I believe that the broadcast of Andrew Lloyd Webber's 50th Birthday Celebrations concert has been truncated.
When I read about it on the Internet after the show, I realise that several numbers fail to make their appearance. I don't see "Love Changes Everything" from "Aspects of Love"; neither does "Pie Jesu" from the "Requiem" appear; neither does the dance of the Jellicles from "CATS".
Nevertheless it's splendid to show on a Boxing Day and on a day before I'm about to go for my MDC re-audition. You know, for relaxing purposes and to ease out the stresses of practising.
Almost everybody whom I message about the show laps it up with enthusiasm, promptly switching channels, or powering up their television sets.
Which musical buff can afford to miss "The Essential Andrew Lloyd Webber" or "The Andrew Lloyd Webber Anthology" in full colour, in sight and sound, with all those little black bean sprouts coming to life?
I am frantically hurrying my brother to get the darn PlayStation out of the way so that I can watch it. Damn, it's already ten minutes or so into the show! By the time I tune in, I've missed the "Sunset Boulevard" segment. I want to see Glenn Close dressed up as that eccentric and egoistic movie star Norma Desmond, whose quirky figure I've encountered in photographs in the CD and sheet music. The first thing I see when the telly comes to life is Tina Turner belting out this rock ballad that has a very nice chord that makes me fall in love with it at first hearing. It's an A-major chord over a D-pedal - the song is in D-major. At that instance, I have no idea what that song is; later I learn that this is "Whistle Down the Wind", one of the newer Lloyd Webber musicals.
And apparently the pop song "No Matter What" comes from there as well. It's presented by Boyzone on the same concert. I don't even know it's Boyzone. I see five young guys standing there, all dressed in white, and I'm thinking, okay, this is Westlife. No, N'Sync. Or what is that group that has Justin Timberlake in it? Wait . . . can it be Michael Learns to Rock? A1? What the hell is it? See! The problem with boy bands! They look so alike that it takes a (smattering insufficient) knowledge of their works and their characteristics to spot the difference. There's always the blonde kid with the boyish face, and the Latino with the neck-length hair complete with moustache and beard.
* * *
Antonio Banderas can sing! I only know him from "The Mask of Zorro" - correct me if I'm wrong. He takes the role of a-character-whose-name-I-do-not-know in "Evita" and the role of the Phantom in - obviously - the Phantom of the Opera. Well, for the latter, at least he sings better than Gerard Butler, the fellow playing the same Dark Knight - err, Genius, to be exact - in the "overtrimmed turkey" (quote Life!) currently being screened in theatres now. Still, Michael Crawford would have done it better. He was, after all, THE PHANTOM.
Sarah Brightman returns to her original role in Phantom, but she dresses more like Mortisha Addams than the young and sweet thing whom we all know as Christine Daae. In fact, it looks like she ditched Raoul and married the Phantom - a contradiction to the journey of her real-life marriage to the fellow who wrote the "Music of the Night" and their eventual separation. She looks plumper. Maybe it's the dress? At the first glimpse you just have to wonder: is this Sarah Brightman?
She sings the title song with Antonio Banderas. She sings it easy. You don't see the look of pressure on her face. She sings as if she could have done it while vacuuming the floor. Her operatic voice dazzles in "All I Ask Of You" and "Music of the Night", the latter which she solos in. You may be shocked that a female delivers something that has been written for the male voice crooning to the one that he loves. Brightman does it better than any man could have done it. She puts Sly to shame. Come on, Sly shouldn't sing these types of songs. The last time on some Channel Eight variety or charity show, there was this fellow from the Far East singing "Memory", and I'd say his rendition was 100% horrendous. He sang it like how William Hung would sing "She Bangs". I'd rather William sing "Comedy Tonight". And then the audience will die laughing in their seats. Anyway, Antonio can't sing "Music of the Night" either - the audience that night at the Royal Albert Hall would have died from an overdose of croaking.
Lloyd Webber's take on Paganini's Caprice is simply superb! The soloist is none other than Andrew's brother, Julian, wearing a football jersey. It's said that the composition came out as a result of a lost bet on a soccer team between the two brothers. The loser, you bet, was Andrew. This work is totally refreshing and inspiring, combining the worlds of art and rock music. It's a cello concerto with rock elements in it. Such an interesting conclusion to the segment being presented on the show! Julian plays a descending scale. It doesn't stop when it reaches the lowest note on the cello. How does he descend the depths of the scale further? Simple! By turning the tuning knobs on the instrument and bowing at the same time. The cello almost sounds like a double bass! So fun!
Michael Reed, the conductor, is damn fun to watch too. He's always bouncing away with the music. I keep my eyes on his back more than the singer at the front. No wonder the orchestra plays with such aplomb. What I mean is that, what should sound brash, like the rock song "Tyre Tracks and Broken Hearts" - that comes with a Harley Davidson on the stage - really sounds like it's going on overdrive. Reed really drives the orchestra along (literally).
The most interesting scene that has got to do with the orchestra takes place during the Overture to the Phantom of the Opera. With a burst of the Phantom's leitmotif, the curtains behind the orchestra draw back to reveal the organ of the Royal Albert Hall, bathed in lights of red, green and purple. As the camera zooms in on the controls, you see the organist playing the instrument as one would normally do, depressing the keys and pulling the stops. However, he's dressed in a long black coat, a hat and - GASP! - the Phantom's mask! At least he's playing a mighty instrument in a grand dame of a hall, not some pathetic piss in an equally pathetic hideout.
Why can't they extend the time slot so that they can play the whole programme from the front to the back? After that it's closing time, and the National Anthem comes on. So what if they work overtime for about fifteen minutes? It's MediaCock - I mean, MediaCorp - that loses out, because it has to pay them more.
I'm not sure about watching the Phantom of the Opera on the big screen. For one, it seems too distant, particularly for a stage musical, where you see the cast live at hand, with an orchestra piping live music for you. Here, I'm about to see people on a flat surface, coupled with pre-recorded music blasting from speakers.
A lot of people have given the movie three stars. One is that it's not really exciting, because it's just a direct adaptation of the stage musical. Let's just say you can't get much out of this movie, except be blown away by the music and the singing and the effects. Come on, it's Joel Schumacher. We all know about his corny Batman movies. He brought Batman on the decline in his hands. He shouldn't have succeeded Tim Burton in the first place. Yes, Burton was strong on the effects as well, but he doesn't lose the values in his story. The Riddler, Two-Face and Poison Ivy are just fakes, smaller than cardboard figurines. Mr Freeze is worth sympathising: only at the end, where we see his wife who is given the cryptogenic treatment. And Robin: when he loses his parents. The others are just a bunch of goofs made to bring the comic black-and-white to life.
So I thought: Schumacher's going to corn the Phantom and Christine and Raoul. I'm proven quite wrong . . .
Emmy Rossum, who plays Christine, CAN SING. Eighteen years of age, and on the way to becoming the next Sarah Brightman . . . in fact she looks like a youthful version of Brightman herself. Patrick Wilson (Raoul) has a wonderful tenor voice: strong and bright and carries well with the music. Sometimes I cannot tolerate Gerard Butler's (the Phantom) singing. He lacks the power; in the sustained notes he gets overwhelmed by the orchestra. He sings as if he's performing a pop song . . . you know the way pop singers sing . . . especially at the bits where the emotion runs high and the orchestra leads the climax. This is operatic stuff, even in the treatment of the orchestrations . . . his singing style is pretty unsuitable. Alas, he can't his high notes! He falls flat at those areas.
The orchestra is splendid! It's conducted by Simon Lee, so I have no qualms about that. Simon was the guy who conducted the orchestra in the video recording of CATS. You can expect the kind of power and lavishness associated with Andrew Lloyd Webber's music and orchestrations. When the orchestra reaches those high points (such as in Prima Donna and many of the ballades especially) my goose pimples just prick up. The only complaint that I have is that near the middle of the show, one of the right side speakers (around Row M I think) was heard emitting some irritating noise that sounded like metal vibrating finely, especially during the climatic portions.
Back to the staging: there are some scenes where the staging is absolutely absurd. You could say exaggerated. When the Phantom, on his boat with Christine, enters the underground lair, candle holders rise up from underneath the water and light up automatically. Thinking about electricity? Since when there was electricity in the late nineteenth century in France? Perhaps my facts could be wrong, but the floor lights on the stage are lit by flames. People carry candles around. Where can there be electricity? And what mechanism is there in reality in those days to automatically send the candle holders up and cause them to light up by themselves? Surely it must be exaggeration!
At the cemetery, the doors chapel of Daae open automatically (automation again!) when Christine faces it, towards the conclusion of her song "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again". The interior lights up, and we see a cross hanging on the wall inside. However, a few minutes later, during the fight scene between the Phantom and Raoul, the doors are closed and there is no light. Think of the time: there can be no such thing as motion sensors to shut the doors when no one is detected to be there.
The score of "Don Juan Triumphant", which the conductor uses, is really a piano reduction with the vocal line above it. Shouldn't there be a full score somewhere? If not, how would the musicians play? The Phantom could have written the piano score, then orchestrated by writing the individual parts. This method of working would have been as tough as hell because you can't see what the other instruments are doing. But it was quite sad to see the score burn after the disaster . . . to think that's the one and only copy of Don Juan Triumphant in the world. I don't think I'd even dare to burn my scores . . . I keep all those copies even which I think are inferior, in the event that I may come back to them again in future.
The Straits Times mentions about bringing back Phantom next year, as part of its 160th anniversary. The Sound of Music is coming in April. I'm definitely going to watch. I'm not missing Phantom either.
Time to save money.
Why is it always so coincidental that when we are asked to think of USMS and WITS ideas, the swimmers are not around? As usual, PS Goh threatens: "If I don't have 36 USMS you all don't book out."
And as usual, I'm the one seated at the table receiving ideas from the various members of the platoon and writing down the problems, solutions and benefits into properly-constructed sentences with detailed and elaborated explanations and descriptions, although I'm writing so fast that my language construction becomes rather improper.
I've broken my record today: 12 pages within one day.
--- II ---
I AM NOT: un-stressed, un-pressurised, under-worked, brimming with ideas,
I LOVE: booking out, ORD, ROD, composition, conducting, playing crap stuff on the piano, writing my blog
I HATE: SOC, shuttle run, area cleaning, service and maintenance, people who like to abuse their authority, especially in the army
I UNDERSTAND: that I'm supposed to serve the army come the age of 18 under the Enlistment Act of Chapter 93 or whatever shit
I FEAR: the low rope, being punished physically, the balancing beam, the ramp and its con wire
I HOPE: to get into a conservatory, to downgrade, to ORD tomorrow, to ROD the day after
I HEAR: Garfield's snobbish voice and I really want to whack him
I REGRET: not flunking my medical check-up and get PES C instead
I CRY: because I am extremely hurt
I CARE: for my work
I BELIEVE: that hard work is the way. Don't be a fucker and sit there waiting for money to drop from the sky
I FEEL ALONE: but this is bullshit because I like being alone.
I LISTEN: to music that I like, and I deplore Mandarin pop songs, Techno and Heavy Metal
I HIDE: in my room behind my computer all the time
I EAT: SFI food five times a week, and that sucks
I DANCE: when I conduct
I WRITE: blogs, scripts, songs, satires, parodies
I PLAY: the piano
I DON'T PLAY: sports
I MISS: the people I haven't seen for a long time
I SEARCH: for my stylus which I lost on the very day upon acquiring my father's Nokia 6108
I FEEL: miserable - but I always feel that way, so what's surprising about that?
I DON'T KNOW: what approach my compositional style should take: simple, hummable melodies or those that are not even singable or recognisable at all
I TALK: to people online - very seldom now
I SUCCEED: in making a failure out of myself
I FAIL: to make a success out of myself
I DREAM: of being a civilian, holding a pink I/C
I WONDER: what other people are doing now
I WANT: to ORD!!!
I HAVE: no choice but to serve the army
I GIVE: and take, but most of the time I give and I don't take
--- III ---
My father tells me that he finally called MDC and they'd given him a reply.
The Audition I/C told him that the last time I went for the audition, I had said that I was "not interested".
?????????????????????????????????????????
And they only take in very few PES A people. Limited number of seats. Which means I'm in for a lot of competition.
I'm pessimistic about it. Suddenly I harbour thoughts about not going there, not even turning up for the audition. I just feel I cannot make it. I never took any graded examinations for the instrument I'm supposed to audition, the Zhong Ruan. I prepared for my A-level second instrument examination using that instrument on my own, with no teacher. I didn't have a personal tutor: I learned the Zhong Ruan in Secondary School as part of my CCA. Every week, the instructor specialising in that instrument would come and ten or so of us would be there to learn the instrument. It happened that I learnt the Liu Qin in Primary School and so the Zhong Ruan is a breeze, because the tunings and playing style (with the pick) are the same. Well, I can still play something decent . . .
But put me next to those people who have participated in national competitions and who are grade 7, 8 or 9 in the Chinese instrumental examinations, I'm sure to be out. The latter are likely to be favoured. It's just unfortunate I cannot audition for the piano, which I prefer playing, and play more frequently, than the Zhong Ruan.
Haha... from an email that I received... Bush at his very best :) ... or it could have been better!
Posted by Hello ¶ 12/05/2004 01:04:00 pm 0 comments
1. Working on a musical
2. Watching concerts
3. Listening to music
4. Reading books
5. Writing blog entries on my laptop
15 years ago, I:
Started nursery at the Holy Family Church
Was introduced to the piano, thanks to my nursery piano teacher, Mrs Hong
Started classes at Yamaha Music School
10 years ago, I:
Was in Primary Three
First year in the Chinese Orchestra playing the liuqin
Holidayed in China and Hong Kong (although sadly stayed in HK for only three days)
5 years ago, I:
Was in Secondary Two
Failing subjects (especially Maths) very terribly
First time being the Score Librarian of CCHMSCO
Went to Melbourne (loved it!!!)
3 years ago, I:
Was in Secondary Four
Preparing for O levels
Writing the score to the symphonic poem "The Legend of Pan Gu" which never materialised
Wrote first song, "It Is Here" for school song writing competition
2 years ago, I:
Was in JC 1
Failing subjects again as usual
The victim of the monstrous Project Work
Happily starting a new job as piano accompanist in a singing trio (although I remain mum throughout and just let my fingers do the walking)
Started work on two movements of "Final Fantasy IX: A Symphonic Portrait"
1 year ago, I:
Was in JC 2
Preparing for A levels
Happily mingling with the Pipilanders
Composing like mad for Cambridge portfolio
Started work on the musical
Performing again as usual
This year, I:
Became army boy (soon, army man) - from recruit to private (combat engineer)
Performances of compositions and arrangements: Impressions of the Jasmine Flower, Xin Chao, A Night of Cats - The CATS Medley
Working on the musical
Yesterday, I:
Went to Downtown East for Unit Family Day
Watched "The Bee Gees Story"
Today, I:
Re-typing the script of the musical
Watch the SSO concert "Hits of 1904", featuring the Sibelius Violin Concerto
Tomorrow, I will:
Jam at Wilfred's house
Go to Beach Road to buy army stuff from 133
Tag along to my paternal grandma's house (which occurs every Saturday night without fail, unless I hopefully and happily have some event on)
Five games / sports I like:
1. Monopoly
2. Long-distance cycling
3. Hearts
4. Solitaire
5. Dai-dee (though forgot how to play already . . .)
Five things I'd do with $1000
1. Purchase the conductor score of West Side Story
2. Download the full conductor scores of ABBA songs from Mamma Mia!
3. Watch concerts
4. Buy really-worth-it CDs
5. Spend on photocopying of scores
Three bad habits I have
1. Obsession with work
2. Dislike of going out
3. Banging piano keys
Five TV shows I like
1. High Notes / Performances on Arts Central
2. A Kindred Spirit
3. ABBA: The Winner Takes It All
4. The Bee Gees Story
5. Whose Line is it Anyway?
Five places I've stayed at
1. Onan Road
2. Block 14 Old Airport Road
3. Block 415 Bedok North Avenue Two
4. 185 Haig Road
5. Block 11 Haig Road
(Note: present house not counted because the question asks for "stayed", whilst in this case I am still "staying". See how important grammar is . . .)
My top five biggest worries at the moment
1. Stand-bys
2. Getting back silver for IPPT
3. Passing SOC
4. Admission into conservatory
5. (From the above) and if cannot get in, what alternatives are there? (Think money and portfolio)
Five favourite movies
1. Moulin Rouge
2. Grease
3. Anastasia
4. Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie
5. Spaceballs
Five things you spend the most money on
1. Food
2. Travelling expenses
3. Photocopying scores
4. Buying army stuff
5. Donations . . .
Five books I like
1. Stephen Sondheim: A Life
2. The Musical from the Inside Out
3. Shostakovich
4. Leonard Bernstein
5. The Maestro Myth
Five foods I dislike/hate
1. Cheese
2. Chilli padi
3. Butter and Margarine
4. Milk
5. Bee Hoon (because it gives me gastric hours after eating)
Five favourite kids' names
1. Maxim
2. Gustav
3. Franz
4. Claude
5. Leonard
I have a cell phone. *
I have friends who use me. *
I am an only child.
I am a shopaholic.
I love dangly earrings.
I have smoked a cigarette before.
I love cold weather. *
I'm obsessed with the computer. *
I have shot a gun before. *
I can't live without music. *
I have no tolerance of ignorant people.
I have ridden on a motorcycle before. (Scooter)
I'll be in this town forever.
I've been to five other countries.
I get annoyed easily. *
I eventually want kids.
I have neat handwriting. (Depends on how you see it)
I have more than a few horrible memories. * (In facts, lots of them till they're uncountable . . .)
I am addicted to chocolate.
I am an atheist.
My parents are strict. * (Not so much now, though)
I love airplane rides.
I love taking pictures. * (But I don't like having my picture taken . . .)
I hate girls who are fake. *
I can be mean when I want to. *
My parents care about my grades. *
One of my best friends is a guy (for females) / girl (for males).
I have way too many purses.
I'm obsessed with lip gloss.
I am easy to talk to. *
I will never eat raw fish.
I cry easily.
I hate it when people are late.
I procrastinate. *
I love winter. *
I have too many clothes in my closet/dresser.
I love to sleep. *
I wish I were smarter.
I'm afraid of flying.
I hate drama.
I bite my nails.
I have been on an eight-hour drive. *
I never fight with my parents.
I love the beach. *
I have never had the chicken pox.
I have gone out in public in my pyjamas.
I can't control my emotions.
I have a best friend. *
I have moved more than once. *
I have braces. *
I love to write. *
I have never broken a bone.
I agree with racist people.
I hate my computer.
I love guys (for females) / girls (for males) that play guitar.
I state the obvious.
I'm a happy person.
I love to dance.
I love to sing.
I love cleaning my room.
I tend to get jealous very easily. *
I have gotten high before. *
I love night better than day. *
I have been on the phone for over five hours at a time.
I don't like to study for tests. *
I love God.
I am too forgiving. *
I have a horrible sense of direction.
I miss elementary school.
I have had a boyfriend/girlfriend before.
I am daddy's girl/mummy's boy
I love kisses on my forehead.
I love the colour pink.
I love to sew.
My eye colour changes.
I should see a therapist.
I played on a guy's (for females) / girl's (for males) sports team
I become stressed easily. *
I hate liars. *
I like comfy sweatpants.
I can play the piano. *
I love the smell of rain. *
I love my family. *
I hate needles.
I am a perfectionist. *
I always wanted to learn to play the drums. * (so that I know how to write for it)
I hate the feeling of failure. *
I have friends in other countries. *
I know how to cook.
I can be quite selfish. *
At times, I still act like a little kid. *
I have food allergies.
I love little kids.
I love to read.*
I wish I were more motivated for [the army]
I love getting stuff in the mail. *
I have problems with letting go of old feelings.
I hate being alone.
I love summer.
I love the weekends. *
I love black eyeliner.
I think I'm pretty/handsome.
I type with one hand.
I live in a one-storey house. *
I wear makeup.
I have never ridden on an underground subway.
I can't swim.
I have a bad memory. * (for domestic stuff)
I go to church.
I sing in the shower. * (new themes or ideas for compositions)
¶ 12/02/2004 01:23:00 pm 0 comments
Honestly, where are you at?
At home
Honestly, have you ever had a plastic surgery?
No
Honestly, have you ever failed a subject at school?
Of course . . . failure is the mother to success, don’t you know?
Honestly, what's on your mind?
How is tomorrow's SOC training going to be like, and whether I can live past it . . .
Honestly, who are you chatting with online?
I'm not online at the moment . . . I hardly go online nowadays.
Honestly, what is it that you REALLY should be doing right now?
Practicing my zhong ruan for an audition . . .
Honestly, have you brushed your teeth today?
Yes
Honestly, who is the hottest person you know?
I HONESTLY don’t know
Honestly, are you a good friend?
No, I'm a pain in the ass (hey it rhymes!)
Honestly, do you really think going to school is all that important?
Yes . . . but not to do stupid things like project work . . .
Honestly, what are your dreams about, mostly?
Army life . . . sigh . . .
Are you honestly single?
YES, and for God's sake, YES! YES! YES!
Honestly, did you have sex today?
I'm a virgin, damn it
Honestly, what are you so happy about right now?
Being able to play music . . . went to Wilfred's house yesterday to jam with him
Honestly, what are you so sad about right now?
I'm going to have to book in soon.
Honestly, how old are you now?
19
Honestly, who are you missing right now?
Nobody
Honestly, have you ever stolen something?
No
Honestly, what song are you listening to right now?
Nothing
Honestly, who do you want to meet at this very moment?
Nobody
Honestly, where do you like to be kissed?
On the cheek - but only by my family members and no one else
Honestly, do you have a deadly disease?
No!
Honestly, do you hate someone right now?
No
Honestly, who do you want to hug right now?
Nobody
Honestly, are you bored?
No. I have a thousand-and-one things to do which I doubt I can finish by tonight
Honestly, who do you want to slap right now?
Myself. For being such a procrastinator
Past twelve midnight. I have just arrived outside the main gates of my condominium. The guard house is empty. Nobody is in. I dial the house number.
"Sorry, the number you have dialled is engaged at the moment. Please try again later."
I dial my parents' respective mobile phone numbers. They're switched off.
I try the communications system at the pillar next to the gate. I key in my unit number and wait. No response.
Oh shit. I am stranded outside.
I can actually go home and settle down and sleep. I have my key. But what is obstructing me is this stupid gate which I have no means to open.
I contemplate scaling the gate. No . . . what if there is someone watching? He or she is certain to call the police about an attempted break-in.
For the next half an hour I sit outside, frustrated, swearing and cursing away. I am pissed off with the stupid guard for not being inside the guard house; I have no idea where he has fucked off to. Even if he patrols the grounds he would have been back within half an hour. This is a small condominium, not a stupid military complex, for God's sake! I have a good mind to complain about him; complain about all the guards. The last time I caught one of them sleeping on the job. He would have been fucked upside down if this were a military camp. Honestly I don’t know why we residents have to pay money to feed these people if they can't even do a decent job of keeping our residence safe. Hello, we work hard, we pay you money, you sleep and suck the money like that and let people intrude our condominium and steal our stuff . . . this is not fair. And what about attending to residents who do not have cards? Unless the developer is willing to provide gate cards for free. Each household has probably two cards and no more than that.
Finally, a car turns up and proceeds to enter the car park. As the car drives past the opened gates, I slip in. FINALLY! I'm inside the compound and I can go back home.
To my chagrin, I realise that my father is actually on the net, hence the phone line is engaged. He should have turned on his mobile phone at least, in case anybody tries to call through. Now I leave my phone on twenty-four hours, in case of a response check. I only turn it off for a long period of time while watching performances.
--- II ---
I don't wish to go for the Unit Family Day. I only slept at 2am. Less than six hours of sleep. And I'm so tired from outfield training. But this is an army event. Being late qualifies me for market rates.
The event starts off with bowling. Battalion 2I/C kicks off the event by bowling away the first game . . . unfortunately into the drain. Yet there is great enthusiastic applause and cheering, only because everybody has to give him face. Nobody laughs.
I haven’t bowled for almost eight years. The last time was in 1996 during a holiday to Genting Highlands. Back then I got screwed by my father for wasting money because I never aimed and released the ball and eventually it hit the drain instead.
Undoubtedly I am nervous. I'm so rusty at the game. Don't even call me a beginner. Call me an ignoramus. I don’t know how to choose a suitable ball. I don’t know which fingers go into the holes. I don’t know where to release the ball. Most importantly, I don’t know how to throw.
Well, I practice what I preach: I really throw the ball. I remember watching Wai Khang do the same thing. It seems a weird technique, but it's really very useful. When the ball strikes the ground at an angle, it seems to lock itself in one certain direction, and it won't swerve. It is very likely to guarantee you a straight path to the pins.
Sometimes you are quite unsure how much force to apply. A few rounds I throw too high, and the ball slams onto the ground with a huge bang that shocks the people sitting and watching about my lane. Jeremy says, "Do you know how much one lane costs . . . ?"
Mingjie is damn funny: he earns a strike only after he slips and falls backward upon throwing the ball.
PS Goh is . . . just too good. He earns the most strikes, and he has the highest scores.
My section is lagging behind again, as usual. No section commanders around. Sergeants Wenhao and Elson are not here. Perhaps Sergeant Elson would have cried, "Do or die!" and gone up to whack the game. Looking at others' scores, we are like two hundred points away from the highest scorer and even a hundred points lower than the average teams. That is to say, while others score 500++ and 400++, we are within the 300 range. Alvin and I hentak-kaki three times in a row . . . how bad do you think can that be?
* * *
The afternoon is wasted away at Wild Wild Wet. I'm not really enthusiastic about theme parks, not to mention water theme parks. So I decide to find a nice shady corner and sit there and work on the musical. I don’t really care if the unit paid $12 for each admission; lately I've been getting harder and harder to persuade. I will do things my own way and I will decide what I want to do. I'm getting obstinate.
Wild Wild Wet, it turns out, occupies the former swimming pool of the NTUC chalets. Pictures on television and the news can be misleading, because the real land area isn't terrifically comparable to Sunway Lagoon. Basically you have all the attractions surrounded by a lazy river, which isn't really lazy . . . in fact the water rocks so violently and travels so fast that it's bound to provide a bout of nausea to swimmers. At the open area where I sit, and where the lazy river passes through, there is a glass panel where a concrete wall should have been. It looks rather like those enclosures at the zoo . . . you know, the polar bear enclosure, where people can see what goes on underwater. I have a good laugh seeing distorted human beings - with people's heads getting separated from their bodies almost half a metre apart - caused by refraction, particularly when the water is travelling at a pretty high speed.
The most familiar sounds are the never-ending warning whistles of the petty lifeguard who insists that everybody is doing something wrong. People are not allowed to stop by the glass panels and wave to their friends sitting at the same area as I am. Overzealous horseplay is equally forbidden. Another sound is the "tang-tang-tang" of the bell as the water level inside a huge container on the roof of one of the playground towers nearly reaches the brim. All of a sudden, the whole thing will tilt and send water splashing down onto everybody below. The last sound is that of the honking of horns from the bicycle-monorail. These three sounds, together with the background noises of humans having fun, make a delectable symphony of cacophony.
--- III ---
The Straits Times, 2 December 2004
TOO SEXY FOR IDOLS?
Model Nadya Hutagalung, in a cream jacket and denim jeans, arrived with newscaster Glenda Chong.
Asked by The Straits Times which of the two contestants (Taufik Batisah or Sylvester Sim) were sexier, Hutagalung quipped: "Glenda."
Chong, a former model, was indeed resplendent in a low-cut purple gown.
But both apparently left right after their walk down the red carpet. Asked by a MediaCorp employee if they were staying for the event, Hutagalung muttered a curt: "No."
* * *
These must be some of the maddest people on earth: arriving to show themselves off and then go somewhere else.
And this is about vanity.
It really irks me to know that there are such people around. People who put up a show or some publicity stunt for the cameras and the audience - and they disappear as quickly as they appear.
Hey, this is Singapore Idol, not "Nadya and Glenda".
These people create a bad name for the worship of "Idols" and they should just fuck-off.
