No Luggage

Its scary how I can feel so much with you. Extreme happiness one day and dejection the next. This is not what I want...or is it?

The Start of Another Year

I'm officially 26. Where has the time gone to? I remember I was 17 when I stepped into SRJC. 21 when i left the world of tertiary education to start my life in the world. 24 when everything came into sharp focus. And now, 26. What lies ahead?

While I'm finding out, here are the photos from last night's party at Ambrosia. Good friends, booze, shisha and great atmosphere - nothing could be better. Other than that supernatural thingy with my camera...you know how phone cameras always save your pictures? Candice took a photo of me, Eleanor and Terence and we saw our faces on the screen but when i viewed the picture later, there was only murkiness and this weird green thing on the top righthand corner of the screen.It freaked all of us, especially since Eleanor had just told us about the City of the Dead tour she took in Edinburgh that involved a poltergeist.

Photos...some are blurred coz i forgot to turn on the night mode!


My favourite drummers(top) :) and the dragons reunion (below), well, sort of..

This is so wrong.

Another blog?

I just posted my first post to my shop's blog. Another blog? Am I crazy? Maybe I am, but its good for the shop :) Go here: Suite Stuff

I just love this photo, taken by Christine from Anonymous Apparel. Old-world charm anyone?
Of course the shop doesn't look like this anymore....its a little more...er lived in? Heh.

Baggage has arrived

Yaay! My baggage, thought lost for good has arrived from London. Am looking forward to seeing my bottles of Lemon Vinegar, Raspberry Vinegar and Bramble Vinegar. Oh, not forgetting Raspberry Vodka, Blackcurrant Gin, a 10-year old Brandy, Chocolate Orange liqeur...and the list goes on. I'm salivating already.


In case you're wondering where on earth I got these. They were bought from a shop called Demijohn in Edinburgh. They only have two stores in the whole wide world - one in Edinburgh and one in Glasgow, and they specialise in making their own oils, wines, vinegar and other what-nots of alcohol. Absolute bliss¬ now who are the lucky ones who get to share in my joy. hmmm....

Go here for Demijohn...they do international deliveries! Damn.
http://www.demijohn.co.uk

Sorry, Love

I spent a pleasant day (or rather remainder of the day, seeing as we have to perform two shows every morning) watching shows today, a total of 4 in fact. The first was Joined at the Heart, a musical about the life of Victor Frankenstein. It was, in my opinion, too draggy, contained too many songs that weren't very nice to begin with, mediocre singing and acting...oh, there was one actress who was so bad, she was distracting. I made it through the whole show, only to leave five minutes to the end. I swear that was about all I could take.

The second show was The Space In Between, set literally in a jazz bar, the Jazz Bar next to our performance venue. It was a great ambience, the bar was closed for the duration of the performance and the actors used the bar space as their stage. Very philosophical, yet funny. Again, I didn't stay for the whole show as I had to go look for Su-ping and Eleanor, to watch another show.

Painting Music - The Colour of Sound was the third and the most enjoyed show of the day. Set in a church, with a very competent pianist and talented cellist and clarinetist, it showcased an artist painting on a canvas to music played by these musicians. 5 songs were played in all and I most loved the Baroque Sonata in C minor and the song about the crucification of Jesus. It was so beautiful and the acoustics in the church were just awesome. The results on canvas were at times stunning, bold and yet

I ended the day with Sorry Love, a very evocative dance piece by two dancers about domestic abuse. She moved with so much grace and lyricism..oh and her body! So tight and taut, but a little manly. The guy was abit more flamenco in style, not as graceful in movement but he provided a good balance to her style. If anything, i thought it was good he be different - providing a subtle warning of the impending rift in their relationship. I loved it.

Reviews!

So far, we've been getting positive reviews from audiences and reviewers alike. See the reviews here: http://www.itheatre.org/Edfringe07reviews.htm

And we might just be going on a UK tour, if everything turns out well. The organiser for the tour came to our shows last week, so fingers crossed everyone!!

I watched two shows today - Prodigal Daughter (about a Korean woman who returns back to Korea after being sent away when she 6 years old, and finds out why she was sent away) and The New Magic Show (set in a cafe, the audience gets to choose what's on the menu). Prodigal Daughter was rather average. Staging was rather weird in some scenes but the acting was really very competent. It was quite a sad story as the woman, Mina was sent away because she was being sexually abused by an American general during the war. The general would often bring food over for the family. Her mother, alone with four other children could do nothing but choose to send her away, hoping this would stop the abuse (which it did) but did not realise that it wouldn't stop her hurt.

The New Magic Show was funny! I laughed throughout the whole show. The magician, Simon Evans announced at the start of the show that the Fringe office was not happy with the less-than-satisfiable applause at all of the Fringe shows and that he'd be commissioned to solve the problem. Which he promptly did by telling the audience that there were four steps to be taken each time he did a trick successfully:

1.looked shocked (put both hands up to your face)
2.turn to the person next to you, look doubtful and shake your head, he couldn't have possibly done that trick
3. dawning look of recognition that yes! He'd actually done the trick!
4. Applaud and scream.

Another twist to the oft-done illusion trick of putting a person in a box and sticking blades through the box consisted of a cardboard box and plastic poles. Why? Safety regulations prohibiting the use of knives (too dangerous), wooden planks (too dangerous, they might splinter and get into the skin) forks (the restaurant needs to use them) etc etc...

So yes, he gets his assistant to climb into the cardboard box, and then proceeds to stick 6 plastic poles into the box and out the opposite ends. Meanwhile, the assistant is dutifully screaming his lungs out. At the end, all is quiet and then suddenly, the assistant pops up, but only he's in a glittery black dress, revealing his bountiful chest hair in all its glory. yup. not your run of the mill magic show.

The weather's damn cold today! Argh. I walked home in the rain, under an umbrella, and (quite) warmly clothed but the wind still chilled me to the bone. Was thinking of going out to catch a few shows at night but with this weather....i guess I'll be staying at home, catching up on my blogging, emails, reading and shop work.

I just made some strawberry jelly and its cooling in the refrigerator now even as I type. Oh, and here are a few more funny shop names, just for your viewing pleasure....enjoy!

Free and Easy

I took this picture as I was walking along a road on the way to The Pleasance Courtyard to catch Chanbara. Seems so whimsical yet so apt for an easy afternoon. I imagine the person who put this there must have sat on the chair, smoked and watched the world go by, while maybe reading a paper or a book.

I myself have been doing a lot of reading of late and its been really satisfying. Back home, my reading is oft done when i'm on the move, most often in trains, or on buses. It feels so good to be able sit on a couch and really read, without having interruptions! One of life's simplest pleasures. Another one of life's simplest pleasures? Having cocoa pops with a bowl of milk. Mmmmm. What's yours?

So what have I been reading? Nothing serious i'm afraid. Heh. I've been reading a trilogy of books by Nora Roberts, set in Ireland. The geography and culture is somewhat similar to that of Scotland. I'm able to visualise in my mind when she describes the topography of the area. The cliffs, rolling hils and its gentle slopes, faerie-like cottages and more. Its great! I took a drive along the south-eastern coast, out of Edinburgh and up towards Saint Andrews. The drive was awesome. The scenery took my breath away - there were bales of hay resting in the fields, golden carpets of wheat, cows and sheep grazing on the green hills, abandoned cottages, quaint cottages, contemporary houses with their beautifully landscaped gardens and lawns and more! I could go on all the day. There was one part of the drive where hills rose high to our left and to our right, downward sloping hills leading to the sea. That was awesome, and a sight that will leave an indelible mark in my memory.

This time around, I haven't done much shopping. Alot of the clothes here can be found back home and at cheaper prices too. Eleanor was commenting that it could also be a testament to the fact that Singapore's fashion market has opened up so much in the past three years. Although i've been stocking up on skin and bodycare products. They've got Boots here! It has such a wonderful range of labels! Charles Worthington is big here, and Watsons only just brought them in.

I just bought Benefit's Hollywood Glo and eye cream and night cream from Boot's in-house label, Time Delay. Heh. Will let you guys know how good it is in 7 days. It promises firmer and younger looking skin in 7 days. Look out for the review at http://theboudoir-at-thechicsuite.blogspot.com/

More Updates

Yes, decided to do away with the oft-confusing blog template. No more "where do i click to get to your posts ah?" and no more "oh, so is that all there is to your blog?". But do be patient. I still have some editing to do, html-wise.

Very satisfied with myself today. I vowed to watch at least one show everyday before I came over to Edinburgh and today, I watched not one, but two great shows! One, a breakdancing show from a company from Korea (cute guys!!!) and two, "Just So" - a musical cum play about how the crab became its humble size as it is now. Great singing and acting! I was blown away.

Gotta go now. I've got to let the owner of this computer use it...catch ya guys later!

Edinburgh Part 2

Finally managed to get a computer with a working internet connection. Its no joke not having a computer on hand whenever you need it. Here's your updates, well some of them. More photos coming soon! Fug, just realised that my chatterbox is down. Grrrr...

Went to watch Puppetry of the Penis last night. Nothing great. Just some full frontal nudity and two guys manipulating their genitals, stretching this way and that to create what they call "installations". Hot dogs will never be the same again, neither will KFC's chicken.


The Scots sure have a sense of humour. I was walking along Rose Street, parallel to the shopping mall, Princes Street and this is what I found.

Edinburgh

I've reached Edinburgh safe and sound, after a 16-hour flight. Security was tight and some mixups meant that I had to throw away my canned food. Sob! No tuna, or curry!! :(

The time difference here is 7 hours behind Singapore. Suffering a little from jetlag. On the first night, we had a tech run for the 2 shows at 12 midnight, all the way till 5am (1pm Singapore time). I was falling asleep every time I looked down at my instruments. I think the greatest torture on earth is not being able to sleep when you most want to.

Anyways, the place that I'm staying in is called Roseburn Terrace. Hatta says it sounds like its something out of horror movie. You should check out our entranceway into the building. A dark corridor with cobwebs on the ceiling leading to an uneven spiral staircase. Me and Seri are sharing a super small bedroom. Its so cold here that I'm thankful for the small space. Small spaces are more cosy and trap heat easily.

We've had great meals! Pasta and macaroni and we had chili con carne yesterday for lunch, courtesy of Su-ping! Yum!

Today's the beginning of our 18-day run. Press coming in for our shows. Hope nothing goes wrong...especially my handling of the jellyfish. Heh. Looking forward to watching all the free shows , and of course the ones where we have to pay too, especially The Magnets and Puppetry of the Penis. Yuup. Later...