The
idea of National Service (NS) in Singapore has been met with a myriad of views.
Personally, I believe that NS is an integral part of Singapore and affects the
whole nation, not just the people serving in it.
Thus,
I wish to give a shout out to all the current National Service (Fulltime)
Soldiers and future NS personnel. Keep up the good work! While it may seem that
the public does not care and treats NSFs with disdain, there are others that
appreciate all that you guys put in. After all, half of the population knows
what you are going through.
As
SAF day comes and pass, it is also a mark that another year of peace has pass
without any attacks occurring on Singapore soil.
Sometimes,
we take the peace for granted. So, once in a while, we should give ourselves a
kick to the rear and give our thanks to the people who are forced into bad
situations time and again for that which we take for granted.
I see you standing among them all
Standing so strong ,proud and tall
The world looks at you, but does not see
Everything you sacrifice to keep us free
I'm here to say, to let you know
That you are loved, even if it doesn't show
You fight for our hopes, dreams, and liberty
You fight for our freedom...... A hero to be
We want you to know, your never alone
For we are waiting, for you to come home
But the hardest thing for a person to be
Is you.. A SOLDIER, fighting
To keep us free
Seems
that the new generation of Action heroes are now coming up, replacing old
favorites such as Harrison Ford, Bruce Willis and Jackie Chan.
Once again,
Copyright belongs to the distributor of the film
and other relevant entities
-Spoilers
Below-
I
just finished watching White House Down.
John
Cale (Channing Tatum) is stuck in the White house with his daughter (Joey King)
when the White House gets taken over by a mish-mash group of radicals,
mercenaries and disgruntled Delta Force operators orchestrated by retiring Head
of the Secret Service Detail Martin Walker (James Wood), and masterminded by
the Vice-President Alvin Hammond (Michael Murphy). Starting with a stroke of chance, he end up rescuing President James Sawyer (Jamie Foxx) and saving the day with the help of, well everyone.
It
seems to be the season of White House Invasions with the premiere of Olympus
has Fallen just a few months back in march. However, unlike the serious nature
of Olympus, White House Down (WHD) seems to take itself much more lightly. With
this in mind, I find the casting rather good, with Jamie Foxx as President.
While many critics have flamed him as a mediocre actor ill-suited to such a
role, I find his portrayal of the president to be apt for this movie, where you
have hilarious fight scenes (forced to
replace shoes, takes down leather shoes. Reconsiders it a second later and
chooses shiny white sport shoes instead). While it is hard to explain humor
in the situation, when you catch the movie, you will find Jamie Foxx to be able
to carry out the amusing scenes needed to keep the film light-hearted.
This
is especially as it keeps the concepts raised in the movie from being too deep.
Why is being deep bad? For a movie with this setting to occur, various
plot-holes must be addressed. Another way is to add in humor so that people
will look past the gaping plot-holes and appreciate the movie and be able to
absorb more of what the movie is saying instead of being preoccupied with the
minute details. One can view the movie in 2 different parts. Firstly, we have
the overt action comedy movie that it is, with Tatum diving over furniture,
through windows or the amusing scenes. (The
presidential limousine driving around the fountain while being chased by other
vehicles.) It is a decent PG13- movie that can be enjoyed with friends and
family.
On
the other hand, we can analyze the macro situation presented by the
screenwriters and shown to us via the actors. We have the idea of the pen vs.
the sword definitely, as well as the reactions of the weapon industries if the
USA pulls out all military operations in the Middle East. Of course they are
not developed extensively in the movie (it
is not a documentary) but it does raise such points and we can think about
it and progress further but thinking about how such ideas can be progressed,
what can come out of it.
Overall,
I find it a good 4/5 for general entertainment value. (I generally do not watch Hollywood films for their plots or philosophical
ideas; those are bonuses when they crop up)
Alright! I got myself a new pencilcase from MYUK, a new wallet and spiffy new pens and writing pads.
However after buying all of the above and lugging them around on foot for 5 hours, I realised they are quite heavy. This means that my luggage allowance of 20 - 40 (depending on the airline ticket) kg will be a hassle, considering that winter clothing are quite heavy themselves.
On a bright side, I am cheered up after looking through all the MYUK designs. They are always good for a quick laugh. I got this one as it reminds me of myself.
Hahaha ~ Dragging people down since the start of time! -ARP
Copyright belongs to the publisher, Crown or the cover artist.
Starring
Brad Pitt, based of a book with the same name, World War Z is an action, horror
movie about an apocalyptic outbreak of Zombies (supposedly originating from some form of rabies) and ex-UN top-dog
investigator Gerry Lane (Pitt) races to find a cure for the outbreak.
I
have not read the book.But from what
I heard, (and Wikipedia Yay!) the
book explores geo-political issues as well as questioning how effective a
modern army will be against a Zombie outbreak.
While
critics go about saying the movie diverts itself from the source material. I
feel that the movie (surprisingly?)
does cover the general idea although a viewer might have easily missed them
amongst the tension generated with the horror elements. This is especially so
with the zombies’ tendencies to do Dynamic Entry-Style body slams into the
scene. Well, I have not read the book so I cannot be sure about the source
material.
DYNAMIC ENTRY!
Scenes
I find interesting are.
-Spoilers
below-
This promotional poster image does not belong to me. Copyright belongs to PlanB Entertainment and other relevant parties
In
the supermarket, the policeman rushes to grab his share of the supplies instead
of investigating a murder(self-defense)
or the gunshot. What this can be said to show is the societal breakdown as law
enforcement members will be more concerned with surviving then upholding the
law, as people’s lives seem to be worth less and less. The pharmacist dude (not sure of that one) was a little odd
though, seemed like a cool character but was not explored afterwards.
The
US Carrier Group that acts as a safe harbor from the outbreak operates in a
really practical manner, to the point of kicking out ALL non-essential persons
cold-heartedly. Okay, they are not exactly abandoning them but you were not
supposed to know that till the end. For example, they threw Lane’s family into
a containment camp (or was it
concentration camp), later mentioned as a safe zone, the moment they
thought Lane died in the plane crash. This practicality may be necessary but an
attitude that is very different from all (excepting
dictatorships) government system now.
A
consistent image is that of military troops getting overrun by the Zombie
horde. While minute outbreaks were taken out or held back by troops, in the
Jerusalem and various parts of USA scenes, the sheer mass and numbers of the
Zombies totally overwhelmed the military. As my brother puts quite bluntly, it
is hard for us to fathom what it will be like fighting such an enemy. Imagine a
million enemy combatants. Now if you have a battalion of troops (approx. 600) with each soldier carrying
2 combat loads (1 combat load = approx.
3-4 magazines of 30 rounds each) assuming every shot is a guaranteed kill,
which is not the case in the movie, the battalion will only be able to kill (600 x 2(4x30)) 144,000 zombies. You will
still be facing 800,000 more zombies and chump change.
Okay,
there were some portrayals in the movie that I find particularly irritating. I
mean; Lane is presented as some super survivalist where everyone just seemed to
be slowing him down. From his daughter screaming for her blanket at a real dangerous
moment, to the scientist falling and killing himself with his pistol or the (other) scientist who seems to find
something particularly noisy to step on and lure zombies. In the WHO part of
the movie where they had to grab the viruses, Lane practically went ahead and
did it all by himself while the doctor and the IDF soldier went running back to
safety. Yeah, it made for some nice action scenes and they were justifiable but
it still irks me as a moviegoer.
All
in all, I found the movie interesting (feels
like a L4D match) and I loved the ending scenes, especially the sight of
Russians roaring their defiance in the Zombies face and wading in with
pickaxes, but I do not judge it as worthy of re-watching. A decent 4/5 if you
like this kind of semi action semi horror films.
Visited
Drs. Horne and Chin for my medical checkup that is required for the VISA
application yesterday (Thursday). The
service is real face and good!
I
had my check-up done by Dr Lu (What it
says on his door) and it was quite an interesting check-up. The good doctor
seemed to be real interested in my future plans, what I think working should be
like and general issues. This is not to say he was unprofessional or slacking
in his work. He did a real thorough job!
So anyway… one thing he mentioned that I find real
interesting is the idea of a Calling. Now how would you go about defining what
a calling is. You could see it from the person’s own point of view, where a
calling is any job he strongly desires to get. While what exactly is a calling
is hard to pinpoint.
1. An inner urge or a strong impulse, especially one believed to be
divinely inspired to accept the Gospels as truth and Jesus as one's personal
savior.
Between
the doctor and I, we got out some examples of our own.
Between
the doctor and I, we got out some examples of our own.
Doctor
– Teaching – Military are but a few we talked about.
Of
those, teaching was one that was closer to my heart. While my passion is in
English writing and thought analysis, followed by design, I feel that Teaching
holds a special place in my heart.
I
feel that it is just a core part of me, the desire to teach. While I have
rejected any ideas about teaching, when I look at how I interact with others, I
realize that I keep trying to give advice, the make people think and question,
to teach.
Is
that what they mean by having a calling?
Well~
I
shall see what the future holds then!
-ARP
sensei on a side note, my checkup was delayed as they found traces of blood in my urine sample, seems that I have to drink more water...
The Pull-up is one of the more demanding exercise
and station for the Individual Physical Proficiency Test (IPPT) in the
Singapore Armed Forces. Also known as Chin-ups or “Oh My Gawd Just 1 More”,
they involve griping a horizontal bar and lifting yourself up so that your chin
is above the bar. Sounds easy? When you try it you will find it otherwise.
What I say in this posts are based off my
experience when training to do Pull-ups. Some of the facts are probably wrong
so do take the information with a pinch of salt. Pull-ups are sort of an
obsession of mine back when I had to take the yearly IPPT. (ahh the good ol’
days) There are different ways of tackling a pull-up and different types of
pull-ups.
A proper pull-up involves muscles from all over
your body, from the triceps to your core muscles. They all play a part in
allowing you to pull yourself up in a smooth motion while maintaining a
straight posture. (By bending your knees, it becomes easier to pull but does
not really count as a “proper” pull-up)
Here is the interesting thing. By adopting
different postures when doing a pull-up, you will utilize different muscles.
For example, a wide arm grip will use more of the back muscles compared to a
narrow one, which uses the biceps more. A proper pull-up is supposed to fully
utilize the large back muscle yet not forgetting the other muscle groups such
that they work in unison to achieve an easy pull.
I feel that training for Pull-ups matches my
character perfectly. Doing ten pull-ups only takes a minute or so and I just
have to do it 3 times a day, once before my meals to maintain. Short, sweet and
simple.
I remember watching one of Bear Grylls’ series
about the French Foreign Legion. There, they require the recruits to do at
least ten pull-ups before they go for their meals. The instructor said
something that stuck in my mind.
“A man who cannot pull his own body weight is a
waste”
Here, a simple pull-up can mean so much more. After
all, the act of pulling oneself up is literally pulling your whole body up.
While that can be seen literally, it can also be viewed figuratively. Doing a
pull-up involves your own strength. By doing a successful one, it means that
you have just lifted your whole body up by
yourself. One small step to prove your own self-worth.
