3 posts tagged “singapore”
But I kept going, all the way to Takashimaya. It took about 50 minutes to get there and I listened to Ira Glass Interview Joss Whedon on the way. A quick buzz through Kinokuniya (didn't buy anything!) and then downstairs to grab some fake bacon at Cold Storage, and then home.
I am absolutely a destination-focused walker. Treadmills do not do it for me at all. Singapore is big on treadmills (in air conditioned glass rooms).
I hesitated for just a moment at the Orchard MRT station, and ended up walking past it and all the way home!
I was super-sweaty and exhausted when I got home, but I feel great! I can tell, however, that my legs will be really achy tomorrow.
Now, the hard part is figuring out how to keep it up during the week. I may start by getting off at the Orchard or Newton MRT stations on the way home rather than at Novina. Of course, that would require leaving work at a reasonable hour...which I should be doing anyway. Maybe a swim in the morning before work and a walk from Newton in the evening.
Bats and lemurs seemed like the best possible subjects, and The Fragile Forest is our favorite exhibit at the zoo...
Neither lemurs nor bats disappointed. The movie at the left has been reduced to half-resolution for your web viewing pleasure and has color commentary by Annika as a bonus.
To get a better idea of why we love the Singapore Zoo, keep in mind one of the few complaints reviewers have had about my new camera: the lack of any real telephoto functionality from its 24-60mm equivalent lens. It's a great wide-angle camera. You just need to get really close to your subjects. And I did. And then they fought over sugar cane!
Last night I had my first non-work-related public appearance in Singapore at Pecha Kucha Singapore #2.
The concept of Pecha Kucha Night is based on an exercise devised by designers in Japan to facilitate sharing ideas efficiently. Pecha Kucha Nights are made up of creative folks delivering Powerpoint/Keynote presentations with the following restriction: exactly 20 slides for 20 seconds each. My new friend Graham Perkins explained the Pecha Kucha introduced me to the idea and asked if I'd be interested in participating in an upcoming event (and acting as the official American on the bill, in honor of 4th of July). It sounded like a fun challenge, so I signed up.
Delivering presentations is not a problem for me, I've been doing it professionally for years now. But I'm used to blathering about a subject for three hours at a pop. But, doing so for 6 minutes 40 seconds is hard. Every slide the same length is hard.
I chose to present the challenge that filmakers face (unlike painters, for instance) in having only three basic aspect ration to choose from when creating their images. Ask my students, my normal aspect ratio lecture is 2-3 hours long. I liked the idea of dicussing one of the limiting factors of shot design in a format that is itself limiting. I *heart* meta communication.
I didn't have as much time to prepare my Keynote stack as I would have liked, but all things considered it went well. I did feel like I was on a quiz show, however, complete with giant digital clock counting down next to me on the stage. Not having control of my own slides was kinda weird, but liberating too.
The other presenters were all interesting and most stuck to the original intent of the format by presenting their own artwork. Beca and I agreed that our favorite presenter of the evening was ZXEROKOOL. His designs were really great and his delivery and presence were fantastic.
I'm already thinking about the next one in three months as well as ways to get more folks involved. Check out the links below and see if your city has Pecha Kucha nights coming up! I saw events this month in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Honolulu...
