Miss ya 2008!

What? Already the last hour of the last day of 2008? Where did the year go? What have I accomplished? Has 2008 been AWESOME?!

#1 Awesomeness
I'm still alive. I'm still able to laugh and cry, to enjoy precious moments with family and friends. My family is well. My friends are happy. Yes, I'm extremely thankful for every tiny bit of these mundane things that we take for granted until they are snatched away from us, especially in this turbulent year, filled with more sorrow than joy for most. Thank God, it's been more cheer for me. May the new year put an even wider smile on my face for the next 365 days (^___^*)

#2 Awesomeness
I've escaped a restrictive work environment into one that liberates, to continue to do what I enjoy with an awesome team whose spirit bears the same flame of passion. One of the best calls I made this year was to use my right brain, to reject a very attractive job offer in March because I was following my heart, and my heart said it belonged to the creative circle. After 10 years of love and sweat, I couldn't just quit being around the creatives, or rather, being creative (^___^*)

#3 Awesomeness
I discovered 2 great new places which will see me going back for more - ONE, the natural beauty of the great wilderness of Sichuan, and TWO, the natural beauty of the metropolis of Tokyo waiting to be discovered by those who look hard. And not too far away from the hustle bustle of Shinjuku lies the wild side of Japan, still waiting to be discovered by yours truly in the new year. In April (^___^*)

#4 Awesomeness
I haven't had so much faith in fate lately if not for what I've experienced this year. Many things had seemed pre-orchestrated by powers greater than myself. For a start, I made a new friend out of nowhere in Feb when he stumbled upon my contact while researching L&Y for his job interview. It turned out he's my ex-classmate's brother! A new friend from Wales who taught me what free-spiritedness really meant when I traveled in Sichuan, new friends in my final weeks at L&Y, and of course, the wonderful new friends at ASUS who are the reason I don't mind going to work everyday! But even more precious are the old friends with whom I'm having the chance to soldier on once again, an old friend whom I care for in Chengdu whom I didn't expect to see this year cuz the earthquake had somewhat foiled my plan but somehow, I still managed to visit (^___^*)

#5 Awesomeness
WALL-E and Ponyo. In all the craziness of our daily lives, sometimes it really helps to take a step back and reflect on the things that matter the most to us. WALL-E tickles my sentimental vein while hand-drawn Ponyo trips me back to the good ol' days before 3D when good stories could carry themselves just as well, if not better, on the pencil tips of animation artists like my Uncle Walt in the 1930s to 50s, and Uncle Miyazaki today. Ponyo, dear Ponyo, when was the last time I felt happy and smiled everytime I saw the trailer for a film on TV? (^___^*)

So I guess it's been a truly AWESOME year for me and I hope it's the same for you guys too. I would ask for more time to see through some of the things which are still sorta up in the air ... but hey, that's what 2009 is for rite!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 充实的过了2008， 2009 会更美好哦！

Ponyo is a MUST WATCH!

Sweetest ever. How I miss the genius and beauty of those cel-shade 2D animations.

Ponyo is so delightful, it's so worth watching repeatedly. I hope it comes out on Blu-ray soon!! Absolutely my second favourite film of the year after WALL-E v(^___^*)v.

Well, it's not so thought-provoking as WALL-E but every bit as beautiful and emotionally-engaging as the love of the old robot and his hi-tech girlfriend.

Ponyo is the strange girlfriend from the deep sea. It is essentially The Little Mermaid but Japanese style, that means a great deal more kawaii than even Ariel. The storyline is not the least bit true to the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale, except for the essence of loving someone for who she (he) really is.

It's also quite a departure from Miyazaki's older films which always had several layers of story-telling going on (think Spirited Away) but Ponyo is very linear. It makes for fabulous children entertainment and even more awe-inspiring for those of us kidults with that child in us struggling to be let loose (^___^*)

Oh and you'll be so pleasantly surprised by the end credit roll ... I guess if you're as dorky as I am ... haha. Well, yeah, I'm a fish ... now I know why I'm always so sleepyzzzzzzz ... v(^___^*)v

The film is 100 minutes or so but for me, it was over at the bat of an eyelid! Hey, any film that doesn't have me counting minutes is an awesome film for I'm a real impatient person for a couch potato. Hehe ...

I also saw Bolt yesterday ... ahh hate to say this of a Disney film but it's just an ok film cuz I checked my watch a couple of times. Not bad but not that great either. Just watchable. Guess Disney's at its best making those gorgeous, magical cel-shade animations! I'll be looking forward to having them bring the craft back into their productions and let the Pixar boys be in their element creating 3D magic.

Ponyo finally coming to SG!!!

Debuts in Singapore 01.01.09 - yippie! Been waiting a loooooooong time for it v(^___^*)v - especially when it's produced in the dying animation art form of hand-sketching.


A synopsis of Ponyo On The Cliff (崖の上のポニョGake no ue no Ponyo):

A small town by the sea. Five-year-old Sosuke lives high on a cliff overlooking the Inland Sea. One morning, while playing on the rocky beach below his house, he discovers a goldfish named Ponyo with her head stuck fast in a jam jar. Sosuke rescues her and keeps her in a green plastic pail.

Ponyo is fascinated by Sosuke and Sosuke feels the same about Ponyo. He tells her: "Don't worry, I'll protect you and take care of you." But Ponyo's father Fujimoto -- once human, now a sorcerer who lives deep under the sea -- forces her to return with him into the ocean depths. "I want to be human!", Ponyo declares. Determined to become a little girl and make her way back to Sosuke, Ponyo escapes.

But before she does it, she empties the Water of Life, Fujimoto's precious store of magical elixir, into the ocean. The sea waters rise. Ponyo's sisters are transformed into enormous fish-shaped tidal waves that climb as high as Sosuke's house on the cliff. The chaos of the ocean world envelops Sosuke's little town, making it sink beneath the waves.

Reflections on A Whole New Mind

Finished reading Daniel Pink's A Whole New Mind, leaving a trail of thoughts in its wake. Really, without knowing it, I've been practising some of the principles Pink brought up but some of which I've since given up in the name of, yeah you guessed right, L-directed "work".

1. Let mom tell, repeat her stories. Be more patient with her as her snippets (which sometimes can amount to annoyance when I'm in the wrong frame of mind) could provide invaluable holistic understanding of her life back home now that all of us are miles away from her most of the time. Me, the researcher, of all the people, should've comprehended this a long time ago. But I've neglected.

2. Comics!! Though I've only been seriously feeding on comics in the last 5 years or so, it's been an on-off love affair of a lifetime (once in Art class and I was hopeful the teacher would repeat the exercise but tough luck, no ... ). How to integrate this interesting art form (where the readers provide the story - indeed! We can only interpret with our broad imagination what the artist can convey in 4 short frames) into the larger picture of work and life? For a start, I have my daily fix of some of my favourite comics on iGoogle.

3. Hours spent browsing magazines at the bookstore. Oh yes, remember those days when I'd scan most teen and entertainment magazines, keeping tabs on my favourite music personas, events and well, just general trends in the "creative" circle, criticising this and that. Honestly, if it's not a form of release of pent-up frustration, it's a decent training of the critical eye.

4. Volunteering. Back in NUS, I volunteered for 2 years, and then another 2 after graduation but as the complexities of worldly matters caught up, I gave up volunteering. From the experience with the MINDS Guillemard children, I get what Pink had to say about autistic children and those who are L-handicapped. I remember Teck Wee, my charge, unleashing his artistic side when presented with paper and colour. He picked up on origami pretty well too. Now, I'm beginning to wonder where the children - Teck Wee, Weixing and Kunqi - are now? Where will I find them today within the working society?

5. Laugh! Haahaahaaaaaaa ... who'd thought my favourite pastime is actually a great cardiac exercise? To quote: "it takes 10 minutes of rowing on the home exercise machine to reach the heart rate produced by 1 minute of hearty laughter." No wonder laughter is the best medicine.

6. Spirituality. Yes, very important, which is why I, and most other people, are hoping to go to Tibet someday. I ended up in Sichuan this August, in the quest for peace (this was what I told my friend in Chengdu and he replied, what profound meaning. Well, yeah, so I guess it was more meaning than peace, or really both as they are quite inseparable, that I was looking for). Although not quite Tibet, I scaled the Buddhist mountains of Emei and Leshan, had some inner reflections, found some peace and some meaning. It's quite magical, and 2 particular incidents stand out.

First, it's a really bad day when I started climbing Emei - rainy and cold. I'd climbed a long time, the afternoon was quickly disappearing. I was fatigued, was wondering how long more before I would arrive at the next stop to spend the night (there're only 4 stops on this 3,098m mountain). A black dog appeared from (was gonna say nowhere but ...) and walked with me until I was feeling better, happier, stronger.

The second incident was on Leshan when I was heading towards a temple "somewhere up there". There weren't signs. There weren't people so I could be sure there's really civilisation there in the great wilderness. But most importantly, at that time, I was struggling with an emotional tug-of-war - the exact situation I was faced then and there - should I continue or give up and turn back? I chose to continue, and the temple appeared round the next turn.

Hope I'm successful with the "story" part of Pink's 6 Senses albeit not quite in 50 words. I'll keep trying ok! Now onto the game part ... Little Big Planet here I come!

v(^___^*)v

What have I done today?

1. Watched Ratatouille (on Blu-ray ... whhheeeeee!!!!!). Finally!! And luving it!!!

2. Bought a second piece of a favourite top. Crazy girl! Sometimes I really marvel at myself. If I don't like something, there's no way in hell anyone can force it down my throat. But if I really like something, I obsess over it incessantly.

3. Got a long overdue haircut with mech highlights (dull green that's quite nice actually). In line with several research that show women opting for more conservative self expression in this time of recession (duller lipstick colour and longer skirt with earthier tones) ... okie ... now my hair goes from red to mech. I'm trendy!

4. Playing Little Big Planet, still trying to get past the ghost level. Gimme a break guys! Float away!

Independent films from China

I'm glad to have attended the 3 screenings of the New Realist Cinema: Independent Films from China, having regretfully missed the other 2 on Thu and Fri nights - arrrghhhh!!

The films from underground young Chinese film-makers can never be shown in mainstream Chinese cinema (just like Royston Tan's 15 could not be shown in Singapore theatres when it was first released) because they highlight the ugliest side of Chinese society, which traces back to a lackadaisical government more concerned with upkeeping a prosperous image like the one it successfully pulled off on the world stage during the Olympics.

The first 2 films were documentaries while the third was a feature film which also carried a deep social message. All three films examined the moral values of new China amidst relentless material pursuits. Interestingly, I came across this interesting discussion today on the moral values, or the lack of it, of Mainland Chinese.

The first film, 活了一分钟，快活六十秒 (For Every Minute I Live, I Enjoy 60 Seconds)， featured a narrative of the life a man left behind by China's rapid progress over the last 30 years. It's an interesting "ethnographic" peek into the man, a divorcee named Dagang's down-and-out life, void of ambitions because he believes there wasn't anything he could do to reverse his "fate".

His motto is exactly the film's title. I thought it interesting, very optimistic. I could also relate to the rationale of not dwelling issues which are unsolvable (because I have the tendency to worry too much, mostly unnecessarily, a habit I'm dying to kick).

I think such films provide a window to the state of China today beyond what's reported in official news sources. Great source for research ... hmmm ... how do I get my hands on those tapes??

海角7号

终于看了海角7号。也明白了它为什么会是史上最受欢迎的台湾作品。

看了海角7号，有了许多感触。特别是友子的那句话， 我爱上了阿嘉。我不是没有谈过恋爱,只是这次很奇怪，也不知道为什么。

这句话对我来说算是蛮贴心的。我个人深深地相信，也体会过，当你无法解释为何那么喜欢一个人的时候，那应该就是爱吧。

这种爱也是最辛苦的，因为自己不知道到底该不该勇敢的去爱，可能就会因此错过一段美丽的缘分。

就好像战争时代的友子和那位日本教师。

Getting old ...

Just came back from my former boss, Daniel's daughter's 2nd birthday. What, two years old already?! It's barely yesterday when I heard they're finally thinking of starting a family! (Daniel and wife YP had been married for years but had been too workaholic for a family until 3 years ago)

Oh man, can't help but feel a wee bit (just a wee bit ok) old today ... haha ... the other Spinnets whom I met today were from generation whatever since I left, I barely knew anyone! Luckily for those few familiar faces :)

Got my first henna on my back at the party! Quite nice eh? Hehe

IJ girl? Err ... not really ...

Oh, I'm never ever gonna freely declare myself an IJ girl after watching this morning's episode of Little Entrepreneurs. My God, those girls were little brats! They deserved it when they lost the game to the other team who were way more cohesive and creative. Even their teacher seemed more helpful. All that the IJ girls did were whine and complain ... they didn't even have any good ideas of what to sell, what they ended up selling was their teacher's idea. And one of the girls' parents donated $100 to the "charity" ... oh big deal huh! Duh!

The other team's efforts command way more respect, especially the part when the two young violinists from the team had an ensemble with the busker at Waterloo Street (they on violins and him on flute) to deliver a beautiful (but made me a little tearful) rendition of 月亮代表我的心. Of course, they received much applause and donation!

Wanderlust with a meaning

Must be the recent unfortunate events in India, and the year grinding to a close, and me feeling extremely thankful for first being alive, and then having a great job that I enjoy and being surrounded by wonderful people in my life everyday, and the fact that my friend is now out there in Beichuan lending a helping hand in settling the earthquake survivors for the imminent winter which can be bitter like last year's, that I feel I should be doing my part for the greater good.

Wish I could join him. Wonder how long his activity there will last cuz I have 5 days of leave to clear this year with nowhere specific in mind for a holiday. Why not wind up 2008 and usher in 2009 with something meaningful like heading out to Beichuan to see what I can do for the people there, even for a brief 2 weeks or so?

The girls (story on Boston.com) remind me of the ones I met last year at the Qiang village 萝卜寨 (also destroyed in the quake). They need help. What can I offer? I'll ask!!! \(^___^*)/

Children receive winter clothes donated by a group of volunteers as they line up preparing to leave the temporary school near the quake-hit Beichuan county on Friday, Nov. 7, 2008. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

A young girl helps to arrange belongings as she moves into a new house, leaving her temporary tent housing with her family at the Leigu Township on November 25, 2008 in Beichuan County, China. Reconstruction work is accelerated in the province as those still living in makeshift houses prepare for challenging winter weather. According to state media, over 15.6 million houses were damaged in the May 12 Sichuan Earthquake and the Chinese government plans to spend three years to rebuild infrastructure and homes.(China Photos/Getty Images)

Men with babies

I think men are the most adorable when they have a child in their arms, and obviously enjoying the moment with the baby (^___^*)

By the way, congratz Elaine, on the much anticipated arrival of Emma ... see you ladies soon!

Thankful

1st of Dec. World AIDS Day. The first day of the final month of a turbulent year. Asking the same question I asked half a year ago - what's my greatest achievement in the last half of the year - I must say, being alive. And incredibly thankful for it. Thankful for still being able to breathe, to wake up morning after morning, to go to work, to unleash my passion, to laugh, to cry, to love, to be loved, to travel, to stand still, to pine for and to look forward to so many more meaningful moments in life.

Although filled with sadness to learn of Lo Hwei Yen's murder by the terrorists in Mumbai, in the very hotel I had stayed in some 8 months ago, I quickly brushed it off my mind as I didn't want to dwell on that extremely unhappy incident.

It took but a glimpse of someone's My Paper on the bus this morning to plunge me into pensive thought again. The very fact that she went to Kylie Minogue's concert got to me. I didn't go but my friends did. Just before it started, I texted them to enjoy the show cuz I knew what a showgirl Kylie is. Reviewers would later give the concert 2 thumbs-up. Hwei Yen must have really enjoyed herself that night, oblivious to the terror that would strike her less than 24 hours later.

Last Monday, the same time as now, she was still alive. She would be attending Kylie's concert the following night, just like I had attended the Linkin Park concert last year, the night before I left for Bangladesh. While the deadly Cyclone Sidr hit the next day I was in Dhaka, killing thousands, Hwei Yen's young life was snuffed out by senseless killing on her first night in Mumbai. Why didn't she miss the early flight to Mumbai, having stayed up late at Kylie's concert?

Why is there so much hate in this world? I'm reliving the Japanese Occupation through The Little Nyonya now. Didn't think the show would move me but today's episode has surely done so because a loving couple has to be separated by this senseless war.

I used to hate the Japanese too after hearing so much of their atrocity during the 3 years and 8 months of their terror act in Malaya. But having seen and read more, even from the accounts of the Japanese themselves, it seems the regular soldiers were also victims of the war they wanted so much to end. Their only mistake could very well be their patriotism, probably very much in the same breath as the jihad spirit of the terrorists who gunned down the innocents in Mumbai.

Why has the human spirit taken a backseat in all this brutality?