Category: Media

Wish I Could Go For These…

Am up to the neck with work at the moment, but my inbox is filled with e-mailers of these really interesting events starting this coming weekend. Here’s a little plug for them and I hope I can find time to check them out!

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Causeway Exchange: The Lighter Side of Malaysia
26-31 August @ The Arts House

Sidenote: Catch 15Malaysia, a short film project by 15 Malaysian filmmakers. You can also view the entire project online here.

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6th Singapore Short Film Festival

28 Aug – 5 Sept @ The Substation Theatre

Sidenote: Nice poster and typeface! Done by Winnie Goh, the same graphic designer who did Substation’s 1st Experimental Film Forum held earlier this year. She also did the logo of the kid’s magazine that I work for and the editorial design for Ceriph.

Free Magazines From The Streets of Singapore

Out and about with nothing to read? Here’s five free reads you can pick up from shops, cafes, museums and libraries in Singapore.

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untitledJUICE

This is the monthly guide to Singapore’s music and clubbing scene. Since it launched in 1998, JUICE has become an institution of local free street magazines. Each issue features news, reviews, and interviews with local and international musicians. There’s also a fashion spread. But, the perennial favourite has to be the ‘Scene’ section where you can check out who’s been out partying all night! Since June this year, JUICE has also published a special edition for sale at $4 that features extra content and exclusive promotions and offers.

WHERE TO FIND IT
Fashion stores, cafes and restaurants.

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I-S-April-2010I-S Magazine

The granddaddy of free street magazines in Singapore. I-S is a weekly that  covers the entertainment and lifestyle scene in Singapore and has been around since 1995. The latest issue comes out every Friday, and is packed with listings of the latest exhibitions, art events, films and theatre productions. There is also a guide on where to eat and party. The soul of the magazine, however, is its features stories and interviews that sometimes cover the most current controversial issues with a cheeky touch. Another favourite is its OB Index, which charts the state of freedom of expression here Where do they get their sense of humour? The answer could be found it the advertisements of its classifieds section.

WHERE TO FIND IT
Most fashion stores, cafes and restaurants.

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BeMUSE 2010BeMUSE

Who says free stuff can’t come without puff? BeMUSE is a quarterly magazine started in 2007 that celebrates heritage (No, not a puff word for history!) with photos and essays about the latest museum exhibitions. It is published by Singapore’s National Heritage Board (NHB), which explains why its articles feature exhibitions from its museums. However, this is more than just a beautifully designed public relations guide  – many of the articles are written by the exhibition curators themselves making it almost like attending a curator’s tour!

WHERE TO FIND IT
Museums and hotels.

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kult issue 3Kult Magazine

Here’s one for those who don’t like to read: Kult is a quarterly that uses visual arts to explore social issues. Each issue, by the similarly named creative agency, features works from illustrators from all over the world and it has so far covered the themes of truth, artificiality and AIDS. Since the magazine started in 2009, Kult has challenged the notion of magazines by not only having a printed form but also adapting its content to fit an 80’s arcade machine and an interactive online edition. Read my earlier review here.

WHERE TO FIND IT
Design schools and cafes in town.

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BIBA_0602Jul10BiblioAsia

For Singapore history buffs, this one’s for you. This is a quarterly journal of academic articles written by the librarians and the research fellows of the National Library Board. Since it started in 2005, BiblioAsia has published articles on lesser known topics of Singapore’s history — physical education, children literature, Malay scripts — making it an excellent resource for budding researchers. The articles also come with references that you can follow-up on at the library.

WHERE TO FIND IT
National Libraries

How Will We Picture Our Past?

After doing some work recently involving the use of images of Singapore’s past, I’ve learnt that there are only three sources for old images: PICAS, Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) and personal collections.

PICAS is the Picture Archives Singapore Database run by the National Archives of Singapore (NAS) that contains some of the oldest photographs of Singapore. To buy a photo from the database is just as archaic. You cannot buy a photo online. Instead, you fill up a form and place your order at NAS itself, and return to collect the actual print. The only plus point is that you pay much less for a photo from PICAS, as compared to SPH, if you’re publishing for educational and cultural purposes.

While PICAS may have the oldest photographs, SPH has the most extensive collection of images of Singapore’s past. In fact, many images in the PICAS database actually belong to SPH. This means you have to deal with SPH and pay their rates if you want to use the SPH photos. Their extensive database is no surprise as SPH is a news organisation that covers all the important events of our nation’s lifetime. While it has an online SPH Photobank System, that database only carries current photos. To see all the old photos SPH has, you have to make an appointment to go down to their Information Resource Centre to search their internal servers.

The final resource for old images of Singapore is an emerging one thanks to the proliferation of digital imaging tools. People can now easily put up their personal collection of photographs and there are many gems out there waiting to be discovered. The National Library Board (NLB) is making an effort to canvass these photos and make them available via it’s Singapore National Album of Pictures (SNAP) website. It has also created a Flickr! set too. The only issue is with regards to their use. I have no idea if I can somehow obtain these photos for publishing. Another collection that exists online is Memories of Singapore, which is made up largely of photo collections from expatriates. Interestingly, the photos also give a glimpse of an expatriates’ life in Singapore in the past.

The problem with the current offerings of image databases is their poor quality and how there are so few of them. This limits the view of our colourful and diverse past, such that after a while, the same few ‘classic’ photos are reused to depict Singapore’s history. While SPH has built up the most extensive database, public access to it is troublesome, and the cost of use is prohibitive. PICAS is disappointing, and it could do so much better in terms of collection and the simple task of enabling online payment. I’m also a little puzzled as to why I wonder NLB is spearheading SNAP instead of NAS.

More importantly, I think there are a lack of image databases in Singapore and we’re depending too much on a few big institutions to document our lives. Especially nowadays, when there are so many event photographers and amateur photographers covering public life in Singapore. What is lacking are organisations and people who can amass these photographs, make sense of them, and make them available online so that future generations, and even you and I, can better remember what life is like today.