Rest in peace, Anita.
It came as such a shock. I had not heard about her cancer, so this was totally unexpected. I spent my early years listening and wiggling my limbs to her hits. I don't think any HK 80's child can forget her magnetic voice in songs like 將冰山劈開, 壞女孩 and 似水流年, or her stellar performances in so many movies like 胭脂扣 Rouge and more recently, 男人四十 July Rhapsody.
Phuket + Bangkok:
Highs - in order of excitibility
1. Chatuchak Weekend Market, Bangkok
Oh man - I've been to more than a few street markets in my life, but this one beats them all!
10,000 stalls selling just about everything under the sun: antiques, clothing, furniture, thai silk, kitchenware, upholsery, plants, snacks, "dai pai dong" type eateries - the amalgate of sights, sound and smells makes it a total sensory overload. The crowds just spoke "ASIA" to me like nothing else - multitudes of people coming towards you, behind you, on your right, on your left. It's a wonder I haven't been smooched. It'll be one of the times in my life when I REMEMBER being awake. Bonus: prices are so cheap you have to wonder how badly you're getting ripped off elsewhere, but of course everyone bargains just for the heck of it.
2. Maya Beach, Phi Phi Island and James Bond Island near Phang Nga
Faye, live!
Lucked out and got to see Faye Wong's 2003 Christmas concert. Was fantastic because:
1) Faye Wong's my fav Cantopop singer, and my all time second favorite singer. (after Bjork, mother of cutting-edge music and Faye's sound)
2) Last time I went to a Cantopop concert was back in either '98 or '00... also to see Faye.
This time round, she sang almost all of her mid-90's hits, which meant I knew them all by heart and can mouth along like a teenybopper. My 13 yr old cousin knew only one song throughout the whole concert. But it didn't make me feel old. On the contrary, it felt good to be an older teenybopper. Albeit with strange yellow inflatable plastic bats as a clapping aid.
Faye's concert outfits are always a dream for haute-couture savvy fashionistas. The concert opened with 天空 [Sky]. Three-story-high white curtains surrounding the stage dropped, and Faye descended from mid-air on a suspended platform. She looked the part, being the diva that she is, sporting a white, puffy sleeved deconstructed number- think Viktor and Rolf meets Marjan Pejoski (the designer responsible for Bjork's Oscars swan dress). The audience went wild when she took off the outer layer as she stepped off the platform, revealing a skimpy bias-cut Grecian tunic.
Fun little hiccups was the theme of the day. Faye was totally embarrassed when the big white quill from her inverted-stiletto-Philip-Treacy-esque hat fell off. After several unsuccessful attempts at sticking it back on, she waved the feather about and played conductor with the audience. Then the fabric of her tunic came apart at the shoulders and it transformed into a glamourous Jean Harlow-esque gown. Faye, with bright pink cheeks by now, improvised and pulled up a corner, swirling around with hand on dress as she sang 流浪的紅舞鞋 [Wondering red dancing shoes]
A few more costume changes followed, including
- a grey fur Medieval tunic dress thing with dangerously high black patent stilettoes;
- another puffy sleeved black micro-mini dress with blood red Vivienne Westwood platforms, (like the ones Naomi Campbell fell over in) white thigh-high stockings, and a black Treacy-esque Robin Hood hat;
- a Flashdance-y white dress with shredded pink gauze, paired with magenta 80's slouchy boots;
- and a black gothic renne mini dress.
Faye's voice was as lush as ever. Her cover of Dusty Springfield's The Look of Love was total bliss. But that did not stop her from apologising throughout the concert. It's like she couldn't get over the little blunders. I thought as a performer, she should have just played along with them - it's all fun and games. Cousins were bummed that there were no special guest artists. But hey, if you have a voice like that, who needs inferior sidekicks?
Things you learn from your spam:
So I got this all-technicolour-pink Chinese ad in my Junk E-mail folder. Not knowing what the heck it was selling, I read it and picked up some new vocab =P
隨身棒 - literally "carry-everywhere awesomeness", or, carry everywhere stick. The new Taiwanese term for vibrator.
小老二 - lit. "small number 2"; people usually say 老二 for the second eldest sibling in a family. In this context, it refers to a certain part of the male anatomy ^_^;;
Signs of being away from home for too long:
- You yelp "Where am I?" more than 5 times on the way home from the airport
- You find your bedroom taken over by a parent
- You forget central-heating does not exist in HK and didn't pack your wooly jumpers, so you end up hovering around the house wrapped in blankets OR you don't ever leave your bed
- You forget the broadband connection only functions in name, so in reality you can't get work done at home.
- The new dog mistakes you for a stranger and tries to eat you.
- The old dog mistakes you for a stranger and stares at you blankly when you call her name.
Anatomic Kung-Fu:
You know your final project sucks when:
Passer-by A asks Passer-by B: "What is that?"
Passer-by B: [in dismissive, condescending tone] "Art?"
----------------------------------------
Sleeping on ice cold concrete on your side with head lodged on cardboard tube and roll of mirrored mylar doesn't do your back any good.
Holy crap. I think I've just gone on a date. That hasn't happened in.... EONS. Actually, I can't distinguish a date from merely hanging out. So maybe it was my overly-vivid imagination.
Addendum:
Date went OKish. But I found out that the boy in question is in fact, the typical MIT-sketchy-man - i.e. he persistently asked my friend out, even after she turned him down as she already has a boyfriend. He then stopped being nice to her when she gave a final "no".
*sigh* where have all the good men gone?
Masters of the Pillow:
Empowering Yellow Men with all-Asian cast porn -
"Mass media has historically focused on the differences between Asian American men and their Euro-American counterparts. The impetus of this film was to highlight the inherent similarities we all face--sexual desire. Until now, the depiction of Asian American male sexuality has either been virtually non-existent or distorted in mainstream media."
Come again?? Obviously these blokes aren't too familiar with the Japanese AV scene.
[via I could be Madonna]
I hate Boston winters!
So the temperature dropped from 7'C on Sunday nite to -7'C. The wind is howling outside my window, and I'm having yet another thermostat war with my flatmate.
-------------------------------------------------------
Monochrome:
First snow > Inky pasta > Black and white photos > Cold, grey winter
Envy of the Female Species?
Oh. My. God.
"A woman who has up to 288 orgasms a day is seeking medical help, because she says too much pleasure is a pain."
I can't even imagine what that might feel like. When most women can't get no satisfaction, and this poor woman is getting way too much of a good thing. I can't help wonder if the Higher Beings are silly pranksters, playing practical jokes on us aimless wondering microbes in a petri dish.
21 Grams:
Excruciating to watch. Don't get me wrong, it was a brilliant film, non-linear narratives and all, but it was heartbreaking to see the characters' lives fall apart, bit by bit and ever so slowly. Good reflection exercise for the brain though, after a whole day of excessive stuffing (as in me, not the turkey). Thx much to Yao and Taka for the yummy turkey Japanese style.
------------------------------------------
Him: tall dark and handsome
Me: trying to appear sophisticated but failing to fill in awkward silences .... xP
From the pages of Playboy advisor:
Q - My girlfriend asked why me save all their back issues of Playboy. I told her that every guy, growing up, had a friend whose father had a stash. The friend would share this bounty with his buddies -- a rite of passage. I'm saving my issues so that my future kid will someday be that well-connected friend.
A - Keep in mind that it won't be any fun for your son unless you "hide" them at the bottom of your sock drawer. And you thought your friend's dad was so dumb.
It's more embarrassing if your grandkids find your stash.... as is the case with BOTH of my grandads :P
Is it a bird? Is it a plane?.... oh wait it's a bat!!!
Encountered a very lost BAT today in the Visual Arts dept. I thought it was a sparrow at first, but upon more careful looking, saw bones in the flappy wings. Eeeeks!! The poor, albeit ugly and gross bat was flying in circles looking for a way out. I was pinning up photos, and it took mucho effort to resist the reflex to scream and run at top speed everytime it neared me. Sharon, the admin lady spotted it, shreeked, ran into her office, pulled a coat over her head and ran to find the equipment TA.
The Visual Arts / undergrad Architecture studio building is a weird clump of dilapidated factories and converted old military research labs. With age, it seems to house more and more interesting critters. I've heard tales of birds flying in and picking off wooden sticks off people's models for their nests. In my sophomore yr, one TA used to bring her cat in, and Moshka, the cat would jump around ppl's models. Pigeons have flown in and pooped on people's models. Sharon brings her tiger-striped dog, Cody, to work. Whenever lunchtime comes around, Cody would stare pitifully at those who bring food, hoping to get a bite from anyone who sympathises.
On another bat-related note, the last time I saw one, I was seven. A bat flew into my home in HK, and I remember running with my brother Chin Yee into our bedroom, locking it, and waiting whilst my mum and the Philippino maid chased the mammal with a broomstick.
cultural contradictions: Chinese - bat = good luck / wealth; Western - bat = evil / bad luck. Hmmm....
Lil' Miss Norma No-Mate:
I'm waiting for lightning to strike my pea-sized brain:
arg. the dreaded block. I've been trying to look at all sources of inspiration for my sculpture project. It's not working very well. Perhaps I'll just mold lots and lots of my less-than-sexy derriere as my mum suggested out of a whim :p
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Crocodile Dundee.... in HK?!!!!
This has got to be the funniest news I've heard from home in ages. Is totally ridiculous.
What's a croc doing in Yuen Long??? I thought all top-of-the-food-chain carnivores are extinct in the S.A.R.?!! [via Gweilo Diaries]
Michel Camilo:
WOW. I have to be the luckiest girl on earth when it comes to jazz concerts. Every concert I go to gets better than the last. This man is... BAD ASS, for the lack of a more sophisticated description. I've never seen anything like it. No one plays the piano the way he does - he was literally whacking the keys at full strength AND speed as he played his compositions with different twists - jazz, latin jazz and classical, in his own dynamite way. (see Calle 54, the Latin jazz documentary and you'll get what I mean)
Tunes that caught my heart are his more sedate ones - such perfect aural bliss: The Magic in You and Twilight Glow [Real Audio]
The concert had 3 parts - one by the Michel Camilo Trio, one by the Berklee Concert Jazz Orchestra, and the last by the two. The last part was p-h-e-n-o-m-e-n-a-l in every single way. Camilo would be conducting and playing the piano at the same time, sometimes jumping around the stage, over speakers to do both just in time. The set opened with One More Once , with percussionist Eguie Castrillo. When I say percussionist, he's more like the human sound-effects-library. This rotund, genie-looking man (dressed in a kaftan-y tunic thing and a huge gold hoop on each ear) made of a whole sonic rainforest from whistles, bunch of coconut shells, chacha and a bunch of his sound props. Oh and he plays the bongos.
Thx much to Yao, who waited 1.5 hrs in the concert hall to get us front row seats.
Bonus: the very, very cute alto saxophonist in the big band...kakoii!!! He played really well too. @,@ Yao went to ask for his autograph afterwards and dragged me along so the hottie can sign my ticket *giddy laughter*
older.... and not a bit wiser (not even a leetle beet):
arg. 23. aaaaarrrrrgh. *in denial*
Judging by conventional measures of success for a person in their early 20's, here's a brief summary of how I measure up:
Degrees earned: none
Long-term Jobs held: nil
Significant other: nope
Driving License: nope
Automobiles owned: nil
Properties: nil
Offsprings: none - my mum HAD me when she was 23. *shivers*
Hmm... falling into the faux-pas category of - Underachiever.
and Mum was telling me how my distant uncle got his PhD when he was 21 >.<
Europeans Vs. Americans msg board deathmatch:
As usual, there has to be one ultra-defensive American harping about their coutry. Dude, the book the NY Times article was referring to wasn't even about that. The contraversial book claims to be "a mathematically precise global assessment of human achievement"... and Murray, the author concluded from his "findings" that "In all, Europeans and North Americans account for 97 percent of scientific accomplishment". See Shortfuse's post.
Yet another definitive sign of aging:
Fuck. Had the biggest hangover this morning. Haven't had one in 2 yrs I think. Not that I drink often, but getting a dull thudding headache from merely 2 Midori sours & a few sips of Amaretto + Coke is totally unjustifiable... it's too lame for words.
Made meself a full English breakfast to feel better - crumpets, sunny side up, sausages, tomato, bake beans and all, but have no one to eat it with. =( I wonder if they sell doting affectionate handsome bf's on ebay....
Geek art at its best:
