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


Somewhere in the Dandenongs.

I went to school today. Everything is normal. At about 2pm, I left because I finished early. I reached home and decidedly took a nap, waking up late for kendo. I went anyway, but just to watch this time. Because there was an annual general meeting after that. I wanted to see for myself what happened in these meetings.

Fairly unremarkable day. I caught two more films in the last week: Chen Kaige's Temptress Moon and also the film The Soong Sisters. Both are pretty okay only. Regarding Temptress Moon, I had expected a little too much from Chen Kaige this time, after watching The Emperor and the Assassin and the amazing Farewell, My Concubine. The Soong Sisters proved to be more interesting, though quite lacking in visual style and cinematography. I wonder if the director was there in the cutting room during post.

Anyway, oyasumi. I'm pretty tired.

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam.

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


Michael Caine as Thomas Fowler in The Quiet American.

Playing chess against my Mac is no mean feat. Winning is even less so. For over a year now I've never won the computer. But last night, I was going to win. Enjoying my victory, I decided to toy with the only piece from its side left: the King piece, of course. When I finally decide to go in for the kill and add my name to the winning credits for the first time, the stupid chess program shut down on its own.

(Current expression as per Michael Caine above.)

"Huh! Spoil-sport! Cheat me of my victory! I will crush you like a cockroach! Argh!"

*pouts*

God has punished me for my arrogance.

Anyway...

Not long ago, I saw The Quiet American. It is a quiet film in that here in Melbourne, it has been under-stated. I think it's a pretty good film to watch, despite my bias against Brendan Fraser (which is another story altogether).

The story follows an aged Thomas Fowler (Michael Caine), a cynical British correspondent (or just a reporter, so Fowler himeself insists) in Vietnam during the French-Indochinese War. Fowler has a young and beautiful (and I must say she is really beautiful) Vietnamese mistress called Phuong, an ex-taxi dancer (girls whom you pay to dance with you in a nightclub) from a bar called l'Arc en Ciel in Saigon.

In steps the young and supposedly handsome American Alden Pyle (Brendan Fraser), a newcomer to Vietnam who falls totally in love with Phuong.

The three principal characters are thrown in a whirlwind of emotions that measures against the French Indochinese War. It is a story of friendship, deception and ultimate betrayal.

I won't further describe this film. You should watch it. It's one of the better recent American films that I've been able to catch recently. Watch it, if you like films that are very much based on characters.

For those who don't know modern Vietnamese history: I studied it in high school. Vietnam had two wars with the Western powers. Most people will remember the Vietnam War of the 60s and 70s. Actually, that's the second war. Before that was the French-Indochinese War of the 50s.

The Japan Festival at Box Hill is coming in mid-May. Very interesting. I'm definitely going. See if I can find any cheap traditional clothes there.

Speaking of which, my dad just came back from Tokyo on a business trip. He sent my sis and me a digital photo of him, his brother and a Japanese business associate from a pre-bath meal at some bath house. They were wearing the yukata, a kind of light summer-kimono. Ha... so lucky! I can't show you the pic because my dad has a policy of not showing his face on the internet. This website is sponsored by him anyway.

Sorry about the long post today.

One last thing: It's quite sad to lose someone so important. We all make mistakes sometimes. But things will be even worse if we continue to make those same mistakes. It will also be just as bad if we dwell on such things. So the best thing is to forgive each other and move on. To hope for the best. We're still so young after all. God has so much more in store for us.

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam.

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


New photo section: The Lonely Eye.

I'm beginning to have fun with my $20 Ricohflex camera. Yes, folks, it's even cheaper than a Holga. To think I had it for so long and have not taken it seriously.

Anyway, as you read in the caption above, I've added a new dimension to this site: The Lonely Eye. It is an ongoing series of portraits that I've dedicated to for this year (so that I won't waste money taking anything else). The idea is to understand the relationship between people-subjects and the lens, I think.

For my portraits, I do intend to take more posed shots instead of candids. I know that, right now, my portraiture is quite horrible. I mean, what kind of photographer doesn't take portraits anyway, whether professional or amateur?

What I learnt so far is that portrait requires special care in terms of lighting and exposure. Diffused lighting is preferable. The subject's eyes and the areas round them are the most important part of the face. The focus point is best placed on the eye. It is also always good to catch 'eye-light' when possible. And, like any other form of photography, composition is all-important. Use 50mm or 85mm lenses so you get minimal angle distortion. Don't use films that are too saturated (anything under 100ASA). No 'dutch', please. Try not to expose colour film too long - the longer the exposure, the more saturated the colours. Oversaturation is bad for skintones. Therefore, don't be afraid to use film speeds like 160ASA and 400ASA.

Phew! These are not rules I live by for portrait-photography. These are guidelines that actually work, stuff that I've learnt by practicing.

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam.

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


Brigitte Lin and Takeshi Kaneshiro in Wong Kar-Wai's Chungking Express.

Happy Easter! Yoo hoo! I actually bought a Cadbury Easter egg. Simply because it's yummy. I didn't hide it. I just went straight home to eat it. In any case, yes, it was quite nice.

I'm killing time here. I'm going to watch The Passion of Christ (finally) at 9.00pm. In between, I really don't have anything to do, so here I am at the internet cafe, with Cloris just across the street working in an Italian cafe.

Some weeks ago, I saw Lawrence of Arabia in its entirety for the first time. It's really very good. The ratio of good films in the past is higher than that of those today. Everything now is so cliche, you know.

Anyway, on top of this, I've been watching all sorts of HK films. I think I'm beginning to understand how to appreciate them and not to simply dismiss them as cheesy. Works like The Bride with the White Hair may first look like some excuse for sex and violence, but actually, I think there is a lot of soul in the characters.

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam.

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


Self-portrait. Aspect ratio - 1.85:1

Moved into my new apartment 1 week ago. Very nice place.

Easter is next week. Time to get things moving. Actually, it was probably time to get moving long ago. Anyway, how's life, everyone?

I lost weight recently because I've been saving money on food. I haven't been able to cook at home recently so I'd have to go out and eat or take home every night, which is pretty damn pricey.

I know He is always with me. But recently, Something's been going on in my subconscious (so to speak). A certain kind of anxiousness. I have yet to find out what this is, but I'm sure the Lord will make good of it. Maybe I'm getting to serious about things here. It is getting easier to get angry of things nowadays. I just see so much wrong on the streets. I'm trying hard to see good things, the kind of things that confirms God's existence and relevance. Perhaps now is a time of testing again. In any case, since I know this, I know that God has already brought me to victory. I guess I just have to get used to it.

Sometimes, I think I have only just enough faith to save myself. It takes up so much of my own spirituality to maintain my faith that now when I try to share my faith with others, I begin to stumble a little. Perhaps this is why, compared to others, I'm still pretty much a loner, though that doesn't mean I'm lonely.

In the meantime, school's fine. We just visited The Age (Melbourne newspaper) today. Quite an interesting tour of the offices. Don't know if you know much about what's going on here at the moment. The biggest news recently is the gang warfare going on in the inner city suburbs. Two nights ago, a man got shot in a pub near Cloris' place. It's the 24th of a long line of shootings. All the victims are related to one of the two main rival gangs. It's a real feud, like the 1930s Chicago days.

People still get shot nowadays.

Some of my still photography film got chewed up at the lab today. So much for taking portraits of my family members. In any case, it turns out that it would still have been underexposed, especially those exposures taken without the lightmeter. Someone chided me for using a lightmeter. They said that all forms of lightmetering (including those that exist in auto-exposure cameras) are cheating techniques and therefore should not be used in terms of learning photography. I find this ridiculous. I don't know a single person that doesn't use some form of lightmetering for their photography. On top of that, I, for one, am not going to waste precious film for under/over-exposure.

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam.