In the wake of the National Day Parade, I shall leave my indelible comments on it.
So we all know our National Day falls one day after the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony. Relation?
A complete and utterly terrible timing.

Many viewers would have been wowed by the opening ceremony on Friday evening. As evident by the spectacular and grand beginning (2008 men beating on their drums in a synchronized manner), I must say that our National Day Parade pales in comparison.

However, the greatest item for this year’s National Day Parade had to go to Nathan Hartono. Yes, him crooning Where I Belong was the most watch-worthy performance of the parade. Sadly.
They banished him soon after. A real waste.

Despite the somewhat disappointingly short-lived appearance of Nathan, this year’s celebrations were no different from the past years. True to nature, there were free-fallers, a school choir and the ceremonial parade. In addition, there was the repetition of the use of children in mass-formations.

In a nutshell, the hushed preparations were much of an anti-climax.

In contrast, the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics truly impressed the masses. After all, the star-studded Olympic rings stole the show the moment it was hoisted to what seemed like 20 feet above the ground. Not forgetting the segment when 29 footprints were set off by fireworks, marking the trail to the stadium.

In comparison, the coincidental suspended-in-the-air item for the National Day Parade was a man air-running with what I could only assume to be 4000 sparklers strapped to his hands and feet. That, must have hurt.

Anyhow, praise goes to the hearty interactions between the President and the selected families as the end drew near. Now that, was something out of the ordinary.

Predictably, the National Day Parade finished with a magnificent display of fireworks (with the absence of the special firework which could form an ‘S’) that lasted for a well 8 minutes.
One more thing.

Did anyone realise that they was no annoying “clappers” made available to the crowd this year?
Instead, they gave out giant, purposeless flowers.
Well, unless they were going for the environmental-protector theme. (Love nature! Love… flowers.)

Oh! Where was the Kallang Wave anyway?

In any case, I will be looking forward to next year’s parade.
My brother might be marching with his contingent, so I’ll be there.

Till then, I am hoping for more singing, and less recycled ideas.