New Beginning

I've slacked off blogging for many many many months. But it has been adventurous.

First off, I went to UK!



Hentak Kaki made it to an arts festival in Nottingham. So we spent 10 days there, checking out other people's work as well. It was very inspiring. In fact, gastronomy was one of the categories other than the usual performing, multimedia and fine arts, etc. The other interesting part was that it features artists from all over the world.

Right after the festival, we spent some time going to other parts of UK.









Straight after coming home from there, we got a gig in Hong Kong to film the making of The Second Coming, a horror feature film. That was almost 6 weeks away from home. But it certainly paid off, having seen the film culture in a place where the film industry is very established.



So the pre Christmas days were spent in the winter period in Hong Kong. I love the place for its mix of urban and natural landscapes. And my favorite part of the country is the old-school tram that runs across Hong Kong island. It is an alternative mode of transport besides the MTR and public buses. Some people say it is wise of the government to retain the trams.

Back home in the week before Christmas, I had the privilege of gathering and feasting with many groups of loved ones. And then ending the year with a home-made steamboat with close friends and my cousins. I guess these made the Christmas and New Year period of 2012 one of the best I've had. My waistline isn't as happy of course. But one of the best things in life is having good food with good company.

And now, 2013 begins with a bang. We've concluded our work in a showreel which brought back memories of fun times.



So here we are with many new projects forming in our heads for the year ahead. It's going to be exciting!

Lamb Stew with Spring Vegetables

It's not very easy finding recipes demonstrated on screen that work well in the kitchen. Well ok, I'll still have to admit that whatever cooking knowledge I've acquired in my life are from cooking programmes. I found this one from the Little Paris Kitchen hosted by Rachel Khoo and decided to try it. Yes it's true that little or no seasoning is required at all which makes this all the more pure and healthy.

The Convenient Carb

I love couscous and I think it should be one of those items in the kitchen all the time. First, it's healthy. Second, there's nothing else more convenient to cook than this. All you need to do to 'cook' your couscous is to add boiling liquid to it and let it soak up and double in size. That's as convenient as cup noodles! There's so much one can do with couscous. Mix them with different herbs to make different flavours. I tried a version with lime, mint, curry leaves, dried shrimp, fresh chili, ikan bilis with fish sauce. That was inspired by a rice salad I ate at Bollywood veggies. Maybe the next round I'll try a Mediterranean version with olives, peppers, feta cheese, tomatoes, some basil and wild rocket. That's the next awesome thing about eating couscous: I can eat it with anything I want!

Showreel 2011

I'm so late in posting this and sharing it here. Here's a 10-minute journey of the best of the films I've made or have been in major involvement over the course of my film studies.

Children's Garden at 8Q

The Singapore Art Museum is doing it again! This week the Art Garden: Children's Season opens for the mid year holidays and we're definitely proud to be participating this year as filmmakers. There are so many creative displays that are interactive. The best part of it is that some of art work is nostalgic to my generation. There's like a life size paper doll display that resembles a paper doll assignment I did when I was in Primary school. It's really nice to see that there's so much art work done, majority by true blue Singaporean locals (these days, that fact has to be grossly emphasized) for kids' learning. It's not just the quantity but that there's so much interactivity and creativity for the kids to explore. To be honest, the films are the least interactive. But they tell stories that the kids would understand and are able to relate with. It's the first year that films are introduced as part of the Children's Season. If it is well received, films will be commissioned every year for public display.

Everyone must watch this

It's probably the first completed project in my new company Pangolin Films. And I'm proud to present the teaser for the 22nd European Union Film Festival to be held in Singapore this year. A lot of endless days and hard work put into this. And of course, crew and cast were all amazing. It was certainly fun doing this, especially the part where we had to spray snow out of the window.

Give up... Turn back... Give up... Turn back

Some times I feel like reversing and turn back the clock by a few years. Perhaps make a different choice. Because all I can tell myself, is that I'm not good enough.

Over and over again... Like the Ferris Wheel

Sometimes the sucky bits of life come in a cycle. Some days I think it's awesome that God made us to relate. We're all meant to be together and love one another in different relationships. Some days, maybe I'm better off alone. People just hurt you, people whom you love, family, friends, colleagues. It's sad that I find people hard to trust these days.

Makes me wonder if I'm prepared for the world at all. I'm 27. So old. But I feel like some kid who's shocked by the kind of things people do these days.

What if I was a low-willed, meek person that just go with the flow? Just keep spinning like a ferris wheel. Would life have been better? Maybe. I guess we'll never know till we try...

From fashion

I found one of those typical sketches fashion people always do to illustrate their designs on one of those online clothing shops, MARCH. I think I've been pretty good at copying or sketching from photographs but I haven't developed much in visualising and translating that to paper.

Once I've managed a bit of time, I would be trying out landscape drawings.

Dismayed

For the past many days, I've lived in utter disappointment, just being over-sensitive to any event that rings negative to me. Been disappointed for a while that neither Blue Tide nor my role in Hentak Kaki is being chosen to compete in the Singapore Short Film Awards. Today I got reminded of the awards and that upset me quite a bit. I remember I used to say that awards and whatever earthly gain film could bring you are pretty much nothing and short-lived. Turns out that awards do go a long way.

Remembered my quiet time last Sunday too that challenged me to be a "doormat". Basically, "it is one thing to follow God's way of service if you are regarded as a hero, but quite another thing if the road marked out for you by God requires becoming a 'doormat' under other people's feet." That is so true. Service is so easy if you're regarded as a hero but extremely hard if no one seem to care, let alone step over your head to get higher. I definitely don't feel heroic at all, in fact, it is being left out, left behind, lousy, dejected, far from joy. Then the challenge question came. "Are you ready to be sacrificed like that? Are you ready to be less than a mere drop in the bucket - to be so totally insignificant that no one remembers you even if they think of those u served?"

Somehow I feel like God is saying, "Nah. You're not gonna get a single award. Its the people whom you serve that'll get it." I feel really disappointed and at the same time resigned somehow. Because I don't find myself facing any light at the end of the tunnel. I should stop hoping and forget something that's never going to happen. I feel lonely, left-out or under-achieved in the midst of the award winners and nominees. Rather be by myself.