Perception

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809258476/details

Being described as the best epic historical film since the Titanic, The Triangle sets out on an expedite of truth, unravelling secrets and confronting myths. It's not a documentary but it is creatively refreshing to see a plethora of could have been's being laid out. Bermuda Triangle (as we better known it as) is believed to be the main culprit for the eerie disappearance of many ships, planes and etc. The content challenged the idea by attributing it to the preposterous cause of , Time travelling? Personally, I'm totally blown off by the science of dimensional tear, psychic power and how we can actually go through walls so long as we change the atoms of both the body and the wall. So amazing isn't it.. Surreal the supernatural may be. You could be a skeptic turned true believer after watching.

Media Agendas - Agenda Setting Function

the newpaper, 24th June

This newspaper article is about the papaya sisters from 881, promoting their movie in Japan. A Japanese comedian pulling a stripping stunt on stage and Mindy Ong ( one of the papaya sisters ) could not comprehend his act of stripping. The Japanese however, found the entertainer amusing and laughed heartily to his acts.

This incident may havemisled the Japenese into sterotyping Singaporeans as very "conservative " and we are very " old fashioned chinese ". However i beg to differ as Singaporeans these days are exposed to a wide range of cultures ranging from the chinese to the malays to the indians and to the western ! This inicident may have shocked Mindy Ong as she is a girl and tend to be more conservative as compared to the Japanese entertainer. Furthermore, she was in a foreign country promoting the movie 881 and was shocked by the unexpected gimmick. If this newspaper report was published in Japan, i am sure that many Japanese may be misled blindly by the media into sterotyping Singaporeans because of their prejudice.

Culture

Yakuza

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakuza

Iam sure all of us have heard about the Yakuza. If you dont, Yakuza are traditional organized crime groups in Japan. A Yak a derogatory term that refers to the Yakuza. The term is used by Japanese young people and foreign persons familiar with Japanese culture. Today, the Yakuza are among the largest crime organizations in the world. In Japan, as of 2005, there are some 86 300 known members.

However, one of the rituals that the Yakuza pratices is the Yubitsume.If a yakuza member displeases or severely disappoints his boss, the punishment is often yubizume, the amputation of the last joint of the little finger. A second offense will require the severing of the second joint of that finger, and additional offenses might require moving on to the next finger. A man knows that he must commit yubizume when his immediate superior gives him a knife and a string to staunch the bleeding. Words are not necessary. The origin of this practice dates back to the days of the samurai. Removing part of the smallest finger weakens the hand for holding the sword. When a katana (the samurai long sword) is gripped properly, the pinkie is the strongest finger. The ring finger is the second strongest, middle finger third strongest, and the index finger does almost nothing. With a damaged hand, the swordsman became more dependent on his master for protection. Today this ritual maiming is entirely symbolic, but it serves to make a point with delinquent kobun, and it shows that the yakuza, like their Mafia counterparts, abide by the old saying: "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer."

Basically i feel that this collectivist culture of the Japanese would tell them how to act. Take for example Yubitsume. They would naturally have to react to the situation and no words are necessary. Cutting off a finger is also a culture of theirs as it is a form of punishment for them once they've done something wrong. However normal human beings like us do not practice their culture thus we tend to perceive them as different. Yakuza's are also very widely stereotyped as gangsters, thus if you have a tattoo similar to the yakuza's you'd be perceived as a gangster naturally.

Group Communication

Football: Italy into Euro 2008 quarter-finals after toppling 10-man France

Posted: 18 June 2008

World champions Italy beat old foes France 2-0 on Tuesday to go through to the Euro 2008 quarter-finals. The French endured a wretched night, suffering two major blows in the first 25 minutes, with first star midfielder Franck Ribery stretchered off then Eric Abidal red-carded with Andrea Pirlo converting the penalty. Despite the catastrophic defeat France coach Raymond Domenech, remained stoic in defeat.

"They showed energy. They showed something, its a pity because the circumstances were against us. "This team has something in its guts, it has qualities. We were 10 against 11 and we had also lost Ribery. This team has a real future and potential," as quoted from the coach words.

Soccer is a game filled with energy. There is also a need for a strong sense of teamwork as it takes 11 soccer players to work together and score a goal, there is no one-man show in such situations. Each team mate would then have to take an effort to make personal contacts, and establish a relationships amongst the rest of the team members to get a better feel of each other. With that, they are able to point out each others strong points and deliver their "roles" on the field. Each of the members play a very important role into either defending or attacking their opponents. For example, the goal keeper plays the role of preventing the opponents from scoring.

However, there may be an anxiety to win the game, for example France, that leads them to misuse their important role in the game. Eric Abdial getting the red card is one of the most crucial mistake he made during the match. Having get "send off" or "red carded" does not allow him to play in the next two matches. This might greatly affect the other team memebers as each individual as a "role" to play on the field. Leaving him out, the communication on the field is broken thus only having 10 men on the field thus being defeated.

I've watched the match and felt the tension and struggle in the game. There signs of non verbal communications as how each player would know when to receive and pass the ball on. The coach blamed their lost on the circumstances, i would agree to a certain extent as France and Italy both showed they're fighting spirit!