I love this picture I took on the job. A paper plane expert was giving a workshop on paper plane making and at the end of it he got everyone to throw their planes together, letting loose a paper blitzkrieg and, unsurprisingly, a hall of screaming, running and frightening-hyper kids. That anarchy was a picture-perfect opportunity but I wasn't prepared for it at all. The batteries in the flash were almost flat, my focus failed to keep up with the supersonic kids, launching their imaginary B-52s and F-15s before darting off to pick up another that crashed nearby. Camera at waist-level to avoid shy faces taking flight, I fired away, anxious I might not get any good shots. That will inevitably lead to me getting a good ear lashing from the Boss. No, I'm kidding. But I'm happy with this one. I can explain away, i mean, photoshop away the blur.
A couple of unfamiliar songs into concert, the crowd went wild as Ash played onen nof their early hits, Kung Fu. Lulu and Kenny started hopping like bunnies on amphetamines to the music. It's not just the beer they downed earlier that caused such ecstacy. Lulu seemed really happy Ash came back--ten years ago he was still too young to see them perform in Zouk.
The turnout for that humid night was pathetic for a band like Ash. Maybe it's the expensive tickets. Maybe people forgot about them. Or maybe it's just Thursday night, and I felt silly in my leather shoes, which got stamped on by slam-dancing teens, and worried if I could get up for work the next morning.
To be sure, Ash still rocked--in a way most has-been bands can only dream of. (What happened to the the opening act Fishtank--which used to be one of THE local ska bands--is a case in point.) Ash played their brand of pop-punk (whatever you call it) with such dynamite that is unmistakably emblematic of youth. Who can forget the anthemic "Girl from Mars"?
And if Youth were simply reckless adventure, it certainly had left us slowly and surely. Gatecrashing no longer seem to excite us, even though we got into the venue through the wrong entrance with no security in sight. I couldn't believe we even dutifully made our way to the door and gave our tickets.Some things never change though, we'd rather walk a good distance than pay for the rip-off beer at the beerfest.
Not wanting to waste my time at a good gig, I didn't rue the passage of youth for very long. As Tim Wheeler ripped through the riffs of Goldfinger, I flung my heavy bag to Kenny, looked Lulu in the eye, threw myself over his shoulders and into the moshpit.
Met up with wax to get my birthday present-Radiohead's best-of collection. As we drove down the familiar bends behind NUS for our favourite duck rice, I fiddled with the camera in my hands. Tried to get a shot of the raindrops on the windscreen with light bouncing off from the tail-lights. This was as interesting a shot as I could get.
Saturday afternoon. A few hours before work. No spa weekend. Twenty-two floors above at a travel photo talk. It made me yearn for my blueberry moment, y'know that movie where Norah Jones left New York for Memphis on a whim. We left before it ended, Faye and I. While she's at the ladies I soaked in this magnificent cityscape twenty-two floors below. No this ain't New York, but where's Memphis?
Addendum-sigh, Jake said my blueberry moment may never come. Foucaldian anopticons, systems, complacency... whatever. How strange to find an interesting colleague only to see him leave so soon.
Today I attended my first ever editorial meeting. She looked sheepish as the chief editor fired off trenchant criticisms as she presented the articles in the upcoming issue. I've yet to write my first article, but I imagine how it would feel to have the chief read the first sentence of my first paragraph and remark sardonically: "Hello? Run out of vocab ah?"
As we sat on the posh leather lean-back seats in the picturehouse theatre, ah tan, jo, j-ho and i started gushing about the fabulous deal j-ho got for us tonight. for a mere twelve bucks, we were able to stand first in the buffet line for a delightful spread of local dishes that included very delicious curry chicken in the vip lobby, with second helpings to boot!
kiasu hounds we may be, we were not there solely for the pre-reception food. the main attraction of the event - opening night of the 8th asian film symposium organised by the substation - is the back-to-back lineup of two asian films, 'kawaii' and 'lovers on the road'.
both films fall somewhere in the seldom trodden reaches of the love genre. in 'kawaii', a japanese man and a taiwanese woman come togther for a transient relationship on a roadtrip to another town in taiwan. 'lovers on the road' continues the underlying theme of travel; a hongkong couple relocates in beijing in this long-drawn break-up movie in which separation is painfully inevitable. boy doesn't meet girl and live happily ever after. i'd prefer happy endings, but the whimsical travel scenes worked for me anyway.
it is a pity the theatre was not fully booked. it was an enjoyable sunday night of films. at least there wasn't a crowd jostling for the buffet.
check out the rest of the programmes at the substation website.
