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!

Perception

Some Singaporeans says flyers tickets are priced too high

12 April 2008

I couldn't help but agree more that the Singapore's flyers tickets are on the pricey side despite the overwhelming responses when it was first launched. It is a 30 minutes ride on Singapore's lastest iconic attraction costing a dollar for every minute! Tickets are selling at S$29.50 for adults, S$20.65 for children and S$23.60 for senior citizens.

I've sat on the Singapore Flyer once and i thought it wasn't much of a big deal. Frankly speaking, i wouldn't even have gone on the flyer unless i had free tickets, and coincidentally my friend did! I would say its just a very slow, nice experience. It's all about the scenic view across Singapore's central and coastal area. However, i definately would not pay to sit on the flyer again. Call me stingy, but it was something that i felt not worthed the money.

Everyone has their different point of view,some may feel that the uniqueness of the Singapore Flyer can be in comparison with the fee.However i feel that Singapore is a very small country with mostly high-rise buildings which roughly look alike wasn't that appealling to me. The 30 minute ride i experienced, wasn't much of an excitement as i knew how the view would look like judging from the pictures i saw on the brochures. Besides, i was living so near the flyer that i saw the whole construction of the flyer just by looking out of my balcony.

Besides have to pay nearly $30 per person, you'd have to share the capsule with other strangers. There isn't any privacy and could get very awkward having to sit in the capsule with strangers, especially for couples. Maybe it was the overwhelming crowd that could not have accommodate to those situation, but then i've thought of a better way to solve this solution. I feel that there should be local rates. This would then not only attract more tourist, but also Singaporeans to be able to experience the ride. Tourist would find the ride worth the money as it is a once a lifetime opportunity for them. But what about the Singaporeans? As i said, i'll

definately not pay for the ride, what more twice! Thus, the flyer would not benefit for the long run if the rates does not decrease.

Some may beg to differ, but honestly i would rather go to the Pasir Ris e!hub where the 25m ferris wheel is at a comparably much lower price of $6.50/pax.

Non verbal Communications

TATTOOS

The question would be: Why do people get tattoos?

Well, most people who actually have it are either fans of body art or professionals in the business.. This one is for the skeptic that just doesn't understand their love for living art. The tattoo that people usually choose actually has a significant meaning to their lifes. And they want to display their devotion on their skin for all to see. By understanding the persons tattoo, you begin to actually understand the person himself. It is as though this one tattoo tells the story about the person and his life without any words at all.

For example, the wind-up bird as shown in the picture. It actually relates back to a japanese novel. The novel is about a low-key unemployed man, Toru Okada, whose cat disappears. A chain of events follow that prove that his seemingly mundane monotonous life is much more complicated than it appears. The girl who got inked with this tattoo should have probably related alot of herself with the main charactor or so.

Personally, I am not fascinated by body modification, nor do i belong to any subculture that encourages tatoos. but i would be interested in getting a tattoo of personal significance that is not visible to the general public. I haven't yet because of the very nature of tattoos being relatively permenant, the wrong choice is one to regret for a long time.

Perception

THE STRAITS TIMES
saturday, may 17 2008
China to come down hard on shoddy work


Everyone by now, should have read about the massive earthquake in the Sichuan province of China which has killed thousands of people, mostly children.The 'one-child policy' has been contentious inside China as well as out. The government says it has prevented an additional 400 million births. But critics say it has also led to forced abortions, sterilisations and a dangerously imbalanced gender ratio as local authorities pursue sometimes severe birth quotas set by Beijing and families abort girls out of a traditional preference for male heirs.Parents lost their one and only child leaving them alone through their years.

Personally, i feel that it was not the earthquake that killed the the people but actually the poor infrastructure of the buildings that led to destruction. China, known as the" sleeping tiger" has been advancing rapidly in terms of economically and their technology. It has also been a major field of global power and strength that even the Americans are weary of China. The earthquake allowed me to have my second thoughts of China, as looking closely, China is a huge country and there are bound to be corruptions. Humans are drawn to greed, thus that led to the slipshodiness. Only when the disaster happened, the government realized how this little mistake could actually be the cost of thousands of people's lives. The minister also said that school buildings were not the only serious infrastructure casualties, despite media reports of several thousand schools toppled in the earthquake. This is to show the amount of people whom died from the toppling of buildings. The government in China has even launched an investigation into the buildings that had collapsed on the tragic Monday afternoon, but i feel that it is all too late of that now. Even if they found the culprits of the slipshod foundations of the buildings, lives has already been taken away and many people are suffering from the lost of their love ones. Therefore, China should now be taking precautions for such inevitable natural disasters.

My heart goes out to all of them, either those who've died, the children who've lost their lives and the pitiful parents. I feel so lucky, compared to those children. I think being buried alive is one of the most painful thing. This is a lesson learn for all.