: Interesting stuff from Singapore

Interesting stuff from Singapore

sss, Sunday 01 July 2007 - 09:24:20

The Soprano sale worth waiting for

By : Colin Goh
I SUPPOSE the news crew outside the warehouse was a sign that this wasn't going to be any ordinary sale. While hunting for new furniture for our new home (more on this in later columns), I'd come across a Craigslist posting for a 'movie company set dressing and location warehouse sale' in Queens.

Being cheapskates, the Wife and I thought we'd pop by and pick up a few bargains. What we didn't bargain for was this being a sale of furniture and props used on the set of The Sopranos.

Yes, that award-winning HBO series about a New Jersey mafia family which ended recently - the show The New York Times said 'just may be the greatest work of American popular culture of the last quarter century'.

Somewhat ironically, the sale had been kept low-key for fear of, um, mobs. Also, all the really important artefacts (like, oh, the bowling bag in which Tony Soprano stashed Ralphie Cifaretto's head) had apparently gone to an archive in Los Angeles. Everything here was strictly background stuff. But hey, it was still fun to browse.

'Only 25 people at a time allowed inside!' barked a burly attendant, handing out numbered tickets to the line at the entrance. 'And you got only one hour each!'

A man emerged carrying a stuffed deer's head, sans antlers. Another heaved out a set of 3m-tall faux Roman pillars - just what every obiang mobster needs for his house. The news cameras flashed away.

'They ain't real, you know that, don't you?' said the attendant to the pillar-buyer. 'S'only cardboard. Can't put nuttin' on it.' The man shrugged. 'It's headed for eBay. Not my problem.'

A guy came out, buying only a framed picture of Dick Cheney. Everyone around gave each other looks. Now here was the fella with problems, was the silent consensus.

Finally, we were let into the cavernous warehouse, filled with everything from furniture to fake plants. 'How much for that bookshelf there?' I asked Jorge (pronounced 'Hor-hay'), one of the warehouse supervisors, who was also a set dresser on the show for five seasons.

'Label says US$15,' he said, 'but if you're picking more stuff up, I can unload it for ten.' I raised an eyebrow at the Wife. She raised one back at me. On, lah.

'And why don't you take that coffee table, the ottoman and the butcher block shelf for another twenty?' said Jorge.

'I'm beginning to warm up to this,' said the Wife, her Singaporean spider-sense for bargains tingling.

I fingered a wooden picnic table with benches, all painted signal red. 'Twenty for the lot,' said Jorge. 'What the heck do we need a picnic table for?' asked the Wife. 'It depends,' I said. 'Like where in the show did it appear?'

'Dunno exactly,' said Jorge, scratching his head. 'But everything here has definitely been used. Maybe it was in that episode in Hacklebarney State Park, you know, where Tony and Big Pussy execute that guy.'

I looked at the Wife. 'Good enough reason for me,' I said.

As it turned out, the red picnic table nearly caused a gang war of its own - for we were constantly chased by other fans trying to prise it out of our clutches. 'I think somebody's gonna put a hit out on us soon because of that table,' I said.

'Fuggedaboudit,' said the Wife, getting into the spirit. 'It's ours! It's over. Badabing, badaboom.'

By the end of our allotted hour, we'd added a heap of other things - lamps, whole crockery sets, a glass cabinet, a stack of framed pictures (with markings like 'Dr Melfi's' and 'Dr Kupferberg's' on the back) and even a 1.8m-tall vintage chalkboard.

The Wife, sensibly in hindsight, ignored my pleadings to buy a 3m-tall mosaic of the Virgin Mary. My eternal regret, however, was not getting the signboard for Adriana's 'Crazy Horse' nightclub, even though, as the Wife pointed out: 'It's bigger than our door. How're we going to get it into the house?'

Jorge priced everything up. 'The whole lot for $190.'

'This is a real mafia sale,' I replied, giddy with greed. 'Because that's an offer we can't refuse!'

But cheap as everything was, I couldn't help thinking: Would we have bought so many items if this were just an ordinary sale of second-hand junk? Does the story attached to the goods really imbue them with something more? Oh well, whatever the answers, at least we bought stuff we could actually use.

I'm thinking of the poor shnook who bought the antler-less deer head. Or worse, the picture of Dick Cheney.

From the Straits Times 01/07/2007

ARTICLE 1: SAF DAY !

Boot camp reboot
Tears, sighs and kisses... this scene has been re-enacted for the past 40 years ever since national service started
By Ong Sor Fern
[MISS YOU ALREADY] A new recruit exchanges a chaste farewell kiss with girlfriend at Pulau Tekong where he will undergo Basic Military Training, in this shot taken on June 14. -- ST PHOTOS: LIM WUI LIANG
View more photos
IT LOOKS LIKE A HOLIDAY send-off with air-conditioned coaches spewing out families and their teenage boys toting oversized bags at a ferry terminal. But the mood is subdued rather than celebratory. The chatter is desultory and the faces of the boys are deliberately bland, concealing flutters of anxiety.

Younger siblings are well-behaved, awed perhaps by the stern faces above camouflage green outfits dotted around the waiting area.

Welcome to Enlistment Day at the SAF Ferry Terminal in Changi, where the boys and their families will take a ferry to the Basic Military Training Centre (BMTC) on Pulau Tekong.

On the island, the 18-year-old boys will undergo Basic Military Training (BMT) after which they will then serve the rest of their two-year national service in one of the many vocations in the Singapore Armed Forces.

BMT can range from nine to 26 weeks depending on the boy's fitness level. Its aim is to turn Singapore citizens into soldiers.

Speaking in 1967 at a dinner for first-time recruits at Kampong Glam, then Foreign Minister S. Rajaratnam said that a reserve force of thousands of civilians who could be transformed into a fighting force when needed had many advantages, one of which was that Singapore need not cripple itself economically by maintaining a professional army.

He also pointed out: 'Where defence is put solely in the hands of a professional army, the army sooner or later becomes a law unto itself. It becomes a ruling caste.'

A citizen army also had the advantage of bonding Singapore's multi-racial society.

'When young Chinese, Malays, Indians and Eurasians train together and work together to defend and die for their country, then they become true blood brothers,' he said.

The enlistment process starts when a boy receives a call-up letter. He has to report to the Central Manpower Base (CMPB) in Depot Road near Bukit Merah for a medical check-up and fitness level checks.

Once his fitness level is certified, the recruit is told where and when to report for his BMT. There are quarterly intakes throughout the year.

Nowadays, free air-conditioned buses operate a shuttle service from Pasir Ris MRT station so that recruits and their families can get to the remote Changi terminal more easily.

Once at the terminal, air-conditioned ferries take them to Pulau Tekong.

When we tracked an intake last month, the 20-minute ferry ride to the island is muted except for the blare of static-riddled television sets intermittently broadcasting Channel NewsAsia and a short safety video.

The first glimpse of the island is deceptively tranquil: a band of sandy beaches fringed by greenery, framed against a blue sky in an idyllic postcard image. Even the yellow barracks rising above the beaches look like chalets.

The army has made efforts to welcome the recruits. One of the first things you notice when you alight is a glossy banner strung across the roof of the terminal walkway with the tender image of a recruit and his girlfriend and the optimistic exhortation: 'It's not what you leave behind, it's what you'll gain in the days ahead.'

A RARE GLIMPSE
As parents and recruits stream in, there is the tingle of anticipation and curiosity in the air. For mothers, daughters and girlfriends, the trip is a rare glimpse into an exclusively male preserve.

As expected, the day unfolds with military precision as full-time national servicemen (NSF) posted at strategic points guide the new arrivals in different directions.

The recruits are siphoned off to exchange their ICs for their SAF Cards, the army identification card. The process takes a mere five minutes compared to 21/2 hours at the old CMPB in Dempsey Road back in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Relatives meanwhile are shepherded on a slick tour of the premises. They get to see the airy rooms where recruits will live. No air-conditioning, but ceiling fans and sea breezes help ventilate the rooms. Each holds 10 to 12 neat beds alternating with metal cupboards along the walls. A broad table and chairs punctuate the middle of the floor.

Enlistment and tour over, recruits and relatives are herded into an auditorium. The Commanding Officer of one of the BMT Centre's schools gives an introductory speech, and the boys are formally sworn in.

Parents are then invited to ask questions. There is only one query, possibly the most important one, from an anxious father: When will the boys get to book out?

The answer is in two weeks' time, unlike the early years of NS when confinement lasted three weeks.

Speech over, everyone is treated to lunch at the army cookhouse - a sampling of the fare the recruits will be served. The menu for the day is a familiar Singapore favourite - chicken rice - which tastes no different from the average dish one gets in a food court.

After lunch it is time to say goodbye. The fathers strive to be macho, looping one arm over their sons' shoulders as they impart last bits of wisdom. Mothers are more demonstrative with hugs, kisses and not a few teary eyes.

Some girlfriends, wary of watchful parents, plant chaste kisses on their boyfriends' cheeks.

The next time they are reunited, the recruits will sport not only shorn heads but also a new attitude shaped by a new way of life.

'I LOVE YOU, MUM'
After three months of being put through the paces at Tekong, the graduation parade marks the end of the first stage of national service.

The parade is also a chance for proud parents to see how far their sons have come.

Housewife Rabiah Abdul Hamid, 49, admits she cried when son Izwan, 20, enlisted in March. But she says that even in the three short months of BMT, she has seen a discernible maturing in her son, who won a Best In Platoon accolade.

The award is handed out to recruits who have performed well in all aspects of BMT.

And she is pleased that, after the deprivations of camp life, he now appreciates her more: 'Every night, he SMSes to say 'I love you, mum'.'

Izwan's sister, HR executive Noraida, 23, who also attended the graduation parade, chimes in: 'He's grown closer to us.'

Businesswoman Camille Van Emmerik, who declined to reveal her age, was very worried about the fate of her only son.

But she is pleasantly surprised by the change in him: 'Now when he gets up, he makes his own bed. And he's become a man, taller, stronger. He's not a child anymore.'

That sums up the general sentiment of almost everyone who has ever gone through NS.

While the reactions might differ, ranging from dislike to enthusiasm, everyone agrees that NS is a maturation process for Singapore boys.

Entertainer Victor Khoo, who was in one of the early batches of national servicemen and has seen twin sons, now aged 29, through NS, says: 'It's not so much the military training.

'It's also the independence you achieve, to be away from home, to learn how to work and live with other people.'

"quoted from Straits Times 01/07/2007"

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