I wish they'd leave me alone, and let me be

I feel like going home, wherever that is.

Let us lay in the sun and count every beautiful thing we can see

I am guessing it is finally kicking in. This week i have been feeling like i need to start taking that baby step towards my eventual landing in a job, by casually psyching and sweet talking myself to at least get into the right frame of mind. That has resulted in bouts of unpleasant feelings i sometimes cannot make any sense of. I am also very tempted by the prospects of running away so that i can be anywhere but here. Anybody interested? We could busk in the streets and sell dope in the alleys.

Watched The Red Cockatoo and Eternal Summer recently.

Cockatoo is set in 1961, just before the Berlin Wall separated the East Germans from the West, and from the rest of the world. The story reminded me slightly of The Dreamers, rebellion at a time of social unrest, new kid in town, love triangle, lots of sex and rock n' roll. Certain parts came off rather cheesy, but that could be due to poor translation. All in all i feel it's not as bad a movie as made out to be (but Dreamers is still better).

Eternal Summer was better than i'd expected, but it also didn't feel like a very original film, borrowing bits from Brokeback Mountain and Tempting Hearts aka Xin Dong (directed by Sylvia Chang) and C.R.A.Z.Y. The story revolves around two boys who have been best friends since they were children and a girl comes along in their teenage years to screw everything up. A messy love triangle entails and it's not the girl who gets caught between. While i think the movie could have ended in a few other ways, and the dialogue also happens to be a bit too honeycoated and wishy-washy (but then again, it is from Taiwan), the elements of youth are still brought out very nicely in a simple manner - recklessness, alienation and need for acceptance. It's rather easy to identify with the characters and to understand their actions. You need not have fallen in love with someone of the same sex to enjoy the show.

I know it isn't dignified to run

I feel that Tuesday is the most awkward day to be out because there isn't much to do on a Tuesday night. On Monday nights people might go out and do something to chase the Monday Blues away, and on Wednesday they mostly go to some club or whatever, and on Thursday some people celebrate the arrival of weekend a day earlier, or some places do ladies night on Thursdays (i think). On Tuesdays though, it seems like much less is going on, and it's even more quiet than Sunday nights.

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Travelling on the LRT is actually quite a strange idea to me, i mean, what kind of a train is that? No driver, and there is hardly any staff at the stations. We are being taken over!!!

If anything could ever be this good again

There's something in my body that drives electronic gadgets wild, i swear. Firsly, computers always die on me, then my Ipod too was acting strange.

Brought it to the service centre, went through 2 hellish days without music. I can't live without the baby. How does one endure long bus rides listening to other people's conversations? (Ok actually i am quite an eavesdropper, but still!) Or worse, listening to imposing and inconsiderate fellow commuters play their music through speakers?

So, the service centre replaced my Ipod with a new one, and i was so excited, like getting an Ipod all over again. But on the third day of using, the Ipod couldn't be turned on at all! And i remember i'd left it nearly fully charged.

Brought it down to the service centre again and it was diagnosed as a battery problem. Like hello? How many times do i need to visit the service centre before i can just relax and use the baby? BABY!!!

Then they expect you to pick a career

Just saw Leben der Anderen, Das aka The Lives Of Others yesterday. Winner of this year's Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, it's a subtly moving story set in East Germany during the mid to late '80s, just before the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The film depicts the horrors of living in a totalitarian state, where the Stasi, secret police of the GDP spies relentlessly on its citizens.

For reasons that are not so clear initially, writer Georg Dreyman and his actress girlfriend Christa Sieland come under the watchful eye of Captain Wiesler and his team. We see how meticulous, efficient and clinical but frighteningly robotic the work of the Stasi is, as they spied on their subjects, recording every little detail of their lives.

Dreyman and Christa are both tortured artists, in similar yet different ways, blackmailed by the bureaucratic system but desperately longing for a change.

Wiesler though, is my favourite character. He starts off as a merciless interrogator training the next batch of Stasi agents. But underneath his stone-cold exterior, we see the emptiness of his life outside his work. He goes home alone, eats an instant dinner in front of the TV and occasionally engages the service of a prostitute.

Spying on Dreyman and Christa sparks off something in him, as he gets drawn further into their lives filled with passion and ideals, things that are lacking in his own.

Although it's a little more than 2 hours long, and most of the setting looks drab and dull, clearly representing the oppressiveness of that period, there's not a boring moment in the film. Dry humour is used scarcely but effectively.

This movie also touches on the notion of what it means to be a good person without seeming like a cliché. And the ending is just brilliant. Could be the best film i've watched by far in the cinemas this year.

Upon this tidal wave of young blood

At almost 60 years old, Sakura is still every bit a wonderful performer, her voice coarse but strong, and she can definitely dance the pants of anyone.

Onstage she was brilliant, sending the audience into laughing fits with her whacky chatter, peppered with lots of swear words Singapore-styled. Just as how culturally diverse Singapore in the 60s and 70s was, she sang in a few languages other than Mandarin, like Berhasa Indonesia, English, Spanish and Cantonese.

Know that Chee Chee Pom Pom song? She performed that! I always liked that song. She also did Elvis' "It's Now Or Never".

The setup of the concert felt very nostalgic, like it came right out of the 70s, with the getai-sounding band, except that Sakura doesn't look the same anymore. But of course, her charisma remains, and i'm sure she gave the audience, most of them in their 50s and 60s, plenty to reminisce about.

Comfort Of Strangers

I caught this movie over the weekend, without a clue what it was about. Turned out to be a very rewarding experience.

French psycho chiller, shot in black and white, this is the director's debut feature. The plot is original and dark, and the soundtrack does an amazing job at maintaining the suspense.

Just like Mysterious Skin, i think it's best to watch it without much prior knowledge of the film. That way you can feel the intensity and shock full-blast.

But to put it simply, it's a story about a struggling young labourer who unknowingly gets himself into a dangerous situation hoping to make a big sum of money, and what happens next is an unfathomable journey through living hell. The ugliness of human nature is portrayed so cold it numbs.

Go see it if you can, surely worth your money!

It just won't be me ever again

Have not been updating this for a little while. A few things that have happened so far are that i've left my job, caught 4 excellent gigs at the Mosaic Music Festival (Jose Gonzalez, YO LA TENGO, Album Leaf and Rachael Yamagata), went for 2 Many DJ's and had a blast, saw the Middle Eastern exhibition at History Musuem, overslept and missed Tsai Ming Liang's talk (sorry Tang Wei!) but spotted TML and Lee Kang Sheng at Bugis Junction, watched the ever dynamic Sakura in concert, amongst some other random stuff that i will tell you about when i remember.

Here's a sign i found near my place, beside a primary school.