Daryl Sng
@darylsng
Public sector strategy & energy/environment consulting at Accenture. Former Singapore diplomat & climate policy guy. Proud papa. Loves cities, wordplay, trivia, food, sport. Pronounced “suhng”
The Tom Holland one is a total head scratcher until you see the following photo
Was so happy to find this recording of the Polka Dot Door theme song. One of the shows I watched quite a bit as part of my raised-by-TV childhood. IIRC it either came before or after Rainbow
Looks like CONCACAF is joining UEFA in opposing the FIFA proposal to sell shares of the World Cup. For reference, North America and the Caribbean makes up about 20% of World Cup broadcasting rights revenue, and UEFA about 32%. So that's over half of all broadcasting revenue against the proposal
This month I’m trying not to be the type of reader who only likes the beginning of things - completed 3 novels that I started in early June, and finished another 4 books I started this month.
I finally finished Emma Jane Unsworth’s Grown Ups. First third was a bit of a slog, as Jenny, the protagonist, is every cliche of an Instagram influencer wannabe, and super unlikeable. Plus she has a troubled relationship with a flighty palm-reading mother and it was starting to sound cliched
Finished This Story Might Save Your Life, partly by audiobook for effect since the two narrators in the novel are podcast hosts. I know some people really liked this mystery/thriller (/romance?) and it did get a lot of hype but it wasn’t really for me –
Discovered that the Singapore Straits Times (Sunday Times) used to run a crossword, back even before I was born. Very pithy clues, a few unchecked squares.
The National Theatre has a great YouTube video on that production, noting how its intimacy, with audience members sometimes splashed by stage blood and wine, was not at all a feature of what an original Greek production would have. As someone who was there, it was incredibly effective and haunting
Finished Robert Thorogood's The Mysterious Affair of Judith Potts, the latest installment of the Marlow Murder Mystery series. In this one, cryptic crosswords are used to solve the mystery though sadly the actual clues used aren't given. Still, lots of fun, as always with this series
I really like this Threads reply on subtitles - framing the rise in subtitle use as the advent of a superior tech. It feels weird to go back to no subtitles when you're used to subtitles, which suggests to me that even if sound mixing issues were fixed, subtitles are here to stay, purists be damned.
Friday NYT crossword. Love triple stacks and I thought this was so clean. Nicely done by Coz Berlin. 6:43
One of the things about solving crosswords downs-only is you’ll sometimes get a grid like this where you have themers starting with ERECT and ORAL; you have RACY, SEXIEST, SINS as filler; and the revealer is PLAYTHINGS and you’re left wondering how you stumbled into raunchy crossword land
Flipped through Emma Jane Unsworth’s Slags while at a WH Smith in Heathrow, and loved the writing enough to pick it up. Then decided I should start with her earlier work, so got a copy of Animals. Loved this depiction of dissolute life in Manchester, and a love/friendship triangle
Finally finished Caro Claire Burke’s Yesteryear and my conclusion is going to be the same as many others: great concept, middling execution. The idea of a tradwife influencer going back in time is tailor-made for movies but the actual text is neither that insightful or that funny
Had a long layover in London, and decided to head in to show my kids the sights since they’ve never been here before. When I actually lived here, it was so long ago it was pre-smartphone and I have almost no pics of myself anywhere in this city. Today I played gawky tourist and took pics everywhere
At Changi Airport. Things you don’t normally hear at other airports: “my gate wasn’t open so I decided to check out the butterfly garden”
Ah, Singapore, where you can chope/hold a table at a food court by using your AirPod case, knowing that everyone knows what it means and no one will steal your AirPods
In London for work and discovered that the SeaShell of Lisson Grove is still going strong. Last time I ate here was in 2000
Finished Rebecca Makkai’s The Great Believers. Took me a while because I kept having to take breaks – anything about the 80s AIDS crisis and how it devastated communities really moves me. (See: the magnificent It’s a Sin.) But this book is also about art, memory, and the sheer psychogeography of
The World Cup has given me an idea. When a meeting looks like it’s going to run over, I’m going to hold up the sign to show how many minutes over I’ll allow the meeting to run, and then blow a whistle to end the meeting when stoppage time is up
One thing I learned from attending the France-Senegal game in person was that hydration breaks aren’t just for the players – the pitch gets water too during the break
I didn’t catch enough of the Portugal game, but I gather that Portugal showcased a much more lifelike Ronaldo bust upfront