Taken in UV.

It is the Sun singing to you.

The mind of Sun smiles from the centre.

It just want you to hear it. Listen carefully. It begins.

Earth, my buddy, how are things going?

Am I shining too much? Can you take the heat?

I just wanna make sure you are warm and happy.

Earth, I am your Sun.

You know the Sun is passionate.

coronal mass ejection of the sun

A ball of pure heavenly fire pours out unceasing songs.

How could I possibly forget the bright sky.

Without the Sun, there can be nothing in the place where the solar system occupies in the Universe now.

There wont be music, no songs, no happiness.

And we are still relying on the Sun to produce more energy for the earth.

Dont blame it for global warming please.

When the sun turns away into the the clouds

the world starts to darken.

So dark and black.

I wonder and wonder will it ever come back? Will I hear it sing again?

I was not so opposed to it cos I have not been there for nearly two years. I hate it in the daytime. I can do nothing but get sun-burnt. But since it was in the evening, I presume it would be cool in the wind from the sea.

And I was right.

We landed the island five minutes after hopping on the monorail linking Vivo and Sentosa. The tiny train warns you not to place your belongings unattended, just like our city MRTs do. Will it blow up your travel mood?

One more thing about the train. When we got off, it said “Have a nice day.” But it was in late evening. I hope the government can set the announcement system more intelligent, so that they greet you with different words according to the time of the day.

Unsurprisingly, there were still so many people on the island. Youth playing volleyball, couples kissing, tourists screaming and laughing. What a day. Why had I chosen to come here for the noise that I could enjoy anywhere else?

We talked by the beach. Tides came and gone. There were other people walking like us. More were just resting on their chair, eating junk. I hope I can have some “quality” time like this, after such a long week of heavy work. Carrying a laptop in my bag and walking this long was really not a good choice.

We finally sat down at a bridgehead. This is a floating wooden bridge. Since it is under maintenance, nobody walked by. We could have some peace here. Well it was precious.

The only human sounds I could heard was some teenagers playing games 50 metres away. And it did not bother me any more cos it just mixed with nature so thoroughly that I think it was unmissable.

Tides. Tides. Tides. You just never found two of them the same pattern. Wait, are they big enough to generate electricity? God what am I thinking? No engineering pls.

This is the first time I found myself loving this tiny island. I am sure you will like it too if you go at night.

First, it is a group of commercial media companies. Well I guess I will never understand why MediaCorp’s subsidiaries can be called “Private Limited” while they are fully owned by the government. The same goes to Singtel and almost all other Temasek’s companies. Does it mean the whole Singapore government is “private”?

Moreover, to a lesser extent, MediaCorp also stretches into periodicals and newspaper publishing and film-making. At present, MediaCorp runs eight television channels and 14 (yes, thats right!) radio channels, making it the largest media broadcaster and provider in Singapore.

Copyright MediaCorp

For Channel 8, well I dont think it is a bad Channel. It imports quite a lot of Taiwanese soap drama, following the fashion trend quite closely. And I have to say their Mandarin news presenter is quite professional. The 1 o’clock news bulletin is classic. I love to watch it if I am taking a bus.

As of Channel 5, really a great channel, I mean, if it is your only source for American TV series ( for most Singaporeans, yes). Surprisingly, their news bulletin has a better broadcasting room than Channel News Asia. More trendy, looks more authoritative. And since it’s not branded as a professional news channel, the audience does not expect any exclusive news or point of view from it. Thats why I think even Channel 5 does a better job than Channel News Asia.

Let’s talk about Channel U. It was funded by the SPH in the early 2000s. Due to fierce competition with MediaCorp, the two were both losing money. But how could the Ministry of Finance ( which fully owns Temasek, which in term, fully owns MediaCorp and SPH) let that happen? So Channel U was merged into MediaCorp. It brands “Lead Asian Fashion”, which nearly made me puke.

Copyright MediaCorp

Television Singapura. This was the name of MediaCorp in 1963 till 1965. It had some other names over the years and finally sticked to MediaCorp in 2001.

Can you imagine how many TV series it produced  in the past 3 decades? I think more than 100. Of course most of which are so not intelligent. You wonder why Singaporeans dont file complains of humiliating their IQ to MDB.

Recent years the company cooperated with HK, Chinese and Taiwanese companies and produced quite some blockbusters. I am not saying it is good. But for sure it is a clever move.

Actually you know what I love about MediaCorp ? Their radio stations.

Copyright MediaCorp

Favourite channel would be Lush995. Can you imagine you drive on they way back home and the radio is playing some light music, the whole car is filled with relaxation and joy. It really help you forget stress.

Buy a radio and try it.

White bed and white sheet. And I just woke up. There was a scorpion on my windowsill. It is brown and big. My fear soon filled me up.

It jumped right on my body and I shook it off. It kept attacking me and I know I cant just run away: if I dont kill it right now it will attack me or even kill me in the future.

It was so powerful I felt I have to push it away from approaching my face. It just kept doing it. I noticed its freaking long tail. Six segments formed this flexible weapon. On the tip of it is the fatal sting. I was so afraid.

Have you noticed that venom-injecting barb? I can imagine the pain when it sticks into my skin, my flesh.

Oh the deadly venom. When the sting penetrates my skin, the venom goes into my blood. I would soon feel the affliction then it paralyses my body, I feel the difficulty of moving my legs and hands, I feel suffocated and nearing death. My face would turn white from bloody red and my breath slows and fades.

No no no, I cant let that happen.

I must conquer it. OK I easily smashed it with a dictionary.

Isnt it amazing? I just conquered death. And it was just dream. Good it is. But I guess next time I encounter such species, I might have more mental preparation before it scare the xxxx out of me.

Thank you dream.

The following trailer is in high definition, you can watch in full screen.

Has something so dangerous happened to you that nearly cost your life? There was once I got an electric shock when I was dissembling a camera. The electric current from the flash’s capacitor was so strong that I immediately started trembling. I dont know how long it lasted but my mind was blank and my fingers got burned. I was lucky.

Unlike the stories in Final Destination, death did not come for me becos I “cheated” him. However I became very careful when dealing with electronic gadgets. Guess thats what you learn after accidents.

I still fear death. Not becos of some imaginary pain, but not being able to leave my parents and friends. Moreover I got so much to do before I die. I must travel around and see as much as I can, cos I know the human brain has unlimited capacity. I must try so many different kinds of jobs, to see different people and experience different level of respect. I know I have not changed.

But dear friend, what if you end up begging in the streets? How would you gonna react when you see your ex-gf, ex-schoolmates? Dare you look into their eyes and ask:”Please, I have not eaten for two days”?

Prostitution? It’s not impossible to recognise your client is actually your ex-bf. How long will you do it? Will you keep dreaming a rich man fall in love with you and you can finally get rid of it?

Drug dealer? That wont be easy money. But before you get caught, you are one of the richest. How about that? Sure you wont start taking drug yourself right? Stay clever.

Wait wait, you ask me why are all the final destinations so dark and hopeless? Oh well, just some random thoughts. Keep going, get busy, do your homework guys!

Look around. Engineers make the least money. No to mention if you can merely make it to a programmer. Even thinking about it gives me a thrill.

You see, this is how it works:

You graduate from the university, after 4 years of hardwork (or not) and zillions of unsuccessful interviews, finally an IT firm wants to hire you. You are so excited and believe you can finally live on your own.

The first day you go to work, dozens of textbooks and manuals are thrown to you from nowhere. You are told to finish studying them within a month. They are all software engineering books. You realise that the poor knowledge on programming gained in school is never enough for work. So you go to the book store, carry piles of Java, Database (and many more) self-learning books and softwares back home. Now the pressure is not exams but the job deadline.

You finally finished them, it is the time for the real challenge. OK, admit it, you cant do anything. Now your senior colleagues come to offer help (or in most cases, you go to them for help), you thank them and god.

When boss asks how it gets done, you tell him you do it with the help of xx, you dont get any praise, but xx do.

Situation like this last at least one year. Then you get so sick of this company and the salary. You want to move on to a higher position or a “better” company.

You sent out so many resumes and get so few replies. You get another IT job at last.

Dont go into this field unless you really love it.

With his wife Diane before cancer changed his appearance.(Copyright NYTimes)

Now nobody walks by him without fixing their eyes on his face. You must imagine that kind of weirdness.

I was reading the New York Times and came across this article by Nelson, who called himself melon-headed in the article. The pictures stunned me and I feel I have to tell his story.

His obvious issue, as he puts it, is a side effect of treatment for head and neck cancer: chronic facial swelling, also known as moon face. The removal of several lymph nodes from his neck and subsequent radiation treatments have rendered the lymphatic system unable to drain fluids from his head.

Think of a water balloon. When you first see his photo, you immediately think of some cartoon characters or even alien.

Copyright NYTimes

I am not sure how long it took for his wife to get used to his appearance but isn’t it scary when she wakes up seeing Brian lying besides her?

Life cant be harder for Brian. He received numerous prejudice and strange look from people. For him, swallowing food successfully means a good day. And he also cherishes his cat comes to his feet and takes a nap near him.

I have not thought of such simple happiness in life for a long time. Sometimes people just forget what they are doing.

I read the comments below Brian’s article. A guy said his girl friend has a big scar on her arm. It was burnt by hot water. His girl friend did not complain about the incident but cherish how lucky she was that she did not lose her arm. The guy then thinks the scar is the most beautiful part of her cos it reminds him of her optimism and positive attitudes towards life.

I was quite scared.

I did not think that way. I thought it was ugly to have  a scar anywhere on the body. I did not even think of the idea that we should be happy that nothing worse happens.

Well, I got to re-examine the way I value life. Will I be brave enough to live on if my head becomes like Brian’s? How am I gonna tell my friends what happen to me?

Maybe becoming melon-headed is not the worst, but stone-hearted is.

It was amazing to see those buildings.

I never thought this course about eco-architecture can be so amusing yet constructive.

Ya I know the lecturer is a bit lack of teaching skills but he definitely knew how to draw my attention by piling up tons of beautiful pictures in his ppt.

There are so many ways to keep a building warm or cool, but you must find a best way. For urban modern buildings, you need to spend time and money on designing the “green” aspect of it. When we say “green”, it does not only mean a lot of plants. You need a whole lot of efforts in saving energy. You need to create a very good human experience too.

When it comes to projects or assignment, things go a bit miserable.

I knew nobody in this class. There are hardly China students. Which is partly good, cos I can partner Singaporeans.

I asked the guy sitting besides me if he has partners or a desired project topic. He has neither. So naturally we form a team and choose to inspect the “green” aspects of Republic Polytechnic. Well hope it wont be too difficult cos I dont have any S/U option for this course.

I came up with the idea that I should have chosen designing as a career option. I know it is a bit crazy but I just did not know I have passion about it. For sure I dont have enough professional knowledge but I’d love to try more on this.

Isn’t it amazing to realise your dream in such big scale by housing people inside? Cool.

Indeed District 9 is not really about scaring the shxt out of you. A deeper thought on who we are, what we see in ourselves occurs throughout the film. It echoes the sound of humanity in the 2001 film Artificial Intelligence: AI.

District 9 opens with a documentary-style series of interviews that explain events that occurred 20 years ago. (Thinking about another documentary-like film Bruno, you realise how different a “documentary” can work)

An alien ship settled above Johannesburg, South Africa.  Humans discovered a large group of sick and malnourished non-human beings, with their leadership mysteriously missing. A command module later fell to Earth, although it was never found. The creatures were ultimately housed in a government camp inside Johannesburg. Overcrowding and militarization eventually turned the area into a slum known as District 9.

Wikus van der Merwe is in charge of relocating the 1.8 million aliens to a new “District 10″ camp located 240 km from Johannesburg, with help from private security forces of MNU. Wikus gets infected with some unknown liquid found in an alien’s home, his left arm has mutated into an alien appendage. Wikus is then taken into custody by MNU for research, but he managed to escaped.

Copyright QED International

Wikus seeks refuge in District 9, where he meets alien Christopher Johnson (quite ironic that the aliens are given human names but treated like…well…alines), who can operate the alian ship. The only way Wikus can get back to human form is to be taken onto the alian ship and undertake surgery. Can he be cured at the end?

The command module is fixed after Wikus and Christopher breaks into MNU and get back the unknow liquid, it turns out to be the fuel. Unfortunately the command module is hit down by MNU’s missile and Wikus has to go other ways.

Wikus flights against MNU soldiers in an alien mechanic suite, which resembles what Robert Downey Jr. wears in Iron Man. He finally succeeded in helping Christopher return to the command module, which nearly cost his life. However I wonder, at this time, does he really want to live on?

Wikus talks Christopher into returning to the ship without him. Christopher promises Wikus that he will return in three years to repair his body. When you look into his eyes, you know he means it. Christopher then boards the command module and activates a tractor beam which returns the command module to the mother ship.

The mother ship leaves Johannesburg’s sky for the first time in two decades, you can imagine how thrilled the citizens are. The film concludes  with the aliens successfully moved to District 10. Some believe that Wikus left on the mother ship, while others believe he is in hiding, or perhaps captured by the government.

Copyright QED International

You must remember Unbrella, the powerful bio-chem company in Resident Evil. How similar is MNU with Unbrella? Big science company grow out of control. They become the policy maker and turn the world into a slaughter field. Do we have necessary laws to regulate them? I believe the US congress has been working on it for decades.

What will you do if you were infected? Are you strong enough to fight for a living? Will you wait for 3 years till Christopher comes back? U got to believe that he will come back. Or why do you live on?