I’m transformed!

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I’m transformed by Michael Bay’s Transformers

It’s amazing how those special effects work on my sensory organs on the big screen. One hour into the movie, I feel like Automas Prime is looming over my head outside my own backyard. Two hours later, I feel my heart aching for Bumble Bee and its lost limb. One hour after the movie, I find hallucinating along the road, wondering if the coming car will transform into a depticon.

I’m never really a Transformers fan, although I pretty much grew up with it and thought the idea of vehicles or airplanes morphing into robots – which can think, talk, and function better than human beings – really cool.

And it is ironic that in this information age when human beings have become (almost totally) reliant on machines, we still think we are one step up above the inanimate robots. So much so, we have persisted to model the inanimate against the animate – now the Japanese are a different class here with their partiality towards humanising the robots, but I think the reader will get my point here.

What makes us – the humans – which (and not who, because living things are still things afterall) seem to rule the only ‘livable planet’ (again livable according to our standards) in the universe so far, so steadfast and staunch in believing the trusting our superiority – intellectual or moral – to other animate and non-animate things when we’ve never really been in control of the situation or even our own bodies?

Ironically, in Transformers, our best defence has to come from the benovelent Automas Prime who has this to say to the resident villian Megatron and fellow autobots (an indirect quote here, not word for word)

The humans may be weak and primitive, but I also see signs of courage these sentient beings (screen flash to show Sam the teenage human hero)

As with most remakes that kept to the spirit of the original comic, the face of human courage and empathy in Transformers is mostly that of youth (of course you have a few brave commandoes making their ‘guest performances’ but they are not the ones communicating with the robots). The message remains quite consistent despite the overwhelming special effects: Humans, especially grown ups, have somewhat lost their touch to connect not just with beings different from their own, but also with their own humanity.

Addendum after the movie experience:

Looking up Michael Bay on wikipedia, I realise this guy hasn’t had good reviews for his past movies. He’s been nominated for Worst Director twice for Pearl Harbor and Armageddon and was not spared the criticism for his design on the robots in Transformers.

I’ll say, give the guy a break for his great delivery in Transformers! Afterall, he has successfully converted quite a number of adults into fans for big screen remake of “presumably kids’ stuff” (again the adult prejudice sets in).

I’ll be waiting for MegaTron to make a comeback in Transformers 2 – let’s hope Steven Spielberg gets to raise enough capital to produce a sequel.

Addendum after addendum

Ah well, so I’ve just confirmed one of the main grouses Transformers fans have against the movie is that Bumble Bee has turned into a Chevrolet when he’s supposed to be a Volkswagen Beetle. But I don’t really see how a Hollywood blockbuster will ever pass up a US carmaker over a German one. Of course, this is just my own conjecture.

Hana Kimi – The art of androgyny

Androgynous: (adj) a term derived from the Greek words άνδρας (andras, meaning man) and γυνή (gyne, meaning woman)that can refer to two concepts regarding the mixing of both male and female genders or having a lack of gender identification.

Above definition from Wikipedia.

In Hana Kimi, Ella (pictured centre in the above poster) of the Mandarin pop trio, S.H.E., won fans over with her hilarious personification of the trials and tribunals of a girl cross-dressing as a boy to enrol into an all boys school to get up close and personal as her idol (an accomplished athlete studying in the same school).

What doesn’t fail to entertain through the history of such cross-dressing series is the confusion that arises from mistaken gender identity. Of gay men who can tell a woman from a man better than other heterosexual men or women. Of (heterosexual) men doubting their own sexualities when they fell for these (wo)men.

Ultimately, it boils down to a single question – how far should our sexuality be tied to our gender.

And it is precisely because of this controversial aspect of the storyline that the series did not pass through the local censorship board unscathed. Crucial scenes capturing the dialogue between the female protagonist with her love counsel, a gay teacher, were heavily censored to remove any direct mentions of homosexuality – obviously an unpopular and taboo subject in an island-nation that cannot afford to put the sexuality of its limited population to test.

But what really puzzles me is why did the local TV station even consider airing Hana Kimi in the first place, knowing and understanding that gender confusion/(homo)sexuality is a major theme in the series?

Thankfully for me at least, I do not need to rely on local channels solely for my entertainment needs.

I couldn’t imagine deriving any joy from watching the censored version after watching and enjoying every bit of the uncensored original.

Mark this day when he who thinks he knows all said this …

The same man who said he regretted giving Singapore women education and berated graduate women for not having enough babies had this to say when asked about the ‘noise’ raised against increasing ministerial salaries:

“The cure to all this talk is really a good dose of incompetent government,” Lee senior told the Straits Times on Thursday, adding that it is “absurd” for Singaporeans to quarrel about ministerial pay and warned that Singapore would suffer it the government could not pay competitive salaries.

“Your security will be at risk and our women will become maids in other people’s countries,” he said.

Quote from CNN via Mr Wang.

Ain’t it strange how to some of the martians, women can only be categorised into worker female ants, baby producing machines or the ‘lowly subservient’ maids (blogger does not endorse adjectives in quotation marks, they are plainly an eunciation of what he who thinks he knows all possibly feel towards foreign maids)?

Am beginning to think I need to get a p**** transplant to fit in here in Singapore, because I can’t see myself aligning with any of the above categories, haha…

Tea, Coffee, Wine, or Cocoa?

It’s a sorta typecasting exercise, but I still love the lyrical phrasing of this quote I came across on a tea cup this morning:

There is a subtle charm in the taste of tea which makes it irresistible and capable of idealisation. Western humourists were not slow to mingle the fragrance of their thoughts with its aroma. It has not the arrogance of wine, the self-consciousness of coffee, nor the simpering innocence of cocoa.

Kakuzo Okakura in The Book of Tea.

What a way to augment the pleasure of having my morning tea :D.

Wedded during Japanese Occupation

Visited Ford Factory – the historical building that witnessed the surrender of British colonists to Japanese invaders during World War II.

Refurbished to document the Japanese Occupation, this latest ‘museum’ is open for free visits till 16 February 2006.

Much has been said on the atrocities of the war, but what is arguably more valuable is the portrayal of everyday life during the occupation.

Here I’ve elected to feature the wedding gown, which is exhibited amongst other day-to-day items. The gown is notable for its simplicity, which is reflective of thrift exercised to cope with a general shortage of and inflationary pressures on prices of daily necessities and resources. The bride-to-be also noted the austerity of the wedding proceedings despite her hefty outlay of S$40,000. What is interesting to note is despite the difficulties in putting together a wedding during the occupation, women (and men) persisted in adhering – as far as their resources would permit – to their traditional rituals. Now considering the percentage of post-modern women (and men) who prefer to skip the customary or even getting their marriages/unions legally registered at all in this time of abundance, I really wonder whether liberation from colonial rule – as a nation and individuals – has rendered traditions obsolete.

Happy 2007!

Captured this wonderful moment from the balcony of ex-Supreme Court/City Hall.

May the coming year bring more peace and less strife, more joy and less sorrow for all around the world.

What price companionship?

Answer this question in no more than three seconds before reading the rest of this post: Would you or would you not accept a platonic – ie no sex involved – proposition from a total stranger to accompany him/her for a stipulated period of time for a stipulated sum of money?

Now consider this: what if you were approached by the said stranger – a foreigner – in a restaurant and were offered a sum of S$5,000 for your company over the next two weekend?

Does the above scenario make a material difference to your response?

This was a real life proposition offered to a white collar working girl over a lunch/dinner appointment with her fellow colleague.

The same scenario was repeated for the purpose of soliciting responses from a few other Singaporean women in their late twenties and early 30s. Needless to say, responses to such a proposition which tested the ‘conservative limits’ of a developed Asian society are more often than not attached with moralistic values and judgements.

A – a scholar and corporate high-flier – is quick to say no and to equate this with the treatment of social escorts. So disregarding the promise of a ‘no sex involved’ transaction, for A, it is moralistically wrong for any woman to accept such a proposition.

But why so? B asked. When sex is not part of the deal and when companionship is also part of service offered by other widely accepted professions such as tour guides?

Well, as C would argue, there’s always a nudging question when such a large sum of money is offered by a total stranger and foreigner to an Asian woman that sex – though not stipulated as part of the package – will be ultimately included in the deal. And who’s going to vouch for the credibility and reliability of a stranger and guarantee the safety of the woman providing the service?

But if there are clear conditions laid out in the first place, B counter argues, that will not compromise the (sexual) integrity of the woman, what’s stopping her from accepting the proposition? Afterall S$5,000 is good money, and for a woman to reject such a proposition, she’s probably not in need of money?

The proposition may have been offered to a Singaporean lady in her early 30s but the entire situation is not exactly gender specific. I have also come across cases where young men in their early twenties were offered money in exchange for their companionship.

For those who are still curious of the outcome, the lady in question has in fact accepted the proposition from an Italian stranger.

Personally I would not accept such a proposition from the opposite gender although I would hesitate to label anyone who does so as a social escort or to write off the transaction as amoral. Likewise, B’s arguments are fairly grounded on the basis of a capitalistic society.

So why would I say no? Well again, the idealist in me refuses to buy in to the myth that money can buy you anything in this world. I believe by consenting to participate in the trading of one’s companionship for money is arguably endorsing the statement that ‘life’s intangible richness and fragility’ can be ‘made invisible by the abstract calculations of cost-benefit analyses’ (quote from Bakan’s The Corporation p. 65).

And to the stranger who has approached me with such a proposition, my response will be ‘ No, I will not take up your offer. But yes, I will be happy to show you around the city if I find you a pleasant enough companion and interesting enough acquaintance’.

Asian Toilet Culture

Malaysia is the latest Asian nation to announce a revamp of not just its public toilets (hardware) but now also a campaign to improve the toilet manners of its citizens.

Strangely but quite predictably I must say, the ‘T’ word – stands for toilet – often pops up in my conversations with fellow Singaporeans who have spent an extended period of time overseas.

Sadly, we all appear to agree on one fact, that Asians – other than the exceptional Japanese and possibly Koreans – generally aren’t quite civic-minded when it comes to public property (especially toilets!) and for some reason or other our toilet manners suck.

Some are quick to advise me that Asia has generally come a long way since SARS particularly in hard-hit countries/cities like China, Hong Kong and Singapore. But much remains to be done with the mentality of the Asian citizen.

Case in point: where else in the world can you find automated toilet flushing systems other than Singapore or now Malaysia?

What makes it so difficult to inculcate in the nationals the habit to flush and clean up before you leave the cubicle for the next person?

As the Chinese saying goes, Zi Bu Jiao Fu Zhi Gao, if the son isn’t well-schooled in his manners, the fault lies with his father. The same could be said about how the current generation may reflect (badly) on their ancestors. I’ve not had the luxury to go in depth in my research on the toilet manners of ancient Chinese or other Asian races. But I do have a nudging suspicion that the entire problem is rooted on a lack of consideration for anything that does not fall under one’s ownership. So that toilet in the market cannot be equated the same status as my private toilet at home, that grass field isn’t part of my own garden and the void deck is a shared area that is under regular maintenance by the town council. So why should I care for public property when it should be some one else’s responsibility? Well, perhaps only when I am fined for not doing so – then again fines don’t really work all the time in Singapore ;).

Ok this post has already run a longer length than expected. Have to stop rambling now. I’ll be listening here if you like to share your thoughts.

Updates on the Chinese ‘Tongzhi’

‘Overheard’ on Channel News Asia, ‘Inside Asia’ special report by Tan Bee Leng on East Asia Tonight

Chinese ‘Tongzhi’ – literally means comrade but lately has been applied as a paradoxical reference to Chinese glbt community, appears to enjoy a more legit status in their own nation than homosexuals in Singapore. Why I say so?

1. Homosexuality has been decriminalised in China since 1997 and delisted from list of mental illnesses by the Chinese Psychiatric Society since 2004. Over here in Singapore, homosexual intercourse is still considered illegal under an antiquated statute.

2. In 2003, one of the top Chinese universities, Fudan University in Shanghai offered a course on homosexual health concerns. Owing to the overwhelming response, the university has followed up with a new course aimed to promote an understanding and social acceptance of homosexuality. I don’t recall coming across any similar offerings in Singapore Universities. But then again, which Uni would dare to venture into ‘untested but marked waters’, man.

All these initiatives are taking place in a society still deeply entrenched in the feudalistic values of carrying on the family name through male heirs. According to the same CNA report, around 80 to 90% of homosexual males opt to marry women to fulfill their familial duties.

Who says the mainland Chinese are behind times? MIW: time to learn from our imperialistic ancestors and shed that ‘conservative’ cover.

Redirecting traffic to an interesting discussion

I’ve been slow in updating this site lately as a result of some very interesting discussions going on at this site.

If you are a Singaporean who’s thinking of venturing out your safety zone and exploring wider horizons elsewhere in the world, do check out the insightful comments from those who have taken this major step out previously.

Five cheers too to the relatively democratic cyberspace, one of the few spheres where individuals could enjoy free ranging discussion with like-minded others.

To quote from darkness, a fellow participant in our earlier discussion, let’s celebrate the diversity in cyberspace:

… we as a society need to be more tolerant of different groups in blogosphere – they may not fit nicely into your definition of a pigeon hole, but if you allow people to be and let them express themselves freely, you will find people can often surprise you in ways and means which you hardly either thought possible or could possibly have imagined …

… that is the only to create real value.

And I share Aaron’s – the blog owner – sentiment when he said:

I do think that the cybersphere is a relatively free space for now, and we are seeing many ordinary folks publishing their opinions, and many of them make alot of sense. I do hope that this will continue to keep up.

Now, ask me again why I abhor any attempt from capitalistic media organisation to colonise the cyberspace.