KeeMan’s Complicated Simplicity Blog V9.0

Yes, i had to admit, the primary reason why i decided to go watch the movie was because of its title. Am a typical man who gets easily attracted with the word “lust”, which is again a better word for sex. Nah, after so much hype about Oscar-winner Ang Lee’s latest installment, i couldn’t resist myself from spending part of my precious time to watch the movie. First impression? It’s not an easy watch (mainly because it is rated 18PL in Malaysia, minus some “overtly-sinful” scences), pretty much Ang Lee’s style of making a simple plot complicated and ironically, he did it brilliantly, at least on par with his direction of Brokeback Mountain.

Based on a short story by the popular Chinese writer Eileen Chang, “Lust, Caution” is set in the early 1940s during the Sino-Japanese war, mostly in Japanese-occupied Shanghai. The heroine, Chia Chi (Tang Wei), belongs to a university drama troupe plotting to assassinate a collaborator named Yee (Tony Leung). Assigned to seduce the target, an official in the puppet government, she falls into a desperately physical affair, driven (as the title suggests) by both passion and suspicion. The cast also includes Joan Chen as the grasping, gossipy Yee, and Wang Lee-hom, the American-born Asian pop star, as the student ringleader.

What makes this movie so successful? First it’s because it’s ANG LEE’s work and second, it’s full of ASIAN sexually intimate scenes. Yes, rarely we see two hot Asian couple performing “erotic movements” in Hollywood movies, and not to mention the daring exposure of Wei’s pubic hair. They don’t hide much in their scenes, and you can tell that the heat between them is genuine. Arhh…yes, there are also some kamasutra-style sex positions that are “introduced” to the viewers. All in all, that LUST word has made this movie a big hit, just like the gay sex scenes in Brokeback Mountain.

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Whenever the word “kiasu” is mentioned, people will immediately think of Singapore and of course Singaporeans’ all-must-win attitude. But hey, believe it or not, i think Malaysia is now overtaking our neigbour as far as the level of kiasuism is concern. First, we “build” our own cars, then we have the world’s once tallest building. After that, we send our first “angkasawan” to ISS. But those are all the bigger picture, there are more signs of kiasuism in every tiny spectrum of our daily life. One of them is in our education system. Schools are perhaps no longer the “breeding” place of little Einstein, Picasso or Newton. They have been now converted to human factory that produce students for the sole purpose of excelling in various public examinations. Allowing the “good ones” to make the school proud by scoring straight A’s and leaving those “bad ones” rotting at the back of the classes.  Even when they are good in other co-curricular activities like sports, those so-called bad students cannot get as much fame as those who score straight A’s.  In the need, that put pressures on students as they are “rigidly” trained to believe that results in exam are No. 1 priority, never mind how they get that “A” as long as they get it!  This injection of “unnecessary pressures” last for as long as they are in the “learning institutions” from kindergarten to Universities. One side-effect of such injection is as highlighted in the news below:

Girl disappointed with UPSR result dies

A 12-year-old girl is believed to have committed suicide at her home here yesterday over what she felt was a poor result obtained in this year’s Primary School Assessment Test (UPSR). Subashini Sivakumar, a pupil of Sekolah Rendah Jenis Kebangsaan (Tamil) Ladang Sempah, is believed to have hanged herself with a blanket tied to the grille of a window at her house in Changkat, Sungai Jawi. - Bernama Read Full News Here

Something need to be done, and the MOE proposal of introducing a new assessment system should be backed by teachers and academics. The introduction of 40% school-based assessment and 60% central examination (which will be different from the current public exams and includes EQ and co-curriculum assessment) is right on time.  The proposal of abolishing UPSR and PMR is also a good sign as I personally think those two exams are not a clear indicator of one’s learning capabilities and capacity. Let’s bring the fun back to learning in schools. Let’s make sure human capital building is not just about producing straight A’s students!

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I read this article (shown below) from NST and thought that the situation highlighted should have been expected since nothing much has been done to address the problems in our local varsities. Ministry of Higher Education with its new Higher Education Blue Print should do something fast and save our universities from dropping its standards and qualities. Producing quality graduates and enhancing research and development should be the main agenda and not merely setting up more and more universities when we barely have enough qualified academics to fill in the vacant positions.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian universities are on a slippery slope. None of them made it to the top 200 placing in the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES)-Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings this year.

This poor showing comes on the back of a recent government survey of local public universities which found that none deserved a place in the outstanding category.

Last year, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and Universiti Malaya made it to the top 200 in the THES-QS rankings.

UKM ranked 185th, up from the 289th spot in 2005, beating well-known universities like University of Minnesota in the United States and University of Reading, Britain. This year, it has fallen to 309th.

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Tonight will be the decisive clash between Man Utd and Arsenal, a match that would perhaps decide whether Arsenal are pure title contenders. A changed Arsenal side thanks to the depature of Henry, will be hoping to continue their amazing run by gunning down the Red Devils. However, i do think it will be a close encounter tonight as Man Utd are on-form with Rooney-Tevez partnerships starting to bear fruits. Playing at Emirates will give Arsenal a greater advantage as the stadium is getting more and more “fortified” like the good old Highbury. I’ll go for a draw or a slim win for Arsenal tonight. What’s more important is for the young guns to continue playing the way they are now. Go Gunners!!

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