spoken word

A date for the diary.

Catch me talking about the process of researching and writing the book at 7pm on the 1st June as part of the regular subTEXT writer's meeting group which is convened by poet Yong Shu Hoong.

The event takes place at the National Library's lending library. I'm not exactly sure where we will be, but there is presumably a side-room in the basement... it will be clearly signposted I'm sure. I'll be speaking alongside several other local authors, so it's a real privilege to be invited.

I'll be using it as a chance to try out some new material which will be a work-in-progress towards a bigger, multimedia presentation at some point in the near future.

See you there!

in the post

(A photograph of me, a copy of the book, and the envelope that the book will eventually go into - taken at Books Actually by Darlene Lin)

To all who've been promised a copy of the book in the mail, I promise you that it's going to happen soon. I intend to send a wave out today, but, at the risk of sounding like a cantankerous old expat, I really hate the post offices in Singapore. Not sure why, but it never seems to take less than half an hour to perform a simple transaction (much longer for anything complicated). The ones I go to always seem very understaffed, or, they have baroque queueing systems. Enough.

There's a few things I wanted to get on this site, they don't exactly flow together, but here goes.

Kinda Hot is available from the following stores in Singapore:

- Times The Bookshop (Centrepoint, Funan Centre, Plaza Singapura, OUB, Suntec)
- Times Newslink (Changi Airport T2 North)
- Borders (ordered thrice)
- Kinokuniya
- MPH
- The Old Paliament House
- Select Book
- Campus Bookshop
- NUS Co-op

And in Malaysia:

- MPH Books
- Times The Bookshop
- Borders

I haven't even begun to publicise the book in Malaysia. That's a whole other project.

And the other thing I wanted to include was various bits of news from Saint Jack alumni. First up is the tip that our director Peter Bogdanovich is going to direct a Tom Petty concert film. Which is an interesting departure for them both...

...and I've just read Geoff Andrew's review of Paris Je T'Aime (you'll have to scroll down a ways). Where he singles out the episode co-directed by Gerard Depardieu as the best film in this portmanteau tribute to the city. It stars Jack Flowers himself Ben Gazzara alongside his Cassavetes co-star Gena Rowlands, and both apparently give "fabulous performances". It does sound pretty delicious.

on the circuit

(Songs from the second floor - me trying to re-enact a bit of Gazzara at 65 Kerbau Road, Little India)

On friday Singapore's main newspaper for executives, VPs, CEOs and all white collar workers, The Business Times, ran a profile of me and the book, which I was very happy with. You can read it here, but warning, this is a Google cached version of the piece, which now seems to have officially expired...but it should work for a while.

The piece was written by Parvathi Nayar, who aside from covering arts and culture for the aforementioned paper, is also an artist.

sentimental journeys

(Paul Theroux looking back to No. 50 College Green - this was the house where the first 100 pages of his novel Saint Jack were written)




(We met up in the Botanical Gardens, and spent quite a while looking for bamboo, along the way he really grooved off the plants and trees. His enthusiasm is infectious.)




(After we'd met with the photographer from the newspaper we walked around town. Paul wanted a 'tourist' shot of himself outside of Raffles Hotel, which is where the last scene in the novel of Saint Jack takes place.)