Hunting Good Willy

Mood: Awake
Music: Letter from The Occupant by The New Pornographers

I have managed to clean up the houseyesterday, but the highlight of the day will definitely be 'Good Will Hunting', I am not sure why I love this film so much. Its the best I've seen both Affleck and Damon on-screen before they turned Bratty. And Robin Williams was just so brilliant, he's my fav besides Eddie Murphy and Andy Kaufman.

Sab told me about Stereophonics new album, which is not as good as the previous one, she said they sound all so directionless, I am not a big fan of Stereophonics, but I love what they did to 'Don't Let Me Down' on I am Sam Soundtrack.

Anyway, preparation has begun for the administration-doom-situation for Berlin, Fukuoka and Yogjakarta, this is definitely going to be a whole bumper on-the-road mayhem busy-weezee. E-mailings are slowly slithering through, I believe the brain-cracking/technical rider/collaborators complexities will arise soon.

Friday is here ladies and gentleman, but what difference does it make, I am looking forward to the Plug and Play gig at Substation.

Erratic Weather Report

The rain came pouring like strong metallic yet percussive showdown. It is just fantastic when you wake up to the sound of the rain, but heavy rain gives you an impression that the day is going to be wet and grey. No. I was wrong, the sun came out and it got humid and sticky again. What's with the weather these days?

Yesterday, after the Straits Times photo shoot, went to the Esplanade Library and borrowed some books and DVDs, I managed to borrow Ed Sullivan's Classics, Bob Dylan Documentary and Good Will Hunting (I just love this film for some personal reason). For books, I got some thing on the Post-Rock Theory and Dancing with Fidel (a comprehensive story on Cuban music).

I spent a good 4 hours reading on Ian Curtis on Mojo, I got interested in Joy Division because of New Order and the cover of Closer attracted me into listening to them. There is something about the mystery of Ian Curtis, its different from Kurt Cobain or Jim Morrison, you just can't explain the torment, the eyes of tragedy...

In the evening dropped by Plastic Kinetic Worms, for their anniversary show 'Access', going to openings these days is different from the past, don't know why, when I was younger, going to openings were like great opportunities to get free booze and just feeling artsy with the wine and not bothered about the works. I am guilty of that sometimes. (art openings are famous for gatherings of talkative people)

On a positive note, openings are like a visit to you relatives', you see people grow, some have children, new lovers, new wrinkles, new pair of shoes, new attitude, new hair and all the new. The famous questions: "What are you up to these days?", "What are you doing now?", "When is your next show?"Etc.

I have been listening to Billy Corgan's cover of Dylan's 'Forever Young', though Corgan's voice all so whiny, the words were powerful;

Forever Young by Bob Dylan

may god bless and keep you allways
may your wishes all come true
may you allways do for others
and let others do for you
may you build a latter to the stars
and climb on every rung
may you stayyyyy forever young
forever young forever young
may you stay forever young

may you grow up to be richous
may you grow up to be true
may you allways know the truth and see the lights surrounding
you
may you allways be couragous
stand upright and be strong
may you stay forever young
forever young forever young
may you stay forever young

may your hands allways be busy
may your feet allways be swift
may you have a strong foundation when the winds of change shift
may your heart allways be joyfull
may your song allways be sung
may you stay forever young
forever young forever young
may you stay forever young

Artistic Monumental Investigation

The performance I collaborated with Dovan Ong last year, the beginning
of the obsession with labels and speech bubbles. AIM2, by the Singapore
River, 2004.

The Original P.O.P Station

The first ever P.O.P station at the Arts House last year as part of the
Insomnia48, we spent sleepless nights for 3 days for this interactive
installation. 45 music videos within 48 hours, the station has
travelled to London and on the way to Yogjakarta and Berlin. It all
started with Neo Print + American Idol + MTV = The P.O.P Station. The
Arts House, Singapore, 2004.

Exterior of The Habitat

'Ten Dark One HQ', this is the ghetto joint that I have been living,
hibernating, hiding, contemplating, romancing, socializing, meeting and
whatever-ing for the last 1-half years. This photo is taken on a normal
day, Siglap Close, 2004.

Timmy and Dalmatian

We spent our last 2 days in Melbourne at Timmy's, he had this big
Dalmatian and she was so friendly, that at times she could get all
licky and dooky...

The National Gallery, Melbourne.

I managed to catch Man Ray's exhibition as well, I had to decide
between Man Ray and Edvard Munch, the reason was I wanted to see his
photographs, anyway Munch's show was more expensive. Melbourne, 2004.

The Gratified Grafitti

I am not sure where this was taken, but I was enthralled...but this was
somewhere near St. Kilda, nice cafes and eateries, we walked through
this maze like alley and I saw all these whacked out graffiti on the
wall. Melbourne, 2004.

'The Suns' gig in Melbourne

I was lucky enough to catch BoredPhucks, now known as The Suns in
Melbourne. In the middle of their set, I witnessed an Ozzy Pub Brawl,
it was fun, they played Zoe Tay for us. Melbourne, 2004.

Luxurious apartment in Melbourne

When I was in Melbourne last year for the Arts Festival, I got to stay
at this luxurious service apartment called The Quest, Southbank. It was
just 5 minutes away from the Art Centre. Life was swell and swanky...,
Melbourne, October, 2004.

'Who is Manic Jango?- the first installation

I started out working with the idea of stereotypes and labels early
this year, the remnants of the performance became an
installation, Institute of Contemporary Art Singapore, Singapore.

Music is a 5-letter-word

I've been listening to loads and loads of music, there are just too many:
The Arcade Fire (recommended by a friend, I just love the spastic vox), Bill Withers ( the legend and classic, "Ain't No Sunshine"), Bloc Party (awesome drums), David Gray (when I first heard him, I thought it was Tracy Chapman), DJ Spooky (nostalgic), Ecrus Garage (from Joe's collection), Fantastic 5, Gilberto Gil (respect), Hope Sandoval (old flame), Kasabian (the new rock not really new), Kings of Leon (new sound), Mr Bungle (my idol Mike Patton), Rare Earth (Sab's ancient dig), Sister Scissors (annoyingly brilliant), Shivaree (soothe my soul), Thievery Corporation (because of the song Lebanese Blond), Tortoise (hail!hail!), Zwan, Mother Earth and more to come...

The Poster Boy

My mum called me this morning and said that I was in the Berita Harian (the Malay Newspaper), it was a pretty huge photo with me sitting down in a comfortable posture and a broad smile with the residual objects from the performance last Friday.

Yesterday, spent half of the day speaking to the press about my works, then paid a visit to the Crazy CD sale; bought Bill Withers for Sab, FishBone, Manic Street Preachers and George Clinton's P-Funk for Ahmad. The second half of the day was at Ahmad's, figuring out the songs for Tiramisu's recording this Thursday.

Chilled with the dudes from Studio 19, who lived across the streets, brought the Sake I got from Yuko who came last August, spent the night away sprouting nonsense and strumming silly melodies, with a spoof of a guitar ensemble. There were so many guitars lying around in the studio and Yazer was like telling everybody he's going to conduct a guitar class.

I have been heavily doing research on Mike Patton, the former singer of Faith No More, the band whom I used to listen to and totally devoted with arms raised in a V. I used to have a Faith No More T-shirt, and I wore it to my relatives', and they thought I had lost my faith.

Anyway, I didn't realise he is such an avant-gardist, he has played with John Zorn, Merzbow, Mr Bungle and Bjork....his voice is amazing...he can go both extremes....he could do a crooner to a death metal screamer...Viva RASTAPA!

Remembering Seoul 2

The food in Seoul was extremely spicy, and normally, they will have
their food with wine or beer, based from our experiences, we called it
Intoxicating Dinner. Loved every second of it, this one is having BBQ
Spicy chicken with our red aprons on, the idea of cooking right in front of your
eyes...

The Trey Bald Boiz

Lan Cum with his tribal look and his Jackass T-shirt. Zouk, April 2005.

Studio 19: Giddy Gathering

Studio 19 giddy gatherers: From left; Yazer, Kai and Dom. The night of
music listening, philosophical exchange and Sake Party.

Life As per Normal

Sunday, the day of laziness and nothingness...
what a luxury, I don't have to get panicky and I can't be bothered about cleaning the mess outside the house, just wandering what will our neighbours think.

And now for the next project, a performance gathering with a couple of Japanese performance artists at Front Room Gallery in May. It's called 'STOP-OVER', organised by Jason Lim and the show will be travelling up-north to Kuala Lumpur at the end of May, at UBU, Bangsar. Looking forward to this...and a gig with Tiramisu in June, opening for Love Me Butch.

Last night, I had to work as a 'Tribal Boy' for Zouk's 14th Anniversary party, and I realised how funny the situation was, as the night before I was a 'primitive' man. The complete irony between art, performance, hired talent and making fast bucks for the sake of survival. This is what I do besides making art, I have worked in all kinds of strange jobs for the part couple of years, except for being a social escort or selling my body of course. hmmm...but no, I have sold my body to corporate entities sometimes...nevertheless, me and my tribes, we had fun because we were different from any other models for they looked all the same. As usual, nobody knew what were doing there backstage, but we were the spice that left a tingling taste in their mouths....we were the Tribal BoiZ...

Anyway, after that wild mayhem, rushed down to the Dunlop St. sauna also known as Prince of Wales, such a shitty venue and cocky bartenders, I had to witness Bach's band, Rushed didn't convince me that much, I was disappointed with the singer's stage presentation in his vocals and sense of interaction with the audience. Thank god, they had Hoegarden, so it wasn't that bad afterall. Radzi was telling me about their rawness in their music.

I get really dubious these days when musicians have a great set of gadgets but the band not giving me the groove. Had a chat with Ben Harrison about his band ETC, and I haven't see him for ages...he still looked alright...still that Ben I used to know. Looking forward for May to come, and I have to force myself to clean up the bloody house.

The Post Exhibition Blues

I have survived...
Last night's opening was alright, His Execellency and the first lady were really nice people, and I felt like a child trying to explain my works to a grand-papa. When he shook my hand he asked me whether I was related to Tengku Abdul Rahman, the former Malaysian Sultanate, they were curious about my 'Bin'-less name. I was surpised he didn't ask me about the Big J I was holding in one of the photos. Maybe he was a hippy back in the 60s, nevermind that, there's a hippy in everyone I guess.

The opening was great, families and friends who came for the free booze. And there was this reporter from the Chinese Press, who kept pressing me about how does it feel being a minority in the field of expression? I told her being in the field of expression can make you feel like a minority sometimes, when the quest for finding the rational in the irrational becomes a daily effort of living. She laughed...(what?)

The performance was great, yes, I had glitter all over me... VJ did a fine job as a serious art mc, the performance was a cross between a freak show, fashion parade and a rock gig, but all of these happening on a staircase that is coated with pink fabric.

There were parts where audience were given the chance to instruct the performer to execute certain actions and I did all of them mostly:

- kicking a ball
- back-flip (I got a muscle pull on this one)
- snipping offf pubic hair (thank god I had a silver ball underneath my costume)
- slide down the stairs (this was dangerous)
- imitate Taufik Batisah (I don't understand this one)

Now that its all over...I need a real good sleep, and major cleaning of the house.

Ascending/Descending in M Minor

MC Sleepwalker aka Vijay Singh introducing the Primitive man aka Manic
Jango.

The Spectacular Stairway to Funk (in progress)

The Spectacular Stairway to Funk (in progress)
Originally uploaded by mrfantesticles.

Highlight your Stage 101: the last phase of this longest 'set-up' in my life. The whole staircase will be wrapped in Neon Pink satin, a pretty nice eye-sore. Opening night performance on 22nd April, Manic Jango vs MC Sleepwalker.

Me and my Bag

Me and my Bag
Originally uploaded by mrfantesticles.

The Anti-IPOD bag from a friend who just got
back from Norway, photo taken by Ili, Tiramisu KL representative by default.

If you love Art, do come...

Singapore Art Museum Proudly Presents

PRESIDENT’S YOUNG TALENTS EXHIBITION 2005
23 April 2005 – 19 June 2005
Third Installment of the Bi-annual exhibition series

SINGAPORE CONTEMPORARY ART EXHIBITION SHOWCASING FOUR EMERGING LOCAL ARTISTS

Singapore Art Museum (SAM) is proud to present President’s Young Talents Exhibition 2005, the third instalment of the series, inaugurated in 2001. This year’s presentation has broadened its scope to include design, media and transmedia practices to reflect international trends in contemporary visual art practices. Conceived as part of a larger initiative to present young emerging talents and promote outstanding artistic practices, the exhibition serves as a platform for the visual arts practices of local promising artists working in various media.

The official presentation ceremony will be held on Friday, 22 April, 6.30pm at the Glass Hall, Singapore Art Museum, with His Excellency President S R Nathan as Guest-of-Honour.

President’s Young Talents Exhibition 2005 features works by four emerging Singaporean visual artists with varied beginnings and diverse practices spanning the fields of film, furniture design, performance, new media and visual arts:

Charles Lim (Co-founder of tsunamii.net and recipient of JCCI Arts Award in 2002),
Jason Ong (Grand Prix winner of the Nagoya Design Do! Competition),
Tan Pin Pin (Director of Singapore Gaga, which will premiere at Singapore Film Festival 2005)
and
Rizman Putra (Co-founder for the multi-disciplinary collective ‘Kill Your Television’ which was the recipient of the JCCI Arts Award 2005).

International visual art practices today interact with other fields such as theatre, technology, architecture and broadcast media to give rise to innovative hybrid creative expressions. Locally, artists have been engaging and responding to these directions, taking their practice into newer areas through collaborations within theatrical performance, artistic expression via new technological mediums as well as other non-conventional interactions with media. Featured in this year's exhibition are four artists whose practices transcend the traditional boundaries of visual art -

CHARLES LIM The project sea state is concerned with the exploration of the waters around Singapore and contain many different tracks. sea state 1: Inside Outside is a collection of photographs from that journey and shows buoys, lighthouses and other assorted objects or structures at sea as the physical reality to these charted boundaries. These are presented in pairs where an individual marker is photographed from two perspectives – looking out from and looking into Singapore – and the seeming indifference between the two opens up an uncertainty in the fortitude of boundaries and borders.

JASON ONG Furniture is, for Jason, “a playful medium to express the many human relationships, ideals or idiosyncracies” and in his design explorations, he strives to create furniture that go beyond serving function and form. Seen in this way, the pieces shown here, Chair for Day Dreamers and Not Selfish In Bed(s), are transformed as symbols of his search for meaning, his explorations into archetypal forms and universal themes.

TAN PIN PIN Spurred by a desire to record and capture moments, to inscribe time and memories through the film medium whether as photography, documentaries or experimental short films, Pin Pin created a video, 80kmh, the photographic series, Friends, Family & Strangers, and the Microwave series of videos where objects are placed in a microwave oven as experiments in constructing a narrative with the most minimum requirement - by documenting seconds.

RIZMAN PUTRA For Rizman, performance in all genres (music, theatre, dance, live art) has become an integral part of his art practice. He considers it to be a natural development from his fine arts training, to be perceived as a kind of ‘live’ painting. The works presented in the exhibition can then be seen as a performance structure in three parts, wherein he investigates the conditions of identity.

For more information, visit http://www.singart.com/

Exhibition opens to public : 23 April to 19 June 2005
SAM Galleries 1.5 and 2.5
Mondays to Sundays : 10am to 7pm, with extended hours and FREE
Admission on Fridays from 6pm to 9pm

Singapore Art Museum is located at 71 Bras Basah Road, Singapore 189555

Panic Button On!

The Past couple of days, I've been gingerly 'mache-ing' my hearts and thunders, but today I have to set the Code Red. The weather hasn't been so kind, and I am not doing fast enough and the performance is this Friday. One man is not enough to do such an assembly-line-kind-of-work, but I have a long history of Massive Labour job since the day I started my art-making career.

Met Vijay in the afternoon, I will be collaborating with MC Sleepwalker himself in this performance with only some rough sketches and scattered notes. The last time, I worked together with him on a 'serious' artistic level was the Redvolution Party at Sound Bar, Liquid Room aeons ago, he did his robotic vocals thing with the chaos pad and I did my Manic J dance, it was such a catastrophe that I wouldn't want to remember that gig. The management was so sucky due to the fact that we were surrounded by executive residents, hence, we couldn't make any noise. Those were my bollocky performance days.

I will have to prepare a few gallons of eye cream, coffee, midnight snacks, good selection for the next couple of nights, we are going on a rampage. Cutting chicken wire make your fingers smell like aluminium, I need to clone myself soon.

Army of Salvation vs Suntech Family Gangsters

We spent the weekend thrift shopping at The Salvation Army, at Upper Bukit Timah, near the Dairy Farm. I got myself 3 pairs of 'old skool' pants, $20 Levis 501, a thin neck tie, a raincoat and a book. Sab got herself a nice blue top that looked like Jackie Onassis's leftover clothes, we spent close to 4 hours, till which I got to a point of exhaustion from tedious browsing of goods. I have been a big friend of thrift shopping since my college days, and I have cultivated this strange habit of religious visitation to these places. For there are so many assortment of strange/weird collections of stuff; where can you find a violin still in mint condition for $30.

The other half of the day, we went to Suntec to look for a pair of sandals for my sister. Sab has been my reliable gift assistant when it comes to situation like this. I am bad at buying gifts, but I am good at making them. I used to paint portraits of people for their birthday gifts till I reached to a certain stage of 'busy-ness' I gave up completely.

At Carrefour, the catastrophe of families, children running around aimlessly were so apparent, that I felt a complete lost in space. The sound were close to being in an industrial estate, flat plasmatic tv screens screaming their visuals, with retail assistants shoving the new Beckham shavers, the new Jay Zhou Live VCDs and French Fair was going on. Intermittent and irregular eavesdropped caught my ears.

There's this old man who was offered a cup of sparkling water with lemon, he asked the salesgirl what the hell was in the cup. She said it was a cup of new sparkling mineral water with lemon. The man said nice. Then I saw this giant Perrier mineral water bottle behind the girl, then I thought, what so new about Perrier, I drank this when I was 5 years old. The dishonesty of the girl made me think about consumerism and their attributes.

Oh uncle, how I'd wish you knew more about Perrier, but you know Pierre Png more than Perrier....

Occupation: Artist?

Someone asked me this morning, how do I live without having a full-time job. Till this day, I am not quite sure how to answer that question. All I could answered was "enough".
First and foremost, in any sorts of application form (in Singapore), if you fill in your occupation as an artist, people will think that you are from the TV station. But then, when they look at you, they will start to have doubts, I don't really look like Ix Shen or Keegan Kang.
What is it really about? A profession as an 'artist', you don't make works to sell, or paint beautiful landscapes to be placed in a living room so that they matches the colour of the room.
I have been doing this for the past 5 years, there are many others too...its a tiring process to explain to people, especially cab drivers. They will ask you, what do you do?
I will answer, oh, I'm a graphic designer...or...oh I'm a furniture designer...or I can get really creative,...oh, I work in the circus...as a clown counting chicken feathers...
My profession is kinda like a survival tactics of being alive, I am a dreamer and I am not sure how long I will keep on dreaming, I had friend who once said Artists are all idealistic dreamers...aren't we all are?

I am still breathing...or I am just plain lucky...

Who is Manic Jango?

This is one of the 4 sets of photo taken by Mr Farhat,
which will be up at The Singapore Art Museum. I've
been working on the idea of stereotypes and the self.
Hopefully, this will not cause a stir (not), I'm sure it
will spark some serious debate. Let's wait and see...

Blister In The Sun

I love waking up in the morning and scream "RISE AND SHINE!", but only when you get out of the house, and the scorching heat just melt you in between your legs and the only thing you do is to bring a towel and constantly wipe your face, neck etc.
Got out pretty early this morning, as I have been 'cab-bing' pretty often the last couple of weeks, I decided to take the reliable bus, so the first destination: Kelantan Lane, my favourite wood shop that sell this huge tub of white glue, I bought three, yes, they were so heavy. Psychologically I had to think that I was in a mission or sort.
From there, me and my load took a 'short' walk to Arab St., to get rolls of the pink neon fabric to be placed in the gallery. By the time I was at Arab St., I was drenched and my knees got really weak and I felt like an old man.
Yes, I am getting old.
Then, I took a bus to the art museum, which was 2 stops away, thank god, there was no one in the gallery, if not they would have the pleasure of sharing the scent from this vagabond. I just don't like the feeling of being exposed to the sun too long, and when you get into an air-conditioned space, this funky/groovy odour dissipate into the air of serenity.
Vroom..off to Bras Basah, got my glitter...had a quick lunch from the 'MALAY FAST FOOD" stall, from the 'aggro' 'madam who thinks she's the captain of the ship.
Took a bus back home, all of these took me about 3 hours...and at home, I was flushed out, but it was helluva ride.
We need to build portable shower place at times like this. That is the reason why, angry people are rising up the statistics, psychologically the weather has got something to do with it.

Tiramisu's Session at Snakeweed

I spent the evening last night at Snakeweed, finally, we managed to get our
butts in the studio. Its been a very long time, we managed to record the
bass and drum tracks for Take Over The World, special thanks to Salleh from
Wicked Aura, and Leonard who was being patient with our sense of recording
skills. Recording is like an Oral examination with Audience, you can't fake
it. Everything is sharp and clear.

A Day In The Life

My routine for the last few days:

0800 hrs: Wake up, make coffee, check e-mail.
0900 hrs: After shower, buy breakfast and newspaper.
1000 hrs: Do studio work.
1400 hrs: Web Surfing
1500 hrs: Continue with work.
1900 hrs: Get dinner.
2000 hrs: Continue with work, if tired read a book.
2200 hrs: Relax, play guitar or listen to music.
0100 hrs: Auto sleep.

I hope this won't be a habit, if not it will be like in a school camp, I must find time to jog or burn some calories, and of course find ways to quit smoking, but these activities give me joy.

Especially in Siglap, you just don't feel like going anywhere, only when you have to be there, but Siglap is not far away from the city. Passion and sensation.

The Space of Execution

Currently, I have conquered the whole dining are near the patio, as
people rarely eat at home including myself, the space has been
transformed into a make-shift heavy-duty work studio. Check out my
giant trucker cap. SO, this is where I will be for the next couple of
days or so...

The Other Half of KYTV

That is Choy Ka Fai, aka KA5, the co-artistic director of KYTV, here
you can see him at work, he is preparing for a show this May at the
Esplanade, a performance without a performer.

The Golden Rock-Sign

This is one of my 'love' series, the golden I-LOVE-YOU made out of
paper mache and acrylic gold paint, visually 'heavy', dedicated to all
the Rockamaniac.

A Productive Day

For the first time in a very long time, I had a real coffee, not the
3-in-1 type. With real coffee beans, yeah, I am so proud of myself, its
a new step. I remembered a friend of mine from Melbourne, Tim told me
about those 3-in-1s, they tasted like rubber, now I know why...I wish
to be a busy bee today...

Time: A Constant Speed

Woke up pretty early this morning, I am a coffee addict, a cup of coffee makes me feel so energized. The calender looked like as if it has a certain kind of presence, the marking is a constant reminder, its in a constant motion.

It is already April, mid-year is coming, and I am still hobo-ing. Time management is vital, I have this habit of doing one thing and moving to another without priotizing the important ones. At the end of the day, It will just get confusing.

We have 24 hours, but we need to rest, when you are tired you can't think that well. I read something on Omar Rodriguez from Mars Volta, he said as a creator, a repetition is the greatest enemy. Well, its true, that's the most fearful thing ever.

I put that into life, if life is a repetition of action, situation or worst still, daily activities, what do you do? We have a lot of fears inside of us, the most fearful thing is knowing yourself, to get to the bottom of knowing yourself is the core of it all.

Kooch the House Cat aka Anti-Roach Gangsta

>
> We used to have 4 cats, we gave away 3, now left only this lone
> ranger, I call him Kooch. Sometimes, at night he will come up to my
> room, and sleep on the comforter. He knows how to open doors, and he
> can be quite 'emo', and in the evening he loves to roam around the
> neighbourhood aimlessly.

What is happening to the smooth criminal?

>
> I was digging through my visual file, and found this photo, I was a
> big fan of MJ when I was young...Ben the 2 of us need talk no more....

The Royal Art Lodge

The Royal Art Lodge is a gathering of great new painters, one of them
is Marcel Dzama, who did the illustrations in Beck's new album,
awesome, check out their studios!
http://www3.mb.sympatico.ca/~mondmann/

Remembering Seoul

Photo taken outside Kim's Guest House, Seoul 2004.

MaMozelle searching for her thrift (reprise)

Jalan Besar, Singapore, March 2005.

Beck Hansen is da dope

Well, I guess I am becoming an insomniac, the past 2 days I haven't had a real sleep, downloaded songs by Arcade Fire and Bloc Party. Pretty fab.
In the afternoon, went down to SAM to clear my stuff, Charles was still hanging his works, on the way to the museum bought Beck's new album, it was worth the money, it came with this free interactive DVD where you can actually mix your own video. And the packaging looks like a hardcover story book.
His new sound is like a cross-over between 'Odelay' and 'Mellow Gold'. I really have to clean up the bloody studio before I get into the second phase of the post-performance onslaught, planning to make loads of silver hearts.

The Dark One Studio (KYTV HQ)

Well, this is the space where we have been spending our sleepless
nights, currently, I have borrowed a small table space from Ka5, the 4
band photos on the background, that's Tiramisu at Baybeats taken by
Larry. This is the office/studio/living room/cat's lounge, whatever you
want to call it. Yes, there are so many junk, we love to collect loads
of postcards, memorabilia Etc. wherever we go.

The New Day

We spent the whole night re-configuring this hardy/handy iBook to a Mac X.3; we bought from Nick Ng a few years back for about a thousand dollars. I finally realised the potential of this old school but worthy piece of electronic gadget. All possibilities are clear enough to see.

As the broadband is all super and feisty, I must not loose this opportunity to fully utilise the capacity of this existing presence of technological advancement here in our home.

As KYTV is left with the two of us, Ka5 and myself, we sat there, like officers of some underground regime.

House of Ill-Repute

The condition of the house is in a complete mess, I have just finished the onslaught with my PYT show. But just recently, I felt this intensifying domesticated urge to clean, I have crazy obsession with cleaning toilet bowls, not sure why.

I could see the reference in cleaning the toilet and singing in a hardcore band, just try to position yourself with a mop and clearing the dirt with a straight-edge angst. Especially when you are really angry or just feeling frustrated with something or nothing at all, toilet is the space to be in, it could be a personal masturbatory situation you have been planning all these time. Go ahead! Clean your toilets.

Finally, everything was settled for now at the museum, left the staircase to deal with. The rest of the evening, dropped by Utterly Art for Safaruddin's solo show, love his work but I was tired, had supper at the Prata Shop near Keong Saik with Lina & Jeremy and Karen.

The Death Crew 2004

Those crazy times, the known, the unknown and the mysterious. Seoul,
August 2004.

A Very Warm and Humid Welcome

Good day all,
I am The Dark One, also known as Manic Jango or Rizman Putra, this is a new journal by the man himself, who is living on the east side of this tropical island, Sin Jia Por. This journal will be/maybe updated regularly. This is a test or rather, for me to practice/re-practice my daily observational things I fancy.
First and foremost, I am a practicing artist/performer/singer/lover or whatever.
I am an extremely busy person nevertheless, I will try to commit myself somehow or rather to feed you with a slight and twisted information of my life. We all live under the same sun and let's share the same heat.

Ghee Tar: Ode to The Void-Deck Guitar Heroes

This is one of my recent works, up at The Singapore Art Museum for The
President's Young Talents Exhibition, the official opening will be on
the 22nd April, so come and enjoy! All of those are magazine cut-outs
of different body parts.