AEP

This afternoon, Sam, LX, Miao, ZY and I stayed back for some AEP interview thing, which turned out to be more like a Socratic seminar than anything. So anyway, there were two people from MOE, and we were sitting in batches – kinda. And we started discussing about AEP stuff, like the curriculum and stuff like that. I enjoyed it, I think the other 4 did too. The only thing was that the sec4s were kinda hogging the discussion in a sense, cause we had a lot to say, and the other 3 levels were either overly intimidated by us or they had nothing to say. If I were to guess, I would say it was the latter.

But as I said, it was meaningful, and we were quite sad that they only held this discussion in our sec4 year. Anyway, we discussed about stuff like how when we are sec1s, we should build up on our basics. Cause the teachers seemed to take it for granted that we already knew how to draw properly and stuff like that. (Which we obviously don’t. I shall be the first to admit I was one of those that had no art lessons and because I felt… inadequate, I went for art lessons. And my art improved. A lot. I should post some of my old stuff up here.) And we also talked about giving exposure to more 3D mediums such as wood, metal etc. (One of the person from MOE also said that he noticed NYGH students produced very few 3D works. I wonder why.)

We also talked a little about art theory, but for that, we had no complaints. Cause we think it’s alright as it is. Oh, and about the AEP camps too. We thought that the camps were too short, and there was not much time to make any connections with the AEPers from other schools. So we suggested for the camp to be longer.

Most importantly, we moaned and groaned and complained about how we did not have an overseas AEP trip! It saddened us greatly, and we feel most depressed about it. Oh the pain we have gone through! They said they would reflect to the school about it, but I don’t think the teachers can do much anyway, it’s up to the principal, who doesn’t seem to be… too supportive of it. I need an AEP trip. Even if it’s informal. I want to go out with the AEPers. I mean, these are the people I’ve known for 4 years.

Oh, and at the end of the session, we were also asking about AEP in JC. Apparently, only about 20 students (including HCI, NYGH, and any other student who enters HCI) can get into AEP, and we have to take a theory paper, a drawing paper, an interview, and show our portfolio. And out of these 20 odd students, only 10 will get the scholarship. I asked why only 10 and they said it used to be 5. And I shut up. *laughs*

Yep. So that’s that. But I really enjoyed the session. ZY did too. I think the others did. Not too sure though. The 2 people from MOE were really nice and easy to talk too as well.

Basketball Photos

I took these photos during the Kungfu Dunk Converse 3on3 at Bugis Junction. But they’re probably copyrighted to Jumpshot since I was taking photos for them. These are 5 of the photos, but I think I took a hundred plus. Yep.

These are what I call FUN!

Chinatown photos

I went with the AV club to take photos a few days before Chinese New Year. These are what I think, my best 5 photos. It was kinda dumb cause it rained! So we couldn’t really walk in the streets and stuff. And the sheltered parts were so cramped that we couldn’t really stand there for a long time to take photos.

Anyway, the first two photos are of the bang4 bang4 tang2 thing. Haha, I liked the colours and therefore took the photos. -____- Sorry, might be a lousy reason.

 I coincidentally saw this inconspicuous thing standing on top of a fridge and thought it was cute. Haha. Can you imagine? Me? Think it’s cute? Yup, and the result was the third photo. (It even has a drink!)

The fourth photo is the gold rat thing. Totally random. Why am I even explaining why I took the picture? I mean, I just took it. Okay. Nevermind. I know Mr Kuo will ask though. He asked me last year and I was stunned, so gave some weird reason. *laughs*

Personally, I like the last photo cause I think it’s kinda interesting. As in, if you look at it, it just looks like green and gold balls, but if you see the gold ball at the top right corner, you can see my reflection in it! Taking the photo! And the angle of the reflection makes it look as if I was in the photo itself, taking the photo. As in, I’m looking down at the other balls. Yea.

Pleasantville

Pleasantville. 2.30pm in the afternoon might not have been the best time to be watching such a movie – not when pent up frustration over a constipated society/education system has been built up over the last 8 hours.

Introduced to us together with Far from Heaven, Pleasantville is yet another movie that comments about the American society during the late 1950s/early 1960s. (Imagine my slight boredom in watching another such movie, considering that my term paper of a similar topic has just been finished not 2 weeks ago.) But it was better than expected. Overall, I was quite angry over how constipated the Mayor was, and judging from the laughter from my classmates, they were probably very amused at how conservative the people of Pleasantville was.

I would talk about other parts I found striking about the movie, (and I was about to, before I remembered about the questions I was supposed to answer), but since this is supposed to be an ‘assignment’ of sorts, I have to talk about some ‘artistic’ aspect of the movie – the most obvious of which would be the symbolic use of colour.

I would think the slow increase in colour in Pleasantville was rather subtle, and to notice it, you would have to be some genius of IQ180. This subtle increase of colour shows a slowly changing Plesantville, in the various aspects of ‘race’, sexuality, and personal freedom.

The explicit mention of sex right after David and Jennifer were transported into Pleasantville caught my attention, and I thought it was a rather effective way of shocking the audience, especially when juxtaposed with how conservative they were (as can be seen when the students thought holding hands was a big deal). After Jennifer and Skip had sex in a car, Skip was seen driving away from Jennifer’s home. Then, the camera focuses on a single red rose in a bush. At first, I had thought that the red colour probably symbolised love, since that was what they just did – make love. But after some thought, I think rather than love, it probably symbolises passion. For while Skip might have loved ‘Mary-sue’, Jennifer did not return his feelings. Rather, it was more of an act of lust and passion.

Another point where my classmates burst into laughter was when we found out that married couples slept on seperate beds. I guess the movie was really being very extreme with it’s portrayal of Pleasantville. Pleasantville was supposed to be this perfect place where it’s safe for every one and every one led their happy but ignorant lives. So thinking along that line, I guess I understand why the people had to be clueless about sex. Anyway, Jennifer later ‘educates’ Betty on what sex is and I guess, suggested that Betty masturbated since her husband would not have sex with her. As Betty masturbates, the tree outside their house bursts into flames. The tree on fire, was a big ‘change’ in Pleasantville, where firemen didn’t even know what fire was or how to put out the fire. I guess the phrase to use would be ‘flames of passion’. Or was that a bad pun? 

Later, as more people in Pleasantville borrow books from the library, and hence learning about things outside of Pleasantville, and as teens visited Lovers Lane, they started to gain colour. This was because of the change they have undergone, kind of like the knowledge they have gained gave them colour. Which ties in to a part where David, who was in black and white through most of the movie, was offered an apple, drawing a parallel to Adam biting into the apple, gaining knowledge and bringing sin into the world.

The use of colour to seperate people from those who have changed from those who have not, shows how these people who have changed are more interesting people. The ‘black&whites’ are monotonous in their stubbon beliefs that make Pleasantville dull and boring, while the ‘coloureds’ are instead, the ones filled with excitement from the knowledge they have gained, regardless of the fact that with such knowledge of things such as sex and an outside world, the utopia known as Pleasantville might be changed, and no longer retain its status of an utopia.

I have to say that the ‘black&whites’ reaction to the ‘coloureds’ frustrated me. I saw the ‘coloureds’ as liberation from the 2-D world Pleasantville initially was, while the ‘black&whites’ probably saw the ‘coloureds’ as sinners that were trying to turn their utopia into some sort of distopia. (But in the first place, I don’t think Pleasantville was all that pleasant.) This was when the part about race was introduced.

A set of rules were created to surpress the ‘coloureds’, as they were called, and there were signs hanging on windows that said ‘no coloureds’. When looking back at America, we can also see these ‘coloureds’ as the African Americans, whom too, were surpressed, restricted, and discriminated against.

Overall, I think the movie was quite enjoyable, especially since it wasn’t overly didactic and used humour to bring its point across as well. It’s a big breather from ‘Far from Heaven’ and ‘The Catcher in the Rye’.

4-hour drawing #13

This is the one I said I would paint seriously for. And I finished this in around 3 hours. I didn’t get bored! I really concentrated. But I really really really enjoyed painting that big brush. It was so fun! Then I didn’t really like the rest. But tried to enjoy it anyway.

4-hour drawing #12

This was painted during CNY. I was bored. Which resulted in this horrible painting. I told my mum I felt very ’sian’ while painting, and my mum complained that I have been very ’sian’ about everything nowadays. Which made me guilty, so I made sure I concentrated for my next painting, which I shall post later…

4-hour drawing #11

This was done recently… During February. It was one week before Chinese New Year. I accidentally dripped water on it though… and was too lazy to fix it. =X If you’re wondering why the oranges are of such a horrendous colour, it’s cause I was hesitating between giving it its real colour and making it look brighter than it really is. (They were rotting… ><)

4-hour drawing #10

This was also done during December. Haha! Yes, I remember this one. Cause I did something really dumb… I drew the things that were inside the pot before drawing the pot. Then I realised it was all wrong, so I redrew it… Dumb…

4-hour drawing #9

I didn’t scan this one in with the rest the last time. But this was painted quite long ago. During December I think… It is quite horrible cause it’s the first time I’m painting flowers(Orchids), in case you couldn’t tell. And not just one of them, but a whole bunch. In a vase. Haha, but I think ZY’s watercolour flowers are nicer. Different style though.