QLRS: Six of the Best.

Mon, 1 Aug 2011
1 min read
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Six Plays by Tan Tarn How.

My review of Tan Tarn How’s Six Plays – the text which I was busy devouring in June while recuperating from my short stint in the Weapon X Project – is now up on the Quarterly Literary Review Singapore (QLRS).

Six of the Best
Compilation revives veteran playwright’s greatest hits

This collection brings together six of Tan Tarn How’s best works thus far, written and produced over a period of 11 years (1992 – 2003). Prior to this, The Lady of Soul and Her Ultimate ‘S’ Machine (“Soul“) was published individually in 1993, and Undercover and Home were published in play collections that featured various local playwrights. The publication of these plays in one volume are, hence, important in providing readers and scholars of Singapore literature with a holistic overview of Tan’s concerns as well as showcasing the diversity of topics he writes on, while demonstrating Tan’s dexterity as a playwright when tackling a range of subjects.

Thematically, most of Tan’s concerns, as with the majority of P65 Singaporean writers, are with the socio-political environment and machinations of the Singapore state – an ostensibly natural reflection of and response towards the environment that P65 Singaporean writers have been bred in.

(continued…)

What is with this excessive tree-pruning obsession?

Sat, 30 Jul 2011
2 min read
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The excessive pruning of trees - disapprove.

I’m not against the pruning of trees, because pruning does help at times in terms of improving the aesthetics or safety of a place.

What I’m against is the excessive pruning of trees all over Singapore that takes place on a regular basis.

(At the same time, I do wish more trees could be planted in Singapore, but that’s another battle for another time).

That tree gave some much-needed shade to Pooters – something I appreciate because I hate sitting on an over-heated seat and I hate knowing Pooters is exposed to the elements.

There are other benefits to trees in our urban environment too: carbon sequestration, reduction in ambient temperatures, etc. Read more here.

That’s why trees are especially important in a place like sunny Singapore and in a world stricken by global warming.

However, I’ve always felt that whoever makes decision like these – e.g. to prune trees excessively – do so in the right spirit: to neaten and hence beautify the place, to prevent tree branches from falling and killing people during a gale or a storm, etc.

Unfortunately, these decisions seem to always be made in a vacuum, without consideration of other important factors like the ones I mentioned above: shade, shelter, preventing global warming, etc.

Why?

I think this has to do with encouraging critical thinking and providing these people with an actual knowledge of circumstances in our world today.

And that’s why it has never been more important for us to move away from subjects taught in the traditional curriculum, to teaching slightly more multidisciplinary and ‘real-world’ subjects like biodiversity or environmental ethics now.

Stuff you must read today (Tue, 5 Jul 2011)

Wed, 6 Jul 2011
2 min read
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  • Helmetless Motorcyclist Killed While Riding to Overturn Helmet Law | Freakonomics

    • “One bizarre unintended consequence of the rollback in helmet laws: more human organs available for transplantation”.

    You know what? I bet if this were the premise of a drink-driving campaign e.g. organs depicted driving cars, I’m sure drink-driving rates would drop drastically, because human beings are not, by nature, altruistic.

  • Food Ark | National Geographic Magazine

    • “In short, in our focus on increasing the amount of food we produce today, we have accidentally put ourselves at risk for food shortages in the future”.

  • 15 Shopping Rules of Thumb | The Simple Dollar

    • “Pay for experiences, not things. A thing is something that takes up space in your house. An experience changes who you are as a person. One cannot be replaced, while the other can easily be replaced. Give me junky furniture and a lifetime of memories”.

    In my case, give me no physical gifts, please.

  • Will Glenn Ong run out of colleagues to marry? | S M Ong

    • I was thinking the exact same thing when I heard the news!

  • Dating, Madoff and Supply and Demand | The Altucher Confidential

    • “You need to contact up to 30 people to sell your business, or raise initial money for your fund, or get a job, or whatever… . What this also means, is that if the supply in the market you are aiming for is not 30 (i.e. if you are building a product that ONLY Google would ever want to buy) then you are probably in the wrong market”.