24.

well - what do you know? it is the week of my Birthday. i will be *that much closer to yet another milestone that is 25. how exciting.

i've decided to post a little update. i've been a busy little bee for sure.

since my final paper on June 9th, i've picked up dancing at KLPac. i've finished one of my stories (finally!). i've been working *almost daily at TNT and picked up on my training again too (body is feeling it now).

besides those daily stuff - i've also decided on what to do with the rest of my life. at least, i've decided on what to *try first lah. and what may that be? you might ask.

i've decided that i want to be a PRODUCER. i will start with TV but i want to get to a point when i have the ability and know-how to produce anything from theatre, radio, tv and etc. i want to be someone who would be able to conceptualise new shows, combining all sorts of elements to blow people out of their socks.

yes, i've decided that i will take that plunge into the 'entertainment' industry. so now, i'm not just working on trying to get in front of the camera, but i will also learn to be behind the camera.

i've spoken with many, many people thus far in trying to strategise how i will go about realising my dream. i've travelled as far as Singapore to even discuss a *possible stint working there.

and at this point, i have a basic idea of what i want to do and also how to go about doing it.

i suppose in that sense, the goals i set for myself when i left form6 5 years ago is coming to fruition. although, methinks me plans is running a year behind schedule.

so yeah. :)

X

WISHLIST! WISHLIST!

anyway - speaking of years - my birthday is this week! (haha - shameless!)

for those of you in the country, i am thinking of having another one of my 'oh-so-famous' house parties this friday night. so, look forward to a mass text or email soon. or if not, just call me lah and i'll invite you (hehe - i can't be calling everyone right?!)

and in case you're wondering what to get me as a b'day present - here's a random order (SHAMELESS) wish-list ...

1. Neil Gaiman's "Sandman" series: as some of you may be aware, i've developed a new liking towards these graphic novels (or some of you might just refer to them as 'more expensive comics'). some of you may also know that Neil Gaiman is one of my favourite writers. i've bought "Preludes & Nocturnes" which is the first of the Sandman series.

and i would love to have more of the collection - "Doll's House", "Dream Country", "Season of Mists", "A Game of You", "Fables & Reflections", "Brief Lives", "Worlds' End", "The Kindly Ones", "The Wake" and "Endless Nights".

and "The Death Stories" look really interesting too.

2. next, anything that i could add to my recent BIG purchase aka my 30 gig iPod. the price of iPod accessories are killer man.

so anything (related) would be cool - :) hehe. (this is really so shameless).

check out iPod accessories for what i'm talking about. there's stuff like the "Radio Remote", "The Leather Case", "The Universal Dock", the "AV Connection Kit", "The Apple Remote" etc.

but what i could really use is the transparent skin you normally see people use. i think they go for about rm49. *Grin.

what's really cool is "FM Transmitter & Charger for iPod & iPod mini". but this one quite de expensive lah - i think there are cheaper variations of a FM transmitter for the iPod so that i can listen to mine on my car radio.

3. my Guitar - i want to perform more open mic sessions in the coming future. i've been meaning to installing a pick-up on my guitar so that i can hook my guitar up to an amp but have never gotten round to it simply due to lack of funds. :)

4. anything to do with THE CROW i collect all that is THE CROW anyway - thus far, i've got an 18 inch kick-ass 'motion-sensoring-voice-activated' crow figurine. i also have The Crow Original Graphic Novel and The Crow Shattered Lives & Broken Dreams.

there are more Crow Comics and other Crow Novels that i'd like to add to my collection (very hard to source out here in M'sia though OR at least i don't know where to look lah).

ok lah - i think that's enough of my humble (shameless) wishlist.

i'm out.

Swingin' on a Star ...

this is a song that i hum / whistle / sing to my nephews every chance i get. i'll probably sing it to my own kids too.

it's called "Swingin' on a Star" and it is by Frank Sinatra - at least that's the version i remember listening to as a child. what i distinctly remember in my mind right now is that i used to see this animated video clip on tv a lot. the animation is very old school - think ... the first 'Cinderella' in colour - can you see it? well, it's that kind of animation. if anyone knows how i can download such an old school animation video - do let me know.

i also remember that the kid looked like a 'Betty Boo' type of drawing - big head, big eyes with visible eye lashes, very cutesy looking, small-ish body (a bit dispropotionate, come to think of it) ... and i remember the kid turning into a mule, a pig and a fish ... and of course - swinging on a star.

now there's a song that sends the right message.

here are the lyrics ...

Would you like to swing on a star
Carry moonbeams home in a jar
And be better off than you are
Or would you rather be a mule?

A mule is an animal with long funny ears
Kicks up at anything he hears
His back is brawny and his brain is weak
He's just plain stupid with a stubborn streak
And by the way, if you hate to go to school
You may grow up to be a mule

Or would you like to swing on a star
Carry moonbeams home in a jar
And be better off than you are
Or would you rather be a pig?

A pig is an animal with dirt on his face
His shoes are a terrible disgrace
He ain't got no manners when he eats his food
He's fat and lazy and extremely rude
But if you don't care a feather or a fig
You may grow up to be a pig

Or would you like to swing on a star
Carry moonbeams home in a jar
And be better off than you are
Or would you rather be a fish?

A fish won't do anything, but swim in a brook
He can't write his name or read a book
And to fool the people is his only thought
And though he's slippery, he still gets caught
But then if that sort of life is what you wish
You may grow up to be a fish

And all the monkeys aren't in the zoo
Every day you meet quite a few
So you see it's all up to you
You can be better than you are
You could be swingin' on a star


i love that last vrese - 'All the monkeys aren't in the zoo, Every day you meet quite a few' - so true. and of course the final message that i guess has stuck with me although i've not really taken the effort to dig up the lyrics till today - "So you see it's all up to you, You can be better than you are, You could be swingin' on a ... star..."

Endgame.

hey y'all ...

for those of you who actually visited the 'Homecoming Diaries' blog and found it interesting...

Gavin Yap is directing another play entitled ENDGAME (http://endgamediaries.blogspot.com/2006/06/beginning-of-end.html), a play by Samuel Beckett. from what i understand, it is another 'good / disturbing / gets under your skin' play. reading the production blog on how rehearsals are going and listening to the actors, directors and set designer etc is quite interesting.

a side note to the 'guys': "YOU fellas might wanna take note that SHARIFAH AMANI (of SEPET and GUBRA) is in this play.

and ALVIN WONG, that fella in the astro ad wearing the Arsenal jersey who has to share his one astro with his Mother on one hand and his girlfriend on the other and ends up calling Astro to get a nd decoder for 50% off ...

alternatively, you can visit this site (http://www.klpac.com/Welcome.asp?c=whatsontheatreview&theatreID=71&theatrecatID=5) or just read below lah, since i'm gonna be copying and pasting from the site anyway.

Endgame

Executive Produer: Dato' Faridah Merican

Artistic Director: Joe Hasham

Playwright: Samuel Beckett

Director: Gavin Yap

Cast: Alvin Wong, Sharifah Amani, U-En Ng and Kelvin Wong

Lighting Designer: Mac Chan

Production Designer: Loo Jia-Wei

In a bare room, serving as a shelter, sit four characters: Hamm the master, Clov his servant and Hamm's mother and father, Nell and Nagg. Outside all seems dead and nothing happens. Inside, the characters pass the time toying with fears and illusions of a possible change, all along sensing the inevitability of their end.

For more information about the production, visit www.endgamediaries.blogspot.com.



About Samuel Beckett (Playwright)

Beckett studied French and Italian at Trinity College. During a stint in Paris, Beckett was introduced to James Joyce. In the years to come Joyce would have an "overwhelming" effect on his fellow Irishman. Beckett became one fo the intimates in Joyce's circle and contributed time and effort to his work.

By the end of the 1920s Beckett had begun to publish his own work. After acquiring a Master's degree from Trinity, he settled in Paris in 1937.

1941 brought news of the death of Joyce, and the invasion of the Nazis. Thereafter, he joined the resistance and was later awarded the Croix de Guerre in 1945 for "extreme bravery". After the war, his focus in writing shifted to ideas of the essential, the minimal, the unadorned. His trilogy of novels, Molloy (1951), Malone Dies (1951), and The Unnamable (1953), is among the greatest prose writings of the century.

When Waiting for Godot first appeared on the stage in 1953, the world of theatre was startled to find itself changed. Didi and Gogo do very little in the course of two acts but wait, wait, wait, for someone named Godot, who may or may not be coming. This very human drama was pared down to its most necessary gestures: expectation, companionship, abuse, hope. The plays which followed such as Endgame (1958) similarly used abstraction as a means to explore the most powerful themes, and to question whether they have any value or meaning.

Beckett received an honorary doctorate from Trinity College in 1959, and two years later he won, with Jorge Luis Borges, the Prix International des Editeurs (or Prix Formentor). Beckett also won the Nobel Prize for, in the words of the Academy's citation, "his writing, which - in new forms for the novel and drama - in the destitution of modern man acquires its elevation."

For more information on Samuel Beckett, visit http://www.themodernword.com/beckett/.


besides that, for those of you who are free this weekend, you might wanna check out what's below ...

Dear all,

To mark the conclusion of the 2-week Beckett Residency held at KLPac, the participants will be staging six short plays by the renowned Irish playwright this Saturday. Details are as follows:

Date: 8 July 2006, Saturday
Time: 3.00pm
Admission: open for free to literature / performing arts students (limited places, first-come-first-serve basis)

Lighting: Tan Chui Mui
Technical: Gavin Yap
Stage Manager: Lina Hasbullah

- Catastrophe: featuring Wong Hai Wong, Nor Hazlin Nor Salam and Lim Kien Lee
- Come and Go: featuring Valerie Low, Joanne Tai and Chong Lez Ann
- Rough For Theatre I: featuring Lim Soon Heng and Derek Ong
- Act Without Words II: featuring James Lee and David Lim
- Footfalls: featuring Sabera Shaik and Nicole Ann Thomas
- Nacht and Traume: featuring Nicole Fuchs, Lee Jia Hui and Yoong Pui Shen

If you know any literature / performing arts students who may be interested to attend the presentation, please forward this on to them. They must book their place first. More information about the Beckett Residency and Samuel Beckett below.

For place booking, kindly contact Yue May at 03-40479016


well, that's it for now. i'm still in Singapore and should be on a 11 am bus tomorrow back home.

later then.

quicky updates.

alrights ... for those of you who give a shit. :)

for the month of july. i'll be working on a 'full time' basis with my kickboxing place. i will be teaching from Monday right through to Thursday (both the 7pm and 8.15pm classes). on Mondays and Wednesdays, i'll be there even earlier because i have a student i give personal training (ie a PT student) at 5.45pm to 6.45pm before i teach the 7pm class. and then i also teach on Saturdays at 11am and 2.30pm and i also have another PT student in between the 11am and 2.30pm class.

plus, on Mondays and Wednesdays, i usually stay back at the gym and 'train and spar'. so after the classes end at about 9.30pm, i end up training from 10 till about 11 ish.

and on Sundays i have my dance classes with KLPAc at 12.30pm till about 2.30pm.

so there's my week folks. at least, this is the way it is gonna be for the month of July. maybe also in August but that remains to be seen.

and you might want to avoid calling me from tomorrow till friday cause i'll be in Singapore. unless you have something really important to tell me.

i've also recently purchased myself a real sexy 30 gig iPod. so if you're looking to borrow money from me - sorry bub. however, if you owe me money - you better cough it up! lol

ok - so if i don't answer you calls - or take a while to get back to you - its probably cause i'm doing one of the things mentioned above or trying to sleep and recouperate.

and as promised, here's a little exerp from my finished "Crow".

X

THE PREY …

Once I was done with the make up and I covered my wounds – I was ready to go. The crow sensed that and immediately flew out of the room when I looked to it. It knew what I wanted. It went to look for the people responsible for my fate. However, what I didn’t know was that looking for them was going to be a lot more difficult than I thought.

As the crow flew, I ran. Just like earlier, when it guided me away from the cemetery. It was my eyes high up in the sky and I could see with amazing clarity both from up above to my own peripheral vision. I was determined. The crow seemed to know where to go and I gave it all my trust. After all, it was carrying my soul, if I can’t trust the crow – then there’s not much point of me going on.

And I was right to do so for it brought me to this old looking flat in a slum part of town. The crow perched itself upon the ledge of the flat, at the top floor, and looked to the corridor and then I saw him. Leong Chai.

There were 2 other thugs with him. I could see them from the crow’s eyes. They seemed to be banging on a door. I didn’t need to see anymore.

By the time I walked up the staircase to the top floor of this flat, they had already knocked the door down and I could hear a woman screaming for help. People were just rushing by me down the staircase away from the screams rather than trying to help. No matter, in my mind – he was there.

As I approached the door, one of the thugs who was with Leong Chai came out, “Go the other way mister. There ain’t no show for you here.”

“Alas, the show, as they say, is where the act is … and the main player in the act (pause) has arrived!” and then I kicked him in the balls and smashed his face against the wall.

The moment I walked into the flat, the other thug was waiting by the door with his back turned towards me and it was easy for me to just grab him by the neck and twist him around and I heard a crack in his neck before he crashed to the ground lifeless. Leong Chai was in the midst of trying to undo his pants – when he heard the thud of his henchman’s body on the ground.

“Forcing thyself unto another … such a sad desperate act for a sad desperate man…” I said as I made my move towards him.

He staggered around the ground and he grabbed his gun, “FUCK YOU!” and he shoots me 5 times right in the chest. Point blank.

For a split second, I was stunned and I felt a little funny, but when I looked down to the bullet holes, they just closed right back up again! This was when I let my hood down and showed myself to him.

“What the fuck…?” he said as he emptied the rest of his ammo in me.

I didn’t feel a thing. “From a proud tower in the town, Death looks gigantically down and I now stand here towering above you. Death is here to meet you.”

I picked him up and threw him across the room like the sack of shit he was. He was fucking pissing in his pants. He didn’t know where to go or what to do. He was sobbing, bawling his eyes out.

I knelt down in front of him and grabbed his hair so that I could get a good look at his eyes when I talked to him, “… Do I not remind you of anyone?”

“No man…who the fuck are you?! Why the hell are you hassling me?! I didn’t do nothing to you man!...” and he tried to spit at me.

“Perhaps your mind requires a little prompting …” I don’t know how I did it or how I even knew I could do it but I made him feel all the pain my sister felt as she was being raped that night. I just grabbed his head with both my hands – looked him dead in the eyes and ‘transferred’ the pain.

“FEEL IT! Take the pain, the anger and the suffering – all because of you! Take the loneliness of a year being stuck in a body that is still alive but with a soul that’s already dead! TAKE IT! FEEL IT ALL!” and I let go. He fell to the ground. Eyes wide open, veins popping out.

He was dead.


note: the above is essentially quite a big exerp. :) it's the 1st draft and will probably be changed many times over before it finds its final form. but as said earlier, this is the mould from which this story will develop from. hope you liked it!