The 3 Years and Beyond

2008-12-11T07:22:00.001-08:00

You have an idea
You need to believe
You want to earn your chance
You will succeed

Analogy between Finance and Evolution

2008-01-03T03:31:00.000-08:00

Interesting article. This is how you can link Darwinism to almost everything under the sun...try football clubs...but reading the article provides some important insights into the financial service industry.

The great dying
By Niall Ferguson to run thursday for friday
Published: December 14 2007 02:00 Last updated: December 14 2007 02:00

"Just as some species become extinct in nature, some new financing techniques may prove to be less successful than others."
The remark was made to the US Congress in September by Anthony Ryan, assistant Treasury secretary. Only when we know the true magnitude of the current financial crisis will we be able fully to appreciate the significance of his words.
Analogies between finance and evolution are in themselves nothing new. "The survival of the fittest" is a phrase that aggressive traders like to use. "It's Darwinian out there" is a stock utterance by hedge fund managers after an especially tough week. Back in November 2005, a conference hosted by Goldman Sachs, the investment bank, was entitled "The Evolution of Excellence".
Yet, as became clear at that gathering, when financial practitioners use such terms they seldom understand just how apposite they are. A long-run historical analysis of the development of financial services, going all the way back to the days of Charles Darwin, strongly suggests that evolutionary forces are as much at work in the realm of money as they are in the natural world.
The big question for our time is: are we on the brink of a "great dying" - one of those mass extinctions of species that have occurred periodically in the history of life on earth, such as the Cretaceous-Tertiary crisis that killed off the dinosaurs? It is a scenario that many biologists have reason to fear, as man-made climate change wreaks havoc with natural habitats around the globe. A great dying is also a scenario that financial analysts should worry about, as another man-made disaster - the subprime mortgage crisis - works its way through the global financial system.
* * *
The notion that Darwinian processes may be at work in the economy was raised by Thorstein Veblen, the Norwegian-American economist best known for his Theory of the Leisure Class , as long ago as 1898. There has been an academic journal devoted to the subject for the past 16 years, though most economists remain sceptical about the applicability of Darwin's ideas in the economic sphere. The analogy is in fact surprisingly good in the case of the financial services industry, which has many of the defining characteristics of a true evolutionary system: *"Genes", in the sense that certain business practices perform the same role as genes in biology, allowing information to be stored in the "organisational memory" and passed on from individual to individual or from company to company when a new one is created. *The potential for spontaneous "mutation", usually referred to in the economic world as innovation and primarily, though by no means always, technological. *Competition among individuals within a species for resources, with the outcomes in terms of longevity and proliferation determining which business practices persist. *A mechanism for natural selection through the market allocation of capital and human resources and the possibility of death in cases of underperformance, in other words "differential survival". *Scope for "speciation", sustaining biodiversity through the creation of wholly new "species" of financial institutions. *Scope for extinction, with species dying out altogether.
Financial history is essentially the result of institutional mutation and natural selection. Random "drift" (innovations/mutations that are not promoted by natural selection, but just happen) and "flow" (innovations/mutations that are caused when, say, American practices are adopted by Chinese banks) play a part. There can also be "co-evolution", when different financial species work and adapt together (like hedge funds and their prime brokers).
But market selection is the main driver. Financial organisms are in competition with one another for finite resources. At certain times and in certain places, certain species may become dominant. But innovations by competitor species, or the emergence of altogether new species, prevent any permanent hierarchy or monoculture from emerging. Broadly speaking, the law of the "survival of the fittest" applies. Institutions with a "selfish gene" that is good at self-replication (and self-perpetuation) will tend to endure and proliferate.
The analogy is, of course, not perfect. When one organism ingests another in the natural world, it is just eating, whereas in financial services mergers and acquisitions can lead directly to mutation. Among financial organisms, there is no counterpart to the role of sexual reproduction. Most financial mutation is deliberate, conscious innovation rather than random change. Indeed, because a company can adapt within its own lifetime to change going on around it, financial evolution (like cultural evolution) may be best described not as Darwinian but Lamarckian, after the French biologist who contended that an individual organism could acquire new and heritable traits. Still, the resemblances outnumber the differences - and evolution certainly offers a better model for understanding financial change than any other we have.
Rudolf Hilferding, the German socialist, a century ago predicted an inexorable movement towards more concentration of ownership in "financial capitalism". The conventional view of financial development does indeed see the process from the vantage point of the big survivor. In the successful company's official "family tree", numerous small companies are seen to converge over time on a common "trunk", the present-day conglomerate - the kind of giant "überbank" that Hilferding imagined would ultimately take over the entire financial system. However, this is precisely the wrong way to think about financial evolution. Over the long run, financial innovation begins at a common trunk. Over time, the trunk branches outwards as new kinds of bank and other financial institution evolve. The fact that a particular institution successfully devours smaller rivals along the way is more or less irrelevant. In the evolutionary process, animals eat one another, but that is not the driving force behind evolutionary mutation and the emergence of new species and sub-species.
The point is that economies of scale and scope are not always the driving force in financial history. More often, the real drivers are the process of speciation - when new types of company are created - and the equally recurrent process of "creative destruction" - whereby weaker companies die out or, more commonly, get "eaten".
Take the case of retail and commercial banking, where there remains considerable "biodiversity". North America and some European markets still have highly fragmented retail banking sectors. The co-operative banking sector has seen the most change, with high levels of consolidation (especially following the crisis of the 1980s surrounding the US savings and loans industry) and most institutions moving to shareholder ownership. But the only species that is now close to extinction in developed countries is the state-owned bank, as privatisation has swept the world.
In other respects, the story is one of speciation - the proliferation of new types of financial institution - which is just what we would expect in a truly evolutionary system. Many new "monoline" financial services companies have emerged in commercial banking, especially in consumer finance (for example, Capital One). A number of new "boutiques" now exist to cater to the private banking market. Direct banking (by telephone and internet) is another relatively recent and growing phenomenon throughout the developed world.
Likewise, even as giants have formed in the realm of investment banking, new and nimbler species have evolved and proliferated. Although what many recognise as the first hedge fund was established as long ago as 1949, their emergence as big players in global financial markets is a relatively recent phenomenon. In 1992 there were just 400 hedge funds, with $50bn (£24bn, €34bn) of assets under management. By the end of 2006 the number had increased more than 20-fold and assets under management by a factor of nearly 30. And by the second quarter of 2007 there were 9,767 such funds, with $1,740bn under management.
Thanks to leverage, the estimated gross investments of the five largest funds amount to around $100bn. Altogether, hedge funds now account for between one-third and a half of all trading in the US and UK equity and bond markets.
Meanwhile, there has been a somewhat smaller surge in the number of private equity partnerships and the assets they manage, while the rapidly accruing hard currency reserves of exporters of manufactured goods and energy are producing a second generation of sovereign wealth funds.
Not only are new forms of financial institution proliferating; so too are new forms of financial asset and service. In recent years, investors' appetite has grown dramatically for mortgage-backed and other asset-backed securities. The use of derivatives has also increased significantly.
In evolutionary terms, then, the financial services sector appears to be in the midst of a kind of "Cambrian explosion", with existing species flourishing and new species (such as hedge funds and private equity partnerships) increasing in number. Yes, there are giants such as Citigroup. But, as in the natural world, their existence does not preclude the evolution and continued existence of smaller species. Size is not everything, in finance as in nature.
Indeed, the very difficulties that arise as publicly owned companies become larger and more complex - the diseconomies of scale associated with bureaucracy, the pressures associated with quarterly reporting - make it very probable that new kinds of private firm will proliferate. What matters in evolution is not your size or your complexity. All that matters is that you are good at surviving and reproducing your genes. The financial equivalent is being good at generating returns on equity and generating imitators employing a similar business model. Both are easier for small firms.
* * *
Mutation and speciation have usually been evolved responses to the environment and competition, with natural selection determining which new traits become widely disseminated. However, the evolutionary process has been subject to recurrent exogenous disruptions in the form of geopolitical shocks, financial crises and regulatory interventions (or lapses). The Great Depression of the 1930s and the Great Inflation of the 1970s stand out as times of major discontinuity, with "mass extinctions" such as the bank panics during the 1930s and the Savings and Loans crisis in the 1980s.
Could something similar happen in our time? Certainly, the sharp change in credit conditions in the summer of 2007 created acute problems for some hedge fund strategies, leaving the funds vulnerable to redemptions by investors. But a more important feature of the recent credit crunch has been the pressure on banks.
More than $60bn of write-downs have so far been acknowledged by the world's leading banks, but it is widely assumed that as much as $300bn of subprime-related losses will eventually come to light. Pressure is mounting on some banks to bring the assets of other novel organisms - conduits and strategic investment vehicles - back on to their balance sheets. Yet the difficulty of pricing these assets in highly illiquid markets and the need to maintain capital adequacy are making this easier to say than to do. In Europe, for example, average bank capital is now equivalent to less than 10 per cent of assets, compared with around 25 per cent towards the beginning of the 20th century. Some banks must sooner or later choose between increasing their capital and restricting their lending.
And what of the market for mortgage-backed securities? This year's events have certainly checked the hopes of those who believed that the separation of risk origination and balance sheet management would distribute risk optimally throughout the financial system. US asset-backed issuance has collapsed since August. So has the issuance of collateralised debt obligations, another relatively novel financial life-form.
Nevertheless, the problems of the banks are simultaneously opportunities for some big hedge funds, particularly those that seized the moment to go public when stock markets were buoyant, and for sovereign wealth funds, which are acquiring stakes in big-brand banks at what seem like bargain prices.
* * *
There is, however, one big difference between nature and finance. Whereas evolution in biology takes place in the natural environment, where change is essentially random (hence the Oxford biologist Richard Dawkins's image of the blind watchmaker), evolution in financial services occurs within a regulatory framework where - to borrow a phrase from anti-Darwinian creationists - "intelligent design" plays a part.
Sudden changes to the regulatory environment are rather different from sudden changes in the macro-economic environment, which resemble environmental shifts in the natural world. The difference is that there is an element of endogeneity in regulatory changes, since those responsible are often "poachers turned gamekeepers", with a good insight into the way that the private sector works. However, the net effect is the same as climate change in biological evolution. New rules and regulations can make previously "good" traits suddenly disadvantageous. The rise and fall of the savings and loans institutions, for example, was due in large measure to changes in the regulatory environment in the US.
The primary focus of most financial regulators is to maintain stability within the sector, thereby protecting the consumers whom banks serve and the "real" economy that the industry supports. Companies in non-financial industries are neither so fundamental to the economy, nor so critical to the livelihood of the consumer. The collapse of a leading financial institution, in which retail customers lose their deposits, is an event that any regulator (and politician) wishes to avoid at all costs - a fact of which the British authorities were painfully reminded by the run this summer on Northern Rock, the mortgage bank.
An old question that has raised its head once again in recent months is how far implicit guarantees to bail out banks create a problem of "moral hazard", encouraging excessive risk-taking on the assumption that the state will intervene if an institution is considered too big - meaning too politically sensitive or too likely to bring a lot of other companies down with it - to fail. From an evolutionary perspective, however, the problem looks slightly different. It is, in fact, undesirable to have any institutions in the category of "too big to fail", because without occasional bouts of what Joseph Schumpeter, the Harvard economist, termed "creative destruction", the evolutionary process will be thwarted. Japan's experience in the 1990s stands as a warning to legislators and regulators that an entire banking sector can become a kind of economic dead hand if institutions are propped up despite underperformance.
Every shock to the financial system must result in casualties. Left to itself, "natural selection" should work fast to eliminate the weakest institutions in the market, which typically are devoured by the successful. But most crises also usher in new rules, as legislators and regulators rush to stabilise the system and protect the consumer/voter. The critical point is that the possibility of extinction cannot and should not be removed by excessively precautionary regulation.
As Schumpeter wrote more than 70 years ago: "This economic system cannot do without the ultima ratio of the complete destruction of those existences which are irretrievably associated with the hopelessly unadapted." Creative destruction, in his view, meant nothing less than the disappearance of "those firms which are unfit to live".
The coming months will determine how far, in terms of its economic impact, the current crisis is a true "ice age" as opposed to just a severe winter. It will also determine which among the world's financial groups are the dinosaurs and which are the fittest mammals. The writer is professor of history at Harvard and an FT contributing editor. The Evolution of Financial Services: Making Sense of the Past, Preparing for the Future, by Niall Ferguson and Oliver Wyman, is published today by Oliver Wyman

My failed attempt at writing a research paper

2007-11-08T16:25:00.000-08:00

It's a terribly flawed model....after a massive attempt to answer a simple classwork question. The result ended up building a model that is biased and perhaps because of suiting the model to answer an ambiguous model, I have not defined clearly what my aims are. Conversely, after properly defining my aims, I find that I am not really answering the question because it can be interpreted in many ways.

And whatever it is, I have wasted 4 hours. Many people will not attempt to think creatively because they are not willing to end up looking stupid. I just did. If you think it's excessive, you definitely belong to the type.

Q1. A successful firm like Microsoft has consistently generated large profits for years. Is this a violation of the Efficient Market Hypothesis?

Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) states that prices reflect all available information, that the market responds only to new information and it is not possible to forecast price changes.

Under a direct perspective, the generation of large profits is not a violation of the EMH. The company is able to generate great profits for years due largely to superlative business performance such as a favourable macroeconomic environment, innovations leading to new technology widely subscribed by consumers, patents and monopoly power as for the case of Microsoft.

To see whether the generation of large profits for years violates EMH, we need to test that, under the information set that of companies that consistently generate large profits for years explains higher share price, there is no arbitrage opportunity, that is, prices fully reflect the known value of firms generating large profit for years.

Formally, Ri – E[RiI] = 0 for EMH.

Following, ‘I’ can be defined as information that the discounted cashflow valuation[1] of firms provides an accurate valuation of the firm’s market price. Alternatively, ‘I’ can be defined as the knowledge that firms with higher profit margins yield a higher return on average when compared to firms with lower profit margins for a given length of time (or a number of years)[2].

After defining, we test for the validity of ‘I’ by running a regression reflective of the hypothesis of the information set. Then we proceed to calculate the abnormal returns (AR) of a firm in the given information set.

I shall elaborate on the testing using alternative information set. First, we rank a basket of companies with high profit margin to low profit margin. We shall take the top 25% as the representative companies with high profit margin yielding an average return of rHt on share price at time t. The bottom 25% will be the representative companies with low profit margin yielding an average return of rLt on share price at time t. In the basket, we shall need companies that consistently generate low profit margins or high profit margins in consecutive quarters.

Next, we run the following regression: ri = α + β(rH – rL)

Thereafter, we begin to test for cumulative abnormal profits of Microsoft shares in the above model. Parameters are estimated for α and β, and we test for the hypothesis... ...

Disclaimer: This essay is in true reflection of my ideas and do not seek to ridicule, or in any other way, understate your effort in enriching the knowledge of your students. If in any case you think the thesis of the essay is deficient, then obviously, I do not understand the question, or you need to rephrase the questions (or a third explanation is a fundamental explanatory error on my part that is not related to the thesis of the essay). However, I do agree that I attempted to refine the question. This is in most truly the product of my curiosity.
[1] DCF is based on predicted price, hence analogous to semi-strong form efficiency
[2] Similarly, this is analogous to weak form efficiency since past prices are used predict the model.

Excuse me, Where is the ATM?

2007-06-26T07:57:00.000-07:00

I met a crazy woman yesterday.

Walking into a 7-11, I asked the cashier where is the nearest ATM.

Before she could answer...a crazy woman in jogging outfit said,' She's new here. HAhahahahahAHa...'

The cashier then gave me the direction. As I turned to the crazy woman, she was already gone. So I stepped out of the shop, caught a glimpse of the crazy woman speeding off round the corner...

Sketching

2007-06-22T11:05:00.000-07:00

Script.

Black. Glass crashing...flickers to dim setting of man sweeping glasse, cans, bottles off the tabletop in a frenzied attempt as he loses his strength, sliding off and and leaning against the cupboard and quick fade to dark...quick fade in to constant flickering light...the floor was already a bloody mess...and the man thrusts a shard of glass into his arm, pierces through the flesh, the tissue, veins, arteries carrying the warmth of his lifeform...pain to cure his sorrow, angst, despondence, disillusion...flickering light reveals the expanding pool of red viscosity...in a decrescendo, the light fails for darkness and for his life.

Credits, music (piano). White screen, distant single tree bearing of golden zest and esprit. Camera roves in slightly to stop. Man enters and strolls, discovering the conglomeration of sunshine, sparkles, tone of brilliance. He walks, through the space splendid brilliance, through his space of emptiness, wanders through his unoccupied mind.

Where am I? Why is this dazzle, briliiance...

Comes a man in equally brilliance. Come my friend, you are of the free, the separation of the feeble, the embrace of light, happiness. In Heaven.

Man enters a paradise of happiness after he severes himself from the shackles of life. He is, a matter of fact, in a new world of only joy, and joyfulness. The man who welcomes him, shows him into more of this world, where 2007 years ago, all man worked an extra harder, and worked in concert with no conflict or separation in a precedence, created ideas, solutions, works that translated into machines that last a lifetime, producing abundance, supply of what anyone can ask for, an infinity of supply to an infinite want. It became no hunger, no greed, there becomes satisfaction, peace, Utopia.

Man transits into this, world of paradise, bears the joy of whom that exists to share this happiness in this infinity. Small, side stories of man exposed to this abundance of joy.

So then, it struck on him, on his existence, of the past that he severed to his present ecstasy. He remembers his sorrow, his disappointed self, the loves he had failed. He is to feel sorrow for the first time in this world but was not to occur as he could not tear. He feels a detached reference to the history and feels happiness in this paradise. After all, he has everything he has wanted, friendship, love, materials, he feels happy, or happiness, or a detached nothing, or to happiness.

He stays in the heaven of goodness. He asks fellow Men, and women, of the joy, and they share.

Then one day, he stops, he asks, he considers... there is no sorrow without happiness, no warmth without cold, no weak without bold, no sun without moon, no hate without love... ...

This is an infinity of the null in this infinity. The relevation is not in this world, this heaven, Utopia. There was the conjuring of his life, his sorrow, his misery, his cold, the darkness, the unmoving, the hated. So much was for the experience of his joy, warmth, sunshine, butterflies, love. Came a drop of tear from the slide of the eye.

The dim, the evolution, the birth, born into the world, the first cry, in the cuddle of parentage, familial love, angst of growing, first kiss, sexual ecstasy, first million, greed, non-satiation, hurt, sorrow. Man is back, his unchanged perception, in the pool of red viscosity, he cuts himself again...fade to dark.

End

2007-03-11T00:11:00.000-08:00

Life stops at waiting... but time doesn't.

Knowns & Unknowns (Or Ujloijlkjnowifhnjgno)

2007-02-26T13:35:00.000-08:00

As we know
There are known knowns
There are things we know we know.
We also know
There are known unknowns.
That is to say
We know there are some things
We do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns,
The ones we don't know
We don't know.

Prof Frank Cowell quotes Donald Rumsfeld in a Department of Defense news briefing on 12 Feb 2002 to start off the chapter on 'Information' in Microeconomics.

What an encouraging opening to the chapter...!

Warm, warm Winter

2007-01-20T09:12:00.000-08:00

ITALY
Route: Milan->Venice->Florence->Pisa->Rome->Napoli->Palermo
8days, 8ppl

SWITZERLAND
Route: Zurich->Flumserberg->Zurich
4days, Me & Snowman

EXCESS BAGGAGE THE MUSICAL
http://www.excessbaggage-themusical.com/

Videographer.
Made 2 videos as part of the show, recorded the live performance, in the midst of producing the documentary 'Making Excess Baggage The Musical'

ROOM

2006-12-01T13:02:00.000-08:00

The evening in Tango

2006-12-01T12:26:00.001-08:00

"Creator of silouettes that glide by silently
as if hypnotized by a blood-filled dream,
hats tilted over sardonic sneers.
The all-absorbing love of a tyrant,
jealously guarding his dominion
over women who have surrendered submissively,
like obedient beasts...
Sad, severe tango...
Dance of love and death..."

from 'Tango' a poem by Ricardo Güiraldes, 1911

Discovered Tango at an Argentine party...was beautiful as was the music

Liked the tango dance orchestra music, Neuvo Tango (infused with jazz and classical), Electro Tango (by Gothan project and Tango Club Bajofondo)

And also the musical element of the Bandoneon that gives an elusive and sensual sound

Now Showing: X & Y

2006-11-08T16:29:00.000-08:00

An Asian thriller produced in the good spirit of Halloween. Shot in 3 nights and edited in 2 sessions, 'the film exudes a sense of noir amidst the creepy buildings of the LSE'.

http://loosetv.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=X_%26_Y

Jet Concert

2006-11-08T16:05:00.000-08:00

Pretty encouraging...

2006-11-06T16:36:00.000-08:00

When you are passionate in what you do and people are affected...

Good times.

But passion isn't reality yet...so back to reality!

Remember Remember the Fifth of November

2006-11-04T19:01:00.000-08:00

An Episode.

2006-10-29T12:43:00.000-08:00

X & Y

An Asian thriller on the edge of murder, suicide, and a building in school that was once a morgue.

The titile. X & Y building...2 characters, X & Y...the Coldplay album X & Y...Ex & Whys?? I dunno.

Halloween was in the vicinity and I made a spontaneous decision to make a horror film on the way back home from a LooSETV Fiction meeting. Winter was coming, the wind was blowing, and the leaves were shaking down from the trees...eRRr...So, I reached home and wrote a treatment in half an hour and called up the LooSETV president to tell him my plan. He was all for it.

The next thing I did was to go for a cheesy trip to Alton towers the next day and scream for the sake of fun. I storyboarded the idea on the way with the encouragement of Zhirong and after a further draft, the script was formed and I managed to find my actresses.

Then, the shooting went for three days. Hardcore diligence and determination again and when my actress was complaining and whining away, Zola blurted out something about 'pain is temporary, what matters is the prize at the end'!

Then came editing. I have never used FinalCut before! Worse, I was using an Apple platform with all the funky features that was so awesome that they grossed me out in absoludity. Then again, I manage to build a rough cut and piece together the scenes.

There I went to find Nick 'Bang' Pauro on the same day. I blabbered soemthing about looking for Bang, my horror film and showing on Crush. The bouncer was in disbelief and he asked if I know how Nick looks like. I said I'm not sure, when Nick was just standing beside him. The bouncer whispered to him before asking me to look for security at the back.

'At the back? Where?'

No one looks for Nick if he doesnt know who he is. I came back again with Jesse. Turned out that Nick is some thrash with the thick cockney accent (or whatever it is)...I called up Sanj and passed the phone to Nick...'Speak to Sanj, Nick...' I ordered him. Then finally, I managed to screen it in Crush itself! Friday night Halloween Crush at LSE! (but while house music is blasting and everyone dancing on the stage to block out the screen.)

The after-party was a private premier at Adrian's house with all my buddies....... but Nat didnt scream at all...!

Then, I skipped all my work again to edit the film a second time. When all was done, was a hyper sense of fulfilment. Then, I called Watson to tell him that I could make it for dinner, went all the way to Chinatown, back to school to screen at Fright Night.

The scruffy Singaporeans were obviously there for a laugh at whatever ghost they could meet for the night. I screened it to them in a senseless state of mind, and had a rousing reception. I swear I heard a dozen loud-mouthed bitches blabbering away.

Hey Shuddup!

I still love my film. But back to investment banking.

And time came for an hour...

2006-10-29T12:35:00.000-08:00

I swear it's by sheer coincidence, when I was dreading how time goes so quickly, time is pushed back one hour today!

Daylight saving...how marvelous!

2006-10-28T12:01:00.000-07:00

Night comes again.

Where is time?

The Quit

2006-09-15T10:51:00.000-07:00

'The student used to learn the basic things in painting from his master only...such as mixing paint...before they even get to paint'

The art of mixing paint is really into the art of painting itself. Michaelangelo used to spent all his time preparing his paints before he even started. In fact, he spent more time preparing! The knowledge of mixing paint is important in the art in that different paints react to produce different effects on the work. It is even more important to sustain the work as the mixture is exposed to air in time. The art slowly died as paint companies become established and long gone were the heinous preparation of paints. The job was conveniently done by these profitable organisation and soon, certain colours were lost in the art of painting itself in the wake of commercialism. The few wondersome colours that were lost at some time was a betrayal in the art.

The top statement was the advice given to me during my job interview. Like mixing paint can be rudimentary and undesirable where mistakes can lead to making toxic substances, my job was warned to be repetitive and boring from the start. However, I gladly took it because of the prospect to be under one of the masters in the trade.

But I gave up in ten days, got a paycheck that paid less than Mac's. Truth was, this is never the modern times before. It is a fast-changing environment. You can never mix paint for 10 years and still live on to ply your trade. The environment looks at competitive and highly-adaptable persons, not one that can be willing to stay mixing paint for 10 years before they are allowed to progress. Real employers that are at the top of their niche constantly look for the best and throw their best to train and cultivate their own. They move on. They improve. They build up.

I quit.

2006-09-15T10:42:00.000-07:00

Sports journalism can be biased...because it just adds to the excitement.

The Devil Wear Prada

2006-09-12T11:23:00.000-07:00

Nice movie...I actually like it!

In fact, I empathize very much with the story. I see it as, a group of friends who chose different paths in life. There was a short introduction to them, to which they end declaring,"To which pays the bill" and they toast. The story follows one of her journey -Anne Hathaway plays the character.

She oozes lots of charm, the smart and pretty girl just out of college, got the job every girl wanted as the assistant to the Runway magazine's editor-in-chief. She had the chance to meet the most famous people in the fashion world and get whatever dream job she had wanted after a year. But there's a catch, to which the movie gets its title, that is to work under Meryl Streep's unkind and ruthless character. The movie thrills when Anne Hathaway's character uses her wit to do the impossible 'the devil' tasks on her. It is even more thrilling to see Anne Hathaway in the fabulous set of wardrobe that she dons in every other scene.

The story so follows the unrelenting story of Anne Hathaway's character fighting her way in what she aspires to be. While she is well-rewarded, she starts to get confused after all the transformation she had set out. She starts to see the bigger picture after she had been engulfed and swallowed by the micro-problems that she had to run day-to-day. In the end, she abandoned the job. She chose life. She remembered that her life was not ever involved in the materialistic struggle to success. She took control of her own.

There could be an understated character in the bald, gayish fashion assistant to Meryl Streep's character. He is fabulous in what he does, yet he is humble, his feet firmly rooted to the ground. He offers advice to Anne Hathaway's character, he is her guardian angel in fact! He has, in all his capacity, to be successful, but he is mild, loses out in the power struggle, he follows life. In all this, he is very much likeable!

The movie delivers soft strokes on life with a huge and glamourous theme. It shows very much of New York, and then later of Paris, showing credence in the beauty of these cities, especially with fashion as the theme. There is love, there is glitz, there is meaning in midst of the glam and glitter -what more to ask for? I'm glad I've seen it in Singapore, not while I was in New York. It certainly brings back lots of memories.

The movie is funny.

That's all.

Blogging is for Lamers

2006-09-07T03:52:00.000-07:00

Blogging is lame.

I have not started out a blog because it's not only lame but this lameness will take up my time! And I eventually cooked up a lame reason to join the crowd as of my first post:

just like how i do not want to live by regrets by choosing to study in London, I cannot afford to regret not writing about what I'm doing now at FILM School. I had missed the chance to write about the amazing stuff in my first year in London, but I will have the second year, and the third.

So now...I have just have to keep this up.

And why have I thought of such a lame blog address? The three years and beyond? Stop sneering! I have nothing better to do? Three years of what? Lameness? Beyond disgusting!

But. Quoting from Phua Chu Kang, he says he is best in Singapore and JB, some say in Batam. The anonymous guy in Superman at the start of his good old cartoons (if it's not superman then some other funny man lah...) says he's the greatest from the galaxy and beyond. I say, my blog is the best in Singapore, JB, Batam and Beyond! Dun pway, pway, I have laser beam.

Delicatessen: Miramar Ala Carte Buffet

2006-09-07T03:22:00.000-07:00

Watched Band of Brothers? This was 4 good army pals in a buffet.

We made a strong entrance with our alleged presence but was put to this tiny table with four chairs. I felt I've been put in the wrong table and so I called the waiter over and told him for a change, and at the same time to boast of the Western education I've received to be comparably outspoken since I had only met them once after being back.

"We need a bigger table so as to hold up the number of plates"

"Oh, that's not a problem. You can order slowly, then there will be space" said the scrawny waiter.

I tried more than this but was bound to fail because he could leave the table and condemn us to this puny little weeny table, our thighs almost rubbing each others' at each corner... ...

The food came as our massive campaign to bring down the restaurant started. It was a good start. We cleared the plates before new ones came. And we were left wandering why the food came so slowly... ...

Ultimately, our capacity died down. This is a disappointment and I have to be embarassed to say this, but for reason of entertainment and too much free time, I mention this. More plates came, and the waiters purposefully made the effort to squeeze in new plates as the previous plates could not be cleared. The meal was then ended with 4 different dishes of crab...with one member claiming that he doesnt eat crab!

The band of brothers ordered a regroup and a ceasefire was called up.

"See lah. The table so small, now cannot even put in the new plates. And why the 4 ppl beside us get a bigger table?!" I said.

"Because they are better than us what...look at them! They've started before us and they're still eating so much! They deserve the table lah...."

"Wah you just now say until you can eat so much to the waiter...ask for big big table some more...now we are having such a difficult time...lose face lor..."

We were dwindling but we were still strong for dessert.

"3 of each," I said, "For the ones that have not come, you can stop the order if they have not been prepared...And make sure you do that. We will not eat them when the dessert comes."

The waitress went back to check and gave us the assurance that those orders have been forgotten.

I was relieved for a minute, then the scrawny waiter came back from behind me.

"There's still one more Ah!" He examined the order sheet a few times before crossing the last of the few uncrossed.

And he brought over a plate of carrot cake of the largest size.

"Wah so small ah!" I exclaimed.

___

The food was very much pretencious by the way but the menu was extensive and fanciful.

Delicatessen: Minced Pork Noodle (Ba Cho Mee)

2006-09-07T03:16:00.001-07:00

Bedok Block 85 VS Chinatown streetside

Bedok 85's is souped! To my surprise! I suppose the better store is closed and was warned that this one is salty. But it's still good. I've finally tried it!

Chinatown's is a great example of a good Ba Cho Mee in Singapore. Served dry, well-tossed in a hint of the base soup and the great-tasting ingredients that conjure the taste.

The Delicatessen Series is Launched!

2006-09-07T03:16:00.000-07:00

Delicatessen: Chicken Rice @ Upper Thompson Road

2006-09-07T02:36:00.000-07:00

I decided to quit my job after 10 days of passitivity (passive activity). So, my colleagues decided to bring me for a final lunch. They drove all the way to Upper Thompson for a car polish, and to the other famous chicken rice restaurant.

The treat came promptly. The chicken is yellower for its prized recipe and it's delectable. The rice is great too. Simply gratifying!

The stall says low fat and cholesterol (it's chicken is of the wild...mountain chicken it so claims to serve). But the sauce is mostly fat and cholesterol! My two hilarious colleagues started daring each other to try it. And they did; slurped at it. The crisp and sharp sound with vacuum sucking in the oil against the tongue, and the oral cavity was a treat, an enchanted moment of ecstasy!

Drive and drive, we cruised back for work. They made the most funny jokes for the day. Vic then flicking his mp3 to this 'retro' techno sound that was hynotizing everyone down to boredom for 5 seconds. Then Ir, his other stand-up, started rapping in the 'Mai-Hum, mai-hum, mai-hum' from the Mr Brown show.

... ...

Alternative Chicken Rice: Margaret Drive, Chatterbox, Pow Sing@ Serangoon Gardens

Delicatessen: Tiong Bahru Hawker Centre

2006-09-07T02:08:00.000-07:00

Tiong Bahru hails a neighbourhood of tremendous heritage that has been kept up to this day, bits and parts of it that has not only coexisted with the development, but lived and breathed together. A man (a doctor he is, but I do not remember his name) wants to establish this place in Singapore as a UNESCO site. It's not a surprise if you think through it. Tiong Bahru can never be as brilliant as Taj Mahal but this man says some many UNESCO sites are established for its cultural space.

The hawker centre is an exemplication to my opinion. Climbing up a hard flight of stairs, the place is nothing of the old. Its stalls are new, high ceilings, lots of fans, lots of space. Many of its stalls are rated 'A' for hygiene as well. The food stores, the people is the essence...

Pig's organ soup (Thi-U Huang Giam Cai). Tasty and absolutely. Lots of zest and effort in the ingredients. The old man collects the orders. The aunties collect the money. The younger man cooks. Very friendly stall...the old man gives me time to consider my order and explains to me the serving. "Man man lai" he says, as the queue piles up...

Lor Mee with fried Stingray. Another delight. The Lor Mee is delicious and the stingray makes it greater.

Fried Ice-Cream. This is the only place that I know sells. The dish is a legend, and exotic in the sense that something frozen can be fried over, and to savour in the ice-cream that is still frozen as you tug in. But they have run out of ice-cream and I was to miss it after spending my childhood years thinking of eating it again! "The group of kids this morning finished the ice-cream" The young Malay girl explains though her empty stall (as compared to the bustling hawker centre) had no evidence of that. I could only leave in disappointment!

Delicatessen: Boat Quay Duck Rice

2006-09-07T01:36:00.000-07:00

It's famous, apparently.

This is my first lunch with my colleagues and they say they will have to bring me here. And so we bypassed the many food stalls straddled along the interjection of roads by my workplace under the blazing Singapore sun in shirt and tie.

Not to my amazement, the place was already packed with fellow crease-free, tie-strangling working class and the likes. There was no table...

Then, to my amazement, we decided to go to the neighbouring Kiliney, that of which straddles along the same maze of food stalls round my workplace and we had to settle by this one, and we have also waited some time for the duck rice!

The duck rice was never to be missed eventually. I decided to pack it back to my office and the fragrance of the black duck sauce was to linger around until work stopped pouring in at the end of the day.

At the end and at the end of the day, I ate. The rice was cold, wrapped in the good old brown paper that preserves the food. The duck rice was heavenly, as was the sauce. A delight!

Alternative duck rice: Off South Buona Vista Road, after the 99 turns.

The Croc Hunter

2006-09-04T08:41:00.001-07:00

I logged to msn and got the first ever surprise from it. I see turtle emoticons in front of a dozen of my friends' nicks.

-huifang- says:
it's a tribute to steve irwin mah
JX says:
hAHA...KK
JX says:
shouldnt it be a croc?
-huifang- says:
haha..that part im not sure also!

JX says:
hey what's this turtle abt??
JX says:
how come so many ppl have
bAt!gOl-wInNiG eLeVeN gOd says:
croc hunter die ma
bAt!gOl-wInNiG eLeVeN gOd says:
ppl put to show respec
JX says:
issit the one who's got his own documentary?
JX says:
the australian guy?
bAt!gOl-wInNiG eLeVeN gOd says:
ya
JX says:
how he die?
JX says:
then shouldt be turtle wad
bAt!gOl-wInNiG eLeVeN gOd says:
stingray sting him
JX says:
haha
JX says:
how come so many put this turtle sia
bAt!gOl-wInNiG eLeVeN gOd says:
form of respect la
JX says:
ok.....
JX says:
so why turtle?
bAt!gOl-wInNiG eLeVeN gOd says:
mayb it's the oni reptile avail in the emoticons ba

samuel says:
dunno hahaha
samuel says:
cos that's no croc in msn?

oh well...here's the reason for the turtles appearing in front of ppl's names on msn...

Steve Irwin-crocodile hunter d today on the 4th of September, on the Batt Reef, near cairns. As a sign of respect for the Australian tural icon, please place a turtle ( tu ) at the start of ur msn name, and forward t s message on to others pls sp ..

But I'm still not convinced about the turtle and I asked Gerald...

JX says:
why not croc?
crusader says:
coz there isnt a croc
crusader says:
dun ask me lame stuff...hah
JX says:
but he's the croc hunter
crusader says:
he's an avid environmentalist...
crusader says:
he's not just about crocs
crusader says:
he filmed turtle documentaries too u know
JX says:
but he's the croc hunter
crusader says:
he's known as the croc hunter bcoz tat was the title of his 1st docu...

... ...

I do not know Steve Irwin. I am not his fan on TV. I doubt my friends are. But there is a mass tribute for Steve 'Crocodile Hunter' Irwin. I pay my tribute too and my condolescences...

Home in London

2006-08-11T05:09:00.000-07:00

A good meal whipped in 30mins!

Home now at Watson's apartment...so i have to show some food on my blog as he always does.

New York: In a closing chapter

2006-08-11T03:51:00.000-07:00

The 6 weeks had been a blast, which is tiring but exhilarating. It will be my best summer ever.

The technique of film production aside, I have gained many lessons. I have learnt to appreciate film as the most powerful art form, the art of film as an expression in visual communication, gained inspirations to transform my creativity and knowledge into a visual language that can be appreciated by the masses. I also relish on the challenge of producing each film, from finding the cast and shoot location to directing the set and working on post-production -all in a completely new environment. I have some reservations about not being able to form a coherent crew but the challenge was enjoyable especially when we started to appreciate each other more towards the end. I particularly like the class that is never lacking in ideas and motivation and I have certainly learnt about the value of particapation in class such that we learn from each other. Most importantly, I got the chance to experience New York City in the midst of this!

Having experienced life as a student artist in New York, I have learnt to appreciate my goals in life. My career goal in finance has become stronger than ever as I would never look back in life to say I have never considered an second look on life. I really appreciate the chance to attend this course and have definitely taken with me a lot from it. Film has become an obsession for me now, and I would certainly pursue it when I see the opportunity. Meanwhile, I would get myself involved in film and TV at my current school. I would be happy if anyone would give me their views on pursuing art instead of the mainstream (or my mainstream).

And this sums up my time in New York. It is a full complete chapter in my life. To close this up, I quote from Uta Hagen again as I only got to appreciate her statement towards to end of the course.

'As an artist, the only thing you have to offer is the revelation of your soul.'

Life goes on...

2006-08-02T20:44:00.001-07:00

I finally got past my screenwriting class! Today was to recite to the class the first 2-3 scenes from our screenplay, which is the final work for the class.

I spent one hour on it this afternoon to write it and actually got it done thanks to my lamest pal online! Here's the crux....It's so freakin lame...

KELVIN
Damn! I have to top the tank up! And my mom said she’s not gonna reimburse me!

TECK
Haha loser!

------

TECK
Malaysia! Here we come!

BOON
Malaysia, truly Asia (imitating the tourism ad for Malaysia)

KELVIN
Heh heh I hope there’re lotsa hot chicks in Malaysia,

Alex
Oh yeah! But they can’t be hotter than gum! Pun unintended!

KELVIN
Heh heh you’ll change your mind when you see…

(Car drives past a roadside store selling fried chicken)

After I recited the last line...I could not hear any laughter...so I said...wait you didnt get it...ok...I said 'there're lotsa hot chicks in Malaysia and then the car drives past a roadside store selling fried chicken' ....the reaction was the same...ominous silence....many smiles though....maybe they were tryin to supress their laughter =)

So, the course was wrapped up...my prof again sharing his jokes thru the class...2 of which he had told before...reminding us that he's the guy who never got out of college!

"So where do you go from this course?" He asks the class...it comes to my turn to answer.

"Life goes on..."

Chimney Head

2006-08-01T23:28:00.000-07:00

Walking along Broadway....with David the chainsmoking redhead

...

"It's so hard to find a smoker..."

Then a fat lady, the size of a super-sized big MAC, walked by. David asked for a light and she deftly held out one at the instant.

The next moment was absolutely timeless!! David (remember chain-smoking) couldnt light his cigarette! Well...perhaps it was the wind...

So, the super-sized big MAC decided to help the mini redhead and held out a giant hand (upsize times 100) to block out the wind...looking at the effort she had to lift her hand...I thought she could juz ask David to stand closer to her...

So David tried again...the redhead getting red in the face...

Finally...the cigarette got lighted!

"Blow harder..!" said the super-sized MAC as the cigarette burnt, somehow I thought she was covering up David from my view...

We walk away and I had my moment of unrestrained laughter

Sunflower

2006-08-01T22:25:00.000-07:00

My last film is to cast a sweet-looking girl...

I tried to ask a few girls...and in the end I got Alison. Well...David was surprised when I told him I'm casting Alison as a sweet-looking girl...

True enough... Alison totally twisted my story when she turned up in a black dress, sunglasses, and black gloves stretching up to the shoulder! She turned my character into a really dark and hideous temptress.

So, the original sweet flower girl became the evil and twisted woman holding a dead sunflower (I bought it too early in the morning and it started to wilt).

Wow...I actually dun mind the tranformation...it actually complements my story!

So, she changed my character and turn out that she really isnt a person who can play a sweetgirl =p

She threw the dead sunflower at me at the end of the shoot!
Ok....but Meghan (my DP) was kind enough to take the flower for me...but the sunflower was still unfortunate to the end. When we took a lift out of the apartment, we put the flower in a leftover beer bottle. The bottle couldnt take the weight of the flower and it collapsed and spilled. The rest went out of the lift but a sunflower is still a sunflower...I paid my last respect and lifted the bottle back up and leaned it against the wall of the lift to let it stand.

Well....you think this is the end of my sunflower story???
Not ever for as long as this moment of your life....

My pictures did not turn out well, so I had a reshoot..and of course I need to buy sunflowers again!

This time, I got 5 sunflowers!

(The same shop refused to sell me a single sunflower...'We always change the price' he says....when the previous guy had taken the effort to open up the bouquet and give me the one that i chose... 'You just always have a diufferent person behind the counter' I say)

Ok...So I had to get rid of the sunflowers again...I gave 3 away and sold one to my roommate. I asked for a dollar and then I said he can take it for free. In the end, he chose none of the options and gave me 50 cents.... ....

Ok...so the last sunflower landed into the hands of Alison again...
There was a problem on the shoot...I could not remember which hand she used to hold the flower...so I asked her.

"It's on my left hand."

She actually remembered! The poor sunflower actually means quite a lot to the character in the story you see...

This time again...I got back the sunflower. Kenny saw the sunflower during class and played gay with me for the flower...well I dont mind at all...at least I could get rid of it...

In the end...Kenny stopped being gay...and I was left with the sunflower again...

So, I had to carry the sunflower in my hand and walk the streets back to my hall...I tried to catch my reflection against the shopwindows and I thought I actually look quite good with the flower in my hand!

No way....in the end I met a friend at the lift lobby and I gave it to her...

I guess I dun really look good walking around with a sunflower in my hand, and definitely not with a sunflower peeking out of my backpack as I had done in the 4 hours of the first shoot....and I guess flowers are flowers are still for girls =p

So bad that it's GREAT!

2006-07-27T10:02:00.000-07:00

Samurai sword VS Slayer sword

Wow...my COWBOY SAMURAI film was a technical disaster BUT everyone enjoyed it!!!

A Sport

2006-07-23T20:43:00.000-07:00

People-watching, that is.

Second floor of a japanese restaurant with Kim Boram, the great director from Korea at age of 24 (or so he proclaims...google his name to try to find out). We started looking at the menu when he suddenly turned to look down the window...

"Whoa...pretty girl..."

"Where...?" I turned only to see but the back view of a girl.

"Really, really pretty girl..."

"REally??? Oh man...I misssed it..." disappointed with myself.

We made the order and started a chat while waiting for food to come, when Boram suddenly turned again.

"Wow! Nice body..."

This time, I turned in time to see but to my disappointment once more, it wasnt as nice as he claimed.

"That girl?"

"Yeah...nice body! Right?"

"Errr...yar.....not bad..."

Then the food came and we ate. He infrequently twists his head to the window to proclaim his discoveries. WTF....any girl also pretty...!

...

A walk down University Place after my shoot...saw 2 frens...so decided to grab a sandwich and join them....

A couple walks past, both holding handbags.

"A giggolo..." One of the girls comments before bursting into giggly exchanges.

A man with well-heeled sports shoes walks past.

"Looking too tall for his own good..." they go again. Then an old lady with bulging but not bouncing chest walks past. I start to find it amusing. Two man both wearing khaki shorts and white t-shirt walks past. Burst into laughter again.

I pointed to them...giving my comment.

"Pointing is not allowed. That's the rule...!"

"Sorry...I'm kinda new to this..."

A friend walks past and he starts to acknowledge.

"Hey you're not supposed to know us. Walk past again..."

He obeys, and walks past.

"He's trying too hard..."

Friend joins, then leaves. One of the girls then took out a bag from a huge, black plastic bag, tweaking at the flimsy Prada sign...

"They were so worried when we entered. They told us to close the door behind..."

...

This really gets immoral...I had become the unnoticing participant of the sports both times...but it was quite interesting! HAHA...!

#@COWBOY SAMURAI @# (IN MINOR SWING)

2006-07-23T19:18:00.000-07:00

Objective:
To string the elements of the West, the Japanese, and the jazz into a comedy and to reconstruct the classic story of the hero saving the damsel in distress.

Treatment:
Intro – Deep Purple, Smoke in the Water
The Cowboy samurai, the Damsel, the Underlings, the Pirate stand at the Arch De Triumph, Washington Square Park.

The Asskicking, the Showdown, the Serenade –
Minor Swing, Django Reinhardt
Cowboy samurai zigzags from one cover to the next. He rolls over, falling at the feet of the Underlings. The confrontation kicks off – the jitter to the right, the jitter to the left. Underling 1 pushes Underling (wheelchair) to strike Cowboy samurai. Cowboy samurai dodges. He slashes the Underlings in a fatal symphony.

Cowboy samurai dashes across the grasslands, the trees, the fences, the people of Washington Square Park. Pirate swaggers, and teases his prized Damsel. Cowboy samurai saunters in, puffs a cigarette. The close in, the jitter to the right, the jitter to the left, the slash - Pirate breaks and falls in a tragic rhapsody.

The Damsel is saved. The Cowboy samurai, the Damsel, serenades in a minor swing.

This film, I think, is really the most ass-kicking, and a gut-wrenching one! Really proud of my cheesy story idea, that is the essence of the comical set-up! A cowboy doubling up as a samurai, slashing bad asses and then goes on a serenade with the damsel he saved from distress!!!

I had 6 actors involved in my cast and there was certainly the trouble of finding them, BIG TIME! Well, in the end, I got them right at the last minute. The cowboy samurai is a real cowboy from Texas, my roommate. The damsel is the cowboy's lady in interest, the underlings, one being my other roommate, the other two coming from another crew in my class whom I took great effort to convince. The baddest of all villain, the kungfu master, was to be me initially. But it turn out that the villain is to be the pirate, played by my roommates' TV and Documentary classmate who came for a stroll in the park and who is also a professor in Turkey. My other roommate who played the villain became the wheelchair bound underling at his own initiation since he liked playing on the wheelchair that I borrowed to make my dolly shots.

Of course, with the cheesy sequences, there were constant jibes by the actors, my frequent hair-pulling, eye-rolling act of frustration at getting the ridiculous feat done. I almost gave up, and I almost gave up!

And so the shoot went, a swashbuckling cowboy doubling as a samurai displaying cheesy strokes on the plastic sword, killing off the bad villains who were too willing to fight the great cowboy samurai without any weapons. The rescue was a dance, a romance, with the damsel flashing a sweet smile to end the crowning affair.

To Chew or Not to Chew

2006-07-22T19:12:00.000-07:00

I finally think everyone is right! My chewing gum script should be a romantic comedy!!

in the making....

The Escape

2006-07-21T22:04:00.001-07:00

If I were to be an artist, I would probably be a thrash artist!

That is, when I think so highly of my work, I tend to be put down and when I think so badly of my work, I get encouraging remarks from people...What's wrong with their taste? I did a horror film that is so thrashy I would laugh everytime I see it...yet I get ppl saying that the images are cool etc...I say they are so amateurish and lame! I also did a comedy that I thought was so thrashy...but everyone found it funny!

Remember the first project? I thought it's really meaningful but ppl did not get it and tried to put it down when it was screened...And then the chewing gum script...I had grand plans to make it into a romantic film that could possibly make singapore think about the ban on chewing gum... 'but it sounded like a comedy...It was cheesy'???

And then there's David...the other guy in my crew. He used 6 rolls of film for his first film. It was an epic considering most ppl were expected to use 1 roll. It has since been his only film screened when everyone in the class has screened 3. What the F is he doing??? And he's in his mid-twenties...looking like he had never got a normal job before...well-to-do parents too...

Shit...I should stop doing this sort of thing until I've done something mainstream and earned a decent living..I need to be an office worker...a banker...a clerk or whatever!! I need to slog my life out for money from 9-5 and even later....everyday!!!

PROJECT Two

2006-07-14T12:31:00.000-07:00

Objective: To seek out the peculiarities in life and how anxiously we attempt to resolve it (to hide it or to show it?).

Treatment:
Tom and Jane are the most common looking people in town. Their peculiarities are revealed when Jane bumped into Tom one day.

Jane is rushing for work after her lunch, holding a huge bag and a pile of document. She knocks into Tom who is standing in the middle of Washington Square, waiting for his friend to come. Her bag drops, scattering the contents and her pile of document sent flying all over.

Jane attempts to recover the mess frantically. Tom is apologetic for being implicated by Jane’s clumsiness. He tries to help but Jane is perturbed. She is anxious not to let Tom notice the items she has in her bag: a make-up kit (vanity), Chinese fan (modern vs. traditional), a slab of pill (weakness), admirer’s note (girlish charm), men’s briefs (sexuality and confusion)!

So Jane keeps Tom away and Tom stands aside to observe. He is starting to get amused. It is not only by Jane’s comical attempt to keep her mess but also, he has noticed the items that had fallen out.

Tom attempts to help again out of his kindness. He picks up a paper bag but Jane pulls it away from him, only to spill out men’s briefs from it. Jane is now greatly embarrassed but Tom becomes more amused. He smiles as he started folding the briefs neatly into a pile as Jane continues with clearing up her mess.

Jane finally recovered herself but only to find Tom folding her briefs meticulously. She snatches it away and gives Tom a tight slap before storming away.

Tom is unfazed as he smiles to himself with satisfaction. His friend finally arrives. They embraced, holding hands as they walked off.

Evaluation:

Firstly, my planning was not efficient enough. I had planned to shoot at Washington square but I do not know the exact spot, hence I wasted time finding the location. Then, my actress and I were the only ones who turned up on time. My crew turned up late and my actor decided not to come due to work commitment and I felt sorry for my actress since she is a semi-professional actress who is willing to do the shoot for me even though we have never met before. So, I managed to find an actor from the location at random and my crew was able to set up the shoot in time. Thus, I was happy to resolve the initial problems quickly even before the shoot.

Then, I faced a second failure. I decided not to shoot the original establishing scenes from my storyboard when one of my crew gave me her comment and that I was discouraged by my first screening. I ended up regretting for not trying when I first saw the film in the editing room. I will attempt to resolve the conflict between my creativity and the reality by reaching a point of mediation when writing future scripts, and of course, I will grow from this with greater self-belief.

Overall, I do not feel satisfied with regards to my film because there is much exaggeration in the acting by the actor; there are too many exposure problems because my actress’s skin tone and shirt was many stops away from the actor and the environment. The intensity of sunlight kept on changing and I felt that I was at the mercy of the environment, and that my actor and actress had to suffer under the heat. I would prefer to choose a shady area to shoot a similar film in future. My film technique is still shaky and I would like to make a tremendous improvement. My intended effect of showing metaphors is lost due to this failure. Hence, I do not feel comfortable with the humor since its intended meaning is lost in my filming. I would also like to see myself overcoming the inconvenience of the cast and the environment by devising each detail to good cinematography.

The success of my film would be in the clarity of story-telling and its fair attempt at humor. I particularly like my actress’s performance in the film, and also her professionalism. I hope I have generated a fair amount of laughter in the entertainment of the audience.

Class Verdict: Hilarious, good twist at the end! Good casting!

It was well-received! Everyone had a good laugh. I was slightly surprised since I am rather unconfident before the screening. What an irony! It was the reverse for my first film. I thought it was great but the audience thought it was thrash. Now I think it's thrash and the audience think it's great. At least I am more confident about my future films now. The audience has certainly given me a sense of satisfaction to my production.

Mercedez

2006-07-12T21:51:00.000-07:00

"Sorry I havent got your name...?"

"Mercedez."

""Sorry...wHat...Mercedez?"

bRoOOmmmbRoommm...growl..... (my thoughts)

childish giggles...

"you serious?"

"Yeah...it's ok they always do this...."

"My dad drives a mercedez...."

ohhh hoooo...

What is Art?

2006-07-12T19:02:00.000-07:00

When I ask what is art? I do not even attempt to try to answer it. I am wondering, 'what art is?' I go to art museums and try to be 'artsy' (something I have to do when I travel yet I do not enjoy at all). Now, I finally come to study film which is art in a function. I still wonder what art really is...

The following is a little journey...

My first film...set out to express lost and confusion in the city, ended up with the audience mouth wide opened, not in the sense of awe but in sense of helplessness. Many thought the film had random scenes and little meaning. I concede my failure towards the technical errors and unconvincing casting but I do not understand why people criticise it when I have managed to express confusion in them. I was downhearted in my attempt to express my meaning of art since my expression was lost amongst a class of art students. What art is exactly? The screening was conducted in the way that after the show is done. The makers will take the stage in front of the class to take criticism without the opportunity to provide an answer. Film is, after all, an art to convey stories visually. So if you get the movie, there is no need for external commentary on the movie. And that was what I got...

However, my hope was reignited when two really nice girls came up to me and tell me that they liked it and they understand what I was trying to convey, telling me not to listen to the criticism of the others. But I ask, 'what use of art is, if they sit still alone with no one attending to it?'

So the second film...I had my crazy idea again. However, one of my crew commented, as I set up my shoot, that it is not going to work. I took it to heart and was reminded of my first experience with the class and decided not to go with the initial plan. And so i did...then i regretted...and now I have to do my editing with something that I do not like due to the influence of others.

Then is the screen-writing class. I wrote a screenplay about the contradiction between Singapore and chewing gum. The class turned into an uproar...not regarding the story..but with Singapore and the issue of chewing gum...and I got the comment that it could be a comedy, that there is no high climatic point. However, the script is about the contradiciton about chewing gum, the ups and downs of living with a contradiction, and hence no climatic point. It is not a comedy, but a romance, clearly written out with its elements. Why in a class of screen-writing, do we favour hollywood blockbusters with the standard 3-act sequence of introducing the character, to the conflict, then to resolution?

I was invited to the tea reception for film certificate students at NYU. And there on the panel were screenwriters, professors, directors, the likes of people established in the profession of film. They talk about the real world of movie-making. The fuel that feed the engine of film-making, that is of course - money. They told us to write scripts that cater to the crowd. I came out of the reception with the message that film making is, after all, about the audience, and the audience is, after all, what provides the money to make your film.

So what is art is art?

My little journey is to continue...

I will not attempt to find the answer but I will continue to follow my heart...art is, and will not be my ultimate profession after all...

RaNdOm PeoPLe

2006-07-11T12:20:00.000-07:00

Mexican bar...portugal vs germany

"@##$@%$%$#&&*" This latino momma spoke in spanish, rather audibly, bulging eyes.

I looked at her in confusion...stunned...bulging my eyes too.

"Sorry...I dun speak Spanish"

"So what is this match about...? Do they go on to play another game after this...?"

Oh...that's what she's trying to say...

"oh...they are fighting for third place in the tournament..."

"So the winner goes on to play the winner for tmr's match?"

...And so i went on explaining to her again in a dozen of ways...

finally....

"So why are they still playing...I still dun understand..."

"Err...for pride of the country...honour...??" raising my eyebrows as I said...

small talk and then a flurry to follow...

"So what do you think of korea and the nuclear weapons...?"
"Why cant they have the rights to own them when other countries have them...? Why do we make so much of it when we are killing people in Iraq...?"
"Power should be equal...you cannot have a totalitarian..."
"That's why i say knowledge is everything...the internet has brought us so much power...it is the key..."

She goes on talking abt totalitarianism...how the CIA owns the drug ring in her home country Columbia...then how she denounces religion...she says all this, vociferously, eyes bulging again...

I just say sometimes power cannot fall into the wrong hands...I dun strongly believe in anything...but religion keeps hope and faith...everyone has their own version of peace...cheering intermitantly as portugal started scoring goals after goals...telling her they have scored...looking at the replay and then she goes on again...even more aggresively, eyes bulging...

Then there was an own goal scored...she starts asking me what happened...who scored...why is the player so screwed up...

"You know Andrés Escobar? He was killed in the World Cup..."

Finally she leave....and I found a quiet refuge in the toilet...

"Hi...I heard you came from Singapore..."

A small stream of pee....

"Oh yeah...where are you from..."

blablablaaa.....my first ever toilet talk with a stranger...out of the toilet...

"So what are you here for...?"

"I work for as a management consultant in Sydney...sometimes in Singapore..sometimes in New York..."

blablaablaa....then I told him he could come and act for my film...he was interested and gave me his name card...

Day of my second shoot...

"Did Karl reply the message?"

"Yes...but he said he cant make it...he has work..."

then I stood there...staring at my actress...NYU grad in acting and drama blabla...that my roommate had found from the internet...my crew are late...

Then I went around Washington square park looking for an alternative guy...then I saw Cheryl..

"Hey do you have a spare actor??"

"Yeah...you can ask the guy with the guitar over there..."

I asked...

"No sorry...I have class at 2.30"

"Hey I can act for you!" Came the voice from the man beside Cheryl...he's acting for Cheryl right now and he would help me out when they are done...his name is Jason...

And so Jason the goofy guy and Laura my actress...

And then one day doing laundry...confused...and dunno how the machine works...

"Hey...eRrr....Could you..yadayda...Err...Could you do me a favour?"

And so she helps me out....then she asks me...

"Are you from Singapore?"

"Yeah! It's so obvious right..."

"I'm from Singapore too..."

haha...how I love doing laundry... and of course...meeting these people in NYC too... =p

PROJECT One

2006-07-10T18:14:00.000-07:00

The title is called LOST IN THE CITY. But I would like to call it DA VINCI CODE.

The reason: the shots were all over the place when I first got it back in the editing room. I had to piece the scenes together like a jigsaw puzzle. And everyone were so confused when it was screened...

Objective:
1. To present the claustrophobic nature of the city.
There are too many a time when we lose our way in midst of the concrete jungle in the city. There is anxiety, confusion, and finally, the stress escalates: the imposing high-rising buildings and the narrow, constricting sidewalks seem to cave in – a sense of nausea. A revelation unfolds when we find our way, only to carry on with the endless activities that crowd the very streets of the city.
2. To present the project in the form of black and white silent film within a 100 footage with particular attention to continuity of action from scene to scene.

Treatment:
Man enters scene of a rusty, graffiti-filled door. He shuffles in his step, lost and flustered. He is trying to find his way around the relentless streets of New York.

He trudges ahead. A scene of human traffic flashes by.

Man looks left to find an inviting junction. He crosses over, half-jogging. Then, he finds himself walking past the imposing concrete walls again. Another scene of human traffic flashes by. He walks to the end only to see a huge volume of vehicle traffic. He falls into further confusion as the cars zoom by.

He turns another corner into a dim construction pathway. The yellow, luminescent light bulbs seem to stretch out the pathway into an endless distance. Under the low wooden shelter that had isolated the surrounding activity, the path of light bulbs conglomerated to form an ominous glare. Man chokes and coughs – a strong surge of nausea.

Man survives the pathway to reach a t-junction. He ponders where to go again. The pedestrian light flashes red to a blur. The green man comes on and Man crosses the junction.

He walks into another sheltered pathway. But this time, he seems to know his way. There is light at the end of the path, a flurry of human activity. He enters the hustling sidewalk of Broadway. He finds his peace among the crowd as he walks in tandem with the consortium of activity.

Pre-screening Evaluation:
The film turn out little like the treatment above. I had allowed David to give suggestions for his acting and I also asked Meghan for suggestions for her role as a DP. It did cause some confusion to the crew and changed my original plan. I ended up not meeting any of the objectives, changing my mind as I shoot.

I call my style of directing...hit and run directing =p

There was a homeless guy who blocked our shot and refused to leave until we gave him some change. There were spots where there was too much sunlight and I had to use other locations. There was a security guard who obstructed us from shooting along a particular pathway that was in my plan.

However, I have received good reviews from two people who had seen my film before screening in class and I do like my film. At least I put up a decent film together.

FILM CRITICS:
'I thought it was cool when the two ladies walk past unknowingly and seem to block away David...and then again when the kid who walk by unknowingly when David was walking towards Michaela...and then there's others...'

'The shots of people and traffic that you cut in...did they have any meaning?'
'When David and Michaela met, it was too far away and overexposed...I could not tell what was happening'

Confusion, confusion, confusion...

'Who think that the cutaway scenes were just random?'

class raises hands...

'Who were confused about shots without David'

class raises hands...

'Who understood what story the film was trying to tell?'

class raises hands again...

'exposure issues...some technical problems'

'David looked like he's looking for the toilet'

... ...that's a bit too much...

CLASS'S VERDICT: Thrash

MY VERDICT:
Everyone went into confusion after the screening. So, it's was a success after all!

Well, the story and the random scenes were for them to interpret in any way that they want to. It was to throw everyone into confusion and I was even confused myself when shooting the film. I didnt even plan an ending (the part when David met his girlfriend). It was David who suggested the ending before the shoot. I thought that would please the audience and I decided to put it in.

Ohhh...perhaps it was just a joke...will have better luck next time then! Hurhur...

I Shot my 1ST Film!

2006-07-03T21:45:00.000-07:00

Well...it's kinda surreal when 3 months ago, you say you want to do something that is not what you will normally do and then 3 months later you really did it...

Alrite...that's kinda making a loop...haha...I do have to make 2 loops as big as possible when loading film...hurhur...

Anyway...

I did it!

I have shot a film!

Nesting proudly by the side are my most endearing, highly prized completed films. The first of my very first!

Erm...black and white...silent...

Let me share the experience...

Making film is the most exciting, yet excrutiating. Firstly, there is a fair amount of equipment that is required and carried around. There is the physical labour involved. Then, there is the people handling. There has to be leadership from being the director. A great deal a communication to get what you want. There is often working with people you do not know...people that you approach from the streets to act for you. Then, there is the art direction. What I mean is the fair amount of scriptwriting that is to be constructed in the scene as much as it is meant to be. The emotions that you want to evoke is often practically impossible. It depends on how powerful you are, how determined you are, how techinically proficient you are. This is a great deal a capability involved. Then there is the environment. For exterior shooting, there is little control. There is a great deal that we cannot control for the force of nature. The sunlight goes out, the sunlight comes in: you have to change the exposure accordingly. As you shoot, some funny guy walks into your scene and shows off his/her big buttocks, or this homeless shit comes and asks you for money or he'll destroy your beautiful shot with his ugly unkempt face.

All these I had to conquer today, for how many minutes of footage?? Less than 6 minutes!

Hence, my admiration for artists. On top of being talented and creative, the artist is often proficient is his art. He is proficient in the medium that he performs his art. He is able to express himself technically, while he thrives on his talent.

My controversial example of a good artist is that of a good conversationalist. He converts his thoughts instantaneuosly to beautiful, flowery language, to evoke to his audience his experience, often alluring and sometimes beguiling. Therefore, it is the art while not many people consent to it as a victim as they consent to their general popularity. I have failed in this art and often will remain as a bewildered admirer.

Thus, my aspiration.

A collage of my shot location

Thumbs up!

2006-07-03T18:45:00.000-07:00

Me enjoying the World Cup festivity the day before Germany kicked off the very first match against Costa Rica. And boy did I get onto Straits Times for cuddling two huge, friendly Germans.

Kudos to Andre for the shot!

(Andre was the one who approached the 2 Germans for a photo and I took it off-centre for him...wit won the day as I asked to replace him and borrowed the German's hat. I then got Andre to take a perfect photo. Finally, Andre submitted a group of photos to the Straits Times for us and his was the only one that didnt get selected...OopS!)

Up Fifth Avenue

2006-07-02T13:41:00.000-07:00

Such was the Inspiration! II

2006-06-30T19:30:00.000-07:00

"...As artists, you have to create the emotional mood to the audience."
"...As artists, you have to use the different techniques to convey the visual image you want to give."

The word 'artist' struck me. That was the declaration of prof Lind. I am now in an environment surrounded by transfer students majoring in film, people who don't really know about filming but has interest in film. These are people who are from all walks of life: the investment banker, actor, personal therapist and others from the screenwriting class. We are all but connected by an enthusiasm for film. This was the passion.

I would use to admire art from far. Now, I'm living with art, amongst artists, breathing and heaving the same air of creativity. Now, it is the very chance I admire art from closeness. To reside at Greenwich village and to be in art school is also to admire artistes from closeness.

There can never be a satiation point from sharing the passion for art.

"I chose to study film because I feel that film is a very powerful medium to convey my messages to people" Such was the statement from my roommate.

In the film department of NYU, people I know of are all working and making film. One of my professor is a script supervisor, the other is a cinematographer. Two of the equipment department staff are having their films screened in a few days.

It is this very environment which fuels art...

Excerpts from "Respect for Acting" -Uta Hagen

2006-06-30T19:12:00.000-07:00

'As an artist, the only thing you have to offer is the revelation of your soul.'

'...the desire to communicate one's own experience and sensations; to make one's self heard and seen.'

'...talent is not enough.'

'It is necessary to have a point of view about the world which surrounds you, the society in which you live; a point of view as to how your art can reflect your judgement.'

'Every (filmmake) must demand total discipline of her or himself if she or he really means to (make movies).'

'...we must accept that is a communal adventure. We cannot make a movie alone. We must recognise that we need each other's strengths and professional comradeship. We serve the film by serving each other. We must realise our individual responsibility of the film and remember the collective nature of our chosen art form. In film, it is all for one and one for all!'

Such was the Inspiration!

2006-06-30T18:32:00.000-07:00

I feel great about being a Art student. I am able to channel all my abstact thoughts into a medium. I am encouraged to think freely, hence I am encouraged to think the way I really think most of the times. I am certainly a highly idealistic person who thrive on creative imagination.

Such was the form of survey handed out by prof Lind on filmmaking goals. I was able to answer them immediately. I realised instantly I was doing something that is so intuitive. I had never felt more ready to answer questions and explain myself.

This was the second survey handed out by the professor. She had done fantastically. She had constantly motivated the class and geled us together. She had flashed pictures to us and asked us to reflect on the scene and to convey to us the message she wants us to know at the end. She had exclaimed 'You are the monkeys!' right after the filming of 2001: Space Odyssey.

The following is my assignment for the weekend:
1. Visit the Metropolitan Museum
2. Take the subway and describe 3 characters that you observe
3. To find my dark alleyways within the blanket area we're allowed to film without permit where I'll shoot my first film

FLIM School: Day Three part II

2006-06-30T18:02:00.000-07:00

The evening was my first screenwriting class.

The professor was this hilarious old man.

"I was preparing to have a great summer and all I was to know that Olga of Greece is not coming to our class after all" He went about his amusing account of how he got to know this exiled princess of Greece and Denmark had enrolled in the class but had pulled out eventually.

Lesson (excerpts):
'In a good screenplay somebody wants something badly.'

'...The beginning screenwriter usually rushes to dialogue to solve the problem. What we end up with is a bunch of characters who speak openly and honestly about their feelings. The ONLY drama in the theater will simply be the audience stampeding for the exits.'

'...screenwriting is a craft based on logic. It consists of the rigorous application of several basic questions: What does my main character want? What hinders him'her from getting it? What happens if he'she does not get it?' -David Mamet

Screening: Cadaverous by Michael Fiore
The first was shown without sound. That's when the 'old man' description of the professor comes in. He comments at every action that the character is going to make or has made. Imagine watching a movie with a person like this! Godamnit! Haha....but forgiveable...he's trying to teach us about the film...and he has probably watching it a dozen times with a dozen group of students!

The second was with sound. It didnt really make a difference. The script was well-written such that it was highly cinematic and visual. Little dialougue was necessary!

Then was the introduction of each student in the form of writing the reason 'how we ended up in the class' in a cinematic manner the professor had instructed us at the beginning of the class.

There were only 12 of us: An IT professional who could not stand his boss and decided to quit, a personal therapist who is also a lawyer and had written his own scripts including one which was to imitate 'Indiana Jones' called 'Ohio Jackson', a theater company owner, a former investment banker who now hates everything coporate, a producer who works for a company associated with MediaCorp, a magazine intern, a man with very few skills...just to name a few. And surely...there was almost the princess of Greece and Denmark. The intro session was so intermittantly disrupted by the proffessor lamenting about the princess's withdrawal from the class!

Really interesting manners in which it was presented. Highly entertaining. It ended in an applause as the owner of a theater company who's also an actor presented his highly dramatic account complete with his concoction of sound effects. And it was half an hour past the allotted teaching time then...such was the enthusiasm!

FLIM School: Day Three part I

2006-06-28T21:49:00.000-07:00

Exciting, exciting.

Got to learn the technique and kind of shots - zoom, dolly, boom etc; use of lenses - wide-angled lens, normal lens, telephoto lens...

The most interesting was continuity. First, we were introduced a cool hand sign with the 2nd and last finger pointed out. The left finger will be camera left and right finger will be camera right. So, the idea is to be consistent. If the character appears on the left, he will be depicted on the left in the next scene.

"Rock on!" prof Lind exclaimed as she pointed to us the sign.

"Continuity is a basic element on the film. Some major films neglected one slightest detail. And people went flooding the internet forums going 'oh my god can you believe it?! Superman had a scene with the watch on!' "

Errr....you get the idea....I was trying to mimic what prof Lind said...she did much better than that...

Screening: Delicatessen, Strangers on a train by Hitchcock, Godfather (Baptism and murder scene), Magnolia

GreatgreatGreat films were screened.

An example of parallel action was shown from Delicatessen. It's a scene about a closely knit community of people living in a block. Man and women having sex, woman beating a rug, girl practising on the cello, man painting the ceiling, boy pumping a tyre etc. The sounds converge to a rhythm, ending with a blast...orgasm...tyre explodes, cello string breaks, tyre blows, man falls over ladder. These parallel scenes all occuring in the black, connected by shooting from one ventilation hole to another and the sounds.

The next parallel action example came from Godfather. It was the 'Baptism and murder' scene. Starts with the solemn and holy ritual, the baptism of an infant to the Godfather. Then paralleled to the ritual of preparing the gun...the preparation of a grisly chain of murders that was to come. The playing of the grim church music connects the scenes together. Then, a third parallel was the presentation of the victims who were ignorant of what was to come. Then the baptism culminates. The wiping of the baby, the wiping of the sweat of the henchman. The killing spree starts and the priest declares to denounce Satan. The 'Yes' by the Godfather that was to be followed by the gunshots of his henchmen.

Awesome.

The next parallel example was a scene from Magnolia. A really touching moment that was to present the emotion of people from different situitons facing the same emotional level. All connected by a really lovely song. Really beautiful...

This is the art of film. It conveys an emotional mood in a visual manner. It does not need to show dialougue. It is able to bring the audience together on the same emotional mood. Imagine a film making the audience feeling happy, sad, touched, surprised...Such is the beauty...such is the art!

The second half of the day...was the test shoot! We finally got to work on our baby...the precious ARRIFLEX 16S. Got to play with the adjustment of exposure, loading a REAL film which can be wasted at the slightest mistake, rack-focusing etcetc

FILM School: Day Two

2006-06-28T21:28:00.000-07:00

9am again...everyone took turns to introduce themselves...which was in a form of survery handed out by p. Lindbergh the day before.

"My family descended from pirate..." went one.

"My family descended from pirates too!"

"Really...which family did you descend from? My family had a license..."

Wow...mouth agape...

"My greatgreatgreatgreatgreat uncle was Jesse James..."

Mouth even wider...Jesse James was this post civil war and legendary cowboy with many films made about him.

Lots of other interesting introductions...

Second Screening: by Martin Scorcese
"How did the director establish the location?" went the prof.

"By using close-up of toilet bowl, towel rack, toilet roll"

"What does the environment tell you?"

"Clean-cut, white, everything is right."

"Nice-looking, vanilla skin man shaving himself in a clean-cut toilet...set up a presumption about a nice healthy looking environment...then the twist comes..."

"The man cuts himself with the shaver. Blood flows and he started cutting himself all over the face...bloody, bloody..."

"The film was shot in 1967, during the Vietnam War. It was a bad year, white healthy young man were going awry and all..."

"Real beautiful film, nicely done."

So much for the class discussion. It was fantastic. Everyone took turns to make a comment. The class was teeming with interest and zeal. Top-quality stuff...makes me feel really good to be in the course for the start and it was certainly to continue.

During the break, some of my coursemates started chatting about Scorcese. About how his films always have mirrors, his style, him being an NYU alumni...

there is lots to know about film for me...and it's just going to get more interesting

FILM School: Day One

2006-06-28T21:26:00.000-07:00

Jetlagged, Slightly homesick.

Woke up at 7:30.

You’ve got that right…school is 9am-6pm Monday to Friday for ‘Beginning Film Production’ and up to 9pm on Wednesday for ‘Writing for the Screen’.

I walked into my assigned classroom. Many friendly-looking people, couple of pretty looking Asian girls and one who sat beside me…this has to be the right class.

“Sorry if I slaughtered your name. But please acknowledge if your name is called.”

And the lecturer went, as he had started out, slaughtered all the Asian names…I was only waiting for my turn…but it was not to be…

“Sorry if I killed off your name…” Another professor came in and started doing the row call all over again. They have an interesting of starting off attendance-taking.

Still, my name was not to be slaughtered…or killed off…

Turned out that I’m in another class…damn! My real class had no pretty Asian girls and for the first time, I wished my name had been slaughtered.

My professor in prof. Lindbergh. Young, energetic, really cool teacher, script supervisor in profession. She gave a great introduction, bouncing away in zeal. She was all the reason film school would be worth it. Lovely, lovely.

First screening: 2001: A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick
Primal apes jumping around, screeching, fighting for food, ended up with the ape discovering a stick of bone. Ape finds weapon, finds triumph against the pig-looking animal that was to be food. Well, that was only part of it…and you have to read the book…I was told…

“You are the monkeys,” declared prof Lingbergh.

“All of you started out not knowing much the course. You are going to discover for yourself and pick up the bones. You will fight it out and find success.” She goes passionately.

The rest of the day: technical lesson. The professor is a small, likeable professor who could not do away with his Russian accent after 20 years at NYU.

“ Zee video camaa-ra can be variable speedt or constant speedt. Zee variable speedt camaa-ra will have a tachometer. The rEE-O-staRt control the camaa-ra speedd”

My failed attempt to convey his likeable way of speaking…

The Destination: Tisch School of the ARts

2006-06-28T19:41:00.000-07:00

"Bye! It was a great dinner," I bidded my farewell to Watson and Jiawei after their housewarming party in their newly rented home.

Watson was my roommate for my first year at the London School of Economics. He had moved out to his new home with Jiawei, Cheehow and another of Cheehow's friend even before both of us are leaving London for the summer. I had left his place still wondering when Cheehow is coming back home...

Oh wait...I didnt think Cheehow and his friend was not staying at their new home...but anyway...that was not all that I was thinking about!

So, I left with the rest of the Roseberians (My hall is called Rosebery Hall). All my friends, fabulous peeps whom I've met this year, have either gone home, or are going home. Watson, Jiawei and the rest of the Roseberians will be flying home tomorrow. I was not. It will be long before I say 'goodbye' to them again. But the goodbye was fulfilling. It was a goodbye to to my 2 good friends who would be going back home where I have all my good friends and my family.

In less than 5hours after, I found myself flying to New York. My destination: Tisch School of the Arts at NYU...film school for 6 weeks...

Some Shots of NYC...but pity I took them in a hurry...NYC is beautiful btw...I just have to say it

And Guess what...on the second day that I arrive...there was a gaypride parade...highly explicit for those viewers who are not open enough for this...be warned!!

My address - Fifth Avenue. The parade was just along fifth avenue, right through the very artery of downtown Manhatten. It went on for hours and hours...you're be surprised the manpower they had! Well...at least I enjoyed the hot lesbian dancing...

Blogger!

2006-06-28T19:34:00.000-07:00

I am a BLOGGER now!!! Welcome me to the club! Call me a blogger if you see me on the streets. It sounds awful but you know what...you're a blogger yourself too! Everyone is a blogger now... I didnt want to become one...but now I just have to be......

The Reason is, just like how i do not want to live by regrets by choosing to study in London, I cannot afford to regret not writing about what I'm doing now at FILM School. I had missed the chance to write about the amazing stuff in my first year in London, but I will have the second year, and the third.

And the 3 years it is...ladies & gentlemen...