Bliss

No. Not Marital Bliss. That will only come a long time later. I'm talking about my grades finally improving to decent numbers. Let me lay it down
Engish A2-A1
IH A2
MATH A2
SCIENCE A2
IS A1
CHINESE (NOOO) C5-B3
This is clearly going to be the best I have ever done in my life in hwachong and frankly, I'm kind of embarrassed it took nearly two years to get this close. Better late then never. I'm nearly there, nearly below 2 and I still have a chance this term although I have to be ridiculously lucky. But overall I am kind of pleased. It's kind of hard to believe that I came into this term with the extremely real risk of going to 3Q as my grades were not optimal and I completely flunked my independent studies. Ironically this post is to get me more ACE and thus improve my independent studies. But things finally started to go my way although some things (Chinese) never change. This probably sounds completely fake but nevertheless I really am going to do my best and ride on this momentum into the EOY's to get the results I want, need and will get.

We F***ing did it

Hmm. We F***ing did it? I'm obviously talking about Trinetta Chong's speech where she gracefully used the F-word in probably one of her most important speeches so far in her life. For the valedictorian I really doubt that was very bright. I mean, why did you have to use it. It caused unnecessary controversy and was definitely in no way helpful. I mean sure you wanted to motivate the crowd which are generally young. Sure you wanted to sound 'cool'. But the F-word? Really? This issue is so straightforward I frankly have nothing left to write about.

Presidential Elections

Frankly I do not really care about this other than the holiday it provides. This would probably attributed to a few reasons. From what I know the President's main job description is that he has the final say when big projects that will take some money out of Singapore's reserves are proposed. So essentially he is a glorified secretary. But this has almost never happened with the only time being in 2009 when the Government requested to draw 4.9 billion dollars to meet the budge expenditure. Believe it or not IT WAS APPROVED. SHOCKER. WHAT SURPRISE. NEVER SAW THAT COMING. I'm not implying anything. Other than that event, there was rarely anything significant the President has done. He mostly meets other foreign ministers or presidents and goes around the world to help improve our relations with other countries. There is nothing wrong with that and I believe that it can be only beneficial. But I say it again, the only significant thing the President has ever done was to approve that request by the Government. I'm looking forward more to the holiday than the results of this election as I doubt there will be any difference in what the person who gets elected can do.

London Riots

I have completely no say or concern whatsoever about this event but seeing how desperate I am I do not have much of a choice. So I'm sure you guys already know how this riots came about with financial problems and lack of jobs before riots finally sparked off after a policeman shot down a man. The youth of England started to loot all the shops they could find. One very prominent example would be Reeve's Furniture. It is quite astonishing that a shop that survived two world wars was finally burned down by a bunch of hooligans. It only goes to show how badly the youth of England are being brought up. Most of the looters do not even care about what caused the people to start rioting and are looting just for the materialistic gains. Some of them don't even do it to get something and instead do it for the thrill of it. This was shown when a few girls who were daughters of wealthy parents were caught looting shops. The youth of England have clearly not displayed any form of maturity. I may be a little young and what I say may not be true but I do not see England completely getting out of this mess. The people who are ransacking and burning down the shops and thus, economy of Britain are the very same people that England are relying on to revive their economy. These people were fortunate to have benefited from England's education system but are repaying it by ruining their country. There must definitely be something wrong within their system that is producing such hooligans and I really doubt England will grow unless they correct that error. The future looks bleak.

Movie Review: Captain America

This movie was so-so. It wasn't that great. OK FINE IT WAS HORRIBLE. I was deciding whether to watch this or Cowboys and Aliens and I clearly made the wrong choice. The graphics were worse than Green Lanterns and the hero was not cool in any way or form. The story line was decent I'll give them that but the graphics were nearly as bad as the ones in the incomplete version of X-men Origins: Wolverine. A good story-line simply cannot make up for graphics this bad and I definitely do not recommend this. The movie takes place during world war two. There is this guy who desperately wants to join the army but is unable to do so as he is too sick and frail. He eventually meets a military professor who is impressed by his never-say-die attitude and fulfills his dream of becoming a soldier by enrolling him in his super soldier program. After being injected with the serum, the professor is assassinated. But the experiment was a success and Captain America was born. So he fights an evil Nazi scientist and comes out tops ya-da-ya-da-ya-da. Don't watch this. Rip off.

Mercy & Justice

This obviously stemmed from Merchant of Venice and since I can't seem to think of anything else to write about, let's just get to it. So we all know that Mercy is a higher value than Justice as you have to forgive and forget what others did to you no matter how drastic it was. And merciful people tend to ( at least in books and movies ) be rewarded in one way or another in the end while the people who do not forgive are punished with Shylock being a very obvious and prominent example. But what exactly is the boundary between mercy and Justice? And what is deserving of being granted mercy or what is beyond help and forgiveness and Justice should just be served and punish the person?

Now that I have foolishly just set myself up with a few difficult points, let me explain my point of view. To me Mercy is essentially letting a person who has harmed you in one way or another and should be punished go. It does not mean that to be merciful you have to forgive the person. You just let him of the hook as you believe that he deserves another chance. Mercy is not forgive and forget, it's just forget.

Point Numbah 2. Whether Justice or Mercy should be meted out all depends on you. What I believe is irrelevant as your feelings towards the person decide what he gets. But for me I would only punish the person if he did it intentionally knowing full well what was going to happen and knows the consequences. There are some criminals out there that were influenced by other people which made them ,well, bad. Some of them probably do not realize the full extent of the consequences and do not understand what exactly they were doing. I would punish people like murderers who go about killing people with every intention to do so.

Merchant of Venice Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002772775821&sk=wall
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002773060155
http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100002782006726

Some of the posts by the characters were made on the other character's wall so you can only see the whole thing with all three pages open

This I believe

Great Question. I'm not too sure. But since I have to talk about something we'll just move right along. I generally believe in helping the unfortunate who had no say in their situation but not those who were able to do something about their lives but fell down the pits of despair. I haven't actually done anything except for donating a few dollars but I believe given the ability to I will help them when I grow up. These people I feel strongly for most are the people who are too poor to feed themselves. These people were born in extremely undesirable environments and they have not been able to do anything about their situation even though they really want to. Weird as it may sound my heart really goes out to them. There are some people in this world that were fortunate enough to have be able to eat and enjoy life but take all these for granted and don't appreciate it. With over a billion people starving each day, they really need our help and we are more than able to. These guys are completely innocent and where put into this hellhole without doing anything bad. They do not deserve this and the lucky ones like us should do something to help them.

Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon Movie Review

This is the supposed 'end' of the Transformers franchise but I really doubt and hope not. Frankly the critics were actually right this time, it wasn't that good. I would rather the franchise end on a high note than ending on, well, the Dark of the Moon. The storyline was about how the humans had discovered an alien space ship on the moon. It was an autobot ship with important technology which could have turned the tide in the war against the decepticons. The captain of the ship, Sentinel Prime, was in 'sleep' mode. Only Optimus Prime could revive him, which he did. But it turns out that Sentinel Prime was in cahoots with the decepticons and had planned to betray Optimus. He had brought in a lot of Decepticon forces with the technology, which was essentially a teleporter, to eradicate the Autobots. His ultimate plan was to bring Cybertron closer to Earth so that the humans would help to rebuild it. He was obviously foiled through a combination of Megatron betraying him and Optimus Prime delivering the final blow. It may seem like a fairly simple storyline reading this but it wasn't so. The movie made a terrible job of explaining the plot and the fighting scenes were far and few in between. This was actually the only upside as they were really cool and realistic. What had confused me was how the transformers had spilled blood when they were killed. Weren't they robots?

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part Two Movie Review

So. It's finally here. The end of the nerdy wizard I've come to known the same way I knew Michael Jackson. He was a household name and I knew them without actually watching his movie. The first time I watched it was in 2005 if I'm not wrong. I was just looking through the dvds and chanced upon the Sorcerer's Stone. I watched it and I didn't actually like it that much as I did not understand. But when Goblet Of Fire hit the theatres, I watched it and that was when I started to follow the series. Back to the topic. So this is obviously a continuation of Part 1. It had ended off with Voldemort laughing away after getting the Eldar wand. So Harry Potter eventually kills all the Horcruxes which is essentially Voldemort's shield. But there are 2 left, Voldemort's snake and one more that has not been identified. Snape was brutally killed by Voldemort as he suspected that the Eldar wand had belonged to Snape. Before Snape died, Harry collected his teardrop and through it he learnt the truth. He was a Horcrux and to kill Voldemort he needed to perish. But he eventually found a way around it and Voldemort was annihilated once and for all. Harry Potter breaks the Eldar wand and it fastforwards to the future where Harry is sending his child to Hogwarts too. I definitely recommend this movie as IT'S THE LAST HARRY POTTER YOU CAN'T MISS IT

Merchant Of Venice

This was a fairly interesting book. Although it had a relatively simple plot with not too many twists and turns, it was intriguing as it is actually a play and the way it is written is different in almost every way from what we usually read. The characters are also quite peculiar. The first time I read the book I had actually presumed that Bassanio and Portia was love at first sight. But as I read the book for the second time, I realised that the main reason Bassanio wooed Portia was because of her wealth. Although I believe they did eventually fall in love in the end, I found the way Bassanio's characteristic is actually very relevant in today's world even though it was written ages ago. We are materialistic in nature and to woo a rich lady for her wealth seems relatively normal and logical. To see that being portrayed by Bassanio has surprised me as it was relevant to the modern world. It has been quite a pain reading this book but I have gained important knowledge and can say that I have finally read a Shakespeare book.

Reflections

I did not read the Merchant of Venice. I really should have and although the text is quite difficult to understand, I should have tried harder and at least get to the end of the book. I regret not persevering and being lazy.

Targets for Term 3

Alright so first I'll list down what my results were from term 1 to term 2
LA B3-C5
Math C6-A2
IH B4-A1
Science A1-B3
Infocomm B4-B3
Chinese B4- ????
So obviously the topics I will try to work on would be my English. I will also try to focus on Math and IH as I feel that my math is not exactly stable and that my A1 for IH was pretty lucky. Now for Science I feel that not getting an A1 this time was a fluke and I'll try not to let it happen again. I'm kinda worried about my Chinese as I don't know my results yet and I have this really really bad feeling about it. So I've set my targets for next term
LA A2
Math A2
IH B3
Science A1
Infocomm A1
Chinese B3
Now it may look a little ambitious but if you look at the subjects individually they're actually quite realistic. I really really want to do better next term and I hope I do.

Reflections Term 2 2011

Term 2 is coming to a close and it's once again the time to reflect. I've had my fair share of up and downs this term but I feel that overall I have improved on my academic results. I did not start off very well, getting 22/40 for math. But it started to get better from there on, getting an A1 for Humanities and 35/40 for Math. I had learnt only a couple of days ago that my science was a B3. I was very disappointed as I had expected myself to get an A1, having studied hard for science. I also found out that I got a C5 for my English. I am gutted as this ruined my overall MSG. But i have not seen my paper so I still don't know where I went wrong. I was feeling down the few days after I got my english and science results but now, looking at my results I realise that I have to take things one step at a time. Considering that my MSG this term would be around 3 if my Chinese was a C5, it is an improvement. I felt I should have done a WHOLE lot better but it's okay.

Aqua Fiesta 2011

Due to the building of the MRT this year the school decided to hold an Aqua Fiesta event. I had took part in the 8 by 50m inter-consortium relay. I really had not much hope of getting even third as there were very few swimmers in iSpark. Nevertheless I was still going to do the best I could. I had come down with a cough the previous day and was not in the best physical condition. When the race actually started, we took a lead as we had put our best swimmers in front. By the fourth leg our lead had stretched to 2-3 bodylengths. But the other consortiums better swimmers started their legs and we saw our lead slowly diminish. We were second when it came to my leg. I jumped in the water and my goggles came off. I was unable to do anything about it and had to continue swimming. It wasn't much of a hindrance other than being unable to see where the other swimmers were. I was unable to make up any ground and we ended up being dead-last.

GE 2011: George Yeo

I'm in Aljunied GRC. Or Marine Parade. My Dad claims that we're in Marine Parade but from what I've checked, we were absorbed into Aljunied quite a while back. He refuses to tell me who he voted for but, oh well. Doesn't matter. So obviously the most major thing would be the loss of Aljunied GRC to the WP. This had caused a few important ministers to lose their roles, most notably the foreign Minister George Yeo. I had felt that George Yeo was doing a good job and that it was a shame he could no longer serve Singapore. He had helped Singapore maintain strong diplomatic ties with other countries. From what I've read in the newspapers the foreign ministers of other countries have praised Mr Yeo and expressed their surprise that he had been ousted. I hope that whoever takes over Mr Yeo does a good job and even try to surpass his achievements.

General Elections 2011

Yeah, Its pretty late to be talking about this but, oh well.

I feel that this General Election had really opened my eyes. I had previously thought that the Elections was just a procession for the PAP. I was wrong. Following the events of this Elections has made me realise that the PAP has to campaign and convince the citizens on why they should vote for them. I have absolutely no recollection on the previous elections so I have nothing to base the current opposition against. But according to a lot of people this is the strongest opposition since a long long time ago. I'll have to agree as they have been sucessful, particularly in claiming Aljunied GRC. But the PAP did not completely fail, after claiming the Potong Pasir seat which had been in the opposition's hands for so long. I was really thrilled to watch the results of the Elections as it was very interesting.

What is the difference between broadsheet and tabloid newspapers? Does one always deal with more respectable news / produce more professional journali

There are many differences between broadsheet and tabloid newspapers. One of them would be the size. Tabloids are small compared to the broadsheets. Tabloids also focus more on gossip and entertainment while broadsheets focus more on important world news. While broadsheets generally publish more respectable news than tabloids, it does not mean that the news that tabloids publish are not respectable. I have not known of any in-betweens. While I generally prefer tabloids because of their extensive coverage of sports, I feel that it is also important to read broadsheets to know what is important happening around you

Movie Review: Fast and Furious 5

Fast and Furious is directed by Rob Cohen and stars Vin Diesel and Paul Walker. This movie continues where the previous left off, where Brian and Mia save Dominic. They then escape to Rio where they gather people from the previous series to rob the drug lord of Rio. It is an action-packed movie but it has changed. There is more focus on the heist than there are on cars. Nevertheless, the movie was very entertaining and despite some very surreal scenes, such as where they drag the vault out of the wall and use it to wreck everything, was worth watching.

How has learning about newsworthiness and types of news articles (straight news articles and feature articles in different sections of the newspaper)

After learning about newsworthiness and types of news articles, I am reading newspapers in a completely different way. I used to just read the entire article without bothering to analyse it. But now, I read the articles more thoroughly and look for the important factors. I start to notice how the article is written and how the way it is written is associated with the content of the article. I am able to better evaluate the article and understand the key issue.

A day in the life of the Second World War

Dear Diary,
Today was a bad day. We could not hold our position and were pushed back by the Germans. We lost many good men and lost our supplies. Our reinforcements have been delayed and we are running out of options. If this goes on, we may have to surrender or this entire battalion will be killed. I saw Miller get shot right beside me and bleed to death. We could not even try to save him, our medical supplies had completely run out. As the sergeant, I should be leading troops into victory and not be losing all my men for nothing. I am at my wit's end, the troops are demoralised, we are getting pushed back further everyday and we are getting completely overrun. When will all this end? When will help arrive? I need answers but I'm not getting any.

Descriptive paragraph

Image at 1:41

Gunfire filled the sky and rang in the ears of the soldiers. They could barely feel it, their ears had already been deafened by previous gunshots. Soldiers took up their positions, firing at the enemy as their comrades fell beside them. They shut out their emotions as their comrades bled to their death, the smell of burning flesh in the air. What used to be a bustling town, lies a barren land with structures of what used to be houses. A soldier flung a grenade from what was formerly a family's save haven.

Exposition Essay (1)

There are many different types of exposition essays, such as Classification and Causal Analysis. I find Process Analysis the easiest as you only need to know what the process is and write down the step-by-step process. Causal Analysis is where you find the cause and effect of something. You need to write what are the causes for that specific thing and what are the effects. Compare and Contrast is, well, what it's name implies, comparing and contrasting. You usually compare two different things or people and see the direct similarities or differences. Classification is where you categorize the content of a certain topic for easier referencing and taking out the irrelevant things. There are a few other types of essays but I will go into them another day.

Movie Review: World Invasion Battle Los Angeles

This movie is directed by Jonathan Liebesman. It takes place in Los Angeles and is about an alien invasion. It starts with the introduction of the main character. This is then followed by reports of a meteor shower. The US army gets suspicious due to many factors and deploys the army. Shortly after, aliens emerge from the fallen meteorites and begin attacking the humans. The movie follows a platoon led by 2nd Lt William Martinez although the story revolves around Staff Sergeant Michael Nantz. After many action-packed battles the platoon is thinned down to 6 people. They discover the enemy command centre and fight a bloody battle during which another member is killed. They eventually prevail and regain aerial superiority over the aliens. I find this movie very interesting as it has a good plot and there is a lot of action.

Targets for Term 2

This may be a little early to set a target for Term 2 when I do not even know what will be taught but there is no harm done. I would like to get an A1 for Term 2 as I need to get a better MSG. I will pay more attention in class and give more valuable and sensible comments. I will also aim to be more helpful in group work and be less disruptive. Handing in quality homework in time will also be one of my goals next term. I hope that Term 2 will be a better term for everyone and that we all get an enriching learning experience

Term 1 Reflection

For this term, I felt that we have learnt many useful different things to use in our essay writing. Although I don't get all of the methods thought, I have still benefited from it. We did many interesting things this term such as creating a comic strip. The movie 'Mississippi Burning' was a refreshing experience as I had used movies to learn. I felt that I could have done better in the Test as I only got 20/30. I believe I would have done better had I been faster. I will try and formulate the plot of the story and write faster in the next test.

Racism

I feel that discriminating against others because of their race is not right. I dare not say that I have never discriminated against other races but I try to interact with them more. In my life I have witnessed many cases of racism. A few weeks ago, I was going to my friend's place to do a project. There were many people waiting for the lift. When it came, an Indian man walked in the lift. Although there was still a lot of space in the lift, none of the other people went in. I could see that the Indian man felt embarrassed.

Mississippi Burning

I liked the movie. It has an interesting and realistic plot. At the start, I was a bit put off by the brutality in which some of the characters were being killed or treated. The bad guys were tried for arson but were suspended and did not have to go to jail in an obvious case of bias. I was a little upset even though it was a movie as the FBI had been trying to bring justice upon the bad guys but failed. But in the end, the murderers were finally caught. But they were charged on Civil rights violation and not murder, which has a much heavier sentence, as murder is a state charge where the judge will not give a fair sentence.

Anyone is guilty who watches this and does nothing

I have seen instances where people are discriminated for their physical appearance. I usually ignore the discrimination but I step in when it starts to get violent and the person getting discriminated gets hurt. I do not believe that people who are ugly or bigger in size should be discriminated against if they have done nothing wrong. The next time I see discrimination happening, I will chat with the person and make friends with to make him feel happy. I will also tell the people discriminating against him not to do so as it is wrong to hate someone who has done absolutely nothing wrong.

First and Third Person

Personally, I feel that using First Person is a much easier way to write. You only know your own thought and not of the other characters. This would make the stories more interesting as the readers would not know what the other characters would do next. I do not believe that first person is harder to write. It would usually depend on the situation. In stories where there are more actions, first person would be better to write. This is because the readers would be in the narrator's shoes and would be left in suspense guessing the other characters' next move. In stories where emotion and feelings are more prevalent, third person would be better. This is because readers would understand the situation more and know why the characters did what they did and not be guessing when the story ends.

Final Essay

My essay was about how I was forced to make a decision between friendship and being bullied. It started off with how I was being a very meek and quiet boy. I then decided to solve my problem. I consulted a friend and he advised me to be more sociable and start chatting more. I had more friends and as such, became grateful to my friend for his advice. Then one day, the school bully came and tried to take my lucky draw ticket which the school had given out earlier in the day. He took it and I was starting to get angry. Then my friend knocked the bully down and the teacher came running over. I was caught between my friend and being marked for death by the bully when I needed to give my side of the story. I eventually told the truth and saved my friend. This story shows how friendship is when you are put to the test and you stick with your friends no matter the consequences.

LA Test

Today was the LA essay test.It was on compromise. I found it not too difficult but there was a lack of time to finish my essay. I was forced to rush and end my essay abruptly. I wrote about how a boy accidentally broke his best friend's most treasured possession. This made his friend very angry. The boy tried to make it up to him despite being beaten up by him. His friend was deeply touched and decided to compromise with him.

The Beach

The bright setting sun was blocked by a group of clouds, but still illuminated the sky around it. It was a bright array of colours in the sky, with yellow around the sun, light blue a little further away and a deep dark blue far from the sun. The sea was calm and reflected the colours of the sky, making for a beautiful scene. Small fishing boats dotted the sea while one boat made its way back to shore. It was a peaceful scene with everything in place, with everything calm.

Snapshot Land

Snapshot Land
Sylvia Kantaris

In Snapshotland everyone is happy all the time.
It is the promised land where people sit with flasks of tea
On smooth sand by a flat sea and smile and smile and smile.

The sun shines all day long and every day in Kodachrome
Or sepia on sandboys and sandgirls who never
Stop smiling from the time they first appear, with buckets,
In crisp, gingham pinafores and nonnets on the sea-shore.

Lovers stay in love forever, married couples never
Grow tired of each other; everything is always just right.
The dolphins know exactly when to leap into the air
And stay there for the permanent delight of passengers
Aboard the pleasure-boat which never passes out of sight.

Nobody in Snapshotland grows old unless they want to,
Judging by the way they go on smiling so, in deck-chairs,
On the beach, or in old-fashioned gardens with lavender
And grandchildren here and there - and no one dies, ever.

Even if they don't appear later, the people are still
Always there, smiling through the lavender and dolphins
And the buckets full of pebbles on the same sea-shore.

I picked this poem as it makes perfect sense. In real life there are hardships and suffering everywhere you go. But in the world of photos everyone is smiling as though
there are no troubles at all. I feel that the world of photos would be a wonderful place if I could live there, with no worries, no concerns.

By Immavincent | View this Toon at ToonDoo | Create your own Toon

By Immavincent | View this Toon at ToonDoo | Create your own Toon

Curriculum of Identity

I was once part of a group of people that were treating a person badly. That person was not very bright and failed his tests often. He missed school for no valid reasons quite often and we weren't amused by his childish antics. We tried to ignore him and tease him. I did not feel that it would affect him at all as he did not seem to mind. In retrospect I realised that what WE did was actually childish. We did not consider the possibility that he might have some family problems at home which caused him to miss school. We also shouldn't have teased him as now I feel that his expression was not what he was actually feeling

Prejudice

Prejudice is where a person already has a opinion about a person or thing and affects his future judgement on it. It could be due to the persons outer appearance or the person is influenced by the people around him to believe. It could also be due to a previous event where he has encountered this person or thing. As such, the person is unlikely to give a fair judgment if he is already prejudiced. I would like to know the more common situations of prejudice and how to avoid them