World Cup 2010 - South Africa (where the world united with one common love - soccer, and one common hatred - Vuvuzela)
World Expo 2010 - Shanghai, China (awesomest place ever been...sorry, I'm biased)
G-8 and G-20 summit - Canada(not a big issue since I doubt we'll get out of this recession anytime soon...okay that was just plain nasty and awfully sceptical of me...but well...we all know that US and Europe can't agree since Europe want to cut spending and US wants to increase spending)
Youth Olympic Games - Singapore...WOOH!!! **Nationalist fervour moment**
But well...you don't see that sort of enthusiasm online.
You see links like...
Netizens not wanting to giving way to buses
http://getai.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/what_bugs_me/405698/give_way_to_yog_buses_netizens_say_no_way.html
How the government blew the budget.
interesting how govt = PAP...but then again its quite true.
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/08/04/would-singapore-win-the-right-to-host-the-yog-with-a-budget-of-389-million-dollars/
How YOG created an inconvience to the students of NTU.
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/08/07/ntu-student-complains-about-inconveniences-caused-by-yog/
Then you hear of facebook groups which hate YOG to the extent of boycotting it
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/07/28/two-new-facebook-groups-set-up-to-boycott-paps-yog/
Next, comes how somehow the event is going to fail.
farce ticket sale
http://theonlinecitizen.com/2010/07/yog-%E2%80%93-another-farce/
bad facilities
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/07/28/slovak-yog-ambassador-criticize-singapores-yog-venues-of-school-standard-only/
Finally, everybody complains about that JJ Lin song.
Well, I'm no song writer so I can't do a better job than him and hence I don't think I'm in a position to comment.
I know my sources ain't exactly good...STOMP is like the ultimate voyeur website whereby people can intrude into other's lives and feel free to film others in the name of citizen journalism.
Temasek Review on the other hand...well...lets just they just say things just to oppose PAP.
I do read other forums, but seriously...singapore forums? Well, unforunately for me...those that I read are super low intellect(not that I'm very smart or anything, but stop whining about everything...come on...I know how epic fail most of the elites in Singapore are...but I don't need these facts hammered into my head all the time), so I'd rather post STOMP and Temasek Review websites to spare myself more embarrassment.
You know...I think the internet is rather merciless when it comes to making comments.
Normally you get one internet troll making a cynical or prejudice comment to piss people off or fire people up...But now you got an army of them and they've got their troll headhunters and their troll witch doctor with their berserker upgrade and their troll regeneration...double with the tauren chieftain with level 3 endurance aura...CAN YOU STOP THAT!?!?!?! Such levels are not seen since Lee Bee Hua and the STTA incident.
Personally, I think its really unfortunate that most Singaporeans do not feel the connection and pride towards YOG. I actually don't blame them because I don't as well. YOG seems so distant, its happening here, yet its none of my business.
Think about it...I bet most Singaporeans didn't even know about the YOG until it began a few days ago. Then you might say, "what about the publicity posters?"...then I'll reply...what publicity posters?
I know the advertising sign board is huge, like those placed on GRCs to show that "they" care. If you don't notice the words, the huge boards probably looked like some new savings plan by the Singapore banks to replace the POSB squirrel or the OCBC mighty saver children. In addition, most Singaporeans do not notice these stuff as their eyes are either on the road or waiting for the bus. I know...excuses.
Honestly, I thought the mascot was quite good and decently represented Singapore. Compare it with Hai Bao of the World expo...how does that represent Shanghai? So on that note, good job team, but it needs more publicity.
In addition, all the boards are in english, how can those chinese educated elderly know? probably the organisers were thinking that why should these elderly know...they're too uncool to understand the ways of the youth?
So you think...come on in...happening granny...
ah...touche...
I saw their performance on CCTV in Shanghai. After the dance, the host of the program said to them, "you people behave very young for your age". Then one of them replied with some cool tone, "we're here to give the young ones a run for their money".
TV publicity - all we see is the JJ Lin video...erm, seriously, I thought it was the new national day song...like a substitude to "count on me singapore", though it did seem a little childish. So how would Singaporeans become aware of this event?
I know I shouldn't just whine about these stuff and provide a solution.
Some things I noticed China did during the world expo.
Have television programs to introduce the event.
They have segments on the shopping channel to introduce the souvenirs sold in the expo. They sell all sorts of stuff on the shopping channel. From T-shirts to handphones to television. But for the world expo, they have segment to sell world expo collectables. In fact, I'm quite impressed by the standard. They sell all sorts of stuff from gold coins to jade seals and a mini version of the清明上河圖.
TV: "Next we have the 清明上河圖, which you can find the the china pavillion...
In addition to the shopping channel, they also got programs which show a walkthrough within the expo like an introduction to the pavilions. They even got large scale programs and competition revolving around the expo. Contestants(non-chinese) give a introduction to their country's pavillion or a segment of the expo...in chinese... and let me tell you...their pu tong hua aka mandarin is very good. So good I thought they were native chinese.
Besides using the television, the city of Shanghai gave 2 free tickets to all the families in Shanghai as an incentive to visit the expo. In addition, they put some money into some "card"(its like our EZ-link card) and this money can only be used to buy expo tickets. This provided the incentive for families to participate in the expo. The Singapore government can actually consider giving some tickets out to families to bring their children to watch the matches.
The chinese government also pulled in and recruited organisation outside of the expo to set up shop and tour destinations within Shanghai. They set up a tea cultral centers and liased with Tong Ren Tang(over priced chinese medicine, somehow they are very pushy and rude if you don't buy and if you do, they sell you very expensive herbs like cordyceps...but its fine since its a once a while kind of thing). All these tourist destinations bring in the vibrance to Shanghai(because if you really think about it, Shanghai is really a financial center, nothing much else).
In my humble opinion, China made everything in Shanghai revolve around the World Expo 2010, can Singapore make itself revolve around the YOG 2010? Only when Singaporeans can feel that they have a stake in this event that it can be a success.
No comments:
Post a Comment