in the Loop

Narcissm is in, that is according to Time Asia.

"Some of my female colleagues think it's weird that I use a facial pack once a month and that I moisturize," he (Park Sung Mok) says. "But I've got nothing to be ashamed of."

Yup, this is Asia's new breed of metrosexual men speaking. Vain, sensitive, confident, unashamed and ultimately, beautiful. Afterall you have to be pretty (pun intended) sure of yourself to carry off "a bright purple blazer over a psychedelic floral shirt offset by lime green pants." Lime green pants!! For goodness sake, I cannot fathom how any sane person could walk out the house wearing that, let alone a man!

By the way, Clinique's 3 words of wisdow has been updated. It's no longer cleanse, tone & moisturise. Instead, the general rule for skincare these days is cleanse, exfoliate & hydrate which I whole heartedly agree. The importance of exfoliating should not be forgotten and I can attest to the benefits. BTW, I know of a great exfoliating facial wash as well as a moisturiser from Biotherm. More amazing than a miracle, lol. Just look at me, god damn it!

Ahem, on second thought, I retract that statement. Some of us are born beautiful, like mua *flips imaginary hair*

BTW, the guy on the cover looks freakly. Eyeliner and mascara is a little pushing it. Reminds me of Hephaestion (Jared Leto) of Alexander, and let's face it, we'd all rather forget the movie.

Direct link here. It's a long one though.

Posted by loopy at 12:31 pm | Permalink | Comments

The Times Higher Education Supplement has recently released their World's Top 200 Universities.

Here's the top 10.

1. Harvard U (US)
   
2. MIT (US)
   
3. Cambridge (UK)
   
4. Oxford (UK)
   
5. Stanford (US)
   
6. UC, Berkeley (US)
   
7. Yale (US)
   
8. Caltech (US)
   
9. Princetown (US)
   
10. Ecole Polytechnique (France)
    

Now, this is the fun part. UM has dropped from number 89 from last year to place 169 this year. I wonder how their PR department will react to that. Oh, then again, I probably know what they'll do. Just like what every organisation affliated with the goverment, they trumpet every tiny achievement but shy away from the limelight when things go wrong. Also, USM is out of the list this year. My 'beloved' uni is also not on the list, no surprise there.

Some worthy mentions - either I know people studying there or I just have a good feeling bout the uni - are :

14. Cornell
15. Beijing U (highlest Asian uni on the list)
16. Tokyo U
17. University of Chicago
19. Melbourne U (highest Aussie uni on the list)
20. Columbia U
22. NUS
33. Monash U
38. Sydney U
46. Northwestern U
48. NTU (up 2 spots from 50 last year *sigh*)
82. RMIT (down from no 55 last year)
97. Nottingham U (from 170 last year)
121. Chulalongkorn U (yes, even Thailand did better than us)
143. Sheffield U
169. UM

The online version will only be released Monday but I happened to be able to download a pdf copy of the file from Jeff Ooi's Screenshots. I strongly encourage you to read his entry, and the comments from the public. Puts things into perspective. Personally, I like this comment.

Posted by loopy at 7:35 pm | Permalink | Comments

Just yesterday I was talking about how crime is on the rise and that I can't help but feel unsafe in today's society.

Guess what? No, I did not see another snatching incident again *touch wood*. Instead I found this quote from Rosa Parks.

"Despite the violence and crime in our society, we should not let fear overwhelm us. We must remain strong."

I guess I just needed to hear from someone else. If we give in to fear, well, life wouldn't be worth living anymore right. We only live once. Should always make the most out of it.

Stumbled upon Rosa Parks in a Time photoessay and did some research on her, which is how I came across that quote. I'm a firm believer of holistic education, we should never limit ourselves to learn only in the classroom. Sometimes it's so much more fulfilling to fuel your own curiosity and find out things for yourself.

Posted by loopy at 7:08 pm | Permalink | Comments

What are the chances that one would witness multiple acts of crime (different perpetrator) within a span of a few months?
Apparently, quite high.

During the past few month since I've began this new (shall refrain from calling it what it is, sucky) phase of my life, I've witnessed a total of 3. Talk about a series of unfortunate events.

The first happened while exiting the train at MV station (which I go quite often due to the proximity of the mall to my very humble abode). As I was elbowing squeezing my way out, I noticed this dude (who was walking into the train) slipping a mobile phone (or cellphone/handphone, whichever rocks your boat) under his shirt, then hastily made a 180 and ran up the stairs. I stood there dumbfounded, and it took me 2 seconds to realise it. Looking back into the train, I spotted the guy who was right in front of the dude. The poor soul looked aloof, oblivious to his unfavourable luck.


It was downtown where the second event occured. Was walking to Low Yat Plaza when suddenly - "Ahhhhhhh", a yelp came from behind. Turning around, I saw a motorcycle speeding towards me and jumped out of the way just in time. Apparently, someone's handbag was snatched.

The most recent one happened just a few days ago. There I was, lazing on the couch watching tv, doing what I do best. I dunno what made me look, but through the front door, I saw this guy walking by. Then this thug came up from behind him and gave him a hard shove. Then he (the thug) ran and hopped onto the awaiting motorcycle of an accomplice. The poor guy gave screamed at him and gave chase but alas, the duo escaped. I later found out (when the neighbours came out to see what the commotion was about) that his phone was taken.

These few experiences have really disturbed me. Each crime is more violent than the last. These days I really think twice before a walk down a lonely road and when I actually do, I look left right up down and in every imaginable direction. Sigh, what have the world come to? I'd like to think that inherently people are kind and honest but the reality surrounding me has made another statement.

PS. Updated the post in response to eratter's question. Sorry for leaving out such an important detail, hehe. Guess my story telling skills aren't that great afterall.

Posted by loopy at 5:43 pm | Permalink | Comments

Basically this is what the industry people call a soft launch. It's up and operational yet incomplete (reference to BSB's single unintended). Save the confetti and party hat for later k. I'll throw an official launch party once I'm satisfied with the overall layout and design of the site. Till then, I will write new posts here. Time to change ur bookmarks and to those who have yet to do so, I insist you do that now, yes NOW.

PS. Thanks to Lucas for helping me set-up the site although I am very much capable of doing it myself. As he puts it, I'm too lazy to get anything done, haha.

Posted by loopy at 12:47 am | Permalink | Comments

Guys, time to tell me what you guys think of this. Well, it's a simple design and a little too gloomy for my liking. Haven't exactly had time to tweak it, afterall it's my study break (even though I've not been doing some actual studying).

Tink this is a good start?? Obviously I fully intend to improve the layout in the future.

I'd like to know what everyone thinks. Should I just stick to blogcity? Or will this be a step towards the ultimate blog? I want to hear from you!

Posted by loopy at 12:35 am | Permalink | Comments