Badly Entrenched Mindsets

Director of Lord of the Rings has a fine piece of wisdom which i come across on the extended version:

"When you are doing editing it is important to wipe your mind of any preconceptions. Don't try to justify decisions you made at the time because you had a justification for doing something 2 years ago when you shot it. Don't carry that baggage anymore. Just kind of sit back & be critical & just say: U don't know the story, characters, shooting it. You know, i'll love to have that total innocent lack of knowledge." -Peter Jackson

Many managers/ministers are heavily entrenched in their way of thinking & doing things because that's what got them to where they are. To do so otherwise would expose their incompetence in front of their subordinates & embarass them. More is at stake with their financial liabilities such as housing, car, kids etc which makes it even more difficult to dislodge their 'expired' thinking & try something new.

Often a lot of pain is needed to jerk them out of their comfort zone & think/do something new. Smart bosses tap the innocence of raw recruits cause they have no baggage & can look at a situation/problem with fresh angles.

I'm afraid this dreaded 'disease' is more prevalent among bureaucrats.

Faceless Cogs

Watching the Uruk-hai in 2 Towers extended version hit me about the faceless cogs in S'pore economy.
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MM Lee dressed in white & out of touch with common folks
Saruman dressed in white & high in his tower. Treebeard complain

Uruk-hai breed for a single purpose- destruction of men
S'poreans most of which are breed to be faceless cogs to drive the economy

MM Lee's prized Orchard Road flooded twice
Saruman trapped in tower after flood
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Remember MM Lee's eugenics comments about telling graduate mothers to give birth more? It reminds me of Saruman breeding the superior Uruk-hai which are stronger than orcs & goblins. I suppose the hobbits, dwarves, elves & men are considered 'lesser mortals' as well. Lesser mortals as we have been described as by a subordinate of MM Lee.

Then his recent no retire comments. Script bears bit of similarity to:

Uruk-hai fight to death.
S'poreans work till death.

Robbed in JB (Johor Babru)?

Local media portray the state capital of Johor as a dangerous place. No doubt it'll deter some from going there to shop to stretch their S$ further. Yes the crime rate is higher than that of S'pore.

At 1 time i was also brainwashed by the state media. Is only after i read a comment somewhere on the net that i 'woke up'. The argument is that we don't have to go JB to get rob cause we are getting robbed in broad daylight here in S'pore - countless hikes in transport, gst, utilities etc etc.

Practise simple common sense as in dressing simply to enjoy the higher purchasing power over there rather than blindly swallow the fear based message broadcast to us.

Overblown YOG budget enough for 2 LOTR movies

Just watched the extended version of Lord of the Rings movie & the thought of the impact of the movie cost compared to Youth Olympic Games which 88% of 6430 people voted 'Not interested at all'.

Pathetic ticket sales & much of the tickets were bought by Ministry of Education to get pupils to attend in a fake show of enthusiasm & support.

Back then a LOTR movie cost around US$95M each. With inflation factored in the overblown YOG budget (US$284M) is enough for 2 LOTR movies. When people think of LOTR they think of New Zealand with its magnificant landscapes. Impressions linger on for years & years.

Government's spend freely (taxpayers $) attempt to leave good impression has failed to garner local support. Compared to LOTR's impressive enjoyment & continued 'talk about' after the trilogy ended, YOG has already faded into the shadows before it even started.

Makes me wonder how a bloated bureaucracy spend $ compared to private filmmakers in creating 'experiences' for masses.