Fried Rice Paradise

The night before Joshua and I were to meet for a date on Thurs, I impulsively bought a pair of tickets on Sistic online. These were tickets to the musical Fried Rice Paradise for Thurs night, which would cost us a cool $160. [Didn't feel too guilty though, since Josh would pay for most of it. That's another story for another day.]

This Singaporean musical isn't too fabulous, it definitely will not hold a candle to the typical Broadway or West End musicals. But believe it or not, I will watch this again over Phantom of the Opera or most foreign productions. [And I have watched Phantom!] The musical is so fabulously Singaporean that I love it! I was laughing my ass off at so many lines. But of course, the ang moh many seats away was totally stone-faced.

The arts in Singapore are really awesome, just super gui only. [I'm waiting for something of equal brilliance to Pillowman, a psychological drama play I once caught.] If Singapore wants to see more of its people going to Esplanade and be willing to spend the penny, please subsidize students like 30-40% across all ticket categories. Then when we start working, we'll find it really natural to go to theatres. When I look at my parents who have both time and moolah, I realise going to theatres to catch comedy plays or musicals is seriously not in their consideration set at all.

Next up is the Law Musical staged by SMU Law students next Saturday! Yay!

Pick Up Your Visa/Masters Card Now!

Of all classes I'm taking right, the module called Ethics is the toughest. Tough not just because the prof is demanding, the articles we read and discussions held in class and the personal mental ruminating AFTER class makes my brain really tired. In this post, I'll like to highlight Peter Singer's article "Famine, Affluence, and Morality".

To any Christian friends out there who have heard about Singer, we most probably have heard his controversial philosophical arguments on animal rights and even the the suggestion of condoning infanticide. And also, of course, he's an atheist. But putting that all aside and just examining the 1971 article, I find very sound arguments as to why donation to international aid is a moral duty. Since Thursday, I've been telling myself to go donate online to the latest big news: the Pakistan Floods.

But I put off the donation until this evening when I came across the teenager's piano cover of We Are the World by Michael Jackson on Youtube. It moved me to take an action. After 15 minutes, I made a donation of USD$50 via the GreaterGood.org [If you're thinking of donating, please go to a trustworthy organization]

I totally urge everyone of you, who own at least one Visa or Masters or Amex card, to make a donation today. Although the Pakistan flood is not the only case of starvation, famine and poverty, it is the one that has raised the most media attention. There are other programs that you can make a donation to. The UN has recently announced that for some reason, international aid has stalled, leaving 6 million Pakistanis without food and shelter. That's because governments around the world are not giving enough. But don't wait for your government to give on your behalf, you can give today.