I dream

I dreamt that I overslept







then I realised that I wasn't dreaming.

Cheeky Pankun (Cute Killers)

We now return to

THE CUTE KILLERS

Subject 2. Chimpanzee

Myth: Being our closest living relatives, they are very intelligent and friendly. Just like us.
Reality: You wouldn't want one of them as your roommate.

Chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes, shares up to 99% of the human DNA making it our closest living relatives. In many popular culture, we are shown to have evolved from chimpanzees. This is actually on conceptual mistake.

According to Darwin's theory of evolution, we might have evolved from a common ancestor at one point of time, thus making us 'relatives' not 'precedessors'.

Nevertheless, Chimps are similar to us in many aspect. They are also believed to be extremely intelligent as observed from their ability to solve problems. Even in the wild, these animals are observed to use tools. On many instances, they are known to use heavy logs as weapons and small twigs to channel termites to their mouths.

It is not suprising that popular culture often portray Chimps as cheeky sidekicks or clowns. Recently, Pankun the genius chimp (abover left) has the painting a good image of his species as highly inquisitve and friendly.Remember chim-chim from Speed Racer? Sadly, this picture cannot be further from the truth.

The truth is... these animals would happily beat the living shit out of you and laugh while doing it.



Just like many other socal animals, Chimps live in a heirachial family group led by a single alpha male. In these groups, fight for dominance can get very messy. With the strength of 3-5 human males, chimp fights are certainly a good spectacle.
Chimps are also know to be highly territorial creatures, killing intruding chimps from other families and even consuming their flesh at times.

Actually, Chimps are known to consume more flesh than any other members of the greater apes (which includes, the gorillas, orangutans and the bonobos). Chimps are known to conduct treetop hunts, going after small monkeys for their flesh. Just like us, meat is not a dietary requirement. But it tastes good.

Another random fact about chimps is that their bodies are too dense to swim. They sink and they sink fast. So they avoid water at all cost.

Having watched captive chimps for close to year now, I can be certain that these animals are not as cute as the media makes them out to be. I once happened to chance upon a fight between the alpha male and a teenager after the teenage male took a bite before him. My stereotype of these guys were shattered immediately.

stream of consciousness

My sleep as of late has been plagued with an incoherent mix of dreams and nightmare.
random fragments.


a house in hk and I made a joke to which you told me to shut up our parents seem to be getting friendly and we are getting close would we still the same if we remember what we used to be next scene i am back in singapore she is gone and i am left to wander now i wander into a room and find you there bored we sat beside one another bored beyond our wits hoping for the dull afternoon to roll by but it doesn't so you ask of a kiss for fun to which i first refused but agreed to a kiss of fun and casual guilt but it doesnt last for we both do not find it fun so we move on to a dark gallery it showcases like museum somewhere in school i walk by and observe everything in placed behind a glass like contained animal exhibits i think they were displaying different ecologies i saw through the looking glass and saw the world the whole of ntu and the undulating land on which our school is built the glaring sun clawing into my eyes so this is the world i thought to myself the main exhibit only needs a glass for us to view for the world cannot be contained but we can


I woke up to the sound of my phone vibrating on the dry cabinet. My fellow sports sec gave me a missed call. I overslept again. I brushed my teeth with the first and last images lingereing in my head. i keep telling myself that I am ready to move on, but am I? without having time to answer that, I picked up my stuff and ran off to the SRC.

GFMO

To hell with Hippo & Friends.
Do not attempt to hug a hippo. even if you find a purple one.

Underwater Ballerina

With ample time in hall(hostel), I shall a blog series addressing an issue I'm very annoyed with. For the longest time, certain individuals who are not intellectually gifted have taken many cute animals for granted. From the television/ movies, we assume that most animals are naturally cute, cuddly and friendly.
I shall dispel the myths and misconceptions of

THE CUTE KILLERS

Subject 1: Hippopotamus (the Nile Hippo)

Myth: Hippos are gentle, graceful creatures with the nicknames, the underwater ballerina

Reality: They are powerful, aggressive and crazy machines.

If nature had a definition for a tank. This Behemoth would be the ideal candidate. Hippopotamus amphibius, the Nile Hippo have the bulk, the teeth and temperament that can send even rhinos running.

Yet ironically, the media has portrayed this giant as a gentle one. Their graceful movements through the water make them a lovable cartoon character. Do not be fooled! They are killers!

Upon being fully grown, these animals weight between 3-4 tons , making them the third largest living land animal on the planet. The word hippopotamus comes the greek words, hippo( horse) potamus( river). However, these animals are far from horses. Although they are in a family of their own, they are believed to be related to pigs and remotely to the cetacans(dolphins).

One of the most prominent features of the hippo have be their slimy skin. Their beautiful shine is due to a layer of special protective mucus known as 'blood sweat' due to its pink colouration. One may also notice that numerous scars cover the skin of males. This is not evidence that they are klutz, this is evidence that they like the beat the living shitlights out of one another.

Although we often associate hippos with water, an interesting note is that hippos only stay in water to protect themselves from the Sun. These nocturnal animal who spend their time in the day lazing in the water, actually return to land to graze every night.

But the reason why hippos are so dangerous is because... of their formidable jaws. Look at the picture on the above right. Do you still want to hug the cutey pie when she bares those beautiful tusks? Did you know that crocodiles actually swim away from hippos because they are capable of(and known to) crush those reptiles with the jaws? tsk tsk....

Finally. Yes. Hippos are deadly creatures. They are known to attack boats and humans without provocation. In fact, hippos have claimed more human lives than lions. Human body vs. Hippo jaw. Its an one-sided affair. really.

not so cute anymore eh?

Compilations; An argument

"And somebody better shoot me next time I get another. Because COMPILATION ALBUMS DO NOT WORK. As far as I know, compilations seek to either make more money, act as an introduction to new listeners to an artist, or chronicle some milestone in the artist/band's career."
-anonymous

If i could compress my post into a tag, i would have done so. But the functions of compilation albums are too complex to be summarised within the little box.

Although a large majority of compilation are flops designed at generating revenue without any actual new songs, compilation albums can become a treasure trove if done with care and consideration.

In our previous argument, the underlying assumption was that all compilation albums contained items from the same artiste.

Compilation can also be used to draw instant comparisons between various artistes. It is a time capsule capturing a precious moment in history.

For our first case, let's take a look at themed albums such as Jazz in the City (I & II). The wide exposure of recognised/ upcoming artiste is so much more efficient to buying each of their album individual. For example, one would assume Michael Buble to be the epitome of Jazz. However, in this album, he is surely outmatched by other less prominent but more powerful artistes such as Lisa Ekdahi & Bette Milder.

In also allows us to get snippets of artistes we would not usually buy. For example,
I certainly would not buy Aselin Debison's album. She is far too inconsistent in her standards. However, her (very likely) one-hit-wonder rendition of Somewhere over the rainbow/what a wonderful world medley is too good of a song to miss out.

True, a hardcore fan of a genre may wish to buy every single album of all the singers within the genre. However, if he wishes to get an instant overview of the current market without downloading song illegally, a compilation may be the choice.
Think of surveying the music scene as a routine walk. Although walking on foot may be pleasurable to some, one would usually prefer to ride on a bicycle. efficency. less noise.

The other function overlooked is the ability to seal a certain time era. Let us take a look at the golden age of dance music, the late 1990s. It is utterly amazing to the marvelous dance songs that appeared in the single year of 1998 (BEST 99) and 1999(BEST 2000). That era produced the best dance legends; Toybox, Vengaboys, Heart of Asia, Buttefly, Blue. Thankfully, due to the invention of compilation albums, we can easilly access our sweetest memories through the convenience of a single CD.

However, it must be noted that just like any other album, compilation albums are capable of flopping. If it sucks, it just sucks. If a normal album sucks, blame the artise for sucking. If a compilation album sucks, blame the producer for having bad taste.

Never Seen A Blue Sky

Life can get pretty shitty at times. I acknowledge that.
For you, Life is pretty rough right now.
However, just like my roomie, I never had the intense angst that seems to plaguing every corner of the blogs.

I'm sorry that I am not a good counsellor. I am able to sympathise but not comprehend why you behave the way you do. In case you are reading this post, its not just you. There are many others.
Drinking your liver to oblivion. Starting fights at the dinner table. Or whatever. I am unable to understand what the big deal is.
If you want to rationalise yourself, I am the wrong person to get affirmation from. I will just smack reality into your face that you are just turning into a crazy psycho bitch.

But, all these doesn't change that the fact that we are still friends, through thick and thin.
I make a bad comforter but if you want someone to waste oxygen with you. Both Yonks and I are wide open.

oei. go out leh.


naa-mind. I dedicate this song to you.

Replacement

I have found a replacement roomie. He is now obsolete.

Save the Filmmaker (Bad Boys)

Fly By Night is an annual local film competition.

It is an open category that allows amateur filmmakers from all spectrums showcase their various works. They are given a theme to work on and produce a 5 minute short film within 48 hours. Out of all the submissions, the panel will select 10 best films in no particular order.

This was my first time taking part in this competition. Along with my senior Shi Xiong, Sern Yong and fellow freshy Wei Liang, we gave it our best. We won :) I'm really thankful for God and his grace. Because the result was truly unexpected. This is why:

We began early on Saturday morning, meeting up all the way at Punggol. The location was Matilda House, an infamous deserted house in the middle of an empty field. We quickly got to work.

Our original story involved a girl waiting for someone on the footsteps on the house. A soldier appears and the girl welomes him. She follows hims around as he explores the beautiful house. He finally settles down for a rest, the girl rests on his shoulders. The next moment, his officers wakes him up and they both run off back in the war. We then realise that the girl was besides them all along. The film reaches its climax as we realise that the girl was a ghost all along.

Sadly, as we were filming our last scene. A security officer from Singapore Land Authority ratted us out and summoned the Police. Yes, we were trespassing. Next thing we know, we were questioned by 2 police sergeants, 1 warrant and 1 station inspector. We were instructed to destroy all footages and to report to the Police HQ later at 6.

It was past noon and we lost most of our filming time. With the fact that we had to report to the police HQ, we only had 2 hours of day filming left. We were in despair. We had less than 12 hours to submission and 2 hours of day time left. We really contemplated throwing in the towel and calling it quits.

We decided to chill and reassess the situation over lunch.... This was our solution.

We present Team 21: Liew Shi Xiong.
Winner's choice (top 10), Fly By Night 2008