The Passing of Randy Pausch

I just read the news that Randy Pausch has passed away.

Prof Pausch taught virtual reality at Carnegie Mellon. A month after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, he delivered a lecture titled “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” which became an Internet sensation and has been watched by millions. An inspiring hour from a courageous man.

Yasmin Ahmad shoots the Singapore family

Late to the party but I’ve just learnt that the talented Yasmin Ahmad was hired by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports to shoot an ad for Singapore’s pro-family campaign! If you’ve been a longtime consumer of Singapore’s campaigns, then you’ll understand why this is about as out-of-box as it gets. Good on MCYS!

If you liked this, please treat yourself to more of Yasmin’s work. Among her most well-known are the festive season ads she does for Petronas. These two are my favourites.

Red Sports: Let Our Children Run

Recently, there has been some national introspection about whether we are becoming less rugged as a people. It’s not something anyone can answer scientifically, but judging from the anecdotes, the answer is an unsurprising yes.

This op-ed from Red Sports speaks to that subject, and I must say it was discouraging to read that the numbers participating in track and field at the school level is on the decline. Not to mention schools giving up Sports Day. And defocusing on those sports in which they are unable to win awards

Have we lost sight of what’s important?

At least one school hasn’t. Seng Kang Primary has daily PE. And if you know anything about the primary school curriculum, then you’ll know how much vision and leadership it takes for a primary school to sustain that commitment.

Good on them. And as parents, let’s encourage our schools to do what’s right by our kids.