looking for baudrillard, boorstin, or eco?

dare to hope for what is good
instead of what is merely good enough.
Dead in sin | Saved by grace | Living in hope | Walking by faith | Surviving on a prayer


+ sola scriptura + sola gratia + solus Christus + sola fide + sola Deo gloria +

dimanche, octobre 30, 2005

 Shoo fly

I'm not particularly freaked if beetles fly into my room and get underfoot - it's when they're flying that I get worried. I've had countless incidents where they've flown into my hair or into some part of my body and the thought of having that close an encounter with nature just makes my skin crawl, just a little.

Which is why I'm always a little bit relieved when the fan gives a metallic "clungg", and I hear a tiny "thwapp" on the floor. Just like the one I just heard. (Does this make me an evil person?)

[Shoo fly]
Sngs Alumni @ 30.10.05 { 0 comments }


 Music make me lose control

Preparing for the Childrens' Camp has been taxing. Not that the workload is heavy - not that, but just that there are so many people working together with different schedules. It's hard to meet in the middle when everyone's "middle" is all over the place.

My caravan is a complete failure, and I'll have to take it down tomorrow and re-strategise (sorry SX... and thanks for your hard work.)

The music checkpoint station is only a little better. With three helpers who have assorted other things to do, and a partner who only finishes A levels on the 14th, the situation leaves very little room for error. I've just completed working out the music schedule - praise and worship every day in the morning and evening, and the rotation schedule for the actual programme itself. I wouldn't call it a mess - everything looks pretty on paper - (but then everything looks pretty on paper) - but come Day 1 of the camp and we'll know what screwed up.

I liked going through the music to find music to fit into the daily praise and worship segments though. U.YL channeled me to familyworship.org.uk, and I think they're an excellent, excellent source of Christian childrens' songs. Here's my lineup:
  1. The Power Of Your Love (Is Changing Me)
  2. Sing a Song To Jesus
  3. I Will Lift Up The Name Of The Lord
  4. I Believe In You
  5. All Over The World (Over All)
  6. The Donut Song
  7. The Countdown! (Somewhere In Outer Space)
  8. I Reach Up High
  9. Change Me
  10. I'm Singing Your Praise, Lord
  11. Jesus Loves Me
Eleven songs, plus another five that are included as part of the VBS package that we'll be using from Lifeway Ministries.

My favourite song last year was "Over All" - slow and insightful, singing it with the hand actions really reminded me that Someone's really In Charge of the whole big party that we're having down here on earth...
Over all the oceans
Over all the land
Over every creature
Over every man
Over and above
Over all in love
Our God reigns in wisdom
Over all
This year, I think it'll be Hosanna Music's "The Power Of Your Love (Is Changing Me)". Supremely simple, the tune is catchy and works as a fast or slow song.
The power of your love is changing me
Changing me, changing me
O Lord, change me by the power of your love...
Sometimes I wonder why adults have got to make it so complicated.

[Music make me lose control]
Sngs Alumni @ 30.10.05 { 0 comments }


jeudi, octobre 27, 2005

 (Yet another) Public Service Announcement

Ahem ahem. *taps mike*

Hello everyone, welcome to ... er... my blog. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank my mom, my dad and blogger for making this possible. Oh, and the poor sods who occasionally make me so mad that I actually have a reason to put pen to paper (or fingertips to keyboard) and blog about stuff.

Today, the PSA is that Ms Crystal Chan has gotten engaged to Edwin I-Dunno-His-Surname.

That's right, ladies (and metrosexual gentlemen), it's time to sigh, and go shopping for yet another fabulous dress/shirt, time to hit the gym or the punching bag to get in shape for get another one of those nights where you destroy six months of fitness by gorging on shark's fin soup, fatty chicken and way too much booze.

This message has been brough to you by the letters W, E, D, D (again) and G. Oh, and the number 42.

[(Yet another) Public Service Announcement]
Sngs Alumni @ 27.10.05 { 0 comments }


mercredi, octobre 26, 2005

 The Great ReSynchronization

I hate it when good epics are marred when they can't get their timelines right - and I'm not even talking about stuff like Sliders or Star Trek which has funky time-travel screwing up dates and stuff. No, regular stuff like Nancy Drew - look, she solves 124,395,999 crimes a year? How else could you account for the number of cases she's solved while she was "an 18 year old strawberry blonde"? This timeline thing is not an uncommon problem.

Which is why I love it when fans try to get it right, and they DO get it right:
When the Prequel trilogy was released, beginning with The Phantom Menace in 1999, Lucasfilm made it clear that the film took place 32 years before the events of A New Hope, thus invalidating the idea that their dates were counting from Palpatine's rise to power (although coincidentally, the origin of the calendar was only 3 years before when he was elected Supreme Chancellor of the Republic). The Great Resynchronization was created as an explanation within the Star Wars setting to account for the earlier calendar references, without discounting them. The calendar created by the Great Resynchronization would last only 60 years (out of the roughly 25,000 years of recorded Galactic history), before the New Republic again reset the calendar in Galactic Year 60, this time placing the "Year 0" mark at the Battle of Yavin, which is the point in Star Wars history when fandom and Lucasfilm generally counts dates in real life, thus bringing the Dates in Star Wars used in the fiction and real life into the same scale.
(I know, geeky.)

[The Great ReSynchronization]
Sngs Alumni @ 26.10.05 { 0 comments }


dimanche, octobre 23, 2005

 Consumerist Correctness

I have many things. Many, many things. And I am thankful to God for them. I have a nifty laptop with a fairly good wireless ADSL connection, I have a nifty laptop, a printer, a scanner, a bed, a room, an iPod, at least ten pairs of shoes, a nice guitar, a hi-fi, clothes, and tons of other cool stuff.

So what if I don't have a desktop with the latest 60 inch LCD screen, the best graphics card, the fastest processor, and two terabytes of Kingston RAM? That my TV is a small CRT and has some discolouration on the top right hand corner because we accidentally put some useless decorative magnetic thing there once? That I don't have cable TV (thank God for that)? That I don't have the fastest, largest-capacity Internet cable connection? My scanner is four years old, my printer is three and a bubblejet, not a laser, my iPod's not the shuffle nor the Nano; it's just a regular iPod 20G 4th Gen - not a 40G, not a 60G, no colour screen, but it stores ALL my music and plays fine.

My shoes are all from non-brands besides one pair from Charles and Keith, which some would not even label a contender. My five-year-old hi-fi is hooked up like a terminally-ill heart patient with a non-brand discman because the five-disc changer gave up about a year back. My guitar's a Congress but sounds lovely.

Can you see how much I have? Take your consumerism and shove your face into it. Eat it up, glutton. Slap the makeup on it, put it into a shiny box, brand it, package it, then market it for 500% of its cost price. Ride your 2.5L car, go to that gym, that spa, that yoga class in town with the pretty logo, take that Atkins diet - or is that too last year - ...

So stop making me feel guilty for not wanting more. Stop making me feel that I have to want to strive for the bigger, better, faster, shinier, newer, greater. I have everything I need - AND MORE. I DON'T NEED MORE STUFF. Stop making me feel that I need to be like everybody else who has that house, that car, that watch, that brand of sunglasses. I will want, when I want, when I want to want. In the meantime, shut up. Shut up, shut up, shut up.

Just. Shut. Up.

[Consumerist Correctness]
Sngs Alumni @ 23.10.05 { 0 comments }


 The Missing Piece and The Big O


I love this story.

(For best results, 'right click save as' then view it on your computer. But just clicking on the link works too.)

[The Missing Piece and The Big O]
Sngs Alumni @ 23.10.05 { 0 comments }


jeudi, octobre 20, 2005

 Dayung sampan

I found this on the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) Singapore:

WHAT IS A BUSINESS?
Under the Business Registration Act, "business" includes every form of trade, commerce, craftmanship, calling, profession and any activity carried on for the purposes of gain but does not include any office, employment or occupation, or any of the businesses specified in the First Schedule. [etc]

List of exempted entities/individuals :
1. Individuals carrying on any of the businesses specified in the First Schedule.*
2. [etc etc etc]

Businesses specified in the First Schedule:

1. [etc]
2. [etc]
3. Any business of -
(a) a taxi driver;
(b) a trishaw rider;
(c) a sampan man plying his sampan for hire; or
(d) a farmer, a fish pond keeper or a prawn pond keeper [etc etc]

[Dayung sampan]
Sngs Alumni @ 20.10.05 { 0 comments }


mercredi, octobre 19, 2005

 redeem the time...

Where did it all go? It's mid-October already.

... for the days are evil. [Eph 5:16]

[redeem the time...]
Sngs Alumni @ 19.10.05 { 0 comments }


lundi, octobre 17, 2005

 iDJ


iDJ
Originally uploaded by bloggeritis.
This would be cool if Apple didn't keep producing a new iPod every month. I'm not sure if the docking stations stay the same between iPod iterations.

[iDJ]
Sngs Alumni @ 17.10.05 { 0 comments }


samedi, octobre 15, 2005

 Sesame Street assumptions

We went out to Jalan Kayu last night - Stan, WL, Jared, FT, Jeff and FT's friend Wei Cheng. While waiting for a parking spot at the newly constructed URA carpark, I was observing a fat old Indian man, who seemed to be loitering mysteriously around the carpark area for some reason. I soon found out why.

The person who arrived before me soon got a space, and proceeded to park his car. Like a fly zooming in on rancid carrion, this man started towards the car, and started staring intently at the driver. I don't mean just staring from the side of the road, I mean he actually went beside the car, stood next to the side mirrors, bent down and stared into the driver's face as he parked the car. After the family exited the car, he simply held out his hand, and waited for some spare change. (The driver gave it to him.)

I watched this happen to another car motorist, and a female bike-rider too - I thought that he'd give the bikers a break, but the hand was outstretched all the same. Who is this man? Why is he out there? Where does he sleep? Does he have family to take care of him? Or is he part of the Jalan Kayu establishment? Extra revenue for that row of shophouses?

This old guy has a beer belly the size of Sentosa, and was walking around the carpark at 10pm at night barefoot. If the carpark were less well-lit, and if there weren't so many other people around, I think I'd be really freaked out and would possibly call the cops on him. But as it is, he's in a rather miserable position. It got me thinking about the marginalised in society, and how they've become rather invisible to me, as I climb the ivory tower's steps.

It's always hard to see the marginalised in society when you live in an urban society - apartments are built to do just that - keep everyone apart from each other. You don't see anyone, and you barely interact. The press usually doesn't cover anything important, preferring instead to cover political-economic issues. Hurricane Katrina revealed America's poverty to the rest of the world - America, the world superpower. America, that country that keeps telling others what to do. America, the globe's agenda-setter.

What more Singapore?

My blindness was recently pointed out to me by my sup. We were discussing Edutainment as a method of persuasion, and I mentioned Sesame Street as a good example of edutainment with broad reach to children. He said that I was wrong - Sesame Street is apparently "educated access." As explanation, he said that Sesame Street was developed by and broadcast on the American TV channel PBS - or Public Service Broadcasting. That is apparently the more academically-minded channel, and lower income groups do not watch the channel because it is too difficult for them, or the issues discussed on PBS do not concern them. It is only the children of the more educated that watch Sesame Street - so the cycle of education perpetuates itself. So my comment that "Everyone watches Sesame Street" is untrue - I think that way because I've ONLY met people who've watched Sesame Street when they were younger.

This frightens me. A rather fundamental assumption which I hold to has been shown to be a fallacy. What more other, more important assumptions? What makes this Sesame Street Assumption more deadly is that it was made in innocence - I did not make the assumption to further my own social status; it does not help me argue for any particular cause of oppressing the marginalised - and yet, this assumption automatically oppresses the marginalised because it does not even acknowledge their presence. Without acknowledgement, dialogue cannot take place. Without dialogue, change cannot occur. If I cannot see the marginalised, I will not be able to enact change.

And that's why that scares me.

[Sesame Street assumptions]
Sngs Alumni @ 15.10.05 { 0 comments }


 Sean Penn is hott

I just watched The Interpreter, and I think I must be crazy for thinking this but: Sean Penn is hot. At least in this movie. I'm surprised at myself because Sean Penn has been (or had been) classified in my mind in the "old dude" category, where there are absolutely no links with the "hot guys" (with the possible exception of Richard Gere).

But. He. Is. Hot. Here.

He's a far cry away from the last movie I watched him in, which was Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982), where he played some himbo surfer dumb dude in high school.

The smoulder. The half-smile. The furrowed brow (which looks much better on him than on Alias's Michael Vartan). The soulful looks. The intense stare.

* the rest of this post has been censored *

[Sean Penn is hott]
Sngs Alumni @ 15.10.05 { 0 comments }


 Awful Rose Tea


Awful Rose Tea
Originally uploaded by bloggeritis.
I like most fragrant tea. I'm not much into the too-too bitter types; I like the strawberry teas, cherry teas, jasmine teas etc. So I thought that I'd try Coffee Club Express's new Rose Tea, since they were out of everything else I wanted. I ordered Mocha with ICE instead of blended, but they refused to do that for me (what's so difficult about putting ice instead of blending everything together?), and then I ordered Very Berry Tea, which they were ALSO out of, then finally I tried their "new Rose Tea", which unfortunately, turned out to be slightly flavoured hot water. They just dumped a tea bag into boiling hot water - I had to wait 15 minutes before I could even start thinking about drinking from it, and it took forever to steep, which is research they should have done before starting to offer this sort of "instant" tea - if the tea needs to be brewed for longer than a darjeeling, then brew a pot first for your clients.

This rates very highly on my Worst Waste Of Money Ever list.

[Awful Rose Tea]
Sngs Alumni @ 15.10.05 { 0 comments }


vendredi, octobre 14, 2005

 What's worse than being angry?

Being angry at YOURSELF.

I am so pissed at myself! I had done this data cleaning for TWO DAYS, and now when the end is in sight, I do the stupid thing and overwrite my NEW files with my BACKUP files, completely negating EVERYTHING I've done because it's a complex thing I'm doing.

Argh!

*tears hair out*

[What's worse than being angry?]
Sngs Alumni @ 14.10.05 { 0 comments }


mardi, octobre 11, 2005

 See How They Grow

For an absolutely fascinating look at how quickly hamsters grow. Search around that date for the whole two weeks of hamster babies. (Hamsterites? Hammies? Cubs? Pups?)

[See How They Grow]
Sngs Alumni @ 11.10.05 { 0 comments }


 [geek]

php nukeSo, er, I've been mucking around with a PHP-Nuke installation. It's been going about the usual way - first me being absolutely irritated by the installation and the cryptic icons and the sudden dump of many, many files into my main server directory (I deviated from my normal cautious self and didn't create a subdirectory first; BIG mistake cos now my files are all messed up). Then now I'm getting to see what the package is about, and I'm getting engrossed in it. [/geek]

[[geek]]
Sngs Alumni @ 11.10.05 { 0 comments }


lundi, octobre 10, 2005

 Back from The Void

I went to GCTC today, to hear this new band that Jason and Sophie (and a couple of others I don't know) rehearse. They'll be playing gigs in secondary schools, so they wanted to have a check-out first, which is always a good idea when you have an important message to convey.

Their set:
1. Lean On Me (DC Talk)
2. I'm Just A Kid (Sum 41)
3. The Middle (Jimmy Eats World)
[skit]
- Beautiful (Bethany Dillon)
- Bring Me To Life (Evanescence)
[message 1]
- And Can It Be (Church of Rhythm - I think)
[message 2]
- Jesus Knows (yet to be released)
- Gone Are The Dark Days (Point of Grace)
- Our Lives (The Calling)

Although the skit started out a little bit cheesy, they all sounded excellent. Hope they rock and roll.

[Back from The Void]
Sngs Alumni @ 10.10.05 { 0 comments }


vendredi, octobre 07, 2005

 Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

This needs to come to Singapore like, NOW.

[Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit]
Sngs Alumni @ 7.10.05 { 0 comments }


 Blogger Post Editor

Blogger folks are the best. I want to work in Blogger.

Why I had a bit of a blogging lapse there was due to two reasons:
1) I was rather busy worrying (but not doing anything, just worrying) about my homework, and
2) my blogger post editor was looking really weird, with the buttons overlapping and stuff. Look for yourself:


Post editors in Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer

I thought it might have been due to software conflicts or bad/incomplete Java 2 installation, so I did all I could to fix it on my end, to no avail. I consulted the Blogger help boards, and tried very hard to find the problem on their boards (they don't seem to want email unless its absolutely necessary), again, to no avail.

So unfortunately for them, I had to send a "Help!" email off to their HQ. After three email, they solved the problem - after they fixed one particular server (after the first email), after they checked my IP settings and checked the servers I was under (second email), and finally, after performing a network upgrade on their side (third email), my post editor looks pretty again.

I'm very amazed at their service, considering that they're a huge company (they're part of the Net Behemoth known as Google), considering their market share (30%), and considering that we're free users. They don't earn money from us (not directly, at least), and yet their service is fantastic (once you've gotten over the "don't email us unless you've checked ALL THE FAQS WE'VE EVER WRITTEN" initial hurdle). Bravo. That's good word-of-mouth PR for you.

[Blogger Post Editor]
Sngs Alumni @ 7.10.05 { 0 comments }


 The Brothers Grimm


The Brothers Grimm
Originally uploaded by bloggeritis.
This show was so forgettable that I really did forget that I watched it with Kris last week on Tuesday at Bishan, coldest movie theatre in the whole of Singapore.

Matt Damon and Heath Ledger as these dry, academic German brothers? Rumour has it that Jacob and Wilheim were philogists, not fake witch-hunters, although they did go about collecting old wives' tales, much in the manner that Matt and Heath did in the movie.

But that's where the similarity ends. It was awful to watch both of them stumble about with their fake English accents - which were out of place anyway - they were supposed to be German, not English. An American and an Australian, with English accents, pretending to be Germans, but with a French twist. It's enough to get you all tangled about in knots.

I don't know why this movie was made. It served no real purpose - the story told was bland, it wasn't a "star-making" epic like Gladiator, neither did it showcase any act of proper, true history - so why make this movie?

I have no answers. Let's just hope this never happens again.

It wasn't overly painful to watch - the pain was tolerable - but just barely. Oh Matt Damon! Wither thy Jason Bourne? Thy Will Hunting?

[The Brothers Grimm]
Sngs Alumni @ 7.10.05 { 0 comments }


mercredi, octobre 05, 2005

 Sheryl Crow: Wildflower

Sheryl Crow's new album, brought and bought for me courtesy of one Ms Ee. I am so ecstatic over the unexpected present that I shall omit the exclamation marks because they will never end.

I am, however, disappointed by the music itself. Wildflower is apparently "an artiste's album" (read: not radio-friendly tracks). It's got a lot of slow tracks, which I consider "filler" in her other albums - but apparently she likes making them better than the loud, noisy, I-hate-the-world tracks like "If It Makes You Happy". But oh, she does them so well! Two tracks fit into that category: "Good is Good" (currently released), and "Live It Up", whose lyrics I just want to hug with tears of joy.

Live it up like there's no time left, just like there's no tomorrow
Live it up like there's no time left, and there's no time to kill
Live it up like there's no time left, and no time left to borrow
Why don't we try to get it right this time?

And that's just the chorus. Who can say that this next part doesn't echo their frustrations, and their desire to just pack up and just... go?

You get worked up, jammed and overloaded
Your time's up before you even know it,
But you can't stop, working on the outcome
You're hawking your latest sins

Put on your backpack, take a trip to nowhere
You're sidetracked, on your way to somewhere
You wind up right back where you started
You better get ready
Everybody's out to have a good time
No reason to worry, even if it isn't goin' our way
Forget about tomorrow, because all we really have is today

It's a reckless lifestyle, just taking it one day at a time, which I'm currently doing. One day at a time. Slowly.

I hope that the album grows on me. I've read rave reviews over how she's happy with the introspective sound of the whole album, and that she's grown and matured as an artist, but I still hold the view that Ms Crow rocks the house like nobody can. She should leave the rock-ballads to Bon Jovi. Here's hoping that her next album will make a little more noise.

[Sheryl Crow: Wildflower]
Sngs Alumni @ 5.10.05 { 0 comments }


+ moi +

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Musings on Rick Warren's Purpose-Driven Life (PII)

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+ before i die +

Stuff I'd Like
Lake Tahoe
Borobudor
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Boro Boro
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Taj Mahal
Bali
Great Ocean Road
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