Not there yet

I've had various conversations this week about why I live in Singapore, will I live here for good, will I become some kind of peregrinating writer, or will I decamp for other shores? Quite naturally, these conversations therefore turn to the good and bad of living in Singapore: what makes it home, what makes it aggravating, what makes it tolerable, what makes it fantastic, what makes it not. I hem and haw my way through these interlocutions, metaphorically sitting on the fence and dangling my feet sometimes on the Singapore side, sometimes on the other side.

And then this morning, in the middle of an email to a friend in London about Objectified screenings, I put my finger on the thing.

The thing is, even though Singapore has come a long way in the last ten years, in terms of offering a certain comfortable lifestyle, perhaps even one with certain hip and happening options that make it feel like there's a lot going on here (Formula 1! Shakespeare with Ian McKellen or Ethan Hawke! Restaurants and casinos with ultra! fine! dining! Charcuteries and fromageries and patisseries where birthday cakes cost well over $100!) ---

The thing is, there is this new film called Objectified, which is a documentary about industrial design, which was made by Gary Hustwit whose previous documentary Helvetica was about, you know, a font, and I'm not saying that Helvetica is going to change the world, but it said something about the modern sensibility in its exploration of the intersection between graphic design and daily life, and it's part of a wider, modern conversation about how we live, and Objectified, I'm sure, is a continuation of that conversation, that thinking about the state of things, and not just making things, making more things ---

And Objectified had its world premiere in March this year at the South by Southwest Film Festival. It's rolling out in screenings across the US and Europe. And I know it's been only three months since the film's premiere and it's not like it's slated in any other Asian cities yet ---

But what I'm saying is, Singapore is, you know, hips and haps, and there is no confirmed screening of Objectified here. Indianapolis, of all places, has had a screening already, and we have not.

So: Singapore. International? Yes. Offering the finer, or funkier, things in life? Sometimes, maybe. Really there, on the map, as a world city? I don't think so, nochyet.

Edited to add (July 11): It's just been announced that Seoul will host the Asian premiere of Objectified on July 23.