It was brought to my attention recently about this Singapore mini-drama of sorts called
“Sense of Home”.
I actually felt ANGRY after watching it!
One thing being so obvious that it’s propaganda, nevermind.
But why try to discourage people from going overseas?
When at the very same time, they are encouraging foreign talent to go over.
You don’t see other countries trying to stop their people from going overseas.
I certainly hope such propaganda will only cause a opposite reaction from our citizens.
Come on, this isn’t the 70’s or 80’s anymore. The people do know it’s propaganda.
There’s already so much resentment on the streets about foreign talent.
So why discourage people from being foreign talents, themselves?!
Yes, alot of us overseas might miss our food. But come on, you think we dumb ah?
We can learn to cook it ourselves. Even bigger sense of accomplishment after that if u ask me!
Just doing a search on google for “Sense of Home Singapore“, will just show you the amount of people who think the same about this show.
I guess MDA didn’t expect it to backfire on them eh?
I’m not even going to talk about the bad acting!
I’d just like to say that, everyone should try to live / work in another country in their lifetime!
It’s an invaluable experience which all should do! So DO IT!
Feel free to hit me up, if you need any help.
Wow…i just realised i haven’t updated this blog in more than a month now!
To sum it up….things have changed quite abit in the past month. Been quite busy.
Had a few friends coming over to London (and even more this weekend and next).
Didn’t do much photography, sadly.
Been partying way too much. Played 3 sets in 2 nights over last weekend.
Quite happy to say that i got to play at Rhythm Factory, which is a proper club.
Got to play with N-Type, Reso, Distance, Remarc and more.
I have also moved house this month. Still somewhere in East London.
Weather is getting colder here…but not that bad yet, as we know it can get really bad soon enough.
For those that didn’t know, I am in the UK on a working holiday maker (WHM) Visa.
In case, you think i was ‘lucky’ enough to get “posted to London” for work. It wasn’t like that.
I took my chance while i still can, gave up everything i have back in Singapore and came here to try my luck.
Anyways, the purpose of this post is the highlight the upcoming changes to the UK immigration laws.
The working holiday visa will be phased out in November 2008. It will be replaced by the Tier 5 Youth Mobility scheme. Basically for each of the Tiers you are applying for, you have to attain the minimum number of points required, if not, you will be rejected immediately. Previously you didn’t need to ’score’ points to get the working holiday visa. Looking at the eligibility criteria, i think the biggest question about it is the sponsorship section: “you must be sponsored by your national government”. Not really sure how is that going to work. The other sections is more or less sure to score. (If you are already above 31, don’t even need to think about this anymore).
Don’t wanna cause any panic here, but if you don’t want to be the new batch to go through the new rules i suggest you apply for the working holiday visa scheme while you still can.
There are alot of opportunities here in London i feel, but i guess it really depends on what you are looking for at the end of the day. And how daring you are in getting out of your comfort zone and going to a foreign country.
Realised i haven’t updated recently…glad to say, i’ve been quite busy lately.
Anyways…to sum things up in the last 2 weeks….
A good friend was in town for 2 days…so had a really great time. You know who you are.
Attended quite a few gigs and parties the last 2 weeks. One big drum n bass gig i was at
was the Drum & Bass Arena GOLD party. Massive lineup there. Goldie, Doc Scott, Commix,
Marcus intallex, A.I, Lynx, Hazard, Sub Focus…you name it…all was there!
Went to Richmond park on sunday…really huge place. Sadly the weather was abit cranky,
sun for a min…and next thing you know…started raining. Typical english weather!
Here’s some of the slightly decent shots. All infrared of course.
Great to meet all the other fellow photographers that day. You know who you are!
A contrast to last week drum and bass parties. This week was filled with indie bands!
Like i always say, good music is good music. I don’t care what genre it is.
Thursday, checked out my friend’s band The Bibelots at The Fly some where around Oxford Circus, the event was called Plugged and is sponsored by Gibson Guitars. Pretty cool venue..”intimate” would be the best word i would describe it. Bands are almost “in your face”, together with the audience. I can’t imagine if Converge had played in there haha!
More photos of The Bibelots can be found in my flickr.
Friday, was down at Rough Trade East at Brick Lane (my usual hangout as you can see). Was just kinda wandering around after an appointment earlier in the day. Found out they had a band playing so i just decided to just hang around the area and check out the bands. Had a quick bite at Cafe 1001 (another usual hangout) when the bands decided to start late!
Andy Votel (NOT vortex..so don’t read it wrongly haha!) from Twisted Nerve records was DJing some interesting selections before, between and after the bands. There was even some Cantonese music he was playing…which i have never heard before in my life. Not that i listen to alot of canto music to begin with, but it just sounded really obscure.
The Liftmen was the first band to play followed by Sam and the Plants.
My pick of the two…would be Sam and the Plants. Folkish, experiemental type of rock.
Based on the tracks on their myspace, it was kinda different live. Cause both him and his other female band member were taking turns to sing. Compared to the instrumental music found on his myspace.
Either way, with or without vocals, i think it’s very nice.
The use of some really vintage looking instruments and the sounds which came from it absolutely delighted me, and much of the audience i believe. A few hiccups here and there in between their set, didn’t stop the crowd from giving them a much bigger round of applause after each song.
(Sorry for the bad picture quality on this one…..was using my mobile for this)
After Rough trade, took a 10 min walk over to Curtain Road to Bar Music Hall. Right across from Plastic People, so i managed to find my way quite easily since I’ve been there. Went to meet my fellow Singaporean DJ friend, Sonny, to hang out for a while. There were 2 bands playing, didn’t catch the first one. The 2nd act, My Toys like me, which was the headliner was playing some trendy indie electro rock thingy. Oh well, guess it’s still quite popular all over the world including the UK. Overall, not too bad at all.
(Sorry for the bad pic quality on this as well…also from my handphone)
A professional Marketeer who specializes in internet social and web 2.0 media by day. Weekend a drum and bass / dubstep / mashup DJ and when not dropping red hot choons at the console, Vortex is packing heat with Exitmusik.com, arguably Asia's most respected underground music portal. Infrared photography is also something artistic pursued over the weekends.
