Past. Present. Future

Thursday, December 21, 2006

europe trip part 3

tried a new route. cycled to ntu for the first time today. or more like yesterday since its already so early in the morning. well designed campus. like the idea of a mini-chinese style park in front of the historical building dats nows the chinese heritage centre. its quite fun but challenging cycling the campus coz there alot of slopes. i’ll haf plenty of time still to explore the whole campus inside out.

the season finale for the europe trip mini series will b dedicated to the art i’ve seen in paris. the louvre has a non-exhaustive collection of renaissance, baroque n all art up till realism. dis is where the orsay takes over wif realism, symbolism, impressionism n post impressionism. from here, the pompidou centre takes up the rest wif expressionism, fauvism, surrealism, pop art, minimalism, performance n conceptual art. so i count myself very lucky to b the pilgrim dat has managed to haf seen almost all major works of art dat we’ve covered in art history first hand. its wad adeline wd call orgasmic.

never underestimate the size of the louvre. medieval, egyptian, islamic n wad not kind of art they also haf. sculpture up till the late 18th cent also haf. the museum itself actually is an architectural masterpiece in itself having initially served as a royal palace. we spent an entire day there n in less than abt 4 hrs we were so saturated wif art dat we cd vomit. major leonardos, raphaels n michelangelos r there. all the celebrities from all the early art movts r here too. if u r a fan of european representational art, u r going to leave never the same again. walking thru all the galleries alone can kill ur feet. by lunch we were searching for every opp to plonk our ass on any available empty seat. even the gallery security’s chair also can. the art just seems to go on foever n ever n ever. if i had the time i wd want to spend an entire mth to just go there once/twice a week to just study five or six paintings each session n i’ll b the happiest guy in town.

coronation of napoleon by jaques-louis david was quite memorable.

now moving on to the orsay nearby.

dis feels unbelievable. u noe i used to think dat the whole art history thing was just a whole lot of crap, wad wif ‘a shift from the perceptual to the conceptual’, n ‘presenting us wif images akin to electric shocks dat r dependent on extra mundane logic’. all dat stuff we studied suddenly seemed to make perfect sense now. in fact they r actually quite profound n insightful. looking at the courbets, manets, monets, degases, van goghs, gauguins, seurats n renoirs, wad i take home is wad i think is the full experience the artist intends u to haf when u stand in front of an original. n the brushtrokes r very educational to me. they r very economical but yet manage to get ‘there’ still. n yes standing in front of a monet is like really experiencing natural sunlight.

got to also see some major rodins too. dat guy realli has a knack for giving his bronzes a liquid feeling although the material is so hard. walking around the sculptures u can also almost feel the sculptures literally moving. such is the mastery in which he positions n composes his sculptures. the gates of hell r a mind blowing experience. its like well realli standing n gazing into the abyss with the liquid figures swirling n twisting in front of ur very eyes. i haf to give my hat off to dis guy.

the design for the orsay itself is also very original. formerly a train station, n a very beautiful one at dat, converted it into a museum coz the louvre, big as it already was, was getting cramped. they renovated n updated it quite recently. however, the effect of the orsay is strangely neither backward looking nor futuristic n so in this sense timeless. the seamless blend of the galleries wif the iron framework of the original structure provides the ideal turn-of-the-century setting to all this art.

visited montmarte. french for mount of martyrs. hotbod of artistic activity in the 19 n 20 century wif artists like dali, cezanne, renoir, van gogh, picasso, degas, seurat, corot, manet, monet n ahya half of those artists we study in art history. saw some of their ex-houses n also a dali museum. also home to the original moulin rouge. now montmarte is cheap art centre by day, seedy red light district by night. its ironic coz the blood of the early christian martyrs spilled on dis mount is supposed to make the place holy ground.

montmarte is crowned by the white church on top dat commands a breathtaking view of paris. i remember its interior for its beauty n simplicity, which gives a very soothing n peaceful effect.

fast forward into the 20th cent. pollocks, pop art lichenstein, brancusi, kadinsky, warhol. pollock, donald judd, rauschenburg, nam june paik n all dat at pompidou centre, their museum of modern art. u name it they have it. realli funky building dat contrasts perfectly wif old paris. s’pore can’t copy dis though. it will b disastrous coz there aren’t enuff old buildings to pull it off.

yep dats all. til next time. ciao.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

europe trip part 2

i noe its a little late, but finally found the time to do up some christmas cards. hope the postman deliver them in a jiffy. back to the europe trip in which i’m doing a 3 part mini-series. i noe its so lame haha but wellz....

i’m going to skip the swiss cities. but here r some really magical moments. took these during an early morning walk by myself. realize i actually take better pics alone. oh ya u all r probably r wondering y all the pics got no pple one. well i’ve decided to reserve those pose shots to the family album.

if u look at the time on of the post u realize i’m still suffering from jet lag.

sunrise over historic lucerne. the one wif the pair of domes on the right is a jesuit church where we went for mass one morning. or half of it. very nice place. all i can say is the acoustics very good.

saw the UN hq at geneva. didn’t manage to see much of it coz it was all fenced up wif very tight security.

this trip realli changed my mind abt switzerland. its very different from the dry stuff they put in our ss textbooks of course. no its not true dat all signs r in all 4 languages, but its true they’re quite goody-two shoes in some parts in the good way of course. one thing dat struck me was dat despite their history, many of their buildings r in very good condition. quite well conserved so they don’t look their age. its a beautiful country.

paris realli blew me away wif its beauty n grandeur. its one of the very few dat i notice actually do their city planning in such a way dat the buildings all function nicely in a cohesive whole. in s’pore its the other way round; buildings work well on their own but clash badly wif their neighbours. paris is one of the most beautiful cities i’ve seen. its hard not to fall in love wif it.

this is their academy of fine arts i think. its just opposite the louvre museum, so i guess dat the art students r lucky enuff to see all those famous paintings first hand during their art lessons.

a typical street in paris. yes u get to see this even in the suburbs. this is considered a normal scene in paris. unbelievable.

champs elysees, their orchard rd. its around as long as our version of it wif alot of high end shops. by day n by night. very different atmospheres, but the day version n night version both worth experiencing.

this is their version of robinsons. latest fashion is inside here, its the mecca for fashion lovers. we didn’t buy anything there, like so many places. stuff r so ex!

also another famous shopping mall next to printemps(their robinson's). they recycle this design for the christmas lighting every year n the people still love it. i love it.

notre dame cathedral in the background. very nice church. n very big. one of the several in the city centre. at least parisians r not as crazy as the italians, who build nothing but churches. i went to count the crosses which stand for churches on the map of rome n there were over 80!

inside.

typical entrance/exit to one of their metro stations.

their metro. its not as nice underground n our mrts r much prettier in comparison but when they haf fantastic stuff like the louvre n all those squares, parks n museums n galleries n night clubs, who cares? these black pple look as though they want to perform voodoo on me. hey i’m not racist!

paris comes alive at night.

boulevard leading to the invalides, which used to b a military hospital. behind is a military academy which is also very nice, looks more like a palace. if only tekong looked like this. by the way, the dome of the invalides is gold plated.

invalides in the distance. in front of it is the most beautiful bridge in paris, the pont alexandre iii. the one where models take photos in front of in fashion mags. if u stand at the centre of the bridge u get a breathtaking view all the way up to the invalides. the stuff on the bridge complement the architectural ensemble of the invalides. now dis is wad i mean when i say dat their city planning n sense of style is tip top. every building in paris is treated like a work of art. the river is the seine. walks along it can b quite romantic.

iconic eiffel tower.

playing around wif the lights in the city of lights on my cam.

concorde square. this one’s dam huge n its fantastic at night when its lit up by what seem to b thousands of street lamps. champs elysees terminates in this architectural marvel. u can just fall in love wif all the lights alone. dis was the place where they chopped off the heads of louis xiv n marie antoinette n thousands of other martyrs during the french revolution. so much blood was spilled on dis square dat tour guides like to say dat u can still smell blood on the square today. well i walked along the square n only smelled food. oh ya dat needle like thing was stolen from egypt n the french haven't given it back.

no i didn’t upload my whole album haha

Monday, December 18, 2006

europe trip part 1

came back yesterday morning. feels great to b home.
holiday was realli great stuff. still got abit of jet lag, but i’m good. switzerland n paris is worlds away geographically n culturally from s’pore, but looking at the world from another angle is realli quite some experience.

will summarize the trip in a few parts. episode 1’s abt the swiss alps.

from snowy capped peaks to the eerily rugged cliffs rising cold n distant in the horizon, u can never manage to catch everything, but only stand at the highest of the highest of peaks n just gape at the majestic landscape around u. u feel as though u’re at the top of the world, but yet so small n insignificant. it realli is an awe-inspiring experience.

me on mt titilis

that strange thing in the pic above dat looks like a buddha is a natural formed rock dat the chinamen say bring good fortune to those who look at it. ;)

small villages do exsist in this beautifully mystical but seemingly inhabitable environment. i remembered staying in this village called zermatt at the base of the matterhorn- the iconic mountain dat they print on the toberone chocolate. its like stepping into a fantasy world. theres white snow everywhere, colourful lights, real christmas trees, cottages dat seem to come straight out of an enid blyton book. n when u look up, real snowflakes falling on ur face. they just seem to appear somewhere out of the whiteness, n just perch lightly on wadever they fall upon. never had i seen so much snow in my life. just think Hogsmeade from harry potter. i think the best way to describe walking in a real snow city wd b to think of winter from vivaldi's 4 seasons. ya i noe think sounds lame but now dat i've experienced winter for myself i can say dat i understand his piece better. the snowflakes.. shivering in the snow... seeing white smoke coming from ur mouth when u breath.... the pain when the bitter wind blows in ur face. walking snow/ice is like wearing a pair of roller skates. everybody's walking slowly n carefully coz they're afraid of falling down. n come 2 think of it, i think its a miracle dat i didn't slip when i ran all through the snowy-laden road one early morning.

a white christmas realli.

on one the early morning, the chilly mountain air blowing in ur face, there u see the matterhorn rising above the chimneys of the wooden cottages. the first few moments when the sun rises r breathtaking coz the mountain turns red in those few minutes. the moon’s still up. snowflakes falling lightly around u. my god, a simply surreal n otherworldly experience.

the matterhorn

oh ya haha had dis great snowball fight wif the other guys in the tour group. our hotel rooms had a shared balcony dat faced the main street so we tac team go shower snow on any tom dick hairy dat walks past on the street below. the reactions of some of our victims were so lolz. its like ur in the just for laughs thing they show in tv mobile. the balcony also gave us a very good strategic spot to throw our snowballs at the locals too. the locals were obviously more experienced at throwing snowballs but it was all in the name of gd fun. had a fierce showdown wif some young punks lolz

the balcony where we had our snowball fights. at the left u see some white spots on the building near the red swiss flag. no there're not falling snow. they’re the remnants of snowballs still stuck to the building. scars of war haha. the pic realli looks like Hogsmeade straight out of our imagination right?!

i'm feeling generous wif the pics haha.

to b continued....

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

rites of passage

past few days haf been quite packed. stayed over wif godbro at telok kurau for wad i think shd b the last time. fri both of us went to dis extremely solid german restaurant at siglap for teabone steak. it was...wow. kinda expected portions to b big so we shared. took a slow night walk home after dat. was bored so i decided to persuade my godma to watch horror movie. i noe its not her usual cup of tea but i guess she’ll watch if there r pple who will accompany her. well i ended up scaring her instead so haha.... she freaked out when i told her dat there was someone standing at the window lolz! so fun can!

following day godbro n me went cycling expedition to bedok, then followed by church in the evening n a banquet feast wif his relatives at this chinese seafood restaurant in orchard. good wine, good food, good company n a busy day all make for a very good night sleep. wif ns i guess we won’t b seeing one another as often as we want to, so dis marks a celebration of 6 yrs of best friends. it was a heartfelt goodbye the following afternoon, but i hope it won’t b the last. relax i won’t go into all dat nostalgic stuff, too many of my posts r starting to sound like dat anyway.

sunday was grad night. the dinner was not too bad. but i felt dat the post-prom party was more memorable. only lun, eud, cj n some of the class girls went. i will never trade anything else in the world now for such a priceless experience. ever. drank more than i ever had in my entire life. eud, lun n me were surprisingly adventurous wif the ak-47, vodka, whisky, illusion n the bloody marys lolz. came out high n happy, but still alittle conscious. clubbed to some loud music too. both lun n me lost our grad night package after dat, n i also lost my lucky draw prize n tie, but we were so satisfied wif ourselves dat it didn’t realli matter at all. partied til abt 3+, staying longer than we had intended to.

n as an after thought it feels strange to think dat sunday morning less than 24 hrs ago i was worlds away in church canteen beating along to old-world tunes n peranakan folk songs as the youngest n newest member of uncle baba n gang. uncle alvin didn’t understand all the malay words, but i still contributed in my own way. a very kampung experience realli. put together all these very different but uniquely memorable experiences, n u get an emotional roller-coaster ride to remember. no wonder they say dat turning 18 is special.

Friday, December 01, 2006

i was bored.

well, blogthings r certainly not very accurate. thought they wd put this mofo under surrealism. but impressionism will also b fine dangkew.

You Are Impressionism

You think the world is quite beautiful, especially if you look at it in new and interesting ways.

You tend to focus on color and movement in art.

For you, seeing the big picture is much more important than recording every little detail.

You can find inspiration anywhere... especially from nature.

What Art Movement Are You?

still working on the west wing. its realli gd stuff once u get used to the very fast dialogue. feel like working in the white house now. so cool. actually last night i dreamt dat i was condoleeza rice for one day...ok lets not go there lolz. so wrong. staying over at godbro's place for the next few days. time to start packing ciaoz