crazy little thing called…

Pardon me, I’m in the mood for Queen today.

crowbar awards 2008 [Kill Billy]

Me and Sherms went for the Crowbar Seminar yesterday, and it was really quite inspiring to be listening to leaders in the creative industry talk about what they were passionate about, and encourage the younger generation (ie. us) to explore the advertising world. Although I’m more interested in doing copy than design, I was really inspired by Chris Lee from Asylum and Roy Poh from Beautiful (formerly from Kinetic). Although both of them are Creative Directors, Chris was really funny and Roy seemed to resemble a quiet, shy teenager. In all the presenters - from those in the design field, to maestros of photography and film, and gurus of advertising - the passion and understanding of humanity was obvious, and immensely appealing.

For those interested in the Crowbar Awards 2008, find out how you can beat Billy Lee (above), the precocious 6-year old advertising genius who I personally want to beat up.

The Crowbar Awards, organised by the 4As, gives students throughout the Asian region the opportunity to showcase their work - whether it be film, photography, design, advertising or interactive - and is judged by leaders in the creative field. Closing date for entries is 9th May 2008.

post-exams

For those of you wondering about the photos and haikus I’ve been putting up, well, it was my lazy attempt to show you how me and Jacqueline’s exhibition looked like. The exhibition has come and gone, but I really look back on it with a smile, it was truly one of the few things where I could show people what I was about. And if you’re interested, you can see the full exhibition here.

These few days I’ve been absent from the online world, well mainly I’ve been catching up on my sleep and enjoying my newfound freedom. But as often is the case with freedom that is newfound, you find yourself with a lot of time and nothing to do.

And so I’m trying to find an internship at the moment (PR, corp comm or advertising), something that will last me till end August, before I head of to Vienna for my exchange. Which is one of the highlights of my year, if not my entire life.

Now excuse me while I write more cover letters…

SMU: Victim of its own success?

(Inspired by Mark and Daryl’s posts)

Once upon a time, when the giants NTU and NUS ruled the Singaporean university scene, a little known kid called SMU appeared from nowhere, and said,

“Ahem.”

NTU and NUS turned their noses up and ignored the newcomer, and it was easy for them to do so, because everyone else wasn’t paying any attention to little SMU either, so young and inexperienced as he was.

But SMU was undeterred. He felt that the old system needed to be changed: lecture halls filled with hundreds of students fervently copying notes as fast as the professor could utter them, lack of interaction between students and professors, a lacklustre environment where most students felt nameless, faceless, soul-less…

So he called for an era of change.

“No more crowded lecture halls, but small class sizes where students get to interact with professors!”

“We interview each and every applicant to see if he can fit into the culture, because grades aren’t everything!”

“We don’t want to reward mere memorisation of facts, let’s include group projects and class participation!”

“SMU. Because we’re different!”

It was indeed, at the time, revolutionary. It was a wonderful message indeed.

Unfortunately, not everyone was ready for such a message. Society wasn’t ready for such a message.

Thus, most people viewed those who went to SMU as rejects of NUS and NTU, or worse, mavericks who were taking a silly risk.

But the mavericks, they didn’t care what society thought. They knew that they had something special, and in fact they held a particular pride in bucking the trend, a veritable “screw you” to the naysayers.

Skip ahead a couple of years, and the world suddenly changed. Suddenly graduates from SMU looked real impressive. They were smart, they were confident, they were great communicators and most important of all, they were hired. They were indeed different.

Now, public opinion is truly a funny thing. Suddenly, the little nobody SMU became the young upstart everyone was talking about, and NUS and NTU started feeling hot under their collars a little bit. Soon, they too were talking about being “multi-disciplinary”, “broad-based” and “interactive”.

And when applications for universities opened once again, SMU found itself inundated with applications, and by the best and the brightest, no less.

Soon enough, as these things do, things started to change.

The grade criteria for entry into the different schools suddenly became way higher than ever, and took more precedence.

Class participation became a dirty word, and everybody knew (and hated) that guy who “talked for the sake of talking”.

Competition between students became the norm. Everybody tried to top each other in everything, and the dreaded “bell curve” made things even worse.

The library became a second home to most students, “break week” was a misnomer, and going to school on  a Sunday became the norm.

And the school suddenly became way.too.crowded.

Suddenly, “being different” started looking like exactly the same.

——————————————————————————–

To answer the question I posted in the title of this post, yes, I do believe SMU has become a victim of its own success. There was a time I was truly proud of being from SMU. These days…not so much. Sure it’s a business school, but the level at which the rat race has crept into university life is truly something a lot of us find hard to believe. Some say it’s because of the city campus, some say it’s the marketing, some just say… hard luck, that’s the way the cookie crumbles.

Call me idealistic, but I think SMU had something special in the beginning, and somewhere along the way, it lost the plot somewhat. I think I’ve been luckier than some in that I got to do something I truly believe in, something beyond getting the perfect grades, and I truly hope that everybody gets to experience this in some form or another. Life is not all about that perfect presentation, that A+ that you spent all your time in the library for, or that ungraded presentation that for some reason became yet another game of one-upmanship.

Don’t get me wrong, I know some of the most talented and intelligent individuals in this school, but most of us agree that things just aren’t the same anymore.

SMU, revisit your ideals once more. Then ask yourself, am I shortchanging those that believed in me from the start? If the answer is yes, then let’s change the situation. It isn’t too late.

photos+haiku exhibition #3

waiting, in stasis

as others take historic flight

pursuing their dreams

photos by Jacqueline.

photo+haiku exhibition #2

inner consciousness

lights up and dims as body moves

from this square, to that

photos by Jacqueline

photo+haiku exhibition #1

morning interrupted

I wonder if we are moving

forwards, or backwards

photos taken by Jacqueline.

social media, social events

Bloggers Audio Interview

A couple of weeks ago some of the Social Media class bloggers (Calin, Amelia, Jacqueline and myself) dragged ourselves to school on a Sunday for an interview for SMU Campus Radio, for a show called The Talk Show hosted by Daryl. We had a rather fun time during recording, and here’s an audio clip of the interview if you are interested (though I must warn you of my bad radio voice and incessant “umms” and “mmms”).

Social Media Breakfast Singapore

Then last Saturday I had the pleasure of attending (and making food for) Social Media Breakfast Singapore, where about 40 of us bloggers and social media users dragged ourselves out of bed on a nice Saturday morning to talk about ourselves (or as Derrick says, “to pimp ourselves”) and how we use social media in our lives.

It was nice meeting people ( Derrick, Andrew, Michael, Brian, Sheylara, Coleman) and then there was the personal tagging, which basically involved tagging people with stickers with adjectives on them (mine read “I am Lao Ban”, “great poem writer”, “thief” and “helpful”), and to the contrary of the organisers’ expectations, was a great hit with everybody!

Though it was tiring making all the food and running around, it was indeed exciting to be part of SMB, given that it was the first (until someone proves otherwise, Daryl says), and I’m pretty sure not the last. My only regret was not managing to talk to everyone, but there’s always SMB #2! You can read more about the breakfast at Daryl’s blog and even Mitch Joel has picked up on it. (Good job guys!)

Photo+Haiku exhibition

As for this week, me and Jac are having a collaborative haiku+photo exhibition in Frujch based on the theme of Time, apt since it’s our last term in SMU. Do come by tomorrow to check out Part 1 (Moving), and Part II (Still) if you’re in the area.

I just love how blogging has provided me with these opportunities to meet new friends and make new memories. I really have to thank Professor Michael Netzley for introducing me to this world of social media, it has indeed been a fascinating journey that is just beginning.

Social Media class has really created a big impact in my life and I’ve made new friends from class like Andre, Jasmine, Valene and Xiao Hui (in addition to Calin, Amelia, Jacqueline and Daryl) and I was really sad when we had our last class last Saturday (see above picture, that’s me holding back my tears :p)

Well, then again there’s always Twitter (add me!)

attempt #1

 

time clutched in a baby’s fist,

tiny fingers      tiny nails

touch the vastness, unaware

 

of its power:

s t r e t c h e d

like infinity on an unknown plane

to be filled with people,

places,

things

here today and gone tomorrow

carried by the ebb

and

        f

        l

        o

        w

sans thought

sans feel

sans meaning

leaving me eviscerated.

 

of its grace:

warm

like a wooly blanket on a shivering frame

pulsing with love,

                 love,

                love

you will never be alone she says

and rocks you gently

back

              and

forth

and makes your heart dance

and smile

and do a loop-de-loop

all the things only a happy heart could do

 

between here and now

tiny fingers     tiny nails

clutch onto something

big

and wonders

(if it could wonder)

 

what now?

 

 

Mas Selamat T-shirt: What will they think of next?

3 weeks ago I wrote about how Facebook groups help in the hunt for Mas Selamat in Singapore, with particular emphasis on the group Instant ORD for Mas Selamat Capture. The creators of the group, 20-year old Ashwin Tiwari and Ray Ninnan Panicker, have gone one step further by printing 100 T-shirts with Mas Selamat’s face on it and are selling it on Facebook.

The tongue-in-cheek tone of the Facebook group caught the eye of a local reporter, who contacted the guys for an interview. To date, they have gotten attention from local TV channels (Channel 8 and Channel News Asia) and an article in today’s Sunday Times (Mas Selamat: Here are 100 T-shirts to wear him out) which have created even more buzz for the creators.

Some may call it opportunism but it sure is paying off for the guys, who have received 70 orders to date for the $16 T-shirt that they are selling on Facebook. The T-shirt sports the fugitive’s face with the words “Reward Instant ORD”, and is quite frankly rather decent-looking. The publicity can only serve to not only help the pair’s ambitions to start a T-shirt printing business, but spread further awareness of what remains a very serious national concern.

I have to say that I think it’s quite a smart move. If they are planning to set up a T-shirt business, there is no better way to kick-start their sales then by creating a design that resonates with their client base, and attracts publicity at the same time. And by providing local content, it differentiates their product from the existing t-shirt designs out there. It’s a good example of how to use social media effectively, and local companies can certainly learn a thing or two from these two entrepreneurial upstarts.

I for one would love to see more people wearing clothes from not only local brands, but those that reflect local culture and sentiments as well. What better way to ensure that youths continue to feel an emotional connection with their country? Well okay, there may be better ways, but I would say that this could just be an important first step.

Another interesting issue that I felt was interesting is that a local journalist turned to social media for news which then led to coverage by the newspaper and television. This reflects the trend now for news to spread from online media to mainstream media back to online media, and it’s great that Singapore journalism has caught up with the bandwagon, at least a little.