Entries for March, 2007
March 1, 2007reincarnation... posted at 12:55 PM under spirituality, oracles and readings... Well, there is much to be said about the topic of "Reincarnation", but we're not discussing it here today. Rather, I'll like to share the following music video of the same title, performed by the controversial Tibetan lama (monk), Singa Rinpoche... REINCARNATION More info about Singa Rinpoche and his music and his controversy here: CLICK HERE! Personally, I think releasing contemporary pop music albums and music videos to promote Buddhism is a rather good idea, in this day and age... He's received much criticism by purists for his flamboyant lifestyle and dressing, but if the message he brings across to the modern world is a positive and enlightening one, then he has done a good job... As I mentioned in Blackhumour's blog (thanks for sharing this video), perhaps it's his destiny was to share the teachings of Buddhism through contemporary media... [ Feeling... * calm * ] comments
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March 6, 2007
dreams... posted at 01:53 AM I caught "Dreamgirls" last Thursday, and despite all the surrounding hype and expectations, was still totally blown away by the stellar performances from Eddie Murphy, Beyonce Knowles, Anika Noni Rose, and definitely, Jennifer Hudson!!! DREAMGIRLS
Not only did they sang well, their individual characters were all very compelling to watch. It's hard not to feel for them, even though the plot was a somewhat predictable rags-to-riches story with a diva's fall from grace and eventual ressurection thrown in... I was initially skeptical about watching a show about divas and filled with diva-esque songs and the accompanying vocal hysterics. Boy was I so wrong... (More...) Anyway... Singing has always been a vivid dream of mine, and I had the pleasure of performing in many occasions throughout my 34+ years of existence. But watching performances like those in "Dreamgirls" really inspired me to train myself more and be a better performer!!! * Sidenote about "Dreams"... I woke up this morning with a crystal clear dream, about me busy painting every single wall in sight a bright crimson red... This was suddenly followed by the vision of a delicious steaming bowl of ABC Chicken Soup and it's full recipe!!! Weird, but that's me.... [ Feeling... * impressed * ] [ Listening to... * Dreamgirls OST * ] |
March 13, 2007
ouch... posted at 10:21 PM Lately, my time has been consumed by endless eating, and then gymming... During the last couple of workouts, I must have pulled a muscle somehow, and I could barely turn my head without feeling jolts of electricity, as my nerves signalled panic alarms in my brain... And although I have used countless ointments and products on muscle aches and bruises before, I have never actually used a medicated plaster, till today...
Tokuhon Medical Plaster It kinda works at the moment, and I quite like warming effect as well as the Menthol and Camphoric scent of the Ko Yok (plaster). Will try on a fresh piece later and see if the pain is fully gone... [ Feeling... * restless * ] |
March 16, 2007
the swimming instructor... posted at 12:10 AM I haven't been to ACTION Theatre's 42 @ Waterloo Street for years, but last night I returned to the venue to catch the following show... ~~~ The Swimming Instructor ~~~
Above set design by Thoranisorn Pitikul and illustrated by Edric Hsu Despite a shaky start, the play turned out to be pretty engaging. Desmond Sim's story was simple yet layered with back stories and emotions. Loretta Chen's direction was also uncomplicated, giving the relatively new actors a chance to work the story... The three main actors managed to bring out their individual characters appropriately, with the beefy Lim Wee Hong as the uncouthed and simple-minded Ah Beng, the gorgeous Isabella Chiam as a demanding and flirtatious "princess", and the perky Jeremy Lee playing a mild-mannered advertising executive who bats for the other team... Anyway, as the cast emerged after the show, I took a pic with Jeremy (whom I'd acted with in 2005's "Ten Brothers" play by Toy Factory - CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS), together with Johnny and Addy...
L-R: Jeremy, Edric, Johnny and Addy Isabella Chiam made me speechless when she told me she recognised me from my ad, that I forgot to take a photo with her. And Wee Hong was busy chatting with other folks. We were meeting Chee Kam after that so couldn't linger longer... Anyway, for those who have missed the earlier versions of "The Swimming Instructor", or enjoy watching eye-candies in swimwear (Jeremy gets buck naked too, for your info! =P ), you might wish to catch this one before it ends this weekend... [ Feeling... * creative * ] |
March 17, 2007
young artistes club at kong meng san... posted at 02:05 AM Every Friday night, for the past few weeks, I've been teaching vocal classes at Kong Meng San Monastery's Young Artistes Club, and tonight we've seen some progress as we began working on a song they had to perform on Vesak Day... (Click This Link For More Within...) Before class ended, I remembered to take a group snapshot to remind myself of the attendees for tonight's class, a practice I'd begun last year but have yet to try again till now... Here are the pics...
And then, on a whim, I told them to...
Wahahaha!!! Oh yeah, those who wish to see past entries on the Young Artistes Club classes, do go to: http://merman13.livejournal.com/tag/kms+yac ... Okay, that's it for now... [ Feeling... * exhausted * ] |
March 17, 2007
look what i found... posted at 03:20 AM
Kris Phillips (Fei Xiang) One Night Only
[ Feeling... * amused * ] |
March 18, 2007
phantom on channel 5... posted at 07:41 PM For those of you who have never watched "The Phantom Of The Opera" musical before, or even the movie, well, please do! It's a classic! Anyway, the movie version is on Channel 5 right now, and the stage version will return to Singapore's Esplanade Theatre soon too...
Emmy Rossum & Gerard Butler Don't miss it! The following is just one of the many, many beautiful songs that I love from this musical... THINK OF ME - EMMY ROSSUM (from "The Phantom Of The Opera" Movie Soundtrack) [ Watching... * The Phantom Of The Opera (Channel 5)... * ] |
March 18, 2007
i am merely a cloud in the sky... posted at 11:02 PM Was watching the "Ren Ci Charity Show" on TV, and the return of the gorgeous singer Chelsea Chan tickling the ivories and performing her old hit "Ou Ran" reminded me of the lovely poem by one of my favourite Chinese poets, Xu Zhi Mo... Here it goes...
Sorry, those who don't read Chinese text... will try to do a translation someday... Listen here: http://www.518wy.net/music/zhs2008_ouran.wma [ Feeling... * nostalgic * ] |
March 19, 2007
300, music & lyrics... posted at 02:10 AM Watching Gerard Butler in "The Phantom Of The Opera" on TV just now, it's kinda hard to believe he's also the buffed up Spartan King Leonidas in the movie "300"... He did a great job in both films, especially in the latter movie...
Gerard Butler in "300" I enjoyed this movie, despite all the gore and inevitable doom that must befall these tragic but brave characters. I wonder if under the same circumstances I would be able to give up my life, and die a "beautiful death" for my country, as they did for theirs...
Kelly Craig as the "Oracle Girl" Anyway, I won't say too much about the movie as it's all common knowledge by now. Okay, maybe I'll add that I felt just a tinge uncomfortable with their portrayal of the Ancient Persians as freaks and weirdos. Cannot blame the Iranians who have since expressed their disgust at the movie... I would like to point out something else... I arrived at the cinema hall (at Orchard's Cathay Cineleisure) right about on time for the movie, but found out it had started already! So I missed the early part about the boy fighting the wolf. Even 10 minutes into the movie there were still people streaming in... So here's just a reminder to all that this particular cinema is very punctual, to the point that they might even play the movie earlier than stipulated! Not very nice to miss any parts of a show at all... Okay, fast forward to today... I watched the romantic comedy "Music & Lyrics" at a Golden Village cinema (we were punctual, the show started 15mins later), starring Hugh Grant and my childhood crush, Drew Barrymore...
Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant in "Music & Lyrics" Hugh Grant was hilarious as an ex-member of a defunct pop group called "Pop!" (might as well be "Wham!", from what we see in their "MTV"! LOL), an 80s' Has-Been who'd not had a hit song in decades... Given a potential new lease of life by the current hit sensation, modelled after Britney/Shakira/(fill in your own fave scantily-dressed teen singer), who'd asked him to write a new hit duet for them within a short timeframe... Suffering from writer's block, he was unable to come up with appropriate lyrics. So in comes Drew Barrymore, the girl who waters his plants, who's also a budding (pardon the pun) poet... So the two got together and put his music to her lyrics, and after some hoohah about past relationships etc, they've got a hit song! But it wasn't as expected, as the teen sensation wanted a more orgasmic and sensual style with Indian overtones. NOT what the duo had in mind at all... After another hoohah about musical integrity, the pop concert went underway, and everything was resolved in the end... It was a rather nice feel-good date movie, with plenty of humourous one-liners from Hugh Grant. Drew Barrymore as well as Hayley Bennet provided eye candies for sore eyes... The songs were okay, nothing too exciting, but very pleasant to the ear. And probably radio-friendly too... Here's a touching song that Hugh Grant sang to Drew Barrymore after their major misunderstanding... Okay, just a tiny grouse here: I felt uncomfortable with their use of a giant Buddha statue in the concert scenes, forming the backdrop to the gyrations of the scantily clad singer and dancers... Visually it looks great. But it is still rather disrespectful to Buddhists... Don't play with politics and religions, please... [ Feeling... * thoughtful * ] |
March 19, 2007
the window to paulo coelho's world... posted at 03:47 PM For those who enjoy reading the tales of Paulo Coelho, the inspirational Brazilian author, check him out in this commerical by Hewlett-Packard... [ Feeling... * creative * ] |
March 21, 2007
hk cafes... posted at 01:06 AM I'd wanted to try out The French Stall on Monday night, so I asked Dominic to join me. Unfortunately, it turned out that this French cuisine in a coffee shop is closed on Mondays... Oh well, thankfully, Dominic brought his Akakaze along, and we zipped over to Jalan Jurong Kechil where there's a whole plethora of food places that I've never explored before! We ended up at Cafe18 Hong Kong, and had the following...
The food was just okay, and I like the Watercress and Honey Drink, but the presentation left much to be desired. Also the menus were sticky (ewww) and our Ham Omelette was mistakenly switched with the next table's Sausage Omelette... Thankfully, there was a 20% discount on our bill, which came out to around S$23+... Feeling not totally satisfied, we decided to head over to IMM Building for desserts, and had the following at yet another Hong Kong styled cafe...
Ah... we enjoyed the thick buttered and honeyed toast, and the Yuan Yang Coffee (tea and coffee combined) and the Herbal Jelly were all good... After that we shopped a bit and entered an Interior Design firm to ask some questions regarding the costing for my own home renovation plans... Okay, who else wants to do The French Stall next week? Just remember to avoid Mondays!... [ Feeling... * full * ] |
March 21, 2007
dance floored... posted at 10:39 PM Caught "The Dance Floor" competition on Channel 5 just now, and I must say it's such a wonderful thing to see all these young people coming together to create all the fun and energetic dance moves! Some of the groups presented really cool and creative choreography, and even managed to incorporate their individual styles into the Rock & Roll genre rather successfully... Of course, there are hits and misses, but I particularly liked the ones who obviously really went all out, especially Soul Fusion, Fantastic Four and Styles From Beyond... All the older folks were already voted out by now, and it's kind of unfair to them, really. Makes one wonder why did they even extend the competition to all the older participants in the first place, when it is evident they would be much better off in a separate contest of their own... Anyway, looking forward to see what kind of antics these groups get to come up with for next week's theme, "Asian Beats"... Meantime... I feel like dancing, dancing... [ Feeling... * relaxed * ] |
March 25, 2007
the best man... posted at 05:46 PM Yesterday, I was chosen to be the Best Man at a former polytechnic classmate's wedding, and let's just say getting married involves plenty of planning and commitment (duh!) and is definitely not for the faint of heart... TOH HOO CHUNG married TOH LEE MAY
Throughout the day and night, besides doing my best as the Best Man (aka the groom's personal assistant) I was also busy snapping away with my digital camera, for fun... Check out the next entry for some of the [ Feeling... * accomplished * ] |
March 25, 2007
the best wedding photos... posted at 06:16 PM under snapshots of merman... These are the photos I took of my ex-classmate Toh Hoo Chung and his bride Toh Lee May on their wedding day, 24th March 2007...
Lee May and Hoo Chung (MANY MORE PHOTOS INSIDE THIS LINK...) After all the hardwork and planning and effort that went into this blessed union, I sincerely wish the newly-weds a strong, lasting, loving and happy marriage!!! [ Feeling... * accomplished * ] |
March 27, 2007
my recordings playlist... posted at 10:44 PM I had some time on my hands today, and was fiddling around the computer when I decided to try recording some songs of my own... I enjoy listening to Thai pop songs every now and then, and these songs "Mai Pai Nai" and "Saung Jai", were some of my favourites. They were originally recorded by Thai actor/singer Tui Teerapat. Here, I decided to sing my own Thai version, as well as add my own Chinese words to the Mandarin version of "Mai Pai Nai"... I don't have any proper recording equipment other than a PC computer and a microphone, and a simple sound editing software, so the sound is rather raw and minimally edited... As you listen to these tracks, try closing your eyes and imagine you're sitting at the seaside, with a good breeze blowing and waves gently breaking around you... And enjoy... My Recordings Playlist by Edric Hsu
[ Feeling... * relaxed * ] |
March 29, 2007
the eight immortals... posted at 03:52 AM under spirituality, oracles and readings... While ... The Eight Immortals ...
(Hong Kong TV Series "The Eight Immortals" circa 1985) Well, I bought the above series VCDs sometime back for my Dad, and later on Cousin Hua, when they were still around, but after they'd both passed away, I kinda lost the discs until now... It was great fun looking back at this TV series, which I was pretty fond of in my childhood days, and seeing how things were done in the good ole days of simple Television... And I have always loved mythology, doesn't matter if it's Greek, Egyptian, India or Chinese... I love them all! And "The Eight Immortals" has always been a popular story about 8 separate individuals in ancient China who attained the Tao of Enlightenment, and ascended into immortal deities... Just like how "Heroes" is about ordinary folks evolving into superhumans with their individual special powers, "The Eight Immortals" tells about how these eight characters gained immortality and became special... In a weird sychronistic turn, just as I finished watching all 30 episodes of "The Eight Immortals", I turned on the TV this afternoon and discovered that Channel 8 is telecasting a rerun of its 1999 TV series... ... Dong You Ji - The Eight Immortals ...
(Singapore TV series "Dong You Ji - The Eight Immortals" circa 1999) I would love to act in a show or play about these Eight Immortals, and given a choice, I'll like to play either Lv Dong Bin (with his duo swords), Han Xiang Zi (his magic flute) or even the crippled Tie Guai Li (with healing powers). It'll be such fun! Okay, on a serious note, one of the lessons I learned from watching the Hong Kong version, is this... Wu Wei (Non Action) This roughly translates into a way of life that is in harmony with Nature. Some find equivalence in the saying "go with the flow"... Wikipedia explains it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_wei An excerpt goes: "Taoist philosophy recognizes that the universe already works harmoniously according to its own ways; as man exerts his will against the world he disrupts the harmony that already exists. This is not to say that man should not exert will. Rather, it is how he acts in relation to the natural processes already extant that is critical." In a way, I am practicing "Wu Wei" too. Will explain more when I have the time, but right now, I need to just chill and "do nothing"... [ Feeling... * enlightened * ] |
March 29, 2007
be in harmony with nature... posted at 07:32 PM under snapshots of merman... As I mentioned in my previous entry on "The Eight Immortals", one thing I learned from Taoist principles is that the Universe already moves in accordance with Mother Nature, and that we need not over impose our own will, for that might disrupt the harmony of nature... Instead we should focus on achieving better results by reacting to and going with the flow of nature... I do not have a simpler way to explain it, so perhaps wiser folks here might be able to provide a better definition... In any case, this is my illustration on... .... Wu Wei ...
Edric Hsu ~ "Wu Wei" 600 x 600 pixels Adobe Photoshop 7.0 x Genius MousePen 8x6 Image hosted by : Photobucket.com [ Feeling... * relaxed * ] |
