Good morning, people. The RAT just realised something. You see, his alter-ego, the guy who write for the newspapers, has been compiling a kind of weekly round-up of highlights in the arts scene for months called State Of The Arts. A kind of cheeky little piece that gauges the highs and lows of the previous week, complete with a metre of sorts that range from “Sad” to “Happy.” Unfortunately, it doesn’t really appear on the online version of the paper. But the blog’s another thing. So, starting this week, I’m re-publishing it for the benefit of those who don’t get a copy of TODAY. It’s nothing much, really, just newsbites of what happened the previous week. But a sense of perspective doesn’t hurt right? And if I’ve missed out on something big, feel free to post them in the comments section.   STATE OF THE ARTS (Aug 1 to 7) A week of hellos and goodbyes. Writer Li Lien Fung, mother of author Ho Minfong, died at the age of 88, and indie art space Post-Museum finally closed shop. The Man Singapore Theatre Festival 2011 opened. A couple of events also saw Singaporeans cast their gaze at their neighbours: Causeway Exchange, a multi-disciplinary mini-fest of Singapore talent that was held in Kuala Lumpur, and Valentine Willie Fine Art Gallery’s show titled Imagine Malaysia (one of many that opened last week, including respected artist Tang Da Wu’s first show in more than two decades). Elsewhere, Singapore Biennale 2011 artist Charles Lim’s video work, All The Lines Flow Out, heads for the 68th Venice Film Festival, and the School Of The Arts went on alert after a minor security blip that had a member of the public entering restricted areas wearing a black t-shirt similar to the students’ black school tees. ***  PS, Lim won’t be the only Singaporean whose works will be shown overseas. T’ang Quartet will be performing at the Edinburgh International Festival while Jennifer Phillips and Loretta Chen’s The F Word will be at the Fringe part. Ho Tzu Nyen’s Venice Biennale piece The Cloud Of Unknowing will be screened at the 64th Locarno Film Festival as well as part of the Corti d’artista section.