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Kudos to UniMelb's Chinese Theatre Group for their Canton production satirically titled <>. It was entertaining and as the title implies, very much vulgar (I still can't get over the phone sex scene where the male character 'masturbates' himself) Nonetheless, it was one of those few plays that managed to make me laugh out loud, and at times, gaping in horror. There were a few glitches in the acting and sound effects, but overall i think it was very commendable. With approximately 60 short scenes, it manages to sail below the wave of complexity, which many plays that tries to do too much end up doing. I am unfamilar with Hong Kong society but i think a lot of messages that was hidden in the play could be applied accross cultural boundaries. I particularly like the <> scenes that intercepted in between the main scenes. All the while, i kept wishing Xiang or Hands team were there to enjoy it with me.

Shades of Grey

A guest lecturer at General News Reporting class yesterday said something that struck a chord within me. He said, "The world is painted in shades of grey." I thought it was a beautiful yet apt thing to say, because most matters of the world fall into a grey area. Mankind's progression is built upon volatile theories and idealism, depending on the dominant powers of a certain era. No absolute freedom or democracy exist in this world. Authoritarian ruling is justified in the name of maintaning social order. Democracy, liberalization, postcolonialism is often disguised in a veil neocolonialism. The constitution does not protect one's freedom to a certain extent. The enforcement of law is often misconstrued by layers of obstrusion, often under the grips of power and greed. We all know that the mass media is a significant platform for the ruling power of a nation state to practise hegemony through political and social discourse.

On a daily basis, men as the individual self constantly battles with his innermost enemy. The conflict usually arises as a result of his organic compulsion to shift between the lines. Our likings for roses today may evolve into an obsession with daffodils tomorrow. The human mind is a complex dimentia, one that does not rely only on reasoning (though philosophers may argue otherwise, but how many of us out there are actually Aristotles or Proust?) but on emotions. Hence, the never ending cycle of questioning, arguing and counter-arguing begins.

Even Morality does not exist in totality. With so many moral theories to consider, men faces a "moral dilemma" when reasoning and justification of the 'rightness' of his conduct.

However, it is this aspect of greyness in our lives that makes it interesting. If there weren't questions, there would certainly not be answers, even though these answers are not necessarily solutions. I shall share with you Billy Joel's song called 'Shades of Grey'...

Some things were perfectly clear,
seen with the vision of youth
No doubts and nothing to fear,
I claimed the corner on truth
These days it's harder to say
I know what I'm fighting for
My faith is falling away
I'm not that sure anymore

Shades of grey wherever I go
The more I find out the less that I know
Black and white is how it should be
But shades of grey are the colors I see

Once there were trenches and walls
and one point of every view
Fight 'til the other man falls
Kill him before he kills you
These days the edges are blurred,
I'm old and tired of war
I hear the other man's words
I'm not that sure anymore

Shades of grey are all that I find
When I look to the enemy line
Black and white was so easy for me
But shades of grey are the colors I see

Now with the wisdom of years
I try to reason things out
And the only people I fear
are those who never have doubts
Save us all from arrogant men,
and all the causes they're for
I won't be righteous again
I'm not that sure anymore

Shades of grey are all that I find
when I look to the enemy line
There ain't no rainbows shining on me
Shades of grey are the colours I see

Shades of grey wherever I go
The more I find out the less that I know
There ain't no rainbows shining on me
Shades of grey are the colors I see

Reminiscence

Sometimes, we let our minds wander into places they shouldn't be. Images, sounds, actions touch a nerve in our brains and a flashback of memories surges from wherever they came from.

Just as I stand in the crowd before a live jazz band, my eyes fixates on the percussionist and even though I see his deft hands thump the surface of the djembe or congo, it is not that percussionist, a stranger, that I hear, but him instead. The rhythm resonates with the one engraved in my mind. Those hands are brought to live, it takes center stage in my mind.

I turn to the one beside me and say,'My ex, he plays a mean piece of latin percussions too...'

The Bar at Buena Vista

When Yan showed up with a box of chocolates, I knew my notion of the tonight's date was wrong. I don't think anyone has ever given me chocolates on a date nor do I think I've ever been on a date as 'complete' as tonight's in my life, IF this is to be considered a date to begin with.

We had to tweak our initial plans for the night because the Cuban-Indian fusion restaurant I suggested had (according to Yan who went all to St Kilda to check) had turned into a bar. The Japanese and Mexican restaurant that came up subsequently on our list were fully booked too. We finally found ourselves in a corner of Cafe Andiamo at Degreaves Street.

The Bar at Buena Vista is considerably one of the best concerts I've seen. The props and costumes really transported us back to Havana in the 50s. Te audience were enthralled by two hours of Cuba's Grandfathers of Son such as Reynaldo Creagh,Maracaibo, Maestro Rubalcalba and Siomara Avilla Valdes Lescay...all of whom are friends of the late grammar award winning Son Legend--Ibrahim Ferrer. Mind you, all these Stars are well over 80 years of age...the oldest being 91 years old...yet they were dancing and singing away. You have to be there to understand...all i can say is, if they were to ever come back to Melbourne, you can count me in.

I had a great time and Yan was a great company. Here are some pictures as illustration.

Waddle

There is something about contentious, ambiguous one female-one male friendships that unnerves me. Particularly more at the stage I'm in, i find such acquaintances fun but horrifying at the same time. Horrifying because firstly, they are formed on the basis of first impressions and first impressions are fragile and unreliable. For instance, he/she has a nice smile, hence he/she is a nice person is not a very firm judgment. The fragility of first impressions subsequently leads to greater disappointment, which brings me to my second point. Such friendships are usually pursued with an intention, a hope, like the longing for a relationship, we hope that a particular person would make us complete. This hope then quickly fizzles away into disappointment once the knowledge of something we would rather not know surfaces. Thirdly, and this is my based on my standings and my standings alone, they remind me too much of a past relationship or they seem to have elements that overlap or override the past, both of which i do not want.

Hence though I think it will be cool to swing by Essendon one day, have coffee, listen to your LP's, sip wine by the fire side, listen to you play your guitar, have Japanese dinner together... i think it would be better if there was no romanticism involved...or the false illusion that this could be going anywhere...

Saturday Late Morning @ VSL

I intended to stay in and finished de Botton's Essays in Love last night, but i achieve no progress. I did stay in, but was sidetracked. Anyways,I'm back at the VSL (Victoria State Library) on a Saturday morning again, vowing to finish the book before I surrender it back to Ballieu next tuesday.

I miss home and my family very much. Yesterday, I braced myself to text daddy in the afternoon because I have not spoken to him in a month since he's always travelling. it's one of humanities greatest irony i think, how absence makes the heart grow fonder.

There is something magical about yearning for home, for familiar faces, but then magic evaporates when you eventually get to that state. Just like how I think and miss my family a lot lately, and even think of corny things to say to them, but as soon as I'm on the phone with them, the tone of voice i project fails to portray that deep sense of longing and love. An invisible wall is erected out of no where, and that magical feeling i suppressed by formalities constructed long ago. Still, the warm feeling still manages to nuzzle through moments when mum would call to ask if my cough is better, or when she keeps going through the list of things to bring for me when they visit, or when she tells me that everyone in the office loves her new bag and hence she wants to buy one for me too ("What colour do you want? White? Oh yes, I think white is nicer..." )

Mothers day is coming up and I have already prepared my card...but i hope the magic will be projected across through post.

I have cool Techies!

For a short period of time I had a small crush on the Technicians who operate 'underground' at Building 6. Seth, our EMT lecturer, calls them Gods and they really are, and they're the buoys you want to cling unto if you can't swim in the sea of technologies. Anyways, I've posted up two sites which are theirs (Kowshowko's is Martin, who is a tall Polish guy with a subtle Polish accent) and the other is David's (a local who's very much into Asian culture)

http://www.koshowko.com/

http://sites.google.com/site/modifyconstruct/modcon/mixes