Festives « My Itchy Fingers

iLike. iLight

March 29, 2012 at 12:31 am | Posted in itchy mouth | Leave a comment
Tags: Arts, Design, Festives, Uniquely Singapore

Itchyfingers finally found time to visit this year’s iLight Marina Bay 2012. This is the second year the outdoor sustainable light art festival is held. We visited the inaugural festival in 2010 but found this year’s installation much better and more interesting. However, we didn’t manage to finish viewing all of them as we were tired after a long working day.

Some of the more interesting light installations include these…

This was the first one we saw just outside Marina Bay Sands…Not particularly
impressed by this though there was a lot of writing on the concept…But I
like how people interacted with it…

The Light Dam consisted of inflated blocks with LED light panels installed.
Dunu why it reminded me of Berlin Wall though the artist is Taiwanese…
Maybe it was due to the fact that there were holes within the inflatables and
you could look through to see what’s on the other side…So imagine two
person separated by the wall, looking and keeping in touch with each other
through the holes…

Like this…A lot of people were doing this, so did Itchyfingers! Haha….

A deck of eight chairs were set up along the waterfront. When you sit on
one of them, it lights up. The lamp was supposed to transmit some sound,
but it was quite soft that we could hardly hear anything…especially since
it was a busy night with lots of visitors…The chair was comfortable though…
hahah

If this reminds you of a sea creature, you are right. “5QU1D is a hybrid
squid-like creature embedded with blinking lights emerging from the sea to
merge itself with the skyscrapers. This work references the rapid changes in
our modernising world and the effects they have on the natural environment.”

It changes colours at interval too…I quite like this…

As we walked along, something caught our eyes…Why were there red light spots on the people? Then we saw this…

Rays of red light seemed to be passing through the bodies of these people…

These path of lights came from this door or gate…It almost felt as if it was
from another realm; or even from another dimension….

It felt almost like you were being sucked into the light source, into another
dimension…almost like the effects in those horror flicks where you are
pulled into the other world… :O

The light source was accentuated by the mist…This was one of the most
popular installations…It is simple, yet the idea is complex and it draws
the attention of visitors almost immediately…I like!

There was a gigantic bun-like structure at the first iLight Festival. This
time, we have a similar dome-shape igloo. But this is much more pleasant.
A lot of people posed in front of the igloo made of jerry cans to create
interesting silhouette effects. But as we noticed there was a photographer
standing by waiting for free models for his pictures, we were more discreet
and moved to the other end to pose for our photos. Hence we have Tisu Girl
doing this conservative pose instead of more exaggerating ones…hahah…

This is a beautiful one…Titled, “Coral Garden”, it “raises awareness about
efforts to reform damaged reefs.”

The coral-like sculptures were made of re-used cocktail stirrers which promote
“the beauty and importance of coral in the functioning of natural ecosystems.
The cocktail stirrers are a symbol of consumerist society, which is indicted as
an element polluting our seas.” Actually from far, they also look like
magic mushrooms! I like!

Then we saw people standing near the river as if waiting for something. It was not long that we saw some words being projected on the wall…Then we realised that we were supposed to see something in the river…And we saw it…

Two huge creatures appeared swimming just under the water! They were so
realistic that the first thought that came to mind were sea monsters! The
work was “inspired by the artist’s interest in the history of creature sightings
documented and discussed throughout the world.” Interesting and it really
looked a bit scary especially when the water was so dark although the
reflection from the nearby modern buildings kind of killed the effect a little.
I thought the words were a bit too dim and small for half blind people like
me and there should be some sound effect to build up the climax when the
creatures appeared. Otherwise, it may lose a lot of impatient audience especially
when it took a while to loop the video projection…

The grand finale for us was seeing our Singapore icon being transformed by light and colours!

The beloved Merlion in a coat of white and red, the same colours on our
flag! The colours of light changed and it was fun looking at the transformation.
I Like!

The rainbow-coloured Merlion spewing fiery rays on the integrated resort…
The Merlion is already a tourists’ favourite during normal days and with
its bright coat of colours painted, it was even more popular and crowded
with people…

We ended our night here at the Merlion. Shall definitely return to see the remaining ones before it ends in four days’ time. Do head down to view the many innovative light installations from artists around the world before it ends on 1 April!

Merry Christmas!

December 23, 2011 at 3:06 pm | Posted in itchy fingers | Leave a comment
Tags: Animals, Arts, Christmas, Design, Festives

Itchyfingers would like to take this opportunity to thank our friends and readers for the support that you have given to us for the past years. In slightly more than a week, we will be welcoming the year 2012 and we hope that it will be a better year for all! Here’s wishing everyone a happy holiday!

Season Greeting with Itchyfingers’ latest creation

Also see related post:
> Itchyfingers‘ Creation Up for Adoption

Basket of Abundance

September 22, 2010 at 7:00 pm | Posted in itchy mouth | Leave a comment
Tags: Culture, Design, Festives, Humour, Nostalgia, Packaging, Product design

Today is the Mooncake Festival. I am sure many of you had already bought boxes of the sweet pastries to enjoy under the fullest moon of the year. Many people love those with egg yolks, and mooncakes with double egg yolks normally cost the most. But for Itchyfingers, personally I like those without yolk…just plain red bean paste or with lotus seeds would be good enough. I prefer those with traditional skin to the snow skins. In fact, I like the skin cos of its sweetness. :p

I am also sure many people know about the little piglet mooncakes 猪仔饼 that are also available during the mooncake festival. These are either sold separately or if you were to buy enough mooncakes, you might even be given these little piggy mooncakes free.

A piggy mooncake with fanciful eyes made of uncooked red beans and a
ribbon for decoration. These cost $1.20 and come packed in ugly and
environmental unfriendly plastic boxes, sealed for hygiene purposes

I was surprised that the piggy contained red bean paste…

But do you know why do they sell piglet mooncake?

I remembered reading somewhere online (which I couldn’t find it now) that in the older days, in order not to waste food, people used the leftover dough from making mooncakes to make into little piggies mooncake without fillings inside. As to why they used the roasted piglet shape, it could be because pigs represent ‘abundance’ in chinese culture, and roasted piglets are a norm during festive seasons…

So, a more traditional piggy mooncake looks like this…

The more traditional piggy used to be placed directly inside a red plastic
basket and hung with a nylon string for display at shops. Nowaday for
hygiene purposes, they are sealed in a plastic bag with expiry date before
putting into the different colourful baskets

This mooncake, with an outline of a roasted pig, is put into a plastic cage reminiscent of traditional bamboo cages that were used for transportation of pigs. Hence it is also called 猪笼饼, or ‘pig cage biscuit’. This is the only type of mooncake biscuit that comes with its very own packaging. Very cute indeed, and thus popular among kids!

The old fashioned piggy mooncake has no filling insides. This costs only
50 cents! Taste not so bad too!

Now we know why people made these piggy-shaped mooncakes. But Itchyfingers has another burning question – piggies in cages are called 猪笼. If you watch chinese dramas on tv, you would often see those who committed adultery being punished by putting them into these cages meant for pigs and thrown into the water – to be slowly drown to death, a practice known as 浸猪笼 (literally, “soak in pig cage”) :O

So the burning question is – what has 浸猪笼 to do with Mooncake Festival 中秋节? :O

Looked online for answer and got nothing. Then casually asked this question to Tisu Boy and finally got an “answer” – Mooncake Festival needs to 浸猪笼 cos Miss Chang-e 嫦娥 had committed adultery with Mr Wu Gang 吴刚 on the moon! Wahahahah…!