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Sunday, May 28, 2006
A bit of reflections here that became slightly less "a bit" after a while. For anyone intertested: The movie resonates with a haunting relevance to our society despite its being completely fictional. Mutants – the aberrations of nature, of society – find themselves stuck in a quagmire of conflicts and dilemmas that each of them endeavours to reconcile in a search for their notions of the self and their respective places in society. When the US guy (was it the president?) declared to Beast with all the pomp he could muster, “We do not negotiate with these people”, what comes to mind is the issue of terrorism, especially pertinent today in light of all that has been happening in Iraq/America etc.: terrorism to homo sapiens but perhaps heroism to the mutants. When society chooses to deny that unique individuality of a person and chooses to see it as a disease to be cured… …Quite sad, for we see Rogue and several others who either share this sentiment, or are too jaded with their existence as a minority race discriminated against that they decide to let themselves be changed thus. I wouldn’t be critical of them though, especially Rogue (you would go crazy if you couldn’t touch anyone), for it is their choice after all, and they still have to face the opportunity cost of giving up a part of them they’ve lived with for so long, of facing the possibility of disapprobation from their mutant friends and the deep-seated fear and animosity from the human community – I doubt the humans in general would really see them as “real” humans too. Magneto and Prof X form an interesting pair of dialectics. Both experience the same prejudices but while one of them becomes a humanitarian with a vision to unite the world and all that blah, the other sinks into a darker side of intense misanthropy. The professor dies – poor guy – stupid, respectable martyr. Magneto cannot exist without him for there would be an unbalance of forces and he would plunge into his doom, albeit a metaphorically death of losing his powers (as if we weren’t expecting that when the director prefigures it twice before – where Mystique is “healed” and where Jean threatens injecting him with them). But hey, even Prof X doesn’t really die, if you did stay after the credits at least then to you he doesn’t die. Magneto represents a group of people who react rather radically under the pressure of social prejudices. A superior/inferior complex develops in him and he sees his differences as indicative of his higher status: society tries to play these mutants down but some develop a psychological barrier and resist this sense of inferiority by constructing a false sense of superiority which they do eventually assimilate. Good for him; he (over) values individuality. But tragic tragic tragic! As Arthur Miller points out in his essay on “Tragedy and the Commom Man” (I’m insincerely sorry non-lit students) “the tragic feeling is evoked in us when we are in the presence of a character who is ready to lay down his life, if need be, to secure one thing--his sense of personal dignity”. Magneto reaches extremity (I would say his enlisting the aid of Jean Grey can be considered as extreme) in seeking to assert his individuality and it is essentially his own pursuit for a kind of justice; a validation of himself; a reassertion of his rightful place in society that led to this misery. Nothing wrong with that. But society couldn’t contain him and vomited him out – Blurgh! So much for his dignity. Ok if I were to go on with this tragedy thing then I would like to point out the anagnorisis in Magneto’s life (once again a very insincere apology to non-lit students); the part where he looks up to the sky as an impotent homo sapien stripped of his affinity with magnets (a lovely understatement). There he goes “what have I done *voice quivers for dramatic effect*” The world spins by him literally as he reaches a tragic realisation – “The horror! The horror!” (Ok I should stop indulging myself in histrionics). But yar, the realisation…how painful…like when he tries to move the chess pieces at the end. There was a momentary impact of psychological forces within Magneto when Mystique was shot by the cure. I think the fleeting expression of horror, shock, fascination, gratitude and scorn on Ian’s face made me respect him quite a bit. These are feelings Magneto might have experienced and it is sad to note that his transient gratitude was quickly displaced with a prejudice of his own he had cultivated over the years. The memory of his experiences with humans resurfaced and battled with his own memory of the woman who had been behind him all this while. To me this fleeting struggle to reconcile them is perhaps one of the few, if not only, emotionally complex scenes in the movie. The dramatisation of Mystique’s fall was to good effect. From the confident mutant she was reduced to a very pitiful, naked, helpless and self-conscious creature puling “Eric…” The irony of his “she used to be beautiful” just…well…rings. The other scene that continues to linger in my head is the one in which Storm and Wolverine stand amidst floating rocks, leaves and dew. There was a kind of suspension and uncertainty I guess – a sense that our seemingly unshakable foundations and ideas of the world are actually not as eternal and unchanging as we would like to think them to be. Per haps it encapsulates the entire theme behind the movie, as in another scene at the end multiplied in magnitude wherein Jean Grey lifts the seas and everything else around her. Our “immutable” laws of nature have changed. Laws as deep-seated as these seem to be proven as arbitrary and have existed only contingently (Leibniz would disagree but whatever). Yet even after the laws of nature have been moved still the prejudices remain and the inane human conceptions of what constitutes right and wrong, abnormal and normal cling on obstinately and mindlessly. Proportion, Conversion; Proportion, Conversion: stop doctoring!!!!!! Yahahahahahah *crazy sounds* posted by Fear no more the heat o' the sun at 3:03 PM Thursday, May 25, 2006 Lemme guess, Im still a little lost... So is this blog like gonna be abandoned for a like almost a month cuz everybodaye will be -flying- away? ... -blur- I dont know what to say here 'cuz Ive really not been keepin' touch with all of ya except just by reading from this blog which only has most of yiwen's rambling.. -grins- Making friends in NP is like, really really different. 'Cause its like really difficult not to make friends and judging their character by not what they do but who they are. (Confusing?) hmm, Its like most of 'em smoke, and its been quite difficult for me to ignore that. Its like, I've never made friends to smoked before, but after I entered NP, i guess I was kinda gullible all this while. Almost 1/3 of my classmates light cigarettes, and my environment is startin to smell more like a lounge for smokers. -nods- But im quite glad that firstly, they never ever tried to make me take it too. Secondly, some of 'em are havin their last packets. But that still leaves a few more. But one person makes alot of difference right? right? hehe.. I guess that's 'bout it. Keep this blog updated ya? Luv (and miss) all of ya loads! *Cheerios~!* posted by Nat at 11:59 PM Tuesday, May 23, 2006 EnCOURAGEment. (because that's what we need) Firstly, all the best to everyone tommorow, for KI/GP CT, or justfor chinese oral -.- For the KI people, if you've been talking to your KI friends from other classes i guess you'd have some idea of how badly screwed we are because of our beloved Mr. Booth. However this does NOT mean we can't do well because the only thing we actually NEED to study is the textbook. All else is irrlevant. So go there tomorrow and prove it to yourself that we can actually do this. Just because we're already disadvantaged doesn't mean we can't own this. Go 1d! (Actually the motivational speech was more for myself but if it helps anyone else(highly unlikely) all the better.) posted by Moca at 8:51 PM Monday, May 22, 2006 Bitchy Bee Erm right. So anw for clearer reference here's the table to the class free/busy days.
Yup. You can reply to the email here too. Anyway i'm actually getting quite busy over KI CT, i've stopped dota-ing for 2 days with 1 more to go, so i'm quite high these days. On the plus side, THERE IS NO PW TMR. In fact there's no school but PW is what anyone cares about. I heard they don't do PW in ACS international. Lucky bastards. posted by Moca at 10:31 PM Sunday, May 21, 2006 Shifted Ok just came back from Shifting Gears and grats to Sindhu for the performance haha. Probably should congratulate Nivi and Michelle for putting in all the effort they did, and sorry to Nivi that i didn't donate because i had absolutely no money on me -.- Erm the complete list of free dates during the holidays will be out as soon as i feel free enough to go sift through the stuff and compile the dates. Which isn't likely because i really should start reading for KI CTs (shock. i am intending to study) and read Othello, HoD, various SW books and still train for upcoming tournament. Yay i have a busy life, i feel so fulfilled. Didn't Yiwen promise not to blog here and write offensive stuff about people? Though i admit the Silicon Valley thing was incredibly hilarious even though i was half-asleep. And i am NOT watching Superman. Damn stupid comic. Marvel > DC. posted by Moca at 1:14 AM Friday, May 19, 2006 aiyoh i realised that i haven't updated for a long time! >:3 plus i didn't go to sch today. how was it, guys? as in honestly, what did i miss? blablaa~!! i promised myself that i'd finish the two lit essays as well as the two play reviews due for TSD today! guess what!! i think i'm going to have to break that promise. i spent the day sleeping, eating, and then going back to sleep again. i should've been born a pig. instead wenloong says i'm a bat. i suffer from bipolar disorder. who wants to suffer with me? but i guess what zhaofeng said [referring to yiwen's post] is kinda true. but look on the bright side, at least we all get along quite well with each other right? most of us anyway. sorry about that teeny misunderstanding the other day Moca. oh and i told you my unfree day liaoz. MY FRIENDS ARE GETTING MARRIED!! and the worst part is, they want me to wear a DRESS to their wedding. O.M.F. i realised that majority of the posts are all by yiwen lahz. omg. so much crap that it spills over onto the class blog. o_O ok lac lac. JOKE, man, JOKE. LAC. OMG I HATE THIS POST. I'M SO SORRY EVERYONE. XD for subjecting y'all to such crap. *waves white flag* posted by krayle at 9:08 PM Wednesday, May 17, 2006 Harlo Everybodaye! Its Nat here to the rescue.. Actually I dont really know if im needed but Ill just blog since im feeling quite bored for this lecture... -grins- Anyways, since I don't really know what is reallaye goin' on at RJ, ill just blog 'bout how life in Poly is like.. No one has commented 'bout anythin' ive blog about yet though.. Hmms... -pause- Eh... Okay, this is practically what I've been studyin since term started.. *Naval Architecture (yea, you know it just by what the subject is called... ) I gotta study 'bout all the different kinds of ships.. Erm.. like, container ships/tankers/general cargo ships... The structure, uses and all.. -nods- *Mechanics Engineering A mix of physics and math (trigo).. Its killing me 'cuz i didnt take physics as an O'level subject.. -nods- And the quiz is next week... Common test in 2 weeks time.. Im sooo screwed.. -sniff- *EG1 Just math... (sec school E math) Very very very very very easy... -grins- *Practical work I've done arc welding.. Its really freaky.. (darn scared kana scarred...) I started off pretty bad, but now its much better.. -grins- I just got drilling practical lesson today again.. I just kept askin' my classmate to help me choose the tool then i just screw it in to the machine and... Drill.. -nods nods- (Kinda fun.. -grins- :D) Maybe there is more.. but my mind in on somethin else now, so ya.. Im startin to miss you all alot... Life is really kinda different down here.. -sniff- *Cheerios everybody~!* posted by Nat at 1:34 PM Sunday, May 14, 2006 Mission Impossible Ah well i guess that's the best we can hope for. But seriously it looks really screwed up that he's the only one posting most of the time so please do contribute to the damn blog lol. Reminder to the class that Choon Ping's lit essay is due next week, which i'll need to copy from someone because i don't have a portable copy of Othello -.- Oh another reminder to please send me your free days during the hols because the Pearled bitch keeps bugging me. And can we try to organise some class outing that we all can go to? I don't mean a soccer match with muscular monsters twice my size running around and a girl who could dribble circles around me if she wanted. I guess try to find sth we're all agreeable on. posted by Moca at 9:34 PM Monday, May 08, 2006 Ooh... Shiny! I think i speak for everyone here when i say the PW bitch is pissing the shit out of all of us. I mean like wth she not only completely misunderstood the main idea of the GPP, she just gave shitty general comments that don't help us improve in any way whatsoever, then asks for a resubmition in 4 hrs??? Sophia's large shiny scissors is gonna look really nice tommorow. Lol btw it's kinda painful on your pocket/conscience to be in an arts class where almost everyone has some form of performance or another, especially around this period. Despite that i think we should all make an effort to come down for at least SOME of the concerts (yes Alison i'm sorry i didn't go for dance) to support our classmates. I mean c'mon, if we don't support each other, who else will? (Unlike yall i have no friends )= Oh and on a side note Weiren's got some kind of scholarship that entitles him to 1 grand a year, so i think we would all expect a small part of that to go into class funds, like say... 10%? And i talked to Bob Koh today and he patted my shoulder. How empowering. posted by Moca at 8:35 PM Saturday, May 06, 2006 Hola! I shall contribute.. heh heh.. In case this blog is gonna die.. But i doubt so.. Cause I promised ill save it.. :D I just wanna ask.. Since Ive been somewhere else.. Heh heh.. Any happenings in Rj lately? :) and eh.. Anybodaye objects to me bloggin 'bout 'ma life in NP? I tot that ill be good to know wad's on the other side.. -grins- Im doing quite okay here anyways.. But erm, boy/girl ratio.. NOT GOOD! Eh.. Not just in my class.. The course itself.. hmm.. 20 ppl in my class.. 5 girls...??! -whines- Quite screwed.. Anyways.. I still miss all of ya loads.. -hugs- Remember to keep this blog.. (and me) updated ya? -grins- *Cheeros~!* posted by Nat at 5:44 PM Wednesday, May 03, 2006 Maths Note to all H2 Math students.. (my apologies to others) This is the webbie.. u shud check for the formula list.. that will be given.. http://www.seab.gov.sg/SEAB/aLevel/syllabus/school/2007_GCE_A_H.html click on MH15 under math... or just go to this webbie.. http://www.seab.gov.sg/SEAB/aLevel/syllabus/2007_GCE_A_Level_Syllabuses/ListMF15.pdf Yeah... Good Luck to all... posted by the PhAnToM at 6:33 PM Tuesday, May 02, 2006 High and Mighty Speeches "... i promise i will serve the Raffles school with passion and pride..." NOT! I'M A FARQUHARIAN! FARQUHARIAN YOU HEAR!!! EVEN THOUGH RAFFLES IS A NICER SOUNDING NAME BUT HE'S A GODDAMN ASSHOLE I'M A FARQUHARIAN YOU F&$@*$&^_)#% I'M A F#)$(*&#% FARQUHARIAN! Long live the Farquhers. sorry. i just had to say it. posted by krayle at 8:34 PM |
    
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