raffles looks like he is forever waiting for something to happen or for someone to come by. kinda sad.

she only loved two things. the first was her long dark hair. the second was how easily she could cut it off, and feel nothing.

i loved love love the movie. its quirky, funny, sincere, cute, light, witty and comes a lovely soundtrack which i bought promptly after the show. its playing on itunes as i post.

i had already found joseph gordon-levitt endearing as tommy solomon in 3rd rock from the sun and that was the last time i saw him as a teen. i did some cursory search on joseph gordon-levitt and found out that he is in fact my age and share the exact same birth date as i. another thing we have in common is the lack of spatial intelligence and direction sense. in an interview he says, “I get lost all the time. My sense of direction sucks. I remember time real well. I think everybody’s mind works really differently. I remember time real well and remember space pretty poorly.”

zooey deschanel looked really familiar but i couldn’t put a finger to it. imdb enlightens – she was trillian in hitch hiker’s guide to the galaxy (2005). also starred in many other mainstream movies like yes man and failure to launch but i didn’t see those. zooey deschanel also sings and composes, often her music is used in the films she is cast and its ost. she is the “she” is “she & him“. she recently married ben gibbard of death cab for a cutie.

i loved how the movie has a relationship with the city in which it is set. joseph gordon-levitt’s character is an architect by training but not by profession. but he still loves the craft and often sketches architectural designs. ooh, i love sketching, i don’t sketch enough. i loved the scene where he explains to zooey deschanel’s character how space can be better utilised in congested nyc by drawing the skyline on her arm and also tells her how long each building has been here.

i wish i could nurture that kind of relationship with the city of singapore where a structure can grow with me and chart my journey. i wish the creative industry in singapore can devote more time to ponder on that and produce works along those lines, not in a documentary but something more fictional and wistful.

mumm-ra’s she got you high is my favourite track of the ost.

chinavoc.com sheds some light on the origins and evolution of the chinese mid autumn festival. its origins involved the worship of the moon that can be traced to the xia and shang dynasties (2000 bc – 1066 bc). this practice began to concentrate around mid autumn in the zhou dynasty (1066 bc – 221 bc). it was only in the southern song dynasty (1127 – 1279 ad) that people began to send moon cakes to their relatives as gifts in expression of their best wishes of family reunion. this celebrations peaked in popularity in the ming dynasty (1368 – 1644 ad) and the tang dynasty (1644 – 1911 ad). the customs of burning incense, planting mid autumn trees and lighting lanterns sprouted on a grass roots level and varied in practice in different parts of china.

having a better historical perspective of mid autumn festival, i have a better appreciation of the sheer length of time this custom has been preserved on one hand, and allowed to evolve on the other. the pagan practice of moon worship does not cross anyone’s mind at all when consuming moon cakes. it is now an opportunity for networking, visiting and and plain consumption. but hey, if its yummy and does not come into conflict with my beliefs why not party on?

it was actually because of the geek and his invite to the jointly organised event by nhb and hua song museum at haw par villa that i participated in mid autumn festivities for the first time in all my adult life. to me, eating moon cakes does not count as having had taken part in the festivities.

the event at hua song museum was called “by the light of the lantern – a mid autumn celebration”. it was a free and easy programme where we could view the exhibits at hua song museum, stuff our face with dinner and moon cakes (free flow), get out names written in chinese calligraphy and make rudimentary lanterns.

we did all of them.

the organisers bought boxes of moon cakes from various hotels and bakeries and had them cut into smaller pieces for easier consumption. i can’t really tell one brand of moon cake from another. my personal favourite is snow skin, which was available in abundance!

this is the lantern that i made. i chose the rabbit patterns to associate the lantern and occasion with the chang’e and houyi mythology.

egged on by the geek, i had my chinese name written in chinese calligraphy. this was my first time since my last chinese exam i.e. 10 years ago that i wrote anything in chinese. the geek kept the end product because i have no idea what to do with it. neither would i part with money to have it frame and displayed.  it was fun anyway. the calligrapher wrote my surname in old chinese and said my middle character was special. i still don’t know how it is special.

i quite enjoyed the permanent exhibits at hua song museum. “hua song” means, “in praise of the chinese”. the exhibits chronicles the phenomenal emigration of the chinese people from china to all parts of the world, their arduous journey, the search for roots and identity and their customs that are preserved till today.

it also locates the emigration of the various dialect diaspora. the cantonese people surpasses all the other dialect groups by far in this exodus.

despite the staggering number of chinese people who have resided, remained and integrated into other societies over more than two centuries, it was only in the last few decades that the concept of immigration has been accepted because departure from the ancestral land was always meant to be temporary.

so this begs the question: do chinese people in the world today still consider themselves as diaspora if they have no emotional or conceptual connection to china especially in the modern context of the national person? where does loyalty lie?

personally, my stake is first and foremost with humanity at large i.e. i identify myself as a human being with common and universal human needs and aspiration as much as the next person, and then my nationality of a singaporean with quirks and idiosyncrasies handed to me as standard issue upon birth in this country and then i identify myself lastly with my ethnicity.

i believe in a human heritage. i believe that all peoples had a hand in destroying our only home and share a responsibility to salvage it. i believe that all cultural heritage is worth preserving laterally and not hierarchically, and should never be wielded as tool for emotional blackmail or for divisive means.

Jailed for living in illegal tent

By Sujin Thomas

HOMELESS and unemployed, Noor Mohammad Yassin Ismail pitched a canvas tent at East Coast Park in May, 2007, and lived there for almost a month – without a lease or licence to do so.

He was discovered on June 26 of that year, after he was apprehended by park rangers.

In court on Tuesday, Noor was asked to produce his Identity Card or passport but he said that he had lost both items.

It prompted District Judge Mr Shaiffudin Saruwan to retort in jest: ‘I suggest you use a bicycle chain to tie yourself to a tree or you may lose yourself as well.’

Pleading for leniency, Noor, who is tanned and skinny, said that he seldom ate, only doing so if friends gave him food.

He added that his mother is paralysed and looked after by a younger sibling, while an elder sister does not care about him.

He was fined $800 but could not afford to pay the fine so he was jailed four days instead. He could have been fined up to $2,000.

The Straits Times

how we treat the least of us is a measure of the best of us.

the state of affairs of the state of singapore is ironic, tragic and wrong on so many levels. with all the progress that we boost about, can’t we do better?

on friday, i took part in what i believed was the most meaningful and least propagandist national day celebrations ever. classes were sent out to designated places (mostly cultural enclaves) to take photos that reflected what “uniquely singapore” means. we had a presentation of the photo montage upon our return.

hardly anyone took photos of singapore’s skyline or national day slogans. the kids instead zoomed onto  the little details that we often overlook. there was the photo of a green dustbin with the words “singapore litter free”, the disengaged trishaw rider smoking a cigarette lost in his own world, the upgrading of hdb flats, and the danger sign in four languages.

i believe that we will hit a brick wall if we try to narrow down how a singaporean is defined because even within database of ic holders we are very diverse and come from very different backgrounds. whether  or not we are old and retired 1st generation singaporeans, or workaholic 3rd generation singaporeans or newly arrived permanent residents or foreign workers and domestic helpers in transit, we are bound by one fact – as long as you find yourself on the shores of singapore you are all taking a chance on this nation of possibilities. it might work out, it might not. but you’re (on most parts) willing to give it a shot.

while working at it, our realities and dreams mix and blend, we reach out for kindred spirits and the kindly ones, get in touch with fellow diaspora or decide to stop being a diaspora and grow roots here if circumstances allow. or even leave, if singapore is found to be not a good fit. by then, our individual sweat, blood and toil would have benefited a collective good.

in this respect there is little meaning in trying to capture an original or unique entity to parade on a pedestal. we are a mish mash of cultures with constant lines of fracture. its the different perspectives that make us interesting, not a rally call for homogeneity. it seems to me that what binds us together is a search for self  and success in this constant state of disequilibrium. we put on the table whatever we have and use what is available to synergise. what then sets us apart is the spirit of enterprise and the surprising end results.

we are bigger than the sum of our parts.

happy birthday singapore. thanks for day off too.