WESTLIFE : The Nostalgic Charm of Dying Boyband

I was watching TV earlier today with my roommate, we were flipping over the channels when something interesting came up – Westlife concert. It’s not an ordinary concert too; it’s their last tour before retiring. Needless to say I was about to piss my pants seeing those faces I fell in love head over heels years ago. We stayed up longer than we usually do only for the show, and when it began, it was … woah. I haven’t been listening to them for years, I don’t even remember their faces anymore, but I still can remember every word of their lyrics. 

 This is what late 90's boyboand look like

For you who don’t know, Westlife is (was?) a boyband from England. Think N*SYNC and Backstreet Boys, only with less squeal-inducing dance moves and way, WAY, more suits. They were not as internationally famous as N*SYNC or BSB though; they were mainly popular in Europe and Asia but never made it in USA. They rose to their peak of popularity in late 90’s, before one of their members quit and went solo. Their popularity has been declining since then; they made several comeback attempt but none are successful enough to catapult them back to what used to be their throne. The last time I heard of them was in 2010, I think.

Now, I’m not a fan of Westlife, but then again no one is. We are all former fan. I bet all those women crowding the arena also haven’t been listening to Westlife for quite a while, but they used to be one of those little girls singing to Flying Without Wings while fawning over Mark or Nicky, more than a decade ago. I remember N’SYNC, their comeback at the Grammy and how the now-huge celebrities like Lady Gaga and Katy Perry went crazy over them. I think that is the selling point of these senior, yet dying boybands; nostalgia. Their songs are no longer selling, they are also not as cute as they used to be, and better competition arose here and there, yet their shows will always be crowded.  It is because everyone wants to live off those years once again, when you are just a little girl and everything is so simple. It’s like time machine; it’s like having a nice date with a dear, forgotten part of your life. 

Mein gott. Please slap me for being so melancholic. 

But that is true; here I am watching them singing My Love, all the while mouthing the lyrics silently and mulling over my life and how different it was then and now. I bet all those girls crying also feel the same way.

It’s crazy how much things like this can affect you, really.

Temple Grandin: A Review

Yesterday I finally brought myself to watch Temple Grandin. It’s a biographical TV-movie about Temple Grandin, a noted autistic who is a professor of animal science at Colorado State University, a bestselling author, an activist and a consultant to the livestock industry. The movie itself casts Claire Danes as Temple Grandin, who does a really good job although she’s probably too pretty to be Grandin. She’s too pretty to be anyone actually. The movie itself is pretty ordinary for a biographical movie, nothing of the sort of A Beautiful Mind. It’s understandable since this is a TV movie, not for the big screen. 

This movie really opens my mind about autism and the struggle of autistic people. Sure, we all heard about autism, some of us even has them as friend, but probably not a lot of use know what it is like for them back then when Psychology weren’t as developed as today. For the record, Mrs. Grandin grew up in the US at the 60’s, back when black people were still trying to earn their equality, homosexuality was still classified as mental disorder, and fight for LGBT was just begun. Autism was also classified as mental disorder. Autistic kids back then were not expected to develop speech, let alone social life. Have an autistic kid? Well, no other choice than putting your kid in an institution.

Mrs. Grandin (or should I say Miss?) herself is diagnosed with autism at the age of 2. She couldn’t speak until the age of 4 and every psychiatrist her mother took her to offered nothing than life as a mentally disabled. Yet now, she is 66, an accomplished author, a professor, and an activist. Once, she turned up in an autism meet-up with her mother and shocked everyone there with the fact that not only she is able to speak and be aware of her surroundings; she has a B.A, a M.Sc. and was currently studying for her doctorate. 

I also learn a lot about what it is like to be autistic, at least from Mrs. Grandin perspective. As an autistic, she is very sensitive to noise, afraid to be touched by people (her mother was very depressed because Temple refused to be hugged) and unable to understand any form of social interactions (joke, etc.).

But she got one very, very beautiful mind. Boy, and they really know how to present it in the movie. She describes herself as a visual thinker – she thinks in pictures and words are just second language for her. Her mind is like a full-length movie that she can play at will, pausing here and there to notice small details. This, she says, is her number one asset in working with animal. Her incredible alertness to detail eases her to understand how an animal mentally process everything. And you know what else she could do? She only needs a second to look at a French passage, a language she hates the most, and she is able to recite everything, every word, perfectly. She didn't memorize it, she 'read' the book she already copied to her mind. She is also really good in science and math, but only limited to geometry and other branch of Math that needs good visualization. Stuff like Algebra is practically grumbles to her.

This sounds a lot like eidetic memory to me, I don’t understand what the difference and why she doesn’t just say it so if they are actually the same. She talks about this mind too, and other kind, on TED. I got really disappointed that she does not actually talk like Claire does in movie. Sure, she has distinct accent and body language but I think Claire overdoes it. 

She is also very distant emotionally, which in turn makes her very pragmatic. That’s why even though she loves animal and believes that they have to be treated with respect, she is not vegetarian and fully understand the benefit of animal as food. No death ever make her sad, too. She is like very genious, very cold robot.

All in all, I think some credits definitely has to be given to Temple’s mother, for her persistence in proving that her daughter is not less than everyone else, and to Temple’s science teacher. Yes, Temple’s is very interested in science; rocket, planets, planes, etc. She did not do well in school though because her autism got in her way. Her science teacher was the very first person who noticed her talent, her brilliance, her beautiful mind, and nurtured her. 

I know this movie is very old and probably very boring since its biographical and all, but it is definitely recommended, especially if you want something to watch that make your cold soul a little warmer.

I AM PROUD TO SAY THAT I AM A NERD

... and I get these jokes.

A statistician is someone who is good with numbers but lacks the personality to be an accountant.

Classification of mathematical problems as linear and nonlinear is like classification of the Universe as bananas and non-bananas.

A mathematician belives nothing until it is proven
A physicist believes everything until it is proven wrong
A chemist doesn’t care
biologist doesn’t understand the question.

Golden rule of deriving: never trust any result that was proved after 11 PM.

How many professors does it take to replace a lightbulb??
One: With eight research students, two programmers, three post-docs and a secretary to help him.

Q: What’s a polar bear?
A: A rectangular bear after a coordinate transform.

A mathematician, a physicist, and an engineer were traveling through Scotland when they saw a black sheep through the window of the train.
"Aha," says the engineer, "I see that Scottish sheep are black."
"Hmm," says the physicist, "You mean that some Scottish sheep are black."
"No," says the mathematician, "All we know is that there is at least one sheep in Scotland, and that at least one side of that one sheep is black!"

Pigeon-Hole Principle

My lecturer during my undergraduate studies taught me this principle once. My first reaction was, to be honest: 

Yeah. Okay. So?

I mean, seriously.

If there are more pigeons than pigeonholes, then some pigeonholes must contain two or more pigeons.

Uh. Of course it does. I know that.
Is this supposed to be useful for something?

This principle is probably one of the most simple-minded, obvious, right-in-your-face principles I’ve ever encountered in Mathematics.  Sure, Math is full of obvious and right-in-your-face theorems, axioms and principle. For instance, it is possible to draw a straight line from any point to any point, the whole is greater than the part, and many more.  I mean, they are so obvious it makes you question why people bothered to write down these things. Needless to say I had a good laugh during my Plane Geometry class. Gradually though, my obnoxiousness level went down a bit and I learnt that these facts were written down not because they are mind-boggling discoveries, but because it is important for us to put down a base. An agreement. Something we can move forward from. Let’s be honest, if Euclid did not wrote the definition of a line before, we probably never bother to think that only one line can be drawn through 2 points. Knowing Mathematics and crazy, anal people in it, at some point someone definitely is going to make it a problem.

One thing that sets Pigeon-Hole Principle apart from those axioms is while they are only meant as a basic understanding; Pigeon-Hole Principle can actually help you to solve very complicated problems. Seriously, when I first read the problems never in my mind I thought they are solvable with only this principle. Some of the problems are as follows.

1)    In New York City, there are two non-bald people who have the same number of hairs on their head.

This is actually quite simple. It is easy to think that there are so many strands of hair on a human’s head that we jump into conclusion that it’s impossible for two different people to have the same number of hair. But as many as human hairs are, it is nothing compared to the number of human residing in the great great New York City.

The human head can contain up to several hundred thousand hairs, with a maximum of about 500,000. In comparison there are millions of people in New York City. Consequently, at least two of them must share the same number of hairs, if not more.

2)   Prove that for any positive integer n, there are a multiple of n whose digits only contains “1” and “0”.

This problem was given by my current professor.  At first, I cannot make any connection from this to Pigeon-Hole Principle. But apparently it is not that complicated!

Consider 6 and integer modulo 6, which is a set of remainders if you divide any integer with 6.

Z₆ = {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5}

Now let’s take 7 integers whose digits are all 1; 1, 11, 111, 1111, 11111, 1111111. Based on Pigeon-Hole Principle, there must be at least 2 integers congruent modulo 6 to the same number, which are 11 and 11111.

 11111 = 1851.6 + 5

       11 =       1.6 + 5

Now we just have to subtract 11 from 11111.

11100 = 1850.6

And voila!

The proof for n was submitted for my assignment though, and I didn't write a copy of it since it was so simple; once you figure it out with any given integer you can do it with n.

Garuda Wisnu Kencana

Trust me ... in real life He is way more magnificent.

I've always wondered why they only made the bust version of Him, but was too ignorant enough to find out why. Turns out, they didn't! The plan is to make the full body version but the project got halted for almost 16 years, which means it's already started in 1997! I didn't know that, eventhough I'm Balinese and live in Bali. I visited GWK for the first time when I was in 9th grade, I though it was new stuff. Haha.

Garuda Wisnu Kencana is the creation of I Nyoman Nuarta, a legendary Balinese sculptor. His masterpieces include Monument of Proclamation in Jakarta and Jalesveva Jayamahe Monument  in Surabaya.

Both are very famous, both are also unknown to me as the creation of Mr. Nuarta.

I should be embarassed.

Anyway, I browsed around and found out that GWK was supposed to be Mr. Nuarta's gift to Indonesia. It was built on his own money, on his own land. Of course if somewhere along the way one or two investors ask to contribute, it would be more than fine. Sadly, the goverment interrupted him with tax (or supposed to be tax) money and stuff like that. Bali Bombing in 2002 was also the reason; no investors want to invest anything after that. So yeah. 

But gladly, the project is going to be continued. It is planned to be 126 m in height, higher than Lady Liberty which is only 93 m. The material used are brass and copper, the total weight is almost 3000 tonnes. Just like her, parts of the statue is made in Badung, then transported to Bali and built there. When finished, He's going to look like this:

 

Can't wait. It is going to be magnificent. 

(15) Writing Task 2: Sports in curriculum

Some people believe that competitive sports both team and individual have no place in school curriculum. How far do you agree or disagree?

Many argument arises nowadays on how competitive sports no longer have role in school curriculum. Personally, I am quite supportive with this statement.

Sports, especially competitive ones, do not exactly help children develop themselves for their future career. Unless they aim to be an athlete, but even if this is the case, it is more about talent than schooling. Some even do not consider athlete as a career. Moreover, sports cost a lot and considering the previous argument, it is not worth the expenses.

Futhermore, sporst are also thought as encouraging violence among children, especially male student. Active boys are usually considered as though, while the others, especially the studious ones, are considered to be lame. This creates negative stigma which in turn will prevent kids from being themselves. Some kids may stop doing what they are passionate about since it is considered unattractive by society, and sports-oriented kids may bully their friends. The athlete student potrayal in movies or other popular culture does not exactly help either.

Yet, some people argue that doing sport is the best way to make children learn about team work and to give them chance to do some physical activities. This can be solved by doing uncompetitive sports, so the kids will gain benefit without creating gaps and discrimination.

In conclusion, I agree that sports might have become obsolete in school curriculum. It does not shape any preferred quality in a child, it is expensive and it encourages violence. School will benefit more if they emit the competitive side of it and focus more on being active and having fun.

Wordcount: 266

(14) IELTS Writing Task 2: News Editor

News editors decide what to broadcast on television and what to print in newspaper. What factors do you think influence these decisions? Do we become used to bad news? Would it be better if more good news was reported?

Being a news editor means having control on the spread of information throughout society. This cannot be done at random; a lot of factors contribute in a news editor’s decision on what to print or broadcast.

First are actuality and reliability. As the source of the information spread in society, the company’s name is being put on stake. Delivering false or misleading news can result in distrust toward the company. However, one cannot deny that the news company also serves as living source of its employees. Therefore, comes factor number two; the selling point. Some news will be prioritized if it can catch public’s attention. History has seen so many cases and events were being over exploited while others were ignored, merely because the former sold more than the latter.

The last is the benefit they can gain from it. Often, it is not the matter of revealing the truth but more about shaping public’s opinion. Governments have been known to cooperate with publication and broadcast for this purpose. Despite the controversies, this practice continues to happen until today.

The current concern though, is the over-exploitation of bad news. People secretly love suffering, and news editor use this to boost their sale. Personally, I think too much bad news brings a lot of negativity into society. People start to lose faith in humanity and in turn, this can create even more chaos. More good news will be better for the situation in society.

Overall, news editor truly have great control on what going around in society. It is irrefutable that in modern society, media is the most important tool to control the people. 

(13) IELTS Writing Task 1: da Eiffel Tower

This diagram describes the Eiffel tower, its surrounding and the plan to extend it underground. Five levels will be added, on which several facilities will be build to support the Eiffel tower as tourist destination.  

Eiffel tower is located between Seine River and Ecole Millitaire. There are several tourist attractions nearby, including Musee du Louvre and Musee d’Orsay. It stands on the height of 324 and weighs 10,0001 tonnes in total. There are two viewing platforms, connected by 1,665 steps.

On the plan, all the five levels will be connected by two lifts. Fifth and fourth level are preserved for parking spots, while the third level is for cinema and museum. Rest area consisting of shops and restaurant is planned to be built on the second level, and for the first level, it will be for ticket office and access to tower. A glass ceiling will give the visitors clear view of the tower from the bottom.

Wordcount: 157

(12) Writing Task 2 : Controversy about Death Penalty

By punishing murderers with the death penalty, society is also guilt of committing murder. Therefore, life in prison is a better punishment for murderers.

To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?

Capital punishment or death penalty has been a major source of controversies for years. Many deem it barbaric; others declare it essential to control crime and violence in society. Caught between the need for secure, strong society and a human basic right to live, it is clear that this sort of matter need thoughtful consideration. 

Objections against death penalty often are stemmed from the dreaded fatality of killing innocent people. Court can only go so far to defend justice and it is unbearable to think that a misjudgment can end with someone’s death; bearing the burden of other people’s fault, nonetheless. Not to mention that history has seen many innocent people purposely sent to the gallows for political means or being  perceived as a threat for the current corrupt system. 

However, it is undeniable that no punishment can possibly be as effective as death. Besides ensuring that the crimes will not be done for the second time, it can also teach the society not to do the same thing. The government will gain control over its people if they can show that some crimes are not going to be tolerated, thus guarantee a safe and secure society.

Furthermore, one has to admit that some crimes are downright unforgivable. It would be unreasonable to avoid killing someone for the sake of their lives while they do not hesitate to end others themselves. Most people will reconsider death penalty for the sake of pity, but for the victim’s family, there are no other acceptable options. (My tutor wrote a big remark in red ink : "You mean revenge?!" I think she thought I'm a psycho. So don't use line like this)

Overall, even though death penalty might seem cruel and barbaric, I agree that it is needed in order to preserve peace in society.

wordcount : 276