Summer Wars

This should belong in my other blog but I thought I will just write it here first because it’s on the GP side.

Summer Wars, for the uninitiated is an animated film by Hosoda Mamoru. Currently showing at The Cathay(and Cineleisure and AMK Hub). It follows the story of a boy called Kenji as he pretends to be the most popular girl in school Natsuki’s boyfriend in front of her family and somehow save the world. You should all watch it, at least so you can know what I’m talking about.

Warning: Long text ahead. Click if unafraid of words

The Moth

Mr. Lonely

Dedicated to all lonely soldiers on 14th February, as for me, well I just appreciate the song.

Lonely, I’m Mr. Lonely
I have nobody for my own
I am so lonely, I’m Mr. Lonely
Wish I had someone to call on the phone

Now I’m a soldier, a lonely soldier
Away from home through no wish of my own
That’s why I’m lonely, I’m Mr. Lonely
I wish that I could go back home

Letters, never a letter
I get no letters in the mail
I’ve been forgotten, yes, forgotten
Oh how I wonder, how is it I failed

Now I’m a soldier, a lonely soldier
Away from home through no wish of my own
That’s why I’m lonely, I’m Mr. Lonely
I wish that I could go back home

Hi. Welcome to my blog.

Apparently most people came here by searching things like boobs and cosplay. Although that I am honoured that people looking for such things would come to my blog I feel sad that they will be disappointed when they find out my blog is really full of words.

In any case I’ve already imported most of my anime stuff to Who the hell do you think I am.(Do visit it, sometimes I will have posts filled with pictures. LOL) So I think those searches should stop coming here.

Edit: I’ve decided not to post my essay for now because I think it’s a piece of shit. I will do so after it gets marked.

GP essay time

31/50, bitches. That means I can pon(skip) my GP lectures. Or at least, that’s what I say to myself. The following essay has been cleaned up for spelling and grammar but no sentences have been changed majorly.

To what extent are our perceptions manipulated by the media? This is a hard question to fully answer, requiring one to sieve the tangled and fine web of relationships between people and the media. However, it is in my viewpoint that our perceptions, by and large, are consciously and subconsciously influenced by the media.

Firstly, the word “manipulation” implies an active role played by the media in changing perceptions. However, sometimes the case is that a person can also be influenced by the hidden bias in the media. Therefore that will be included as well. The media refers to any medium where information and new knowledge can be spread to the masses, including new media like video sharing and podcasting in addition to more traditional media like television and newspapers.

How can the media manipulate our perceptions? It can do so by giving us information intended to change our opinions of events or objects. Branding is one such example. Babies of over a year old are able to recognize fast food chain logos even before they learn to speak. That means that even before a child learn to order a burger, he will associate Ronald Mcdonald with fast food.

Everywhere we go, we are inundated with ads that tell us, subtly or not, that “Brand XX” has certain desirable qualities that we should crave. Without the information given by the media, we would be quite clueless on which brand to choose. In an experiment done by a university, subjects were given unlabeled drink cans which contained Coca-cola and Pepsi, When asked which of the drinks they preferred, the results were largely neutral and arbitrary. However, once information was given on which drink was Coke and Pepsi, a majority chose Coke due to a positive perception of “flavour”. This tells us that the human brain can made to anticipate quality in well-known brands(though the quality may or may not exist). This also demonstrates quite clearly the powerful effect that the media can have on our perceptions.

Stole this from Yeeloo’s tumblr. I’m a great fan of tighhighs, unless you have fat legs. >:(Hit the jump to continue reading)