Moi Talented Frens and Creativity November 4, 2007
Posted by rainelai in Life.Tags: bang jun, creativity, gillian lynne, intelligence, ken robinson, yap wy-en
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I do have many talented frens and i’m so proud of them. Below are just 2 of them…
Wy-en is very eloquent and has published 2 poetry books since 16. Interestingly i only somehow rediscover that recently and got hold of a copy of his books. You can never imagine it’s the works of a 16 year old. Cyril’s critique is rather harsh though. Personally prefer the first book better which comes in smaller more easily digestible bits. Reading thru just made me recall the days in secondary school where we were put through poetry writing class. i never quite have a knack in literature though i enjoyed it as a reader and enjoyed immersing myself into the scenario painted by the flowery words.
Bang Jun just won star search tonight and i saw his bro who’s my secondary classmate on tv too. Congrats! guess i’ll be seeing him on tv for quite a bit (if i ever get the chance to sit in front of the tv). i still recall seeing him and his bro on tv when they were kid actors. now we’re all grown up and he’s kind of a star now, where his talents are recognised.
Attending Excel Convention at red dot museum was a pretty cool experience. Prof. Kirpal Singh showed this really cool vid of Sir Ken Robinson. It talks about how schools kill creativity which i am drawn towards coming from a time in Singapore’s education where ‘creative classes’ are introduced. Ken’s a really awesome speaker. He managed to bring in close to heart anecdotes from his life. Just like how Kirpal says, sharing a part of your lives is an invaluable gift as it is a unique piece of yourself. Ken is not afraid to make fun of himself which draws people towards him and his pitch comes across sincere as though it came from a close friend. This is something common across all good speakers and singaporeans definitely need to learn to do that. Somehow, it ain’t easy for singaporeans to pull it off i realise, which might stem from a lack of diverse experiences or just the inability to link anecdotes from their lives to the deeper meanings and messages it carries.
Intelligence is diverse, dynamic and distinct as ken pointed out. Gillian Lynne’s story is a very good illustration of how parents, teachers and environment play an important role in nurturing a kid’s creativity and allowing it to flourish. indeed, no one can tell the future and being different is actually cool. I always like to do things differently, loves diversity, tries out new stuff, questions the ‘norms’ and hops between ‘cliques’. Dislike hearing ‘no’, ‘can’t be done’ and ‘it won’t work’. Yes, it might be true but how can you be 100% sure if u haven’t tried it or haven’t tried it again? We ain’t living in a certain world and there’s no time to waste procrastinating and not giving things a try. We need to be less quick to frown at ideas, celebrate failures and encourage people to fail. Only then can creativity flourish. =)
Hey, u managed to catch Ken Robinson’s talk! It’s so interesting that I kept replaying and have listened to it for about 4 times at least. You can catch other interesting talks on ted.com. Wrote about it a few months back.
http://bheavens.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/creativity-vs-education-vs-society/
Anyway, looked up your blog cos u and Zihan has been posting on each other’s wall. Fyi, Zihan’s my cousin… Haha it’s a small world ya…
Wayne
helloooo………….
I do share a similar consensus with those who decried the quality of Yap Wy-En’s poetry.
Allow me to paste a small portion of his poetry, courtesy of http://softplaces.livejournal.com/81512.html
In they stride,
Multifaceted pride –
Virgins untainted,
Intact souls with faces painted.
The layers yet to exfoliate,
And the new blood has yet to percolate…
What do these boroughs entail?
The entrails
Of those who fell?
The cartels –
Paradigm of the rich and triumphant?
Or mere disenchanted sycophants?
No strangers to competition,
Epiphytes to other’s ambition…
In they strode,
Alas not into the deset sun they all rode…
Some strode into the tongues of hell;
Others found reason to dwell.
The city
With amazing alacrity,
Stripped all neophytes
Of their inner light,
And laid threadbare their delusions…
And stripped them of facile pretensions…
Sowing the prolific seeds of apprehensions…
Were there expectations
To be had?
No love lost, that bittersweet romance – all a fad?
Some say that a poem should have a natural ebb and flow. Phrases to portray certain imageries and illustrate the essence of the poem should come naturally, and connect with the parts of the poem in a natural flow. What I observed for Wy-En’s Life Bus-stop is that his poem is merely a means to an end, and his end is the use of big, bombastic words. It is almost as if his poem is tailored to fit in these big words, as in these big words dictate his poetry. This can be disruptive to the flow of his poem, and no wonder that Cyril Wong pointed out that it collapses into a plethora of bad verses. I cannot perceive any flow, or connection between parts of his poem. I was actually surprised that he got a generous forward from Edwin Thumboo.
Reading these few lines, I do not perceive this as a work of natural poetic expression, if anything, probably it’s a work of poetic obfuscation. (rhymes huh, obfuscation, a big word indeed!)
Is it little wonder that this collection of poetry is used by PRCs to revise for the verbal section of the SAT? If so, I think the poet has achieved his end of sending out a powerful advertisement of his impressive vocabulary because after all, his poem is, like I said, a means to the aforesaid end!
So when Wy-En said that the local poetry scene lacks the “Oooomph” factor, was he referring to the use of words that you and I rarely encounter, except for those bother to peruse through the entire Oxford dictionary?
P.S. I do not know Wy-En personally, but I merely wish to express my agreement with Wy-En’s detractors.