LOLLAPALOOZA ht tp://issuu.com/lollapal o oz a
issue one
IN FIVE YEARS five people; five dreams
A PLAYLIST FOR DREAMERS
two
the family
Beatrice Amanda Ong
Rachel Eva Lim
Li-En Chua
Teo Shien-Yin
page four
playlist for dreamers page six to seven
never been kissed page eight
five people; five dreams page nine to nineteen
how to
page twenty to twenty-one
brown, white, yellow, black what is the correct colour? page twenty-two to twenty-three
the city and the sea page twenty-four to thirty-one
websites to check out page thirty-two to thirty-four
the last page page thirty-five
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L O L L A PA L O O Z A C O N T E N T S
editors’ letter
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from us, with love. There’s something magical about setting out on a brand new journey; be it one as seemingly insignificant as taking in the first breaths of brand new day or a monumental venture like giving in to love and launching yourself into an all new relationship. Whether or not we’d like to admit it, we’re all suckers for throwing out the old baggage of the past and basking in the promise of a shiny and new start.
we happily present the little product of our big dream: our very own beginning.
We hope that this magazine brings you joy. That the time spent flipping through its virtual pages makes you think of butterflies and fireflies and all things wild, happy and free. And most of all, that you’re left with a feeling of quiet hope and promise bubbling up from inside of you; because we are here and we are A few months ago, while desperately cramming for now, and maybe it’s time we make the world a little our final exams, we had the idea of fulfilling our long- more beautiful, simply because we can. held dream of starting up our own magazine. And so, fuelled by many brainstorming sessions over venti Starbucks espresso drinks, a couple of sleepless In trust and hope and love, nights and a whole lot of passion, Rachel and Beatrice
JOIN US five
If you’re feeling inspired and would like to contribute to our magazine, feel free to contact us at lollapaloozamagazine@gmail.com.
a playlist for dreamers six
Words and Music by Shien-Yin Teo Photographs by Beatrice Ong The human tendency to compartmentalise life and hopefully, this amalgam of seventeen songs will help its constituents is a funny thing. Food, music, friends, you get through it. Listen to it after a long day at that even decisions become either one of two things: good internship you don’t know why you took up anymore. or bad. Simplification makes things easier, especially Press play to fill the background of a gathering with when we “don’t feel like talking” (yes, the infamous familiar, unobtrusive noise. Plug in when you find code for “leave me alone”). But it just won’t do yourself losing sight of the days ahead. Turn up the sometimes. If you’re not the most eloquent person, volume and celebrate once that elusive university there are only so many times before “good” and finally mailed you a fat acceptance package. “bad” get old. And how do you explain a particular sense of nostalgia to someone else without seeming Nothing makes a better companion than music does. overly weepy, or unnecessarily maudlin?
It leaves you free to feel whatever it is in its entirety without your having to choose. It does the job of
So this is a playlist for those who find themselves pinpointing a source of emotion and provoking it to overwhelmed by that inexplicable, intense wave of a point of satiation. It’s a beautiful thing, music. It has emotion. Be it a sudden jolt of euphoria, the inevitable the ability to connect us with our innermost sense of dumps, or plain pensiveness,
feeling, and yet it brings us together.
Heartbeat
Scouting for Girls
Popular Mechanics for Lovers Beulah
A-Punk
Vampire Weekend
Don’t Slow Down
Matt & Kim
Boat Behind
Kings of Convenience
Rock & Roll
Eric Hutchinson
Find The Time
Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly
Hazy
Rosi Golan and William Fitzsimmons
Chances
Five for Fighting
Sweeter Than This
Katie Herzig
Fell In Love Without You (Acoustic) Motion City Soundtrack
Something Like That Tim
I’ve Underestimated My Charm (Again)
Black Kids
Cruel To Be So Young Jonezetta
Love Again For The First Time
Julian Velard
Bang!
The Raveonettes
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Flightless Bird, American Mouth Iron and Wine
never been kissed
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Words by Rachel Eva Lim Photograph by Beatrice Ong
Boys. High school. That tingly magical feeling that comes with being young and in love. It’s enough to make the romantics swoon and those with weaker stomachs for the whole lovey dovey thing throw up a little in their mouths. A fair proportion of people I know have passed through a certain rite of passage that entails the quintessential high school relationship; catching each other’s gaze from opposite ends of the school canteen, making out in the many hidden corners of the building, getting told off for PDA during class and the whole shebang. And yet, though I threw myself headfirst into just about every other high school experience, I can say with a tinge of both bitterness and relief that I’ve never had a high school relationship.
The thing is that for the most part, I reckon I just didn’t want to let another person get acquainted with the nitty gritty details of myself that lie beyond the external facade I project to the rest of the world. I was simply scared to trust; because as casual as some may make the dating scene out to be, there’s a certain vulnerability attached to letting someone in. There’s a thin dividing line between a platonic and romantic relationship, and sometimes, leaping over the edge is a risk that you’re simply not willing to take. A risk I was unwilling to take. Do I regret it? Honestly, no, but it doesn’t mean that I don’t realised I may just have missed out on something special. Now, high school is over, and I join in with a chorus of others that never played the high school dating game in mourning of what could have been. Maybe you’ve never gotten down and dirty in the library stacks. Maybe you’ve never been sent to detention for passing love notes to your significant other in Chemistry class. Maybe you went to the prom with your best friend.
I could say that I just didn’t have the time; what with already having to juggle friends, schoolwork and my gazillion other activities. I could say that there was never anyone who caught my attention. Or that I didn’t believe in dating because it is, or at least according to my grandmother, “A frivolous activity that you should only engage in after getting a perfect score in your IB exam.” Fear not my friends; college is right around the corner. All of the above would be false. Also, my grandmother clearly overestimated my academic potential.
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five people; five dreams Photographs by Beatrice Ong
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Name: Age: Alter ego: Childhood dream:
Li-En 18 Taurus. Jealous, possessive, greedy and resentful. Don’t mess. My first ever dream was to own a cow.
Where I see myself in five years:
From my eighteen years of trekking through life, I realise that dreams and aspirations, like silver, tarnish after a period of time to give birth to brand new dreams. When I was a little girl, like all little girls, I saw myself as a princess in five years. After that came a stage when I was crazily in love with animals. Right then, in five years, I saw myself studying to be a veterinarian,
probably also because it was the longest word I could pronounce when I was six and it sounded too cool. These precious aspirations awoken within me the desire to achieve something; they were goals I perpetually worked towards. At eighteen, after much thought, I realize that in five years, I want to put my heart and my soul into becoming a psychologist. I might not end up achieving this goal at all, but I know that it will shape my person and sharpen my determination. Just like my very first aspiration of hopefully being a princess in five years (which was not only silly but highly unobtainable), this goal serves as a similar template to better my person and as a catalyst to push me beyond my limits. Maybe in time, I will become a psychologist who will touch the lives of people and weave into them the same hopes and the same dreams that got me where I am today.
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It is part of human nature to dream big with hopes and aspirations gigantic enough to trigger a sense of pride or content within our person. Most of the time, these dreams are unobtainable but it is in these dreams that lies a dormant power of such a consequence that it can be remarkably life-changing. In these dreams, there lies a sense of hope; the hope to touch a life, a hope to better oneself, the hunger for power and achievement: the hope to change the world.
twelve
Name: Age: Alter ego: Childhood dream:
Ong Ee Wen Evan 18 Winnie-the-Pooh To do justice to my profession as a corporate lawyer, to be able to attain the perfect balance amongst work and play, and family and friends, to encompass a truth to myself from my choices and decisions, to strive to establish and/or maintain a close walk with God, and to be happy.
Where I see myself in five years:
On the contrary, I have no absolute idea where I will be in five years - it is near unrealistic to depict an accurate future version of you. For example, should the 2012 phenomenon be true, we do not even have five years to look at. Indeed, there is always hope, but nothing is absolute.
Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. But every dream remains a dream, until it is realized.” Undoubtedly, in a protracted span of five years, one’s likes and dislikes are revolutionised; hopes and dreams change and emotions lose their spark. There comes a mark in our lives when we discern accomplishments from failures; when we look back upon the distance we’ve travelled, suppressing our souls with a surreal sense of euphoria, in its most immense state. Amongst other things, we feel an outlandish yet placating sense of happiness. We wonder if our moments make us or if we make them. It spurs on an album of thoughts, images, feelings and memories – at least in my case. Indeed, the search for happiness has always been something that has preoccupied mankind. In five years, ten years or a hundred years, I want to see myself happy.
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In five years, I aspire to refine my God-bestowed gifts in an attempt to give back and contribute further to a challenging and rewarding society. I foresee myself at point blank with defining moments, which not only develop but also unveil our true inner selves. In these instances, our limits are tested, directing us out of our comfort zone into an unfamiliar world. I see myself endeavoring to find the esteemed balance between work and play, to bring into being my personal pursuit of happiness, whether at a part-time career, a member of the Singapore Armed Forces, or as a student of a college in the United Kingdom.
fourteen
Name: Age: Alter ego: Childhood dream:
Sara Kashkouli 20 Regina George from Mean Girls To be a doctor, ever since I got my first ‘doctor kit’ when I was eight.
Where I see myself in five years:
Over a lazy Saturday afternoon catching up session with my friends I asked them the dreaded question, “Where do you see me five years from now?” Looking back, maybe it wasn’t such a good question to pose after all because it sent me into a confusing whirlwind of self-doubt and uncertainty.
To my great astonishment a few even saw me married, with kids! I on the other hand see myself in a position many others can hardly begin to imagine me in. Seven drafts and four carefully planned outlines after I first started, I still find it incredibly hard to write about where I see myself in five years without sounding like a total cliché, but here goes: In five years I would have just graduated from university. My first job will have me awake and going to work at an ungodly hour in the morning, with nothing but a great deal of passion - and a fair amount of caffeine - pumping through my veins just so I can make it through the day. Intricately written in the simplest cursive and sewn across the left chest pocket of a crisp white lab coat, it will read “Dr. Sara Kash.” I’ll spend hours hunched over random stranger’s mouths; filling holes, extracting teeth or simply conducting routing checkups.
Some saw me as a high flying jet setter, going from one fashion capital to the next doing what I do best: shopping. Others saw me as a magnificent PR If you haven’t guessed it yet, uncertain or not, in five years I intend to be a dentist. person:
fifteen
Five years ago I would have never seen myself where I am now. I always pictured a life far more colourful, spent outdoors; having more fun than any individual is supposed to have. However, being a fresh high school graduate, I find myself spending the better half of my days pouring through pages of university applications in an attempt at sounding like the ideal candidate to be picked for the course I intend to pursue. I wonder; five years from now, will I be the person I ought to have grown into? Will everything I have spent hours dreaming of finally become a reality?
sixteen
Name: Age: Alter ego: Childhood dream:
Jonny Kho 18 Fogell aka McLovin To flip burgers at Burger King.
Where I see myself in five years: Dear Diary, holding up its collapsing infrastructure for thirteen minutes as they ran to safety. I was later awarded with the Medal of Honor and the Distinguished Service Cross by the president. There were also two national public holidays commemorating my heroic deed. I set the Guinness World Record for being the first man to count to infinity. I also won the Inventor of the Year award for coming up with an environmentally friendly device that is vital to our everyday lives: the solar powered flashlight. Aside from these accomplishments, I also managed to solve some minor problems like world poverty, racism, global warming, and also achieved world peace. But I mean those can’t be as important as my solar powered flashlight, right?
Firstly, I so happen to be the youngest Nobel Laureate for Medicine after inventing a cure for Geniophobia. I also managed to graduate from this small quaint little university by the name of Harvard. Furthermore, I was the first Singaporean male to enter the 100 metre track finals of the Olympics and clinch gold, breaking Usain Bolt’s former record with a stunning 8.47 second win, even though I fractured both my ankles the previous day. After not showering for two whole weeks, I climbed Mount Everest using only a chopstick and all the belly button lint I could find. I Jonny 01/04/2015 saved thirty-seven kids from a burning building,
seventeen
It’s been five years since I graduated from high school, so I figured I should enumerate some of the things I managed to do since then. I mean, I would hardly consider them accomplishments; they are merely inconsequential tasks I would perhaps like to share with my innocent children one day so that they could be proud of their big daddy.
eighteen
Name: Age: Alter ego: Childhood dream:
Tabitha Boon Age is but a number, and I prefer alphabets better. THOR, Lord of Thunder! Comic Book Artist (when I was a pre-teen), Musician (when I was a bit older)
Where I see myself in five years: FIVE YEARS,
nineteen
It’s actually a pretty short time if you think about it. I am afraid but yet at the same time I am filled with People live until they are eighty and over, and we’re wonderful dreams of the future. only a quarter of our way through. I recently met a friend who told me, in a sense, to live I went through several “What I wanna be when I for myself and not for my parents, nor for a future grow up” phases when I was a kid, to be honest. I that we can never predict. At that moment I honestly wanted to be a comic book artist when I was primary just thought about standing on a stage in front of an school, and was then influenced by the many great endless crowd of people, playing my heart out on musicians on the radio to become a musician myself. guitar. What a beautiful moment of catharsis for me I remember there was this ridiculous point of time ‘twas. where I wanted to fly a plane and drive really fast cars too. I suppose I’m still keen to be able to do that I am convinced that despite the fact that we may in the next five years, but where in the world would I feel that we have obligations to our family or our find the time in between university and daily life? country, despite the fact that we may be concerned about financial security, we must follow our heads However, I do find solace in the fact that I have more and our hearts, not a system of beliefs that has been realistic ambitions than my sister who once upon a in place for eons. We must embrace every possibility time exclaimed, “I want to be a cow when I grow of a bright future for ourselves and work towards it, up!” Yes, literally those little black and white cows as I shall. you are imagining right now. And therefore, five years from now, I hope to be Brilliant, eh? How we say with so much conviction somewhere in the world; spreading joy, laughter, what we want to be as children, but become unsure peace, hope and inspiration through music. as we grow older. Let me just say I am absolutely clueless about where I will physically, mentally and As the great guitarist Angus Young said, “I just go technically be in about five year’s time. where the guitar takes me.”
twenty
how to Words, Project and Photo by Beatrice Ong Originally, I wanted to make each of my friends a stocking for their Christmas gift, but I realised that Christmas, like every other holiday, comes and goes. So I decided to let us bask in our youth a while longer, and changed the gift into a mini backpack - one that a five-year-old version of ourselves could have used. Though we’ve grown in size over the years, deep down inside, we’re all still children at heart. Make this as a birthday present, a farewell gift, or because you simply feel like it. Play around. Have fun. Let your creative juices flow. So go ahead, test your skills, and make a friend smile.
(b)
(a)
top: 13 cm bottom: 19 cm diagonal: 14 cm top: 19 cm bottom: 23.5 cm diagonal: 19 cm
(c)
top: 4 cm bottom: 5 cm diagonal: 19 cm
(d)
What you need: 4 different colours of A4 felt sheets needle thread scissors ruler
(e)
You could also make good use of those extra buttons you have lying around, or maybe even the extra cloth from a dress you previously shortened. Sew your design onto 1 piece of (a), making it the front. Don’t forget that even the kind of stitching you use can add to your design. Join the 2 straps (c) to the base (d).
Steps: Following the measurements above, cut out 2 pieces of (a) - the front and back. 1 piece of (b) - the flap. 2 pieces of (c) - the straps. 1 piece of (d) - the base. 2 pieces of (e) - the sides.
Sew the front and back (a) onto the base (d) that now has the 2 straps (c) attached to it. Sew up the 2 sides (e) with the base (d) attached to the bottom, and the diagonals attached to the front and the back (a).
Take the two straps (c) on the side that is unattached, Try to vary the colours you use, so that each side of sew them on to the bottom of the flap (b). the bag will have a different colour. Now, attach the bottom of the flap (b) to the top of Using the scrap felt you have left, cut out a name, the back (a). a picture, a frame, or whatever you can come up And there you have it - a mini backpack. with.
twenty-one
23.5 cm by 5 cm
65 cm by 2 cm
twenty-two
brown, yellow, white, black what is the correct colour? Words by Li-En Chua
With its poetic lyrics and entrancing beats, the hit song “Such Great Heights” by The Postal Service rapidly hit number one on my iTunes playlist. Among the mishmash of perfectly sculpted words designed to pull at one’s heartstrings, there is a line that goes: “Everything looks perfect from far away; come down now, but we’ll stay.” Although merely a line in a song, this phrase served to provoke my thoughts and thus lies at the very heart of this article. When “everything looks perfect from far away,” we take the role of a bystander trying to deduce the outcome of a specific situation. However, the downside is that whatever we perceive might not actually relay the truth. Take Singapore as a country; reborn from the malarial infested swamps, Minister Mentor Lee Kwan Yew made sure that Singapore would prosper into a cosmopolitan city with a booming economy. Primitive housing was demolished and lavish condominiums were erected, while till this date,
Singapore remains one of the world’s cleanest cities. Externally, every looks perfect; but Singapore, like almost every other country, is still plagued with a disease that it can never fully obliterate: racism. From the time we Singaporean citizens are seven years of age, it is compulsory to learn the national pledge, and found within it is the line: “Regardless of race, language or religion, to build a democratic society, based on justice and equality.” I remember repeating the same words over and over again, but come to think of it, how much value do these words actually hold and how much of the pledge is actually pledged? Racism is evidently a consuming disease. It sinks its roots deep within the heart of an individual and causes segregation. The phrase “united we stand, divided we fall” demonstrates the vast and dangerous effects of racism, where discrimination leads to utter destruction.
twenty-three
Perhaps the main reason why racism exists is because of the habitual nature of human beings. As a Chinese growing up with predominantly Chinese peers, it is our yellow skin which subconsciously unites us, as I tend to click better with those who have the same customs and language as me. Sometimes, it is not by default that we end up with a group of friends that have the same skin colour as ourselves, but it is that we do not put in enough effort to break the monotonous cyclical nature and the inbuilt “herd” instinct that causes people to mingle with their “own” kind. Indeed, racism is an issue that disrupts democracy and promotes chaos. Recently, I’ve traveled to Australia and plaguing the news for a certain number of weeks were reports of attacks upon Indian students. As a result, many Indian families have altered their children’s university plans, withdrawing their applications from Australian universities and seeking education elsewhere.
This situation not only has a negative impact on the image of the Australian government but also affects the Australian economy as migration indirectly leads to a lower level of economic growth. “Everything [might look] perfect from far away,” but upon scrutinizing things at a closer range, it is depressing to note that a “perfect” world free from prejudice is non-existent. However, everyone can make a difference by giving a face lift to an already damaged world. Let us stop observing from “such [a] great height” and step into reality; as a different skin or eye colour does not make someone less human than yourself. Let us discard our role as a bystander and take the plunge to make a difference. Let us be the antidote leading to the discovery of an innovative vaccine lethal enough to eradicate the racism disease. And let us start today.
twenty-four
the city and the sea through a toy box Photographs by Beatrice Ong
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twenty-eight
twenty-six
twenty-nine
thirty
thirty-one
thirty-two
websites to check out. Words by Rachel Eva Lim Photos taken from the websites
YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL http://www.you-are-beautiful.com/
Everybody has their bad days; the times when you just want to bury yourself beneath the covers in an effort to avoid the rest of the world, or when you feel so unappreciated, ugly and unloved that it’s as if you’ve dissolved into the atmosphere and been rendered completely invisible. Some compensate by wallowing in self-pity, some believe that maxing out their credit card serves as the appropriate coping mechanism, while others resort to a night spent with their old friend: alcohol. Then again, if you’re really lucky, you may find hope in the form of a sticker or logo you find on the street, placed there by a perfect stranger, telling you that you are beautiful.
Such is the work of the “You Are Beautiful” sticker project, which utilises the medium of advertising and commercialisation to spread the positive message of beauty via “creating moments of positive selfrealisation.” Since its inception, the movement has spawned dozens of collaborations and exhibitions worldwide, generated by like-minded individuals who realise that sometimes, three simple words may be all a person needs to keep believing.
thirty-three
I LOVE YOU MORE THAN BLANK
http://www.iloveyoumorethanblank.com/ For Valentine’s Day 2009, I made a bunch of my friends these red paper hearts with sayings like “I love you more than hot chocolate,” “I love you more than I love my mom,” “I love you more than a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Strawberry Cheesecake ice-cream,” etc. Little did most of them know that my seemingly original idea was 100% inspired by (or in a less euphemistic way, ripped off from) this adorable website which defines itself as “a small project with a big heart.”
Laureen Moyal and Yuliya Gorlovetsky, who hail from New York City, initiated this venture with the belief that one can never gauge the true value of something or someone, unless the latter is measured against another entity. The result is a website, powered by thousands of online contributors, that helps to redefine and refresh the value of love to each and every one of us on an individual basis.
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THE 1000 JOURNALS PROJECT http://www.1000journals.com/
I love my journal. It’d be the first thing I’d save if, God forbid, my house were to be set on fire or made the victim of some other sort of natural disaster. However, I’m sad to say that its pages pale in comparison to the gems I found on this site, set up by someone who simply refers to himself as “Someguy.” Basically, Someguy was inspired by the random scrawls, drawings and graffiti he chanced upon in bathroom walls and public spaces, and decided to set loose one thousand blank journals across all four corners of the world.
Those who found the journals were instructed to add their personal stories or drawings and subsequently pass it along as part of an “ongoing collaborative art form.” Today, these journals are still making their way across the globe, bringing companionship, camaraderie and creativity to those who are lucky enough to come across them.
thirty-five
the last page. 1. Eat some juicy watermelons. 2. Take a midnight stroll with your iPod. 3. Get in touch with a forgotten friend. 4. Start a daily journal. 5. Drink espresso shots until your hands start to tremor. 6. Head to the beach and soak up the sunshine. 7. Hug a complete stranger.