city hall

Seldom do I think about how beautiful Singapore can be..

Fireworks at the River

9 Aug was Singapore's national day. Over that weekend, there were fireworks shows to celebrate it at the mouth of Singapore river. I was there to snap some pictures. Here are the better ones. Hope you like them.

Back in school now. hope to blog more often than this.

Earlier, the MD of BMW Asia came to give a talk sharing his experiences of his South Pole expedition. No mean feat. I kept this inspiration as I ran 10km New Balance Real Run at Sentosa. The sandy beaches almost killed me. The thought of the 21km army half marathon this sunday is looming like a bad nightmare now. That guy's right: tough challenges take long and focused preparations. Which, of course, I haven't and I will surely pay for it on Sunday.

Cheers.

Imagine.

Although hopelessly idealistic, Lennon's lyrics in Imagine still fits the mood perfectly now:

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

good cooking = result of experimentation?

No, the food doesn't look appetizing at all. I just got sick of take-away dinner and my dad's cooking and instead of complaining, I decided to make my own dinner. How refreshing, the potatoes were crunchy and the veggies soggy and tasteless. The steak was splendid with generous dips of ketchup. The microwave probably wasn't working right. I guess I will have to experiment some more before it gives me anything decent. Hurhur..

Guillotine

French guillotine, war museum in Vietnam (2005)

I found critics attacking bbc's bias against Israel on the net. Thinking back about the broadcasts I've heard, it does seem like there's some truth in the criticisms.

....

Many innocent civilians are killed in this conflict, and this alone is enough reason to call for an immediate ceasefire. Of course, there must be a resolution to end the conflict between the parties, but the process to a "sustainable peace" should be political, not militarist.

The road to complete resolutioin and lasting peace in the region will most certainly be long and arduous. The conflict is so complex with historical antecedents that calling the other party 'terrorists' and trying to wipe them out is unrealistic. Wouldn't those dislocated and dispossessed in this conflict form the next wave of reteliation?

the possibility of anything begins in the mind

Stole the title from the video. :p

I first heard dj shadow's music from this music video, six days, directed beautifully by wong kar wai.

Nothing beats listening to the songs you love live, so I went wif lulu n luke (not twin sidekicks, haha) to zouk where dj shadow played last night. Woah, rocked the house he did. The house, however, was unbelievably packed and I could only move my head to the music.

you can listen to dj shadow on kcrw here. they call his music "experimentalinstrumental hip/hop". :)

This is inspirational

You can lose everything -- even control over your own body. Yet nothing is impossible if you truly believe in yourself.
Thanks for the link, Claud!

Forever Nirvana

Nirvana is the first band that really made a huge impact on my life. It was perhaps the angst that I related to most in Kurt Cobain's songs. The world can have it their way while I implode in my pop punk music. Of course, it's only a matter of time before I trace Nirvana's music other bands - from more well-known ones from R.E.M. and U2 to the more obscure ones like The Pixies and Vaselines.

While it much more time and effort to discover obscure bands then, the internet revolution changed things for the better. Almost a decade ago, searching for acclaimed indie American bands required researching for their references in band's biographies or mags like maximumrocknroll at Tower Records. To actually listen to these music I could either download with impunity mp3's if I'm lucky or buy the expensive imports.

Now I go to either of the following. Although the list is pitiable, these are more than I ever dreamed of.
launch: customised radio service from yahoo;
kcrw: podcasts that feature exciting, new bands weekly;
youtube: surprisingly, a growing library of bootlegs and music videos uploaded by fans.

Outside in