Episode 69: Combined Service

Attending Westwood Church is like seeing what COGS could be like in a few years. Today's service was held at Westwood School, with the various congregations coming together for combined worship. It's nice to see how a service can be adapted to engage the entire church, from young to old. (Clips from Evan Almighty were interspersed with the message.) That's something that I feel COGS should look into, appealing to different age groups. Wanted to go to Coventry after the service, but nobody seemed to be free, so I'm going on Wednesday instead, to buy stuff for people back home. Am now trying to finish up some of the junk food I've managed to accumulate in my room, since I really don't think it's wise to leave it lying around for a month while I'm gone. I'm also trying to get started on the weekly Chaucer translation. It's the final one! After this, it'll just be anything I choose to practice on my own, the actual tests in Spring and Summer Terms, and the examination in Summer Term. Can't wait to be rid of Middle English! Have zero motivation to start on the Gawain essay, even though I managed to get enough useful books from the Library. Am going to shop for people's Christmas presents on Amazon UK instead! Haha...

Episode 68: PROJECT: slingSHORT 08/2

Went down to London to catch the second instalment of this year's PROJECT: slingSHORT. These were the Singaporean short films screened:

4 Days 3 Nights by Ming
Zo Hee by Jacen Tan
Wet Season by Michael Tay
Embryo by Loo Zihan
Duck by Rae Lyn Lee
Haze by Anthony Chen
Overhead Clouds by Yeo Lee Nah
Love Through The Ages by Wendy Chee
Unarmed Combat by Han Yew Kwang
Nation Builders by Martyn See

Aside from some technical issues, which were due to the need to switch back and forth between several DVDs, the screening was great. I'd seen Wet Season before, at a screening in Sinema Old School, and it was still as bittersweetly poignant as the last time. Other films I especially enjoyed were Embryo, Overhead Clouds and Nation Builders. Embryo was experimental, but not to the point where it alienated the audience, and you could definitely see a sort of narrative in it, even if it wasn't fleshed out in its entirety. The scene in which the girl was sucking on the plant was undeniably sexual, but the sequence that stood out for me was when she collected the eggs and then dyed them red, a subtle reference to pregnancy. I really enjoyed Overhead Clouds because it was just so whimsical! That animated cloud was too cute for words. As for Nation Builders, it made me uncomfortable, but that was because it made me question the 'official' picture of Singapore that's always painted for us. I found it interesting that the locations filmed seem to be concentrated around the 'older' areas of Singapore, which is perhaps why the full extent of the problem doesn't occur to people like me. The juxtaposition of the final shot was sheer brilliance by the way. The paternal figure on a poster, set beside one of the citizens who've slipped through the cracks that he claims to have kept them from. Not the kind of film you'll be seeing in any genuinely public space in Singapore in the near future.

I actually bumped into a lot of MOE people at Charlotte Street Hotel, which was quite a surprise. The Londoners were so surprised that people like me and Andrea would travel down to London just for the screening. Bella, Michelle and I were in McDonald's after the screening, where I found that McDonald's here sells chicken strips! I was so happy that I ordered a meal. Bella and I ended up missing our coach back to Coventry though, so we had to buy tickets for another one. I spent half of the journey listening to my iPod, but the battery died, so I switched to reading Frederick Crews The Pooh Perplex: A Freshman Casebook. Finished most of it, so I went to the Library to get through the last few pages and pick up some books on Sir Gawain And The Green Knight. Crews's book is a hilarious satirising of literary criticism, and there's a companion volume called Postmodern Pooh, which covers more recent developments in the field. The freaky part is that some of the stuff that's written about A. A. Milne's books sound entirely plausible! In fact, it's the kind of stuff that I might write in an essay, assuming I were doing one on Winnie-the-Pooh, of course. Now I feel like I've been missing out on so much by not having read either of Milne's books. Haha...

Episode 67: A Disgruntled Library User

I'm starting to concur with Adam's opinion of the university's library. I could only find one potentially useful book on Sir Gawain And The Green Knight, which is just appalling. The Library really needs to look into stocking more copies of books that are obviously going to be in high demand! Now I'm starting to worry about how I'm going to research my EN122 assessed essay. As it is, I can't even decide on a question, as I don't particularly care for any of them. I'm currently vacillating between the one on Shklovsky's 'defamiliarisation' and the one on Ginsberg's 'Howl', but examining the social aspect this time. The former is interesting, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to analyse MacInnes's Absolute Beginners sufficiently well, since it's the most obvious choice of text for comparison with 'Howl'. The latter would be a no-brainer, except I'm not sure if I'll be able to do much research in Singapore. Trying to research Ginsberg is hard enough over here! I guess the problem is that I tend shy away from questions that involve what I don't see as particularly literary inquiries, at least not in the conventional sense of critical analysis. After hearing the lecture on Raymond Williams, you would think that I'd have changed my mind and become all fired up about juggling literary, historical and social interpretations at the same time, but no, I think that's just too much work. In a nutshell, I hate reading theoretical texts, which unfortunately, constitute the bulk of the reading list for EN122. Sigh...

Episode 66: Good Results!

Got back several pieces of work today, all with decent results. My French homework came back with good comments again, which doesn't surprise me that much anymore, since my written French, with the aid of a solid dictionary, is leaps and bounds ahead of my spoken French. My accent, however, is still rather good, I must say. The EN123 essay on Eliot was another First, against all my expectations. My EN121 commentary was a Second Upper, which was a little disappointing, but going by Sue Niebrzydowski's comments, it's more an issue of needing to push further than anything wrong with what I'd actually written. Hopefully, I'll be able to repeat the First feat with the essay due on the last day of term! That would certainly be nice, although given that I haven't read any of the texts that I could be writing on, it might prove somewhat tricky. Have more or less decided on doing a question on Sir Gawain And The Green Knight, so I'll be reading that on the coach to London and back. I've even picked out the question and done some preliminary research, but we'll see, I might change my mind about the question. Don't feel particularly stressed about this essay because EN121 is a wholly examined module, and all these assignments are just for practice anyway. Still, I like to do the best that I can!

Our second rehearsal was even more fun than the first! I'm glad that the cast seems quite open to the idea of experimentation and just talking about issues. Well, I was a bit distracted at some points because I was cracking my head over my essay, for which I managed to crank out an interesting bit of close reading while in rehearsal. It's the kind of stuff that makes me go, damn, I'm good, but also makes me wonder, is this really the sort of stuff that I should be writing? I have self-doubt issues sometimes. I'm giving myself till around 2 am with this essay, and after that I'm going to sleep, regardless of whether it's done or not. Will finish it up in the morning, since there's no EN121 seminar tomorrow, which is a blessing in disguise. Had thought I'd have to miss part of rehearsal to attend the replacement seminar in the evening, but it turned out there was one right after our EN123 seminar, for which I obviously hadn't read Henry Green's Living. (I'm such a disgraceful student lately!) So attended that instead, and now I'm doing the usual things, procrastinating and not actually writing much of the essay that's due in about half a day's time. Good job...

Episode 65: First Official Rehearsal

Woke up later than usual, but still got to George's seminar around the same time that I normally do, which seems to suggest that perhaps I actually need less time to get prepared in the morning than I currently allocate for myself. Hadn't managed to print out my written work for today, which is just as well, since after hearing everyone else who read, I'd have been really embarrassed to read mine aloud. I did volunteer to read a piece of writing towards the end, which was a rather interesting piece of scientific writing, if I might say so. Have yet to decide what area of science I'm going to research and write on, since it's difficult to find something that I know nothing about, precisely because it lies outside of my awareness, but also because I happen to know a fair bit about quite a few areas of science that would perplex the average person. Not bragging or anything, it's just the way it is. I mean, there was a point in the past where I seriously considered doing 'A' Level Chemistry, and my first piece of researched work in Primary 4 was on black holes, so you can't blame me for being a bit of a science geek. Shall have to give it some thought once I'm done with my 'Howl' essay.

We also had our first official rehearsal today for The Culture Project, which saw us changing venues several times because we hadn't actually booked a room, through no fault of our own. It was pretty fun, watching the actors interacting. The last thing they did was perform a sketch, portraying a Facebook profile. I thought that was really clever, the way they managed it, especially since towards the end, they were apparently improvising on the fly. I'm glad everyone's getting excited about the play, and I'm starting to have ideas of what the narrative of the play will be, but I probably won't hammer out anything concrete until December. That's because I am now trying to write my essay! Have managed to sort out the introduction, but I don't think I'll get much done by tonight, since my best work seems to be produced only under conditions of great pressure. Then I promise myself not to do it that way the next time, but invariably do. What I need is to fail an assignment and then maybe I'll learn my lesson.

Episode 64: French Society Christmas Dinner

Today was the first time in a long while that I went into a seminar having done the required reading. Or half of it anyway. I thought I'd be bored by the F. R. Leavis reading, but actually it was interesting in its own way once I got started. I do wish though, just sometimes, that I were reading stuff that I actually wanted to read and study. Went back to Le Bistrot Pierre again with the French Society for their soirée gastronomique, which set me back by about £25, including transport and tipping. It was worth it though! I had braised pork belly, which was an interesting experience. I don't think I've ever voluntarily ingested so much fatty meat before. Didn't really talk much to the other people, beyond the usual polite chitchat. The problem's mine, not theirs. Makes me wonder how I actually made any of my friends for the past 21 years! Anyway, we had to wait ages for the bus back to campus though, more than an hour in fact. Standing in the cold wasn't much fun, I can assure you. I had hoped to get started on reworking my introduction for the essay due on Friday, since a good deal of Wednesday and Thursday will be spent in rehearsals for The Culture Project, but between the time of night and feeling nauseous after a swaying bus ride, it seemed much more sensible to just fall asleep, which is exactly what I'm going to do right now...

Episode 63: Merlin

While I was chatting with Alex before the EN123 lecture earlier, he reminded me that we have to finish incorporating our interview into a story for this week's seminar. I haven't written it! So now I'm watching yet another episode of Merlin, while blogging and trying to come up with an idea for the story. I'm thinking of framing the interview as the thoughts of a person suffering from dissociative identity disorder, which definitely gives it that weirdness that George Ttoouli was asking us to find. Now I just need to write two pages before going to bed, as well as rewriting the introduction for my EN122 essay. At least I finished my Chaucer translation this afternoon, or else I'd be really stressed right now. Anyway, I've been watching episodes of Merlin since I woke up. I discovered the series quite by accident, while looking for episodes of other shows that I watch. It's quite interesting because it takes the Arthurian legends and rewrites them afresh, e.g. the primary sexual tension appears to be between Arthur and Morgana, who is not portrayed as antagonistic to the court of Camelot, and incidentally, has Guinevere for a maidservant. Merlin, for that matter, is but a young warlock, just coming into his power. Did I mention he's also Arthur's manservant? It'll be interesting to see how the series plays out, but it has to get renewed first! British television shows always have less episodes than American ones, which is a case of quality over quantity, I guess, but not very satisfying for fans like myself. Oh well. It's back to the writing for me...

Episode 62: Singapore Society Christmas Dinner

Got started on my Chaucer translation, but didn't manage to finish before it was time to go for carolling. I cooked lunch again today, and I was appalled to discover that someone had taken my salt and pepper, right out of the plastic bag in which I keep it in my cupboard. Someone used my large pot too, and didn't even put it back. So I promptly hunted down both salt and pepper, brought everything that didn't have to be in the cupboard back to my room, and made sure there was no way anyone could pretend that they didn't know all my stuff belonged to me by putting my pasta and sauces into the pot. If anyone touches it between now and the next time I cook, I'm going to leave a caustic note on the inside of the cupboard. Carolling went okay, although I suddenly had to sing solo for 'Silent Night' because Rahul was sick. That turned out relatively okay, according to feedback. Caught a bus to Leamington Spa with the other Singaporeans, where we had a Christmas dinner at The Benjamin Satchwell. The food was okay, though it took really long to be served! Less impressive was my vodka lemonade, which didn't really taste much of vodka at all. After much banter and camwhoring, it was finally time to head back out into the frigid night. Thankfully, the bus didn't take too long to arrive. I really, really need to find a pair of gloves soon. I just wish Tesco would stock the black leather ones I want...

Episode 61: Bath, Stonehenge & Lacock

Was in Bath the whole day with Claire Lim, Hui Lin, Shen Ting and Yong Long. Woke up at the most ungodly hour since I've been here because we had to catch an early train to Bath. Must really do something about getting the Railcard when I get back next term, as thinking about it, I spent way too much today, and about half of the money was just on getting to Bath and back. Bath is extremely picturesque! We joined a free walking tour for a while, but soon wandered off by ourselves. We thought of going into the Roman Baths, but entry cost a fair bit. We did go into Bath Abbey though, since that was free. It's not quite as grand as Westminster Abbey, in my opinion, but at least it was free! I like stained glass windows. If I were to become incredibly rich someday, I would fit my house with stained glass windows. Anyway, we had Cornish pasties for lunch, which I liked very much. They were supposed to be quite famous, but I can't remember the name of the place now. I bought some Christmas presents at the abbey's shop, but still have a lot more to go.

Yong Long had booked us on a tour of Stonehenge, so after we took some pictures in the freezing cold, we managed to get ourselves found by the tour guide, who was really friendly. We had about an hour at Stonehenge, where I bought a set of photographic prints, simply because they were the kind of pictures I would never have the opportunity to take, never mind my actual photography skills. I must confess to being somewhat underwhelmed by my first sight of Stonehenge. I'd somehow expected it to be grander in scale. Well, not that it isn't inspiring, but being kept away by ropes, following the prescribed paths while listening to the audio commentary, it detracted a little from the whole experience. I wrote a little poem about it actually, while on the train back to Coventry. I get how if everyone were allowed to go right up to the stones themselves, Stonehenge would probably be gone in a few decades. Still, I wish we were. I admit, I'd probably have chipped a bit of stone for myself, if only I'd been given the chance!

From Stonehenge, we went to Lacock, where scenes from the Harry Potter series, Pride And Prejudice, The Other Boleyn Girl, and an upcoming film, The Wolfman, were filmed. According to the tour guide, film companies pay handsomely, even just to film the exterior of a house. Apparently, everyone in the village received £200 when they filmed a Harry Potter movie there. Lacock is an interesting village, as it is owned almost in its entirety by the National Trust, which in turn rents out properties to the residents there. A rather unusual arrangement, but it allows the village to escape the sort of tacky transformation that other rustic villages tend to experience as the tourists start flocking to them. Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, has a house in Lacock, and her daughter was recently married at the church, so there's an album of photographs in there, featuring various royal personages. Not too shabby, for a little village in Wiltshire! Even Singapore probably can't boast of that, surely? (Does Gong Li becoming a Singaporean citizen count?)

It was dark by then, so we headed back to Bath. After a lot of dithering over where to have dinner, we settled on Wagamama. I had a really nice meal, sort of like laksa, but not as rich. It was good, but the real thing back home still tastes better. Am starting to be excited about getting home and having local food again! In any case, Wagamama was nice, and I would like to try more food from that place again someday. (I always say that about places, but it never happens, at least not as often as I would like.) On the way back, I managed to read more of Simon Armitage's poetry, so I've finished three so far: Kid, Book Of Matches, and The Dead Sea Poems. Will return them on Monday and borrow some other stuff, including that book on 'Howl'. That wasn't the end of the night though, as we had Claire's birthday to celebrate. So trudged through the cold with Shen Ting to Arthur Vick 1. Rather apt, I think, to begin and end the day by trudging in the cold. One can only hope the weather becomes a bit milder for the remainder of the term, unlikely as that might be.

Episode 60: Haircut

Got my haircut! Haven't tried styling my hair yet, so I can't tell if the way the barber cut it, which was certainly different from how I get it cut back home, has made it easier to style. He said that with this haircut I could style it using gel or wax, so here's hoping he's right. Wound up not eating a proper meal all day, so I'm pigging out on junk food. I had intended to cook pasta after I got back from auditions, but I got lazy, so I ended up watching TV on my laptop again instead and snacking on Doritos. I've decided to go for the French Society's Christmas dinner because I figure it's not something that comes along everyday, and I can afford to scrimp some other time. Am going to Bath tomorrow, so am hoping to get some reading done on the train ride there and back. Can't quite decide what to read though. I might read Sir Gawain And The Green Knight to prepare for my EN121 essay, or I could read Henry Green's Living to prepare for next week's EN123 lecture and seminar. What I really want to read though, is stuff from the past few weeks that I never actually read. Stuff like Colin MacInnes's Absolute Beginners and Virginia Woolf's To The Lighthouse. Especially the latter, as everyone in my seminar group seemed to hate it, but from what I've glimpsed of the novel, I don't quite hate it in the same way. In fact, it occurred to me during the seminar discussion that perhaps writing like Woolf's was an essential step that had to be taken in order for novels like House Of Leaves to be written. So yeah, can't make up my mind...