Cruz

I had a disastrous Tuesday. We were at this absolutely lousy farm in Luodong, Yilan. But because it’s already the last day of the year, we shan’t waste time bitching here. I’ll save it for 2010, and explain to you how we got the fireworks when I get back home.

The video below was taken on Tuesday night. When I got back to Taipei the next day, I hurriedly buzzed HYJ (who was in Singapore) to put this together. There was a deadline- the vid contains my New Year greetings. It has to be posted before 2359 hrs, Thursday.

好匆忙的跨國製作。Thanks HYJ, and the production crew for the time they spent exploring the array of video editing software on their laptops.

(Resolution #1 for 2010: To learn how to edit videos.)

It’s a little dark, which isn’t really a bad thing. You won’t see my double chin that clearly.

(Resolution #2 for 2010: To exercise on a regular basis- since I’m never ever gonna cut down on Coke.)

Meanwhile, have a Happy New Year, everyone! WOOHOO!

I had the pleasure of chatting with Hedong from NuYou. Thank you for the invite.

And I think I need a new profile picture. But let me lose some weight first.

傍晚5點40分抵達桃園國際幾場，沒來得及吃晚餐就直奔台北小巨蛋。甚至沒時間先到酒店，而是讓司機把行李先送過去。蕭敬騰首場售票演唱圓滿落幕。現場座無虛席，他表現稱職，掌聲鼓勵！新加坡金曲獎將”最佳演繹男歌手獎“頒給他，是對的。原來小巨蛋比新加坡室內體育館大一些，座位與入口的安排也比我們的易懂許多。他們甚至還有媒體駐守貴賓入口處－我走進去還嚇了一跳。難怪藝人到場看節目都得細心裝扮一番。

I said “新加坡演唱會的第一站”。I meant “世界演唱會”, of course.

In less than seven hours, I’ll be on board a plane with Farenheit. It really isn’t my intention to stalk them. They’re on their way home (transiting from Medan), and I’m going for my final holiday this year.

I wouldn’t go to the extent of calling it a ‘dream’, but I’ve always wanted to spend Christmas and New Year in a really cold place. Before I make it to Prague for the amazing fireworks, or to Antarctica for the auroras, I’ll have to settle for a reasonably chilly place- what my friends would call my second home- Taipei. This is my first NYE away, and my fifth trip this quarter. Yes, I’ve actually managed to surpass last year’s record. (Ya ya ya, I know I led a tour to Taiwan just eight weeks ago. It’s different lah.)

Because of this 8D7N trip, I’d been working my ass off the last couple of weeks. And with about nine roadshows this month, I barely had time to sleep and pee. (Exaggerating, but you get the idea.) As a result, I didn’t have time to think about Christmas.

There wasn’t much Christmas shopping to do- I’m sticking to the plan conceived last year. The money goes to children in third world countries. People in the office were on leave one by one, and we didn’t have a party for the first time in years. And C., who was hosting a Christmas dinner for us, declared that there wouldn’t be any exchanging of gifts.

The only present I had to buy, was for Ivy. I was her Secret Santa in the Studio. I had meant to rush out to get something for her on the day before Christmas Eve, so that I could leave it in the studio for her. Then I realised she was on leave and wouldn’t be around to collect the gift. She must really hate me now. Secret Santa FAIL! Hahahaa. Ok, I’ll get her something from Taipei.

I was in bed by 6pm on Thursday- the first time in a really long time that I was at home alone on Christmas eve. I’m not a Christian, so Christmas eve was merely an excuse to party and feast. I would have felt loserish if I was a few years younger, but I truly didn’t want to party this time. I only wanted to sleep!

I was just saying earlier I prefer Chinese New Year to Christmas (from a non-religious perspective). Bak Kwa is so much yummier than turkey. Period.

Happy Boxing Day, people. I’m off to Taipei!

Edit: Maths not very good. It should be 9D8N.

When I was in Taipei last Nov, we made a trip to Jay Chou’s restaurant, Mr. J.

We braved the rain (fine, it was a light drizzle), and made it to that place with much difficulty. And we were turned away! His guys took our reservation, but failed to inform us that they were closing early for the night.

Ok, I had been mumbling over this saga for over a year now. The minute Jay Chou was confirmed to be attending the Singapore Gala Premiere for The Treasure Hunters, the girls from Golden Village reminded me to bring this up to him. Hahahhaha.

And so I did! I really did!

On the way to the second stage during the Gala, I told him this story. He laughed sheepishly and asked me to visit Mr. J again if I have the chance to.

What? That’s it? No discount coupon? No VIP card? What sort of customer recovery is this? Huh?!

Hahahahahhha.

Now, Mr Chou is really funny. He actually sneaked out during the break, and wandered into the arcade to play basketball. I don’t know if the official photog took any pictures, but it was truly quite a sight. Hohoho.

I lamented that I missed so many good movies because I had been so busy in the first three quarters of the year. Never mind, I’ll wait for the DVDs then. And because I have the pleasure and honour to host all four Chinese gala premieres this quarter, I spent a fair bit of time in the cinemas lately.

Exiting from a screening recently, a movie exec earnestly asked what I thought of the movie, “You slammed 2012 so badly. Is this worse?”

Well, I couldn’t really give her a reply. I fell asleep for a few minutes, and I was checking email on my phone during the second half. It’s so bad, I didn’t bother trying to understand the love triangle between the leads, and or why the story ended in that manner. It’s so bad, I don’t know what to say. It’s so bad, I don’t even have to mention the title, because it’s going to get extremely negative reviews and I don’t want to rub salt in their wounds.

Now if you want pure solid entertainment, and revive your confidence in Chinese movies, watch Bodyguards and Assassins. I wouldn’t mind watching a third time, if anyone asks me to. It won’t beat Avatar in terms of box office earnings, but I beseech you to make them a proud and deserving #2.

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无论用什么方法，或有关当局如何禁止，谁也都没办法停止网络下载音乐或“文件分享”。即使这一分钟内有关当局有办法将所有非法音乐下载网站关闭，新网站又会如雨后春笋般在下一个小时内出现。如外国网站 itunes这种以下载多少就支付多少钱的格式，在亚洲国家并不流行。只要稍微有一点电脑或网络知识，网友便能很容易地在各个网站（YouTube, 百度, 搜狗等等）免费下载歌曲。

身为新加坡首屈一指音乐唱片公司，齐天音乐已经接受这个买唱片的人越来越少的现实。既然网络音乐也是一个宣传与分享音乐的平台，与其对抗不如一次过来个参与！齐天音乐要把旗下最新的歌手龚芝怡，为了新传媒电视Ｕ频道电视电影《向日葵的約定》所创作的歌曲《受保护》送给你。齐天音乐也会在不久的未来和大家分享更多作品。

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齐天娱乐要的，只是你的友谊。