auf wiedersehen.不爱我的,我不爱[Ewa]

2012-01-04T02:08:00.004+08:00

"One thing that Adele says she isnt anxious about is her weight. It's fluctuated throughout her life, but she says she doesnt diet or work out. "My life is full of drama, and I don't have time to worry about something as petty as what I look like," she says. "I don't like going to the gym. I like eating fine food and drinking nice wine. Evem if I had a really good figure, I dont think i'd get my ...tits and ass out for no one. I love seeing Lady Gaga's boobs and bum. I love seeing Katy Perry's boobs and bums. Love it, But that's not what my music is about. I dont make music for eyes, I make music for ears."
- Adele, Rolling Stone #1129

We might not have her gifts, but I guess the message here is to be who you are, not someone people want you to become. have a great year ahead everyone.

""I think happiness includes a lot of emotions," he says. "It's darkness and sadness, as well as moments of elation. So if you think happiness means feeling just one way, then no. But if it's feeling at peace with whatever's going on, feeling like you can cope - then I'm getting there." - Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes, Rolling Stone #1129

再拥抱一下，可以吗？

2011-10-11T22:05:00.002+08:00

作曲：阿信作词：阿信编曲：五月天
　
脱下长日的假面奔向梦幻的疆界
南瓜马车的午夜换上童话的玻璃鞋
让我享受这感觉我是孤傲的蔷薇
让我品尝这滋味纷乱世界的不了解
昨天太近明天太远默默聆听那黑夜
晚风吻尽荷花叶任我醉倒在池边
等你清楚看见我的美月光晒干眼泪
那一个人爱我
将我的手紧握
抱紧我吻我喔爱别走
隐藏自己的疲倦表达自己的狼狈
放纵自己的狂野找寻自己的明天
向你要求的誓言就算是你的谎言
我需要爱的慰借就算那爱已如潮水

我从来都没有疯迷过五月天，但却对这首歌不忘，看过《盛夏光年》后从此对这首歌有着深厚的感觉。
“脱下长日的假面奔向梦幻的疆界”，好像是为天下所有寂寞的人而唱。
何必等对方看见自己的美呢？这不是很堕落，很卑微吗？

但是“情不至禁”，就是这样。喜欢一个人，也是这样。
求你，又有何用？
不如自己在一旁狼狈算了。

in between

2011-09-20T03:36:00.002+08:00

i have not written, or visited this blog in months. everytime i return to this little corner, i'm always surprised at what i have written or quoted, and how i was so much more mature back then. maybe it's to do with the moments that i'm writing - mostly weak and vulnerable ones.

in between, i've fallen in and out of love; learnt more about myself; felt bliss; almost could see forever.

in between, i've also lost sight of myself.

i'm in repair. it's longer than what i've expected. i wamt to say i'm grieving, but i know there's greater pain out there, and mine is incomparable.

i miss you. if only you knew.

Life

2011-05-03T22:59:00.001+08:00

孫燕姿《世說心語》

"Till you have battled with great grief and fears,
And borne the conflict of dream-shattering years,
Wounded with fierce desire and worn with strife,
Children, you have not lived: for this is life."
- Sarojini Naidu, "Life"

A Different View

2011-04-20T21:30:00.006+08:00

i remember a visit to the old folk's home many years ago, when i was 14 or younger, with the Student Council / Prefectorial Board. i cant remember if it was St Luke's, or another nursing home, but i will never forget what i did there. i recall that awkward feeling of helplessness, uncomfortable and embarrassed, not knowing what to do or say, or who to speak to. how ironic that as a leader, i spent the entire time there following what other people did. most of the time i was helping the old folks fold tissue paper. it was like the most popular thing to do then, everyone was doing it, and so i joined in. looking back, i feel kinda guilty. it was as if we were trying to compete with them to finish the work, even though the intention was to help.

it was with the same trepidition and dread that i went to work today. i was not looking forward to something i was unfamiliar with and had a bad experience. i was indignant that they did not tell us more comprehensively what to say and how to behave, what not to say and do. it was a case of fearing the unknown. i had a bad feeling that the day was going to be sucky just like many years ago. then i remembered something from the book i am reading, something abt correcting your thinking and being open minded, and so i told myself to give it another chance, it might not be tat bad.

it turned out pretty well. the elders at Jamiyah shelter home were mostly friendly and able to take care of themselves, and our programme was sufficient to keep us occupied. i reminded myself that talking to them is no different from any passengers i will serve in the future, and if i was not mentally prepared to talk to these strangers, i might never learn.

so i smiled, alot. it is my strongest suit. and i realised that this time, i actually enjoyed myself. i spoke to a few old folks and lucky enough, they were very chatty and shared alot with me. some complained about their friends, some told me what they were doing before this. 2 of my classmates actually cried during the interaction. we did an impromptu indian dance for them, and some were even enthusiastic enough to join us on stage. the interaction was short, and we went on a tour and some wheelchair lessons afterwards.

obviously, growing up has taught me to react to such situations. there was some slight discomfort, but i had to rise above, and prove to myself that i can do it. i had to lead by example. i chatted with them like a newly-made friend, banter with those who can take jokes, and try to make conversations and be interested. it isnt that hard at all. they might seem intimidating initially, but after a while, some of them warmed up to us. and with a heavy heart, i tried to emphatise with what they're going through. it reinforces the fact that many of us are lucky the way we are, yet we do not have the eyes to see it. and with the years added, and the fact that one day i might be one of them in need, there was a great amount of empathy. it was an eye-opener and a reminder of the realities of the world, and it further spurred me to give of what i have while i still can. i'll never want to be dependent like this; i'm too proud. living till a ripe old age is strangely not an attractive option for me.

im glad im in a job/company that not only has many possibilities and prospects, but some nobility and meaning.

Invictus

2011-04-19T21:58:00.002+08:00

Nelson Mandela: What is your philosophy on leadership? How do you inspire your team to do their best?
Francois Pienaar: By example. I've always thought to lead by example, Sir.
Mandela: Well that is right. That is exactly right. But how to get them to be better than they think they can be? That is very difficult I find. Inspiration, perhaps. How do we inspire ourselves to greatness, when nothing less will do? How do we inspire everyone around us? I sometimes think it is by using the work of others... A Victorian poem. Just words, but they helped me to stand when all I wanted to do was lie down.

INVICTUS

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley

my first near-death experience

2011-03-28T21:35:00.003+08:00

i went on a swim yesterday, sunday, lacking the better knowledge that sunday pools are filled with kids, families, and crowds. so i went to the adult pool, and the corner lanes are filled with kids. without thinking too much, i swam in the middle lane. on the 2nd lap back, halfway round, it suddenly hit me that i was swimmin in the middle. the fear of drowning hit me. i tried to stay calm, but i was too nervous. i started to gasp for air and panic. i almost wanted to scream for help. during my moments underwater, in between breathes, i told myself to stay calm, stay calm. and luckily beside me was a lane-divider, which is basically a rope tied with buoys. i grabbed onto it and caught my breathe for a while, before slowly making my way back closer to the edge. it was a scary experience. really scary.
ad then the lifeguard was waiting for me at the end of the lap. i showed him a thumbs-up, and walked embarassingly to him. he told me to swim at the corner lanes if i am not a confident swimmer. for the rest of the time i got a lil paranoid that he might be talkin to the other lifeguards abt my shame. oh well.

i was truely afraid. i think after my fear of sucking in life, the fear of drowning is probably the most intense. i began to think what's gonna happen if i'm stuck in a plane crash next time. thank goodness for life vests. i think i'll be forever scarred now. my fear of water has now become my fear of drowning.

HONG KONG EXPEDITION DAY 1

2011-03-04T02:15:00.003+08:00

it's been 2 year since i last sat in an airplane to travel far and beyond singapore waters. i was in good spirits, mostly because this trip feels like it's gonna be awesome - 2 concerts that i really wana go, meetup with friends, eating my favourite dimsum, buying canto cds, and immersing in a culture and language that i've enjoyed throughout my life. when one is in the mood, nothin much can bring them down. not the noisy indon couple beside me on the plane, who took most of my arm rest , drank too much red wine, and was watching Beyonce's concert on the inflight entertainment after seeing that i was tuned to it. i was puzzled why he didnt wana tune in with the headphones; he was watching B silently. it was when he later channel-surfed to Black Swan, also without audio, to a pirouetting Natalie Portman, that i suspected he's just lookin at girls. i was more humoured than disgusted. guess that's what happy hormones can do for you.

i was thinking at my previous travel experience to thr States wit Marc, and wondering why i didnt feel immensely happy the way i should be. i reasoned that we didnt have that much emotional honesty and history to begin with. marc is never one of many words, yet when he speaks i'm always taken aback by his smart intellect and unwitting humour. my cousin and i were never really close - we had fun growing up, but his world views and thoughts are different from mine. he sees no value in the arts; he's more interested in finance than less "practical" matters. somehow, i wish we cld do it all over again. i regretted relying too much on guide books and not the internet, and for making foolish decisions like wearing shorts and thongs (aussie slang for slippers) on the streets, and carrying a backpack instead of a suitcase.

i wished i had the wisdom now back then, and do it all over again. i also miss travelling in a big group, and not having to be the decision maker, but just tag along, and then go on and do my stuff whenever i like it, no obligations and no baggage.

sitting here in aiwei's living room (it's my makeshift bedroom, and it's so cosy i wish it was my actual bedroom), i felt peace. the world is quiet, the weather is just right, and the only sound i hear are my breathing , the fridge's soft drone, and my typing. this perfect little quaint house is just nice - all that one needs is here and around. on top of fulfilling the long-fantasised dream of seeing Faye in hongkong, i endeavoured this trip to be a rejuvenation, a nice getaway, and a tiny discovery and exploration of the self. i envisioned peace, but now tht everyone is fast asleep and all is quiet, this is the perfect piece of harmony that i did not expect.

i love the silence.

王菲 - 幽兰操

2011-01-25T23:02:00.004+08:00

兰之猗猗扬扬其香
Alone stands the orchid, aroma shimmering around;

众香拱之幽幽其芳
Rejoiced by all else, above and beyond;

不采而佩于兰何伤？
Of sorrow shall it be, unnoticed all along?

以日以年我行四方
Days and years, wondering around like a vagabond,

文王梦熊渭水泱泱
Wisdom the Old King seeks, hence wise and strong

采而佩之奕奕清芳
May the Lord see mine as the one

雪霜茂茂蕾蕾于冬
Blossom my wisdom for my lord, like the orchid under the cold,

君子之守子孙之昌
Long last my lawful words, till generation of prosperity unfold.

When i first heard this song, i was rather disappointed at how low-brow it is. without much further listen, i find myself humming to it often and strange enough. Now it's something that i cannot stop listening. the way the accompaniment so subtly and beautifully ebbs and flows with Faye's voice. listen to the first line clearly, and what might seem like a slur on first listen, turns out to be subtle and perfect diction. therein lies the exquisiteness and timeless quality of Faye, where she leds u to believe she missed one word in "猗猗". Art indeed.

* the english translations above were taken from a youtube viewer.

American Idol s10 is ON!

2011-01-22T14:32:00.002+08:00

"16-year-old Robbie Rosen took his time with his breathy version of "Yesterday," inspiring Randy to expand his vocabulary ("marinated") and J. Lo to limit her own while waiving the entire voting process ("No. Hollywood. Bye.") Hip synovitis kept Robbie wheelchair-bound at a young age, but now he's fine. I loved how he didn't feel the need to mention his tragic past in front of the judges, then quickly remembered that of course, the judges always have their cheat sheets so they already knew. I always wondered how people's different sob stories are designated on the cheat sheets. I mean, I'm sure the cheat sheet is probably in English and includes words like "kindergarten" and "wheelchair," but I like to imagine that they use pictures instead, for ultimate ease and efficiency. So it's just generic clip art of a wheelchair (physical affliction), coffin (loved one lost), map of the U.S. with an X over it (foreigner), smiley face (slow learner), rainbow bashfully scooting under a cloud (stealth gay), or tiny campfire (convicted arsonist). Maybe these were Paula's cheat sheets. I'm kidding/I love Paula." - EW's Annie Barrett, on the recap of the premiere of American Idol s10.

HILARIOUS!

[王菲2010巡唱]上海演唱會20101126 - 你在我心中

2011-01-11T01:10:00.000+08:00

少见又难得。

彼岸花

2011-01-11T01:00:00.001+08:00

绝美。

你快乐所以我快乐

2011-01-09T15:22:00.004+08:00

懒洋洋的星期天下午，我想起了这首歌。
我不常看王菲的MV，总是听她的歌，看她的现场录影比较多。
十年后重返回味，有了不一样的感觉，和更深一成的欣赏。

现实生活又何况不是如此。有些时候看起来不起眼，不会欣赏的人事与物，不必那么早排斥。
给多一点时间，多一点机会，有时候最不起眼的，在抽离与分隔后，说不定会有一番风味、新鲜。

现代人习惯用了就丢。因为以为“时间就是金钱”，所以守候与耐性都变成了奢侈。

她是我无与伦比的美丽。迫不及待三月奔快的到来，好让我能圆梦。
这一次菲一般的出发，必定会得到启发。

Robert Altman

2011-01-05T23:21:00.004+08:00

i was reading Roger Ebert's reviews on some Meryl Streep movies, and it led me to a tribute article on Robert Altman's unintended final movie, A Prairie Home Companion, before he passed away.

I've heard so much about him, yet I've never seen his movies, not even when i have the Gosford Park vcd lying in my cabinet. A Prairie Home Companion was my first contact with what everyone calls "the actor's director", an auteur with a profound passion for the art.

Here's an excerpt from Roger Ebert's article, that not only captured Ebert's admiration for Altman's passion in films, but was also lovingly written, and bittersweet.

"Did Altman know this would be his last film? Certainly not. But he knew his time was limited. "Where the years have gone, I don't know," he told me backstage that day at the Lyric. "But they're gone. I used to look for a decade . Now I look for a couple more years." He got them. "When I'm not making a film," he told me on the set of "Gosford Park" in 2001, "I don't know how to live. I don't know what to do with the time. I don't have an assistant director taking me to this little restaurant around the corner, and a production manager telling me about my hotel, and a driver to take me where I have to go."

He said he kept track of time not by the years but by the film he was making. Given an Honorary Oscar in March 2006, he astonished his audience by revealing he had been living 10 or 11 years with a heart transplant. He didn't mention that he also had leukemia, listed as his cause of death on Nov. 20 of the same year. At the time, he had two films in pre-production."

Walking Dead

2010-12-28T16:53:00.001+08:00

I'm one of those - living, but not living.

一拍两散

2010-12-09T00:48:00.004+08:00

Walking past the Xmas tree decor outside JP, and the hordes of people with their phones and cameras flashing, trying to capture an image of the falling 'snow' that is in fact disintegrating bubble, got me thinking about my attitude towards photography. I never really understood why so many people like to capture images with their phones/digital cameras; the choice of subject is often mundane and challenging (a towering tree that will not fit into the frame. a darkly lit background), and their devices will never really be able to do reality justice. it is a misrepresentation.

The more amazing pictures i see, the more i want to pick up photography skills/ techniques and the less i want to shoot with a normal camera. Perhaps it's my inadequacy with the already complex functions of the digital camera, but the digital camera will never be able to take the kind of pictures a DSLR can, and if u cant shoot a justified shot, or a stunning, if not more impressive shot that offers an alternative way of seeing the subject (which all great pictures have), then there is no point in shooting it. i find the experience underwhelming.

this is not a case of photography snobbery, if ever there is such a notion. Call it practicism, if you may.

of course i do take pictures with a normal camera. there is no doubt in it's practicality and essential utility in capturing moments. i snap many random items - a table, food, streets or alleys - that i hope will merge to form a realised memory of that moment in time. they might not even have any humans in them, but they trigger memories. in such occasion, the most mundane makes sense. but the difference is that i do it selectively, and not bring it out to point at the first thing i see. i give it some thought and feeling.

i guess what i'm trying to say is, the next time u take a picture, don't just do it because it is the cutest thing, or because everyone else is doing it. if there aint a reason, if u're not a tourist, if you're not a foreign worker, then maybe you don't have to be so amazed and obliged to snap a shot with your latest hipstamatic application. and if u're going to post it on twitter, pls make sure it is something people would care about. the world is cheap enough already.

standing there video-ing the fake snow, i wonder if it gives u any form of pleasure, especially when JP's xmas tree, with it's moving musical figurines and fake snow, contains more plastic than the Exxon Mobile factory and looks like child's play. This phenomenon should rank high in Jason Hahn's latest 8 Days article about Singapore's "Mysteries of Life", together with #22 - why do so many people not flush the public toilets?

In other photographic stories, please support my junior Hoong Wei Long.

In my opinion, this dude is highly underrated, and takes some of the most amazing shots i've seen. Bin and WL are the 2 people whose pictures almost always have me mad-loving them. do take some time to read the following msg from him (nope i did the pimping on my own accord, without his request), and show some support this Xmas. Share your love with the less fortunate by buying a picture. i have. All proceeds go strictly to the Make A Wish Foundation.

and since i'm at it, screw those people who committed fraud in charity.

(Facebook URL at the bottom)

PRINTS FOR CHARITY

Hiho,

Thank you taking time to look at this album :) As the title suggests, I am selling prints of images I've shot at Baybeats 2009 for charity this X'mas.

These pieces were used for exhibitions during both the post Baybeats 2009 'Budding Photographer' exhibition at *Scape and this year's Noise Singapore exhibition.

Due to the handling processes during the exhibits, some of the pieces have their edges nicked but they're by and large in good condition. That said, these aren't meant to be archival, collector's items (it would be crazy to suggest so). They're really purely for decorative purposes.

For me, getting to shoot Baybeats 2009 under the 'Budding Photographer' programme was a big milestone. Perhaps the fact that I had tried 2 years before that, and finally getting it on the third try made it all the more memorable.

At the risk of sounding melodramatic, it was in ways a dream come true for me. Finally being able to experience what is was like to be in the photo pit during a rock show...the rush...the excitement...I think every music photographer can attest to that.

So I thought I would pay it back and come full circle with this. All sales will go directly towards a donation made to the Make-A-Wish Singapore Foundation. I'm not keeping a single cent from this.

If you're interested in buying the piece, just drop me a message and I'll get in touch with you as soon as I can. Do note that sales will be conducted on a first come basis. Delivery of the item will be done via a meetup (preferably in the West or Central). It's cash on delivery but no obligations should you be unhappy with the physical conditions of the piece before payment is made :)

If you're kinda tight this X'mas or know someone else who might be interested in the sale, do forward, tweet, or send a smoke signal to your friends and spread the word. This sale will run till 31 Dec 2010.

Cheers,
Wei Long

______________________________________________________________________

Hoong Wei Long is an aspiring music photographer. Since 2007, his love of capturing the art of performance has pushed him to document a multitude of gigs. Of which includes the likes of The Observatory (SG), Delphic (UK), Nine Inch Nails (US) and Shai Hulud (US). In 2009, Hoong was privileged to be selected as a budding photographer for Baybeats and enjoyed his first photo exhibition that year.

Hoong continues to work towards his dream of being a top music photographer and has recently provided coverage for Guttermouth (US) LIVE in Singapore and I Am David Sparkle (SG)'s 'Swords Are Drawn' album launch.

-----------------

To see his selected works, visit:
www.flickr.com/photos/hwlportfolio

To find out more about Make-A-Wish Singapore, visit:
www.makeawish.org.sg

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150099370091756&set=a.10150099369501756.305040.672756755&pid=7427374&id=672756755#!/album.php?aid=305040&id=672756755

无题

2010-12-08T01:21:00.002+08:00

I felt very vexed and restless today. It's an imminent feeling, like something is not going as it should be, and that nagging sense that you're not where you're supposed to be. It felt like being stuck in a moment that doesnt belong to you, and you're just an obsolete entity, watching. And the worse thing is, you can't pinpoint where the problem lies.

Without that, any solution would seem preposterous.

Amidst the din, I realised something: I've been surviving. And if past experiences were any indication, I will endure and succeed. it's just a matter of time. I might get by, but i'll emerge victorious in the end. i've made it through O Levels to get into a JC, i've endured physical challenges during my army days. It's just that it's taking a longer time now. and with it, comes the reminder that one shall never be complacent.

You might have the upper stance now, but the tables will turn. So all the showing off that you're doing right now, i'll make sure i learn from you, and be more humble in the future.

All my life, i've been acting cool. i've tried to be the coolest kid in school, listen to the most obscure music, and walk and talk aloof. Unless you talk to me, you will never know me. Even if you did, you can never entirely predict me. I try to attend the hippest concerts and make the best out of my wardrobe. That is not to say i do not enjoy the process - i love all the music and films and everything else that i've been exposed to. However, i feel like i'm a hybrid, stuck in the middle. and i realise it's time i do me. the real me. without false pretense. and if the world doesnt like it, they can kiss my poo-at like Leticia Bongnino.

after giving it some initial thought, 2011 will be the year i follow my dreams and myself.

WOE WOE WOE!

2010-11-11T00:51:00.004+08:00

i feel like this: A TERRIBLE MESS.

2 hours of trying to upload to SINA.COM makes me feel like a slut. ROARSSSSS!!!

and this is the ultimate dirty song.

On Hindsight

2010-11-07T16:13:00.002+08:00

"As we grow older, life's dangers grow more imminent. We're no longer sheltered by our parents, protected by cots and playgrounds, fed by home-cooked healthy food, fetched by maids and chauffeured by parents. We're no longer in school, where life revolves around the afternoon nap, followed by homework and meals and tv, where the people we know are the characters that were either heroes or villains. It's a safe routine where little can go wrong, except maybe not doing your homework, or mixing with bad company.
We now see life in the face. We confront dangers, right on, sometimes without us knowing, helplessly, some fearlessly. Death comes in many forms, accidents with many identities. We get our hearts broken, we fix it back up, only for it to get trampled again. We face the realities of the race, the mundane and the routines, the backlash of the mistakes, the responsibilities. We face life, head on and without life buoy.

Face it - strongly, and with dignity."

I wrote this about 2 years back. For once I'm kinda slightly impressed by my own writing. I think I'm coming into my own, getting used to my style and trying to improve upon it, and being more confident in the meantime. That's good, I guess.

The Social Network

2010-11-05T23:55:00.005+08:00

When we look back, The Social Network will probably go down as the movie that will best represent what it means to live vacariously through the internet over the past 2 decades, leading up to the culmination of arguably the biggest invention of our generation.

Perhaps it was the recent dry spell of not catching too many movies, but i highly doubt my senses were that numb or deprived to overrate a movie when i see one. This is one of the best movies I've seen all year.

The Social Network unveiled like a 2 hour tele-movie, in part due to Aaron Sorkin’s style of writing that has proved to be familiar in shows like The West Wing and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip – dialogue intensive scenes filled with long witty repartee, with plenty of dramatic punch, leading to dramatic twist of events.

If you’re not used to fast-talking actors rambling on and on like a bullet train, and if you’ve not seen an Aaron Sorkin show in your life, TSN might be hard to swallow initially, but if you stick with it, the rewards are tremendous. Aaron’s script is gripping and crafted in perfect timing, going between flash backs and flash forwards. This non-linear narrative, together with the smart script, had me holding my breath for more throughout the movie. I would say long takes like they do in The West Wing will be impressive, but David Fincher’s way of re-doing a take over and over again to the point of perfection might be very exhaustive for the actors. I’ve also read that Fincher is contractually bound to keep this movie under 2 hours. (haha)

There is so much rave going on for the 3 lead actors – Justin Timberlake, Andrew Garfield, and Jesse Eisenberg – that I went in with much expectations, knowing that both JT and AG have been touted to be competent for next year’s supporting actor Oscar race. In the end it was really Jesse who shone the brightest IMO, and whose performance I was most impressed with.

Justin Timberlake plays Napster founder Sean Parker, the douchebag that will expand Facebook beyond Zuckerberg’s imagination - a smooth-talking slime-ball, one of those businessmen so great with PR he will tell you the world is ending tomorrow and you will believe him. As smooth as he is on stage, Justin Timberlake seemed like a natural on screen. It wasn’t a breakthrough role for him, and there wasn’t much to test his versatility, so even though I thought it was believable, it wasn’t impressive.

Andrew Garfield’s role is incredible likeable. As Eduardo Saverin, Andrew Garfield played the role with immense earnestness. Eduardo formed the emotional aspect of the back story, and it is through him that issues of trust, friendship, loyalty and honesty were unveiled. In contrast, the twins’ narrative explored the violation of intellectual property and the blurring boundaries of what constitutes theft, and provided an insight into the Harvard’s code of conduct. Their meeting with Harvard president Larry Summers was an interesting scene, not entirely necessary and did not add to the pace, but it highlighted the Harvard community and its exclusivity, as well as the seemingly notoriety of the recently scandal-laden Harvard. One of the earlier scenes when Mark first created Facemash was brilliantly edited with the initiation into a Harvard sorority, building a correlation and an undercurrent early in the film, which will later prove to be one of Mark’s motivations for creating Facebook.

Rashina Jones looks like a Jessica Alba. Always lovely to see her on screen.

I thought the best performance, and undeniably the trickiest, came from Jesse Eisenberg. Jesse’s Mark is one constantly in thoughts; even when he is not speaking he seemed like someone who is going through a lot in his mind. There is a certain punk attitude, a contempt for rules, and an impenetrable quality about Jesse’s portrayal, all of which unbeknownst and belied when you look at a picture of the real Mark Zuckerberg. The kind of attitude that pays no attention to the superficiality and the farce around him, but instead has total devotion for what he believes to be the next best thing on campus, and his ticket to the girls he desires. So much of what he was going through was conveyed in Jesse’s restraint acting, and his facial expressions say it all. To say Michael Cera or Shia Labouf can replace Jesse is undermining what he has done, and I do not think neither of them can convey the depth and complexity of the character the way Jesse anchored it in vulnerability, and a delicate balance between conniving and determined. Well, maybe Shia can do it, but he doesn’t look like Mark Zuckerberg the way Jesse’s wide-eyed demeanor does. And Michael Cera is too kiddish for the role.

David Fincher has a great eye for detail and irony. I especially loved the subtle difference in the scene where Eduardo’s girlfriend almost set fire to his bed, and Mark was on the other end of the phone line, talking in front of a pool. The casting of Justin Timberlake as the person who “brought the music industry down” was ironic, given he is part of the music industry in reality. The one part I didn’t like was when the twins were competing in rowing and lost, played to blurry dreamy cinematography and chariots-of-fire-esque music in the background. I thought that portion was redundant and lingered for too long, and though I get a sense that Fincher might be mocking the standard jock-type, still it was a little overkill. Trent Reznor’s score together with another person whose name I can’t remember turns out to be pretty interesting, a few simple piano notes over a constant undercurrent of imminent buzzing, a perfect blend of pathos and anticipation.

The significance of movies based on reality has seldom lasted long. Think of all the movies that were deemed important in our generation: with the exception of Titanic, the technological and cultural significance of Star Wars, Jurassic Park, The Lord of the Rings, and many more, far outweigh the impact and social importance that reality-based movies have. Movies that directly depict or retell an important milestone in history – rather than one that represents it through fictional characters or genres – seemed to have lesser success. I doubt a decade later, we will look back at “United 93” or “World Trade Center” for insight into 9/11’s tragic happenings, neither will we revisit “Frost / Nixon” for that important interview, nor biopic “Che” for a sense of what it feels like to know Che Guevera.

Then comes TSN, a movie that in my opinion might not be timeless (because we can never know what the rapid rate of advancement in technology has in store for us), but it definitely represented a whole generation who grew up under the influence of the internet, where the boundaries of privacy are blurred and the voyeuristic nature of humans never more exposed.

I wished the film had more ambition though. Granted the film-makers have mentioned that this is not a film about the internet, but had the experience of the internet and its impact on modern life been explored more, this will definitely be a movie that will speak to the 550 million people on Facebook, and perhaps go on to become the movie of our generation.

Instead of having our Avatar and its constant droning of environmental preservation, its didactic and almost preachy manner of narration, the profuse display of the advancement in 3D technology, as well as the awe-inducing grandeur, TSN will go down in my books as one of the most important films of the last decade over Avatar, simply because the social-networking experience and the themes it highlights represents what each of us is going through, whether you’re 6 or 60.

Perhaps the final scene says it all – Jesse Eisenberg adding the ex-girlfriend as a friend on Facebook, the person that in the first scene somehow triggered the chain of events that led him to become the world’s youngest self-made billionaire. And he kept refreshing the page, over and over again, until the scene fades. Our infatuation with the site, at one point or another, is no different. We take action and we ponder, we wait and we can’t keep our eyes off it, eagerly waiting for something to happen. It is a meditation on what it means to be on Facebook – an addiction. In the end, Jesse became one of those 500 million members who can’t get enough of it, and can’t get what he wants out of it.

anticipating

2010-10-27T19:30:00.009+08:00

[THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT]
Julianne Moore and Annette Bening, front-runners at the Oscar race next yr. it might be a little too early to tell, but the reviews for this film have been spectacular. they play a couple, with a teenage son and daughter. when their kids found their sperm-donor father, played by Mark Ruffalo with manly charisma, their lives are turned upside down.
i love JM. and i cant wait for this film in Jan.

[I AM LOVE]
Tilda Swinton looks gorgeous in this. the trailer doesnt say much about the movie at all, except that Tilda is speaking in Italian. but the score, editing, and rave comments make this film desirable.
i'm killing myself for missing it when it's being shown in Spore last mth. oh well.

[BLUE VALENTINE]
so the trailer doesnt say much. here's the synopsis:
"The film centers on a contemporary married couple, charting their evolution over a span of years by cross-cutting between time periods."
but the star-power of Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams is enough to give me goosebumps. i love it when Ryan does indie films. cant wait.

[RABBIT HOLE]
Touted as Nicole Kidman's return to good films. The Best Actress curse has befallen many - Halle Berry's dramas didnt do so well after her win for Monster's Ball, and her highest grossing film was X-Men, which was not a film she anchored. Nicole Kidman's said to be a similar box office poison, after Fur-Golden Compass-Birth-Bewitched failed to give her the creds nor the box office success. it didnt help that these films werent that great either. Her role here is fast gaining Oscar buzz, and i cant wait for her to put some gold on this Pulitzer winning script. The Hour's a Pulitzer-winning book, so if it's any indication, 2nd time's the charm.

watching this trailer sorta makes my heart sink a little.

王菲

2010-10-20T13:13:00.002+08:00

I love this song. i think it's so poignant, how you yearn to love, yet fear the many outcomes. I love how it comes right after 为非作歹，which is a total contrast in both theme and mood, yet fits beautifully.

it always almost makes my heart sink a little deeper.

This is finally up on youtube. IMO it's quite underrated. i love 周禮茂's lyrics；天不變地變 - a theme which echoes in many of Faye's songs. "没有什么会永垂不朽”

作詞：周禮茂　作曲：黃舒駿

天空不變短　地為何變暫　海水不變枯　　為何石變爛
一去的你未返　一切帶走然而留下冀盼
不變的思念中　感覺浮進眼
溫馨的記憶　漫燃流滿面　仍走不出作天　跟過去糾纏
想我的生命中　只有你手從來是最暖　不要潻黑夜深　冰冷如永遠
這一分我在變　這一刻我在變
這一天我在變　　去不變地為你生存
天它不變地變　海它不變地變
心它不變地變　　卻又還未變　未能令你改變
天空不變短　地為何變暫　當初不變的　竟也要改變
海水不變枯　為何石變爛　當初不變的　終也要改變

here, i find my peace of mind. and through whatever i face in life, i know i'll always have these songs.

Eyes On Me

2010-10-20T13:09:00.003+08:00

it's as if i'm seeing her for the first time. There's something different about her, a twinkle in the eyes, more expressive than usual.

Wow.

Brandon Flowers - Only The Young

2010-10-19T16:13:00.001+08:00

This is shaping up to be my anthem of the year. I cant seem to get enough！ and the MV is GORGEOUSSSSS. froth in mouth kinda beautiful.

all time low

2010-10-19T01:34:00.002+08:00

i think i've hit an all time low =(
true, there's no where left but up.
hopefully this period will serve as a humbling reminder

Eat Pray Love

2010-10-19T00:44:00.002+08:00

i've not seen the movie yet (sigh), but reading the interview made me fall for Julia Roberts. I now understand why she is the best-paid actress in Hollywood. Few actresses nowadays can command the screen the way she does, without saying a word. that's star power, her whole being, and it's a throwback to the classic leading lady.

"EW: Have you ever been in such a dark and sad place as liz finds herself in the movie?
Roberts: As a younger person, (with) problems that are more unformed and immature, I'm sure. There's a moment where you're hitting the compass and it's just not giving you the way to go.

EW: When was that for you exactly?

Roberts: Well, my whole 20s was like that: trying out this idea of things, working a lot, and moving away from home at 17 and being away from my mom. So there are times when you're figuring out those puzzles where you really do feel lost. "Do I really want to be an actor? Is it really going to work out?" You want to talk about a series of breakdowns? Talk to any actors in their 20s. You just never know if it's going to click.
.
.
.
EW: it's hard to believe, but this year marks the 20th anniversary of the release of Pretty Woman. What advice would you give to your younger self if you could?Roberts: Nothing. The funny thing is, I'm still so much that same person, really. I think that you're born that person - becoming famous doesnt make tou crazy. I just dont believe any of that crap. Twenty years is, first of all, a drop of water. It's all still kind of hilarious and unbelievable to me. And I have so many places to put the big weight of identity of my life that movies just will never have that. They just fulfill me in a different place.

EW: Do you obsess over your appearance? Do you like the way you look today?

Roberts: I'm human. Sometimes I, like anybody, wake up in the morning and go, "F---, Really? THIS is the starting point?" Havent you ever picked up a picture of yourself from, like, five years ago, and you look at yourself and you go, "And I had no appreciation for how lovely I looked, how fit and healthy I looked." So now I say, "Now listen. Ten years from now, you're really going to think you should have appreciated yourself more." And I', raising a daughter, and I really want to empower her by example.

EW: At the end of the movie, your character comes up with one word to sum up where she is in her life. I'm sure you've been asked this dozens of times already, but what's your word?
Roberts: What is my word? Has anybody asked me that? I dont think so. What do you think it is? If someone said "What is Julia Roberts' word? You just spent an hour with her."

EW: Balance?

Roberts: Balance is good. You know, I probably would say happy. Just happy. It's so easy to be really, truly happy, and so easy to forget that and get grumpy. I know it's a shock, but I can be grumpy." - Entertainment Weekly #1114, August 6, 2010

Bionic

2010-10-15T15:56:00.002+08:00

i should be writing about other things, but as usual music dominates.
i really like Christina Aguilera's latest album Bionic. 'Not Myself Tonight', 'WooHoo', and 'Elastic Love' are just crazy catchy, and i almost forgot that MIA helped her on this album. WooHoo is a cheeky reference to the, erm, groin area, and all expletives and anatomical references were replaced with a very ambiguous WooHoo. niceeeee =)

i love how in 'Not Myself Tonight', the MV is racy and raunchy, with a look and set that resembles Madonna in Express Yourself. Since the song is about one night of fun that is against who she is entirely, the sexy vid is rather ironic, cos we've all seen Xtina play dirrty before. (maybe she IS a convent girl afterall). and was she trying to break away from the Madge reference (ie: this is not me. not myself tonight) by pulling out that look? hmmmmm

'I am', 'You Lost Me' and 'Lift Me Up' are gorgeous ballads that i have on replay now. and with the recent news of her divorce, it only becomes more timely as i try to connect the dots with these songs. so there's plenty of ways to interpret the divorce.

i just found the ballads very very suitable for my mood these few days.

'I Am'

'I am' stripped

'You Lost Me'

'Lift Me Up', from the Hope For Haiti concert. Linda Perry on the piano. Beautiful

Synecdoche New York

2010-09-09T22:26:00.003+08:00

"As the people who adored you stop adoring you
as they die
as they move on
as you shed them
as you shed your beauty
your youth
as the world forgets you
as you recognise your transcience
as you begin to lose your characteristics
one by one
as you learnt there is no one watching you
and there never was,
you think only about driving
not coming from any place
not arriving any place
just driving
counting off time:
now you're here at 7.43
now you're here at 7.44
now you're gone."

Synecdoche New York is one of the most depressing and revelatory films i've seen all year. deep. very deep.

Inglourious Basterds

2010-09-03T11:52:00.002+08:00

"Quentin Tarantino's fevered fantasia Inglourious Basterds makes  the delirious assertion that World War II was won through a combination of the power of movies and the prowess of a band of renegades led by Brad Pitt as a twanging moonshine-maker. So it's perhaps unnecessary to point out that the blithe misspellings   in the movie's title are a delirious touch of nonsense too —  the whim of a filmmaker who's a bit of a renegade himself.

Still, I start with the title, since so too does Tarantino. His orthographic choices seem to say, Love me, love my idiosyncrasies — fun with words is only a hint of the coming attractions. (Trivia experts in the QT movie clubhouse know that Inglorious Bastards, properly spelled, is the American title of a 1978 B-minus Italian war movie with only the loosest of plot connections to this loopy homage.) Few young-to-middle-aged American filmmakers have the nerd-centric depth of movie knowledge and technique that Tarantino brings to his high-flying projects, and fewer still have the confidence to simultaneously glorify and deconstruct genre as he can, whether the genre is blaxploitation, Hong Kong action, '70s grindhouse fare, or, in this case, war movies and '40s noir. But Tarantino's gleefully assembled spectacles are  inextricable from his frustrating emotional limitations: Everything is  a game. And here the game includes spelling and the actorly imitation of ''people'' in ''trouble.'' And Nazis.

Or should I say, ''NAH-zeees''? That's what Lieut. Aldo Raine (Pitt) calls them, as he handpicks a team  of cocky malcontents — most of them Jewish — to join him in accumulating Nah-zee scalps. (Literally: Each man is assigned a quota of 100.) Pitt, in a '40s-style toothbrush-bristle mustache, undertakes Raine's preposterous speechifying in an accent just east of a George W. Bush drawl; he also pulls his lower lip up in a cornpone approximation of Monty Python's Mr. Gumby. Among those who cowboy up for Raine's regiment is Hostel  director Eli Roth as "the bear Jew," a baseball-bat-wielding lug who smashes his enemies' heads to a pulp. You can watch, since QT is always up for a lavishly designed shot of brain splatter.

As is his preference, Tarantino builds his movie as a collage of interlocking set piece — cinematically dazzling, to be sure,   enhanced by an meticulously chosen retro soundtrack — rather than a linear progression. As a result, it's easy enough to tune out the Basterds while they scalp up a storm, and drop in instead on other colorful players. As Bridget, a German actress and undercover agent with exquisite taste in footwear, Diane Kruger presides over a conversation-rich scene in a pub populated with good guys and bad. As French-Jewish Shosanna, who witnesses the slaughter of her family, forges a new identity, opens a movie theater, and plots revenge, Mélanie Laurent presides over a climactic blowout — literally — in her Cinema Paradiso of a movie palace. (At the Cannes premiere, this line  of Shosanna's killed: ''We're French. We respect directors in our country.'')

And as Nazi colonel Hans Landa, nicknamed ''the Jew hunter'' for obvious and terrible   reasons, Austrian actor Christoph Waltz   triumphs, heroically, over Tarantino's brash, cine-drunk tall tale. His Landa makes a   magnetic entrance in the movie's first (and very best) scene, terrifying a French farmer suspected of hiding Jews simply by requesting a glass of milk. Waltz, who easily won the 2009 Cannes prize for best actor, centers Inglourious Basterds with the welcome subtlety of his performance. In Tarantino's besotted historical reverie, real-life villains Adolf Hitler and  Joseph Goebbels are played as grotesque jokes. The Basterds are played as exaggeratedly tough Jews. The women are femmes fatales.  In such a cartoon world, the appearance of one stereotype-resistant protagonist — a Nazi, no less — counts as something glorious indeed."
- Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly. grade: B

I wanted to write a review about Inglourious Basterds, but Lisa's review was so succint i thought anything i wrote will put me in shame, so here.

i've seen some other great great movies this past week: Monga, Mother (Korean, with Won Bin), and The Hurt Locker. if i can stop bumming, and curb my enthusiasm in reading other critics, perhaps i'll put them down in writing. it's been a long time since i did a full-blown review anw. yeaaa.

what do you want to do?

2010-08-30T02:02:00.002+08:00

Sometimes, when people ask me what do i want to do in life, the first things that come to my mind are usually the places i wana travel, the artistes i want to catch live, and the teevee shows i want to watch.

there's many shows i'd love to watch, and i feel less of a human now cos i haven seen some of these iconic productions. In celebration of the Emmys, here's a list in no particular order, sorta like a resolution list, to remind myself:

- SEX AND THE CITY. i feel like a loser for not having caught it.
- The Golden Girls. because of Betty White
- Breaking Bad. so much rave for Bryan Cranston
- Modern Family. touted to be the best comedy in states now
- BUFFY. nuff said.
- FRINGE 2
- GOSSIP GIRL 3
- ugly betty. only for Michael Urie and V. Williams
- The Wire
- The Simpsons!!!
- Battlestar Galatica
- catch up on PROJECT RUNWAY =(
- rewatch Felicity and Gilmore Girls and Alias.

disconnect

2010-08-12T02:06:00.002+08:00

united in that moment
of music.

that when it ends,
so does our shared conscious.

the world jolts back to reality-
a reality.
a disparate and disconnected
superficiality.

it's about as much as we ever shared.
that when the party ends,
and the lights come on,
all that remains
are the spills
the leftovers
the silence.

LOST

2010-08-12T01:17:00.002+08:00

"Most believe that what's done is done; you can't change fate, no matter how hard you try. And those who challenge what is destined will always be met with disappointment, for fate has a way of charting its own course. But before one surrenders to the hands of destiny, one might consider the power of the human spirit and the force that lies in one's own free will." - Michael Emerson, in his voice over for LOST S6ep00.

sadly, i have neither the courage to challenge destiny, nor the power of the spirit to decide my own free will.

how pathetic.

PRECIOUS

2010-08-07T01:53:00.005+08:00

Lee Daniel's directorial debut dug many issues and laid them bare for us to examine: child abuse, incest, education, white supremacy, idolatory & celebrity, body image, illiteracy, HIV, sexuality, and even black humour.

It also leaves you with many learning points to take home: the distaste towards oily fried food with pork, a sense of security with our lifestyles, improved black vocabulary and grammar, hope for a better future, a feeling of undeserving bliss due to the geography in which we're born in, etc. but for me, the personal take-away message was how a mother's love for her children can push someone to achieve greater dreams.

There's 2 very different portrayal of motherhood in Precious. There's Mo'nique's Mary, a chain-smoking and abusive mother who lied her way through welfare aid, whose jealousy blinded her from what's right and wrong. And then there's Gabourey Sidibe's Precious, who rised above the discrimination and inner demons to chart a path of her own, "breaking through" an abusive relationship to find the strength in her to give the best that she was unable to get to her children.

Amidst all the issues that she faced, that message stood out to me the most. the undivided and selfless act of wanting to provide for her children, with no self-pity at her illness, moved me. that before her death, all she wants to do was to give them the best, struck me. How noble the cause, and how bravely she steamrolled ahead.

Gabourey Sidibe gave a pure and understated performance. despite how come have cried foul at the lack of great female characters in cinema these days, Gabourey found something that fitted her like a glove. Yet i wonder how much of this is a one-hit wonder, and she'll forever be known as the girl from Precious, stuck in that image and unable to find another role fitting for her. Her physical presence was strong. Any smaller actor would not have lend the same kind of gravitas needed for the role. but that might also limit her in her body language, which might affect the roles she get in the future. Nonetheless, Gabourey Sidibe is a tour-de-force in this movie, and sometimes, one single performance is all you need to create a legacy.

Mo'nique made a big sweep during the awards season, and true to hype, her performance was moving and raw, and she delivered those lines with emotions. you might not sympathise with her totally, but u can emphatise with the fact that she did what she thought was right.

The film played like one of them BET videos Precious wants to be in: unevenly paced, with flashbacks of fantasy, loud at times, and lots of vulgarities. I felt the film lacked a deeper connection due to the many issues it was trying to bring to light. As a result, there was no clear emotional climax until the end, which to me felt more like an anti-climax. I would have loved for a happily-ever-after, or at least some fragments of it, though it could never be possible. If anything, credit should go to the director for not sensationalising on the issues and toying with our sympathy. there was some respect for the audience for not putting things out blatently. it could have easily been overdone, but the restraint Paula Patton and Gabourey Sidibe had, Mo'Nique's brave performance, and the healthy dose of humour, brought closure.

Pecious is a film for anyone who is facing a tough period in their lives. if not to make you feel awfully lucky in your own shoes, at least for the acting and the humour. It is a rare gem in a crowd of false aplomb.

"The other day, I cried. But you know what? Fuck that day. That's why God, or whoever, makes other days."

WINNER!

2010-08-04T03:03:00.002+08:00

my first "letter of the month" is published in this month's AUGUST MAN magazine! zippeeeee! very very pleased that i won for myself a Kenneth Cole watch. =)

i really shouldnt be this happy, cos the more i read it, the less impressed i am with it. i thought the other two letter were somehow better: one had better language, while the other a more diverse viewpoint. i had a better opener i guess. or mayb i was just plain lucky. or mayb they realised tt i've been following them on facebook and twitter and wana award my new-found loyalty and keep me reading. hmmm.

in any case, the idea to write in came to me during shower, like most bright ideas. i donno whether this is some divine luck, or some great writing, but today, it made me happy and motivated. and the recent success of HCJC training brought back some confidence in me as well. so i guess, it's uphill from here i hope.

tomorrow will be the day towards progress, in which today's reward spurred.

SALT

2010-07-25T04:15:00.002+08:00

"A lack of plausibility used to be thought of as a liability in movies. When a critic, or an audience, complained that a plot twist was too luridly far-fetched to believe, that it stretched and snapped the bonds of reality (a rather vague concept, to be sure), that would generally go down as a negative assessment. Over the past couple of decades, though, expectations have shifted. Fantasy has leaked, like an oil spill, into everything, even naturalistic thrillers, and that has changed our relationship to them. Salt, a jacked-up espionage/action machine starring Angelina Jolie as a CIA superstar who may or may not be a Russian mole, is a movie I have no trouble calling flagrantly preposterous and over-the-top — impossible to buy on any sober, adult level. It's like a John le Carré double-agent yarn compacted into comic-book pulp as if by the makers of Con Air. Yet the movie doesn't pretend to be anything other than that; to call it out for being ludicrous would be like complaining that Superman flies. Besides, Salt knows how to stay one step ahead of you in devious, if jaw-droppingly contrived, ways. The movie is fun, dammit. So who cares, really, if it's trash?" - Owen Gleiberman, in his review of the new Angelina Jolie movie, SALT

OG has a knack for succintly putting in words my thoughts. I want to write like him.

ar see wa wu ghor baa ban

2010-07-24T04:16:00.003+08:00

2 person behind me in the queue to buy toto/4D (was buying for my mum dad -.-) was overheard talking about their plans if they won the $5 million prize. Lady A was telling Man B that she asked her family what they will do with the money if they won (now this is what i call DAY DREAMING). A's mum and dad both said they wana invest in property and buy a bungalow (don't they always want the biggest of everything?!). A told them $5 million not enough to buy bungalow, which got me wondering:

1) how much do u need to buy 3 freaking layers of roof over your head in Singapore?
2) what will i do if i win $5 million frakking dollars!?!?!

then i found the answer.

in our favourite local newspaper XIN MIN RI BAO NONETHELESS!!

Next to the very sexysaucysteamy headline of Jackie Chan's confession that he shot a R(A) blue film before (why am i not surprised? hmmm) is an article about a man who won an undisclosed huge sum of money and 坏事连连 quickly followed. what divine providence yet again!　someone is telling me to be contented instead of being a daydreamer and lust after what i did not work hard for!

and i have learnt it the hard way once that what goes around comes around, so i dun think winning $5 million will be something i want. the paranoia will kill me. my life is destined to not have any huge windfalls.

but please just let me strike 4D like $1k a yr i will be super happy and contented already thankyouverymuch higher power that be if u are reading this.

so if u find out that i won 5 frakking million bucks, pls come look for me. i will give my money away nonetheless. unless u've been a bad bad bad person to me.

i think i am harbouring a growing resentment, one that i admit is bad, but an inevitable one, at the chances that i was denied, which led me to take a different, and more difficult path. oh well.

LOST

2010-07-17T03:13:00.010+08:00

The caption for the above photo reads:
"Downward dog Will we ever be able to think about this scene and not cry?"

I'm obsessed over LOST lately. 3 episodes into the final season, and i cant wait to finish them all. But i have to finish Doc Jensen's recaps and theories and Totally 'LOST' videos on s5 first before i can proceed further. and because i do not have a smart phone, i've copied exhaustively all the recaps onto Microsoft Word (a grand total of at LEAST 100 pages, font size 8), only to realise that Doc Jensen actually has LOST THEORIES articles after each episode too. By then i was too exhausted and decided i should just read the theories online, the recaps on paper while i am on the road. but all these are worthwhile.

After i've seen LOST, everything else just feels like second rate. PREDATORS' theme of strangers-dropped-on-an-island-for-greater-mission, and them discussing whether they're in purgatory or in a game just had me in cynical inside-laughs at how tired this idea is, and how badly they're writing the lines and picking the characters. they're 1D in comparison to Sun/Jin's epic star-crossed romance, or even John's faith.

While watching INCEPTION, i related the dream extractions to LOST's time-travelling stories, and wished the minds of one criminal has more intrigue and interests rather than a similar replication of the modern world, albeit the action sequences and JGL's zero-gravity scenes are to-die-for. I wished they have more dimensions than the mythologies of the LOST universe.

There's so much i can say about LOST and its tales that it's difficult to encompass all within an entry. but i can say, that i'm so emotionally invested in the show it's unbelievable. i stopped myself from reading spoilers when copy/pasting the final season's recaps. but when i saw the picture above of Jack, face defeated and hands covered in blood, a stark contrast to S1E1's opening scene, and then a dog by its side as a drastic comparison - life and imminent death, man and animal, grappling and abundant cuteness - it just did it for me. The stage is set for an imminent death, and i don't think i am ready for it.

In many case, Jack Shepard is the character i most identify with. the reluctant hero, the one trying to please everyone, the doctor always trying to fix things, the man with issues and inner demons. but above everything else, Jack is like everyone; human, and flawed.

The day i watch that scene will be a very sad day indeed.

________________________________________________________________________________

Sarah McLachlan - Fear

Fear.
they say that limits us from getting out of our comfort zone, to play 10/10 or more.
(but isnt 10/10 still within the comfort zone? but that's for another day)
Every chanced sight of the word, because it doesnt bloom in front me every now and then contrary to popular beliefs, reminds me of Sarah McLachlan's soprano voice, where she effortlessly and so smoothly, like caramel, lived out those notes like dew in the "morning sky", innocent and spirited, almost spiritual.
The song's atmospheric arrangement, with the backing vocals hazed out, hinted at the whispers and voices in our heads, where fear most often sprang from uncertainty and doubt, confusion and conflict.
And then at the end, because like anything else, it has to end. And then i realise, that in songs, i am exorcising myself and whatever fragments of it that needs mending.

"But I fear, I have nothing to give. I have so much to lose here in this lonely place, tangled up in our embrace. There's nothing I like better than to fall."

The Cardigans - My Favourite Game

In sec 1, I heard this song and saw the MV.
the very sight of a tatooed Nina Pearson, driving along to this song, uninhibited, with the wind blowing in her face and the smell of open air, together with that liberating sense of freedom that comes along with it, I recognise. And i worship that immunity from everything else except living in that moment.

in that mad rush there is a cathartic release of pent up emotions. The song narrates the anger and frustrations from possibly a very fresh breakup, and later in the chorus turned soft and mellow (don't we all contradict ourselves so beautifully sometimes) before that repetitive yet incredibly hooky beat explodes in your head once again.
a cautionary tale against speed driving? sure it is. But every now and then, the incredible hook resurfaces in my mind everytime i travel, or am in some high-speed drive. The feeling is incredible, and the release even better.

I wonder what songs people have in their heads, when they're walking, waiting for train, or in the middle of a conversation that they're out of. I have a song in my head most of the time. Do you?

Oprah and Ellen

2010-06-26T02:49:00.005+08:00

Oprah: Would you say that coming out was the seminal moment in your life?

Ellen: Oh yeah, because it stripped everything away. The whole world was talking about me. You know, if you're going o be honest with yourself, you have to admit that you go into show business wanting people to talk about you and wanting everyone to knopw who you are. But that also means there are going to be a whole bunch of people who don't like you. No matter who you are. I'm sure there's somebody out there who doesnt like Betty White because she's short and has white hair.

O: Refresh my memory: At what point did you make the decision to come out? You were three years into your sitcom?

E: I was four years in, because the fifth is when they canceled me. I think I've told you about a dream I had. i was struggling with the idea of coming out - what it would do to my career and to me - and in this dream, i was holding a tiny finch in the palm of my hand. i could feel how much i loved this bird and that it was safe in its cage - one of these thin, bamboo, beautiful, multitiered cages - and as i was putting the bird back in, i realised that the cage was against a window and the bird could fly out. the bird realised it at the same time i did, and i became the bird. and the bird looked at me and wanted to fly out, but i looked at the bird and said, "but u're safe in here in a beautiful cage. don't leave." and the bird just looked at me and flew out over the window.

O: wow.

E: So i was like, okay, i know what that meant. until then i'd had no idea i was in a cage. i was in this beautiful setting, and i was making money and had everyone taking care of me.
.
.
.
O: But it's so important to say that out loud so people can see for themselves how the things that broke you open actually allowed you to be set free.

E: I think Diane Sawyer told me she read something that said te cracks in your heart let the sun shine through. i just thought that was beautiful. and it's all part of balance. i'm a comedian, and i definitely see the humour in a lot of things. i am also sad a lot. i cry often and easily. i think you're supposed to feel all kinds of things. you're supposed to laugh, you're supposed to cry, you're not supposed to shove your feelings under the rug. i was raised in an atmosphere of "everything's fine." but as i got older, i was like, "well no, everything's not fine. there is stuff that's sad." I am a really sensitive person. i think i am too sensitive sometimes, especially in this business.
.
.
.
O: Okay. So, when i saw you at the photo shoot for the cover, what i was most struck by was the light in your eyes.

E: Well, of course there was a light - i was with you!

O: [laughs] No, there really was a twinkle in your eye that comes only from a sense of well-being. i'm telling you, i recognise it when i see it. what's that all about for you?

E: you told me you wanted to talk about this, so i was thinking about it. and i asked my massage person: what is it about me that you think is balanced?

O: [laughs] that's like when Gayle was invited to speak about self-esteem and she calls me and says, "how do i feel about self-esteem"" so your massage person said...

E: She said i constantly challenge myself. she has known me for 11 years, and she said when something goes wrong, instead of running away from it, i look at it and go "what's my part in it, what's my responsibility?"

Wedding bells

2010-06-18T03:35:00.004+08:00

My Aunt Janice got married today. In a sea of young couples, what she lacked in youth she made up for with her usual spunk and attitude. Amongst the usual white gowns/shirt-tie ensemble, she wore a purple short skirt, with her trademark short hair, dyed to matching gold with Uncle Randall, the groom.

My first solemnisation. It wasnt as sacred an affair as I had expected: children were free to run amok, released by disrespectful parents, who probably after their own solemnisation saw no meaning out of it given their present marriage. To me, it was a romantic moment when the groom held the bride's hand out of his initiative when reciting the vows.

The wedding was a very simplistic affair. At 5pm we then went to Ice Cold Bs at SMU for beer and Wii while waiting for dinner to begin. It was a small dinner - 4 tables at Yan's Palace, Hong Lim Complex. It lacked the costume changes, the 4-tier wedding cake that will eventually get thrown away, the farcical and usually badly edited/scored ppt slides and videos, the annoying yum-seng, and the commercial money-laundering table photos and 5-star hotel dinner. Instead, we had the best bonding over KTV and a nice meal. They didnt have to go through all the troubles of putting on a show, and we didnt have to pretend to be happy. We shared the best family dinner with lots of fun, even more so than chinese new year routines, and the no-frills simplicity of it made me abhor the wedding machine even more. I got to know my aunts and cousins better, so that beats any 10 course dinner with tons of shark fins.

The extravagance. The farce. Wedding in Singapore is rarely what it's meant to be, but instead has become a business almost. First the house, then the wedding, then the cars and babies and investment in children, blah blah blah.

Sometimes simplicity is the best way to go.

bullees

2010-06-13T03:56:00.002+08:00

i just found out, that Lee Hsien Yang is the (ex) boss of SINGTEL, and Lee Hsien Long's wife is the founder of Starhub.

SERIOUSLY, are they trying to take over Singapore?!!?! their family inheritance must have been able to last them 23546779890890 generations!!!

The world is so unfair. some people just have it so easily.

Fantasia - I'm Here

2010-06-04T02:52:00.002+08:00

I cant put this on facebook without putting my heart on my sleeve and disclosing the fact that i cried to a Fantasia performance yet again, but after a really really long time. It won't be doing this justice. This is tear-jerker to the max, i mean, i didnt even cry this hard when Sue Sylvester visited her mentally disabled sister.

guess i'm still human after all.

Emotional

2010-06-03T01:47:00.002+08:00

I feel emotional right now. It's the fatigue these few days, a sign of illness that comes with lethargy, coupled with late night sleeps and the mental stress of work. Sigh.

reading bee's note on Mdm Aishah didnt help at all thou.

today marks the first day of a new beginning. well, sort of. after slogging for 4 yrs 2 months and 1day, i've finally my slave of a part time job, in search for something better. The very unethical and unprofessional way they let me go was to not inform me, and get my colleague, who was not made for this, to do the job. in the end i had to call them to hear it from the pig's filthy mouth what was disguised as a "chance for the newcomers to be independent". sure, be that. i'll see how long you can survive.

but somehow there was a sense of closure and release after that phone call. for a while now, i've been pent up working there. i guess i understand now how all my previous colleagues felt, and how come they all said it was for the better that i left. i hate it that no one told me to get out of this hellmouth earlier. what a fool i've been.

like how simon cowell see's his 9th yr on idol as his last cos he felt it was just time to go, so can be said for me. so many people are embarking on new journeys this period. if anything, the best part about that is an empty canvas which you can decide on the best way to paint. i feel now a sense of release, and cant wait for what exciting events that is to come.

time to sing "Don't Rain On My Parade" now. give me my audience and my band. i'll march them out now.

Exhausted

2010-05-23T13:18:00.003+08:00

I think it's been a mentally gruelling week, and coming into Saturday's Singapore Can Speak round, I wasnt prepared at all to face my group of ambassadors and tell them to be happy and pro-ative when all i wanted to do was to finish Far From the Madding Crowd. (There's no significance to the text, it's just my lit text for the upcoming exam on Tuesday) But when it came down to seeing these 17 yr old, somehow or rather it just came to be naturally that i have to be this ball of energy that they can absorb from. it's not putting up a front, but it just came to be. And strange enough, i gave more of myself this week than the last.

And i never knew that giving so much of yourself could be so exhausting. during the show it didnt feel tiring at all. i was energetic and forgot about my troubles. but after 3 hours at the end of the show, i just wanted to go home take off my shoes have a hot bath wash wax off my hair and just raise my feet up and have a cold beer. and read Hardy - not cos i want to but cos i have to. Then I just want to detonate my social calendar and just be by myself for a while, but figured i'll be more miserable by myself, so i went to bec's.

i realise that some people just zap the energy from you, without giving. I sometimes feel that way about myself too. but to my conscious, i hope that i've been there for my friends as much as i could be. i want to be remembered as someone who was giving all his life, and was there for people everytime.

in writing, I purge

2010-05-21T22:44:00.002+08:00

Not many people inspire me to write. The events in my life and all that is happening around me do though. Not the great authors, Dickens, Eliot, Bronte, that I am reading; not the famous movie critiques like Owen Gleiberman, Whang Yee Ling, or Peter Travers. Its people I know that writes well that inspires me to write. Jack always inspires me to create something that is beautifully my own, always with a critical eye and never settle for second best. And recently, reading a junior's blog has spurred my interest in writing again. If at 17 he is able to write effortlessly and fluidly, it really puts me to shame.

and that's all i seem to be feeling these days, the constant nagging feeling that i am inapt and incapable of anything remotely great. My life is in shambles, really, and when i think of the sum of all that is wrong in my life, i just feel like giving up entirely, run away to some faraway place free from all of this and be by myself.

There's no sympathy out there it seems.

But on good days, the music will heal the soul. the only crying i'm doin now is from watching tv. through that, i live vicariously; rejoice, cry, laugh, and get excited, i do them all in solitude.

"I was. I lost. I sang. I knew. I ever hope for that strange autumn light again with the good dog again with the thousands of years. Scrap of [me] off Eurydice torn. Her number I lost her lark I shot and she a pulse. History never looks so possible as when leaving a heart spilt among the stones crying Don’t read it again it was perfect"
- Anne Carson

long time coming

2010-05-11T01:33:00.002+08:00

I have so much to write, but when it comes down to sitting in front of the computer, trying to type out my thoughts with these tired hands, i'm unable to do so. so whatever comes to mind now.

i'm listening to 陈珊妮 right now. i find 如果有一件事是重要的, which was posted in the previous entry, a very soothing song that somehow makes me feel slightly better. not over-the-top exuberance, but just slightly more at peace with myself. and the lyrics are so simplistic, yet speaks volume. makes me wana kill myself for not catchin her in concert earlier this year.

i'm officially a GLEEK. about time now. i've cried 3 times to the show, and have been harbouring the idea that it's possibly better than American Idol. Wait, it could very well be true. if my tears are any indication, that i can cry 3 out of the 13 episodes of Glee Season 1 part 1, as compared to the less-than-10 times i've cried during Idol's 9 year run, then yes, GLEE is much better. but more so because this season's Idol is so lacklustre my puke had more character than 56345678 of the contestants. With the exception of Siobhan Crystal Lee lily and Alex Lambert, the others can go straight to oblivionville hell for all i care.

i've been hearing, that youths should be energetic and be full of fire and energy, endless amount of them. i forgot where i heard it from, pretty sure it's a tv show, and i got scared, because i do not feel like i have tt fire in me. i feel lethargic and empty most of the time recently. i do not feel driven much of the time. i procrastinate. and all this should be saved for when i am 90 yrs old (if i ever live that old) while i'm rocking that wooden piece of chair. but right now, i'm supposed to have fire in my eyes. but i'm not.

what ever happened to me and my dreams?

they're sucked away.

i have a list of ppl i admire and want to emulate. by 70 i will still be rocking like Tina Turner on heels. at 70s i wana be as artistically and critically acclaimed in my career as Clint Eastwood, who at 70+ is directing some of the best movies of his career. at 50 i wana be like Simon Cowell, full of confidence and all-knowing, but not cocky and arrogant. and be damn freaking rich. at 30 i wana be like Oprah Winfrey and reinvent myself by lugging out a trolley of fats and lose weight (if i get that fat). oh, and give all my friends a car when i am 40+. and build a freakin empire. and have a tv network and a tv show tt makes ppl cry.

far fetched eh. how bout that for falling short of your dreams.

如果有一件事是重要的

2010-05-11T01:28:00.000+08:00

如果有一件事是重要的
曲:陈珊妮
词:陈珊妮

你想要不变心的情人
还是永远不老的青春
你想要更伟大更不朽
还是一个瞬间成永恒
你在期待命好使人废
还是坚持厄运不服输
回忆再珍贵都有极限
未来多完美并未可知
what if...what
if...谁都是自己问题的答案
what if...what
if...谁都是自己答案的问题
谁都有一辈子好好想清楚
你想先得到一个祝福
还是先给予一个感谢
美丽再完美都有极限
思想多珍贵并未可知
what if...what
if...谁都是自己问题的答案
what if...what
if...谁都是自己答案的问题
谁都有一辈子好好想清楚
如果有一件事是重要的
那就是对与错的总合

44 to 24: the top 24 revealed!

2010-02-20T12:28:00.002+08:00

ALLRIGHT it's that time of the year again where i boost my ego by boldly predicting the frunt-runners to watch out for last yr's idol, and true to my predictions, after hearing just 10sec of Glambert's cover of "Believe", he went on to become the hottest thing on Idol last yr!
but this season there's no such impressive instants yet. but here's a few potentials to watch:

Lily Scott - the girl with silver hair and oversized earrings who covered Fitzgerald
Crystal Bowersox - the tattoo-mum with a kid's photo as lucky charm. "Natural Woman"
Tyler Grady - 70s rocker. very Morrison. very cool.
Andrew Garcia - tattoo-on-neck dude with a decent voice and a very punk-wife tt resembles a certain ANTM contestant.

AVATAR and HURT LOCKER lead with 9 nominations each

2010-02-03T00:48:00.000+08:00

Best Picture
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

Best Actor
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
George Clooney, Up in the Air
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Morgan Freeman, Invictus
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

Best Actress
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia

Best Supporting Actor
Matt Damon, Invictus
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Best Supporting Actress
Penélope Cruz, Nine
Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Mo’Nique, Precious

Best Director
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
James Cameron, Avatar
Lee Daniels, Precious
Jason Reitman, Up in the Air
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

Best Original Screenplay
Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker
Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman, The Messenger
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, A Serious Man
Pete Docter, Bob Peterson & Tom McCarthy, Up
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

Best Adapted Screenplay
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci & Tony Roche, In the Loop
Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell, District 9
Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious
Nick Hornby, An Education
Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air

Best Animated Film
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
Up

Best Foreign Language Film
El Secreto do Sus Ojos (Argentina)
Un Prophete (France)
The White Ribbon (Germany)
Ajami (Israel)
The Milk of Sorrow (Peru)

Best Art Direction
Avatar
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
Sherlock Holmes
The Young Victoria

Best Cinematography
Avatar
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The White Ribbon

Best Costume Design
Bright Star
Coco Before Chanel
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
The Young Victoria

Best Documentary
Burma VJ
The Cove
Food, Inc.
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
Which Way Home

Best Editing
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious

Best Makeup
Il Divo
Star Trek
The Young Victoria

Best Score
Avatar
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Hurt Locker
Sherlock Holmes
Up

Best Song
“Almost There,” The Princess and the Frog, Randy Newman
“Down in New Orleans,” The Princess and the Frog, Randy Newman
“Loin de Paname,” Paris 36, Reinhardt Wagner & Frank Thomas
“Take It All,” Nine, Maury Weston
“The Weary Kind,” Crazy Heart, T-Bone Burnett & Ryan Bingham

Best Sound Editing
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Up

Best Sound Mixing
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Best Visual Effects
Avatar
District 9
Star Trek

Best Documentary Short
China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province
The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner
The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant
Music by Prudence
Rabbit à la Berlin

Best Animated Short
French Roast
Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty
The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)
Logorama
A Matter of Loaf and Death

Best Live-Action Short
The Door
Instead of Abracadabra
Kavi
Miracle Fish
The New Tenants

蓝奕邦 – [邦]

2010-02-01T03:01:00.003+08:00

蓝奕邦 – [邦]
发行：东亚唱片

蓝奕邦不是天籁之音，但像他一样的歌手更稀少，可欲不可求。

05年的[无非想快了]一鸣惊人，让我在07年初次听那张专辑时开始对他注意。被专辑名称所吸引，想知道他到底是谁，会对“快乐”与“不快乐”又有什么看法。那可说是我花最多时间在歌词本的专辑之一，因为它记载着奕邦生活的笔记，和歌背后的故事与泉源。潦草的笔记虽然让我看得头大，但也看得投入。

每听一张蓝奕邦的专辑都是一次的experience，一种“体验”。老黄瓜说过： “实体专辑的可贵，除了音质更加以外，歌词册是关键。” 你不单是在听歌解闷，而是在了解一个人：他的经历，想法，生活方式，甚至是姓名的来源。由此把歌手与听者的距离拉近，把艺人那高不可攀的形象打掉，建立坦诚与真实的桥梁。

听[邦]有如与朋友聊了一夜后获得的安慰，十分comforting。

[邦]是蓝奕邦三部曲的完结篇，词曲全由奕邦一人包办。以姓名取为专辑名称，应该不难发现主题一定环绕在他身上。[邦]是累积两年酝酿出的生活写照与成长片段。曲目的编排有如平常天的次序：起身时必定先《赖床》，之后你会在工作上遇见《奇珍异兽》，而一切的不满与闷会让你想《逃学去英国》。你会想突破，而那必须从自己开始（《独行侠》）。接下来，唯一的路就是面对万难地《向前走》，因为《时候尚早》，要面对与跨越的还很多。

前四首的摇滚曲风逐渐转重。一切的烦燥在前四首重叠，直到《逃学去英国》最后一段副歌之前才得到释放。喜欢《逃学去英国》我行我素的霸气。歌者的发泄，听者也感受到，有共鸣，有如终于叹了一口气的爽。Bridge部分是高潮，词写着：“游荡纵有不安 / 仍期待去破天荒 / 到远方谁人又可罚我留堂 / 而沿岸有好风光/ 还是满布肮脏 / 总好过闷局里发荒” 。接着的5首是抒情曲风的励志歌曲，以反败为胜做主题。

我听专辑时，注重的除了概念与可听度，觉得让一张专辑更上一层楼的，就是cohesion （整体感）和 flow。[邦]做到了两点，让我陷入歌者的生活，完全投入。这不简单，尤其当[邦]里的6首歌已在之前的两部曲发表过。

也是你会觉得他的歌太“芭乐”，主流了。但比起市场上一般非诚意，为讨销量而刻意“芭乐”的歌来说，他的歌是有意义，不造作的。

西洋乐坛有Elton John, Billy Joel, 两位以钢琴为主的流行音乐歌手，而香港男性代表有蓝奕邦。他们最大的武器是钢琴，整场演唱会可以几乎在钢琴面前演唱，考琴艺，更考魅力。有诚意，但更有感动。他们都是说故事的人，不仅是在让你听一把好嗓子发出来的音符，而是在对你调情，聊天。

这是一张当你陷入生活谷底时，能给你一份力量和推动力的专辑。他不会让问题凌空，但音乐就妙在能给于你暂时的逃避，而从中得到“向前走”的力量。好听的专辑其实不少，但能真正让我反复回播，很有信心的说在十年后也会一样喜欢，一样有影响的，却不多。蓝奕邦的自传是我们人生的反照，而他的诚意与感动，你也听得到。

哪根蔥说过：“为了不让这个会创作，会反思的歌手，莫名被我判下无期徒刑，下面两张绝对不会错过。” 希望你也会试听，会喜欢，但更希望这是一张会对你有启发的专辑。

歌词册里，蓝奕邦这么写着：

“我坚信，音乐，是用来说故事的。

而故事，是要用生活炼成。

我不“活”，如何“说”？

I have to live, so I can live to tell。”

希望你也能在歌里，找到属于你的故事。

推荐：逃学去英国，赖床，向前走，时候尚早，。。。

Hope For Haiti Now

2010-01-25T01:05:00.002+08:00

Mary J Blige sang this song 2 days ago at the "Hope For Haiti Now" charity telethon, led by George Clooney. This song is "a popular song written by Stephen C. Foster during 1854. Well-known and popular in its day,[1] both in America and Europe,[2][3] it was a favorite of both sides in the American Civil War."

Nobody does heartache quite as real and believing as MJB.

Stephen Foster - Hard Times Come Again No More
Let us pause in life's pleasures and count its many tears,
While we all sup sorrow with the poor;
There's a song that will linger forever in our ears;
Oh Hard times come again no more.
Chorus:
Tis the song, the sigh of the weary,
Hard Times, hard times, come again no more
Many days you have lingered around my cabin door;
Oh hard times come again no more.
While we seek mirth and beauty and music light and gay,
There are frail forms fainting at the door;
Though their voices are silent, their pleading looks will say
Oh hard times come again no more.
(Chorus)
There's a pale drooping maiden who toils her life away,
With a worn heart whose better days are o'er:
Though her voice would be merry, 'tis sighing all the day,
Oh hard times come again no more.
(Chorus)
Tis a sigh that is wafted across the troubled wave,
Tis a wail that is heard upon the shore
Tis a dirge that is murmured around the lowly grave
Oh hard times come again no more.
(Chorus)

Jennifer Hudson - Let It Be

“五粤场”的第3回：蓝奕邦《奕》EP

2010-01-24T03:39:00.003+08:00

蓝奕邦 – [奕]

蓝奕邦三部曲之二 – [奕]的三首歌，是蓝奕邦在生命的低潮时写的。

《赖床》- 绝望
赖床是一种逃避，对现实的投降，以及无力抵抗一切挫折的行为。

“越睡越是累，越累就越睡”。赖床是恶性循环，也是无底洞。当世界变得无法辨认，一切仿佛不在手中的操控下，你是否会想把所有的都抛开，不再去理，让一切的事与物随意地改变，和重叠？

躺在床上固然温暖，安慰。

生活像病毒，它让你虚弱，没有意志力，只想“打个喷嚏然后赖床”，找些温柔。有谁没有想过永远地躺下去，无限期地把自己埋在被单下面的温暖和安静，久久不出来呢？

《赖床》是本性，而歌的最后两句没有相反的态度，没有任何正面的鼓励奉劝听着爬出厄吴。因为大家都知道这是不应该的。你听得出那是一种懦弱，一种瘟疫。

那床总有一天会崩溃，人也会因此踏出第一步。

《逃学去英国》- 放下
走出第一步，逃学去英国吧。好过赖床，“好过闷局里发慌”。

教育好比生活中的限制。不遵守校规，不服从，不符合别人设置的固局，必受到处罚。逃学去英国，将把你牢牢铐着的摆脱。

从零开始，必然会有更好的一片天。

歌虽有绝望和无奈，以及逃避，但也有对于生命的渴望与求生。歌者似乎不顾一切地唱，有种“不管了”的潇洒。唱完这首歌后，他应该感到一种release吧。

《独行侠》- 面对
独立的第一步，也许会寂寞，艰难，但那不是绝路。人在谷底，唯一能走的就是往上爬。未来的惊喜和收获一定会在。

“独身都可快了做人/何方独断独行/用一双脚印来证实你极勇敢 / 脱轨的边缘人/还是快活自由人/ 只差一线等你去区分”

Another season begins

2010-01-21T00:30:00.003+08:00

It's the time of the year again, when another season of Idol begins. This will very well be the last year that things will remain the same, as Simon Cowell has made it official that he will be leaving the show next year. what bad luck for all of us who have come to love Mr Grumpy's british wit, honesty, and abrasive truth. he will be muchmuch missed. while the show is at the brink of major upheaval next year, season 9 is the time to cherish what is left of Simon Cowell.

I try not to read Rickey.org until Idol starts, and stay away from Idol until the first half of the yr when the show begins a new season. this is to prevent Idol satuaration, less someone comes out with a new album then it'd be worth revisiting those glory months of season past. And as every year begins, i subconsciously go to youtube for 'Tasia solace. oh those glory days, those gold standards of idol magic before Glambert sang with Kiss. before Carrie Underwood's Alone, there was 'Tasia's Summertime. and who can forget those golden few minutes of her sitting down on the Idol stage,in that pink halter-neck, tearing that song apart with equal ferocity and heartbreak. 'Tasia's one for the books.

and so it is, that as the new season begins and we do this all over again, we also look back at past greatness, and keep our love for the show strong; that despite the maddening group of lacklustre performances, bad but funny gimmicky performances, changes to the show, Randy's need for a Thesaurus, Kara's monkey business banging, we're on our way to witnessing greatness every year. and that is what drives us. he doesnt have to be the winner. he just have to deliver that ONE MAGICAL PERFORMANCE that will blow us away, and live up to that legacy, and we're forever enthralled and a believer.

This is the search for the next American Idol. and this one's for the fans.

David Archuleta - Imagine

Jennifer Hudson - Circle Of Life

Fantasia - Something to Talk About

Fantasia - Summertime

Fantasia - What are you doing the rest of your life.

Barbra Streisand - What are you doing the rest of your life.

2010-01-17T03:03:00.003+08:00

蓝奕邦在我生命的低潮时段，从谷里拉了我一把，教我如何向前走，勇敢地面对前途闭路。

赖床

向前走

2010-01-13T03:43:00.002+08:00

i have many things i want, but if i were to really pick one for my birthday this year, i wish for a ticket to the killers concert on 24 jan. if someone were to accompany me, that would be a bonus. =)

do tell me if u r buying so that i can pre-empt myself and revise the killers catalogue for the gig!

“五粤场”的第一回 - 谢安琪《活着》

2010-01-10T02:01:00.006+08:00

I am writing a chinese column for a music blog, introducing cantonese music and album reviews. This is my first time writing chinese article in 6 years, and i'm still trying to find my footing around it. the foot is, at the moment, rather cold. pls show face and support, and feel free to visit the site and comment (in english also can), but most importantly, may u enjoy the music.

http://www.wretch.cc/blog/freshmusic/11692849

Paranormal Activity

2010-01-03T00:22:00.002+08:00

09 Wrap Partayyy was funn. we caught:
- Coraline
- The Last House on the Left
- Paranormal Activity

In the end, onli Belle, me, and Jiahao were at the chalet to watch Paranormal Activity. the atmosphere was great: we were in this hut surrounded by trees, dark and mysterious, and it's just 3 of us. 3 is not such a great number.

The movie is a slow buildup to the eventual shocker. I kept telling myself, not because i'm afraid but cos i am not tt convinced when ppl say tt it's scary, that it's just shadows, thud noises, and shift in furniture and all. which it pretty much was, except when the demon (not ghost) is given some form of identity, it makes it all the more scarier. The demon gets angrier and angrier, and as the movie progress, we see the demon materialise - in its footprints, in its wrath, and its disdain for the male lead. the male lead. what an obnoxious, but slightly typical, character.

towards the end, i am convinced. because the surprise twist ending was so twisted, and it gave me not just a shock, but a chilling, spinetingling fear afterwards, was what made the film so scary. we watched the ending 3 times, and each time, it was scary even though i anticipated it. that. last. frame. wow.

Whitney Houston - The Voice

2009-12-27T02:25:00.003+08:00

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

2009-12-25T13:55:00.004+08:00

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!

2009-12-24T01:50:00.000+08:00

"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

2009-12-12T23:46:00.004+08:00

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

2009-11-26T01:31:00.000+08:00

天不變地變

2009-11-20T04:33:00.002+08:00

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

2009-11-10T02:28:00.002+08:00

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

2009-11-10T01:34:00.003+08:00

"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

2009-11-02T16:14:00.000+08:00

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

Aretha Franklin - Skylark

2009-11-02T16:11:00.002+08:00

Aretha. Queen. Soul. Tour De Force.

IPPT

2009-10-28T00:53:00.002+08:00

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

2009-10-17T04:19:00.004+08:00

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!!!

2009-10-16T03:08:00.004+08:00

I AM ALREADY EXCITEDDD!

Brad on Benjamin Button and Tyler Durden

2009-10-16T02:43:00.005+08:00

"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

2009-10-15T04:01:00.004+08:00

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

2009-10-15T02:47:00.003+08:00

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

2009-10-07T01:43:00.002+08:00

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

2009-10-07T00:49:00.003+08:00

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

2009-09-25T02:43:00.000+08:00

And Paul showed me a very interesting video. =)

Literally Now

2009-09-25T02:41:00.003+08:00

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

2009-09-23T23:56:00.003+08:00

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

2009-09-23T02:36:00.002+08:00

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

2009-09-21T22:52:00.003+08:00

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

2009-09-17T04:19:00.008+08:00

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.

2009-09-14T15:21:00.005+08:00

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

2009-09-14T01:18:00.002+08:00

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!

2009-09-14T00:58:00.000+08:00

SUPPOSEDLY to premiere at MTV VMA awards today. AWESOME!

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

2009-09-10T23:46:00.002+08:00

"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

2009-09-10T23:38:00.003+08:00

"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

2009-09-07T03:12:00.000+08:00

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

2009-09-07T03:01:00.005+08:00

"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.

2009-09-07T02:41:00.003+08:00

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

2009-09-01T01:26:00.000+08:00

"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!!!

2009-08-29T00:42:00.003+08:00

"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!!!

2009-08-28T03:07:00.001+08:00

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)

2009-08-27T17:19:00.002+08:00

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!

2009-08-24T23:41:00.002+08:00

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

2009-08-21T01:06:00.004+08:00

"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

2009-08-20T04:45:00.004+08:00

2009-08-20T04:03:00.001+08:00

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

2009-08-20T02:07:00.003+08:00

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

2009-08-19T02:35:00.004+08:00

"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

2009-08-15T01:31:00.001+08:00

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）

2009-08-15T01:22:00.001+08:00

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

auf wiedersehen.不爱我的,我不爱[Ewa]

再拥抱一下，可以吗？

in between

Life

A Different View

Invictus

my first near-death experience

HONG KONG EXPEDITION DAY 1

王菲 - 幽兰操

American Idol s10 is ON!

[王菲2010巡唱]上海演唱會20101126 - 你在我心中

彼岸花

你快乐所以我快乐

Robert Altman

Walking Dead

一拍两散

无题

WOE WOE WOE!

On Hindsight

The Social Network

anticipating

王菲

Eyes On Me

Brandon Flowers - Only The Young

all time low

Eat Pray Love

Bionic

Synecdoche New York

Inglourious Basterds

what do you want to do?

disconnect

LOST

PRECIOUS

WINNER!

SALT

ar see wa wu ghor baa ban

LOST

Oprah and Ellen

Wedding bells

bullees

Fantasia - I'm Here

Emotional

Exhausted

in writing, I purge

long time coming

如果有一件事是重要的

44 to 24: the top 24 revealed!

AVATAR and HURT LOCKER lead with 9 nominations each

蓝奕邦 – [邦]

Hope For Haiti Now

“五粤场”的 第3回 ：蓝奕邦《奕》EP

Another season begins

“五粤场”的 第一回 - 谢安琪《活着》

Paranormal Activity

Whitney Houston - The Voice

Breakthrough

HERE WE GO AGAIN!

Here's To Life

CSS Seniors' Prom 2009 - Season For Love

天不變地變

Hallowen at St James 2009

Loving Aretha

林宥嘉-說謊

Aretha Franklin - Skylark

IPPT

Julie & Julia

TOY STORY 3 POSTERS!!!

Brad on Benjamin Button and Tyler Durden

Life's a D'oh

Mosaic Music Festical 2010

AR 3: Bat For Lashes - Two Suns

AR 2: Florence + The Machines - Lungs

The PEN Story

Literally Now

Madonna - Celebration

Singapore Idol boo hoo

溏心风暴 Heart Of Greed

AR 1 : Whitney Houston - I Look To You

Bjork - All Is Full Of Love

NEW MOON!

“五粤场”的第3回：蓝奕邦《奕》EP

“五粤场”的第一回 - 谢安琪《活着》