cube watermelons

There was this news several days ago about people successfully grow cube watermelons instead of spherical ones. I wonder why people want to grow these squarish watermelons unless they taste better or have special benefits.

Of all shapes, the round shape is the most pleasing to the eyes.

And, the sphere has the greatest volume for a fixed surface area. In nature, an object takes the shape of a sphere whenever its surface wants to be as small as possible. Examples include bubbles and water drops.


For a fixed perimeter, the greatest area you can get is a circle.

黃妃, 陳歌華

樓台泣別 - 黃妃, 陳歌華


Below is a short clip by Huang Fei (in black outfit) and Chen Ge Hua from the Marine Parade Community Club Cantonese Opera Group. Huang Fei sang the male part while Chen Ge Hua the female part.

王愛明, 沈芝華, 張飛燕

Cantonese child star of yesteryear - Wong Oi Meng, 王愛明



One of her movies ...


The older 王愛明 with actress 陈复生(left)



The seven princesses in the old Cantonese movie era.
七公主, 當年無人不識 - 馮寶寶, 王愛明, 薜家燕, 馮素波, 沈芝華, 陳寶珠, 蕭芳芳 ...



陳寶珠, 沈芝華


沈芝華 with sister 沈月華 (left)



There is not much information about the child star Cheung Fei Yin, 張飛燕.

張露露 (Cheung Lo Lo)，原名：張飛燕 (Cheung Fei Yin)， 在1964 年開始在粉菊花主持的「春秋戲劇學校」學習京劇北派功架的童星.


Here is a short clip of Cheung Fei Yin in action ...

Answers to Stars of yesteryear

Actually I know only a few of them. All of you who gave the answers are more knowledgeable. I match the roles they perform with the performers' list. I think No 7 is not so well-known or seldom performed in the old movies. A bit more about 7 and 8, and a little about Wong Oi Meng in the next post.

1. Yu So Chow
2. Boon Yat Onn
3. Len Chi Bak
4. Lau Hak Suen
5. Li Heong Kam
6. Seet Kar Yin
7. Cheung Fei Yin
8. Sum Zi Wah

Here are the answers from the performers' list.

Miscellaneous 2

I checked up the history of my constituency - Macpherson. I didn't realize that so many parties had contested here before - SDA, DPP, SDP, NSP, UPF, WP. They lost and disappeared. No party stayed on for a second attempt. Two of the contestants were Chee Soon Juan and Sin Kek Tong. There were also walkovers when it was in a GRC.


I think it is better to have admission by tickets rather than free admission if you are holding a Cantonese opera show in a community club. Many people have the perception that free shows are of a lower standard, mainly performed by new pupils. Some will decide at the last minute whether to go or not. Then they are probably too lazy to go.

If you have admission by tickets (free or at a nominal price), people will try to get the tickets or the performers will give some tickets to friends to invite them to come. People who have tickets will go because they have paid for the tickets or they feel obliged to support their friends who have invited them.

Stars of yesteryears

I have added two more pictures of 5 and 6 to help you identify them. No 5 often acted as the 'evil empress of the west chamber' in old movies. No 6 has come to Singapore to perform or engage in other activities a number of times. She is not slim now. Answers will be published in the second post after this.



The pictures below are from an old opera movie. How many stars do you know?

These two I know - Lum Ka Seng and Chan Ho Kau (the one on the left, second picture).



How many (1 to 8 ) can you recognize? No 1 was often in swords-woman's role in kung-fu films. No 5 and 6 are also well-known stars in movies and dramas.

Miscellaneous

Some blogger friends like Victor, Mingde and Amai are posting less and less frequently in their blogs. Maybe they are busy with their work.


Recently I paid my first visit to an Integrated Resort - Sands. Besides the $100 entrance fee, I lost $150. I think gambling is not in my DNA. I don't get thrills gambling and I have no desire to win huge sum of money. I only bet small amount on 4D which won't make me very rich.

I was a bit surprised that the IR employs quite a number of older people at the gaming tables and there were more males than females.


I have finished reading The Cobra. Briefly it is about the drug menace in America getting out of hand with young lives and families destroyed while the drug cartels and traffickers making huge profits. You have ruthless drug lords with no regards for human life, the failed states in Africa, corrupt officials and inefficient law-enforcement agencies.

According to the writer, Americans think nothing of thousands of people killed by their troops in other countries but would squirm if a single American were to be killed by hostile force on American soil.

GRCs not relevant?

After the general elections I read several arguments that the GRCs are not relevant. Most of them take Michael Palmer, K. Shanmugam and Tharman Shanmugaratnam as examples to show that good credible candidates from the minority races can be elected.

But they are only looking at the present scenario. These are strong candidates standing alone or leading a strong team from a strong party contesting against weaker opponents. They are veterans or familiar with Singaporeans.

We cannot guarantee that it will be like that in future. Things will change.

No one has suggested a sure way that we will have elected MPs from the minorities. So, I would say GRCs, despite its shortcomings, are not irrelevant.

If we have two equally strong candidates, say Teo Chee Hean vs Tharman , then most people will likely pick one of their own race. It does not mean they are racists or they vote along racial line, it is just a natural preference.

frederick forsyth

Hello thrillers fans, here is a new book by a thriller master, Frederick Forsyth. I am into chapter one now. It looks exciting enough.



However, his books are not easy to read because there are a lot of details (objects, procedures, history and places), flashbacks, names of people and acronyms. Then his language and writing style is also not easy to follow. Still, I have read many of his books. Here are three of them. The best is still The Day of the Jackal. I have written a post about this story.

My MP - Tin Pei Ling

This is the team for my Constituency.


This is the MP for my ward. Despite negative comments about her, I have no prejudice against her. On the contrary I have quite a good impression of her.

师生演出 狄青 - 楚云玉, 楚如双

Chor Wun Yook performing with her pupils at Leng Kee Community Club.

狄青 - 楚云玉, 楚如双

The quality of this video is not too good because it was taken with an ordinary camera with only 7x zoom.

粵剧义演节目 - 陳福鴻, 戚超群

粵剧义演在人民剧场


This video and the three below were taken from the same distance with the same cam. Did you notice that the face in one video looks clearer than another. I think it has to do with the make-up.