Whitney Houston - The Voice

i've never seen a singer with more poise and grace, nor greater conviction in voice than Whitney. At her prime, no one came close to her, not even Mariah in my opinion. That voice is a gift from god, as many have said. That powerful voice can easily match a huge choir and any loud band. All the more impressive was how she made every switch in notes and octave, vibrato and falsetto, look so effortless. she's always in control of the song. And it's not just sheer power in her voice; there's rhythm, there's confidence, and more importantly there's soul. you almost believe every word she sings.

her recent comeback was one high-profile return. A guest stint at Oprah, in which she opened up like never before; a number 1 album that sees her reuniting with her industry father Clive Davis; performances at the AMA, GMA, France, X-factor, and touring across the states. some were painful to watch, as u see her struggle to hit the notes and rise above the song, with the occasional crack in her voice. This is one of the rare few performances in which she sang and sounded beautifully, with a sign of former glory in her poised body language and confidence (i think she moves more when she's comfortable, with all the hand signs and facial expressions). and of course, the sight of Oprah singing along and in tears of happiness at her friend's return was a stamp of approval of a successful comeback. everything Oprah touches is gold; she is like the golden standard to everything that is right in life. whatever Oprah approves, you know you can do no wrong.

i remember slamming her album when it first came out a few mths back. in a strange turn of events (and tt's how life is), i cant seem to stop listening to that album every day. the first 3 tracks are incredibly hooky. i hope Whitney can harness that new-found raspiness in her voice, the way Aretha and Joni Mitchell did when their voice quality changed, and evolve to become a greater singer. watching her past youtube clips, i wished i was born earlier so that i cld catch her in the 1990s. i wish one of these days, she'll be gd enough for me to say that i wana watch 1 of her concerts before i die.


circa 1996


circa 150909, Oprah Winfrey Show

Breakthrough

While reading Colbie Caillat's CD sleeve, the message on it's last page could not have been more resonant and timely for what I'm feeling and going through recently:

"Hi. These songs are about growing up, experiencing life, love, making mistakes, and learning from them. I recently learned something about myself. For a lot of us, when life gets hard to deal with and keep up with, it becomes easier to give up on and let go of. I found myself doing that alot and I was slowly falling apart. But... I woke up from it. I realized I wasn't happy settling for less or letting myself become someone I wasn't supposed to be due to laziness. I had to Breakthrough my fears, my insecurities and my self doubt. There are so many batt;es that we all have to go through in life that are for us to learn from; we grow strong from them. I just learned this. I want to remind myself and everyone out there that we have to Breakthrough all the little things we tell ourselves we can't do because we are scared, and just step up and do them. This record is about becoming the person you want to be, having will power and letting nothing hold you back. So try not to let great things pass you by, start making things happen that you really want in life! I hope these words help you, if you are in need of them..."


This is the reason why people make records. This, as well as global domination.

These are very simple words, and probably something that everyone knows. However, sometimes we just need that bit of reminder, that gentle push, that wake-up call, for us to gain perspective and to see it from another angle.



I was looking at the drawings from Bec's recent painting trip. It suddenly dawned on me that I wouldnt know what to draw. That's the extent of my draught. I need some creative juices. Soon. Fast.

HERE WE GO AGAIN!

"Goodbye, Wild Card round! Welcome to Hollywood Week, Ellen DeGeneres! And everyone mark your calendars for Feb. 23! Those were among the major bullet points released when Fox announced key dates and details for American Idol’s ninth season this afternoon.

Idol’s ninth season is slated to begin on Jan. 12 (8-10 p.m. EDT) focusing on the show’s Boston auditions, and will continue the following night (8-9:15) with a pit-stop in Atlanta. The remainder of the audition-show slate will include: Chicago (Jan. 19), Orlando (Jan. 20), Dallas (Jan. 26), Los Angeles (Jan. 27), Denver (Feb. 2), and a non-city-specific compilation of the remaining best-and-worst auditions called “The Road to Hollywood” (Feb. 3). During the tryouts, the Paula Abdul Memorial Chair will be occupied by a rotating roster of guest judges, including Victoria Beckham, Mary J. Blige, Kristin Chenoweth, Neil Patrick Harris, Joe Jonas, Avril Lavigne, Katy Perry, and Shania Twain.

On Feb. 9, Idol switches focus to the Hollywood round, and that’s where Abdul’s permanent replacement, Ellen DeGeneres, will make her first appearance. “Hell Week” episodes will continue on Feb. 10 and Feb. 16, and the Top 24 semifinalists will be announced on the Feb. 17 episode.

The 24-semifinalist format marks a return to the game-plan that Idol favored in seasons 4-7 — whereby female contestants perform for three consecutive Tuesdays, and males perform on three consecutive Wednesdays, with the two lowest vote-getters of each gender getting cut each Thursday until the show is left with 12 finalists. The ladies’ semifinal performance episodes will air on Feb. 23 (AKA Power to the Idoloonies Day), March 2, and March 9; men’s semifinal performances are slated for Feb. 24, March 3, and March 10; and the semifinal results shows will produce copious tears on Feb. 25, March 4, and March 11. Absent from the Fox release is any mention of a “Wild Card” round, a controversial tool producers used to put more power in the judges’ hands during the show’s first, second, third, and eighth seasons.

The competition obliterates its gender divide on March 16, when all the show’s finalists will take the stage for a two-hour episode, and one unlucky singer will receive the Vanessa Olivarez Award for the Season’s Hastiest Finalist Dismissal during the March 17 results show (9-10 p.m. EDT). As previously announced, Fox will air all one-hour Wednesday Idol episodes at 9 p.m. beginning Jan. 27.

Below is the full slate of Idol dates leading up to the first week of finals, as announced by Fox. (All times are ET/PT.)

Tuesday, Jan. 12 (8:00-10:00 PM) Boston Auditions Episode
Wednesday, Jan. 13 (8:00-9:15 PM) Atlanta Auditions Episode
Tuesday, Jan. 19 (8:00-9:00 PM) Chicago Auditions Episode
Wednesday, Jan. 20 (8:00-9:00 PM) Orlando Auditions Episode
Tuesday, Jan. 26 (8:00-9:00 PM) Dallas Auditions Episode
Wednesday, Jan. 27 (9:00-10:00 PM) Los Angeles Auditions Episode
Tuesday, Feb. 2 (8:00-9:00 PM) Denver Auditions Episode
Wednesday, Feb. 3 (9:00-10:00 PM) “The Road to Hollywood” Auditions Episode
Tuesday, Feb. 9 (8:00-9:00 PM) Hollywood Round, Part 1
Wednesday, Feb. 10 (9:00-10:00 PM) Hollywood Round, Part 2
Tuesday, Feb. 16 (8:00-9:00 PM) Hollywood Round, Part 3
Wednesday, Feb. 17 (9:00-10:00 PM) Hollywood Round, Part 4 (Top 24 Semifinalists Announced)
Tuesday, Feb. 23 (8:00-10:00 PM) Top 12 Female Semifinalists Perform
Wednesday, Feb. 24 (8:00-10:00 PM) Top 12 Male Semifinalists Perform
Thursday, Feb. 25 (8:00-9:00 PM) First Results Show (ET live/PT tape-delayed)
Tuesday, March 2 (8:00-10:00 PM) Top 10 Female Semifinalists Perform
Wednesday, March 3 (8:00-10:00 PM) Top 10 Male Semifinalists Perform
Thursday, March 4 (8:00-9:00 PM) Results Show (ET live/PT tape-delayed)
Tuesday, March 9 (8:00-9:00 PM) Top 8 Female Semifinalists Perform
Wednesday, March 10 (9:00-10:00 PM) Top 8 Male Semifinalists Perform
Thursday, March 11 (8:00-9:00 PM) Results Show (ET live/PT tape-delayed) (Top 12 revealed)
Tuesday, March 16 (8:00-10:00 PM) Finalists Perform (ET live/PT tape-delayed)
Wednesday, March 17 (9:00-10:00 PM) Results Show (ET live/PT tape-delayed)"
---Michael Slezak, www.ew.com

Here's To Life

Now that Proms are over, I officially have the time (at least for now) to do the things that's long been gathering at the back of my head, as well as in all corners of my room. i've seen 2 movies in the last few days, caught a few episodes of HK drama Rosy Business, got down to reading, and managed to take a walk along Orchard Road. Town looks like it's just received a complete makeover. new malls are popping up all over the place faster than i can say hello. everywhere, shopping malls are upgrading and renovating, all with glassy exterior and tall ceilings, LED lights flashing, and colourful exteriors. They all look so generic, and seem to have lost their sense of identity. the only place that sticks out like a sore thumb is Lucky Plaza, which, after all the closing and opening of different sex shops, still manage to remain the heart of foreign workers.






So here's to life
And all the joy it brings
Yes, here's to life
And dreamers and their dreams

May all your storms be weathered
And all that's good get better
Here's to life
Here's to love
Here's to you

CSS Seniors' Prom 2009 - Season For Love

天不變地變

One would have assumed, that after 3 years of leading the CSS committee, and 1 year at JJ, I should be eating at the palm of my hands. The odd thing is that my confidence is inversely proportionate with the level of experience I have; a paradox that I myself find hard to believe. I feel like these few years could have been milestones. Somehow the way things are going on make me doubt myself sometimes; that I might have been doing all these in vain, due to bad leadership, poor human management, terrible life coaching. It is in times like this that I want to give up the most.

Every year during this time, I would whine about the trudges and missteps I've faced along the way. This year, I give myself credit for only writing this one entry of grievances. I feel like I need to let this go, through writing, so that I may move forward. The continuous pendulum of spurs of encouragements and disappointment is endless.

"Let go". These 2 words make me guilty, even embarrassed somehow.

But I know that through all these, I have become a better person. And perhaps that's all that matters.

2010 is already shaping up to be an eventful year. I have 2 writing assignments, an event in March, tons of gigs, and endless possibilities. i should be glad.

Instead, I seldom am.

Hallowen at St James 2009

ok. I've made a pact with the angel to refrain from clubbing. But my abstinence took a break when we celebrated Halloween at St James last Sat. it was the most fun clubbing can get: gang fights, drunk people acting stupid, and most of all, fantastic costumes! it was such a hilarious sight that it made up for the loonnnnggggggg queueeee. kudos to Shawn for getting me in =) I saw alot of ppl looking worse than ghosts, but here's the most amusing ones i've seen:

- 3 Flintstones in LOAFERS!
- and mohs + Sporean men in SIA KEBAYA!
- the joker, the number 1 halloween costume, but without the sinister. it just looks like bad makeup
- Aladdin and his Egyptian kaki with a genie-lamp
- smokers with white makeup. they make smoking cooler and more deadly than live ppl. hahahah
- a one-man shower room, with curtains and scrub. (earlier that night we saw a woman clad in bath towel and scrub! they can make a pair!)
- buff topless dude with what looks like coal stain all over his body, dancing with girls. funny show-off
- LOTS OF LEOPARD PREENS! i BOOMZ-ed so many times!
-



why do good looking people club? or rather, why do clubs have so many good-looking people?! and why do some ppl think they're so good-looking they can hook up with girls and dance with them? and why do some guys think they have the coolest moves when the girl looks like she's being forced to dance weirdly?

clubs are weird places. but u'll see me at the next Halloween party for sure hahahah!

Loving Aretha

"Hearing Aretha is like seeing a sunrise. The colours dazzle; the world expands; our hearts are excited by possibility, hope, a glimpse of glory. An Aretha love song, even when the story is sad, soars with a spirit that defies defeat. Whether forlorn ballads or broken-hearted blues, Aretha draws on the highest power of inspiration. The material may be secular, but the source remains spiritual. Her message and inspiration come from the same place: the mysterious, inexhaustible nature of love."
Loving Aretha, by David Ritz





The above is an excerpt from the CD sleeve of Aretha Franklin's Love Songs compilation, which features a jazzy Aretha during her early Columbia days. There, you will find soul that belies her tender age, and a crisp clear voice without any trace of the rasp that is to come.

林宥嘉-說謊

Too moving, too sad.
I don't think Yoga has sang any better.

Aretha Franklin - Skylark

Aretha. Queen. Soul. Tour De Force.

IPPT

While waiting for my turn at the standing board jump during my RT, I felt a spur of encouragement when Shakira's She-wolf played over the speakers (they had 98.7fm playing throughout). I felt like I could dance and fly my way past the 216cm mark. But before it was my turn to jump, the song was over, and Adam Lambert's Time For A Miracle came on. I thought: what providence! My miracle of passing SBJ might finally come true today!!!! super psyched.

I guess my feet were just not used to the new SBJ mat because I failed yet again. damn. ADAM WHY NEVER SAVE ME!

On a brighter note, I passed my 2.4km at a surprising 12.02 timing. Surprise surprise. =)

Julie & Julia

After watching Meryl Streep's indelible performance, all that is ringing in my head right now is her high-pitched tone, bouncing off joyous "Bon Appetit!" and "Bon Jour!"

May I reiterate the question that millions of people around the globe already know the answer to: Is there anything that Meryl can't do?!?!?!

Fantastica






"you are the butter on my bread, you are the breath in my life."

TOY STORY 3 POSTERS!!!

I AM ALREADY EXCITEDDD!

Brad on Benjamin Button and Tyler Durden

"Benjamin Button" and "Fight Club" actually deal with similar themes: having a finite amount of time in life, and what we should do with it. But they come to such radically different conclusions. In "Fight Club," the response to mortality is nihilism, anarchy -
[Laughs] That was a Nineties conclusion. Now we have an Aughts conclusion. I actually never thought of what you just said. But it's probably true.

It's just, "Benjamin Button" feels very positive, but you could easily come away from that story feeling very bleak.
Yeah, I think it's open to...it's your choice. I find "Benjamin" is about those universal things we all share - that 95 percent that makes us all the same, wherever we are in the world. Our loves, our hopes, but also the loss that we all walk arounf with and hide very well, and the ultimate notion that we're all expendable. To me, it's a counterstatement to this divisive period we've been in, where we focused on the two, three, four five percent of ways in which we're different.

Had you read Fitzgerald's short story?
No, I still haven't read it. I was told it had nothing to do with the movie, really. I was moving full-steam on Eric's (Eric Roth, scriptwriter) version, which he based on that saying "Youth is wasted on the young."

- Rolling Stone interview, Mark Binelli, RS 1068/9, Dec 25, 2008 - Jan 8, 2009.

Life's a D'oh

Homer says it all with this expression.
But sometimes, too much comfort can be a disaster. Humans always need some excitement in their lives.
We need to lose it, in order to find it.
The pressure is getting harder and harder.
Time to move on, Loo.

Mosaic Music Festical 2010

Cat Power, January 13
I reviewed Chan (pronounced "Shawn") Marshall's first album of covers, "The Covers Record", a while back. Some of you may have seen, or heard, her most famous song "The Greatest" by now, through my postings here, as well as on facebook. Her smokey vocals and improvised live performance will leave me in rapture I'm sure.





Andrew Bird, January 26
Certain albums or songs serve as soundtracks to our lives, and there's also albums that mark your travels, like a travelogue that reminds you of the smell and sight of places. Andrew Bird's "Noble Beast", together with a Starbucks compilation of love song covers (I seldom, or close to never, buy compilation albums, unless they are supremely comprehensive and value for money, or have a consistency in its theme. In this case, it's the latter, and also features some of my favourite acts. hee), played like soundtracks to my surreal USA trip. In the way lady-luck smiled and awarded me with a fairy-tale-like victory, AB's album is filled with sounds from nature and creatures unseen or unheard, like an imaginery dreamscape. Mixing violins with his alluring yet unintrusive vocals, AB created an album of folk ditties that contrasted against the urbanised city, and soothes along with the man-made nature of Central Park. I've read positive reviews about the album, and thought I should give it a try. Moreover, it was on discount. My only regret was that I would miss his show at Madison Square Garden when I was there.



It is going to be an exciting January lineup and leadup to the birthday. YAY!

But it's a tad disheartening to know that no one around you appreciates the same things as you do. Love unshared is love without. But I guess I'll survive.

AR 3: Bat For Lashes - Two Suns

TWO SUNS is Natasha Khan's sophomore album, and the concept is a sense of duality.
"Two Suns revolves around Khan's "desert-born spiritual self" and her "destructive, self-absorbed, blonde femme fatale" alter-ego Pearl as it covers "the philosophy of the self and duality, examining the need for both chaos and balance, for both love and pain, in addition to touching on metaphysical ideas concerning the connections between all existence."" - www.allmusic.com

Listening to Khan reminds me of Bjork and Sarah McLachlan. The way she drags her notes and her use of nasals sound like the former, while the sensitivity and timbre in her voice reminds me of the latter. While never as brilliant as either, the strength of the album lies in its concept. Opening track is a good travelling song, but my favourite is actually her cover of Kings Of Leon' "Use Somebody". She gave that song a certain emotional immediacy that was slightly lacking in the original (it's probably her voice). While the album is not catchy and not one that you will put on repeat, what is admirable is the ambition and the use of a wide array of equipments in trying to create a emotional landscape.

A B- album. Not for everyone. Also nominated for a Mercury Prize.

recommended: Sleep Alone, Use Somebody

AR 2: Florence + The Machines - Lungs

Nominated for a Mercury Prize last year (the British equivalent of a Grammy Best Album), Florence + The Machines' debut album could not be more aptly named. Lungs, that organ through which we breathe and sustain, is also key to singing. We often associate a powerful voice with "lung-power", and this album is proof of that. Paying tribute to the organ notwithstanding (with references to "lungs" on more than 1 song), the album is also a display of the kind of "lung-power" Florence has. The album opens with "Dog Days are Over", and as she repudiates a life of slogging, it lifts the album and sets the mood for what is to follow. Subsequent songs have a similar sense of aggression in them, as she sounds like a modern-day Banshee storming through the songs with conviction and motive. It culminates in "Drumming Song", an exhilarating number with a catchy and infectious beat. And as she sings of the sound that is "louder than sirens, louder than bells" ringing in her head, it feels almost as if she is enjoying it.

Florence has mentioned that she is inspired by nature and trees, and as you watch her videos (watch it before it gets reported!), you will feel a sense of organic/Earth Mother as she traverse in gardens and churches, doing what resembles tribal dances.

An A album.

recommended: Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up), Drumming Song, Dog Days Are Over

The PEN Story

And Paul showed me a very interesting video. =)

Literally Now

Ok. Clara my favourite funny girl lived up to her name by introducing me this video. I thought it was damn funny! hahaha.

80s video with their bad hair and all.

Madonna - Celebration

This song is like STUCK IN MY HEAD!
Madge's latest boytoy plays a DJ in this vid. In the middle portion, she strips him and does some horny humping-gyrating action(alone), then pushes him away.
Prophetic, you say?

Singapore Idol boo hoo

Great! As if there's not enough wannabes on a talent-search show, Singapore Idol's first "Spectacular" Show's theme is a chart-topper night, and the promotional advertisement sees them channelling 13 chart-topping acts. And if that's not bad enough, there's always the matching outfit (the horrors that is a Lady Gaga blonde wig! and a Tina Turner gold mini-skirt!)to complete the imitation! whoopee!

Flipping through the 8-DAYS cover story, it seems quite a few of them have music background and talents. So come on! Don't ruin the talents and reduce them to imitations!

And buck up on song arrangements. They still suck after 3 years.


To adapt and modify Jade's golden words from ANTM:
This is Singapore Idol, not Singapore Copycat!

溏心风暴 Heart Of Greed

In the first minute, during the opening theme song, it's not hard to figure out what's going to happen: who is going to cry, who is going to fall down and get hurt, who will get slapped, who will meet with a car accident, who will die and how, who will be kissing who. The editor had put these images together, and we anticipate what will pan out. The excitement is in how they happen (how they cry, why one slap someone, how one dies), because in HK dramas, so much can happen within 1 episode.

There are no silent moments in most HK drama series. 97% of the time, someone is talking. 1% belong to recollections of past memories played to background music, 1% to having soup or dessert with family members, the other 1% to images of characters crying. Yet, the script is so well written and filled with meaningful lessons and playful banter. The romance between 程亮, 常在心 and 唐至安 is more romantic, heart-breaking, and utterly sweeter than anything on Fann-Christopher's phony milking-the-marriage tv show. On top of the script, credits go to the actors, who can cry as easily as freely whenever they please; and those huge chunks of lines they have to memorise!

In spite of its lack of subtlety, smooth editing, and smooth transition, the best thing about the show, or watching any show, is what you learn or bring away with you. Everytime 大契 speaks, and everything she said, is full of meaning and truth, so much that it made me cry sometimes. I learnt about values like kinship and respect, sacrifice and how to be a good friend.

It's all drama of course. Everything is staged and exaggerated, fictional, and nothing that happened in shows sometimes can happen in real life. Well, who's to say that. Say even if it's true, I'm glad that when I watch them, it gave me hope. Those laughter and tears were real though.

"甜的吃, 苦的也要吃"

AR 1 : Whitney Houston - I Look To You

There was a time when I thought Whitney has the best voice in the entire world. The ferocity with which she tackles the power ballads, the flexibility and fluidity with which she changes from singing voice to falsetto, the poise and elegance in her performances, the improvisations (though it bordered on terrible at times), and those big long notes (!) made her one of the most popular female singers of the 80s and 90s. "I Will Always Love You" stayed on the Billboard charts for a record 14 (I think) weeks at number one, until Mariah Carey broke the record with "One Sweet Day". Till today, The Bodyguard remains the best-selling movie soundtrack of all time.

So the hype was high when she returns with her touted-comeback album in seven years, free from Bobby Brown and crack coccaine, more candid and open and willing to succeed. Sadly, this comeback was not the kind I had hoped for.

Though brimming with the current crop of chart-topping producers and some old-favourites, the album cannot help but sound dated and languid in most parts. Alicia Key's opening track, Million Dollar Bill, sounds promising, and has a distinct Alicia-Keys signature ring to it. Unlike Whitney and Akon's collaboration, I'm glad she did not cheapen this song by guest-starring in it. Akon's now signature, though slightly off-putting, clanging-of-jail-cell sound just proves Whitney and her producers' desperation for a hit single by jumping on the Akon bandwagon.

One would assume that the singer of I Have Nothing, Greatest Love of All, and I Will Always Love You, arguably the biggest and greatest ballad of all, would be a master at it. Unfortunately, this album just proves that you need not only a big voice, but good songs to succeed. Title track I Look To You, an R. Kelly-penned ballad, is anti-climatic, and never did rise above the monotony at all. What a disappointment. I Didnt Know My Own Strength, by the mother of all ballad-composers, Dianne Warren herself, was slightly better. In both songs, Whitney's voice barely had the strength to carry them. She sounds inconfident and doubtful on both tracks, floundering as she could barely contain the huge notes, and limiting her falsetto to the minimum. So is the case on the other songs, missing the drive of her glory days, heck, of her previous album from 2001 even.

Her voice, once what I imagined to be a shining beakon of bright light, has now become one so hoarse that it only serves to remind you of Whitney-the-addict. While Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, even Joni Mitchell, made career breakthroughs with their change in tonal quality, it remains to be seen what Whitney can do with hers. This album sees her trying to regain the glorious days of the 80s, while being relevant to the present-day generation of Alicia-Akon listeners. A wild thought ran across my mind: why not work with Timbaland, he whom is responsible for many a career re-route? Look no further to Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake for successful examples. Whitney needs good materials and to regain her confidence. If breaking away from Clive Davis is the way to go, then do it. But if the recent Good Morning America concert, in which she performed 4 songs, were anything to go by, it might be a long long time before she makes a world tour. It was obvious she cracked, cant sustain, and couldnt reach the notes on most occasions (of which she blamed it on talking to much during interviews the day before). A singer should be responsible for the gift with which she makes money from. Those glory days I do hope they come.

In the meantime, I can only rely on youtube for hopes on that. Revisit the heydays of impossibly big ballads with huge arrangements, yet her voice still shone through, below.




Did't We Almost Have It All
Whitney was seldom this tender.


All At Once
This sounds very close to the album version, which is always a hard feat to follow. This was around 1985/6, after the release of her debut album.


All The Man That I Need
This ballad is SO HUGE it's crazy to imagine singing.

I've been wanting to do a mini-revamp to this site: from now on, I'm going to write album reviews, proper ones, in an effort to improve my English and critical appreciation for albums.

My intended maiden entry will be Whitney's new album, which I have tons to say but have put it off till now as a draft due to procrastination.


In tuition on Monday, student A hit student B on the head, which brought the parents from both sides to the tuition centre for a show-down. My very paparazzi (them probably Lady Gaga-inspired even, if not they might not even understand the word) students started a discussion the "abuse" and "violence" they've suffered under A, how when they play block-catching they will end up with finger marks on their arms, and how A will bully the boys in her class. In a very witty reply, my favourite Indian student Rohit Vij said this wonderfully funny line:

"She has no nervous system, cannot control her hand."




OK I thought that was really funny. hahahaha

Bjork - All Is Full Of Love

you'll be given love
you'll be taken care of
you'll be given love
you have to trust it
maybe not from the sources
you have poured yours
maybe not from the directions
you are staring at

trust your head around
it's all around you
all is full of love
all around you

all is full of love
you just aint receiving
all is full of love
your phone is off the hook
all is full of love
your doors are all shut
all is full of love!

all is full of love




Listening to Bat For Lashes, who sounds like a cross between Bjork and Sarah McLachlan, reminded me of this song. I believe I've posted this before; let us all be reminded that all, is full of love, even in the places you're not looking at.

One of the best MTVs I've ever seen.

NEW MOON!

SUPPOSEDLY to premiere at MTV VMA awards today. AWESOME!

Ellen as fourth judge: is this the end of 'American Idol' as we know it?

"Chalk me up as one of those people who greeted the news that Ellen DeGeneres is joining the judging panel for season 9 of American Idol with the sudden urge to drive a fork into my thigh and wake up from a strange and horrible nightmare. (Side note: We all do dream about Idol on a regular basis, right? Right.)

Now don’t get me wrong. I adore Ellen DeGeneres. As a comedian, that is. I’ve seen her live in concert twice. I watched every episode of The Ellen Show (her short-lived 2001 series with Cloris Leachman, not to be confused with the groundbreaking sitcom Ellen, which I also loved). Heck, I’d even tune in to something as hein as the People’s Choice Awards if they brought her in as host. But as a permanent replacement for Paula Abdul as the fourth judge on my very most favorite television show? Can I get a “hell to the no” up in here?

If you caught Ellen sitting in as a guest panelist a couple months ago on So You Think You Can Dance, then you probably understand my dismay. Ellen treated the gig like an extended (and extremely strained) standup routine, essentially making the focus all about herself while failing to provide even an Abdullian level of critical feedback. By ignoring her dismal, one-episode track record as a reality-show judge, Idol’s producers once again expose three deadly blind spots that continue to put at risk the short- and long-term health of television’s top-rated show.

1) American Idol is, always has been, and always will be about the contestants. The day the show stops churning out future Carrie Underwoods, Fantasia Barrinos, and Chris Daughtrys — performers who’ve reached superstar status in concert, on Broadway, and on radio — then it simply becomes another cog in the low-stakes reality-television wheel. So why have a fourth judge at all? Why take away precious screen time from the true stars of the show? I don’t know about you guys, but I’d have traded a thousand of Randy’s “for me, for yous” last season for just a few more seconds of singing from Kris, Adam, and Allison. Those kids — the ones who you’d never heard of in January, but whose music you can’t wait to buy in November — are the only A-list talents Idol should be worried about pimping.

2) Until (or unless) Ellen drops the “nice gal” persona, then she will not be representing the “people’s point of view,” which is how she described her Idol role while taping an episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show that will air today. People love Simon Cowell not for his taste in Hanes v-neck undershirts, but because he often has the courage to express on national television the exact — and not always polite — thoughts they’re having on their couches at home. Simon Cowell is the voice of the people. And my deepest fear is that in her new role, Ellen DeGeneres will be the voice of a beloved talk-show host and comedian who’s too concerned about damaging her public image to provide the kind of niceties-free feedback that the audience — and yes, the contestants themselves — need and deserve.

3) Credibility counts — or at least it ought to — when it comes to the judges panel. Which isn’t to say that Randy or Paula (or at this point Kara) necessarily represented a dream team of stimulating, high-minded feedback. Nor is it to say that an Idol judge needs to bandy about terms like legato or crescendo or “package artist” to do his or her job well. But look at the panel on Project Runway, for example. Even when I vehemently disagree with Nina Garcia, Michael Kors, and Heidi Klum, I never stop respecting them, nor do I find myself questioning their credentials, or their ability to spot a shoddy seam or bunky tailoring or an insane crotch. Is it possible Ellen has the ability to separate the Ramiele Malubays from the David Cooks, the Jorge Nuñezes from the Kris Allens? I sure hope so. But based on her SYTYCD performance, I can’t shake the deep fear that American Idol is adding creampuff to the menu when we really need some bitter lemon.

Of course, only time will tell how (and how much) Ellen’s presence on the panel will affect Idol. At the very least, I’m hoping that Simon and Ryan will once and for all ditch their regularly scheduled homophobic banter now that they’ve got a (powerful) lesbian colleague in their presence. And even if Ellen’s Idol tenure yields little more than corny punch lines — “Are you two carpenters? ‘Cause you nailed it!” she blathered during her SYTYCD run — perhaps it’ll awaken a dormant-yet-skilled critic deep inside Randy or Kara. Hey, maybe that’s crazily optimistic, but the alternative — that my very most favorite television show is standing at the edge of a gasoline lake with lit matches beneath its toenails — is simply too much for me to contemplate."
-- Michael Slezak, ew.com

Ellen DeGeneres joins 'American Idol' as fourth judge

"Ellen DeGeneres will serve as the fourth judge on American Idol in season 9, Fox announced this afternoon. The talk show host/comedian will sit on the judges’ panel with Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, and Kara DioGuardia after the auditions, effectively replacing Paula Abdul. DeGeneres revealed the news today to studio audience members while taping an installment of Ellen that will air tomorrow; she also reassured them she is keeping her day job. “This is so exciting for me,” DeGeneres told the audience. “We’ve been dealing with this for the last couple of weeks and I’ve been dying to tell everyone. It’s just been so hard to keep it a secret and we just finally got the okay and I’m so excited. It is going to be so much fun. I don’t know how it happened myself but I have not missed one episode of that show. I’ve watched every single thing. I love everything about it and I love music, as you know. Hopefully I’m the people’s point of view because I’m just like you…I’m not looking at it in a critical way from the producer’s mind. I’m looking at it as a person who is going to buy the music and is going to relate to that person. So I’m hopefully going to be that voice of what we’re all doing at home.”

Guest judges for the audition phase of the competition include Victoria Beckham, Mary J. Blige, Shania Twain, Avril Lavigne, Neil Patrick Harris, Katy Perry, and Joe Jonas. Season 9 debuts on Fox in January 2010."
--Dan Snierson, ew.com



I am happy! goodbye Paula hangover! Hello Ellen desperation!

*dances in sneakers*

古巨基 - 大師作品

古巨基 - 大师作品
作词：林夕 作曲：雷颂德

没有剧本 因一句对白捱尽责备
没有自己 因一眼对望而喘气
没有程度 没有睿智来迎合你
悲中带喜 高深的意味 我怎去入戏
如步伐未配配乐 随你去再找主角
宁愿当观众 就当上学
为别人幸运快乐
遗憾在我是人 只够演技做凡人
你是神 可以指导情分
声色光影 你的感情像作品
要完美过命运
遗憾未够道行 跟那轰烈没缘分
世俗人真爱不够像真
有血有肉我这小人物
哪堪破坏戏份
离别后定有雪落 得凄美未算佳作
而我这观众 未到角落
未赚完热泪过后 当做娱乐
遗憾在我是人 只够演技做凡人
你是神 摆布指导情分
删删剪剪 你的感情像作品
有瑕疵怎可忍
遗憾未够道行 跟那轰烈没缘分
世俗人真爱不够像真 肤浅天真
我的表情没美感 你自然换了人
换个人 壮观得 未染尘



Trey Lee. Fantastic.

Twilight

"If the droolingly awaited big-screen version of Twilight is any indication, sanpaku eyes are the new cheekbones. Marilyn Monroe and JFK both had sexy sanpakus (in which the white of the orb is strikingly visible below the iris), and so does Robert Pattinson, the young British heartthrob who plays Edward Cullen, Twilight's dreamy, sculpted hunk of a teenage vampire. With pasty skin, red lips, and those peepers that pop open wide with a touch of madness, Pattinson has a look so broodingly unearthly it's no wonder he doesn't sprout fangs. His creepy bedroom stare is a special effect all its own.

Here, as in Stephenie Meyer's 2005 novel, Edward is Romeo, Heathcliff, James Dean, and Brad Pitt all rolled into one: a scruffy-gorgeous bloodsucker pinup who is really an angelic protector. When Bella (Kristen Stewart), who has come to Forks, Wash., to live with her police-chief dad, sits next to Edward in biology class, he acts like he's suffering a seizure (or an attack of bad Mexican food). But it's only because he can barely control himself around her. It's no surprise that Bella tunes out the other kids, even as they try to befriend her. They don't make her tingle with the fear of her own desire. Edward, like any good vampire, has a predatory glamour. As Bella gets to know him, what's irresistible to her is that he promises not a blood consummation but its very opposite: a refusal to give in to the hunger that tempts him most.

For girls, the intense, ego-stroking appeal of Meyer's novel was the way that Bella becomes this undead Byronic stud's soul mate without quite knowing why she's worthy. She's a Kewl Generation damsel waiting to be rescued from her jaded heart. Stewart is an ideal casting choice — she conveys Bella's detachment, as well as her need to bust through it. And getting Catherine Hardwicke to direct Twilight was a shrewd move, because the youthquake specialist of Thirteen treats teen confusion without a trace of condescension: She gets their grand passions and prickly defense mechanisms. She has reconjured Meyer's novel as a cloudburst mood piece filled with stormy skies, rippling hormones, and understated visual effects. What Hardwicke can't quite triumph over is the book's lackluster plot. On screen, Twilight is repetitive and a tad sodden, too prosaic to really soar. But Hardwicke stirs this teen pulp to a pleasing simmer."
--Owen Gliberman, www.ew.com. Review: B










Ok. I am officially a convert, a believer of the hype, and a fan. The cinematography was beautiful, I want to throw a baseball while looking freaking chio (I mean, SHUAI) like Alice, climb trees and walk at lightning speed, and creep into people's bedrooms and watch them sleep, and read their minds.
You know, if all vampires look that good (besides, you have all the time in the world since you're immortal!), I really wouldn't mind being one!
I can see how every teenage girl is going gaga over this right now. Young girls want to feel protected like Bella, knowing that there will always be someone there to protect them. The feeling of being an insider, leading a secret life, might prove more exciting for their (our) current mundane school routine, like a fantasy(too cool for prom! Even though they did attend, they were alone most of the time!). And with a guy like Robert Pattinson, who needs anyone else?!

Fair skin had never looked this good. It's a crime.

Idol countdown.

guest judges on Idol will include Neil Patrick Harris, Katy Perry, Mary J. Blige, Shania Twain, Kristin Chenoweth, Joe Jonas, Victoria Beckham, and Avril Lavigne.



Can we all, especially fans of How I Met Your Mother, say this together: NEIL PATRICK HARRIS ON AMERICAN IDOL!!!

AMERICAN FREAKIN IDOL! HELLO!

let's hope he can critic singers as well as he makes us laugh. I. CAN'T. WAIT.






In other related Idol news, I shall endeavour to make it my life mission to ruin Ken Lim and get him off the already-horror that is Singapore Idol. From now on I shall have a iquotekenlim blog entry every week after the show's telecast, and you shall have the pleasure of laughing at his idioctic, rude, and sometimes-irrelevant comments.

Simon Cowell was spot-on, but seldom rude. Even when he was, he would apologize sometimes. Ken Lim doesnt. He needs to be shot.

The September Issue

"September is the January of fashion."



Anna Wintour, the woman whom Meryl Streep's wickedly delicious character in The Devil Wears Prada was apparently modelled after. Fierce.
In fashion, either you're in, or you're out. THIS IS IN!

D V!!!

"One dress is really what makes you famous."
- Diane Von Furstenberg, Project Runway All-Star Challenge





We'll see how far this dress goes at the premiere of Nicole Kidman's NINE. =)=)=)

PROJECT RUNWAY ALL STAR CHALLENGE!!!

For the love of dailymotion, Karto, Daniel V, Santino, Uli, Jeffrey, and the ever fantastic Project Runway, here's part 1 of the 2-hour all-star episode that premiered before Season 6, on Lifetime, after a long, hard struggle between the networks.

Ahhhh. Nothing makes my day like Project Runway, especially a group of familiar favourites. =)

Project Runway - All Star Challenge / Part 1
by ProjectRunwayx

'Project Runway' Style: 17 Hot Designs (and 7 Hot Messes)

HOT MESS
Wendy Pepper's postal uniform
(season 1, episode 8)

"Everything that Kara Saun's uniform brought — style, fit, originality — Wendy's sorely lacked. Working as if she'd never even heard of the word innovation, Wendy made a dull white blouse with an incongruous, oversized collar and cuffed short sleeves, and paired it with unflattering shorts that even puckered on the model's size-0 thighs. It's because of fashion crimes like this that dogs bite the people who deliver your mail."




hahaha. tt's funny.

BJORK TEE!

I saw the coolest thing in the newest installment of 8DAYS today.

In what I think is Christopher Lee's best fashion since the beginning of time (the horrors of horror! think Star Awards man-in-an-apron days), he dons a shirt with a very cool-looking, icy-gazed, ruffle-haired Bjork motif, hands clasped below the waist! OMFG! I SO WANT THAT TEE SHIRT!

Well, it's a snap off his latest tv show, whereby he and Fann visits the fashion places in Asia. I'll give him props for his adventurous fashion spirit, but more so since he's looking better as he ages.


I.WANT.THAT.BJORK.TEE.
the internet sucks when I cant find it online. shit.

王菲 - 不留

"其實把所有的東西不留給自己，有時候，這種想把自己推到極盡是好事...不留的可愛，是因爲一切的毀滅都是爲了之後所綻放的(蓮)花。" - PJ




我把风情给了你日子给了他
我把笑容给了你宽容给了他
我把思念给了你时间给了他
我把眼泪给了你责任给了他
我把照片给了你日历给了他
我把颜色给了你风景给了他
我把距离给了你无言给了他
我把烟花给了你(我把)节日给了他
我把电影票给了你我把座位给了他
我把烛光给了你晚餐给了他
我把歌点给了你麦克风递给他
声音给了你画面给了他
我把情节给了你结局给了他
我把水晶鞋给了你十二点给了他
我把心给了你身体给了他
情愿什么也不留下再也没有什么牵挂
如果我还有哀伤让风吹散它
如果我还有快乐也许吧
如果我还有哀伤让风吹散它
如果我还有快乐也许吧



When you give so much of yourself,
beyond yourself,
such that nothing is left,
perhaps only then
can you truely find peace
in this total destruction.


"终须都归还无谓多贪"

Britney on Letterman - Top Ten Ways the Country Would be Different if Britney Spears Were President

Joe Jonas confirmed, Kelly Clarkson uncertain as next 'American Idol' guest judge
by Michael Slezak
Categories: News, Television
Joe Jonas, one third of the teen pop sensation the Jonas Brothers, will be a guest judge during the audition rounds for American Idol’s upcoming ninth season, a source close to the show confirmed to EW.com this evening. The source said news is cloudier concerning published reports that season 1 Idol champ Kelly Clarkson will also join Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, and Kara DioGuardi at the judges’ table throughout the callback episodes filming in the next few weeks. It was previously announced that Shania Twain, Mary J. Blige, Katy Perry, and former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham have all been tapped to fill the seat once occupied by Paula Abdul, who stepped away from the show earlier this month after a bitter public contract dispute.




JOE.JONAS.

yes. THAT JOE from THAT Jonas Brothers singing catastrophe.


for freaking gawd damn real?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!
he can judge meh? nobody else ah?!

Singapore Idol

Singapore Idol is an idiot.

I tuned in for the first time tonight. Well, not the first time,considering I stole some time from BBQ at batch chalet to catch 2 segments (approx 30mins?) of it. Today's show confirmed my lurking peeves:

- Hady Mirza is grossly underused, under-rated, and under-exposed. What a waste.
- Gurmit Singh is having bad hair.
- Ken Lim still talks rubbish and annoys me to hell. EVERYTHING ABOUT HIM ANNOYS ME. From his irrelevant, contrived comment and demeanour, to that horrible 7-11 advertisement. erk.
- Dick Lee's colourful wardrobe has more wit and humour in them than his pen-waving self.
- Florence Lian has good diction.
- the elimination of Tanna shows that the producers are so stupid they lack foresight (in a possible no-confidence-turns-superstar backstory. see Kelly Clarkson). It also shows that the judges favour "loud personalities" over potentially great local voices.
- to eliminate them on the bus, after they've nicely put their suitcases to rest, is not only troublesome, but insincere and rude. If they're trying to be inventive in their mode of elimination, please try harder.


Sigh. And I thought there's hope in Singapore Idol. They probably should hire Paula Abdul so that her antics can liven the show infinitely. Keeping my hopes up that there's truely talented people, or at least decent singers, this year.

UP

"As buoyant and richly tinted as the balloons that figure so prominently in its story, Up is also thoroughly grounded in real emotion and ideas of substance. How's that for an instant boost? The result is a lovely, thoughtful, and yes, uplifting adventure (in 3-D where available) about an old guy, a kid, and a house that sails through the air, opening up new routes in life to people who thought they were stuck in their loneliness. The movie — which opened the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, a fresh choice — is Pixar's 10th commanding feature-length demonstration that the most inventive and fully rounded stories in movies today are being told by characters who require an animator's hand to breathe. Up is a beaut. And for once, 3-D animation proves its worth. (More on that in a moment.)

Up is a gentle ride, as befits the Walt Disney PG imprimatur. But I've rarely seen a message of such square sincerity — Life's biggest adventures can be found in your own backyard, shared with people you love! — told with such unselfconscious joy and bright good humor. Who says squares can't be hip? The star of the saga is a squat, sour old widower named Carl (voiced with Lou Grant-quality authority by Ed Asner), a balloon salesman in his late 70s with a head as blockish as a toaster. (Carl's boxy black eyeglass frames, sitting atop a Patch Adams bulb of a nose, only emphasize the set angles of his ways; the guy looks like a cross between Spencer Tracy and an eccentric out of a George Booth cartoon.) We learn that Carl's late wife, Ellie (who looks related to Helen Parr/Elastigirl from The Incredibles), was the real free spirit and would-be explorer of the family, and that the two always planned a trip-of-a-lifetime to a magical waterfall in South America. But daily living got in the way, and Carl and Ellie stayed put: A short, wordless tribute montage reviewing their lives together from childhood through childless marriage and old age is as deeply textured as any great novel.

A holdout in the neighborhood while colorless high-rises spring up around him, Carl sinks into emotional decrepitude — until two things happen. First, he decides to tie thousands of balloons to his old house and float to South America on his own. (He's that identifiable type, someone afraid of sampling the new without schlepping the familiar along for safety.) Second, in the days before takeoff, he's visited by a pint-size stranger. An overenthusiastic scouting-type misfit bursting with boyish energy, Russell (expressive newcomer Jordan Nagai) is as round and bouncy as a balloon himself. When he becomes 
an accidental stowaway on Carl's great adventure, he's unwelcome as far as Carl is concerned. But Russell turns out to be invaluable — not to mention loyal and trustworthy, a friend indeed.

Each specimen in the movie's wild parade of exotic South American animals is worth cheering, and the hilarious, acutely observed dogs who greet Carl and Russell in their new world deserve their own canine-centric spin-off feature. Likewise, under the tender direction of Pete Docter (Monsters, Inc.), every detail of 
 the production is quietly exquisite. (Docter co-wrote the screenplay with Bob Peterson, who gets a codirecting credit and also supplies the voice of Dug, the dog nerd in the pack.) Michael Giacchino's gorgeous music, invoking great Max Steiner scores from the '40s and '50s, steers the story's emotional shifts with great elegance. The renderings, the color palette, the small and generous jokes, the perspective as balloons lift a whole house in the air — all are breathtaking.

But the movie's most important accomplishment may be that we're never noodged or even urged to notice these things. Even the sophisticated effects now attainable in 3-D animation are worth about as much 
as a bunch of balloons unless we can feel what 
a character is going through, and why. At 
a press conference at Cannes after the first screening of Up, Disney·Pixar creative 
honcho John Lasseter explained that although he loves 3-D as a ''fun toy,'' he has no use for disruptive tricks that leap out of the screen. ''3-D should supply depth that furthers the emotion of the scene,'' he said. Can complicated technical virtuosity be reduced to something as simple as that? Yes, if you're Up to it."
- Lisa Schwarzbaum, www.ew.com



EW gave UP a stellar A, but I felt Lisa didnt do the film justice. Certain parts, as always, were spot on, but I wish she could have said more.
I cried (and I mean the sobbing terribly, not the tearing kind) 3 times in the first 30mins: during the end of Partly Cloudy, when Ellie had a miscarriage, and when Ellie was at the hospital and leaving Carl soon. I've not been one who cry at the movies. I didnt even cry when bambi's mum was shot. I'm surprised at my tearducts this time.

I rarely see a film that makes me laugh and cry so hard. UP will go down as one of the best films I've seen so far, and a personal favourite. Each Pixar animation has so much heart and soul in it, which CANNOT BE SAID for Dreamworks or Universal or whatever-company's animated movies. The painstaking details in making each character lifelike (unlike the disproportionate dinosaurs-bigger-than-mammoths-by-10-times of a certain ice age movie), the slapstake yet incredibly funny jokes, and the ability to imitate life and its universal feelings in the most incredible of situations and characters (a robot with heart, a talking ant trying to save the day, toys who felt that their time was over, a father's love for his lost fish, a car's coming of age) truely make each Pixar film a timeless gem.

Heck I feel like I didnt give them a good justified review. In any case, I just want to say I love Michael Giacchino and his score, for making me cry and laugh so hard, so many times. He is the one who created LOST's intense music as well. KUDOS!

I also loved young Ellie's facial expression, the whole structure of the character, and the lady who voiced her. So happens that young Ellie's name coincides with voiceover Ellie Docter's (whom I'm guessing is director Pete Docter's wife and his source of inspiration). Her voiceover was excitable and sensitive, and the reading was so brilliant it made real-life actor's reading of their lines sound mundane. AND young Ellie has enough facial expressions to make my favourite Nicole Kidman and her (supposedly fake) nose ashamed.

And you know I simply adore Nicole Kidman. To death.











Words evade me. I've missed:
- 2 episodes of Fringe
- 30 mins of the season 5 premiere of LOST
- 2 episodes of The Mentalist
- 2 episodes of Singapore Idol

If my life can be measured by the hours of tv i've missed, I'm probably the biggest loser. I miss days of freedom and sunsets in school. I miss Jack, Keay, Becca, Ming Hua & co., Faye, Wei, PJ.

謝安琪 - 神奇女俠的退休生活

作曲：莊依靜．Simon Whitefield @ 音揚人
填詞：黃偉文
編曲：莊依靜．Simon Whitefield @ 音揚人．Tomi & Alfred @ 音揚人
監製：周博賢


爆裂　散落　節翼墮下
正跌向對面大廈　就撞爛大廈
而樓下　有群男共女　
以摺櫈菜刀打架　聽不見他
幾秒後　滿地是血花
而模糊的受害人　一早猜想到嗎　
誰人才　終極失去了他
有病　有毒　市面混濁
氧氣裏正在孕育　極厲害病毒
全城就快齊齊病發
個個照逛街睇戲　不知退縮
於市內網巷夜店中
誰人從粉末藥囊　針筒之中找到
如遊魂魔域　那份滿足
可惜我已經退休　一早已養尊處優
坦克再駐守　只可高叫快走快走
不可以插手　青春些會救到亞洲
歐洲與美洲　今天怎強出頭
可惜我已經退休　將這裏轉交你手　
即使你錯手　摧毀一切炸出缺口
不可以插手　只可打氣拍手
恭賀人類　爭出殺手
就是這樣　家產給你接收（總要去的不要留）
就是這樣　終生可以退休（歡送爆開的汽球）
氣候　變壞　雨大浪大
浸過了購物大道　像越鬧越大
而何時救援還未到　正派往遠方打仗　不可上街
管理層滿是實戰派　誰和誰慘被沒埋　不可多嘴表態
繁榮和安定正在瓦解
可惜我已經退休　一早已養尊處優
坦克再駐守　只可高叫快走快走
不可以插手　青春些會救到亞洲
非洲與澳洲　今天怎強出頭
可惜我已經退休　得一副老骨老手
只可以間中　幫乖仔去買煙買酒
幫新袍餵狗　幫子孫贖了樓
觀望時代　天天變醜
可惜我已經退休　一早已養尊處優
坦克再駐守　只可高叫快走快走
不可以插手　青春些會救到亞洲
歐洲與美洲　今天怎強出頭
可惜我已經退休　將這裏轉交你手　
即使你錯手　摧毀一切炸出缺口
不可以插手　只可打氣拍手
恭賀人類　爭出殺手
就是這樣　家產給你接收（總要去的不要留）
就是這樣　終生可以退休（歡送爆開的汽球）

謝安琪 - 鍾無豔
作曲：Christopher Chak
填詞：林夕

其實我怕你總誇獎高估我堅忍
其實更怕你只懂得欣賞我品行
無人及我用字絕重拾了你信心
無人問我可甘心演這偉大 化身
其實我想間中崩潰脆弱如戀人
誰在你兩臂中低得不需要身份
＊無奈被你識穿這個念頭　得到好處的你　　
　明示不想失去絕世好友
　沒有得你的允許　我都會愛下去
　互相祝福心軟之際或者准我吻下去
　我痛恨成熟到 不要你望著我流淚
　但漂亮笑下去　彷佛冬天飲雪水
　被你一貫的贊許　卻不配愛下去
　在你悲傷一刻必須解慰找到我樂趣
　我甘於當副車 也是快樂著唏噓
　彼此這麼了解＊

難怪注定似兄妹一對
其實我怕你的好感基於我修養
其實最怕你的私心虧准我體諒
無人問我寂寞像投何處去養傷
原來是我的心境高到變爲 偶像
誰情願照耀著別人就如　月亮
爲奴婢爲你備飯奉茶是殘忍真相

Repeat＊
讓我決定我的快樂
那須得你的允許　我都會愛下去
互相祝福心軟之際或者准我吻下去
我痛恨成熟到 不要你望著我流淚
但漂亮笑下去　彷佛冬天飲雪水
被你一貫的贊許　無須裝說下去
在你悲傷一刻必須解慰找到我樂趣
我甘於當副車 卻沒法撞入堡壘
彼此這麼了解　 難怪注定似兄妹一對
你的他怎允許　　結伴觀賞雪的淚
永不開封的汽水　讓我抱在懷內吻下去

"see you at the prom"

I'm late this year.
I didnt foresee the hectic schedule that I will be having. Now I have to balance 3 events, one portfolio, and my job.
While things look bright and cherry, that at year's end I might be fulfilled, but right now it's a tad overwhelming.
But reading through past 2 yr's blog entries gave me some strength to move on. Like reading personal old blog entries, and to some extent reflecting on life, I wonder how I managed to come up with those words. Now I just feel empty inside. It feels like a brand new start each year. I'm not sure if that's a good way, or human nature's idea of detox, but I wouldnt want to forget about them anyhow.

I am ever-proud of what my team has created, and therefore I am posting the link again =)
http://cssprom07.blogspot.com/
http://cssprom08.blogspot.com/

there's gonna be a new one this year.
Like how I told the kids every year, "see you at the Prom."

colour blind

from my favourite funny girl, Ms Clara Yeo.

dance like there's no tomorrow (indeed)

"Paula Abdul has announced on her Twitter feed, and Fox has confirmed, that she will not return to American Idol for another season. Abdul gave notice through proper channels before posting on Twitter, according to a Fox spokesperson. A source familiar with the negotiation says Abdul walked away from a 30 percent raise and an eight-figure deal. Below is the full statement from Abdul:

“With sadness in my heart, I’ve decided not to return to IDOL. I’ll miss nurturing all the new talent, but most of all being a part of a show that I helped from day 1 become an international phenomenon. What I want to say most, is how much I appreciate the undying support and enormous love that you have showered upon me. It truly has been breathtaking, especially over the past month. I do without any doubt have the BEST fans in the entire world and I love you all.”
The full statement from Fox:

“Paula Abdul has been an important part of the American Idol family over the last eight seasons and we are saddened that she has decided not to return to the show. While Paula will not be continuing with us, she’s a tremendous talent and we wish her the best.”

Fellow judges Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell – who has said in the past that he does not want to do Idol without Abdul — are not commenting. Idol host Ryan Seacrest posted a response on Twitter: “I am shocked and saddened.”
(Reporting by Lynette Rice and Michael Slezak)



Following Paula Abdul’s Twitter announcement, and Fox’s confirmation, on Tuesday night that the American Idol judge will not return for the show’s ninth season, here’s what people are saying:

Ryan Seacrest (via Twitter): “Idol and the cast have grown with each other over the last 8 seasons. I can’t imagine the panel without Paula. She’s a star @ a great friend.”

Blake Lewis (Idol season 6 runner-up): “Paula leaving American Idol is like a honeycomb without the honey. She brought a sweetness to the AI that no one can replace. She will be forever our girl.”

Brooke White (season 7 finalist): “I honestly didn’t think she was going to leave Idol. When I saw her Tweet, I said ‘Wow!’…Sitting on the edge of that stage, you feel pretty vulnerable out there. And when you’re getting chewed up, any sort of relief is nice. Paula was that little ray of hope. She cushioned the blows a little bit. Not everyone at home liked that, but I can speak as someone who did sit at the edge of that stage, and to have someone who was concerned and caring helped.”

Jim Verraros (season 1 finalist): “She helped build [the show] from the ground up….I will never forget what she said: ‘Jim, you may not have won the gold medal, silver or even bronze. But you’re an Olympian. Remember that and how far you’ve come.’ For that alone, I will always have nothing but the utmost love and respect for her.”

Keep checking back at this URL for further industry reaction.

(Reporting by Michael Slezak and Tim Stack)








sigh. it's a sad day for an Idol fan. no more "colour up your vocals" and the happy-hand-overhead clap =(=(=(

Shopping rocks

After PJ's performance, Baoyue and I were on our way to Clarke Quey when we chanced upon Home Club's flea market. I got myself:
- BLOW dvd at $2
- Terminator 2 dvd at $2
- Faye Wong's album at $5
- Pedro loafers at $20

The two dvds were damn worth it. Both are original code 1 dvds, and BLOW is banned in Singapore. WOOTS! And I've been trying to collect Faye's cds, one for listening one for keeping, and the album that I bought was a second copy of an album I didn't have. When I tried the loafers, it fitted me perfectly. For a while, I felt like Cinderella and these shoes and I were meant to be. ok, a moment there. But shopping makes me happy, got me into a vintage mood, and hooked on flea markets! I saw two briefcases, uber retro and vintage it's cool, but they cost $50 and $20. boo hoo.

Fleas shall be my new hideout.

PJ's show was great. catching up with her after that, together with Baoyue at CP, was even better.
"What will you be like tomorrow?"

And then there's was peanut fight at No. 5 Emerald Hill. Hilarious.

A good saturday. =) looking forward to a fantastic August.

守时

靜夜的單簧管

林憶蓮


王菲, circa 1995 or about.


王菲, circa 2003.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Lisa Schwarzbaum gave the movie an audacious A-.
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20291190,00.html


Lisa Schwarzbaum has officially lost my respect. Owen Gleiberman, you're EW's saviour critic now, the one I can trust.
The most incredible thing she wrote? "Half-Blood Prince encompasses important plot developments involving both love and death. But the story is, still and all, only a pause, deferring an intensely anticipated conclusion. And it's in that exquisite place of action and waiting that this elegantly balanced production emerges as a model adaptation."

David Yates, you suck.
Bruno Delbonnel, you're an artist with impeccable taste.

David Yates is of course second time HP director (bring back Alfonso!). The movie was unevenly paced, patchy at parts, and anti-climatic. In spite of the title, there was no clear references to the origins, nor the significance of the role of the "half-blood prince". It existed just to fill in the sub-plot of allowing Harry to make brilliant potions, which serve to create another sub-plot of Ron getting poisoned by the love potion, which again is pretty much an excuse for them to quench the growing teen audience's raging teen hormones. And all that drama about Harry and Ginny's kiss/romance? Absolute rubbish. There was no build-up. That scene at the room where they shared the kiss was slightly romantic, but insipid and cliche. One moment they're trying to get rid of the book, after finding out the secret vanishing door thing (which they didnt know!), the next they're making out. WTH!

and of course, (spoiler alert) a certain death was not elegantly executed. There was no tension, no drama, just lots of running and bad editing, no dialogue nothing. Cmon, we're talking about the death of the greatest wizard, and all he got was a fall off the cliff without any drama?!?!!? I did not feel it.

But my biggest criticism was the whole movie's irrelevance to the title. Its a disgrace. The Half-Blood Prince title is a hoax. They should call it Harry Potter and the Love Potion.

Bruno Delbonnel. Cinematographer for Amelie and Across The Universe, and now HPATHBP. I LOVE THE CINEMATOGRAPHY. The colour palette, though grim and dark, befitting of the increasing gloom of the plot, was limited, yet it was so beautifully done. The scenes were picturesque and breath-taking. For a while, I bought in to the whole magical aspect of the movie. That scene where Harry and Dumbledore stood at the edge of a cliff, amidst crashing waves, was beautiful.

Each year as I watch the Potter movies, I have the urge to pick up the book and sink into the magical realms. I believe that Rowling has wrote something timeless, and breath-taking. This movie did make me want to pick up the book, but only because the imminent death-match is getting closer and closer. Who does not like a battle to the pits? And watching the films, after 6 times now, does make one feel for the character, and that's why I want to read it. Not because this film was particularly good.

Seriously, get rid of Yates. Now.

Alan Rickman and Helena Bonham Carter were absolutely delicious. I just wish I had seen more of them. HBC is fantastic I must say, I am delighted everytime Bellatrix appears. and LUNA LOVEGOOD (Evanna Lynch)- brilliant, quirky, and oh so charming! Daniel Radcliffe was ok, Emma Watson was beautiful, Rupert Grint funny, but who REALLY stole the show for me was the young boy who played the teenage Lord Voldermott. I googled him and his name is Frank Dillane. He had that menacing look that reminded me of Ralph Fiennes' dangerously good looks. RF has a sense of vengence in him, whereas FD played the inner-demon-brewing role perfectly with that stare and the way he spoke. Very promising.

Such a great cast. There's Maggie Smith, HBC, Michael Gambon (which reminded me of Sir Ian McKellen), Jim Broadbent, Julie Walters (Ron's mum, who was also the mum in Billy Elliott), all of which were terribly underused. I wish there's more of them in the upcoming two closing chapters.


The movie's disappointing, but the company was terrific la. I love how everytime we go out, it's a laughfest. Cheers to Friends Forever. =)


On a good note, (500) Days Of Summer is out in the States! It's coming! Soon! Yay!