BACK TO BASICS
by Sinéad Corkett-Beirne
As a clumsy person, I have broken my beloved iPhone on numerous occasions. I practically live in the Apple shop to the point where not only am I on first name terms with some members of staff, but I also know about their personal background. It comes as no surprise then that I rejoiced upon hearing the news that the Nokia 3310 is making a return, for I longed for the indestructible model every time my phone needed repairing. In an age of advancing technology, will people be willing to go back to basics? I hope so, for I am growing tired of witnessing people being absorbed in their smartphones when they are in the company of others. It’s just plain rude. The beauty of the Nokia 3310 is that the most interesting conversation that can arise from it concerns what level on Snake you managed to get to, practically forcing you to engage with others.
BREAK THE BANK
by Dayam Ali
Apart from student loans coming in and rent installments coming out, one of the few days that students reluctantly consult their bank accounts is February 14th. The reason for this is to check whether an M&S dine in for two can extend to a meal out in a fancy restaurant. Valentine’s Day can be expensive, especially when you take in to consideration the cost of buying a card, present, and potentially dinner out if beans on toast do not suffice. Deeper and deeper into the overdraft you go. How do you have the perfect Valentines Day on a budget? Well, look no further than your own home where you can have the pleasure of cooking in your own kitchen. Why not add insult to injury by asking a single flat mate to be your waiter for the evening? Nothing screams romance like rubbing it in the face of a third wheel.
ORIENTALIST NEWS
by Sunil Nambiar
On the whole, the media’s coverage of Singapore remains somewhat disconcerting. It seems my home country functions with remarkable flexibility between newspapers with an international readership. According to one, we lack a firm grasp on culture. According to another, we have a rich culture. Sometimes, we suffer over an apparent lack of liberty. At other times, we bask in peculiar superfluities. Has Singapore – and, indeed, other small countries - become a product of newsrooms overseas; an unfamiliar invention understood not autonomously, but in relation to another cultural framework enjoying greater global clout? Coverage like this reflects an unfamiliarity that weakens the latitude for genuine overseas engagement. It prompts insularity. I don’t imagine in international newsrooms a conscious inclination toward skewed reporting. This is, more conceivably, laxity in journalism presented within a façade of normalcy.