The Urbanwire Team

Editors & Designers

Joy Lee
Editor - Gallery, Friends
Designer

In contrast to the majority who proliferate stories for the bulging servers of UrbanWire, Joy finds her niche in UW's design, coding and all things techie or aesthetic. Finding her junior college subject combination of History, Literature and Economics to be a waste of time, she ran off to join a Mass Communication course in a polytechnic. She enrolled thinking, as she had all her life, that she would write - and never expected to become a designer.

She loves making things look beautiful, and she's comfortable with both the web and print arenas, with freelance experience ranging from company logo to Flash design. Her personal web site is at http://spunked.org, where you can find her latest work. She's also interested in photography and digital imaging (D. I.), and wants the Fairy Godmother from Shrek 2 to grant her a Wacom Intuos 2 tablet and a Nikon D70 DSLR. She has done an internship at a commercial photography house with training in professional D. I. In the meantime, she relies on her classic Nikon FM2.

In her snatches of free time, she dreams of working as a magazine designer, graphics artist or full-time geek before heading off to Australia for further studies. :) [top]

Melissa Ann Tan
Designer

An angsty teenage girl with an obsession for all things associated with singing and writing music stumbled upon her cousin's web designs for a then fledgling online magazine called UrbanWire. Little did she know that she’d find herself doing the exact same thing that he pioneered.

Tan Jialing Melissa-Ann seems like the quiet sort of girl who just does as she’s told. Mel is nothing of the sort, being described by those who know her as being quite explosive. It’s a good thing that energy is channelled predominantly into working full time on school work and doing pro bono work in designing the online version of local movie magazine, FiRST. Apart from these, she spent the last 7-week break (May-June) working at FXMedia on Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s mandatory Industrial Training Programme where she worked as a web designer on sites like Kenwood, Panasonic, and UTAC. On top of these, she’s also picked up knowledge pertaining to digital film editing, script writing, casting and even how to handle talents at auditions.

Her idiosyncrasies include adding huge helpings of salt to almost everything she eats, and waking up with the strangest of ideas of wearing extra thick clothes and melting on her way out.

Mel has been known to drop everything she's doing and scribble the first idea that pops into her mind. Don't be afraid, she isn't planning to kill anyone.

In fact, she is quite the sociable girl and is listed in popular website, Friendster under the email address redrealm@undying-equilibrium.com.

So if you do meet her, don't be afraid to say hi. She doesn't bite.
Much...

For more information on this unique girl, visit her website or step in and catch the sneak preview to her world. [top]

Michelle Tan
Editor - TV, Food, Calendar

With her areas of interest lying in a number of media-related fields, Michelle longs to be the Jane of all trades in the industry.

A year ago, Michelle felt that she had found her calling in Public Relations. A PR person by nature, she became the unofficial PRO to many a reckless Mass Commer during that time, soothing the savage beast and implementing crisis management when necessary. In November 2003, she used her expertise in the real world, interning at The PR Company for 2 months. During that time, she worked with clients like FujiFilm, the SJI Old Boy’s Association and Epicor.

Last semester, Michelle found yet another calling, this time in Radio. She enjoyed the thrill of going on-air and being heard, despite not really talking to anyone in particular. She also loved the Dalet system and adored its efficiency. Although she isn’t as chummy with Pro Tools at the moment, she believes it’ll grow to love her somehow.

Michelle will spend her final semesters in Ngee Ann exercising her love for writing fully, after being offered an editorial post at The UrbanWire. She currently writes, eats and watches loads of television for the publication as the Food and TV Editor, though she has yet to figure out how to do them all at once. Her proudest UW moment thus far is having Regan Burns, the host of her favourite game show, Oblivious, send the review she did of the show to the TV company in the US, in hopes of renewing it for a 3rd season. She couldn’t be more thrilled to play a part in saving it from oblivion!

When she’s not entirely tied up with UW, Michelle enjoys placing faith in her God, cat photography, listening to indie bands such as Something Corporate and Death Cab For Cutie, watching John Cusack movies, reading poignant fiction by Jessica Francis Kane, Wally Lamb and Tony Parsons, and indulging in modern dance till her knees give way. [top]

Mary-Ann Russon
Editor - Movies, Book, People

Narrator: You read this expecting to see a profile of our Movies, Books and People Editor, but instead, dear viewers, you see 2 figures engaged in a deadly wizards’ duel. And where’s our editor? Why, she’s right there, the one on the left with the wand. That other guy she’s fighting is Lord Voldemort, evillest wizard in history, but don’t mind him… Oh Mary-Annnnn!

Mary-Ann: Expecto Patronum! *runs over, ducking flashes of green light* What? I’m kind of busy right now!

Narrator: We’re supposed to be profiling you!

Mary-Ann: You are? Oops! *green light whizzes past her ear* Oh for Christ’s sake! *spins around* Avada Kedavra! (Lord Voldemort drops dead) Sorry, you were saying?

Narrator: Your profile, remember?

Mary-Ann: Oh right! Well, I have 101 hobbies, ranging from reading, writing, acting, singing, dancing, web design, creative art, watching lots of TV and movies, to studying ancient history.

I’m also a self-confessed Harry Potter maniac, with a memorabilia collection currently valued at close to $1,000 (and rising!), and you’re most likely to find me either waving a wand around or ogling the latest Harry Potter movie. Indeed, one of the coolest moments of my life was when my Essential Guide To Harry Potter Websites: UrbanWire’s Top 15 Harry Potter Site List was featured on 7 of the top Harry Potter Fan-sites in the world!

I hope to be a feature writer one day, maybe do some acting and hopefully do my bit in making the world a better place.

Narrator: And that was our profile of student editor Mary-Ann Russon. Thank you for watching the UrbanWire Biography Channel! [top]

Kenneth Chiu
Editor - Movies, Sports, Nightlife

Many think they know Kenneth, I don’t exactly know on what basis, but they think they do. They think of him as an imperious, arrogant creep with tardy tendencies when all they can really claim to know firsthand are his name and face.
Kenneth has a penchant for taking things slow, but don’t mistake that for incompetence. He cares not how you do it, or when you do it, as long as it is done on time and done well. To be entirely honest, Kenneth firmly believes that as long as something is about work or is work, it’s no longer fun. He seldom smiles and it isn’t because he has an issue or an attitude problem, he just doesn’t. He just isn’t the happiest, bounciest guy around.

Kenneth appreciates the finer things in life but knows that only hard work will finance his dreams of villas, limos and private jets. He thinks, analyses and constantly tries to reason, mostly with himself, trying hard to justify why things happen the way they do and retracing his steps. He doesn’t like swallowing things he cannot accept, so tyranny and the strong arm tactics don’t work.

Kenneth is ardent, persevering and is engaged in the perennial duel against any kind of change. He is also an adrenaline junkie whose love for extreme sports like snowboarding and mountain biking has necessitated travelling, another activity high on his list of favourites.

Finally, Kenneth is all for the notion that if people can take the trouble to judge another, they really can afford to get to know the person first. [top]

Raymond Tham
Editor - Features, Music, Events

After surviving the devastation of looking into the mirror every day, Raymond tries to boost his ego by writing brilliant stories. Unfortunately, this backfires occasionally and may turn him into something straight from the movie, Dawn of the Dead.
Thankfully, he finds comfort from bands like Nirvana and Radiohead,while the hard rocking riffs of AC/DC, Led Zeppelin and Guns ‘N Roses give him the energy to go through each day.

His only accomplishment to date has been working at TODAY newspaper during the last 2 months of 2003, where he interviewed various local celebrities like Allan Wu, Cynthia Koh and Billy Wang.

Raymond dreams of the world that John Lennon describes in ‘Imagine’. If that cannot be achieved, he would love to live in the liberal social haven of Amsterdam or on his own private island somewhere in Hawaii. [top]

Saw Lidong
Editor - Wiredlife, Gaming, Campus

To Lidong, life is like a game of Fallout 2, where you maneuver and make something of yourself in a forsaken wasteland of death, destruction, greed and contempt. Okay, maybe minus the forsaken wasteland part.

Having clawed his way up from the lower ranks of secondary school mediocrity, Lidong underwent a 3-month trial period at Catholic Junior College before deciding that it wasn’t his style of play. He ended up in a polytechnic toying around with chemicals, food colouring and fertilisers. However, within a year, he decided he had literally taken enough “shit” and started plotting his defection to Mass Comm.

Although the arts were never a strength of his (he excelled in the facts and figures of science and mathematics in previous academic institutions), Lidong soon took a liking to television production and journalism upon entering Mass Comm. He now does some guerilla filming and extremist writing occasionally to varying effect. Lidong’s greatest triumph, however, comes in form of having completed the arcade game, Alien Versus Predator, with just 1 credit. Rest assured though, that isn’t the only reason he was appointed UrbanWire’s game editor.

Lidong is an avid Formula 1 fan, enjoys playing tennis and listens to rock music from bands like Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave. He hopes that the next card he draws or dice he rolls enables him to pilot a Renault R24 Formula One car, win at Rolland Garros or play the electric guitar like Tom Morello. In the meantime, Lidong will just settle with playing Fallout 2 and any other game that comes in for review. Drop him an email to find out how he’s surviving. [top]

Geoff Liang
Designer

This is Geoff. Flash designer, graphics designer, emcee, tee designer, organiser designer (that’s right! I make my own organisers!) all rolled into one. You think you’d know him; read him like a book. But I tell you, there's more to him than you can ever fathom. So don't judge him yet, he may just throw a couple of surprises your way. But you can be sure of all the crazy, nonsensical things that he does. Those are gonna stay.

Macromedia Flash has enslaved this poor soul. Geoff will just drop without his daily dosage. His style changes ever so quickly. Heck, there was even once when his style changed smack in the middle of a designing a Flash advert! He grows sick of his stuff easily. One day you could see him showing you what he thinks is candy; the next he could be cringing at the sight of it.

If you see him, he'll tell you that there are only 3 great movies: Big Daddy (he has watched that 153 times so far), Love Me If You Dare (beautiful, beautiful story) and My Girl (Bangkok is THE mother of all cities). TV wise, he ain't interested. He'll kill to kill the most mind-numbing shows like Small Talk, The Bachelor and the Planet's Funniest Animals (they are so NOT funny!). What he likes is to sit down for some Friends. Self confessed Friends freak, he can tell you the who, what, where, when, why and hows of each episode.

Speaking of freakish, Apple Computer drives him nuts. Geoff will fantasise all day about getting his 15G iPod, 12" Powerbook, dual 30" displays, eMac, Airport and professional video-editing software Final Cut Pro. I'm telling you, it ain't his fault. In the famous words of fellow UrbanWire designer Pang, they're just too pro. It's like finding a huge oasis in the middle of a desert; you too would want to run back and share the news with the rest of your friends.

And of course, Geoff Liang Himself would like to teach you his phrase of the day: “Slaveticus to the mother of all maximus.” Learn it well. [top]

Mr Robin Yee
Lecturer In Charge
A.C.E

From the time Robin Yee realised that he would never be a Broadway headliner or a $300-an-hour shrink, he's inflicted his idiosyncratically tortured prose on readers of national newspaper The Straits Times, best-selling English entertainment magazine 8 Days, and global financial wire services, Bridge News.

Since 1997, the professional rolling stone turned his energies to torturing journalism students at Ngee Ann Polytechnic and building and an even more varied freelance portfolio of translation, copywriting and online consultancy work. His therapist calls this progress. [top]

Pang Yee Huat
Designer

A person who enjoys music, Pang can be seen playing away on his Prodikeys when he’s at home. Pang also enjoys watching reality TV shows such as Survivor and The Amazing Race, possibly because he suspects that life is one big game of Survivor, where only the strongest survive.

The news-addict wakes up every day at 7am to start his day off with a good dose of news through Channel NewsAsia’s Primetime Morning and ends it off with the nightly news at 10 on Channel 8. Other frequently visited sites on his computer beside the Urbanwire.com would be CNN, BBC or Channel NewsAsia.

Pang has just returned from a 2-month overseas internship posting to TBWA/Japan, an advertising agency. Working in the creative department, he interacted with the crazy people and got to see how ads for Adidas and Haagen-Dazs are devised. Packing into overloaded trains during mornings, surviving earthquakes and typhoons are some of the highlights that he has experienced in Tokyo. Not to mention making 1 of the windows of his room fall off from his 2nd floor unit during his stay.

Pang also enjoys photography and chatting in his free time. Feel free to drop him an email or check out his blog to see what he’s been up to! [top]

Reporters

Ahmad Zaki
Reporter

Ahmad Zaki loves a good story.

In his attempts to be exposed to more of them, Zaki watches movies, TV and people regularly. He also plays Dungeons & Dragons and many other roleplaying games in his free time and reads half a book every night before he goes to sleep. Also, when the muse hits him, he’ll sit in front of the computer until the wee hours of morning, banging on the keyboard, ending up with a skeleton of a story. His hard drive is full of half-complete, sketchy novellas, just waiting to be finished.

Besides that, Zaki also believes that every story must have a soundtrack; thus, his fervent love for music. Although Zaki has eclectic music tastes (he likes a wide range, from AC/DC to John Coltrane to Cradle of Filth, to Wagner), he prefers that which is fast, angry and violent, which sets the perfect mood for the kind of story he likes to tell.

All his life he’s been active in the hearing, creating and telling of stories and now, finally, as an UrbanWire reporter Zaki might just be able to make telling stories his living. [top]

Alicia Chua
Reporter

Alicia has a penchant for Euro-dance (more fondly known as Techno) and Marilyn Manson. She doesn't mind that the 2 music styles clash heinously. Her visits to techno clubs take place on a fortnightly basis and she's already fulfilled her life-long dream of seeing Manson live in concert.

The 19-year-old does possess a hedonistic streak, but fun and frolic are not constantly on her cards. She has done her fair share of hard work as well. Her baby steps into the adult working life have taken her down the paths of waitressing, sales, interning at Hanchew's Studios (a production house), interning at a content development company called Asia Edit and writing for a pet magazine. Alicia has also just begun contributing articles to a new teen section that will be appearing in Life!.

She feeds her fondness for writing with books. Tolstoy, Woolf, Lawrence, Dostoevsky, Shelley and Wilde are just some of the favourites on her menu, and she must have a serving of philosophy on the side.

Alicia's greatest wish is to dance professionally, although she hasn't had any professional training, and she hopes her fairy godmother (or a good dance teacher) will make it come true. [top]

Archanaa N. Raja
Reporter

Archanaa may look sweet and demure but underneath all those smiles lies a superbly strong girl who can terrorise others. Often misunderstood by many, she decided that after her GCE ‘O’ levels, she would stand firm on her decision to choose her destiny and show the world who she really is.

Her cheerful and expressive nature landed her a place in Ngee Ann’s Mass Communication course, which is keeping her on the move on top of her other interests in playing the piano and learning Indian classical dance. But till today, the most worrying thing is that she has never appreciated her own piano compositions.
For someone who loves to travel and see the wonders God has created elsewhere, Archanaa has always dreamt of being an air-stewardess. But due to the slight height problem she faces, okay simply put, I’m just short, that dream will always remain a fantasy.

Archanaa had the privilege of working in the radio industry, at Tamil music station Oli 96.8 during her 2-month Industrial Training Programme in which she had the opportunity to meet personalities from the Indian Film Academy.

Radio Heatwave is the current love of her life and she showers him with the latest happenings every day as its News Director. However, now that her secret affair with UrbanWire is exposed, she promises to display equal affection for both. [top]

Darren Chan
Reporter

Being a journalist seems a far-fetched proposition for Darren, as asking intelligent questions doesn’t seem to be his forte.
However, with patience and a small amount of self esteem, he has managed to make it this far. Indeed, Darren had always wanted to be a journalist on the run until he found out what kind of running a journalist had to do to get his articles. He was slightly deterred.

One thing he realised about himself is he seldom smiles, but he feels he should cultivate the habit. Darren likes being alone in the morning, afternoon and evening. What exactly is he doing in a mass communication course? No idea…

But be warned…once he knows you well and he trusts you, that’s it! You’re never going to ever get peace because if he has a problem to share he will come to disturb you and create havoc.

Despite his incapability of talking to people, Darren likes learning new languages and speaking them: English, Mandarin, Malay, Korean, Japanese, French, German, as well as his ongoing pursuit of Hindi and Tamil. Darren found out he loved languages when he realised his talent for remembering foreign words easily and now that has helped him communicate with foreigners who don’t speak English.

Darren absolutely adores rabbits. The way they hop, jump and look… they’re so cute, so furry and small...

He simply loves travelling as well. That’s something he would enjoy doing 24/7. He’d dash off to Europe, Asia, Middle East, everywhere and anywhere. Although he ALWAYS gets the economy class syndrome and pays for air sickness with constant vomiting, the moment he arrives, he is pumped up with adrenaline to explore the world.

You might be surprised but nature, say the way leaves fall or change colour according to the season, amazes him. Darren can sit for hours looking at the scenery and just feeling one with nature. He recommends Japan (Hokkaido) and France (Lyon) as the countries with relaxing scenery. He admires the beaches and he’d always dreamt of living by the sea since he was a boy… Now that he’s found his dream girl he’ll take her to France for a “Parfait voyage” [French for perfect trip].

And, naturally for someone who dreams so much, Darren also loves sleeping!!! [top]

Diyana Alan
Reporter

Diyana has been procrastinating taking up driving, learning how to ride a bicycle and picking up the guitar for the past few years�cand she still hasn't gotten to it. Other things like light sticks, photography and badge makers have distracted her.

She got her first taste of the media industry at the age of 16 and has contributed her work as a freelance writer to web music portal, Soundbuzz.com , entertainment magazine hype and is involved in a youth page project with The Straits Times. Her previous internships include being a fashion intern for now defunct Flirt mag, an editorial intern for women's magazine CLEO and part of the Networks Communications team for MTV Asia.

Besides listing writing, reading and music as her passions, the trigger-happy 20-year-old is also fond of elephants, traveling and cites backpacking around Asia and then Europe as things on her to-do list before she turns 25 and 30 respectively. The works of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, author Anais Nin, pervert Marquis de Sade, director/producer/writer Bernardo Bertolucci and anything involving the feminist movement intrigue her.

This hippy at heart doesn't quite understand why soldiers on a peacekeeping mission need to have guns in their hands. Other than being a supporter of the local music & film movement, she's also a closeted Bollywood junkie, avid art film goer and party girl who whistles when she clubs. Meow! [top]

Fazlyana
Reporter

A resident bitch in the house, Fazlyana, always known as Faz, is never the bore or the bored. Her classic sense of humour, wildly animated gestures and painfully loud (and sometimes high-pitched) voice, shrieks and laughter are loved and appreciated by her friends and even strangers. The only time she might fail to be her quirky and out-of-this-world self is when she decides to give way to her relentless mood swings.

Finally realising that her 1 year in Jurong Junior College, with the weirdest combination of Maths, Chemistry and History, was taking her nowhere, she defied her parents' violent disapproval and answered her calling. Her passions for music, movies, TV, writing, acting and even dancing have enticed her into being in the Mass Communication course to show the world what she's made of and to prove her parents that she has made not only the right choice, but a perfect one.

A full-blown perfectionist, she never lets you escape without a scratch if you ever earn her wrath. Her work and studies are never derailed by her chaotic love life or her shamefully vain nature. But perhaps her irritatingly short-term memory will deal her the death blow.

Don't judge her as a meek ultra-conservative by the tudung [headscarf worn by Muslim women] she dons, because the spirit she possess, the style she effortlessly flaunts, and the sophistication she exudes are more than enough to blow you away. Her appearance, not to mention her charismatic personality, are almost never what anyone expects. She can look unbelievably innocent and saccharine sweet yet standoffishly intimidating and mysterious all at the same time. But that is always the one thing that makes her who she is, someone with exceptional and unpredictable individuality.  

You've often heard of people loving to shop. But at the rate she is going, shopping should be made a crime. It's definitely an untreatable addiction in her case. She's a slave to her endless collections of accessories, belts, bags, slippers, shoes, and huge watches - in any colours, shades or tones. Her affordable-by-all-yet-stylish-and-not-shoddy-fashion is undoubtedly a head-turner.

Her constant shrieks and wails, pain and horror, love and hatred, fun and mischief can be read in her dear and beautiful blog. Come. Make yourself at home, if you have no shame. [top]

Indramawan Kusmo
Reporter

Indra has a huge interest in movies and finds it is his strongest point (through film-related modules like Short Film & Video Scriptwriting, Location Video Production and Documentary Production) among all of the subjects that he had studied in the School of Film & Media Studies(FMS), which makes you wonder what he is doing in the Mass Communication course instead of in FMS’s other diploma programme- Film, Sound & Video.

While Indra admits that he is better suited for the latter (even 1 lecturer thought he was a film student), he finds MCM a better platform for his job prospects as his appreciation for films is rivaled by his desire to start a career in journalism, and since MCM covers both, why not. He hopes to write for FiRST magazine or be part of an independent film production crew.

In his spare time, Indra shuffles between reading comic books, playing guitar and exploring music – the beats of Led Zeppelin and good music perk him up on any day; hence his unhealthy habit of staying up into the early hours of morning reading away his Marvel collection and hitting a few riffs on his Stratocaster. [top]

Melissa Sim
Reporter

Give her a pen and paper to take notes and you'll find Melissa doodling instead. Ever since secondary school Physics lessons, Melissa knew she wasn't cut out for textbooks and plunged readily into Ngee Ann's Mass Communication course, which emphasises hands-on learning instead.

She loves TV production and jumped at the chance to join the team at Channel NewsAsia's PrimeTime Morning during her internship. For her, waking up at 3am and walking through the morning mist to the News building has been a great experience. On her attachment, she also met 2 members of Linkin Park and had a chance to interview them, albeit for a short time.

She also loves the World Wide Web and uses web designing as an excuse to stare at her Apple iBook all day. She decided to combine her passion for TV and love for web design by becoming the web designer of Ngee Ann's campus TV station, CTV. She goes on shoots by day and designs by night, but it's her resemblance to a cartoon superhero that earned her the nickname of Mighty Mouse.

She may look small and innocent, but she's definitely a mosher and loves jumping around at concerts. She occasionally indulges in pop punk and is an avid supporter of local bands like Electrico.

When she's not bopping her head to music, Melissa returns to visual pleasures. She loves Nickleodeon toon series Invader Zim and thinks editorial cartoon Non Sequitur 's creator Wiley Miller is a genius.

Melissa wants to further her studies in Film and TV production in Australia, but she's waiting for a sponsor, or a sugar daddy, to finance her overseas stay. In the meantime, she'll be looking for a job in TV production and maybe her dream to work for Nickelodeon or Disney channel will come true. To offer her a scholarship or a job, email her at melissasim@gmail.com. [top]

Nadiah Binte Mohammad Yusoff
Reporter

"You're 19? You're kidding me, right?"

She's been asked that question so many times she sometimes she wonders if she is really 19.

Yes, though Nadiah Binte Mohammad Yusoff may look like a 12-year-old (this is something she'd never say it out loud; she's still in denial), she has been in this world long enough to know that

1. make-up does wonders to faces,
2. thin is not always beautiful,
3. Jude Law is the most gorgeous man alive and
4. black will always be the new black. Oh , and
5. that elephants are the only mammals that cannot jump.

Nadiah, or Nut, as she likes to be known, is very keen on fashion and would like to pursue a certificate in fashion design as soon as she graduates from the Mass Communication course in Ngee Ann Polytechnic. She already designs shoes and bags.

Beyond the black  tudung (Islamic headscarf) , Nut, is a bohemian princess in her own right. This eccentric girl loves sweet treats (especially caramel frappucino with caramel and chocolate drizzle from Starbucks Coffee) and often has eating marathons with her friends.

She loves cheap (and weird) clothes (nothing above $30 in her closet), free gigs, the arts, art, emo, rock, punk, jazz and indie music (for eg. Taking Back Sunday, Muse), writing, people-watching, flea markets (she visits them every other week), slippers, horror writer Stephen King, her blue Jack Purcells, vintage stuff, and playing in the rain.

Everything peculiar intrigues her (like why everybody has to own a Levi's) and she is always on the hunt to understand and learn new things. She is constantly fascinated with New York and would love to live there one day.

Her curses, faded memories, emotional trips, sell out dreams and angsty moments can be read at her precious blog.

Her current obsessions are The Oblongs, the late Frank Sinatra (she thinks he's got a GORGEOUS voice), her Colorsplash Camera, songs by The Beatles and Muse, collecting Milan Kundera's books and, naturally, trying to look older.

Tips anyone? [top]

Norjahan Makmon
Reporter

Norjahan Makmon is known to close friends as a lunatic who's always restless and prone to mood swings. She's one of the few people in this world who sincerely loves going to school. That should tell you a lot about her social life or lack thereof.

Norjahan's main passion is writing, so it's not uncommon to see her scribbling away in her journal every few seconds. Because books and movies are also close to her heart, she loves libraries and video rental stores.

Although her interest in film is extremely varied, Norjahan absolutely adores werewolf flicks. Her favourite werewolf film so far is An American Werewolf in London , while Howling: New Moon Rising takes the cake as the sorriest and most unintentionally hilarious ever in her list. She occasionally watches the latter when she's depressed or in the mood for line dancing.

When she's not worshipping werewolves, Norjahan breathes, eats and drinks Bollywood. She has memorised the lyrics of over 170 (at last count) Bollywood songs and annoys her family and close friends with her relentless singing. If a given a chance, she'd like to stalk, kidnap and marry Bollywood actor Aamir Khan .

Norjahan's many unhealthy obsessions include Coke (the drink!), teh tarik [a tea where air is folded into the drink through successively transferring the tea between cups held at a distance from each other], Solitaire and her teddy bear, Mr Bok (who is really her sister's smelly pillow reincarnated). In her previous life, Norjahan was Captain Jack Sparrow. [top]

Nur-Mashurie Mohtar
Reporter

Nur-Mashurie Mohtar, better known as Mash, is a girl at heart. Because of her friendly disposition, she rarely raises her voice at others. She takes advice and scolding positively and tries to work her way around a problem instead of just sulking over it.

The bubbly young lady loves her family and readily admits that without their constant tender loving care and encouragement, she wouldn’t be who she is today. Apart from family, the company of her friends never fails to lighten up her days. These are the people who make her feel special.

Her current obsession is Usher (www.usherworld.com), a well-known hip-hop singer who has a great voice and appealing dance grooves. Mash has almost all his songs and puts them on repeat mode on her Windows Media Player play list. Clubbing is when she gets to spend time with her cousins, unwind and be jolly. Oh yes! Shopping is her middle name. She cares about her dressing very much and she can make a cheap top look stunning. Amazingly, no one is any wiser.

She believes that patience, confidence and perseverance are the keys to opening doors in life. She also knows that wherever she goes, failure is inevitable. She has learnt to pick herself up each time she falls and be optimistic. “Two wrongs make one right,” she says. [top]

Perrine
Reporter

Perrine has the weirdest talents. She is a hairdresser who trained by snipping her own hair! She's proud to say that some of her friends' hair has been under the Perrine-treatment. Will she be the next David Gan ? We'll wait and see, shall we?

The girl also loves to draw. Unfortunately, she has no time to invest in art because of school work. She would have loved to have taken the Visual Communications course in Temasek Polytechnic but her mom thought it would be more beneficial for her to take Mass Communication. So up till now, Perrine is still looking for her calling. If she can't earn enough money by designing tattoos (and tattooing), she can always give psychic readings on the side and earn some pocket cash.

Perrine isn't kind to perverts so don't leave her armed with an umbrella too often. But then, when it comes to first-person games like Doom or Quake or whichever it is that has gross, lifelike monsters coming at you, she'll just run. She doesn't like to die in computer games.

There hasn't been a time where Perrine rejected chocolates. The only sinful situation is when she doesn't get her usual dose. There is one thing she'll love more than chocolates, and that is kimchi . Some hate the spicy Korean pickle, but Perrine loves it.

She also loves her darling pet cat, Keera. He's so cute she chews on him sometimes. She would want to return home to 7 cats and 2 large dogs but her mom told her to stick with dreaming about them.

Perrine also loves a good conversation over some afternoon tea. Yes, and conversation just isn't complete without some gossip too.

Perrine can provide a good listening ear and a mute tongue so if the psychic thing doesn't work out, she can be a counsellor. Friends say that she's sometimes too much of an analyst. But she sees it as a gift to be perceptive. Hopefully, by the time she graduates, she'll stop having to worry about what to do in the future. [top]

Pin-Ji
Reporter

It’s not uncommon for people to say that they hear Pin-Ji before they see her. No doubt she’s very loud, but only in front of people she’s comfortable with. Otherwise, she’s normal and sane, even bordering on being quiet at times. She loves laughing, and has even been accused of laughing too much sometimes.

Pin-Ji loves all her family members, relatives, and friends in her life and is always ready to help organise celebrations and gatherings. Pin-Ji very seldom bears grudges. She doesn’t believe in having too much of an attachment to negative stuff, as it’s only a matter of time before most of us outgrow them anyway.

She may have a high tolerance for many things, but not when people are extremely late for meetings, cancel at the last minute without a valid reason, or jump to conclusions without first checking out the details. Here’s 1 tip if you get on her wrong side. Just buy her an ice-blended mocha, for she is simply a sucker for those things to help her “cool down”.

Pin-Ji loves dolphins and the colour pink. She counts herself lucky to have had opportunities to visit many parts of the world, and owes her parents a lot for that. Her travel journal is therefore one of her most prized possessions, next to her mobile phone and portable CD player. Speaking of that, she is a whiz at speed SMSing, and probably spends too much money buying CDs rather than anything else. When it comes to leisure activities, she prefers to karaoke with a group of friends than watch a movie. Come to her if you need recommendations for a cheap KTV outing. It would be great if you could use the cash saved to treat her to a movie in return though. :)

Pin-Ji has gone through many phases of being into different things at different stages of her life. During her early teen years, she was very much the anglophile whose ideal travel destination was England, and she lived on a strict diet of magazines like Smash Hits and Bliss. Those main interests have gone through a transition to include soccer and Spain since then. Her knowledge of the EPL, Serie A and La Liga used to be on par with most of her male soccer-watching buddies, and she has attempted to educate herself in Español .

These days, however, Pin-Ji is very much contented to tune in to Taiwanese, Korean or Jap dramas on cable. Her listening preferences have also leaned towards Taiwanese hip-hop and Japanese R&B, with the likes of Machi, Ken Hirai and Namie Amuro. Don’t berate her for being fickle-minded yet – she is just learning to make sense of the world and to appreciate new things along the way. [top]

Samuel
Reporter

Having been mired at the crossroads of insanity and indulgence for many years has left Samuel in a perpetual state of listlessness.

Preoccupied with getting loaded to numb his dissatisfaction, he seeks the high rolling life that will grant him catharsis, a respite from the mundanity of it all. [top]

Shawn
Reporter

A true oddball, Shawn prefers keeping his own company to chasing the whims of the frenetic world. Of course, you could always coax him out with the promise of good food, as he foolishly believes in the maxim of �gwhosoever gives you good food can't be a bad person�h.

This avid anime and manga fan counts as his favourites Ghost in the Shell, 12 Kingdoms, Neon Genesis Evangelion and Blade of The Immortal. You might have seen him scuttling around at cosplays in Singapore, events where people don the garb of their favourite anime characters and generally have lots of fun.

Growing up on a staple diet of RPGs (Role Playing Games) such as the Final Fantasy series, Wild ARMs, Suikoden, Xenogears , Shawn's beloved music pieces, not surprisingly, also come from the soundtracks of said games. Besides game music, he is also a big fan of Rock and Alternative bands like the Smashing Pumpkins , Marilyn Manson Radiohead, Rammstein and Conjure One.

He also fences (pointy swords and not pickets) in his spare time and collects various types of knives. Besides such seemingly violent inclinations, he also has a thing for flat rocks and interesting dinner spoons.

He hopes one day to make beautiful and engaging computer games with a few close friends. Storylines, environment and character designs are being crafted. [top]

Winston Tay
Reporter

Probably the oldest of the new UrbanWire inductees, 27-year-old Winston has gone through many career changes before returning to studenthood at Ngee Ann Polytechnic and becoming a writer in these pages. Notable mentions through his working life include being a furniture delivery boy, construction worker, stage crew, waiter, bartender, High Court transcriber, web administrator, content editor for a legal website and graphic designer (try saying that in one breath).

Winston also has a weak spot for powerful computers, shiny electronic gadgets, good design sense, chillout music, Leonidas chocolates and puppies. He also wouldn't mind a little bit of money now and then either.

Besides suffering the student life, Winston spends his time doing web and graphic design for kicks, cooking the odd barbeque and shooting aliens on his mobile phone while waiting for public transport. Meanwhile, he continually maintains that, contrary to popular opinion, he does in fact still have a life. [top]

Zareen
Reporter

Arrogant. Vain. Bimbo. Those are some of the words that come to people's minds when they look at Zareen for the first time. The sashay in her walk, the confidence she exudes and the pride she takes in her dressing just gives onlookers a certain stereotype of her.

However, Zareen is far from arrogant. She loves making new friends and having fun. She believes that   �glaughter is the best medicine�h. She is definitely not a bimbo but she can get rather blur at times (she's often in her own little world). She is a fashion addict and like most girls, loves shopping.

Music flows through her veins like her own blood. Being born into a musically-inclined family (her father plays the keyboards, while her mom sings in their band and), Zareen sings and dances her way through life. She listens to a variety of genres of music ranging from R&B to slow rock and will never give up the chance to learn a new kind of dance or song.

Her love for music led her to creating and hosting her own R&B radio show called Blackout, which airs on the Ngee Ann Polytechnic campus radio station, Radio Heatwave ( www.radioheatwave.com ). Though the technical system poses a challenge to her (she's a techno idiot), her knowledge in music usually saves her.

Her motto: Salsa your way through life! [top]

The Promos People

Caleb Ng Wei Chuen
Promotions

Caleb hates writing about himself, which is why this biography is gonna be pretty short, and, of course, sweet too. However, a more truthful reason is because Caleb is writing this in the middle of the night and is too tired and lazy to reveal too much about himself. He says, “If you wanna know me, get to know me personally lah!”

Like most typical guys, Caleb is a die-hard soccer fan and dreams of the day he will play soccer on a competitive stage. However, he has to lose some weight first. But he can dream right?

“Crazy” is Caleb’s middle name. Caleb is crazy and usually does stupid and lame things to keep himself sane. But he always claims it’s all in the name of fun. [top]

Lynn Chong
Promotions

According to her friends, Lynn is:
1. a very blur girl who always seems to be the slowest in catching a joke,
2. a very skinny girl (but in fact, she’s not) and
3. one of those girls who often complains of having no appetite, yet eats the most at the dinner table, after which, she would never fail to complain about herself becoming fat.

But what her friends don’t know is that Lynn is always thinking of things. What are those things? We have absolutely no idea. What we do know is that having gone through a tumultuous year of repeating her ‘O’ levels and family problems, Lynn has definitely matured and come to look at stuff from a different perspective. In a way, this has made her more confident and determined to achieve the goals that she sets for herself.

Since then, Lynn has “played” defense in the field of exhibitions and trade shows, as a project coordinator. Though she suffered an injury shortly after the second half, Lynn has gained immense experience, being sold to the Poly club, Mass Communication.

Initially, she was lost in the fascinating yet chaotic world of Mass Communication. However, having survived the first 2 years, we can say that Lynn has been brainwashed and has immersed herself into a busy 3rd year of juggling school work, Publicity, Advertising & Promotions for www.theurbanwire.com, and being an apprentice; learning business and management skills by experiencing the life of a Future Businesswoman In Power Suit!

Will she make it through or should she just give up and go be a cheerleader? To cast your votes, send your email to lynnchong@gmail.com. [top]