The IndigNation calendar is up!

Click here! Naturally, it includes the queer literary reading ContraDiction!

ContraDiction SIX!

Sunday 15 Aug
7-9pm@72-13

Our annual queer literary reading is back! Curated and hosted by Ng Yi-Sheng, this year’s edition will feature writers such as poet Joel Tan, fiction writer O Thiam Chin, songwriter Amanda Tee and (hetero) guest stars Bani Haykal and Michaela Therese.

Singapore goes gay!

Just check out this archived front page from the Straits Times, 17 September 1963.



I also had to do a double-take for the ad that says "low-cost cooker".

Full-size image at http://newspapers.nl.sg/Digitised/Page/straitstimes19630917.1.1.aspx. Via Zak. :)

Singapore arrests British author Alan Shadrake for criminal defamation

Seems to be related to his banned book, "Once a Jolly Hangman", about Singapore's death penalty. Happened just today. He's 75 years old.

I'm really disgusted with the Singapore government right now. More details at the links below.

http://yoursdp.org/index.php/news/singapore/3931-breaking-news-author-of-death-penalty-book-alan-shadrake-arrested

http://theonlinecitizen.com/2010/07/author-alan-shadrake-arrested-for-alleged-criminal-defamation/

http://sgblogs.com/entry/alan-shadrake-crime/387001

Another Martyn See film gets banned.

Actually, this is just footage of a speech by former Barisan Socialis member Dr Lim Hock Siew at the launch of the book, "The Fajar Generation".

View it here. Also read Martyn's account of the ban here.

And then write to the Media Development Authority at their Online Feedback site to tell them you don't appreciate their taking away your right to information.

Five Foot Broadway Mini Musicals

Presented by MUSICAL THEATRE LIMITED

SIX new short musicals are performed In-Concert style, showcasing local musicals writers:

YS: I won't be around for this, so why don't you turn up and let me know how it goes?

1. MEE POK MAN (Ng YiSheng and Ting Si Hao)

2. CUPID'S BET (Darius Lim and Ken Lyen)
3. THE OTHER WOMAN (Stella Kon and Desmond Moey)
4. IL CASINO (Richard Lord and Ken Lyen)
5. ESTHER (Joshua Greene)
6. BIRTHDAY BLUES (Mohamad Shaifulbahri and Ken Lyen)

FREE Admission - Register through email MTLminimusicals.register@yahoo.com.sg .
The HALL, The Arts House
2010 July 9 FRI 7:30pm (SOLD OUT)
2010 Jul 10 SAT 2:30pm (SOLD OUT)

2010 Jul 10 SAT 7:30pm (NEW SHOW!)
Call Desmond Moey (+65) 92721648

Fyi, I'll be in Europe from 4 to 22 July.

I have a press pass for the Over het IJ and Julidans Festivals in Amsterdam, then the Theater der Welt festival in Ruhr, which is part of its European Cultural Capital 2010 celebrations.


View Europe trip in a larger map

Yeah, I'm surprised they gave it to me too. After that I'll be in Zurich for a week, working on a book.

Texts June 2010

A lot of the performances I watched for the Singapore Arts Festival blog.

The books, on the other hand, feature in a new blog, Around the World in 80 Books! Basically, I'm trying to read my way around the world, one book from one adjacent country at a time.

Meanwhile, my Singapore Biennale Blog, which I was updating every now and then even though it's two years since the last one, has been unceremoniously erased. Good luck to them trying to get me to work with them again.

*POETRY*
+Christopher Reid’s “A Scattering”
=Sudesh Mishra’s “diaspora and the difficult art of dying”
Konai Helu Thaman’s “Hingano”
=Kauraka Kauraka’s “Return to Havaiki”

*FICTION*
+David Leavitt’s “The Lost Language of Cranes”
+Jack London’s “Jerry of the Islands” [Be warned!!! Extremely racist!!!]
+James A. Michener’s “Tales of the South Pacific”
+Wena Poon’s “The Proper Care of Foxes”
+Janet Frame’s “Owls Do Cry”
+Albert Wendt’s “Leaves of the Banyan Tree”
Ze Lin Xiao’s “Tutuila”

*DRAMA*
=Tanika Gupta’s “The Waiting Room”
+David Hare’s “The Blue Room”
+Alfian Sa’at’s “Collected Plays Volume 1”

*NON-FICTION*
+E. Benjamin Skinner’s “A Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern Day Slavery”

*HARD TO CLASSIFY*
+Charu Nivedita’s “Zero Degree”

*FILMS*
+Nina Paley’s “Sita Sings the Blues”
+“Shrek: Forever After”
+Satoshi Kon’s “Millennium Actress”
= Baratz's "Unmistaken Child"
+Lee Unkrich's "Toy Story 3"

*PERFORMANCES*
+Singapore Arts Festival’s “Platform Campus”
=Joyce Koh’s “On the String”
=Singapore Street Festival’s “Street Revolution Jam”
=a bit of Atsuhiro Ito feat. Zai Kuning and the Analog Girl
+AWARE’s “Superwomen in Concert”
+Nanning Cantonese Opera Troupe’s “Mulian Rescues His Mother”
+Compagnie Une de Plus's "Trois"
=Singapore Arts Festival’s “Open Studio”
+Theatrestrays’ “The Lower Depths”
Meg Stuart and Philippe Gehmacher’s “Maybe Forever”
=Singapore Arts Festival's "Mega Line Dance"
+Beijing Paper Tiger Studio’s “Cool”
=Pangdemonium’s “The Full Monty”

*EXHIBITIONS*
+Era Dance Theatre Unlimited, Yayasan Warisan Johor and Langkan Budaya Taratak’s “Zapin d’Muara”
National Museum’s “Singapore 1960”
=National Library’s “Rihlah – Arabs in Southeast Asia” and “William Farquhar”
NUS Museum’s +“Dire Patterns: Antipas Delotavo”, =“Southeast Asian Ceramics: New Light on Old Pottery” and +“Tracing Taiping”