Samsara is coming to a head--ZHENG! The week running up to the Prague Dance Festival has been full of preparations. Last Sunday, Zaini conducted an improvisation/imitation exercise. I realized how I still was incredibly unfamiliar with the vocabulary of this particular genre of movement. But it was a very enjoyable and enlightening time, and I wished Zaini had done more of it earlier, especially with him leading the improvisation. Our first couple of costume trials were tragedies for me. By the third, I had basically learnt to live with the tragedy and minimize it to the best of my ability. Even during the run before tech class on Saturday, I hear my costume ripping. A tassel all but falls off, and so I tear away the remainder still hanging on. At the first costume trial, I got a 'You look like a ghost' from Zaini, which prompted multiple tanning sessions. My skin is stubbornly white, so each session is necessarily lengthy. A final session today would have perfected my tan, I think, but I couldn't fit such an activity into my schedule (see below). Steph and I are tasked with publicity for this trip. Thankfully we have David to design the printed stuff. We just plague him with our compositions and corrections. I've had to go through piles of concert photos to pick out pretty shots, and have had to crisscross the downtown area in search of souvenirs. Rehearsals slowed down this past week, and were reduced to a few runs. A couple of nights we had time after to trot down to The Daily Scoop at Sunset Way for ice-cream (Jen: 'Ice-cream!'). It is yet another winning dessert, joining both the snow ice at PoMo I had with Yvonne, and the divine Bakerzin cakes at Sharon's birthday (Sharon: 'You had Sweet Pleasure in my room!' Koustav: o_O).
Lucky encounter
I met Michelle Rose on Sunday, after passing Amanda my thumb drive at Park Mall for her to transfer photos into, after the gathering at Zaini's place, after meeting the rest late at Golden Mile Complex, after replying David's email when I woke up. Replying David's emails has been my morning ritual for a few days. It's been a lot of back-and-forth just editing the text on the brochure and the postcard, and I realize I could have saved him a lot of trouble by sending him edited chunks of text for him to copy-and-paste, rather than listing the changes to be made. Anyway, I'm dragging Michelle along while I buy my necessities, including toothpaste and toothbrush from Muji which to her are as extravagant as a Calvin Klein door-stopper. Thanks to her, I decided against the entire list of souvenirs I had scouted for on Friday from the shops Michele had recommended. The stuff were good-quality, but I didn't find anything I really liked, and I could definitely find cheaper stuff elsewhere. We ended up in Lucky Plaza, and came upon Lucky Gift Shop, a very crammed establishment where the owners are a Chinese couple with such strange, garbled Chinese accents that it took me some time before I realized they were speaking Mandarin. Their stuff was reasonably priced, and after checking out some of the other shops, I decided on buying their box sets of three tall shot glasses with metallic decoration at the base. In comparison, one other shop sold a single short shot glass for nearly the same price as the Lucky set of three, which was also buy-two-boxes-get-one-glass-free. I thought it was such a steal. I told Lucky Lady I wanted ten boxes, and a shopper next to me sarcastically commented, 'Tsk tsk tsk... wa... he want ten...'. But there was not enough stock. I had to come back the next day.
After accompanying Michelle for a little more shopping (I felt bad for the dreary time at Lucky Plaza), I ended up late in reaching Expo. Only Jen had reached though (but apparently because her phone was dying, so no points for her either). Everyone else was late, some were even late for the concert, all of which left me quite frantic and frustrated for a while. The Big Groove was great. I loved Danz People's item. It went by a little too quickly, but Xiao's slow segment was memorable and nicely blocked, and Ahmad's choreo was pulled off successfully, I thought. O Crew's item was pretty good. I liked the pre-intermission segment especially. Gin stuck out, as usual, most of the time desirably, sometimes undesirably. Fredy was livin' it up on stage. I loved Allegra's performance, strong and steady, and a perfect balance of caring for and heck-caring the audience. SD Crew from Hong Kong was a big surprise for me. An all-guy crew which doesn't shy away from sexy moves, while staying completely masculine. My favourite kind of dancing. Funky Ziggy were amazing. Only three girls, pretty repetitive choreography, but so much fun to watch, especially the Gin dance-a-like. 5+5 showed that China excels at whatever it puts its mind to. The 2000% musicality soloist-in-white gave one of the most memorable performances of the concert. Yet of all the crews, Cool Mint probably stole the show. Even though they came on right at the start, and their item was quite short, no one could forget them. At curtain call, they crouched obediently in front of where we were sitting, and we got a close-up view of their very voosh hairdoes. A couple of them were so adorably small. Jen was busy trying to check if they had six-packs.
Yesterday, I went back to Park Mall to get my thumb drive back from Amanda. She called to say she forgot about our meeting me, and had rushed straight for ballet. She gave me directions to find her, but I decided to collect the souvenirs before coming back. At the Lucky Shop, Lucky Lady said the merchandise had not arrived, and called the delivery man a couple of times to hurry him. Eventually, Lucky Lady said the man could not arrive so soon because of traffic. I left my number, and went to meet Amanda. I recalled only half of the directions she gave me, still I managed to find my way to Fort Canning Centre, which is where she takes ballet classes with SBA thrice a week. The place is nice and secluded. The second storey is where the dance studios are, cooled only by wall fans. As I walked past, the ballerinas looked at me like I was an alien. Amanda's teacher reminded me so much of E-Chiing, in the way she carried herself, the way she explained movement, the way she guided her students, the way she gave feedback, the way she demonstrated the steps--snappy, clean. It brought back fond memories. After watching Amanda's class for a while, a Malay lady (whom I later learnt was the administrator) gently chased me away saying male friends weren't allowed around.
Amanda came downstairs when her class ended, and we talked for quite some time. Apparently her foot injury is pretty bad, and she has to bear it through at least two years plus more of ballet. By the time I left, it was pretty dark, and the toad choir was out in force. I made my way in the dreadful drizzle to South Asia Computer at Funan, where I learnt that LightScribe can only be applied on LightScribe discs. I couldn't find LightScribe CD-Rs, but I was desperately curious to try out my laptop's LightScribe ability, and the DVD+Rs weren't too expensive, so I got those instead.
Playing scramble
Tonight is the flight to Prague, and today I woke up scrambling. I hastily scanned (or whatever is the aural equivalent of visual scanning) through one last batch of songs, tried uploading but found MediaFire all jammed up, and had to try a few times at zSHARE because none of my files appeared at first after using the multiple-upload function. I ironed both the Alfama and Samsara costumes, and was considerably faster at it than the last time. The white pants refused to stay pressed though; after a couple of rounds on it I gave up. I glued the fallen tassel back onto its panel, then stuffed the costumes into the Daiso garment bags. The way I've handled them since has probably undone half of the ironing.
I didn't think printing the disc labels by LightScribe would be so slow. The print turned out pretty nice, but could be nicer if it were darker, and darker would take even longer. I'm about halfway through printing labels alone right now and... if each label takes half-an-hour and I have nine left to print, I guess I can't make it on time. I have to bring the laptop along, at least to the airport.
Lucky Lady called me up around noon and to my great relief announced that the correct goods had arrived. I cabbed to NUS to buy folders from the Co-op for the press kits. The folders are quite ugly, they probably won't match the brochures or the DVDs, but there was no time left to think. I grabbed them and went, trusting in the counting ability of sensible-looking salesgirl. I was wrong. I only realized that I was given one too few when I was back in the cab, on the way to Lucky Plaza. I collected the beautifully brand-new souvenirs from Lucky Lady, and I was sure she would have given in had I bargained, after all the trouble she put me through. But I couldn't, partly because it was already a very good exchange, and partly because I liked the Lucky Couple. I realize I didn't get a receipt, which may be bad news for my bank account. I was about to head to Chinatown when I realized I could have just got my ethnic costume from where I was. While looking around, I bumped into Dan and Rachel, which was a pleasant surprise. I'll be seeing them on the flight tonight again, where they will be with the SMU contingent.
I've got my passport, my wet tissues, got my face successfully masked (and un-masked, not to worry), unsuccessfully pore-packed, got the VIP souvenirs (*ing heavy), DVDs for the press kit (almost), folders (one short of twenty), jackets, chargers, batteries, adaptors, camera, Insight Guide to Prague, Czech in 60 Minutes, Monocle Issue 25, got my Pigeon Babies (no animals were harmed), make-up remover, ethnic top, got my Black Eyed Peas lyrics (for busking choreo), my itineraries, got my thermometers, costumes ironed and wrapped up in a bunch (who does this?), hair spray, hair clay, bag washed, shoes unwashed, Bounty distributed, blog updated. All set!
30.6.09
22.6.09
Plans
It was our last day in Amman, the end of a week-long trip to the Middle East. These final hours were dim and quiet. The coach was silent except for the soft purr of the air-conditioning. Most were asleep on the fairly long journey to the airport, which was punctuated only by the dropping off of Kenneth and Jason at InterContinental. I for once though, was wide awake. A while ago, I had been fidgeting constantly, unable to bring myself to settle in nor get out of my seat. Now, I was feeling more resolute. I was making plans for when I got home, for a fresh start in the new year.
Plan number one was to leave church. This has always seemed an ironic result. Most people presumably return from a pilgrimage to Israel spiritually awakened. I came back an apostate. I don't think I'm alone in this, but I do wonder what others' similar experiences are like. In a nutshell, I found religion to be little more than politics. Quite a no-brainer, but this only became clear to me at the front line of religious war, through the thoughts of a Palestinian-Jordanian-Greek-Christian guide; another ironic effect because he was nothing if not spiritual and religious.
Two weeks ago I got a call from church. Samsara rehearsal was about to begin so the man said he would call back the next day. I wasn't at my phone when he did, and haven't heard from him since. It was probably protocol that he not bother me beyond those two calls. The truth is that I am more than happy to speak to him. I still find difficulty in articulating my recent views on religion, but perhaps that difficulty is the basis of my position, an uncomfortable uncertainty, as opposed to the fixed tenets of religion that I had been accustomed to for nearly a decade.
On the bus ride back from Genting, also two weeks ago, I received a hint of the same wide-awake feeling of new beginnings, which jolted memories of last December. I had a great time hanging out with Chee Yuen and Rigel, friends from secondary school/junior college. Having a hotel room all to myself was awesome too. Genting is pretty boring though. It's amazing we managed to find things to do, especially on the first homeless night, where a few hours were killed just reminiscing old schoolmates and teachers. The place is merely an excuse for a retreat. It was fun, but I would much prefer spending my money some way else.
Never stop moving
Because of the short trip to Genting, I broke my religious attendance (OK, it's only been a month) of Xuehui's Monday class. She has a way of making you (OK, me) feel like a stiff, ungroovy, cacat robot with psychomotor problems, and I love it. I just appeared in the far corner of a couple of her videos, and I feel a little ugly looking at them. Last week, during her class, I could hear strains of Permanent, which likely came from Ryan's course next-door, and left me extremely curious. I've taken a couple of reggae classes by Trinity. They are definitely beginner level, but there's much that I can learn, including, if nothing else, how to isolate my lower back like her.
I was late for Lina's Blast class two weeks ago--one hour late. After that I was late for Fredy's first class. I missed his David Cook choreo and went for his second class with Nicole instead. I hate being late. Date rate fate gate (mate) sate... Kate's choreo is fun. Mazlan took over her class two weeks ago; his choreo is ultimate shiok for me. We're also learning his Bamboo Banga for Hamzah's item, which is a little hard to execute with the right flavour. I finally find out the song Chio used for the class I attended at Broadway Dance Center one-and-a-half years ago. For The Next Wave I'm also in Zaini and Juli's items. It's going to be mad rehearsals again when I come back.
Alvin de Castro
I wish I was there the night Alvin de Castro gave his speech about dance and nearly abandoning it after his mother's death. I heard of it through Yvonne and thought it really explained his sad eyes, especially when he dances. He needs a hug. I thoroughly enjoyed his classes, and the moments where I felt like I hit the choreo 70%. They were absolutely worth skipping one-and-a-half rehearsals for.
On Top Design
I'm over 7 months late but I just finished watching the second season of Top Design last week and it was another Kris Allen moment of euphoric shock for me when Nathan Thomas was announced the winner. I was dreading that they would give it to Preston, whose praised designs I did not like. I suspect all this dread and shock were a direct product of the work by the Magical Elves editors, who are the best around. I especially loved the eco-office episode, by the end of which I absolutely loathed Eddie and absolutely loved Nathan. Nathan should have been awarded two Top Designs for both their rooms. He was also totally robbed for the Swarovski chandelier challenge. He designs with spontaneity and panache, and his spaces are full of personality. I want to hang out in his rooms. I want to hang out with his rooms. I want to hang out in his clothes.
Tumble and fumble
Two Saturdays ago Aprine, Lynette, Stacey, Virgenia, Clement and I performed Alfama at Meritus Mandarin. We were given a hotel room and free-flow room service. I had a good shower to wash off the tech class grime. I'm still awful at the binding business. It's something I sadly have yet to pick up. Outside the ballroom we waited for nearly an hour, so after testing out tumbles and recoveries with the long costume and some combined revision, we took to photography at the lift landing and around the dusty piano. The performance went fairly well for me, considering we only had three practices and no dress rehearsal. I had strange, minor screw-ups, but I'm just glad I didn't tear my costume or leave a panel on stage. The audience seemed pretty receptive and attentive, even if they weren't vocal about it. But their dinner programme was extremely dreary, mainly a series of over-long speeches, so the mere sight of us doing nothing would have been exciting.
Wherever I go, there I am
I realized this on my way back from Genting. Whenever I've been overseas I tend to lapse into a kind of misery too embarrassing to explain. It's a loneliness which has nothing to do with being alone because I've had many happy-alone times. Apart from the trip to New York with Raj, most of my vacations have felt like an empty waste of money, which is why I'm reluctant to holiday too often. What is so precious to others seems like a throwaway to me. And so I get stricken by the kind of guilt involved in wasting food while thinking of starving children, which is a nonsensical kind of guilt. I've always mentally blamed poor company or an overly touristy itinerary, but I realize now it's mostly just me. There is no secret recipe to my enjoyment, I think, just a simple but difficult tweaking of the mind.
Plan number one was to leave church. This has always seemed an ironic result. Most people presumably return from a pilgrimage to Israel spiritually awakened. I came back an apostate. I don't think I'm alone in this, but I do wonder what others' similar experiences are like. In a nutshell, I found religion to be little more than politics. Quite a no-brainer, but this only became clear to me at the front line of religious war, through the thoughts of a Palestinian-Jordanian-Greek-Christian guide; another ironic effect because he was nothing if not spiritual and religious.
Two weeks ago I got a call from church. Samsara rehearsal was about to begin so the man said he would call back the next day. I wasn't at my phone when he did, and haven't heard from him since. It was probably protocol that he not bother me beyond those two calls. The truth is that I am more than happy to speak to him. I still find difficulty in articulating my recent views on religion, but perhaps that difficulty is the basis of my position, an uncomfortable uncertainty, as opposed to the fixed tenets of religion that I had been accustomed to for nearly a decade.
On the bus ride back from Genting, also two weeks ago, I received a hint of the same wide-awake feeling of new beginnings, which jolted memories of last December. I had a great time hanging out with Chee Yuen and Rigel, friends from secondary school/junior college. Having a hotel room all to myself was awesome too. Genting is pretty boring though. It's amazing we managed to find things to do, especially on the first homeless night, where a few hours were killed just reminiscing old schoolmates and teachers. The place is merely an excuse for a retreat. It was fun, but I would much prefer spending my money some way else.
Never stop moving
Because of the short trip to Genting, I broke my religious attendance (OK, it's only been a month) of Xuehui's Monday class. She has a way of making you (OK, me) feel like a stiff, ungroovy, cacat robot with psychomotor problems, and I love it. I just appeared in the far corner of a couple of her videos, and I feel a little ugly looking at them. Last week, during her class, I could hear strains of Permanent, which likely came from Ryan's course next-door, and left me extremely curious. I've taken a couple of reggae classes by Trinity. They are definitely beginner level, but there's much that I can learn, including, if nothing else, how to isolate my lower back like her.
I was late for Lina's Blast class two weeks ago--one hour late. After that I was late for Fredy's first class. I missed his David Cook choreo and went for his second class with Nicole instead. I hate being late. Date rate fate gate (mate) sate... Kate's choreo is fun. Mazlan took over her class two weeks ago; his choreo is ultimate shiok for me. We're also learning his Bamboo Banga for Hamzah's item, which is a little hard to execute with the right flavour. I finally find out the song Chio used for the class I attended at Broadway Dance Center one-and-a-half years ago. For The Next Wave I'm also in Zaini and Juli's items. It's going to be mad rehearsals again when I come back.
Alvin de Castro
I wish I was there the night Alvin de Castro gave his speech about dance and nearly abandoning it after his mother's death. I heard of it through Yvonne and thought it really explained his sad eyes, especially when he dances. He needs a hug. I thoroughly enjoyed his classes, and the moments where I felt like I hit the choreo 70%. They were absolutely worth skipping one-and-a-half rehearsals for.
On Top Design
I'm over 7 months late but I just finished watching the second season of Top Design last week and it was another Kris Allen moment of euphoric shock for me when Nathan Thomas was announced the winner. I was dreading that they would give it to Preston, whose praised designs I did not like. I suspect all this dread and shock were a direct product of the work by the Magical Elves editors, who are the best around. I especially loved the eco-office episode, by the end of which I absolutely loathed Eddie and absolutely loved Nathan. Nathan should have been awarded two Top Designs for both their rooms. He was also totally robbed for the Swarovski chandelier challenge. He designs with spontaneity and panache, and his spaces are full of personality. I want to hang out in his rooms. I want to hang out with his rooms. I want to hang out in his clothes.
Tumble and fumble
Two Saturdays ago Aprine, Lynette, Stacey, Virgenia, Clement and I performed Alfama at Meritus Mandarin. We were given a hotel room and free-flow room service. I had a good shower to wash off the tech class grime. I'm still awful at the binding business. It's something I sadly have yet to pick up. Outside the ballroom we waited for nearly an hour, so after testing out tumbles and recoveries with the long costume and some combined revision, we took to photography at the lift landing and around the dusty piano. The performance went fairly well for me, considering we only had three practices and no dress rehearsal. I had strange, minor screw-ups, but I'm just glad I didn't tear my costume or leave a panel on stage. The audience seemed pretty receptive and attentive, even if they weren't vocal about it. But their dinner programme was extremely dreary, mainly a series of over-long speeches, so the mere sight of us doing nothing would have been exciting.
Wherever I go, there I am
I realized this on my way back from Genting. Whenever I've been overseas I tend to lapse into a kind of misery too embarrassing to explain. It's a loneliness which has nothing to do with being alone because I've had many happy-alone times. Apart from the trip to New York with Raj, most of my vacations have felt like an empty waste of money, which is why I'm reluctant to holiday too often. What is so precious to others seems like a throwaway to me. And so I get stricken by the kind of guilt involved in wasting food while thinking of starving children, which is a nonsensical kind of guilt. I've always mentally blamed poor company or an overly touristy itinerary, but I realize now it's mostly just me. There is no secret recipe to my enjoyment, I think, just a simple but difficult tweaking of the mind.
3.6.09
Intolerance of intolerance
I've survived a string of performances this weekend, with varied results. Momentum at Republic Polytechnic went well. We restaged Four Short Stories about Boys and Girls from last year's The Next Wave. It was fun summoning my inner Joo Teng with attendant kooky faces. My stamina was always awful in the last minute of the item; I'd either hack like an old man in Zhining's face or whoop multiple times at Rachel. Since there was no water hanging around the stage, swallowing my own saliva mid-item did the trick on the last night. The concert was 16 items long, and my two favourites were from SAJC, with strong dude dancers and beautiful, genius blocking by Zaki, and RP Hip Hop, led by Gin and Larry Liu, with the forest-of-freezes opening, the rocking Focus Pon Me reggae segment, and the explosive Touch Me conclusion.
The morning after was the Circle Line show at Bishan. We were under-rehearsed, especially with the new blocking for the stage whose strange dimensions we should have known before-hand. But still it was great fun with the guys, and I wish I could have stayed on. After a final rehearsal with Qitang and Xu Zi at AS7, I collected Clement's speakers from his room and lugged it all about Holland Village and Orchard Road. Because they were in a plastic bag with a broken handle, I felt like Frank McCourt carrying the pig's head in Angela's Ashes, only with less humour and a lot more impatience. I got a linen-jute bag in replacement; hope it lasts! The haphazard trek from Dhoby Ghaut was draining, and so the air-conditioning of UE Square was great relief. I hid out in the third storey to cool, change, wash, write and sort, before heading down to the party. Ellen looked stunning as usual. The surprise performance was quite successful, numerous screw-ups notwithstanding. A couple of runs right before would have helped, but I still wouldn't be prepared for the proximity and the distractions of the audience. I'm really grateful Xu Zi got us to be a part of the item. I loved his choreo, and thoroughly enjoyed dancing it. I'd missed funk so much, and lapped up every last bit.
I thought I would be freer after Momentum, but the rehearsal schedule for Samsara just came out and it's pretty intensive. No pain, no Prague. Worst of all, it seems I won't be able to go for the Blast sharing sessions on Saturday mornings. Lina...! But I still have a few weeknights. I shall be going for Xuehui on Mondays, Trinity/Fredy/An An/Platform on Wednesdays, Kate/Derrick/Pat on Fridays.
On Idol
Most nights after rehearsals these past couple of weeks I would check up on Twitter and watch the numerous post-Idol interviews, which somehow sometimes take up to hours. Michael Slezak's Idolatry interviews are especially long. But it's all good stuff. On a side-note, Ace Young is such a dunce on American Idol Extra. Jillian Reynolds often looks like she wants to throttle him. At least I do. I've never followed Idol to such an extent before, but Kris, Adam, Allison and Matt are a lot of fun to watch. Adam in particular is probably the most incredible person to ever be on Idol. He is brave, poised, gracious, sagacious, and very eloquent. He's a noble rocker, which makes him intriguing and oxymoronic at the same time. Still I'm not a fan of his music. The show has surprisingly produced two awesome winners in a row. Gone are the days of the Rubens, the Fantasias, the Taylors, and the Jordins, hopefully.
This year's finale featured clunkers such as Lionel Richie and Rod Stewart. The inclusion of Queen Latifah was strange (she is neither contemporary nor legendary), although I absolutely loved the back-up choreography. David Cook returned to perform Permanent, a song co-written by Chantal Kreviazuk. It is about his brother Adam's battle with cancer, and is all the more poignant sung after his recent death. The song didn't quite hit me until I re-listened to it, and then I bawled my eyes out. I especially love the lines:
When all you know seems so far away
And everything is temporary
Rest your head
I'm permanent
For me, the song quite perfectly encapsulates David Cook--he is the quietest, most sensitive soul, yet his emotions are unleashed in the loudest, most powerful voice.
There has been much talk of judges staying or leaving. The judge that comes closest to indispensable is Simon, but even he has lost his edge this season. I don't know why the press and public have been so harsh on Kara though. She's a great songwriter, a great singer, and quite a good judge. I love this mash-up of Kara and Celine Dion singing Taking Chances. If there are any changes to judging, I sure wish there will be far less prophesying and haughty finale predictions, and no more of absurd artist comparisons. Kris Allen is Jason Mraz... huh?! Matt Giraud is Justin Timberlake... double huh?!
In defence of Nigel
I started out wanting to jump onto the bandwagon of bloggers who have derided Nigel Lythgoe for homophobia. I re-watched the segment on So You Think You Can Dance which featured Misha and Mitchel's audition, and now I think the issue is a little blown out of proportion. I also think that however inherently evil he has to be as a show business man, Nigel's apologies have been sincere.
@dizzyfeet I am very sad the word 'homophobe' is being used. That is someone who hates homosexuals. I dislike effeminate dancing! Wake up and listen! 1:06 AM May 23rd from web
Nigel is right. Homophobia is misused as an umbrella term, to denounce the marginalization of anything vaguely to do with sexual identity. What Nigel, and probably a great number of non-homophobes have, is an aversion towards the breaking of gender norms, as opposed to sexual norms. That is distinction number one. Distinction number two is that it is more of a discomfort than an outright hatred. Is the dislike of effeminacy any less unjust than the fear of homosexuals? Probably not.
@dizzyfeet I believe overtly effeminate dancing destroys the opportunity for many male dancers to be supported. Being gay doesn't mean effeminate. 1:13 AM May 23rd from web
@dizzyfeet I am passionate about dancers and dancing. I am not interested in their sexual preferences only their dancing and performances. Offstage ?? 2:21 AM May 23rd from TwitterFon
Keeping effeminate dancing underground or out-of-sight in order to legitimize male dancing is reinforcing the wrong beliefs. I'm often against drag or sissy performances done solely for laughs, because the meaning of the laugh, the ideas it supports, are questionable. Case in point: Travis Wall's fake audition to It's Raining Men last season was good fun while it lasted, and then quickly shoved back into the shadows once it was all over.
I think people are entitled to personal biases and comfort zones. Only the actions which follow may be judged. Prejudice, hate, violence are choices. Just as Miss California favoured opposite marriage, Nigel voiced his honest preferences, and I believe he remained respectful and generous to Misha and Mitchel. At one point he actually says 'thank you for sharing a first with us'. I don't think it is unreasonable to be disconcerted by the tampering of ballroom traditions. A little reaction time is not too much to ask for. While the ideal is an infinitely open mind to behaviour that bucks social trends and resists social constructs, there must be a certain tolerance of phobias insofar as they are discomforts and not hatreds. I am often intolerant of intolerance, and it can be a hypocrisy. What is awful is the blind condemnation of political incorrectness. Castigating a Holocaust denier is easy, but most do so on the basis of fourth-hand information and a feeling of righteous indignation.
The morning after was the Circle Line show at Bishan. We were under-rehearsed, especially with the new blocking for the stage whose strange dimensions we should have known before-hand. But still it was great fun with the guys, and I wish I could have stayed on. After a final rehearsal with Qitang and Xu Zi at AS7, I collected Clement's speakers from his room and lugged it all about Holland Village and Orchard Road. Because they were in a plastic bag with a broken handle, I felt like Frank McCourt carrying the pig's head in Angela's Ashes, only with less humour and a lot more impatience. I got a linen-jute bag in replacement; hope it lasts! The haphazard trek from Dhoby Ghaut was draining, and so the air-conditioning of UE Square was great relief. I hid out in the third storey to cool, change, wash, write and sort, before heading down to the party. Ellen looked stunning as usual. The surprise performance was quite successful, numerous screw-ups notwithstanding. A couple of runs right before would have helped, but I still wouldn't be prepared for the proximity and the distractions of the audience. I'm really grateful Xu Zi got us to be a part of the item. I loved his choreo, and thoroughly enjoyed dancing it. I'd missed funk so much, and lapped up every last bit.
I thought I would be freer after Momentum, but the rehearsal schedule for Samsara just came out and it's pretty intensive. No pain, no Prague. Worst of all, it seems I won't be able to go for the Blast sharing sessions on Saturday mornings. Lina...! But I still have a few weeknights. I shall be going for Xuehui on Mondays, Trinity/Fredy/An An/Platform on Wednesdays, Kate/Derrick/Pat on Fridays.
On Idol
Most nights after rehearsals these past couple of weeks I would check up on Twitter and watch the numerous post-Idol interviews, which somehow sometimes take up to hours. Michael Slezak's Idolatry interviews are especially long. But it's all good stuff. On a side-note, Ace Young is such a dunce on American Idol Extra. Jillian Reynolds often looks like she wants to throttle him. At least I do. I've never followed Idol to such an extent before, but Kris, Adam, Allison and Matt are a lot of fun to watch. Adam in particular is probably the most incredible person to ever be on Idol. He is brave, poised, gracious, sagacious, and very eloquent. He's a noble rocker, which makes him intriguing and oxymoronic at the same time. Still I'm not a fan of his music. The show has surprisingly produced two awesome winners in a row. Gone are the days of the Rubens, the Fantasias, the Taylors, and the Jordins, hopefully.
This year's finale featured clunkers such as Lionel Richie and Rod Stewart. The inclusion of Queen Latifah was strange (she is neither contemporary nor legendary), although I absolutely loved the back-up choreography. David Cook returned to perform Permanent, a song co-written by Chantal Kreviazuk. It is about his brother Adam's battle with cancer, and is all the more poignant sung after his recent death. The song didn't quite hit me until I re-listened to it, and then I bawled my eyes out. I especially love the lines:
When all you know seems so far away
And everything is temporary
Rest your head
I'm permanent
For me, the song quite perfectly encapsulates David Cook--he is the quietest, most sensitive soul, yet his emotions are unleashed in the loudest, most powerful voice.
There has been much talk of judges staying or leaving. The judge that comes closest to indispensable is Simon, but even he has lost his edge this season. I don't know why the press and public have been so harsh on Kara though. She's a great songwriter, a great singer, and quite a good judge. I love this mash-up of Kara and Celine Dion singing Taking Chances. If there are any changes to judging, I sure wish there will be far less prophesying and haughty finale predictions, and no more of absurd artist comparisons. Kris Allen is Jason Mraz... huh?! Matt Giraud is Justin Timberlake... double huh?!
In defence of Nigel
I started out wanting to jump onto the bandwagon of bloggers who have derided Nigel Lythgoe for homophobia. I re-watched the segment on So You Think You Can Dance which featured Misha and Mitchel's audition, and now I think the issue is a little blown out of proportion. I also think that however inherently evil he has to be as a show business man, Nigel's apologies have been sincere.
@dizzyfeet I am very sad the word 'homophobe' is being used. That is someone who hates homosexuals. I dislike effeminate dancing! Wake up and listen! 1:06 AM May 23rd from web
Nigel is right. Homophobia is misused as an umbrella term, to denounce the marginalization of anything vaguely to do with sexual identity. What Nigel, and probably a great number of non-homophobes have, is an aversion towards the breaking of gender norms, as opposed to sexual norms. That is distinction number one. Distinction number two is that it is more of a discomfort than an outright hatred. Is the dislike of effeminacy any less unjust than the fear of homosexuals? Probably not.
@dizzyfeet I believe overtly effeminate dancing destroys the opportunity for many male dancers to be supported. Being gay doesn't mean effeminate. 1:13 AM May 23rd from web
@dizzyfeet I am passionate about dancers and dancing. I am not interested in their sexual preferences only their dancing and performances. Offstage ?? 2:21 AM May 23rd from TwitterFon
Keeping effeminate dancing underground or out-of-sight in order to legitimize male dancing is reinforcing the wrong beliefs. I'm often against drag or sissy performances done solely for laughs, because the meaning of the laugh, the ideas it supports, are questionable. Case in point: Travis Wall's fake audition to It's Raining Men last season was good fun while it lasted, and then quickly shoved back into the shadows once it was all over.
I think people are entitled to personal biases and comfort zones. Only the actions which follow may be judged. Prejudice, hate, violence are choices. Just as Miss California favoured opposite marriage, Nigel voiced his honest preferences, and I believe he remained respectful and generous to Misha and Mitchel. At one point he actually says 'thank you for sharing a first with us'. I don't think it is unreasonable to be disconcerted by the tampering of ballroom traditions. A little reaction time is not too much to ask for. While the ideal is an infinitely open mind to behaviour that bucks social trends and resists social constructs, there must be a certain tolerance of phobias insofar as they are discomforts and not hatreds. I am often intolerant of intolerance, and it can be a hypocrisy. What is awful is the blind condemnation of political incorrectness. Castigating a Holocaust denier is easy, but most do so on the basis of fourth-hand information and a feeling of righteous indignation.
18.5.09
Fighting spiders
It's another late morning in my near-week-long stint home alone; Dad will be back from diving tuh-morrow! I don't like waking up at 10-plus, and especially waking up at 10-plus still feeling drowsy. I've been languishing at home mostly as can be expected. I'm awful at laundry; cleaning I quite enjoy, even though I'm not exactly superb at it either. I love throwing things away (things, people, memories...)--quick psychoanalysis, anyone? I spent a couple of hours fixing up the bathroom, the kitchen and the yard, although I haven't my mother's stamina and so didn't quite do the absolute thorough bang-up job. Speaking of bang-up jobs, it just started pouring, and I accidentally flooded the floor while over-excitedly kicking aside the laundry basin to bring in the clothes hanging outside. I guess the mopping it entailed didn't hurt.
Yesterday I was fighting ants, spiders, dust bunnies and baby cockroaches, although not in the boyish, gung-ho way, but in the squeamish, armed-with-an-aerosol, trigger-happy way. After waking late, cleaning, and languishing, I embarked on my second solo driving adventure. The first was on the day my dad left, a trip to and from UCC only, and so wasn't quite adventurous. This time I had to memorize new routes and practise multi-tasking--I'm terrible at driving and talking at the same time. I picked Clement up from PA, and we dinner-ed at Golden Mile. We failed to find a florist, found instead half of The Concourse knocked down. What a pity. It was my favourite piece of architecture in Singapore. Clement suggested getting a soft toy, and I bought for Jessica a medium Piglet from 7-Eleven. Back at the small open-air carpark, Clement thankfully helped to guide me out of the lot next to which an (un)strategically parked car was trying to test my manoeuvres. Automobiles are space-time compressors; roads are a lot shorter than they seem on the map, and driving in circles doesn't take up very much time. After several missed turns and surprisingly quick recoveries, we got to School of the Arts to watch T.H.E Emerging Choreographers by T.H.E Dance Company. I don't quite share in founder and director Kuik Swee Boon's taste, because out of the five pieces, I found out from Jessica that he's sending the two I didn't quite like to the Tari Festival in Kuala Lumpur in July. Then again the others are probably too obvious (the Internet item), too unpolished (the bus-stop item), or too draggy (the slow-motion item) for festival inclusion. The Internet item by Yarra Ileto was my favourite--excellent choice of songs by Fennesz, skilful choreography of the projector, which was manually raised, lowered, covered, exposed. The bus-stop item by Lee Ren Xin for me had the most promise, as well as the best moment where three dancers took separate lanes between ballet bars and danced mid-air in sequence, creating a beautiful, surreal effect. (Is there a name for that kind of effect on film?) The music by Ryuichi Sakamoto was bliss as well. The draggy item by Zhuo Zihao was entitled Flowing, and I concurred when Clement remarked that he felt energy flowing out of him. I prefer more energetic, less sleep-inducing movement as well, but I appreciated the style of the choreographer, even if it wasn't my favourite. The item was whole, unlike the two chosen items. One is lazily named Just Another Piece; the other is called 2 Songs by Björk, and Lee Mun Wai in the programme explains that he wanted to choreograph 'without a conscious, pre-determined theme, to work from a more visceral level; a level that's more sub-conscious allowing the body to speak instead of the mind'. In other words, his item is intentionally anyhow. While I subscribe to post-modernist theories of shifting centres (God, man, etc.), I don't quite enjoy post-modernist art of centrelessness. I think centres, themes, ideas are helpful, constructive, provocative, even if they aren't definitive. All said, the dancers were really strong. Clement thought Jessica's very physical floorwork was effortless. I also always enjoy Hazel and her clean, taut style of dancing.
On my sold soul
Ensemble rehearsals have begun for both Four Short Stories for Republic Polytechnic's concert and Samsara for Prague. I sold my Reggae II course to Ching Cheng because of a clash. I'm quite excited for the upcoming item she asked me to choreograph for, which I've decided to do to a Lady GaGa medley. On a side note, I really really really want to attempt reggae to Kat DeLuna's Dance Bailalo; maybe I'll do it for Blast busking.
I realize we've done at least five choreographies by Zaini in roughly half a year, including Les Choristes, Sway, Let Me Fall. The two current ones are ridiculously step-intensive, and fast. Samsara in particular is incredibly alien to me. Saturday was good though. It was going to be a killer day with rehearsals for both items plus tech class. But I'm finally getting the hang of both choreographies; at the very least, I feel on top of things, and not drowned by them. It helped that I got on a high in the last few hours, and also that Rozana was a riot. After, I went with Clement and Koustav for chi-cken, leko (fish crackers), cheese tofu (Koustav: 'the best thing Jennifer has done in my life'), ice cream cones and a large coke. Joy. I wish Koustav was going to Prague. Sad.
Open Platforms
I went for a few one-off classes recently. Chun asked me to help with her Platform class so I met her a night earlier at Music Forest, where I saw Qiuyu (had forgot her name) and Peishan, and learnt reggae-ish choreo to Boom Boom Pow which was very nice. I mostly helped her rewind the music and remember her choreo, although I didn't end up being very helpful. Our dynamic is still really off but she is oblivious and I am through talking through things. The actual class was tougher-than-expected (from Chun's point-of-view) for some, I think, because even if the steps are simple, certain stylistic details can be a struggle/show-stopper. Loved the choreo and choice of song, as with Joo Teng's Open Studio the following Monday. Big, shiok choreo, but marred by forgetstepititis (Copyright Xu Zi). Calvin's Platform was a lot of fun. I was half-hour late after getting my new laptop at Funan. I must say that laser mice rock, and I love the one I chose. After class I went with Brian to Noodle House Ken for ramen and some HTHT.
On cute cardboard
I met Michelle Rose last Sunday. The Christian Lacroix costume exhibition was dinky and awesome, way better than I had expected looking at Michele's photos. Beautiful sketches, frou-frou galore... I wonder what kind of budget these French productions have. It was also our first time at the National Museum. I loved the clean, open spaces. Michelle liked the colonial elements better, like the ginormous window sills you can sit on. I think if she could she would go back centuries and become a Gothic heroine or a Regency damsel-in-distress. We then watched Fast & Furious. I loved it. And I don't think anyone should make any apologies for it. That would be so rude. Paul Walker's cardboard acting was noticeable but tolerable, and I suppose Michelle is right: 'but he's cute cardboard!' I'll be seeing her again tomorrow now that she's back from Malaysia--yay!
Yesterday I was fighting ants, spiders, dust bunnies and baby cockroaches, although not in the boyish, gung-ho way, but in the squeamish, armed-with-an-aerosol, trigger-happy way. After waking late, cleaning, and languishing, I embarked on my second solo driving adventure. The first was on the day my dad left, a trip to and from UCC only, and so wasn't quite adventurous. This time I had to memorize new routes and practise multi-tasking--I'm terrible at driving and talking at the same time. I picked Clement up from PA, and we dinner-ed at Golden Mile. We failed to find a florist, found instead half of The Concourse knocked down. What a pity. It was my favourite piece of architecture in Singapore. Clement suggested getting a soft toy, and I bought for Jessica a medium Piglet from 7-Eleven. Back at the small open-air carpark, Clement thankfully helped to guide me out of the lot next to which an (un)strategically parked car was trying to test my manoeuvres. Automobiles are space-time compressors; roads are a lot shorter than they seem on the map, and driving in circles doesn't take up very much time. After several missed turns and surprisingly quick recoveries, we got to School of the Arts to watch T.H.E Emerging Choreographers by T.H.E Dance Company. I don't quite share in founder and director Kuik Swee Boon's taste, because out of the five pieces, I found out from Jessica that he's sending the two I didn't quite like to the Tari Festival in Kuala Lumpur in July. Then again the others are probably too obvious (the Internet item), too unpolished (the bus-stop item), or too draggy (the slow-motion item) for festival inclusion. The Internet item by Yarra Ileto was my favourite--excellent choice of songs by Fennesz, skilful choreography of the projector, which was manually raised, lowered, covered, exposed. The bus-stop item by Lee Ren Xin for me had the most promise, as well as the best moment where three dancers took separate lanes between ballet bars and danced mid-air in sequence, creating a beautiful, surreal effect. (Is there a name for that kind of effect on film?) The music by Ryuichi Sakamoto was bliss as well. The draggy item by Zhuo Zihao was entitled Flowing, and I concurred when Clement remarked that he felt energy flowing out of him. I prefer more energetic, less sleep-inducing movement as well, but I appreciated the style of the choreographer, even if it wasn't my favourite. The item was whole, unlike the two chosen items. One is lazily named Just Another Piece; the other is called 2 Songs by Björk, and Lee Mun Wai in the programme explains that he wanted to choreograph 'without a conscious, pre-determined theme, to work from a more visceral level; a level that's more sub-conscious allowing the body to speak instead of the mind'. In other words, his item is intentionally anyhow. While I subscribe to post-modernist theories of shifting centres (God, man, etc.), I don't quite enjoy post-modernist art of centrelessness. I think centres, themes, ideas are helpful, constructive, provocative, even if they aren't definitive. All said, the dancers were really strong. Clement thought Jessica's very physical floorwork was effortless. I also always enjoy Hazel and her clean, taut style of dancing.
On my sold soul
Ensemble rehearsals have begun for both Four Short Stories for Republic Polytechnic's concert and Samsara for Prague. I sold my Reggae II course to Ching Cheng because of a clash. I'm quite excited for the upcoming item she asked me to choreograph for, which I've decided to do to a Lady GaGa medley. On a side note, I really really really want to attempt reggae to Kat DeLuna's Dance Bailalo; maybe I'll do it for Blast busking.
I realize we've done at least five choreographies by Zaini in roughly half a year, including Les Choristes, Sway, Let Me Fall. The two current ones are ridiculously step-intensive, and fast. Samsara in particular is incredibly alien to me. Saturday was good though. It was going to be a killer day with rehearsals for both items plus tech class. But I'm finally getting the hang of both choreographies; at the very least, I feel on top of things, and not drowned by them. It helped that I got on a high in the last few hours, and also that Rozana was a riot. After, I went with Clement and Koustav for chi-cken, leko (fish crackers), cheese tofu (Koustav: 'the best thing Jennifer has done in my life'), ice cream cones and a large coke. Joy. I wish Koustav was going to Prague. Sad.
Open Platforms
I went for a few one-off classes recently. Chun asked me to help with her Platform class so I met her a night earlier at Music Forest, where I saw Qiuyu (had forgot her name) and Peishan, and learnt reggae-ish choreo to Boom Boom Pow which was very nice. I mostly helped her rewind the music and remember her choreo, although I didn't end up being very helpful. Our dynamic is still really off but she is oblivious and I am through talking through things. The actual class was tougher-than-expected (from Chun's point-of-view) for some, I think, because even if the steps are simple, certain stylistic details can be a struggle/show-stopper. Loved the choreo and choice of song, as with Joo Teng's Open Studio the following Monday. Big, shiok choreo, but marred by forgetstepititis (Copyright Xu Zi). Calvin's Platform was a lot of fun. I was half-hour late after getting my new laptop at Funan. I must say that laser mice rock, and I love the one I chose. After class I went with Brian to Noodle House Ken for ramen and some HTHT.
On cute cardboard
I met Michelle Rose last Sunday. The Christian Lacroix costume exhibition was dinky and awesome, way better than I had expected looking at Michele's photos. Beautiful sketches, frou-frou galore... I wonder what kind of budget these French productions have. It was also our first time at the National Museum. I loved the clean, open spaces. Michelle liked the colonial elements better, like the ginormous window sills you can sit on. I think if she could she would go back centuries and become a Gothic heroine or a Regency damsel-in-distress. We then watched Fast & Furious. I loved it. And I don't think anyone should make any apologies for it. That would be so rude. Paul Walker's cardboard acting was noticeable but tolerable, and I suppose Michelle is right: 'but he's cute cardboard!' I'll be seeing her again tomorrow now that she's back from Malaysia--yay!
3.5.09
Bum like me
Pop music finally started to pick up in April after a bum first three months. Only slowly though, and I'm killing the good songs by putting them on repeat ad nauseum. Two victims this week. The first marks the return of one of my favourite artists ever--Basement Jaxx. 'Raindrops' was premiered by Pete Tong on his BBC Radio 1 show Essential Selection two weeks ago. It is reminiscent of 'Romeo', all those years ago, only it sounds more happy-Ibiza. The sitars are back, in what Pitchfork pithily calls 'the exploded sweet shop that is a Jaxx fan's comfort zone'. Maybe that's why their cover art always makes so much sense.
'Romeo'. Basement Jaxx. XL, 2001. Basement Jaxx TV on MUZU.
Way before The Pussycat Dolls started gyrating to Bollywood tunes, Indian influences crept their way into pop music via Timbaland productions such as Missy Elliott's 'Get Ur Freak On' and Bubba Sparxxx's 'Ugly' (both 2001). Here are my favourites from that era:
'Addictive'. Truth Hurts feat Rakim. Aftermath, 2002.
'React'. Erick Sermon feat Redman. J, 2002.
'Mundian To Bach Ke'. Panjabi MC. Superstar, 2002.
'Husan'. Bhangra Knights vs. Husan. Positiva, 2003.
The other song that has got me hooked, and perhaps more so, is David Archuleta's 'Touch My Hand'. I heard it for the first time in his Idol performance, which was harassed by pitch problems galore, but nonetheless worked, especially in the swelling and soaring moments. The song was written by the folks behind Natasha Bedingfield's uptempo hits, and approaches Scandanavian pop perfection, complete with less-than-sophisticated lyrics. It has made me dream of choreography, something which hasn't happened for a long time. On a side note, along with my Facebook friends list, I've been trimming my YouTube subscriptions and Twitter followings, and David Archuleta is definitely a keeper on both sites. I love his personality. Another (quite) young man I am totally in love with is Jim Cantiello. His Idol recaps and live blogs are hilarious, although I'm finding trouble keeping up with both at the same time. The MTV website is not Cantiello-friendly at all.
I thought this week's Idol was very good, a very solid top five. I'm with Simon, who remarked on hindsight that it was 'the best show at this stage of the competition'. He also backed Matt Giraud's 'My Funny Valentine', which I loved the most. I'm a sucker for impassioned vulnerability, what can I say. I'm unsure of Jamie Foxx's intervention in lowering the key, though. He advised Matt to climax the song in full voice. But Matt's vocal sweet spot lies not in the belting range, so that advice would have worked better if it were Kris or Danny. Matt looked umcomfortable and sounded shrill when he hit that note, and soon after eagerly retreated into his falsetto. I'm curious to know what the original version sounded like.
Bust, trashed, lost
I woke up one Monday morning and found that my spectacles frame had inexplicably split during the night. I failed to fix it with super glue, and spent the next few excruciating days in contact lenses, suffering daily haemorrhaging in the eye.
I finally got rid of the old and sickly phone, who went periodically into seizures, flashing a white screen for a few times, before finally refusing to start up altogether. My dad bought me a Nokia N79, which I quite love, although I must say the Seal Grey is way off what is shown on its website.
I misplaced my laptop when I went to visit Pao Yau at Mount Alvernia this past Monday. To this day I'm not quite sure where I left it. Went back to the hospital later that night, called back the next day, made a police report online... And now I'm thinking maybe a Sony Vaio NS?
On school
School has been quite a bummer. I've been quite a bum about school. Got a couple of B minuses on the latest assignments which is unfortunate. I think I went overboard with the New Journalism on the first report, where it was commented that I should have been more reflective. The second paper was torn apart (figuratively) by a professor too academic for his (or I guess my) own good, blindly shunning all sources that veer even in the slightest from his simplistic definition of 'academic'. Exams have been less painful than expected, although I'm about out of ammunition in terms of smoke grenades. I definitely will not approach the level of atrocity I achieved with last semester's grades, if only because I've submitted all of my assignments.
Singled out
I took a nap after the paper on Thursday morning, and woke up an hour after shutting off the alarm. Thankfully I met a cab driver who knew how to thread through traffic, and I was late, but not too late. I'm going to register for Reggae II, although I'll miss the last session, and I'm tempted to sign up for Popping as well. I went to O School again after my Saturday paper, knowing this was my last Saturday of freedom before I sell my soul to Ensemble. I bumped into Alvin, and we took two classes together. Alex's was awkward. I had major timing issues, and was unsure of slinking into the 'Single Ladies' character, which Alex called me out on. Fredy's style on the other hand I'm super comfortable with, and Alvin and my performance at the end was quite well-received, I think. It's a distinction I need to figure out; there are subgenres of jazz funk apparently.
After the classes I went to check out Iluma, which is ironically way too dimly lit in the day time, at least on its first three storeys. I love some of the detail-work by WOHA, especially the red back-lit metal mesh cladding on the interior, and the oversized entrances of the toilet vaults. I couldn't find space at a coffee place to study, and logically decided to watch Revolutionary Road instead. Didn't regret it. I think above all the film highlights how amazingly far the two lead actors have come since Titanic. I personally thought Leonardo DiCaprio gave the stronger performance, in a role that was more complex and harder to play, despite Kate Winslet's award recognition suggesting otherwise.
I rushed to meet Michelle Rose to watch Fly With Me, by the final-year dance students at LaSalle, held at its Flexible Performance Space. Awesome show. Jessica was amazing, as usual, and especially breath-taking in her pas de deux segments. She dances with the purity of a child and the maturity of a woman. Pui Man was fantastic too. I liked her particularly in Albert Tiong's piece; I think she danced the quirky choreography very naturally. There's a very vibrant item by Cheng Hsienfa choreographed to 'Alfama' that I absolutely enjoyed. I also loved Melissa Quek's item a lot, much more than her Timeline, although it is unfair to compare the two since she has more dancers to play with here. I'm looking forward to the upcoming performances, and I know I must seem like some over-enthusiastic groupie for it.
18.4.09
Now as good a time as any
I figured now is as good a time as any to commence, or recommence, my biweekly journal. I went back to read my emails to Chun while she was in Connecticut. There are 10 of them, one sent roughly every two weeks, each fairly long, and someday I will publish them online, maybe in a couple of years when the distance is healthy and comfortable enough. Anyway, I think the thought of mindless living--not remembering the past--is kind of sad. Hence the starting, or restarting, of this endeavour. The length of each post is something I can hide behind, knowing it will probably deter most people from reading everything. But for those who do bother, I hope you will bear with me.
Chun broke radio silence last Monday, virtually at least. I had just got back from her Open Studio session--loved the choreo, but felt like s*** cos couldn't execute much of it properly. The text conversation had barely begun, when I inserted a seemingly harmless comment. I said, with the disclaimer that I may be wrong, that she should get her timing right, that it changed from the original. Maybe a day or two later, I went to Chun's blog. She hadn't updated it much. I saw a post from December, which was probably made soon after the long phone conversation we had when I was in YIH canteen some night in Ensemble camp. I remember it ended amicably, but I realize that I have selective amnesia--just like how I don't remember my CAP--because glancing through the post, I suddenly recalled what the rest of the phone conversation was like. And now I hesitate to talk to her... too much. When I saw the video of her class on Facebook, I realize from watching the guys that I had got my timing completely wrong. What I thought was right was wrong. What I thought was wrong was not wrong, at least not by my saying so. My little comment was exactly what is so wrong about our dynamic. And so now, shame on me; 'dishonour, infamia, is like bubble gum, wherever it touches it sticks'.
Dance dance
Danced quite a bit during Holy Week. Mazlan's class was so fun. I enjoy his style a lot... not to mention his ditzy antics. Went for Ryan's the next day with Xu Zi, Nicole, Eva. He did partner choreo to Kat DeLuna's Love Confusion. Choreo was more digestible that usual I felt. It was a lot of fun as well. I felt free and happy.
GEM
Went to watch TPDE's dance production two Fridays ago. I met some of the dancers from church but they were cordial, and were without the freaked-out vibe Khye gave months back at O School. The show was good--although the ones who shone for me were surprisingly not the lead characters. I loved Joycelyn and Audrey, and Samantha was really good in the reggae number.
On Japanese music
Utada's new album is pretty bad. Maybe it's a grower. Besides 'Come Back to Me', there are only two other good tracks. One is 'Apple and Cinnamon', and the other is 'Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence - FYI', which reworks a classic by Ryuichi Sakamoto (坂本龙一, my name backwards!), who scores films such as the awesome Derrida documentary I watched a few weeks ago. Utada's new version of his song has the inventiveness that characterizes her past work, and that is missing from most of this album. Even the few good tracks are plagued by sometimes cringe-worthy lyrics. The album has 10 tracks, which makes rating it quite convenient--2.5/10. Still an Utada fan though! Speaking of Japanese music, Yvonne Poon got me hooked onto UNIQLOCK for a couple of days. The cinematography is awesome, the choreography is adorable, but most of all I love the music by Fantastic Plastic Machine, who according to Wiki belongs to a genre of music called Shibuya-kei--part funk, part jazz.
Note to self in 2042
Do not say 'What is wrong with you' out of concern. Do not think that by airing your displeasure about someone that you are helping them, or earning Samaritan points. Think about the intention behind your words and their implications. I think there's a great difference made by being non-intrusive, non-expecting, non-condescending with comments. Oppression is the threat of losing free will.
On the cerebral approach
Played tennis with Dad for the past couple of Saturdays. Got into the old groove for a while today. And I took considerably less time to 'warm-up' so that's good. I realize with tennis, there is a balance between thinking and not thinking. The problems with thinking are that it breeds hesitation, it involves frustrating body-programming, and necessarily a high percentage of errors over trials. The problem with not thinking is that I come back to the sport one week/month/year later and I've lost all ability. Honestly I prefer the cerebral approach--being able to control, manipulate, employ the body to achieve various effects. But it has to be managed, just like in dance, and not be allowed to take over the playing itself.
7 hours of sleep
I spent the long Holy weekend entirely cooped up at home, an act I am doubtless going to repeat. I'm almost through the first day of the reading break and it's quite obvious I need to get out of here. Last weekend I barely made progress on my Post-colonial Literatures essay, and really only soldiered through it on Tuesday. Most of the time was whiled away online, whether it was checking up on Twitter and Facebook, or resurrecting my Messenger account and very belatedly updating the software. More noteworthily, I've been deleting scores and scores of friends on Facebook. I've found the news feed too cluttered to read, and I've realized a lot of these friends aren't really friends anyway, some I may never talk to again. It was fun finding people from the past but it's time for them to re-enter obscurity. The culling has taken over 200 souls to date... and it shan't stop here! I'm quite addicted to deleting people. Facebook can get incredibly distracting and one particular distraction was finding Willie Chan in the midst of my deletions. I knew him in the army and wow, what a surprise. So anyway I worked on my essay until 5 in the morning, had 4 hours of sleep and trooped to school. The next night was spent editing the project that Yvonne Heng did all by herself. This also took until 5 in the morning, and gave 3 hours of sleep. I feel really bad about being an awful project-mate. I know my editing made quite a difference, but Yvonne really saved me this time. When it came to Thursday I was a little woozy from being unused to getting so little sleep.
Reggae class was good though. I'm learning a lot; I just hope it sticks. I think of all the styles of dance I've tried, reggae perhaps requires the most programmed spontaneity. The feel is quite foreign to my body, and is made up of a great number of little nuances. The activation of muscles is incredibly specific, but has to sit comfortably into the groove of the music. Super super fun when you feel it though.
I tagged along with Michelle Rose and Eva to NUS. We found Brian and Ce Zheng in RH studio and fooled around there for a while. They're damn cute la, the two buddies. Anyway we go to Michelle's place for pineapple cheesecake her dad made--very nice--then hung around in her fabulously disshevelled room. She showed us this video of Lee Evans, and I cannot get enough of the line (said in orgasm) 'The rubbish...wants taking owwwwwt!!!!!!' Michelle can do it real well. Off to Sheares for supper with abovementioned buddies, (Claris)Sa, and Rui Si, who sent me home after. Saw Vanessa; talked for a while. It was fun... and embarrassing, largely cos I keep unintentionally launching projectiles from my gob. Sorry Michelle!
On Kris
What really inspired me to get down to writing and to starting this blog was actually Kris Allen's performance on Idol that I watched last night. I've always loved Kris, but in each of his would-be stellar performances there was always some glitchy moment which did the whole thing in. I think the four best of this season can be split into pairs: Adam and Danny are bleah, and consistent, Kris and Matt are wow, but inconsistent. 'Falling Slowly' again wasn't perfect (the off-tuneness clearly bothered Randy much). But strangely this was the kind of fragile, vulnerable performance that could accommodate those vocal imperfections. I think that even when technique and articulation are not en pointe, the emotion and character of a performance when genuine and powerful can save it.
Kris Allen 'Falling Slowly'
DOWNLOAD (Source)
I'm glad I'm not alone. The download numbers from the website above are currently: Kris 2287, Allison 1287, Anoop 1118, Adam 1058, Matt 1015, Danny 824, Lil 423. A song I love right now is 'Colours of the Rainbow' by Alesha Dixon. It's a European digital single. Very 'Insomnia'/'Forever'--great melody, nice beats. And you must check out Demi Lovato's 'Don't Forget' on Ellen. An amazing performance. She also looks gorgeous in the music video. I love her voice, her personality. She is only 16, amazingly. A little good taste, a fair amount of business acumen, and I think she can do great things.
Alesha Dixon 'Colours of the Rainbow'
DOWNLOAD (Source)
Chun broke radio silence last Monday, virtually at least. I had just got back from her Open Studio session--loved the choreo, but felt like s*** cos couldn't execute much of it properly. The text conversation had barely begun, when I inserted a seemingly harmless comment. I said, with the disclaimer that I may be wrong, that she should get her timing right, that it changed from the original. Maybe a day or two later, I went to Chun's blog. She hadn't updated it much. I saw a post from December, which was probably made soon after the long phone conversation we had when I was in YIH canteen some night in Ensemble camp. I remember it ended amicably, but I realize that I have selective amnesia--just like how I don't remember my CAP--because glancing through the post, I suddenly recalled what the rest of the phone conversation was like. And now I hesitate to talk to her... too much. When I saw the video of her class on Facebook, I realize from watching the guys that I had got my timing completely wrong. What I thought was right was wrong. What I thought was wrong was not wrong, at least not by my saying so. My little comment was exactly what is so wrong about our dynamic. And so now, shame on me; 'dishonour, infamia, is like bubble gum, wherever it touches it sticks'.
Dance dance
Danced quite a bit during Holy Week. Mazlan's class was so fun. I enjoy his style a lot... not to mention his ditzy antics. Went for Ryan's the next day with Xu Zi, Nicole, Eva. He did partner choreo to Kat DeLuna's Love Confusion. Choreo was more digestible that usual I felt. It was a lot of fun as well. I felt free and happy.
GEM
Went to watch TPDE's dance production two Fridays ago. I met some of the dancers from church but they were cordial, and were without the freaked-out vibe Khye gave months back at O School. The show was good--although the ones who shone for me were surprisingly not the lead characters. I loved Joycelyn and Audrey, and Samantha was really good in the reggae number.
On Japanese music
Utada's new album is pretty bad. Maybe it's a grower. Besides 'Come Back to Me', there are only two other good tracks. One is 'Apple and Cinnamon', and the other is 'Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence - FYI', which reworks a classic by Ryuichi Sakamoto (坂本龙一, my name backwards!), who scores films such as the awesome Derrida documentary I watched a few weeks ago. Utada's new version of his song has the inventiveness that characterizes her past work, and that is missing from most of this album. Even the few good tracks are plagued by sometimes cringe-worthy lyrics. The album has 10 tracks, which makes rating it quite convenient--2.5/10. Still an Utada fan though! Speaking of Japanese music, Yvonne Poon got me hooked onto UNIQLOCK for a couple of days. The cinematography is awesome, the choreography is adorable, but most of all I love the music by Fantastic Plastic Machine, who according to Wiki belongs to a genre of music called Shibuya-kei--part funk, part jazz.
Note to self in 2042
Do not say 'What is wrong with you' out of concern. Do not think that by airing your displeasure about someone that you are helping them, or earning Samaritan points. Think about the intention behind your words and their implications. I think there's a great difference made by being non-intrusive, non-expecting, non-condescending with comments. Oppression is the threat of losing free will.
On the cerebral approach
Played tennis with Dad for the past couple of Saturdays. Got into the old groove for a while today. And I took considerably less time to 'warm-up' so that's good. I realize with tennis, there is a balance between thinking and not thinking. The problems with thinking are that it breeds hesitation, it involves frustrating body-programming, and necessarily a high percentage of errors over trials. The problem with not thinking is that I come back to the sport one week/month/year later and I've lost all ability. Honestly I prefer the cerebral approach--being able to control, manipulate, employ the body to achieve various effects. But it has to be managed, just like in dance, and not be allowed to take over the playing itself.
7 hours of sleep
I spent the long Holy weekend entirely cooped up at home, an act I am doubtless going to repeat. I'm almost through the first day of the reading break and it's quite obvious I need to get out of here. Last weekend I barely made progress on my Post-colonial Literatures essay, and really only soldiered through it on Tuesday. Most of the time was whiled away online, whether it was checking up on Twitter and Facebook, or resurrecting my Messenger account and very belatedly updating the software. More noteworthily, I've been deleting scores and scores of friends on Facebook. I've found the news feed too cluttered to read, and I've realized a lot of these friends aren't really friends anyway, some I may never talk to again. It was fun finding people from the past but it's time for them to re-enter obscurity. The culling has taken over 200 souls to date... and it shan't stop here! I'm quite addicted to deleting people. Facebook can get incredibly distracting and one particular distraction was finding Willie Chan in the midst of my deletions. I knew him in the army and wow, what a surprise. So anyway I worked on my essay until 5 in the morning, had 4 hours of sleep and trooped to school. The next night was spent editing the project that Yvonne Heng did all by herself. This also took until 5 in the morning, and gave 3 hours of sleep. I feel really bad about being an awful project-mate. I know my editing made quite a difference, but Yvonne really saved me this time. When it came to Thursday I was a little woozy from being unused to getting so little sleep.
Reggae class was good though. I'm learning a lot; I just hope it sticks. I think of all the styles of dance I've tried, reggae perhaps requires the most programmed spontaneity. The feel is quite foreign to my body, and is made up of a great number of little nuances. The activation of muscles is incredibly specific, but has to sit comfortably into the groove of the music. Super super fun when you feel it though.
I tagged along with Michelle Rose and Eva to NUS. We found Brian and Ce Zheng in RH studio and fooled around there for a while. They're damn cute la, the two buddies. Anyway we go to Michelle's place for pineapple cheesecake her dad made--very nice--then hung around in her fabulously disshevelled room. She showed us this video of Lee Evans, and I cannot get enough of the line (said in orgasm) 'The rubbish...wants taking owwwwwt!!!!!!' Michelle can do it real well. Off to Sheares for supper with abovementioned buddies, (Claris)Sa, and Rui Si, who sent me home after. Saw Vanessa; talked for a while. It was fun... and embarrassing, largely cos I keep unintentionally launching projectiles from my gob. Sorry Michelle!
On Kris
What really inspired me to get down to writing and to starting this blog was actually Kris Allen's performance on Idol that I watched last night. I've always loved Kris, but in each of his would-be stellar performances there was always some glitchy moment which did the whole thing in. I think the four best of this season can be split into pairs: Adam and Danny are bleah, and consistent, Kris and Matt are wow, but inconsistent. 'Falling Slowly' again wasn't perfect (the off-tuneness clearly bothered Randy much). But strangely this was the kind of fragile, vulnerable performance that could accommodate those vocal imperfections. I think that even when technique and articulation are not en pointe, the emotion and character of a performance when genuine and powerful can save it.
Kris Allen 'Falling Slowly'
DOWNLOAD (Source)
I'm glad I'm not alone. The download numbers from the website above are currently: Kris 2287, Allison 1287, Anoop 1118, Adam 1058, Matt 1015, Danny 824, Lil 423. A song I love right now is 'Colours of the Rainbow' by Alesha Dixon. It's a European digital single. Very 'Insomnia'/'Forever'--great melody, nice beats. And you must check out Demi Lovato's 'Don't Forget' on Ellen. An amazing performance. She also looks gorgeous in the music video. I love her voice, her personality. She is only 16, amazingly. A little good taste, a fair amount of business acumen, and I think she can do great things.
Alesha Dixon 'Colours of the Rainbow'
DOWNLOAD (Source)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)