Having loved the magical worlds of Narnia and Middle-Earth; I was spellbound by the untold story of the witches of Oz. The reason I was changed when I met Elphaba was the fact that it was original and very close to the human truth – that all things is not what it seems. Love is often misunderstood. Hopes & dreams don’t always come true. Yet in spite of it all, the most unlikely friendship and love develops.

It is also a different side of how the incorporates into the Wizard of Oz story which has captivated my heart when I was a kid. Each of us grow up wanting to be popular, accepted and fit in to the society and culture. But till we each find an identity we can call our own, we will always be just a follower… never exceeding to achieve our full potential.

Talents can be considered a curse; while being different is looked down upon. The power and freedom of speech is often frowned upon and the theme that the voice of the people should be caged up and silence is ever loud. So what does it take to be Ozian? Is giving the people what they want means deceiving them from one’s true intentions? How true it is when we reflect it to our own world… whose empty hearts follows everything beat of the Wizard.

No one mourns the Wicked and so very often, the wicked ones aren’t the evil ones at all… the story tells of how Elphaba’s opposition to the Wizard’s regime has earned her the title of the Wicked Witch. Another theme speaks of the concept of doing good… does doing good always bring rewards? The most interesting part that I felt was the part where Elphaba tried to save a friend who has lost his heart by transforming him into a Tin Man so that he could live… but in return, she got a bitter silver can who was ever willing to blame her more than thank her.

So what if we question and one day realize that all is not what it seemed? What if the wonderful Wizard of Oz turns out to be a tyrannical ruler of Oz? What if the dreams of “the Wizard and I” never came to pass? What is “Dancing through life” isn’t the best way to live? Do we then believe we could defy gravity? Do we still dream of wonderful? Is there any good deed?

What does it take to defy gravity? What does it take to be unlimited? I thought I knew the answer… but never thought it to be WICKED!

Being a Producer & Video Director in the last decade, I’ve seen how creativity triggers discomfort. I firmly believe that integrating the creative thinking process into any process or organization adds value and creates unique experiences…Creativity allows us to do insanely great things… What do we want to be remembered for?

The creative process is one that includes trial and error, observes the world, identifies the patterns of behavior, generates ideas, gets feed-back, repeats the process and keeps on refining it. Being creative is hard work. Many people believe creativity comes in a sudden moment of insight and that this “magical” burst of an idea is a different from our everyday thinking. But research has shown that when you’re creative, your brain is using the same mental building blocks you use every day.

When we take time off from working on a problem, we change what we’re doing and that can activate different areas of our brain.Change becomes the catalyst for creativity.I could be in a Bathtub, on the Bed or travelling on a Bus… many times while walking along the Beach, ideas have famously and suddenly emerged. The creative process happens not with one brilliant flash but in a chain reaction of many tiny sparks while executing an idea.

Samuel Pierpont Langley, a leading government-funded scientist, launched his flying machine on Dec. 8, 1903, but it plummeted into the river. 9 days later, the Wright brothers got the first plane off the ground. Why did they succeed when a famous scientist failed? Langley hired other people to execute his concept while the Wrights’ were fixing problems like wing shape and wing warping, each adjustment involved a small spark of insight that led to others… It’s amazing because anyone can take photos with their phone today. This picture was taken by my iPhone.

Photography and filmmaking became my passion. It never fails to inspire me. Creating shots gives me the strength to keep going on. It is all about capturing the moment from behind the lenses … and sharing them with others. I began shooting everything! Food, people, places, buildings, objects, establishments… I realized it is about human truth – and that truth is about perception of reality:

Let’s take the number 1 consumer brand in the world today: Coke Cola!!!
Coke in supermarket/wholesaler – Sells for $0.80
Coke in MacDonnell – Sells for $1.80
Coke in café – Sells for $3.00
Coke in Hotel – Sells for $5.00
So what is the difference? It is in the perceived value… in reality; the contents are similar but the value is different! VALUE of reality bears no relation to cost.So when you connect to culture using your creativity – it is LIMITLESS!

My creative process starts with problem solving using creative briefs & mind mapping. Producers that work in just one medium are limiting themselves. What makes any project great is consistency – one that has all elements of aesthetics, clear organized information and interactivity. What is this project? What’s the task at hand? Why are we doing it? What is the problem or opportunity? Who is it really for? And why should they care? Where and how will it be used? When? What value can we add? Who will become engaged with it directly and indirectly? How will it be remembered and retold? It is about sharing ideas, images & Stories. Connecting the dots of our independence day with the audience, telling the Singapore story from the lens, angle and new perspective.

There’s an importance of connecting with a purpose:
 Those who can collaborate on a constant stream of always improving products, communication, services, systems and experience for customers who didn’t know they needed it, but will spend a premium when they see the need. Connecting big corporations (Sony) to entrepreneurs and companies, letting them try out new equipment that best fit their businesses. Thus doing product reviews became a win-win situation for me.

So the key is: collaboration. Looking at what others in your field are doing. Brainstorm with people in different fields. Culture has a value & collaboration releases that creativity. Our influences then makes an impact back to our culture. Your productivity in your life depends on how you place the value on what you do to help others succeed. Collaborating with House Rabbits Society of Singapore (HRSS) is one example of helping abandoned rabbits find responsible foster parents.

Take risks, and expect to make lots of mistakes, because creativity is a numbers game. Work hard… Do what you love, because creative breakthroughs take years. Ideas don’t magically appear in your head from nowhere. It is not an arty fancy thing. Ideas always build on what actions that came before. So did ideas come first or action? Think about it… These are some results of my collaborations (actions) – workshops, projects, overseas trip..

Main part of my work of what I’m currently doing is about preservation. Agencies today are experimenting the “Big Table” collaboration with development teams to synergize ideas and add value to their product and services. On your left: Marina Bay in the 1980s, currently documentation is being done to preserve the past and enhance our ever changing landscape. These works are a collaboration between the agencies of The National Parks & Heritage Board.

Take that coke bottle which I bought in 1995 in a small back alley shop in Paris has moved from 15 francs to another realm. It is called the realm of the priceless… It has become an object of sentimental value to me… it reminded me of: The friendships, hard work, doing the things I love, the creative breakthroughs, developing a network of colleagues… Forget those romantic myths that creativity is all about being artsy and having gifted talents. If you are waiting for that one full-blown moment of inspiration, you may never start working on what you might someday create… So discover the wonders of connecting creativity & culture in everything that you do today!

zhiyingMEH zhi ying
Don’t wait for that one moment to happen. Keep trying to succeed #tedxyouthsg #spsocialmedia
19 Nov

lyonhsiao Lyon Joel Seow
Creative culture connection can be a long term solution to successfulness. #TEDXYOUTHSG #SPSOCIALMEDIA
19 Nov

stellanyx Stella.N
How about using our creativity amd skills for a cause worth fighting for? Food for thought from Spkr 4. #tedxyouthsg #spsocialmedia
19 Nov

amberarrest Sheena Wong
Creativity is about igniting emotional bonds in the digital age #tedxyouthsg #spsocialmedia
19 Nov

nicolelvv Nicole Loh
A new chicken and egg conundrum. Do IDEAS come first or do they spring from ACTIONS? #tedxyouthsg #spsocialmedia
19 Nov

Nattalieee Natalie Ng
Using photography to document and to preserve culture. #tedxyouthsg #spsocialmedia
19 Nov

lyonhsiao Lyon Joel Seow
Didn’t know that there are people who abandon rabbits & a House Rabbit Social Society to remedy the situation. #TEDXYOUTHSG #SPSOCIALMEDIA
19 Nov

Abrahamleong Abraham LeongJuiRyan
‘Creativity is a numbers game, you gotta keep trying’ #tedxyouthsg #spsocialmedia
19 Nov

Nattalieee Natalie Ng
With all these tweeting, I wonder whether we can make #tedxyouthsg tread!! #spsocialmedia
19 Nov

nicolelvv Nicole Loh
Being revolutionary is making people realise they NEED something they hadn’t even considered before #tedxyouthsg #spsocialmedia
19 Nov

lyonhsiao Lyon Joel Seow
And connect it with purpose. #TEDXYOUTHSG #SPSOCIALMEDIA
19 Nov

nicolelvv Nicole Loh
Loving the pictures he’s using in his slIdes! Great photographer. #tedxyouthsg is full of talented speakers :) #spsocialmedia
19 Nov

lyonhsiao Lyon Joel Seow
Connecting creativity and perceived consumer value. #TEDXYOUTHSG #SPSOCIALMEDIA
19 Nov

Nattalieee Natalie Ng
Perceived value can blow a hole in your pocket. Heh. #tedxyouthsg #spsocialmedia
19 Nov

IanLeong93 Ian Leong
Wonder who from DMC still remembers Adrian Chan. #TEDxyouthsg #spsocialmedia
19 Nov

shaneciated Shane Tan
At Tedx Youth Day “Idea + Action” #SPsocialmedia #tedxyouthsg pic.twitter.com/uJ34v9FQ
19 Nov

trysutrisnofoo Try Sutrisno Foo
Did you know that Adrian actually chipped his tooth on that glass coca-cola bottle? #TEDXYOUTHSG
19 Nov

tintinspartan Afiq Azman
#tedxyouthsg #spsocialmedia : I may not be at TEDx but hey, the tweets coming in are genuinely inspiring and motivating. ;)
19 Nov

Nattalieee Natalie Ng
What inspires you, makes you. #spsocialmedia #tedxyouthsg
19 Nov

shazanamj Shazana Mohd Jupri
Technology has made us avid photographers #tedxyouthsg #spsocialmedia
19 Nov

rubz05 rubzzz
Human truth: Perception of reality. #tedxyouthsg #spsocialmedia
19 Nov

zhiyingMEH zhi ying
Oh wow. The photos he took looks really professional #tedxyouthsg #spsocialmedia
19 Nov

stellanyx Stella.N
Need creativity? Stop waiting for inspiration. Start using hard work and brains. Spkr 4:Adrian Chan-Creativity. #spsocialmedia #tedxyouthsg
19 Nov

nicolelvv Nicole Loh
4th #tedxyouthsg speaker Adrian Chan speaks about creativity. #spsocialmedia
19 Nov

claudia_shilin Claudia Tan
Reading all the tweets on #TEDxYouthSG makes me really feel like being there! Hope you guys are having lots of fun (^з^)-☆ #spsocialmedia
19 Nov

IzyanLiana_ Izyan Liana
“Change is a catalyst for creativity.” – Adrian Chan #TEDxYouthSG #SPsocialmedia
19 Nov

lyonhsiao Lyon Joel Seow
Creativity can sprout out through a chain of events. #TEDXYOUTHSG #SPSOCIALMEDIA
19 Nov

Abrahamleong Abraham LeongJuiRyan
‘change is a catalyst for creativity’ – Adrian chan, videographer #tedxyouthsg #spsocialmedia
19 Nov

flynnister Ely
Today only, tons of #spsocialmedia and #tedxyouthsg tweets! Get inspired. ✋
19 Nov

catchingdawn charmian tan
Change is a catalyst for creativity! (: #tedxyouthsg #spsocialmedia
19 Nov

Nattalieee Natalie Ng
Creativity allows us to do insanely crazy things. What do you want to be remembered for?:) #spsocialmedia #tedxyouthsg
19 Nov

Atari became my first computer with Pac man and Harrier jump-jet as my favorite games. On evenings, my family would watch Dallas, T.J. Hooker and Star Trek. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back was just released, Raiders of the Lost Ark took centre stage 1 year later… E.T. phoned home a years later, followed by Star Wars Eposode VI: Return of the Jedi.

In that era – VHS was king and Sony Walkman ruled the universe… only real thing I knew about space was the Halley’s Comet and others were piece together by what I see in Star Trek, Star Wars and Back to the Future.

Fast forward 30 years. Who knew we would all become multi-taskers who are connected to technology every waking moment. Virtually transformed into slaves of iPhones, WiFi, Facebook, Flickr, Google, Twitter, Photoshop, eBay, iTunes, YouTube. Innovations like VCRs pager and fax machines are obsolete.

There is a sense of nobility in the old days. There was a sense of magic in what designers, producers and artist did. We’ve seen a massive sophistication and awareness in design, photography, illustration, advertising, technology and styles.

Globalization is growing so rapidly that niche is a lost word. What matters most in the future is going to be the things that we didn’t do. Just as Mark Twain’s words “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.”

Most of today’s advertising and design tries to make meaning and help us feel connected. There is a sense of belonging to a greater club or tribe or brand. But in the future, these are no longer driven by media but rather by the vocal consumers – anyone who has a keyboard, iPhone or iPad mobile device.

Widgets and apps will rule our lives and Siri gives us greater user experience. Going mobile with location-based services is making a difference. There’s going to be more integration, intersection and interaction of the virtual & real world. Perhaps everyone will own an app store one day. Perhaps one day I can tell a story of 30 years in 30 days… or perhaps 30 minutes or 30 seconds or 30 words…

Our brain responds to all things new. There’s always something about “NEW”. It’s like that first walk in Paris or New York, or that moment that you step into the world of Universal Studios or on that dream cruise liner, or look into someone and fall straight into love. At such moments, your heart misses a beat – because you were intensely present for that moment.

Down where the air is as thick as Los Angeles or blue as the Melbourne skies,
Where fast flowing waters tries to break it through and we gave a little for the sake of being true…

We cut ties, we hide fears, and we hate changes…
We bruise, we don’t pause, and we rain down fire…
We take these roads and we find the right move…
Only to find that the only source of music …
Is from the Angel, the Architect and the Phantom within.

Here’s some things that I want do to wake up:
Take a class in something new…
Crack jokes and have a word play…
Write a note or blog…
Visit the museums…
Climb a bridge

Have a “empty” time… do nothing for abit…
All a moment of boredom…
Go to a bar…
Go to the beach…

Visit a part of town I’ve never gone before…
Order something I’ve never drink before…
Write something I’ve never thought before…

My reflections of Wall Street (which refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in lower Manhattan.) will always be that of power… a financial and economic power.

It is the home of the New York Stock Exchange, the world’s largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies.

To Americans, it can sometimes represent elitism and power politics, and its role has been a source of controversy throughout the nation’s history, particularly beginning around the Gilded Age period in the late 19th century. Wall Street became the symbol of a country and economic system that many Americans see as having developed through trade, capitalism, and innovation.

Wall Street has become synonymous with financial interests, often used negatively. During the mortgage mess from 2007–2010, Wall Street financing was blamed as one of the causes. Nevertheless, my visit to wall street was a pleasant one with a lot of nice photos :)

The Statue of Liberty (Liberty Enlightening the World, French: La Liberté éclairant le monde) is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886. The statue, a gift to the United States from the people of France, is of a robed female figure representing Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom, who bears a torch and a tabula ansata (a tablet evoking the law) upon which is inscribed the date of the American Declaration of Independence. A broken chain lies at her feet. The statue has become an icon of freedom and of the United States.

The statue was constructed in France, shipped overseas in crates, and assembled on the completed pedestal on what was then called Bedloe’s Island. The statue’s completion was marked by New York’s first ticker-tape parade and a dedication ceremony presided over by President Grover Cleveland.

The origin of the Statue of Liberty project is generally traced to a comment made by French law professor and politician Édouard René de Laboulaye in mid-1865. In after-dinner conversation at his home near Versailles, Laboulaye, an ardent supporter of the Union in the American Civil War, stated, “If a monument should rise in the United States, as a memorial to their independence, I should think it only natural if it were built by united effort—a common work of both our nations.”

It inspired a young sculptor, Frédéric Bartholdi, who was present at the time. Bartholdi approached Ismail Pasha, Khedive of Egypt, with a plan to build a huge lighthouse in the form of an ancient Egyptian female fellah or peasant, robed and holding a torch aloft, at the northern entrance to the Suez Canal in Port Said. Sketches and models were made of the proposed work, though it was never erected.

The American project was delayed by the Franco-Prussian War, in which Napoleon III was captured and deposed and Bartholdi’s home province of Alsace was lost to the Prussians. In June 1871, Bartholdi crossed the Atlantic, with letters of introduction signed by Laboulaye. Arriving at New York Harbor, Bartholdi fixed on Bedloe’s Island as a site for the statue, struck by the fact that vessels arriving in New York had to sail past it. He was delighted to learn that the island was owned by the United States government. Bartholdi visited President Ulysses S. Grant, who assured him that it would not be difficult to obtain the site for the statue.

In early American history, two female figures were frequently used as cultural symbols of the nation. One, Columbia, was seen as an embodiment of the United States in the manner that Britannia was identified with the United Kingdom and Marianne came to represent France. The other significant female icon in American culture was a representation of Liberty, derived from Libertas, the goddess of freedom widely worshipped in ancient Rome.

Ref (Wiki)

The South Street Seaport is a historic area in the New York City borough of Manhattan, located where Fulton Street meets the East River, and adjacent to the Financial District. The Seaport is a designated historic district, distinct from the neighboring Financial District. It features some of the oldest architecture in downtown Manhattan, and includes the largest concentration of restored early 19th-century commercial buildings in the city. This includes renovated original mercantile buildings, renovated sailing ships, the former Fulton Fish Market, and modern tourist malls featuring food, shopping and nightlife, with a view of the Brooklyn Bridge. At the entrance to the Seaport is the Titanic Memorial lighthouse.

South Street Seaport Museum was founded in 1967 by Peter and Norma Stanford. When originally opened as a museum, the focus of the Seaport Museum conservation was to be an educational historic site, with “shops” mostly operating as reproductions of working environments found during the Seaport’s heyday, 1820 to 1860.

Designated by Congress in 1998 as one of several museums, which together make up “America’s National Maritime Museum”, South Street Seaport Museum sits in a 12 square-block historic district that is the site of the original port of New York City. The Museum has over 30,000 square feet (2,800 m2) of exhibition space and educational facilities. It houses exhibition galleries, a working 19th-century print shop, an archeology museum, a maritime library, a craft center, a marine life conservation lab, and the largest privately owned fleet of historic ships in the country.

The original intent of the Seaport development was the preservation of the block of buildings known as Schermerhorn Row on the southwest side of Fulton Street, which were threatened with neglect or future development, at a time when the history of New York City’s sailing ship industry was not valued, except by some antiquarians. Early historic preservation efforts focused on these buildings and the acquisition of several sailing ships.

Almost all buildings and the entire Seaport neighborhood are meant to transport the visitor back in time to New York’s mid-19th century, to demonstrate what life in the commercial maritime trade was like. Docked at the Seaport are a few historical sailing vessels, including the Flying P-Liner, Peking and museum ships. A section of nearby Fulton Street is preserved as cobblestone and lined with shops, bars, and restaurants.

The Bridge Cafe, which claims to be “The Oldest Drinking Establishment in New York” is in a building that formerly housed a brothel.

(Ref. Wiki)

The Empire State Building is a 102-story landmark in New York City, United States, at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. It is 1,250 ft (381 meters) tall. Its name is derived from the nickname for New York, the Empire State. It stood as the world’s tallest building for 40 years, from its completion in 1931 until construction of the World Trade Center’s North Tower was completed in 1972. Following the destruction of the World Trade Center in 2001, the Empire State Building once again became the tallest building in New York City.

The Empire State Building has been named by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. The building and its street floor interior are designated landmarks of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, and confirmed by the New York City Board of Estimate. It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1986. In 2007, it was ranked number one on the List of America’s Favorite Architecture according to the AIA. The building is owned and managed by W&H Properties.

The Empire State Building is currently the third tallest skyscraper in the United States (after the Willis Tower and Trump International Hotel and Tower, both in Chicago), and the 15th tallest in the world. It is also the fourth tallest freestanding structure in the Americas. The Empire State Building is currently undergoing a $550 million renovation, with $120 million utilized in an effort to transform the building into a more energy efficient and eco-friendly structure.

The Empire State Building has one of the most popular outdoor observatories in the world, having been visited by over 110 million people. The 86th-floor observation deck offers impressive 360-degree views of the city. There is a second observation deck on the 102nd floor that is open to the public. It was closed in 1999, but reopened in November 2005. It is completely enclosed and much smaller than the first one; it may be closed on high-traffic days. Tourists may pay to visit the observation deck on the 86th floor and an additional amount for the 102nd floor.

The lines to enter the observation decks, according to the building’s website, are “as legendary as the building itself:” there are five of them: the sidewalk line, the lobby elevator line, the ticket purchase line, the second elevator line, and the line to get off the elevator and onto the observation deck. For an extra fee tourists can skip to the front of the line.

The skyscraper’s observation deck plays host to several cinematic, television, and literary classics including, An Affair To Remember, “On the Town”, Love Affair and Sleepless in Seattle. In the Latin American literary work Empire of Dreams by Giannina Braschi the observation deck is the site of a pastoral revolution; shepherds take over the City of New York. The deck was also the site of a Martian invasion in an old episode of I Love Lucy.

(Ref. Wiki)

Manhattan’s Chinatown (Chinese: 紐約華埠; pinyin: Niŭyuē Huá Bù), home to one of the highest concentrations of Chinese people in the Western hemisphere, is located in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. Manhattan’s Chinatown is one of the oldest ethnic Chinese enclaves outside of Asia.

In the years after the United States enacted the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, allowing many more immigrants from Asia into the country, the population of Chinatown exploded. Geographically, much of the growth was to neighborhoods to the north. In the 1990s, Chinese people began to move into some parts of the western Lower East Side, which 50 years earlier was populated by Eastern European Jews and 20 years earlier was occupied by Hispanics.

Pell Street looking toward Confucius Plaza
Chinatown was adversely affected by the September 11, 2001 attacks. Being so physically close to Ground Zero, tourism and business has been very slow to return to the area. Part of the reason was the New York City Police Department closure of Park Row – one of two major roads linking the Financial Center with Chinatown.

By 2007 luxury condominiums began to spread from Soho into Chinatown. Previously Chinatown was noted for its crowded tenements and primarily Chinese residents. While some projects have targeted the Chinese community, the development of luxury housing has increased Chinatown’s economic and cultural diversity.

Currently, the rising prices of Manhattan real estate and high rents are also affecting Chinatown. Many new and poorer Chinese immigrants cannot afford their rents; as a result, growth has slowed, and a process of relocation to the Flushing Chinatown and Brooklyn Chinatown has started. Many apartments, particularly in the Lower East Side and Little Italy, which used to be affordable to new Chinese immigrants, are being renovated and then sold or rented at much higher prices. Building owners, many of them established Chinese-Americans, often find it in their best interest to terminate leases of lower-income residents with stabilized rents as property values rise.

By 2009 many newer Chinese immigrants settled along East Broadway instead of the historic core west of the Bowery. In addition Mandarin began to eclipse Cantonese as the predominant Chinese dialect in New York’s Chinatown during the period. The New York Times says that the Flushing Chinatown now rivals Manhattan’s Chinatown in terms of being a cultural center for Chinese-speaking New Yorkers’ politics and trade.

Ref: Wikipedia

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