I know this sounds crazy.  This morning I thought an ant had followed me from home by traveling in my bag.  Because I had never see any ants in that particular editing suite whenever I got to freelance there.  For 5 seconds, I actually thought and pitied the poor fellow being lost in a different 'home'.  But there was no way I would bring it back.  Then I spotted some more ants running around like explorers on the table.  Blowing them off like a birthday girl would on her candle lighted cake.  I spotted a few more of their 'body doubles' appearing.  I looked at the floor for a second.  (Pause...)  Can you imagine whatever you blow off fall back down from above?  That didn't happen of course, I just thought it was a cute scenario as I wrote this.   I couldn't help but suspected the nuts I had yesterday were the main culprits!  Shhhh...With all my blowing efforts earlier, I didn't think there was anymore thing to called for any clean up.  So the ants had their spare passes granted for their field trip all day.  I just continue to blow, while they enjoy their rides.  They were one of the lucky ones that don't have to buy insurance for 'skydiving'. Must be an exciting day for them.  I really envied!

Crazy ideas occupied my smiles all day.  It feels good when that happened.  It all boiled down to a thing called "Self Entertainment".

It rained today.

Someone came to mind absently.

Maybe the magic had gone.

It was a tragic but the story had to move on.

Under the section 1854, it was shelved under the Special Features in a hidden code.

If you cared to look under, there are traces of shinning dust drops.

Miniature solidified.

Left untold.

Today it rained.

Tapping gently on the head.

Filling the puddles on the floor.

Oh Mr Rain,

Look! Diamond dust drops...

End of the day, just hope the audience will bring back something they had seen in a 'box' called TV.  Documentary is one of my favorites due to its reality.  Even though some shots may be mocked up.  Say a doctor on bike traveling to see his patient.  Say if you are going to cover and shoot this action like an 'observer', you may have a shaky take or limited footages shot from a vehicle only.  What happened when he reaches the patient house?  Is it a walking shaky shot of him getting down from the bike and knocking on the door perhaps shot by following close behind? Let's rewind back to him traveling on the bike on the road.  You get a low angle shot of his feet and traveling point of view, shot from the passenger seat behind him.  Maybe shoot some more shots of him riding.  Then you hop off the bike, & continue shooting from a car of him traveling and all the shots you need.  You get ahead of him, stop your car and coordinate him to enter into frame.  Count yourself lucky that before it happens, 2 kids playing with kites happen to run towards the camera, and then the motorbike enters into frame.  Actually I found myself asking, sometimes you needed to be more of an 'observer' when you shoot a documentary.  As much as you say you didn't interrupt or modify whatever you are shooting, the moment you roll that camera and point it at your subject, you are already 'manipulating' what the audience is watching.  I am wondering if I had stepped out from the role of an 'observer', I could have ended up with a different lot of footages.  True feelings and spirit ain't lost end of the day, but having more beautiful shots do help to paint a better picture.  Just a thought.

"But what if I'm still doing the same thing in future?" Another friend asked.

- "That could be you are still doing the same thing, so you couldn't do something different." she replied.

Just A thought to think about...  (Esp if U are looking for motivation why U are still doing the same job)

Divine time & spiritual DNA were another 2 interesting terms mentioned over a pot of tea.

Memories,

Fragmented,

Real time,

After NG,

Character off camera,

Perspective.

Trying to tell me everything is alright.

I tried to look over my shoulder, but you called my name.

I looked down at my feet, but you pointed to the sky at a bird flying by.

I held no words; you smiled and told me silence said so much too.

Mother : Know the time of sunrise yah?

Kaoru : Ymm...

Father : Every night, every night...so this is what composing is about?

TEXT super : Most Important

Song

Family

And Him

Kaoru : I'm Kaoru Amane

Guy : What?

Kaoru : 16 years old

Kaoru : Staying with my parents

Kaoru : Interest is music

Kaoru : I don't have a boyfriend

Kaoru's friend : You don't know a thing about the guy?

Kaoru : Ymmm... Came here just to see him

Kaoru : Good evening

Guy : Good Evening

TEXT super : In limited time frame

A story about a girl and her song

Kaoru's friend : Are you trying to kill Kaoru?

Guy : What?

Kaoru's friend : Kaoru has an illness.  If she is exposed in the sun, she may dies!

TEXT super: Facing the Sun, will die

Doctor : Her brain has already started to shrink.  This will leads to her body numb and hinders her mobility.

Kaoru's father : Why does my daughter have to suffer this?

Guy : I like you. Even though you have this illness, we can meet after the sun goes down.  I hope to hear you sing again. Record it!

Kaoru : Hey! Can you hear my voice?

Guy : Yes! I heard it.

Kaoru : I'll sing then.  I'll continue to sing!

TEXT super : Although she has to go back when the sun rises, but her voice remains in my heart.

TEXT super : MIDNIGHT SUN

Kaoru : I must live on!

(translated from the Jap movie trailer with Chinese subtitles)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5B96AbCf74" title="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5B96AbCf74" target="_blank"http://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Official Website : http://www.taiyonouta.jp/" title="http://www.taiyonouta.jp/" target="_blank"http://www.taiyonouta.jp/

Synopsis : Kaoru Amane has an incurable disorder called XP (Xeroderma pigmentosum), hence she cannot be exposed to the sun.  She loves to sings and performs as a street musician at night.  She meets and falls in love with a guy named Kouji who is not aware of her illness.

What's makes this film appealing is that Kaoru who is played by Yui, is a singer in real life.  When I first heard her in "Good-bye days", it captivated me immediately.  It's a song that you can 'run' with, when you are chasing that precious moment.  (If U understand what I meant)

http://www.channel-ai.com/blog/2006/07/10/good- bye-days/" title="http://www.channel-ai.com/blog/2006/07/10/good- bye-days/" target="_blank"http://www.channel-ai.com/blo...

Directed by : Norihiro Koizumi

I thought it's a cute handphone message I got from my sister, when I decided to crash over her house tonight.  Two rather strange incidents happened too.  First, the lift door to her unit couldn't close after I pressed the floor button.  I freak out at first, cos' it was pretty late and the lift lobby was very quiet.  I thought someone pressed the button, so my heart almost stopped.  Then I got worried when it refused to close after some more attempts.  The last thing I wanted was being at that quiet deserted lobby.  It felt like someone was playing an awful prank, and I almost wanted to talk to the air to let me go.  I didn't even dare to look outside the lift.  Finally it worked.  The second incident happened after my shower, the floor was a little flooded over my feet.  It had never happened before, so I was quite surprised.  I opened the ‘drainer' cover on the floor, but it was like choked with no effect.  I thought it was going to end up as a little surprise for my sister in the morning. Suddenly, the water drained off on its own!  Seriously, when I opened the ‘drainer cover' the water was right up to the flood!  I went back to the room.  Did I mention there was the third incident? After I switched on the CPU, the monitor light didn't come on after pressing it next.  Tracing the cables to the CPU, I thought something came lose.  But everything was nicely attached.  Finally I realized I didn't switch on the AC power behind which was from a different power point!  What did I tell you?  Stop reading, go and sleep and dream sweet!

I didn't know what I was going to edit today.  All I knew was that it was a Malay program.  There was only a written memo on the table that greeted me when I opened the door to the editing suite.  There were 2 sets of 2 tapes and floppy disks each held with rubber bands.  Looking at the project, I couldn't understand what the title meant.  Was it a variety program, crime watch stuff...I was still not sure.  I followed the number scribbled on the memo and called the director up to ask where was the script.  Finally I realized it was a Malay drama.  D-R-A-M-A!  I love this surprise even though it was in Malay!  I didn't understand a single word, and the director was out for a shoot.  The script came in after my request, which was crucial due to the dialogues spoken that still could be read from it.  But there wasn't any English translation, so I was guessing and playing by sound and expressions.  It was alright at first, but when the actors improvised their lines, I had a hard time joining them up.  Cos' some of the takes didn't start from the beginning of the paragraphs and they spoke so fast.  It was pretty interesting!

What's the best part of the day?

Heading home after my best attempted efforts.

 Good nite cyberspace! The moon looked full tonight...

It's going to be a long day for me tomorrow, working hard!

P/S: It can be interesting to dream of people from one's past memories.  Especially in 'unique' scene setups and mood...gosh I wonder who wrote the script.  No no...

***Your True Love Is a Taurus***

Why you'll love a Taurus:

Romantic and sentimental, a Taurus can provide you with the security you need.
And you both share a fondness for the finest things, from great food to luxury vacations.

Why a Taurus will love you:

You have the honesty and direct approach that down to earth Taurus desires.
And enough elegance to show a Taurus a few new decadent delights!

What Sign Is Your True Love?
http://www.blogthings.com/whatsignisyourtruelov equiz/" title="http://www.blogthings.com/whatsignisyourtruelov equiz/" target="_blank"http://www.blogthings.com/wha...

It was on the bus that I realized I had forgotten to bring my camera.  After switching to train later, came the 'sun rain'.  It had been long since I last saw one.  The sun was setting down in the early dusk, throwing a light orange over the whole sky.  So when the rain came down, the light went through the raindrops, making them look like orange crystal dust drops.  No dark clouds hung over, so I didn't expected it to rain.  The train windows hung like big paintings in front of me.

Today, I finally made time to see a special exhibition on Japanese masks and costumes used for their performing arts tradition at the Asian Civilisations Museum before it ended its run this Sunday on 5 November.  The items were selected from 22 museums and temple treasuries in Japan; many of the exhibits were even classified as Important Cultural Properties.  I had an eye relapse this morning, throwing everything in soft focus.  Hence I had a more difficult time to see in the galleries with dimmer lighting.  Looking at the brochure, I was trying to find the special exhibition gallery location.  Going through the glass doors that were somehow heavy, I kept asking myself am I there yet.  My eyes really couldn't make out the layout on the visitor guide.  The first security guard had told me it was inside after that short corridor.  He was right but I didn't anticipate I needed to walk through some more galleries' doors.  The final security guard who looked like an old kind man pointed at the door on my right, telling that was the one.  Jokingly he said, the exhibition was called "Hidden Faces - The Art of Japanese Masks", hence even the door was hidden.  A lot of people couldn't find it.  

Just some background information gathered from the brochures and exhibit info.  The earliest masks were made of shell and clay about 3000 years ago, which were used in rituals and even buried with the deceased made with their features.  Masks made of wood emerged later.  In the 7^th century, there was gigaku ('elegant entertainment'), an ancient dance drama brought to Japan from China via Korea.  Gyodo masks represented Buddhist figures & deities that were worn in Buddhist processions.  They also included colorful lion masks, which were used to chase evil away.  During the 9^th century, a more refined dance form called bugaku ('dance entertainment'), replaced gigaku.  Most familiar masks of noh and kyogen today emerged from the 14^th century.  Noh was a more subtle and refined performance using symbolic gestures and dance in beautiful silk costumes.  Whereby kyogen was considered a realistic theatre form that involved less use of masks in more modest costumes made of linen.

I find the workmanship for all the masks very exquisite.  To differentiate the sexes for Noh masks, lie at the hair. 

Woman has center parting hair and with 3 threads of hair lying neatly the face outline.  It's easy to tell the age too, whereby younger woman has such fine eye features and shaped eye browns around the forehead.  The ghosts have sunken cheeks and much paler skin tone. 

For Usobuki mask, when a paper is rolled up and held in the mouth, it's playing a mosquito role.  I find that very interesting.  Normally they can represent both human characters, spirits of animals or fragile insects.  Just some examples.

I think what impressed me most were the Noh costumes.  Gosh, silk woven costumes! 

The splendid designs on them when you took a closer look were lines and lines of threads that made the 'pictures' design on it.  It was not the usual stitch by stitch.  It was like they could pull the threads so straight; threads after threads to form the designs.  There was so much texture on them, and with such well-distributed layout.

The 50 miniature Noh Masks that were only 1/6 of the actual size (around 1.5 inch) equally impressed me. It was made by Fujishima Koko in his efforts to preserve the Noh tradition from vanishing in the old century (couldn't remember exactly when).  It was stated that he had chosen to make 100, but only 50 was on display that lied side by side with one another in a big box with a removable lid at the end of the exhibit.  Under the lid, he wrote something but it wasn't translated.  It was so memorable, esp. after seeing the big ones with their own characteristics.  The miniatures were so finely produced too exactly like the actual sizes.  It was an amazing trip!  As usual I didn't leave enough time for other exhibits, so I missed the Southeast Asia collection in other main galleries.  Will save the rest for my next trip.  Anyway I really had my heart for one today.  I feel very fortunate somehow.  Seeing ancient Art Work with my eyes!  Hopefully movies can feature these precious traditions so more people will get to know them.

If you have a chance to see exhibition like these, don't miss it! 

Guess I have expanded my mind to the max tonight with nothing else to add in my script.  I just have to get myself out of the 900 minutes of footages, if I continue to log the tapes and digitizing like I was earlier.  And till now, I still couldn't answer how long the documentary is going to be.  With my blank mind today, I tried to fill in as much as I could.  I think I am able to see something suddenly.  It's not until night, things became clearer than in the day.  I decided to label today with another Spiderman sticker.  Maybe one more for a personal discovery.

Directed by Christopher Nolan.

Synopsis: Rival magicians in turn-of-the-century London battle each other for trade secrets. The rivalry is so intense that it turns them into murderers. The title refers to the product of a successful trick.

- Summary written by achinn

It's a well-written script and I love how the story unfolds like magic.  Went to watch it without knowing the synopsis and seriously it's bothering me why I couldn't even recognise David Bowie acting in it.  Highly recommended film!

"Every great magic trick consists of three acts. The first act is called "The Pledge"; The magician shows you something ordinary, but of course... it probably isn't. The second act is called "The Turn"; The magician makes his ordinary some thing do something extraordinary. Now if you're looking for the secret... you won't find it, that's why there's a third act called, "The Prestige"; this is the part with the twists and turns, where lives hang in the balance, and you see something shocking you've never seen before." - Quotes from "The Prestige"

Qn: Chris Nolan was saying the magicians Ricky Jay and Michael Weber he consulted wouldn't show him the tricks, only the actors and that was only if it was absolutely necessary.

Christian Bale: Barely. He barely showed us as well. If we needed to know for the shot, then yes he would show us. But, that was very seldom because for this movie as you know is not a movie about showing magic tricks. In the movie rightly I think Chris felt that with editing you can do anything you know. It's really not so impressive to watch magic tricks being performed on film. It's centered on the one particular trick that my character develops that just infuriates the hell out of my rival who can not understand how it's done. As for the rest of it, we needed to show some of their performances, but it was more of finishing up on tricks or starting on tricks. Just giving the impressions of the magicians of this day being the top entertainers. Being the top pull. I like this very much. It's kind of a take on the story that Chris changed somewhat from the book "The Prestige." This great kind of fascination and so much mystery about science itself. Obviously now a days we know everybody understands it, but at that time the likes of Telsa appeared liked wizards. How is this done? People did not know exactly what he was doing and how he managed it at all. So there was that ability to confuse audience members as a magician. Perhaps some people did posses some kind of power beyond which the rest of us are able to call on. So they truly were magnificent performers of the time. That's an era that can never be regained you know. We've gotten beyond it now. You can't strip that knowledge away.

- An Interview extract from filmmonthly.com