1) Divergent :-
Yup, you've seen it all right. The Divergent teaser was finally out at the VMA's (Don't mention Miley's performance please) and as a huge fan of the book, I just can't wait for the movie to be released in April. On the other side, the third book to the series - Allegiance is set to be released on my birthday month, October!!! I just don't know why I'm soo into this book. Maybe it's because of its unique plot which relates to the real world in some way. Maybe I see myself partly like Tris, a divergent that cannot be categorised and confined to a group or a set of thinking. But it's interesting to see how this movie plays out as for a plot like this, it requires loads of movie planning (Cheh, like a movie director sia..). Anyhow, just watch the trailer and be excited like me please..
2) Linkin Park!!! :-
It's Linkin Park - Living Things Tour bitches!!!! And thank God for giving me the opportunity (and rezeki) to go see them live in KL. And there I was, on 19th August, on an Aeroline bus to Sunway Pyramid to hook up with my buddy Fabian and home stay at his place for a while. It's a road trip well needed by me after so long getting stuck inside Singapore. Throughout the trip I've experience a little bit of uni life from those "sneak into" uni lectures and meeting up with new guys at Monash university (Yes, that Australian uni..). As for the concert, it's the best concert of my life!!! It's very hard to describe it here but let me give it a shot - Stadium Bukit Jalil is filled with a huge crowd and a mosh pit right in front of the stage. And there was Chester, starting the concert mood with Faint. Then the rest followed - Victimised, Breaking The Habit, Lost In The Echo, Given Up, With You, What I've Done, New Divide and many more. The crew, including Joe Hahn and Mike Shinoda, were going on and on blasting the music, and I had a rocking good time there. And yes, I did that tradition "Mr Brightside" song with Izzat and Fab after the concert (If you know what I mean.. ;)).
3) Small talk and Starbucks :-
So I met this cute girl (who was wearing an SP tee in Malaysia, ironically), who is Fab's long time friend, during my stay in Malaysia. The moment we met, we immediately knew we'll clicked thanks to our mutual enemy - Ben Khor. Yup, I know I know he's an asshole but this blog doesn't have space for him. So as I was saying, the talk continued to a Starbucks nearby Monash University and it was about relationships. Loads of discussion was going on about signalling, letting go, confessions and all those stuff. But the convo came to one interesting point - Questioning a man's move in a situation. So let's put the context in. What if a girl loves you and willing to do anything for you, but you don't really like her? What would you do? Fab gave his defensive to turn her down immediately and end the friendship as it could be awkward. My point of view? To give her a chance. To give the relationship a chance. As it is easier to be loved than chasing after love. If she loves you, then you can learn to love her. You can be sure that her love towards you will never waver. The fact that she loves you means that she's willing to accept you no matter who you are, or were. And face it, not many have that trait nowadays. If the relationship somehow still fails; If you tried to give her and yourself a chance and it didn't work, then it's okay to break. But you can always be good friends, and there's always another time in the future. It was her idea that I've won that argument. But the convo soon swayed to my ex (or you can call it that) and what went wrong. All I can say is that she changed. That's why.. (And nope, that's not the pic of the girl. That's just Fab being a troll, XD)
4) Counterarguments, anomalies and resultant forces :-
So how long do I have left? To be exact - 61 days to my A' levels. And it's not helping that I'm still haunted by my past mistakes in 2011. Yes, the gut feeling is there that I'll do better this time round. But I have done too mistakes to warrant myself a redemption from this years A' Levels. Especially my mum. Oh only God knows how much I've regretted all those times I was defiant and raised my voice against her. It's hard for her to understand that I wanted the best for our family and that I wanted her to wake up from her slumber. But I'm to blame too. There could be a better way to circumvent the issue but I just can't seem to ward off my anger towards her. And I'm sorry, I'm really sorry. I'm getting tired of fighting as though I'm having some psychological problems. And that 61 days should be a full push for the A's. What am I doing to my relationship with my mum?
5) The Essay :-
Keeping with the tradition after that YY incident (for you guys who didn't know, don't ask..), I'll end this post with another GP essay to display. My campmate Dinn commented that I've been using too much "Chim" words in my essay, and that my arguments are vague at best. I don't know as I haven't heard from Arif's side in a long time. So until I hear from him, then I'll make some modifications to my writing methods. So here it is, from the question I attempted during my first A' Levels :-
2011 A’ Levels Paper 1
Can prejudice ever be eliminated?
Prejudice can be defined as an injury or damage resulting from some judgement or actions of another in disregard of one’s right. Revered psychologist Gordon Allport devised the Allport’s Scale of Prejudice in 1954, measuring the manifestation of prejudice in a society. It ranges from antilocution, then avoidance, followed by discrimination, physical attack and finally extermination. This goes to show that prejudice exists in every society, regardless of how diminutive it may be. Hence, to say that prejudice can be eliminated is an ideal. In reality, it is not possible for discrimination to be eradicated completely as it is innate in us to discern and judge others and act upon such thinking.
It can be argued that prejudice against a religion is hard to overcome as it only takes a particular incident or event to sway the mindset of people. These events are ones that shook the world - the 2004 Asian Tsunami or the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. These events serve as a wake-up call to many; It has the power to make people ask questions they never thought about before thus changing their perspective completely. The 9-11 incident in the United States of America and the Bali Bombings in Indonesia had scarred deeply the image of Islam to the world. Islamic groups Al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah had been accused to have masterminded these attacks respectively. The term “Islamophobia” soon became infamous as a result from these incidents. People began to view Islam negatively, relating the religion closely to terms like “extremists” and “terrorists”. But not everyone subscribe to this view completely. Islamic clerics had argued that these events are the work of individuals and groups that had strayed away from the religion completely. It should not be associated with Islam, which had been founded over the belief of peace and preached by Prophet Muhammad. It must also be acknowledge that Islam remains to be the fastest growing religion in the world in face of such discrimination. Thus, it would not make sense for many people to still convert to Islam if they had subscribed to those negative views. Nonetheless, the prejudice against Islam still exist hitherto. It takes years to build up a reputation and seconds to destroy it.
It must be asserted that racial prejudice cannot be eliminated, but rather alleviated. This is because of the deep cultural stigma that a society may have. Efforts can be made by the government of leaders to reduce such prejudice but it is still largely dependent on the mindset of the people. Nelson Mandela had been lauded as the South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, focusing his government on dismantling the Apartheid system through tackling institutionalised racism, poverty and inequality. His efforts and perseverance through the years had given him the opportunity to held CODESA talks in 1991, subsequently negotiating the end of the Apartheid system and a unitary system governed by the majority. However, critics argued that racism is still significant in some parts of South Africa. There are still reports of assaults against the Blacks in the streets and rejections by the Whites to provide services such as healthcare and food to them. This is due to the differentiating cultures held by both the Blacks and the majority Whites, hence making it hard for them to compromise let alone reconcile. Thus, prejudice can only be alleviated rather than eliminated, that too unfortunately to a certain extent.
It is a fantasy for prejudice to be eradicated from our world today. The reality is that prejudice is hard to overcome and we can only mitigate its “hazards”. Optimists may brush off this idea, asserting that there is still hope for reconciliation among everyone and world peace. Be that as it may, it would need everyone to get rid of their inner desire to judge others and this is impossible. As the saying goes - It is easier to move rivers and mountains than to change a person's basic nature.