This was shot over an hour at Pink Dot SG 2011 on the 18th of June.
Held at Speaker’s Corner, Hong Lim Park in Singapore.
10,000 people gathered to form a giant dot in support of the right to love, regardless of sexual orientation.
Photographed and Edited by Brian McDairmant
www.twochiefs.com
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I like Gwen Stefani, and I like Bob Marley. But Bob Marley’s um… not around, so it’s great that Stefani’s new single features one of his many sons, Damian “Junior Gong” Marley. Unlike Bob, Damian’s not a reggae artist. It says on wikipedia that Damian’s musical specialty is “Toasting“, which is the Jamaican style of rapping. That’s quite different from Microwaving, Steaming and Double Boiling, which is the Chinese style of rapping. Or something.
Here’s a 2 minute preview of the single’s music video:
“Now That You Got It” will be released September 17.
As I rushed to find a wireless hotspot to sit down at and email urgent work to a client, I heard a familiar tune in one of our great city’s many underpasses, and so decided to trace the source.
But when I got to it, the busker had just finished his harmonica rendition of one of the tune. I rummaged through my pocket and produced some money to put in his basket, and said very nicely to him, “Uncle, can play that song one more time?”
“You like that song? OK, short one ah, I play one more time”, he smiled and said:
After he was done, he asked me why I liked that song, and so I explained that I lived in Australia for a period in the 90s.
“So did I”, he said, beaming, “but before you were born, probably”.
Mr Loh then went on to tell me that he went to Sydney in 1962, studied Mechanical Engineering at Sydney University, and moved to Melbourne for a while before returning to Singapore in 1972.
“Hmm… Lee ah? I don’t know any Lees there, but I have many relatives still in Melbourne”, added Mr Loh when I explained that my parents lived in Melbourne for a period during the 50s and 60s too.
“I would love to move there again, I can work there picking fruit in the orchards”, said the lively 73 year old as he checked to make sure his mic and amplifier were turned off.
“But I love doing this. It’s not for the money. You don’t have to give me money, as long as you enjoy my music, and I will play for as long as I am having fun”, he said as he told me about busking three hours a day, five days a week in the same underpass.
Before he packed his harmonica wheeled his basket and amp off home, Mr Loh and I stood in the underpass for another few good minutes, talking about other stuff that I’d like to keep between him and myself because he deserves it.
Sometimes, things don’t go to plan, and even when you want to hang out and have a picnic or something, it gets cancelled. Could be the weather, could be anything.
So, for the disappointed fellow citizens out there, here’s a happy music video to put a smile back on your dial.
For those with a more sensitive disposition, I advise that you do not watch the video and then leave comments of a conservative majority nature. For the rest of us, please, enjoy.
This evening I was summoned to the guest bathroom by Naomi, and when I got there, she said, “I said, bring the camera”, so I said, “oh”, and went to look for the camera and went back to the guest bathroom, and only then did it occur to me to ask, “why you want camera for?”
Naomi pointed at a bathroom tile, and it was a good thing I saw the thing before I formed the thought that maybe she had wanted me to take a picture of the tile so we can go to a tile shop and compare tile designs because we do that kind of thing very often you know?
The ‘thing’ was something that was wriggling partially out of a 1cm long cocoon-like thing, so it was definitely some kind of worm or larvae, but we weren’t sure if the cocoon-like thing was part of it or whether it had picked the scrap up from the rotted wood at the base of the bathroom door (yes, we live in quite an old place). So, we did what Naomi thought best to do – observe it and flimm it with the camera.
So we flimmed it wriggling out of one opening on one end of the cocoon-like thing, then it went back inside and wriggled a little out of the other end. It looked a bit indecisive like that, but then, it’s a worm or a larvae so you can excuse it for being in two minds even though you can’t really say they have minds.
It eventually wriggled its way to a cranny in the door frame and it looked like it had abandoned it’s armour and wriggled off. So I picked up the cocoon-like thing for us to examine it a little closer, only for the worm/larvae to pop out one end again, causing Naomi to scream and scare the bejeezus out of me, causing me to drop the cocoon-like thing and its occupant onto the bathroom shelf, where it wriggled long enough for us to flimm it some more.
The thing
But all thoughts of taking a closer look and finding out exactly what the worm/larvae and its cocoon-like cocoon were washed down, literally, when worm/larvae, cocoon and all tumbled down the sink, when the pilot worm/larvae wriggled off the shelf.
Because of that D’oh! moment, we’re wondering if any of you can tell us what the hell the thing and its cocoon are. Or was.