Entries for February, 2006
February 6, 2006first take: yum sing! screening... posted at 11:32 PM Here's a quick plug on the official screening of one of the short films that I did last year, called "Yum Sing!" Hope you can come watch it! Moving Images presents Told through the eyes of Zak, a housing agent. This musical comedy, set in present day Singapore, revolves around two families, the wealthy Wongs and the not-so-wealthy Chans. Fern, the Wongs' daughter and Mick, the Chans' son meet on the Internet chat-line and a romance develops between them. With music by Iskandar Ismail, Desmond Moey and Kenneth Lyen, this film is written in the style of a Broadway musical and features some veterans from the Singapore Theatre scene. Sean's work has been produced by Mediacorp Channel 5 and Kids Central. With the Singapore Film Commission grant, he has directed 4 short films including "A Child's Concise History of Garden City", which will be published as a children's comic book. YUM SING! is his first film musical. He is currently working on another animated short film and continues to write scripts for television. [ Feeling... * good * ] [ Watching... * Desperate Housewives * ] 4 angel(s) visited
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February 8, 2006
shows over the past week... posted at 01:23 AM In the span of a few days, I have been catching up on shows on the big and small screens as well as on stage, which seemed like a luxury I couldn't have last year... Here's a quick rundown: 1) Sex and the City - Seasons 1 & 2 Borrowed the discs from Benjamin, and spent many hours in front of the goggle box glued to the sometimes sticky stories of the sexy spinsters (okay that's just for the alliteration! =P)... It's really voyeuristic but pure delight, watching the love (and sex) lives of these amazingly candid women and how they keep up with the men around them... Sometimes, I feel like an ever hopeful Carrie, sometimes a jaded Miranda, at times a playful Samantha, and then others a naive Charlotte. I am also quite "Big" at heart too. So this show speaks to me at so many levels... Can't wait to finish up the entire remaining seasons now! 2) Zoolander This utterly nonsensical but truly hilarious movie was banned for the longest time in Malaysia and Singapore for political and obvious reasons, but I am thankful the ban has since been lifted locally... Could the world of modelling be really as superficial and shallow as depicted? Yet the "models" themselves were so fully into it that you feel there's something more going on... Ben Stiller put in an unbelievable performance as the world's greatest male model armed with several "looks" that look practically the same. Yes, it is unbelievable that he could be a super model, but that's the fun part... There were so many cliches in the film but every moment was a let-it-all-out funny moment... And how could I not mention that particular scene where he went "It's Merman... *cough cough*... MERMAN!!!" Okay there are many scenes and celeb cameos I could talk about, but you just have to see them for yourselves. For those who hasn't watched this movie, it'll be worth it if you're there wanting to laugh and have fun... Thanks for watching this show with me, Ah Fu... 3) Cloud Gate - Cursive This show really appealed to my appreciation of visual aesthetics, for every dance item made for wonderful photo moments... I totally dig the fluidity as well as strength of the dancer's choreography, evidently influenced by martial arts, Chinese calligraphy and disciplined breathing work... The excellent lighting design on a sparse stage presented the dancers as pure ink coming to life, painting different stories and pictures on an empty canvas, as an intuitive master calligrapher would... There was even a Crazy Horse meets The Pillow Book item, which had chinese words projected onto bare male bodies. The effect was just mesmerising... I left this show truly inspired and eager to paint again, and it also sparked off little green lights in my inner set-designer self. I would so love to create a beautiful show like this... After the show, I bumped into Shao-Ann, Loretta and many others, and with Loretta on the way out, we chanced upon some amazing fireworks just in time! It made the evening even more special indeed! 4) Desperate Housewives - Season 2 Premiere Wow, these amazing domestic-ladies are back at it again, and it's JUICY!!! How I love the new power-suited Lynette, the deliciously anal Bree, the increasingly helpless Susan and the ever gorgeous Gabrielle and her sexy toy boy John... Will try to keep all my Monday nights free... 5) Broadway Beng Sebastian Tan (aka Ah Piew) brought his inner Ah Beng on stage and it rocked! Peppered with the Hokkien dialect and songs, this thoroughly local and colloquial (spelling?) show should make all Singaporeans laugh with recognition and delight! And it sure did, judging from the enthusiastic response from the audience! Stringing together songs oft-heard in "Miss Saigon" (in which Sebastian performed recently in the UK), in KTV lounges (yeah, "that" kind), and other familiar favourites from Broadway musicals, and unapologetic about it's "Lunar 7th Month Roadshow" stylings, it was wonderful entertainment... Other delights come from Ah Piew's insights during his stint in the UK, and also from the in-your-face performances by the three hilariously off-beat Chio Boos (namely Jackie Pereira, Denise Tan and Leigh MacDonald)... Jackie's purposely tacky but fun choreo coupled with Moe Kassim's wacky costumes gave this concert a distinctively local flavour... Selena Tan's creation and direction are very clever indeed, but ultimately, I am happy to see Sebastian making this whole "concept" work by his pure talent! Way to go, man! Sat sat bo chio ah!! Thanks must also go to Shah Tahir, whose tickets I went by, as well as Richard Tan who invited me. Glad to meet so many friends, old (especially performers from MDC) and new (Norman, Michael et al)! Waiting for a cab after the show was a drag, but supper at Holland V's NYDC Restaurant later with Richard and Norman was nice with RT relating some touching stories about his life and family members... * Okay, last but not least, I mustn't forget to mention that for all the shows I managed to catch, I actually couldn't attend the world premiere screening of "Yum Sing!", the musical film that I myself was involved in... However, this meant that one more person could get to see the film in my place! And the feedback from those who were there proved to be pretty positive, which was a great pat on our backs! Hope more people will get to view it and will appreciate it for our efforts! * Here's to more shows to perform in, and more shows to catch!!! [ Feeling... * impressed * ] [ Watching... * so many shows... * ] |
February 8, 2006
new shows to watch this week... posted at 01:35 AM At long last, a TV episode that I acted in last year will be aired tonight. It's... TAB TV - Inside Murderers' Minds (PG-Violence) * SEASON FINALE * 8th February 2006, 10pm Channel 5 I will appear in the role of a murder victim's son in one of several true stories that will explore what goes on inside the warped minds of serial killers and murderers... There's also re-enactments of the infamous Adrian Lim murders as well as the case study of a gay cannibal (yes, a literal man-eater!)... Do watch out for it, and let me know your feedback! * That said, I will be unable to watch the above show, as I will be busy filming a new episode for Mediacorp's latest "True Files 4 Ep 5-Transvestite", in which I play the role of a man who visits transvestite hookers at night (yeah, right). The man loses a gold chain and his wallet. The hooker loses her life... Stay tuned for more! [ Feeling... * ecstatic * ] |
February 9, 2006
true files 4-transvestite-part 1... posted at 03:21 PM Yesterday was spent filming a new episode for Mediacorp's new season of "True Files", and it's tentatively entitled "Transvestite", so you can already figure out what this show is more or less about... Here are some of the production stills I took during the shoot...
(Click here for the rest of the photos...) Filming will take place later and overnight till dawn, and on Friday as well as whole of next Wednesday... Stay tuned for more photos and updates... [ Feeling... * productive * ] |
February 10, 2006
true files 4-transvestite-part 2... posted at 03:35 PM Yesterday, with just a few hours of sleep time, and just as many hours getting to and from the SDC school show in the morning, I was surprised to find myself in good spirits and energy. That despite a huge fall which tore my favourite cargo pant's leg, and left me with a sore right lower back and wrist... *ouch* The afternoon picked up with a nice tea and chitchat with Bernard at Coffee Bean before we headed off to Mediacorp to get ready for a whole night of filming... Here are more production still shots I took during the 2nd day of filming for "True Files Season 4, Episode 5, Transvestite"...
Above: Contestants of the Miss Universe 1989 Beauty Pageant for Cross Dressers (Click here for more photos...) The filming took place at a rigged stage set at Mediacorp for the beauty contest, as well as a 24hr coffee shop near Duku Road. The camera and equipments attracted lots of curious stares from passers-by as well as customers of the shop, but it was the over-the-top transvestites played by extras as well as actual cross-dressers who drew the most attention... Despite the rain and huge amounts of delay, we surprisingly wrapped the shoot an hour ahead of time, at about 4.15am! The first night's shoot saw me drinking an entire bottle of Tiger Beer during the bedroom scene with Dion, but last night's filming had me actually smoking no less than 6 sticks of cigarettes. Thank goodness for menthol filters... I've a brief scene to shoot tonight and will be back with more photos documenting this episode. Stay tuned! [ Feeling... * flirty * ] |
February 11, 2006
congratulations to ten brothers & pulau... posted at 02:15 AM I would like to congratulate the two productions that I had been involved in last year, "Pulau" and "Ten Brothers", for being nominated for this year's The Straits Times' 6th Life! Theatre Awards... Here's the deal... Ten Brothers * 十兄弟 (Toy Factory Theatre Ensemble) Best Director * Loretta Chen Best Supporting Actress * Amy Cheng Best Costumes * Anthony Tan Best Lighting Design * Tony Kam ~ ~ ~ Pulau * 欲望岛屿 (Stages) Best Original Script * Ng How Wee Incidentally, both productions above were performed in Mandarin without subtitles. I hope more interesting shows like these will be staged in the near future, and that I get major roles in them! The winners of the Life! Theatre Awards 2006 will be announced on March 6th. Stay tuned... [ Feeling... * excited * ] [ Watching... * Sex and the City - Season 3 * ] |
February 13, 2006
the letter... posted at 02:08 AM Justin has finally uploaded the first edit version of our short film, "The Letter", onto Youtube.com! It's a sad tale about a gay student who had a crush on his best buddy, but the impossible love ended in tragedy. This was based on a true story. Hope this story never happens in real life again... Starring Lawrence Wong and Edric Hsu, directed by Justin Kan and produced by Dex Tan, this film also includes Elvin Yio in logistics as well as Liew Liting, Roy Ngerng, Candice De Rozario, Aishah and Renee Chan in the cast... It is shortly after this film was made that I began writing this online journal. For life is fleeting and every moment worth savouring.... Here are some of the screen shots taken from the film. Clicking on the photos below will lead you to the Youtube.com page to watch the short film (runtime: 25:48)...
(Click here for more screen shots of The Letter...) Hope you enjoyed this first edit version. I'm afraid the subtitles are too small for viewing online and the dialogue might be too faint, so bear with us till a better edit version emerges... Footnote: The actual tragedy that the above short film was based on occured on the 18th Feb, 2004. May you rest in peace, C.L.C.... [ Feeling... * nostalgic * ] [ Watching... * The Letter... * ] |
February 14, 2006
true files 4-transvestite-part 3... posted at 02:26 AM It took me quite a while to sort out the remaining photos taken during the 3rd day of filming "True Files Season 4, Episode 5, Transvestite", but it's done, and here they are... Be ready for some steamy pics...
Above: Joanna (as the transvestite) and Edric (as Leo Chin Hwang) There will be more photos coming up after the final shoot on Wednesday, so do come back for more! [ Feeling... * exhausted * ] |
February 17, 2006
true files 4-transvestite-part 4... posted at 03:46 AM Originally, this would have been the final post on this episode of "True Files Season 4", but due to a silly miscommunication and dispute with the owner of the coffee shop in day 2, we had to reshoot those scenes all over again in a new location... Such are the trials and tribulations of film-making... Anyway, speaking of trials, day 4 of the shoot was all about the court room scenes in this murder case... It took me quite a while to sort out and shrink the follow photos taken during the shoot, so I hope you'll enjoy viewing them...
(Click Here For The Rest Of The Pics...) [ Feeling... * exhausted * ] [ Listening to... * Kevin Fok-Beautiful * ] [ Watching... * The Swan * ] |
February 21, 2006
missing again... posted at 04:47 AM Last year, I acted in a supporting role in a story based on a real life incident of a man who travelled to an island some 12 years ago to meditate, and vanished without a trace thereafter... Do watch out for the repeat telecast of this half-hour docu-drama tonight: "MISSING 2 - MEDITATION TRIP" 21st Feb 2006 * 9pm Mediacorp Channel 5
(Above: Me on the speed boat to Kusu Island)
(Above: Me, as Victor Yeo, with an extra searching for missing brother)
(Clockwise from top: Sim Koo as Thomas Yeo, Me as Victor Yeo, Maryann as Mrs Yeo, Ckay Lim as Vincent Yeo) [ Feeling... * restless * ] |
February 24, 2006
strings was audience choice at 1st toronto-singapore short film festival... posted at 02:00 PM A piece of good news just landed on my inbox...
"Strings" ( 红线 ), a horror-themed short film that I acted in at around the same time as "The Letter" was screened in Toronto recently, and here's the forwarded mail about its success from the director, Jon Lim...
(Some photos from "Strings" to jog your memory...) [ Feeling... * excited * ] |
March 1, 2006
true files 4-transvestite-part 5... posted at 03:36 AM Last Sunday was supposed to be an off day for me, but due to some issues over a few scenes that we shot earlier for "True Files Season 4, Episode 5, Transvestite", some of the cast were called back to do a re-shoot... Apparently, after the film shoot on Day 2, the coffee shop owner demanded more payment for use of his premises, and claimed he was unhappy over the beer bottles and cigarettes (props) all over the tables, as well as the presence of so many "transvestites" (extras)... So this time we found ourselves another coffee shop to shoot at, the famous Minced Pork Noodles place at Joo Chiat area...
As expected, the coffee shop customers were all curious about our filming activities as well as the true genders of our "transvestites" actors, and yet were anxious to watch the football match displayed on the TV sets... Oh well, I think we did a much better job this time round anyway, so I guess something good did come out of this whole re-shoot... This new season of "True Files" is scheduled for telecast on Channel 5 this April onwards, and ours is tentatively the fifth episode, but subject to adjustments. Do stay tuned for it! [ Feeling... * exhausted * ] |
