Classics...

This is what I call classics... From the golden era of Hong Kong music and movies espcially those from Sam Hui whose works reflects the Hong Kong society in those days in a funny way but very true. Gone are the days...

半斤八兩



賣身契

打雀英雄傳

天才白痴錢錢錢

天才與白痴

My Sister's Keeper

Went to watch "My Sister's Keeper" today and the long lost sense of satisfaction of watching a really good movie was finally back. This is one movie that really touches your heart.

I will briefly touch on its plot. This story is about a family with one of its members, the older sister in the family, Kate, having Leukemia since young, to save her, her parents decided to give birth to a test tube baby which will have genes that matches her sister as both the parents's doesn't match with her genetically. So from young, this younger sister of Kate, Anna has been donating blood, bone marrow and stuff in order to save her older sister who eventually recovered. Unfortunately, Kate had a relapse of Leukemia when she was 15 and her kidney eventually shut down completely, so in order to save Kate, Anna would have to donate her kidney to save her sister, but she "was not willing" and decided to sue her parents for using her body against her will. The story developes from here about the burden of a Leukemia patient in the family and with a twist in the end that breaks your heart.

Kate, the main character in the movie was really human. This movie is different from the other "terminal illness" movies out there. Instead of the usual strong willed character, Kate was weak, she was vulnerable emotionally, that was why we can relate more to Kate. Kate has been suffering since young, when her cancer relapsed, she was really tired of it and wanted to let go as she knows she will not make it this time and she does not want to continue to become a burden of the family, however in order not to upset her mother Sara, she keeps mum about her will. Her mother on the other hand was obssessed to fight her way through to make sure that she gets treatment which in the end made her fail to notice her daughter's plea of letting go (which other family members knows or feels it). Actress, Sofia Vassilieva (Kate) delivers splendid acting and together with the convincing make up of a dying cancer patient, you will definitely feel for her.

Another character in the movie you will feel for is Sara, the mother (Cameron Diaz), if you know what is D.I.S.C personalilty test, this mother is definitely a D. She has been working so hard to make sure her daughter Kate stays alive all these years that she became unwilling to listen to other's opinions and insist doing things her own way. This made her became ignorant or unaware of the emotionally changes or problems that her family members including Kate is experiencing. Her world was so constricted and narrow on saving Kate's life that she became cut off from anybody and everything else. She was a stubborn fighter in life and she makes sure she does not lose and that makes her character seems so pitiful because she was unwilling to move on. Cameron Diaz here was amazing, I am now convinced that other than playing Charlie's Angel and other comedic roles, she can handle a serious role like this.

The understanding between Anna (Abigail Breslin from "Little Miss Sunshine") and Kate was also very heart warming and touching. Anna was so much matured than kids at her age and this was due to what her family has been going through all these years. Their relationship will definitely make your tears drop.

The breaking point of this movie is when Sara finally understood how Kate feels. The scene where she broke down (she did not cry almost throughout the whole movie given her strong personality) and it was Kate who was consoling her was just heart breaking. Before that I was just tearing, at this scene, I was sobbing, Haha... I tried so hard to control but no, it just went all out and it was embarrassing because I watched with two male friends... But luckily I was not the only one crying, bascially the whole cinema was filled with sobs. Haha...

The morale of the story is sometimes letting go of your burden might not be a bad thing, even though its sorrowful to let go, moving on is also just as important.

So if you are intending to watch this movie, please prepare lots of tissue before entering the cinema especially for the females, I highly recommend this movie and I think you will too find it worth the money.

Movie rating: 4/5

神确确实实是有听祷告的

我会永远记得 2008 跟 2009 年，因为这两年是我最难熬的时期，也是我的成长期。这段时间发生太多不顺利的事了，但件件事都是一堂课，都有让我醒悟的作用。而在今年下半年的时候，当我决意要回到神那里时，我发现路原来没有因此变顺利了，我立刻受到考验。本想在这篇文章细细诉说发生的事情和我从中领悟到的功课，但我觉得这些可以留给年尾时，当我在这里做一个整年的回顾与反思的时候才写会比较恰当。那我就只说最近所发生的一件大事吧，因为我觉得不说好像亏欠了神的荣耀。

认识我的人因该会知道这件事的来龙去脉，所以我不会具体地说，这件事就是发生在我在机场执勤时所发生的事。这也是我以上所说的其中之一的考验。事发当天，当我知道“东西”不见了，当时很慌，知道大祸临头了，（大家因该知道这件事会带来的严重后果），我就祷告说如果那时神的旨意，那我就看他怎么带领，很神奇的，我突然感觉很平安，也突然记起之前在灵修时学到的功课。到后来，当那“东西”好像是没机会找到的时候，我脑里只浮现这句话，“人的尽头，神的开始”，就在最后一刹那，当所有希望都没了，“东西”找到了！“东西”是找到了，但担忧又浮现了，现在那严重后果是没可能发生了，但可能我必须面对一些纪律性的处罚，后续发展我就不说了，大家因该懂，但在上头调查这件事件期间，我其实还蛮焦虑的，因为有太多未知数，我有埋怨神，但往往还是回到神面前祷告，这个礼拜，终于有了答案，上头决定让这件事不了了之，所以我只能说若不是神的带领，若不是神听祷告，这一切不可能发生。

从这件事我发现神又在我的旧毛病上动工，我的旧毛病？小信，爱抱怨，我是个信心非常非常弱的人，但这次我每每觉得很不平安时，就会回到神那里，而每每祷告完后，心里是说不出来的平静。如果从圣经或周围的信徒的身上看看，不难发现“等候” 这个功课是神给他儿女最常见的功课，我还在学，因为好难学啊。。。我也了解是我没有完全托付给神也没有愿意接受神的安排和旨意，而这常常带个我不安和焦虑。我要学习放手让神完完全全的带领。我知道接下来还有同样的功课要我学，甚至现在当我在写这篇文章时，也没有很开心，因为又有不如意的事了，又要上课喽，大家为我祷告吧。。。

FOOD, FOOD and FOOD!!!

Its been long since my blog was so colourfully filled with photos right? Well, I just want to use this post to declare MY LOVE FOR FOOD!!! Even though that means I have to spent more time exercising. Good food can do wonders like making my day! I even had this bizzare desire of hoping that there will be good food in Heaven. Haha... So this photos bascially makes me happy and I want to share it with you... As you see, alot of them are Japanese food rite? Because I am CRAZILY IN LOVE WITH JAPANESE CUSINE! All these photos of food look delicious and yes, they taste delicious coz the photos I take one mar. Ahaha... Jealous rite?

Watami @ ION Orchard







Azabu Sabo @ Central


Japanese Foodcourt @ Liang Court (Mind you, this is a food court selling AUTHENTIC Japanese food, not some lousy local foodcourt)


Mr Curry @ Central


Aston @ The Grand Cathay



Pasta De Waraku @ Illuma


Sushi Tei @ Tampines 1




Nan Xiang Yuan @ Bugis Junction (Besides this dish, the food there is not very good, not recommended)

Joe Hisaishi Concert

800 people choir singing to "天空之城" or "Laputa" theme song. Seen here in Joe Hisaishi's (Composer of the music to most of Studio Ghibli's works) concert.



AMAZING!!! Almost teared watching this, so grand and touching! Joe Hisaishi is a genius!

看到旧时候的我们，莫名的伤心。。。

还好，平日的我已不再那么伤感了，看来我已习惯寂寞了。

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

The 6th movie Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince didn't fail like the previous movie, Order of the Phoenix (which was really a messy one), infact it is the best Harry Potter film yet! I heard a lot of people saying that movie 6 is boring, I have two guesses, 1, either they didn't read the books and all the wanted to see an action packed movie or 2, they expect every little gritty details to be included in the film.

Book 6 is one of my favourite books in the series, not because its filled with action but its very tasteful story telling leaving you with a lot of question marks that will be revealed in Book 7. And I think the movie did actually successfully captured the main plots of the book and actually TOOK TIME to tell the story, the slow story telling was long gone after the Chamber of Secrets movie. The film was filmed tastefully with the superb CGI, I like the tone set here in movie 6, long gone were the days that Hogwarts has this warm glow filled with magic, this time, Hogwarts is filled with this gloomy atmosphere that tells that doom is coming (Doom did came at the end of the movie, won't be a spoiler in case you haven't read the books or watched the movie). The characters have more soul in this film, (e.g. Hermione, Snape, Dumbledore and Draco Malfoy's emotional turmoil). All these made the film to be the most matured one out of all the movies. Credits must be given to director David Yates that he did not spoil the story like the one he previously did, but made it into one the best Harry Potter film yet.

So if you are just only following the movies and not the books and expect the "WOW" factor from all the actions, that forget it, don't watch (I mean, Harry Potter's phenomenon was always because of its story, not its actions, there are so many fantasy gig out there nowadays, go on and watch those if you like action packed movies), go read the books if you must, I bet you will be hooked. But do come back when movie 7, part 1 and 2 is out, because action is guarrantined as it is the final showdown of the world of good and evil. Anyway, I might watch movie 6 again in the cinemas, who knows?

Anyway 溏心风暴 airing in Channel U soon! One of my favourite TVB classics. Haha...

Movie rating: 4/5

Last year was terrible for me, but I still don't feel this bad as now. Maybe physical illness will never be as bad as emotional turmoil. My heart has switched to an ultimate sian mode at this point of time. I can only say army has made me mature a lot and in a very short time, I still remember February this year, I am still having some childish mentality when events after events has woke me up violently, maybe it is God's way of preparing me for the age 21, an age when someone is deemed to be mature. But it seems all these problems, human relationships, uncertainty in life, problems after problems in my circle of life has made me into an angry person. I start to hate seeing things going in the wrong way. I am never going to go back to that childish and always happy "Jie Ge Ge", (Now I realise what a disgusting nickname it is, by the way) or whatsoever anymore. I feel numbness in my heart and it has been there for few months. I just cannot be happy.

Anyway, quarrantine is over, I was like a jail bird for the past 9 days. And we have shitty schedule coming up because of H1N1. And people please, if you come back from affected countries, please zi dong yi dian, go quarrantine yourself at home for 7 days, PLEASE! Its not a joke or something that you can throw away from your brain! Innocent people like us is also affected, so have some social responsibility, PLEASE!

Oh, and on a lighter mode, this is the movie I have been anticipating since 2 years ago.



HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF BLOOD PRINCE!!! *CHEERS*

Out on July 16, but I can only watch after 28. Haiz... Qi dai qi dai!!!

You are so fickled with the word "sincerity", you have long lost my trust, so you should be the last one to even comment on anything so please shut up...

很多人说，当兵会改变一个人，对，说得没错，至少它让我挥别了童真与懵懂，也让我看清原来人与人之间的关系是这么脆弱的。我悄悄的隐退（这不是刻意的），竟没人发现，也没有人在意，证明我在那我曾天真以为是天堂的大家庭里面所建立大部分的那些友情是扎不实的根，甚至只是一些吃喝玩乐的朋友。当我需要安慰的时候，伸出双手竟摸不着任何东西，很想大声呐喊，让人注意到我其实还存在，但又何必呢，大家把你忘了就是忘了，当我出现时才说声Hi, 太假了吧，让我难过的是，我在那大家庭里呆了那么久，现在才来觉醒，发现原来在那里想找个比较了解你的人几乎没一个，一切都流于表面，好假，假到痹。大家可以说我怎么不反省，我就是看不到我那里做错了，我做人和交朋友都讲真心，甚至有时还觉得被 take for granted, 但我得不到一样的回应，我心中有很多愤怒和失望，要我怎样参加接下来的“复兴”活动，我也不怕得罪谁了，反正我不会像以前那样投入，应该伤不了我多少吧。我一定要说出来，不让会憋死的。

最近还看到让我觉得恶心的事，这位朋友，你如果不想帮人就干脆说不想帮，没人勉强你，但你何必要假惺惺的答应了在找个烂借口临时退出，如果你觉得你没错的话，那你的 priority 观念一定出了很大的问题，这就是你表现对弟兄姐妹的爱吗？有得玩就预你一份，不然需要付出的最好别找你。你的行为，你以为没有影响力吗？至少你已让我对这大家庭的失望加多了一层。

我说这些不为了什么，我是挣扎了很久才决定写了这篇文章，我不是想挽救任何事才写的，毕竟大家已回不去当初的感觉。

当然，这段时间让我了解一些存在边缘人的感受，我看到一些真心之人，但我需要时间疗伤，希望你们了解。

愁人节 - 谢谢 谢安琪 唱出我的心声。。。

手脚冰冷的筋竭衰老的晚间借宿于街角的对佳节有否兴趣
失去依靠的早晚空肚的猛火里丢失所有的谁又来问暖一句
大节日里愿望有伴侣但在你身边是谁独个面对疾病与药水浑沌里烟花迷醉

街里爱人一对对互送鲜花千杯不醉你的噩运继续追无人扶持行前行后也失据呆呆张开一张嘴无缘故会渗眼泪 hey 对你哪有节日会记叙别活在梦幻里

需要温暖的苦恼生计的与遭到威逼欺压的有些会引起兴趣
失去工作的不再坚壮的与一众朝不保晚的期望谁问津一句
在节日里但愿有伴侣现实你身边是谁越去面对越是往下推独自对天闹情绪

街里爱人一对对互送鲜花千杯不醉你的噩运继续追无人扶持行前行后也失据呆呆张开一张嘴无缘故会渗眼泪 hey 世界哪有节日可嘉许消灾解困万岁

普世欢醉燃狂热情绪尽力购物寻趣你却没有睡进驻垃圾场里吃过夜的饼干碎 wow
佳节众人一对对互送鲜花心意祝福句你总只靠两条腿到处去看哪里有个家归去呆呆张开一张嘴无缘故也会恐惧 hey 盼会有个节日可嘉许纾灾解困万岁

衣着矜贵的温暖饱满的与身处福中不觉的这天你有否兴趣听他诉苦几句

Joey Yung StarLight Concert 2009 @ Max Pavilion

Recently, I went to Joey Yung's StarLight concert 2009 at Singapore Expo, Max Pavilion with Dao Yi and Wan Yi. It was great even though there was a 小插曲 before the start of the concert. I will go into details. As everybody knows, Max Pavilion only has one main entrance unlike Singapore Indoor Stadium which has many entrances. The organizer of the concert did not really did a good job on controlling the queue outside the concert hall. Initially when we reached, there was a queue, however after some hooha, everybody from the back rushed forward and everybody became one lump at the entrance.

Then all of a sudden, there was this lady in her mid 50s shouting at the top of her voice at the auxiliary police standing nearest to us.

Crazy lady: "Why you all never organize properly!!! Why let people jump queue!!! We waited here for so long!!! Blah blah blah..."

Every time the auxiliary police tried to open his mouth and explain, this crazy lady would raise her voice, it is quite obvious that she didn't want to listen to any explanation. However this crazy lady continued to shout until it became a nuisance to the crowd around her. Someone at the back said "泼妇骂街, what can she do by shouting non-stop". The three of us also start to feel irritated, Dao Yi and I was laughing at her disgraceful behaviour, Dao Yi was saying something like, "Go home lar, so noisy", I told him to shut up before I start to rattle off too, AHAHA... I was saying something like, "Shut up lar, so noisy, don't know for what". But our conversation was not meant to be heard by the tigress roaring at the police. We did not realise her daughter was standing just beside us. 俗语说“有其母，必有其女”, her daughter in her mid 30s suddenly shout at me, "Shut up lar! Little boy! What do you all know!?" Hello! I am not a little boy, unlike her mum and her in their mid 50s and 30s respectively still shouting like those in Woodbridge in the public. Suddenly the fire in my heart burnt like people poured kerosene, I shouted back at her.

Me: "Hey! Whats the problem with you!"

Daughter: "Whats the problem with you too!, you all jump queue!!!"

Me: "We where got jump queue, we are just following the crowd, everyone is doing the same thing!" (We REALLY never jump queue lor)

Mum at the background: " You shut up!!!, you shut up!!!..." Don't know for how many times.

Daughter: "Why you talk so much!!!"

Me: "Why!? Cannot talk now is it!? Har!? Cannot talk is it!?"

Her mum suddenly scream, I also don't know what she said: "!@#$%^&*()"

The whole crowd at this very moment "OOOOOORRRRRRHHHHHH!!!!!!" at the woodbridge personnel. This couple infront and few girls at the back said something like “Auntie，浆老了，还喊喊喊！” The guy infront said "Aiyo, shame shame shame ar~~~!!!"

At this point the crazy hag could not hold herself anymore SCREAMED: "ALL OF YOU SHUT UP!!! SHUT UPPPPPP!!!!!!".

All this while after my last sentence I was laughing nonstop with the whole crowd and eventually got into the hall with the crazy hag still screaming at the back. Maybe practicing the screaming session when the concert starts. This two english educated ladies don't know why come here to listen to a pop singer who sings Cantonese and Chinese pop songs. GO HOME LAR!

But come to think of it, this is one of the most dramatic moments of my life and first time in my life, I scold a crazy hag infront of so many people...

Let you see the crowd at the entrance.



After we entered the hall, I realized that we are only 7 rows from the stage!!! I go Sammi's concert also not so near lor. Haha... Wan Yi bought Joey's Hong Kong StarLight concert 2008 DVD right after we entered, haha...


The stage, much much downscaled compared to Hong Kong's.


Woho! Going to start soon!!!


Wah, so many people!


AHHH~~~ Come out already!!! Singing her first song “唇楼”. This 造型 is quite special, she has CDs on her hair!




Joey giving her opening speech!




握手时间!!!


This is the best shot, I have taken so far.


Joey singing "Loving U".


This portion she sang a lot of Singapore female singers' Chinese hits like Stefanie Sun's “我不难过” and Tanya Chua's "Love's Beautiful".


This part was sexy.


Joey singing "跑步机上”.

Every time I go to any concerts in Singapore, I felt like I am in a midst of people watching opera like what Dao Yi said. People here don't get high easily. Come on! You are here to watch a pop singer! Your idol? So please be more high lar!!! Throughout the whole concert, Dao Yi, Wan Yi and I are like three crazy people from woodbridge shouting, screaming and cheering for Joey at the part of the hall we were seating. I felt paiseh at moments you know, but I didn't really care. Haha... But our efforts were not paid off, at the power medley portion, when we were very high and only a few around us stood up, Joey came to the part of the stage closest to us, there she saw three crazy concert goers waving at her and you know what? SHE WAVED BACK!!! AHAHA... See? If everybody stood up and got high, she won't notice us. Haha... Come on lar, Singaporeans, next time be more spontanous can not? Throw face leh, the fans from other countries see liao hor... Haiya...


POWER MEDLEY!!!


POWER MEDLEY!!!




Joey singing “挥着翅膀的女孩”, her super famous song.




Concert's "official" last song, "全身暑假”.

It was only when she came out for encore that everyone started to become very high and started standing on their seats. 这才像演唱会嘛！！！




Everyone stood on their seats. Super high!!!


Haha... Had a high night, lets take a photo with "Joey"! Anyway, I bought the concert poster. Haha...

Conclusion

Joey Yung is probably one of the last divas in Hong Kong, I think she is the only candidate that can take over Sammi Cheng like Sammi Cheng could take over Anita Mui as diva. Her stage presence, charisma and body language is just awesome! Oh! And she dance really really well, because from what I remembered, she could not dance when she just entered the showbiz, through hardwork, she has groomed herself to be a promising dancing diva. I think the concert is worth the money, really enjoyed myself, all the way JOEY!!!

真是天真。。。

“有时候不是对方不在乎你, 而是你把对方看得太重” ，这句话是我最近在一封电邮看到的，看了感触良多。在我以往的很多段友情里面，我不害臊地说我是那个比较主动的那方，因为我很珍惜友谊这回事，也渴望得到对方一样热情的回应。但慢慢发现每次自己像个笨蛋那样一厢情愿，我看是时候学乖了。现下的感觉就像是自己越飘越远的那般感觉。。。我曾经以为很要好的一堆朋友也不以为意。我发现在他们的当中有没有我的存在已不再重要了。可能也是自己的问题，自己所谓言语和情绪的坦白已伤害了某些人。原来友谊这回事也有底线的，但当初有人说的太理想，让我无意的为所欲为。现实还是残酷的，以为能承受坦白，现在想想也只是非常天真的理想。。。 是时候 move on 了吧。。。我想往后会更加懂得经营友情， 但当初一些很真的一面可能不会那么轻易摆在人前了吧。

这是我最近无意间在 youtube 看到的见证辑，是由三位在同一个查经班的基督徒艺人对生命的分享。当然其中一位就是郑秀文啦。这段分享很真，也希望能在这里和你们分享。

Life wasn't that smooth during the first few weeks in our new unit. Anyway, things are getting much much better now. Days in MPTS was still the best, got to meet up with some of my section mates during the MPTS days on one of the weekends, watched "Marley and Mesome", had dinner and talked about recent life, some are under SPDS course, (another torturous course) but some are enjoying life. Hope to have more such gatherings in the future. Anyway, deployment starting soon, don't know what is it like. Will see... In the meantime, here are some photos of our section gathering.











My graduation photo

I am a Military Policeman

Woho! POP lo~~~ I am officially a Military Policeman!!!I must first thank God for putting me in MP, I really do like this posting and throughout these 9 weeks, it has been an enriching journey. I learnt things that other normal infantry soldiers would never ever learn in their lives. Now that the basic training has come to an end, its time to really apply the things I have learnt or even learn more new things. Anyway, I am posted to 6 SIR, yes, 6 SIR, the most feared posting for MPs, I am joining the MPs who the other MPs call "the chiong sua MPs", I am not going to say what are we going to experience, this you can ask me personally. I am not quite sure whether will I be happy in it coz I hate chiong sua stuff one, but I must really thank God that 5 of my section mates are posted there together with me, I am really lucky coz we are already quite bonded during our MPTS days. Anyway, thank you MPTS for all the things and of course training my physical fitness until I can get silver, haha...



Zhi Cong and me



Most of my section mates



Woho! MP brassard!!! No more trainee brassard~ Where got time where trainee brassard??? Haha...