Search the Community

Rather annoying feature although my understanding is that it is to minimise automated forum bots on here. As it is, am not keen to flood the forum with meaningless posts elsewhere just for the sake of enabling thread creation. So dear admins - do forgive the following "spam" posts and take it as feedback on a limitation of this policy. Thanks! Refer to thread title Refer to thread title Refer to thread title Apparently, one is unable to reply to one's own thread. Foiled!

“WHAT’S A GOOD USERNAME?!” Such was the source of my agony as I was handed a pair of figurative keys to MyAutoBlog. I’d asked the colleague from IT who was helping me set up this account if I really had to make an account with my work email, hoping I could use the username that came with my personal MCF account instead. “yes”, in lowercase no less, was what I got. Oh well. After a good 10 minutes (I think), I decided on this username (a reference I hope someone gets), juvenile and edgy as it may seem. I’m not content with my choice though. As I looked over at my Spotify immediately after I logged in to this account, I saw a username idea I liked more (“hypochondriac” - the title of one of my favourite albums which I hold dear), and as I begin writing this post another has surfaced in my mind (“textonlyyapper” - see the length of this post versus my bumbling self in person down below). It occurs to me I never formally introduced myself. Hello everyone, I’m Wei Feng. I started out in Sgcarmart doing video work, but I’ve always wanted to try my hand at writing professionally at some point in my life, having grown up reading various traditional publications like the usual broadsheets and magazines. A blast from the past, even for me (born in 1999). I had aspirations of becoming a tech journalist in primary school due to the now-defunct Digital Life weekly supplement bundled with The Straits Times on Wednesdays, and tech magazines like the-also-now-defunct Stuff Singapore and HardwareMAG (HWM, whose parent group HardwareZone should be a familiar online presence). Unfortunately, my journalism modules in polytechnic scared me off the job for a while. Also, I presumed it would be hard to get into the tech side without either knowing the right people (sigh) or making the rounds in boring departments first (Finance? Ew.). Bummer of a self-intro aside, I also started learning video editing and music production in secondary school, though it’s obvious which prevailed as a career. Nevertheless, the act of creation in various mediums has been a recurring desire in my life, and thus on top of my current job scope, part-time university and hobbies, I asked my superiors on multiple occasions for the opportunity to write. Hopefully, this not only scratches my itch to write, but also does my career trajectory some good. THE PERPETUAL CONTENT CREATION MACHINE With every piece of work, I strive to leave a positive impact. By positive, I don’t necessarily mean a favourable or pleasant impression, but primarily a sense of authenticity and intention. If my intention in creating something, struggles and all, gets across to its recipient and inspires them to make their own thing - that’s the sort of legacy I want to have. While there’s not much in the way of authenticity when it comes to the business of product reviews, I can at least forge my identity as a creator by using each video (or any creative work really) as an opportunity to try untested ideas, refine existing skill sets and occasionally stumble upon magic. It’s this sense of intention perhaps that may have helped me convert from being an intern to a full-time video editor here, and what made choosing this username so difficult. Lately, however, I feel like I’ve had to compromise on this ideal. I've sometimes struggled to find meaning in my work in recent months. As the work piles up, money comes flowing in (a little into my pockets of course), but out goes the time to explore new possibilities that could elevate the work further, and time to reflect on the results before moving on to the next project. Statistically speaking I’m doing fine (as my direct manager JayJay has told me a couple of times), but I cannot claim to feel the same way, not when existential dread fills my body lamenting my inability to strive for greater things. To be clear, Greek philosophy was not where I drew my username from. I am not cultured in that way. Perhaps that’s why my mind wandered to my username. “Ataraxia” is a term commonly found in Ancient Greek philosophies like Epicureanism and Stoicism that can be translated as “tranquillity”. A “hollow ataraxia” therefore could be construed as a false or meaningless peace, an apt description for my current predicament. One that leads to all sorts of thoughts surfacing. DOES ANY OF THIS MATTER? Plenty of literature out there grapple with ways of finding purpose or meaning in our lives, and I’d say I found mine back when I messed around with iMovie and GarageBand in secondary school. Life ever since has been a struggle to reconcile my ideals of creating what I want for a living with the reality that creative work isn’t viewed as having intrinsic value unless it provides some material value. In this age, it is content to be consumed in a moment and forgotten once the value has been delivered. I hate the use of that word. The idea that creative work gets diminished in such a merciless manner leaves me wondering what went wrong. Putting my frail state of mind aside, could you bear to say that the creators whose works inspire you are just making content? All your musical heroes and idols, the YouTubers who showed you all sorts of things, or the authors who shaped your worldviews? Or am I just deluded for wanting to pass on all these blessings I’ve received in kind? There are no answers for those. Best I can do is settle for now, in this endeavour to die or create. ~ Wei Feng Cover image: Album art for "hypochondriac" by brakence via Rate Your Music Images from: Pastamania (Singapore) via Facebook, The True Aesthete

Dear MCFers, got a question and hope you could help. My sis recently registered a business with ACRA. Let's say the name of her business is "myshop". She was given a priority to use this name "www.myshop.com" in internet. Assuming she has created a simple homepage using html and wishes to load this into internet, can someone please advise on the procedure. How much does she have to pay to host this page? Many thanks.

Hi bros, would like to be advised as mentioned below....Thanks a lot in advance. Have been trying to create DVD with music video (AVI format), so far using windows DVD maker and its like taking too long, and usually I would kill the process after sometime, note that I inserted about 10 titles, so doesn't make the file too big.... Any aftermarket software online which you guys recommend and of course with a faster speed during burning process..... Cheers !!

Hi, all. Have tried many ways to burn music video to DVD, but its either encountering error in the midst or even if disc successfully completed, the created disc was not able to be played on player. I.e. 1)Music video downloaded from youtube, 2)Convert into DVD format, in this case, the format is DVD NTSC, correct me if I'm wrong 3)Using some software to create the DVD with the converted video format Lastly, my aim is to allow the disc to be played on my car audio/dvd player, or even in home dvd player. Would like to be advised by experts here......in case I did the incorrect way or have missed any possible step. Much thanks!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLXiG9kQrwo

Another one making good money from religious business.... $500,000 pay for New Creation Church employee THE New Creation Church, which made headlines for raising $19 million on one Sunday last month for its upcoming multi-million dollar building, pays good money to its staff too. The independent church paid one employee between $500,001 and $550,000 in its last financial year, checks by The Straits Times showed. The church did not confirm if the amount went to its leader, Senior Pastor Joseph Prince, but told The Straits Times that its policy is to 'recognise and reward key contributors to the church and Senior Pastor Prince is the main pillar of our church's growth and revenue'.

hi moderator or whom-it-might-concern, not sure if u'll be reading this but here goes. LTA is launching more e-services on onemotoring.com. i suggest tt a 'links' page be created to house all the links to e various e-services. besides this, the 'linls' page can hv 'links' to various car dealers' website. of course e car dealers must agree to it, and as a 'fee' for the publicity, we negotiate w e car dealers to sponsor major MCF meetups etc. just thinking out loud. feel free to shoot me down