I'm back after such an exciting day

Morning:be yourself day.in true AJC fashion they make a mockery out of the Be Yourself definition,because the whole class are required to wear according to a certain theme decided by the class leaders...the poor decision making mechanism meant that I ended up as a punk for the day.and a stylish one at that,because of the painted hair.other than that the karaoke which i got cut-off half way by dwayne became the focal point

Afternoon:PJC is quite ulu,and going there for a debate workshop is definitely tiring.esp when I've to clean out my 6 colours of my hair to just 1.only the ACJC ppl are there.the proud Rafflesians and co are all gone...

haiz I'm so tired now...adios

An Evening With Friends--well...not actually so

part 2 of concerts as ac choir go on stage.by all means i'd have loved it if not for the fact that they have a lot of baltic stuff.seems like whitacre rights have been the sole monopoly of VJChoir,and Malcolm of 28/05 had tipped me off earlier that their conductor wasn't mr kwei.all the more you should check out its worth...silly

AC Choir

Diffusa est Gratia,Jacobus Gallus-short and sweet.coincidentally they will visit his old office at Olomouc in November.but never trust them to get me a Sigma shirt.i won't accept it...juz jk

River Qing Jiang,Leong Yoon Pin-sounds like a symphony...i dunno which,but the middle loud part is flanked by the two soft tones

Sunset,LYP-commissioned by CCA branch.they got Indian,Malay ,Chinese and english lyrics,all rojak together.instrumental reminiscence aside,it sounded like every part was abruptly stopped before each new movement

Kastie Tadia,arr Steven Stammetz-Latvian sad tune which sounded so poignant,no need to learn Latvian.but u need french anyway

PokPok Alimpako-very childish,very funny and the end ended up in laughter,so much so court protocol was broken by LOL

AC Alumnia

before i start i observed something unusual.they bring in a book each...

O magnum Mysterium,Willy Byrd-quite cosmo in its days...it's traditional church music at its best

Benedictus Dominus,Carl Nielsen-first try and another good church tune,lest we are reminded of AC's Methodist heritage

The Beatitudes,Damijan Mocnik-oddly i thought it would be in slovenian.but it's english and another of my fave tunes.of course this being a Methodist institution,we believe in having the Bible quoted all the time

I Will,John Lennon and Paul McCartney-if it's merely a choral accapella remix of the song,allow me to point out the male solo tenor that's highly unusual,unlike last week's performance

Polska and Fugue in F Minor,Jaakko Mantyjarvi-they have a penchant for Finns too...and it doesn't sound like a nokia ringtone as claimed...oof

As You Are-smooth and harmonically rich,as said in the programme.

Sagastipean-i think i snored through it..but at least it could be a lullaby

AC combined choir(i particularly like the D which was intended to look like something which came out of Iceland)

Salmo 150(Psalms 150),Ermani Aguiar-rapid,but there's some samba fused inside 4 u.who says church hymns are serious

Lux Aeterna,Edward Elgar-it's more traditional...which's better.it all boils down to how the songs are composed

Toccata Para Coro,Jesus Pinzon-exciting and nonsensical.i believe it's more of a deejaying class

Suite de Lorca,Einojuhani Rautavaara-a finn remixing Lorca?funny...but at least he didn't turn that into finnish...but i could only catch the following words:cordoba,aeee,malaguena(historically important place in spain/Ivan Ramiro,screech,death in spanish).stylish though even though i'd rather be at seville,valencia or madrid.gonna give cordoba a try next time,or maybe salamanca and toledo

Song for Athene,John Tavener-very slow,very stylish and very quiet.love it too.due in part that it's a funeral song it has a sombre dark feeling

Rondo Lapponico-last piece of regulation time...geez i kinda couldn't concentrate maybe becoz i sneaked out but trust ac choir to do well in voice control.at least there's an encore...and we didn't realise it was the VP who's calling the shots...something like Mrs Woo or the heck

AJC's double header

oh gosh here's part one of my back to back concerts series

seating on an unfamiliar Circle 2 setting i ended up seeing alot of J2s there...though i couldn't see who the performers are...reception was lukewarm anyway and i smiled through the narrow leg room...that's something only stall seats provide.morale of this episode:never leave ticket buying to the last minute or you've to make do with crappy seats

if that is so it wasn't the 165 mins i expected...

Vesuvius by Frank Ticheli-AC had a more shrill version.we all used more percussion

LOTR-skip

Phanton of the Opera-the Principal's favourite...seemed more jazzy than RJ's one

Hidamari by Murashita Kouzou-i remember one of the J-pop songs but i dun noe the name.quite a fast good one

Omens of Love-some 8 yr old boi-boi composed it...funny sial...but at least it's a light hearted un-trou-normand for the heavy stuff ahead

Pirates of the Carribbean-compared to the RJ version it has quite more gusto

CO

Shan Chun de Jie Mu (village festival,according to a very crude interpretation)-joyous,village fare which preludes the more grander stuffJiang Jun Ling-they play it at operas alot of the time.classic that needs nil introduction whatsoever unless you lived in a well.very nice and strong

Lan Hua Hua's diary(even more vague term)-tragic?not quite,but more feminine and softer.kudos for the erhu soloist

Qin,terra,cotta(even more bastardized interpretation)-1st part magnificent,2nd part chilling,3rd part very sad...muz haf been too hawkish

Double Bill

legends of the condor heroes theme(i dunno which one.better say it in chinese,which is she diao ying xiong zhuan)-tvb drama serials and i'm stumped.good effort though

long de chuan ren-double play,double the fun.i particularly like the hippie hairstyle of the CO conductor though i hate ending a concert without encores

Symphony of Voices-gala premiere

you know what...i spent $54 just for a VJC Choir concert(the most ex on the house plus Rachie's gift),so obviously i enjoyed the show very much although weighed down by the mounting mountain of homework and that Miss S saga,not forgetting all the debt i'm getting embooiled in after this concert.yeah that's the price for sitting on the VIP box,but if you can afford it why not


so guys...i met Yong Guan(RQ's fren) and WiNi(where she looked more stylish without specs) and i dunno who the heck are those...well nice meeting up with those kakis although they all buy $21 tix.ouch i'm broke and i think WiNi's goin 2 tease me about what happened in no time...haha

the Emcees though..are quite a dry witty sort.instead of some announcement via the PA System,they showed up and announced stuff...which includes switching raucous students into silent mode..haha


of course my beloved Rachie(to all those thinking about the Miss S saga...she isn't my stead actually.she's my gd fren) did perform,and she's a stunner...although i could easily stun ppl with my super fancy hairstyle yesterday...and true to a choral performance of classic proportions there's 2 changes of performing costumes quite like the Emmys or other award shows...so let's get a lowdown on the repertoire like all those posts of a similar pattern in the past 2 months


Whitacre's Super Starters(in the glam lookin gowns for the ladies and slick suits for the men)


Leonardo dreams of his flying machine-i couldn't feel the Latin dance hymns,as it seems more like a renaissance piece played acapella on the Medici palace,but the sheer brilliance means i don't care if it's really what the programme has described,so as long i love it


Lux Aurumque-literally Golden Light.not my usual Nerazzurri or Rossoneri lingua,but Latin.when you hear that it's most likely angels galore,and it's really seems like we're going from Florence to The Eternal City,shows how good they are at Musica Sacra


I Thank You God for Most this Amazing day-truthfully i can't catch the lyrics.But it more than pays for it with great arrangement...and another Sacre Musique dat shows how good VJ Choir are


She Weeps Over RaHOON-okok...it's a girls world here.quite a sad piece and ok...so sad only girls could dechiper it.soft,lush and ironic


With a Lily in Your Hand-compared to the next piece it's more fluctuating,though it sounded more like an instrumental piece


Go Lovely Rose-cheerful ballad,surprisingly given the apparent sadness claimed by the programme


Kala Kalla-year ones showtime.guys go sad girls go happy.blow hot and cold.interesting though because of its disparateness unlike the rest which seems smoother.reputably a wedding piece


Cloudburst-very high intristic value.unusual amounts of percussion,even a metal sheet.the best goes to the last part,where the rainy imagination is really reinforced by the thunder from the sheet and the rain sound from the performers...even the audience made noise,this actually meant the finger flicking


Interval:i gingerly asked WiNi to take a pic with me.she was pleasantly surprised but still agreed and I sheepishly asked some passerby to take a pic for me before the next part.it's an absolute flop becuz I was caught staring into space!haha!and WiNi looks like she's posing with a statue...hahahaha...then it's over and the great VJ Choir changes into a hebrew theme


The Ethnic Pottpurri(sic)


Tumbalalaika-i don't know hebrew,so i'll try to give as unbiased as possible.that's quite a sad loud piece


Yerushalayim Shel Zahav-I can't speak Hebrew for nuts,let alone read that.this mostly meant something about Jerusalem.soft,quiet and poignant


Uri Tsafon-middle of the road.another ballad


(VJChoir changes backstage while their ex-seniors show up with an Indonesian theme)


first piece was nice accapella,second piece was a bit sleepy,third was quite ok...i was caught napping(they're back)


Zhu Li Guan-J2s swansong.they could recreate part of Beijing Opera with only their voices.no way will AC surpass any of them


Mu ge,Mei Li de Cao Yuan-mongol themed.similar sounding though


Lu Dao Xiao Ye Qu-okay lor...but that kinda reminds me of Miss S


Deng Li Jun mdeley(Nan Hai Gu Niang+Qian Yan Wan Yu+Wo Zhi Zai Hu Ni)-nice smooth megamix...transition is really silky.the second song remains my fave and i wonder if chinese songs sound best on choirs


Zui Hou de Yuan Wu Qu-the drum distracted me.but quite a slightly sad note to end the day...of course being half a Prussian I could appreciate the millitary tone


Encore 1-Pamugun-surprisingly it was filipino.the only thing forced out of my mouth was...I thought birds have descended literally on the Esplanade roof.this snagged the Gold with Honours in SYF


Encore 2-ex VJChoir members join current ones on stage.their anthem so i won't delve into it


met the VIPs for a few moments.that includes a MP and the principal..and it's a record for coming home late on a normal school day,but 4h with the grandest people in the world for a concert negates the opportunity costs

finally after 7 days of intensive tekaning by trainers the ACJC invitationals prelim rounds are over...though my gang lost to NY(who stuffed J2s inside,esp that 3rd speaker with bridging minds) and RJ(they didn't bring Chere out and still managed to thrash the rest,with a few reserves sloshed in) our guys put up a good fight

and somehow i got the rare chance to catch up with debate ppl n insider talk,something which i dun get to do in aj.kinda find out my contact list in AC is now inflated to include the AC speakers from last yr's RMUN(which i ended up breaking protocol by whining out a fake laugh when i talked to them...heez),and more debate insiders...and the indian dude with the moustache was in fact the no 1 debater in nationals...looks can be extremely deceiving.one thing though...he didn't show up debating

of course lest you think RJ debaters are a whole bunch of atas shitters like AC...i talked to one of the RJ debaters on the train back home and i really was thankful i'm a Raffles sympathiser...not with those guai lan kias from Buona Vista...maybe becoz i once aimed for Raffles and i'm proud even to say dat i couldn't make it...sure they can be bitchy or sucker on the debate arena but they really are your ordinary plain james and janes outside the arena...if AJCians are as good(i mean team work) i think they will win even AC...whatever it was talking from buona vista to tampines(where my new fren lived) and then it's back home...whee

yay it's finally over...and though the guys didn't gel up in time,they did their best,and the nxt round may be a gr8 video 4 us guys

p.s:Bridging Minds is the de facto National team B

ok it's 5 days being grilled intensively for debate and as always i'm so shacked I can't type alot more...

but at least there's something that warmed my heart...

I tried to call Pooh tonight,then a few minutes later,this happened

P:(sms)erm...why did you call me?
J:(...)
P:yeah got stuff to do...call your over(sic) frens??
J:(...)
P:Haha cheer up!
J:u too

thx Pooh for cheering me up...haha! =)

my birthday is damn sian diao...but whatever I juz got grilled by Ramesh and Cherie,for 6 h flat.life of a debater is like this...put in your all juz to get nothing much where obvious achievements are concerned yet would be useful in the long run.just persist and It'll be ok...

signing off