Singapore Metblogs

Minimum Sentence for SMRT Graffiti

Sean Bonner — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 04:37:09 +0000

Quick follow up on this story about an SMRT train getting painted, graffiti artist Oliver Fricker has been convicted and given the minimum sentence which is 5 months in jail and three strokes of the cane, but is already appealing the verdict. Of interesting note is that this case hasn’t received the overwhelming condemnation of graffiti that many were expecting, and quite a few people are speaking out, publicly, in Fricker’s defense, including the NUS Student Paper The Kent Ridge Common which is thanking him for bringing this topic and discussion to the forefront.

Sands

Sean Bonner — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 03:44:02 +0000

Drove past this in a taxi yesterday and was able to snap a few shots from below as we passed. What a crazy structure!

Singapore Salesman Style

Sean Bonner — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 02:23:20 +0000

One of my suitcases got ruined on the trip here and I’ve been on the look out for a replacement for the last few weeks. Unfortunately every time I find a luggage store and try to browse around I start getting followed by a sales person who just stands there hovering over me which makes me uncomfortable to the point that I leave empty handed. Now I understand that cultures are different and that perhaps they are trying to seem helpful and attentive, but it really freaks me out. Perhaps it’s the fact that in the US salespeople generally leave you alone until you ask for help, unless they think you are trying to steal something in which case they follow you around staring at you. I feel like I’m doing something wrong by looking at the stuff on display. I asked one saleslady to please leave me alone as I was just looking and said if I had a question I’d ask her and she took about 4 steps back and then just continued standing there staring at me. So I left. Is there anyway to get the sales people in Singapore to leave you alone so you can make decisions about purchases without feeling the pressure of someone staring down on you?

Orchard road floods, Lucky Plaza now has a pool instead of a food court

Sean Bonner — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 04:57:22 +0000

In case you haven’t looked outside today it’s raining. A lot. I heard via @hungrygowhere and @supclothing that Orchard Road was flooding, and people are posting photos of the flooding. Check out #orchardflood and #sgflood for more updates – Crazy stuff!

Minster of Health goes vegan

Sean Bonner — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 05:32:58 +0000

Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan, who is still recovering from bypass surgery early last month, announced on the Ministry of Health blog that is has adopted a fully plant based diet. After being out of the office for the last 6 weeks he’s trying to catch up and announcing a bunch of office wide changes, including the addition of skype based ‘meet the people’ meetings.

Run barefoot this Wednesday at blinkBL-NK

Sean Bonner — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 15:20:20 +0000

I recently picked up a pair of Terra Plana vivo barefoot shoes after thinking a lot about the whole “barefoot” shoe thing and how it makes a lot of sense. It was the Vibram Five Finger shoes that got me thinking about it, but they don’t seem to fit my feet very well. So I was pretty excited to see that one of the speakers at blinkBL-NK this week is giving a talk about barefoot running. “Stephan February is a veteran of two marathons (42.2km), and more 21.1km and 10km races then you can shake a stick at. A catastrophic ankle injury 10 years ago kept Stephan out of recreational running until four months ago. Stephan credits barefoot running with his successful return to the open road.” This is relevant to my interests so I’ll be checking it out for sure. There are two other talks scheduled as well “How to Flirt for Fun and Profit” and “Elevating the Debate on Queer Issues in Singapore: What Can Be Done?” so it sounds like it’ll be an interesting evening all around and well worth attending.

Date: Wednesday, June 16
Time: Doors at 7:00 PM, first speaker at 7:30 PM
Place: Third floor of Blu Jazz, 11 Bali Lane (entrance on Ophir Road)

Tonight! ROJAK 15

Sean Bonner — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 06:22:26 +0000

Tonight, June 12th, there is a sort of art and design pechakucha called ROJAK happening not too far from my apartment that I’m going to check out. This is from the e-mail invite I got:

Kelvin Ang and Ng Yi-Sheng will join us once again as the hosts for the night.
Our presenters for the evening, in no particular order:

1. MINDWASABI, Design Strategy
2. Rage Goh, Poetry
3. Nataliette, Illustration
4. Natalie Lee, Graphic Design
5. Liao Jiekai, Film
6. Jeff Chouw, Photography
7. Brian Chia, Graphic Design
8. Dan Prichard, Film
9. Kenneth Chong, Architecture and Arts
10. Chan Mei Hsien, Fine Arts

Bring drinks and beer to share for the beloved ROJAK dingy!
It’s all in the spirit of ROJAK sharing :)
See you there!

This all starts at 8pm and runs till late at Emily hill, which is located at 11 Upper WIlkie Road, Singapore 228120 – come out if you can make it!

Beancurd Obsession

Sean Bonner — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 17:22:19 +0000

Shannon introduced me to Rochor Beancurd last week and now I’m obsessed. That is all.

It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s a Bee??

Tara Tiger Brown — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 07:15:36 +0000

OK, I know it’s not a bird or a plane, but it is HUGE! I found it already dead when I was walking around Mt Emily Park. Several locals came up to look at what I was carrying around in a leaf, and then quickly cowered away. They explained to me that this “bee” or “tiger bee” was very poisonous, some said deadly, and that I should be careful.

I did a quick search and I think it’s a “Black Bumblebee.”

What say you?

GTFO Episode 2: Singapore So Far

Sean Bonner — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 00:11:03 +0000

Tara and I are doing a fun little video podcast about our travels and here’s the brand new episode which covers the last week or so in Singapore: