Thursday, June 12, 2008

Soul-less Shopping

I HATE shopping in Singapore.

Which is sad cos' I like to shop. But there is absolutely nothing appealing about 'Singapore's favourite activity' here to me, even when millions and billions of taxpayers' money gets pumped into building chilly air-conditioned shopping malls, where Singaporeans convene with their colder personalities.

You have the standard brand names, Mango, Zara, M'phosis, Topshop, Body Shop everywhere in almost every other mall. Don't be mistaken, I have bought things there but don't we all live in some sort of fear that we will bump into someone wearing the same outfit? People buy cos' everyone else is buying that same thing. That herd mentality that the government has inculcated in everyone- 'oh, she has it, so it must be nice/good/worth it.'

Which is why I have given up on shopping here. The government keeps going on and on like a broken record that it aims to have Singapore turn into a shoppers' paradise. But where is the paradise? You see the same layout everywhere, same shops and same look. Cookie cutter like us Singaporeans. It's sooo boring.

And people are such ugly shoppers. I mean literally. I can never for the life of me, understand why Singaporeans queue just to get into a branded boutique. The weekend before, I see queues outside almost every branded boutique, even when I doubt a sale is going on. I mean, if I am going to spend a fortune, why would I QUEUE to get in the store? When actually a huge part of what I am paying actually goes to the shopping experience! Why do reputed brands here want to turn themselves into a sale-period Mango? It doesn't help in the image when all these suckers queuing are wearing t-shirts with flip flops (!) waiting to enter Gucci. Where is the QC? Effing disgrace!

With this note, I am contributing to economies overseas.

Monday, June 2, 2008

Foreplay is Over

My fave four is back!

I don't care if it's all part of popular culture, but I love everything about the show. I mean, I have watched all 6 seasons like 3 times, and it just keeps me coming back for more. I like the fact, the show doesn't try to disguise us women as victims, but rather we are truthful and upfront about what we want, be it extravagant shoes, expensive labels and rich boyfriends. I think what really makes the show so popular is that it is so frank to the point that it makes you think. When Carrie keeps going back to Big, yah you think she's a sucker but aren't we all suckers at some point when you meet The One?

Back to the movie, it's a chick flick, everyone else appears, but I can't help but feel something is missing. True, you can't compare it to the series, cos' it's 2 hours cramped up together, but it's so glossified that you hardly recognise some of the characters anymore. The huge part of the fun was seeing all four of them, but with the focus very much on SJP, the essence was just somehow lost. Samantha lost her vibe, Miranda gets a new haircut, new wardrobe, the person she never quite was, well at least Charlotte stayed consistent.

Don't be mistaken, it's still quite fabulous, if not for the outfits.

Now it's back to re-runs.