Re-Revelations

I noticed that all the gatherings, if we managed to get gathered together, are initiated and executed by guys.

Like seriously.

Cases in point:
(1) Minxiu’s birthday as spent in a hotel, with some people I haven’t seen in years

(2) The weekly late night suppers (every Friday) at Blk 85 market gulping bak chor mee – faithfully attended by the four guys, and the odd girl(s) occasionally.

(3) My Dunman High 2i gathering - thanks to Yaoqiang

(4) My upcoming Yu Neng Primary gathering (second one this year) – Jiaming and I thought it would be grand to have another non-cerebral and non-constructive reason to celebrate and cheer and meet – so we bugged Tuyi to organize one since he did the previous and got us in the mood for attending loving, lovely gatherings in succession. So voila a midnight email announcement

(5) My other primary school – Gongshang Primary – You can’t beat this. These guys planned and marinated and cooked, and pushed me out of the kitchen for our last gathering. All I had to do was to sit and wait for food to be served. Really. After they gave me the token thing to make myself useful – water the plants. Like WTF.

(6) I use to plan my Gongshang ones but then I lost my phone and all precious numbers. Met Jarvis recently and he said anytime I want a gathering just call him, and he’ll gather – himself. At most, to throw in Weiming. That’s ‘cos we all live within walking distance of the school and therefore a stone’s throw away from one another. Guess that’ll have to do till I fortuitously bump into everyone else. Anyhow, my point is – note Jarvis’ enthusiasm. His exact words: Whenever you like lah… I everyday also can…Well, haha. I love hanging out with people you grew up with. No matter how long you have been apart, some kind of natural naivety just takes over when you meet, and you settle into a comfortable rhythm so easily. No qualms or queasiness at all about thinking twice and then again, before you sms or hit that “send” email button. But I digress.

Now back to guys initiating and planning gatherings – I find that quite a refreshing (retributive) change from the school days when I recall it was girls doing all the work, and few guys turning up. Correct me if I’m mistaken, but is that your experience and recollection too?

It seems the table have been totally turned. Guys are organizing and the number of guys attending always overwhelmingly exceeds that of the other sex. I wonder why. Like for (6), I was the only girl! But then again, I used to be pretty close to the guys in my class. Still, are the girls more zhong se qing you; are the guys nostalgic for something? As it is, Am I too free??

Resounding no to the last question, that’s for sure. Whatever. I’m really happy that there are those of us who still gather, gather, gather.

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The Few-Words movie reviews

Eros (a set of phrases for each vignette in order of appearance):

The Hand: sultry, pensive, wistful, elusive (referring to longings, desires), broken dreams and personalities

Equilibrium: strange, voyeuristic, hyper & meta-hypocritical, deceitful characters

The Dangerous Thread of Things: pseudo complex love triangle, heavily mocking of philosophy, language and modern love, albeit totally unintentional in its intent, gratuitous (yet ungratifying to audience) sex and happy, crazed masturbation, possibly feminist in nature since ending shows the two female leads (who had, in separate occasions, had sex with the male lead, unknowingly so to each other, of course) in close proximity, staring at each other, entirely nude on the beach, in utter, utter fascination. Camera focus for a minute or so and ended as such. Please see Minxiu's complementary review.

Other than Wong Kar Wai, it's darn obvious the other directors have no clue what the pleasure principle is all about. Maybe they are exploring the death drive on purely un-freudian terms, yup literally driving the audience up the wall.

Initial D: 黄秋生 - 'nuff said. But Edison Chen comes a close second. And the romance factor is Pui. Jay Chou is so immature to cast aside his crush when he found out she's an escort. Din even bother to clear and end things proper.

A Lot Like Love: I like the premise. But like the way I appreciate the premise leading to Jeux D'enfants, the storytelling was disappointing, because I already have the ideal scenarios played out in my head. The premise had so much potential, it's tragic the directors failed to milk the full worth. Someday, I shall film my version of dare and daring as well as the dangerous crossover from friendship to love and back again, of the so much that is left unspoken, of the people who left, that leavens the despair of never able to leave it all behind.

Batman Begins: *Yawns* I like Tim Burtion's rendition and Michael Keaton best.

Anyhow, having ran out of movies to watch, I turned to theatre for my weekly escapism from real life. I caught Verena Tay's 3 Women. It was essentially a re-production, this time self-directed and starring herself as opposed to the earlier version (selling gimmick being 3 men directing 3 women). I din watch the original, so I can't compare. But. It certainly wasn't fantastic, dialogue or acting or direction or plot wise. My neuroses are more captivating and yes, I would have done a far better job. Then again, watching such that you deemed less good than you had presumed to be is comforting, you know. That some people can be on stage, that some others can be published, and you think, why not me, esp when i'm obviously more talented. Hopefully this narcissistic re-revelation kicks ass and you get moving. Live now and well.