iron pour

On Saturday night I was at Christmas party with some of the glass blower friends and found out an iron pour would be held the next day the crafts center. One of them was running it and some of the others had prepared molds for the pour so I decided to drop by and watch. I'd been to one pour at San Diego State University a few years ago and it’s pretty interesting to watch the process- fire, heat, white hot molten metal and beer (for the spectators). Since I’d left to Singapore they’d started up the equipment for iron casting at the studio here and have been holding a few per year following a mold making class. So all the prep work for the molds is done in advance then when the day comes they’re filled with molten iron leaving you with a chunk of iron in the shape of your design that will last literally almost forever.A fire is started in a special furnace using coke as fuel which is continuously stoked by an air blower. Eventually the temperature gets high enough to add in scrap iron which will melt and flow down to the bottom of the furnace. At this point a port is broken out from the side and the iron flows out into crucible at about 3200 degree F – at that temp the color is literally white hot and it flows out just like water. The crucible is carried over to the prepared molds and poured. After the iron had cooled and solidified the molds are broken apart revealing the cast pieces- not having seen and of the mold making it was fun to see what came out of all the molds at the end of the day.It’s really amazing to think people were doing this over a thousand years ago and basically the only difference is they didn’t have an electric air blower to stoke the fire. The air stream was supplied by hand pumped bellows! In this world with everything moving towards higher technology and virtual representations of reality it’s remarkably stimulating to participate is this kind of low tech activity and to actually make something real with your own hands.after the metal cools the molds are broken apart to release the form

ankle watch

I'd never say Singapore is a fashion center of the world but in general, though I would say people dress nicer here than in San Diego - especially girls. Just walking down the street, seeing girls wearing dresses is common and even more are wearing high heels. I saw a girl last night wearing a watch on her ankle and it literally took me two double takes to believe it after first noticing. She was wearing some kind of black dress, heels and this watch on her ankle- black and chunky like and old black Casio with a rubber strap not fancy like a piece of jewelry. I've never seen this, but more, I've never even thought of this before even though I've seen other cross over accessories like toe rings and ankle bracelets, socks with individual sections for each toe (like gloves) and even a sweat sock on Britney Spears' forearm during a half time show.

It seemed possible I was behind the times and had completely missed a new trend especially since I'd been out of Singapore for the last three and a half weeks so after I retuned home I did a quick search on google and found a lot of hits for "ankle watch" but many were for sports fan sites tracking players' sprained ankles. There was one link to a spoof news article announcing Paris Hiltons new line of ankle watches, one that made references to ankle watches as accessories in the early 20the century (but no pictures), one thread on a forum where a guy wanted to know where he could buy an ankle watch for his mistress's 25th birthday- most of the responses either said he was an idiot or thought he was joking about it, and a flickr page of a small collection of ankle watch photos. I didn't find any sites that would sell an ankle watch and ebay returned zero results for "ankle watch" postings. So it seems the easiest way to get an ankle watch is to just make you own like that girl I saw on the street (just to see, I did try to put my watch around my ankle and the strap is too small). I kind of doubt this is really a growing trend.

manila fish spa

after retuning from Boracay and having one day to spend in Manila before our flights back home departed we were looking for things to do. It only so happens that I read on the in-flght-maganize that there was something called a fish spa in Manila at the Ocean Park marine aquarium.. So having nothing else to do we decided to go check this out. Basically "fish spa" means putting your feet into a pool filled with small fish that will start to eat you... or more precisely, they eat only the dead skin from your feet... and legs.. and anything else you place in the water. So before and I thought this should be easy, right? But when it came down to it.. putting your feet in the pool and watching them being surrounded by hundreds of fish, then letting them start to eat you was more than daunting... I freaked out! I was really surprised! but I guess it's some kind of self-preservation instinct where something eating you seems bad. Finally I was able to relax enough to let the little fish do their work and give me the 'fish pedicure.' and actually once you can get used to it... it's quite nice.

Kampong Buangkok

A couple weeks ago I heard about a place in Singapore - the last remaining kampong (village) on the island. By 'last remaining kampong' it means it's the last village where people were originally living in Singapore before they were cleared to make room for either private investors or for the Singapore Housing Development Board to build government flats. Kampong Buangkok. After doing some quick research to make sure this place really existed and to locate it on a map, I met up with my friend, Fal, and we rode our bikes out to take a look. Despite the vague directions on the map, it was actually very easy to find and pretty much as I expected from the information I'd found on other websites: very small- you can walk through it in about five minutes, surrounded by HDB flats and a little bit of remaining jungle, and it even had the chickens roaming around freely. The unexpected observation I didn't understand was all the junk strewn around the whole village. Tons of it. We assumed it was being sorted and sold for scrap by the inhabitants rather than just collected, but despite the seeming state of poverty, there were also signs of money, lots of money! like the Benz parked outside one of the houses for example which was one of many other cars there. It's rumored that the rent for these places is in the tens of dollars per month, which at least I consider cheap, but still, cars are expensive here. I wonder what the people who live here do for a living. They seemed cool though, all pretty relaxed and indifferent but friendly towards us walking our bikes down the main path through the village, sections of which were not paved. Meaning they were not paved with asphalt or bricks or cobblestone even, but with carpet- which I find not only resourceful and inventive, but also classy (no it's wasn't red carpet though). Speaking of money though, the land has been reported to be valued at anywhere between 20 to 80 million dollars but the owner is unwilling to sell to private investors because the inhabitants like the life there as it is. However, they also realize that if the government wanted to take over the land there is nothing they could do about it, as in Singapore the government has eminent domain and can take over any land as required, as I understand. It's interesting though that along the kampong there are definitely signs of government public works like the cement storm drains borderign it. On one of the websites, I read that that flooding during major rains in one of the major problems the community faces. In summary, I'm glad we went to take a look and see the kampong as it's an ongoing part of Singapore's past which in many other cases has been left behind to modernization.

Kampong on Lorong Buangkok

Kampong Benz

I found this video segement about the village on youtube. Well, it's not the full story but you can see some more of the kampong

Fixed Gear

I picked up my new bike from the shop today. Actually it's not exactly new- I had found an old '76 Raleigh Team Profesional racing frame from a small local shop and had them build it out as a fixed gear. The frame's finish is pretty worn and scratched but it has some character vs a new frame. I wanted to keep a retro look to match the frame so I got gold wheels and chain, drop handle bar, white tires and leather seat. Now I just have to learn how to ride a fixed gear bike.

grande nonfat latte

I went to Starbucks this morning to use a gift card I still had from before moving to Singapore. The Starbucks here seem to take themselves a little more seriously they in Singapore. A manager was training a new employee (the manager looked to be in her mid 40’s and the new employee looked to be in her mid 50’s). She was quizzing the employee on how to enter drinks into the register: “what if they want a grande nonfat latte?”, “what about a skinny vanilla?” “stop pressing the ‘grande’ button- it defaults to grande size, you’re wasting time”. Where could I start. I would die if I had to be trained to enter coffee orders like that when I’m 50 years old, it’s kind of sad. Plus, the size defaults to grande. Grand means medium size actually, and it’s like the large size in Singapore. The sizes of everything are so much larger here.

Starbuck's has really done a great job in creating this entire market for expensive coffee drinks that no one would have been ordering 10 years ago. They've created a culture that makes people feel special for they short time they're in the store and placing their order which is why the must come back and pay so much. People seem to take pride in the custom drinks they order, but I tend to cringe whenever I order and refuse to specify the size as 'tall', 'grande', or 'vente'. I just say medium or small... and they still know what I mean. I think they must think it's kind of a joke too...

it's thaipusam

this was somewhat of an interesting day. walking to the subway this morning I couldn't help but notice a parade of Indians, their bodies pierced with hooks and rods either supporting giant metal shrines around them or pulling carted shrines attached with hooks to their backs- and then the occasional one with about 30 limes attached to his back with hooks like some twisted citrus christmas tree. each surrounded by an entourage chanting and giving support hoping the human pincushions would materialize their enthusiasm by dancing and spinning in circles while continuing down the parade route. Though this seems like a strange seen, i was unphased, realizing it's just the Thaipusam festival and the parade route just happens to pass just down the street from my place. There is bound to be some significant religious reasoning for this holiday but the details have been lost on me since the first time i ever saw it three years ago (that's what wikipedia is for anyway). The only reason I was shocked today was that one year had passed so quickly since the last one and I didn't realize the festival was today at all.

After work I headed down to the festival and met a few friends, watched some of the parade and had dinner in little india. Since my camera is broken and I don't have a new one yet I'm posting some images from last year and also from 3 years ago when I first saw the festival.

energy drinks

Thai energy drinks- two versions of Red Bull, White Shark, M 150 and one that has no English on it. They're so cheap. 10 bhat- ~$0.30USD. I havn't drank any yet.

Red Bull was originally from Thailand and when they changed the formula and started marketing to Australian and UK markets probabably started the whole energy drink market

Purple Pheonix Ladies' Ensemble

Last night I went to see the Purple Phoenix Ladies' Ensemble. Yeah, I wasn't exactly sure what it was either other than that it’s some kind of Chinese Orchestra show. The ensemble was made up of 13 Chinese girls and the show was a combination of dance, singing, and Chinese instrument playing which all made for such an entertaining show (minus the horrible local emcee and some local singer that sang two songs). They started and ended with traditional Chinese songs which I really liked, but in-between they had some interpretations of more modern songs which I didn't really care for at all. I found out I really like the stringed instruments called huqin. Huqin is actually a family of two-stringed instruments with many different versions all over SE Asia; the most common is called the erhu. I was told that it's a difficult instrument to learn- like a violin but with only two strings and you hold it vertically resting in your lap. I also learned that the phoenix is the Chinese symbol for women and the dragon is the symbol for men.

Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen

To get in the mood for thanksgiving, here is a short story by O. Henry. Be warned the perils of over eating and over extending your means to help others these holiday seasons as everything should be taken in moderation. Especially moderation. oh…also don’t get reckless, or course.

Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen by O. Henry

anti drug campaigns

In many of toilets, messages from the anti drug campaigns are posted above the urinals. I thought this one had an interesting strategy to dissuade drug use... I guess reflecting just how much importance is placed on the family in Asian culture?

flamenco

Saw a flamenco dance performance tonight at the Esplanade, Singapore's double durian shaped performing arts center. In style, it was a much more modern production than I'd thought it would be. I was expecting more traditional style and costumes. It was actually much better than I'd expected. At the end of the show though, I have never, ever, seen performers, of any kind, take so many bows and cheer the audience on to clap more! and more, and more!! I wasn't even surprised when after they finally left the stage, they all ran back on five seconds later.... the fake leaving then running back onstage for more applause trick, eh? I wasn't born yesterday. I had to admit it though, after working with Spaniards for a few years now at work, they really do know how to live right and seem to really enjoy life. So I just kept clapping and let them soak up the recognition. They were good, after all.

media prices

I don't understand pricing for media here. I don't think it's an issue with Singapore but rather just international media. Magazines are super expensive here... so I never buy them. For example- Something like Time magazine or the Economist should cost what, like $3.95USD newsstand price? That should be about $5.80SGD according to XE.com Conversion (Oct 15, 2007). Instead those magazines are more like $12SGD here. Twice the price! So I guess it's the shipping charges etc... If that were what the extra cost was for I could even understand but I don't think that's it. For example: The 3 books I purchased today (from the post below). I'm using XE.com Conversion for all these calculations on October 15th 2007- $1USD = $1.465SGD

Asiaddict:
Listed price on the book: $15USD. Price in SGD on the tag: $26.28. Effective exchange rate: $1.75SGD = $1USD. With correct exchange rate: $21.99SGD

Pyongyang:
Listed price on the book: $14.95USD. Price in SGD on the tag: $30.25SGD. Effective exchange rate: $2.02SGD = $1USD. Wah, not so good this one! With correct exchange rate: $21.9SGD

The Shock Doctrine:
more complicated
Listed price on the book: $12.99U.K. Price in SGD on the tag: $26.70SGD.
well $12.99U.K. is $26.5USD so that should mean $38.8SGD... but the price tag only says 26.70SGD! which is only $18.2USD.... and there was a discount of 20% off the listed SGD price. Effective exchange rate: $1.01SGD = $1USD. With correct exchange rate: $38.8SGD

So why so much variation? is it just the day they happen to convert the price from USD to SGD and print up the price tag? I doubt it (though this does happen... cannot reprint price tag in SGD each day to compensate for currency fluctuation) since currency doesn't fluctuate this much! Is it related to the publisher? or location of publication? Or content of the work? The first two books were published in Canada and the third was in England. I do understand it takes money to ship things overseas but I don't understand the differences in prices since there doesn't seem to be a methodology to it based on location. Yes, Singapore used to be a colony of the British but wasn't Canada also? Oh, never mind, maybe that was the French. I think the U.S. was...^_ ^... but I don't have any reference points for prices from U.S. published books. Oh, also foreign newspapers are also very expensive.

new books, not yet reports

I bought some books today. Two were books I though were even banned in Singapore since I hadn't been able to find them. Anywhere. For like 4 months. Today I spent some time in a very big book store here called Kinokuniya and found the elusive books. So it just turns out all the other stores I had looked at were just poorly stocked and the books wern't banned at all! My faith in Singapore is renewed!

One is called Asiaddict - a graphic novel by a man called Matz!? . You can also view the asiaddict blog here- composed by him and inspired by his book- not the other way around. Living and traveling (or wanting to) around SE Asia, I was interested in his interpretation.

The second is also a graphic novel called Pyongyang (a journey in north Korea) by Guy Delisle. I had read an excerpt of this from The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2006 - an anthology I've been ready each year since it began with the 2002 compilation. Somewhat related, I watched a documentary a few days ago called A State of Mind about two N. Korean girls training in Pyongyang for the Mass Games- the ultimate symbol of communism, emphasizing the group dynamic over individual performance. These performances are amazing... thousands of people are training every day for a chance to honor their nation by being chosen to perform in the games. The devotion these athletes have for their country is really amazing for me when considering how negatively N. Korea is portrayed in western media. The book is somewhat about the author experiencing this blind devotion from the locals while working in Pyongyang for a few months. There are a few links from the wikipedia page to videos of previous games. North Korea is currently the only country that regularly hold Mass Games. There is also another film called The Game of Their Lives I would like to see (the site linked is a little old so bear with it).

The third is called The Shock Doctrine. On the site there is also a short film you can view which pretty much summarizes the content.