on tv tonight : Land Diving (Naghol/ N'Gol)

where : Pentecost Island in Vanuatu
attraction : young men jumped off of some 30 meters height tower of
feebly wooden structure, as an initiation to adulthood.



So, I just saw this documentary on tv tonight, and it's so interesting I have to write and share this, to everyone of you out there. :P

So the image above must be already quite familiar (taken from http://www.pentecostisland.net/ and http://www.vanuatuatoz.com/). Well, it's a scene of a male adulthood initiation ceremony in Vanuatu, called Land Dive or Naghol, or N'Gol.

This feebly-looking tower has several different level of heights, starting at the lowest which is 20 feet (6 meters!!) to the highest of 30 meters, to initiate young men of different ages. Those who leap from this lowest point is mostly young boys in the age of 7 or 8. So each year these boys will continue leaping until he reaches the top level (30 meters), and thus considered as a respectable adult. Or die trying. Ha! :D

These brave divers jumped with nothing but 2 strings of lianas (wood vines) fastened on both of their ankles. And the kind of jump that was considered perfect is that the diver's hair or shoulder should touches the ground. Therefore the Dive Committee (or something like that) already ploughed the soil to "softened" it, to make sure of a "comfortable" landing. Very convenient, yes?

Anyway, the most interesting part about Land Diving, is of course, the history of it. Land Diving is a ritual that already went on since centuries ago, and surely for more to come. But did you know what started this ritual in the first place?

Well, apparently it's a woman! :D The first and the last female land diver.

So there's this tale about a woman who ran away from her husband, because he beats her. She ran and hid up on a tree, where her husband found her. Her husband (called Tamale), told her to come down, but she refused. Then Tamale climbed the tree and try to grab his wife, when his wife suddenly leap towards the ground. The angry Tamale jumped after his wife (what was he thinking?!) not realizing that his (smart) wife already tied liana vines to her ankles, thus she managed to land safely on the ground.

But Tamale did not.

So this Naghol/ N'Gol festival is celebrated with men diving from a tree top tower in a display of their strength, and to show the world that they would never ever be tricked by women again, as Tamale had been.






HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!






I found this highly amusing. LOL. But I wouldn't indulge myself on explanations.

Anyway ..

Of course there's another version of the festival's history which is to celebrate the annual yam harvest. And the daredevil's act of touching the ploughed soil with his hair/ shoulder would ensure another harvesting success for the next year.

But so boring, right? :D

Indonesian Poem : Aku , by Chairil Anwar (1948)

I've posted another poem by Chairil Anwar (1922-1949) here.

As you can read below, his poems are soulful, touching, and powerful. And it gives a tug in my heart. And I hope that it will gives a powerful tug in your hearts as well. :)

This great poet died in the youthful age of 27. Died of TBC and Syphilis. :-S Imagine what he will become when he manage to live until 90!

In this poem, I think he's talking about himself. About his undying spirit; and his adamant determination.

And his spirit is indeed lives on, in his creations. :)

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
AKU

Kalau sampai waktuku
'Ku mau tak seorang kan merayu
Tidak juga kau

Tak perlu sedu sedan itu

Aku ini binatang jalang
Dari kumpulannya terbuang

Biar peluru menembus kulitku
Aku tetap meradang menerjang

Luka dan bisa kubawa berlari
Berlari
Hingga hilang pedih peri

Dan aku akan lebih tidak perduli

Aku mau hidup seribu tahun lagi

Maret 1943

"Me"

When my time come
No one's going to cry for me,
And you won't, either

The hell with all those tears!



I'm a wild beast
Driven out of the herd

Bullets may pierce my skin
I shall still strike and march forth,

Wounds and poison shall I take aflee
Aflee
'Til the pain and pang should disappear

And I won't give a damn

I want to live another thousand years

(mixed of translation by Burton Raffel & some other)
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art scene investigation : Love Tank

Once again I saw another towering pink/ magenta structure at the NMS's Rotunda. Both by an Indonesian artists. Is this a coincidence? I surely hope so. I dont want to think of other kinky possibility. Or maybe I already did. :D

On the left, is called "Surrounding David", by Titarubi; exhibited on NMS at March 6th 2008 - August 11th 2008. On the right, is the object of our review, "the Love Tank (the Temple)", by S. Teddy Darmawan; will occupy the NMS's rotunda for 5 months, since May 1st 2009 up to October 4th 2009.

Now you see what I mean? ;)

Anyway ..

At the first sight, without reading the piece's description, I thought it's some kind of peace offering symbol, or maybe a symbolization of freedom.

And reading the description, turns out that I'm a bit far off. This piece has nothing to do with peace or freedom. But it surely have something to do with love, if that's any consolation .. :P


In short, this installation is a symbolization of East meet West; and how the "physical strength" (depicted by tanks, an obviously powerful killing machine) of the Western culture, when combined with Eastern culture's "Inner Strength" (love, of course); can be a super powerful tool to .. mm.. break the walls? :D

And here's my favourite part :

See that?! Even the tank's canon is in heart shape! LOL! :D The only thing that can be shoot out of that thing is love and love only. ;)

For those of you who wants to read the actual description (instead of my distorted ones :D). Just zoom into this image below.


Enjoy!

Vlinder Furniture

Vlinder is an Indonesia-based unique furniture company, besides everything else. Based in Bandung, in the heart of education, youth and creativity of Indonesia (besides Yogyakarta, of course), makes it a perfect place for such a brand to flourish.

Their premiere creations are using the Playful theme. Some of the products are hilarious and sometimes ridiculous, but definitely a great conversation starter.

Below is the Laptop Pingpong, their best selling item. It's actually a Laptop table with storage and obviously also functioned as an exercise tool for those who couldn't be away from their laptop (and the table) and in need of a little fun to brightened up the stuffed minds. :)


This next piece is a Tetris inspired shelving system. A modular shelves which can be bought per piece or the whole set that can also functioned as a room divider.


Another highlight from their Playful line is the Rak Pohon (Tree Shelf). This shelf has also incorporate light and carpet in the design. Which makes it a very convenient creation for all the bookworms out there. :)


The last (but not least!) design for Vlinder's Playful line is the Meja Setrika Neraka or Hell's Ironing Board. When I first saw this design I can't stop laughing. :D The design was obviously affected by general depiction of hell, a scary place with lots of horrible fire and tormenting tools for people who has wasted their life on Earth by doing more evil than good. In the promotional image you can see this dark-robed guy with horn (presumably the Devil himself), is ironing this board. Which shaped like a person with anguished (if not excited) expression. :D


All of this products (and more!) you can see in their official website http://vlinderism.multiply.com/ .

art scene investigation : Verner Panton, a feast for the eye!

Name of venue : National Museum of Singapore
Address : 93 Stamford Road Singapore 178897
How to go here: Walk for 5 mins from Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station Interchange (NS24/NE6/CC1)
Attraction : The works of Verner Panton
Entry Fee : S$ 6

I've been wanting to see this exhibition since the first time I saw this image on the National Museum's event guide.

It's calling me. :D

One glance at the color, the shape, and the resulted space is enough for me to make my first paid entry to NMS.

But subliminally (which wouldn't be subliminal anymore since I already flaunt and analyze it here), I think one of the first thing that intrigue me about this particular exhibition is that I feel like I'm in the same direction with Verner Panton. As a designer, I LOVE bold colors. And I love unusual shapes. But most of the times I've to suppressed my interest in colors and shapes because I was afraid to be told "unsophisticated" or "not trendy" or "childish", or even "ridiculous".

But here I can see, one successful example. That bold colors ARE cool. :)

So, let the journey begin ..


The most popular and widely recognizable design of Verner Panton is this one :

It is called the Panton Chair. First time I saw this chair is on a juice bar in Paris Van Java Mall, Bandung, Indonesia. They were using the yellow ones, on a all white interior with a tinge of green. I think it's about 5 years ago. And the chair was designed in 1967 ...

Ha! :D

I probably am not so knowledgeable, but at least I'm learning, right? :D *self-justification*

Anyway, those of you who knows me must be familiar with my very bad memory. I prefer to say that I've a very selective memory. *another self-justification* :D So why do I remember this specific piece? Simply because it's just so amazing! At the first glance, I'm instantly attracted by the color. And the shape is so intriguing. Makes me wonder how does it feel to sit on it. And on my next visit to Bandung, I tried. And the chair doesn't ceased to amaze me. It is "springy". And it's not what I'm expected. I thought the chair must be stiff, just like any other plastic chairs. But no. The chair bounces off, back and forth so sexily and comfortably. My goodness ...

So that's why, I really can relate to this "instruction" on the wall. :D And wishing that my hubby will buy me one Panton chair so I can put the instruction into practice .. ;)


Anyway, another popular piece by Panton is probably this one :

It is called the Heart Chair. Designed in 1957. Geez !!!

This exhibition is a truly a feast for the eye. Even for a child, or someone who doesn't have any interest whatsoever in art & design world.

The base color for the whole exhibition is black. But then they create boxes for each theme (Early Works, System Furniture, The Panton Chair, Experimental Furniture, Lighting, etc), painted it in the boldest color possible and with a color strengthening lighting, it creates an amazing space and a very memorable performance.


And then, I went to the highlight of the show. I deliberately save this one, presumably the best, for last. The very thing that caught my eye and makes me want to come and see the exhibition. The Phantasy Landscape. Yes, it's Phantasy with Ph- and not F-. Don't ask me why. :)

Before entering this Phantasy Land, there's 1 person regulating at the entrance, requiring us to take off our shoes and wear this blue plastic bag to cover our feet. And they will give one squirt of hand sanitizer just to make sure that we're all good and sterile. :)



And then I'd like to end this post with a very precious words of wisdom from the Master himself :

Journey to the Crocs Mega Sale 2009

Name of venue : EXPO Singapore, Hall 4
Address : 1 Expo Drive, #01-01 Singapore 486150
How to go here: Take MRT to Expo MRT Station (CG1), Green Line. Veeery easy ;)
Attraction : usually, ANY kind of sale, but for now, of course, the Crocs Mega Sale

PS : I just know that EXPO MRT Station was designed by Sir Norman Foster. Ha! :D How cool is that?!?

Reminiscing my first encounter w/ Crocs, is when I'm on a quest- in search of the perfect footwear -since I walked practically everywhere. I definitely wanted a plastic shoe, so I would no longer worry about how my expensive leather shoe got heart-wrenching scratches from over-walked or falling apart due to soaking by rain water. Now 500m distant is nothing on me. ;)

And today is the big day. I went to the sale. Its the HUGE annual Crocs Sale (yaayyy!!) here in Singapore, happening on 22-24 May 09 and I hope it wouldn't be as crazy and disorganized as the one in Jakarta.

On the bus I met this old lady with purple cotton-candy like hair, purple blouse in flower pattern and I swear she smells like candy!


So ...

13.20, I joined the queu line at already 154m length (1.5 row of the length hall + a few more metres in front of the hall *yes, I am that bored*)



13.52, I finally went into the sale hall, did a few rounds of waiting digging trying and browsing ..





15.31, no queu at all at cash payment. Even on my way out, already there's no queu to enter. But then for sure all the nice models and the common sizes are already wiped out. But who knows, maybe tomorrow they will open new sets of boxes filled with nice models, reasonable color and normal human adult sizes.



But all in all, I think this sale is quite okay. The queue was bearable, the discount was significant, I got a nice shoe, hubby got what he wants although in another color, plus an extra sandal. :)



A tip for me and anybody else who wants to come to such sale next year (if Crocs still exist, that is), do come at the earliest, 1st day of sale, right at the starting hour if possible. It will took quite an effort (e.g. take a day off from work), but it will definitely worth it. :P

Adventure of The GoodLorax : Marina Barrage

Name of venue : Marina Barrage
Address : 260 Marina Way, Singapore 018976
How to go here : From Marina Bay MRT (NS27, Red Line)
take free shuttle bus to Marina Barrage
(Mon. to Fri.: 8.30am-7.15pm ; Sat., Sun.& Public Holidays: 9 am-9 pm)
Attraction : Architecture & Design
: The stunning skyline, perfect spot to get a good Singapore skyline pics.
: Interesting water park/ fountains.
: The Dam, an engineering awe, and a good place to be alone. Bring paper and pencil and start sketching or write your blog there! :D
: The Roof Garden, also a good place to be alone and contemplate. Very inspiring.
: The Sustainable Singapore Gallery, an interesting gallery with lots of photo worthy spots :D And very educative, for sure. :)

I've to admit, me and my husband went there, supposedly to watch the opening show for Singapore Art Festival 2009. It's a performance called Helios Ii by By La Compagnie Malabar. I've been planning to watch this opening show, because I'm very impressed by last year's Singapore Art Festival opening show, called Water Fools by performed by acclaimed French street theatre company Ilotopie (see the pictures here : http://www.flickr.com/photos/muzikbug/2518055113/in/photostream/ It was AMAZIIING!!).

Anyway, as you can see here

The crowds are craaazy.. We couldn't secure a nice place to watch the whole show in peace (unlike last year's opening show :P) And at the first glimpse of the giant grasshopper, I felt like maybe it's better if we just amuse ourselves with the architecture of Marina Barrage and whatever this place has to offer. :)

Welcome to Marina Barrage !! :D



The roof top

It's such a perfect place for a picnic, and to smell the ocean, and to enjoy the wind .. :)


Now this is what I call romantic. :)


Up on the dam.


Us. :)


Us. Again. :D
Sorry, I just couldn't help it.

See you in the next post !! :)