bee lets bop

the new renaissance

2007-09-03T14:57:00.001+10:00

Amidst the breaking tide of new claims of marginalized birthrights, more candlelight vigils, even more demands for higher wages, national anthem salutations and all the frilly juicy drama fee-weets-pweet that has crowned 50 years of nationhood, I am reminded of a burgeoning arts scene in Malaysia that was spurred by an intrinsic search for self. Identity took form in concrete roofing, indigenous house parlante, situationist landscape paintings and a glamorized music scene which we trolleyed with pride and purpose. The question they posed was “Do you love me?”
Somewhere in-between we now find ourselves as geese from swans. The coy of the bird’s nest rustles with invidious beaks whilst an exodus across the divide to find ‘the new land of the rising sun’ increases. A new RENAISSANCE is needed over the cries for national reformation.

I like to believe we all still do…

gold lion

2007-04-27T04:57:00.001+10:00

.yeah yeah yeah
.show your bones ep
.2006

محاولة, مسعى, همة

2007-04-08T07:16:00.001+10:00

In deliberation we find a sense of solace that in some ways represents our upbringings, be it a redundancy towards the culture that we seem to embody (subliminal or consequential); and in some regards is it imperative that we know what impossible goals we are trying to achieve if we are endeavoring to attain the possibilities of it… in this respect, it should be clear that in some ways we might be very far of the mark. It is only human to try for we are……..only.

(only a part of an expanding paper series) only human

poot

2007-04-03T21:09:00.000+10:00

you know when the jeans you are wearing are too tight when you expel gas and it lingers like a warm sensation for more than 10 seconds...winters round the corner. sustainable enough for you?

/

2007-03-23T01:53:00.000+11:00

The existence of the Homebody/Kabul lies in the intersection of binary relationships formed by the economy of discourse. Through this act of cross-pollination they each find form and are transformed through the displacement of themselves, found by the creative opportunity caused by migration.

In the same way as books migrate and are nomadic, colonialist literatures being one that is sued to mediate between different cultures demonstrates its existence through the explorative representation of a world at the boundaries of civilization, a world that has not yet been domesticated by the colonial impulse to reference and classify; "…reducing the unmediated slovenly complexities which exist ….in space by making of complicated nuanced things their simple non-nuanced identicals.”

This position between the Self and Other is complicated through the displacement enacted by the bookends of the play (Homebody and Mahala, the Kabuli librarian), repositioning the Other inside the Self. This concrete action taken in the face of great uncertainties resounds the danger of not even attempting to “sample”, rendering their boundaries only penetrable by books. The catalyst of this situation is propagated by the colonial myth of primitive (east)/civilized (west) cultures.

In more local contexts, we are familiar with the claim of terra nullius by Cook and the myth of the noble savage; the Other. Both concepts that have become key terms in social and cultural analysis to explain ways dominant groups characterize subordinate groups as problematically different, where other narratives are left out and others reinforced by their constant repetition.

On more recent times, the Tampa affair and the internment of mostly Arabic refugees in Australian camps seems a familiar story. It is critical in this aspect to lend a soft ear and offer a hand by speculating and creating architecture that positions itself within these boundaries. We must not be afraid to “sample”.

" You came from out of the sky,
Your skin and your eyes,
Colours of bronze, the moon in your ear
Twinkled and shone."
-crosby stills nash + young-

2007-02-26T17:17:00.000+11:00

maybe some of this

Graffiti Research Lab L.A.S.E.R Tag can be found at http://graffitiresearchlab.com. makes me want a laser pointer with compatible projection device.
...and i think this took place in rotterdam with UN STUDIO's Erasmus bridge in the background.

woot. want laser. woot

bubble-circle-button-tentacle

2007-01-25T08:44:00.000+11:00

An old man once pointed out to me that good architecture along with its services on a civic scale should entice its audience. With no pun intended on the theatrics of a go-go dancer, I stumbled onto this building/thing/tentacle/button shop in Birmingham. Designed by Future Systems at a whopping cost of 530 million pounds it stands as the flagship store of mega retail giant Selfridges. Now, you will have to argue that besides its curvaceous alien like form it does funnily enough fit quite snugly to its context. As an urban apparatus, it provides pockets spaces that induces traffic flow around and through its parts = more window gazers = more income, creating a pedestrianized environment; much the current fashion accessory amongst urban planning bodies today. So, five chopstick bowls yums ala makansutra pass SIRIM chop...wholesome content approved!
Though, I am still left wondering what the catalyst to its appealing good looks was. My deductions, are as follows :

1. speaker systems
2. tentacles conquering EL MUNDO!
3. tentacles chasing humans to spend spend spend. zap zap.

entranced yet?
the top floor with adjoining promenade. $$cha-ching.ching.$$

the battleground of geometric debate..tentacle vs. faceted tentacle wanabe
+ a little coffee hut that has a sea like nature to it outside the development. i like
and might i add if i may that good architecture makes you want to go and grope it...not the go go dancer you perv! squidge squidge.

shonibare

2007-01-09T06:33:00.000+11:00

Yinka shonibare's 'How to Blow up Two Heads at Once (Gentlemen)' at the Friedman Gallery.

london

2007-01-09T05:13:00.000+11:00

the Barbican centre (1971-1982) by the architects Chamberlin, Powell and Bon, famous for conceiving the golden lane (Europe’s largest multi-arts and conference venue within a 35 acre residential development), sang the funeral procession for modernity and is best remembered for wearing the crown as UK's ugliest building in a recent poll taken by the BBC.
frankly, I quite like it.. i got lost in it for five hours.

a recent commission by Richard Wilson at the curve gallery, Barbican centre.

National Gallery - Sainsbury Wing extension (1988-1991) by Venturi Scott-Brown and associates. Complexities and contradictions ... whats all the fuss about?

iron work at the V&A museum.
first row (L to R) door lock (chastity belt?), pot hanger, chopping knife (why?)
second row. balustrade detail, door lock, chicken?cock
third row. i dont know, another pot hanger(damn super gempak), i dont know but would like to think that this is a mask of some sort. looks very lord of the ring-ish.

lie_fe jacket under your seat

2007-01-06T01:50:00.000+11:00

total flight time 15 hours
total transit time 8 hours
unscheduled transit 1/12 hours

gulf air *$!*ed me royally not once but twice. weapons of choice = airbus a330-200 and the boeing 777-200 i am now bleeding profusely from every orifice known to man. Alamak exclamation mark-capital A.
Led to believe that there was only 1 stopover from kl to london. via bahrain i bought the ticket and got on the airline. NO. the deceiving pricks decided to stop at Muscat to pick up/drop off more passengers en route to Bahrain. so the merry men/women that were due to leave our aircraft left..only to return an hour later .this time not so merry and very uber black face. (this was because their connecting flight..also to bahrain, could not be found)

passenger count before stopover in Muscat = 253
passenger count after stopover in Muscat = 253

after the arduous 8 hour transit in the kingdom of bahrain (photos to come soon) i was extremely happy to get on the connecting to london as bahrain's airport is a hole. a very big hole in the desert. k lah you got dunes and windy + sandy conditions+ your name got kingdom of attached to it damn big meh! rejoice 3 in 1? bugger.
drained i slept all the way only to be woken up the captains voice on the loudspeaker.

"Ladies and gentleman, we are experiencing landing difficulties due to foggy conditions at london's heathrow airport. Do not be alarmed as we still have an hours worth of petrol on board."

An hours worth! one hour worth of petrol! what the !!! taking to account that Heathrow is the busiest airport in the world and the fact that they rely only on one landing strip (the Heathrow minute) for all their traffic drove me to a frenzy. I, grabbed my pillow; bracing for emergency landing procedure, bent down and was greeted by this sign.

am i on punk'd?

london
i guess the shonky flight is to blame for the mood of the first image. taken whilst walking along the Thames at sunset.

it begins ....

2006-12-15T12:33:00.000+11:00

_____ idol

2006-12-14T03:35:00.000+11:00

Oh yeah that’s right!

Tune in to the caverns and valleys (cause I’m singing it with as much bravado as I can muster)…. My ho ho holidays have officially begun!

The last month has been filled with a plethora of happenings and supreme un-happening-not-coolness which might have resulted in bee bop’s early admission into electronic eternity. The evidence for his early need for atonement is inconclusive but I frown upon the suspicious timing in which it all took place. Needless to say he squeaked, sizzled, and vibrated with perfect harmony all the way to the pearly gates. I wonder what/who was in charge of ushering and recycle bin restoring the streams of data that flock there.

On the subject of pearly gates, I was called into uni last week to sit on a panel interviewing prospective students for admittance into the architecture degree. It felt weird sitting on the other end of the table; reminiscing some time ago … folio in hand, best Sunday’s on and nervous grin after consuming copious amounts of butterflies for breakfast. By the expression on the faces of the candidates which surmounted to relief on my part, someone/everyone had beaten me to that morphing delicacy. Questions posed were of a casual nature, as we were more interested in the candidate’s ability to hold his own. There was a chap however when asked what he did in his spare time proceeded to stand up, and with gusto proclaiming that he was Mr. Liquid. (We)Bemused and as inquisitive as a cat, (he) then started to dance…. Yes your eyes didn’t; lie… D-A-N-C-E. Of course I then provided him with my own ca-palang version of beat box'n. The routine was a1 topside; filled with water like movement. By the end of it there was liquid everywhere. 1. from his rhythmic movements and 2. from my drained and then parched lips, definitely putting the spin on “two liquids do not make a moat”.

Crossing the drawbridge was not an easy task for me and the contestants. As the panel had to be gender balanced, (and I’m sure Mr.Pythagoras would have something to say about this) it strangely felt like we were on the set of __(insert country name here)___ idol.

That being the case I propose that I was Randy and liquid man was William Hung incarnate. She bangs she bangs oh b-e-h-b-a-b-y.

word up dawg touchdown?

exit implies entry's lament

2006-11-02T03:07:00.001+11:00

There is something comforting and almost extremely irritating about repetition. You wake, waddle the way you do to the loo and adorn whatever is lying around (and in this case you seem to always be seen in the same kit blaming it on convenience and oh no lack of fashion sense...convenience with a capital B). Transitory hurrahs it may be but the morning blasts are always ever going to be ones without the sense that the next day you might be doing this all over again. Groundhog Day meets dead poets with hopefully a little touch of Mr.Gilliam’s Brazil involved. So you being me standing behind the counter and repeating with zest, “Here is your receipt to give to your husband. Thank you. And this is my receipt from your receipt.” Another satisfied customer goes clutching six months of laborious screen watching typing. As the day closes I return to my fourth wall musings. Today splashed on my balcony wall, a cacophony of abstract realities (of which the portrait is accredited to talented Miss dan dan).
I still wonder what entails reality and which rain needs recycling?

never a root
without a tree
never a tree
without a bird
never a bird
without a song
never a song
without a sky

never a sky
without a song
never a song
without a bird
never a bird
without a tree
never a tree
without a root

never a root
without a tree

-robert lax-

i am comforted by this so don’t you carpe diem me baby !

2006-10-18T02:36:00.000+10:00

1 week of art works

.... and this ... oh that

2006-10-06T02:46:00.000+10:00

street wars

life has been hectic.
i would rather be doing this...
anyone up for some super soaker action?

http://streetwars.net/press.php

another you

2006-10-01T21:52:00.000+10:00

I dreamt of another you tonight.

The ringer on your phone was set on high while your suitor’s exasperated calls formed melodies shaped like pewter wings. Stone veils covered your ever reaching sight.
Asleep, I dreamt of another you tonight. In the hazy mess that resides in my mind you approached, curt smiles-foreboding touches- the kit-caboodle of gastronomic works.
We hold these thoughts as self evident yet denounce every aspect of our constitutional agreement.
“Not too much the same you and me..” I remember those autumn night whispers that you cooed in my ears, rubbed my belly whilst I lay awake.
In my self loathing why are my eyes fixed on you?
Whoever you are ….
not just another you.

pastoral delight

2006-09-24T14:33:00.002+10:00

through muted wind chimes i think to myself...
i still love the city.

chaux redux : a city of bits

2006-09-20T02:21:00.000+10:00

The adjacencies of a paperless environment have left a sour taste in my mouth. Old gods of the city and its national deity of city walls as national frontiers are in part becoming pre-historic. Its extinction, a cause for concern whilst communicative embargos sanctioned by invading parties are viewed on our television screens. After the binary dust settles we find a city ripe for invasion. The song of communication is sung from mountaintops as our new-fangled national deity. Where is the romance in a city constructed of connectivity and bandwidth?

"lenghts that i will go to,
the distance in your eyes"

john brack's bar : forgotten goodbyes set flight

2006-09-14T08:11:00.000+10:00

i was rumaging through my old collection and found a piece i did that befits my current mood.

melancholic with deep undertones of absolute blah-ness.

i can finally blame age as a factor for moodiness and absolute grumpiness....hey i can milk it for what its worth can't i? but then again i have always found grumpy old people the cutest of the lot. they seem to have never lost their zeal and are experienced best when their facial expressions are at maximum overload. oh kodak moment that. so here is to forgotten goodbyes and long lasting auld lang's whilst we sip on calcium enriched powdered milk of anti-osteoporosis fame.
Growing older has never been this exciting..... please god let me grow up to be grumpy and oh so lumpy.

2006-09-09T08:22:00.000+10:00

i am blessed with beautiful friends that envelope me with kindness on my birthday.
i love trying to catch blow bubbles and i miss my family and mates that are not here.
ho-ho-homies !!! (picture killa spinning bling and fat low runners. woot woot?) word !
ha ha. thanks for all the unforgetable times.

arrival : a city of bits

2006-09-06T05:45:00.000+10:00

"Think of the ship: it is a floating part of space. Closed in on itself and at the same time poised in the infinite ocean, and yet from port to port it goes as far as the colonies, looking for the most precious things hidden in their gardens... In civilizations where it is lacking, dreams dry up, adventure is replaced by espionage, and privateers by the police." Michel Foucault

poki surprise

2006-08-31T18:57:00.000+10:00

i was instructed to meet her at bookshelf number 790.
she arrived with a big brown box all bubble wrapped.. what a poki surprise!!
i like receiving presents... hehe.. especially ones that come in big big boxes. woot woot
in delight i ripped open the packaging to find a beautiful drawing of two birds. he he.
thanks jods for making my day. woot woot cuckoo coot coot.

oh nearly forgot.. selamat hari merdeka. please dont make me stand on my balcony and say it three times. oh bloody hell why not .. .... a little national pride can't be all too bad.

a city of bits

2006-08-30T03:50:00.001+10:00

Here is a recent poster that I did for uni. Im hoping that the colour I chose does not turn out to be pink as I was kinda hoping that it is bluish green. Ha ha. I hope colour blindness didn’t get the better of me this time.
Maybe if I’m wrong you can squint a little harder till it actually looks bluish green. can lah!!
The poem on it is by a masque that went by the name of Ern Malley,the brain-child of two Australian poets. I’ve found their inventiveness extremely amusing and wonder if they were hard -yakka-fair-dinkum-cobber like kinda folk?

2006-08-25T12:04:00.000+10:00

toilet humour

this definately gives a new twist on the term toilet humour. exceloo eat your heart out !!

2006-08-24T12:46:00.000+10:00

2006-08-20T16:11:00.000+10:00

our claim to fame

Over the course of two weeks we were holed up in the project space on lvl. 7.
The task, a 1:50 replica of frank’s ode to Hendrix, Seattle built entirely out of balsa.
The only possible explanation to old Coro’s madness was that all the tweed that he wore had finally gone to his head. Rumbling held hands with grumbling whilst posing as the major players with dog fight, sticky fingers, aged odor and a case of a broken wrist following suit. All this fueled specifically by a putrid mixture of V + Berocca otherwise dubbed the V-Ball.
The apparatus used for reimbursing the costs has been aloof at best, with diseconomies of scale being held responsible for the curve ball thrown. Of course the idea that the work is up on exhibit is very flattering and elephantine, however I like to propose that we are remembered as the mob that consumed all the balsa sold at all art/hardware stores in the CBD.

“Bloody ever-inflating-papadum, which uncle went and bought up all the balsa ?!”
Now you know.
11 papadums went all bloody on it. Squirt squirt.

2006-08-16T03:15:00.001+10:00

1990. How odd, I woke up today before the banshee shrieked. The snooze button didn’t even have a chance. Mummy’s quiet musings of “upsy-daisy bright and early” like fresh salutations.

2006 came 2:30 clicked, level 6 corridor …. Studio time.

“Did you cut you’re hare-mate? Just can’t get rid of the pink can yah?” Bemused and clearly caught red handed I brushed my left shoulder twice. Peacock’s observations were acute. I hope that only he saw it as a folie a deux.

Pins up and pins down, pin drop silence. The Reciprocal dance was in full crescendo when it suddenly occurred to me that someone had aggravated the bunny. Bunny’s been here ….
Damn bunny ate all my classmates.

An auden parody.

Let the birds circumvent overhead
Bereavement, a sign professes. It is dead.
Down the isle, single file
Forsaken Goodbye no longer smiles.

The picture paints itself.
Miss you guys. Bring my old studio mates back.

sloth

2006-08-14T08:29:00.000+10:00

I had been sleeping; it’s funny how the knocks on the door have not died down yet. I wonder if the German-made bunny of Duracell fame is the culprit. I close my eyes tight in hope that I can will it away. Shut wide eyes one, shut wide eyez two….. Shud shud!
The knock has morphed into a thud!
Phase-two-action or yank code Orange and eau de seriousnesslesslahlah pungent smelling thing. Someone means business.
Bunny must be getting angry....... wonder if bunny is frocked up in pink.

marsupial love

2006-08-12T07:54:00.000+10:00

adj : of or relating to the marsupials; "marsupial animals" n : mammals of which the females have a pouch (the marsupium)containing the teats where the young are fed and carried
bb : snuggles from down under for you + me
..... yipeee ?

2006-08-11T18:04:00.000+10:00

blame it on the manjit

2006-07-09T03:52:00.000+10:00

http://www.songaustralia.com.au/media/index.php#

on days like this, which are few and far between i feel a coupled mix of patriotism and homesickness.
maybe can substitute the oi's with lah's. can ah? ...... can lah

oh, stop pretending and sing it with me ....LAH LAH LAH

2006-07-04T02:42:00.000+10:00

"What tho' that light, thro' misty night
So dimly shone afar
What could there be more purely bright
In Truth's day — star ? "

With a slight sigh as it passed on I care not though it perished,
With a thought I then did cherish.

-e.a. poe-

laneways in the backseat

2006-06-21T03:10:00.000+10:00

right

2006-06-18T01:25:00.000+10:00

an other palace

2006-06-07T05:36:00.000+10:00

tall,rustling in the wind
she stood tall. not another
for questions are meant to be asked
and answers are to be questioned
who knows if they can see the palace
with its frills spills and mambo
it does not speak so cannot ask
shhhh....... more rustling?
has the wisdom of years fallen on deaf ears?
do we even care?
will we ever care.

swarm 2006

2006-05-14T21:38:00.000+10:00

"...is the thing with feathers"

2006-05-14T21:05:00.000+10:00

dinner time

2006-04-21T22:15:00.000+10:00

no frills

2005-11-12T04:36:00.000+11:00

n.o.w multiply 3

2005-10-26T09:10:00.000+10:00

birthright

2005-10-13T02:26:00.000+10:00

if we could all smile

2005-10-03T23:21:00.000+10:00

peril ?

2005-09-14T01:23:00.000+10:00

porcelain

2005-09-12T16:19:00.000+10:00

birhday wishes for a birthday boy
how much i would pay for just a toy
instead a few yarns without
oh why wont you just come out

bitter mixed tastes babies
i cant feel my mouth
please get rid of my pouch
as i assume the crouch
Blurry so so white and shiny
thank god i washed you..... yesterday was it yesterday?

accesorize they always say
as i ripped out the add on
citrus tang filled the closet

now i still lay
half covered, wobbly and not on the bed
still the position is a bugger
supposed to stand aim, but waivered
oh an accidental click ....
i'm still going to be sick
the toilet is now clogged
oh look my first blogg
maybe next year would be clearer.