珍惜

不可以！

不可以向生病的人行大礼

你要是行了礼就等于送我走上黄泉路了－郑尚宫遗言

到了离别之时郑尚宫还是不肯接受韩尚宫最后的行礼

This few days, the hot topic was the passing on of Xu Weilun....... A Taiwanese idol actress who acted in many idol dramas

Actually, though I have never watched any of her shows, and I dont know her well, I still felt it was quite 可惜.....

She is really quite young, and to leave us in a car accident is really quite sudden..... Just within seconds, she crossed from the human world into the jaws of death.....

No matter who came to know of this sad news, whether we know her or not, we will all feel a unexplainable sense of loss as well as sadness

And as usual, after the sudden death of a celebrity, the blogs, media and people will go back to the SAME OLD WORDS......

Life is too fragile, so we must learn to TREASURE the people around us...... TREASURE?

生命太脆弱了，我们要懂得珍惜身边的人.....

珍惜？

珍惜？

And then after that, most people go back to their old ways...ignoring people, frittering time away on other seemingly important things, watching TV, fighting and arguing for worthless truths, getting angry at the ones you love......

As long as the loss doesnt hit you directly, you wouldnt feel it.... You wouldnt really learn.... Waiting for the loss to take it to your doorstep, then maybe you will.....

人就是这样。口头上说的话大多不算数。

我们常常说要珍惜身边的人，可是我们真的做到了吗？

既然说了，那为什么不做？

如果你现在已经学会珍惜身边的人，那很好。

如果你在等人家来珍惜你，请不要！

并没有！并没有这个人......自己好好珍惜自己吧。对自己好一点

我想，天下间最懂得珍惜我的人，还是我自己

至少我在黄泉路上对得起自己

True Colours

I see your true colours.... shining through

I see your true colours

And thats why I love you

so dont be afraid

To let them show

True Colours......

I love this song..... So beautiful... Lately there is this inspirational commercial that linked those girls which thought they were ugly but they are not with this song.....

And the song got stuck in my head after awhile.... Liked the ensemble singing better than Tanya's version because it is simply uplifting...

Okay, but not going to sing this song for the competition on Thursday...... Too simple liao

Going to sing some song that has a rhythm so fucking difficult to catch that even gekleng got no idea what is going on....

Logic is simple: If my rhythm becomes gone-fuck nobody will know..... Haha brilliant

Then followed by Superwoman by Gary Cao-Ge..... Plan to murder the song (in Simon Cowell's words) as well as everybody else who dares enter the room....

In 孔明兵法, this is called 不战自败 or 不攻自破..... Haha

Kudos to Serena Willians who won the Australian Open on Sunday.... Or was it Saturday?

Anyway I love comeback stories..... Got so many people say she way past her best and even commentators thought that Sharapova will trash Williams.... But Williams really worked very hard to prove them wrong...

Thats the great spirit..... Reminds me of the time Venus Williams rallied and beat the much favoured top-seed Lindsay Davenport in 2005 Wimbledon (or was it 2004)

Just like my comeback on the mahjong table on Saturday as well..... After half a year of losing streak, I finally came home in style as mahjong god......

At first it looked set to continue to be a bad streak for me but suddenly the tables literally turned on DaeGekLeng and Boonseng.....

Thats my true colours..... A mahjong God.

Haha

Singaporean IDOL

This few days there is some sort of excited buzz going on in my world.....

Friends are going mad about an event that is about to take place next thursday.... I imagine them working themselves into a crazy frenzy (hey! it rhymes) over the last few days

全城语论所在, 年度音乐盛事

On thursday, there will be the greatest battle of the century between the singing greats of my world.....

Me versus Rachel.... What a devastating battle it would be for the world

箭在弦上, 不得不发....... To prepare for this war of the greats, I practised for awhile and prepared some surprises...... I may be good, but cant be complacent....Haha

This time round, there will be no more anymore staple songs for the fight......Only songs that I hardly ever sung before in previous karaoke sessions.....

So look out Rachel....Haha

Hope I wont 兵败 K-box.

The Room and My Musings

'Sexy never went away'

That was what the pint sized rocker Prince replied to reporters when Justin Timberlake said he is bringing sexy back into music.

Ouch!

Prince got character right? Wonder if our superstars got character to say this kind of things or not.... Probably not.....

Noticed how the rain went away after RAIN left the country.....

Thank goodness....

Can he like come once a 1000 years..... The florists at Thomson Road would agree.... Haha

Manchester United lost to Arsenal again.... Ouch. But Well well, we all take it in good stride.... And it only increases my dislike for Henry even more thats all.....

Saw this signpost: 'NUS is a smoke-free campus. Be part of this healthy community'

Quite amused because I wondered if it means that we could all smoke like free..... And whoever said that non-smokers are always healthy?

Okay, Brainforest people, dont come after me.... Just for laughs.... We got to have a sense of humour, remember?

Lately heard alot of complains about people not doing work and people doing half-baked work......

People. Lets get back to work and work really hard......

That you have alot of work to do is not an excuse for you not do hand up work that is required of you....

Its even worse of an excuse to do half-baked work.....

One of the most important and valuable lessons I have learned in 2006 is that if you cannot cope with your workload, dont take up so much work.....

But if you are already on the pirate ship, be a good pirate....

Huiling once said that Stage Managers will be reborn as trees in their next lives because they use up so much paper in this life..... So you can imagine how much paperwork a SM has to handle.....

Much MORE a Production Manager....

So dont give excuses anymore.... Lets all work it out..... Or quit.

Dont worry, come August you are going to see me suffer as well..... If you think I talk cheaply...

Can I get any more obvious what I am talking about? Haha

I have done up the room in my mind....

Do you like the colour? Is the bed big enough for you? You want your own TV?

How about the curtains? Is one bookshelf enough?

The table big enough for you to pile everything on top and still have space to write?

One pillow enough? Comforter or Blankets?

Happy?

One last question.

Will we both see the day when you are going to use the room?

Haha.... Molecular Bio lecture must be killing my brain cells.... Thats why I am going mad....

Everything BUT The Brain

Today I went to watch a very good English play at Esplanade Theatre Studios.....

By Action Theatre called Everything But The Brain. Starring theatre veterans Gerrard Chew and Pam Oei

The script was well done and layered properly... but honestly, I didnt really like it because it was abit too wordy..... The cast spoke at great lengths.... Almost like a word-vomit session.... Could literally see the cast vomitting words....

Wonder if Pam Oei felt like dying when she was trying to memorise all her lines.... I would....

Everything was just imaginative..... very creative.....

OMG!! Everyone in the world is like turning crazy over Spongebob lah.....

I guess its all right.... I like Mr Squarepants and his dumb friend Patrick too..... Its like really so stupid that it becomes funny....

Everytime I watched Nicklelodeon I would be literally laughing out loud.... And not all the fake LOLs I put into my messages when someone tries to tell me something stupid

The jokes uses everything but the brain of the writer.... Haha

Very few things make me laugh out loud.... Sometimes not even 全民大闷锅

So Spongebob is really good I guess..... Hey everybody, get onto Spongebob Express now.... And laugh your troubles away....

But do you realise something?

I can never ever be Spongebob... And you will never ever be Patrick.....

Because unlike Spongebob, I have way too many inner demons I need to fight....

And for you? You are not as carefree and 放得开 as Patrick....

Please loh..... You have a brain, Patrick doesnt

Maybe I am thinking too much..... Maybe you never ever wanted to be Patrick in the first place.....

Today went Safra with DaeGekLeng after the show..... He wanted to discuss our short films... For those who still dont know who is DaeGekLeng he is the one-half of the now de-funct pop group called Yesterday (See MTV in previous posting)

Oh yah.... Talking about my short film.... I am going to make a make-or-break film... So I am looking for my actors liao..... Get ready to be the next superstars....

Back to the topic anyway, Safra Yishun is like damn fun.... I and Gekleng went to play arcade, bowling.... We wanted to play pool but decided against it because I was damn tired already.... So fast tired can only mean one thing.... I am getting old liao

Then we discovered some kiddy rides and I sat in one of them.... We love to do crazy things, especially when nobody is around to see you.... Then we sat in massage chairs.... And it was so fun and wonderful. But quite painful also......

And got one restaurant there damn cheap and wonderful ambience one..... My birthday banquet I want to hold it there.....Haha

Okay... enough crap.... Blog viewership is like going down by the minute.....

Haha

三台星主(Three Stars Platform)

天文: 如果观测三台星主，方可测出事情的成败, 局势的演变

昨晚我仰天观望, 三台星主主星倍明, 客星暗淡, 可说是吉兆.

我就站在这莫名其妙的城市当中看着一群人玩一个无聊的游戏

设立游戏的人就是看中有愿意玩这个游戏的人才会赚大钱.

只能说一句: 我很纳闷! 真的搞不懂为什么这些人为了什么? 你们都疯了吗?

连 BOON SENG 也参与其中！实在让我大吃一惊..... 我看不只一惊, 两三惊都有吧!

打战是需要出兵的......如果你军马以足, 我没话好说....这个年头, 谁钱多谁说的算....

可是偏偏有人没钱或生活在水深火热之中还要玩这个游戏, 不好意思，我真的没办发认同......

我非常清楚你们的原因.....但是恕我不能认同

到最后只会有一个问题没办发解决: '然后leh?'

不需留言说我假装与世无争.....我不是.....我只不过没你们那么执着罢了

记得：如果想预知天象如何，可观测三台星主

不过，请切记: 天象无常

Zheng Shanggong

Today went huayguan after lunch.......

Had a long and inspirational chat with Xiu-ju laoshi......

She really brought great insight into my artistic life..... and with better understanding of her, I am quite confident that I will be less afraid to work with her in future.....

Glad because she said some things that I really agreed to.......

And I am happy that she shares my views on certain things in huayguan and in theatre..... she understands..... Very comforted to know I am not the only one who thinks like that in huayguan

And most importantly, though not in exact words, she pointed out what I always believed in:

天下间最难的事就是人的事了

Almost made her feel like Zheng Shanggong for awhile..... But not so motherly...... more like a teacher......

I am glad i have such a good laoshi....

Look forward to work with her in August......

Meanwhile,

I very hungry... Give me your arm or I will blast a hole through you with my all powerful yiyang finger technique..... Haha

My balls are laughing.... Haha

Call me petty..... but that doesnt mean I am not angry anyway

Pan's Labyrinth

A song goes like this:

And there's a danger in loving somebody too much.....

And its sad when you know, its your heart you can't trust.......

There's a reason why people dont stay who they are.....

Baby sometimes love just ain't 'nough.....

Yes.... I realised that you put yourself in grave danger when you love somebody too much..... Actually it already hit me in 2002....

But people never learn.... not even if you are an adult...... In emotional terms, we are always the kids that we were when we were young

The most scary thing is that you cannot trust your own heart.......In a relationship, whether friendship or love, you cannot even guarantee that your own heart wont change......

I thought it was going to be forever........ But I had the first change of heart in 2004....... And several months later came the end of a friendship that lasted for as long as the geography textbook was in my room.....

There's a reason why people dont stay who they are......

Yeah, and I really want to know why...... I know already!....... There are other people around..... That's why people change

Its kind of funny because who would have thought that I would learn about this only today..... and of all days today.....

My final conclusion?

Sometimes, love really just isnt enough...

So what if you really loved someone with all your heart? Big fuck?

Hearts are often broken by words left unspoken.....

Some people have long made up their minds about stuff but deny it vigorously......

I hate the infinite skies for its cruelty towards me..... It allows others to make me suffer but not the other way round......

Today

I watched Pan's Labyrinth

And it was the most beautiful film I have watched in a long long time

全岛首播

Latest Video featuring Singapore's very own '2morrow'

We are called 'Yesterday' (无耻烂品) Haha

High High High

He said, "是你有负于我在先"

一句任性的 "是你有负于我在先" 断送了9年的感情

对你，我现在要大声的说一句"对不起"

对你，我有愧

其实，是我负了你

可惜，如今有愧又有何用？

天下间最难的事就是人的事了

Curse of the Golden Flower

Yesterday nothing to do..... Then tze decided to pay for half of my movie ticket so we went Toa Payoh to watch Curse of the Golden Flower......

Thanks haha...... But hor, the rest of you dont go and bug her for movie tickets hor..... Unless you get her presents from Taiwan.... Haha

Anyway hope to meet the rest of you soon.... The presents are piling up on my table and I want to clear out everything....

Though now I can use an occupied table as an excuse to my mom not to do homework... Haha

Back to the movie......

Curse of the Golden Flower is Zhang Yimou's latest film, loosely based on the landmark Chinese narrative written by Cao Yu, Thunderstorm (雷雨)

Masked under a big budget and grand settings, it is really a socio-political commentary on China at heart..... At this point, Zhang Yimou has already hauled himself out of the pit that consisted of his last two films, Hero and House of the Flying Daggers.....

He failed with the previous two because he was being more of a cinematographer rather than a director.....

The crysanthenums used and imagery of rebellions wearing scarfs of crysanthenum were an obvious reference to China's tumultuous political history..... Blood was often seen drenching the scarfs that the rebellions wore.... indicating the bloodiness of the political sacrifices of the past

Iconography was put to good use by Zhang here......

The scene where the rebellions were trapped in a square-like yard was Zhang's take on the Tiananmen Square Incident, the part of Chinese History that the communist government chose to be oblivous to.....

Images of soldiers being crushed under heavy juggernault iron walls and being shot to death by arrows were reminiscent of rebellion students being rolled over by army tanks as well as shot by guns on that fateful day on Tiananmen Square.....

The King's iron-fisted rule on his country as well as family ultimately resulted in lives being lost on a national scale.... Zhang is stamping perhaps his personal opinion on the communist government here.....

With such solid layering in the script, it is probably Zhang's best film out of the three martial art blockbusters that he made in recent years.....

Despite all these mertis, Zhang has still bit way to go if he wants to catch up with Ang Lee's benchmark gongfu film, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and acheive something great

It is indeed a joy in watching Gongli act.... If you are able to see past her cleavage and concentrate on her acting, you would realise Gongli has a charismatic screen presence, carrying her role with natural gravitas.... A very much welcome change from the hollow prancing by another Chinese Superstar: Zhang Ziyi

Chow Yun Fatt is not exactly at his best like during Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon but he still carries the role with enough dignity....

The rest is not worth a mention, not even Liu Ye

The martial art cheorography is not well done, and looks suspiciously like Yuen Wo Ping's style

It is easy to dismiss all these big budget martial arts epics as cultural products made to pander to the Westerners......

But not all of them are like that.....So I go to the cinema time and time again, in case I miss a good one.....

And I am glad I didnt miss Curse

Rating: 3.5 stars

Cheebye Dogs

I really hate stupid dogs.....

Lately I keep jumping out of my skin... literally...... because of some stupid dog which barks when you least expect it.

I have a neighbour who has two dogs..... And I sometimes wonder if he got them from the IDMH (Institute of Dog Mental Health)

Whenever I walked by my neighbour's house on my way home or on my way out, they always dash towards the door and bark madly, maybe like one particular opposition politician who is now in alot alot of trouble

And they bark when I least expect it.... So I get the fright of my life all the time..... And the owner always wait for the dogs to finish barking before coming out to control them...... SO considerate..... Why dont you just chain up the stupid dogs and put filter funnels around their stupid mouths?

Or collect their bodies when I am done letting their blood flow......

At first I just fume silently after I get multiple heart attacks within a split minute.....

But soon I had enough... so I decided to retaliate.....

At first when they start barking, I said 'shut up bitch' out of the owner's earshot.....

My friend keep telling me to be nice to animals but I was like: 'Really what... I never say wrongly.... They really are bitches what'

Then when I realise instructions dont work on cheebye dogs, I started pointing middle fingers at the 2 dogs....Of course I cant let the owner see

And they seem to understand.... So they become afraid of me.....

Now the ravings stopped so I stop having cardiac arrests for awhile

Recently I watched 'Kungfu Hustle' again and I got an idea.... I think I am going to learn 'Lion's Roar' from Yueh Qiu.....

Should they dare bark at me again.....

Then I will roar at the cheebye dogs until they get blasted out of their skin

Lan Yu (蓝宇)

Lan Yu is a chinese gay film by Stanley Kwan (Jin Peng) set against the backdrop of China during the period of Tiananmen Square Incident.

It was filmed in a time when the Chinese was still very conservative about homosexuals and the topic is almost a taboo in China.....

The film was very bold in using explicit gay love scenes and other areas..... I think out of the many gay films I have watched, it is the closest any chinese film can get to gay pornography......

The male anatomy is usually protected from the silver screen even in European films where the Westerners are known for their liberal ideas. But in Lan Yu, it is being shown freely in the first few minutes of the film.....

Was actually quite disturbed by the gay love scenes for the night after I watched the show.... Because really very bold.....

I think it is a milestone for Chinese Cinema...... No wonder it caused a ruckus when it was being released back in the late 90s (or was it early millenium?)

Despite all the controversy that surrounds this film, I was surprised to discover that Ang Lee was not the first chinese director to handle the homosexual topic with great sensitivity with his now famous 'Brokeback Mountain'

Stanley Kwan did use the same amount of sensitivity in exploring the love between 2 men during a conservative time in a conservative place such as China.

So he must be applauded...... But I think I am too late.... Lan Yu has 10 Golden Horse Nominations, 5 wins including best director, best actor, best editing, best adapted screenplay, most popular film. It was also selected for Cannes Film Festival, the sacred ground for all successful indie films/arthouse fare/ great blockbusters

The actors were great as well.... Almost made me believe that they were really gay..... I wondered if how much vomitting they did after the bed scenes.... Haha

After a few years of separating and reuniting, after overcoming lots of obstacles, the main characters finally realised they were meant for each other..... But Lan Yu died due to a construction site accident.

I burst into tears when Lan Yu died...... Literally......

You could draw close parallels between Lan Yu and Brokeback Mountain.... They are really similar

One line from the screenplay impressed upon me very much:

两个人, 要是太熟了, 倒不好意思再玩下去了. 也就是说, 到该散的时候.

孔明兵法（二出祁山：孔明粮草不足，后虽取得粮草，却要撤军）

孔明曰：粮草虽足，但打持久战未必无患。倒不如出其不意撤兵，可免损兵折将。

Sometimes withdrawing might not help you achieve your goals, but it can prevent more hurt (有时候撤退不能帮你达成目标，但能免去更多的伤害)

When I know I have to withdraw, I will do it, even if I got 十万个不舍

明年，如果需要我撤兵，不管是否出其不意，我一定撤。

这对大家都好，你懂我的意思吗？

2007 Wishes

I dont like making resolutions..... Because if it is a resolution I would never be able to do it....

I dont have much resolve as a person....

I like to call them wishes... Like that I have a greater chance of achieving them....

1) Know DanXiaoGui Better.... Maintain our friendship and make it even stronger

2) Know her better.... 老谋深算, 不愧神也 such people are my type of people. Haha. Maintain our friendship as well

3) Maintain my friendship with Tze, Lin, Tian Zhenhan, Cai Yuxuan and Dessy and know them better

4) Achieve better results to become better than DaeGekLeng

5) Be same if not better friends with the rest of my friends

6) Control my emotions and my temper better

7) Earn more money

8) Be stronger

9) Achieve more things artistically

10) Continue to watch more theatre

孔明曰: 司马义谋我而谋之, 算我而算之, 要是街亭失守, 我军休矣

Taiwan Trip

Back from Taiwan after a seemingly long 8 days.

And these eight days were certainly fun and eye opening.....

So many things that Taiwan is better than Singapore......

The food is cheaper..... The service standard there is excellent..... Things are always bigger and more fun......

Really too long to tell you all everything so just divided the post into a few main segments.... Anything else you can ask in person.

Taipei 101 countdown

The fireworks were really very beautiful. I certainly did not regret coming all the way from Singapore to Taipei to see the NT30 million fireworks....

It will go down as one of my most beautiful memories in life.

Dear DanXiaoGui, how I wish you were here with me to see the mesmerising fireworks

But that was the only beautiful part about that day. The rest of the night before the fireworks, we spend the time walking long distances, turning street after street to find a restaurant to eat our countdown dinner.

Then we had to wrestle in the crowd to get a good view of the fireworks. Taipei itself have even more people then singapore. They are equally ugly like Singaporeans when they jostle in the crowds.... I almost got killed in a human wave. Lucky I was strong enough not to topple over.

After the fireworks, I was in one of my silent tantrums because there were alot of people pushing and crowding around. I was very tired because we walked great distances and I just wanted to go back to the hotel.

But the others wanted to watch the countdown concert so I had to follow.....

When we finally wanted to go back, we realise the entire city's transport system collapsed. There were no buses. The MRT system was FLOODED with people. Taxis were fully occupied and there is no cab-calling system.

The traffic lights were totally not working. Everywhere, people released fireworks like free.... Explosions everywhere. I always thought I was in Iraq.

Walked more great distances. Still cannot get taxi. Gave up. Went to a small but nice cafe to sit for the next three hours. Then we walked more great distances.

Finally we summoned all our luck to get a taxi. Relieved to get back to the hotel

Theatre Production in Taiwan (水浒传）

Watched a show in Taiwan. Called ShuiHuZhuan.... But it is a contemporary play. It was the longest performance that I have ever watched. 3 hours plus plus. Fell asleep during two segments

After watching the play, I only have three words to describe it and that is Beau-ti-ful.

If we took any one segment and compare the scripting, directing and acting to Singapore's theatre standard, we have a long way to go before we can actually catch up.

DanXiaoGui: Wished you were there to see the standard of the play. You would have loved it.

It was a true eye-opener for me.

Shopping and Eating in Taiwan

We shopped alot in Taipei and Hualien. Went to XimenDing (Taipei's Orchard Road), Chengpin bookstore, Danshui (渔人码头,老街）the various night-markets to shop shop and shop. Bought lots of nice clothes and DVDs and tool books on theatre.

All these were very cheap because in Taiwan, when they say discounts or sale, they REALLY meant sale or discounts.....

And there were alot of DVDs that could be found in Taiwan that we will never ever find in Singapore..... So I bought and bought.

But the irony of it. It is because everything is cheap in Taiwan that I am broke....

Bought all the nice titbits from Taiwan as well.... All those who have the fortune of coming my house will get to eat all the nice food......

The food in Taiwan is fantastic. Even the bentos in 7-elevens are FANTASTIC.

I ate various finger foods from all the night markets. XXL fried chicken fillet, glutinous rice sausages salted chicken pieces blah blah blah....Special thanks to Weiliang who brought us to eat the wonderful Ah-Gei and fishballs....

The milk tea there come in big portions and cheap prices

There were so many nice foods that I have eaten that I cant possibly name everything here....

Hey DanXiaoGui, too bad I couldnt share the food with you. You missed great stuff u noe? Haha

The food there is really fantstic.....

Hualien Farglory Ocean Park

Went down to Hualien to stay for 2 days. The pace of life there is really much much slower. Bought high quality muazi and some other stuff.....

The Ocean park there was damn fun. Because we went during non-peak period, there were only a cluster of people and we practically had the entire park to ourselves. There was no need to queue or wait for anything.....

I like it.....

Sat in a Viking Boat (海盗船) for the first time in my life. Sat at the very ends. The Viking Boat swung to a very high place. I was quite afraid

In the end, I yelled and yelled at the top of my voice. A taiwanese girl sitting in the same ride was amazed by how seemingly frightened I was. But actually I just wanted to get all the stress and angst out of my system....

She keep asking me at the end of the ride: 真的假的?

And she tried to pull me to go ride the Viking boat with her one more time..... But by then I was on an adrenaline high so I politely declined.....

The park was really really fun.....

Decided to form a impromtu group called 无耻烂品 with Gekleng and we filmed our first MTV on the highest tower of the park. You all will get to see the video soon on Youtube

DanXiaoGui, you would have loved it here. Too bad you cant come with me.

Friends

I made a new friend in Taiwan. She is a Singaporean and is Gekleng and Kunhua's friend.

She is a really nice person. So nice that even though I not familiar with her she will talk to me as if we are friends....

Havent seen such a nice person in a long time..... Okay lah DanXiaoGui, you were the last one before her. Haha

Thanks Cuiqin, for making this trip abit nicer than it would have been.

Conclusion

I bought alot of stuff so all of you will get something from me. The difference between me and other people if that I get personalised stuff for you and not mass-produced souveneirs.. So be grateful. Haha

These eight days in Taiwan I sorted out alot of things.... Whenever I had silent moments to myself I thought about all the things I need to think about......

So I am ready to declare: Kiantong is back