I dusted off the cobwebs and dug out my Yamaha keyboard, that which I haven’t touched in a year.

Thanks to a good friend who has a great deal of potential to be a singer-songwriter, I was enlightened and tried to season the keyboard today after one year of idleness, and another eight months to come.

There is the book, and there is the play.

I’ve done both!

I finished reading the book just before leaving for the play tonight. Quite a feat for Squareface ok, reading a thick 2-part Chinese novel. Well, obviously if Squareface actually sat down to read the 2 volumes, you can rightfully assume that:

1) The novel is very easy to read

2) It contains interesting enough elements to have held Squareface’s attention and made her put in the effort of reading the 500,000 Chinese characters.

I strongly recommend the novel (and this is not a sponsored post!).

Under the veneer of mostly comical scenarios, the author captures and exposes the underbelly of Chinese society for the past 40 years (which author Yu Hua says took the Western Civilization 400 years to “achieve”). Beneath the easy, straightforward fictional narrative, lies a loaded non-fictional documentary.

If I even continue trying to write words that make up a review, I think I’ll be tearing away the value of the such a fine piece of work, so I shall stop here (also due to laziness) for my $0.20 worth on the novel. (The novel can even be read online, but come on, it’s just nett 16RMB for part 1 and 27RMB for part 2, available with discounts at certain bookshops.)

Appreciation of the play might have been clouded by the images I established in my head after reading the novel. The play excluded many characters, merged several incidents, and made some adjustments due to time constraints and for theatrical dynamics. So it may have been a little confusing (although it might be the precise purpose, to reflect the chaotic nature). I might have been lost in the middle of the play had I not read the book. The dramatic effects were really good, as were the cast. The playwright did a good job adapting it to local tastes, but left some loopholes which I hope will be filled by a greater talent soon.

I know I should know Chinese history better. I’m working on it, give me time.

Shanghai Sports Stadium, 8pm - late

Suave Jacky Cheung made me swoon when he first appeared on stage with his charisma and smooth moves. Forty-five, but jumping around and gliding on stage like he’s still in his twenties, somehow lured me and before I knew it I was lured into a mega karaoke session for 3 hours, stadium size.

In that Uniquely Jacky way of singing, I was reminded of myself sitting in the back seat of my family’s car back home long ago, squabbling with my brother or asking my parents numberless questions, with Jacky Cheung on the radio. My mother may be squawking along with him, my father whistling along, whilst my brother can’t wait to change the channel. It is the early generation of his songs that can bring people of various walks of life together with that familiarity, fans and non-fans alike.

I was holding the 2nd cheapest ticket, which is 180RMB (approx. S$36), whilst the cheapest ticket sold here was 120RMB (approx. S$24). To be able to catch a glimpse of Jacky Cheung in Singapore during this World Tour, the lowest priced ticket is S$128!

Someone informed me that The L Word Season 4 was out, but I didn’t manage to find it in the DVD shops here. So I downloaded it (which causes my computer to be more corrupt), and spent whatever time I had over the weekend watching it.

For those who don’t know, L Word is somewhat like…Friends? To draw a generic picture. A wee bit like friends, just that most of the characters are lesbians…and very hot. Full of very attractive women. *swoons*

You don’t have to be gay to appreciate it. The story plot is pretty good, though I wonder whether the portrayal of LA gay culture is accurate.

TNT has very skilled performers. (The above are actresses acting as boys)

I just came back from Shanghai’s Dramatic Arts Theatre, after watching a rather different version of Oliver Twist.

What I want to blog about is not on the play, though. It’s about the audience.

Many people strolled in late; many did not switch their phone to a tactful mode even after getting several glances from the other members of the audience, making us listen to their long beeping message tone more than once; there was a kid who kept asking his mother questions and received a warning from the usheree before leaving on their own accord; and something I don’t understand is that many people had to go to the bathroom in the midst of the play. Apparently many amongst the audience had urine aplenty. About 10 people from the row behind us left for the bathroom, of which 8 made us aware of it by rubbing their asses against our heads.

5th George Bernard Shaw Essay Competition

Check this out!

A parody on The Importance of Being Earnest’s Lady Bracknell and Hamlet’s Hamlet

It really captures the essence of the 2 characters. Those who are familiar with the characters will be able to appreciate it effectively.

I’ve never laughed so hard in a movie theatre.

If you’re very at home with the Singaporean culture, understand what it means to be arrowed, know what law by law means, and appreciate some slapstick humour, I’m sure watching the movie will be well worth your money.

The film successfully depicts the Singaporean trademark — the reluctance to bend the rules. Thus, the title, complete with a pun, aptly captures the common Singaporean attitude: to always go by the books (”the black and white”), to simply follow loh.

A must-see for the aforementioned.

The film is raved to be the forecasted best lesbian film of the year, but I didn’t like it. Maybe Sam falling asleep barely a few minutes into the movie triggered my annoyance with it, but I simply didn’t like the fact that the movie portrayed the protagonist as some psycho lesbian predator.

It was definitely intense, the feelings the protagonist possesses for her “prey”,  but for it to be intense to the extent of being psycho turned me off.

I don’t really blame Sam for falling asleep I guess. The film resonated thick British and Irish accents and had no subtitles, so Sam could not understand what was happening and thus the beckoning of dreamland enticed her.

The title of the movie is such that you question whether the student-teacher affair is the only scandal touched on, but the film appears more to me as The Diary of a Psycho instead.

Or maybe I’m just biased, disliking movies that depict homosexuals in a negative way. Watching this film gave me the impression that people who watch it will bring home the idea that lesbians are intense psychos who are obsessively possessive towards their prey.

Titled “4.6 Billion Years of Love” in Japanese, the metaphors felt very out of place. There was an ancient pyramid (that signified the pathway to heaven) that oddly sits next to the prison, which was the central stage for the whole movie. There was also an inexplicable giant space rocket sitting in a nearby gantry (that signified the path to space). I don’t really get the whole movie actually. I could tell it was a mystery thriller that unfolded before my eyes, but I just wish it was unfolded in an easier way instead of unfolding a little, folding again, and then unfolding the same spot, and then folding another corner. Watching the movie was akin to watching a stage play, only more tiring and less enjoyable.

And what’s the deal with the half-naked tattooed guy performing modern dance? If it was meant to tantalize using homoerotism, I hope it worked on the half-filled theatre filled with 90% of men of dubious sexual orientation.

Maybe I just can’t appreciate this sort of artistic flick. I’ve googled the movie and read reviews but don’t blame myself for not appreciating it. I still think it’s crap despite it having been screened at Toronto’s International Film Festival. What’s the point of adorning something so much when you don’t get your message across clearly?