Spring!

The cold winter just pass by so quickly and 3 months had gone so fast without me even noticing.

Today is the 1st day of Spring. Just left 2 months and I will be back in Malaysia, but before that I still need to sit for my Final Exams. Now I just try my best to score as high as possible, so I planned to stay back at Uni's library after everyday class.

Finally I have the chance to update my blog. Last week had been a Busy Week for me. Last Monday, we had our Biology Lab Session and we need to dissect Sheep's Brain & Kidney.

Cross section of Sheep's Kidney

Cross section of Sheep's Brain

I had my Seminar Presentation last Thursday and my topic is "Is Television Viewing Beneficial for Children?". This is my script:

The significant improvement of technology has a great impact in the field of Media and it can be clearly seen from the evolution of mass media. Even though mediums like the internet now provide instant access to information, there is still a minority who do not have access to such facilities, however it is easier for them to gain access to a television, ensuring that television remains the greatest potential propaganda machine in the world. I would like to ask everyone seated here, who hasn’t watch TV before? Everyone has, isn’t that right? Television can be considered as one of the most important inventions of last century. It has a global existence. In fact it can be considered as the prime factor that has given rise to globalization. However an issue has been logged & the debate is still ongoing which is “Is television viewing beneficial for children”. We are going to look into at both the advantages and the disadvantages of television viewing for children.

There are few ways that TV viewings can benefits children, first by watching television children can obtain the latest news and information what is happening all around the world. By knowing the latest information can ensure that children have a good general knowledge of the world. Besides, television viewing is a powerful tool for teaching and learning for children. This could be seen from a research which was conducted by the Computer Technology Research (CTR), they reported that people retain only 20% of what they seen and 30% of what they hear. But they remember 50% of what they see and hear, and as much as 80% of what they see, hear and do simultaneously. So children can learn and memorize more things by watching TV compare to reading books.

Furthermore, television viewing can broaden children’s knowledge and they can gain knowledge that can’t be learn from books. For example, some TV channels such as Discovery channel, National geography and Animal planets, can offer children a chance to explore places, see nearly extinct animals and much more on what they can’t see/do in a lifetime. In the book title “Children and Television: A Global Perspective” by Dafnah Lemish, Lemish believed that television has the potential in closing the educational gaps in between two different life classes & it could minimize negative cultural stereotypes. For example, In the Middle East, there are two version of Sesame Street: the Hebrew Rechov Sumsum and the Arabic Shara’a Simsim. These shows represented the “two-states solution of nations destined to live as neighbours and with two sets of characters speaking in two languages”. Moreover, TV provides an unlimited source of information and it is convenient as it is just in your lounge. Television viewing can expose children to different culture and help in the building of characteristics & skills such as analytical skills as they can discuss and share their opinions for certain issue with people.

Even though TV programs have a good side, often there will be negativity as well. Let us discuss about the disadvantages of TV viewing. Although TV viewing helps children in the building of characteristics, it may also give inappropriate influences and impact on the children’s point of view. Young children may assume that what is being broadcasted on the TV is always true, safe and acceptable. Although useful information can be gain from TV, some information may be incorrect and children often can’t differentiate from right or wrong. TV violence has been a prevalence issue which has been raised all over the world. According to Mary L. Gavin which is a medical editor from Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Gavin stated that an average American child will witness 200,000 violence acts on TV by the age of 18. TV violence is also being blame for the increasing of the crime rate as studies found out that children imitated televised violence behavior broadcast on TV and they give bring what is called as copycat crime from TV to reality. Along with it, TV programs often also give wrong impression and labeled these risky behaviors such as drinking alcohol, smoking, doing drugs and premarital sex as “Cool / Fun”. A study from the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) shows that youth expose to alcohol ads on TV had increased by 30% from 2001 to 2006.

Apart from that, television viewing may also cause addiction in children. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), children and teens 8 to 18 years spend nearly 4 hours a day in front of a TV screen. Addiction to television watching is a waste of time and this may lead to poor academic performance. Besides that, an anti-social behavior may also be constructed if the habit is serious. In addition, TV viewing in children is more likely to link to health problems such as obesity and high blood pressure. High blood pressure is caused due to the lack of movement and because most of the time people just lie on the couch. People who suffer from high blood pressure are more likely to be obesity. TV snacks are another additional factor because most TV snacks such as chips are salty and salt will increase the blood pressure readings. Furthermore, long hours of TV viewing are bad for children’s eyesight. Children’s eyesight can be affected by the factors such as the distance of the TV, the durations of watching and the light intensity.

In the conclusion, there are both positive and negative outcome for children to watch TV, however I believed that watching TV is good for children but with a limited time. Children shouldn't waste too much of time on watching TV, they should manage their time well, as the children stage is best period to learn something new. Furthermore, involvement in sports and co curricular activities can aid in the building of a healthy body and mind of a children. Likewise, parents should be a role model for their children and bring out good TV viewing habits like watching TV together and share their opinions and values about what they had seen. This can give an opportunity for children to learn what is good or bad.

I got an A for the Presentation : )

Last week, I watched :

1) G.I Joe

Actually I watched G.I Joe the week before, it is Purely an ACTION movie. Enjoyed the Visual Effect. Looking forward for the next episode.

2) Overheard

Overheard is indeed a very good movie, love the plot but the ending of the movie is simply too sad. Besides, I had learnt from the movie that lie is like a snowball. When we used others lies to cover it, it will start going down the slope, eventually it will become bigger & bigger and we need more lies to cover it. Sometimes even though the truth is hard to be tell, it's better not to tell lies so that anyone wont get hurt including ourself.

Yesterday was Malaysia 52nd National Day, me and Seumas went to Sinma Laksa House (a S'pore+M'sian Restaurant) to "celebrate" after our Chemistry Lab Night Session. I ordered a Nasi Lemak and it taste good + the price is reasonable, I defenitely will go back to try other foods.

Seumas TEH with his TEH tarik.

*LAME*, Seumas. He insisted me to say so =V=!

My Nasi Lemak!

I found some videos from 15Malaysia. 15Malaysia is a short film project which consists of 15 short films made by 15 Malaysian filmmakers. All of the 15 videos are purely Buatan Malaysia XP & I enjoyed watching them.

1) Potong Saga

2) Chocolate

Yasmin Ahmad's last creation - Chocolate

3) Halal

I Love this very much, I just can't stop laughing when I'm watching this.

Btw, my mum is coming this Sunday *WooHOo*, looking forward to see her : )

A Time To Share~

Sorry guys for not updating recently, Semester 2's classes have been so packed and we have tons of homework to do. I'm think I will have less chance to update because I want to catch up with my studies. Now it's Semester 2 & it needs to be a Painful Semester so that I can achieve the requirement GPA to enter Medical Science *No Pain, No Gain!*. This week I'm busy preparing for my seminar presentation which I will going to present next week & my title is "Is television viewing beneficial for children?". Oh Man! I'm the 1st to present in front of my class. So wish me luck guys. *Finger crossing*

My friend has shared a video on Facebook & I would like to share with you guys too. Hope this video can teach us to be more appreciate with what we have and don't just complain with what we didn't have... Had a rough day? Feel like giving up? Fallen down and can't get up? Why even a person without any limbs can get back up but we can't? Think again! The answer lies within ourselves, either we want or not.

Indeed, he is a small man with BIG HEART!

My cousin made these videos few weeks ago, these pictures of the video are all from some OLD album. All those photos are SERIOUSLY such a long time ago. During that time, I think I'm just in kindy/Primary 1. Watching this video, let me recall all the good memories with my brothers,sisters and cousins while we are staying at KL and yes, it's seems like just yesterday. Sometimes I just hope if only I can turn back the time.

My Popo, Mum and Me

I miss you, Popo.

The Things We Do For Love ~ ♥

Today I just done my English Summary Presentation, the title for the article is "The Things We Do For Love". Although I tend to stutter for some times, I still made it to the finish line XD and I think it went quite smoothly. A very BIG Thank You to my sis and friends for helping me out with the preparation for my presentation, I couldn't done it without you guys. You guys ROCK! =P

The main purpose of the article is The attitude of both gender towards Romance. This is my 3 main points:

1) How women define romance

2) How men define romance

3) Advice for men

Following is my summary presentaion :-

Who doesn’t have dreams? Everyone that sitting here have their own dreams, either you have reached your goal or still chasing after it. Women are no exception, they have their own dream too, and for some of them getting married to the ideal man and live a prosperous life is one of their dreams. In this article, Souter stated that for most women, romance is one of the essential factors that they need in their life. This can be seen, during Valentine’s Day, a girl who gets a gift is seen as more superior and is envied by every other girl. Simone de Beauvoir claimed that many women who longs to be happy assumes that she must be loved, and to be loved, she must await love’s coming. This idea was already embedded in them since young through cartoons. Women want romance to continue in their life without losing its spark due to her believes that this can improve her relationship with her partner. They like their partners to do something out of their comfort zone such as romantic walks and cuddling time. Besides that, commitment is also a very important factor for them. We shall move on to the 2^nd point, how men define romance.

Most men are seen in the article as suggested by Souter as not romantic enough. Some of them see romance as a work that never ends due to the commitment and desires of women that they find hard to statisfyl. However, different men have different interpretation about romance. One man may think that a moment of silence will be a romantic gesture while another guy thinks that having sex is something romantic. Souter suggested that why men find it difficult to be romantic is because they don’t know why certain things will delight women. In addition, fear is another factor why men are not romantic. Firstly, the fear or rejection after doing something that seemed romantic to him. Secondly, his partner finds it suspicious when he is romantic and lastly it attracted undesired responses. Men tend to lose confidence and give up on being romantic. This lead us to the 3^rd point, advice for men.

Now here are some tips for men, Sharing and Listening are very important components to maintain a good relationship. Men should often share his thoughts and listen to their partner because women appreciates when their partners are honest especially when it comes to feelings and they liked to be listened to, as this is a sign that they are taken seriously. Moreover, men should show his effort in improving his relationship with his partner and utilize some element of surprise. The unexpected romantic gestures turn out to be thoughtful for a woman. Besides, by reading the book “Living Romantically Every Day” by Barbara Taylor Bradford will also be a good assistance. This book has a rose-print cover and contains pretty pictures which do not appeal to a man. However if he dares to read it, better yet, in public, it shows that he is making some effort and he is stepping out of his comfort zone. Souter suggested few ways that men can try to fulfill women’s wishes: First, Men can take more photos and make it into a scrapbook so that both them can look back at the moment. Second, Men can do something special for his partner. Third, Men could create a list of special days so that he and his partner can celebrate together.

For the conclusion, I believe that there is no specific definition for romance. Romance can be a big production or a little moment. Both men and women should compromise. Women should not being too picky nor expect too much and be more appreciative while men should not be overwhelmed by ego and be more courageous when they are seeking for their true love.

By the way, I got an A for my presentation! *Yay For Me*XD