Why is Singapore Reddit like that?
In 2025, after the election, many users proclaimed that Singapore's Reddit communities are echo chambers unrepresentative of broader Singapore.
The truth is more complicated: www.straitstimes.com/life/reddit-...
One of the depressing parts about being a journalist today is knowing how many people never read past the headline
In my first newsletter of this lunar new year, I take a look at why Western creators keep looking at Asian cities and seeing dystopian futures:
I've always believed that all good journalism is good gossip, and this is living proof of it:
You’re laughing. The Mellon foundation is providing grants to gender and area studies programs and you’re laughing.
A wave of controversy over sexually explicit AI deepfakes has not made billionaire Elon Musk’s social media platform X or chatbot Grok any less popular in Singapore.
Instead, it may have done the opposite.
It's sad but unsurprising to me that all the controversy surrounding x/twitter and grok have only made them more popular in Singapore - not less.
Much of my 2025 was spent writing about all the reasons that nightlife business operators are struggling in Singapore. Looking ahead, my prediction is that 2026 will be the year of nightlife going smaller - becoming a more niche and subcultural affair:
I've started blogging again - this time about why bad food reviews are so rare in Singapore (and the country's last honest food reviewer).
Read it here: www.singapore-samizdat.com/p/the-most-s...
This is the person who I've nominated for Singaporean of the Year, an award my newspaper gives out annually:
The end justifies the means. But what if there never is an end? All we have is means.
As the unique financial risks of Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) become apparent, we're seeing tightening regulations from governments across the globe.
And yet, BNPL is making a comeback in Singapore, increasingly embraced by the platforms that define commerce here. Here's why:
If you've ever wondered how pig-butchering or love scams begin, here's how.
Made all the more timely by that recent Reuters report published yesterday on how Meta's internal research estimated that its platforms were involved in a third of all successful scams in the US.
In 2006, Mr Pillai paid just $3 for his late-night journey home to Yishun from the city centre. Back then, the NightRider buses operated from 11.30pm to 4.30am, covering that stretch of the early hours when the MRT lines cease to run (...)
Shock therapy: why scary movies keep evolving – and making money
How Ruby went off the rails: A deep dive into the ownership and governance drama of some of the most important open source projects in the world
www.404media.co/how-ruby-wen...
The real generational divide is people who refuse to watch a video if it could be an article versus people who refuse to read an article if it could be a video
"What happens when a mall grows old?
According to tenants at one of Singapore’s longest-operating malls, it exists in a sort of commercial purgatory. Not quite dead or alive, but still necessary."
Drama in the cake world!
As someone who's long followed the cake picnic trend over TikTok (and the many successful and not so successful iterations around the world), I was surprised by the furore sparked by Singapore's own cake picnic:
Okay but this is high art @phaun.bsky.social
Do Singapore's Gen Zs still know how to party?
After speaking to dozens of Singapore's youngest generation of partygoers (and party sceptics), I came away with a strong impression that more needs to be done to ease the barriers faced by organisers and businesses for making a good time possible.
Just got my hands on the latest issue of meantime magazine and I am in awe of the design
"Friendships require infrastructure, and that infrastructure costs money. Creating free and accessible third spaces such as this, where young people can simply be, was money well spent."
"Feels like the end of an era."
Yesterday, fans said goodbye to the Projector one last time during a farewell party held at the beloved independent cinema.
Reporting on this story, I saw many teary eyes, toasts to the end of independent cinema and hopeful pondering about what comes next.
Find it fascinating how filmmakers see Asian cities as a visual shorthand for vaguely dystopian sci-fi futuristic modernity
www.reuters.com/investigates...
chatgpt words
love this new york times clip. they recently did a story about how sesame street's set has changed over the years, along with our urban politics.
IG nytimes
Discovered today that not everyone considers this nine year old viral tweet a seminal text in the field of social media studies but I do
