Monday, February 27, 2006

xbox

haha; check this>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnpGtHq7Z0U

we play in sch okay? hehh(:

Sunday, February 26, 2006

Class Funds...

Hey peeps...
Collecting class funds this week. $10 per person.
We still owe Mdm Loh money for the econs notes, for those econs ppl who haven't paid up.
$10... for GP notes, Geog notes, XueLi's $3,60 for i dunno what...
and blank CDs for Mr Chia's lecture notes.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

YOUR GRANDMA WANTS YOU TO READ THIS *edited*





-POST DELETED-



this post has been edited on 23rd feb, 19:26:26 hrs after a reputable source mentioned of a possible infringement of the law governing the Republic of Singapore.

(if you have seen it earlier, good for you.)

CHANGE OF NAME : CHANG -----> CHUAng



ADVERTORIAL
www.youtube.com. go search blueflamz























CHUAHOSHING+ANGSHAOQI = CHUAng
SPECIALISTS - MUSICAL KIROIELE AND ARTISTIC MARTICELLAGO (SINGAPORE)

WE HEREBY ANNOUNCE WE HAVE NO RELATIONS WHATSOEVER TO 'CHANG PRODUCTIONS', AS OF 22/02/2006. CHUAng PRODUCTIONS HEREBY DECLARES THAT THE TRADEMARK IS REGISTERED UNDER LEGISLATION OF REPUBLIC OF ETHOPIA. NO PART OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT THE PERMISSION OF 05A06. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 2006

Friday, February 17, 2006

LT adventures, cny aftermath







http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrmHIMTYtgs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYsQg7mLzNI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MATpJk5Sgyc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbwZyISuhGA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06AWg-zBuS8


Wednesday, February 15, 2006

GRAND COPPERTHRONE

LAUGH OUT LOUD

05A06 Valentines' Day...

14th Feb 2006, Tuesday - At Club Warren... drinking vodka, barcadi, gin.

COOL MAN...

Ho Shing and Shao Qi. Ho Shing holding the camera with one hand, Shao Qi chin tilted down, open your big eyes... cool plaster.

Watch Kenneth groove to the music...

Ho Shing drank so much, his hands shook while taking the photo.


Okay, peeps... This is yet another episode of a successful CLASS OUTING. and that's how you guys should spend your valentines day. We could have put up more photos, but our
oh-SO-smart Ho Shing had to delete some of them. HAHA. Happy Valentines' Day!

Joanne's present for Carolyn... exquisitely made by Min Ci, Jasmine, Yu Yan, Jie Ying, Nicole, Jacqueline and Joanne.


Tuesday, February 14, 2006

temporary insanity ((:

*drum rolls *

HU GANG BO LA GANG
HU GANG KIA SENG KANG
HU GANG TAK CHOA CHU KANG
OH TENG KO PIA SI LONG GANG
HU GANG TERNG CHU KIA LONG GANG
GANG GANG GANG GANG
HU GANG BO LA GANG
OI !

Monday, February 13, 2006

BORED!

http://www.youtube.com/w/?v=J-TLpy9hBfU
a motivation to learn English
http://www.youtube.com/?v=GC8m-pR8J9g

Sunday, February 12, 2006

entertainment

http://www.youtube.com/w/meritus-mandrin?v=tcWpG5X1eco
here's something to entertain u people with.

Friday, February 10, 2006

The Past, Present & Future of Magic

‘Magic’ itself is a powerful word. The moment anyone hears of that word, a few different thoughts may come to their minds, thoughts often associated with wizards, witches, shamans, cards, disappearing acts, levitation or even magicians like David Blaine, Chris Angel and David Copperfield. However, there’s more to magic than just the above.
Magic is defined in some dictionaries as an event of impossible occurrence which has no rational explanation. This word can sometimes be overused due to the many different meanings it carries. In some story books or games, magic could mean casting spells. For example, in the story book Harry Potter, it tells a story about a teenage boy wizard. In games like WarCraft and Diabolo 2, magic is something which is used to heal one’s character in the game and to kill enemies. However, back to reality, magic does have a fixed meaning to it. The only difference only depends on how the individual decides to define the word. For example, a person who is easily amazed may define a simple card trick as magical. On the other hand, a person, who is very skeptical, may only considers things like floating and stage disappearance by a magician as magical. As you can see, the way the word is defined, really depends on the individual.
The origin of magic can be traced back centuries ago. The era where kings and queens ruled over a country, they would usually have wise men as advisors. These wise men are those that are said to be able to tell the future by looking at the stars and they are able to perform extraordinary acts to impress their rulers. They were considered magicians of that time. Moreover, if one reads the bible, it was mentioned that the King of Egypt’s wise men managed to change rods into snakes, just as Moses did with God’s power. This shows that magic is not something new and has existed for many centuries.
Magic can be a form of art. It is an art so special, that it makes it worthwhile to look like a fool than to reveal its secrets. This art is mostly used by people we call magicians to trick their audience. This makes the form of art so mystifying as no other person except the magician himself knows the trick and the secret behind his act. However, this is only true in the past when magicians were a rare ‘breed’. The main purpose of performing magic in the past was to show that one is powerful and to gain admiration. Many were afraid of magicians in the past. This is so as many believed in the performances put up by these magicians. In other words, to them it meant that there is nothing impossible that the magician cannot do, since he has already performed the ‘impossible’ in front of them. Thus, the magicians were able to take advantage of the situation and earn money when people went to them to seek help. These magicians were all known differently in different parts of the world. They were also known as, gurus, bomohs, witch doctors, holy monks and wise men.
All different magicians have different ways of presenting themselves. Usually they would portray themselves as a holy person as laymen (non-magicians) would believe that the special ‘powers’ which these ‘holy people’ have, are from God. On the other hand, there are others who even associate themselves with the devil. They would claim that they have sold their souls to the devil and practice black magic. They are simply using it as an excuse to avoid the question of how they have picked up magic.
There are many reasons why people practice magic. Some have very special and unique reasons. One of them is Pastor Kong. He is one of Singapore’s Senior Magician and currently has a yearly performance named “Magic of Love”. He uses God as a reason for his ‘extraordinary’ powers. He claims that at all his performances, God’s presence allows him to do all his acts. Although he is lying, he has a special purpose of doing so. By doing so, he hopes to attract more people into Christianity. In other words, he is using magic as way to recruit more people to his church. On a similar tone, Christians are not the only religion doing such things. Hindus walk on fire, pierce themselves and even walk on glass to show the power of their god’s protection. Buddhists have monks which are able to make objects fly around during an exorcism. One of the more popular forms of power comes from the Tibetan monks. They are able to levitate in the air during their meditation. All these are done to show to people that there is a god helping them do all this. This attracts people to join their religion.
There are even people who practice magic for selfish reasons too. They use their skills of magic to cheat people of their money. Although few people know this, there are a few magicians in India posing as gurus who encourage people to play a simple game of guess with them. The objective of this game is simple. The person can place any amount of bet and all he has to do is to guess where the Ace of Spades out of three available cards is. Firstly, the magician will show them the three cards, the Ace of Spades and two other random cards. A few seconds later, he will turn all three cards face down and start shifting them around. The job of the player is simple. All he has to do is to use his eyes to follow the card and when the magician stops, he has to point out which of the three cards is the Ace of Spades. If he guesses correctly, he gets paid double of what he bets. For the first round, the magician will usually let the player win so that he will place a bigger bet the next round. However, for the subsequent rounds, even though he cards are being shifted around very slowly, the Ace of Spades which the player can easily follow will not be at the position which he saw it being shifted into. Hence, the player will end up losing all his money. Though on the surface, this game seems very fair, it is actually a magic trick called the ‘three card montey’. This trick involves switches and misdirection. Thus, these people are actually con men using the skill of magic.
On a similar note, it is hard to deny that being a magician has its advantages. An example would be when a magician enters a shop and performs some magic, he could be easily given discounts for the things he buy. Being a magician also enables one to socialize easily. He is able to break the ice by simply performing a few tricks that would leave people asking for more. The secret behind this is the ability to amaze people beyond their imagination and leaving them speechless. Some common reactions will include screaming, cursing and even the dropping of jaws. Furthermore, a simple modification of a David Copperfield’s Dumberry Aces would enable a magician to acquire anyone’s handphone number within ten minutes!
The thing which makes magicians different from laymen is the skill of their sleight of hand, misdirection, quickness, angling and precision timing. When a magician performs right in front of a layman, it is a totally different experience for the layman compared to him watching a magic performance on television. The moment a successful trick is executed; all the doubt about camera tricks and hired audience simply vanishes from the mind of the layman.
Unfortunately, there are people who are skeptics and hackers. A skeptic is someone who simply refuses to believe that magic exists and will try all means to guess the way the trick is done. If a magician is able to trick a skeptic, it is most satisfying. The worst type of layman is the hacker. A hacker will use all means to ruin the trick you are performing in order to find out the secret behind the trick. A common reaction by both types is, "I saw that!" or "I know how that was done." Howwever, when asked to perform, they shun away. Magicians only way to deal with hackers is to embarrass them in front of a group of people either by manipulating their mind so that the moment he announces the actual way the trick is done, he is proved to be so wrong because the magician has already changed the method he has done the trick and the outcome which the hacker has expected is totally different. However, this may prove risky and only experienced magicians should attempt it. For beginners, it is understandable that is very discouraging to be put off by hackers; the way for beginners to counter such hackers is to add sarcasm when they try to reveal the trick. This will make them regret that they even opened their mouths to ‘act smart’.
Due to the media, magicians such as David Blaine and Chris Angel have been able to make it big. They are very successful in making people believe in their magic. They are so good that many even go to the extent of believing that they have sold their souls to the devil. Due to the gothic nature of their tricks, they are said to be practicing black magic. A very amusing comment was recently made by a layman. The comment made with confidence goes, “Magic done with cards are only tricks. However, real magic is stuff like disappearing in front of a person, walking through walls and levitating. These real magic can only be achieved after one has practiced black magic for a period of time.” The statement made would have made all magicians around the world laughing out loud. Those laughing would even include the famous David Copperfield. Someone should remind those with this common mindset that the Devil with his black magic is not the only one that has the ability to pull off such stunts. God’s power can do the same too.
The truth is, the term ‘black magic’ originates from dark art. Dark art is a kind of magic performance which uses the colour black as its theme. All the props even the cards, are black. Due to the setting, the performance seems to have an evil aura around it. Hence, someone picked up from there and came up with the term ‘black magic’ and associated it with the Devil. By doing so, it makes magic a whole lot more interesting. Magic has become something so gothic and only black magic is able to cut people into halve or rearrange their body parts.
One should take sometime to ponder. Both David Copperfield and Chris Angel saw themselves into halves. But, why is Chris Angel considered to be the one practicing black magic, while David Copperfield is not? The answer is simple. David Copperfield presents himself with class and elegance during his performances while Chris Angel does not. Chris Angel prefers to present himself in a manner which is much more gothic. Hence, they give audiences a different impression of themselves. Regardless of being gothic or not, both performers are still practicing the art of magic. Conversely, David Blaine is thought to be a psychic when he does mind reading tricks. Once again, this point brings one back to the point on how one would really define magic.
However, it is also a good thing that people believe in such stuff. It is such beliefs that make magicians so respected around the world.
More importantly, it also differentiates a magician from a clown. A clown can also do tricks such as making red balls disappear and other funny antics. But, a magician does tricks with style, class and makes things look mysterious. That’s why presentation is such an important factor in every performance.
Today, flourishes are also part of magic. Flourishes are defined as a fanciful manipulation of objects. These objects can include almost anything. The more common ones are cards, coins, pens and cups. For card flourishes, the moves can be broken down into a few categories. They include cuts, spreads, springs, drops, shuffles, arrays and aerials. However, most of the time, it is a mixture of a few categories to bring out the true beauty of a flourish. Some interesting examples of flourishes are, Sybil, Mary Jane, Electric Eel, King Cobra and Anaconda. Though flourishes such as the chaley have been invented hundreds of years ago, it is only associated under the term flourish today. In the past the chaley is know as the one-handed pass. Flourishes have been condemned in the past as magicians claim that flourishing during a performance would only increase the expectations of the audience for the magician. However, today, flourishes are most welcomed in any performance. It adds style to the magician’s presentation and spices up the trick. Flourishes such as false cuts and sybils may even be part of the trick being performed. Sadly, around the world, there are very few flourishers. Out of all the magicians, only 5% are flourishers. However, there is an increasing trend of magicians picking up flourishing skills today. There's a gang of relatively skilled flourishes groomed locally. Coming from Vietnam, Bone is one skilled flourisher. There are flourish teams in Singapore too, to name a few; they are Virtuoso, Hidden Factor and Pasteboard Elites. Card Flourishes requires a painstaking deal of hardcore practice and sheer determination. One must first understand the executions of the moves, analyze them, and then practice for hours to come. One must then work on their speed, their smoothness, and finally their presentation and showmanship. Not only the speed of the flourisher's hands are concerned, some flourishers do sought after superior quality and rare cards, like Jerry Nuggets and Desert Inns. All in all, card flourishes are similar to dancing or making music as it is a gilded art, but it is far more unique.
These days, the art of magic can easily be mastered by the use of magical gimmicks. The use of these gimmicks not only enables the impossible to be done. It also allows the magician to cut down on hours of hard practice and just simply use the gimmicks instead. This however, will degrade magic as well as lower the standards. Picture this; a skilled magician is able to do a raise-rise, which is a highly difficult sleight of hand, after a few months of practice. Hence, drawing the amazement of laymen and gaining the respect of other magicians. Whereas, a magician wannabe can simply purchase a $200 gimmick called ‘escalator’ and achieve the same effect. The differences are, the latter requires less than ten minutes to master the use of the gimmick and magicians watching can easily tell that a gimmick is used.
Unfortunately, laymen are more amazed with the effects which gimmicks bring about. Laymen tend to have the misperception that those magicians are much better compared to magicians who use pure sleight of hand. In other words, from a laymen’s point of view, gimmicks make magicians who do not use them look lousy. Thus, people who are unable to execute a simple colour change or basic manipulation smoothly, can seem to be good magicians by the extensive use of gimmicks. The owner of Magic Supreme is an example of such a person.
This brings me to my next point. There is an increasing trend of magicians appearing on the streets of Taiwan, as reported in the news a few months ago. The trend has hit Singapore too. On face value it may seem like a good thing, as it shows that there are more and more talented people emerging in Singapore. However, the magicians which have surfaced may not be the type of magician which one perceives a magician to be. Take for example, a person who simply learns a few tricks which David Blaine does and calls himself a magician. It goes the same for flourishers. A person who is able to do the chaley, spin a pen or do the coin roll can also call himself a flourisher. Technically, they are not wrong in calling themselves that. It is true that chaleys, pen spinning and coin rolls are indeed flourishes, though simple. However, if everyone does such this, it will lower the standards of magicians and flourishers. If a ‘magician’ performs some lame card trick and displays a noobish flourish to a laymen, the perception of the word ‘magician’ in the laymen’s mind will be set at a lower level. Thus, when this layman goes elsewhere and hears of another magician, he will be thinking back about the simplicity of magic which was shown to him previously. In other words, if things work out this way, the status of magicians within the country will never be increased. That is precisely the reason why Americans and Australians are more fascinated by magic compared to Singaporeans. Another reason may be due to the scarcity of magicians in their country. The magician to laymen ratio over there is very wide. In other words, they seldom encounter magicians and even if they do, they encounter real skilled magicians. Naturally, their perception of magicians will be better.
I personally feel that Christ Angel has done a great job by setting a high standard and giving viewers the perception that magic is something so amazing. Naturally, magicians who are not that good will try their best to match his standard. Hence, improving the standard of magic. On the other hand, David Blaine does the opposite. Observing the way he performs on television, he uses more gimmicks than skill. Like a natural reflex, magician wannabes will also use gimmicks to perform instead of concentrating on mastering the skills. Furthermore, Blaine does ‘behind the camera preparations’ and sometimes even use hired audiences. A very obvious example is the performance of changing a cup of coffee into a cup filled with coins. He simply used a gimmick called coin casket and seeked the cooperation of the beggar. The result, a large group of screaming and cursing spectators who thinks he practices black magic. It is also very amusing to see spectators trying their best to explain about some psychic powers David Blaine possesses. When magicians watch the performance, assuming they are familiar with the coin casket gimmick, they will be having a few thoughts on their minds. One of which will be, the reason why the beggar could not feel the weight of the coins which were already in the cup and will probably be guessing that David Blaine probably gave the cup of coins to the beggar to keep him quiet and would probably have taken back his coin casket after everyone has left.
Stage performances today have also become a little mundane. The audience is able to predict what is about to happen and the sense of thrill and fear has vanished. For example, a magician being chained in enclosed coffin with a board of huge solid steel nails dangling dangerously overhead and threatening to fall any second. The magician’s assistant sets fire to the rope holding onto the board of nails and the next thing u know, the board of nails comes crashing down into the coffin. A loud shout is heard and the side of the coffin opens up revealing only the metal chains in an empty coffin. For first timers, they would probably gasps at what just happened and were probably at the edge of their seats when the rope was set on fire. For others, they already know the outcome some time in the middle of the act. They know that the magician would most probably escape and appear somewhere else in the end. Everything will turn out fine and the next performance will commence. Everything is just so predictable!
Why not, for once, the coffin opens and the audiences see a mangled body with lots of blood spilling out from the places which the nails have pierced through? The audience will be mislead into thinking that the performance has gone horribly wrong and that will be an end to their show. Instead, the magician will somehow ‘resurrect’ from the dead and show he is all right even though nails have pierced through him. That will be a refreshing change. Even better, the magician ends the show dead. The newspapers the following day will be reporting on how a tragic accident took a magician’s life. A few days later, the magician appears alive and kicking. Now, that would really take the world by storm.
A magician’s role is ultimately to entertain. Though it sounds easy enough, it is a real headache considering the number of factors he has to consider. The factors include, when to perform, what to perform and the method of presentation.
Firstly, a magician should not be performing all the time or when asked to. He should only choose to perform to those considered worthy to be watching his performance. However, he should also grab every chance to perform as it is a form of practice.
In other words, only perform the good stuff to audience who really appreciate the art and are willing to be surprised. For skeptics and doubtful people, a simple and fast lame trick will satisfy them.
Secondly, do not perform long routines like Dealer’s Lesson to children or people who are in a hurry. They will not be able to appreciate or understand the trick as you do not have their full attention and focus on your performance. To put it simply, give them what they want. Most of the time, laymen are more interested in stuff that happen right before their eyes. Things must happen immediately. These are called impromptu magic. It can be done anytime, anywhere and using anything.
Thirdly, choosing presentations are very important. Performing in front of relatives does not require the amount of intensive, mystifying ambience as compared to doing a show. A light hearted and amusing performance will suffix.
Recently, it has come to one’s notice that close-up magic has not appeared in the scene yet as people still associate magic with stage performances. Whenever they hear of a magic performance, they are expecting stuff like appearance of rabbits and doves, chains and cages and sawing people into half. Hopefully, with the upcoming shows like Mondo Magic, more installments of David Blaine and Mind Freak, close-up magic will soon be associated with more frequently and street magicians will be better known.
To end off, the future of magic lies ahead for more people to join the magic fraternity. Hopefully, with more magicians around, it will raise the competition level and standards will be raised too. This will also lead to more creative and unique creations of magic which may include new sleights and techniques. More importantly, a good magician should be able to use both skills and gimmicks effectively. More flourishes are also expected in the future. With more people integrating flourishes into magic performances, there are bound to be better flourish methods and ideas coming up. Lastly, stage performances should be less predictable in the future. This way, audiences will have more to look forward to at every show. In conclusion, magic will forever be progressing and there will be no end to it till the end of time. Magic lives forever.

Sunday, February 05, 2006

Singapore, you have the best blog in the world.


Saturday, February 04, 2006

seoul garden part 2



ok this is the second part. introducing the lampado(plz dun misunderstand this word its meant to be pronounced with professionalism.its pronounced as "lamb-peh-dough") mexicano.our newly invented dish.


erm this is not part of the dish just some stupid smiley face

seoul garden part 1






Friday, February 03, 2006

@ ietl day..

front page of todae's IETL day.geog booth. (:
Ineracive ad Enrichmet Teaching and Learning day- IETL.
craps.
courtesy of : JieYing & Nicole ((:

Thursday, February 02, 2006

GLEN: DEDICATED.



never leave your belongings unattended.
it may just fuel someone's UNSTOPPABLE dream to attain instant superstardom.





the fringe! the fringe!
notice his strategically placed hand, people.
its apparent that our classmate has since developed inferiority-complex.
HAPPY NOW? HA.


and while i'm at that, here's some comic relief:



WHOOPS!




regards,
shing

On friday 3Feb

shopping for new bags at bugis after school. and preferably a chill-out session later on. =) plz inform me asap if you're interested. thanks. ^shanqri.
confirmed:
shanqri
xiu li

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

05Auspicious06

wahAHhas... pple... check this out
http://www.youtube.com/w/hokkien-james-bond?v=MxTKjVlLx2Y&search=hokkien%20bond

FREE INTERNET ACCESS IN LIBRARY!

PJC library rules foreva.
the hits are closing in on the 1000 mark. stay tuned.

we'll have a class reunion dinner/lunch then.

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?