Complaints Choir in Singapore: Cancelled [sort of]

Complaints choir cancels public performances

A CHOIR singing complaints about Singapore had to change its public performances to invitation-only private shows after the authorities said foreign members could not perform. Ms Melissa Lim, an organiser of this year's M1 Fringe Festival of which the Complaints Choir Project was part, said the choir was told of the restriction by the Media Development Authority (MDA) only on Friday, one day before the performances were to start. 'It would be a shame if we canned the whole thing, so we decided to have private performances at the Arts House,' she said. Ms Amy Tsang, a deputy director of the MDA, said: 'A licence has been issued to The Necessary Stage for the Complaints Choir to perform at the various venues provided the performers are Singapore citizens, as the content touches on domestic affairs and it is preferred that only Singapore citizens participate in the public performance.' 'However, The Necessary Stage has chosen to hold the performance as a private event.' The concept of a complaints choir was started by Finnish duo Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen, who travelled round the world to teach people to sing about their grouses to fellow citizens. They are among some six of 50 members - including the choir's Malaysian conductor Chong Wai Lun - who are foreigners. In a statement, the organisers said the restriction came 'as a total shock' to them. 'The choir decided they did not want to perform in these circumstances and all the public performances have been cancelled,' they said. Complaints to be sung here included: 'We don't recycle any plastic bags, but we purify our pee' and 'Will I ever live till 85, to collect my CPF?' The founders, in a post on the choir's website, said they were 'disappointed that our prejudices against Singapore have been affirmed'. 'We see the symptoms of a neurotic society. We find it irritating that foreigners - people that built this city, nurse Singaporean kids and bring in their knowledge - are not allowed to complain.' They said they would post a video of the performance on their website. Well, so much for the Complaint Choir complaining... [yes, the conductor is the Mr Chong Wai Lun that helped us for the choir concert.]

Back in full swing!

Life's been tough...

Kinda "hanging-in-there" while I go through day-to-day life in school...

Not coping very well...

Duh. I've been lacking sleep, and i have been on decaf drinks [milo, sprite, etc.]...

Anyway, besides that, I'm not going to make any committments to blogging [again.]...

but i think i may end up blogging even more frequently than before, so you wouldn't know [neither would I.]...

To quote a certain podcaster / blogger,"If possible, don't make promises of commitments."

haiku 2

this feels so awkward...

to make a 5 - 7 - 5 poem...

oh heck, whatever...





What's with haiku?

trying to act poetic?

or just acting cool...



Well, it's not.

I can't be bothered... [5]

to update my blog... for now... [7]

I typed this Haiku... [5]

ronaldLIONG| 

late to join the craze _but who really gives a damn_ Well, not I, I say_

Guitar Hero III!

it cost me almost $200...

But it's mine....

It's 

[end of blog post.]

Blessed....

I'm thankful...

For the B3 on my Chinese 'O' Level Result...

For the wonderful stamina that I've been sporting lately...

For the music...

For the great friends that I have that have been helping me in the various ways, big and small...

For everything I've been enjoying.

never though I'd get that B3.

Lots of stuff happening... [long post]

My parents have been in town, I've been stuck with school stuff, and my printer's been out of ink, plus nobody has stock for the ink. Hence, I've been away from the blog...

I changed my Time Machine External Hard Drive from the [now dead] Seagate 160GB HDD to a Seagate FreeAgent Pro 500GB Drive. It's got FireWire 400, which means I won't have the weird USB port cross-line problems that my MacBook Pro's been having. 

[Try watching TVMobile using a DVB-T tuner while syncing your iPod at the same time. Problems start occurring even though the USB ports are far apart.]

Then, I bought Microsoft Office 08 for Mac. It's been kinda weird, but otherwise, "not too shabby".

Have Bio Test tomorrow... On "Human eye"...

phone rings...

Oh, sorry. Anyway, the other chapter was "Hormones".

Btw, that was my Dad calling.

Ya, my parents have been in Singapore. They went to Bangkok and decided to make a stopover here from last Friday to today.

Been very tiring this whole month...

Haven't settled in to class/school, my voice has been on/off, and something's happening on Friday. Not saying much.

Oh, some ads...

[school pianists. the school needs pianists, preferably Sec 1 to 3. Please give your name to Mrs Huang if you want to be a school pianist...]

[I have 2 licenses for Microsoft Office for Mac 08 Home & Student Edition. Selling each license. Price is negotiable... Not recommended if you use PowerPC Macs, though...]

[check out my flickr!]

May not be able to blog much this year... you have been warned...

K. bb. Gonna listen in to Kylie Minogue and Rihanna. Yes, I bought "X" and "Good Girl Gone Bad" from the respective artistes. Cool tracks, I must say... Kylie's album is so disco-esque, and Rihanna, well, Rihanna!

My Predictions: analyzed...

here's what i said...

Macworld Conference and Expo begins 14  January 2008. The Steve Jobs Keynote will be on that day the next day.

So here are some of my predictions for what Steve Jobs / Apple may be announcing on keynote day...


1. Mac Tablet Reader AKA MacBook mini [the tablet]
It's out there. the rumours are everywhere. to quote Nike: Just Do It.
These things will have multi-touch 10" screens,
run on 32GB and 64GB SSD / 80GB to 160GB HDD [think iPod Classic].
it'll NOT have a slot for DVDs / CDs.
Est. Price: S$949
Right: 64GB SSD 80GB HDD, no optical drive, "macbook mini"-esque

Wrong: "tablet", reader, other 2 sizes of HDD/SSD, price. 

Score: 3/5

2. Refreshed MacBooks + MacBook Pros
Intel is releasing new processors in January. Apple normally follows suit with new laptops notebooks.
Oh, Apple purhased new 13.3" LED-backlit screens. Think LED-backlit MBs. Bright!
And also, Intel GMA X3100. upgraded Graphics!
Same prices as present.

Right: MacBook Air did use X3100s, 13.3"LED, they're bright, other MacBooks same price as before

Wrong: not the macbooks i mentioned, not the processors I mentioned.

Score: 3/5

3. iPhone w/ HSDPA: Preview ONLY
This will come out at the end of next year, but Apple must get FCC approvals first. So why not announce it here and now first?
HSDPA, 2nd camera, but maybe some features they can preview now...
[think iPhone firmware 1.1.3 or 1.1.4: video recording, voice memo, voice commands]
Est. Price when iPhone is out in SG much later next year: S$699

Right: iPhone firmware 1.1.3

Wrong: everything else.

Score: 1/5

4. iTunes 8
Rip your DVDs @ US$3.99 per DVD.

Right: New iTunes, Fox did do some digital copy of DVDs, the price is right for the rental.

Wrong: the itunes number, the price is not for the DVD.

Score: 3.5/5

5. Mac Mini + Apple TV fusion
both products were dying anyways, so why not fuse them? Mac nano! [SSD, no CD/DVD again]

Right: AppleTV got a revival. Flickr, buying & renting stuff without a PC/Mac, makes it a mac fusion in that sense.

Wrong: It's not OS X.

Score: 3.5/5

6. Partnership with Activision-Vivendi for new Mac Games
they did it with EA. Now move along! Activision is merging with one of the most popular developer for the Mac, Vivendi. [they do WoW, the "only" game on a Mac]
huh? [0/5]

7. Return of the NBC
Maybe on iTunes.

huh? [0/5]

8. Mac Pro update.
New Intel Xeon Hi-K Metal Gate processors, new CTO for the Graphics [think ATi HD2600 PRO], new Hard Drive option [1TB x 4 = 4TB!], new CTO option for BD-R/BD-RW!
Right: 80% of it. mentioned at the end of the keynote! although it happened before the keynote.

wrong: the BluRay bit.

Score: 4.5/5

9. BD-R
Available as a CTO option on Mac Pro [ref. no. 8], on MacBook Pros, on iMacs. Screw Mac nanos and MacBooks.
est. price difference for upgrade from SuperDrive to BD-R: S$500

huh? forget it. [0.5/5, since the guest speaker guy did mention the word "Blu-Ray"]

10. Apple TV: literally
a 50" 30" iMac. Comes with wireless keyboard + mouse and Front Row remote. oh, built in TV tuner. and yes, it has Blu-Ray.
Est. Price: S$6,600.00

huh? [1/5. Steve showed a TV.]

11. Cinema Displays
still up to 30", new prices, no more 20", iSight intergrated.

huh? [1/5. still 30". everything else was wrong]

12. Revenge of the QuickTake
A camera! duh. a video camera. iPhone-like design. or maybe a new iPod Touch with camera. [bummer.]

huh? [0/0. Lucky this was striked...]

You know what, that number 12 was retarded. I'm changing it to this number 12 below...



12. One More Thing: Steve Jobs: CEO no more...
Bill Gates' final CES keynote is in 2008, Steve has beated Bill already. now, rest, retire, let someone else take over!
Steve has helmed Apple as CEO since 1998 [the iCEO thing doesn't count. Neither does the pre-1990s thing] 10 years is a long time. let someone else take over! Phill Schiller or Tim Cook could take over. EDIT: Rumours has it Jony Ive is the next in line.

huh? [1.5/5. Bill did leave Microsoft. refer to video below.]

Total Score: 22.5/60... erm....

What i missed out on:

iPod Touch software & firmware update, 

Movie rental,

MacBook Air not being a tablet,

Time Capsule,

FAIL!!!

Bye Bill Gates, from all the significant people of the Earth.

"Featuring Bill Gates, Brian Williams, Jay Z, Bono, Steven Spielberg, Matthew McConaughey, George Clooney, Jon Stuart, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Al Gore, and from Microsoft: Steve Ballmer, Christine White, Lisa Brummell, Robbie Bach, Kevin Turner, Ray Ozzie, and Craig Mundie."

This is just a weird, yet amazing video.

P.s.: Bono said "f***"! Al Gore made a pun on his own movie! Bill Gates played Guitar Hero! George Clooney can't play Gates for a movie! Jon Stuart gets a request to be a co-anchor! Hillary gets a candidate for her running mate! Oh, and Microsoft Bob: Bill's idea! And btw, Bill's lights are clap-activated!

P.s.s.: Watch till the end.

disturbing...

couple of days ago, there was a thunderstorm. in that thunderstorm, lightning striked almost once every 2 seconds...

That was freaky...

By the way, Dunno what this means, but the numbers "04:20" has been stuck in my head in a disturbing way. any superstitious people out there?

Another thing. this is random, but my favourite math equation is "7 x 6 = 42".


Oh, dunno why, but i've been all emo + extroverted + sleepy these few days...

P.s.: WTF is MacBook Air? Did Apple cut the pay of their marketing people? Cut again! that name is just so weird... hope the rumours are false...

[yes this post is totally random.]

iPod whore-ing?

very appropriate video, with the upcoming MacWorld. I don't predict new iPods, but probably new apple products to make the older models seem ancient.

Spoof of the iPod nano ads featuring '1234' by feist.

gone...

Sec one orientation camp tomorrow. ends saturday.

bye.

Late nights... it's 2004 all over again.

Ah yes, the good old days of Primary 6...

That was the year where I lacked 2 hours of sleep every night, adding up to around 400 hours spent in schoolwork rather than a semi-hibernation mode, otherwise know as sleep.

4 years on, that may have to start all over again. It's my first of sleepless nights for 2008. Im currently doing my Art homework. just did A Math. I haven't been in class the past 4 days, so I must say, I think i have lots of catching up to do.

Well, that's what the late nights are for, right?

I love late nights. Other than the fact that I get to experience difficulty in keeping my eyes wide open, this is the time when you really get to hear your soul. No disturbance. Well, this depends on who you live with, as well, i guess. But imagine, yourself in a room with no other distractions.

Of course, there's chocolate to keep me awake. Maybe i should start going on teh-beng.

Oh well, enough crap talk. I have homework. Here's a music video to enjoy. It's "Eyes" by Rogue Waves. the song was used in "Heores", and it's a nice relaxing song. Enjoy!

Ciao.

Phyisics Project.

any criticisms?

Done by Jasper Yee, Benjamin Toh, Isaac Wong, and myself.

Microsoft MacBU rocks!

Messenger for Mac 7.0.... coming soon... with AV support. [finally.]


Microsoft Office for Mac 2008. Finally, Universal Binary. January 15th.

Microsoft's Mac Business Unit rocks!

Archives...

grey bar = corrupted. anyway, i had no idea what Jasper Kim & Elohim were doing to Aaron in this shot. go figure!



best self-portrait i found in my files. not sure who shot it, but anyway, thanks!

andrew ate ice-cream during the run for FUNd event. how did i know? LOOK!

BunSee during National Day celebrations 05. never knew him then... lol...
Try drawing a timelin or relationship chart with the people in this shot! it's complex!
Hence, Zexun = hamster (proven)
Best "surprised" look i found so far...

What's going on?

I'm looking through my old photos from 2006... surprised at some stuff i found... and apparently, i have seen bensee before he was in Sec 1.

2.5k! a fraction of a peanut!

2,500 hits!

Thanks to everyone who has been visiting my Flickr Page!

"organized chaos"

Tay Zonday - Swing Low, Sweet Chariot + Amazing Grace.

this song is weird. it's got the chaotic moments, but it has some melodic bits interwoven....