Band of Brothers. A 10 part miniseries which was nominated for nineteen Emmy awards, and won six of them, including "Outstanding miniseries," "Outstanding Casting for a miniseries, Movie, or a Special," and "Outstanding Directing for a miniseries, Movie, or a Dramatic Special.". The miniseries also won a golden globe, an American Film Institute award, and won a 2003 Writers Guild award.

The miniseries basically details the real-life exploits of Easy Company during World War II over the course of ten episodes, starting with their jump training at the Currahee training site in Toccoa, Georgia and ending with the capitulation of Germany.

I believe that Band of Brothers does not romanticize either the story of Easy Company or World War II in general. Band of Brothers shows how Easy Company manages to conquer the different challenges and obstacles it faces, for example, the battle for Foy, Operation Market Garden, and Normandy. The Band of Brothers does not romanticise the story of Easy Company, as it also depicts men losing some of the best friends, sometimes all, in the process of fighting the Germans.

Moreover, during the various conflicts between the Allied forces and the Germans, the miniseries shows in detail the injuries sustained by the men during the battles, the corpses lying on the ground, sometimes even with missing limbs. The miniseries also shows what the characters in the story go through emotionally. For example, Lieutenant Buck Compton lost most of his best friends during a German shelling attack on their position. Due to that he was deeply affected emotionally and had to be sent away from the line as the officers felt that after experiencing such a trauma, he would not be able to fight well again.

With regards to the fact that the US army sponsored The History Channel’s on-air broadcast of Band of Brothers, I feel that the US army is paying tribute to the men who died in the line of duty during World War II, and expressing their gratitude to the men who fought in World War II, but are still alive. Without those people, the USA would not be what it is today, and the world would also not be what it is today. On a side note, by sponsoring the broadcasting, the viewers might be inspired to join the US army.

Upcoming General Elections 2011

This year, the General Elections being held in Singapore has the most number of seats being contested in both SMCs (Single member constituencies) and GRCs (Group representation constituencies) since the independence of Singapore. In fact, all the SMCs and GRCs are being contested by the opposition, all but Tanjong Pagar GRC, where MM Lee Kuan Yew helms the team. The opposition had originally intended to contest Tanjong Pagar GRC, but as the candidates did not submit the papers on time, they were disqualified. To quote MM Lee Kuan Yew, the opposition had made a "feeble effort to show that they wanted to contest".

One GRC that has gathered the most attention is the Aljunied GRC, where the PAP is up against the Workers' Party. The Workers' Party is fielding its "dream team", which includes Chairman Sylvia Lim, Secretary General Low Thia Khiang, who left his stronghold of Hougang SMC, and Lawyer Chen Show Mao. The PAP's team includes Foreign Minister George Yeo and Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Lim Hwee Hua. 

This will certainly be an intense fight, because the team led by Workers' Party Chairman Sylvia Lim won 44% of the votes in the previous General Election. So with the addition of Party Secretary General Low Thia Khiang, the opposition might very well win themselves a GRC in this General Elections. As said by Mr Low Thia Khiang, "This is a a watershed election. We may end up with no elected opposition MP...the stakes are high, the risk is very high".