The other case is Zbyszko v. New York American Inc. (1930) 2239 N.Y.S. 411 . A newspaper published a photograph of a particularly repulsive gorilla. Next to it appeared a photograph of the plaintiff above the caption: “ Stanislaus Zbyszko, the Wrestler: Not Fundamentally Different from the Gorilla in Physique.” The statement of claim alleged that this had caused the plaintiff to be shunned and avoided by his wife (who presumably had not noticed her husband's physique until it was pointed out to her by the newspaper), his relatives, neighbours, friends and business associates, and had injured him in his professional calling. The New York Court of Appeals held that the caption was capable of being defamatory. The case was presumably cited to us as persuasive authority. I find it singularly unpersuasive except as a demonstration of the lengths of absurdity to which an enthusiastic New York lawyer will go in pleading his case

Millet LJ in Berkoff v Burchill

Icarus

The guy who flew too close to the Sun, and died when the Sun melted the glue that held his makeshift wings together.

We can fight all we want sometimes, but you can't fight fate.

Still, I want to fight, because I can't bear to live my life on auto pilot.

Drive

What I really want to do is be able to drive a great car on a nice summer's day along the countryside roads of UK, without a care in the world and just admiring the scenery.

23 years old

When you get older, things seem far less attractive. When you were 18 you wanted to club, join those gyrating bodies on that dance floor and get high on hard liquor. Now you think of zouk and shudder of the thought of those nubile young people who look suspiciously underage and those NSFs who throng the club in hopes of chatting up (if possible, given the loud music) some girls.

At 23, I don't feel that I'm old in a sense that I can't do all these stuff, nor do I mean it in a cynical way. It just seems that, when you get to the age when your female peers are all working, you're entering your final year of formal education, when you meet with your friends you talk about internships and work and other stuff you heard your older siblings talk about with their friends. (not that i have any older siblings)

When we had our 10 year gathering, we planned it way ahead to ensure everyone could attend, and barring from fabian we succeeded. It's unlike those times in army, where an sms would bring about a quick positive response. A last minute call for anyone who wanted to watch GI Joe only yielded ed.

Yet some things don't change and I don't want them to. That night we had dinner at a tze char place which we shared 9 plates of food. Then we went to pomo (the newly renamed paradiz) and played CS for the first time in ages. The graphics look really jaded. Then we went to my place and played mafia with 10 people, a real crazy night.

As I grow older, I cherish my friends more. They have seen me through my awkward secondary school/JC years, made the time in army less harsh and make a return to Singapore all the more welcoming.

To all my friends, be it those who are from my university, army, JC, secondary school, scouts or japanese class, it has been a blast to hang out with you guys again.

Strange, normally I'm rather cavalier about going back to London, but as the date comes again, I feel a sense of loss, like there's a lot of unfinished business here. But I know, I'll be back, and I'll carry out all that I planned eventually.

For this new academic year, I feel a new sense of purpose, a sense of me wanting to be even better. It feels like the time for me to shed the bad parts of me and focus on being a better person.

But words alone don't do anything. I shall show it.

One of the things I shall do more is blog. So those who actually bother to read my blog, I'm back.

From How I Met Your Mother:

The steps normal people go through before saying "I love you".

The moment when you think you think it.

The moment you think you know it

The moment you know you know it, but can't yet say it

And finally, the moment you know you know it, and can't keep it in you any longer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTWmMCliPsU&feature=related

Sweet Memories
by Seiko Matsuda, Olivia Ong

なつかしい
痛みだわ
ずっと前に
忘れていた
でもあなたを見たとき
時間だけ
後もどりしたの
幸福？と聞かない
で うそをつくのは上手じゃない
友だちならいるけど
あんなには燃えあがれなくて
失った夢だけが　
美しく見えるのは何故かしら
過ぎ去った
優しさも今は
甘い記憶
sweet memories

Don't kiss me baby
we can never be
So don't add more pain
Please don't hurt me again
I have spent so many nights
Thinking of you longing for your touch
I have once loved you so much

あの頃は
若過ぎて いたずらに
傷つけあった二人
色褪せた
哀しみも今は
遠い記憶
sweet memories

The song that is stuck in my head now. I guess it fits the type of song i like, the piano solo, the haunting voice and most of all it was released in 1983 by an old renowned singer.

'Uni can wait, I'm taking a gap year'

More youth taking time off to volunteer, travel or gain work experience

By Alessa Pang & Rachel Au-Yong

WHILE her peers fret about which university to choose or which orientation camps to go for, Miss Tiffany Liew, 18, is thinking about writing up menus and picking out pots and pans.

Having scored 3 As in last year's A-level exams, the former Raffles Junior College student will put off her pursuit of a degree to start her own food and beverage stall and gain some work experience.

'I know it's not the conventional route, but it'll be good exposure especially since I'm going down the business route,' said the business-major hopeful.

She is negotiating for the operational rights of a local delicacy stall, and hopes to set up shop in VivoCity or Ion Orchard. She has taken a loan of $100,000 from her businessman father. 'I know it's a lot of money, but with his guidance and some luck, I hope and intend to repay him with interest,' she said.

Miss Liew is one of a small but growing number of youth who are taking a gap year before university - a practice slow to catch on among Singaporeans, who are known to prize the pursuit of education.

For some among this small group - particularly those whose parents are able to support them financially - a gap year is a way to have a break, gain some work experience, or do volunteer work.

No one keeps track of how many youth take a gap year here, but the National University of Singapore (NUS) said about 250 students are granted leave of absence for academic or personal reasons each year, excluding those who have to complete their national service. NUS has an average annual intake of about 6,250.

At the Nanyang Technological University, 'less than a handful' of its annual cohort of about 5,050 request a gap year.

The Singapore Management University does not keep track of such students because potential students who wish to take a gap year are advised to apply in the year they are ready to start.

The United World College campus here has a gap-year programme for its graduating students which links them to volunteering stints in neighbouring countries that usually last several months.

Singaporean students, though, have to chart the road less travelled themselves.

Miss Natalya Twohill, 22, decided to take a gap year after her studies at Ngee Ann Polytechnic. After getting a diploma in mass communications in 2006, she did not rush off her university applications.

Instead, she set up the Singapore branch of the United Nations Youth Association - which has now grown to 450 members and volunteers. The group discusses world issues, much like the ones world leaders do in the UN headquarters.

Miss Twohill was selected to attend the Global Leaders' Youth Summit in New York, where she visited the UN. She also visited a refugee camp in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The NUS political science major said: 'It wasn't always easy, but my gap year gave me the assurance I needed that serving the community was really my passion in life.'

But more often than not, students take a year off simply to give themselves a break from the education system.

Miss Claire Oei, 20, said: 'I was tired of studying so hard continuously for the last 12 years. I wanted to be able to do things I want to do at my own pace.'

She spent a year working at an events management company and travelling around Asia and Australia while doing volunteer work. Miss Oei paid for most of her trips, with her parents chipping in.

Then there are those who do not want to be bogged down by the hassle of applying to an overseas university while studying for exams.

Miss Sarah Tang, 19, finished her International Baccalaureate last year but is going to apply for a place in the Wharton Business School only this year. 'I didn't want to have to deal with my examination and applications at the same time.' said the former Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) student. Meanwhile, she took up a sales job in clothes retailer Hermes and started her own stock portfolio.

Miss Grace Teng, 20, also decided to take a year off after completing her studies in 2007. The aspiring film-maker spent a year buffing up her portfolio for her application to the famed New York University's Tisch School of the Arts for film and television studies.

Armed with a strong portfolio, she got a place in her dream school. 'There was no way I would have got in if I had applied in 2007 because my portfolio would not have been strong enough,' she said.

Taking a gap year is no easy decision.

Most, like Miss Connie Tan, 19, are worried about losing a year. 'I'm afraid I would end up wasting time. It may also be even more competitive if I were to apply for admission next year.'

Miss Lim Hui Meen, 19, decided it was too 'risky' and did not want to 'sap any more of my parents' retirement funds'.

Others said they did not want to be 'separated' from their friends from junior college or secondary school.

Most who have done the gap year said they would not have been able to do it without their parents' support or approval, at least.

Mrs Wendy Yeap, whose daughter Cassandra, 20, took a year off to gain working experience, said: 'I watched Cassandra become much more confident about herself and she is now very clear about what she wants to pursue.'

What I found interesting about this article by our national daily is that, there is not one guy who was interviewed or referenced. I find this detail severely lacking, because I think any critical and analytical person who reads this article can spot that fatal flaw in the article. To have not noticed this before it went to publication is surprising to say the least, you would think a newspaper would try to give the most unbiased account possible.

Maybe they didn't write about guys, because, let me make a few wild guesses, have to do NS, thus taking up 2 years of their lives and hence would be less likely to take gap year as they are already behind their female peers as it is.

To take a gap year is not an easy decision, and there are many reasons why people do so. I just hope our national daily can be more vigilant in their reporting and not leave out an important and crucial perspective when writing an article.

Seeing it for ourselves

I RECENTLY bumped into an old friend who had just completed his degree in the United States.

He was due to return here to serve his scholarship with a local statutory board. However, his time overseas had exposed him to a plethora of alternative career options he never even knew existed. Too good to pass up, he found, was the rare opportunity to work in Tokyo as a computer science researcher.

Hence, he made the bold decision to terminate the scholarship and pay off the bond, heading instead to Tokyo for better pay and prospects.

Having lived in Singapore for most of my life, his cosmopolitan experience was indeed inspiring. His words to me were: 'If you never venture out, you'll never know what you're missing.'

While Singapore strives to be a hub for everything, our lack of natural and spatial resources will inevitably constrain us. Our tiny shores are not enough for some of us to fulfil our greater aspirations, be it in academic life or the arts.

We will never know if the grass is really greener on the other side until we go there and see it for ourselves.

Chew Zhi Wen, 21, has completed his first year in law at NUS.

Home ground is best

WHENEVER I tell friends I have never travelled in a plane, they usually react with disbelief. 'How can that be,' they stutter. 'Surely you must have gone overseas at some point in your life!'

Well, I've only been to Malaysia, but it's not because I'm afraid of flying or I can't afford a ticket; it's just that I've never felt the need to fly overseas for holidays.

Through television and the Internet, I'm fully aware that there's a host of experiences around the world that I've been missing out on.

Yet Singapore - this sparkling city of perfectly spaced trees, with rubbish bins around every corner - exerts a magnetic pull of familiarity that I cannot shrug off.

There is a comforting sense of security here, with a top-notch police force and professional armed forces. Law and order may not seem like a big deal until you find yourself in the middle of a riot.

There is also no compelling need to head overseas for studies: We have world-class universities here, and my primary academic interest is South- east Asian society. Besides, I can always go on short-term exchanges if I am really bitten by the travel bug.

For now, it is fine to stay.

Ow Yeong Wai Kit, 20, has a place to read arts and social sciences at NUS.

Everyone knows one or two of them. You know, the bond breaker. I remember there was this whole campaign back when I was still in secondary school vilifying them, so much so i had write a bao zhang bao dao on them. There were talks of publishing their names in the news to "shame" them. But now it seems that people take it as par for the course. Which is good as well.

Even when I wrote those essays back in sec2 condemning those evil bond breakers who because of the fact they can't honour a contract will end up to be adulterers and fraudsters because of their past record of not keeping their word, i never really bought into that idea. And now that I'm overseas, I don;t really blame people from breaking their bonds once they see how things are different when they go overseas.

The second writer seems a tad too self righteous about him not travelling. But nevertheless, he appreciates my home for what it is, its safety and greenery and etc. I think the world is made up of different people, and everyone has different ways of looking at things. But in this case, I espouse the mantra of the first letter, that you need to go out to appreciate what you left behind. And right now, after spending 2 years in London, I have learnt to appreciate it and it has become my second home of sorts, but one's soul still hankers for home.

All Hail Me

I hate to sound pretentious, but I do think now that I am the real life equivalent of Lelouch Vi Britainia.

If You Don't Wanna Love Me
James Morrison

When you lower me down
So deep that I, I can't get out
And when you're lost, lost and alone
Yes you'd think it was the last place
You'd come back for more

If you don't want me to leave
Then don't push me away
Rather blow out the lights
You can watch it all fade

But I'm going nowhere
I'm gonna stay
When you just wanna fight
When you're closing your eyes
'Cause you don't wanna love me

I'm gonna stay
You can't push me to far
There's no space in my heart
Where I don't wanna love you

And when there's no stone
Then how can I feel the corn
If there's nothing, nothing, nothing left to lose
Then what is this feeling
That keeps on bringing me back to you

So I'm gonna stay
When you just wanna fight
And you're closing your eyes
'Cause you don't wanna love me

So I'm gonna stay, yes I will
You can't push me too far
There's no space in my heart
Where I don't wanna love you

And if you ask me to leave
And I walked away
We'd still be alone
And we'd still be afraid
I'm going nowhere
I'm going nowhere

'Cause I'm gonna stay
When you just wanna fight
And there's tears in your eyes
'Cause you don't wanna love me

I'm gonna stay
All the tears that I've cried
I could leave them to dry
If you don't wanna love me
Could leave them to dry
If you don't wanna love me

Reborn

It's been ages since I blogged here frequently, and since the exam madness is getting to me I decided to hit the keyboard again to share my thoughts with the cyber world.
Can't believe that this blog was created way back when I was 17, 6 years ago. I must get down to saving all the entries before Blogger goes kaput.
It's been a trying time for me these few weeks, but am still hanging on there. What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, so I want to recreate myself and be a better person.
Humans are really pitiful sometimes. We strive to change things in our life, but we know ultimately it is futile. There are things you can try as much as you want but you can't change.
But that shouldn't stop you from trying.
Which is what I'll do.

Change

Down this lonely road of change I must take.

For although it hurts, it hurts for the other more.

What is now past can not be regained,

But rather a new path is to be carved.

Paroxysms

Left clavicle muscle. Right thigh muscle. Heart.

Pain.

Revive Revival

Never thought I'll start writing here again, but I guess life has its way of making things go full circle.
Oh well, quit whining, apps, hasting bass essay, fiduciary duties tutorial, hire of the coach bus, come up with qns await me.
I always said a happy person does not blog.
Well, as of now, I'm not feeling happy.