Took these of a procession in Melaka a while back. Was reminded that I had them because I was flipping through an issue of National Geographic on Zheng He and saw this procession in it.
Been busy these few days so I didn’t really take my time to go through the photos. Here’s the first few.
Hahaha! Apparently this won the Academy Awards for Best Student Shortfilm. The Project Pilot has a long way to go man.
Erm, I don’t really know whether I should be disgusted or amused. In Japan’s TV wasteland whatever that can be done to increase ratings will be done, and Hard Gay is probably the result of that. But it does show that even though Hard Gay’s totally well-intentioned, very often we as human beings we’re still conditioned to take things at face value, no matter how often the maxim of not judging a book by its cover is drilled into our heads.
A short description of Hard Gay from the Mainichi News site.
Razor Ramon “Hard Gay” Sumitani’s cutting humor parodying stereotypical homosexuals has made him a firm favorite of Japan’s fickle schoolgirl fans, according to Asahi Geino (7/28).
Looking akin to an outcast from the Village People, clad entirely in black leather — a body-hugging, sleeveless, shirt, micro-hotpants and a studded black cap — and his every move accompanied by Ricky Martin’s “Livin’ La Vida Loca” blaring out in the background, 29-year-old Razor Ramon is fast becoming one of the most recognized faces on Japan’s small screen.
Razor Ramon HG has a corner on the program where he helps others, whether they want his assistance or not, suddenly springing up in front of them, holding his arms above his head, then wildly gyrating his hips and thrusting his pelvis forward while screaming out a piercing, “Whoooooo!” and announcing himself as “Haado Gei!”
Among those he has helped in his stints on the show include crying children, tissue distributors and old women he has piggybacked across pedestrian overpasses. He claims to gain his apparently boundless energy from memories of late Queen singer Freddie Mercury.
I’ve got an art history test on Monday and 2 presentations the next week. Looks like I’m going to neglect this blog for a while… See Alex’s analogy on the shit we as NUS students get. Laters!
“Over the Rainbow / What a Wonderful World by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole”
First heard it on the movie Finding Forrester.
Here’s the full story of how this haunting song came about
An exerpt
A young engineer named Milan Bertosa sits in his recording studio, waiting. He was planning to go home, until some Hawai’ian guy with a lot of letters in his name called up and wanted to record something right away. It’s late, Bertosa is tired, but the voice was insistent, saying he only needed half an hour. A knock at the door, and there stands an unimaginable sight. De Mello, whom Bertosa recognizes, stands about five foot two and 100 pounds. Next to him, the largest man he’s ever seen, a gargantuan six-foot-six Hawai’ian carrying a ukulele. De Mello introduces the two, they get Israel situated in a chair, and Bertosa starts rolling tape.
Israel leans into the microphone, says: “Kay, this one’s for Gabby,” and begins gently strumming the uke. His beautiful voice comes in, a lilting “Oooooo,” then slips into the opening words of “Over the Rainbow,” from “The Wizard of Oz.” Bertosa listens behind the glass, and within the first few bars knows it’s something very special. He spends most of his time recording lousy dance music. This is otherworldly. An incredibly fat man, elegantly caressing a Hollywood show tune, breaking it down to its roots, so sad and poignant, yet full of hope and possibility. Halfway through the tune, Israel spirals off into “What a Wonderful World,” the George David Weiss/Bob Thiele hit made famous by Louis Armstrong, then melts back into “Over the Rainbow.” He flubs a lyric, and tosses in a new chord change, but it doesn’t matter. It feels seamless, chilling. Israel plays five songs in a row, then turns to de Mello and says, “I’m tired and I’m going home.” “Gets up and walks out,” says de Mello. “Ukulele and a vocal, one take. Over.” Israel never played the song again.
Video – possibly dead link
Damn funny!
I thought I saw a man brought to life
He was warm, he came around like he was dignified
He showed me what it was to cry
Well you couldn’t be that man I adored
You don’t seem to know, don’t seem to care what your heart is for
But I don’t know him anymore
I don’t care, I have no luck, I don’t miss it all that much
There’s just so many things that I can’t touch, I’m tornI’m all out of faith, this is how I feel
I’m cold and I am shamed lying naked on the floor
Illusion never changed into something real
I’m wide awake and I can see the perfect sky is torn
You’re a little late, I’m already torn. torn.
Someone wore the wrong pair of flip-flops after a meeting in hall just now. What happened was that we aren’t allowed to wear our footwear up to the lounge space in hall, so we have to take them off before we proceed. Having realised that someone in hall has the same pair of flip-flops as myself and what I usually do is to put mine far far away when I notice that the particular person is around for a meeting too. By the way his (I assume it’s a him) flip-flips are 2 sizes bigger than mine so I figured that there probably is no way a mix-up can occur.
Anyway on this particular occasion that particular individual isn’t around so I left mine around. When I left, I noticed that my slippers decided to go through a spurt of spontaneous cellular division and grow bigger. I’m just wondering if the weather is cold enough to make a pair of slippers cold enough to feel 2 sizes too small, so much so that you attribute it to molecular contraction rather than a case of being the wrong size. Hmmm.
“Hello Mr Tan? We’re calling from SAFRA regarding your phonecall yesterday on the credit card renewal. We have processed your renewal and the card should be in your mail within the next few days. Thank you.”
Humph. About time. 2 weeks already. At least they didn’t forget.
I’m not going to say much here. Shot in 1996/7 for my installation on the transience of life, the location is the current Far East Square prior to its development. Ilford Delta 400, Developed in Kodak T-Max developer, Kodak Indicator Stop Bath and Rapid-fix. Developer temperature 23 degrees celsius, pushed by 1 stop.Except 4th photo (titled “Wall”), shot at Bouna Vista, at the current OneNorth development. Was a disused warehouse. Photo taken in 2000. Kodak T-max 400, Developed in Agfa Developer, Kodak Indicator Stop Bath and Ilford Fixer.Shot on a variety of lenses and cameras, inc Nikon F5, Canon AE, Nikon FM2, Canon EOS50E, Minolta x700. Lenses are mainly prime 50mm and a couple of 28mm zooms and a 65mm macro.
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