Around the World in One Night – KEVIIans Day, 2012

Written by Ng Wee Yang

Edited by Celine Yeap

KEVIIans day, the event that all KEVIIans had been waiting for took place on the 8^th of March. The even began at 9 pm. KEVIIans day is a time in which we, KEVIIans, celebrate and appreciate the contributions of each and every KEVIIan to hall, no matter what activities they are involved in. This year’s theme for KEVIIan’s Day was “Around the World in 1 Night”, a concept borrowed from the well known movie “Around the World in 80 Days”. Following the theme, the communal hall was decked out in decorations of national flags, cut-out aeroplanes and even clouds to depict the multi-cultural and multi-ethnicity of this year’s theme.

Welcome to KEVIIans Day 2012!

When I arrived at the communal hall at 9m, I was greeted warmly and handed a red “passport”. Apparently, the condition was that one had to play certain games to gain a “stamp” to be used as a token to some of the mouth-watering food that was on display. Talking about food (where do I even start?!) there was a sumptuous spread of delicacies from different continents and countries. To mention a few –  there was pasta and Pizza bread on offer at the Italian counter, a mixed fruit salad with yoghurt, chicken stew and garlic bread (on offer at the Western corner) and my personal favourite, Iranian Kebab. The iconic Taiwanes milk tea, complete with tapioca pearls and sparkling ribena cordial was there to quench our thirst.

Food from many different countries was up for grabs!

No doubt, one of the many highlights of KEVIIans day were the station games. With ridiculous and questionable names, we had games such as flippity flip, kegelspiel, simisutra, marble rush and oolong rabbit. Being slightly less adventurous, I decided to participate in “Flippity Flop”, an old-school eraser game in which the objective was to flip your eraser on top of  that of your opponents’. I daresay, as simple as it sounds, it was not as easy as I thought (though eventually I did win the game)! The next game that I tried was “Kegelspiel”, a game modelled after the sport we all know as bowling. The twist to this – instead of bowling pins, water bottles were used and the bowling ball was replaced by either sandals or pillow. This was a game that required an adequate amount of force used to launch your sandal or pillow. Next up, I played “Marble Rush”, a game involving the use of chopsticks to transfer marbles into your opponent’s bowl. The one with the most marbles at the end of one minute loses. Contrary to what I believed, my chopstick handling skills were not up to par! So if you thought your handling of chopstick was good, you should have tried out this game and be the judge for yourself!

Kegelspiel, bowling with objects you never knew you could bowl with!

The next strangely-titled game I played was called “Oolong Rabbit”. The concept fitting to this year’s theme  was based on language translation. Languages such as Japanese, Korean, Latin and French were featured. The objective was to translate as many languages in a single sentence – highly amusing, I would say, for a native speaker. Another game, called the “War Game” featured shooting your opponent’s toy soldiers with nothing more than a rubber band and a small paper ball.

Shoot your opponent's toy soldiers with nothing more than a rubber band and a small paper ball.

The ultimate highlight of the night were two stage games – Clothing Maniac and a Hotdog Bun eating competition. These stage games had the whole communal hall in a state of uncontrollable laughter. Needless to say, it was hilarious watching the (sabotaged) volunteers from both wings battle it out. The clothing maniac had east wing girls pitted against west wing girls and the likewise for guys. In the spirit of fun, it was a race between the two teams – seeing who could change into jackets hanging on clothes rack fast enough and complete a circuit whilst being attached to a clothing rack. The mere sight of them moving around in a hanger and in a group was hilarious. The second game was a bun eating competition. Teams players would take turns to eat the hotdog buns filled with the unknown ingredients. From peanut butter to chilli padi, the contents were unimaginable. The fastest team to eat all their hotdog buns would win. In the end, East wing won this competition. Frankly speaking, I salute those involved in the competition, eating full and suspiciously filled buns was no easy task.

Clothing maniac!

With the end of this last game, KEVIIans’ Day ended.  An eventful night it was, and an even more memorable one! Let’s see how next year’s event would upstage this year’s KEVIIans day!

制服最大

Written by: Lim Siew Fen

Edited by: Mao Yinan

今天是这一个学期西翼的第二个宵夜，主题为“Uniform Day”。说起uniform，我们第一个想起的就是学校制服，可是uniform真正的定义为：团体统一着装。消防服，警察制服，运动服都囊括其中。宵夜的筹备前两个礼拜就已经陆陆续续地在进行了，三个block之间的meeting，讨论谁谁谁该负责啥啥啥，每一个committee都被赋予重任，当然其中也少不了block head的衷心建议，什么是在我们能力和预算范围之内的，我们都得到他们很大的帮助。

宣传组搞出了一个宣传影片。如果你有注意，一个五分钟的短片，两个人之间令人喷饭的对话，这样的影片都会在dining time准时出现在dining hall。访问了几个诚实的小孩，他们对这宣传短片的评语只有一个字：“囧！”但是无论如何，影片和海报还是达到了它们的宣传效果，几乎所有西翼的blockers们都知道2011年10月19日晚上9-11时dining hall的西翼宵夜。

食物永远是一个宵夜最基本的元素之一，没有了食物的宵夜，那还叫宵夜吗？所以，食物组的同僚们也不敢怠慢，他们从大处着手，基本上讨论出了该有三个主菜，分别为焗饭，蜂蜜烤鸡，土豆沙拉和沙拉，两道小菜：waffles和香肠，甜品：caramel pudding，饮料：milk shake和最少不了的汽水。接着，同僚们又陆陆续续从各方资源拿到了应该有的食谱。我们崇尚home-made食物，所以基本上所有的食物都是block committee们准备的。我们4个人一辆德士在星期一跑去了西海岸的一间超级市场把所有该买的东西都给买齐了，均匀地分配给各个block之后，我们就等待星期三晚上的宵夜。

宵夜的夜晚有没有显得格外美丽？

当天晚上的主菜得到了很好的反响，加上了香菇，香肠和mozzarella cheese的焗饭烤得很够味道。虽然其中几盘烤得过头了些，但6个大托盘到最后也被大家给扫光了，同时都给予它很高的评价。外卖打包回来的蜜蜂烤鸡也是被大家在短时间内横扫一空。

名不虚传的West wing芝士焗饭

好看还又好吃的烤鸡！

小菜方面，有冰淇淋，奶油花生和巧克力口味的waffles又再一次上场，任君选择。由于是现煮现卖，中途一度出现售罄的情况。对于那些有兴趣的朋友，香肠的准备工作很简单，把冷藏的香肠解冻了之后，切成三段，放进烤炉里烤个十来二十几分钟，大功告成。负责食物的同僚们低估了香肠的魅力。这一次的香肠供不应求，导致后来的blockers们没有机会享受到这份食物。

看起来蠢蠢欲动的香肠

waffles：快来快来，快把我给吃了！

甜品焦糖布丁也很不错，甜中带有一点酸酸的味道，让blockers们得以在繁重的课业压力之余还可以享受到这份难得的甜品。访问得来可以改进的建议：下次或许可以把糖分的数量给减少一点，布丁太甜了！为了配合制服的主题，我们还提供限量60份的奶昔，先到先得。从我搜刮到blockers们的评价，milk shake做得中规中矩，不是很难喝，可也没到给“赞”的地步，还有改进的空间。

限量奶昔

不喜欢奶昔的朋友就猛灌汽水咯！

焦糖布丁

West wing supper在晚上11时左右就很圆满地结束，食物到也几乎清空了。最后的收尾工作，我们把托盘带回自家block的kitchenette，开始另一轮的清理工作。总的来说，每一次的宵夜都没有很完美，都可以有改进的地方。这一次，除了要在食物方面多加着手之外，下次别忘记准备更多的餐具，以免这一次供不应求的场面再度发生。下一次的宵夜是在何时呢？敬请期待！

“I’m a busy man” – an interview with Mitchell Yeo

Written by: Zachary Low

Edited by: Celine Yeap

Our writer takes a trip down to the F block lounge for a chat with the JCRC Financial Secretary and ‘sexy beast’ of KEVII, Mitchell Yeo. A Year 3 Math major, Mitchell also plays squash for KEVII and enjoys running in his free time. Due to his being the Financial Secretary, Mitchell is often seen surrounded by people during dinner, leading him to remark to his friends that ‘I’m a busy man’. Today, we find out what makes this intrepid character tick.

JCRC Financial Secretary and ‘sexy beast’ of KEVII, Mitchell Yeo

Z: Let’s take a trip in the Tardis, back to the year 2010. Whatever made you decide to join the JCRC?

Mitchell: In 2010, the 54^th JCRC President approached me after Orientation. KEWOC was my only CCA then, and I thought I would need a new CCA to continue staying in hall. Moreover, I was confident that if I took up the post of Financial Secretary, I would be able to dispense my duties with due diligence and competence. Also, the people who made up the JCRC were a big part of it.

Z: Do you think it is a tough job?

Mitchell: Initially when I first started, it was difficult. I had to learn the ropes by myself. But routine made it easier over time, and collecting receipts, photocopying, and reimbursing became a habit over time.

Z: And what makes you take up this appointment again, knowing full well the weight of responsibility it entails?

Mitchell: Well, this year I was helping a friend. Also, because of the late formation of the 55^th JCRC, I knew that someone had to step up to fulfil the role. Even if I wasn’t the Financial Secretary, I would still have to coach the new Financial Secretary. It’s also out of a sense of duty – I’m doing it because I know I can do it. That said, we’re looking for an assistant Financial Secretary!

Z: What is the one quality that you think a JCRC member must possess, above all others?

Mitchell: Integrity. Because as a JCRC member you attend hall leaders’ meetings, SCRC meetings… and you know the internal workings of the hall. There are some things you can and cannot say, especially when you’re dealing with sensitive issues like money. People want to know how much budget is allocated to them, and why, and you have to be answerable to them. For me, it’s about making sure every cent goes where it’s meant to go.

Z: Don’t you ever get tired? What keeps you going?

Mitchell: Well, it’s better than studying (laughs). It’s a matter of routine. I like systematic and orderly things like processing receipts. When I’m stuck at tutorials, I work on JCRC stuff, and then I know that I am accomplishing something. After that I go back to my tutorials. But at the same time responsibility is a big part of it. I know what I got myself into, and so I must do it!

Z: What do you think of your nomination as a contestant for DND?

Mitchell: To say I expected it is wrong. Let’s say if this happened when I was still in Year 1 – I would have done it then. I’m not going to take part this year though, have to give the freshmen a chance.

Z: That’s the kind and gracious Mitchell we all grow to know and love. Thanks for your time.

Mitchell: What? But I was just getting into the mood. Ask some more questions!

(This actually happened and can be corroborated by eyewitnesses who were also in the lounge at the time of the interview. The following questions were formed out of spontaneous combustion and were not planned.)

Z: Alright. Recently, the phenomenon of KEVIIans calling you the ‘sexy beast of KE’ has spread to both East and West Wings, and has even intensified. What do you think of people calling you the ‘beast’?

Mitchell: It’s a very interesting nickname, whose origins are lost in the sands of time. Perhaps you could ask the interviewer. The name is growing on me though.

Z: But do you think ‘sexy beast’ fits you?

Mitchell: More of the first part than the second. But ‘beast’ is becoming part of my personality, especially when I go for squash training, or dinner in the dining hall.

Z: I know, I’ve seen that side of you manifest during dinner. As the undisputed beast of KEVII, what is some advice that you would give to freshmen?

Mitchell: Don’t be afraid to try new things. Hall is a place where opportunities are everywhere and new avenues abound. Play a new sport, learn something new from the culture side, go on an overseas trip for CIP, or perform on stage. You might even find your lifelong partner!

Z: Which leads us nicely into our next question: have you met any potential lifelong partners in hall?

Mitchell: (resoundingly) YES!! (laughs) If I said ‘no’, maybe someone would come and look for me. But in all honesty, the special someone has not yet made herself known in my life. (This is followed by disbelieving looks from other members of F Block who are also in the lounge.)

Z: I’m sure with your newfound reputation, you will need to give out queue numbers soon enough. Any last words?

Mitchell: I just want to enjoy my last year in hall, and make more new friends. And I’m always glad to help KE Press raise its profile. Read the hall blog more, everybody.

At this point, Mitchell’s good friend, CK Chiu, was asked to describe Mitchell in one word. CK replied with no hesitation with this adjective:

SEXY.

What else?

The writer would like to thank his friend Mitchell Yeo for being such a good sport and agreeing to the interview, despite the fact that he (Mitchell) had to cut his lunch appointment with two girls short in order to accommodate the interview schedule.

东翼夜宵

Written by Wang Ce

Edited by Mao Yinan

十月十三日，周四，晚九点， KE 的east wing supper 在dining hall举办， 主题是万圣节。

一进dining hall， 借着昏暗的灯光， 隐隐可以看见，四处挂着蜘蛛网， 偶尔还可以看得又大又黑的蜘蛛趴在上面，桌子上帖着夜光棒， 还有画着骷髅的黑色气球， 旁边还洒着淡淡的血迹…..处处可以感到block com营造的恐怖气氛。

大家都换上了奇装异服

扮鬼吓人什么的最有成就感了！

活动第一项， 是猜猜看。由AB CD block 共派出五名同学来扮演性感女郎， 他们通过在白幕后投影表现各自火辣的身材， 来让前台的同学猜他们是谁。当然， 大多数女郎是男生来反串的， 但他们的妩媚让不少女生汗颜。

身材火辣无比呀！

挂上帘子，那就什么姿势都敢摆了！

之后， 便是主题—supper。这次的食物有炸香蕉， 咖喱角， 马来饼，鸡块等。为了配合万圣节的主题， 香蕉取的是手指的大小；咖喱角上也写着不同的红色的汉字如命等。味道都还不错。 这次的饮料是龟苓膏和糖水龙眼。

带血的咖喱角！

见大家都吃好了，主持人从ABCD 各选一人到台上， 将他们的眼睛蒙上。他们被命令将手放入身前的桶中，桶中放着各种奇怪和恶心的东西。随着台上的尖叫， 观众的热情又达到了高潮。

摸摸不明物体，你敢吗？

最后，大家纷纷合影留念。平时都是正襟危坐的，如今有机会看到这样多的奇怪而出格的打扮万万不能错过！

红头发的同学，对，说你呢！专心拍照！

创意无穷欢乐无限的东翼夜宵就这样顺利结束了。多亏了block committee辛勤的奉献，让大家度过了一个美好，愉快又饱饱的夜晚。

感谢辛苦并快乐的block committee为我们准备了如此特殊而美味的夜宵！

E-Block 宵夜——Desert Night

Written by Lim Siew Fen

Edited by Mao Yinan

今天是E-block又一个疯狂的宵夜。数不清到底是多少次了，我看到E-block committees在厨房里“大展身手”，为所有人准备一顿又一顿的宵夜。我很喜欢宵夜；所有人聚在小小的厨房里，你拿我的，我吃你的，就这样把友情给吃出来了。这次的宵夜，名副其实地看看大大的标题，重点就放在甜品，有无数人痴迷的珍珠奶茶，各种口感的wafer，冰淇淋，嚼劲十足的果冻，等等等等。

晚上7时，另一轮的准备工作启动了！

看看这忙碌的启志同学啊

我们把珍珠煮出来，加上奶茶，倒进杯子里。 以前我不知道，现在我知道煮珍珠也是一门大学问，既不能太硬，也不能太软，时间火候得掌握得刚刚好，珍珠才会有它的嚼劲儿！

这锅珍珠给我一种感觉：Particles aren’t moving freely in solid state

九点正，当你听到有人非常大声地喊：E-block Supper! 你就知道宵夜开始了。开始的人潮总是最多的，Year 3 和Year 4为final year projects忙碌的学长们也跑来享受这难得的宵夜。学弟妹们在这个时候是收益最多的，他们很乐意和juniors们分享经验和各自的伟大事迹，从筹办心情溶剂到中文戏剧，从排球讲到足球，再从合唱团讲到武术，他们都曾是各个活动的佼佼者。今年即将毕业的他们决定稍稍隐退江湖，改行当幕后的推手，却还是不忘给新生代一些良心建议和最大的鼓励。

E-block 的supper在KE7 Hall里是出了名的丰富

F-block RF也不忘插上一脚，可见E-block宵夜之“魅力”。

人潮多多

整个宵夜基本上除了食物，还是食物。 一班人马在享受食物的同时，E-block committees们正在忙碌地供应一批又一批的食物，确保每一个人都可以吃到饱地尽兴而归，然后回房继续他们未完的作业。

现场的其中一位block committee还在现场研究起牛顿的万有引力，并做了场即兴表演。他试图把食物抛上天，让食物自由落体。

食物到最后还是进了他的嘴巴里

两个小时的宵夜总是能够让人流连忘返，他们互相畅谈期中考的“考后感”，烦恼接踵而来的繁重课业和一篇又一篇做不完的实验报告。宵夜就是能有这样的魔力，让所有人可以暂时从书堆里逃离出来，享受一下和朋友相聚的时间。

中肯的建议总是block committees们最需要的。每一个宵夜都可以有改进的地方，有批评才会有进步，这是千古不变的名言。访问了几位“身历其境”者，第一反应就是食物很赞！但是没有任何其他的活动，两个小时的宵夜却稍显逊色了一些。下次或许可以来几个小游戏，规模不需要很大，办得温馨才是重点，毕竟这也可以笼络E-blockers之间的感情嘛！

E-block supper就到这里告一段落了，没有什么豪华大型的宵夜，有的只是你我之间弥足珍贵的blockers情。就让我们期待两个礼拜后的West Wing Supper会更精彩吧！

West Wing Supper ICs工作中！

When You Smell a Rat…

Written by: Adrian Chia

Edited by: Celine Yeap

Disclaimer: Viewer discretion is advised. The following article contains some disturbing images of rats.

Recently, a new and unwelcomed resident has been spotted in E Block. This hungry, crafty, furry little beast has been seen lurking around in various places – along the corridors, in the pantries and even in some of the residents’ rooms! It runs on all fours and has the ability to seek out food from miles away. Its latest residential address has been found to be:

Fire Hose Reel, Block E Level 8, KEVII Hall, 1A Kent Ridge Road S119224

Apparently, besides the resident fellows and students, this little creature wants to call KEVII Hall its home too. Perhaps more than just providing it with a shelter, this place has also proven to be a fertile hunting ground where it will never be starved. Just look at this:

Why should it be hungry at all?

Adding to the secret stash of food that almost every resident keeps in his or her room, it is essentially assured of an endless supply of food. Now, let’s hear some recounts from victims of this uninvited guest.

Case 1: Reuben, The Mouse Hunter

The Mouse Hunter with his trap

The greedy vermin took a few munches on his newly-bought NTUC FairPrice Wholemeal Bread.

Not a person who simply lets food go to waste, he was all out to seek revenge. The next day, he got a sticky-glue trap from the office, baited it with bread and left it near the E8 rubbish bin. The next morning when he checked his trap again, voila! The horrible little thief was struggling to free itself from the sticky pool of glue!

Caught you! It was 17cm long excluding its tail!

It was a truly remarkable success – a catch on his first attempt! The secret, according to this victim-turned-hero, lay in the strategic positioning of the bait. He placed small crumbs of bread along the periphery which led to a single large piece of bait in the middle. Obviously, this time the rat was up against a formidable opponent who fully understood its mentality and defeated it hands down.

To all you aspiring mouse-hunters out there, he also offered a valuable insight to his success: hone your skills in the virtual world before trying to catch a real mouse. Check out this Facebook game called MouseHunt, where he is a veteran mouse-hunter. He has caught all sorts of mice with various combinations of traps and baits before. No wonder he was so successful in his first real-life attempt!

Case 2: Nah nah nah nah nah, you cannot catch me

Just as everyone thought that the menace was over, sightings of another member of the same species were soon reported, sparking fear among the residents all over again. A report was quickly lodged on the KEVII Intranet by an irate E7 resident, who became a victim when the filthy pest sneaked into her room. (Editor’s note: An unidentified rat was also sighted scurrying up the stairs to E5 and along its corridor, possibly making its way up to E7 and E8!)

Attention: unhygienic rat spotted

As seen in the screenshot, the office responded by setting up more sticky-glue traps. According to Mr Zainal, the staff in-charge of maintenance issues, these traps do not require bait because they emit a scent that attracts mice. Hopes were high that these high-tech traps could quickly put an end to the  residents’ misery.

Failure #1:

After several days, the traps remained untouched, except one, which caught an unfortunate mynah.

Failure #2:

Finally one night, just as the writer of this very article walked past the E8 bin, he heard some noise coming from the corner and voila, the fella was caught! But to his surprise at 6.30am the next morning, when he walked past the trap, the fella was gone!

Failure #3:

On 1^st October, at around 11pm, the same writer spotted the same rat being caught in the same type of trap again!

You cunning fella!

The writer happily went to bed after that. After a stormy night, he woke up to a cool, breezy Sunday morning only to discover that the rat had disappeared and there were bite marks all over the trap!

The trap being PWNED

Twice it was caught, and twice it managed to free itself. The rat has proven too smart for the trap to handle.

While the rat remains out at large, here are some simple things you can do to stop feeding pests like it:

• Keep the black rubbish bins closed properly
• Throw any organic waste into the black bins instead of the waste paper basket outside your room
• Keep the pantries clean and do not leave any leftover food lying around
• Maintain good hygiene of your own room

If you have any creative solutions to help bring this menace to an end, feel free to reply to this post. Your suggestions are urgently needed and certainly most welcomed!

Photo credits: Reuben Lim, Adrian Chia

Angry Birds Supper

Written by: Koh Pin Lang

Edited by: Png Ning

If you are a great fan of the KE Float ‘ERIC’ and an avid player of the computer game, Angry Birds, you will totally fall in love with this “Angry Birds” supper organized by the AB Block Committee! With an adorable door tag specially created for this supper, it was hard for any AB blockers to miss out on the good food and fun. Needless to say, a large crowd turned up for the supper held on 11 August, filling the newly cleaned and decorated AB lounge to its maximum capacity.

rocke special #4: keeping those goodies snug and happy

Written by: Lisa Lau
Edited by: Jason Yan

Enter any Keviian’s room and chances are you will spy a common item (understandably) tucked into an inconspicuous corner: the humble laundry basket. Sure, it may not take pride of place in your room, but hall life can become a potential biohazard / stink-bomb without it. Usually used to house both dirty and clean laundry, the laundry “basket” comes in multiple forms; its incarnations vary from a massive plastic bag to the conventional plastic laundry basket, complete with long handles made for the regular hike to the launderette.

If you don’t already own a laundry basket (which is highly unlikely and in which case bespeaks an urgent need for a crash course in personal hygiene) and you’re highly desperate for one, fret not – PGPR’s Nanyang Supermarket carries a few inexpensive but sturdy plastic ones. Of course, you could probably save a few dollars and get cheaper baskets from any Sheng Siong Supermarket (the closest one being at West Coast) or Giant at Vivocity.

IKEA, of course, would have to be the pilgrimage site for hostelities with an eye for décor and who would like to proudly declare themselves an owner of a aesthetically pleasing / unobstructive laundry basket.  You probably know which laundry basket I’m referring to: the semi-translucent collapsible plastic one, which is perfect for the space-strapped (i.e. Keviians), though not for the cash-strapped (i.e. Keviians as well). However, if you’re REALLY that pressed for money, then the roomy yellow or blue IKEA carrier bags will do just fine. They’re cheap and durable with enough room to spare for a week’s worth of laundry and more. And hey, you get to make a choice between two primary colors, how can life get any better than this!

For the uninitiated, you may want to get a basket or bag distinct enough not to be confused with those belonging to other residents, or at least label your name on it. A cautionary tale: I have been unfortunate enough to have my laundry basket unceremoniously exchanged with a similar-looking one (though its contents, in terms of worth and stylishness, differed greatly). Imagine my horror when I discovered that my extensive collection of breathtaking lingerie had transformed into a mass of shapeless granny panties.

On that note, here’s another tip for doing laundry: if you’re one of the unlucky ones who always loses a sock in the washing machine or the dryer, keep them safe in a laundry net along with your other delicates. Mismatched socks are just about six seasons ago, for the record.

Happy basket hunting / washing / spinning!

Rocke Special #3: What Nice Big Racks You Have, Neighbour

Written by: Deborah Wong
Edited by: Jason Yan

One of the essential additions to your hall room would have to be the quintessential shoe rack. Despite KE’s large room space, sadly there are no spaces allocated for our all important footwear! Hence, the search for the perfect shoe rack begins.

For those who wish to showcase their fabulous shoe collection to the neighbors, a tall, sturdy shoe rack outside the room makes for an uncluttered doorway and provides protection against both sun and rain. A note to those living on the first floor: this type of shoe rack will save your beloved footwear from floating away during the heavy monsoon rains.

 

If privacy and security for your footwear is your thing, a simple shoe rack indoors will keep them away from prying eyes and itchy fingers! A wooded shoe rack complements the décor of the room and keeps those shoes within sight and away from the treacherous elements completely. However, such an arrangement can result in a pretty dusty floor so extra sweeping will be in order.

 

Shoe racks are cheap and can be found anywhere. Giant carries the simple wooden frames at $5 or you can find the solid plastic types at neighborhood shops where prices range from $5 to $10. Skip the IKEA shoe racks: they cost a lot more than they should (as do most IKEA furniture, for that matter); save your money instead for the funky IKEA bed sheets or comfy pillows to dress up your room!

ROCKE Special #2: Aurgasm

In this edition, Asher brings you an exhaustive guide to pimping out your Hall room… acoustically.

—

Written by: Asher Jon Tan
Edited by: Jason Yan

Let’s try to summarize what you’ve done so far. You got your transponder from the front office, trudged up and down endless stairs and have finally found your room. You spent five excruciating minutes in the corridor having awkward chitchat with your new neighbour (or more likely were saluted by a lifeless corridor), and you thought to yourself: oh my god is this how the next twelve months is going to be? You opened your door and a not-quite-musty stillness greeted you. You’ve whipped out your cleaning agents and gave your room the only massive spring-cleaning it will ever receive from you, delicately arranged your closet, taken a picture of it because this is the only time it’ll ever be this neat, ripped the canvas off your mattress and set up your laptop. You’ve just made your pilgrimage down to the Nanyang Supermarket to get a lan cable for the Internet, posted a status about your successful immigration, and started up iTunes to give your room some tuneful life. And then it hits you, these puny laptop speakers can’t possibly justify the vast music collection that has taken you years to hoard. As the first of many impulsive decisions you will make in hall, you decide to get yourself some new sound equipment. You see if you can find any advice from your KE seniors, and here you are right now reading this.

This is not an article filled with technical spiel, although it could become one if I just copied and pasted everything I found.

So you’ve got quite a few choices, depending on whether you’re an audiophile who believes in aural mysticism and dabbles in the acoustic occult, or whether you just want a huge subwoofer. Combinations are endless and eventually you could conceivably find the perfect set that fits you like a glove.

Let’s start from the bottom up.

Laptop speakers – free. Well, they come with your laptop. Being one speaker right in front of your speakers, it essentially gives you a centre speaker effect, completely lacking in bass response in most cases and sputtering along for the rest, it’s your basic speaker and therefore only beats your handphone speaker.

Now for any speaker set you’ll need the speakers and the amplifier. For computer speakers they come in bundled together. Such set-ups could include 2.0, 2.1, 5.1, etc.

1. The 2.0 Set-up
   Lacking a subwoofer, there will normally be a missing bass response in these set-ups, they tend to be cheaper and readily available all over the place. With 2 speakers, you’ll get some dynamic placement of sound with a significantly wider soundstage, definitely not the surround experience though. Do note that the smaller they are, the more compressed everything is and the less likely you’d be able to achieve quality sound with them. They are, however the cheaper option, easily costing less than 50 dollars a pop.

2. The 2.1 Set-up
This is the standard for most computer speakers. The subwoofer covers the mid-lows, the satellites take care of the mid-                    highs and provide the primary source of sound. More or less identical to the 2.0 set-up apart from the additional                                  subwoofer, the essential quality is markedly increased though, companies seem to pay more attention to detail with these                  kind of computer speaker systems. These cost anything between slightly less than a hundred for the really poor ones to                      upwards of six hundred dollars for the Bose Companion 5 Series, which is most likely the best simple set-up you could get                  for your computer.

3. The 5.1 Set-up 
This realm is more for home theatre junkies. The upgrade from the 2.1 is the surround sound experience, which some                        people crave for games and/or movies. The previous set-ups and more than sufficient for simply enjoying music. The                          quality 5.1 set-ups also tend to be much more pricey, cheap ones do exist but at this level you do get what you pay for.                          Furthermore, in a setting such as hall it would be difficult to position your speakers in a way that would give you maximal                enjoyment of a 5.1 system, more often than not one would end up placing all five speakers in front, rendering the multi-                    faceted system redundant.

All of the above systems can be found at places such as Sim Lim Square, Challenger, and similar stores.

For the audiophiles, you’d be looking for towers, bookshelf speakers, a decent DAC and an amplifier to boot, all in all such quality set-ups would cost you upwards of over one and half thousand dollars, quite a substantial investment for great sound and most likely out of reach for us poor university students (rendered even poorer by hall). For those who do have an interest though, Adelphi opposite Funan is a great place to start. But beware, many con-men and dabblers in pseudo-science CAN and WILL try to sell you a product which already substandard to begin with. Behind its upmarket facade, you’d have to differentiate between those who care about sound and those who just care about your money. Believe me when I say some of these men have spent years of their lives honing their abilities at duping the common man with parting with our hard-earned and long-saved money. Substantial research and testing must be done on this field to ensure you don’t regret a purchase as well.

So let’s say you did buy all this nice gear. You’re carrying your brand-new speakers you just blew several hundred bucks on and you’re happily prancing back into your room. Then you notice it. That big evil sign: “No noise after 11pm”. [Expletive.] How could you have [expletive] missed it? Seriously!? Who stops making noise after [expletive] 11 that’sabsolutelyinsanethatslikewhenIwakeup. You throw a hissy fit and smash your speakers. But you’re still not satisfied – you want good sound.  Well the final option is always earphones or headphones. Earphones are smaller, hence they might not give you the breadth of sound that you’d want, but they’re mobile and great for if you have an iPod as well. However, if you do plan to get something dedicated for the comfort of your room, headphones are a great option. They sound fantastic, and they aren’t too pricey either, though the best way to squeeze great sound out of them would be to pair them up with a simply amplifier. The road of Earphones/Headphones can offer you much better sound than what cheap speakers would give you, at the price of having something shoved in your ears or clapped around your head, which can be quite fatiguing, and also rendering you unable to have a house party, unless it involves everybody crowding around the computer taking turns to have a listen.

So there you have it, the choices are varied, each has its pros and cons. The world of audiophilia is confusing, draining and depressing, but no matter what you get, it’s definitely going to be an improvement over simple computer speakers. If you’re looking for a block to take refuge from all the complaints, GH is a great place of forgiving sound sleepers.

East Wing Supper!

Written by: Pin Lang
Edited by: Adriel Leong

If you are a fan of popular game shows and often extended your dinnertime just to finish watching Wheel of Fortune in the dining hall, you would have missed a great show at the second East Wing Supper. On Wednesday, the 6th April, East Wing held its second supper with the fabulous theme of game shows, specially featuring popular shows such as the ‘Wheel of Fortune’ and ‘The Price is Right’. The supper started around 10pm at the communal Hall, with people already trickling prior to the start of the supper in eager anticipation of the night’s activities.

Aptly named ‘ East All ABout Money’, this supper was quite different from the rest of the suppers.

1. You can’t eat the food immediately
2. There’s free stuff that you can win
3. The programmes are simply too hilarious to ignore

A Crowded Communal Hall of People