NTUSU Tribune November 2012

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CLUBS SINGAPORE
NOVEMBER 2012 NOVEMBER 2012
11
AIeSeC Showcases Brilliant
talent At the Leadership talk
kanika aSija
Leadership Unleashed by
AIESEC? A talk with speakers
extolling on the virtues
of how best to harness your
skills to become an effective
leader, sounded interesting.
Held on 22nd October in LT1A,
the forum revealed itself to be
par expectations. Leadership
Unleashed 2012 organised by
AIESEC-NTU, a youth-run
organisation, had high-profile
speakers from Executive
Coaching International (one of
the leading coaching organisations
in the world), P&G, UBS
and Bank of Tokyo.
The first to take to the podium
was Mr Soon Loo, Senior
Executive Coach and Program
Leader, Executive Coach International.
He recounted his
own experiences as a Masters
student studying in Boston,
when he, with a group
of friends decided to start a
business. They created a business
plan to present to their
Professor for guidance, only to
be given the advice to not be
hasty and acquire more working
experience before starting
an enterprise of their own.
With all due respect to their
Professor, they decided to go
ahead with their idea, to see it
grow into a million dollar enterprise.
Having said this, he
requested everyone present to
ask themselves, “What is the
one thing you’ve been wanting
to do, but haven’t got around
to it yet?” Vivacious and energetic,
he engaged the audience
by making the session highly
interactive, promising to make
it a memorable evening.
The next speaker was Mr
Steve Ong, Regional Portfolio
Manager (Asia), Procter
“What is the one thing
you’ve been wanting
to do, but haven’t got
around to it yet?”
asked mr. Soon loo,
Senior executive
coach and Program
leader, executive
coach International
and Gamble. He imparted
three important tips for being
a successful leader, which include,
having enough faith in
something to be able to see it
through, the ability to embrace
diversity and taking upon every
crisis as a great opportunity.
Mr Clive Lim, a student
himself and author of the book
‘Past>Present>>Future’, was
invited onto the stage next. He
spoke about how lucky we are
to have age on our side, as being
young gives us the flexibility
to make mistakes and learn
from them. He recently set
up his first business in Myanmar,
called Potato Paradise.
He ended by saying, “Many
things don’t matter, what only
matters is what you think matters.”
Mr. Lim was succeeded by
Ms Junie Foo, Assistant General
Manager at the Asian
Business Division of Bank of
Tokyo. She spoke about her
career and the challenges she
faced as a woman in the banking
sector, as well as about
what leadership means to her.
She elaborated, “Leadership is
situational and contextual, and
a journey because you grow
into it.”
A sombre tone to the evening
was added by Mr Kelvin
Lim, CEO and Founder, Executive
Coach International.
Being forthcoming and direct,
he asked the question, “Do
you live true to yourself?” His
words, although cutting and
solemn, compelled reflection.
A pleasing and mellifluous
performance by Ms Christina
Wang, drew the highly interesting
evening to a close.
PHOTOS| adarSh kanodia
Avenue Q: Crude Humour Or An
Honest Look At Society?
Sharad kUmar Pandian
God Of Carnage: A Rendition of
Modern Day Family Issues
Sharad kUmar Pandian
Tony and Laurence Olivier
A Award winning play, God
of Carnage, will play at DBS
Arts Centre from 6 November
2012. The show stars Tony
Award winner Lea Salonga, ST
Life! Theatre Award winner
Adrian Pang, New York Theatre
Award winner Art Acuña,
and Philstage Award winner
Menchu Launchengco-Yulo.
Alice Jones, Deputy Arts
Editor of The Independent,
summarized the show with
her review: “Imagine the most
supremely awkward social
situation you can and multiply
it tenfold; that is the nightmarish
scenario cooked up by Yasmina
Reza in God of Carnage.”
The story kicks off with two
eleven year olds getting into
an argument. One hits the other
with a branch, knocking out
two front teeth. To resolve this
amicably, the parents of the
stick-wielding boy, Alan and
Nancy Cowan (Art Acuña and
Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo)
visit the home of the victim
to talk to parents Michael and
Penelope Longstreet (Adrian
Pang and Lea Salonga). In
the minds of the adults, the
children just ‘haven’t gotten a
sense of community yet’ and
thus require adult intervention.
However, the adults start
arguing bitterly about topics
such as misogyny and hypocrisy,
making and breaking alliances
as they argue, leaving
the evening in chaos.
Each character has a unique
back-story and set of issues
that’s examined as the play
goes on. Alan Cowan is a lawyer
with questionable morals,
always on the phone trying to
keep a pharmaceutical com-
Be it musical theatre lovers
or otherwise, everyone
was in for a treat when the
hilarious musical Avenue Q
came to Singapore. A winner of
three Tony awards including
Best Musical, it was staged at
the Marina Bay Sands Grand
Theatre from 27 September to
7 October. Although it broadly
dealt with the cliché ‘coming of
age’ theme, it did so in a truly
novel way which ensured your
riveted attention throughout.
The well-received show
is done Sesame Street style,
with three human characters
and eleven puppet characters
acting out a life on a street
called Avenue Q. The puppets
are held by unconcealed actors
dressed in black onstage, and
it is clear that viewers are to
ignore the puppeteers. Several
puppets take substantial
influence from Sesame
Street, thus the appearance
of distorted versions of Bert,
pany out of trouble for producing
medication with unintended
side-effects. His wife
initially poised and seemingly
happy, reveals a darker side
where she felt unloved by her
husband and bogged down
with the responsibility of
housekeeping and child care.
The Longstreets, for their part,
have vicious quarrels, giving
viewers a glimpse into their
unhappy marriage life.
The show manages to
weave this seemingly endless
series of arguments into
a smooth flow throughout the
90 minutes. Apart from this,
there are a number of surprises
and unexpected turns,
including Michael Longstreet
finding out that his mother
uses medication from the very
same company Alan Cowan
was defending.
Ernie, and the Cookie Monster.
The story revolves around
lives of a group of friends on
Avenue Q. The major storyline
involves Princeton, a graduate
who is searching for a job and a
purpose; Kate Monster, who is
searching for a boyfriend, and
Rod, a closeted Republican.
Don’t be fooled by the
theme though: this show is
not meant for children. In this
diplomatic age where we are
frantically tamping down our
voices to be politically correct,
Avenue Q seeks to shock us
and through laughter, makes
us face some of the issues that
most people would rather not
discuss in society. The song
“Everybody’s a Little Racist”
tries to drive the point that
instead of simply issuing
moral commandments, we
should learn to accept the truth
and to get along. Other social
issues dealt with also included
self-acceptance, particularly
through Rod’s struggle for his
existential crisis.
James W, a writer on yelp.
com.sg, gave it five stars.
His review was frank, but he
praised the musical – “The
musical really shines a light on
current social issues including
acceptance of homosexuality,
interracial marriage, racism,
and internet porn. I’m not sure
about that last one, but I sure
did learn something!”
Some of these issues may
offend some people who
think it’s inappropriate
to discuss them in such a
fashion. Yet, Avenue Q’s
honest and open discussion
of these topics showed clearly
behind the crude humour and
occasionally offensive songs.
And that is never a bad thing.
Avenue Q has stopped
showing in Singapore, but it
may return. Look out for it if
it ever does! This is one show
that people should try to catch!
PHOTOS| Flickr commonS
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