Posted on

Share Your World – Joey Ng & Wendy Neo

Wendy & I are in the group called: Developers.
We have changed and improved our Storyworld from Week 8 when we received feedback and suggestions from the class and Prof Andy.
We now present to you our new Storyworld!

(New) Storyworld:
In the distant future 2984, cameras are banned for everyone except the government and the elites. The government has super high security surveillance everywhere, on everything, on everyone.

Art, creativity and freedom of expression is banned and deemed illegal. The government and the elites determine what is art and what can be learnt. They force what they think is art down on the public and persecute all artists. Fine arts are now fined arts.

A black market exists for works of art such as photographs. They are rare illegal goods that can fetch a high price.

Jody secretly loves photography and she makes her own camera and darkroom to take and develop photos. Her camera is made from a beer can and a pencil. Her darkroom is portable. She sells these photos in the black market to earn money for her family. Because photographs are illegal, she tries not to have too many on her in case she gets caught, that’s why she needs to develop them right before she sells them with the portable darkroom. After she has the prints, she would rush to meet her dealer to get the prints off her, exchanging them for money she needs for her family.

Characters:
Jody’s family
Came from a family of artists, painters, photographers, directors. They were all persecuted in the Art Cultural Revolution of 2108. They now work in the art factories of the government, doing menial labour, producing art materials for the elites and their possé.
Mom: Was a post-impressionist painter, now working in a factory producing paintbrushes
Dad: Was a renaissance painter & photographer, now a runner in the admin of art office
Brother: Wanted to be a cinematographer until the Art Revolution of ’64 happened, now working in a factory producing photo paper

Tools & Technology:
Portable Darkroom – disguisable
Developing Kit disguised as a backpack
Photo paper
Film Camera disguised as a beer can

Microstories:

  1. Backstory on art cultural revolution & government: The StART
  2. Almost caught at deal: Found Art
  3. Background on her family: A family that art together stays together
  4. Special client/project: Developing Feelings
  5. Difficult project – brother can’t smuggle photo paper out: Out of Print
  6. Meets fellow developer: Developing Feelings Too

The Story

Jody looks up at the wall along the staircase, staring at empty frames that used to hold photographs of happy memories. A picture of mom and dad at the beach on a sunny day when they were younger, Grandma on her favourite chair in the living room, and Jody grinning with a chocolate layer cake on her 4th birthday. Jody knew which specific frames housed these photographs, but as the years went by, these images were slowly fading from her memory. It had been 15 years ago after all, since the The People banned photography for the masses.

Banning photography was just one part of the Arts Cultural Revolution in 2108. Drawing, painting, sculpting too, to name some from the list. Jody didn’t even know who The People were. She only knew that The People regulated the art all around the city, stamping a black shimmering emblem in the corner of every art piece to show that it was approved to be put up.

Jody’s mom and dad used to be printmakers. But 15 years ago The People in white suits barged into their home, taking away all their craft equipment and prints. The People then fined Jody’s mom and dad for making art. The only way they could pay off the fine was to work in a factory that manufactured photography equipment, something that wasn’t in their field of expertise so that they could not practice their art anymore.

When Jody’s older brother Jared turned 21, he too was sent of to the factory to work. Jody was about to turn 21 in a year, and she wasn’t letting her precious freedom go to waste. She was going to take photographs. A lot of them. And sell them on the black market for extra income for her family. It didn’t help that her mother was getting sick from breathing in toxic fumes at the factory everyday

Earning money wasn’t the only reason why Jody gravitated towards photography. She loved how she could capture beauty in a frame, how a moment in time could be immortalised forever in a photograph. As photography was illegal, there was no way Jody could purchase a proper camera, so she made one by herself. It was fashioned out of a aluminium can covered with black duct tape all over the exterior. A pencil was taped along the length of the can so that it wouldn’t roll about if placed sideways on a flat surface. There was a small hole in the middle, a few centimeters above the pencil which acted as the “lens”, and a slit where photo paper could be inserted into the can. Jared was able to help her smuggle photo paper out of the factory so she could carry on with this project.



Posted on

Share your world—Shelton Chang

Storyworld
Linda is a makeup artist is facing a huge crisis.

It’s 2025 and the threat of global warming is more real than ever. Singapore has recently passed a law that requires all materials to be recycled and reused. No one is allowed to produce more than a kg of trash.

Revised Storyworld
It’s 1 August 2025, five years after EOD, or Earth Overshoot Day. The scientists had warned us in 2018 that Earth close to reaching an ecological debt, whereby there’s a deficit in natural resources caused by the
population’s overconsumption. And of course, nobody believed it. Even Trump himself said that global warming is a “bogus”, a ruse conjured by scientists to request for more funds for their research. Well, little did he know that all the findings reported were true: we were indeed living on the last few dregs of resources. Words says that as soon as the electricity at the White House went down, the president immediately came to an absurd decision that it’s time to go green albeit too late.

In Singapore, we are glad to have been consistently managing our resources so our EOD has been extended, with a price of course. A law that restricts our waste production to a single kilogram a year, to allow our landfills to have time to decompose into the land. We’ve switched over to electric powered-everything. How do we manage to do so you may ask. Spin classes. Those bike that people pay horrendous amounts for? They generate enough to power the entire nation.

Me? I’m Linda. Just an average makeup artist trying to make a living, while trying to not flout the rules. Law by law as the ‘Poreans calls it. NEA deemed my MAC cosmetic caboodle “too environmentally unfriendly”, reasons unknown. And now I have to make something out of thin air to carry all my equipment around. Maybe YouTube might have some DIY videos back in the days. Before EOD.

(Sigh)

Welcome to 2025.

Poster design

Posted on

Share your World – Celine, Karin & Darren

Genre

Dystopian

Storyworld

In the year 2150, pizzas are driven to extinction due to the extreme shrinkage of carb diets due to the fad Keto dieting that made everyone grow independent of carbs. And how everyone is on the go now so small-food take outs are all the rage while bulky large pizzas are the age of the past.

So Peter the Pizzaiolo, grandson of Italian pizza-making prodigy, Penelope Pepperoni, never giving up his dreams of continuing family tradition, decides to make Pizzas great again.

SO HE INVENTED THE PIZZA HAT, combining the fad diets to make small pizzas now available on the go and also reaches out to people’s nostalgia to restore the glory of pizzas again!

Finalised Microstory #1 (Darren)

‘Ring ring ringgggg …!’ The loud and quirky alarm broke the silence in the room. Bobby, with his face still planted on his pillow, reluctantly stretched his hands out to reach out for his iPhone XXVII. He slowly raised his head and slowly open his eyelids to glance at the time. His eyes widened.  

‘IT’S ALREADY 10AM?! I’M SOOOOOOOOOOO LATE FOR WORK! PETER IS GOING TO KILL ME’, yelled Bobby.

On his future-high-def-AR phone screen (like JARVIS’s UI in Iron Man) was 20 missed calls from his boss, Peter, the Pizzaoilo. There was one text message left in a following notification: ‘YOU’RE LATE FOR WORK PETER!!!! WHERE ARE MY INGREDIENTS!’ – every character in caps, demarking.

Bobby leapt out of bed, hurriedly put on his signature green jacket and held his hair back before placing on his work cap. He was two hours late for work and he was in charge of preparing the ingredients for the wacky experiments for the invention that will revive pizza for mankind, the PizzaHat.

Finalised Microstory #2 (Karin)

As Bobby was making his way to Peter’s house for his daily job, he heard the usual Boom! Crash! Thud! of Peter tinkering about in his workshop/former pizza parlour. He sighed and entered the space thinking for the umpteenth time when this was going to end. At least there are free pizzas for me he muttered to himself.

“Free pizzas for you? Oh boy when I’m done with this machine there’ll be free pizzas for everyone!!!” exclaimed Peter suddenly from his side. “Or at least for a day, then we open for business officially” he pondered.

Peter was always so optimistic about everything, even when his family-run pizza parlour closed down and everyone had shifted on to the Keto diet officially, Peter was still determined to #makepizzagreatagain. Instead of letting people’s smaller appetites get to him, he adapted around it and focused on creating the ultimate device that would still get people to eat pizza! Although the only problem was that the device had to actually work first……

Meanwhile, Bobby, his intern was as done with this as he was with everything in life. He stayed purely for the delicious free pizza and money he made that could sustain him just enough. But deep down, Bobby actually had a soft spot for Peter and his zealous enthusiasm for his dream. He and Peter both knew that despite his many complains and comments, he would still come to help out the next day.

And so, this 2 distinctly different characters embark on the journey to make the world’s first ever PizzaHat and on that very day indeed……..

“Bobby! Come quick! Over here!…. I think…. I think I did it!”

Finalised Microstory #3 (Celine)

Putting an end to the 20th time he has dialled Bobby the Intern, Peter the Pizzaiolo heaved out a sigh.

“I really should be firing him or cutting his paycheck… but ya he’s working for free… and actually… I don’t have anyone else so URGH!”

Thinking back 10 years ago on a rainy night when he first met Bobby the Intern, little Bobby was no more than a street castaway… abandoned by his family due to poverty. He remembered feeling sorry for Little Bobby and decided to bring him home for the night, at least out of the rain.

That night, he relived his memories of his family’s age old pizza making tradition with Little Bobby, and little did he know, Little Bobby shared the same dreams with him! They both wanted to make Pizza great again… reintroducing the world to Pizza once again! That was how their little partnership began….

10 years on, the duo finally had some breakthroughs in their technology and today was the day for the world to change. Today was the day the PizzaHat would revolutionise the world and bring pizzas back into people’s lives. Despite Bobby the Intern’s tardiness, Peter the Pizzaiolo knew he was the only one he could count on… the only one who shared the same dreams and aspirations as him…

Poster

Posted on

Share Your World – Boo Shangyou & Low Jia Yi

Storyworld:

In the year 20XX, traditional news outlets have become universally banned in the global effort to combat fake news. As a result, citizen journalism has become the main source of news, and individuals now sell their self-recorded news footage directly to broadcast stations that are willing to pay lucrative amounts of money for footage of a high standard. In this video-quality-competitive world, gone are the days of blur and shaky videos recorded on mobile phones being shared on social media, as stable top-grade Ultra HD video footage has become the expected standard across all digital platforms.

In the wake of this newfound universal demand for professional videography, Wonkru Designs has created an innovative camera bag that has the storage space to hold a 12K UHD camcorder while simultaneously having the function to unfold itself into a sturdy tripod.

Finalised Microfiction #1 (Shangyou):

Title: Blinded by Night

Genre: Horror

Octavia is a freelance videographer who makes her living selling video footage to broadcast companies and alternative media outlets. Although only 21 years of age, she has already become the sole breadwinner of her family of wastrels. Her single mom, Aurora, constantly abuses her emotionally, always convincing Octavia that she is a shameful “useless daughter” who deserves to be tormented. Her good-for-nothing brother, Bellamy, is a delinquent gang leader who spends his whole time doing whatever the hell he wants, which is almost never a good thing, to say the least. Her abusive boyfriend, Lincoln, is a quiet but physically aggressive guy who is overly-possessive and gets jealous extremely easily.

While driving home on her scooter one day, Octavia witnesses a young man robbing an elderly woman. She initially intends to jump in to help the old woman, but suddenly realises that she was carrying her Wonkru Designs Camera Tripod Bag. It was tough making ends meet, and she knew this was an excellent opportunity to shoot some juicy footage that she could sell. It would feed her and her family for at least a week—she thought to herself. Much to her shock, the petty theft turns into a murder, when the elderly woman refuses to give up her handbag, and the young man stabs her in the chest with a knife. She had just recorded a murder on video, and she was completely beside herself. Afraid of being implicated in the crime, she quickly flees the scene with her footage before the police arrive. When she reaches home, she is tormented by her mother once again, and cries herself to sleep as she always does.

The next day, Octavia heads over to Polis Broadcast Studios and offers to sell the footage to them. To her surprise, she is offered US$20,000 for the video, which is more than she’s earned in the past 6 months of covering boring live events! She agrees to sell the video, and leaves the studio gleefully with the full US$20,000 in cash, just as she had requested. Hesitant to tell her family or her boyfriend about her sudden windfall, she decides that she should spend the money on herself for once. After all, she deserved it anyway. She heads over to a nearby Azgeda Autos dealership and spends US$18,000 on a blood red Shadow Valley BR-5—her dream motorcycle ever since she was 13 years old.

When she reaches home, her mom catches her with her new motorcycle, and begins unleashing a verbal and physical tirade upon her. The confrontation escalates out of hand, and Octavia accidently kills her mother in self-defence. Realising what she had just done, she is completely distraught, but then she looks over to her Wonkru Designs Camera Tripod Bag and an idea springs to her mind. She unfolds the bag and sets up her camera within seconds, and records a video of the blood oozing out of her mother’s skull. Then, she quickly wipes her fingerprints off the glass mug that she had hit her mother with, and phones the police. The police arrive and she puts on a show, crying and begging for them to catch her mother’s killer, and they comfort her, assuring her that they will do so. Eventually, her brother Bellamy arrives home, and upon learning about the situation, assumes that one of his rival gangs had been responsible for the murder.

The next day, Octavia heads back to Polis Broadcast Studios once again, and sells them the footage for US$6,500. The amount was a lot less than the previous video, because this video did not show the actual murder as it occurred. Disappointed, Octavia leaves the studio with the US$6,500 in hand. She had her eye on the brand new Arkadia T-100 motorcycle, but that would set her back at least US$35,000. Then, she has an epiphany. If she wants more money, all she has to do is create more news to shoot video footage of—it’s just that simple. Thus, she begins planning the murders for her next victims—Bellamy and Lincoln.

Finalised Microfiction #2 (Jiayi):

Title: Animalification

Genre: Adventure

Cover Photo:

In this world overfilled with citizen journalists aiming to earn great quick bucks by selling their video footage to conglomerates, Max was struggling to make ends meet to support his wife and growing son.

“Get out of my way!” citizen Z shoved Max away with his bulky equipment bag, blocking his camera lens from shooting the latest celebrity scandal.

The constant ‘beep’ ‘beep’ from his phone reminding him of his low account balance broke him out of his mental tirade of that obese man. This can’t go on. Max packed his bags, kissed his wife and son good bye and left, vowing to come back a man with greater prospects.

One month passed, then two, then three… Nothing. Jane did not hear a word from her husband. Strapping her giggling son to her back, she left for the woods – supposedly her husband’s last location detected by his ID chip. It was a deadly place, overtaken by whatever animals were left roaming. Those animals were mad, their family and friends having been rampantly killed by humans a few decades ago. Since then, nobody who entered their territory ever left alive.

Jane sets out to find her husband in the treacherous location, and slowly finds herself warming up to those wild animals. After weeks of searching, she finally finds her husband who had been camping out to film the never-before-seen sights of the wild creatures. Armed with enlightening footage of the misunderstood animals, the couple return to civilisation to set things right again with the animal kingdom.

Posted on

Share Your World – Jo-Ann Ng, Jhnn Ymn, Kaitlyn Ho

Revised Storyworld

  • Within a cybernetic world where fabricated human hybrids with immensely long life spans are the norm, a small nomadic commune of elderly avant-garde art therapists exists on the fringes of society. Members of the commune have long refused to modify their internal biologies on ideological grounds. Instead, these elderly rebels rely on external, wearable technology to hide their actual age while assimilate into the mainstream.
  • The commune practices artmaking and remains closely bonded together, moving from place to place as a group. Together they cope with ageing, their pasts, and the realities of a cybernetic world that deems them outmoded through art therapy, using tools and equipment integrated into specialised jumpsuits. These specialised jumpsuits act as their wearable, portable studios.
  • The art therapists utilise the wearable studios that facilitate the commune’s artistic production in secrecy and on-the-go, and regulate the art therapist’s own emotional health — the commune is bonded through these continual acts of facilitated artmaking even with the inevitability of ageing.
  • The commune is outlawed and continually chased down by authorities, seen as a threat to public health with their unmodified, vulnerable, biological bodies.

Microfiction 1: Bartender

An alchemical bubbling of polyseuteroxane with saccharified synthetic starches… the bartender plays an important role in the morale of the cybernetic society. In a seedy dive bar within designated nightlife district, the bartender serves all sorts of citizens, from gleaming officiated bodies with smooth 3D modeled torsoes to the outlawed biopolitical bodies that skulk about softly.

Microfiction 2: Commune caught

The art commune is continually on the run – their external technologies and unmodified bodies are considered a health threat to the general population… but the commune knows that these updates, modifications, syntheses are unnecessary; all they need are their bodies, their tools, and their art. Yet, the city and its citizens, and citizen-police keep a look-out, obediently report whenever the ‘dangerous’ art commune is sighted.

Microfiction 3: Lovers

At the top of Monsoon Towers a cybernetic yuppie couple gaze down at the city from their air-purified, chrome-surfaced apartment… They receive personalised messages of recent sightings of the illegal art commune. Safe in Monsoon Towers, with its security systems, privacy updates, cashless payments, the couple pays no heed and switches on their personal holographic entertainment systems.


Revised Microfiction (Based on Microfiction 2): Citizen-Police

我想起月下，我想起花前，
多少的往事，留在我心田。
一半是辛酸，一半是甜蜜，
一年又一年，長教我留戀。。。

The modified mind is clear and precise, no room for error, synapses blinking, autoanalysis complete to the one-hundredth of a second, all under 0.70082699341 units of time (standard measurement as adjusted for seismic geoshifts and post-neolunar patterns). Looping about the vaporous pools of data gathered as skeins within cloud storage systems above, below, and within, Citizen-Police 000000023918_3481.874PZT’s embedded transducing chip hidden within flesh picks up audio waveforms lapping against the cochlear. Tides come in, tides go out, brackish flows intermingle and the hertz make themselves legible as electronic signals blinking across the spine, tingling across modified membranes and polyethylene endoskeletons.

A song that has no reason to exist in present analogue soundsystem forms, no reason to echo out in the alleyways of Street 184.558202A (intersecting Avenue 99238.61U). Citizen-Police 000000023918_3481.874PZT is keenly aware of what this could mean – their logic card does the necessary calculations, re-orientations, telepresence siting, and séances, they gaze from beyond the dense overgrowth of satellite TV antennae to see the outlawed commune, with their clumsy technologies sitting over their aged, withering bodies, the cables and protrusions, the machinery so unlike his smooth, synthetic, spa-treated & regularly moisturised polysiloxane flesh (toner removes sebum produced during the night and balances your skin’s pH.). They are making, making those artefacts long ago rejected as outmoded art, how trite, confusing, utterly repugnant – no sight of systems, of computation, no conceptual basis, no theoretical grounding.

Without even 0.70082699341 units’ of hesitation, Citizen-Police 000000023918_3481.874PZT sends out the electromagnetic signal for reinforcements.

Cover Art
世纪秘辛： ＳＥＣＲＥＴ  HOLLYWOOD HAUNTINGS： CYBWAR

Posted on

Share Your World – Reyna Corrales & Tracy Leong

Creative Practice
Tattooing

Sociological Issues

Technological Development

Storyworld Genre
Science-fiction

[OLD] Storyworld Description

Once considered a stigma in society, tattoos have become the norm for everyone. What better way for those in power to keep track of each and every individual’s life, by having them emblazon their life story across their own body? Gone is the need to dig up personal documents, financial statements or medical records to figure out the background of a person. Just look at their body! Dictated by the ruling party, every milestone in life will be commemorated with a suitable tattoo. Just graduated? Get a tattoo. Got a promotion? Get a tattoo. Got into a relationship, or just came out of a break up? Get a tattoo. People no longer hire clowns or face painters at birthday parties, but a tattoo artist instead. Responding to the drastic increase in demand, tattoo artists are constantly on call and have developed a wearable worksite that enables them to take appointments outside of their traditional studio setting.

[REVISED] Storyworld Description

It’s the year 74700 and tattoos are no longer taboo. In fact, body modification goes beyond art and self-expression. It is a means of functionality for different life stages, at all ages. In this new world, parading information about yourself has extended beyond the online space. Skin becomes a medium where we wear our factual and personal identity on our sleeves. We update our tattoos just like social media, like Facebook or Twitter statuses.

For every milestone, there is a tattoo. It’s become a societal norm to get a tattoo whenever someone wants to share a personal event – anything from a break up, to getting a new pet.

In addition, the law also ordains that people ‘update’ their skin (within one working day) when they change in age, education, career and health. What better way for those in power to keep track of each and every individual’s life by having them emblazon their life story across their own body? Gone is the need to dig up personal records. Considered as civil servants, tattoo artists are highly trained and respected professionals who are expected to get the job done in the most efficient and precise manner. They are easily distinguished by the latest wearable gear – Verte 74700, a hybrid exoskeleton-toolkit that carries the essential instruments of the tattoo trade while keeping their balance and posture in check.

With so many people to tattoo daily, tattoo artists are high in demand. But in this fast-paced society, there is limited time for people to make their way to tattoo studios. Not only that, they also have to constantly monitor their health and well-being because there’s no time for them to feel ill. Hence, tattoo artists have adapted to working on-the-go – ready to give anyone a new skin.

Cover Art

Microfiction #1

In the middle of a cold, faded-brown bench sat John, sprawled in a deflated manner. He threw his head back and looked up.

“Was the sky always like this? Boring. Blank. Blue,” he thought.

His arms spread lifelessly by his side. His arms which were cluttered with tattoos – A number 26 (his age), a gear (degree in mechanical engineering), the GoFast logo (automobile company he works in) and a milk carton with a huge red cross (lactose intolerant). But this one tattoo – a cloud with the initials J ❤️ E – felt uncomfortably pressed against his skin.  

It was about time to let this cloud go. A miserable sigh escaped his lips as he took out his phone and made the necessary call. The screen lit up: “Booking confirmed!”

Within minutes, an all-too familiar figure donned in their advanced gear approached him. John have had gotten so many tattoos in his life, but this might just be the most painful one yet.

Microfiction #2

She glanced at her watch, waiting for the last chorus of ‘Happy Birthday’ to die down around the room. Same old, same old.

Caitlyn had been assigned to this family for years — had seen how the parents aged over time, and how their children grew from little infants to the young adults they were now. This was their youngest daughter’s coming of age party as she stepped into adulthood at the age of 21.

It took awhile for everyone to settle down, with the birthday girl taking seat centerstage. Caitlyn tightened her Verte 74700 around her waist as she made her way to her client – her exoskeleton supporting her as she let her weight drop, sitting on air. For coming-of-age tattoos, they always took at least an hour.

“Ready?” she asked, while swiftly popping the ink holders open. The girl nodded eagerly. Caitlyn shot the girl a smile. So many years of tattooing but seeing the excitement in their eyes never gets tiring.

She reached for her tattoo machine that was attached to her side. Hopefully her back wouldn’t ache too much by the time she was done. She still had five other appointments before the day came to an end.

Posted on

Share Your World – Yukie, Johan, Hazzry

Storyworld

There is extreme economic inequality in the nation, small industries are dying out at an extremely fast pace due to the nation’s push for the technology, machine learning, artificial intelligence, etc. Art is increasingly being overlooked and shunned, and practitioners such as clay jewellers are doing their best to survive such that they have to work 24/7, even when they are on-the-go.

Chilli has also become a staple in modern day Singapore and is found in every food item in Singapore. Being fully aware of this fact and the potential that it can bring, clay jewellers has decided harness the power of chilli even after its consumption – to use it as an indirect heat source.

What they did was to create a workstation that they could carry on their backs, deployable when they carry it on their front, allowing them to work on-the-go and even baking their clay jewellery through harnessing the heat source coming from their tummies – a result of their chilli-centric diet.

Cover art

Microfiction #1 – Yukie Miyazaki

Staring intently at the piece of clay in my hands, I feel contentment rise up within me.

The coloured specks sit on the clay perfectly and look amazing.

I blink a few times, trying to ease my eyes from the strain of being too focused. I look up and the bright lights hit me a bit too suddenly. My eyes begin to water as they tried to adjust, and slowly, I’m aware of the chatter and the life of the environment around me.

Ah, life. Something I haven’t had the chance to enjoy in such a long time.

Opposite me stands an older lady, busy knitting away. The yarn is dangling off her arm and almost touches the floor. She sighs, her eyes fixated still.

*Ding dong* “Next stop, One North.”

One more stop to go. My tummy begins to grumble. It took me awhile to get used to all that spicy food, but it’s worth it. I’m finally adjusting, and I quite enjoy it actually. The tummy aches occur less frequently now. I may even be able to try outdoing myself this time.

I start packing up to get ready to alight. I look around once more and catch a glimpse of the lucky few, those that can afford to simply do nothing. They don’t realise how good they have it. But who do I have to blame? No one but myself. I should count my blessings while I still can.

Microfiction #2 – Johan Ng

“Hey mom, can we please have something else for dinner?”

“Honey, you know that this is all we have, now be a good boy and eat your dinner.”

“But it is too spicy and my stomach hurts….”

“That’s the point, you will have to get used to it eventually. Now, come over here, ill get that fixed up for you.”

Mom places a thin patch onto Thomas’s stomach. The colour of the patch turns rapidly from brown to bright red. Thomas heave a sigh of relief and mom gave a huge smile.

“Seems like today the output is good as usual.” Mom removes the patch and attaches it to the worn-out television.

Bzzt* Bzzt* ….. Bzzt* Bzzt* …. Static noises comes out from the television and colour slowly returns to the screen. The broadcast seems to be the ever so famous cooking show called C Padi’s kitchen, featuring all sorts of cuisine that could be made with the wonder spice of chili.

Microfiction #3 – Muhammad Hazzry

Life is good. Business is booming, money is flowing, food is always on the table, family is healthy and living without any stress. In fact, life is grea- *BAM*, someone walks into me at full speed. DARN IT, just when I was about to feel good about life in general, something had to dampen my spirits.

“Oh? Jewellery made of clay? Wow I can’t remember the last time I saw these, or any form of art, for that matter”, I thought to myself as I observed the lady hastily picking up her work; some of which did not survive the fall. I decided to set my anger aside and help her instead.

“Thank you, you’re very kind.”

“Hey don’t mention it, just watch where you’re going next time yeah? It’s a good thing neither of us got hurt.”.

“O-oh… okay, sorry. I should go. Thanks again.”, as she rushes off, continuing on her craft, or at least what’s left of it. After what just happened, you would think she would just focus on the commute no? No, she STILL decides to work on-the-go, as she fades into the distant crowd. Unbelievable.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, life. Life is great. I continue to stroll towards my workplace, just a two minutes’ walk away from the MRT station. Thank god for the fully air-conditioned pathway as well; I don’t know how I could survive in the modern heat, especially after that hotter-than-usual pancakes this morning. But it’s fine, that is how life is now, and it’s great.

Posted on

Share your world – Charmaine Goh & Stephanie

Cover Art

Storyworld

Fast forward to Year 2500. To meet the demands of the competitive economy, humans work an average of 20 hours each day. With only 4 hours left remaining in each and every day, having a social life became impossible. Recreational buildings were all shut down since there was no need for them. The world was driven by numbers, results, and superficial relationships forged to enhance individual statuses. People’s daily routine have become ever more predictable – home to work and work back to home. 

With so little time and so much wealth, humans started being obsessed with elevating their standard of living as much as they can during the precious 4 hours that they have each day. With less time being allocated to traveling, services were now all portable and provided in the comfort of the patient’s home. 

Just like robots, humans need some maintenance too. 

Microfiction #1 – Stephanie

The skyscrapers were stacked one after another, and the roads that we know today has ceased to exist. Humans zipped around in glass elevators from one place to another in a fraction of a second – there was no moment to lose.

With such little time left in a day each day, humans gradually stopped spending time on ‘frivolous’ and unimportant things like maintaining social relationships. Rather, they sought after more superficial things that they deemed would elevate their status in the eyes of society and those around them.

They had beauty and health appointments scheduled everyday. Visits to the clinics, spas and beauty treatments as we knew it have ceased to exist. With the rapid increase in demand for skyscrapers for work and housing, these spaces were gradually phased out. Instead, they had daily visits from the various beauticians so as to ensure that they are constantly in the best form possible.  

As Sasha opened her front door, a ‘ding’ went off from the elevator. “Mmm.. right on time” she murmured under her breath.

The TCM practitioner, Stacy, was decked out in white and her look was complete with a lab coat.

“Hi Miss Sasha, please place your thumb here so that we can scan your heart rate, blood pressure and stress levels.”

“Have you had any discomforts since the last I saw you 48 hours ago,” Stacy continued.

Sasha sighed and lamented: “Well.. Yes. My lower back has been hurting, can you do something about that please?”

“Yes, of course! We’ll look to that right away!”

Stacy’s mobile phone beeped as the health report came back.

The aroma diffuser went off and soft slow music started to play from the speakers. Sasha sighed and lay down on her chest – it was time for rejuvenation and healing.

Microfiction #2 – Charmaine Goh

She could only arrange for a maximum of two clients a day with each appointment lasting an hour long. Catching only 2 hours of sleep on days when her appointments were fully booked. Any delay in the first appointment or mistakes made would cost Stacy her customer in this highly competitive part-time service industry.

She can’t risk that. Not with all the debts her father left her.

In the day, Stacy works as a app developer in the information and technology industry but the pay is insufficient to sustain her living so she had little choice but to work as a part-time Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioner from the 20th to the 22nd hour of the day. As a result, on days without clients, Stacy spent her time developing the most efficient medical tool box that is capable of providing her customer with an unique, quality, and therapeutic TCM experience to secure them.

Time was ticking.

“BP – 110, HR – 80, Estimated Stress Level – High, Recommended Aromatherapy – No.032”

The screen on her mobile lighted up, reflecting the patients’ details as the patient placed her finger on a small black box with red light emitting out of it. Background music started playing on auto and the aroma diffuser went off.

Stacy then detached a inflatable mattress from the bag and threw it into the air lightly. The mattress unfolded into a fully pumped cushion for the patient to lie on.

“We will be proceeding with our second electrolysis acupuncture session for your backache. Please feel free to take a rest during the process,” Stacy commented.

After administering the needles, Stacy pulls out the electrolysis machine powered by the portable energy stored in her bag. She then proceeds on to connect the wires to the needles.

Stacy’s eyes gradually became heavier as the aroma of No.032 slowly diffused throughout the house. Developed by Stacy, the diffuser scent is customised to each and every patient’s’ condition, which can help patients to de-stress while regulating their heart rate to the most optimal level for treatment.

Right when the alarm signifying the end of treatment rings off, Stacy’s eyes sprung open. Relieved that her patient did not find out that she dozed off, Stacy quickly started packing up whilst letting her patient know, “The prescription will be delivered to you as per usual, do follow the same instructions and within two weeks and your backache should fully recover fully!”

“Thanks Dr. Stacy. It was the best and most efficient TCM experience I’ve ever had! Will definitely refer you to my friends and family members,” replied the patient.

Stacy smiled and walks off with a heavy feet to her next appointment…

Posted on

Share Your World – Clare Chang, Brenda Tan, Chia Li Hui

Finalised Microfiction

In the year 2500, global warming is now almost fully eradicated. In order to stop the accumulation of heat, governments worked together to eliminate not just carbon dioxide emissions, but all greenhouse gases. Deforestation and other harmful land uses have been successfully reversed. As a result, the Earth is experiencing drastic climate change and now has an average temperature of -18°C. The Earth’s daylight savings time is out of whack and sunlight is sporadic. In attempt to revamp a cleaner way to generate energy, other energy generating ways have failed and things now run on only music-powered energy. In this world, music has become a drug of choice and people are becoming more anti-social. They have high reliance on their earpieces and are not able to leave their house without them. Train stations provide free earpieces as all public transports announcements are made through them.

Ceramic art is now at risk of banality. The chemical reactions between the mineral contents in the clay bodies during the throwing process is not controllable by the human hand. As the climate on Earth started experiencing drastic changes, clay can no longer withstand the low temperatures and started to harden very quickly during the throwing process.

Our protagonist, Emma, is a passionate street ceramic artist whose biggest dream is to bring ceramic art back to life and she is unwilling to send it down the lane of banality. Emma carries a one-of-a-kind ceramic art music backpack around with her to conduct her ceramic art on the streets.

Current Technology

  • Electric Pottery wheel
  • Music sensors

New Technology

The backpack contains a portable pottery wheel, a portable stool, a speaker and two slots to insert earpieces. There will be two layers in the backpack as follows:

For the first layer, the top compartment will hold the portable stool which she can unfold easily. Under the first layer lies a compartment that has optimal moisture and an atmosphere that keeps the clay at optimal room temperature to prevent it from drying up.

For the second layer, it will be a pottery wheel board that functions using music powered energy. There will be a sound sensor at the bottom of the board that detects music and the pottery wheel will turn based on the tempo of the music. In a scenario where there is no music playing in the background, it also allows Emma to insert her earpieces and play her choice of music through the speakers embedded at the bottom of the board. There will be lights that line the circumference of the pottery wheel to assist the user when there is no sunlight.

Cover Art

Set in the future, our cover art aims to evoke a futuristic feeling. The focal point of the poster would be the pink wheel that embodies both the mutated form that Earth has become and also what the world means to our protagonist, Emma, who is a passionate ceramic artist who now has to execute this practice in a totally unsupportive environment.
Posted on

Share Your World – Ang Xin Yee & Rachel Teo

OHWAX’s Story World

  • The human race has reached the epitome of laziness
  • Nobody leaves the house anymore and everything is online
  • Physical stores are obsolete
  • The world is increasingly superficial because of social media
  • Thus, people still want to look beautiful
Vector art retrieved from www.Vecteezy.com

Rachel’s Microfiction – Beauty in Space

In the year 2×92, we now live on an orbiting space shuttle that’s approximately 180,000 miles away from Earth. A glance out of my window and I can see the beautiful planet that we once inhabited. Though I heard it used to be even more beautiful. I learnt that Earth was once a place filled with so much nature and life. After that catastrophic event in history, Earth was left uninhabitable, and everyone pretty much escaped into space.

My guess is that the governments then pretty much predicted it coming, there’s no way that they managed to create such a large scale, fully functional, liveable, space stations in a short amount of time. We were never educated about what happened. The older ones never spoke a word about it, it was against the rules to do so. There are eyes and ears everywhere. 

Today is just like every other day, I am fully packed with appointments, and I can only hope I have spare time in the middle of the day to grab a bite, unlike yesterday. Don’t get me wrong, I love my job, waxing is something I enjoy doing, but travelling is such a chore. I heard that in the past, businesses operate via stationary shops. But due to the lack of space, businesses and professions became mobile. We bring the products and services to customers instead of them having to come with us. I’m lucky though, brow waxing does not require much equipment, everything fits into my handy little bag-pack. I don’t always visit homes, I sometimes do brows-on-the-go too, on trains when anyone needs a quick-fix when they are on the way to an important event.

Xin Yee’s Microfiction – Beauty on the plane

It is 2035 and Amy, labelled the future Heidi Klum, is travelling around the world for the World Fashion Month. Since the only time for rest during their hectic schedule and when they are traveling, only during then can beauty treatments be done. Thus, there is a specific plane for all models to take: Beauty Airlines. In this company’s planes, models can receive facial treatments, body massages, beauty services and have all their other needs met by services on the plane. Every seat will have a control section for the all services they need and more than one service can be used at any time by just pressing the buttons.

Amy requires a waxing treatment on her flight today. As soon as the plane takes off, Amy presses the ‘waxing’ button on the control section. The attendant for the waxing service makes her way down the aisle to Amy. The attendant is equipped with just a small backpack of equipment so as to not block the aisle.

The backpack includes all equipment such as a wax heater, applicators, cloth waxing strips, pre-waxing and post-waxing beauty products, tweezers and make up brushes, and cotton pads. The wax is heated up through a mesh conductor in the wax heater, using the heat energy from Amy’s body as she places feet on the conducting point, within a minute. The entire procedure is done in 5 minutes. Amy decides she should get a full-body massage since walking on the runway all day has caused body aches.