Saturday, 27 March 2010

Monkeying About

The Zoo: The Story of London ZooLondon Zoo has just announced an exciting new concept; they are going to allow visitors and primates to interact without any barriers such as glass and cages.

Their apparent aim is to simulate an Amazonian ecosystem somewhere near Euston Road.

While I wish them luck in their endeavours there are those of us who can still remember being harassed by troupes of monkeys in the Singapore Botanic Gardens. The scenario was not a pleasant one when I experienced this in 1982.

The zoo's director, a Mr Field, is reportedly "evangelical about tearing down the bars and letting the animals roam free".

A good run around Singapore's McRitchie Reservoir pursued by hungry Macaque monkeys is all he needs to bring him to his senses.

Friday, 26 March 2010

The Selling Art

There are things that you realise you can do without and things that will forever remain precious. And then there are the undefined things that fall somewhere in the middle.

It is almost four years that we have lived in Singapore and when we came one of the largest shipping expenses was the transport of the remnants of a painting collection.

These works have remained propped up against our lounge wall still in their original packing. Whereas once upon a time I would not have felt comfortable without wall festooned with art, I have adopted a more philosophical approach to my immediate environment.

Most of these paintings are from the 1980's when I last put brush to canvas and some of the art from this time is the work of other people.

Scarborough Head - Dusk.........  Roger Smith

When we eventaully return to New Zealand most of these works will not be coming back so I have decided to dispose of them here.  Disposing of art works in Singapore is a surprisingly frought business and being able to produce digital art rather than lugging large canvases around is the way to go.

The numbers are in for the opening month of Singapore's first casino and there has been a surge in the February figures according the the statisticians.  Not surprisingly the biggest group to make up these numbers are from mainland China.

At the other end of the 'entertainment' spectrum we have the forthcoming Youth Olympics.  It would appear that it is a difficult task getting the local populace enthused about this sporting event.  Their minds are still firmly fixed on the new theme park at Sentosa and when the roller coaster, which has been temporarily closed down, will be fully operational again.


The public apathy has not deterred the YOG organisers from pressing ahead and this week the Games Song was released.

Thursday, 25 March 2010

One Giant Lick For Mankind

The true story of Christian, the lion who thought he was people

Tuesday, 23 March 2010

5 Singapore tech inventions that rocked our world

I suspect there have been more than five but here they are:
  • Creative Soundblaster sound card
  • The original Trek Thumbdrive
  • Match.com
  • MTech FeverScan S3000
  • X-Mini capsule speakers
Read the article

and let's not forget the roller coaster at the new Universal Studies theme park!