MRT Hair-loss Advertisement

Saw this advertisement for Beijing 101 Hair Consultants on the MRT (subway).

Healthy hair brings me closer to my children.

Really?

Deck the Malls 2011: Sub-Zero

Welcome to another tropical Christmas.

Last year this blog showcased some of the festive decorations at our local mall, and the festooning this year is again baffling enough to warrant another post. I took some pictures on Saturday at Velocity in Novena, one of the numerous malls stationed atop an MRT (subway/underground/metro) station.

The mall starts Christmas season on 11 November. There is no Thanksgiving to hold back Xmas.

The theme at the mall this year is "Sub-Zero Christmas," an even chillier variation on 2010's "White is the Color of Christmas." I am continually bemused at the winter themes on display for customers in a tropical climate, and I am a still surprised by the pervasiveness of a Christian holiday within a country where the largest religion is Buddhism. Of course, Singapore has many, many Christians, and here we live next door to a church. Either credit the country for being inclusive or blame capitalism for cultivating a retail holiday in unlikely soil. I will opt for the latter given all the non-denominational  bedecking.

Shoppers on Level 2 are just about eye-level with a rather threatening penguin.

Alright, no more musing because once again the highlight of Velocity's decorations are the disturbing white animals. Several of them are perched on top of the main awning in the first photo above. Here are some more sculptures that dangle from the ceiling.

The tiny skating rink is back! In the ad copy this year it's called the Velocity Arctic Village. 

Click the link below left to behold a Photoshop disaster.

A Happy Journey

A short demonstration of Singaporean transportation, manners, and humor.  The MRT system shuttles thousands of people around the island everyday on three (soon to be four) efficient, safe, and air-conditioned subway lines.  Of course, nothing here is really very old so the niceties of daily commuting have not been firmly entrenched.  To help, LCD televisions in various stations play the music video posted above to instruct straphangers about how to behave on the train or the bus.  It's a funny example of the nanny-state chiding visible around Singapore, but I wish London or New York occasionally tried to encourage a few more public-transport pleasantries.

The advisement features the Singaporean television actor Gurmit Singh in his role as Phua Chu Kang of "PCK Pte Ltd."  His gold chain, creepy mole, bushy wig, and yellow gumboots distinguish him as a Chinese contractor on the make, an uneducated type called an "Ah Beng" in Singlish.  Good to know that contractors are well regarded the world over.  Phua Chu Kang also warned Singaporeans about SARS (YouTube link) in 2003.