Synopsis: When two TV show hosts wake up in an alternate dimension, they are forced to face the demons of their past. How did they get there, and what does all this have to do with a girl named Emily? Will they ever find a way out? Find out in this upcoming psychological-drama-horror-detective -action-monster movie this summer. Starring kmetal87 and charjanfran.
The whole thing was shot in Takashimaya by the way. We had security come after us a number of times, but we just ran. Might make a blooper reel soon..watch out for it!
Met up with Jerick from Musicianwar yesterday for a lil jam session at Tiet Studio. And since we're currently the only two active Singaporean members of MW, it's technically a Musicianwar Singapore meetup. Damn fun. You know you've had a good jam session by how quickly time goes by. Sometimes the hour just drags on.
Here are some snippets from the session. Jerick's on the right and I'm on the left.
Just when I thought I'd go on hiatus musically and focus on art, this comes along and revives my interest in guitar..we plan to do more collab pieces, hopefully enough for an EP. -------------------------------------------------------- It's been a week since ORD, and it's been a pretty busy week, going for chalet and jobhunting at the same time. So far no luck for the most part, but at least I managed to find this tuition at Geylang. Going for the first session this evening.
On to the bigger picture - I'm still torn between local and overseas, believe it or not. Things changed when Imperial said they accepted me - I wasn't counting on that to happen. It's very tempting to go, but my current stand is that it's just not worth it without sponsorship. And I really was looking forward to life in NUS.
I have long been fascinated by the many reasons people give for the use of alcohol and its ramifications. Jacq sent me this site the other day that stated 51% of consumers do so for the taste - which came as a surprise seeing as I tend to find it rather foul-tasting despite numerous attempts to convince myself otherwise. I personally suspect that 50% of these people are lying. Merely backwards rationalising as a means to explain that night of binging that led to say, belly dancing on the bartop. I mean, no sane individual would risk such an eventuality for a sensory experience he didn't even enjoy, right?
Wrong. I think peer pressure has an enormous lot to do with it. Drinking is almost mandatory in social situations - a phenomenon that probably grew over time as more and more people succumbed to it. It is indeed hard to say no to a group of merrymakers riding on a high and manhandling you should you decline. Which was more or less what happened the other night at OSC chalet - there were I think 3 or 4 bottles of Absolut Vodka, a bottle of chivas, some beer and a couple bottles of wine. And I used to think that vodka tasted best with lime - now I know orange juice does an even more effective job of concealing the taste. A cup of 50-50 mix and I could barely tell.
And so that was how it went - Mr Tan playing the devil's incarnate, mixing drinks for everyone and assuring them it was pure juice. Sara was particularly high, basically providing the night's entertainment as he went around manhandling people and - for some reason - obsessive-compulsively spreading butter on the BBQ chicken wings. 3 cups of vodka orange and a mug of green tea chivas later, they decided to make me join this dubious drinking game that involved a die. I wrestled free of their grip, ran upstairs and locked myself up in a room. There was so much alcohol on the table and so few people left - nothing good could come out of this!
Documented Effect of Alcohol #1 (Positive)
Sara left his watch behind, so Colin messaged him about it. This was his reply (still under the effects of vodka): "Ah dei yes yes the watch is of paramount importance, a tool denoting time, and time is the Lord's constraint on mankind. Live as we may, but within the time given to us. After which, we shall join him and seek a new life." When later contacted about it, Sara said that no, there's no way he could ever come up with something remotely as philosophical when he's sober. We advised him to drink his way to Oxford philosophy - he might even make it to the Dean's list. Documented Effect of Alcohol #2 (Negative)
After 2 hours of hiding in the room, I noticed that they'd quietened down outside so I went out to check. Zehan was curled up beside a pool of his own puke, Simon and Soon Heng were feeling woozy and Kannan had concussed in his car. Pure devastation! I learnt one thing though: those who endeavour to stay sober have to clean up after those who don't
I could actually type this post tomorrow seeing as it's 11:10pm now but what the heck. heath ledger has just gone the way of uh..kurt cobain and marilyn monroe. I don't know why nobody else seems to be reacting to this, but I feel sad. he's definitely one of my favorite actors of all time. Such a young actor, so full of promise, one of the most versatile there was. just compare his performances in a knights tale to lords of dogtown. He represented what acting's all about.
I liked My Blueberry Nights more for the visuals and the general vibe it carried more than anything else, but when you put it under scrutiny there is a lot to object to. There's not much to be said for storyline - like Jacq said it was just one of many variations of the old cliche of a serendipitous meeting of two strangers that leads to romance. At times the plot wasn't entirely believeable, and the dialogue/narration sometimes spoon-fed the audience a bit too much. It's as if WKW (my namesake director (:) got worried that his audience might be a little slow. But we must forgive him - after all this is his English-language debut and he can only get better from here. Jacq and I agreed that he tended to abuse the slow-mo/stop motion effect, but there were times when it was used to good effect. I'm not sure how to describe the colour in the film. There were all these flat shades, like when you up the contrast and turn down the brightness in Photoshop. And it turned out to be surprisingly pretty indeed, with each city seemingly cast in a different colour scheme. Oh and I think the cast really bolstered the rather weak script - except for Norah Jones who was nothing more than this visual anchor, or maybe this blank template of a person the audience was supposed to identify themselves with. Whatever it is, her characterisation seemed pretty weak compared to the rest. Sue Lynn seriously reminded me of Courtney Love. The romance didn't really develop in a typical fashion, no flirting or soulgazing, just the fact that they were there for each other, and the sincere longing for each other's company when they were apart. It was all very raw and innocent, something that is so rare in movies nowadays and could perhaps only have come from an Asian director. The use of ice cream melting over blueberry pie was a really strong metaphor for uh. the lovers' stream of passion.
My favourite quote from the movie:
"At the end of every night, the cheesecake and the apple pie are always completely gone, the peach cobbler and the chocolate mousse cake are nearly finished, but there's always a whole blueberry pie left untouched."
"So what's wrong with the blueberry pie?"
"There's nothing wrong with the blueberry pie, just people make other choices. You can't blame the blueberry pie, it's just... no one wants it."
I know, I'm on this inexplicable Romeo & Juliet drawing kick right now. This was an experiment in different textures using different brushes - for this one all the brushes used were preset..I should go and download a bunch of new brushes soon. They make all the difference sometimes.
1 more day to ORD, after which it's time to get on with my life again. Pick up where I left off two years ago. I can still remember the night before enlistment day-I was getting butterflies in my tummy at the prospect of two years of uncertainty. I'd spent a good deal of my time mentally psyching myself up for it all. I needn't have bothered, because 1) there was nothing I could have done to prepare myself for BMT 2) if I said my NS stint was gruelling, I'd be lying.
Okay, so BMT did come with its challenges. But once you get used to the regimentation and the "wait to rush, rush to wait" nature of it all, the rest is a walk in the park. Getting to fire guns and lob a grenade were particularly gratifying. I especially loved how it made us appreciate the little things like those precious moments in the bunk where we stole a few moments reclining on the bed, or helping each other massage our tired shoulders during route march, or the sanctity of good sleep, and especially the sheer thrill of counting down the days till bookout. And who could forget field camp! When we were put under the mercy of nature - and even the supernatural as we were taught to respect these forces. I also marveled at surreal moments such as watching a tracer round go off, illuminating the night in brilliant red; firefly gazing outfield, and listening to the Cranberries sing about guns and bombs on the radio as I waited for my grenade throw. I live for surreal moments like these!
We would soon be released from Tekong, with a caveat that unit life would be even tougher. Turned out to be quite the contrary. It was an office job with generally nice (but oddball) regulars, and the best bunch of NSFs you'll ever meet. When they said you'd meet your best friends in army, this is what they were talking about.
And so two years on from that night I spent agonising over the unknown, well, I really can't say nothing's changed, cos so much has changed - both in myself and the circumstances around me. I'm just happy to say I've gotten a good break from studies and now I'm ready to go again. Some people say NS is a waste of time..for me I'd say it was time well wasted.
I just posted another guitar video on Youtube. This one is quite pointless, I promise you, but if there is one good reason why you should watch it it's because..well okay so there isn't any. But I do like the lighting on my left arm.
I must've emailed at least a dozen schools by now, and not one of them has gotten back to me. And I know why - the guys who ORDed earlier and the girls who just graduated from JC - they must've snapped up all the positions by now.
It makes no sense - that guys who enlisted as PES A and B be the only ones eligible for the two month cut in their NS term if they do well in NAPFA. And what's more, a lot of them get downgraded after enlistment, bringing their PES status down, and yet they still only have to serve 1 year 10 months. And so people like me who got silver for NAPFA still lan lan have to serve 2 years. I used to be okay with it, until I recently realised that it's jeopardising my search for a temp job. what is the rationale in making PES A&B personnel the darlings of the SAF while condemning everyone else? if they have a good reason, I'd like to hear it.
Anyhow, if I get desperate I'll probably start calling or going down to the schools personally. Somehow I have a lot more confidence talking to someone in person than on the phone.
OIC sketch walk just rekindled my interest in drawing.
I'd first heard of the OIC through Bella only last week when she showed me the website at http://organisationofillustratorscouncil.blogspot.com. The Sketch Walk was basically about trekking through various parts of Singapore and drawing everything along the way.
So we met at Bras Basah Complex at 2pm outside Basheer bookstore. There I met Andrew a.k.a Drewscape, Billy, Benjamin and Mike a.k.a Mindflyer (OIC chairman). I also met Kesheng, a J1 from RJ, and Josephine from NYJC, both of whom were Art students. In fact, as far as I know, everyone there was either in the art industry, in art school or studied art as a subject. I felt sorely out of place. Bella arrived shortly after.
And so we set off. The first stop was the area outside Guan Yin Miao. I sketched a very uninspired and messy drawing of a building with a lor of birds on it. We were given something like 25 minutes for every stop, and it was admittedly hard for me to produce something of decent quality in that amount of time. But I guess it forced us to stop dwelling on details, and see bigger shapes and blocks of colour. Or rather, it was supposed to, but I han't realised yet. Bella drew a spiffy perspective drawing with short trees.
We then went upstairs of the hawker centre and drew from there. I decided to be a little less ambitious what with my huge landscapes and decided to focus on one object instead. I singled out a trishaw (and later realised that Andrew picked out the same one - I must have a pretty developed eye!) and drew exactly what I saw. It was literal and boring, and didn't even come with the amount of technical mastery literal and boring pictures ought to have. We took a walk to the Gotham City building and sat ourselves in the courtyard. There were four statues of important personalities, between which I failed to draw any link. I mean, Sun Yat-sen, Churchill, Lincoln and Plato aren't exactly brothers. But anyway I stole Bella's marker and Chinese brush and drew them all.
Next stop was supposed to be Haji Lane, but we were in dire need for refreshments so our group took a rest at this little shop and had tehpeng and some snacks. Josephine asked if I had Greek blood. Wth! Haha actually a part of me wishes I had some funky exotic ancestry. Bella's half Chinese half German and half Japanese. (lol) In any case, I scribbled out a BMW, defining every line I could make out, and was pretty happy with how it turned out. Mike later commented that I need more confidence in my linework.
By then it looked like it was gonna rain pretty soon, so we hid in the Army Market for a while. I tried the waffles there, but found nothing much to rave about it. Definitely doesn't justify the hype. Or maybe I'm just a ruthless foodie.
Next stop was the Kallang Riverside Park. By then I was already feeling rather uninspired, in the end only managing to render a coconut tree in chinese brush. I have to say though, we did stop at a rather weird spot. From there we proceeded through Geylang - no not the main road but the extra seedy streets hidden in the back. Never seen so many prostitutes in my life, I swear. They were standing there in their skimpy little outfits and (for some reason) carrying umbrellas. There were almost just as many potential patrons standing around, but on this day it seemed supply outstripped demand. You'd think that in order to lure the lechers into their lair they'd attempt to force a seductive smile. But none of them could.
Geylang was supposed to be one of the stops (figure studies?) but Bella was growing increasingly uncomfortable so we thought we'd better move on. It was getting dark, which made it hard to draw. I set out to make a drawing of a playground (always had this thing for playgrounds) and cast it in really moody lighting.
The last stop was Kallang Airport hawker centre! Fleecircus was there, but unfortunately I didn't get to speak to her. Really like her style. Anyways I didn't really care much about drawing anymore and proceeded to wolf down a chicken chop before drawing Jill Valentine with a blue G-Tec.
This was the really cool bit. Drewscape and Mindflyer, the two pros, went to each and every person and offered to do a critque of what we'd done that day, as well as our little portfolios if we'd brought them. Mike seemed rather incredulous that the OIC website was attracting people from JC..I thought why the heck not! Anyway the comments I got were as follows:
1. try to see shapes, and render the subject in tight blocks. My lines tended to be a bit too loose. 2. Squint your eyes and try to see things in three tones: light, medium and dark, and proceed to shade the line drawing in that way. Dark should preferably be adjacent to and complementing the light areas. 3. be more confident in your linework
Billy shared his portfolio with us, and it was chock full of damn inspiring anatomy studies and excellent anime lineart. Benjamin had this album of anime drawings rendered in Photoshop. What can I say man. These guys are all damn pro. We agreed to meet up again for a similar session on our own, this time without time constraints and a different route. I can't wait!
Well here I am in office on my last day duty! This office holds so many memories for me, really it does. Possibly more so than RJ, by virtue of the time spent in here. Well I am just thankful for all the experiences during my time here in this unit. As for the people I have gotten to know here, it's an understatement that we're like a family. I've said this before, and I'll say it again - the people here have more chemistry, and have bonded better than any of the classes I've belonged to. Maybe it's the fact that we aren't all bogged down by stress and have so much free time for outings. The pigging out sessions, the clubbing and drinking, the gatherings at Mark's mansion - these will form the bulk of my fondest memories of life here. Also, I dare say duties have been some of the most fruitful (for want of a better word) hours in office because alone here in this Ops Room, one has the time and the space to let his thoughts wander.
While driving to office today, I heard a song on the radio by Sting and the Police called Englishman in New York. It's such awesome driving music. My other favourite is The Look of Love by Diana Krall.
