Post Mortem Photography

WOOHOO!  can u believe it? I'm in the national library!  AMAZING.  

i managed to drag myself there today after lunch with a Mang.  

I'm sitting in this lane now on L8 checking out this book on post mortem photography.

A new way to look at photographs of death.  

Death loves to be represented... The images can retain some of the obscure, repressed meanings that the written word filters 

out. Hence its power to move us so deeply. 

-Phileppe Aries (1985)

[The photograph] embalms time, rescuing it from its proper condition. 

-Andie Bazin(1967)

Secure the Shadow

Death and Photography in America

Jay Ruby

Secure the Shadow uses a combination of cultural anthropology and visual analysis to explore the photographic representation of death in the US from 1840 to the present. It looks at the ways in which people have taken and used photographs of deceased loved ones and their funerals to mitigate the finality of death.

Ruby employs newspaper accounts, advertisements, letters, photographers' account books, interviews, and other material to determine why and how photography and death became intertwined in the nineteenth century.  He traces this century's struggle between America's public denial of death an a deeply felt private need to use pictures of those we love to mourn their loss.  Jay Ruby is  a Professor of Anthropology at Temple University.  He has published extensively in archaeology, popular music, film, television and photography, and has been exploring the relationship between cultures and pictures for the past thirty years.

Anthropology= the science that deals with the origins, physical and cultural development, biological characteristics, and social customs and beliefs of humankind

Tyki wants me to check out this site about...

the boy who knew too much: a child prodigy

This is the true story of scientific child prodigy, and former baby genius, Ainan Celeste Cawley, written by his father. It is the true story, too, of his gifted brothers and of all the Cawley family. I write also of child prodigy and genius in general: what it is, and how it is so often neglected in the modern world. As a society, we so often fail those we should most hope to see succeed: our gifted children and the gifted adults they become. Site Copyright: Valentine Cawley 2006+

THE ART BOOK

We all need to know these artists maan... 

Product Description

This user-friendly book is an alphabetical reference guide to 500 of the world's greatest painters and sculptors, from antiquity to the present. Measuring roughly 5 by 6-1/2 inches and now in paperback, The Art Book is not only affordable, but also light, compact, and extremely portable, completely reforming the concept of an art reference book. It is perfect for the coffee table or for the backpack or pocketbook as well. Each artist is represented by a full-color plate and by explanatory and illuminating information on both the image and the artist. Cross references are provided to other artists in the book, and glossaries of technical terms and artistic movements are also included, making the book a valuable reference tool in the art library. Presented are some of the most famous artists of all time and their greatest masterworks--never before have they been so accessible as they are in this format.

A

Agasse Jacques-Laurent

Born in Geneva in 1767, Agasse was the son of one of the oligarchic families who governed the republic. He experienced a privileged upbringing spending his childhood summers on their estate in Crevin. While at the estate he developed his love for horses and farm animals and spent his days sketching and drawing. He decided to enroll in the Ecole du Calabri and later studied under David in Paris.

After briefly returning to Geneva, he moved to England in 1802 where he lived until his death in 1849. He is often referred to as the Swiss Stubbs because of his ability to re-create the anatomy of animals. His pictures are sensitive to the subjects and are very naturalistic. His work is regarded among the finest of this period.(http://www.globalgallery.com/enlarge/002-12616/)

Albers Josef

The square was the ideal shape for Albers’ "Homage’s," series. Squares were mathematically related to each other in size, perfect for superimposition, shapes that never occur in nature--thus assuring its man-made quality. Albers intended that the colours in his "Homage’s" series react with each other when processed by the human eye, causing optical illusions due to the eye's ability to continually change the colors in ways that echo, support, and oppose one another. He executed these paintings with a deliberate, careful technique using a minimum of tools and paint. He hated chaos and was adamantly opposed to the freedoms of Abstract Expressionism. When working, he applied one base or primary coat to Masonite, a ground he found most durable, and then squeezed unmixed paints directly from the tubes and spread the paint evenly and as thinly as possible with a palette knife.

(more at http://www.articons.co.uk/albers.htm)

...alamak at this rate i will never finish... go check out this book urself la... i borrowed this from the library.

following up with yesterday's entry, i did it again.  

from woodlands interchange to hougang interchange, i slept on the bus 161, and i had to choose the seat that's at the rear of the upper deck.  And i was the last to leave the bus at its parking lot.  I got a shock man when i woke to see nobody... 

I recall once last year or something, the bus was parked already, the bus's engine shut down and the bus driver had already gone.  I exit the bus myself and alone i think maybe half and hour or so later... hehhe... maan.  i think if i got raped in the course, i wouldn't even know man... this is really bad.  i can't keep sleeping everywhere! 

"first touch life, second touch, death forever."

Pushing Daisies

I LOVE THIS SHOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i am watching Pushing Daisies now and it's a damn cool show!  love it love it!  The colours are so fresh in its beautiful settings.  And i love the concept and visual design that accompany it.  

Imagine running through a field of vast yellow daisies that meet the flat azure blue sky with white cotton-wool clouds that float past you as you chase your golden retriever downhill. It's a different kind of feeling, and  an unusual way of telling the tale of a piemaker that runs the PIEHOLE.  

It's like a cross between the addam's family, CSI, Amelie, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  AND I LOVE ALL OF THEM! I LOVE I LOVE I LOVE I LOVE I LOVE MAKEBELIEVESTUFF!!!!!!!! IT MAKES THE DEAD SO CHEERY AND PSYCHEDELIC LIKE AN ALICE IN WONDERLAND STORYBOOK COME ALIVE

WATCH IT WATCH IT WATCH IT EVERY SUNDAY 10.30pm!!!!!!! PLEASE WATCH IT!

And the music is wonderfully composed too with the string ensemble playing at the backdrop, enhancing each scene.  WONDERFUL! 

catch the trailer here 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYr0pHc2t28


and the intro

"first touch life, second touch, death forever."

and another

Once upon a time, in a quaint little town called Couer de Couer, we see a young man named Ned (9 Years, 27 weeks, 6 days and 3 minutes old) come running down a field of daisies with Digby, his dog of 3 years, 2 weeks, 6 days and 5 hours when suddenly, a truck runs over the dog.

It is this very incident that Ned discovers his extra-ordinary ability, when, crushed at the sight of his canine best friend lying dead by the road, Ned touched Digby and Digby comes to back to life!

Back home… while Ned explored his new ability, not the least bit concerned of its origin or to what extent is its use, we find his mother in the kitchen baking pies, when she suddenly drops dead. Ned uses his powers on her and she is alive again. She goes back to baking pies, as if nothing happened. And while Ned looks out the window, observing his neighbor, best friend and the eternal love of his life, Chuck (who was 8 years, 42 weeks, 3 hours and 2 minutes old) her father, who was watering the garden while Chuck played, drops dead on the ground.

There came the second realization — that he can only bring the dead back to life for one minute. “Any longer and someone else has to die,” so says the Narrator. In effect, it was as if Ned has traded the life of his Mom with Chuck’s dad.

That night, when it was time for bed, Ned’s mom kissed him in the forehead, as usual. But this turned out to be her last. For at that instant, his mother died (again).

This was Ned’s third realization — that those he touches to bring back from the dead will return to their dying state if they are touched by Ned again.

Narrator: First touch life, second touch dead. Again. Forever.

Both Ned and Chuck’s parents were buried the same day. Ned was sent to boarding school and Chuck lived with her aunts with personality disorders. But not before the two shared their first and only kiss.

Years later…19 years, 34 weeks, 1 day and 15 minutes to be exact, with the effects of what has happened imprinted on Ned who has become fearful of physical contact, we find that he has become obsessed with pies and was now known as the neighborhood pie maker. He keeps his own establishment, the Pie Hole, and his ingredients always remain fresh. Ned is helped by Olive, who happens to also be his neighbor. His store is frequented by Emerson Cod, a private investigator.

One day, Emerson accidentally discovers Ned’s amazing power. And knowing that Ned’s Pie Hole was struggling with the finances, he proposes a win-win situation — that Ned helps him solve murders by using his powers to ask the victims who has killed them. Murder cases pay well when they are solved, apparently.

Their newest case involved a man who was suspected to have been killed by his own dog. And the family of the deceased was willing to pay a big reward for anyone who can actually prove who killed the man. And naturally, the “investigation” was a success.

Later, while fetching Digby at Olive’s house (who dogsits for him when he is away), Ned saw the news on TV which would later change everything.

A woman was found floating in the ocean. She was murdered on a cruise ship. He learned her name from Emerson, who told him there was a $50,000 reward for whoever solves her case. And her name was Charlotte Charles, also known as Chuck.

Ned, together with Emerson, returned to his hometown of Couer de Couer after 19 years to “talk” to Chuck at the funeral home. There Ned’s old feelings for Chuck re-surfaced and he almost kissed her. Realizing he doesn’t want her gone forever, he devised an escape plan, even while someone has to take Chuck’s place in death.

Ned explained to Chuck the circumstances they are in and she was willing to go with the plan. Later on, she also made herself partner in their crime-solving exploits, much to Emerson’s disdain (that’s one more person getting the piece of the pie, no pun intended!).

The trio then visits the travel agency, Boutique Travel Travel Boutique where Chuck bought her tickets from. But they found the agent also murdered… so Ned has to bring her back to life. But before they could ask her the important questions, the travel agent just had to pinch Ned in the cheeks since she thought he was adorable. And then of course, she immediately dies again.

Their last recourse was to visit Chuck’s eccentric aunts to check the things the cruise ship has sent back, particularly a silver briefcase with monkey figurines. But just then, a stranger/burglar comes into the house and tries to kill one of them.

But then Aunt Lily who, despite not being able to step out of the house for several years, knew how to defend with a shotgun and did, solving Chuck’s murder in the process. And since the trio was careful to not let the aunts see Chuck is ali

ve, the aunts were able to collect their $50,000 reward. And for the first time,  the sisters ventured the outside world.

Meantime, the monkey figurines in Chuck’s luggage? It’s goooooold!

All is well that ends well. By the end of the episode, we see the trio of Ned, Chuck and Emerson, in another murder case.

And, oh yes, Ned and Chuck held hands.

review from watching pushing daisies dot com

Addam's Family

catch the Addam's Family Values(1993) trailer here

the 1998 version

i found the older(1964) version here

The Addams Family was a half-hour television show that debuted on ABC for the 1964-65 season. It concerned the misadventures of a family of freaks and horrific misfits; the characters were originally created decades before by cartoonist Charles Addams, for his work in The New Yorker magazine. Like The Munsters, a TV show on a competing network that ran concurrently, TAF's appearance on the Fall schedule was likely the result of the popularity of the classic Universal monster movies and other horrors that were being sold in bundles to local television stations. The mid-60's were going through a phase of Monster Mania, and such shows as TAFappealed to this craze of the young. While the Munsters were fairly obviously influenced by particular monster characters, however, the Addamses - having been created in the 1930's - were just plain weird.

CSI

catch CSI trailer here

"Sin never Sleeps"

Amelie

catch the Amelie trailer here 

Amelie starts off as a little French girl with an uptight mother and an aloof and distant father. Mistakenly diagnosed with a medical condition that keeps her out of school, she is cut off from the company of other children and makes her lonely existence bearable with imaginary playmates and an overactive curiosity about everything and anything. 

When Amelie Poulain (Audrey Tautou) grows up into an odd yet attractive young woman, she moves out and finds a job in a bar, and her own apartment. She may be an adult, but her overly-curious and wryly strange personality hasn't been tempered any by age. When she finds a hidden box of toys in her apartment, left behind by a boy who lived there fifty years before, she decides to go on a quest to restore the lost box to its rightful owner. After tracking him down with the tenacity of a waifish French Terminatrix android, the owner recieves it joyfully, and she decides to make it her life's mission to bring happiness to those around her, and to wreak vengeance on those who do wrong through a series of elaborate pranks. But while she is so intent on bringing happiness to others, who will bring happiness to her?

Amelie is fascinated with Nino Quincampoix (Mathieu Kassovitz), a young man who grew up in her neighborhood with a similarly lonely childhood. He works in a porn shop and at a carnival spookshow, and in his spare time likes to dig through the trash outside of photo booths, hunting down discards for his bizarre photo album.

"Pefectly normal, perfectly healthy."

Naturally, these two attractive oddballs are soulmates, but just don't know it yet. They're aware of each other, but too shy to pursue it, until Amelie instigates one of the most arduously drawn out courtship rituals in the history of le Cinema. We are, of course, supposed to feel all anxious with butterflies in our stomach, just as Amelie does as she approaches Nino, then runs from him - over and over again. 

Despite all the setbacks and fumbled attempts, there's never any doubt that the two lovebirds will end up together for a ridiculously sappy and over-cute finale' - which they do. But it's all the funny little interactions along the way, and the strange charm of Amelie herself, that keeps things intriguing. The pixie-like Tautou is like a French Winona Ryder in the role . In many ways, she represents the ultimate in the "attainable" woman. Pretty, but not gorgeous. Unconventionally sexy, but not overtly so. Intelligent, but not intimidating. Amelie is also enhanced by some off the wall direction by Jean-Pierre Jeunet (who brought usDelicatessen and City of Lost Children - and who also brought us the debacle known as Alien - Resurrection, though we'll let that slide for now). Jeunet uses some interesting feats of cinematography, and a surreal atmosphere populated by talking photographs, imaginary animal friends, and various other bizarre yet amusing occurences. 

While Amelie is an ensemble piece with uniformly convincing performances, Tautou is definitely the heart and soul of the picture. After seeing her as the slender, innocent, and precocious Amelie, it's hard to imagine her in any other role 

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Catch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory trailer here 

When Willy Wonka decides to let five children into his chocolate factory, he decides to release five golden tickets in five separate chocolate bars, causing complete mayhem. The tickets start to be found, with the fifth going to a very special boy, called Charlie Bucket. With his Grandpa, Charlie joins the rest of the children to experience the most amazing factory ever. But not everything goes to plan within the factory. Written byFilmFanUK

Charlie Bucket comes from a poor family, and spends most of his time dreaming about the chocolate that he loves but usually can't afford. Things change when Willy Wonka, head of the very popular Wonka Chocolate empire, announces a contest in which five gold tickets have been hidden in chocolate bars and sent throughout the country. The kids who find the tickets will be taken on a tour of Wonka's chocolate factory and get a special glimpse of the wonders within. Charlie miraculously finds a ticket, along with four other children much naughtier than him. The tour of the factory will hold more than a few surprises for this bunch. Written by rmlohner

Charlie Bucket is a young boy who comes from a poor but loving family and would love nothing more than to find a golden ticket to enter the amazing chocolate factory run by inventor and owner Willy Wonka. As luck would have it, Charlie finds the last golden ticket and goes on this once-in-a-lifetime adventure with his grandpa Joe. Among the other four winners are Veruca Salt, a spoiled rich girl; Augustus Gloop, a gluttonous kid who stuffs his face with sweets; Violet Beuragarde, a champion trophy gum chewer; and Mike Teavee, a kid who spends more time watching TV and playing video games than anything else. Most fascinating is the mysterious Willy Wonka who in turn had a troubled childhood and has a special grand prize at the end for one of the kids. Also along the tour are Wonka's staff the singing, working Oommpa Loompas. Written by van_whistler@hotmail.co.uk

Charlie Bucket, a boy from an impoverished family under the shadow of a giant chocolate factory, wins a candy bar contest and is given a tour, along with four other children, of the amazing factory run by the eccentric Willy Wonka and his staff of Oompa-Loompas. Written byaustin4577@aol.com

The eccentric manufacturer of chocolates and candies Willy Wonka promotes a tour through his chocolate factory, the greatest in the world, through five golden tickets hidden in the bars of chocolate. The poor and sweet boy Charlie Bucket finds one, for the pride and joy of his very supportive family, and he spends the day in a mysterious competition for an unknown award with four other nasty boys and girls.Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0367594/plotsummary

i found an older version(1971) called Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory here

Kids Learning

There ought to be more parents like one i met today.  

The woodcraft painting sessions are still going on and will end next sunday.  This parent asked me what's the difference between painting here and at home.  She says that she's sure that she could get the same outcome from painting at home with her kid.  And what is it with Mondrian and Monet, because she would trace out Mondrian's grids and let her kid fill in the colours exactly to the painting and get the same outcome.  

So i told her what i learnt in foundation about experimenting about mark making and the amount of research the artist would have gone through before reaching that outcome.  It is not that the artist can't do still life or figure drawing or what most people would regard as art.  They all can and would have to be able to do all of those before proceeding to conceptual art and stylizing what they do.  Its like Cy Twombly and his crazy child-like mark making.  

Then i also told her that Singapore actually need more parents like she.  Exposing her kid to the impressionists and post impressionists at the tender age of 3 1/2.  That's really cool you know.  I wish my parents would do that.  And this parent is not arty farty at all.  They even brought her to the Louvre.  And bought postcards of various painters from Post modernism, impressionism.... and tried to get her kid to match them.  

Art learning starts from young.  And she is doing it right because kids absorb information really really quick during this period.  It is a time when kids can pick up many languages at a time when exposed, and countless information even faster than adults.  

As you get older, the neural pathways in the brain become more established and rigid. Children's brains are more flexible because these pathways are less fixed, allowing them to learn new things quicker and with more creativity.

That's why there's the expression 'You can't teach an old dog new tricks.' Of course, you can teach old dogs new tricks, but it requires a lot more mental work to do it.

So the younger you start learning a language, the easier it will be to pick it up. But even older people can learn them. It's just requires more effort and usually more time, due to the nature of the adult brain. As an added bonus for older people, learning new things (especially languages) has been demonstrated to have beneficial effects on the brain and helps to prevent Alheimer's and other brain diseases).

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080430021641AAiXzod

BayBeats Bio

ello sminth, sorry i reply only today... yesterday damn tired i turned in at 8pm BREAK RECORD SIA! first time sleep so early.

Anyway, here is my bio.

Tomautogirl is currently a full-time student at lasalle.  Having completed a year in Communication Design, she has switched to a Printmaking major commencing the coming semester.  She is currently a part-time art teacher and has taught in a secondary school, as well as produced Chinese Calligraphy and Painting Bibliography from a graphic design job with the National Library Board. She has also just recently interned at the Singapore Tyler Print Institute.

is it enough?  did i miss out anything ?

anyway hope ur day will be good tomorrow.  Good luck with glueing!  And help me remind Noddy to bring the Book.

Witchy.

    Date: Thu, 12 Jun 2008 12:32:31 +0800

    From:sminthaye@gmail.com

    To: witchy@hotmail.com; sonny@hotmail.com; wuzzy@gmail.com

    Subject: baybeats 2008

    hi,

     

    esplanade is going to include us about the t shirt printing booth in the baybeats website. therefore, they need a short biography about who we are, wat r we doing........ just a short one will do. probably less than 50 words, or about that. there will be someone doing editing for us regarding to some grammer mistake or some sentence structure mistake.

     

    its just to let our audience know in advance about the t shirt printing n who r the people going to print for them. i need them by this weekend. thanks.

     

    any enquiries, just sms me. 98636722

     

     

    sminth

the chameleon jumped from branch to branch and fell, to climb up the tree again 

the caterpillar dangled from its silk thread, spinning in circles to the wind, to be eaten by a passing bird.

The worst commuter ever

aiyo, i think i am the most terrible commuter on the train and the bus.  This has been going on forever since i stepped into art school- sleeping around everywhere... on people, standing and jerking.....

Today is erm... crazy.  i was so tired there was no place to go to after work.  I didn't wanna go back to Hell, no way man.  And i had to wait to "GO" to church which was way later than then.  So i hopped on a bus to hougang interchange, where i walked thru a pasar malam then headed for the train.  

I had planned for it. I  hopped on the NEL and chose a comfy seat near the rear of the train towards harbourfront and just slept slept slept slept( i saw myself sleeping and falling over the left's and the right's shoulders till the left had to sit on the edge of his/her butt on his/her seat)... slept thru the bounce from harbourfront and back to hougang... and i missed hougang and ended up at punggol... got a shock from seeing the green mrt man on his walkie talkie  a few seats away(i suspected he thought i was a terrorist in the sleeping)... slept anyway whilst waiting for it to bounce right back to hougang again and then alighted just in time for the ending of the church service.

Religion and Hell sux.  it gives me so much inconvenience. 

Oh ya, i told u . i sleep everywhere.   Do most art people do this? My abnormality is normal.

Met my uncle coming out from church before it ended... so yes! i was happy coz there's evidence of my attendance and i headed home.  gonna sleep now.  i'm home.  tired. dunno why.

sorry ah, Witch never bring camera today.  

No more cameras.  

Witch has learnt.

Last day of internship.  Will write  more soon.

Last day at the Circus

Friday the Thirteenth of June is officially my last day at the Circus.  

I spent the last day gluing down burgers as supports for Qiu's paper sculptures, gluing down the sides, then making more cheese for cheeseburgers and cheeseburgers too.  The day was also spent being teased during the clowns' little breaks... 

The performers were very nice to me today and the 3-in-1 coffee maker was exceptionally performing at her best. We all should award her the next best supporting female actress at the golden globes- oh wait, maybe she can' t even make it there as a coffee maker-too low class.

i stayed till 7pm today, helping out with the burgers and then helping sminth clean the aluminium plates. It''s only today that i realised that the registration for copper etching ain't that accurate because the plate will definitely shift a few mm when it goes through the press.  Thus, if an etching requires the use of two or more plates, we've gotta take note of how much the previous printing of the plate shifted before registrating the subsequent plate.  

reconstruction of bridge completed today,finally. moving on to the red flags.

why is a corndog called a corndog?  

lives of terrorists

schools - going to schools in diff countries 

Ofia's media is so damn controlled by the gov, no wonder sometimes i am stupit. 

Bosnia, Yugloslavia, Isreal, Iran, Pakistan, Palestine......

Ofia's Circus

what is the diff between JINX and JINX?

The circus is filled with clowns and performers living in harmony.

Somebody blew my performance today and reported it.  Ofia should have more citizens like these.  So upright and law-abiding.  Then the world will be a better place.  and clean of all impurities like a jinx such as i .  

Hello to all who are reading this and have found this from the circulation.  I have taken the  prohibited circus pics off tomautofolia and erased them from the face of Ofia, the 5th world.  

I know i have upset and disappointed many and i am sorry. i never meant for it to happen.   i should've been more careful and refreshed my terms of agreement on a daily basis and not overlook the rules of the circus.  It was my careless mistake and i am up for any punishment that will come my way.  But i had no evil intention at all.  all comments made are true and are a documentation of my feelings throughout the course of my day whilst in the artistic realm.  And i think they did not do any damage to any circus crew at all.  I am as honest as i can be here, there's nothing to hide man! 

Things happen for a reason.  For every action there is a reaction. This is what i believe.  And i am glad things happened.  It made me realize what naivety can and will cause.  

 

And to the upright and law-abiding citizen of Ofia, let me address you as the 3-in-1 Coffee-Maker i would like to thank you for this learning lesson.  It has taught me alot about circus rules.  But still, i welcome you to continue to read if you are as free as you are, and to catch up on my artistic life in my updates to come, and to see if i fall badly into deep shit again and never stand up as an artist.  Not many have the luxury of time as you do, if you notice by now.  I actually salute those who are able to juggle working and reading blogs and taking care of the family, doing all three at the same time(that's why you are the coffee maker!) AWESOME MAN YOU! WELL DONE citizen of Ofia!

Like what Betty says, we all need to have POSITIVE THINKING!!! 

i need to be an Ofian.  I have to.  because with every learning lesson comes a change.  A new leaf turned over.  And harmony will return again.  In the circus where clowns and performers hold hands and sing " WE ARE THE FELLOW OFIANS OF THE CIRCUS! WE WILL NOT TAKE PHOTOS WHILST WE ARE OFIANS AND IN THE CIRCUS!" 

which artist cannot draw?! 

i read about this from somewhere whilst i was doing artist research- its something about an artist who claims he can't draw but was sort of encouraged to translate his thoughts and whatever into drawings and via the medium of printmaking.  

when i said that everyone was quite taken aback.  yes i know... like which artist cant draw rite? 

"even sculptors can draw"

"art nouveau artists definitely can draw" 

YES I KNOW !   

argh sometimes the singlish complicates matters and the wrong vocabs or the way i phrase things comes off so different from how i want to put what i wanna say especially when i get all excited.  

And wanita had to make me feel so damn awkward when she suddenly pointed a finger at me and raised her voice saying, " HAHA!"

like, what the hell?! it felt as if i finally said something so senseless and bimbotic and wrong... finally the perfectionist is stumped, spotlight's on her, stammering and gaggling at her small brain of a walnut,exposed. 

oh well, she meant it differently so its ok. 

Clown 1 absent after clowning

Clown 1 is down.  Circus is left with Clown 2 and the jinx.  Wanita wasn't on my side today, she called me 2.1 . 

She Hung the Smell

Oei... the printmaking shirt smelly meh?  Sorry i put at ur hammock la.  Circus mah!  No need say until liddis and liddat rite.  Ini itu ini itu... They became siamese today sia.  Even and the odd, the right and the left, the good and the bad combined.  

I see your true colours, shining through......

There goes the singlish again.  

the Association with Clowns

i am a jinx who works with a pair of clowns.

i didn't do what i told today and got a lecture which let to the downfall of two clowns as well.  

but i can't just let things that shouldn't happen happen and get worst right?  And i was waiting for one side of the glued edge to dry before continuing.  And everyone was doing their own job, like seriously, except me, who strayed away.  so oh wells, i should take the blame totally.  

from now on no forgets, no mistakes, and just mind my own business unless told, and ask if in doubt.  My initiative is a kind of haywire mess for now

zoological

this is what the booth looked like. i didn't have pics last week because my cam was in the locker at the circus.

today i set up everything myself.  but whilst i was caught up with pushing this wooden display screen to place, two of the zoo people came to help, but there was nothing much already to help with.  i had intended that to happen.  i can do it MYSELF.  

the set up.  filled with painted clocks

and hook racks and a 3 legged table ...

filled with woodcraft designs

(white) to choose from.

  

Business was soaring today and as a result, i wasn't coping for a while. the glue gun was spoilt, one kid's clock was a disaster, another's mechanism wasn't working, three kids didn't finish painting and i needed to continue it for them, another two didn't want to finish it because they wanted to ride the elephants and wanted me to finish them but they came back too early to collect them so i had to give them unfinished works, another french kid couldn't speak english and couldn't understand me and painted the whole thing over and over again after he switched every colour........

the families that gathered were 

painting happily and i believe

they all enjoyed themselves.

I brought this teddy hook rack from yesterday to paint for my little cousin's belated birthday.  It's amazing how fast everyone's grown up already to my unawares.  

In total, the collection for today was fantastic.  I managed to get a total of $270 from 14 hook racks and 2 clocks. Not bad yeah?

From last week, i managed to capture a shot of this little monkey, the size of a parrot.

And i've been amazed at this little otter, back-flipping away in the water since my last visit.  I wonder why man...

TRASNAH challenge

free woodcraft session! for anybody!

i chose a cat woodshaped hook rack

and painted it whilst helping the kids.

some teachers were at the info

counter taking care of registration

and distribution of goodie bags.

some kids brought in small tables.

i found this interesting and snapped

this group of 4 kids seated in the 

middle of  the whole competition.

i thought these little primary school scouts 

were really cute and very well behaved.  

the rain came pouring and the multi-purpose

shelter was very badly constructed.  the water 

flooded the competition area due to unlevelled

ground.

  these older sec school scouts helped 

and gave it their all to drain the flood.  due to 

desperate measures, some took to using dustpans

and brooms too.  haha!

i voted for number 21!

kids paid $2 weeks ago to paint a

small little tile for this tile 

competition.  someone else won.

concert band from some sec school...will

find out the name later and fill it in.

jurong primary school malay dance group

i love malay dancers' spirits.  they never

fail to captivate me since my primary school

days as they are always smiling!

this duo was quite super.  

chris brown, maroon five and something

else was what they covered.

do you know who the guy in the 

centre is?   if you do, please 

please tell me.  He's one of the 

judges and he's said to be an 

illustrator and photographer

 already...at this young age?!

the kids and their good effort

trophies and the judges.

Again, tell me who he is!

I had alot of fun today hehehehehehehehehehe 

even though i had to wakey at 5 am, i think it was all worth it.  

i brought to my granny's all the way from jurong east, one shelf full of marigold jelly and vitagen...

this is not all. i've got more in my fridge in hell.

Marigold sponsored a whole fridge full of jelly and vitagen and the competitors only took their share and what's left was a GREAT BIG EXCESS of food.  So i took all i could.  As well as SSQUARE TILES! hehehhe...

i wish i had brought home more more more!  

5th World.

Meeting with the professor and a wanita.  Soft Floaty and Sminthaye the mouse was absent.  Sminthaye's the new member of the group.  

Qiu Zhi Jie

This guy, Qiu Zhi Jie is amazing.  It's been a week now that i've worked with this chinese contemporary artist and to describe his quirky antics and his skill is beyond my vocabulary.  

QIU Zhijie
Born 1969 Fujian province

Tattoo 1, 1994

These photographs explore Qiu Zhijie's assertion that in our media-saturated age 'signs and codes have overpowered actual human beings, and our bodies have become merely their vehicles'.

In Tattoo 1 the character bu - meaning 'no' - is written across the artist's body and on the wall behind him, creating the illusion that it floats free of the body. In the adjacent photograph, a network of tacks wraps the body and its surroundings in a visual field with neither set boundaries nor clear meaning.

C-type prints Collection Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago

http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1369_between_past_future/exhibition.php

It's an honour to be working with him and i appreciate everything that i've learnt during this short period of apprenticeship. Just to be standing there observing how he does his work is just too good to be true.  to see artists at work- an inspiration. 

Mistakes that cost $200,000

PVA GLUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i am clumsy and have no affinity with glue.  Its my bad that i am a "gluer" in the circus.

Artistic Temperaments

Sometimes i feel that artists do not deserve the credit they have, and the money they've earned.

"i'm working with my own schedule"

--some artist.  

at trasnah , wanita and i felt that he the nah-nah is not an artist at all, but more of a businessman.  so i took alot in return for aiding in a whole load of things, especially little trinkets and battery operated mechanism to operate painted puppets.  hehe.  (it's gotta do with teeny tiny googly mustard seeds, clockwork  dinosaurs and golden hooks and hands and the shop that all art people are friends with.)

working with ThE MAN

i painted a circle using yellow acrylic paints

i used thousand dollar stencils for stencilling- red on red, layer over layer. 

i cut stencils today.  and they looked as good as the $1500 ones...

i spoke to Qiu.  He told me that you can learn nothing much from school, and that i might as well work here in the circus. 

i didn't know we were not making any performances today.  with noddy and lawaman gone, i tried to use my initiative to do get some daily chores done.  but i was wrong about it.  Mr. big wanted the floor to be dry dry dry.  

Qiu Zhi Jie was coming, and we moved all of his hardcore paper sculpted works into the paper mill in his absence.  His works were huge, and interesting to look at.  They were pinned on cardboard and stacked behind the circus space.