technology - good or bad?

dont worry, im not gonna practise my comparison and contrast essay here.
we were discussing the new communication techonologies that day in class, and a lot of the views/inputs from people were good ones. i mean, yeah of course technology has aided us mere humans in a huge tremendous way. for some of us, without the tiny little device called a handphone in our pockets 24/7, we will feel cut off from the world and at such a loss. of course then we have those who are online every second of the day just chatting with people.. CHATTING?!?! is there not any other better ways to do with your time? but ok! maybe they enjoy chatting with random people they hardly know and will never say hi to in life... then there are plenty of people around who has their blogs- online journals and such. and its a good idea i think. i have one.. okay counting this 2. but yes i have a personal one, and i use it to jot down my thoughts and feelings as i used to in a physical journal. but as my handwriting evolved and i started writing faster (for no apparant reason) my wrist started to hurt a lot. basically, typing is faster, easier to edit, and a nicer feel. (yeah i like punching these key pads. quite fun) so yes. technology is good. without it, it would take a million years to communicate with my friend in australia. without it, i would not be able to see my sister's pictures while she was in europe. with out it, i would not be able to see my cousin all the way in UK.

but not all forms of new technology is good now. they have what. um, some play online thing.. and people (like my elder sister and SOME CLASSMATES) are so hooked on to it!! its like a form of addiction where every night they have to log on and play (bridge!!! and others..) and once they start. they'll say "ok ill play one game" and that ONE game will ALWAYS almost DEFNITELY evolve into 5 6 games that lasts til about 3am in the wee hours.

i have no idea what form of benefit this games online thing has, but i'm sure entertainment is one.. but the same entertainment night after night that does not develop your brain in any way whatsoever. ok fine, maybe it helps you strategize a bit better, but i'm pretty sure the cons of it taking away your eyesight and dulling your sense due to lack of sleep is way more than that bit of improved strategization. (is there such a word?)

PLUS! all these xbox and ps.. i always wished i had one. its TOTALLY MAJOR fun. but ill never let my kids grow up with one.. thats a whole different story. kids these days learn so much rubbish from these games, they pick up violence as easily as i learnt to burp. and they use 4 letter words in almost every sentence! (ok exaggeration here...... but i was shocked when a kid friend of mine (p1) was already spewing out the F-word behind his parents back..) i'm certain i only heard of that in like. um. secondary school? im so innocent. but yes. technology these days are really helpful and good, they help in our communication form and allow us a more efficient way. but what does techonlogy itself communicate with us? they tell us that we are a lazy, inefficient, unintelligent spieces without them. and hey, what can i say. they are right. if we dont be careful, one day us humans will all be triple chin and double elbows. and we'd probably need technology to help us get around as well. HAHA.

ps. i have NOTHING against technology. i actually like it. ((: i just think its amusing how we're so dependent on it.

BAO JiA WEI GUO (PASSION AND HONOUR)

passion and honour is a ch 8 series. it was the 9pm show not sure when.. but recently repeated again bout 12 midnight.. so i remember it quite vividly.

as lecture was going on about mass media and someone mentioned propaganda and such. i remembered while i was watching the show that it was like MAJOR message from the government. (GOOD msg. not bad msg.. ahhaha)

but yes. a lil overview of the show.

its about a family with one dad. hes like some sir in the army.. and he has 3 sons and a daughter. so all the boys go through army. one is a commando still. and basically the whole show is about them.. their various friends, love interest and job. the aunty also works in the army and one of the sons future girlfriend also in the army. so yes. the whole wide worlds in the army.....

throughout the show there would be episodes where they will launch into explanations of why the army does various things and what they do and such. eg. there was once one of the sons went running with his friends. and they were saying how good his timing is then still train with them. so his friends were thanking him. and he suddenly launched into an explanation of how we should keep fit for ippt and how you can earn money through getting gold or whatever and why the army has ippt for their soldiers blah blah.

also there were several parts where they introduce the weapons and tanks super randomly. it was like showing the dad's job and what he does. but it was so weirdly random.

i thought it was a good way to create awareness of what the saf does and how it helps build men out of boys.. but it was a too overwhelming i think. it lead my family and i to think that the saf were a bit too desperate to promote their things.. it didnt fit that well into the show part and it was so scripted and openhouse type when those episodes arose. maybe its only a good idea to use subtle mass media when its really subtle. like plant a little seed first instead of full blown advertising.. kinda turns people off i think. 

did any of you guys watch?? comment please, how you felt watching the show.. did you realize it was major saf promoting.. (im sure you did) it was with tay ping hui, bryan wong, nathaniel ho, felicia chin, dawn yeo..

Interpersonal relation in circle trilogy (book)

jx lent me all 3 books in the stated trilogy, and it was major cool mann! last book kinda spoilt the excitement abit by rushing through the winning of the war. but thats another story for another day.

Morrigan's Cross (September 2006)
Dance of the Gods (October 2006)
Valley of Silence (November 2006)

the author (nora roberts) stated in her site that relationship has always been a key role in her books, hence i wanna touch on the various interpersonal relationships that develop throughout the 3 stories:

Hoyt (ancient sorcerer) and Glenna (modern witch)

Cian (good vampire) and Moira (queen-to-be in another world)

Larkin (shap-shifter, prince of another world) and Blair (warrior)

Lilith (queen evil vampire) and Lora (french evil vampire) (( yup! lesbians!!!! ok no, vampires are bisexual. HURH)

basically im gonna touch on the stages of interpersonal relationship.. funnily all the relationships here (except the lesbian couple, has practically all the stages present.)

stage 1: initiating

first time hoyt and glenna met was actually in a dream/reality crap. so quite a bit of screening and filtering here, blocking each other out from their minds so on so forth. magic stuff. they were very cautious around each other cause of their different centuries existence. (they met physically finally in the 21st century)

cian is hoyts twin brother who accidentally became a vampire. but a good, with a bad attitude, one.

moira hated cian the moment she knew what he was - her mother was killed by a vampire.

there was a huge load of pretense and hiding from real feelings as she tried to not show her hatred.

he in turn didnt care about the first encounters although rather attracted to this plain looking girl. (not his typical type)

larkin and blair only met later in the trilogy, and the first part of their development centered around fighting with each other (fun and practise).. not much real feelings or backgrounds. (initiation moment)

lesbian couple didnt really go into the initiation stage...

stage 2: experimenting

hoyt and glenna had a tremendous load of cultural and social differences to talk about - different centuries and countries.. glenna - NYC, hoyt - ireland.

experimenting stage lasted almost throughout their blossoming relationship as he constantly learnt about her and technology, and she learnt about his family and background.

cian and moira had not much small talk.. cian doesnt do talk. haha. but yes, experimenting.. mostly in their own minds, thinking of each other, but wishing they werent. major denial actually

larkin and blair had quite a few small talk during their fights.. where they realize their attraction for each other. slowly larkin began to find out blairs feelings towards guys in general due to previous rejection. (she's a demon hunter and people of our world and time generally dont believe in vampires)

stage 3: intensifying

all 4 couples had physical moments with kissing and whatever nots, admitting their feelings to each other and to themselves, coming to terms with the commitments. blah blah blah.

stage 4: integrating

the first 3 couples are part of the circle of 6. theyre formed to fight againts the vampires who aim to take over the world.. sounds damn lame, but its nice to read. so anyways, yup. so this part was very very shown in the books.

as the 3 different relationships developed in different parts, hoyt and glenna first, larkin and blair 2nd, cian and moira last, the group had to balance and shift in terms of relationship standings, acknowledgement, and identity. the network that was once of strangers and family members now had to change and become one that had interpersonal relationships. was really a web of a mess actually. but they did quite a good job integrating couples in.

even vampire pair had to have this stage as the rest of the vampire clan had to bow down to lilith as queen, and in turn lora as princes.. 2nd in command due to her closeness and relationship with lilith despite both of them having their own little lovers on the side. the clan looked upon them as a couple and the circle of 6 knew that hurting one would hurt the other just as much.

stage 5: bonding

to cut the long story short, they all got married sooner or later.

in the epilogue, they all had kids as well.

even lilith and lora had a little demon child they shared.

stage 6: differentiating

there were some conflict with larkin as blair, as they fought over whether to burn the homes of larkins people down to not allow vampires to take over them.. 

the others were quite slight disagreements, but plenty of reaffirmation of their love. plenty of communication going on throughout the story within all relationships respectively. cian and moira however found it hard to express theirs as cian doesnt really connect very well with his feelings.

since these stories are happily ever after stories....

the vampire couple died before they could reach stage 7 and 8.. actually theyve been living for several centuries.. so i doubt they ever reached that.

all the other couples didnt reach that either! except cian and moira. cian returned to his own safe world and didnt want to risk things and shrinked from his relationship with moira til towards the very end of the last book.

happily ever after still, none of them died, all of them lived in everlasting love. stage 8, 9, ad 10 are non-existence.

thats all for todays post! haha. most lilkely not have any comments due to not many people reading the book.

cept jx of course.

but hey! post anything you feel like. cheers.

a lil behind time...

im a gonna go back a lil in our past lessons.. firstly because i cant really follow lesson by lesson what we're studying. im just gonna put in whatever strikes me or i feel like talking about.

Todays topic is Perception.

actually. thats general....

This post is not gonna have any video..adverts.. movies, or any media of those sort.

this is just gonna be an open discussion. so people, please feel free to voice your opinions and thoughts.

what id really like to talk about is prototypes and scripts.

for others who are not in comms... let me do a lil overview. 

for those who dont have time to read my looooong verbal diarrhoea , please share about YOUR own prototypes, and how you sometimes label people. (ps, jump to the 2nd last paragraph or so...)

basically, human communication is based on perception. a huge bulk of it anyways.

perception has several factors.. but the basic process of it is SELECTING information.. ORGANIZING them, then interpreting.. which results in whatever reaction we have as the communication part.

now narrowing down, ORGANIZATION of the info we have has many different parts as well. (isnt  it amazing how we go through all these million steps without even KNOWING?!?! and totally non time consuming whatsoever.. or so it seems.) so yes. there's the cognitive side  (brain matters), the principles of organizing.. and the structure of it.

going on to the cognitive schemata, its split into 4 sections - personal constructs, prototypes, scripts, and punctuation. blah blah blah. sounds pretty confusing and messy. but yeah, can you imagine we have to LEARN it. sucks. i like communicating.. without knowing the behind the scenes.

so anyways, a lil digression there, zooming down to prototypes and scripts. why these 2? embarrassing honesty is that i woke up from my trance during these 2 points. probably because i can relate to it, and i was thinking of my own scripts and prototypes i have in my head of people and situations. so yes.. after that i went back to my out of world state. (apologies to my instructor here, im sure you try hard to make things interesting)

so yes a little on what both points are, prototype is the way we kinda create a representation of various categories.

usually created through experience, and it differ from every individual

 eg, when we see someone with maybe a tattoo, we label him a gangster

or maybe to us, long sleeves and pants are considered formal though to others 3 piece = formal

something like that, script is when we have a sorta SOP (standard operating procedure) on what should happen in a situation. Eg. when you go on a date these are the steps to take. 1. do your hair 2. choose your clothes.. whatever.

so yeah. personally, i got plenty of prototypes in my head. like 1, people from st. nicholas secondary are generally bitches until i get to know them. horrible i know. i guess its imprinted in most ijians heads. well, ijtp anyways. so yeah. please dont take it personally or take any offense to it. i have plenty of st nicks friends around! well. 2 plus plus. haha. 

another is how guys my age.. are generally childish/morons. yes of course there are the few exceptions who are normal and level headed.. especially those out of army. but hey! its just a prototype. haha. (no worries, i think the guys in my class are fairly normal. FAIRLY.)

and everytime i see a butch/bung (whatever. girls who dress like guys and think they're guys.) i think that they try too damn hard to be cool. they act like they own the world and that they should be feared/admired. i dont know mann, its just a vibe i get. the aura they project.... hahaha. funnily, i dont get along with majority of them, cept for selected few..

and then we have people from dragonboating/canoeing. with their tan buffed bodies (bothe guys and girls) they walk like everyone should bow down to them! its just the swagger in them when theyre in a group with their num singlets and fbts (omg even the guys.) and holding oars. " look at me, im tanned, i can do pull-ups, and i can row a boat." well done, they all deserve a pat on the back. (:  haha. okayy dragon boaters and canoers.. please dont come after me though id welcome a debate. i was in dragon boat too for a while. and i loved the sun, sea, salt, training, rowing. in fact if i could, if i had time, if it was possible to train in sea during weekdays instead, i would love to be rowing again. so yes. its just a sort of across the board thinking/visualization of various people as i see them around or know them.

other smaller things are like.. when i see the sun blazing hot. yknow when you can REALLY feel it burning up your skin. yeah thats like major tan day please. id wish i was at a beach. or training. (bball)

for me formal is anything in a skirt/dress. HAHA. well, sort of la, though i know skirts are not formal. business formal is pants. def pants suit. a skirt is so not business to me.

for guys, formal is anything thats long sleeves and pants. 3 piece is for weddings/easter (maybe not for this generation..) coats are for guys who can pull it off. and not those who try to be cool with their blazers. pleaseee... dont try.

i think i've rambled for quite long. so i shall cut out scripts. thats all for today!!

please share what some of your own prototypes are.. or even if its the same as mine! (:

i know, one of nicolette's is that girls from all-girl-schools are typically bitches. HHAHAHAA. i disagreed obviously. but tab agreed though shes from crescents. hmmm. share your views please!

Everything- lifehouse

okok, firstly, i know i promised the ms eileen show, but im really up to my neck in econs studying, comms project, esl essay, tuition, and church. so let me just share this video i stumbled upon some time ago. its on my personal blog, but thought id share it with you guys. its basically a silent act together with the song 'everything' by lifehouse. one of their best songs i must say, one of the best bands as well. their songs are full of meaning and thought-invoking lyrics. i love it, it says so much about life, love, and faith. more after the vid, enjoy.

i'd just like to comment on the way they could dramatize sin and love so well. sin destroying and not letting go even though you're fighting for ground.. love from JC with just a simple turn and dance. its just almost indescribable and touching. without words at all. ok fine, the song lyrics.. but yknow. the facial expression.. the body movements. sin being obstacles blocking our way.

i watched this a million times alr, and it touches me every single time.

what do you guys think of it?

THIS IS SPARTAN!!!!

i just love that line. Its 3 words that power a whole pack of meaning.

(sounds like 'i love you' huh! haha) but seriously. 

For all of you who haven't heard of this line before  (MAN! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!??!)  its from the movie 300.

The show is about how the tribes fought against each other, the persians wanting to take spartans as their slaves and the king of spartan launching an attack against them despite the 'Gods' ' warnings against it. He only brought an army of 300 as he didn't want men without sons to die. It is a story of courage, bravery, culture, and deceive. 

So anyways, I just watched the show on HBO recently, so I decided to write about it.

Firstly, the show uses music a lot through out, which is the best aid in a show that could bring out emotions and feelings in the audience. Every time they go to war, the music is fast, strong, and powerful. It made me almost want to jump off my couch and help them kill some persians. seriously.

so yes. since we're suppose to talk about the different things we've learnt.. i shall not talk bout EVERY communication aspects of this show.. that'd take forever. I shall touch on how the movie uses our perceptions to create images that they know will affect our emotions.

firstly, in the beginning of the show, they showed how boys are trained to be warriors from young. They dressed the boys in simple white loin cloth and thats all. all of them are bald and skinny. it uses our perception process of selection. It uses the quality contrast. The simple costume of the boy in contrary to the grand robes and capes of the men and women stuck in me a feeling that he is being bullied, forced to learn, and forced to be thrown into danger. It shows us that a Spartan boy has no choice to his legacy. No choice to his future. In fact, everything is written out for him in his life, he is a warrior, and that is all.

As the boy fought with a wolf, the intensity in his eyes and the drama build up of the music made me feel his courage. I could see it in his being and in the power of the whole scene, I thought that it was a good play of music and darkness and that the boy acting brought out the intensity very well.

The women in Spartan were all dressed in robes that were very 'of that culture'. It fits in with my prototype of what ladies of that era and area used to wear. Rome, greece, persia.. that whole area. It fit in perfectly and showed how feminine yet fearless they were. Especially the queen. The council were are dressed in God-like robes that made them of a higher degree then the people of Spartan. They were considered the elders and were looked upon as the advisors and closest to the Gods. The way they dressed, and their faces and hair (mostly white and wavy) were a good combination that allowed my mind to perceive them as people on a higher order before they mentioned it.

The men of Spartan were dressed in mere leather underwear and a red cape. with their shield, spear, and helmet, it showed a sort of royalty and warrior like strength in them. It made me link them up with roman soldiers which are also known for their bravery. so yeah! The way they used design and costume to fit in with my prototype perception was really good! They did a good job of contrast with the Spartan warriors and the Persian warriors. Though the Persians seemed to have more armour, they looked weird and freaky with silver plates and an ugly silver mask. Compared to the Spartans, they looked quite silly to me, so it seems like the Spartans have a whole lot more strength and courage though they were out numbered like 1 to 1000. 

Well, i think there are a lot more to say.. but i'm kinda tired. so yup! please drop by and leave some comments of maybe MORE forms of communications from 300 or more perception points of it. i think you can watch it on you-tube.. or parts of it anyways.

ps. i liked the show! " THIS IS SPARTAAAAANNN!!!!"

Quit gambling advert

well, this advert was up quite a while ago.. okay its not an advert.. more like a..warning?  promotion.

I'm not to sure, but i brought it up cause its quite a good example of Mass Media communication AND non verbal communication. 

Its the one where the father ( who looks like Mark Lee!) is speaking seriously about one last chance and that he will return it all. And what do you know! He's talking to his little girl of maybe 4 years old about borrowing MONEY from her..  i cant find it on youtube, hope you know which one I'm talking about!

Anyways firstly, the way it started was good.

no music, nothing. just the man's voice. slow and SERIOUS.

so everyone knows immediately that its important, catches their attention.

The words used are a bit ambiguous, holding on to the viewers as they try to guess what he's talking about.

Then the little girl appears saying absolutely NOTHING.

Just holding her tiny piggy bank, with a look of uncertainty in her eyes.

I thought the whole non verbal effect from her was good! although her acting may not be top-notch per say.

But it manage to bring about the point of the 'advert', showing the cost of a gambling addiction and how it can cost your loved ones as well.

In the Mass Communication side, it used media to reach out to everyone.

and I really mean EVERYONE. except for people who maybe drive everywhere and make it a point NOT to look at television screens... the 'advert is up on ch 5, ch 8, tv mobile, and even the screen at mrt stations.

I thought it was a good idea to plant the seed of anti gambling into people's minds now, before the IR open.

so yup! Good use of Mass Communication, of media, and in that, of non verbal communication.

maybe though, just maybe, they can do more than that.

i mean, considering not having the IR now, and there ARE already people addicted to gambling, and going down to Genting and other casinos or jack pot machines to ding ding ding their savings away....

once IR is up, its going to be PRETTY hard to stop these people from entering our own country's casino!

so yeah. I think its a really bad habit, even if its a one off or now and then thing. Well, if you have the need or sudden urge to spend a huge amount of money... you can spend it on ME! (: at least it would benefit someone you know (ie me) instead of people you dont know.. (ie. casino companies..)