off for my guilt-ridden vacation

because i was supposed to finish one of my essays before today but havent. :(

Coventry->London->Paris->Warsaw->Krakow->Warsaw
->Paris->Rouen->Paris->London->Coventry

back on Good Friday!

making environment-friendly choices part of one's routine

i watched a programme a few weeks back about our grocery shopping and how environmentally friendly it is - they took 2 families and got them to swap the way they shopped for their weekly groceries. one family shopped at their nearest Sainsbury's - they drove there even though it was only a 10 min walk away - while the other family stocked up at their local shops (butchers, farmer's markets...). the programme talked a lot about food miles and how one should make the conscious effort not to buy food that is imported but to support local farmers. also, processed food (salad bowls, frozen ready-meals...) produces excess waste because of the extra packaging and how people should reuse their plastic bags rather than take new ones at the till.

i have been making an effort to be more environmentally-conscious by always taking my backpack when i go shopping and putting my purchases straight in rather than using extra plastic bags to bag them. this in addition to plenty of recycling of paper, plastic bags and glass bottles (strangely enough, they dont seem to do much plastic recycling here, unlike at home), which i have to thank my mom for making it so much of a habit for me as we've been recycling since i was in primary school.

but for me, the biggest thing i dont see as always feasible is this food miles thing. fair enough it is probably reasonably ok to do it here (though foreigners might argue against it especially when we are buying imported items like Indomie and ABC kecap manis) but how does it work in Singapore? we don't really have a domestic agricultural and livestock industry that can sustain the country - think about all those adverts of Brazilian beef and Air-Pork from Australia. and what about all the things we eat regularly without even seeing as "exotic" and "out-of-season" like strawberries, salmon sashimi, crab roe...

and if the UK is having problems with waste disposal, how come Singapore doesnt seem to have this problem despite having such small landspace and such high density of people per square mile? or are we contributing significantly to the destruction of the ozone layer because we burn our waste (in addition to the CO2 emissions from our millions of food miles)?

lazy housemates procrastinating together

it started with lynn and i sitting at our doorways chatting with each other about how we should do a list of all our deadlines so that we will feel motivated to get going with work and studying.

then we made 3 separate list that are now stuck proudly in the hallway. one for her, one for me and one with our travel dates.

afterwhich we went to the kitchen to make chocolate pudding. and cook up some lunch. which led to us feeling even hungrier and so we a post-lunch omelette and barley with beancurd skin dessert.

we then proceeded to sit in front of the TV and watch World Skating Highlights, Daily Cooks and Countdown.

we've adjourned to our rooms to attempt some headway with essay/dissertation. but obviously it isnt going far because i'm blogging now and lynn is trying to figure out how come the ANTM she downloaded isnt working. :)

i'm beginning to wonder if my degree is real...

Dear Miss Li

This email is being sent on behalf of the Warwick Graduates
Association by the Awards and Conferrals team in the
Academic Office. You will shortly be receiving further
information about registering for your Degree Ceremony.

--------------------------
BE PART OF SOMETHING BIG

A unique opportunity for you to be involved in a lasting
reminder of your time at Warwick

Be involved and be a part of creating YOUR yearbook

This summer the Warwick Graduates’ Association are introducing
your Yearbook as a CD-ROM.  

You will be able to submit your contact details, a brief biography
and include a photograph of yourself.  To register to be included
in the yearbook please visit http://wga.allyearbooks.co.uk/.
The yearbook is only open to those graduating this summer and you
will need our special invitation code to log in. Your invitation
code is:-

xxxxxx

You will then be able to password protect your entry and revisit it
at any time to amend, update and customise your entry.  

However, in order to obtain a copy of the CD-ROM yearbook, you must
be a subscribing member of the WGA. Join the WGA online community via
www.wgaalumni.co.uk/joingrad.html and collect your Yearbook CD-ROM
at graduation. 

The deadline for you to have submitted your details is by 12 noon
on 8th June 2007.

---------------------------------------------------
Dear WGA,

I've just logged in to submit my contact details and have discovered
that my degree is not represented. I am doing a BA in Film & Literature
but the only Film degree listed is BA Film with Television (not the
same thing). Can something be done about this? There are at least 40
of us doing this degree.

Thank you.

Regards,
Adeline Li

----------------------------------------------------
Dear Adeline
 
Thank you for your email.  I will get your course added for you
 
With regards

Mary

----------------------------------------------------
Dear Adeline
 
Your course has now been added
 
Regards
 
Mary 

i'm writing this essay on the London of Ealing Studios

and i decided to try Jose's shot-by-shot analysis (which essentially means looking at the film frame by frame - and noting all the cuts and edits) for every exterior scene of London in 'The Blue Lamp' (1950). the film starts with a car chase and plenty of voiceovers (a narrator talking over the action that you see on screen) and i spent 15 mins writing down all that happens, shot-by-shot, in the first minute and a half. which involves watching-rewinding-watching-writing-rewinding-watching-writing-rewinding... and the annoying thing is that my VCR doesn't have a 'Pause' button so whenever an intertitle comes up over the image i have to write as fast as i can whatever i can speed-remember and rewind and rewatch it so that i can continue copying it down.

in the past 2 hrs, i have completed 12 mins of the film. of an 84 min film.

i suspect that at some point i am going to abandon this shot-by-shot thing. :|

someone obviously hates his degree and wants everyone to suffer as well

someone posted this comment in the library and Richard Perkins was nice enough to photocopy it (and his reply) and stick it up in the Film common room.

by the way, he has bad grammar (look at his lack of question marks even though he is asking a question! tsk tsk!)

You Say:
Is there any way staff can muzzle the film studies students who seem to need to laugh so much in the carrels on Floor 2. Perhaps move the TVs to the Film Studies Dept!!! The "work" of any subject that precipitates more laughter than stress is obviously not worh any respect anyway but if we must humour these people can we at least put doors on these carrels to shut them up. I prefer my first idea - if they need to watch TV then get the department to provide space for them - perhaps in a cattleshed in Westwood where they can watch comedies all day long!

We Say:
Thank you for your contribution. The Film Studies Department does provide viewing space for their students, so the people you describe are more likely to be from other departments, presumably equally worthless... :)

Noise from all the Library carrels is a problem; if in doubt, I suggest you try standing near those on Floor 5. We will be putting signs in these carrels reminding people to respect the needs of others. In Term 3 we will have stewards partolling to keep an eye on this sort of thing. In the longer run, after the Library re,odelling project over the Summer vacation, video and DVD players will not be located in zones which are designated for quiet study.

Richard Perkins
Film & Theatre Librarian

Hail and Snow

all not what you'd expect in the middle of March. but hey this is England.

while reading a food magazine the other night...

i chanced upon an article about cookery schools in Chiang Mai, Thailand, where the writer reviewed 2 schools, one for the budget traveller and one for the high-end tourist. i was so intrigued that i went to the website of the cheaper one and am now really interested in going there... if i did a 5 day course, it will only cost me about S$220 and i'd get to learn so many cool things (like how to make thai curry paste from fresh ingredients - WOW!) and this school has been recommended by all the travel guides (which is impressive) PLUS they teach you about substituting ingredients when you can't get the exact stuff - VERY IMPORTANT!

so i started to do research on flights and accomodation and apparently, it won't be that expensive a trip so hey hey hey i might just do it when i get back to Singapore. :) something to look forward to... and the fact that by the time i get home, my house would have been fully renovated and i will have a swanky new bathroom! wheeee...

Bill Bailey is one of THE funniest comedians alive

(the French bit translated is "Attention!! We have an injured person! It's a man called Jean-Michelle with a broken leg. Joined by a lovely girl called Giselle - she's very beautiful - he climbed up into a tree to make love to her. He adopted the the missionary position - its very popular - but he fell and broke his leg, ATTENTION!!")

The Message by Nate James

There is something wrong with sounds today
Never really captured how I feel
And whatever happened to the sounds today
I think they are lacking something real

Like them old school jams that kinda make you wanna dance
Lose yourself in music, feels so free
It's time I take your stand and turn things round
I want you to express yourself through music and don't hide it and just sing yeah
Let's get it together
'Cause music and that freeness of thinking
Is pushing us further

Got to get up and dance got to get up and move
Got to send out my message to the people

Got to get up and dance got to get in the groove
Are you hearing my message to the people

So what's going on in life today
People looking down no,they won't say what's up, no
But we can think around and find a way
Keep on moving forward and dont give up,no
Let's go back in time back to music of my mind
With Stevie playing piano just for you

So what happened to the sounds today
I know that deep down you still love your music
And don't hide it and just sing it
Let's get it together
'Cause music and that freeness of thinking
is pushing us further

Got to get up and dance got to get up and move
Got to send out my message to the people

Got to get up and dance got to get in the groove
Are you hearïng my message to the people.

Term 2 Week 10 = Societies' Elections Week

which is a bit of a downer because it reminds me that i'm graduating and am soon no longer going to be able to enjoy student life i.e. being part of all these performance societies.

and today i just had my final seminar for one of my modules - all we have left now are revision sessions. and as much as i complain about doing academic work, nostalgia is getting the better of me.

the last few days i've been thinking 'what if's. like what if i could re-live my university life. what would i have done differently? and what if i had gotten this and decided on that instead? yet when i think about it, i wouldnt want to re-live my 3 years here. i'd kind of feel bored. and a bit of a loser.

so for now i will just enjoy what's left of it and think of all the adventures ahead of me.

university is so passe... :)

laptop blues

my laptop kind of died on me. i know that sounds vague, especially when i should also points out that it IS still working. but in an eerie way - sort of like me and the laptop are playing mind games with each other...

it started last saturday when i was watching Friends on my laptop before going out for Stuart's fundraiser thing (which was FANTASTIC! the old Tap Dogs performed!!) - mid-joke the laptop decided to shut down. not even a 'this programme is not responding and has to shut down' thing. it just switched itself completely off. then i switched it on again but there was no blue-screen-of-death thing so i thought, hmmm probably some one-off problem. but NOOOO... because a few minutes later, just as all the programmes were starting up, my laptop decided to go on strike again.

it starts up perfectly fine now (i'm slowly backing up files on my external hard drive) but i'm so cautious that i dont have it on for more than 15mins. lynn and josh both seem to think it overheated, especially since i was running Windows Media Player when it shut down the first time. thankfully josh has an extra laptop - which is running on Windows 98 and that his dad bought (it's old office hardware) for RM100. works perfectly fine and is keeping me from freaking out about not having a computer on my desk with internet connection.

i guess they dont make laptops like they used to...?

today a friend told me something encouraging...

that anything that is worth something will always have some element of difficulty in achieving, otherwise it isn't really going to be worth much...

i read this article in the Warwick Boar the other day...

and found myself laughing out loud at some of the things said - true, it does sound like a wet blanket but there are some elements of truth in what he said (esp in the light of some of the not-so-good productions passing off as amazing).

EVAN STEVENS: Why I Hate Student Drama

I was sitting in the Arts Centre a while back, nursing a medium-to-serious hangover and wishing for nothing more than an hour or so of undisturbed quiet. Suddenly I realised that there was a pain in my head. Searing, unbearable, a shrill noise was burning my eardrums like liquid fire. Had a pack of banshees descended on us? Was the building being blown up? Or could it be the cast of Copacabana, loudly and inexplicably singing, for no apparent reason other than a profound need to be the centre of attention at all times?

Indeed, it was. It simply did not cross the minds of those aspiring thespians that the rest of the world might not care to hear “Her name was Lola” repeated in a variety of keys, over and over again early on a Wednesday morning. And it is this that is the root of my grievances; what one might call the embryo from which my ‘thespo-phobia’ has grown.

It is not the shoddy, over-financed and under-talented productions. It is not the significant percentage of the world’s trees that have been destroyed to make fliers that carpet the pavement outside Costcutter. It is not even the loud and uncalled-for “shouts” at the beginning of lectures: larger than life grins declaring (or, God help us, singing) that “the best production, like, ever, is being performed this lunch time in the Chaplaincy!”

It is the sheer arrogance of these people that really gets me down. It’s the air kisses. It’s the in-depth analysis of their friends’ performances broadcast at top volume in any quiet space (the library, the computer centre). It’s the complete inability to understand that anyone else on campus might not care as much about them as they do.

But come on, one might say, they just want to stand on a stage. They just want everyone to look at them. Why on earth would anyone object to that?

Let’s take a look at why. Firstly, there are the performances themselves. I went, reluctantly, to see Copacabana. Scantily dressed girls bobbed around the stage, wobbling their exposed stomachs in time to repetitive and uninspiring show tunes. The neon signs and those illuminated steps from which the actors descended merely highlighted their failure to live up to their own hype.

Then there was Codpiece’s production of Ted Hughes’s Ovid. What got to me about this was the need to justify the whole play’s existence in terms of how sexually explicit they could be. A tip for the future: narrating a play whilst vigorously dry-humping in a bed is not edgy and mature – it is ineffective and embarrassing. We couldn’t hear a word you were saying and your sex noises were gross. The sex scenes were screaming: “This is a grown-up play about grown-up issues – take us seriously!” In reality, it would have been a whole lot easier to respect this effort if there had been a little less on-stage copulation.

And here’s another thing: what’s with this student-thesp compulsion to get semi-naked in public? In Copacabana, we had to endure the feathered bikinis. In Ovid, we were treated to a bared arse and more than an eyeful of brassier. Why, damn them, can’t they keep their clothes on? If these people cared more about theatre than they did about themselves, they’d realise that exposing themselves on stage is a little distracting from the play: a classic example of thespian egos acting as an impenetrable blockade to any enjoyment the performance.

This, I think, is the crux of the problem (and it is a problem – I’m not alone in despising the Warwick drama scene). I really don’t mind that the plays are bad. They’re generally awful, let’s be honest, but that’s ok: we’re students, not professionals. We’re still, definitively, studying – learning how these things are done. It’s ok to mumble your lines inaudibly, to speak with your back to the audience, to be unconvincing and miss your cues. Go ahead and be crap – but please, please, don’t act like you’re anything more than that. The inexplicable self-importance that comes with being in even the most insignificant of Warwick productions is embarrassing for us all.

To the thespians of Warwick, I say this: Sit down, take a break, cover your flab up like the rest of us and learn to deal with being mediocre. It’s really not so bad.


see the pdf version of the page here