Saturday, April 30, 2011

I'll drink to that...

I was in a bookstore this afternoon. Actually, it’s more of a stationery shop as it sells more school supplies and school assessment materials than books. I won’t mention the name, but let’s just say it’s quite a popular chain.

Anyway, they had a large selection of board games. Alongside Monopoly and Cluedo I was shocked to see a game called Drinking Roulette, another called Shots and Ladders, and two other drinking games. I had the impression that they catered mostly to the primary school market, but it seems they have something for the university crowd as well.

Friday, April 1, 2011

I know it when I see it

An artist had an installation on display at the Singapore Art Museum, but something was missing, namely, a number of gay pornographic magazines that had been part of the exhibit. Said magazines had been removed by SAM, allegedly without the knowledge or consent of the artist. While SAM may have had some legal concerns, the artist could have been consulted.

Kudos to Straits Times columnist Ong Sor Fern for her courageous stand. She not only lashed out at the museum, she compared their actions to vandalism! Actually, she said it was “tantamount to an act of vandalism,” and further qualified her statement with a “to me”. Still, pretty gutsy. Whether her comparison is accurate or not, I don’t expect anyone at SAM to be caned like Michael Fay or Ollie Fricker.

I recall seeing some X-rated art in China (okay, it was actually Taiwan), where the galleries containing the “offending” images had been cordoned off and warning signs displayed. Pretty liberal, eh?

I gotta wonder whether it was the gay part of the porn that set off the censors. Perhaps Ms. Ong or fellow intrepid columnist Andy Ho would like to look into that. What with Yale hooking up with NUS with the understanding that discussions on campus will be free as befits a liberal arts college, perhaps the times they are a-changin’.