A post and reply on analysis of lyrics for Yu San on SPOP Official Forum

Originally posted by Meteorstorm:

Even though 《雨伞》is one of my favourite songs in SPOP Hurray, i believe there are better written songs in the competition.

I like the melody of 《雨伞》but i don't really like the lyrics... in a way i feel that the love described in the song is too pragmatic and self-centered...

It seems like the song is about how and what the partner can provide, and nothing about giving and sacrificing for love.

The following was my reply to Meteorstorm:

Hi Meteorstorm!I have a few queries about your comments and am wondering if you could answer me?

You said "there are better-written songs in the competition". May I know which songs are you referring to?

You said "the love described in the song is too pragmatic and self-centred..." May I know are you referring to the following parts of 《雨伞》?

只怕雨伞雨伞变得一点破旧
挡不住大雨大雨不停的掉落
小小雨伞驻在我家门的角落
不能永远挡着风 遮着雨 保护我

Although I am not Dione so I can't completely interpret her thoughts for this song, this is how I feel about this part:

Who doesn't worry about the possible change in the nature of one's love over time?

Who doesn't worry that one's love cannot withstand the tests of the ups and downs in life?

I think the songwriter is trying to show the worries and doubts as the song persona looks at the umbrella (which is now a symbol of love) and wonders how long such a love can endure.

I think it has accurately reflected how people have always wanted to huddle under the protection of love but are hesitant to completely commit themselves to love because the relative brutal realities of time, wear and tear often overshadow the enjoyment.

《雨伞》did not give a happy ending nor a sad ending in the song, and Dione has chosen to give it an open ending because even until now, few, if any at all, can confidently determine the outcome of their love.

I suppose this is another truth in anyone's love life - we will not know the quality and strength of our loves until the final moment hence the open-ended question will be there till then.

May the best song wins!

Sean Ho

Attempts to dilute SPOP votes on MediaCorp's SPOP Official English Forum

Hi faithful supporters of Teresa!

I have been notified of the following incident at the abovementioned forum (thank you ZZZ for the information) and I have decided to share with all of you what I have responded to that person's post.

This is what he wrote:

Re: Kindly refrain from voting this song!

Originally posted by tida Given her popularity and the number of fans out there, there's no need to vote anymore for Teresa Tsang's song. As you can see from the 'who's leading chart'...her song is already there. She is very safe so no no risk.So, please redirect your energy and vote for Nathaniel's song number 1 instead.

This is what I replied:

Hi tida!

I am agreeable with the notion that Teresa is popular and she does have an incalculable number of supporters (active ones you see in the main fanclub websites and passive ones around the island). Thank you for affirming that with your post too.

But your "no need to vote anymore" suggestion is far from accurate and realistic because I believe many faithful (and thinking) supporters of Teresa understands that the other 11 SPOP songs have also wisely chosen their designated singers who have large fan bases too.

Diluting Yu San's votes to support Nathaniel's song is not a very wise option if supporters really wish to see Yu San steadily holding on in the SPOP competition.

Also, I would like to make it clear here that we have no illusions about the following - The song "Yu San" is written by Dione. Teresa is just the designated singer for this SPOP competition. So the votes which kept Yu San on the leaderboard is not just from the supporters of Teresa but people who genuinely support the SPOP song composition "Yu San" and of course, Dione herself.

Hence, I would like to continue my appeal to supporters of Yu San, Teresa and Dione to vote for the song Yu San in the SPOP voting competition. The closing date is 21 January 2008 so keep the votes coming in! Jia you everyone.

May the best song wins!

Sean Ho
Music clears the mind, fills the heart, moves the soul."

I would like to appeal to all faithful supporters of Teresa not to respond and reply on impulse to such tactics to attempt to dilute the votes of Yu San or to stir anger between supporters of Teresa and supporters of Nathaniel.

Let me deal with these posters. All of you just carry on with your daily voting until Yu San reaches the semi-finals of SPOP, from where a new strategy will be put up if the song makes it to the top 6 compositions.

Have a good week ahead! = )

Random Pictures, Blog Modifications and Updates, Jungle Trekking Taboos

Random Pictures:
Chinese Lunar New Year is coming and I managed to get hold of one of the malls' decorations for the upcoming festive season during one of my working trips arond the island. Any intelligent guesses where all these beautiful lanterns are being hung at?
This was my yesterday's lunch at an undisclosed hospital cafeteria. Readers of my blog who were wondering how come I didn't blog yesterday - My dad landed himself in the hospital after spraining his back and I had to rush to and fro the hospital to get his admission administration and stuff done. That took up my entire Saturday. He's better now but my poor old man is still stuck there without his television and guitar.

Blog Modifications and Updates:

It's been quite a while since I touched up on the features of my humble blog so there are the following changes made:

1) I have decided to tuck away my IMEEM player for now so that readers will not get too sick listening to the same songs being played again and again.

2) I have decided to change some of the songs on my main blog's music playlist. The new songs are as follows:

12. 蔡淳佳 - 庆幸有你爱我
18. 曹格 - SUPERSUNSHINE
27. 光良 - 烟火
28. S.H.E - 最近还好吗
29. 范玮琪 - 是非题
30. 刘若英 - 我很好
36. 张韶涵, Angela - 不想懂得
43. 周杰伦, Jay - 彩虹
46. 蔡健雅, Tanya - 达尔文
47. 林宥嘉 - 背影
48. 罗志祥, Show - 一支独秀

3) I have updated the slideshow for Teresa so that two of her recent public events photographs are included inside. Hopefully, by this weekend, I will have even more beautiful shots of her on the slideshow.

4) I understand that some of the songs on the main playlist are not working. Repairing them takes some time so do be patient. I will work on them as soon as I can.

Jungle Trekking Taboos:

One of my students is going to the Outward Bound School for some enrichment camp and I was telling her about some of the jungle trekking taboos that I was taught during my training days. Apparently, she just laughed them off and even though I am not that kind of superstitious person, I believe these long-established taboos must be there for a reason. Out of sheer knowledge, regardless if you believe in them or not, I decided to put them up here for fun. Read and see if you have actually heard of such taboos whenever one is to trek through jungles.

1) Do not comment on strange whiffs of fragrances or smells whilst in the jungle. It is said that sometimes "dirty things" will put on such smells to attract the unwary and those who speak of these on the trail will be followed. The most common encounters of strange smells are frangipani and pungent decay.

2) Do not shine torchlight onto the treetops above. It is said that those belong to the domains of the night creatures as well as "dirty things". There have been unexplained cases of mania and frenzy when a few shone their torchlights to the treetops (It happened during one of my jungle training trips when some chosed to challenge this taboo knowingly). These people are said to revealed they saw "dirty things" hanging onto the treetops.

3) Do not suddenly turn around if someone taps on your shoulder while you are on the trail. It is said that each human being has three "lamps", which are supposed to be protective lights against "dirty things". A sudden turning around will extinguish at least two of those "lamps", leaving the person extremely vulnerable to unimaginable horrors standing behind. Should one be tapped, one should keep moving and requests his/her name be announced loudly. If the person/thing refused to answer, continue walking until the whole group is informed and proceeds to a safe place out of the trail.

4) Always remember to say "excuse me" if you need to urgently answer the call of nature. It is said to be necessary in case one relieves oneself atop of the resting place of "dirty things". It doesn't really matter the "excuse me" is uttered in what language, as long as the deferential tone is there. It is said that those who broke this taboo would have "dirty things" following them around until an apology was made.

Okay. That's about all I know of. I choose to follow them whenever I need to enter jungles because these are small things which usually do not interfere with the major flow of programmes. Whatever one's religion or culture is, I suppose the people who taught me these taboos had their rationale:

"Better respect such ettiquette in the jungle. After all, our safety is more important than being obstinate and we are just guests in the jungle, which plays host. We should give this minimum respect."

More SPOP Public Appearances By Teresa in Jan 2008, Recent Duet By Teresa and Geraldine at MusicDreamer Live! Cafe, Screenshots of Rome: Total War

More SPOP Public Appearances By Teresa Tseng in Jan 2008:

日期：1月18日（星期五） 时间：下午4时 地点： 义安理工学院 Atrium

Date: Friday, 18 Jan Time: 4pm Venue: Ngee Ann Polytechnic Atrium

S-POP 万岁！首次走入校园！Super系列参赛者将带来12首“原汁原味”的本地创作，势必让你听出耳油！我们约定你了，不见不散！

Take a break from your books and immerse yourself in the original tunes of the Top 12 compositions from S-POP HURRAY's Songwriting Competition! Meet with the song composers in person and play exciting games and stand to win limited edition S-POP HURRAY! Premiums!

主持人：林翠芳出席歌手：陈迪雅、陈铿百、杨佳盈、汤灵伊、田铭耀、阮诗凯、许政宁、孙文海、曾咏霖、张乐声等。

Host: Lin Cuifang

Performers: Diya, Nat Tan, Carrie, Lingyi, Mingyao, Keely and more

日期：1月19日（星期六） 时间：下午3时 地点： 东福坊
Date: Saturday, 19 Jan Time: 3pm Venue: Eastpoint Mall

想一口气听完12首【S-POP 万岁！】创作大赛的作品吗？那就别错过这场热闹的S-POP 万岁！飚唱会。除了多位本地歌手之外，参赛的词曲创作人也将和大家见面。主持人林翠芳也会在现场和你一起玩游戏，送出超限量发行的S-POP T恤和公仔。以实际行动支持本地创作，S-POP 万岁！飚唱会等你一起来狂欢！

S-POP HURRAY! is moving out of the studio bringing you the Top 12 compositions from S-POP HURRAY's Songwriting Competition. Catch also the song composers in person as well as play games with our host and win limited edition S-POP HURRAY! Premiums!

主持人：林翠芳

出席歌手：陈迪雅、陈铿百、杨佳盈、汤灵伊、田铭耀、阮诗凯等。

Host: Lin Cuifang

Performers: Diya, Nat Tan, Carrie, Lingyi, Mingyao, Keely and more!

(Information and Image sources: SPOP official events webpage)

Recent Duet By Teresa Tseng and Geraldine See at MusicDreamer Live! Cafe:

I would like to thank skyvel of TFC and of course the video originator, eileen5537 (possibly a Geraldine supporter) for the provision of this exclusive video of our Campus Superstars singing!



Screenshots of Rome: Total War:

Okay, as promised, here are the screenshots of the classic computer game that I am currently entertaining myself whenever I am not working.

That is one of my generals, Victor, in red near the coastal ancient city of Sidon. Although he is well-accompanied by eight units of Roman archer auxilia, four units of Roman heavy calvary, 4 units of Roman Legionary heavy infantry, 2 units of Praetorian heavy infantry, poor Victor is stuck with two major enemy armies (in blue) from the front and back, not to mention the enemy garrison in Sidon city and another incoming reinforcement enemy army at the bottom of the screen. Victor needs to break the encirclement or risk being wiped out completely.
This is the battle screenshot where Victor tackles the army behind his back. I adopted the box formation because the enemy army has more calvary units than Victor's army and those could easily outflank my infantry and archers so the box formation will protect them as best as possible compared to other army formations. All my calvary units are placed behind, ready to charge at the enemy units which will be pounding at my box formation later on when the battle starts.
Engaging the enemy army. I am currently doing the calvary run, which involves harassing the enemies so that their ranged units, especially artillery and archers cannot concentrate on my main body of archers in the box formations. This, of course, puts that particular calvary unit doing the run in great danger but it fulfils a greater objective of keeping the box safe so that my ranged units can shower arrows on the moving and frustrated enemy units.
Of course, the calvary run tactic can only achieve that much effect before the enemy units finally lose their patience and charge at my box formation. By then, their numbers and morale have been greatly reduced by the arrow showers. The infantry charge is braced by my fresh and ready infantry units surrounding the box and thus will withstand the enemy's attacks long enough until they start to rout and retreat from the box. From there, my calvary would be chasing them down from behind and cutting them down. The battle was won and General Victor broke the encirclement with over 100 casualties whilst the enemy army lost over 1000.
With the routing of that enemy army, General Victor broke through and suddenly changed his route, attacking the neighbouring city of Damascus and taking it so that the army can rest within the city's walls. Meanwhile, my reinforcement army arrived in the next turn, went around the city of Sidon, successfully survived an ambush by 300 enemy soldiers and has now besieged Sidon instead. By this time, the city garrison, though has increased due to the influx of escaped soldiers from all these nearby battles, is of lesser threat because they have incomplete units, which have suffered casualties of varying degrees. Those enemy units could not recover during the siege because my spies and assassins have already sabotaged those re-training facilities. The city of Sidon fell in the next turn.

There you go. Hope those interested in this game enjoyed my little story telling. Have a good week ahead and thank you for frequenting my blog all these time! =)

Movie Review: I Am Legend, Gaming Now: Rome Total War, Poetry Appreciation: The Journey

Alright, my apologies for not blogging over the weekend because I am still busying coordinating my work schedule as well as handling some new year administration with the banks and stuff.

Anyway, I managed to squeeze some time out to do something not work-related so I'll put them here for your entertainment.

Movie Review: I Am Legend

I caught this movie alone this morning because sometimes, I like watching movies alone, especially movies like these type where the appreciation comes from enjoying it quietly.

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For those looking for over-the-top action with zombies, there is actually very little because this movie revolves around the protagonist, Dr. Robert Neville who takes it upon himself to try and find a cure for a mutated strain of cancer cure that is turning almost everyone in New York City into cannabalistic zombies.

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I really don't think the movie is about the zombies but more of the struggle of how Dr. Neville manages his loneliness in the dangerous, quarantined city, seeking survivors and the cure necessary to save Mankind. Although I was disappointed with the action, I loved the acting by Will Smith and his seemingly doomed plight finally got a ray of hope when he discovered two survivors who, like him, are immune to the zombie virus.

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It is more the contestation of feelings and the discipline behind Dr. Neville that moved me to like the movie enough although I would prefer a little more action like Resident Evil. I would like to imagine Will Smith in THAT movie together with the female lead actress. Now, that would have been much more cooler.

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Gaming Now: Rome: Total War

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Yes, it's an old game but I still love it as much since I replayed it two weeks ago and it is a good switch from the Facebook application - Warbook. The latter took up too much time and I began to find it pale in comparision with Rome: Total War because the CD game has much more to offer. I am only playing it at the easy difficult level and there is already much challenge in planning my Juli Roman armies across the Sahara regions, battling rival factions, the Brutii and the Scipili.

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The game fits my lifestyle better because the management phase is turn-based so I can take all my time to decide my moves across the maps and my construction queues for my cities. The downside is that the combat phase is real-time (even though I can pause the battle), and each battle can take up to half an hour. Yes, I play all the battles myself because I hate losing more soldiers than it is necessary to complete my objective. Will post screenshots or photos of the game as soon as I find more time.

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Poetry Appreciation: The Journey (By Mary Oliver)

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Wait, don't skip this part because poems are not as scary as you think. Yes, I study poetry for my English Literature lessons as well as for my own leisure. Now, just don't think too much and read the following poem for the fun and enjoyment of it.

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One day you finally knew

what you had to do, and began,

though the voices around you

kept shouting

their bad advice -

though the whole house

began to tremble

and you felt the old tug

at your ankles.

"Mend my life!"

each voice cried.

But you didn't stop.

You knew what you had to do,

though the wind pried

with its stiff fingers

at the very foundations,

though their melancholy

was terrible.

It was already late

enough, and a wild night,

and the road is full of fallen

branches and stones.

But little by little,

as you left their voices behind,

the stars began to burn

through the sheets of clouds,

and there was a new voice

which you slowly

recognized as your own,

that kept you company

as you strode deeper and deeper

into the world,

determined to do

the only thing you could do -

determined to save

the only life that you could save.

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Okay, gtg to the gym now. I have to tidy up my room later too for Chinese New Year Spring Cleaning. Take care everyone! =)

Report on SPOP New Year Eve Mini-Concert @ Hougang Mall, Teresa's Latest Photos and Message to Her Supporters, My Christmas and New Year Celebrations

This will be an ultra-long post because I am packing a lot of things into it. Without further ado, let's get started.
For those who can't get enough of Teresa appearing on SPOP with Chen Weilian, the above are a series of screenshots some of the highlights of that episode. Everyone was teasing Weilian as he was blushing when Teresa sang "Cinderalla" and they had a lot of fun together during the recording.

Report on SPOP New Year Eve Mini-Concert @ Hougang Mall on 31 Dec 2007:

I was there at around 1pm and found Jolyn already sitting at the main audience area in front of the stage. However, the stage was elevated on two platforms and I thought the viewing of the performances would be rather difficult because of the stretched necks since the stage was so high up. So I took the liberty to find a seat on the second floor at Gelare and subsequently, Jolyn and Michelle joined me at the table.

Both Michelle and myself had not eaten our lunch so we ordered spaghetti and dessert to fill our stomachs whilst waiting up there. Blanket and JR, two of our fabulous fanclub photographers, arrived shortly and joined us for a while before they took up their positions to capture the best shots of Teresa's performances onstage.

At around 2.20pm, the Mini-Concert finally started and each of the twelve song compositions' singers came up onstage one by one to perform the SPOP songs. Here are some of the photos I have taken from my position. Some of them are blocked by a decorative tree by the side of the stage but at least it was a comfortable position to sit and watch the performances. With Blanket and JR around, I could relax abit without worrying too much about the photo-recordings of the event itself. =)

This is Nathaniel performing onstage. His singing is very good and he is confident of his performance.

This photograph shows Zhengning, Maxilian and Keely waiting for their turn to be onstage. The three girls are busy posing for the people there and Keely and Maxilian were like holding hands and swinging them. Very funny. Haha
This is Diya posing for the people as well. The shot is blurred but I can tell you that Diya is a very friendly and obliging celebrity, posing and signing autographs. No wonder she has so many supporters.
This is Jeremy Kwan posing at the same waiting area downstage. Quite a friendly guy and even without his singing partner, he could nail the song just as well.

Carrie belting out her song onstage. Her live version sounded alot better than the SPOP studio version but my alignment is still with Yu San. But way to go, Carrie. =)
Teresa going onstage for her turn to perform. She goes onstage with a smile and comes down fron it with a smile too. Could tell she really enjoys singing and her performance was flawlessly beautiful, attracting nearly everyone with a view of the stage to turn and look at her performance whilst she was singing Yu San. There was almost no qualitative difference between what you hear on my IMEEM player and the live version she sang at Hougang Mall. She must have put in a lot of work to master the song for all these outdoor events.

Teresa singing onstage. Unfortunately, the tree was in my way again but Teresa knows her stage movement well and managed to traverse from platform to platform. Unlike her first few public performances, I have little else negative to comment for all her recent performances. Teresa is a fast learner and can now manage her stage, audience and emcee interactions very well.

Yes, I know the photos I took of Teresa are no good but thankfully, both Blanket and JR have done their work well. JR has not uploaded all his photos yet but Blanket has finished his. Below are extracts of some of their work. Want to see more? Don't go Mocca, go to the Official Teresa Tseng Fanclub Forum Site on my Blogroll on the left and view all the excellent photos of the beautiful and talented Teresa.

Teresa's Latest Photographs and Message to Her Supporters:

Turning and facing different groups of audience at Hougang Mall, Teresa knows not everyone can see her onstage so she makes the effort to allow people to see her better by moving around from platform to platform.
Teresa smiling for the photographers at Hougang Mall, including one which she looks directly at Blanket himself on the fanclub shots. As with most of her public performances, almost all the professional photographers were busy snapping photos of Teresa. I could see all the flashes shimmering away the moment Teresa was onstage from my position on the second floor.

After Teresa's performance, I brought Michelle and Jolyn down to the first floor to wait for Teresa because Jolyn wants a photograph with Teresa and her autograph (Lucky her, she got both of them). Teresa did not leave Hougang Mall with the rest of the celebrities but she made her way to the escalator lift with her family, Thomas and Mdm Tseng instead. JR followed the three of us and we managed to get hold of Teresa whilst she was waiting for the lift.

Below is the fanclub exclusive photograph of Teresa at the lift waiting area of Hougang Mall.

Teresa left after taking a few photographs but she knew her supporters really wished she could stay a little longer, so she left a fanclub message at around 9.24pm last night:

大家好：

我是曾詠霖，祝福大家在新的一年裡心想事成！

添平，謝謝你製作了一份最特別的禮物送給我，感激不盡。

Jolyn Teng，也謝謝你送的禮物，我會好好珍惜它。

因今日是歲末，我有要事在身，故！無法跟大家一起合照，很抱歉，謝謝大家的諒解。

後天就開學了，所有的同學我們一起努力吧。最後，祝福大家身體健康！曾詠霖

Below is last week's results of the SPOP voting contest as of 31 Dec 2007 9pm

编号 Song No. 05 雨伞
编号 Song No. 07 男人香水
编号 Song No. 08 婚礼
编号 Song No. 09 不再
编号 Song No. 10 爱的味道
编号 Song No. 11 发烧

Teresa's SPOP song "Yu San" is currently STILL on the leaderboard for the votes! Hurray!

I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of Teresa to thank every single supporter who has been voting for the song all this while to make it happen and appeal to them to continue to vote for the song to keep it going through the competition.

Once again, thank you and keep on voting!

My Christmas and New Year Celebrations:

I was really busy for the past week because most of my free time was spent celebrating Christmas and New Year with my VIP friends and family. Below are the photographs I have taken for my gatherings with my VIP friends for the past week.

What is this? Mashed potatoes. Why take this? Because I was doing all the mashing. Why am I mashing potatoes? Because I was part of the team preparing food at The Changed Man's house for a Christmas celebratory dinner gathering of the VIP friends. Mashing potatoes is not easy work but the end result earned praises because it tasted really smooth and yummy. Hahaha.
Another dish prepared on that night. It's carborona spaghetti with ham, peppers and bacon bits. Very nice and delicious and everyone ate their fill that night.
More dishes taken just before the dinner. Sausages from Germany, Mushroom soup from Campbell. The missing dish was the mashed potatoes, which I was taking a break from mashing it then. Hahaha
This was taken from another KTV session with my VIP friends. Sam Lee was one of our favourites and happy to say, I am getting the hang of singing his difficult and challenging songs. When I feel up to it, I may even post another performance video of myself singing his songs on this blog. Stay tuned! Wahahaha...
This is Landy on the KTV screen. Pretty hor? She is talented but unfortunately not a bright star yet because she has too few songs under her name so far.
The Chinese temple at Si Ma Lu. Yes, my VIP friends pray at that place and I followed them. Although I am a free-thinker, I pray for strength to continue my work to save the world whilst I was there too. I heard the temple was the only building left on that street during World War II. Apparently, even the Japanese bombers did not dare to offend the gods inside by bombing the temple.
This was where I was last night - St James Power Station - Boiler Room with twenty other young elites. It was by invitation and I was honoured to be part of them last night, partying away at that place. I have never been to that place and it was very nice - lots of live performances, lots of drinks and lots of beautiful people to look. Hahaha
As the night approached 0000hrs, the party got wilder and the lights got crazier. The end effect? A very high crowd jumping around, toasting around and dancing around. By that time, I was already 50% drunk. Haha.
A photograph of how much we had drunk last night. We ordered a 8.5litres of Chivas, two bottles of Absolute Volka, two bottles of Cordon Bleau and two tanks of beer - and we finished everything at night. I heard the bill footed by the two hosts was more than $2000. Woohoo~

By 1.40am, I was nearly 80% drunk and it was time for me to go because I had to some blogging and work to do today. Oh, I was the first to leave as the rest continued to party until daybreak. Those folks were simply amazing party animals.

Alright. That's the end of the long post. I have got to grab my lunch before my New Year Day continues.

Happy New Year everyone and may it be a bountiful year of joy, love and happiness for all! =)