Hero Worship

On 24 July Sunday, maverick film-maker Tsui Hark arrived at Wisma Atria shopping centre with Donnie Yen and Charlie Young to promote his new wu-xia (martial chivalry) epic, SEVEN SWORDS. I waited at the atrium for over 2 hours just to see them in the flesh for 30 minutes. 1000% better than waiting 2 hours to see a doctor for 5 minutes. Now, Tsui Hark is a film-maker whom I have the highest respect for. I can relate to him better than some relatives of mine and the irony is, he doesn't even know me. But that doesn't matter. I've been his fan for over 15 years and have maintained a shrine (aka website) for over 9 years to show my devotion.



Being 10 feet away from him was enough to make me high but Donnie Yen and Charlie Young were present as well. Oh...my...God. My mind was on the verge of a cave-in. Donnie Yen... the actor who played Wong Fei Hung's father in Yuen Woo Ping's kick-ass IRON MONKEY. Donnie Yen... the actor who almost kick Jet Li's ass in ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA 2. Donnie Yen...the actor who played the super-powerful eunuch in DRAGON INN. Donnie Yen...a mere 10 feet away. Charlie Young...an object of desire during my dizzy Polytechnic days. Charlie Young...who portrayed Zhu Ying Tai in THE LOVERS and wept tears of blood. And you thought Tsui Hark couldn't pull off a weepie. Charlie Young...also a mere 10 feet away.

Can almost die without regrets, I tell you.

Ok, reality check. I've documented the event at Wisma Atria with pics and video clips. I won't blog about it here because the content is over at my Tsui Hark shrine. Check it out if you want.

Haircut

I'm one of those guys contented with a boring haircut. Been this way since Primary One. For over two decades, I've been a regular patron of one of the neighbourhood 'Mat' barber shops and it's always the usual 'trim only'. There's a strange charm about mat barber shops. Something about being addressed 'Hey, Brudder...', listening to the barbers' idle banter about soccer and the hi-fi playing hits from SCORPION and DEEP PURPLE (and sometimes Malay ballads). Charming.

Then some years back, those 'HAIRCUT FOR $10 IN 10 MINUTES' outlets sprung up everywhere. In October 2003, I 'turned my back' on the mat barber shop and gave one of the 'SPEED' outlets a try. Been a convert eversince. These SPEED hairstylists have occasionally persuaded me to do something different to my 'boring haircut'. One suggested I should keep my hair longer but I explained with my kind of face, I would only end up looking like a 'sum-seng'. Another was quick to point out that I cannot cut my hair too short, because:



Brudder, gimme the usual 'trim only' and I happy liao.

Some thoughts on Bloggers.SG 2005

I reached the venue at 1:45pm and a queue had already formed outside DXO. Sure is interesting to see my T-shirt design worn by several volunteers. I thought the queue was for the T-shirt (which I am entitled to a free piece along with the others who submitted designs for the T-shirt design competition) so I joined the queue. Wrong. A volunteer beckoned those in the queue who haven't bought their T-shirts to come forward to make the purchase. Hell, felt like a blur cock.

Leaving the queue, I walked to the guys selling the T-shirts and told them I designed the T-shirt. A lady volunteer asked for my desired T-shirt size and handed it to me without question. I didn't know I had "DANIEL WANG - WINNER OF BLOGGERS.SG 2005 T-SHIRT DESIGN COMPETITION" stamped on my forehead. Either that, or maybe my Jedi mind trick actually worked.

I only attended the first segment (SG blogging communities) of the event as I had other matters to attend to after 4pm. I got to say that Bloggers.SG is an event that one should not go alone (like me). Felt somewhat awkward/detached just by observing members of the various communities or groups of friends chatting away. It seemed so...SURREAL. Like being inside THE MATRIX. "Oh look, that's Mr Brown and company..." A passage from the Bible sums it up real good: "AND THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH."

It IS good to see the luminaries of the SG blogging scene in the flesh. Even though there was an open mike session to prove that the SG blogging aint just about Mr Miyagi, Mr Brown, etc, I felt as though I was attending a hearing in a War Crimes Tribunal. "We will now call upon so and so to provide a testimony...". Maybe the whole event should have been done online, where bloggers can continue to relish their anonymity and give their twenty cents worth.

It figures.

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