Happy Holiday Polyhedron #3: Unadorned Stellated Dodecahedron

Some lilies don't need gilding. :)

Net here.

This one's tricky: it's got 60 faces!


And it goes both concave and convex. But it's perfect for the Christmas tree: its profiles show off both a pentacle:

... and a Star of David:

Merry Christmas to one and all!

How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse During the Holidays

I know the zombie trope is *so overused*, but I ain't sick of it yet!

Happy Holiday Polyhedron #2: Tarot Pentagonal Icositetrahedron

Hot on the heels of the non-denominational rhombic dodecahedron, here's another Christmas bauble to knock your wooly stockings off!

Behold the pentagonal icositetrahedron (if you're keeping up with your Greek prefixes, this means it has 24 pentagonal faces; another Catalan solid), adorned with all 22 trumps from the Major Arcana of the Tarot deck, drawn from Rider-Waite pack, the most commonly used Tarot deck in Anglophone countries.

Start off by printing out the net via Paper Models of Polyhedra. I used red card, and paid no heed to the gratuitous misspelling.

Then cut that bugger up.


I'm using the scissors to score the edges before folding. Makes for cleaner creases, not that mine are terribly clean when you come right down to it.

See how it all fits together? This is going along so nicely.

Now, for the decoupage. I was kinda obsessed with the occult as a teenager, and though I've since become skeptical of Tarot readings (anyway, why are we us Generation X-ers so hung up with this European divination form? We're in Asia; we oughta be using yarrow sticks and the I Ching), I still love the iconography of the Tarot.


It's super-easy to swipe images of the full house off the Net. One jpg to rule them all.


As you can see, I've also added in images of the occultist Arthur Edward Waite and the illustrator Pamela Colman Smith to the 22 trumps to make a total of 24 faces.


Snip snip done! Click to see the above in higher res.

The paper clip and ribbon in the picture are what I use to create the loop for the bauble. Figure out where you're gonna put this before you do any découpaging, so you know what's top and bottom in your figure.

Oh, and if at any point in your craftwork your cat comes to sit in your lap...

Do not push her off, but try to annoy her with the camera...

...moving in closer...

... and closer.

I'm fully aware of the apparent wrongness of introducing pagan and occult symbols into Christmas. Sure, I can console myself that the whole principle of Winter Solstice Festivals with erect evergreen trees and wise men following stars to indicate the newest avatar of the godhead is pretty damn pagan and occult in itself...

... but when I've got the Wheel of Fortune, the Day of Judgment, the Devil, the Hanged Man and Death on my bauble, maybe I'm actually more hardcore than is comfortable for me.

Never mind; we can turn that side inwards when we hang it. And there's an angel for Temperance. That's Christmassy.

One last look!

And there we go! All glued up and strung up: your personal Tarot Pentagonal Icositetrahedron, useful for either decoration or divination. (Kids! Freak out your parents by loading the die so it consistently lands on Death!)

Pictured, clockwise from top: illustrator Pamela Colman Smith, the Hierophant, the Emperor, the Empress, the Magician, and if I'm not mistaken a teensy bit of the Fool.

Also useful for annoying your familiar with. She actually knocked it about with her paw.

Avaunt, polyhedron! And a Very Merry Iconoclastic Christmas to you too!

Happy Holiday Polyhedron #1: Non-Denominational Rhombic Dodecahedron!

Sorry I haven't been posting for a while - I went to Jakarta/Bandung/Yogyakarta for a week, and the packing/finishing work before that and the recuperating/welcoming prodigal siblings afterwards have kept me a little distracted.

But now I'm finally finding distractions to distract me from the distractions! Such as the creation of cute little Christmas baubles! Like the following:


It's a Non-Denominational Rhombic Dodecahedron! Here, I'll show you how to make 'em.

First, you need a "net", or the 2D surface layout of the polygons in your 3D shape. I got mine off Wikipedia, but later I discovered a better resource here.


The site's called Paper Models of Polyhedra, and it's awesome. Me and my sis used to trace these shapes out of our Childcraft encyclopedia: all the Platonic solids, tetrahedron, cube, octahedron, dodecahedron, icosahedron. Then I found a Chinese papercraft book and used a protractor to make prisms and pyramids and Archimedean solids, which are often just Platonic solids with their corners cut off: cuboctahedron, truncated tetrahedron, truncated cube... ah, never got very far with those, actually.

The rhombic dodecahedron is a Catalan solid. These were only discovered in 1836, and I'm fuzzy on the math. But the cool thing about them is that although they're made up of identical faces, these faces are irregular polygons.



Easy-peasy to print onto stiff card and snip it out. Now for some ideological aesthetics.

My family observes Christmas, because we like the decor, but we're actually freethinking Mahayana Buddhists with loads of Taoism and Confucianism and skepticism thrown in. So it makes very little sense for me to decorate the polyhedron with angels and shepherds and drummer-boys and wisemen and stars. Yet we don't want to write out the spiritual aspect of Christmas and replace it with Santa Claus and reindeer.

Luckily, I have a colour printer. And Google Images.



Save, paste into Word, print, cut with scissors, and paste with glue....

On the left-hand side: The Virgin of Guadalupe (Christianity), the Kaaba (Islam) and Tuapehkong (Taoism).

In the centre, from top to bottom: Michelangelo's Moses (Judaism), the Shrine of the Bab (Bahai), Mahavira (Jainism), Lakshmi (Hinduism), Zarathustra (Zoroastrianism), Amaterasu-o-mi-kami (Shintoism).

On the right-hand side: the Golden Temple of Amritsar (Sikkism), Bodhisattva Kuan Yin (Buddhism) and an Orthodox Jesus (Christianity).

Click the image above for a closer-up view.

Originally I wanted a Virtruvian man as well for the atheist humanists (like my sister, my boyfriend, and my sister's boyfriend), but I couldn't kick out any of the others, not even the double count for Christianity, because honestly, both those icons are gorgeous. Wanted Guru Nanak Dev as well for Sikkism, but decided to make a balance between male figures, female figures and architecture.


Gluing the whole thing together was trickier than I expected. I got gum all over the gods and prophets and I had to mop it up with tissue.


Nearly done. And there we go! Innit lovely?


Stick it on the tree, why don't you?


There we go. Sorry my photography's so bad. But I hope I'll have time to demonstrate another happy holiday bauble before Christmas. Selamat Hari Natal ke semua orang!

Abjad Binatang-Binatang

Done! Q and X are lost causes, right? So I won't stress.


AKUSUKA = goose/swan
ANJING = dog
AYAM = chicken
BABI = pig
BADAK = rhino
BELALANG = grasshopper
BEO = mynah
BERUANG = bear
BERUANG KUTUB = polar bear
BIAWAK KOMODO = Komodo dragon
BUAYA = crocodile
BULBUL = bulbul

BULU BABI = sea urchin
BURUNG BEKAKAK = kingfisher
BURUNG BELATUK = woodpecker
BURUNG HELANG = eagle
BURUNG KAKAKTUA = cockatoo
CACING = worm
CICAK = lizard
CIMPANZI = chimpanzee
DOMBA = sheep
DUBUK = hyena
ENGGANG = hornbill
FALKO = falcon (burung falko, really)
GAJAH = elephant
GORILA = gorilla
HARIMAU = tiger
HUDHUD = hoopoe
IKAN = fish
IKAN LUMBA-LUMBA = dolphin
IKAN PAUS = whale
ITIK = duck
JAGUAR = jaguar
JANGKRIK = cricket
KACUAK = roach
KALA JENGKING = scorpion
KAMBING = goat
KANCIL = mousedeer
KANGGARU = kangaroo
KATAK = frog
KERA HANTU = tarsier
KERAM = clam
KERBAU = bison
KETAM = crab
KUCING = cat
KUDA = horse
KUDA BELANG = zebra
KUDA NIL = hippo
KUMBANG = beetle
KUNANG-KUNANG = firefly
KUTU = flea
LABAH-LABAH = spider
LALAT = housefly
LEBAH = bee
LEMBU = cattle
MACAN TUTUL = leopard
MARMOT = guinea pig
MERAK = peacock
MONYET = monkey
MUSANG = civet
NURI = parrot
NYAMUK = mosquito

ORANG = human
ORANGUTAN = orang-utan
PANDA = panda
PENYU = sea turtle
Q?
RAMA-RAMA = butterfly
REMIS = mussel
RUBAH = fox
RUSA = deer
SEMUT = ant
SERIGALA = wolf
SIAMANG = gibbon
SINGA = lion
SIPUT = snail
SOTONG = cuttlefish
TAPIR = tapir
TERITIP = barnacle
TIKUS = mouse
TIRAM = oyster
TUPAI = squirrel
UDANG = prawn
UDANG KARANG = lobster
UBUR-UBUR = jellyfish
ULAR = snake
UNDUK-UNDUK = seahorse
VAMPIR KELAWAR = vampire bat
WALET SAPI = glossy swiftlet
X?
YAKIS = baboon
YU = shark
ZIRAFAH = giraffe

Abjad Sayur-Sayuran dan Buah-Buahan

So my Malay homework involves making a list of vegetables, fruits and animals beginning with each letter of the alphabet. This is, of course, impossible.


Still, I'm surprised that I can't even find any vegetables beginning with, G, M, N, O or R. Help, anyone? (UPDATE: Okay, if I accept nuts and spices I've got "macadamia" and "mete" and "mustar", and "nori" is a stretch, of course. But any port in a storm. "Rebung" is fine though. Ooh! "Oregano" and "ginseng"! Just F, I, Q, X, Y left then... So does "yerba mate" count? It's in the Malay Wikipedia)

ANDEWI = endive
ASAM JAWA = tamarind
ASPARAGUS = asparagus
BADAM = almond
BADAM HIJAU = pistachio
BAWANG = onion

BAWANG MERAH = shallot

BAWANG PERAI = leek

BAWANG PUTIH = garlic
BAYAM = spinach
BENDI = lady's finger/okra

BIJAN = sesame

BIT = beet
BROKOLI = broccoli
BUAH KENARI = walnut
BUAH KERAS = candlenut
BUNGA KANTAN = torch ginger
CENDAWAN = mushroom
CENGKIH = clove
CILI = chilli
DAUN BAWANG = scallion
DAUN SADERI = celery
ERCIS = pea (not sure if this is more Indonesian)
F?
GINSENG = ginseng
HALBA = fenugreek
HALIA = ginger
I?
JAGUNG = corn
JERING = jengkol (active ingredient in rendang)
JINTAN = fennel

JINTAN HITAM = cumin

JINTAN MANIS = anise
KACANG KUDA = chickpea

KACANG PANJANG = long bean
KACANG TANAH = peanut
KELAPA = coconut
KEMIRI = hazelnut
KAILAN = kailan
KANGKUNG = kangkong
KANJI UBI = tapioca
KAYU MANIS = cinnamon
KENTANG = potato
KETUMBAR = coriander
KLEDEK = sweet potato
KOL KEMBANG = cauliflower
KUBIS = cabbage

KUNDUR = gourd
LABU = pumpkin
LADA = pepper
LENGKUAS = galangal
LIDAH BUAYA = aloe vera
LOBAK = radish (or carrot)
MACADAMIA = macadamia
METE = cashew
MUSTAR = mustard
NORI = nori (might be just Indonesian?)
OREGANO = oregano
PAPRIKA = bell pepper
PELAGA = cardamom
PERKELAHIAN = rhubarb
PERIA = bittergourd
PETAI = petai bean
PETERSELI = parsley
Q?
REBUNG BULUH = bamboo shoot
SALAD = lettuce
SAWI = mustard greens
SENGKUANG = yam bean
SERAI = lemongrass
SOYA = soybean
TAUGE = beansprouts
TEBU = sugarcane
TERUNG = eggplant
TIMUN = cucumber
TOMATO = tomato
UBI KAYU = yam
ULAM RAJA = king's salad, literally
VANILA = vanilla
WASABI = wasabi
WORTEL = carrot (more Indonesian)
X?
YERBA MATE = mate
ZUKINI = zucchini (okay, this might be just Indonesia. In Malay I think it's timun Jepun)

On to the fruits now!

Surprising that there aren't any beginning with "H" or "U" (maybe "ugli"? It's a big stretch), but this was much easier than the veg assignment:

ABIU = abiu
ALPUKAT = avocado
ANGGUR = grape
APRIKOT = apricot

ARA = fig
BELIMBING = starfruit
BETIK = papaya
BUAH NAGA = dragonfruit
CEMPEDAK = cempedak
CERI = cherry
CIKU = chiku
CRANBERI = cranberry
DELIMA = pomegranate
DUKU LANGSAT = duku langsat
DURIAN = durian
DURIAN BELANDA = soursop
EPAL = apple
FRAMBOS = raspberry
GUARANA = guarana
H?
I?
JAMBU AIR = rose apple
JAMBU BATU/JAMBU BIJI = guava

KISMIS = raisin
KIWI = kiwifruit
KUMKUAT = kumquat
KURMA = date
LAI = pear
LAICI = lychee
LIMAU = lime/orange
LIMAU BALI = pomelo
LIMAU KESTURI = calamansi
LIMAU MANDARIN = mandarin orange
LIMAU NIPIS = lemon

LIMAU PURUT = Kaffir lime
LONGAN = longan
MANGGA = mango
MANGGIS = mangosteen
MARKISA = passionfruit
MELON = honeydew
MENGKUDU = noni
MURBAI = mulberry
NANAS = pineapple
NANGKA = jackfruit

NEKTARIN = nectarine
NONA = custard apple
OREN = orange
PEAR = pear
PIC = peach
PISANG = banana
PLUM = plum
PULASAN = pulasan
Q?
RAMBUTAN = rambutan
SALAK = salak

SEMANGKA = watermelon (may be more Indonesian?)
STROBERI = strawberry
TEMBIKAI = watermelon
UGLI = ugli
V?
WRESAH = (whatever this is in Indonesia)
X?
YUZU = (well actually it's "limau yuzu" or "oren yuzu", but who cares?)
ZAITUN = olive

Texts Nov 2010

*POETRY*
+Djuna Barnes’s “The Book of Repulsive Women and Other Poems”
=Mika G. Yamaji’s “86 Benevolent Street”
+Teng Qian Xi’s “They hear salt crystallising"
+Grace Chua’s “The Stamp Collector’s Wife”
W. R. Groman’s “Oasis of the Sea: Sint Maarten Sonnets”

*FICTION*
+Daniel Putkowski’s “An Island Away”
+Valerie O. Patterson’s “The Other Side of Blue”
+Amir Muhammad’s “Rojak”
+Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Treasure Island”

*DRAMA*
+Natalie Hennedige’s “Nothing”
+A. Samad Said’s “T. Pinkie’s Floor”

*NON-FICTION*
+Rustom Bharucha’s “Rajasthan: An Oral History: Conversations with Komal Kothari”
+The Oral History Department’s “Vanishing Trades of Singapore”
+Mary Prince’s “The History of Mary Prince”
+Fredrik Haren’s “The Developing World”
+Robert and Melinda Blanchard’s “Live What You Love” and “A Trip to the Beach”

*FILMS*
+Ryan Murphy’s “Eat, Pray, Love”
=Shakti Samanta’s “Singapore”
+ Amit Virmani’s “Cowboys in Paradise”
+Robert Schwenke’s “R.E.D.”

*PERFORMANCES*
=The Reduced Shakespeare Company’s “The Complete History of America”
The Theatre Practice’s “Man to Man”
=LaSalle’s “The Maids”, “Starting Here, Starting Now”, “Journey to Nowhere” and “The Heidi Chronicles”
+Cake Theatre’s “The Scientist”, “OMDM”, “The Performance”
=“The LaMama Experience”

*EXHIBITIONS*
+Cake Theatre’s “The Art of Living in the In-Between”
+8Q SAM’s “Trans-Cool Tokyo”
=Chan Hampe Galleries’s “HIV: Show Me the Love”

Why the hell not?

I'm 30 years old and technology has made dada mainstream!

Call for submissions for ASYMPTOTE: a new international journal of literary translation

My friend's setting up a new journal of translation called Asymptote! (Yeah, I was originally drama editor, but I couldn't commit the time. It's still an important effort.)

It's founded by multi-genre polyglot Singaporean writer Lee Yew Leong, but we've got other editors based in Germany and the USA. Our first issue is coming out in Jan 2011.

If you're a writer in a non-English language or a translator of non-English literature into English, we'd love to see your work. The deadline for submissions is 20 December 2010 and the guidelines are here.

Ooh, and get a load of our landing page, here: http://asymptotejournal.com

Some very cool international writers have already agreed to be featured in the Jan 2011 edition. We'll be featuring:

- a dispatch from Afghanistan about the plight of women in the context of the ongoing war
- an essay from Japan comparing "Literature and Mathematics" (which we thought apropos for the launch issue of a magazine called Asymptote)
- a group of poems by Melih Cevdet Anday, writing in the manner of a famous 17th century folk poet, translated from the Turkish by Sidney Wade and Efe Murad
- an interview with the award-winning lyricist who not only brought the 2010 World Cup song into Mandarin but has done some amazing (literary) things across Mandarin and Cantonese as well.
-excerpts from Singaporean playwright Alfian Sa'at's "Nadirah", last year's prizewinning script at the Life! Theatre Awards.

Hope to read your stuff on the site soon!

Fries Parade!

About a month ago I participated in the following outdoor improv event with Mission: Singapore.



I'm wearing a really ugly T-shirt because the original idea was that we were supposed to exchange T-shirts in a crowded area. (Shrug)

Oh yeah, and I'm thirty years old today! Woohoo!

Painting class at NTU

I've been modelling a lot this month. Usually it's just for charcoal drawings, but a few of the classes work with colour.

This first one's by the professor, Cai Qing:

But the students have turned in some interesting work, too:

One of my favourites is from this guy called Noel:


He got the background in and everything!

Mohan's bar exams started today, btw. And that's all for now.

So right... and yet so wrong...

And definitely so American. How did I get so squeamish? Kids shouldn't be recorded dropping the F-bomb until they're like, thirteen.

FCKH8.com Straight Talk About Gay Marriage from FCKH8.com on Vimeo.

Bookstore Launch of GASPP, Sunday 21 Nov, 3pm

Since a lot of folks couldn't make our last launch at Play, we're having an additional launch in an actual bookstore space.

Sun 21 Nov
BOOKSTORE LAUNCH OF GASPP
3-4pm, Birds & Co, Orchard Cineleisure #03-05A
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=159379880764684

If you haven't heard of Birds & Co, it's 'cos it's BooksActually's new outlet in the shopping centre district of Singapore. Ours will be the first book event to be held there. We're expecting to feature readings with Ovidia Yu, X'Ho, Lee Yew Leong and Cyril Wong.

A magnificently weird music video.

With cute skinny guys, girl boobies and Spanish!

EL GUINCHO | Bombay from MGdM | Marc Gómez del Moral on Vimeo.

October texts!

*POETRY*
+Yeng Pway Ngon’s “Poems 1: Rebellion”

*FICTION*

+Shamini Flint's "Ten"
=Mint Kang’s “6 Years of Parrot”
+Dany Laferrière’s “Heading South”
=Julia Alvarez’s "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents"

*DRAMA*
+Trevor Rhone’s “Two Can Play” and “School’s Out”
=Alfian Sa’at’s “Collected Plays Two”

*NON-FICTION*
+Octavio Paz’s “El laberinto de la soledad”
+Carlos Eire’s “Waiting for Snow in Havana”
+“New Malaysian Essays” ed. Amir Muhammad (except for the BM essay)

*GRAPHIC TEXTS*
*Dave, Rob and Kris's "Cyanide and Happiness"

*FILMS*
=Arthur Dong’s “Family Fundamentals”
+Alain Berliner’s “Ma Vie En Rose”
+Laurent Tirard’s “Little Nicolas”

*PERFORMANCES*
=The Substation’s “Tribal Gathering of the Tongue Tasters: B-Quartet + mux + friends”
=COLLAB’s “Metamorphoses”
daniel k’s “Hokkaido”
+Gregory Maqoma and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s “Southern Bound Comfort”
=Gunung Sayang Association’s “Pagar Makan Padi”
+“Rainbow Massacre 2010: We Are Family”
+NUS Stage’s “Mind Games”
+KreatiV OutBox’s “Constipated”
=The Esplanade and Atilah Soeryadjaya’s “Matah Ati”
+The Esplanade and Fauziah Nawi’s “Cinta Julia”

*EXHIBITIONS*
+Liew Kung Yu, Shieko, Hazri Haili, Jellene, Kal Idris, Ong Jo-lene and Tan Zi Hao’s “Seksualiti Merdeka 2010 Art Project: Portraits of the Unspoken”
Ayu Marista Murti’s “Cloning Garden”
National Art Gallery’s ““A Photo Journey: Memories of the City Hall and Former Supreme Court” (with Historic Guided Tour of the Former Supreme Court and City Hall)
+Singapore International Photography Festival @ 2902 Gallery, OldSchool
+Zero's "The Spectacular Spectacular"

Happy Halloween!

Just reminding everyone: the launch for GASPP is tomorrow!!!

Fri 29 Oct, 8-9:30pm, Play Club, Singapore
OFFICIAL LAUNCH
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=158729217489754
With readings by Alfian Sa'at, Chrystal Wang, Irfan Kasban, Michael Corbidge, Jason Wee and Tania de Rozario.

Updates at http://gaspp.wordpress.com. This is what our cover looks like:



Works by Johann S. Lee, X’Ho, Ovidia Yu, Alfian Sa’at, Cyril Wong, Jason Wee, Lee Yew Leong, Ng How Wee (黄浩威), Adrianna Tan, Koh Jee Leong, Wang Zi Si (王子思), Jasmine Seah, O Thiam Chin, Zhuang Yusa, Ng Yi-Sheng, Michael Lee, Selwyn Lee, Irfan Kasban, Andrew Cheah, Michael Corbidge, Desmond Kon, Johann Loh, Chrystal Wang, Ash Lim, Geraldine Toh, Jabir Yusoff, Mint Hong (思敏), Grace Chua, Nicholas Deroose, Tata So, Dominic Chua, Tania de Rozario and a little someone called Anonymous.

Hantuween @ Post-Museum, Sat 8pm onwards

I've just been invited to read at this year's Hantuween, a fundraising event to feed the hungry by Food #03 and Post-Museum!

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=109186545811556


Post-Museum invites you to its very first Hantuween Party!

Join us for a Halloween celebration with a distinctly Southeast Asian flavour.

Come frolic under our Banyan tree with the Little Nonya’s rotting corpse, Ah Meng’s spirit, a semi-retired bomoh and more.

Take this chance to learn more about the myths and historical figures from our region. Come dressed as your favourite character and have a freaky good time with cabaret-style performances and Southeast Asian beats going on all night!

For More info:
email: admin@post-museum.org
tel: 6396 7980

* Entrance $25 with 2 drinks

* We are having an open call for our cabaret-style open mic session, so please get in touch with your performance ideas.

Writing the City - Launch event on Tues 2 November at Arts House

Like it says! Don't forget to RSVP!

GASPP at Seksualiti Merdeka

This is a basically a cut-and-paste of the blog entry I put up at my GASPP site. But I do want to reiterate what I said about KL (yeah, I'm self-quoting):

"Now I understand why Alfian and The Necessary Stage people love to go up there so much: because there's this young, idealistic community of activists and intellectuals and artists who can't afford to take for granted the values that Singaporeans are utterly blasé about: secularism, racial harmony, non-corruption, and the right to even heterosexual romance."

Unfortunately, my own photos of the Seksualiti Merdeka festival are lousy. So I'll have to rely on everyone else's photos of our event.

For instance, here's us at the Queer As Books event at 2pm, Sunday 17 Oct in the Annexe!

Remember, this was a joint launch (for us, technically a pre-launch event) of three books. So from left to right: Matahari Books publisher Amir Muhammad, Diana Dirani and Azwan Ismail, co-editors of the Malaysian Malay language queer anthology Orang Macam Kita; Alfian Sa'at, playwright of the Asian Boys Trilogy; and myself, Ng Yi-Sheng, co-editor of GASPP.

(The photographer is our own publisher, Fong Hoe Fang of The Literary Centre/Ethos Books.)

And here's GASPP itself:

We had a promotion going on: for every copy of GASPP or Collected Plays Two: The Asian Boys Trilogy we sold, you got a free copy of Charlene Rajendran's Taxi Tales. (No, she's not gay herself. But she's supportive!)

The launch was actually a private event, hence the low levels of publicity. Folks were afraid of attracting undue attention to Orang Macam Kita, a real danger since the queer Malaysian English language anthology, Body2Body, recently got pulled from the shelves after a complaint.

But still, we had readings from the contirbutors, such as Nizam Zakaria (wish my Bahasa Melayu was good enough to follow what was going on) before I goaded Alfian to go up and read something from our own book: Irfan Kasban's short prose work Dua Lelaki.

Yes, that is an expression of consternation on Alf's face. Dua Lelaki is kinda provocative.

Here's a shot of me reading from my short story Lee Low Tar, gleaned from the Facebook album of Dib Jual Kata. Yeah, we sure established ourselves as unsavoury types.

Adrianna Tan was originally supposed to come too, but she had to cancel suddenly for health reasons, so the event really ended up being quite a sausagefest. Hopefully this won't be the case for our Singapore launch!

This last shot's by Malaysian artist Jun Kit. At one point during the Q&A, I got asked whether we'd be able to sell the book openly on the shelves in Singapore. And I had to admit, well, actually, things are much easier for us in Singapore than in KL. Yes, we complain about censorship, but that hardly ever happens to books (only when important government figures get directly insulted) and what happens to plays is R-ratings and funding cuts and text changes: the whole production does not get shut down.

When we compare ourselves to London or New York or Stockholm, our freedom of speech record is lousy. But we're in a better situation than Malaysia, and we should remember that.

Plus, we should buy their books. Orang Macam Kita can be bought from Matahari Books by mail or from Amazon. Alfian's book should be available in all major Singapore bookstores, and if it's not, demand it.

And as for us, we're coming soon... :)