Royston Tan's "Cut"

I've been watching this over and over again. It's uploaded by Gabriel Seah, aka gssq. I <3 Royston.

Sa capoeira!

Had my batizado last week! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Deez be my homies.

And dis be the bad photo I took at the street roda we had on Sunday. Delicado is hammering the drum, and Teko is taking down our school flag. The Dali statues sit in the background, forlornly oblivious.

The batizado workshop!

This was held in Victoria School auditorium, all the way in f*&%$#ing Siglap!!! (My theory for why it's called a baptism involves how drenched you are in sweat later.)

After busting our asses, we rehydrated...


...and engaged in frolicksome deshabille.

Mestre Val Boa Morte from Australia (the shirtless guy) professed that he had 6 kids to support, so I of course bought a $30 T-shirt which I can never wear because it's got his school name printed on the front. Also pictured are Instructor Fantasma from the Philippines (tattoo and singlet), our club president Xodo (girl with short hair), Lily (holding tank top), and our own Mestre Ousado (top of head visible over tank top).


Us with Mestre Val. Shite, I look nancy with the elbow. Baiana explained that my "Pata de Gato" (Cat paw) name is because when I ginga my wrists flap like a Maneki Neko. Luckily Farhan's stealing the show with a facial expression that embodies "bizarre".


Sa capoeira anyway!

Texts I Have Read mid-August to mid-September

*Poetry*
Cyril Wong's "Like a Seed with its Singular Purpose"

*Fiction*
Ovidia Yu's "Miss Moorthy Investigates"
H.G. Wells's "The War of the Worlds"
Astrid Lindgren's "Pippi Longstocking"

*Non-Fiction*
Robert Mayer's "How to Win Any Argument (Without Raising Your Voice, Losing Your Cool or Coming to Blows"
Naomi Moriyama and William Doyle's "Japanese Women Don't Get Old or Fat"
Nestor Capoeira's "The Little Capoeira Book"

*Graphic Texts*
Diane DiMassa's "Hothead Paisan: Homosexual Lesbian Terrorist"
YKON's "M8"

*Recordings*
"Keeping Mum"
"High School Musical"
Ming Wong's showreel, including "Four Malay Movies", "Whodunnit" and "Homofonia"
Lynn Lu's showreel, including "Smack/Smooch" and "Walk a Mile"
Jim Henson's "The Storyteller" DVD
Gough Lewis's "Sex: The Annabel Chong Story"

*Performances*
P-10 & NTU School of Art Design & Media's "The Ultimate Commodity"

I know, I know... that's measly. On the other hand, within the space of 2 1/2 weeks during this period, I did publish two works: "last boy" and "SQ21: Singapore Queers in the 21st Century". And I had my capoeira baptism. And I memorised the works in the Singapore Biennale as a tour guide. And I appeared in the newspaper five or six times. And endured a minor blog scandal. And now I'm now working on two plays...

I'll be a star reader in another lifetime. Phew!

last boy...

... will be on the shelves of Kinokuniya, Borders, etc. from Monday onwards. It's my first personal poetry collection, dealing lyrically with my years of poetry development

And it's dedicated to my ex-JCmates the Orgers (you know who you are), none of whom I asked to attend the Firstfruits launch last night because I want my own private launch to be special. (You didn't miss much. I had very little crowd chemistry and no-one else except Cyril has practice in performative poetry recital.)

Stay tuned for the proper launch itself!