... of a nation's birthday.

HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY, SINGAPORE!!

It's not everytime I'll have a comment on the National Day Parade, but this year's performances were exceptionally well done. I do not think highly of the ones before, and perhaps that provided me a great relief that there is still an anticipation for the next NDP.

A word before I start, though (for the purpose of wanting to end on a high note). Why does a nation display weapons on its birthday? While I can understand the innocent enjoyment of seeing military equipment that some could never see and get closer to again, I am constant bugged by the pessimisstic underlying motive of display.

The stand circular stand served as a central attention for certain parts of the importance, and the lights equipped around was well made used of for colours and patterns. Very smooth.

Long enough pre-performance took to parade, and quickly I was soothed by Act I of the performance. A simple, yet elegant enough animation brought in the introduction of the naming of our island, Singapura. Then onto the stage. The children played particularly well the roles of a variety of creatures, which included birds, squrriels, butterflies and elves (give them the asethetic praise, pls. hehe). Colourful and somewhat sweet was the key, and was a welcome change to the concept of majesty. Or so I thought, till a statue of a lion, standing over the awe of all. As Sang Nila Utama set foot on the island and breathed the word "Singapura", the fantastic music arrangement illustrated the echoing of the word, till it reaches the perfect harmony throughout the island. A high for end of the act.

Second act was dubbed "40 years of Nation Building", which continued to demostrate the fantastic music arrangement. Old, familiar tunes thrown into the whirl of our favourites - banghra beat, retro, futuristic fx-es etc. Along with the thrid act, was the perfect mix of the races. Heck! Why are we still stopping at 4 main races, when we are already the most globalised nation? Performers included people non-Singaporeans, which I thought was rather delighted about. For the third time, perfect.

For a man who believes in dreams, I do believe that we are a people. Big hopes, big dreams. Man, we're damn big for a small red dot.