A day dream

April 28th, 2005 Uncategorized

If my little blog is labelled either mature or infantile:

A. Index page of black background and neon pink sign flashing “Mature content. Hard core. Adults over 18 only”. One long page of fine print and a submit button: “I am over 18″ and you get hit with a member payment page and once you pay, you are conned into visiting the main blog page.

B. Index page of black background and neon pink sign flashing “INFANTLISM. Hard Core and dripping wet. Come and watch me play.” You click and get hit with a member payment page and once you pay, you are conned into visiting the main blog page.

KACHING!…ahhhhh…

Film Fest Diary Parte trois

April 28th, 2005 screen

1. Far Side of The Moon
By this time I have forgotten what I like about Far Side of The Moon. Experience was alright. I remember feeling relieved at the film’s ending because I was tired from work.

2. City of Sadness
Love the show. Love the sense of growth, of generations passed. It does not feel like a film in that the plotting is not contrived. It does not suspend disbelief by creating tightly packed coincidences and this makes the characters the movie believable.

3. Green Hat
Enjoyable: tragi-comic drama. Surprised that with that much sex in the film, the place was not packed to the brim. It never occurred to me that the infidelity of a woman can be such a big deal to a man and that men would react in a manner so universal.

NDRS

April 28th, 2005 Uncategorized

Tired out by work and more work, I wished not to get too excited over the NDRS but there were so many channels covering the rally speech it was difficult not to be enticed into tsking at the television.

Lzydata contemplates about the toughness of Singaporeans after reading Goh Meng Seng’s post. Vernon Chan thinks that the picture painted for Singapore is untrue: we are suffering existential agnst.

My commentry relates to the entire direction of his vision. If you recall Christine Lim’s incisive analysis on MiniLee’s speech at Harvard Club:

“He will devote his time, energy and intellectual gifts to enable Singapore, in the drastically changed circumstances created by the emergence of new and deadly political and economic dangers – terrorism, Sars, China – to continue to prosper and take its place among the most competitive economies in the world.

“There will be no letting up. The economic imperative will be as compelling for him as for his father, a generation ago, striving to ensure the survival of a little island with no natural resources and no clear means of making a living.”

Now look at what MiniLee painted for Singapore of the future. Indeed MiniLee will not let up! He will head a new R+D unit! He will make Singapore compete in the new world by identifying growth sectors! He will make Singaporean gracious! He will make the city vibrant! He will make Singaporeans rugged!

Or whatever it is to avoid being questioned about the lack of political space in our tiny island.

You mean, ten years later, after all these promise of openess and consultation, after there is a some sense of ownership of the land, we hop right back into a rich jail?

The general public accepts all the goodies that he is handing out – and who wouldn’t be tempted? These are important standard of living type goodies: health care, education, economic growth. Good grief! This is the same old sleight of hand! Recall 70s, when PapaLee concentrates on the same things to push political space out of the equation. I’m reminded of a line in Emerald Hole: they give you all the these things so you won’t ask for the important ones.

Some impressions from Hou Hsiao Hsien’s lecture on Role of Dialects in Historical Narratives

April 26th, 2005 screen

Hou Hsiao Hsien thought very little of the topic yesterday . He disclaimed responsibility: “The unit wanted me to speak on this topic.” He began with showing how in Taiwan, the ways one speak shows the person’s history. He gave examples like a linguist, twisting his tongue to demonstrate accents. While a language is a tool to communicate, it shapes a person’s thought, he says. And swiftly, he dealt with the topic.

Someone, he continues, asked me in the afternoon about the lack of culture in Singapore. In any place, there is a culture. You only need to be careful to observe it. Rituals on birth, death and marriage don’t change – it is the circumstances or issues that surround a group of persons that creates a change in culture. Taiwan has its dialect, Singapore has its Singlish that is unique to its own. That’s culture too.

I’m interested in the way he sees story telling. To me, an author begins with a message. From this message he creates a situation – symbols, forewarnings, dreams – and people it with ordinary characters. The situation he created restricts his character to behave in a certain manner that is acceptable to the reader. That is to say, his behaviour should be a reflection of what an ordinary person would react. If his actions are extraordinary, it has to be explained to the reader previously. The actions and the consequences of a character’s action within the ficticious circumstances is the message the author wishes to express to the world.

He is such a natural story teller. The essence of a character, he says, lies in his actions. Symbols, all that is not neccessary. The person must be real, be life like because the person reacts to his environment. The image of a frozen moment – not just in films – heightens your sensitivity and blows up your experiences a thousand fold. It is distance, the angle which one views the matter or shows it to others that heighten their sensitivity. The depth of a story is not from its symbols, its imagery but the millions of unsaid things that makes up the atmosphere – the linkages between paragraphs (in novels), and the images (in films).

(Damn. I wish there were transcripts.)

Elsewhere: The Genographic Project

April 24th, 2005 elsewhere

By way of Carl Zimmer of The Loom who highlighted about The Project.

I got sucked in.

Film Fest Diary Part Duex: In the Shadow of the Palms / Save and Burn / Midwinter’s Night Dream

April 24th, 2005 screen

1. In the Shadow of the Palms

Not an arresting doco of the ordinary people’s reactions to Iraqi War but insightful. It hints at the reasons for anti-Americanism amongst the Iraqi people. I remember the interviewees criticising the Americans for being colonialists, for shattering the peace, and a doctor who said that the dead were all civilians not soldiers. The doco succeeds at making me uncomfortable thinking about Singapore sending that ship to Iraq. After making me uncomfortable, the entire tone switched: the people seem happy to have Saddam gone away and now they criticise the Americans for not doing enough to get their lives back on track: the police, the ministry, the public service all destroyed. I came out confused.

2. Save and Burn

If I am a multi-zillionairess I would drop bundles of US dollars on to Julian Samuel to make more docos – taking care not to hit him on the head. Action adventure genre for the mind. I am much inclined to buy a copy and make everyone watch it. Not just for libarians. Makes me wonder about Singapore’s libraries and their contributions to our community. Came up with nothing, however – only the memories of small children running about in the children’s library.

Interview with Julian Samuel, the film-maker.

3.Midwinter’s Night Dream

Haunting soundtrack. Perhaps it was dull and the events random that I felt it life-like. Prods along towards its grim, inevitable ending – inevitable only because the two characters are so mired in unhappiness you know for sure the director is going to let them taste only a little sweetness before he makes the final twist of the screw.

New Pope elected : Benedict XVI

April 21st, 2005 radio

Heard something like this on BBC:

“There’s smoke. Looks black. Is it black? The bell! Is it the bell? No, it’s just the six o’clock bell. Ha ha.”

Yes it is you

April 19th, 2005 Uncategorized

When the universe decides to have something happen twice to you and arrange it to happen consecutively, make no mistake: it is you the universe is bent on screwing you.

Singaporeans and political apathy II

April 17th, 2005 Uncategorized

(A continuation of this conversation.)

1. The Party Is Dying Out!

About the same time that I noticed Vernon Chan’s comment on the post, my colleague spoke of the government’s efforts to open up discussions. I replied him the same way as I did Vernon, adding that they [the Gahmen] did not rush out to review or enact laws to protect the freedom of opinion because they need this guilliotine blade around: the gleam is enough to temper frankness. “Which,” I said, “all the more makes me suspicious of their motives. Are they truely concerned over political apathy of the people? Or they fear that The Party is dying out? Ha!”

He pointed out that the Gahmen is concerned about political apathy to the extent of economic implications for Singapore, being fully aware that the support of the people hang by the thread of Singapore’s economic performance. The Gahmen would not be so silly as to shoot themselves in the foot by encouraging political participation. (I was much embarrassed by his common sense answer.)

He observed that we are either Pro or Anti Gahmen in Singapore. So infused with party ideology is our public service that the Party is the Public Service is the Gahmen – unlike real democracies where the public service takes orders from the government – the ruling party. As a vehicle that had brought Minster Mentos and gang to power, the Party has lost significance. The team is firmly entrenched in the Gahmen that The Party has become a front to pretend multi-party elections. “So,” he concluded, “The Party is dying, but the Gahmen stays strong.”

2. Economically Wise, Politically Ignorant

Yet how does one become economically wise but politically ignorant, he wonders. The answer came late to me after listening to my aunt speaking of the Casino debate. They expressed sympathy for the Gahmen in making this hard decision. It was a move they had to make, they said, to protect our economic future. My aunts are lovely, good hearted, women and that they had wools pulled over their eyes makes me deeply indignant.

The absence of knowledge, which causes ignorance, can be attributed to the control of information. That is to say an excellent propoganda machine would create the kind of stories the Gahmen want the people to believe. Information needn’t be strangled with the existence of propoganda. Knowledge can be spread under the guise of entertainment – that is art. For instance, in Russia, during the time of Dostoyevsky, there was a Russia intelligentsia who took it upon themselves to be the guiding light of Russians – scolding Tsars and peasants alike. Has apathy infected our intelligentsia?

Singapore, I observed, has a group who are irritated and critical of the Gahmen. Their voices are not strong but the presence is there. Some efforts are earnest and sustained. This is a minority. A larger group point out the absurd to cloak it in humour, which gives me the impression that they merely enjoy knowing they are clever enough to see through the b.s.

Pointing out the absurd is not enough – thinking must be provoked: the people must dream of this new world, to yearn for it so that it may materialise. Perhaps it is monetary considerations that take them away from sustained efforts, or perhaps they believe Singapore and Singaporeans not worth the self sacrifice.

Film Fest Diary Part Une: SingaporeGaGa / Bear Hug / My Jealous Barber / Tokyo Godfathers

April 17th, 2005 screen

1. SingaporeGaga

A montage of Singapore lovingly put together. Tan Pin Pin loves this city. With her talent, made the audience love it too. Victor Khoo was unforgettable, musing to himself, that after entertaining Singapore for 50 years, he has yet to recieve a National Day Award. The dialect newsreaders were an interesting topic but perhaps camera shy, were not themselves interesting. Sweet.

2. Bear Hug

A low key weepie. Film maker Wang Shaudi seemed absorbed in the view point of the children Da Jun and Yifen and makes me feel for their predicament. I felt story a little lopsided: what is the point of view of the adults? Why did he make the adults fit so simply into sterotypes? While I like how the need for bear hugs is used throughout the film, I didn’t like that the film started with the fact – that bear cubs are abandoned at birth – separated from the main film. Perhaps it could have been woven into the story as Dajun’s homework (or something) as his observation of his life. Melodramatic at times.

3. My Jealous Barber

It’s not horrible neither is it entertaining: extremely ordinary film. Shows a wimp who overcomes his hairdresser’s bullying and his father’s name calling to find love. After years of a routine existence, I don’t see any incentive for Bent to change after his father death. Didn’t like it.

4. Tokyo Godfathers

Love it. Love it. Love it. Dialogue is funny and sparkles like the night view of Tokyo. Theme of love, forgiveness and redemption. In the Satoshi Kon’s film, every turn in a corner there is fate waiting, the character’s life either run parellel to each other or perpendicular: each person is connected to another person in some way. So tightly wounded are the coincidences it makes you suspend disbelief. Also perhaps it is an anime that I am able to leap blindly into fantasy – if it was a movie, I would have found it idiotic. A DVD to own.