Sigur Ros

Talking about HMV purchases, I am totally loving my new cd. Sigur Ros' new album Með suð í eyrum við spilum end , translated as "with a buzz in our ears we play endlessly". Indecipherable icelandic lyrics but totally magical and beautiful nonetheless. They really nail that bittersweet thing that I like, sorrowful melodies that are strangely uplifting. Perfect soundtrack for some kind of discovery channel documentary with graceful birds gliding across open skies, wild animals galloping across wide plains, schools of exotic fish swimming in the ocean...you know, a magnificent mother earth type thing. The video above is for the song Ára bátur which is pretty classic. It gets really heart-bursting from about 7:00 onward. They oddly kinda remind me of a more ethereal, subdued, less angsty Muse. I think it's the falsetto.

I just found a full stream of their band documentary Heima on google videos. Will watch it soon...right after my last 2 exams. (Theory application: Self-reinforcement occurs whenever someone has control over a reinforcer but delays it until a self-set goal has been completed)

Mysterious manifestations

A mysterious message from the yin-yang man appeared on our table during lunch that day. What could he be telling us??!
Okay, this isn't mysterious, but i just wanted to take a picture and post it cos it was pretty. I think only one person at Gloria Jean's knows how to do latte art, cos the previous 4 cups all didn't have this. I now have the loyalty card thing! Can't wait for my 10th free drink! =)=)

The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories

Bought this book at HMV today! It's so pretty and it's by Tim Burton! They seriously have the coolest books, and at really good prices. 2 for $20, go get some now! It's a book of funny dark poems and illustrations in classic Burton style. Picked the example below cos it's a short one, lol. But it ain't the funniest nor is it the darkest. Ask me for it if you wanna take a look =)=) Will talk about the second book when I've read it.

Stick Boy and Match Girl in Love

Stick Boy liked Match Girl,
he liked her a lot.
He liked her cute figure,
he thought she was hot.

But could a flame ever burn
for a match and a stick?
It did quite literally;
he burned up pretty quick.

Song Around the Wolrd - "Stand By Me"

http://www.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us-TVg40ExM

Bon Iver

The guitar strumming is beautiful...I repeat, I want to marry a rockstar.

Star Wars Origami

This one's for evelyn, if you're still reading this blog! And yeah, I saw your comment on that facebook picture, and YES, I REMEMBER IT! (i didn't wanna comment on it coz it would mean that the photo will appear in my news feed and people will go look at it) The photo made me laugh...it was SO long ago. Back when we had nothing like NPV and IRR and PPI to fret about.

What I'm gonna say next is nothing related to the original post topic, but since we're on the subject of MA...I was telling a friend last night about how our MA textbook is filled with alot of irrelevant dialogue. It's probably a strategic move by the authors to inject a bit of entertainment into an otherwise exceedingly dry accounting textbook. For example,

A: I have alot of questions about our company finances that I hope you can answer!

B: Sure, we're in great shape! Our bank loans will be paid off in a few months.

A: Wow! Fantastic!

Maddy: That's just awesome guys! Good work!

Kenneth: I can't believe I paid $52 for this!!

May the force be with you! *dramatic voice*

Alice in Wonderland

I am absolutely absolutely looking forward to Tim Burton's next movie -- Alice in Wonderland! The casting is to die for! Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen, Alan Rickman as the Caterpillar!! (Snape, Snape!) Other cast members include Anne Hathaway and Stephen Fry. Weee!

Can you imagine? The costumes...the props...the makeup! Johnny Depp + Tim Burton = Magic!

A Marshmallow World

The candy-coloured lights hanging from the trees in Orchard and the festive christmas tunes streaming from all the little stalls have put me in an early christmas mood (certainly not the mood for serious studying).

http://www.last.fm/listen/artist/Christmas/similarartists?hp=1

It's a marshmallow world in the winter
When the snow comes to cover the ground
It's the time for play, it's a whipped cream day
I wait for it the whole year round.

Those are marshmallow clouds being friendly
In the arms of the evergreen trees
And the sun is red like a pumpkin head
It's shining so your nose wont freeze.

The world is your snowball, see how it grows
Thats how it goes whenever it snows
The world is your snowball just for a song
Get out and roll it along

It's a yum-yummy world made for sweethearts
Take a walk with your favorite girl
It's a sugar date, what if spring is late
In winter it's a marshmallow world.

L-O-L-A Lola

Love

This one's for you my friend. Some excerpts from the journal articles that ferris passed to me for the lit review. Basically the article i was talking about is about the Self-expansion Model of Love which is based on 3 principles:

1. People seek to expand the self.
   
2. One way they seek to do so is by attempting to include others in the self through close relationships.
   
3. People seek situations and experiences that have become associated with experiences of expansion of self. 

And people fall in love because of:

1. Desirability: Perceived degree of potential expansion of self that is possible thru a close relationship with that particular other.
2. Probability: Perceived probability of actually obtaining that expansion with other (probability that one could actually form and maintain a close relationship with this particular other)

-----> Edit on 17/11: And the above points make alot of sense. For instance, some distant eye-candy crush would be high on desirability, low on probability. And your platonic friend would be low on desirability, high on probability. Makes a bit of sense, no? So when you find someone who scores high on desirability AND probability, then BINGO! You're one lucky dude.

When one initially falls in love, the perceived opportunity for expansion is very great. 

But once established, the rate of expansion inevitably slows down.

The self-expansion model imples that a possible way that couple might avoid the typical decline in satisfaction and love over time would be by associating the partner or the relationship with experiences of expanding. 

Once relationship partners can no longer gain substantial expansion from the development of the relationship (they know each other well), by engaging in expanding activities togehter, they may give the relationship an aura of expansion. Activities that are self-expanding are those that are novel or arousing.

So in the bridge study, male subjects found a woman more attractive when she was met on a scary suspension bridge than when the same woman was met on a safe foot bridge. Meaning that the woman encountered on the suspension bridge may seem to offer more self-expansion, or feelings of arousal.

I would like to elaborate more but there's this kancheong senior who's bugging me to send out a mass email. Next time.

Throw Rocks

Recent interactions with a certain so-and-so have just confirmed my belief that guys are:

• Superficial
• Clueless
  
• Unaware
• Stupid (worse are those who think they are smart when they are just really really daft)
• Desperate
• Let's throw rocks at them. God save me.

Got OBHR?

I got about a little over 2 hours of sleep last night. Stayed up till late compiling, editing, fluffing up, printing the consulting report. Bring on my o level summary skillzz, yo! After that I couldn't fall asleep coz of all the adrenaline from completing the report. Really proud of what our group has come up with...one of the better groups I've had here in smu (excluding the 2 uninvolved foreigners who have done nothing but cause trouble). Here's a little video that we played at the end of our 9 o'clock news show thing. It's supposed to be quite funny. 3 presentations and 1 report down. 3 more reports and 2 dance performances to go! I am Superwoman! (one of my grpmates actually called me this...i think i'm supposed to be flattered.)

Ai shen de jian (aka cupid's arrow)

Yay! Finally found this song, been trying for a long while! Heard it at bern's house, loved it! Love the entire vibe and voice =D so 1950s Shanghai!

Starstruck

"On their fantastic third album, Set Yourself on Fire, Stars build cerebral torch songs out of boy-girl vocals, strings, synths, guitars and the occasional French horn. The music is ornate yet light on its feet, with a communal and almost hippie-ish friendliness behind the lonesome lyrics ("When there is nothing left to burn/You must set yourself on fire"). When Amy Millan sings the dreamy "Ageless Beauty," the effect is psychedelic, like somebody put too much cumin in your valerian-root tea. Stars sound confident enough to set anything on fire. "
- RollingStone (4 star review of Set Yourself on Fire)

Cutest Halloween Costume

Ang Ku Kueh Video v1.0

For my marketing group mates...any comments?

Pilobolus

Check this video out...it's amazing! One of the coolest things I've seen in awhile.

On an unrelated note, bidding for mods is giving me the biggest headache. I've changed my schedule about a million times in the past few days. My plan for no morning lessons has failed...I have to come back to school on Mondays at friggin 8.30 for FT. But at least it'll be with the rest of the IDCFTG and it's only for half a term. And well, I have a 3 day week now, so that's something to look forward to.

And on an even more unrelated note, it seems I always end up being the middleman, regardless of situation (work or non-work related).

Razzle dazzle rose

Razzle dazzle rose was the closing song, and it was truly magical. The kind that makes the hairs on your arm stand. Hearing it live was so amazing, you have no idea, the album one is totally incomparable. The other songs were pretty much like how they sound on the album, which is pretty good for a live gig. Anyway, the entire concert ended much too soon. An 80min performance, and when razzle dazzle rose ended, we weren't sure whether there was gonna be an encore or not. Evidently not the case, we made a mad dash to join the queue for the autographs. Lucky we were quick, still had to wait an entire hour before making it to the table!

Funny moment when the band took a break in the middle of the performance. There'd been an announcement saying that there wasn't an intermission, so when this old-eurasian-bar-singer-looking dude in leathers came on stage, we thought he was some middle act. He even took up one of the guitars and fiddled with it, so the crowd kept cheering madly for him. Only for him to put the guitar back down five minutes later and return backstage, whereby Camera Obscura came back out. He was the guitar tuner!