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Thinking today about the 4 dominant media threads in my life: - Local Singaporean media, primarily Singaporean-Chinese - American media (Nickelodeon + MTV) - Indian media (mainly Tamil, but also some peripheral Hindi/Bollywood) - Japanese media (anime, J-rock, JRPGs) https://t.co/aC3Qt4aQFY
As long as I can remember, I have been parsing information from multiple different sources. My intellectual/psychological/social life has always been one full of diversity, contradictions, and has always required a lot of code-switching https://t.co/JawMaRFMGV
When I was a kid, I was brought up in a Hindu household. I went to an Anglican kindergarten. I had friends who were Muslim, Buddhist, Taoist, Christian, Sikh. Heartland Singaporeans can be all-embracing, praying to gods from multiple religions at the same altar. Maximim coverage! https://t.co/Wg0cQvq3fC
Simply living in Singapore means naturally having some exposure to all of this. Being a minority and a misfit makes navigating this more pronounced, even existential. (It must be even harder for the queer kids, harder still for the queer brown kids) https://t.co/QotoGz5FvR
If you only have 5 minutes to check out Singapore, I might have to recommend a walk down South Bridge Road. I’m not sure if there’s anything like if in the world - Indian food - a Muslim mosque - a Hindu temple - a Buddhist temple - Chinese shops - shophouses - corporate towers https://t.co/Fgchfvp6kx
This was my answer to "when did you first see yourself represented on screen". (It was 2015, and it lasted 7 minutes.) A geeky brown boy watching Western cartoons on TV playing with action figures, disconnected from his father's traditions, seeking. https://t.co/ATrKAy8pYp
My cover photo is reminder to myself that I have a unique POV on the intersection of Indian history, technology, cyberpunk, anime, etc. I'm researching a fictional universe that's a sort of Desi Wakanda/Cyberpunk/Game-of-Thrones that'll probably take me ~20+ years to write https://t.co/g6XLoQ7SPS
A visual image that has stayed with me for a long time is this (real!) shot of glass-and-steel gopuram of Capital Tower ominously hanging over Mariamman Temple. This + Sam Madhu's illustrations + Saira Hunjan's tattoos are a big mood I'm trying to assemble and articulate https://t.co/hHbttfoubT
Story idea swirling around in my mind for some time: Started out as GoT / LotR fan fiction, of an Indian/Persian race – The Elephants of House Purusha. What if these folks, rather than being Scary Evil Others, were actually kind, gentle, thoughtful, patient, funny? https://t.co/w2MtsUqtwR
Ghost In The Shell, Akira, The Matrix, Game Of Thrones, Lord of The Rings, but reimagined from Indian first principles https://t.co/mMes9RT6dU
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy has some stunning set pieces that are fantastic for this moodboard https://t.co/XDGRpiNBbV
selections from the moodboard https://t.co/WOBy8jXO6l
But another part of me loves it - that we’re ultimately kinda practical & do whatever is necessary, whatever works, even if it ruins the aesthetic. This picture of electrical mains(?) next to the religious sculptures is a *mood* that is informing the work I want to do https://t.co/Ivj7yarjaV
It is a dream come true for me to discover that there IS a legacy of traditional Indian tattoos, with Indian motifs, geometry, heritage, history. These need to be reimagined, reinterpreted, rediscovered by modern Indian artists. C'mon guys and gals we've got work to do https://t.co/pIze2Hvm8c
This is an interesting shot that ended up on National Geographic's cover in August 1999. "The young lady, portrayed with her traditionally clad mom, was, at the time, a star of India’s version of MTV." Does anybody recognize her? https://t.co/BDlHQmvWFc https://t.co/qFgwUfZCvP
