Have a break

Just to prove that I'm not a person who only gives mind-boggling GP essays and compre, here's some fun stuff to make the GP homework a little more bearable....

This grandpa is pretty cool:
http://images2.jokaroo.net/videos/grandpajapan.wmv

Look across the causeway to see the interesting pp our neighbour has in M'sian Idol:
http://www.geckoandee.com/idol/ymca.wmv
http://www.geckoandee.com/idol/MI_W4_Britney_Barbie_Sexy_Shorts.wmv
http://www.geckoandee.com/idol/mi_w3_phone.wmv

Nothing like a good spoof to brighten up your day (compiled by The Straits Times):
1. Broke Mac Mountain
www.mightymcpilgrim.com/films/brokemac/
This parody featuring computer geeks in place of cowboys will have you inhysterics.
2. Memoirs Of A Geisha
www.youtube.com/?v=_AQvqsZFgDY
Starring MadTV’s Bobby Lee as Zhang Ziyi’s alter ego, this pokes fun at themysterious geisha rituals.
3. The Shining Redux
www.ps260.com/molly/SHINING%20FINAL.mov
This transforms The Shining, the horror flick about a possessed caretaker, intoa family movie with Jack Nicholson as benevolent Dad.
4. Psycho: A Love Story
www.movietrailertrash.com/views/demos/psycho_hi.mov
This one turns the classic Hitchcock slasher into a romcom. Love blossomsbetween sophisticate Marion and motel owner Norman instead.
5. Titanic
www.ps260.com/elfollador/Scary%20Titanic.mov
A romance turned ghost movie, this shows Jack and Rose trapped on a ship wherepassengers die mysteriously.
6. Harry Potter And TheChamberpot Of Azerbaijan
www.youtube.com/?v=ix69kuZtN2c
While making-of documentaries feature actors waxing earnestly about theirroles, the “actors” in this spoof complain about the lack of screen time.
7. Star Wars In L33t Speak
www.youtube.com/?v=UyiI4RZVdM8
The Revenge Of The Sith trailer is given a revamp with subtitles in hilariousonline gaming speak.

Holidays are here again!

This is your first long break in JC, so take a well-deserved rest.

BUT, sorry folks, you still need to study for the exams so I'm giving you holiday homework to keep you in touch throughout the hols. Your H2 subjects are impt, so I don't expect you to spend too much time on GP. But about 2 hours a week may be necessary just to review and practise.

You need not follow the sequence that I'm giving you to complete the work, but I strongly discourage you from doing them all at once. Do regular work throughout the hols.

I'll be checking the HW after the hols, so make sure you do them. I'm putting up the questions again here so there's no excuse for not doing even if you have lost the hard copy:

Week 1 : Vocab exercises - Read pg 116 & 117 of your skills package and do pages 118-120
Answers for vocab

Week 2: Essay - Choose 1 question from the list that I've given you and email it to me (peh_hui_peng@yahoo.com.sg). I'll put up all the essays, with my comments, on this blog so you can learn from one another. Deadline: 17th June
Essay Questions

Week 3: Comprehension - You definitely need to do this! Some of you have forgotten how to do compre so it's time to revise.
Compre Questions
Compre Answers

Week 4: Grammar - Try to get your tenses 90% right for the coming essay. If your tenses are wrong, it may affect the meaning of whatever you are trying to say
Grammar Questions
Grammar Answers

Enjoy your holidays people! I'm not being sarcastic...really mean it :)

Fairytales Lecture Notes

Sorry, forgot that some of you didn't come for the fairytale lecture. Here are the notes:

Fairytales Lecture

Da Vinci Code

The movie's coming out in mid-May and most of you have probably read the book. We aren't doing religion now and I don't think I have time to discuss it in class so here are some thoughts.

I think Dan Brown is a good writer, so good that many people truly believe that he based his book on facts and real-life events. But he himself has stated that his work is fiction, and though the names are of real people and organisations, the events and ideas are made up. He exaggerated many conspiracy theories and spun a very exciting tale.

Dan Brown has twisted many foundation beliefs of the Christian faith, that is why it has been criticised so greatly. It's a great piece of writing but do use it to differentiate between fact and fiction. A good place to start may be http://www.syfc.org.sg/events/dvc/cinema.html

His work has received both bouquets and brickbats, but it has made many think about the Christian religion and what is the truth. Even the controversial group, the Opus Dei, has used Da Vinci Code to publicise and correct misconceptions about their group's practices (see Time Magazine for April 24).

It's interesting when you compare reactions to Da Vinci Code (or even Passion of the Christ) with the reactions to the Danish cartoons about Prophet Mohammed. Why are the reactions to a rather sacrilegious work like DVC so much more low key? Is it because people are so used to caricatures and defamations against Christianity/Catholicism? Are they less religious?

elections podcasts

Never did have time to pen down my musings about the elections but I think you've all heard enough during the lectures. Anyway, for those whom didn't get to listen to the podcasts that I showed during lecture/tutorial, you can hear it at http://www.mrbrown.com/blog/2006/05/browncast_the_p.html
It's a spoof of the James Gomez case (whom we know by now is being let off with a warning) and seemingly unreasonable demands of PAP and its Big Brother status. It's quite funny and has spiralled into a whole lot of other podcasts.
Amnesty International and Reporters without Borders were rather indignant that the govt banned political podcasts and claimed that it is encroaching on people's freedom of expression. Do you agree? Or do you think we need to monitor what's on the Internet to ensure fairness in elections?

News of the week - 1 May

Here's this week's news.

Blair is going to the polls! Wonder whether the Brits still like him...

News of the week - 1 May

project work - for 0620 only

for 0620 folks who've been dropping by here, i'm putting up the GPP template here as well because emails can be rather cranky

it's a little more detailed than the one you've been given, hopefully it helps you to be more focussed. the checklist is for you to make sure you don't leave out any important details. u can edit it to suit your group's specific needs.

there are 2 different templates, 1 for momentum, the other for tradition. use the relevant one.

* this is only for 0620. for my GP students, you can use it if you find it useful, but i think most of your teachers would want you to use the one that's up on litespeed

GPP template

lect notes for 1st 3 months

here are the notes for the 1st 3 months for those who were not around or have lost their notes. if you were not around, some of the notes may not make sense to you so you might want to look through and ask your friends or come to me for further clarification

World Today
Mass Media
Mass media study notes (this was done by Ms Cynthia. Very comprehensive set of notes for the media)
NGOs