Congestion

I swear at least one third of SG's population today was at Suntec, or near Suntec.

Met up with Dear at Clementi Mac to have brunch; already there was a huge crowd queueing for 96 due to NUS open house. Got goodie bags from Singtel whilst on our way past Forum... Went to Central Lib to study for awhile; read my book for the MDS project... i'm really way behind readings this semester... gotta catch up real real soon...

Went to the Forum again, bought B & J's Chocolate Fudge Brownie (1 pint) to eat! Then we were on our way to Suntec City... Boy oh boy, the crowd there was simply BTH! In addition to the usual crowd, there were thousands of ppl who turned up for the IT fair, the book fair and watever fair... nearer suffocated and fainted at the Creative booth; even a TP wouldnt have helped to ease the congestion...

WEnt to the foodcourt to have dinner after that, choices were so many that I couldnt decide wat to eat; ended up having some sub-standard, not value for money noodles... then we went to CArrefour and started on our mini shopping trip; Dear ended up with quite a lot of stuff (including one pack of Arnott's Tartlets for moi... hee) while I bought a honey baked chicken for tml's breakfast since Mom would still be in Malaysia till tml... After that, we went to buy Aunt Annie's and sat down to watch ppl's dedications on display at the Fountain. WE even got a chance to go to the centre of the Fountain and go round it 3 times for luck! haha... does that mean i will strike lottery soon? hehe... dunno man....

After that, we went home...

Summarising what I read from my book today;

"This is where we are--men in the forefront of cultural scrutiny. Men's bodies are carefully examined from head to toe. What's at stake? Men's self-esteem, self-worth and their acceptance or rejection as suitable partners."

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"No wonder men are confused about how they should behave and about what is the definition du jour of masculinity. On the one hand men are being told they should break away from past stereotypes of masculinity and embrace the stereotypes of new men. Some members of society want today's men to care more about their appearance and about what clothes and cologne they wear. On the other hand, men are being told that the old stereotypes are jsut fine, that it is okay to be auto mechanics and bathroom readers. They are manly and masculine because they can paint houses, fix carburetors, move furniture, and sit on the toilet and read the sports page for as long as they like."

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"Is it possible that men might begin to fear sexual and emotional rejection by women becaue they do not live up to male standards in advertising? Since unattractive and overweight men are seen lessoften in advertising than their polar opposites, it is more than feasible that women in the real world will begin to ignore or discount these men as desired emotional or sexual mates.... Advertising tells us that the WEstern world ought to be populated with beautiful world only.... An accepted component of current-day gender behaviour is that men and women cannot tolerate someone who isn't beautiful. The man who has a fifty-inch waist and the pimply-faced teenage boy are ignored and forgotten.... What the men look like has little to do with the product they are selling but a great deal to do with the image and lifestyle being sold."

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"Advertising had enormous power. The images and messages delievered from ads can and do alter the way we think and how we feel about other people. More importantly, ads have tremendous influence on the way we think and how we feel about ourselves. If men buy what the ads are selling, they pay for it with deeply eroded self-esteem abd shattered self-confidence. Perhaps, however, self-esteem abd self-confidence do not matter in a society that values outside appearance--how we look to other people--more than anything else. As a General Nutrition Center ad for a vitamin supplement asks, 'Why be an ordinary man when you can be a Mega Man?'"

From "Behold the Man; The Hype and Selling of Male Beauty in Media and Culture" by Edisol WAyne Dotson.

Signing off............. How true, is it time for a masculinism movement already?.........
RC