Goodbye INTI

Just last Friday, I was officially "kicked out" of INTI University College, Malaysia. It was a unique experience to say the least...and yes, I really can't think of anything other than cliches to describe it.

However, in all seriousness, INTI was probably, as a whole, the best experience of my life. I learned so many new things, met so many people and experienced all the joys and pains of independence. Okay, boring cliched essay time!

I was very lucky to be part of the INTI culture as a JPA student. It taught me to grow as a person and to appreciate the diversity of this ever-changing world. INTI and her students taught me to think critically but not to be too judgmental of other people, to be bold yet not to be reckless, and to be open-minded yet spiritual. I met many challenges that changed me and helped me to develop, challenges that nearly drove me to death in all their difficulty.

INTI really gave me a lot to think about. While back in Kuching, I lived out my lifestyle without trial, in INTI, I faced a lot of conflicting ideas and opinions. Many perspectives challenged my faith and basic principles and I still remember the time when I started to challenge my Roman Catholic faith due to criticisms from even my closest friends. During that time, perhaps due to divine intervention, I joined the Catholic Student’s Society (CSS) and received the guidance from friends there.

Also, I also appreciated my many other INTI friends who I’ve come to appreciate very much. Listing all of those names would be foolhardy, as I would run the risk of skipping over many important friends (due in no small part to my atrocious memory for names). However, I'm sure that you all know who you are, and I can't say enough just how grateful I truly was to be with you guys. You taught me friendship, hope, joy, fun and how to live life to the fullest. To put it bluntly, you taught me there was more to life than games and the internet. I’ll say that overall, INTI was a splendid time as I learned to establish an identity for myself.

Yes, this post may sound like something out of a university application essay, but I really do mean all I say. I truly enjoyed myself at INTI. Now of course, there are many pros and cons about this dear little college-university-thing, which I shall list here:



Pros:
1) AUP or The Center for American Education and the University Placement Office are simply great places to be at. The officers there are immensely helpful and good-natured and I never hesitated to ask their help (to the point of being annoying). Kudos to these offices.

2) General Office people are surprisingly friendly, too. I got my room-bookings done easily.

3) 13th INTIMA were great pals to hang out with. I always felt at home at the INTIMA office.


Cons:
1) Accomodation Office, sad to say, can really be horrible. I'm not dissing all of them, just "a select few managers" (you know who I mean).

2) INTI management seriously needs to stop going beyond their capacity. Stop bringing so many students in when you can't afford to accept them. Treat INTI more like an educational institution and less like a capitalistic business.



So yeah, that's 3 pros vs 2 cons. Shows that INTI isn't bad, huh? I'd just advice future incoming students to think twice before handing Accomodation Office your business.

Thanks again, all my friends. The last 2 years were a blast!

My Life Would Suck Without You

I became a fan of Kelly Clarkson when I heard her ear-opening "A Moment Like This" some time back. Since then, I have tried to collect all her albums to listen to what she has to offer. Over the years, it's no wonder Simon Cowell looked up so highly to her during her American Idol years. Her sincerity and powerful voice has propelled her to the top spot of American Idol winner, and beyond.

Ms. Clarkson is a very versatile singer, mixing different genres of songs in all her albums. Her first, Thankful is a mix of "Idol-pop" music and some really cool rock tunes. Breakaway, my favorite, showcases Ms. Clarkson's true love for rock, and My December was her darkest (and still is) album yet, filled with tense, tragic lyrics of hate and despair. It turned quite a few people off, though she must be praised for her decision to stick to what she wants for herself rather than following executive's orders.

It seems that all the emo-ness has finally subsided, as the tone of this album, All I Ever Wanted, seems more reconciliatory, with excellent songs such as "My Life Would Suck Without You". However, I have stumbled in actually giving my full verdict on this album, as I can't decide whether it's a right step for Ms. Clarkson or not. One may well say, as AbsolutePunk.net said, "it’s an “album for everyone,” which may be true, but only in the sense that you’ll probably like a few of the tracks." Continuing her tradition, Ms. Clarkson's new album differs in tone from her previous ones, and although I was initially tempted to group this alongside Breakaway, it just sounds too different.

Still that's not exactly a bad thing, as perhaps she hasn't really found her style yet. There's no denying that All I Ever Wanted is fun and enjoyable and (in my opinion at least) a nice break from the tragic, disturbing and immensely dark My December. It does have a song for everyone, from soulful tunes to heavy rock, to weird bubblegum pop, it's all in here. So, in a nutshell, it is a good and fun album, and I would heartilly recommend it.

I CRY HOLY

I see You sitting on Your throne, O Lord
You are high and lifted up
Above the highest worship
I can offer You
I bow myself before Your throne, O Lord
Lifting high our holy hands
For beside You, Lord in heaven
There is none other

I cry holy, I cry worthy
I cry holy to the Lamb
I cry holy, worthy
Holy is the Lamb
I cry holy, worthy
Holy is the Lamb

The purpose of blogging?

Just finished Music Appreciation Midterm. It wasn't the most difficult, but it could have been better. What the heck.

Many people have asked why I don't post personal feelings and comments on this blog. Apparently, I'm too neutral or conventional. Well, I actually treat this blog like my personal website, like my own Geocities. As such, I prefer to blog about subjects such as games and movies as they are detached from my personal life. Besides that, I am still uncomfortable with the idea of publicly declaring my opinions, thoughts, feelings and personality.

Should I open up? Do tell.

There She Is!!

Happy Valentine's Day! I found a perfect cartoon to watch during this annual celebration.

Two years ago, I came across a fantastic Flash animation called "There She Is!!", produced by South Korean animation trio, SamBakZa. The three artists, Amalloc (아말록), SongSongHwa (송송화), and Sogong (소공), have masterfully crafted a beautiful, funny, touching, and creative series about a cat and a rabbit falling in love. Yes, it's odd, but to all of us who grew up with Disney, we should be used to it by now.

Having faithfully followed the cartoon over nearly two years, I must say that this show will remain in my mind as one of the best examples of the capabilities of Flash Animation, and is simply timeless. I laughed, cried (well, nearly, anyway), and fell in love with the series. Besides that, like any good show, it has a clear message underneath the cuteness. See if you can spot it!

Thankfully, SamBakZa, besides being remarkably talented, are also generous enough to allow their shows to be displayed on blogs (which is more than I can say for other animators).

So, I urge you, to please load each of these and watch them in order. You won't regret it. Trust me, and Happy Valentine's Day!



Step One


Step Two


Step Three


Step Four


Step Five



Flash Animations are copyrighted by SamBakZa.net

The religion of Star Trek

I've been watching a few Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes now, and it is fun stuff. Captain Jean-Luc Picard may not be quite as cool as Captain Kirk, but his strict, serious demeanor does grow on you. However, any keen observer would notice that Star Trek is subtly pushing forward an agenda.

To quote Star Trek: Enterprise's Producer, Brannon Braga, ""In Gene Roddenberry’s imagining of the future [...] religion is completely gone. Not a single human being on Earth believes in any of the nonsense that has plagued our civilization for thousands of years. This was an important part of Roddenberry’s mythology. He, himself, was a secular humanist and made it well-known to writers of Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation that religion and superstition and mystical thinking were not to be part of his universe. On Roddenberry’s future Earth, everyone is an atheist. And that world is the better for it.""


Sad indeed that Mr. Roddenberry would think like that. Worse yet that instead of keeping it to himself, he actually tried to enforce this view in his series. In many episodes of the original Star Trek series and the subsequent Star Trek: The Next Generation, oppressive "gods" are shown to be outsmarted by humans and eventually revealed to be false gods. These deities turn out to be mere aliens, supercomputers or other suitably advanced, but not at all divine, beings. Naturally, it's up to the crew of the Enterprise to shake the primitive, oppressed people out of their false convictions and stand up for themselves.


A few examples can be found on this ="http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/inconsistencies/religion.htm">website.

It's sad that such a positive and egalitarian series would end up being hypocritical by discriminating religion. So it's not alright to make fun of other races, but it's fair game to mock the faiths of billions of people in the world?

Mr. Roddenberry failed to realize that religion is neither oppressive nor self-destructive. A majority of the world's population live in relative peace despite adhering to a wide variety of faiths. There may be a few black sheep in the world, but one should focus on the positive majority of religious people and see that in actuality, they're progressive, nice people who get along with everyone else. Make no mistake though, I do not wish for Star Trek to begin promoting any one faith or even religion in general. To be truly equal and fair, Star Trek should remain secular, not atheistic.

Still there's plenty to like in Star Trek and I have come to love the series very much. Let's just hope that new director JJ Abrams never resorts to a false god story in his adaptations of Star Trek.

G'day mate!

Glorious Perth!

It’s been a while since I last updated this blog. I could come up with dozens of different excuses, but as they say in my marketing books, honesty is sometimes far better. (Not that marketing is very honest to begin with, for example it defines itself as “building better customer relationships to the betterment of both seller and customer” rather than simply, “brainwashing”)

So, the honest truth: I’ve been lazy. I must apologize. You see, I’ve been having the time of my life in the most wonderful city of Perth, Australia, and as a result, have experienced a bit of writer’s block.

And make no doubt; Perth really is a wonderful place. From the cleanliness of the air and parks, to the beautiful architecture and environment, to the friendly people, it’s quite a joy to be here. It’s really impressive how the Australians conduct themselves, from keeping the city clean to being punctual for little things such as bus schedules. Besides that, everywhere you go, friendly cashiers and shop attendees greet you with a “G’day” or “Hello, how are you?” Their niceness is also probably the reason for the rapid decrease in my wallet’s weight at the shops.

People who turned up for the Symphony, Swan bells in the background

There are many attractions too, such as the Perth Zoo, in which any Kung Fu Panda fan will be running here and there to spot the animals featured in the movie, and the Swan Bell Tower, which stand tall like a strange alien structure of red and green. If that’s not enough, the Australians will “create” their own attractions, such as the fascinating Western Australia Symphony Orchestra performance, which was held in an open air field. The (free) concert was attended by a staggeringly large audience. You really have to admire the fun-loving and sporting spirit of the Australian people!

I call these weird things "facehugger plants". Google it.

My family and I were also invited to picnics and lunches by some Australians and they were all very nice and friendly people. They know how to make conversation very well, but perhaps a little too well because at times we just felt a little lost while talking to them. Still they were patient and not at all proud. We went around visiting the country’s little towns and dams and had a great time. Notice from my photos just how docile and domestic Australian animals are. We joked that it’s probably because the birds and critters don’t get hunted down for food unlike back home!

More cute, tame birds

Well, it’s been great, and I predict it’ll still continue to be great. To all my SAM friends who are flying next year, I envy you because you’ll have a fantastic experience!

After a walk in Kings Park

Tame and docile ducks

War memorials at the park

The picnic

Perth Zoo crocodile. This bloke's huge!

Horton hears a who?