foreword
ぜんかい -- ゼンカイ
no longer yearning. what have we not done before?
"the world is really but the stage - create the most fulfilling play"
If you're a thief, master the art of thievery.
A psychotic mind leaves no room for regrets.
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Zheng Kai
01.11.1989
CHS - AJC
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© Copyrights:
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Chok Zheng Kai, 2008
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Monday, June 23, 2008
My Basic Technician Course specialising in Small Arms has officially started today. But interestingly, what I took away from the first day of my course was not the information my instructors passed down, nor is it the new friends and course mates I might have made, but what a seemingly unassuming character, a publications salesman, said.
What does "R&D" stands for? Yes, we all know that...it stands for Research and Development. But in business? It apparently takes on a whole new meaning. It stands for "Rip & Duplicate". Well..in terms of business ideas at least. Sounds cliche eh? I tossed it aside initially thinking it is something typical of what a speaker encouraging and simplifying entrepreneurship might say. But upon further thought, I realised there's a lot of truth in that line.
We all read rag-to-riches success stories everywhere, and how many times have we thought - I could have came up with that idea too! Or at least - I thought that idea existed somewhere before? Yes, indeed, many times, it is the marketing strategies and business processes that distinguishes the successful ones and those with just plain ideas. Just think of Facebook. It is worth billions and it dubbed the next big thing taking over the internet along the ranks of giants like Google and Microsoft. But the basic idea and concept of Facebook - isn't it just another Friendster, MySpace? And even now there are new kids on the block called Yuwie, Twitter or sorts, but none are close to the extent of success of Facebook. To think Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook originally with the intention of bringing college students closer into a online community. And if you think Facebook's golden age is over, think again. Top engineers are defecting from rival giants to work in this 'coolest' firm - obviously something big is on their sleeves. Other examples, like Hyflux's Olivia Lum, made herself millionaire by selling her water filtration systems and gradually expanded. Obviously, ideas such as a water filter was long present before she made it into such a lucrative business. Everywhere else across the world, people travel and bring ideas, small to big, from place to place, market them and make good money out of it.
And before you fret into despair thinking ideas are simply not enough for you to set up a business and make money, here's another piece of good news. Firms are now sprouting everywhere to 'buy ideas' from people. You think of something, you present and send it to them. They like it, they will buy it (for US$20,000) and even give you a fraction of the profits when they market it. Big firms and brands run out of ideas too, and they can easily tap on their easiest resource - their loyal fan base. You know it - you've heard of the countless "Design your own _____ and we will make and sell" campaigns everywhere.
And guess what, this whole fusion of ideas and marketing and business strategies is going to come very useful and relevant in the near future. The economy can't be running at its tip top condition for too long and its already beginning to show signs of slowdown in terms of local exports and investment. In a period of an economic bear, entrepreneurship is sure to rise again and those who could fuse both will rise to success.
Well, come to think of it, this unknown publications salesman did his job well, more than his job in fact. He made me think, and I have a thing for people who make me think further into things. So here am I - $275 poorer with The Economist added to my belt of weekly magazines to keep me sane through NS.
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Monday, June 16, 2008
The rest of the NSFs from the April intake will hate me for saying this - but I really felt my 1 and a half week break was completely necessary. Who could have missed out on all the catching up, ice-cream-ing at B&J's and all the almost-forgotten frivolous moments?
Indeed, we have all grown up. Apart from the more outrageous, direct and sexual "adult" topics that are taking over our conversations, the reality is far from surreal. In a few weeks time, the girls I once knew as girls per se are already becoming undergraduates by their own right, stepping into their next exciting phase of their life in university. All Singaporean males I know in my batch have already enlisted and passed out from their BMT. Half of 2008 is already gone, did you realise?
My mum told me a few days ago that she felt especially proud of me this year - to have accomplished quite many things, in her opinion. However, personally I did not feel any special sense of accomplishment or pride. I'm sure the feeling was greater back when I was in JC, for example, in Xiamen in 2006. Well, she wasn't wrong to come to such a conclusion. But to me, I felt it was expected of my age. I am 18 going on 19. Next year is officially my last teenage year, whether I like it or not. Just today in camp, I came across a database category in Wikipedia that reads: 1989 births. And to my surprise, there were exactly 1,467 names recorded there. These people did something significant enough by the age of 18/19 to get themselves on Wikipedia. It made me wonder, expectations are really changing. If you wanted to be someone outstanding, 1467 people are already ahead in the race! And that's not counting those that are born after 1989!
Then it dawned on me - what really made me happy and accomplished was not being part of those 1467, it was not being part of them but still managing to struggle a success out of this game of life. This feat, though small in the eyes of others, is big to your loved ones, your parents, your siblings, your relatives and friends. Sharing and creating this joy to them is priceless. And by that I do not mean we should have low expectations and be contented with who we are, but on the contrary, we are doing great things - finding simple joy and love in the smallest things. I'm sure not everyone can do that.
I always hated the idea of discussing about the army or my experiences in there with my curious relatives. But this weekend changed all that. I am more than willing to share now, as it still shows my standing in the family, my relatives' interest in me, and how proud they are on top of everything else. The unforgettable laughters at my dining table yesterday night proved it was worth it.
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Thursday, June 05, 2008
As you know, I am on leave this whole week and what did I do? Resorted to borrowing DVDs from the Bishan video rental shop. I watched a total of 6 DVDs and 1 movie online in the past 4 days. And I do have something to say about each one.
The Queen.
An epic story on Queen Elizabeth II dealing with the news of Princess Diana's death in the car crash. Filled with a massive amount of politics, public-relations skills, and simply, the controversial superannuated Royal Institution. But it did prove a point - political leaders in this coming age are more of the 'personality' than the 'brains'. Without their personal assistants, advisors and aids, they are seriously nothing much. Helen Mirren acted well, I must say, no wonder she garnered all those awards. During the show, my mum kept going, "oh...so it was him (Prince Philip) who was the 'evil' one..". I guessed the show did serve its purpose, of shedding some light on why the situation was so sticky with regards to the Royal Family, and perhaps it was portrayed accurately to a large extent that HRH herself invited Mirren to tea.
Michael Clayton.
This is a legal tussle which shows the darker sides of human nature - lies, deceit and power in the wrong hands. Such seemingly boring themes may be far too common in today's movies, but Michael Clayton's pushed it a little further. Perhaps its my obsession with George Clooney's casting, but he handled something so traumatising and mind-boggling with such great composure and subtlety that it shook me. I must admit though, that at certain points during the film, I had to pause and go onto wikipedia to find out what's going on, or rather find out some background information to further understand why things are behaving the way they are. But I love such movies, movies which motivate you to go further to question, to research. I think such movies are powerful, they utilise your brains and make you come to a decision, a conclusion about a theme. Sometimes, people get too caught up with power, that ironically, their intelligence that got them in that position in the first place, becomes diminished.
The Legend of the Water Horse.
The story begins with a elderly man narrating the entire anecdote of how a young boy picked up this egg and it eventually hatched into the 'water horse'. Behind this childish theme, I felt there's something more to the boy. He felt out of place and sync, and why? His father, the only one he was close to, left for a 'war' and never came back. Growing up without his father was one thing, but growing up losing his father at such a tender age was another. All he wanted was to find a friend, someone to share his joys and pains - and that's when the 'water horse' comes to play. The story ends with the elderly man introducing himself as the young boy - the main character of the story.
Evangelion: 1.0 You are (not) alone.
Cool show. This show, though attractively portrayed with all the cutting edge graphics and action scenes between the evas fighting, came through to me with a deeper meaning too. Similar to 'water horse', it has got to do with a young son's relationship with his father. He overcame his mental and physical barriers to pilot an eva and put the entire responsibility of 'saving the world' on his shoulders with only one aim - to show his dad he can do it, to let his dad be proud of him, to listen to his dad's words of encouragement. Sometimes, as children, we do many things off-tangent, on the surface seemingly hurting the ones around us and to spite our parents, but at the end of the day, all we want is a word of thanks, a word of gratitude or encouragement and acknowledgement. Everyone, no matter how big the role they play in the society, has someone like that, behind the scenes - for they want to do whatever they are doing for them.
Appleseed.
Just like Evangelion, this is an animated movie. Though I must admit that the graphics here are much better than the former. What I remembered about this movie, surprisingly, wasn't actually the movie per se, but the bonus DVD that came with it, containing a documentary on the fusion between the Japanese and American culture and how anime played a huge role in it. It was really educational and it's definitely research-standard for those doing a arts paper in this genre. It analyses the similarities and differences between the mindsets of the Japanese and Americans and how they are portrayed interestingly in animation that combined these 2 genres. Surely, there's something just more than the cool factor for potential Prime Minister candidate Taro Aso to view anime as the main driving factor for Japanese diplomacy.
Flood.
A geo-engineering favourite, Flood is about the flooding of River Thames and how even the Thames Barrier was washed away, literally. Engineering marvels like the Thames Barrier was once a popular theme for block-buster movies to 'destroy'. But now, with the Earth going haywire and all, these colourful and far-fetched imagination from Hollywood script-writers may indeed be a reality not too far from now. Anyway, I must admit I can't get enough of big cities being washed away by Nature. I spent 1 entire hour combing the video shop on my third visit this week to look for more of such 'geographical documentaries/movies' but I just couldn't find anything. Either that or the shows were too old which used obsolete and slapstick models and technology which make me cringe. Yes, I'm a technology slut. I know.
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