Friday, March 4, 2011

Beautiful descriptions

"She sat listening to music. It was a symphony of triumph. The notes flowed up, they spoke of rising and they were the rising itself, they were the essence and the form of upward motion, they seemed to embody every human act and thought that had ascent as its motive. It was a soundburst of sound, breaking out of hiding and spreading open. It had the freedom of release and the tension of purpose. It swept space clean, and left nothing but the joy of an unobstructed effort. Only a faint echo within the sounds spoke of that from which the music had escaped, but spoke in laughing astonishment at the discovery that there was no ugliness or pain, and there never had had to be. It was the song of an immense deliverance."

- Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged.

I sat listening to many music. It was a messy piece, but it seems to come together nicely, these multiple sounds coming from instruments I don't quite recognize. The singer sang words I didn't follow, but didn't bother to follow.

I have listened to the track a hundred of times, knew the ups and downs of the long piece, knew the empty seconds where no instruments played, the ones they left in between the music to make you think "awesome, man!"

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

I am 27 and I know nothing about politics. I don't know the struggles of our forefathers. I only heard of them. I sing "Onward Singapore" in a language that I only know the few words such as "to eat" (makan) and the various food items I order from the Nasi Padang store: "Bergedil, Rebus, Nasi". I don't know what Chee Soon Juan is angry about.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Layers

Take my time

To know the many layers

of you

Your past

The painter with his strokes covered up

The video editor with his hidden tracks

The writer and his shredded drafts

The science student with his dead lab rat

It is okay

To have a past

(Li) Yipeng

How is it,
Knowing your mom
Only through the words
of others on
how she lived?

Growing up
with a grandfather
responsible for
everyone else's
welfare

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

I believe film-makers / writers need day-jobs, so they get to meet interesting people to write about.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Audrey: He's flirting with so many girls at the same time loh!

Me: It's like applying for job what. You send out a lot of resumes and see which one get back to you lah!

Audrey: You think this one chat roulette ah?