Pub Date: 24/07/2006 Pub: ST Page: 4
Supplement: IN
Headline: Ninja see, Ninjado
By: Fern Deng
Page Heading: In The Game
Picture Caption:
In the foreground, Brandon Chew (left) holds up his kama (sickle) to meet Max
Lim's attack with his shinobikatana (ninja sword). In the background, Raphael
Tan (left) uses his ninja sword to counter Charles Ng's escrima sticks.
Notes:
Pictures
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DON'T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF
FERN DENG LEARNS MORE ABOUT THE WAYS OF THE NINJA FROM TEENS WHO
ARE PRACTISING THE JAPANESE MARTIAL ART CALLED NINJADO.
Last week, Charles Ng was walking home when he was attacked by three hooligans
who punched him in the head.
That was when the Ninjado skills he has picked were put to good use - the
hooligans fled after being pushed down to the floor.
Charles, a 17-year-old Holy Innocents' High School student, later filed a
police report.
He said: 'I'm glad I could use the Ninjado techniques I learnt to get myself
out of such a hostile situation. It saved me from getting hurt.'
Ninjado is a Japanese martial art which focuses on self-defence and
attacking moves involving mainly handlocks and grapples.
Students are trained to detect footsteps and soft sounds so that they can
react faster to attacks.
They also learn to spar with weapons such as the tanto (rubber dagger),
escrima stick (baton), bokken (Japanese samurai sword) and shuriken
(star-shaped blades).
Carrying these weapons to classes, however, is not easy when riding on
public transport.
Julia Lin, from Republic Polytechnic, gets her fair share of unwanted public
attention and says she has now 'grown used to it'.
The petite 17-year-old spars with a 1.6m-long pole.
She laughs: 'Sometimes, when I'm holding up the stick on the train, aunties
and small children mistake it for a train pole and hold on to it!'
Max Lim, 19, from Temasek Polytechnic, agrees that the public gets alarmed
sometimes by the weapons - despite them being wrapped in cloth.
Said Max: 'I was carrying two Samurai swords once and this burly man was so
startled that he jumped a distance away.'
The 'blade' of the swords that he uses are made of oak wood, but they can
kill if one knows the right moves.
Raphael Tan, 17, from Montfort Secondary School, has learnt the art for a
year and a half. He thinks that Ninjado has 'boosted his confidence'.
'I used to be scared of ah bengs loitering around the HDB void decks. Not
any more,' he beams.
Reflection:Well it certainly is heartwarming sight to see the youth of today gearing up for protection and such, so long as they do not harm others I feel that even if the nation's youth acquires in potentially dangerous fighting skills, the effect is positive. Not only does karate, ninja-do, wushu etc protects oneself, it also helps in contributing to the nation. If we are at war, I am certain everyone will be willing to take up arms to fight and defend our sacred motherland. As of today, the government has made the population safe, so much so that we are afraid of death and injury. The mere sight of a weapon cause public uproar. But then again, personally I value freedom above everything else, and with that freedom, comes the responsibility of safeguarding it. It is of course natural for people to be afraid of weapons, but when one has mastered the weapon, when everyone is fully trained in the art of fighting, who would be scared of a mere piece of steel? Who would be scared of war? It might be another teenage trend, but this one is highly sugested to be encouraged by me as it seems to have great uses, what the government could do is not only encourage it but to glamourise it as well. An additional benefit could be to reduce all those obese and overweight students singapore, to keep fit and be strong. In conclusion, I strongly recommend everyone take up a form of martial art.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Friday, August 10, 2007
err..work
Source: http://enewslink.asia1.com.sg/brsweb/read_150.brsw?this=result&QDT=1&QFLST=HD%3AHG%3APD&DB=ST%3ABT%4005-07&QSTR=%28%28teens%29%29.HD.&DTSTR=%28%28PD+%3E=+20050310%29+and+%28PD+%3C=+20070810%29%29&PSZ=10&MAXL=200&SUMY=2&HLT=0&LSTN=140&ID=000021483@ST06
Pub Date: 15/05/2006 Pub: ST Page: H5
Supplement: Teen Scene Investigation
Headline: Teens mature enough? No way, say parents
By: Jessica Lim
Page Heading: Home
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WATCHING R21 movies is commonplace, even acceptable, said most of the teens
that The Straits Times spoke to.
Out of 15 teenagers, aged between 15 and 19, 11 said it was 'pretty normal'.
'We see violence and sex everywhere on the Internet and on TV,' said Joanna
Cheng, a Secondary 4 Manjusri Secondary School student. 'Teenagers nowadays
treat such movies as part of everyday life. It is no big deal.'
Eight felt that the age restriction for entry into such movies should be
lowered. After all, as Sec 3 Methodist Girls' School student Lisa Lim, 15,
pointed out: 'Movies can be downloaded anywhere, so there is no point putting
an age restriction on movie theatres.'
Tricia Lim, 19, summed up the general sentiment: 'I think I am pretty mature
for my age and I can handle the sex and violence shown in these movies. I don't
mimic what I see.'
Parents, naturally, are more conservative.
Said 51-year-old businesswoman Jessie Liau: 'I do not think that the R21
restriction should be tampered with. It protects these kids from controversial
issues that they might not be ready to be exposed to. They might find it
disturbing.'
She has three daughters - aged 23, 19 and 15.
Some students agree with Mrs Liau.
Aaron Mossadeg, 13, a Sec 2 student at St Gabriel's Secondary School, who
watched Sin City when his friend's father purchased the VCD during the December
school holidays last year, said: 'The violent scenes were disturbing. I kept my
eyes squeezed shut at a few points.' - JESSICA LIM
My Commentary
This is certainly very common, and as a fellow teenager, i do not encourage or strongly voice out any opposition against such behavior. As teens, we are keen on exploring the world and such and wondering whether all that we have learnt in our tender single digit years have served to liberate us or to trap us in a cage we don't even realise we're in. Such 'liberation' techniques would of course apply to viewing media of all sorts, especially movies with strong violence, nudity and the like. Of course a little bit of this and that might not be harmful, but in the long run, parents would most definity object. They want their children to be conservative, to lead lives of no shame, to become holy angels, nuns and monks all the damn time. Guess what folks? Life ain't that pretty. Life is cruel. If you hide your kids from what the world really is, when they are thrown into such a place without any instinct of survival, these children, these people, these brainwashed ideological fools will be eradicated immediately. Better let your children know of the dangers in society and prepare for it. Better let them have access to such media, but with the weaponary of combating its influences. Such people are the ones to survive and inherit this earth. Most teens think they are 'mature' enough to handle this. But actually, they are being more influenced by such media than they think they are, they are desensitised. A greater likelihood of being criminals and psychopaths in the future perhaps. All because of their hormones, and the desperate shielding of such anti-behavioral concepts by their parents. These parents are much to blame as well. If they stopped thinking that their children were still angels at 15, they could finally cut their fantasies and work on facing their kids with reality. Otherwise our world would be full of overconfident children and parents in self-denial.
P.S. I like black metal.
Pub Date: 15/05/2006 Pub: ST Page: H5
Supplement: Teen Scene Investigation
Headline: Teens mature enough? No way, say parents
By: Jessica Lim
Page Heading: Home
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WATCHING R21 movies is commonplace, even acceptable, said most of the teens
that The Straits Times spoke to.
Out of 15 teenagers, aged between 15 and 19, 11 said it was 'pretty normal'.
'We see violence and sex everywhere on the Internet and on TV,' said Joanna
Cheng, a Secondary 4 Manjusri Secondary School student. 'Teenagers nowadays
treat such movies as part of everyday life. It is no big deal.'
Eight felt that the age restriction for entry into such movies should be
lowered. After all, as Sec 3 Methodist Girls' School student Lisa Lim, 15,
pointed out: 'Movies can be downloaded anywhere, so there is no point putting
an age restriction on movie theatres.'
Tricia Lim, 19, summed up the general sentiment: 'I think I am pretty mature
for my age and I can handle the sex and violence shown in these movies. I don't
mimic what I see.'
Parents, naturally, are more conservative.
Said 51-year-old businesswoman Jessie Liau: 'I do not think that the R21
restriction should be tampered with. It protects these kids from controversial
issues that they might not be ready to be exposed to. They might find it
disturbing.'
She has three daughters - aged 23, 19 and 15.
Some students agree with Mrs Liau.
Aaron Mossadeg, 13, a Sec 2 student at St Gabriel's Secondary School, who
watched Sin City when his friend's father purchased the VCD during the December
school holidays last year, said: 'The violent scenes were disturbing. I kept my
eyes squeezed shut at a few points.' - JESSICA LIM
My Commentary
This is certainly very common, and as a fellow teenager, i do not encourage or strongly voice out any opposition against such behavior. As teens, we are keen on exploring the world and such and wondering whether all that we have learnt in our tender single digit years have served to liberate us or to trap us in a cage we don't even realise we're in. Such 'liberation' techniques would of course apply to viewing media of all sorts, especially movies with strong violence, nudity and the like. Of course a little bit of this and that might not be harmful, but in the long run, parents would most definity object. They want their children to be conservative, to lead lives of no shame, to become holy angels, nuns and monks all the damn time. Guess what folks? Life ain't that pretty. Life is cruel. If you hide your kids from what the world really is, when they are thrown into such a place without any instinct of survival, these children, these people, these brainwashed ideological fools will be eradicated immediately. Better let your children know of the dangers in society and prepare for it. Better let them have access to such media, but with the weaponary of combating its influences. Such people are the ones to survive and inherit this earth. Most teens think they are 'mature' enough to handle this. But actually, they are being more influenced by such media than they think they are, they are desensitised. A greater likelihood of being criminals and psychopaths in the future perhaps. All because of their hormones, and the desperate shielding of such anti-behavioral concepts by their parents. These parents are much to blame as well. If they stopped thinking that their children were still angels at 15, they could finally cut their fantasies and work on facing their kids with reality. Otherwise our world would be full of overconfident children and parents in self-denial.
P.S. I like black metal.
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