ampulets

portrait of J against Chinatown's words of wisdom It was a warm night. But otherwise, a perfect night for a ramble. J and I met with L at an art exhibition opening by the folks who work at the Singapore Tyler Print Institute . So for sure, we started at the exhibition at a Spottiswoode Park Road conservation shophouse. But looking at the street directory and Google Earth now, I can't quite plot the exact path of our walk. We must have meandered along Cantonment Road, Kampong Bahru, Neil Road, Bukit Pasoh, Craig Road, Keong Saik Street, backtracking several times and stumbling upon an underpass that led to a little park of swordsmen and women behind the Duxton Plains construction, before reaching - "The first swimming pool* in Singapore!", L introduced. "Wow -" J immediately whipped out his Ricoh. The Yan Kit Swimming Complex was, without a doubt, the highlight of our night ramble. To be accurate, it is actually the second public pool in Singapore, opene...

Very loose translation: "How can you wait until the autumn day clears, when the sun is setting and the cicadas call!" － late Tang poet Li Shangyin . Drawing of Pa J as J distracted him with small talk. Three anthologies of classical Chinese poetry sit on my shelves. One has pictures and pinyin (hoorah!) accompanying every poem. I bought it years ago wandering discount book fairs. Another is a 500-page tome with a grandiose title Song of the Immortals . I have forgotten how it found its way to my bookshelf. The third is an anthology of Chinese lyrics, translated by a Chinese scholar Chu Dagao, who had studied at Cambridge in the 30s. It cost me BP3.30 from a second-hand bookstore in that British university town. As if reflecting the weight of their content, they are all hardbacks - even the picture book - and are built to last. The books left their shelf and jacket of dust some weeks ago. I was searching for a Chinese poem that would go with a drawing of Pa J that J and I ma...

click for larger flickr view Some four years ago, this tree survived the town council/ HDB's "upgrading"; its roots run too deep to be harmed by the censor of concrete. However, most of the tree's colourful and diverse inhabitants have left after an initial valiant effort to reclaim their home . Last week, on our almost-daily walk past the tree, J and I discovered that the tree has once again transformed itself...this time into a public gallery of sorts! Ah, an illustration of the word "indefatigable".

screenshot of their main site Common People is a new online archive of video interviews with folks working in/through art, design, fashion, community...or just "people who constantly create and make things happen in Singapore, for Singaporeans. These people combine thoughtfulness, a sense of craftsmanship and sensitivity to their context to create stunning and relevant work" (see their blog for more details). Friends, click and bookmark this for updates!