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FREEBIES ALERT:
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An Interview with Dr. Georgia Lee
Wanna know what it's like to be a socialite in Singapore? HOOKED chats up with Dr. Lee, a prominent figure in Singapore's high society, to find that socialites need not be all about play and no work. |
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SCENE'N'HEARD
NUS Arts Festival Coverage
HOOKED reviews some of the top performances held during the recently concluded festival, including Love Is In The Air opening concert, Hip Hop Night '08, Terpsichore 2008: __:59 dance showcase, as well as I Left My Heart At Outram Park KR hall production. |
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SCENE'N'HEARD
Cleo Bachelors Finals Party 2008 - School's out!
Every self-respecting lady should arm herself with a man worthy of her. HOOKED troops down to the party in search of the most eligible man for you. |
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SCENE'N'HEARD
An Evening with Broken Social Scene
Less than half of its contingent came, yet Broken Social Scene has doubled the expectations. HOOKED spends an evening with these talented musicians for a night of hyper-kinetic fun. |
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CAMPUSRAVE
Fake it 'til you make it:
The Elitist Complex
Does plastering yourself with branded clothing alleviate your social status? With the rising number of brand-conscious upstarts seen around campus, HOOKED attempts to make sense of such atas behaviour. |
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REALLIFE
Living the High Life:
Not All About Money
What is it that separates the bourgeoisie from the aristocrats? HOOKED explains why cold, hard cash is not enough to buy your way into the high society. |
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HE SAYS SHE SAYS
How Low Would You Go?
They say love can transcend all boundaries, but can it really overcome class differences? HOOKED examines how important it is to have an equal footing in a relationship between He and She. |
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GLAMOURUS
Fashionable Elites or Elitist Fashion?
Fashion may be part and parcel of our lives, yet it still seems elusive to most of us. Is Fashion only for the elites? Let HOOKED's resident fashionista tell you what it takes to get on the Fashion highway. |
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FOODTALK
Atas Makan Places
Check out HOOKED's list of posh restaurants to see and be seen in! Don't be silly; it has nothing to do with how good the food taste. |
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E-REVIEWS
The Atas Guide to Museum-Hopping in Singapore
We don't only review movies and albums. This time, HOOKED assesses our local museums where you could cultivate the atas soul in you. |
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E-REVIEWS
Crows Zero: Of Blood-thumping Violence
If being refined is not for you, how about watching some blood and violence to release your pent-up frustration? |
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ETCETCETC
10 Ways To Bluff Your Way Into Being Atas
HOOKED teaches you how to fake your way into the upper class. Whether you make it or not, however, is another story altogether. |
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Written by Teo Shu May & Tracy Wong
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"We're just into toys, whether it's motorcycles or race cars or computers. I've got the Palm Pilot right here with me, I've got the world's smallest phone. Maybe it's just because I'm still a big little kid and I just love toys, you know?" - Catherine Bell
Unlike Catherine Bell, most of us would probably not have the Palm Pilot and the world's smallest phone with us. What most of us do have, though, is a closet straining under the weight of old, battered toys that we are unwilling to dispose of.
Be it the classic favorite board game Monopoly or the simple deck of cards, toys are treasured repositories of memories. As we age, these toys might be kept out of sight and remain dormant in our minds but the memories that we have of the countless hours spent playing with them never really go away. They serve as perfect fodder for reminiscence during those slow days over a cup of coffee or tea.
Hooked set out to ask several of our NUS students the toys that were able to send them on a trip down memory lane.
Who remembers hugging a furry soft toy to sleep? Or realising complicated architectural dreams through Lego bricks?
Through our interviews, HOOKED found out that most people did play with at least one toy during their childhood. What we found interesting is how the choice of toys was differentiated by gender.
For example, most of the female respondents cited "teddy bears" or "soft toys" as their favorites, while male respondents chose more "masculine" options like Tamiya remote control cars or Ninja Turtles action figures.
When asked for their reasons, Peace Chiu, a FASS student, mentioned that playing "house" with wooden houses and little figurines "looked very cute and made me feel very homely."
 In contrast, the males probably preferred their action figures because they were customizable, and seemed a lot more "macho" than wimpy dolls.
It would not be unreasonable for one to perceive this common phenomenon as an indication of how children are already being socialized into their different gender roles (girls to be the housewives, guys to be the breadwinners) from young.
Hence, toys are one of the ways children act out these preconceived social roles - by choosing toys that appear to reaffirm their identity as either male or female.
Unfortunately (or fortunately), most people would probably not have had the good fortune to have all their Christmas desires fulfilled, and so HOOKED decided to ask our interviewees about their dream toys.
Yeo Shu Qi, a Life Science major, confessed that she has always wanted to have a miniature cooking set because it has always been "a childhood aspiration to be like mum in the kitchen!"
Lin Su Rong, a Psychology major, wanted a Barbie doll but never got one because "my parents didn't see the necessity, they felt that toys like Barbie dolls wouldn't be good and would only give me nightmares."
As for Bill Zhuang, an Electrical Engineering student, his dream had always been to own a remote controlled aircraft, as it is "one level up from cars! Heck, the thing actually flies!"
When pressed on their thoughts regarding contemporary toys, most held the view that toys have become more sophisticated over the years. However, they were split over whether this was a positive development.
Some felt that there is more variety nowadays and the quality of such toys has improved. Others disagreed, as Peace Chiu explains, "The toys nowadays are more sophisticated and creative, but I like the toys of my generation because they were simpler."
Shu Qi also brought up how this could be potentially bad, because parents and children are now "spoilt for choice."
To reasonably denote toys as timeless, one necessarily has to take a view on their future appeal. Hence, we asked our interviewees what toys they would buy for their kids and the responses we got were fitting with our preconceived notion of the timeless appeal of toys.
Bill Zhuang still settled for the Tamiya cars he liked so much, Su Rong would buy kitchen sets because "kids love to role-play, right?", and Peace Chiu would buy huggable soft toys, because "I always feel that having soft toys is having something close to the heart. I hope my child will also develop a sense of love for his/her belongings." Shu Qi also mentioned that she would buy "timeless pieces so we can relate our childhood stories to them as well!"
In the end, we found out that NUS students have fond memories of their childhood (non-living) playmates. While the type of toys will inevitably change, the need to play, to imagine and to recreate new worlds will always captivate children's minds, and that is probably the most significant reason why toys will always be kids' "eternal playmates". HOOKED
Pictures courtesy of Google Images.
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Toys
Written by Guest on 2008-03-12 11:52:38
 Preschool kids should not be able to appreciate toys that are too complicated I guess. Its the simple things that give them joy. Toys should not become too complicated, I agree. | Written by Guest on 2008-03-16 21:12:13
lego is unisex! ^^ |
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