tnppostwoman.com archives

Simone Says: I have an embarrassing confession to make: I am in love with Oprah Winfrey.

Why? Firstly, because she was the first black woman to invade American TV screens. Secondly because although she isn’t married and has never had children, she manages to capture the hearts of millions of wives and mothers all over the world every day. And lastly, because she’s a TV presenter who has managed to use her notoriety and intelligence to do some good in the world.

I even have her 20th Anniversary box set, the entire proceeds from which went to her Angel Network. Now, on this box set is a snippet about Oprah being sued by the state of Texas for libel following her interview with a vegetarian about mad-cow disease, which subsequently caused a huge drop in the value of beef.

This is the closest thing to a scandal that I had ever heard of my beloved Oprah being involved in. In fact, her DVD doesn’t even go into the details about it. I only found out because I stumbled on this link: http://womansday.ninemsn.com.au/slideshow.aspx?sectionid=2975§ionname=celebrity&subsectionid=76235&subsectionname=slide25 which details all of Oprah’s scandals over the years, most of which I had no idea about.

In March this year, Oprah ditched her man of 20 years, Stedman Graham, because she found out he was planning to release a “tell-all” book about her. Oprah’s father and step-sister have previously also wanted to release “tell-all” books. The difference is that Graham was paid US$300 million for his silence. What was even more astounding was that although I am a diehard Oprah fan, I never heard of her split with Graham or half of these scandals which stretched over the last 30 years.

How is that possible? Is it because Oprah has money and that controls everyone who tries to trip her up? But is her power out of control for a TV personality? She can change the face of the best-seller’s booklist with her book club and sway American voters by having Bush on her show. But does she have too much influence over people?

Tell Us: Is Oprah too powerful for a TV personality and how much control should she have? When you watch her show, are you swayed by her?

You can leave a comment here or e-mail us at tnpshow@sph.com.sg Don’t forget to leave us your contact details: name, age, occupation and e-mail address or telephone number.

===============================================

LETTERS VIA E-MAIL

Oprah being one of the most powerful TV Icon has influenced millions of viewers including me. The first time I saw her show on TV, I was simply attached by her whole demeanour, she’s a very charismatic lady, to me she’s like a female version of Marthin Luther King jr. only thing is her dreams were surely already fulfilled. I’m sure that most women love her and adore her and her show for being straightforward, compasionate, engaging, yet so relevant and sometimes convicting.

Such a powerful lady cannot help herself from not controlling the media, especially when she ought to protect her self image. Don’t all actresses, actors, businessman, and even politicians do that? They go to great length to ensure that their life is presentable and swipe anything unpleasant under the carpet. But we cannot fully blamed them for doing so, we as spectators can be very unforgiving and sometime forgetting that they are mere human like us.. who are also rather faulty..

Oprah and the rest of her power gang would do good if they could just generate some moderate control, by not always covering the ugly truth. Take example of how Oprah rise on the matter of the scandal at her elite school, she communicate powerfully, totally engaged in the matter, and apologize heartfully. In the end, she prevailed against the media onslaught, swaying more people to her charisma.

Jean Simon, 25, beautician

After more than 20 years of hosting experience, Oprah Winfrey’s influence has definitely spread widely around the globe. We see her giving strong views in ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’, we see her flashing her iconic smile in magazines, we even see her on buses in Singapore! Some even suggest that she should run for America’s President. This shows how much the Americans value her as a person and her views and ideas ranging from political issues to even domestic abuse.

Her single comment can cause market fluctuations and radical price changes. In one of her episodes of her talk show, she said that she would not eat another burger due to the mad cow disease scare during the late 90’s. Texas cattlemen claimed cattle prices were sent tumbling, costing beef producers to lose up to millions of dollars.

Ultimately, I believe Winfrey’s occupation as a talk show host and her being situated within the boundaries of the mass media which causes her to become too powerful as a television personality. However, if she can utilise this power in a manner which benefits people (be it the liberalisation of women, the salvation of hurricane Katrina victims or the raising of awareness of the child sex trade in Asia) , I have absolutely no issues with her being an influential celebrity who wield powers which can change the world.

Tan Yuyuan, 17, student

Oprah fans like Simone may feel Oprah is influential, but frankly, I dont think many people here apart from some housewives faithfully tune in to her shows. The issues she discusses and the format of her shows do not seem to be of much appeal to the average person here who is able to find time to watch TV during her show time slots. Perhaps it’s the cultural gap. People like Simone who appreciate Oprah’s shows are rarely home or free at these times.

Chan Sui Yin, 83, retiree

Simone Says: How do Singaporeans like to party? That is the question I am posing to all my readers.

In Australia, I grew up holding everyone else’s hair back while they puked in bushes because my very strict parents would have grounded me for life if they ever saw me drunk. Then when everyone started driving, I became “designated Daisy” and made sure everyone got home safe because I never drank.

But when I came to Singapore at 21, I started drinking and it made me an absolute mess out of me and I have since backed off alcohol completely. Ladies, giving up the booze is a sure-fire way to lose weight, so kick the red wine!

At the moment I have an old schoolmate from Perth visiting me. He went out drinking with some local friends of mine on the weekend because I had to shoot at 6.30am the next day. And he came home at 9am after I’d already left the house! He said: “Wow, I got in a tussle with the bouncer and I had a wild night! Singaporeans don’t party as hard as I thought!”

I was shocked, firstly because bad drinking behaviour is something I now loathe (after being a former “bad drunk”) and secondly because it brought to light a huge cultural difference in the attitudes towards alcohol between Singaporeans and other nationalities.

Does alcohol mean a good time? Why do Australians feel that getting so drunk that you pass out is the only way to have a good weekend out? I want to know what the ultimate night out in Singapore is!

Tell Us: How is it different when you party abroad and when you party here in Singapore? What is your idea of a good nght out?

You can leave a comment here or e-mail us at tnpshow@sph.com.sg. Don’t forget to leave us your contact details: name, age, occupation and e-mail address or telephone number.

Simone Says: Earlier this week Paris Hilton visited Shanghai for an MTV event and commented that the place “looked like the future.” My own experiences of staring out onto Pudong District and its crazy Oriental Pearl Tower and kitschy globes left me with a similar impression. Finally, I agree with Paris on something!

Shanghai represented for me, the juxtaposition of old world culture and recent reforms; hedonistic urban success colliding with rural mass poverty. I believe China’s cities advertise its larger desire to integrate more fully into the global community.

In Beijing, I sipped a Chai latte at a Starbucks in the middle of the Forbidden City. This was the ultimate representational paradox, and a blatant prophecy of things to come. I, one of China’s 50 million-strong overseas diaspora, sipped an Indian tea (a nation which the Chinese government had exiled the Dalai Lama to) in a branch of the world’s most widely disseminated coffee franchise. If it were not for the postcards of the Palace Museum on sale at the counter, I could have been sitting at any Starbucks in any Asian City.

As a result of this however, has Chinese culture been compromised? I believe this conversion of city spaces towards a more Western aesthetic will come to a head in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The “true” Chinese identity of Beijing, which I had read so much about, had obviously changed. What effect do you think the Beijing Olympics will have on the “authentic” China?

Tell Us: Do you agree that China has compromised on its culture with Western influences? What will be the effect of the Beijing Olympics?

You can leave a comment here or e-mail us at tnpshow@sph.com.sg Don’t forget to leave us your contact details: name, age, occupation and e-mail address or telephone number.

======================================================

To show the world that China is a democratic country, through opening it’s door to accept Western Culture and the current trend.

On the contrary in belief of China’s culture being compromised, the rest of the world will know Chinese ways and increase their understanding of each other.It also allows China to have economic gains while at the same time to show her willingness to welcome other nations in the world.

Western nationals with the rest of the world flog into China to learn it’s language and values, which is to show Chinese Culture has tremendous influence over the West.

Chinese Martial Arts known as Wushu or Kung Fu, is the best Chinese Culture exported to the West.

Effects from Beijing Olympics won’t influence Chinese Culture but it will earn more US or Euro dollars from all countries in the world especially Western nations.

Chester Low, 42, comics writer

Almost all developing countries are susceptible to western culture, let alone China which is growing stronger economically by the day. Culture is a fragile thing especially in the young-generations’ mind. We the young people are torn in between of holding true to our customs or changing our mindset towards globalisation. However, who said that they can’t be incoorporated into a good harmonious balanced with each other. It is up to the eldest generation to impart and guide us wisely in this ever changing trends, so that we won’t lose our identity. In Friedman’s book ‘The World is Flat’, we are informed that China’s
convergence of western technology and events contributes to its explosion of wealth. Despite of their growing wealth, I believe the Chinese are still very cultural in term of their family, religion, and life values. With the Beijing olympics approaching, It will surely bring a greater exposure to China and its culture to the rest of the world to see. Surely there will always be pros and cons for hosting such a global historic events, but then again it will only bring more national pride for the lucky hosting country, to present us a upcoming olympics with a special chinese flavour.

Jean Simon, 25, beautician

Simone Says: Last weekend I was shooting my kid’s show and was in the middle of nowhere when my bladder starting annoying me. I had to find a toilet immediately. The show’s producer and I went to seven different homes in the surrounding HDB estate before a kindly Chinese couple let me into their home.

The producer later told me that on a shoot she did in Melbourne the same thing happened and she was allowed into a home to use the loo at the first door she knocked. Maybe that’s why crime is higher in Australia?

But have Singaporeans become more fearful? Have we all become more content to sit back and let someone else play “Good Samaritan” until someone finally does, six doorways later?

Then again, in my own condo here, I ignored screaming “Trick or Treaters” last month for a good 15 minutes. If there had been a toilet-needing person, they would have peed on my doormat already.

We are all guilty of being less “civic” minded because of the state of fear that the Sept 11 terrorist attacks have forced us into. I can only imagine how things may have been if our situation was in America and I was a TV presenter of perhaps Middle-Eastern appearance. Have we lost our “giving” and “trusting” nature in return for safety?

Tell Us: How trusting are you of strangers who knock on your door? Where do you draw the line between personal safety and civic-consciousness?

You can leave a comment here or e-mail us at tnpshow@sph.com.sg Don’t forget to leave us your contact details: name, age, occupation and e-mail address or telephone number.

==================================================

LETTERS VIA E-MAIL

When I was younger, I was more trusting. I had let strangers use my telephone and toilet before when their car broke down outside my house. I believed in the goodness of mankind. Once, at the airport, I also allowed strangers to check-in their luggage with mine, because they had excess baggage and exceeded the baggage limit. Today, I am older and wiser, I have read in the newspapers about the balestier molester who raped and sodomised women when he gained entry into their homes, I have read about people who entered homes on false pretences and stole from the little old ladies. Pure evil.And what about terrorists planting bombs ? Or a drug dealer having heroin in his bag and checking in his luggage with mine ? It’s the death penalty in Singapore for bringing in heroin . Today, we live in a dangerous world, and I am more careful. I still believe in being kind to strangers,but yes, I am definitely more wary. And would I let Simone use the toilet in my home ? Yes, I would, especially when I see that she is in genuine need.

Audrey Wong, 37, lawyer

It is safety precaution and fear of being crime victims that made people less civic-conscious, even to those in geniune need.

Many cases of robberies and rapes happen as the result of allowing strangers into their homes.”Need To Use Toilet” is one of the most common excuses used by criminals to snare their victims.

Most Asians are taught by their parents when they were young, don’t open the door to let strangers come into the house.As this teaching is in build into them since young, they will naturally continue to do it when grow up as adults.

Less civic-conscious individuals do exist in all sorts of societies including high and low classes of people.

Teaching and training individuals of all ages and sexes to be civic-conscious will be life-long continuing education.

It is easy to be civic-conscious, when one must make an effort to practise it all times in their whole life and hopefully others do the same too.

Chester Low, 42, comics writer

Simone Says: The recent surge in rental prices has resulted in a surge of professionals evacuating their prime rentals in the immediate areas around Orchard.

I myself am one of these poor souls. Having moved back to Singapore only at the beginning of October, I am now facing a 1 Mar evacuation deadline. So I have begun ploughing through the lists of ads in online rental databases and was amazed at people’s requests. Some choose to only rent within their ethnic groups and others just don’t care.

But I myself was ashamed at my snap judgements, I made conclusions as to whose ad I’d like to respond to according to my envisaged view of the person’s profile. One apartment available in Holland Village had all the things I could want. But upon seeing that the user shared the flat with his mother, I already assumed that if anything were to go awry, I could be the victim of a mother-son gang up, plenty of which I have experienced in Australia with my Mum and don’t need to relive an ocean away in Singapore. 

Are we too judgmental? Does an ethnic name put us off in these rental classifieds? What dirty predjudices are we all hiding? Please share with me your experiences and make me feel better!

Tell Us: Are Singaporeans too judgmental? Particularly when it comes to responding to classified ads for services, apartments or even employment?

You can leave a comment here or e-mail us at tnpshow@sph.com.sg Don’t forget to leave us your contact details: name, age, occupation and e-mail address or telephone number.

Simone Says: Last week, Robert Zemeckis’ highly-hyped fantasy feature Beowulf was released in Singapore and it really got me thinking. The film is made using performance-capture animation which was last seen in Zemeckis’ Christmas 2004 offering The Polar Express. Here, the cartoon version of Tom Hanks looked and spoke like Tom Hanks in real life, if not slightly stilted in his movements and emoting.

Now fast-forward to Beowulf and there’s Angelina Jolie looking exactly as if she was really in the Tomb Raider video game and showing off her curves just as voluntarily as the computer game heroine Lara Croft. The difference with Beowulf is, however, that the animation has a head exactly like Jolie’s and is almost scarily-nude in her dank lair, if not slightly stilted in her movements and emoting.

My question is, dear readers, why bother making animations that look exactly like real actors but are worse in their performance? Why not simply use those big Hollywood budgets to get real costumes, real locations and special effects to transport us into the ancient world of Beowulf? I’d rather just see Angelina Jolie and Anthony Hopkins act out the real thing on real sets with real emotion and without being slightly stilted in their movements and emoting!

Tell Us: What do you think of the performance-capture animation in Beowulf? Do you think director Robert Zemeckis should have just stuck to real-life acting?

You can leave a comment here or e-mail us at tnpshow@sph.com.sg Don’t forget to leave us your contact details: name, age, occupation and e-mail address or telephone number.

===========================================================

LETTERS VIA E-MAIL

I think Beowulf movie is captivating! True that the movie could be done in real life-shots, however it’s a unique beauty to see it translated into highly advanced computer graphic. With so many reallife-shots advantrous-epic movie lately, you certainly think that Beowulf is one of its kind. I personally have been waiting for such of this movie to be made, since I hardly played final fantasy or tombrider games on Play Station and I’m dying to entertain my eyes with such kind of visual effect especially the transformation that the computer done to real-life Ray Winstone! Somemore, I think this movie also is a good encouragement for all the animators out there to expand their horizons and increase their talents. So in the end, I think Zemeckis deserves a little pat on his back.

Jean Simon, 25, beautician

I think that Beowulf is gimmicky. The use of photo realistic CGI is just to attract people to the cinema. The performance of the actors end up looking worse in their performance because they do not feel the same emotions when reading lines, as opposed to full on acting. This is the reason most dubbed films come out looking funny. Traditional cartoons can get away with it, because of people willingness to suspend their disbelief, knowing very well, it’s not real, and it doesn’t pretend to be.

The best films do not rely on heavy CGI or big explosions. All a good film needs is a strong story, good performance from the cast, and good cinematography to make it visually pleasing. The film that started my love affair with cinema, Chungking Express had non of the above mentioned gimmicks. All it had was an ensemble of characters you can feel for years after watching it, breathtaking scenes and exquisite cinematography.

If people really want to watch their favourite actors in animated form, I suggest Waking Life. Unlike Beowulf been there, done that use of 3D CGI, Waking Life’s use of animation was and still is innovative.

Keith Gerard Tan, 27

Simone Says: A friend of mine recently told me about a past relationship he had, in which the girl he was dating was torn between him and another man. He was aware that she was seeing this other man but the other man was not aware of him. He carried the burden of their affair while the other man remained blissfully unaware of her infidelity.

When I ask him now how he feels about the whole relationship in retrospect, my friend commented: “I am so resentful of her. To tell me about her tormented feelings about this other dude was disgustingly hurtful, it alleviated her guilt but did nothing for me, and for her to not tell him, well that’s just plain deceitful.”

Not surprisingly, this woman ended up letting my friend go and carried on her relationship with the “other man”. They will soon be getting married and he has no idea. In choosing to date both, was she being selfish or was she simply a woman keeping her options open until one suitor proved himself more to her liking?

As a young woman who has looked for love in the past and has been constantly disappointed, I myself could be tempted to date more than one person until I realise who would be more perfect for me. It’s simply because my past dates have been so far from ideal. And wouldn’t you want back-up too?

But maybe my friend’s predicament was different. Maybe it wasn’t just a few dates, maybe it was two separate and messily-intertwined affairs. So, is it worse to be the man or woman who knows or the man or woman who is blissfully unaware?

Tell Us: Straight-up honesty or blissful ignorance? Which would you choose and why?

You can leave a comment here or e-mail us at tnpshow@sph.com.sg Don’t forget to leave us your contact details: name, age, occupation and e-mail address or telephone number.

=============================================================

LETTERS VIA E-MAIL

Three is definately a crowd. Things can get very complicated, not only can love go unrequited, others might be dragged into the picture as a ‘rebound case’. If one has the intention of developing a relationship, then it has to be exclusive. What happens when you date 2 people at
once, and one of them makes progress? Do you drop the other just like that?

It is not only selfish, but greedy. I think you can tell whether or not there are sparks between you and your date fairly quickly. If it doesn’t work out, stop going out, and move on. There is no need to form a pool to choose from. Afterall, we’re not talking about going to a matchmaking agency here.

I think if one has to be honest if there should be a need to date 2 or more people at the same time. It’s just fair since it won’t get the hopes of the other party up. Personally, I could never do it. Maybe the hopeless romantic in me makes me want to go all out and give my all to my partner. It would be exhausting to do it for more than one.

Not only would be be an emotional, and mental strain. It would be draining on the wallet too.

Keith Gerard Tan, 27

im writing here to let you know that im not the one who’s dating 2 ppl at the same time.. in fact, im the victim..the guy im wif for 6 yrs turns out to be a married man. we were together since 2002..and he got married in 2005..i only found out on 26th Oct 2007..

1) In this situation, he’s not being honest to both parties becos he knows by telling the truth, his marriage will be broken. (he told me to kip quiet and not tell his wife anything, so i didnt becos he promised to come bck to me!)

2 weeks ago, my bf of 5yrs left me, just like that, like a thrash. In addition to that, he left w/o xplanation. He moved out from his house and changed his number.

I found out abt it on our vacation. I spoke to this woman on the phone and asked what’s her connection wif my bf (this woman he claimed was his ex-classmate who is married!) and she told me “im his wife, he’s my husband” and right at that moment i feel like killing myself. I thought he wants to think about “us” but all he said to me was “i have to go back and save my marriage” Looks like im the one who saved his marriage becos i didn’t tell his wife what we did together. I even had sex wif him and does things like how a wife should treat her husband..and all those yrs together he had been lying to me, and he really convinced me with his lies after lies. He promised to convert and marry me and in his smses he called me his ‘wife’. We even looked up for his Muslim name and he was happy with what i’ve chosen for him.

Now, i found out that he’s about to resign. He ruin my life becos i know i cant love like this again. Everytime i listen to this “To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness or in health, to love and to cherish ’till death do us part.” i cry, becos he said those sentence to his wife and not me! I even knocked my head several times in the bathtub and run the shower with my clothes on. Thanks to his deceitful act, im now suffering under depression. I slapped myself hard every night wishing all this is a bad nightmare! But sad to say it isn’t..Everyone tells me to move on but how to when i still have our memories in my head?

His marriage is saved, he won, as for me, i just died and gone to Hell.

Dilla

If he call himself a “man” then he should have been honest with both parties about the situation. Theres no options in this case. Both is hurtful and deceitful. I have a frend who is a victim of this act. He got married while he’s still seeing my frend! The worse part now she will face the possibility of a long depression. There has not been any explanation from him. He just left her like an unwanted toy. The other woman in that so-called man’s life has forgiven him becos he has lied his way thru to save his marriage and my friend is being called a 3rd party from everyone. This kind of act from this “animal” can really make a victim suffer w/o his knowledge!

Freya

Simone Says: Recently we have been discussing fashion and politics but let’s get to something a little closer to home.

I remember listening to my father talk about how common it was in his parents’ and grandparents’ generation for marriages to be arranged. For young Teochew women from China to be paired with Teochew men in Singapore, and how sometimes these men were many years older. These matches were made for security and not for love.

As a young kid living in Australia, I didn’t understand how this could be. How could people not marry for passion? Fast forward some 16 years and I have a much more pragmatic view on love. My best girlfriends have all been through it, as have I. You meet a guy who is not only sweet and generous, but is stable and most certainly won’t cheat on you. But there is no passion! No sizzle!

Would you marry someone simply for the emotional and financial stability they could give you later in life? I couldn’t do it. Maybe it’s because I am young and I am thrilled by the thought of having time to meet the exact Mr Perfect - one who has all the boxes ticked, not just the ones I could tick myself. But what about you?

Tell Us: Emotional stability, tick. Financial stability, tick. But what if there are no sparks? Would you still say “I Do”?

You can leave a comment here or e-mail us at tnpshow@sph.com.sg Don’t forget to leave us your contact details: name, age, occupation and e-mail address or telephone number.

=============================================================

LETTERS VIA E-MAIL

Could I marry someone who is emotionally and financially stable but there is no passion or fizzle in the relationship ? A definite yes. Lust and passion fades, give it 3 months or shorter, and it’s finito. To have children, to buy a property, you’re looking at a long term commitment. So a stable partner, who is a good provider would make a good marriage partner. Sex is over-rated. There’s Aids and all kinds of STDs out there, where there is no cure, like herpes . It’s a jungle out there. I feel safe at home, a good husband, a nurturing environment for my children, this is my life’s goal. In fact, it is my duty to raise my children , and for that it is important to me to keep my family intact. Not everyone is so blessed to have a good marriage, and I count my blessings , all the little ones even, every single day. And what do I do for excitement or sizzle ? Watch Lust and Caution, R21, the uncut version, that’s all the excitement I need
Audrey Wong, 37, lawyer

Match-Making Marriages aka Arranged Marriages are very rare to end up in divorces.Both parties are willingly to make efforts to keep their marriages on going and most of their time faithful to each other.Match-Making Marriages allows husband and wife to to create and build up their love for each other.Husband and wife are willingly to make sacrifices even though it is a one-sided affair because of his or her love for their partners and marriages.They are non-quitters and have lots of perseverances, patience,forgiving, tolerance and endurance with love to keep their marriages intact.

Courtship Marriages mostly end up with divorces when courtship novelty ends and real problems surface.

Don’t turn up match-making sessions with expectations on looks and material comfort as critieria to choose a partner.These 5 Cs - Credit Cards, Condominium, Car, Cash and Club Membership won’t save marraiges because all these leads to affairs unfaithfulness.

My 5 Cs will allow you to have a blisful marriage and mostly found in arranged or match-maked marriages .They are Caring, Considerate, Concern, Charming and Confession.

Caring for your spouse allows you to show your love.
Considerate towards partner will enhance his or her love for you.
Concern allows your love to be felt by the other party.
Charming gives the other party to keep the love for you alive.
Confession to have more love for your partner by areas need to improve or faults have to be removed.

Chester Low, 42, comics writer

Being chinese by race, raised and born in singapore, i have never been away from home except the ocassion holiday. Our society has opened up abit more and i enjoy my free lifestyle here living underneath our protective govt arms. Like you, though i pledge no marriage until i find the “right one” and i chance upon this guy with all the ‘ingredients’ i want as a possible life partner but it also comes with some i didn’t thought of. I am not trying to be racist here, but being chinese it seems abit difficult to accept muslism than christianity somhow. The thought of having to go to mosque every friday, having to fast during ramadan, having to wear tudung and avoiding pork and so is not quite like me. On top of it, how our society perceive of them in a way of suicide bombing, terrorism, and honour killing is also giving me a push factor.

I seems not to be able to find a man (or not just yet) who doesn’t smoke, who doesn’t drink, who doesn’t party and whom has enough of clubbing when younger, who place family on priority, who does life planning, who is so rooted to nature and whom a tradition made it so impossible to cheat (at least in homeground - since overstaying together as a unmarried couple is out of the question)

But having said all these, would you, turned down a good man because of his religion and having to live far away from home?

Steph

Simone Says: So these days we are all stuck to the Internet at work and then again after work for pleasure, like me and my famous Facebook addiction. We can now go and bid for designer duds on eBay, meet the loves of our lives in chatrooms and even further our university educations…all online. In fact, out-sourcing many of our daily activities through the Internet has proved cost and time effective.

Since loading my showreels onto YouTube, I have saved hundreds of dollars in postage, instead of sending my reels in hard copy to various Australian agencies and sweat while they sit on a pile with thousands of others, I can now simply e-mail directly to the head honchos, it costs me nothing and my mail invasively and persistently sits on top of their virtual inboxes pestering them to simply double-click and view my work!

So it seems only a natural progression, for us all to assume that we can save a lot of money doing things online, right? Well, WRONG for our very good friends Radiohead! The British superband recently launched its seventh studio album In Rainbows online and asked fans to pay whatever they wanted for its music. Sadly, in a recent survey by US-based Internet information provider comScore Inc, a whopping 62 per cent of the fans surveyed opted not to pay for their downloaded copy of the album. So really, all Radiohead saved was some publicity money. I doubt if many people, except its diehard fans (who have probably already downloaded its first album), will choose to buy its album in CD form when it comes out next year.

What do you think of Radiohead’s stunt? I think it was an over-confident move which backfired. People may love you, they may be your biggest fans but the human drive to get a good bargain is always going to persist! What do you think, for love or money?

Tell Us: Did you download Radiohead’s new album and how much did you pay for it? And what do you think of the band selling the album this way?

You can leave a comment here or e-mail us at tnpshow@sph.com.sg Don’t forget to leave us your contact details: name, age, occupation and e-mail address or telephone number.

—————————————————————————————-

LETTERS VIA E-MAIL

In this day and age, where people are spoilt for choice with file-sharing sites, it’s difficult to pay for music without first sampling the album. Yes, I took the album for free, but after listening to the album on a daily basis, I am going to pick up the copy of the CD now that the band has annouced a record deal with XL Recording.

Despite only 40% of the audience paid for the album, the band might have made as much money as they did with their previous releases given the fact there is no record company involved. Whatever the fans pay, it goes directly to the band as opposed to a pound or 50 pence per cd sold. Most bands make their money through touring anyway.

That said, a band has to be confident in their own work and their fans to offer what Radiohead has. I for one will take up any offer of a free album by a band that I like, but I will also make sure that I pay for the CD or vinyl if the album is good.

Keith Gerard Tan, 27, self-employed

Simone Says: Let’s talk about something crude and indecent: Salary differences between partners.

I hate to bring up Britney again but an interesting article has shown that despite earning almost half a million US dollars in endorsement deals and everything that a career as Mr Spears entails in 2006, Kevin Federline (or Fed-Ex as I like to call him) only took home US$7,436 ($10,759) in earnings for the entire year and seeing as his rent costs him a reported US$7,500 a month, we can conclude that Kevin is living a Hollywood dream beyond his means. I seriously wonder how responsible the courts are being, leaving Britney’s babies in his care.

A friend of mine has recently started dating someone with a monthly salary many times her own. She, despite taking home a reasonable salary, is a big spender. Like K-Fed, whose reported US$2,000 clothing expenditure may seem meagre compared to his wife’s US$16,000 one, but he’s still the weaker earner. We all have to remember that in proportion to what Brit’s imbalanced self is taking home, she’s definitely not in the financial red and has enough money to hire more stable people than herself to care for her kids if she wanted to.

How does this bring me back to my girlfriend’s problem? Can dating someone in a much higher income bracket actually influence you to live beyond your means in order to “show face”? In a consumer heaven like Singapore, where aspirational advertising preaches to all about designer “it-bags”, how do we all keep up? I’d love to hear from couples who have K-Fed/Britney incomes too!

Tell Us: Do you earn much more or much less than your other half? How does it affect your relationship?

You can leave a comment here or e-mail us at tnpshow@sph.com.sg Don’t forget to leave us your contact details: name, age, occupation and e-mail address or telephone number.