In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.


Back home, safe and sound.

For those of you who haven't found out by now, I'm back in Singapore. The weather is wet and humid, but bearable, unke the first time I came back after my first semester in Sydney (1997).

Life is good. I was suffering from a minor case of creative paralysis when I got struck by an idea yesterday. Thank God for that. I was walking on the streets when it came to me. It's a film idea... another romance. I immediately went to a cafe in Bugis and wrote the entire screenplay. I finished it before nightfall and typed it up this morning. I feel it's a really good one. Really excited about this one. This is real inspiration.

Things in Singapore are also looking to be better among my friends. I guess things work out if you have faith. Too many people still lack faith. Some more than others. But then, if you don't even have simple faith, what else have you got?

Anyway, that's all I care to share for now. See you guys around.

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam

In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.


A tree in St. Kilda.

Finally, finally finished ALL MY EDITING WORK!!! Woohoo! Now got more work to do - packing up my bags and boxes. Life is crazy. One thing finishes and another begins.

Anyway, I have some free time now so I'll just blabber on.

Movies that I intend to watch on the cinema screen: In The Cut and Runaway Jury. DVDs I want to collect: Wong Kar-wai's Happy Together and Days of Being Wild, Fellini's Otto e Mezzo, Zhang Yimou's Raise the Red Lantern... actually, there are too many DVDs to name. Sure, these DVDs are readily available anywhere... the NTSC versions only. American are idiots. They should change their video system to PAL, which is better quality and easier to handle anyway. It's no wonder that their DVDs (in US) are so expensive.

My mum's birthday was yesterday. I wanted to call her at night. So what happened was I took my wallet and headed downstairs to the payphone (cheaper). I used my international prepaid calling card to call... only to find out I've run out of credit. Tough luck. It was 10pm at night. The shops are definitely closed. Oh well.

Happy birthday, mum. You're still young, and don't worry, I won't tell anyone your age.

Tomorrow, I'll be going to St. Kilda Beach with Cloris. Hopefully it will be a really sunny day. I used to be able to predict the weather. Somehow, I had a good reading of the clouds. But nowadays, I can't seem to get it right. It was real sunny towards the end of last week. But now, it's cloudy all over again. Sigh.

I'll post some new photos up soon. I'm going to enjoy the rest of this first day of rest.

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam.

In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.


A view to miss soon.

Moving out of my apartment this week for good. Going to look for another place when I come back. Meawhile, I'm trying to get the details down for a prospective film in Singapore. It will be down-scaled. Need to do some shopping before I go back.

I got a headache today because my left eye is sore. I don't know why but it suddenly went a little red last night. Cloris had to put a little eyedrop solution in my eye - thanks to Marcus and Liana, I actually have eyedrops in the house. But it still aches a little. I guess all that editing work is getting to me.

I spent nearly the whole of last night editing the video. I had to wear sunglasses while staring at three monitors in the dark. I had come up with this idea of using sunglasses while working for long hours in front of the computer when I was in high school. Back then, I was always writing and writing non-stop. Even at night, when everyone else was asleep, I stayed up in attempt to write a novel. My eyes hurt then, so I used my sunglasses when I work on the computer...

Anyway, gotta go now. Got photos to collect later.

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam

In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.


A flower for her.

The picture above is an example of one taken with a camera of which lens has severe spherical aberrations. See how the blurred parts seem smeared in a round pattern surrounding the centre of the photo? That's called a spherical aberration.

I suppose I get what I pay for - you pays your moneys, you gets your goods. It was a cheap camera, with cheap developing. But overall, the images are still quite good. Luckily, I do know a little photography.

It's still spring. Cloris and I are having a great time except for the occasional oops. In any case, we're learning a lot more about each other now. It's really a new thing to me since all past experiences in relationships are irrelevant.

Finally done all of my assignments. That stupid monster report on cars was almost the death of me. I don't give a hoot about cars, really. And no, don't tell me that I'll be working for a corporate in an office and this is the kind of report I would expect to do. Sorry, no. I'm a lot more passionate about life than that. I really don't think it's a question of practicalities anyway.

Sorry, I'm all over the place here. If you don't understand, don't worry too much about it.

Apparently, my new video Transform, which was made for one of the students at RMIT Fashion design, was a big hit with the faculty. I haven't even finished the second video they already hired me to do earlier, but now another student wants to pay me to do another personal video. I guess once I get the ball rolling for my editing work, I can expect more jobs. Frankly, I think Transform is so-so only. The cameraman wasn't doing his best when he shot the video (whoever he is). Plus, I've had to work with just as much footage as I put on in the final cut. Well, in industry terms, the video would be considered un-salvageable.

For those who don't know by now, I'm a video editor and have been editing for a long while now. It's the first step I took towards filmmaking in general. So far, most of the people who've hired me for editing jobs like my work. The job I got from the RMIT Fashion Design was the result of one of the videos I made for PLUCK, a TV program for Channel 31. I think people like my work only because I charge them really cheap (the price of 3 gourmet restaurant meals a day). Others usually go for AUD 30.00 to AUD 40.00 per hour. Well, I did once put up a sign in the office saying "Will edit for food."

I've put up a sign in my faculty magazine's office - "Will write for food." I wonder if I'll get any writing jobs.

By the way, Mr. John Chiong and Miss Deanna Poon are getting married today. Congratulations to them! May they have a blessed marriage.

Things are getting better and better every month. I really thank God for all this. It is truly a blessing that I am here in the first place. He really did remember me. I also admire my parents for putting up with all my nonsense. they work really hard to send me here. And my friends, whose constant moral support have been exactly the kind I could depend on. And my little piggy, who I can now share my happiness with.

To my friends and those who are having a hard time: Every day is a new beginning. It's okay to remember, but try to forgive and move on to the next day. We may win or we may lose. But the point is that we move on. Anger and blame has no place in your hearts. Have faith. He knows our woes.

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam

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Technical notes: film - FujiFilm Velvia, format - 120 roll film, process - E6, camera - Ricohflex Super, aperture - F/3.5, shutter speed - 1/60s, focal length - 80mm.

In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.


Genshi menu: lamb leg and vegetables au gratin

I suppose cooking for just one person (myself) is one of the things I like about living alone. Sometimes, when it comes to cooking, I become rather passionate. Even the presentation must be good. In any case, last night's lamb and veggies au gratin (white sauce) is one of the best I've come up with. It's better than my Japanese food. Lagi shiok sial! Cost: Not sure, but definitely under AUD 7.00 for the entire platter. Food needn't be expensive to be good. You just need to know how to cook it properly and in well-spiced extra virgin olive oil.

I admit that I was really hungry because I didn't eat lunch yesterday. But it was still good, I believe. Cloris tried it and said it was nice. The only thing was that I put too much chilli in it (cut red chilli). It's meant for the decoration and some mild spice but it turned out to be too hot. It's weird because I bought the same chilli from the same Safeway supermarket last week and it wasn't very hot at all. Must be a different emulsion - uh, I mean, different batch of chilli. Ha ha.

The sauce is otherwise my favorite part of the meal. It's a secret sauce so I can't tell anyone the ingredients. Very simple, yet it's something no one would think of. It's not too overwhelming, but it's not too light. Rather, it's got a nice little blend. Tasting it gives me the feeling of a late night dinner in a St. Germain-des-Pres cafZ . At the same time, I kept imagining I was having a humble but wholesome meal after a hard day's work along Via Veneto. I also think of old jazz and 50s European ballades. Lots of emotions on one plate.

The vegetables were pretty decent, except for the potatoes, of which were too many and boiled for too long (and therefore too mushy). Other than that, I managed to pull of a pretty decent combination of mushrooms, tomatoes, broccoli, yellow peppers and red chillies... all fried in the same pan (yes, including the already-boiled potatoes).

Now the lamb - medium-well, marinated in white wine, pesto sauce, sundried tomato sauce, garlic and seasoned with black pepper and oregano herbs. I could afford to use lots of ingredients here because the strong smell of lamb could hold its own in terms of taste. Net result: the gastronomic assault of the senses! On top of the lamb are whole basil leaves, meant for decoration, though I actually managed to taste it in the lamb.

Now, this may seem like a lot of work. But I actually did the whole plate in 30 minutes. Most other days, I cook for more than an hour (for one person!). The nicest touch I did was to put everything on a steel platter (not silver), which I bought for just AUD 4.95.

The last time I did this well was when I cooked pork shin with lemon-honey sauce topped with caviar. But that was too expensive and took more than an hour, though it tasted just as good as last night's lamb leg.

Although lamb was order of the day, there was little fat involved. I checked before buying. There was just a sliver of it, which melted alway into the gravy. Olive oil is also healthier than regular corn or vegetable oil. And I made sure I used as little as possible anyway. There was enough pesto in the lamb. The main flavours of the meal came from the vegetables, actually, which soaked into the white sauce. Really, it was a meal of a myriad of emotions, full of colours and flavour.

Anyway, all this cooking got me thinking about last year when I was considering being a chef as one of the career choices available to me. I also wonder about the few times my mum mentioned of starting a cafZ of sorts, in which lunches and dinners were available on certain days. I wouldn't mind cooking for that cafZ, you know.

But between cinema and food, I chose cinema. My guess is that either way, I would do pretty decently.

So what was the factor that made me eventually choose film-making? Well, looking back now, I don't particularly yearn too much to be a chef. Whereas, if I chose to be a chef, I might really yearn to make films. Film-making ended up to be something that I liked more.

The more films I watch, the more I'm inspired to make films. I just saw Stephen Kwan's Rouge and Wong Kar-Wai's Happy Together during the weekend. They were having a memorial of sorts: The Screen Life of Leslie Cheung. They were both very good films. Rouge was particularly touching, appealing to me more, though it was much less experimental than the existential Happy Together, even though I very much like Wong Kar-Wai's overall dramatic visual style.

The aesthetics of film-making can be applied to cooking, I believe. Like Wong Kar-Wai's films, food must look visually stunning on the outside and taste tantalizing (multi-laterally) on the inside. Yet at the same time, food can be just one part of a whole - never telling the full story. There is always something in the meal, common to all of the finest foods, that no one else can ever figure out. Each bit is a part of something that is not present, a taste left hanging so the consumer would always ask for more...

Anyway, I've chattered long enough. I hope you all have a fantastic dinner sometime soon. If you cook, just remember one thing: the best seasoning you can prepare any food with is love. :D

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam

In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.


Roleplaying a little differently.

This picture has got nothing to do with what I'm about to say.

Yesterday - November 7th - was a beautiful spring day. Soft light, slight breeze. It is the season of beginnings. A season of new love, like the freshness of a flower blossoming.

Love would touch many people in spring. It would move their hearts with such tenderness, like the calming of a raging storm.

Up until yesterday, I didn't think that it would happen to me like this. But I asked her and she said 'yes'. We were basking in Melbourne University's beautiful South Lawn. Lots of things were said. Lots of things undecided. But we were happy. The kind of happiness daisy rings surround (a Genshi original from days long passed).

I didn't find love. Love found me.

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam.