I have seen you many times, Mr Jeyaratnam, or may I affectionately call you Mr JBJ. I have seen you on the streets, waving your book and party newsletter in front of me. The last time I saw you in person was almost two years ago.
Even until the day you fell, never once did you give up.
It is a sad day for all Singaporeans. Look beyond the exhilaration of Formula One. Singapore has just lost one of her most hardworking sons.
Even though I do not believe in what you preach, I express my heartfelt admiration for your persistence in what you believe in.
Actually, the focus is not on the geek but the lady on his right. She was one of the most beautiful female artistes in HK back in her heydays. I remember her pretty face clearly from 大时代 and 大话西游. But now she is no longer 大 (in terms of popularity, mind you)
According to reports, she became mentally disturbed after a visit to Singapore when she was violated by a '娱乐圈大哥' from HK. Without posting her recent picture and scaring my dearest fans, you can see her 衰样 here. My deepest sympathy to Ms Lam.
Just to sum up what she had been through. From what I understand, two of her beaus committed suicide. An old and ugly retired lawyer promised to take care of her last year. But in fact, it was just a media stance to make himself famous. Without looking into the mirror, he had even stated that she was 'old and ugly' in front of her. And now, she is abandoned and taken as a joke in HK.
What is in store for this tragic figure? I hope someone will save her from her plight soon.
I was never a fan of F1. Even now, I'm not convinced even though the race is right smack at the Little Red Dot.
But somehow as I watched on, I found the night view of Singapore looking so much nicer while the cars are battling out in the race.
The Old Parliament House, Esplanade and even the highways filled being nosy drivers looking down at the race. I just wonder why Singaporeans always brag about their visits to this city in old Europe and that town in USA when they have something closer home they should be bragging about.
Not all pastures are greener on the other side.
By the way, 24th Singapore French Film Festival will be starting on 3 Oct. If keen, please contact your fat editor( I am not referring to Alex Man). Cheers.
I first notice 李南星in the drama serial 边缘少年in 1988. I may be only 5 years old then, but I was won over by his 叛逆-ness in the show. Not to forget the scene where he literally crushed 严丙量's fingers outside the Subordinate Court.
In 1993, Li appeared in the classic "The Unbeatables" and cemented his status as the King of Caldecott Hill with his performance as 言飞. Alongside with Zoe Tay, they were the golden couple of SBC-TCS Mediacorp in the 1990s.
However, his fate took a sharp turn after his performance in "The Magnate". Not only he lost the Most Popular Male Artist award to Chen Hanwei, he appeared in mostly telemovies for the next 3 years, not before making a comeback in "The Unbeatables II".
Due to the nature of his character, he was often perceived as uninterested in his career. However, he did not give up on acting and in 2002, he mesmerised the audience with another award winning outing in 豹子胆 as an ex- convict who was caught in a dilemma on whether to seek revenge or to turn over a new leaf. Once again, 南星showed that Christopher Lee was not even close in replacing him as the King.
Earlier this year, 南星was successful in enticing tens of thousands of Singaporeans who have not tune in to Ch 8 to follow a drama serial in years with his outing in "The Golden Path". Although age has caught up with him, he certainly proved that he was not called Singapore's Chow Yuan Fatt for nothing. Who can forget the way he looked when he cycled Felicia Chin along the streets in Geylang in a particular scene? Also the way he curled his last finger when he was nearly arrested by Tay Ping Hui?
南星has disappeared from our tv screen for almost 9 months since the final episode of "The Golden Path". However, I believe that he will be back sooner or later with another unforgettable performance (not the one in "十三鞭, of course).
It's a bird...it's a plane... No! it's our very own funnyman, Henry Thiaaaa (cue Hui Ge screaming 'AH BUUUUU AHHHH' at the top of his voice).
I have always been a fan of the genre of actors who call themselves comedians. Just to mention some prominent figures that I follow religiously: Charlie (Chaplin, not Cao), Stephen Chow, Adam Sandler, Rowan Atkinson, and many of the members in the Frat Pack. Henry Thia, for his fabulous comedic timing over the years, is slowing climbing my chart of favourite comedians. Who can forget his endearing performances in the now defunct 搞笑行动? Even though his comedic skills have largely remained stagnant over the years, his performances remain sincere and certainly the personification of everything Singaporean.
Understanding again that its downright despicable to repeatedly apply the tribute theme over and over again, I will try my very best to keep my schoolboy admiration for 辉哥 in check. well, at least for the next few minutes while I get my verbal diarrhoea out of the way.
Managed to catch Money No Enough 2 even though it was released almost 1.5 months ago. Together with my regular film kaki whom I realized had "heart and intestines made of iron", it was a movie that tugged greatly at my heartstrings.
The story revolves around three brothers from a middle-income background in contemporary Singapore. The three brothers, played magnificently by Henry Thia, Mark Lee and Jack Neo (in order of merit), represented the atas, yuppy-wannabe and bo lui lang in Singapore. In the midst of making money in ingenious ways, an underlying theme of family bonds and ties made the movie so much more emotionally grounded as compared to his previous films. The three brothers had to grapple with issues of money (duh) and their Alzheimer's disease-strucked mother. Lai Ming ( usually stereotyped as 尖酸刻薄 mothers or in-laws and bearing an uncanny resemblance to my grandmother) was so convincing that I could not stop tearing whenever she was on-screen.
As much as I tried to act in accordance to the usual social stigma of appearing macho and manly in front of the other gender, the entire theater probably felt their seats trembling with my relentless sniffling and constant effort to wipe off my tears (Much to the disgust of my film kaki ). Peppered with local jokes and gags that laugh at ourselves, I am extremely glad I managed to catch it before its run ended. In general, it was a sincere performance from the cast and a great movie. The last time I heard, its making waves across the Causeway as well. Just make sure you dont watch it with someone whom you fancy lest you make a fool out of yourselves by soaking the cinema floor wet with your tears.
Just a gentle reminder, October 1st and 27th are public holidays. To fans who have stayed with us all this while, have a great and healthy week ahead. It has been a pleasure for the weekend. Till the next weekend, while I try to perfect my own rendition of 辉哥's routine grimace in the mirror.
Sworn brothers, knew each other for more than 20 years, drink at the same pub every week, worked together for almost year. Yet he was double crossed by the one he trusted wholeheartedly.
Reccently, we have received emails and letters from our fans enquiring on the identity of our guest editor and after some serious discussion, the decision is to maintain his mysterious status. However, in order not to disappoint our fans, we have decided to publish the below photo :
With the stunning demise of yet another 2 of Wall Street's "Big 5", you can really sense the world's biggest economy sinking and being gripped by fear.
It wasn't that long ago when these powerhouses were posting extraordinary profits in extraordinarily short amount of time. In the blink of an eye, those billions "earned"(USD,nt ruppiah)were being written off like you would write off liverpool's chances of winning the EPL; assets were impaired, shares and indexes plummented, ratings were slashed, credit was crunched and, after months of intense pressure, fear and ultimately, failure, the century old Bear Sterns, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch finally succumbed, hence being forever consigned to finance txtbooks as classic examples of "victims of the early 21st century's sub-prime crisis".
This week will probably pass just like any other for most of us, but take a second off to savour these historical moments in the making, because 40 years down the road, you'll have to answer your grandchildren when they ask "where were you, and what was it like back then when the legendary Bear Sterns, Lehman and Merill(and maybe AIG) fell?"
You see half dead and grumpy faces everywhere on the buses and the trains. People literally drag their feet to work. Can almost see the sides of their lips drooping all the way to the floor. what a sight. It is fascinating to see Singaporeans who are so eager to rush into the trains just to catching up on two solid and wonderful minutes of sleep. Somehow, I am always amazed at how people are able to balance on the train without holding onto any grab-holds, but yet able to catch a power nap at the same time. Better still ,how wonderful it is to have a scent of the combination of sickening sweet deodorant, sweat and gel of the man next to you who is drenched in his own sweat.
But back to Mondays. The comforting nature and magic of weekends fizzles out at the strike of 7am for me. Somewhat like a death knell, Leslie's familiar rendition of Beijing opera (my alarm) fills my room with an awful stench of dread. The ploughman readies his tools and prepares himself to stumble into that ominous week ahead. I know I am not alone on Mondays. The entire world mourns for one another, mindful of the unrelenting blues that creep into their lives at the start of the week like clockwork.
As I sip on my coffee that never seems to take effect on Mondays, I hear a familiar jingle that nobody seems to hear but me (快乐快乐烧坏，爸爸妈妈不在 NA NA NA NA NA NA~ x 48）.
I chuckled silently and the Colosseum roars into action once more. well, at least for the next five days until the magic returns again.
After winning the Malaysia Cup in 1994, Singapore was kicked out of the tournament altogether by our neighbours for involving in match fixing. Incidentally, their state clubs did not even get reprimanded at all. Well, it was a chance for us to develop our own professional league with the help of Douglas Moore, who won us our first Malaysia Cup since 1980.
12 years on, we have almost half of the league made up of feeder clubs of foreign teams. True enough, these teams have provided us the likes of Shi Jiayi, Agu, Itimi Dickson (anyone knows where he is now?), Qiu Li and also, the Sporting Afrique players who survived in Singapore with $100 per month. However, we DID NOT see the birth of another Fandi Ahmad. Not even another Tamil Marren. So what went wrong?
It has definitely got to do with the way we constructed our league. Look, a league with no relegation system is like playing zero points - if you lose, just join in the fun again! So where is the competition? How to improve if there is no competition?
I really hope that Yaya Madon can make a come back.....
To scum(chuckles)it up, following comment was heard on that fateful Saturday night: 轩 爸 (immediately after being informed of the score): "呜。。利物扑赢? 利物扑会赢的啊?"
Hopefully it won't be another 7 years b4 the nxt win over our scumiest rivals. In Rafa we trust(till the nxt flop match).
Half an hour later...
轩 爸 (coming out frm room to check FT score of later games): "呜。。Newcastle 输给那队新上来的啊。。"
*好笑*
PS: this is ur guest editor writing, after stepping away frm the scene for a while to cope with severe depression. For those who enjoyed my previous post on a certain "salty and bright biscuit", pls stay tuned for my upcoming post on another highly bemusing encounter with someone i could only describe as "despicably incompetent human". /slits forearms and gives high face
if i did spoil your ktv experience due to my outburst yesterday , i apologize for all the inconvenience caused for ruining your pleasant saturday afternoon. care to 批斗 荷兰村之辱?
On a separate note, if you have the chance, try watching I am Sam. Sean Penn as a mentally challenged father who tries to raise his daughter in his own way has earned my respect. I cant believe i took so long to watch this masterpiece.
Before I go, if you can choose your favorite retard in entertainment, who will you choose, Hoffman's Rainman, Penn's Sam or Christopher's Ah Hock?
Well, I'll personally go for Andrew Seow's 答滴. (答滴！我要特答滴！)
And that's it for this week before I start planning how to tear out 荷兰村之辱's guts. All the best for the week ahead, dear fans.
Despite of what my co-editor had said in his previous post, we do have a great time at the KTV joint yesterday. Songs from the 1990s were immensely popular during the discounted session. Renditions of songs by Jimmy Lim, Aaron Kwok, Andy Lau, Ukelele, Eason Chan and many others were performed by the inspiring babies from the 80s (though one of the participants actually fell asleep towards the end of the ordeal, and it was indeed a disrespectful act to the event).
At the end of the session, the participants actually agreed that apart from the less than desirable customer service, it was a fun afternoon outing. Kudos to all the 80s babies who turned up yesterday!
If you want to be cheated of half an hour of ktv time, and wait for drinks that took almost one solid hour after orders were taken, look no further, heres an apparently hot spot for ktv in town. Smacked right at the center of Orchard Road, shopping facilities at Heeren and a popular coffee franchise from USA are nearby.
If you want to be requested to clarify some information with another employee on your own accord and time; or to be doubted of your integrity, this is the perfect place to be. In fact, staff are trained to confuse customers by telling them all sorts of stories about drink orders. So be rest assured, if you want your ktv session with friends whom you meet infrequently to be ruined somewhat, I believe this is the place for you.
For more information, please contact editors directly. They will arrange for a STUDENT PRICE package specially for you.
How many times do we wake up in the morning asking ourselves what do we want in life? Do we want a posh apartment? A nice car? A fat paycheck? Well, I know that sometimes we just want to leave everything behind here for a well deserved vacation.
I have been working non-stop ever since I returned from Hong Kong in late May. Did I gain anything from my work apart from monetary rewards? Absolutely positive. I have learned how to survive in this world whereby a single weakness spotted will result in you being condemned for the rest of your life in this line of mine. Things are so bad that I even mistook my co-editor's jeans for mine. This is absolutely true.
I know that the readership of our blog has been falling ever since I went on a hiatus. But as long as there is one fan, I will continue to write, because this is MY dream.
Kudos to my co-editor for not giving up on me and this blog. Watch out for this space for more.
Being Singaporean is not about ancestry but rather choice and conviction. So cut those fine Singaporeans some slack!
Like Mr Tan Howe Liang, they have done something many of us cant even come close to. As a fellow Singaporean, I feel exceptionally proud of their achievements. Reckon that this is our first medal after independence, nothing can take away their choice and conviction in representing the Republic. Not you, Lee Bee Wah, and not you xenophobic Singaporeans out there.
Ask your gramps and nana where they came from and you will understand where I am coming from. ask yourself whether you felt Feng Tian Wei's pain and Li Jia Wei's agony and Tao Li's near miss. didnt you feel nothing at all? oh come on, embrace their diversity. Love their uniqueness. Feel for them. Coz that is what makes Singapore unique - Unity in Diversity. And that is all I have to say.
Congratulations Team Singapore. And thumbs down to Lee Bee Wah for being such a cold blanket.
Disclaimer: this editor is not being held at gunpoint by anyone at the time of publishing.
