Out of the Blue

Yesterday, I went to watch the Science Faculty production of Neil Simon's California Suite. I will admit that it was essentially because it was the Science people putting up a play that induced me to go watch their performance rather than read my John Donne poems. As it were, it probably didn't need much encouragement to part me from my work.

First of all, the sound and the set were gorgeous. This is what you get I suppose, when Barang Barang probably sponsored their wonderful furniture for the hotel suite setting, right down to lights which you could switch on and off on stage. ooh. I feel my hands itch to plan a play all of a sudden.

While the first scene nearly made me leave, if only because the actors lacked chemistry and one of them had a funny accent, the second scene was beyond hilarious - what do you do when you find that after a night of inebriation, a mysterious hooker lying next to you and your wife is coming up the stairs? Hmm...........

It was a good evening, definitely, but there are some things that just didn't gel with me. For one thing, someone ought to have stop the lighting person from switching on the lights onstage abruptly and rapidly in the opening moments in the first scene which did absolutely nothing than to annoy me. I mean, they did not have to click on the spotlight above the telephone when it rang... or leave half the set in semi darkness and then only switch them on mysteriously when something in that section moved or made a sound. They could instead, have left the cast to switch them on, which would look more natural than hotel lights lighting up in an all too obviously non diegetic way. This was also disruptive because in the third scene, the cast were switching on and off the lights themselves, i.e. diegetically.

Mercifully, the production improved tremendously with no more playing of lights and a script that became funnier with the minute. I know it sounds horrid - my lack of faith in the science majors being able to put up a successful performance, but it turned out more than fine. I am impressed with the wardrobe's ability to suss out a proper tux for the third scene (where the hell did they get one?!) and that there were only two people in-charge of the costumes. While I was slightly miffed that Hannah's suit was clearly badly ironed and did not look crisp enough to fit her neurotic personality, I can't really be pointing fingers if only two people are involved in dressing a big cast.

All the same, a good job to the cast and crew. I loved the show.

Road Trip Expose: Zoo

Here are the promised ocular proof courtesy of the lovely Hash. Check out the pics below.

Gods know who this bespectacled stranger is. A trick of the light? A photo-taking error? At any rate, our trip which began bright if not so early, seemed plagued from the very beginning by the shadowy presence of Someone Else.

Never go to the toilet when tickets are being distributed or end up like me with the one with the picture of the proboscis monkey.

Check out the cute mousedeer!

The white tigers.
Looking very majestic is this one,
Lounging on the rock.

And this is Albert. Or Alberta for all you know.

Who this stalker is, nobody knows. But as it is, we can only proceed on...

to The Ethiopian Village, where you can play Where's Wally!

It's a pity the stalker looks so much like somebody's auntie. Why couldn't it have been someone better looking and male?

Attempts to identify this person took on a strange if relieving turn. Could she possibly be the missing link between homo sapiens and simia hamadryas, i.e. baboons? Could it be that she was merely tailing us to find her way home?

Alas, it would seem that I was wrong about the previous conjecture. The Mysterious Presence continues to follow us around, even as we consult the map on our way out of the zoo.

The stalker stalked. Further attempts to identify this person indicates that she is probably human, given the classic gormless tourist pose. Nevertheless, it's nice to be able to confirm that.

That's all for now folks! See you all at the zoo again!

A quick post in the dead of the morning

Woke up feeling all disgruntled about the co-op. How is it that NONE of my psychoanalysis books are in on Tuesday but all sold out on the next day? Obsessing isn't helping but I absolutely refuse to have to photocopy anymore bits from it to tide over my current non-book ownership status. And lvl4000 here I come. Urk.

Road Trip: Zoo

Yesterday, went to the Singapore Zoo with Hash and--. Am not certain, but it seems we were stalked by a bizarre figure in sunglasses. Attempted to shake stalker off, but no avail, not even when in desperation, we went to Ethiopia. See Hash's pictures for ocular proof.

The First Post of the New Year

In which one signposts for the year ahead.

Initially, I had one of those romantical, resolution-y sort of post in mind, but as the year passed from one to the other, the mood for a nice, proper post just vanished. Instead, I will begin 2009 with a flashback, not to 2008, memorable though it has been, but to 2001, the year of bemusing, nightmarish home economics lessons with a certain Mrs G.

On that fateful day, Mrs G., who is usually a tyrant in the kitchen, appeared to be slightly more mellow than usual. We were told to start heating the fryin pans in our separate groups while we watched Mrs G. at a demo before we er...decimated the recipe by ourselves later on. Indeed, the lecture had gotten on to a fairly good start, seeing as Mrs G. did not seem inclined to scream or yell threats at us as she did on a regular basis and that everyone sitting in front of the classroom was behaving sanely.

Then. One of the frying pans abruptly erupted in flames.
We stared on, partly startled but mostly amused as Mrs G. began screeching indignantly about the many times she had reminded us to be careful when heating oil in the pan. She bustled over to the offending frying pan and switched off the cooker, all the way muttering accusatory things at my friend and her partner, the two unfortunate souls which the pan belonged to.

This memory remains burned in my brain and talking about it on the bus with Kappa only served to polish further the weirdness of the event. Yes, Morphie, if you're reading this, you remain the unfortunate source of our jokes till this day.

Speaking of which, I am glad that I am beginning the new year with the people who have been close to me, whether in the form of the butt of the joke or otherwise.

Go along with every year,
Bring with you your joys,
And leave behind your fears.