Sometimes

My one-week break is finally here.. and I am one day away from my birthday. The week leading up to my birthday has been a long, arduous one, with some assignments that seem never to be completed, and mid-terms which I didn't have proper time to prepare for. Not forgetting the community service project, whose section this week I had to plan and purchase items for. I thought that my week 2 (which was 5 weeks ago) was difficult enough. I was wrong! This one was much worse. Anyway I hope I do not have to experience another torturous week, though I know if another of such week appears, I will be ready to pull my sleeves up and face it.

Sometimes I think I want to do too many things in too little time. I have to learn to be more realistic. Sometimes I think I pushes myself too hard, fearing that such precious opportunities will never re-appear once they are lost. I am still not sure if such zeal is a good or bad thing. But I know when the limit comes I will have to stop. This point touches on my involvement in two things for the upcoming break, which will leave me only with a 1 1/2 full day of break? I hope I can steal times here and there. Anyway, so the first one was on Drama production by my school's broadcasting CCA I have to admit, I will never do wardrobe again. Maybe not during school time. With this week being absolutely packed, I am left with little time to meet the cast I am responsible for and talked to them about their clothes. I do not really have control over the clothes they have, and I am not really a resourceful person. So I do not know how I am going to properly handle it. I have learnt that for productions I would rather stick to doing camera work or photography stills. Full stop. No more art departments.

The second thing was the Indonesian Community's playi n DBS Auditorium next week. I am supposed to be promoting this play, but over the past 3-4 weeks, my faith on it have gone down steeply. I was at first in the documentation team, before being moved to marketing. I feel nowhere here and there. Yes my loss of faith put me into thinking. Half of me would not want be involved in the production myself, but the other half of me wants to prove others wrong. That Indonesians can do good production! But I guess I will not be able to do that alone. I will see how.. and use my intituition to guide me along.

20... I don't know I am okay with my birthday this year. Not really really excited.. but still happy. I guess being 20 does not make me feel old. I still feel young :D It still amuses me when I tell people I am 19, and people will go you're so younggg! (okay this group of people are usually.. 25-30 year olds hahaha). So I guess that is one factor. Secondly, I know for sure mentally I have lost my teenhood last year. It is at the point when my friend said, "welcome to adulthood". The timing makes perfect sense.. annd also the circumstances lol. I know I can be treated as an adult without trying hard :) It's all in the minds. Meanwhile I can still amuse people with my real age :)

Anyway, can't wait for Oscars on Monday!

New Year

Hello everyone. I have not written for ages.. so it is time to update you on my life!

The past week has been the most torturous, tiring week I have experienced ever in my life. I survived the whole week sleeping 4-5 hours for about 5 consecutive days. Thankfully there wasn't any particular moment when I turned into a zombie (aka brain jam)... and that there is royal jelly lol. I think if not for taking royal jelly pills for that whole week, I would be having flu now. Everyone is having flu now. Though the weather is better, last week the winds were full blast. Singapore had never been as chilly before.

I had my first gym class last week, taking it with one of my friends. It is "Cardiodance" lol. I guess you can sort of tell what it is from the name. It is basically dance lessons that aim to mainly exercise your core muscles haha. I have not really exercised for ages, and joining this course is my excuse to exercising. Or else I do not think I would never ever bothered with setting time aside to exercise (but this may change. My mom has just relocated my exercise shoes, which means I can go jogging again! haha). The cardiodance class was one-hour long... and the first lesson was torturing in a good way. We danced to Britney Spears' Womanizer lol. The next day, my abs were aching madly. Waking up from the bed was painful.. and most annoyingly sneezing was rather painful as well. But it was all for the good cause of having fitter body!

I had also been going to theatre classes. It started two weeks ago, and takes place every Thursday evening. So far, I am enjoying the classes! It always helps to forget all the stress from schoolwork. Prior to joining, I was in dilemma of whether to sign up for it. I signed up eventually, and went to what I thought is an interview, which freaked me out! It turned out that I think it was more of a get-to-know session, not an interview haha. I hope this workshop will help me decide to ever pursue acting. But if I don't pursue acting, I guess it will be helpful in teaching me skills to be able to communicate with actors when directing films in the future.

This semester's classes are less fun than the previous semester. Analytical Skills and Creative Thinking was tremendous fun, and I understood Financial Accounting and Business Government Society classes. This semester, I still need to fully grasp Business Law. Technology and World Change can be seem meaningless. I feel that I haven't contributed enough for Leadership and Team Building. And Academic Writing can be a pain in the ass. Management Science is the only one that has been okay (thanks to the lecturer who used to like to say "you know", but now he likes to say "okay"). I hope to be able to catch up eventually, so that I won't have to panic when near exams.

I need to start reviewing movies I saw this year! So that at the end of the year, I will be easier for me to tell which movies I like :)

Vicky Christina Barcelona (7.5 out of 10 stars)
Everytime I think of this movie, I will think of the distinctive opening song. It is so catchy! Anyway, the movie was a great one for relaxing and having fun. Scarlett Johansson's character becomes more annoying as the movie progresses, and I feel that the friendship between her and Rebecca Hall's characters could be strengthened (there is not really a chemistry between them?). Javier Bardem looks sleep for half of the movie. However, Penelope Cruz really steals the show, as the cursing, cynical ex-wife of Javier Bardem's character. The storyline may be cliche, but the film manages to give a fresh perspective towards the subject. And of course, Spain serves as a wonderful, beautiful backdrop to the story. So, if you are looking for a movie to enjoy with your gal pals, consider this movie!

Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (8.5 out of 10 stars)
You may be wondering what type of weird movie has such title. Well, it is a Japanese cartoon :) This is Ponyo... She is suppoed to be a goldfish-cum-mermaid.


Anyway, when watching Ponyo, I realised I do really miss 2D cartoons (well, long after watching "Perspolis" lol). The drawings are beautiful, and the music really lifts up the atmosphere of each scene. Ponyo managed to make me forget all of my life's stress (I watched it while bogged down by assignments) and made me laugh like crazy. Of course, being a movie targeted by kids, some parts do not make sense. While watching this movie, do not think too far, release your inner innocent, child inhibition and just accept the facts presented by the movie! Sometimes you should not take life so seriously, and watching this movie is one of those times. And.. remember to sing along to the theme song at the end lol.

The Visitor (7.0 out of 10 stars)
I went to see this film for the reason of it to be called one of the most underrated movie for 2008 in many reviews. Richard Jenkins gave a delicate, restrained performance as the title character which experiences a life-changing event which forces him to re-examine his attitude towards life and others. The movie started well, but sadly towards the end it got too melodramatic. Thankfully, the movie manages to give a poetic last scene. This movie is not a must watch, but if you do watch it, just enjoy it :)

Happy-Go-Lucky (7.5 out of 10 stars)
I had this movie's wallpaper as my laptop's background for some time, and when the lead actress won Golden Globes, I was really motivated to see the movie! I can somewhat relate to the protagonist in this show. Sometimes, it can be challenging when you are the only optimistic person in a group. Life poses problems that challenges your optimistic view towards life. A line said by the protagonist to her best friends sums everything up in the movie: "You keep on rowing, and I'll keep on smiling." The protagonist can be a difficult character to play, since giving her too much zest in life will make her character two dimensional. Sally Hawkins presented a splendid performance, and her character is real (and could exist in the real life). This movie is filled with some funny moments that challenge her optimism. Though I feel the ending is a bit rushed (like late introduction of her 'boyfriend'?), I think the last scene speaks a lot.

That's all for now. I will update again soon :)

To Be in HK

I just ate Cha Soba from Sakae Sushi in Changi Airport, and it is the most horrible Cha Soba I have ever eaten. It is too stiff and cold! Conclusion: never ate anything from Sakae Sushi in Changi Airport. I still love Sakae Sushi though :D

Off to Hong Kong in about 20 minutes time. The construction under Terminal 1 is sending vibration to my feet haha. I hope that everything that I am planning to do in Hong Kong will be realised (and not be spoiled by him).

Cheers.

Tales

Today is my third day being back in Singapore. It has been quite busy, with the increasing activities involving SMU Film<3Fest. Marketing has been our prime focus now, and in the past two days I finished doing our website (on Wordpress, which sadly doesn't allow free CSS customising) and Facebook group. I am happy with the results thus far (albeit feeling helpless on wanting to increase the wordpress' page font size).

Today I went for an interview for the Office of University Events. I was already expecting kind of a corporate stuff, but still felt uneased when left waiting in the meeting room alone, with its long table and two rows of chairs. The interviewer didn't give me chance to even say "Good Morning", and forgot to introduce himself. Yes I know his name, but I think it would be nicer if he could say his name again? It turns out that if the job title goes by the name of event assistant, it means helpers-cum-ambassadors for events, and most probably no involvement in the event organising stage. It is all about execution! The pay would be S$8.18 per hour if you do the event, and the guy told me that one event roughly takes 4 hours. I could not help being amused when seeing my CV, he went we don't do arty farty stuff. Inside me I went, "Yes sir, I know your office only deals with corporate stuff."

The interview was okay, but could be better. I don't know what questions to ask him, since there was a lack of information before the interview, and that through his briefing he had kinda answered the questions that I had beforehand.

To make matters bad, I met a person whom I absolutely hate on my way out of the floor. Sigh, why do I have to see her?

Anyway, after that I went to the National Library. I managed to have a proper read of the Moulin Rouge moviebook. I was surprised to find the inspiration of the story (which is of greek myths) and that the elephant set took about 2 months to build, 2 days of shooting and 2 minutes of destroying the set hahaha.

The most interesting I read in the library was the Grimm brothers fairy tales. It was amazing that reading fairy tales as an adult you may see the stories in different manners. The version I read was original and annointed, so some explanations were included on certain parts of stories. I was amused that in the original frog price story, the frog got thrown against the wall by the princess when he requested to sleep on her bed. And then the frog turned into a prince hahaha. The version that most of us had known got the princess kissing the frog before him turning into a prince haha.

I read Little Red Riding Hood, and found it quite stupid that she didn't recognise the wolf pretending to be grandmother haha. And then the part where the hunter stab open the wolf's stomach to rescue Little Red Riding Hood and Grandmother and then sewing it back... that is sooo like C-Section hahahaa. Guess what, in a different version of little red riding hood, little red riding hood was supposed to do striptease to the wolf O_O Hahahahaha. Yes, there are actually some sexual connotations to fairy tales, and of course we would not be aware of them when we are young. Some scholars (yes there are folklore scholars) deemed the pricess' relationship with the frog in the frog story as a metaphor as a young girl being disgusted by male genitals (represented by the frog), and then when the frog asked her to do some stuff like put him on the dining table and eat dinner him, it is like the evolution of domestic relationship. His request to get to her bed supposedly refers to marriage. So his transformation to prince represents the princess being comfortable with marriage (does that make sense?)

Till the next entry.

A Quote

When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle,
Then I realised God doesn't work that way,
So I stole one and prayed for forgiveness

-Emo Philips

My Head Wonders Far

Holiday is here! After the 15 weeks journey of school, I think this holiday is a really well-deserved one :) I am currently in Jakarta... and will be so for about 2-3 weeks. Before I left for Jakarta, I managed to borrow 2 scriptbooks: Little Miss Sunshine and the Truman Show, and a book on acting. I considered borrowing the scriptbook of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but decided not to, since it had only been a short time since I last saw it! Sadly, I could not find the scriptbook to Lost in Translation, or else I would have borrowed it!

My first plan to do in Indo was actually to finish taking up my business course. Sadly, I found out the ongoing round was finishing! So now I am left to spend of my days here at home... which I am not really complaining haha. I have started reading the acting book... and it has allowed me to learn more the craft of acting, which can be tedious and arduous. I do still want to act a bit here and there, but I know my acting kinda sucks in some ways haha. But still, I will try! But most importantly, learning more about acting will help me next time when I start directing movies. I think that, since actors take up most of the screen time in movies, it would be extremely important to be able to communicate with them and to motivate them to perform to the best of their ability!

This somewhat reminds me of the scriptwriting class that I want to take up. It will be happening in March 2009 in Singapore. But, yesterday when I checked the price, I realise it could be way more expensive than the 2-day film school, which is crazy! O_O The price for Singapore course had not been released, but the student price for the Manila course, when converted to Singapore Dollar, was almost S$700! Tina Fey had attended this scriptwriting course before... and had read its book before! So since this book cannot be found in the National Library, I am thinking of purchasing the book from Kinokuniya first. When I checked online yesterday, it cost only S$29! Hahaha. I guess S$29 would be a better investment for now? I am also afraid that what had been taught in the 2 day film school will contradict with what was taught in the scriptwriting course. We will see...

I had a strange dream last night. I dreamt I was helping out in a film production and Christian Bale starred in it. The film was about him and a group of soldiers fighting an annaconda lookalike O_O Then at the end of the day shoot, I met him with the production head... then the production head told me that I will have to send Christian heated unagi rice on a banana leaf for the next day production O_O I don't know why heated unagi rice on a banana leaf haha. Anyway, I recalled thinking he looks good when I was in the dream hahaha.

Until the next entry.

My Brain.. My Brain.

My brain simply loves Ryan Gosling too much. I watched "Quantum of Solace" yesterday, and was beyond happy to see Daniel Craig in suits and getting dirty.

And then my brain gave me a Ryan Gosling dream last night. I dreamt that we were in some game where we have to take care some traditional Japanese house, and avoid ourselves getting killed by the Japanese Samurais in armour O_O And then there were some parts where he introduced some book on flowers to me! Hahahaha. But then again, unfortunately I didn't really get to experience lucid dreaming. When I told myself, "Kiss him!" I sort of woke myself up. Hahahaha.

I guess my brain had dedicated itself to Ryan Gosling a long time ago.

By the way, Quantum of Solace was simply brilliant. More action-packed and fast-paced than the first story. Whether you would like it more than the first one depends on whether you are looking for more action from Bond, or for more in-depth story of personality from Bond. After the great origin story from "Casino Royale", I was expecting more action-packed Bond. Like my friend, Steph, said, they covered water, air and foot chase. Hahaha. The front sequence sort of reminds me of Bourne: the car chase in the tunnel, then the foot chase on the roof. I love especially the opera sequence, was not expecting something like that in an action-packed show. Anyway, as I said, you will either like or hate this movie :)

I simply have no current movies to watch left haha. It seems more interesting movies will come out the beginning of next year, which I am fine with. Maybe it is time for me to catch up with my DVD watching again hahaha.

Voom... Doubleness.

Though it could have ended on a better note, examinations are still over! OVER! Yay. Now, with the holiday, I am looking forward to doing things outside schoolwork! I had the privilege of sharing this with Zita today... since we went to the National Museum to visit the two ongoing photo exhibitions, which are part of Season of Photography. The first exhibition was Voom Potraits by Robert Wilson, while the second one was Doubleness by Chang Chien-Chi. These two exhibitions are rather contrasting, but they are appealing in their own unique way.

Robert Wilson is an artists whose works are mainly on the fine arts and operas. His Voom Potraits works contain videos that represents portraits. The subjects of videos include personalities like Dita Von Tesse and Princess Caroline of Monaco, and actors such as Johnny Depp, Robert Downey Jr, Brad Pitt and Steve Buscemi. In each video, the subject was very still, or performed little actions. Somehow, these little actions broke the barriers between the flat dimension of a still potrait and a life action potrait. When the subject is still, it only seems that you are staring at a potrait. But when the subject begins to perform his or her action, you realise that there is something more to the potraits. Another thing that I find intriguing was what was the cutoff point of these videos? These videos seem to loop seamlessly and endlessly. I don't know where is the beginning and ending point of the potrait. Was the person supposed to move at all? Was there more story to the potrait that I don't know of? These interesting questions kept coming into my mind.

From the fine art side, we move on to documentary style of photography. Chang Chien-chi's potraits are intimate and truthful works. In this exhibition, he covered three themes. The first was on the illegal migration of Fuzhou's villagers to work in New York City. The story was really heartbreaking and surreal in some manners. Yes, these men living in New York City are living their American dreams of earning more money, but because they are smuggled into the country, they have no way back to Fujian to see their families. I found the most depressing part was when I saw the video and photos on these men relying on porno and sex doll to satisfy themselves. Masturbation is not funny at all in this sense.

The second part was on a temple-cum-mental-institute in Taiwan, where each insane person was chained to another person considered less sane. The pair would do their routines chained together for the whole day, except for when they sleep. It is believed that this method would help to cure these mentally-ill people. From some of the pictures, you can tell which ones are of the less sane. Somehow I get a sense that these people have been used to being chained to another person. But at what point would one consider both of these people to be cured? And what do the saner think of less sane, and vice versa? Do they get chained willingly everyday?

The last part of the exhibition was on the wedding match practice in Asia. The part where I found most intriguing was when each of the couple pose in front of a mock bouquet with mock champagne... to create a mock celebration of their wedding. Another set shows the couples reading the legal requirements. The relationship between the couple was obvious in some. Some were more intimate while others are more distant (with obviously no connection yet). When I was in this part of the exhibition, I do realise that this practice was only prevalent in Asia. It's not really prevalent in Western countries. There's this one photo where the women are sitting down in groups, and I somewhat felt these women are commoditised in this practice!

As you can probably tell, I found Chang's works really inspiring.

It reminds me of what I hope to accomplish if I become an artist. I want to bring into light issues that the society is not aware of. Through this, if there is the need, change could implemented for the better.