Saturday, September 29, 2007
"It goes without saying that in addition to a stellar reputation for academic innovation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology is renowned for its geeky pranks. The best-known of these was perhaps the time when students decorated the campus' Great Dome to look like Star Wars robot R2D2 in celebration of the legendary film series' first prequel in 1999.
But Star Wars prequels are so last decade. These days, it's all about the much-hyped Xbox 360 title Halo 3. And why prank your own campus when you can pull a fast one on those snotty Crimsons next door?
Consequently, MIT pranksters headed over to the neighboring campus of Harvard University and decorated Harvard Yard's legendary statue of founder John Harvard to look like a Spartan warrior. Enough said."
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1:02 pm
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
There, my Piece de resistance. Literally, since I've been holding off studying proper till I get it done. I've quite pleased with it, it's a Netherdrake from World of Warcraft. Now for the A levels.
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11:32 pm
Burma-Shave, a shaving cream of some sort in the United States. It's long gone I think, but had one of my favourite advertising programs. Basically, the signs in the picture are placed one after another, some distance along the road, so drivers can pick it up as they go by. The wiki has the rest of the slogans should you wish to persue them.
Posted by Calvin at
9:21 pm
I had a nice encounter on my way home today. Was waiting for the bus when someone came up to ask me a favor. Turned out he wasn't too good with English and needed directions. I soon set him on his way and he left with a word of thanks.
I really like helping people out, makes me feel warm and fuzzy like a kangaroo. And it's the little things like this that are heaps better for NJC's public relations than any expensive campaign.
So that's why I have no qualms returning Ms Phua's stony gaze, nor do I mind people asking me why I spent a third year in NJC.
'Cause I'm the good guy, and I really like being one. Narrative causality demands that I persevere and come out triumphant. And you know how the evildoers always get defenestrated or squashed by farmhouses.
It's good to be good.
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3:44 pm
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Defenestration is the act of throwing someone or something out of a window. The word comes from the Latin de (from; out of) and fenestra (window or opening), and was coined around 1618, during the Defenestration of Prague, as shown above.
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9:02 pm
Monday, September 24, 2007
Urgh I haven't done much this weekend, having caught a bit of flu. If I could look into my head now I imagine I'd see a marching band in a construction site during an earthquake. Good thing tomorrow is Tuesday.
Anyhow, the day of my last prelim paper I went to hang out at Orchard with the usual people. We were sittin' on the steps outside Paragon shopping center near midnight, and some lady came over to ask what we were doing. Presumably she thought us to be the wrong sort of people.
Me! A delinquent! Imagine that. Haha.
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9:06 pm
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Boo! It's Solid Snake in SSBB. The site has been updated with some infomation.
Also, Piplup! It pops out of the Pokeball and uses Surf, which washes players off the stage.
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3:04 am
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Physics is finally over, so I'm going to get that drawing finished proper. It was a rather refreshing experience, actually knowing the answer to every single question and plowing my way through, much like secondary school used to be.
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4:50 pm
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
I was reading an archived article from Time magazine on Scientology. Always have been rather piqued by how effectively the cult has been eluding proper persecution and continuing to snare people. Shall I just say that I despise any organisation that would prey upon weak minds for reasons known or unknown. For those inclined you may find the article here, it might come in handy.
Till tomorrow then, don't lose your mind.
Posted by Calvin at
10:53 pm
Monday, September 17, 2007
I've nothing much to say at the moment so here's a picture. Haven't done the wings because they're horribly tricky. I do intend to finish it before I get started - that's right, started - on studying.
Only one day to the next salvo of papers! Where does all the time go? I do wonder.
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3:09 am
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Yes that's me. I need a holiday.
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11:57 pm
Friday, September 14, 2007
People don't really exist you know, they fluoresce. That is to say they flicker, every single colour at the same time. I suppose it's a sort of curse that urbanites are stuck with, trying to do too much and be too many things at the same time. It's all good.
Nowadays, I find myself with enough free time that I can while it away wastefully. No, I don't mean I'm not studying, that activity is hardly even important enough. As it is, I give most of my attention to my assorted electrical hedonistic implements, be they the computer or the television.
And when all the killing and maiming is done, every channel exhausted of potential, it is with a sigh that I turn off the power and consign the house to silence. It's like the turn of a key, the last clod of earth landing on a coffin. It is, in short, horribly like dying.
The marquis de Carabas looked up at him. His eyes were very white in the moonlight. And he whispered, "What's it like being dead? It's very cold, my friend. Very dark, and very cold."
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5:01 am
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Thats enough narrative for now. First leg of the prelims are over and I've till next Tuesday to relax, and relax I will. Now that I have a good five days break, I'm certainly not going to spend them all studying.
WipEout Pulse is due on the 28th of September, as the first video game I ever played, the series has a special place in my heart. The second picture is some fan art for World of Warcraft, these two games are currently occupying my attention, and really, what else should?
Posted by Calvin at
2:38 am
"No man, proclaimed Donne, is an island, and he was wrong. If we were not islands, we would be lost, drowned in each other's tragedies. We are insulated (a word that means, literally, remember, made into an island) from the tragedy of others.
A pig was killed, and the men and the women of that plantation drank the hot blood of the pig, pledging themselves and binding themselves into a brotherhood.
'If we die in battle with the whites,' they told each other, 'we will be reborn in Africa, in our homes, in our own tribes.'
They fought for twelve years, a maddening, bloody struggle with the plantation owners, with the troops brought over from France. They fought, and they kept fighting, and impossibly, they won.
Fiction allows us to slide into these other heads, these other places, and look out through other eyes. And then in the tale we stop before we die, or we die vicariously and unharmed, and in the world beyond the tale we turn the page or close the book, and we resume our lives."
-American Gods
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2:22 am
Sunday, September 09, 2007
"She began to whisper something in my ear. It's the strangest thing about poetry - you can tell it's poetry, even if you don't speak the language. I've heard Polish poetry, and Inuit poetry, and I knew what it was without knowing. Her whisper was like that. I didn't know the language, but her words washed through me, perfect, and in my mind's eye I saw towers of glass and diamond; and people with the eyes of the palest green; and, unstoppable, beneath every syllable, I could feel the relentless advance of the ocean."
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3:40 am
Saturday, September 08, 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6187080.stm. Yep, they've been teaching you to sit the wrong way all along. Looks like I got this one right, and I wonder why sometimes people don't listen to me.
Early isn't it? I decided to forgo sleep and watch the telly, and I was duly rewarded, by a pleasant shower of rain starting around 5 and continuing as I type this. I was watching an old James Bond movie which believe was Diamonds Are Forever.
Anyway, there's much we can learn from James Bond. Even when crooks turn up at his doorstep, he'll take the time to turn up in a nice suit before showing them out. As they say, style is important, but timing is everything.
Posted by Calvin at
6:32 am
Thursday, September 06, 2007
"In Don Saltero's Coffee-House in Danvers-street Mr. Newbolt was taking coffee with his son.
He said, "It is so long since last I saw you, Richard, I hope you have been well all this time?"
Richard sighed. "Father, I was drowned in the Dutch Wars. I have been dead these fifteen years."
Then Mr. Newbolt saw how cold and white was his face, how cold and white were his hands. "Why, child," he said, "so you were. I remember now. Still I am very glad to see you. Will you not walk home with me? It is scarce five minutes' walk and I daresay you will not mind the rain?"
"Oh, Father," cried Richard, "I cannot come home. I can never come home. Do you not see? This is a dream. It is only a dream."
Then Mr. Newbolt looked around Don Saltero's Coffee-House and saw the strangest people all talking and taking coffee together. "Why, child," he said, "so it is."
Posted by Calvin at
3:53 am
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
What prelims? Oh, those prelims, the one coming up in a weeks time. Well, I suppose I've been studying.
My academic materials are all in a cupboard just out of the picture.
Really!
Posted by Calvin at
4:57 pm
I live for moments like this. They really make me smile.
Posted by Calvin at
4:19 am
I've long suspected that I might have a minor case of a split personality. All is well and good though, because I'm pretty sure if that were the case, both sides would be egging each other on.
Posted by Calvin at
4:00 am
Monday, September 03, 2007
Someone reminded me today, that come December, it'll have been 3 years of mine spent playing World of Warcraft. Time really flies when you're having fun. Really now, if you put me back in time, I'd do it all over again, exactly the same.
As the saying goes, you had to be there.
Posted by Calvin at
10:50 pm
Saturday, September 01, 2007
Booyaw I got video to work, I trust that some of you recognise this.
Posted by Calvin at
3:35 am
Had a really good time doing the GP paper, pretty much turned out as I expected. Now it remains to be seen whether I'll do as well as I think i will. The good thing about being all Atheist and stuff is that the topic of science and religion comes up every time in the essay choices. To my surprise, I didn't take such an unfavourable stance toward poor 'ol religion this time.
If anyone is up there, I suggest you shower me with A grades for the rest of my papers, instead of lightning bolts. I'm getting good at dodging those.
Posted by Calvin at
12:01 am
