theCollectiveUs

Interesting discussion started at the unicyclist forums about the type of personality that defines unicyclists. I ended up doing the Jung/Briggs-Myers test twice at different sites here and here

Both say I’m an INTP which seems to be quite common with the folk on the discussion thread. If memory doesn’t fail I think that’s consistent with the last few times I chanced on the tests.

I think there’s quite a bit of truth to this bit of analysis about INTPs (Architects) -

Once caught up in a thought process, Architects close off and persevere until they comprehend the issue in all its complexity. Architects prize intelligence, and with their grand desire to grasp the structure of the universe, they can seem arrogant and may show impatience with others who have less ability, or who are less driven.

So if you’ve ever caught me staring into space (which I do a lot) or freezing mid-sentence, that’s really part of the thought process so don’t panick – I’m still alive and well.

It also explains why I hate stupid people.

Apart from six-legged things, peanuts and ugly porn stars, I also hate bad journalism with a vengence. I’d say that my bar is set pretty low because I understand COMPLETELY what it feels like to be young, starting out and trying to find your own style.I don’t think it’s too much to ask for them to Google unfamiliar terms or to at least attempt to cover up their ignorance with general statements that has to hold true. I also hate people who don’t spellcheck especially if they know that they can’t spell to save the world.

So, if you found this post because you’re googling for terms like ‘How to ace journalism’ or ‘How to be a better journalist’ or ‘How to write good articles’ or ‘How to spell Mississippi’, you’re at the right place. You’re now going to find out how to be better than at least 5 writers.

1) Right-click on squiggly red lines. Use a dictionary if you’re so old-skool you use Notepad.

2) Use short sentences. Because I read the papers and I don’t like reading sentences that are half a page long with redundant words that I don’t even understand because I don’t have a Harvard education. Even worse if the words are used wrongly.

3) For cryin’ out loud, if you’re listing a company or brand name, GET THE SPELLING RIGHT. ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE TOLD BY THE PERSON HOW TO SPELL IT.

4) Referencing a joke in the previous paragraph does not work if the joke is unfunny or unobvious. Most times, both.

5) Do not plagarize, of ALL THINGS, other local publications. Because the original is probably crap to begin with. Because the original probably has discrepancies which you’re reproducing. Because there’s a good chance the writer might find your stuff a little too familiar.

Journalism students have me to thank for their future bright career.

And also because I feel obliged to write about Video Games Live, an internationally-performed, geek-targetted concert about those horrible influences that your mom tried to keep you off as a kid.

The concert is the brainchild of Tommy Tallarico. Now, I’ve a very strong impression of Tommy Tallarico because one of my favorite psOne games, R/C Stunt Copter, had a video segment with him congratulating me (yes, ME, ME, ME) when I (yes, I, I, I) completed the game on Hard. Later in life, I’d find out that he’s a videogame composer and not an unlockable player in the game that I haven’t managed to procure yet. Damn videogames.

VGL felt like a $30 Asian variety show except the tickets were priced from SGD$55 – $115 and uh… it’s a concert. Tommy T came out on stage every 5 minutes for some banter and to overenthusiastically announce the next song and you have the orchestra playing while snippets of videogames or trailer material played on the big screen behind. Think of it was having live music with a selection of your favorite game trailers, complete with the company logos and whatnot at the end of the clip.

The music ranged from old-school music from Mario, Tetris and Castlevania to more contemporary favorites like music from WoW and a sneak of Diablo 3 to boring, expected pieces from Square games. The show (note I’m not even calling it a concert now) suffered from an identity crisis – I can’t decide if it’s meant to be fun or not because despite the occassional theatrics and gimmicks, among which included a Guitar Hero showdown, a reenactment of Solid Snake-in-a-box sneaking past a guard and a short Cosplay parade featuring a bunch of badly-dressed kids and a Patapon Eye-Dude, there wasn’t substantial material to fully sell it as being crazy or light-hearted. If it’s meant to be a celebration of great music in videogames, remixes of the songs would have added so much more flavor to a show so lacking in imagination.

It wasn’t a concert. When people are cheering, it isn’t raptuous applause AFTER a particularly brilliant rendition was played. People cheered most at popular games or popular music they are familiar with, BEFORE the music is played. You could probably play songs from a CD and the crowd would still go crazy. More seats around us were emptied after the intermission and I get the feeling a lot of the people who were there were there because they thought it was a gaming event and not so much that they truly appreciate game music.

Not that it would make a difference because it was really neither.

For the fourth weekend in a row, I’m up at the unearthly hour of 6am to head out for some ‘fresh air’ and ‘exercise’. Today was spent at the Mizuno Mount Faber run, a 10km loop that involved getting up, then down the actual ‘mountain’. That’s a lot of ”s for one paragraph.

It’s been a few months I think, since my last run and I’m quite surprised there aren’t any aches and that awful knee problem didn’t recur. It’s probably to do with how I ran-walked the entire distance at a very collected pace (ie. slow). The sight of the slope leading up to Mount Faber brought on instant lethargy. Walking up seemed tiring enough as it is. There were more walking people further into the route and I got back to running only at the beginning of the downslopes. THAT too was slightly tiring because it involved not tripping over and rolling down the hill.

I finished in 1:13 which seemed very normal a time. The run wasn’t draggy like some of the other runs have been but I might have been asleep or daydreaming at some point which made it seem a lot shorter.

Mount Faber seems like a great place to cycle at, with the undulations and all. I think I’ll call for a ride sometime next month. Would DEFINITELY be more interesting than running. I think I’m getting old.

We (ok, I) have been looking for good and affordable dim sum buffet for quite some time and heard about this swanky downtown hotel offering a weekend a la carte spread for $28++ per person. The catch is, we can’t descend on the restaurant there and then because we had to have a reservation. And there was a 2 month waiting list.

That needed to be explained because it would now make sense why we had to try out Every. Single. Thing. on the menu.

This is lunch for two.

Braised Spinach With Crabmeat and Roe in Chicken Consomme

The buffet limited each diner to one portion so I picked this. Despite the spinach, it bore a stronger taste of crabmeat and the roe was undiscernible. It was slightly viscous which helped keep the brew hotter than warm. Good if you like to drink your soup slow or if you like scalding your mouth and dribbling all over the rest of your meal.

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Indy and the Staff of Kings for the DS is atrocious. While playing through the tutorial – just the tutorial mind you – this overwhelming surge of anger hit me and I thought I should stop playing the game. Unimaginative, slooooow and where the hell are the save points???

The Wii version, however, is quite different. 10 minutes into the game (which is how long I lasted on the DS version), I unlocked Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. Joy. But the game’s actually decent enough for me to continue playing – despite having crashed TWICE in the first 20 minutes of gameplay. I have a natural talent for breaking things, see. At least there are save points this time round so all’s well.

The game’s meant to be an action-adventure (adventure as in roam around, find clues) and I like how it sneaks in sly references to both the movie and Indy and the Fate of Atlantis. However, the action bit seems a little half-hearted. I actually enjoyed the puzzle parts more than the action parts, most of which involves some laborously slow process of repeating the motions. Still, that’s not as frustrating as the glitches and bugs that remain in the game. Aforementioned crashes aside, it is quite unacceptable for glaring glitches like perpetually stuttering speech, sudden jittering of cameras or random deaths to be featuring as constantly in a game that’s being sold for real-life money.

3 hours into it, the novelty’s wearing thin. The linear gameplay and lack of progressive difficulty makes the action very predictable after a while. After dying 5 times in the same area due to loose controls in a particular area, I think I’m going to keep the game only for Fate of Atlantis. Brings back memories.

That’s the limit, apparently, before the knee goes kaplunk. I don’t even think the threshold’s increased any since months back. Which is worrying.

I stopped at 30 feeling perfectly fine and fresh but hungry. I even made sure to stretch a little and keep the leg stretched out while eating. And then (again), it hits after food. Walking felt slightly straining but it was fine. Until I managed a few pedals and felt that awful sharp pain in the kneecap (as opposed to the side). Going up humps was horrid.

I went for about 5km more and took a bus back.

Worrying really. Which reminds me – I need to book a physio appointment for the next weekend.