itunes store here.

the itunes store is here in Singapore. finally.

no more excuse to illegally download songs my friends. you can no longer give the excuse that you download illegally because it isn’t easy to download legally. itunes makes it very easy. (and that may be a bit scary because you can spend A LOT, just sitting on your butt at home browsing the store.)

i am reminded that it took so long to arrive because Singapore is deemed a high-risk piracy country.

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Pencils

this is funny. which pencil are you?

(image koped from the MAAD facebook page.)

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a sticker problem.

Unless you have been living under a rock in Singapore, you would have heard about the sticker lady by now.

Recently, a lady went around Singapore roads sticking round stickers on the buttons of traffic light buttons (the ones you press so that the red man is replaced by a green man). On the round stickers short phrases such as “Press to time travel”, “Press once can already”, “Press until shiok”… to counter those type A++ people (surprisingly in high majority in Singapore) who frantically slam the button repeatedly for hope that this will make the green man appear faster. Personally, I think her infusion of Singlish is brilliant. And of course she threw in a few “Anyhow paste, kena fine” so she obviously knows the law in Singapore about vandalism.

So the big hoo-ha is created because many people feel these stickers are really a form of art and a clever social commentary (the fact it is creating such a buzz says something about it too.) and she shouldn’t be fined or jailed for it.

The government’s stance is that by allowing her to get away scot-free would lead to a slippery slope and people will think vandalism is allowed and our streets will soon be filled with stickers.

Well, I can understand their view but I am the tourist who snap photos of such beautiful street art stickers whenever I am traveling overseas. It is a recognized art form and many books have even been published on sticker street art! Then again I cringe when I see those flag day stickers being stuck all over the floors, walls, bus seats, etc. in Singapore. I don’t think anyone has made that into anything that can be called ‘street art’ yet. And I also can’t stand those stickers that are on the hawker centre tables promoting a new campaign or town council event. They look good when first stuck on but once the campaign/event is long over, the stickers are not removed or very badly removed leaving behind all those sticker stains that trap food leftovers… gross right?

I am the typical cynical Singaporean, so I like to see some laws trying to stop the ‘anyhow pasting’ of flag day stickers and better cleaning up of stickers on hawker centres if they want to get rid of all kinds of sticker-irritants! Otherwise maybe we should lighten up a bit about the sticker issue and trust that Singaporeans have the good taste to distinguish what is street art and what is vandalism.

of course these are just my own views.

i had always wanted to try yarn-bombing but i am too scared of the laws on vandalism. no wonder there is no Banksy or Slinkachu in Singapore. 😦

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Little boxes

What is it like living in a cardboard house?

I remember when I visited Paris (or was it Italy?) that i saw many homeless staying under the bridges and they lived in structures build out of cardboard with little windows where they waved to us from… in fact cardboard boxes are what many homeless in singapore sleep on in the streets too… I see this on the way to work each morning.

If the cardboard can be used to make beautiful structures and furniture won’t it be a little more homely? here, Canadian band Walk Off the Earth shows us how:

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