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.

one father and duck eggs

A conversation, in Chinese, between a young man and a young woman who wanted to know more about each other.

Woman: Your home got what other people?

Man: Only got one father.

Woman: Only one father?

Man: Only one. You got how many fathers?


A man asked his Cantonese friend ...

'Long time no see your father, how is he?'

'He gone to sell salted duck eggs already.'

'Good profit or not?'

'Hee hee, you want to sell salted duck eggs also?'

no GST for basics?

Some people say remove GST for essential or basic items to help the poor. I suppose basic items are things like rice, oil, sauces, bread, vegetable, fruits. However, even things like rice and oranges, there are cheap ones and expensive ones.

For example, the superior grade of a brand of soya sauce costs about 2.5 times more than the standard grade.There could be more expensive ones which I don't know of.

Then, healthy salt (contains some minerals but less sodium) costs about 10 times that of ordinary salt.

Poor people buy the cheap ones while people with high income, which includes foreign talents, buy the expensive ones. If you buy the expensive ones, then you cannot be considered poor.

No doubt the poor will pay a little less. However, a lot of tax would be not be collected from the rich.

So I prefer to collect this tax money from the rich to help the poor in other ways.

bananas and money

I bought a bunch of small bananas when they were still green. After about five days, only the bananas at the top turned yellow while the bottom ones were still green.


After another five days .... the remainder were still green. Quite unusual, right?



Last week I got unexpected money. First I received a cheque from MDA - a refund of TV licence fees. Also I got a cheque from INCOME - a bonus or incentive for being a loyal customer. Lastly I got some money from STC - winning from a 4D number.

Not much, but somehow unexpected money like that makes you happy.

慈善点唱 (3) - 楚云玉

粵剧义演在人民剧场 - 点唱节目


慈善点唱 (3) - 楚云玉

慈善点唱 (2) - 戚超群

粵剧义演在人民剧场 - 点唱节目


慈善点唱 (2) - 戚超群

慈善点唱 (1) - 卢眉华

粵剧义演在人民剧场 - 粵曲点唱节目


With donations from pupils and supporters, there were songs by Wu Wai Fong, Aw Yeong Peng Mun, Chik Chew Kuarn, Ngai Wai Ying, Lou Mee Wah, Chor Wun Yook, Pang Chee Kuen, Ng Yim Hong and Wun Kok Wai. I recorded three of them. Here is the first one:

慈善点唱 (1) - 卢眉华

經典筹款粵曲

粵剧义演在人民剧场 - 14 April 2011


經典筹款粵曲

A classic Cantonese song often used at charity events to raise funds ... You can see some artistes, like Lou Mee Wah, going round to collect donations.

they are ....

Answers to who are they?

The first pair are Leong Sau Fong and Gary Kong Yew Cheong (梁秀芳, 龔耀祥). Here is a clearer picture.


The huadan is Chung Lai Yong (鐘麗容). Here she is in opera costume.


The sheng is Choy Mei Wun (蔡美雲). Another picture ...


And here she is in plain clothes ...

schooldays nostalgia

When I was in Pre-U, male students wear PAP-style uniform - white shirt and white long pants. I couldn't remember what shoes we wore. In sec 4, I was in a boys' school which allowed only prefects to wear long pants. All others, no matter how tall you were or whether you had hairy legs, wore white shorts.

The principal of my secondary school was very strict. Sometimes we saw him walking along the corridor holding a cane in his hand and we wondered if someone had been caned or someone was going to be caned. Or maybe he was looking for a victim, hoping to catch a boy misbehaving in class.

And in those days, what mattered was not what you liked or what subjects you were good in. It was what the school had to offer. In upper secondary, besides the compulsory subjects, my class studied two science subjects, two technical subjects and two maths subjects - 8 subjects.

Actually I was not interested in the Woodwork (a technical subject) and Chemistry. I was interested in the Maths subjects and Physics.

In Pre-U, my class had GP, Pure Maths, Applied Maths, Physics and Chemistry. Again we had no choice. Otherwise, I would like to take Economics or Statistics instead of Chemistry.

I especially liked Applied Maths. It deals with practical things like forces, momentum, velocity, etc. I find it difficult to memorize facts in Chemistry.

who are they ?

This is a quiz for Singapore Cantonese Opera fans. I think it is not hard. Answers will be given in the second post after this.

I was looking through some photos I took at opera shows. A few are not clear (for example, the first photo below) but the blurriness makes them suitable for quizzes. I don't think I have posted these photos before. All are Singapore artistes.

Who are these two?


Who is this huadan?


Who is the sheng?

fan luck

The car in the previous post is a Fiat 850 Coupe.


A few days ago, I dismantled a 16-inch table fan in order to wash the casings and the blade. I found that there were cracks on two fins. So I took the blade and went to the electrical shop on the ground floor intending to buy a new blade.

'Don't have the right one' the lady boss said. 'Not one type fits all, you know. The screw rod must be able to go into the hole'

You see, there is a rod with screw thread at the power block and this must be able to go through the opening in the centre of the blade.

'Thanks, I try another shop' I said.

'Buy a new fan better.' she said. 'The blade is not cheap.'

'Never mind' I said. 'I try another shop first.'

Then, yesterday as I walked down the stairs of my block , I saw a discarded fan at the corner of a common corridor. It looked like a 16-inch. So I removed the blade and took it home.

And it fits and it works !! Time and money saved !



Haha, now I will be looking out for a discarded computer monitor.

first

The first car that I drove after getting my driving licence was a Volvo, a big powerful car compared to the Morris Minor I used in my driving lessons. The first car that I had was of the make and model of the car in the picture below. Do you know what car this is.


This is the first expensive pen I bought with my salary after I have started working. Do you know what pen this is?

tin pei ling

She might be a candidate in my ward in the coming parliamentary elections. She is young but this doesn't mean she cannot be a good MP. It takes a lot of courage to do what she did. Three cheers for Pei Ling ! Vote for her !

random thoughts

I was watching the Chinese Classic, Journey to the West (JTW). It reminded me of a book I read when I was in school.

There is a book called The Pilgrims' Progress. I think it is Christian Literature. No, I did not read this. I read another one with the same moral values but a simpler one which is meant for kids. It is called The Land Far Beyond by Enid Blyton. I could remember little of the story. I think it is about a group of youngsters reaching their destination land after going through a lot of obstacles.

I also remember watching the film The Ten Commandments.

Back to JTW, the Monk was telling his 3 disciples that they should not kill demons and spirits because they have a life too. Compassion! A basic ingredient of Buddhist philosophy.

Buddhism doesn't have commandments or laws but it has some precepts which followers are encouraged to observe. One of them is refrain from killing. But I think Buddhists can eat meat. You also cannot ask another person to kill. For example you go to a market, buy a live chicken and ask the stall owner to kill it for you.

If you don't observe any precept, it doesn't mean you are a bad man but you will bring sufferings to yourself.

Then I thought of leadership. If a person is too compassionate, too kind or too nice, he would not be an effective leader. He would not get things done. People would take advantage of him. That is human nature.

shows

If you are woondering whether I collected the free gifts, I did - 20 sachets of these instant coffee .....



I was looking at coming shows at SISTIC and saw these opera shows. They are in Mandarin but there is no information about what genre of opera they are or who the performers are. It is here. Anyone knows?

the seduction of free gifts

I was passing a Video shop. There were stick-ups on the walls blaring special offers and big discounts. I went in to take a look. I decided to buy a DVD set of a Chinese drama. It cost $24.90 before discount of 20%. Why not a round figure $25, I thought, then it would be $20 after discount.

At the counter the cashier said, '$19.90 after discount. 10 cents more and you can get our free gift. Why not choose one more show? We give a free pack of instant coffee for $20 purchase.'

I said, 'Never mind, you can charge me $20.'

She shook her head, 'Cannot. We have many shows from $1 to $8 each. Why not take a look?'

So I took another look and picked a single-movie DVD.

After I had paid, the cashier said, 'You can collect your gift at this shop, it is at .....'

I said, 'How come just now you didn't tell me must go to another shop for the gift?'

She said, 'Oh, it is not far, you go down to the centre and then walk along this road right to the end and ... bra, bra, bra ......... must go today, OK ?'.

When I left the shop it was raining, just like it had been been raining in the past few afternoons.

stretch your dollar

Last week I bought this antiseptic cream from Watsons. It cost $6. Then I went to a FAIRPRICE supermarket. This one is quite big and there is a pharmacy inside too. I found this cream selling for $4.80 only. So if you want to buy this cream, better go to a pharmacy at FAIRPRICE.



At the FAIRPRICE supermarket there were mangoes at special offer - three for $1.99. If you just buy 3 mangoes and nothing else, you pay $1.95 because prices are rounded down to the nearest 5 cents.

There was a crowd at the mangoes which looked appealing. If you see a lot of housewives buying something, usually it is a good bargain - for food and household items, not bonds and shares. Later when I came back to look at the mangoes, quite a lot were sold already. I also bought three.

Here are two of them, two because because I have eaten one soon after I came home. It was sweet.

Don't they look tempting? A mellow golden yellow covered with tantalizing nectar that has seeped out.



How to stretch your dollar

劉惠鳴

劉惠鳴 在新加坡 万山福德祠土地诞演出 2011


The hua dan at the end part of the video is Ko Lai.

opposition

I think the opposition parties, especially the stronger ones, should contest as many seats as they could, no need to worry about 3-corner fights.

Then each party will know how much support it has. The better parties will likely to attract more capable people. I think this is one way for a strong opposition to emerge. It is also better for whatever talents they could get to be in one party rather than spread out in ten parties.

The opposition seems to think that people who want to vote for the opposition will support any opposition party. If this were so, doesn't it means all the opposition parties have similar ideology and manifesto. Then they may as well come together to form one party.

Assuming 60% want to vote for the opposition. Of this 60%, maybe only 30% will vote for any Tong, Yacob or Kumar. The others have their own mind what oppositions they want.

For example, you support FLOP (Frannxis' Love Opera Party) but it is not contesting in your ward. Since you do not like the other opposition party, you might vote for the ruling party or you may spoil your vote.

V is for ...

I have been watching some old sword-fighting movies. They have a lot of violence. It is not uncommon to see a knife sticking in a body, blood gushing out or an arm being chopped off. I guess some of these scenes were censored when the movies were shown in the cinemas back in those years.


Another common thing is the hero fighting dozens after dozens of men and killing all of them and finally facing his chief opponent for a duel.

G is for ...

I was reading a post about Graduates parents produce smarter children. The writer came across non-graduates who have smart children. So she disagrees with the statement.

People get their genes from their parents. The genes dictate your characteristics, for example skin colour, body size and facial features. They can even tell you if you are prone to certain diseases.

If you believe in genes, then you will agree that tall parents produce taller children than short parents. Nevertheless, there are exceptions.

Smart parents will also transfer their smart genes to their children. Graduates are supposed to be smart. Therefore they produce smart children.

Now, there are many non-graduates who are smart but they do not go to university for various reasons. So, non-graduates produce smart as well as not-so-smart children.

Hence I think it is not wrong to say graduates parents produce smarter children.

But intelligence doesn't necessarily make your life happier. Happiness is relative to expectation. For example, an average student scoring Cs for his subjects is just as happy as a smart student scoring As. If the average student scores a few Bs and As, he will be happier than the smart student.

There are things that are more important, like your attitude towards life, religious belief and emotional stability.

I stands for ...

Inflation is one of those things that will never go away. I think inflation began when man started to trade with each other. When I was young I didn't know about inflation but often we heard our mother grumbling about prices of rice and kerosene going up and telling us not to waste our food and to spend less.

I do not know if that time Government got give out money or not.

I did not study economics in school. I think two fundamental factors are raw materials and world population. Raw materials including food get less and less while the world population increases. So supply cannot meet demand and prices go up.

If I were the finance minister, I would not give out money to everyone. I think most people can cope with moderate inflation if they make some adjustments to their budgets. Suppose your expenditure per month is $2000 and inflation is 4%. So you will need $80 more to spend on the same services and goods. I believe it is possible to cut down on some expenses.

For some people it might be a good thing because they eat too much, talk too much, buy too many 4D numbers, use too much electricity and water.

Haha, if I stand for election, I will lose my deposit.

China, the by-election strategy

Recently I read some commentaries about why China will not go the way of Egypt. I agree with the reasons. Basically China is not the same as Egypt. The Chinese want less corruption and more fairness and justice but they have no desire to remove the leaders or change the government.

I watched a Chinese movie which made me think there could be another reason. It has to do with Chinese culture and beliefs and China's history. Generally, Chinese people believe in one's fate. It is destined and is not easily changed. So, if a man is poor, he will not blame anyone or the government. He accepts it as his fate.

For centuries, the Chinese people lived through great turmoils, upheavals and devastation. China was ruled by emperors and warlords with absolute powers. One power overthrew another and one emperor or warlord replaced another. Meanwhile it was the ordinary peasants who suffered in the wars and fighting. Then the Communist Government ruled and with it came the tumultuous years of Mao's Great Cultural Revolution. Again, ordinary folks suffered.

The Chinese have had enough instability and chaos. They want stability and the chance to do well in life. I believe changes for the better will come, but they will be gradual.


Someone said the by-election strategy which the oppositions in Singapore have used before does not favour weak opposition parties. I think in some circumstances it might work.

For example, if a lot of people were very unhappy with some policies and they would like to vote for the opposition, any opposition candidate. Now, if the oppositions contested every constituency, after the election Singaporeans could find themselves ruled by a weak government - a coalition formed by the oppositions who could not even agree on fundamental issues.

So, people might hesitate to vote for the opposition. I think the the by-election strategy might be useful here.

广东粤剧青年团生旦 - 彭庆华, 曾小敏

彭庆华, 曾小敏

horror stuff

This is what Corpse Mania is about .....

A man liked to have sex with the corpses of women. He was caught, sent to a mental hospital and was later released. Then cases of sex-with-corpses resurfaced and people thought they were committed by the same man.


I mentioned the girl in Hell has no boundary died a horrific death. This is what happened .....

It was a town in China. Japan had invaded China. The girl's family was very poor and her mother sold her to a woman who later sold her to a man for a big profit. The man had a sinister motive. He man wanted to leave the town with his valuables. But the Japanese guards would search people at the gate and confiscate their valuables.

The man did a heinous thing. He used a pillow to suffocate the girl and cut open her body. Then he removed her inside and hid his valuables in her body. He managed to leave the town. He went to a deserted area, took out his valuables from the girl's body and left the body lying on the ground.

A stall owner selling meat soup found the body, chopped it up and used it to make his meat soup.

horrible, mania

horrible, horrid and horrific

While writing the previous post I was thinking of the above three words.

Is there any difference? I looked up the dictionary.

Horrible and Horrid - extremely bad, unpleasant or rude. It seems that in a sentence you can replace one word with the other without affecting its meaning.

Horrific means extremely bad in a way that is frightening or upsetting. For example, his injuries are horrific. I think it gives a stronger feel - worse than horrible.


mania and maniac

A horror story I mentioned in the post below is The Oily Maniac. Maniac can mean a lunatic or it refers to someone who behaves in a stupid or dangerous way. So the Oily Man is dangerous just like a sex maniac or a religious maniac.

There is another Chinese horror show I watched - Corpse Mania. Mania means a strong desire for something or a craze. For example there is football mania during the World Cup season.

Corpse Mania? Doesn't it sound strange - people or a person having a craze for dead bodies?

Oily Maniac

I also watched some old Chinese horror shows. I like horror stories but please don't think I am a horrible man.

Here are two shows which have quite unique stories.

Hell has no boundary - A young girl died a horrific death in her previous life. In her present life, the devil possesses her giving her supernatural powers which she uses to seek revenge on those who caused her death in the previous life although these people have also been reborn.



The Oily Maniac - A man learned the spell that could transform himself into a black oily man. To do that he has to immerse his body in oil. As the oily man he has increased body size, great agility and strength. He uses this power to protect others and punish the bullies.



YG has a post on the Oily Man scare in the 50s and 70s - click here

horror shows

I have been watching some old English horror shows. A few were quite interesting, but most were just so-so.

Here are three which I find interesting. One is a diabolic story about the demoniacal possession of a young girl, another is a thriller about a mentally-deranged man, and the third is about a circus of freakish characters. The third is not really a horror show. There is nothing frightening in it.


The possessed girl doing the back spider walk down the stairs.


This is the famous shower stabbing scene in PSYCHO.


Here is a limbless freakish character.

overeat

I seldom overeat but there are two days which are exceptions when there is plenty of irresistible food - CNY Eve and the Second Day of CNY. There are dishes we rarely eat and many dishes that I like would be there. Here are 2 of them.

This is braised sea cucumber and mushrooms.


This is 'ha look' (in Cantonese) or dry fried big prawns.


My father used to fry excellent ha look. Unfortunately, none of us has his know-how or his skills.

Harsh truths

It was many years ago. The rain had stopped. I left the car and hurried across the wet ground of the carpark. I stepped on some bird shit, slipped and fell and dislocated my right knee.

It was one harsh experience learned the hard way. After that I always walk with care on wet surfaces. Till now, I didn't have a second fall.

If I were to have that fall later in age, say 60 plus, probably it would have more serious consequences.

Sometimes we learn from other people's experience. However, experiencing something yourself has a greater impact. It sticks with you.

For example, some drivers don't believe they cannot control the car when they drink, until something unpleasant happens to them. Then it sticks with them.

There are a few other such harsh experiences I had. I think I have already mentioned one or two of them before.

恭喜! 恭喜!

This is the same song I put up last year. It is too troublesome to make a new one. All the artistes in the clip are still performing. By the way, do you know how many artistes there are. Some of them have 2 photos, so only count once. I doubt you know all their names.

MM and others

Every time a blogger is sued, people will worry about free speech and censorship. I say it makes bloggers more responsible. I don't think you would like it if others say you are corrupt or your chicken rice is the worst in Singapore. If you are sincere, I think there is nothing to worry about.

"Anything we do makes them unhappy" - MM Lee says of our neighbours. Looking at the comments by Malaysian politicians on his remarks about Malaysia, doesn't it prove that Lee is right.

Lee also said it is not easy to integrate Islam. From his answers I think it means - In the past it is not difficult to integrate Muslims. But with the surge of Islam from the Arab countries, some Muslims are becoming more strict with themselves like not wanting to sit with non-Muslims when eating. Other Muslims who are not that strict may follow, otherwise they would be viewed as less Islamic. I feel Lee is right too.

"王金英 sounds so much like Lung Gim Saang" - a comment made by a viewer of the video in the previous post. I have never watched Long Kim Sung in a live performance. I have only seen and heard him on VCD and only about 3 or 4 shows, so I am not sure. What do you think?

yang si lang and yang ba mei

This video was taken with an ordinary camera with a zoom of only 7x, so don't expect very good quality.

A little about the story :

The Yang family were a patriotic lot and fought many victorious battles for the country. In this story, they went to a battle. The battle proved disastrous for them. The father died and of the seven sons who went, only one returned. The fifth son became a monk at a temple, the fourth son was captured by the princess of an enemy state, married her and stayed in her land and and the other sons died.

In this clip, Yang Ba Mei, the 8th daughter, managed in infiltrate into the palace of the princess by disguising herself as a palace maid. She met her brother, told him how his brothers died and chided him for marrying the princess.

food with symbolic meanings

During Chinese New Year, Cantonese people like to eat fa cai and oysters because it means wealth and all good things will come to them throughout theyear.



Here are some other food with good meaning - sheng cai and fruits (生菜, 生果). They symbolize sheng sheng meng meng or sun sun maan maan in Cantonese (生生猛猛) which means energetic or having a lot of energy.


So I wish all of you sheng sheng meng meng. May you have lots of energy in your work or recreation be it preparing for an exam, performing opera or producing babies.

$$$$$$$

Last week I attended a performance by the Cantonese opera group of Guangdong Hui Guan (GDHG). In a speech, the president of GDHG said that the objectives of GDHG were to explore business opportunities in China, promote Chinese culture and do charity work.

He said they needed money because without it nothing much could be done. Members of its executive committee must have money and be willing to donate. Otherwise, you cannot be a member in the committee.

I was thinking why he told the audience this. Doesn't it make GDHG look money-minded. But he is not wrong. Maybe he wanted to say that you cannot promote Chinese culture or do charity with just passion or compassion. You need money to put up an opera show or to give ang pau to old folks.


I think it is the same for a country. You cannot govern a country with idealism alone.

If a country has no money, it cannot help its poor and unfortunate. It cannot have a strong army to defend itself.

Suppose Singapore were to become very poor, probably even our basic rights (housing and food) could be in jeopardy. Singapore would be unattractive and foreigners would not want to come to work here. Who would build our houses?

If the food crisis became extremely severe and other countries had to control food export, whatever food we could get in Singapore would be very expensive. The government of a poor Singapore would not have reserve fund to subsidize prices of some food like rice and sugar or give out free food vouchers to the poor. We would just have to eat less.

Making money is alright but you should not be so obsessed with it that you lose your heart and soul.

People who show a disdain for money are not necessarily more upright or of higher moral standard.