恋人絮语 (Lovers' Discourse)

很久没看华文电影了。。。上次应该是《割爱》吧？不，应该说很久没看港片了。
上星期约了朋友去看《恋人絮语》（有陈洁仪哦!)。本以为会是一部能让我感动到哭的电影，或是甜到哭的电影，但都不是。不过，导演以很巧妙的手法把故事连接起来。最搞笑的是第二段洗衣店女郎的故事。haha...我有点自豪自己能迅速地察觉到第一段故事的男女主角曾经是情侣，也很快觉察出第二段是女孩的幻觉。我之前可没察读过内容哦！

ok ok。。。

最令人觉晓的是其中一个故事的男主角竟亲身经历他在十二年前问过一个人的问题。

“他这样对你，你还跟他在一起？”

当初他不能理解，但现在他自己也不能自拔。

哈。人（生）就是这样。痛。

volunteering with kids

I believe I mentioned earlier that I was having an audition to volunteer in the children's ministry worship team. Well, that happened on Saturday, which seemed to go ok, with the pastor just wanting to test my voice and if I can sing (not tone deaf or anything). Following which, I was asked to "observe" one of the Sunday sessions with the kindergarten-P1 kids and see how, since I've never worked with kids before or done something like this before.
So on Sunday, I went.

Initially, I was apprehensive of whether I'll be up to it. Will I be too self-conscious? Can I follow the actions? Can I fit in? My fears were unfounded. The moment I was there, I felt an inexplicable joy. Ya, I wasn't very good with the actions, but I felt very happy there, and didn't have any reservations, forgetting everything else. Although I must say I'm more of a follower and not sure how best to handle the kids (yet).

Next Sunday, it'll be observing the older children (primary school). Then I'll have to decide which age group I would prefer to serve or can serve, if I'm really suited for the 'job'.

Guru of Chai

Just a short review...

I am not a good storyteller, and thus always admire those who can draw audiences when they tell a story, engaging people with what they speak. And Jacob Rajan is such, as the "guru of chai" in this production, with David Ward as the musician.

He tells a story of how a tea (chai) seller's encounter with a girl abandoned at a train station, and who sings most beautifully, charts the life he would have. A policeman falls for her, but she chooses a poet. Her choice sparks a series of events affecting all around, that leads to tragedies.

I had gone to the show, expecting lots of laughter (which manifested in a number of the audience...some laughed really loud), but I found it hard to laugh a lot because behind the jokes made, therein lies poignant words of wisdom and of life's lesson. And then again, the story wasn't exactly a happy one. What was interesting was the use of some magic tricks as he told the story, conjuring items out of nowhere, transforming objects to other things.

One particular quote stood out for me:

"Life's sadness is born out of our attachments"

How true.

Have a sip of tea and ponder.

Model Citizens by The Necessary Stage

I'm finding it hard to pen my thoughts down. Mainly because this play by Haresh Sharma seems to have many underlying messages/layers that I'm not sure where to start. Maybe I should start with something simpler.

The synopsis.

A man stabs an MP at a Meet the People Session. But this is not their story. It is the story of the man’s girlfriend, an Indonesian maid who wants to get married and become a Singapore citizen. It is the story of the MP’s wife, who tries to cope with her husband’s injury and the media spotlight. It is the story of the maid’s employer, who is also struggling with her own tragedy. These 3 women may mean nothing to each other, but they need one another to survive. The maid, the employer and the MP’s wife. Are they all model citizens?

The 3 women cross paths, under an unexpected circumstance. 3 backgrounds, 3 languages, how do they communicate? Gradually, a slow convergence of the 3 women, from 3 diversities to a somewhat common ground occurred, with the use of magic realism (as so described) as they become a part of "cross-realities" that transcends language. Boundaries are blurred.

The sets. Simple as they are, I liked the way the sets (cupboards) were used to define the (confined) space representing each person. The sets were modified/"flipped"/moved around during the show to bring you to different zones physically and mentally (i.e. the characters' personal spaces). Apt that at the end, the cupboards were closed up, marking the end of the play, like closing a chapter as each character moves on.

The disturbing scene. It's interesting to note that 2 deaths were placed side-by-side and played out concurrently in a particular scene, one, the abortion scene of Melly and two, the moments before "Angel", Wendy's son took his own life as shown in a FB wall chat. 2 "youths", one, before it has a chance to live, another finding no reason to live. Is this a coincidence or intended placement? The only problem here was that it was difficult to watch both the online chat going on and the abortion taking place.

The issues. I guess one main question is, what really constitutes a "model citizen"? Is it the person who follows the rules, but is eventually unhappy and not really getting what she wants out of life? The mother who tries her best, but ends up with a dead son? A foreigner who desires so much to be a citizen that she tries all means to get her "green card" to stay? Just perfect on the outside, but not necessarily so on the inside. 
Social classes are explored with the higher, middle and lower classes converging. We see how power corrupts as it slowly manifests as a less than compassionate Mrs Chua who does it for "show" when she is on "cover duty" for her husband. An ugly side of her is revealed, true or not when she gets into an argument with Wendy and tears open Wendy's wounds. Maybe she was ok initially, but trying to be the "model citizen" and MP's wife took it away. For all of them, their dreams were forgotten.

Eventually, however, there was some hopefulness at the end with each finally letting go of the past (or present), and moving on. I believed it draws us back to where they all started. Their dreams - the "perfect" status, the "perfect" home, the "perfect" country.

The play ended with no curtain call...was it to maintain the tone? But there was a post-show dialogue session where I learnt some things. It's all about the point of view.

(yeah! finally got this out. Although there are still other stuff to discuss)

Fair Game & Burlesque

There's something about films based on true stories that attract me...but of course, not all turn out well. We had a office movie outing on Friday afternoon which was Fair Game, the new movie starring Naomi Watts and Sean Penn. It was surprisingly, better than expected. I hadn't heard of the show till the announcement for the movie outing. Strangely, this is the first Sean Penn movie I've watched even though I heard he's a very good actor. Probably because most of his shows are pretty heavy/serious.
The movie tells of how Joe Wilson exposes the White House's "mistake" of why U.S. went to war in an article. This leads to the malicious exposure of his wife, Valerie Plame's identity as a CIA agent by the president's aide, Scooter, which has serious repercussions for the family and more. Joe fights back by making public statements and eventually, Valerie also comes out to fight. In my impression, this Scooter is out to find even a single shred of possibility to start a war with Iraq by manipulating intelligence. Don't you just hate the Bush administration after this? The most interesting quote I gleaned from the show was near the end spoken by Joe, of how the truth is masked over. I'll try to reproduce it here as best a I can.

How many of you know who put the 16 words in the State of the Union address?

(no one raises their hand)

How many of you know the name of my wife?

(many raise their hand)...

How did the question move from "Why did we go to war with Iraq" to "Who is my wife"?

...I asked the first question, someone asked the second.

~~~~~
As if one movie wasn't enough, I met V for Burlesque in the same evening, which was released this week. Honestly, the storyline wasn't that great and it was pretty much predictable. It was a bit stagnant at points due to the many performing acts. But it was enjoyable for all the glitz in its song and dance. The whole show was mainly focused on Christina Aguilera's character, Ally's work up to be the lead performer at the Burlesque Club. Basically, it's really Christina's show, just seeing her sing and dance lots of numbers. It's amazing that she has such a big voice, which doesn't really "match" her look. I never really took to her, mainly because of her change of image from her initial days, and her big voice have sort of been overshadowed by her current image. But maybe I'm changing my opinion now.

Serving Faith

As I was saying earlier, I was beginning to have doubts/reservations about volunteering my services in church. You know, as things drag on, you start to think of the possible "obstructions" that might occur. Then last week, I finally received a follow-up call again from a pastor who asked me to go for an audition as I wanted to volunteer as worship leader for kids. I had missed the earlier orientation/audition due to my trip to China. I have to prepare 2 songs, one fast and one slow (worried about the fast). Well, I'm totally new to leading worship in this context and am worried about this and that. However, during service on Sunday, God sort of told me just go ahead and try and don't think so much. If it's time and it's meant to happen, He will make sure everything is cleared in due course. Somehow, I felt overwhelmed as I gave thanks, which seemed like a confirmation of the assurance. Now, to select the 2 songs.

And talking about faith, I know this sounds like some kind of blogging fever, but as a new year resolution, I have set up a new blog which I call my "Faithbook". It's actually an attempt to keep myself disciplined in reading the Word, and also for simple reflections and sharing, like a notebook. Well, I'm no pastor or theology expert, but I do pray for greater insight and wisdom. I'm still trying to get things organised and settled down, and to get into the pace of sharing. Hope this works out and people might share with me their insights as well.

Rocky Horror Show

Starting off the new year of theatrical shows for me was The Rocky Horror Show which I caught last Saturday. Before I say anything, don't expect a conventional musical story. It's a crazy show that really isn't in for the storyline but really for the entertainment factor taken at face value. Judging from how some of the audience joined in the fun, dressed up to match the show, you can expect a participative audience (although not so wild here in Singapore). We saw use of flashlights, rubber gloves and playing cards "raining" down. Jeremy already gave a synopsis of the show, so I shall not go into that.

From the name of the show, one can expect it to be a rock-and-roll feature (of the 60s & 70s), and indeed it was, a raunchy one at that, in a retro setting. Well it's "rock-and-roll" if you know how the phrase came about. It's supposed to be a parody of science fiction and B-movie horror films (at least that's what's said for The Rocky Horror Picture Show), which I felt it did the job.

As a note, one must appreciate how the show opened. For someone who didn't really know anything about the show beforehand (except a review by CNA), it prepares the audience of how the musical was "set", like watching a movie double feature. Despite the difficulty in deciphering what was sung, one could catch the gist that it had something to do with science fiction and about a couple's, Brad & Janet, strange encounter. If you have watched the old-school science fiction series of the 50s and 60s (think Twilight Zone), you'll appreciate the way it's directed or played out and why you even had a narrator as well. Well, at least that's the way I saw it as I came out of the theatre. and ya, if you've watch those horror films too, it's almost like the classic portrayal of such a couple.

The musical saw an excellent cast who performed very well. And a 'performance' it was. I couldn't catch what they were singing for some parts, probably because the music was loud and also the echo mix? Nevertheless, there was great singing and acting all round as each was pretty much "in-character". Riff Raff (Kristian Lavercombe) was amazing in the range he displayed. I was especially impressed by his ability to reach so high a pitch in the last scene when he appeared to 'zap' Dr Frank-N-Furter. The song list featured many a good songs too.

In a ra-ra moment, the show ended with the cast leading the audience in the "Time Warp Dance", and before 10pm at that.

Food to try 2011

It's the new year, and it's time to set our sights on new things.

Since I blog about food (casually), it's always fun to try new places. Well, with some places already slated, I'm feeling motivated again! Ha!

There are at least 2 restaurants that I want to try this year. One is Tetsuya's Waku Ghin and the other, CUT by Wolfgang Puck. Ok, I know these will cost a lot and both are at MBS. For the former, I must find out why people has to make reservations at least half a year in advance for Tetsuya's in Sydney (I think you need at least 3 for Waku Ghin) and CUT is well, by Wolfgang Puck.

Actually, there are so many celebrity chefs' outfits (including Guy Savoy) at MBS that I don't know if I can actually try all of them and not go broke.

Sou, are they real?

I can't help but want to write something here. I posted a bad review of this noodle place near my office early last month and somehow, it started a torrent of comments, of which were mostly extremely positive comments (excluding the 1st comment which was from the shop itself). The emphasis here is on the word "extreme". I proclaim myself to be a noodle person; give me a bowl of rice and a bowl of noodles, I would pick the noodles.
Honestly, I really didn't enjoy my experience there at all. I had gone there with the excitement of trying something new, but was sorely disappointed. For those who know me, judging from the amount of noodles I left behind and the struggle I had with the wantons, it was very telling. And to note too, I often order soup noodles if you want to compare the local vs HK-style noodles. Compare this with the bland noodles I had a few shops down which I still finished. Plus, the smell of the place that lingered on me all day added to my irritation, that when I went home that night, my mum commented on it. Arghh...

Well, after the 1st comment, I pretty much started doubting the authenticity of the rest of the comments, and as a friend said, it was most likely their own people who are posting (ok, she probably put that idea in my mind, but...). My co-editor who initially gave the benefit of the doubt, also started feeling the same. I'm not being subjective on this, but here are some factors that seem to point to that direction:

1) I seem to be the only one who has reviewed the place so far. Try googling the name of the shop. If it's really so good, why aren't there other reviews instead of regularly bombarding my post? Yah, I know it's new, but the only reviews it's getting is from me and these comments.

2) The comments started sounding pretty much the same, making constant reference and exclamations of its comparability to HK. I'm pretty skeptical of that really. And they were getting too defensive.

3) As my co-editor pointed out, the grammatical errors seemed quite consistent.

4) Seriously, bringing the whole family just to eat there? No matter how different the taste I might have, I think I know it isn't that superb to warrant that.

If it's really true that the people posting the comments are from the same gang or the shop, then I think that it's quite bad to badmouth their competitors like that, not that the shop serves exactly the same stuff. (ok ok, maybe I started it *guilty*) Talk about ripoff. This noodle place with its simple set-up is more of a ripoff for a bowl of wanton noodles at $6.50. Are they trying to compare with Mak's Noodles in Hong Kong which is HK$30 and in smaller portions? People find that expensive, but still go. Well, maybe their portions are bigger, but if I can't stomach it, it's still not worth it.

I guess time will tell. My colleagues & I have noticed the dwindling patrons to this place. It happened after a week it was opened which was near end Nov I think (since I reviewed it on 9 Dec). We recall it was overcrowded initially but now there isn't really a need to queue. Well, it could be that last month was the holiday period, so less people, but will check back again soon (am I being mean?). However, I think I really won't be giving them a second chance (I usually do). For one thing, I don't want myself smelling like the place again for a full day.

Shucks, I had meant to forget about the whole experience but these comments seem to come and haunt me. And also, if every other week anyone else comes to make comments in the like of those I've seen, I'm so going to close comments on that post. I tried to be polite as far as I can already leh. Move on.

2011 New Year Resolutions

Yup, I've not given up. And though I can't always fulfill everything, at least I'll fulfill some.

This year, I shall not be so ambitious as last year. Hopefully I get to fulfill at least half of these:

1) Study a book in the Bible (and maybe post my reflections)
2) Sabbath monthly
3) Write a story (in full)
4) Write new songs
5) Violin refresher course
6) Learn Japanese
7) Serve in ministry (somewhere)