TV blues

After Project Runway ended it's run last Thursday, I've been in urgent need for new shows to keep me TV-happy.
But ze sigh. The closest contender to fulfill my needs was the Nyonya show on the Channel 8 primetime slot. The trailer promised the culminating point of forty years of Mediacorp goodness, the greatest epic with the longest list of homeground celebs ever to hit local TV yada yada. All I see is the same old family-feud story, along the likes of Tong Xin Yuan and Holland V (the one who started it all). Albeit with a spanking new cultural air. Except, I daresay, this show fails miserably in the realism department. Nothing irks me more than a spastic plot packed with flat caricatures they pass off as characters. And recycled plot elements. And creaky acting here and there. Take the evil-stepmother routine for an example. The family oppression plot device was pretty exciting the first time round, but another generation of the same ol' abuse gets stale. AND it's pretty infuriating to think, "Yay! The overly saintly Jeanette Aw is gone!", only to have her replaced with an equally saintly Joanne Peh (dressed in goody chiffon white!!). The two "English-educated" ladies also have their new-generation counterparts in the two ultra-spoilt brats who are siblings of the new saint. (On a side note, it still puzzles me how an "English-educated" gentleman can say "rubbish!" in an oddly Singlish way) My suggestion - just kill off all those stereotypes in a huge house fire and digress into a plot on how Charlie Zhang gets his butt roasted. The new-generation Charlie Zhang (his son) will probably take over as the new menace and resident villian ... but what the hell, he's cuter at least xD

Raaawr I need my TV-fix. Gib me cable TV please?

aftermath of the As-

(Not too late!)
(NOTE: this is a rant)

Definitely the As were more harrowing than Os( and way too looooong-drawn at that). The only paper that remains clear in my mind is English Literature Paper 3 o_____o
I sincerely believe I screwed it up. Those three hours of frantic writing were quite possibly worse than having one of those wrenching tummyaches that last through the night. Prior to the exam I conditioned my brain to hold on to only one mantra: THINK. WRITE. WRITE!! But my grip on the golden mantra wavered once I was confronted with ten sheets of blank paper and the prospect of continuous intelligent output in three hours.
The unseen question: I was presented with a choice of poetry or drama. At a glance, the drama question consists of merely a single character's soliloquy, packed with ellipsises. Confronted with a huge square block of words, I naturally turned towards poetry ... at least there was some visual appeal in it. Without much thought I commenced on a futile essay harping on fires and devils and wastelands and ending with a half-hearted conclusion on how the world sucks. One question down in flames.
The Compare and Contrast question: I had so much to write, but I COULD NOT FINISH. Sucks.
The Owen question: I chose the question that examines the use of religious images in his poetry. Definitely not a difficult question, but I stupidly screwed up by forgetting to address "how far ..." (OMG! GP stuff), thereby submitting an essay that harps on "The Poetry is in the Pity" and dullards and cups of blood and thorns and JESUS I'm going to fail.

So there. That's the worst paper of the whole lot. Even Biology Paper 2 was incomparable. Sometimes it's unbelievable how nutty I am, gamely taking on H2 literature when the last time I touched the subject was Sec 2 (with my highest score being a miserable B4). The only thing that kept me afloat these two years was my penchant for reading xD
oh, and a grumpy angmoh teacher who has an undeniably prophetic right index finger.
And a sentimental Missus who is nearly as obscure as Marlow.
And a 1.8m guy with a 1.5m-high car and a 3m-wide shoe cabinet and (possibly) 365 shirts who can quote off his text but can't for the world not digress into talk on Hollywood and the like.
And of course the classmates I move around with - Shima, Shelvi, Shanshan, Shuning. Call me Shampoo xD
And I certainly enjoyed my Literature lessons. Beats Econs any day. Myagaga.

So I safely conclude that I survived the As. *cheers*
But already the world is reminding me that there's more to come. I received a letter from NUS today that went like "it gives us great pleasure to extend a warm invite to you to apply to join ..."
Enclosed in the big brown envelope was the same brochure they gave us when they came for a campus visit earlier this year -____-

But I don't want to think about it now T________T
Allow me to distract myself with mindless pursuits a while more ... ... please?




-the end of another farcical post-

A little beyond the halfway mark~

I really ought to blog more about myself, this being a blog and all, and now being the As.

First up, the A' levels. It sucks. Done.

Next: recently my dad has been insidiously drilling the idea of me going to Australia to study medicine into my head.
And sad to say, it seems to be working, especially what with my head being more permeable than usual due to prolonged periods of intensive study.

My resolution to enter ADM is swaying. Not a good sign.

But I promised my dad I'll consider it only if I get three As. (which as of now, is far from a confirmed reality)





tada of ze really boring post
(but I promise better posts after life resumes next Thursday. omg-)

and it's seven!

And here is the answer to my previous post!
I expect to hear ooooohs and aaaaahhs xD



To put into words, there are seven beats in a bar!!

Seven beats!!!
How does the drummer even keeps in timing o________o
(A little background info: most songs either have four beats or three beats)

Okay, back to mugging.


P.S. I guess I have to consult Yee Bei x)

something seven?

YahoO! It's time for a little interactivity on my blog!
(But I get a feeling that this post shall be ignored ... but nevertheless)




This is a song Yoko Kanno wrote for Cowboy Bebop.
I first heard it while I was nursing a bad post-mugging migraine (double ouch). But I was fascinated by it's high-strung quality - there is so much tension in it. At first I really couldn't pinpoint the source of this truncated feeling I get from hearing this song - might it be the ultra-heavy riffs? Maybe it's the urban grungy sounds.
But then I did a little arithmetic and discovered the oddest thing - the kind that makes people go o__o ---> O_____O ---> oooooooooh!! ahhhh!!!

No wonder the song is called 7 minutes.

So there! I'll leave it up to you peeps to discover for yourself what this fascinating thing is.

P.S. No, it's not because this song is 7 minutes long
P.P.S. And do tag my flashbox with guesses x)

this is a rant. ignore.

I'll shamelessly admit that I liked writing English compositions in my pri/sec school days. Not to say I'm fantastic at it, sadly, as interest and aptitude don't align nicely all the time. But anyway, I've never liked the way English teachers teach writing in school - it's like an incessant desire of schools to make everything systematic and mundane.
This tiny discomforting thought in me was reignited when my sister asked me for some pointers on composition-writing the other day. So I looked through her English file and ... the horror.
First up are the "model essays". I know the sun is a symbol of life, the essence of vitality, the pinnacle of strength yet the embodiment of maternal gentleness... And, of course, is omnipresent. But why must every single narrative essay wax lyrical about the sun in all tested-and-tried cliches? And most pertinently in the first paragraph (because stories always start in the morning). While I understand that the sun is a potent source for literary prowess (bring on the idioms!), highly economical in terms of figurative language (you get power, gentleness, warmth, light, life, all in one package), and a much loved subject of every school of thought (no one ever claims that the sun is satanic. Without the sun everyone is dead), it's just booooring to mention the sun in every essay. Whatever happened to creative writing?
"The warm and golden rays of sunlight sifted through the rafters ..."
"The sun rose in a spill of violets and reds, pouring golden warmth into my room..." *urgh*
"The warmth of the sun washed over me like a wave of golden honey ..." *double urgh*
Doesn't it ever rain in the world of compositions? Leave the sun alone, I say!

But the above is a minor detail.
What really irked me, in my sister's English file, was a comprehensive list of model phrases. Which most abominably includes a section on ways to describe the sun. And the weather. And "commonly used" emotions. And ways to paraphrase "I learnt my lesson". Once I was chatting with my classmates about our secondary school days - a particular friend of mine fondly recalled memorising such phrases and splattering them lavishly over all her essays. "It was easy to write essays then. You'd start on the weather, then a bit on the story, then a 'I learnt my lesson' section ..." What matters is to squuuuueeeze in as many chim words as possible. Hence, there is the need to pepper every single noun with obscure (but very smart-sounding) adjectives, to pair every verb with a complimentary adverb, and to be sure to use pertinent idiomatic phrases every now and then. Is it a crime to use the word 'happy'? Why must I be 'in a euphoric stupor' when I'm just plain happy? o_____o
Death to all cliche phrases!

I'm not expecting everyone to write like Neil Gaiman.
I just hate to see English forced into the mold of Science.



P.S. This post is dumb. I seemed to have lost all sense of gaiety after spending four days in the "Heart of Darkness" ...

miaou miaou, ouaf ouaf ouaf ouaf~

The Saboteur Script

I'm taking a tiny tiny tiny step tomorrow. It's time to stop wallowing in my little clay hole!

I need a new script

found you!

Following the melody of this song is like chasing butterflies.
It goes along different threads all over the place, but leaves a pretty yet somewhat vague impression. It's the kind of song that takes you forever to remember the tune, but you know it's a beautiful song and you can recognise it whenever you hear it again.
But after that, you forget what it's like again save for a sketchy idea that it's - erm, well, a nice song.

Or is this the case only for me, what with my goldfish memory?

Erms, anyway, I discovered this song on FM93.3.

P.S I guess this proves me wrong - 93.3 IS not all about Fahrenheit x)

And you ask about my obsession with languages?

Honestly, the role of language in songs is understated.

I've never thought much about lingoes until I bought my first CD, which had an "ultra-stylised pop idol with multi-coloured hair which looks oh so pretty that I just had to buy it". Which was a Japanese CD. But, being young, I just listened to it anyway and thus started my (ex)obsession with Japanese. I listened exclusively to J-pop - acts like Ayumi Hamasaki, Utada Hikaru, Otsuka Ai and the like. When I said exclusively, I meant exclusively. I absolutely dissed all Chinese or English or Korean songs. When I hear a new song, once it established itself that it is no Japanese song, some part of my brain filters the rest of the piece out indiscriminately. Until today, I can't explain my (ex)obession. Perhaps it was the three-part formula that nearly all J-pop songs faithfully follows. Or the fact that the chorus NEVER EVER EVER fails to be catchy. Somehow, the language itself just makes the song sounds appealing.

Then I discovered Yoko Kanno (music composer, film scorer, and the likes)
Okay technically she's still Japanese. BUT she absolutely adores foreign languages, it seems. So far, she has French, Italian, Russian, Brazillian ... ... and an overwhelming assortment of made-up lingoes in her works.
On to a live demostration!



This song is composed by Yoko Kanno for Ghost in the Shell (an anime I've never heard of).
Sung by Origa, otherwise known as Ольга Витальевна Яковлева (xD). Honestly, I've never had a liking for electronic/urban songs, but this one is an anomaly. The grungy/mechanical sounds set the mood for a gritty, somewhat uncomfortable tension, which is nicely juxtaposed with Origa's clear and piercing voice. And of course, in Russian! It is a nice choice - the fricative consonants, and just the right amount of nasal sounds~ I can't imagine if Yoko Kanno picked Ilaria Graziano to sing this instead. I think it will sound more like a tea party over the din of construction men (no offence to French - it is a pretty language lalas). I think German or English would have worked too, but Russian is ultra-foreign to me, and that gives it sparkles!

Speaking of Ilaria Graziano ...


This one was for Wolf's Rain. Ilaria Graziano is another vocalist that Yoko Kanno works with a lot, singing in both English and French (which is the case here). French has always sounded to me like a mouthful of hazelnut praline, with all the words flowing into the next in one continuous, smoooth stream. And often interspersed with the stereotypical Frenchy sibilant sounds, like how Fleur goes " zere isn't much to do 'ere, unless you like cooking and chickens!" (credits to gownie for diggin' it out of her seaweeded HP book 6) I think French gives e song this whimsical, quaint quality. Just very, very pretty. Like a tea party in Lalaland.

(And don't get me started on Italian. With all the wonderful rrrrrrrrrrrrrrolling Rs.)

So convinced yet? But wait! Don't go away with the idea that Germans must sing outlandish rock songs, and French are stuck with sweet numbers o_____o My point is, while each language has it's intrinsic qualities, this DOESN'T mean that they are confined to their niche area. Why else would we need creativity then xD

To prove it, Bratja from Full Metal Alchemist:

German is infamously regarded as a vulgar and uncouth language. But here, the strong sounds of German actually complements the song wonderfully. (if you allow me to be mushy, it shows the unbreakable bond of brotherly love between Al and Ed. Awwww~ xD)
So that! German might not be all about shouting big.

And I haven't got to Asian languages yet! So here I'll have a nifty conclusion: Language does maketh the song~

... ...off to master my rolling Rs ~

P.S the main point of this post was to emphasise that I am over Japanese, but I kinda lost that thread after I started browsing through my Yoko Kanno collection xD

P.P.S ah well you get my point. I'm over Japanese.

P.P.P.S Anyone wants to play bridge with me?

What Hui Huan means -

You are truly an original person. You have amazing ideas, and the power to carry them out. (o___o Thank you thank you!!)

Success comes rather easily for you... especially in business and academia. (It does?)

Some people find you to be selfish and a bit overbearing. (OMG. They do?) You're a strong person. (Erm ... this is starting to sound like Yujiao.)



You are a very lucky person. Things just always seem to go your way. (Rubbish.)

And because you're so lucky, you don't really have a lot of worries. You just hope for the best in life.

You're sometimes a little guilty of being greedy. Spread your luck around a little to people who need it.



You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing.

You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long. (Yesh, something very true.)

You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start. (Ah hah! A common problem of mine. But wait, this is just a re-iteration of the previous point -____-)


You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection.

You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive.

You have the classic "Type A" personality.

(That's me?? But all these kinda scream Yujiao.)



You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people.

You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts. (This I admit.)

You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals. (Bingo! At the last statement)

The above is from What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

Definitely not very convincing, 'cause half of it describes Yujiao. Gasp. Unless I secretly resemble her?

For good measure, I tried out Yujiao's name too:

You are a free spirit, and you resent anyone who tries to fence you in.

You are unpredictable, adventurous, and always a little surprising.

You may miss out by not settling down, but you're too busy having fun to care.



You are a very lucky person. Things just always seem to go your way. (ehhH!! Reusing!!)

And because you're so lucky, you don't really have a lot of worries. You just hope for the best in life.

You're sometimes a little guilty of being greedy. Spread your luck around a little to people who need it.(Gib me your self-confidence!! Raaawr)



You are fair, honest, and logical. You are a natural leader, and people respect you. (About the last verb that appeared in this sentence ... o_____o)

You never give up, and you will succeed... even if it takes you a hundred tries.

You are rational enough to see every part of a problem. You are great at giving other people advice.

You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing.

You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long.

You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start.



You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection.

You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive.

You have the classic "Type A" personality.

(Lo and behold!! She has this bit too!)

You are well rounded, with a complete perspective on life. (And I thought the only thing that matters to her is money and pride. Hmm.)

You are solid and dependable. You are loyal, and people can count on you. (I wonder ...)

At times, you can be a bit too serious. You tend to put too much pressure on yourself.

The verdict: This is a dumb test. Imagine if my name is Huan Does the Hula instead.

飞轮海 who? Nah. 笑 死 (Celsius) is hotter!

People have expressed much horror regarding my previous post, and I find it pressing that I make some clarifications regarding the direction of my affection.



LOVE HER. (I meant that as a command)








...
That might be a lil' on the baffling side. Don't worry, you can start on this -


Lyrical xD Here's the cue to go zomg *SWOONS* !

I love 飞轮海!!

ZOMG! *swoons*










吴蹲 is dah love ... he has such a sexy upper lip!!! And he exudes such maaaaaacho brilliance. His manliness gives his singing this euphoric SWOON factor. Look at that poise! And those strong arms!! ZOMG! *swoons*

He has dah brains too. Just look at the height of his hair-

汪東橙 is soooooooooo cool!! He has this SWOON-able boyish charm - cheeky and sooooooo sweet. Yet he has this grunginess within - soooo smoky, so sexy! Especially when he has eyeliner on! ZOMG! *swoons*

He brings around with him a comb, lip gloss and a mirror. Such passion

炎亞輪 is adooooooorable. I so want to hug him! His jellyfish hair just screams for affection. Coupled with his saturnite demeanour, he's like this lovable yet shy 5-year-old no one can resist. And his mascara-ed eyelashes just makes me faint. ZOMG! *swoons*

And he's musical - his piano-playing is soooo pro -___-

辰亦儒 is ... he's this other guy in the band! They needed another guy to complete the 'four seasons' thingy (gah that's so SWOONingly romantic). He's usually around when the other three are. Seeing him usually means the others are around. ZOMG! *swoons* ZOMG! *swoons* ZOMG! *swoons*

Gosh such wonderful people they are ... Those guys on 金 曲 獎 don't know what they are missing.

Disclaimer: I couldn't resist xD

Stop looking at life from your childish and idealistic perspective.

Face it - this is known as cold, harsh REALity.
REALity dictates that we should all work 9 to 9 in (paradoxically) personalised cubicles.
REALity asserts that we should seek monetary reward in its various forms - more commonly, as the intangible assets of a bank account.
REALity says that "continually churning"out scholarly kids to repay our society should be one of our utmost priorities.
REALity ensures that we lead stable lives, effectively avoiding possible risks such as bankruptcy, loss of social function and miscellaneous bla which will result in crippling of finances and hence hurt our chances of survival in a competitive economy.
REALity makes sure that we won't lose face in front of our extended family, in particular fellow peers. However, REALity makes things interesting by deciding that some careers give more 'face' value than others. Hence, comes the commencement of a warped game of dignity, in which being a loser really sucks.

REALity is what's there, what's real. REALity shall be my future direction.






I would much rather do something else, but that's only 'cause I'm still immature. In time I'll look up to REALity as the mantra of truth, and live by it for the rest of my life.

At least I get to decorate my cubicle.

I saw Soda Green live!!

(I blog because Waileng asked me to.)

So I'll start with my convo with Waileng on MSN ... at around 5pm I think. Actually, by that time I had already given up trying to poach someone to accompany there, and I had already decided that I shall give it a miss.

leng: :-O
WAT ARE U DOING HERE?
GOGOGO (fear of getting murdered by Waileng: convincing power 70%)

me: im trying to contact yee bei T.T
her hp is off

leng: ur sis?

me: nah
on dear

leng: they will be playing u noe!
live! (free performance : convincing power 30%)

That's how I got 100% convinced to attend the session. So I did!
Of course there was the usual dilly-dallying, and I reached Bugis at around 6:45pm, which technically is considered early. BUT they were ALREADY THERE! They were fiddling with the instruments and equipment at that time. edit: turns out they had already performed two songs under the guise of "soundcheck". By then the crowd was already massive, so I settled for an awful right side/back view. Though that position was quite close to the stage. Then I realised I would end up with a blogpost filled with stuff like "I saw that Qing feng has a mole on the back of his neck!" So I shamelessly pushed myself towards the front of the stage, fervently hoping that people will pity me for my height. Oddly, I felt like an oba-san in a crowded department store during GSS period.

So anyway, they started performing, before seven, under the guise of "rehearsal". Due to my deficiency in height, I could only watch through the cracks in the crowd, so I could only see the guitarist and the bassist. Believe me, I tried! On tiptoe, it was slightly better. I could see the top of Qing Feng's head + the arm of Ah Gong (coz he was waving them about). It's quite regretable that I was so preoccupied with trying to catch a glimpse of them that I didn't really pay attention to the song (小宇宙) xD Anw, sometime during the song (or was it before?), Qing feng launched into a monologue about how people who aren't there for the music should leave immediately, referring to people who are flashing their lenses at them.
"the quote is in chinese, so please ask huihuan for a verbal copy"
From then on, anyone who flashes a camera will get this quote thrown onto them. Really, he was obsessive about it. Perhaps he didn't want too many momentos of his silver/purple hair.

So anyway, like true Singaporeans, everyone obeyed. Which was good, coz those irritating cameras were blocking me anyway xD

At that time my phone only had enough memory for 6 minutes of video, so I decided to record only 1 minute of each song, for the sake of variety. The next song they played was 記念. I still wasn't quite impressed then. I found an opening and squuezed further up front. For the very first time, I noticed the drummer!
And so, they moved on to 頻率. That's when I was really strucked by their awesome-ness. I can't explain why. Mayb it was those high notes (male whistle register lol). I was so enthralled I forgot to stop the recording at 1 minute. By the time I realised... the song had ended T.T So I had to delete a couple of videos (including a few yujiao vids) coz I SIMPLY CANNOT NOT RECORD THE OTHER SONGS.
Ah yes, the ex-girlfriend song. For 左邊, he walked off the stage to mingle with the audience. GAH. I was nowhere close to his mingling-radius. Nvm, I got to shook his hand later ^^. By this time I was almost fully converted into a Soda Green fanatic. It's cool that they can play so well live. Seriously, not many pop artistes can. *hint*
And those four songs were their set pieces. After that, the audience got to pick songs! I instantly got the ominous feeling that 小情歌 shall be it. And it was. Im not really fond of that song -.- Anw that was the climax of the event, coz everyone sang along ... with the right lyrics. At that point I felt like an imposter, coz I'm only familiar with that many songs (limited to the ones Waileng sent me). But that deters me not! From now on, I shall be a dedicated Su Da Lu Fanssssssssssssssssss!
Then the next song was to be their last one. I wished it would be 城市. T.T Most people screamed for ballad-ish songs, and Qing Feng complained xD. So they settled for 飛魚, and I was quite happy ^o^. Though I would be happier if it were 城市. But he did the cup-over- mouth effect for 飛魚 too, so all's good. In any case, here's when I noticed the weird antics of Ah Gong. He sticks his tongue out and shakes his head when he plays the viola o_____o. Then when he switches to the keyboard, he still kiaps the viola under his chin O___________O. Better yet, he can still bounce along while banging chords on the piano. Then when he has nothing to play, he still kiaps the viola in the same position, while swinging an arm along in an overhead half-clap. Dancer nature, tsk tsk. Occasionally, he will do some weird arm movements. Much like a jellyfish ... in Eygpt. But that aside, he's pretty pro xD
I still wish they sang 城市 T.T

So that's the end of the performing part. (No 城市. o____o)
Next was the mini-interview ... I have it all in my hp hohoho.

The last segment was the autograph session. I really was ready to head home then, but I had a strange urge to purchase their CD right there and then. Must be withdrawal symptoms xD. And so I did. Then Yee Bei(lol first mention of her) sublimely brainwashed casually mentioned that we might as well get their autographs. And I listened to her. But it was worth it!! I get to enter the mingling-radius of Qing feng xD. But I kinda wasted the chance, coz I only uttered three lines.
"Ya! *insert nervous laugh*"
"Ni hen ku4!"
"Wo xi huan ni men de ying yue!! *another bout of nervous laughter*"
But I did fare better than Yee Bei. She only spoke once hah.
That aside, I got to shake hands with all six of them! And like I mentioned to Waileng, I got to see them in full HD-TV glory. There's something inspiring about seeing celebrities up close, and I got to meet six in one go xD

THE END



...of me encounter with soda green. me want their concert tix. me want hear 城市 live.


Disclaimer: this blog post was not proofchecked for grammatical abominations. Yes yes, the post ended abruptly o______o.

It's 2:35am now. -_____________-

It's a gross misunderstanding.

I think I need to rethink my opinion regarding songs sharing the same chord progressions.

I guess music is not just about the harmony itself - after all, no one ever mistakes Zhang Shao Han's "Aurora" for Zhang Dong Liang's "Wang Zi".
The melody, the lyrics, the type of instruments used, the overall mood, the singer him/herself and other random stuff all contribute to the aesthetic quality of a song.

Hence,
I shan't be picky. And I am no music elitist. Nor an audiophile. Nor Simon Cowell's closet fan.* Someone who can't play any songs on the piano without scores shouldn't be. Same goes for someone who plays the piano at a decibel value fit for mosquitoes. By the way, "Aurora" is quite a nice song. xD


*Actually, the main point of this post is to prove that I am NOT a Simon Cowell# fan. As Waileng might believe it to be.




#Simon Cowell is a cranky old man.