29 July 2008

Obama -- Saviour of the World?

I love this article about Obama from Gerard Butler of The Times of London. Fantastic! (It helps if you have some knowledge of the Bible and world politics)


He ventured forth to bring light to the world

And it came to pass, in the eighth year of the reign of the evil Bush the Younger (The Ignorant), when the whole land from the Arabian desert to the shores of the Great Lakes had been laid barren, that a Child appeared in the wilderness.

The Child was blessed in looks and intellect. Scion of a simple family, offspring of a miraculous union, grandson of a typical white person and an African peasant. And yea, as he grew, the Child walked in the path of righteousness, with only the occasional detour into the odd weed and a little blow.

When he was twelve years old, they found him in the temple in the City of Chicago, arguing the finer points of community organisation with the Prophet Jeremiah and the Elders. And the Elders were astonished at what they heard and said among themselves: “Verily, who is this Child that he opens our hearts and minds to the audacity of hope?”


In the great Battles of Caucus and Primary he smote the conniving Hillary, wife of the deposed King Bill the Priapic and their barbarian hordes of Working Class Whites.

And so it was, in the fullness of time, before the harvest month of the appointed year, the Child ventured forth - for the first time - to bring the light unto all the world.

He travelled fleet of foot and light of camel, with a small retinue that consisted only of his loyal disciples from the tribe of the Media. He ventured first to the land of the Hindu Kush, where the

Taleban had harboured the viper of al-Qaeda in their bosom, raining terror on all the world.

And the Child spake and the tribes of Nato immediately loosed the Caveats that had previously bound them. And in the great battle that ensued the forces of the light were triumphant. For as long as the Child stood with his arms raised aloft, the enemy suffered great blows and the threat of terror was no more.

From there he went forth to Mesopotamia where he was received by the great ruler al-Maliki, and al-Maliki spake unto him and blessed his Sixteen Month Troop Withdrawal Plan even as the imperial warrior Petraeus tried to destroy it.

And lo, in Mesopotamia, a miracle occurred. Even though the Great Surge of Armour that the evil Bush had ordered had been a terrible mistake, a waste of vital military resources and doomed to end in disaster, the Child's very presence suddenly brought forth a great victory for the forces of the light.

And the Persians, who saw all this and were greatly fearful, longed to speak with the Child and saw that the Child was the bringer of peace. At the mention of his name they quickly laid aside their intrigues and beat their uranium swords into civil nuclear energy ploughshares.

From there the Child went up to the city of Jerusalem, and entered through the gate seated on an ass. The crowds of network anchors who had followed him from afar cheered “Hosanna” and waved great palm fronds and strewed them at his feet.

In Jerusalem and in surrounding Palestine, the Child spake to the Hebrews and the Arabs, as the Scripture had foretold. And in an instant, the lion lay down with the lamb, and the Israelites and Ishmaelites ended their long enmity and lived for ever after in peace.

As word spread throughout the land about the Child's wondrous works, peoples from all over flocked to hear him; Hittites and Abbasids; Obamacons and McCainiacs; Cameroonians and Blairites.

And they told of strange and wondrous things that greeted the news of the Child's journey. Around the world, global temperatures began to decline, and the ocean levels fell and the great warming was over.

The Great Prophet Algore of Nobel and Oscar, who many had believed was the anointed one, smiled and told his followers that the Child was the one generations had been waiting for.

And there were other wonderful signs. In the city of the Street at the Wall, spreads on interbank interest rates dropped like manna from Heaven and rates on credit default swaps fell to the ground as dead birds from the almond tree, and the people who had lived in foreclosure were able to borrow again.

Black gold gushed from the ground at prices well below $140 per barrel. In hospitals across the land the sick were cured even though they were uninsured. And all because the Child had pronounced it.

And this is the testimony of one who speaks the truth and bears witness to the truth so that you might believe. And he knows it is the truth for he saw it all on CNN and the BBC and in the pages of The New York Times.

Then the Child ventured forth from Israel and Palestine and stepped onto the shores of the Old Continent. In the land of Queen Angela of Merkel, vast multitudes gathered to hear his voice, and he preached to them at length.

But when he had finished speaking his disciples told him the crowd was hungry, for they had had nothing to eat all the hours they had waited for him.

And so the Child told his disciples to fetch some food but all they had was five loaves and a couple of frankfurters. So he took the bread and the frankfurters and blessed them and told his disciples to feed the multitudes. And when all had eaten their fill, the scraps filled twelve baskets.

Thence he travelled west to Mount Sarkozy. Even the beauteous Princess Carla of the tribe of the Bruni was struck by awe and she was great in love with the Child, but he was tempted not.

On the Seventh Day he walked across the Channel of the Angles to the ancient land of the hooligans. There he was welcomed with open arms by the once great prophet Blair and his successor, Gordon the Leper, and his successor, David the Golden One.

And suddenly, with the men appeared the archangel Gabriel and the whole host of the heavenly choir, ranks of cherubim and seraphim, all praising God and singing: “Yes, We Can.”

25 July 2008

That's why I love Republic Poly.....

Well, time to show my loyalty to the school that I teach in (over here, we call it 'facilitating').

I was walking past a class room today when I came across this really interesting and creative piece of 'graffiti'.

Each class has a couple of floor to ceiling glass panels to allow people to either look into the class or out of the class. On one class that I passed, the class used markers to draw on the glass panel. I suggest you zoom into the photo to have a clearer read of the words.



I smiled appreciatively as I took a photo of this. My time at JC, I never saw such creativity. But then again, I could be biased. Anyway, this was 'graffiti' created in good humour and extremely creative! I wonder whether it was part of their project work.

It brings to mind of the good humoured pranks played by American college kids in the US. I've heard of how a whole dorm of students pretended that it was the start to a brand new day in order to trick their friend who was in deep sleep at 12am (it was his b'day). When he awoke, he went to the toilet, thinking it was time to prepare himself for the day, his dorm mates all went back 'to sleep' and turned off the lights.

Of course, who can forget the pranks (hack) that MIT students pull off on their Great Dome, which is a dome to a building on campus. When one of the Stars Wars movies was released, students spent all night 're-decorating' the dome as R2D2 (i believe). Of course, there were instructions to school officials on how to dismantle the mess they created!



Long live harmless creativity!

23 July 2008

Do you fail to notice the beam in your eye?

**Warning. Pictures below are explicit and could be disturbing**

When I first read the headlines to this piece of news, my first reaction of shock lasted for all of 5 seconds. The next 5 minutes was that of sadness...a deep sadness that made me wonder if all humans are capable of such inhumane behaviour.

The place is at a beach in Torregaveta, just north of Nap­les, Italy. Sunbathers and swimmers were enjoying a summer's day at the beach. 4 young girls who were gypsies (known to locals as Roma), walked the length of the beach to beg and sell trinkets to the tourists and sunbathers.

In many parts of Europe, gypsies are looked down upon as uncultured people who are a nuisance to the public. And you thought that only India had the caste system. In Italy, there is a deep hatred for the Roma as they have been associated with crime and begging. Many of these Roma are not Italian natives, but have come from Eastern Europe, seeking a better life.

Being children, these girls were drawn towards the ocean and started playing in it. However, 2 of the girls found themselves in trouble. These 2 girls went on to drown in the choppy waters. They were related to each other but were not sisters. They were aged 11 and 12. What was to come was worse.

As onlookers rushed in to save them in vain, they laid out their bodies on the beach and covered them with beach towels. And then the activities on the beach went back to normal. People continued sunbathing near the corpses. Others played soccer nearby. Families went on to have their lunches, all within metres from the 2 dead girls.

'It was surreal,' as quoted by one of the witnesses.

Our natural reaction is to condemn those holiday makers. But ponder a little longer, and you realise that it does not take much for us to be guilty of similar acts.

Ever walked in the subway stations in New York City? At some of the bigger stations, beggars line the walkways as they call out to you for alms. After a while, you become so numbed after seeing them day in and day out, that once when a beggar fell to his knees to beg in front of me, I deftly side stepped and continued walking.

Now, I am quite a kind soul. But that incident disturbed me for some time, even after 8 years.

How could I have been so immune to human suffering so quickly?

Hop over to some countries in South East Asia and you see kids begging in the streets. They come knocking at your car window, urging you to hand them some monetary gifts. Some women have resorted to borrowing babies from other mothers, to use them to paint a sadder picture to the passer-by. Locals advise us not to wind down the window to give any money to any of them, lest we end up having a whole street full of beggars barricading the car and the road.

Honestly, if I were one of the beggars, I would do the same! Anything to put food into my stomach.

I do not see myself giving money to all the beggars on the street. It might not be the wisest move. But my point is this --- does it affect you that people are begging, and that there are others more worse off than you?

Of course, the gypsy girls' death is causing an uproar in Italy, especially among the Roman Catholic Church and the politicians.

But then again, are we all fighting for justice or are we just hypocrites?





14 July 2008

Good Press Release writer; Budding Videographer & Photographer needed

I am looking for anyone who is interested in helping me out in my MBA marketing project and for my father in law.

My MBA project
============
I am looking for someone who is trying to build up their portfolio or will work for a free lunch (decent one of course) on a mini campaign for our project.

Video shoot - Scene of a man throwing stuff out of a HDB flat window. Only need 15 sec footage. Will be

Photo shoot - For 2 print ads. Simple shots of everyday HDB heartland scenes.


For both shoots, I will be on hand to give direction. You will have rights to use your final works for your lifetime! And I need help fast! Like to complete by this week!

The benefit for you?

Your work will be shown to Bernd Schmitt, world renown marketing professor from Columbia University, who sits on the marketing board for Samsung and Volkswagen. If he likes it, you just might make it to the world stage. Rest assured I will put in a good word for you.


Press Release writing
=================
I am trying to help find my father-in-law someone who can help write a short press release about his work in the US. This release is targeted at Business Times in Singapore.

The benefit?

My heartfelt gratitude and a very decent lunch =)


Anyone out there who can help?

07 July 2008

My pedicure and other wacky stuff MBA students do for their class

Well, I guess this marketing guru has certainly lived up to his name.

Our MBA class was taught by renown marketing professor Bernd Schmitt from the Columbia Business School.


I, being passionate about marketing, was looking forward to this class and he certainly brought across his message of creative living.


After lecturing for a good 2 days, as we were drawing near the end of the 2nd day, he posed us this challenge of beginning to live our lives creatively. To do that, we must first take that leap of faith and do something we have never done before. In that way, we will be able to see things from a totally different perspective, instead of assuming that we actually know.


We were given 1 hour to roam Marina Square Mall and do something we have never done before.

Now, my class is filled with rather accomplished individuals of various nationalities who are middle to senior managers in MNCs. However, this was a time that we had to overcome our fears, challenge ourselves and do something different.

You see, if you have never done something before, it is probably because you have either:

a) no interest in it

b) never had the time to do it
c) never thought about it
d) afraid of it
e) detest it
f) it's illegal


You can imagine the level of fear and excitement some of us had. Let me relate what some of my classmates actually did...some rather interesting stuff:



The Yogi
This red head is a vivacious lady who holds the post of regional head in a certain MNC. She decided to sit cross legged in the middle of the shopping mall holding a deeply spiritual post. Some thought that she was part of a guerilla marketing promotion for Coach bags.


The Masked Ones
2 lovely ladies, one of which is a Financial Controller and the other a Manager, decided to buy beauty masks, put them on and leave them on their faces while shopping around Marina Square.


The Officer
He was dared to do a manicure. Now, he holds an officer position in the military and is very 'Man'. And so, this was truly a time when he was going beyond his comfort zone. With a red face and very stiff hands, he put them on the hand pillow and made a silent prayer that men under his command would not happen to chance by this rather interesting scene.


Myself
I've done quite outrageous stuff in the past, but what I really wanted to try was to have a pedicure. And so I did! And now, I'm a believer. I mean, it actually makes sense for everyone to have a pedicure! The toe nails do not 'bite' into your flesh; the dead skin is removed nicely; no more cuticles....someone sign me up for a package!


Of course, some others decided to get a head massage for the first time in their lives. Others included buying a Lego toy for themselves due to a very deprived childhood (joking yah, Mr R). There was this brave lad who strode into Chalone to buy a $300 lingerie set for his wife. There was also this guy who decided to go pierce his ear. And of course, who could forget our 3 Indian friends who thought that it would be so cool to stroll into a liquor shop to sample some booze and then come back to class.

Their rationale --- they have never come to class after having drunk alcohol before.