My Year 2 University Life is officially over with the end of my last exam paper yesterday. This marks a remarkable milestone. I'm halfway through University Undergrad!
As there is nothing much that I did, except to watch 8 movies of Stephen Chow, other than studying that is, I guess there is nothing much for me to update here. So after some 6 hours of hard-work rearranging my stuffs in SPS, I think I should sleep now. See ya all!
Saturday, May 01, 2010
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Analysis of Cartoon Heroes by Aqua for Irony
The song “Cartoon Heroes” by Aqua was released on 31st Jan 2000 (SANCHE) and since then has remained popular amongst the public, even school teachers, childrens and youths are enjoying the songs as numerous dances are made for the song (cutiepinay00) (jeje0jess). The youths in International Youth Foundations even said that this dance expresses their dreams to be leaders of the world despite many hardships (Chuson05). In the behind the scene video, Lene Nystrøm said that “I don’t think that it (the music video) is haha like the Barbie girl video”, Søren Rasted then said “It’s ironic” (Pler). This makes for an interesting case of finding if there is irony in the song “Cartoon Heroes” because this may contribute to the reason why the song is so popular. In this paper, the various backgrounds for the analysis will be defined including the use of Nietzsche’s concept that truth is a contruct (Nietzsche), the real and cartoon world are constructed. Then the lyrics of the song cartoon heroes is analysed using the criteria of irony according Mongomery et.al (Montgomery, Durant and Fabb) with the help of the two worlds. Next, the music video is analysed for irony and its parodies. After that, the two different parts are combined to obtain an underlying message common to both and illustrated with the song being a parody of the singer’s famous status. Finally, the usefulness of the tools of irony is briefly mentioned.
Background
Wilson and Sperber said that parody involves both echoic allusion and dissociative attitude. Echoic allusion can be seen as repeating a work of art, resembling it and not nessary identical to it. Dissociative attitude is to dissociate with the original work, ussually in disgust and to make fun of the original. Parody is to direct quotation means that the characters in parody should quote, with echoic allusion, the form of the original work. Irony is to indirect quotation means that irony resembles the meaning instead of just the form of the work. Parody can also be both parody of form and content (Wilson and Sperber).
Nietzsche in his essay, the Birth of Tragedy and Other Writings, questions extensively what truth is. The concepts and words that we use to represent things are removed from the orginal things that they meant. Truths then are a mobile army of metaphors that are widely accepted and agreed upon by humans (Nietzsche). There is no absolute truth then according to him. Therefore the concept of relative truths is used to create a real world and a cartoon world.
The real world is defined as the current world where we live in or at least the world in year 2000 when the song “Cartoon Heroes” was released. In this world, there are no superheroes, but animations, comics and even live action movies of superheroes are made and enjoyed by kids and adults. The normal laws of physics also holds, so nothing with mass can travel at the speed of light and the human body ussually does not survive a fall from sufficient heights. We are certainly aware of the cartoon world and for a brief while, when we are enjoying the movie or comic, we are immersed in it.
The cartoon world is defined by the existance of superheroes in the world, and the necessary bending of the laws of science that allows superpowers, giant monsters and advanced technology. It is in short the world that the people in the superheroes comics, animation, and movies are living in. Examples would include the DC universe where Superman lives or the Marvel universe where Spiderman lives in. Also, depending on the past history of the world, they maybe aware of the existence of our real world or not.
According to Montgomery, there are two main types of irony, verbal and situational. Both involve correctly disbeliving or incorrectly beliving a proposition. In verbal irony, the correctly disbelievers, like the speaker, is the main focus and the incorrect believer is not made explicit but just implied; while in situational irony, the incorrect believer is the main focus and the correct disbeliever is implied. (Montgomery, Durant and Fabb). The basis for judging the truth or falseness of a proposition is the unstated assumptions of the accepted truths, which depend on which world we are working with. For example, the proposition that anything with mass can travel at the speed of light is false in the real world but can be true in the cartoon world.
The group Aqua is composed of Lene Nystrøm, René Dif, Søren Rasted, and Claus Norreen. They are most famous for their song “Barbie girl” that caused a lawsuit against them for parodying the body shape of the dolls as bimbotic sex symbol (Barbie loses battle over bimbo image). Their second album, Aquarius released in year 2000, features “Cartoon Heroes” which, for the purpose of this paper, is divided into two parts, the music video and the lyrics or song.
The music video describes Aqua in the role of space patrol, saving the Earth from a giant octopus and succeeding in the end with the help of their spaceship/ submarine, Aquarius. The video has a budget of 3.5 million dollars, making it one of the most expensive music video at that time (Pler).
The lyrics or the song describes the four heroes, Aqua singing directly from the cartoon world to the real world as will be shown later.
Lyrics
This section analyses lyrics of the song according to Montgomery’s criteria. To be ironic, the propositions in the lyrics of the song must be false relative to a set of truths.
Before proceeding further, the lyrics, as propositions, has to be analysed in terms of the two worlds, the cartoon world and the real world. The proposition of “We are the Cartoon Heroes” (Cartoon Heroes lyrics) is only true in the cartoon world, thus defining the “we” in the rest of the song to be always interperted to be in the cartoon world. Then the proposition “We are the color symphony” (Cartoon Heroes lyrics) must be interperted in two worlds for it to be true. The “we” existing in the cartoon world, are just colours that sing in the real world. Lines like “We learned to run at speed of light and to fall down from any height” are only true if the whole sentence is interperted in the cartoon world, as the laws of physics in the real world prevents anything with mass to reach the speed of light and the human body generally cannot survive any fall from too high without external equipments. Lines that contain “you” like “What we do is what you wish to do” (Cartoon Heroes lyrics) the “you” refers to the listener. The interpertation of the line is what “we” do in the cartoon world (run at speed of light, fall from any height) is what “you” want to do in the real world, but as the laws of Science constricts “you” from doing them, “What we do is what you just can't do” (Cartoon Heroes lyrics). This proves the statement above in the background section that the singers are singing directly from the cartoon world to the real world.
From the above analysis, the lyrics of the song can be divided into two camps, one to be entirely interperted in the cartoon world, and the other, except for the word “we”, to be interperted in the real world. Let the name of the lines in the first camp to be cartoon lines and the other to be real lines. So examples of real lines are: “We came out of a crazy mind - oh-oh-oh and walked out on a piece of paper” and “All dots and lines that speak and say” (Cartoon Heroes lyrics), reflecting the fact that comics (the traditional media of superheroes) are just printed small dots and lines on papers so that it looks like a complete picture. “Frame by frame, to the extreme” (Cartoon Heroes lyrics) reflects the fact that motion and animated films (the adapted media for many superheroes from which the name cartoon heroes comes from) are just multiple frames per second that creates the illusion of motion.
An example of cartoon lines is “We learned to run at speed of light and to fall down from any height” (Cartoon Heroes lyrics). The following paragraphs will analyse the cartoon lines with respect to the real world, and the real lines with respect the cartoon world to create the basic condition for irony, that the proposition to be false.
Firstly, the case for cartoon lines interperted in the real world is considered, say “We learned to run at speed of light and to fall down from any height” (Cartoon Heroes lyrics). The above proposition is known to be false in the real world as mentioned. Now that a false propostition is identified, all that is needed for irony is to identify the singers as either incorrect believers or correct disbelievers. This strongly depends upon which roles the “singers” are interperted to be, real life people living in the real world, or characters playing superheroes in the cartoon world. Note that cartoon lines are true in the cartoon world and so any analysis for irony must steer clear from that world.
Examining first the case of incorrect believers, this is only possible if the singers as real people living in the real world still believe that they have superpowers! Obviously this is not the case as the singers know that they are just singing for that particular song. This is clear from the fact that they keep on producing songs like “Around the world”, “Bumble Bee”, and “We belong to the sea” (SANCHE) without the delusion of thinking that they are superheroes. Thus the case for situational irony according to Montgomery fails to hold in the real world for the lines “We learned to run at speed of light and to fall down from any height” (Cartoon Heroes lyrics).
How about the case of correct disbelievers? The song (and perhaps combined with the music video) must focus on the singers as real people with clear ironic intention that “we are just singing this” instead of focusing on the singers as superheroes saying that “these are what we can do in the cartoon world”. A review on the music video shows that they are about to enter warp speed (faster than light travel) (YouTube Aqua - Cartoon Heroes (Full Version)) when the lines are sung, so it can be seen that the song and music video wants to be serious and retain the cartoon world where they are singing the song. And yet, there is a slight hint of verbal irony from the movement of the eyes of Lene in the video. So, in conclusion, there is a slight irony intended and yet it is not the main attraction. The video seems to be serious (in staying in the cartoon world) overall, as Søren Rasted said, “We want to make a little bit more serious kind of video not the kind of slap-stick kind of videos that we did in the beginning (in the first album like Barbie girl).” (Pler)
To complete the analysis of ironic interpertation, the interpertation of the real lines like “We came out of a crazy mind - oh-oh-oh, and walked out on a piece of paper” in the cartoon world is done. In the cartoon world, the proposition above is false as the superheroes in the cartoon world would have to be created via radioactivity, biotechnology, freak accidents, aliens, almost anything except being created by a writer in another world. They are real, in the flesh, living, and not existing in dots and lines, frame by frame, or in a piece of paper. Now the question is: Are the singers Aqua incorrect believers or correct disbelievers as seen by people in the cartoon world, say Superman?
To answer this question, one must enter the boots of Aqua in the cartoon world to understand what they are thinking. They are just singing to people in the real world from the cartoon world. This indicates that they are aware of the real world and its truths. Correspondigly, they are also aware that the truths in the real world are not true in the cartoon world, so they cannot be, as cartoon world entities, truly believe in what they sing. That is, if Superman comes and ask them the meaning of the song, they will say that it is not meant for the cartoon world people. So this rules out them as incorrect believers as they know which world to apply this song to.
To qualify as them as correct disbelievers, the attitude of dissociation must be there to show that they do not believe what they are singing (Wilson and Sperber). However, since the singers are singing to the people in the real world, where most of the song will make sense, there is no need for the dissociative attitude. They need not disbelieve the fact that, “It's all an orchestra of strings doing unbelievable things” And indeed, by the fervor that they show while singing in the music video, one can see that they are serious in bringing the message across, the most notable line being “What we do is what you just can't do” which is repeated six times in total.
The music video
The music video made by Aqua on their song “Cartoon Heroes” is easily seen as a parody of science fiction horror movies such as Godzilla, featuring a world in need of help calling and reanimating Aqua, the heroes from outer space to battle against a big octopus (Aqua.dk.tp).
The music video is a parody of many science fiction movies and related event. Firstly, the radio broadcast of the War of the Worlds in 1938 which caused wide spread panic from a fictitious radio show in the format of news bulletin is echoed from the way that the news reporter in the television reports how one by one the major cities of the world are attacked (19s). The fact that the television used is in black and white reinforces the idea of the 1950s or earlier. Secondly, the movie Godzilla has a scene where Godzilla’s eye is as big as an average human (m0ds 1m 40s) is parodied by the big eye of the octopus looking into the living room of a family (52s). Thirdly, the popular image of aliens being “little green man” is used in the design of the aliens at the UFO gas station where they refueled their spaceship (2m 38s). Next, Star Wars uses hyper drive to travel faster than the speed of light (Lucas) and this is also parodied by the warp speed of the spaceship Aquarius (3m 21s). After that, Sphere, a 1998 film featuring a team of scientist going underwater to investigate an alien object contains a scene where the scientist are all in diving suits underwater (Levinson). Aqua walking underwater with full diving suit on closely parallels this image (4m). Lastly, Moby Dick features fighting scenes between a whale and humans (Melville), which is parodied by Aqua fighting a giant octopus with guns (4m 22s).
Other than the parodies, there is also some blue comedy in the video. Blue comedy is comedy involving profanity (blue) which is shown on (2m 43s) by René holding a Playalien magazine, parody of Playboy, a magazine for adults. This scene last only for a second and is easy to miss, thus it is also barely noticeable like the verbal irony by Lene earlier.
Now that both the music video and the lyrics are analysed, it is time to combine them.
The combination
The lyrics of the song show various departures from the music video, for example, the music video shows real live humans as heroes even through they are singing “Cartoon Heroes”, meaning heroes in animation. Furthermore, there is no mention of spaceship or the giant octopus in the lyrics of the song. The song seems to have no relation to the music video on the surface level. If they have no relationship, then why put them together in the first place?
Søren Rasted said, on the music video, “It is a good story. We are four super heroes who save the world – but not four super heroes who take themselves too seriously. The universe is futuristic yet old-fashioned, a mixture of past and present to make everything a bit corny in a funny way” (SANCHE). And from the lyrics of the song “you think we're so mysterious (from the unconventional use of the real lines in the song) - don't take us all too serious (which is why this paper only appears ten years after year 2000)” along with the overall tone of the song, the music video and the song share the same message “Have fun folks” (Stuart)! This presents an interesting case where the song and the music video do not need to be matching, just as long as the central message is brought across.
The claim that they are not taking themselves too seriously is strengthen by the hint of verbal irony from Lene and the Playalien scene with René. Lene did the eye movement to convey her dissociative attitude towards the line “and to fall down from any height” (Cartoon Heroes lyrics), indicating her disbelieve in the line and showing that she is actually a singer in the video. René’s Playalien scene in a song called “Cartoon Heroes” is a daring and playful insertion as many kids will definitely be watching the music videos. This shows that they are indeed as in the words of René Dif that, “We have to look serious (as the argument in the lyric section relies upon), still funny, can’t be that serious (not taking themselves too seriously), not serious (reference to their playful and good natured attitude in general).” (Pler)
The not so serious attitude implies that they may put their real live characters into their song. In fact at various points in the song, there are possible interpertations that seems like they are parodying themselves. The opening sequence of the music video, where the singers are waking up, is a symbolism of the coming back of Aqua with the second album (Pler). The line “We are what we're supposed to be, illusions of your fantasy” can be taken to imply that the band Aqua is what it is supposed to be, famous and rich, which is the fantasy of many people. The line “We are the ones who're gonna last forever” also reflects the fame of the group that will make them be remembered for a very long time. “What we do is what you just can't do” then means that the singing, touring and money making of the singers Aqua are not what an average human can do. It can also mean, along with the line “Be original”, that the other musical bands should and could not copy or borrow the style and lyrics of their songs.
The fact that the video does not show Aqua as having superpowers, and most of the shots are on the singers themselves, seems to highlight that the video is about them. This supports the notion that they are parodying themselves.
Looking at the song in this light, then it is situationally ironic for the many fans of Aqua to like the song if the singers had meant to parody themselves and singing with this in mind, they are producing verbal irony. For the verbal irony, the proposition here is that the song “Cartoon Heroes” is just to pass the message of “Have fun folks”. In reality, the song is meant as a parody of the band Aqua themselves. The correct disbelievers would be Aqua and the incorrect believers are the listeners who are unaware of the parody. The situational irony is then seen via the same proposition, just switching the focus to the audience. They would be incorrect believers that Aqua is just paying tribute to the superheroes in the cartoon world, and the correct disbelievers are those who can see the parody of the song. Perhaps this is why they said not to take the song too seriously.
Conclusion
We have seen that there is largely no irony present via direct interpertation of the song “Cartoon Heroes” save for a little verbal irony from Lene, the music video does indeed parody many science fiction works and the combination of both gives the message of do not take the song too seriously, just have fun! And this maybe the main reason for its popularity. Then a possible alternate interpertation of the song as parody of the singers Aqua themselves leads directly to both verbal and situational irony. In conclusion, the tools for analysing irony and parody are capable of opening up and give deeper meaning to an otherwise simple song that no one will take seriously.
Works Cited
Aqua.dk.tp. 21 April 2010.
"Barbie loses battle over bimbo image." 25 July 2002. BBC News. 13 March 2010.
"blue." Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online. 23 April 2010.
"Cartoon Heroes lyrics." elyrics.net. 15 March 2010.
Chuson05. "Cartoon Heroes ." 1 July 2009. YouTube. 18 April 2010.
cutiepinay00. "Aqua- Cartoon Heroes." 19 December 2009. YouTube. 18 April 2010.
jeje0jess. "Cartoon Heroes 2001 Dancing." 12 July 2009. YouTube. 18 April 2010.
m0ds. "Godzilla teaser trailer #2." YouTube. 23 April 2010.
Melville, Herman. Moby Dick. Richard Bentley, 1851.
Montgomery, Martin, et al. "Irony." Montgomery, Martin, et al. Ways of Reading. London, New York: Routledge, 1992. 161-169.
Nietzsche, Friedrich. "OfTruth and Lying in a Non-Moral Sense." Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Birth of Tragedy and Other Writings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. 141-153.
Pler, Lleonard. "Aqua-Cartoon Heroes Videography." Aquarama.tk. 23 April 2010.
SANCHE, Karine. "Aqua - Cartoon Heroes." Eurodance Encyclopaedia. 18 April 2010.
Sphere . Dir. Barry Levinson. 1998.
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Dir. George Lucas. 1977.
Stuart, Alan J. The A to Z of Aqua. 30 November 2000. 21 April 2010.
Wilson, Deirdre and Dan Sperber. "On Verbal Irony." Weber, Jean Jacques. The Stylistic Reader. London and New York: Arnold, 1996. 260-279.
YouTube Aqua - Cartoon Heroes (Full Version). 14 March 2010.
Brief summary of the music video
In the music video, the earth is threatened by giant octopus which is destroying the major cities of the world. A distress signal is sent to a spaceship to wake up the four heroes, played by the band Aqua. They then travel towards earth, stopping midway to refuel at an alien gas station. The spaceship turns into a submarine and they came out in diving suits to search under the sea for the giant octopus. They encountered the octopus and does battle, just as the situation seems dire for them, the spaceship/submarine sends out an electrical attack that made the giant octopus explode. The heroes then celebrate the victory. (YouTube Aqua - Cartoon Heroes (Full Version))
Cartoon Heroes lyrics
We are what we're supposed to be
Illusions of your fantasy
All dots and lines that speak and say
What we do is what you wish to do
We are the color symphony
We do the things you wanna see
Frame by frame, to the extreme
Our friends are so unreasonable
They do the unpredictable
All dots lines that speak and say
What we do is what you wish to do
It's all an orchestra of strings
Doin' unbelievable things
Frame by frame, to the extreme
One by one, we're makin' it fun
We are the Cartoon Heroes - oh-oh-oh
We are the ones who're gonna last forever
We came out of a crazy mind - oh-oh-oh
And walked out on a piece of paper
Here comes Spiderman, arachnophobian
Welcome to the toon town party
Here comes Superman, from never-neverland
Welcome to the toon town party
We learned to run at speed of light
And to fall down from any height
It's true, but just remember that
What we do is what you just can't do
And all the worlds of craziness
A bunch of stars that's chasing us
Frame by frame, to the extreme
One by one, we're makin' it fun
We are the Cartoon Heroes - oh-oh-oh
We are the ones who're gonna last forever
We came out of a crazy mind - oh-oh-oh
And walked out on a piece of paper
Here comes Spiderman, arachnophobian
Welcome to the toon town party
Here comes Superman, from never-neverland
Welcome to the toon town party
You think we're so mysterious
Don't take us all too serious
Be original, and remember that
What we do is what you just can't do
What we do is what you just can't do
What we do is what you just can't do
What we do is what you just can't do
What we do is what you just can't do
We are the Cartoon Heroes - oh-oh-oh
We are the ones who're gonna last forever
We came out of a crazy mind - oh-oh-oh
And walked out on a piece of paper
There's still more to come
And everyone will be
Welcomed at the
Toon – Toon Town - Town
Party (Cartoon Heroes lyrics)
Background
Wilson and Sperber said that parody involves both echoic allusion and dissociative attitude. Echoic allusion can be seen as repeating a work of art, resembling it and not nessary identical to it. Dissociative attitude is to dissociate with the original work, ussually in disgust and to make fun of the original. Parody is to direct quotation means that the characters in parody should quote, with echoic allusion, the form of the original work. Irony is to indirect quotation means that irony resembles the meaning instead of just the form of the work. Parody can also be both parody of form and content (Wilson and Sperber).
Nietzsche in his essay, the Birth of Tragedy and Other Writings, questions extensively what truth is. The concepts and words that we use to represent things are removed from the orginal things that they meant. Truths then are a mobile army of metaphors that are widely accepted and agreed upon by humans (Nietzsche). There is no absolute truth then according to him. Therefore the concept of relative truths is used to create a real world and a cartoon world.
The real world is defined as the current world where we live in or at least the world in year 2000 when the song “Cartoon Heroes” was released. In this world, there are no superheroes, but animations, comics and even live action movies of superheroes are made and enjoyed by kids and adults. The normal laws of physics also holds, so nothing with mass can travel at the speed of light and the human body ussually does not survive a fall from sufficient heights. We are certainly aware of the cartoon world and for a brief while, when we are enjoying the movie or comic, we are immersed in it.
The cartoon world is defined by the existance of superheroes in the world, and the necessary bending of the laws of science that allows superpowers, giant monsters and advanced technology. It is in short the world that the people in the superheroes comics, animation, and movies are living in. Examples would include the DC universe where Superman lives or the Marvel universe where Spiderman lives in. Also, depending on the past history of the world, they maybe aware of the existence of our real world or not.
According to Montgomery, there are two main types of irony, verbal and situational. Both involve correctly disbeliving or incorrectly beliving a proposition. In verbal irony, the correctly disbelievers, like the speaker, is the main focus and the incorrect believer is not made explicit but just implied; while in situational irony, the incorrect believer is the main focus and the correct disbeliever is implied. (Montgomery, Durant and Fabb). The basis for judging the truth or falseness of a proposition is the unstated assumptions of the accepted truths, which depend on which world we are working with. For example, the proposition that anything with mass can travel at the speed of light is false in the real world but can be true in the cartoon world.
The group Aqua is composed of Lene Nystrøm, René Dif, Søren Rasted, and Claus Norreen. They are most famous for their song “Barbie girl” that caused a lawsuit against them for parodying the body shape of the dolls as bimbotic sex symbol (Barbie loses battle over bimbo image). Their second album, Aquarius released in year 2000, features “Cartoon Heroes” which, for the purpose of this paper, is divided into two parts, the music video and the lyrics or song.
The music video describes Aqua in the role of space patrol, saving the Earth from a giant octopus and succeeding in the end with the help of their spaceship/ submarine, Aquarius. The video has a budget of 3.5 million dollars, making it one of the most expensive music video at that time (Pler).
The lyrics or the song describes the four heroes, Aqua singing directly from the cartoon world to the real world as will be shown later.
Lyrics
This section analyses lyrics of the song according to Montgomery’s criteria. To be ironic, the propositions in the lyrics of the song must be false relative to a set of truths.
Before proceeding further, the lyrics, as propositions, has to be analysed in terms of the two worlds, the cartoon world and the real world. The proposition of “We are the Cartoon Heroes” (Cartoon Heroes lyrics) is only true in the cartoon world, thus defining the “we” in the rest of the song to be always interperted to be in the cartoon world. Then the proposition “We are the color symphony” (Cartoon Heroes lyrics) must be interperted in two worlds for it to be true. The “we” existing in the cartoon world, are just colours that sing in the real world. Lines like “We learned to run at speed of light and to fall down from any height” are only true if the whole sentence is interperted in the cartoon world, as the laws of physics in the real world prevents anything with mass to reach the speed of light and the human body generally cannot survive any fall from too high without external equipments. Lines that contain “you” like “What we do is what you wish to do” (Cartoon Heroes lyrics) the “you” refers to the listener. The interpertation of the line is what “we” do in the cartoon world (run at speed of light, fall from any height) is what “you” want to do in the real world, but as the laws of Science constricts “you” from doing them, “What we do is what you just can't do” (Cartoon Heroes lyrics). This proves the statement above in the background section that the singers are singing directly from the cartoon world to the real world.
From the above analysis, the lyrics of the song can be divided into two camps, one to be entirely interperted in the cartoon world, and the other, except for the word “we”, to be interperted in the real world. Let the name of the lines in the first camp to be cartoon lines and the other to be real lines. So examples of real lines are: “We came out of a crazy mind - oh-oh-oh and walked out on a piece of paper” and “All dots and lines that speak and say” (Cartoon Heroes lyrics), reflecting the fact that comics (the traditional media of superheroes) are just printed small dots and lines on papers so that it looks like a complete picture. “Frame by frame, to the extreme” (Cartoon Heroes lyrics) reflects the fact that motion and animated films (the adapted media for many superheroes from which the name cartoon heroes comes from) are just multiple frames per second that creates the illusion of motion.
An example of cartoon lines is “We learned to run at speed of light and to fall down from any height” (Cartoon Heroes lyrics). The following paragraphs will analyse the cartoon lines with respect to the real world, and the real lines with respect the cartoon world to create the basic condition for irony, that the proposition to be false.
Firstly, the case for cartoon lines interperted in the real world is considered, say “We learned to run at speed of light and to fall down from any height” (Cartoon Heroes lyrics). The above proposition is known to be false in the real world as mentioned. Now that a false propostition is identified, all that is needed for irony is to identify the singers as either incorrect believers or correct disbelievers. This strongly depends upon which roles the “singers” are interperted to be, real life people living in the real world, or characters playing superheroes in the cartoon world. Note that cartoon lines are true in the cartoon world and so any analysis for irony must steer clear from that world.
Examining first the case of incorrect believers, this is only possible if the singers as real people living in the real world still believe that they have superpowers! Obviously this is not the case as the singers know that they are just singing for that particular song. This is clear from the fact that they keep on producing songs like “Around the world”, “Bumble Bee”, and “We belong to the sea” (SANCHE) without the delusion of thinking that they are superheroes. Thus the case for situational irony according to Montgomery fails to hold in the real world for the lines “We learned to run at speed of light and to fall down from any height” (Cartoon Heroes lyrics).
How about the case of correct disbelievers? The song (and perhaps combined with the music video) must focus on the singers as real people with clear ironic intention that “we are just singing this” instead of focusing on the singers as superheroes saying that “these are what we can do in the cartoon world”. A review on the music video shows that they are about to enter warp speed (faster than light travel) (YouTube Aqua - Cartoon Heroes (Full Version)) when the lines are sung, so it can be seen that the song and music video wants to be serious and retain the cartoon world where they are singing the song. And yet, there is a slight hint of verbal irony from the movement of the eyes of Lene in the video. So, in conclusion, there is a slight irony intended and yet it is not the main attraction. The video seems to be serious (in staying in the cartoon world) overall, as Søren Rasted said, “We want to make a little bit more serious kind of video not the kind of slap-stick kind of videos that we did in the beginning (in the first album like Barbie girl).” (Pler)
To complete the analysis of ironic interpertation, the interpertation of the real lines like “We came out of a crazy mind - oh-oh-oh, and walked out on a piece of paper” in the cartoon world is done. In the cartoon world, the proposition above is false as the superheroes in the cartoon world would have to be created via radioactivity, biotechnology, freak accidents, aliens, almost anything except being created by a writer in another world. They are real, in the flesh, living, and not existing in dots and lines, frame by frame, or in a piece of paper. Now the question is: Are the singers Aqua incorrect believers or correct disbelievers as seen by people in the cartoon world, say Superman?
To answer this question, one must enter the boots of Aqua in the cartoon world to understand what they are thinking. They are just singing to people in the real world from the cartoon world. This indicates that they are aware of the real world and its truths. Correspondigly, they are also aware that the truths in the real world are not true in the cartoon world, so they cannot be, as cartoon world entities, truly believe in what they sing. That is, if Superman comes and ask them the meaning of the song, they will say that it is not meant for the cartoon world people. So this rules out them as incorrect believers as they know which world to apply this song to.
To qualify as them as correct disbelievers, the attitude of dissociation must be there to show that they do not believe what they are singing (Wilson and Sperber). However, since the singers are singing to the people in the real world, where most of the song will make sense, there is no need for the dissociative attitude. They need not disbelieve the fact that, “It's all an orchestra of strings doing unbelievable things” And indeed, by the fervor that they show while singing in the music video, one can see that they are serious in bringing the message across, the most notable line being “What we do is what you just can't do” which is repeated six times in total.
The music video
The music video made by Aqua on their song “Cartoon Heroes” is easily seen as a parody of science fiction horror movies such as Godzilla, featuring a world in need of help calling and reanimating Aqua, the heroes from outer space to battle against a big octopus (Aqua.dk.tp).
The music video is a parody of many science fiction movies and related event. Firstly, the radio broadcast of the War of the Worlds in 1938 which caused wide spread panic from a fictitious radio show in the format of news bulletin is echoed from the way that the news reporter in the television reports how one by one the major cities of the world are attacked (19s). The fact that the television used is in black and white reinforces the idea of the 1950s or earlier. Secondly, the movie Godzilla has a scene where Godzilla’s eye is as big as an average human (m0ds 1m 40s) is parodied by the big eye of the octopus looking into the living room of a family (52s). Thirdly, the popular image of aliens being “little green man” is used in the design of the aliens at the UFO gas station where they refueled their spaceship (2m 38s). Next, Star Wars uses hyper drive to travel faster than the speed of light (Lucas) and this is also parodied by the warp speed of the spaceship Aquarius (3m 21s). After that, Sphere, a 1998 film featuring a team of scientist going underwater to investigate an alien object contains a scene where the scientist are all in diving suits underwater (Levinson). Aqua walking underwater with full diving suit on closely parallels this image (4m). Lastly, Moby Dick features fighting scenes between a whale and humans (Melville), which is parodied by Aqua fighting a giant octopus with guns (4m 22s).
Other than the parodies, there is also some blue comedy in the video. Blue comedy is comedy involving profanity (blue) which is shown on (2m 43s) by René holding a Playalien magazine, parody of Playboy, a magazine for adults. This scene last only for a second and is easy to miss, thus it is also barely noticeable like the verbal irony by Lene earlier.
Now that both the music video and the lyrics are analysed, it is time to combine them.
The combination
The lyrics of the song show various departures from the music video, for example, the music video shows real live humans as heroes even through they are singing “Cartoon Heroes”, meaning heroes in animation. Furthermore, there is no mention of spaceship or the giant octopus in the lyrics of the song. The song seems to have no relation to the music video on the surface level. If they have no relationship, then why put them together in the first place?
Søren Rasted said, on the music video, “It is a good story. We are four super heroes who save the world – but not four super heroes who take themselves too seriously. The universe is futuristic yet old-fashioned, a mixture of past and present to make everything a bit corny in a funny way” (SANCHE). And from the lyrics of the song “you think we're so mysterious (from the unconventional use of the real lines in the song) - don't take us all too serious (which is why this paper only appears ten years after year 2000)” along with the overall tone of the song, the music video and the song share the same message “Have fun folks” (Stuart)! This presents an interesting case where the song and the music video do not need to be matching, just as long as the central message is brought across.
The claim that they are not taking themselves too seriously is strengthen by the hint of verbal irony from Lene and the Playalien scene with René. Lene did the eye movement to convey her dissociative attitude towards the line “and to fall down from any height” (Cartoon Heroes lyrics), indicating her disbelieve in the line and showing that she is actually a singer in the video. René’s Playalien scene in a song called “Cartoon Heroes” is a daring and playful insertion as many kids will definitely be watching the music videos. This shows that they are indeed as in the words of René Dif that, “We have to look serious (as the argument in the lyric section relies upon), still funny, can’t be that serious (not taking themselves too seriously), not serious (reference to their playful and good natured attitude in general).” (Pler)
The not so serious attitude implies that they may put their real live characters into their song. In fact at various points in the song, there are possible interpertations that seems like they are parodying themselves. The opening sequence of the music video, where the singers are waking up, is a symbolism of the coming back of Aqua with the second album (Pler). The line “We are what we're supposed to be, illusions of your fantasy” can be taken to imply that the band Aqua is what it is supposed to be, famous and rich, which is the fantasy of many people. The line “We are the ones who're gonna last forever” also reflects the fame of the group that will make them be remembered for a very long time. “What we do is what you just can't do” then means that the singing, touring and money making of the singers Aqua are not what an average human can do. It can also mean, along with the line “Be original”, that the other musical bands should and could not copy or borrow the style and lyrics of their songs.
The fact that the video does not show Aqua as having superpowers, and most of the shots are on the singers themselves, seems to highlight that the video is about them. This supports the notion that they are parodying themselves.
Looking at the song in this light, then it is situationally ironic for the many fans of Aqua to like the song if the singers had meant to parody themselves and singing with this in mind, they are producing verbal irony. For the verbal irony, the proposition here is that the song “Cartoon Heroes” is just to pass the message of “Have fun folks”. In reality, the song is meant as a parody of the band Aqua themselves. The correct disbelievers would be Aqua and the incorrect believers are the listeners who are unaware of the parody. The situational irony is then seen via the same proposition, just switching the focus to the audience. They would be incorrect believers that Aqua is just paying tribute to the superheroes in the cartoon world, and the correct disbelievers are those who can see the parody of the song. Perhaps this is why they said not to take the song too seriously.
Conclusion
We have seen that there is largely no irony present via direct interpertation of the song “Cartoon Heroes” save for a little verbal irony from Lene, the music video does indeed parody many science fiction works and the combination of both gives the message of do not take the song too seriously, just have fun! And this maybe the main reason for its popularity. Then a possible alternate interpertation of the song as parody of the singers Aqua themselves leads directly to both verbal and situational irony. In conclusion, the tools for analysing irony and parody are capable of opening up and give deeper meaning to an otherwise simple song that no one will take seriously.
Works Cited
Aqua.dk.tp. 21 April 2010
"Barbie loses battle over bimbo image." 25 July 2002. BBC News. 13 March 2010
"blue." Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online. 23 April 2010
"Cartoon Heroes lyrics." elyrics.net. 15 March 2010
Chuson05. "Cartoon Heroes ." 1 July 2009. YouTube. 18 April 2010
cutiepinay00. "Aqua- Cartoon Heroes." 19 December 2009. YouTube. 18 April 2010
jeje0jess. "Cartoon Heroes 2001 Dancing." 12 July 2009. YouTube. 18 April 2010
m0ds. "Godzilla teaser trailer #2." YouTube. 23 April 2010
Melville, Herman. Moby Dick. Richard Bentley, 1851.
Montgomery, Martin, et al. "Irony." Montgomery, Martin, et al. Ways of Reading. London, New York: Routledge, 1992. 161-169.
Nietzsche, Friedrich. "OfTruth and Lying in a Non-Moral Sense." Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Birth of Tragedy and Other Writings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. 141-153.
Pler, Lleonard. "Aqua-Cartoon Heroes Videography." Aquarama.tk. 23 April 2010
SANCHE, Karine. "Aqua - Cartoon Heroes." Eurodance Encyclopaedia. 18 April 2010
Sphere . Dir. Barry Levinson. 1998.
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Dir. George Lucas. 1977.
Stuart, Alan J. The A to Z of Aqua. 30 November 2000. 21 April 2010
Wilson, Deirdre and Dan Sperber. "On Verbal Irony." Weber, Jean Jacques. The Stylistic Reader. London and New York: Arnold, 1996. 260-279.
YouTube Aqua - Cartoon Heroes (Full Version). 14 March 2010
Brief summary of the music video
In the music video, the earth is threatened by giant octopus which is destroying the major cities of the world. A distress signal is sent to a spaceship to wake up the four heroes, played by the band Aqua. They then travel towards earth, stopping midway to refuel at an alien gas station. The spaceship turns into a submarine and they came out in diving suits to search under the sea for the giant octopus. They encountered the octopus and does battle, just as the situation seems dire for them, the spaceship/submarine sends out an electrical attack that made the giant octopus explode. The heroes then celebrate the victory. (YouTube Aqua - Cartoon Heroes (Full Version))
Cartoon Heroes lyrics
We are what we're supposed to be
Illusions of your fantasy
All dots and lines that speak and say
What we do is what you wish to do
We are the color symphony
We do the things you wanna see
Frame by frame, to the extreme
Our friends are so unreasonable
They do the unpredictable
All dots lines that speak and say
What we do is what you wish to do
It's all an orchestra of strings
Doin' unbelievable things
Frame by frame, to the extreme
One by one, we're makin' it fun
We are the Cartoon Heroes - oh-oh-oh
We are the ones who're gonna last forever
We came out of a crazy mind - oh-oh-oh
And walked out on a piece of paper
Here comes Spiderman, arachnophobian
Welcome to the toon town party
Here comes Superman, from never-neverland
Welcome to the toon town party
We learned to run at speed of light
And to fall down from any height
It's true, but just remember that
What we do is what you just can't do
And all the worlds of craziness
A bunch of stars that's chasing us
Frame by frame, to the extreme
One by one, we're makin' it fun
We are the Cartoon Heroes - oh-oh-oh
We are the ones who're gonna last forever
We came out of a crazy mind - oh-oh-oh
And walked out on a piece of paper
Here comes Spiderman, arachnophobian
Welcome to the toon town party
Here comes Superman, from never-neverland
Welcome to the toon town party
You think we're so mysterious
Don't take us all too serious
Be original, and remember that
What we do is what you just can't do
What we do is what you just can't do
What we do is what you just can't do
What we do is what you just can't do
What we do is what you just can't do
We are the Cartoon Heroes - oh-oh-oh
We are the ones who're gonna last forever
We came out of a crazy mind - oh-oh-oh
And walked out on a piece of paper
There's still more to come
And everyone will be
Welcomed at the
Toon – Toon Town - Town
Party (Cartoon Heroes lyrics)
Friday, April 16, 2010
A short thing about me, denouncing the IPhO
Hi,
I'm got interested in Maths first, then as my education progresses on, science caught my attention, but it wasn't until after the spliting of science into 3 disciplines that I found out that it is Physics that I like about Science. Not surpisingly, it is also the one with the most maths in it.
And so after my secondary school education, high school provides me with many books, popular science books, books that tells me of the 30 years that shook physics, or the formation of Quantum Mechanics, the progress of Physics from Galelio to Einstein, the particle physics, and most importantly, the Unification of Physics, String theory, and others. All these pushes oneself to really love Physics. I kinda remember the days of learning Special Relativity on my own, through the net. It was a treasure trove that I desparately wish to share with others!
Then came the International Physics Olympiad, that had really sealed my fate with Physics, my University major could be nothing else. What's more I've went twice! Representing Malaysia. However, as I look back on it now, the IPhO students knows only how to solve the physics problems, they are not really well versed in deeply understanding Physics. As Physics Undergraduates, we should be proud, because we are greater than the Olympiad student, we understand Physics! Thank you.
I'm got interested in Maths first, then as my education progresses on, science caught my attention, but it wasn't until after the spliting of science into 3 disciplines that I found out that it is Physics that I like about Science. Not surpisingly, it is also the one with the most maths in it.
And so after my secondary school education, high school provides me with many books, popular science books, books that tells me of the 30 years that shook physics, or the formation of Quantum Mechanics, the progress of Physics from Galelio to Einstein, the particle physics, and most importantly, the Unification of Physics, String theory, and others. All these pushes oneself to really love Physics. I kinda remember the days of learning Special Relativity on my own, through the net. It was a treasure trove that I desparately wish to share with others!
Then came the International Physics Olympiad, that had really sealed my fate with Physics, my University major could be nothing else. What's more I've went twice! Representing Malaysia. However, as I look back on it now, the IPhO students knows only how to solve the physics problems, they are not really well versed in deeply understanding Physics. As Physics Undergraduates, we should be proud, because we are greater than the Olympiad student, we understand Physics! Thank you.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
April Update
After the last post, it has been a long time since I talk about myself. Now this is all about me. Or what I did.
I went for a 8-precept day retreat in Wat Palelai one Weekend, which brings me to Ajahn Seng, then after the first time in my life meditating for 5 hours in one day, I and NTUBS people when to see Ajahn Seng to discuss on the next meditation retreat, one that we're to organise. So that's why we went to Wat Palelai again yesterday night to have an insightful and nice discussions about the details surrounding the retreat.
Then the next Saturday I had a Nam Wah Pai grading, which brings me to senior green belt now! And the following Sunday, I had another training, the very last one before the competition today! And today's competition I gave up during the second round, mostly to protect my brain. I do value my brain more than victory. Indeed. Anyway today's competition is very nice and fun and an enlightening, it tells me that if I ever am involved in a fight, running would be a better choice, for now.
So still sustaining some minor injury now, let me tell you about the time when I broke down. I went and played Civilisation 4 the weekend before I had 3 term test 2 and 2 lab reports to hand up. Well, it caused me to have 3 consecutive times of waking up one day, not sleeping that night, strive to not sleep during the day, then sleep for one night, then repeat.... Well comparatively, the previous time before that, I was reading Dune, and it fared better. Although there's also one time when I over eat (again) in my research group's nights out to celebrate birthdays, and I got sick the whole of next day, Dune did help me pass through it.
Before that sickness, I went to a doctor and got some medicine for my running nose, now that the medicine is finished, I think the condition is a bit better.
Ok enough. Signing off here.
I went for a 8-precept day retreat in Wat Palelai one Weekend, which brings me to Ajahn Seng, then after the first time in my life meditating for 5 hours in one day, I and NTUBS people when to see Ajahn Seng to discuss on the next meditation retreat, one that we're to organise. So that's why we went to Wat Palelai again yesterday night to have an insightful and nice discussions about the details surrounding the retreat.
Then the next Saturday I had a Nam Wah Pai grading, which brings me to senior green belt now! And the following Sunday, I had another training, the very last one before the competition today! And today's competition I gave up during the second round, mostly to protect my brain. I do value my brain more than victory. Indeed. Anyway today's competition is very nice and fun and an enlightening, it tells me that if I ever am involved in a fight, running would be a better choice, for now.
So still sustaining some minor injury now, let me tell you about the time when I broke down. I went and played Civilisation 4 the weekend before I had 3 term test 2 and 2 lab reports to hand up. Well, it caused me to have 3 consecutive times of waking up one day, not sleeping that night, strive to not sleep during the day, then sleep for one night, then repeat.... Well comparatively, the previous time before that, I was reading Dune, and it fared better. Although there's also one time when I over eat (again) in my research group's nights out to celebrate birthdays, and I got sick the whole of next day, Dune did help me pass through it.
Before that sickness, I went to a doctor and got some medicine for my running nose, now that the medicine is finished, I think the condition is a bit better.
Ok enough. Signing off here.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Venerable Gyurme’s Course
After the meditation course on semester 2, the second half of the semester is filled by the Dharma Course by Venerable Tenzin Gyurme. He is a Singaporean who learned the Vajrayana tradition and now with the Amitabha Buddhist Centre. Having studied in NUS too, he is a very friendly and understanding teacher to us. During the four sessions that we learned the Dharma, we had learned that true practising Buddhist need not be just in the meditation. It is in the daily mind and thoughts!
Then using logic and reason, we explored the requirements for past and future lives! And from the simple observation of karma or how couse and effect works, we discussed the codependant origination and it is used as an argument agaisnt the existance of a Creator God. Lastly, the meaning of suffering, which is not to inspire pessimism, but to inspire energy and determination for practise is discussed and expounded. The step by step build up of the facts are presented from logical conclusion of empirical observations in our lives certainly helped us increase our faith!
Lastly I would like to thank everyone who had helped out in the setting up of the room, joining in the discussions and Venerable Gyurme for his enlightening teachings.
By Ng Xin Zhao, Deputy Dharma Director of NUSBS
Then using logic and reason, we explored the requirements for past and future lives! And from the simple observation of karma or how couse and effect works, we discussed the codependant origination and it is used as an argument agaisnt the existance of a Creator God. Lastly, the meaning of suffering, which is not to inspire pessimism, but to inspire energy and determination for practise is discussed and expounded. The step by step build up of the facts are presented from logical conclusion of empirical observations in our lives certainly helped us increase our faith!
Lastly I would like to thank everyone who had helped out in the setting up of the room, joining in the discussions and Venerable Gyurme for his enlightening teachings.
By Ng Xin Zhao, Deputy Dharma Director of NUSBS
Monday, March 22, 2010
Discovering Buddhism
This semester, great changes have been made to Discovering Buddhism. From its usual Monday nights, it has been shifted to Thursday night and two special courses have developed: Freeing your Heart and Buddhist Psychology. They each last for 4 sessions and each session is 90 minutes long. The course is conducted by Bro. Piya, a former monk for 20 years and currently working on translating the sutras.
In Freeing the Heart, we learn how to let go of anger and lust and to identify the defence mechanism that the mind uses against mental attacks. While in Buddhist Psychology, the interaction between western Psychology and Buddhism is studied and knowledge from both sides is shared in order to deepen the understanding of the mind. Both courses are non-religious explorations and sources for much food for thought. Participants are given a “textbook” to read so that they can self-study on their own and also share with others.
The one of the basis of Dharma is great learning, and Discovering Buddhism provides the best opportunity for that purpose. Many thanks to Bro. Piya and Soe Lin Myat for organising the course and deepening our understanding of the Dharma. As Bro Piya says: may all strive to attain to enlightment in this very life!
By Ng Xin Zhao, Deputy Dharma Director of NUSBS
In Freeing the Heart, we learn how to let go of anger and lust and to identify the defence mechanism that the mind uses against mental attacks. While in Buddhist Psychology, the interaction between western Psychology and Buddhism is studied and knowledge from both sides is shared in order to deepen the understanding of the mind. Both courses are non-religious explorations and sources for much food for thought. Participants are given a “textbook” to read so that they can self-study on their own and also share with others.
The one of the basis of Dharma is great learning, and Discovering Buddhism provides the best opportunity for that purpose. Many thanks to Bro. Piya and Soe Lin Myat for organising the course and deepening our understanding of the Dharma. As Bro Piya says: may all strive to attain to enlightment in this very life!
By Ng Xin Zhao, Deputy Dharma Director of NUSBS
Medical Dharma Circle
Every Monday without fail (except for public holidays), the group of people that makes up Medical Dharma Circle comes together and shares the Dharma. Despite the name, this event is open to all students, regardless of faculty. Standing strong for over 30 years now, MDC is the one constant in NUSBS since the beginning. Therefore there are treasure houses of seniors who always come down for a few hours every week.
From 6:30 pm, meditation is on, then at 7pm, the puja will start and then the speaker for the week which includes Venerables, seniors, and even juniors will share the Dharma for about 1 hour. I’ve been invited to share for three times since I joined in last semester! After the share sharing, we are treated dinner by the seniors, in the spirit that we will come back and treat the juniors after we graduate. This ensures a strong continuity and fellowship building. I’m grateful to MDC and Kaikok for organising the sessions, and to the seniors for the delightful and fulfilling dinners. May MDC continue to be a shining light upon all who needs it.
By Ng Xin Zhao, Deputy Dharma Director of NUSBS
From 6:30 pm, meditation is on, then at 7pm, the puja will start and then the speaker for the week which includes Venerables, seniors, and even juniors will share the Dharma for about 1 hour. I’ve been invited to share for three times since I joined in last semester! After the share sharing, we are treated dinner by the seniors, in the spirit that we will come back and treat the juniors after we graduate. This ensures a strong continuity and fellowship building. I’m grateful to MDC and Kaikok for organising the sessions, and to the seniors for the delightful and fulfilling dinners. May MDC continue to be a shining light upon all who needs it.
By Ng Xin Zhao, Deputy Dharma Director of NUSBS
Dharma Circle
The main weekly activity for NUSBS falls on Friday nights with Soe Lin Myat, the Dharma Director as the organiser. Every week, a different speaker is invited to talk on various topics that spark interest and life into the 2554 year old Dharma. Amongst the speakers are lay alumni, Venerable monks like Ven. Bodhi, Ven. Cittara, Ven. Dhammika, Ven. Dharmarattana, and Ven. Chun Nian, even students like our former president, Jacinta and yours humbly. There are movie screenings, talks, presentations followed by discussions. One time, we even went out of campus to Cheng Beng Buddhist Society to listen to Ven. Hui Men!
Dharma Circle is the event where the most social exchange happens, especially after the event ends, you’ll see almost everyone staying back and chatter, introducing and welcoming new members, old friends catching up, the management committee having discussions on future events, all these while eating some snacks!
The most important thing that all of us bring back is the straightening of our right views, which is the first and most important step in the Noble 8 fold path. Thus we are propelled towards enlightment. May all the efforts by the Dharma subcom and Management committee that organize every Dharma Circle contribute to the spiritual well being of all who attend. Sadhu! Sadhu! Sadhu!
By Ng Xin Zhao, Deputy Dharma Director of NUSBS
Dharma Circle is the event where the most social exchange happens, especially after the event ends, you’ll see almost everyone staying back and chatter, introducing and welcoming new members, old friends catching up, the management committee having discussions on future events, all these while eating some snacks!
The most important thing that all of us bring back is the straightening of our right views, which is the first and most important step in the Noble 8 fold path. Thus we are propelled towards enlightment. May all the efforts by the Dharma subcom and Management committee that organize every Dharma Circle contribute to the spiritual well being of all who attend. Sadhu! Sadhu! Sadhu!
By Ng Xin Zhao, Deputy Dharma Director of NUSBS
Meditation
For two semesters on Wednesday nights, Bante Cittara from Mangala Vihara has come to NUS to teach Basic Meditation skills to the students and staffs of NUS. We learned mindfulness on the breath meditation, walking meditation, loving-kindness meditation, the 5 hindrances of meditation, and the supportive meditations. All these meditation is to help one relax, be mindful and develop concentration and insight. Meditating for 5-10 minutes before sleeping and after waking up everyday can eventually train oneself to observe anger when it is arising, thus able to stop it in time, be more stress free during the day and easily falling asleep at night. It’s no wonder that Bante Cittara always advices us to meditate everyday and to train up our mindfulness and concentration. Looking at all these benefits, it is no wonder that over 30 people sign up for the course every semester!
I would like to thank the loyal Dharma subcom and Management Committee for helping out during the course, NUSBS for providing the opportunity to organise the event, Bante Cittara and Philip who drives him here, and all the attendees. May this course be a stepping stone towards the enlightment of all beings!
By Ng Xin Zhao, Deputy Dharma Director of NUSBS
I would like to thank the loyal Dharma subcom and Management Committee for helping out during the course, NUSBS for providing the opportunity to organise the event, Bante Cittara and Philip who drives him here, and all the attendees. May this course be a stepping stone towards the enlightment of all beings!
By Ng Xin Zhao, Deputy Dharma Director of NUSBS
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Different parts of me
As we go through our daily life, we take on different roles, this post is to record down what roles I am taking now.
Bookworm: Avid book reading fan would be a nicer way to put it. I read fiction, non-fiction, many stuffs, as long as I'm a NUS student, I should make use of the library services. Currently reading: Shadows of the Mind by Roger Penrose.
Roommate: As a roommate, I really talk little with my roommate. I go to room for these functions: sleep, meditate, put my stuffs, prepare to shower, read and wash clothes. Currently sleeping time: 10pm-8am..... quite long.
Malaysian: Just the occasional joining in MSL activities. Most of the people I initially know from there are in SPS anyway... so not much point going there anymore. Malaysian... kinda prevents me from taking A*Star's extremely nice scholarship (that requires one to eventually become a Singaporean). Also prevents me from joining in Rovers and ODAC cause a lot of their activities are in Malaysia, Singapore price. Long time didn't sing the Negaraku already... compared to the weekly (or daily in Malacca High) singing back in school. Anything I spend here, I rarely convert it to Malaysian Ringgit in my mind too. Just kinda glad I'm in Singapore.
USP-ian: As a USP person, I rarely go to the place called Chatterbox, however, I do take their modules (Current module: Understanding Irony) and also gone to a trip called Buddhism in Asia: Thailand and Taiwan with them. Joining in their Freshmen Orientation Project, as a Group Leader.
SPS-ian: I'm more of a SPSian, more than anything else. In terms of putting my laptop in SPS all the time and spending most of my time there, and most of my closest friends are there. (oh sorry here, I'm in the room now). I'm becoming a Junior Mentor here, and it's going to be nicer and nicer.
Geek: My definition of geek here is someone who likes superheroes, comic books, manga, seeing cartoons, and doing... you know dorky stuffs. Ok, my geekiness has been confined to Big Bang Theory, Wizards of Wavery Place and OnePiece, three 20minutes per week, but not every week. Oh and gaming, don't forget gaming. I've deleted most of my computer video games already and recently am playing board games, Dominion, Through the Ages, Cash and Guns, Agricola, and various others....... so cooolllll games that USP and Boardgame Interest group has, ussually on Tuesdays night.
Stressed out person: Not so much at all. I've been trying to live a stress free life for these few weeks, and I think by the long time I didn't blog in March, I'm doing it well.
NUSBSMC: Been doing the job... quite well I think, there're ups and downs in this job. Currently, down. Even if the jobs are done well, and there're just a few more left, I'm kinda dreading having to do it all over again next year.......
Medical Dharma Circle: I've been joining in this wonderful group of Buddhist which has considerable history behind it and I really enjoy the Monday nights that I'm with them. I've been speaker for the sessions 2 times already so far.
CQT: I've just joined this group of physicist from this semester onwards, for my UROP, still in the process of finding out stuffs and reviewing. I'm taking it wayyy to slow. They are a kind group of people too, we've gone for an outing to a reserviour in Singapore, didn't imagined Singapore has jungle tracks in there and a hanging bridge that is veeeeeeerrrrry high, I walk through it! yay. And I got a free treat of 3D movies from them too last night, on Alice in Wonderland and How to train your dragon, both very good movies! Oh and our group is going to celebrate birthdays by dinner!
Physics: The most common activity I do, other than the modules, is to go for tea every Friday. Or every Friday that I'm free. Oh and also momentum, where I'm the co-editor is published and given to all physics majors! yay!
Nam Wah Pai: Taking over my weekends is the Nam Wah Pai, Chinese Kung Fu that is established in Singapore. Saturday 2-5p.m. and Sunday 6-8:30p.m. the Sunday one is for the training for a Competition that I'm joining in the free sparring.
Family: Other than the occasional online contacts, I've kinda alone (ok with friends) here, and (sadly or not) not ever homesick in the whole of 2 years here. I've visited a lot of relatives here and heavily make use of my uncle's hospitality during one of the holidays. And I kinda look forward to cousin reunion. Dunno when.....
And of course
Blogger: I've spend some considerable amount of time in Blogging. kinda. Just check out this blog.......
Bookworm: Avid book reading fan would be a nicer way to put it. I read fiction, non-fiction, many stuffs, as long as I'm a NUS student, I should make use of the library services. Currently reading: Shadows of the Mind by Roger Penrose.
Roommate: As a roommate, I really talk little with my roommate. I go to room for these functions: sleep, meditate, put my stuffs, prepare to shower, read and wash clothes. Currently sleeping time: 10pm-8am..... quite long.
Malaysian: Just the occasional joining in MSL activities. Most of the people I initially know from there are in SPS anyway... so not much point going there anymore. Malaysian... kinda prevents me from taking A*Star's extremely nice scholarship (that requires one to eventually become a Singaporean). Also prevents me from joining in Rovers and ODAC cause a lot of their activities are in Malaysia, Singapore price. Long time didn't sing the Negaraku already... compared to the weekly (or daily in Malacca High) singing back in school. Anything I spend here, I rarely convert it to Malaysian Ringgit in my mind too. Just kinda glad I'm in Singapore.
USP-ian: As a USP person, I rarely go to the place called Chatterbox, however, I do take their modules (Current module: Understanding Irony) and also gone to a trip called Buddhism in Asia: Thailand and Taiwan with them. Joining in their Freshmen Orientation Project, as a Group Leader.
SPS-ian: I'm more of a SPSian, more than anything else. In terms of putting my laptop in SPS all the time and spending most of my time there, and most of my closest friends are there. (oh sorry here, I'm in the room now). I'm becoming a Junior Mentor here, and it's going to be nicer and nicer.
Geek: My definition of geek here is someone who likes superheroes, comic books, manga, seeing cartoons, and doing... you know dorky stuffs. Ok, my geekiness has been confined to Big Bang Theory, Wizards of Wavery Place and OnePiece, three 20minutes per week, but not every week. Oh and gaming, don't forget gaming. I've deleted most of my computer video games already and recently am playing board games, Dominion, Through the Ages, Cash and Guns, Agricola, and various others....... so cooolllll games that USP and Boardgame Interest group has, ussually on Tuesdays night.
Stressed out person: Not so much at all. I've been trying to live a stress free life for these few weeks, and I think by the long time I didn't blog in March, I'm doing it well.
NUSBSMC: Been doing the job... quite well I think, there're ups and downs in this job. Currently, down. Even if the jobs are done well, and there're just a few more left, I'm kinda dreading having to do it all over again next year.......
Medical Dharma Circle: I've been joining in this wonderful group of Buddhist which has considerable history behind it and I really enjoy the Monday nights that I'm with them. I've been speaker for the sessions 2 times already so far.
CQT: I've just joined this group of physicist from this semester onwards, for my UROP, still in the process of finding out stuffs and reviewing. I'm taking it wayyy to slow. They are a kind group of people too, we've gone for an outing to a reserviour in Singapore, didn't imagined Singapore has jungle tracks in there and a hanging bridge that is veeeeeeerrrrry high, I walk through it! yay. And I got a free treat of 3D movies from them too last night, on Alice in Wonderland and How to train your dragon, both very good movies! Oh and our group is going to celebrate birthdays by dinner!
Physics: The most common activity I do, other than the modules, is to go for tea every Friday. Or every Friday that I'm free. Oh and also momentum, where I'm the co-editor is published and given to all physics majors! yay!
Nam Wah Pai: Taking over my weekends is the Nam Wah Pai, Chinese Kung Fu that is established in Singapore. Saturday 2-5p.m. and Sunday 6-8:30p.m. the Sunday one is for the training for a Competition that I'm joining in the free sparring.
Family: Other than the occasional online contacts, I've kinda alone (ok with friends) here, and (sadly or not) not ever homesick in the whole of 2 years here. I've visited a lot of relatives here and heavily make use of my uncle's hospitality during one of the holidays. And I kinda look forward to cousin reunion. Dunno when.....
And of course
Blogger: I've spend some considerable amount of time in Blogging. kinda. Just check out this blog.......
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)