January 28, 2004
January 27, 2004
Polly Vandersma
 |
Also from the movie, it was my first time being exposed to Léo Delibes' "Viens, Mallika", from the opera Lakmé! A gorgeous duet indeed. The 'painting' from the movie was outlandishly magical... You'll love the ending as the final credits roll...
I can totally relate to Polly. "Isn't life the strangest thing you've ever seen?" Yeeeeup!
January 26, 2004
Fly and Be Mary
 |
O and this [1.8MB] one made me chuckle, kudos for FedEx! Haha... thanks Joey!!
Wait, but theeeeere's more... Something for everything now: Super Model Meat Sports... woohooo, I can die now!
Music: Siouxsie & The Banshees - Red Light
January 21, 2004
A Sense of Snow
Let it snow, again... Alec and I will be on a mini-trip flying out to Salt Lake City [Oooh Sundance!!! I don't care much about!] tomorrow morning, and coming back Sunday late afternoon. He'll be skiing and I'll be... driving and checking out the scenaries... Alec's a great skier, and I used to snowboard... but he's too good and there's no way I can keep up... after my kidney stones incident, I've been taking a long ass break from boarding, and everything else... haha! [I think I'm still iron-deficient!]
Practically growing up in Los Angeles, here we barely get enough rain or snow. I adore the snow... I'll have to make sure to bring my camera. Have a great week/weekend everyone, and a prosperous and a great healthy Happy Chinese New Year!!!
PS. B4 I go, check out the ESP game, sorta...
Music: Harold Budd - Valse Pour le Fin du Temps
January 20, 2004
January 19, 2004
This Lifetime After
I was just talking to Alec this weekend... Where does one go after he/she dies? No one knows... I said if I knew the perfect answer, I wouldn't be here to begin with...
Then I had another thot or two [not that they haven't come up before], that if I happened to die today, my family will still be here tomorrow, my friends will still be here tomorrow, the strangers I once passed too often on the streets asking for handouts, will still be here tomorrow, and you will be here, too... but I won't... For me, I think my life without Robert will be pretty sad... the blue skies......
Imagine your life without you in it... [If I did, I didn't mean to bring anyone down, though that wasn't my intention, I apologize sincerely.]
Anyway, on a happier note... Thursday is Chinese New Year!!
Music: Not One Less - Soundtrack
January 16, 2004
Classic Moments
I know I've been talking about the late Anita Mui Yim-Fong a lot lately, I wasn't even a fan... I didn't know any of her songs prior to her parting, having only seen movies of hers here and there... Grieving, a person whom I've never met... a strange bit! Yet it's not her music or her movies...
I've been reading many articles about Anita since her death... That she lost her father when she was very young. After that, at the age of 4, she and her sister had to perform at this local run-down theme park [yeah, I've been there when I was just a wee boy! My dad used to take me, and 'run-down' is an understatement!] to earn additional income for the family. When she won her singing contest in the 80's, she wasn't an overnight sensation either... it was years later that she finally got the attention and the support from the public! In the late 80's, she starred in Rouge, her most well-known film to date, partnered [in many films together] with the late Leslie Cheung, whom also died in 2003, April. Leslie was one of her one true friend.
She discovered her terminal condition less than 2 years ago before her death. She underwent Western and Eastern cancer treatment and doctors also told her that she must have a hysterectomy... She refused because she was still thinking of getting married, and eventually, having children... a family of her own. That might've been a 'stupid' mistake to most people, but she listened to her own voice, stood by it, and that's what mattered to her. Anita was a strong woman 'til the very end, a woman of bravery and integrity, a woman of chance... She was also famous for contributing and making donations to numerous charity organizations.
So I got her Anita Classic Moment Live CD set the other day, and I've been listening to it ever since. It was an 8-day run concert held in November of 2003; 2 months after she made public about her illness, and a month before she passed. People didn't think she could do it, but she proved to them and to herself, that she did. What she said during the concert [inbetween songs] really made an impression on me [they were actual tracks on the CDs, I've made translation below for 3 of the tracks, gosh I'm such a cheese-ball!!!]... Anyway, maybe this will be my last entry about Anita...
Anita & Leslie, may you both find each other in heaven, again...
Spoken words from CD:
/////
...In the past few months, many things have happened... I just realised, life is melancholy, yet ironic... whether if it's my own personal business or the SARS incident in HK, many, many questions have been asked yet unanswered... Also the last few months I've lost my [few] only true friends... I've been very sad and somber... I asked and I asked myself again: "Am I going to go on... like this?" If my friends now knew the answer, they would be heartbroken... even for my friends who have past on, I think they wouldn't want to see me this way...
That's why, I tell myself - I live to live, no matter... whatever happens tomorrow, I have to work hard on whatever I do today... with full vigour, no matter how difficult, to face my tomorrow... I want to make this concert a lengthy one, probably because I feel a need to 'push myself to the limit', and I think everyone needs this hope and drive to go on... We can't tell people that we just give up, on what we have, on this lifetime, because it was given to us by the 'sky-above'... I hope you all will like the songs I picked out for you all in the next set, to see if they're appropriate, and to your liking...
/////
...It's been a pleasure and an honour to be a singer/entertainer, especially when I feel the love and the support from all my fans, I feel very happy and content... Yet now, I don't see our relationship as simply being 'a performer and her fans', right now, I see you all as my very good 'old friends'... Because I think we've known each other for more than a decade now, or else I wouldn't have called you all - my dear 'old friends'... That's why the next song, is truly for all my very good, very good, very good fans... for you all, my "old friends" [in English]...
/////
...[The last act, Anita came out in a wedding dress] Thank you everyone... Do I look pretty in a wedding gown? [audience cheered!] I've always been a singer, though I'm also an actor, wearing a wedding gown tonight isn't my first time, but not a single time I wore it for myself... Maybe this is my only regret in life... but I have my love from all of you, and you all have been here to fill this void... I'm very blessed, for I am married to my music, and I am married to my fans...
This is my last song, to give to you all... I feel that everyday, that the sunrise and sunset are so beautiful... yet fleeting... we should truly treasure what we have today, what's around us, right now... or else, in a heartbeat, everything is gone...
Images: Top picture from Ming Pao Weekly, HK; Anita Classic Moment Live CD insert
January 14, 2004
January 13, 2004
To Whom Should I Write
Where are you now
Have you travelled too far
And how are your dreams
Have you got what you need
And whom do you smile on
Did you walk out the line
Did you take what you wanted
Did you take what was right
And whom do you fly with
When you break out the day
Whom do you cry with
Whose wings do you steal
To whom should I write
Whose smile do you ride on
When you're walking alone
And who do you think of
When the night is your home
Is there nothing that breaks you
No thought for the dead
And whom should I think of
When closing the door
Yeah whom should I think of
Which smile should I ride
To whom should I write
Text: Neil Halstead
January 12, 2004
The Last Song
 |
The following is an excerpt from The Star Online:
Less than a year after thousands of people in Hong Kong turned out for singer/actor Leslie Cheung’s funeral, thousands will line the streets once again today to send off Anita Mui. Mui – a close friend of Cheung who was present at his funeral – passed away on Dec 30 at the age of 40, having lost her battle against cervical cancer. She leaves behind a mother and two brothers, and a legacy of songs, films and charity works.
Although Mui will be best remembered for her illustrious career in showbiz, there was another side to the superstar that is equally cherished by people whose lives she touched.
As a person, Mui was generous and straightforward, one who valued friendship. Colleagues in Hong Kong’s entertainment circle have come forward with tales of Mui’s generosity, how she had made personal sacrifices to help a friend without being asked, and without expectation.
Mui's fans from Indonesia grieving over her death outside the Hong Kong Funeral Home. The five-time winner of Hong Kong’s best female singer award once said: “Many people thought I’ve made a lot of money. But actually my biggest gain is friendship. When I was frustrated, many friends were concerned and gave me support. It is such a precious feeling when you have so many friends who can help you.”
Acting as mentor to many of Hong Kong’s new acts, she played a huge role in building the careers of several Hong Kong stars, including Andy Hui and her former back-up dancers Grasshopper.
A devout Buddhist, Mui was known for her charity work, having organised numerous fund-raisers and donating a substantial sum of money to good causes. In 1993, she set up the Anita Mui True Heart Charity Foundation, and held a charity concert in Toronto, Canada, and a charity dinner in Hong Kong to raise funds for the foundation. She also donated HK$1mil (RM500,000) to the Tung Wah Hospital Group and helped found its seniors’ centre, while another generous donation resulted in Hong Kong’s Queen Mary Hospital naming an orthopaedic surgical theatre after her.
Her generosity was not limited to the former British colony alone. The Mayor of San Francisco once declared April 18, 1992, as well as Oct 26 the following year as “Anita Mui Day”, to honour her work in raising funds for the nursing home that bears her name.
During the height of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak early last year, Mui initiated the fund-raising 1:99 Concert at the Hong Kong Stadium to help raise spirits and money for families affected by the disease. The event raised over HK$18mil (RM9mil).
Last month, she published her book, Heart of the Modern Woman (Xian Dai Nu Ren Xin), and dedicated proceeds from the book to the Children’s Cancer Foundation of Hong Kong.
Mui went public with her illness on Sept 6 last year. At a press conference, she vowed to beat the cancer and to carry on for her fans. In November she held a series of eight concerts at the Hong Kong Coliseum, and later in the month she was in Japan to shoot a commercial. But her condition took a turn for the worse when she returned to Hong Kong and she was admitted to hospital.
Even after death, her generosity continues, as she had pledged to donate her organs upon her demise.
Despite all that she has achieved in life, Mui once said that her biggest regret was not finding her Mr Right. The talk within the industry was that Mui held a torch for Hong Kong actor/singer Andy Lau all these years, but Mui had always maintained that they were good friends, and made no secret about her fondness for him.
It was widely reported in Hong Kong newspapers that Mui had known about her illness in the year 2000, but deferred treatment which might involve hysterectomy as she was holding out for marriage and having children.
Compiled by Michael Cheang from Sin Chew Daily, Shenzhen Daily
January 07, 2004
January 06, 2004
As We Could Ever
I think sometimes, sometimes I think
If only could we...
And reasons exist for reasons unknown
Where were wild things were once
If what you give is what you have
Then what you have to give
Is everything of what we share
Of all we need to live
Within one way, this way is mine
We spent a day beside
Came up out her eyes it's turning inside
Coughed up a swallow
If what you share is what you have
Then what you have to share
Is anything as real as dreams
And still afraid to dare
A given is taken, stay hidden inside
Text: Warren Defever