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Red Stitch Actor's Theatre, during the day

The curtain had just been called on the night’s performance.

Cheerful bantering gradually spilled out of the squashed confines of the performance section into an equally cramped lobby as patrons wormed their way through the narrow connecting passageway. Rather than viewing it as a source of discomfort, the patrons of the Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre allowed it to facilitate a form of intimacy with the raw emotion of the performance as well as the characters on stage.

Director and cast joined the audience in the lobby as they engaged in discussion over the sheer madness of two men who believed they had to stop an evil scientist working for Coke. Glasses of wine clinked, heartfelt congratulations offered, and sushi served to all present. A grinning Peter Mumford, stage designer for the night, left the reverie for the coolness of the outside air, accompanied by an excited young woman who spotted the nuances in his austere setup. He took a contented drag from his cigarette, pleased that the $600 allocated to him had achieved the same effect as what other major theatre groups required thousands for.

Frugality is a necessity for the men and women of amateur and independent theatre. Unlike the bigger names in the business like the Melbourne Theatre Company, they have to struggle to make ends meet, all in the name of pursuing and supporting their passion.

“I do a lot of stupid jobs,” said Tim Potter, a Red Stitch actor. “I do a lot of corporate acting, which is kind of my bread-and-butter, and is basically to teach the trainees at companies, governmental departments and counsels how to deal with angry customers.”

“I also have to work the bar here… lots of ‘odds and ends’ jobs. Jobs that I don’t particularly like to be doing, but you have to do if you want to survive.”

Mr Potter signed up with Red Stitch after graduating from the Victorian College of the Arts in 2007 as part of a graduate program offered by the theatre to new aspiring actors. While he does hope to eventually be selected by the professional theatre companies, he acknowledges the experience and opportunities offered by the independent theatre scene.

“It’s an environment where there’s other actors that (sic.) you can talk to and share experiences with,” said Mr Potter, before being quizzed at length by Administrator Sonya Suares on his ability to operate the bar’s cash register. She herself hails from a background of acting.

However, Mr Potter says, getting recognised for your work and being accepted to play a satisfactory role in the major theatre companies is no easy feat. May Jasper, co-founder of the independent SNAFU Theatre Company, empathises with this view.

“There are about 200 people who would apply for the crappiest jobs you can think of,” said the bubbly 26 year old, who is currently completing a masters degree in arts management at RMIT University. “That’s what I hear. People who work there; huge amounts of applications for the lowest, entry-level jobs.”

“It’s difficult because everybody wants to work in the arts. Everyone’s like me. They have a lot of experience doing their own stuff but no experience being paid for it.”

Unlike their colleagues at Red Stitch, the smaller production companies such as SNAFU Theatre do not have a dedicated theatre of any size from which to showcase their talents.

“Venue space and rehearsal space is terrifying,” said Ms Jasper. “Finding somewhere to rehearse is a nightmare, particularly for the kind of money you don’t usually have”.

Apart from space concerns, Ms Jasper also spoke of difficulties in gaining recognition and standing out among the myriad other independent theatre groups performing at major events such as the Melbourne Fringe Festival.

It is at this point that many of these groups fail to gain enough recognition, and consequently, patronage or government funding. They eventually bow out from under these economic pressures.

Robert Reid, Artistic Director of the independent Theatre in Decay, estimates the average lifespan of such efforts to be around five years.

“Long-term sustainability is always a bit tricky,” Mr Reid adds. “Once you reach a certain age…You no longer want to be living in suitcases and eating baked beans from the tin.”

“There’s a kind of value to that, for that kind of ascetic lifestyle, but I don’t think it’s sustainable”.

Whether theatre groups like it or not, it appears that governmental aid alone will not solve all their economic woes. Red Stitch’s strategy was to treasure and cherish their patrons, relying on positive word of mouth for publicity.

“They have to stand on their own two feet,” said the elderly Tim Sherwood of South Yarra , sipping his wine as the crowd in the lobby thinned. “And raise their own funds”.

Picture stolen from savelonsdalehouse.com

“I’m not passionate about teaching or educating or anything, but if there’s something I really feel strongly enough about, and want people to know about, I’ll definitely try to share it.”

Donning a brown jacket that clearly offered little respite from the winter winds, the plain mannerisms of Sean Anthony Fishlock, 34, do not bring images of a leading activist to mind. However, there is no mistaking the pure determination and zeal that drives his attempt to save a building possessing an important link to Melbourne’s cultural past: Lonsdale House.

Originally hailing from Queensland, the self-professed introvert was drawn to Melbourne for its Victorian architecture seven years ago. Architecture that he sees as being threatened by what he and his group, “Save Lonsdale House” deems the cultural cringe of Melbourne.

“We want to be seen as an international city, but at the same time we feel embarrassed that we’re not like London, Paris or New York,” Mr Fishlock said. “We don’t have a Sydney Opera House, so we’re always looking out for the next icon for the city.”

“But we don’t need to look for one. Lonsdale House is one of those icons”.

To Singaporeans: A.k.a. ION Lonsdale. Pic stolen from the Age

Earmarked for demolition, the Victorian-era warehouse will have no choice but to make way for the new Emporium Melbourne, as Heritage Victoria refused to offer it the protection of a heritage listing despite the efforts of organizations such as the National Trust and the Art Deco and Modernism Society.

“There are certain buildings that are special and worth keeping. They do have a place, and it’s a shame that people don’t see that as a priority”.

“Once you’ve lost that heritage, you can never get it back. That sense of history is lost.”

To Mr Fishlock, this was the signal for community groups “to take their place and stand up for heritage”.  This marked the beginning of the “Save Lonsdale House” movement.

Starting from a personal complaint on his web blog, other concerned Melbournians began sending emails to him expressing their concern and joined discussions on a linked forum and Facebook group. Gathering steam and membership numbers, a meeting was held on August 9 where it was decided that further action needed to be taken: a protest/rally held outside Lonsdale House on August 22.

“Our group is actually active; we’re not just putting stuff up on a website, we’re actually going out and getting people involved.”

While he personally thinks that the group will not be successful in its attempt to urge the Melbournian government to reconsider its decision, Mr Fishlock feels that the actions of his Group’s efforts to educate, spread awareness and share their appreciation of Melbourne’s local architecture with others would “chip away” at some members of the greater public.

“People are not going to expect that there are people out there who are that passionate about the building,” Mr Fishlock said. “People who take time out of their own personal time (sic.) to meet and coordinate efforts to get others onboard.”

Because they really hate us foreign devils

Discalimer: Some of the links are to websites with adult content and hence may be NOT SAFE FOR WORK (NSFW). I have clearly marked them out to the best of my ability

I’ve been out of touch with the English-speaking mostly cartoon porn Visual Novel Community for some time, but I couldn’t help but notice the buzz surrounding the recent RapeLay/RapePlay Controversy(Wikipedia Article, Link 1, Link 2).

This, coupled with UNICEF’s pressures on the Japanese Government have resulted in a backlash from some members of the Visual Novel (VN) industry against the international community: the complete blocking-off of foreign visitors from their sites.

Minori, one such member of the industry, placed an (Engrish) statement on their website which helps to shed light on some of their sentiments:

(Crudely) adapted from: minori.ph (accessed 30 June 2009) (might be NSFW).

A case of scapegoating the foreign public in the face of pressures from overzealous human rights groups?

Views from some of the local Japanese to the whole debacle were mixed, with much xenophobia apparent (loosely translated):

「汚い外国人は失せろ」 (Get lost, dirty foreigners!)

「エロゲやったこと無いけどminoriナイス。 もっとやれ」 (I don’t play Eroge, but nice one Minori! More <of such actions>!)

「海賊版買って正規に問題押し付けてきた外国側に問題がある。 公式サイトの判断は正しい。」
(There’s also the added push of the entrenched piracy trade overseas. It’s an appropriate decision on the part of company websites)

「外人が日本のアニメ、ゲームに手付けると こうゆうことになんだよ。エロゲ会社もいろいろ大変なんだな。」 (Foreigners buying games and anime contribute to Japan’s income, so what’s up with this? Eroge companies also have all sorts of problems huh.)

Some even made references to the “sakoku” policies of Old Japan:

俺、江戸幕府はなんで鎖国なんてバカなことをしたんだろう、って今まで思ってた。
ようやく、当時の日本が鎖国をした気持ちが分かった。(Now I know understand why the Edo Shogunate decided on such a stupid policy like Sakoku. At the very least, I can sympathise with the Japan of that era)

While I shall not go into the moral argument of “freedom of speech to consume porn” versus “think about the children!!!!!!!OMG,” I would like to suggest a few points to consider:

1) Will such bans instil more than just a false sense of security? Apart from driving away foreign (even if it’s negligible) interest/patronage, would it really reduce international scrutiny? Would such actions solve any major bones UNICEF apparently has with Japan?

2) This is yet another case of media being blamed for the cause of crime/undesireable action, joining the ranks with “violence in games leads to violence in reality,” “sex on TV corrupts the minds of kids”. Is there a clear link between games with sexual content and sexual violence/underage promiscuity/etc?

Anyway, today we discuss something that has been sitting in the back of my mind for some time. Cultural observations between the ‘liberal’ democracy that is Rooland and good old Singapore.

“Yeah, it’s obvious,” some of you complain, “haven’t we heard all this crap before?”

But in an era where the Intarwebs are turning everything into one big global village (yeah, couldn’t resist a McLuhanism), and when ‘change’ seems to be the word most in vogue, one questions when debates over these issues will become a thing of the past:

1) Censorship of Porn artistic renditions of the nudist variety

Read the following article (Source)

Score 1 for the prudes! (apparently, the venue was closed soon thereafter. Make a guess why…)

Yet when one bumbles around our musty manga library on campus…

In all its glory, complete with obligatory otaku -_-

I guess a bunch of teenagers going at each other like rabbits is just too much for the little children you seem to think enrol at your school, eh NUS? Or are universities like mine just cesspools of Western corruption?

I won’t join the debate about whether we should all err on the side of conservatism or become one with the bunch of hyper liberals the world is slowly turning into (Don’t teenagers go at each other much earlier than 18 years of age nowadays?), since that’s tl;dr and there’s plenty of material floating around.

2) Strikes and Protests

Was hoping they'd march down to the local Church of Scientology...

On 16 May, a small representation of Project Chanology popped up at Federation Square here in Melbourne, protesting against Scientology’s tax exemption status (Well, looking at the ‘membership fees’ of the ‘religion,’ I’d naturally feel a bit hesistant funding a ‘cult’ for free, looking at the state of the economy). Though they promised free hugs, I politely declined.

Then of course we have this, proving that education outside Singapore isn’t without hiccups…

STRIKE! WE WANT MONEY! THE DOG WANTS KIBBLES! STRIKE!

Was given this flier, detailing their demands….

No mention for the dog? (Click for clearer image)

While it was quite a miserable little protest here in Caulfield, it was apparently much worse in Clayton where the picket lines blocked traffic in and out of buildings.

Well, fair enough for them. No one likes wage cuts after all, but I have to question whether all this pitchfork-waving is at the expense of the students they claim to care about. Quoting my Journalism tute-mate’s recollection of the event:

Student: ‘Scuse me, I have a a test today. Could you let me through?
Teacher: DON’T GO IN! YOU’RE JUST SUPPORTING THE FUCKING STATUS QUO! BOYCOTT YOUR LESSONS*!
Student: But what about my marks?
Teacher: BUT WHAT ABOUT TEACHERS’ RIGHTS?!?

*Non-union staff ROFL-ed and carried on lessons as usual.

Luckily for her, she managed to get in. All in all, a pretty useless show of force that only served to annoy the students they claim to be striking for as well. Plus, it only lasted a day, so I really doubt the effectiveness of their actions.

To sum up my thoughts in a nutshell: Just how effective is censorship and civil disobedience in bringing out what is ‘best for the people’? Or is it just needlessly restrictive and inefficient, serving the interests of a few power groups and not necessarily in the interests of all?

Inb4 “lol, anarchy”.

…I digress. Lemme fast forward.

I grew fed up with ‘intellectual’ text and wanted instant-action and brainless crap to detox from dangerous pathogens Majora Academius Overloadus and his friend Istayhomeon Saturadaynitus. Grabbing a few friends, we bought tickets to Watchmen, since y’know, it’s funny looking *cough*fat*cough* people in Spandex, had HUEG amounts of hype and there was nothing else worth watching. Except Duplicity. Which sucked.

As using any images from the film could be a violation of ZOMFG INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAWS, this shall be the only piktar in this poast.

… Only to be treated to a GP (General Paper) show in disguise. I was shifting around uncomfortably in my seat about the time when some hobo appeared on screen spraypainting “Who Watches the Watchmen?” Unfortunately, me. Along with the poor bastards I dragged along.

In summary, the movie is about a bunch of circus rejects growing fat on their retirement pensions that the US government dishes out to “wartime veterans” in the year 1985.  One got murdered. One of them, ski mask guy with funny patterns, thinks that it’s some conspiracy to kill them all by Mr Watergate President.

Actually, it was all JUST AS PLANNED by the ‘smartest man on Earth’ who wanted to give blue Subatomic Particlesman early pariah-hood. In exchange for… world peace. Oh, there’s some senseless fighting (good!), sex (too drawn out, kinda pointless too) and bloodbaths (gory) in between as well. Ski Mask Guy rocks.

Okay I lied. But what's a Watchmen post without a Smiley (albeit hand-drawn)?

Not too hard to tell that I didn’t enjoy the movie and its blatant pandering to the ‘intellectuals’ in the audience. I shall attempt to summarise the lessons taught (I refuse to use ‘learnt’).

1) How do you get peace between 2 parties? Find someone in common to go to war with instead. Because enemies are all like commies in Vodkaland who suddenly become your chums and forgive your transgressions after your greatest “Fuck You!” to them runs rampant and blows shit up. No worries, you just have to backstab them when you’re done.

Although technically, you’re still at war with someone and something all the time. And someone always loses.

2) US society love their ‘freedom’ so much that they’ll knock down vigilantes even when they’re good guys. That’s why systems like benevolent dictatorships will never work. Because Western World democracies always insist on the need to control their authorities.

They argue that there has to be a police to police the police, and then more will argue about who polices said police. The public? But if they do that, then the police can’t police the public because they’re constantly being ‘policed’ by the police which is policed by the public police and can’t be very fair…. shit brain hurts.

If you’re a detail nazi, replace “police” with “watches/watchmen”

3) Like all modern superhero shows (well, many of them lol), there’s the talk about cutting down a tree to save a forest (or killing a million to save a billion). Also plenty of talk about “injustice for the greater good”.  Ultimately there’s no such thing as a “greater value” or “greater good” since it boils down to personal interpretation:

Example- Is a hundred Einsteins worth sacrificing for a thousand useless beggars on the street? If a killer you personally witnessed in the act gets away off-scot free in a court of law, do you not punish him out of a need to ‘respect the laws’ that have judged him to be innocent?

Course, Ski Mask Guy’s diary is leaked by desperate-for-story journalist, rendering the above argument moot and saving us from excessive logic<->moral brain activity. It also destroyed all the shit preparation and sacrifices(?) made by ‘smartest man on Earth’. Way to go, media industry! I’ll be joining you guys in your efforts to destroy the world after graduation.

Endnote- Screenplay (or at least many elements of it) was written by David Hayter. I personally think he took too many cues from “The writing style of Hideo Kojima: for dummies” .

I guess this would be an introductory post to this corner of the web, and it’ll likely be long, so grab an 80 cents Teh-O Siew Tai and make yourself comfortable in the corner. Or wherever you happen to be sitting/reading this from.

Now, the standard thing for someone (i.e. a new Singaporean in a foreign land) to do if s/he has a blog/notepad-thingy would be to post about how similar or different the country is to his/her hometown. “IN MY COUNTRY, WE DID/HAD/USUALLY…” has been repeated ad nauseam by countless other Singaporean pioneers to Rooland,  and along with the countless gripes about the internet (reason why I’m so reluctant to upload anything), the tradition of whining and complaining still holds true till today.

So let me join the crowd and mention a few things that caught my eye:

1) Dim Sims

Frozen, mass-produced wonders

The real deal is pronounced or romanised “Dian Xin” or “Dim Sum,” so the first time I saw these little guys I started laughing. A “truly Melbourne” creation,  they were created by Chinese chef William Wing Young for his restaurant “Wing Lee” (ugh, the whole thing is stereotype-bait) and differ just a wee bit from what we Chinese are really accustomed to. Read the rest on Wikipedia.

2) Hanging Shoes

Huh?

I first saw this somewhere along the Great Ocean Road (Geelong?) and thought it was funny, so I snapped it with my crummy handphone camera, and thought nothing of it. Fast-forward to 7 March, I saw yet another of these things dangling from way up along the electrical/telephone cables at the entrance to the Moomba Festival along the Yarra. The reason why anyone would be seriously BORED enough to climb all the way up to hang their shoes as some form of statement (RESPECT INDIVIDUALISM!!!!111oneoneone) continues to elude me, and I dare not ask.

3) Gaylord Indian Restaurant

And we thought "Eromanga, Queensland" was bad enough....

I might sound condescending to some, but…er… don’t you have to take some form of English test before they allow you to become a PR/citizen/set up a business here in Australia? In any case, the place apparently serves good authentic Indian cuisine, so you might wanna pop over there and have a look around if you just happen to be in town.

Anyway, settling down should be fine for any Singaporean considering jumping ship and running south for their varsity education. This is no strange and foreign land; the Singaporeans here still speak like Singaporeans, the weather can touch 30 deg and drop to 14 deg, random tremors and gale-force winds happen at random, the students turn violent and where the forests spontaneously combust.

Just like some parts of Singapore (oops…).

I’ll talk more about uni life when I finish tidying up, cooking dinner, cursing Karl Marx, and reading products of the ‘Western World’s Free Press’.