Green spots in urban Singapore! | PIONEER Magazine

Fri, 1 Jun 2012
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So I’ve been featured in this month’s issue of PIONEER Magazine!

It’s in the Little Black Book column – if you didn’t get the significance of the name, it’s meant to convey the idea of it containing important information that’s sometimes not known in the public sphere, because:

  1. Soldiers (usually commanders) usually carry a small, black notebook around with them to jot down notes of seeming consequence. I use(d) mine for writing poetry and Map Grid References.
  2. In civilian parlance, a ‘little black book’ refers to a filofax or notebook that men keep with the names and contacts of girls they intend to get jiggy with.

In any case, my actual submission/the actual Q&A as follows:

  1. What tops your list of green spots in Singapore?
    A wooded area at the back of the Turf City fields. It’s not marked on the map but it’s bounded by Turf Club Road and Fairways Drive.

  2. How did you first find it?
    It was a chance find – I was looking for the Turf City fields when I stumbled upon this gem.

  3. What do you like about it and what are some of the things which people can do there?
    I like it for its picturesqueness; it reminds me of the English countryside. Its tranquility is also good for having a moment to one’s self for creative or meditative reflection.

    You can go there to run, cycle or take a slow, romantic stroll with a date. I’m sure writers and artists can also draw inspiration from the beauty of the area.

  4. What’s the best way to get there/ explore this space?
    It’s best if you have your own vehicle. Alternatively, take a bus to Dunearn Road, alight at the Turf Club Road bus-stop and walk to the area.

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More PIONEER magazine madness here.

Art and vision

Thu, 31 May 2012
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You can be an artist only if you have that singularity and vision, that obsession and determination. If you are willing to compromise, in particular, be willing to be told what to do by market forces or by people who filter information and manipulate your talent, you’re not really an artist, you are a work for hire.

— Bob Ezrin, quoted in “Too busy for Jagger” by Eddino Abdul Hadi in The Straits Times: Life!, 23 May 2012, p. C10.

Also, see “Leadership (Part II)” and watch a very brilliant commencement address delivered by Neil Gaiman.

musee.sg: Curating creativity.

Thu, 10 May 2012
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I don't know why this is considered creative? But it was the first Google Image search result and it looked eye-catching so I thought I'd use it.

So I’m trying something a little different this year with my students.

In the past, whenever I wanted to show them something creative to students for the purposes of school work (and also just to generally expose them to good aesthetics, intelligent design, etc.), I’d e-mail them to ‘push’ the info to them.

That doesn’t work because students don’t always check their mail (or e-mail from me tends to be ignored… I don’t condone this but I don’t blame them either.)

Also, we have a school-based Content Management System (CMS), but students have to ‘pull’ the info from the site.

And knowing how human beings are like i.e. we follow the path of least resistance, it ain’t gonna happen… (in this case.)

So based on some feedback several of my ex-students gave me last year, I thought I’d set up musee.sg in my own personal capacity to ‘curate creativity’.

I think teaching creative thinking isn’t enough; people also have to be immersed in a creative environment or at least exposed to creative things on a regular basis to become creative too.

So students and anyone who’s interested in this can:

I thought I’d use social media because it just pushes everything to the students who are always on Tumblr/Twitter/Facebook anyway.

BTW I’m developing this organically so everything’s a bit spartan now in terms of design and stuff.

Also, organic means that it might die or it might evolve, but what the hell – let’s see where this goes.

Appreciate any support if you can spare some!