As Chinese New Year comes a-calling, there will be little updates on this blog. Instead, more time will be spent with friends and family admist the food and laughter. That’s how it should be anyway.
I’ll be back whenever I’ll be back.
In the meantime, Gong Xi Fa Chai and may this year bring you much health, weath and prosperity!!!
I don’t know about you guys but I happen to have very kay-poh relatives, especially on Mum’s side. These are the very same people who told Mum that there was no point in sending me abroad to do my MA simply because an educated woman is as good as a spinster. =.=
I dread visiting her side of the family mainly because of all the intrusive comments and questions they frequently make and excuse it to them being concern. Half of the time, I think they do it just to get some little satisfaction out of belittling others who are leading a different life from their children.
I don’t know why. Honestly.
The dialogue stills my heart even after all these years.
I don’t know why I’m drawn to the tale of a courtesan facing the Inquisition on the charges of witchcraft; a courtesan who could not have the man she loved through wedlock but only through whoring; a courtesan, beautiful and educated, a far cry from the common woman in Venice then.
I had no idea why I bought this at my regular DVD store. Perhaps it was because Nil said it was a French film. (Oddly enough, I am now into French films. Probably has something to do with my French classes and the constant reminders I get about my boyfriend not being Asian.) Anyway, Nil did warn me that this film was going to be a strange watch. “Even the comic is strange.” Well, he used the word “weird” to be more precise.
Yes, Immortel is based on Enki Bilal’s comic book “La foire aux immortels” and is one of the first few films to be shot in front of a blue- or green screens. Other films to have had that privilege would include “Sin City”, “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow” and “Casshern”. Despite it French-made, the dialogue is almost entirely in English with several scenes in Egyptian and French.
The year is 2095 and the place? New York city. (Why not Paris?*) Humans and aliens walk the streets of the city and it would appear that arming yourself with prosthetic faces and limbs are the in-thing now despite anti-eugenics hollers and chants. By eugenics here, I don’t mean Darwin’s theory of selective breeding (as per Wikipedia) but more towards the enhancement of human beings with ‘stuff’ – a fake face, lungs made in China, steel legs, spiky nail-like appendages called fingers and so forth. Politicians are having a rough time with these anti-eugenic guys and the sudden appearance of a pyramid above the city, not to mention a range of other things.
Over the weekend, Nil and I managed to catch the locally made Cantonese film entitled “The 3rd Generation” starring Nicholas Teo, Carmen Soo and Amber Chia. You see, after having watched all three of its trailers online, I decided to go against my better judgment and drag Nil to what I thought would be an ‘eye-opener’ film for him. That whole “get to know my Chinese heritage better”.
At the end of the film, I swear it was more like “get to know boredom better the Malaysian way”.
The story, which revolved around the Chinese saying of how wealth obtained in the first two generations could never pass the ill-fated 3rd generation, focuses itself on a family of supposedly rich Chinese merchants who had made it big in Malaysia during the first initial waves of migration. Specifically the story of Charlie, the only son and thus, the heir apparent of his father’s ‘empire’. Now, how rich is rich exactly? Let’s just say that they were rich enough to have a road named after their forefather(s) and send two children abroad for a long overseas education. Bear in mind that money back then was unlike money now. To continue with the story, the children, like most of today and yesterday, come home all totally soaked in Western culture and ready – half-heartedly or otherwise – to perform their filial duty as Chinese children stereotypically do.
It’s hard when you’re a subeditor trained to pick out the smallest of errors (which I miss sometimes – don’t ask!). It’s worse when it’s error-riddled prose coupled with oddly worded arguments. If it is flowery prose, I don’t mind. I kind of like how words flow together sometimes. After all, language is living.
So if I don’t mind, why blog about it?
Let’s just put it this way.
It’s red. It’s doggy-ish. It’s golden too!
Make no mistake about it.
Chinese New Year is coming soon!
Yup folks…after about a week of trying to put together a workable template with a header that I can be proud of, I’m glad to unveil the new look for this blog just to celebrate the coming Chinese New Year.
This template will remain up until the end of the 15th day of CNY, to which I’ll resort back to my regular blog design (but this time, with a new doggy-like header!).
In the mean time, enjoy the festive look and pardon the lack of proper navigation around the site!
Have decided to see if my personality has changed over the past two years. Feel free to try out the test here.
2003′s personality test
The scorecard:
Your Type is ENFJ.
Strength of the preferences:
Extroverted 1%
Intuitive 22%
Feeling 67%
Judging 78%You are:
Slightly expressed extrovert
Slightly expressed intuitive personality
Distinctively expressed feeling personality
Very expressed judging personalityThe definition of an ENFJ
ENFJs are the benevolent ‘pedagogues’ of humanity. They have tremendous charisma by which many are drawn into their nurturant tutelage and/or grand schemes. Many ENFJs have tremendous power to manipulate others with their phenomenal interpersonal skills and unique salesmanship. But it’s usually not meant as manipulation — ENFJs generally believe in their dreams, and see themselves as helpers and enablers, which they usually are.ENFJs are global learners. They see the big picture. The ENFJs focus is expansive. Some can juggle an amazing number of responsibilities or projects simultaneously. Many ENFJs have tremendous entrepreneurial ability.
ENFJs are, by definition, Js, with whom we associate organization and decisiveness. But they don’t resemble the SJs or even the NTJs in organization of the environment nor occasional recalcitrance. ENFJs are organized in the arena of interpersonal affairs. Their offices may or may not be cluttered, but their conclusions (reached through feelings) about people and motives are drawn much more quickly and are more resilient than those of their NFP counterparts.
ENFJs know and appreciate people. Like most NFs, (and Feelers in general), they are apt to neglect themselves and their own needs for the needs of others. They have thinner psychological boundaries than most, and are at risk for being hurt or even abused by less sensitive people. ENFJs often take on more of the burdens of others than they can bear.
TRADEMARK: “The first shall be last”
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