The good ol' days of SARS

This is so funny....

As everyone reading this surely knows, Marco and I lived in Singapore during the 2003 SARS crisis and it was pretty much one of the most fascinating things we've ever seen. This is due to the incredible, zany, super-motivated Singaporean government who went above and beyond all expectation to protect their population from the epidemic.

One thing I remember was the SARS rap video that played on tvs in all the public buses for months. It was a tool to teach teenagers and kids all the "rules" of how to behave during the epidemic. You'd get off the bus humming this tune.

Anyway here it is on YouTube. It is performed by a popular Singaporean comedian. I swear I cannot imagine any other country doing this. This is SO Singaporean.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3960803578103694355&q=sars+rap

Also I found this great government instructional video of a family teaching each other proper SARS behavior (and yes, it is all in english though the accent is pretty strong). It is earnest and corny, yet it really captures a certain essence of Singapore - clear, efficient and well-behaved and well-informed. The info that they are telling each other was also in every newspaper, on every tv, every billboard, in every taxi, in every shopping mall, in every bathroom all over the country for months. Everybody in the country new everything about SARS. So funny, so bizarre!

http://media.internet.gov.sg/mcds/cird/FightSARS-Part1-English.asf