Bruneian Literature in English: An Observation

    Preamble Disclaimer: Most of my thoughts here are speculative and in no way constitute definitive statements on the state of Bruneian literature in English. For more rigorous analyses, I can point you towards some of my academic work on Bruneian literature in particular: I have an article in the Journal of Commonwealth Literature, a book […]

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    Brunei Box Office 2014

      A look at films distributed in a calendar year.  Film titles were collated from Sunday editions of The Brunei Times. The data contains: language, genre (arranged alphabetically), runtime, IMDB score, Rotten Tomatoes score and film rating. Film rating for a majority of film are from the British Board of Film Classification, while others are from […]

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    Being Financially Independent

    So I learnt recently about the four generations that are in the workplace.  So for those who do not know this, there are four generations in the workplace known as : Veterans (1922-1943) – 71 until 92 yrs Baby Boomers (1943-1960) – 54 until 71 yrs Gen X (1960-1980) – 34 until 54 years Millennials […]

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    The Kampung, The Undefinable.

    The word kampung has its roots in the colonial times derived from the word camp as in site or an alteration on the word compound which, for some reason, dictionaries seem to describe as a Far Eastern or African term for an enclosure of residences. Kampung itself by definition is a small village or an area of rural residence – that is outside of the city and beyond the urban zone. I do not know if these terms apply to Brunei as decisive as these definitions seem to clarify but what I am trying to get at is the suggestion of a geographical ‘outside’ (of the city) and of the theoretical ‘other’ (than that of the centre).

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    The Importance of the Work of Art

    A work of art can alienate if it remains an object of presentation perceived to belong on some unreachable plane. Unreachable in a sense that it is considered too highbrow or in the way it does not reach out and speak to the observer. Such misperception, that art is generally unreachable, can stem from both the artist and the observer.

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