Intan_Maizura_Ahmad_Kamal

THE ant-like bustle of Kuala Lumpur’s Golden Triangle is already putting a damper on the spirit. Couple that with the sweltering heat of the midday sun, and I’m ready to throttle someone. “No wonder I avoid the city like the plague,” I mutter to myself as my eyes frantically scour for the sign that would lead me to the venue of my appointment today.

THE works of artist Tang Tze Lye is currently being showcased at Wei-Ling Gallery in Kuala Lumpur. Titled “It’s Been a While, and I’m Finally Here…”, it’s the 33-year-old’s first solo exhibition with the gallery.

HE cuts an unassuming figure, despite his eye-catching batik shirt of beige and brown — colours of the earth. An undecipherable smile on his face, his eyes behind his glasses look on intently at the models sashaying down the makeshift “runway” set up at The RuMa Hotel and Residences, Kuala Lumpur for a fashion show featuring bamboo-as-material and bamboo-inspired fashion wares, organised as part of the recently concluded KLWKND event, […]

“I WAS in my hometown of Bentong, specifically at my parent's old house, preparing a proposal for a project that I was working on — a documentary with Nanyang oldies 2.0 — and at the same time, was about to pack some newly-baked Christmas fruitcakes for clients when I heard it,” begins Yudi Yap, a well-respected icon in the local entertainment and arts scene, famed for her silky vocals on […]

THE tiny stones on her ring sparkle and dance, flashing to the beat of her slender fingers as they glide across the ivory and occasionally bang on a key for emphasis. “I don’t see so well now. Sometimes, the black and white (keys) just seem to blend together,” utters a soft voice, the tone laced with both apology and discernible frustration.

IT’S a sensitive time we’re living in. At least if you’re BIG on social media-verse. For those whose daily existence is generally — and religiously — updated on their FB or Insta, and posts as mundane as a trip to the local grocers in search of that elusive avocado gets happily plastered for the world to see, there are hints to re-look at how — and what — we post.

“YOU haven’t seen Christmas until you go to Pavilion KL!” The words, excitedly uttered by my best friend every time Christmas looms, ring in my ear as I descend the mall’s signature Spanish Steps leading to the centre court.

IT’S a wonderful time of the year. At least for those celebrating. Even though my family and I didn’t, I remember going to my best friend’s house when I was still living in England, and delighting in the aroma of Christmas dishes that would waft tantalisingly from her family kitchen.

“YALPANAM, an old colonial house on Coal Island in Malaysia, is swarming with ghosts. Its inhabitant, a 185-year-old recluse, Pushpanayagi, has been avoiding them for decades. But that’s about to change. When 18-year-old neighbour Maxim Cheah, disgruntled at home, arrives on an apparent whim at Yalpanam, they begin an unlikely friendship that will rock Maxim’s world, and send Pushpanayagi whirling through space-time, back to 19th century and 1940s Malaya. Will […]