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Tag Archives: Opinion

A sound note on music’s unique, equalising ability to evoke human emotion

11 Tuesday Jul 2017

Posted by Betty Zhang in Opinion

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academia, arts, culture, emotion, human experience, music, Opinion, sociology, thoughts, writer, writing

How to begin a manifesto? Fiery-veined passion propelled me to grasp for words that equalled Chopin’s effect. Then, having failed that, I scrambled for pictures; moving pictures, still pictures, pictures of girls posing as dryads, twirling ballerinas—I even enlisted the help of one Joe Wright, filmmaker extraordinaire. All of this, to no avail. My folly, I realised with aching clarity on this cold winter afternoon with only his music for company, stems chiefly from the vain belief that Continue reading →

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The King Is Not Dead

05 Sunday Mar 2017

Posted by Betty Zhang in Notes, Opinion

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1950s, america, culture, elvis, elvis presley, icon, music, musings, Opinion, pop culture, rock, thoughts, twentieth century

elvis.jpg‘There’ll never be another Elvis,’ said the old man to the impersonator. But there needn’t be, not when he is survived and granted eternal life by his works, influence, and legacy. Why would we need another Elvis when he is the one and only? The king never died; he is unsurpassable; long live the king.

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Can’t buy me love

26 Sunday Feb 2017

Posted by Betty Zhang in Opinion

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life, love, marriage, music, musings, Opinion, romance, song, the beatles, thoughts, writer, writing

the beatles.jpg

“Tell me that you want those kind of things/That money just can’t buy/I don’t care too much for money/For money can’t buy me love”: these are the words of wisdom sang by Paul McCartney on The Beatles’ 1964 hit “Can’t Buy Me Love” which he wrote with John Lennon. They send me soul-searching every time I hear it, and I hear it a lot because A Hard Day’s Night is one of my favourite albums. Continue reading →

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Youth

02 Thursday Feb 2017

Posted by Betty Zhang in Opinion, Petit Passages

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change, empowerment, english, inspiration, literature, Opinion, poem, poet, prose, writer, writing, youth

indie-tumblr

Youth is vitality, excess collagen, fluids and oil from our pores. Our restlessness feels edgeless like the galaxy, scary and exciting like exploding stars, new like unopened books.

Youth is arrogance—we act as if we invented sex, and mock the old for their weary bones. But they were once young like us and was it not from them you and I and our parents sprang?

Youth is rage, against our predecessors’ norms, against our parents’ wishes, against the preachers and teachers who know not what it is to be young today no more than theirs did, against our own better judgement.

Youth is power: it is power harnessed from our vitality, arrogance, and rage. We can change the future because it is ours—because, if not us, who?

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Toxic comparison: the ugly side of social media

17 Tuesday Jan 2017

Posted by Betty Zhang in Opinion

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article, blogging, debate, gen y, happiness, internet, mental health, musings, Opinion, social media, technology, thoughts, writer, writing

social-media

Phone hot and heavy in your exhausted hand, you scroll down Instagram, the fourth (or is it fifth?) time you have done so in the past hour. You pay close attention to posts by female account holders—they set the standard against which you measure yourself. Some girls make you feel like Princess Buttercup (rare), others a big green stinking ogre (torturously frequent). Some women appear so rich and successful, with their marble apartments and glossy jobs in fancy faraway places like London and New York, that it fills your chest and stomach with a hollow despair faintly resembling hunger. Others have so many followers and fans that thinking about it makes your head spin. On the flip side, some have so little, or post such poor content that you are instantly elevated, in your own twisted head, from poor imposter to plush super-master.

It all comes down to comparison and self-perception, the root of all glee, all unhappiness. And the issue at hand is social media, Continue reading →

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Dear uncle Obama,

09 Wednesday Nov 2016

Posted by Betty Zhang in Letters, Notes

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america, donald trump, hillary clinton, letter, obama, Opinion, politics, us elections, usa, vote

bo first dog.jpg

Dear uncle Obama,

Daddy is as abusive and ignorant as he is orange, and mommy, though a lot better, is Continue reading →

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