Chingay was a rip off!

Thank goodness i didn't go!

I would have had a worse day if I went! Already feeling so down and out before exam week, I wanted to go witness how bad the parade could be since i had bad reports about it. I saw it on tv and i nearly hurled. I regret not making the soft news article more negative...

Chingay’s ethnicity—Malay, Chinese, Russian?
By Chia Kylie

“If the purpose of Chingay today is to boost tourism, I am sure tourists will be eager to discover more about Chinese culture in this part of the world, rather than sample an attempt at mimicking a Disney parade,” said Mr Nge Tuck Long in a forum letter to Straits Times last year.

Mr Chan Xiang Ju, a photographer agrees: “If I wanted entertainment, I’d watch some Hollywood movie instead.”

Case in point, is the purpose of the Chingay Parade becoming too watered down? Or is it just incorporating so many cultures that his Mardi Gras seems to be exaggerated already? Some argue that Chingay is increasingly a white elephant, however on the lighter side, there are more benefits that Chingay might still offer us.

Anyone who has gone to view the Parade live will have experienced the atmosphere, the entertaining costumes and decorated floats that traverse the parade grounds. There is also interactivity as you get to walk with the performers and immerse into the spirit of the crowd; Mr Chan even complimented the effort that “with Singapore being a globalised city, it would be good to introduce Singaporeans to others’ cultures”. Such are the beneficial points of the Parade, another being that it is good to have nation-wide events year round to de-stress Singaporeans.

But one would also discover that everyone would be lost about what was going on. “There are different cultural performances, but you don’t hear the emcees saying what type of dance it is or the purpose of it,” said Mr Fahmi Raihan who watched the parade first-hand. “Someone has to explain to, example, their children as it is very noisy there.” The parade, seemingly, defeats its purpose if spectators don’t know the significance of the performances and if simple harmonious values cannot be instilled in the younger generation. It is demeaning that organisers do not consider the spectators and it is one area that can be improved in.


Of course, other justifiable means that Chingay seems to deviate from the four main races in Singapore is that the different organisations, like People’s Association Youth Movement (PAYM) and Singapore SOKA Association, would churn ideas based only on their interpretation of the theme provided. Last year’s was Wonderland, hence it used insects, flower petals and elves to bring out the wonderland in youth. The ants came together to collect the food for themselves while butterflies flew around.

The question is whether we should try to create themes that are more in line with our own four cultures and reserve it only for the Chinese festivities? Or do we let the show go on and keep things spiced? In the position of the organisers, one would choose to stay relevent and loud in hope of maintaining or even luring audiences to the parades, so it is as more a business prospect than it is an ethical issue.

On another note, Mr Chan feels Chingay still serve its purpose as it is a tourist attraction which would aid in boosting the economical sector in Singapore. “Not only does it boost our economy, we also have foreign broadcasters and reporters coming to broadcast on Chingay because of its culture,” said Mr Gary Mo, secretary of PAYM Joo Chiat CC.

However, taking it a bit further, layman Mr Marcus Tay takes a more negative stand. He states that the parade mirrors Singapore society taking a more globalised route, paralleled with the influx of foreign talents and such. He argues “Singapore is losing its culture and becoming less unique now that it has become a rojak (messily mixed) country”.

There is no doubt that Singapore has become so racially diverse we might be losing our roots soon. But it is an inevitable fate that foreigners would flock to our country because we might be the only racially harmonious and secure country in the world now. We have a choice to continue celebrating our rich cultural diversity and forever hold our peace with foreigners, or to condemn the country for being so mixed and forever outrightly discriminating against people of a different colour. Should we choose to embrace change is up to the individual to decide.

the Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus is up to your imagination to fathom

Heath as Tony Shepherd, with a sore neck after getting strung up by loansharks to the underside of a bridge.

Trailer: http://www.doctorparnassus.co.uk/

I squealed at Johnny Depp again when he appeared in the Imaginarium the very first time! Darn, I waited an hour for him to show up and just when my hope of ever seeing him in a proper movie script was dying, he skipped into the mirror of magical proportions and revealed his alter personality in the dream world. Sooooo HOT! when he daintily pranced off some lily pads, which was one customer's imagination, and siddled up to her as she admired herself in a mirror. Then flourishing his masquerade mask and finally showing himself to be the persuasive sweet talker version of Tony Shepherd, I whooped for the next 5 mins and gushed crazily as the words came flowing smoothly out of his honey-combed lips. Woots!

For the scene where Johnny appeared, he was playing the part of swindler Tony but whilst in the mirror of Imaginarium, he altered to be the best of a cunning yet sincere Tony split-personality, trying to sell inner peace and getting customers to part with their valuables and cash, which he succeeded easily. The idea was to get as much money as possible for their little play and rickety stage, but Dr Parnassus had far more pressing matters in mind than those trivials.

Dr Parnassus had to clear his wager with the devil or just sell his daughter’s life to him on her 16^th birthday in exchange for the doctor’s own immortal life. A bad choice he made 600 years ago. And since then, the devil had paid him many a visit to spend his eternity whilst roaming the earth. Then a new wager that whoever got the 1^st 5 souls (by means of the Imaginarium, on whether the person makes the right choice n becomes reborn or makes the wrong choice n goes straight to hell) will get the girl. Valentino, of course, is vexxed and later throws a fit at her father for accepting the bet. Find out if she lives or not.

Her admirer Anton, fellow actor for the stage performance of Dr Parnassus’ Imaginarium the travelling caravan, stays on for her sake but finally meets his love rival when Tony Shepherd, a philantrophist and eventually philanderer, crosses their path and keeps a low profile by helping them with their show. He is played by Heath Ledger, the finest performance yet after his disturbing but stunning portrayal of the Joker in The Dark Knight. You could see an element of demented nervousness and professional pretence from the Joker when he acts as Tony, and you can imagine he was still on drugs when he changed his acting style from gallant knight in A Knight’s Tale to timid ghost hunter in Brothers Grimm (What an idiot, what a waste of talent.)This is the film he never completed, hence the use of other actors’ faces to represent his alter egos. They are, in order, Heath, Johnny when the first real customer entered he followed into the Imaginarium and he became a smooth talking salesman, Jude Law in his own Imagination, and Colin Farrel the evil personality, running away from the press, in his own Imagionation too.

Oh whatever… If you want the plot, go watch the DVD release! I’m supposed to talk about Johnny and how he fared for the 5 min scene. I thought it was the coolest 5 mins worth of script he ever said. Even when it didn’t seem much of a plot where he had to lead the first customer in a dance for her entertainment, he seemed to remain suave about it cos he seemed uncomfortable taking Heath’s role while in the Imaginarium. What rocked was that he was given the good guy alternate personality for Tony Shepherd. But while this scene was detached from the rest of Tony’s appearances in the Imaginarium, other anomalies would be spotted too as the movie is very abstract and subject to higher criticism. Johnny would have tugged more heart strings if he were the one hanging from the post tho, but he couldn’t play the bad guy for the end scene. It’s not him.

Watch Dr Parnassus only if you have the attention span of a housewife to Hong Kong dramas. Warning: not a show to be watched with your friends, especially when they don’t know who’s Johnny. I’d rate this a good 3.5 out of 5.