Keat won an award for one of his radio ads. Hope that establishes him and gets him to whereever he wants to go. It's some radio ad where a foreign construction worker talks about beauty products. Haven't listened to it before and trying to track it down. When I SMSed to congratulate him he seemed damned paranoid about it, asking me how did I know and who wants to know. Duh. Bugger has to relax a bit.

Just finished watching A Fistful of Dollars, a spagetti western. Highly enjoyable though there are some plot jumps and the villain isn't too smart. Wanted to watch the sequel A Few Dollars More but had to do some elections stuff so will hang on until tomorrow. (Unfortunately don't have the conclusion for the trilogy; The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.) Also have the DVD for Marathon Man so might try to finish that as well this weekend.

Well the elections are over. Good that Chiam See Tong won. Right after hearing he won he rejected requests for an interview saying the media was biased. Give the man a drink! (But not Tiger because Tiger sucks!)

Classic Talking Cock.

Read the papers yesterday about this guy I met once or twice who's going to jail for throwing his DVD player and some other audio equipment down from his flat after breaking up with his girlfriends. Pretty drama guy. Sorry to find out that it ended up like that.

Finally watched Seven Samurai (I've bought it more than a year ago) and I'm amazed. It's a more than three hour long film and it's utterly captivating.The storytelling is tight, with little wasted, and the cinematography is beautiful. Kurosawa is a master; definitely will seek out the rest of his films to get. Too bad I can't afford all those Criterion Collection stuff.

Just watched Jet Li's new film The One. Lots of fight sequences strung together and he still can't act. Not much point watching it really.

Sometimes my dreams get a little odd. This morning dreamt about some goon dressed in a pirate costume on a motorbike (no it wasn't me), who drove his bike on a bunch of planking to a hut next to some dock. Now after THAT happens, the scene shifts to the water located just below the hut, and blood, rubbish starts falling out of the hut into the water. No, I don't know what happens to the guy who drives into the hut because I wake up shortly after. An off screen dream. Bizarre.

To use vaya's analogy:
When there's nothing cooking in the oven, the bakers would like to know why, and if there's going to be anything baking in the future. And if someone is removing the ovens, you better tell the bakers something good. Else you just have a bunch of bakers playing cards and gin rummy all day wondering if they should have done plumbing instead.

Looks like the book tour thing came through, so I should be going to the US for a week or two sometime in April to do readings. Actually I HATE to do readings, but since it's a visit to the good old USA and my favourite part of it, the USA, I better keep my part of the bargain. Also means I need to write some new stuff which I haven't done so in ages. I better get cracking on it soon...

Was down at the Far East office where the mood is down, so down you'll have to dig it out with an excavator. One of the producers did a short video about the rise and fall of the station. Pretty depressing and sad. Jaki's writing a letter to the SPH chairman about the whole thing; wonder if he'll read it. It's sad that so many sacrified so much to join this new channel and now they are most likely getting the sack. Even the comments to the COO have not been too nice. It's like a bunch of prisoners waiting for the axe to fall and calling for it to happen quickly.

The Practice is back, raising the total time I watch television a week to.. 1.5. Ok terrestrial at least. I do watch a lot of sports on ESPN while on the job. I can't help it if the TV is right in front of me and I know there's a game on. Too tempting.

Chrysler Design Awards. Neato but kinda slow to download though.

Tired. Storm kept me awake again so feeling damn sleepy. Probably will go home to crash but then I feel guilty about not going to the gym. Ah well.. tomorrow then...

David Lynch's commercials for the PS2.

My newest vice; DVDs. Going to add Marathon Man, A Fist Full of Dollars and A Few Dollars More to my collection soon, and bought a used copy of Raging Bull to a friend in the US. Almost tempted to pick up a few more DVDs in town today; Casablanca and Three Kings. That's what you do when you're idle.

Did I mention probably getting a new TV set this weekend? Did someone put something in the water to make people spend money during this bad economy?

For those who like their comics dark, Nowhere Girl.

Been working on two submissions for the Working Title screenplay contest. I'll be glad to get it off my chest. When you write, you always want to tinker with the story, making adjustments here and there but it'll never be to my full satisfaction. Once I've printed it out and submitted it I can have freedom once again. Not sure if I'll win anything, but it was a deadline I had to meet and a contest I had to enter. It all depends on the judges and the other entries. I'm not hoping for too much, really.

Went to the flea market at Holland V and got Sound Museum, produced by Towa Tei, for $5. There's a track dedicated to a font; German Bold Italic. Wonder if it's a first.

Dropped by the Far East office late where I found Ade making phone calls, trying to get the production crew jobs. They're going to shut down the power at the end of the month and out come the pink slips. Fucking sad.