She sold more copies of albums in a week in the United States than what Super Junior did in their lifetime. She score more #1 country singles and awards more than what powerhouse singers like Faith Hill did in her 20 year career. She's none other than Taylor Swift. Today, we'll review her latest album and invite Queenstown residents to tell us more about this dazzling 20 year old pop star.
Taylor Swift rose to prominence with her debut single, "Tim McGraw" and went on and write and produce multi-platinum albums such as Fearless and Speak Now. Singles such as "Our Song" from her debut album and "Love Story" and "You Belong With Me" from Fearless are #1s in numerous countries. Her clean image contrasted other teen stars such as Miley Cyrus and Vanessa Hudgens who are embroiled in a number of scandals.
5x Platinum Love Story
One admirer of Taylor Swift is Carrie, who lives in Queenstown. She enjoys listening to Taylor Swift and admires her songs because she writes and produces all the songs in her album. This is rare in the current music industry because almost every artiste does not write their own songs. Her new album " Speak Now" is equally entertaining.
Carries who lives in Tanglin Halt
One of Taylor's Swift new single is "Back to December" from her third album "Speak Now." The song is about "somebody who was incredible to her, just perfect to her in a relationship, and she was really careless with him, so these are the words that she would say to him that he deserves to hear. Based in certain aspects of the song's lyrics, like the time line and some physical descriptions."
Performance of Back to December at Country Music Awards 2010
为了鼓励更多女皇镇的青少年阅读华文新闻，《我爱女皇镇》将推出全新单元 《女皇镇1周新闻快讯》，把这个星期观于女皇镇的主要新闻简略的描述。
裕廊西男子离奇坠轨于女皇镇惨遭6车厢碾过头受重创尸卡最后车厢
一名40岁华族男子离奇坠轨于女皇镇地铁站,遭地铁撞上后,惨遭6节厢碾过头惨死。 这起事故发生在昨晚8时许,地点是女皇镇地铁站。 死者李德明。译音告诉记者,他当时正在事发轨道上,当地铁抵达女皇镇地铁站时,突然有一个人影纵身跳到轨道。
午后一场豪雨 联邦道大淹水
昨天下午大雨狂下,导致联邦道大淹水,路面消失在泥水中。 国家环境局上周曾预计,接下来两周内,近7天会下阵雨,当局不排除淹水的可能性。 昨天下午,联邦道一带就下了滂沱大雨,导致联邦道和荷兰通道的交界处淹水.
Old stories, old memories and old photos... My Queenstown intends to collate the memories and pictures of Queenstown residents into a book and would like to urge residents, ex-residents or workers to come forward and contribute to the social fabric of our community.
What you can contribute?
You can digitalised your old photographs (present pictures are fine too!) or pass the hard copy to us via myqueenstown@gmail.com or arrange a separate appointment for us to collect the old photographs by SMS 91769891. A separate interview will be conducted to record your memories and accounts of various landmarks and features of the estate. We welcome any photographs and any accounts!
How you can contribute?
Unsure of what you can do? If you don't have photographs or a good memory, you can assist us by helping to collect those photographs! Send us a message on facebook here or via myqueenstown@gmail.com!
All the photographs and accounts will not be published without prior permission! =)
The long road, Commonwealth Avenue, which connects Bukit Merah to Buona Vista, is the most recognised road in our estate. This road alongside, Commonwealth Close, Crescent and Drive, commemorate the international cooperative organisation of former British colonies. Commonwealth Drive was called Crown Road originally and this road name was changed in 1955. Today, let us see how the establishment of the Commonwealth of Nations influenced the longest road in Queenstown.
Named after Commonwealth of Nations
Commonwealth is a traditional English term for political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has sometimes been synonymous with"republic." As a noun, commonwealth means "public welfare," "general good" or "collective advantage." Politically, it also incorporates how a state in which the supreme power is vested in the people; a republic or democratic state. Besides the Commonwealth of Nations, there is Icelandic Commonwealth (Iceland Free-state or republic) and Noble's Commonwealth (Republic of Poland-Lithuania under a King).
Commonwealth Members visit Queenstown
Commonwealth of Nations, or British Commonwealth established in 1926, is an intergovernmental organisation of 54 independent states which were formerly part of British Empire. The idea of a Commonwealth originated from Lord Roseberry who predicted the future constitutional relations and adjustments within the British Empire. The objective of the Commonwealth was first outlined in 1971 Singapore Declaration, which promoted democracy and pursue racial equality, fight against poverty amongst an non exhaustive list.
After World War II, the overcrowding city centre in Singapore was a worry for the British Commonwealth that Singapore would fall under communist as many residents were unhappy with the living conditions. Thereafter, delegates from the British Commonwealth came to Singapore to monitor the progress on the construction of Singapore's first satellite estate (Queenstown lah!). For these repeated trips, Crown Road (named after the Crown Prince of the United Kingdom) was renamed Commonwealth Avenue to commemorate the British Commonwealth in their efforts for their initial efforts in Singapore's progress towards a higher living standards.
Our very first post featured photographs with undesirable magnification and pixellation. The camera we possessed was an old and borrow piece of technology. The photographs turned out to be unprofessional and disgusting. That was what I would call them today. We did not know how to take photographs. Neither did we know how to do interviews. We would randomly approached somebody (who looked kind and polite) and asked them questions about their job scope and their life in Queenstown. These questions are often simple and inconclusive. Unfashionable. But there was where we came from. And that was our first try.
One of Our Very First Photographs
Approaching someone and getting rejected for interviews have been part and parcel of MyQueenstown Team. At the beginning, we would feel dejected. However, the kindness displayed by some residents, who even served tea and drinks for us while interviewing, was gratifying and a symbol of mutual trust among resident in our community. We started the blog because we wanted to write something. We continued the blog because we wanted to preserve the history and every memory of Queenstown-ians. We persisted because this had became a part of our lives. There is always a story behind every tear or every smile. There is always something for us to ponder and write about.
No one believes we can last for a year. In a year's time, I cannot predict if there is a similar passion inside all of us to keep delivering the articles to residents of Queenstown. We are in the midst of collecting enough information to publish a credible book and I believe we will get there, whether it takes one year or five.
Interviews in 'those' formative days were pretty simple and quick. There is no corporate clearance or copyrights infringement to take care off because the audience is captive and the photographs were published based on mutual agreement. These interviews were mainly completed after a short chat into the intricacies while living in Queenstown. We knew the shop keepers, the residents and all the folks walking around the street. We would return and visit some of them and carry on chitchatting. Perhaps that was how friendships were born.
We have gone on to interview institutions, visited haunted spots, favourite eateries and probe into lives of many Queenstown residents. Some of the columns, particularly articles on Queenstown's history and contemporary news articles and insights, had gained considerable following and was published elsewhere online and featured in some news programmes. I am happy because our efforts are recognised and appreciated by residents.
Interviewing residents and finding relevant sources is never an easy task. For every article you read, there are two other articles which are not published because the information are not published or the residents declined being photographed. We continue to maintain our "policy" of only publishing information that is credible and reliable.
We went on to establish ourselves as a 4th estate and society, with a proper ogranisational structure to deal with "bigger" interviews and "channel" proper funding for further development. Our insights into the maintenance, accessibility, community structure and other 'hot topics' had eradicated suspicions among certain people that we are pseudo government and position ourselves to change the dynamics of the community. Our positive criticism and proposals for the Mei Chin Market, accessibility in Queenstown, littering issues, estate maintenance, heritage preservations among a whole range of heart burning issues from the residents had raised awareness on community and national level. All of these issues were subsequently dealt by the respective organisations with our silent assistance. Witnessing improvements in the lives of our fellow Queenstown residents made us feel really accomplished.
I shall stop bragging about our achievements, for tomorrow is a special day for the editorial team. We will celebrate behind closed doors, for we do not have any funds at all anyway =). Nevertheless, let us make our community more caring and kind, because our Queenstown community contains our heritage and our aspirations.
Mr Wang, 39, runs Rounds & Square which offers mouth watering Indonesian style homemade pancakes. His stall at Commonwealth crescent has been opened for 4 months, after he moved over from the site at 'Lau Pa Sat'.
Tasty and Delightful Indonesian Pancakes
There are 2 main types of pancakes available. Firstly, sweet pancakes come in a variety of flavours such as chocolate, kaya and red bean. Flavours have been modified slightly from the past in order to suit Singaporean tastebuds. New flavours such as peanut and kaya have been added. Next, they have egg pancakes which are meat fillings and vegetables encased in an egg based outer layer. The egg pancakes are pan fried and offers a distinctive alternative salty flavour as compared to its sweet cousin.
Sweet pancakes are done in a round tray, slowly baking over a light flame. On the other hand, egg pancakes are pan fried and shaped into a squarish form. Hence the unique Round & Square title given to the shop.
The Effervescent Mr Wang
As the dough mixture is prepared daily in the morning, the sweet pancakes has a fresh springy texture when you first bite into it. Depending on the flavour you choose, the toppings are always generous and ensured fresh by Mr Wang. As for the egg pancakes, they are filled to the brim on the inside with generous amounts of diced meat and vegetables. One can taste the strong flavour of fresh spring onions , eggs and regular onions.
Mr Wang also offers delivery services for his pancakes. They have about 20 different flavours for both sweet and egg pancakes available. Orders have to be made 2 days in advance and they deliver whole island wide. Tired of ordering pizza? Try some Indonesian pancakes as an alternative for once!
Snacks Attack #10 - Round & Square Indonesian Pancakes
Address: Commonwealth crescent market #02-67 opp Blk 102 Commonwealth Crescent
Opening Hours: 8am-2pm everyday
Ratings: 7.5/10
Socio-Political and civic platforms play an important role in our lives today. Many young resident in Queenstown are tech savvy and log on to the internet every day to visit these website to obtain information about their community and get in touch with political issues that are not published in the mainstream media. MyQueenstown Blog and Facebook is one such portal which orientate residents, ex-residents, students, employees and other Singaporeans to the civic life and heritage of Singapore's first housing estate. Today, let us invite Queenstown residents to comment on each individual community pages and social websites which they frequent on a regular basis.
Community Webpages
MyQueenstown Community Page
MyQueenstown Blog is the first large scale website that is dedicated to civic life, history and contemporary social issues in a particular district and community in Singapore. In an online survey sent out to 100 readers of the blog, 75% of the readers visited the blog pages at least once every other day. A scale from 0 (the worst) to 10 (the best) was set and Queenstown residents rate our blog 8.9/10 in preserving history, 8.5/10 in educating the community on the various issues and 8.2/10 in terms of entertainment value. Residents find us a credible webpage with detailed analysis, photographs and interviews to support our claims over controversial issues. MyQueenstown Blog and online portal has since become the "benchmark" for People's Association and other social community pages which incorporate history, information on civic life and videos on the community.
However, over 60% of the respondents would like to see more interviews about daily lives of fellow residents in Queenstown. Another concern brought up by residents are articles written by our contributors revealed "too much" on the social issues present in Queenstown, which cast a bad impression on various deficiencies on the ground. This resident compares MyQueenstown Blog to WikiLeaks! MyQueenstown Blog has attracted 525,000 unique viewers between March to November and 2.63 million clicks to our all our pages to date.
Tiong Bahru's Community Page
Another aging estate given a facelift online is Tiong Bahru's Civic Life Community Page. Established by the British Council, it has earned rave reviews and they had even produced a film on the old estate given strong foundation and generous fundings. It featured contributions from residents on the colonial past of the estate and present civic life. Only 2 of our residents have seen that page and they found the page professional and engaging.
Socio-Political Webpages
The Online Citizen
The Online Citizen is a Socio-Political Blog which discuss various social issues and policies in a "moderate" form. It has ascended as one of Singapore's premier alternative source of insights on social issues. According to Queenstown residents in a poll of 100 samples, 18% of them read TOC at least once every two days. Similarly, 77.8% of those who read the socio-political websites found it interesting and entertaining. They feel that the moderate tone in the website (compare to Temasek Review) furnished with onsite reporting found them credible and useful. The remaining group of residents did not know of TOC's existence. Among those of frequent the webpage, the only point of concern was TOC's strong stance towards capital punishment, a concept which is still "foreign" to "conservative" Singaporeans with traditional Asian values.
Temasek Review
Temasek Review is currently Singapore's most widely read political blog. It has raised several eyebrows on the source and editors who managed the blog. Nevertheless, it featured extensively on the "reported grievances", "exclusive uncovering" of political issues and pride themselves as "voices from Singaporeans." The same poll of 100 residents revealed that 36% of the respondents visited the site once every two days and 90% of them found the website fascinating and interesting because "surprises" are in store for them once every few days. However, the same group of residents (32 out of the 36) who read the blog frequent dismiss the credibility of the blog and found that only "a small part" of the blog is believable because of "insufficient information and evidences on their allegations, sensationalised comments and headings, and strong links to two particular political parties in Singapore."
Which website do you read most often? And which do you trust the most?
.jpg)
