Finding comfort in song when the world is in flames. In a year that’s felt like the end of the world, it’s not hard to extrapolate our nightmares from there and imagine what the apocalypse looks like. For some, it’s the collapse of the environment, as flowers go extinct and the world is on fire. For others, it might be the destruction of museums, the … Continue reading Review: CRAVE by Bellepoque
Putting Singaporean sketches and humour on the (online) global stage. By now, we’re already more than familiar with How Drama’s Fat Kids Are Harder To Kidnap, both in real life and even on Zoom. But there’s just something about the format that keeps it exciting no matter how many times you see it, and we found ourselves watching the team once again as they performed the … Continue reading Arts Down Under 2020: Fat Kids Are Harder To Kidnap On Zoom by How Drama (Review)
Ashley Chan seems to have it all figured out. University student by day, she’s somehow managed to find a night job that she’s good at pays the bills, and she enjoys, to a degree. The only ‘problem’? She’s an escort, and can’t tell anyone about it, lest they end up ruining her career and future in ultra-sensitive and conservative Singapore. That secret identity has led … Continue reading By The Book: An Interview with Ashley Chan and Gerrie Lim, co-authors of Scarlet Harlot – My Double Life
Revealing the life of a Singaporean sex worker in this tell-all memoir. It’s 2020, and high time we acknowledge that sex work is, well, work. And with an entire industry founded upon it, it’s perhaps surprising that we have yet to really hear about the life of someone who’s built their entire career on it, not least because of how popular culture and our conservative … Continue reading ★★★★☆ Book Review: Scarlet Harlot – My Double Life by Ashley Chan and Gerrie Lim
Telling stories and legends through dance. Cambodia probably houses some of the world’s most beautiful religious sites, the most famous of which would be Angkor Wat. With Apsaras Arts’ new production, the local Indian dance company shines the spotlight on Banteay Srei, one of Cambodia’s more unique sacred buildings. Standing out for its small size and pink hue from the red sandstone it is made of … Continue reading Review: Amara – Dancing Stories of Banteay Srei by Apsaras Arts
One of Singapore’s first openly queer Mandarin films brings drag and LGBTQ issues to the mainstream with heart and humour. RuPaul may have brought drag culture to mainstream audiences all over the world, but here in conservative Singapore, the idea of a man dressing up as a woman continues to be seen as a thing to be shunned, and a source of shame for most … Continue reading ★★★★☆ Review: 男儿王 Number 1 dir. Ong Kuo Sin
Keep calm and carry on. With how awful 2020 has turned out to be, it’s more important than ever to embrace the idea of mindfulness, and learn how to take care of our mental health so we don’t fizzle out all of a sudden with no warning. And according to PK Poniah, who has a masters in guidance and counselling, one way of doing that … Continue reading ★★★★☆ Book Review: Calm – A Journal For Myself by PK Poniah
Crime-solving child sleuths take to Singapore’s offshore islands. I’ll admit, despite it being the fifteenth book in the series, this is actually the first Sherlock Sam book I’m reading. But even as a newcomer, it’s easy enough to dive into the fast-paced exploits of our local child detectives. And this time around, Sherlock Sam and the Wonderful Watson Online Detective Agency are taking their adventure … Continue reading ★★★☆☆ Book Review: Sherlock Sam and the Seafaring Scourge on Sentosa by A.J. Low
Capturing the intersection of a tumultuous adolescence and national tragedy through beautifully wrought language. The bildungsroman form has long been a staple of literature for good reason – there’s something inherently powerful about reliving someone else’s childhood alongside them, finding those all too familiar roads you’ve both walked down and the confusing feelings of first love and adolescence. What makes Danton Remoto’s Riverrun more than just your … Continue reading ★★★★☆ Book Review: Riverrun by Danton Remoto
A meander through the annals of time that leaves us wanting more. Because of the controversial plan to exhume its graves to make way for more land, Bukit Brown is probably Singapore’s most well-known cemetery, and whose significance is both historical in value and as an integral example of our country’s almost uncaring approach towards preservation when it comes to progress. In Sun Jung’s novel … Continue reading ★★☆☆☆ Book Review: Bukit Brown by Sun Jung
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