the2ndrule Issue 55
the2ndrule
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July/August 2005 email edition
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web edition: http://the2ndrule.com
Contents
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0. Edit
1. School of Thought [the2ndrule feat. Adelina Ong]
2. Instant Cafe Radio Episode 55 [Selection and Mix by Koh Beng Liang]
3. But I will only remain as that one (Part 2) [Bianca Zen]
4. A story for kids aged 3 and above [Ruby Pan]
5. New York City, 18 Jul 2005 16:10 [Peter Hu]
6. From here [Edlyn Ang]
7. Assortment: Sights n Sensations [Rachel Koh]
Edit
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Balance.
We're all looking for balance. Some of us are more balanced than others, and some of us are upside-down and don't even know it. But balancing the 10-hour workday and the 5-day workweek with everything else that we could possibly want to do is something most of us will never really get the hang of. Especially those who use the night hours as a second life, to write, draw, film, design - those who can't give up their day-jobs, but retain the urge to create outside of their work.
If not having enough hours in the day is the problem, couldn't we campaign for a longer day? Imagine a 30-hour day: 10 hours at work, 10 hours to do whatever else you're inclined to do, and 10 hours of sleep. Sure, we'd be out of sync with the sun and moon, but then again, you might catch a sunrise in the middle of the day, or wake up to a full moon.
We'll be waiting outside the G8 Summit with our picket signs and protest songs. If nothing else, it'll be a grand day out. After all, people have held demonstrations over sillier things.
The alternative is to sleep less. After all, you don't really need to be awake at work do you?
Please send your comments, suggestions and contributions to: editor@the2ndrule.com
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2ndrule team : Shannon Low, Koh Beng Liang, Benety Goh, Russell Chan, Jason Tong, Adelina Ong
Contributors : Bianca Zen, Ruby Pan, Peter Hu, Edlyn Ang, Rachel Koh
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School of Thought
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the2ndrule presents "School of Thought", an interactive experience that combines theatre, music, art and sci-fi, using sound-reactive and video-reactive technologies to explore the mind of an android confronted with questions about human life.
Performed at the Opening of Theatreworks' 72-13 on 17 September 2005.
Click the link to play the movie.
http://the2ndrule.com/issues/issue55/schoolofthought.html
- the2ndrule featuring Adelina Ong
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"I realised that we don't need to keep asking ourselves what Singapore is. Foreigners marvel at how rich and colourful our culture is. Our identity will evolve. We just need time."
Glen Goei
ST Life, Wed jun 29, 2005
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Instant Cafe Radio Episode 55
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55'38". What would John Cage think?
http://the2ndrule.com/issues/issue55/instantcafe.html
Playlist:
National Anthem - Cuba
Compay Segundo - Amor De Loca Juventud
Fred Astaire - Bojangles Solo (from Swing Time Soundtrack)
Richard Cheese - Let's Get It Started (Black Eyed Peas cover)
Muppets - To Morrow
Asha Bhosle - Dum Maro Dum
Nickodemus - Cleopatra In New York
Lemon Jelly - A Tune for Jack
OKI - Kane Ren Ren Dub
Burr, Henry, Peerless Quartet - Old Black Joe
Liang Yu Tao - Everyday is a good day (from Singapore Ga Ga Soundtrack)
Chen Sheng - Crowded Paradise
Juanita Melson - MRT announcements (from Singapore Ga Ga Soundtrack)
Yew Hong Chow and Alexander Abisheganaden - El Condor Pasa (from Singapore Ga Ga Soundtrack)
Ge Lan - Da Pen Ti (Sneezing) (with Jing Ting) (cover of Achoo Cha Cha)
Bonejangles and his Bone Boys - Remains of the Day (Combo Lounge Version) (Danny Elfman) (Corpse Bride Soundtrack)
Ella Fitzgerald - To Keep My Love Alive
Xavier Cugat - Perfidia (from 2046 Soundtrack)
The Observatory - I didn't see her
Jackson 5 - I Want You Back (Z Trip Remix)
- Selection and mix by Koh Beng Liang
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Not made in the U.S.A
Check out the goods at http://www.electricomusic.com/media/media.html
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But I will only remain as that one (Part 2)
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I may not know about the people on your shelves and may not have the interesting answers to surrealism and impressionist, nor do I have the best quick wit answers to, "What mischief have you been up to?," you asked twice.
I kept every message you sent, remembered every word you uttered, recognised every sigh you heaved and, the smell of your morning breath, your eyes and nose.
I am the insignificant one whom you approach when you have a boner.
I quench your sexual urge and I am the one you run to should you need a pacifier. You call upon me knowing I will inevitably be there.
I aligned your bedsheets and make neat your pillows.
I wished you luck and congratulated you for getting the job. I was there.
I am the one you "Come, Boy" at the witching hour and the one you "Shoo" at 6 o'clock in the morning.
I studied you and learnt about your interest with pen and paper.
I asked him to sing while when he croaks, I stood to listen for I wish to learn to like everything he is interested in.
I am the one thinking for him and know I am young and immature and should not expose any display of emotion because I am not right for him. Not yet.
I learnt to love chivalry though I know I have yet to come on terms with it. "You" or "him", they are all the same because you come in one.
I have learnt to be there no matter how painful it was.
I stroked you till you sleep and hummed even when my soul begged to rest.
I claimed that you made me happy when I knew my existence you care nuts for. So now, tell me more about nuts.
I listened to your French whore-like whining when you need a lingering presence.
I am the new disc played on the rusty gramophone of your choice.
I am the clown you had fun with and the show is over but I am still keeping wake.
You have become the habit I can't seem to break free from.
You beckon me like a dog and I wag my tail at recognition of my master.
I am the fifty-cent ride one put a child on to have 3 minutes of peace.
I am that stupid duck which tastes nice when braised.
I am nonetheless the one who leads a fake bohemian life walking with empty pockets, holding on to the naked dream which you call "Idle."
Write and I shall write.
Pay tribute to your craft.
- Bianca Zen
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New and improved!
http://www.gorillaz.com
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A story for kids aged 3 and above
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Once upon a time, there was an elephant who lived in the jungle. He drank from the streams and fed on the tall trees around him, and he was happy. Then one day, the elephant was crossing a road when suddenly he was hit by a car. When he woke up, he found himself in a cage where many people looked in at him from time to time, made strange noises, then went on their way. He had lost his memory because of the accident, so he could not remember where he had come from. All he knew was that the water he drank was dark brown and the leaves he ate from the ground were old and dusty. And there was nothing to do but walk in circles in his tiny cage.
From this point onwards the elephant's fate might have taken the following turns:
a) The elephant, neurotic and frustrated in captivity, attacks and kills his zookeeper and escapes. He runs as fast as he can as the other keepers chase after him, but he has no idea where he is headed because he has lost his memory. The keepers catch him soon after and either break his spirit or kill him.
b) A female elephant arrives one day in his cage. Even though she may not be what he considers attractive, she is female, and they mate and have a baby elephant that pleases the zoo greatly because they have contributed to elephant conservation. The live in the zoo forever, happily ever after.
c) The elephant is trained to do fun tricks like standing on a beach ball and putting a hat on its head. He learns fast and becomes the star performer at the zoo's daily show. He also learns to walk more slowly so people can ride on his back, so he can walk in much bigger circles than the ones he made in his cage. After consistent good performance, he is upgraded from a cage to an open enclosure, where there are no bars but only natural barriers, like ditches, to keep him from escaping. He also can mingle with other elephants, and he meets a female elephant, they mate, and they have a baby elephant that pleases the zoo greatly because they have contributed to elephant conservation. The elephant is an ideal elephant and the zoo is very proud of him. And having lost his memory, he thinks that he is happy.
Questions to consider and discuss after reading:
Which of the above do you feel is a happy ending? Why or why not?
Is there any way for the elephant to get out of the zoo?
Might the car driver have done something to help the elephant?
Even if the elephant had not lost his memory, would he have been able to find the jungle again? What if the jungle were no longer there? What would he do then?
- Ruby Pan
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Oh, the tragedy!
http://unix.rulez.org/~calver/pictures/bunny_suicides
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New York City, 18 Jul 2005 16:10
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It was destined to happen,
as sure as ancestry.
I drove fast, drunk and all night,
but they never caught me.
It was a blur -
so many faces, so many nights.
Ever searching for that fetal high of being
one with the world.
I bombed. Many times.
The nuclear fallout was immense.
The grasping of lovers was like
grasping at straws -
there was never enough.
The sum of two halves was
less than a whole. The halves
themselves were fractious.
Up and up dark stairs,
down and down deep catacombs,
through and through crazy mazes,
round and round ever widening gyres.
The bottom fell out,
the top exploded.
How many rooms, how many compartments
can the world contain?
How many bits of ourselves can be
stashed away by coronary thieves
in nooks and crannies?
How many layers can we pile on top of our
black nights, black men,
black hearts, black feelings -
what happened on the many occasions I
blacked out? Here,
have some alcohol,
that should numb the black.
- Peter Hu
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Did you mean: wk interact?
http://www.wkinteract.com
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From here
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(for J.)
So it's to be New York, my unvisited city
recognized
through second knowledge, fingers
braille-pressed to ashcan and stieglitz
new york of my mind is coffee in Styrofoam
cups and steam
rising off pavements; choo-choo trains
stationary, masses waiting to board
all silent, black-and-white and still;
they speak of buzz;
that is a foreign thing.
Come autumn you'll be on those shopfronted streets
among the black clad crowd, mingling:
its your dreams led you there,
so follow your ghost, boy.
Send a picture now and then
feed me through your eyes
that strange-faced metropolis
will you
build it anew-
I spin the globe, I count the stars
it is distance and seven constellations.
- Edlyn Ang
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Anyone looking for fireflies?
http://www.fireflys.com.sg
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Assortment: Sights n Sensations
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i.
Even nature is not spared from
synthetic beautification -
Snip
Chuck;
Trim
Shape
And the loss of humanity
adds to the bulk of social costs.
ii.
Feet scrape, wearing away
the reconstructed walkway,
as the present is left to
conjure its
imagined past that
holds no memory
of weary feet that once walked
the same ground.
iii.
This generation knows nothing
of history beyond
hollow words
laid out in paragraphs
detached from its
contents.
iv.
"One people, one nation,"
chorused religiously by a group
where difference is
curtailed,
in the pursuit of
complacent homogeneity.
v.
some who never did fit in -
they lead a life of
seclusion.
undistinctive features.
belittled contributions.
dismissed opinions.
forgotten names...
(oh yes)
heads propped up to face the world, only
to slump back into
the depths of despair.
they watch the world go pass in
definite shapes and lines of almost
perfect symmetry.
yet,
their figures constitue a mere blur in the
backdrop.
and so,
time after time,
they take a step
back
to resume their banished positions amongst
the semi-living.
vi.
Does anyone read
between the lines
of random strokes of the pens
(behind bus seats,
toilet doors
and weathered benches)
that bleed bloodstained ink
from wounds that
go unnoticed?
vii.
in this ever-bustling city
consumed by static moments,
who will pause long enough
for the vibes
of the art of life
to seep in?
- Rachel Koh
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They're after us!
See you again soon!
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School of Thought (c) 2005 the2ndrule
Instant Cafe Radio Episode 55 (c) 2005 Koh Beng Liang
But I will only remain as that one (Part 2) (c) 2005 Bianca Zen
A story for kids aged 3 and above (c) 2005 Ruby Pan
New York City, 18 Jul 2005 16:10 (c) 2005 Peter Hu
From here (c) 2005 Edlyn Ang
Assortment: Sights n Sensations (c) 2005 Rachel Koh
