interesting exhibitions

By far the most interesting exhibitions were,in order of merit.....
1)DPRK(no queue)
2)Belgium(about 2 plus hrs?)
3)France(about 2hrs?)

4)Canada(15 mins but was early in the morning)
5)New Zealand(15 mins but was early in the morning)

I will only review the top three!

DPRK : HAHAHAHAHA!!this exhibition is clearly the most interesting one out of the rest!!I mean its DPRK!!! I didnt think they would even have a exhibition! inside is a garden with a granite traditional bridge and a small pavilion shelter.What awes me is that they display many of their parades and television programs. Not even afraid to show just how backward their country was( im not being racist but its a fact, the people are treated absolutely equally, i saw people in very old style clothes and specs, yet they seemed to be enjoying themselves, having not a trouble in the world.Maybe just living simply is the key to life huh. :D

Belgium : i know what you are thinking of....CHOCOLATES!!(try to upload pics next time,cannot upload for some reason...) But yeah. The main highlight was that they had chocolate chefs that did really cool chocolate works.These works look very edible,too edible in fact.But the works were just too pretty that it would be a waste to eat it.So you are really torn between the two.That is if you can even eat it,i believe that the works were not for sale,but you are able to see them at work! :D Other than this, Belgium has some pretty technologically advanced things like a 3- d coin in a screen(yesh with the naked eye), and a very advanced cool pointer thing and also picture system where you stand somewhere and they will add your picture 'live' to the screen showing a castle(moving,its a video),or a farm, etc....They have some pretty awesome artworks too! :D

France : This one is mainly for its artistry. Whether it is in Food, where you are allowed to see the cooks(they have a French cafe some part in the exhibition) do their thing,through a glass wall.Its really cool as they are really there and you can actually see the food being prepared 'live'.

And they and super famous artworks and sculptures.The artistry for this exhibition is on a whole different league. They display Van Gogh works!!The original ones!!!A very inspiring exhibition that would make you want to visit France! :D

Shanghai Expo

Sorry guys!I have made a sort of schedule about what i am gonna talk about in what order but i kinda spoiled the whole thing....

Im going to talk about my trip to Shanghai Just this June holiday.I guess i am doing this now as some of my classmates did a presentation on this topic in class...Ill talk about the Expo in general and go on to talk about one or two of the most outstanding exhibitions i managed to visit....

some background information on the world expo.... a world expos are essentially large public exhibitions held in different parts of the world.The main attractions at World's Fairs are the national pavilions, created by participating countries.The Shanghai World Expo is also the largest World's expo site ever at 5.28 square km.The previous world expo was held in Zaragoza,Spain on 2008.The next one will be held at Yeosu,South korea.

i'd like to say that that was my first time visiting something like the world expo.It is really cool as you literally can experience all the cultures of all the world countries in one single place.too bad you would really have to stay in china for a whole month for you to finish the whole place....

The pavilions I saw at the expo were honestly the best architecturally designed buildings i have seen, be it in real life or on the internet,tvs or books...I really believe them to be comparable to the 7 wonders of the world....
Perhaps it is because it is totally different seeing something in a picture or pixelated than to experience it in real life....Too bad they are going to be teared down after they have served their purpose...

Back to the topic.It was really hard to accept that i was in Shanghai and really experiencing the expo during the trip.Part of me refused to believe that i was not in Singapore.I really blame this on the convenience of traveling on the plane.Once you find out that you can get to another country i a short 3 hr ride, its like taking a taxi and it doesn't seem so exciting anymore....

One thing you have to watch out for in the Expo is that the Chinese people actually pretty damn rude, you ca see one big guy push you to the side and pretty much the whole queue moves in front of you...Adding perhaps another 15 minutes into your waiting time....After a while you will even see girls pushing you aside...sadd...my sister got so pissed she blocked them and owned them in chinese...haha PWNED(sorry for bad english but i cant help it... :D)

Oh did i mention that you can literally queue for 6-9 hours just to get in a single excibition? I really admire all the old chinese people that got the stamina to queue up for that long a time.(once you are in there is no backing out...You are practically trapped between two sea of people........hahahahahahah.The big joke is that you queue up seeing that it dosent look very long, only to realize that the queue takes a very long swirl around the whole exhibition before coming back at the entrance again(it winds around the whole about 2x2 km ground, winding down sort of like this(follow the line)(this is going down, thus maximizing the queuing space)

______________|(start)

|______________

______________|
|______________
______________| you see what i mean?its really really
|______________ really long if you do that in 2km x 2 km

So if you didnt realise and queued up.you be stuck there fir almost 5 hours!!(actually you can you do that in a 2km x 2 km cube....just excape from the side....)

However i think that China is doing everything they can possibly do, and that they are actually doing very well. despite my many criticism, i really commend the Chinese(im chinese too ^^) for doing such a SUPER job in this.(everything from the toilets to the service were very well done!)I throughly enjoyed myself! (we legs would like to disagree,after all that torturous queuing, we(the legs) have ached for almost a week before we were able to move properly again.... poor us....)

YOG!

As you definately know,SIngapore is hosting the first ever Youth Olympic Games.if you didnt, you might as well live in a cave! haha! sorry, really need a Joke to lighten up the serious mood in this blog...

So YOG.The opening ceremony was held last Saturday.My dad seeing this would probably never happen again, splurged on a room at the Ritz Carlton,to 'watch' the YOG opening ceremony. Frankly speaking, its the first/second time i have ever stepped into such a grand hotel.first was probably in Korea where i stayed in lotto hotel for a day...
speaking of which.The room was on the 19th floor and had a wicked view.seriously. The side facing out was completely glass and practically like a gallery! XD(ill try to put some pictures later....)

As for the ceremony, we watched most on the tv -_-" as it was really too far to see anything
luckily i brought my binoculars or it would have been pointless...
too bad the small vision of the binoculars and the fact that it can only serve one person at a time caused us to see most of it on tv.However, i must say that is was really cool seeing the performance(can see but very far, so have to use binoculars to see clearly)and it would definitely have beat actually going there as sitting on the sofa watching the whole thing is pretty damned comfortable(and actually if i use the binoculars it has a really good but puny view of the performace)
and i am not a fan of big crowds.. :(
Another benefit is that the fireworks were literally going off in our face and it was a really different experience from experiencing it when you are wayyy down below and when u are (on a sofa!)at the 19th floor XD.

To tell you the truth, i find the performance pretty disappointing.. :(
It was absolutely no match to the one in China in terms to grandeur and awe.It just doesn't leave a deep impression. And Singapore's performance was largely messy and disorganized, it is pretty confusing to watch a disorderly group of performers and pretty soon it would become boring :(
However, in a way Singapore expressed its own style and had a lot of fresh ideas, one example is the boxer challenging the monster part. Yes, it was pretty lame, but i must admit it was creative and unique. The Singaporean performers, although appearing disorganised, were very enthusiastic and this made the it look energetic and fun(man i suck at commenting abt performances...)

That was definitely a great experience i would get to have for Just this once.....

oh by the way, i am going to be watching the sprints finals tomorrow!!im honestly excited.partly because i am gonna try out the buss concession card(free bus ride FTW!!), and partly because its the first time i am seeing foreigners run... cant wait for tomorrow..... XD

BOOK REVIEW

ok...i am going to be doing a book review of one of the best books of all time(in my opinion...)

There was a period of time when i was addicted to reading the books from my sister's bookshelf. I took pretty long to read this little book as my sister caught me reading it a few times and got really angry as i didnt ask... :D

Take a guess of what book i am referring to.Harry Potter?Artemis Fowl?Storm rider?Percy Jackson?(btw, im a great fan of all these books...)
no, ill bet you have never heard of it before.The author is a indian....
Its this great book called.... White Tiger.

To summarize this book in my own words:
It begins in a letter from,Balram, the protagonist and Indian entrepreneur writing a letter to the president of China(seriously) And it continues in two main 'timelines'(sorry cannot find a better word, dimension sounds too inappropriate)

1)current, is in a tone of writing a letter,telling about his current life.It written very realistically, including parts where he bades farewell as he had to sleep and it is written in 'real life time'(like a video if you know what i mean)
2)recounting his past leading to the present.This is where it gets interesting.As he has a one sided conversation(with the premier),he goes on to explain his past as a servant(driver).This is where it gets interesting...

The title comes from when a school inspector come in and named the writer a 'white tiger', a beast so rare and majestic.The writer gets so obsessed with his new 'title' until he was forced to wake up and start working, eventually becoming a driver was all he could do.
The book includes his tragic childhood of losing his mother. A very realistic example of a typical child living in a slum in India.Until when he managed to land a job with a rich man called "the stork" due to his long nose.The writer is then sent to work with the stork's son, Ashok and his wife 'Pinky madam' Who was raised in America.Ashok was extremely kind to him as a driver, then others.

The writer describes India as a rising economic superpower, yet you can see a overwhelming difference between the upper class people with their limos and suites and the working class who is living in abject poverty with hugeee family sizes.The writer gives his views on the corruption evident in the government as well as the caste system in India.

What i love about this book is that shows the dark side of india and 'what is really going on behind the scenes' kinda perspective.The story is extremely realistic and i have mentioned earlier, the story is literally a letter,the protagonist is writing to premier Wen Jia Bao. So its a very fresh read from my usual favorite fantasies like Artemis Fowl.This book is actually extremely entertaining and humorous. Especially the writer's straightforwardness. This book is also includes descriptions of the slutty prostitutes, etc,so its kinda mature themed and not suitable for small children.

I would definitely recommend this book to you!Especially if you are a fan of fantasy/fiction books. This book will take you on a roller-costar ride back to reality and make you realize Just how lucky we people are, and appreciate the things around us more.

the Hwa Chong system(continued)

As for the other new subject, IS( Independent Studies). Is essentially
The ACE program, which gives the student points for doing 'student initiated' project.For the new system, we are given a deadline and limit(maximum amount of ACE) every term, except term 4 due to the EOYs. Then the score is added together.This makes up 50% of the IS grade.
For the other 50%,there is the project competition,where now its graded over 50.
These two added together will get u your IS marks.


Oh did i mention that a b3 is needed for you to pass?Or its 3Q buddy!

Firstly,id like to point out that this is much too unfair to many students,I mean, lets just take this scenario for example.

On the first term.You perhaps decided to spam ACE for this term and lets say get 9/10
second term, stress starts building up and ACE is neglected 12/20
OH NO!!! you failed your project competition.TIME TO SPAM ACE. say 20/50 for Project comp
AND HOW MUCH DO YOU NEED TO GET TO PASS? =>65-20-9-12
=24/20 (is that over the limit?)

"Why didnt you max out your ACE in the first two terms then?"
(it is really your fault but, who would have expected to fail their project comp so badly? Plus there is the IDS in the last term so you probably wont even get 20/20....

And due to the structure of the project comp, there definitely have more failures tan passes, so what happens to those that fail their project pretty badly? They most likely die. like me.

Other than this,the grading argument can be used on this as well.
after a while you would hear students asking "is there ACE for this" for what ever outside curriculum assignments they receive.And without the student initiative, i think it defeats the purpose of having this thing at all.

The new OC system

Hullo everyone!!
im gonna interrupt this with a comment on the new system in place in hwa chong.To tell you the truth, im not totally opposed to the new system if not for the b3 fail thing.Let me just elaborate a little more on the OC first and explain a little on the flaws there is
Oc = oral communication.and it essentially comprises in

grading how much we participate in class, if u didnt know, the OP
+grading our 'current affairs' section(which is,as the name implies,a chinese/english interview or debate on a current affairs topic)

First i would like to point out that sometimes, grading something is actually bad in some ways
(lets drift away from this topic for a second)[take for example CIP.I believe that CIP should be done out of obligation, if not it is just meaningless, as the intention is just to gain CIP points, not for the benefit of the community.Happens to such an extent that students do not want to do if there are not any CIP points offered(im not saying i always do CIP and i do it for the benefit of the society)im ust an average guy who does it mostly for the experience than for the benefit of others,and gain CIP at the same time.Such as when i went to Nanyang Primary(my pri sch) to help with their camp.It was a really new and kinda fun experience as i was supposed to lead the students, which i dont do often...]

Back to our topic on OC. grading it would cause the students to participate in class out of obligation,not curiosity. The objective becomes "to ask as many questions as possible to get as much OP as possible" (i dont deny i have this mindset sometimes :D) Thus in a way it 'dilutes' the content in the lesson as many questions 'just for the sake of asking questions' are asked.I believe this would in a way waste precious lesson time.

Another flaw is as a student pointed out:it is mostly the fear of being mocked or ridiculed by your friends that prevents you from asking questions. This would eventually result in the outspoken ones getting all the points and the introverts just getting more and more shy and unwilling to speak.Thus in a way the OP merely benefits the outspoken people and ust serves to impede the "oral development"(if there was such a phrase) of the introverts as there will be more people competing to speak up. causing them to lose confidence.

This happens also in the debate session.The person perhaps has a perfectly prepared score that just need to be read out, and perhaps the introvert, because of his nervousness, screws up big time. Woah, this will probably have a big impact in his already weak self confidence.This would make the situation worser and worser for those that need help in this area.

I am not implying that the OC system is entirely useless. It serves it purpose in encouraging students to read more on current affairs in a way.However i believe that it has a few fatal flaws that cause it to be ineffective, and even making it a requirement for the passing criteria would further impact on a few unlucky students (that are not entirely unable to present, but the victims of this system.)- i do entirely believe this, what do you think?Does it solve the problems or does it just serve to create more?

HOBBIES

I am just an average boy living in Singapore...Naturally,id like to play computer games.However, ever since i was primary 6,i got really hooked to another activity:reading manga or Japanese comics(that are translated to English of course).I am not exactly proud of this hobby,however i believe reading comics has its own benefits as well.

Before i name them, i'd like to tell you why i even read these comics in the first place.I strongly believe that the mangaka(author) is superhuman.Not only he has to draw out each picture instead of just words,the way manga works is very different from a novelist.He has to rush out a chapter each week,that is 19 art works that that have to get you popular enough to survive(as the mangas are published chapter by chapter in magazines).And these storyline churned out are mucc\h better than any novels(at least of those i read)And te fact that they can present the story in pictures, they can get the audience to visualize the situation. The emotions in the book, such as humor and the tearjerker scenes have much better success as the emotions can be carried to the audience very effectively through the pictures(especially so when the author's artwork is awfully nice)
Another point where mangas stand out above novels is that the author can shift the audience's focus where he wants.By emphasizing on certain parts of the 'picture' he can get you to look at what he wants, this emphasis can also be used to bring out the emotions much more effectively.(another good trick he can use is to make you miss out on certain points he wants you to,and then mention those in the later part of the book,where you will flip back and see.It makes it more meaningful somehow)
Mangas you can gain a lot of general knowledge not easily obtain from what you usually learn.,this is not just a reason, ca vouch for this, i have found out many general knowledge and now appreciate several things more.(about Trepanation, serveral interesting ways the mind works, understand that crime is many time justifiable,how a court works,moral values,etc etc)So if you are interested,you can start by picking up a manga volume you find interesting anywhere!And enjoy!!(remember, it is read from up to down but right to left so it can be confusing at times.)



recomended reads(extremely long storylines though, so time commitment is needed:D )
1)one piece (FTW)
2)naruto
3)haime no ippo
4)bleach
5)fairy tail
6)kyou kara ore wa( a little different from the rest)
7)liar game(a little different from the rest)