On the Future

The future course of human development is ironically one of the most well-explored themes in fiction, what with science fiction of all types speculating on the societal, cultural, technological and biological changes that humanity may face in coming decades and centuries. Myself, I have always harboured a hopeful dream of a peaceful future, notwithstanding the [...]

Read Full Post »

A Deepness in the Sky

A Deepness in the Sky is pretty good, so far, at least. It embodies many of the classic motifs of sf; slower than light sleeper ships, contact with aliens etc, but at the same time it is unique because of its portrayal of the alien characters in the novel – more human than the humans, [...]

Read Full Post »

Driving Dream

Well, since I turned eighteen I’ve been thinking about driving. Hardly surprising that last night I had a dream about driving – only I wasn’t driving a car, or even any vehicle, but a chair. On wheels. And I was sitting backwards on it. Still, I seemed to think that it was a legitimate form [...]

Read Full Post »

Again the City

As a means of celebrating post-prelim jubilation I have taken to walking great distances through the civic and city hall districts of Singapore, browsing the various bookshops scattered around the area. Urban spaces are nice to walk in. Well, Singapore’s are, at least. And Chicago’s, and Shanghais, and Hong Kong’s, and Adelaide’s, et al. On [...]

Read Full Post »

Book Keeping

Books have an annoying habit of ageing. They grow yellow, develop brown spots. Their spines bend more and more with time. They lose their edge, covers becoming bleached in the sun. And yet they lose none of their content – in that respect they remain unchanged, perhaps even mellowing and improving with time as the [...]

Read Full Post »

The City

I wandered down to the riverbank
and cast my eye on the furthest shore.
The towers of the city rose into the sky,
satiny black pierced by blazing needles,
prideful angels resplendent in glory.
I marvelled at their tranquil vigil. Aquiline and slender arms
Raised aloft in self benediction. An ocean of tears
Scintillating a million mirrored imitations,
Jumping and dancing on the [...]

Read Full Post »

Sketches

Two Gentlemen are Engaged in an Argument of Egregious Proportions
The fool slammed his fist on the table, rattling the china. “This will not do!” he said.
I sat back and watched the drama unfold. Fortunately I was not obliged to take part. The argument had begun amicably enough, I suppose. It had started as a [...]

Read Full Post »

Exams

The exams, in terms of chronology, are only half done, and yet a mere three papers remain; one on each day. It feels very frustrating, like being trapped in a can with several other sardines that are being warmed by your traitorous body heat (per the zeroth law of thermodynamics). As long as there remain [...]

Read Full Post »

Bipolar

It’s marvellous, the way we think. Sometimes terrifying, how we can vacillate from one extreme of emotion to another under the effects of stress, hormones, drugs and other stimuli, whether natural or artificial.
Well, the triplicate pressures of prelims, university, and NS, among other things, really did turn me into a wreck in the hours [...]

Read Full Post »

Accelerando

Accelerando concerns itself with the frightening pace of technological development gone mad, known in transhumanist circles as a technological singularity. It posits a future, mere decades from now, where we have reached a stage where our technology becomes able to develop themselves at a pace that we cannot keep up with, thus accelerating technological advancement [...]

Read Full Post »

Ratatouille

Today I had fun despite myself.
Ratatouille is a very, very good animated flick (but we’ve come to expect such from Pixar anyway) with a genuine flair and sensitivity and nuance. It’s very funny, but not in an overtly slapstick or in-your-face fashion, resorting instead to clever, witty dialogue and wry, hilarious subversions of cultural [...]

Read Full Post »