A QUESTION

image: Carton Hat by Juliette Lassere@gettyimages

 

KNN,WA PAK LE EH JUK-BOX AH

 

19TH JUNE 1959
Singapore bans jukeboxes and pin tables
(i.e. pinball machines) becasue they are associated with
smoky amusement saloons and back-room secrety-society operations.

______________

So we did ban more than just chewing gum, huh.

source: The Straits Times 

HOT COFFEE, CHILLY WINDS

(clockwise from top L): Sharyn/Jie, Jonny, Me, Kwan 

 GENTING, MALAYSIA: Nothing bonds people faster than hot coffee ( tea for me. Hate coffee…stop giving me the evil eyeball, you caffeine druggie), cake, and a good chilly wind to encourage group shuddering.

 

Politically Correct Bedtime Stories

You’re not fat, you’re well-endowned.
You’re not short, you’re vertically-challenged.
Flat-chested? Of course not! You’re athletically-built.

Call them euphemisms, call them PC terms, call them whatever you want but you can’t escape from the fact that you have before and will, in the future, couch your true meanings in prettier words when the need calls for it.

Here’s a book that’s all about that: The Politically Correct Bedtime Stories :Modern Tales for our Life & Times by James Finn Garner. So definitely on my to-purchase 2ndhand booklist.

Sanitized bedtime tales to laugh yourself sick, anyone?

_______________________________

From Amazon.com:

James Finn Garner has taken 12 time-tested tales and retold them with the newfound sensitivity of our times. Here’s a snippet from “Little Red Riding Hood”:

The wolf said, “You know, my dear, it isn’t safe for a little girl to walk through these woods alone.”

Red Riding Hood said, “I find your sexist remark offensive in the extreme, but I will ignore it because of your traditional status as an outcast from society, the stress of which has caused you to develop your own, entirely valid, worldview. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must be on my way.” (Read the longer excerpt here)

Leap into a fairy-tale world where trolls are “dirt-accomplished and odor-enhanced,” witches are “kindness-impaired,” and Cinderella wears a gown “woven of silk stolen from unsuspecting silkworms.” We can only regret that Garner had to exclude “The Duckling That Was Judged on Its Personal Merits and Not on Its Physical Appearance” for space reasons.

________________

image: by Jennie Harbour @ SurLaLune FairyTales

A QUIET HELLO TO DAVID

Was on my way to the History&Living gallery at the National Museum for community service when I thought I’d take some pictures of Titarubi (Indonesian artist)’s batik-covered David.

As I was about to snap, this Japanese little girl toddled over and gently lay her hand at the base of the fibre-glass sculpture before her mother tugged her away.

For a brief second, it was a lovely picture of innocence solemnly greeting a giant.

I’m not a fantastic photographer by any means, but for me, it was a perfect Kodak moment.

Larger image here

HAPPY 26TH BIRTHDAY, JIE!

The parents are leaving for a 10-day trip in China, so we celebrated my sister’s birthday almost a week early. At…where else but Sushi Tei?

I swear, my family has an unhealthy obsession with it.

I suspect it’s because it’s because my dad is in love with the unagi bento.
We’ve eaten at Sushi Tei for the last 4 birthdays.
And yes, there are only 4 of us in the family.
That means, FOR THE PAST YEAR, WE’VE CELEBRATED EVERY FREAKING BIRTHDAY AT SUSHI TEI!

And that, my friends, is NOT healthy.

However, I will admit that they do have awfully good food for the price and a happening phoenix roll(which I first tried when Joyce – one of the United Nations (i.e. Jonny’s and Nab’s since-year-1 uni group - ordered it). And the bright side is that the food’s always fresh.

Lots of laughs + lots of sashimi (ew..) + lots of green tea = a happy family dinner where we coerced my father into taking a video and advertising his unagi bento. And although Jie looks a tad grumpy in this picture, she’s not…. perhaps I have a knack for snapping cranky shots.

Drove to IceCreamChefs @ Siglap after that, and Cookes&Cream (with brownie bits) to end off a night is always a good one.

ODE TO MY FRINGE

O fringe,
O fringe,
Where hast thou gone?

Analysis: Speaker no longer has a long fringe.

Cut down
Thou wast,
By a savage hand;
Not in pride by fair Apollo’s light,
But by crooked stealth in the dead of night.

Analysis: Fringe was cut in the middle / “dead” of the night – one guesses about 1 a.m – by an amaturer hand. Probably the speaker’s. Highly likely to be due to stress, thus “savage”. Stress from studying, working, trying to reach dreams, smelling the loo, etc, etc. A lack of skill results in a jagged fringe, i.e. “crooked”.

Ah!

While some lament thy death, thine absence,
Thy cursèd usurper chortles in glee -
A veritable copy of Pluck’s own face,
“THE BANGS” , they art named,
Hath conquered the day.

 Analysis: Speaker’s partial regret after destroying her fringe or perhaps speaker’s friends appallment upon first seeing it. Bangs is personified. Seems to have taken a life of its own. BANGS, obviously, DOES NOT CARE. Bangs is just happy it is there.

Alas,
Fare thee well, beloved fringe,
Journey bravely through River Styx,
The day will come when we will be reunited,
Till then, prayest thy grows unstoppered.

 Analysis: Bye-bye fringe who is en route to Hair Heaven. When the hair grows long again, the fringe will be “reincarnated”.

 ______________________

Final note of critical analysis: 
Poetry of such shining CRAPtitude is few and far between. 

 

 

the required link by flickr

GRINDER-MAN: MUSTANG SINGAPORE

Went for the first GRINDER-MAN workshop in late May. Tons of laughs and aching muscles, but with a interesting batch of people who all seem to have theatre experience ( I think). Met the new teacher of TSD too – Brian. He’s working with Jireh now. It’s so odd that she should be teaching. Didn’t seem too long ago when we were still crewing for her Emily of Emerald Hill monologue.

What made me raise an eyebrown was that the 2 GRINDER-MAN instructors, Hitoshi and Maki didn’t speak fluent English. They had to conduct the entire workshop through Pauline, an esplanade translator.

I know it’s probably a usual thing, but it just made me think how far globalization has reached.

_____________________________

One of the exercises we did had the main aim of posessing the black head cube.

If you ever saw anyone chasing after another person to get the black cube on the latter person’s head , trust me, the first instinct is to giggle – whether it’s nervous laughter or amused one. However, according to Hitoshi (the troupe leader), it’s a serious, solemn affair for the performer doing it.

He never laughs, he never cries and he never gives up till he dies.  

So while the back-and-forth competition is initially funny, it gets increasingly more serious and sinister, as the number of black head cubes dwindle and desperation to possess the cube (sort of symbolic of a life-force) gives rise to chaos.

_______________________________

I’m not sure whether that’s going to be part of the performance because after the first one, I had to withdraw because I couldn’t commit to all the rehearsal dates. Did so reluctantly, but had to. Damn, because they look like they’re having a lot of fun if the pictures on the GRINDER-MAN blog is anything to go by. Ah well,  wish them all the luck! Going to watch the performance tomorrow.

If you’re curious about it, you can visit the official GRINDER-MAN website, but might not be much help since it’s all in Japanese, so take a look at the information on Facebook too.

Details of performace:

GRINDER-MAN
MUSTANG SINGAPORE
20 – 22 Jun (Fri – Sun)
esplanade waterfront
FREE

FRI
6.30 – 7pm
9.30pm – 10pm

SAT
6.30 – 7pm
9.15 – 9.45pm

SUN
6.30 – 7pm
8.15 – 8.45pm

 

image: flipside / esplanade