Diao Chan seduces Lu Bu

Chinese opera museum cum cafe

聶小倩

Nie Xiao Qian - performed at The Singapore Airlines Theatre on 9 January 2011.

Sabrina Chow as Nie Xiao Qian. Playwright - Norman Cheung, Music Director - Bu Can Rong.

聶小倩 : 周汶姿

周汶姿, 司馬祥


黄安妮, 周汶姿

胡桂馨, 周汶姿

卢少玲, 四小妖

馬亦龍

黄安妮, 周汶姿, 司馬祥, 馬亦龍

Serangoon Road

I have not walked about Serangoon Road and its surroundings for a long time. One recent Sunday evening I went to a friend's house at Veerasamy Road, off Serangoon Road. When I left, it was already night. I decided to take a stroll.

I walked along Serangoon Road, Rowell Road, Kapor Road, Desker Road, Lembu Road and to Syed Alwi Road where Mustafa Shopping Centre is. Then I walked back along Serangoon Road to the bus stop outside Tekka Centre.

Everywhere there were throngs of people. Probably because Sunday is an off-day for our foreign workers. Most were dark-skinned. I remembered one former MP mentioned that the place was dark. Some people thought it was a racist remark. Maybe he was just being cheeky.

Some were in groups, just standing around talking. Others sat on the ground or pavements drinking tea in paper cups and chit-chatting. Those at the back-lanes in the red-light zone were drinking beer at the stalls.

All were well-behaved. I didn't come across any rowdiness or anyone getting drunk. Perhaps it was still early in the night. One common offence I saw was jaywalking - people dashing across Serangoon Road.

Outside a massage den in Rowell Road, a man was announcing its services "massage, massage". I saw a bored-looking woman inside. Further up there was a woman in a low-cut dress sitting outside a staircase. At the back-lane were the brothels with older women.

In the olden days there were numerous stalls peddling medicinal products, sex toys and drugs, and blue video tapes. That night I saw only one stall open with a man sitting beside it. I don't know what it was selling. At another point I saw a board displacing pictures of drugs but the seller was not around. I guess he was not far away watching.

Along Serangoon Road were shops selling clothing, VCD, gold ornaments, mobile phones .... It was a hive of activities everywhere.

Little India has a buzz that attracts people.

Answer

to Read-my-mind quiz.

The reasons mentioned by Victor and Chun See are among the reasons when I choose shows to watch or buy, but they are not the reason in this case.

The reason is economics - The Diviner has the most number of episodes. Of those Titles on display, the minimum number of episodes is 5 and the maximum is 11. The Diviner is the only one with 11 episodes. With the same price, isn't it more economical to pick the most?

After watching the Diviner I didn't learn any divining skills, only how to act like one ...

Put on a Taoist robe or a just a white one, look as if you are deep in thought, raise one hand to chest level and slowly use your thumb to touch your fingers one by one.

watching shows

Clod - I learned this word from watching a show. If people call you a clod I guess you would be angry. A clod is a lump of mud or earth, or a stupid person.

Husband fans his wife - a Cantonese phrase I learned from watching another show. It means desolate. You see, the wife will feel cool when her husband uses a fan to fan her. 'wife cool' and 'desolate' have the same pronunciation in Cantonese. In Mandarin it is qi liang.

There is a HK drama serial about gambling and casinos. I have watched a few episodes while I was in HK. Later it was shown here on television and I think there were two or three repeat telecasts - the last just ended not long ago. I did not follow them regularly. Somehow I missed one or two episodes towards the end and now I still don't know how one of the main characters died - an effeminate man who is a very good friend of the two protagonists.


I didn't know that for some of you there was an annoying pop-up window when you visited my blog until Victor mentioned it and he also found out what could have caused it. Victor is a very resourceful man. The culprit was the C Box at the right column. I have removed it.

The Diviner, and a quiz

I bought this DVD, a case story of Justice Bao. This story is quite long - 11 episodes. It comes in a thick rectangular box. But there is only one disc inside. A lot of space would be saved if they just put it in a square envelope.


The English Title is The Diviner. I don't know what a diviner is. I think it is something like a soothsayer or someone who could predict a person's destiny or the outcome of an event. Or maybe someone who could read people's mind.


Here is a Read-my-mind Quiz for you ...


There are more than a dozen Titles in this old series of Justice Bao, each with a different story in several episodes. All look quite interesting and cost the same price. I have also not watched any of them before. So, why do you think I chose The Diviner?

Never mind if you think your reason sounds silly. Answer will be published in the second post after this.

Friendship

Do you know what FRANCE stands for? - friendship remains and never can end. It was one of the acronyms used by schoolgirls in the olden days. That time there were only real live friends, no Facebook friends.

For that to happen, friendship needs to be nurtured. If you have no contact with each other for a long time, the bond will weaken. I also believe you should not take friends for granted. For example, a word or a gesture of thanks is not redundant when your friend has helped you.


I have a few long-time friends who still send me hard copy of greeting cards with scribbled messages and delivered by the postman. I think it is a case of old habits die hard. Apologetically, I did not send them back any cards.

Here is one from someone who is very proud of the motto of his Alma mater.

Merry Christmas

There will be no new posts for about 2 weeks.

Miscellaneous 2

Blink your eyes, and in two weeks time we will be welcoming a new year. Time passes real fast as if the Earth and all the clocks were getting impatient and moved faster than before. Next month is the 6th anniversary of this blog. Anyone wants to give me presents?


This is an old phone that I like. I think the model is 6020. It is still functioning well and the battery is also fine. The only disappointment is its rudimentary camera which produces unsatisfactory pictures and videos.



I mentioned the man who experienced strange happenings in his house (see post below this). I thought he was going to tell us how he managed to subdue the ghost so we could learn from it. But it seems he has removed all the posts related to the strange experiences. Maybe he doesn't want to talk about it anymore.

Miscellaneous

When friends call me on my handphone, they expect me to answer within 10 seconds. Maybe they think I carry my phone with me all the time. This is not so. At home, I leave my phone in the room. If I am doing work in the hall or kitchen, usually I will not be able to reach the phone in 10 sec.

I still have a home phone. Most people who call on this phone are relatives and family members. And they have more patience, sometimes allowing the ringing tone to sound for more than 30 seconds.


Recently I got a NOKIA X3-02. It was ok for about for a few days but after that the screen became frequently unresponsive to touch. I took it to a HELLO shop. I told them the problem. Surprisingly I got a new replacement with little hassle.


Do you believe in ghosts? This man experienced strange happenings in his house. He believes there is a ghost in the house and he thinks he brought it back after attending a funeral: http://singaporeshortstories.blogspot.com/2010/12/best-way-to-fight-ghost-in-your-my.html

唐明皇 与 杨貴妃

黄伟坤 梁兆明 首次合作演出 ...

~~~ 高山流水會知音 ~~~

曲終人散 何日再會

梁兆明, 黄伟坤 with some members of the Kreta Ayer People's Theatre Foundation Management Committee.


One for the album ...


Bye bye ...


陈楚蕙


曾慧


倪惠英


麥文潔


李秋元


黃俊成


麥文潔, 李秋元, 梁兆明

car inspection

In Singapore, you have to send your car for inspection every 2 years. If your car is over 10 years old, then it is every year. If your car fails the inspection, you have to correct the defects and go for inspection again. Otherwise, you cannot renew your road tax which means you cannot use it on the road.

Last week I sent mine for inspection at a VICOM centre. An inspector drove my car down a lane with a few testing stations. At every station I had to wait anxious moments hoping the car would get the green light.

Soon it was over, lasting just several minutes. It cost me $62.05. My car passed and they gave me a nice certificate printed on good quality paper as if I would put it on the wall for people to see. I think it looks better than my Higher School Certificate.

When I was a child, I had a neighbour who gave tuition to primary school kids at his house. He hung his school certificate on the wall in the hall. I think it was to show that he was qualified. At that time, getting a SC was an achievement to be proud of.

後台結緣

Backstage scene at Kreta Ayer People's Theatre - in this clip there are 2 male shengs, 1 female sheng and 1 female dan. The others are inside the rooms.

群英會獅城

Chinese opera artistes at Kreta Ayer People's Theatre to raise fund for the Kwong Wai Shiu Hospital. It is the first of three nights. Here they are receiving souvenirs from Assoc Prof Ho Peng Kee. The first artiste in the clip is 陈楚蕙, a famous Teochew sheng.

同是天涯淪落人 - 彭炽权, 郭鳳女

凤凰山下 - 倪惠英

李后主之去國歸降 - 蓋鳴暉, 吳美英

yin zhi pai

銀紙花牌

Yin zhi hua pai is usually a heart-shaped or star-shaped bouquet with money notes attached. The notes are usually of denominations 50, 100 or 1000 dollars.

Last week I saw some stagehands putting up these bouquets at the street opera show at Chinatown.

I talked to a woman who came almost everyday. She said Long Koon Tin (the lead sheng in the shows) received 13 'pai' during the period of his performances. For example, in this picture he got 3 'pai' which could be given by 1 or more persons.


The other 2 'pai' are for the first dan and the second dan. You can see them in the video in the post below this.


and one for the second sheng.

粵劇善緣

Opera artistes doing their bit for charity at a street opera show in Chinatown. Do you recognize three of them who walked close to the camera. One even smiled at it.

名伶名曲

名伶名曲在新加坡慈善演唱会2010 - 謝幕曲

photoshop

Are you aware of this? A blogger said Photoshop can make some clothing material transparent.
I don't have this Photoshop. My photo-editing softwares are quite elementary.

a horror story

The Surgeon's Tale by J.P.Dixon is one of the stories in this book.


I have read a lot of horror stories, but I forgot most of the stories soon after. However, I still remember this story although I read it many years ago. It is quite a unique story.

The story took place towards the end of the 19th century in a sleazy district in London with its seedy pubs, music halls and theatres where you could see bizarre and freakish shows. The story is about a woman performer who had a morbid fascination with the mutilation of her own body.

With every show, a part of her body (a finger for example) would be cut off. So, after ten shows all her fingers and toes would be gone. She had a perverse obsession to see how far she could go. The Surgeon came to know her and gradually got himself involved in the heinous and immoral experiment.

Perhaps this passage will give you a clearer picture of what I said.

ho wai

好位 and 好威 are pronounced ho wai in Cantonese with a slight variation in the intonation of the second word. The first ho wai means good seat while the second means very grand.

A friend related this little little story. A lady called him to say she would be performing and asked him to support. OK, he said and mentioned something about giving him a good seat (the first ho wai).

But the lady seemed to have heard the second 'ho wai'.

Depending on the situation and the way you say it, 好威 can mean a praise or a sarcastic remark.

She repeated the words inquiringly. So the friend had the chance to clarify.

It would be unfortunate if she had kept quiet but keeps it at heart, thinking he was being sarcastic.

coffee

Here are some instant coffees I have tried.


My top choice is OldTown white coffee 2 in 1.
Second is Gold Kili Expresscino
Third is NESCAFE home cafe

All the three have no sugar added; I add a little sugar myself.

Anyone has other recommendations?

biased

On occasions when I had diarrhoea I would go through the food I had eaten to see what caused it. If I had eaten food like oysters, cockles or half-boiled eggs I would put the blame on them. Were I being unfair to them?

It could have been caused by other food. I read an article which said that the diarrhoea may not come immediately after you ate the dirty food. It may come many hours later.

Actually in many aspects of our lives, we are also biased. For example, if we have several suspects in a crime, many people will think the one with a criminal record is the culprit. Another example, you do not buy products of a certain brand because you think they are not good.


What about fairness? Oftentimes, you hear people say this not fair, that not fair. Take exams for example, the authorities will try to make it as fair as possible. But there are other things beyond their control. Some candidates might have done the same or similar questions days before. If there are no wrongdoings, I think it is ok. It is just they were lucky.

There are many things which are not fair, but I think it is hard to have absolute fairness.

emotional attachment

Did you see these recent headlines ... New hospital to be built, More flats next year, Orchard Road to be raised.

One of the things it means is that we will need a lot of foreign workers. Probably many will be those who are already working here and some new workers will come to replace those who are leaving.

Suppose some unforeseeable thing happened and we could not get foreign workers to come. We should not take things for granted, be it water, sand or foreign workers. I think people will see the effects very soon. Construction and road works will slow down. We will have to wait longer for our buses as there are not enough drivers. There may be floods more often as drains are not cleared regularly and our estates and streets may get dirtier too.

I was thinking who did these jobs in the early history of Singapore.

In the first half of the 20th century Singapore was a colony. There were no Singaporeans, all were British Subjects. Then, the hard dirty jobs were done by locals, many of whom came from China. One such group you could see at construction sites were the Samsui women. After that came Self-government, followed by Merger with Malaysia and finally Independence. Singapore progressed rapidly and as we became richer and more educated, we shun these jobs.


Chun See mentioned there is some psychological reason behind why old folks like to keep old things. While writing this post I thought of another reason why old folks are nostalgic about old times. It is an emotional attachment to a time when life was simpler, Asian values prevailed and foreigners were few.

I wonder what nostalgia our present kids will have when they grow old.

Two Greats

Unlike the sentimental couple I mentioned in the previous post, I did not keep my old textbooks and workbooks. If not I could write a few nostalgic posts about them.

However, I still keep some old newspaper cuttings as they do not take up a lot of space. If you live in a smalll HDB flat, space and storage is an important consideration.

Below are two newspaper cuttings. They are about two Cantonese opera greats who have passed away. Unfortunately, I did not record down the dates they were published.

sentiments for old things

A lot of old folks are very sentimental about old things. Recently I found that a neighbour has a big heavy urn for storing water and another neighbour still uses her very very old set of furniture.


" It is better than a plastic pail, " the man said.

" The wood is very good. These chairs are very sturdy. Now even you have money you cannot buy them, " the woman said.

I was thinking: If the things could not be used anymore, would they still keep them in the house. Most likely no.

I also know a sentimental couple who were teachers. They still keep all their old files, magazines and books. There are a few shelves and cupboards of them, all dusty and I think not touched for years. They are reluctant to throw away any of these things. Besides these, they also have a lot of other very old things in their flat. It makes the place look congested, dusty and dim. I feel that it has an adverse effect on their health and spirits.

Sentiment alone is not a good reason for people to keep old things. Otherwise they would have tonnes of old things in the house. I think it must have significance to them, for example the first watch you owned or your earliest music player although you can't use it anymore. Furthermore, it must not be too big to be kept or too expensive/troublesome to maintain. Then you may want to look at them occasionally.

If not, I think it is best to dispose of them.


I was reading the comments at Victor's blog and Uncle Dicko has this reason why folks like old things:

" Maybe for some of us, the internal archives in our brain (memory recall) are functioning better with sentimental, old scenes than jazzy, new ones. That's why many of us love old things, collect old things..and still love our old clothes v much!"

some feedback

For the past few years Chor Wan Yook has been partnering Long Koon Tin to put up two full-length opera shows every year. Hope she will continue with it whether with Long or other shengs.

There are very few full-length operas by local groups or troupes. At the moment I could only think of the following: Kong Chow Wui Koon, Chinese Theatre Circle, Echo Opera Troupe, Tanjong Pagar CC Opera Group. Usually they perform one show a year.

I watched Long-Chor shows last week. Besides the few leading artistes, I think most of the other performers are students in Chor Wan Yook's opera classes. I would say they put in commendable effort.

I talked to a few fans during interval and below are some feedback. Some of them might have given the feedback in the feedback form.

1. The stage lighting not bright enough.

2. The light at the orchestra pit too bright. (The rows of seats in this theatre - Lee Foundation Theatre - slope downwards and everyone can see the orchestra members below the stage. Each member has a stand with the music script on it. When the show is on, each stand has a bright light which shines onto the scripts which reflects the light.)

3. It took too long to change scenes. This was only for the first show. Probably they were short of stage helpers and the lead artistes needed time to change costumes.

4. Shi Jiu (Liang Shan Bo's pageboy) doesn't look like a pageboy. He is big-sized and his tummy sticks out.

龍貫天, 楚雲玉

I got these photos at the shows I watched last week.

common sense

Someone said that common sense is not that common.

Why do pedestrians dash across the road?
Why do motorists tailgate?
Why do men have unprotected commercial sex?
.
.
.
and dozens of other examples.

I believe all of us, myself included, ever do things like we have no common sense.

I think it is not just a matter of common sense. Sometimes we forget the risks. And at times our self-discipline is weak and other factors or emotions override our common sense.

not correct

Overcome by emotions, tears streamed down her cheeks.

This is a sentence I made in the previous post. You know what it means but is it correct English?

When I looked at it again, it doesn't sound quite right.

From the Grammar lessons I learned in school, I remember 'overcome by emotions' is an adjective phrase which is meant to describe the noun/pronoun next to it. In the above sentence, the noun is tears. Obviously the adjective phrase doesn't describe tears.

I think this is more correct - Overcome by emotions, she couldn't control her tears.
In this sentence 'overcome by emotions' describes 'she'.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

emotions

This word came to mind while I was reading the news. Emotions were aplenty at Mrs Lee Kuan Yew's funeral.

Emotions was also a favourite word of my Sec 4 English Literature teacher. I think this is natural as Literature deals with human beings and their behaviour, actions and thoughts.

I can still remember a few phrases he taught us - overcome by emotions, a wave of emotions, emotionally-charged.

For example, Overcome by emotions, tears streamed down her cheeks.

However, Literature was not a subject I was good in. I only got a credit for it. I remember my Shakespeare's text was Julius Caesar.

A Gimmicky World

An old Cantonese movie starring ... 胡楓, 林鳳, 麥基, 林丹


A rich man has never seen his cousin before. He did not want to meet her. So, he switched identities with his personal assistant and told him to go and meet his cousin.

His cousin is a beautiful woman but the personal assistant lied to him that she is ugly. In this clip, the man discovers the truth.

Meanwhile, a pair of cheats are trying to use another beautiful woman to befriend the rich man in order to cheat him of his money. (You can see them walking into the cafe somewhere in the middle of the clip.)

blogging

The following are not friendly to your visitors:

A post with one long uninterrupted paragraph. It is difficult to read.

Embedded music/song - Some computers have problems with these sites or it may take a long time time to load the page. And remember the proverb: One man's like is another man's dislike. Embed the player too so that your visitor can stop the music if it wants to read your blog in quietness.

A page too clustered with things - badges, awards, advertisements, boxes and others. You may think it is impressive but others find it distracting and untidy.

Links - I think bloggers should check out the links in their lists once in a while. Dead or outdated links should be removed or updated.

These are just my own views.