too bad i am going to have to miss this.

i really want to see what another local artist can come up with for the singapore river. Ever since cheo chai hiang's Singapore River, which was a conceptual idea for a work of the river when his contemporaries were doing watercolour paintings of the river.

The Singapore River as a Pychogeographical Faultline

an interesting website with videos of artists who still use a sketchbook to draw.

Little Scraps of Paper

This is a Sarong Kebaya. It is normally worn by the Peranakans (Straits born Chinese). Originally, the Peranakan were mixed-race descendents, part Chinese, part Malay/Indonesian. Straits-Chinese were defined as those born or living in the Straits Settlements: a British colonial construct of Penang, Malacca and Singapore constituted in 1826.

I think that it is important to distinguish us as Straits-Chinese as although we are Chinese by ethnicity, we do not follow traditional Chinese cultures like they do in Mainland China. A problem which rises from this is that we now have a culture that is a melting pot of different races, hence, we do not really belong to anything. As a result, this is perhaps one of the reason why few people feel that they belong to this country.

cool street art.< click to watch video.

I decided to do an animation with the lyrics. I'm still in the process of making the frames.

200 frames to edit, a gazillion more to make.

why white houses? its the men in white (PAP).

next week i am going to make houses using lottery ticket.

everyone wants to strike lottery, especially the one during chinese new year.

but on a normal day, the lines are still fairly long, something i did not see in america.

ok, this is the last paragraph of the song.

my friends are trying to convince me to record it, but I am not to sure about that.

When there are troubles to go through,
We know that we can buy toto.
There is comfort in the knowledge,
That we might win big money.
So we'll dream of the 5Cs,
Just like we always do.
Just like free cash before election,
There'll always be Singapore.

I remembered a national day song called 'Home',

it made me really think of what is home.

I changed the lyrics and is in the process of making an animation out of it.

I will post the original lyrics when I find it.

Whenever I am feeling low,

I have 75 malls to go.

There's always a sale in the city,

wherever I may choose to go.

A place where good food is plenty,

where foodies are hardcore.

Spoilt with 24 hour kopitiams,

This is truely Singapore.

This is home truely, where I know I must be

Where shopping malls are plenty,

where my walllet becomes empty.

This is home surely, where casinos wait for me>

where they keep on taking our money,

till we don't even have a penny.

Part of the pledge sewn on with red thread, symbolising binding it together. I intend to do many of these and have them in ziplock bags.

This is something i am trying out. I was thinking of Singapore as a country that is very beautiful on the outside, but empty inside.

“Singapore remains the textbook example of a politically repressive state,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Individuals who want to criticize or challenge the ruling party’s hold on power can expect to face a life of harassment, lawsuits, and even prison.”

When you have 75 shopping malls, 2 casinos, and an amusement theme park in 274.2 square miles, few are interested in politics. besides, its worse now with the world cup in action.

have a plan for a new installation!

gonna search for materials tomorrow!!

there are almost no homeless people in Singapore, as the government made it illegal to sleep on the streets.
apparently this is to give Singapore a good image.
it seems that image is very important to the government.
for example, the marina bay sands casino, it was not ready for the opening, however they went ahead with it and whatever will go wrong, went wrong.
the same with universal studios in sentosa, it was not ready. yet, it was opened and accidents happened.
rushing 2 years job into 1 year, just so that they can start making money.
is compromising of the safety of everyone worth it?

Lately I've been thinking of the idea of Singapore as home.

Perhaps not feeling any strong attachment of home is one of the reasons why most people here are apathetic towards politics.

What makes a home?

Is it the hdb(housing developement board) flats?

or maybe the smell of durians?

how does one make a country one's home?

what needs to happen or what is needed to make it home?

maybe if people start to think of Singapore of a home, and be proud of her, they would start to be more involved with her well being.

What is our identity as a Singaporean?

In a country that is less than 5o years old, with a history that barely fills up a book, one often question on identity.

Its more than being of a certain 'race'. What makes me a Singaporean?

I am often asked if I am from China as I am Chinese. "But you are Chinese and you speak mandarin. Are you sure you are not from China?"

Yes, I am very sure.

I like to think of myself as rojak (indian mixed salad), a mix of chinese, malay, indian culture, with western and maybe japanese influences.

However, I still do not know what makes me a Singaporean.

And I am sure many are still searching for this identity.

Will people start to care more if they identify themselves as a Singaporean?

How can we do this with our barely there history ( and the possibility that it might have been faked.)?

After coming back, I realise that this whole country is full of campaigns.

Seriously, does the government need to force us to be courteous and kind? Do we really need a campaign for that?

Do we really need to be reminded to tap our bus cards, wash our hands, and even how to pee properly?

Apparently we do.