.

(Part of article taken from Lianhe ZaoBao dated 5th Jan 2009) 

I remember in my good old days in NTU when I was still doing my major in Electronic Broadcast Media (Mass Comm.), this was a common quote that came from many of my lecturers- "BAD NEWS IS BETTER THAN NO NEWS".

Well yeah, at least there is communication. After all, this is the media industry where open thoughts and ideas need to be expressed. Criticisms are essential stimulations. Constructive ones provoke us and as a result, we upgrade ourselves.

But sometimes I wonder, if people are thinking too much, picking on every little detail and spending too much time trying to make sense and logic out of something that is made up. After-all, this is the goggle box, how much of it is real? How much of it really depicts the world that we actually live in? How much of it has been tweaked for dramatic effect? So many of such questions always pop up in my mind...I can't help it coz more than half my time is spent in TV Land, where many stuffs, relationships, connections, situations are all but just a pretense. 

But then again, I contradict myself. The emotions ARE real when I am in TV Land. Those are not eyedrops. They are real tears of sorrows, compassion, hurt, happiness and sometimes even anger. Those are not fake sounds of laughters. They are real smiles of delight, humor and enjoyment. Yes they are. Because I feel it right within my heart...

And so I questioned myself through and through and I throw the questions to people around me.

Oh yes! TV LAND IS THE REAL WORLD. Or at least we should try to make it as real as possible. If not why the saying “人生如戲，戲如人生。” Those stuffs, relationships, connections, situations DO exist. And that is probably why people need to comment about the show. They move along with the show, they feel the emotions from the show, they connected with the show and they feel disturbed when somethings, just isn't right. 

Well, I guess TV Land has always been a mystery to many. A land of wonders, excitement and adventures. And perhaps unknown to some, it also takes the combined power of many individuals' efforts to make a big difference and very often than not, this takes time. We need strength. We need appreciation. We need just that little motivation.

Yep, its all in the mind and the attitude counts. We have all tried our best. At least I am sure I have...

TO LEARN. TO LOVE. TO LIVE.

Finally having one whole day of break to 'nua' at home and really looking forward to watching tonight's last episode of The Little Nyonya with my family...

Cheers,

HUI 

HAPPINESS 

an age-old desire

yet it has always eluded us

what is happiness?

an experience of sensual pleasure?

an enjoyment of material comforts?

lasting? or just pure indulgence?

A PARADOX

for the more we have, the greater our possibility for UNHAPPINESS

what we think we NEED to be HAPPY?

constantly threatened by the only constant - CHANGE

Changing hands into the new year,

here's wishing simple-minded HAPPINESS to your everyday life in 2009!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

love,

HUI 

Just the other day while filming at Funan, a mother came up to me with her son and gave her compliments about the show. The mother watches a lot of Korean dramas, none of MediaCorp Channel 8's, but for The Little Nyonya, she gave her praises. Her son speaks no Mandarin, doesn't watch much TV dramas but this, he's glued to it, mainly because of the story and how the show stirred his curiosity in the Peranakan culture. What's best they told me, was that the show actually got the whole family to sit down together in front of the television set for some bonding time. Hmmm, so much for building family cohesiveness :-)

Oh and I must admit, even my mother who watches too many Korean, Hong Kong (TVB) and China productions now makes sure she tunes in to Channel 8 promptly at 9pm to watch the show. Oh no, she watches no Channel 8 dramas, not even if I am starring in it. In fact because she watches too many good overseas productions, she often has got too many criticisms for our local productions. But strangely enough, this time round I can actually catch her wanting to watch The Little Nyonya herself without me bugging her to give me a wee bit of support! 

So I must say I am very proud to be part of this production although as much as there were a lot of complaints and whinings that went on during the filming, looking back now, I can definitely say that all the hard work put in was worth it and it has been a great learning experience :-)

Meanwhile I have been trying to catch every episode together with my mother promptly at 9pm, unless of course I am filming, I will have to watch what I recorded alone...and also just keeping track of whatever comments regarding the show or about my acting because I always believe that one needs constructive criticisms to make one a better self... so really looking forward to having more people approach me to share their most sincere opinions about the show and of course i am definitely looking forward to meeting all the supporters of The Little Nyonya at Compass Point on the 27th of December...

And YEAH, I wanna dress up as AH TAO AGAIN!!! :-p 

Gosh, time really flies! Din even realise it has been almost a month since I last blog...been having a really good break since the filming of The Little Nyonya wrapped...

Me in Hanoi, at Ha Long Bay, located at in Quang ninh province, Vietnam...

It's really a magnificent view out there, no wonder its been marked as a UNESCO World Heritage site...

Fishing Time!

Oooo...check them out :p

Sleepless late night...
So just for fun, guess who is me?

(photos taken during a retro- themed party with my silly old friends)

eh...now feeling sleepy wor, will go nua in my bed liao...

nite nite! :)

今天見了一位老朋友，在我們常去的一個老地方, 做了我們以往常做的事﹣喝茶,聊天,打屁。他的話不多, 很多時候都是我在辟里啪啦說個不停。偶而他加進了自己獨特的幽默, 也說了不少能刺激我的腦細包的話。
其中一句不自覺讓我思考了許多．．．

“要結婚就一定要有孩子, 不然肯定出問題。”

當下我的反應是“還好吧？如果事先說好不要就OK 啦！”

他很快的就說：“那干嗎結呢？沒有孩子就會停留在一個階段, 進也不是, 退也不是。”

“可是沒有孩子，結了婚兩個人生活在一起不是就會更了解對方嗎？心靈上和生活素質上肯定也會一起前進的啊！”

但他最後說了一句：“還是不一樣的啦！”

他這樣一說，我無話可說．．．

我拿起了我的杯子, 喝了口水, 但我心 想：“真的是這樣嗎？”

"Dance like no one is watching,love like you'll never be hurt,
Sing like no one is listening and live like it's heaven on earth."
 ~William Purkey

I was having my breakfast, reading the papers as part of my usual 'just outta-bed' routine when this article in the Straits Times caught my attention...

Quoting a paragraph from the article:
"The Straits Times understands that in Singapore, Google does not 
need approval from the Land Transport Authority to capture images for 
Street View unless they require road closures. The company's plans 
are akin to someone standing on the street and taking a snapshot, 
which is legal here. Google said it will blur faces and licence 
plates in Street View to prevent people from being identified."

Exciting it may be, I start to wonder if modern technology can get a 
bit too far. If not now but in the future eventually...

I remembered not long ago when I was having a meal in a Chinese 
restaurant with my foreigner friend.

She suddenly exclaimed with a perturbed look on her face, "Why are 
there cameras pointing at us?"

I looked around and saw a few cameras fixed at the different corners 
of the restaurant. I answered casually, "Why? It's quite normal isn't 
it? It's probably just there to make sure the staff is doing their 
work and handling the money right."

"Yeah, but the lens are all pointed at the customers eating and 
that's an invasion of privacy! I have never seen anything like that 
before," so she claims.

I gave a shrug and continued with my meal.

Thinking back, property rights, human rights, whatever it may be. We 
may just be too caught with the fast pace in our society to stop and 
ponder what's right and what's wrong, what's necessary and what's not...
After all, I have already been pointed with handphone cameras at 
arm's length without my consent, some even leaving me in a state of 
shock... so yes, surprise me (not that I am hoping) but i am 
beginning to wonder how technology and modernization can eat up the 
human heart...

Yes surprise me!
As a child, I have always loved the joy of receiving letters especially when they are hand written, gifts that are hand-picked and hold special meanings and surprises when I least expect them. I thought that kind of feeling was long forgotten until that day when I got home after a long and cold overnight bus ride from my filming in Malacca. There it was standing there, shaped like a jade tablet cast in solid bronze and looking very dignified. I knew it was coming but still, the pride and honor that it exudes left me almost speechless for a moment. The feeling was short-lived but the appreciation and gratitude were never to be forgotten.

It was in 2002 that I graduated from my alma mater, NTU (Nanyang 
Technological University). And it was the Wee Kim Wee School of 
Communication and Information that brought me to where I am today. 
The professional attachment that I had to fulfill in my course of 
study led to my first onscreen role as Apple in the English sitcom 
'Living With Lydia'.
Although many things have changed, but the lessons that I have learnt 
back in school will always remained and the memorable times that I 
experienced back in my university days will always hold a very 
special place in my heart. Thank you once again, for this Outstanding 
Young Alumni Award.

CHEERS!!! 

記得上次來這里是和Mark & Sharon 一起拍道地美食大搜
尋 （Malaysia Road Feast) 。
最近重遊古城馬六甲，主要為了排攝新劇小娘惹 
(Little Nyonya)，也讓我有了意想不到的收獲与惊喜。

今年７月７日起，馬六甲已被提升到与中國万里長
城和紫禁城同等的地位。馬六甲河的兩岸已被美
化，沿著河堤的人行道鋪了地磚，種了花草，
植了路燈，建了涼亭。
河邊的民宅商家也都開始分飾，以新面貌与換上新
裝的馬六甲河融為一體。這個地方不再只是大馬人的
資產，因為國際社會已承擔了惟護這資產的責任讓
它一躍成為全人纇共有的資產。

有一天，拍完了戲，剛好碰到一間燕窩店的老
板。我就一同与Felicia & Nat 到燕屋去瞧瞧。

破舊不堪的屋子里，在陰暗的環境下，燕子們開
始造窩，生蛋。

原來每一個窩只能放一粒蛋，等小燕子長大了，
飛走了，就會有人小心翼翼 地把燕窩取下來，
讓我們有机會吃到滋補養嫣的燕窩了。

走啊走的，天色已暗，但入夜的馬六甲更是別有
一番風情。

听說這人行橋竟叫“鬼橋”。据說日据時期有許多人
被拉到橋上去暫手示眾，留下許多冤魂。就不知兩
岸居民過橋時是否心有戚戚焉呢？

他們我就不曉得了，我呢，倒是很享受夜深人靜
的馬六甲。
:-) 只可惜，未能有机會在這迷人的月光下拍戲...

Lots and lots of clogs in a clogs-making factory on a trip to 
Amsterdam...

Big ones, small ones, old ones, new ones...

AND.....

traditional ones, creative ones, dangerous ones...

And call it deja vu or what, just when I was having fun trying to fit 
into an oversize pair of clogs...

Here I am, in my very own pair of good old rubber ones...
A pair that has brought me many sights and sounds, pain and sorrows 
and of course unforgettable experiences...

Stay tuned for more interesting stories of 'Peach and her wooden 
clogs'!!!

Just the other day, I was buying 'yong tau foo' for lunch when the auntie vendor asked me, "Hey, so are you going to get the 30 per cent stakes of the company's shares?" I was stunned for a while, but very quickly I realized she was asking me for my role's eventual fate in The Defining Moment, the Chinese drama that's been on air every night 9 pm on Channel 8.

Caught between two 'seemingly crazy or NOT' people (played by Fann Wong and Zhu Houren), I had been scheming and playing many games just to get my fair bit of the company's shares. And with just three episodes remaining, it seems there have been many comments and discussions going around, at least that's my gut feel from the smses and calls I have been receiving telling me their reviews about the show :-)

Well, whatever shares the lady gets in the end, we have been told by Madonna it's a 'Material World' out there and by many others that money makes the world go round. But is money really that important? 
Can money really buy happiness? Money do allow us for more access to material comforts which in turn gives us happy feelings but how lasting are these happiness?

In such times of our modern world, CHANGE is all around us threatening the very things we THINK we NEED to be HAPPY.
But it's often a paradox that the more we have, the greater our possibility for unhappiness.
For the sake of sanity and a peaceful mind, how far should we go to maintain an equilibrium?

  (Pictures courtesy of 'BROTHERS4)

Got some surprisingly interesting birthday gifts this year... just for some fun, make a guess what they are... 

Present No 1

Present No 2

Present No 3

就快播了...
拍地瞒累卻很 ‘high' 的一部戏 :p

so as always, we gathered for the press conference...

where photos were taken...
and questions were asked...

and as the show reel was played for the first time to everyone 
present...
I wondered...

how will you react to this drama?

沸騰冰點
由范文芳領銜主演
8 頻道 8月4日起 每逢一至五 晚上9點...

拭目以待！

A friend reminded me, somehow or rather, strange things always happen every year on this special day of mine...

Forget about the 'shocking yet calm' incident that happened earlier in the day, I was GLAD the day moved on with very sweet and memorable happenings :-p

Taking the Singapore Flyer for the very first time...

Making my day, the rainbow that appeared just before my maiden flight...

As the wheels turned and I looked out the window at the clear blue 
skies far into the horizon...

"Gosh! How Singapore has changed! And at such a fast pace!"
There was a sense of pride, enthusiasm yet fear at the same time...
too many uncertainties and perhaps inadequacies.

Nevertheless,

Life IS still beautiful...

"When the bitters of adversity are exhausted, then come the sweets of 
happiness."