11 November 2007
I caught the 3pm matinee of the Haresh Sharma/Alvin Tan play "Good People"yesterday with a friend at the Necessary Stage's Black Box and I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw. I have to admit that the main reason why I had initially intended to watch the play was to see how they were going to portray the addiction of one of the characters to marijuana (it is common knowledge that marijuana is not addictive, unlike hard drugs like heroin and LSD).
Good People is basically a play about issues - issues within relationships (and relating to people), religion, and the basic philosophies of life and death.
Just to give you a full view of the synopsis, here it is:
"Set in a hospice, Good People is about the ups and downs of the relationships between 3 people. Miguel is the new Medical Director trying to run a tight ship. Yati is a jaded nurse making the best of a ‘dead-end’ job. And Radha is the terminally-ill patient who is addicted to marijuana to relieve her pain.
As the three get to know each other, complications arise. If Radha get caught, will she be given the death penalty when she has only a few months to live?
Moving, humorous and evocative, Good People looks at urgent contemporary issues through the test of personal relationships."
I really enjoyed the chemistry between the 3 actors, there was that emotional/spiritual connection there that made the whole point of the play make more sense to me. Or maybe I was just projecting? (For those of you who know me personally, you will understand what this means.)
I could not understand why someone, at the end of the play and during the Q&A session, commented that the play was darkly depressing. No doubt there were moments during the play where it did get darkly morbid, but there were also moments where the terminally ill character Radha would make positive comments about looking at the brighter side of life. Or how she rationalises cancer -
"Cancer is a karmic disease. Before you go, the cancer burns off the karma of your past lives. So that you can move on with a clean slate...finally obtain moksha...be liberated. Isn't that wonderful?"
It made so much sense to me when I heard that. Radha also made other positive statements, as if trying to convince the other two characters not to make too much of a fuss over her. Or, if you look at it from another perspective that she might possibly have, trying to convince herself that everything will be all right.
Good People gets the thumbs up from me. =)
Note : For those people whom I have been able to titillate enough with this review for them to want to watch it for themselves, you may have to wait for a restaging of Good people, as today, 11 November, is the last day.
Happily ever after
31 July 2007
"There is no such thing as a 'happily ever after'".
Everyone has a right to be happy, nobody deserves to be miserable and deprived, but that does not mean that everything we say and do will end up with a happily ever after.
I got to meet some interesting people over the last weekend, one of whom I speak to on MSN off and on, so it was good to put a face to an MSN identity.
I sometimes wonder how some people can be so judgemental about things that they don't or don't want to understand, and yet sometimes i see how some people can be so ambiguous and dodgy that I can't help it but reach into my own ignorance of a situation.
Ignorance is bliss, they say, until you get pushed off the cliff, I say.
"There is no such thing as a 'happily ever after'".
Everyone has a right to be happy, nobody deserves to be miserable and deprived, but that does not mean that everything we say and do will end up with a happily ever after.
I got to meet some interesting people over the last weekend, one of whom I speak to on MSN off and on, so it was good to put a face to an MSN identity.
I sometimes wonder how some people can be so judgemental about things that they don't or don't want to understand, and yet sometimes i see how some people can be so ambiguous and dodgy that I can't help it but reach into my own ignorance of a situation.
Ignorance is bliss, they say, until you get pushed off the cliff, I say.
In transition
11 July 2007
It's been a while, yes it has. I've been busy sorting out stuff at work, getting ready to leave on August 30.
I am having mixed feelings right now. I want to leave, but then again i don't?
But work was a very different place before 2006. Lately, there's been a strange undercurrent of tension in the physical environment. People have stopped trusting one another, and we have a spy running around trying to cop a glance at our screens to catch us not working, so that she can run to our Operations Manager with her info and perhaps get a doggie biscuit or two (or a reward of a pay rise in future) for her info.
So, I've been offered a chance to go anywhere in the world to recuperate after i quit my job. I've got two places in mind.
1) Amsterdam
2) Mykonos
If I wanted to go to both places, I'd have to top up what I'm getting to go to either 1) or 2).
I probably have to do a bit of budgeting before I can make a sound decision.
Next up is the Cure concert on August 01. Never imagined that they would want to come to Singapore, but apparently they are. I'm pretty psyched up to watch them. Am not saying that I was a big fan of theirs - but I'd say I grew up listening to them, my favourite being "A Letter to Elise".
It's been a while, yes it has. I've been busy sorting out stuff at work, getting ready to leave on August 30.
I am having mixed feelings right now. I want to leave, but then again i don't?
But work was a very different place before 2006. Lately, there's been a strange undercurrent of tension in the physical environment. People have stopped trusting one another, and we have a spy running around trying to cop a glance at our screens to catch us not working, so that she can run to our Operations Manager with her info and perhaps get a doggie biscuit or two (or a reward of a pay rise in future) for her info.
So, I've been offered a chance to go anywhere in the world to recuperate after i quit my job. I've got two places in mind.
1) Amsterdam
2) Mykonos
If I wanted to go to both places, I'd have to top up what I'm getting to go to either 1) or 2).
I probably have to do a bit of budgeting before I can make a sound decision.
Next up is the Cure concert on August 01. Never imagined that they would want to come to Singapore, but apparently they are. I'm pretty psyched up to watch them. Am not saying that I was a big fan of theirs - but I'd say I grew up listening to them, my favourite being "A Letter to Elise".
Sterility
8 May 2007
Met up with some acquaintances on Sunday for beer and milo dinosaur. It's been awhile since I've caught up with them. The dynamics have changed in our little group. I could feel it, and I wonder if they could too.
Maybe I've got a lot on my mind, maybe I think too much, maybe I'm just tired of these shackles, that bind me to the mundaneness of everything....but I found myself really not so noisy on Sunday. They talked about filters, well my filters are dirty now and I really can't be bothered to clean them out.
But it was good to be doing something different on a Sunday - not so much the discussion on feelings - but more a case of just hanging out with friends, no expectations, no pressure, just us and food.
Darren leaves for Perth for good on 9th June. I think I am going to miss him, But then again he has been absent from my life for 1.5 years, steeped up in his depression of not being able to leave Singapore. Not being able to get out of this prison we were born into. There are people who will tell me things like "You don't know what you're saying, Singapore is a great place to live in! Free of crime, clean, orderly.."
Sterile. Too sterile - to the point that the truth about how things really are get swept under a great big rug so that anybody who wasn't born here wouldn't see things the way they really are. I reckon you have to be born here to see it, to be inside looking out.
But hey, where else in the world is it any better? Right now I'm happy here in my own little world, with my music and my pc and books.
Met up with some acquaintances on Sunday for beer and milo dinosaur. It's been awhile since I've caught up with them. The dynamics have changed in our little group. I could feel it, and I wonder if they could too.
Maybe I've got a lot on my mind, maybe I think too much, maybe I'm just tired of these shackles, that bind me to the mundaneness of everything....but I found myself really not so noisy on Sunday. They talked about filters, well my filters are dirty now and I really can't be bothered to clean them out.
But it was good to be doing something different on a Sunday - not so much the discussion on feelings - but more a case of just hanging out with friends, no expectations, no pressure, just us and food.
Darren leaves for Perth for good on 9th June. I think I am going to miss him, But then again he has been absent from my life for 1.5 years, steeped up in his depression of not being able to leave Singapore. Not being able to get out of this prison we were born into. There are people who will tell me things like "You don't know what you're saying, Singapore is a great place to live in! Free of crime, clean, orderly.."
Sterile. Too sterile - to the point that the truth about how things really are get swept under a great big rug so that anybody who wasn't born here wouldn't see things the way they really are. I reckon you have to be born here to see it, to be inside looking out.
But hey, where else in the world is it any better? Right now I'm happy here in my own little world, with my music and my pc and books.
Rationals
28 August 2006
So I did an online personality test today, and this was the result.
RATIONAL
Rationals are the problem solving temperament, particularly if the problem has to do with the many complex systems that make up the world around us. Rationals might tackle problems in organic systems such as plants and animals, or in mechanical systems such as railroads and computers, or in social systems such as families and companies and governments. But whatever systems fire their curiosity, Rationals will analyze them to understand how they work, so they can figure out how to make them work better.
In working with problems, Rationals try to find solutions that have application in the real world, but they are even more interested in the abstract concepts involved, the fundamental principles or natural laws that underlie the particular case. And they are completely pragmatic about their ways and means of achieving their ends. Rationals don't care about being politically correct. They are interested in the most efficient solutions possible, and will listen to anyone who has something useful to teach them, while disregarding any authority or customary procedure that wastes time and resources.
Rationals have an insatiable hunger to accomplish their goals and will work tirelessly on any project they have set their mind to. They are rigorously logical and fiercely independent in their thinking--are indeed skeptical of all ideas, even their own--and they believe they can overcome any obstacle with their will power. Often they are seen as cold and distant, but this is really the absorbed concentration they give to whatever problem they're working on. Whether designing a skyscraper or an experiment, developing a theory or a prototype technology, building an aircraft, a corporation, or a strategic alliance, Rationals value intelligence, in themselves and others, and they pride themselves on the ingenuity they bring to their problem solving.
Rationals are very scarce, comprising as little as 5 to 10 percent of the population. But because of their drive to unlock the secrets of nature, and to develop new technologies, they have done much to shape our world.
LOL...it does sound alot like the truth...but I'm skeptical...
Was talking to a friend online today, and got introduced to this awesome artist, who, as made obvious by the name of her blog, loves to draw.
Check out some of her sketches and drawings in her blog. I like her usage of metaphorical imagery, and the colours...
http://www.krislikestodraw.blogspot.com/
So I did an online personality test today, and this was the result.
RATIONAL
Rationals are the problem solving temperament, particularly if the problem has to do with the many complex systems that make up the world around us. Rationals might tackle problems in organic systems such as plants and animals, or in mechanical systems such as railroads and computers, or in social systems such as families and companies and governments. But whatever systems fire their curiosity, Rationals will analyze them to understand how they work, so they can figure out how to make them work better.
In working with problems, Rationals try to find solutions that have application in the real world, but they are even more interested in the abstract concepts involved, the fundamental principles or natural laws that underlie the particular case. And they are completely pragmatic about their ways and means of achieving their ends. Rationals don't care about being politically correct. They are interested in the most efficient solutions possible, and will listen to anyone who has something useful to teach them, while disregarding any authority or customary procedure that wastes time and resources.
Rationals have an insatiable hunger to accomplish their goals and will work tirelessly on any project they have set their mind to. They are rigorously logical and fiercely independent in their thinking--are indeed skeptical of all ideas, even their own--and they believe they can overcome any obstacle with their will power. Often they are seen as cold and distant, but this is really the absorbed concentration they give to whatever problem they're working on. Whether designing a skyscraper or an experiment, developing a theory or a prototype technology, building an aircraft, a corporation, or a strategic alliance, Rationals value intelligence, in themselves and others, and they pride themselves on the ingenuity they bring to their problem solving.
Rationals are very scarce, comprising as little as 5 to 10 percent of the population. But because of their drive to unlock the secrets of nature, and to develop new technologies, they have done much to shape our world.
LOL...it does sound alot like the truth...but I'm skeptical...
Was talking to a friend online today, and got introduced to this awesome artist, who, as made obvious by the name of her blog, loves to draw.
Check out some of her sketches and drawings in her blog. I like her usage of metaphorical imagery, and the colours...
http://www.krislikestodraw.blogspot.com/
Sufjan Stevens
11 August 2006
My mum believed he could be Cat Stevens' son. I swore he was the best thing since David Gates and Bob Dylan.
He is Sufjan Stevens, a minimalist American folk musician from Michigan, USA. And I don't think he's Cat Stevens' son. Though the name Sufjan does have an ethnic charm to it.
A friend sent me track from the Weeds soundtrack, called "All the trees of the field will clap their hands". I thought I'd heard it from Weeds before. Bittersweet, sterile. Beautiful.
Anyway, I went snooping around for more of his tracks, and came across one song that struck me like a soft slap on the face. If you've read my previous blog entries, you'll know I wrote one entry about about the child murderer Kevin Underwood, and how his blog seemed so ordinary, so much like my own and that of every other person I know who has a blog. And how I mused about how different we are from such so-called "monsters", yet strangely, almost the same in a lot of ways, at least in Kevin Underwood's case (don't get me wrong, I am not condoning what he did, I was just using him as an example of how fragile the human spirit can be).
So, here's that Sufjan Stevens song I've fallen in love with.
His father was a drinker and his mother cried in bed
Folding John Wayne's T-shirts
When the swingset hit his head
The neighbors they adored him
For his humor and his conversation
Look underneath the house there
Find the few living things
Rotting fast in their sleep of the dead
Twenty-seven people, even more
They were boys with their cars, summer jobs
Oh my God Are you one of them?
He dressed up like a clown for them
With his face paint white and red
And on his best behavior
In a dark room on the bed he kissed them all
He'd kill ten thousand people with a sleight of his hand
Running far, running fast to the dead
He took off all their clothes for them
He put a cloth on their lips
Quiet hands, quiet kiss On the mouth
And in my best behavior I am really just like him
Look beneath the floorboards
For the secrets I have hid.....
- "John Wayne Gacy Jr.", Sufjan Stevens -
My mum believed he could be Cat Stevens' son. I swore he was the best thing since David Gates and Bob Dylan.
He is Sufjan Stevens, a minimalist American folk musician from Michigan, USA. And I don't think he's Cat Stevens' son. Though the name Sufjan does have an ethnic charm to it.
A friend sent me track from the Weeds soundtrack, called "All the trees of the field will clap their hands". I thought I'd heard it from Weeds before. Bittersweet, sterile. Beautiful.
Anyway, I went snooping around for more of his tracks, and came across one song that struck me like a soft slap on the face. If you've read my previous blog entries, you'll know I wrote one entry about about the child murderer Kevin Underwood, and how his blog seemed so ordinary, so much like my own and that of every other person I know who has a blog. And how I mused about how different we are from such so-called "monsters", yet strangely, almost the same in a lot of ways, at least in Kevin Underwood's case (don't get me wrong, I am not condoning what he did, I was just using him as an example of how fragile the human spirit can be).
So, here's that Sufjan Stevens song I've fallen in love with.
His father was a drinker and his mother cried in bed
Folding John Wayne's T-shirts
When the swingset hit his head
The neighbors they adored him
For his humor and his conversation
Look underneath the house there
Find the few living things
Rotting fast in their sleep of the dead
Twenty-seven people, even more
They were boys with their cars, summer jobs
Oh my God Are you one of them?
He dressed up like a clown for them
With his face paint white and red
And on his best behavior
In a dark room on the bed he kissed them all
He'd kill ten thousand people with a sleight of his hand
Running far, running fast to the dead
He took off all their clothes for them
He put a cloth on their lips
Quiet hands, quiet kiss On the mouth
And in my best behavior I am really just like him
Look beneath the floorboards
For the secrets I have hid.....
- "John Wayne Gacy Jr.", Sufjan Stevens -
Hair for Hope 2006
17 July 2006
About 3 weeks ago I saw this poster by the Children's Cancer Foundation asking for participants willing to lose all the hair on their heads for a cause. Since I have actually shaved my head a couple of times before, I thought that this would be an interesting event to take part in (seeing how I'm not very daunted about going around bald). On saturday I went for a briefing for participants of the Hair For Hope 2006 event.
Anyway, I've set up my online pledge card.
http://www.ccf.org.sg/hfh/online/pledge.php?shavee=xsksvsrkll5nolelk9ut9tibbgofzt4c
Hopefully there will be friends there to support me - and I'm not talking monetarily speaking - my follicles come off on 30th July 2006 at 1.45pm at the Suntec City Fountain of Wealth.
See you all there, if I see any of you at all.
Note : Thought I might as well put up an old photo of myself when I first went bald back in 1999.
About 3 weeks ago I saw this poster by the Children's Cancer Foundation asking for participants willing to lose all the hair on their heads for a cause. Since I have actually shaved my head a couple of times before, I thought that this would be an interesting event to take part in (seeing how I'm not very daunted about going around bald). On saturday I went for a briefing for participants of the Hair For Hope 2006 event.
Anyway, I've set up my online pledge card.
http://www.ccf.org.sg/hfh/online/pledge.php?shavee=xsksvsrkll5nolelk9ut9tibbgofzt4c
Hopefully there will be friends there to support me - and I'm not talking monetarily speaking - my follicles come off on 30th July 2006 at 1.45pm at the Suntec City Fountain of Wealth.
See you all there, if I see any of you at all.
Note : Thought I might as well put up an old photo of myself when I first went bald back in 1999.
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