The Early Years (2002-2005)

Is there any more wonderful sight on a Singapore bus than the “Maintenance in Progress” sticker on those danged TV Mobile TVs? They blare random programmes regardless of whether passengers want to watch, they skip annoyingly, they show Chinese shows without subtitles thus alienating minority populations. Peace and quiet, ah.

Continuing my quest for interesting Singaporean blogs, here’s John and Belle Have a Blog, which shuttles nicely between general commentary and pithy observations on Singapore. Plus, I gave it bonus points for being the only (other) Singapore blog I’ve found which also has Eschaton on its blogroll. :)

Someone wrote a letter to the Straits Times’ forum page the other day asking why the show is called “Singapore Idol” here, not “Singaporean Idol”, given that other incarnations are called “American Idol”, “Australian Idol”, and so on. This got me thinking: actually the fact that “Singapore” and “Singaporean” can both be used as adjectives to describe things from this island is actually a reflection of the fact that Singapore is a city-state. The adjective “Singaporean” can refer to things from either the country or city of Singapore, while “Singapore”, used as an adjective, can refer to things from the city of Singapore. Consider: if there were a New York-only edition of American Idol, it would almost certainly be called “New York Idol”, not “New Yorker Idol” (Who the New Yorker’s idol is, of course, is a question for another debate.) The same principle applies to talking about sports: the Boston Red Sox play in the American League.

Public art in Singapore. Here’s the Robert Indiana sculpture outside the Glass House next to Park Mall. Cheers me up everytime I sight it from the bus. When I was 18 I climbed up into the tilted “O” of the sculpture… can’t find the photos of that moment though.

FINDING SADDAM By Donald Rumsfeld the only way we ever found him is finally somebody put enough pressure on enough people to find out that somebody had an idea where

Every morning, I take a little walk to work across the Elgin Bridge (built 1929, separates North Bridge Road and South Bridge Road, oldest crossing in Singapore probably given that there’s been a bridge there since 1819). Gives me a great sense of this country’s history as I look across the river on the bumboats to the old Hill Street Police Station. But the last two days have seen a more pedestrian (literally) complaint - this danged crow keeps flying straight into the back of my head as I walk to work! Apparently I’m not the only one affected - this old Indian man pointed to the crow after it hit me and started swearing at it. In fluent Hokkien, amazingly. Besides my worries about being hit on the head and aggravating my concussion, I actually find this whole situation quite amusing. Only in Singapore. Will try to get a photo of the Evil Head-Hunting Crow. But unlikely.

From one New Yorker rock critic to another: Sasha Frere-Jones fisks Nick Hornby. One: I adore Nick Hornby’s books, and have autographed versions of High Fidelity and How to be Good. Two: having said that, his New York Times article (not available online anymore, but you get the text from SFJ’s deconstruction) was the epitome of wetness. Somehow the ironic remove of High Fidelity - 30-something man who does nothing but listen to music writes about 30-something man who does nothing but listen to music, and both author and narrator can afford to be wry about their situation, and the author knows that at some level the situation is somewhat pathetic - got lost along the way, and Hornby became a non-ironic champion of that wistful faux-nostalgic musical point of view. Three: Hornby still retains the ability to write about how pop can make one feel - I love Christgau, but sometimes you need a refuge from the obscurantist - the problem is in the pop he chooses to get moved by…

The thing about the ubiquity of photo-taking devices is that you don’t feel guilty just pointing and snapping. So I’ve also been playing the language police, collecting evidence of crimes against grammar. Here’s a sign at the Subway in Raffles City that reads “Satisfy your crave”. Ugh.

These posters aren’t part of a government campaign, incidentally. If you recognise the typeface, it’s a Volkswagen-sponsored thingamajig. Add: If imagination is more important than knowledge, why are these posters quoting people instead of coming up with original ways to phrase the idea?

Singapore’s inundated with lots of talk on the need for “creative thinking”. Strange where motivational messages will pop up. This is the underground carpark at the Esplanade.

Since I’m no car junkie, could those who can identify the models please place them in the comments section? (Okay, I know what a Mini Cooper is, but help me fill out the rest).

More rally pics. I’ve finally found some word on what was going on in these photos: ’twas the inaugural Singapore International Racing Festival. Somehow vintage cars and giant inflatable dogs are related to the promotion of horse-racing.

Some shots of the vintage car rally a fortnight ago… love how the variety of obsessions people have!

Ah, Singapore life. Last night I was woken up by fireworks coming from the Singapore River, beautiful. Lord knows what the occasion was, but lately it seems like there’ve been lots of fireworks shows. Nice. Meanwhile I’m trying to add some photos to this site, photos taken on the spur of the moment with either my Palm Zire 71, my Canon Powershot S45, or my Lomo, depending on what I have with me.

Andy did you hear about this one?

A description of a fascinating experiment, based I think on Milgram at Yale. Scary that it’s possible to unlock an innate fascism in people…

County map I’ve visited the counties in yellow. Which counties have you visited? made by marnanel map reproduced from Ordnance Survey map data by permission of the Ordnance Survey. © Crown copyright 2001.

My contribution to the Page 23 Sentence 5 meme Grab the nearest book. Open the book to page 23. Find the fifth sentence. Post the text of the sentence along with these instructions.

Spent last night in the hospital observation ward no thanks to my klutziness - while playing with Rerun (the dog) at obedience school I got up and banged my head on a low-lying shelf, and so got treated for concussion. Great. I’m at home now, but postings may be a bit less frequent.