The eye of the beholder, a love and a hate relationship with Singapore

Here is something my friend Xin Bei posted on her blog. Originally from Kuala Lumpur, she has been a student here in Singapore for a year now, and all the time I have been extremely jealous of that fact (that she studies in Singapore, not music).
Singapore, the city where dreams come true. For generations, Singapore has born in its name the vibe of the exotic, of foreign places, magic and mystery of the seven seas, adventure. Whenever the ships left Hamburg to bring home goods from magical lands, they would go through Singapore for sure. A hundred years ago this meant the sailors stopped by in a place where all the cultures of South East Asia clashed, a dirty, stinking place with weird/interesting food, cheap prostitutes and and dark taverns full of pirates. Only the food remains until today, but the ships still come through here. You go swimming on Sentosa – in itself a fascinating islet – and you can see them. Hundreds of ships out there, stopping by for a refreshment on their long journey between Chinese factories and European outlet stores. The sailors enjoy a trip to Sentosa meanwhile, but they are not alone anymore because there is another dimension of travel that has consolidated Singapore’s reputation. Whoever wants to travel to Australia or New Zealand, ie about every German high school graduate who is too lazy to apply for university yet, goes through here. Fly from Amsterdam to Bali, from Frankfurt to Jakarta, from London to Sydney – you pass by here. Unfortunately today all these people only see Changi Airport and completely miss out on the beauty of the city, but still the name Singapore bears the goosebumps of the travel into a different world. This is the gateway into the unknown,  and part of the unknown itself. It is the magical island that sums up everything the far east has to give.

You can guess my perception of living here – I love it. I want to put my feet in the concrete of the sidewalks so nobody can force me to go, I want to tie  myself to a palm tree to be able to stay. It is this far east magic that makes every day here into an adventure. It is also the amazing weather which makes me just happy. It is summer, high summer, year-round. And even when it rains, it doesn’t rain for long. So unlike home. It is also the fact that this is a city of five million.

She is beautiful, and I am living a dream

Almost 21 years in a rotten little hicksville of uneducated, backwards idiots built up enough energy to catapult me all the way here, and make even a short trip only as far west as Sumatra feel wrong. I grew up having nothing. I had to drive half an hour in my car just to spend a little time with my friends, and how many possible activities were there to do with my friends? Sit around at someone’s home and watch movies or play board games. Clubbing? Yes, there was one club. Worst club in the world and not a desirable place to go. Eating out? Yes, there was a McDonald’s, 30 minutes away. There was also a Burger King. A few Turkish kebap places and Italian ice cream parlors. Everything eating out beyond that was reserved for special occasions as it was expensive.
And what do I have here? Five minutes walk away is a bus stop from where I can be taken right into the heart of the action. The ride into busy Bugis costs me little more than $1. A bus ride to the town where most of my friends lived in Germany cost 4 Euros, which equals to $7. And having that said – I could never take the bus there. Last bus service on that route was 6pm, after maybe five, six services. Here in Singapore, you only wait ten, in the worst cases twenty minutes for a bus. Trains are even better, never more than a five-minute wait and they take you anywhere really quick. I have two train stations within walking distance of my home, served by three of the four lines this city has. Getting anywhere is easy, quick, and cheap. No need to bother about driving, which implies no need to bother about enjoying a cold beer on a hot day, or parking. Just hop on the bus or the train.

There are many more reasons to love living here. And they are the same reasons not to live where I was forced to live for so long. I need this, a small village is a sling around my neck. Here, where shops and food places are open 24/4, where public transport is more than a euphemism for a few school buses, where trains run under the ground and houses are so high they rub the belly of the blue sky, is where I belong, where I can be truly myself and truly happy.

My friend – a city kid herself – has a whole different perception. In her blog post she writes about how much she misses her home, the safety, the freedom, her dogs. I completely understand the thing about the dogs. She has three – I only have one and every time I see a picture of him it tears my heart wide open. I am much more emotionally attached to dogs than humans. I don’t miss humans – primarily because they can always send me an email anyway. But a dog? Nothing can replace the emptiness in your heart a dog leaves. But still, I would rather have him here than me going back there.
The feeling of safety is indeed an issue I can not argue against. I have faced quite some problems over here and at times it is challenging to face them all alone. It’s part of growing up. I do feel safe here, though. Ever since my old house almost burned down last winter, I have not really viewed this hundred-year-old shack as a particularly safe place. And crime is a word that gets forgotten by your vocabulary memory when you move to Singapore. They have so little crime here they even have to make up criminal offences and exaggerate little things. What is missed is the feeling of comfort you get at home. In particular, I hate, hate ironing. But who is going to do it for me? I also dislike going outside to buy me food when at home I could just slip into the kitchen to eat for free. All in all, it is a minor inconvenience and one that is required by growing up, I guess. It is relative for me too since I moved in with a lovely family and my landlady treats me a little bit like a son.
The freedom however is so much greater here. I mentioned before how much bigger the opportunities are here. How many more things to do without having to plan them. If you want to go somewhere with your friends there is no need to plan a day, designate drivers, whatever. Just hop on the train and send them an SMS so they hop on the train too. Furthermore, without my parents breathing down my neck, without having to share my bathroom with obnoxious kids, without anyone asking me where I am off to when I go out – freedom is endless.

Arguably, Xin Bei’s thoughts are understandable and I can relate to them. However, luckily, the upsides of being a foreign talent in a beautiful city weigh much more. She is coming back to Singapore tomorrow – after having been away for months. I have been here for one month and I haven’t met her. She already looks forward to the next time she gets to go to Malaysia in five months, while I am dreading the day I have to fly back to Europe in five months. Astonishing how different a situation can be viewed by people.

Deutsches Hulu, legales Kino.to, give the people what they want

Gerade lese ich auf Basic Thinking, dass kino.to wieder da ist. Mit neuem Namen, als kinox.to, aber wen schert das schon. Entscheidend ist doch, dass die Tradition der Linksammlungen zu frei verfügbaren Medieninhalten weiterlebt.

Kino.to wurde vor einer Weile von der Polizei hochgenommen, bei einer europaweiten Razzia die Unmengen an Steuergeldern verschlang. Für was? Für nichts. Zunächst einmal dürfte nur ein geringer Teil der Bevölkerung die Schließung der Seite gut gefunden haben, zum anderen schossen in den Wochen danach neue, ähnliche Seiten aus dem Boden. Der Postillon titelte im Juni “Razzia bei kino.to zwingt Millionen User, zwei Minuten nach neuer Streaming-Plattform zu suchen.” Und so war es auch. Abgeschreckt wurde niemand, nur verärgert.

Seit kurzem studiere ich Marketing und Management. Zwei Lektionen habe ich bisher nur gehabt und doch reicht das dadurch erlernte Wissen aus um etwas zu sehen, was die ganze Entertainmentindustrie offenbar nicht sehen will: ein neuer Markt, ein neues Geschäftsfeld, und Abermillionen von Euro. 2,5 von diesen Millionen und ein “Luxusauto” (Basic Thinking) wurden bei einem kino.to Betreiber sichergestellt. Hochgerechnet auf die Anzahl der Beteiligten dürfte der Reingewinn der illegalen Seite locker im zweistelligen Millionenbereich liegen. Und jetzt ein Gedankenexperiment:

Nehmen wir an, die Filmindustrie nimmt das Brett vom Kopf weg und analysiert den Markt. Es finden sich in Deutschland 65 Millionen Internetnutzer, Tendenz steigend. Die Infrastruktur ermöglicht den Transfer großer Datenmengen. Und die Leute haben sich daran gewöhnt, ihre Filme und Serien zu sehen wann und wie oft sie es wollen. Der Markt schreit so laut nach diesen Angeboten, dass immer mehr Leute das Risiko auf sich nehmen illegale Portale online zu stellen. kinox.to ist eins davon, video2k.tv ein anderes, das als kino.to-Nachfolger gefeiert wurde. Ein Riesengeschäft boomt mit online kostenfrei angebotenen Filmen und Serien. Kostenpflichtige Angebote, wie das durchaus großartige Maxdome, scheinen sich im Gegenzug nicht so großer Beliebtheit erfreuen. Die Menschen, die Kunden, stufen den Wert einer How-I-Met-Your-Mother Folge heutzutage niedriger ein als zu den Zeiten in denen die heutigen Topmanager der Filmkonzerne in ihren Beruf starteten. Sie wollen nicht extra bezahlen und schon gar nicht erst die DVD kaufen um vor dem Einschlafen 20 Minuten Unterhaltung zu bekommen. Die Industrie stemmt sich mit aller Macht vergeblich gegen diesen Trend. Dabei liegt das Gold doch förmlich auf der Straße. Die Betreiber von kino.to haben es vorgemacht. Dabei wurde der Traffic und die Serverleistung von anderen getragen – von Duckload, Megavideo, Mystream – die auch alle sehr genau wissen dürften dass ihre Existenz von den illegal bei ihnen gehosteten Dateien abhängt. Alle haben sich offenbar rentiert und rentieren sich weiter. Der Grund: Werbung. Je mehr User eine Seite anzieht desto höher die Werbeeinnahmen. Je besser der Service einer Seite, desto mehr User werden angezogen. Ein vernünftig aufgestelltes legales Portal könnte ungeahnte Erträge generieren.

Nehmen wir an, die Filmindustrie nimmt das Brett vorm Kopf weg und setzt ein legales kino.to auf. Eigentlich könnten sie das sogar unter der selben Domain tun, die ja jetzt der Polizei gehört. Das neue Portal stünde in bester Tradition.
Die Filmindustrie, gestärkt durch Milliardengewinne, Aktien und vor allem die Sicherheit der Legalität, könnte ein neues kino.to erschaffen, von dem niemand je geträumt hätte. Mehr Server, bessere Server, größeres Datenvolumen. Vor allem könnte das Hosten erstmals integriert stattfinden, statt den Usern nervige Weiterleitungen auf externe Seiten aufzuzwingen. An Einfachheit und Komfort kaum zu übertreffen. Das Nächste könnte die Qualität sein. Statt schlecht abgefilmter verpixelter Kopien könnten Videos in HD bereitgestellt werden, oder dem User die Wahl der Qualitätseinstellungen (a la Youtube) gelassen werden.

Fassen wir doch die Vorteile eines neuen, legalen, kino.to zusammen:
- Tradition (keine Umgewöhnung) durch Beibehaltung der beschlagnahmten Domain
- Nie dagewesenes Datenvolumen und Videoqualität durch kommerziell finanzierte Server
- Integriertes Streaming, Komfort für User
- Garantierte extreme Nutzerzahlen durch jetzt schon riesigen, unterbefriedigten Markt
- Abzug der Nutzer von illegalen Seiten durch bessere Qualität, Service, und Legalität
- Finanzierung des Ganzen durch Werbung, mit höheren Einnahmen als bei illegalen Seiten
- Wegfall von Kosten für Produktion und Vertrieb von DVDs
- Geringe Kosten, da wenig Personal zur Pflege der Seite benötigt wird

Das Prinzip ist nicht neu und wird in den USA schon länger praktiziert. Daher der Ruf nach einem “deutschen Hulu.” Hulu ist im Grunde die intelligente legale Variante von kino.to. Natürlich ist Hulu mittlerweile korrumpiert. Langsam war es angeblich immer, und neuerdings muss für die beliebtesten Serien gezahlt werden. Den Fehler nicht zu begehen und die Kosten anders zu decken wäre eine Herausforderung für die hochbezahlten Manager der Industrie.
Ein Versuch, etwas Ähnliches wie Hulu auf die Beine zu stellen scheiterte vor nicht allzu langer Zeit am Kartellamt. Was sagt uns das? Dass der Rechtsstaat sich an die neuen Gegebenheiten anpassen muss. Die Inhalte nach Fernsehsendern oder Produktionsfirma zu trennen würde den Nutzerkomfort vernichten und einen großen Nachteil gegenüber illegalen Seiten, die sich um Rechtehickhack nicht zu kümmern brauchen, bedeuten. Meine Idee wäre, als Kompromiss vielleicht die Inhalte getrennt (nach Eigentümergesellschaft) zu hosten, aber trotzdem, der Komfortabilität zuliebe, über eine zentrale Suchmaschine an den Mann zu bringen. So wäre auch der Konkurrenzdruck weiterhin gegeben und die Firmen gezwungen, das Produkt so nutzerfreundlich wie möglich zu halten. Die Möglichkeiten sind endlos, das Potenzial riesig, die Blindheit der Industrie und die reaktionäre Haltung der Aufpasser (GVU) erschreckend.

Spätestens jetzt sollte klar sein, dass man den Willen von Millionen nicht effektiv reaktionär bekämpfen kann. 1789 wollten die Franzosen das Ende des Absolutismus, und trotz aller Abwehrbemühungen haben sie bekommen was sie wollten. Der König verlor seinen Kopf, weil er nicht von vorn herein mitgearbeitet hatte. 1989 wollten die Menschen in Osteuropa, vor allem Ostdeutschland, die Wende. Die Mauer fiel auch gegen den Willen der DDR-Regierung, die kurz darauf im Nichts verschwand. Heute geht es um weniger schwerwiegende Themen, es geht nur um die simple Frage wie und zu welchem Preis die Menschen heutzutage Medien konsumieren. Die Nachfrage sollte das Angebot regeln, aber komischerweise passiert das nicht. Und das kann der Industrie irgendwann den Kopf kosten. Denn solange sie nichts tut wird die Nachfrage von illegalen Angeboten befriedigt und die Einnahmen wandern auf die Privatkonten derer, die die Zeichen der Zeit erkannt haben. Eigentlich kann man den kino.to-Betreibern ihre Millionen nur gönnen. Eine gute Geschäftsidee, orientiert an den Zeichen der Zeit und den Bedürfnissen eines Millionenmarktes. Das Geld hätte der Filmindustrie gehören können, die sich aber nach wie vor weigert und somit selbst Schuld an ihrem Gewinneinbruch ist.

Wir machen weiter – ob legal oder illegal.

某些女人

It’s weird – you’re minding your own business and along comes a woman. Not any woman – one of these women who appear perfect, flawless, too good to be human. Unnaturally beautiful, unnaturally in behavior, with an unnatural way of talking. Only their smile seems very natural, but superhuman. They appear to be from another world, not human, more god-like. They have your attention when they walk in, they have you do anything for them when they say hello.

I have met one of these women recently, exactly as described above. Too flawless, too smooth to be human, or natural, or material for that matter. She knows that all the guys around her hold their breath when she walks by, she knows that any of them would do anything for her. She is the one to pick. To pick anyone. And when she picks you, you have no choice, no option to say “no”. It is her pick. And once she picked you, to help her with anything, you are happy that you can help her because she is such a lost, poor girl. All alone in the big city barely speaking the language of the class she is attending. And she rewards you for your deliberately shared homework and your translation services with one of these superhuman smiles. When she goes home, she throws her head around so her hair flies, and gives one of these exhilarating smiles while she says “bye-bye!” And just like in that Deep Purple song, when she stands close to you she makes electric shadows beyond your finger tips. Those electric shadows are your nerve endings tickling with excitement. But still you hesitate touching her even as much as tapping her shoulder when you want to talk to her, and if you are smart you never will touch her.
Because deep inside you know that a girl of that kind loses her magical, angel-like appeal once your brain has figured out she is no less material and human than you yourself, or any other girl. Girls of this kind base their whole attractiveness on conveying the image of being non-material, being angels or one of these tricks the male imagination plays every once in a while. When they are being materialized, their glitter goes away. When you know for certain that she is real, the mask will fall, the glow die forever, and all you see is a pathetic little girl with tons of make-up, pretty clothes and too little self-esteem to come out of their shell. Who had everything handed to her all her life. Then you realize that she has probably never had any profound friendships and for sure no real relationship because she does not allow anyone into her personality, behind the mask. Do you want her to be your girlfriend? No, you don’t. And neither does anyone else. You know this, and you know that touching her would kill the excitement. So enjoy the tickling of your nerve endings, but do not touch her. That would be bad for both of you. Just recite your Deep Purple lyrics:

Oh, it’s not the kill,
It’s the thrill of the chase

Watch your mouth boy!

I’m afraid I might start speaking Singlish after only having been here for two weeks. I caught myself leaving out words like “the” or “to”, while simultaneously keeping all the verbs in the infinitive. Oh oh. To make things worse, I more and more often have to force myself not to add the completely superfluous particle “lah” at the end of sentences. So far I have been able to cleanse my speech of such Singlish poison before it left my mouth, but who knows how much worse it might get.
I think I just pick up on accents and speech patterns too quickly, just like it happened when I excessively exposed myself to the talk of Barney Stinson, Sheldon Cooper, Dwight Shrute or Tracey Jordan. I even tend to adopt my girlfriends Filipino-California-English when I am around her a lot. My speech pattern (only in English, my foreign language) adjusts itself to the ones I hear around a lot quickly. While that might be good in fitting in and interpersonal skills, it might also bear the danger that after six to seven months in Singapore I might have to pick up learning English at beginners level again…

Trapped and injured in the heartless city

As I was heading towards the city today I boarded the MRT at Ang Mo Kio station. I walked all the way to the end of the platform as humans, stupid herd animals as they are, usually board the train near the location the elevator put them on the platform. Hence, the ends are quieter.

However, there I was, only two more people with me in this section. And I noticed something on the ground, all the way to the end, where no security camera is pointed towards (in Singapore, this means it is absolute wasteland). I stepped closer and saw that the thing on the ground was actually a bird, a Javan Myna which is probably the most common bird here. He was laying there on the ground, with one leg at an odd angle from its body, gasping heavily and obviously unable to move. He looked at me with a look of desperation, crying for help. Since birds are not exactly known for conveying emotions through mimic, this one must have been really desperate. He seemed weak, too, probably had been hit by a train and laying there for quite a while already. And obviously nobody had cared.
Of course, what can you do? Pick the poor fella up, risking more injury? And then what? I don’t know a vet to take him to, and how could I have transported him there. So I thought maybe the MRT staff would care, not because they are genuinely worried about the bird but because they have the choice between picking up an injured bird now or a dead one later. So I went back downstairs, looking for someone. They always say and write if one saw something suspicious (ie terrorists) one should alert the staff. But where is the staff? I came past the guy who performs a security check on random bags, and obviously had nothing to do. I told him there was an injured bird. But as many people here, he looked at me as if I was speaking Chinese. No, can’t use that idiom here for if you spoke Chinese they would understand.  I tried switching to simple English, tried to fake a Singlish accent, mimed a bird. Eventually the guy probably got annoyed and pointed towards the passenger service counter. So I went over there and told the guy. That one understood, and he seemed at least a little interested. I gave him the exact location and went back on the platform, where the bird was still gasping for air. After five more minutes the Indian guy from the counter actually came strolling along and circled the bird for a while, probably checking if he would need a crate of some sort or just a garbage bag to carry it away. The bird looked at the guy with the same look of desperation he had looked at me with, it was heartbreaking.
After circling for some minutes, the MRT worker probably realized the bird was not going to die anytime that soon, and he probably realized I was watching him, so he pulled out his walkie-talkie and made a call to someone. By then my train pulled in so I don’t know what happened to the little birdie but I hope they got him to a vet and he is okay. And I wish next time someone else would care to be worried about an innocent life in such a situation. After all, if that had been a human they had called an ambulance within seconds, but for a bird we can’t even tell the station staff?