Do you need more water?

Apparently Durex Singapore has latched on to social media to get people to play it safe.

"Explore love, intimacy and Durex on our Facebook page."

I think they're simply too shy to say "sex".

Are you obsessed with the right things?

It's going to feel like the first day of Primary One all over again - the trepidation in my steps, the wary glances from passer-bys, the strangled mingling as everyone tried to make small but awkward talk, staring down the person sitting next to you who'll be sticking by you for project work... I know I can be pretty cynical at times, but I simply can't blend into the crowd and be friends with everyone. And knowing the fact that I fought so hard with myself just to get my butts into the Honours Programme just makes me wanna kick myself even more sometimes.

On another note, I've been dying to talk about these campaign ads by the Singapore Breast Cancer Foundation. They've attracted both detractors (for the supposed nudity) and supporters (like me) since their appearance on clinic posters and postcards everywhere in Singapore.

You must be thinking I'm frickin' out of my mind for picking a random topic like breast cancer to drone about. But this became a real cause for concern following a scare in the family last week. While I'm thoroughly thankful that it was all a false alarm, we all need to know how real and close to home this could be. And I really appreciated the campaign ads' message - Are you obsessed with the right things? Women and men alike, we're all vulnerable to physical illnesses, not excluding breast cancer; who's to say who'll be spared the plank? So instead of deeming these posters profane, shouldn't they be the warning bells instead? Instead of kicking up a huge fuss over a bad hair day or a zit, why not remind yourself about the other invaluable things in life?

Murder on the ad agency floor

Previously we've seen how the 3 local telcos were tearing each other's hair out over data prices. SO mind-others'-business me decided to scour my favourite ad site for interesting ads to talk about. And my intuition was on-spot. :)

This ad was done for FIAT by Leo Burnett San Paulo to promote the FIAT Linea' reverse parking sensors. It came out on 2 January 2009, playing on palindromes to emphasize the "going backward or forward, it's all the same" message. Smart, I'd say.

Then...

Wait. Before we're all up in arms and crying foul, let's look at Mercedes Benz' ad; the ad agency Jung von Matt/Limmat (a Swiss company) had, similarly, played on palindromes and, similarly, to promote reverse parking technology. The message, "Backwards as well as forwards", bodes similarity to that of Fiat's. And it came out in the same month as Fiat's, except later. Now, what is creativity? Am I going to drag Adorno and Horkheimer out of their graves and get them to write lengthy theses about this practice? Or were they really right? Is the creative world shrinking alongside the cliched globalisation theory?

Okay I need to stop doing homework during the holidays.

All images courtesy of joelapompe.

Rest

Been keeping myself busy, at breakneck speed, to take my mind off thinking about things. I've learnt alot from myself during this period, including educating myself that sometimes it's just better when I'm kept in the dark; I'm a much happier person this way. Keeping away helped, because it gave me breathing space, devoid of everything which could possibly kill my mood. And driving was a miracle pill in disguise, because I have to shut everything out and concentrate on the wheel.

Cooking's another. :)

Julie's homemade japanese curry with pan-fried spiced white fish fillet.

The hols didn't take me off media after all. They call this 職業病, or some kind of "occupational syndrome". And I was grinning from ear to ear when I flipped open Saturday's papers to see this ad by M1.

Orange = ?
Green = ?
Red = ?

See it? While this ad will probably reignite the telco battle for subscribers, the real reason behind all this hair-tugging is because M1's obtained retail rights for the Apple iPhone, following in Singtel's footsteps. So now, everyone's either fighting for iPhone sales figures, or for EPL rights.

And while watching the Singtel shop at Jurong Point fill up in the early afternoon, I was wondering aloud to my mum why everyone wants an iPhone, even when three-quarters of the users probably under-utilise the phone capacity. You see, every telco wants their thumb in the Apple pie (pun intended), so consumers (especially in Singapore) are following in their kiasu footsteps by owning an iPhone.

"See, I got iPhone. You only got slide phone ah? Aiyo, so suah gu."

But then again, we shall see how long Apple carries the iPhone craze, until they conjure up something more capable than the 3Gs. It's simply; look at the iPod Nano. With the first generation Nano launched only in 2005, it has been revamped 5 times, and launched its 5th generation just this year (it was launched on 09-09-09). If we all keep our fingers crossed, Apple should be selling another generation of iPhones by mid-2010. I'm no market speculator; I'm just an informed consumer. So think twice before hopping onto the Apple bandwagon.