November Issue - The Ridge

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NUS Sports Awards Music Review: Oasis - Dig Out Your Soul Motorhead

MICA (P) 218/01/2008

02 editorial “I don’t know anything that builds the will to win better than competitive sports.” - Richard M. Nixon While it seems the GOP does not have any words of wisdom to spout for now, mainly concentrating of Bill Ayers, Terrorists and “Real” America, the quote for this issue comes from a famous Republican of years gone. As we look at the NUS Sports Awards [40-43] for the November Issue of the ridge, we can understand why the quote is relevant. We cast special light on the lives of student athletes, how they excel and how they juggle sports and studies. It is important that while we celebrate intellectual achievements and pursuits all year round, it is as important to give due consideration to the athletic feats of NUS’ sportsmen and sportswomen. News brings to light interesting facts about your tuition fees and whose pockets your money ends up lining [08-09]. Read the article to better understand the utilization of “miscellaneous” fees that you see printed on your bills every semester. And as semester winds down and exams loom, the ridge hopes you make it through to the other side to be able to enjoy your winter vacations. For your benefit, both the Central Library and McDonald’s will be helping muggers by changing operational timings to 24 hours a day. If you feel like dropping us a line, the email remains as always [email protected].

design Samyuktha

Hurrairah bin Sohail Chief Editor

Chief Editor Hurrairah bin Sohail

News Jason Hau & Lynette Lim

Creative Director Claryce Lum

Executive Editor (Online) Hannah Yan

Outspoken Kokila Annamalai

Head of Design Samyuktha

Webmaster Ho Yi Jian

Lifestyle Arzish Baaquie

Head of Photography Adi Yoga

Secretary Sowmya Gopi

Transmedia Hurrairah bin Sohail

Copyeditor Suhas Bhat

Treasurer Dennis Phua

Wired Gurmesh Singh

Head of Marketing Tan Huiling

Sports Suhas Bhat

Printed by xpoprint

contents 03 News Over S$500,000 In Their Coffers 8 To Chop or Not To Chop 10 Life After The Hike 12 The Entrepreneurial Hub Of Diversity 14 5 Steps to a Stunning Shine 16 Outspoken Holidays for a Somebody 18 The State of Political Opposition in Singapore 20 Us and Them 22 Is there a C, M, I or O Category in our Love Lives? 24 Transmedia Dig Out Your Soul 26 The Rich, The Poor and the Conniving 27 Lifestyle Zsofi Tapas Bar 34 Wired SmartQ 36 Techbuzz 38 Sports NUS Sports Awards 40 Interview 42 Regulars Feature 4 Two Cent Saloon 6 Photo Story 7 Border Book Review 30 photo sxc.hu

04 feature

In-Fusion @ NUS

Home to a population of over 30,000 students and more than 7,000 staff from over 80 different nations, NUS certainly boasts of a diverse culture and vibrant community. But how much do we actually know about the lifestyles and traditions of our local and international counterparts we mingle with everyday? In-Fusion 2009, an international fiesta organized jointly by the Office of Student Affairs and the NUSSU International Relations Committee, promises to provide the ideal platform for crosscultural interaction, promoting cultural awareness, and appreciating the multitude of nationalities that congregate at NUS. Spread over three days, the event will showcase the unique and diverse elements of the variety of cultures that thrive at NUS.

photo Aldo Dennis Joson

design fabian kong

It will aim to encourage the exchange of ideas and opinions, transcending all barriers of language, ethnicity, and faith, to enable us to evolve into a truly global community. The theme of In-Fusion 2009 is to inculcate and ingrain in the students the concept of ‘ONE-US’, which signifies the essence of unity in diversity. It encourages the forging of new friendships, and

photo Ravin Wimalagunawardhana

text Vani Goyal | [email protected] | Modhurima Deyali Khan | [email protected]

renewal of old ties to give us a new perspective on the world, whereby we don’t put aside our differences, but stand unified as ‘ONE-US’ despite those differences. To get a better perspective of what In-Fusion 2009 is likely to have in store, let us take a sneak peek at In-Fusion 2008. For those who had experienced the fun, you can be assured that it certainly won’t be the “same-old-thing” again, and you will be in for yet another unforgettable experience. And for those who are still to witness the joie-de-vivre (joy of life) of the NUS community, we hope that we can give you a convincing view of the fiesta through this narrative. The international fest usually has two distinct elements - the International Fair and the International Students’ Night. For In-Fusion 2009, the International Fair (Bazaar) will be held from 4th-5th February at the Central Forum and The International Students’ Night on the 6th of February at the University Cultural Centre Hall.

At In-Fusion 2008, the International Fair, held at the Central Forum came to life with enthusiastic participants and guests from all over campus, and beyond. The early birds got to watch the Opening Ceremony which showcased a flag parade of the nations represented at the university, and splendid performances by some of our local and international students. Booths bedecked with displays, souvenirs, and delicacies from different countries showcased their ethnic diversity and provided opportunities for the students to try on exquisite costumes from those countries. One could conduct photo shoots at a photo-corner, or try out an assortment of culinary delights from various parts of the globe at the ‘Taste-the-World’ booth. In-Fusion 2009 promises to be even more exciting and intriguing than before, so make sure you come down to savor the flavors of a diverse global society! The highlight of In-Fusion 2008 was the International Students’ Night, which commemorated the event with an extraordinary display of the multi-cultural facet of NUS, in the form of spectacular presentations by each of the participating countries. It was a celebration where the beauty of different cultures was appreciated through a magnificent fusion of stage performances, which left the audience filling the night air with resounding cheers and applauses. In-Fusion 2009’s International Students’ Night, which has the theme ‘Couleurs de la Vie’, or ‘Colours of Life’, shall indeed be a must-watch for all performing arts enthusiasts and everyone else as one seldom gets the opportunity to watch artistic performances from so many countries on one single platform. So do make a date to get In-Fused with us next February and celebrate the gamut of cultures encompassed by the institution!

photo Aldo Dennis Joson

feature 05

“

It will aim to encourage the exchange of ideas and opinions, transcending all barriers of language, ethnicity, and faith, to enable us to evolve into a truly global community.

”

06 news

Two Cent Saloon Lets go back to the start. text Lynette Lim | [email protected]

When I was young, I used to change my mind so often as to what I wanted to be when I grew up, that I think by the time I entered my teens, I had almost all possible occupations covered at least once in my life. Today, about ten years later, I find myself in the exact same position. I want to be a doctor as I watch Dr. Gregory House M.D. solve medical mysteries in 40 minute episodes; then the next, I find myself imagining how it would be like to pace the courtroom in the likeness of Alan Shore or Denny Krane. The list goes on. This November, the fourth-years at the National University of Singapore are preparing to enjoy themselves as much as they can in their last school holiday. Only a quarter of us are moving toward another step in life, yet we are all equally close to adulthood, no matter which year we are in. Yet how many of us know where we will be ending up at the end of our four or three year journeys here? How many of us who are not forced to leave and to enter society know what we want? Singaporean youth live in a comfortable state of buoyancy for about 12 years, knowing exactly where they would be going next, from primary to secondary school, then to junior colleges or polytechnics. Then the bomb is dropped on them – moving to university, every step they take will lead to greater consequences than they can imagine, and every step will find them moving closer in a certain direction, or moving closer to having no direction at all. Is our structured education system too cleverly systematic and taken for granted? In an article by Grace Ng in The Straits Times on Aug 11, it was said that Generation-Y workers “agonise over self-fulfilment, job mobility, quarter-life crises and other concepts that their parents never heard of”. Yet can this general lack of direction or passion of our youth really be blamed on our education system? After all, no institution or system could take a dream away if you are truly passionate and dedicated to it. There are such people in Singapore today – with such certain and clear passions and directions in life, chasing after those dreams without qualms or fear. I envy such people.

design Hurrairah bin Sohail

We, as undergraduates, should be starting to think of these issues of life that will determine our lives. Perhaps it is too late to do anything now, but it is always better late than never.

news 07

Organised Milo Madness text & photo Jason Hau | [email protected]

The presence of the bright green Milo truck outside the Central Forum inevitably draws a big crowd of people to it, like burnt investors to a Tan Kin Lian organized ‘protest’ at Singapore’s Speakers’ Corner. The truck, with its delicious (and free) drink, has also become a bright spot in an otherwise dreary undergraduate’s day; a gathering point for socializing and meeting friends that one may otherwise not see for days. The Milo truck – driving NUS students together and onwards. “Training is everything. The peach was once a bitter almond; cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education.” Mark Twain

08 news

Over $500,000 in their coffers.. We bet you had no idea.

All full-time students at the National University of Singapore (NUS) pay a subscription fee to the students’ union as part of their university fees for each academic year.

Instead, it is categorised as one of the four items under “Student Activity and Services Fees” that is displayed in the bill. Other charges included under that category are a one-time membership fee to the union, bus shuttle fees and sports facilities charges. This detailed breakdown is available only in a document titled “Undergraduate Students: Mandatory Miscellaneous Fees Per Annum”, buried within the Registrar’s Office’s website. The document quotes the subscription fee to the union to be $24 per year. Students approached by the ridge expressed surprise at the charges. “I did not even know that I have been paying that fee,” said Lim Xiao Yen, a second-year science student.

Registration

“Although it is just $24 per year, considering that there are so many students, this will amount to a relatively big sum of money,” added Lim. The consolidated fee is indeed not small. An enrollment of 24,086 full-time undergraduates this semester, statistics taken from website of the Registrar’s Office, will amount to approximately $578,064 for the NUS Students’ Union (NUSSU). According to the 29th NUSSU Annual General Meeting Report 2007/2008, the union’s expenses consist generally of manpower, rental, printing and publicity expenses. Outgoing Honorary Financial Secretary Amy Leo also stated in the report that the consolidated Union budget is subject to

$15

$15

design Carol Lim

Student Activity and Services Membership to the Student’s Union (NUSSU)

$10

NUSSU Annual Subsciption

$24

Sports

$24

Transport (Internal Shuttles)

$30

$12

photo https://share.nus.edu.sg/registrar/info/ug/UGMMF.pdf

This fee is not reflected in the student bill.

text Eileen Poh | [email protected]

news 09

approval from the Office of Student Affairs and Office of Financial Services.

can at least showing that they care about how their members feel,” he added.

Third-year economics student, Elaine Tan, sees the underlying issue here one of “transparency”.

Despite the call for greater transparency, students nevertheless acknowledge the union’s efforts in the recent semesters.

“We have a right to know how our money is being used,” she said. “They should provide a breakdown of these miscellaneous charges in the online bill,” said third-year Arts student Alex Yeo. “Or at least, they should provide a link in the bill to the document at the Registrar’s Office’s website which explains the charges.” “A lot of students feel very detached from NUSSU, so by being more transparent, NUSSU

“I think they did a great job improving Bus 151 and the S/U policy,” said Yeo. NUSSU had earlier worked with NUS Office of Estate and Development and SBS Transit Ltd to increase the frequency and number of air-conditioned buses for Bus 151. On a separate account, the union had also convinced university administration to extend the choice of exercising the Satisfactory/ Unsatisfactory Option after release of results to senior students.

photo sxc.hu

Message from NUSSU We would like to highlight that the 10 faculty clubs, 4 non-faculty clubs and NUSSU Executive Committee form the National University of Singapore Students’ Union (NUSSU). Hence, we would also to clarify that the subscription fee that is made to students’ union is being shared among NUSSU constituent clubs and NUSSU Exco. The subscription fee is used to improve the interest and welfare of our NUS undergraduates and introduce campus vibrancy through adding more well-rounded activities for our students’ personal development. It is also worthy to note that each NUSSU member works on a limited budget, but thankfully with enthusiastic marketing wing of each NUSSU member, we can bring interesting and beneficial events to add colours to NUS students’ life. Should any NUS undergraduate be really interested in finding out how subscription fee is being utilized, NUSSU Exco has always welcome (in fact, strongly encourage) all NUS undergraduates to attend the annual general meeting, where the honorary financial secretary will present the audited financial statements. NUSSU Exco has maintains reasonable standard of transparency, where all its accounts and financial statements are audited by professional auditor. The subscription fees utilized by NUSSU Exco are majorly used to pay the rental and utilities of the office premises, printing of students’ publications and organizing of students’ events.

10 news

To ‘chop’ or not to ‘chop’

text Chrissy Phoong | [email protected] photo Chrissy Phoong, NUSSU SAVE

A PARADOXICAL SCRUTINY of the ‘NUS Fights Climate Change’ banner opposite The Deck overshadowed by chopped tree fragments in the background was featured in the September issue of the ridge. It sparked sardonic responses and confusion amongst the minority group of environmentally conscious students in the National University of Singapore (NUS). Goh Kuan Hoong, a second-year Communications and New Media student said, “It was a Saturday when I realized that the large tree disappeared. I assume it had fell down, not chopped.” Another response was an anonymously written ‘Fight Climate Change, Cut More Trees’ note pasted on the pillar of the entrance to the Deck, near the featured banner and chopped tree. “There was no information justifying the tree-cutting in The Deck,” said second-year bioengineering major, Swati Jain. “It is no wonder we got the wrong impression about the implementation of the NUS environment policy.”

design Carol Lim

For those who are unaware, in the NUS

“The real issue that is now under the spotlight is the absence of any dissemination of information by the relevant parties, which invoked unnecessary confusion amongst environmentallyaware students”

Environmental Policy, NUS had pledged to “protect, preserve and enhance the natural environment of the campus” along with 7 other goals. Not the first to question the contradictory nature of this issue, first-year FASS undergraduate Xiu Xiang remarked, “Whatever NUS does, there should be a reason behind it”. When consulted, a representative from Office of Estate and Development (OED) explained, “After discussing with NParks, it was decided that the 30-metre tree was to be removed for public safety reasons.” “The tree was precariously located at the edge of the slope near to the highly frequented Arts Canteen.

news 11

Anyway, the tree species has been blacklisted as ‘undesirable’ by NParks as a public hazard”, he added. Associate Professor Hugh Tan from the Department of Biological Sciences, who specializes in botany, agreed with OED’s decision to remove the tree. “The tree which was chopped was the notorious albizia, Falcataria moluccana which fell and killed a woman in Bukit Batok last year.” “The problem with the albizia is that it is a very large tree that can grow very fast. Therefore, it has very weak roots, making it very susceptible to natural tree fall”. After learning the reason behind the cutting, Ong Jiewei, the Chairperson of NUSSU SAVE said, “As a SAVE member, I am definitely upset that the tree was cut, especially since the campaign was only recently launched”. “However, this is NUS, a human community and where there are humans, safety is usually the most important aspect of consideration”, he further adds. Third-year Economics major, Citra Anggreny Darmawan concurred, “Safety would definitely come first if compared with conservation.” Nevertheless, the issue here is no longer about the removal of a tree labeled a safety hazard by NParks. The real issue that is now under the spotlight is the absence of any dissemination of information by the relevant parties, which invoked unnecessary confusion amongst environmentally-aware students. “Maybe the parties involved assume that this was a trivial matter and that students wouldn’t bother about it,” commented Tong Yiu Yan, Chairperson of the Environmental Science and Engineering Club.

In his first State of the University Address on Oct 10, 2008, President Professor Tan Chorh Chuan said that the key to transforming NUS would be for its people to strive to be self-surpassing and professional. Benjamin Teo Yu Han, second-year Engineering Science student commented, “Since this was causing misunderstandings, explanations should have been given. They should have been more professional in dealing with this situation.” Heather Chi, a second-year Geography major added, “I feel OED should have sent a circular prior to and during the cutting, informing all students about their decision.” “I’m sure they did not anticipate the angry response because they didn’t take into consideration both the strong stance that SAVE takes to deforestation, as well as students’ feeling of ownership to the school and its flora.” “I hope it doesn’t happen again.”

hi

ife after the

ke

12 news

text Chin Mei Kuan | [email protected]

It has been more than half a semester since the much-debated accommodation fee hike. the ridge checks in on a few international and local undergraduates who are living on campus to find out how they have coped with the increase in fees. For second-year bioengineering major, Phoong Yoke Xi, it is life as usual. While she was initially surprised by the announcement of a fee hike, Phoong, who has lived in King Edward VII Hall for the past year, said that she has not made many changes to her lifestyle.

$$$

t

She felt that students from families in the middle class income group should not be neglected in the assistance scheme. Noting that even though these families “do not earn that little”, she said that such households are likely to feel the squeeze from the hostel fee increase too. Iu agreed that more assistance from the NUS administration can be offered.

2

“I have heard from many of my friends that they could not get a room on campus and that rental charges of HDB flats have been extremely high for the past year,” she said.

4

“As international students, we have no choice. And fee hike or not, NUS residences are still the best choices of accommodation possible,” she said.

However, things are different for Iu Wai Yee, also an international student who has been living on campus for the past three years. The third-year sociology major has been giving tuition daily since the start of the semester to reduce the financial burden on her family. Her busy schedule has taken a toll on her academic work load. “My sleeping hours have been largely affected too,” she admitted.

t

A Temasek Hall resident into her second semester of living on campus, who has declined to be named, also admitted to changing her lifestyle as a result of the fee hike.

design felicia ong

“I try to be more frugal and I took up a tuition job to ease the burden on my parents,” she said. Describing her initial stunned reaction to the fee hike announcement, the second-year undergraduate felt that “assistance (offered to residents by the school for campus accommodation) is still limited to those whose family earn very little.”

“They are having financial difficulties but even if they apply for financial aid, there is a little chance of them getting it. They are very upset that the school did not offer to help,” she added. Second-year nursing student, Alicia Ng, who has been living on campus for three semesters, said that she did not receive any information on assistance being offered to the affected students. She recalled receiving a mass email from the Office of Student Affairs to inform all residents on the fee increase. “And in that email or subsequent emails, I do not remember any form of subsidy introduced to help residents tide over the fee hike,” she added.

For her, there has not been much change in her lifestyle since her parents are paying for hostel fees. However, she noted that some of her friends who were staying in halls last semester chose not to do so this time round because “it became even more expensive to stay in hall after the hike”. “They felt that it will be cheaper and more moneywise to spend on transport than the convenience of staying in hall.”

news 13 Summary of Rates (With Effect From 4 August 2008) Room Sem 1 Sem 2 Rates (18 weeks) (17 weeks) per room room week rates rates

Meal Plans per semester (17 weeks)

Residences

Capacity

S

D

Type

Eusoff Hall (EH)

485

345

70

S D

$75 $50

$1,350 $900

$1,275 $850

Breakfast, Dinner 6 days : $381.99*

Kent Ridge Hall (KR)

507

507

0

S

$75

$1,350

$1,275 $850

Breakfast, Dinner 6 days : $381.99*

King Edward VII (KE)

470

350

60

S D

$75 $50

$1,350 $900

$1,275 $850

Breakfast, Dinner 6 days : $381.99*

Raffles Hall (RH)

469

213

128

S D SD

$75 $50 $90

$1,350 $900 $1,620

$1,275 $850

Breakfast, Tea, Dinner 6 days : $472.94*

Sheares Hall (SH)

514

514

0

S

$75

$1,350

$1,275

Breakfast, Dinner 6 days : $381.99*

Temasek Hall (TH)

485

345

70

S D

$75 $50

$1,350 $900

$1,275 $850

Breakfast, Dinner 6 days : $381.99*

Ridge View Residences (RV)

737

593

72

S D

$75 $50

$1,350 $900

$1,275 $850

Self-catering

Kuok Foundation House (KFH)

203

203

0

S

$75

$1,350

$1,275

Self-catering

Prince George’s Park Residences (PGPR)

2854

2854

0

A B C

$140 $80 $75

$2,520 $1,440 $1,350

$2,380 $1,360 $1,275

Self-catering

Additional information from Residential Services FAQ: http://www.nus.edu.sg/osa/housing/faq/ug.html

Other Applicable Charges include: • $26.75* Electrical Charges, • $5.35* Registration

Financial assistance for students who are unable to meet the hostel fees Students who require financial aid for their living and/or accommodation expenses and meet the award criteria may be offered, by the University’s Financial Aid Unit, a financial aid package comprising (1) the NUS Study Loan which provides a living allowance of S$3,600 a year; (2) a bursary of up to $2000 a year; (3) a subsistence loan and/or work-study assistance. For more details kindly contact Student Aid Unit at [email protected] (email) or 6516 2870.

photo www.groz.deviantart.com

LEGEND A - Aircon, Attached Bathroom B - With Washbasin C - Standard S, SD - Single Occupancy D - Double Occupancy

14 news

The Entrepreneurial Hub of Diversity text & photo Jane Antony | [email protected]

Entrepreneurship is more than just the assumption of risk and responsibility in designing and implementing business strategy. At the National University of Singapore (NUS), entrepreneurial activities play a vital role in the student community. The dynamism and drive contained by the student population has resulted in the diversification of entrepreneurial organizations within the NUS community. Societies like the Business Incubation of Global Organisations and NUS Entrepreneurship Society each have their own arrays of activities that define the entrepreneurial spirit on campus. Joining the league of these societies is the Talent Ideas Enterprise (TiE). TiE is an entrepreneurial organisation meant to bring together those interested in the creation of economic value to share ideas and to foster the entrepreneurship spirit.

design felicia ong

Originally established in 1992 in the Silicon Valley region, it has spread to cover 49 chapters in 11 countries. TiE was established in NUS in September 2008 through the formation of the TiE Youth Team.

The speakers, Mr. R. Narayanmohan and Mr. Rohit Ambekar, are successful professionals and nurture a common vision on fostering entrepreneurship globally.

The TiE Youth Team organized their first studentlevel introductory talk that was held on Oct 23 at Lecture Theatre 18.

Mr. Narayanamohan is the head of Natarajan & Swaminathan, an accounting firm, and is also a pioneer in social entrepreneurship.

The talk started off with a brief introduction on TiE and its history, and it was rounded off with a question and answer session with the speakers.

Mr. Ambekar is the Managing Director of J. Robert Scott, an executive search firm. He has over a decade of experience in leading cross-border executive searches.

news 15

He spoke of innovation in designing products that do not damage the environment and elaborated on the profitability of using energy from used bio-resources.

Pranay Puranik, a first-year Engineering undergraduate, hopes to do a minor in Business as he believes enterprise is a key factor to success.

Yet entrepreneurship is far from removed from the life of a student.

“A minor in Business will not only teach me the technical know-how for a management situation, but it will also help me develop good people skills,” he said.

“Entrepreneurship plays an integral role in the everyday life of a student. One has to look at a situation from multiple angles and analyze the impact of a resolution,” said Mr. Ambekar. “Entrepreneurship instills a different horizon of perspective in the mind of a student.” Mr. Narayanmohan added, “After all, to exist, one changes; and to change, one matures; and to mature, one innovates.” “As people we grow and we go on creating oneself endlessly.” Exchange students from New Zealand, Ipshita, a biotechnology major and Raphael, an undergraduate at FASS, felt that that while their majors have little to do with entrepreneurship, it plays a major role in every field of work.

The fascination with entrepreneurship is felt by students even outside the Faculty of Business Administration. “Having strong roots in business and management gives students an edge in terms of employability,” said Mr. Kuldip Singh, Assistant Executive Director of TiE. This entrepreneurial spirit is recognised by NUS, and programmes like the NUS Overseas College Program (NOC) are provided for students who wish to develop in that area. Natrajan Srinivasan, a first-year Electrical Engineering undergraduate, believes that building professional relations with people is vital. “Making the most of university life would definitely involve a NOC program at the Silicon Valley,” he said.

16 motorhead

In this new segment, the ridge brings to you everything and anything car-related. This month, we will show you five basic steps to achieve a beautiful showroom shine on your own without any specialised equipment. Believe it! text & photo Jason Hau | [email protected]

photo www.carcareadvice.co.uk

photo www.gowanuslongue.com

1 Wash

Dirt is often the biggest cause of swirl and scratch marks. Use a wash mitt or sponge with a good, non-acidic car shampoo and gently wash the dirt off the car body after an initial rinse to wash away bigger particles. Don’t forget to clean your rims with a separate sponge. Brake dust will accumulate over time and turn your rims black. After the wash, use a soft micro-fiber or waffle-weave cloth to dry your vehicle thoroughly. If the water droplets are allowed to dry naturally, they will leave sediments that will be etched into your car paint, commonly known as water stains.

2 Clay

This innocuous piece of clay is one of the biggest open secrets in the detailing world. Everyday that your car is exposed to the elements, dirt, tar and other assorted junk will become ‘stuck’ on the surface of your car’s paintwork. If you run your hand along the painted surface and it feels sandy, you probably need to clay your car. Use a spray bottle with a bit of car shampoo mixed in to lubricate the surface, gently slide the claybar in any one direction. It is just like using an eraser. Remember to mould the clay to a clean section after each panel and keep it wet to avoid scratching your car. After claying, your car’s paint surface should feel very smooth.

photo Chevrolet Singapore

5 Steps to a Stunning Shine

motorhead 17

3 Polish

By now, your car should be as smooth as a baby’s skin, Now use a fine polish/cleaner to remove any particles embedded within the paintwork itself. Many people think that polishing and waxing are the same, but in fact, they are different steps in the detailing world. Dampen your wax applicator and apply the polish to the car panel by panel. You are not required to use too much strength here. After you have polished the entire car, use a clean and dry microfiber cloth to buff away the polish. You will notice that the car is beginning to shine. This is because most of the sediments that have dulled the shine have been removed.

4 Wax

Many reputable brands have a decent wax to use for protecting the layer of clear coat on your car’s surface. I would suggest a Brazilian carnauba wax to achieve the high-gloss, wet look. Both liquid and paste forms of wax will work just as well. Use a new applicator, dampened with the water/ shampoo mix, and apply the wax like how you did with the polish. After you are done, allow the wax to haze (turn cloudy white, see picture, left) before you buff it off. Feel free to experiment on how long to let the wax haze, as different waxes will produce different results.

5 Seal

The final step is to seal all the wax in with a sealant so that it will last. Again, simply follow the same steps you have taken for polishing and waxing. In today’s market, there are products that combine waxing and sealing together, so it is possible to skip this step. You should have spent around two to three hours slaving over your car, and your arms should feel like they are dropping off. However, sitting right in front of you is a bright, shining, wet-look glossy vehicle that looks like it just came out from the showroom and suddenly all the fatigue will go away.

Many thanks to Chevrolet for their help in this article. Watch out for the review of the Chevy Aveo5 in our next issue! Have any comments? Visit our online portal at www.ridgeonline.wordpress.com today.

design felicia ong

The wax should last for around two to three months in our local weather conditions before it has to be topped up. Wash your car at least once a week to protect the paint work and enjoy the stares of envious car owners as you drive along the roads.

18 outspoken

Holidays for a Som To have an all-rounded university experience, you can’t take vacations. text Dan Bee Shin | [email protected]

Being a person who has always actively participated in co-curricular activities throughout school, enjoying discovering my potential in various aspects of sports and the arts, and relishing in new and exciting experiences involved with participating in different activities, I looked forward to university because it meant all this and much more. Imagine my ambitiondriven joy when I walked down the maze of student societies and clubs at the matriculation fair, happily giving out contact details to every clipboard that materialised in front of me. There were sports I had only ever heard about, plays for which I was already mouthing passionate soliloquies. With my plastic bagfuls of brochures and leaflets, I walked out as a freshly matriculated student of NUS, returning to my room to obediently wait for my inbox to fill. The NUS email inbox is a magical little thing. It incessantly fills up with news of recruiting events and rehearsals and tryouts, most of which I never remember signing up for. Instead of marking them as spam, however, I harvested information and planted the favourites into my calendar, hoping they would not clash with my academic schedule.

design Claryce Lum

“I just want to be someone, experimenting in that clichéd search for an inner identity – without having to give up my vacations.”

Unfortunately, I need not have worried. Too soon I learned that my idea of commitment rarely mirrored the expectations of the organizations I so eagerly met with. It was not that I did not want to give them my time – in fact, I was so confident of my time management and organisational skills that I felt offended when they were questioned in relation to the demanding academic workload so typical of NUS – it was just that there was no way I was going to sacrifice my vacations for these activities. Regardless of whether I return home (being an international student), travel elsewhere, or even stay in Singapore, I want to spend my holidays the way I feel they are meant to be spent: on holiday, away from the routines of university and life on campus. Unfortunately, it was apparent that I was expected to remain on campus if I were to play as active a role as I wished in co-curricular activities. My first views of the NUS campus were from inside a taxi, as I and my airport-fresh suitcases were dropped off at my residential hall. I remember being surprised at the amount of activity on campus even though the term was not due to begin for more than another two weeks. There were people everywhere – they were training for inter-varsity sports tournaments and preparing for conferences amongst the many other activities which if you want to be a part of, you cannot take off on the allocated holiday the university gives you.

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mebody Yes, it is perfectly practical for students to do during their vacations what they cannot do during term time because of various constraints and higher priorities. Of course everyone is free to decide what to do during his or her holidays. Holidays are there to be enjoyed, to be spent in recreation and celebration, and no one can decide what these constitute for someone else. However, I cannot help but feel that there could be a system whereby students are not deprived of major university events simply because they take place during university vacations. How can an athlete perform as part of a team when he has missed out on three months of training sessions? How can an actress step up to the stage if she cannot make it to the rehearsals, despite the fact that she was a favourite at the audition?

Hopefully, a day will come in the near future when my email trashcan no longer resembles my first semester’s inbox; when I can stop reminding myself to start my interviews, auditions and tryouts with the warning that I will not be around during vacations. As just another student among the almost thirty thousand students at NUS, I’m no longer looking to be one of ‘those people’ from high school, who were the stars of every show, the pride of every tournament. I just want to be someone, experimenting in that clichéd search for an inner identity – without having to give up my vacations.

photo www.sxc.hu

Admittedly, this is an issue that affects international students more than it does locals, as they are typically more likely to leave the country over holidays. Nonetheless, all students have the right to a true vacation, time off from university life. All students also have the right to as complete a university experience as they wish. Neither of these rights should have to be compromised for the other.

20 outspoken

The state of political opposition in Singapore Do you care?

text Helen Victoria Scida | [email protected]

If you had been in school on September 11th, you might have met Dr Chee Soon Juan and other members of the Singapore Democratic Party distributing SDP flyers. You might even have spoken to him – those that did asked him, among other things, about the state of political apathy rampant among most Singaporeans, students in particular. As reported on the Singapore Democrats website, Dr Chee had this to say: “From years of authoritarian rule where students have been cowed into silence, we have bred a very unhealthy university culture.” From a quick Google of blog entries about the SDP’s visit to NUS, it is evident that quite a stir was created. One anonymous student wrote that the “whole day long, people in tutorials and lectures were talking about it”.

design fabian kong

What is it about the SDP members’ visit that got everyone talking? Was it the way the campus security quickly stepped in to stop the distribution of flyers? Or was it, later on, the fact that NTU’s campus newspaper had been censored to prevent the report of the SDP’s visit to their university? Was it just the break in mundane campus life, giving people something to talk about? The sad thing is that most of us would have forgotten all about it by the next day. Singaporeans are remarkably politically apathetic, and for a country that has had the same political party ruling it since independence in 1965, it is no surprise. My own mother, who is 51, has only had to vote twice in her life: once for her constituency and once for the general elections. This is not borne out of neglect or indifference – those are the only two times she was required to vote due to walkovers in every

“

The only way to ensure that the ruling party is kept on its toes is to have a healthy, active and competent opposition.

”

other election. Perhaps that is why we are all agog with the drama unfolding over the American presidential elections: not only do Americans get to choose, really choose, their leadership, their elections are held in such a way that is so vastly different from our own. Nothing is sacred; insults are flung, gauntlets are thrown down, but nobody gets sued for defamation! With the recent passing of JB Jeyaratam and the less-than-warm official responses from government officials – focusing more on the differences between the PAP and JBJ’s (as he was affectionately known) party, The Workers’ Party, and the times JBJ has been sued or been to jail for political reasons – yet another facet of Singapore’s political opposition came to light. Are we not giving our political opposition due recognition and consideration? JBJ was widely respected both in Singapore and abroad – prompting tributary reports in such regional and global publications such as The Wall Street Journal Asia and The Economist upon his passing. In an online Straits Times piece, it was reported that about 1300 people had attended JBJ’s wake, and that “from the messages in the condolence book, it would seem that many

Singaporeans agreed that Mr Jeyaretnam had indeed fought the good fight”. Even one of his political opponents had praise for him. Mr Teo Chong Tee, a PAP MP for Changi for 20 years, said he “respected the late JBJ as a political opponent who possessed very strong will-power to fight for what he believed in” and that “Mr Jeyaretnam’s perseverance was a quality that aspiring young politicians here should emulate”. That is one thing that the most high-profile members of opposition parties do have – perseverance. Both JBJ and Chee Soon Juan have been sued and declared bankrupt multiple times over the decades, and neither is a stranger to prison. As The Economist reported, “in all, Mr Jeyaretnam calculated that over the years he paid out more than S$1.6m in damages and costs, sometimes for remarks that in many democracies would not lead to libel actions but be regarded as part of the cut-and-thrust of parliamentary politics”. For all of this, and no matter how one might disagree with their views or tactics, it is admirable the way they have stuck to their guns, never giving up. And indeed, maybe that is the reason why most people shy away from opposition parties – they certainly do not mince their words. Singaporeans are not quite used to raw, accusatory and impassioned speeches against the political party which many hold to be the reason why Singapore is what it is today. Perhaps incendiary language is necessary, to jolt us out of our stupor; and then again, maybe

opposition parties need to learn how to play the game better. But for opposition parties to be effective at all they need to be able to cut close to the heart of important issues by being able to say what they need to say. The only way to ensure that the ruling party is kept on its toes is to have a healthy, active and competent opposition. What is in our best interests is a government that can weather criticism by letting its actions speak for itself; being corruption-free and as truly democratic as possible. For that to happen we, as the future leaders of Singapore, need to shake off our apathy and recognise that we have a part to play in shaping our world through the development of a strong civil society - whether with the PAP or against it, and in whatever way we can.

photo angelslildevil.deviantart.com

photo horexakias.deviantart.com

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22 outspoken

Us Them and

illustration www.theispot.com

Maybe it’s not as easy as John Lennon suggested

design Toan

text Selina | [email protected]

They are everywhere now. This is the typical lament of many Singaporeans regarding the current influx of foreign “talents”. The higher the number of foreigners, the louder the indignation against them. Amongst the different groups of foreigners that Singaporeans harbour disdain for, the target group that is currently popular is that of the Chinese nationals. Common reasons given by the pedestrian on the street would be their habits – they spit, they talk loudly, they are unrefined etc. Though most of us would like to claim that we are open-minded and accepting of different sorts of people, we might find, if we dig deep into our innermost prejudices, that xenophobia rears its ugly head. Most of us have at least passed snickering

comments about these “imports” (the derogatory term Singaporeans use on foreigners), if not felt threatened by their presence. As cynical as it may sound, everyone has prejudices and it is common for it to be geared towards people who are different, be it nationality or ethnicity. In a utopian world, everyone would be free of prejudices and look beyond skin colour, or in this case, passport colour. But not just yet. We scoff at these foreigners and by doing so distance ourselves from them, thus creating a kind of social hierarchy that makes us feel superior to

outspoken 23 them. We declare ourselves first class citizens, our needs and wants preceding those of foreign workers. It is quite primal for us to want to “mark” our territories. As much as John Lennon would like us to believe that “there’re no countries”, and thus no boundary markers that get us defensive, or offensive in the case of more violent measures, what would the world be like if there were no idea of “home”? I imagine there would be barely any sense of security, pride or nostalgia. There is nothing wrong with identifying with something to make us feel rooted. It is unfortunate, however, that there is a downside to this, which includes getting huffy when we see more foreigners than locals at every corner, or that there is a disproportionate number of foreigners representing us at the Olympics.

illustration www.theispot.com

A world where everyone was equal in everyone’s eyes would not be so much fun. Can you imagine not being able to make “A Singaporean, Malaysian and American are

on a sinking ship…” jokes? TV shows like Family Guy would have to be banned, and stand-up comedians like Chris Rock and Russell Peters would have to find something else to do for a living. Having worked as a temp sales girl previously, I realized that it is a norm for salespeople to make fun of certain shoppers based on their nationality. But in our defense, we were bored, we needed something to bond over and prejudices were seldom acted out. And in turn, our service standards got made fun of, so… Of course, prejudice in its more serious aspects is dangerous to society’s well-being, but distinct identities are important in forging a sense of oneness amongst a group of people. It is a sad fact that a large part of this identity and the security that comes along with it stem from picking on members of other groups.

foreigners too. Our “kiasuism” and Singlish have been the bottom of many jokes. As long as everyone knows where to stop and do not overstep the line between harmless fun and serious bias, we should be just fine. It is about time we learnt to suck it up and face the fact that national boundaries are getting blurred and people will take our jobs, eat our food, and laugh at us the same way we laugh at them. In the meantime, we can all hope to make John Lennon’s “Imagine” a goal, but understand that it may never happen. While I could have sworn Ronald Reagan stole my musings on how everyone would put aside their differences when aliens attacked Earth, I am not too keen on any alien invasion that bears resemblance to that in War of the Worlds.

Getting back to our “import” problem, it is not like Singaporeans are not mocked at by these

Can you imagine not being able to make “A Singaporean, Malaysian and American are on a sinking ship…” jokes?

24 outspoken

Is there a C, M , I or O category in our love lives? My mom says yes. text Heshani Jayawikrama | [email protected]

Stemming from a society where there is a constant tug-of-war between conservatism and modernity, our lives are inevitably entangled with things beyond our control. As young adults, being in a relationship with someone from a different ethnicity is one of many idiosyncrasies that we face. Inter-ethnic or otherwise, relationships are what you make of them. Every relationship comes with its own baggage of compromises and issues. Differences arising from one’s cultural upbringing, personality trends, and parental influence constitute as heavy challenges, all of which are associated with belonging to different ethnicities. We continue to debate with our parents on how ‘times have changed’, we repeatedly tell ourselves that being in a multi-cultural society, we should be open to change and diversity; and yet, many of us think twice about being in an inter-ethnic relationship and dealing with the drama that follows.

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Conducting several casual interviews with students who are or have been involved in inter-ethnic relationships brought certain interesting points to light. Most emphasized on the importance of being of the same religion rather than being of the same ethnicity, stating that they can better adapt to cultural differences rather than religious differences. It was also evident that parents’ approval had a significant impact upon the success of an inter-ethnic relationship; some had to end their relationships solely based on parental pressure.

Another interesting phenomenon observed was the composition of inter-ethnic relationships on a day-today basis. Majority of Chinese boys tend not to have relationships with Indian girls. However, the trend is reversed when it comes to Indian boys showing interest in Chinese girls. According to the inter-ethnic marriages statistics under the Women’s charter 2007, out of a total number of 1413 Chinese grooms only 32 were married to brides of Indian origin in contrast to 133 out of 277 Indian grooms married to Chinese brides. After much probing and persistence on my part – to explain the Sociology behind this intriguing statistic – the majority of the Chinese male interviewees admitted to being influenced by the way they were brought up and their mothers’ mindsets. Also, there is the obvious explanation that there is a much smaller pool of Indian girls than there are Chinese ones. That said, ethnicity is a small barrier for two people in love. In fact, it is fascinating to experience different cultural practices, cuisine, music, tastes and preferences. A majority of the interviewees shared this opinion stating that as long as both parties are open minded and are comfortable with compromising on their differences, half the battle is won.

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Most emphasized on the importance of being of the same religion rather than being of the same ethnicity, stating that they can better adapt to cultural differences rather than religious differences.

However, it is important to take a step back and analyze where you as an individual stand in a relationship that carries this heavy load of expectations from your partner. If he or she wants to change everything which defines who you are, including your cultural tastes and religious beliefs, it is worth considering what exactly he or she is in love with you for. If you are unable to stomach ethnic differences and respect your partner’s beliefs it is better to step back and move on. Also, what is undeniable is the role our parents continue to play in our lives. It may seem effortless at first to walk away from your parents to pursue what you want; and yet, sooner or later, it starts to interfere with our happiness if they are not satisfied with our choices. This probably has to do with the fact that we are quite a family-oriented society and emphasize on filial piety and respect for elders’ opinions in the family.

Nevertheless, if two people decide to commit to each other and look beyond their ethnic differences, there are societal challenges to face. While external factors play a large role in our lives it is important to exercise our agency as individuals and negotiate our needs with others’ needs. Pushing boundaries and experimenting with an open mind are virtues in this century. But in the end, it comes down to what is important to the individual; his or her worldview is often the deciding factor. As in any relationship, it is important to realize that two halves do not make up a whole in an inter-ethnic relationship. Both partners have to be wholesome, as this will build a stronger relationship, able to withstand the complications in a partnership of this nature.

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Dig Out Your Soul

The Stalwarts of Brit-Pop are back with a psychedelic trippy offering! text Hurrairah bin Sohail | [email protected]

About the Artist:

There is however no doubt that in the post grunge 90s Oasis owned the airwaves and the pop charts. With anthems like “Wonderwall” and “Don’t Look Back In Anger”, which are still popular Oasis have already etched a name for themselves in rock history. With their simple lyrics delivered in Liam Gallagher’s snarky voice underpinned with minimalist guitar, bass and drum rock ‘n roll and a Mancunian swagger, Oasis reached the pinnacle of success.

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But after the classic triumvirate of the albums Definitely Maybe (1994), (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? (1995) and Be Here Now (1997), Oasis, by the enormously high standards they themselves set, faded away. With constant changing of personnel and turbulent times in the recording studio, Oasis failed to recapture their initial success. 2005’s Don’t Believe The Truth however marked a return to form in some ways.

Having settled down to a more or less stable line-up, Oasis seem to be well on their way to becoming as big as they once were.

photo http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/6306/oasisdvdcovermp5.jpg

Oasis can arguably be called the most important British band since The Beatles, and the bickering Gallagher brothers have for years entertained the masses with their music and their antics.

photo http://britmusicscene.com/

photo http://cache.idolator.com/assets/resources/2008/08/oasis3G(1).jpg

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Transmedia Rating: Perhaps every time Oasis releases an album, we should stop expecting another Definitely Maybe or Morning Glory? I think it is time to come to grips with the fact that the Gallagher brothers will never again match up to their earlier works. With the burden of expectation to deliver out of the way, Dig Out Your Soul (2008) (much like its predecessor Don’t Believe The Truth (2005)) is a solid listen, and the album will probably be panned by critics but do well on the charts, as always. Song writing duties have once again been shared after the democratic process installed after their previous album. Noel Gallagher contributes six songs on the album, Liam Gallagher three and one a piece from Andy Bell and Gem Archer (both the latter at the cost of quality, I believe). And the music is some of the best since their heydays. The songs Noel Gallagher has crafted are in the same vein as his anthems, perhaps because he has this time around noticeably stopped trying to do so. However, he still hasn’t stopped reaching for a non-sequitur every time he needs to explain an emotion bigger than himself “Love is a time machine, Up on the silver screen” – ‘The Shock Of Lightning’, or writing some of the most inane lyrics “I got my heebeejeebies in a bag” – ‘Bag It Up’.

Amazingly, the albums finest moment is the slow piano based balled ‘I’m Outta Time’ penned by Liam Gallagher. Obviously a John Lennon tribute, the song took nine years to germinate and is every bit as good as any of Noel’s earlier hits (yes, even ‘Wonderwall’). The song deservedly is the centre piece of the entire album. Perhaps the greatest contribution on the album has come from producer Dave Sardy and Zak Starkey (Ringo Starr’s son) on drums. Sardy’s layering of music, scuffing the tones and creating dense mellotron/organ soundscapes makes Oasis’ sound progress to an almost poppy version of the Queens of the Stone Age’s sound. The album sounds more like the experimental and trippy Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants (2000), Oasis’ lowest selling album to date. Zak Starkey’s off kilter drumming on ‘The Turning’ and other tracks really drives the songs along and provides the basis for the groove and the progression that is felt on this record. But as always, Oasis borrow heavily from The Beatles lifting entire riffs and inverting them, using the sitar and generally making sure we do not forget that they worship the Fab Four.

.. it’s time to come to grips with the fact that the Gallagher brothers will never again match up to their earlier works.

All in all, if this was an album composed entirely by the Gallagher brothers minus token contributions from the other members it might have stood a better chance at matching their first two cuts.

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The Rich,, the Poor and the Conniving Sky-rocketing prices, plummeting stocks, and other miscellaneous jargon only a non-Economics student is capable of utterance, welcome to the world of trading and stockbroking. text Tay Huizhen | [email protected]

photo the-tao-of-dave.com/boiler_room.jpg

Money is exciting. For those of you who have not already realised, well now you know! With the collapse of Lehman Brothers, a technical recession on our hands, as well as some nasty front-page shots of traders pulling their hair, the ridge adds fuel to the fire by strapping you into the hair-raising rollercoaster ride of the financial/economic drama.

Sky-rocketing prices, plummeting stocks, and other miscellaneous juvenile jargon only a non-Economics student is capable of utterance, welcome to the world of trading and stockbroking. A classic which inspired the genre, Wall Street (1987) is what one might call a hall-of-famer. As the sly Gordan Gekko (surname pun thoroughly intended by scriptwriters), Michael Douglas insidiously declares to a hypnotised seminar audience, on how ‘Greed is good. Greed works.’ The movie explores the dynamics between conscience and the acquisition of wealth. The film’s idea of ‘trading a piece of yourself, for a piece of the action’ completely sums up this dilemma. Almost titled ‘Greed’, like that of the Von Stroheim epic, Wall Street takes money-mongering impulses to a new low.

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There is the infamous Al Pacino glare in Glen Ross, as he hurls a tirade at a fellow colleague, and one of the more memorable performances in Ben Affleck’s acting career in Boiler Room, during the boardroom scene where he addresses a bunch of interns. Many have noted the Oscar-worthy deliverances of the two, and fans of rhetoric should not miss these two films. The seduction and excitement of closing the deal is made most stark in these two dramas portraying driven, high-flying executives.

photo magpictures.com

The quintessence of all films about money (or rather, the getting of it) can really be found in just these two alone — Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) and Boiler Room (2000). While Glen Ross centres on the real estate business, Boiler Room features a robust and young investment company. Both films lay claim to having ‘the excellent speech’ which is a highlight not to be missed.

transmedia 29 All those nail-biting scenarios just do not cut it for some of you? Craving the real deal? Look instead to an actual corporate scandal of gargantuan scale. Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room (2005) is the first definitive documentary that attempts an account of this epic accounting scandal that made headlines worldwide in 2001. In the same vein of Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 and Sicko, partake in the new wave of the oxymoronic sensationalised documentaries. With satirical re-enactments of this head-shaking exposé, conspiracies have always been fun.

photo moblog.com.sg/blog/Movies

Speaking about hard times, let us take a leaf from the book and wallow in our fellow men’s boots when they faced the first Great Depression, way back in the 1930s.

photo impawards.com

played by Russell Crowe) has got a far trickier situation on his hands. But, when fitted with boxing gloves, those limbs prove to be a money-making machine.

Awfully reminiscent of Hard Times (1975) (the film, not the Dickens classic), Cinderella Man (2005) is a heart-tugging portrayal of a 1930s’ Rocky. Throw in dependants and James Braddock (the protagonist,

And just for kicks, one could always catch the local Money No Enough 2 (2008)—the latest indigenous endeavour by Jack Neo. Middle-class woes delivered in laymen vernacular should hit the spot for fans of the first film. Nonetheless, despite great hopes for him to step out of his TV-production shell, Neo again fails to simultaneously sustain clever and wit, taking instead the overdone melodramatic route. So tighten those belts and curb those spendthrift tendencies, or simply be in awe of those who still wield great financial freedom in their appetites for risk-taking. The above films will teach you how to handle the heat while we tide over myriad financial crises.

30 transmedia

text Leong Su Zhen| [email protected]

Nobody Owens, or ‘Bod’ as he is known to his friends, is raised in a cemetery. This odd circumstance comes about when, as a toddler, he wanders up to the neighbouring graveyard the night his family is killed, and is taken under the protection of its ghostly inhabitants. Meanwhile, danger lurks outside, where the murderer still prowls at large, undeterred from his unfinished task… While Neil Gaiman needs no introduction in fantasy circles as the author of well-known works like American Gods, Stardust and the cult series of graphic novels, The Sandman, he is also, in more recent years, a prolific writer of fiction for a younger audience. These include The Day I Swapped my Dad for Two Goldfish, Coraline and Odd and the Frost Giants, which was released earlier this year. Given the mass appeal of Gaiman, it seems inevitable that The Graveyard Book, would be available in both the children and adult’s version. Both versions are lovingly illustrated respectively by Cris Riddell (the illustrator of Pratchett’s Discworld series) and Dave McKean, a frequent collaborator of Gaiman’s.

the reader ends up with villains whose motives are never clearly defined. And even though the macabre trail of blood left in their wake is unmistakably hinted at, one gets the sense that Bod was never ever in real danger. Neil Gaiman doesn’t make it a secret that he was heavily influenced by Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, whose young protagonist is raised in a tropical rainforest by animals. While The Graveyard Book should be read as an entire story, it is also similarly structured like The Jungle Book as a series of standalone vignettes that chronicle important episodes in Bod’s childhood. Mercifully, one does not need the background reading to appreciate the novel, though one gets the strong impression that in his acknowledgement, Gaiman wishes his reader would pick up Kipling’s book after reading his. One of the most entertaining books to come out in some time, Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book makes an excellent addition to any family bookshelf.

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The Graveyard Book addresses its fantastical elements realistically. Hence, while Bod is made to be aware that his situation is atypical, he is also raised pragmatically, to learn how to survive in a world that does not treat the odd minority kindly. One slight glitch is that Gaiman seems to be holding back on some of the potentially gristlier details. This is understandable, as after all, the book is targeted at a wider audience. But, the disadvantage is that

photo paclbooks.pbwiki.com

The Graveyard Book brings out the best in storytelling. The prose is light and easy to read, peppered with wry humour and wisdom. The characters are endearing, and even minor characters are wellcrafted and memorable in spite of their smaller role. Bod is a likeable boy, whose childhood complications are not seen so much as problematical as viewed as a fact of the world to be taken in stride.

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Anna Karenina

text Shahirah Mohamed Ansari | [email protected]

Set in nineteenth-century imperial Russia, Anna Karenina is a novel about family, marriage, adultery and love as it existed in high society.

photo sbutler.typepad.com

Anna, along with the other principal characters, serves as a foil to Konstantin Levin, an aristocrat who deviates from the norm due to his distaste for city life and idleness, and his contrasting enjoyment of hard work and farming. However, he believes that his contentment is blighted by his unrequited love for Kitty, a young princess whom he had known since childhood. Levin feels that only through having a wife and family could he achieve happiness. Styled after Tolstoy himself, Levin turns out to be the true protagonist of the story.

“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

The overarching social commentary is at times critical, while at others sympathetic; Tolstoy at once condemns and legitimizes the hypocritical aristocratic sphere of Russian society for their trends and decadence, for their moralistic views and Christian values. Surprisingly resonant even in today’s world, many of the author’s musings on society will strike a chord with modern readers.

And on that poignant note, Leo Tolstoy begins what is arguably the most well-known literary offering out of Russia—Anna Karenina. Set in nineteenthcentury imperial Russia, Anna Karenina is a novel about family, marriage, adultery and love as it existed in high society.

At slightly over 800 pages, exam-burdened NUS students may be put off or overwhelmed by the sheer length of Anna Karenina. Furthermore, the numerous characters (each with at least three names used interchangeably!) are a potential cause for confusion.

Tolstoy explores these themes with several interwoven narratives of related characters, including, of course, that of the eponymous character.

However, with an exhaustive list of principal characters preceding the novel, as well as concise notes which explain esoteric or unfamiliar ideas and concepts, this edition of the novel is not difficult to get through.

Married to an important government minister, Anna Karenina is a beautiful, enigmatic and well-liked socialite who falls tragically in love with a highranking and wealthy army officer, Count Vronsky. In choosing to leave her husband and son to pursue a new life with her lover, Anna alienates herself from her moralistic peers. As time wears on, she becomes torn between her two lives, which leads her to desperation.

This latest translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky has made what was once a novel strictly confined to the realms of academia accessible to the mainstream public. At the same time, Tolstoy’s unique style of writing still shines clearly through. Indeed, with Oprah Winfrey’s endorsement, this translation has enjoyed a revival in interest and a spot on the bestseller’s list.

32 lifestyle

Zsofi Tapas Bar the ridge reviews the newly opened Zsofi Tapas Bar as part of its food review section. The Zsofi Tapas bar is located along Dunlop Street, right smack in the middle of the bustling Little India. A far cry from the commercialized locations of Clarke Quay and Orchard Road, the rustic feel of the street itself makes an impression on you, even before one enters the bar.

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The concept of Tapas is not a new one to Singapore, with several high-end tapas restaurants populating more mainstream locales. Tapas is usually thought of as referring to a wide variety of appetizers in Spanish cuisine, and in keeping with this theme, the bar serves small sized portions of a myriad of dishes.

The bar itself is is decorated to mimic the décor of a traditional tapas bar in Spain, and several budding local artists helped paint and garnish the walls on the upper level with their very own artwork. The vibe that one gets from the bar is a laid-back and friendly one, with servers being ever-ready to recommend dishes to customers. The selling point of Zsofi tapas bar has to be it’s cheap drink prices, coupled with the fact that the purchase of every drink gets you one free serving of tapas. Costing a fraction of the prices at bars located elsewhere, Zsofi manages to provide quality drinks at cheap prices.

“We advise you to try the authentic Spanish dishes and drinks, the tortilla espanola (potato and cheese dish) and the the red or white sangria (traditional Spanish wine punch).”

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68 Dunlop Street www.tapasbar.com.sg text Arzish Baaquie | [email protected]

Serving a myriad of alcoholic beverages, along with mocktails, the highlight has to be the red or white sangria (traditional Spanish wine punch), complete with diced fruits inside. In terms of food, the tortilla espanola (potato and cheese dish) came out tops and seemed the most popular amongst diners. Coming in at a close second had to be the succulent garlic prawns, shelled and cooked to perfection. Bar favourites such as chilli buffalo wings are also popular, but we’d advise you to try the authentic Spanish dishes first. The sheer affordability that Zsofi prides itself on is what attracted most of the patrons we spoke to.

photo Zsofi Tapas Bar

Owned by a current university student, the prices and laid-back atmosphere are tailor-made towards the student population. Zsofi prides itself on knowing and providing for the cash-strapped students who are out to have a good time. The unique name of the bar itself leads to a quirky story, with the owner’s brother having met a girl of the same name during a vacation in Spain. They became friends but never managed to exchange contacts and she has no idea that a bar has been named after her. The owner felt that this tale encapsulated what Zsofi stood for, i.e. celebrating the spontaneity of friendships over good food and drinks. The fact that the bar closes late on weekdays and even later on weekends ensures that first-time visitors often end up becoming regulars. Emanating a cosy and unpretentious vibe, this is one bar that youngsters can enjoy without burning a hole in their already fragile wallets.

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People Page

Feel you’re too old to trick-or-treat for Halloween? Well, in that case Costume Parties are a suitable alternative for you! Lifestyle asks you: Which is the best Halloween Costume idea that you have come across for a Halloween Costume Party? text Vani Goyal | [email protected] photo sxc.hu

A “Chick-Magnet” costume, which could consist of a huge Styrofoam magnet supported around one’s shoulders, with little baby chickens glued to it!! Elena Yelizarov, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

The psychotic Joker of ‘The Dark Knight’ fame, with the green hair and the trademark clown face loaded with make-up and an assortment of bright colours, together with the occasional “Why so serious?” phrase would be an eye catcher. Deenar Farvin, School of Computing

An Ugly Betty costume, with a colourful and clashing sweater vest, fake braces, a typical “B” necklace, red trimmed glasses and hideous shoes!

A Creepy Mummy, wrapped up in white bandage rolls with blotches of green paint to signify mould, coupled with age-lines and the stiff-legged gait. Agustony Sabtian, Faculty of Engineering

Vyajanthi Raja, School of Computing

A Creepy Mummy, wrapped up in white bandage rolls with blotches of green paint to signify mould, coupled with age-lines and the stiff-legged gait. Agustony Sabtian, Faculty of Engineering

A handsome guy could dress up as Indiana Jones with all his signature accessories-the khaki pants and a tan shirt, the Flight leather jacket, the Fedora style hat, a canvas bag, a whip, and not to mention the brown belt to hold the whip!

design Hurrairah bin Sohail

Vani Goyal, School of Computing A Captain Jack Sparrow Costume of the notorious Pirate of the Caribbean Sea portrayed by Johnny Depp, complete with a red pirate headpiece and wig, boot tops and waist sash, and an eye-patch thrown in too! Ngo Hai Yen, Business

36 wired

SmartQ T-5 II Review 12news

This month we take a look at SmartQ’s new offering. Is it really a cut above the rest? Read on to find out.

photo cnetasia.com

text Mazyiar Saleem | [email protected]

The music menu

Design:

design Suhas Bhat

The design of the player, while not visually stunning, is quite good. The d-pad on the left and three buttons on the right make for easy and intuitive navigation, and very comfortable game-play. There is a set of dedicated volume controls found on the top, while a hold switch and all the connectors reside on the right side. Inside, the menus are laid out vertically, and are text-based. The device has no internal memory, but rather uses an SD card for all its memory needs. It supports up to 32 GB SD cards, which is quite decent. Adding songs and videos to the device is a breeze, with no extra software involved. You just plug in the USB cable, copy into the device directory and the player does the rest.

My only complaint is that after some time of use, the keys become stiff and need to be pressed quite hard to make them work.

Music: There are quite a few music management options. Library management is decent and adding songs to the device and updating the library is a breeze. Onthe-go playlists can be made, which can be saved as regular ones later. Audio quality is quite good, although you’ll have to throw away the bundled earphones and use your own. There are a number of equalizer presets, along with the ability to set your own equalizer via

news 37 13 wired

a 5-band equalizer. There are also extra audio enhancement options one can play with, which are quite effective and make quite a difference if they’re tweaked right.

Video playback: Video playback is excellent - the 3” screen with 16 million colours giving very good results. A higher resolution would be still be very welcome though, as the player’s heavy duty graphics chip can easily support it. Format support is incredible. It plays uncompressed AVI, RM/RMVB, FLV, 3GP, and MPEG. This means that, unlike a lot of other players on the market, you don’t need any extra software to get your videos to work. It’s as easy as dragging and dropping. The higher end model also supports TV-out, and outputting to the TV is easy with the quality being quite good as well. Video playback supports seek, different screen sizes, and the ability to resume playing your video from where you left off. Subtitles are also supported via .srt files.

Games: The shape of the device makes it look more like a handheld than a music player which is certainly no coincidence. The device includes

The headphone-jack doubles as a TV-out port

game emulators for NES, SNES, GBA, and SMD. Emulator ROMs can easily be downloaded over the Internet and then copied to the device. The volume buttons also serve as customisable buttons for the games. I had many hours of entertainment replaying old Zelda titles on the player.

E-book: The device also contains an e-book reader, which is quite decent, allowing you to auto scroll, use true-type fonts, and play your music in the background. A major drawback, though, is that it doesn’t support any of the major e-book formats, and the only way to add ebooks is via plain text files.

You can use upto 32GB SD cards

All in all, this is a pretty solid and fullfeatured device that is definitely worth a look. If only it could be a little slimmer and had more colours to choose from, it would certainly appeal to a much greater audience.

photo devianart.com

There are also extras like voice recording, radio, and the ability to view pictures - all of which are pretty standard.

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text Gurmesh Singh | [email protected]

photo krisabel.ctv.ca

design Adi Yoga Sidi Prabawa

photo apple.com

We take a look at what has been creating a buzz in the tech world of late.

Apple has recently announced their updated MacBook and MacBook Pro notebooks at their “spotlight turns to notebooks” event. A new version of the MacBook features an aluminium body weighing in at slightly over 2kg. It also features a 13.3 LED backlit display with a 1280 x 800 resolution display. The most interesting new features are the multi-touch glass track pad as well as the incorporation of a NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor. The new MacBook Pro has the same aluminium body weighing in at around 2.5 kg and a 15.4inch screen. The new MacBook Pro also features not one, but two graphics processors, the NVIDIA Geforce 9400M and 9600M GT with Apple allowing you to switch between the two, depending on your graphic processing needs.

The T-Mobile G1 phone was announced with much fanfare. The reason for this being that the G1 is the first phone that will use Google’s Linux based Android mobile platform. Android is currently being backed by the Open Handset Alliance which comprises of a 33-strong group of device manufacturers, component manufacturers, software companies, and mobile carriers. It is hoped that Android can break Microsoft’s dominance in the mobile platform market and hopefully offer something new and innovative. While the phone itself does not exactly look stunning, the Android platform looks rather promising and will hopefully offer users a better mobile experience.

OpenOffice 3.0 has been released on Windows, Macintosh, Linux and UNIX platforms. It now fixes loads of compatibility issues with complex Microsoft Office documents. Furthermore, it now has native support for documents saved on Microsoft’s Office 2007. That’s right; those pesky .docx and .pptx files people insist on sending to you can now be opened using the new OpenOffice 3.0. However, while it will be able to open these files, it will not be able to edit them. What it allows you to do is to save it as the older Office file formats, like .doc which will then enable you to edit the document. This is open source software at its best, really.

A report issued by the Georgia Tech Information Security Center (GTISC) outlined several threats that may make its way to users of the Internet in 2009. Malware will be distributed using better social engineering techniques. Botnet attacks will become more prevalent with mobile devices possibly being targeted as well. Cyber crime could also evolve into a more organized and profit-driven threat with sophisticated malware programs and kits being available for sale. It all does make for grim reading. Surf on down to gtiscssecuritysumit.com to view the report in full.

photo blogs.oreilly.com

By the time this issue hits stands, we would have already known who the next American president will be. If Obama wins, he will be first president who has been able to make clever use of the online world for his campaign. Advertisements have been placed in the Burnout Paradise game on the Xbox 360, which can be seen when gamers are battling each other online. His campaign has also set up fightthesmears.com to well, fend off smear attacks on “that one”. Advertisements have also been on the iTunes online store as well as the launch of an Obama ’08 application for the iPhone and iPod Touch. If he has indeed lost, nobody can say that he didn’t try.

photo obamamedia.files.wordpress.com

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40 sports

NUS Sports Awards the ridge casts special light on the lives of student athletes. text Suhas Bhat | [email protected]

design Samyuktha

The annual NUS Sports Awards presentation was a ceremony like every other. Filled with hyperbole (“strive for sporting excellence”& “we are one big family” being my favourites) and a selfconfident swag to the occasion, NUS celebrated the achievements of its sporting community in style. After congratulating its players on their commendable achievements over the past year, NUS should hope that they continue the trend at a more global level in the future. A host of sportsmen & women arrived on the day dressed in formal attire, happy to be present and receive their commendations. They all had something to be proud about. Over the entirety of last year, 300 athletes have represented our university in various metropolitan cities such as Paris, Macau, Taipei & Hong Kong.

We have even won 5 medals at the 2007 SEA games for Singapore. TeamNUS has won the most number of medals in the inter-varsity polytechnic games over the last year & retained the Singapore University Games trophy for the third time this year (no other institution has won it since its inception in 2006). The awards given were in various formats. Team & Player awards were presented as well as Merit awards (for best performances overall), rookie awards (for best newcomers) & honorary awards (for sporting commitment of a long duration). The highlight of the day, however, was the NUS Sportsman of the Year, Sportswoman of the Year & the President Award (Individual) which went to three aquathlon athletes - Mok Ying Ren (Medicine, Year 3), Dinah Chan (graduated) & Sikhander Singh (Political Science, Year 4).

NUS President being gifted by the sporting community at one of his final public appearances

photo Danny Widodo

sports 41 A majority of the awards were won by athletes in amateur sports as opposed to those that participate in team sports. From the team sports category, the NUS Tennis Team won the Sports Team of the Year (Men) while the Volleyball team won the Sports Team of the Year (Female). Nevertheless, local & regional achievements do not necessarily translate into a job well done. Resourceconstrained as we are, it nevertheless remains true that a global presence would better befit the selfconfidence that NUS Sportsmen have of their sporting calibre. With the Asian Youth Games coming up next year and the World Youth Olympic Games to be held in NTU in 2010, sportsmen of a younger age (only those younger than 19 will participate) will rise to the fore possibly overshadowing our university’s sporting achievements. Even Dr. Balakrishnan, Minister of Community Development & Sports states that “the days of sport as a hobby are over and now sports are an integral part of Singaporean society”. If this is true then surely we can expect our sportsmen to perform well in the challenges that lay ahead. But then, it is debatable whether by being the biggest tertiary institution in the island entails a responsibility for our university in ensuring a modicum of sporting excellence. After all, we all face a trade-off between academics & studies, a problem that both the NUS Sportsman & Sportswoman of the Year mentioned. Both, being aquathlon athletes, know especially well the difficulty of carrying out the extensive training required while also studying and preparing for tests (Ying Ren had to request for deferment of his Medicine examinations for the SEA games). Mok Ying Ren, however, also brought an altruistic message in his speech by encouraging his fellow sportsmen to lead by example by “influenc[ing] those around us [into] leading healthier lifestyles & mak[ing] sports part of your lives”. Dinah Chan, on the other hand, stated how much she missed NUS while staying at NTU currently, a comment that quite amused the audience. Many personalities were present on the day. Aside from the President, the various Hall Masters, the NUS Sports Club President, sports secretaries of

the various faculties, the Dean of Students & even a member of Singapore Sports Council had made their way to the UCC. It is pleasing to note that NUS does take recognition of sporting achievements seriously and such a positive reflection will surely pay dividends in the future. Prof Shih Choon Fong commented on this afterwards by stating that “with the annual presentation of awards & the recognition given has come broader participation and an acceptance of sports as an active part of campus life”. NUS President Prof Shih Choon Fong was taking part in his last awards ceremony as well before heading off to KAUST later this year. He was gifted a photo frame & a Dragonboat pedal by the NUS sporting community. He ended the day with a charismatic speech extolling to all present that “no dream is too high”. He appeared particularly pleased, taking pride in his role as the Team Captain of the NUS Sports establishment. And impressive anecdotes were also mentioned justifying the President’s words of pride. Sandra Wong, Business Year 2, led a female Volleyball team primarily composed of freshmen last year to victory in the SUniGs & the Inter-Varsity-Polytechnic games, having inherited a team after a high turnover (the seniors had all graduated the preceding year) had depleted its strength. Also, the NUS Women’s Dragon Boat team, having practiced for days at our own university swimming pool & gymnasiums, bested competitors from around the island by winning the Prime Minister’s Challenge Trophy earlier this year (their male compatriots lost to the NTU team) thus bagging the Presidents Sports Award (Team) at the ceremony. The competition, modelled after the OxfordCambridge Rowing Race in England, is highly prestigious and attracts over 3,000 paddlers every year. After all the accolades are over, though, it is time for NUS to focus on elevating their level to reach a new plateau. Let us hope that our sportsmen continue to excel and with the strong spirit & camaraderie that we possess. A team of about 200 athletes will represent NUS at the 2008 ASEAN university games held at Kuala Lumpur from December 11-21 this year.

42 sports

Interview with

NUS Sportman of the Year text Suhas Bhat | [email protected]

the ridge talks to Mok Ying Ren, NUS Sportsman of the Year, about his views on NUS Sports, his training schedules and the support that he received from his family for his sporting career.

What was your reaction when you were informed that you had been chosen as Sportsman of the Year? I was elated and proud that once again the Sportsman of the Year belongs to the NUS Aquathlon Team following the trend from Sikhandar Singh’s win last year. It is also an honour to be able to get this award in my freshman year in NUS. Many people have played a part in this and I would like to dedicate this award to all of them for their encouragement and support.

What message would you like to give to your fellow sportsmen & undergraduates? Get out there and play some sports! The SRC has so many free facilities. Make your paying of school fees worth it.

What improvements would you like to suggest for Sports@NUS?

design Priyadarshini Banerjee

Mok Ying Ren Year 2/Medicine

Achievments: Gold medal in Triathlon at the SEA Games 2007, Gold medal in IVP games for Aquathlon, 5000m & 10000m (record timing) & a national sportsman for Singapore.

Perhaps I would like to see a better gym. I think that the sporting culture is pretty good in NUS but it is definitely better to bring sports participation to 100 per cent. What do you think of the sporting infrastructure at the university? I think there is a lot of focus on getting the average student to participate in sports via IFG and IHG. It is great to see this! However, a lot of emphasis is put also on having an comprehensive lifestyle including culture activities, especially if reside in one of the

sports 43 halls of residence. For example, as a resident as Sheares, I had accumulated 90 CCA points last year but all were from sports (I did not have the time nor the energy to join any other committees on top of my training) but this number was reduced to half due to a cap (upper limit) for sports and I barely made it through to stay on. I feel this hinders the type of student who really wants to excel in one particular field. We should also encourage specialisation in NUS since we are already mature young adults.

Has your family been supportive of your sporting career? Yes! They have been really supportive, understanding my time spent out of home in school and hall studying and training. My sister also enjoys running and currently I am trying to get my parents to run but it has been proven to be quite challenging (laughs).

Why do you play sports? How often do you train every week? This is a complex question, not as easy as it may seem. What warrants a training session to be called a training session? I train 14 times a week. It sounds scary but most sessions take only 45min-1hr and are aerobic in nature. Some sessions last as long as 4hrs while some are high in intensity. It varies week to week as I have the flexibility, being my own coach.

Mok Ying Ren with the gold medal at the SEA Games last year clocking an impressive timing of 2 minutes 06 seconds

It helps me destress from studies and also because it is very challenging and fun. Especially in a sport like triathlon, one hardly gets bored from training as there are 3 disciplines to choose from (cycling, swimming & running).

What are your future plans? Do you plan to take sports up professionally? I will try my best to juggle my studies and training. It may get harder when I start clinicals in Year 3. Professional training may be an option when I graduate. It depends on how flexible our Singapore system is.

“I train 14 times a week. Some sessions last as long as 4hrs while some are high in intensity. It varies week to week as I have the flexibility, being my own coach.” - Mok Ying Ren

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