Thoughts

Hairspray: Fate of two women

2012-02-15T01:12:00.000-08:00

The phenomenon:
In the film "Hairspray", both mothers, Edna Turnblad and Velma Von Tussle, carried different perceptions about their roles and status in the society based on their physical appearances. Why is this so and how did it happen?

Secondary Text: "Showbusiness of a serious kind"
Street claims that not only do "[p]rizes create winners", but they also "define the type of winner" (emphasis in original text). In addition, Street claims that prizes have "a direct impact on public discourse on art and artistic merit". These ideas help us in understanding the impact of prizes on the characters in the film.

Framework and Main Claim
Street's claim that a prize has the power to define the type of winner and has the ability to shape public discourse on art and artistic merit. (2005, p.833, 837). In this essay, through a close analysis of the two characters, Edna and Velma, I will illustrate the impact of winning and losing a prize on the self-esteems of ordinary people. My analysis will also look into how "changes in times" has contributed to the eventual status reversal between the two female characters.

Loss in time

2012-02-13T04:47:00.000-08:00

One morning, I thought I heard the alarm clock ringing and I woke up. The sky was still dark outside my window. It didn't bother me since I had set the alarm clock at 6.45. As usual, I went to take a shower and began working. After a while, I saw the other clock on my desk. It read 5.50am. I was stunned momentarily. Instinctively, I went to check on the clock on my iPhone. It read 5.30am. I was lost. No doubt I had woken up way too early but what struck me more deeply was that I didn't know what the time was and I couldn't explain why I felt so insecure and anxious at that point. I thought, what if all the clocks in the world were pointing at different directions?

IEM1201J: For Putin, a Peace Prize for a Decision to Go to War

2012-01-08T23:02:00.000-08:00

The article discussed the controversy over the decision to award Vladimir Putin a Peace Prize for going to war.

Overall, I agree with the author's stance that Putin was not the best choice for a peace prize. However, I did not enjoy the article. Firstly, there was an overemphasis in questioning or even discrediting the Chinese committee. Secondly, I believe the article should look into the selection criteria of the Confucius Peace Prize and how it is compared to other peace awards in the world.

On this subject, I believe that the committee's decision was merely a political response against Nobel committee's decision to award Liu Xiao Bo.

2012

2011-12-31T07:21:00.001-08:00

明天是公元2012 年的第一天。这对你、我、人类、自然又意味着什么呢？
今晚，我不想去参加倒数活动。理由很简单：我不觉得有什么好倒数的。每一年似乎都发生了很多事。365天过去后仿佛觉得自己老了很多，身体的机能衰弱了不少。认识的朋友多了，课业增加了，责任也加重了，越来越觉得时间越来越少。活着，确实不是一个人的事。
洗澡的时候我在反思这个问题：到底2012年代表什么，为什么所有人都在“庆祝”它的到来呢？ “公元2012年”是西方人的发明，是记载时间的一套系统。的确，2012 年简单来说反映了人类文明步入公元后的第2012年，对人类文明整体来说确实值得欣慰。人类在2012年来经历了许多风风雨雨，总体而言这组群算是向前进的。从另一个方面来说，与其说是庆祝新的一年的到来，倒不如说是对过去的365天的开心与不开心做个总结，让一切的喜怒哀乐做个句点。2012 是具象征性的，仿佛把人们的记忆画到鸿沟，把昨天，属于“去年”的一切隔离开来，正如人们常说的：新的一年，新的开始。或许对现代人们来说，这也算是一种精神上的解脱。
2012年我不敢多想。我心里自然有些打算，但许多事确实很难预料。随着自己经历的越多，越觉得世界上和自己的生活上有很多事并不在自己的掌控之中。来临的一年，只希望自己能对得起自己，在能力所及的范围内尽其所能。对世界，我希望一切能明朗一些。开车的时候，我心里倒是觉得来年或未来的两三年或许一切会开始好转。希望如此。=）

不清不楚的关系

2011-12-23T14:42:00.000-08:00

从日本归来后的一个礼拜，接二连三发生了很多事使我自顾不暇，丝毫没有过圣诞的期待或兴奋。很多时候我也在想：为什么要过圣诞？对基督教徒来说，圣诞可算是宗教庆典，庆祝圣诞节无可厚非。对其他不是基督教徒来说，圣诞又是什么？今年的圣诞，我想说的是：我很累，我想睡觉。这不是属于我的节日，是假日。

昨晚我和我妈聊了很多。很次和我妈聊天都觉得很有意思。她的正规教育不高，但她的人生哲理相当令人敬佩。对很多人来说，假期可算是逃离现实生活的黄金时期，但对我而言，我觉得假期仿佛把我拉回去这个现实的社会。上学的时候，其实大部分的时间都泡在书里，根本不用去管世俗的一切。

讲到关系，我真的不知道从何说起。先说我对“关系”的看法。在这里，我指的“关系”只包括亲情和友情。我觉得“关系”应该是建立在互利互惠和互相尊重的基础上，而不是单方面的“利用”。打个比方，当我想借用某个人“关系”的时候，我必须考虑到对方的利益和负担，并尽量把寄托于对方的负担放到最低。难听的来说，“关系”也是一种利益交换。当某一方接二连三地感觉不到自己能从这段关系获利，这段关系就失去了延续的意义。有些时候人们会说某某人怎么会这么不给情面，这么不给“面子”，这么“自私”，这么“无情”。碰到这种情况，我真的哑口无言，只能说下辈子我们角色调换吧。结论：关系，剪不断理还乱。只能说大家尽量在自己的能力范围内好好生活，尽可能不要牵扯关系。万事皆因果，己所不欲，勿施于人。

好郁闷

2011-12-18T05:20:00.000-08:00

日本之旅回来，仿佛生活的拍子少了节奏，仿佛一台钢琴按着没有谱一般弹奏着。旅游回来后，觉得四周的空气凝结似的，让我不自觉地怀疑在日本的我是不是真正的自己。每一次的旅游对我来说难免有一种不自然的感觉。所谓旅游，就是说所有的一切是暂时性的，一切是经过一番可以安排的，一切是用金钱换来的，行李的一切总有一天还是得回到原来的地方。旅行的意义只不过是让自己的灵魂暂时性地离开身子，漂浮在某个空间里，兜了一圈再把你的灵魂“物归原主”。从日本归来的两天里，我继续读着村上春树的书，脑海里反复地浮现日本城市的容貌。我不禁自问，曾几何时我们人类成了城市的傀儡。城市因人类而有了生命，人类也在不自觉中为城市而活。城市，是人类文明最大的工程。千百年来，人们为城市奋斗，为城市付诸青春、血汗、一生。我们曾以城市为耀，相信这座城市是希望的象征，是权与快乐的泉源。但这座城市也是个魔鬼。无形中，我们把自己的灵魂卖给了它。。。

Japan Trip 2011

2011-12-16T21:00:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time since I posted anything, probably a month. Just want to write something about this Japan trip that I went recently. Overall, I think I will miss Japan. So far, Japan is a special place to me. To give an overview of my trip, I spent 6-7 days in Tokyo, 2 days in Kyoto and 1 day in Osaka.

Tokyo, to me, is intimidating. I suppose this is the best and most adequate word that I can find currently. I didn't travel to its core, the Ginza area. We spent most of our time at Shinjuku. For the first time I truly witness what it means to be a megacity. I've been to Shanghai and Beijing last year, but none of them could match what I saw in Tokyo. The sophistication of its transport system reflects the city's maturity and technological superiority. The deepest impression I had was when I alighted at a bus stop and in front of me was THOUSANDS of people walking in different directions in a uniform fast pace and black was their attire. The atmosphere was pressurizing. It gives you the urge to move, to be part of the crowd, yet at that moment, I didn't really know where I was supposed to go and how I was supposed to get there. My experience in Tokyo was largely in the Shinjuku area. It may not be representative, but that was the feeling I got. To give a more visual image, imagine multiplying Singapore's city hall or Raffles Place at peak hour by 10, and that's Tokyo.

Before I end the topic on the train stations, I would just like to comment on the train system in Japan. Japan's train system was famous/infamous for its complexity. The students we met also commented that they themselves had to check the routes every time before they set off. On average, each station in Tokyo would have about three lines running through it. In Shinjuku, I'm not too sure the exact number but I suppose it's definitely more than 10 lines (including all JR lines, NEX, Shinkansen and private lines). I haven't been to many places in the world, but I believe there is no another place like this. At a glance, Singaporeans might comment that this is stupid and start comparing it with Singapore's MRT system. Well, after 2 weeks in Japan, I kind of understand the necessity and rationale behind this. Tokyo has something like 10 million people, if I'm not wrong. It's a city that cannot afford to stop when a line breaks down. One of the first news that I heard when I touched down this morning was the NS line breakdown that happened on Thursday. It affected 127,000 people, according to ST. Such a breakdown is unimaginable in Tokyo. In contrary, actually I felt that Japan has a better transportation system and could be one of the best in the world, despite its high fares. It is truly a transportation system that endured the test of time. Looking back at Singapore, a Japanese student I met there told me that the impression he had of Singapore is that Singapore has nothing much to learn from Japan any more. Well, I suppose Singapore should always stay humble and constantly learning from others. Singapore is still a young state after all.

The other image that I have about Japan is that it is a city that doesn't sleep. A city of lights. At the top of the sky building in Osaka, I looked down the city landscape. It was beautiful. Symbols of modernization and urbanization were everywhere: cars, street lights, trains, high-rise buildings with blinking red lights. Interestingly, at 173m height, the only thing missing from the picture is the people themselves. It feels like an ecosystem that is surviving on its own. People were like nutrients, water or blood, ensuring the survival of this ecosystem. This impression struck me again on the last night in Japan. I was at Shinjuku on Thursday and it was close to midnight. Usually in Singapore, the CBD and shopping areas would be close. Most people would be sleeping at that hour. Yet in Shinjuku, the lights were still on, as though it was 8 or 9pm. Many people were still on the streets, having no intentions to go home. It reminded me of the book After Dark. At that point, I felt a loss of time. Are we still in control of the city or is the city controlling us?

Singapore's Culture (from my point of view)

2011-11-20T23:12:00.000-08:00

This entry is more like a revision for myself. Some contextual information, I'm just trying to give my own account of Singapore's culture, using Hofstede's and Hall's theories.

Hofstede's cultural dimensions include PDI (power distance), IDV (individualism), MAS (Masculinity), UAI (uncertainty avoidance), and LTO (long-term orientation). Power distance refers to the degree in which a culture accepts the inequality of the distribution of power and that a culture's level acceptance of power being channeled from the authorities. Individualism refers to the degree in which an individual finds greater allegiance to group or to himself. Masculinity refers to the degree a culture favors values such as assertiveness or support. Uncertainty avoidance refers to the level of tolerance towards ambiguity and the degree a culture imposes rules and regulations to deal with these changes. Long-term orientation was Hofstede's latest installment. Basically it means whether a culture has the tendency to plan for the long-term or term to deal with short-term issues.

Hall's High-Low Context Culture theory is a more generic categorization of cultures. Essentially, Hall refers to 'context' as the amount of information that is implied by the setting or context, regardless of the exact words in a message. So, high-context culture tends to use covert messages, the burden of communication usually falls on the recipient. To give an example, in movies we often see some Asian (Jap/Chinese/Thai/Indian) guru or zen master often giving 'words of wisdom' and it is sort of open for interpretation for followers to decipher. On the other end is low-context cultures, which values strongly on the meaning of the words. This is obviously reflected in our education system and the academic level (which still follows the western model). Arguments must be clear and articulated, with specific examples or evidence to prove the case. Counter-arguments and other perspectives must be considered. In short, it's like a western painting, everything must be there and leave no room for 'second thoughts'. High-Low context cultures not only influence the style of messages, it is also related to other things, such as relationships versus self/task, and concept of time. Here, from my perspective, it seems that High-context culture tend to have a more polychromic concept of time while low-context has a more monochromic concept of time. In short, P-time or M-time refers to the way people of the culture perceive time.

I find Singapore a very difficult country to analyze. Partly due to my familiarity with this place, but also because of globalization and the rapid speed of change that is taking place not only here, but also everywhere in the world. Singapore, in particular, the pace of change, movements of people, culture and basically everything (from what we can see to what we can feel) are changing rapidly. Furthermore, here I find a very interesting decoupling of what we think and how we feel. Increasingly, we are told to accept and endure hard decisions (which usually bring about change). Rationally and logically, people accept these policies and decisions for the greater good, and the belief that with this greater good, the lives of the people will also improve along the way. But on the other side, somehow our hearts tend to 'ache' more and more often. Rise in prices, influx of immigrants, demolishing of old sites, upgrading courses and introduction of new systems often creates frustration, anxiety, stress and of course, more complaints. So, I shall 'freeze' the state of Singapore where it is now and try to measure Singapore according to these cultural indexes.

PDI: I believe we are still a relatively high PDI country. No doubt, increasingly, we are questioning the authorities. Here, it doesn't only mean that we are becoming more 'bold' in challenging the government, but this is also happening in families and schools. The younger generation, including myself, are less afraid to question our parents, the teachers and the school management for the decisions that they made. I recall when I was young, there is always this kopitiam saying that the youngsters nowadays are learning too much from the television programme and are becoming more 'pai' (naughty or rebellious). Very true, but with internet now, I think we are surely more 'pai' than before. But Singapore still remains a relatively high PDI country. Fundamentally, we turn to our government and the ministries for guidance and help. More importantly, we consent to almost all the decisions that they made, despite our grievances, because we gave them consent and deep inside, we believe that this group of people will make the right decisions at the end of the day. Hence, PDI in Singapore is still relatively high, but the power-distance in Singapore has a decreasing trend as the younger generation seeks to 'flatten' this hierarchy.

IDV: During a discussion, I thought most of the people would agree with me that Singapore is still a collectivistic society. But apparently, I'm wrong and my conclusion is: it's subjective. It depends on 'where' you come from (your family background and schooling experiences). I'll just share my opinion first. Basically, I think that Singapore is still a collectivistic society. We make decisions as a group and for a group. This probably has to do with my schooling experiences. Back then, a teacher told me that when we (students) step out of the school, outsiders do not regard us by our name or family, what they see is our school uniform and thus the school we are from. From then on, I realized that in this society, not only do we perceive others in terms of their group identity (e.g. their school, race, nationality), but we also carry and present these wherever we go. In our own groups, what is of importance to me is harmony and cooperation. Fitting in, rather than standing out is somewhat more important to me. And actually this is also the case in schools or other groups, we are often told to 'fit-in', adapt to a school culture or a group's culture. So, in terms of individualism, I suppose it really has to depend on individuals. But in the general, I still think that collectivism is still the dominant culture in Singapore.

MAS: This is a problematic one, but I will say Singapore has a high MAS index. First of all, Singapore is obsessed with achievements, particularly in terms of academic, career and economic standards. Financial strength is somewhat of utmost importance to most Singaporeans and the country. Meritocracy, selecting the best talents on the basis of merits. Indeed, but on what 'basis' are we measuring upon? Singapore's education system and society still places higher value on the same old fields. Science, Economics, Engineering, Medicine, Law, basically anything related to mathematics and science. In terms of femininity, Singaporeans do have some compassion when it comes to donation. It's quite a strange trend that sometimes I do wonder where these unsung heroes come from. Singaporeans are known for their stingy-ness after all.

UAI: Hofstede's study ranked Singapore the lowest in his 1980s study, which means to say that Singapore is the most open and accepting society. We have little rules and lots of freedom when it comes to changes. Well, I suppose whoever knows Singapore well enough, this must be some kind of miscalculation or bullshit perhaps. I agree too, Singapore's UAI can't be that low. We have some of the most 'creative' laws and rules in Singapore. Which society in the world would think of using ERP to curb with the rising traffic and impose smoking areas to restrict the areas for smoking? Lol. But perhaps in certain areas, UAI in Singapore is indeed lower. This is particularly the case how quickly Singapore responds to global changes. At the governmental level, basically our government is always swift in introducing new stuffs to meet global demands. I suppose the number of FTAs reflects this point (though it's certainly not very reflective in Singapore's context). At the society level, we also adapt to change very quickly. New gadgets, new cultures can easily penetrate. So, I would say that UAI in Singapore is moderate. On one hand, the people are certainly 'sian' of changes. But on the other hand, maybe we are kind of fatalistic, we just accept changes and move on with our lives. Sounds quite negative, huh.

LTO: Singapore surely scores high on this. Although there are more and more reports about the younger generation splurging the incomes and stuff, I suppose the systems that are in place sort of guarantee that Singapore remains a high LTO society. Things like CPF, Medisave and others, forces Singaporeans to save for the future (meaning retirement). Try imposing this system in U.S. and most likely the Americans will sort of complain about the infringement of rights and whoever is the opposition will exploit this furor and things won't get moving. In other areas, businesses in Singapore have strong balances (as we were told repeatedly by the news), and Singapore is really well-known globally for its reserves. Apart from this system, I think the Confucian virtue of thrift pays a part as well. This is something that is of value yet often neglected or easily forgotten, thanks to consumerism.

High/Low-context: Lastly, Singapore, in my opinion, is a high-context society. We act "automatically" and when we are in our own groups, less things need to be spelled out. The most classic example would be the symbolic power of a packet of tissue paper. When I first knew about this, I didn't really feel the impact that much (probably because I seldom hang around in the CBD area). There was once when I went to meet my cousin for lunch and we went to a food court during the peak hour and it was then when I felt its 'prowess'. A packet of tissue paper has become an unspoken symbol of 'territory' in Singapore. It's kind of amazing how people can recognize their packets of tissue paper. It'll be interesting to conduct a social experiment by placing tissue papers on ALL tables before the peak hour. =P In short, Singapore is a high-context culture. We don't say things and do things directly, both in our work life and social life.

Of course, things are getting more complicated with an increasingly heterogeneous population in Singapore. Class stratification, influx of new immigrants and the rising younger generation are gradually changing the cultural facade of our society. For now, Singapore still has a relatively high PDI, low IDV, high MAS, moderate UAI and high LTO, and Singapore is still a high-context culture society.

P.S. This is just my personal opinion.

The New Balance: Chinese Cash, American Guns

2011-11-18T22:31:00.000-08:00

Despite all the talk about globalization and the world becoming smaller, somehow I feel that the world is dividing into half (or perhaps it has always been this case), the Atlantic sphere and the Pacific sphere. From G20 to APEC to ASEAN to EAS Summit, there is a significant change in the atmosphere, in the topics that were discussed. In Europe, economy was the key. In Asia-Pacific, while the economy remained one of the key concerns among the countries, politics was also mentioned. In Asia-Pacific, a new contest for influence has already begun. On the one hand, there is no doubt that China has already gained the upper hand. Every other country in Asia just couldn't resist the temptation and opportunities to 'immerse' in China, to tap on basically everything that can be tapped. On the other hand, in terms of military prowess, we have seen basically the return of the U.S. troops. Unlike the Cold War, this is not about war. This is a contest between cash and guns. Every activity, movement and personnel has been silent, yet symbolic. For the rest of the nations in Asia, there's no binary oppositions between the two. In fact, what everyone is doing is just trying to reap the maximum benefits out of this 'superpower conflict'. The new balance of power.

Identity

2011-11-16T15:29:00.000-08:00

Who are you? I suppose the natural response would be to give your name, full name or first name. That name is just a tag, a superimposed identity that was attached to you at birth. In one's life, as a result of never-ending and increasingly complicated socialization processes, each of us carries more and more identity. The most explicit example would be identity card that we carry. What does it actually carry? It speaks of your race, but to what extent are you ethnically your race? It speaks of your gender (Male and Female), yet increasingly we understand that this dichotomy of gender is not sufficient or adequate to people of other genders. And there, our identification number. Often, we were told to submit our identification card or asked to give our identification number for "identification". Who exactly are we? Why do we claim ourselves to be of certain ethnicity, gender, religion and even a set of numbers?

I started pondering if someone were to be born alone, isolated from the human race. I wonder how he/she would identify himself and how he/she would behave differently. The more I think about it, the more I think of Descartes' dualism, the mind-body problem. At birth, this body means nothing. He/she doesn't know anything about homosexuality, Buddhism, nationality, ethnicity. Yet the brain is already multiplying and changing rapidly. The brain constantly process multiple signals it receives from its environment and constantly negotiating, redefining what this body/soul/person should be and what our body does is to present what our mind thought of. The clothes we wear, food we prefer, places we would like to go, things we can/cannot do in this piece of land.

Fundamentally, our human body is the oldest 'avatar' that we have. With technology, we tend to focus on creating new identities online, yet we forgot that the physical identity of oneself is also changing, perhaps unconsciously. Each time a piece of news, a new person, a new gadget, a new song comes into one's knowing, it reaffirms/contradicts with your identity or sometimes it became strong enough to become your new identity. A simple example would be pop music. When you like the song "Bad Romance", probably it reaffirms some part of your identity (perhaps Western music fans or something), yet when that liking becomes so strong, it kind of became your new identity (Lady Gaga's fan or something).

P.S. This blog is merely a tool for me to rant some of my random thoughts.

Permission to fail

2011-11-08T05:03:00.000-08:00

As the semester is coming to an end, today's last lesson was shorter. I had a brief chat with my classmate and we were talking briefly about the education system.

The ideal "vision and mission" of education is about acquiring knowledge, engage in intellectual exchanges and stuff. But is this really the case in reality? Perhaps this ideal is still valid in western universities but in Asia, this is certainly not a case. Here, university is not exactly a place for so-called intellectual exchange and stuff, in my friend's words, university functions like a "factory". It sounds creepy but to a large extent, it is true. I was grumbling about examination and this whole purpose of university education to my mum. I asked her, why do I have to go through university education. Her answer was cute yet inspiring:

Reply 1: "Everyone else is going university." Interesting. To some extent, this may be regarded as some collectivistic culture, to be part of a group/class. Such a reply would probably be passed off as ridiculous in the West but it reflects strongly about Asian culture. We do things collectively and we follow trends collectively (and literally). Lol.

Reply 2: "Get a degree and your future job will be less tedious." Wow, this is truly a pragmatic and long-term thinking. At least that thought wasn't intuitive to me. When I was reminded, I thought, wow, this is a strong argument. At least with a degree, one will likely to get an office job in an air-conditioned office. Getting a degree does sort of guarantee an air-conditioned life.

Reply 3: "Those who are in university are those who can make it." Double-wow. I'm truly amazed how inspiring and deep those words are. Disclaimer: my mum only has a primary school education, non-English speaker, and definitely not a "knowledge worker" (I wonder what that term means actually). Yeah! University is a place for those who CAN make it, therefore people like me, who got the qualifications to get in, SHOULD be there too. This logic is so persuasive yet scary at the same time. University is not purely for learning anymore. In the Asian context, it defines you: your capabilities, your future and your social class.

Of course, within university, the invisible deadly invention of bell curve further compartmentalize one's capabilities into different grades. Examinations are not simply about leaping over a certain hurdle. It's about ensure the hurdle that you leaped over is above what others managed to achieve. At the end of the day, who does this bell curve serve? Who truly benefits from meritocracy? The society?

On the surface, the West often awed at our capabilities to churn out thousands or even millions of graduates every year in Asia. They don't understand. In Asia, we are not allowed to fail. There is a saying, 一失足成千古恨, one mistake may become an eternal regret. As an individual in this society, I can say that often, this is not a matter of choice for us. Of course, life isn't perfect. I'm thankful for many other things in life but I believe this society won't "die" if it were to provide some breathing space for its people. For one, remove that bell curve.

《那些年，我们一起追过的女孩》

2011-11-04T09:32:00.000-07:00

已经很久没有过这种冲动，这种看完一部电影后马上写感想的冲动。改变自小说的电影往往看后都会听到有人说“书写得比较好”。看完这部戏，我只能说我的震撼、感动丝毫不减。三年前读这本书的感觉又回来了。开车回来的路上，我想了又想，这本书不仅仅写出了每个男生都曾有过的经历，也写出了我们男生心目中渴望的故事。

高中毕业往往是告别青春的分裂点。曾以为大学是延续高中理想的地方，在大学几个月后才发现是错的。告别青春三年，这三年，我不断地回头看，依然留恋着初中高中的日子。三年后，终于成功自我催眠，回归征途，踏上了大学的道路。但回头看自己宿舍的小房间，依然留着青春时的足迹。毕业簿、印有母校校徽的杯子、挂在墙上的合照，我的青春其实一直在我身边。

那些年，我并不专一。不是说我一脚踏两船（那是最低级的勾当），而是我很“飘”，往往很努力追一个女孩儿失败后，自暴自弃后，又开始喜欢另一个，然后又再失败。。。认识我的老朋友都知道。电影或小说里有很多对白说得很准，往往女生都比同龄的男生成熟。现在回想，也应该是如此。追女孩子、暧昧是一件很刺激的事。很多傻事，发神经的事往往都是因为那个女孩。我庆幸，我有过那段青春。

青春万岁。

The Next Leap

2011-10-27T03:57:00.000-07:00

The articles in the review section of today's Straits Times are interesting.

The first two talk about including happiness index as one of the growth indicators in Singapore. One of them sort of echoes my point made earlier that the main focus of Sylvia Lim's parliamentary speech was happiness, not Bhutan. Well, as mentioned earlier, all indicators are bound to be flawed in some way or another. A better way to see the 'truth' is to adopt different kinds of indicators so that we can have a broader perspective of the issue. So, my stand remains, Singapore should include the happiness index.

The second article is even more meaningful. The author speaks from an observer's perspective about how he sees Singapore and his concerns for the country's future. The image depicted is also quite apt: an old man looking concerned and worried and when passing the baton to a seemingly bo-chap young boy. The observer raised a valid point that the younger generation tend to take for granted and somewhat forget or choose to discard the traditions and values that made Singapore successful. It somewhat echoes with my other earlier post on the lack of respect among the local students today. Well, I also belong to this new generation and I agree with what the author said. I think even for myself, it is hard to imagine and carry on some of the qualities that the "Old Guards" carried with them. Like what the author said, discipline was one of the keys that brought Singapore to where it is today. Yet more often than not, discipline is something that is perhaps not 'cool' or disregarded among the younger generation today. In schools, enforcing discipline on and expecting self-discipline from the students seem to be harder than before. I believe this has certainly to do with the environment that we grew up in. We grew up with much less caning (or none) as compared to our parents and we grew up learning about rights before learning about discipline. We should have a right in making decision/choices and how we should behave, which to a certain extent contradicts with discipline.

One of the things that I learned so far is the idea of change and continuity. Today, it seems that consumerism and other western ideologies made many of us obsessed with the idea of change. Change your phone, change your laptop, change your way of thinking and doing. But is change always better? Maybe some things are just not meant to be changed. =)

(Lack of ) Respect

2011-10-24T22:34:00.000-07:00

It's been 11 weeks since the semester started and I find that there is one thing lacking among some of the students here: respect.

Currently I'm taking 5 modules and I feel that I notice a lack of respect towards the lecturer/tutors in most of the classes I've attended so far. I'll probably first share how the teacher-student was like back in my JC and my experience when I was a relief teacher earlier this year.

Back in JC, I suppose my cohort was perhaps the most obedient batch of people back then. I dare to say that no other JC students in Singapore would greet our teachers formally like we did. We were the first batch of senior high students, so we didn't have any seniors to 'learn' from. As such, we basically treated our teachers like how we did it in our secondary school, which I think it's something good and should be preserved. Back then, we treated our teachers as friends and to a certain, family, but we have a basic consensus on how we should behave during lessons. Even though there were times when we disagree/dislike the teacher or we found the lessons boring, we didn't express it explicitly. As for myself, if I didn't feel like listening, I'll just do other stuffs and make sure that I don't interrupt other students. Well, I was notorious for sleeping during lesson and now that I recall, I feel kind of sorry for the teacher (the teacher ended up granting the 'permission' for me to sleep during classes, I was really mugging hard back then). I would say that respect for the teacher is one of the things that my friends and myself value very much when we were still in JC.

Earlier this year, I went back to my alma mater to teach as a relief teacher. I taught secondary school students and JC students. The secondary students greeted me, as usual. The JC students, well, they didn't greet, but that was fine (I'm just a few years older than them anyway). At least they obeyed what was told to do and they did it conscientiously without much noise. I think that sense of conscientiousness and respect is something that I constantly remind myself and something that I value much in others.

Back to the present, often I see students talking aloud during lectures (really loud) and the lecturers found it hard and probably disturbing to teach under such circumstances. I was a relief teacher and I understand the pain and effort that were put in just to give a 1hr 30mins lecture. Not only is it disrespectful, but it also affects the communication between the lecturers and other students who were actually listening (like me). Many times I wonder why do they have so much to talk about during lesson? Not too long ago, I was watching an online video featuring a lecture on philosophy at Harvard. In the video, everyone was so attentive and they were truly participating. I think that is the ideal mutual respect. Listening and talking at the appropriate time about the appropriate things. In the other seminar class, the teacher was such a nice guy. I realize that teachers/lecturers/tutors (whatever title one prefers) don't like to scold the students, which I think it's perfectly normal. University isn't the place for teaching basic manners or courtesy. It's about inquiring knowledge and ideas. I feel sorry and sometimes ashamed that teachers (especially foreign teachers) had to put up to such disrespectful behaviors.

Apart from the noise and chattering, increasingly, students are bringing laptops/netbooks/tablets to lessons. Well, it is okay if they were using those gadgets to take notes. But seriously, I dare to say in 9 out of 10 cases, those students were just multitasking on their laptops (probably engaging in some forms of social media). I once saw students watching youtube videos (with their earplug on) while the lecture was ongoing. As for myself, maybe I'm backward, but I stick to my stationary and writing pad and I think it is a good practice and a way to rely less on computers. To those students who strongly argue that they were purely taking notes on their computers, what is the difference between taking notes on paper and on a computer? Some might say that they type faster than they write. Well, at least you still have to write during exams...

Whenever we take about Asian values, Confucius teachings, we always highlight the importance of respect in our culture but is this really so? Perhaps this may be true in the past, but based on what I observed, the reality seems to be very different. I'm not suggesting that everyone should keep quiet, suppress their emotions and be a conformist. But what I'm just trying to say is that students should re-learn how to give respect to one another.

Japan 2011

2011-10-24T06:57:00.000-07:00

I attended a forum titled "Trials, Tribulations, Triumphs - Japan in the year 2011" (or something like that). The forum started off with a video on Japan female soccer team winning the FIFA World Cup this year, followed by a speech by the Japanese Ambassador to Singapore, Mr. Suzuki

In his speech, Mr. Suzuki gave three very important points about the impact of the "triple-disaster" on Japan and the Japanese people, which are regaining confidence, a shift in the relationship between Japan and the international community, and the formation of a new society.

In terms of regaining confidence, Mr. Suzuki spoke about how the devastation made the people rediscover their strengths and the power in mobilizing the community. Since the economic crash in 1990, Japan had never really recovered to its former glory in the 1980s. During my history classes in JC, I learned about the Japanese economic miracle and how Japan 'rose from the ashes' of World War II to become the world's second greatest economy in the 80s. In the 80s, people talked about the term 'decoupling', suggesting that the Japanese economy was so strong that it could 'decouple' itself from the rest of the world (or something like that). In Asia, Japan was the leader in the region and often envisaged itself as the leading bird in the flock, leading the remaining tiger economies forward. However, the tide probably shifted after the Plaza Accord in 1985, which contributed to the collapse of the Japanese economy and brought Japan into its Lost Decades.

Nevertheless, I've always admired the Japanese. Perhaps in several ways, the Japanese people seemed to epitomize what we call the Asian values, in terms of perseverance, respect and pursuit for quality over efficiency. Beyond that, I believe that Japan is one of the most resilient societies in Asia and probably the world. It is a country that is constantly tested and repeatedly proven itself to the world. From the Meiji Revolution to the Japanese Miracle, the Japanese people seem to have this consciousness and urgency to keep up and catch-up with the leading powers of the world. Not only do they keep up, but they also capture the essence, skill, technology and enhance it to its maximum quality. Hence, there are good reasons to believe that like America, Japan will definitely be able to recover from the recent disasters.

Nevertheless, Japan faces some long-term challenges. One is energy issue, which was brought up by the ambassador. The oil crises in the 70s revealed the vulnerabilities of the Japanese economy back then. Today, under much heated protest against nuclear energy in Japan, Japan has to search for practical energy sources in the midst of reducing its energy consumption. The other challenge is its greying population. It is a common problem across Asia but particularly acute in Japan. Moving forward, Japan has to develop a sustainable economic model for its population. This would mean perhaps a new industry providing jobs, services and other amenities for the elderly.

Japan is a strong nation with a history of miracles. I have faith in them. All the best. =)

Thoughts

2011-10-20T18:53:00.000-07:00

This morning on my way to school, my girlfriend sent me a SMS, telling me that Gaddafi is dead. I replied, "Lol, sooner or later."

It's certainly not surprising. In fact, it's not really that hard to kill one man after all. But now that Gaddafi is dead, what's next for the transitional government? Since the battle of Tripoli, the National Transitional Council had been putting much of their resources and attention to hunt Gaddafi down. Now that the war is over, does this government have the capabilities to build a nation? It was hard to start the revolution/war, but I feel that it is even harder to end it.

As a Singaporean, I find it interesting that how I would judge/criticize/question a newly formed government. I wonder, in 1965, when Singapore first gained independence, how did people from the outside world see us? How do you change the image of a country, from a violent, volatile place, to a respected and stable state? Months after the Arab Spring began, we have hardly heard anything from Tunisia and probably more violence in Egypt. I think it's important for them to realize that the Arab Spring merely ended a chapter of history and it is important to look forward.

Apart from the news of Qaddafi's death, I suppose there have also been much chatter about the Parliament debate in Singapore. Well, it's kind of amusing to see how the media presented the cases and how the parties debated in the Parliament. I think first of all, I feel that the ruling party's arguments are getting weaker. After Sylvia Lim made the comment about including the happiness indicator in our GDP (or something like that), it really amusing how many PAP MPs rebutted her argument. What intrigues me further was the way PAP MPs argued. From what was quoted from her, I thought the focus was on the happiness indicator, not the Bhutan example? But when I was reading the rebuttals from the PAP side, almost all were about how Singapore is different from Bhutan, Bhutan is a bad example etc. Well, in my opinion, Bhutan is JUST an example. Sylvia's argument was that Singapore should include the happiness indicator and I don't recall seeing a counter-argument on why Singapore should NOT include the happiness indicator. I suppose if the way PAP rebutted is acceptable, I might as well go back to JC to retake my GP paper.
I'm just stating from the point of a Singaporean reader. I felt that the way PAP debates and argues is not as good as before. Simply speaking, I am not convinced. On the other hand, the opposition MPs did raise interesting questions and I thought the happiness indicator is a good suggestion. Of course the happiness indicator is also criticized by scholars and politicians as simplistic etc., but aren't all indicators flawed in some way? Is GDP truly reflective? Indicators are merely tools to tell us one side of a story. While it is impossible to get the full picture by any means, I believe that it is better to have more indicators, so that we can have a better understanding from different perspectives.
Another problem I felt uneasy is that the way the MPs, particularly the PAP ones, interact with one another. More often than not, they identify one another by their party, as 'them', not 'us'. It is the first time Singapore witness a considerable number of opposition party members (Lol!). But I see this as an opportunity. From now to the next election, it is important for MPs to lay the tone for future generations. Maybe I'm too naive, but I believe that politics (Us vs Them) should only be played during election times. When elections are over, I would like to see how MPs can work together objectively and professionally. Terms like PAP, WP, opposition, should be discarded during Parliamentary debates. When such terms are used, it portrays the idea of division, hostility and dissociation, as seen in other countries. I would imagine the opposition party MPs as new 'citizens' to the Parliament and like what the Government had always encourage locals, I would hope to see more integration and peaceful interaction among the MPs. Politicians should note that the entire Singapore and Singaporeans abroad are watching at them.
PM emphasized repeatedly about getting politics right. Hope so.

编剧操练营

2011-10-17T16:20:00.000-07:00

今年是第二次参加实践剧场的《编剧操练营》。去年的《操练营》，似乎看到了更多不同种类的剧本和呈现方式。今年的《操练营》，有关编剧一职的问题反而比较多，但我也觉得这是挺有趣的。编剧的职责到底是什么？

在分享会的时候，大家似乎都带着一点埋怨的语气，觉得编剧在写剧本的时候，所要传达的讯息不够明确。但同时，我觉得导演们也有一个共识说，他们并不要求编剧们写多，写得很仔细。的确，好的剧本，在字面上，应该是尽可能精练地把所要传达的讯息（所谓的“中心思想”）写下。这也算是导演与编剧之间“沟通”上的问题之一。

第二个问题是自我审批吧。有写剧本，看完演出之后，我也很好奇剧本到底如何形成的。太写实？太虚？太多台词？我个人觉得，编剧写完之后，应该“跳出”编剧的视角来审批自己的作品，从导演和演员或任何“第三者”的角度来看自己的作品，自问：“他们能读懂我的心意吗？”，“这能在舞台上实现吗？”。所以，我认为在创作的时候，编剧需要有这种自我意识。

这个编剧营其实提出了很多让人反思的问题。十二月的时候应该会和明年《戏剧木麻黄》的筹委会见面，应该会提出这些意见。

哦，当然，这是许彬最后一场演出，所以就和他拍了一张照留念。=）