Singapore Short Film Festival

By Doug

Sep

3

For the savvy world traveler, there are five-star hotels in Singapore that will make a dream vacation into a reality.  Our hotels are sumptuous blends of luxury and splendor, with a wide range of amenities that will please every member of the family.  Singapore is a very exciting place, and our hotels are designed to put you in the center of the action, with hospitality and comfort to keep you relaxed to enjoy your stay.  We offer accommodations that meet the highest standards in the industry, combining innovation with tradition, where old-world charm meets new-technologies.
Singapore is one of the few sovereign city-states in the world, and its unique status makes for some very unique offerings.  It is one of the most stylish places in the world, where the novel blends with the practical, and just a short afternoon of people-watching can reveal a magnificent sense of fashion and design.  It is one of the technological hubs in the world, and also attracts a number of artists, and this heady combination makes it a fantastic destination for film.  One of its more unusual offerings in this regard is the Singapore Short Film Festival.  This exciting festival is one of the only festivals of its kind in the world, and comes around semi-annually.
The Singapore Short Film Festival is a truly international event, with films from as far and wide as the U.K., Malaysia, Israel, and of course, Singapore.  There are awards in both the international and local categories, and a traveling short film program that makes its way to Thailand and Indonesia, to help promote and develop film culture among young people, paving the way for the next generation.  In a time when the independent film market has shifted very suddenly, with rather inexpensive technologies making it possible for aspiring young filmmakers to shoot and edit their own movies without a huge budget, there are wide varieties of new voices suddenly releasing new, quality work.  This is just one effort among many to help develop this trend with some critical credentials, and is of great benefit to the world in general, and for Singapore specifically.

A healing Tattoo in Singapore

By Doug

Aug

27

About two years ago, on August 22, I fell. I was jogging around the block with my dog. Of course, it was dark and the sidewalks where I go jogging were uneven and crumbly from tree roots breaking through the cement. I dislocated my jaw and broke my arm. I ended up with a big, heavy fiberglass cast around my arm. It was a bad summer. I felt damaged and worried that I wouldn’t be able to play the violin anymore. But, the crazy thing in all of this, just a month before my big fall, my older sister who was staying at one of the luxury Singapore business hotels while she was visiting me, had a fall and broke her hip to where she was put on bed rest. I’d been on the phone with her everyday. But, that’s still not the craziest thing. Our cousin, who was vacationing in San Francisco, had a fall a month before my older sister and broke her leg!

The three of us formed a club called the ‘Fallen and the Broken’, and we’d talk to each other daily. We’ve never done that before, talked to each other daily. Our relationships became closer and more intimate. When my cast was removed, there was this huge scar. It was a crooked line with little white points on either side where the stitches were. There was an indentation on the side where a long pin held my bones in place. I started thinking about covering it with a tattoo. I looked over tons of images, and would contemplate on which one would be the best. About a year and a half later, my arm was still sensitive in that area, but that didn’t stop my sister an me from getting a small purple heart. Mine was on my arm just outside the injured area and hers was on her hip.

But, a few months after that, I was getting my hair cut and realized that I had two arms. So, I thought I could tattoo the other arm. I’m really happy with my decision. It’s about intentional healing, about being balanced, about being happy, being alive and being aware of all that I have to be grateful for and I renamed our club ‘The Indelibles’.

Qigong in Singapore

By Doug

Aug

25

As I was walking out of one of the Singapore Luxury hotels, I noticed in a park across the street that there were people doing something that looked liked Tai Chi, but it was different, so different I decided to be late for my appointment and I crossed the street to watch the interesting movements these people were making. After about a half-an-hour they were finished, so I ask the person leading this group what it was that they were exactly doing. He told me it’s Qigong (pronounced Chee Gong). I’ve heard of it, but never got to see it up close.

The Qigong master, that’s who I was questioning, told me that what I was watching was a different for of Qigong called Zhineng Qigong. It’s a self healing martial arts practice and it’s very popular because it is fairly basic and easy to learn. This form is so popular that there is even a Zhineng Qigong society here in Singapore. He told me that while Qigong has been studied for thousands of years in China, Zhineng Qigong is a much newer form of the ancient martial art. He continued to say that as with traditional Qigong, Zhineng Qigong involves deep breathing and slow deliberate movements that are designed to promote health benefits in those who practice it.

I asked him to explain more about the healing properties of the practice and he said Zhineng Qigong adds the science of mind body to the spiritual and energy, or the chi kung, properties that already exists in Qigong. Zhineng Qigong was developed by Pang Ming who also was the creator of the first medicine-less hospital in China. He devoted his time to study the effects of Zhineng Qigong in all of his patients. Zhineng Qigong is an open system of Qigong, emphasizing the body’s connection to the environment; it’s in where as traditional Qigong is a closed system that emphasizes the isolating oneself from their surroundings.

This information totally fascinated me, I asked if he had time to teach me a little bit, and he suggested I come back to the park tomorrow morning and he would be glad to show me Zhineng Qigong. I headed out to my appointment feeling so energized with just the information, I can’t wait to see what putting it into practice will be for me.