A quiet new year

The economy must be real bad, because this year, during Chinese New Year Eve, there wasn't a lot of people at the nearby flower market.

Buying auspicious plants is part of celebrating the new year. Every year, the flower market near my place will be packed with people doing their last minute shopping, waiting for the last minute bargains as shops try to clear their stock. The car park would be full, there would be lots of people walking around. I remember fondly my childhood days when I would help my parents to sell flowers and plants during this festive season.

Between 10pm to midnight on Chinese New Year Eve is usually the peak period, because this is the time when people go out for last minute bargains after having their reunion dinner. But this year, at around 10pm on Chinese New Year Eve, when we went to the flower market, the car park was only half full, and there wasn't much of a crowd. I had wanted to relive the festive atmosphere that reminds me of my childhood days but instead felt a slight tinge of sadness. I guess it is a sign of the gloomy days ahead.

Solar eclipse on Chinese New Year

Can you believe it? The first day of Chinese New Year, and there is a solar eclipse! Of course, we now know that solar eclipses are natural phenomenon caused by the positions of the sun, moon and earth. But back in the ancient days, a solar eclipse on the first day of the new year would probably be such an bad omen as to ask for a change of emperor.

And just when you think that is all... there is going to be a lunar eclipse on the 15th day of the Chinese New Year. Such a thing occur a thousand years ago, and we would be looking at a change in dynasty...

More solar eclipse photos

A twist of words

It is the Chinese New Year, and there are many common phrases in Chinese to wish each other well, such as 恭喜发财，新年快乐，万事如意，etc. But with the economy as it is now, there are some phrases that people try to avoid. I learnt this from my uncle.

心想事成(xin1 xiang3 shi4 cheng2) because it sounds like 薪饷四成(xin1 xiang3 shi4 cheng2), which means "40% salary".
财源滚滚(cai2 yuan2 gun3 gun3) because it sounds like 裁员滚滚(cai2 yuan2 gun3 gun3), which means "retrenchment rolling and rolling".

Happy Chinese New Year (of the Ox)

Wishing everyone a happy Chinese New Year! May the Year of the Ox be a bountiful year ahead for all!

Certified Service Personnel

I saw a bus ad the other day while driving on the road, selling the idea of being a "certified service personnel". What kind of idea is that? A certification to be a service personnel (eg. waitress, store assistant, etc.)? How do you even certify that someone is qualified to be service personnel?

To me, service is not about having a piece of paper saying that I am fit to serve, that I have been trained to serve. Rather, service is about the correct attitude towards serving others. It must come from the heart. If you cannot serve with your heart, no training institute will be able to make you a better service personnel, no matter how many classes you attend.

Welcoming the (Chinese) New Year of the Ox

The year of the Ox 己丑 is almost here (just 6 more days), and like last year, I put my calligraphy brush to good use, writing a few 福 to put up in the house. The one above is in regular script 楷書 while the one below is in cursive script 草書.And not to forget, the ever famous 春联 below. This year, I spent a bit of time to think up of my own 春联, which you can see below. I tried to use repeating Chinese characters to form up a suitable phrase, but it doesn't rhyme very well when you read it aloud in Mandarin... sigh...Wishing everyone a happy Chinese New Year!

Calligraphy draft - 精湛

On the day of her commissioning, I have thought of a short phrase for Supreme, whose name in Chinese is 精湛.It means to bring stability to the country through a strong military force, and to govern the people with a high level of integrity.

I will get down to writing it one of these days...

Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea

This is the latest movie by Miyazaki Hayao (宮崎駿). It is about a fish girl who finds herself wanting to become a real girl, just like Pinocchio wanting to become a real boy.

Read about the plot here at Wikipedia.

I didn't quite like this movie, compared to the other animation films by Miyazaki Hayao. I think that a lot of things were not really explained well, like why Ponyo wants to be a real girl, how she really got the powers to become a real girl, and why is it that she sometimes revert to her fish form. Also, while Ponyo's father keeps saying that humans are bad, he never really explained why, and there was also no explanation as to why her father left the world of humans to live in the deep ocean.

But if you don't really care too much about the plot, I must say that this show is very well drawn, with good use of colours and simple expressions easily understood by children and adults alike. I am sure it will be a great hit with kids, who probably won't care too much about plots and backgrounds, and instead looking at the colours and cute characters.

The official site at Ghibli Studio

Learning an art form

Some thoughts I have on learning an art form, as I was practising calligraphy the other day.

When we first learn an art form, we start from the basics, learning the basic techniques of the art form, such as how to hold a brush, how to write the different basic strokes. Then we move on to learn about how to string these together, into something more complex, and also how to compose it such that it looks nice. We learn about positioning, about composition, about presentation. We learn about the different tips and tricks to make our art form look even better. Once we have mastered these, we then move on to learning about style. First we imitate the style of others. Then, we move on to give our works our own unique style, which we derived based on our understanding of the different styles and our own personality, our own likes and dislikes.

If we only focus on learning the techniques and the tips and tricks, we will never move beyond to the next level of having our own style. And having our own style is very important in an art form, because it means you have achieved a certain level of understanding and is now able to apply that understanding to create something unique. You are able to apply what you have learnt to something that suits yourself. And that is what sets an artist apart from an artisan.

Japanese variety shows

Whenever I go to Japan, I would spend quite some time watching TV, because the variety shows are so interesting. There are shows such as revealing the mysteries of the Egyptian mummies, quizzes that test the contestants' general knowledge, talk shows on current affairs, wacky shows featuring comedians, etc.

So why can't Singapore's variety shows be the same?

To say the truth, I have given up on Singapore's variety shows. There is nothing new on them, they borrow a lot of ideas from elsewhere, yet even when borrowing the ideas, they cannot duplicate the essence, and thus lack the sparkle when compared with the original. And why is that? Because Singaporeans are kiasu. They don't like to lose, they don't like to appear stupid or silly. Which makes us all so boring when on TV. Japanese celebrities appearing on TV are great entertainers. They know how to use appearances and words to draw out laughter from the audience, appearing silly and stupid at times. This is something that our local celebrities cannot do and thus no matter how we try to duplicate the shows, we can never achieve the same results. Because no Singaporean celebrity wants to appear silly or stupid on TV.

Kawasaki Shrine 川崎大師 2009

As part of our usual new year routine, we visited Kawasaki Shrine (川崎大師). You should see the crowd... this is along the street leading to the shrine, and we had about another 500m more to go before reaching the shrine's entrance.The main entrance to the shrine (finally!) and you can see the crowd queuing up to get inside.The main hall itself, with lots of people waiting for their turn to go in and pray for their fortunes. To the sides, we drew lots to see what our fortune is for the year. My lot says that I will have very good luck this year. Let's hope it is true!And once we are done praying, we move to the side of the temple grounds, where there were loads of food stalls selling all kinds of stuff, from alcohol to fried noodles to okonomiyaki. And of course, we just had to try some of the food... given the empty stomach after spending so much time in the queue.

Hatsumode 初詣

A visit to Japan during the new year season is never complete without a visit to the temple to pray for good luck. This tradition is known as hatsumode (初詣), and this year, we made a visit to the nearby Kashima Shrine (鹿嶋神社) instead.People queue up to pray for good luck and for their wishes to be fulfilled, after which they draw lots to see what their fortune is like for the year, and have a cup of ama-sake (甘酒) at the side.As you can see, this shrine is really a small shrine, found in the suburbs of Yokohama.

New Year in Japan 2009

Like 2008, we spent New Year's Day 2009 in Japan. It was a time spent with relatives, and taking care of my niece. Isn't she cute?
As usual, we also had osechi (御節料理) on New Year's Day, as per Japanese tradition. This is traditional Japanese food, usually prepared the day before, composing of boiled/steamed food, preserved food and dried food. The reason? So that the housewife working throughout the year can take a break on New Year's Day (she prepares the food beforehand). And dinner was wonderful again, with the remaining osechi items from lunch, as well as fried chicken aka kara-age (から揚げ).
And the view from my in-laws' living room is great! You can see Mount Fuji clearly from the living room.
All the great food over the festive season had me putting on weight... I was about 65kg before I went to Japan.
To end off this entry, here's a shot of Mount Fuji at sunset.

Happy New Year 2009!

Happy New Year everyone! Welcome to 2009!