Hi!
The Paris hotel address and number:
Hotel Chinagora
1 Place du Confluent Fran
94140 Alfortville
Tel : +331 43535888
Pls update your parents.
And anyone, esp. the group doing the France links should post a link to the map of the hotel location. all of you will be getting a Paris map but the London maps are in limited quantity, so pls get your own London map print out from the web.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
note about buddy pairs
in view of the directionally-challenged among us, and the forgetful, it is necessary that the students take care of each other.
individual responsibility--what everyone must do for himself/herself: take care of personal safety, personal belongings, personal hygiene...
leader's responsibility: every room will have a leader, who must be able to account for the whereabouts of the members in the room at all waking hours. that is, if the teacher asks for the whereabouts of Audrey, who's under Phoebe, Phoebe must be able to tell me where Audrey is.
Note: the room leader is also in charge of making sure that each room has a multi-plug--he/she has to make sure it's working and with the group, not that she/he has to buy one
on top of that, from the momemt we leave Singapore, everyone's buddy is their guardian angel. the buddies should be with each other most times and if we see only one buddy without the other buddy, woebetide him/her. i shall be royally displeased.
that said, if you spot anyone who is not your buddy/room mate doing something stupid/immoral etc, pls STOP him/her asap and look out for each other's safety...
one for all, all for one..
individual responsibility--what everyone must do for himself/herself: take care of personal safety, personal belongings, personal hygiene...
leader's responsibility: every room will have a leader, who must be able to account for the whereabouts of the members in the room at all waking hours. that is, if the teacher asks for the whereabouts of Audrey, who's under Phoebe, Phoebe must be able to tell me where Audrey is.
Note: the room leader is also in charge of making sure that each room has a multi-plug--he/she has to make sure it's working and with the group, not that she/he has to buy one
on top of that, from the momemt we leave Singapore, everyone's buddy is their guardian angel. the buddies should be with each other most times and if we see only one buddy without the other buddy, woebetide him/her. i shall be royally displeased.
that said, if you spot anyone who is not your buddy/room mate doing something stupid/immoral etc, pls STOP him/her asap and look out for each other's safety...
one for all, all for one..
Lit Trip prep
Hi!
Yes, we have 7 provisional room groupings but in France, we will be settled into twin rooms. so pls login to google doc and make sure you get someone who does not snore. the 9 guys will have a problem but i think you are all pretty slim so no prob squeezing 3 guys into one of the rooms.
about the trip, the educational part will be largely self-directed but we have some minimum standards. We don't want to tax you too much since you may be mugging for your other subjects but it's a lit trip after all...
That's why I emphasised that the captions/essays/creative prose should be SHORT AND MEANINGFUL.
since there are 7 rooms, each room will play a part:
-- Provide researched links on literary significance of the 17 places of attraction OR PLAYS (2 room groups will do this): 1 GOOD LINK PER play or place of attraction: pls write short explanation of why it is a good link.
-- Photo Essay of UK (literary-historical), with captions: 1 group
-- Photo Essay of France (literary-historical) and transits in Dubai, with captions: 1 group
-- Creative SHORT prose or poetry to accompany photos: 1 group
-- Consolidating the info, writing the introductory essay for the photo essays for Uk and France: 2 groups
all links to be consolidated here and they have to be posted up by 28 May!
the photo essays, creative prose/poetry to accompany the photos should be done on the spot, and refined at the end of every day (we will give you time to jot stuff down in your journals every night) by 8 june.
all groups with the raw material will give the info to the 2 groups compiling to upload. uploading and intro essay to be done by 11 june 2007: extension to be negotiated (11 june should give you time to recover fr jet lag)
I will be smsing the group leaders and it is either you state your preference, first come first serve or lucky draw.
list of places of attraction or plays:
The plays we are watching:
1. The Seagull by Anton Chekhov
2. Othello by Shakespeare
The places we are visiting:
1. Stratford: RSC and Shakespeare Birthplace Centre
2. Globe Theatre
3. Westminister Abbey: Poets' Corner and etc
4. Bath: Roman Baths and Jane Austen Centre
5. Oxford: Bodleian Library
6. Charles Dickens Museum
7. Rochester: St James Churchyard: place of the little graves
8. Imperial War Museum
9. Somme, Beaumont Hamel, Newfoundland Memorial Park
10. Paris:
11. Latin Quarter
12. Shakespeare and Co: Sylvia Beach and Modernists
13. Notre Dame Cathedral
14. Eiffel Tower
15. Versailles Palace: WWI Treaty of Versailles and the Hall of Mirrors
So, there are 17 items to cover: 15 places + 2 plays.
Yes, we have 7 provisional room groupings but in France, we will be settled into twin rooms. so pls login to google doc and make sure you get someone who does not snore. the 9 guys will have a problem but i think you are all pretty slim so no prob squeezing 3 guys into one of the rooms.
about the trip, the educational part will be largely self-directed but we have some minimum standards. We don't want to tax you too much since you may be mugging for your other subjects but it's a lit trip after all...
That's why I emphasised that the captions/essays/creative prose should be SHORT AND MEANINGFUL.
since there are 7 rooms, each room will play a part:
-- Provide researched links on literary significance of the 17 places of attraction OR PLAYS (2 room groups will do this): 1 GOOD LINK PER play or place of attraction: pls write short explanation of why it is a good link.
-- Photo Essay of UK (literary-historical), with captions: 1 group
-- Photo Essay of France (literary-historical) and transits in Dubai, with captions: 1 group
-- Creative SHORT prose or poetry to accompany photos: 1 group
-- Consolidating the info, writing the introductory essay for the photo essays for Uk and France: 2 groups
all links to be consolidated here and they have to be posted up by 28 May!
the photo essays, creative prose/poetry to accompany the photos should be done on the spot, and refined at the end of every day (we will give you time to jot stuff down in your journals every night) by 8 june.
all groups with the raw material will give the info to the 2 groups compiling to upload. uploading and intro essay to be done by 11 june 2007: extension to be negotiated (11 june should give you time to recover fr jet lag)
I will be smsing the group leaders and it is either you state your preference, first come first serve or lucky draw.
list of places of attraction or plays:
The plays we are watching:
1. The Seagull by Anton Chekhov
2. Othello by Shakespeare
The places we are visiting:
1. Stratford: RSC and Shakespeare Birthplace Centre
2. Globe Theatre
3. Westminister Abbey: Poets' Corner and etc
4. Bath: Roman Baths and Jane Austen Centre
5. Oxford: Bodleian Library
6. Charles Dickens Museum
7. Rochester: St James Churchyard: place of the little graves
8. Imperial War Museum
9. Somme, Beaumont Hamel, Newfoundland Memorial Park
10. Paris:
11. Latin Quarter
12. Shakespeare and Co: Sylvia Beach and Modernists
13. Notre Dame Cathedral
14. Eiffel Tower
15. Versailles Palace: WWI Treaty of Versailles and the Hall of Mirrors
So, there are 17 items to cover: 15 places + 2 plays.
Monday, May 21, 2007
is owen excessively sentimental?!
• given to or marked by sentiment or sentimentality
• bathetic: effusively or insincerely emotional; "a bathetic novel"; "maudlin expressions of sympathy"; "mushy effusiveness"; "a schmaltzy song"; "sentimental soap operas"; "slushy poetry"
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
• something which appeals excessively to your emotions, for example a story in which a perfect child dies of a terrible disease, which brings its previously warring parents together again, only for one of them to die as well
www.longman.co.uk/tt_seceng/resources/glosauth.htm
In 1936 William Butler Yeats edited The Oxford Book of Modern Verse, 1892-1935. Absent from its pages-- to the surprise of some-- were all the poets of The Great War; summarily dismissed were Owen, Sassoon, Blunden, Rosenberg and all their comrades who had written and in some cases died during the war. Yeats explains his editorial decision in a passage from the introduction to The Oxford Book of Modern Verse:
I have a distaste for certain poems written in the midst of the great war; they are in all anthologies, but I have substituted Herbert Read's 'End of the War' written long after. The writers of these poems were invariably officers of exceptional courage and capacity, one a man constantly selected for dangerous work, all, I think, had the Military Cross; their letters are vivid and humorous, they were not without joy-- for all skill is joyful-- but felt bound, in the words of the best known, to plead the suffering of their men. In poems that had for a time considerable fame, written in the first person, they made that suffering their own. I have rejected these poems for the same reason that made Arnold withdraw his "Empedocles on Etna" from circulation; passive suffering is not a theme for poetry. In all the great tragedies, tragedy is a joy to the man who dies; in Greece the tragic chorus danced (From the "Introduction," p. xxxiv).
Yeats probably had somewhere in his mind the words of Wilfred Owen. In June, 1918, a few months before he was killed at the front, Owen was preparing Disabled and Other Poems for publication. He was drafting these comments as a preface for the book-- now-famous words that have become essential in discussing his work and much of the poetry of World War I: "This book is not about heroes. English poetry is not yet fit to speak of them. Nor is it about deeds, or land, nor anything about glory, honour, might, majesty, dominion, or power, except War. Above all I am not concerned with Poetry. My subject is War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity. Yet these elegies are to this generation in no sense consolatory. They may be to the next. All a poet can do today is warn. That is why the true Poets must be truthful."
"My anthology continues to sell," Yeats says, "& the critics get more & more angry. When I excluded Wilfred Owen, whom I consider unworthy of the poets' corner of a country newspaper, I did not know I was excluding a revered sandwich-board Man of the revolution & that some body has put his worst & most famous poem* in a glass-case in the British Museum-- however if I had known it I would have excluded him just the same. He is all blood, dirt & sucked sugar stick (look at the selection in Faber's Anthology-- he calls poets 'bards,' a girl a 'maid,' & talks about 'Titanic wars'). There is every excuse for him but none for those who like him. . . ." (from a letter of December 26, 1936, in Letters on Poetry from W. B. Yeats to Dorothy Wellesley, p. 113). *Dulce et Decorum Est
Source: http://www.english.emory.edu/LostPoets/Yeats.html
• bathetic: effusively or insincerely emotional; "a bathetic novel"; "maudlin expressions of sympathy"; "mushy effusiveness"; "a schmaltzy song"; "sentimental soap operas"; "slushy poetry"
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
• something which appeals excessively to your emotions, for example a story in which a perfect child dies of a terrible disease, which brings its previously warring parents together again, only for one of them to die as well
www.longman.co.uk/tt_seceng/resources/glosauth.htm
In 1936 William Butler Yeats edited The Oxford Book of Modern Verse, 1892-1935. Absent from its pages-- to the surprise of some-- were all the poets of The Great War; summarily dismissed were Owen, Sassoon, Blunden, Rosenberg and all their comrades who had written and in some cases died during the war. Yeats explains his editorial decision in a passage from the introduction to The Oxford Book of Modern Verse:
I have a distaste for certain poems written in the midst of the great war; they are in all anthologies, but I have substituted Herbert Read's 'End of the War' written long after. The writers of these poems were invariably officers of exceptional courage and capacity, one a man constantly selected for dangerous work, all, I think, had the Military Cross; their letters are vivid and humorous, they were not without joy-- for all skill is joyful-- but felt bound, in the words of the best known, to plead the suffering of their men. In poems that had for a time considerable fame, written in the first person, they made that suffering their own. I have rejected these poems for the same reason that made Arnold withdraw his "Empedocles on Etna" from circulation; passive suffering is not a theme for poetry. In all the great tragedies, tragedy is a joy to the man who dies; in Greece the tragic chorus danced (From the "Introduction," p. xxxiv).
Yeats probably had somewhere in his mind the words of Wilfred Owen. In June, 1918, a few months before he was killed at the front, Owen was preparing Disabled and Other Poems for publication. He was drafting these comments as a preface for the book-- now-famous words that have become essential in discussing his work and much of the poetry of World War I: "This book is not about heroes. English poetry is not yet fit to speak of them. Nor is it about deeds, or land, nor anything about glory, honour, might, majesty, dominion, or power, except War. Above all I am not concerned with Poetry. My subject is War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity. Yet these elegies are to this generation in no sense consolatory. They may be to the next. All a poet can do today is warn. That is why the true Poets must be truthful."
"My anthology continues to sell," Yeats says, "& the critics get more & more angry. When I excluded Wilfred Owen, whom I consider unworthy of the poets' corner of a country newspaper, I did not know I was excluding a revered sandwich-board Man of the revolution & that some body has put his worst & most famous poem* in a glass-case in the British Museum-- however if I had known it I would have excluded him just the same. He is all blood, dirt & sucked sugar stick (look at the selection in Faber's Anthology-- he calls poets 'bards,' a girl a 'maid,' & talks about 'Titanic wars'). There is every excuse for him but none for those who like him. . . ." (from a letter of December 26, 1936, in Letters on Poetry from W. B. Yeats to Dorothy Wellesley, p. 113). *Dulce et Decorum Est
Source: http://www.english.emory.edu/LostPoets/Yeats.html
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Toilets...the ugly side of paris
Er, we all need toilets and be warned that they are EXPENSIVE and not that clean in France. Tips on finding free and clean toilets
And being polite is even more impt!
From a Paris guru:
Perhaps the most important thing in Paris is to observe 'la politesse'.
.
ALWAYS start with 'Bonjour Madame/ Mademoiselle/ Monsieur.' And say 'Au revoir' Madame/ Mademoiselle/ Monsieur' as you leave the store. I have learned through many visits that the French formality is cultural, rather than a coolness towards outsiders.
Perhaps the most important thing in Paris is to observe 'la politesse'.
.
ALWAYS start with 'Bonjour Madame/ Mademoiselle/ Monsieur.' And say 'Au revoir' Madame/ Mademoiselle/ Monsieur' as you leave the store. I have learned through many visits that the French formality is cultural, rather than a coolness towards outsiders.
Dressing better will get you better service in France!
Er, I think we know the French are pretty snobbish when it comes to the fashion front. And dressing is quite formal there.
Look at the fashion tips under the LOCAL CUSTOMS section of the TIPS in Virtual Tourist.
Some hard-won experience from tourists on Virtual Tourist:
If you are American, it would be beneficial to not broadcast it to the city. First of all, shorts, short skirts, and tank tops are generally not allowed in cathedrals. Some rules are different from place to place. Respect this rule! Make an effort to blend in with the locals. The French are very fashionable and will treat you better if you attempt to make an effort.
The people of Paris are well dressed and very stylish. You won't see too many people with baggy jeans down around their thighs and their underwear showing. If you want to fit in, plan to dress nicely the way the locals do.
Everyone in Paris is very fashionable, it's so easy to spot out Americans! My tip is to wear black or dark colors, it is very chic, and the style in Paris, as it always has been!
I can't say how many times I have seen "is it OK to wear tennis shoes and blue jeans in Europe?" asked in different forums. Although Parisians are generally well dressed, older Parisians more so than the younger ones it seemed, certainly you see locals wearing tennis shoes and jeans although I noticed that most of the tennis shoes were colored, not stark white like many of ours in the US.
The bottom line is that you will be doing a lot of walking in Paris if you really want to enjoy the city and you need to wear comfortable shoes. If comfortable shoes means tennis shoes then that is what you should wear.
Look at the fashion tips under the LOCAL CUSTOMS section of the TIPS in Virtual Tourist.
Some hard-won experience from tourists on Virtual Tourist:
If you are American, it would be beneficial to not broadcast it to the city. First of all, shorts, short skirts, and tank tops are generally not allowed in cathedrals. Some rules are different from place to place. Respect this rule! Make an effort to blend in with the locals. The French are very fashionable and will treat you better if you attempt to make an effort.
The people of Paris are well dressed and very stylish. You won't see too many people with baggy jeans down around their thighs and their underwear showing. If you want to fit in, plan to dress nicely the way the locals do.
Everyone in Paris is very fashionable, it's so easy to spot out Americans! My tip is to wear black or dark colors, it is very chic, and the style in Paris, as it always has been!
I can't say how many times I have seen "is it OK to wear tennis shoes and blue jeans in Europe?" asked in different forums. Although Parisians are generally well dressed, older Parisians more so than the younger ones it seemed, certainly you see locals wearing tennis shoes and jeans although I noticed that most of the tennis shoes were colored, not stark white like many of ours in the US.
The bottom line is that you will be doing a lot of walking in Paris if you really want to enjoy the city and you need to wear comfortable shoes. If comfortable shoes means tennis shoes then that is what you should wear.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Lit Trip: Pre-Trip briefing and sample packing list
The Lit Trip briefing is on 19 May 2007 (Sat): 0830-1000
If your parents can make it, they are most welcome to come as the travel agent, Mr Raymond Wong, will be there to help answer ALL the questions they may have.
In fact, I will highly encourage them to attend if they can make it so that we will not have questions too near the trip.
Start packing and buying anything necessary NOW:
Check out the info on the New Packing regulations on Liquids and Aerosols
Reminder of following group rules: anyone compromises their safety or someone else's safety, it is going to be very unhappy after that. We want to have fun, NOT have people pickpocketed, mugged or worse.
2 weeks before trip don't eat anything strange, GET ENOUGH REST.
--you need time to acclimatise
--if you are the kind to get cold easily, you may wear thermal....
Below is a sample packing list from a friend who had gone to Europe 3 times
Rule no. 1: Pack LIGHT. You'll be moving around and we'll have to use the Eurostar. You won't want to lug heavy trunk luggage up steps, trust me.
1 backpacker's backpack: preferred to luggage due to mobility: but if you don't already have one and don't plan on getting one, it's ok.
3 Basic tops
1 black pants
1 pair of loosely comfortable jeans because of pockets and durability
2 set of sleepwear
1 Jacket: make sure can withstand 10-12 degree Celsius (ask shop staff which jackets meet this criterion: at night it could get cold)
1 cardigan for layering
1 handbag/small haversack + 1 foldable bag
1 sports sandal
1 sturdy walking shoe: converse may not be sturdy enough: cobbled stones in Paris are very hard on the feet. Sports shoes are better than coverse shoes
some bags to pack dirty clothes
personal medication
at least 4 pairs of socks
sunblock
Hat
MOST 3 impt things:
1. proper footwear: shoes are very expensive in Europe: you don't want your shoes to conk out on you
2. jacket
3. sleepwear
If they are bringing Mobile phones, bring International Adapter: can buy from electronic/travel shops
YOU should have a packing list YOU should check against BEFORE they leave hotel everyday.
Liquids: get the travel pack in pharmacies so that it's less than 100ml
Just bring facial wash, basic makeup, comb and shampoo--small, lip balm
ALL SHOULD NOT wear belts To BOARD plane.
They should have ONLY one bag with them. If bringing belt, put in check in luggage.
Bring backpack, NOT luggage, if possible
True test of light packing: only 1/2 of backpacker's backpack is filled up.
Tag the backpacks: make sure it's easily identifiable.
Pack the foldable bag into handcarry for emergencies.
Check that YOU don't leave valuables in safe when they finally leave Hotel
If your parents can make it, they are most welcome to come as the travel agent, Mr Raymond Wong, will be there to help answer ALL the questions they may have.
In fact, I will highly encourage them to attend if they can make it so that we will not have questions too near the trip.
Start packing and buying anything necessary NOW:
Check out the info on the New Packing regulations on Liquids and Aerosols
Reminder of following group rules: anyone compromises their safety or someone else's safety, it is going to be very unhappy after that. We want to have fun, NOT have people pickpocketed, mugged or worse.
2 weeks before trip don't eat anything strange, GET ENOUGH REST.
--you need time to acclimatise
--if you are the kind to get cold easily, you may wear thermal....
Below is a sample packing list from a friend who had gone to Europe 3 times
Rule no. 1: Pack LIGHT. You'll be moving around and we'll have to use the Eurostar. You won't want to lug heavy trunk luggage up steps, trust me.
1 backpacker's backpack: preferred to luggage due to mobility: but if you don't already have one and don't plan on getting one, it's ok.
3 Basic tops
1 black pants
1 pair of loosely comfortable jeans because of pockets and durability
2 set of sleepwear
1 Jacket: make sure can withstand 10-12 degree Celsius (ask shop staff which jackets meet this criterion: at night it could get cold)
1 cardigan for layering
1 handbag/small haversack + 1 foldable bag
1 sports sandal
1 sturdy walking shoe: converse may not be sturdy enough: cobbled stones in Paris are very hard on the feet. Sports shoes are better than coverse shoes
some bags to pack dirty clothes
personal medication
at least 4 pairs of socks
sunblock
Hat
MOST 3 impt things:
1. proper footwear: shoes are very expensive in Europe: you don't want your shoes to conk out on you
2. jacket
3. sleepwear
If they are bringing Mobile phones, bring International Adapter: can buy from electronic/travel shops
YOU should have a packing list YOU should check against BEFORE they leave hotel everyday.
Liquids: get the travel pack in pharmacies so that it's less than 100ml
Just bring facial wash, basic makeup, comb and shampoo--small, lip balm
ALL SHOULD NOT wear belts To BOARD plane.
They should have ONLY one bag with them. If bringing belt, put in check in luggage.
Bring backpack, NOT luggage, if possible
True test of light packing: only 1/2 of backpacker's backpack is filled up.
Tag the backpacks: make sure it's easily identifiable.
Pack the foldable bag into handcarry for emergencies.
Check that YOU don't leave valuables in safe when they finally leave Hotel
Blogarians
This site is very graphics heavy. The posters are all artists of some sort and they do cool stuff like CD covers, Rolling Stone illustrations. Check it out on the right under "Cool and tangentially related"
Sunday, May 6, 2007
The Seagull
Lit Trip people, we are going to see what might be one of the great performances of The Seagull.
However, before we can get the full effect of Chekhov's play, we have to READ the play first.
You can get the play in the NLB (for sure) and probably the VJC library. Or if you are a fan of e-texts, just click on the right.
For TSD students, the synergistic working relationship between Chekhov and Stanislavsky is something to chew over...
Check out the links on the right!
And pls add new relevant links. You know the password.... :)
However, before we can get the full effect of Chekhov's play, we have to READ the play first.
You can get the play in the NLB (for sure) and probably the VJC library. Or if you are a fan of e-texts, just click on the right.
For TSD students, the synergistic working relationship between Chekhov and Stanislavsky is something to chew over...
Check out the links on the right!
And pls add new relevant links. You know the password.... :)
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Musee D'Orsay
Just wanted Lit trip people to check out the Musee D'Orsay. It's a gem of a museum. Of course, there's the Louvre but the D'Orsay has one of the most unbeatable collections of Modernist art.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
lit trip prep: salivate.haha
Well, since we are going to the fair land of France, I think some gourmandising is in order. haha.
Check out Chocolate and Zucchini--a French foodie's blog. The food and pictures are swoonsome. Ok, I'm planning to eat till I'm quite silly in France. haha.
Under the Lit trip section, I will be adding links by and by till we leave on 30 May.
All Lit students, even those NOT going for the trip, pls feel free to recommend good links that will help the Lit trip people have a fun, safe and educational trip. :)
Check out Chocolate and Zucchini--a French foodie's blog. The food and pictures are swoonsome. Ok, I'm planning to eat till I'm quite silly in France. haha.
Under the Lit trip section, I will be adding links by and by till we leave on 30 May.
All Lit students, even those NOT going for the trip, pls feel free to recommend good links that will help the Lit trip people have a fun, safe and educational trip. :)
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