If you travel to hinterland Malaysia, especially in the small towns where the pace of development is not as rapid as ours, many of you might get a chance to see how Singapore was like 50 years ago. In a recent visit to Kuching*, yg spots some playgrounds that are very much like the ones Singapore had in the 60s, but probably not anymore today.
There are a lot of dolls at the Singapore Philatelic Museum (SPM) now. In fact, I have never seen so many dolls at any one time. Not to mention that these dolls are beautifully handcrafted Edo-Kimekomi dolls dressed in exquisite costumes. Imagine yourself spending two years working on the same task. Difficult right! But that was exactly the amount of time needed to make one doll. These dolls are so precious that Japanese families will display it during the Japanese Doll Festival or Girls’ Day held on the 3rd day of the 3rd month, and Children’s Day in 5th day of the 5th month.
The wedding scene from "The Mouse's Wedding"
My favourite Kimekomi dolls display shows a scene is from a Japanese children’s classic tale “The Mouse’s Wedding”. The scene depicts the happy ending to the tale – the wedding celebration.
And this is how the tale goes…
Attention fellow heroes and villains!
Our five online-gaming teams have been fiercely battling it out for the top spots at the final stage of the Mission Darkstar competition, which will hold its prize-giving ceremony on 26 November!
Concocted with an exciting fuse of gaming mechanics and local heritage, each game will be judged mainly by the number of votes/hits/game plays attained, game design and Singapore heritage flavourings.
So if you haven’t played them yet, here’s your chance to get your game on and indulge in some great online-gaming fun. Pledge your support for your favourite team and vote for the game which you think should emerge victorious. Voting ends on 12 November, so play quick!
Here’s a rundown of the teams/games and links to their individual websites. You can also log on to www.missiondarkstar.com.sg
The launch has been pushed back to October as of now…the programmers are now fixing the bugs…and we are getting really excited about the game….
A lil info: Our game has 10 levels. Every level features a different period of time in Singapore history, and involves interaction with various in-game characters. A player must complete the objective of every level by completing a series of mini-games. All the mini-games will have elements of history or heritage
Backstory: The main character, Samantha (Sam), is sent back in time by Professor Leong to undo the damage done by a couple of vengeful terrorists, who have taken upon themselves to change the history and heritage of Singapore. Professor Leong, a historian, is an avid collector of old items and a proud owner of a time-machine once believed to be owned by renowned author Louis-Sebastian Mercier, who many believed to be a time traveller in the 18th century.
To all Yesterday.sg members who have signed up for A Singapore Tale of Two – Painting workshops with Diana Francis at the Singapore Art Museum, here’s a reminder that the first session starts this Friday, 2 October 2009.
Be intrigued by Diana’s use of colour and learn how to work acrylic paints with ease. If you haven’t signed up for the workshop, click here for more details. Yesterday.sg members would have received a special discount via email, so check your inbox thoroughly!
See you this Friday!
Rapid keyboard strokes, voice-controlled documentation and the tip-taps of mobile SMSes have overtaken the beauty of handwriting in today’s world. In the age where even shorthand was considered too slow, where handwritten letters were taken over by emails, birthday cards replaced by e-Cards…the death of handwriting sneaks up to us in the form of forgotten penmanship, exhibitions and an occasional handwritten letter by an ex-lover.
Giving life back to an old friend
We live in such a affluent throwaway world that anything and everything which has outlived its usefulness or simply lost its newness, can be discarded and replaced.
There is always something “new and improved” to sway us to part with that which has served us so well all these years.
I spent almost an hour on a recent Sunday fixing a broken clay pot. A rare strong gust of wind blowing through the balcony, had tipped over the tall plant it housed and the pot broke into several pieces.
That was months ago and I carefully set aside the shards for those rare “one of these days” moments when I would get down to fixing it. And so that Sunday with a tube of glue in hand and a furry volunteer trotting happily behind me, I set out to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. Read the rest of this entry »
Come explore a little-known Singapore through vignettes of the past…
1 August to 31 October 2009
10am to 9pm daily (except Public Holidays)
Exhibition Area, Level 10, National Library Building, 100 Victoria Street
This exhibition depicts Singapore as seen through cartographers, geologists, mariners, military generals and town planners. Beginning with the arrival of the British and merchants from the nascent East India Company, to military strategists of Imperial Japan and postwar city planners, Vignettes in Time provides snippets of little-known histories.
Displayed for the first time are many never-before-seen maps from the collections of National Library Singapore and Lim Shao Bin. With over 120 maps on display, this is the single largest showcase of maps in Singapore. This exhibition is curated by Lim Chen Sian. Vignettes in Time is jointly organised by National Library Singapore and the Singapore Heritage Society.
Visit http://golibrary.nlb.gov.sg for more programmes!
If you think this pick is about a man playing pool, look again. It’s not a pool table, and the stick is far too short. What the man is playing is in fact, carrom – a combination of pool and shuffleboard. The use of cue sticks seems to be a Chinese variant of the game, usually, the game is played with fingers. Carrom seems to have originated in India, although variations of the same theme appear throughout the world. yg talks about this variation of carrom (played with cue sticks), which he played while teaching at school, during breaks.
I came across a Caucasian man recently. He was here for the first time in Singapore and he was surprised that Singapore is a country by itself. He thought we were a part of China!!!…How atrocious!!…Blegh!!…And it is even more saddening that a lot of them actually think the same!!…
But then again, how much do Singaporeans of today actually know about Singapore? The older generation – they seem more interested in US politics or developments across the Causeway. The youngsters – they know happenings with Taiwan celebrities, Hollywood hotshots and Japanese or Korean hunks. But ask them to name at least one of member of Parliament of their area, can they?
It is really sad don’t you think? But we have great government bodies that still tries to maintain Singapore’s culture namely the National Heritage Board. Recently, they launched Mission Darkstar - an online game creation competition. The games created will be all about our quaint but mighty Singapore’s history and culture. We hope that by using the game platform, we can reach out to youngsters and hopefully adults alike and share with them some interesting things about Singapore’s history and culture.
We’re called square root 25 and we are taking part in Mission Darkstar. Keep a lookout for us…
Comments anyone?
