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Daily lifeUnethical life hacksConversational life hacksDaily habits to boost productivityHouse hacksCooking tips and hacksMumbai HacksBoosting productivity while studyingTravelMaking the best of daily commute timeMaking the best of in-flight timeProfessional lifeTips & tricks for interviewsWorking smarter instead of harderTechnologyWikipediaChrome1.a. Unethical life hacksA. Professional lifeApplying for a position you are not really good at?Add main keywords (related to the role and the industry) to your online resume in "white font". Most HR departments of big companies have a basic screening algorithm that scans the document for such keywords.Is this ethical? NO. Will it help you bypass the first line of defense? LIKELY.No idea about how good/bad your competition is for a particular job?Post an fake ad for a similar role (on any site you choose). This way you will get a good number of resumes you can use to come up with a benchmark.Are you a jackass for wasting people's time? YES. Will it help? YES.B. Making and saving moneyList your item on eBay and any other commerce site that allows bids. Create multiple fake accounts to drive up the asking price.Warning: This could land you in serious trouble with the authoritiesGo to the theater, watch the movie you wanted to, pay for 1 movie ticket, watch multiple moviesGet student discounts even after graduating. A lot of paid online sites have student discounts (can be accessed by using the college or university email). Things like train or flight tickets also have it (and just require your college ID card)As a research scholar, you can access almost all paywalled sites that host academic papers and journalsBut a first class air ticket, eat free for a yearP.S. Doesn't work everywhere1.b. Conversational life hacksEven though you are not really interested in it, ask people to "tell you more". They might ramble on for 2 more minutes, but they will feel welcome and would be more open to you.Fumbling and saying something off-topic, yet hilarious, is good. Occasionally. People can relate more with people they feel are fallible.STAY AWAY FROM YOUR PHONES!(Source: Modern Conversation)1.c. Daily habits to boost productivity#1. Multi-tasking.Before you say, "But true multi-tasking is nigh impossible", hear me out. My idea of multi-tasking is to combine two (and no more) tasks - one passive, and one that requires active participation.If you are on the phone, clean up your place. If you are stuck in traffic (but not driving), catch up on your reading list, listen to a good podcast, or reply to your emails and social media messages. Almost half of my daily reading is done during coffee breaks, while cooking dinner, or on my way to and from office. You can also catch up on the news by switching on your TV or on an audio news app in the morning while working out, eating breakfast, or getting ready.#2. Automate the mundane stuffAnytime you come across an activity that needs to be done on a regular, or semi-regular basis, it is always worth the time and effort to automate it.For example, you can use a host of recipes from IFTTT, to achieve this. Be it syncing and backing up your mails, social media data, and your phone content, or creating a custom news feed for yourself depending on your interest.#3. FILTERSThe current state of things, and primarily information generation, leaves most of us overwhelmed.A few months ago, I spent more than 2 weeks cleaning up my multiple mailboxes. I went through all emails in my inbox, deleted the useless ones, archived and categorized the important ones, blocked and unsubscribed from hundreds of mailing lists, set up rules and filters to auto archive or delete emails that fit the criteria. Granted it took me dozens of hours, but the final result was a clean inbox. Now I do this once every week (takes no more than 10-15 minutes) and only have unread or "to-do" emails in my primary inbox.I did a similar exercise on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Quora and purged my account by un-following multiple people, blogs, groups etc.Try it. Being organized pays off.1.d. House hacksKeep things in their proper place. Takes a little immediate effort but saves a lot of time and effort later on in finding them.Print your wifi password as a QR code and stick it on the wall. That way your guests can easily connect to your wifi and you don't have to tell them your password too.Know about some tips and tricks for a frugal living on: Waste Less-Gain More!DO NOT GET A TV: Saves both precious time and money. Any show that you actually care about can always be watched on the internet.Learn to make stuff. Something like a simple coffee table (wooden) or a small bookshelf.Use CFLs instead of bulbs or tubelights to save energy.Use the AC judiciously. My summer electric bill was 2000/month and in winter (that requires no heating) was only 400 for comparable other uses.Keep everything you need in the morning - handkerchiefs, keys, wallet, change, glasses, ID card, mobile charger - at one place to avoid muckups.Use free apps (like Viber) for calling your parents or SO.Bargain. ALWAYS! I got a sheesah for 500 bucks. The original quoted price was 3000.Better, search for the lowest price online before buying. Search for <"Item Name" lowest price India (or your country)".Works brilliantly for a lot of electronic stuff, especially mobiles and accessories.Always search for coupon codes before buying stuff.Use ThisYaThat.com - a book price comparison website - before buying any book online.Steve Jobs: The Exclusive biography is available for as high as 746 and as low as 521.Page on ThisyathatKeep all medicines in a medicine cabinet, all important documents in a big folder, all bills in a (makeshift) box.Buy handicrafts instead of branded items whenever possible: they look better, more vibrant, are cheaper and also promote the traditional arts industry.Paint your keys different color for easy reference and use. Save 2 minutes of fumbling time every time you open the door.Automate mundane tasks on your laptop - Use AutoHotkey.Keep track of your daily expenses using a expense manager app.Buy groceries and other essential items on a weekly basis. From the supermart. In bulk.Use your common sense.1.e. Cooking tips and hacksIf you are looking at reducing the overall time to cook a meal, including readying raw materials etc, then the most effective way is to treat cooking like scheduling a project with multiple modules.For example, I was making some spaghetti last night. It includes the following activities:Boiling the spaghetti - 20 minsChopping onions - 5 minsFrying onions - 5 minsChopping other vegetables - 10 minsStir-frying onions and vegetables - 10 minsMixing and cooking everything - 10 minsOn the surface it looks like an one-hour activity (20+5+5+10+10+10 = 60 mins).But:1, 3, 5 and 6 do not need active involvement; 2 and 4 do5 can only be done last3 can only be done after 2 is done, 5 can only be done after 3 and 4 are done1, 2 and 4 are independent activities (need no prior activities to be completed)So, in essence, it can be done only in 35 mins.​Simple rules:Anything that is happening on its own - boiling, simmering etc - should be started firstIn case of multiple activities that need manual intervention, start with the one that takes the longest.Do not make too much mess. People spend a lot of time clearing after cooking. I simply spread an old newspaper before starting, and all the waste is simply collected later and dumped (<1 min).Prepare raw material in bulk. Chop up veggies and store half for tomorrow. Having pasta today and tomorrow? Boil double and keep half in the refrigerator.Cook at the optimal temperature. Too low takes too much time; too high risks burning the recipe.Use covered pots and pans as much as possible. Simple 6th grade science - stuff cooks better and faster in a sealed, pressurized container.P.S. Use the last phase (when everything is done, and the meal is getting ready) for other activities like cleaning utensils from before, restocking your fridge, or sit down with your laptop and clean up your mailbox etc. Do not just stand there and wait. :)1.f. Mumbai hacksWhen in need, do not hesitate to ask people for help. Mumbaikars are a bunch of really helpful folks. I have never been ignored or turned down when I approached someone with a request.I guess it is partially because living in such a huge city with 2 million other souls makes everyone realize how small we are.Always factor in traffic conditions when making plans.Need to reach somewhere that usually takes 30 mins? Check the time. If it is from 8-11 am or 6-9 pm, you will encounter some really fucked up traffic. Start 90 mins before.Take the local/metro/monorail.You might have to bear with the crowd for some time, but you will definitely reach your destination on time. The same cannot be said about buses, autos or taxis.While travelling in local, have a map handy on your smartphone.Helps you know how far your station is.(I use this, linked directly on my homescreen)(related to #4) Better, download the m-Indicator app. Useful for knowing info about all modes of transport.Play store: Android Apps on Google PlayApple store: m-IndicatorWhile travelling in a crowded public transport, keep your valuables in your front pockets and your bag on the front side.If you travel regularly, get a pass (monthly, quarterly or annual). Saves you a precious few minutes everyday waiting in the ticketing queue.1.g. Boosting productivity while studyingRemove distractionsEasier said than done. Make sure you have a "DND" sign on the door of your room. Put you phone in silent mode (or if you are expecting a call, turn off all notifications except the ringer). Ensure that you are not signed into any social media/IM service. Ensure there is nothing too bright/contrasting in front of your eyes. Stow away your comics and books.Try and find some sublime, instrumental pieces and put it on at the bare minimum volume. Music has been shown to improve concentration and also helps to relax.(Image credits: reading.ac.ukAvoiding distractions and staying motivated)(Further read: I Listened To Music Designed For Focus By Scientists - And My Productivity Shot Up)Reward yourselfThe age old formula of incentivizing user behaviour works for self too. I love to snack while reading or studying. So I reward myself with a helping whenever I complete a module/chapter.The reward can be non-food too. Want to watch that particular video? Complete 5 modules. Wanna go down for a quick swim? Better speed up and wrap up the course till mid term.Take frequent breaksIt does no good sitting in one spot and poring over large volumes for hours on stretch. Slowly your concentration and efficiency will go down to the point where it's no longer advisable to continue. Also, taking a break just before finishing a task has been shown to improve retention as opposed to completing it in one go.The Zeigarnik effect states that people remember uncompleted or interrupted tasks better than completed tasks.Take a break. A glass of water. Some stretches maybe. Lie down for 5 minutes. Ensure that you do not overload your visual faculties (so no books/comics/videos).Make the environment conduciveIs the lighting fine?Is the temperature comfortable?Is your posture good?Is your body relaxed?Ask yourself these questions. Be sure that you are not exerting your body or mind any more than it should be.Have a clear idea of what you want to achieve and in what time frameExams are a rough time. There is a lot to cover but never enough time. So be prepared with a battle plan. How much there is to study? How much time do you have? What are the most crucial parts? Do you need time for a final revision?Be prepared with a checklist. And a rough timeline. Keep yourself on track with regular checks.2.a. Making the best of daily commute timeYou could read.Best short stories online100s of free literary works from Project GutenbergBest Wikipedia articles75 great online comics to readOr just take a book or your kindle with youYou could learn.Best Youtube channels for learningMust read sites and blogs for MBA studentsYou could have some fun.A few short movies to watchThe best Youtube channels to subscribe toListen to some great podcastsYou could catch up on the news.Or just talk to people, be part of interesting conversations, know others, know yourself.You could work on a hobby of yours - writing, doodling, sketching etc.2.b. Making the best of in-flight timeIf you are going on a business trip, use the time to prepare yourself for the meetings, to send meeting notes, next steps, thank you notes to clients etc.If you are flying for leisure,Read a book: Seriously. That one book you had been putting off for the past few months? Read it. While you are at home, there are a plethora of things to do and other distractions. While you are flying, you are disconnected from the world - no mails, no IMs, no facebook, twitter or quora. So grab that bundle of pages where someone has created a vivid fantasy world, penned a heart-wrenching story, exposed the truth, and give it the time it deserves.I mean, the only reason you are allowed a backpack with you on board is so that you can carry a book or two :)Strike up a conversation: I mean, face it. Not always do you get the opportunity to bore people for hours on end without them having a way to escape :DOn a serious note, you come across a widely interesting array of people while travelling. And each of them has a tale to tell. Something that might stick with you for the remainder of your life, make you laugh when you are feeling blue, or provide the inspiration for your novel when you retire and finally have the time to pen it down.You might end up having a good time and making a good friend or a business acquaintance/future partner.Catch up with people: In today's super-busy lifestyle that plagues most of us, we do not have time to catch up with old friends and acquaintances.Do it when you are flying. Drop them a simple hello. Or a detailed description of how you have been.Develop a hobby or learn a new skill: Always wanted to learn that handy design software? Or learn the basic words of Dothraki or Klingon? Wanted to know the rules of playing Poker? Or bridge?Guess what? You can do it hovering thousand of meters above the ground.Finish all ad-hoc workCatalog and back up all relevant informationChange your iPod playlistCreate the to-do/to-read/to-watch/to-buy list for the next monthRearrange your photographs into albumsWrite your journal or blogDe-clutter your mailboxIntrospectSomething really important which most people ignore in their daily lives. Plug in your headphones, play some Floyd, sit back, close your eyes. And THINK. Think what you want to do. Think where you are right now and is it what you had always wanted? Think and be thankful for everything in life. Think of what problems are plaguing you currently and how you will tackle them and kick them in the nuts when you land.Or don't. Let your mind be blank. Let it wander into the abstract and the surreal. Let it be at harmony with the universe.Inner peace, brother!3.a. Tips & tricks for interviewsFirst impressions are pretty important (Primacy effect).So make sure you are appropriately dressed, well-groomed, and enter the room with a smile and a pleasing countenance.So is the final impression. (Recency effect)Make sure you end the interview on a good note. Do your homework when it comes to the role you are applying for, the company profile, the industry outlook and future trajectory.Most interviews end with the interviewer soliciting questions from the candidate. Try and ask something relevant and interesting.Get some sleep the night before.You want to be well-rested and fully awake the next day. Lack of sleep would mean you are a little foggy, grumpy, and not performing at your best.Be honest.Nobody expects you to be perfect and all-knowing. If you do not know something, admit it. It is better than beating-around-the-bush and trying to cover up, which almost never works. And if you get caught bluffing, it's a sure shot way of getting rejected.Be yourself.Some people try to be nicer. Some try to be more professional. And it backfires a lot of time. You can either come across as a suck-up, or downright rude. Also, if you are not preoccupied with the pretense you are putting up, you can focus more on the things that actually matter.Clean up your social media footprint.A lot of interviewers have started doing background research on candidates by going through their social media profiles.Make sure that your Linkedin profile is updated, there are no objectionable photos on your Instagram account, your retarded, inflammatory, or plain ignorant Facebook posts.Make sure your resume is updated.If the latest item on your resume is something you did more than a year ago, you will come across as either incompetent or just too lazy to even update your profile.Arrive on time.Don't think, "It's just a 15-minute ride. I will start 20 minutes early". Start an hour before instead. Make sure you have factored in any chance unfortunate incidents like an unlikely jam, an accident, the cab breaking down, not being able to find the office or the exact interview location.Also, if you arrive decently early, you have time to do a sanity check. Wash your face, comb your hair, check your documents, be mentally prepared. Make sure your "interview persona" takes over as soon as you enter the company premises. Be polite to everyone starting including the security guard and receptionist. You never know who else is there in the waiting area.Treat it like a date.Make it an interesting conversation rather than a terrifying interrogation. After all, you are there not only for the interviewer to judge your competency, but also for you to evaluate whether the profile, the team, and the company culture is in sync with your personality.3.b. Working smarter instead of harderA. At workBookmark the most visited pages to save the hassle of typing tens of times a dayAutomate regular tasks. Use JS, Python, Macros, Autohotkey, Windows Scheduler etc to set and send reminders, run scripts, backup your data etc.Good AHK (AutoHotKey) tricksScripts Every DayUse RescueTime to manage your time and distractionsLearn Keyboard ShortcutsCreate a To-Do list for the next day before leaving. Start out next day by first finishing all those tasksKeep your mailbox organized. Whenever a new email comes, you either respond and archive, or read and archive (if it does not require anything from you), delete (not relevant), or flag as a "to-do-later"Multi-task: If you are a passive participant on a conference call, take a stroll while on the phone.Make use of Chrome extensionsIf your job requires you to travel frequently, make the best of it.Whenever you finish a task, or a project, archive it in any manner so that you can use it later during your performance and appraisal discussionsB. In school/collegeUse Zotero for managing references and creating bibliographies while working on research papers and reportsIncrease your productivity while studyingMake the best use of WikipediaC. Personal lifeIf it takes less than 5 minutes to complete, do it right awayCall your parents, friends, and family while you are commuting to work/schoolOr, you could readHack your houseMake a personal, 30-40 minute mixtape. Ensure that the tempo increases with each song. Aim to complete all your morning tasks and get ready before the playlist ends. The increasing tempo will make sure you have a rough idea how much time is left4.a. WikipediaPrint a book of selected Wikipedia articles.Go to the Wikipedia main page and click on the "Create a book" link in the left sidebar. (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)​Click on "Start Book Creator".After that, you will get the following section on any wiki page you visit.​Just visit the Wikipedia pages you want to collate as a book and keep clicking on the "Add this page to your book" link.After you are done adding, click on "Show Book".You will reach the following page where you can customize the book - add chapters. reorder the articles etc.Download the book in any format you like using the link at the right-bottom.4.b. ChromeXmarks Bookmark Sync : The most user-friendly bookmark manager. Now, never lose the sites you love.Save to Pocket : Read anything interesting? Save it to your personal collection with the clink of a button.uBlock Origin : Annoyed of the ads and the silly pop-ups? Hate waiting. Allow uBlock to care of them while you enjoy a seamless browsing experience. Now that Adblock has been sold to Adblock Plus, it will allow some paid ads to pass through, not uBlock. uBlock is like Gandalf.Honey : Who doesn't like saving while shopping? Be notified of deals, coupons, and promo codes whenever you buy something online.Lazarus: Form Recovery : Hate when you type something and it gets lost due to a browser or laptop crash? Lazarus will remember for you the next time.Google Translate : Translate foreign words on the go.Google Dictionary (by Google) : Simplest online dictionary.Turn Off the Lights : Watching a movie at home, but want the theater experience? Turn off your browser lights.Any.do Extension : Make and sync to-do lists on the go. Plan your day more effectively.ZenMate Security, Privacy & Unblock VPN : Hate when online content is not available in your country or region? Use ZenMate to create your own personal VPN to bypass it.MightyText : Can you type faster on your phone than on a keyboard? If not, MightyText helps you receive and send messages from your laptop.Price Blink : In conjugation with #4 (Honey), save even more by buying from the seller offering the best deal.Wolfram|Alpha (Official) : Your mathematical assistant, now is a tiny extension.WOT: Web of Trust, Website Reputation Ratings : Be more aware of the security risks while visiting a website. The trusted WOT community rates websites as per security threat levels.Project Naptha : Saw an awesome text-on-image that you would love to share but hate typing it? Project Naptha renders the text on images as usable text.

I don’t know what college life is like today. I only know what I hear occasionally, so I’m going to guess at some contrasts.I can’t say what college life was like generally, but I can talk about my own experience. I entered college in 1988.It was kind of known at the time that college campuses were liberal bastions. At least that was the impression I had. That was fine with me, because I was politically to the Left, anyway. One of the first surprises I had was finding out that the university I went to had a fairly conservative campus. An evangelical Christian group, called Campus Crusade, was one of the largest student groups on campus. It’s not a Christian university. It’s a liberal arts land grant college.I was majoring in computer science, so I hung around computers a lot. What this often meant was going to the CS department’s computer lab. CS majors tended to have their own microcomputers (myself included), but that was a rare thing on campus. Most students didn’t have their own computer, and the university didn’t require it. It offered computer labs that were open to all students, if they wanted to use a word processor for writing papers. Otherwise, I guess they used a typewriter, or there were dedicated word processing machines at the time that were like souped up electronic typewriters.I bought school books either from the campus bookstore, or from a used bookstore that was just off campus. I could get used books at either place, though I found the off-campus store had more of them, and at better prices. I remember spending between $200–$300 for books each year. My in-state tuition was a little over $3,000 per semester. It was possible to sell most of my used books, and get a little of my money back at the end of each year, though the same thing sometimes happened as has been the case for years, where book authors and publishers would make some extra money by publishing a slightly revised edition, which effectively made the one you had obsolete. So you ended up giving yours away for free, or trashing it.The university I attended had special-interest floors in some of the dorms. In my first year, I got into one that was just on computers. That was a thing, since the technology was still pretty new. That grouped me with other CS majors, along with a couple math majors, an architectural student, some engineering students, and a smattering of other majors.The social environmentAt the time, the dorms were segregated between men and women. One side was for men, the other for women, though they had common areas where they could mingle. There was a lot of sleeping around, and most of it happened on the women’s side of the dorms. Segregating them didn’t prevent that at all. I sometimes heard complaints from women that they had trouble sleeping, because of the noise coming from next door. My floor was fairly celibate. Sometimes girlfriends slept over on our side, but it was not a common thing. I’m not sure why most of the “action” was taking place on the women’s side.Religion didn’t always get in the way, either. I had a roommate one semester who complained about a roommate he had before me, who claimed to be a Christian, believed in the Bible, and all that. Sometimes he’d wake up in the middle of the night to huffing and puffing coming from his roommate’s bed, realizing that he and his girlfriend were having sex… That turned out to be fairly common if a girlfriend slept over on the men’s side, though sometimes guys still went by the “tie on the door” rule. If they had their girlfriend over for the night, they’d put something on the dorm door to signal to their roommate that they were together, so he’d have to scrounge a place to sleep for the night.By the time I graduated in 1993, my university had just started forming co-ed dorms, where men and women lived together as roommates, as a pilot project. The way it was “sold” was that it wasn’t what people would think. The story went there was no fooling around with the roommates. The male and female roommates kept everything on the up and up, even sharing open showers, with no sexual harassment or assault. They even made it sound like the men were more responsible around women in this environment, looking out for them to make sure they were safe. I remember telling my mom about all this, and she rolled her eyes, like, “Sure, sure…” She didn’t see it as a good development.My dorm in my first year was known as a party dorm. There was sometimes a loud party in some guy’s room. Guys tended to have powerful, high-wattage stereo systems, with big speakers they’d crank up. The walls were thin, so you could hear people talking through them, though you couldn’t always hear exactly what they were saying. When they’d party, you could definitely hear it. They got so loud on a couple occasions, you could feel the walls vibrating, and if you were trying to study, you couldn’t hear yourself think. Fortunately, that didn’t happen a lot, at least in my first year.The dorm I was in had a tradition going back several years, called “the B-1 Bun Run.” “B” was for the dorm wing, and “1” was the floor number. Campus rules said they weren’t allowed to do this, but the university never enforced it. On the evening of the year’s first snow, which back then came sometime in October, a bunch of guys in B-1 would strip naked, only wearing a handkerchief over their faces, so they couldn’t be identified, and they’d run out into the courtyard between the wings of the building for a minute, and then run back inside. It was a big hit with the women, who would rush to the dorm cafeteria windows during dinner to watch. That’s not an exaggeration. I saw it with my own eyes.The dorm I was in shut down permanently after my second year. The university turned it into office space. I moved to the engineering dorm next door the following year. I figured these were smart people who had to work hard to get through what they were studying. So I thought it would be so quiet you could hear a pin drop. I was so wrong! It was fairly quiet during the week, but every single weekend, guys would blast their stereo systems to the max. They weren’t having a party, that I could tell, with a bunch of people over. They were just blasting their eardrums out, and drinking heavily. How could this be? The only explanation that seemed to fit was I had the psychology wrong. Engineering students were so stressed out that on the weekend they wanted to “uncoil,” to escape. My way of doing that was to find a quiet place and relax. Their way of doing that was to blot everything else out with booze and noise.Students were allowed to express themselves pretty much any way they wanted. If they wanted to put up explicit sexual or violent imagery or jokes, explicit imagery in their rooms, or on their dorm room door, they could do it. If they wanted to put up political messages, or even socially intolerant messages, they were allowed to do it. It was seen as constitutionally-protected speech. The same went for T-shirts. They could get criticized for it from other students, or from staff, but if they wanted to keep the messages up, there was nothing anyone felt could be reasonably done about it. I don’t recall seeing anything that was racially bigoted, but there were plenty of lewd jokes, and pretty explicit imagery about sex, sometimes mixed with messages about politics.Since there was a Christian group on campus, and there was a common idea among them that homosexuality is a sin, and that it is a choice, I recall seeing some rather muted anti-gay messages coming from them. They tried not to be blunt, but they expressed their disapproval of it, all the same.It’s my recollection that when we came on campus as freshmen, we were informed during orientation that we could expect to encounter speech and people’s views that would offend us, and it was part of the mission of the university to teach us how to deal with that in a rational way. We could criticize the offense, argue against it, and even be passionate in our arguments, hoping to persuade people to our point of view, but everyone was expected to be able to tolerate things we didn’t like in each other. We could not force people to a certain point of view.The most bizarre thing I remember hearing on campus in my time there came out of women’s studies, the idea that “sex is rape.” They’d try to convince women about how “violent” sex is, as a way of “educating” them about what would now be called “toxic masculinity.” I guess now this idea has morphed into what’s been called “rape culture.” This was ironic, given that it was common for men and women on campus to have sex…quite willingly! It took me only a few minutes to realize the stupidity of this. If sex is rape, then rape is sex. I was educated before I entered college that rape isn’t sex. Sex is consensual. Rape is forced violently, and violates a person’s very being. If campus feminists were going to insist on this, then that would just allow rapists to say that what they did was “sex,” and that it was even consensual. This idea was not protecting women at all, and it was criticized by feminists and non-feminists alike. Fortunately, we had the freedom to rhetorically attack such lunacy without the threat of a mob creating a riot on campus. The idea of safe spaces was not even a thought, and would have been seen as ludicrous.“Date rape” was a well-known thing. In fact, according to statistics I heard at the time, if a woman was raped, it was usually by a man she had met at least a few times. So, more reasonable feminists tended to regard the term “date rape” as a misnomer, because the term just described how rape, when it happened, typically occurred! It wasn’t just a “special kind” of rape, or a new phenomenon. The idea that women are usually raped by total strangers that leap out in the dark of night was regarded as a popular misconception. That happens, but it’s rare among rape cases.Connecting with the outside worldThere was internet access on campus, but unless you were a CS or engineering student, you didn’t have access to it. My CS professors had e-mail addresses, but it was not a common thing for professors generally to have them. Course syllabuses, assignments, quizzes, and tests were all done on paper, handed out in class. All assignments were on paper as well, though in my CS classes, we had a way of electronically “checking in” our programming assignments. We still had to hand in printouts of the code we had written.If you wanted to talk to your professor, you had to visit them during their office hours, which they let us know about at the beginning of each semester.There was no internet access in our dorm rooms, though we had phone lines. If you had an account on a campus computer system, your own computer, a terminal program, and a modem, you could dial in to the campus system, and connect up to it remotely, but everything was in text. Of course, the web didn’t exist yet.One of the ways I got to hear from people from all over the country, and sometimes all over the world, was on Usenet, which was a protocol on the internet for what were called “newsgroups.” These were the equivalent of discussion forums on the web. There were thousands of discussion topics. There were discussion threads, but the reader software didn’t navigate them. It would just show you each posted message one by one in chronological order. You had to figure out the threads yourself.Another way I heard from people outside campus was through an internet protocol called “talk,” which was realtime chat. Sometimes the darnedest thing would happen. Someone I didn’t know from Adam would want to chat with me. I’d see “pings” for “talk” requests, and so I’d connect up. We’d introduce each other, and then just start chatting online about whatever. In one case, I chatted with someone from Ireland, and he educated me (in a friendly fashion) about my misperceptions about how the British saw themselves.The Morris worm hit the internet in my first semester. A couple of my dormmates heard about it, and saw the telltale signs of it on the computer science department’s systems. They could see that the systems were getting slower and slower as the worm proliferated, and ate up system resources. The guys I saw watching it happen were getting pretty excited about it, and not in a good way. None of us had seen anything like it. The next day, system administrators across campus shut down the campus systems for a couple days, and disconnected them from the internet, while they cleaned up the infection.There were some misperceptions about the worm, as I’d find out years later. My understanding, from listening to the people who were reading up on it, was that it was spreading through e-mail, much like the worms and viruses you hear about spreading on Windows. It wasn’t spreading through e-mails, but through a flaw that was being exploited in the e-mail system—a fine distinction.There was such a thing as off-campus students. Some lectures were videotaped. They had cameras in class. Off-campus students were a week behind us in their assignments and tests, because the school had to ship the tapes, and any assignment papers, quizzes and tests to these students, after each class session.Assistive technologiesIf you were an on-campus student, and you wanted a recording of your lectures, you generally needed to bring your own portable tape recorder to class (audio only), though I recall seeing the CS department having booths in the department building, where students could watch videotapes. I assume this was for reviewing videotaped lectures (not all were taped).By that time, there was a micro-cassette format that enabled portable tape recorders that were small enough they could fit in your jacket pocket, or of course, your backpack.There was a montage in the ’80s movie, “Real Genius,” where students gradually stopped showing up for a lecture course. One of the supporting characters would always show up for class, but the other students just set up their portable tape recorders on their desks, and then left. The punch line was the professor eventually got the same idea, set up his own reel-to-reel tape player. This one student was sitting by himself among all these tape recorders. Pretty funny. :)In my first year, we had a semi-automated way of signing up for classes each semester. We would get booklets that had all the available course sections, who was teaching them, the course length each day, their weekly schedule, and their credit hours. Each section had its own numeric code. Each student would figure out the schedule they wanted, though we’d have a brief meeting with advisors in our major’s and minor’s (if we had one) department, just to make sure we were on a smooth glide path to meeting our pre-requisites for each year, so we could graduate in a reasonable amount of time. We would then call up an automated system from our room phones, punch in the codes for the sections we wanted, and then we’d wait about a month. Somehow the school worked out how many student requests for each section would be fulfilled. We’d get a printout before the next semester began showing how many of the sections we got, and if there were any we didn’t get. If I didn’t get a section I wanted, I had to go to a predetermined location with tables set up for the different colleges, to manually sign up for a different section, and see if I could make things work that way.In my second year, the university got an upgraded system that tried to do scheduling on the spot. It ran into some hiccups, though. The first time the system became available, it got overloaded with people, and it crashed. Nobody could sign up for classes for a while until they fixed it. When it got up and running again, they limited how many people could use it at the same time, and once you got in, it ran slowly, with gaps between audio prompts, sometimes disconnecting you when it wasn’t supposed to. It was a pain, but it worked well enough that you knew while you were on the phone whether your course schedule worked or not. This made it more possible to get a weekly schedule that worked for you.ResearchEven though I had access to the internet, starting in 1989, it was not viewed as a resource for research for course assignments. We had to use a library. The library my university had on campus sucked. It was ranked as one of the worst in the country. To do research, I went to another state university’s library on the weekends, which was of much higher quality.There were a few courses I had where we were assigned research using a few on-campus sources, but the places that had them only had one or two copies of each. So, the students in the course—there might be 30-40 of us—had to share this material. I never did well with these sorts of assignments. I tried to get by without doing the research, probably to my detriment. A practice that seemed to be common among my fellow students, something I found out in my 2nd year, was that a few students in the course would do the actual research with the materials, and then the other students, if they could find out who these people were, would copy off of their notes. That seemed like cheating to me, though I never heard of anyone getting caught for it.

They got it backwards. “Lights. Camera. Action!” describes a take for a film. Long before that ever happens, however, there needs to be a whole lot preliminary actions first. Filmmaker Priscilla Goh shares many of the actions she took to prepare herself for a career in film. Her journey will both surprise and inspire you. She follows her passion and it takes her to new places and spaces.***********************************************************************QuestionsCan you tell us a little about your family and growing up. How did your family instill your interest in global views and education?My family is a relatively stereotypical local family that Singaporeans would call ‘heartlander’ – they still live in public housing, and my uncle carries on my grandmother’s intestine stew stall in one of Singapore’s famous hawker centres. Most of us feel more comfortable speaking a pidgin of Mandarin, Chinese dialects, and Singlish (the local English-based Creole).Despite being your typical Singaporean middle-aged man from Singapore’s now-defunct Chinese-medium education system, my father also had his eyes on the world, and looked for global things he could make local. He was part of the team that brought Starbucks to Singapore in the 90s, heralding the start of (western) coffee culture in Singapore. All the hipster cafes that are in vogue now might turn up their noses at anything mainstream, but there is no denying that café culture in Singapore started with Starbucks’ arrival. (Naturally, the first store was on Orchard Road, but more that later.)Like most middle-income Singaporean households in examination-crazed Singapore, education was a priority. Apparently, when I was a toddler, my mum would pretend to read so that I would follow her example! She would fall asleep behind the book, and I would continue flipping through the pages of my own tomes, none the wiser. Even when my dad left his well-established job to set up his own consultant company during what many consider to be the most crucial year of a Singaporean child’s life (the Primary 6 School Leaving Examinations), they made sure that I was not distracted by monetary concerns. They stoked my competitive spirit by racing to complete the same math paper and would even play ping-pong on a coffee table with me during study breaks. Eventually, I scored well enough to enter one of the more selective Secondary Schools in Singapore.Secondary school was a little harder, where I experienced (academic) failure for the first time. There is a saying that a big fish in a small pond is a small fish in a big pond, and coming from my little neighbourhood primary school, entering a brand-name school with its own traditions, history, and high standards was a little of a culture shock. My Math, Science, and Mandarin grades took a sharp turn downwards even though they were the only subjects I ever spent time studying.This stress was possibly part of the reason I jumped at the chance to apply for National Junior College’s new Integrated Programme, where students would be allowed to skip the Secondary 4 ‘O’ levels, which meant that I would not have to be examined so much for those subjects, since I could specialize in the humanities for my high school ‘A’ levels.You attended NJC in Singapore. For those who are not familiar with NJC can you describe your experience there? Do you think NJC prepares students in ways to look beyond borders?National Junior College is the first 2-year high school in Singapore, which had our current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in its first intake. In 2004, they embarked on an experiment with a 4-year system. I was one of the first batch of a interesting collection of hundred and twenty-something lab rats that were probably chosen for interesting personalities and various specializations. I have two close ex-classmates in Geneva now – one as a violinist and the other in CERN.The ‘integrated’ approach saw us taking cross-subject modules, which was instrumental in shaping the way I look at things now. I feel that everything is connected in some way and no subject is an island. In a way, studying different subjects can only enhance an artists’ work – you need something to make the work about. Almost all of us also had a leadership position in organizations by our final year, as we had more than the two years most other students had to devote ourselves to our CCAs (CIOs).Picture of High School ClassWhy did you decide to pursue university in the US? Can you describe how you went about choosing schools to apply to and why you ended up at Uva?I applied to a grand total of 6 universities, 2 local and 4 in the US. I would not have applied to any overseas universities if not for my college counselor in NJC, who recommended that we cast our nets further. He recommended UVA due to its (relatively) lower costs, as well as three other liberal arts colleges. For some reason, I did not get into my safety schools (Oberlin and Lafayette), but got waitlisted at Middlebury.Locally, I was offered a scholarship to study English and History at the National University of Singapore, but I did feel a fear of being pigeonholed too early. The exploratory time given to undergraduates in the US system definitely appealed to me. As for the matter of cost, that year, my dad miraculously got a job that would pay for a couple of years of out of state tuition. I am grateful to my parents for investing in my education rather than putting it towards a housing upgrade. The 8-month gap that Singaporeans have between the end of high school and the start of college was also a great opportunity to get jobs and save up some cash– I waited on tables, sold watches, and taught the ‘General Paper’ subject as a relief teacher.Can you talk about your transition to the US and to your university? Was it easier or harder than you expected?As a first-generation college student, I embarked on a journey halfway across the world with no idea of what awaited me. For example, when I read that UVA was 30% Greek, I thought it meant that 30% of the student population was from the Greece. Luckily, I did get to have my UVA “Greek” experience eventually, by going on a Slow Food module in Thessaloniki during my Third Year Spring Break under the International Residential College Special Modules.Singaporeans are largely fluent in English and familiar with American Pop Culture, so I was more derailed with the details of setting up a new life, like opening a bank account and generally getting every thing together to start school. I definitely have to thank my friends’ parents who helped me get settled in! However, I still had a few funny instances of misunderstandings; someone told me that I had a ‘sick’ voice after an audition, and I spent the whole night dosing myself with herbal medicine.Can you talk a bit about what you decided to study? Did you find a mentor either among the faculty or among students?I ended up majoring in Foreign Affairs (East Asia) and was also in the Distinguished Major Programme for my other major of Studio Art (Painting and Cinematography). Though, in first year, I considered Pre-Comm like most other Singaporeans/Internationals (I had told my parents that I might try getting into McIntire when persuading them to let me come here, and that turned out to be true because our art department is called the McIntire Department of Art). Other majors that I considered taking were History, English (Writing), and Music.I chose those two as a balance between practicality and passion. Politics, was, of course, the more practical of the two. I loved studying it, but my mouth would probably cause a lot of sticky situations by running off. Also, modern/contemporary art is largely influenced by political movements, so that’s an example of an integrated view, I think.I had great Politics professors that I could talk to individually, like Professor Leonard Schoppa and Professor Herman Schwartz. Professor Schwartz was really approachable – a few of us had lunch with him on more than one occasion. He was also really knowledgeable about Singapore’s political scene.For art, I had Professor Megan Marlatt, who taught me my first drawing class, hooking me into art. I eventually had her again in Advanced Painting, and chased her around Ruffin with a face covered in lipstick threatening to kiss her after the making of this performance piece: RedI also had Professor Kevin Everson, who is still a great friend and mentor. (And to whom I still owe many DVDs of my recent work.) Among other instances of bringing us to watch interesting films or letting us exhibit in different places, he also brought us to New York when he was selected to be part of the Whitney Biennale, and it was amazing to see firsthand what the process of being an artist is really like.Professor Kevin Everson and some ‘film phucs’ at an exhibition they put up, Downtown CharlottesvilleCan you describe your study abroad experience? Looking back on your undergraduate experience do you have advice for students about how to get the most out of their time at university?I think college should be a time to leave your comfort zone and try out things you have not tried out before if you have the opportunity to do so.I jumped to join the Opera CIO in UVA (Opera Viva), because I did not have the resources to be in the scene when I was growing up, and there wasn’t much of one anyway. (Currently though, it has improved, with the establishment of a new arts school, and 2 other opera companies.) To catch up, I signed up for vocal lessons in year 2, and managed to get into the advanced class by year 3. In year 4, I was able to plan my own recital with two other voice students of Dr. Lil Hsieh.Priscilla at her recital, year 4, enacting a piece from Donizetti’s Daughter of the RegimentI also had not tried art as an examinable subject previously, or been scouted by Singapore’s talent scouts to be placed in the Art Elective Programme at an early age. A senior recommended that I sign up for a drawing class, and I ended up hooked. In second year, I showed a promotional video I did for the Singapore Students’ Association to Cinematography Professor Kevin Everson, and he let me into his class, and I eventually got a chance to be part of the Distinguished Art Major Programme and hold my final exhibition in Ruffin Gallery.Still, of course, this would not have been possible without the academic freedom of a US-style education. (The first video that Priscilla was ever involved with is here . It was made for the Singapore Students’ AssociationHow would you describe how well you integrated into the university community? What sorts of activities did you join? Who did you hang out with?I definitely went beyond my immediate cultural group of Singaporeans. Perhaps I took my own advice of leaving one’s comfort zone too far, and joined a great too many activities, and overloaded credits for every single semester since year 2. (laughs) I remember the crazy last month of school I had – each week was devoted to the final culmination of my college life – a final politics paper, my final Opera Viva performance as part of the Chorus in Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore, my voice recital, and then my final art exhibition.The main organizations that I stuck with for most of the years were the International Residential College, Opera Viva, Chi Alpha, and of course the Singapore Students’ Association.I lived at the IRC for the entirety of my student life, and had great friends among the longer-term residents there. One of them brought me to her Thanksgiving/Christmas family gatherings for a couple of years! I was also Minister of Interior for my third and fourth year, overseeing events for the community, as well as running the weekly stall news in toilets in all four buildings. (Talk about an early start to potty humour.) I also institutionalized the Cooking Coalition, which aimed to foster community bonding through food. We introduced food from various cultures with cultural group tie-ups, (Singaporeans contributed kaya toast a couple of times) as well as ate local with cookouts that saw residents barbecuing things they had picked out that very morning at the Farmer’s Market. There were cooking classes taught by students – I taught one about how to make Asian-style soy milk from scratch. We even had a chocolate Valentine making session with delivery to residents’ doors. All of these were and still should be free for IRC residents. The IRC is a great place and community to be with – it’s not entirely ‘International’ like some people think, only about 50/50, and sometimes ‘International’ includes Americans who lived overseas previously.For Opera Viva, I was involved in every of their productions for 4 years, singing in 6 of them. If I wasn’t on stage, I did backstage stuff like lighting and designing the promotional shirts. I was also involved with the Executive Board, first as the secretary, then as a Member-At-Large, which is a position that takes care of the welfare of the members and relays their concerns to the Board. The only long-term international for my stint there, I had to learn how to enunciate better for an American audience.Priscilla, rightmost, in the all-female avant-garde interpretation of Gluck’s Orfeo ed EuridiceI also developed a close bond with students a.k.a “film phucs” in the film programme, a.k.a “The Gutter”, and close friendships with a few political science students despite the size of the cohort. Overall, I would say that I made great American and International friends – I went to visit one in Taiwan, and a few even came to Singapore for my wedding! One film phuc also Skyped in for the TV premiere of Man Vs Birds.Priscilla’s Wedding “UVA” photoPriscilla and Sebra Yen (CLAS ’12 Foreign Affairs) in Taiwan, with their respective flagsForgive me if I get some of this wrong but I will do my best. On a list you posted about your immediate plans after graduation you describe a number of things but the vast majority of them have to do with film. Can you talk about how you first became interested in film and then how you got experience in this field.Most of my Singaporean friends know me to be an ‘Opera Nerd’, and hence they were all very surprised when I showed up in the film industry when I came back. To clarify: part of the reason I fell in love with opera in the first place was because I thought it was the perfect mix of art forms: you have Literature in the libretto, Music in the score, Acting/Dancing on stage, and Art for the backdrop/scenery/costumes. Film is like a digital form of opera to me because it requires knowledge and skill in more than one area – from scriptwriting, to scoring, to filming, to editing, to lighting… Maybe I’ll do an opera film one day!With my practical-minded Singaporean background as a guide, I reasoned that I should look at the broadcast and film industry as something I could possibly find a job in. There was also a day when I was so engrossed in editing one of my films that I didn’t know it was midnight – I had started at noon. Hence, I thought: “Hey, this is a possible job where I won’t get bored too much while doing!”Even with that in mind, it was still hard to break into an industry where I knew no one locally, because I had not studied film in Singapore. My big break came when, a few months after graduation, Professor Kevin Everson connected me with an alumni in China, who was looking for bilingual editors for The Amazing Race: China Rush (Season 3). Seeing that my Mandarin proficiency was near native (at least, better than most Americans), I was offered a post to edit the fully-Mandarin Masterchef (Season 1) as well. It was like being dropped right into the deep end of a swimming pool with only theoretical swimming lessons to go by, but hopefully I didn’t cause anyone else to drown. It also turned out to be a good thing that I was there, because the Malaysian contestants of the Amazing Race sometimes spoke too quickly in their local creole (similar to Singlish) for anyone else outside of this area of the world to understand.Since that time you have been busy. Can you talk about what you have done with Oak3 films? And what this is.After returning from China, I joined a local company that mainly makes local TV programmes. I edited a variety of shows from preschool programmes to ministry-sponsored ‘docu-drama’ reenactments for MediaCorp, the biggest local broadcaster, which is public and free-to-air, something like PBS. I was also given the chance to edit an in-house feature film, Ms J Contemplates Her Choice, which premiered last year at the Singapore International Film Festival and was shown in cinemas 2 July this year.In June 2014, after a bout of carpel tunnel, I requested a switch to the content development department, where I wrote concepts and pitched them to broadcasters. Four of my concepts got shortlisted for a face-to-face pitch, and one was even put into production – a pre-school puppet/animated series called Super Rover and Friends that will be on TV in September this year. The writing and pitching experience gained from those three months turned out to be invaluable when we got news of the upcoming Discovery open call for first-time filmmakers.From concept to reality: Super Rover and Friends. Premiering September on MediaCorp’s okto channel.I do hope you can take time to describe the story of Man Vs. Birds.Man Vs. Birds starts on Orchard Road, a famous 2.2km tree-lined boulevard of shopping malls in Singapore, where 5000 to 7000 birds (largely Javan Mynahs, with significant populations of House Crows and Asian Glossy Starlings) roost each night. Of course, during the day, loads of Rock Pigeons come as well, but they roost in the air-conditioning compressor ledges of the nearby buildings instead. This has resulted in a deafening cacophony that drowns out all buskers and traffic, as well as a daily patter of bird droppings that requires 3000 litres of high-pressured water to clean daily.Or course, as Orchard Road is Singapore’s most visited free-entry tourist attraction, this throws a spanner into the works for the local authorities, who are ardent sticklers for cleanliness. (I’m sure Singapore’s relationship with chewing gum sticking to our streets is widely known.) It has to solve the problem before the biggest Christmas Light-Up yet, where everything has to be spick and span. A previous attempt with a hawk to scare the flocks resulted in failure, as the bird was traumatized by the sheer number of birds and the urban environment.Javan Mynahs fighting on Orchard Road, and Coming into Orchard RoadA team of “Avengers” is gathered, and it includes an Avian Genomics professor and his research assistant from the National University of Singapore, an arborist, a pest-bird-control specialist, and even the designer of the Christmas Lights.An arborist climbing a rain tree near the Orchard Area in our film.Through the documentary, we discover the bird situation island-wide. Non-pest birds are actually suffering, with shrinking habitats bisected by new highways causing less geneflow. Reflective glass in modern buildings also cause them to crash into structures, because it reflects the image of the sky. Dead migratory and forest birds have been found in Orchard Road, as birds on flyways see its river of green in a patch of grey and unwittingly break their necks against windows when they fly close. We also discover that the pest species are actually invasive – House Crows and Javan Mynahs came from India and Java respectively in the early 1900s due to the booming entrepot trade when Singapore was a Crown Colony, riding on ships, or sold as pets.We also showcase another tourist attraction – Changi Airport, which has been frequently named the best airport in the world. They have their own bird problem too – birdstrikes, which can cost a lot of human lives and multi-million dollar damages when huge flocks are ingested into the engines. Through a efficient yet humane system of scare systems and the removal of attractants, the airfields are kept safe. However, this cannot be imported into Orchard Road because the motivations of the birds are different – the birds come to the airfields to feed, but they go to Orchard Road to roost, as the lush canopy of well-maintained heritage trees is extremely attractive to them. Due to their large numbers and high motivation, scare systems will not work, and barrier systems are unwieldy for trees.Further genetic studies show that the Javan Mynah population in Singapore is panmictic, which means that even if the flock on Orchard Road is removed, Javan mynahs from other parts of the island will simply take their place. The person who eventually ‘solves’ the problem is the Lighting Designer, who designs a way to work around the problem with a self-cleaning system utilizing the December monsoon rains.At the end, we question whether it is a real conflict, and advocate for further ways that man and wildlife can live together, with eco-bridges for them across highways, and rehabilitated wetlands. Singapore is actually a paradise for some wildlife, and we still have significant primary rainforest tracts with more species than the entirety of North America.How long have you been working on this film, and how did it all start?As for the process, we found out about the programme sometime in June, filmed a teaser reel in July, submitted the application in August, were invited for a 2-day workshop and pitch in October. The open call had defined a “First-Time Filmmaker” as someone who had not directed an international production, not necessarily someone who had not directed before. My partner and I had experience in the pre- and post- aspects of a production, but not the actual production itself, with a crew and everything. Hence, those two days were one of the most nervous times of my life, even more so than in the making of the actual film!There were around 50 proposals submitted, 14 shortlisted for a face-to-face pitch, and 5 chosen eventually. We were notified of Discovery’s decision early in November, and began shooting the Christmas light set-up and rehearsal on November 13 & 14. November 15 was the light-up ceremony, attended by the President of Singapore (gulp!) so we were thrown into the thick of things right from the start, right until we wrapped filming on April 26. Post production started late March, and ended late June, with the urban premiere on July 11 and the television premiere on July 16. All in all, it really took about a year!Filming of profiles on Orchard Road, 5th MarchHow did you decide on the topic?The idea struck me (literally) on the head one day outside Oak3’s office after lunch, and I ran screaming back into the office to wash it off. Colleagues alternatively mentioned humourously that it would make for good television, and repeated the local superstition that one would win the lottery if one got struck by bird droppings.At the same time, my partner and I had been talking about Singapore’s mall culture and history, with the country’s 50thyear of independence coming up. Orchard Road is unique because it is the longest street of malls in the world (as opposed to specialty stores in places like Fifth Avenue) and the streets are covered with a giant canopy of trees. Most brands enter Singapore through Orchard Road, where there now are 5000 stores, and there is a 30-year (and counting) tradition of Christmas lights.Orchard Road from above: Note the “river of treesIn a way, it is also a microcosm of ‘Singapore Stories’, which is the title of the documentary series. It is emblematic of a multicultural Singapore; you have malls with English names (e.g. Wheelock Place), Chinese names (e.g. 義安城 translated as ‘Ngee Ann City’), Bahasa (Wisma Atria and Plaza Singapura). Each of these malls also celebrate different cultures: Ngee Ann City follows the traditional Buddhist-Taoist-Ancestral religion that the majority of Chinese in Singapore adhere to, with celebrations of deities throughout the year, and a 7th month Hungry Ghost Festival with ‘Getai’ singers. Its design also follows the rules of Fengshui. On the other hand, there’s Tangs, which is an example of the early Singaporean Chinese Presbytarian community – they used to close on Sundays until the 1990s. There is also a historic mosque behind Abercrombie and Fitch!Orchard Road’s development was also the ‘ground-up’ approach of individual pioneers in Singapore, in contrast to the ‘top-down planting’ of the shiny new Marina Bay. In the 1930s, C.K. Tang chose Orchard Road, then a plantation, as the site for his departmental store, (now called Tangs) noticing its strategic position between the homes and workplaces of the colonials. This strategic position was also discovered by Singapore’s first supermarket (with Singapore’s first soft-serve ice-cream machine), and other current stalwarts in the retail and entertainment industry like Cathay and Shaw. Of course, the birds also see it as a convenient location, and they have for as long as the people today can remember.I know I must sound like some sort of tourism ambassador now…Can you describe your vision for the film and then describe the premiere and what kind of feedback you have received?We wanted it to shatter preconceptions of the ‘boring’ television documentary, and hence added plenty of dramatic elements, as well as lots of humour.Response has been great from both the audience and the profiles themselves, who did not get to see the finished product before the premiere. We were initially worried about the reaction from the scientists, but they loved it – it’s quite a balanced scientifically-accurate view that we presented, despite the title.The first public screening of ‘Singapore Stories’ was the ‘Urban Screening’ – I didn’t expect there to be so many people. Hearing people laugh at the film, even at things we didn’t find funny ourselves, was great. In a way, it was like performing on stage, where you engage the audience and immediately feel/hear their feedback.Panoramic shot of the event (photo by J. Ng)Do you have advice for others who would love to be able to do what you have done with this film?(Puts on a Sage Hat)Finding a subject is often the most crucial thing in documentaries. It’s amazing what you can find when you open your eyes to your immediate surroundings. Stories are hidden all around you in plain sight.Also, don’t feel constricted by what you may or may not have studied. In fact, my film partner studied History and Business, another ‘weird combination’, at least for Singaporeans. No knowledge is wasted knowledge!Not everyone can be a filmmaker, but anyone can be a filmmaker!(Takes off Sage Hat)What are currently working on now?We are currently looking for festivals to submit the documentary to, and perhaps doing a longer Director’s Cut.Anything else you want to add?Catch the encore telecast of Man Vs. Birds in Singapore on 17 August at 6pm!This means ‘Good Luck’ if it falls on your head….***********************************************************************Priscilla’s story would, in itself, make a great film. She embodies traits that make for a strong leading character: intelligence, wit, grit and talent. How many of us are willing to leave home and country, turn down a scholarship and travel half a world away to study subjects that are not often thought of as leading to a job and career?How many of us, in other words, are brave enough to follow our passion? Priscilla’s decision to develop her Opera skills should be something that will encourage students to think about finding and then developing a passion. I hope too that her story will encourage parents to think about encouraging their sons and daughters to pursue a passion even if it does not initially marketable. But what I have just written is not the same as an open ended invitation to “follow your bliss”. Cal Newport, a smart guy who has written a lot of good things about learning has a video about what it really means to develop a passion:American culture is obsessed with the idea that we need to "find our passion" in order to be happy and successful. But there's a problem: "It's astonishingly bad piece of advice," says best-selling author Cal Newport. We have no pre-existing passion. Instead, passion is found by first building a rare and valuable talent and using it to take control of your career path. In other words, be so good and work so hard that no one can ignore you.Newport is not against passion but he is for building a talent as a part of the passion. Priscilla did this first by building her desire to learn in secondary school. I have visited untold thousands of schools during my career and met untold thousands of students. Most of these visits have disappeared in into the fog of memory. I can say, however, I can remember meeting Priscilla at her school in Singapore even though this was many years ago. Back then she had a spark that came across in ways that do not get assessed on the SAT or an A Level predicted grade. My interactions with students during visits and interviews convince me that schools that depend too much on numeric rubrics often miss out of personal traits that predict both the fit of the student for a particular school and the likelihood for continued success after graduation. The interview that Priscilla and Kylie Tan did for their film helps capture the passion for the subject but also underscores the amount of work and effort that went into this project.What I also found useful about Priscilla’s interview with me is that she demonstrates that the path one takes in life is hard to map out. What she found from learning the intricacies of opera actually helped her with her approach to film. More and more leaders in business and education are encouraging students to learn across disciplines in addition to developing just one or two deep skills. So while Newport is right about building a rare talent he leaves out how people need to learn that this talent may end up morphing and changing direction. The cliché of the moment in business these days is that they must learn to “pivot”. Students need to learn this too. Priscilla is a perfect example of someone who learned a lot about one thing and then learned to pivot. She is also an example of how liberal arts prepares people to success in ways that some are not aware of.I would like to thank Priscilla for sharing her story here. I wish that everyone could see her film. For the moment at least we can see the trailer by going hereI know we will be seeing and hearing a lot more from Priscilla in the coming years.