A tad late to my attempt at a Thursday/Friday post on great reads for the week but here you go!
– Paul French’s annual obituary of the heritage architecture losses in Shanghai for 2011, and I recommend you read his coverage for 2010 and 2009. Many of which I have captured in various stages of demise. They include the plot of villas across from Sinan Mansions, Desheng Lane, “Long Spring” Lane (长春里) on Tanggu Lu, longtangs along Jinan Lu and the list goes on.
– NYT Lens covers the winners for the 2012 Pictures of the Year International competition with a multitude of links to all the winners’ submissions. Two of note are Stephanie Sinclair’s “To Young to Wed: The Secret World of Child Brides” and Massoud Hossaini’s horrific picture of a young Shiite woman screaming amidst the wounded and dead in Kabul, Afghanistan. The photo was taken literally minutes after a bomb was detonated by a suicide bomber .
– Steve McCurry’s long-time coverage of war in Afghanistan is grim and gruesome, and serves to remind all of us the role that photographers and journalists play in bringing home the horrors of war.
– How do you identify with the city and the values that it stands for? This op-ed by Daniel Bell of Beijing’s Tsinghua University and Avner de-Shalit of Hebrew University looks at a wide swath of countries and how each city’s ethos shape society and vice versa. My recent visit to Beijing served as a good reminder of its contrast with Shanghai and how it’s residents embrace the cities’ roles as respective political and business centers.
– As I browse through the collective of multimedia memories of old Singapore initiated by the Singapore Memory Project (SMP), I am so proud of being a Singaporean. There have been efforts to do this via our national museums but it seems efforts have been stepped up to improve online accessibility for citizens both at home and abroad.
– What this Japanese girl doing is wicked fun. With the help of friends and/or tripod, she jumps and jumps to get the perfect mid-air shot. No Photoshop, just levitated! Almost every one of them is done with wit and sunny ease. She also teaches you to shoot your own levitation series.
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Ivan Chew
Hello Sue Anne, I’m Ivan, Assistant Director (Digital Engagement) with the Singapore Memory Project. I found my way here from a Google Search. Was thrilled and humbled to read your mention of the project. Thanks for the kind words. Perhaps I’ll get to read your memories in the portal soon. If you’ve any questions about the SMP, I’ll be glad to help. Cheers. RamblingLibrarian@gmail.com | ivanchew@nlb.gov.sg