Kann?

Kann Sie das machen?

Err... OK... kann, kann!

Danke!

See? It's that simple. and oh-so-universal. Can. And yet, it is being touted as uniquely Singaporean! Oso can? can.

Next Blog>>

Okay!
I finally got curious enough to follow the 'next blog>>' link at the top of the page and discovered these:
http://benrobert7238.blogspot.com/

http://millerjune.blogspot.com/

http://chatdemon.blogspot.com/

http://tullprat.blogspot.com/

http://kamkunji.blogspot.com/

http://jiandanai.blogspot.com/

http://dlennis.blogspot.com/

http://fantasyforever.blogspot.com/

http://samspadegrins.blogspot.com/

http://geam.blogspot.com/

http://margretinga.blogspot.com/

http://gentheoryofrubbish.blogspot.com/

http://hyster.blogspot.com/

http://shittyaishah.blogspot.com/

http://ergoparty.blogspot.com/

http://porthopesimpson.blogspot.com/

http://lancelet78.blogspot.com/

http://unbeso.blogspot.com/

http://herrat.blogspot.com/

Till I finally landed at:
ERRORThe requested URL could not be retrieved

A number of Malaysian blogs, a couple from the US, one from Iran, another from sweden, one in spanish from an unknown location and one (presumably) from SG. This is fun! Should try it once in a while to discover other blogs.

Filmmakers indeed!

Chanel wanted to go to this place yesterday. There was some final screening of the 4th Asian Film Symposium. So, I happily went. And what a laugh riot it was.

Seems these guys (who are great by the way) called for 'emerging' filmmakers from Malaysia to come down and make films on Singapore-Malaysia. Being dimly aware of the fact that the region shares enormous common history, I went prepared for some insights into the Singaporean-Malaysian minds, the commonalities, the cultural similarities etc.

Even the blurb on the official website sounded promising enough:

"The idea for this project first came about during one of those late night bus trips to Malaysia. It grew from the desire to understand a country and neighbour that is so close and familiar to us, but we seemingly know so little about. How are our dreams and desires different? What are the things that we notice about the other but we can never see ourselves?

The premise of this project is simple - three Singaporean filmmakers travel to Malaysia and three Malaysian filmmakers come to Singapore, each of them will make a short film about the other country. There are no restrictions on the genre, theme or subject of the film. The only constraint is that the each film should be kept to 5 minutes.

All the filmmakers worked independently with a small crew, and often just by themselves with no elaborate set-ups or bulky equipment. Each film was conceived, shot and edited within a period of around three to four weeks.

So here are the final results of this project and experiment - six short films by six talented young filmmakers from Singapore and Malaysia. Each of these films is a unique and personal journey in crossing boundaries and an exploration about seeing each other through another's eyes. "

Interesting right? What we got however was infantile attempts at storytelling, by pseudos pretending to be filmmakers. That is unfair. Not all of them were that bad. Aaron Chung's 'Shoot the Malaysian' for instance made the audience laugh at least. In some sort of a roundabout, beating-around-the-bush way, one could call it a satire. Even 'Goodbye Firefly' by Victric Thng (don't ask me how one pronounces that!) had some insightful moments.

But I never found anything good about all the other works. Some were just too esoteric "Do I ever linger there" by SooKoon Ang and others plain left-hanging "Job Interview" by Khoo Eng Yow. Towards the end, Chanel and I were so pissed off, that we exited halfway through the meet-the-filmmakers session.

All the while I kept thinking that pamulla anna should have been here. He would have cribbed and cribbed and cribbed and finally, exhausted, would have taken his bullet, gotten me to sit behing with camera and tripod, and driven all the way to KL just to prove a point.

It would have been fun for sure. I must do something about getting myself a camera!

Just launched... SMS novel! What next?

Chinese author gives new meaning to phone book

Qian Fuzhang's SMS novel sent to cellphones in 2 daily instalments, 70 characters each time
SHANGHAI - As a critically acclaimed writer of dense, doorstop-size novels, Qian Fuzhang said he has finally developed a guilty conscience.

Moreover, as a writer in a country that tends not to pay its authors well, he faces a challenge familiar to writers everywhere: how to make a living cranking out prose.
Now, at the age of 42, Qian, whose inventive, imagery-laden work has been compared here to Latin American novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez, thinks he has found a solution to both problems.

The author's answer, entitled Out Of The Fortress, showed up on tens of thousands of mobile phone screens last week.

It is the short-message novel, a new literary genre for the harried masses in a society that seems to be redefining what it means to be harried.

Weighing in at a mere 4,200 words, Out Of The Fortress is like a marriage between haiku and Hemingway, and will be published for its audience of cellphone readers at a bite-sized 70 characters at a time - including spaces and punctuation marks - in two daily instalments.
Other 'readers' may choose to call the 'publisher', hurray.com, a short-message distribution company, to listen to a recording of each day's story as it unfolds. All this for a small fee charged, like any text message, directly to the reader's mobile phone account.

Qian, whose real name is He Xingnian, said in an interview: 'In this age, with a flood of information, I thought it was cruel to force readers to wrestle with a 200,000-word book.'
Out Of The Fortress made its debut last Friday.

The first words paraphrase a famous literary passage from another author, Zhang Ailing, a coded message between two lovers arranging their secret rendezvous: 'Meet the one you met for thousands of years, in the borderless wilderness of the time, neither a step before nor a step behind. Be there right on time.'

The idea of publishing his book by phone evolved naturally, said Mr He, a native of Inner Mongolia who now lives in the southern city of Guangzhou. Asked to describe the novel in 70 words or less, he failed woefully, speaking for several minutes before being told he had exceeded his word limit.

'The word 'fortress' is a metaphor for marriage in Chinese,' he said. 'People on the inside want to get out. People on the outside want to get in, meaning having extramarital affairs.
'My book is about two people who have a passionate affair, which is not supported by morality or law, but is very understandable.'

If his explanation of his book's theme ran on a bit, his timing of its publication is impeccable, when e-mail has replaced old-fashioned letters only to be replaced in turn by text messages in much of the world.

With its phenomenal economic growth and huge ambitions, China is in the throes of change.
In addition to providing the usual functions, such as e-mail and Web surfing that are already commonplace in East Asia, China's mobile phone world has become the latest frontier of individual enterprise.

Self-styled comedians sell jokes to the humour-challenged. Others sell pick-up lines and romantic advice to the bashful or socially awkward, such as this pearl: 'Stop always asking your boyfriend to accompany you shopping. Men seldom like shopping and forcing it can trigger rebellion.'

So far, critics are divided on the value of the new form, with some scathing reviews that call it a cheapening of literature.

'As a linguistic art, a novel is to be read and, through reading, you savour the characters and appreciate the atmosphere,' wrote one critic, Ye Yu, in the People's Daily. 'If it's only information you're after, reading news is better. The speed of communication shouldn't overwhelm the feeling one gets from reading novels.' Mr He denied that he writes banalities.

'Of course, the storytelling is different from the traditional novel because the technology allows only 70 words per message, and limiting yourself to that length is very challenging,' he said.
'One might ask: 'Can you attain the same literary depth?' 'But I don't think literary merit is decided by the number of characters. Poems in the Song dynasty had few words but were very deep.' -- The New York Times

World 66

Sometimes get damn pissed about the fact that most (if not all) of the content providers on the www have conveniently decided to allot PoK to Pakistan? Where the hell is that familiar crown at the head of India I grew up drawing?

911 anniv

It is three years since this guy struck terror into the hearts of humanity, and the big brother can only offer a 'he's on the run' as a miserable excuse. Am almost entirely convinced by Michael Moore's rants and raves now. This really wasn't that far off the mark, if you excuse the overwhelming animosity directed towards the Prez.

Something's gotta give...

The big boss just returned from his escapade to Rome. Seems like he had a great time, accomplished a lot and then some more. Came back to give us loads of gyan, some interesting anecdotes and even insights into a woman's mind.

And then it was time for the usual edutainment. This time around it was this. When I grow old, I wish I could be more like this guy. He's cool. And the dialogues seem so tailor-made for him. Whenever I see anyone with a sharks grin smile and shades, irrespective of how young or old they are, or even how they look, I am reminded of him.

I remember being fascinated by his character as the Joker in the Batman movie. Speaking about which, he memorably said, "I was particularly proud of my performance as the Joker. I considered it a piece of pop art." That is something, coming from the badshah of understatement!

If I were Singaporean.....

An award that comes at the write time

Help is on hand for aspiring young writers who want to concentrate on their craft, thanks to a $60,000 fellowship that was launched yesterday
By Ng Hui Hui

WANTED: a full-time writer. The deal: a one-year contract. Monthly salary: $4,000. Bonus: $6,000. Pre-requisite: Must have published works before.

The National University of Singapore's (NUS) Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and The Arts House are investing $60,000 in a fellowship programme to spur the development of Singapore's creative writing scene.

Out of the total sum, $54,000 will be set aside as remuneration for the successful applicant and the remaining $6,000 for administration and marketing expenses. Besides working on the creative piece during the one-year period, the fellow also has to plan and conduct public programmes according to the proposal he or she submitted during the application process.

'We cannot stress enough the importance of the fellow's responsibilities, not only to his art but also to the community at large,' said Mr Phan Ming Yen, director of artistic development for The Arts House.

This is the first such initiative in Singapore.

The Singapore Literature Prize, one of the existing literary awards, offers lump sums of $10,000, $5,000 and $1,000 to the three best entries in four languages. But none of the prizes offers a fellowship attachment.

Writer Meira Chand, one of the judges on the selection panel, says: 'I think such an initiative is long overdue. Young emerging writers need a programme like this where they can commit themselves fully to writing without worrying about anything else, especially finances.'
As the fellowship is dedicated to nurturing emerging writers, an applicant's first published work should not be more than seven years old.

The appointed fellow, who must be a Singaporean or permanent resident, has to complete a English creative work in any writing genre.

The Arts House and NUS will then look to publishing the completed work or staging the play. Copyright belongs to the writer.

'As this is a first for us, we're starting only with one award and focusing on English works,' says associate professor John Richardson, the vice-dean of the faculty. 'We hope to make it an annual award and expand its scope to include works from other languages, too.'

Proposals with detailed ideas for public arts programmes must be submitted together with portfolios. There are no pre-determined criteria for the nature or number of programmes except that they should aim to engage other aspiring writers in critical discussions and stimulate their interest in writing.

The applicants' portfolios and proposals will be assessed by a six-member panel comprising Ms Chand, Mr Phan, associate professors Richardson and Robbie Goh, publisher Goh Eck Kheng and Ms Mary Loh, director of audience development of The Arts House.

Application forms can be obtained from The Arts House. Closing date: Sept 30. For enquiries, call 6332-6900 or e-mail phan_mingyen@toph.com.sg.

Random thought

Every once in a while, in my professional life, I run into this person who stares me in the eye and tells me bluntly that I'm wasting my time trying to be a writer.

A part of me protests, thinking, "If I really sucked, then why would so many people have paid me good money and hired me for so long to write for them?" At times like these, I am reminded of the following anonymous quote:

"Writing is a lot like sex.
At first you do it because you like it.
Then you find yourself doing it for a few close friends and people you like.
But if you're any good at all...
...you end up doing it for money!"

Almost immediately however, I am reminded of the kind of people who have been paying me to write for them, and I shudder. If this is the kind of writing I continue to do, I will be letting my own self down. Forget about living through my 'works', much beyond my time!

But I seriously need to know... Am I really wasting my time trying to be a writer?

Open letter...

To the Management,
ABC Hellhole Inc.,
Singapore.

From
Prakup,
Victim-in-residence
ABC Hellhole Inc.,

Sir,

Sub: An open letter regarding what I truly feel

With reference to the above, I wish to say a few things that I have been bottling-up for six months now. It was exactly six months ago that I boarded a flight to come to Singapore. At that point in time, I had a great deal to look forward to. A good, writing job. Some great pay. And the promise of the one 'break' that had been eluding me for so long.

I joined ABC Hellhole Inc., with hope in my heart and dreams in my head. And with my eyes wide open I might add. When I did begin working here, I found some modes of operation very strange. But I adapted as quickly as I could. I found some of the rules and regulations pretty stifling. But I conformed to the best of my ability. I found some of the people strange, but I chose to work with them nevertheless. I even found myself doing everything but writing — something that I was specifically hired for — but I grinned and bore it.

Three months passed and there seemed to be no impact. Instead of getting to be easier, life here only became harder to handle. Strange new rules and regulations cropped up. People became stranger still. Colleagues were hired, fired and many others left on their own. Departments began to crumble. Newer departments rose from the ashes. Policies changed. People changed. Yet the chaos remained the same.

I'm not insinuating that this is peculiar to this company alone. I've had my fair share of places and I've seen other place go to pot. But the problem here, unlike in other places, is not the bottomline. ABC Hellhole has more money that it could ever need in the next decade. There is a well-established steady source of income and a fascinating, one-of-its-kind business model that will ensure it. Talented people have begun choosing to work here and Universities of repute are keen to tie-up with us.

But for unfathomable reasons, people here seem to thrive on illogicality and petty-mindedness. The top management may not be a part of this. I would like to believe that they are far too busy with bigger, more visionary decisions to take note of such petty politics. But it is the Managers and the leaders who are solely responsible.

Which is why, working here is a misery that I can no longer endure. But the anger at the system compels me to make this last-ditch attempt to make things better.

Hire with a cause
This is my number one grouse. Staff here is hired without any rhyme or reason. They are like standby jack-of-all-trades, ready to fill the slot of anyone who happens to leave or is fired. Which is why you have writers who don't write, media managers who don't get around to managing media, accountants who have practically nothing to do with accounts, qualified trade professionals who push paper and so on. All of them knowing that what they are doing today is not necessarily what they are trained for. And aware that the brief could push them to another, totally unrelated field tomorrow. Which brings me to the second grouse...

Attrition
I've been told that this sort of a 'system' encourages adaptability and speed to market. I agree. The only speed to market that it has achieved is the exit of valuable employees to the job market. Ever wondered why so many people choose to leave, most of them, even without a job in hand? Well, have you heard the 'can't-take-this-shit-anymore' call that reverberates through the hallways? That is the attempt of the dour-faced, miserable employees who want to communicate with you.

Trust
I've always been told that Singapore is a nation that thrives on surveillance culture. But you don't have to be the shining star of this you know. For one thing, you are wasting good money on monitoring innocent activities. And for the other, you are creating an atmosphere of distrust among your employees. All the hallways have CCTV cameras. All the floors of access parameters. The top management is literally out-of-bounds for the others and you have a fabulous spy network that leads back to you. Do you still wonder why so many employees hate the sight of you?

Expats
This is a personal grouse. I'm convinced that despite all attempts to make us believe that it does not exist, racism is a reality in Singapore. Subtle yes, understated yes, but a living, thriving reality nevertheless. And this can be seen in the case of a majority of the expats. Oh! And I'm not talking about the over S$ 7000, expat-terms expats here. I'm talking about those who settle for full local terms or less, in order to build a career in Singapore.

Like the six-months-ago me, these people come with hope in their hearts and dreams in their head. They are well qualified, talented and have achieved some measure of success in their chosen professions in their home countries. They have enjoyed a decent standard of living and have accomplished much in their careers. When they applied for a job here however, little did they know they were going to be viewed as supplicants!

For that is what your 'system' makes them. Because they are new to the place, the people and the work ethic, they learn by observation. And the new convert to paranoia is the most paranoid one. Not just that, they are also the ones to be bullied into submission, as my own case will amply reveal.

to be continued...

Nifty!

Yahoo Shortcuts!

And then....

Ollie sez it best:


I feel the world closing in
I feel the clouds coming in
I just wonder why the world rewards
Only those who live in sin

What say?