Monday, April 18, 2011

LA Online Lesson

Select one of the photos / images and write a descriptive paragraph on it. Engage your 5 senses -- this means you should describe not only what is seen, but what is heard, smelt, tasted and felt. Use literary devices (sound, imagery, diction) to bring the scene to life.

Descriptive Paragraph

The overhead fighter planes were blasting missiles onto the ground, the sound throbbing in my ears. As I looked around at the impact of the destructive forces, what lay before me was a scene of total chaos. It was as if a tsunami waved had swept through the whole street, buildings collapsed, carcasses littered the streets and blood splattered onto the ground. The odour of the blood smelled like burning metal and stung my nose, the pungent stench of the decomposing bodies attracted swarms of flies. As I lay on the rocky terrain of the rundown street, my body ached from having to crouch in that position for hours at end. The harsh sun shone its flaring rays onto my blackened skin, burning them relentlessly. Sweat droplets streamed down my forehead and blinded my eyes.


Imagine you are a character living through one of the 20th century Wars. You can be either a civilian or a soldier. (Consider the age, gender, social class, occupation etc of the character.) Write a diary entry from the perspective of this person. Entitle your entry: A day in the life of _______ war. You should focus on a particular point in time of the war (eg. during or after a particular battle).

Alternatively, you can imagine yourself to be one of the characters in any one of these film clips. Write a diary entry from his point of view.

Band of Brothers – Diary Entry (Battle of the Bulge)

The day of the battle dawned upon us. We crouched with weapons in our hands, waiting in the trenches which circled the forest in anticipation of the fighting. We never knew where the enemy was going to attack us; they could attack us from the front, the rear or from above us. The air was cold and still, the silence was unbearable. Soon after, smoke started rising from the opposite side of the forest and drifted towards our trenches.

The first round of the shootings started; the bullets landed in the snow a few inches before where I was crouching. As I was about to get up to collect more ammunition, a bullet shot my right shoulder. I collapsed like a doll onto the ground and the steaming cup of coffee I was holding spilled onto my legs, paralysing them. At that instant, I thought of my wife and child who were eagerly waiting back home for me to go back to them. The next moment, my fellow comrades dragged me out of the trench with much effort. The deafening sound of rifles echoed in my ears.

Not long after, I was dragged away from where the heated fighting took place. Rocks and braches on the ground ripped my trousers and cut my legs. It lasted for an eternity. One of my friends treated my wound and I was soon brought back to camp. On the way, I was in a state of semi-consciousness, and heard muffled shooting in the distance...

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Language Arts Essay

Television has too great an influence on life today. What are your views?

Television has developed rapidly over the previous few decades and over 99% of all households in Singapore have at least one set. Due to this widespread development, television has impacted on lives both positively and negatively, and it is up to the individual to filter the pool of information provided, and to choose what is best for his own physical and mental health.

The functions of television are numerous and improve our life by making it more convenient and comfortable, thus replacing other media forms. For example, recent companies like Samsung has developed televisions with High Definition and 3-Dimension available, and also boosts functions like the Internet and radio, and plays movies and music. Television now is no longer just an avenue from which to gather knowledge, news and entertainment, but is now a multifunctional equipment that we cannot do without. Though some might say that 3rd Generation phones like the iPhone might be more accessible than the television, I would like to argue that televisions have wider screens, and doubt reduces the stress on our eyes, allowing us to enjoy the programmes in comfort. Thus, televisions have revolutionised our lives by making it more convenient and comfortable.

Although its functions are numerous, television has an adverse role on its viewers. For example, violence, gore, eroticism and horror are present in television programmes, especially movies which are shown on television like, The Human Centipede, which is shown in the United States, have a negative impact on the audience. One can potentially imitate what is shown in the programmes and cause harm to oneself and those around him. These people would be the “puppets of modern television”, the atrocities committed would be unimaginable. Though such themes are present in television programmes today, as long as one is able to distinguish what is right from wrong, and watch the shows merely for self-fulfilment or pleasure, television has no direct harm to its viewers.

For some people, their lives revolve around the television to the extent that it affects them both physically and mentally in a negative way. Research and experiments have shown that people who spend their time watching television for hours, has increased chances of having cardiovascular diseases and obesity. For example, a person who watches 4 or more hours of television has increased his chances of death from cardiovascular diseases by 80%, and his chances of getting cancer is increased by 9%. Also, watching television for hours at end increases the chances of myopia, as proper eye care habits are not observed. Therefore, it is up to the individual to control one’s watching habits and not let television take up too much of one’s life to the extent that one suffers as a result.

The development of television today is rapid and ever-changing to meet the needs of its consumers. Though television poses certain risks to its viewers, one should filter the information provided in the programmes. The invention and development of the television has revolutionised our world and our lives, and is an invention that one cannot do without today.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Emily of Emerald Hill - A Review of a Play


Note: This photo was taken by my mother and was posted on her blog (http://singtatter-corner.blogspot.com/)


I watched the W!LD RICE 10th anniversary production, Emily of Emerald Hill, directed by Glen Goei, on the 6th of March 2011 at the Esplanade Theatre, Singapore. The one-woman play is written by Stella Kon and narrates the story of a nyonya matriarch who resides in Singapore. The actor is Ivan Heng, who is also the Artistic Director of the production.

Some may find the plot slow or mundane, but I felt that the play was effective in communicating its plot to the audience. As this play includes only one actor, the success of the production lies very much in how the costumes, gestures, words, props, lights and sounds are utilised to create the atmosphere and tone the director wants to create. The play narrates the downfall of the matriarch who dominates the household when her son, Richard, committed suicide and her husband estranged from her and lived in his mistress's house. Overall, I felt that the plot was self-sustaining and effectively evokes feelings of sadness and empathy in the audience.

Cross-dressing, as part of this production, poses a huge challenge to Ivan as it is not easy to act as a character of the opposite gender. He had to imitate the posture, tone and gestures of specifically a nyonya matriarch, all of which were done flawlessly, in complement to the make-up (everything from lipstick, eye liner to blusher) and the different costumes which included a kebeya that was hand sewn. The choice of the earrings, rings, diamond bracelets, necklace and the hand beaded slippers were carefully made to match the era in which the play is set in. One is amazed to know how striking the actor resembles an actual nyonya.

For Ivan to fit into his role, he had to sing a few traditional folk songs, which required good vocal chords in order for the role to sink into the audience's mind. His tone had to change according to the story, from one of anxiety, contentment, grief, despair, pretence to nostalgia, as well as the posture, gestures and facial expressions "transformed" and shaped how Emily's character changed with the passing of events. The volume of his voice also rose and fell with the development of events. For example, when Emily visited Salisbury to persuade Richard to give up working in the ranch, Emily's body and facial expressions were intense and her tone was full of anxiety as she wanted her child to have a bright future ahead. Though Richard was an "imaginary character" in the eyes of the audience, Emily's acting allowed us to visualise the character and how he would respond to Emily's pleas. Throughout the whole play, it was evident that we see and view the numerous characters whom we view as antagonists and side characters in the eyes of Emily. The strange thing is that from Emily's words and expressions, we are able to view Emily in the perspective of the other imaginary characters as well. This can only be attributed to the superb acting of Ivan in the role of Emily.

Out of all the elements in this play, I felt that the most significant one was the initial and final scene, in which the set was made up of a white box of telescoping frames. A slow melody was then played as Emily danced slowly and gracefully back to the door at the back of the stage, which was precisely how she entered the stage at the beginning of the play. As the two scenes are open to interpretation, I felt that the director wanted to convey the message that the story of Emily as a nyonya has long been "frozen" in time as this heritage of the Peranakans is an untold story that has long been forgotten by Singaporeans today. It is only through these books and plays that have been written that we are able to slowly unfold this heritage and appreciate the rich culture and heritage of the Peranakans.

As a personal reflection, I pondered over how theatre, in this case the production, Emily of Emerald Hill, is able to impart to the audience moral values and lessons, as well as the way of life and history of the Peranakans through a different and innovative way. In this production, theatre is able span across the fields of Literature, History and Performing Arts (Music & Dance). Elements of theatre were also effectual in conveying the different developments of the story to the audience.

Last of all, I would like to share a quote:
"A woman is like a tea bag. You never know how strong she is until she gets into hot water."
- Eleanor Roosevelt

Resources:
How to Write a Theatre Play Review. (25/3/2010). Retrieved from http://www.docstoc.com/docs/31359112/How-to-Write-a-Theatre-Play-Review
Play Review. (2009). Retrieved from http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/PlaWriting.html
W!LD RICE. (2011). Emily of Emerald Hill programme booklet. Singapore: Allegro Print.

Emily of Emerald Hill - An Introduction

This post is meant to give a brief introduction on theatre.

Before the review of the play, I would like to first introduce myself as an avid audience of musicals, operas, plays or any other forms of theatre. For those of you who might not be familiar with this aspect of performing arts, I shall give a brief introduction on this. The main distinction of theatre as compared to movies and other forms of literature is that in such a performance, live performers act out a scene on stage that makes use of backgrounds, lights, sounds, props, costumes, words, songs, gestures and the list goes on, to allow the audience to be fully immersed in the story.

Theatre branches out into many types and I shall only talk about the few types of drama which I most commonly watch. First of all, I would like to talk about opera. Quoting from a review I had done for The Magic Flute last year, "My impression of The Magic Flute then was beautiful music and a storyline which contained the themes of love, friendship and relationships between mother and daughter." Also, the dialogues, sound effects and music all contributed to the impression of the opera in the audience’s mind when it was performed live. The props and settings used were innovative and contributed to the success of the opera. Essentially, an opera merges music and drama into a single entity. I would like to share a fascinating music piece from the opera, the aria sung by the Queen of the Night (Der Hölle Rache: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2ODfuMMyss).

Next, a pantomime, which is specifically a musical-comedy theatrical production.
More explanation is in this blog post from last year:

My Language Arts teacher recently informed us that I and some other classmates would be going for the Animal Farm production by W!LD RICE theatre.

Before I continue, let me first introduce this company. This company was founded in 2000 by Ivan Heng, who is an internationally acclaimed and award-winning theatre practitioner. He is recognised today as one of Singapore’s leading professional theatre companies. This company uses fictional stories to come up with plays that celebrates our diversity, reflectes on the problems times, and these productions are both inspiring and entertaining.

Their website is: http://www.wildrice.com.sg/

A few years back, I have already started watching W!LD RICE theatre plays when my mother first knew about this theatre. Since then, I have been watching their plays in Singapore almost every year. Two of the several plays I have watched so far are Beauty and the Beast and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Comparing these two with other plays I have watch, I would give these a 5-star rating. They encompass many different aspects that would greatly appeal to the audience. There is a bit of humour, but not too much such that it destorts the storyline. Attention-grabbing would be another way I would use to describe the plays. The use of original and creative songs that appeal to both the young and old alike makes the play unique in its own way.

Both of these plays are also pantomimes, which are basically theatrical productions that are musical and comedic. They are usually, but not always, performed during the Christmas and New Year season. There are various roles in a pantomime but there are certain fixed roles that are common in almost all pantomimes.

They are:
- The main character (Protagonist)
- The character whom the protagonist loves
- The villain (Antagonist)
- The comic lead (The character who interacts with the younger audience
- The dancers (A group of children)
- The choir

Some features that diiferentate a pantomime from other theatrical production would be that they incorporate:

- Song
- Dance
- Buffoonery
- Slapstick
- Cross-dressing
- Jokes that are known by the audience
- Audience participation

To give an example, in the production Beauty and the Beast, the villain, who is the witch, is actually a male actor who cross-dresses. Also, China baby milk powder is mentioned as one of the ingredients for the poison apple that was given to Snow White by the witch. Many of you might know this incident as it caused quite a big hoo-ha at that time, where the Sanlu baby milk powder was found to contained dangerous levels of melamine that could kill a baby. This resulted in several babies dying and others having kidney stones. Both these productions are by W!LD RICE.


Following this, a musical is different from an opera, as such a production incorporates dialogue to move the story as well. The main "attraction" of a musical is its story, while it is music for operas. For me, I watched musicals when I was young, such as Dorothy and The Wizard of Oz and The Little Red Hen, both performed by iTheatre (http://www.itheatre.org/ACEF2010.html).

In conclusion, the mysterious power behind theatre that never fails to impress me time and again is how the producer actually manages to make use and combine the different elements of theatre, as aforementioned, to create a production that takes the audience aback and gasp at the beauty and sophistication of the piece of literature.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Newsworthiness

Write about what you’ve learnt about newsworthiness. Are the factors that make a story newsworthy the same factors that would arouse your interest in a story?

I have learnt that news articles are carefully picked before they are published in a newspaper. These articles should include one or more of the following factors:

1. Tragic (Pathos)

2. Human Interest

3. Conflict

4. Timeliness

5. Conflict

6. Shock factor

7. Sleaze factor (Titillation)

8. Proximity

9. Number of people involved

10. Future impact

11. Uniqueness (Extraordinary)

12. Prominence

I am going to talk about some of the more significant factors that would be more related to us. First of all, I would like to talk about the element of sadness, or pathos. Let’s admit it, we as humans, take pleasure in the misfortunes of others. Either we curb it, or we live with it. Regardless of the case, a tragedy never fails to evoke feelings of compassion, empathy, grieve or pity. For example, a natural disaster occurs and tens of thousands of people are killed and thousand others missing will definitely make us feel sorrow and hope and pray for these people involved.

Lust, as one of the Seven Deadly Sins, lives in each and every human body and soul. Whether we want to admit it or not, the sleaze factor is something we all look out for in the newspaper. More often than not, whenever we come across an article with the sleaze factor involved, like a sexual scandal, we are more prone to reading the whole article and stir up a debate over the issue. A leopard never changes its spots; it will be a long time before lust is no longer present in the human soul.

Soft news, or news that relate to human interests, are deeply rooted within ourselves. As humans, we engage in healthy and recreational activities to free ourselves from the monotony and stress of life. Soft news, which range from gardening to cookery, engages our heart by appealing to us to relax and play.

Conflict, an element essential in literature which engages the audience, is another factor found it news articles. Conflict may be racial, religious, physical or emotional. Conflict can occur between the audiences with an opposing party if the audience feels strongly against something. This makes a piece of news newsworthy as it stirs up a heated debate or conflict.

Last of all, uniqueness, which is something that happens out of the ordinary appeals to the readers as well. If a news article is about something that happens every day, or is familiar to the audience, no one would bother to read the article as there would be no purpose and no feelings evoked from doing so.

In conclusion, a good news article should have as many of these factors as possible, in order to be newsworthy. An article in one part of the country may not be as good as it is in another country on the opposite side of the globe. When deciding on how newsworthy a piece of news is, we have to be sure of the target audience we want and report the news accordingly.

Side Note

With regards to Nathan's comment, I would like to clarify my point as follows:

First of all, I agree with the comment on babies not being able to think rationally, and not be tempted by lust or greed. However, these children will grow up over time and the world will be opened before them, temptations will definitely get into the way due to the friction between human and nature.

Next, regarding man taking pleasure in the misfortune of others, and this being natural from birth, whether we live with it or we control it, is all dependent on the perspective of an individual. From my perspective, 人之初,性本恶, that is to say that the nature of man is evil. This saying originated from Xun Zi 荀子,and differs from Mencius' 孟子 teaching of 人之初,性本善, the nature of man is good. His line of argument is that only the environment and nurturing of a person would be able to save him from being immoral. An example he had given was that man would eat when hungry, and that is human nature. However, when one is in the presence of elders, he will not take the food ant eat. This is because he has been taught since young to respect elders, and thus nurture outweighs nature in this case. Nevertheless, there is a flaw in making such a statement. Some have argued that if man's nature was evil, how did the ideology of goodness come about? In my perspective, this argument can also be used to as a rebuttal to Mencius' statement, in the sense that if man's nature is good, how did evil come about?

In addition, in two of the previous assembly sessions we had with 何老师 and 陈老师, they mentioned that every person has a 小人心态,and we should try our best to become a gentleman and not let these personal temptations get into the way.

So, is man's nature good or evil? This subject has been under debate for the previous two centuries. I believe that it is all a matter of perspective; there will definitely be people who oppose to my viewpoint and vice versa.

Different types of newspapers

What is the difference between broadsheet and tabloid newspapers?

Broadsheet newspapers are larger in size, usually longer vertically as compared to tabloid newspapers, which are smaller and more convenient to read and carry. The broadsheet newspaper carries a more formal, factual tone while the tabloid newspaper uses an informal, casual tone. Broadsheet newspapers have articles relating to important global and local news and report them in-depth. However, the news is usually politically biased. Tabloids, on the other hand, report more sensational and soft news. On the first page of a tabloid newspaper, many pictures are used and headlines and often big and arouses attention from the readers.

Does one always deal with more respectable news / produce more professional journalism than the other?

One type of newspaper need not necessary deal with more respectable news, though news that are more sensational and unprofessional are associated with tabloid newspapers. News that are sensational, relate to celebrities, gossip columns, astrology, sports or junk food news (news that encompass the abovementioned or news that involve the titillation factor) are commonly reported in tabloid newspapers. However, not all tabloid newspapers engage in tabloid journalism.

Are there in-between types of newspapers?

There are newspapers that are in-between broadsheet newspapers and tabloid newspapers. For example, in the United Kingdom, The Times is a tabloid size newspaper but does not engage in tabloid journalism. Rather, it is highly respected and well-renowned as a source for UK and international news.