I just got a call from Ripplevox.
Labels: excitement, media
Pain comes in all forms. The small twinch. A bit of soreness. The random pain. The normal pains we live with everyday. But then that's the kind of pain you can't ignore. A level of pain so great that it blocks out everything else; makes the rest of the world fade away. Until all we can think about is how much we hurt.
How we manage our pain is up to us. Pain. We anaethesise. Ride it out. Embrace it. Ignore it. And for some of us, the best way to manage pain is to wish to push through it.
There are no solutions. No easy answers. You just breathe deep and wait for it to subside. Most of the time, pain can be managed. But sometimes the pain gets you when you least expected. Hits below the belt and doesn't let up. Pain. You just have to fight through. Because the truth is, you can't outrun it and life always makes more.
Dr. Meredith Grey
Grey's Anatomy, Season 2
23 Aug 2008
ENVIRONMENTALISTS SLAM MADONNA TOUR
MADONNA's upcoming Sticky + Sweet world tour has been criticised by environmental groups - for not taking enough eco-friendly precautions.
Madonna . performs live on the opening night of her Sticky & Sweet tour at Cardiff Millennium Stadium. Cardiff, Wales - The pop superstar kicks off her series of live dates in Cardiff, Wales on Saturday (23Aug08) night.
And green activists have slammed the singer for the massive carbon footprint they claim will be created by the tour.
Read the complete article.
Labels: climate change, media
One of my favourite TV series is back on Discovery Channel!
Having grown up in the concrete jungle of Singapore most of my life, I find the host's, Bear Grylls, adventures in remote situations truly inspirational. It also makes reminds me of my teenage and university days when I would rough it out in camps and backpack around the world. I truly miss those days. Damn! I need to inject some adrenalin adventures back into my life!
Anyway, here's the link to the Official Website. I've also included some pictures from the TV series and a writeup of the wacky father below. I hope I can be as cool a dad to my kids next time.
Bear Grylls
Beargrylls.com
MAN VS. WILD host, author and seasoned adventurer Bear Grylls began a lifetime of exploration at an early age. Bear grew up on the Isle of Wight, and as a young boy would go mountain climbing with his father.
He served three years with the Special Air Service, a special forces unit of the British army. During his service, he broke his back in three places in a parachuting accident over Southern Africa.
Despite the accident and severity of his injury, Bear went on in 1998 to become, at age 23, the youngest British climber to complete a summit and descent of Mount Everest. He wrote about his experience in the book, The Kid Who Climbed Everest.
Not content to slow down, Bear achieved another first when he and his Everest climbing group circumnavigated the United Kingdom on jet skis. He also led the first unassisted crossing of the frozen North Atlantic Ocean in an open rigid inflatable boat. His book about this adventure, Facing the Frozen Ocean, was shortlisted as the U.K.'s "Sports Book of the Year." Bear was awarded a commission in the Royal Navy in honor of leading this record-breaking expedition.
In June 2005, Bear broke a world record by hosting a dinner party at a table suspended below a hot air balloon at 24,500 feet. He rappelled from the balloon's basket to the table, where in full naval uniform he ate a three-course meal before saluting the queen and skydiving to earth. His goal was to support the work of two charities: the Prince's Trust and the Duke of Edinburgh's Award.
Bear hosted a 2005 television series for the U.K.'s Channel Four, called Escape to the Legion, in which he took a group of young men to the Western Sahara Desert to undergo the French Foreign Legion's infamous basic training. A second Channel Four series, titled Born Survivor: Bear Grylls, completed its U.K. run in April 2007.
On May 15, 2007, Bear set another world record when he became the first person to fly over Mount Everest by powered paraglider. Supported by the GKN Mission Everest Team, Grylls and fellow pilot Giles (Gilo) Gardozo flew specially developed paramotors. Though a fault in Gilo's machine forced him to abort only 1,000 feet below the summit, Bear continued to ascend until he reached 29,500 feet and was able to look down on Everest as he circled above some of the most famous peaks in the Himalayas. Then his own engine developed problems and he, too, had to glide back to safety — but he had achieved his goal. The mission raised $1 million for the Global Angels Foundation, a charity that supports children in Africa. Filmed by the Planet Earth team, Bear and Gilo's undertaking will be made into a two-hour documentary for Discovery Channel and Channel Four in the U.K.
Bear's most recent book, Born Survivor: Survival Techniques From the Most Dangerous Places on Earth, was released in spring 2007. It is already listed on the Sunday Times Top 10 Best-Seller List.
He has hosted the Discovery Channel's MAN VS. WILD, in which he strands himself in remote locations to demonstrate localized survival techniques, since November 2006.
Bear lives on a converted barge on the River Thames with his wife Shara and their young sons Jesse and Marmaduke.
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Bear Grylls and the crew receive support when they are in potentially life threatening situations, as required by health and safety regulations.
On some occasions, situations are presented to Bear so he can demonstrate survival techniques.
Professional advice should always be sought before entering any dangerous environment.
Source : http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/manvswild/bio/bio.html
Labels: inspiration, media
The Pussycat Dolls pose with a MTV Asia Awards trophy during a mass interview in Genting Highlands, outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. - AP
Singaporean singer Stefanie Sun poses with her trophy after winning Favorite Artist Singapore at the MTV Asia Awards 2008 in Genting Highlands, outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. - APLabels: media
MADONNA WON'T RENEW HER VOWS
MADONNA's publicist has shot down reports the pop star and husband GUY RITCHIE are planning to renew their wedding vows.
An article in British tabloid The Sun suggested the couple will remarry in a Kabbalah ceremony next month (Aug08), which will coincide with Madonna's 50thbirthday celebrations.
But the singer's longtime publicist Liz Rosenberg insists the story is bogus.
She says, "It's complete fiction."
07/28/2008 10:04:37 PM
Labels: media
Strangely, in my mind's eye, the Joker character calls up Rihanna's song, Take A Bow :
Labels: madness, media, terrorism
Awesome!!! The Dark Knight totally rocks. I've watched it twice and am considering catching it a third time. Have you?
23 July 2008
Dark Knight is S’pore’s biggest weekend grosser in ‘08
HE’S tops among superheroes.
The latest instalment in the Caped Crusader franchise, The Dark Knight, has the highest weekend opening in Singapore so far this year.
It made $2.09 million from last Thursday to Sunday, a spokesman for its distributor, Warner Bros, told my paper. The takings also enhanced the film’s status as the biggest movie opening of all time at the North American box office.
The film grossed US$158.355 million (S$213.824 million) during its first three days of release across the United States and Canada – a US$3 million improvement over Sunday’s estimate from the Time Warner Inc-owned studio. The mark shattered the US$151.1 million earned by Spider-Man 3 in May last year.
The Dark Knight features a mesmerising final performance by the late Heath Ledger as Batman’s arch-rival, the Joker.
Buzz has been building for weeks about director Christopher Nolan’s follow-up to 2005’s Batman Begins, with reviewers hailing Ledger’s performance as being worthy of a posthumous Oscar.
The film also collected US$41.3 million in ticket sales from 20 foreign markets, up from Sunday’s estimate of US$40 million. That brings its worldwide total to US$199.655 million.
– AGENCIES THE DIVINE MICHELANGELO
Labels: media
Even heroes have their weaknesses. It is somewhat comforting but sad to learn this again...
23 July 2008
‘DARK KNIGHT’ arrested for assaulting mum and sis
LONDON
BATMAN actor Christian Bale, 34, was arrested after his mother and sister reported him to police for alleged assaulting them.
His mother Jenny, 61, and sister Sharon, 40, are said to have gone to a police station in Hampshire to make the claim, which was later referred to the Metropolitan police.
Bale, in London to attend the European premiere on Monday night of superhero blockbuster, The Dark Knight, was apprehended at the upmarket Dorchester Hotel.
The Welsh actor had been staying there when the alleged incident took place.
A Met Police spokesman said: “A 34-year-old man attended a London police station on Tuesday by appointment and was arrested in connection with an allegation of assault. He currently remains in custody.”
He is alleged to have lashed out at his mother and sister on Sunday at the Dorchester, British press reports said.
Police allowed Bale to attend Monday night’s premiere, where there was no sign of the family drama.
He joined co-stars Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Aaron Eckhart at the Odeon West End cinema in Leicester Square.
The movie has become a monster hit in the United States, Singapore and other
countries.
The allegations are not the first controversy to surround the film. In January, 28-year-old Heath Ledger, who gave an Oscar-tipped performance as the villainous Joker, died from an accidental drug overdose.
Bale, a martial arts enthusiast, also starred in Empire Of The Sun, American Psycho and Batman Begins.
– AGENCIES
Labels: media
Saint2 : I have always had my suspicion about Barbie dolls. They sort of remind me of the insidious blubber-like Teletubbies!
May 28, 2008TWEEN SCENE: COVER STORY
Where's my little girl gone?
Some pre-teen girls dress and behave beyond their years. Experts tell MYB why it worries them when tweens become too sexualised
Nowadays, it seems that it's never too young to be sexy.
Even tweens - children between eight and 12 years old - are being bombarded by product and media images of women who are slim, svelte and pouty.
The experts, including those in Singapore, are worried.
Ms Vanessa von Auer, clinic director of EVA Psychology Centre at Camden Medical Centre in Orchard Boulevard, said: 'Pop culture really seduces tweens into a sexualised way of life.'
She added: 'On television and in magazines in Singapore, we see a lot of tall, attractive, fair-skinned people with Pan-Asian looks. There's pressure on tweens to attain that facade and when or if they don't, they think they're a failure.'
Many experts link American-style consumerism to the sexualisation of young girls, typically teenagers but, increasingly, tweens too.
Ms M Gigi Durham, associate professor of journalism and mass communication at the University of Iowa, said: 'Part of it is that sexuality is a key aspect of marketing a variety of products, especially to girls, like cosmetics, diet aids and fashion.
'Marketers have figured out that they can cultivate consumers and keep them longer by targeting them at young ages. Pushing the goal of 'hotness' onto tweens orients them to these products very early.'
Many products like make-up, clothes and toys which target tweens and young teens seem to package the adult premise of sex in cute candy colours, persuading little girls to totter around in high heels and mini-skirts.
The media is being blamed too. Ms Durham has written a book, The Lolita Effect, which explores the increasing media sexualisation of tween girls.
Lolita was the sexually precocious 12-year-old character called Dolores Haze in Russian-born novelist Vladimir Nabokov's 1955 book of that title. The term has since been used in pop culture to refer to sexually aware little girls.'Girls are influenced by the media to view their bodies judgmentally, to see sexual desirability as a life goal and to buy into the consumerism at the root of this media sexualisation of girls,' Ms Durham said.
A backlash - of sorts - has started against this sexualisation of young girls in the United States.
The star of Disney's billion-dollar franchise Hannah Montana, 15-year-old Miley Cyrus, whose fan base consists mainly of tweens, was recently embroiled in controversy over sexually suggestive photos of her published in the June issue of Vanity Fair.
Ms van Auer argues that Singapore is not immune to the Lolita effect. The top 10 television programmes for girls aged eight to 12 years old on Kids Central here last year include Bratz, Barbie As The Island Princess and High School Musical.
She feels that tweens who are constantly fed idealised images of beautiful, slim women can suffer from lower self-esteem and a negative body image, that is, how we perceive our own body.
KK Women's and Children's Hospital's principal psychologist in the psychology service Ms Frances Yeo, echoes this view. She said: 'These days, children and adolescents are more exposed to media like movies, video and computer games and the Internet.
'These media often convey images of ideal attractiveness and body shapes, which can be unrealistic.'
junec@sph.com.sg
Read the complete article here (login required).
Labels: barbie dolls, Disney, girls, media, Miley, sexuality, teenager
