LOOKING FORWARD TO 2016, STAYING POSITIVE

It’s hard to be positive when the world economy is in the doldrums and promises to be bearish for next year. Gold is down, and property prices are falling in Singapore, as they haven’t been in a while, always a bellwether for how things are going. Just look around you – people aren’t shopping even though it’s strenuously promoted at this time of year, and the beautiful malls, decked up for a budget Christmas, are empty.

The year woke up to the passing of Lee Kuan Yew, the defining Big Daddy of Singapore, and thence ensued a long period of mourning and a collective pall. It reflected a global gloom, a sense of the world slowing down, growing old and infirm. The China Boomtown seems to have faltered (if not actually stopped), inspiring a sense of foreboding and uncertainty. Political refugees East and West are being made homeless and stateless, towed out inhumanely, to sea. Not satisfied with systematically destroying a trail of 3,000 year old monuments of human creation in one shocking weekend of barbarity, ISIS followed that up with killing sprees in Paris. In the region, the barbarity of massive forest-clearing goes unchecked, a shocking crime against nature and humankind: global warming ignored, endangered flora and fauna wiped out forever. Then there is the specter of the rise of religious hysteria – in Aceh, gay sex is punished by severe and public whipping; Bangkok is bombed by terrorists. Closer to home, the scandals of City Harvest Church and 1MDB are riveting precisely because of their all-too-human, all-too-close nature.

The wisdom of Buddhist dharma would have us take all this in our stride and accept the realities with optimism. How? Each of us must stay positive and move ahead, work on your causes, fight the good fight, for if you give in to negativity, then all truly will be lost. There is still hope in every situation, but only if you work actively as a living example, a lesson, and a guide. Surround yourself with positive people, people with love in their hearts and clarity in their heads. Don’t give in to the stupid, the morally lazy, and the materialistic. Most importantly, focus on the present and release the past into the past. Learn to live in the present moment.

The haze is gone. 

FASHION, STYLE, MONEY

Social Media may have given us more Fashion than we can swallow but does it bode well for style? By Daniel Goh

Social Media, in its exciting democracy, has thrown up all manner of “style influencers”, most self-proclaimed, many deluded. It certainly has expanded the vocabulary of style and what it means, because on social media, anything goes. Anything tacky, gimmicky, and vulgar, I might add. I’d like to think this fashion democracy good, but have to admit that oftentimes the ceaseless parade of people presenting themselves to be admired (with not a stitch of irony in their conceited expressions) is in fact bewildering, and makes one want to click off, block and delete.

This non-stop, revolutionary channel for expressing fashion, which upsets the traditional top-down model of rarefied tastemakers dictating trends, make it impossible to separate the man from the boys: the really stylish, who practice subtlety, nuance and refinement must lose out in a storm of likes for the flashy, brazen and bold. To click ‘like’ takes a fraction of a second, but style takes a lifetime to perfect, and may not be immediately recognizable in a quick scroll, as you’re watching that latest K-drama.  

Social media has made style into a game of competitive shopping with the influencers around the globe: It has become about who was seen wearing whatever first, regardless of the merit of the item or design. It’s about speed, grab, snap, post – fly there, eat that, eat up the scenery, edit the photo and post. And then the next gaudy item, postcard location, etc. This sort of race really isn’t what personal style is all about. It isn’t even about fashion anymore – forget about relevance, craftsmanship, technique. Fashion has become a circus for vulgar wealth: For isn’t this what it is all about? You can only afford to fly there, wear this, buy 1,000 handbags, multiple carats, lay your hands on the very latest shoe every other hour if you have Money. It isn’t about style or intrinsic value or integrity or beauty. It’s all about money, and only money.

I’m constantly surprised that people would enthusiastically shut themselves up in this prison of the material. There they are, in that gilded cell, reading labels on each other’s backs and bags and boots (and IG captions). Doesn’t this immediately remind you of some people you know? Can you think of anything more depressing? Style should be about not needing the constant approval of others, not needing the constant reassurance of the ‘in’ labels, startling hair colour and nail art, the ‘cool’, the ‘It’, the most expensive, the purportedly exclusive, the supposed one-of-a-kind, the chorus of likes. These are the manacles and padlocks and delusions that weigh these influencers down. Because being stylish is all about freedom. It’s about not having to conform; it’s about having that sense to make discerning and appropriate choices; it’s all about the freedom to fearlessly be who you are.

What has this generation of influencers really given us but a vapid and perverse fashion environment in which taste is nothing compared to the blind worship of the filthy rich? This worship makes the world a much smaller place, being a narrow and unimaginative creed; There’s nothing intrinsically creative about shopping – influencers famously do nothing, have no skills, ideas or craft. Some of them take a good picture, but that’s just dieting and apps. This focus on the material and the surface of things is the antithesis of style. In the end, the focus on money is just unimaginative, and terribly, terribly dull.

   

More Poor Linda/ Leopard Preens/ Scandal

Poor Linda.
Now age 45, she has split with billionaire Hard Rock founder Peter Morton, 64, in fall, after a series of disagreements. According to a family source Mr Morton is very settled in Malibu, while Linda liked to spend time in Canada and New York. She is high-maintenance and likes to be treated like a princess. "Some members of Peter's family were not too fond of her, and were dismayed when she appeared around last Thanksgiving with a large diamond ring on her finger. But the marriage never happened," the source reportedly said.
Linda, who started dating Morton in late 2006 when she was pregnant, denied reports that the father of her son, Augustin James, was Francois-Henri Pinault, Salma Hayek's husband.
Linda's agent, Didier Fernandez, said: "She has never said who the father is."
Sources confirm that billionaire Gucci owner Pinault is in fact the father, and this has caused rivalry between Linda and Hayek. And then there are the bizarre Talbot ads.Source: Page Six

SGD 46 Million Vase

This yellow ground famille-rose vase from the workshops of emperor Qianlong was sold for of HK$253 million at an auction of Qing dynasty ceramics by Sotheby's in Hongkong.This set a world record for Chinese porcelain at auction, at five times the amount of its estimate. At the same time, a white jade Qianlong seal set a record for highest sale of white jade and imperial seals at HK$121.6 million.

Richest Men

Forbes's annual list of the world’s richest people in the world ranked LVMH ceo Bernard Arnault #7, with an estimated net worth of $27.5 billion.
François Pinault, Arnault’s arch rival, and ceo of PPR–which owns brands like Balenciaga and Gucci was ranked #77, with an estimated net worth of $8.7 million.