Are you a frequent theatre goer? Self professed music junkie? Or have the knack for singing? Then you shouldn’t miss Beauty World, a stunning theatre production incorporating all of the above. Here’s a review on Wild Rice’s much celebrated production.
If you are at all artisitically inclined then you will know that the Singapore Arts Festival is on now. We are not going to to do any previewing or overdo on the recommendations . All performances these days have a digital dimension of some sort but we have picked some which have an obvious digital element in their delivery or performance or execution.
Continue reading "SingArtFest 2007 - the digitalk point of view" »
Memory is a funny thing. We all have unique memories--places, people, sounds, and smells that are personally significant and trigger reactions across the spectrum of our emotions. What is your earliest earliest memory? What is your most recent memory? Memory is personal and powerful. As a person our memories establish where we've been and who we are when we were there. Our memories are the Ariadne's threads which lead back to our childhood selves from the adults we have turned into because, or in spite of, these memories. When we're young we tend to take our memories for granted but as we get older, as they slip away, we may become fearful and disorientated. We often say that the computer has a memory and we increasingly use it as our "backup" memory for documents, photos, videos. In recent years the Internet has become our collective memory where we can turn for a memory jog on a multifarious amount of subjects - all we need to do is remember the search word that will call up the correct answer or memory!
Between 26 MAY and 14 JULY 2007 all of you young guns between the ages of 15 to 35 are encouraged to get out there and video-express yourselves (in a strictly non-violent sense).
After registration (details at the bottom of this post) you are invited to "think passionately and articulate [your] opinions" whether you have a burning beef or a opinion dying to get out about your life in Singapore, your Asian universe and anything socially significant- and then if your idea is selected, you will be mentored through the whole process of creation..
So what are you waiting for - if you have admired from afar John Grierson, Agnes Varda or Michael Moore then this is your chance to step up to the plate. The Sundance Film Festival with its famous short film emphasis beckons .... So whether you do it all yourself or you want to get together with some friends (no more than 4, the rules stipulate) give yourself a break ...and dream big ... you have nothing to lose but your video virginity!
Some films have been uploaded online on Youtube for access by anyone, and you can get involved in discussions about them via the Youth.SG forums
Oh and did we forget to say there will be cash prizes in the student and open categories. and that the two first-prize winners will be awarded a further $2,500 prize to produce a short film.
Registration is SGD$10 per person, via Gatecrash from 2nd May to 25 May, or through The Substation Hotline, 6337 7800. For details and updates, visit reel revolution
or call 6337 7535 / 6734 9600.
DIRECT LINKS
1. The Battle for Authenticity': Perspectives on John Grierson and the National Film Board of Canada. - from EBSCOHost Academic Search Premier
Film.
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,url,uid&db=aph&AN=9063087&site=ehost-live
2, "Varda, Agnès." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online Library Edition. 11 May 2007
The Quests
On The Record: Homegrown Bands from Then and Now traces the evolution of Singapore’s English popular music scene from the 1960s til today. Combining print and video, the exhibit features interviews with prominent local musicians that include Vernon Cornelius (The Quests), Derek Fitzgerald (The Thunderbirds), Patrick Chng, Joe Ng, Lunarin, and My Precious. On The Record is now on display at the library@esplanade until the end of the year.
Exclusive to digi.talk, we present a series of audio clips extracted from interviews done during the research process.
From the rationalist to the devotee of whatever persuasion - it seems we can't resist saying something quotable about love. Here's a selection of our favourites from first flush to dealing with the debris:
At First Sight
"Where both deliberate, the love is slight: Who ever lov'd, that lov'd not at first sight?"
Christopher Marlowe 1564-1593, British Dramatist, Poet
"I do not think that what is called Love at first sight is so great an absurdity as it is sometimes imagined to be. We generally make up our minds beforehand to the sort of person we should like, grave or gay, black, brown, or fair; with golden tresses or raven locks; -- and when we meet with a complete example of the qualities we admire, the bargain is soon struck."
William Hazlitt 1778-1830, British Essayist
"You can't blame gravity for falling in love."
Albert Einstein
This year's Oscar nominations have gone global (Sunday Telegraph).
The bigger surprise was however, in the round-up of nominees for the 79th Academy Awards. Dreamgirls was excluded from the best-picture competition, despite it leading the field with eight nominations, making it the first time in Oscar’s history that a movie with the most nominations isn't a best-picture contender. (1)
The Latinos took away a record 20 nominations in total. In addition to the heavy Latino representation, five black actors were nominated in acting categories: Forest Whitaker (for The Last King of Scotland), Will Smith (The Pursuit of Happyness), Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls) and Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond). (2)
Best Picture nominee or not, Dreamgirls managed to do well, scoring two nominations in the supporting actor ranks: for Jennifer Hudson (American Idol runner-up), and Eddie Murphy, who brings pathos and serious vocalising to the role of a soul-revue veteran.
Clint Eastwood's war-ridden Letters From Iwo Jima, may have bumped the popular musical off the card, along with the four other expected Best Picture nominees namely Babel, The Departed, Little Miss Sunshine and The Queen. (1)
Speaking of foreign language, let’s revert to the initial surprise of this post. This year's Oscar nominations have gone global (we’re just reinforcing this point). This seems to be a trend. Out of the 20 acting nominees, five are black, two are Latina and one is Japanese.
There's a lot of talk in Singapore recently about Eighth Wonder which makes you wonder about the other seven, which brings us rather clumsily to to the new 7 Wonders Launched in September of last year, New 7 Wonders is precisely what it says - an attempt to identify a new set of seven wonders of our world, this time based on a campaign where the whole world gets to vote.
The New 7 Wonders of the World will be announced during the Official Declaration ceremony in Lisbon, Portugal on Saturday, July 7, 2007 (for those into numbers that is 07.07.07). The election/selection procedure is backed up by a panel of experts consisting of :
The former Director-General of UNESCO, Spain's Prof. Dr. Federico Mayor Zaragoza, has been appointed president of the panel.
Cesar Pelli, architect of the Battery Park buildings in New York, the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Canary Wharf in the UK and the second tower of the new Hong Kong Financial Centre.
Zaha Hadid became the first woman to win the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize when she did so last year. She has designed buildings around the world and was described by judges as being "one of the most gifted practitioners of the art of architecture today."
Tadao Ando awarded the Prizker Prize, in 1995. One of his most acclaimed projects is the Church of the Light in Osaka, Japan.
Yung Ho Chang, one of China's most accomplished contemporary architects and the founding director of the Graduate Center of Architecture at Peking University, Head of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Department of Architecture since July 2005.
Board games have been around for thousands of years. Some of the oldest games are some of the most popular, including chess and checkers.
Backgammon dates back at least to the first century C.E. when the Roman Emperor Claudius played it. Chess probably had its origin in Persia or India, over 4,000 years ago. Checkers was played as early as 1400 B.C.E. in Egypt.
Major board games such as Parker Brothers and Milton Bradley have made fortunes by developing hundreds of games promising entertainment for players of all ages.
For old-fashioned fun, many are going back to family board games. Even the most dedicated video gamers, Web surfers and couch potatoes long for an occasional escape from electronic amusement.
Board games have become so popular that online versions have been created. MSN Messenger enables one to play board games online, allowing users to compete with their opponents virtually.
Did you know board games are associated with Art?
“Homemade game boards have reached a level of artistic appreciation never dreamed of by their creators.” (Authors Esther & Franklin Schmidt, 2003)
Boards games took long to find their market level in the art industry stated Stacy C. Hollander, senior curator and director of exhibitions at the American Folk Art Museum in New York City. Today, board games have actualized much of their market potential. They’re even outperforming other folk-art objects such as weathervanes, whirligigs (a child’s toy), quilts and painted chests. The prices for medium-range boards range between US$1,000 and US$3,500.
Aspiring to make your own board game?
Check out this event.
Direct Links:
(1) Caplan, Jeremy. Beyond Monopoly. (Your Time; Lifestyle)(board games)
Time 167.15 (April 10, 2006): p83.
Taken from: Educators Periodical Collection.
(2) David, Rosalie. "Entertainment in ancient Egypt."
Handbook to Life in Ancient Egypt, Revised Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2003.
Taken from: Ancient and Medieval History Online.
(3) King Tutone
Link: http://www.kingtutone.com/tutankhamun/
(4)Lloyd, James H. "Board Games."
St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. Eds. Sara Pendergast and Tom Pendergast. Vol. 1. Detroit: St. James Press, 2000. 297-298. 5 vols.
Taken from: Gale Virtual Reference Library.
(5)Schmidt, Esther & Schmidt Franklin. “Fair Game.”
Art & Antiques; Jun2003, 26, p36-37.
Taken from: Art FullText and Art Index Retrospective
Till now, I could vividly recall my one and only storytelling experience. After that nerve-wrecking experience, my view of storytellers changed drastically.
Storytelling could be considered to be an art. So you might wonder, what makes storytelling artistic?
Storytelling involves the story, teller and listener. “Storytelling is relating a tale to one or more listeners through voice and gesture,” the National Council of Teachers of English stated, in support of storytelling in the academic classroom.
The World of Art in Singapore
“Art evokes the mystery without which the world would not exist.” – Magritte, Rene.
It’s all about the arts the next few months here as Singapore Biennale 2006 opens its doors to the public from the 4th of September till the 12th of November 2006. This major event is the anchor cultural event for Singapore 2006: Global City. World of Opportunities, organized by the National Arts Council and the National Heritage Board of Singapore.
The Singapore Biennale 2006 provides opportunities for local artists, curators and arts businesses. It also provides the platform for the presentation of global arts in Asia.
The rationale behind the concept of the Singapore Biennale 2006 stems from the strong belief to intervene art into public spaces. This allows art to be an integral part of everyday life in Singapore. This event is a significant opportunity for the Singaporean public to be exposed to the local and global arts scene. This is one of the many art events held here in Singapore to promote the arts to the public. One other popular arts event would be The Singapore Arts Festival, which is held annually.
Direct Links:
1. Singapore Biennale: http://www.singaporebiennale.org/programme.html
2. Singapore 2006: http://www.singapore2006.org/
TV's Top Stars strutted their stuff in a big, bare way as low-cut V-necks and halter tops dominated the red carpet at Sunday's 58th annual Primetime Emmy Awardsin Los Angeles. Other fashion flashes: purple, red and white were the top color choices; metallic beading drew eyes to all the right places; and soft, sexy, piled-high hairdos helped actresses keep their cool on an unusually hot night.
As I was watching the encore on Channel 5 at 10pm, I was simply mesmerised by all the beautiful dresses and matching acessories. Evangeline Lilly from " LOST" scored high marks from the fashion critics, She was stunning in a cross pleated purple dress which seemed to float dreamily to the floor.
Native English speakers are always arrogant enough to play fast and loose with their own language. Yes, of course, there are standards, and they can be found in a grammar or a book such as the seemingly perrenial "Fowler's Modern English Usage." But as the saying goes: the only constancy is change and this applies in spades to any language which evolves as rapidly as English. Some languages, such as Arabic, have evolved and become split into the colloquial, the modern standard and the classical which has its complications(2). Other languages such as French have quite a rigorous style guide which you deviate from at your peril although when it comes to shampoo bottle instructions(1) it can lead to some humourous moments. English just seems to soak up influence, idioms and eccentricity day-by-day. Blogs of course have spawned a whole new reservoir of made-up language and therefore any language problems you have with this post - I attribute to speaking Blogese (or is that Bloggish).
"Cabaret" it is not!
For the last few years, NLB has been working on bringing a unique resource to these shores. Just recently unveiled, "Dance on Demand" is the result of a collaboration between NLB, the Goethe Institut, the German Dance Film Institute and Bremen University.
Having arrived all the way from Germany, this 'digital baby' was warmly welcomed by the members of the Singapore arts community who were present to witness the 'baptism' of the newborn atlibrary@esplanade on 27th July 2006.
The event was graced by dancer and dance filmmaker Heide-Marie Härtel who founded the German Dance Film Institute in 1991. Her Institute aims to archive, restore and make audiovisual recordings of contemporary dance and dancers. The archive is based on a collection of recordings from the early days of dance in Bremen and since then has been energetically gathering material from all aspects of the dance world, including dance teaching and training centres. Each year, over 40 dance events filmed by the Institute itself are added to the collection. Every two years, the Institute produces a television film, Tele-Tanzjournal (i.e. Tele-Dance Journal), in cooperation with the broadcaster 3sat and the Goethe-Institut. This acts as a review of all the dance of the preceding two years.
Dance on Demand is highly commendable as it is the world’s first digital film collection on German dance. This collaborative project combines digitally re-mastered films, photographs and textual information to create an important resource for students and practitioners while providing a rich cultural experience for anyone interested in dance or movement. Learn more about each performance piece as well as individual choreographers, dancers, and specific styles.
Note: It's only truly accessible in all its glory at library@esplanade and the Goethe Institut but discussions are continuing to offer it to a wider audience.
Dance is a ritual(1) - reaching out to a nature spirit, losing self in rhythmic movement alone or with others. It is an intoxicating manipulation of the body, a discipline of breath and a raising of the senses- at least that is some of the story. Through dance we can point back to the time before village, town or city, when people lived in the caves, the deserts or the forests - they all, through ritual dance, in some way took power for themselves, used that power to hynotise others and made it religious or social, underpinning their culture, forging a sort of humanity.
The Quick Guide to NLB Databases 1. - Art & Design
The diverse range of e-content available through our site includes a fair selection on Art and the Arts. Over the next few months we will be featuring more specific resources but what we would like to do, just to get things started, is highlight each of the art databases and what they offer.
Brace yourself for a new Music experience - 8,800 CDs, 15,000 Music Scores!
Our music collection has just got 100% better. With Naxos Music Library and Sheet Music joining International Index to Music Periodicals Full-Text (IIMP) and xreferplus Music.
