Maximillian & Us

I’ve been working with my manager in Hamburg for the past 2 weeks. He’s from Switzerland and we have been exchanging stories about our home country. The more we talk, the more I became fascinated at how Switzerland works as a country. Let me explain.

Government

Switzerland do not have a head of country. There are 7 ministers elected by the members of parliament. Therefore any decision made must be agreed by all 7 ministers , according to the exisiting law.  A minister will be selected yearly to represent the country in social events. There is also no professional politicians except for the 7 elected ministers.

The rational for this is that the citizen controls the government, rather than the government controlling its citizen.

Tax

Income tax in Switzerland is only 10%. Tax is not deducted from your monthly salary but is declared and paid at the end of the year. The rational apparently is the Swiss will pay tax if the government has proof they have done well and thus rewarded with the tax income. This will also prevent govenmnent officials from mis-using the money.

There is also a capital gains tax which is deducted from the interest earned from bank. If one lodge an income tax, then they will be able to receive the tax back which encourages people to lodge their tax every year.

Pension

There is a law in Switzerland that pension fund must have a 6% return on an individuals pension fund. 6% !! Even M’sia’s EPF only have an average 3-4% returns.
Perhaps we can consider moving to Switzerland??? LoL

I visited the Saatchi Gallery 2 weekends ago to see their latest exhibition, The Empire Strikes Back: Indian Art Today. I enjoyed this exhibition a lot. It is much more interesting than the previous exhibition. I would highly recommend a visit.

Thanks to my best friend, I came to know about Banksy’s new movie, ‘Exit Through The Gift Shop’. I was quite annoyed when I couldn’t get tickets to its premier screening in a make shift cinema in Leake Street Tunnel (underneath Waterloo Station). Luckily I didn’t give up and tried to get tickets the next morning before heading to work. I have to say, persistent paid off!! Managed to get 2 tickets to the movie (costs £7.50 each).

We got to the tunnel early as I know there are several entrances to the tunnel. The last time I was there was for the Punchdrunk’s Tunnel 228 installation. We got there about 30 mins early and couldn’t find the ‘Cinema’ sign or entrances. Then we asked a guy and he pointed us to the ‘door’ and said that the ‘door’ will not open until 3pm, which is the ticket entrance time. So we just walked around, taking pictures of graffiti artist making graffiti art in the tunnel.

In order to get in, we have to show the ticket and also the card used to pay for the tickets. Then we have to had our bags checked and ushered into another tunnel to collect another version of the ticket and another empty space with a few of Banksy’s arts. We bought our popcorns and waited to be ushered into another tunnel where it has been turned into a cinema.

The movie / documentary is about how graffiti artists operates in USA and UK and how one unknown guy became a world famous graffiti artist just like that and even went on to design the cover of Madonna’s latest album cover. It is quite a funny documentary and a good insight into their modus operandi. Dav and I enjoyed it quite a lot.

You can still catch his movie in the normal cinema. Visit this site to see which cinema it’s being shown.

Here’s some pictures I took.

Our tickets.

The ‘Cinema’ sign. Look on the left side of the photo, lots of graffiti artists working on making their art.

The fake red carpet. For this movie, they actually spray paint a red carpet leading into the entrance of the cinema.

The queue is getting longer and longer…

First art we saw is the Queen and Prince Phillip opening the movie.

The famous lion statue, except this time it has a microphone in its mouth.

I didn’t detect this CCTV until Dav pointed it out! That’s Banksy alright… always like to ’surprise’ the audience.

The movie started with this logo. Quite amusing.

This is an amazing exhibition, currently being shown in the Natural History Museum until 11 April 2010.

NB went last year and highly recommended it. So when my office social club decided to sponsor tickets to this exhibition, there is no need to decide. I will definitely go if I’m in the country.

A group of us from work went and was totally inspired ! It is also so much better to view the photos up near in big screen. Definitely worth a visit!

Here’s  a few of my favourites.

p/s: You can view all the photos online at the online gallery.

It has been a looong time since I really like a tv series… CSI (the original version) has always been my all time favourite. Then came along House which I’ve stopped following ever since the original group of doctors disbanded. There was also X-Files which was also a favourite when I was in secondary school (Remember Joyce???)

I just wanted to share some of my new tv favourites. Who knows, maybe you’ll like it too.

• The Mentalist – Now in their second season, this show is all about crime solving using the main character’s strong observation skills. The show is not too serious and the lead, Simon Baker (English actor) is quite cute too. Even Dav likes watching this show.

• Fringe – Also in their second season, this show reminds me of X-Files. The show is about solving paranormal, unexplained occurrences. It also has a conspiracy theory where the US government is experimenting with various things. Exactly like X-Files! I like.

• Glee – This is an American musical comedy-drama about a group of high school outcast trying to enter a singing/dancing competition. Naturally this show has a good soundtrack. (I have been listening to it non-stop for the past few weeks)

• Gavin and Stacey – An award winning British comedy series. The show revolves around the lives of the title characters Gavin and Stacey, and follows their family lives, and the lives of their best friends, Smithy and Nessa, respectively. I was introduced to this show by my Geordie colleague. It is very very funny although at times we have a hard time understanding the accent. Sad to say, the creators have decided to end the show after 3 seasons.

• The Mighty Boosh – Introduced to us by my best friend, we can not get enough of this !!! After 3 seasons, there’s still no news whether they will continue writing another season or they will make a movie. The group has also been touring for the past 2 years which we missed last year.