Three Cheers for ACT3!!!!

With my editor's permission, I reworked an article for my kids' newspaper into a story for The Online Citizen, paying tribute to Singapore's first professional theatre group on their 25th anniversary. (Hint: it's not TheatreWorks.)

Going clockwise from the top, that's Jasmin Sumaat Simon, Ruby Lim-Yang and Rama Chandran, from their first publicity photo in 1981. (Wah lau, they're old.)

Click here.

National Columbarium of Singapore

My short story, "Nostalgia", on Five Foot Way, based on artist Michael Lee Hong Hwee's installation at the National Museum.

I'm not actually happy with the written version yet, so it's best if you listen to it in audio. It's supposed to be a little creepy. :)

(Image by Stephen Black).

@ School in Bengaluru!!!

As promised, here are photos from my workshop at Widia Poorna Pragna School:







And a few from Jnana Vijnana Vidyapeetha:










Sadly, no shots from the last school, whose name escapes me for the time being (though it was terribly posh). Camera breakdown, doncha know. The assistant teacher said she might mail me some, but don't hold your breath.

UPDATE: The last school's name was MES Kishore Kendra Public School. Wrote 'em all down in my notebook.

I'm back in Singapore! Unfortunately I can't chatter and post a lot of pics yet 'cos I have a...

DEADLINE.

Oh yeah, and merry Christmas. :)

Flying back to Singapore tonight woohoo.

I have so many books. And a weird dry cough. And a new appreciation for the culture of Southern India and its foods. And (I'm afraid) a new appreciation for the cleanliness of Singapore's streets.

Vanakkam. Photos coming.

In Bengaluru now!

Did a school workshop yesterday at a Hindu-based school, and I'll be doing another in a couple of hours. Unfortunately, the battery on my camera has gone out (think I left it on by accident) and I didn't bring my charger. What's more, neither Adeline Foo nor Felix Cheong, the other Sg , have brought cameras themselves.

What's a compulsive archivist like me gonna do? Can't use PhotoBooth for everything. Can I?

Evening event tonight at Time Out bookstore on Cunningham Road. 6:30pm - we'll be talking about sensationalism and censorship in Singapore. Adeline Foo, who's a kid's writer, will be reading excerpts of her new racy ho-mo-sexual play!

Oh, and this really deserves a post of its own - but I've finally figured out where my Singaproe Art Show short story "Nostalgia" was uploaded. Click here to download the audio story.

Photos from the Ubud Festival: a foretaste

Uploaded these before I left for India!

Haven't included the more holiday shots yet, so am not posting stuff on the blog yet. But if you'd like to browse without captions, click here and yourself out.

I'm going to India!

Should've blogged about this before. Was featured in the Straits Times yesterday, in fact.

Basically, I'll be participating in the Bengaluru Habba and the Chennai Local. Here are my dates so far:

Tuesday, 15 December:
Literary Reading (with Felix Cheong and Adeline Foo)
Time Out Reliance book store
Bengaluru
6:30-8:00 pm.

Tuesday, 22 December,
Poetry reading
Spaces,
#1 Elliots Beach Road, Besant Nagar,
Chennai
7pm

I'll be back on Xmas eve if you all want to kacau me. Don't call my handphone, can?

BADDER

... This is very odd.



Apparently it's from the Michael Jackson film "Moonwalker", i.e. it's a self-created parody by the artist himself. Which makes it less awesome and more creepy, actually.

Birthday party pix!

From last Saturday night, at my place.



I love my beautiful friends.



And I love my beautiful cake. My parents provided it - good solid stuff from Lana. We polished the whole thing off in an hour, then I baked a batch of peanut butter cookies which were gone while they were still hot.



My party actually serves two main functions:

1) It's difficult to experience birthday blues when you're worrying about what kind of potato chips and wine to serve to all your guests,

2) I have friends from several different communities (e.g. gay activism, poetry, theatre, sign language class, JC, visual arts, and one lonesome engineer who practises Wing Chun with me), and I think it's awesome when they actually meet one another.

Seriously, I counted about ten different nationalities of guests present in my house: Singaporean, Malaysian, Japanese, Mauritian, Indonesian, Belgian, Indian, American and Ghanaian. NS boys, uni kids, newlyweds, professors, expats, Young Artist Award recipients, veterans, somebodies, not yet somebodies, and don't-give-a-fucks.

Was also going to upload a shot of my severely bruised arm from Wing Chun practice, but maybe that can wait.

Texts November 2009

*POETRY*
=“Reflecting the Merlion”, ed. Yeow Kai Chai
Rosaly Puthucheary’s “Dance on his Doorstep”

*FICTION*
=Meira Chand’s “The Painted Cage”
+Isa Kamari’s “Intercession”
+Hari Kunzru’s “The Impressionist”

*DRAMA*
=Wong Phui Nam’s “Anike”
=Goh Poh Seng’s “The Elder Brother”
=S Kon, Yeo Soh Choo and Ravi Veloo’s “Trial and Other Plays”
+Harvey Fierstein’s “Torch Song Trilogy”

*NON-FICTION*
+Malcolm Gladwell’s “What the Dog Saw”
+“The Legendary Adventures of Alexander the Great”
+Ngugi wa Thiongo’’s “Something Torn and New: An African Renaissance”

*GRAPHIC TEXTS*
+Sonny Liew’s “Liquid City Vol I”
+Troy Chin’s “The Resident Tourist Vol I”
+Hergé’s “Tintin
+Luca Invernizzi Tettoni’s “Singapore”
+Garth Ennis’s “Preacher: Dixie Fried”

*PERFORMANCES*
+TheatreWorks and Musée de la Danse’s “expo zero”
+The Necessary Stage’s “Sofaman”
+LaSalle Musical Theatre’s “Siren”
Musical Theatre Ltd’s “Lost in Transit”
Zebra Crossing’s “Victor/Victoria”
+LaSalle Theatre’s “Oresteia”
W!ld Rice’s “Beauty and the Beast”

*EXHIBITIONS*
+Chang Fee Ming's "Imprinted Thoughts"
=Asian Civilisations Museum’s “Land of the Morning”
Singapore Art Museum’s +“Thrice Upon a Time” and =”El Camino a la Modernidad”

*FILMS*
=Eric Khoo’s “Mee Pok Man”
+Lynn Shelton’s “Humpday”
+Roland Emmerich’s “2012”
+Kutlug Ataman’s “Journey to the Moon”