I have been following 绝对Superstar on channel U with mild interest until quite recently. I really want to drop a note before the final showdown between Wei Lian and Kelly. I am surprised by the outcome of the contest. Surprised, pleasantly surprised. Perhaps it is because, I see the possibility of a whole new defintion of what constitutes a superstar. The contest opened this door. I think the contest raised several questions: must a superstar have good looks, great dance moves? Are these the qualities that make them larger than life or is it something else?
The fact that Wei lian did not have all these attributes doesn't mean he doesn't have star qualities. To those people who saw these in him and voted for him. Bravo! I see it too. His courage perhaps? His confidence perhaps? His sincerity perhaps? His spirit to try perhaps? That makes him larger than life. This goes beyond a question of sympathy votes. This is an issue of what makes a star? I am convinced that when it comes to star-quality, we always turn towards seemingly unattainable perfection (looks, personality etc..) What "绝对Superstar" has shown is that these qualities can manifest in ways beyond the surface.
To people who have been angry with the results, I say bravo to you too. The thing when it comes to stars is that we don't always agree. But that is all too normal. And the fact that people are not afraid to voice it out regardless of the fact that Wei Lian is physically disadvantaged says alot. It says that people sees Wei Lian as a legitimate competitor. He is not here because of sympathy, because if he is the reaction would not have been so great. He is here because he is a competitor. and he is treated rightly as one by fans of his opponents.
I refuse to see the outcome of the competition as a miracle. As if this could not happen in reality. It is not a miracle. It isn't amazing. It is rightly the way we should look at people with disabilities. That weakness and strength is not defined merely our physicalities. That there is a common ground upon which we can compete. Why keep the stages seperate? We share the same stage, that's the beauty of competition.
By: Nippy | Wednesday, August 31, 2005 at 2:50 PM | | 
I was picturing a slow wither and a decay staring from the corner which will eat up my blog. Or it can work its way from the blog skin down to the posts. Then the words kind of just disappear. Or better still disintegrate into bits or dots. But really, this is just crazy talk. My blog won't die a natural death. Either it will be put to sleep by me [deleted]. Or it will be left floating somewhere in cyberspace as another peice of abandoned junk. The cyber sea of collective junk just randomly floating about. They don't even have a material body, so we can't even call them floating. They just are there, unmanned. And tied not even to a single computer, it is just bits of information that exist; and anyone, anywhere can retrieve it on their computer. So it is nowhere and everywhere all at once. Thankfully, it doesn't have a mind of its own. (but I can't even be sure of that)
Anyone reading this who is not right now amazed, should consider the fact that information on the internet might(can) outlast any one of us. Information on the internet aren't even tied to the CPU, even if your com crash, it won't be wiped out. It can't technically die. And here I am wondering what kind of calamities might befall my blog. None. Even I have to worry about accidents. Speeding cars, flower pots from the 10th storey etc...This lucky thing that isn't even conscious of its existence will suffer no accidents. But this is really crazy talk, as of now at least.
If you think hard enough, or are crazy enough to believe what I am about to say, you might start thinking that the internet is a bit like God.
Omnipresent (whereever there is a computer)
Immortal (don't die nor decay)
Sees everything (if there is someone looking out from the screen, instead of the other way around)
Knows everything (now even bits of out daily lives in the form of blog can be uploaded)
But perhaps my analogy is stretching it a bit too far. After all we're still the boss aren't we? I can choose to execute this blog with just a click. But the potential is so great. If we can upload ourselves onto the internet, the possibilities are endless. What alchemists looked for in the elixir of life, perhaps could be found right here on the internet. The key to immortality is to become information. Van Gough still lives on because he translated himself into paintings which we perceive. (that is information) Shakespeare, Hitler, Newton, Einstein (list goes on) lived on because they became some form of information, one way or another that we pass on generations down.
I really should stop. That's enough crazy talk for today.
By: Nippy | Sunday, August 28, 2005 at 11:06 PM | |
i
i
rationalizing i
-------------------------------------i----------------------i
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
--
Is Langauge a way out or a cage? I wonder if writers ever feel dissatisfied with their tool of expression. Its very structure and it rules. It confines. It governs our very imagination. We give them forms by giving them names, tagging them into our systematic cage called: LAnguage. We give the world form yet we limit its possibilites. We use language so that we can own the world around us. As if we have control. 'Red'-means nothing. It is not a word. It is not a 'colour'. Nor is it an 'experience'. It can't be captured. But we construct that cage still, pretending we can contain it.
By: Nippy | Saturday, August 27, 2005 at 10:40 PM | |
[nad,,.. let take you down too strawberyy fekd, Bitgubg us reakm Bitgubf ti get gybf. Always sinetunesm jbiw wgeb uts a drean down cause foinf ro strawberyy fuekd, BIthung us reak..]
"It takes too long
why can't I just get out?"
Learning to type with my eyes closed.To fry away
TO lif free
Brake out of the lines
Don't want to be a skwhere
Leaf this place, sumware far away
paynt my own pictures
swim in my own c
dive in the claowds
xlide on rainbows
bath in stahlite
Lif my own liphe
sing my own xongs
cay goodbuy to this cage.
wright my own lines
in my own skript
Nd smyle wif de xun on meye fayce!
By: Nippy | Friday, August 26, 2005 at 7:58 PM | |
The past -even if we could be confident of interpreting it with high accuracy-rarely offers direct lessons. To claim that kind of relevance is to deceive oneself. But history as the educated memory of what has gone before is a resource not to be abandoned lightly...the present always has a past dimension, which is better to acknowledge than to ignore or deny.
- Peter Paret, Makers of Modern strategy
Yes,History. my favourite subject (pun intended). I want to talk about it so more people will start seeing its value. Hey hey, history-heavy stuff? If you don't know where you've been, you don't know where you are or where you are headed. And as someone really wise once said. "If you close your eyes on the past, you are blind to the present."
On a totally different note altogether:
Here is BBC's take on Singapore's blogoshpere. [if you are interested]
BBC says this of Singapore's blogs
By: Nippy | Wednesday, August 24, 2005 at 12:17 AM | |
I turned 21 yesterday. But I shan't broadcast what exactly I did on the day iself. Firstly because I'd want to keep the memories private for myself and my friends involved. Secondly, I feel that a personal experience cannot be expressed well in the form of words. How can I explain the sensations, the thoughts which ran through my head. The taste, sight, sound and touch? Impossible. (unless you can tap into my memory which in itself is flawed) I've once read somewhere that everyone has a different perception of colours, blue is nothing universal. On the contrary, blue varies from person to person. The blue I experience will not be the same blue you experience. Same theory. Only more complex when it comes to experiences.
When I was younger the idea of creating a time capsule was fascinating. Now, I figured time capsules are not really possible. Beyond the physical impossibility of creating something which defies the action of time. [If you put a piece of paper into a time capsule, it will rot.] (common sensical deduction)But Time capsules will not work even if you could create one. That is because you, the person who created it will change. The experience captured inside the time capsule, would have changed every time you re-open it to revisit the experience. Not because the thing inside changes but you, the being experiencing is changed. If you could prevent yourself from changing, then there is no point in creating a time capsule in the first place, since you will always be stuck in the same experience.
But enough about the feasibility of a time capsule. I still want to attempt one [knowing full well it will fail]. It is still worth it because, I will recapture one moment of my being 21 even though I experience it as a 51 yr old. I am going to write a letter to myself 30 years down the road. I can only guess the chance of such a success. Other than the fact that the paper might rot.
I might lose it.
I might cease to exist before I reach 51.
I might suffer from a memory loss so it makes no sense.
The earth might have been destroyed.
I might have forgotten the feeling of being 21 so completely that the letter becomes stupid.
.
.
.
The list goes on.
But still, I am going to write a letter. Only for the ME at 51. sorry, it won't be posted. I am keeping my finger crossed, (for 30 years). But most probably, I will remember it till next week (perhaps?) Before I once again, resume being conscious only of the me at 21.
Too bad I can't write a letter to myself 30 years before. I (my atoms) might still have been part of a leaf photosynthesizing...
By: Nippy | Monday, August 22, 2005 at 12:22 AM | |
Sian leh... I hate being a whinner. I'm sorry to anyone who have to be tortured by this moan-ish post of mine. But school is really getting very sian! Very[to the power of 1000000000000]. Hey hey, I use to be so enthu and excited in 1st and 2nd year. Just look at the year 1s, they are the happy bunch of magpies. I was once like that. All rushing to get books and photocopy endlesss pages of reading. Happily turning up early to get good seats. Ok maybe I'm a bit strange lah.. but I was honestly excited for lectures. I still am, kind of.. not really. Ha ha! Now I understand why senior always drag their feet, turn up late, don't have readings, look like they need an ice-cold shower and regular coffee injection into their system. By the way, I'm still not succumbing to coffee! Yes! I've manage so far without becoming a coffee addict. (congratulate myself*)
'NUS! you are not going to make me one of those coffee zombies!' Hey maybe someone should make a parody of zombie movies. Set in a university, where people turn into coffee zombies one by one and bash each other for a limited supply of coffee. Then, when the coffee effects wear off, they just roam around campus looking dazed...For maximum dramatic effect, can make them mumble chemical formulas or sprout philosophies. I think might work. Any directors wanna-bes out there, can consider this.
Anyway, back to the main theme. Boredom is setting in real bad.... I still like history, but maybe not so much the academic setting. I'm sick of always just listening to some professor talking, doing a lot of readings, then writing essays. Hey there are so many ways to learn, why must it always be in this pattern? Why can't I make an art piece for an exam for a change. Or maybe put up a play to explain my thoughts. how about pictures... Not microsoft words again. Double spaced. Font size 12. Times New Roman.
Happy are those who are in their 1st year. (ha!) They who know not the repetitive pattern in store. Woe to those who are bored. They who have written too many essays.
Need to slap myself a little, to get back in shape. Or maybe I should turn to coffee too...
By: Nippy | Friday, August 19, 2005 at 11:37 AM | |
Fatigue. Tired
restless slumbers (sian ah..)
between the silence of my room and the noises in my brain
BLACK of deep sleep
comes the white noise of residues from the day
Exhausted.
[interruptions of school trivials]
(some theories may surface)
Boredom. (can't stand...)
Learning from the acadaemia (for what?)
opening my mind to possibilities or closing my eyes to realities
Repetition of theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories
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theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories
theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories theories
By: Nippy | Monday, August 15, 2005 at 10:54 PM | |
Haha.. Sentimental tsk tsk.. But I'm serious. It's so hard to explain. I felt like I had to drop a note on this. The kind of relief and happiness you experience when an old friend drops you a note. I'm a bit ashamed that I hestiated when I came across an old friend's blog to say I found her. (check out my parallel universes)I kind of waited around for her to say hi first, because 1) I'm strange
2) I'm a coward
It is because I felt like my my friend's universe is something I'm not really part of (in the present point in time) and something I have rather drifted from. And perhaps I was afraid that I might be intruding into her private sphere which she may not like... BUt mostly, I guess I'm cowardly. Maybe I'm afraid my friend will not be as happy to find me. But even now, I wonder why i could have thought otherwise. And why such little faith in my friend. I really am ashamed of myself. But I'm really just glad. So glad that my friend just said hi. there's magic in old friends, you know. The kind that makes you smile no matter what, and that always, always prove you wrong by being so much more than you'll ever expect.
I know what I really want for my birthday:
Some time to spend with these old friends. And Yes, more courage. COURAGE!
By: Nippy | Friday, August 12, 2005 at 7:48 PM | |
Because time is only the relationship between the way different things change, like the earth going round the sun and atoms vibrating and clocks ticking and day and night and waking up and going to sleep....And this means that time is a mystery, and not even a thing and no one has ever solved the puzzle of what time is exactly.
-Mark Haddon The Curious Incident of the dog in the night-time
In approx. 12 days, I will turn 21. And usually when people reach a certain milestone in their lives, they ask questions (doesn't matter which kind)but they do. the ones that are currently in my head include :
How shall I celebrate my birthday?
Can I afford anything big?
Why do I not feel like an adult?
Where am I headed in life?
What is that sound I'm hearing downstairs?
Am I still the same person I was 10 years ago?
How am I different?
What's for dinner
[the list goes on]
All the nonsensical questions alongside the serious ones are all mashed in there, somewhere in my mind.
But I wonder,
still, who is in there inside me and inside the mirror.
Now, that I'm turning 21 (soon). I must admit, I still don't have a clue. Not a solid proof that I know exactly who I am.
Maybe it's because we are always always changing. Always becoming someone different every instant with every new experience and every new person we meet. Maybe who we are will always just be that one step ahead of us(the conscious us). So that we'll always only catch its shadow. But that's the amazing thing isn't it? The infinte possibility of a lifetime? Yeah yeah, there's all the talk about predestined fate. maybe we don't really have the choice, but I've never been here anyway. The future still feels like its a blank page even if our hands are destined to write only in a certain way.
I am convinced (though not entirely) that people around me, parents, siblings, old friends get fixated at certain points in my life. They know that old you like they know 'certainty'. They know you from the moment their lives crossed yours. And they will always see you through that coloured glass of that old you. But somehow, they get fixed there. They will always love and miss that old you. even though part of you have already moved on, you're already someone else, and meeting new people who crosses your path at this very point in life. Maybe that's what our lives are: a collection of moments. The complex interplay between new and old, past and present, the known and the unknown. Ha! Maybe at the end of the day, turning 21 will just be another of these moments. Something, I'll live through and then becomes a mystery, like time itself. But such is life... One great big mystery.
By: Nippy | Monday, August 08, 2005 at 7:01 PM | |
watch the trailerI cannot talk about this show. Words will simply degrade it. It's been a while since I've been this excited about a show. I'm even tempted to see more of this director's work. Most readers of this blog will probably think that I have pretty low expectations from films, it seems as if almost every show I've ever come across gets a pretty good review. But it's rather hard to explain my criteria for a good show, it ranges quite a bit. I enjoy cinematic experiences in general. And I think most shows deserve credit, it is afterall lots of effort from a team of people. It is honestly hard for me to say this show is good while that one sucks,or this one is better than that one. Because I tend to judge case by case. I can't and don't really compare them. I just look at each and give them my most honestly judgment based simply on the movie experience itself. I do not want to give the impression that 'Wet Dreams 2" a Korean comedy(check out an earlier entry) gets the same kind good as "Mysterious skin". But they are nevertheless both good. This is so hard to explain! I do not really have a meter on which shows fall either between
Downright trash!------------or----------- Brilliantly superb!
I also do not grade movies, I feel that it is lame giving them grades like they are some kind of assignments. There are simply no real criterias out there to grade them. It is a matter of personal preferences. Maybe it is also because I really respect this form of popular entertainment/art. When I say a show is good, that is already a conclusion, not the experience itself (which is the part I really treasure). I do not want people to take my conclusion as the word. When I say a show is good, I really hope people will go and watch it and judge for themselves. Never think in absolutes when I say a show is good or a show sucks, because for me there are many shades of good and there are equally as many shades of bad. 'Mysterious skin' is good but so is 'Wet dreams2'. (different versions of good)
As an additional note, I often find it a pity when people read reviews to decide which show to catch. I feel that this is an error most people make when reading one of those film reviews in the paper or online. Don't take the critic's word for it. watch it to find out. I've learnt to disregard critics, I hope more people will too for the good of the cinematic art/entertainment scene. And remain open when choosing a show to watch, often you'll be surprised. Seemingly crappy shows might just turn out to be a comical gem. Similarly, seemingly deep shows might turn out to be an overkill or worse still ridiculous.
And why should you take my word for it? Try it out yourself to find out.
By: Nippy | Friday, August 05, 2005 at 9:23 PM | |
remembering 6 Aug 1945This is why history is still relevant and important, flawed though it may be.
Technical skills are often emphasized in our modern society-for livelihood
But knowing where humanity has been in the past is perhaps essential for our personhood
All of humanity's wrong turns, highway, cul de sacs, tiny streets, dirt track.
Where we have walked, drove, sailed and flew- the distance and the time
The changes and the repetitions.
Lessons we have learnt and forgotten.
People who killed and were killed
all turned to dust
They who have seen, who have heard
in time, all turned to ashes.
Time. will smoothen even those names carved in tombstones
and perhaps make the words of history ring empty like tales.
Closing your eyes on the past is being blind to the present.
May we see. Lest we shall forget.
By: Nippy | Wednesday, August 03, 2005 at 10:13 PM | |
