“They are the basic suffering we all go through. Besides birth, aging, sickness and death there are four additional pains to life. First is the pain of hating someone else. Next is the pain of not being able to get or do what you want. Then, the pain of parting with loved ones; not being able to meet your beloved. Finally the pain resulting from conflict between your thoughts, heart and behaviour. This pain results from the imbalance of your soul.”
Showing posts with label tv show. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tv show. Show all posts
Friday, January 29, 2010
Eight Pains in Life – Fugitive Lee Du-Yong
According to the scriptwriter of the KBS drama, Fugitive Lee Du-Yong, there are eight pains in life.
“They are the basic suffering we all go through. Besides birth, aging, sickness and death there are four additional pains to life. First is the pain of hating someone else. Next is the pain of not being able to get or do what you want. Then, the pain of parting with loved ones; not being able to meet your beloved. Finally the pain resulting from conflict between your thoughts, heart and behaviour. This pain results from the imbalance of your soul.”
“They are the basic suffering we all go through. Besides birth, aging, sickness and death there are four additional pains to life. First is the pain of hating someone else. Next is the pain of not being able to get or do what you want. Then, the pain of parting with loved ones; not being able to meet your beloved. Finally the pain resulting from conflict between your thoughts, heart and behaviour. This pain results from the imbalance of your soul.”
Monday, September 21, 2009
Merger of Facebook, Twitter and Youtube
Heard on the 61st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards this morning:
YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook will merge into
one super-time-wasting website called
You Twit Face
It's just a joke.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
The Weakest Link (Quotes)
The Weakest Link, which started in UK in 2000 and is still ongoing, is an internationally popular quiz game show where nine contestants take turns answering a series of general knowledge questions. The object of each round is to answer a chain of consecutive correct answers to earn an increasing amount (£20, £50, £100, £200, £300, £450, £600, £800, £1,000) of pool money within a certain time limit. At the end of each round, one of the contestants will be voted out as the “weakest link” till two are left to fight for the final prize money.
Anne Robinson, the host of the UK series, had earned herself the title “Queen of Mean”, as she dishes out the most caustic remarks about the contestants lack of knowledge or intelligence.
Here are some of them:
Who has left his brain at home?
Who forgot to wind up their brain this morning?
Whose IQ is the same as his age?
Who can get lost in a lift?
Who can’t find a needle in a needle stack?
Who should have spent their money on a brain implant?
Whose silicon is sadly leaking into their head?
Who has the brain of a brussels sprout?
Who has problem counting his legs?
Who makes a duck looked intelligent?
Who has the intellect of a flea?
Who is as thick as a club sandwich?
Which of you was a plank of wood in a previous life?
Who would get splinters if they scratched their head?
Who’s got varicose brains?
Whose brainstorm is merely a light shower?
Who is as much use as a toothless vampire?
Who has one eye missing and thinks they have double vision?
Which of you goes to the opticians with a broken toe?
Who’s the bottom among bodily parts?
Who’s as quick as a tortoise on Prozac?
Who’s had “idiot” written all over their face?
Who has merely sipped from the Fountain of Knowledge?
Who believes in bungee jumping without the rope?
Who’s the dummy who should go home to Mummy?
Who’s more Frankenstein than Einstein?
Whose intelligence is their best kept secret?
If brains were taxed, who would get a refund?
Who has gone into hibernation?
If ignorance is bliss – you here must be very happy.
Don’t smile. You might confuse yourself.
When God gave out brain cells, you must have been at the back of the queue
I have enjoyed watching the Hong Kong series (一筆OUT消), which was hosted by Carol Cheng in Cantonese, very much. As per franchise licensing agreement, besides wearing all black, she had to be as cold and sarcastic as Anne Robinson. But apparently such “mean behaviour” did not go well with the audience because of their Chinese culture of “giving face”. Subsequently, Carol Cheng was allowed to soften her approach towards the contestants and the series was well received.
Though I have also watched the Singapore series I cannot remember much of it, probably because it was a very short series, other than it was hosted by model & VJ Asha Gill.
You can catch The Weakest Link on BBC Entertainment on Starhub TV Channel 76 every weekday at 6.00 pm.
“You ARE the Weakest Link. Goodbye.”
Anne Robinson, the host of the UK series, had earned herself the title “Queen of Mean”, as she dishes out the most caustic remarks about the contestants lack of knowledge or intelligence.
Here are some of them:
Who has left his brain at home?
Who forgot to wind up their brain this morning?
Whose IQ is the same as his age?
Who can get lost in a lift?
Who can’t find a needle in a needle stack?
Who should have spent their money on a brain implant?
Whose silicon is sadly leaking into their head?
Who has the brain of a brussels sprout?
Who has problem counting his legs?
Who makes a duck looked intelligent?
Who has the intellect of a flea?
Who is as thick as a club sandwich?
Which of you was a plank of wood in a previous life?
Who would get splinters if they scratched their head?
Who’s got varicose brains?
Whose brainstorm is merely a light shower?
Who is as much use as a toothless vampire?
Who has one eye missing and thinks they have double vision?
Which of you goes to the opticians with a broken toe?
Who’s the bottom among bodily parts?
Who’s as quick as a tortoise on Prozac?
Who’s had “idiot” written all over their face?
Who has merely sipped from the Fountain of Knowledge?
Who believes in bungee jumping without the rope?
Who’s the dummy who should go home to Mummy?
Who’s more Frankenstein than Einstein?
Whose intelligence is their best kept secret?
If brains were taxed, who would get a refund?
Who has gone into hibernation?
If ignorance is bliss – you here must be very happy.
Don’t smile. You might confuse yourself.
When God gave out brain cells, you must have been at the back of the queue
I have enjoyed watching the Hong Kong series (一筆OUT消), which was hosted by Carol Cheng in Cantonese, very much. As per franchise licensing agreement, besides wearing all black, she had to be as cold and sarcastic as Anne Robinson. But apparently such “mean behaviour” did not go well with the audience because of their Chinese culture of “giving face”. Subsequently, Carol Cheng was allowed to soften her approach towards the contestants and the series was well received.
Though I have also watched the Singapore series I cannot remember much of it, probably because it was a very short series, other than it was hosted by model & VJ Asha Gill.
You can catch The Weakest Link on BBC Entertainment on Starhub TV Channel 76 every weekday at 6.00 pm.
“You ARE the Weakest Link. Goodbye.”
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Leonardo da Vinci - The Man Who Wanted To Know Everything
I am not going to talk about Leonard da Vinci (1452-1519). I will leave that to scholars and historians.
I was at the Singapore Science Centre (SSC) on 24 Jun 09 for the Da Vinci The Genius Exhibition, with my cousin’s family. The Exhibition will be on till 16 Aug 09.
Exhibits include the analysis of two paintings, the Last Supper and the Mona Lisa, anatomical drawings, the codices (manuscript, notes and drawings), military models, and the famous Vitruvian Man. For details of exhibits, visit the official website. Do note that what you see at the official website are photos taken from exhibitions in other cities and thus not representative of the SSC.
I find the additional $15 entrance fee for an adult ($10 for a child), on top of the usual entrance fee, somewhat pricey. I think an adult entrance fee of perhaps $6 to $8 would probably commensurate with my experience there. Whilst I was fascinated by many of the exhibits, I didn’t get a sense of being overwhelmed or in awe. I think it is because, overall the Exhibition, was not extensive enough. The only extensive exhibit was the Mona Lisa – details replicate of each layers of the painting were produced, 25 secrets of the paintings were highlighted (though not the identity of who she was who or could have been), and a video clip of, I think, 10 to 15 minutes, which was played repeatedly. There was another, of equal duration, video clip playing on The Last Supper. As expected, you couldn’t touch, neither were you allowed to photograph, the models. Those few that you were allowed to touch, were apparently not “working”, though I have to be fair and said that perhaps we do not know how to “operate” them.
At one section was a projection screen screening a documentary on the life of da Vinci. This perhaps was the most informative, fascinating, and “extensive” part of the Exhibition. It would have worth the additional $15 paid had it been played at a theatre-style setting with comfortable seats. But unfortunately it was just a small sectioned off area with wooden benches. Many people were sitting by the sides of the benches because if one was to sit inner or in the middle, he would most likely blocked the view from those behind him. I actually stand for more than half an hour watching the video. And mind you, the video, which I found out later, was just one part of a three-part documentary series produced by the BBC in 2004. It would take 2 hrs 40 minutes to watch all three parts.
As we were hungry we decided to leave. Though we were allowed to re-enter if we chose to by showing the “DV” that were stamped on our hands, we didn’t.
There is a DVD on the Mona Lisa on sale at the merchandise section but not the BBC video that we enjoyed. However some kind soul has broken each of the three-part documentaries into six parts each, which means 18 parts in all, and uploaded them to You-Tube. And this is what I want to share. Do take the time to view all 18 parts. You will come to admire the man who without any doubt is (was) THE Genius.
Part 1 examines the first half of Leonardo's life, from his birth near Florence to his famous achievements in the great cities of the Italian Renaissance. Studying his notebooks, and some of his most famous paintings and inventions, we discover there is far more to Leonardo than you may have thought.
I was at the Singapore Science Centre (SSC) on 24 Jun 09 for the Da Vinci The Genius Exhibition, with my cousin’s family. The Exhibition will be on till 16 Aug 09.
Exhibits include the analysis of two paintings, the Last Supper and the Mona Lisa, anatomical drawings, the codices (manuscript, notes and drawings), military models, and the famous Vitruvian Man. For details of exhibits, visit the official website. Do note that what you see at the official website are photos taken from exhibitions in other cities and thus not representative of the SSC.
I find the additional $15 entrance fee for an adult ($10 for a child), on top of the usual entrance fee, somewhat pricey. I think an adult entrance fee of perhaps $6 to $8 would probably commensurate with my experience there. Whilst I was fascinated by many of the exhibits, I didn’t get a sense of being overwhelmed or in awe. I think it is because, overall the Exhibition, was not extensive enough. The only extensive exhibit was the Mona Lisa – details replicate of each layers of the painting were produced, 25 secrets of the paintings were highlighted (though not the identity of who she was who or could have been), and a video clip of, I think, 10 to 15 minutes, which was played repeatedly. There was another, of equal duration, video clip playing on The Last Supper. As expected, you couldn’t touch, neither were you allowed to photograph, the models. Those few that you were allowed to touch, were apparently not “working”, though I have to be fair and said that perhaps we do not know how to “operate” them.
At one section was a projection screen screening a documentary on the life of da Vinci. This perhaps was the most informative, fascinating, and “extensive” part of the Exhibition. It would have worth the additional $15 paid had it been played at a theatre-style setting with comfortable seats. But unfortunately it was just a small sectioned off area with wooden benches. Many people were sitting by the sides of the benches because if one was to sit inner or in the middle, he would most likely blocked the view from those behind him. I actually stand for more than half an hour watching the video. And mind you, the video, which I found out later, was just one part of a three-part documentary series produced by the BBC in 2004. It would take 2 hrs 40 minutes to watch all three parts.
As we were hungry we decided to leave. Though we were allowed to re-enter if we chose to by showing the “DV” that were stamped on our hands, we didn’t.
There is a DVD on the Mona Lisa on sale at the merchandise section but not the BBC video that we enjoyed. However some kind soul has broken each of the three-part documentaries into six parts each, which means 18 parts in all, and uploaded them to You-Tube. And this is what I want to share. Do take the time to view all 18 parts. You will come to admire the man who without any doubt is (was) THE Genius.
Part 1 examines the first half of Leonardo's life, from his birth near Florence to his famous achievements in the great cities of the Italian Renaissance. Studying his notebooks, and some of his most famous paintings and inventions, we discover there is far more to Leonardo than you may have thought.
Leonardo da Vinci - Dangerous Liaisons
For the second half of his biography, we find Leonardo in Venice. Here he experiments with his inventions - a diving suit, glider and robot - which were make and put to the test. We also see him mapmaking for the notorious Cesare Borgia.
Leonardo da Vinci - The Secret Life of Mona Lisa
This final Part centred around Leonardo's greatest masterpiece - the most famous image in the history of art - the Mona Lisa. It investigates the identity of this elusive woman and tell us the final years of Leonardo.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Eli Stone
Just finished watching Episode 7 of Eli Stone. Yes, I am behind time on this – I record the episodes and watch it at my leisure when there is nothing on or when I want a change of genre. It is not a “must-watch” series to me; just one of those "feel good" shows.
Eli Stone is the male equivalent of Ally McBeal. Both are attorneys, with Ally McBeal in Boston and Eli Stone in San Francisco. Whilst Ally McBeal had songs by Vonda Shepard, Eli Stone has songs by George Michael, particularly the track, Faith. The hallucinations that Alley McBeal had were just dramatic representation of her thoughts and wishful thinking, most notably the Dancing Baby sequences. The hallucinations that Eli Stone has are due to his medical condition, brain aneurysm. However these “hallucinations” were many a times some kind of prophecies that guided Eli to do the right (moral) thing.
It is actually these visions that Eli has and the creative ways the script writers used these visions to put each episode in perspective that I find interesting and keep watching. For instance in Episode 7, Eli was chased by a fire-breathing dragon. This convinced him to take a case, even when the odds of winning was low, to sue a Dr Agon for malpractice (DrAgon = dragon). When it seemed Eli would lose the case, he saw his brother dressed as a knight on a horse fighting against the dragon. Eventually his brother provided some information that led to a successful win. At the end of this episode, the plaintiff gave Eli his favourite story book on Medieval Dragons.
Another interesting thing about this series is that every actors and actresses will do a song-dance routine. And Episode 2, in which Victor Garber sang and danced, is reason enough for me to do a review on Eli Stone. Having watched Victor Garber as the no-nonsense-at-many-times-ruthless Jack Bristow, father of Sydney Bristow in Alias for five seasons, it was almost surreal to watch him did that.
Ally McBeal ran for 5 seasons, I wonder how long Eli Stone will last, not that it matters.
Eli Stone is on every Friday at 8.00 pm on Star World (Channel 18).
Eli Stone is the male equivalent of Ally McBeal. Both are attorneys, with Ally McBeal in Boston and Eli Stone in San Francisco. Whilst Ally McBeal had songs by Vonda Shepard, Eli Stone has songs by George Michael, particularly the track, Faith. The hallucinations that Alley McBeal had were just dramatic representation of her thoughts and wishful thinking, most notably the Dancing Baby sequences. The hallucinations that Eli Stone has are due to his medical condition, brain aneurysm. However these “hallucinations” were many a times some kind of prophecies that guided Eli to do the right (moral) thing.
It is actually these visions that Eli has and the creative ways the script writers used these visions to put each episode in perspective that I find interesting and keep watching. For instance in Episode 7, Eli was chased by a fire-breathing dragon. This convinced him to take a case, even when the odds of winning was low, to sue a Dr Agon for malpractice (DrAgon = dragon). When it seemed Eli would lose the case, he saw his brother dressed as a knight on a horse fighting against the dragon. Eventually his brother provided some information that led to a successful win. At the end of this episode, the plaintiff gave Eli his favourite story book on Medieval Dragons.
Another interesting thing about this series is that every actors and actresses will do a song-dance routine. And Episode 2, in which Victor Garber sang and danced, is reason enough for me to do a review on Eli Stone. Having watched Victor Garber as the no-nonsense-at-many-times-ruthless Jack Bristow, father of Sydney Bristow in Alias for five seasons, it was almost surreal to watch him did that.
Ally McBeal ran for 5 seasons, I wonder how long Eli Stone will last, not that it matters.
Eli Stone is on every Friday at 8.00 pm on Star World (Channel 18).
Filed under:
tv show
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
K-POP
Since I was able to receive KBS World on TV, I was reacquainted with Korean pop music. I was sort of into K-Pop just before the turn of the century but there was a period of time I was “out” of it. Don’t know and can’t remember why I stopped in between these two periods. Maybe the disbanding of some of my favourite groups?
Was into Clon, Fly to the Sky, S.E.S., Baby V.O.X., H.O.T. and practically everyone’s favourite, Shinhwa.
Clon (formed in 1996) and Fly to the Sky (formed in 1999) were duos. There were lots of high power energy rap from Clon and Fly to the Sky stood out as their music had a lot of american influence. Unfortunately, Kang Won-Rae, one half of Clon, met with a tragic motorcycle accident in November 2000, which left him paralyzed from the waist down.
H.O.T. (formed in 1996) was undoubtedly HOT as many would say that they set the trend and standards for subsequent boy and girl bands in Korea, including Shinhwa. H.O.T. (many think that it stands for High-five Of Teenagers) had five members including Kangta. H.O.T. disbanded in 2001.
S.E.S. (formed in 1997 till 2002) was the female equivalent of H.O.T. The name of this band is made up of the initial of each of its members’ names, just like Taiwan’s SHE.
Amongst the female bands that tried to ride on the success of S.E.S. and actually do made a mark for themselves was Baby V.O.X. (Voices Of Xpression; formed in 1999 till 2005), with five members.
Shinhwa (formed in 1998) is legendary just like its chinese name, 神話. With six members who are not only musicians in their own rights, they are the only band that had survived for more than 10 years. The last album was released last year in 2008. Whilst members had gone solo, they are still officially together as a band. It is rumoured that they will be together for another five years before disbanding.
I am not sure whether it is fair for me to say, but I think that many members of the current new bands may not be able to stand on their own unlike the earlier members mentioned above. Some of the earlier members had gone solo and are just as popular now. Some of them, who might no longer be on stage, are well respected behind the scene.
My comment is based on my observation of current new groups: the members are very young and the sheer size of each group. The earlier groups had 2 to 6 members. Now it is like you need at least 5 and up to 13 members: Big Bang (5 members), Wonder Girls (5), 2 PM (7), Girls’ Generation (9), Super Junior (13). Maybe they are from what is called idol faction [偶像派] and not strength faction [实力派] (having good looks versus having good singing skills).
Notwithstanding the “quality” of the current new groups, their music is characterized by catchy tune and beat with simple yet slick dance moves. The choreography when done by one person might seem silly but when executed in unison and precision as a group it can be quite entertaining. Like many Mandarin and Japanese songs, a simple but mandatory English word or phrase must be thrown in. So for people like me who doesn’t understand Korean, it is usually the part with the English word or phrase that catches on with us.
You can watch Music Bank (Korea Top 20 music chart show) every Tuesday from 6.00 pm to 7.20 pm on Starhub (free) Channel 173. At this time, I am usually just chilling after dinner and checking out what’s on TV anyway.
Not decided whether you want to tune in? Well here are three of the past and current holders of the Number 1 spot in the Music K-Chart, arranged chronologically:
Wonder Girls - Noboby
Girl's Generation - Gee
Super Junior - Sorry Sorry
I want nobody nobody but you, nobody nobody but you, gee gee gee baby baby baby, gee gee gee baby baby baby, sorry sorry sorry sorry!!
Was into Clon, Fly to the Sky, S.E.S., Baby V.O.X., H.O.T. and practically everyone’s favourite, Shinhwa.
Clon (formed in 1996) and Fly to the Sky (formed in 1999) were duos. There were lots of high power energy rap from Clon and Fly to the Sky stood out as their music had a lot of american influence. Unfortunately, Kang Won-Rae, one half of Clon, met with a tragic motorcycle accident in November 2000, which left him paralyzed from the waist down.
H.O.T. (formed in 1996) was undoubtedly HOT as many would say that they set the trend and standards for subsequent boy and girl bands in Korea, including Shinhwa. H.O.T. (many think that it stands for High-five Of Teenagers) had five members including Kangta. H.O.T. disbanded in 2001.
S.E.S. (formed in 1997 till 2002) was the female equivalent of H.O.T. The name of this band is made up of the initial of each of its members’ names, just like Taiwan’s SHE.
Amongst the female bands that tried to ride on the success of S.E.S. and actually do made a mark for themselves was Baby V.O.X. (Voices Of Xpression; formed in 1999 till 2005), with five members.
Shinhwa (formed in 1998) is legendary just like its chinese name, 神話. With six members who are not only musicians in their own rights, they are the only band that had survived for more than 10 years. The last album was released last year in 2008. Whilst members had gone solo, they are still officially together as a band. It is rumoured that they will be together for another five years before disbanding.
I am not sure whether it is fair for me to say, but I think that many members of the current new bands may not be able to stand on their own unlike the earlier members mentioned above. Some of the earlier members had gone solo and are just as popular now. Some of them, who might no longer be on stage, are well respected behind the scene.
My comment is based on my observation of current new groups: the members are very young and the sheer size of each group. The earlier groups had 2 to 6 members. Now it is like you need at least 5 and up to 13 members: Big Bang (5 members), Wonder Girls (5), 2 PM (7), Girls’ Generation (9), Super Junior (13). Maybe they are from what is called idol faction [偶像派] and not strength faction [实力派] (having good looks versus having good singing skills).
Notwithstanding the “quality” of the current new groups, their music is characterized by catchy tune and beat with simple yet slick dance moves. The choreography when done by one person might seem silly but when executed in unison and precision as a group it can be quite entertaining. Like many Mandarin and Japanese songs, a simple but mandatory English word or phrase must be thrown in. So for people like me who doesn’t understand Korean, it is usually the part with the English word or phrase that catches on with us.
You can watch Music Bank (Korea Top 20 music chart show) every Tuesday from 6.00 pm to 7.20 pm on Starhub (free) Channel 173. At this time, I am usually just chilling after dinner and checking out what’s on TV anyway.
Not decided whether you want to tune in? Well here are three of the past and current holders of the Number 1 spot in the Music K-Chart, arranged chronologically:
Wonder Girls - Noboby
Girl's Generation - Gee
Super Junior - Sorry Sorry
I want nobody nobody but you, nobody nobody but you, gee gee gee baby baby baby, gee gee gee baby baby baby, sorry sorry sorry sorry!!
Filed under:
korean pop,
tv show
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Frak! Shut Up and Sit Down!
Part of this post is password-protected.
I am now so frakkin tired (so mad and frustrated that I could only fall asleep after 12.30 am and woke up 6.20 am this morning!) and the high-starch-carb Portuguese pork chop rice (I had actually wanted a soup and sandwich for lunch but the place was packed) I had for lunch, which I regret now, is making me frakkin sleepy. I don’t think I can work for the rest of the day. My body is awake but my brain is half-comatose. Frak!
If you still do not know how to use the word, “frak” or “frakkin” by now, watch this video:
I am now so frakkin tired (so mad and frustrated that I could only fall asleep after 12.30 am and woke up 6.20 am this morning!) and the high-starch-carb Portuguese pork chop rice (I had actually wanted a soup and sandwich for lunch but the place was packed) I had for lunch, which I regret now, is making me frakkin sleepy. I don’t think I can work for the rest of the day. My body is awake but my brain is half-comatose. Frak!
If you still do not know how to use the word, “frak” or “frakkin” by now, watch this video:
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