My Final Entry :'(

"I want them to write a review of what they learn from Creative thinking classes. Have they learnt anything, how are they going to apply it In their Everyday arts practice and what do they expect from their future classes like?

Thank you!"

So this is the probably my last blog entry, feels kind of sad though. I still remember when Mr Ezzam told us we would be doing work through a blog i can still remember i scoffed and thought he was joking. I always thought blogging was for girls who liked to rant or talk about how "shitty" life is. But looking back, it pains me to actually stop this blog. It always felt like i could be who i wanted to be and say what i wanted to say as i knew that my audience (Mr Ezzam) would not judge me. I realise that putting my thoughts into little digital words helped me express my emotions and thoughts better. Man I'm tearing up already! Hahahaha

So this being the last class, i think the thing i would miss the most is definitely not the lame video reviews or the picture of the week. I think I'll miss my lecturer the most. WITHOUT FAIL he would brighten up Tuesdays with his utter nonsense. The insulting jokes grew on me and i felt like i had a friend instead of a lecturer. I think many of us feel this way! 

We learned many different "skills" as the school calls them, along the way and i do admit some of them really helped me stimulate my creative brain juices. To me the brainstorming exercise and the getting lost has got to be the funniest and the most unique stuff I've done in class. I think I can use these experiences in class to help ease my next few years.

This class eased me into a world that was so unknown to me. The world of being a creative. I was slowly initiated under the guise of assignments. It made me realise i can be bold whilst playing tag, i could be adventurous by exploring Clementi and getting lost, to expose myself to different mediums of art at the Nights festival and countless other exposures. No other class has taught me so much and given me so many life experiences that i will forever cherish and apply.

SO, this sucks so much because I don't want to say goodbye to the class that chose me as their class rep and the lecturer who has put countless smiles on my face. I am sad but at the same time, I'm hopeful. I'm hopeful for what is ahead of me. I'm so done with all these nonsensical "foundation" modules. My hands are itching to start what i came here to do. To learn the actual needed skills instead of doing random things in class. Above all else, i want to thank God for giving me such an amazing lecturer and a friend. Truly an inspiring man with a smile, a voice and a passion for his craft. Thank you for inspiring me with deep conversations and for uplifting my spirits with your unwavering humour!  

Will miss you sir! YOU DA BOSS!!!

Picture of the week

I've always liked the classic and timeless design of "TIME" magazine. Throughout the years they always kept their read borders and the same font and the same letter placement. We can recognise it from afar as we've seen it so many timesthat we  automatically associate it with TIME magazine. Because they stayed the same through the test of time.

 So i was just seating in a cafe and i chanced upon a copy of an issue of TIME magazine. It made me realise how important it is to persevere. To stay the course, as a designer, i hear that many many people dont follow through with design. They do other things like management or hospitality. They run away from what they wanted to do. So that made me realise how IMPORTANT it is to me that I stay the course. To stick to this shaky and uncertain plan. But i feel that im called to do this and i pray that my passion lingers a little longer for that spark to reignite again. To feel like I want to be here. 

The Fitbit Force is our favorite fitness tracker: Product Spotlight

The fitbit is a revolutionary watch that has multiple fitness capabilities. The watch's predecessor was thinner and offered way lesser functions. It has bright displays to show the time, count calories burnt, step counter, distance travelled, total amount time spent being active. It is high tech that it offers functions like alerting the owner when he or she receives a call and can even be used as a silent alarm. The fitbit can also be paired with your phone to show the data on your phone as well. I think to me the coolest function is the silent alarm. I, myself, am a heavy sleeper and i can subconsciously off my alarm with my brain half dead. So i think an alarm clock strapped to my hand would really come in handy in waking up on time for school!

Kitchen Applicance

so i didnt attend class this tuesday but my groupmates told me that they had to brainstorm about unique and new kitchen appliances. It had to be unique and innovative and never seen before. Thats honestly pretty hard as being original in a world like this is so hard. So i was thinking about this for quite some time but i decided to think of the ordinary items like knives and cutting boards. After i settled on knives, i tried to think of ways to simplify it and how we always have so many knives and that how knife holders are always so big take up a lot of space. So i decided to invent the swiss kitchen knife. All the knives are stored in the handle just like a regular tiny swiss army knife, instead this is bigger and more tailored for home use. Eliminating the screw driver and pliers to save more space for a larger range of knives. So my idea is the Swiss Kitchen Knife!

BBC Documentary - Horizon_ The Creative Brain How Insight Works

The video shows about how scientist have been testing different ways to stimulate creativity. Whether the ideas are big, small or life changing. How sudden bursts of inspirations and the creation of new ideas can be controlled. Throughout the video, they show scientists trying different methods of stimulus. Trying to stimulate different parts of the brain to induce creativity, trying to use puzzles and brain-teaser to draw out creativity. They even show a visual mapping of the brain to show us which sections of the brain is active when creativity kicks in. All their findings are very interesting and can really open doors into the psychology of creativity.

Shawn Achor: The happy secret to better work

The video started of pretty boring, i anticipated it to be boring throughout the entire 12 minutes. However, i was surprised as Mr Achor has some really awesome comedic timing. He told jokes so effortlessly. He really cracked me up when he talked about the incident with his sister. He later went on to talk more about happiness. He lost me a few times throughout his talk as i was distracted from laughing and also because he spoke very fast. To be terribly honest i didnt really catch all that he meant to say. But i think i want to give him credit for making me laugh and whilst he was talking about happiness and how to be happy. I think making me laugh achieved the main point of this ted talk. HAHAHA. Throughout his talk he went through a lot of interesting pointers about how beneficial happiness can be to people. I don't remember most of what he said as his talk was pretty face paced. But i like how he managed to link happiness to productivity and how being happy improves productivity. I dont think ive ever laughed out loud at an ted talk video ever. His story of how he distracted his sister from the pain of falling off the bed was hilarious! I think it really showed how ignoring the things around you can convincing yourself that everything is alright, in turn makes you happier and leads to better outlooks on different outcomes.

Picture of the Day

So I was so burned out at with these week and I just wanted to get lost. I've felt so tired with this week so i decided to find a little cafe at this new business hub opposite where my church has services. Its across the road from Suntec. So this cafe was pretty cool as the seats are outdoor and as i looked around the architecture looked so amazing, so fluid. The coffee was pretty bad though. But i had a good time talking to my friend and also just taking in the beautiful designs. 

Analogical Thinking Introduction video

The video was pretty dry. I felt like the guy was speaking was speaking too fast and i was distracted by how old it was. However after rewatching, i realised how relevant the video was. As a designer we need to understand how analogical thinking works. Analogical thinking to make it simple, is to explain something by associating it with something familiar to simplify it. The example given was how he described the internet. As an engineer, you would be able to accurately describe the internet with terms like gigabytes, RAM and data. However, only people who understand these terms would understand. However, its just only for engineers to engineers. But to appeal to everyone. We have to use an example that people can relate you and are familiar with. So to simplify the internet, we can use the example of the Highway. We use this because everyone knows what is its and how it works. So that is analogical thinking, to relate things to the audience.
As I'm studying Graphic Communicate, i think this i really important that as i have to learn how to communicate certain things to people and Analogical thinking is really IMPORTANT!

Reflection on "Artist's Brutal Illustrations Show How Hong Kong is Nothing Like China"

So in class we had to open a very controversial article of a citizen residing in HongKong addressing about how "uncouth" the people from Mainland China are different from them. This anonymous graphic designers compared his own Hong-Konger against the people from China with some illustrations that addressed different topics like sanitary habits, government and social media. However, i felt that this designer hid behind the cloak of anonymity and created provocative and offensive. I went back to lesson 2 and read my book. I noted down what Mr Ezzam said " if you want to be SHOCKING go ahead, there are people who would be on your side, but there are people who would also be against you." This is what this designer did. I agree there is a stigma when it comes to China mainlanders and I've encountered some of the stereotypes of these Chinese foreigners.

However, although there were some facts it was too aggressive. He did bring up topics of government, freedom, and social media. I found that it was quite unusual that the government elects its own president, and not have people vote someone to power. I found that the restriction of a global social media platform like Facebook was shocking. I found that they have no freedom of speech that to me is so important as a Creative.
Freedom, or the lack thereof

So after i poured out my opinions on the group we started to talk more and more about this topic. We realised that this is SO one sided. It's only this one view. The designer generalised and stereotyped the whole population. He slung and hurled accusations like Chinese people are fragile, rude and lack standards. However, although there are some like these. Not all of them are like these. I'm going to be honest, i was actually agreeing with the designs until i heard the perspective of our very own Chinese classmates. My classmates are such nice people who ARE CLEAN who ARE SOCIABLE who ARE POLITE. I realised that just because they are slightly different they are still people who don't deserve these kind of persecution. After that day, i opened my eyes and realised how nonsensical these accusations were and I didnt want to take part of these social bashing.  

Indoor Faces

 when you drop your coin and you're trying to find it

 When your parents scold your brother for something you did. And you dont wanna own up.

 The face you make when you slip on a puddle

 When you got away with a lie (Pinocchio's nose)

 When you no one laughs at your joke. 

 After hearing some juicy gossip.

When you realised you wasted your tutorial week doing nonsense

 How i felt when i got my braces. 

 Crossing your eyes

The face i make when that baby cockroach starts to fly

Outdoor Faces

when your friend tells you a moderately funny joke and you just smile for moral support

 sticking your tongue out when someone calls you cute

 acting cute

 when you find out your crush likes you back

 when you hear the lames joke in the world

 when you hear the ice cream truck

 when you try to grow a beard but its patchy as hell

 when girls get their brows done

 when your mum says no to the toy you want

when the drugs kick in

Picture of the week

So this week, I had some free time to catch a play about "Commedia dell'arte". My friend asked me to check out her play that was going on in Lasalle. She was in charge of the costumes. Honestly i dont mind comedy but I found it more about giggling that actual BURST OUT LOUD LAUGHTER. The people seated infront of me were the directors ex students so they purposely BURSTOUT IN LAUGHTER. Waving their hands around all crazy like. I was just silently judging them. Hahaha but honestly, the comedy was at most giggle worthy, but these people just went all out and laughed like it was über hysterical or something. This just made me realised how much i dislike these kind of fake people. Those people who literally suck up to the people above them. I get that we should honour the people above us, but i believe we dont have to bootlick them. In fact, i truly believe the highest honour is when you are able to say "no" in a constructive manner. To not just go with the flow, or agree or in this case laugh at every poorly thought through joke. Well, i just dislike these types of people.  

Battle Royale Movie review (warning: there are some gory images)

So this week we since we were having an extra week to do complete our work so our lecturer DECIDED TO GIVE US EXTRA HOMEWORK! Thanks sir if your reading this. Just kidding ;) i actually love movies and this was pretty awesome.

So this movie is set in japan where the youth are uncooperative with their education and learning. They are basically skipping school. So the Japanese Government decided to pass the " BR Act" which randomly chooses a class fight to the death. Till there is only one survivor left, and that survivor will get freedom. Sound familiar? Maybe like The Hunger Games? Well it shouldn't because the author of the books, Suzanne Collins, "supposedly" has never heard of Battle Royale. The movie that was the rave of the early 2000s and we have THE big time director Quentin Tarantino saying that Battle Royale was HIS FAVOURITE MOVIE OF ALL TIME. Come on Suzanne, lie better.

Well that isn't the point but as an avid movie lover and big fan of Quentin Tarantino,  this movie would have been extra awesome if you haven't seen the Hunger Games. But nevertheless, the action scenes in this movie were over the the top but yet simple. It was simple because of the amount of special effects available at that time. They really didn't hold back when the killings started, there was some really gory deaths!

 The only gripe i have with this was the unrealistic deaths. I get that it's a movie but they emphasised heavily that this is set in the real world and that this movie is as real as it can get. BUT the deaths were stupidly unrealistic. Every time someone was shot or riddled with bullets, it was as it bullets are made of paper or something. No one stays down. Literally everyone gets back up after a whole magazine is emptied into their chest. I get that you dont immediately die after being shot but you definitely wouldn't be able to get up and have that much mobility. All in all, this movie had an interesting plot, character development and it made me question who would really survive if my class was sent to this. I dont think I would survive, but i do have a list of people i would like to take with me when i go down. MUAHAHAHA! OH another thing i didnt really like was that there was so much love stuff going on in one class, i mean come on, i get that they are all handsome actors and pretty actresses but NOT everyone in the class has to have feelings for one another.

Still I really liked it and enjoyed the crazy experience. I would defininately recommend it to someone who likes the classics, someone who hates the hunger games, or people who just like action in general.

Hunger Games aint got nuttin' on Battle Royale!

I think Royson would survive, he had that hidden cunning look. I feel like if he's back to a corner, i think he would really fight his way out. 

My weapon of choice would be a shotgun. Its easy to use and it doesn't really need precision to kill? I guess the scary thing is if i run out of ammunition. 

Picture of the Week

So this week, my friend brought me to this art exhibition in Lasalle. It was pretty fun! It was an interactive art piece where you take the baseball bat and swing it at the wall. There is a sensor at the back of the wall creating a huge BOOM sound. It made my swing seem like it hit a lot harder than it did HAHAHA! It was pretty unique as it included me in the art itself. In a very awesome and testosterone filled way. These pass few weeks have been really draining and THIS was such a timely experience thingy. I actually felt a lot better after smacking the wall and imagining the wall to be some of my lecturers. It took out the constant worry of deadlines and the constant stress of school. It was just me, the bat and the white wall.  

Last week's Picture of the Day

OK sorry for the late entry, the previous week was hectic! I was like literally and figuratively bed ridden. I had high fever for 3 days straight. It's a miracle i managed to walk around the Night's festival

Ok let's get to it. So this is the picture of my grandma from her Birthday last week. I FRIGGIN LOVE MY GRANDMA! I think she is the probably the reason why I can never have a 6 pac. So last week she turned 83. She really is an inspiration to me and she is the strongest person I know. She lives in my house and everyday day she lifts pots and pans to cook for the family. Its something she does to pass the time i guess. Well, my tummy really thanks her! At 83, she can wake up everyday, walk around the house, tidy up the kitchen, cut vegetables, fold the clothes, cook dinner and care for a man child like myself. SHE ALSO TAUGHT HERSELF ENGLISH! Its crazy! So she wanted to be able to read the bible and her "daily devotional" so she started to learn english from the newspapers and through conversing. She has more conviction to do something than all the conviction i have to complete Design School! She is so strong that I think she does more stuff than all my previous domestic helpers combined. I just feel like I don't say thank you enough and I don't show my appreciation for her enough. So I dedicate this post to the Greatest GRANDMA EVAR, thank you for constantly caring for me (although you still nag at me), thank you for cooking all the crazy delicious Peranakan food for me and above all thank you for just being you!

Edward de Bono - discusses Lateral Thinking™

So Lateral thinking so a form of "higher" thinking. Many people have this stigma that creative people are completely different from others, that creativity is something someone is born with. Thats why companies sought out for creative mind like its gold. Especially in Singapore where, in my opinion, the education system hinders creativity but rather they promote conformity. Edward de Bono stresses on the point that this new method of brainstorming would allow anyone to pick up the skill of creativity. And he means its a skill! Not something only certain people are born with it.

I struggled with this for a very long time, I always felt that I was less creative than the people around me because I wasn't born with the natural gift of creativity. However, after this short 3 minute video, I realised what NAFA is trying to say. They are trying to break down the walls of such stigmas, to prove that anyone and everyone can be creative. Yeah sure, you can draw and do art. But at the crux of it all. They don't care if you're talented, in the first year, they want to show us that all students can be creative. No matter how small they creative ability may be.

And this was probably the easiest video to watch, partly because it's only 3 minutes (please keep it that way) and also because Dr Edward's voice is so relaxing. HAHAHAH yeah so this is my realisation and how I felt about the video

Reflection of mind map and other stuff that happened in class

 So this is my mind map about my life. I had to do this during class to practice how to see my life from a different view. i decided to write about the different areas in my life now and also the future i want for my life.

So during class that day we had to review other peoples blogs. That was the toughest thing i had to do all week! I hate critiquing people, it makes me feel like a bad person. I know how people say it help them and such but even i dont like it when people tell me what to do or critique me. However, we still had to do it and as much as i didnt want to point fingers we had to choose someone from another group and i chose Zhi Yao and Aishwariya. Both had nicely written blogs, it was just that they missed out some blog entries. They werent bad at all! BUT i had to choose someone. 

The crazy part about this was that we also had to choose a Good version on each and one of the groups said that i had a good blog. In my mind, i was like "you're mad" there were people like Haelyn and Raziq in my group. People who have been hard at work every week and I cant believe they were chosen on me. I felt that it was unfair to them because I myself don't agree with the class's choice. So this was what we had to do and i think it was really hard to do! Especially choosing one that you think wasnt up to par.

Nights festival

Warning: THERE ARE LOADS OF PHOTOS INCOMING

So this is my first time going to the Nights festival. It was massively crowded and it was super super hot! It was nice and all but I felt that the arts were more catered to people who sort of have or had a background in arts. If I went for this before i entered school i think i wouldn't have appreciate it as much. Im not saying some stuff didnt peak my interest but i just felt that there were just too many people and the interesting exhibitions were very far apart.

SAM 8Q 

So the first exhibition i went for was my lecturers exhibition. It was pretty strange and crazy to say the least. I didn't really understand everything at first but after the performance, some of my friends who are more seasoned in the arts are explained to me most of it. 

My friend explained here how Mr Ezzam was feeling the space. Getting a feel of the space he has to work with. 

This part was the craziest, He started to eat the talcum powder and blow them out. I TOTALLY DIDNT EXPECT THIS. The dedication to the art. HE LITERALLY STUFFED POWDER IN HIS MOUTH. I could see after some time that he was struggling not to vomit as the powder must have agitated his throat or made his mouth really dry. This part was where the crowd started to get a bit squeamish. 

I felt angry at the rude crowd though. Its not that I'm trying to be a teacher's pet or whatever but I felt frustrated when they just blatantly said "Oh he just eats the powder and spits it out. Lets go la". I just wanted to turn around and ask him to try and do likewise. To put in that same amount of passion for your own work and actually put powder in your mouth! Other people where also rude because they came to look around and not at least try and appreciate the message behind it.

After some research, I found that Talcum Powder is used like a baby powder but what struck me was that it was used on prisoners after they have been stripped and hosed down. It was something like a tool for cleansing. I began to think and ponder, i dont actually know if this is the message, but i felt the white room was his mind. The blinking lights were his ideas being contained in glass. He was using the powder to cleanse himself and his mind. Trying to bring everything to be white, to be pure again.

Thats just my interpretation.

After that we went to the National Museum. This was interesting and unique as they did some video projection mapping on the entire building. Creating the building as a screen for the little short film. I thought it was really nice as the vibrant colours drew a huge crowd. 

Later we walked to the Deck. It's near Lasalle. They had a few Art pieces on display and a contemporary dance item.

The dance was revolving around the use of sensors to light up the room and create the crackling sounds. To be honest, i thought it to be kinda creepy! The dancers were moving very randomly and rapidly that it looked like they were possessed or something. But after talking to the guide, it made more sense to why they moved and danced that way. Each light had a sensor that only detected a small area, one was only a swinging plank, one was a imaginary sphere in the middle and one was a globe that when moved created the lights. At first the dancers were wild but after a while i understood why they incorporated these moves into their routine.

These were some of the art pieces on showcase at the gallery.

Simple techniques created some crazy and intricate patterns and designs.

This was my favourite art piece throughout the night. It was a room filled with ripped pages of well known romance novels. They blanked out most of the sentences only revealing Love related words behind. I am a hopeless romantic and I think im the only dude that find certain romances appealing. The art pieces here must have taken up a lot of time as they had to fill the entire room, i really admired they dedication to their craft.  Some of the words that were left behind were pretty raunchy and erotic, i could see how the artist really thought his or her idea of love was.

Finally, we went to SOTA to see what they had. At first it look like just plain sculptures that resembled plants and flowers. 

After shining the UV light you could see the intricate patterns on the leaves and i thought that was pretty cool and unique.

So thats all the places i visited through out the Nights Festival, honestly i thought it was a bit over hyped and over rated. The crowd was insane. However, i really liked the exhibitions at the Deck, it had lesser people and the art there appealed more to me.