'Black Sun' by Sardono W. Kusumo

Conceived and choreographed by Indonesian artist Sardono W. Kusumo under the umbrella of The Sardono Retrospective and presented at SIFA, contemporary dance piece 'Black Sun' is inspired by the the people and their way of life in Indonesia's easternmost province Papua.

'Black Sun' was born when Sardono Kusumo saw a solar eclipse in March 2016. The choreographer-director had taken a photo of the solar eclipse and poetically saw a group of people around the black sun in a cloud formation. He linked it to Papua and called this piece a "tribute to life, earth and survival, both primal and sophisticated", full of lament, social and political overtones.

Hitam kulit, keriting rambut. Aku Papua.  

Black skin, curly hair. I am Papua.

The performance adopts the vocal and physical vocabulary from Papua with 11 dancers and two vocalists. Then there was a technical artist who wore a giant koteka and at one juncture, ran around two acrylic guns blazing with colored lights. That was jarring. I didn't have to stretch the imagination very much to get the idea of the destruction of nature and humans by aggressors and their modern equipment. One of the dancers' foot was bleeding. He probably cut it when stamping on the metal rivets and rough edges.

The 11 dancers were never far from their metal half-spheres. Okay, they really looked like giant woks without handles. The dancers lay within, stretched, stomped and moved around with the half-spheres. That was a fairly powerful image. But at the start, I had mistakenly thought them to be endangered giant clams on the seabed. o.O I felt that the dancers could have done more. Or rather the choreography could have been stronger, and gone deeper with the dance. It was a bit of a letdown. In an interview with SIFA, Sardono Kusumo said that the piece highlights the plight of the "boat people", of displaced humans and refugees floating in the ocean. He said,

They know only that they have to leave their land, not where to go. They have only a little space in their very little boats. Day after day, floating in the ocean, they are burnt by the heat of the sun.

This Toenail is Finally Healing

Applying Loceryl nail lacquer definitely helps to alleviate onychomycosis. It has been five months of conscientiously treating the problematic right big toenail with it, and the nail has begun sticking to the nailbed. The eeky thickened yellow ends are fading and new parts are growing out flat in a healthy pink hue. Whew.

Nobody is interested in my toenails but me. But this is a record of what's going on in my head, so I'm just gonna post scary photos of ugly toenails and feet. Haven't dared to go to a nail salon for months for fear of new infection or leaving horrible spores all over the place to infect others.

Toe nails are always chopped short and bald for very good reasons. Am clumsy. I don't want any bits of nail to be caught on anything. Eeeeps. Nowadays, I don't even bother with varnish on the toenails just so I could stare at them to catch any form of early infection of whatever, and also eczema. This is the healthiest my toenails have ever been, especially the right big toenail. Five more months of treatment should do it. Till I next stub it again, which happens fairly often. Likely gonna get tineacide spray in a low dosage for preventive purposes.

鹿港尋味

I was quite taken by Xin Dai's (心岱) essay about stewed ducks, her parents and herself in a separate compilation. Went out to buy her recently published book 《鹿港尋味》(loosely translated into 'Searching for Flavors in Lugang', or Lukang, a township in Changhua County, Taiwan).

I like this sort of books about food when it also takes the trouble to introduce the historical development of cuisines. Xin Dai explains how Lugang got its notable dishes and how the town built its bonds with homegrown chefs and foods. She talks more about her father who is a learned businessman, and how she became intimately acquainted with foods and flavors as a young child following her father around in the kitchen and restaurants, and observing his friendship flourish with his friends who were chefs.

我的父親沒有買過玩具給我，我的童年除了墨香與貓咪外，難忘的就是食物的滋味，他從未希望我成就什麼，只是揭露了一個好玩的角落、讓我窺見人間有天堂，想來，父親影響我的就是讓我分享了他的浪漫與祕密。

Her book holds photos of the dishes she talks about, together with recipes. Hahaha. Definitely saved me from a lot of googling for food photos while reading. Often, I have no idea of what the foods are till I see the images online, and the recipes give it an additional boost in case I somehow feel like re-creating any of the dishes. :P

In 《最草根的筵席文化：辦桌》, it's quite an educational read about those 'town banquets' (辦桌) that temples or village heads host. The chefs who provide the food are often cooking in open-air kitchens over charcoal stoves. I guess this is a familiar sight in Singapore about a decade ago? I've seen those Chinese temples' festivities which do banquets that way. Too young to have known kampung feasts which would have been similar. Now because of the convenience of catering and hygiene, it's easy to simply cater from a central kitchen. The last time I ate a meal like that, was in northern Yunnan during a village festival. There's something really charming about it, and those memories last a lifetime.

Lugang is next to the sea, so seafood is plentiful. Mantis shrimp (蝦蛄) are in season during spring festival but mainly eaten by the poorer folks with porridge because of its natural saltiness, discussed at length in the chapter 《非蝦非蟹：蝦蛄（蝦猴）》. Apparently prawn balls and shrimp cakes (用沙蝦做蝦丸、閩南語稱‘熗蝦’) are popular in Lugang. Those make interesting points to know. But I'm hot about deep fried items. Not even if they're done in an air-fryer. Also less keen on the noodle or pork dishes. Of course the local small oysters are popular too, not eaten raw, but cooked in all forms of soup, omelette, noodles and fried patties (蚵仔煎、蚵仔湯). The stomach of the drum fish (鮸魚) is a delicacy, meticulously recounted in 《乾貨中的鑽石：鮸魚肚》. 

台灣俗語說：「有錢吃鮸，無錢免吃。」古人認為有錢的時候，寧可捨棄鮑魚、龍蝦，也要選擇鮸魚，這意味著鮸魚肉的美味是人間極品，不可錯過。另有美食排行俗語這樣說：「一午、二鮸、三家鱲。」鮸魚雖然排行第二，但「鮸魚肚」卻是乾貨中的鑽石。

There's a number of other dishes that piqued my interest. In this book, Xin Dai talks about stewed duck (燉鴨) again, and gave a detailed recipe on how to cook it. It's the same essay as the one published in Jiao Tong and Hong Huishan's 'Best Taiwanese Food Writing 2015', 焦桐和洪珊慧主編的《飲食文選》. In this book, she wrote  a variation with a ginger-based gravy as well, 薑母鴨. Those look good. Unfortunately I don't get very good quality ducks in Singapore, unless I order them specially from say...Huber's and other similar butchers. The cost of the ingredients is going to be slightly daunting; that means I can't afford to screw up the cooking process. Ugh.

姑婆曾交代我，燉煮薑母鴨不難，這是運用時間來入味的料理，時間等同調味料，不能糟蹋了。 

是不能糟蹋時間，還是不能糟蹋食材？當時，我不明白姑婆的意思，也不敢問，直到磨薑時殘留沁入手指的辛辣味完全消失時（每天洗手百來次，洗了三個多月，幾乎罹患強迫症），我才懂得這道辛酸的料理，正是我的「心經」。

Then there's the chapter 《一年一次的天賜佳餚：烏魚子》which talks about Taiwan's high quality mullets (烏魚). Or rather their roe, 烏魚子 or what we call 'bottarga'. The fish is in season for the 10 days before and after winter solstice, and Lugang is right along the southwest Taiwan seas where they spawn. The fish is bursting with rich roe by the time they move into the seas off Lugang. The chapter included a paragraph on how to bake/grill your roe. Mmmmm, what I love, karasumi. I make a note to hit Japanese restaurants during this season to eat all I want, and I try to get a few pieces from Taiwan as well to prep it at home for awesome nibbling. The Taiwanese make expensive gifts out of this luxury product. The author also mentioned about rampant corruption in the town in the early days when she was a child, by way of trading in mullet roe.

記得小時候有一陣子，常會在午夜聽到有人敲門，聽說是稅務機關人員來盤查。為何在午夜查稅？其實擺明了就是來索賄，查稅只是讓商家恐懼的藉口罷了，這在1940、1950年代的台灣是常見的事。那時媽媽一邊哭，一邊與父親大吵，大家都難以入睡；讓我更難忘的是，次日媽媽就會去南北乾貨店訂烏魚子，一訂就是兩打－表示有許多人頭需要打點。在那個黑暗時代，小民為了營生，只能忍辱付出昂貴代價買平安。

The book included a map of Lugang. I'm almost tempted to make a trip to visit the area. I'm still not impressed with what I ate in Taipei on all those trips. Perhaps I wasn't looking hard enough because these books about Taiwanese food have told me all about those yummy food that I couldn't easily find in Taipei if routes on work trips don't lead me there. Somehow, I feel that the best Taiwanese dishes (especially non-pork based) are found in the small towns.

Lobster Laksa at Pince & Pints

Until the girlfriend pointed out that Pince & Pints offers lobster laksa as a menu special for the months of August and September, I didn't even know about it. Off we went for dinner. The restaurant takes reservations now, making it less of a pain to get a table at peak dinner hour. In fact, if you walk in at 9pm before they take last orders, you'll probably get a table for two quite easily.

Lobsters are delicious like that. Done Thermidor or with truffles is quite an overkill. Grilled or steamed is best. The friends ordered theirs done in the simplest ways and had a fun time digging out the flesh. The kitchen cooked both methods beautifully. Good to know that Pince & Pints kept the standards. I like their prices versus quality of food very much.

I went straight for the lobster laksa. It was the only thing on my mind all day. Hahahaha. Dinner was something to look forward to at the end of a looooong day of meetings. Luckily the dish isn't just available at lunch or sold out by the time we ordered. I had a half portion instead of the full crustacean. Mmmm. The sambal wasn't on point, but the stock was properly done, and lobster nicely steamed. Definitely hit a spot. I'm coming back for another bowl of tasty lobster laksa.

Consciously Scooping

As I scooped and lengthened the back to straighten those hamstrings upwards, I laughed. (See photo above.) Realized that unless my arms grew longer, I couldn't exactly straighten those legs no matter how much the back is lifted. Shouldn't over-extend 'em knees either. Not a contortionist. Hahahaha. All right then. Settled for maximum stretch than letting go of the bar.

Well, this isn't new exercise bandwagon I just hopped on. I've been doing it for years. Except that I sometimes slack off here and there. I might talk more about it now because the friends are asking about the benefits of pilates versus say paying your chiropractor or a massage on a weekly basis. They know that I managed to resolve my almost-carpal-tunnel-syndrome in my right hand and that constant frozen muscle and spasms up the right shoulder through a combination of swimming and intensive pilates. A really simple reminder- if you hurt that bad to have to go for weekly massages, then you should be looking at more effective long-term solutions.

It's not about having this super flexible body. Doesn't need to be so. There's nothing to prove. All I'm doing is strengthening muscles to hold up my bones when osteoporosis and old age set in. It's about utilizing every muscle and understanding how they work. I'm fond of the Cadillac. It's like this awesome massage bed. When I let my attention slip and go for ages without stretching consciously, I lose strength and imbalance seeps in. Running doesn't fully help. It builds cardio and all that, but it doesn't resolve the tightness in the quads and hamstrings. That's when the aches begin. It takes weeks to balance out the body dynamics.

It also took time to remember to consciously utilize both shoulders for this move (pictured below). It's meant to articulate the spine and we do slow reps to fully peel up and down. So if you rely on pure arm strength without drawing on the back of shoulders and engaging the core, you might erm...fall after six reps. I usually do 10 slow ones to fully articulate the spine vertebrae by vertebrae.

Keep lean. Stay strong.

Chef Carles Gaig's Summer Menu

[La Ventana no longer exists and has rebranded as Tapas Twenty-Six in 2018 and shifted to a new address within Dempsey Hill that is now closed.]

The lovely vibes of La Ventana and the consistent standards of food have kept me visiting fairly often. I like its paella and the friendly dishes on the menu. This August, Chef Carles Gaig was in town to present a summer menu of seven courses focusing on black truffles, turbot, and Presa Ibérica. Hopped in with the friends for a taste.

Loved the ajoblanco (a white gazpacho with green grapes and green apples as opposed to the red with roasted tomatoes and red peppers)- cold soup of garlic and fresh almond with marinated Atlantic cod and the super decadent cannelloni stuffed with summer truffles and cow cheese with truffle cream. Mmmm. These were welcomed calories. The deep fried octopus with sweet potatoes were good too. Tough to go wrong with fried stuff.

Turbot and lobster suquet.

I'm not keen on the seared duck foie-gras and cherries soaked in Cassis or the charcoal-grilled Presa Ibérica with pimentos del Padrón. Or rather I passed the meats to my dining companions but ate the cherries, morels and Padrón peppers. Didn't bother to request for seafood replacements or vegetarian substitutes. Of course I didn't pass on the fish. That's my main protein! It was done in a suquet (Catalan seafood stew) of juicy turbot and lobster. Luckily I saved a piece of bread to go with it. :P It was gorgeous.

I didn't know what to make of the dessert, which was a pineapple cannelloni stuffed with vanilla mousse with burnt whisky infusion. The whisky used was not very nice. I wanted it to morph into a Malibu pineapple cocktail or rum, or just a glass of single malt with citrus notes, as long as it wasn't in this fashion on the plate. Anyway, I never care about desserts.

This isn't an inventive menu, which is what I like about La Ventana. They do what they know best. These are well-thought-out familiar dishes excellently cooked. That's all that's needed. That's exactly what I look for in a meal of comfort foods.

Sardono W. Kusumo's Dance Art

Under the umbrella of The Sardono Retrospective at SIFA 2016, Indonesian artist Sardono W. Kusumo performed this two-hour piece in front of an audience over two days last weekend. It was lovely weather for an outdoor performance in the late afternoon from 5pm to 7pm.

We watched the artist paint onto an elevated large canvas as seven other dancers move around with four huge canvases at the fountain of the Malay Heritage Center. The canvases began blank and were slowly colored by the spray of the fountain and whatever colors the artist chose to splash on it. I'm so impressed that the venue took extra effort to consider the cleaning up after the show, and allowed for such a form of artistic expression and ink to flow out of the fountain instead of the usual clear water. It made for a enjoyable show.

Sardono Kusumo is a dancer who has danced for most of his life, and now, he's a painter. He has taken both art forms and expressed them on big-frame canvases. He said that it's not so much about the visuals and creating a museum-worthy piece. It's more of understanding how the paints and oils could dance for the artist as well as the audience.

The dancers twirled and rolled about in the thin columns of black spray. The friends whispered, "Hope they're using non-toxic paints." Yah man. We could smell the ink, reminiscent of the type used in Chinese painting. The dancers were thoroughly soaked. Shuddered at the thought of the paints going into the eyes or if the dancers have allergies. UGH. But the dancers' costumes didn't absorb the black ink. The costumes looked like stylized wetsuits. Very cool.

I happened to like one of the paintings very much, especially how it formed its character at the at the 1.5-hour mark. That was fairly complete, I thought. Then more colors were added and I didn't like it so much after all. Picked another favorite in black and blue as the performance ended and no more colors were added to the mix. Loud appreciative applause was given to all the performers for this unique audience experience.

Kite

Went to Kite for dinner with the friends when we were all zonked after a long day of meetings. None of us have been there. Picked it because our last meetings for the day were in the vicinity and we weren't in a picky mood about food. Hahahaha. The restaurant is more than six months old and ought to have ironed out most kinks. The people behind SPRMRKT founded Kite and put together a team for the bar and the kitchen. Cocktails were good and their choices of beer were fine.

The friends bravely ordered dehydrated chicken skin with bourbon glaze and juniper. Hahahah. The kitchen had thoughtfully rid as much fats as possible and it was delicious. Heh. The somen was fun. I wanted to try its leek and prawns in lupcheong oil, but that was on the old menu. :( What they had that night was somen with scallops, unagi and tobiko. It's difficult to get this wrong. I love these sort of flavors in a bowl. Couldn't resist the sous vide salmon trout at 42°C with seaweed, apples and sesame (which were effectively furikake). Also had the tiny bits of delicious lime sambal stingray with calamansi, serundeng and grain foam.

There was a 300-day grain-fed wagyu onglet with bulgogi salsa, burnt corn and shishito peppers. The table didn't mind a wagyu onglet in the same way they don't mind a rump that's wagyu. Erm, I didn't see or taste any shishito peppers in this one. They looked and tasted like random leafy vegetables. A pity. There was a Mangalica pork collar with you tiao velouté and spiced broth. The friends liked it. But I'm not a fan.

The dessert they ordered was damn weird- panna cotta with pink peppercorn, strawberries, coriander and coconut. Totally out of my comfort zone. The friends didn't mind it. t was surprised they didn't order all three desserts on the menu. While the chocolate forest was conservative and likely dependable, the yuzu curd sounded interesting with its milk soil, wolf berries and lime yoghurt.

We didn't have any expectations of the restaurant. Portions are small, but good for sharing between two people. Order double portions for a table of three or four. We were fairly pleased with our meal. It was pretty good in its interpretation of Asian fusion. It's not mind-blowing, but they offer flavors I'd do at home. On nights I don't feel like cooking, dining out at Kite is a great convenient alternative. I hope it survives the cut-throat F&B scene and hang around for a while.

Infinite Jest

Watched 'The End of the Tour' (written by Donald Margulies, directed by James Ponsoldt) last month and realized I haven't read David Foster Wallace's 1996 'Infinite Jest'. The movie kinda summarizes the author's life. He committed suicide in 2008; apparently he couldn't get over his depression in spite of getting help and medication. (Reviews here, here, here and here.)

Found a digital edition of the book in the Kindle cloud that included a new Foreword by Tom Bissell. Wow. Let's see, 'Infinite Jest' is a story of dystopia written in 1996 which is still relevant today! Humans haven't evolved much huh. What is happiness? Why does the entertainment industry dominate our lives? North America, a junior tennis academy, substance-abuse recovery center, suicide, entertainment and advertising, US-Canada relationship, and oh, Quebec separatism. Perhaps we could add in reality shows.

Dunno what my problem is, but I just can't get into the story. Took two sittings to finish it. Was left bemused after flipping through a thousand pages. The sentences and the phrasing; the rhetorical statements, circumstances and pauses. The thoughts run helter-skelter. They drove me nuts. Either I'm too tired this week to chew on it, or it's just one of those 'not my kind of books'.

In Tom Bissell's Foreword written in November 2015, he opined four theories about why the book "still feels so transcendently, electrically alive". The Foreword helped loads for me to figure out different perspectives about the book. In the first theory, he views it as "a novel about an “entertainment” weaponized to enslave and destroy all who look upon it..... the first great Internet novel" warning against being enslaved by popular entertainment long before social media took over our lives.

And here, really, is the enigma of David Foster Wallace’s work generally and Infinite Jest specifically: an endlessly, compulsively entertaining book that stingily withholds from readers the core pleasures of mainstream novelistic entertainment, among them a graspable central narrative line, identifiable movement through time, and any resolution of its quadrumvirate plotlines. Infinite Jest, in other words, can be exceedingly frustrating. To fully understand what Wallace was up to, the book bears being read, and reread, with Talmudic focus and devotion.

A 'Monkey Walk' at MacRitchie Reservoir Park

There was a period when my estate was plagued by a troupe of monkeys who climbed up the balconies in search of food and enter apartments that had forgotten to close the heavy balcony doors. Had to keep the doors closed for a few weeks while ACRES helped to move the monkeys away to a forested area. I'm a city girl who didn't grow up with monkeys as playmates. Monkeys are fierce and unfriendly. I avoid them as much as possible.

I do stop by MacRitchie Reservoir for walks, but not often enough and certainly not weekly. I was curious about the guided walks at MacRitchie Reservoir Park led by guides from Jane Goodall Institute. Not that I'm so hot about monkeys. It would be lovely to get out amid the green. Signed up for their complimentary once-a-month 'Monkey Walk'. 🐒🐵

We started the 1.5-hour walk at the amenities center at Lornie Road where Mushroom Cafe is, and at the boardwalk where canoes are kept and launched. Quite a big carpark too. I've never begun a walk or run at this entrance. I usually go in from Venus Drive. We went for a quick run before our scheduled walk at 5pm.

To my untrained eye, it's tough to spot birds or monkeys. I do better with water fowls, aquatic creatures, insects and bugs because I conciously look out for them with both eyes and ears. :P On this walk, I didn't even have to look. From this starting point, monkeys merrily paraded themselves to us! Hahahaha. There're critically-endangered banded leaf monkeys living in the area, but we didn't see any that evening. The 'Monkey Walk' specifically looks out for long-tailed macaques. It's the most commonly seen species in Singapore, and definitely brazen in its interaction with humans. We saw two families bounding around.

Our guide-primatologist was of course knowledgeable and very enthusiastic, sharing nuggets of information on the monkeys' behaviors, expressions, habits and family groupings. She also warned us to keep our distance from the macaques, especially the babies, and not to carry plastic bags, food or drinks in hand. The cute baby monkeys really look like an emoji. But please don't try to hug one. Their parents will scratch your eyes out.

After the easy stroll about 2km or so, and pumped full of new information about macaque habitats and behavior, we put away our phones, and hung out by the water to watch the sun set, reveling in the splendid quiet.

SIFA 2016 :: 'Hamlet | Collage'

I was a tad reluctant to sit through Canadian director Robert Lepage's collaboration with Russia's Theatre of Nations', starring Evgeny Mironov- 'Hamlet | Collage'. The director has done something like that, a one-man Hamlet show with multimedia technology two decades ago with 'Elsinore' that was kinda deemed as a flop. Of course this is a brand new production, and definitely improved tremendously in terms of technology utilized. I was persuaded to give this non-traditional one-actor imagistic performance a go; thankfully there were last minute tickets available.

The 2.5-hour opening show at SIFA 2016 was a visual treat. Aided by an intricately designed suspended cube by Carl Fillion, Evgeny Mironov deftly took on multiple heavy roles and morphed into Hamlet, King Hamlet the Ghost, Claudius, Gertrude, Laertes, Polonius and even Ophelia. 11 characters in total. The clever adaptable and reversible costumes are designed by Francois St-Aubin.

This cube seems to exist in Hamlet's schizophrenic mind. As the play progresses, the cube changed along with the characters, costumes and wigs. We watched him sink deeper into his madness. And somehow, the cube has expanded to encompass the audience within it. The three-sided cube moves and takes on the projected scene changes with ease. At the end of the performance, it was awesome to see all production engineers come out at curtain call. As good as the actor is, this show wouldn't have been possible without the superb coordination of the technical crew.

Che' Rose Nasi Padang

Located in Toa Payoh Lorong 1, Che' Rose Nasi Padang isn't out of the way, but it isn't exactly convenient either. But this new-to-me stall will give us the regular nasi padang fix. There're sufficient carpark lots around the area if you go slightly before or after peak lunchtime. Che' Rose has been at this current location for a few years, shifting over from Lorong 2 nearby.

Remember Mr Rashid from the old Warong Mak' Shukur? Well, Che' Rose is owned by his mother-in-law and has existed since 1968. While Mr Rashid is still deciding what to do next, and catering for small corporate functions and house parties, he's helping out at this stall.

We went late for lunch, but there was enough food left for us. The man took rice with the delicious chicken rendang and stir-fried cabbage. I took the mee goreng and added an egg, fishcake and bendi goreng. I like this version. Their sambal tumis and sambal belachan were super sedap.

I'm glad to have found something familiar again. Even better when food's just as good. Those nasi padang stalls at air-conditioned food courts truly suck. None is decent. Tough to also find a good one at the hawker centres. That's the problem of rising rentals versus quality of comfort food in Singapore.

Che' Rose Nasi Padang
Block 128 Toa Payoh Lorong 1, #01-811
At 128 Choices Eating House, Singapore 310128
(The kopitiam round the corner from Creamier.)
Hours: Lunchtime; Mondays to Thursdays

Weezer in Singapore

What a thrill to see Weezer in Singapore. Good old alternative rock. Ahh all these bands of my teenage years. Not too late to see them properly in my late thirties. :P Bought our tickets at first notice (pre sales) and fervently hoped that the tour schedule went as planned. It did!!!

Weezer's touring for their latest 'The White Album', which is pretty much is a throwback to their first and second albums back in the 90s. But it was beautiful to also hear songs from our youth. Heh. They opened the night at 8.15pm with 'California Kids'. Happy to have heard 'If You Are Wondering If I Want You To', 'Pork and Beans' and 'Beverly Hills'. The encore held 'El Scorcho' and this really really old one as the final song, 'Buddy Holly'.

They're a great band together. It was a super short set that wrapped in exactly 75 minutes. Wah. Scanned through their previous setlists and each one is similar and definitely would have ended in 80 minutes at the longest. Sound was quite terrible at Suntec City Convention Center. It was muted and underwhelming. Still. It was an enjoyable night.

SIFA 2016 :: 'The Last Supper'

I don't want to write a show that would be about the revolution itself, but rather about what it can mean to revolt... or not to revolt. I decided to set the show in the Cairo upper class. I don't feel or express any kind of hatred towards them, but I can only observe that its members live in a bubble. Nothing seems to affect them. The revolution didn't really touch them. Or if it did, it was only within the limits of their world.  

~ Ahmed El Attar's thoughts in an interview with Renan Benyamina for the Festival d'Avignon in 2015. Translated by Gaël Schmidt-Cléach.

Glad SIFA brought in Egyptian playwright and director Ahmed El Attar's 'The Last Supper'. First staged 2014, the censor-defying production has toured several festivals in different cities, its script and dialogue carrying the director's not-so-veiled critique and comments of Egyptian society.

The one-hour play follows the dinner conversation of a typical affluent family in Egypt in the aftermath of the Arab Spring. I don't know if it can be considered a summary of the microcosm of Egyptian society, but it certainly reflects a facet of it. There was no satisfactory ending. It's a vignette. Make of it what you will.

At the dinner table, the body language and conversation provided the audience with a window to the family's 'superficial lives'. Each character is "a self-absorbed philosophy mired in his or her preconceptions". Giggled. Each family member is a stereotype (bad), and can be similarly found in our families across ethnic and cultural identities, and for some of us, representative of the dreaded extended family meal at Ramadan, Hanukkah, Christmas, Lunar New Year, etc.

I had a huge problem with the surtitles. It couldn't be seen clearly by audiences at the back. I was seated at the third row from the stage and I had to strain to read them. The colors of the surtitles (font against background) weren't conducive for the audience. And the English translation could have been better. The different conversations carried on by different characters flowed too fast for non-Arabic speakers to fully comprehend, and too fast for the surtitles to capture.

I think the theatre is necessarily political and social. But I don't want to make a moral theatre, whose only purpose would be to be edifying. I'm not interested in moralizing. I just try to show pictures, a slice of time, to express my vision and my experience of certain situations. What I'm trying to do in this particular show is to create a sort of experience of the void. Everything that happens between the characters of the play turns out to be empty, to be nothing. 

Instead of asking 'what's wrong with Egyptian society', we might as well ask 'what's wrong with our society'. Humans are infinitely more scary than any ghosts, jinn, sprites and monsters. We are fully capable of wrecking this earth and prevent peace from prevailing. We are the demons who create wronged ghouls, lost souls and vengeful spirits.

Neon Lotus

Picked up Marc Laidlaw's 1998 'Neon Lotus'. I've no idea about his books; never read any although I should have. I know him purely from his work on Half-Life since so much of my teens disappeared into it (and Dungeons and Dragons).

Protagonist Marianne Strauss is the reincarnation of a brilliant Tibetan scientist, and the "State Oracle has prophesied that she will liberate the Land of Snows from the Chinese". The book is set in 22nd century Tibet and half of it in northern India's Dharamsala and the going-ons of the still-exiled Tibetan government before concluding in Lhasa, Tibet. In A.D. 2136, the last Dalai Lama (the Fourteenth) has passed and there hasn't been a new one. This Tibetan Buddhism distilled into fiction with political overtones. In this world, a liveable planet is found; China is building starships, and in a secret project of 'The Twenty-Year Plan' codenamed 'The Great Leap Upward', will liberate Tibet in approximately 250 years from today. Okay. This book still won't be welcomed in China. o.O

She smiled. "I've gone through a lot to get here. I'm not going to give up an inch of what I've gained.""Tibet is fortunate to have you."She looked out of her window, down at the dark land, and shook her hard. "It has been so unfortunate, Reting. I love this land with all my heart. I would give anything to see it liberated.""You sound like a Tibetan," called Jetsun Dorje from the cockpit. She was silent for a moment, watching the lights of a town far away to the west. Finally she said, "That I am."

We begin the story with two prophecies, a murder of a prominent Tibetan scientist Tashi Drogon by a three-eyed assassin, assistant scientist Reting Norbu, and the scientists' baby- the secret Bardo device. The Bardo device could apparently calibrate the souls of the very recently deceased (the length of a meal apparently) and reincarnate it in someone else. We're introduced to two foreigners on their last week of volunteering with Interfaith Fellowship, Kate Riordan and Peter Strauss, respectively from California (US) and Geneva (Switzerland).

Long story short, Kate and Peter's very Caucasian daughter with green eyes, Marianne Strauss, is verified to be the reincarnation of Tasha Drogon, and the Tibetans call her 'Gyayum Chenmo' or 'Great Mother'. But she's very much her own person too. Then we fast forward to year AD2158 when Marianne Strauss is an adult, an equally outstanding scientist, and entering Tibet illegally in an American CIA jet. There's the mind-boggling alliance with a machine that's seemingly a revered supreme being Chenrezi who has a thousand and twenty-three eyes (or Avalokiteśvara, a bodhisattva. Its female form is the 'Guan Yin the Goddess of Mercy'.) with unknown creators and lost knowledge. Eye-rolling started at this point. Must there be that whitewashing again? Of a foreigner coming in to 'liberate' Tibet. At least it's a woman. The story is quick to emphasize on how Tibetans deeply believe in reincarnation and how anyone of any race could have been Tibetan in a previous life.

Of course there is a quest to find the missing ornaments (the vajra, the wheel, the lotus, the wish-fulfilling gem, etc; the eight scared objects/symbols of Tibetan Buddhism), and there are wars and bloodshed between Tibetans and the Chinese. We can skip straight to the ending. Needless to say, this is a successful quest with another neat wrap-up to the story and the cycle of life. There're all the sci-fi elements in the devices they use to travel great distances, battle, eavesdrop and whatever else including metal ID cards, "self-drying boots of nomadic design, woven with threadlike heating filaments and equipped with thermostatic controls", solar disks as chargers, etc. I don't need to believe in Tibetan Buddhism, but I can understand the fascination with it and how it creates stories and perhaps some sort of hope in a world now torn asunder by meaningless conflict.

An Afternoon with N

Always fun to have N swing into town. I've got no idea if hotel rates have anything to do with whether we could view National Day fireworks from its window, but she said that this August, hotel rates were a lot kinder than the previous years'. Ha. So she opted to stay at a lovely suite in town where she could walk everywhere and take the train out.

She squared off a few hours for a chat over lunch and coffee. And for a few other random activities too. I also had a window of down-time from a hectic week to match those hours. Hurrah! Off to Tatsuya we went for a satisfying bowl of chirashizushi-don. Then a coffee for a caffeine fix before we did the tourist-thing and hit up Gardens by the Bay for a stroll on a non-crowded weekday.

I abandoned her the next day because she went shopping. Hahaha. She had a list of stuff to buy and she didn't need company. I pointed her towards Takashimaya, and she really liked the store. Well she likes the one in Tokyo, and she thinks the one in Singapore is decent too since it carries a comprehensive range of labels. She fulfilled the entire shopping list from the departmental store. :P

We didn't spend any time at PokéGyms or lurking at PokéStops. Hahahaha. It's been a week since Pokémon GO was released in our countries. We've leveled up so fast, fought many battles, won and lost PokéGyms that our interest for the game has waned. We don't particularly care about catching all 'em rare Pokémons. Awww, I've missed N's company. Glad that we hung out properly.

Future World

Nature- '100 Years Sea Animation Diorama'.

Finally visited 'Future World', ArtScience Museum and teamLab's collaboration on the museum's first permanent exhibition that will be refreshed over the next three years. Nice. If you hold a Marina Bay Sands rewards card, I believe the entry discount is almost 50% with one additional complimentary ticket. At least that was what I got when we went.

The exhibition has a number of activities catered specially for children. Lots of drawing and coloring stuff. Tremendously glad I avoided visiting during the school holidays, forgot about it and only stepped in on a week day when I had visitors in town. We hung out at the exhibition for an hour and it wasn't exactly crowded. Whewwww.

Current themes focus on Nature, Town, Park and Space. The 15 digital installations are interactive and fairly engaging. I like the quality of it because it doesn't feel like a high school project. Some of the 'future', 'tech' exhibitions here are really lacking in technology to wow. Or rather, the curator doesn't know how to fully utilize technology to engage audiences and those exhibitions tend to end up being a bore after all the hype.

Town- 'Media Block Chair'.

Town was pretty cool. It doesn't just tell us how the future of living might be. It invites visitors to create that future in its digital landscapes by moving blocks and objects about on the tables and seeing our creations rendered 4D and interpreted on the large screen. And there's a slide. :P Adults could go on it too, except you need to watch out for children and try not to crush them.

At Park's Sketch Aquarium, it was kinda fun sketching sea creatures and seeing other people's artworks scanned in and animated on screen. It wash hilarious to see so many characters from SpongeBob SquarePants and Minions floating around. We didn't really want to fight with the children at Light Ball Orchestra. But couldn't resist and found a small corner. Well, all we wanted to do was to touch those balls, bump them to change the color and roll them around for a bit. The children stayed way longer. Hahaha.

The final portion is obviously meant to dazzle- Space's Crystal Universe. 17,000 LED lights. Bit irritated at how humans jammed up the narrow aisle to do, what else, take a thousand photos. I squished past them to the end and watched the lights flicker from the a safe distance without human elbows in my face.

Space- 'Crystal Universe'.

Nasi Ambeng

Still on the search for a regular nasi padang joint. There're many at Jalan Sultan area. We tried a version at an eatery in Bussorah Street, in the form of nasi ambeng. It was pretty okay. It came with soft paru too! Heh. Good rempah and spices. But its chillies and sambal weren't ideal.

We always pop over to Simpang Bedok for lunch or supper but never bothered to stroll that 100m to East Village. Finally stopped by Ambeng Cafe by Ummi Abdullah at East Village. Air-conditioned, food comes fast, and they're known for their nasi ambeng.

Food was much better than we expected. I'd definitely return for another meal! However, as usual, there're hits and misses. The texture of the sambal sotong is different each time; it almost seems that it's dependent on how long they brine the squid that day. Eeeps. There's the standard 'Nasi Ambeng Sahan Set' with two-tiered pricing (for different ingredients) for two to three persons. But the platters are big and a two-person portion could probably feed three. There's a 'Nasi Jenganan Sahan Set'. Good if you like spicy peanut gravy or ikan kukus goreng.

One lunch, we chose the 'Nasi Rawon Sahan Set'. Wanted the kuah rawon tetel (beef gravy with keluak). I miss that loads. Totally hit a spot. Didn't care about the fried chicken wings. While the chunks of beef weren't that tender in the rendang, the rempah was perfect. Sambal sotong was satisfying. The set was generous with two eggs topped with sambal belado, and two big pieces of tempeh and sambal belachan. Loved the soft paru.

《一桌二椅实验系列》2016

This structure of a play has been staged almost annually at the M1 Chinese Theatre Festival (M1 华文小剧场节). Titled《一桌二椅实验系列》, '1 Table 2 Chairs Experimental Series', The Theatre Practice (实践剧场) invites directors and artists from different cities to stage their interpretations of various themes of the relationship between traditional and contemporary arts.

The three short plays hold no dialogue, and the set is literally made up of one table, two chairs and four performers. This year, the plays focus on the traditional art of kunqu (崑曲、昆劇), and the contemporary manner of physical theatre. This year, the four artists are from Singapore/Austria- Kuo Jing Hong (郭劲红), China- Liu Xiao Yun and Zhu Hong (刘啸赟与朱虹), and Thailand- Ornanong Thaisriwong (欧那农·泰斯日旺); the two directors are from Singapore- Liu Xiaoyi (刘晓义) and Thailand- Pawit Mahasarinand (帕维特· 玛哈萨里南).

The first two plays are linked. They're titled 'Descendants 600: 600 years. Nanjing, Nanyang.' 《后代600: 600年。南京，南洋。》and 'Descendants 400: 400 years. Tang Xianzu, Shakespeare.' 《后代400: 400年。汤显祖，莎士比亚。》. But the points the plays try to convey flew over my head.

The first play lost me at eunuch, castration, traditions and inheritance. I wouldn't have known what it was without reading the back story in the program. The actors were putting across messages about body mutilation and career achievements moving in parallel. It was ermm...unsettling to think deeper about it.

The second play placed Shakespeare's Hamlet, Othello and Lear along the same lines as descendants of a heritage. The summary of the play in the printed program hints at how we have "no ancestors, no bloodline and we're descendants to none", and somehow descend into materialism and consumption. It then suggests that "Singapore has neither Tang Xianzu or Shakespeare, and hence we have Kuo Pao Kun". Shakespeare and Tang Xianzu were contemporaries. But wow. To pull the literary card, and allude to Admiral Cheng Ho too. I vaguely get it, but I don't feel like getting it at all. Whether this ends with a bout of forced laughter or tears/sobs, I can't connect with it. Sorry, this is too highbrow for me.

I really enjoyed the third play '⇆Gertrude⇆Ophelia⇆' 《⇆葛楚德⇆奥菲利亚⇆》. It was first rehearsed in Thailand's B-Floor Theatre. The actresses don't speak a common language and come from different cultural backgrounds. On stage, they hold vastly different vibes and that helped the audience recognize how extreme their characters are. I understand that the actresses improvise and do a slightly different version of the movements for each of their shows. All our comparison essays about the characters in Hamlet and its portrayal of women came rushing back. :P It was fun to see them utilize the entire space, going in and out of the doors and all that. Its interactive elements with the audience made the play feel approachable.

Thanks for the Free Data, SG51!

Never been so concerned about free local data offered by the telco till today. Hahaha. Because I need to up the CP (combat power) of my Pokémons, gather stardust and candies and evolve them before I release them to fight at the PokéGyms. Hahaha. I literally climbed 10 levels from 0 in eight hours on the day Pokémon GO launched in Singapore.

Yeah I'm one of those idiots armed with a power bank in a backpack walking around town. Driving is a pretty good way to tank up at PokéStops. Or rather, getting a driver who would concentrate on the road. Heeheeeheee. This is why I don't really dare to touch any sort of games nowadays. I can get so obsessed over them. They don't need to be video games. Role-playing boardgames are just as bad. My teenage years were spent in the worlds of Doom, Half-Life, Dungeons and Dragons, and whatever popular at the arcade, like Tekken. :P But seriously, watch where you suddenly stop to catch a Pokémon. If you don't use your brains and behave like an asshole while playing the game, then you're probably a jerk to begin with. Darwinism FTW. The game doesn't own you if you don't let it.

I'll be done with evolving the silly Pokémons in three days. Then I'll send them into combat and let some go stay and defend a random PokéGym. I haven't even joined one yet. Hahaha. Been avoiding them. This National Day, I'll be out hunting. Walking 20km a day for to hatch eggs and snag Pokémons is as good an exercise as any. Heh. The other day I literally jogged 10km to hatch two eggs. Thank goodness one is a Pikachu and the other is a Rhyhorn, both XL with a decent CP to begin with. Couldn't stop cackling when I hauled in a Jynx last night in the back alleys around Kandahar Street. Seventh Month leh. I did a double-take before furiously swiping at the phone screen. Uhhh...of course I've leveled up plenty since this screenshot of my avatar. Heeeheeheee.

As much as we love you as a country, you know how we have terribly mixed feelings about you. Regardless, we want you independent, more mature, accepting and dynamic. Happy Birthday Singapore.

The Butterfly Garden

I don't like butterflies. I'm not exactly afraid of them. They're Nature's creations and are beautiful that way. But I see them as creepy, like puppets, clowns and dolls. Dot Hutchison's 'The Butterfly Garden' was chilling.

The book unfolded like an episode on CSI and Law & Order: SUV. The plot isn't new. It's how the author chose to present it by way of a safe-enough rescue and recollection that made me want to read it in ne sitting, and find out what happened to these young injured girls in hospital. It was riveting.

It's the story of every parent's nightmare. A wealthy family of warped males with a sick fascination with butterflies, abducting girls of no older than sixteen to place them in their perverse fantasy world. The girls have butterfly wings tattoo-ed onto their backs, are sexually abused and then murdered when they turn twenty-one. The psycho called them 'Butterflies'. Then these bodies are strung up like butterfly specimens and preserved in glass cases of formaldehyde and resin. The glass cases and girls are locked within a highly-secured place called the 'Garden' with high walls, movable barriers, and cells.

The father Geoffrey MacIntosh, otherwise known as the 'Gardener', and his two sons keep a current harem of 22 kidnapped young girls. The father has been doing this for 30 years. He wants it to be a family thing, and for his sons to continue it. Rape, torture, abuse, sick fantasies, murder and self-justification. Ugh. The girls were only rescued because the younger of the two sons had a conscience. Desmond broke out of his misplaced loyalty to the family when his volatile brother Avery brought in a 12-year-old girl.

For a seasoned reader of crime fiction and tv series, I felt sick mid-way through because such crimes happen in real life. It's one of those bone-chilling plots. The eighteen-year-old protagonist, Maya/Inara/Samira, is tough and keeps secrets of her own, but worthy secrets. She plays a mother figure within the harem and tries her best to protect the girls as they have little hopes of escape. Except for one all those years ago- one Butterfly escaped. It isn't a myth. Inara bides her time, never losing her sense of self. Hope came to fruition.

"We've been interviewing her, Senator, not hiding her," Victor says mildly. He reaches out to grip Inara's shoulder gently but firmly turning her around. Inara's eyes flick over the woman. She musters a smile so obviously fake it makes him wince. "You must be Ravenna's mother.""Her name," the senator says tightly, "is Patrice.""It was," Inara agrees. "And it will be. Right now it's still Ravenna. Outside isn't real yet.""And just what the hell does that mean?" 

The smile disappears. Inara's thumb rubs against the sad dragon. After a moment, she straightens and looks the woman in the eye. "It means you're too real for her to handle yet. The past two days have been too much. We've spent so long living in someone else's terrible fantasy that we don't know how to be real anymore. It'll come, in time, but your real is very ..." She glances at the knot of aides and staff members hovering a respectful distance away. "Very public," she says finally. "If you can get rid of the entourage, maybe it'll be easier for her." 

"We're just trying to get to the bottom of this.""Isn't that the FBI's job?"The senator stares at her. "She's my daughter. I'm not just going to sit by and watch- ""Like every other parent?" Victor winces again."You stand for the law, Senator. Sometimes that means standing back to let it work." 

Eddison spins to hit the call button for the elevator again. Victor can see his shoulders shaking. 

But Inara isn't done yet. "Sometimes it means being mother or senator, not both. I think she'd like to see her mother, but with what she's been through, the adjustments she'll have to make, I don't think she can handle the senator. Now, if you'll please excuse us, we need to check in on Ravenna and the others." 

da:ns 2016 :: Matthew Bourne's 'Sleeping Beauty: A Gothic Romance'

Watched Matthew Bourne's contemporary 'Sleeping Beauty: A Gothic Romance'. The dance production first premiered in 2012 and it's now presented as part of Esplanade's da:ns series. It's kinda brave to stage five shows on the dates when most Singaporeans and residents fly out for the long weekend (for erm National Day). How to fill the Theatre?! We watched this on opening night and it wasn't even full. There were two empty rows in the stalls.

The show was performed in four acts: '1890- The Baby Aurora', '1911- Aurora's Coming of Age', '2011- Aurora Wakes Up', and finally 'Last Night- The Wedding'. Costumes were lovely and the set was extravagant. Quite the fairytale backdrop. (Watch the fairies dance for baby Aurora.)

I helplessly convulsed into silent cackles each time Fairy King Count Lilac appeared because he's defined in this dance-spectacular as a 'vampire fairy'. Really! Count Lilac. HAHAHAH. I understand Matthew Bourne drew on 'True Blood' for this inspiration of vampires and fairies, and suggested to his dancers to also include this television series in their research for their characters.

In the intervening 100 years Princess Aurora is asleep, she lives in the sleepwalking world of the fairies. And of course tourists invaded the castle with all their brusque treatment of its grounds. Aurora's true love is this new interpretation of the 'Prince' in the form of commoner Leo, the royal gardener who has too been granted eternal life by Count Lilac, AS A VAMPIRE. That sent me into a giggling fit that I had to fight to suppress. Luckily the interval was right after that hilarious twist. Hahahaha.

The evil fairy Carabosse who laid the curse has long died in exile. But there's her son, a new character in the form of an equally sinister dark fairy Caradoc who's still alive and intends to avenge his parent by sacrificing Aurora. In Act Four, because of a case of mistaken identity, the awakened Aurora was forced to marry Caradoc. Of course that doesn't happen. When the happy ending comes around, Leo and Aurora are together in some fantasy fairy land, raising a child who has fairy wings. That confused the hell out of me.

By the end of the rather enjoyable show, I had completely dissolved in violent fits of mirth. Oh the dancing? Oh yes, it was perfectly fine. 

Stews at Masizzim

W had a craving for spicy Korean food for her birthday meal. Okay, can. She abandoned the kids at home with her parents and snucked out for lunch to gorge on all spicy-goodness. Hehehe. It's always nice to chat with her without the little ones demanding for attention.

We didn't know which Korean restaurant to go to, except to avoid those in the Tanjong Pagar stretch. Korean food isn't high on my to-eat list. :P We ended up at the convenient Masizzim at 313 Somerset. We've no idea if this restaurant is considered authentic or good. But we didn't mind its food. Its sister restaurant next door Chir Chir is part of a chain of Korean fried chicken with plenty of outlets across the island.

Masizzim's banchan is pathetic. Two side dishes of tasteless kimchi and awful mashed potato. At least it doesn't have the shitty army stew. I find no joy in eating from a S$40 pot of soup (for four persons) flavored with gochujang and filled with instant noodles, spam, hotdogs, fishcakes, tofu and cabbage.

Masizzim offers surprisingly good stews of beef short ribs, pork ribs, chicken and seafood. Thank goodness. I wouldn't mind coming back for a random decent meal. We had beef short ribs with level three spiciness, and mixed grain riceballs with anchovies, steamed egg, and a squid and leek pancake. W happily rolled up the rice balls for us. We shared a bowl that gave us three small balls each. If you aren't big on carbs, don't order a rice bowl for each person!

Wild Rice :: HOTEL

Having missed this epic play commissioned for SIFA last year, I set aside time to watch Wi!d Rice's almost-five-hour 'HOTEL' staged again for the Singapore Theatre Festival. Directed by Ivan Heng and Glen Goei, they fleshed out Alfian Saat and Marcia Vanderstraaten's newly tightened script in a two-part (2.5hrs and 2hrs) play over two nights, spanning a century from 1915 to 2015.

Past and present meet in so many rich details in an old world grand hotel. Love, heartache, secret trysts, break-ups between Singaporeans and Malaysians back then in 1965, superstitions, ghosts, séances, families and complex relationships. The script didn't shy away from politics, racial and social issues in opening with the 1915 Sepoy rebellion (against the British colonial masters during WWI) and alluding it to the 2013 Little India riots. It moved on to comfort women in WWII, the pain of inter-racial relationships, Malay films, Bugis Street and transgender identities, the Muslim dialogue, and oh, maid abuse in the 19th century isn't too different from today's issues.

One hotel room, different designs of digital wallpaper in the background, different-sized beds, and a rich local history to draw parallels to individuals' lives and experiences. It's linguistically vibrant and well...diverse; the 11 sketches and the talented cast of 13 nailed it. Hard to pick a favorite story. I didn't even feel bored for a second or thought that the loooong play was laggy. I enjoyed the two parts so much that I didn't even mind the corny singing and dancing, and the giant penises.

So clearly, we aren't just talking about 'HOTEL' as a hotel per se, or a room. Isn't it really Singapore with all our idiosyncrasies, prejudices and fears? We haven't changed all that much. What a brilliant Singapore narrative.

Momo :: 桃

Peaches are still in season in Japan. Mmmm, that delicate subtle sweetness. The season usually ends in September. Bullied the BFF into lugging momo (桃) back from Tokyo for meeeee! She's a darling and agreed to do it if she passes by the fruit stalls on her way to and fro the office. すばらしい！どうもありがとうございます！ I don't need the super pricey varieties; I like the normal ones from Okayama which average about ‎¥3000 for four (in Japan).

Set in boxes of four, our peaches were packed with such care, individually wrapped and cushioned. Yet the BFF opted to hand-carry the boxes instead of stuffing them into the checked in luggage. I hand-carried cherries all the way home from Seattle too, so I thought that since peaches are bigger, and if they're packed and squished within the suitcases to prevent minimal movement, they should be fine. The BFF rejected the theory. She said, "They bruise too easily!" True that, same like 'em Rainier and Satonishiki cherries.

Collected my precious momo and zoomed straight home to lovingly place them in the fridge, still in their protective foam netting and all cushioned. Could have waited two days for it to ripen even more. But I love them at this juncture when they're still a wee bit crunchy. Love them with skin at this stage. Don't mind them juicier, but not when they're completely soft and can get a little too sweet for my preferences.

Strangeville

Kenneth Tingle's 'Strangeville' is indeed an odd little story. There's nothing space alien or sci-fi about it. Not even supernatural. While it's certainly a fun story, it's kinda disappointing because I was hoping for more.

Protagonist John Campbell muddles along in life after the untimely death of his parents. He hasn't got much friends and is stuck in a dead-end job 't was in his car on the way to visit his Aunt Peggy and Uncle Mike somewhere in Virginia when he got lost and landed up in Strangeville. Clearly, there isn't a cellular tower or signal to be sought. Of course John Campbell would have forgotten to bring along a charging cable. Zzzz.

People in this town seem to either be housewives or work in the coal mines. They don't lock their doors. The cars are the most telling, along with round dial phones that can't call outside of town. The town is run by the inscrutable Mayor and a bunch of senior advisors, for example, head engineers and head doctors and all that. It's a made-up town that sources vintage car parts from e-Bay, and the chief mechanic says he might have up it to 1960s because the world is running out of spare parts for cars made in the 1950s.

"Biff, they're selling the coal outside at today's market price. They use the money to keep everything going. But, they're paying people wages from fifty years ago. Everything is kept cheap somehow, like maybe they use the coal money to offset today's high prices. Basically, they're subsidizing the whole town of Strangeville!" 

......... 

He nodded without saying a word and went inside the house. I wondered if I had said too much. Did I create a crack in his comfortable view of the world?  

The stars were shining brightly above in the clear sky. All this time I thought the mayor was some backwards dinosaur from the past, but now he seemed like an economic genius. 

It's just the quirk of a strange Mayor with willing participants to protect this little town of theirs stuck in the 1950s. The rest of the townspeople isn't allowed to leave the boundaries at all. Not much different from running North Korea. :P Klemm's Diner, run by Klemm Johnson, is the heart of the town's social life. John Campbell begins work at the coal mines, gains a good friend and housemate Biff Flannigan, and makes the best of it. He left his old life behind, and begins to build a life in Strangeville. Of course there's a girl involved. There's always a girl. Her name is Delilah. There's a happy ending. He chooses to stay in Strangeville, marries Delilah and have a loving marriage and two children.

So at the end, he manages to charge his cellphone, makes that one call to his Aunt and Uncle to tell them he isn't visiting after all, bids farewell to his boss and old job, and is all good. A neat call to tie up loose ends in his old life. Yes, he withdrew all the cash from his bank account. I can't stand a detail in the ending. That he saw his presumably dead parents who seem rather alive and have come to see him in Strangeville, a short visit to tell him they aren't dead, but they can't stay either. Sure, the writer took pains to state that John says it's his story. BUT STILL. Is it necessary??! Whatever mushrooms they inhaled, I want some.

My parents had come to teach me life's most important lesson: You have to find your own happiness. You can make your own heaven on earth. It's all how you look at it.