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Wind In My Hair
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Post by Wind In My Hair » Sat, 15 Dec 2007 9:32 pm

sundaymorningstaple wrote:or for real?
SMS you should know I am always for real, down to every last centimeter of my silicon bits I mean my fingertips. :D

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Post by sundaymorningstaple » Sat, 15 Dec 2007 9:42 pm

Wind In My Hair wrote:
sundaymorningstaple wrote:or for real?
SMS you should know I am always for real, down to every last centimeter of my silicon bits I mean my fingertips. :D
Oh no! You haven't been reading the PS threads have you? :o :wink:
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

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Post by Wind In My Hair » Sat, 15 Dec 2007 10:30 pm

sundaymorningstaple wrote:Oh no! You haven't been reading the PS threads have you? :o :wink:
The only PS I read are philosophy, political science, and papal sermons.

It's my bits that are silicon, not my brain. :cool:

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Post by earthfriendly » Wed, 19 Dec 2007 4:06 pm

EADG wrote:hi EF, long time, nice to hear from you

I know you know that the kind laughing you mention is not limited to Singaporeans

having said that, I've always wondered why some people choose to laugh when they are embarrassed when it only draws more attention to themselves and makes them look foolish, where most anyone witnessing would otherwise excuse whatever embarrassment they caused themselves

gotta agree with SMS here, in the cases I mentioned these people found humor in ways that revealed ignorance and questionable intellect, you kinda had to be there....
earthfriendly wrote:Laughter is commonly associated with humour but Singaporeans do more than that. Some may laugh when they are embarassed, sad, tense, bewildered etc... They probably do it to diffuse the situation and intensity of their own emotion. An american-filipino coworker was describing an incident in which she was put in a spot and she interjected the narration with laughter. She said that's her way of handling stressful situation. She tries to laugh it off.
EADG, nice to see you back in the forum. Hope you are getting enough sleep as lack of it causes irritability.

Okie, I wasn't there so I would not be able to comment. I saw Lust, Caution in Lido and some of the non-funny scenes drew laughter from the audience e.g when the spy scramp for the door at the jeweller's when his lover tip him off. It was a very tense moment indeed. To me, it was a nervous laugh as the audience was rooting for the spy that he would complet the escape but then it was full of irony too. There he was buying a 5 carat ring for his mistress, whom he just found out had set him up for assasination.

The gracious thing would be to apologise for any embarassment caused. However, Singapore is not so much a talk-it-out culture. People tend to be non-vocal and in fact "reticence" is a common communication tool. Do they expect people to gaze into their eyes and read their minds :o ? Try watching Korean soaps. They have turned this trait to an art form and it seems cool to be a person of few words. In fact, most of the plot revolves around misunderstandings and withholding of information.

I know of a Taiwanese girl who consistently use "laughter" as a communication tool. I find it a bit annoying. When she was in a bind and requested my help, she kept interjecting it with nervous laugh. I wish she would just come right out and say it. She was trying to diffuse the tension and being apologetic for putting me in a spot with her request. I expect people to communicate the seriousness of an issue with the same serious attitude, rather then playing it down.
sundaymorningstaple wrote:
Laughter is commonly associated with humour but Singaporeans do more than that. Some may laugh when they are embarassed, sad, tense, bewildered etc... They probably do it to diffuse the situation and intensity of their own emotion. An american-filipino coworker was describing an incident in which she was put in a spot and she interjected the narration with laughter. She said that's her way of handling stressful situation. She tries to laugh it off.
In a movie theater? :???:
When one watches movie, one is drawn to the plot and you identify with the emotions that the characters go thru.

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Post by bigfilsing » Thu, 20 Dec 2007 1:08 pm

Into this post a bit late I know !

Singapore is dying for a good radio station. Some good music and humor in the morning is priceless. It doesn't have to be complicated humour a bit of sarcasim would do.
Some road reports , traffic jams etc mixed in. Local events, parades marathon runs etc. Surely thats not to difficult.

During a recent disscussion with mates we put up a "scene" Lame i know but to focus the argument.
Report on the road works at Suntec. " Heh people watch out for the lane changes at the road works at the orchard/ nicoll highway crossing. They've only been at it 2 years so like them, expect some delays. The word is they're tunneling to Batam to mine building materials"

It conveys valuable information ( to road users) and adds a ridiculos tint that will make you remember.
It would never be allowed in Singapore....why?

The level of humour on current radio stations is just plain embarrasing.

What we need is an offshore radio station ( ship) like in the 70's in Europe. Radio Luxemborg and Radio Veronica ( which is now one of the most popular Radio and TV stations in Holland) Pirate radio .
It will happen...probably internet based. Can't wait.

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Post by Quasimodo » Thu, 20 Dec 2007 5:10 pm

In the mid-80's I was driving to Uni in Sydney and was listening to Doug Mulray on MMM when he told the following joke:

Ok, morning drivers, I was told this joke by the Italian waiter of a Chinese reasturant in Fairfield (adding many nationalities)

What do Lebanese women use as contraception?


drumroll








Their face! Boom-Tish!





Sitting at a set of traffic lights one could see who was listening to Uncle Doug.


Ah, I wonder if we can parlay that into the local scene . . .
One in the hand is worth two of something

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Post by EADG » Thu, 20 Dec 2007 6:47 pm

agree but for any of that to work necessitates a sense for comedic sarcasm. which goes over with a resounding thud here

maybe in 20-30 years it might work

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Post by time » Fri, 21 Dec 2007 8:31 am

If we had that stuff on the local scene, people would only have a laugh the next day!

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Post by EADG » Sun, 13 Jan 2008 12:12 am

hi again, and sorry, have to disagree again

thought of this thread when sitting though a movie tonight, a movie that was pretty ok, full of poignant points that should have been savored for their intended impact, rather than serve as cues to guffaw and miss the point

but of course it was the latter, this being Singapore....

the range of emotions the audiences here avail themselves to appears to be akin to grape juice and Mad Dog 20/20 (a cheap and strong wine-based liquor that only alcoholics ("winos") drink) - it seems things are either hilarious or serious, with no middle ground

it was really unfortunate that the vast majority of the audience tonight missed the subtleties in favor of laughing at things that weren't even funny nor meant to be

the movie was Dan In Real Life - I'd recommend it

...on DVD, in the privacy of your own home

earthfriendly wrote:Laughter is commonly associated with humour but Singaporeans do more than that. Some may laugh when they are embarassed, sad, tense, bewildered etc... They probably do it to diffuse the situation and intensity of their own emotion

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Post by earthfriendly » Sun, 13 Jan 2008 4:08 pm

EADG,

No need to apologize for disagreeing. That's truly how you feel and when you apologize for it, you are apologizing for telling the truth :) .

Actually, I don't see any contradiction between what you and I wrote. Singapore can be a bit unreal (a term used by an overseas Singaporean) and for someone new to the scene, it takes some getting used to. Some people may while others may not.

That aside, I think it is distracting for someone with highly-tuned senses to enjoy his movie amidst the unwanted noise. I always wonder about your nick. Do they represent musical notes and do you work with music? I am just sounding out my curiousity and you don't have to feel obligated to reply.

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Post by Wind In My Hair » Sun, 13 Jan 2008 9:47 pm

earthfriendly wrote:EADG, nice to see you back in the forum. Hope you are getting enough sleep as lack of it causes irritability.
WB as well, EADG. I've been wondering about this too as I remember your posts in earlier days to be much more positive and friendly. Hope life is treating you well and you are keeping happy!

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Post by EADG » Sun, 13 Jan 2008 10:34 pm

um, that "sorry" was not an apologetic one but of the beg-to-differ variety

hey, look, I'm no longer a "Chatter" but a "Reporter" now, so I guess that means I should "report"

no one can deny this is what you get in the cinemas here, and I don't think my senses are tuned any higher than anyone else's - if you read this forum and the others, you'll see the same things

I've been here 3 years so I'm not new, and wish I could say something more positive about the cinema situation here but it sucks plain and simple and it's not like anywhere else I've been

9 out of every 10 times we go there is some kind of public display of lack of courtesy- some of out ignorance, some out of blatant rudeness

the dopey laughing thing is innocuous and not ill-intended but still detracts from the overall experience, and frankly, makes it hard for Westerners to take the intellect level seriously; in the case of "Dan In Real Life", it really said a lot about the people in the audience as well as made it difficult to enjoy the movie, which we did in spite of the goofus populi

so far all of my accounts are shared as I never go to the movies alone and these are mutual assessments, to confuse my or our state of mind with telling things as they are would be missing the point - we actually at some points in some movies stop watching the screen to watch the audience! Amusing, but it's a joke that's begun to wear thin....

I see it worse in the Orchard-area cinemas, though, I wonder if anyone else has noticed this
earthfriendly wrote:EADG,No need to apologize for disagreeing. That's truly how you feel and when you apologize for it, you are apologizing for telling the truth :) .

Actually, I don't see any contradiction between what you and I wrote. Singapore can be a bit unreal (a term used by an overseas Singaporean) and for someone new to the scene, it takes some getting used to. Some people may while others may not.

That aside, I think it is distracting for someone with highly-tuned senses to enjoy his movie amidst the unwanted noise.

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Post by earthfriendly » Mon, 14 Jan 2008 12:48 am

Okie now I understand you did not mean to apologize that way. Looking back, my post was mighty presumptous and really did not come out right and open to misinterpretation. I didn't mean to imply anything aside from just questioning out of curiousity. My apology if it comes off as being offensive or insinuating. Definitely not my intention at all. Cheers.

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Post by earthfriendly » Mon, 14 Jan 2008 2:34 am

EADG wrote: I've been here 3 years so I'm not new, and wish I could say something more positive about the cinema situation here but it sucks plain and simple and it's not like anywhere else I've been
Once again, by "new" I meant a person who had never experienced anything like it prior to coming to Singapore, not so much the length of time, though time may help to acclimate. I am really not that presumptious nor autocratic and pretending to know it all nor your personal background.

Your post prompted much retrospection and made me see how destracting the audience reaction can be on some people's experience. And I agree with you. I was only trying to provide perspective from another angle and not disagreeing.

Anyway, nuff said. The floor is all yours.

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Post by phil30k » Mon, 14 Jan 2008 4:29 pm

Wind In My Hair wrote:On this topic, what does each of you think is the funniest line you've ever heard?
My contribution would be what I read in the Sgforum in the political section.

"Since we elected the Government to look after us..."



:)

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