Some nonsense to provide some balance for the previous ranting post.
(1:54:55) eek: so are you actually going to watch constantine
(1:56:56) me: i might
(1:57:00) eek: woah
(1:57:09) me: i dunno, i havent seen a bad review yet
(1:57:18) eek: but it’s ted theodore logan
(1:57:21) eek: fighting hell
(1:57:21) eek: again
If you get it, you score major geek points. Hang your head in shame.
NUS beats Princeton, Cornell in social sciences ranking [the ever-annoying Straits Times Interactive: free registration required, gone after three days]
Summary: NUS 10th in social sciences ranking while Princeton 11th, Cornell 13th, Columbia 14th (Wonder who’s 12th?). NUS 17th in arts and humanities ranking while School of Oriental and African Studies in London (?!) 18th, UPenn 19th. Reiterates previous rankings (18th overall, 9th in engineering). Passing mention of NTU. Shih Choon Fong expresses his joy. Ra ra ra.
Great, once again with the chest-beating over the Times Higher Education Supplement’s rankings. It’s absolutely great recognition for some undoubtedly hardworking academia and university staff at NUS, but why does it have to be reported like the rankings are a bloody horse race? Somehow, our reporters feel the need to emphasise that NUS beat Princeton and Cornell — doesn’t being 10th say enough? Why do our news writers feel they have to help us fellow Singaporeans feel good about ourselves by pointing out some random Ivy League school that didn’t rank as highly as our national university? Flashback: “NUS beats Harvard in engineering”, December 2004; note also how they go out of their way to find the next highest ranked Ivy League school for the arts and humanities ranking.
I feel like I’m listening to a typically Singaporean parent ramble on about how his child has done so well in school, better than this kid who excels in sports, and that other kid who did really well for his PSLE but now not doing so well lah, eh, my boy 10th in the level leh! Not bad hor?
I’m sure we’ll be constantly reminded about these rankings in future ST articles on higher education, so I shan’t belabour my point any further. Well, not until the next THES ranking comes out and the ST proudly declares that NUS is ahead of the India Institute of Technology in basket-weaving.
With my apparent low tolerance for this kind of thing, I’m probably going to implode when I start teaching. Can you tell?
Oh, and happy lunar new year.
So I thought: the year of the rooster is coming up, and this is stupidchicken.com, so I should probably draw something to usher in the new year. Umm. Actually, I got distracted while trying to do some real design work — sorry ML.
Anyway, in the same vein as this painting, here’s a space chicken in time for the new year.
Done in pencil and Photoshop. Click on the picture for the full 600×917 version.
Having finally drawn something, that takes care of one of my new year to-do items. Furthermore, while writing this, a friend just sent me an email from Republic Poly about how they’re looking for fresh graduates to lecture in their EE/CS department — worth a shot, I think (thanks Gail!). My, aren’t we moving along.
HMV had some pretty good prices — “CLEAROUT”, they loudly proclaimed in stickers all over the store. Hence:
The album with “You held the world in your arms”, my favourite song from a videogame soundtrack ever (Fifa 2003). Except maybe for the Super Mario theme. And the Monkey Island theme. It’s a bunch of similar-sounding stuff from the Scottish rock group, but I like the similar sounds regardless.
The CD cover labels in small text “French Band” next to the band’s title. Just to put song titles like “Sexy Boy” in context, I suppose.
Might as well roll with the online piracy theme:
Lawyers representing several record companies have filed suit against an 83-year old woman who died in December, claiming that she made more than 700 songs available on the internet.
“I believe that if music companies are going to set examples they need to do it to appropriate people and not dead people,” Robin Chianumba told AP. “I am pretty sure she is not going to leave Greenwood Memorial Park to attend the hearing.”
RIAA sues the dead [The Register]
… etc etc piracy is unhip blah blah, but this is way too good not to pirate:
Late Night with Conan O’Brien - 01 Feb 2005
I’m not usually a big fan of Late Night (more a Daily Show guy, myself), but in this episode, The Arcade Fire performed “Laika” in their network television debut, and they were completely fuckin awesome. Especially ridiculously cool were the two percussionists performing in business suits and crash test helmets, and using each other’s heads as instruments. Also, lead singer Win Butler got a percussionist’s drum stick thrown at his face halfway during the performance.
Slightly less hilarious, but easier to download, is the Turnpike video feature on The Arcade Fire which shows a couple more rather exhilarating live performances. Also you get to see up close the percussionist who looks like Napoleon Dynamite.
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