Home Of Tong

I am one of the lucky ones who manage to catch the NDP07@MarinaBay Preview show on yesterday. It was one of the most spectacular NDP show I have seen. With the NDP moving to the waterfront for the first time, we are able to see a display of Air, Land and Sea combining to give the audiences a wonderful experience that you never seen before.

But I have only one complain. The logistic for crowd control needs to be improved (by a fair bit) for the actual day show to give the audiences a total experience. While I know the need to scan everyone for security sake, especially with the threat of terrorism that never goes away, a lot more can be done.

I think there should be an announcement to all ticket holders to come in as early as possible to clear the security checkpoint. There were no mentioned of this anywhere and most was caught unaware. Ticket holders should be advise against bringing in any sharp objects or liquid to speed up the security check. For that matter, to bring as little things as possible.

There should perhaps be some booths in the area for them to catch a bite or to do a little shopping, this will encourage them to ‘enter’ the arena earlier and avoid the big squeeze. More X-Ray machines need to be brought in as the number of machines simply could not cope with the crowd.

Even after clearing the security checkpoint, the problem does not end. As I am allocated the seats on the green section, I have to work to the end to gain entry, which is not a problem. When reaching the area, I see queues form to collect the goodie bags, the problem is there is no official ‘lines’, so people are just queuing not knowing if that is the right queue, and you can see some cutting queues as the line is not define. There is also no problem signs nor people to direct the crowd. With 3 queues (sometimes it becomes 4 or 5 or 2) forming to collect the goodie bags, it is then converge to 1 staircase to get to the seats. This is the puzzling part. With easily 4 staircase available just for the green sector alone, why only allow 1 staircase to be used? This create a huge rush and a big squeeze all over again. Imaging some 5000 people using 1 staircase, which I have to say, is not very big too. And there is absolutely no crowd control as there is 1 poor soul trying to control a crowd of 5000. By the time I am on my seat, I missed almost the entire pre-program, this is despite the fact that I started to queue to enter the arena at around 4+.

The show itself is quite something, if you do not have the tickets to the actual show, make sure you catch it on TV. I promise you it is something you will appreciate. The use of water is especially eye-catching and interesting, something which the previous 2 locations (Kallang and Padang) cannot provide. Watch out also for the special performance put up by the SAF to celebrate their 40th anniversary. The fireworks is just stunning and they promise you lots of it this year. So much that you thought it will never end.

After the show, we did get dismissed by all 4 staircase and it is much faster and smoother. At this point I still wonder why they don’t allow this in the first place. Than, a small situation arrived, the entire road is block up and we are no allow to go out from the way we came it, and have to go all the way to almost the Raffles Link before we can ‘break out’. A small inconvenience but again, instructions or signs or someone to direct the crowd will be helpful as some crowd walk one direction and than another not knowing what happen as there was a sudden halt in front.

Overall I give the show 9.5/10 but the crowd handling a poor 3/10. I hope the experiences will be learned as this is the first time in a new location and the crowd on the actual day will enjoy a much better experience.

Happy Birthday Singapore! (in advance).

Having going on in our last post about how disgusting some folks in China are turning out to be by putting profit ahead of human lifes, I am hit by another news much worst than that. The TV station that reported about the “Black Heart (Evil) Bun” (黑心肉包） actually came up to apologise to the nation that the news report is in fact, fake, and is done by some clever production methods.

This just further proved how desperate someone in China is to try to profit from something without any consideration of others. They have misused the power of the media given to them and played on people’s feelings, all for their own fame and glory.  This makes the reporter (or producer) in question on all his pass works of similar themed news.

Looking at this news ‘leak’, there are 2 schools of thoughts out there. 1 group can’t stop cursing the media for doing such things, the other, wonder if this ‘apology’ is actually a cover up of something that actually happened. I will take my fence on this but will want to look at what it means if the news is indeed fake.

If the news is really fake, it just brings me to wonder how much of the news that I digested each day are true, or part true. The power of the media cannot be underestimated. With so many things happening around the world, unless we take the time to go through every news and cross check with out sources, we usually just believe news that we read or heard, especially if it comes from our national newspaper or TV station. We assume that the reports are true as we trust in the integrity of the reporters, the newscaster, and the producers. But as in the case of the cupboard bun, we know that ASSUME makes and “ASS out of U and ME”.

In every story, there are 2 sides, and if the newspaper take 1 side, and report a part of it, we will be made to believe that is the truth. For example, I was watching this show on TV called “微笑 (smile) Pasta”. It is a fairy tale story about an ordinary woman who mean this superstar and how they got together. In one of the episodes, one media company, in the name of finding the ‘truth’, send out all his man to gather evidence that their relationship is a fake. So the story goes about this man (the superstar) who went to rescue his ex-girlfriend who is surrounded by a group of gangster. He defeated them but the woman (the ex-girlfriend) fell into the water and he went down to rescue her again (the 2nd time). When they are out of the water, the ex-girlfriend is so fill with gladness that she kissed him. This was witness by the man’s girlfriend who just arrived at the scene with the man’s brother. Naturally upset by what she see (not knowing the full story), she began to cry and the man’s brother started to console this. All this is captured by the report on photos and the photos of the kissing scene and the crying scene (on the man’s brother’s shoulder) are threatened to be published. The story could go something like this. Superstar and ex-lover rekindle their love story which current girlfriend weeps in the arms of his brother. This would be a sensational story and the newspaper is sure to have their ratings go up by a few notch. Only problem is, nothing is further from the truth.

So we see how the media can manipulate (sorry if you find this word is too strong) the audiences into believing something that may or may not happen. We need a strong body to regulate and punish those that make up stories just to help them sell their papers. I remember a report by a local tabloid who published a picture of someone who has a pig head (yes, as in P I G, pig) and a human body, and the report claimed that it is a result of a woman have sexual intercourse with a pig. I personally do not think this is true and I am disgusted that they will published something like that without checking the facts.

So the next time you read a piece of news, especially if it is something quite sensational, take it with a pinch of salt.

Ever wonder if the food that you put in your mouth are edible? We use to have no worries and just put into our mouth whatever is presented before us, and even when we travel we want to taste the real local flavour. Food from the streets, back alley, make shift store, to eat what the local eat. Well, my advise is, be careful what you eat.

China, already known for many ‘fake’ food stuff, are at it again. This time, the basic staple food for many Chinese, the meat bun (bao), are not what it seems. The ‘meat’ is actually make up of 60% cupboard (yes, this is not a typo) and 40% of mainly fatty meat. The hard cupboard is actually soften through industrial chemicals and than chop to very find pieces, mixed with the fatty meat, and becomes the ingredients in the meat bun.

Eating it piping hot, you might not taste the difference, according to the seller, but he admit that he and his family don’t eat them. Why is this happening? It is believed that since the fall of communism, many people in China cannot grapple with the sudden freedom and have their mind set on one thing, earning as much money as possible, thus ignoring all things (including their conscience), to reach their goal.

When question on the motive for using cupboard, the answer is simple, for better profits. I hope that the authorities will do more to curb this type of things from happening (even though I know it is hard for them to do so). Meanwhile, be careful what you put into your mouth.

Here is the full report: