Saturday 30 July 2011

Big Bang Theory

So, many people were left quite stunned after a Norwegian 32-yr old left his guns rip at the youth camp outside Oslo. This blond and blue-eyed intellectual, now monster, decided to unleash his angst on innocents in an attempt to teach Europeans about the threat of Marxism and Islam on their homeland. He planned his attack, carefully and methodically. This is the type of guy who's the unsub on Criminal Minds. Creepy shit come true.

People angry with their own people. Not uncommon, with most differences are religious - Shia and Shiites have been at for centuries, British Protestants and Catholics at each other since the time of KIng Henry's VIII. Political and ideological differences are clearly cause for trouble too. Even Greenpeace has got itself into a fair share of scuffles to get their point of view across. We are not meant to get along it seems.

What stood out from this Norway incident is that no one really expected a local to run amok and armed with the intent to kill in a country that's generally very peaceful. That's the danger - not expecting things to go wrong. We had one example in the US with the Oklahoma bombings. Timothy McVeigh was one unhappy guy, upset with his government, their actions and hypocrisy. He apparently regretted not levelling the whole Federal Building (but also would have considered changing the target if he knew there was a day care center there.) Although many people knew about McVeigh's contentious views, they didn't think he would go so far. All those incidents of gun rage in US schools too stem from the same source - disgruntlement then violent action.

Going to far - why not? In this age of bigger and better, a terrorist act is only as big as it's effects. I blame the modern media and the way we consume it. We long for the special, theatrical, mega-super-uber, even explosive. We pay attention to Lady Gaga because she's made it a point to look different each time she's on camera. There are enough talent shows out there to turn any teen into a wannabe-anything. Even the losers and talentless like William Hung and Rebecca Black make people take notice, intentionally or otherwise, because they suck. Funny isn't it. So with money to purchase materials, scientific knowledge available on the Internet to put together an explosive device and enough balls to try something new, almost anyone in modern world can let go his own big bang. Anders Behring Breivik had an agenda to boot. His tweet "One person with a belief is equal to the force of 100,000 who have only interests" speak volumes about his thoughts and actions.

So what can we do about this? It could simply be asking someone if everything is ok. Talking about stuff helps. That's why the SG gahmen wants to be seen as consultative (to varying degrees of success and response) and inclusive. If everyone is treated fairly, or at least given a voice, then we'll likely not need to deal with such dramatic endings. Parents need to keep talking to their kids, friends need to be asking friends stuff, teachers need to be looking out for their students. We all need to appreciate universal good and bad, that some actions are just wrong morally. Opposing views and dissent have their avenues. We all need to keep a level head and eyes open. Please, for all our sakes.

Sunday 24 July 2011

Amy Winehouse

The first time I really took notice of Amy Winehouse was when I heard 'Take The Box' on a Gilles Peterson compilation. I thought she was black, not a white 20-something from Britain of all places. It is a very interesting song, about a woman who's not afraid to tell her man to suck it and leave. And she's returning the Moschino bra in the box. There's the f-word in the song, all the more to sit up and take notice of the song, and the album, Frank, that got Mercury Prize nominated. (Mercury Prize nominations are way more important, I feel, than the Grammys or any of the other popular awards because they don't represent the mainstream, and albums are assessed on their technical arrangements and quality by industry experts and journalists.)

Take The Box


The song that really gets me from Frank is In My Bed. Wahlau, what a song. Once again, a telling-it-like-it-is number with an awesome jazzy arrangement, good beat andsmart, provocative lyrics, a woman being a player. "The only time I hold you hand is to get the angle right" Made me laugh yet knew the world was listening to someone who was ready to change the way female singers were going to be accepted.

In My Bed


She's tattoo-less in these videos, and one can truly appreciate how actually quite beautiful she was.

The next best thing came out 3 years later in 2006 - Back To Black. Most people know the album for Rehab, a sort of ironic look at her life. She then won Record and Song Of The Yeat at the Grammys and that took her stardom to a new level. (She couldn't get into the US because there were some visa issues so she performed via satelite, and I can still remeber how stunned she was when they announced the Record Of The Year award. She was frozen stiff, hands to her mouth. Her band member had to shake her out of the stasis.) Apart from Rehab, the other commercial gems there were Back To Black, You Know I'm No Good and Love Is A Losing Game. The other winner for that album's success was Mark Ronson, who managed to create a old-skool soul feel and yet copy anything that anyone else had done. He got a lot of credit for the work he put in and it set him up as one of the best young producers in the business.

You Know I'm No Good


We all heard about her drinking and drug issues. And her beehive hairdo started looking dirty. Some people blame her ex-husband for introducing her to party drugs. One of my friends commented some years ago she will die young if she keeps this up. And now at age 27, it comes true. Instead of the Internet, I read about this in the papers. The headline made my gut contract, like the tragedy was closer to home. The scant report wasn't comprehensive but it was enough, and slowly I returned to breakfast.

One can only sympathise with the loss of a great talent but probably not with the life choices she made. The funny thing about her death, and Michael Jackson's, is that people suddenly come out of the woodwork claiming to know her well and her death is a great loss to the world. Seriously, those close to her should have done something more to set her straight. No one should leave these alcoholic depressive creative types alone, ever. They need constant supervision like 2 year olds do.

Well, not much more to be said. We'll always have Amy's songs, on wondrous repeat.

Sunday 17 July 2011

Relearning Phones

Some weeks ago, I managed to smash my iPhone to bits. The damage was bad enough for the repair dude to exclaim it was the worst he had seen thus far. The bill for repair would have come up to $225 and the device still wouldn't have worked properly. So I decided to fix the connector to get my data out - a $50 punishment for my silly antics. No more WhatsApp, no more Instagram, no more Scrabble, no more Angry Birds.

My first subsitute was my sister's Blackberry 9500. It was the simplest option available. I decided to take my chances. It has a touch screen and mobile Internet capabilities. I tried installing the Facebook app but it refused to work. It's wonky in the sense the brower has the Starhub logo upon startup while connecting through a Singtel SIM card. Then it started to hang and perform slower than usual. Randomly, it would refuse the data connection.

So I decided to swing the other way completely - I got the lowest end Nokia possible, the Nokia 1280 for $38 from an Ah Beng shop in Hougang. The motivation was not have a potentially wonky phone knowing full well I would not have any music or the Internet. I went forth with my reservist-friendly choice (it had no camera too) (notice the change in tense). I had to SMS with the old skool alphanumeric keypad. It couldn't read my SIM card contact beyond N and so spent a weekend night manually entering names and numbers. I chose sensible tones and updated profiles. All very basic and simple, and refreshingly fun. I later found that I could not hear callers clearly. That was the only real setback for which I was about to get the accompanying earpiece. I had learnt to let go quite effectively and adjusted to the initial technological catastrophe nicely.

A few days ago, I left my precious retro fling in the back of a taxi. It was too late to do anything when I discovered the loss.

Now, I have reverted to my sister's Blackberry in the hope it would last till my upgrade period kicks in - 10 October. What I learned from this experience is that sometimes we attach ourselves too strongly to material things that we feel we cannot live without. I know a guy who went out and got a replacement iPhone within a day when his went missing for fear for further iPhone-rejection symptoms. I was pissed when I lost the Nokia because of the sudden inconvenience and the wasted effort to key in all those numbers. Took a few hours to get over that. It was made simpler when I compared the matter to the incompetence and inefficiencies I encountered on a half visit back to the army for a reservist mobilization briefing.

Perspective - important to re-evaluate yours every now and then.

Sunday 10 July 2011

Moving For Kids' Sakes But There's More To It *Wink, wink*

A friend mentioned she's moving to another part of Singapore in a couple of years. The family is strategically re-positioning themselves to ensure their eldest child gets into their school of choice. One half of the married couple is an alumnus and that makes it a shoe-in for the little tyke to be accepted into the 'prestigious' school. The open-inverted commas are my caveat since perceptions of success are relative. Additionally, my friend mentioned that her part of the island had undesirable influences and I assume she wouldn't want her kids mixing with these crowds (plural because she mentioned more than 1 group of residents she wasn't too fond of).

Her responses were a little startling at first but I could understand where she was coming from taking a deeper look at the hows and whys of the matter. If one has the opportunity and the financials to ensure a supposed better life for one's kids, why not? It's natural for parents to want the best for their offspring. The best sometimes means eliminating potential hazards as opposed to providing something.

I am not agreeing completely with her rationale though. In fact it is somewhat disturbing to think that Singapore society was becoming this polarised based on social class and behaviours. It might be inevitable I guess. Just look at the way well-off New Yorkers make fun of New Jersey folk, or even how some Singaporeans think they're better than Malaysians. Her demographic set probably feels the same way (graduate parents). Parents who have studied longer, hold highly-paid jobs and perhaps are more ambitious in life also want their kids to eventually achieve the same. Once again, striking when there's a chance. I know other friends who have shipped out lock, stock and barrel to new homes near to 'good' schools. Property developers blatantly list school names in their ads to draw buyers seeking the close proximity route to getting their kids into these institutions.

Makes we wonder who then sends kids to regular, neighbourhood schools. Less educated residents? Those without clout in better schools? Do better schools have special teachers and methods that give their students an advantage when every kid sits for the same examination? Maybe mixing with average kids leads to nurturing average kids. I remember my dad asking me to hang with the smart kids. Not sure if that worked out as planned.

Singapore is a small, young country but the social strata have clear splits. Problems may come when those who are better well off fail to understand the needs of those at the lower end of the success ladder. Not everyone can be successful, it's sort of a law of nature in human societies. The questions that become relevant are - is the widening gap between the haves and have-nots making for an unstable nation? Are there even locations in Singapore that the well-off avoid because undesirable folks live there, a ghetto or 'slum' perhaps? What happens when well-off folk happen to congregate in a particular neighbourhood? Do they kids all get stressed out together, competing in good schools? (There has to be a 'worst' class in these schools, right? Law of human societies, remember. I'm sure there are deviants lurking about there too. Deviants with money. Hmmm) Do they deserve a greater say in running the country because they pay more taxes? How obliged are they to better circumstances for those who are not so well-off? As usual, most of this burden falls back on the government but there are pitfalls in our policy of meritocracy that the stated law of human societies cannot solve.

Look at how polarized China has become. Rich urban east versus poor rural rest of country, In my view, it's a ticking timebomb of social unrest. I wouldn't want to see the same here but we cannot stop the innate need for something better. We need to temper it with common sense though, and perhaps with a dose of reality and heart. We can't always get what we want.

Saturday 9 July 2011

Don't Kid Your Kids

It's late on Friday night and I have had too many beers and too much carbo for supper to be sleeping. So while George Michael wails away on Kissing A Fool on the radio, I attend to my much neglected blog.

Twice this evening the issue of slack parenting came up. Well perhaps not slack but more specifically inadequate discipline. I started the day with a tweet on how domestic workers (I Don't Can't Tell You Why by The Eagles is now on) end up carrying the school bags of their employers's kids as they escort the young masters and mistresses to school. A nation of softies I thought were indirectly breeding, inculcating the idea that there would always be someone else around to do the hard work.

Later in the early evening, as my colleagues and I rallied about hastily set up table at Ai Mien Bar at Capitol Tower (cheap beers, not so good service), I happened to end up discussing the way I handle or rather discipline my nephew with a colleague who also has 4 nephews and nieces to contend with. (Eyes Without A Face by Billy Idol is now playing). She expressed that kids these days have changed from running around a restaurant to being glued to a portable device at the table. She remarked that "in her time", the entire family was gathered at the dining table from 6 to 7pm for dinner and conversation. Pretty regimented but it got the meal and necessities settled. No TV, no magazines, no games on iPhones. I replied that kids these days put their energies into the instant entertainment gizmos that promised their growing, hungry brains all the zap and zing they could handled. My colleagues went on to talk about spending time scampering in longkangs and finding spiders among tall grass. (Sting now sings Fragile) Kids today didn't seek these active pursuits, and would rather not sweat while fixated with television or handheld games. What was interesting was the conclusion that parents today, having had lived through tough times and tough love when they were growing up, didn't want to put their kids through such hardship and instead enjoy the best things in life. (It's Gary Moore now, with Still Got The Blues For You) We both agreed that this was not the right thing to do.

Even later in the evening, after more beers and a KIlkenny, this topic was raised among good friends, a couple with a couple of tyrants of their own. They had decided not to over-manja their kids with toys and the like. On trips to the neighbourhood mall, the eldest daughter would bawl and go into hysterics over the many Barbie dolls she could not acquire. (Sway by Michael Buble). Mummy would go to the shop owner to agree with that the dolls in question would be 'kept for purchase later', a secret code for 'yeah, we're not buying anything but my kid is crying so you understand yah'. I went to say my nephew had 30 toys.

Children don't know the value of money. (It's a Carole King song now. One To One) It's out job to teach them. If they're given everything, they won't learn the value of an honest day's work. Or hard labour for that matter. It does them little good to know that each time they cry, they're placated with a gift or toy or ice cream. There's a Bob Dylan song that goes "You can't always get what you want. But you get what you need.". I sing that song to my nephew whenever his whims aren't satisfied. (The end of Oh Very Young by Cat Stevens) (Besame Mucho by somebody. The song has been covered to death)

Trying saying no to your kids and teach them a valuable lesson. Repeat after me "No, you cannot have that toy" "No, you cannot have an ice cream" (Oh Very Young by Cat Stevens) "No, we're not going to the playground". When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Our brains need that challenge of adversity to stay tip top. So your kids will be forced to be creative and find solutions. x Hey they may come up a creative solution to spend their time or perhaps shoplift (you'll must intervene) or give up (please intervene again). (Hello Darlin by Lynn Anderson trails off to Elvis' Ghetto). Don't do your kids a disservice by giving them all you didn't have. They'll be thankful for it later. (Housemartins with Caravan Of Love end this literary spurt)