Electronic City by Falk Richter

Fucking shit.

Shit.

Shit.

Shit.

Where am I? Who am I? What’s the number combination? Was it 22-44-15-17?

I don’t remember. I don’t know.


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Welcome to Electronic City. A fictitious city in the tropics with a population of 2.5 million. Wired, connected. It is a story of disorientation and helplessness in the midst of the 21st century rush, a profound and distorted tale of two individuals – Tom and Joy, who are brought together by chance.

Tom is a high-flying business consultant, constantly on the move, in and out of airports and hotels. A different city, a different hotel. But they all look the same, the four walls. The similar corridors. He slumps into bed, confused, the only refuge being the porn channel.

Tonight, he is lost. Really lost. Frantic, panic-stricken, he recites numbers. He can’t remember where his room is. He’s been here 2 weeks. Heck, he doesn’t even know which hotel, which city he’s in. Disorientated, he reaches for his cellphone. He can’t find it.

Joy on the other hand, is a stand-in at a Pret-A-Manger, working a barcode scanner. It’s a monotonous, brainless job. The scanner stops working. Joy does not know why or how. She panics as a queue of businessmen awaiting to pay for their sandwiches grows longer.

What’s the bloody number for tech support? Fuck.

Tom and Joy, victims of technology and mass communication. Out of pure coincidence, if there was such a thing, they meet. Under the most unromantic circumstances, they fall in love.

It is an intriguing story, if a little weird. Lives, controlled by technology. And the story of two lives, trapped and confused, observed and studied. I remained engaged throughout. The set was fabulous, from the dangling glass screens and well-sorted lighthing. The projected animations added to the mood. Sound effects, produced by Edwin Sumun himself, was superb.

Overall, it was quite a buffet for the senses. Acting from the main characters of Tom (played by friend Tony) and Joy (Jamie Liew, my company’s ex-staff, what do you know!) was top-notch. And the narrative genius of Edwin, inclusive of Corinne’s sexy low pitch voice was a definite plus point. I love how the voices spoke in sync in some bits. The barrage of aural synchronicity was sexy!

And never has swearing sounded so good. 🙂

Along with fellow Tony groupies – Poh Lin and Addie, we met up with the cast. Congratulated Tony, then met Jamie for the first time, who apparently has heard lots about me (don’t ask me why). She’s as hyper in person as she is in her role as Joy. Heh. And Edwin, ha. The great Edwin. I finally get to meet him in person, and shake his hand. Brilliant. Funny how we’ve communicated online via the Mac User Group. For the longest time, we were supposed to have met up to discuss his website, which I am supposed to design and develop. He was delighted with the appreciative crowd, citing everything went as planned with the technical bits. (didn’t go too well the first couple of shows). Such a brilliant, talented man. Hope to catch more from him soon!

I totally enjoyed Electronic City, despite some bad reviews in the press. Trust Edwin Sumun to give you something different. Like Five Letters From An Eastern Empire, it’s different, edgy, out-of-the-box. He didn’t win 5 Cameronian Awards for nothing.

Good stuff Sumunda!

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Vernon
Vernon is the founder and chief editor of Vernonchan.com. A graphic designer by profession, he has a deep love for technology, cars, gadgets, food, and travel. He tweets too much and is also known as a caffeine bacterium ("life's too short for bad coffee"). Bleeds Blue (go Chelsea FC!) and considers BMW, Porsche, Alfa Romeo cars to have in the garage--hallmarks of a true petrolhead.