Coffeeshop Thoughts

My head is 'wandering' and 'wondering'. 'Wandering' because it cannot stay as still as I like it to be; and 'wondering' what is going to come up next. The latter, robbing me of my present. 

The mind is both a friend and a foe, and it is crucial to know when one should call for a separation. A separation when it is needed to allow the soul to continue in peace. I have no two minds about that!

It is with a peaceful soul that one can command the mind to be its servant. Then the mind will synchronise and it too will be peaceful. Just like a grand tree, the soul is always peaceful. It is the emotional winds that blow that make the leaves of the grand tree (the soul) flutter. But emotions do not constitute the soul. They are merely temporary states of mind that will blow over.

 -- written using my iPhone while willing my time away in a coffeeshop.

ps. Why did the first sip of the tea tastes so different from the last sip of the tea? Did somebody swap the cup?


For more coffeeshop philosophy, click here.

A Cozy Square

I wouldn't have noticed this little restaurant tucked away in this cozy corner of Telok Ayer Street if my friend had not told me about it. It is a family run restaurant serving Italian styled food. I was told that they are coming up with new dishes very soon too.

Pumpkin and Chicken Corn Veloute 

The ingredients are prepared entirely in-house - a rare treat these days - and that is why the food  tastes home-cooked.

Ceasar Salad served with turkey ham

... this one  is served with turkey ham, as the food here is halal.

Marinated Norwegian Salmon

Confit Sage Chicken

There is a local flavour to this dish with the inclusion of the Chinese Baby Kailan. I was told that there will be more such dishes with blended local character. Which is what the restaurant builds its character on.

Shank of Lamb

When I chose this dish, I told the chef that I did so because this is an "exam piece", as it has to be cooked gently and slowly, for othewise the meat will not be soft and would lose much of its flavour. So, I was delighted when it came out just right, keeping the succulent texture and the delicious taste.

What is delightful to note is that there is still a restaurant like this around in the city, one  that is family run with very friendly service, waiting staff that actually understands what the dishes are about, and a chef that keeps to the whole process of cooking. That is, food prepared from first principles and raw ingredients.

In this era of institutional funds and food franchises, Restaurant A'Square is a gem in the city. There are hardly any businesses in big cities that can still focus on the 'complete process' and the first principles. Sadly, most would focus on turnover and profits in the face of surviving in the harsh market of high shop rents. That usually means ready made sauces and hurried quick fixes. A'Square is therefore a place for ponder. Unhurried and unpretentious. A place also to relax and dine with some good friends. What more, the bill comes up to be surprisingly reasonable. 

Clearing out...

I spilled my cuppa over my keyboard and now my computer is crippled. This is written via my smartphone.

I am  in the midst of moving and have thrown and given away most of my furniture. 

Feels lighter after clearing alot of junk I collected over the years. Almost no possessions now and definitely no religion too!

ps. I have some posts of my past moving woes. It makes amusing reading, and now looking back, also rather educational. Click here.

Kid's Play

Kids grow up and leave their Garden of Eden. Childhood fades away as the attraction to the opposite sex becomes more enticing as it is to the instinct to procreate. Now, the innocent clarity blurs, the photographic memory falters and visions are filtered by layers of conditioning.

Bring back the child in us - the divinity that  lies within. Nothing has ever been lost, they have just been forgotten.

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For more of Kid's Play, click here.

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Anger and Judgment

It was not usual. She didn't utter a word when we met this morning, not even the greeting of 'good morning'.

I later found out that she felt that i am not a responsible person to the family and am also a man vulnerable to being unfaithful. Sounds familiar?! :) And her mere suspicions alone were enough to make me guilty as charged. I was told no explanations were required as she will not accept any.

I heard of women jumping into conclusions in matters pertaining to the heart, but in this case, I was not even an involved party in the broil, if there should be one to start off with. I am neither her spouse nor her lover and ironically her summary judgment on me was that I am a bad influence to her husband.

I am glad I was a mere observer and not sucked into her whirlpool of sad thinking. Life is a game and one becomes cynical after brushes like this. There was virtually electricity biting in the air throughout her cold and silent reception. Then, I decided to turn around and run the other direction, as I won't like to get involved!

Acting the Villain

Many faces, same soul.

Which one of this is the real me?

Of late, I have been playing villains. Casting directors love actors with a beard. They seem to associate beards with villains, or perhaps they are playing to the likes of audiences that love to see their villains larger than life - with beards, gold chains, tattoos and other ferocious looking ancillaries. Villain roles are tiring. As an angry and yelling screen character, the first and most affected person would be me. The rule is that whenever we get aggressive or violent, we feel lousy. Whenever we think aggressively, we feel lousy, as we would be the first recipients of such thoughts.

Thankfully, the same goes for any type of thoughts, including loving or peaceful ones, as we feel their immediate glory and peace. Loving thoughts precedes a calm and peaceful mind and it begets loving thoughts from others around us. Recently, I had the good fortune of doing a shoot by the shore of a placid lake. The environment was so congenial that I actually felt more relaxed after the shoot than when I started.

This really means that I should choose to act in more calm and peaceful films than violent and nasty ones. Sadly, there are more nasty ones around, as there is more demand for them. As Ekhart Tolle said, "... more pain films demanded by pain bodies...".

In real life, we too have to make our choices, and I would choose a peaceful story any day.

If you like to visit my actor's blog, click here.

Get a Life!

"Get a life!" so she said, describing those of her friends who are married and whom she said merely rush and fetch their children from childcare, get home and then cook dinner everyday.

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She on the other hand, single and a well-paid lawyer, goes out in the evenings and party, and travel, hike and climb mountains for holidays. That's what she thinks is "life" to her.

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But aren't all these just activities?

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Activities are just manifestations of life, and life is more meaningful if manifested through love. In the midst of the daily seemingly mundane chores of taking care of the family and children, is life lived through love.

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On the other hand, activities in the absence of love hardly bring one much 'life'. These could well include pubbing, clubbing and dining in places among single well-heeled yuppies and glamorous people who are 'hanging-out', especially if they are there out of the fear of loneliness and disorientation.

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So it is not the activity, but whether it is done out of love.

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Acting - Sharing Public Space

Singapore is a small place for location shooting. Often, we do not have the luxury to block the entire place for ourselves, as many of the locations are live amid the daily hussle and bustle of the community. So inevitably, the location has to be shared with the public.

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Most people are very accepting of the presence of camera crew, equipment, lights and actors occupying their common spaces, however there are always one or two who would be the exception. These rare few would make a big issue of the slightest inconvenience.

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Here are some amusing incidents I encountered during my shoot:

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1. In one of the scenes the camera was doing a close-up of me on the running tracks crouched in excruciating pain of a collapsed knee. As I laid down on the inner side of the tracks, there came a jogger who had 6 other outer lanes to run, but instead chose to run just inches behind me, in front of the camera! "Cut!!!"

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2. In a simulation of an earthquake scene, we blocked off one lane of a minor road. Most of the cars would pass us oblivious of our activities and some would wave and smile, but there was one school bus driver who stopped and complained of the inconvenience and that he had to ferry the school kids in time. I tried to marshal him through the narrow lane, but he chose to stop his bus and continue to scold me, wasting more time than he would have if he had just passed us by. He then called the police. The police came, but they didn't stop us filming!

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3. In a scene at a lively hawker centre, one old 'uncle' came and scolded us for using the place for our location. He insisted to sit at the table where we were shooting.

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4. I was playing the role of the father and was with his little four year old daughter getting out of the car, walking across the car park and towards her kindergarten, when we were visited by three police patrol cars, after the take. The police said that they had received reports from members of the public that there were young men fighting with parangs (machetes) where we were. *LOL*

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5. In one of my taxi driver scene, I had to hurriedly drive out of the covered car park when the town council staff chased us away because we were using their electricity. I had to find alternative routes for the shoot. The camera was still rolling live and I had to pretend to act cool and continue with the dialogue.

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As said earlier, most people are considerate and would share public spaces generously. However, being in a tiny and densely populated city like Singapore, we need all the cooperation we can get, without which, the show cannot go on.

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There are also problems of noise, change of ambient light and the weather, but those issues are enough to warrant another article altogether.

If you like to visit my actor's blog, click here.

A Bat Home

First, it was the sunbirds making their nest on my balcony, now the fruit bats have come to hang out at the entrance.

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Oblivious of the human traffic, it hangs in there...

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There it is...

The Green Corridor of Singapore

These photos were taken from a walk conducted by the Singapore Nature Society on the 26th of June 2011, along the Bukit Timah railway tracks that are to be de-commissioned, after the land is returned by the Malaysian Government to Singapore.

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The return of this long stretch of rail track land from Tanjong Pagar to Woodlands had been a point of contention between the two governments for many years.

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Alongside both sides of the tracks are lush greenery. Ironically, it is because of this railway line that this long green corridor has been kept for so many years, as you would see lots of urbanised developments on both sides of the rails.

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The Nature Society is proposing to the Singapore Government to maintain a Green Corridor on this railway tracks. Let's see how far we succeed in keeping this bit of green.

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Egg Nest

The two regular Sunbird visitors have decided -- they are moving in!

So they started - weaving their nest twig by twig. For each twig, they would have to to fly hundreds of feet away to collect them. Its painstaking (to me as a human being), but the birds didn't seem to mind.

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It is fascinating that they had in them the construction know-how - to hang it off a branch, to get the right shape and size, and even to keep a cute opening for the mother bird to enter and also to rest her head while sitting on her eggs.

My Showreel 2011

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.The actor is a strange creature - ego-less during the act as he empties his personality to assume another; yet when the reel is out, he is again full of himself, shamelessly self promoting.

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So here it is, the films I acted in Jan-Jun 2011:

If you like to visit my actor's blog, click here.

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Over-act

Do you over-act?

Do you over-act to entertain?

Or do you just 'be' to inspire?

If you like to visit my actor's blog, click here.

Hentak Kaki

The trailer of "Hentak Kaki" is out. It was well received during the premiere.

Read the review at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2011/05/avant-premiere-6-thesis-films-from.html .

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I think the audience were mostly captivated by the realistic acting and dialogue. In fact, the film is so real that it doesn't even have music in it! :)

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The director, the co-actor and myself, painstakingly worked out the dialogue as accurately as we could remember so that the dialogue itself would be enough for anyone who has been in the Singapore army to sink into deep reminiscence. We literally 'Singlicised' the script, added Malay and Hokkien, army vocabulary and expressions, and of course, some expletives! That I think, worked the magic!

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In my first film, the director often reminded me that if the dialogue does not resonate, don't utter them. This proved to be precious advice that had led to the crafting of the dialogue that has made this film much enjoyed.

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Actually, we shouldn't utter anything that does not resonate with ourselves in any case - whether on-reel or off-reel! If it does not resonate, it will not propagate.

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If you like to visit my actor's blog, click here.
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Directors

Some old-style directors still shout and scream at actors that fail to deliver. These poor actors already stressed up for failing to deliver, feel like nervous wrecks burdened by the director's emotional outburst. A stressed up actor wouldn't be able to improve upon his already dismal delivery.

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So far, I have been lucky to have worked with directors that prepare me to get into character to fine tune my act. This is particularly important in scenes where subtle shifts in emotions are crucial to anchor the audience attention. For instance, at a funeral scene, the actor playing the role of the moaning relative may be asked to imagine having just held the cold hands of the deceased and recall the happy times he had spent with the deceased during childhood... etc, before acting out the scene. Once in character, the rest comes out easy.

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Directing for desired results ought not to be limited to making films. I believe that directing for one's desired results follows the same pattern of coaching the 'actors' in one's project. Team members need to be prepared and coached. The old authoritarian way will not bring forth peak performance.

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We can also start by directing our own life - coaching ourselves to get into the results we want. :)

If you like to visit my actor's blog, click here.

Acting - Remembering Lines

Remembering lines is the greatest chore for an actor. I find it easier if I memorise the words with the emotions and actions. It would even be better if I have someone feed the dialogue with me and do so with emotions.

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In all, it amounts to living in the moment. If we live in the moment, we capture the moment of eternity and remember everything.

If you like to visit my actor's blog, click here.

Acting - duo language

Today, I was auditioned for the role of a killer in a film.

We acted out the scene twice. In the first round, the dialogue was in English. Then, the same dialogue was repeated in Cantonese.

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During the Cantonese round, I felt like a different character than the one in the first round speaking English. It was surreal, as the mere change of language in this instance had shifted my emotions enough to make me feel like a different person. I am wondering, if such a change is so easy, then where really is the real me? Who am I?

If you like to visit my actor's blog, click here.

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Vacuum State - break

It has been a absence of 2 months in Vacuum State.

I have been busy with several acting gigs in films, ads and corporate videos. Besides, the Singapore General Elections rallies kept me busy.

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More frequent and regular posts will resume here on.

Thoughts

For a time, I had wished I could act in a stage play, but put off the idea when I thought of the long months of rehearsals required.

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Then last week, out of the blue, I was given a role in a short play, and also a short 5 days to prepare.

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Curiously, my wish came true without the dreaded long rehearsals and yesterday, I performed two nights at the Esplanade.

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So be careful with what you think, for they will come true.

If you like to visit my actor's blog, click here.

Acting - Make Believe

Actors get quickly into character of the script during shooting. When in character, his performance is assured. Words, emotions and actions will flow naturally unimpeded.

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As much as it is important for the actor to get into character, it is also important for him to get out of the character.

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During one of my recent film shoot, I played the tough army warrant officer during the day, running around the tracks and collapsing upon an excruciatingly painful torn ligament on the right knee. And as in film making, this collapse had to be repeated many times (at different camera angles), during each time which I was to demonstrate more and more convincingly that I had collapsed due to a right knee ligament injury.

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Then when the shoot ended at 7pm, I had to rush down to another production studio for a rehearsal where I played the sobbing taxi driver father during an emotional separation from his daughter. I managed to get out of the warrant officer role and immediately became a caring sobbing taxi driver father.

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I thought I did well transitioning from one character to another, until the next morning when I woke up with a painful right knee. Apparently, my repeated auto-suggestions the previous day had resulted in a painful right knee manifesting. In other words, I had managed to bluff my sub-conscious that I had a right knee injury and finally really got one!!

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Our mind is powerful. It can believe in something and make that something manifest. So be careful with your thoughts, as positive thoughts manifest, but so do negative ones.

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ps. The pain faded after one day. I had to wish it away!

If you like to visit my actor's blog, click here.

Amid The Haste

Today, I was in a hurry on my way to my acting audition. Actors are usually a tad more nervous before audition, as they don't know what to expect and also (ironically) their need to remain calm so that it is conducive to remember the lines and get into character. On top of that, I was lugging a camera, a tripod and a spare laptop as part of the logistics for a talk on "Learning Difficulties" that was to start right after the audition in another venue. Rushing and finding my way around for the correct exit in the subway amid the crowd, the tropical heat and humidity was thus very daunting.

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Amid this whirlpool of rush and haste, my phone rang. It was John. John seems to have the habit of ringing at the wrong time and wrong place. What's worse, I could hardly hear him as the signal was poor and he mumbles his words, this despite him being an English language teacher. To make matter worse, John was bidding around the bush as he talked and there wasn't any coherence.

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Frustrated and now even getting angry, I retorted, "John, can you get to the point and get on with what you want to say?!"

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There was a pause of silence. Then John softly replied , "Mike, I just wanted to speak to a Singaporean whom I can relate easily to, to say how lucky and grateful am I to be in Singapore alive and well, as if I had been in Christchurch, where I was born and grew up in, I might have been dead by now or had my house completely destroyed, as one-third of buildings there have been destroyed by the earthquake."

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At that point, it was my turn for the pause of silence. I was embarrassed. Amid the haste, we often forget... Haiz.

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Education Therapy: Learning Difficulties

Education Therapy: Learning Difficulties: "Speaker: Mr Pang Kong Eng Date: 25th Feb 2011 Time: 7-9pm Venue: International Plaza, 10 Anson Road Here are some of the video clips I capt..."

Tolerance

Today, I thought the makeup girl at the film shoot was over-the-top. She had 6 metal piercings around her mouth and painted her hair red! I wanted to ask her if water actually leaks out of her mouth whenever she drinks!

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After the shoot, I described her to my friend and to my surprise he remarked, "Isn't it cool?!!" He feels that she is just one of those mischievous creative types, that likes to experiment with ancillaries but is still out there doing a job and is being responsible.

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I am somewhat surprised with his tolerance, but more so, of his tolerance with my contrasting views. Not once did he try to argue that I was wrong or that I was intolerant, as it didn't matter to him. Intrinsically, he had accepted that there was a different view of the same thing. In other words, he was even tolerant with my intolerance. Isn't that cool? :)

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