Short + Sweet 2010 (4)

It was a "tough" choice among the last 10 semi-finalists. Generally, I would say the plays weren't too bad, but I didn't like the gay undertones of some. And some needed more "punch". This is going to be a long post.

Armistice:
Set just after the war where a Jap soldier seeks out his once Chinese male servant/slave to make peace (as the title suggests). But the latter had come, undecided whether to kill him or not. It would save him from the shame of having been labeled a traitor. It wasn't too bad, but I felt it was a bit "forced" with the gay undertones, the reason for that peace-making where the Jap thanked the Chinese man for changing how he looked at Chinese. Was the writer trying to find some redeeming factor for the Japs? Were both parties seeking closure?

Bringer of Light:
This was not bad, except it could have come across stronger. A story of Ho Chi Minh having a debate with legendary French chef, Escoffier, in the kitchen of London's Carlton Hotel where Ho Chi Minh was said to have worked. The peace-loving chef tries to talk Ho Chi Minh out of revolution, using references to food. An interesting 题材.

Dorothy Parker is in the Bath:
This was about a woman going on and on about herself and contemplating about suicide during her own party. It was funny at parts.

Frames:
The premise/theme was promising, but unfortunately, as my friend commented, the delivery was less than perfect. Also, I'm not sure if there was meant to be a connection between the 2 scenes, which were supposed to be enactments of 2 pairs of couples from 2 separate paintings by Rene Magritte and Edward Hopper. Also, the theme of frames, was lost. It could have been more.

Just A Date:
A client of a prostitute wants to take her out on a date, promising her a future. Not exactly a twist, but the ending confronts men with their infidelity and how their promises will eventually come to naught. It actually ended well, as I hope to believe, with the man realising his folly and it is his last visit ever to a prostitute.

Short + Salty 2010:
You can say I'm biased but this was one of the better plays, written by my friend. It's a simple and clean satirical dig at the competition itself, which was funny. Can this really be true? But I must admit I preferred the original script, which I had the privilege of reading, but due to the direction and staging, it was cut and some parts changed, like the ending, which as acted out, a little too long. The director wanted to give a sustained effect, but slightly too sustained. And I preferred the original ending which gave the play a "full circle" feel and lets the conclusion sink it, probably even giving the hint of history repeating itself in future.

The Harrow:
As the name suggests, this was supposed to be the "harrowing" experience of the haunting memories of an interrogator in Afghan, with fleeting images of him (during those times) appearing intermittently (which I think wasn't well planned for the effect) and a ghost of a prisoner's son. It should have been more "harrowing" if that was the intended effect.

The Kill:
This was probably the best play of the night, with a funny and unexpected twist at the end. I was wondering how it was going to play out as it questions "what if you killed someone in a dream? Do you kill them in real life" I must admit my mind was skewed from Inception, so I was thinking more complex or sinister stuff. And the tomatoes! Ha!

The Tent:
This was ok, as 2 teachers finally express their feelings for each other at a school camp, through a prank card from the students, inviting the female teacher to the male teacher's tent.

Women & Gays | 女人与 Gay:
A Chinese play exploring the similarities of women and gays in their sacrifices for men. It wasn't too bad, but again, gay theme (think there's too much emphasis on this these days). The only issue is the abruptness of the transition from the more olden days as the prostitute competes with the huadan (花旦) for men's affection and the modern day efforts to keep their men. I appreciated the attempt to show that it's like a vicious cycle, from generation to generation.

～～～～～～～～～
Of course, at the end, I voted for my friend lah. The other play worthed voting for would be The Kill, but think that would surely be selected by the judges already.

Contemporary Christian Music in Singapore

An interesting article I came across in the course of my work, delving into the people in the music industry. You can read about it here.

A few familiar names in our Singapore music scene are mentioned - Joshua Wan, Sydney Tan, Belinda Foo and Clement Chow.

Inception

Is it a dream or reality?

A mind-stimulating movie that made me wonder about the many layers and complexity that one can have in a dream. Have you ever had a dream within a dream, or worse, even more levels deep that might cast you into limbo? Is that how people in coma experience? Limbo?

Another psychological thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio (he's been doing these lately like Shutter Island) who shone again in his performance. At first, one would have thought that it would be like Matrix, since it's about mind worlds. However, this is not science fiction but a psychological thriller that sits in your mind even after the show ends (inception!). "Inception", as so the movie is called, revolves around planting an idea in somebody's subconscious mind in such a form such that the person will think it is his own idea, and let the idea grow. Like planting a seed. It's difficult for me to describe the whole show due to its complexity. Well, at the end of the story, did Cobb (Leo's character) come back to reality or was staying in limbo? You can't really tell from how it ended, but after giving it some thought, I would go for the "no, he's still dreaming" theory. Reasons?

1) His totem (spinning top) - a totem is something that lets you know whether you're back in reality. Although the totem "wobbled", it did not fall. But you can't tell since these things can spin very long.But, obviously, it was meant to be a cliffhanger.
2) His children - the children should have grown a bit by then, especially if you recall the phone conversation, where the daughter sounded older than a toddler. And why would they be wearing the same clothes as he remembered them?
3) How could he awake since the many layers were destroyed (they went to 4 layers)? Unless the rest went back into the dream to get him. How would they deliver the "kick" for each level? Coz each of his team members had to wake at each level to get back to reality.

OR, could the whole inception project be part of his subconscious for him to come to terms with his wife's death, which was caused by the unintentional "plant" he put in her?

I just love this kind of thrillers. However, compared to Shutter Island", I preferred the latter.

Anyway, after writing all these, I found this page answering some of the questions that we would have.

Non-commital me

Some friends have noticed that I tend not to commit to a stand, well, at least not straightaway. As one said, it might not be a bad thing, but it sure makes decision-making tough. It frustrates some of my friends actually. I attribute it to my tendency to rationalise (sometimes a bit too much) and trying to see a broader view and consider many options or possibilities, pros and cons, and be objective. Too many considerations, too many influences, too many buts. Also, I take some time to digest/process what's laid out. I try to provide options for others (if it involves other people) as I don't want to impose my preferences on others too much.

Alternatively, it could mean it takes A LOT to "excite" me, or draw some response. Maybe I practise too much self-restraint. But if I do respond emotionally outwardly, that means it is significant. Just like how I sometimes rate a movie; if it can make me cry or feel like clapping my hands, it's a good movie (of course it depends on my mood when I watch it too). The same goes for books. It could also be related to how nowadays, I try to restrain myself for feeling too much for anyone, especially when there's a possibility that it won't be reciprocated... although it's a bit hard to control and it all ends in heartbreak (again). And I'll just scold myself for being so stupid and irrational and try to recover and move on, eventually.

But some things I make my stand very clear, especially in relation to my faith and values.

But I do respond with my emotions once in a while. And you may ask me why, which I might not have the answer. If you probe further (e.g. why did you like it), then you will kind of force me to do the whole analysis thing again when it was simply a "feel" answer.

So considering these, let me draw up a "glossary" of my usual answers (first response):

1) "bad"- this means it could probably is bad or quite bad
2) "ok " - average or slightly better than average
3) "not bad" - it means I like it and is almost like saying good
4) "good" or "excellent" - very good (the words speak for themselves)

(hee...looks like I'm giving options again!)

But I normally do make a choice eventually. And usually when I commit to a decision, I usually stick to it, and will see through it to the end. I am not a fickle-minded person and very loyal.

Maybe I should spare some brain cells and not think too much all the time and be outwardly more passionate. Sometimes I do respond internally, but not speak it out...not so good expressing things verbally.

Short + Sweet 2010 (3)

Another round of plays, another round of evaluation.

The 3rd programme for Short + Sweet was overall, comparatively slightly better than the 1st set, maybe by the virtue that most of the plays did not feel as draggy. However, most didn't seem "special". Maybe I've watched too many dramas. What was puzzling was why they would be classified as R18, except maybe the last one (I think my friend seemed to be noticeably uncomfortable with that). Maybe the language and themes were stronger on script than played out, or maybe some topics were sensitive, like Americans, culture, incest? Anyway, for this round, I'd group them into 3 categories: 1) ok, nothing outstanding/special; 2) not bad/good, but something seems to be missing; and 3) Good.

Cat 1
Gurus: This wasn't very interesting. Although it tried to incorporate some weak twists.
Interview of a Lifetime: This started off well in the 1st few minutes, but went down the drain thereafter.
Stolen: I was a little disappointed with this since my friend had told me his actor said it was good. It was a bit difficult identifying the twist, i.e. not strong. But it does address some social issues.
The Arrangement: Maybe I expected a modern setting, but the olden setting made it too cliche as a background for arranged marriages and story predictable.
Thickness of Blood: Well, this got a bit long-drawn at a certain point and the supposed twist was not as strong as it should have been, although the gist of the storyline might make a good Chinese drama if done rightly (think 雷雨).

Cat 2
Meeting with the Teacher: This was not bad, in the sense that it had a twist at the end that was strong enough. It started off as maybe a relational problem between the parents that turned to a conclusion that was pretty violent.
History of St Paul's: I kind of liked this as it was slightly funny at some parts and rather nice as a father-son relationship thingy.
Play (with) Misty for Me: This was a rather sweet and simple story of love and support between a couple. The interesting part was the way it was done - the couple spoke separately to the audience, and their conversation kind of affirmed each other though they were not speaking together as they related their stories. But they came together at the end. Interestingly, the male actor reminded me of my fencing instructor.
My Name is Art: This was not bad and somehow I think I related to it, since it talked about interpretation of art. Why would a pile of boxes be considered art? But the interesting thing part was the twist at the end where a man in only underwear (this should be the R18 part) appeared as a "touring exhibit", forcing the male lead to make a "donation", which actually turned out to be a scam.

Cat 3
Well, there's only 1 choice for this which was Some Are Meant to Sit, which was the best of the lot. The virtue of this play would be the wittiness of the script (conversation) as the 2-men cast "argue" over the right to sit and stand. It was done very Jack Sparrow style...wonder if you remember part 3 of Pirates where he was stranded at world's end and he started talking to other "him"s? But this can only be a short play as the story will go on and on as it reflects the constant struggle over "privilege". I wouldn't mind watching it again. However, I wonder if the Jack Sparrow imitation might prove detrimental.


I missed programme 2. What I would really like to see would be the turnip issue in one of the plays. From the synopses though, think programme 2 might have elicited more emotions from me...if done well. Anyway, I think this being a competition made me too analytical when watching the plays. One tries to compare each play and delve too deep. Maybe I should just sit back and relax without thinking too much?

Anyway, this contest has prompted me to think what genre of plays I would like to write. One would be horror (think Woman in Black) and another would be mystery/psychological thriller. But I would think these are quite difficult to write, requiring good twists.

BUTS

I attended my first ever Ballet Under The Stars (BUTS) yesterday evening and woah! the venue was packed. However, despite the "warmth" (good thing it rained earlier, so it was cooler) and humidity, it was pretty good, even though we were sitting quite far back. We could see the performance quite well.

The first performance (Concerto Barocco) wasn't as well-executed as it should have been, but the dancers looked like the younger dancers of the troupe.

My favourite was the 2nd dance Piano Concerto No. 2, Opus 102 choreographed by Edmund Stripe. The first movement's choreography didn't match the dramatics of the music, but when it came to the second movement, where it was the female & male duo, it was movingly beautiful and romantic. All I can say it personified the music. The dance movements exactly fitted the music and they dancers were so fluid and it was amazing especially this part where the female lead just rolled up the male lead and they formed a "T". The 3rd movement which was a group dance was also well-done.

The 3rd piece Don Quixote pas de deux was in a more classical style but the best parts were the no. of pirouettes they did. Don't they get giddy?

The final dance of the night was Evening at the Ritz which was a silver screen inspired piece (Fred & Ginger) and the dancers danced to a medley of music from the likes of Irving Berlin, Richard Rodgers and Jerome Kern. The highlight of this were the parts where 1 of the female dancers was "tossed" in the air to her male counterparts. You really have to trust your partners.

It was an enjoyable evening at Fort Canning Park.

More exciting please

What is it with guys that they 'prefer' girls that are as sporty as them.
I may not be the super outdoor kind but I like some hiking (ok, more nature trails kind) and I prefer games, like racquet games or ball games. At least I fence. And even if I don't play those sports, it doesn't mean I don't enjoy them in other ways.

What do you expect me to do? Sky dive?

I Write Like...

Have been trying out this analysis site (http://iwl.me/) on who I write like and interestingly, I got a few results when pasting some of my blog entries (in different subjects/styles):

1) I write like Dan Brown
- Used my latest "Short + Sweet" post.

2) I write like James Joyce
- used my "Knight and Day" review

3) I write like David Foster Wallace
- used my "40 Days of Faith" post

and many more...

gee...guess I write like everyone? I guess the correct answer would be I write like myself. Ha!

Short + Sweet 2010 (1)

Short and sweet, a play shalt be

From trial to plow, a mind's land deep.

Ok, I don't know what I'm writing up there, but I sure hope the playwrights know what they're doing.

The annual Short+Sweet playwriting contest organised by the Arts House is here again, and I just caught the staging of the 1st set of semi-finalists. Honestly, although I have been wanting to catch them before (though never), I have more interest this year because my friend's work is running in the semi-finals this year (he's in programme 4).

Anyway, I didn't mind watching the others and one motivation for catching programme 1 was seeing Verena Tay's name in the line-up. Unfortunately, I was disappointed in that piece. There will be 40 plays running over a period of 3 weeks, of which 10 will be selected for the gala finals. For this 1st set, most of the plays didn't do it for me, even draggy at times (imagine a 10-min play feeling draggy!...some exceeded by a few minutes).

However the last 3 plays were the most engaging for me, and I had to decide which to vote for (yah, we were given voting slips).

The Devil's Aftershave was actually a rather challenging piece to direct and act and I must merit the play on the text. It's about a man with an incredibly heightened sense of smell and how he experiences life through that. I can imagine the difficulties describing the many smells and odours, especially when repetition has to be kept to a minimum. The premise, was also something different.

Victim (受害者) is a Chinese play and the interesting part was the plot that had a few "twists", not exactly the usual extra-marital affair. An engaging piece even though I kind of half-expected the ending in the man's choice (logical), but the "journey" between was amusing. I would think it would garner more votes on that. Its merit would be on the plot.

The last play, All The Answers was quite promising as it presented the scene of when a man gets to ask 1 question at the answer room in between heaven and hell. The conversation was quite amusing, especially the part of the answer-giver, but the dead man's part was weaker. The ending, as my friend said, was a bit of a letdown.

So what did I vote for? It was a tough choice between these 3, but I picked The Devil's Aftershave on the literature/text point of view.

Judging from this set, having read my friend's work, I think his piece stands a chance to be in the finals.

"My answer is Jesus Christ"

I was reading this excerpt in my devotional book, which has a reading for the day taken from How to Teach the Book of Hebrews by Yoon-Sung Park which I found amusing, yet revealing. I'm reproducing a portion of it here.

Sundar Singh, the Indian Christian missionary, used to be like the Apostle Paul, criticizing and persecuting Christianity. But after experiencing a conversion similiar to Paul's, he became a minister and poured all his energy into preaching the Gospel to Hindus.

Once, Sundar Singh was visiting England when a professor of theology asked him, "You converted from Hinduism to Christianity. What is something Hinduism lacks that Christianity has?" Singh's answer was simple. "That is Jesus Christ." The professor was unsatisfied with the answer and asked again. "Isn't there some kind of special teaching or doctrine that is clearly different from your former religion?" "No. There is no special teaching or doctrine. It was the Living Jesus Christ that converted me." However, the professor was still unsatisfied. "Mr Singh, I don't think my question is getting across to you. What I'm asking you is what thought or philosophy of Christianity was different from Hinduism that made you follow it so fervently?" To this, Sundar Singh gave the same answer, " That would be Jesus Christ."

One might think, that's because the professor was a theologian, but on second thought, it's actually very common. The amusing part was when the professor says "I don't think my question is getting across to you" when it's actually the other way around where the answer was not getting across to him. Don't we often ask something and when we don't get the answer we want or expect, keep questioning?

It is sometimes beyond human comprehension how simple the answer to our salvation is. There's no need for too much reasoning, just simple faith and belief. We often think too much of matters and question "Is that really (really) all we need?" or "You mean it's that simple?".

The Sacrifice of Praise by Lindsay Terry

As mentioned earlier, I've recently started reading this book "The Sacrifice of Praise: Stories Behind the Greatest Praise and Worship Songs of All Time" recently and I can't help but share my impressions of it.

It is actually a very simply written book documenting the stories behind each song...in fact, some sounded a bit "factual", if you know what I mean. However, as I read some of the stories, something stirred in my heart. I won't say it's a feeling of being "touched" by the stories, but just a gentle stirring and I was moved.
There, that's what I wanted to share. Oh, 1 other thing. A clear theme in the stories is that God-given songs needs to be shared.
Hopefully by the time I finish the book, I'll be inspired to write more worship songs.

Some songs covered include "I Worship You, Almighty God", "More Precious Than Silver", "God Will Make A Way", "As the Deer", "Shout to the Lord", and many more famous hymns and modern worship songs.

Knight and Day

I had some free time between an early morning errand on Saturday and a book club discussion, so I took the chance to catch this action romantic comedy before it got taken down.

Starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, it was an "action-packed" and funny movie (imagine Tom Cruise in a comedy!), and the chemistry between them was great. June (Cameron Diaz) was an average person who meets Roy (Tom Cruise) at the airport. It turns out he's a misunderstood secret agent protecting a scientist and his invention, and she is embroiled in the manhunt as the real rogue FBI tries to capture Roy. Eventually, they do get to run away together to South America.

Really enjoyed the show, and even though Tom Cruise has indeed aged, he still exudes a certain amount of charm...I think it's the way he looks at people...his eyes. I won't say I'm his fan, but I did watch a few of his shows that I liked, e.g. Minority Report.

Next up? The long-awaited Inception starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (3rd Rock from the Sun and 500 Days of Summer). You know, when I first saw the poster of JGL, I mistook him for Heath Ledger for a moment (which I knew was impossible) and I realised it was JGL. I think they really look alike.

40 Days of Faith

It's that time of the year again when the churches in Singapore would launch into the 40-day fast period from 1 July to 9 August.
Well, I don't do the 40-day fast every year (the last one being 2 or 3 years back, which was very good), but this year, I was convicted once again to do something. However, I'm not really doing a food fast. I was instead, prompted to do this - no computer (or the like, e.g. iPod Touch) after 10 pm each night for these 40 days and use the time instead to pray and read.

You might think "you call that fasting?" but I am guilty of being only mildly successful at this. On a normal day, 10 pm is usually about the time I really settle down (except for days I'm out) and guess what? Sit down in front of the PC and surf Net or just fiddle around on my PC. I usually spend an average of 2 hours or more there, which I don't know what I do. Having "started" this abstinence, I sometimes overrun the time. Also, I discovered how addicted I am to the computer, especially FB. But I think I'm getting there. So if  don't reply my emails after 10pm at night, don't blame me.

Besides doing the devotional assigned, which incidentally is from the book I committed to study/read in the year I was last convicted to fast, i.e. 1 Corinthians (this has got to be my favourite book), I also try to read one of the many Christian books I have that I've yet to read. Currently, I'm reading "The Sacrifice of Praise: Stories Behind the Greatest Praise and Worship Songs of All Time". Hope I will finish at least 2 books by the end of these 40 days.
~~~~~~~~
Here's another 40 days of Faith I'm supposedly going to do. Our senior pastor has challenged each of us to lead a cell for 6 weeks, with pre-believers, starting August. Just some sharing on how your life can be transformed. No special obligation by the pre-believers but just letting them listen to some ways to turn their lives around. He gave a "strong" message at one of the services and I was "impressed" upon to sign up for it. Actually, what I was more pressured about was not the "strong" message by pastor, but at exactly how I can pull it off.

Up till now, I have no 头绪 on it. I had already decided that it will have to be a co-leading effort. But the how, when and where is to be determined. There's of course a briefing of the "how".
Good thing my team leaders (i.e. my cell leaders' leaders) gave us some options and yeah! there's one which is to let them assign. Really, I have no idea who will wish to lead a cell (with me)...it takes a step of faith (me got little faith so must co-lead lah). Well, see how things go.

I was just thinking about it as one of my cellgroup mates was commenting that senior pastor was getting too "harsh" in his messages these days, pushing us to do all these works. Well, actually he challenges us, but if we are not doing it with a willing heart, then he'd rather us not do it.
As I reflected, we have to see the heart and urgency behind all these, not just pastor, but God's heart and plan. Having gone to the briefing, it wasn't that tough to lead the group as all materials and messages have been prepared. The "leader" will actually be more like a facilitator. The difficult part is the invitation - who to invite and will they turn up?

The Full Monty

A "daring" inaugural production put up by Pangdemonium Productions (Adrian & Tracie Pang's company), the first thought when I knew of this production was "How far will they go?".
Well, even though it's called "The Full Monty", given Singapore and also the advisory rating (i.e. plays with consumer advice) of "Some Nudity (16 years and above)", I wasn't expecting a "show-all"...maybe the most, some bare bottoms. I hadn't watched the film, which was set in Britain, so I went, not really knowing what the story was about. The musical was set in America, Buffalo, New York. 

It was hilarious. Starting like a "show within a show", full of laughs, but yet heartwarming at times. The audience were quite participative, cheering the 'strippers' on. I was warned by a friend that it might be a tad raunchy (for me), but it didn't turned out as bad as I thought it would be (or they could have cut some of those parts by the time I watched it on the last 2nd day). Even though it was a tale of a group of amateur male strippers trying to do a once-off earning venture, it was a reflection of the tough reality of recession (although I find Jerry a bit too picky in finding a job). I was moved nevertheless by the close bond between father and son (played by Adrian Pang's own son), and surprised as it actually taught some good values of friendship and true love, like how the wives of Dave and Harold stood by their husbands during the whole time, despite the hard times. So understandably, one of the songs I liked was "You Rule My World", which sings of the love they have for each other.

Of course, at the end, they did go full monty...but covered with a hat. 

It's a good start for the company!

Toy Story 3

Really enjoyed this movie. Having watched part 1 and 2, this did not disappoint, although I can't really remember the details of the previous 2, which was more than 10 years ago!

Basically, it's about how the toys (not many left) have come to a stage when Andy is going off to college. In a mix of events, they accidentally end up in a childcare centre and experience a fight for survival. Finally, they do get a new home with a nice little girl.

It still made me laugh (lots) and the animation was good...brings back memories. Haha...you have the cliche Ken and Barbie romance saga, but turns out she's not that "soft" or dumb after all. Then you have Buzz with his "Spanish mode". It was very moving at the end when Andy made his final goodbye to his favourite toys as he pass them on to the little girl Bonnie, and I couldn't help but cry.

I think there wouldn't be any more sequels (and shouldn't be). This would still be 1 of the animations that changed the face of Hollywood movie animation...Pixar. I still recall how fresh a change it was from the Disney animation movies (which I still like, even though Pixar is now owned by Disney), and the style of the stories were different.