Kindness Card

A card that made my day

Just before I left home from work today, Prof Cai passed me a little present. It's "After Dark" by Murakami. Inside was this kindness card with a nice little message and the paper yellow gerbara flower that is a little art & craft with the postcard. I had mentioned that I am thinking to read the book after reading some good reviews & knowing he was a Murakami fan, I asked if it was any good.

I wasn't expecting the book so it's a really nice surprise.

I guess Prof Cai's the really kind one!

Thank you!

The Elves & The Shoemaker

Today, S told me that she love J-Shoes which I think I had seen the shoes before and they reminded me so much of the shoes I saw when I was really little with my mom reading to me 'The Elves & The Shoemaker'. That must have been about 23 years ago or so!

That made me search for the book and its illustrations.

This is the exact same cover. Nostalgia galore!

But my all time childhood favourite was 'Cinderella'. It's another 'shoe' story for another time.

Meanwhile I hope S will find the J-shoe that fits :)

Intepretation of body & objects

Alice De Visscher

I came across this blog by The Substation and there were articles and reviews on performance art in Singapore. I found out that I have missed out quite a bit of events since I got very busy in the last month. 

This picture really caught my eye and when I read how this Belgian artist got herself into the position as she had and the events that followed, it was no less intriguing. 

This might be absolutely contrary to the artist's intention but it reminded me of fitting in perfectly or making oneself fit in. It also reminded me of the obsession my company has to place everything in its right place & one of my colleague actually cut foam in the shape of his belongings so that they will slot right into their respective positions.

When something makes one relate to many other things, it's worth a second look :)

Iconic

Afgan Girl by Steve McCurry

If there is one representative picture of National Geographic, it is the picture of the Afgan Girl for me. I was mesmerised from the first time I saw it years and years ago and I still find myself drawn into her soulful eyes. There seem to be so much clarity and truth in this picture. This month's Nat Geo article on Afganistan women by Elisabeth Rubin opened like this:

Twenty-five years ago an Afghan girl with green eyes haunted the cover of National Geographic. She became the iconic image of Afghanistan's plight, a young refugee fleeing the war between the Soviet-backed communists and the American-backed mujahideen. Today the iconic image of Afghanistan is again a young woman—Bibi Aisha, whose husband slashed off her nose and ears as punishment for running away from him and his family. Aisha fled to escape beatings and other abuse.

Follow Aisha's story here, I hope it does something for you as it did for me.

Winner of Nat Geo Contest 2010

Nat Geo Grand Prize Winner

This is the winning picture of 2010 National Geographic Photography Contest. It was taken by Singaporean, Aaron Lim. I've always known we've got some hidden gems of world-class photographers within our shores.

Read more here.

Autumn Poetry

By Equinox

It will be too selfish not to share this poetry.

Let's walk down this road together.