's just say that he has changed a lot. I used to think of him as a resolute guy, having strong personality and knows what he wants. Turns out that I was wrong. The loss of individuality is indeed a very sad thing. Whatever happened to his original goals and intentions, now with different influences around him?

People change, I guess.

Try saying...

"The Greatest Road Trip in Sports"

Heh this is the tagline for the US Open tennis championships. Catch the ads






Then ... watch the bloopers. Haha!!



Nadal is so funny... esp when he is so pissed at himself for messing it up, just like in a match! "NO!!"

Ownage!

Just a pure ownage match haha. One of the things I do to keep myself entertained...
BTW this is Football Manager for the uninitiated... And it ain't a friendly match... it's the World Club Champs in 2012!

Ferrari VS McLaren

Just to add on ... Ferrari's reaction to the decision was very valid. Here it is, courtesy of formula1.com

Ferrari have hit out at the FIA’s decision not to punish McLaren after the British team were found in breach of the International Sporting Code for possessing confidential documents belonging to their Italian rivals.

The FIA’s World Motor Sport Council opted not to impose a penalty as it could find no evidence that McLaren had made use of the data, which was found in the hands of the team’s chief designer, Mike Coughlan.

Ferrari, however, said they found it “incomprehensible that violating the fundamental principle of sporting honesty does not have, as a logical and inevitable consequence, the application of a sanction,” and added that they believe the decision “legitimises dishonest behaviour in Formula One and sets a very serious precedent.”

In a statement issued after Thursday’s hearing, Ferrari continued: “The decision of the World Council signifies that possession, knowledge at the very highest level and use of highly confidential information acquired in an illicit manner and the acquiring of confidential information over the course of several months, represent violations that do not carry any punishment.

“The fact that Vodafone McLaren Mercedes was in possession of such information was discovered totally by accident and, but for this, the team would continue to have it. This is all the more serious as it has occurred in a sport like Formula One in which small details make all the difference. Ferrari feels this is highly prejudicial to the credibility of the sport.”

Ferrari added that they will continue with the legal action already under way within the Italian criminal justice system. The team are understood to be pursuing cases against both Coughlan and sacked Ferrari engineer Nigel Stepney, who is alleged to have provided the material in question. Both men have also been summoned to appear before the FIA.

Mclaren gets away with murder

The recent spy scandal in F1 has just been resolved. Well, that's a rather strong word to use considering not much was concluded. After all the trials, McLaren was found guilty of being in possession of Ferrari's technical documents, and the sentence was ..... no sentence. Due to lack of evidence that McLaren used the knowledge to their advantage.

Yeah. So in a high tech sport like F1, where every bit of information is crucial to a team's performance, and even race strategy, this industrial espionage has gone unpunished for there was no proof of advantage gained. Well, to be honest, it is hard to prove so. With technical data of the rival's car, you can put the data into your multi-million dollar simulation software and determine the greatest probability of the rival's race strategy. i.e. qualifying fuel, tyres, pit stops. Which are such important factors into today's racing especially with the tyre wars long gone. But it is near impossible to prove the fact that McLaren had based their strategy around beating the Ferrari one, for they can easily claim it is their own best strategy. Very much alike if say, Liverpool managed to get their hands on Man Utd's tactics for the upcoming match, knowing which players they are gonna start with. Again, it is not easily proven that Liverpool can use the tactics to their advantage, although I bet they surely would. Who wouldn't.

"Oh, I'm just gonna close my eyes and pretend I did not know their strategies and their competencies this weekend, BUT I think we should lessen our qualifying fuel " etc. Makes for fun racing, sure.

McLaren is found guilty of contravening a Sporting Code, so they should be punished. Perhaps a point deduction would be in place, or out of running for the manufacturer's championships. But the driver's should remain in the competition.

Alas, F1 is a sport steeped in such subterfuge, that team spies are known to take photographs of cars up close, for lab analysis. Ultimately, to preserve the image of the sport, and to maintain what so far has been an outstanding season of racing, money sense prevailed, and McLaren are free.

In all probability, in the next trial, Mike Coughlan will be found guilty and expelled from racing for a couple of years. But he is already sacked from McLaren. So the company is protected by these layers of, shall I say, protection, to protect their own integrity.

Perhaps viewers come first, in such a lucrative competition. So then, Hungoraring next....


On another note, I recently just finished watching 3/6 eps of the HBO miniseries Angels in America. Looking very very good I must say. And I think my tolerance for homosexuality has definitely increased. Haha.

Saturday 9pm Ch18

Really, just a reminder to myself to catch this show.

AFI Life Achievement award to Alfredo James Pacino=)

Welcome back to NUS.... NOT!

oh well. Since round 0 of CORS started today I thought I would login just to get a feel of the system, which I have left untouched for a year. Lo and behold. Welcome back Mr. Chen...

Your standing: EE3
Program pts: 750
Gen pts: 250

GREAT. I'm as good as a freshmen now, where I should have at least 2500 Prog pts to play with. just great. and I should be EE4, but its probably due to my SEP results not out yet.

For the uninformed, think of CORS points as a 'savings account' where I get 1000 points every semester and use some pts to bid for modules. Obviously the remaining points get carried forward. So all my storing of points, is now, effectively useless. I'm back to square 1.

Still, credit due to the helpdesk girl, who was really friendly and sounded genuinely surprised something like that has happened. Hopefully she gives me a ring soon...

Racing at its best !

Wow, what a fantastic Nurburgring race! Many things which I want to say, but its all very well-expressed in the report here. If the Singapore race next year is half as good, that's enough for me!

Highlights of the race:
- Rain in after 40 seconds into the 1st lap. And its a heavy downpour
- Spyker's Winkelhock, in his race decut in his home race, with a especially shrewd change to wet tyres after warm-up lap, led in his 1st F1 race for 1 full lap! That's everything a rookie can ask for.
- In turn 1 of the 3rd lap, in the space of about 30 seconds, 5 cars, 1 by 1, slid, no, aquaplaned off the hairpin into the gravel and tyrewall. It was simply hilarious (well I don't think the drivers would agree haha)
-pit stop frenzy to get wets
-Kimi missing the pit entry. Well he tried, but slid off and ended up on the track! Meaning he would have to go 1 more round on grooved slicks
- red flag. very sensible given the conditions
- Hamilton joins from the back! Saved from the gravel-yard!

Race restart in bright sunshine
-Kimi had a engine problem. So did Winkelhock. Definitely memorable for the German...
-A rather routine 50 laps until ....
- Rain predicted in 7 mins, with 12 laps to go!!!!
-The rain came, the pits were open and busy, and race on!
- After much probing, Alonso managed to edge past Massa on the track. There was contact, and it seemed rather agressive, but Alonso was way faster and would have gotten past some how.
- Last 3 laps to go... and in the last corner of final, Webber nearly threw away his podium 3rd on a slide that had Wurz inches away, but managed to hold on....
- Post race, in the holding area before prize presentation.... WAR OF WORDS between Alonso and Massa. A slur of Spanish flying around. Very tense moments, but very watchable! Even Ron Dennis just stood and shut up.
- Presentation ... Schumacher presented the trophy to Ron Dennis for winning constructor. hohoho. the agony, man.

Racing needs this kind of excitement, this kind of tension, this kind of drama. I love racing.

Memories of a concert

Great memories...

From Muse Wembley ...

From Muse Wembley ...

From Muse Wembley ...

Update!

Well, I know I'm supposed to blog about some other stuff from before, but, you know, once its past a certain time the idea of blogging about that topic becomes like a novelty haha. So well. Maybe I should just summarise what I wanted to blog about...

1. I was kinda on a "musical journey" of sorts. After the Muse concert, I actually picked up a copy of a documentary on the rise to fame of Bob Dylan. Called "No Direction Home", it shows the early formation years of Dylan and his own musical voyage. You wonder, how is it possible to write lyrics as deep and resounding (as it were for that time) when you are barely 21. Its just shocking sometimes. Dylan, indeed the romantic, songwriting extraordinaire, and the poet of the 20th Century. Must for fans.

2. Listened to the album "The Who - Live at Leeds". As you can tell, a live recording of a The Who's concert. Absolutely rock-solid live performance by the band themselves, even managing to sneak in a dirty joke in the midst of the gig haha.

3. Caught Mamma Mia finally, after so much procrastination. My seat was a beat awkward, so didn't get the best sound. Nice show though.

4. Went to windsor castle. Magnificent castle, splendour everywhere.

5. Went to Edinburgh with Edwin. Nice place, good weather (surprisingly) I hope all goes well with you.

6. Wimbledon was a blast. Despite the rain and long queues, actually managed to get into centre court and caught 3 matches .... Fernando Gonzales vs Tipsy, Serena Williams vs forgot who, and Roger Federer vs Marat Safin!!! Wow. Blown away. Serena just demolished her opponent. I think she could have given any guy a fight on that day. She was just awesome. And Roger was so graceful to watch. Congrats on winning the title too! Also saw Sharapova and Nadal and Murray etc etc. Definitely one of the highlights of my SEP!

7. Attended Aaron's and Kathy's wedding. 1st UK wedding I attended, even though they were singaporeans. Quite an eye opener. But I prefer the chinese one I think.



Ok. What a summary.

Anyways .... Teresa has just left for Africa for 7 weeks. I really hope she takes care of herself, but also to have fun at the same time. Suddenly I have quite some time on my hands, though I would rather not. A couple of meet-ups with friends this week, so should be good!

Oh, on an aside, I realised Singaporeans are soooo fascinated by anything and everything Japanese. why??

back in the heat.

It was really a whole messed up flight. Supposed to fly off on Monday night 2215 ... flight delay till past 2330, and while we were on the plane, the pilot told us Heathrow had a curfew at 2330. And we couldn't fly that night! I never expected Heathrow to have some curfew .... so much for international airport. The plane was evacuated, luggage was stuck in the cabin hold, the passengers were pissed, and literally formed an angry mob demanding rescheduled flights early next day, and hotel stay for the night (which is the norm). Emirates was severely understaffed to handle this situation, with only 4 attendants to 400 shouting, angry people. It was chaotic. In the end, only 40 rooms were found and obviously the Economy class people weren't gonna get any of it. They then claimed it was the best they could do and the rest could have their hotel stay/transport reimbursed for the night. I took a cab back to London to Teresa's; I was really lucky to have a place for the night. Called Emirates time after time to rebook flights, cos I was connecting at Dubai later on and I was going to miss it. No booking available .......

Next day, 7am went down to the airport. Finally got a reschedule for Malaysian airlines which would leave at 10am .... but MAS wouldn't accept my excess luggage, asking me to pay 600+ pounds for it! (not MAS fault though, as they helped Emirates with this favour. Emirates offered a coupon to cover the costs but MAS would have nothing of it. And I'm like the pawn in their chess game.)

After much complaining, I finally booked another Emirates flight at 1300 (which was delayed again ......), given complimentary hotel stay in Dubai for a night, and then catch the next day's connection to Singapore. Weirdly, I caught the same connecting flight as Teresa! So there was a little light at the end of the tunnel ... Finally reached sg on Wed night 11pm. What a ride!

I haven't unpacked yet though.... Too tired to do that. Maybe over the weekend. Now trying to combat jetlag + repairing computer viruses .... sigh.

Anyways. Sg. is. so. HOT.

haha. chilllllllll .....

Goodbye London

I know I thought of blogging about some other stuff, but haven't really found the time to sit down and do it. And then suddenly. Today marks my final day in London!

Memories, I have lots of it. Either in pictures, videos, gifts or deeds, I must say this whole experience has been very very enriching. Of course, the friends here that I've made, really appreciate the times we all have together... Oh well. Before I get too melancholic (sp?), I better stop heh.

London certainly hasn't let me down in its weather; still wet and windy on the day of leaving. And the bomb-cars hasn't help much as well ...

It's quite weird, as I'm not exactly leaving a lot of my friends as we are all going back to singapore and at least spending some time back home, but more of this place itself. As I say, London is really great city to be in, especially if one is a fan of city life.... The real sadness probably will come when all the londoners leave in sept/oct back to the UK to study, while I'll be midway through my term by then ....

Ok. Gotta go now. Heathrow waits for no late pple!

Seeya from Singapore!!!!!!

akan datang ...

apologies for the lack of posting. A few to come in the days ahead I think, so keep an eye on it.


personal notes
dylan, muse, who, mamma, windsor, edinburgh, wimbledon, wedding.

Con Te Partirò

In many ways, it's time to say goodbye.

Over the last 2 weeks, I've been seeing freshers moving out of halls. Other Singaporeans finishing their exams and leaving either for holidaying with friends, or else just going back to sg to begin their army/air fore/dsta/astar etc. attachements. Everyone's leaving... everything's gonna come to an end.

Me? I'm not too sad. Sure I will miss London, and I still have 1 week more here. The freshers, you can see the tinge of sadness in their eyes when they moved out ... someone even weeped! I guess I have been used to leaving halls, twice already. In any case, we're all gonna go back to Singapore, and its easy to arrange meetups. I suppose, for me, it would be sadder when people start leaving for London to carry on their academic pursuit, in September.

Otherwise I foresee many foodie gatherings when I back. haha! chomp chomp. chomp chomp chomp chomp chomp.

Supermassive

It's been quite a while since I blogged eh? haha, well actually I've been pretty cooped up in the EE labs the past few weeks, working on the EEG project with my groupmates. Just had the presentation a couple of hours ago, and although it got rather testy with the business case, I must say we did really well for our technical presentation! (apart from my small boo boo of forgetting to plug in the channel input haha) So well done to the whole group, it has really been a wonderful experience working with everyone.

I think this EEG technology (not just the one we just made) really has very good potential. It can actually be integrated into many other items that we saw presented today, and gives wonderful benefits to users besides just simple diagnosis. Brain wave games, anyone? Some pics of us at work today ... I was the lab rat for the demonstration! haha.

EEG Project

Anyways, I went to the Muse concert at the NEW wembley stadium over the weekend. Really got blown away, they were very very solid. Matt was singing at his best, and the stadium setup was marvellous. Really made use of all the space available in the stadium for their props, which included 2 giant balloons having a gymnast spinning underneath, floating around the stadium. Kinda hard to explain in words tho, gotta see the pics for it. Easily the best gig I've been to! It's a pity they didn't play City of Delusion, which is kinda my fav Muse song of the moment. But otherwise, I was impressed with Matt's piano playing, and overall stage show of the whole gig.

I think Muse have really brought the space rock genre to a new level. Bowie may have started it, but Muse perfected it.

Muse Wembley 16/7/2007

Next few days, gonna start the major packing up of my room and shifting temporarily to Teresa's, before heading off to Scotland (?? maybe??) for a couple of days, and then back to London, then Sg. Going back so soon..... and now my 3rd year is officially over ......

Wii played Wii till the Wii hours ....

Whee !!! haha. pure unadulterated fun. except for the ring tossing of course heh.

Sporty weekend then, with Hamilton on pole for Canada F1 and the motoGP, and the French Open Final. its a busy stay in Sunday!

These days ...

... have been quite a revelation of sorts.

Turns out that finding out too much of some stuff isn't good. Realized that some people around me are wearing masks, even thicker than I originally thought. Hmm.

What's new? Everyone wears masks to some extent, myself included.

Perhaps less analysis ought to be done here. A professional hazard of an engineer. Deal with the problem, and move on.

Don't get it?

Shrugs.

Milan 2 Liverpool 1

It wasn't the best of games, but it sure did alleviate the pain of Milan and her fans. Especially what happened 2 years ago. Inzaghi's fluke goal, a wonderful Kaka setup for the 2nd, and a comeback header by Kuyt. Liverpool may have played better, but Milan took their chances when they came. Liverpool cannot complain, for they won 2 yrs ago even though being more thoroughly more outplayed than Milan was today.

Well, it brought back memories of yesteryears....

The 1st time I watched a Milan match, was in 1994, in Athens as well, where Milan faced Barcelona. Milan, with Franco Baresi and Costacurta suspended, were up against Cruyff's Barcelona, led by a fantastic Stoichkov-Romario combination, with Koeman, Zubiuzeretta, et al. But Milan won emphatically, 4-0 at that. I knew I loved Milan since.

In 2003, I still remember I was the duty officer that night at Kranji. Milan vs Juventus in the UCL final. We had Channel 5 in the duty office, and that night a few of the men came down and watched the match together. Milan prevailed on penalties that night, and I still remembered how I jumped for joy (haha!), before going on my rounds.

In 2005, Milan Liverpool pt 1. Painful, painful. 3-0, then 3-3. Milan outplayed Lpool, but ..... alas. Penalties lost. Very painful. I was in my room alone that night and I could not sleep.

Today, Milan vs Liverpool pt 2. Milan were outplayed by a better Liverpool, but a fluke and a moment of brilliance by the otherwise quiet Kaka put Milan in the dominant position. This day, I'm in Teresa's room, watching with Terence. What joy! I was going mad! Too happy. And watching Paolo lift it for the 5th time, just amazing what this guy can do. 39 years old, and still lifting European cups.

When is the next time? shrugs. Hopefully it will be memorable again, for the right reasons.

For now, a little celebration will suffice. Forza Milan !!

The day has come.

What an exciting day ahead.

No, its not because my last paper is within 4 hours away. After this silly exams has dragged on for so long (and quite disappointingly...), it's all gonna be over in a matter of hours. But, it's just the exams.

No, it's also not because of the French Open coming up, in an interesting time in the tennis world where Rafa's 81-match streak has just been broken and smashed by Roger. I won't read too much into that result, though undeniably the confident boost for Roger would be immense.

The REAL reason for today's excitement lies simply, in the ancient town of Athens.

AC Milan VS Liverpool FC !

UEFA champions league finals. These 2 clubs have so many European cups between them it's not possible to count with both hands. Both teams are looking up for the match, and believe me the hype here is really enormous. My hall is setting up a projection screen and broadcasting the match in the common room, and they're getting ready for the party should Liverpool win.

Well, I say. Save the money.

No doubt about Milan's win today. People say revenge is not on their mind. Bollocks. Revenge will be on their minds. A huge core of the current Milan team is made up of the same team in that infamous 2005 final. On their mouths, they speak professionally about Liverpool and say revenge is not such a important thing... but believe me it is THE motivation tonight. Bring the scousers to the slaughter!

Come on Milan! Kick their asses back to where they came from! (which is here...)

It's party time.

not in the mood.

It's a bad day.

Just finished my 5th / 6th paper today. and there is a chance that I may fail it. No kidding. It's not funny.

I came out of the exam room feeling like EE2012 all over again. That one, I only attempted 50% of the marks. So I know I surely failed the paper. But there was the "buffer" of everyone else; a good 100 pple perhaps. So the bell curve pulled everyone up. So I wasn't too worried with that paper, though it didn't feel good coming out still.

Today's paper was reliving the whole 2012 thing again. Yes, in all probability there will be moderation. But, do you know how many pple are taking this course?

Only 6.

15 pple registered for the course, but only 6 registered for the exam. Dropout rate is 60%. I'm forced to take this cos of mapping issues. Brings me back to 6 months back, all the emails to and fro NUS but to no avail to remap this Microwave course. Never mind now. Studied hard, for selective topics, but in the end was examined on something else. Gamble didn't pay off -- tough luck, han.

How does one moderate the scores of 6 pple. Shrugs. It's gonna be nasty. I give myself a 50% chance of passing this time.

Went out, walked in the rain for 20 mins, couldn't find a money changer who had hungrarian forints. damn forints. should have wore a cap.

Irritating cough that wouldn't go away. Still to do packing all over again. Didn't want to start my trip like that. Stupid flaking bag.

The only comfort now for me -- and its not the fact of moderation -- but more of I wouldn't be able to do anything about it until at least 2 months later.

Just not in the mood.

No wonder you are ignoring me.

I was trying to get xiexing's attention over msn, cause I needed to ask him something about FYP. Then for ages, he just won't reply me (usually he does so in an instant) ... so I thought, you know, what could it be? It just struck me that the Rome Masters was on, so I went to check, and yeah, his favourite Roger Federer is playing against the Italian no. 1. ok so the score says 6-2, 4-3 ..... so I thought ok lah, maybe he will get back to me soon.




Then I realised.






Federer is losing ! Not winning!

And yeah, he lost this match. 6-2, 6-4. hmm. Like that ... how to win the French Open. sigh.

Maybe someone needs to make another comment on his cajones to get him moving. No more groggy legs pls. tsk tsk.

And yeah, I've been missing for a while, been down with a cold while revising for the exams. Got a paper tomorrow, and one more on the 23rd. And then .... Project time!!!

Of course, all work and no play makes me a dull boy. So then, to Budapest with the girl this weekend. Sun, please ;)

Norway trip

The photos from the norway trip ... just 200 odd in all!
A quick summary of the trip ....
Went there to meet Melvin, whos on exchange in Trondheim. We did the norway in a nutshell package tour, but with buying all our tickets on the spot we saved at least 2-300 NKR, which is 50-75 SGD ! not bad. the one day tour included a couple of train rides through scenic routes, mountains and small villages. A fjord cruise to see Norway's most famous natural beauty -- the fjords of course. And then bus ride to Bergen.

Bergen's a quaint quiet town. very small, akin to Bath. But oh my, the mountains were so beautiful! It is weirdly sunny in the 2 days I was in Bergen, which was quite rare cos it rains a lot in Bergen. We spent 1 whole day time doing a 5 hour trek from the mountain Ulrika to Floyen (sp?) .... and it was soooo nice and calming. You can only hear nature's sounds, and even though the city is just down there from the mountain you can hardly hear any traffic. We had the fortune to be accompanied by a Bergen local who did that route "many many times" in his life. He's about 50 yrs old, and through the entire trip we just chatted and chatted, and learnt so much about each other cultures. I learnt so much from him than from the tourist guides/internet. Quite wonderful I think. And his fitness/agility just left us bewildered at times. Don't let that beer belly fool ya!

Other than that, we spent quite some time sunbathing, and now I'm darker! again ....
Norway is indeed scenic, though extremely expensive. I think anyone who has been to Europe should at least drop by this Scandinavian country for a short visit!

till next time!

norway!

The Singh-sons

haha. quite funny leh, this clip. enjoy!

Singhsons
Uploaded by Harmeet1

Milan ..... Milan ....

oh man .... what a glorious match. Stick it up to ya man utd fans.

AC Milan vs Man Utd - Match Comp
Uploaded by FootballHeaven

And yes, its another Milan - Lpool final. Again. repeat. of 2005 final.

Kelong soccer? Perhaps. but even so, not knowing which side its rigged towards make it so entertaining to watch.

Kuan Hsin, you and me again, 2 yrs later. Game on.

fjords!!!

Just a quickie trip to Norway till Tuesday...

Till then, adios!

Why don't you all F-F-F.....

Truly, Rock and roll never dies.

The oldest and "greatest" rock band in the world - meet The Zimmers and their
amazing cover of The Who's "My Generation". Lead singer Alf is 90 - it's quite something when he sings "I hope I die before I get old". And he's not the oldest - there are 99 and 100-year-olds in the band!

The Zimmers will feature in a BBC TV documentary being aired in May 2007. Documentary-maker Tim Samuels has been all over Britain recruiting isolated and lonely old people - those who can't leave their flats or who are stuck in rubbish care homes.
The finale of the show is this group of lonely old people coming together to
stick it back to the society that's cast them aside - by forming a rock troupe
and trying to storm into the pop charts.

Some massive names from the pop world have thrown their weight behind The Zimmers... The song is produced by Mike Hedges (U2, Dido, Cure), the video shot by Geoff Wonfor (Band Aid, Beatles Anthology), and it was recorded in the legendary Beatles studio 2 at Abbey Road.

What can I say ... wow! Rock's no.1 anthem sang by the old fogies.

Anyways, here's The Who's live performance.... you can really see why they brought live rock to a new level .....



Why don't you all F-F-F ....

Greece photos

ok ok here they are, nearly 500 of them haha. Well I wanted to pick out some, but in the end, just upload all la.

hopefully I didn't upload any of the "x rated" stuff hah!

Greece

thats me at the black sand beach in Santorini ...

We're so lucky ...

I guess, for the one certain good thing out of the Greece trip, was that we had just missed a ferry cruise accident off Santorini just yesterday. So, count your blessings ...

είμαι πίσω - I'm back

I just got back from Greece! and what a place it was ..... finally away from the chill of london to the sun and the sea of Greece.

Just like Rome, this place has managed to strike me as wonderfully fascinating. It's no secret why Greece national colours are blue and white; the deep blue sea and the abundance of white marble everywhere! (even the wiring casing is in marble ... go figure)

Its really a nice getaway, the island hopping. Perhaps the only slight regret was not spending enough time on the islands itself (We only spent 2 days in Crete, 1 in Santorini, 1+ in Naxos) ... but I sure enjoyed myself there. 9 days away from the hustle and bustle of city life, no internet, no school, making it a really serene trip. Anyways, here's just some tips for whoever's interested to go Greece next.

Athens - 2 days is more than enough. Just make sure to see the Acropolis, esp the Parthenon. you will be wowed. Other than that, Athens is just a typical city.

Crete - Island that is bigger than Singapore. I think a minimum of 3 days is necessary if you want to explore the entire island. We only managed to cover the Palace of Knossos and some beaches, but the town itself is really nice to walk through. Of course, rent a car for travelling around. You could try to bargain to under 30 euros a day.

Santorini - The legendary Santorini. At least 2 days minimum there, with a car of couse. A car just makes it so much more accessible, and more freedom for yourselves. 20 Euros a day only... in fact I think a jeep may be worth considering to access to dirt tracks which leads to beaches. It was so fun driving around and stopping whenever we wanted. Of yeah, of course, we went during the pre-peak season .... the streets will be super packed towards end of April, and all the shops will be open in full. When I went, only a couple of shops were open; most of them were still painting their chairs for the tourist season. Stayed at Anny Studios at Perissa Beach, where the black sand beach was just in front of the hostel! and its a studio ie. kitchen, toilet, aircon. swimming pool. all for under 10 euro per night per person. how good is that! (I think these are pre-season prices tho). Anyways, IA, the sunset point, is said to be marvellous... unfortunately it was cloudy for the evening we were there. Otherwise, I think it could be really beautiful, with the red sun setting against the white walls and blue roofs of Santorini. Oh... Santo!

Naxos - Was so windy the days we were there, and calm when we left. Oh wells. Get a car too! (Apollon car rentals are REALLY good. cheap n good service!) Its about the same size as Santo, key attraction is the unfinished temple of Apollo. But I think the real unsaid attractions of these islands are really the views from the mountain tops, vast boundless blue horizons, clear white sky, rolling hills and such a laid back lifestyle. The Mediterranean is really beautiful! Windmill Naxos Studios is another fantastic and cheap place to stay, and its just next to the town main square and beach.

I guess I'm thankful for the good accoms (well, generally) that I had during the trip, as well as deciding to rent cars for the islands, which gave us so much more to see and enjoy. I'm definitely darker now, thank goodness, after a bit of suntanning! heh. Shiok.

And the company of course ... much thanks to Joanne and Binghao!

Ok. 18 days time, 4 exams and 2 essays to hand in. heh.

The Girlfriend

This must be the best use of a montage sequence in an ad.

Bites of Life II - Jealousies of the 1st Century

The weaver Successus loves the innkeeper's slave girl, Iris by name. She doesn't care for him, but he begs her to take pity on him. Written by his rival. So long.

[Answer by Successus] Just because you are bursting with envy, don't pick on a handsomer man, a lady-killer and a gallant.

[Answer by the first writer] There's nothing more to say or write. You love Iris, who doesn't care for you.

Carving on walls of Pompeii bar, pre-AD79

Bites of Life I - Hush hush

"Thank you for the flowers", she said
"and I'm sorry for the things I said".
As we forgave over loving hours,
I thought, "What fucking flowers?"

-Anonymous scrawling on toilet door

Wow.

Call it exploitation of kids or whatever, still, this is a really decent cover of one of my fav rock songs ever! rock on, kids!

P.S. I'm not sure if they can handle the groupies at that pre-puberty age! heh.


The Flaming Monkeys (Live @ Rockstock) - Rock and Roll (Led Zep Cover)

Montag

So, quite a weekend (though I had absolutely no part in any of this)

AC Milan lost in the local derby 2-1. damn.
Chelsea (just next door) played a thrilling 3-3 derby with Tottenham.
Lionel Messi scores a wonderful hattrick against Barcelona, also 3-3 in the Spanish derby.
Federer lost in 1st round of the Pacific Life Open ... winning streak gone! But he'll be back, I'm sure.

Hostelworld offered me a GoldCard membership for free. ie I do not have to pay for booking fees on the site from now onwards. Wow. machiam so elite. I think I get the msg la, that I've been travelling too much. Now make me gian to book more hostels, cos there's no booking fee! Summer term plans hehe.

Oh. and its just 2 weeks more, to Greece! Beaches and babes, are you ready for me?


(and 1 more week to my humanities exams, which weirdly I'm really looking forward to it heh)

woke up to the sound of pouring rain ....

eyes blinked and the heavens poured.

damn leak.

O the Horror!

does my alcohol bottles offend you? pt II

Ah. Quite efficient, the accoms office is. Just yesterday after lodging a complain about my door, they came today to repair it! and of cos with a small reminder to clear my bottles and balcony ... just tidy up the place. 2 reminders in fact.

plus they are coming on Monday to do a thorough spring cleaning of my room.

plus a deal sweetener of 10pounds voucher to spend for meals in college. wow.

that can get me about ... 5 sandwiches? =)

does my alcohol bottles offend you?

Some lady from the accoms office knocked on my door today. Very polite and all.

Turns out that the hall, which normally rents out rooms during the summer when the students aren't around, is looking for a room to do those 360° panaromic sweep to put on their website. And they chose my room.


Lady: "Hi Mr Chen. We would like to use your room to do those 360° sweep, and we're wondering if you're ok with it?"

Me: "Sure. Just let me know when the day arrives, so I can tidy up my room."

"Ok. Oh and here's a checklist"

I read .......
nice curtains, neat and tidy, no clutter. check.
Bright bed Linen. Hmmm. mine's rather colour un-coordinated
No electrical equipment such as rice cooker ...etc as they are banned equipment. Hmm. I have a cooker.
Check posters are presentable. Hmm. Is a Godfather poster presentable?
Check to make sure shelves do not contain anything that is offensive eg alcohol bottles.




Does my alcohol bottles offend you?



hurhur. Anyways, should be interesting to watch them when they film my room. Well, whatever floats their boat.

On another thought, maybe I will get better housekeeping from them, at least before the shoot. The door handle just happens to need repairing... and there's still the case of the missing laundry basket....

Wise Words

Right down the line
Its been you and me

And lovin a music man
Aint always what its supposed to be

-Steve Perry

More than a War Movie

I just watched Flags Of Our Fathers, directed by Clint Eastwood. It's a recently released film, showing the story of the flag raisers at Iwo Jima for WWII, and how the American govt used, no, exploited the flag raisers to promote a money drive for the war effort.

But you probably already know that.

This is not just a typical war movie. It's not some war movie based on fictional characters, fighting against stereotyped bad guys and saving the world, becoming heroes in the meantime. It's also not just about how a picture about a flag being raised swung the war to the American's side. It's about soldiers who never saw themselves as heroes but thrown into the spotlight nevertheless to serve a 'higher purpose'.

Now, some of my friends who watched it do call it a little boring at times, or perhaps irritated by the constant flashbacks, certainly a unconventional portrayal of war movies. But they all agreed at least, that it was a meaningful show. The switching scenes of the 3 men in the battlefield juxtaposed with their shoulder bumping with the D.C. bigwigs back home, only serves to highlight the superficial packaging of the war to the American public, and how everything seems to be a show rather than what war really is -- a passage of excessive horror.

And the one scene, where Bradley drove past a limping and exhausted Ira Hayes, was so symbolic, no? (I suppose ever since I got into Film class I've been taking a different approach towards movies) It does seem that Eastwood was making an anti-war statement, however, I leave that up to you to decide for yourself.

What got me thinking, is something which I've already knew, was that the fact that the rifleman on the ground fighting the war, was only fighting because of his fellow men beside him. Because the person next to him was willing to give up his life for him, and vice versa. Band of Brothers drove home that point to me. And it got me thinking, because in the world today, with information being so widely accessible, should the riflemen know the real agenda behind their govt's decision for war, would they still have fought, or would they have deserted?

Imagine in Roman Antiquity, when civil war broke out. I personally don't think the foot soldiers knew what the Republic really represented. Were they fighting for the Republic, or a new era under the Empire? No, in all probabilty, they were fighting for their general, and their fellow legionnaire beside him, for promises of fertile lands and pillaging of provinces. Or going even further back, (even if a myth), would the Spartans have invaded Troy if they knew it was because their bum of a king lost his wife to a pretty boy Trojan?

So what are today's soliders fighting for?

To protect their country? To protect the entire world? For democracy? For their religion? For $? How much of their own beliefs are actually aligned to that of their government's?

What are you fighting for?

This film turns out to be more provoking than I thought. If you want to be entertained, go catch a Jackie Chan or a Owen Wilson. If you rather watch a docu-film, or a war movie, this movie is a must catch.

Eastwood, to his credit, has not only made this film from the American perspective. He made a complementary film called Letters from Iwo Jima, showing the war from the Japanses perspective. It's in Jap of course. And I'm in anticipation of it. Perhaps after watching Flags, you will too.

Photos !

Heh better post up some pics before I forget!

Snow in London! One fine morning I woke up and there was snow! quite rare. This would be the 1st of 2 times I seen it in London thus far...

Snow in London

Paris -- Went there with Teresa for a weekend getaway. Did the touristy route with Lourve and Eiffel and Arc etc ... then we ended up just walking the streets of Paris and soaking up the atmosphere. Really nice place =)

Paris Feb 07

Arsenal VS Cardiff City (FA Cup Youth Q/F)
Final score Arsenal 3 Cardiff 2
Cost to watch: 3 pounds only! heh.
Went with Lap and Alex... really worth the $. Sure I dont get to see the big names like Henry but the youths are no pushovers either. Fran Merida perhaps? Enjoyed myself throughly!

emirates

Happy Chinese New Year to all!

hello everybody!

Just here to say Happy CNY to everyone. Gong Xi Fa Cai and Wan Shi Ru Yi.

been quite a bz week leading up to the CNY... 1st with Hwa Chong night last Saturday at Marriott which was quite a blast, for I met up with quite some old friends and was reminded of many JC fond memories... then the hall's CNY meal on Monday where we got catered food from a chinese restaurant. Then V-day next on Wednesday, had yummy seafood at Back to Basics with the girl. Singsoc also organised on Thurs a CNY dinner at this chinese restaurant called Harbour City where the Singaporeans took up 2 storeys of the entire restaurant. Wow.

And then there was today, where the Singaporeans of Evelyn Gardens and Friends came upon our not quite humble common room and had a smashing time steamboating. Me for one is a steamboat guy la... Miss it so much from home. Too much food today heh, but I'm sure all of us had our pick of nice foods, be it Kenneth's spring rolls, the collaborated wantons, or Cheryl's delicious desserts. Had a mini drinking session later where we played Avalanche again heh, and realised its nothing more than just an excuse to finish a liqour drink. (Drink! awww... drink one !) Never really had much alcohol during CNYs to be honest, other than beer at relative's places. Blackjack game never came to fruition, and not even Hold'em. oh wells. can't recover the mj losses from the previous night then.

Called home earlier just now, such a joy to hear the family's voices even though its just for 3 mins and hearing all the wake-up grogginess of everyone. Of course a little homesickly (who wouldn't on CNY?), but generally the pple around me, esp Tere, have been making it really comfy & homely here. Guess at the end of the day, we've all gotta cherish the times we have with our loved ones, whether it be family or friends, rather then miss the times with regret once we're not with them.

Still having said that, it's so heartwarming to be in amongst so many Singaporeans on such an occasion, and I'm thankful for everyone who made it a quite simple and successful affair. I'm sure we all had fun heh =)

And oh yeah, of course, there was the little thing of 2 men running around topless at Evelyn Gardens, but I suppose that's a post for another time ....

Space Oddity Animation

Suddenly thought of this song by David Bowie, one of my all time favs. I remember seeing this animation once about a year back, and I wasn't feeling too good that day, but this vid certainly cheered me up. There's something about Bowie...

Here's the link, Enjoy!

Martin Scorsese's Sesame Streets

As a follow up to Ducktales Heat, I chanced upon this spoof of Martin Scorsese's shows, using De Niro's voices (in Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Godfather etc), and incoporating Sesame Street characters. heh.

Profanity abound, and even though sometimes the syncing seems a bit off, at least compared to Ducktales, it's still not a bad effort. Quite cool la.

Enjoy



Martin Scorsese's Sesame Street

A halftime rock show to remember

Hey! Back from Paris, such a lovely city =)

Anyways, Super Bowl's over, and with quite a rousing halftime show, I think it should be shared as much as possible among friends! Here we go, Prince (or the Artist Formerly Known as a Symbol), doing old school covers (Dylan, CCR, even Foo Fighters), and of course his signature hit, Purple Rain.

And dare I say, what a rockish-chic outfit heh. He could just well be the next Hendrix?? oh well.

Prince's Super Bowl 2007 Halftime Performance

Getaway!

Off to Paris, till tuesday!

Au revoir =)

Ducktales Heat

While, doing some random youtube surfing, I caught onto this.

The maker of this vid used the trailer for the 1995 film Heat starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, and used Ducktales characters to 'lip-synch' the actors! I thought it to be quite brilliant. and yeah, I do remember that ducktales episode (or is it movie??) hah.

Enjoy

Ducktales Heat

The Untouchable

Well, almost, nearly, can I say, flawless tennis? Enjoy !



Roger Federer vs Andy Roddick
Australian Open 2007 Semi-finals

new year, new seasons

While I'm still getting used to the unseasonably warm weather in London, as well we my uncharacteristically slack timetable this term, I found out that 2 of my favourite TV shows are now on air!

Rome Season 2, out now on air, rumoured to be the final season (what a pity due to budget reasons I belive), will focus on the battle between Octavian and Mark Antony. And of course, following the footsteps of Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo again. Such a remarkable setting!

and ...

24 , Day 6, the 1st 4 eps are out on DVD already and seems quite exciting already. To be honest, day 5 will be hard to beat, because its THAT good, but oh wells.

So, wherever you are, USA, Singapore, Europe, catch these shows, and you won't regret it.

And yeah, theres the small thing about the Australian Open. heh. I hope to catch the final, somehow ...

Spain, Italy and Beyond

It's been quite a tiring few weeks, but unbelievably awesome!

After skiing in France, came back for xmas for a day before departing for Madrid-Barcelona-Rome-Florence-Pisa for a super packed 2 week holidays. I think you may be bored if I rant on about the trip, but I've uploaded the pics here so you can enjoy it as you like. As well as ski trip ones

ski trip dec 06

spain n italy 06

Didn't take many shots within the cathedrals as pics just cannot capture the beauty and stunning artwork. Also, most places banned photography within the museums etc.

It has also been rewarding for me, kinda like a mid-year break (well it is one) for my 1 year here, had a super interesting new year countdown in Rome where the fireworks just go off 10 metres ahead of us, and lil kids blowing up things their parents were giving them. awesome! we did try to purchase some crackers tho but to no avail, sadly. oh well.

heres a clip of some fireworks (which was supposedly made legal only for the new year). and us getting splashed by some alcohol hurhur.



Of all, Rome has to be my favourite. Where London is a melting pot of cultures from around the world, Rome is a mix of the old (2000 years old) and the new. It's like the city refuses to let go of its past, and you see quite a interesting blend of antiquity and modernity. And some things, just don't quite change over time, do they?

Anyways, off to a new term. Handed in 2 essays this week, so feeling rather happy over it heh. the WJ guys went to Northend Road today and bought back about 2 weeks worth of meat! haha, its so cheap, I guess we just bought as much as we could carry.

Ok, gotta go for a steamboat now. It's great to be back in halls =)

ciao and Felice Anno Nuovo everyone!

Musings pt III

from the ski trip ...

1. Do condition your body before going on a ski trip. It is tiring, very tiring, especially on knees and leg muscles. and arms. and abs. Conditioning means going for exercises and not lazing in halls through London winter.

2. bring your balls to ski.

3. don't feel ashamed when groups of 7-8 kids zoom past you on a intermediate difficulty slope. and kids meaning not older than 5 years old. the crazy europeans send their kids to ski before they start to walk ...

4. do take the last ski lift up, even though it's getting dark. when you have the whole vast slopes to yourself in the evening sun, the feeling is unparalled.

5. never ever throw someone else's skis down a slope. cos it just keeps going and going ...

6. be wary of frostbite

and to you, GC ...
7. hot fart rises

you rock la, girl!

After a long, tiring but nonetheless fun ski trip, I made my way back to hall, ready to pack up for my next trip.

So I went to my room, unlocked it, and felt weird already (cos I usually single lock my room but now its double locked). nevermind, open, walk in, saw some things that didn't belong to me, then thought it was the wrong room, so I stepped out and checked the name again.

Yeah it was my room alright. So someone came into my room and left me these while I was gone...
So thats a mini xmas tree (which we should find somewhere to plant it), a box of my fav coco pops, 2 wrapped presents and a card. and a bottle of milk on the balcony to go with the cereal heh

the card....



The 1st present ... a photo frame

...and the 2nd present, decorated banana cupcakes
(theres our names, a snowflake, 'merry', 'xmas', a xmas tree, and something-I-don't-know)

so here I am, eating the cereal on a wonderful xmas morning, hoping to finish all 4 pints of milk in 2 days, thinking of you.

thank you very much.



P.S more on the ski trip when I come back from Italy

Pre-trip update

heya!

it's been a while ... I know I haven't been updating in a while, and I won't be for some time actually.
Here's my itenary for the next 3 weeks

15/12 - 24/12 : Ski Trip in France
26/12 - 28/12 : Madrid
28/12 - 31/12 : Barcelona
31/12 - 3/1 : Rome
4/1 - 5/1 : Florence
6/1 : Pisa

and then back to London!

Well, I'll be back in london for xmas day too, but its probably sleep in + laundry day. Gonna be a really loooooong holidays, and having a bit of mixed feelings going into it, but all should be good ! =)

see ya all in January, and have a great holidays and MERRY XMAS !!!

To Bath and back

Went to Bath over the weekend with Teresa, Joanne and Binghao, to meetup with JP and also to check out stonehenge too. Thanks JP, you were a great host! =)

and of course the weather was nothing short of magnificent for us. I'll let the pics do the talking...

our host for the weekend
View from the hostel

Spectacular sights from the hill top. so much space, so vast, so unrestricted. The air was unbelievably fresh =)




Mr B all kawaii-ish

I think some of these shots could be cataloged heh


We then went to stonehenge next...

sheeps !

Rocks!
More Rocks
Even more rocks! hurhur

Spent the night eating at some Indian restaurant. which was very very very spicy.... Then took a riverside walk before realising it was too cold. Still, the rushing river looks beautiful at night
Day 2!
Had brunch at Sally Lunns.
Ms Sally Lunn who stayed there 300 yrs ago. Nice bread tho.
This tree was so bent (probly by the wind!)
B had some problems climbing up, and was clinging on to me for dear life
Well, he didn't make it in the end....
Went to Roman bath (a museum), where during the Empire period the Romans conquered this town and built their public baths over the hot springs. quite an eye-opener, and putting good use to my course knowledge in Roman Empire heh


check out Binghao's and Joanne's blog for more pics heh.

Well, I must say this was an unforgettable weekend. Don't you think so?

blessed and loved

Remember, remember,
the 3rd of December.