Random Musings

Wedding Proposals

Friday, 23 December, 2011 - 18 Responses

For some strange reason I have been coming across a few wedding proposal video clips on social media the past week or so.

Recently there was one about a flash mob at the Singapore Flyer, which was actually a wedding proposal in disguise.

(It’s 12 minutes worth of epic drama, I couldn’t bring myself to watch the entire thing.)

Just today I came across another one (here) – much more subdued, but equally touching nonetheless.

I realised it’s actually pointless to use the word “touching” or “sweet” to describe wedding proposal videos, because honestly speaking, which proposal video isn’t right?

The only proposal video I’ve ever come across that wasn’t touching or sweet was the one (here) where the woman did not accept the proposal.

That one was really sad.

Poor guy.

Anyway, I’ve given this some thought, and I’ve come to realise a few things.

Firstly, successful wedding proposal videos will always be enjoyable to watch, because the ending is always happy.

It’s one thing that we can never get enough of.

No matter whether it was tastefully done or cheesily done, whether the idea was a good one or a ho-hum one, as long as she said “yes” or nodded her head in the end, then the ends justify the means.

There will always be the same two protagonists, and they will always play the same roles, and there will always be the same things in the video to look out for.

The plot points are always exactly the same:

The girl will be unsuspecting.

The guy will be nervous as he prepares his carefully planned-out stunt.

There will be the “Huh?” phase for the girl whereby some kind of strange stunt is pulled on her and she won’t know what’s going on for that brief moment.

She will finally hit “realization” point and figure out what is going on (and what is coming up).

She will play along with the whole song-and-dance.

When the jig is over, the guy will summon up enough gall to start his monologue about a) how long he’s known her, b) how much she means to him, and c) how he can’t bear to live without her.

The guy will go down on one knee (required), and pull out the ring box that is handily tucked in one of his easily-reachable pockets, and while flashing the ring, ask her if she would marry him?

The girl will then cover her mouth with one of her hands, pull the “I’ve never been more surprised in my entire life” look, pretend to give his proposal some serious thought, and while dabbing the tears from her eyes, accept his ring and finally say “YES”.

He gets up from one knee, they embrace, and the video’s background music suddenly rises to a loud crescendo.

Cue applause and cheering from friends all around.

It used to be that you needed to pull off an impressive, creative, memorable wedding ceremony with the snazzy wedding video and all that.

But is this yet another new “must have” item nowadays?

Apart from the wedding video, do we also need to have the snazzy proposal video as well nowadays?

Cos some of these proposal videos I’ve seen are really very professionally done, and must not have been easy or cheap to produce.

It’s literally like a short film.

Whatever happened to those simple good ol’ fashioned proposals over, say, dinner for two at Swensen’s whereby the guy just casually asks “Shall we apply for a HDB together?” or something like that?

Or that stroll in the park late at night when the guy suddenly whips out the ring and just outright asks her?

Must everything be professionally filmed and turned into a viral video nowadays?

I dunno if I’m right, but it seems like weddings, and now proposals, are turning into a game of “see who can come up with the most creative video”.

We Singaporeans are competitive like that.

If ever I had to propose, I don’t yet know how I would do it, but I would reckon I wouldn’t want it to be filmed, nor would I want to do it in front of all of our friends.

That would just be plain awkward.

Hey, if I could get away with it, I wouldn’t even want to be the one doing the proposing. =)

Categorized in Love, Random Musings and Relationships

Whatever Happened To Blogging?

Wednesday, 21 December, 2011 - Leave a Response

Whatever happened to blogging?

Time was when every other person on the internet kept their own blog – their own “personal space on the web”, so to speak.

Youngsters and internet newbies would get themselves a Blogspot account, arty female types would get their Livejournal account, internet-savvy people and geeks would get their WordPress account, cool social-butterfly-cum-party-animal female types would get their Xanga account and so on.

Blogs were all the rage back then.

But nowadays, you hardly hear of anyone deciding to start a blog to chronicle their thoughts.

Was blogging merely a trend?

I’m no expert, but I think the general historical trend of the internet probably goes something like this:

IRC chatrooms —> geocities personal web pages —> forums/bulletin boards —> blogs —> Twitter

I suppose Twitter has done its part in partially killing off the practice of blogging.

I mean, why spend 30mins churning out a blog post when you can just post a tweet in 20secs right?

Yep, attention spans are getting shorter and shorter these days, and Twitter is just the right tool for this day and age.

Even for myself, I’ve realised that I’ve blogged far less ever since I started on Twitter.

Twitter is perfect for that totally perceptive and quirky observation, or that great one-liner that you just came up with, or that personal anecdote which you just need to share, or simply to rant or rave about something.

And if Twitter covers all that, then what does it leave for blogs then?

I suppose what’s left for blogs is more expository writing, ideas that are a bit more well-developed and structured.

But honestly, not everyone has time for that nowadays.

Categorized in Blog, Internet and Random Musings

Songwriting vs Film Scoring

Tuesday, 20 December, 2011 - One Response

Recently in Life! there was an article about local film composer Ricky Ho, who had won a Golden Horse award for “Best Original Film Score” for the film “Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale”.

This was indeed a remarkable achievement, and the article basically chronicled his life and described how he got to where he is today.

I think being a film composer is a wonderful job, challenging as it may be.

In my younger days I’d always dreamed of being a film composer, although the chances of being a successful film composer are usually close to zero.

I even read up on a lot of books about film scoring and all that, and it’s a thoroughly fascinating subject.

However – and I’ve given this plenty of thought – ultimately I would take being a songwriter over being a film composer any day.

I would rather write one good four-minute song that most people would remember for the rest of their lives, than compose hours and hours of film score music that wins plenty of awards.

Simply put, I would rather be the Paul McCartney than the John Williams, if I really had to choose between the two.

Or I would rather be the Paul Simon than the Hans Zimmer.

That’s how much value I place over the power of a good song.

Honestly speaking, apart from the John Williams classics (e.g. “Star Wars”, “Indiana Jones”, “Jaws”) and the occasional modern-day hit (e.g. Klaus Badelt’s “Pirates” theme), how much of film music do we actually remember?

Most of the movies we watch nowadays – how many minutes of music do we actually remember?

Do we even remember the main motif?

Nope.

But that’s kinda the point of most film music isn’t it?

It’s supposed to serve the needs of the film, to heighten whatever emotion that needs to be heightened, but yet remain unobtrusive.

And if the main motif happens to be strong enough that people remember it, then it’s considered a bonus.

That’s not the kind of thing I’m after.

Call me vain or selfish or egotistical or whatever, but for me the ultimate goal of songwriting is so that people will (willingly and happily) remember the tune.

That, to me, is the final goal.

And that’s the thing that I always aim for whenever I attempt to write a song.

If my song happens to be lodged in someone’s memory, and it stays with him or her for a long time to come…then wow, there’s no greater feeling than that, really.

Have I had that happen to me before?

Thankfully, yes.

And I’m eternally grateful to be able to experience that.

Sometimes I’m a Cranberries concert or a Coldplay concert or a Jason Mraz concert and I see the entire stadium singing along to their songs, and I think to myself – do these artistes realise how absolutely lucky they are that they have an entire stadium singing along to a song they wrote?

It’s literally like being in songwriter’s heaven, don’t you think?

There’s no payoff than that for a songwriter, is there?

Cos if there is, I’d really like to know what it is.

Categorized in Composers, Composition, Music, Songwriters and Songwriting

“I’m Not That Girl”

Saturday, 17 December, 2011 - 2 Responses

(From the musical “Wicked”)

I’m Not That Girl

Hands touch, eyes meet
Sudden silence, sudden heat
Hearts leap in a giddy whirl
He could be that boy
But I’m not that girl

Don’t dream too far
Don’t lose sight of who you are
Don’t remember that rush of joy
He could be that boy
I’m not that girl

Every so often we long to steal
To the land of what-might-have-been
But that doesn’t soften the ache we feel
When reality sets back in

Blithe smile, lithe limb
She who’s winsome, she wins him
Gold hair with gentle curl
That’s the girl he chose
And heaven knows
I’m not that girl

Don’t wish, don’t start
Wishing only wounds the heart
I wasn’t born for the rose and pearl
There’s a girl I know
He loves her so
I’m not that girl

Categorized in Arts, Broadway, Musicals, Songs and YouTube

Review: “Wicked” The Musical

Friday, 16 December, 2011 - Leave a Response

(photo credit: Andrew Ritchie)

Event: “Wicked” the Broadway Musical
Venue: Grand Theater at Marina Bay Sands
Run: 6th Dec 2011 – 26th Feb 2012

Gravity Defied

Arguably one of the best and most successful new book musicals in the last 10 years has finally made its way to our shores, and moors itself at the Grand Theater of Marina Bay Sands for at least the next few months.

The musical “Wicked” needs no further introduction, being winner of 3 Tony awards, 7 Drama Desk awards, and currently the 14th longest-running musical in Broadway history.

Fans who’ve seen the Broadway and West End productions would probably find that the Singapore production is almost an exact replica of those shows.

Yes, you’ve got the works – the huge flapping dragon at the top of the stage, the intricate detailing at the sides of the stage, the incredible sets, the beautiful lighting, the generously large ensemble down in the pit, etc.

It is a rather faithful representation of the productions you’d get in Broadway or West End.

But what truly elevates this production is the calibre of the two female leads Jemma Rix (Elphaba) and Suzie Mathers (Glinda), and especially Jemma, who shoulders the bulk of the emotional load in the musical.

After all, the entire musical hinges on the strength of the friendship between these two women…

Click (here) for the rest of the review at “Buttons in the Bread”.

Categorized in Arts, Broadway, Musicals and Theatre

About Adeline Chia And K-Pop

Saturday, 10 December, 2011 - 6 Responses

Whatever happened to civility these days?

I guess the “Adeline Chia vs K-Pop nation” saga needs no further introduction.

Basically she penned a column in Life! on 8th Dec slamming the artificiality of the whole K-Pop industry, and naturally incurred the wrath of K-Pop nation.

Her one single status update on her Facebook page (“SHINee + 2PM + 2AM + BoA + TVQX + 2NE1 + JYJ = ? Find out in my Culture Vulture column in Life! today.”) has about 750 comments as of now, mostly from enraged K-Pop fans who took offence to her sacrilegious column.

She also earned the dubious honour of having her name trend on Twitter about one or two days back because of this.

I suppose it’s the first time in her life she’s had her name trend on Twitter, although I don’t think she ever wanted it to trend under such circumstances.

I dunno if I’m being biased here or not, but I just might be.

Cos Adeline Chia writes on theatre, and I’m a big follower of the local theatre scene, so naturally I have developed an affinity towards her as a journalist over the years.

If it were, say, Nicholas Yong or John Lui who penned that column, would I be as sympathetic?

I don’t know.

Anyway, despite the title given to my post, my intention here is not to examine the merits of her column (although, in a nutshell, I tend to agree with most of what she wrote).

I want to talk about the notion of civility in this day and age.

At what point, exactly, did it become socially permissible to randomly insult someone just because you didn’t agree with what she wrote?

At what point did it become acceptable to say things like “STFU!” or “I hope you get fired” or “Prepare to get bashed” or “Are you tone deaf?” or “Laughing at your stupidity” or “You are hopeless” or “We hate you” directly to someone via Facebook or Twitter?

It is this apparent lack of respect and civility in this present Internet age, this shoot-from-the-hip mentality which really worries me.

And most of it comes from the younger generation, sadly.

You write a quasi-controversial column one day, and before you know it half the population below 25 is hurling all kinds of verbal abuse at you and burning you at the stake.

Call me old-fashioned, but I always thought that any negative reaction to another person’s opinions should either be kept to one’s self, or be expressed in an assertive but yet restrained, logical and respectful manner.

I’m old-fashioned that way.

Or maybe “old-fashioned” is just another word for being “civil” nowadays.

Categorized in Arts, Media and Music

More On “One Day” (The Book)

Monday, 5 December, 2011 - Leave a Response

Have I mentioned I’m loving every minute of reading “One Day”?

It’s been weeks and I’m barely even at the halfway mark (oh, the horror!), but just as well…cos I’m enjoying every page so much I want the experience to last as long as possible.

Some great lines which I recently came across:

“He (i.e. Dexter) had always expected Emma to be there, a resource he can call upon at any time like the emergency services. Since the cataclysm of his mother’s death last Christmas he has found himself more and more reliant on her at exactly the point that she has become less available to him. She used to return phone-calls immediately, now days go by without a word.” (page 159)

“And he knows he’s being churlish, but it would help to see Emma in the audience. He’s a better person when she’s around, and isn’t that what friends are for, to raise you up and keep you at your best? Emma is his talisman, his lucky charm, and now she won’t be there and his mother won’t be there and he will wonder why he’s doing it at all.” (page 160)

Categorized in Books

Good Times

Sunday, 4 December, 2011 - Leave a Response

Some of my friends might know that I’ve been a huge fan of magic ever since I was a kid, and it was David Copperfield who first piqued my interest and got me all fascinated by this most amazing of artforms.

I literally grew up on David Copperfield’s TV specials, and I could probably recite to you all his tricks from the “Escape from Alcatraz” (1987) special onwards.

Anyway, recently I stumbled upon this lovely old clip on YouTube, and it brought back fond memories.

Those were the good times.

It seemed like a much simpler era then.

You could raise a jacket over your face and keep magically changing your sunglasses (all to a Sheena Easton soundtrack, no less), and it would enthrall a worldwide TV audience.

And I still remember the accompanying tricks of the floating matchstick (here), to the soundtrack of Steve Perry’s beautiful “Foolish Heart”, and the one where he turns a burning piece of coal in his hands into a diamond ring box, and eventually a diamond ring.

(I believe they were all on the same “Bermuda Triangle” special, whose finale trick was one of the worst, in my opinion.)

It was reflective of the late 80′s era which we were in.

People were actually charmed and entertained by this kind of magic, as compared to shock magic of the Blaines and the Angels of today.

But I guess it’s just a sign of the times we live in.

It takes so much more to get people’s attention nowadays.

David Copperfield’s magic will always be remembered for its inventiveness, its classiness, its charm, and its sophistication.

And that’s the magic that I grew up with.

Good times.

Categorized in Magic and TV

Review: “Aladdin” by Wild Rice

Monday, 28 November, 2011 - Leave a Response

Event: “Aladdin” by W!ld Rice
Venue: Drama Centre Theatre
Run: 24th Nov – 17th Dec 2011

A Dazzling Place You Never Knew (All For Under $70)

W!ld Rice’s big year-end production “Aladdin” sees Glen Goei directing this incredibly colourful extravaganza, with two of the biggest stars from Singapore’s pop music world headlining the show.

This is “Aladdin 2.0″, not to be confused with the original “Aladdin” pantomime that W!ld Rice first staged in 2004, as it is significantly different in so many ways.

Jonathan Lim is the new bookwriter and lyricist, Elaine Chan musical directs, Richard Chia choreographs, and CK Chia is responsible for the set design.

Having Hady Mirza and Sylvia Ratonel play the lead roles of “Aladdin” and “Jasmine” for a musical is indeed an interesting experiment, considering it is their first attempt at musical theatre, but in my opinion it was an experiment which paid handsome dividends in the end.

After all, stars do help to sell a show.

Let’s get the important question out of the way first: Are the songs in “Aladdin” original?

No, all the songs are based on popular radio hits such as “Rehab”, “Dancing Queen”, “Born This Way”, “Genie in a Bottle” and “Jai-Ho”, except that some of the lyrics have been re-written under the wicked pen of Jonathan Lim in order to make the lyrics more relevant to the show.

Standout performances include the ever-reliable and ever-amazing Karen Tan, playing the role of the evil wizard Abba-k’adab-rah (who develops a strange fascination for peppering her speech with song names by a certain Swedish group not named Roxette), and the boisterous Darius Tan, playing the mother of Aladdin, who was simply a riot…

Click (here) for the rest of the review at “Buttons in the Bread”.

Categorized in Arts, Musicals, Singapore and Theatre

Why Do Songs Sound Better On The Radio?

Monday, 28 November, 2011 - 2 Responses

I have mulled over this question ever since I was in my teens.

Radio today isn’t what it used to be.

It’s gone the way of TV and newspapers, in the sense that people don’t rely on radio being a big part of their lives the way they did back in the 90′s or earlier.

But that is a conversation for another day.

The question here is how come songs on radio seem to sound better than on CD?

The word “better” here does not mean better sound quality, cos we all know that radio quality can never match CD quality.

The word “better” just means it seems to give the listener a greater sense of satisfaction and enjoyment.

There’s absolutely nothing better in the world than driving back home late at night after a great show or party or date or whatever, and having one of your favourite songs playing on the radio.

It just beats selecting that same song yourself on your CD player.

Why is this so?

I can offer two reasons for this:

One is that fact that choice of song was served up for you, meaning that someone (the DJ) made the selection for you and it was, in a way, a pleasant surprise for you.

It’s like how buying yourself a nice little notebook can’t compare with having someone buy the same little notebook for you as a gift.

Two – and this is the most important reason – is that songs on the radio are a shared experience.

And this is the key idea.

As you drive home late at night, and you hear that favourite Wilson Phillips song or Roxette song or what have you, you know that somewhere out there in Singapore, there will be at least one other person who is listening to the exact same song at the exact same moment and loving it as well.

It’s that knowledge of the song being a shared experience that makes it so enjoyable.

That’s the beauty of radio.

And that is why songs on radio sound better than on CD.

It’s a pity the idea of “shared experiences” is slowly dying in this wired-up internet age of highly-customised on-demand entertainment.

But that is a discussion for another day.

Categorized in Media, Music and Random Musings