why i write

via: songofstyle.blogspot.com

 

Are you ready for the seaside holiday/retreat/escapade/getaway, girls? I’m excited for any kind of holiday. Work hard now, babe. Earn it. Own it.

 

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“A half-read book is a half-finished love affair.”

— David Mitchell (Cloud Atlas)

David Mitchell… he sounds very familiar. Perhaps I’ve read one of his works (a short story, maybe? a poem?) before.

I think that’s what I do.

I haven’t finished a book for the longest time.

Maybe it is time to finally put my heart and soul to doing so. (:

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I knew that I had a facility with words and a power of facing unpleasant facts, and I felt that this created a sort of private world in which I could get my own back for my failure in everyday life.

– “Why I write”, George Orwell

In a response to my friend’s quote from “Why I Write” by Simon Dudek, I will like to share an essay also entitled “Why I Write” penned by one of the greatest novelists in the world.  It gives good contrast to the Dudek’s excerpt I read on my friend’s blog. Nothing superfluous; nothing romantic. However, if you pare down to the essence, all writers have the same reason (almost).

 

 

 

 

Closer to Simon Van Booy

I couldn’t remember much of the screen adaptation of  “Closer” which featured Natalie Portman, Julia Roberts, Jude Law and Clive Owen. Neither could I recall when I watched it. Maybe it was on Channel 5. (Singapore’s English TV channel) Or maybe, I didn’t really watch it.

It doesn’t matter.  I will watch it again. The Pangdemonium’s production of “Closer” was able to satisfy my desire for some emotional upheaval…well, to a certain extent. I could rave on and on about the script. Patrick Marber has that gift of hitting all the right notes that would resonate with your own experiences;  with your love life or lack thereof. The lines, crude as they might be at some points, are raw with emotions and truth.

I think many members of the audience stepped  into the theatre with preconceived notions of how the play should turn out to be since they would have been inundated with fond memories of the climatic (pun intended) scenes and how “very, very sad” the film is.

Contrary to the general sentiment in the theatre, I thought there shouldn’t be any comparison. They are just… different. I went home and immediately I watched some clips of the screen adaptation. The way film works – you could play with subtleties in your acting that would be captured on film and be fully presented to the audience. Closer was meant to be a play. I like exactly how the lines were punctuated with force on stage.

Alice: It’s a lie. It’s a bunch of sad strangers photographed beautifully, and… all the glittering assholes who appreciate art say it’s beautiful ’cause that’s what they wanna see. But the people in the photos are sad, and alone… But the pictures make the world seem beautiful, so… the exhibition is reassuring which makes it a lie, and everyone loves a big fat lie.

That said, I am not enraptured by the cast’s performance. It is commendable; to say the least. Adrian Pang didn’t disappoint… but the strange thing about him is that at certain points, he portrays that “Adrian swagger” which is found in almost every other role he plays. I remember quite clearly, in one scene, I thought he was the lawyer in “The Pupil”, I swear! It makes me wonder whether he is pushing enough to distinguish his roles or whether there is even a need to… Ah and I was beginning to lose attention after the intermission. The scene at the strip club was not tastefully done. I was so excited when I saw how the director has set up the dual realities with Larry and  Anna in one, Alice and Dan in the other. However, I was disappointed how it played out in the end. There was not enough dramatic tension to sustain such a set-up; either that or the staging did not help to enhance the tension. Really disappointed! I was also half-hoping that they would break the wall. ok, but they are too professional to have made that fatal mistake.

Nothing beats the thrill of being able to soak in the intimacy of live performances. I can’t wait to be on the stage again. (;

On the topic of moody love, I bought a book called, “Love Begins in Winter” by Simon Van Booy at the Borders sale in Expo. He is this elusive writer whose books I spotted at the famous Parisian bookstore. They were over-priced though, so I thought I would whet my appetite by just flipping the pages of the book precariously and by remembering whichever quotes I could catch in that few minutes. When I was in Edinburgh, I found out that the author grew up in the Welsh countryside and would be coming to the Festival in Edinburgh in August.  I conjured about a dozen reasons that could allow me to stay in Europe till August. I want to meet him and this other English writer, David Nicholls!

I have not finished reading the book but I have read two stories  he wrote on his personal life — “Raising a Princess Single-Handedly” and “Love and Loss at Christmas”.

Grief is a room without doors – but somehow, with its tinsel and clichés, Christmas finds a way in. In the absence of a loved one, all the pageantry, all the carols and parties and bright bustling pubs, are an unbearable silence. For many, the season of goodwill and joy is also the season of loneliness and despair, during which nothing grows except the longing for what can never be.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/fashion/28love.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/dec/19/christmas-love-loss-simon-van-booy

I can’t comment much about the book yet, but Simon Van Booy… he does look good. (;

“Like Shangri-la Facebook page”

That was what Prof told us to do in class.

Most of us did. I did.

The Facebook page looks like a mini corporate website, albeit, it is more interactive and informal.  Web in Travel writes about Shangri-la’s venture into social media and its promotion on Facebook.  So the draw for us to “like” the page is that we get a free birthday lunch buffet! (: No Singaporean will say no to food and to free stuff.

A Shangri-la guest uploaded this onto the Facebook page

I was asked recently where I prefer as a consumer to receive information; or more specifically which channel do I think is most effective for me. I leave my laptop switched on for almost 24 hours. (It is a terrible thing to do, but I’m waiting for my laptop to die, dignified that it has served me well and to the fullest). I have my iPhone and internet on-the-go and given how obsessed I am with checking emails, always waiting for THE EMAIL to appear, really, if  you want to grab my attention, Facebook is the channel.  And another channel will be out-of-door; something that is weaved into my daily life… say, on the MRT trains.

like the “The Silk Pro Hair Thinning Series”…

I don’t like it but I remember it.

Is that where the landscape of advertising is moving into? Social media and activation? (Silk Pro is not an example of activation, by the way.) At least I think it is.

I signed up for an account with Weibo which is the Chinese version of Twitter. I find it better than Twitter. I don’t “tweet” there but it offers me  for me to take a sneek peek into the lives of the Chinese celebrities.  (; I wondered initially why in the world did these celebrities who claimed to cherish privacy more than anything else jump onto the bandwagon of social media.

a) they are really normal beings like every one of us who wants to share their thoughts and musings

b) another channel to promote their music/movie/ tryst/romance? why not?

c) so that the mentions of their names will take on a multiplier effect. journalists from tabloid papers pick up every little thing they post and spin a tale out of it.

b) oh and the most heartwarming reason of all, so that they can connect to the fans who care and adore them on a more intimate level… aw.