열아홉 순정 (Pure 19)

안녕하세요!

Who would have ever thought that I would fall susceptible to the charms of Korean drama serials. But the seemingly impossible has happened and pigs are flying.

For the past couple of weeks, my household went raving mad over the Korean drama serial 열아훕 순정 (Pure 19/十九岁的纯情). My mother, being very much beside herself, bought the entire serial on DVD and started a marathon during which late(r) nights became a given as we obsess to complete watching the 167 episodes.

It's not Shakespeare, that's for sure. But this quaint romantic comedy has charm enough. It narrates in the main a quasi-Cinderella tale about parochial 양국화 (Yang Gukhwa) who falls in love with 박윤후 (Park Yun Hu), the icy director son of a wealthy businessman.

Not surprisingly, their relationship is pumped full with trails and tribulations. Though it may get sappy at times, the serial is never short of comedic scenes, mainly provided by the loony 박윤정 (Park Yun Jeong) and her affection-beleaguered lover 홍우졍 (Hong Ugjung).

But Korean drama serials aside, my true attachment, having taken my maiden steps, is to the Korean script, which I find extremely fascinating - as is evident from my attempt at including as many words written in Korean script as I can manage.

The only known script to have been commissioned to tailor for need, the Korean script was invented in the 1440s. Although it has an alphabet (called 한굴), it does not string its letters in a line like most languages do, but arranges them into syllabic blocks. For someone who has always thought that the adorable human-like characters ideograms, this came as a pleasant surprise.

Korean drama serials, Korean movies (of which I've watched a few), Korean food! With my current Korean obsession, I'm sure I'll be tempted by more things Korean - and boy am I looking forward to them!! =)

열아훕 순정 Official Website

Into the Woods

It blows your mind away!

Nominated for and winner of multiple Tony Awards in 1987, a year dominated by Sir Andrew Lloyd Weber's Phantom of the Opera, Into the Woods has it's fair share of following, albeit a tiny one in Singapore where the name Stephen Sondheim is hardly greeted with turning heads.

Starring a brilliant cast including Bernadette Peters and Joanna Gleason, this comedy tickles from the start of once upon a time to the end of happily ever after. Farcical and hyperbolical, Into the Woods weaves well known fairy tales into a touching tale of self-exploration and family love that drives the listener to passionate tears. Though the music is not immediately attention grabbing, it eventually grows onto you and only then shows it's ensnaring brilliance.

In the words of a friend - now I cannot say "once upon a time" without breaking out in a hearty laughter!

Catch the 1991 Recorded Performance starring the Original Broadway Cast on YouTube:

• Into the Woods Act 1 Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9
• Into the Woods Act 2 Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8

The Rose of the World

Here’s presenting to you another poem by W. B. Yeats -

The Rose of the World

Who dreamed that beauty passes like a dream?
For these red lips, with all their mournful pride,
Mournful that no new wonder may betide,
Troy passed away in one high funeral gleam,
And Usna’s children died.

We and the labouring world are passing by:
Amid men’s souls, that waver and give place
Like the pale waters in their wintry race,
Under the passing stars, foam of the sky,
Lives on this lonely face.

Bow down, archangels, in your dim abode:
Before you were, or any heart to beat,
Weary and kind one lingered by His seat;
He made the world to be a grassy road
Before her wandering feet.

wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwW. B. Yeats

OCBC Singapore Theatre Festival

Visit the official website: OCBC Singapore Theatre Festival

He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven

Most people have probably heard me gush about this poem by W. B. Yeats at some time or another. Well, I am not sorry. It is, in my opinion, the best love poem I've ever read - so simple yet extensive - and even now, my heart melts every time I read it. So to those whom I haven't pestered, here is the beauty:

He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven

Had I the heaven's embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet.
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under you feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwW. B. Yeats

Jan Morris Remarries

Jan Morris, a prominent travel journalist who famously recorded her sex-change operation in the autobiographical "Conundrum", entered a civil partnership with her previous wife, Elizabeth Tuckniss, nearly 60 years after their marriage and more than 30 after their divorce. Read the entire The Daily Telegraph article for more information.

Many in recent years have perhaps unconsciously felt intimidated by the ways limits of sexuality have been stretched and challenged (remember Thomas Beatie); and I shouldn't be surprised if more discontent should be elicited from Singaporeans, who have been generally considered a conservative population.

I, however, always find it encouraging to hear such news, knowing that while unprecedented divorce rates in heterosexual marriages have also been challenging conventions of love, people belonging to the sexual minorities are treading, against prevailing negative stereotypes, previously unimaginable and untrodden axes of loves.

May I just softly give my blessings to this wonderful octogenarian.

Michael Schiefel

Listening to the June 2007 Musik-Podcast des Goethe Institut today, I was introduced to a most enchanting and innovative musician - Michael Schiefel. The episode talked briefly about his latest album "Don't Touch My Animals" (2006) and featured an extremely amusing song - "Aufm Dorf und Inner Stadt" - that was exuding with Hindi charm and caught my attention immediately.

Michael Schiefel was born in 1970 in Münster and has worked as a professional vocal artiste since the 1990s. In 2001 he was appointed a vocal professor in the Franz Liszt Conservatory in Weimar.

Prior to "Don't Touch My Animals", he produced two solo albums: "I Don't Belong" (2000) and "Invisible Loop" (1997). Though he is formally trained in jazz vocals, Michael Schiefel's albums reflect experimental styles with interesting electronic manipulation methods like track looping. His voice, which covers a wide range, has also been frequently described as androgynous - which is of great intrigue to me!



Do visit his websites for more information
www.michaelschiefel.com
www.myspace.com/michaelschiefel (While you're at it, listen to Präludium #3. I love it!)

The Magical, Magnificent, Marvelous, Memorable, Mighty, Miraculous, Momentuous, Munificently Mealymouthed Monty Python!

It's god sent all the way from Ann Arbor, Michigan - The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus 16-Ton Megaset - whoa hoo! A hunk of absurdist fun showered with blistering tears and bunny hops somewhere over the rainbow to that empty pot of platinum! Alas! This out-of-this-universe shuttle I've been pining for has arrived cashing in at a mere US$55 and, given the current forex, half the rip-off, daylight-robbery price of S$150 (S$149.90 actually, don't sue me) at HMV! So raspberries to all you un-Montys!! =P

Wenn der Winter Kommt

Ich habe kürzlich eine interessante deutsche Band entdeckt - die heißt "Element of Crime". Ich finde es sehr enttäuschend, dass die Leute in Singapur wenig Gelegenheiten haben, deutsche morderne Musik zu kennen lernen. Vom Album "Mittelpunkt der Welt" ist mein Lieblingslied "Wenn der Winter Kommt". Es erzählt von einem Mann, dem der Winter gefällt, weil seine Freundin wie derselbe Jahreszeit geheimnisvoll ist. Hier ist der Schlagertext:

During one of my recent cultural ventures, I discovered this German band called "Element of Crime". I'm not sure how popular it is in Germany, but I find its most recent studio album "Mittelpunkt der Welt" (Centre of the World), released in 2005, most charming. It is a great pity that in Singapore we do not get to know much about the contemporary German music scene, and much of my knowledge of it ended long before Stockhausen was buried last year. My favourite song from the above-mentioned album is entitled "Wenn der Winter Kommt" (When Winter Comes). Here are the lyrics:

Gefrorener Atem fällt klirrend vor mir in den Schnee
Es tut weh, wenn ein eiskalter Fuß an ein Hindernis stößt
Zum Naturfreund werd ich nicht mehr werden
Aber stolpernd folge ich dir
Durch deine Kindheitserinnerungswälder
Bis es dunkel wird, und dann folgst du mir

Am Himmel verblassen die Sterne
Deine Augen funkeln mich an
Seit ich dich kenne, mag ich es gerne
Wenn der Winter kommt - dann wird's früher dunkel

Eisige Wege erzwingen den Gang Arm in Arm
Warm wird mir überall da, wo du mich berührst
Auf Baggerseen soll man nicht wandeln
Aber vorsichtig folge ich dir
Auf das brüchige Eis deiner Jugend
Bis es dunkel wird, und dann folgst du mir

Am Himmel verblassen die Sterne
Deine Augen funkeln mich an
Seit ich dich kenne, mag ich es gerne
Wenn der Winter kommt - dann wird's früher dunkel

Da wo du wohnst funktioniert die Heizung nicht mehr
Und das Herz wird dir schwer, weil das Licht auf der Treppe nicht geht
Und du sagst das, als sei das die Wahrheit
Und fröhlich folge ich dir
Auf die Trampelpfade der Lüge
Bis es dunkel wird, und dann folgst du mir

Am Himmel verblassen die Sterne
Deine Augen funkeln mich an
Seit ich dich kenne, mag ich es gerne
Wenn der Winter kommt - dann wird's früher dunkel

Vom Trockenen Garten

Come 'round this gard'n where perfumes reek
To find here what you do not seek
From death there springs new life again
Where once were flow'rs fall'n leaves are lain

It was by sheer serendipity I made this astonishing discovery today - Karl Blossfeldt (1865-1932), an art professor in the Berlin College of Art with a passion for plants. Although he never defined himself as a professional photographer, he devoted attention to capturing the geometrical beauty of plants with a camera of his own creation that can zoom up to 30 times the original size. Blossfeldt produced some 6000 plant pictures and is most well known for his publications Unformen der Kunst (Art Forms in Nature), Wundergarten der Natur (Magic Garden of Nature) and Wunder in der Natur (Magic in Nature). Here are some of his works:

Garlic, Flower Umbel, 6x





















Maidenhair Fern, Unfurling Fronds, 12x




















Gourd, Squash, Tendrils, 4x





















Mallow Family, Seed Capsule, 12x

First Day at School

I recently stumbled upon this delightful poem by Roger McGough. Here it is:

First Day at School

A millionbillionwillion miles from home
Waiting for the bell to go. (To go where?)
Why are they all so big, other children?
So noisy? So much at home they
Must have been born in uniform
Lived all their lives in playgrounds
Spent the years inventing games
That don't let me in. Games
That are rough, that swallow you up.

And the railings.
All around, the railings.
Are they to keep out wolves and monsters?
Things that carry off and eat children?
Things you don't take sweets from?
Perhaps they're to stop us getting out
Running away from the lessins. Lessin.
What does a lessin look like?
Sounds small and slimy.
They keep them in the glassrooms.
Whole rooms made out of glass. Imagine.

I wish I could remember my name
Mummy said it would come in useful.
Like wellies. When there's puddles.
Yellowwellies. I wish she was here.
I think my name is sewn on somewhere
Perhaps the teacher will read it for me.
Tea-cher. The one who makes the tea.

wwwwwwwwwwwby Roger Mc Gough

This poem also inspired a most adorable and clever video. I love the narration and the visuals are simple charming. Enjoy it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUNUfI2oCbs