Melbourne’s Town Hall shakes off its sobriety to host the comedy festival
Humour is huge in Melbourne, especially when the Melbourne International Comedy Festival hits home. Launched in 1987 by Barry Humphries and Peter Cook, this massive celebration of mirth is apparently the largest cultural event in Australia with close to 400,000 attendees each year.
Some of the show venues were huge, like this hall here hosting headlining international acts
Took these night photos while going on a tram ride throughout the city of Melbourne. The view of the Yarra River at night was simply stunning and the cool weather made it all the more pleasurable. I guess this also showcased the capability of my trusty Panasonic Lumix LX3 in handling night photographs – without a tripod!
View of Yarra River from St Kilda Road
Yesterday afternoon, fellow Friends of Yesterday, Ivan Chew and Chun See did us all proud by showing seniors the basics of blogging at Queenstown Community Library.
The capacity crowd of about 100 seniors were rather engaged and sat on the edge of their seats, some copiously taking notes, while others asked questions. Many of them braved the heavy rain just to attend this session. I have not seen such a picture of earnestness in a long time.
Personally, I hope that they can contribute their stories, photographs and reflections on life at yesterday.sg, the blog which was set up by NHB and the Museum Roundtable. We would love to hear from them!
How does one hope to compete against well-heeled shopping centres, restaurants, cinemas, and other places of urban air-conditioned splendour? Especially if one only has a miniscule budget.
Well, here are some tips that you can consider. I wouldn’t say they are foolproof but at least they improve your odds.
Went on a recent tour of 3 Singapore Biennale sites with a couple of board members – Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple, Sri Krishnan Temple and City Hall. It was quite inspirational and magical. Here are some highlights.
Our intrepid guide Yishan explaining Tsai Charwei’s work Lotus Mantra, which is inscribed on the lotus leaves.
Are we losing out to Hong Kong?
The recent news about Singapore’s service standards further slipping to 26th position according to the World Economic Forum proved particularly sobering for me. What is especially ironic is that it comes just after we have practically pulled out all the stops to improve our customer service. Everybody would have heard of the national GEMS movement, as well as the ubiquitous four million smiles campaign, timed to coincide with the recent IMF-World Bank meetings.
Certainly, I don’t think that we have failed for lack of trying. We have an entire smorgasbord of service enhancing main courses on our national platter – Singapore Service Class, Excellent Service Award, Tourism Host Award, Model Workers of the Year etc. In fact, we now have a stunning 13,000 Excellent Service Award winners from nine industries, compared to a measley 377 from three sectors 11 years ago.
An example of an advertising analogy and metaphor (source of image)
Have you wondered why certain speakers and writers can bring their ideas across so elegantly? How do they transform a complex (and sometimes obscure) concept into one which we can see in our heads with such clarity and definition?
The answer lies in their ability to to tell stories with rich and powerful analogies, allegories and metaphors.
Took half day this afternoon to spend some time resting plus bonding with the family. Brought Ethan down to Hong Lim Complex (near one of my favourite turtle soup hawkers) and bought him a set of his favourite lion dance gear, namely a set of authentic Chinese drums made with pigskin and a real (well almost) lion dance costume, complete with eyes that blink.
Ethan was stunned at first, or perhaps awestruck would be the more appropriate word. He gazed with mouth open and eyes wide at the interesting array of toys initially, and simply nodded his head vigorously when we asked him to select his favourite dancing animal. Later, he warmed up to the act and strutted down the toy shop, selecting party hats, bags and other merchandise for his upcoming birthday celebrations on 27 November. That’s when Ethan will be 3 years in age.
He has certainly started working on his drumming skills – and this included inflicting his first “lion dance” induced injury on his little thumb. I just hope that he doesn’t tear the lion head apart before his birthday, which is about 3 weeks away!