On the telephone with mum
U know, she called yesterday to say that.. *bad news*
1) My dad's cousin's son was beaten to death by gangsters in Taman Johor last Saturday. I don't want to comment on it because apparently, the son is a gangster himself and my immediate family is not that close to him. He was 23.
2) My dad's 8th uncle passed away in Singapore... he was 68.
*good news*
3) We've just installed broadband at home! :) Yeah I know in singapore broadband is everywhere, but in JB it's still in selected areas.. and I'm happy that they've come to my area :)
Skipping lectures
Haha.. we had our last PS 102 lecture today, and Dr Yasmeen gave us the examination questions.. that's cool right. Then Noorshida brought Jeremy and me to this area which is not so crowded, which faces Matilda Bay.. and we just sat there talking about singapore food, politics, education, and arts in s'pore. It's approaching summer now and the flies are everywhere.. which is *** irritating.. they keep on following u.. so we've got a situation where everyone is walking around trying to swat flies on his/her face. T4, I missed my ES 102 last lecture cos' the Bay was about 15-20 mins walk from the Fox LT, which is where ES 102 lectures are held. But it's okay la. cos last lecture is nothing much, and all lectures are recorded over WebCT.
After talking for about 3+ hours, we kind of concluded that:
1) We miss singaporean (and m'sian) food! haha.
2) The state of politics in s'pore is appalling.
3) Arts in singapore has not much future. Although I do know that some individuals are contributing their bit in creating a vibrant arts scene through theatre :)
4) Education system in s'pore... *sigh*
ES 102 last tutorial
Just came out from the last ES 102 tute... and Caroline returned our 2nd assignment, which is the major essay. And I'm so happy cos i got 82% for it, which is w/in the High Distinction (HD) zone. This is worth a substantial 25% of the unit.. so :) yeah! The topic was on "the effect of communist legacy upon (re)creating civil society and democratisation in east/central europe".
Her comments were:
Great essay Will. This is a very well researched, intelligent, and sophisticated discussion which skilfully considers multiple elements of post-Communism within an overarching argument. You have made excellent use of film sources to support your points and your discussion includes some strong, perceptive textual analysis. This essay is definitely of a HD standard - it stands out in research and composition. Thank you for your thoughtful participation in tutorials, and I hope you will consider continuing with European Studies in the future.
Yeah I'm feeling so pleased with myself :) She "invited" me to consider doing more ES units in the future.. i feel so honoured. And I think I would do ES 101 next semester, don't know if I should do ES 205 (which is a 2nd-level 1st semester unit) too.. It looks the most interesting among the three 2nd-year units offered next semester. After completing this semester, I would have the prerequisites to do 2nd-year Arts units already.. ES 205 is entitled "Screening Europe". According to the unit outline, it writes - This unit provides an introduction to the history of European cinema and to the art of reading film, before focusing on a broad selection of contemporary European films (which more often than not have pretty girls in it - I wrote this myself of course :P). These films are compared and contrasted in thematic and generic terms to enable us to understand main themes of social and cultural change in Europe. At the same time, developments in European film, cinematic techniques and the work of particular directors are studied.
Haha.. u know, I'm an Asian... feels kind of weird eh :)