Musings : An Idle Mind is a Creative Mind?

OK this post started with me stoning over brunch. As I was reading the papers, my mind leap around the various issues and articles in the papers, an interview with PM Lee, one abt the US space program and some abt our gd ol' Singapore education system and our teachers. I took a shower and head into my rm, and at this time someone with an electric guitar started practicising some slow tunes. A cool shower, a full stomach and some slow music, life is pretty good eh? Anw back to the post....

There was this article on Amsterdam yest, a travelogue of sorts. There was this part taht in the city, there are cheap food lines/shops that provide a meal for $5. Thats prob still exp if its in Singapore, but prob cheap over there. Anyway the pt is that while its catered for the poor, aspiring artists and musicians can make use of this. While im not arguing for welfare unemployment payouts, ppl generally have less to worry. Of cus this enables one to rot or to come up with cool ideas and stuff, and ppl generally rot. Musicians and artists are not welcomed in Singapore society, def nt our parents, prob traumatised by the 60s hippy drug taking fad, and the decadent West! If you remember my previous post, on how the dentist told my prof's daughter that being a pianist 'cannot earn $$' in which she broke down in tears, haha. Generally im quite a technocrat despite having a arts degree, so im not that into the art scene here or elsewhere but i do sympathise with ppl in the industry. Aside from movies and films, im not that interested and my taste in music, well its not much oso. Once again im complaining abt the educational mindset of Singapore, if nt our MOE system.

Basically i read abt this guy and his sister, they r working in the fashion industry now, the sister works in a magazine and the guy is a photographer. What made me noticed is that the guy had a engineering degree and a masters in physics. (either or la, but basically just two education cert that totally has no link with his photography) So the siblings have gained recognition for their in the fashion circles. This set me thinking, but the guy spent 6-7 years of his prime? Any other person would baulk at not pursuing a career so as not to waste it. But his passion prevailed and its working out for him. But of cus he had a stable job 1st before changing to photography. (WHOOP THANKS FOR THE AUTOSAVING DRAFT FEATURE OF BLOGSPOT! Mouse went crazy and the window was closed accidentally.) Anw he did had his sister to help him and all.
Once again im trying to come to terms on how to spot/cater to one's passion. Then again Singapore's puny economy and ah-Gong's hatred for liberal arts ppl will take some time to dissipate.

Idle mind is a creative mind? Well the renowned thinkers during the Enlightenment Age are usually rich blokes, they have servants n all, so basically they have lots of free time. But some of them do have to make ends meet. Then again they dun have TV, radio, movies nor the Internet, so I guess they have no choice and sit down and stone? One would think of Google to come up with an example of an awesome work environment. I guess they realised a relaxed mind is a creative one. But the folks at Google are generally damn competitive too, so theres a higher chance for them to channel their thoughts into something productive than just rotting there and then.

Of cus speaking of productivity, this is how the US space program triggered my memory. I think last year we (subjective to whoever was there, cant rem) watched 'MOON', an *ahem* artsy fartsy film ( this term is synonym with 'It sux' when you ask the rest of the gang to describe it,..anw...) IT IS a scifi film...so well....anw. So the lead character is a sole worker at a moon base that harvest hydrogen for fuel or something and sends it back to earth. Basically our character is a clone that last for a few years, at end pt their body would start degrading and falls apart. And apparently clones are illegal in the film's context, so the company is doing something illegal. The company fake video calls with the original's family. The clone managed to fix a real time phone call with his 'family' and he freaks out as he hears his own voice. (The original stays on earth the whole time, I assumed the original agreed to be cloned and his clones would work on the moon facility). His predecessors, all clones, were all tricked into a cremating device (the character discovered some ashes) by saying its a hibernating device for the trip back to earth. Weird video logs of his predecessors started surfacing due to system errors, and bcus it was his predecessors' video logs and not of our current lead, the videos do not register in our lead character's memories and lots of memory gap issues. So the main turning point of the film is that our lead character had an accident on the moon's surface and is presumed dead so the company decided to activate a new clone and then the two met.......
This is like an extreme in the cause for seeking productivity, skirting around human sensibilities, of cus u can argue whether clones are truly human or not, but they still exhibit human emotions and all.....so....but the main pt i was to raise is the ongoing drive for productivity, which im not definitely doing now since im supposed to revise for my exams...ANW..... Another great film on what is means to be human is the scifi classic, Blade Runner, great show, but prob tooooo ARTSY FARTSY for our clique......

Makana for Thought

Arguments against gun control in the US

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_YTM_eAWnQ&feature=related

Musings

Singaporeans are really taking security for granted, and most Singaporeans are apathetic to their fellow citizens (me too), generally arent too aware of their surroundings. You might feel that ur laptop and belongings are safe among a table of fellow students, though they might be strangers. But hey everyone's busy, unless u ask to help jagar, most would just take a cursory glance at ur glance. Or to seriously question a thief who is trying to masquerade as the fren of the laptop's owner. Though the thief has to be really daring. But most of the time, valuables are often out of sight from people around them. In a crowded place, worst. My stay at NUS, esp the library, a good number of laptops have been stolen. Most basic cause, a need for the bathroom, no one ard to help to look out for my stuff. Bah take a risk, next thing u knw it, call security, my stuff has been stolen. Once I went down to the 3rd flr shelves, the police and campus security were there, attending to the victim. They werent being empathetic, 'You shudnt leave ur laptop like that la, you shud be more careful...yaddayadda...' comeon the guy is already regretting it so much. I heard stories that one girl had her stuff stolen from inside her bag. There always seem to be a few cases of theft each semester, fortunately this last sem there wasnt any news of it. But ppl are still taking unnecessary chances.

Singapore's generally a safe place. A gd standard of living for most, hence not much of an incentive for crime, and possibly lack of space to hide at/in (one gd thing abt singapore) for criminals. Still petty crimes are hard to crack, esp unattended belongings. I wasnt particulary pleased when we forgo the use of the lockers during the swim on Sunday. I guess groupthink prevailed over my stance. Fortunately our day wasnt ruined.

Musings

Probably wont have to take 96 at nite for quite some time.....

Emo Last Day

Usually at a whim, we would declare its time to go home and kun n stuff. But today since its the last sch day, me n my pals had dinner at megabites from ard 7-9pm. Basically we just stoned n tok abt whateva that came to our minds, except for our plans for the future. My fren was especially emo haha. I could have taken 189 from kent ridge int back to clementi, but i had to emo too and walked back to 96 bus stop. even took a video n some pix.....emo!

Musing

Wah never knew Singapore is so highly thought of, even in fictional stories.

An excerpt from Blue Submarine No.6 (anime) wiki entry.

'Six travel to the Blue Dome, an underwater, shell-shaped superfortress that serves as Blue Fleet's main berthing facility. Character development ensues during the trip. Hayami, who had seen the plans for Blue Dome, smiles as he sees the entire Blue Fleet for the first time. The Blue Fleet consists of many state-of-the-art submarines, each built by its respective country (#1 is the United States, #2 is United Kingdom, #3 is France, #4 is Germany, #5 is Russia, #6 is Japan, #7 is Australia, #8 is China, #9 is Singapore, and #10 is India).'

Musing

Sounds familiar???