a good break of sorts. the first night was blunted by gale storms. bought books and stayed indoors to read. there was only so much one can do inside a hotel room. i had to walk out after 5 chapters and a page. 
umbrella got shredded apart. i learnt to lean on my windbreaker instead. footsteps impeded by wind and rain. shoes and socks, wet. slept with winds hissing outside my window. raindrops pattering till dawn. next day, managed to meet up with writer boey kim cheng for coffee. his friends call him kim. i followed suit. shared about family, travel, life, teaching and poetry. his latest collection too and a collection of prose to be published in singapore soon. he remembered pjc. said he returned to singapore last dec. and was invited to share some of his works with other jcs here. pioneer left an impression which others did not: our students were somewhat more keen, engaging, appreciative and humble than the rest he said. i beamed with pride. we also managed to catch one of the most original movies i've watched this year...paris je'taime. 
a french-english montage of stories about people falling, journeying, making, rediscovering, tolerating, feasting, breaking, living, sensing love. in paris, city of lights, mythical city of that one lost elusive emotion we call love. this film took me beyond the realm of emotion. it taught and showed much. love beyond its cloying sweetness. love in all its groundedness. i remember the new scents emitted from those short confectionary of stories. some are multilingual yet every piece is woven by a common language we are all familiar with. my fav. piece involved a blind lad and his galfren. cut-throat narrative, a heartfelt poem in voice and visuals. there were others of equal worth and dignity - man and mamasan, papasan and his apparent lass, art and artist, young and old, adult and teenager, married and/or divorced, fidelity and promiscuity, parent and child, 
straight and /or gay, strangers and friends, muslim and non-believer (or so we thought), migrant and immigrant, mortal and immortal, a communal solitaire, near east and distant west, between life, beyond death...many big names and some directors contributed their creative thought to this quiet masterpiece: elijah wood, natalie portman, gerard depardieu, juliette binoche, the late oscar wilde (haha) and even wes craven (!). an ethereal voiceover song from faye wong's tian kong took my head off my neck! kim sniggered. i laughed my heart out and almost broke my seat for that one postmodern piece. so darn intelligent and yet so subtle on its intent. the entire ensemble was always celebratory and elegiac in form. a rare vintage of fluid thought, self contained visions and miniature portions of truth. i wished every take became a portrait or book i could take home or share in a literature classroom. i will watch it again. it has too much to teach. and many chapters to share. still, more doors to be opened. paris je'taime... > 12 characters. 12 lives. one common road. one film.
umbrella got shredded apart. i learnt to lean on my windbreaker instead. footsteps impeded by wind and rain. shoes and socks, wet. slept with winds hissing outside my window. raindrops pattering till dawn. next day, managed to meet up with writer boey kim cheng for coffee. his friends call him kim. i followed suit. shared about family, travel, life, teaching and poetry. his latest collection too and a collection of prose to be published in singapore soon. he remembered pjc. said he returned to singapore last dec. and was invited to share some of his works with other jcs here. pioneer left an impression which others did not: our students were somewhat more keen, engaging, appreciative and humble than the rest he said. i beamed with pride. we also managed to catch one of the most original movies i've watched this year...paris je'taime. a french-english montage of stories about people falling, journeying, making, rediscovering, tolerating, feasting, breaking, living, sensing love. in paris, city of lights, mythical city of that one lost elusive emotion we call love. this film took me beyond the realm of emotion. it taught and showed much. love beyond its cloying sweetness. love in all its groundedness. i remember the new scents emitted from those short confectionary of stories. some are multilingual yet every piece is woven by a common language we are all familiar with. my fav. piece involved a blind lad and his galfren. cut-throat narrative, a heartfelt poem in voice and visuals. there were others of equal worth and dignity - man and mamasan, papasan and his apparent lass, art and artist, young and old, adult and teenager, married and/or divorced, fidelity and promiscuity, parent and child, straight and /or gay, strangers and friends, muslim and non-believer (or so we thought), migrant and immigrant, mortal and immortal, a communal solitaire, near east and distant west, between life, beyond death...many big names and some directors contributed their creative thought to this quiet masterpiece: elijah wood, natalie portman, gerard depardieu, juliette binoche, the late oscar wilde (haha) and even wes craven (!). an ethereal voiceover song from faye wong's tian kong took my head off my neck! kim sniggered. i laughed my heart out and almost broke my seat for that one postmodern piece. so darn intelligent and yet so subtle on its intent. the entire ensemble was always celebratory and elegiac in form. a rare vintage of fluid thought, self contained visions and miniature portions of truth. i wished every take became a portrait or book i could take home or share in a literature classroom. i will watch it again. it has too much to teach. and many chapters to share. still, more doors to be opened. paris je'taime... > 12 characters. 12 lives. one common road. one film. 
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