Weekend Missions: To the Ends of the… umm.. Trail?

Since almost the entire gang were either busy or not in the country, Sarah and I decided to go for a cycling session at Pasir Ris last Saturday. Just before I jump into the session we had, here’s the conversation that happened just before we got our bikes.

SARAH: Omgosh you came all the way out here so early! (Pasir Ris is not that far from Serangoon, actually)
ME: It’s better than moping at home.
SARAH: (drags her face) Because OMGOSH “THE TIGER” IS NOT HEREEEE!!!
ME: (-.-) No.
SARAH: I know. I just wanted to say it. It’s like saying, “Alpaca girlfriend”.

Yes, these are our conversations. Also, it shows one thing – Sarah does my moping for me (She did say his name, I just put “Tiger” because I wanted to. HAHA). At first. AHAHAHA!

P/S – All the pictures here are courtesy of Sarah Coldheart.

We thought of stopping near the ships to get nice pics, but Sarah spotted this instead.

So we went to check it out. Nope, no suspicious activities.

Cycling to the next area. We crossed bridges a few times.

Probably the star attraction to the play area in Pasir Ris Park. Also known to us as the Spiderweb.

We started slightly off Downtown East before going onto the bicycle trails in Pasir Ris Park. The park generally had three main areas – near Aloha Loyang/ Downtown East, the Botanical/ Mangrove area, and the play area.

Apart from the Spider Web (this huge rope play area which kind of defined the awesomeness of the Pasir Ris Park play area when we were kids), us scrambling to look for this phantom Maze (it was on the directional signs but we couldn’t find it) in the Botanical area, what was incredibly intriguing was how the trail running through the three main areas seemed relatively shorter from what I remembered from my secondary school days (which are, on hindsight, not very… never mind).

I wouldn’t be surprised if the trail was shortened, or rerouted, or something along those lines. We did spot some redevelopment happening around the play area.

Nonetheless, it was a fun ride. With two hours worth and us going back and forth the entire trail, it was good that we managed to hydrate halfway and all that. However, as Sarah said in her blog post of this same adventure, I think the greatest part of all this outdoor activity – is the chilling after that.

After we encountered the balls the people we passed have yet to clear up (probably an orientation camp).

I’ll see you all next post!

Book Bites: The Girl Under the Bed

At the launch of The Girl Under the Bed in Kinokuniya

Yes… yes they are…

So post-GnB visit on Free Comic Book Day, Sarah and myself went down to Kinokuniya Orchard to attend Dave Chua’s and Xiao Yan’s launch of their collaborative graphic novel, “The Girl Under the Bed”. In summary, it was a coming-of-age story of a girl who could see ghosts. With a schoolmate training to be a medium, they deal with a force to be reckoned with during the 7th Lunar Month (Hungry Ghost Festival).

Xiao Yan and Dave Chua answering questions.

Dave has always been a very easy-going presenter, and the launch was rather cozy and casual. The animated Xiao Yan brought about some laughs here and there as she shared her experiences and the inspiration behind her drawings. Dave, as usual, was very genuine in his answers, explaining the nitty-gritties of the project and giving due credit to the people involved in the project.

Dave takes a break while Xiao Yan starts with the live drawing.

Poster from “The Girl Under the Bed”. Had to move my watermark to the other corner or you’ll miss out Xiao Yan’s autograph!

A live drawing session went on post-Q&A, followed by a signing session where the first 30 purchases of The Girl Under the Bed could get a free poster with art from the graphic novel, as well as a chance to win exclusive prints by Xiao Yan. All in all, it was a fun session – small, select, but we really did enjoy ourselves. And it is always heart-warming to know that despite the odds, there will always be people creating.

The Girl Under the Bed is available in Kinokuniya, Books Actually, and other major bookstores. For more information on the book, click here. If you would like to take a look at Xiao Yan’s or Dave’s work, click here (Xiao Yan) and here (Dave).

Signal Boost: Toronto Comic Art Festival 2013

… featuring my famous friends… LOL.

No, I won’t be going for the Toronto Comic Arts Festival 2013 (TCAF 2013) because well, it’s in Toronto, Canada. However, if you’re going to/ happen to be in Toronto this weekend (May 11-12, 2013), love comics, independent art, or syndicated names, you can go check out the great activities at the Toronto Reference Library.

Max Loh and Sapphire Wong (friends from Malaysia) have a booth at TCAF 2013 so do go on down (if you’re in the area) and show your support (and buy their stuff)!

Event: Toronto Comic Arts Festival 2013
Dates: 11-12 May 2013
Time: 0900 – 1700 hours or 9am – 5pm (11 May), 1100 – 1700 hours or 11am – 5pm (12 May)
Venue: Main Venue – Toronto Reference Library (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) – Max and Saph will be at Booth 214, Level 2

For more information on TCAF 2013, click here. Also, click on their names to view Max’s and Saph’s work!

Weekend Missions: Free Comic Book Day 2013

AND WE’RE BACK ON AGAIN!

GnB’s Free Comic Book Day sticker! Photo courtesy of Sarah Coldheart.

This year’s Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) had Sarah and myself (as well as HereBeGeeks guys Alvin and Melvin) running to quite a few places. This year’s expedition comprises just GnB Comics and Kinokuniya, as compared to GnB, Kino, Planerds, and Paradigm Infinitum last year. Despite that, this year’s FCBD was still fun.

While Sarah and the guys from HereBeGeeks went to Kino to get the FCBD collectibles and pack for this year, I started my day queuing in front of GnB comics. When Sarah, Alvin, Vivian, and Melvin arrived, the shop was about to open. Tina (Red Dot Diva) arrived shortly after.

This year, GnB got guest artists Sami Basri, Sunny Gho and Garrie Gastonny in for a sketch and autograph session. The queue was still rather long after Sarah and I left the place though.

Queue outside GnB Comics close to noon.

Necessary appearance of Supergirl and Spiderman!

We did a single round around the shop then.

At this point, we got news that the free comic packs in Kino have been FULLY REDEEMED (About 11-ish close to noon), so that was cool.

We headed for the launch of “The Girl Under the Bed” by Dave Chua and Xiao Yan at Kinokuniya after a quick HP boost (Rochor Tau Huay!) and a lot of frantic flailing in the sudden rain.

Sarah’s youtiao brings all the boys to the yard. Or so we thought.

Xiao Yan and Dave Chua’s launch of “The Girl Under the Bed” at Kinokuniya.

Since the first 30 purchases of “The Girl Under the Bed” got posters, we got this for Max (who had to go home for voting)…

Poster from “The Girl Under the Bed”. Had to move my watermark to the other corner or you’ll miss out Xiao Yan’s autograph!

So yes, that was our Free Comic Book Day for you all! Stay tuned for my take of Dave and Xiao Yan’s launch later this week!

BEDA 2013.1 #30: Othello, Shakespeare in the Park

“Then must you speak
Of one that loved not wisely but too well,
Of one not easily jealous but, being wrought,
Perplexed in the extreme; of one whose hand,
Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away
Richer than all his tribe; of one whose subdued eyes,
Albeit unused to the melting mood,
Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees
Their medicinable gum. Set you down this,
And say besides that in Aleppo once,
Where a malignant and a turbaned Turk
Beat a Venetian and traduced the state,
I took by th’ throat the circumcised dog
And smote him thus.“

Othello, Act V Scene II

First things first: Many thanks to Jillian and the ESRC for getting tickets for us!

BMO joins us for its inaugural park performance!

I missed last year’s Shakespeare in the Park – Twelfth Night by the Singapore Repertory Theatre (SRT). Hence, when Othello was scheduled to have a show at Fort Canning Green this year, we jumped at it. I went to the picnic/ play with Max, Jillian, and Jillian’s friend, Chien Yong.

My first encounter with Shakespeare was when I was 12. My grandfather’s friend was a book distributor and tended to give us rejected books (usually overstocked or books with slight defects (printed upside down etc…)). One of those books was an illustrated collection of Shakespeare’s stories – Romeo & Juliet, MacBeth, Twelfth Night, Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Julius Caesar among the muse’s extensive work.

As a kid, the dramatic images and carefully crafted words seemed incredibly complex, yet there was a certain kind of charm about his works. I later learnt (from my aunt) that Shakespeare’s works were generally categorised into two sections: Comedy and Tragedy. I studied Twelfth Night for my “O” Levels and to this date, it remains my favourite Shakespearean piece.

Othello, on the other hand, was probably one of the few works which never really struck me until I graduated from secondary school. It was not until a quick search on Wikipedia that I got intrigued by the story of distrust, manipulation, and power struggles.

Preliminary stage set up.

The people around us that day – sold-out show!!

In this interpretation, SRT modernised the environment, bringing Othello’s war between Venice and Turkey to modern ages – from the set up down to the costumes. It was also interesting to watch how characters were able to bring their roles to life despite the new, modern settings – a great balance for Shakespearean buffs and new spectators to his pieces.

Iago’s soliloquys definitely took centre stage for me (he seemed to have forgotten his lines at the start, but all was fine later). As I told Max, sometimes the antagonist gets more “screen time” in Shakespearean plays to enhance the villainy or watch as a two-faced character (like Iago) unfurl to his/ her full level of evil.

As Shakespearean plays and their adaptations/ interpretations come, this was true to its story line. Iago’s soliloquys enhancing the theme of this play – distrust, Desdomona’s desperation and despair in a hopeless fight to defend her true love for a naive and distrusting Othello, Cassio’s undying loyalty to his lord, mistaken for lust for his lord’s missus. If the storytelling brought out the theme, this performance’s characters enhanced it further.

What I felt lacking from this performance, however, was the ending. As tragic as it was, I was expecting a little more drama as Othello struggles to come to terms with his sin. Accompanying characters who seemed to just stand there as Othello stabbed himself (especially Cassio, his most loyal lieutenant) kind of made the ending a little more mellow than its anticipated glory.

Other than that, it was a great experience and performance. It’s no wonder Othello became a sold-out show when we were there, so thank goodness we had pre-booked tickets!

Final scene with the cast.

Shakespeare in the Park’s Othello will be running until 19 May. You can find out more about SRT or the performance here.

P/S – Looking forward to next year’s performance! Julius Caesar or The Merchant of Venice, perhaps?

BEDA 2013.1 #29: Almost there…

So we’re 29 days into April, which means the first stretch of BEDA 2013 is coming to an end.

Since tomorrow’s a Tuesday and I usually blog about the weekend adventures then, so I thought I’ll just blog about my thoughts on this year’s BEDA so far in this post.

BEDA came to me in the second half of 2011, launching me into this frenzy of actually going through with it in the August of 2011. After which, the habit just stuck.

I will admit it, some of these posts are back-dated (albeit kept to a minimum), and some of them are incredible cop-outs. Despite all that, I do appreciate the value of Blog Every Day in April/ August. In the past four BEDAs alone (including this one), I realised that the times where great micro-fic and poetry ideas come into my head were usually during BEDA.

This year was no different.

This year, however, I had the company of various awesome soundtracks, more awesome people, and the discovery of the Vlogbrothers (and the privilege of catching up on all their videos while I went through with my BEDA posts), to make things more awesome.

I say the word “awesome” a lot. Gosh.

So yes, BEDA April 2013 has been great, I look forward to BEDA August 2013. And catching up on my reading.

BEDA 2013.1 #28: Random thoughts this morning

It was incredibly dark this morning, so I came up with this little doozie and thought I’d just share it with all of you…

T’was a morning not yet awakened,
Blanketed, still in its slumber.
An irony to its name,
When its rings hung from its once blue eyes…

So yes. I think last night’s Othello (Shakespeare in the Park) rubbed off a little. Oops.

BEDA 2013.1 #27: Detox, a Micro-Fic Series Finale(?)

DETOX, FINALE (?)

To Mr. Stephen Chung,

RE: TERMINATION OF SERVICE

This letter was written to inform you that I do not have any further intention to continue with your current request for the investigation of Mr. Rickson Watt.

In the process of my investigation, it has come to my attention that Mr. Watt’s ownership of the information and contacts you have mentioned were not conducted under the name of your organisation. In fact, evidence has repeatedly shown your harassment of the parties involved, with a coincidental attempt in burglarising your office.

While I do not have the authority to continue with this particular development, I do strongly advise you to come to terms with your conflict with Mr. Watt.

I believe your museum will continue to stand as it does. After all, you probably know where it should and will go. You are free to contact me further. However, please do note that like our previous meeting, I am not obliged to entertain any request deemed unsuitable.

Therefore, please find your refund enclosed with this letter, together with your required compensation.

Thank you and best wishes in your museum and future investments.

Regards
Lyra Cheng

END

BEDA 2013.1 #26: Four Major Projects

While I was tweaking my logo (hopefully done by next week, if my GIMP skills are still up and running) and working on a graphic novel series script that popped into my head a few weeks back, it occurred to me that I had to differentiate the protagonists of my four major projects. This is so I don’t run the risk of overlapping them too much anyway.

Somehow or rather, how they deal with boredom seemed to come into my head quite swiftly (sign that I’ve been watching too much Sherlock)…

Trina Othello longs to be bored.
Myst Law is perpetually bored.
Aeris Wong is never bored.
Autumn Phoenix finds her situation incredibly boring.

So I guess that’s something to start with. I’ll see you all tomorrow.

BEDA 2013.1 #25: Logo Tweaks

As you all know, the logo that has been around this blog for the longest time consists of three main elements – the magnifying glass, the quill, and the wax seal – signifying my interest in writing and writing crime fiction and stuff along those lines.

Lately, I thought it would be good for a slight change.

While you go through with your journey of creation, you realise the things you want to create expand and change. And as these characters/ protagonists fight around in my head, I feel inclined to give them each a part of the logo (since they are part of myself, and for branding purposes).

Therefore, do stay tuned to this space, I will probably need your help in deciding which logo (yes, am making a few) I should go with after April.