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Photo-credit: IMDB
Based on a short story and script by local writer Damien Sin, the film casts an uncompromising gaze into the marginal losers of society, following a dim-witted mee pok seller who is obsessed with Bunny, a prostitute who frequents his stall. Bunny dreams of a better life and remains unaware of the man’s affections until circumstances lead to a most unlikely union and a resolution that borders on the macabre.
DISCLAIMER: Contains nudity
Photo-credit: IMDB
In the crime melodrama, Saint Jack by director Peter Bogdanovich, Ben Gazzara plays an American pimp, operating in Singapore. Seeking independence from the local mob, Gazzara is browbeaten--and sometimes just beaten--by the criminal powers-that-be. Resignedly, Gazzara goes to work for a fellow American mobster (played by director Bogdanovich, who is appropriately slimy) and ordered to photograph a crime-fighting senator (George Lazenby) in a compromising position. Gazzara finally develops a conscience, a shade too late. Filmed on location, Saint Jack was produced by the director's former mentor Roger Corman.
Producer: The Science Channel
Year: 2010
IMDB Score: 8.4/10
Photo-credit: wikipedia
Danny Forster takes us to Singapore, where the tiny island nation is doing something that's never been done before - building the first-ever Skypark. A modern version of the hanging gardens of Babylon, this 7000-ton urban oasis will hang 650 feet in the air on top of 3 soaring skyscrapers..
Producer: National Geographic
Year: 2019
Photo-credit: National Geographic
“Inside: Jewel Changi Airport” presents an exclusive look at the creation of Jewel, a game-changing hub for Singapore Changi Airport, the best ranked airport in the world, and a new tourism icon for Singapore. From the installation of a 150-year-old olive tree to testing the world’s largest indoor waterfall, follow the team tasked with delivering a new architectural wonder.
Producer: National Geographic
Year: 2018
Photo-credit: Pinterest
With visionary thinkers and innovators as the guides, City of the Future: Singapore dives deep into the latest innovations and technology being created and implemented to blaze a path into the future.
Photo-credit: Rotten Tomatoes
A woman explores the events surrounding a film she and her friends began making with a mysterious stranger decades ago.
In this 3-hour workshop you will learn interesting stories about Singapore’s food culture and heritage and enjoy a hands-on local flavours cooking experience.
Option 1: Local Singapore Favourites - Two savoury courses plus one dessert.
Option 2: Local Heritage Kuehs/ Snacks - Two desserts.
Enjoy cooking inside a pre-war heritage shophouse in the heart of historical Chinatown. This is a rare opportunity to appreciate how historical buildings of cultural significance are being conserved and repurposed in Singapore.
Duration: 3-hours
Level: Suitable for beginners
Group capacity: 8 Pax minimum. Can take up to 40pax.
Class Schedule : Morning class (9:30am to 12:30pm) Afternoon class (2:30pm to 5:30pm)
Menu Options: Vegetarian options available, meat sources are Halal-certified.
Option 1: Local Singapore Favourites - Select one of the below set menus.
Nyonya Laksa - A spicy noodle soup popular in the Peranakan cuisine of Southeast Asia.
Fried Spring Rolls - Rolled rice paper filled with minced vegetables and usually meat.
Kueh Dadar (Crepe with palm sugar coconut filling) or Hoon Kueh (mung bean coconut pudding).
Chicken Satay - Grilled meat in skewers and home-made peanut sauce
Char Kway Teow - Stir-fried flat rice noodles.Gula Melaka Sago Pudding - Gula Melaka is the sugar from a coconut tree. Combined with coconut milk and poured over a sago pearl pudding.
Chicken Curry
Roti Jala - Malay net pancakes.
Ang Ku Kueh (Local snack with sweet coconut filling) or Ondeh Ondeh (glutinous rice balls).
Hainanese Chicken Rice - Steamed chicken with fragrant rice.
Home-made Chilli & Ginger Sauce.
Chicken/Prawn Wonton in Chicken Broth - Dumpling Soup.
Nasi Lemak- Malay coconut rice with condiments.
Prawn or Chicken Sambal.
Curry Puff.
Option 2: Local Heritage Kuehs/ Snacks - Choose 2 from 7 options.
Kueh Dadar - A Peranakan classic snack, Kueh dadar is a rolled pandan crepe filled with grated sweet coconut filling that is flavoured with Gula Melaka.
Soon Kueh - The dumpling-like kueh is filled with a fragrant mixture of shredded bamboo shoots,
turnip and dried shrimps wrapped in a smooth rice-tapioca flour skin
Kueh Salat- A two-tiered Nyonya delicacy: a base of sticky rice, riotously streaked with fresh butterfly pea extract, weighted down by a thick layer of custard flavoured with freshly squeezed coconut milk and pandan juice.
Ondeh Ondeh- Another classic Peranankan dessert; Ondeh ondeh is sweet potato glutinous rice balls filled with palm sugar that oozes out the moment you bite into these little balls...heavenly! Think Chocolate lava cake “Asian” style.
Png Kueh- This popular Teochew snack is a small teardrop shaped Chinese pastry with soft sticky glutinous rice flour skin wrapped over a filling of glutinous rice, peanuts, mushrooms, and shallots.
Chwee Kueh - A popular staple amongst Singaporeans is rice cakes topped off with fried radish, or as we call it – Chwee Kueh.
Ang Ku Kueh- This is a small round or oval shaped Chinese pastry with soft sticky glutinous rice flour skin wrapped around a sweet filling in the centre. It is moulded to resemble a tortoise shell and is presented resting on a square piece of banana leaf. This dessert is traditionally red in colour and has a sticky chewy texture when eaten.
Activity:
Cultural Discussion & Introduction to Local Ingredients (45 minutes) - Introduction to the dishes that the participants will be preparing for the day, giving them a detailed explanation of the origins of the dish and the specific local ingredients used
Hands-On Cooking Session (105 minutes) - Participants are provided with fully-equipped cooking workstations and ingredients with the close guidance of your facilitator. Cooking is done in pairs.
Dining Time (30 minutes) - Sit and enjoy your owned cooked dish with your friends and colleagues.
Pricing: Approximately US$70 to US$87 per person (minimum group size of 10). Exact pricing will be confirmed once we have information about your group size and menu choice.
* Inclusive of all ingredients • Aprons and chef hats • Free flow of drinking water, coffee & tea
Location: Chinatown, Singapore
Logistics: Easily accessible by public transport and by our private hire vehicles.
INFORMATION
For advance group bookings (i.e. more than 60 days), we require a 50% deposit 60 days before the event date to confirm the booking. The remaining deposit is to be paid on 14 days before the start of class.
For group bookings between 14 days and 60 days, the full amount is to be paid 14 days before the event date to confirm the booking.
For group bookings less than 14 days, the full amount is to be paid within 3 days of the event date to confirm the booking.
Cancellation policy :
No refund if cancellation is within 14 days of the event
100% refund if cancellation is more than 14 days from the event
Photo-credit: Amazon
It is an amazing tale of hardship and endurance that reads like a thriller. It is hard to believe that it is a true story.
—The Asian Review of Books
An amazing story!
—Library Journal
Author: Charles McCormac
Year: December 2015
Buy it here: Amazon, Book Depository
Summary:
Weakened by hunger, thirst and ill-treatment, author Charles McCormac, then a World War Two prisoner-of-war in Japanese-occupied Singapore, knew that if he did not escape he would die. With sixteen others he broke out of Pasir Panjang camp and began an epic two-thousand-mile escape from the island of Singapore, through the jungles of Indonesia to Australia. With no compass and no map, and only the goodwill of villagers and their own wits to rely on, the British and Australian POWs’ escape took a staggering five months, and only two out of the original seventeen men survived.
You’ll Die in Singapore is a must-read book before your Singapore Tour. Written by Charles McCormac’s compelling true account of one of the most horrifying and amazing escapes in World War Two. It is a story of courage, endurance, and compassion, and makes for a very gripping read.
Photo-credit: Amazon
"Baker's thrilling book profits from his refusal to separate Singapore's history from Malaysia's. What we get is a broad story filled with surprising details drawn from his own experiences and from other scholarly works, and told in an easy and captivating style."
— Dr Ooi Kee Beng, Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore
"Jim Baker's Crossroads is bound to raise more than a few eyebrows in more than a few quarters. His book presents a side of history not many may be aware of or even want to know ... it is as thought-provoking as it is enlightening."
-- The Sun (on the first edition) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Author: Jim Baker
Year: March 2012
Buy it here: Amazon, Book Depository
Summary:
In this fully updated, third edition of Crossroads, Jim Baker adds new information following recent government elections in Malaysia and reviews the policies and impact of the next generation of Singapore leaders
The original text (which traces the complex currents of history and politics of Malaysia and Singapore—neighbours with a common past) is also rewritten and revised to re-evaluate events in the context of an expanded history.
Photo-credit: Amazon
Author: Lee Kuan Yew
Year: July 2011
Buy it here: Amazon, Book Depository
Summary:
Few gave tiny Singapore much chance of survival when it was granted independence in 1965. How is it, then, that today the former British colonial trading post is a thriving Asian metropolis with not only the world's number one airline, best airport, and busiest port of trade but also the world's fourth-highest per capita real income? The story of that transformation is told here by Singapore's charismatic, controversial founding father, Lee Kuan Yew. Rising from a legacy of divisive colonialism, the devastation of the Second World War, and general poverty and disorder following the withdrawal of foreign forces, Singapore now is hailed as a city of the future.
This miraculous history is dramatically recounted by the man who not only lived through it all but who fearlessly forged ahead and brought about most of these changes. Mr. Lee is one of the most respected political figures in the world today ("Time" and "Newsweek" regularly profile his socio-economic strategies and his regime), and recognition of his name among academic, political, historical and sociological circles is guaranteed. This volume also features a foreword from Dr. Henry Kissinger.
Description credit: Book Depository