Mid-Week Something
I mentioned that I was a part of a party cheonging disco last Wednesday night. It was a silly thing we did, and I thought I should document it down anyway.
Just to make myself remember what a silly thing it was.
It was the eve of our National Day, and I was invited to a church member's place for dinner. Nice home with a "guy's room". He used to be a DJ and he has all these turn-tables, and speakers and what-have-yous in his house. It was nice fun, just dinner and meeting people.
Then I head on down to +Power House+ at +St James Power Station+. The idea was to have a good time, because JH can sign us in as members. Upon reaching the place, there was a snake queue outside the disco. JH can't get us in, so we decided to join the queue for non-members.
Big mistake.
We queue inline outside the club for one and a half hour before we get to go in. In my heart, I was just grumbling, "This is madness! People are actually willing to wait for this long just to get into the club. This is ridiculous!" But by the time I got all flustered inside, we were 70% in the queue, and because I have two companions with me, and JH is waiting inside the club for us, we hang on.
After everything, we realised we should've just went home or go somewhere else instead of staying in the queue. However, we know that a friend is in there waiting for us, so we didn't do it. But if it's going to happen again next time, I am definitely not going to be in line. It's just madness. And lotsa sillyness. And stupidity.
Went to watch +"881"+ tonight.
(In fact, I've also watched "The Simpsons" last week, but didn't post it. Not to say that it's a bad movie, it was really funny. There's no limitation to a story when it's animated. I totally enjoyed it.)
So yep. Went to watch "881" because I'm very intrigued by the title and what is the movie about, and also, because Royston Tan is somehow related to P. He used to be her classmate.
It's a good movie. Brought out the essence of Getai shows that happens during the Chinese Hungry Ghost Festival every year. What I particularly like about the story is that it totally reflects the kind of "law" that is unwritten in the Chinese culture. Like you should help one another, that you shouldn't badmouth another person, and important things such as loyalty. Also the various Hokkien songs that were sung in the show brought back childhood memories when Getai were a form of free entertainment for us heartlanders, and opportunities for us kids to checkout cheap toys sold by the tidbits seller by the roadside.
However, it carries one common trait that flows through all Singaporean movies. Somehow, local directors like to drag their story in some scenes. It's something that always baffles me. I understand that they want to use the spaces, the silences, to illustrate the intensity of that particular moment. But it's really overuse, such that the audience loses interest in what the director is trying to say. They really ought to cut in after a certain amount of time, and allow the audience to make up their own ending to that particular scene.
If you do not mind the raw way in some part of the story (very heartlander, very ahlian-ahhuay, ahbeng-ahseng +See TalkingCock.com for explanation of these characters+), you may enjoy learning a thing or two about Getai.
Oh, it's true. The costumes of the singers are pretty fanciful! Some are really, really beautiful, while others are seriously over the top. The costume designer does deserve a mention or two if there are ever any award to be given to costume designs in any movie awards.
Ah... It will be Wednesday tomorrow... So fast huh?
Just to make myself remember what a silly thing it was.
It was the eve of our National Day, and I was invited to a church member's place for dinner. Nice home with a "guy's room". He used to be a DJ and he has all these turn-tables, and speakers and what-have-yous in his house. It was nice fun, just dinner and meeting people.
Then I head on down to +Power House+ at +St James Power Station+. The idea was to have a good time, because JH can sign us in as members. Upon reaching the place, there was a snake queue outside the disco. JH can't get us in, so we decided to join the queue for non-members.
Big mistake.
We queue inline outside the club for one and a half hour before we get to go in. In my heart, I was just grumbling, "This is madness! People are actually willing to wait for this long just to get into the club. This is ridiculous!" But by the time I got all flustered inside, we were 70% in the queue, and because I have two companions with me, and JH is waiting inside the club for us, we hang on.
After everything, we realised we should've just went home or go somewhere else instead of staying in the queue. However, we know that a friend is in there waiting for us, so we didn't do it. But if it's going to happen again next time, I am definitely not going to be in line. It's just madness. And lotsa sillyness. And stupidity.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Went to watch +"881"+ tonight.(In fact, I've also watched "The Simpsons" last week, but didn't post it. Not to say that it's a bad movie, it was really funny. There's no limitation to a story when it's animated. I totally enjoyed it.)
So yep. Went to watch "881" because I'm very intrigued by the title and what is the movie about, and also, because Royston Tan is somehow related to P. He used to be her classmate.
It's a good movie. Brought out the essence of Getai shows that happens during the Chinese Hungry Ghost Festival every year. What I particularly like about the story is that it totally reflects the kind of "law" that is unwritten in the Chinese culture. Like you should help one another, that you shouldn't badmouth another person, and important things such as loyalty. Also the various Hokkien songs that were sung in the show brought back childhood memories when Getai were a form of free entertainment for us heartlanders, and opportunities for us kids to checkout cheap toys sold by the tidbits seller by the roadside.
However, it carries one common trait that flows through all Singaporean movies. Somehow, local directors like to drag their story in some scenes. It's something that always baffles me. I understand that they want to use the spaces, the silences, to illustrate the intensity of that particular moment. But it's really overuse, such that the audience loses interest in what the director is trying to say. They really ought to cut in after a certain amount of time, and allow the audience to make up their own ending to that particular scene.
If you do not mind the raw way in some part of the story (very heartlander, very ahlian-ahhuay, ahbeng-ahseng +See TalkingCock.com for explanation of these characters+), you may enjoy learning a thing or two about Getai.
Oh, it's true. The costumes of the singers are pretty fanciful! Some are really, really beautiful, while others are seriously over the top. The costume designer does deserve a mention or two if there are ever any award to be given to costume designs in any movie awards.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Ah... It will be Wednesday tomorrow... So fast huh?
Labels: life in Singapore, movie
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home