Category: Letters to the Editor

Letters to the editors from our crack-smoking readers

Dear Jeffree,

I’m writing on behalf of the creative folks at Bates and 141 Worldwide. You see, we’re always partying it up – seeing we manage all the Heineken parties and are responsible for all of its advertising and communication collaterals. In fact, we’ve seen our ugly mugs in your magazines before. But…often times we’re told by folks from the other agencies we’re in the magazines. By the time we try to get our paws on the copies, they’re all gone. So, what we’d like to ask is this: Please add us to your distribution list! We’ll try not to look like animals! – Many thanks in advance, Karen San, Creative Group Head, 141 Worldwide

Thanks for the kind words Karen, we’d be more than pleased to give you the ‘evidence” of your nights out on the town, just remember that we have the negatives! As for being hard to get, that’s been a problem from the start, the magazines are picked up as soon as they are seen. In fact, at some locations, 100 copies an hour fly out the door! You can count on us steadily increasing our print run each month to counterbalance this fact.

Letters answered by the cute FedEx guy.

Dear Think,

The “Techno Music” genre, as this troll calls it [Vol.2, Issue 17], is so far beyond stupidity and redundancy it’s not even worthy of being mentioned in your rag. The names of the genre descriptions aren’t exactly too accurate, either. For instance, there’s no defining moment to give breakbeat the rap crown as it’s been used since the dawn of German tekno/elektro/electronic pioneers, Kraftwerk.

If you want to hear BREAKBEATS, then simply listen to ’70s anthem, “Trans Europe Express.” In fact, if you want to hear the roots of all these genres, like “techno”, trance, breakbeats, elektro, etc., then Kraftwerk is highly in order. Another thing – electro clash has absolutely “nothing” to do with “funk” or funky sounds. Electro in itself is a very bizarre sound. Much more bizarre than “funk,” per se.

The genres your writer names are highly out of date and highly regressive. Not in the least underground whatsoever, save for the merging trance genres.You want some decent styles of old? Here you go:

Tekkno, hardcore techno, gabba (note: not gabbER), hard-acid, acidtrance, hard trance, ambient (I have to give this respect, it’s not heard much anymore), industrial (not NIN, but Front 242, Throbbing Gristle, The Normal, Non, Can, Fad Gadget, Cabaret Voltaire, etc), techno industrial, acid, new beat, etc.

Newer stuff: Hardbeat, hard dance, elektro-wave, industrial tekkno, etc etc.

This doesn’t even encompass the industrial genres or many other electronic genres that were “not” mentioned.

It would seem to me that your *cough* reviewer(s) is a bit biased as to what they write about. So be it, but keep in mind that what is being mentioned is not what is really kicking within the scene these days. I don’t expect you to understand this, though – you’re only a cheesy ragazine. – DJ NaNa

And yet you read this “cheesy ragazine.” And it wasn’t a *cough* review. The article was a breakdown of the ever-changing genres in electronic music. Is it dated? Yep, from the moment he wrote it down. In fact, it’s more than safe to say the genres that you’re honking are SO lame by now that publishing your letter will get you booted from the “underground” so fast your xl records will spin. But that’s okay. You can hang out with us cheesy ragazine people.

Letters answered by someone who is no longer with the company. We wish him the best in his future endeavours.

Dear Cigarettes,

Hey, how’ve you been? I know we haven’t talked in a while, but I was just thinking about you the other day. Everywhere I go people are talking about you. It seems like nobody wants you around. I really miss you, and I’ve been thinking a lot about the time we spent together.

Remember our first time? I didn’t really like you right away, but you kind of grew on me. Those first few months were really cool, until my mom found out we were seeing each other. Remember when my mom tried to break us up? We had to see each other in secret for so long. In bathrooms, behind dumpsters, in the backyard late at night.

Once I turned eighteen things were great. We got to see each other whenever we wanted. A lot of my friends didn’t want me to see you, they said you made me stink, but I said the only stink on me is the stink of unconditional love. Remember when I had to leave for boot camp, and I wasn’t allowed to see you for two whole months? Everyone said it wouldn’t last, but as soon as I finished we got back together. We totally proved them wrong.

I talked to coffee the other day. Remember when the three of us used to hang out at all night restaurants? That was great, me, you and coffee. I really don’t hang out with coffee anymore, because it makes me miss you too much, and it makes me shit.

I still talk to beer. Probably more than I should. He asked how you were doing, and I said we stopped seeing each other. He was surprised at first, but he wishes us both the best. I gave him your email address.

I hope you’re doing okay, I’d like to say we should get together sometime, but that will never happen. Especially when you’re twelve dollars a pack. – Love, Jim

Letters to the editors from our crack-smoking readers

THINK,

I just returned from a five-week trip to Tahiti and New Zealand. Let me know if you would be interested in a photo essay on the trip. – Doug Lim

Oh, hell yeah, we’re interested. We love pictures. It’s pretty unlikely that we’ll publish any of them, though, because we know how Tahitians freak out when they see their own images. Someone should tell them that cameras don’t steal their souls any more than white people do.

Klahan Pakpao Sukhon

Letters answered by Klahan Pakpao Sukhon, our security guard.

Dear MR. think, (via email)

Just looked at your web page, its pretty cool! Would you be intrested (sic) in getting free long distance and making some money at the same time? If so email me and i will get you some information. My email is [address removed]. – Thanks keep up the good work on your web page. James.

Ack! Please tell me you didn’t compliment our webpage, just so that you could sucker us into some deal selling phone cards or something. I’d be VERY upset and VERY depressed, and kill myself or you or something. Thanks for the compliment, if it was sincere! E-mail me that information, unless it IS some crappy [phone card] deal like that.

Supreme Argon leader, Mordack

Letters answered by our Supreme Argon leader, Mordack.

Dear Think,

Too bad you didn’t resist the temptation to do an “Eco-Green Issue.” I know this is going to sound terrible, and I know I’m not the only one who feels this way, but this whole “Going Green” movement that’s recently picked up so much steam is getting annoying. Everywhere I look, someone is telling me how I can reduce my carbon footprint.

That said, your story on going green didn’t completely drive me crazy. There were some good ideas and some really bad ones. How about these: going with LED lights is a great idea, because they’re energy efficient and look good. But using a real tree instead of a fake one doesn’t make sense. How does cutting down a tree help the environment? Yes, while growing, trees absorb carbon dioxide. But once you cut them down, they sure don’t. So the argument to go real or fake is not settled in the landfill. Isn’t the whole idea behind getting a fake tree so you can reuse it year after year? No one gets a fake tree and tosses it each year, only to get a new one. – Daniel G. Holland Village

Hi Daniel,

I’m of the opinion that it’s already too late. That if we were to return to an 1850 population and standard of environmental impact tomorrow, nothing would change as the snowball is already down the hill, so to speak. That said, there are small things that can be done, since the big problems will not go away until it’s sitting on top of us. I ride a bike to get around, take only one (or none) plastic bags, stop eating beef, little things that if billions did would probably do more than all the accords the big corporations allow governments to write. As for Christmas trees, aside from boycotting the consumerist aspects of this holiday, the real way to go is to buy a living tree, and keep it alive and growing. Because eventually, that cheap made from petrol-products plastic tree, WILL find it’s way into the landfill.

Letters to the editors from our crack-smoking readers.

THINK,

I have to take offence with your mocking of religion in your recent editorials. Before it’s too late, make peace with GOD, and make sure the ones you love do also. You need to pick between an eternity of joy or one of torment. Accept Him. Repent. Get baptised. And have a nice eternity. – Noelle Ng

Interesting, Noelle, but, like, which God are you talking about? Because there are so many out there these days it’s hard to keep them all straight. If we look to the guidance of Neil Diamond in his song, “Porcupine Pie,” where he sings, “And I do believe I’m gonna have one and leave enough room for dessert, chicken ripple ice cream,” we see the answers before us glowing with holiness, or something.

Letters answered by an impartial moderator.

Dear Think

Regarding your Humanifesto a couple issues ago: Maybe to learn “it’s not raining” in foreign languages is not enough to understand the colour of a language. I read about German in your note. I can’t understand why you talk about declaring war… the Americans are at war… not the Germans. If you really think “it’s not raining” is all you need to know for international travels, you have never been in places tourists don’t reach out for.

But those places are the most interesting ones. You can really learn something about the local people there. And this might be the only reason for travelling – at least for the Europeans. But the Americans just travel to speak their own language or to get introduced to someone’s daughter???

During my 30-day trip around California, I thankfully met some Americans who are not as illiterate as you. They were people who knew more about Europe and Asia than rain and war. – Regards, Violet Wolfe

Thanks for the letter! The Humanifesto actually said that “it’s not raining” SOUNDS like a declaration of war in German because German is an aggressive-sounding language. But please don’t be mad and start name-calling just because after your 30-day trip around California you had to return to your Eastern European job in the bowels of a kerosene refinery. Danke!

Letters answered by McLovin.

Lush Lovers,

What happened to the Lush Life column? I absolutely love your magazine and looked forward to seeing what was going on around town. – Karen, via email

I noticed your Lush Life feature was missing from last couple issues. I hope you haven’t dropped it from your regular rotation because Time Out has recently started to really suck. IS too. You’d think that, since you’re in the same target audience, they’d try to come up with something a little better to read than yours, but me thinks they fail. – Colleen Meyers East Coast

Well ladies, the guy who was writing it had liver trouble you see. Apparently the human body isn’t so hip to that much alcohol. So we sent him off to a special lab in London, where they have bio-manipulating his system where it will require alcohol just to function… then the column will be back!

Letters to the editors from our crack-smoking readers

THINK,

Just wanted to thank you for creating far and away the best Singapore magazine. Your articles are as funny as they are well written. Cheryl Chia and Jeffree Benet do an amazing job providing us with a look at Singapore in an incredibly entertaining way. My wife and I love the magazine from cover to cover. The only problem is four weeks is too long between editions. We crave Think! Great job! – Jerry and Glenda Loftin

Wow. You see, it’s letters like this that make me just want to say, “See, I told you we rule! Ha! Eat it, suckers! That’s right: EAT. IT. BoooYA!!!! In your face bitches! Take that you f – ing muthascratcher. Think Magazine’s in the house!!! Wooo!!!!!!” But I won’t. Thanks for the letter.

Letters answered by the sexiest editor on staff.

Dear Think,

Hey, man, sick zine. How could I get my band Flesh Drillers a review or interview?

You should check us out and if you need a band for anything, let me know. We are from Johor Baruh and are an up-and-coming brutal death band and we just got signed to Death records. We’re about to put out two releases, so look out for us. – Alex (drums/vocals), Flesh Drillers

Thanks for the letter, Alex. We can probably work together. We were thinking about sponsoring a few shows at the Isetan and Flesh Drillers would no doubt be a hit with that crowd. If we can just get clearance for the pyrotechnics, we’ll be good to go.

Team America

Letters answered by Team America

Where to eat?

I moved to the Singapore from Bangkok a couple of months ago, and I have to admit, I’ve always been a restaurant snob. I really didn’t think the dining in Singapore would even come close to comparing to my BK loves. But I saw your magazine on line, and your dining features guided me in the right direction. Though I still miss being able to walk down any street and finding good eats, I now know where to go near my new home, and I’m no longer missing out on the delicious fine dining that I’ve grown so accustomed to. – Lois Lee, via email

Thanks for the compliments, glad we could help. Be sure to check out the Jerry’s BBQ review inthe issue, and know that we will be updating the site with even more reviews!