Reviews, Reflections, Recollections

A New Chapter, A New Blog

2006-09-01T11:00:00.000Z

I have created a new blog which can be found here, on account of my having finished at University and closed that chapter in my life. As always, I thank you for your support in reading my blog and I welcome comments, critical or otherwise.

Questions

2006-05-06T02:44:00.000Z

Who Are You?

I am a 24 year old male, genus homo sapiens, called Caleb Liu, with varying degrees of accuracy in pronounciation. The last I checked I was a disenchanted student, attempting to answer some of life's more bemusing questions, such as what is the meaning of life? Is there a God? What is morally right? Not to mention the downright perplexing ones like "How is it that it can go from bright sunshine to rain to hail and back to sunshine again in the UK in a span of 5 hours?".

What are your future aspirations?

Well, I will get over the cliched "I want to be happy and fulfilled" bit, taking that as a given, with the proviso that being happy and fulfilled also involves earning a reasonable income - reasonable insofar as I am able to support a semi-decent lifestyle and not have to live in penury. To be honest, otherwise I don't have a clue what I is going to happen next, what the future has in store, what I am going to do with my life etc. It is both a very very scary thing, and also something that is rather exciting as well.

What is happiness?

If I knew the answer to that question, I would be a very very rich person. Well, only if I could bottle it and I managed to market it effectively, but you get the idea. Happiness has been a very transitory thing for me in recent times. I think I have realised what it means to be really happy (as opposed to being merely content, fulfilled, at ease, or enjoying oneself), but only because I have also understood what it means to be truly unhappy as well (as opposed to being merely anxious, restless, bored, disatisfied and others). I could come up with some trite saying, but I refuse to. Happiness is individual. It is perhaps a state of mind, but also a combination of various chemical (im)balances in your physiological state. I think it is interesting that we can define despair and anger and other dark emotions easier than we can define happiness. Happiness for me is cuddling up to a person you truly feel at ease with or curled up in bed with a really wonderful book, or getting a quiz question right faster than everyone else, or seeing an old friend on the street and enchanging banter with him.

What is love? Is there True Love?

People have asked me what love is. I can only parrot Cole Porter: "What is this thing called love? This crazy thing called love? Who can tell its mystery? Why does it make a fool of me?" Or perhaps the bible "love is gentle, love is kind...." or the fact that love is not selfish. I think love is equal parts need and equals parts giving, but it often isn't perfectly balanced. People tell me it is about seeing someone and being able to tell them and more importantly yourself that there is someone you want to spend the rest of your life with, irregardless of circumstance. To quote Moulin Rouge "Come What May, I will love you, until my dying day". But perhaps that is as much about YOUR state of mind and you deciding that it is time to settle down as about the person who happens to walk into your life just then.

Any authors that have influenced you?

I have read a great many books that I love, and I am particularly not a person who discriminates. I will make an awful book critic if only because I tend to enjoy a book for what it is, no matter what genre it is written in. That said, I urge everyone to read Neil Gaiman, who is an absolute genius and who writes books that are tremendously beautiful, witty, endearing, fantastic and filled with a life all its own. I would read anything by Neil (and I more or less have). I also think J.M Coetzee is a fascinating writer, who has an interesting mix of fiction and philosophy in his work, and who is adept at peering deep into the human soul and its psyche and probing the depths we would rather avoid. Jeanette Winterson is a wonderfully lyrical writer whose works I have enjoyed immensely. Other books I would recommend unabashedly (at the present moment - my list is perpetually changing) are Atonement by Ian McEwan, Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson and of course the Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien.

Music that changed your life?

I grew up with a huge thing for Bon Jovi and any of their songs is still liable to set me loose. Nirvana was something I played when I wanted to let all the demons out, and I still do, though it was liable to make my parents go nuts. Kind of Blue was a seminal album that sparked a huge interest in jazz. Chopin is a great love of mine particularly the Ballades, Waltzes and Noctures. Eva Cassidy has a voice like an angel and can pierce the darkest hour with a ray of sunshine, Damian Rice is liable to depress, but there is a power to his melancholy.

If you had a day free how would you typically spend it?

To begin with, I would sleep in till at least 10am. Sleeping in is one of my ultimate guilty pleasures. I think I am unfit for the real world due to the fact that I love my sleep and I love staying up late. I think I would potter around the room, and spend a couple of hours online reading news, blogging, playing random web games and generally "wasting" time online as it often wont to happen. I would then wander out to have lunch at a cafe maybe, something simple maybe a sandwich with some soup, and I would then wander into a bookshop to browse for a couple of hours or more depending. I think a late afternoon drink at a pub with some company would be wonderful, or tea maybe, catching up with some friends or an old acquaintance or two. Dinner would be at a nice restaurant, preferably with some company, or else with the most trusty company of all - a book. Afterwards would be a movie/play or concert, or perhaps a Pub Quiz at the Turf Tavern.

Extroversion Test

2006-05-04T14:46:00.000Z

Your Extroversion Profile:

Assertiveness: Very High

Friendliness: Very High

Sociability: High

Activity Level: Low

Excitement Seeking: Low

Cheerfulness: Very Low

How Extroverted Are You?

A Final Perspective: A Fond Farewell?

2006-04-18T02:36:00.000Z

I have decided that the time is ripe for me to write a summary of my thoughts and feelings as I prepare to leave Oxford. With my impending final examinations, it has never been more clear to me that these moments represent the culmination of my three years here. That my time admidst the spires, dreaming or otherwise are coming to a close. Tutorials, boat races, nights out at the pub, old rooms up rickety wooden staircases, kebabs after a night out, Blackwell's bookshop, lying on lawns on a warm afternoon, dining while served in hall, glorious and endless shelves of books, one on one tutorials, essay crisis: all these will soon be part of a chapter of my life which will be closed.

What did I expect when I came? A thorny question, probably important to consider as a comparison to the real thing. But Oxford has hardly had it fair, especially after Evelyn Waugh. I haven't read Brideshead Revisited, but the essential characteristics have permeated everybody's perception of Oxford. Of course, there is the no small matter of eight centuries of learning, of old buildings stooped under the weight of learning accumulated there. Libraries chock full of old dusty tomes, croquent on the lawns on a long summer's day. Watching the rowing by the river, Pimm's in hand. Long dinners replete with wine and port and oft-repeated anecdotes in equal measure.

Mirrormask: My 700th Movie

2006-04-02T15:58:00.000Z

I went to watch Mirrormask at the Pheonix last night. It is a wonderful movie based on concepts by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean and I was extremely desperate to see it. Mirrormask tells the story of Helena, who is born into a family of circus entertainers. After a quarrel, her mother falls very ill and needs to undergo an operation, and Helena blames herself for what has happened. The night before her operation, she finds herself entering a strange unreal world that is based on her own imagination and artwork and is tasked with restoring the balance between light and dark in that world by finding the "mirrormask" and waking the queen of light. As she goes about her quest, with her companion Valentine in tow, they chance upon many strange beings and she realizes that the line between dream and reality is increasingly being blurred and she can see through a window into her world, and things there seem to be unravelling.

To do the movie justice I perhaps have to begin by describing my initial reaction to the movie. Upon leaving the theatre, I found myself in yet more British easter rain, but it didn't matter to me. I felt this wonderful upsurge of delight, this sudden urge to want to forget about buses and bicycles and supermarkets and bars and all that. The rain seemed something to delight in even. I had the most powerful sense that international relations and ethics and epistemology and political sociology were the most terribly bloated and weighted things compared to the wonderful light airiness of the dream-like fantasy I had just left. They say that the best fantasy makes children of us all, and fills us with a special kind of wonder and joy. I kind of felt that at that moment.

Of course I was probably overexaggerating things - the movie wasn't really an instant masterpiece and was rough around the edges in a way. But I do love Neil Gaiman's work - it has a earthiness, a wonderous light humour to it that is amazing. Gaiman's fanatasy world isn't completely fairy tale like, or it is more like the fairy tales of old as they were meant to be (before Disney happified them) where betrayal is real, where despair is a possibility. The defining thing about Mirrormask is of course the visual ideas - the characters themselves, but also the set design and concepts. It was alien and eerie in a wonderful way. One scene stands out: the most sinister powerful transformation/seduction scene I have ever seen, when Helena succumbs to the Black Queen and agrees to serve as the substitute to the Black Queen's daughter and is dressed up in velvety black Gothic glory by live mannequins coming out of boxes to the tune of a cracked up electric version of the Carptenter's Close To You. That scene itself is worth the price of admission, not to mention the flying books, the cats with faces and everything else.

Mirrormask is a wonderful feat of the creative imagination, even more so considering that it was made on a budget of only US$4 million. It will cause you to marvel, to wonder, and perhaps even to feel a wonderful sense of mystery again. Nothing is quite like it.

I guess it is quite apt then, seeing my great love of Neil Gaiman and his work, that Mirrormask is the 700th Movie that I have seen (in any medium) according to the list that I compiled and have been periodically updating. I am certain that I may have missed a few here and there, but I am proclaiming Mirrormask my 700th according to my records. I cannot help but wonder what my 1000th movie will be like; I can only hope that it will be something similar to this.

Another Day Goes By

2006-04-01T21:56:00.000Z

I slept in today again, partly because I wanted to fully get over the headache from last night, and partly because I didn't sleep very well. Finally got into a nice fitful doze past 5am, so had ended up waking only around noon.

It was a nice sunny afternoon, something that I did not realize mainly because I was stuck in my room trying to do work. I emphasize trying. My stunning resolve seems to have fallen apart with a mixtures of various distractions. A chief distraction has been my discovery of Yahoo Answers which is rather addictive - you earn points for helping to give answers to a whole plethora of random queries.

I also finished the book I mentioned in the previous post called "Know It All" which was about one man's quest to read through the whole of the Encyclopedia Britannica. I have to say that I felt a great deal of kinship with a lot of what he wrote, and for his quest in general. To be fair, I did once attempt to read through an encyclopedia cover to cover, but that was when I was all of 7 years of age, and I gave up around "ac" - this being my old 1987 edition of the World Book encyclopedia. I had loved reading the encyclopedia as a kid - the reason I gave up was more along the lines of my enjoying the sense of discovery one got by browsing around and flipping through the pages.

I must admit that I identify far too closely with a number of the remarks that Jacobs makes for comfort. I can totally understand the electric feeling he says he gets when he discovers some totally unrelated and random fact - like the fact that "screeched" is the longest one syllable word in the english language (quite appropriately one would think). I also share his ambivalence about the dividing line between knowledge and intelligence, and whether building up the former has any bearing on the latter, though my love of knowledge is that I cannot refrain myself from cluttering my head with useless information, even if is not only total useless, but in fact detrimental to intelligence. His many attempts to drop a telling fact, and the reactions he received when that happened caused me to wince in sympathy, particularly his description of how the opposite party goes "oh, that's interesting" even as their eyes start to wander off.

However, if one needed any further proof of the essential sadness of my life, it lies in the way that I responded to Jacob's facts themselves. When he mentions that 'bedlam' actually originated from the Bethlehem hospital, I not only went "knew that!" but couldn't help but wonder if Jacobs knew that this is now the site of the Imperial War Museum. When he commented on how Attila the Hun proved his ruthlessness by having the people who buried him killed, I went aha! but that is nothing compared to Qin Shihuang, the first emperor of China who had tens of thousands of artisans, and engineers killed - in fact, anyone who had even worked vaguely on his tomb, which was a enormous number of people considering there was an entire army of terracotta warriors buried with him. When he spoke of the Gettsburg Address and how Lincoln was not the keynote speaker, but had to wait for someone to ramble on for 2 hours before he took to the podium, I went "knew that!" immediately, while adding the fact that Lincoln had not composed the speech on the train and scribbled his notes for it one the back of an envelope as commonly believed. (I admit to learning that particular tidbit of information from a Bill Bryson book no less - Mother Tongue - in an extract printed out for my A level class). And so on it went.

Cappucino originating from the Cappuchin monks and the colour of their robes? Easy! George III and his bouts of madness - easy enough again. I could even explain that his madness was caused by a hereditary condition that caused the build up of waste chemicals in his bloodstream (learned this from a lecture given at the Oxford Literary Festival by Steve Jones recently). Even better - he used the metaphor "leaving Iwo Jima before the flag was planted" in his book, and I couldn't help but want to point out that that famous photo was actually staged, as well as the fact that the famous photo of the Russian soldiers placing the flag on the Reichstag is also staged - read it in a book called On Photography by Susan Sontag.

Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both dying on the 4th of July? That is an old chestnut, along with the fact that Adams' last words were "Jefferson still lives". I admit to not knowing that Jefferson paid a newspaper to libel Adams, but I do know that his house was called Monticello and that he invented the dumbwaiter (most useful of devices). Less spectacularly, I knew that one of the pioneers of the film industry was the appropriately named Lumiere (similar to luminous), but what sprang to mind immediately was that it was also the name of the candlestick character in Beauty and the Beast.

If you haven't started wondering if there is something seriously wrong with me, then you had better look yourself in the mirror. Bandying facts is a hazardous enough pastime; doing it towards an inanimate object and going hah and one-upping a person who is thousands of kilometres (the author lives in New York) away and who doesn't know you exist is completely off the wall barmy. To top it all off, Jacobs describes the thrill of triumph he felt when he spotted an error in the Britannica - that Robert Frost was considered an alumni when he didn't actually graduate from Harvard. I spotted an error in his book, and emitted a sound of triumph that caused a few startled glances (I was sitting in a pub having lunch while reading) - he mis-spelt Chicken Tikka Marsala (it is Masala) - a mistake that Massala, who is actually the nemesis of Judah Ben Hur from everyone's favourite easter movie, might easily have made.

To sum it all off, I googled Jacobs and found that he has a wonderful little website and blog, and I have proceeded to send him an email with regards to how much I enjoyed his book, of course suriptiously mentioning that one error...

Aching Head

2006-03-31T23:56:00.000Z

I suddenly found myself with a headache, somewhat inexplicably, so I popped two panadols, with coke (I hope that isn't a bad combination in any way, I know panadol with alcohol is not a good idea). I also made myself some chicken and vegetable soup, following the old maxim that chicken soup cures all ills, though mine was of the canned Marks and Spencer's variety and thus probably lacking in any regenerative function. I probably made it worse by zapping it in the microwave instead of simmering it over the fire in a pot.

After all that, I feel quite a bit better (it being 2am now). Not that it has helped my productivity much at all. To give my addled brain a rest (addled from what you may well ask, quite fairly), I browsed a book called "know it all" which is an intriguing quest of one man to read through the whole of the Encyclopedia Britannica, which I am sad to say is actually a personal quest which I shall fulfill one day (beats reading through the bible, which is like so passe and so much less of a challenge!). More on all of this later.

Tomorrow is a new day. I need to be more productive tomorrow. I am going to go to bed now and hope for a fresh start.

Lake District

2006-03-31T21:38:00.000Z

I had promised a post about my adventures in the Lake District, and so I now belatedly comply. I went to the lake district immediately from my recording of Mastermind in Leeds. I woke up late the next morning which was probably due to a combination of stress, tiredness and the fact that me, Barry and his friends (including his daughter no less who was older than me!) sat in the hotel bar drinking and commiserating till past twelve.

To say it was an adventure getting to the lakes would be a mild understatement. I had to travel to Windemere via Manchester which meant a one and a half hour wait at Manchester to catch the train I needed. I got bored and went to browse at WH Smith's where I ended getting intrigued by a book on Sir Roger Mortimer, who was de facto ruler of England between the reigns of Edward II and Edward III and who was supposedly the man responsible for killing Edward II. The nature of Edward II's supposed death is too great an anecdote to resist telling, so I shall permit myself a brief digression here. Apparently, Edward II was killed by having a red hot poker shoved up his anus, at least according to popular legend. The means of his death was not just sadistic - aparently it was chosen due to the fact that his killers did not want there to be any visable mark left on his exterior. The chronicles are quite specific as to the fact that the kind died, but of course the manner of his passing remains open to speculation. The legend of the red hot poker is, admittedly, almost too good to resist.

Anyhow, things got far more interesting once I arrived in Windemere. Only then did I realize that I had left the piece of paper on which the travel details and hostel information had been written on the train. I could vaguely remember that the town I was supposed to go to ended in "-thwaite" and so I tromped over to the tourist office to check out a map and ask for directions. Seeing "Braithwaite" on the map, and thought that was the place I had to go to and was directed there accordingly. What followed was a wonderful bus ride to a little town in the middle of the lake district called Keswick, though tremendously scenic terrain. We passed clue blue lakes and forest bordering snow topped hills on either side. It was quite breathaking.

Now I get to the adventurous bit. I arrived in Keswick to change buses, and was pleasantly suprised to find the bus to Braithwaite there, so I hopped right on. It was only when I arrived at the town, and a local I bumped into expressed doubt that there was a youth hostel nearby, that I suspected something was amiss. I was pointed down some road, and happily walked down for it for 15 minutes or so when I decided something was definitely wrong. In the end I had to call DT to access my email account for me (where the original hostel details were stored) while I went over to the local pub to ask for assistance. What I discovered was that I was in the wrong town and that I was meant to go to Rostwaite and not Braitwaite and that the former was was 5 miles north of Keswick, while the latter was 2 miles south. What was a greater cause for panic was that the next bus back to Keswick was only due in an hour, which would mean I would arrive in Keswick past 8pm, and that there would be no more buses to Braitwaite. Just then, a couple at a table in the bar, hearing of my predicament, offered me a lift.

Things got even better when I received a phone call from my friends in the hostel. I had tried vainly to reach them on their mobiles, but I couldn't get through, and I only realized later how lucky I was - the simple reason being that there was no reception at the hostel. I was saved due to the fact that I had spoken to Ben the evening before, and told him that I was due to arrive around 6pm, and if not, something would be amiss. It being coming close to seven he decided to call to check in on me using the pay phone at the hostel (despite the outrageous BT phone rates). In the end, Fiona wonderfully agreed to drive down to pick me up at Keswick, while also doing a bit of grocery shopping in the process.

The next morning, we awoke to a wonderfully clear day, practically perfect for hiking. The plan was to drive about two miles to a place called Honigger Pass, where there was parking next to a slate mine, and set off from there. We planned to ascend from there and then head over to Green Gable and Great Gable and ascend those to, if possible, before heading back. The climb itself was invigorating, and probably made even more exciting by the conditions. It was rather cold for this time of year and that meant that there was still quite a large amount of snow on the hills. The snow itself was frozen solid over the night, making the ascent difficult and slippery. If not for the fact that other people had climbed our route before, leaving large holes in the frozen snow we could use, as well as the fact that there was a fence that we were following up, things would have been a great deal more tricky.

Two definite things stand out. One, we passed by a frozen bit of water, and after testing it out with the ice axe I had carried along and certifying that it was frozen very solidly, we proceeded to go for a bit of skating on the surface while stopping for lunch. Another bit was the impromptu sliding down the snow that soon began, which soon turned into toboganning of sorts with the bright orange plastic survival bags as tobogan.

The weather itself was perfectly clear, and the sun was out in full force. There were hardly any clouds at all. I admit to feeling amazed at the wonderful weather, quite unlike anything I had expected. Certainly, I hoped there would be no rain, but not in my wildest dreams did I expect to confront clear skies and bright sunshine. We continued from the frozen pond where we had also stopped for lunch, towards Green Gable. The ascent up Green Gable itself was not much of a challenge, with a well marked trail to follow, and less slippery conditions. Upon reaching the summit however, we decided not to attempt Great Gable, which looked far steeper and a bit foreboding, let alone with the snowy conditions and proceeded to head back to the hostel.

The next day again brough pretty clear weather, though it was a bit windier. We chose a different route this time consisting of a hike for about 3 miles followed by ascending a hill and following the ridge line before descending at a tow path and then hiking back to the hostel. The view from the top of the hill was quite wonderful, overlooking as it were a huge area of lakes, hills, valleys, dotted with small farms and little towns. I was quite surprised at how far up we had come (around 800 metres) and the fact that you are never quite aware of the distince whilst you are ascending, only when you reached the top. The last section of the climb was again through a broad expanse of snow dotted with boulders and it was quite stunning.

The beauty of it was sense of overwhelming wonder, the sheer magnitude of nature itself. One person remarked that up where we were, thoughts of University, of impending exams and everything else vanished, almost as if they had never existed. In fact, these petty concerns of life seemed completely insignficant and all that held meaning were the sun, the sky, the snow, the mountains surrounding us and the majesty of nature itself.

Highly Unproductive Day, Condi and Iraq

2006-03-31T21:26:00.000Z

Woke up late again and pottered around. Got a bite to eat and starting surfing a bit on the net as per normal. Got a phone call from home which was nice - I don't call home often enough and I guess it is only right that I let my parents know that I am still alive.

No idea where most of the evening went. Organized the piles of International Relations notes that have accumulated in my room, and read an article, but that was the sum of what I managed. Listened to Condolezza Rice make a speech on BBC online from Blackburn of all places, where she admitted to the US making 'tactical errors' in Iraq, though defending the overall US policy to invade. I claim that it was relevant to what I am studying, albeit indirectly, particularly in the topic of Democratic Peace Theory. Proponents of Democratic Peace claim that democracies tend to have a special relationship with other democracies, reducing their likelihood of going to war against each other. Realists claim that this is inherently false. The relevance here is that one of the foremost justifications for the war in Iraq was 'regime change' and the Bush administration seems to suggest that one major long term US goal is to encourage the growth of freedom in the region, specifically through the process of democratization.

The problem with that is two fold. Firstly, some IR scholars have shown that countries in the process of democratization are likely to be more unstable in terms of their relations with other states that full dictatorships or full democracies. Second, there is an important difference between a democracy and a liberal democracy as outlined by Fareed Zakaria - a democracy taken loosely merely means a country whose government is brought about through free, fair and representative elections. This has been brought to the limelight by the Palestian elections which were won by Hamas. The US might not want to admit it, but Ahmadenijad, the current Iranian president, who is threatening to develop nuclear weapons for Iran, was elected to his position, even if the elections were not fully democratic. Finally, scholars have also suggested that building basic infrastructure is not enough to bring about significant change and that it will take decades for liberal democratic change to take root, if ever.

Well I had decided to stay at home today and try and study, which was an easier option considering the amount of books and materials that I would have to cart around otherwise. Having realized the futility of this option, it is back to the library for me tomorrow.

Me and Hair

2006-03-30T22:12:00.000Z

What prompts this random entry is actually a nice little piece of trivia I picked up on. One of the common rants I have had is how the Singaporean army forces us to cut our hair, and will do so even when we report back for reservist training as effectively private citizens. Poor family members and friends have had to listen to me rage on about the gross violation of my civil liberties that this represented. I challenged the army to give evidence that having long hair will limit the combat effectiveness of soldiers and would lead to them being more susceptible to being killed in battle.

Well, aparently all they needed to do was turn, as always, to the good book. Absalom, is remembered as the rebellious son of King David, who led an army against his own father, and for the tearful lament that David cried at finding his body: "Absalom, my son my son, would God that I died for thee, my son!", which incidentally was used movingly at the end of Orson Scott Card's novel Ender's Shadow. But back to the point: Absalom got himself killed because his rather long locks were entangled in the branches of an oak tree, and whilst he was struggling thus entrapped, the enemy commander thrust three spears through his heart. Perhaps it does pay to have short hair after all.

Horrible Weather

2006-03-29T00:27:00.000Z

The weather has been absolutely miserable of late, what with overcast skies and frequent afternoon showers. It has been really windy as well and the rain has isn't just the usually British dripping rain but the kind which absolutely pisses down. The bad weather (and to be fair a bit of laziness) has meant that I have been taking the bus into town recently. To be fair, cycling in strong wind in not on my list of fun things to do, particularly when the wind tends to come at right angles to the direction in which you are cycling as it does in Oxford. Having it rain just compounds the problem.

Yes, spring has most certainly arrived. At least the British variety. As Chaucer noted, in the opening lines of the Canterbury Tales: when that April, with his shoures soote, the droghte of March hath perced to the roote

And Now, The End is Near

2006-03-28T22:59:00.000Z

It was an exceedingly domestic day after I slept in far too late again! This is becoming a terrible habit which must be overcome - namely setting the alarm clock for 9 or 10am only to lie in bed in a kind of half doze for 2 hours more. I guess that is one of the surest signs of not possesing sufficient self discipline - not being able to get out of bed when you are supposed to.

I have just realized that effectively I have one week per paper remaining in terms of revision time. That is not including practice papers. That has really caused me to enter a stage of severe panic. The one good point is that if I start intensive work NOW I can just about salvage the situation. I can only rue the fact that I was pottering about for the whole of the last TWO MONTHS not being productive in the least, reading lots of random books and so on. I guess I can only remark that it is a good thing that I am managing to pull myself together.

Decided that the best place to begin was at home, so I cleared up the room, putting lots of my books away and trying to create an area around my desk that was far more condusive to studying. I am amazed at how the little things do matter quite a bit, like having a certified work area that is inviting to do stuff in. I then packed away lots of my books, making space for academic stuff and had a good go at sorting out the remaining loose bits of paper. I even swept up the room. I intend to do laundry tonight to top it all off.

The grand plan is to do one paper per week as follows:

This Week: International Relations
Next Week: International Relations in the Era of the Two World Wars
Week 3: International Relations in the Cold War
Week 4: Political Sociology
Week 5: Middle East Politics
Week 6: Ethics
Week 7: Political Theory
Week 8: Knowledge and Reality
Week 9: Start of the Exams

This has come from the fact that I attempted to start revision previously with the papers that I had most disliked, which did not work at all. Hopefully now, starting with the 3 international relations papers which I had enjoyed, I will be able to build up some form of momentum towards the examinations.

Another thing to note: I am desperately short of practice writing essays under timed conditions. I will have to work very hard towards addressing that as soon as I possibly can.

I must admit that this is a period of time where everything seems very uncertain. I have even seriously considered the D word, and was considering speaking to the academic advisor in order to find out options with regards to that.

I have also been looking into the possibility of staying another year in Oxford, but anything taken in that direction will have to wait till after finals.

The cliche is that it is never too late to begin. I shall take that to heart. That, and hope and pray.

Quiet Day, A Review of Blink

2006-03-26T23:27:00.000Z

Another quiet day today. Slept in a bit after talking to DT on MSN Messenger early this morning. She is off in Colorado attending a conference and having a short break at the same time. Woke up, and did some reading for revision while also listening to the Manchester Utd vs Birmingham City match on the internet Radio Five Live.

Walked over to Summertown where I decided to have dinner at Joe's restaurant. I had previously been to Joe's but the branch down Cowley Road with DT and her two friends who had so kindly donated many of their household stuff (lamps, futon etc.) to us before we left. Had a quiet pint at the Dew Drop Inn at Summertown while also watching the football highlights and finishing up a book I was reading called Blink by Malcolm Gladwell (more on that later). Pottered home, surfed the net for a bit, read a bit and went to bed. I am becoming positively domestic. Perish the thought.

Blink by Malcolm Gladwell is a fascinating book, examing the myriad situations where subconcious thinking takes place. Apparently, our brains help us to make decisions instinctively at split second speed, below the level of concious thought. Gladwell examines this in lots of wonderfully enthralling ways, which is the key strength of this book, from art experts examining a Greek sculpture and knowing instinctively that something is wrong with it, thought they are not necessarily able to explain rationally exactly what is amiss, to an experiment with two sets of cards, whereby one pack was far more beneficial in helping the person win than another which showed that the body showed negative reactions to the red pack (increased sweat, avoidance of drawing red cards) after just 10 cards had been drawn, whereas the brain was only able to establish a concious pattern that the blue pack was better after about 60 draws.

Gladwell examines this notion of subconcious thinking and numerous fascinating psychological studies that have been done looking into this phenomenon. He looks at not just how it is beneficial, but also how it has a negative aspect. In the latter case, he looks at studies revealing our intrinsic mental associations with race and gender, and how this often has certain positive and negative connotations. Furthermore, he examines how in certain situations, having too much information can actually be highly detrimental to decision making, looking at examples ranging from US army simulations, medical diagnosis for heart disease to problem solving experiments.

What was even scarier in my view was his examination of how human beings can be "primed". Specifically, a psychologist gave several volunteers a simple word problem game. However, within that game, there were two several sets of words, seperated into two seperate groups. One group was given words associated with aggression and another group words associated with acceptance and mild politeness. The people undergoing the word problem game were then asked to approach a member of the research staff, who just happened to be chatting to another research assistant. The test was to see whether the priming for "aggresiveness" and the priming for "politeness" would have an effect on how long/in what manner they would interrupt the conversation. A cap of 10 minutes was placed on the experiment. As is to be expected, many of the volunteers primed with the aggresive tendency interrupted well before 10 minutes. What was more startling was that of the other group almost nobody interrupted the conversation before the time expired. In fact, not a single person did.

The above is just one example of the many fascinating studies that Gladwell uses as examples in his book. Other aspects of thought that he looks at is how our brains responds and focuses under severe stress, and indeed a fascinating chapter on our emotions, how they are expressed facially and indeed the very fact that facial expressions themselves have an effect on emotions and not just vice versa.

All I can say in sum is that Gladwell's book is fascinating, filled with insight, and most concisely written and powerfully written. I can only highly recommend it.

Mastermind

2006-03-26T17:14:00.000Z

I have spent the past week or so away from Oxford which accounts for the lack of recent entries. Monday, 20th March was spent recording Mastermind, probably one of the most challenging and prestigious quiz shows of all time. Tuesday was spent travelling from Leeds, where the studios was located, to the lake district, where I spent the next two days hiking. Friday was spent travelling back to Oxford. Several of my friends have been rather curious as to the entire Mastermind experience, so this entry will concentrate on that, with a seperate entry on my experience hiking in the lakes.

First of all, what is Mastermind? Contrary to what some of my Singaporean friends think, it is not a televised version of the board game where you have to guess the right colour and order of little pips - I would like to think it is rather more difficult than that. In short it is a quiz show, consisting of 4 contenders (never contestants, also referred to on occasion as "willing victims") and two rounds. In the first round, contenders have two minutes to answer as many questions as they can on a specialist subject of their choice. In the second round they have two minutes on a set of general knowledge questions. Questions are written such that each contender will be able to answer the same number in the 2 minutes, and you are not allowed to interrupt the host in the middle of a question, but must wait until he has completed the question before answering.

The program is famous for both it's ominous theme music and for a black leather chair, in which contenders sit whilst answering the questions. It does look rather daunting on television, as a single spotlight shines on the individual sitting in the chair, with the rest of the studio dimmed in the background. Talk about being put on the spot. The first common question that I am asked, quite naturally is: what is it like sitting in the chair? Is it comfortable? Well, to answer the latter question, it s not bad as black leather chairs go, but it is not quite as comfortable as it could be, mainly due to the fact that they have to put a rectangular shaped microphone device in your back pocket, which pokes into your back when you lean into the chair, something that the producers of the show ask you to do. Of course, first sitting in the chair, you do feel rather nervous, something that was definitely heightened by having to walk up to it. In fact the conception for the show came about from the experiences that it's creator had as a prisoner of war when he served in world war II as a fighter pilot, thus the famous: Name, Occupation, Specialist Subject questions you are asked when you first sit in the chair (rather like name, rank, serial number in an interrogation).

Some have also asked me why on earth I would want to do it, as in, subject myself to such an ordeal, specifically running the risk of embarassing myself on television in front of friends and family and the like. Of course, many are also interested in how I came to be on the show in the first place. Well, as my close friends will know, I am a quiz fiend: I love quizzes, and general knowledge, I love the feel of getting an answer right, and the adrenaline rush. It is just something I inexplicably enjoy. Mastermind, is the rolls royce of quizzes, probably the most prestigious of the whole lot, just to be able to make an appearance on it is a great honour. As to how I got on the show, the Mastermind team came round Oxford and held an audition for prospective candidates, where they interviewed you and asked you twenty questions, and on the strength of that, I was chosen.

I have to say the experience itself was wonderful - the hotel was a traveller's hotel, but pretty nice all the same, and there was a buffet for the contestants and their guests as the studios itself. I found myself up against three rather older contestants - a 35 year old person living in Wales whose specialist subject was the life and work of Woody Allen; Barry who looked to be in his late 50s or early 60s who was doing the Napoleanic Wars, and Alison, who worked as an education officer who was doing the life and works of Nevil Shute. It soon transpired that the three of us guys had mostly decided to do the show on a whim - the famous "it seemed a good idea at the time" reason for deciding to give it a go; but Alison looked quietly confident, indeed one had the general feeling that she had done this all before. Everyone was really friendly once we had been introduced and gone for makeup and wardrobe as so on and it was nice to see that nobody was taking things too seriously.

As for the show itself, things went far better that I had anticipated in my specialist subject round. I had chosen the NBA Basketball finals from 1985 to 2005 in the anticipation that not many people would know all that much about it. That had the advantage that it was likely to be accepted as a specialist subject and further to that, questions were liable to be easier than for other possible specialist subjects. It was a relief that the gamble paid off: the questions were really not that difficult by Mastermind standard, and most of the answers could have been gleaned off a simple list of what teams had won the finals, the runner-ups and who was the most valuable player. It was a relief due to the fact that I had only really started mugging up for it two days before the show. One annoying thing was that I had printed off a set of reports from sports illustrated on the NBA finals for the full 20 year time span, only to realize belatedly on the train that the margins had cut off the last bit of text on the right side of every single page. In the end, I got 10 points, thought I made simple errors on 3 of the questions, which I put down to stress. So it perhaps should have been 13. My successful gamble was evidenced by the questions on the Napoleanic Wars and on Woody Allen which seemed quite a bit harder to me.

That said, I completely came a cropper on the general knowledge section, scoring a disappointing 4 points. It all seemed to start so well when I got a question on Yassir Arafat for my first question, but I was completely flummoxed by a number of questions, such as what the computer language COBALT stood for among others. Most embarassing was that on my last question I was asked who starred as the heroine in King Kong, following in the footsteps of Fay Wray, and for the life of me the answer couldn't come to mind, despite my having seen the film and knowing that I knew the answer. That meant a rather uncomfortable silence of about 10 seconds before I gave up to be told that it was Naomi Watts. In the end, things were hardly close. Barry finished on 13 points (5 + 7), I had 14 points (10 + 4), and after a storming general knowledge round where he got some tought answers, the other guy pipped me for second with 16 (8 + 8). Alison however won rather convincingly, with a total of 23 points (14 + 9). I don't know whether to be happy that the margin was so wide - at least I can claim that she was just too good for the rest of us.

So all in all, a very exciting and interesting experience, which I am not likely to forget soon. As an endnote, I might perhaps add that I may not be in the country to watch myself on television, thus sparing myself any further embarrassment. If anyone will be around, and willing to tape it for me, it would be very kind, however. I don't know when it will be broadcast yet, but I suspect sometime this October or Novemeber. Keep your eyes peeled.

Losing Time

2006-03-25T22:51:00.000Z

Today marks the end of Daylight Savings Time in the United Kingdom, which means that the clocks have to be turned one hour back sometime after midnight.

I find it rather distressing that I am losing one hour in such a manner, having it disappear into thin air as such. It is rather different from a displacement one gets from taking long distance airflights, where the time change can be rationalized from the very real fact that you are in a completely different location with corresponding changes in climate, culture and so on. This feels like just having an hour vanish into thin air. I probably shouldn't complain seeing that I had one free hour last October.

This reminds me about how intriguing and indeed slightly unnerving it was having to undergo a shift in daylight patterns while in the UK. Singapore being close to the equator, I was quite used to having 12 hours of daylight everyday, with sunset and sunrise around 7.15am and pm respectively. In the UK of course, the sun sets around 4.30 in winter, and as late as 9pm in the summer. I recall missing dinner in hall one evening because I had totally lost track of the time - I associate dinner back home with the evening darkness, and it was still bright and sunny outside my window then. Even now I am still slightly perturbed by it. It is interesting that this, more than the change in temperature is what seems to affect many Singaporean and Malaysians whilst in the UK.

One can only wonder at the manpower cost it must take to change the time on all the clocks in the country, particularly in Oxford, where each college has large tower clocks and countless others. Not to say that Oxford isn't finicky about time. Christ Church College famously refused to adopt Greenwich Mean Time as the official standardized time across the UK (in the past time was independent of local boundaries). Thus, instead of ringing the bells to summon the undergraduates and to signal the closing of the main gate, which was traditionally done at 9pm, on the hour, they chose to do so at 9.05pm, which was the original time difference from Oxford to London. It must come as to a relief that they, and indeed no other college in Oxford, has resorted to such shennanigans with regards to daylight savings time.

Johari Window

2006-03-18T19:43:00.000Z

I have found a rather interesting site which seeks to examine an individual's personality awareness. Basically the idea is that there is a 5 by 11 grid with boxes containing different adjectives. The individual chooses 5 or 6 words which he thinks best describes himself. He then asks others to choose the 5 or 6 words which they think best describes him. The result is that you are able to compare the difference between how you view yourself and of course how various individual's view you.

Please do contribute to my own Johari Window. You can access my results from the link that I have given.

Firefly

2006-03-17T11:37:00.000Z

I recently purchased the full DVD boxed set of the complete episodes from the short lived Sci-Fi Western Firefly. The series first came to my attention after I watched the movie spin off called Serenity at the cinema, which I felt was probably the best science fiction film I had seen in the last 3 or 4 years (move over George Lucas!).

Though I feel slightly guilty for splashing out 18 pounds for it, I must say that the episodes have been brilliant, and it absolutely baffles belief that they cancelled the series after only 12 episodes have been filmed. I can only feel completely aggrieved and outraged, as many fans have before me - apparently the movie came about due to strong DVD sales of the original series which continues to fly off the shelves.

Part of the anger lies in the outright mess that 20th Century Fox made in terms of publicizing the series initially, leading to poor ratings. They refused to show the pilot episode, because they felt it was "inappropriate" as a first episode, leading to chronological discontinuities and the fact that viewers were not given appropriate introductions as to the background of the respective characters. The time slot the show was given was also not ideal for a series of this nature.

All I can say is that Firefly is absolutely brilliant and is a must see for any science fiction fans, or just anyone looking for an intelligent, beautifully designed television series. The sets, effects and costumes on the show are amazing for a start, not to mention the fact that the concept itself is original and quite striking. Definitely one not to be missed

Syriana and Others

2006-03-16T02:11:00.000Z

I went to see Syriana today with Damien, having heard mixed things about it - that it was an interesting examination of oil and the Middle East, and that it was very covulated and complex plot wise. I wanted to reserve judgement seeing that films about the Middle East often lapse into cliche, but was keen to catch it given my interest in the region having done a paper in Middle East politics.

The movies had several interweaving plot strands - that of two oil companies who are undergoing investigation after a shady merger, a veteran CIA operative who finds himself abandoned by the agency after an operation goes wrong, the power struggle between two heir apparents as an old Emir is ailing and the most touching of all, that of a Pakistani migrant worker who is out of work in the Gulf and how he is slowly brought into the confidence of radical Islamists.

All in all, without giving too much of the plot away, it was a very refreshing and rather brutally honest look at the Middle East region, particularly given the themes of American independence in oil and American security concerns. It outlines, albeit in rather black and white terms, that American operates on a level of stark hypocrisy, preaching the goals of democratization, women's rights, civil liberties on the one hand, whilst manouvering against any elements that threaten US Oil and Security interests on the other. This is made most explicitly clear in the movie by the cynicism of showing oil barons who are simultaneously members of the Free Iran Organization. Given US involvement in the region in the 20th century, the film hardly does an injustice.

The most interesting plot line in my mind however, was that of the Pakistani migrant worker. It highlights one of the fundamental problems that face many Middle Eastern regimes, namely a combination of ailing economies (Saudi Arabia's per capita GNP has fallen from 12,000 to 6,000 US dollars per head), specifically rising unemployment, and an enormously large portion of the population aged between 16 and 25. There is certainly a fear that youth, disillusioned with the lack of opportunities, will be far likelier to fall into any means of finding a form of stable identity, making them all the more susceptible to the message of radical islamists. Migrant itinerant labour that are not granted any of the social benefits or even the remote likelihood of citizenship pose an equal or great threat as represented by the character in the movie who is a Pakistani migrant oil worker.

One interesting aspect of the movie was the parallel that was drawn between George Clooney's CIA character and the Pakistani suicide bomber. One of the senior shady figures dealing dirty in the oil business tells Clooney that he has been nothing but a puppet, used by others for goals which he was not even aware of. It is thus interesting that he meets a similar end to the suicide bomber - the parallel - that the both of them were used, albeit by different sides - is striking.

Syriana is a complex portrait of the modern Middle East situation that sometimes verges close to caricature. The elements - from corrupt big oil companies, to CIA geopolitical maneouvering, to the whole stereotype of rich Arabs living it up and squandering petro-dollars are all there. It is perhaps forgivable to a degree that everything is generalized, if only because the ultimate goal is to paint a wider picture of US involvement in the region as a whole. In that, I personally feel the film is much needed and a welcome addition indeed.

I Don't Want To Live On The Moon

2006-03-14T15:23:00.000Z

Here are the lyrics to one of my all time favourite sesame street songs and a link for the audio version of it. Listening to it gives such a strong sense of nostalgia, still enough to bring a tear to my eye....

I Don't Want To Live On The Moon

Well, I'd like to visit the moon
On a rocket ship high in the air
Yes, I'd like to visit the moon
But I don't think I'd like to live there
Though I'd like to look down at the earth from above
I would miss all the places and people I love
So although I might like it for one afternoon
I don't want to live on the moon

I'd like to travel under the sea
I could meet all the fish everywhere
Yes, I'd travel under the sea
But I don't think I'd like to live there
I might stay for a day there if I had my wish
But there's not much to do when your friends are all fish
And an oyster and clam aren't real family
So I don't want to live in the sea

I'd like to visit the jungle, hear the lions roar
Go back in time and meet a dinosaur
There's so many strange places I'd like to be
But none of them permanently

So if I should visit the moon
Well, I'll dance on a moonbeam and then
I will make a wish on a star
And I'll wish I was home once again
Though I'd like to look down at the earth from above
I would miss all the places and people I love
So although I may go I'll be coming home soon
'Cause I don't want to live on the moon
No, I don't want to live on the moon

idontwanttoliveonthemoon.mp3 (audio/mpeg Object)

Varsity Match Victory

2006-03-13T16:05:00.000Z

Saturday marked the first time in three years that Oxford and Cambridge met for a varsity match in Quizzing. The match was played University Challenge style with a total of 26 starters and 24 bonuses, whichever to run out first. I was selected to represent the 'B' or 'reserve' team along with Samantha Warnakulasuriya, Brian Danielak and Mark Wilson, who captained by virtue of being the society president. Ben Fletcher captained the main team, and Peter Baker, Andy Wells and Michael Levy comprising the other members, all of them being selected on the basis of their sterling performance in the Inter-College Quiz. Max Kaufmann and Gail Trimble, two other outstanding ICQ performer were sadly not able to take part.

The B match was extremely close throughout, with the lead never extending beyond 40 points for either side, and at the half way and close to two third points we trailed Cambridge by 10 point each time. I got quite a few early questions, notably on J M Coetzee off the first few words, once his novel "Dusklands" had been mentioned, and another quick fire one off of "Curling" which I had incidentally set a question on recently. I also got a starter on the Ho Chi Minh trail, ages after I should have buzzed in. Sam was also having a very good match, keeping us afloat in the middle section with a series of very good interruptions, though she was rather annoyed at herself to incorrectly interrupt a question on medieval english history when the answer was Richard I or the Lionheart. One of my main sore points was not being able to get a question on John Profumo, who's obituary I had read the day before, despite obviously knowing the answer. In the end, we survived to prevail 240 - 215, with Brian pulling a fantastic science answer off the top of his head in the 3rd to last starter, before negging on the last two questions. Thankfully, the other team failed to get the final starter, despite our worst fears, and we held on to prevail.

The main team match was an even closer run thing, though it didn't look the case at the beginning. The scores were 120 to 5 to Cambridge after 10 questions with the Cambridge team looking very impressive indeed with a number of very quick interruptions. Oxford soon began to claw it's way back into the match however, with Michael Levy getting a few starters in a row, and eventually drew near to level pegging more than three quarters way through. Things remained close until the final starter question which was on formula one, which Peter Baker got correct to give Oxford a 240 - 225 victory.

After that, it was time for the committee quiz whick Rob, the question master blitzed through in around 15 minutes on account of Cambridge having a bus to catch. We led after around 10 questions but soon faded as Nazarian, who had been the best player on the Cambridge 'A' team, single handedly blitzed our committee team which consisted of me, Sam, Mark and our new president Krishna.

All in all a fantastic day of quizzing which was amplified by a trip to the pub afterwards, followed by dinner at Ask and wine at Samantha's room before heading over to a pub near St Aldates were we met up with Brian again. Afterwards, my memory of the evening becomes rather dim and hazy and not altogether distinct, and I have DT to thank for the piecing together of the rest of the evening, and for a place to crash at night, which I do with no certain amout of sheepishness. A fitting end then, to quizzing for the term.

Two Movies

2006-03-10T01:18:00.000Z

In the past two days I went to see Good Night and Good Luck and Capote respectively, both nominated for the Best Picture Award at the recent Oscars. This means that I have seen all 5 of the movies that have been nominated by the award.

Good Night and Good Luck is a wonderful movie. One movie commented that "they don't make movies like this anymore" which is all but a cliche in modern Hollywood context, harkening back as is a habit in anything towards the good old days, but for this movie it could not be more true. It was not just that it was shot in black and white, the first movie since The Elephant Man in 1982 to be done entirely and to be nominated for the Best Picture award (Schindler's List in 1994 was shot predominantly in black and white, but has a small, devastatingly haunting glimpse of colour - look it up if you are not sure what I mean). It was the whole tone and feel of the movie. This was a movie driven by its characters, with a wonderful ensemble cast, simple, realistic and unpretentious. David Straitharn is probably one of the most overlooked actors working in the field today, and his performance in the movie as the broadcaster Edwin Murrow was completely spot on.

What made the movie personally intriguing for me was the close glimpse that it offered of broadcast journalism in its heyday, and of course that of the broader historical context of America in the early 1950s particularly that of McCarthyism and the communist witch hunt. The historical footage was melded seamlessly into the movie as a whole and was a masterstroke - indeed the effect was so powerful that early audience screenings brought the feedback that "the actor portraying McCarthy was overacting" - with the audience not realizing at first that he was portraying himself.

There is no doubt at all that this movie is a "message" movie, and its message is not only crystal clear, but one that, in my humble opinion, does need to be heeded. It is that there remains an important place within journalism for educating the public, for bringing to light abuses of power and of justice. One of the wonderful moments in the movie is the contrast in two seperate programmes of Murrow's show - when he is making his breaking attacks against McCarthyism followed by a completely mundane and scripted chat with two inane movie stars involving a tour of their home. The former of course was controversial, led to personal attacks on Murrow himself and ultimately led to the show losing it's sponsors. The latter was deemed publicly popular, and pleased the sponsors to no end. Good Night and Good Luck is an implicit condemnation of the watering down of journalism and of the ever real danger of the media selling out to big business. With large numbers of publications now owned by large tycoons - Rupert Murdoch springs immediately to mind - not to mention politicians - Silvio Berlusconi and Michael Bloomberg - we live in a day and an age where this could not be more real. That is not to say that there is a complete lack of such journalism - programs such as BBC's panorama should be commended for their efforts - but I cannot help but wonder at Murrow's comments made almost 50 years ago, that television stood at a crossroads between pandering to popular entertainment and serving as a unique check on public abuses and serving a vital role in public education. It is a saddening thing to note how far we have come down the former path, and I think that we need far more Edwin Murrow's in journalism today.

Capote is similar to Good Night, Good Luck in that it is a very realistic and historical film, in this case an examination of Truman Capote as he went about researching and writing his seminal novel In Cold Blood. I was very keen personally to watch this movie as I had enjoyed Capote's writing, and I remember being captivated by In Cold Blood when I read it 2000 whilst studying for my A levels. I was also interested to see firsthand Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Capote, a role for which he won rave reviews and numerous awards, especially to determine if it were a genuine case of brilliant acting, or more of the case of a hardworking, reknown actor lacking any recognition who is finally given his due.

The movie was certainly fascinating, particularly in looking at Capote's character and neurosis, and how they combined to form a unique genius. One remark stands out as particularly apt - Truman's companion says to Harper Lee, his close childhood friend, on seeing Truman at the center of a large group of admirers charming the crowd: "this looks like the beginning of a grand love affair", probably meaning a love affair of the crowd with Truman. Harper Lee however, gets it exactly right when she says: "Yes, of Truman with himself". The movie's strength lies in it's ability to bring across, often subtly, the exactitude of this self-obsession, this need for public acceptance, this realization of genius. It certainly is a rather unblinking portrait: it shows that he essentially manipulated the two murderers that was to form the heart of his novel, and that his sole purpose in befriending and 'aiding' them was for his novel, and in fact at one point states that fact explicitly.

One thing that gave me great pause for thought on watching the movie, was the whole notion of documentary. After all, Capote himself had deemed In Cold Blood to represent a new form of novel, the non-fiction novel, whereby fiction is utilized as a tool to examine the deeper underlying currents of factual happenings. Thus, it was his explicit purpose to force us readers to look at Perry not as a cold-blooded murderer, and a slayer of 4 innocent victims, but as a tortured soul whose we can comprehend. But where does the line between truth and fact stand and when does it begin to blur?

In relation to the movie, how much of the representation of Truman Capote is accurate, beyond the accent and mannerisms, and how much of it is a director's vision of Capote, particularly in relation to a specific period in his life. There is also the matter of factual accuracy - we see Capote having a phone conversation with Harper Lee, is what she said something that she really did say to him? Was it similarly phrased, on similar in terms of it's general theme, shortened for the necessary brevity that cinema entails? What was left out in that conversation, what was kept? After all, we soon learn that history is written as much from omission and submission - that we choose to remember the 22nd November 1963 for one person's death (JFK) rather than as the date of the death of Joe Bloggs on the street of a nameless city from freezing to death is a choice of sorts.

It is interesting then that this movie is in a sense profoundly inspired by Capote's "method" in writing his book. Whether such a project is viable, is certainly still a question in my mind. That it is such a successful film though, is testament to the fact that it was certainly a brilliant conception. Indeed, cinema rather than fiction, has often been the medium through which we have explored inside the psyches of tortured souls, where the outsider has been glorified. It is thus fitting that it is in this medium that Capote's legacy lives on.

Addendum: Some interesting facts for movie buffs. In Cold Blood was filmed in 1967, in black and white, and if I am not wrong, it won best cinematography for Conrad L Hall - the last film shot completely in black and white to win the award. The most famous scene in the movie has one of the two men standing next to a window with the rain pouring down outside, as he makes a confession. The outline of the rain on the window almost seem like tears coursing down his face as he speaks. Hall utilized this idea again in the movie The Road To Perdition for which he won a posthumous Oscar for cinematography. Except this time, he shows the outline of rain against a window pane casting a shadow on a wall opposite, again creating the impression of tears being shed by Tom Hanks as he tucks his boy into bed.

Interesting Happenings

2006-03-08T11:22:00.000Z

Here are some things that have been happening in the news that I have found interesting, and that I have been meaning to and should comment on at greater length:

Menzies Campbell (pronounced Ming, apparently) has been elected as the new leader of the Liberal Democrats, beating Simon Hughes and Chris Huhne in a ballot cast by party members. The leadership race was notable more for its scandals than anything, with Mark Oaten and the revelation that he had hired male prostitutes particularly shocking and galling. Mr Campbell's win, while popular and not too unexpected leaves the question of what to call his collective group of supporters. The one that comes immediately to mind - that of 'mingers' - is ruled out for obvious reasons.

Also, an interesting new reality TV series is premiereing in America. Now, I am not a fan of reality TV in general, particularly of it's Survivor/Bachelor/Fear Factor nature (though more tolerant of American Idol and it ilk, those standing in the long tradition of talentime contests), but this one has really caught my interest. It is called white.black, and involves a white and black family respectively being transformed by hollywood make-up artists into having the appearance of the opposite race. They would then live together and have to try and adapt themselves into their new role. I thought that this was a very interesting way in which to examine the whole notion of race.

Also, the controversial historian David Irving has been sentenced to a 3 year jail term for "holocaust denial' which is a crime in Austria and Germany. This comes despite him admitting that he held opinions in publications dating from the late 1980s that effectively constituted denying the Holocaust BUT that he had since changed his opinion, particularly after reading the Eichmann papers. This comes in the wake of a well publicized libel trial when noted historian Richard J Evans was a chief witness which went a long way towards undermining much of Irving's historical research, if it could be called such. However, one must question whether a person can be punished in such a manner for holding "opinions", especially if he has since come to change his mind. Leaving aside the question of whether the change of heart is genuine, I have grave reservations on the matter. Comments on this welcome.

The Academy Awards have been announced with Crash winning a surprise Best Picture Award. Much has been made of the shock of it all, but to be honest this was probably one of the most open fields in history, with no big budget movie (Titanic, Lord of the Rings) guarenteed to dominate. One major talking point has been the merits of Brokeback Mountain, on which opinion has generally been rather divided. Many people felt that it was only so acclaimed because of its groundbreaking nature, and if the story had been a normal love story, it would have been a rather ordinary film. On this count, I disagree. On a side note, I am very pleased that Rachel Weisz won the oscar for The Constant Gardener, in what I thought was a great performance in a very good movie.

In America, the debate over abortion continues as South Dakota passed a law which banned abortions in all cases except for those in which the mother's life was threatened. This is almost certain to be challenged, particularly with another state law allowing for legislation to be challenged as long as a petition signed by enough state voters is collected. The renewed challenge on abortion comes with the appointment of John Roberts and Samuel Alito Jr to the Supreme Court which is seen to have swung the court to the right. Alito's appointment in the place of Sandra Day O'Connor, who was a firm supporter of abortion, is seen to be key.

What's been happening

2006-03-08T10:48:00.000Z

Sorry for the lack of recent posts. Things have become rather turbulent of late. Have got myself into a bit of a funk of late and I realize now more than ever how it is easy to get into a routine of not getting much done and ending up stuck like that. As the Rembrandts said in the theme song to Friends, you can be "always be stuck in second gear" and find that it is not your "day, your month or even your year".

Things of note that have happened recently: On Saturday the 4th of March I went to London to attend AC Night 2006 commemorating the 120th Anniversary of the founding of my alma mater, Anglo Chinese School. There was a wonderful sense of camaraderie which I have always treasured at the school, and it was quite wonderful meeting up with many people in my year. Of the Oxford bunch, Charles, Jamin, Poompong, Tim Tay, Derek, Peter Ho all went. It was nice to meet up with Juxin again as well.

Also, I have now officially retired from my term as the Quiz Society Squad Captain and will be replaced by the current secretary Samantha. Also, I am very excited in being able to say that I will be representing the Oxford B team in the Varsity Quiz match against Cambridge this coming Saturday.

Also, Trinity's participation in the Inter-College Quiz ended in a rather one-sided loss to a very good Corpus Christi A team in the second round.

More updates soon, hopefully with fuller descriptions of what has been going on.

Daily Telegraph Pub Quiz

2006-02-20T02:27:00.000Z

I am currently taking part in the Daily Telegraph Pub Quiz which has a top prize of 8,000 pounds and my team has been doing quite well so far. Then again, the team does comprise most of the quiz society committee, plus old quizzing hand Dorjana. We calculated that between four of the five of us, we have respectively: three University Challenge Team Captains (two quarterfinals, one highest scoring loser), one UC Champion, two Mastermind or potential Mastermind contestants (with one person turning them down), one person who has taken part in Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, and a person who has finished 5th in the World Quizzing Championships (Dorjana). Mark the fifth person on the team has the honour of being the President of the Oxford Quiz Society.

The quiz comprises questions worth a total of 35 points, along with 2 sudokus, 1 origami and 1 rubik's cube worth 5 points each for a total of 55 points each round. We did very well last Sunday, though we lost out on 30 quid in prize money in a playoff question about the total coastline of Brazil where we were out by no less than 4,500 odd kilometres. It's just one more round to go this coming Sunday, so as they say in quizzing terms, it's still all to play for.

Valentine's Day Rant

2006-02-14T23:07:00.000Z

So it's Valentine's Day. Far from the mundanity that such a sentence may suggest, this is a day with great import for a university student, or so my observations have led be to suggest. Either you have the lovey-dovey couples going out to fully booked, over-priced restaurants in their fancy outfits, replete with large bouquets of flowers and chocolates, or else you have your anti-Valentine's singles, thronging the bars, or heading out for a curry, ironically proving that they view the day with great import in their determined declamations that it is an intrinsically stupid practice. At least their frustration is understandable - on Valentine's it seems you are supposed to be in love, seeking love, or rubbishing the whole notion but (secretly) wallowing in self pity.

This is where I bring in my favourite Valentine's Day anecdotes being one who enjoys playing the martyr. First of all, in school, where me and a group of friends were supposed to go to the movies together on Valentine's, but most of them ended up not showing, meaning that me and another poor chap ended up watching The Bachelor together. Quite memorable as Valentine's Day dates go, though to be fair we didn't quite grasp the import of what we were going to end up watching when we bought our ticket. Therein lies another cause for ranting - the fact that Valentine's inevitably means a flood of the most sweet-toothed romantic comedies in the cinema, more than sufficient to cause diabetes from their trailers alone, forget full length.

Then there is the case of the first year of University. When everyone was busy removing cards, hearts, chocolates, flowers and other romantic bric a brac from their pigeon holes (Oxford parlance for mailboxes), I found a single chocolate from the Christian Union telling me that God loves me. Well, it was sweet consolation in a way (pun fully intended) - at least someone did.

But the reverse is hardly better. I think that any form of anti-Valentine's sentiment leaves one seeming like either a killjoy or secretly envious. First of all the envy bit. The only reason why one would make such a big meal of it all in the first place was of course the fact that you are single but (not so) secretly jealous of everyone else in a wonderfully happy relationship and that the sight of all those couples gives you intermediate feelings of pangs of sadness and wanting to retch. The solution then is to go someplace, with other friends who are similarly single and feeling lonely and drink yourself silly, which of course, you were going to do anyway (just to stop the pain) but in the guise of an anti-Valentine's event which provides the perfect excuse.

Then of course the killjoy bit. For, there can be absolutely no doubt that Valentine's Day makes romantics of us all. This is even in the case of the most unreedemably unromantic of men, who on Valentine's are suddenly egged into action, if only from feeling the need to conform. I have heard complaints from women that Valentine's Day is the only day in which they get flowers from their special somebody. Of course, the cynics will go on about the crass denigration of such a noble sentiment as love, although of course being cynics one wonders why they suddenly describle love as noble or pure and not something such as a mere chemical and hormonal stimulation of the brain evolved from the need to encourage reproduction and the continued survival of the species, but that is really grasping at straws. For if love is such a noble and beautiful sentiment, what what on earth is wrong with celebrating it, particularly if it inspires people into action?

Still, I feel sympathy for those aggreived at all the flowers, the chocolates, the hearts. For somehow, you do get the feeling that it seems odd that we give such great import to one specific day as a celebration of love and romance. For why could we not choose any day of the week to have a special celebration with a partner or companion? Even more tellingly, the very fact that such a date is designated removes half of the romance and the specialness from the occasion. That is why I concur with those who are determined to pay Valentine's Day no great heed - neither going out of my way to fight for a booking at some fancy restaurant, nor declaiming loudly at the stupidity of the whole notion. Overall, the sentiments of Valentine's are really quite lovely and wonderful. It is in this sentiment (and almost wholly going against the grain of my usual character) that I say that love should be celebrated in such a manner universally and always, and not just on Valentine's

I'm Back, Summary of Events

2006-02-13T23:06:00.000Z

You can say it any number of ways. The classic one is Arnold Schwartzenegger (soon to lose the governorship of California) in the terminator "I'm Back!" (be sure to do it in Austrian accent). For the more sophisticated, there is the Douglas MacArthur version upon landing once again on the Phillipines in World War II: "I have returned", fulfilling his promise of 3 years previously. But the idea is the same - you can expect more posts from me now, and I do apologise for my absence. Mark Twain's remark at reading about his own death in a newspaper springs to mind, though I am sure that the thought of this blog being dead never once crossed the mind of you stedfast readers: "reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated".

I have been more distracted than busy of late, but here are the main events of note: DT returned to Oxford from Singapore at the beginning of Febuary, we had a Jardine Chinese New Year Dinner (probably the last I will be attending), the inter-college quiz has begun, I am taking part in a Daily Telegraph organized pub quiz with a possible top prize of 8000 quid. I am also ostensibly attempting to study for my degree. Such is life

Procreation Dilemmas

2006-01-27T02:29:00.000Z

I read an article in the Guardian that highlighted Germany's problems with a declining birthrate. This problem is hardly new, and is one of the chief causes for Europe's continually aging population, something that will come to a head in about 15 to 20 years and will put an untold strain on the health care system. Previously, one tended to underestimate the scale of the problem in Germany compared to other European countries, what with Italy's birth rate falling to below 1.4 children per couple and that of the Scandinavean countries similarly plummeting. On an off note, this has led to many raised eyebrows in terms of the lack of children from Italy's predominantly Roman Catholic populace, particularly considering that utilizing birth control methods is still officially frowned upon by the church. Could it be that they aren't having sex? Somehow I doubt it.

Anyhow, the article showed that over 30% of German women have not had children, a vast majority by choice. This percentage rises to over 40% if limited to women with a University Education. This is a very startling fact indeed. Imagine half of the women with a Bachelor's Degree not having children! I personally was quite staggered by this. This has caused parliament to engage in a debate looking at ways in which to reverse this trend. One solution put forward has been to try and make men play a larger role in raising children, even going so far as stipulating 3 months leave immediately after the birth of a child for the man to help to care for it. This has caused quite a large bit of controversy, rather unsurprisingly, given that many parts of Germany is still quite traditional, and whilst no longer believing strictly in the chauvinistic view of women as "Kinder, Kirch, Kuche" or "Children, Church and Kitchen", still causes politicians to scoff at a man abandoning a real job to change nappies.

This article was of definite interest given the woes that Singapore has had in trying to encourage couples to have more children, with strategies ranging from public "three or more if you can afford it campaigns", to tax incentives, to the point where the government was almost (but not quite) suggesting that it was a civic duty for individuals to marry and have children. There is even a joke about why you must have three children: one to replace yourself, one to replace your spouse, and one to replace the single people who don't want to get married and have kids! Putting everything into perspective, Singapore's problem isn't quite as actue - it's birthrate lies around 1.8 - though that figure is still below the population replacement level (which is slightly above 2).

I remember that Lee Kuan Yew wrote memorably that one of the chief lessons for the new century was that population levels had to be controlled and that governments would have to learn the lesson of allowing uncontrolled population expansion. Recent evidence from Europe and elsewhere suggests that there reverse is quite true as well - governments have to be equally concerned about the lack of population expansion and they had to take measures to get the affluent newer generation to have children. In others words, population control, whichever way it lies, must be government policy. Nothing personifies this quite like Singapore of course, where the irony of the government's line on procreation - that of "two is enough" - cannot be lost on them whenever they ask for "three if you afford it" in the 21st Century.

League Cup Semi-Final

2006-01-26T15:02:00.000Z

I wandered out yesterday evening in search of some sustenance and found myself hunting around Summertown for a place to have a decent meal. I decided on the Dew Drop Inn which looked like a homely enough pub, and I do have a fondness for pub food. As I took a seat, I remembered that it was the evening of the Carling Cup Semi-Final between my favourite club Manchester United and Blackburn Rovers, and kick-off was due just a couple of minutes from the time I walked in. Never one to refuse a precipitous coincidence when it appears, I settled down for the match.

All in all it was a good game, if a bit scrappy, a torn up Old Trafford pitch not helping things a great deal. The team went in at half time having scored a goal apiece, both goals being a mixture of bad luck and poor defending. Overall, United had by far the better of the play and were unlucky to go in with things level on aggregate; they will be particularly kicking themselves for not putting away a penalty at the stroke of half time, Brad Friedel saving brilliantly from Ruud Van Nistelrooy. After the break it was more frustration as Friedel continued his heroics, saving a Van Nistelrooy bullet header. He was beaten though by a literal slice of good fortune, Louis Saha slicing the ball into the top left hand corner of the net after it had come off his shin rather than his foot from a Fletcher cross. In the end, United held on comfortably for the win and Vidic, the new central defender even got to make his debut as a substitute.

It is a measure of how resigned United are in losing the league title that this match had taken on the significance that it did. This was personified by the relief of the United players at the end of the match, and also by Van Nistelrooy's anguish at his penalty miss. In the past, United had treated the Carling Cup as a bit part tournament crowding the fixture list representing a fine chance for United to blood promising youngsters into the professional game. Now, it is a ticket to Cardiff and a trophy, and thus given far far more weight.

United go into the final as firm favourites to win their first league cup since 1992. Though this competition has never been particularly kind to United, they are expected to come out victorious against a Wigan team that is in their first major final. Still, Wigan cannot be underestimated, particularly after their shock win over Arsenal - they have a team that is rock solid and further to that has a never say die attitude and will not be overawed in the least against United on cup final day. Their strides in the Premiereship this season are testament enough to that. United on the other hand face a serious crisis in midfield, with Ryan Giggs limping off after just 15 minutes of this match with a strained hamstring, adding to the long list of woes he has in that department. He faces a battle to be fit for Cardiff. Alan Smith, the converted striker faces a battle to regain full fitness now to bolster a decidely inexperienced midfield. United also looked far from solid defensively, and will need to work on that particularly against Wigan, where Jason Roberts in particularly likely to punish any mistakes.

So a nice evening of football, with full anticipation for a great cup final day to come.

A Guide to US Newspapers

2006-01-25T18:51:00.000Z

I got this off a random blog, so thanks to smileaday.

The Wall Street Journal is read by people who run the country.

The New York Times is read by people who think they run the country.

The Washington Post is read by people who think that they should run the country

USA Today is read by people who think they should run the country but who don't quite understand the Washington Post.

The Los Angeles Times is read by people who wouldn't mind running the country if they could spare the time and didn't have to leave LA to do it.

The Boston Globe is read by people whose parents used to run the country.

The New York Post is read by people who don't care who is running the country, so long as they do something really scandalous, preferably while intoxicated.

The San Francisco Chronicle is read by people who are not even sure there is a country, or that anyone is running it; but whoever it is, they oppose all that they stand for.

The Miami Herald is read by people who run other countries but need the baseball scores.

Nocturnal Me

2006-01-25T16:53:00.000Z

I have seriously messed up my sleep cycle - and I mean really seriously this time. I have taken to staying up till 6am or later and waking up after lunch. This is really not an ideal situation and I need to get my life rotating back along societally normal bounds.

Did some serious reading, though much of it non-academic. Read Pompeii by Robert Harris, Speaker for the Dead and Xenocide by Orson Scott Card, In Praise of Slow by Carl Honore among others. I am currently reading Causing Death and Saving Lives, which is a very fine book about practical ethics written by Jonathan Glover. It looks into issues such as abortion and infanticide, euthanasia, war and the question of whether an omission is less blameworthy that an act (i.e if it were the case that I withheld life saving medicine from a person, I am less blameworthy that if I had killed the person directly). The book has the plus point of not only being of personal and intrinsic interest to me, but also relevent to my degree.

Other than that I have cleared up my room and done the laundry, most definitely something to be proud of!

The Big Questions

2006-01-22T23:04:00.000Z

Part of my coming to Oxford, and choosing to do Philosophy was to find answers to the big questions or at least examine my fundamental beliefs in them. Far from finding any answers, the more I delve into them, the more I realize how little I know, how far away a fixed answer seems. Still, after a vigorous evening of debating with some friends, I realize now that I don't even have a consistent view on many of these questions, a consistent stance that I can take. This list is a result.

Is there a meaning to life?
Is there a God? What is the nature of faith and belief?
Can we really know anything?
How can we live a good and moral life?
What is justice and equality, which conception is best for society?
What is the basis for rights? Are there any that are inalienable?
What freedoms are intrinsic to mankind? On what basis can we restrict these freedoms?
What is a democracy, must we safeguard ourselves against some aspects of it?
Should we allow abortions to occur? Should the state allow it?
What rights if any do animals have? How does this affect our own behaviour?
Is the death penalty ever justified? If so, on what grounds and in what circumstances?
Is conscription justified?
On what grounds is civil disobedience justified?
What is consciousness? How can it exist?
When should censorship be allowed and to what degree?
What leads to the growth of a democracy and its attendant values?
To what extent is absolute free trade possible and subsidies/trade barriers be allowed?
Should we legalise drugs?
Should we legalise prostiution?
Should individuals be allowed to choose to die and doctors carry out their wishes? How is the witholding of treatment related to this?
How objective can History be? Are there limits to interpretation within History?
Can we know that we exist, that we are not dreaming or a brain in a vat?
Do we have free will or are out lives determined in some sense?
Should be support affirmative action and other equal opportunity policies?
Should a state be secular and to what limits? Does this entail restricting certain freedoms (such as the freedom to wear religious attire)
Is fair trade really effective, and is it really 'fair'?

Any comments/discussions/opinions are greatly welcome.

Quizzes Galore

2006-01-20T00:53:00.000Z

I had the opportunity, or should I say embarrasment of watching myself on University Challenge again on Monday, this time with lots of other people in the Beer Cellar. Things didn't turn out as bad as it could have been, and it was even enjoyable in a carthartic sort of way. It was a nice way to spend the evening, completed with some darts games with Dan Whittingham.

Much much more pleasing was that Trinity finally managed to triumph in the Turf Tavern pub quiz, but only because they changed the format to set a round on each of the continents. Freed of having to answer troublesome questions of pop music lyrics, we duly won with some aid from Mark Wilson and Daniel Newman.

Another happy point was that I got back my collection for IR in the Cold War and far from being a disaster it was a very decent 65. Almost good enough to make you believe that there is hope for the future yet!

Other than that things have not been tremendously productive. Had another revision tute, and finished a couple of novels - Speaker for the Dead was incredibly good. Hope to start getting seriously productive next week.

Desert Island Discs

2006-01-15T01:20:00.000Z

I just listened to a program on BBC Radio 4 where famous people were interviewed and asked to choose 8 'Desert Island' pieces of music - 8 songs or pieces of music that they couldn't live without. They were also asked to choose a single CD, a single book and a luxury item. I thought it was a fabulous idea and so inspired here are my selections, but finding it difficult to pick individual pieces of music I have chosen 8 CDs.

In no particular order:

1. Kind of Blue by Miles Davis Quintet

This is a somewhat boring choice as Kind of Blue is probably the most famous and popular jazz recording of all time, but it is quite easy to see why. It was the first ever proper jazz CD I had ever bought, and it really swept me away from the opening chords of So What (I can heard it reverberating in my head right now). It was just magical listening to it the first time and it inspired a love of jazz that has continued to this day.

2. Songbird by Eva Cassidy

She has the most lyrical and haunting voice, able to speak directly to you and smooth over any sorrowful ache in your heart. I listen to Eva Cassidy when in the immortal words of Herman Melville, there is a deep dark September in my soul. A CD I most certainly could not live without. If forced to choose particular tracks, I would have to say the opening track 'Fields of Gold', 'Autumn Leaves' and 'Over the Rainbow'. Of the three, most favour the latter two, but my absolute favourite track has to be Fields of Gold. I have listened to it over and over again and there is a kind of wistful longing there that is truly heartbreaking. I think part of the reason for my fondness for it was that the first time I heard it played was as accompaniment to the great figure skater Michelle Kwan who is reknown for her expressiveness and elegance on the ice. The combination of the two were well and truly unforgettable.

3. Chopin Waltzes performed by Dinu Lipatti

Of all the classical composers, I must admit to having the greatess fondness and weakness for Chopin. His work is probably not as complex and intellectual enthralling as that of some other composers, but it seems to be able to communicate directly to me. Beneath the lovely melodic tone of Chopin's compositions, I find that the best pianists can bring out a sense of longing almost of loss, that permeates his work. I have always speculated that this reflected his status as a refugee in Paris and that aching feeling was for his Polish homeland which had been invaded. The choice of his waltzes would suprise many - they are probably the lightest of his work (other than the mazurkas) and hardly as complex as the Ballades, Polonaises or even the Nocturnes, let alone his two later piano sonatas. I have a real soft spot for this CD, and Lipatti is the perfect pianist to play Chopin - he has the lightness of touch and most importantly the feel for the pieces. Some say that it was a match made in heaven - Lipatti was Polish himself and died tragically at a young age of cancer. Indeed, the CD was recorded when he was in a stage of remission. The result is just stunning, beauty personified, conveying a real depth to the music which cannot fail to touch you.

4. Surfacing by Sarah McLachlan

This is another CD I have played repeatedly and is loved by my sister a great deal as well. I remember not being able to bring it with my when I left for Oxford and buying a copy in the middle of the term because I just felt like hearing it. Perhaps, I have developed a sentimental attachment to it, which does lend credence to it being chosen as a desert island disc. McLachlan has a beautiful soprano voice that puts much of today's so-called "superstars" to shame, and her songs are beautiful and touching. If I had to choose specific tracks I would have to pick "Adia" and "Do What You Have To Do" over "Angel" which was made famous by being featured in the movie City of Angels. A CD to treasure for me because of its familiarity if nothing else.

5. Les Miserables the Complete Cast Recording

I have always had a great love of musicals, and this one more than any other has been my favourite. I have seen it thrice on stage and I can sing out huge portions of it from memory. I will bring it with me only so I can stage my own production with myself in every role! Les Miserables is so popular because it speaks of universal feelings - love, loss, patriotism, guilt - it is all there. It was a terrible dilemma choosing between this and so many other great musicals - Chicago, Cabaret, Phantom, many of Sondheim's work and so on, but it was any easy choice in the end because Les Miserables is the most universal of all musicals. If you are stuck alone on a desert island, what better can you do to have a feel for humanity than listen through a recording of Les Miserables?

6. Collection 1 and 2 by Stacey Kent

I have always had a great love of jazz vocalists, so my collection of Desert Island Discs would have been incomplete without one. Finding a specific CD was a nightmare, however. I thought about a compilation, which would have the benefit of a number of class vocalists but I rejected it on the grounds that I normally shun compilations - I find that it panders to popular taste and rejects some of the more excellent and challenging music. Besides, I find it nonesensical that you can try to summarize an artist like Ella Fitzgerald, say, in a single disc. In the end I settled on Stacey Kent, one of the premiere jazz vocalists, again out of familiarity and comfort. I love her voice, which is so brilliantly radiant, perfect for the nice bouncy tunes, but she occasionally shows a mature deeper touch that illuminates the darker jazz standards. It was a difficult choice over the classic vocalists like Ella, Sarah Vaughn, Billie Holiday and even Diana Krall (whom I had grown up listening to) but Stacey Kent won out.

7. Bach Goldberg Variations by Murray Perrahia

The Goldberg variations are so wonderfully relaxing, its very essence speaks of calm and control. When I need to relax I have always played the Goldberg, or as an alternative Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 Second Movement. But the Goldberg variations seem to me a deeper piece which is why I have chosen it. As to the artist, my pick of Perrahia would seem rather strange. The two Glenn Gould versions are by far the most famous and universally acclaimed, though which of the two you prefer is very much a personal choice. I have never really had a passion for Gould finding him rather too idiosyncratic, especially for a piece like the Goldbergs where technical control and solid steadiness may actually be great virtues. In this respect, Perrahia is perfect.

8. Nevermind by Nirvana

In my teenage years, like most rebellious spirits, I developed a taste for rock music, which I still enjoy. Among the bands I loved were Guns N Roses, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith and Nirvana. People who know me would have expected me to pick a best of Bon Jovi CD, particularly when they have seen me prance around like an utter madman to It's My Life or Living on a Prayer in a club, and indeed heard of how It's My Life was played on my 21st Birthday. Be that as it may, Nirvana has alway been the perfect antidote for pent up anger and stress. If it ever got to a point where I felt like punching a wall, then Nevermind would be what I would turn to. It really is the perfect release valve and is quite aptly titled - in listening to it you really get the feeling that it is fine, that everyone else can go and **** themselves to hell with it. I can imagine that a nice tropical idyll would be lovely for say, the first couple of months. After that things may get a little frustrating. When it reached that stage, then it would come the time for this CD to be whipped out.

Single CD: Tough choice but I will go for Eva Cassidy

Single Book: I have to discount the Bible and the complete works of Shakespeare right off (as that would be cheating), and indeed any anthology or collected works of any sort (if not it would have been a anthology of verse). This being a completely impossible question, I would have to say one of the first books that came to my head without an immediate adverse reaction which would be the Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkien. I would be tempted to take Tolstoy's War and Peace, if only because it is huge, I have never read it, and I have always been meaning to. If I were really practical I would have chosen a book on tropical flora and fauna as I am quite useless at any kind of plant life and it would be essential to my survival.

Luxury Item: I am tempted to be cheeky here and attempt to cheat. I would request a computer that is powered by a spring (which is wound up) and has been developed for use in Africa. Oh, and on that computer you wouldn't mind putting the complete encyclopedia britanicca, the greater Oxford English dictionary, the complete works of Charles Dickens.........

Collections

2006-01-14T15:45:00.000Z

Had two collections yesterday which I just about survived, having stayed up most of the evening before to revise for. Don't think they went fantastically well, which means I will have to redouble my efforts at revision.

Later in the evening went by Chiaulings and spent a long time chatting to her and Jeremy, Julian, and Li Lib.

Went home and slept.

Tomorrow looks a lot more relaxing - mahjong in the evening, a bop and some time to prepare for the start of the term.

Nought Week

2006-01-12T16:01:00.000Z

Its been a typical nought week - everyone has come back to College and things look to be buzzing a lot more.

Been reading rather sporadically and in a rather shotgun manner, something that has been coupled with vain attempts to get my sleep cycle back into whack. Did finish Gaddis book about the cold war, and some other interesting bits and pieces, and started on a Cold War timeline. Gaddis book was clearly meant for a popular audience, but it very gripping nonetheless. Instead of heading back home, I found myself just captivated reading the last chapter of the book about the fall of Communism - it was a wonderful feeling, and something I hope will be present throughout this entire revision period.

Other than that I have been trying very hard to get my revision classes organized and sorted out, which I seem to have done relatively well, all things considered.

Now I shall get down to swotting for my Knowledge and Reality collection taking place tomorrow.....

Sunday

2006-01-09T03:15:00.000Z

Sunday morning was spent sleeping in after a quite accidental trip to the pub. I took the bus back home after working the whole of Saturday at the lodge and I overshot my stop, landing very nicely in front of the Woodstock Arms. I might have well wandered back home immediately but saw a sign advertising a Pub Quiz on Sunday. My interest piqued, I went inside, hoping to make enquiries and to have a quick pint. Doing so would add to the long list of fine drinking establishments that I have patronised in Oxford - I am trying to see how many I can accumulate before I leave. So instead of an early evening, I got to talking with some pub regulars about quizzes and trivia, having overheard one of them ask another one what he was going to set in the quiz tomorrow. It turned out the other bloke was the person who sets the quiz. Soon found myself ordering a couple more pints and staying to chat. Promised to go down for the pub quiz the next day, and eventually didn't (see below).

The whole afternoon managed to go by idling surfing the net and without a whole lot of stuff done. I did proof read Sam Longair's extended essay on the London welfare movement in the 1970s and made some basic grammatical and stylistic corrections/suggestions. Other than that, wasn't very productive.

The evening was spent watching a movie with Kimberley - Ang Lee critically acclaimed movie Brokeback Mountain. It has been characterized in shorthand as "the gay cowboy movie", lending the movie a great deal of interest due to the stereotypes it challenged. Of course, as is always the case it was much more than that. I greatly enjoyed the movie on the whole - it was wonderfully paced and very well directed and it had a wonderful balance to it that is really hard to achieve in any movie, let alone one with the sparseness and controversy this one had. Heath Ledger gave a pitch perfect perfomance and the supporting cast was impressive enough. The movie was able to present a picture of Mid-Western American society and its values that offers realy insight and amazingly little in the way of prejudice - in watching it I was never tempted for a moment to judge the social values that prevented the protagonists from achieving their happiness, just the realization that it was a way of life. Some breathtaking scenery and camerawork just added to the feel of the picture. Altogether, this must count as one of the major Oscar contenders.

Charles Kennedy Resigns

2006-01-07T16:53:00.000Z

Charles Kennedy has just resigned as the leader of the Liberal Democrats in a press conference this afternoon. This has come amidst immense pressure from many of his frontbenchers and statements of no confidence in his ability to continue as party leader, with 25 MPs pledging that they will refuse to serve on the frontbench under Mr Kennedy in the new parliamentary session due to open on Monday.

The ostensible reason for his resignation was his admission that he had a drink problem which MPs claim had affected his performance as party leader in the past. Notable instances of his ill-health , which has often been attributed to an overfondness for alcohol, include his failure to attend Gordon Brown's budget speech last year, and a stuttering speech at last year's Lib Dem party conference. However, given that his problems with drink were well documented in the past, one cannot but feel that this is far from the root cause for the calls for his dismissal.

One does get the sense however, that MPs are increasingly worried that the Lib Dems are a party without any direction, something that seriously inhibits their credibility in fulfilling their claims that they can be a real alternative choice, even in opposition. In that sense, Kennedy's performance at the party conference was all the more damaging, as far from kindling new enthusiasm and stating clearly the strategy the party would pursue in the coming year, he came across as distincly uncertain. Given these fears, it is perhaps not too difficult to understand their wish to have a new person at the helm, given that there is now a huge ideological debate over defining party policies.

Many would rally to the defence of Mr Kennedy by saying that the Liberal Democrats have never come closer to regaining credibility, given their ground breaking performance in the last general election. Yet, many MPs felt that the Lib Dems should have done even better given that the government was being embattled over Iraq, a war that the Lib Dems opposed, not to mention other contentious issues like ID cards, and education policy. It clearly didn't help that the Lib Dems much vaunted decapitation strategy directed against the Conversatives failed miserably and they failed to make any inroads whatsoever into Tory ground - which was seen by party members as the crucial indicator of success.

Kennedy only added fuel to the fire with his actions in recent weeks, when he knew that there was growing discontent directed against his leadership. Far from making attempts to reassure MPs, he was seen - unfairly or not - to be attempting to climb over their heads by appealing directly to the grassroots, where he did get an enormous public outpouring of support. However, as he soon came to realize, a party leader can only maintain his position at the behest of his peers in parliament and as the discontent increased it became increasingly obvious that his position had become completely untenable, and that he was effectively becoming a lame duck.

In many ways, this could not have come at a worse time for both the party and for parliament as a whole. This entire saga has been one of the most bloody, and public executive decapitations in recent (or even ancient) parliamentary history. I would liken it to the modern equivalent of stabbing Caesar on the steps of Pompey's theatre. The past conservative leadership struggles (Thatcher, Hague and Duncan Smith) hardly bare comparison, let alone the neverending Blair vs Brown squabbles. The public impact of such a brutal and open leadership struggle still remains to be seen, not to mention the political credibility of the party as a whole.

Worse still, there hardly seems to be any real credible candidate to succeed Charles Kennedy. Sir Menzies Campbell is certainly well respected, but hardly had the charisma and man of the people quality that Kennedy possessed. Other candidates for the leadership race have yet to come forward, and I am highly doubtful that they possess the combination of experience and public appeal that made Kennedy such a successful leader.

The Lib Dems have also been thrown into disarray by recent events, something that will undoubtedly have a large effect on their ability to act as a cohesive opposition in parliament. This comes at a time when the government is attempting to force many controversial pieces of legislation through the commons, and when the need for cohesive or at least coherent opposition could not be greater.

I have been personally disappointed by comments suggesting that Mr Kennedy had gone to far in using his image as an average Joe, characterized by his demons with the bottle, in garnering personal popularity at the expense of party credibility. According to these cynics, his recent admissions were nothing more than another press exercise targeted at gaining sympathy. I think these accusations are disgraceful and unjustified. It takes a lot of courage to admit to personal weakness, more so when you are a politician, and Mr Kennedy should be given respect for owning up, even in the face of his past attempts to subvert scrutiny on his drinking habit. Given the present government's preponderance of spin, it is rather harsh and extremely cynical to see all this as a public persona PR stunt.

For all his failings at a personal level, Mr Kennedy has done immensely well to consolidate the Lib Dems as a credible party - credible enough to be considered a serious contender for opposition. I heard Lord Jeffrey Archer speak on British politics and the state of the conservative party at the end of 2003 and he said that his greatest fear for the conservatives was from the Liberal Democrats and that he found this all the more remarkable consiering their position in the 1980s. Lord Archer remenisced about how the Shadow Home Affairs minister would suddenly be seen speaking out on Development issues or in the capacity of the Arts and Culture brief due to the fact that the Lib Dems had so few MPs that they couldn't even fill an entire shadow cabinet. That this is no longer the case has a large part to do with Mr Kennedy; whether this continues to be without him as leader remains to be seen.

090106 - Check out this in depth coverage of Charles Kennedy's resignation and the Lib Dem leadership contest on the BBC website.

Ditigal Revolution in Books

2006-01-07T16:35:00.000Z

It has been hyped up before, most memorably by Bill Gates, who said that he hoped to have 75% of books purchased digitally by the year 2005, but the results thus far has been generally disappointing. The main problem is that digital devices haven't been able to produce the clarity that is required for extended reading, particularly due to what many consider excessive glare in the display. Of course, there is the huge sentimental attachment that people have to books as they are - the look, feel and smell of a book, and the comfort that people derive from it.

However, Sony have just announced the launch of a new device called the Sony Reader which claims to be a massive advance in display technology, doing away with the backlighting of traditional digital screens and promising "clarity and resolution to rival paper itself". The device is also tremendously portable with the screen about the size of a paperback novel page, and with a battery life boasting the ability to last for 7,500 page turns. It's memory is also large enough to hold up to 80 novels, besides other common document files like pdf and word files. Adding a thumb drive would mean being able to add to the storage space significantly

All in all, this device looks remarkably versatile, and if the display is everything it is made out to be, that it could mark the beginnings of a significant inroads in digital viewing technology. It has certainly piqued my interest, though I find it hard to imagine myself abandoning my habit of lugging a paperback along with me everywhere I go. The Sony Reader does offer immense practicality and efficiency - imagine the content of 80 books at the equivalent weight of just one. Not to mention the fact that it makes it very convenient for long plane trips when you want to be spoiled for choice and see what piques your interest during the journey.

I am definitely tempted and may just spoil myself when it hits the stores in Spring 2006.

Information about the Sony Reader can be found here.

The Pleasures of Reading and First Attempts at Cooking

2006-01-06T23:34:00.000Z

Spent most of the day at home, alternately reading for pleasure and for revision. Made some serious inroads into Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell and found it getting more interesting. The plot does seem to be heading somewhere after all the slow and patient build up. But given that I really enjoy the style in which the book is written, I have savoured the book so far, though others might find it a tad tedious. It certainly was more pleasurable than International Relations Since 1945: A Global History, though I must admit to finding that very interesting as well.

Damien came over to cooks some chicken and sausages for dinner which was very nice. I actually succeed quite well in making the spaghetti including the sauce. My life was made easier with the purchase of a can of tomato puree though. Will try and continue these baby steps into the scary world of cooking.

The only blight in the day involved erstwhile housemate getting upset when I asked her (over MSN no less because I didn't want a confrontation) to clear up the sink which had dirty crockery she had used left for a couple of days. She stormed in, washed it all up and stormed out. It would have been highly difficult to prepare food otherwise. I guess she was stressed about work but aren't we all and was chirpier after dinner.

Battle of the Wardrobes

2006-01-06T15:48:00.000Z

I read about the above with much amusement in the Guardian online. Apparently, two Christian colleges in the US are both claiming to be the proud owners of the wardrobe that inspired the epynonymous creation in C.S Lewis' novel the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Both were purchased from his Oxfordshire home by Wheaton and Westmont colleges respectively and have contrasting but compelling claims. The full article can be found here. I cannot help but laugh at the whole situation and wonder what all the fuss is about.

On a happier note, I am now thinking of applying to Brown University - the deadline is the 1st of Febuary so I will have to move quickly, but it is definitely a possibility.

Schools Visit and Lots of Reading

2006-01-05T22:30:00.000Z

I helped out with a schools visit today. The kids were from St Edmund's Arrowsmith School and they were mostly around 16 I think. Toju, Sam Longair and Kimberley were also helping out - Kimberley had just gotten in that morning and it was nice to see here back. It was the usual schools thing - a talk and Q&A session, followed by a tour of the college and a treasure hunt round Oxford where they had to look for the answers to various clues. There was also an interesting activity where they were given information about a crime and had to act variously as either the prosecution or the defence which was quite challenging I thought. The bonus in helping out was of course a free dinner in hall. Later on, went to Wine Rack and bought three bottles of wine on 3 for 2 offer and a bottle of port for just 5 pounds. Was sorely tempted to get a nice bottle of Whisky and I probably will, once the wages at the lodge comes through.

The previous day was spent reading for the most part. I read through Robert Harris' book Archangel, set in comtemporary Russia and featuring a startling revelation having to do with a diary that Joseph Stalin kept. It was an enthralling and spellbinding read. The author was really able to create a superbly authentic feel of contemporary Russia and how it has not fully exorcised its past. It definitely stirred my interest in many of the great figures of the Soviet cold war era - Lenin and Stalin most of all, but also Krushchev, Molotov and Brezhnev. It was fantastic stuff, with another brilliant ending, something to rival Fatherland. Indeed, I had enjoyed Fatherland so much that I went straight out and bought this one and finished it that night. I also bought another Wodehouse book - Something Fresh - which was the book in which Blandings Castle and all its various inhabitants were introduced. So much for my resolution to buy less books.

Among other literary pursuits, I have started on Dr Strange and Mr Norrell by Susan Clarke. It caused quite a stir when it came out with the general conscensus that it was the 'literary Harry Potter' but I resisted the hype before finally deciding to get it on the recommendation of Douglas who seems to be enjoying it immensely. It is quite a hefty book - all 900+ pages of it, but after getting through the first 200 pages or so I must say I am enjoying it a great deal. It has a very English late Victorian kind of style to it and a very subtle humour which is really wonderful. I also read through a short biography of Abraham Lincoln called Out of the Wilderness, and I am in the process of starting a much larger one by David Herbert Donald. Lincoln is a figure I have always greatly admired and I consider him to be the greatest of all the American Presidents - definitely a far cry from the Presidents of today.

I had a nice dinner with Sinead - pasta - in exchange for wine. I brought up two half finished bottles which weren't particularly good and were clearly the worse for wear in having been opened for awhile. I was apologetic and promised to do better and buy some good wine (which I have since done). It was nice chatting with her about all sorts of random stuff. Emma her roomate joined in for a bit. It seems everyone is returning - Toju, my roomate arrived back today, as did Damien and many others are expected back soon. Its nice to see the place fill up with people - College is rather quiet otherwise.

Absolute Disaster.....

2006-01-03T05:58:00.000Z

I feel like an utter and total idiot. Things have gone completely pear-shaped with my Harvard application and it is completely my fault. The main thing is that I got the deadline wrong - I thought it was today the 3rd of January but it turns out it was yesterday. I really shouldn't have procrastinated for so long but I thought I could have finished it off today. Things have not been easy seeing that I was pretty much marooned in the lodge over the past 12 days or so, but I really should have checked the deadline and furthermore I still had yesterday to finish it, which I didn't. Now I went to all the trouble of getting things posted, to get recommendations and to write my statement of intention for nothing.

Seeing that I decided not to apply to the M.A at Yale - too much economics focus, lack of funding opportunities, it leaves me with just Columbia and Georgetown. I must definitely apply to Oxford and maybe LSE now.

I really can't believe this has happened. I am simultaneously utterly and totally depressed and so angry with myself. I really have to start taking life seriously - this is an utter and total joke, even given all the extenuating circumstances. This kind of foolishness can change destinies.

Cold comfort: there is always next year.

Update: I have since finished off my Georgetown application and got it sent off. Hopefully there will be a good chance for that one. But reality still stands: I need to get my life sorted.

On a happier note, I had dinner with Julie at the Noodle Bar. It was nice getting some proper food down me instead of the microwavable stuff that I had been eating previously.

Terribly Lazy Day Yesterday

2006-01-03T02:57:00.000Z

Had a most luxuriously lazy day yesterday. Spent much of it lying in bed and getting far more sleep than was strictly necessary, including a afternoon nap borne out of sheer laziness. I finished the Wodehouse book Leave It To Psmith which was extremely funny and very enjoyable indeed. I do love the dry english humour and I love Wodehouse's wonderful contruction of coincidences in his plot and how everything builds up so nicely. I started Robert Harris' Fatherland in the evening, just before dinner and got hooked on it. It is a fantastic thriller - a real page turner if there every was one set in an alternate world in which World War II turned out rather differently. Quite delightful in keeping one at the edge of his toes, and really unputdownable. All this sounds like cliched hype, but is true in this case. This is far better than Dan Brown - the writing is of a far higher quality, and there is a much greater sense of atmosphere.

Had dinner with Peter Ho, and a couple of his Brasenose friends which was nice enough. It was rice with a kinda of spicy dish of potatoes and meat cooked up by Peter's friend. It was amazing how he managed to just get the dish going in no time at all and makes me resolved to learn how to do some basic cooking.

Going to be a very busy day tomorrow: moving out of the Lodge Annexe, starting revision, shelving books in the library. But its time to knuckle down to stuff.

My Year in Books

2006-01-01T19:11:00.000Z

According to the list that I have been keeping, I read 86 books in total last year (with three still uncompleted). I have decided to choose my ten best of the year (in no particular order). There were definitely tough decisions to be made as I did read many delightful books, and fewer poor ones.

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksander Solzehnitsyn

Solzehnitsyn's account of a day in one of the Russian Gulags or concentration camps is scarily captivating. In reading it, one gets a feel for humanity in all its base essence - a ceaseless struggle for warmth and food and bare survival. Yet within this harshness the author still shows our ability to transcend that which is truly inspiring.

Guns, Germs and Steel and Collapse by Jared Diamond

I am technically cheating here as these are two seperate books, but I would like to think of them as two seperate sides of the same coin. Guns, Germs and Steel examines the development of different societies and postulates reasons for the difference in wealth and technology and development that have come about in our modern age. Collapse examines why it is the case that some societies collapse and die out while some others do not. Jared Diamond is a most remarkable scholar with a breadth of knowledge that is just simply awe inspiring and his arguments are certainly compelling. Read these two books, you will definitely learn a great deal.

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

As I said before, to call Tim O'Brien a war story writer is like classifying Dickens as a Victorian Social critic - the added qualifications are superfluous. He is just a great writer, period. This books of interlinked short stories is captivating and written with a subtlety and lyricism that belies the harshness of its subject matter. This started a love affair with the author that extended to much of his other writings.

The Peacemakers by Margaret MacMillan

A brilliantly researched book about the Paris Peace Conference that wonderfuly illustrates the personalities that made the key decisions as well as the circumstances in which they carried out the enormously difficult task of post war settlement. Wonderfully illuminating, and eminently readable history.

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

To say a novel is beautifully written is to lapse into cliche nowadays, but one has a tendency to do so in describing this novel, 20 years in the writing and winner of the pulitzer prize. Every word seems so perfectly nuanced and well placed, it is a treasure trove of delight from beginning till end.

Hitler: Hubris by Ian Kershaw

Assidously researched (as the multitudunous footnotes would attest) this was hailed as the biography to end all biographies of Hitler. Ian Kershaw has established himself as the foremost expert on Hitler and Nazi Germany and it certainly shows in this monumental work. The most powerful aspect of the work is Kershaw's determination to put Hitler into the context of German society in the period and to try and answer the question of how a highly advanced and cultured society could fall into the spell of Nazism. A powerful work that should be read by anyone even remotely interested in power and its abuses.

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

The most famous anti-war novel ever written and rightly so. Remarque's novel about the disillusionment end the ending of the innocence of youth is a powerful evocation of the senselessness of war. It contains some very powerful descriptions, and though it can be a bit heavy handed at times, it is a very moving, and very important work that serves as a testament to the suffering present in war.

Freakonomics by Dubner and Levitt

A rare thing indeed, a popular, fascinating book on ecomomics that doesn't contain equations and isn't polemical in any way. Levitt really does make his subject come alive with examinations of wht drug dealers live with their mothers, how sumo wrestlers and teachers are similar and many other wonderfully strange and interesting questions that can be answered with the basic tools of economics: preferences, incentives, scarcity and choice. Pure brilliant fun.

Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson

This one of the most lyrical and amazing books I have ever read. There are passages that leaves you gasping and that you can just read again and again. A wonderful book of the discovery of adolescence. A must read, pure and simple.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

This is classic Ishiguro - the classic 1920s English style of writing that just reads oh so easily. The plot slowly unfolds as the narrator describes her time at a seemingly innocous bording school that is keeping something from their students. It leads to an ending that is so perfectly natural, yet heartbreaking all the same. A wonderful book that was very unlucky not to win the Booker.

New Year Resolutions

2006-01-01T17:59:00.000Z

In the spirit of wishful thinking here are my new year resolutions (in no particular order):

1. Keep regular sleeping hours and wake up on time

2. Be more organized and schedule my time better

3. Work harder and attend lectures

4. Take better care of myself

5. Manage finances better

6. Keep in contact with people

7. Learn how to cook

8. Be less argumentative and learn to listen more

9. Read More Books (try and read 2 books a week)

This is the list for now. More will be added as I think of anything else that needs improving. Suggestions are more than welcome!

The Road Not Taken

2005-12-31T09:11:00.000Z

New Year's Eve represents a good opportunity for reflecting on what has just passed and on what may lie in the year ahead. More than any other time of the year (except perhaps birthdays) you wonder how you may change things (wanting to 'improve' is hopelessly positive). In the spirit of this I post Robert Frost's famous poem "The Road Not Taken", one of my personal favourites and wonderfully apt given the circumstances.

1. The Road Not Taken

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Books Galore

2005-12-30T15:14:00.000Z

I made a trip to Borders yesterday which was probably not the best of ideas given the post-Christmas sales. I ended up buying a few books on offer that were resistable at full price but not when discounted to half price or less. Among these were Dava Sobel's The Planets - it looked pretty popularist, but I am sure it will have lots of interesting facts. I also succumbed and got the giant mass of a book by Robert Fisk (coming to 1200 plus pages) about his experiences in the Middle East as a correspondent and journalist for over 25 years. I admitted being skeptical about Zadie Smith and he recent Booker prize shortlisted work but I ended up getting a copy in hardback at half price, which I reasoned would have been the price of a paperback copy anyway. I also indulged in the usual 3 for 2 offers in this case getting Susanna Clarke's highly recommended Dr Strange and Mr Norrell, Robert Harris' Fatherland among them. I also ended up getting a copy of a 'local' book called the Oxford Murders that was 2 pounds off and looked intriguing.

This morning was spent watching Spirit: Legend of the Cimarron which was one of the Dreamworks animated features. The animation was wonderful, if the storylined rather cliched in terms of painting things in black and white. Of course the necessary hogwash about spirit, determination, love, home and loyalty and never giving up was there in spades. Enjoyable nonetheless, if not taken too seriously.

Spent quite a bit of time reading Zadie Smith's On Beauty, which is the fourth book on the Booker prize shortlist that I am reading. I am definitely enjoying this book far more than White Teeth, her much lauded debut. One reason is probably because it deals with academia and politics which are much closer to my heart.

The Past Few Days

2005-12-29T13:51:00.000Z

Things have been rather unproductive on the whole. College has been very quiet and not many people have been about, meaning that my 12 hour shifts have been spent idly perusing the newspapers (The Times, Guardian and Independent), reading (mostly non-academic stuff) and watching television.

I did catch the movie the Constant Gardener one evening, and it was certainly quite enthralling stuff about a pharmaceutical company's abuses in Africa and the complicity of the British diplomatic service in the dirty dealings. There was good acting throughout from Ralph Fiennes and an irrepressable Rachel Weisz who is certainly one of the more talented young British actresses of today, even if she gets much less in the way of publicity. The director, Fernando Meirelles, who was responsible for the highly successful City of God, does capture the look and the feel of the African slums tremendously well. Only downsides: an over restless camera which zooms in and out more frequently than is necessary and comfortable, and a rather strident moral tone and sentiment which some might find mildly off-putting, but given the subject matter may actually be quite necessary. In any event, something I am quite willing to accept (I refrain from using the word forgive).

I went through a bit of a musical phase, watching bits of Bedknobs and Broomsticks and Singin' in the Rain (which I have both seen many times). I also got to catch the movie version of South Pacific, that memorable Rodgers and Hammerstein musical featuring the song "One Enchanted Evening". It was pretty good fun with quite a few catchy numbers. I guess there is something about the musical that I love - the spring that it can put in your step, the catchy tunes and lyrics. Watching some of the older classics makes me want to try and watch them all. My apetite was definitely whetted even more when I caught a programme on the 100 best musicals of all time on Channel 4.

As to what I have read, I completed the first of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels Casino Royale, after also recently finishing Live and Let Die which was the second in the series. Bond comes across quite differently in the novels - far more at risk of being outsmarted by and being in danger from his enemies, and thus more human in a way. The debonair charm and weakness for women and the high life remain constant elements though. I also completed Alain De Botton's books The Consolations of Philosophy, which is one of the more admirable of the glut of popular philosophy books that have turned up in recent times (I must admit to be rather disturbed when I saw Winnie the Pooh and philosophy among other things). In 6 excellent chapters he looks at Socrates, Seneca, Epicurus, Montaigne, Schopenhauer and Nietschze as providing consolation for 6 seperate everyday ills. It was entertaining, and extremely readable in De Botton's unique style, and is definitely to be recommended.

In the meantime, I am working my way through John Lewis Gaddis' new general history of the Cold War which I bought recently. It is aimed at the general public and is perhaps too popularist for my purposes, but it does provide quite a bit of food for thought and some useful academic points. I have also picked up a book on Morality and Contemporary Warfare dealing with Just War theory, something that I have found surprisingly interesting once I got started on it in a midnight raid to the library. I hope to finish both shortly.

It's Snowing

2005-12-29T12:33:00.000Z

The snow was late by a day or two, but it got there in the end, giving us all a rare holiday treat. If we were to take the lyrics of the famous Bing Crosby song metaphorically - as that of the season rather than the day itself, then Britain can claim to have a 'White Christmas' after all. In fact, much to the surprise of everyone, it has been snowing so heavily in some parts of the UK that snow and ice warnings had to be issued. Far from causing alarm, all this has caused considerable delight. Even Oxford, which is reknown for its terrible weather, where it hardly snows for more than a quarter of an hour before it reverts back to rain and where whatever has fallen inevitably turns into a most uncomfortable slush, had some proper snow, even if it for a very short period of time.

I have always had a great love of snow, something undoubtably bred from a childhood in Canada where skiing and ice skating counted as my favourite sports. There is something magical about snow without which the entire winter season seems incomplete, thus the general joy in which it is greeted. Its too bad I seem to be in one place in the UK where snow just doesn't seem to want to happen. It marvels me that in late November when we had snow in the Southernmost parts of England - Devon and Cornwall - it all managed to pass Oxford by. Then again, most of the fun is to be had with other people about - throwing snow balls and the like - and it is rather deserted here at the moment. It would be all the more depressing if it had snowed properly and I had no one to share it with.

A final afterthought - they say that the Inuit (Eskimo is derogatory, or so a friend tells me, the equivalent of 'nigger') have over 20 different words for snow. I wonder if they have a word for snow that comes quickly but doesn't continue; a snow that is not quite snow? I wouldn't be surprised to find that this, much like many other perculiar weather, is confined to the UK. Bill Bryson, among others, once expressed surprise at the fact that the British talked about the weather so much, as he found British weather distinctly uninteresting. As he claims, there are no hurricanes, tornadoes, high winds, droughts or anything remotely scary about it. Besides the social benefits of talking about the weather which is intrinsically important to the normally reserved Brits, perhaps British weather is special in its own mundane way. Perhaps it is just inherently unpredictable not in a spectacular sense (cyclone, tornado, hurricane etc.) but in a common everyday sense. And that makes it all the worse.

Sporting Highlights of the Year

2005-12-26T19:26:00.000Z

These are my sporting moments and people of the year, in no particular order:

1. England win the Ashes

A series that won the imagination of the nation and many people in the world. For sheer excitement and desire it could hardly be topped as a sporting spectacle. Who can forget the second test which England squeaked by two runs? Or the obstinacy of Australia's tail end in securing a draw at Old Trafford. Then to top it off, Pietersen smashing seven sixes in the final test, and of course that dropped catch. I remember watching with growing excitement on BBC five live radio over the web in Hong Kong as England inched closer to Ashes victory, and could almost smell the excitement.

2. Liverpool win the Champion's League

A truly and utterly unforgetable final, much greater in quality than Barcelona in 1999 and at least its equal or superior in drama. At half time, it looked a hopeless case - after all nobody had come from 2-0 down in 20 years, yet alone a three goal defecit. My friends and I were stuck in a dodgy pub in Oxford with poor beer and were contemplating going home - thank God we didn't. The turnaround itself was remarkable, the double save from Shevchenko jaw dropping, and then of course it came down to the lottery of the shootout where so many English clubs had fallen before. A tremendous final.

3. Roger Federer wins his Third Wimbledon

As if it didn't need anymore emphasizing. It wasn't the fact that Federer cemented his place among the true greats in winning his third title in succession but the manner in which he did so. To say that he obliterated his opponents would almost seem an understatement and journalists alike seemed to run out of superlatives for his magical grass court tennis. Perhaps the best of the lot was the first set against Roddick in the final when he completely bamboozled Andy and made just one unforced error. Then of course he goes and beats hometown hero Andrea Agassi in the final of the US Open two months afterwards....

4. Game 5 of the NBA Finals

After four consecutive blowouts to open the series, with the home team dominant throughout, no one expected the fireworks in this match. Robert Horry had a reputation as a big time player and clutch shooter, but this performance was crazy, even by his standards. He scored 21 points almost all in the final quarter and overtime and capped an amazing performance by sinking a 3 pointer to win the game with 5 seconds remaining in overtime. This was the defining match in a very tight series given more to tight defense and a distinct lack of drama. Not that I for one am complaining. These two teams deserved to be where they were because they did the fundamentals the best, there were built on tough defence, hard work and team play - if people found it unexciting, then so be it.

5. Wigan Athletic in the Premiereship

Before the start of the season, conventional wisdom had it that Wigan Athletic did not have a chance in hell of staying up. They were lucky enough to get into the Premiereship it was said, and should enjoy it while it lasted. The opening match of the season, against the defending champions Chelsea, gave a foretaste of what was to come. It was not that they managed to pull off a shock win - they were desperately unlucky to lose 1-0 to a injury time winner - it was the courage, determination, teamwork and skill that they showed in the match. Reaching second in the table in November however must be something they cannot have imagined in their wildest dreams. A run of 5 defeats have brought them back down to earth somewhat but the fact that they are still challenging for Europe and the Champions League is a real credit to them.

6.Tiger Woods wins the Masters and Open

Slump? What slump? The true measure of Tiger Wood's greatness is that people deem that he is in a slump when he fails to win in 10 consecutive major tournaments. This is forgetting the fact that a single major championship is often seen as the holy grail for any golfer, and that there are many players with wonderful careers that have never won any - look at Colin Montgomerie's continuing quest, not to mention Phil Mickleson before the 2004 Masters. Tiger showed great determination to win the Masters in a play off after bogeying the final two holes - a setback that would have floored many a lesser golfer. Then he continued his love affair with St Andrews (and in majors that mark Jack Nicklaus final participation) by not so much winning as watching his major rivals wilt. A second place finish in the US open and a T-4 in the PGA just added to his incredible feats at the majors this year. So the record so far: 10 majors before the age of 30, the only man other than Jack Nicklaus to win each major more than once, the only man other than Nicklaus to win multiple majors in three or more seasons. The true sign of greatness is when you compete not with everyone else, but with a sense of destiny. The scary sign is that Tiger Woods gives every indication that he can live up to these expectations.

7. Shaun Murphy wins the World Snooker Title

Sports purist often decray that a sport shouldn't be considered a sport unless you are able to work up a sweat in taking part in the activity. To them cue sports like snooker and pool, not to mention darts and bowling don't qualify as "proper sports". Still, I would challenge them to have a go at Snooker - they will probably find it terribly exacting, not only in the level of skill required to make any substantial break, but also in terms of the mental pressure and concentration needed to succeed. The modern game of Snooker has advanced quite considerably in terms of the quality of play with century breaks no longer at the premium they once were. Even more considerable has been the huge influx of talent into the sport and a much more open field in a game that has been traditionally dominated by a small elite. Nothing personified this more than young Shaun Murphy, ranked 48th in the World at the start of the World Championships but shocked everyone to win the title in some style, beating former champion Peter Ebdon convincingly in the semi-finals by seven frames with a superb display of attacking snooker and then dispatching twice semi-finalist and twice-finalist Matthew Stevens 18-16 in a tense finale. A magnificent and well-deserved victory for this rank outsider, and deservingly remembered as a sporting triumph, semantics be damned.

8. Lance Armstrong wins his Seventh Tour De France

Enough his been written about Lance, particularly after his record breaking sixth consecutive victory the previous year, that anything additional would seem superflous. His indeed is a triumph of will over adversity, of guts and determination overcoming all obstacles. His seventh triumph all but cements his place as probably the greatest cyclist in history (purists would plump for Belgian Eddie Merckx) and adds to a record that seems all but impossible to break. His is a truly inspirational story for a supreme sportsman and it is fitting that his feat should be recognised, even if it seems to lack the emotional resonance and much of the significance of last year's victory (in surpassing the record of Indurain and Merckx). The only dark side to this has been the repeated rumours of drug use that have dogged him, which up to now have remained unproven. Still these malacious rumours (till proven) should not detract from Lance Armstrong's remarkable legacy and ground-breaking seventh (and quite possibly final) win.

9. Fernando Alonso wins the Formula One Title

Formula One was deemed to be getting boring and many had criticized the dominance of Ferrari and Michael Schumacher as being bad for the sport. Few had any doubt that this dominance would continue, though they expected more competition from the rest of the field as the season began. What the pundits did not expect was that Ferrari would struggle badly throughout the season and that unfashionable Renault would clinch the driver's championship. Alonso became the youngest ever formula one champion and in doing so he showed a remarkable amount of consistency and maturity, the likes of which have not been seen in many of the grizzled veterans he was competing against. His win was greeted with great fanfare not just because it ended Ferrari's dominance, but because he was a genuinely well-liked figure in the sport, quite unlike Schumacher who was considered aloof and was dogged by allegations of unsportsmanlike behavious. Alonso however was quite the opposite, always with a ready smile and time for the press, completely with the egotism that seems a natural prerequisite for formula one drivers. That he was Spanish and handsome to boot must be an added bonus for publicizing formula one as a whole.

Intelligent Design

2005-12-26T18:28:00.000Z

I have been greatly annoyed by a recent case concerning a civil suit against the State Universities in California. The matter came about due to the fact that several students applying to the Universities attended science classes in religious schools which insisted on using specific textbooks published by religious authorities, and the admissions board had deemed that the textbooks did not posses enough academic merit for the Universities to credit these students with the science classes they attended, thus affecting their chances for entry into University. These students promptly sued the state on the grounds that they were being discriminated against on the basis of religious faith.

This issue in itself is part of the wider debate within America about the calls for the teaching of the theory of 'intelligent design' as a coherent alternative to the theory of evolution itself. This has come admist a reaction from the religious right in America against the mainly liberal and secular school boards. These people claim that the theory of evolution itself is "unproven" and that there is a bias in school curriculum emphasizing this over other "theories" regarding the origins of mankind. They further claim that students are given the mistaken impression that evolutionary theory is the only correct theory available to explain the development of life on earth.

Instead, they claim that evolution must be taught alongside other theories, and that this diversity of viewpoint can only be beneficial compared to the myopic view that students currently have. Chief among these and championed by many on the religious right is the notion of intelligent design. This theory basically states that many of the features inherent in animals and the universe contain characteristics that must be caused by and result from an intelligent cause or agent. This is directly opposed to the idea of evolution and natural selection. According to supporters of intelligent design, their theory is no more or no less valid than the theory of evolution in terms of answering the question of the origin of life and thus should be given equal weight and credit and more importantly should also be taught in school biology classes alongside evolutionary theory, particularly given that the origins of life is such a complex question that evolution itself was not able to prove conclusive as a single cause.

The movement has been gaining momentum since the late 1990s, particularly with the election of President George W Bush, who has openly championed intelligent design over evolution. In recent years school boards in Alabama, Texas, New Mexico, Nebraska and Illionis have moved towards dropping the theory of evolution from the school curriculum. The school board of Kansas actually succeeded in doing so by a vote of 6 to 4 in 1999. Over 20 states have a legal challenge against evolutionary theory is some form or another.

However, one major question that they seem to conveniently overlook is where, if any place at all, should the teaching of intelligent design be placed within education. The overriding question, shunted aside by the religious right, is whether intelligent design is scientific at all. The National Academy of Sciences is very clear on this matter. They said in a statement that intelligent design is "not scientific because such theories cannot be tested by evidence, nor do they generate any predictions or propose new hypothesis of their own". A very clear distinction must be made between what is scientific and what is not, something that the religious right refuses to acknowledge. Science has a very specific methodology which differentiates what is scientific from what is not scientific. This includes elements such as hypothesis being empirically testable, supported or based upon multiple observations, being internally and externally consistent and other such characteristics. Does intelligent design really meet this criteria?

In the case of the school textbooks used by religious schools, they almost certainly do not. The introduction to the textbooks state that the content was written to be consistent with the word of God and the teachings of the Christian faith. More explicitly it said that "the people who prepared this book have consistently tried to put the word of God first and science second". Therein lies the crux of the matter - because like it or not, the people supporting intelligent design have a primarily religious agenda, and the entire theory in stems from this agenda to begin with, no matter how hard they try and pretend otherwise and disguise the theory as scientific. Intelligent design is not fundamentally based on empirically testable or observable hypothesis but on religious faith, pure and simple. If it were to be taught at all, it belongs in a religious education class and not a science one.

Learning And Wisdom

2005-12-26T15:39:00.000Z

Montaigne put it best when he said that "If man were wise he would gauge the true worth of anything by its usefulness and appropriateness to his life." Therein lies his distinction between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge is stuff like logic, grammer, mathematics, nuclear physics etc.; while wisdom is a much broader and elusive substance - defined broadly as anything which would help a person to live well. Montaigne took living well to be that of living happily and morally.

The distinction is important because Montaigne himself felt that in his schooling, a great deal of knowledge was imparted to him and that he was taught to be "learned but not good or wise" and he emphasized that this was a serious deficiency. He declared that what was important was not to find out "who knew most but rather who knew best" This is rather an interesting pronouncement given the spate of criticism surrounding education in Asia in general and Singapore in particular, with its emphasis on abstract questions and rote learning. This problem seems to be one which has endured over time - from 16th Century France to the present day and it seems to extend beyond the whole debate about creative thinkng and the ilk. Being able to think is more than having knowledge - it is about the ability to reflect and to consider and decide what is right from wrong, what is worthwhile and meaningful, and that is something that is seriously lacking in education today.

On a more personal note, I must admit to long having desired knowledge, seemingly on its own merits. I have a great love of random facts and trivia, and I treasure them for their own sake - as the only saying goes "knowledge for knowledge sake". There is a practical benefit in the accumulation of random facts that I must admit to - that of personal pride. It allows one to (attempt to) impress with the assidously weighted fact or statistic, the telling quip, the random piece of trivia that would (hopefully) elict a favourable response. However, this quickly becomes tiresome if practiced to too great a degree. Given Montaigne's definitions, can I be said to be barking up the wrong tree?

The greater danger that Montaigne put forward is one that is still exceedingly commonly held today - our tendency to try and seem intellectual and cultured by quoting famous writers and thinkers, very often to the detriment of ourselves. Montaigne summarized it best when he said that we are "richer than we think we are, each one of us". The greater irony lay in the fact that he himself resorted to quoting the great philosophers - Seneca, Plato, Aristotle and Cicero - not only when they expressed something he felt in a sublime way which he could not match but in order to "hide his weaknesses behind their great reputations". This is ironic because Montaigne himself has been now put on the same pedestal and feted and quoted along with all of the ancient greats he himself revered. He of all people will be the first to acknowledge the wonderful benefits that a couple of centuries can do to other people appreciating one's work.

Why this is sad is that we often have no real reason to feel inadequate, and often this leads us to look to the accepted greats and mimic them in order to look wise instead of speaking and thinking for ourselves. Indeed, it is quite telling who our own personal interests and thought are often devalued in our own eyes and being insignificant when they seem to contradict some higher intellectually and culturally accepted norm. Montaigne was all too right when he said that we tend to devalue ourselves.

There is a place for knowledge. Facts and learning, what we have accumulated in our study in school and university are the bedrock of everything. True wisdom comes, however, in understanding how we can best lead our lives. In that sense the quest for knowledge is a never-ending one, whilst the quest for wisdom is a continuing journey with changing destinations.

Cultural Stereotypes

2005-12-23T12:33:00.000Z

We live in a world where cultural stereotyping of any form is an extremely dangerous activity. This is a day and age of keywords like access, and meritocracy, where what is celebrated is 'difference' - with a positive spin. Every institution is supposed to show its diversity, and many often go to great lengths to do so. Symptomatic of this trend is the University of Michigan, who photoshopped one of its prominent black students among spectators at a football match which he just happened to not have attended.

Yet, in my time in the UK, and particularly the time spent working in the lodge, I am afraid to say that at the most general level at least, many of the stereotypes hold a grain of truth of them - and far more often than not, it is the negative rather than the positive stereotypes that fit this trend.

Most common among the widely held stereotypes is that of the rude chinese tourist. This has been borne out many a time at Trinity. A prime example is the group of tourists who had the nerve to open the main gates leading up the driveway from the outside and happily stroll down the lane - after realizing that the College was closed. It wasn't just the daring and utter lack of civility in doing something like that, an act that would be unimaginable for many others, it was utter lack of an attempt to show contrition or to apologize once they had been caught. Instead, they proceeded to insult me in mandarin, assuming I could not understand them. It is always unfair to generalize in any form, but it does seem that many chinese who travel overseas seem to have the attitude that the world should be beholden to them. Given this, it isn't all that surprising that they leave such a negative impression on people.

Indeed, this can be contrasted to the behaviour of other people I have seen over the past few days. British people tend to ask politely whether I knew which other Colleges were open and inquire as to when the College would open. Americans tended to be a bit pushier and would openly express disappointment and inquire whether there was really no way in which they could be let in. Others, particularly the Spanish and Italians would pretend not to see the sign walk in and either act dumb (you really are closed?) or brashly walk back out as if they hadn't done anything.

I am told that it is often fun to sit by a cafe window, enjoying a coffee and observing the people going past, how the human character truly illuminates itself. I do better - I sit in the lodge, warm and heated and I get paid to do it.

A Season of Giving (and Receiving)

2005-12-22T17:16:00.000Z

It has been a very relaxing albeit not too productive couple of days. On the upside, I had dinner with Cleo, a friend of DT and an A Star scholar who was leaving Oxford permanently to go back to Singapore, along with her German boyfriend. They were both really lovely people and I greatly enjoyed their company.

I received lots of new stuff thanks to the generosity of Cleo including a upstanding lamp, new kitchen stuff, and best of all a futon which has been brilliant. DT got a printer and a scanner among other stuff.

I also opened the presents that DT got for me and they were really lovely. I am really touched by her generosity and thoughtfulness. I went shopping yesterday for some Christmas presents in return.

I write this as I start my first day in the lodge, working over the vacation period. Its been relatively quiet overall, and Graham the head porter ensured that I am pretty well stocked up on Sainbury microwavable meals, snacks and even a couple bottles of wine. I have also got a nice room in the Lodge Annexe with sheets and stuff nicely done up, so its all good really.

Watched some holiday television including most of Gunga Din, one of those oldie movies involving a rebellion against the British Raj and an indian who desperately wants to be a soldier and who (of course) dies gloriously to save the day and is given his wish, but couldn't help but cringe at all the cultural stereotyping. Was more looking into Bringing Up Baby, one of the Cary Grant/Katharine Hepburn movies, but had various matters to settle and lost interest in it in the end. There are lots of holiday movies coming up, some of which I may end up watching, but it does mean that I doubt my time in the lodge will be dull to any degree.

Putting Things into Perspecitve

2005-12-20T04:40:00.000Z

On a more sober note, we often go though life feeling frustrated at the most mundane things, being impatient where a bit of understand would have done wonders, and in my case generally being stubborn and argumentative. Sometimes though things happen which really put things into perspective.

I just heard from JC the most terrible news - that a close friends of hers as well as a close relative are both dying. I stayed with JC over the summer and spent some time with her family which was wonderful fun, and she is really one of the liveliest, bubbliest people I have ever know, and her family were completely wonderful. To think of this happening, it completely stopped me in my tracks. Given situations like this, life's petty squabbles seem a lot less fundamental.

Quotation of the Week - On Public Opinion

2005-12-20T03:46:00.000Z

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who matter don't mind and those who mind don't matter" - from that fountainhead of all wisdom Dr Seuss.

But seriously, it is a very human tendency to worry about how other people view you. This is unsurprising seeing that human beings, by their very nature are social animals, and human interaction form the basis of our lives, be they with family, friends or acquaitances. However, it is very easy to fall into the trap of taking public opinion too seriously, to the detriment of what we individually think is right, to constantly worry about how we are perceived in the public eye. There is a negative tendency today equate what is right as what the majority of people believe.

This is borne out most of all by the politics of today, as Fareed Zakaria has pointed out succintly in his book the Future of Freedom. Politicians seem to care endlessly about opinion polls and public perception. In such an environment it becomes increasingly impossible for a politician to do what is right rather than what is publicly acceptable, a dangerous trend if there ever was one.

We should perhaps take the example of the first and greatest of all philosophers, Socrates, who was always quick to point out the inadequacy of public opinion as a guide to what is right or wrong. For him being a philosopher was a search for truth, with truth being something that was logically consistent, not merely commonly accepted. As he said in his trial - you may condemn me but I will still speak what I think to be the truth each time even if you were to kill me a hundred times. Speaking of living up to one's beliefs, Socrates of course famously did so to the largest possible degree in drinking the hemlock and dying as a result.

So, we should live for what we believe in, and ultimately the people we care about, the people whom we care for are those who will be able to accept us for what we are.

A Nice Weekend

2005-12-20T03:34:00.000Z

I had quite a nice weekend with cookouts in my flat on Saturday and Sunday evenings which was lovely in spite of the usual little squabbling. Damien came over on both occasions and cooked chicken wings on Sunday. Gillian cooked Spring Rolls on Saturday which turned out well despite being short of several ingredients.

Had a lovely weekend with DT coming over and spending time with me. It was wonderful just doing little things like going shopping at Somerfield's and talking and listening to music. She bought me a load of presents for Christmas which I am very touched by.

Only other things of note recently - last Monday (12 Dec) was the screening date for Trinity's appearance on University Challenge. It was fun watching it in the JCR with a whole bunch of interview candidates, though just mildly embarrasing. Afterwards, went to the pub with Jonny Ayling, Ben and Alex and got pretty well sloshed. I remember going back to Alex's and toasting each other with his London Pride over goodness knows what, but had a wonderful time anyhow.

I have also just been told that I have been accepted as a contestant on Mastermind, quite possibly the most prestigous (intellectually at least) quiz show in the UK, if not worldwide. I am quite pleased about it and will be going down to Manchester at the end of March for filming. Should be pretty enjoyable.

Other than that, I managed to catch King Kong with Douglas and Damien on Friday evening, and I really enjoyed it. The special effects were something to behold, and worth the price of admission alone, but the true amazing thing is that the movie actually managed to make the relationship between Ann Darrow and King Kong affecting. On the downside it is a tad self indulgent, what with one hour's worth of an opening sequence before they even reach the island. Also, some B grade elements are maintained, particularly the savages on the island, but that perhaps due to the fact that it is a homage.

Literary wise, I am finishing John Banville's The Book of Evidence, and I am also reading Robert Nozick's Anarchy, State and Utopia. The latter is definitely brilliant, and a surprisingly good read for a book on political philosophy.

Also, I finished up on my application to Columbia, and I managed to get transcripts posted off, now am looking to complete applications to Harvard, Georgetown, Yale and hopefully Oxford and LSE as well.

Lodge Work and Other Miscellany

2005-12-07T03:55:00.000Z

First, I shall begin by expressing my annoyance at the sudden removal of the ability to edit the time and date of a post. This function was one of the main reasons that I switched from Xanga in the first place enabling me to write retroactively about my day once it already had passed, an important factor seeing that I often post beyond midnight, not to mention the fact that I often write about events a few days after they happen. I dislike writing "On Wednesday I did this..... on Thursday this" as I find it rather clunky, but I guess now I have no choice.

Did a 6 hour shift in the lodge on Sunday, as interview candidates were arriving - 45 of them in all. I guess they hired me because despite the Sunday porter's earnestness and good nature, it was "best if he had some help" in the words of another of the porters. As mentioned before, I quite enjoy lodge work even if it is a bit tiring, so I was happy for anything that came my way.

Seeing all these interview candidates arriving all nervous, excited and somewhat lost does make me feel positively old - not just in years, but in experience. You feel like the grizzled old veteran in some war campaign shaking your head in wonderment at the 'green' ones coming in. It certainly highlights the extent to which my time here is coming to a close.

On a totally unrelated note, I heard that Trinity is actually one of the most competetive Colleges to get in for PPE, which I certainly found surprising seeing that we do not have the strongest of track records for it in any respect. Part of the reason is undoubtedly the small number of students we take in. From the number of people coming for interviews, it is undoubtedly the case that we remain one of the more popular Colleges by application, period.

Monday was filled with a vague attempt to get some work done. Did meet DT for dinner and we studied together in the library for quite awhile, though with some distractions. Am whetting my appetite by reading Fareed Zakaria's book on illiberal democracy which isn't strictly academic, but has some useful and interesting points on liberal institutionalism and democratization.

Tuesday was spent nicely wandering around town, doing some errands. Had a fine lunch at the Radcliffe Arms - the last time I had been was with Zakir ages ago. Was famished and ordered a huge amount of food. Whilst waiting for the pub to open, I wandered over to Jericho Books which I had passed often, but never at a time when it was open. This is unsurprising seeing that I am only in Jericho for dinner, or to catch a movie at the Pheonix. It was a lovely secondhand bookstore, with a very good stock of various eclectic academic titles - something unsurprising seeing its location in Oxford. Ended up buying books (but of course!), a 5 pound bargain of a book on Foreign Policy analysis which will be very useful for IR revision, and a brand new copy of Berlin's Four Essays on Liberty, which I just could not resist for 7.50 pounds. Got two Terry Pratchett books as well at good prices. Dinner in hall was followed by the Turf Tavern pub quiz (my Tuesday tradition) with several of the interview helpers. It would have been perfect if not for the freezing cold weather. As tradition dictates (and Murphy's law rules) we came in Fourth, yet again, losing out Third by a point.

A 'Blah' Day

2005-11-29T01:12:00.000Z

It was a typically blah day for me. I am really struggling to get motivated and to get things done. For the umpteenth time I must must and absolutely must get myself organized. Worse still, I am going to be in London tomorrow for a Jardine lunch and I will be meeting Adrian for dinner, hopefully to secure the keys to his London flat which will be immensely convenient for the vacation. I guess it was just one of those days: woke up, pottered around room, lunch, shelved books in the library, played on the pinball machine in the JCR, went to hall for dinner, quiz squad practice, pottered around in the Library printing articles, went home, wasted time on the internet (including this post) - surely there is more to life than this!

Things that need to be sorted: more laundry, Christmas shopping, Christmas cards, presents, food for holidays, holiday plans, US University Applications.... lots of other things that I cannot quite remember at the moment......

Harry Potter

2005-11-27T23:59:00.000Z

I saw Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire with DT today, and it was a reasonably enjoyable film, and a fine addition to the series. As expected the visuals were top notch, with dragons, mermaids, pegasus pulled chariots and shifting mazes, it was quite a delight. Somehow though I found this movie just slightly less than captivating though. One big problem that I definitely found was that it was obvious that large chunks of narrative had been cut out, leaving more of a set piece focusing on the central elements of the story - the tri-wizard championships and the plot involving the return of the dark lord Voldemort.

This movie was definitely meant to be a lot darker than some of the originals, and there are some scenes that do frighten. I wasn't overly impressed with the finale involving the dark lord however. Mike Newell, the director has done a polished job with the movie, and his style is a continuation of Alfonso Cuaron's whose darker, edgier work in the last movie made it the best of the series in my opinion.

I thought that acting wise, the ensemble cast remained wonderful - Brendan Gleeson standing out as new professor 'Mad Eye Moody" while Michael Gambon has truly made the role of Dumbledore his own. With Maggie Smith and Alan Rickman as 'ensemble' cast you really cannot go far wrong. As for the teenage leads I think that Rupert Grint really has grown into his role as Ron very well, and Emma Watson has turned into a radiant little beauty, portraying an older more mature and less snotty Hermione very well indeed. Question marks remain over Daniel Radcliffe, however in my opinion, as I didn't quite find him convincing in portraying Harry faced with adolescent attention - and increasing isolation as a result.

All in all, I remain relatively neutral about the series as a whole. I am not a huge fan of the books or the movies, and I am not convinced that the series is particularly captivating fantasy. Besides, the fantasy movie of the vacation that I am truly looking forward to was not this movie but rather The Chronicles of Narnia, which I am sure will be far more captivating.

Lazy Saturday, Gilbert and Sullivan

2005-11-26T22:10:00.000Z

It was a lazy Saturday on a whole, involving shopping, meeting friends, browsing in bookstores and a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta - always a treat. Having had a late night on Friday, I slept in till about lunch, whereupon I received a phone call from Juliet with whom I danced ballroom with for the last academic year. Apparently, there were going to light the Christmas lights up today, and there were events planned, with Shrek and his donkey coming along to the festivities no less. I thus headed on down into town with Juliet, Jennie and Suneet (who were coincidentally all on the beginner's dancesport team) and Vijay, a friend who was a fellow cheerleader (Juliet and Jennie's replacement for dancing!).

All in all, we had an amiable stroll through town which was also instructive in a way. First port of call was naturally Thornton's, seeing Juliet's general chocoholism. Jennie bought a chocolate angel, and I managed to resist temptation, something that was probably wise seeing that I had stocked up recently on that utterly crucial student commodity just a few days previously. Next we went to what must be one of the most classic girly shops I have ever been in (located in the Clarendon Center), and of whose existence I was not even aware of before that day. It came complete with pink decor, and clothing adorned with cartoons decrying "boys are stupid". At that point, Juliet headed off, and me and Suneet decided it was wise, seeing Jennie and Vijay's plans to go off to a hat shop, to wander off to a late lunch, and leave them to their own devices, rather than stand rather abashed in a corner of whatever shop they were inclined to wander into. Lunch was in Georgina's at the covered market, one of my favourite cafes - we were lucky enough to get a table - the place is usually packed all hours.

Waterstone's and Borders were having 20% off everything, and this clearly necessitated a round of book browsing - me and DT went to Waterstone's for a good two hours. It is usually not a good idea to throw yourself into the jaws of temptation, but I survived relatively unscathed - that is until I went to Borders later that evening and promptly bought 5 books (2 of which in all fairness were academic).

The evening was spent watching a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta - in this case "the Magician" which was set in the British Raj and involved a love potion that sets off a whole chain of unintended love matches. It was classic G&S - wonderfully witty, sometimes downright silly songs (such as one sung to jam, tea and ham), and always great fun. I have developed a great love of G&S since coming to the UK, with this being the 5th operetta I have seen. All in all, wasn't quite as witty as some of the others, and the music was a bit one-dimensional, but it still made for a hugely enjoyable evening. An enormous plus was the cast which was one of the best I have seen, all the more impressive seeing that many of them were freshers. A fantastically fun evening, it must be said. On an off note, I was quite astounded by the number of random people that I recognized - both as part of the cast and crew, as well as in the audience. Looking through the program, I recognized one of the leads whom I had sung with in Keble Choir, as well as two people in the chorus. Then, the person with page turning responsibilities turned out to be Mira, whose brother is Johann. There were also a huge number of random people in the audeince I knew - Jennie for one, and Dan from Keble, as well as other friends from St Catz, Lincoln and Hilda's. Either Oxford is really frighteningly too small or else I have been here too long.

An Odd Couple of Books

2005-11-25T10:54:00.000Z

I thought that I would give an update of my recent reading. In terms of this week it has been an odd couple of books. I borrowed The Sea by John Banville (and this year's winner of the Booker prize) as well as Dan Brown's notorious Da Vinci Code from the Oxford Union library and I have since finished both. As reading combinations go, the two together must seem decidedly odd - one the epitomy of the airport bestseller read, the other the epitomy of contentious, high-brow literary award winners. I am happy to say that I enjoyed them both.

The Sea literally made waves when it won the Booker, if only because it was such a rank outsider. It is written in Banville's very lyrical Irish voice, which seems even more suited to the subject matter of rememberance, love and loss. It isn't a long novel, and there isn't a great deal of plot to it, as many critics have pointed out, but my answer to that is - who cares? It was a beautiful, poignant novel, which I greatly enjoyed - sad and honest and true, and it is highly recommended. That makes two (and a half) of the six Booker prize shortlisted books that I have finished, and I must say that the quality has been superb thus far.

I had sworn not to read the Da Vinci Code. I have a general aversion to bestseller lists in general, though admittedly having grown up on a fair diet of John Grisham and Michael Crichton. Lest I be accused of snobbery, I think in all fairness it comes from just realizing that I don't really enjoy all these bestsellers anymore. Seeing the Da Vinci code being read by no less than 6 different people on my flight back to London from Singapore was the final nail in the metaphorical coffin so to speak. However, that being said, I am by nature a very curious person, and bestsellers bring this to the fore. It does prompt one to ask the question: what is it about this particular book that has captured the imagination of everyone else? What is the secret behind it? This led me to read the notorious Bridges of Madison County in 1999 when it was at the waning point of a year and a half long stay on the New York Times bestsellers list and it was what prompted me to read the Da Vinci Code too.

In the end, I did enjoy the book. True, it verged on melodrama at many points, in particular the opening scene in the Lourve, which I had read a year or so previously and taken as confirmation of my worst fears that this was a hack thriller and nothing more. Where is stood out was the slipping in of real and interesting historical facts - from history, art and so forth. Being a bit of a trivia hound myself, I was quite intrigued by these, though a further question that arises is the accuracy of what Dan Brown confidently states (a few facts such as the one that the Louvre pyramid has 666 panes of glass have already been refuted). He also keeps the suspense up admirably and it was a page turned in every sense of the word, with little let up in the action, and things zipping from Paris to London and beyond. One stand out feature was definitely many of the puzzles that were thrown in - from word clues to crytography - which added immensely to the fun of the novel; seeing the popular appeal of crossword puzzles and sudoku, there seems to be a natural love of puzzles in many of us.

So, an odd couple of books as term time reading goes, but both enjoyable in starkly different ways. If only I found as great enthusiasm and enjoyment reading about Metaphysics and Cold War Politics.

Multiracialism through CCA

2005-11-23T03:51:00.000Z

Education Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam has suggested that schools need to encourage "multiracialism" and that one way in which they could do so was through CCAs or co-curricular activities. He apparently cited how football teams tended to be dominated by Malays and that this should not be the norm, and noted with approval how CCAs can promote bonding between students of different races - in his words "nothing like sweating it out together, winning and losing together, shedding tears of joy and pain together" and in that respect I can agree - sports and activities create a bond between people that is often closer than that forged in the more stuffy and rarified air of the classroom.

My question is this - isn't the whole point of CCAs that of giving students a chance to pursue their interests and areas outside the classroom in which they are talented at? Based on interest alone, some CCAs will necessarily be biased - I would not expect many non-chinese to be joining the Chinese Orchestra, for example. There are also traditionally some CCAs, particularly some sports like Football and Cricket, which are dominated by a particular race - the Malays and Indians respectively. Why then does multiracialism (whatever that is supposed to mean - greater interaction between the races, I suppose) have to interfere with that? There are some activities with a strong gender imbalance, the modern dance society at my Junior College had 2 guys and 23 girls participating, for example, and we don't seem to have a problem with that, nor with the fact that some sports, rugby and water polo in particular, remain the preserve of men. Why then is race such an issue - why are we addressing a supposed lack of multiracialism, but not one of gender imbalance?

All this goes back to the Government's fundamental stance on race - namely that it is a delicate issue, a gossamer thread liable to be snapped at any time, a fragile egg liable to do a Humpty Dumpty. We are reminded continually, repetetively of race riots in the 1950s, of Maria Hertzog, of Malays seeking shelter in good samaritan chinese flats fleeing the hatchets and knives of assailants. This is not to deny that learning about such events is important - for they are - but it almost seems to me that it has been drummed in too far. I think my generation has grown up far less attenuated to differences in race - it is something that is not really fundamentally noticed. Indeed, the past decades has seen a much greater intermingling of the races, partly as a result of specific government policy mandating a minimum number of so-called "minorities" living in each HDB flat.

It thus seems very surprising to me that the Government incessantly brings up the notion of race, and fears of racial divide and a repeat of bloodshed and riots. For, in a sense, it is almost as if a division is being created, where one almost no longer exists, precisely from this emphasizing of racial difference, this clarion call to remain vigilant and not let our differences boil over and for the need for integration and communication. Measures such as putting one's race on Identity Cards, though relatively uncontraversial, is just one example of the seeming fixation we have on this issue. For many, categorizing themselves like this is more or less meaningless - I have friends who have mixed chinese, malay, eurasian and dutch backgrounds, but we still do it. It is scary to think that in Rwanda, the massacre was aided by ID cards similar to us branding people Tutsi or Hutu.

Thus my view is this - let anyone play football whether he is chinese, malay, indian, eurasian, european or a mix of all of the above, whether he is black, white, yellow, or pink, so long as he loves the game. That is why football is known as the universal game - it seems quite odd to particularize any pastime and activity along such seemingly unrelated lines. It is time to lay this old Singaporean bugbear to rest.

Cold Evenings, Being in Oxford

2005-11-22T23:41:00.000Z

It has been one of the coldest Novembers to date, and certainly nothing like the previous two Novembers I have experienced in Oxford. I was quite surprised to see my bike seat frosted over when I unchained it to ride back to my flat on Woodstock Road a couple of days ago, and it is some measure of how truly freezing it is that the days following that were colder still. The previous two days have been rather misty (or foggy - I prefer misty as it sounds more enchanting and less threatening) too boot - you can feel the moisture in the air. It is indeed rather disturbing to read the weather forecast and see a low of -4 predicted for this evening, and -2 and -1 respectively for the days prior to and following tonight.

How do you know you are in Oxford? Well, you stand at the side of the street late at night, enjoying the streetlights in the mist, and the empty road stretching out before you, the scene lending an almost mysterious feel to things. Within the space of 5 minutes, as you stand there with a friend, two seperate people crash their bikes upon passing you (going in opposite directions) mainly because they are too drunk to walk straight, yet alone balance themselves on two wheels. What a way to spoil the magic of the moment.

Ultimate Geek Novels

2005-11-22T03:42:00.000Z

A poll conducted by the Guardian technology section revealed the unofficial top 20 Geek books. The article can be found here. I must admit that of the Top 20 I have finished #1, #2, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #13, #16, #17, #18 which makes 11 of them. With regards to the rest, #3 Brave New World has been on my to-read list for ages, as has #12 The Watchmen by Alan Moore. I also own a copy of #9 The Color of Magic, the first Discworld book, and even started it, though I never finished it and I didn't and still don't enjoy Pratchett all that much. I currently also have #14 on my bookshelf in Oxford, and #15 Strangers in a Strange Land has been sitting on my shelf in Singapore in ages, unread, surprisingly so seeing that I must have read about 6 or 7 other Robert Heinlein books. Only #10 and #2o surprised me - especially #10. I had heard of Douglas Coupland before but I never knew he was held in any regard.

I wonder what this says about me, geekiness wise......

Visit of the Prince of Wales

2005-11-21T23:24:00.000Z

The Prince of Wales visited the College today to commemorate the 450th Anniversary of our foundation, causing the usual stir that any royal visit would. He is actually the second royal in a week to visit after Princess Margaret had opened the Sutro Room (formerly the Arts Room) recently.

I had decided that I may as well try and meet him, seeing that I probably would not have had any other opportunity, despite not being all that fussed about royals in general. The College had a ballot for 10 places for undergrads to meet the prince as a group (along with other groups of Fellows, Staff, Postgrads and so on) and I put my name in a metaphorical hat, and found myself selected, out of 70 odd students, so I am told. So we all crowded into the dining hall and availed ourselves of the tea, sandwiches and other condiments that are always a big drawing factor at these events and awaited his arrival.

I wouldn't say it was an anticlimax because I was not expecting very much, or in fact anything at all. He came, he made small talk and he left (a modern version of veni, vidi, vici). I didn't even get a word in, mostly because we stood in a semi-circle and I found myself standing just over his right shoulder at the edge of the semi-circle and thus could make out only snatches of what he was saying. It mostly involved what work we did, and riding bicycles and the like, thoroughly uninteresting. Still, I admire him for his capacity to make small take - it takes considerable skill to be able to talk to a group of nervous admirers and still be able to cut things off once they have been given their appropriate 10 minutes and then move on.

The greatest part of this whole event was still to come as the Prince cut the Anniversary Cake baked as our President noted by our award winning chef, and a fine cake it was too. Of course, being one of those present, I got a slice. A couple of my friends actually wrapped leftovers in napkins to send back to parents - an interesting thing to do, but quite thoughtful nonetheless.

Seeing my love of anacedotes, I have to relate this one, which I gave as reason for meeting HRH The Prince of Wales. In Oxford, there is a tradition of one having to down (i.e finished at one go) a drink if a penny has been dropped in the drink. The reason for this custom, is that the queen is on the reverse face of the penny, and is thus drowning. You thus have to down the drink to save the Queen. My comment was that seeing how many drinks I have had to down over the past two and a quarter years on account of the royal family, it was about bloody time I got a chance to meet them!

JCR vs MCR Quiz

2005-11-17T23:29:00.000Z

Today was the much anticipated JCR vs MCR quiz held in the beer cellar. I had got Peter from the quiz squad to write the questions, and ended up with a very good JCR team - Max Irving, Beth Sutton, Ben Pope and myself. The MCR team looked pretty decent with Martin Cooles as their captain. All in all, it was pretty good fun, though a lot of things were left to the last minute and we did not have a MC for the event in the end, necessitating Sam Longair the JCR secretary to take over the job. In the end, the JCR emerged with a hard fought 110 point or so victory - and I even managed to wrangle a pint for each member of the winning JCR team.

In related news, Remi has lost his bet (see earlier post). Apparently his attempts to remain tee-total lasted less than 24 hours, and he was reduced to begging for more champagne top ups. Well, seeing that he is half French, perhaps we should treat him less harshly.

My First Ballet

2005-11-13T23:21:00.000Z

I had an opportunity to go to the ballet for the first time in my life today. I went as Denise Teoh had bought me a ticket, upon learning that I was interested in going. The performance was part of her birthday celebrations, which was a wonderful idea, really. It was the last day of the English National Ballet's Sleeping Beauty (music by Tchaikovsky), so I was really happy that Denise got me a ticket, despite me being useless and not confirming with her earlier that I wanted it!

It was an interesting experience. If you had asked me two years ago, I would have been convinced that I would hate ballet - prancing about and twirling on pointed toes would have struck me as decidedly odd, and perhaps even somewhat inane. Furthermore, ballet had bad press in my books due to the fact that it was one of those things that every Singapore parent forces their children to do (in this case just the girls) along with learning the piano or violin so as to keep up with the Jones' and to have a patina of cultured airs about the family. However, I must say I really did enjoy the dancing, and the way it meshed with the music, and I was quite enthralled by the first (of two) intervals. Things did get a bit draggy towards the end, largely due to the entire Third Act being a wedding celebration which was basically a chance for the dancers to strut their stuff. I had read a review of Sleeping Beauty saying that one of the problems was the plot was crammed into Acts I and II and the Prologue and Act III involved mainly a lot of prancing about to no real (narrative) end and it was quite an astute judgement. One could tell that everyone was getting restless towards the end. But a wonderful experience, one that I would love to repeat.

Instead of joining Denise for dinner, I went over to Hertford for formal hall with Dan, Remi and Eleanor and Kiril. This was in return for the formal I had at Trinity for the three of them. I had never been into Hertford before, so it was nice to have a chance to dine in hall there, and indeed to see the three of them again. The food was so-so, the chicken wrapped in Bacon being the highlight I think, but I really enjoyed myself. Remi and Eleanor kindly agreed to take me over the Bridge of Sighs which is Hertford's landmark - something that basically linked two seperate buildings divided by a road. It was just one of those things you had to do while at Oxford I guess.

I did make an interesting bet though with Remi. I am not sure what instigated it, probably Eleanor's jibes at Remi's alcohol drinking, but I made a bet with him saying that he wouldn't be able to go 4 days in Oxford without a drink - with two pints the price of the bet. He took it up of course, and it is due to end this coming Thursday at 9.15pm - just the right time for the winner to claim his pints at the Turf.

Neil Gaiman

2005-11-11T23:42:00.000Z

Neil Gaiman came to Oxford to do a reading and a signing session at Borders and me being a utterly devoted fan, I went down to see him. He read the first pages or so from Anansi Boys and had a wonderfully descriptive reading voice, interestingly, the most expressive part of which were his pauses. In many ways, he is as funny in real life as he is in his novels, where his particular wit shines through quite readily.

I bumped into Timothy Tay when I was leaving college to go to see Gaiman, and he gladly came along. I remember that I had passed Tim my copy of Neverwhere more than two years previously, when I was back on holiday in Singapore. Tim admitted that he was now hooked on Gaiman and a big fan. I remember passing some of Gaiman's the Sandman comic strip to a fellow friend in the army and him also getting hooked on Gaiman and buying the whole 10 book set. It always gives me tremendous pleasure to know that people have taken my book recommendations and enjoyed them immensely.

After his talk, Tim and I instead of trying to crash the queue, headed out to buy a sandwich (we had not had dinner) and thus ended up right at the back of the line - and faced a good hour's wait. I actually didn't have anything by Neil with me here in Oxford, and so I bought a copy of Stardust from Borders and got him to autograph it (I had wanted to get a copy of Neverwhere but they sold out). Tim bought the Endless Nights comic. Neil drew me a little picture of a moon and a star. I can only marvel at his patience, signing stuff for people, and trying to make each and every one feel special. I got a photo of the two of us on my mobile phone camera, which was fantastic.

So, quite a dream come true for me, meeting Neil Gaiman in the flesh. And it really was an experience, seeing the person whose writings inspire you, of which you greatly treasure. Something I won't forget in awhile.

PPE Dinner

2005-11-10T23:15:00.000Z

This evening marked the annual PPE dinner which was a typically exciting and marvellous event. It was a formal dinner held in the College's Old Busary - the SCR dining room - in which we had a chance to dine with our tutors and talk to them in a more informal setting than would normally be the case. Of the tutors Chris, the economics fellow and Steve, the politics fellow, was there; also in attendence: Alistair McMillan, who took over for Steve the whole of last year when the latter was on sabbatical, Vicky Nash, who teaches us Political Theory, Corrine Besson, the philosophy lecturer, the new economics lecturer, and also, Nishan DeMel, who had taught my year economics in our first year at Trinity.

It was a sumptous meal as usual. The starter was a lovely prawn salad, and the main was duck, brilliantly done with its own sides, and I greatly enjoyed it. I was put next to Andrew, which was nice seeing that I had not had a chance to speak to him for quite awhile, and Vicky, whom I find that I could always talk to on numerous topical issues. Dinner was of course preceded by the obligatory champagne reception, and the meal came with red and white wine, the latter especially being quite wonderful.

The evening was interrupted somewhat by the fact that it was hustings for JCR committee positions, and us being PPEists, three first years had run for posts. The last person was Daniel Smith, who somewhat bizarrely ran for Diversity Rep. After going in to watch Dan husk, we retired to the so-called "Gentlemen's Club"(Damian and Dan's room) with Alistair and Chris in tow, for more evening entertainment. It was wonderfully seeing everyone gathered together like that, generally having a great time. I stayed quite late that evening, and had a fair bit to drink, meaning that I shared a taxi back to Stav with Rory, who had come down on the day for the dinner, but not before I had played Chris at chess (and lost) and Justin had beat him twice.

All in all, a wonderful evening that was just so typically Oxford. Black tie, fine dinner's, tutors smoking and playing chess against you, plentiful wine and port. Surely the way life is meant to be lived.

OxIMUN

2005-11-07T18:09:00.000Z

It has been a crazy weekend, with our very own Oxford Model United Nations conference taking place. Over 300 delegates from all around Europe and the United Kingdom, including some as far away as the United States, came to attend this conference. As the director of the Crisis Committee, I had to run a simulated crisis, along with the Security Council as we were doing a joint crisis scenario for the first time at this conference. All in all, it was a wonderfully satisfying experience and renewed the joy I have of doing MUN.

The Crisis scenario was great fun and very topical indeed being about a nuclear Iran. The Crisis committee was supposedly a special council called together by the Grand Ayatollah Ali Khomeini to look into how to respond to the UN over the Iranian nuclear program and this allowed us to choose a mix of delegates from different ideological perspectives, ensuring that reaching a conscensus would be difficult. Things were escalated by the fact that the Iranian Uranium Enrichment had gone ahead further than expected and that I suggested a version of the Shahab missile had been tested and was operational. It was great fun from the get go and got more interesting after the Defense Minister declared that Iran had nuclear weapons and the Israel delegate on the Security Council threatened to use unilateral force if the issue was not settled quickly.

More fun was had when I released my report of a Israeli national being captured near an Iranian nuclear facilitywhich of course prompted anti-US and anti-Israeli riots throuhout the country. The committee then finally managed to come up with a statement disavowing that Iran had a nuclear program or was seeking nuclear weapons and presented it to the Security Council, only for a nuclear scientist to defect and reveal the program to the Security Council just a couple of minutes afterward. Unsurprisingly the SC was not impressed.

In a sense though, I am quite relieved it is all over, and that by all accounts, the delegates found the scenario to be quite a success. The usual procrastination, a lack of contact from the Security Council and the fact that the scenario was developing rapidly in real life meant that during the vacation nothing had got off the road at all, and even after returning to Oxford progress had been markedly slow. About a week and a half before the conference, we finally hammered out a scenario, did up the profiles and got things together, only just. It was definitely crazy planning everything - between Thursday night and Sunday night I averaged about 3 hours sleep each evening. Thursday night was spent printing out placards and doing up delegate packs, Friday night at the social and then doing up last minute preperations and research. Saturday was another MUN social followed by further crisis planning and Sunday was the after party at Oriel and another late evening due to the fact that I had to walk all the way to Catz to pick up my bike keys which had been leant to Natascha, and then walk to St John's to get my bike before cycling back.

Richest Fictional Characters

2005-11-01T01:29:00.000Z

In a parody of their usual 100 Richest People in the world, Forbes magazine made a list of the 15 richest fictional characters which can be accessed here. I must say I am pretty impressed by the selection though the top choice might be a tad controversial. Anyhow, it is all in good fun.

A Sad Halloween Evening

2005-10-31T23:12:00.000Z

Halloween turned into a bit of a damp squib for me in more ways than one. To begin with, it really was a damp squib - it rained, a lot. Secondly, I went with Kimberley and Julian to the Turf Tavern for the Halloween party there which promised a treasure hunt and winning beer for a year but it all kind of petered out. The treasure hunt for one was incredibly hard and caused us to give up pretty quickly, though we did manage to find a couple of clues just by literally running into them. And to think we all made an effort to dress up - Kimberely in her little witches outfit with glitter and me in Kimberley's skeleton outfit which was meant for kids aged 12 apparently.......

Instead, the entire evening flew by randomly talking to people. Talked to Gillian for quite a bit in the kitchen about lots of random stuff. All this is fun, but I need to start getting my life in order! How many times do I have to say this for it to actually happen?

All Night Mahjong Session

2005-10-29T13:17:00.000Z

Had a fun night playing Mahjong with Xin Hui, Mun, Denise and Daowei (who left early). It was good fun - I always loved Mahjong and it was wonderful to be able to have a go at it with some friends even in Oxford. Sadly, we weren't playing for money, which would have made things more interesting, especially since I won quite a number of big hands especially in the second round we played.

The days fly by

2005-10-27T23:33:00.000Z

Another day where nothing much seems to have happened. Finished my copy of The Rise and Fall of Atheism instead of finishing a boring philosophy essay on induction. So much for motivation. Woke up late, did my hour in the library, returned some Union library books and went to the tutorial and blagged basically.

Then it was the quiz squad tryouts in the evening. Had only seven people turn up, some of whom were really impressive though. I am getting rather disillusioned with the quiz squad as it is taking up an enormous amount of my time - every monday of the the term plus a lot of other days beside, and I guess I have just gone a bit overboard with all the quizzing and I need a bit of a break from it.

Worse still, I have an essay for tomorrow that is not yet written and needs doing tonight. Oh joy.

Things that I should Do

2005-10-23T20:43:00.000Z

BE HAPPY - After all life is too short to be unhappy, right? What is the point of being unhappy? But then again, it's not just a matter of willing yourself to be happy. You can't just decide one day and tell yourself - I WILL be happy and then it is so. It doesn't come in nice little bottles that say - take one tablet a day to be happy (well there is prozac). So what should I do? Smile more, say all the right encouraging things, trip and bounce along saying things like "oh my, what an absolutely marvellous day!" and "isn't it just wonderful!" and "golly, gee, gosh"... ok this is clearly not working, is it?

BE ORGANIZED - Things will suddenly arrange themselves such that they do not clash. Essays will get done earlier than 10 minutes before the deadline. Lectures will be attended. Piles of papers and books will not cover the desk and the adjoining floor space. And of course, King Arthur will one day rule over the Britons once again, and Singapore will have free and fair elections.

BE MOTIVATED - Regret is the greatest of all well, regrets? I coulda been a contender, the saddest words of mouth or pen are the words it might have been and so on. So, it would be rather sad to not make the most of things, or what you would perceive later to be the most of things. But yes, the resolutions do work harder, do more, read more books, all happended before. Been there done that.

ENJOY LIFE - Suspiciously like "Be Happy" but with a subtle difference. What does one mean by saying that life should be "enjoyed" anyhow? That life should have meaning and pleasure? My life has meaning, well, ok I am not exactly saving the world but still. There is also the problem of not really knowing if you are really properly enjoying life. I mean after all the desires that we have may not be our 'true' desires - do I really want to spend money on alcohol when all it does is reduce my productivity and causes maudlin self-reflection like this?

IMPROVE FASHION SENSE - Firstly, I do have a fashion sense. Everyone does of course. It is like saying "I can't sing!" Of course you can darling, everyone can it is a matter of whether you can sing well. Therein lies the rub. By the common definition I fall by the wayside in this manner. To be frank, I have surmised that when it comes to fashion, you can get away with just about anything as long as you wear it with confidence and you are extremely comfortable in it. What with the random bits of stuck together cloth that panders for dresses nowadays, this cannot but be the case. The problem is - I am not comfortable and confident in just about anything.

DISCLAIMER: For the Singaporeans who are reading this and think that I have descended into a state of wallowing self pity, I wrote this completely tongue in cheek (yes I know that is not technically possible, but this is a metaphor). One is therefore not entitled to read to deeply into my state of mind from the above comments. Any person entering a depressive state as a result of the above: the author takes no responsibility from symptoms of depression, melancholy, nihilism, absurdity or anything of that ilk that comes from reading this entry.

Trafalgar

2005-10-23T07:32:00.000Z

The British are busy celebrating the 200th Anniversary of Trafalgar - the battle that is not the square (but of course you knew this already!). It is being so trumpeted mainly because of the following (1) they thrashed the French no less (2) The British have this thing about naval supremacy and this battle more than anything else underlined that.

More instructive I think would be for them to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the entente cordiale with France, though it would be far less popular. In terms of keeping with the times, it would be even more instructive if they were to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Suez Crisis next year, as that event more than anything is representative of what happened in the end - imperial retreat.

Philosophical and Theological Ramblings

2005-10-21T23:35:00.000Z

Spent the whole of today writing an essay for a class at 4pm and missed most of my lectures as a result - ah well, so much for resolutions.

Having unsigned myself from Guest Night, deciding that as much as the food was wonderful, I preferred a quiet evening instead of too much fun and excitement, I was consigning myself to dinner with a book for company when I met Carmody who invited me to dinner with Francesco, a friend of her's who is reading PPE at Greyfriar's. We had a very engaging conversation about Catholicism and belief which I definitely found very insightful indeed. These issues have indeed been weighing heavily on my mind - that is issues of faith, belief and meaning; all deeply metaphysical and vitally important I think. A great deal of what I found insightful were the demystifying and correcting of many of the prejudices I had about Catholicism. I found very interesting the aspect of the Catholic faith that says that the individual's conscience is the ultimate guide to what is right or wrong, and is sovereign in that respect - no matter what church doctrine might state.

Further to this is the fact that Catholics do not make any judgements about salvation. In Francesco's view (something that is shared by the majority of Catholics he claims), a person who does not know Christ can still be 'saved' - indeed an individual who has explicitly rejected Christ can still be saved, because he may be living in accordance to God. This does address one of the fundamental problems that I have always had against organized religion, mainly of the evangelical vein as to how a merciful God can damn people who have never had the opportunity of hearing the word of God. The evangelical view is inconsistent and problematic precisely because they claim that salvation comes only through the personal acceptance of God, and indeed many of them claim that once you have heard the word of God and you reject it, you lose all chance of salvation. My logical response to that has always been as follows - I would then rather not hear anything of God at all - I would prefer to run away from all evangelicals. Why? It is certainly akin to running from the truth, if that is indeed what it is, but it certainly seems safer than facing the possibility of damnation!

More problematic for me was the view that Jesus created the Church as a representation of himself, as a single body of Christ, and that the Catholic church was the founding church and thus represents the 'true' church. Francesco strongly believed that the Church should never have been divided. A corollary to this is the idea of the Bible as 'text' - that is as having a variety of meanings. It is thus inherent on the Church or the individual to interprete the bible. This is why I find the notion that the bible is the word of God and should be taken literally as one that is just plain ridiculous. As such, he claims that the Catholic Church, as the one who has the weight of tradition and thinking about it represents that which can best interprete the teachings of Christ. He does point out, rightfully in my view that such things as the 'Holy Trinity' are nowhere to be found in the bible but are instead ecumenical doctrine that has since been accepted by the evangelical and protestant movements. However, I think doctrine, by its nature is open to interpretation and definition and the Catholic Church has no claim of monopoly over that.

Then there are aspects of the Church and its doctrine that I find harder to accept - one of which is the 'cult of Mary' and the whole idea of the immaculate conception. That Mary was born without sin as God willed it I can just about accept - that she did not sin to the point until Jesus was born I find rather less able to swallow. Then as well there is the fact that the Catholic Church tends to be highly secretive, something that I dislike - I find it much more accomodating to people if a church were open.

In addition, I just had a long discussion with my housemate who is a protestant and she says that the so-called ideas which I find very engaging - with regards to the idea of the sovereignity of the conscience as well as the idea of salvation being judged by God alone are central tenets of the protestant faith. In fact, she claims the former as a fundamental aspect of protestantism and the core of the split with the Catholic Church itself. Indeed, protestants often hold to a belief in a much more individual God, and the whole point is that each individual has a personal relationship with God and his conscience is meant to be the guide as to what is right and wrong. It tends to be the Catholic Church which is rather more dogmatic with its pronouncements that are meant to be followed by all its members. In the case of the latter, it could well be a small number of evangelicals that are giving protestants a bad name.

But anyhow, enough of metaphysical ramblings. It is good enough I think that I am thinking about it. I am also reading a book called The Twilight of Atheism by Alistair McGrath, which is a history of Atheism and very interesting indeed. As I would tell anyone who cared to listen, the most fundamental thing is to continually search for truth, wherever it may be.

Quite A Day - GRE Scores

2005-10-20T23:18:00.000Z

Just thought I would write about Wednesday which turned into quite a day, busy but filled with generally good news.

Got up late which was not good and had to cycle in a mad rush down to College and postpone my shift in the library (I usually work from 2-3pm on weekdays shelving books) so I could go to the careers fair at the town hall. It was the management consultancies who were down, and I am genuinely interested in a job with a consultancy firm, as an alternative to journalism and post-graduate study, so I was glad I made the effort to go down. Talked to the usual - McKinsey, who were really popular and very impressive, Bain, Mercer Oliver and Wyman and a few smaller ones who looked interested as well. An ex-Trinity post-grad was actually at the Bain booth, having completed his Phd and found a job with Bain almost immediately. They talk a great deal about Oxford grads being much sought after and employable and I sure do hope this is the case.

On the way over, I picked up my GRE scores, which turned out pretty good. I scored 670 on verbal, which I already knew, but that was good enough for 94th percentile, though my 750 for math surprisingly only put me on the 80th percentile, but I did horribly run out of time for the math paper, so it could have gone a lot worse. The highlight was definitely the fact that I scored a full 6.0 out of 6.0 for the writing component, and given that it placed me in the 96th percentile, only 4% of the people scored maximums. Overall, pretty well pleased with the results, and given the amount of prep put in (which was decent but not a really great deal) should be quite happy about everything really.

Later in the afternoon, to add to the excitement, I auditioned for mastermind, which is probably the most prestigious game show in the United Kingdom. The audition consisted of 20 questions, and it went pretty well I think. Got a few of them right, but got one or two wrong which I really should have gotten right - the question that definitely will bug me is one where the answer was Andy Warhol, and it was stuck at the back of my head and couldn't quite make it out. It will be an interesting wait of two weeks or so to see if I can qualify.

Then to top off a massively crazy day, I had a wonderful Jardine dinner with Jim and Mary Reid at the Old Parsonage Hotel. I think I was in quite a witty, wisecracking mood on the evening, partly aided by rushing around madly for most of the day, and missing lunch, and I expounded on just about anything and everything. I just hope that I did not seem too much of a wise ass - Bianca and Janet were their usual quiet but still forceful selves and didn't seem to mind and the Reids did enjoy it I think. The two new scholars sitting at the other end of the table did seem a bit dazed, especially with my frankness, but they will soon learn, I hope!

So definitely one for the annals - a crazy day for sure.

Random Time Warp

2005-10-20T22:50:00.000Z

Looking over the past few days, I have no idea where the time has gone. I had a major essay crisis on Sunday night for Monday and basically never recovered. Several long, completely unproductive nights later, with no work done and basically nothing accomplished, I find myself here again staring at my computer, facing another essay crisis. It's like all that time has disappeared down some random time warp and there has been nothing to show from it.

I guess it has been just a bit difficult to get going. The term starts and you have your high ambitions about attending lectures and going for classes and doing essays, and somehow things don't quite live up to the ideal, and disintegrate very quickly. It's not even like I am not interested in what I am doing - very often I really am, I guess it is a matter of being able to just plan your life, sit down and get things done, and I really have to make more of any effort.

Anyway, I shall leave this piece of self-reflection/ranting/feeble plea into the ether here and try and get back to my essay.

Welcome back Dear Computer

2005-10-10T23:33:00.000Z

First of all, the recent reticence is very much down to the fact that my computer died on me last Wednesday, and I have felt almost half naked ever since. Still, just less than a week without my laptop has helped me learn just how much time I waste on internet - it is quite crazy really and leads to yet another resolution with regards to turning my life around....

It was a lazy evening spent watching quite a lot of television. It was University Challenge as usual, followed by an interesting Documentary on Israel-Palestine and the Camp David accords. That was soon followed by a half-hour special documenting the announcement of the winner of the Booker prize, which went to The Sea by John Banville which was quite a bit of a shock really. It also marked the abject failure of my hopes to finish all six shortlisted books before the announcement - I had finished half of Barry's A Long Long Way.

Going back late yet again, I realized that I had hardly been back earlier than 10pm most evenings - living so far out there is a tendency to just hang around college so save making too many trips, but even then it seems to be a sign of how busy things have been.

Questionairre

2005-10-05T22:33:00.000Z

I stole this off of Douglas who stole it off of Ben and thus the virus of random questionairres spread. But here goes.....

1. Name someone with the same birthday as you

Well, I don't actually know anyone else who shares a birthday with me, though I do recall that my birthday shares it's date with the outbreak of the first gulf war. A quick check on born-on-this-day.com however shows that I share my birthday with former tennis great Pete Sampras, horror director Wes Craven, Rose Tremain among others

2. Where was your first kiss?

It happened in University, which is symptomatic of my love life really.......

3. Have you ever seriously vandalized someone else's property?

No. I am far too civic minded for that.

4. Have you ever hit someone of the opposite sex?

Well I probably have hit my sister at some point, but I was probably very young at that time. I tend to be rather non-violent by nature.

5. Have you ever sung in front of a large number of people?

Yes, I have been a member of various choirs including my church choir - The Sunbeans and the College Choir. I also did a concert in Arts Week when I was possesed by a fit of madness. I do really enjoy singing, whether in front of large numbers of people or not.

6. What's the first thing you notice about the preferred sex?

I would say eyes, like most people, as that seems the romantic thing to say, windows into the soul and all of that, but I will be honest and say their legs.

7. What really turns you on?

Someone who is assertive and knows what they want. Someone who is really witty and intelligent. Dressing well and putting on makeup definitely helps as well - though to be honest I think it's best never to just judge by appearances.

8. What do you order at Starbucks?

Strawberry and cream frappuccino, usually grande

9. What is your biggest mistake?

I have done many things that I have regretted. In general, not valuing my close friends and relatives as much as I should and taking things for granted.

10. Have you ever hurt yourself on purpose?

Well, not really. Though I have collided with a lamp post once while reading the paper and walking.

11. Say something totally random about yourself

I tend to be incapable of saying anything totally random, especially about myself, when I am instructed to do that very thing. I do have a tendency to do that at the most unexpected moments, which is all the fun really.

12. Has anyone ever said you looked like a celebrity?

You have got to be kidding. The only thing people say about me appearance wise is that i look really young and rather boyish. I choose to take that as a compliment.

13. Do you still watch kiddy movies or tv shows?

I do love animated movies, and I love Disney movies. I think the cartoons they show on TV are quite dire compared to what I watched in my day.

14. Did you have braces?

Yes. I am apparently missing two teeths - they never grew in after the milk teeth dropped out, so I had then for about four years.

No.15. Are you comfortable with your height?

Well..... I am short, but let us just say that I have come to accept it.

16. What is the most romantic thing someone of the preferred sex has done for you?

Oh dear. I don't think I tend to inspire much in this department. I am after all a person who once only received a chocolate from the Christian Union telling me that God loves me on Valentine's Day. Receiving a letter on lovely notepaper from someone I care for must count as near the top.

17. When do you know it's love?

If you had the answer to this one you would be a millionaire. I personally don't know. I would say that I am getting rather cynical in general about all these romantic notions. Perhaps when you feel like a lesser person without that special someone by your side.

18. Do you speak any other languages?

Rather poor Chinese seeing that I learned in school for so many years. Vain ambitions to learn other languages, particularly Spanish.

19. Have you ever been to a tanning salon?

Nope. Firstly, because I don't need to resort to that to get a tan. Secondly, because I am hardly that vain.

20. What magazines do you read?

The Economist, National Geographic, New Yorker, occasionally the Spectator and Foreign Affairs.

22. Has anyone you were really close to passed away?

Well, two of my grandparents.

23. Do you watch mtv?

Used to leave it on as background noise. Don't watch much TV in general these days.

24. What's something that really annoys you?

People who don't enjoy a good debate, close-minded individuals, fundamentalists

25. What's something you really like?

Meeting someone on the street whom you haven't seen for awhile, finding people who share my viewpoint and interests. A fine glass of wine is a also something I love. Oh, and getting a quiz questions right - that always does it for me.

26. Do you like Michael Jackson?

No, not really. I did listen to him a bit when I was a lot younger but I think he is ridiculous to be honest.

27. Can you dance?

Depends on what kind of dancing. I used to be awkward in clubs, but then I think I realized is that the most fundamental thing is not to be self concious about it at all, and just be as natural as you can. I have done Dancesport for a year or so, and that was quite fun.

28. What's the latest you have ever stayed up?

I once went 48 hours or so without sleep. Wouldn't recommend it. I am generally a night owl, so staying up through the night is not uncommon.

29. Have you ever been rushed by an ambulance into the emergency room?

Not at all. I don't think I have ever been hospitalized before. Nor have I ever broken a bone, or got chicken pox. I am very fortunate in that respect.

British Civilisation and Taps

2005-10-03T22:00:00.000Z

The British are among the more advanced societies and civilisations on this planet, having given us Shakespeare, Jane Austen, lots of different poets, Faraday and the electric generator, the first steam engine, the discovery of the structure of DNA and the first cloned sheep among other things. Yet, in a few very basic and fundamental areas, the British are woefully lacking and inadequate.

The subject of this particular rant is taps. Where much of the rest of the modern world has moved on to taps with an adjustable flow of both cold and hot water together, the redoubtable British washroom (or toilet in British parlance) continues to have sinks spouting two seperate faucets - hot and cold. And when they are labelled HOT and COLD, they are very serious about it - they are respectively either very hot or very cold.

It was with some surprise and no little pleasure when I found that there was only one faucet in the sink in the kitchen of my flat. That is until I turned the hot and cold knobs and found that the water issuing from that single faucet did not come out in a single stream, but incredibly, fell in two seperate ones (from the same faucet!) - you guessed it, one stream being scaldingly hot and the other ice cold. This, needless to say, left one rather inconvenienced when doing things like washing dishes - you alterned between freezing and scalding your fingers while trying desperately to rinse a pan. A kodak moment missed was surely the expression on my face when I first turned on the taps - it went from pleasurable anticipation, to incredulity, to severe irritation.

A solution was on hand though, and a very Singaporean one at that. Gillian, my housemate, tore a piece of strong thin cloth and secured it to the faucet head with two rubber bands, so that the water emitting from the tap had to go though the cloth and thus emerge in one (vaguely larger) stream. It takes two people from a former colony to solve one of the great things lacking from British Civilisation - single faucets that work.

Tour Guide Caleb and Starting Anew

2005-10-02T23:48:00.000Z

I have commented in the past about my love of playing the tour guide to visiting friends in Oxford, and I had ample opportunity today, which I seized perhaps too enthusiastically, when I met up with Timothy Tay and his parents in Oxford. Tim had arrived the day before and sent an email round seeing who was around, and I finally was able to get him in his room on Saturday evening, so I offered to meet with him for lunch and a tour around Oxford.

I think bringing people round does play up to my ego in two very fundamental ways - it allows me to spout all sorts of random historical facts, which appeals to my love of random facts and history, and it also allows me to be the center of attention and to flaunt my hidden urge to be a showman, with all the wit and charm that I can muster.

All in all, I had a pleasant afternoon, first having lunch with his parents and a friend from London at Brown's - reknown as the restaurant that everybody brings their parents to and proceeded to bring them around Trinity as well as a rushed tour of Oxford.

I am afraid that I was very much my useful (overly) outspoken self - but I find that I really can't help it. Being able to hold forth on all and sundry is something that I just seem to enjoy, and expressing and arguing my viewpoint is something that I really do love, perhaps to too great a degree. My only hope, as always, is that I did not shock them to too great a degree.

In many ways I envy Tim his first arriving in Oxford, the sense of beginning, of ample opportunity and discovery; of hundreds of people to meet and friends to make, the sense of being able to do it all. This stems in part from my melancholy comments of recent times about the so called social ossification that has happened, so I do envy him this clean slate. It is perhaps the most natural thing to wish for the chance to be able to do things anew - the what ifs and the might have beens always do tend to weigh heavily on one's mind.

But I admit that sense of discovery most of all - the chance to fall in love with Oxford and all it has to offer. And in a more positive note, a chord of hope so to speak, I realize that this sense of discovery isn't after all lost to me completely. There is still much to find, and much to try, new people to meet, new challenges to face, and I should do so with a general inclination towards enjoy whatever time I have left here, and whatever surprises Oxford still has to throw at me.

The Universal Search for Company

2005-10-01T23:25:00.000Z

It was Alexander Pope (or was it John Donne) that wrote that no man is an island, and those words cannot be more true. One of the universal attributes of humanity is that people are constantly seeking companionship. People, in general, are not good alone. Somewhere along the line, they require company, conversation. Human beings yearn, at their core to communicate, and to not be able to do so is to suffer an irreparable loss of their own beings.

I have often complained in the past year or so at the socially groupings that have come about in College, about how things have changed from a large group of people mixing freely to this mass breaking up into little clusters of exlusive groups characterized more than anything by their self-containment. I have often bemoaned this fate, yearning for the days when everybody first started getting to know each other, and when everyone more or less got along. I complained heartily about the fact that I always felt that I was on the fringes of everything - mixing at the edges of many of these social formations, but never completely at home in any of them. Today again, I had cause for complaint in this regard, when I realized that there was a party going on upstairs in Sinead's room, but was rebuffed when I knocked on the door by one of her flatmates. I once again felt this sense of social exclusion, which has always annoyed me and been a large block on my shoulder.

As an offshoot for the moment, the British have a remarkable talent for rebuffing people in the most polite way, whilst making it completely clear in the doing so that they are not only not welcome, but that they are not at all liked. It is one of those things that only the British can manage, and that with considerable aplomb, with a seeming flick of their wrist. Whereas the Americans can manage a "get lost" or "f**k off" at best, the British do it sounding ever so genteel, but with actually much greater vehemence.

Going back to the topic at hand, in many ways, this social stratification goes on precisely because people do seek a sense of belonging, and it is much easier to find in a small group. Even within smaller groups, there remains a multiplicity of opinions and of personalities. Choosing a restaurant to go to while out with 5 or 6 friends can already be a challenge, let alone in a larger group, so perhaps it is only natural for people to align themselves in a small group with the people they are most comfortable with and in which there would be least possible conflict.

I guess I am often far too hard up about all of this social politics. People have often pointed out that I do have very many friends and acquaintances and I shouldn't be particularly worried with regards to all of this. I am certainly no social recluse, and perhaps that is the issue of it. I am a person who works actively to break down any boundaries, and I really do love meeting people at the heart of it.

Still, Sinead made a special effort to come down and visit tonight, which did me feel a lot better. Perhaps, the important lesson to be learned is this, to really find and acknowledge your friends and to treasure them. After all, would I really have enjoyed spending time in the company of the rest of them? Or would I have enjoyed the company of Sinead coming to visit more? There is really no point in socializing when you are not enjoying it, and that is certainly a lesson to be learned.

The Ridiculousnes of Army Bureacracy

2005-10-01T22:36:00.000Z

I just received an email from my parents that has really upset me. Apparently my Unit in the army has sent me a bill for items that I was responsible for misplacing in April 2003 when I was still an NSF and they are requesting that I pay up $160 immediately. Needless to say, I am very angry at this and find this utterly totally ridiculous to say the least. It seems that the army just cannot let go, you are liable to stand accused of anything any number of years after you have left. It's like a ghost perpetually haunting you.

In the first place, it has been two and a half years since I have left the army, which is a very long time. The letter stated that I have to pay up the sum within 14 days of receipt of the notice, which is ludicrous considering that I am officially deferred from the army due to me studying overseas. How can I meet the deadline when I am not even in Singapore? Even with my parents forwarding the letter to me, it will be at least a week before I even receive the letter here in the UK.

More ridiculous still is the very fact that they only stated a date and claimed that I am responsible for the lost items. They never explained how they were lost, why I was responsible, whether there was an officer in charge, whether there was an investigation launched into how the items went missing and so on. It may seem quite ridiculous but these are procedures that you must follow within the army. They can't seriously expect me to receive a letter in that manner and meekly lie down and accept culpability? In fact, that probably is what they are expecting, and one of the big problems within the army. It is like an oblique abuse of power. You must do X or else...... and that is good enough for most people. They cave in like a house of cards. Sadly, I won't give them that satisfaction.

Then, there is the small matter of me ORDing and severing ties with my Unit. Prior to doing so, the Quartermaster has to sign my release paper, as well as the stores Sergaent in my Company, signifying that I do not owe anything to the Unit and that everything is accounted for. I also handed over all the stores I was in charge of to the person taking over from me. All these papers were signed. So I find it utterly and totally ridiculous that they are trying to get me to take responsiblity now, 2 years later, for stores that have gone missing. Once I have signed over everything, shouldn't the liability for it be borne by the Unit or whomever is taking over? In real life this clearly would be the case.

But then again the army never is real life. They set their own rules, and do as they wish. My mom used to work as a customer service operator in Citibank taking the helpline calls and she said that the hardest people to deal with were often the middle ranking army officers - because they had developed a minor God complex and were not used to being told no or being contradicted in any way. Singaporeans tell me I am crazy when I say that reservists is a big factor in me not returning home, but given the bollocks and bullshit that I have gone through as a NSF, I do not have high hopes that things will change when I am due for reservist. The same bureacracy, the bullying, the power politics will always exist, and it is the nicer people, the responsible ones and the people who really care who will be left facing the shit when it hits the fan.

Besides, I think that what it constitues is a very real sacrifice of my time and my life - one that I really am not willing to make. The fact that I could have a wife and family and be dragged away from all of that for up to a month a year, doing something that I effectively loathe is not something I wish to consider. Further to all of this is the fact that the army's rules and regulations present a fundamental infringement of my own personal choices and my civil liberties - according to army regulations I cannot keep my hair long whilst returning for service. This might seem a trivial thing, but to me it is a very serious matter indeed. The length I choose to keep my hair is a personal choice, and has nothing to do with the army. Until the army can prove to me that people with long hair are more at risk from being shot by snipers, say, will I accept the ruling. As it stands, there is no practical benefit in cutting my hair, except for the fact that they demand it of me.

I think that living in the UK for the past two years has really made me value the importance of fundamental freedoms and rights. I have always never been one to accept orders blindly and without question and I never did completely toe the line, even when I was in the army. However, I did my rebelling in such a way that I did not get myself into trouble. Now I fear however, that if I were to return and face all of this again, I will refuse to toe the line, come what may whatever consequences there may be. And that, needless to say is not a good thing.

Dinner With Bronwin

2005-09-29T09:33:00.000Z

Had a wonderful evening kipping over with Bronwin at her flat in London. I had 4 hours to kill after my GRE so I wandered over to Charing Cross Road, and down to Charing Cross Station where I was to meet up with her. In the process of wandering down, I found that the National Gallery opened late on Wednesday nights, so I took the opportunity to pop in and look at some of my old favourites - mainly the Impressionist room, conveniently located on the first floor to the right, with Picasso's Sunflowers being the highlight.

It was wonderful meeting Bronwin again. We had met rather fortitously in Barcelona, where she had gone on one of her famous weekend getaways. I remember me stumbling back to the hostel after a wonderful day out in which I had consumed an inordinate amount of wine, and we talked about lots of various things - one of those random conversations I love. Bronwin got a really nice flat just a short train ride from Charing Cross station, in Zone 2, funded no doubt by her work as a Management Consultant in the City - in fact her office is literally just off the Strand near Covent Garden. We had a lovely meal of Thai takeaway and Sushi - the Thai food coming from a lovely little place just opposite her house, washed down with a lovely bottle of white wine, which she had got from a wine club that she joined. The wine was definitely something to write home about - crisp and sharp, just wonderful.

In many ways, Bronwin epitomizes what I see myself as if I do end up in the corporate world, though she is such an amazingly idealistic and motivated person. She has a job in a management consultancy, her own flat, a stray cat who loves to wander in, her nights in watching DVDs, her playstation and all of that. While it is not unappealing, I am not sure that it is the life for me. Then again, I may well be clinging to a hope of something better which may not exist - will the academic world really be any more rewarding, stimulating than a city job? This is just symptomatic of my inability to decide what to do with myself. What is it that I want? A sense of purpose, the enjoyment of shared intellectual debate with people? Just the ability to meet interesting and likeminded individuals?

But it was a wonderful evening, all in all, and I guess these are the things that you do end up treasuring in the end, the ones that stay with you, these shared experiences. And if that experience is that of wonderful conversation over a bottle of wine, then all the better!

GRE Examination

2005-09-29T09:13:00.000Z

I did my GREs on Wednesday in London, after having made a decision to apply for graduate school while I was in Hong Kong, and signing up for the test at the office, there and then. All in all, I found the actual test quite tough, and I especially had a problem in managing time - I ran out of time in the math section, though I still managed to finish all the questions. This was rather surprising - I had managed to finish off all the questions in the 3 practice exams that I had done, 2 of them provided by GRE itself, but I was mightly realived when it was all over.

Since it was computer based testing, they gave me my scores at the end of all of it - I had a 660 for verbal and a 750 for maths. I had been hoping for a slighly higher verbal score since I though I had done pretty decently for that section, but I was well pleased with how the math score turned out, seeing that I had thought I had done far worse than that score suggests. In the practice test I did, I scored similarly on both those sections, and that equated to eing in the 95th percentile for verbal and the 86th percentile for the maths, so I am definitely hopeful that it will be the same in this case.

I found out at the end of the test that you have to nominate 4 Universities to have your results sent to right there on the spot. I had roughly chose mine, but was still considering a back up option. In the end I put down Harvard, Yale, Columbia and Georgetown - all wonderful universities, but perhaps also speaking of a great deal of hubris on my part. What annoyed me tremendously was that a payment of $10 is required for scores to sent to each further university. I might stick with these 4 and see how the rest of things turn out.

So, all in all, things turned out pretty good, though I hasten to qualify this remark until my full score report comes in the post, including the two writing sections. Considering I had taken the test a mere 2 days after coming in from Singapore, had done pretty minimal practice all things considered, and that I ran out of time in most of the sections, I should be pretty pleased irregardless.

Settling In

2005-09-27T21:01:00.000Z

I am now back in Oxford settling into my new accomodation in Staverton Road. All in all, I am very pleased with the flat and my room, the only major drawback being the distance from College and the center of town - a 20 odd minute walk at the best of times. The flat is certainly well equipped with a pretty decent kitchen, although the lounge area is rather small and is shared with the kitchen area. My room is cosy and spacious enough, with two large windows overlooking the "garden", with our flat on the ground floor. Especially nice were the ample bookshelf space that was provided, as well as the huge amount of storage area in general - the flat has two store rooms. The lighting is rather dim however, and I am considering buying an uplighter lamp to brighten things up.

Many great thanks must go to the many kind souls who helped me to get my stuff out of the loft and bring all of my stuff over to Stav - Peter, Zing, Weelee,Bianca, Douglas and Damien included. They even refused to accept money to take a cab back into town and insisted on walking back in - and goodness knows I know that it is a long walk.

Living out certainly has a rather different feel to it. It is definitely a lot more homely. The first two nights, we had dinner among the three of us flatmates as well as Damien and Douglas, which was really wonderful, especially on the second night when Toju proved herself to be a fine enough cook and things were augmented by a bottle of wine or two. Damien also cooked chicken the night before which was really great. Hopefully, there will be many more nights like this to come.

Fundamental Freedoms

2005-09-23T19:30:00.000Z

I was very disturbed to read in the papers recently about two Singaporean bloggers who are being sentenced in court for comments that were posted online in their blogs. They are being sentenced for writing stuff which is considered racially inflammatory and seditious and could face up to 4 years in jail. These two men were writing in response to a letter posted to the forum page of the local newspaper regarding the issue of allowing dogs to travel in local taxi cabs, with the author of the letter, a Malay Muslim, asking that this be stopped and their comments were placed on personal blogs.

This for me is a very scary situation and a severe blow to any pretensions (very few to begin with, admittedly) about the extent to which there is freedom of speech in this country. For me, the right to say and to write what you think is a very fundamental thing, and I personally feel that I would find it difficult to live in any society where such a right is not fully enshrined. In America, this right, guarenteed under the first amendment, is zealously safeguarded by such civil watchdogs as the American Civil Liberties Union, and this right is given without any discrimination in terms of the sentiments or topic areas expressed by individuals. The ACLU has gone so far as to protect the right of neo-Nazis to say what they think.

Implicit within this discussion is the extent to which a blog constitutes a public or private space. There is little doubt that the comments that they expressed were probably racist in some form, but that does not mean, as the charges against them suggest, that they are inflammatory, which is a whole different issue. If the two men had been sitting in a coffeeshop talking over a beer and made these comments, then they would probably not have been charged based on this Act of law, though it would have been a different matter if they had done so standing along a busy street like Orchard Road exhorting passer-bys with racist comments at the top of their lungs. So how does this distinction work with regards to Blogging?

Blogging is rather difficult to place in this regard. It is pretty much undeniable that comments written in blogs are placed very much in the public domain and are accesible to all. This is made even clearer by the fact that most blogs now have the option of keeping an entry "private" meaning that it can only be viewed by that individual and a select few rather than by anyone who accesses that blog. However, blogs are very much private spaces in that they are either personal chronicles or personal opinions written in an individual capacity.

In the end, I think that the charge that they are facing, of writing inflammatory material that could incite racial hatred is ridiculous. For one thing, unlike if they had been shouting from a street corner, in which case passerbys would have no choice but to listen to their comments, only people who actively searched out and read their blogs would be subject to whatever they have written. And who would be likely to read such comments? Probably people of a similar ilk. People who don't agree with what they say aren't likely to be persuaded just by a couple of lines written in a blog. That goes with even for people who stand at street corners and rant. I was in New York for a week and at lots of random subway exits you would find people saying the most outrageous things, much of which would be considered seditious in Singapore. My personal favourite must be a black man trying to convince everyone that Jesus Christ was not only not a Jew, but that he was actually black. All he got for all his trouble and his exhortations was a very sceptical crowd gathered around him, many of whom were either arguing doggedly against him, or heckling him. You didn't seem him starting a riot or people suddenly changing their views. Are Singaporeans really that incapable of similarly judging for themselves what is claptrap and what is not?

In a recent discussion about this at a family dinner (yes, this is the kind of thing my family talks about, often rather heatedly, over dinner!), we more or less agreed that race and religion is often such a big issue in Singapore only because the government is so determined to make it such a big issue. The surest way to ensure that ethnic and racial and religious divisions remain entrenched is to continually make it an issue and to insist repeatedly that we must be on the watch for people who are intent on dividing us in such a manner. We are inundated with stories from the past in which this were the case - from the Maria Hertog riots, to other race riots, as if such a situation repeating itself is something that is inevitable, if the proper "precautions" are not undertaken. However, race is hardly an issue for anyone in my generation, and we are probably much more integrated as a whole that my parents generation. It seems the government is creating something out of nothing with regards to this. After all, why is it that our race has to be listed on our identity cards, despite the fact that very often it is something that is a very artificial indicator anyway? What is the "race" of someone who has a chinese father, an indian mother, with Peranakan heritage lets say? If Tiger Woods were born in Singapore, what would his race be listed as?

There has been much talk of Singapore opening up, of greater freedom, of letting people express themselves, but the case of these bloggers is a step backwards, and a big one at that. The Government insists that we are free to express what we think, up to certain out of bounds markers (OB markers in popular parlance), which if crossed will lead to repercussions. The problem is, where exactly these markers lie is still very much open to question, and one will probably only find out that one has violated a marker when one is arrested/questioned by the police/sued in court which in Singapore, is far far too late. After all, given what has just happened, will this post be considered political in nature and violate the ordinance banning anything political from being broadcast over any form of media. After all, the internet is clearly a form of media, and this post clearly reflects my opinions, and some of what is written here is political...... Could it be that I am trying to subvert the minds of my fellow Singaporeans to my own personal stance?

Back in Singapore

2005-09-23T19:18:00.000Z

I have finished up my internship in Hong Kong and I am now back in Singapore for a week before heading back. Basically just spending time bumming at home and with my family and two dogs which is always good. Among the (few) things that I have accomplished since arriving back are a mahjong session with Julianna on Wednesday night, a night out at Devil's on Thursday and meeting Jasmine for coffee on Friday night.

One really good thing: Neil Gaiman's latest book Anasi Boys is finally out. I was browsing at Border's (where I was meeting Jasmine) when I saw it and of course bought the book immediately. Now the only challenge is to try and finish it before I fly off on Sunday, so that Denise can have a chance to read it and to avoid us ending up with double copies. Me and my sis are such enormous Gaiman fans - when he came to Singapore she queued for hours in order to get our Sandman comics autographed by him. Just started on the book - I actually started on it in Borders - and it seems interesting enough, though very much more similar in spirit to his work in American God's than his earlier stuff.

Been doing some shopping for Oxford. Got myself a DVD player with speakers for a really good price of only about $130 - it was a local Singapore manufacturer, so I am supporting local industry! Got a desk lamp as well to bring over, as I am not sure that there will be one provided in Stav. Still have some shopping to do - mainly a pair of sneaker's and perhaps some clothes.

Besides all of this, I have been trying to do some preperation for the GRE exam, which I am admittedly quite behind in. Will definitely have to polish off a further practice exam or two before I leave for England, and then a further one or two before I take the actual test in London. I am hoping very hard for a decent grade at it as it is very important for Grad school admissions.

Ebay

2005-09-18T06:36:00.000Z

Just created an ebay account, and joined the fast seductive world of online bidding. Needless to say I am utterly and totally hooked on it. There is a kind of excitement in any auction, even a virtual online one that sucks you in, and you do end up getting stuff you perhaps don't really necessarily need just for the heck of it.

I have been slowly mastering the strategies involved in ebay bidding, and whilst I probably overpaid for a few earlier items, I am quite happy with some of the prices I have won more recent items at. I will admit it quite frankly now - I have bid and won about 15 items in the space of 4 days, with at least 8 more on the way. Nevermind the cost, which at 50 quid is relatively steep, but my average trip to a bookstore/CD store anyway, but the fact that the Trinity lodge is going to be soon inundated with a whole pile of parcels addressed to me, something that will not amuse the porters in the least.

Just in case you were wondering, some of the stuff I managed to get included: A copy of the new football manager computer game at 3 pounds (5.50 including shipping); a copy of the Encyclopedia Britannica 2003 edition CD Rom for 99 pence (3.99 including shipping), Michael Freeden's Political theory and ideologies for 3 pounds (6 including shipping), Hayley Westernra's Pure CD for 1.79 pounds (3.19 including shipping), Radiohead's OK Computer CD for about 4 pounds total (a bit expensive this one), John Pizzarelli's latest CD for 1 pound (3 including shipping), Supergrass's debut CD for 2.25 total and Nickelback's Silver Side Up for the same price and Barbara Trapido's The Travelling Hornplayer for 2 quid.

There are just so many bargains on ebay that one can go a bit crazy, but I shall have to begin restraining myself very soon. Definitely not a good site for compulsive shoppers! Still, ebay is surely a sign of a dot com with a great idea that really works, and there is no surprise at all at its success.

The Ashes: What A Series

2005-09-13T03:35:00.000Z

Most of last evening was spent listening to BBC Five Live's broadcast of the last day of the final test of the Ashes. Like many other people worldwide, I was captivated by this larger than life series, and it was perhaps typical of the excitement of the series as a whole that the test and the Ashes hung in the balance right up to the last day. This series and this match in particular, proved beyond doubt that cricket can be captivating, exciting, edge of your seat kind of stuff, and it has surely done an immense amount to spread cricket to the mainstream.

It was definitely excellent stuff, especially what has to be a career defining knock by Ashes rookie Kevin Pietersen. Considering the great controversy that had surrounded his selection, with England stalwart Graham Thorpe in the running by till the final days of the first test, Pietersen has more than lived by to expectations, scoring an innings that saved England and earned him man of the match honours. To score your maiden test hundred is often difficult enough, to do so with the Ashes hanging in the balance, under untold amounts of pressure is taking it to another level, and Pietersen has done so, has innings of 158 was magnificent, not just for the brashness and flair in which an Ashes record 7 sixes were sent flying, but in equal measure for the level of maturity and doggedness that he showed in ensuring that England were safe. I wrote in an earlier post about Pietersen's heroics in the NatWest series, and I was always a huge supporter of him being part of the Ashes squad and I am extremely glad that the confidence the selectors placed in him, as well as his own much vaunted confidence in himself, has been very much vindicated. With this knock he even ended up as the highest runs scorer in the series to boot - not bad for a rookie

Pietersen annoys cricket traditionalists because he is a larger than life character. From his hairstyle which is a cross between that of a skunk and a cockatoo, to his bravado and love of taking the centre-stage, he has annoyed any number of people. Then there are the criticisms against his playing style, which can be described as 'devil may care' - going for broke on every shot and attacking every ball. While it can be unorthodox to say the least, and is certain to give any top level coach heart palpitations, this is the stuff that the neutrals, the mass public, everyone who has previously derided cricket in their lives, responds to. Sport is life in a glass bubble, a reflection of life in small scale, magnifying each emotions, be it the euphoria of success or the bitter disappointment of defeat. This Ashes has been memorable partly for the depth of emotion shown - be it Pietersen grandstanding to the crowd, or Warne appealing energetically for an out after another one of his trademark swinging balls.

So all in all, what a grand occasion, what a wonderful series, what a great advertisement for cricket. Forget the fact that they were playing for a small little thing no longer than the average person's ring finger, this was sport at its best, and most invigorating - passion, glory and excitement.

A Day at the Beach

2005-09-12T06:41:00.000Z

Had a wonderfully day at the beach in Repulse Bay today, courtesy once again to Julie's wonderful hospitality. It was definitely a perfect day to go to the beach - warm sunshine, a light cool breeze, and as an added bonus, a relatively small crowd given that it was a Saturday afternoon. To think that this was supposed to be the typhoon season (Taiwan and Japan had been struck a matter of days before) merely added to my luck in the combination of such ideal elements.

The south side of Hong Kong island is a thoroughly different world almost, lacking much of the hustle and bustle of the main city areas, its claustrophic compression of people and buildings and vehicles into such a small space, the endless rush of a whirlwind of humanity. That is not to say that there were no people - just to say that the South side had a much more relaxed feel as evidenced by the people thronging the beaches, swimming languidly in the bay. Part of the reason for this is no doubt due to the fact that it is divided from the north of the island by a large chain of hills and is thus relatively more inaccessible (not even linked by the MTR line) than Kowloon on the opposite shore on the Hong Kong mainland. So it was wonderfully relaxing, lying on the sand in Repulse Bay and going for a swim out towards some floating platforms that lay drifting nearby. In a completely arbritary point, Repulse Bay is apparently named for the British warship of the same name, who along with her sister ship the Prince of Wales, was sunk off the Malayan coast in 1942.

Afterwards, we went to Stanley Market, famous for its souveniers and knick knacks and had a stroll around before dinner. It was nice enough, though a bit of a tourist trap, and I didn't get anything except a set of chopsticks which will provide very useful back in the UK. Then, we met up with Greta for dinner at a Thai restaurant in a wonderful old oriental style stone building nearby. When I commented that it seemed a bit odd to build something like this here, I was proven correct. Apparently, that building at originally stood in Central and was one of the oldest buildings in Hong Kong, but redevelopment work meant that it stood marked for demolition. Protests led to the authorities agreeing to preserve the building - in a completely new location, thus its regenesis overlooking Stanley Bay. We ate along the side of the buildiing overlooking the bay, at a lovely Thai restaurant which was quite traditional. A fantastic experience watching the bay, and the lights on the hillside.

Afterwards, we went to a nearby pub for a drink. It is apparently one of the oldest pubs still present in Hong Kong, and one could see its origins serving the British sailors and expats who had escaped to the area for some rest and relaxation. In that respect, it's name - The Smuggler's Den, was aptly named. The pub also featured as decoration hundreds of dollar notes of various currencies and denominations, often with messages written on them. Needless to say, they were of a small enough value that patrons weren't tempted to make off with them!

To end the evening, went off to a karaoke social organized by Krizia for her Merril Lynch colleagues. I met lots of interesting people there, and it was wonderfully refreshing to know that ibankers are not only actually human, but really nice people to boot. Most of the night was spent listening to cantonese/chinese songs though, but I did impress myself with actually recognizing a few of them. All in all a wonderful Saturday evening.

MAN Booker Prize Shortlist

2005-09-09T07:03:00.000Z

The MAN Booker prize shortlist, probably the most eagerly anticipated media event of the book publishing world has been announced, and not without some surprises. Former winners Ian McEwan, Salman Rushdie and J.M Coetzee have failed to make the shortlist, though Booker favourite and former winner Kazuo Ishiguro has won through. The shortlist is as follows:

The Sea by John Banville
Arthur and George by Julian Barnes
A Long Long Way by Sebastein Barry
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Accidental by Ali Smith
On Beauty by Zadie Smith

I am certainly surprised that McEwan and Coetzee didn't progress, as I greatly enjoy both of those writers, but the Booker judges do have to strike a balance against rewarding old luminaries for continued outstanding work, and casting the spotlight on very talented but relatively unknown authors who might otherwise slip through the cracks. Still the omission of McEwan's Saturday comes as a bit of a shock considering the glowing review it received from John Sutherland, chairman of the judges. Having read it, I can attest that it is a very powerful novel, with McEwan's usual sharp precision with words and characterization, though perhaps a bit too fixed and structured for the judges taste.

The bookmakers have put Julian Barnes as the favourite to win for Arthur & George, and despite not having read any of the books on the shortlist, I probably agree with them. The Booker committee do have a slight tendency to reward author's for consistently good peformances by giving them the award, which need not necessarily be for their best work (such as McEwan finally winning for Amsterdam) and Barnes has been shortlisted twice before. Barnes recent work such as the collection The Lemon Table has marked a progression for him as he has become a much more subtle novelist, much more controlled than the usual verbal pyrotechnics an smart, intellectual writing he is known for. Arthur and George fits into that bill nicely and if it is awarded the Booker it would be recognition of Barnes' success in adapting and modifying his writing and the improvements that entailed.

I have always wanted to make it a goal to read all of the shortlisted books from a single year in order to compare my own feelings about which was the deserving winner with the actual outcome, and this looks like a good year in which to do it. I really enjoy Julian Barnes' writing and I have heard that "A Long Long Way" is a very fast paced exciting novel, whose storyline of an Irishman fighting for the English in World War I definitely appeals to me, and ties in with the large amount of war fiction that I have been reading recently. Ishiguro I am not immensely fond of, but he writes wonderfully elegant and very traditional prose which is never boring. The only one on the list I am rather hesitant about is Zadie Smith - I admit to not likeing either White Teeth or the Autograph Man, neither of which I have completed. So, the gauntlet is laid down. After all, what is reading 6 books compared to the 120 odd books that the Booker judges had to wade through in order to make it this far?

England Shame

2005-09-09T06:14:00.000Z

Winston Churchill described the fall of Singapore as "the worst disaster and largest capitulation in British history" with his usual flair for exaggeration, but surely England's 1-0 defeat to Northern Ireland must come pretty close. To say that the defeat was an embarassment is to severely understate things, that it is a disaster is utterly and totally beyond doubt. It leaves England in a precarious position in terms of direct qualification for the World Cup next year in what must considered one of the softest and easiest of the qualifying groups.

To put things in perspective: the combined cost of the Northern Ireland team is less than a single one of England's vaunted stars, be it the 27m pound Wayne Rooney, the 30m pound Rio Ferdinand or the new 18m pound Michael Owen. While Manchester Utd's Rooney managed to get himself yellow carded and suspended for the next match, former Man Utd youth programme trainee David Healy, who never managed to break through the club ranks and was later sold for 1m pounds, scored the winner with a wonderfully opportunistic finish in what was probably his one real chance of the match. This defeat was against a team that had struggled consistently to score goals and had come off a 0-0 draw against Malta, where their clean sheet was maintained due to a large measure of good fortune.

That this is just the last of what has been a series of bad results and embarassing performances surely means that the board has to make a decision about the managership of Sven. The defeat against Norway was plain embarassing. The win against a Welsh side that has not had a victory in 11 competetive matches was completely unconvincing and achieved only with a world-class stop from a John Hartson header, and with England under the cosh for much of the last 15 minutes. There can be absolutely no excuses for losing to Northern Ireland. Not even the injury crisis in defence, nor lack of preperation or anything like that. It is an absymal, shameful result, even more so for the way in which England performed.

This is not to take credit away from the Northern Irish team who were terrific on the night, giving even last bit of sweat, will and determination that they possesed. But this merely exposed an England side that seemed to lack any bit of fight, and whose players often seemed to lack any inkling of what they were supposed to do. A manager's main job is to prepare a team tactically for the match, and Sven's preperation against Norway were a joke, his 4-5-1 against Wales utterly ineffective and his team against Northern Ireland looked as if they didn't have the slightest idea what on earth they were doing. This goes beyond persistent criticisms of some of his strategies - from playing Gerrard in a holding role where his vision and skill on the ball is wasted, to leave Rooney running down the flank instead of letting him run through the middle of the park wreaking havoc with the defence. The last three English performances lacked tactical acumen, direction, discipline, determination, spirit and bite.

England certainly has many questions to answer. One cannot even imagine them facing the likes of Japan or South Korea or any of the African qualifiers in the World Cup and winning playing even remotely like this, let alone Brazil and Argentina. Somebody has got to take responsbility for the debacle that was Northern Ireland and if England do not turn the corner very very quickly, there is no doubt who that person will be.

Dinner and Jazz

2005-09-08T19:06:00.000Z

Had a wonderful evening meeting Julie and Greta at Central in Hong Kong. Julie brought us to Baci's which is a really cozy little Italian restaurant in Lan Kwai Fung. I hadn't seen Greta since she left Oxford almost a year and a half ago, and it really felt like such a very long time. She still seemed pretty much the same though, and it was wonderfully of her to come down straight from school - today was the first day of term for Hong Kong University. It was really great catching up with her, and just getting to see her again after such a long while.

To add a even bigger treat, Krizia called Julie on the phone soon afterwards. It was a totally random and wonderful coincidence as Krizia and Julie had gotten to know each other through their respective Xanga blogs, and had exchanged numbers, but hadn't met up yet. Krizia happened to get off work early and rang Julie and the rest, as was just pure coincidence.

Dinner was really wonderfully. I enjoyed my pasta very much, and as an added treat, the restaurant even had a half decent Chianti of which we shared a carafe. They say that a really fine meal needs good food, good service and ambiance and good company, and all were definitely present tonight. It was just really remarkable to have dinner in Hong Kong like this, with three good friends of mine who on meeting for the first time, greatly enjoyed each other's company - that was the reason I had come to Hong Kong for the internship - to live out of the comfort zone and explore one of the most vibrant and cosmopolitan cities in the world.

Afterwards, Krizia and Julie joined me as we went over to the Bohemian Lounge on Old Bailey Street in order to check out some live jazz. Kristin had recommened the place to me after going there in her recent trip to Hong Kong, and seeing her fantastic taste in all things, especially Jazz, I hastened to take her advice. As live music places go, I thought it was pretty good. The band were obviously seasoned jazz veterens, especially Tom Noonan, the band leader and saxophonist and I loved the way lots of regulars turned up at the club and just started joining in the jam session. When I left (to catch the last MTR train) they had a trombonist and trumpeter to go along with the original quartet (strangely lacking someone on piano).

The Hong Kong jazz scene definitely seemed quite closely knit - two of the band members I had seen at the Blue Door club the previous week showed up, with the pianist (whom I thought was excellent) doing a couple of songs for them. Overall, I had a fantastic time there and I particularly liked the old style standards that they played.

So all in all a fantastic evening, all that one could ask for: good food, fine company, cool jazz, pure bliss if you ask me.

Temple Management

2005-09-07T02:02:00.000Z

People often complain about the dumbing down of education, with courses like media studies, talked about with a sneer on one's face, but a recent course offered by China's Jiaotong University must surely take the cake.

Apparently, 18 buddhist monks are about to embark on something very much in the secular fold as they begin a course in "Temple Management" in Shanghai. The course will include such modules as "corporate strategy" and "religious product marketing".

This is indeed something of a departure for buddhist monks, who are often depicted in the West as seeking silence and solitude and more importantly isolation from the world in keeping with their teachings that one can only attain Nirvana through overcoming wordly desires. So it would seem incongrous in the least that monks would be taking what amounts to an MBA in their field.
Still, this recent move can be seen as part of a wider trend, and in this context it seems far less surprising. The chinese government has been rebuilding much of its Buddhist heritage over the past 20 years, but not in an attempt at religious or cultural revival - to the contrary, the money has been spent in an attempt to attract more tourists to the region. One large temple in Shanghai already boasts a monk with the title of 'General Manager' and records the names of people who donate large sums of money to the temple on plaques on the wall.

I guess it's only natural for people to feel uneasy about the mixing of mammom and God - one only needs to think of the Catholic church of old selling relics and pardons for profit to feel a deeply unsettled about the two mixing. We like to think that religious organizations have to be completely altruistic, after all they are working for God and not for man, and if there is any more potent symbol of humanity it is the dollar. Yet, in many ways this is merely a form of self-deception. Churchs still have operating budgets, and cashflow problems - just ask every vicar in every tiny village in England trying to raise funds to fix the steeple. So perhaps it isn't so odd that monks are doing degrees in Temple Management.

The Aftermath of Katrina

2005-09-07T01:12:00.000Z

America has been stunned by the effects of hurricane Katrina, but perhaps not in the way in which they imagined. The effects in human cost were great and the sight of one of the great southern cities all but submerged in a deluge of water has been sobering and stunning. But surely what shocked people more were the reports of looting in the streets, of strong-arm police tactics that included the shooting of at least two people who attempted to leave the packed stadium where the majority of New Orleaners had sought refuge. It is the sight of bloated corpses washed down overflowing streets, of children nearly starving because they had no food and had not received any form of aid.

Nicholas Kristoff of the NY times has got it spot-on when he says that Katrina underlies America's Larger Shame as he puts it: Hurricane Katrina also underscores a much larger problem: the growing number of Americans trapped in a never-ending cyclone of poverty. He rightly criticizes the Bush administration for neglecting America's poor, and it seems ironical to me that a man who trumpets a 'no child left behind' policy now finds himself with more than 1.1 million more people living in poverty since 2003. Mr Kristoff cites a whole series of statistics, several aimed to shock on purpose, such as the fact that Washington D.C has a higher infant mortality rate that many areas in the Indian state of Kerala, but his article is a sobering reminder of an enormous problem that America faces. What has got to do with Katrina? Kristoff provides another illuminating example:

One of the most dispiriting elements of the catastrophe in New Orleans was the looting. I covered the 1995 earthquake that leveled much of Kobe, Japan, killing 5,500, and for days I searched there for any sign of criminal behavior. Finally I found a resident who had seen three men steal food. I asked him whether he was embarrassed that Japanese would engage in such thuggery.
"No, you misunderstand," he said firmly. "These looters weren't Japanese. They were foreigners."
The reasons for this are complex and partly cultural, but one reason is that Japan has tried hard to stitch all Japanese together into the nation's social fabric. In contrast, the U.S. - particularly under the Bush administration - has systematically cut people out of the social fabric by redistributing wealth from the most vulnerable Americans to the most affluent.

Indeed, the Bush administration has focused on giving tax cuts to the richest 5% of the population, while America's medicaid and medicare systems stand in urgent need of reform and while the plight of America's urban poor - such as the poor people of New Orleans - worsens. In this he does seem to be turning America into a country of have and have nots, of the rich and successful and their progeny to those born into poverty. In this, he is forgetting the maxim of the great British essayist Samuel Johnson who said that the "truest test of a society is in the way in which it treats its poorest members". While Ronald Reagen, Bush's famous Republican predecessor was famous for remarking that "We have fought a war on poverty and poverty has won" but at least he was attempting to do battle: the implications of Bush's policies are that he couldn't care less.

Another interesting aspect in the aftermath of Katerina is the offering of aid to America from many foreign countries, in particular China and India. While I am greatly encouraged by this show of support, however nominal, it raises questions on American policies on foreign aid to begin with, another contentious issue. America has long been criticized, and rightly so, for their miserliness in terms of foreign aid. While the average Norwegian gives about $300 in aid, America's figure stands at about $20, which is appaling and well below the weighted world average of around $50. Leaving aside the arguments about the efficacy of foreign aid, it is still something that surely needs to be addressed. America stands at the forefront of the battle to attain the UN Millennium Goals to halve poverty, and it is only with a lasting contribution from America that signficant headway can be made into achieving these. In the wake of Katrina, the world has responded to America's plight. It will be interesting to see if the favour is returned in kind.

Having A Ball of a Time

2005-08-05T07:27:00.000Z

The highlight of the summer definitely had to be Trinity 450th Anniversary Ball. They say that attending a ball is an Oxford prerequisite. The glamour, the madness and the excess is something that has to be experienced at least once, never mind the cost, and that it would be something that is wholly unforgettable. The fact that this ball commemorated the College's 450th Anniversary was even more cause to expect an even larger and grander celebration.

Certainly the day was approached with a great deal of anticipation, and no small amount of cost. The dining ticket alone was almost 150 pounds, and decking myself out in white tie added another 50 pounds or so to the bill, although to be perfectly honest, by that stage one had more or less ceased to count. So it was with a great deal of expectation that I stood in the queue outside Trinity's large blue iron-wrought gates awaiting entry to a night of spectacular entertainment.

First of course, came dinner. The dining hall was indeed decked out in spectacular fashion, with candelabra and decorations and the college silver all making this the stuff of fantasy. As the candlelight cast its soft glow and spilled out of the stained glass windows, one could imagine oneself in another day and age. The food was not less wonderful, 4 courses done to magnificence, with the highlest being the scallop, serving complete on a giant shell. It was a wonderful start to the evening, made all the merrier by the champagne reception beforehand and the copius amounts of excellent wine being poured for us.

There of course a limitless amount of things to do: chocolate fountains (of which I did have some), food stands, more drinks, a champagne stand in the middle of garden quad, acrobats, comedians, dancing and lots more besides. There were bumper cars, which I decided to forsake due to the fact that I did not quite fancy a 45 min wait, as well as the huge live music tent where Supergrass were fronting the gig.

If there is one virtue of being small, it comes in large packed tents with people trying to force themselves to the front. Supergrass was very popular indeed, but I managed to squeeze myself through right to the front, where they had set up a fence to prevent people from getting too close to the stage. It was my first real experience of this kind of live gig atmosphere in what was an area equivalent to the proverbial mosh pit, and I enjoyed every minute of it. I loved the pure abandon of just letting yourself go completely. It was exhiliarating and completely crazy. The only problem was, after about a half hour or more of being squashed against the fence, I decided that it was best to leave, only to find it impossible to get back out. A security guard seeing my difficulty came up with a rather quicker solution - he lifted me right over the rail and let me leave through a side exit. Just mildly embarrasing to say the least, but quite expedient nonetheless.

There is one important thing at a ball you must remember, and it was something that I should have realized from the start. It is simple really - faced with such excess, there is a temptation to do everything, to drink without pause and to basically sucuumb to a kind of wild abandon. The important thing is of course to pace yourself, particularly when it comes to the alcohol. After all, you can't do all that much in a semi-coherent state. In my defence, I had queued at the Champagne tent for some bubbly on behalf of myself and my friends. Of course, you could order an unlimited number of glasses at no charge, so people stood in line ordering ridiculous amounts as they and their friends took turns to queue while the rest continued to enjoy the revelries. I was in the queue on behalf of a number of friends, and after quite a long wait I ordered 8 glasses or so and brought them out to where I thought they were waiting, only to find that 5 of them had left. So me and the one remaining guy shared the 8 glasses between us, and what with the accumulation of all the champagne and wine before dinner, the rest of the evening was a bit of a blur.

I do recall one thing late in the evening. The tent near the library had a band playing traditional scottish and irish reels, and I somehow found myself there dancing arm to arm in a mad whirl. By the end of it, there was just me and another guy dancing a kind of half Scottish half tap dance with the band playing faster and faster, and lots of people looking on. It was probably the craziest and most fun moment of the night, and one I will never forget for the rest of my life.

It is to my credit that I was one of the 'survivors' - those who stayed the whole night for the morning photo. In a fitting end to things, we had a couple of Scottish pipers with a snare drummer leading a procession of sorts of those that remained down the familiar gravel paths towards the College gates and out into the middle of the Broad Street where things finally reached their conclusion.

When it comes to balls there is always a question that you will be asked: was it worth it? It is a difficult one to answer. There is no denying the fact that a ball is prohibitively expensive. You are looking at an outlay of 150 to 200 pounds at the least, including finding a suitable outfit. There is no doubt either that they are huge numbers of people, and they tend to oversell tickets. And of course it is physically impossible to consume in one night 1oo pounds worth of anything, be it food, alcohol, or fun. Yet, in many ways, it is truly a unique experience. Wearing white tie for the first time was incredible - seeing thousands of people decked out in the same was even more exhilarating. I really do think that it is something special, an experience that will truly last a lifetime, though working a month afterwards to pay off that one night of fun does put a huge downer on things. Is it worth it? Maybe not. Should you attend a ball? Most definitely! Part of it all is putting all practical considerations aside, to forget everything, to revel in excess, to dance till the morning, and that is after all, exactly what an Oxford ball is about.