The proper penalty for piracy.

As most people know, online piracy is hurting the world’s creative industries. Illegal downloading of music, films and even books, is cutting into the earnings of creative people and companies around the world. Indeed, it is fair to say that online piracy is imperilling the very business models that allow these creative industries to exist. Musicians are earning ever less from their recordings; film box office takings are in decline and authors are finding that their books may end up being downloaded for free, more often than they are bought. The day is not far off, it seems, when creative people will not be able to make a living directly from their creative works, because of huge piracy. What will happen then? Well, it is simple. They will be forced to turn to other jobs. They will have to make a living NOT creating their works. When that happens, the world’s supply of books, films and music will dry up. So, what is at stake here, is the very future of human culture. If being creative doesn’t pay anymore and if people steal works for free, wholesale, quite simply the day will come when there will be no more works of any real quality, being published or distributed. Human culture will be dead.

Recently, the founders and operators of Megaupload, (Kim Dotcom and his co-conspirators), a website enabling online piracy, were arrested and are being charged in connection with their wholesale theft of copyrighted works. What, I wonder, is an appropriate punishment for such people? As I write, I am unaware of the penalty, but it seems to me that only one degree of penalty is appropriate. Online pirates should be sentenced to mandatory life in prison, as a minimum sentence. By mandatory life, I mean that they will never be released from prison until they have died. In my view, this is an appropriate punishment because their actions are killing world culture – they are acting so as to deprive all of humanity, of the benefits of creative work, by making such work thankless and completely unrewarding. So, I would urge prosecutors and the judges of the Megaupload conspirators to seek the maximal sentences. Indeed, perhaps they should be sentenced to time in jail, consecutively, for EACH ILLEGAL DOWNLOAD. That would guarantee complete life sentences. Furthermore, their ENTIRE assets should be confiscated and redistributed to those they have pirated. These sentences of life in prison, and complete confiscation of all assets should be applied to everyone who worked with the pirates in connection with the theft of copyright works. This is to discourage anyone from working for such employers or becoming involved in any way. Every single person involved should spend the rest of their lives, in jail.

The degree to which the arrest of the Megaupload conspirators will deter other pirates, will be determined by the severity of their sentences. Those sentences must be as severe as possible, in every way it is possible for them to be severe. Leniency, in the face of online pirates, will only hasten the end of human culture and its distribution. The most effective answer to online piracy will be the global hunting down and prosecution of everyone who has ever been involved in a piratical endeavour, followed by their complete impoverishment and a life sentence to boot. Were this done, online piracy would quickly come to an end, as such “entrepreneurs” factored the probability of a life in prison, into their assessments of the viability of such a business model.

I hope, for the sake of us all, that the Megaupload conspirators receive hefty sentences, preferably life. Then again, the pursuit of pirates should not stop with one company. All companies which enable such endeavours should face the same fate as the Megaupload conspiracy.

I realize that many people disagree with my view. I have seen much online comment in support of Kim Dotcom – indeed some even seem to think he is some kind of hero. I guess that these are the people who regularly download pirated goods off the Internet. They see Kim Dotcom as their enabler and thus worthy of support. They fail to see that their own actions are suffocating the very producers of the works they admire enough to steal. There is great irony here. Those who are motivated enough by their liking for cultural goods, to actually steal them, are creating a world in which, one day, there will be no new cultural goods left to steal. They are destroying the very thing they hope to steal.

We are left with a very simple choice. We can, as a global people, allow pirates to continue their “work” unhindered. Doing so will mean the eventual end of all cultural publication and distribution. Or we can punish the pirates so severely that, overnight, this particular “business model” vanishes, out of sheer fear of the consequences.

Jail the online pirates for life – and save world culture. It is that simple.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

Marc Quinn: artist or plagiarist?

For many years, I have known something about Marc Quinn that others seem not to have noticed. The reason I know it, is because Marc Quinn was at the same Cambridge College – Robinson – as I was. We have, therefore, an overlap of social circles and personal contacts. Thus, word of my life and my thought, could have seeped very readily into his. In terms of degrees of separation: my acquaintances at Cambridge University would have known him directly. This is not much separation at all. Anything I said could easily have got back to him, even though I was never personally introduced to him.

I have just become aware of something darkly funny. Well, it is darkly funny if you know what I know about Marc Quinn. Mr. Quinn has recently been complaining that his work has been plagiarized by Swiss fashion house, Akris. Apparently, their designer, Albert Kreimler, strolled into the White Cube gallery where Marc Quinn’s flower paintings were on show – and felt himself so “inspired” by them, that he copied them directly and made clothes out of the designs.

Now, I have seen the clothes and I must say that they do look the same as the paintings, in places. He has basically imprinted Marc Quinn’s paintings onto cloth and called it “his” design.

So, this seems like a very clear case of plagiarism. Marc Quinn is rightfully riled by this. He was quoted as saying: “To take someone’s copyrighted material and turn it into a commercial product without permission is unacceptable. It is damaging to my ability to use my own images to make clothing. It is destroying potential in the future. If someone is inspired by my work and they go and do something completely different that is fine. If they take an image directly, it is not fine.”

My reaction to this statement of Marc Quinn’s might not be the same as yours. You see, I find it darkly funny. You may be wondering why I, who have, in the past, spoken out strongly against plagiarism should find Marc Quinn’s suffering darkly funny. Well, I have a very good reason: I have reason to believe that Marc Quinn is not the original thinker he would like his audience to think him. In fact, I have much reason to believe that he may very well be a plagiarist – though one who has thus far escaped public attention for his tendencies. We shall examine the reasons for my belief here and that will allow you to assess how probable it is that my belief about him, is true.

Many years ago, when I was at Cambridge University,very early on in my career there – probably my first year, which would have been 1986, I submitted my creative written works to Sylvia, the editor of the Bin Brook magazine, at Robinson College. The Bin Brook was the College magazine.

Sylvia had asked me to come around with my works to discuss them with her. I duly brought many works with me – in their original handwritten copies. I talked quite freely with her about my work for quite some time. There were several other people listening in her set of rooms, none of whom had been introduced to me. Sylvia was in her final year at Robinson College – and so those present were not familiar to me, being older and from the upper reaches of the College, in terms of time spent there. There were several males present, though. They were listening intently as I spoke.

At that time, I was quite naïve about people. I didn’t then know the basic principle that, unless an idea is strictly protected, it will be stolen the instant it is spoken of or written of, in public. This is something that happens every time an idea is shared – and is a principle I have learnt through real life experience of it in action.

I spoke a bit unwisely in that room. Firstly, I spoke of a story that I wished to submit, entitled “Smoguey the Sorcerer”. This story concerned a Wizard who had invented a device that could see a few minutes into the future. The punchline of the story was that the device foresaw his own death – the first time he tried it – and there was nothing he could do about it (I would need a copy of the story to give the full details). Now the most interesting part about the story was its origin. I explained to her that the story was based upon a drawing I had done, in which a wizard is looking into a mirror that foretells the future and sees in it, himself, dead, a few minutes hence. I explained that I had taken that image and transformed it into a different medium – the written short story. It was the same idea, represented in two different art forms.

Very oddly, several years later, I remember seeing a newspaper article about a “Marc Quinn” art work that had been entered for a competition, in which his art work consists of a written explanation of the transformation of creative works from one medium into another. He had basically, it seemed, written down my conversation and description of how I had composed that story and made it into “his” artwork. (At least I remember it as being called a Marc Quinn work).

That was somewhat annoying to see, for I knew, for certain, that the idea in that conceptual artwork had been voiced, on my tongue, in front of several unknown witnesses from my College (and Marc Quinn’s College), several years before.

I also told Sylvia of a poem that I would have liked to submit, but which I had left at home. The poem concerned a Vampire’s view of Humanity, in which I described the Vampire as seeing humans as being “heads filled with blood”. This wasn’t metaphorical – in my poetic world, the Vampire actually, physically SAW them as “heads filled with blood”.

Now, you should recall that Marc Quinn’s most famous work is that of “Self”, which is a self-portrait consisting of a, you guessed it, “head filled with blood”. It is Marc Quinn’s blood. However, it is NOT Marc Quinn’s idea. That idea came to me, by 1986 at the latest – and was communicated to everyone in that room, that day, in the same College as Marc Quinn. Marc Quinn’s most famous work, is not original. Marc Quinn did not have that idea, first – I did.
I do not know whether Marc Quinn was present in that set of rooms that day. No-one else was introduced. However, I do not need to know whether he was. The social distance between anyone in that room and Marc Quinn was most probably zero: they would all have known him, since they were old enough to overlap with his presence at Robinson College. Thus the distance between my words and Quinn, was just a simple conversation away – and that is the most distant Marc Quinn could have been from me that day. He might even have been present for all I know.

The way I think of it, is that it does not seem at all likely that Marc Quinn could independently come up with the same idea, when, in fact, both of us were at the same College and I had publicly discussed the idea of heads filled with blood, years before Marc Quinn actually made one in 1991. Occam’s Razor would suggest that the simplest explanation is that he heard what I said, directly or indirectly, that day – and registered the image as interesting and worth pursuing as a work of Art, in the future, when he could get around to it. The notion that TWO people at the SAME College, would INDEPENDENTLY come up with the SAME idea, without being aware of the prior work of the other, strikes me as absolute nonsense and unlikely in the extreme. It is far more likely that Marc Quinn is being derivative of my poem, than that he came up with it himself and it just so happened that it is the same idea.

There is an irony here, of course. I had discussed publicly how I had turned my drawing into a story. Then I mentioned my poem with its image of blood heads – and Marc Quinn, it very much seems, on hearing my words, or learning of them, reversed the procedure, and turned my poem into a work of Art.

Knowing what I do of that day I discussed my ideas too openly, I cannot believe in the idea of Marc Quinn as an original creative person. Two of the ideas I discussed, publicly, became early works of Marc Quinn: now how likely is that to have happened independently? Not very likely at all.

Then again, one should consider an interview Marc Quinn gave to a Cambridge magazine about ten years ago. In that, he said he was grateful that he had attended Cambridge because it “gave him ideas”. I bet it did. What he didn’t say is on whose lips those ideas were first heard. It is noticeable that as Marc Quinn’s career has progressed and he has moved away from his Cambridge years, he has become, in my view, much less creative. His works of recent years involve no real creativity, in my understanding of what creativity is. This, in itself, is good circumstantial evidence that his early works – which shone with creativity – were, perhaps, borrowed from more creative minds than his own. If not, why the definite decline in his creative work? I know he is older…but he is not that much older. If he was truly the originator of his early creative works, surely he would still show much of the same creative power? He doesn’t. However, I do remember the day I discussed and disclosed key ideas, later found in Marc Quinn’s work. I see no real explanation of this other than the simplest one: the blood head did not originate in Marc Quinn’s own mind, for it had been spoken of five years before, by me. The work about transformation also did not originate in Marc Quinn’s mind. The question now, is: if Marc Quinn appropriated ideas he heard at Robinson College, which originated in my own unguarded conversation – did his other works come from conversations with others? Which, if any of Marc Quinn’s works, truly originate in his own unaided mind? Are ALL his works “inspired” by others?

I ask this question for a reason. Truly creative people, habitually conceive of their own ideas, unaided by others: they look within, not without. They do not need others to feed on. However, those who call themselves creative, but who are much less so, than the former type, sometimes depend on “inspiration” from others. In these cases, they habitually pick ideas from the brains of others, tinker with them a little, then call them “their” own works. This breed of people really see themselves as creative. They do not understand that what they do is inherently derivative and dependent on the thinking of others. In my experience, the two types are distinct. Truly creative people would not only never need inspiration from others – they would also not take ideas from others: they would respect the ownership and origin of the ideas.

Which type is Marc Quinn: the true creative or the type who is always being “inspired” by others? If he is the true creative type then he must explain why I spoke of his core early ideas at least five years before they appeared in his works. Also if he is a true creative, he must explain why he appears much less creative now, than he did early on. If he is the type who is always “inspired” by others…then why is making such a fuss over the “inspiration” of Albert Kreimler of Akris? If his blood head originated in my speaking of it, five years before he made one…then is he not guilty of doing exactly the same thing that Albert Kreimler of Akris did?

I have held back from speaking of my recognition of Marc Quinn’s “Self” work, as being derived from my vampire poem, for many years. However, I have come to realize that I am harming myself by not speaking of it. It is not fair to me, to keep silent. Whatever the origin of the “Self” blood heads, it is clear that Marc Quinn did not get to the idea first: I did…by five years, at least. I also spoke of it in the same College as him, within easy social distance of himself. That is something that really needs explaining.

I was moved to write, finally, of this, by seeing Marc Quinn make such a fuss over Akris’ plagiarism of his work. Now, I know that Marc Quinn knows how it feels to be plagiarized. It is time, though, that people realized that perhaps Mr. Marc Quinn, too, has plagiarized work in the past. Indeed, it is not safe to think that his most iconic work: Self, is, in fact, his own idea. No-one who knew of my conversation that day, about my work, could possibly think that, if they were being reasonable.

Yet, even as I write this, I know that very few people will ever get to read this post and to come to the understanding that the origin of Marc Quinn’s early works needs to be questioned. So, I write knowing that it will do little to open people’s eyes. However, it is important that I make this statement, because to fail to do so, is to cheat myself. It should be known that the same ideas Marc Quinn used, were voiced by me, many years before he used them.

I don’t know Marc Quinn personally. I don’t know what he is like or whether he is a reasonable person, in any way. However, if he ever gets to hear of my concerns, here, I would invite him to reflect: how would he feel, if his own ideas, ended up in the works of another, who gained 100% credit for them, even though those ideas had been conceived of, by him, many years before (but publicly discussed). Recall that those ideas had been embodied in copyrighted works – all of them. Surely he would feel a bit like he does over the Akris affair. Well, imagine then how I felt to see the blood heads, from my poem, made into “Self”. It was a strange, saddening experience, for I knew that I had conceived that vision long before Marc Quinn made it physical.

Perhaps Mr. Marc Quinn should reflect on his own words and take his own advice: “To take someone’s copyrighted material and turn it into a commercial product without permission is unacceptable.”

Well, I didn’t give Marc Quinn permission to make use of my copyrighted material, in any way. Yet, inexplicably, my prior work, echoes his later work. Please explain that Mr. Marc Quinn.

Thank you for reading this quite lengthy post, everyone. I appreciate it.

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html
and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here: http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks. You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/


Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

The effect of passion.

The other day, my wife and I were talking about Art and artists. We have recently been visiting galleries in Kuala Lumpur and it is a pleasant surprise to us, to have learnt that there are many private galleries in this capital city. Indeed, some areas like Solaris Dutamas, look set to become art hubs, with a wide variety of Art offerings.

In the course of this conversation, she expressed her own personal understanding of the motivation which drives artists: "Without passion there would be no beauty.", she observed. For Syahidah, an artist without emotion, is an impossibility. She sees artists as being driven by their feelings to create. Of course, in seeing artists this way, she is most probably speaking of her own motivations to create Art. For Syahidah, it is passion for life, for Art, for feeling, for people, for things, for achievement, that spurs artists to create: the concrete objects that result are solidifications of human feelings. For her, all man-made beauty, begins in the Heart.

I find her outlook interesting as a counterpoint to the scientific currents running through the family. For Ainan, for instance, beauty emerges from THOUGHT. For him, a certain type of thought is inherently beautiful. In the past, he has expressed what seem to be aesthetic reactions to thoughts and ideas. How funny, therefore, to see this contrast to Syahidah's outlook on beauty.

However, that is not to say that Ainan does not appreciate Art: he does - it is just that I think his way of doing so, is different in key ways to his mother's. He is looking for other things and seeing Art in a different way from her - though perhaps some of Syahidah's outlook has informed his reactions to scientific beauty.

Syahidah sees beauty as a product of feeling. Ainan sees beauty as a product of thought. I rather stand between them, and see both types of beauty in the world, in art and in literature.

Syahidah's remark may have broader applicability than she might have noted. It may be that no creativity, whether it be in the realm of beauty, or not, might be possible without passion of a kind. Perhaps, therefore, the whole human world owes itself to that feeling. It is a pity, then, that so many people seem to lack it.

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here: http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks. You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

A love of Art.

Popular Bookstore is a chain present in both Singapore and Malaysia. It tends to stock academic books for schoolchildren and a reasonable - though restricted - range of general reading material. Today, in a Popular Bookstore, in KL, I noted something most telling. I saw a book section I have never seen in the corresponding stores in Singapore. Now can you guess what it was? What kind of section could a Malaysian bookstore have, that its Singaporean counterparts don't have?

Have you had a good think? Well, to my astonishment, today, I saw a "Drawing" section, in the Malaysian Popular Bookstore. That gave me pause, for it was not a small section: it consisted of two whole bookshelves, perhaps three to four metres wide and one and a half metres high, in total, carrying nothing but books on the art of drawing: how to do it, what it is, and how you can learn. There were books on particular types of drawing: portraits, fantasy figures and so on. I was, in an instant, most impressed by what it said of the country I am now living in. It says, quite clearly, that there are enough people in KL interested in learning how to draw, for it to be profitable for a general bookstore like Popular, to carry such specialized titles.

Yet, and this was the most telling part of all, I had never seen a similar section in Singapore's Popular bookstores - though I have been in many of them, many times.

One can conclude from this that Malaysians are rather more artistically inclined, than their Singaporean counterparts, for no bookstore is going to waste shelf space on things which don't sell enough to justify it.

Perhaps, pragmatic Singaporeans don't see the value in art, so much, because they cannot see how it connects to their life value of accumulating money as rapidly as possible. Since art seems distant from this, they are less drawn to it...excuse the pun.

As for me: I like art and artists and think that it is an eminently worthy pursuit, even if it never results in great personal wealth, or even a decent living: it is the art itself that counts.

I find it refreshing that an ordinary bookstore would actually pay such heed to drawing. There is, I think, more depth to this nation, than one might first grasp. No doubt there are more clues out there, waiting to be seen.

I will let you know when I spot one.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to:
http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/
Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/
Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

Superhuman Genius Documentary ITV1 and ITV2

Last night, Ainan, eight, appeared in a documentary on ITV1 in the UK, entitled "Superhuman Genius". He was one of five people featured, including the American savant, Kim Peek, the American child prodigy artist, Akiane, Ben Pridmore, the UK Memory Champion and Ariel Lanyi, an Israeli child prodigy pianist.

The show is being repeated tonight at 9 pm on ITV2, for those able to catch it, in the UK.

I haven't seen the show myself but I understand it showed Ainan at work on Chemistry at Singapore Polytechnic.

Filming the show was an enjoyable experience for Ainan and one that opened him up a bit, I feel. He is unlearning his essential shyness, year by year and experiences like this are a help.

For those able to see the show it just offers a glimpse of Ainan at work - there is a lot more to be told. It is, however, an introduction to him and his work.

So, do tune in to Superhuman Genius, ITV2, if you are in the UK this evening.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.)

Artfriend and customer service in Singapore

On Friday, 21st September, we went to Artfriend, the Singaporean art supplies shop.

We went there to buy art materials, subsequent to our meeting with Mr. Loh, a Singaporean artist, who was having an art show and Claude, an Art manager, (and Mr. Loh's manager through a firm known as Art Management) at The Coffee Connoiseur, known as "The Gallery" in the Raffles Place area. Mr. Loh had wanted to see some of Syahidah's works (Claude Verly's idea, who represents Mr. Loh). More of that meeting in another post, perhaps.

Now, Singapore is famous for its shops. This fame is not unfair, in terms of the infrastructure: there are a lot of very highly presented, polished and beautiful shopping malls. So, the architectural element is there. Where Singapore fails, however, is in the human element. Customer service is not a tradition here - indeed, the populace seem to think of themselves as being above service. This attitude creates a situation in which poor service is a daily occurrence - in every aspect of human interaction, here.

The trip to Artfriend was a typical example. We went there with two particular items in mind. We had chosen Artfriend simply because it is the biggest art supplier in Singapore, with the greatest number of shops and the best locations. One would have thought, then, that it would be good at what it does. This is not, however, necessarily so. Artfriend it may be called, but a friend to Art it may not be - as we shall see.

I approached a sales assistant who appeared to be busy with daydreaming: "Excuse me, do you have Unipin pens?" At least, that is the name of the pen I thought I had been given.

He led me to a rack of pens that looked nothing at all like the one I had seen. He assured me that these were it. Large, thick pens stared up at me. "Do you have smaller ones?" For the one I had seen was much slimmer.

"No, these are the only sizes we have left."

I marvelled, then, at their capacity for stock control. Surely, someone in that shop (and there were perhaps a dozen or more staff), should have noted the declining stock of pens, such that the smaller sizes - in all colours - were now missing.

Nevertheless I took two of the pens in question: one black, one white.

The next question seemed to stump them.

"Do you have marker paper in higher gsm, than 70?"

The first staff member I asked said: "Wait." and went off to get someone else.

That someone else appeared after a minute or so.

I repeated my question.

He went, "I don't know..." and went off.

He returned with a third person.

I repeated my question.

He replied with a puzzled silence and kind of wandered off, while I wasn't looking.

No-one else came to help.

I decided to look around the shop for myself - but could find nothing that matched my need.

So, I braved the remarkably uninformed staff again.

"Do you have coated art card?"

"I will get someone." came the unknowing reply.

Someone came.

I asked my question again.

"Coated art card?" He repeated, as if hearing an alien tongue for the first time.

He wandered off.

No-one came.

Finally I collared a sixth member of staff and asked my question again.

"We don't have it for art", he said, at least knowing what I meant, "It is just for printing." Then he turned to leave, before I could reply.

"Wait," I requested, he paused, mid-step, reluctantly, repressing an urge to speed away, "show me."

He turned slowly around and came back to where I was. Then he passed me and showed me a wrack of papers alongside one wall. "There."

I noted that they were glossy. "Do you have matt?"

He sort of shrugged - combining not knowing and not caring in one gesture.

I tried one more question - a central one to all artists, who care about the longevity of their work.

"Is it acid-free?" I asked, clutching one piece of the art card, between the fingers of my left-hand.

"No.", his head shook, that was something he was sure about, "We don't stock acid-free card."

I was flabbergasted at that. Singapore's leading art supplies shop was selling materials that would guarantee that anything created on them, would crumble away in a few short decades. Like I said "Artfriend" they may be called, but a friend to Art they may not be. It is irresponsible - and unfair - to sell art materials to artists, that will not endure. It seems such a waste of all the effort put into creating something.

He turned to leave but then, in an afterthought that constitutes the first piece of real service since I had entered the shop, he said: "Try Straits Commercial on North Bridge Road." I had never heard of Straits Commercial - and he had to spell it for me - but one day, soon, we will have to go there. Perhaps they sell materials worth making art upon.

Oddly, just as we were about to leave the shop, we met Claude, the art manager, buying some materials of his own. He didn't seem in a mood to speak, so the conversation was a brief one.

"Singapore is so small..." I began.

"Especially for the enlightened." he agreed.

I left with one thought in my mind: a shop, in my childhood, manned by an elderly Polish couple, who had survived the most terrible of events in the World War II. It was a stationery shop. What was notable about them was that they had offered everything that Artfriend had not. They knew everything about everything in their shop. Whatever you asked, they would know instantly where it was and what it could do. They were friendly, too, talking widely about life. Even as a child, I had appreciated the way they were - and chose them over the stationery chainstore that was their nearby competitor.

There is a difference between the shops of my London childhood, and the ones of Singapore. The ones of London did not glisten like the Singaporean ones - but they shone in another way. The staff really knew their jobs - and cared about their customers. Here, in Singapore, the staff know nothing about their jobs, and couldn't care less about their customers.

I don't know the cause of this situation. Is the pay so low that staff turnover is so high, that no-one works long enough to learn anything about their jobs? Or do they just not care? Whichever it is, the result is the same. It took the asking of six people - perhaps half the staff in the rather large shop - to find one who could provide me an answer - and that answer was in the negative.

Shopping shouldn't be like that. Nor should any other area of customer service. Singapore has the gloss - but now it needs to work on something else: a smile for the customer that means something - and competence on the job. Right now, few, very, very few shops in Singapore, can boast of either.

As for Artfriend: why not ensure that all your stock is acid-free, in future? That will help make sure that Singaporean art has a future.

When we got home, we tried the pens. Neither worked - or at least could not be made to work, seemingly lacking ink. Nor were they of the brand name sought. Ah well...

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and nine months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and two months, and Tiarnan, nineteen months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Hafiz Osman Wins Art Award

I would like to congratulate Hafiz Osman, my brother-in-law, on winning the Winston Oh Art Award.

As long-term readers of my blog will know, Hafiz Osman is a Singaporean contemporary artist with a gift for the abstract, who works in many media, from painting, through to sculpture - and even interior design/furniture. Hafiz makes his living as an artist, which is unusual in a Singapore context, since this is a land built on finance and trade: it is not, yet, a bastion of the arts (though, who knows, it one day might be, if the Government has its way, in building a vital culture, here).

The Winston Oh Art Award is conferred on a Singaporean artist to allow them to travel to an international Art Biennal, giving them the opportunity to participate, promote their work, build a career - and learn from the experience. It is refreshing that there should be such an enabling award for Singaporean artists - for without such support it is difficult for artists who have not yet made an international name for themselves, to build their careers. It is a good step in the right direction, that Singaporeans should have initiated and supported such an award. There are other art awards in Singapore - and I am happy to see this trend: it promises a better future for local artists - and, that in turn promises a better future for Singapore. Consider this: what better advertisement could there be for Singapore than to have the art of a Singaporean on the walls of tens of thousands of homes of influential people around the world? Such artistic success greatly bolsters the impression of creative power that a country leaves on others. Few local artists have managed to build an international career - but should this change, and local artists, become international ones, it can only be good for Singapore's overseas reputation - as well as, of course, allowing the artist to focus more on their work and life, without so much financial struggle (which is an inevitable part of every artist's career - in the early stages, at least.)

The Winston Oh Art Award will cover Hafiz Osman's travel costs to the International Biennial of Contemporary Art, 2007, in Istanbul. There he will participate in Real Presence - Floating Sites, 2007. This is a parallel project within the Biennial in both Istanbul and Belgrade. Hafiz had received an invitation to both Belgrade and Istanbul, but circumstances dictate that he should attend Istanbul, alone. Nevertheless, this will be a great opportunity for him to raise the profile of his work, overseas, to engage with other artistic minds and forge alliances with other artists that may, in time, lead to collaborative enterprises. (The latter is one of the intentions of the art project.)

Real Presence - Floating Sites is described as a workshop at which international art academies will give presentations of art works and hold a conference; individuals will present their works and give performances; artistic talks and discussions will be held - and, interestingly, in which works, installations and projects will be realized "in situ".

The number of Art academies and Institutions involved is phenomenal - and the list that follows, for the sake of information, is incomplete, for at the time of the invitation, not all participants had been finalized. At the very least however, the following renowned art academies and institutions will be in attendance:

ALBANIA > ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS, TIRANA > Selector on-call Edi Muka, video presentation > Prof.: Edi Hila, Edi Muka, Gezim Qendro
AUSTRIA > Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna > Rector: Stephan Schmidt-Wulffen, Professors: Heimo Zobering, Peter Kogler, Eva Schlegel …
University of Applied Arts, Vienna, Visual Media, Prof. Peter Weibel
BULGARIA > Academy of Fine Art, Sofia > Prof. Assistant Pravdoliub Ivanov
CROATIA > Academy of Fine Art, Zagreb
GERMANY > Staatliche Hochschule Für Bildende Künste, Frankfurt > Rector Daniel Birnbaum, Professors: Ajse Erkmen, Tobias Rehberger
Kunstakademie Berlin, Prof. Katharina Sieverding
Kunstacademie, Dusseldorf> Professors: Helmut Federle, Jannis Kounellis, Klaus Rinke, Georg Heoxl
Academy Of Fine Art, Braunschweig > Prof. John Bock
Academy of Fine Art, Munchen > Prof. Olaf Metzel
FINLAND > Academy of Fine Arts Helsinki, Prof. Seppo Salminen
BOSNIA > Academy of Fine Art, Sarajevo> Prof. Radoslav Tadić
BULGARIA > Academy of Fine Art, Sofia > Prof. Andrej Daniel, Prof. Assistant Pravdoliub Ivanov
CZECH REPUBLIC > Akademie Vytvarnych Umeni, Prag
DENMARK > Royal Danish Academy of Fine Art, COPENHAGEN > Professor: Frans Jacobi >
ESTONIA > Academy of Fine Art, Tallinn > E+Media Centre, Professor: Mare Emmott Tralla >
FRANCE > Academy ofFine Art > Prof. Richard Deacon
HOLLAND > Dutch Art Institute - AKI 2 – Enschede > Director MA Hendriekje Bosma
HUNGARY > Academy of Fine Art, Budapest > Prof: Eszter Lazar
ICELAND > Academy Fine Art, Reikyevik > Selector: Ósk Vilhjálmsdóttir, Living Art Museum
IRELAND > University of Ulster, School of Art ahd Design, Belfast > Hilary Robinson
ITALY > IUAV prof. Angela Vettese, Prof. Giulio Alessandri
Accademia Delle Belle Arti Brera, Milano > Prof. Alberto Garutti, Paolo Gallerani >
MACEDONIA > Academy of Fine Arts, Skoplje > Prof. Stanko Pavleski
NORWAY > Statens Kunstakademi, Oslo
POLAND > AKADEMIA SZTUK PIEKNYCH - Academy Fine Art Warschau, Selector Hanna Wroblewska
PORTUGAL >Escola de Artes Visuals, Lissabon > Prof. Jürgen Bock
ROMANIA > Universitatea De Arte Din Bucuresti > Professors: Roxana Trestioreany, Iosif Kiraly
SINGAPUR (SINGAPORE) > Lasalle-Sia College of The Arts > Dean: Milenko Pravacki
SLOVENIA > Academy of Fine Arts, Ljubljana > Prof. Sračo Dragan
SOUTH AFRIKA > Technikon Pretoria-Postcolonial Studies > Prof. Johan Thom
SERBIA > Academy of Fine Arts, Belgrade > Prof. Mrđan Bajić
Academy of Fine Arts, Novi Sad > Dean: Nenad Ostojić
MONTENEGRO, Academy of Fine Arts, Cetinje > Dean: Pavle Pejović
SWEDEN > Umeå Art Acade my, Profesor: Cecilia Parsberg
SWITZERLAND > Hochchule fur Gestaltung Kunst, Zurich > Professors: Cristoph Schenker, Peter Emch,
UNITED KINGDOM > Metropolitan University London, Audio Visual Production, Prof. Yossi Balanescu
Chelsea Art School, London

As you can see, therefore, this is a truly exciting opportunity for Hafiz Osman, one of Singapore's young "up-and-coming" artists, to show his work and interact with artists and art academics from around the world.

Hafiz Osman was trained at La Salle-SIA College of the Arts, here in Singapore, where he obtained his Bachelor's in Fine Arts. He has held several exhibitions, here in Singapore - and even in Europe. He is presently studying for his Master's in Fine Arts at La Salle-SIA College of the Arts, while simultaneously lecturing there, to support himself.

I wish him luck on his trip to Istanbul as a representative of Singaporean art.

Real Presence - Floating Sites at the International Biennial of Contemporary Art, 2007, in Istanbul, will run from the 3rd September 2007 to the 10th September, 2007.

The Winston Oh Art Award is named after Winston Oh, a Singaporean artist, born in 1941, who, lives and works in Essex, England, now. His speciality is watercolours and he has worked in many countries.

(If you would like to read more of Hafiz Osman, or Ainan Celeste Cawley, his nephew, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and eight months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and one month, and Tiarnan, eighteen months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, genetics, left-handedness, College, University, Chemistry, Science, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

The signs of an artist

I believe that who we are to become is evident in our childhoods. Careful observation of any child will lead to an understanding of their special gifts, strengths and passions, their natural inclinations and ways of thinking.

Observation of Fintan, four exactly, points us in several directions but mainly, two: life as an actor and life as an artist.

At the weekend, I took Fintan to see Transformers. At the end of the show, I asked him which transformer he had liked best. Instead of giving me a name, or a description, he did what can only be interpreted to be an infallible sign of an artist. Fintan drew the Transformer in the air, before my eyes. He traced the lines of the one he liked, as I watched.

"Optimus Prime? The big truck Transformer?" I gathered.

He nodded.

This display pleased me. It showed me how Fintan is beginning to think: as an artist does - in terms of lines and structures. Here what is significant is not only what Fintan did - but what he did not do. He did not reach for words, to describe his favourite Transformer; he did not give a name, he did not give a description - his instinct was to draw it, in front of him - to convey the image he had in his mind, directly to me. This shows me that visual thinking predominates in him - but it also shows me that the visual mode is his preferred means of communication.

I think Fintan will one day say much, in silence, with his pencil in his hand, sketching his thought, but not speaking of it. This is the characteristic of a true artist.

(If you would like to learn more of Fintan, four years and no months, or his gifted brothers, Ainan Celeste Cawley, seven years and seven months, and Tiarnan, seventeen months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted children and gifted adults in general. Thanks.)

Delayed gratification and achievement

We live in an impatient world. A world in which everyone wants everything done yesterday. Yet, is such a world a world in which greatness can thrive?

I would suggest not. Greatness comes from great effort over a long time. No significant project of human creativity happens without determined effort. Novels don't write themselves. Scientific revolutions don't just happen. Works of art don't just appear on the canvas. In all forms of creation there is the inescapable fact that someone must have put a lot of time into their art or science. This is the time it takes to learn the art, or science; the time it takes to find a worthy project; the time it takes to come to a solution to the problem or artistic expression - and the time it takes to make it happen, to make the art real, the science solid. None of this happens without a hidden factor: patience. This is the ability to simply endure while all this painstaking work takes place. There is too little of this ability in the modern world. Everyone expects everything to be immediate - and yet, without this ability to patiently endure while the slow process of creation unfolds, nothing worthwhile can ever be created. Only the trivial can happen in an instant.

So, does the modern love of instant results make for a shallow modern world? I believe so. Very few people of today have the quality of lifelong endurance that characterized most of the great geniuses of the past. People today want a life of instant luxury founded on the least effort possible: they want, in brief, instant gratification. Yet, it is a truism, that if the pleasure is immediate, the reward is slight. The greatest rewards come to those able to wait.

Yet, all is not lost. Some children show this nascent quality of delayed gratification - and its consequent possibility of great achievement - in their earliest years. One example is my son, Fintan. I can't help but note his ability to buy some chocolates - and simply hold them, without eating them, for several hours, until his older brother Ainan has returned home, so that he might share them with him. That shows the quality of delayed gratification most clearly - but also the quality of selflessness - for Ainan would never know if Fintan had simply eaten the sweets without a thought for him.

I look therefore at Fintan and note two things about him. He likes to draw - and has a gift for it. He also shows the ability to delay gratification. Putting these two attributes together one could conclude that he has the basic dispositions of an artist.

We will see what he eventually turns out to be and to do - but, at only three years old, it is quite straightforward to see foundational psychological attributes at work, in him, that could give rise to an interesting life to come.

(If you would like to read more of Fintan, three, or his gifted brothers, Ainan Celeste Cawley, seven years and six months, or Tiarnan, sixteen months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children. Thanks.)

Fintan and the secrets of the Sun

I like Fintan's outlook on the world. It is one crafted of reason and imagination - and one that is uniquely his own. He has his own means of expression which I have tried, occasionally, to capture, but perhaps have not yet fully succeeded: I call it Fintanism. By this I mean that he says things in ways that others wouldn't. It is his own outlook, his own vision that speaks. I think is important - for everyone who becomes an artist - as he promises to do, with the way he sees the world and the way he interacts with it - must have their own point of view. This is the defining characteristic - more than any technical skill or ability to produce art - the defining, foundational attribute is that of a unique viewpoint. If there is no uniqueness, there can be no original art. The work would just be as others' is. It would say nothing new and be nothing interesting. Thus, when seeing if a child can be an artist, we must first look to the question: are they different, somehow? Are they moved in different ways? Do they see the world differently? Are their responses their own? Are their utterances unique, in some way - do they, basically, have their own personality and their own outlook?

If the answer to these questions is yes and they show an additional interest in creative production in some artistic medium - then there is promise for them. If, however, they just show production in a medium - without any uniqueness in their responses - I would argue that there is little artistic promise at work. The first property of an artist is individuality - if it is not possessed then there is no artist - or artistry.

About three weeks ago, after we had been in the pool and I had managed to coax them through the sometimes long process of actually leaving the pool, Fintan, three, took it upon himself to stand under a palm tree.

"Look Daddy!" he said, excitedly, "The tree doesn't make me hot."

I was struck by the quirkiness of this way of looking at things: that the tree should not be the giver of heat, entertained the thought that it might have been.

There was Fintan, standing in the shade of the palm tree, by the pool, observing that, in the shade, he was not hot.

Then he did something that any scientist might. He moved to another tree, and stood under it, to see the effect of this one.

Again he pronounced his verdict: "The tree doesn't make me hot."

He was quite pleased with this - not alone because the observation was correct, in its own oddly expressed way - but because Singapore is hot, from his stocky perspective, and thus finding a place that isn't so hot is quite a pleasant discovery.

He did it once more, with a final, larger tree, before leaving the environs of the pool.

"The tree doesn't make me hot." He announced, finally, his observation most thoroughly investigated.

What is interesting about this, besides the quirkiness of his way of thinking and expressing himself, is what it says of his awareness of his environment. These palm trees let quite a lot of light through their leaves - for there are large gaps between them, and few leaves - so the difference in temperature is marginal. Yet, Fintan was sensitive to the change which he had first noticed simply because he had walked under the tree and felt the difference - then stopped and made his observation.

So, Fintan is not only visually aware. He is aware of temperature as well. I would say that it is becoming likely that Fintan is very aware in ALL of his senses. Being aware is part of his nature. If there is something to observe, in his surroundings, it is characteristic of Fintan that he does not fail to observe it. This too is the mark of an artist in the budding.

Who knows, perhaps he will draw beneath the shade of a palm tree. There are certainly plenty to choose from, around here.

(If you would like to learn more of Fintan, three, or his gifted brothers, Ainan Celeste Cawley, seven years and four months, or Tiarnan, fifteen months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Fintan chooses his colours

Today Fintan, three, dressed as a Power Ranger to go shopping with us. It is a normal occurrence in life with Fintan, to be accompanied by some variety of Super Hero. He prefers the attire of such people to his everyday clothing and will change out of his school clothes in the afternoon, after school, and slip into one of his Alter Egos or true identities. We, of course, accept this without question.

Anyway, today he was a blue, yellow and white Power Ranger. That was not what I thought was unusual. What I did notice was two straws that he had selected, somewhat earlier. He had been given the choice of many colours - and what did he select?

He chose yellow and blue - in shades that perfectly matched his outfit. He then joined them end to end to make a kind of sword in blue and yellow, that co-ordinated perfectly with his Power Ranger costume.

It was a small touch - but one that captures Fintan's outlook very well. He is not only fashion conscious - but he carries his personal aesthetic over into everything he does. Even the choice of a straw is made against the backdrop of how it would look with what he was wearing at the time.

One day, his wife is going to be very happy to have a man who can advise her on what she is wearing!

I am becoming more and more convinced, as the months pass, that Fintan will be some kind of artist. He already is in his way of looking at things - and it peeps through in much of his behaviour. He makes choices and does things that could only arise from conscious aesthetic decision-making. They are choices that would only be made if his thinking were along aesthetic lines, following some internal sense of taste. It is very interesting to watch this growing in him.

Fintan's creative perception

Fintan, three, sees the world through artist's eyes. An example of this occurred a couple of months ago.

We were travelling back from the East Coast (an artificial beach, actually), when Fintan pointed out of the window and said: "Man who...", then he pulled back an imaginary arrow on an imaginary bow, indicating with actions what he had no words for.

I looked at where his eyes were fixed. There stood an incomplete metal structure. It looked like part of a giant Ferris Wheel. It was positioned in the Marina area. A memory came back to me that once it was mooted that Singapore build a giant "Eye" like that in London. Perhaps this was it. Or perhaps this was some kind of industrial machine whose purpose was not clear. It was a grey metallic structure consisting of an upright column, with a metal framework attached shaped like a slice of cheesecake: an arc stretching out into space. Clearly it was only partially built. Now, that he had pointed it out, I, too, could see how it could be seen as an archer, standing majestically by the sea.

How beautiful is Fintan's world that he can see such things in it. He sees patterns everywhere, reinterpreting the world with his artistic gaze wherever he looks. In many ways, his way of seeing is much more interesting than the world actually is. For everywhere he looks he sees something exciting in it. This pattern matching, of course, is an old tendency of many men: one need only think of those who first saw the constellations above in points of light and gave them names and histories. Fintan is doing the same in his own way, with his own world: giving a little magic to a world that may have none without it.

Perhaps Fintan the pattern finder will become Fintan the artist, one day. His outlook certainly seems like one.

Fintan draws mummy and daddy

Yesterday, we gave Fintan, three, a piece of charcoal and a piece of paper to see what he would do. He decided to draw his parents.

First, he drew mummy. He gave her eyes which looked like eyes and a mouth which looked like a mouth. The eyes had lashes and the mouth had teeth. He did not draw a stick figure stereotyped face as most children draw - but actually sought to render what he saw before him. It might have been better if we had given him another medium rather than charcoal for he tended to smudge what he had drawn - but the results were very interesting. He actually produced a recognizably human face.

Daddy's face was less complimentary - but again he followed the "draw what I see" mode and came up with something in a style of his own.

What was particularly interesting was the manner in which he tackled the task. When it came to me, he held the charcoal in his hand and looked at me for a long pause, as he took in what was before him, before he began to draw. He was very much performing as the little artist deciding how to approach his subject. He drew with earnest but with speed and clearly enjoyed what he was doing. Perhaps he will be an artist like his mummy, one day. It would be nice to think so.

We didn't direct him in how to draw, but let him draw as he pleased: that way we had a chance to see how he saw the world - and not how we wanted him to see it. It is better that way, I think. It is more true to the child.

Singapore shopping with a smile

It is strange how often strangers smile at us, now. Strange - but good.

Yesterday, I went shopping with my wife Syahidah - there is a tale to tell about that, which I shall another time, but for now I would like to focus on the smiles.

We went to an arts supply shop, Art Friend, in Orchard - they have several branches throughout Singapore - and there we asked an assistant about materials. The lady couldn't have been more helpful, leading us to where the pastels were located, even getting us a box to put them in. She told the cashier how to charge us (differently owing to our special request) and made sure we got everything we wanted. She was the second assistant to help us in that shop. The other - a young man - had explained which materials to use with which supplies and shown us where each were located.

I don't know if it was just a lucky day but the service seemed better than average, that day. I had the uncanny feeling they knew of us, already.

(The art materials were for my wife, for, as you may know if you are a regular reader, she is an artist - like her brother, Hafiz. She does portraits, in a unique style; he does abstracts.)

The same thing happened in a toy shop. The assistant was very keen to help; very keen to show us where everything was - and after we settled the bill, she looked directly at me and gave me the biggest of smiles. I am not used to that - big smiles being thrown in my direction - but I must say it is pleasant to be on the receiving end.

Everywhere we went; we were bathed in this warmth. It was not from all people - but enough seemed to know us and respond to us positively to make the feeling of the city warmer than it had been, more welcoming.

This warm welcome says something good about Singapore and Singaporeans. It says that Singapore does not begrudge its gifted - in a very real way, they are welcomed. At least if our experience is anything to go by. In this manner, I see that Singapore has a bright future - for here if, again, our experience is typical - the bright may be allowed to shine and in shining, make the whole society shine. Perhaps that is why they call it a "meritocracy" - and promote meritocratic principles throughout the society. Perhaps the smiles we are receiving are a symptom of the adoption of a meritocratic outlook.

I think it will do Singapore a lot of good to maintain such an outlook - and such a set of principles. It is an outlook and a way of living on which a great city may be built, in time.

Tiarnan's first adventures in Art

There is something spooky about Tiarnan in that he does things which, if done deliberately would appear to be remarkable - but, we are left to judge - was it deliberate or was it accidental?

This phenomenon occurs when Tiarnan is given a pencil and paper. We have only recently done this. He holds the pencil firmly in his fist but, interestingly, does not scribble on the paper. He applies the pencil to the paper, with control. The first time I saw him do this he drew a heart-shape - and a square: both recognizable. Was that deliberate or not? We have no way of knowing.

Yesterday, however, with his mother, he added a single line to a drawing she had done. Now, again, we are left to wonder at the coincidence of it. Did he intend the line - or was it lucky happenstance? You see my wife had drawn a face without a neck. Tiarnan added a single line. It was not a straight line but one which bent in a rather apt fashion. The odd thing is where he put the line. He drew it in exactly in the right position so that it completed the drawing and gave the face a neck and suggested a chest below. I didn't see him do this. So, when I saw the drawing, I complimented my wife on the interesting way she had drawn the neck. "I didn't do that...Tiarnan did."

That could just be miraculous luck. However, it should be noted that he controlled the pencil very well - it was not a scribble, but a carefully placed line, that looked like it had been fashioned by my wife.

What happened next is, however, very clearly deliberate and indicates Tiarnan's state of mind with regards to exploring Art.

He took each coloured pencil in turn and drew the same straight line on paper, for each one. He did so methodically, drawing one line for each colour and studied the result. He also drew some of them with his left hand and some with his right as if trying to decide which hand was better for this task.

It was interesting to note that he drew the same line with each one: it was as if he wanted to compare the appearance produced by each pencil, by controlling other variables (like what he actually drew). Again, he didn't scribble. Each line was carefully controlled.

So what do we have here? We have a baby who doesn't scribble when given a pencil, but draws careful lines. He is thirteen months old. Could he be an artist, in the making?

(If you would like to read more of Tiarnan, thirteen months, or his gifted brothers, Ainan Celeste Cawley, seven years and three months, a scientific child prodigy, or Fintan, three, then please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of child prodigy, IQ, gifted education, intelligence, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)