The paddy fields have turn golden compared to my last visit five weeks ago. Some fields are currently being harvested by machines. Credits to the Industrial Revolution; it would be a back-breaking work to manually pluck each stalk.
A lesser-known seafood market situated on the banks of Kajang River had an offer on big prawns, selling for only RM 30 per kilo.
In my other tab was a search result of ‘Pfadfinderei’, music I discovered on a DVD attached in a Hong Kong-based graphic arts magazine Idn in the year 2005. Also pasta-themed!
I googled ‘music video of cop eating spaghetti’ and rediscovered this video that appeared on MTV a lot when I first received satellite television.
Portraits of Swiss artists:
Max Bill, architect, painter and sculptor.
Camille Graeser, painter.
Leila Sonad, interior and furniture designer.
Peter Mieg, composer, painter, poet and writer.
Photographed by Thomas Cugini.
A scan from Communication Arts magazine, issue July / August 1982.
Four Club, Bern
Grafic: Pixelfarm
2013
Germanic design agencies are usually worth my reblog. This one is by Pixelfarm, based in Bern, Switzerland. If you see one of my layouts looking like that, you know what inspired me…
Wow! Containers aren’t just for makeshift offices at construction sites or add-on classrooms in expanding private schools. During my recent trip to the south, I managed to stop by Chaiwalla & Co. in Johor Bahru for a tea after reading about it in the newspaper a week earlier.
Taking cue from post-earthquake New Zealand where containers are being utilised as homes, shops and buildings (and not to forget Freitag’s flagship tower in Switzerland), this cafe occupies a corner of an open-air parking lot on Jalan Tan Hiok Nee. It’s very close to the restored red corner shophouse and a few leaps away from Salahuddin Bakery.
It’s an antithesis of trendy cafés inspired by Melbournian coffee culture (eg. Plan B, Butter + Beans), where one doesn’t have to know the science behind their chosen drink, unlike many other establishments who are obsessed with brewing and roasts and foam art. The Taiwanese bubble tea model rules here; pick your drink type, add in some flavour, then add some toppings to make your creation filling enough to be a meal (that’s what bubble tea does to me). The Saffron Rose flavour comes from fragrant tea from Thailand, but I changed my order after noticing that their tea of the month is masala chai. In my next visit I might want to try the ice cream flavour.
With its wooden fruit crate fit-out and crisp art direction to complete its utilitarian look, let’s hope that we’ll never find A4-sized laminated notices stuck distastefully on the clean-cut menu (this is aimed at The Bread Shop).
Anyway, this container concept can be expanded to other kinds of establishments, like nasi lemak stalls or newsstands or cobblers / locksmith. Having a square filled with containers housing food vendors sounds like an attractive idea for a food court, compared to the unorganised roadside food stalls that haphazardly occupy half the street, leading to indiscriminate parking, endangering road users and posing a safety threat to customers.
Made Thought — New site to launch late Spring 2013
Time for a healthy dose of reblogging. This image caught my attention because it provoked some sentiments relating to my personal, unexplainable interest in art direction.
Singapore report – 16-17.03.2013 on Flickr.
Displaying the image in its original resolution was not possible so I have the text typed in here, in case it’s illegible.
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PARKROYAL on PICKERING
If one walks by a construction site in Singapore in the month of December, it is most likely that they would find the same site fully built and habitable in June the following year. This massive hotel is a neighbour to Hong Lim Complex, and sports rows of suspended potted plants when seen from this angle.
JUCHHEIM
When I saw this, I thought it’s one of those Japanese brands that’s branded to look European (like Delfonics, for example). But not this little bakery in Takashimaya food hall. Juchheim was the last name of a German who introduced Baumkuchen in Japan back in World War I.
Now I know why Monocle said that the best baumkuchen comes from Japan.
KRAFTWERK 3-D
Uh… no thanks.
MUTEMATH
There is something unique about people of ‘faith’ that makes them engaging. My encounter with Darren King, the drummer, was the highlight of my trip.
Darren King acknowledged my enthusiasm throughout his band’s performance before he left the stage. Later on at the meet and greet, we joked about ‘burning a thousand calories’ during the show. He confessed that his intensive drumming style is what that keeps him in shape. When he learned that I am from Malaysia, he commented that he would like to come for both holiday and work. By then I had to edge out of the line, so Darren gave me a reassuring handgrip with a sincere wish: “God bless ya”.
Mutemath performed brilliantly. The image shows a handshake between vocalist Paul Meany and me.
RETAIL REPORT
A couple takes a morning stroll with their sniffer dogs nearby Midpoint Orchard. Many shops open at 10.30 am instead of the expected 10.00 am.
Kinokuniya had an unsurprising magazine display. No printed material was bought at the island.
McDonald’s has a breakfast item which consists of fried egg, chicken sausage and bacon strips stacked within two syrup-laced pancakes. The next time I am having it would be in 2014.
I missed out on grocery shopping even though there was an NTUC supermarket opposite of where I stayed. That can be blamed on my urge to cross over to Johor Bahru for a plate of char kueh bakar and masala chai.
I still have it at the back of my mind — to publish a Feuilleton pullout. Also, this video’s art direction is the kind I would like when presenting publications of recent note.
Video by Jullien Brothers.
