Saturday, April 30, 2005

Family Guy Season 4 Episode 1



Curious about all the hype regarding Family Guy? Know why I love it so much? Don't give a shit why I love it so much? No?

Either way, here it is in full UNAIRED DVD SCREENER glory. Circulated since April 22nd I think... I only just managed to find it. I've directly linked the site over here for downloading. Download the full 274MB and have a ball! Credits to afterflow and his private server! Family Guy Season 4 Episode 1!

North by North Quahog

PS: It's not even airing in the states yet till 9pm. Which is like 9am our time, Tuesday.

Passion of the Christ 2 anyone?


Oh. And pick up the book whilst you're at it:


Or the new CD:
00-family_guy-live_in_vegas_ost-2005

New Zealand Film Fest at GV Plaza



New Zealand Film Fest is in town again... this time round, I can't catch anything. Coz I'll be in Bangkok. Oh darn.

Here's the link for interested parties anyway.

Enjoy!

Friday, April 29, 2005

Post #116

Oh my goodness. I smell shit. My Sith neighbour just returned to his room (HE STILL SLAMS THE DOOR!) and suddenly there was this overwhelming smell of shit. No. Not the usual decoration and flower and traditional kind of smell which one gets at Little Sith (Near Sim Lim where you can buy gold and ornaments)... rather it's the toilet kinda smell. The kind you get in public toilets where the guy didn't flush and you can smell it at the door. I'm worried that now the sewage pipes for the second floor have screwed up too and we will have to shit on the first floor as well. Sheesh. Living conditions are getting from bad to worse.

Now I smell smoke. A.k.a FIRE smoke. Hope the smoke alarm doesn't go off. I really need to finish contract and I am obscenely slow.

Con~!

Thursday, April 28, 2005

I'm Frustrated. I'm Tired.

Talking bad about a person behind his/her back has serious repercussions. Especially if the person means something to you. Words can hurt even though they were meant to be a joke. Because they won't be taken as a joke by the target of your gossip. Comments and snide remarks can be made on the spot due to the situation at hand (e.g. splitting headache), but whether by gossiping about how you feel then would have any effect on your friendship with the person further down the road, one will never know. Unless you...

1) Either stop talking bad about people behind their backs. Or, 2) Erase your MSN history perodically. The funny thing is. I never thought the comments serious enough to tell you. Yet obviously you were hurt by something you were never intended to know. Was it a mistake on my part? Or have I put too much trust in you which enabled you to abuse this trust twice in a row?

I'll probably never know.

I'm frustrated. I'm tired. I need to study.

I'm sorry.

Attention: Peeping Tom

Those of you in KR/Sheares probably got this email already:

------------------

Dear Kent Ridgeans,

There have been cases of Peeping Tom at Sheares Hall and lost of belongings in our Hall recently. 

The description of the Peeping Tom is as follows.

Ø       Male, Chinese
Ø       Height of abt 1.8m
Ø       Well built
Ø       Long, brownish hair
Ø       Non-spectacled
Ø       Wearing a plain white T-shirt, Bermuda, carrying a green sling bag
Ø       Left his slippers behind: Brown Bata Slippers, Size 10

To prevent similar incident, please try to:
- Please lock your rooms when you are not in or while you are a sleep
- Keep the main door of female toilets close at all times and access it using your matric card.

If you notice any suspicious person or stranger lingering in Hall, please inform Resident Fellows, Hall Admin, JCRCs or Block Comm immediately. Alternatively, you may also approach the person and verify if he is a resident of the Hall.

HALL’S SAFETY IS EVERYONE’S BUSINESS !!

Hall Admin

------------------

Isn't it quite interesting? Not that people were able to describe him so well. But looking at the description, what exactly do they mean by long hair? If we go by primary school to JC standards, MY hair would be considered long - touch the ear already... At least army one can touch collar. Overall, he sounds like a generic chinese male. (Maybe CHINA student!) It's quite interesting because instead of the usual "Malay/Indian man spotted in the vicinity etc etc etc...", we get a Chinese guy. Finally. But not the good kind though. Not to be racist about the previous statement, but reading an article online brought out this very interesting issue. How come in the bulk of the s.377 cases, the appellents are predominantly of the minority race? Not my idea, I read it and repeating it only... food for thought. Anyway. I think he should be pretty easy to find ya? Missing slipper = look for barefoot person la! Wahoo. Problem solved. Bleargh. But good luck trying to find this generic chinese student whom probably already changed his clothes and stolen another pair of slippers... Hur hur hur. Maybe they can try to find Grissom and get him to do DNA tests...Hiak.

Oh. And by the way. I am racist. Only if you annoy me. I am racist against whichever race pisses me off. Chinese too. (Case in point: Annoyingly loud and obnoxious Chinese students) However, I am currently pretty against the dark side. That would include my neighbour whom IRRITATES THE HELL OUT OF ME BY SLAMMING HIS DOOR SHUT EVERY SINGLE FUCKING TIME. I mean, how hard is it to gradually close the door? Nope. He prefers to SLAM it shut. Not to mention having bloody loud conversations in front of his room... courtesy of the bloody extra Sith Scholar from D Block whom thinks it's 'COOL' to have long hair. Bah. I personally think he looks (and acts) retarded. To him, I only have 2 words. 34 degrees. Enjoy.

Theory on why people don't leave comments

From an MSN conversation: *Jacqueline*- stop being silly! lets stop ignoring!!

1ST REASON:

ppl like annoymity
AM 01:44

2ND REASON:

n they not sure if they are dat close to comment
AM 01:44

3RD REASON:

n comment too much, later other ppl see also not gd
AM 01:45

EXAMPLE:

anyway my blog also seldom ppl comment wad
AM 01:45

always lidat one
AM 01:45

SOLUTION:

unless u type some provocative posts
AM 01:46

like
AM 01:46

NEGATIVE ILLUSTRATION:

I slept with my teacher today
AM 01:46

feeling really guilty
AM 01:46

but its my only chance of getting an A for contract. So
AM 01:46

Dora, if u r reading this, all i can say is I'm sorry.
AM 01:46

I nv meant to hurt you or cheat your feelings
AM 01:46

I just wanna know more about contract actually.
AM 01:46

Hmmmm. (Don't kill me!)

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

Urban Legend

Got this in the mail today and I can't believe it's true. In fact, I DON'T believe it's true. Not the first time I've gotten this though, but just seems appropriate to start on contract LATER (procrastination!)~

Email reproduced below--------

This is NOT urban legend stuff.

My friend's Dad was stopped today by the police for having his mobile phone next to him. He was NOT even using the mobile at the time. There was a row of traffic cops stopping cars to check.

He was given 6 demerit points on the spot.

Apparently, the mobile phone needs to have the handsfree set attached to the mobile to be ALLOWED next to driver.  If no handsfree set is attached, it will be assumed that there is the POSSIBILITY of driver using the mobile.

So, to avoid trouble, just have your mobile handsfree set attached to mobile while driving. By the way, it did not help that my friend's Dad had 2 other mates in the car. Mobile left on dashboard or space between driver and front passenger will be assumed to belong to driver ! !
 
This did not & still does not make any sense to me, so I went to Singapore Police Force web site to check and found this link.

http://www.spf.gov.sg/about_spf/tp/faq_hpdriving.htm

It is confirmed & there are horrid punishments too. Makes no sense to me but there you have it. So be Very Very Careful.

--------

Irregardless of the absurdity of his claims, let's assume he did it in good faith. s.79. No need to go there. Anyway, checking out the site, I realised that he was making bogus claims.

This was what it said regarding hp driving:

An offence under Sec 65B of the Road Traffic Act is made out as long as there is evidence to show that the motorist was holding onto the handphone with one hand, while using it to communicate. This is regardless of the position in which he was holding onto the handphone and the fact that a hands-free kit was also used is irrelevant. Handphone driving is an inconsiderate and dangerous act that poses a threat to other road-users. The act distracts drivers and reduces their ability to control their vehicles and to react to changes in road situations. This puts other road users at risk. Because of the seriousness of the offence, Traffic Police will continue to step up our enforcement on handphone driving. We advise motorists who wish to use their handphones to have their passenger make or receive the call. If travelling alone, motorists should drive to a carpark before making the call.

NOTE the offence is made out only when he is HOLDING onto the handphone. The actual definition from the Road Traffic Act s.65B defines "use" , in relation to a mobile telephone, means to hold it in one hand while using it to communicate with any person.

Punishable examples: Paging, SMS, Receiving and Making calls. (all of which I'm guilty of by the way...)

Conclusion:

So unless his friend's FATHER was damn bloody fat that when he drives his fats overlap onto his HP beside him and the police mistook that he was hence 'holding' onto the phone, I do not see why he can be said to be 'using' the HP and be given demerit points on the spot. The police are usually careful with this and the easiest thing to do would be to check the HP call times or outgoing/incoming message timings.

Obviously his friend's dad and mates lied to the writer. I need not go into how stupid he had to be not to understand basic english and illustrations even though he obviously had the basic capacity to at least find the TP website. That or the TP just basically hated his friend's dad coz he looked damn kiam pa. Either explanation sounds logical.

Bah.

Case dismissed.

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Insomnia, Japan and China

I went to bed at shortly after 2am in preparation for the Crim! paper. Hoping to wake up at 12 and have 3 hours for revision before meeting up zmel for lunch, I actually managed to fall asleep within 10 mins. Until 2:39:54am. I kenna an SMS and woke up with a shock. Since then, I've been unable to sleep. It's 4:21am now.

What to do. What to do.

Might as well read the online papers via Channelnewsasia.com.

One of the articles which really hit me was the one with the heading of "Majority of Japanese dissatisfied with Chinese demands: poll". I've been pretty pissed at the issue of Japan refusing to own up for their war crimes. If that wasn't enough, they had to hide the truth and glorify the lies, proclaiming how wonderful their emperor was and how little harm the Japanese did in their bid to expand their territory. Little harm. Pfft. All along I've wanted to release some steam regarding this issue, but well. No time really. Except now. Perhaps it's time to share my tiny views on this whole issue. To be frank, I was pretty happy that the Chinese reacted in this way. Though it kinda reminded me of terrorism and like how these acts were done in furtherance of making Japan own up, if no killings were involved, by all means. It's time Japan started evaluating their past instead of distorting and burying it. If it takes acts of terrorism to probe them into action, I guess it is for the greater good and this matter truely should be settle before Japan joins the UN. Then again, what do I know? :/

It comes as no surprise that very little Japanese actually know what went out during the occupation of various territories by Japan in WW2. History textbooks have downplayed it so much that the recent edition which provoked Chinese (and Korean) outrage were that they even omitted the numbers killed to the extent of 'many Chinese were killed'. Or something to that extent. The younger generation in Japan have no idea about their gory past and perhaps certain institutes even glorified and advocated it, blaming their failure on the intervention of a foreign bully; aka America.

In this case, it saddens me that in a survey of 808 people conducted by the influential Asahi Shimbun newspaper on Sunday, 71 percent said they "did not understand" the Chinese demand for action. Mayhaps more education is in order for the Japanese? Should the people in this case not question why the majority are pressing them on this issue and start asking themselves the essential question: Did we fuck up somewhere along the line and somebody's not telling us?

In my long post regarding Shanghai, I mentioned my visit to the Nanjing Massacre Site and had the opportunity of taking shots of the memorial there. It was pretty depressing and I guess that's where the anti-Japanese sentiments (regardin war crimes only, I still love their anime) were brought up after they subsided with the end of my History lessons in Secondary 2. With the improvement of my picture blogging skills, plus my inability to sleep, here's a peek some of the photos I sneakily sneakily took (not supposed to take actually...) whilst visiting the memorial and mass graves...

IMG_6532
As one can see, the period of the occupation is engraved/inscribed on this cross which stands tall at the entrance of the memorial. It was really kinda silly and touristy to take pictures at a memorial, but well... I'll probably only be there once. So...

IMG_6548
The day we were there, it was quite near to the anniversary day, hence there were quite alot of schools having their school outing and all... part of their moral education on making sure their young know about the country's past and all I suppose. Every single group was required to have a 5 minute memorial / moment of silence ceremony before proceeding to visit the mass graves. This was but one of the many groups present that day.

IMG_6549
Proceeding up the steps into the memorial proper, we were greeted with this inscription on the wall. A stark reminder of the amount of people killed during the occupation. I am so damn lucky to be born after the war. Though the number might have been exaggerated by 100,000; it's still pretty sad knowing at least 200,000 had died and many more suffered during the war.

IMG_6568
The first burial chamber was a little room virtually surrounded by bones. It was sort of like a glass enclosure like at the underwater world or the zoo, but the ceiling was covered and all the walls were filled with human remains stacked up and packed nice and tight on top of one another. I wouldn't say 'nice' exactly, but you can see that they were pretty cramped up:

IMG_6569
See da human skull in the middle? Might be a little small. But well, this is but 1/5 of a side of the enclosure. It was awfully quiet in there and it's really nice that even the loud and obnoxious chinese were all shush when greeted with this sad sight. Silence as a form of respect. Somebody should tell that to the Mini FongSeng Kids. Anyway... moving on...

IMG_6574
We next visited the 10,000 people mass grave. Direct translation, please bear with me. Obviously this was a bigger mass grave than the previous one visited. The previous one was more like a 'pit' compared to this. The chinese government excavated the remains of this 10,000 people mass grave by uncovering it layer by layer, macham like excavating the ruins of dinosaur fossils. They left the bodies intact and one can pretty much see incisions on bodies, missing limbs, cracked jaws (s.377) and various other atrocities like a child skeleton with his head on his tummy/between his legs. I'll point it out as we go along... it's not gory coz it's only skeletons left, so shouldn't be a problem ya?

IMG_6576
This lil one has its legs cut off. They didn't bury the legs together though. I think if I recall correctly, this was supposed to be a female skeleton and her jaw was forced open for s.377 purposes. Hence the gaping condition of the jaw. Can see? Not that obvious from the size I guess. But there were writings available on the injuries of all the skeletons there...

IMG_6577
This is like an overview of part of the grave. See the number tags beside each body? That corresponds to the writings I mentioned earlier. Yellow tags indicate a child skeleton. There were many. Too many of them to count.

IMG_6578
There are a few yellow tags in this picture. Also from the picture, you can see skeletons with multiple incisions. Missing limbs, hands, feet. Some have fractured skulls, crushed ribcages and missing heads. I wonder where all those went...

IMG_6579
Moving out of the mass grave, we chanced upon some of these... shrine-like things. I can't remember what they're called. Sheesh. Apparently an old lady from Japan visited the site and was so filled with guilt that she made this (employed people to make ok?) and sent it over as atonement. We need more people like her. There was also one from Singapore I recall. But I didn't take a picture of it. Not as significant as this one.

IMG_6580
Stepping out of the sombre place, we were gonna leave the memorial and well, this was like screaming at us from the parade square of the memorial so I had to take a picture of it before we left. Direct and bad translation: Don't forget the past, it becomes the guide to the future, use history as a foundation, to build the future. It sounds SO bad. Hopefully some A'level higher chinese person can correct me. I'm like distorting it. Hur hur hur.

Basically that was my trip which enlightened me to the full extent of WW2. Our sec 2 history text wasn't nearly enough and seeing it for myself really touched me. I'm happy now that things seem to be progressing well for Japan - China relations. Though Japan's apology at Jarkata (was it Jarkata?) didn't seem to please everyone as it was like quite ambiguous and didn't really sound very sincere, but it's a start. Hopefully through arbitration, both sides can work something out and we'll probably never need to face something like this again.

So ends the silly long post on Insomnia, Japan and China. It's 5:31am and I still can't get to sleep.

Dammit.

Monday, April 25, 2005

I am happy that I did not digress from Crim!

(This post will be a photo blog because of time constraints...)

It's been a long time since an update. The reason is Crim! It is in furtherance of this reason that I am happy because I have not touched the giant stack of comic books on my table. Yes. I studied with this beside me for the past week and I never even opened one to flip or read:

Stack

Not bad eh. Self-control is THERE. Instead of heading for temptation island, I dived into this other 'stack' of books...

PICT0476

FPCL, Mod 1, 2, 3, 4, Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code. Part of my essential everyday breakfast/readings (and yours!) for the last 7 days. D-Day is in less than 24hrs. Sobz.

Obviously I'll get stressed and need to divert attention from my Crim! So what do I do? I do this:

PICT0477

This lil bugger provided me with 10 mins of entertainment for all my breaks. Good stress reliever. This too:

PICT0478

Can see I'm damn boliao hur. But well. Episode III coming.. hype hype.

Next two pictures are like.. supposed to be posts. But I never got around to doing them coz 1) outdated and 2) no time. First things first...

Serena

This is a picture taken off the TV set in my hall. It's my friend cameoing in Police and Thief II, of which I had a part too. But on the day of shooting this scene, my model wasn't there, so they cut me out for the final scene (above).. But my other bits were left in for ther rest of the 20 mins... Pffffft. Anyway, it's from damn long ago, and it's lucky nobody caught it. Heh. In fact I forgot which day it was showing and my friend only called me near 5 mins towards the end of the show to notify me that the episode was showing. Ah well. No harm done. I looked hideous as usual anyway.

Finally... i'm sure everybody remembers this:

Cuiwen

Yes. The infamous NUS engineering proposal shit. It was discussed to death. So much that it would seem redundant blogging about it. But just for those that didn't get to see the GOD-AWFUL picture the guy drew, it's here in all horrendous glory. No wonder the girl rejected him. Drawing like shit. Embarrassing ley... ah well. Some people bashed the girl on her blog saying how bad it was for her. My defence for her is that if you inherently don't even know the person, how the hell do you expect to 'go' with him just like that? This proposal nonsense is such a turn off that I'm surprised she didn't storm off outright...

Ah well. There we have it. Lazy photo blog. Till after Crim.

Crim!

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Moscow Court Rejects 'Family Guy' Lawsuit

Monday, 04-Apr-2005 6:00AM
MOSCOW, April 4 (UPI) -- A Moscow court has rejected a lawsuit brought against a television station for broadcasting the American animated series "Family Guy" and "The Simpsons."

The plaintiff, Igor Smykov, filed the suit against television station RenTV almost three years ago, claiming the two series were morally degenerate and promoted drugs, violence and homosexuality, The Moscow Times reported Monday.

Smykov asked for compensation of $10,770 and demanded that the station be banned from airing the two programs or at least be required to show them later in the evening.

The plaintiff said that his son Konstantin, who was 6 in 2002, approached his parents after watching an episode of "Family Guy" and asked them what cocaine was. After he was reprimanded, Konstantin called his mother a toad, Smykov said.

The suit alleged that RenTV, by broadcasting the two programs, was interfering with a child's right to a normal, healthy childhood.

Judge Lyubov Dednyova, after watching videos of the two series in court, ruled Friday in favor of the television station.

RenTV lawyer Viktor Zinovyev said afterward: "Parents above all should decide what a child watches. The government cannot decide that for parents."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Well. Lucky for him, he didn't get any worse stuff coming outta his son. In the actual show, the offensive language and references often outnumber the clean dialogue. Here's a few to letcha know just HOW offensive it is. (Bloody funny too!)

Chris: Dad, what's the blow-hole for?
Peter: I'll tell you what it's not for, son. And when I do, you'll understand why I can never go back to Sea World.

Auctioner: Our first item is a pair of panties confiscated from a prostitute.
Quagmire: Fifty bucks.
Auctioner: She had nine STDs.
Quagmire: Forty-five bucks.
Auctioner: And when we caught her she wet herself.
Quagmire: Fifty bucks.

Tom Tucker: Because of an accident today at the Quahog cable company, all television transmission will be out for an undetermined amount of time. Of course, no one can see this news program, so it doesn't really matter what we say. I'm the lord Jesus Christ. I think I'll go get drunk and beat up some midgets, how about you, Diane?
Diane Simmons: Well, Tom, I just plain don't like black people.

Gun advocate: Guns don't kill people, dangerous minorities do.

Peter: Gays don't vommit. They're a very clean people. And they have been ever since they came to this country from France.

You get the drift.

I believe the judge became a fan after watching 2 series in the court. Who wouldn't?! Heh.

Crim!

Ho Yean Theng Jill v PP

Read from the a/m case: [2004] 1 SLR 254 by Yong Pung How CJ!

"..Hence, I saw no relevance whatsoever in counsel’s continued reference to passages from speeches in Parliament by Associate Professor Chin Tet Yung and Mr Simon Tay. However worthy these two members of Parliament might be, counsel seemed totally unaware that their views could not be regarded as legal authorities to be cited in court."

CHIN TET YUNG - The illegality lecturer whom made no sense and made me give up on illegality.
SIMON TAY - The law faculty lecturer whom stopped to pick up the rape victim from PP v Victor Rajoo [1995] 3 SLR 417.

Crim!

List of roads where Police Speed Laser Camera may be deployed

Think this might help the speedsters... was browsing www.spf.gov.sg for seizable offences when I just couldn't resist clicking on this...

Information updated as at 13 April 2005
 
1 ADAM RD
2 ALEXANDRA RD
3 BT PANJANG RD (Not to be mistaken for Pasir Panjang)
4 LOYANG AVENUE
5 AYE (Quite generic hur. AYE quite long ley!)
6 BKE (Not my problem...)
7 BOON LAY WAY
8 BUANGKOK GREEN
9 BUKIT BATOK RD
10 CHANGI COAST RD (I think this is near the SIA there behind the airport?)
11 CTE (Ugh!)
12 ECP (Ugh! Ugh!)
13 BEDOK RESERVOIR RD (Lucky not Bedok South)
14 PUNGGOL CENTRAL (Take picture of mosquitos?)
15 HOUGANG AVE 3 (No Man's Land)
16 INTERNATIONAL RD
17 JALAN BAHAR
18 JLN BOON LAY
19 JURONG TOWN HALL RD
20 KALLANG RD (Since Nicoll Highway reopened, no real reason to use this road)
21 KIM SENG RD
22 KJE (wth?)
23 LENTOR AVE
24 LORNIE RD
25 MANDAI RD (Catch the cheetah running!)
26 MARINE PARADE RD (Sigh)
27 ORCHARD BOULEVARD (How to speed in Orchard?)
28 UPP CHANGI ROAD EAST
29 PIE (Yum)
30 SCOTTS RD (Catch the clubbin drunk drivers!)
31 SEMBAWANG DR
32 SEMBAWANG RD
33 SENGKANG EAST RD (Just so this new town won't feel left out)
34 SLE (TPE SLE?)
35 TAMPINES AVE 1 (Wah. Must be careful)
36 TAMPINES AVE 7
37 TANAH MERAH COAST RD
38 TANJONG RHU RD (Dunman High is there! Hur hur!)
39 TELOK BLANGAH RD
40 TPE (SLE?)
41 TUAS WEST RD
42 UPP BUKIT TIMAH RD (The Prata Shop!)
43 WOODLAND AVE 2
44 WEST COAST HIGHWAY
45 WOODLANDS AVE 12
46 WOODLANDS RD (Speed back to JB~)
47 YIO CHU KANG RD
48 YISHUN AVE 4
49 YISHUN AVE 6
50 YUAN CHING RD (Another wth??!)

Don't speed arh. Don't get caught arh.

Crim!

Coldplay Talk

From BDARULES.com: Fresh on the server is a studio recording of Talk, which is going to be on Coldplay's new album, "X&Y", due out in June. This version might not be the final album version, but it's damn good, and gives at least a little taste of the new album.

Coldplay - Talk - Leaked Mix

Open the link above in a new window. Finish loading the entire song, then return to this window and right click 'save target file as'...

Crim!

Family Guy - Stewie

How many talking babies do you know bent on world domination and matricide? I'd rather only know one, Stewie Griffin. From week to week he's always trying to kill Lois, fighting with Brian, and deal with his homosexuality (uh...). Thanks to an eastblu Stewie wallpaper from Neowin.net forums, I managed to refine the earpieces to come up with this decent looking baby:

Stewie2

I even managed to get two people to use it...

Stew

Do show your support for the iPod and Stewie with this custom avatar:

Stewie iPod

To find out more (or hear for yourself) about Stewie, visit this nice site.

Victory will be mine! (Crim!)

Monday, April 18, 2005

Price Yikes

Introduction:
GV, Shaw and Eng Wah cinemas recently announced that there would be a price hike in movie prices (again) on May 1st 2005.

History:
From 4 Feb 2000, cinema-goers pay S$5 for all shows on Mondays to Wednesdays and day shows on Thursdays, instead of S$7. They will have to pay S$6 to watch a movie after 5 pm on Thursdays. Tickets will cost S$6 before 5 pm, and S$8 after 5 pm on Fridays and the eve of public holidays. Saturday, Sunday and public holiday movie prices will be a flat S$8 for all shows.

From June/ July 2001 ( I can't find the date), you need to pay 50 cents more for a cinema ticket. The Cinematograph Film Exhibitors Association, which has as its members Shaw Organisation, Golden Village and Eng Wah Organisation, announced the price hike on Monday 21 May 2001. Cathay Organisation, though not a member, will follow suit.

Now:
On May 1st 2005, three cinema operators would raise ticket prices. April 1st, a report in The Straits Times says that such a move would be illegal under the new guidelines to the Competition Act that takes effect next year.

The move by three cinema operators to raise ticket prices in unison is one that could be deemed illegal under a tough new law that takes effect next year. The cinemas’ move could be construed as price-fixing, which the new law frowns upon, said the Competition Commission in response to queries from The Straits Times. This practice is defined by the Competition Act as an agreement which “directly or indirectly fixes purchase or selling prices, or any other trading conditions”...

The nub of the problem is that three cinema operators...agreed to raise prices together. The three, which form the Cinematograph Film Exhibitors Association (CEFA), announced on Monday that they will raise weekday prices of tickets by 50 cents and weekend prices by $1 from next month. It said the hike was to cover the increase in GST and higher utility costs. The three account for 80 per cent of total box office sales here.

The new law takes effect on Jan 1, so the cinema operators’ move is not illegal — yet. But the [Competition Commission] urged the CFEA to “ensure that it complies with the provisions on anti-competitive practices and agreements when they come into force”.

Comments:
As can be seen from the $1 increase on the SIFF booking fee, $1 is enough to outrage film lovers. I believe there have been enough discussions on other blogs/online forums to give one a rough idea of how detrimental this would be to the cinema industry in Singapore. However, I for one believe that it wouldn't. People will still watch movies on the big screen. We'll still suck up and pay and life will go on. The big 3 whom take up 80% of cinema earnings in Singapore will be laughing all the way to the bank. The only interesting thing right now for us to wait and observe, would be for Cathy Organisation to STICK to their cinema prices or even REDUCE cinema prices and town movie-goers will flock to Cineleisure. Ideal location, 24hr movies on weekends, lower prices... what's not to beat? They just have to play their cards right...

Then again. They might not see it that way. Haiz.

Thanks:
Singapore Commentator

More on the Act:
Competition Act 2004

I have nothing against Indians

I do however have a thing against people in the most generic sense, making an obscene amount of noise late at night around my block. It does not help that people like to congregate at my neighbour's room or stay over and make so much noise that I end up waking up from my perfectly lovely sleep. Don't these people roaming around in the blackness of the night have any decent manners?

I do not like to be woken up by noise. I do not mind waking up to the fire alarm bell if there was a real fire. But definately not to unwarranted noise. Nor fire drills. (Luckily my room next semester no longer faces the dining hall...)

Therefore, I humbly submit in advance that the next time I am disturbed as such, I will spare no profanity and will not hesitate to lodge a complain against them to the Rf.

Oh yes Public Nuisance, I've got a hold on you.

Was there ever a doubt?



Full story here


Since the very first day the idea was mooted and the proposals requested for review, there was no doubt that Singapore WAS going to have a casino. When has the government ever announced something without confirmation? Frankly, I'm surprised why they didn't build the bloody casinos earlier. It'll probably have ease retrenchment rates and boosted economy from all the tax collected should the casinos have been set up 10 years prior. Seriously, casino/gambling tax is even better than cigarette and alcohol tax. Though there have been so many anti-smoking campaigns and the recent onslaught of disgusting pictures on the smoke packets, one might have thought that the government would have (in order to increase efficiency) to ban smoking outright instead of keep raising the tax and making the poor smokers in singapore pay so much for a decent pack of smokes. A talk with a taxi driver a year ago revealed that the amount of tax income from importing cigarettes and alcohol was insanely ludicrous. I'm pretty sure that casino/gambling tax would be so much better. Logically la.

Here's hoping that the new casinos would bring about less GST increase, more gov rebates, and generally less unemployment in Singapore. A word to the gambling addicts: At least you won't be wasting money in Genting and contributing to the Malaysian economy. Contribute to Singapore instead. Hiak hiak.

Crim!

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

Function of an Alarm Clock

Everyobody knows what I mean by the function of an alarm clock ya? It means what the alarm clock is primarily used for. The very reason you bought the clock for. The essence of the alarm clock. Nope. Prima facie it seems to be for telling the time. But that is not the primary reason why one buys an alarm clock. One buys an alarm clock for the ALARM function. To enable it to wake one up when need be. Primary function: alarm. Secondary function: tell time. Right now, my wall clock says 5:17am.

What am I doing up at this godforsaken hour you might ask. Don't we have Legal Theory later at 12 noon? The answer is yes. And the reason I'm up, isn't because of Legal Theory. It's because somebody in E Block does not understand how to use an alarm clock. He (Feminist theory! Generic 'He') bought the alarm clock NOT to wake himself up. Nor to tell the time. But rather to irritate the fuck out of his neighbours. It's not the first time this bloody lunatic has successfully roused (not aroused you sick people) me from my deep slumber and into a state of frustration. For the past week, I can count 4 occassions. I have no need to go into detail for the past instances. We shall concentrate at the current matter at hand. It is now 5:20am and the fucking noisy alarm is still ringing. I have a few questions for this individual. Does he really intend to get up at 5am to study? Who the hell gets up at 5am to study?! 2) If he knows he's a heavy sleeper (as evidence by his previous inability to wake up the 4 occassions prior to today), why doesn't he set up some other form of alarm system whereby maybe his laptop gives him a hefty electric shock? I heard it's quite relaxing. Point: Get rid of the bloody alarm. 3) Why the hell can't you wake up despite the noisy ringing? This isn't the usual beep beep alarms. It's the fucking noisy bell type. At least mine's a hp alarm. I see no requirement to wake my neighbours or alert them as to when I wake up. 4) If I find out which room he's in, he'll be in a shitload of trouble. Somebody gonna get a hurt real bad...

Ah wait. You hear that? No I suppose you don't. It's the sound of silence. Lovely blissful silence.

Oh joy.

Monday, April 11, 2005

Piracy - ROTS Soundtrack

Apparently the site link got closed down. Junren and Jackson both managed to download the entire album last night before it was gone... If anybody wants, they can ask the two of em to thumb it to them. Standard STARWARS stuff. :)

Happy Legal Theorying...

EPISODE III SOUNDTRACK REPORT: REVENGE OF THE SITH

The Revenge of the Sith Soundtrack enters new territory. It's a very operatic piece, more similar to THE PHANTOM MENACE than ATTACK OF THE CLONES. Themes from the other five episodes are interwoven together to create the demise of Anakin Skywalker.

The battle scenes are adventurous with percussion beats that are very 'congo' sounding in their nature. There is also more choral work in this recording than any other episode. If I could break the main score up into smaller sections, it would be; Force Theme, Battle of the Heroes and Padme's tender motifs.

It does suffer from some repetition but that is about the only bad thing I can think of.

01 - Star Wars and The Revenge Of The Sith 7:31

The normal opening crawl is short-lived, unlike other episodes. Whereas normally the scroll fades into infinity, the last part is cut off by a very adventurous yet dangerous motif – the space battle over Coruscant. After this brief motif, we are first introduced into the one of the most constant Themes on the soundtrack - The Force Theme (which is under-scored with a militaristic beat similar to the Droid Invasion Theme from EPISODE I) which continues for quite a while; no doubt following a long camera shot into battle. The rest of the track continues in this fashion.

02 - Anakin's Dream 4:46

A beautiful Viola solo accompanied by a harp opens Anakin’s Dream. Across the Stars soon can be heard underneath the solo before the darker string section hits, and uncertainity arises, only to once again fall into the Love Theme. After more dark cues, the Force Theme echoes things to come.

03 - Battle Of The Heroes 3:42

The new major Theme for Star Wars. The theme consists of a busy bass line with choral pieces intertwined.

04 - Anakin's Betrayal 4:04

Sections of the Love Theme again can be heard with strings and horns interwoven.

05 - General Grievous 4:07

A 'congo' sounding piece that no doubt will sound fantastic on screen.

06 - Palpatine's Teachings 5:25

This track reminds one of the soundtrack of the Dark Crystal. A deep male voice 'chants' with a metallic sound over the top. It then moves into the Love Theme which flows into Vader's Theme. Followed is a variation on the Force Theme - kinda interesting. After some more dark music, a brilliant Arrival at Coruscant theme from EPISODE I ends the piece.

07 - Grievous and the Droids 3:28

Standard fight music here. Very much reminiscent of the EPISODE I 'Droid Invasion' piece.

08 - Padme's Ruminations 3:17

Deadly eerie. It doesn't sound like it should be in Star Wars. A long note held on a double bass glides as Amazonian-like flutes and a synthesised female's solo flows over top. This is just very eerie.

It is soon followed by a movement in the lower strings section that reminds one of Palpatine's Chambers in RETURN OF THE JEDI. Horns pulse every now and then.

09 - Anakin vs. Obi-Wan 3:57

Battle of the Heroes starts off this piece before we quickly get into Vader's Theme. Back to Battle of the Heroes; first solo, then the string section picks it up. There is then another familiar theme (the one which was played during the teaser trailer as Vader rises). We then have a busy string section before more Vader's Theme - followed again by that 'familiar' theme. Enter the Chorus and another section of Battle of Heroes that crescendos into strings and soon the Force Theme with a pumping base raises its head, followed again by Battle of the Heroes.

10 - Anakin's Dark Deeds 4:05

Begins quietly then leads to a wall of chorus (very Lords of the Rings-ish). After a 'fight' like music, it enters on a really soft section that echoes the way Padme is represented in this score. The ending is so sad to the track before before brass finishes it off.

11 - Enter Lord Vader 4:14

A soft introduction is soon met with variations of the Battle of the Heroes Theme. There is a small part of this that reminds of the music from the Rebels in the Original Trilogy. A miliatristic section soon ends with Vader's Theme and another playing of the Force Theme which is followed by the Emperor's Theme.

12 - The Immolation Scene 2:42

A dark and omnious piece.

13 - Grievous Speaks to Lord Sidious 2:49

Most have heard this on Starwars.com. The end of this piece is a variation on the Love Theme which is dark.

14 - The Birth Of The Twins and Padme's Destiny 3:37

A lilting bass line from Across the Stars is over-scored by a harp and glockenspiel. It is then followed by a majestic version of Qui-Gon's Funeral Theme (which may have just become the Naboo Funeral Theme) and is played about three times in total.

15 - A New Hope and End Credits 13:06

This is the longest piece of music on the soundtrack. A beautiful segue into Leia's Theme is followed by the Force Theme. The Force Theme is repeated and grows (but don't expect a big finale) before we enter the End Credit sequence.

Leia's Theme follows the standard Star Wars End Credit Theme. Battle of the Heroes takes off where Leia's Theme finishes. The Throne Room Theme then hits in at the end of BotH. The middle section of the The Throne Room is extremely legato compared to the ending in A NEW HOPE. After this part is finished its back into the main section.

It sounds like it is about to finish as in A NEW HOPE when it suddenly enters a really delicate version of the Force Theme. The Theme then shifts up and plays again before entering the Throne Room Theme once more. This plays out until the finale Star Wars Theme.

For being so nice and actually reading through all that crap: Download the entire soundtrack here

Posted: Feb 4 2005, 02:02 PM
sgcollect.com.sg
noname

Thursday, April 07, 2005

E Block Residents v. Flying Insects [2005] 4 KRH 02

HEADNOTES
Whilst many of you people were dancing to the beat of mambo last night at zouk, I was in my little 2nd floor room in KR defending my territory against swarms of invading insects. Unfortunately I was too tired and it frankly didn't cross my mind to take a picture of the actual attack and the carnage last night (as evident from the tons of insect bodies littering the corridoor). I did manage to take a few pictures this morning (left only the wings) and even managed to off a few surviviors from last night's mating genocide.

FACTS:
Twas the night of the mating season and these pesky insects that resembled 1/2 sized dragonflies at first glance attacked the E Block in a vicious swarm with mating orgasmic precision (it looks that way, but they were really just following one another):

Mating

I was first alerted to the attack by means of the screams of girls passing by our corridoor. Dismissing it as some silly girly game that was being played, I resumed my work. Amazingly none entered my room. Yet. Suddenly an MSN message popped up from a neighbour, alerting me to something disgusting and in his words, 'fucking sick' going on in the corridoor. Looking out, I realised that the corridoor was full of those sick dragon fly-y insects. Looked like a scene straight out of THE FLY:

Swarm

Slamming the door shut, I thought the worst was over. However, turning around, I found one with its wings intact, flapping on MY PILLOW. Feeling generous (Thou shalt not kill), I picked it up by its wings and deposited it outside the window. Turning back again, there were 3 more flapping on my bed and 2 more near my towel and bags. That's it. THIS MEANS WAR.

JUDGMENT:
Utilizing what little resources I had, I did the easiest thing I could think of. Take A4 size scrap paper, and dump my Contract Law textbook over it and clean it up in the morning. However, even the likes of McKendrick, Phang nor Beagle could stop the onslaught of the bloody insects. I had to resort to my Torts textbooks. And even my NUS Mug. To no avail. Didn't use Crim coz I was actually using it. With over 10 textbooks all over the floor and no end in sight, I thought of Plan B. Messier, but at least I won't be leaving my books all over the floor. Using the paper direct to pick up the bloody insects and CRUSH them, I managed to get around 20 balls of paper on my first try last night. Thankfully, the wave stopped and there was no second wave. Whew. Went out the corridoor to dispose of the bodies and saw my other fellow residents in the mist of disposing of bodies too. Some used the live ones still flying around for tennis practice (with a broom) whilst others just enjoyed a healthy game of STOMP THE BLOODY INSECTS leaving footprints and dead insects squashed in the centre all over the corridoor. Slept the entire night with the windows closed. Ugh.

AFTERNOTE:
Woke up this morning and a survivor crawled out from under my bed:

Survivor

Kinda blur picture, but it got me boiling again. I systematically whipped out a piece of paper (after taking this picture) and CRUSHED him:

Crushed

Hunting and prowling my room, I managed to find 2 more survivors STILL in the midst of mating. Stuck to each other. But because they were nearing my cupboard, I had to kill them. Quickly. Split them apart and used one paper for each. This resulted in 3 balls:

Balls

Finally, I went around the corridoor with my camera and managed to take a picture of a bunch of wings. This scene is duplicated almost entirely over our entire corridoor. So you can guess how bad it was last night:

Wings

All in all, the war was finally over and the E Block Residents were victorious. Hoo-ray. Now I gotta sprint for lecture @ 12. only 10 mins left!

Wednesday, April 06, 2005

E Block's cutest baby!

This was her when she was a few weeks old. Taken when I was mugging for contract in the KR dining hall. Semester 1:

Small Baby

This is an updated of her today at the block supper:

Baby

Cuter? Yes? No? Maybe?

Monday, April 04, 2005

Mazda RX-8

Although Xiaohui got her Mazda RX-8 quite a few months back, I only managed to get mine 2 days ago and finally opened it for display yesterday night. She had spent $55-60 on her Mazda display model (which was quite small) and I paid only $40 for my much better one... Heh. It can transform! :) Here's a nice picture of it:

Close

Observe below that the car doors can open just like any other car model.

Open

Looks very realistic and sleek right.. Wahoo. Best of all...

Robot

It can transform!

Robots

Compared to my Subaru WRX, the Mazda does look so much better... Overall, $40 for a transformable model display car is so worth it. Now if only I can get more money to buy the red version...

Display Overhaul

Managed to spend 2 hours changing my hall room display into something from the upcoming Starwars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith...

Starwars ROTS

It could have been better if I had remembered to buy black construction paper. Sigh.

Sunday, April 03, 2005

Hundreds of Star Wars fans snap up collectibles at midnight sale



Picture 1

Hundreds of eager shoppers turned up at United Square just before midnight to get their hands on the new batch of movie collectibles from the latest Star Wars movie.

And some fans were rewarded for their patience after standing in line for more than 10 hours.

Picture 2

The action figures are probably the most eagerly anticipated collectibles for any Star Wars fan.

With the soon-to-be released movie, Revenge of the Sith, which is also the last instalment of the Star Wars saga, it is easy to understand why these are so sought after.

And fans started queueing at 2 pm on Friday, just to be the first to get their hands on them.

Picture 3

One fan Derrick Yeoh said, "It's the last episode of the saga, it's like a conclusion, there won't be any more Star Wars, there won't be any more midnight sale, there won't be any more fans queuing for the shows...the toys, so I'm very excited to be here."

Picture 4

An unexpected surprise was in store, when the evil Dark Lord himself showed up for the midnight sale.

Of course Imperial Guards and Storm Troopers were also present to keep things in order, just in case the fans got a little rowdy.

But most were just delighted to get a few pictures taken with the evil-doers.

Reno Tan, "Darth Vader", said, "We are all Star Wars fans and I'm a toy collector myself, so I thought we'd liven up the atmosphere to make it interesting."

Star Wars fan Shree said, "It's a bygone era, reminds you of your childhood, when times were easier, now you talk about work, stress... but you talk about Star Wars, you talk about your childhood. That's what gets me."

Another fan Jayes Bala said, "To look out for stuff about Darth Vader....My husband is a collector, so came around to see what goodies they have to collect."

As the clock struck midnight, the sale heated up.

Picture 5

It did not take long before most of the action figures were snapped up.

One collector, Jali Mohd Razali, said, "It's crazy man! Still my heart is pumping! I don't know if there's anything left or not! I think it's all gone already!"

Another collector, Danny Quek, said, "For me I'm more of a vehicle collector, so it's was quite easy to get my stuff, I was the second person to pay anyway."

It is estimated that more than 200 hundred people showed up for the sale, and that kept the cash registers ringing for nearly two hours.

Just how much did the fans end up spending?

Well, the organiser of the midnight sale said that revenue for the night was at least S$25,000.

Picture 6

Posted: Apr 2 2005, 10:47 PM
bobafett81
MediaCorp News Reporter
sgcollect.com

Saturday, April 02, 2005

Revenge of the Sith Launch

Header

If you've been living under a rock for the last month, here's what happened this morning (Saturday, April 2nd).

Saturday, April 2nd, 2005, is the official release date for 'Revenge of the Sith' merchandise, which includes books, comics, toys, groceries, and a million more things you didn't think it was possible could be Star Wars-ized.

316 branches of Toys R Us in the US, 11 branches of Toys R Us in the UK, and 24hr Wal-Marts will be opening at midnight on April 1st with exclusive offers and events. For Singapore, there was an exclusive Episode III Product launch at TRU United Square Atrium which me and a few other guys attended.

It's not just the toys. M&Ms did a tie-in too and came up with this uber cute packaging that came with a free sun-screen. Picked it up at the Shell station along Pasir Panjang Road after a hefty lunch:



About the event proper, we only headed down at 11pm. It was supposed to start at 12, but we figured, 'Hey, I'm sure there ain't so many star wars geeks in Singapore that have the time and money to go all the way to Thomson right?' Boy were we wrong... By the time we got there, we were already out of the top 50. In fact, we were out of the top 200. Haha. There was already a Channelnewsasia crew there interviewing people and lots of the media people taking pictures. Here's a brief outline of went on last night/this morning:

Picture 6

It was quite crazy. 15 minutes to 12 and the entire line snaked around the floor of the atrium. There were stormtroopers. Royal guards and 4 mat Darth Vaders. Ugh. The Vaders were gross la. They were like holding onto Yoda, Count Dooku and some other Lightsabers OTHER then their own traditional red ones. Pffft. Apparently TRU Singapore treated this launch as a 'testing' market thingy. Meaning if response was good, they'll bring in the line. If not, they'll drop it. Coz SW:ATOC apparently flooded the shelves and didn't move. So if they decided not to bring in anymore ROTS figures, tonight would be the only night to get them. Apparently collectors still loved the figures the best. Once the 'opening ceremoney' was over at the stroke of midnight, fans mobbed the figure pegs. Unfortunately I didn't bring a camera. But watch Channelnewsasia long enough, you'll probably see some part of it. Kinda like the time I went to the Oscar Movie Marathon and was mobbed by the same crew. Ugh. These were the figures people were killing each other for.

Picture 7

I made a horrible mistake of squatting down to reach the figures on the lower pegs. Coz these guys were queuing up since 1pm in the afternoon. Boy did their feet stink. Eech. Managed to grab a General Grievious, Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker in Dark Jedi get-up. Got a bunch of extra Anakins. Any fans here can get em from me at $17.90 S.R.P. I just need to get my money back. *whine*

Picture 3

Amazingly I don't know why TRU had the bright idea to flood shelves with Lightsabers. When they were unveiling the shelves and pegs, it was pretty sad to see an entire three compartment shelf filled with lightsabers. No collector buys them. They're too expensive for the kids. But well. A completist would get everything. The good thing about this batch of lightsabers is that they can change colors from blue to red. Symbolising Anakin's change from good Jedi Knight to dark Sith Lord. Pretty cool. And expensive.

Picture 4

Another boo boo at the launch were the LEGO starwars and the candy dispensers. Nobody were interested in them. Period. But the Ultimate Villian set (above) flew off the shelves even though it carried a hefty price tag. Similar to the 'Anakin to Vader' 6inch version which sold out in a matter of minutes, this baby was literally gone in 1/2 hour. Very nice though if I had the bucks to spare. But such a toy is better left opened. And I don't bear to open one, nor buy two at a go. So well. Forget it la.

Picture 5

In total, we chalked up a grand $500+ within 1 hour. It was weird. Everybody seemed to be in a buying frenzy even though usually these toys wouldn't sell. I had given up on Star wars collecting since the Freeze Frame versions but I guess it's just the moment kinda thing where everybody was grabbing SOMETHING so I HAD to buy some stuff too. I did get the pretty nice Star Wars UNLEASED figures that had an interlocking base (cost me $40 each, 3 total $120!):



All in all it was a pretty interesting day. I guess after playing around with my 'Anakin change into Vader' 6inch figure, I'm really looking forward to Episode III. Comforting too to note that Starwars still has such a huge fan base in Singapore. Some people literally dragged their entire families out for the event. Saw like at least 2 old ladies. Not to mention like a family of 5 (including 1 grandparent) queuing up early for the exclusive Yoda. Now all that's left is for George Lucas to deliver. This had better not be another Phantom Menace nor Attack of the Clones.



Oh yeah. Check out CNA long enuff and you might see Tenny hefting his giant vehicle boxes and queuing up and paying. The crew seemed to like him alot to the extent of following him around and snapping pictures chronicling his entire payment process. Go figure. Oh. And we got this poster free!



Now if only they had Knights of the old Republic 2 for Mac. My life will then be complete.