Natalie Tan (23A01B)

Book Reviews, Opinion, Raffles Reviews

Raffles Reads: The Macanese Pro-Wrestler’s Cookbook
Reading Time: 4 minutes

By Natalie Tan (23A01B) 

Raffles Reads is a collaboration between Raffles Press and Times Reads which aims to promote a reading culture among Singaporean students.

Rating: 4/5

After his parents’ death, former pro-wrestler Zeke Oliveira returns to Macau from America and spends his days running their restaurant by the beach, purposeless but for cooking good food. 

When someone rigs Zeke’s best friend’s car to explode, killing him right outside his restaurant, Zeke throws himself headlong into hunting down his murderers through the alleyways and hotel rooms of the city, eventually stumbling upon an organ harvesting conspiracy that threatens both his life and his understanding of his own cultural identity.  

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Commentary, Features, Humans of RI, Student Features

Interesting Hobbies: A Collection of Collectors
Reading Time: 8 minutes

By Hsiao Jia Ying (23A01C), Natalie Tan (23A01B), and Tay Yu Ning (23S06E)

When asked about how they spend their free time, the average RI student would probably respond with: “I play video games!”, “I listen to music!”, or even the very sad, “I’m behind on lectures so I have no free time”. But for Randall Neo (23A01E), his hobby is collecting vinyls. Every once in a while, he goes down to the vinyl store to flip through their vinyls, before picking out just one or two that he likes. 

Randall is but one of several students in RI who have the uncommon hobby of collecting unconventional items. 

From empty bubble tea cups to bus memorabilia and twentieth-century-pressed vinyls, these students’ hobbies have allowed them to discover a new side to themselves as well as connect with others having similar interests. 

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Arts, CCA Events, Commentary, School Life

A Very Potter Musical: Friendship Is Magic
Reading Time: 8 minutes

By Lara Tan (22A01B), Mei Feifei (22A13A), Mirella Ang (22A01C), and Natalie Tan (23A01B)

Photos from Raffles Photographic Society and Koo Yu Tang (22S06B)

A Very Potter Musical isn’t your typical Broadway musical. 

For one, it has never actually been performed in the glamorous limelights of Broadway, or the West End for that matter. It isn’t a huge commercial blockbuster like Hamilton, neither is it particularly well-known to most musical theatre-goers. 

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CCA Events, School Life, Sports

Bringing the Championship Home: Girls’ Softball Finals 2022
Reading Time: 6 minutes

By Faith Ho (22A01A) and Natalie Tan (23A01B)

Photos courtesy of Raffles Photographic Society

On 24 May, RI’s Softball Girls team stepped onto the River Valley High School field to play finals against Hwa Chong, whom they had been defeated by in one of the preliminary rounds. Fresh from a stunning victory against 5-time champion ACJC in a nail-biting match, the team were eager to seize this opportunity to clinch the gold and steal back a win from Hwa Chong.

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Commentary, Features, School Life

Demystifying the RI Finance Bro
Reading Time: 5 minutes

By Anamika Ragu (23A01A), Natalie Tan (23A01B), Tang Lanyun (23S05A)

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that Singapore is a money-centric society.”

Boris Liu (23A01A)

The trope of the Finance Bro (also known as Crypto Bro) means nothing good on the Internet. Images of the Original Finance Bros come to mind, the likes of Elon Musk, Warren Buffet and the Wolf of Wall Street himself.

However, thanks to globalisation or just chronically-online entrepreneurial chancers, the label has wormed its way into the hallowed halls of Raffles Institution, culminating in a micro-epidemic that has plagued the great minds of the future. 

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