Who's 'hitting the streets'

It's surreal to watch, on one hand, what is going on in Myanmar, and, on the other hand, to read about the dainty tip-toeing of ASEAN with regard to the issue. Hello, the people there need help!!

I agree with all the people who have said that ASEAN is the best bet for Myanmar at this point. Could this be ASEAN's biggest challenge in its 40 years of existence? Will it rise to the occasion and do something significant?

In the meantime, there is much action on the ground level, with Myanmar nationals and locals taking to the streets in KL, Jakarta, Bangkok and Manila, and even all the way over in Seoul and Canberra. Ah... no need to say which city has been left out... You know, people like to say things like 'If there is an issue people (us) feel passionately about, there are other ways to highlight their cause rather than hitting the streets in protest'. (Full letter here) So, I'd like to ask now, what exactly are people doing to 'highlight their cause'? Oh... maybe people don't 'feel passionately' about this...

More here (National Post, Canada): Protestors rally across Asia against Myanmar

And here (Fox News): World reacts to Myanmar protests

The ASEAN statement

Other relevant links here

Shwedagon

Good eyesight = elixir of life?

I just read this on the Asiaone website, 'Poor eyesight an indication of poor health'.
(not sure if the link works after today)

The findings, as reported in the article:
'Reflecting a trend in Australia, Britain and the United States, a new study among Chinese in Singapore's Tanjong Pagar district has shown that those with poor vision are about three times more likely to die than those with good eyesight.'

Doesn't it sound weird that one group is 'three times more likely to die' than another group? I mean, ALL of us WILL die, right?

Ah well...

Anyway, I'm interested to know what they actually mean by people with 'poor vision'. Are they referring to short-sighted people? In other words, the majority of Singaporeans? Or do they mean those who are long-sighted? Or those who are both short- and long-sighted? Or are they the ones with cataracts? Or other eye issues?

Guess people with good eyesight will now have to pay even more attention to making sure they have enough CPF savings for old age.

Three Boys and A Lady

I must congratulate myself on finishing 4 books in about 2 months. And not all chick lit some more, ha ha. It is quite a record for me, and it was partly due to spending endless hours in bed for 2-3 days due to a strange ailment.

For some odd reason, it turned out that 3 of the books happened to feature 'boys'. More about them later. I'll start with the lady.

Fat Chance by Deborah Blumenthal

(chick lit for sure)

Bought this on the recommendation of a fitness magazine. About a newspaper columnist who enjoys a great following because she is anti-thin, i.e. argues against dieting, slimming down, etc. However, she is asked to be a consultant to a handsome actor for his nip-tuck kind of movie and secretly goes on diet + exercises to lose weight before they meet, hence 'betraying' her cause. Predictable storyline. Lovely cover. Regret buying.

I did not purposely look for a 'bad' review but I googled the title and this came up.

Just In Case by Meg Rosoff

About 15-year-old David who, one 'fateful' day, happens to glance up when his baby brother is perched on a window trying to 'fly'. He grabs - and saves - the little boy but the incident propels him into a world of anxiety, paranoia and depression as he tries to run away from 'fate'. In the literary sense, this book is skilfully crafted -- well constructed, well thought out and well written. However, I can't really say I 'enjoyed' it, though the story is engaging. Too 'dark' for me, all the angst, identity crisis and everything. I loved the (few) parts when the little boy 'talks' to his older brother. He can't actually speak yet, but the writer writes what he is thinking as though he is communicating with him. Instructive for parents, teachers and anyone who has anything to do with teenagers.

Review here.

The Learning Curve by the late Melissa Nathan

(chick lit + dad lit)

About a 30-ish primary school teacher, her favourite pupil (boy) and her school, family and personal relationships. Cute story but very long. There were 3-4 sub-plots (yes, there were that many sub-plots!) which I didn't really care about but overall, the book is enjoyable and I really like the dad-and-son (same boy) plot. I'm also full of admiration for the author, who completed this book while suffering from cancer. This story would make a good movie, I think. I'd choose Reese Witherspoon or Kate Winslet for the main character and because my movie repertoire is really limited, I can only think of Colin Firth for the widower dad, unless Brad Pitt can do the British accent. Anyway, since Colin Firth has been Mr Darcy and Mark Darcy, he might as well be Mark Samuels here, ha ha.

I was, as Jane Austen would say, astonished to find subtle (much subtler than in BJ's Diary) Jane Austenish parts in this book. That definitely makes Jane Austen the queen of chick lit, of course, since she's every other chick lit writer's role model.

'Actually, to be honest,' she confessed, 'I can't make you out at all.'

'Well,' his voice was suddenly serious, 'I'm glad you're trying.'

a la Mr Darcy and Elizabeth at the ball... sigh...

About Melissa Nathan.

Looking for Mary by Beverly Donofrio

About the writer herself, a lapsed Catholic, who collects Mary (i.e., Mary, the mother of Jesus) paraphernalia through her many years of unbelief. She joins a pilgrim group to Medjugorje (in Bosnia-Hercegovina) as an 'outsider' writing an article (she's a journalist). The experience draws her back to God. And the entire experience (of searching, finding and coming back) helps her come to terms with her relationship with her son (by then in his 20s) and indirectly helps heal him (the poor boy had many issues arising from being the child of teenage parents who got divorced, then growing up with a young single mum who never gave him a sense of security). Moving.

More here.

Time to pick another book...

Hero teachers

It must be some cruel coincidence that had this piece of news 'Low-IQ robber escapes jail, thanks to teachers' out on the same day (today's ST) as the reports about the review of the penal code.

Certainly, it is good news that the robber in question has been spared the jail term and 24 strokes of the cane and, instead, will undergo 'reformative training'. However, the circumstances under which this came about are unsatisfactory.

The reported started: 'Convicted robber EM has two of his former teachers to thank for getting him out of a long jail term and 24 lashes of the cane.' What if his teachers hadn't found out about his case?

EM has an IQ of 66 (average person's IQ is 90-100) and he was convicted of robbery and hitting a policeman. It stated that the district judge 'had not been aware' of his low IQ. How could that happen?

The DPP had pointed out that he was 'no drooling idiot' (a phrase I find pretty offensive), had committed these offences after having been at Gracehaven juvenile home for an earlier theft offence (guess she was implying that it didn't 'reform' him) and said 'He must not be allowed to use his low IQ as a wild card to whisk himself out of prison.' In other words, don't give chance anymore.

If I remember correctly, he didn't try to 'use his low IQ as a wild card to whisk himself out of prison'. It was an alert former teacher who read the news who brought this up. And if I understand correctly about low IQ, if you have a limited understanding of the world and how it works, you have a limited understanding of the world and how it works. In other words, how many times you go to prison, juvenile home or whatever may not make much difference to your understanding of the world and how it works. In fact, with the 'right' (or wrong, depending on how you look at it) combination of factors, you could actually turn out 'worse' than before you went in.

In the last part of the report, the High Court judge 'urged lawyers to fulfil their obligations to their clients instead of just presenting a cursory three-paragraph request for leniency', which was what was submitted by EM's lawyer.

My, look at how the whole system failed EM. Thankfully, his teacher read the newspaper on the right day and had the conviction to come forward to help him, and a second teacher volunteered to supervise him. Hurray for teachers and the support system for people with special needs.

How many others are in jail because their teachers didn't happen to read about their cases in the news?

Quakes, Singaporeans and non-Singaporeans

My mum was at my brother's place with my nephew, niece and their Filipino maid earlier this week on one of the days when tremors were felt in Singapore. Aunty X (kept anonymous to protect the innocent) was the first to react. She knew straightaway that her sudden dizziness had something to do with an earthquake. My mum was more interested in looking at how much the table and other stuff would shake and move but Aunty X said 'Must run!' My mum said, 'No need, lah, nothing will happen,' and Aunty X then recounted some horrific tale of how the ground split and people fell in the holes, etc. She grabbed my niece and they all went down the stairs from the 13th floor.

My poor terrified niece kept telling my mum to run faster, and my mum kept telling her not to worry and that she would see her downstairs. After all, a grandma surely can't run as fast as the 2 kids and Aunty. Actually, the tremors had already stopped by then and when the all-clear was given later and they were going back up, my mum told them she was not going to take the stairs for sure and so they went back in the lift.

To my mum, this was just one very exciting experience. She tends to approach life with a 'don't worry, nothing will go wrong' kind of attitude which comes partly from faith and also from being Singaporean. After all, she has lived in Singapore all her life and she has never known of anything that happened here in relation to any earthquake anywhere.

However, I'm starting to wonder if one day, something may happen because it seems like we are feeling tremors here more than before. I have some questions in relation to this:
1. We keep getting told that post-tremor checks on buildings reveal nothing untoward and that our buildings are built to withstand tremors. But are all buildings built with tremors in mind or just some?

2. Who knows enough to declare a building 'safe'? I think it was the security guards who gave the all-clear at my brother's place. Are they trained to check buildings for structural problems? What about the lifts? How would we know if they are safe to use?

3. Shouldn't Singaporeans be made more aware of how and when to evacuate, given that most of us have no experience with earthquakes and that many of our buildings are high-rise? If Aunty X wasn't there, chances are my mum and the kids would have just stayed in, which, apparently, was what some of the neighbours did. (I told my mum that it was better to be safe and evacuate since there's always the odd chance that some structure might become unstable or something.)

4. What about people for whom mobility is a problem? In the future (ageing population), this will be a bigger problem because we will have many elderly people in high-rise buildings and there will be many who can't take the stairs, so how?

Relief efforts and donations: Singapore Red Cross and Mercy Relief

Four exits and a final

Belated thoughts on this year's US Open.

(Warning: the links are to the US Open website which sometimes takes VERY long to load)

EXITS

Tim Henman

This will be his last Grand Slam. He's supposed to play in the Davis Cup but his wife is also due to deliver (their 3rd child, I think) around that time...

He is one guy who probably single-handedly gives many Brits high blood pressure every year at the Wimbeldon because they have such high hopes for him and he never did really well in it. Nevertheless, he is one rare gentleman who still plays the gentleman's game like a gentleman. His wit and self-depracating (also rare) humour will be missed, too.

He was asked 'What's the best you ever played?' and said, 'I think the best overall is Paris, the Masters Series, when I won. I think for the consistent level of tennis. You know, Basel I played some I remember one year only dropping my serve once the whole week, making Roger cry in the final. That was pretty special (smiling). I have to remind him of that every once in a while just to keep his feet on the ground.' (Tim Henman's interview)

Ha ha.

All the best, Tim!

Maria Sharapova

What a pity we saw so little of those dresses.

Ana Ivanovic

And what a pity we didn't get to see more of her beautiful face and smile.

The women's tournament was really, really boring because of the lop-sided draw and with these 2 and Daniela Hantuchova out of the picture, boy, there wasn't much to watch. Even Justine versus the Williamses wasn't that exciting.

At least while exiting, these 2 could speak nicely about their opponents, unlike some people who couldn't even bring themselves to utter something as simple as, 'Congratulations, Ms Henin'. Like their gold teeth and fillings would drop out if they said it or something.

Ana said, '... It was enjoyable time for me to play against her here and also last year against Serena' and also 'She's the type of player that plays better each match, and as the tournament progress she is raising her level. She is definitely playing some good tennis and has a good chance. It's tough part of the draw, but I'm sure she can do good. ' (Ana's interview)

Sharapova said: 'You got to give her a lot of credit for finishing the match and winning it. A lot of girls in her position on a big stage in a big stadium against a top player sometimes get a little nervous. She held on there, and all the credit to her for winning the match.' (Sharapova's interview)

Nadal

I routinely root for him when he plays against Federer. I think his rather 'early' exit is significant because he is the nearest man to Federer and he's suffering from, like, a million injuries at his young age while Federer is hardly pulling out or resting because of injury or illness. Doesn't look good...

THE FINAL

Of course I didn't wake/stay up at 4.30am to watch the final and after I learnt the result, I had no interest in watching the delayed telecast. The only consolation is that maybe Djokovic will become the nearest man to Federer instead of Nadal, and, by the looks of it, I think he has a better chance at Federer than Nadal does. He has better skills all round, I think. And among the raging bull types, bulldog types and robots who have been trying to unseat Federer, Djokovic is quite a breath of fresh air. If anything, he will be remembered for his personality. I read in a forum that some people think he's arrogant. I don't know about that but it looks like he is pretty well-liked among the other players. He seems to be getting affectionate hugs rather often.

(That's not Federer, of course. )

Links and pictures all from the US Open website.

More than lost in translation

Continuing with the theme, while translations are often hilarious, sometimes, they are not funny at all. When people who transfer words across cultures lose not just the meanings but also the nuances and other underlying associations of those words, the end result can be horrible.

Some examples:

I heard this Japanese pop song which went 'Merry Christmas, blah, blah, blah...' and in the background was, distinctly, the tune of 'Abide With Me', more commonly heard during Lent and at funerals.

The show with Joo Ji-hoon, which I mentioned in the last post, is called Mawang, or 'Devil King'. Its other English title is 'Lucifer'. I'm not sure if the people producing the show really understand the implications of the title. Anyhow, his character isn't actually one of those evil to the core types. He's psychologically troubled because he never got over his brother's untimely death and the fact that the killer got away with it because of his connections.

The one that gets to me most is 'Ave Maria', from 200 Pounds Beauty (not my grammatical error; this is the actual title), 'Ave Maria' being 'Hail Mary', the start of the prayer derived from 'Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women' (Luke 1:28), the angel Gabriel's greeting at the Annunciation. I have no idea what the song is about but it can't possibly be about Mary and what has she to do with this cosmetic surgery-being a pop star story anyway? I guess Mary would be forgiving about this and I should learn to be more understanding myself...

The Annunciation by Leonardo da Vinci
(from here)

He like dat say one meh?

Apparently, that 'English as it is broken' book has been topping the charts at our local bookstores. Actually, I'm not too interested in that book but this other one may be worth getting my hands on. The article about it, as published in Saturday's (1 Sept) ST:

In the world of international diplomacy, the best-chosen words or phrases can leave an audience laughing, bewildered or simply lost in translation, an insider has revealed.
Undiplomatic Activities, a yet-to-be-launched book by Mr Richard Woolcott, who ran Australia's foreign service for four years, points to the pitfalls of translating thoughts into different languages.

Take the Australian diplomat in France who tried to tell his audience that as he looked back on his career, it was divided in two parts, with dull postings before life in Paris.
'When I look at my backside, I find it is divided into two parts,' Mr Woolcott quoted the diplomat as telling his highly amused audience.

Ex-Australian prime minister Bob Hawke left his Japanese audience bewildered when he used the Australian colloquial phrase 'I am not here to play funny buggers' to dismiss a trivial and pesky question from lawmakers.
The Japanese interpreters 'went into a huddle to consult on the best way to render 'funny buggers' into Japanese', he wrote.
Their translation: 'I am not here to play laughing homosexuals with you.'

Australia's Labor Party leader Kevin Rudd is regarded as a master of Mandarin. But his language skills were far from perfect when, as a diplomat in 1984, he interpreted his ambassador's speech on the close relationship Australia and China enjoyed.
'Australia and China are enjoying simultaneous orgasms in their relationship,' he apparently told the audience in Mandarin.

Mr Woolcott said the best interpretations sometimes involved no translation at all, like what happened when an Asian minister told a long joke at a banquet in Seoul.
'The Korean interpreter was lost, but did not show it. He uttered a few sentences and the audience laughed and applauded,' he wrote.
After being complimented on his translation skills, the interpreter confessed: 'Frankly, minister, I did not understand your joke, so I said in Korean that the minister has told his obligatory joke, would you all please laugh heartily and applaud.'

Ha ha, cute.

On translations, I recently finished Man of the Vineyard. The DVD set is made for the China market and the English subtitles (well, at least there are English subtitles!) are really something to behold and often more entertaining than the show itself. Apart from the more minor ones like 'My arm is very sour' (after plucking grapes) and 'We have to grasp thief', for some reason, 'I' and 'she' were almost always translated as 'he'. Then there were some totally incomprehensible lines and others which you have to think about for a bit before you get what they are saying.

An example: Yoon Eun-hye was comparing the doctor she had a crush on with the guy from the vineyard and said, 'How can hanburg matches souce soup?' I figured 'hanburg' is 'hamburger' but I don't know what 'souce soup' is. But she was saying something like how can the uncouth grape guy (hamburger) be compared with the refined doctor (souce soup, whatever it is).

Anyway, I enjoyed the rural setting which, for once, was not on Jeju Island. However, the show was at best average. Yoon Eun-hye's character and situation were too much like what they were in Goong. I was also disappointed that she totally gave up her dream of being a fashion designer at the end of the show. Anyway, I thought she was more compatible with the doctor (right), and I don't know why everyone kept saying he wasn't suitable for her. Even she herself couldn't explain why she liked the grape guy in the end. And they really should have given him a better hairstyle (left).

Joo Ji-hoon fared much better post Goong. I caught him a few times in Mawang where he did well as a troubled and sinister guy who instigated a number of murders. However, I don't like psychological thrillers so it was great when Capital Scandal replaced it.

Vineyard pics from here.

Mawang pic from here.