Septemb
What ‘chu Saying?
Dummies’ guide to youth-speak
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NSFW: Not safe for work. “ This content is NSFW, click at your own risk.’” F TW: For The Win, enthusiastic emphasis at the end of a comment, sometimes used sarcastically. “Manchester derby tonight. Man U FTW!” ROFL: Rolling on floor laughing, a heartier version of haha. “Lolcats so cute! ROFL!” Still have no idea what kids are saying these days? Check out www.urbandictionary.com
lolz !!! So bad it’s good
Art of Cool pages to help you feel young again
19-26 Young people have a way of making everything you knew uncool. No fear – we cover everything from high culture to pop music in this pullout just so you’ll always be ‘with it’.
blast from the past
Did you know that the government once banned rock music in favour of “serious programmes”? (Brownie points if you actually remember this.) Then came Cliff Richard, whose performance in 1961 inspired countless teens to form their own bands, marking the Golden Age of Singapore music.
connect with your inner geek
Check out: XKCD.com, a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math and language.
vintage is cool
failblog.org
Yes, vintage is in again. Check out these small independent stores stocking unique clothes, shoes and all sorts of knickknacks if you’re tired of the big chains.
Lolcats: For the pet lovers out there, here are pictures of cats with cutesy captions. You’ve been warned. icanhascheezburger.com
tinyurl.com/beccafriday
er 2011
The
The Fail Blog: For the sort who enjoy the misfortune and stupidity of others.
Rebecca Black’s Friday: The viral hit song that took just 63 days to hit 100 million views on YouTube, outdoing Justin Bieber’s Baby which took 67 days. It garnered more than 1.19 million dislikes.
er/Octob
Cat Socrates: Stocks notebooks, cameras, toys and all sorts of odds and ends. www.catsocrates.com.sg
Credit: www.xkcd.com.
Modparade: Stocks clothes and apparel. www.modparade.com
indie
high society
You might never admit to it but surely you’ve entertained daydreams of the upper crust: snooty butlers and decadent tea parties. Here are some tips to help you live your dreams.
THe Real Deal
Luxury goods are a statement about yourself: they tell others that you’ve made it in life. Fakes are about making a statement as well: an attempt to bask in the glory of the original. The global trade in counterfeit products is valued at over US$600 billion dollars a year (5% of world trade), and could potentially be financing international terrorism as well as exploitation of child labour. So serious is this problem that the parent company of Louis Vuitton spends over US$20 million each year to combat increasing levels of counterfeiting. Three tips to spot a real Louis Vuitton:
AFFORDABLE ART It won’t burn too big a hole in your pocket.
Start collecting your very own piece of contemporary art with the Affordable Art Fair, and no, it won’t bust your wallet. (Prices range from $100 to a maximum of $10,000.)
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When: November 17 to 20, 2011 Where: F1 Pit Building, No. 1 Republic Boulevard Web: www.affordableartfair.sg
The LV symbol should always appear whole, not cut in half at the seams.
The iconic LV motifs should line up perfectly even across the zipper.
The LV symbol on the back of a handbag should be upside down.
TELL THE DIFFERENCE
Now take a look around the office. Or hide yours…
Macaron vs. Macaroon It’s not just the extra ‘o’.
THREE FOR TEA AT TIFFANY’S
Practise your stiff upper lip over a cup of tea.
Tea Lounge Where: The Regent Hotel, 1 Cuscaden Road What: Sushi, crepes, roast beef, pastries, and yes, even satay When: Weekend High Tea 1:30pm to 5:30pm $$$: $42++ Canelé Patisserie Chocolaterie Where: 11 Unity Street, Robertson Walk
What: Smoked salmon and scrambled eggs, tea and a choice of patisserie $$$: $25++ Web: www.canele. com Laurent’s Café & Chocolate Bar Where: 80, The Pier at Robertson Quay What: Tea and a chocolate soufflé $$$: $15 Web: www.the chocolatefactory online.com
Macarons come in a variety of colours and are stuffed with cream in the middle.
Macaroons are coconut-based cookies. Crinklier than their smootherlooking French cousins.
Trivia MOST EXPENSIVE PAINTING Pablo Picasso’s Nude, Green Leaves and Bust (1932) was sold in New York last year for US$106.5m (S$130m).
MASS COUTURE ar en’t in cli ne d to Fo r th e re st of us w ho w e’v e em br ac ed so m e ra ise th at lit tle pi nk y, be dd ed in m od er n liv es. m e em br an ds th at ha ve be co
LEVI’S JEANS
American soldiers wore Levi’s jeans and jackets overseas during World War II, helping to spread the popularity of denim. Fifteen years later, jeans became a symbol of rebellion and anti-establishment in the 60s. In fact, the original name of ‘overalls’ was changed to ‘ jeans’ thanks to teenagers, and still no one knows why.
COCA-COLA
So named for its two ‘medicinal’ ingredients – extract of coca leaves and kola nuts – the drink actually contained cocaine until 1929. (Explains the addictive nature?) The CocaCola Company’s promise to get every American serviceman a bottle of CocaCola for five cents during World War II meant that it followed wherever American troops went, helping to spread it throughout the world.
nokia
Perhaps more famous than the company these days, the signature ringtone of Francisco Tárrega’s Gran Vals is testament to Nokia’s global success in providing handphones to the masses. Though Nokia may have lost some of its appeal in this generation, it remains a giant in the emerging telco market in India which sees over 20 million new mobile phone users yearly.
“In the future, everyone will be world famous for fifteen minutes.” – Andy Warhol 1968
adidas
The founder of Adidas, Adolf Dassler (nicknamed Adi:Adi+Dassler=Adidas), was a Nazi who produced shoes for the German army during World War II. Though in atypical Nazi fashion, he sponsored the shoes of Jesse Owens, an African American, during the Olympics (who won). His brother, Rudolf Dassler, also a Nazi, founded a rival company: Puma.
book inspired recent rash of comiceroes cool movies have made superh these real-life again. but we think erve a movie of heroes and villains des the world would their own. Seriously, t them. be plain vanilla withou
The
Leticia Bongnino
She carries the bag for boy-boy from the S-AEFF ferry terminal, but has no off days to spend time with her boyfriend Terry. Sad.
Highway Hero Heng
When the Nicoll Highway collapsed on April 20, 2004, during the construction of the Circle Line, Mr Heng Yeow Pheow stayed back to usher his workers to safety. The hero didn’t make it out in time. His body was never found.
HOW TO BE A
HERO Donate
Check out SG Gives, a one-stop “online donation portal for donors who seek to give to Singapore-registered charities”. In fact, these charities receive every single cent you donate!
www.sggives.org
Volunteer
You can also volunteer through SG Cares with a simple threestep programme: 1. Register at SG Cares website 2. Attend a volunteer orientation in person or online 3. Sign up for activities
www.sgcares.org
El Capitan Scuba Hero Hideaki
Unwilling to wait for help, Hideaki Akaiwan dived into a scuba suit and began searching for his wife and mother in the wake of the March 2011 Japanese Tsunami. He managed to save his wife after clearing the debris in his house, before continuing to search for other survivors.
“Capitan Mengano” dons a costume and rides around a town in Argentina on a motorbike, offering his hand to anyone, so that people would learn to care for each other. Only his wife and two sons know who this real-life superhero is.
SNORING SEAT HOGS
They unabashedly head for Reserved Seats on MRT trains, sometimes even slipping on their satin eye masks. You are simultaneously disgusted and impressed by their incredible power to feign sleep or oblivion.
Army Captain turned loan shark runner
Gambling debts drove army captain Kheng Kor Keong to help a loan shark vandalise homes of debtors. He was nabbed when he returned to a flat he had vandalised for his pack of ciggies. FAIL.
BERNIE MADE OFF WITH BILLIONS
Bernard Madoff’s hedge fund was a giant Ponzi scheme, paying out old investors with the money from new investors lured by promises of incredible returns. The US$50 billion scam was exposed in 2009 when he confided in his sons who then reported him to the authorities.
The Dollar Robber
In June 2011, James Verone walked into a bank, demanded a dollar, then sat in a corner calmly waiting for the cops to come. The 59-year-old had run out of money for medical help and he thought that going to prison would get him the healthcare he needed. Tough times.
HOW TO BE A
villain Stomp
STOMP depends on citizens enraged by the daily shenanigans they witness to fuel its success. Articles such as “Enraged man rips off GF’s bikini top because she joined pageant without his OK” has led critics to pan STOMP for, among other things, infantilising Singapore society. Love it or hate it, STOMP is a popular site for Singaporeans. More photos of anti-social behaviour, anyone?
HERO OR VILLAIN? YOU DECIDE.
Office Pranks
1. Substitute photos of loved ones with random pictures from magazines (yes, even this one). 2. Take a photo of someone’s personal item, kidnap it, and leave the photo with a ransom note. 3. Smuggle papers from the recycling bin into your coworkers’ desks, leaving them baffled as to why they kept them.
For more ideas: http://tinyurl.com/officeideas
DUMMIES’ GUIDE TO GAMING
Listed in order of addictiveness, in no way exhaustive or informative
m Games you’d play in the loo
Games you’d play if you don’t ever need to sleep Turn-based Strategy: Sid Meier’s Civilization series
Games you’d play with some spare time Party Games: Rayman Raving Rabbids
Casual Puzzle: Angry Birds or Bejeweled
Arcade Racer: Burnout Series
Casual Strategy: Plants vs. Zombies
Multiplayer Shooter: Battlefield Series
LEARN THIS
Nerd Rage: an emotion and a reaction. The nerd’s violent fury upon being contradicted on a core belief of their obsession and the inevitable bitter riposte. tinyurl.com/nrdrage
Football Simulator: Football Manager series WARNING: Known to cause divorce. MassivelyMultiplayer-OnlineRole-Playing-Game (MMORPG): World of Warcraft WARNING: Known to cause death.
UGLY SIDE OF GAMING
China’s labour camp detainees have been forced to work by day and farm for ‘gold’ in online games by night. The schedule was so intense that detainees were forced to play until they could barely see. ‘Gold farming’ is a practice of gaining virtual credits, usually by repeating mundane tasks in-game. With millions of gamers willing to trade them with real money, the practice is lucrative indeed, especially for the prison guards, who reportedly earn US$770-935 a day thanks to the efforts of the detainees. Trivia W O W! HE’S 30! The average age of a World of Warcraft (WoW) player is 30. Also, the likelihood that a female character in WoW is played by a man is 50%.
GAMES ARE WE
Singapore is getting into the game design f ray. Once the purview of nerds and ne’er-dowells, game development has finally become a respectable profession for many. It helps that the electronic entertainment industry is worth billions. A number of big name game developers have set up shop here, including Ubisoft, a French giant in the electronic entertainment industry. Its local studio, set up in 2008, has created significant portions of hit games such as Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood (pictured) and Ghost Recon Online, placing Singapore firmly on the map of the gaming world.
music
trends THEY’RE GETTING BIGGER (AND BETTER?) Pop groups are growing sideways. Girls’ Generation (SNSD) – 9 members Super Junior – 10 members Double B 21 – 21 members AKB48 – 61 members at last count
Q&A
ESTELLE LIM
The K-pop industry seems hungrier than ever for talent, with scouts casting their gaze to Singapore and the region increasingly. JYP Entertainment held auditions in Singapore last year, with more than 600 people turning up for the three-day auditions. Auditions were brutal: entrants were given only 30 seconds to strut their stuff, with some performances cut short to less than 10 seconds, leaving many disappointed.
Trivia HOW MUCH A POP? For each K-Pop song downloaded, 46% of the profit goes to the distribution company, 40% to the agency, 9% to the composer and lyricist, and just 5% to the actual K-Pop artist.
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F R ME
K-pop scouts are coming here.
N
SINGS
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HUNTING HIGH AND LOW
H AT S U
Now imagine cramming that many people on stage, much less remembering their names. But it means there’s more to choose from, and more to love about these new groups, and definitely more to spend on.
Hatsune Miku is the female personality of a singing synthesizer software created by Yamaha. Users simply enter lyrics and arrange the music, and the software automatically ‘sings’ the song. She gave her first ‘live’ performance in August 2009 and most recently, gave a “blowout ” concert in Los Angeles at the Anime Expo 2011 in July.
KOREAN MUSIC KA-CHING! The size of the Korean music industry in 2010 was US$3,028,900,000, a 10.5% increase from US$2,740,700,000 in 2009.
She’s part of SEA*A, a Japanese anime song idol group recruited f rom Singapore. Estelle was scouted f rom the Moe Moe Kyun Maid Café (Maidcosplay restaurant) during the Anime Festival Asia (AFA) in Singapore. What ’s your training regime like? We train three times a week for dance and vocals. At the start of a new song, we train up to 10 hours a day. Hours will reduce by half when we are more familiar with the song but training gets more intense. Although the training sessions are long, we know they’ll make us stronger as individuals and as a group. What has been the biggest challenge? We’ve experienced so much in such a short time. My biggest challenge is to quickly adapt to all the new things such as a different culture and learn as much as possible. I’ve learnt that, in this industry, confidence and believing in myself will help me be the best I can be. What has been your most interesting experience? If I have to pick, it ’ll definitely be touring with May’n (a J-pop artist under the same label) around Asia, because touring with a professional like her really was an orientation to the world of entertainment. It ’s always been my dream to be a singer and being able to tour with one such as May’n was a blessing. www.seaa.asia
a Fold back so that ‘A‘ meets ‘B‘
What music do teenagers listen to these days? The musical tastes of teenagers have constantly been the subject of intense criticism. Parents are often quick to exclaim “How can you listen to this?!” One thing’s for sure: Music which teenagers love these days is surprisingly familiar. Fold the page in to see the answer.
A4 Fold page over right
Fold page back like this!
3b
The Classical Opera– s ymphonic st yle has suc h a rich history, making it irresistible with you th. (Really??!!)
A4
3b