Marc Ong 2i218: February 2010

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Posted by smileyface on 4:24 PM

Term 1 Week 9 Online Lesson

Linguistic:

1. You have conducted an interview with one of the characters in TKAM. Write out the interview transcript, taking note to demonstrate the essence of the character and his/her point of view.

I have chosen to interview Miss Maudie Atkinson for this task.

Q: Miss Maudie, how do you feel about life in Maycombe?

A: Well, its not that bad as long as I still have my garden. Taking care of my plants helps me to pass time, since I don’t have anything else to do.

Q: Didn’t your house burn down not too long ago? How can you still be so optimistic?

A: It all depends on how you look at it. Besides, I never liked my house, and the increased garden space is certainly welcome.

Q: What do you think of Atticus Finch?

A: He’s certainly a staunch supporter of civil rights. I respect him, because he is the same in public as he is at home. Most people lead “double lives” by treating everyone differently. Not Atticus. He treats everyone politely and with respect. He also stands by his beliefs.

Q: What about his children, Scout and Jem?

A: They’re delightful children, and I give them free reign of my yard. However, I’m worried about how the stress put on them by other people affected them, when Atticus was defending Tom Robinson.

Q: What are your views on the Tom Robinson case?

A: I didn’t go the trial myself, but Atticus told me how it ended. Jem sees it as injustice and cannot accept that some people are evil, but I guess the result was kind of expected. Atticus gave it his best and I’m sure that if there was any way he could have won it, he would have.

Q: How do you believe black people should be in your society?

A: Well, I think it’s unfair that black people should be forced to be the slaves of white people. Even worse is the attitude of people toward the trial. To them, they know that Tom Robinson cannot possibly win, and just go there thinking of the trial as entertainment.

Intrapersonal:
a. Who would you want to be friends with in the novel? Explain.

I would probably want to be friends with Scout and Jem Finch. In the first part of the novel, they have fun with Dill with their fascination with Boo Radley. They’re also much simpler than other characters, as their beliefs are not yet clouded with society’s prejudices. They’re willing to trust that someone is good, and this is why Jem is so badly shaken after the Tom Robinson trial. Jem and Scout embody pure and innocent children at the start of the novel. Most other characters would not be trustworthy, as they are racist merely because of peer pressure and the anonymity of being in a mob. However, Atticus has raised his children not to retaliate against other people’s insults, and not turn racist like other people.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Posted by smileyface on 12:48 AM

CNY!

Yay, Hi everyone. I'm writing this after the long 4-and-a-half day weekend to celebrate Chinese New Year, so I'm still feeling some "monday blues". Still, at least the Lunar New Year still isn't officially over, so there may still be some gambling.

Overall, the weekend was pretty fun, with the standard visit-relative's-homes-and-smile-as-you-receive-money-then-gamble-at-night-with-your-family routine. The presence of homework during this festive time is certainly unwelcome, but thankfully the amount was reduced to manageable. An interesting observation this year is that hong baos are back to pre-recession values from last year, but for some reason they seem to have declined in quantity. Maybe it's because I didn't follow my father to his friends house like last year, but anyway, red packets are not the main point of chinese new year. Well, not really.

On a side note, Resort World Sentosa's casino opened on February 14, taking advantage of the Lunar New Year for business. This is interesting to me as we have just thought about whether or not opening casinos in Singapore is a wise decision in our Thinking Lessons. Having gambled with my family during Chinese New Year, I see no real harm done, however, one has to take into account that these are small family gatherings, with small stakes. Chinese New Year gambling is more for fun than to actually make money, so I can't really definitively say if the new casino if good or bad, having obviously never been there myself.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Posted by smileyface on 2:59 AM

Apple iPad announced!

Hey everyone, my next post is going to be on the apple iPad. It was announced on January 27, and is due to be released in March. Anyway, the main reason why I wanted to talk about it is because it just seems like such a weird product. Essentially a bigger iPhone or iPod Touch, Steve Jobs at the keynote described how it bridged the distance between two products- the smartphone and the laptop. Being a proud owner of an iPhone 3g, I feel I have to comment on this. The very idea just seems strange to me. With a 9.7 inch screen, it is obviously too big to be carried around in your pocket. Which leaves carrying it around with you (obviously awkward) or carrying one in your bag. This is definitely a con. If you wanted to bring it around with you in a bag, a laptop seems a more feasible option for a little added weight in exchange for better performance. Not only that, but laptops can be kept in bags because they have "flip" designs, so the laptop's screen will not be damaged when jostled around in a bag with other items. The same, however, cannot be said about the iPad with its "candy bar" design.

That is what I feel is the main problem with the iPad- it tries to combine the best of 2 products into one, but seems to end up combining the cons of each and leaving out the pros. Even the keyboard of the iPad is awkward. It is not quite a full-sized qwerty keyboard, and yet is definitely not a "thumbs only" keyboard like the iPhone. But enough about the iPad's form factor. Being the owner of an iPhone (as I said earlier), I can safely vouch for the iPad's software. The iPhone's OS and apps are all intuitive and responsive. The lack of multitasking is not such a bane when you use an iPhone. Somehow, it just feels right, despite what you may have read about the too-small keyboard and lack of any real buttons except for the home, lock and volume buttons.

That is what I am hoping Apple has achieved with the iPad. Having never actually held one, I still cannot honestly say if it is going to be a flop or not. So for now, I am cautiously optimistic about the iPad.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Posted by smileyface on 4:34 AM

Avatar vs Hurt Locker (Part 2)

Ok, so now on to The Hurt Locker. Firstly, if anyone is reading this post first because it is on top, please scroll down first for part 1.

The Avatar vs Hurt Locker Oscar battle is a classic David vs Goliath battle. Although both have been nominated for 9 Academy Awards, the similarity between them ends there. Avatar had a budget of $237 million dollars to produce and grossed $2.2 billion dollars. On the other hand, The Hurt Locker had a budget of $11 million dollars and grossed $16 million dollars. Adding further to the irony is the directors. James Cameron directed Avatar, while his ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow directed The Hurt Locker.

--SPOILER WARNING--

Avatar is a film about a disabled ex-marine who goes to the planet Pandora to research the Na'vi and eventually realises how the cruel corporations there harvesting an alternative energy source are destroying the Na'vi people. He then allies with the Na'vi, having occupied his "Avatar" as a full-grown Na'vi male, and drives the humans off the planet.

The Hurt Locker, on the other hand, is a film about a Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit in Iraq. It follows their daily lives as they defuse bombs throughout Baghdad. The film opens as Sergeant William James replaces the killed in action Sergeant Thompson as leader. The majority of the film follows the team defusing various bombs. Although this may seem pointless, this is actually to develop the character of James. In the film, James is established as a seemingly reckless leader who disregards protocol. The film is, without a doubt, the most tense and exciting movie I have ever seen and every mission that the team went on kept me on the edge of my seat. Near the end of the film, one of his team members is sent home after being injured by friendly fire as an indirect result of James' recklessness, and the other one has mentally broken down, realizing he can no longer handle the stresses of war. As James is shown returning to civilian life to his broken marriage after being rotated, he explains to his son how there is only one thing left in life that he loves. The film ends showing James having signed up for the military again and back in Iraq.

--END SPOILER WARNING--

I know that some of you are thinking that I am being one-sided, have summarised Avatar(almost 3 hours in length) in 2 sentences, while devoting a huge paragraph to the two hour plus Hurt Locker. The simply reason is that I feel that Avatar's plot has nothing worth elaborating on. The characters are generic, their interactions are generic, and the plot is quite frankly, for all its eye-candy, too predictable. In my opinion, the underdog deserves to win.

And that is what I feel about the Avatar vs Hurt Locker debate.

Posted by smileyface on 3:31 AM

The Hurt Locker vs. Avatar (Part 1)

Okay, hi everyone. My post today is going to be on the debate on which movie will win "Best Picture at the Academy Awards on March 7. Both movies have been nominated for Best Picture and I have seen both movies. An example of this debate would be:http://goldderby.latimes.com/awards_goldderby/2010/02/oscars-academy-award-nominations-avatar-the-hurt-locker-594182736-news-story-article.html

Firstly, I would like to talk about Avatar because it was the movie that I saw first. I did see Avatar in 3-d, but I have to say that that was not a good thing. The 3-d glasses were uncomfortable and kept slipping of my nose. Not only that, but they doubled as sunglasses, dimming the screen and making it hard to see most details in the movie. As a result, I spent half the movie with the glasses off, choosing to deal with a blurry screen instead. Now, on to the movie itself. Avatar definitely deserves to win Best Visual Effects at the Academy Awards. Despite my aforementioned difficulties with the 3-d part of the film, the visual effects still blew me away. The virtual universe that James Cameron has created is certainly breathtaking and intriguing. On the other hand, however, I feel that the plot was somewhat lacking. It was a bit on the cliche side, with the evil humans being ignorant of the tribal Na'vi who were right in the end. The movie also shows how humans love war and do not care about the Na'vi and the greedy corporations that want the alternative energy source on the planet. Yet another cliche in the movie is how the scientists, who understand the ways of the Na'vi, try to get the other humans to use a diplomatic approach, but instead get brushed aside. In the end, predictably, they turn out to be right after all.

Therefore, I feel that Avatar should win Best Visual Effects, but definitely not Best Picture. In my opinion, it would be a shame a film with such a cliche plot won.

My opinions on the Hurt Locker will be expressed in part 2 of this post. Part 3 will be written after the release of the results, and my thoughts on them.

Marc Ong 2i218