CampTeen by OnePeople

Hello readers,

I am here today to talk about my 2DN1 camp at Sarimbun Scouts Campsite. I went for this camp called, CampTeen by Youth Wing and I have to say it was one of the best camps I have ever went. I met people from different schools and even facilitators who are the same age as me (they looked older though).

CampTeen was first created by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in 2007, to let people understand the various cultures in Singapore and to appreciate racial harmony. Under the organization, OnePeople, students who attended CampTeen are known as the student ambassadors of racial harmony. They would receive a certificate of participation. People who attended the camp are usually from either CCA or Student Council, where they have a leadership role.

I remembered waking up at 5am, just to meet up with my other friends at 6am to go Braddell MRT station, which took almost an hour to reached there. We had our McDonalds breakfast before walking to OnePeople building, located at Lorong Toa Payoh 1. My friends and I registered at around 7.20am and were separated into 5 groups. I was placed in a group called, Magnus with two of my friends.

During my stay at CampTeen, we had ice breaking games and Values-In-Action activities including getting feedbacks/surveys at Junction 8. My group went to explored St Andrew's Cathedral, the largest and oldest cathedral in Singapore. We had a guide tour around the old extension and the new one. I can say that the cathedral felt homely and peaceful, especially I like the architecture design.

The most exciting part of the camp was the campfire. We danced as though the night never gets old and performed in front of audience like a mad person. The campfire was the time where my true personality came in. The campfire lasted for nearly 3 hours.

Although I am not an outdoor nature lover, I would definitely say this camp was a memorable one, yet an exciting and thrilling experience for me. I met many friends from different races or religions and we even followed one another on Instagram. For person who wants to discover more cultures in Singapore or someone who wants to have a good time, I recommend going for CampTeen or any activities hosted by OnePeople. To ended off the post, here is a photo of my certificate of completion. :-)

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That CD Shop

Hello readers,
I just came back from Orchard Road. I went to Orchard Road for dental appointment and also to buy recording albums. Before the June school holidays, I had already made a plan to find new music by heading down to HMV.

However, things never go according to my plan. I took an MRT train ride to City Hall and visited Raffles City. It has been a long time since I went to Raffles City and therefore, I decided to look around and see what interest me. I walked around the mall until I checked the directory and saw an one and only music store, That CD Shop. I decided to check the store out since it is rare to find a music store like that in Singapore.

That CD Shop contained music which are unusual and that includes movies too. I managed to buy three albums: Ultraviolence by Lana Del Rey, Tribute by John Newman and Xscape by Michael Jackson. I am pleased to see shops like That CD Shop and I remembered the last time I visited a shop, Parlophone was in 2010, where I bought Messy Little Raindrops by Cheryl Cole.

If you like having music collection or more interesting movies, you can visit That CD Shop at Raffles City, Pacific Plaza, Great World City or Marina Bay Sands. I can ensure you that they sell CDs which are seldom available in either HMV or Laser Flair. Besides That CD Shop, the company, High Society, also owned a cafe/restaurant and a recording label. :)

That CD Shop, Great World City (photo from High Society website)

Location(s) of That CD Shop:

Great World City #B1-01

Pacific Plaza #02-15

Raffles City #B1-87/88

Marina Bay Sands #B2-47/48

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Movie Review: Edge of Tomorrow

THERE ARE SOME SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I went to watched Edge of Tomorrow today and it starred Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt. The film is about how Cage was able to start his life over after his "death" and how he is going to end the war happening in London.

I was intrigued by the title and its plot since this film is unlike anything I ever watched. I realized Tom Cruise loves acting in an interesting plot such as Oblivion and Jack Reacher. The story itself is kinda cool in the way that you will be wondering what happened and what can Cage do since he kept dying and life starts all over again. The film is filled with laughters and seriousness as audience will be captivated by the repeating moments which acted as a joke or maybe tiring to see it happening. It is also filled with probability of living or dying.

Edge of Tomorrow has a very interesting Octopus-like aliens which will kept your mouth opened as its "legs" acted as a weapon which attacked the humans, though they may have amours and weapons. Here, unlike Tom Cruise's characters who are able to fight and have knowledge of combat fighting, his character as Cage wasn't. He was like an "admission officer", recruiting soldiers to fight against the aliens and protecting London, prior to being forced to join as a new recruit.

The film itself was at first confusing, however it only makes sense after the beach war and his supposed death scenes were shown. It was intriguing because of the possibility of how the characters were going to survived and the different plan of defeating the baddies. For people who are interested in Tom Cruise, aliens, time reversal, déjà vu or looking for action film to watched this Summer, Edge of Tomorrow is definitely recommended and plus, the film has a little similarity to Oblivion in terms of the curiousity and possibility. So go for it!

Ratings: 7.4/10

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Movie review: Chronicle

Hello readers,

Today I am here to write a review about the 2012 thriller-horror film, Chronicle. This film is about how three boys discovered something underground and gained superhuman abilities which could lead to trouble.

Chronicle mainly filmed as a homemade video and sometimes with the use of video camera of the police car or camera footages from buildings. The film showed how Andrew Detmer's life was before and after discovering his superhuman abilities, along with his cousin and another friend. We can see that Andrew was basically a loner and a senior in high school. He was bullied most of the time and lived in a troubled home including his mother who was under medication and being taken care by his father whom he hated a lot.

In this film, it explored themes that adolescent faced: Being a rebel, hopeless, wild and ignorance. Andrew has shown these four characteristics since he has no idea or consequences behind using his superhuman abilities. He showed no remorse about what he has done, especially how he ended up making someone in the hospital after being pissed off about the fellow horning him and the two other people. Chronicle also showed the consequences of what happened if humans really have superhuman abilities. Can you imagine if your neighbourhood, town or country have people who uses the power to get what they want or achieved a specific goal? There would be violence everyday, even worst than riots or maybe terrorist attack.

Although I find the lines in the film seemed plain, I loved how the film was shown and the cast's acting performance. If you want to watched a simple, thriller film, I would recommend Chronicle for a shocker or entertainment.

Ratings: 7/10

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Movie review: X-Men: Days of Future Past

THERE ARE SOME SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

The last X-Men trilogy film that I watched was The Wolverine, which I am quite disappointedX- with. However, I am still impressed with Hugh Jackson's performance as Wolverine and it helped ease the comfort of watching. Today, I went to the cinema to catch X-Men: Days of Future Past since it was still showing there. I will try my best to recalled what happened because I had an argument with someone who claimed that it wasn't necessary to watched the post credits scene (spoiler here).

So in X-Men: Days of Future Past, as you, readers are aware that the old and new cast have joined forces to changed the history of the mankind and the mutants. We are shown that both mankind and mutants have lost the fight and therefore, the Earth has turned into a "prison-like" world. Robots, who were known as Sentinals, were built to get rid of the mutants and other people who harbored the genes to have mutant offsprings. The obvious fact of the film that everyone knows is that Wolverine was sent back to the past to convinced the younger selfs of the well-known mutants.

In my opinion, I loved the new characters, especially Fan Bing Bing as Blink. Her power allowed her to teleport people from one place to another which makes the fight seemed easy. The Sentinals were too perfect since they are able to kill the mutants by transforming from one to another. The storyline was interesting and again, it is always about politics (a current trend maybe). Jennifer Lawrence as Raven/Mystique was one kick ass, no wonder she has always been nominated for prestigious awards. From The Winter Bones to The Hunger Games to Silver Lining Playbook to American Hustle, Jennifer really has all! (I love how she spoke the Vietnamese language)

Throughout the film, I have always been amazed by every individuals' power and their plans, especially how Wolverine, Professor X, Magneto and Quicksilver tried to get out of the Pentagon. Quicksilver is definitely going to one of my favourite mutants out there in the X-Men world, so does Blink. However, I wished they have more scenes in the film...

If you haven't catched X-Men: Days of Future Past, I recommend you to get your ticket and watched it if you can! For your information, don't leave the cinema and watched the whole ending credits because again, there is a post credits scene.

Ratings: 7/10

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