Monologue

From the film NETWORK (1976)

Howard Beale: I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's worth, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it. We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TV's while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be. We know things are bad - worse than bad. They're crazy. It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is: 'Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone.' Well, I'm not gonna leave you alone. I want you to get MAD! I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot - I don't want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street. All I know is that first you've got to get mad. (shouting) You've got to say, 'I'm a human being, god-dammit! My life has value!' So I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell, 'I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!' I want you to get up right now, sit up, go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and yell - 'I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Things have got to change. But first, you've gotta get mad!...You've got to say, 'I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Then we'll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it: 'I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore

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This monologue is sure a killer. Love it.

Whatever! She's so cute!

Being Contented

I'm feeling proud of my new arrivals. Prince said I showed more feelings to my shoes than any human beings based on the way I looked affectionately at my 9 pairs of new heels, which was nicely and orderly displayed on the floor, fresh out of the box. Of course I denied his accusation.

Mom let out a sign and knocked her head with her hands muttering to herself " We have 7 people in the house with 700 pairs of shoe. 20 pairs belonging to 6 people and the rest of the 680 belonging to you." Nonsense. I don't own 680 pairs of shoe of course. Maybe just 40 pairs. Yes at one point I did own a good 100 pairs but that was so long ago.

Okay, enough of the bimbo-tic shoe talk.

I was at the Gala Premier of the movie "Connected" yesterday. It was a Hong Kong remake of the Hollywood film "Cellular". Louis Koo was cute as ever and Barbie Su made her entrance as beautiful as a goddess on the red carpet. Best of all, I love my door gift. The movie was enjoyable and funny though I did receive a few comments on my increased waistline as usual. This is not good but all I can say is, I'm working on it. Yeah, I do understand its part of the job for any actor to look good and these people do meant well.

The charity sale that I was involved was supposed to happen at the end of this month has been cancelled for unknown reasons. But a few more events had pop up.

It rained this morning. Love it. Nothing matters now except my cup of coffee and a good read of Elizabeth Gaskell's Wives And Daughters. I shall hit the gym after lunch.

My Favorite Actresses

Here's the list of my top 5 favorite Hollywood actresses and their movie(s)/work that I admire.

1) Merly Streep
(MOVIE: Devil Wears Prada, Death Becomes Her)
She's a super natural in her acting. I totally adore her. What I really admire about this actress is her acting technique in transition of emotion which is totally superb.

2) Vanessa Redgrave
(MOVIE: Atonement)
She had only one scene in Atonemnet and it was also the last scene of the movie. She gave such powerful performance that she outshone every actor in the movie and left me totally speechless.

3) Cate Blanchett
(MOVIE: Elizabeth, Elizabeth- The Golden Age)
Period and historical movie has always been the best challenge for many actors and in my case, a total nightmare. It takes a lot out of the actor to deliver such grand performance.

4) Marion Cotillard
(MOVIE: La Vie En Rose)
Her body language is so good that she delivered a very believable performance as Edith Piaf in La Vie En Rose.

5) Nicole Kidman
(MOVIE: Birth, The Others)
She always deliver truthful moments with her beautiful eyes. She's the perfect combination of both beauty and talent.

Preparation Season!

All right, there has been too much ranting on silly things on this blog. I shall stop complaining and whining away here. Well, at least for a while.

Banks in the states are either closing down or merging. But who am I to comment about the world economics here?

If you are asking me what have I been working on, I have only one word - READING. yep, I've been working on building my good reading habits again. After all I have more than 30 unread books on my bookshelf. Most of them are hard to digest and follow so I'm gonna read those easier ones to kick start my reading habits.

Two weeks later I shall start to get back working on my monologues again. It's important for an actor to work on monologues. Anyway the casting season is over, I shall prepare myself for the next round of audition season.

Currently I'm re-reading this book The Last Empress- The she-Dragon Of China by Keith Laidler which I had given up reading two years ago because I thought it was a little long winded for me at that time of my life. However this is actually an interesting book because the author is NOT a historian. So a few things here and there may not be as accurate and based on speculations which provide readers a new point of view. Anyway, I'll finish reading it this time. Who knows I maybe cast as Yehonala (CiXi) for my next role? An actor must always be well prepared or at least try to be prepared.

Being Adventurous

Sometimes over worrying kills not only your brain cells, it also kills your courage to move on to a greener pasture hence destroying all great possibilities one could have ever accomplished. Why be so afraid to lose? What is really there to lose? Why be afraid of the unknown? Why stay in the comfort zone to whine and wonder about the other side? What doesn't kill you strengthens you.

Rant

I need to RANT!! I really don't wanna talk about this here BUT.... ARRGH

My room is still in a mess. I hate my wardrobe! All my clothes seems to have shrunk to a much smaller size. Okay I admit, I myself is to be blamed for this tragedy BUT how can I resist sweet offers from dear friends and love ones? Lately Jacq has been baking so much and she has been stuffing me every 2 days with yummy cheesecakes and muffins from her up and coming FAT KITCHEN. Mom always get me Char Siew Bao from my favorite stall every Sunday for supper. Sam sends me her killer chocolates almost every 2 months from Europe. Prince spoils me with ice cream and desserts every week and my tummy needs to be filled with prata 3 times a week for supper. My nieces feed me with sweets everyday. Besides all these, there are so many dinner parties & invitations with really good food, how can I ever resist? Something must be done!! But I really don't want to spend 3 hours in the gym/pool every day to burn all these fats. But still something must be done! Okay, I shall only eat salad in the day and save my main meals for dinner and start to spend one hour every day to workout. Strictly NO supper!

I brought my nieces to Chinese Garden to see the Hello Kitty Lanterns. It was beautifully, costly. $15 for adults and $10 for kids for the entrance fees. I mean I am fine with the entrance fees and I think its quite worth it because I know my nieces are gonna enjoy themselves and so do I. BUT, those kiddy rides! $3 for a token? Some kiddy rides cost 2 tokens which means a good 6 bucks. Kids are always kids, so one ride is never enough and I have two kids with me. Plus the drinks, food and toys... ARRGH I felt bad I had to do some budget control on them because seriously I would rather save the money and bring them on a overseas trip so that they can learn about the world. I'm such a bad auntie to my nieces....... ARRGH

My super CPU is back. Everything has been upgraded and even had a new casing. The only thing recycled from my old PC is the motherboard and the fan. I'm happy with my new CPU but I really gotta stop spending money.

Seriously I think all these are what I call "positive stress". No big deal actually when I choose to look at the other side of the coin. I just need to laugh at myself for my silly thoughts. What I am so called suffering is really no big deal compared to those who are really suffering from the third world countries.

Have I not enough to eat? ABUNDANCE! Have I not enough to dress? A ROOM FULL! Have I not enough to enjoy luxuries? PLENTY! Then why am I ranting so much?

Now that I've found my balance, thank you for listening.

I'm having fun!

Finally finished my two days shoot today. A bit tired but happy. I'm happy not just because of money but I'm happy because I'm working. Working means I get to practise my craft as a actor. The crews and director are friendly and easy going. They took great care of me. Matter of fact is, this has been a fun and enjoyable shoot. Prince and I had dinner tonight at Raffles City with a very good and veteran actor whom I call him PaPa "P". Food was good and we even had a bottle of sake.

About 4days ago my blanket flew away after I hung it to dry on the pole/teck ko. I had used three clips to secure it to the pole but apparently it didn't work. I was just relaxing in my room when my mom came running to my door to inform me about my missing blanket. The pole was still there but the blanket went missing. Thank goodness the pole was still there because I live on a very very high floor. I decided to conduct a mini "CSI" while ironically I was wearing my CSI t-shirt I bought from Las Vegas. I looked outside the window at my laundry area but I didn't see anything below my apartment. I figured out it must be the "work" of the strong wind as it had been very unusually windy lately. I then decided to go downstairs with my two lovely little "CSI Assistants" whom both process the IQ of a 4-5 year old kid. ( Okay, both my lovely nieces are truly 4 and 5 years old. )

ANYWAY.............

After I got downstairs, my blanket was still no where to be found. I thought to myself it must have flew its way to Johor?! LOL Just as I turn my back to head back home, I SAW IT.
My blanket was nicely hanging on top of a tall tree. So how tall are we talking about here? Picture this, it took me a 4 step ladder and two poles/teck Ko that were attached together to extend the length to the maximum and a good 15minutes to "rescue" my blanket from the tree top. As a friend mine put it jokingly, GONE WITH THE WIND! I actually thought this incident was funny and also heart warming as both of my nieces, my dad and I worked together as a team on this "rescue mission".

My Chinese Poem: 寒潭望春

有心栽花花不开
肥田树枯水月寒
春去秋来时景迁
秋水难留又一梦
明月看似冬无限
鸳鸯寒潭望春临

I must be watching too much TVB period drama to come up with something like that. Feel free to correct my chinese poem.
Have a great weekend.

Serious Cravings

I wanna eat Bak Chang. Those with salted egg, pork and mushroom. Where can I get good Bak Chang? The one at Joo Chiat road is too far for me........ Arrgh. Finally I ate my last piece of Sprungli Chocolate Truffes. Anyone knows where can I buy this brand of chocolate? Dim Sum!! Where can I get really really good Dim Sum besides 126 at Geylang?

Yep. It's all about food. Maybe I'm just too hungry now.
I shall just shut up and go cook instant noodle, my favorite unhealthy happy food.
But before that I wanna share my "secret recipe". :P

Here's what I usually add into my instant noodle besides the usual egg and crab sticks.

1) One Table spoon of sesame oil
2) One to two table spoon of Chinese rice wine/cooking wine.
3) One tea spoon of ready made deep fried onion.
4) Whatever vegetable available in my fridge. Best is fine slice cabbage and bean spout.

So, what do you usually add into your bowl of instant noodle?

4 Birthdays and a box of mooncake

Recently I met my childhood friend/neighbour Siew Lan while doing a show at Suntec City. I haven't seen her for 15 years at least. I was rushing at that time so I quickly gave her my contact number and rushed back to the stage. I didn't expect her to invite me to her baby boy, Victor's first birthday party. I made effort to turn up even I had another birthday party that happened on the same day.

I was nervous when I got there and had to calm myself down for a good 15 minutes before I took the lift up to her apartment. I mean, seriously I haven't seen SiewLan for so long and I felt a little weird. But then I recalled the good old days. The days when we were both little girls, having fun with play pretends, using blankets to create costumes and playing badminton at the playground. Yet now we both have grown up and she's a proud mother to a beautiful boy. The best part of the party is I met another of our childhood friend/neighbour, Hun. Lots of flashbacks came into my mind as 3 of us updated each other about our lives.

I headed off to another mass birthday party after Victor's. Yep I use the word, MASS. We were celebrating the birthdays for 3 friends at one go. We had dinner at a German restaurant at Raffles City and then followed by kopi and tea till late. Can you imagine the big bag of birthday presents I carried that day? LOL

So it's mooncake festival. I'm so glad they have this mooncake "convention" at Raffles City. This made it so much easier for me to make my festive purchase. Met an old friend at one of the mooncake booth. I didn't recognize him until 10 minutes later.... He looked so different. I was ashamed of myself for being rude. Rude in a way that I didn't recognize my own friend. He gave me huge discounts for my mooncakes and that made me felt even worst.

This has been a heart warming week indeed, from meeting of childhood friends to celebrations of good old friends. I've got a callback from a production house so this means I may have jobs coming in which is good. Gotta save money for my education and spare some to pamper on my nieces. It's school holiday now. I guess I shall bring the girls to the beach or do some trekking in the jungle for a change.