Child prodigies in Asia.

To my surprise, in the past week, Edvantage, a Singaporean education site, included Ainan in an article about "Child prodigies in Asia". He was just one of quite a few examples, given. You can read it here.

http://www.edvantage.com.sg/edvantage/photos/1307362/Child_prodigies_in_Asia.html

I note though, that Edvantage's knowledge of Ainan's achievements is quite limited since he has done much, much more than they have mentioned. However, I am not surprised at this, since Ainan has been essentially ignored by the Singaporean media, since we left, with only one recent mention (of just 120 words), in the New Paper - and nothing else at all. So, it was a real surprise to me to see Edvantage writing about him, even if they are short on the facts.

There is one ambiguity in their write up. They mention that "Ainan's father, Valentine Cawley, moved to Malaysia for higher education". This is funny because it seems to be saying that I moved to Malaysia to go to University - and not my son. I wonder if that is what they meant to say, or whether they just became confused in their expression?

Anyway, for those who don't know, we moved to Malaysia so that my SON, Ainan, then 10, could go to University - not me.

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/11136175To 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.) 

Mining Magnate, NTV7, a Mandarin TV drama.

This week, I shot a couple of episodes of Mining Magnate for Mediacorp, for NTV7. This is a Mandarin (with English), TV drama about, as you might guess, a mining magnate and family. It is one of those very complex family dramas filled with intricate relationships and much in the way of tension between people. It is expected to begin showing in December 2012. I appear in episodes 9 and 12, which will be out, most probably in February 2013.

I  played the role of Mr. Robinson. He is a British man involved in business dealings in Malaysia. He is not the nicest of guys and holds certain chauvinistic attitudes more common, perhaps, in the 1960s, in which my scenes are set. He is also not beyond taking bribes and being otherwise less than straightforward in his dealings. He was disagreeable, but fun to play nevertheless.

The shoot was one of the most complex I have ever been on - in fact, the main scene had the most different shots that I have ever been in. It was a scene of many characters. Each character was at least a supporting role. So, each character ended up getting their own close up. When this was added to all the wide shots, shots at odd angles and so on, the total was an incredible number of shots for each aspect of the scene. Given that it was also quite a long scene, with much conversation, it took much longer than any comparable length of scene, I have ever shot in my life.

I can see why the director did this, though. He wants to create an intimacy with the reactions and feelings of each character, with the audience. Each of us was shown in detail. Our every little response was captured. As a result, I think the scene will have a great deal of intensity, when it is finally cut together.

I enjoyed the shoot, but found it very demanding. I cannot recall another scene in my acting life that required so many different shots of the same lines. It was instructive, however. I think I learnt a new level of appreciation for the technical possibilities of a dramatic, conversational scene.

The Director, Ken Ng, told me afterwards how much he enjoyed my work. "Your acting is really good.", he said. To others, he called me "the best". He also went on to say that  he wished he had known me earlier because he had finished an English language film with a Hollywood star only last year - and remarked: "You should have done that film!". It was clear he meant for me to have taken the Hollywood star's role. That was a high compliment indeed.

He promised to work with me again. I hope we do. It was a good experience.

When Mining Magnate comes out on NTV7, please let me know what you make of my work in episodes 9 and 12, by commenting below.

Thank you.

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/11136175To 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.) 

CNN, Ris Low and Scientific Child Prodigy.

Bizarrely, CNN has quoted my blog, on its website. They have excerpted an article I wrote, a while back, on Ris Low's atrocious behaviour, in her nascent career - or should I say, career of atrocious behaviour.

The link is here: http://www.cnngo.com/singapore/none/miss-singapore-world-2009-aftermath-811798

If you scroll down the article, you will see "Scientific child prodigy" quoted, in the latter half of the article. That is me.

Now this is the second instance, in the past month or so, of a major news organization linking to my blog - the other was the leading Danish newspaper Berlingske. So, I am both surprised and unsurprised - if it is possible to be both at once. Surprised, because there once was a time when I never could have thought of CNN linking to my writing; unsurprised, because they are most certainly not the first media organization to do so. (Even Bild, the German daily, and one of the biggest circulation newspapers in the world, has linked to my blog, in the past).

What seems to be beginning to happen, is that I am writing on many subjects, some of which are of general interest to mass media. In searching for background, journalists are stumbling on my articles and, if they have integrity and journalistic honour, they link to them and credit me with my thoughts, if they use or quote any. (I have seen instances in which this has not been done - and thoughts have just been lifted, without credit...but I will post of that another time...soon.)

It is strange being a blogger. If done well, a blogger is as good as any journalist - but freer. So, in a way, being a blogger is better than being a journalist, since I can genuinely write whatever I please (excepting that which would constitute libel...but then that would be discourteous in most cases, too, so common decency prevents that, anyway.) The only difference is that a blogger is, usually, not paid for their work. So, some might see the journalist as a superior position. However, it is not - for the very reason that the blogger is not paid. Being unpaid and being free to say the truth, without editorial or political interference, a blogger is more likely to be able to say - and to actually say - what needs to be said, on matters of importance. Furthermore, a blogger's opinion has not been "bought" in any way - it is a free opinion, freely given (in those parts of the world, in which a blogger feels free to speak, of course.)

Thus, but for the matter of making a living - which, in most cases has to come from somewhere else - the blogger is, in fact, the ideal media source. The blogger may not have access to the huge resources of a media organization - but they have the only tool that is really essential: a mind and a view to speak. Thoughts are free to those who are able to have them. Now, with blogging, those thoughts may be freely shared with the world. It is, in my opinion, a great step forward, in human culture that blogging should be available to all. The thoughts of so many more people, will now be on record, to speak of our times - and that will, one day, be seen to have incalculable value.

Yet, perhaps that day is already here - for the Bilds, the CNNs and the Berlingskes, of the world are already linking to my blog, quoting from it and acknowledging it. That can mean only one thing: the mass media is well aware of the value of the new media - and, instead of attacking it, they are incorporating it, into their discourse, using the minds of millions of bloggers, as a resource for their own articles. As long as they continue to properly credit the bloggers so referenced, this is a good development. I am left to wonder just how common this referencing of bloggers is going to become.

Anyway, thank you, CNN, for quoting my writing. It is much appreciated.

(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.

IMDB is the Internet Movie Database for film and tv professionals. If you would like to look at my IMDb listing for which another fifteen credits are to be uploaded, (which will probably take several months before they are accepted) please go to: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3438598/ As I write, the listing is new and brief - however, by the time you read this it might have a dozen or a score of credits...so please do take a look. My son, Ainan Celeste Cawley, also has an IMDb listing. His is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3305973/ My wife, Syahidah Osman Cawley, has a listing as well. Hers is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

Singapore: A Paparazzi Free Zone

Singapore is a paparazzi free zone. Keep it that way.

It may seem strange to my readers in other developed nations to speak of a paparazzi free nation - but Singapore is one. Here, there are no hordes of aggressive photographers chasing celebrities everywhere they go. Here there are no eager snappers waiting outside expensive restaurants and nightclubs to catch a shot of a star. Here there are no long-lensed privacy breakers, taking pictures on the beaches of underdressed superstars. No. In Singapore there is such a thing as privacy for the famous. I suggest that Singapore keeps it that way.

As I write, there is outrage in the Chinese world at paparazzi photographs of actress Zhang Ziyi, sunbathing topless on a private beach in St. Bart's with her partner, Vivo Nevo, an Israeli investor. Now, firstly, I must object to these photographs for one good reason: the private beach is actually OWNED by Vivo Nevo - so what were the paparazzi doing taking shots of someone, at home, on their own property? It really strikes me as invasive.

It was clear from the way that the famous couple behaved in the photographs that neither was aware that they were being observed. In some sense, therefore, a private moment with a loved one has been stolen from them, commercialized and used to make money for some soul-less paparazzi with no respect for the lives of others.

In Singapore, such things don't happen. I have never heard of a paparazzi style "stolen photograph" appearing in the media here, or elsewhere. Since 1999 when I moved here, I have never heard of such a photographer being active or such photographs being taken. There is, in fact, an almost total media silence regarding celebrities in Singapore. The only times celebrities appear in the news here is when they want to be - ie. they are promoting an album, book, film etc. This is a good thing. Just because someone is famous that should not mean that they are forever denied the pleasures of a private life. A life is a life - and everyone of us should have the right to spend whatever portion of it we wish, in privacy.

Alarmingly, however, I have heard, that someone in the Singapore media toyed with the idea of starting a paparazzi culture here. There was talk of setting up an official database of "targets", who could rightfully be pursued and photographed. Fortunately, the project never took off. I really hope it stays that way, for the last thing Singapore needs is to succumb to the lowest of the low aspects of other cultures. The habitual and unwanted invasion of privacy that paparazzis represent is the worst aspect of Western media culture. No "star", of any kind, could ever want such a thing. It most certainly does not enhance their lives to be subject to such ongoing random scrutiny. Indeed, it takes a very valuable thing away from such famous people: the right to be alone, the right to be unobserved, the right to peace and quiet. I don't think that any mature culture should penalize famous people in this way, just because they have done something to distinguish themselves. Being distinctive, is not something that should be punished with being forever under observation.

One of the things I like about Singapore is that it does NOT have a paparazzi "culture". There is something refreshing about a place that doesn't place the famous under permanent scrutiny. There is also something about it, that the rest of the world should learn from. In this respect, the WHOLE WORLD should be like Singapore. There should be no paparazzi photographers anywhere in the world. Indeed, to behave like a paparazzi and steal private moments, should be an offence punishable by very large fines (millions of dollars are sometimes made from such photographs, so the fines should be in the millions) and long prison sentences. This should be the norm around the world. No-one should be subjected to unwelcome intrusion upon their lives, famous or not.

Well done, Singapore, on getting something right. Please keep it that way. Singapore should remain an island where the famous and the anonymous have the same right to privacy, in public.

(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.

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

Victoria Beckham's Haircut and the idiocy of the modern world.

We live in the Time of the Idiot. This is clear to see when one looks at what is considered news.

A couple of days ago, Yahoo News carried a story about Victoria Beckham's new haircut. Apparently, the fact that she has cut her hair short warrants global communication. It is something that the whole modern world must know. The question is: why?

Why is it important for us to know of a change of haircut of someone who long ago stopped contributing anything to the world (if one considers her initial claim to fame - pop songs - a worthy contribution in the first place)? What does it matter if her hair is long, short, pink or balding? In truth, it is of no importance whatsoever - or it would be in a world that had its priorities right.

In a reasonable world, a world of values and rationality, none of us would know what Victoria Beckham's haircut looked like - quite simply because no-one would consider it important enough to communicate it. Her hair would remain on her head - but it would not be in our faces. Yet, sadly, perhaps tragically for Mankind and its future, we do know about Victoria Beckham's haircut. We are forced to know because it is thrust to the front page of Yahoo News and appears on hundreds of millions of browsers around the world. We have no choice but to know: it is there, before our eyes, when we check our mail (for many have a Yahoo account and perhaps another like Gmail, too).

We don't live in a reasonable world. We don't live in sensible world. We don't live in a world of values or proportion. We live in a mad world in which a young woman's haircut is thought of such earth-shattering merit that it must be known to all. Well, it isn't. Victoria Beckham is not important enough to know about. She doesn't merit any real attention. Her haircut, therefore, being but a part of the wholeness of Victoria, is of even less consequence. Neither should consume our attention. Yet, they do.

We live in a world where nonsense is purveyed as information, where emptiness is presented as knowledge. Victoria Beckham is a young woman. That is all. She is married to someone who has merit as a sportsman. That is all. She herself doesn't have much individual importance. Her haircut, therefore, should have none.

Now, I don't wish to pick on Mrs. Beckham. No doubt she makes a great wife to a great footballer. She once entertained many people with her pop songs. Yet, she doesn't, in any real sense, embody anything that should place her on our front pages every time she changes her haircut. In reality, no-one, AT ALL, merits discussion because of their haircut. A haircut is not important enough to communicate around the world. Our minds should not be filled with images of haircuts, our attention taken away from more important matters (like anything else at all). Yet, so it is. We live in the Time of the Idiot. A time when a haircut is of world importance - and where a pop song sets one on the same footing as major historical figures of lasting import.

Victoria Beckham's every move receives more attention, it seems, sometimes, than that of world leaders. Yet, the most major decision Victoria makes is which handbag to buy. Her decisions do not affect the lives and livelihoods of millions...so why, then, does she receive the attention of those whose decisions do have such importance? It is bizarre. It is also a purely modern phenomenon. There was a time when only people of true merit were famous. Now, some people are of very great fame but of very little worth. I will leave it to you to decide for yourself whether Victoria Beckham's worth is as great as her fame.

I would like a world in which news was news; a world in which all the information conveyed to me over every news channel had some baseline of merit and substance. Once, there was such a world. However, the modern era of mass media has dispelled it. Now, what is conveyed is not so much news, as entertainment. Victoria Beckham's haircut is not news, but it may be entertainment. However, the problem is, that the entertaining snippet of her latest haircut is conveyed as if it is news. It is time to draw a distinction between the two categories of information. News should fill news channels. Entertainment should be found elsewhere...

I wonder if my children will ever live to see a world in which news becomes news again. I wonder if they will see a time in which haircuts are, once again, matters of no consequence, and no-one knows of the Victoria Beckhams of the world. It is a world we used to have. It is a world I would like to see again.

(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.)