So busy I hardly have time to sleep. All set for the 15th Anniversary celebrations concert on Friday evening and the "premiere" screening of Hugging The Buddha's Foot.

Fine gentleman

I remember the time when I was a young soldier serving my national service when Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean drove his car into the military complex (yes, he drove his own car then), wound down the window and exchanged greetings. Yesterday's event only reminded me of his humility. A fine and respectable gentleman.

Meeting Ven. Matthieu Ricard & Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche

Had the blessing (thanks Chingwi and PMT!) to meet and speak privately with Venerable Matthieu Ricard and His Eminence Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche, both world-renowned Buddhist teachers , when they were in Singapore last week. The former is widely touted by the Western media as the "World's Happiest Man" while the latter is the grandson and spiritual heir of His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and also the descendent of King Trisong Detsen of Tibet. Two short video interviews coming right up.

Trying to edit the film now. Still not good enough. I have only a week before the screening. It won't be good to pull out now.

iPhone 5 wo lai liao

I stopped doing everything except reloading the page religiously. About 90 mins later, I can proudly say, (pardon my short tongue) "iPoon 5, wo lai liao" . Now here's to Friday.

The Guerilla Strikes Again

The one-man guerrilla filmmaking crew strikes again. Unedited stills. If I have more time, I might have done it better. 70% done. Lot's of time must go into the editing room.

Kopitiam

The office is located at one of Singapore's oldest HDB town where most of the residents are senior citizens. Coffee shops here look like they belong to a different time.

Happy Birthday Mr. Lee

 

16th September, the 89th birthday of independent Singapore's founding father, Mr Lee Kuan Yew. Thank you Mr Lee for your courage, wisdom and selflessness in leading this country. As Hossan Leong sang, "PM Lee lead country / build Jurong and HDB."

"I love this guy. Happy 89th Birthday Mr Lee! Thanks to your transformation of Singapore, I'm now an educated, intelligent citizen who can complain about First World problems and have the space and resources to do something about it ;)" 

"Happy birthday Sir. We will forever be indebted to you for your vision and tenacity."

I posted this photo up onto Facebook and am heartened by the response it had gathered. Glad to be reminded that despite all the noises on the Internet, most Singaporeans (or at least my peers) are appreciative and grateful of the hard work of Mr. Lee, regardless of their current political inclinations.

Go West

Stephen Chow's latest directorial work.

“'Journey to the West’ is a story full of imagination... ... The plot is beyond any other fantasy... ...
I think the reason it is still relevant nowadays — and people still find it attractive - is all down to its imagination. Until now I still don’t see it being surpassed.”- Stephen Chow.

“It’s a tale that has something for everybody: fantasy, adventure, cartoonish characters for the kids, an allegorical subtext for the adults, underlying themes of Buddhist enlightenment for the more spiritually inclined, and plenty of sex or at least sexual innuendo, depending on how the filmmakers want to play it... ... The story’s themes are timeless and have a resonance regardless of one’s cultural background - think Wizard of Oz multiplied a thousand times. And with characters like a monkey, pig, a dragon, it’s not only loads of fun but - equally important for 21st century filmmakers - it’s a synergistic marketing dream.” - Paul Fonorof.

Look forward, never mind if it's going to be another re-interpretation or a version faithful to the original story (about time). The biggest question is, who will be playing the Monkey King? Show Luo or Chow himself?

Ashes of Time

One friend fall asleep while watching this. The other actually stopped the player in the middle of the film and wanted to throw the VCD (those were the days) away. Ashes of Time is however one of my all time favourite movies. It is also my first introduction to Wong Kar-wai and thereafter got me scour the Internet and the shops for the rest of his works.



Give it a chance, just ten mins of the opening.

Optimus Prime

Hugging the Buddha's Foot

Unedited raw footage. I have about 3 more shoot days and the film must be completed by 28 September 2012.

Life on Mars

"But the film is a saddening bore
Because I wrote it ten times or more"

Indigènes

Days of Glory aka Indigènes (2006) dir. Rachid Bouchareb

My first Algerian film. North Africans / Muslims who fought for their French colonial masters in the WWII.

"we come from the colonies to save the motherland, we come from afar to die, we are the men of Africa."