Weekend Reading List

On Friday, after (a greasy and salty) lunch with my colleagues B and B at the Bukit Merah Central Dim Sum Palace (with its row of plastic maple trees and fake jade lions), I browsed the makeshift second-hand books stand outside Pancake Paradise while they did their minor errands. The yellowed books were neatly compacted on a plywood board the size of a door, covered with a lino sheet of blue gerbera. I knew I was fated to read Tash Aw's debut novel The Harmony Silk Factory when I spotted it among the distressed chick-lit tomes. I had a mental note of his second novel because I had just read its glowing review. Tash Aw (what a name!) is the Malaysian version of Zadie Smith. The book in my hand felt slightly dusty, it's cover lurid and slighty creased. I don't think it was read much. Should I buy it? It's $5.60. I tried to bargain it down but the aunty who was fanning herself with an NTUC Lifestyle brochure (who looked like she never read a book in her entire life) said no discount unless I bought $40 worth, then I'll get 10%. $40 of second-hand books is quite a lot of trash. I left the stand.
I went to look at the kaya swiss rolls at Pancake Paradise.
I went to look at the bargain bins at the discount shop (six lighters, $0.90, laundry net, $0.40).
I went back and bought the book.
I'm loving it. Mr Aw really is a story-teller. I started reading it in the cab home and I haven't put it down since. It's The Joy Luck Club for boys.
I'm also leafing back and forth over Latiff Mohidin: Journey to Wetlands and Beyond, a coffee-table book of drawings by the celebrated Malaysian artist and poet (I'm still deciding if I like his work or not). I "culled" this book from the office.
So it's turning out to be a Malaysia Truly Asia weekend for me.

Eau You Can Read

Isn't this silly? Or fab? It's a Jane Austen themed scent. I didn't make this up.

The ad:

"...The scent of violets, horses, and potpourri. It’s like living in a Jane Austen novel! What are you waiting for? Isn’t it time you curled by a warm fire with a cup of tea, your favorite book, and a can of Scent of Sensibility?"

Andrew Smith, Born 1987

The Truly Impossible Emmanuelle Alt

I love that she looks such a sensible girl despite those boots.

But, At This Juncture

"But, at this juncture, when the will is most imperiled, art approaches, as a redeeming and healing enchantress; she alone may transform these horrible reflections on the terror and absurdity of existence into representations with which man may live. These are the representation of the sublime as the artistic conquest of the awful, and of the comic as the artistic release from the nausea of the absurd. The satyric chorus of the dithyramb is the saving device of Greek art." 
Friedrich Nietzsche

Midsummer So Hot

                                                      Tahitian Landscape, 1891
                                                      Nave, Nave Moe, 1894
                                                          The Seed of the Areoi, 1892
                                                        Manua Tupapau, 1892
                                                       Da Mahua No Atua, 1894

"By the combination of lines and colours, under the pretext of some motif taken from nature, I create symphonies and harmonies that represent nothing absolutely real in the ordinary sense of the word but are intended to give rise to thoughts as music does."  - Paul Gauguin

Electric Youth!

I want to work at this magazine... It's soooo relevant right? Steven Klein should just do porn. He's not very good at fashion is he?

Freud Friday

Lucien Freud

Hotels

I love a good hotel.
I like the impersonal solace of a well-run hotel.
I like leaving my battered shoes out in a tray, and they are returned an hour later, polished to an apple-like shine.
I like the warm towels in a vast, wintery bathroom.
I like that the hot water for my cup noodles comes in a pompous silver pot (borne by a very large matron on a pompous silver tray).
I like the fruit basket, and eating the fruits therein with a knife and napkin.
I like the flowers.
I love calling up for a massage and doing this on the floor with the BBC on.
I love not getting calls, only messages from the concierge.
I like the IHT that I left hanging on the door laid out on the bureau later.
I love eating dinner in the room in pyjamas, and then sleeping immediately.
I like to send shirts for pressing, and then they appear in the cupboard, when I’m out, in crisp plastic covers.
I love that the sheets are changed everyday. (I like this very much.)
I like the blackness of the night only achievable in hotels, and the heavy silence when the door closes. (I wish I could shut the world out like this every day).
I love room service (I really, really like this).
I love writing postcards out and dropping them off at the reception.
I love eating breakfast in bed (I only wish I didn’t have to get out of bed to open the door).
Well, I love doing most things in bed.
I love watching horror movies in a bathrobe when I’m supposed to be out at a party.
I love calling up for stuff.
I love leaving the room in a mess and then, when I come back, housekeeping has made everything immaculate again.
Photo: Tim Walker

Louis Garrel, Born 1989

                                         The hair, the nose, the neck, the smoking! Swoon.

Vogue Italia

I heart this big time (thanks hohoho). Steven Klein is a poor fashionista's Steven Miesel. Klein endlessly imitates (poorly) Helmut Newton, while Miesel is truly prolific. Miesel is the Karl Lagerfeld of photography isn't he?

Resort 2010: Balenciaga

While not lacking in ideas, there were a few looks that stumped me. Those plaid shirts with ruffs? I don't think so. But more shocking than these bad experiments were the dull looks, a dull khaki coat, a drip of a dress. I liked these five. They saved the collection for me. 

Resort 2010: Prada

I'm always delighted and surprised by the ingenuity of Miuccia Prada. This isn't, like many other collections, a dumbed-down bunch of commercial clothes. Truly, it's inspired and directional, yet feels light and effortless. The Holiday & Brown silks that she has used before, mixed with the 'batik' print feels innocent and fresh. It's 'African' without being predictable or pedantic. It's very No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency (the Alexander McCall Smith novel) don't you think? I can't wait to see the Anthony Minghella film of this book.

The Meaning Of It All

I asked a friend to have dinner on Friday night.
His SMS: can't. it's gym and protein shake for me.
I replied: And what is the reward for this punishing routine?
His SMS: lean mean bod for Party, luk ku in saunas, self pride n luv n admiration from all n sundry.
Whatever can this mean? These people!
Has life infinite been narrowed down to... anonymous sex in a sauna?
Is self-esteem based on taking your shirt off at a gay party?
Does nothing else have any meaning at all?

Monday's Monet

Wheatstacks End of Summer, Claude Monet, 1980

Magazines Are Precious Things

"“Magazines are precious things,” as (Alexander) Liberman sometimes told editors. They require pampering and purity and, not incidentally, money. Liberman tore up layouts at the last minute and counseled editors to spend, spend, spend, because spending, too, was part of the aesthetic, almost an end in itself.

"“There’s no place on Earth like this,” (Graydon) Carter tells me. “There’s no place where you’re given the resources you need to do what you want to do and also given complete freedom to do it.” A short time ago, Carter says, he offered (Si) Newhouse some possible economies. “I tried to bring up money with him,” he explains. “I had some ways of cutting expenses around photo shoots. He just didn’t want to hear it. He got all uncomfortable. Si said, ‘Just make sure there’s nothing that can hurt the magazine.’ In my lunches with Si, you wouldn’t know that there’s anything different from 2002, 1996, 1992.”"

- New York

Mr and Mrs Alexander Liberman, and thier daughter Francine du Plessix Gray, shot by Irving Penn in 1948.

Resort 2010: 'Nuff Said

Prada Resort 2008

Marc Jacobs Resort 2010

Resort 2010: Celine

Phoebe Philo is back! I like.

In her much anticipated debut at Celine, she delivers, with a refreshing (the colours, used unexpectedly, the re-invention of wardrobe staples), youthful (the un-fussiness, and lack of decoration), yet grown-up (sophisticated and practical) collection that is familiar enough to her work at Chloe, yet respectful enough for what Celine stands for. Attractive, useful, relevant. Ms Philo said: "After my break, and with Celine in various different hands these last years, it felt better for me to work on an idea of a wardrobe than too much on trends. October (Spring 2010) will be for that. This collection is about interchangeable investment pieces. I worked hard to create things that will stand the test of time."

Goodbye, Fleur

Fleur Cowles's drawing room at The Albany, London. The blue room began its party career in 1780 a ballroom. Designed by Sir William Chambers, a favorite architect of King George III, the grand chamber is crowned by a ceiling of lacy plasterwork that's like a Wedgwood box. Fleur Cowles: ''I believe it's the most beautiful drawing room in London.''

The Plot Against The Giant

First Girl
When this yokel comes maundering,
Whetting his hacker,
I shall run before him,
Diffusing the civilest odours
Out of geraniums and unsmelled flowers.
It will check him.

Second Girl
I shall run before him,
Arching cloths besprinkled with colours
As small as fish-eggs.
The threads
Will abash him.

Third Girl
Oh, la...le pauvre!
I shall run before him,
With a curious puffing.
He will bend his ear then.
I shall whisper
Heavenly labials in a world of gutturals.
It will undo him.

- Wallace Stevens (1879-1955)

Weekend Reading List

In the tumoil of dashing to the July issue deadline, and catching up on all the work that had piled up during the week I was away, I was caught printing out scads of stuff to read this weekend. Boon tried, but failed to make possible for me to print out on both sides of the paper. Computer says no. Anyway, I've never seen it done. I've also got some news magazines to get through and a stand of newspapers that father collected for me to read. I'm reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, a slim novel by Mark Haddon. (You guys might have seen it, the cover's cute!) Roch lent it to me to read on the trip, but I haven't finished it, even though it's really something that can be read in a day. It's wonderfully-written and I'm going to zip through it this weekend. You're looking at Jane Austen covers designed by Leigh-Anne Mullock, which she embroidered herself. So delightfully twee right?

The Young Ones

Taxi uncle asked you Malay.

I said no why?

He said you look Malay. You Malay?

I said no I Chinese.

Oh you look Malay look handsome thought you Malay.

(It being a long time since anyone said I looked handsome I simpered and tried to act cute).

Taxi uncle:

Your sunglasses very nice huh you borrow me I performance this Sunday. I'm singing this Sunday. I play drums too but this Sunday I sing. You know this song? The Young Ones, you know this song?

He proceeded to holler the song The Young Ones. I mean, the entire song. It's 9.30am on a Wednesday. It's the hottest day in 2009, and I'm sweating like a hog.

Come and see me this Sunday. At Tampines amphitheatre.

I'm performing from 5 to 9 (isn't that a very long performance?). Got makan got lucky draw come come borrow your sunglass.

Fleur Cowles (1908 - 2009)

"I decided the wing of a bird would be the symbol of Flair because it's flight of fancy, which is what we need if we live an interesting and imaginative life. A flair for something -I don't care what it is, but whatever it is, have elegance in it, even if it's shining shoes. And knowledge -whatever you do, learn more about what you're doing."-Fleur Cowles

Resort Collection

I'm in the Seychelles for a week with the little ones: Be right back with resort 2010.
Here, I'm reminded of all the resort holidays I've enjoyed in my life, each almost formulaic in the details, yet different in mood and emotion. Is it the company, or just that moment in my mind, or the country and culture?
Meanwhile at the Hilton Seychelles...

Jesus Luz