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ST's slider "now and then"

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calugaruvaxile
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ST's slider "now and then"

Post by calugaruvaxile » Fri, 04 Sep 2015 9:18 am

not exactly a "latest news", but it strikes me more and more. all these "now and then" images. the vintage picture shows a poorer place, but full of people, full of life. "now" pictures are clean, rich but totally voided of human life (most of them). i have not experienced the vintage singapore, but i think i would have enjoyed it

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sundaymorningstaple
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Re: ST's slider "now and then"

Post by sundaymorningstaple » Fri, 04 Sep 2015 10:02 am

The void of people out and about today is because of aircon and interconnected buildings. You don't see them out on the streets because they have been pampered too much in the near past. The older photos has people of much hardier stock than the current crop of spoiled minions. I've been here 33 years now, and almost qualify as a vintage resident (I saw my 1st Nat'l Day Parade on the 17th birthday of the country).
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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Re: ST's slider "now and then"

Post by bgd » Fri, 04 Sep 2015 10:24 am

They are all shopping.

They were probably shopping in the vintage photos too, just no malls.

:-)

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Re: ST's slider "now and then"

Post by calugaruvaxile » Fri, 04 Sep 2015 10:25 pm

bgd wrote:They are all shopping.

They were probably shopping in the vintage photos too, just no malls.

:-)
no, the last picture i saw was with a park, a lakeside photo. "then", full of people enjoying the outdoors. "now" strictly nobody. you wonder for whom the money to make the park "beautiful" was spent

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Re: ST's slider "now and then"

Post by JR8 » Sat, 05 Sep 2015 12:03 am

calugaruvaxile wrote:not exactly a "latest news", but it strikes me more and more. all these "now and then" images. the vintage picture shows a poorer place, but full of people, full of life. "now" pictures are clean, rich but totally voided of human life (most of them). i have not experienced the vintage singapore, but i think i would have enjoyed it
I think it has to be put into a broader context: For example I grew up in Europe with rationing and ration books, and utilities for just a few hours a day, so we used paraffin lamps for light in the evenings. [Hey that's where a socialist government can lead]. Maybe a useful lesson in socialism, 'the workers' hold you to ransom when ever they can, and what ever you give them is never enough.

Same time, 70s, I don't recall many buildings above say 20 stories high. So what might one expect SG to have looked like at around that time, a tropical perhaps slightly less modern but more thrusting version of the same? The world was seriously riven in the 70s and it felt chaotic to grow up during that time - no surprise that punk 'broke the scene' back then, trying to express the chaos of the age.

I think a major change is the internet, nowadays you can spend all day glued to your phone, at home, in your car, out on the street. The need for social interaction at a direct face-to-face level is much less. Maybe you would have enjoyed the world before the internet, but how willing are you to test that theory by unplugging it for say a month, and seeing how you cope? :-D

--- I actually don't think the world is 'less happy' than it was in say the 50s/60s. But I do think interpersonal comms has become increasingly de-personalised.
'Do it or do not do it: You will regret both' - Kierkegaard

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Re: ST's slider "now and then"

Post by sundaymorningstaple » Sat, 05 Sep 2015 7:07 am

Those early day photos were usually taken by professional photographers or were commissioned by the STPB so were basically a blow our horn to show the rest of Asia how well we are doing and see how the population enjoys the fruits of our labours.

Today, the photos are taken of the infrastructure and without the ugliness of the local population today. What they don't realize is the infrastructure/building are even more gross. One trying to outdo the other. The first photo trying to capture the moment, the second trying to capture the framing and resolution of the first without regard to the "movable props".
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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Re: ST's slider "now and then"

Post by the lynx » Wed, 09 Sep 2015 1:20 pm

Most accurate photos to reflect current era are:

1. People pretending to sleep on reserved seats in full presence of pregnant women, disabled and old.
2. People making endless queues for free cable rides, Hello Kitty or latest iPhone.
3. Bus jammed up in the front, but practically empty in the rear.

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sundaymorningstaple
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Re: ST's slider "now and then"

Post by sundaymorningstaple » Wed, 09 Sep 2015 1:29 pm

^^^ This! LOL
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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