Huayi Festival 2010

Huayi Fest is coming and I had thought I should try to catch something. I caught 《华丽上班族之生活与生存》 (Design for Living) last year which I enjoyed.

Unfortunately, I'll have to miss the main show I wanted to watch, 《男人与女人之战争与和平》 (Man and Woman, War and Peace) as I'm going to Fukuoka. Although I'll be flying back in the daytime on the last night it's showing, it's too risky and I'll probably be too tired to watch the show. Also, think my family is planning to do lohei as it is 人日.

However, I might catch the adaptation of Kuo Pao Kun's 《棺材太大洞太小》 (The Coffin is Too Big for the Hole), mainly for heritage purpose. 23 & 24 Feb.

And maybe for a change, I should watch opera. They're showing the Kun opera 《桃花扇 》 (Peach Blossom Fan) about "a doomed romance set amidst the fall of an empire". 26 & 27 Feb.

Mosaic Music Festival 2010

I just realised the Mosaic Friends early bird discount offer of 10% is ending soon and I should not procrastinate & get my tickets already!
Sadly, 'Kings of Convenience' is already sold out (within 2 days of the priority booking period)!

So what others shall I catch? I've shortlisted a few main ones I should be catching:

1) Shugo Tokumaru (Japan)
2) Pink Martini (USA)

3) Au Revoir Simone (USA)

4) Makoto Ozone (Japan)

Have picked some others, but lower priority. May catch some of those free shows too.

This year there doesn't seem to be that many that I feel like catching. I felt last year was really good...too many in fact that I had to "rein in" my selection due to lack of time/$$.

More resolutions for 2010

I have been thinking I should try more frivolous and daring stuff as compared to what I have listed earlier.

Firstly, I think I should do my first manicure. Yes, I've never gone for manicure before, but I shall try it. Maybe throw in a pedicure too.

Secondly, maybe I should take part in a fencing competition, or at least a friendly match, even though I would probably be eliminated in the 1st bout. I don't train enough to compete, but...

I think I should wear more skirts & dresses...which means more shopping? Haha...won't lah. maybe only dresses. It's tough to find dresses I like that are reasonably-priced. I have quite a no. of skirts & dresses that I hardly wear or yet to wear though.

Hmm...what else?

Fukuoka, Fukuoka

I'm feeling restless again...
Maybe I'm still in holiday mood...or maybe I'm looking forward to my holiday in Feb!

My first trip of the year is taking me to Fukuoka, Japan. Actually, I don't really know what they have there, except that they have something called the Hakata ramen and that it is the administrative, economic and cultural center of Kyushu. So I need to start doing my research!

Woah...it's going to be cold, likely below 10 degree celsius each day...got to dig out my winter wear!

Holiday! Holiday!

Upcoming movies in 1st quarter 2010

It seems like so many movies are coming out and I have listed those that I "intend" to watch (see calendar at end of page).

Must Watch

• New York, I Love You
• The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus
• It's Complicated
• Clash of the Titans
• Shutter Island
• Alice in Wonderland 
• Agora

Considering

• Bright Star
• Valentine's Day
• How To Train Your Dragon
• The Lovely Bones
  

What happened to Where the Wild Things Are? Why did GV decide not to bring it in?

There will probably be more coming up, but here's for now. If anyone is interested in the movies mentioned, let me know.

Did You Hear About the Morgans?

Honestly, I think this show was only average.

Basically, the show is about a separated husband & wife who witnessed a murder and were then whisked somewhere remote to be protected, with a professional killer tracking them down. As they lived in "recluse", their relationship improves and well, predictably, they got back together. (ok, as I type this, this story starts to sound a bit lame)

Not sure why it didn't really work, maybe the chemistry wasn't there between the leads, or it could be SJP (it seems she keeps the same expression). Not sure if it's supposed to be a rom-com, but it felt a bit...how do I describe it?..."bland".

I'll rate it 3 out of 5 (to be kind).

morning drama at the office

I appeared at the main gates to the building to find a long queue of cars waiting and the gates closed, with a shattered mirror and sunglasses on the other side of the gate. I thought there was an accident initially but that was not the case. On asking some people around, I was told that there was a drunk man in the security post who was violent and had been throwing/thrashing things around causing much damage. I took a quick peek and found the doorway of the security post rather messed up. Not sure if the guy was already passed out, but the guard could not reach the keys to unlock the gate. (I figured the guy must have climbed over the gates)
Fortunately, "walkers" could enter by another way, so I still managed to go to office, although avoiding the post at a wide berth and tried not be inquisitive and take a closer look inside the post while passing. Anyway, when I reached the floor where my office was, I found the cleaning trolley parked near (outside) the door on its side, which would mean the guy probably came to wreck havoc there too.

Later on, I heard that someone managed to get a crowbar or something and climbed over to break the padlock, so all could enter. A police report was of course made and the drunkard will probably be arrested.

I hope nobody was hurt.

A Trip to Robertson Walk

My "trip" (pun intended) to Robertson Walk started with a super embarrassing incident.

I was making my way there from the UE Square bus stop when guess what? I didn't see that the pavement was stepped nearer the end and clumsy me missed a step and fell down. Thank God I was wearing (thicker) pants and I fell on my knees (not my face), or else it would have been a mess. Amazingly too, was that my hands landed on my bag (it's good to carry a bigger bag), so no scratches there. And considering that my slipper heels were a little high today and open-toed, it was really a blessing I didn't sprain my ankle nor hurt my toes nor had my heels flying. Angels must be protecting me. :P However, I did come off with bruised knees (no bleeding fortunately) and badly scratched tips of my shoes. It must have been because it was drizzling, so I was rushing a little and the steps looked pretty flushed with the ground from afar. In any case, I felt like I was going through an obstacle course, which ended badly, what with all the carpark exits which required watching out for cars coming out and a hazardous pavement. The paiseh part was that an old Caucasian couple was looking in my direction from across the road when it happened and I think they were starring at me (not in a bad way). So I quickly picked myself up, checked if I dropped anything and pretended that nothing happened and continued walking as normally as I could, looking out for the last few steps so that I won't repeat the mistake. Well, good thing it was nothing serious so I can laugh it off. :)

Anyway, the main reason I was visiting Robertson Walk was that there was an open house going on for a musical theatre school, so my friend & I decided to pop by to see what they have to offer. It was mainly focused on performance (i.e. singing & dancing), but my friend and I were actually looking more at how to "create" musicals, although I must agree that we need to know some of the performance things in order to create musicals. However, there will still be some classes about history of musicals and I won't really mind the singing part. But as you can see from my above clumsiness, I think I should avoid the dancing portion to be on the safe side. Fortunately, we don't have to sign up for a full 10-classes course, but have the option of just taking 5 sessions first. So maybe we'll sign up for that first and see.

Sherlock Holmes

It wasn't as bad as I expected it to be (being a Sherlock Holmes fan). In fact, I rather enjoyed the show even though some characters were not true to the characters in the books and obviously, it was a big play of characters.

It was a big mix of characters from the stories and a mix of plots, although there was 1 main plot going on. As someone who has read all the Sherlock Holmes stories, I tried not to make too many comparisons due to the treatment for the film (I went with apprehension on how it will turn out), but I couldn't help but think in the "Sherlock Holmes" frame of mind, and thus predict the nature of the story and crime, which of course led to the many expected solutions to the puzzles that surfaced in the show. As one of my favourite quotes from the stories goes, "when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth", hence the logical deductions that occurred in the course of watching the show (the logical scientific explanations). Predictability is a killer for mysteries, but since most Sherlock Holmes fans would know the stories, it wasn't exactly a bad thing.

Of course, as most movies these days, there is always the romance element. As the original Holmes never had any love interest, they used the character who was the only woman he was ever impressed with to be his love interest in the movie. Holmes in the movie displayed his many talents as stipulated in the stories, being an excellent detective, observer, fencer, boxer, violinist (although this was not shown much except of Robert Downing Jr. plucking the violin), man of disguise, etc. However, it was a bit weird with Watson being smarter than he was portrayed in the book, and more good-looking than the original. Also, as attached to Watson as Holmes is in the book, I don't think it went as far as that portrayed in the show. Holmes was, I would say a little more "cold" in that aspect

I had expected more of Professor Moriarty, who was Holmes arch nemesis, but somehow it was not so, though the show kind of tried to make it seem like there might be a sequel (which I doubt will happen).

On the whole, if you forget that it's Sherlock Holmes, but treat it like a mystery/thriller you would watch, I think it wasn't too bad.

Year 2010 Resolutions

Happy New Year!
It's a new year again and this year, I reckon I should make less resolutions since I sort of didn't fulfill a no. of my last year's resolutions. So here goes:

1) Write A Musical (at least a script)
My friend & I have been discussing about musicals lately and "bumping" ideas off each other. This would be like the MAJOR project for the year.

2) Write More Worship Songs
I really need to get down to this as I kinda failed this aspect last year. I should make good some of the lyrics I have.

3) Stop writing G Key Songs
As most know, I can only write songs on guitar using the few chords I know from this key, which results in similar sounding songs. So my resolution is to try out more keys or use the piano more.

4) Be More Selfless
It's always good to think of others more instead of "I".

5) Repair My Violin
I've been procrastinating this for ever so long...need to check out the rates. Hope Gramercy at Esplanade is reasonably priced. A bit lazy to visit others.

6) Volunteering In Church
Even though I'm not picking a specific role, I should be more receptive of being "volunteered".

7) Study a Book in the Bible
Ok, I was supposed to do this every year, but although I picked something last year, I didn't really fulfill it. Need to pray about this. I really enjoyed the time studying 1 Corinthians two years ago. Hmm...maybe I need a "buddy".

8) Sabbath
I think I really have to start this again, taking a half-day off regularly to do some intensive QT.

9) Pray more
I've not been very disciplined in my prayers and maybe that's why...Need to pray more (each day), for my family, friends, work and of course about the personal development in 1 area of my life (4-letter "L" word). :P

Gee, looks like in the process of typing, I have again accumulated so many resolutions...although some are constant reminders or carried forward resolutions. Well, that's all for now. 加油！