You don't know me.

I think I was about 10 or 11 when 'You've got Mail' aired in cinemas. It was a comedy cum love and yes, a very good example of the 'various advantages' in the virtual world.

The movie overview: Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks are rivals in the real world as they are competitors in business. In the virtual world, they interact well with one another through the use of emails and screen names. And then, predictably, they fall in love and period.

Ahhh...the beauty of the internet. MSN chat, Skype, Facebook-these are the things we heavily rely on in this technological age. Not only we as teenagers use them but hey, our parents are also part of it. Not for mine, my cousins at least. When I went over to Beijing where my uncle was based, he would chat with my cousins everyday via MSN and they would 'report things like any mischief ' and webcam him to say good night. What a very sweet way to keep in contact!

With websites like Faceboook helping us to keep in touch with people we barely know(yes, as long as we remember that fellow as our primary school classmate, then she's on our virtual friend list), it is also a portal for our parents and aunties or uncles to 'spy' on us. A friend of mine commented that if his dad ever added him on facebook, he would reject him because 'I don't wanna be controlled even online'. It was then I realised that as much as online portals make much more convenience than before, it was also a clever(could be misleading as well) way to find out alot of things about someone you might think you're close to.

I know of many friends who seem very quiet when interacting with them face-to-face. But when they go online, it's as if that person you're talking to is not them. Scary! Like what we've learnt in class, people take on different personas online and really, it's hard to tell which 'face' of that person is their true self. Then again, for them, having an online persona is their way of expressing their feelings and thoughts that they might not have the confidence to talk about in real life. In a sense, the virtual world allows them to 'escape' from reality.

Of course, not all's grey or rosy in the virtual world. Not grey, because it allows us to find out more about someone we might not dare to interact with in real life. And not all rosy because virtually, we can use it to deceive. I mean, when our lecturer told us about the case of the father and daughter meeting up after chatting online, it made me wonder how much of influence the internet has on us. I did find it funny though, just imagine how the two reacted when they saw each other! LOL.

All right, just a cartoon ad to laugh about. I personally am very much in love with all things Peanuts.

Connected globally

(Tell me if everything you've learnt or 'copied' is from the media. I dare say, 70% of what and who we are today is based on the influence of the media. Just my own lil thought though)

And so, staying connected to the world should be at the top of our game. This is more so for the mass media, where whatever information we receive and take in, is through them. Connectivity, that's the word.

I remember when I was in secondary school, dramas such as Smallville was the rage. The girls in my class would sing the Remy Zero theme song and the teacher would shut them up. LOL. For most of my secondary school life, I alternated between one new US drama serial over another and that continued into my poly education. Local dramas, on the other hand, were getting less attention on my radar.

Simply put, they have never appealed to me. Of course, not all local productions are bad. In fact, there are some pretty good ones. In 2003, I watched a play by Kumar(sg's most famous drag queen), Emma Yong, Hossan Leong and Chua En Lai. Titled 'Cindere-LAH', it garnered a full-house seating at the Raffles Hotel and gave everyone comic relief.

Surely, like most Singaporeans, I support local movies like Money No Enough & I Not Stupid. Yes, they do provide lots of laughter, however, if you realise, for films like these, they centre around the same, old storyline, with lots of singlish. Tell me then, how do we compete with hollywood films? For local movie 'Homerun', it was actually based on an Iranian film. I watched it and found it so much better than our local adaptation. Call me skeptical, but for me, local movies and programmes lack the originality and creativity when it comes to media. Like my dad always says, 'Everything also copy...where's the catch?'

Moving on to print media, I personally prefer reading overseas magazines(fashion ones i mean). Teen Vogue, my bible for the latest trends and best buys, keeps me wanting to come back for more. I diligently buy the monthly issues, though the 8 dollars I pay pinch a little. The preference I have for them over local magazines is unexplainable-maybe I just feel they provide me with better information in the fashion sense.

It's interesting. Because here I am, at the other end of the earth, consuming a US magazine and getting the best from it. Globalisation of the mass media is just so amazing, we get linked to other parts of the world without needing to get there to consume its contents.

Cultures and such...

Hi!

Catch of the week;

Thought you guys might like to ponder over this:

" Culture is the widening of the mind and of the spirit."(by Jawaharlal Neru)

When we talk about interculture, it pretty much depends on our way of life and the different beliefs, cultures and values we adopt. It also tells how we people behave and perceive the world around us.

In the local context, things like kiasu-ism and singlish depict our lifestyle and what truly makes us Singaporeans. Believe it or not, much as I choose to deny that I'm not among the herd, a part of me still displays involuntary acts of 'the typical Singaporean syndrome-singlish, kiasu, kiasee, and whatever you can think of!' Well, we know that culture is learned and shared, so whatever we do is dependent on how people around us present themselves. Oh my, now we know 3/4 of the nation is guilty of the above.

Lately, I came across this Romancing Singapore campaign, which provides initiatives for singles to interact. It has been around since 2002 and is a social platform, as well as a marketing strategy for businesses. Not bad, considering the many benefits it offers like movie marathons, island-wide treasure hunt etc.(yearly event) Being in a collectivist society, we are prone to always thinking about others before self, adhering to what society expects of us. Even for something like marriage, we have to cater to the likings of our parents and goodness gracious, following what the government says when they encourage more people to get married and give birth(of course, not forgetting the benefits that comes attached to it). This, I can never understand why.

All I know is, Singapore has changed from a country with traditional mindsets, to one that is open to new ideas and very much westernised. Though this may seem the case, our mentality towards certain issues like filial piety is still highly ingrained in us. Any forms of rebellion acts are frowned upon. Being Asians, it is our culture to value these despite which nationalities we call ourselves to be or claim to be 'western in thinking'.

Anyway, culture does allow us to widen our horizons. In Singapore alone, we have the 4 different nationalities and each have their own uniqueness, couple them with a touch of Singaporean-ism and tada, we have a multi-lingual and multicultural Singapore we can truly call our own!