Re-living Life

The Yellow Ribbon Project aims to help ex-convicts re-integrate into society. Don't we all make mistakes? Shouldn't everyone be given a chance in our society again, especially when they've served their time and punishment? So wear a yellow ribbon from now till Sept 17. Show you care and show there is acceptance and tolerance.

Bruce Sterling on Singapore

Bruce Sterling came and went for the Singapore Writer's Festival, and left some reflections in cyberspace, particularly some thoughts about the Singapore government. And no, it isn't all bashing like William Gibson.

Singapore the gambling city

The National Council for Problem Gambling has been setup, reportedly with a budget of S$1 million, to tackle the problems of Singapore gamblers. According to an AFP article, the government rakes in "800 million US dollars a year -- or 2.2 million dollars a day", in duties from regulated horse betting, lotteries and sports betting. So just 3-4 hours of those taxes should cover the council's operating budget. One can only wonder how much that figure balloons up to after the two IRs are setup. Double down, anyone?

Alexander McCall Smith speaking tomorrow

The Singapore's Writer Festival has welcomed a bevy of writers, and now Alexander McCall Smith is in town as well. You can catch him tomorrow at the new library.

subTEXT Reading
Thu 1 Sep 2005
7pm, Basement, Central Lending Library, 100 Victoria Street

subTEXT goes underground as it begins a fresh chapter at its new home, Central Lending Library, located at the basement of the NLB Building. Headlining the programme is Alexander McCall Smith, author of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency book series, which sold over six million copies. Other readers include Filipino poet, Mayo Martin; England-born David Turner; and local poet/playwright, Ng Yi-Sheng. Please note the change in time to 7pm; subTEXT is still on every first Thursday of the month.

Where is the fun?

Maybe it's the IOC, maybe it's the 40th anniversary, but Singapore continues to be under scrutiny. In this Reuters article, the red dot is once again marked as predictably boring.

"Despite boasting one of the world's top-ranked airports and impressive convention entrees, industry experts say the country -- which bans the sale of chewing gum and Playboy magazine -- stumbles when it comes to the fun factor."

However, it also cites that Singapore's predictability is also its strength. Boring but strong; sounds like a lot of men we know.

Project Superstar

Like other Singaporeans, have tuned into Project Superstar to exercise the power to vote, since this might be the only chance to do so anytime this month. The winners for the female and male contests were pretty predictable; for the female group, local favourite Kelly and for the male section, blind busker Weilian. Looking inside our crystal ball, the inverted goldfish bowl, it seems Weilian is an odds-on favourite to win. Kelly clearly wasn't the best singer tonight but still managed to wind her way to the finals, but it all might not matter, as Weilian is still a better story and the underdog.

Movies Opening August 18th

As previously noted, this week sees two Singaporean movies, The Maid and Perth, opening in theaters. Also competing for movie watcher's dollars are two films revolving around birds; March of the Penguins, which features French and Chinese versions (more info about the difference between the two versions here), and British animation Valiant. Also opening are Must Love Dogs, with features John Cusack and a labrador retriever, and French thriller 36. One-off screenings include those for Lantana and Rabbit Proof Fence at the Singapore Writer's Festival. The full report for this week's openings is here.

Singapore Skydive Festival

Time to do some jumping! The 2nd edition of the Singapore Skydive Festival takes place this weekend, with the dropzone located right at the heart of the CBD. Last year's event drew 1,379 skydives and 264 Tandems. Tandem dives cost S$499, but you can just turn up and watch the parachutists while you work up the courage to take part next year.

NKF asks CAD to look at matters of 'grave concern'

And the story hasn't quite ended at NKF apparently. The CAD has been asked by NKF's new board of directors to look into 'certain matters of grave concern', which continues this series of unfortunate events. When will we know the full extent? The report isn't telling, but it looks like we'll be spared from any charity fund-raising tear jerking ads from the organisation for quite a while.

City Square JB

So where do Singaporeans go to shop when the cross the Causeway? It's City Square down in Jalan Wong Ah Fook. The five-level shopping center, which has about 300 shops, is the most successful retail complex in JB, and frequented by both Malaysian and Singaporean shoppers, the latter accounting for 40% of the shoppers. In fact, it's so well-loved by Singaporeans that GIC has acquired a 70% stake in the RM465 Million complex. When we visited it with some Singaporeans, one of them said, "Wow, it's like a Singaporean suburban mall." Which is true. Even the prices appeared quite Singaporeish, particularly at the food court where an iced tea cost RM2, if we recalled correctly.

Mauritius looks to Singapore

Over at AllAfrica, they're looking at Singapore as an example of good, solid and successful national development and a potential model for the new government of Mauritius. Always interesting to see a country through other people's eyes.