Rising Action

No updates. It’s been rather hectic, not the least because of my utter paranoia over world literature essays – circumstances necessitated a speedy rewrite of my second. Coupled with further paranoia over IOC and approaching prelims, (not to mention NS and worries about higher education), I’ve been a self-styled nervous wreck; naturally, though, such an [...]

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Futurology

I recently stumbled upon a very interesting site called Paleo-future, where past depictions of the future (which would correspond to about our present) are chronicled. Needless to say, most are wide off the mark, but some are strangely poignant and a few, uncannily accurate. Here are some interesting examples.
Christmas Cards may one day be sent [...]

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Crimson

A note on cuisine: I am entranced by shades of red on the dinner table, and warm brown, and creamy white of potatoes. Chillies, crisp meat, whipped potatoes, tofu.
***
I shall now list authors that I shall buy books from.
Charles Stross – Accelerando, the Atrocity Archives
Peter F Hamilton – Commonwealth Saga, The Dreaming Void
Richard Morgan [...]

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Urbane

Today as I strolled along a sidewalk, I realized that I am a creature of urbanity. I’m perfectly comfortable in an urban landscape. I hardly think that urbanity has robbed the physical landscape of its natural essence. (Of course, psychologically, it makes quite a lot of difference). Not that Singapore (onetime mangrove swamp) had much [...]

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Cultures

Wikipedia is an amazing tool. Doubtless it possesses limitations and shortcomings, but nothing beats having facts related to every conceivable topic on Earth literally at your fingertips. Its reliability is in question, but it makes up for that by having a peer-review system that can rectify errors and vandalisms speedily. It’s fast making print encyclopaedias [...]

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State of Frission

I must thank Shivana for his excellent link to Seeqpod. It’s a pretty good site for finding obscure music.
Well it looks like I’m starting to get the blogging impulse again. Must keep it up.
There’s a visceral image that’s been swimming unheeded in my mind. It’s a sort of picture of a bustling downtown [...]

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Travails

(I know travails doesn’t mean travel. It’s just a pun I chose as the title for sheer phonetic niceness.)
I’ve always liked to travel. My memories of overseas trips are among the fondest and rosiest ones I possess. Travelling represents a break from routine, a departure from the mundane. The sensation of going on a trip, [...]

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Milestones

Well, Harry Potter was a milestone, a forested glade, a rest point. But at least for now, it’s ended, and the next one is National Day. Not because I enjoy jingoistic displays of military might (seeing as I’m going to be involved in a farce like that), but because it is a holiday, and I [...]

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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

I remember the little bet I made with Karan two years ago. In return for inducting him into Star Wars, I had agreed to try reading the Harry Potter books, which hitherto I had never really come into contact with. I approached the first book with scepticism. It was a bright afternoon. I sat on [...]

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July Days

July days, not in the Bolshevik sense, but in the sort of weather-centric metaphorical vein I associate with Watership Down and other pastorally-set novels.
Blogging feels like somewhat of a liability now. It’s the sort of hit and miss phenomenon; whenever I get a thought that I’d really like to blog about I’m almost never [...]

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Calumny

Isaac Asimov’s Gold is a collection of short vignettes, longer stories, and amusing essays and speeches by the man himself. While some of these vignettes may be disappointingly sub-par, the longer stories, such as Cal, Gold and his various essays provide entertaining and enlightening reading.
On another level, I always used to think that “benefit [...]

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