The following piece was published in the 19 April 2009 edition of the Sunday Times:
Sunday Times 19 April 2008 Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be Yakuza By Colin Goh
I’m new to the daddy business, but I’ve a tip some parents-to-be might find useful.
Previously, I’d written about how long the Wife and I, bad Singaporeans that we are, had kept parenthood at bay, and expressed anxiety about finally caving in. Well, last week, things caught up with a vengeance. A very bloody vengeance. Continue Reading »
The following piece was published in the 5 April 2009 edition of the Sunday Times:
Sunday Times 5 April 2009 Home, Sweat, Home
by Colin Goh in New York
A few days ago, the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index reported the largest decline in U.S. home prices in metropolitan areas since records began – a steep 19 percent.
In the face of such horrendous news, we reacted like most Singaporeans would. “Maybe we should looksee-looksee, and find a place to buy,” said the Wife, flipping through the real estate listings. Continue Reading »
The following piece was published in the 22 March 2009 edition of the Sunday Times:
Sunday Times 22 March 2009 My Little Act of Irresponsibility?
by Colin Goh
Planting pollutants in the air and the food chain. Helping to destroy the world’s financial system and still claiming performance bonuses. Marketing high-risk financial products to the less educated. Setting up a global archipelago of clandestine torture sites. Accepting the funds of charitable foundations in a Ponzi scheme. In a world rife with irresponsible behaviour, am I now about to contribute my own little act of incaution? Continue Reading »
The following piece was published in the 8 March 2009 edition of the Sunday Times:
Sunday Times 8 March 2008 The Drunken Monks Meet Their Match
by Colin Goh in New York
Amidst the unceasing financial gloom here in New York, many pundits have been flogging that hoary old adage about there being no such thing as a free lunch.
So we were understandably thrilled last week to receive a free dinner. Continue Reading »
The following piece was published in the 8 February 2009 edition of the Straits Times:
Sunday Times 8 February 2009 Dishing the Dirt
by Colin Goh
“One less reason to go back to Singapore,” said the Wife as she flipped through the New York Times.
“Why?” I furrowed my brow, furiously trying to guess what might prevent us from going home. “They’re implanting biochips in all of us and installing ERP for pedestrians? They’re going to outlaw being fat? All constituencies must now be compulsorily suffixed with ‘-polis’ to create ‘Ang Mo Kiopolis’, ‘Bukit Batokopolis’ and ‘Sengkangopolis’?” Continue Reading »
The following piece was published in the 25 January 2009 edition of the Sunday Times:
Sunday Times 25 January 2009 Running a Different Race
by Colin Goh
Of the myriad images captured by the media during its coverage of the US presidential inauguration, the one that leaped out at me was a photo published in the New York Times which showed President Obama with his wife Michelle and daughters Malia and Sasha, posing alongside his white grandmother Madelyne Dunham, his half-Indonesian sister Maya Soetoro, and Maya’s Canadian-Chinese husband Konrad Ng and his family.
Looking at it, it was obvious that Obama’s talk of bringing ‘change’ to America wasn’t just rhetoric. There has never been a First Family that looked remotely like this in the appropriately named White House.
It also reminded me of my first trip to New York, in 1994. Continue Reading »
The following piece was published in the 25th January 2009 edition of the Sunday Times:
Sunday Times 25 January 2009 Running a Different Race
by Colin Goh
Of the myriad images captured by the media during its coverage of the US presidential inauguration, the one that leaped out at me was a photo published in the New York Times which showed President Obama with his wife Michelle and daughters Malia and Sasha, posing alongside his white grandmother Madelyne Dunham, his half-Indonesian sister Maya Soetoro, and Maya’s Canadian-Chinese husband Konrad Ng and his family.
Looking at it, it was obvious that Obama’s talk of bringing ‘change’ to America wasn’t just rhetoric. There has never been a First Family that looked remotely like this in the appropriately named White House.
It also reminded me of my first trip to New York, in 1994. Continue Reading »
The following was published in the 11 January 2009 edition of The Sunday Times:
Sunday 11 January 2009 Let it snow? Oh no! by Colin Goh
I looked out of the window as the cab pulled onto my street, and I swore in Hokkien.
I was dog tired, having just returned to New York after another grueling flight back from Singapore (this time seated for 12 hours next to a moronic, racist American expat working in Hong Kong, who kept going on about “the weird stuff them Chinese people eat” and how “you gotta keep an eye on them Indians”), and the small white flakes falling from the sky were the last thing I wanted to see.
As I heaved my suitcase – laden with smuggled bak kua, pineapple tarts and packets of laksa mix – up the steps to my front door, I cursed some more as the white crystals dotted my coat, like Jack Frost’s dandruff.
“You go home for only a few days and already your inner Beng come out, ah?” said the Wife as she let me in. “It’s snowing lah!” I barked at her. And then she let out a choice Hokkien expletive too. Continue Reading »
I’ve always been a little skeptical about England’s current claim to be a gourmet destination, and of Brit chefs like Gordon Ramsay, et. al. scampering about telling people how they should eat. I lived in London during the dreary Thatcher/Major Tory era, when my friends considered deep-fried saveloys with a portion of mushy peas to be “a real treat”. During my stay there, I had some passable Brit food (Melton Mowbray pork pies and spotted dick come to mind), but most English fare couldn’t hold a candle to the roast duck at the Four Seasons Chinese restaurant in Bayswater, or curries, or doner kebabs, or most non-Brit food in general.
So I’m not surprised that the Brits are now manifesting their odd tastebuds once again. They’re apparently so nuts over squirrel that venerable Walkers crisps is releasing a ‘cajun squirrel’ flavour, according to this Guardian article.
Sunday Times 8 March 2008
The following was published in the 11 January 2009 edition of The Sunday Times:
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