手牽手 Shou Qian Shou - 群星 by 群星

One of those rare videos that you get to see all the studio behaviours of so many celebrities. Notice the level of concentration needed to make the song come alive.

Although the song has been around for quite some time, it is still very very nice because it manages to blend the different voices of the celebrities into a cohorenet whole.

(Source: I found this video on Huixian's blog so will credit her as well for it.)

Pre-Announcement of Retirement from Teresa's fanclub

Hi faithful supporters of Teresa!

I think the time has nearly come for me to leave TFC and put down all the Teresa-related activities and updates once and for all.

I will be making a final farewell post within two days' time on both the Official Teresa's Fanclub and on this blog so for those interested in what I have to say can stay tuned.

In that post, I will elaborate on the reasons that I have to depart.

This pre-announcement is made for the following reasons:

1) I hope those who have been hoping me to stay on in TFC will have some sort of mental preparation that Sean Ho will no longer be around to provide any updates for Teresa's activities again.

2) Teresa and her family will have some pre-notification that I will cease any form of help in any part of Teresa's celebrity career once the final farewell post is made within two days' time.

3) I want to make it clear that my departure has nothing to do with anti-Teresa people or anti-Sean Ho people from anywhere. So these people won't celebrate and run all over cheering, thinking that it was because of them that I left TFC.

Meanwhile, I will appreciate if nobody phone sms, phone call, MSN msg, tagboard msg, blog msg, email, Facebook msg, Friendster msg me to ask why I need to go at all.

All details will be revealed in the farewell post.

That's all for now.

Sean Ho
"Music clears the mind, fills the heart, moves the soul."

More Photos from Today's Health & Wellness Expo 2008,Teresa's Performance of Yu San at Ngee Ann Poly

Commentary on Singing For Samuel on 《恋人未满》:

Before anyone of you click the video below, please take note that the video was recorded with sporadic sudden volume bursts so don't put your ears too close to the speakers or earpieces or you may suffer a few shocks like I did when I first listened to it.


Samuel, since I have promised you that I will comment on this song so that you can improve, so here it goes:

Given the audio quality of the recording, I can only comment on what I could hear amidst the background music and static. The following is what I found out:

1) Male's starting part was too weak. There was no clear input of variation in the singing of the lyrics. Male sounds like reading the lyrics rather than singing them.

2) Female's starting part was quite clear. However, her endnotes are not very clean as if the lines just run-on to the next line without a specific break.

3) Female's second part was over-done with the endnotes. This time, she breaks the endnotes too hard, sounding as if she was chomping on the last word of each line of the lyrics. Control of endnotes and end lyrics is very important.

4) Harmonization is not good because both male and female are not communicating enough to decide on which key to rest on. Hence, the parts sounded uncompatible to blend into the song.

5) I admire the courage of both singers to jump enthusiastically into the crescendo part of the song. That is the spirit - keep that burning. However, control is the key word. Singing high and singing with control are two ends of the singing skill spectrum. To prevent screaming into the mics during crescendo portions of songs, allocation of enough breath and awareness of when to stop should be made known to oneself first.

6) When the song is supposed to fade after reaching its peak/finale, one's singing volume and emotions must adjust accordingly. By the end song, I could not really hear that difference. If a male singer is to participate in this song, he should know when to sustain his part because I find the male's voice disappearing for extended time with no reason when he should be following through with the female for some parts of the song.

That's all, Samuel. Hope my commentary can help you improve somehow. Have fun learning!

More Photos from Today's Health & Wellness Expo 2008:

As I was saying in my previous post, before I started reporting on Teresa's performance, I was hanging around the abovementioned exhibition and I must say it was very interesting. Full of stalls selling and promoting and introducing new healthcare products, giving free health tests and checks. A pity I did not have much time there but I did manage to take a few shots of a couple of performances onstage then.
This is Dongfang Billy, a famous and popular artiste amongst the middle-aged populace of Singapore and similarly so in a number of countries. He is a cancer survivor, and he now works even harder to entertain, after dancing with Death itself before. He is seen here demonstrating some healthcare food and is later going to distribute those food to the audience. I did not eat because I don't want unfamiliar food to interrupt my report on Teresa's performance then.
This is him promoting some powerful blender that he is the spokesperson for. He said it could spin 30,000 times a minute and he uses it liberally to make all his healthcare food onsite. I must say his cooking skills are very well-honed. Precise and decisively confident.
This is the first time I hear Billy sing live onstage. His singing skills are not on par with the various Superstars but considering his multiple skills in hosting, cooking, entertaining, it will do.
The is the end part of his song. He ends it with a rather amusing pose but at least he is enjoying himself onstage. I remembered Billy before he was diagnosed of cancer was quite a hot-tempered celebrity, now he is a much more humble and better artiste.
This is the immediate yoga performance before Teresa started singing. I could not remember the name of the yoga centre but I remembered what this yoga instructor said "Yoga is not about the postures, not about the time you spent doing it, but it's about connecting yourself with your body, having time being yourself." How true, I am not a yoga person but most of the time, many people aren't even aware of themselves, just busying away from activity to activity. No wonder they don't enjoy themselves much.

Teresa's Performance of Yu San at Ngee Ann Polytechnic 18 January 2008:



(Video source: Ada from TFC and matsufuyu , 18 January 2008)

Teresa Tseng at Health & Wellness Expo 27 Jan 2008 Photographs and Report

I arrived at the Singapore Expo Hall 6B around 11.30am and I was browsing the various stalls and eventually settling down at the stage area to watch DongFa Billy giving a talk about healthcare and demonstrating how to cook healthy food using some powerful blender, which he is currently promoting. Photographs of those will be up in a separate blog post.

Teresa appeared onstage at around 12.50pm, 20 minutes later than the scheduled time because there was some delay on programme schedule. I'll do the commentary, photo-by-photo and the final performance commentary at the end of this blog post.

Teresa interacting with the emcee on the stage before her performance of the three songs. I am very pleased with her because she has learnt to put her hands behind her back (the posture is more respectful to the emcee and presentable onstage). She's a very fast learner.
Notice Teresa is always facing the emcee and looking at her directly in the eye, this is actually very polite of her because she is not distracted by the audience and concentrates on answering the emcee's questions. An example of good emcee interaction skills.
Teresa started her first song 飞行部落 by F.I.R The crew was nice enough to add those special moving lights for effects. Good thing because it warmed up the stage. Bad thing because it screwed up the lighting of my pictures. Hahaha.
Yes, Teresa was actually dancing abit for this song because it was necessary according to the genre of the song. Big mega-watt smile and much smoother gesticulation makes the song enjoyable. The downside was that the song's background music was a little too loud. I was tempted to go to the sound crew and requested them to tone it down abit but I decided against it. Taking the photos was much more important.
More gesticulation and gentle swaying. Teresa's movements were not so large as her previous renditions of the same song and that was because she had another studio appointment after the expo performance. I suppose it was wise to conserve some energy to make sure she could optimize all her celebrity appointments.
Teresa did not speak during the song interval because the music was simply too loud but I suppose she did what she could keeping the beat and posing for the photographers who were standing on her right hand side downstage.

Could not capture her facial expression. But I think she was smiling to the photograpers snapping away. As usual, many were whipping out their camera phones after hearing how good she sounded live onstage. From age 8 to age 80, nobody flinched at the audience area because they were really captivated by her crystal-clear singing. I was moving around because I wanted to capture Teresa from as many angles as possible.
Teresa is preparing for her second song 月牙湾 by F.I.R again. This is currently one of the most difficult songs on the Mandarin pop market and requires alot of pre-performance preparation. Teresa did not underestimate the song either and hence the concentration in the semi-dark interval.
Teresa is now tackling the song, which attracted even more people to the audience area because they all knew it was a difficult song to sing live onstage.
Teresa remembers to move around onstage. I caught her in motion in this photograph, which makes it look as if she was skipping from point to point. Hahaha..She was actually walking from right to left.

The challenge of the song was to be able to reach and sustain the falsetto at the chorus portion in style and Teresa did not disappoint. Pitch-perfect, hitting the necessary notes without breaking a sweat. A quick look around the audience area showed nods of approval and admiration. She is one impressive singer indeed.
Towards the end of the second song, Teresa was nice enough to pose for me. Teresa had already noticed me around but I did not wave back because I did not want to distract her from the difficult songs onstage and I also did not want to give away my position to the people there. There was actually a camera pointing in my direction, which made waving way too obvious.
Teresa is now singing her third and final song 随爱而飞 by Cass Phang. It's not an easy song either and required a decent build-up to sound convincing. A good choice of song because most of the audience are middle-aged, which makes the song very familiar to the listeners.
I could not resist taking a shot of the two projector screens beside the stage because the images, though blurred, were large. This one shows Teresa connecting with the song at hand.
Teresa continues to remember to sing to the audience (not at the audience), which is actually a key to sustainable performances. As I said, she is a fast learner since her nascent days during Campus Superstar Season 1. For those who are not familiar with Teresa, she was the Female Champion For Campus Superstar 2006, out of a total of 4,000 contestants.

She looks great in her outfit today - white silken top, with a semi-transparent lace front, well-tailored jeans and in one of those rare occasions, let her long hair down. The emcee was full of praise about how beautiful and slender Teresa looked onstage.
After the thumbs-up I quietly gave Teresa after the second performance, I signalled to Teresa again seconds after this shot was taken. The reason: I felt that Teresa was facing the right hand side audience more often and was a little neglecting the left hand side audience. Using military handsigns, I managed to communicate to her discreetly from downstage. She looked puzzled for a second, gave it a three-second thought, and started facing the right hand side audience as advised.
Although the hand signal was given in the middle of the third song, Teresa was apt enough to make a decision onstage and followed accordingly. Let me say this a third time for emphasis sake: She is a fast learner.
Of course, as she reallocates her facing time onstage, I continued taking photographs, moving from angle to angle to try and get some decent shots from my lousy camera phone. Hahaha.

A new shot of Teresa from the right hand side as she faces the left hand side audience. Way to go, girl!
Gesticulation continues on during the song and it is important because it is stage performance, not studio recording session so both audio and visual entertainment are equally important.
The photographers love Teresa because she looks good onstage, anywhere and gives stellar performances everytime. Evidence? See that guy? He whipped out his massive camera and started snapping like crazy, holding steadily all the way until the end of Teresa's third song.
After the end of all three songs, the emcee refused to let Teresa go offstage and caught her on to ask Teresa more about her personal life, on how she manages to juggle schoolwork, personal life and celebrity life. Teresa answered gracefully and kept up the sense of humour from the emcee. Another point for the girl for quick thinking and interactive ability!
The final photograph before I went off as the emcee continued a few more questions on what sort of Chinese New Year goodies Teresa likes. The answer: She does not eat Chinese New Year goodies. Hahaha. Why did I go off? Because the emcee was pointing at Teresa's mother, whom I must greet out of courtesy and ettiquette since I already know her.

It was only a quick chat with Mdm Tseng because Teresa was about to go offstage. Here's what was exchanged:

曾夫人~~
嗨！
好久不见了！近来还好吗？

还好还好！
近日只跟Thomas联络，没机会和您联络聊聊。

嗯，年底公司比较忙，所以都在忙着。

我明白。

今天只有你一个人吗？其它人呢？

哦，我先到场，所以没看到。他们可能还在后头。

(Teresa started going offstage towards us.)

好了，我们得走了，她还得到电台那儿去录影呢。新年快乐！

曾夫人，新年快乐！

(Teresa is now within two metres of us but is heavily surrounded by the expo security and MediaCorp personnel who was accompanying her)

Without wanting to appear in public, I gave a quick wave to the girl who smiled before vanishing into the audience who was surging up to have a closer look at our Teresa, giving me the perfect cover. Thus, there was no time for exclusive photographs because from there onwards, Teresa was quickly escorted out of the hall and into the transport whilst I had to rush off to another part of the island again.

Note To Teresa herself:

咏霖，

今天唱得好！尤其是《月牙湾》，看来下了不少功夫。

记得我曾跟你提的：要均衡地分配面对观众的时间。

彭羚的《随爱而飞》开头有点抢拍，要注意喔！

保重，摄影完后，好好修息吧！

That's it. End the report.

Happie Bday To Mie Part III and Part IV

Birthday Celebrations 2008 Part IV : Movie - American Gangster
After dinner at NYDC Holland Village, the three of us decided to try and catch and movie and both of them actually chosed Alien versus Predator 2 at VivoCity and we proceeded in The Married Soldier's vehicle. However, when we reached there, the movie had already started and hence we picked another movive - American Gangster. It turned out to be a very entertaining and informative movie. It's about how one of the greatest kingpins, Frank Lucas, in America rose to power through a combination of wit, intelligence, discipline and sometimes, fiery rage. The kingpin was arrested eventually but he helped the police tracked down all the corrupted policemen and foreign nationals, which helped made America then to be so drug-rampant.

I loved the movie and it was the good acting and the gripping plotline that made the movie captivating. I would definitely recommend the movie if you are those that preferred acting to shooting and kissing scenes. Hahaha. One good movie after one good meal - Perfect!

Birthday Celebrations 2008 Part III: Dinner and Dessert at NYDC
One of the best places to hang out at Holland Village, in my opinion, is NYDC. Why? Because the ambience is comfortable, the service is friendly and polite, and the food is absolutely delicious. I met The Changed Man and The Married Soldier for dinner and dessert as part of my birthday celebrations and we ordered NDYC's famous baked rice and mudpies. I didnt' take pictures of the food because by the time we reached there, we were all famished and we tucked in as soon as the food was served.

However, mudpies were slower because we were busy chatting about our exploits and adventures over the past week. The above picture showed Band Aid Mudpie - slighly alcoholic but yummy to the taste buds. The below photograph showed Tiramisu Mudpie - one of my favourites not because of the colourful chocolate rice, but because of the perfect proportion of cake, ice-cream and fudge.

Birthday Celebrations 2008 Bonus: SPOP Victory For 《雨伞》

Word had reached me amidst my celebration that the SPOP song, Yu San, had made it to the top 6 song compositions of the competition. This was the icing on the cake for my birthday celebrations because the voting efforts of faithful supporters of Teresa, supporters of Dione Tan, and supporters of the song itself had not gone to waste.

Although I don't have the actual statistics, personally , it was another affirmation that the Campus Superstar of my choice, Teresa Tseng, has proven her worth once again that she continues to be able to shine with her singing, propelling the song well enough to earn the confidence and collective action of the various groups of supporters throughout the population of music listeners to send the song to the semi-finals.

The SPOP competition is not over though, since it's only the semi-finals and there would be another few more rounds of voting but for now, there is a definitely a cause for quiet celebrations. I have already sent my congratulations to the girl and I hope she will be give the chance to be featured in the upcoming music video for the song Yu San in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, my birthday celebrations have simmered to an end even though I am still receiving ice well-wishes across the various communication channels.

My heartfelt thanks to all those well-wishes, Natasha, skyvel, zena, LK, Cuiping, Michelle, Xiangrui and many more whom I cannot openly name here. Take care and have a good weekend ahead!

Happie Bday To Mie 2008 Parts I and II

Birthday Celebrations For 2008 (Part II):

Well, since I have some time before I need to rush off, here are some of the random pictures that I have taken throughout the course of the birthday celebrations thus far. More to come because it ain't over yet! Heehee...

Nice CNY decorative clusters of purple-pink flowers hanging down at Century Square Shopping Centre at Tampines. I caught this in the middle of the crowd. At least my hands were steady this time round. Heh.

Picture of Birthday Cake and Food From Parents

(archived in computer instead)

This was the birthday cake that my parents bought for me. Yes, they insist on celebrating my birthday even though I am already of such an advanced age - so sweet of them. It was a chocolate cake from Notice the red eggs on the right - they are traditionalists who believes that cracking red eggs on birthdays will bring luck and drive away evil influences. Notice the beehoon on the left - they believe eating them will prolong my stay here on earth so that I can continue to save the world.

Where is the picture, you might ask? Not showing here because all of you would be able to make an estimate of my age from the number of candles on the cake. How old am I? Don't tell you, bleh~~~

This was one of my favourite breakfast - one plain and one cheese roti prata at an undisclosed location. Since it was the week of my birthday celebrations, I could not resist ordering it for one of my breakfasts even though it's heaty, oily, sinful and bad for my singing voice. Hahaha...
This was one of the best fillet fish Western hawker food (priced at $5.00 + $0.50 egg)that I have tasted in years. I came across it accidentally whilst stopping somewhere near Aljunied MRT - I think the hawker centre was like 400 metres away, near the bus interchange. The fillet was fresh and smooth. The fries were missing from the picture because they weren't ready at the time but it was served 5 minutes later, fresh from the kitchen, piping hot.
This was the Chocolate of A Thousand Leaves cake that I was eating during my stay at Coffee Bean at Parkway Parade. Why was I there? Because I have a few Teresa's fanclub supporters who were going for the SPOP Songwriters' Concert at Ngee Ann Polytechnic last Friday and I thought it would be a good place to read newspapers, eat cake and coordinate them via handphone should something occurred. True indeed, they were abit nervous because they did not see Teresa performing Yu San at song number five. The reason - she appeared right at the end because she was rushing down from school. Glad I chosed Coffee Bean instead of moving outside on the road. To the person who took the fanclub exclusive photos that Friday, I am chasing for them officially on my blog liao. Oiie...
This was another CNY decorations at Toa Payoh HDB Hub. Notice it was flowers again. Seemed like a continual theme for most of the shopping malls this year round. It was taken when I was rushing to Bishan Junction 8 to meet another fanclub supporter for afternoon tea. Considering how fast I was moving through that walkway that day, I think it was a good enough shot as I turned, snapped and flew straight into HDB Hub. Heehee...

Birthday Celebrations For 2008 (Part I):

Actually my birthday celebrations will span over nearly a week and it has already started since last Saturday but because I was busy with the SPOP Songwriters' Concert at Eastpoint Mall so there was little mention about it.

Anyway, that day did not end for me after the concert was over around 5plus because I went to Tampines Mall with two of Teresa's fanclub supporters, Michelle and Jiewei to have some food and eventually a movie.

The three of us went window-shopping at Tampines Mall, mingling happily with the weekend crowd there. We eventually setttled down at Starbucks because Coffee Bean was fully packed. Michelle and myself ordered cakes (she had some cheesecake and I had a chocolate mousse) so reward ourselves for a good day at Eastpoint Mall.

After eating and resting, we continued our window-shopping until we reached the top floor where the cinema was and Michelle said that One Missed Call was a very exciting movie but she was too afraid to watch it alone. You guessed it - Jiewei and myself decided to be nice and watch the movie with her. We toured the place twice before settling down at Yoshinoya to have dinner and I was having fun trying to outstare a toddler at the next time who kept staring at me eating. No prizes for guessing who won the staring match.

The so-called horror movie turned out to be a comedy for both of us whilst Michelle was cowering behind her two hands in front of her face! Hahaha...The movie was simply a spin-off from the famous The Ring movie in Japan a number of years ago and except for the deserted hospital scene which was quite impressive (looked very similar to the attacked Umbrella Installation in Resident Evil: Extinction), most of the other scenes were un-scary, or outright humourous - like one scene in which a friend of the female protagonist suddenly appeared and said "Which one?" when their supposedly battery-less handphones started ringing on the sofa in the middle of the night.

My verdict - Don't watch One Missed Call unless you just have some spare time and cash on hand. Well, I think Michelle had her fair share of being scared out of her wits though and I had to whisper my movie enquiries (deliberately) to her during the movie to keep her from being locked in a perpetual petrified state. Hahahaha.

Stay tuned to my birthday celebrations Part III and Part IV publishing in a couple day's time! =)

Report on SPOP Songwriters Concert @ Eastpoint Mall 19 Jan 2008 (with exclusive video and photo coverage of Teresa too!)

Exclusive Slideshow of SPOP Songwriters Concert @ Eastpoint Mall:

Hope everyone reading my blog likes the slideshow that I have made for the songwriters and superstars singing at Eastpoint Mall on last Saturday. Remember to credit me if you are going to take anything from the slideshow.


For those observant enough, you may noticed that Teresa's performance photos are not included inside yet because her fanclub photographers have not finished processing those shots yet so I'll add hers in once they are ready.


Alright, since I promised a report so I'll make sure I comment on each of the twelve performances on that day. Here goes:

《谢谢你的好》 By 陈铿百 Nat Tan

Nathaniel's performance was very stable. Nothing extraordinarily memorable or worth negatively commenting on. Good job, Nathaniel!

《Love is Forever》 By 阮诗凯 Keely 曾裕淑 Maxilian 许政宁 Zhengning

The more people onstage, the more my expectations of being entertained is. The three girls did alright for their performance but fell a little bit short of my expectations of them moving around more onstage and maybe doing a little bit of synchronized movements. However, they just swayed and waved, without further explicit attempts to increase the total entertainment value of their performance.

《沙漠》 By 陈迪雅 Diya

Diya's performance was postponed until the second half of the concert and her skills were still there and the song was performed with relative ease for her. I don't know if it was deliberately planned by MediaCorp's artiste or wardrobe department, but I kept seeing Diya in suspenders, which actually shortened her height even more onstage and gave neither a matured nor a youthful look to Diya. Perhaps Diya should consider a wardrobe change or stick to jeans or skirts like the other female performers?

《蚊子咬咬》 By 谢子伟 Jeff Teay 官镜瀚 Jeremy Kwan

Again the same thing happened, both the guys just sang and sang without any significant or memorable planned moves. It was quite a waste because I thought they were already well-trained in their music school to learn about stage movements. This song actually has a lot of potential for very comical moves onstage but neither of the guys seemed keen to entertain the audience. No wonder Spicymac (another celebrity blogger) was complaining the atmosphere then was a bit cold. Half the responsibility laid with the performers.

《雨伞》 By 曾咏霖 Teresa

Teresa's vocal quality was undisputedly par excellence that afternoon and had won quite a few rounds of resounding cheers, applause and whistling. Like most of the abovementioned performers, she knew her song well and I have no much to comment on the vocal aspect of their performances. Teresa did her stage movements as well as she could but my expectations of her are, as usual, higher than normal. There is still some room for improvement for her stage movement and because I am nicer to the girl (obviously), my more detailed advice is given to her at her own official fanclub instead.

《Sunday Evening》 By 杨佳盈 Carrie

I read Carrie's blog yesterday and I was surprised to find her "moody" because her song was not moving up into the leaderboard at all for the past few weeks. Carrie, if you are thinking it was to do with your performance, let me tell you that your performance last Saturday was, in my opinion, was amongst the best three. Good stage movement, good involvement in the song and genuine interaction with the audience there. Excellent work!

《男人香水》 By 林昱志 Leon

Leon seemed very emotionally connected to the songwriter and hence he was hugging and cheering with the songwriter fairly often but I was thinking it was really very disrupting to the overall enjoyment of his performance. He modified the song with a personal rap portion, which was creative and well-done, but it was again disruptive to the audience trying to identify with the song. Imagine first-time listeners were impressed by the rap portion but found to their disappointment that the official version had not such portion, how then is it possible for listeners to stay with the song?

《婚礼》 By 杜蕙甹 Candyce 张乐声 Lesheng

Yet again, very little stage movement that was doing justice to the song. I thought both of them were supposed to be singing a love duet but I sensed zero chemistry between the two singers. With no chemistry or attempts to form it onstage, the song was lost and attention for the performance waned. Lesheng and Candyce, both of you should be able to see from the stage how the audience faltered because there was little commitment to the song from both of you, both vocally and visually.

《不再》 By 孙文海 Wenhai

Perhaps I had high expectations that Wenhai could pull off rock songs without a sweat but I was utterly disappointed when he relied on the deejay to switch vocal ranges in-between the songs. He was supposed to impress the audience with his power but I could tell that he was just waiting for the special effects to hit in when the portions were reached. Wenhai, you have to show your own strengths instead of relying on those special effects to pull your designated song off the ground.

《爱的味道》 By 黄俊辉 Adriano 李俊纬 Marcus

Chemistry was slightly better between the two guys for this song and they were really enjoying themselves onstage. However, there was still much more room for improvement instead of just swaying their bodies to the tune of the song. Both of them must take note of their stretchnotes because I caught both of them going off-key near the end of the song. Considering the relative strengths of the other more senior singers, such a mistake became quite glaring to the trained ears.

《发烧》 By 汤灵伊 Tang Lingyi

Lingyi was as cute as ever and was doing all she could to portray that image throughout her performance, which was absolutely fine since it is a cute-sounding song to begin with. However, her voice projection through the microphone sounded too soft and she did not seem to notice that and compensate for it. With no adjustment and stage moves that were getting rather stale towards the end of her performance, my attention wavered too. I hope she could do better next time round.

《我死了怎么办》 By 潘嗣敬 Sugianto 田铭耀 Mingyao

This group put in the most effort to come up with synchronized stage moves to impress and entertain and I was a lot more pleased with them for their efforts. Yet, more could be done if they had more practice because I could see that they did not really coordinately completely and Sugianto was more like trying to catch up with Mingyao throughout the performance. It may look alright for the general audience at Eastpoint Mall but it would not make the cut if the stage or setting was a notch more formal. Practise! Rehearse!

Teresa performing 《雨伞》at Eastpoint Mall on 19 Jan 2008:

Okay. I admit the video quality dropped considerably from that on my camera/video phone when I uploaded the performance onto Youtube but I hope everyone can still enjoy the song and Teresa's singing beyond all the pixel and static issues in the video. It's actually a beautiful and endurable song once you listen to it a few times.

Song Recommendation For Jan 2008: 心动心痛 by 刘畊宏 许慧欣

Yes, it's not exactly a new song but I think it's really nice and thus fits into my song recommendation for January 2008. It's a duet song, which of course will come in very handy during ktv sessions and the harmonization between the two singers are very well-done.

The lyrics are quite a mouthful to remember but I think it's worth the effort. Jia you and hope all of you enjoy the song too!

黑夜渗透了想念
偷不走微光闪现的千种画面
我背着伤痛离开
孤单拖着记忆支离破碎
原以为不会改变
眼泪在脸颊上干枯失去知觉
我的心挣脱了爱
跟随着夕阳埋进了海洋
为什么相爱的人却又为爱而纷争
现实的翅膀扰乱了原本幸福的气氛
我有我的过错
我有我的疑惑
藏在面对面的折磨背后
为什么让爱躲进乌云密布的天空
随着风漂流在外一点一点的散落
慢慢远离的梦
渐渐冷却冰封
心痛都当初相遇的心动
....
原以为不会改变
眼泪在脸颊上干枯失去知觉
我的心挣脱了爱
跟随着夕阳埋进了海洋
为什么相爱的人却又为爱而纷争
现实的翅膀扰乱了原本幸福的气氛
我有我的过错
我有我的疑惑
藏在面对面的折磨背后
为什么让爱躲进乌云密布的天空
随着风漂流在外一点一点的散落
慢慢远离的梦
渐渐冷却冰封
心痛都当初相遇的心动
慢慢远离的梦
渐渐冷却冰封
心痛都当初相遇的心动

A post and reply on analysis of lyrics for Yu San on SPOP Official Forum

Originally posted by Meteorstorm:

Even though 《雨伞》is one of my favourite songs in SPOP Hurray, i believe there are better written songs in the competition.

I like the melody of 《雨伞》but i don't really like the lyrics... in a way i feel that the love described in the song is too pragmatic and self-centered...

It seems like the song is about how and what the partner can provide, and nothing about giving and sacrificing for love.

The following was my reply to Meteorstorm:

Hi Meteorstorm!I have a few queries about your comments and am wondering if you could answer me?

You said "there are better-written songs in the competition". May I know which songs are you referring to?

You said "the love described in the song is too pragmatic and self-centred..." May I know are you referring to the following parts of 《雨伞》?

只怕雨伞雨伞变得一点破旧
挡不住大雨大雨不停的掉落
小小雨伞驻在我家门的角落
不能永远挡着风 遮着雨 保护我

Although I am not Dione so I can't completely interpret her thoughts for this song, this is how I feel about this part:

Who doesn't worry about the possible change in the nature of one's love over time?

Who doesn't worry that one's love cannot withstand the tests of the ups and downs in life?

I think the songwriter is trying to show the worries and doubts as the song persona looks at the umbrella (which is now a symbol of love) and wonders how long such a love can endure.

I think it has accurately reflected how people have always wanted to huddle under the protection of love but are hesitant to completely commit themselves to love because the relative brutal realities of time, wear and tear often overshadow the enjoyment.

《雨伞》did not give a happy ending nor a sad ending in the song, and Dione has chosen to give it an open ending because even until now, few, if any at all, can confidently determine the outcome of their love.

I suppose this is another truth in anyone's love life - we will not know the quality and strength of our loves until the final moment hence the open-ended question will be there till then.

May the best song wins!

Sean Ho

Attempts to dilute SPOP votes on MediaCorp's SPOP Official English Forum

Hi faithful supporters of Teresa!

I have been notified of the following incident at the abovementioned forum (thank you ZZZ for the information) and I have decided to share with all of you what I have responded to that person's post.

This is what he wrote:

Re: Kindly refrain from voting this song!

Originally posted by tida Given her popularity and the number of fans out there, there's no need to vote anymore for Teresa Tsang's song. As you can see from the 'who's leading chart'...her song is already there. She is very safe so no no risk.So, please redirect your energy and vote for Nathaniel's song number 1 instead.

This is what I replied:

Hi tida!

I am agreeable with the notion that Teresa is popular and she does have an incalculable number of supporters (active ones you see in the main fanclub websites and passive ones around the island). Thank you for affirming that with your post too.

But your "no need to vote anymore" suggestion is far from accurate and realistic because I believe many faithful (and thinking) supporters of Teresa understands that the other 11 SPOP songs have also wisely chosen their designated singers who have large fan bases too.

Diluting Yu San's votes to support Nathaniel's song is not a very wise option if supporters really wish to see Yu San steadily holding on in the SPOP competition.

Also, I would like to make it clear here that we have no illusions about the following - The song "Yu San" is written by Dione. Teresa is just the designated singer for this SPOP competition. So the votes which kept Yu San on the leaderboard is not just from the supporters of Teresa but people who genuinely support the SPOP song composition "Yu San" and of course, Dione herself.

Hence, I would like to continue my appeal to supporters of Yu San, Teresa and Dione to vote for the song Yu San in the SPOP voting competition. The closing date is 21 January 2008 so keep the votes coming in! Jia you everyone.

May the best song wins!

Sean Ho
Music clears the mind, fills the heart, moves the soul."

I would like to appeal to all faithful supporters of Teresa not to respond and reply on impulse to such tactics to attempt to dilute the votes of Yu San or to stir anger between supporters of Teresa and supporters of Nathaniel.

Let me deal with these posters. All of you just carry on with your daily voting until Yu San reaches the semi-finals of SPOP, from where a new strategy will be put up if the song makes it to the top 6 compositions.

Have a good week ahead! = )

Random Pictures, Blog Modifications and Updates, Jungle Trekking Taboos

Random Pictures:
Chinese Lunar New Year is coming and I managed to get hold of one of the malls' decorations for the upcoming festive season during one of my working trips arond the island. Any intelligent guesses where all these beautiful lanterns are being hung at?
This was my yesterday's lunch at an undisclosed hospital cafeteria. Readers of my blog who were wondering how come I didn't blog yesterday - My dad landed himself in the hospital after spraining his back and I had to rush to and fro the hospital to get his admission administration and stuff done. That took up my entire Saturday. He's better now but my poor old man is still stuck there without his television and guitar.

Blog Modifications and Updates:

It's been quite a while since I touched up on the features of my humble blog so there are the following changes made:

1) I have decided to tuck away my IMEEM player for now so that readers will not get too sick listening to the same songs being played again and again.

2) I have decided to change some of the songs on my main blog's music playlist. The new songs are as follows:

12. 蔡淳佳 - 庆幸有你爱我
18. 曹格 - SUPERSUNSHINE
27. 光良 - 烟火
28. S.H.E - 最近还好吗
29. 范玮琪 - 是非题
30. 刘若英 - 我很好
36. 张韶涵, Angela - 不想懂得
43. 周杰伦, Jay - 彩虹
46. 蔡健雅, Tanya - 达尔文
47. 林宥嘉 - 背影
48. 罗志祥, Show - 一支独秀

3) I have updated the slideshow for Teresa so that two of her recent public events photographs are included inside. Hopefully, by this weekend, I will have even more beautiful shots of her on the slideshow.

4) I understand that some of the songs on the main playlist are not working. Repairing them takes some time so do be patient. I will work on them as soon as I can.

Jungle Trekking Taboos:

One of my students is going to the Outward Bound School for some enrichment camp and I was telling her about some of the jungle trekking taboos that I was taught during my training days. Apparently, she just laughed them off and even though I am not that kind of superstitious person, I believe these long-established taboos must be there for a reason. Out of sheer knowledge, regardless if you believe in them or not, I decided to put them up here for fun. Read and see if you have actually heard of such taboos whenever one is to trek through jungles.

1) Do not comment on strange whiffs of fragrances or smells whilst in the jungle. It is said that sometimes "dirty things" will put on such smells to attract the unwary and those who speak of these on the trail will be followed. The most common encounters of strange smells are frangipani and pungent decay.

2) Do not shine torchlight onto the treetops above. It is said that those belong to the domains of the night creatures as well as "dirty things". There have been unexplained cases of mania and frenzy when a few shone their torchlights to the treetops (It happened during one of my jungle training trips when some chosed to challenge this taboo knowingly). These people are said to revealed they saw "dirty things" hanging onto the treetops.

3) Do not suddenly turn around if someone taps on your shoulder while you are on the trail. It is said that each human being has three "lamps", which are supposed to be protective lights against "dirty things". A sudden turning around will extinguish at least two of those "lamps", leaving the person extremely vulnerable to unimaginable horrors standing behind. Should one be tapped, one should keep moving and requests his/her name be announced loudly. If the person/thing refused to answer, continue walking until the whole group is informed and proceeds to a safe place out of the trail.

4) Always remember to say "excuse me" if you need to urgently answer the call of nature. It is said to be necessary in case one relieves oneself atop of the resting place of "dirty things". It doesn't really matter the "excuse me" is uttered in what language, as long as the deferential tone is there. It is said that those who broke this taboo would have "dirty things" following them around until an apology was made.

Okay. That's about all I know of. I choose to follow them whenever I need to enter jungles because these are small things which usually do not interfere with the major flow of programmes. Whatever one's religion or culture is, I suppose the people who taught me these taboos had their rationale:

"Better respect such ettiquette in the jungle. After all, our safety is more important than being obstinate and we are just guests in the jungle, which plays host. We should give this minimum respect."

More SPOP Public Appearances By Teresa in Jan 2008, Recent Duet By Teresa and Geraldine at MusicDreamer Live! Cafe, Screenshots of Rome: Total War

More SPOP Public Appearances By Teresa Tseng in Jan 2008:

日期：1月18日（星期五） 时间：下午4时 地点： 义安理工学院 Atrium

Date: Friday, 18 Jan Time: 4pm Venue: Ngee Ann Polytechnic Atrium

S-POP 万岁！首次走入校园！Super系列参赛者将带来12首“原汁原味”的本地创作，势必让你听出耳油！我们约定你了，不见不散！

Take a break from your books and immerse yourself in the original tunes of the Top 12 compositions from S-POP HURRAY's Songwriting Competition! Meet with the song composers in person and play exciting games and stand to win limited edition S-POP HURRAY! Premiums!

主持人：林翠芳出席歌手：陈迪雅、陈铿百、杨佳盈、汤灵伊、田铭耀、阮诗凯、许政宁、孙文海、曾咏霖、张乐声等。

Host: Lin Cuifang

Performers: Diya, Nat Tan, Carrie, Lingyi, Mingyao, Keely and more

日期：1月19日（星期六） 时间：下午3时 地点： 东福坊
Date: Saturday, 19 Jan Time: 3pm Venue: Eastpoint Mall

想一口气听完12首【S-POP 万岁！】创作大赛的作品吗？那就别错过这场热闹的S-POP 万岁！飚唱会。除了多位本地歌手之外，参赛的词曲创作人也将和大家见面。主持人林翠芳也会在现场和你一起玩游戏，送出超限量发行的S-POP T恤和公仔。以实际行动支持本地创作，S-POP 万岁！飚唱会等你一起来狂欢！

S-POP HURRAY! is moving out of the studio bringing you the Top 12 compositions from S-POP HURRAY's Songwriting Competition. Catch also the song composers in person as well as play games with our host and win limited edition S-POP HURRAY! Premiums!

主持人：林翠芳

出席歌手：陈迪雅、陈铿百、杨佳盈、汤灵伊、田铭耀、阮诗凯等。

Host: Lin Cuifang

Performers: Diya, Nat Tan, Carrie, Lingyi, Mingyao, Keely and more!

(Information and Image sources: SPOP official events webpage)

Recent Duet By Teresa Tseng and Geraldine See at MusicDreamer Live! Cafe:

I would like to thank skyvel of TFC and of course the video originator, eileen5537 (possibly a Geraldine supporter) for the provision of this exclusive video of our Campus Superstars singing!



Screenshots of Rome: Total War:

Okay, as promised, here are the screenshots of the classic computer game that I am currently entertaining myself whenever I am not working.

That is one of my generals, Victor, in red near the coastal ancient city of Sidon. Although he is well-accompanied by eight units of Roman archer auxilia, four units of Roman heavy calvary, 4 units of Roman Legionary heavy infantry, 2 units of Praetorian heavy infantry, poor Victor is stuck with two major enemy armies (in blue) from the front and back, not to mention the enemy garrison in Sidon city and another incoming reinforcement enemy army at the bottom of the screen. Victor needs to break the encirclement or risk being wiped out completely.
This is the battle screenshot where Victor tackles the army behind his back. I adopted the box formation because the enemy army has more calvary units than Victor's army and those could easily outflank my infantry and archers so the box formation will protect them as best as possible compared to other army formations. All my calvary units are placed behind, ready to charge at the enemy units which will be pounding at my box formation later on when the battle starts.
Engaging the enemy army. I am currently doing the calvary run, which involves harassing the enemies so that their ranged units, especially artillery and archers cannot concentrate on my main body of archers in the box formations. This, of course, puts that particular calvary unit doing the run in great danger but it fulfils a greater objective of keeping the box safe so that my ranged units can shower arrows on the moving and frustrated enemy units.
Of course, the calvary run tactic can only achieve that much effect before the enemy units finally lose their patience and charge at my box formation. By then, their numbers and morale have been greatly reduced by the arrow showers. The infantry charge is braced by my fresh and ready infantry units surrounding the box and thus will withstand the enemy's attacks long enough until they start to rout and retreat from the box. From there, my calvary would be chasing them down from behind and cutting them down. The battle was won and General Victor broke the encirclement with over 100 casualties whilst the enemy army lost over 1000.
With the routing of that enemy army, General Victor broke through and suddenly changed his route, attacking the neighbouring city of Damascus and taking it so that the army can rest within the city's walls. Meanwhile, my reinforcement army arrived in the next turn, went around the city of Sidon, successfully survived an ambush by 300 enemy soldiers and has now besieged Sidon instead. By this time, the city garrison, though has increased due to the influx of escaped soldiers from all these nearby battles, is of lesser threat because they have incomplete units, which have suffered casualties of varying degrees. Those enemy units could not recover during the siege because my spies and assassins have already sabotaged those re-training facilities. The city of Sidon fell in the next turn.

There you go. Hope those interested in this game enjoyed my little story telling. Have a good week ahead and thank you for frequenting my blog all these time! =)