Thursday, October 27, 2005

失败谅解备忘录

前几天, 不知为什么,一阵心血来潮, 开始写出一份履历表.
原本是想用它来向一某间公司应征暑假internship的
但每写完一页, 我便感到越心灰意冷. 最后, 还是索性放弃了.

一份履历表, 对外看来, 表面上平平无起.
但对我而言, 这里头却包含了我一辈子所有的辍折, 遗憾, 与成就.
22年来的人生历程, 就总结成这几页密密嘛嘛的文字.
成就, 寥寥无几. 辍折, 却一大把.
一页又一页的离校成绩, 简直是惨不忍睹.
面对这份对我人生的批判,唯一能感觉到的, 便是一阵阵的遗憾.

记得小时候, 从不曾被任何事困扰过.
也许是因为不知天高地厚吧. 总是怀着一份打也打不倒的自信心.
坚决相信只要自己用心地去做, 天下根本没有任何事能难得倒我.
虽全是虚想, 但那令我仿佛'天下无敌, 战无不胜'的感觉确实是挺爽的.
成绩也还算得心应手. 那是十二岁的我.

升上中学后, 我渐渐的体会到现实与童年的虚想确实是相隔好一段距离.
'雄霸天下, 天下无敌' 的白日梦也烟消云散.
尤其是在会考成绩放榜时, 我名落孙山.
霸王虽当不成, 却也来到了乌江.
对于当时的我,成绩是衡量自我价值的唯一标准.
一夜间, 我放弃了对自己人生的一切憧憬.
那是十六岁的我.

到了初院, 班上有好多同学与我保有同样的思想.
也不知为什么, 别人比成绩是为了表现自己的优越感.
咱们比成绩, 却是在比谁比谁烂.
'赢'了, 还能耍酷沾沾自喜的说 'I'm slacker than you!'

当时的我们, 字号为教育界的败类, 其他初院的垫脚石.
所谓'败类', 具体上在英文称为scum.
但若直接从文字上翻译的话, 那便是failed species.
从达尔文进化论的角度来说,只有强者才能生存.
因此 failed species 应该算是那些在生化进化当中淘汰,绝种的生物.
所以用'败类'来形容我们自己, 更恰当不过了.
因为我们相信自己是社会进化中所被淘汰的弱者
教育制度下濒临绝种的低等生物.

也许希望越低, 失望也就越小.
已做好心里准备留级的我竟然没在会考中不及格.
成绩单虽满目疮痍, 但还奇迹般地考上南洋理工大学.
当时穿着军服的我, 除了稍微庆幸也没什么感觉.
毕竟连BMT都还未 pass out 的我根本不敢对未来保有任何指望.
那年我十八岁.

退伍后的我, 来到了澳洲就读大学.
经过两年半的军训, 视野也扩大了许多.
终于明白学业虽重要, 但并不是人命的一切.
下定决心一雪前耻的我, 似乎寻找到久违的恒心.
那是去年二十一岁的我.

一年后, 恒心似乎又用完了.
以为已重获到的冲刺也灰飞烟灭.
我真的不明白, 好不容易找回的上进心怎么这样容易失去.
面对一个礼拜后的大考, 我完全不知所措.
这个学期, 太糟糕了. 既使及格, 成绩也不会光采到哪里去.
记得Missy Jurisfiction 曾劝过我:"If nothing is enough to shock you out of
procrastination, the prospect of sheer unemployment should".

从当年十二岁的我, 到如今二十二岁的我.
十年了. 原来我还是没什么长进.
少年的我, 已学业做为人生价值观.
如今成年的我, 茫然的徘回在为未来奋斗与享受最后一线青春之间.
不知中年的我, 价值观又是如何?

我曾读过一篇科学趣闻. 活着的时后, 人的细胞会不断的在不同时段更生.
要全身所有的细胞更新, 大约要等三年.
因此每三年, 每个人都可算得上是已'脱胎换骨'了.
我总爱把过去, 现在与未来的自己相想象是身在不同时空, 不同的人.
想想看, 若是想电影Memento 里失去保有长久记忆能力(long term memory)的男主角,

只有短暂记忆的我们, 睡醒后便记不起作日的一切.
基本上, 每一天都在以截然不同的生分过着新一个人生.
如此便不会被往事困扰, 或为未来担忧. 好不自在呀!

只可惜现实中, 无论一个人有多洒脱, 既使能放开一切的想受现在,
将来难免也会被过去所拖累.
让现在的自己放纵, 就会让身在未来的自己悔恨, 受委屈.
一心的为未来的自己塑造完美的人生, 却又亏待了现在的自己.
中庸之道, 却似乎高不成低不就.
但最糟的应该是我的现状, 一条平庸之道.
既每有好好读书, 又没有尽情享乐.
每天只坐在电脑前发愣.
最后亏待了现在与未来的自己.

也许根本没办法摆脱过去失败的纠缠.
现在的我, 最终还是不能解开六年前的心结
不知六年后的我, 又会如何看待现在的我.
若六年后的我正在阅读这篇日记的话, 希望你早已成功.
能够以怀旧的心情观看自己的过去, 真正的体会成功得来不易.
并再接再励, 再创高峰.
但若你是满怀怨恨的阅读着的话, 真的真的对不起.
请原谅自己当年的愚昧. 请别灰心. 人生的路还长呢.
千万别再象六年前的这个孬种自暴自弃.
也许我永远也体会不了您的痛处. 劝, 也只不过是虚伪只举.
唯一能做的, 是恳求您原谅我.
而唯一能见证的, 便是这份<<失败谅解备忘录>>.

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

blog-off


woah, it appears that the toilet-gate controversy is far from over. the cyber feud has certainly went well beyond the realms of the blogosphere, and the flames have started to burn the pockets of individual involved. there appears to be an increasing incidence of blog-feuds in the singaporean blogosphere nowadays, ranging from the comments board heckling, to the ephraim-esque mass barrage, and even to police reports made against racist bloggers. it probably wouldn't be too long before we see the first blog-fuelled civil suit. for all we know, it might well have happened already.



anyway, as with any sorts of communities, be it an hip-hop circuti, a pugillist fraternity yada yada, there're rules governing how feuds are to be resolved. In war time, guidelines which govern the conduct of warfare between combatants are spelt out in the Rules of Engagement (ROE) or Law Of Armed Conflict (LOAC) as any lecture-weary NSF can tell u.



In the pugilist fraternity in ancient china or 武林 , there're also informal rules governing what can or cannot be done in a duel. For example, in a swords duel, the use of hidden darts(暗器), or poison is considered unhonourable and any party who employs such despicable tactics will be chastised by the entire 武林, and will forever be deemed a 江湖败类 and end up getting his/her ass kicked by the 6 biggest sects or forever be incarcerated in a dungeon built beneath the West Lake in China.

these rules/agreements are set not for the sole purpose of ensuring equity between the feuding parties. more importantly, it's the premise for a fair fight to the metaphoric or literal death, depending on the level of ur animosity. with all the nitty gritty in place, a stage is set for feuds to be resolved in the most spectacular ways. confrontation is in our blood. and making the whole process a spectacle just compounds the fun.

a feud-resolving duels can come in a various permutations limited only by the imagination the parties involved. it can range from a death-flirting a gum-tape death match to settle who's the fastest driver on Mt Akina, to a circle jerk competition where first guy to ejaculate has to give up the girl in a love triangle...

it can even be a simple case of a 'Walk-Off' betwenmodels, like what happened between Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson in this scene from the Zoolander.


or it could be like a 'Whore-Off' between Mr Slave and Paris Hilton in South Park by doing this.



are prolly a gazillion different ways for a duel in a gazillion different context. and in light of the increasing feuding antagonism in our blogosphere, here's my little contribution in advancing the utopian ideal of attaining blogospheric peace. instead of the usual uncontrolled mudslinging and 'extra-blogicia' methods employed to drive one's point across, feuding bloggers could challenge each other to not a 'walk-off', nor a 'whore-off', but a 'BLOG-OFF'.

So here's how a blog-off works: somewhere along the line, someone makes a statement on his/her blog and someone else takes offensive to it and a tada! a 'beef' occurs. to resolve the beef, the offended party will then throw the gauntlet and challenge the other party to a 'blog-off'.

then it would be up to the parties involved to decide what methology for a blog-off which they wanna apply. it could be a case of simply delivering, responding with arguments posted on his/ her blog, daring each other to post revealing photos until one party chickens out, or posting photos to compare genitalia size so on and so forth.

then the blog-off shall continue for a stipulated time period. and within this time period, the yardstick for determining the victor of the blog-off will determined by comparing the number of trackbacks posted to their blogs from other blogders. needless to say, the one with the greater number wins. As with most swords/guns duels, it's fun only becos' there's something at stake, then depending on the level of animosity, it would be up to the bloggers involved to decided what the stakes are, if the hatred is not that great, maybe it could be an agreement for the loser to restrain from blogging for a certain period of time, or if there's really deeply entrenched hatred, they might wanna make it such that the loser will delete off his/her blog. the latter case would be the cyber equivalent of a real-life death match and probably shouldn't be taken lightly and should only be reserved for really deep-seated animosities.

and of course, in the event it is a matter of one vs the whole blogosphere, it is then up to the plural side to decided which a blogger from their camp would represent them in the subsequent blog-off. this selection of candidate would be conducted in a way similar to the 'primary elections' and bloggers who identify themselves with this camp will vote on their preferred via trackbacks until one representative emerges. yet it is rather plausible that this in itself might actually lead to even more mudslinging since real life primaries can be pretty ugly too.

then it should be a code of honour that all controversy should end together with the conclusion of the blog-off. no more mudslinging, and the whole blogosphere shall return into the universal embrace as one happy family.

so there you have it. a more systematic way of resolving beefs. the next time u see any blogger buay song, you'll know what to do.remember, be a lover, not a hater.

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

dr faust of the singaporean blogosphere

it appears that a certain full-time singaporean blogger has just posted a podcast ostensibly as an explanation and public apology in response to some controversial remarks she made about the physically handicapped on her blog a couple of days back.

this is actually very intersting considering that this isn't the first time (and certainly not the last) she received flak for posting controversial remarks on her blog. and through it all, never once had she departed from her usual defiant stance at defending her own freedom of expression like this time and much less, to issue a public apology. nevermind the fact that by discussing what 'i-think-people-should-do' or delving into the intricate details on 'how-many-years-i-had-spent-using-public-toilets-without-seeing-a-handicapped-person-using a-handicapped-cubicle', her explanation was at best weak, if not downright incoherent. Even she admitted on her podcast saying that:

'...i dun like to account to anyone, and the age old argument of this is my blog and i write what i want kinda thing. but i know that my blog has reached that kind of extent where i cannot afford to do that anymore cos' of the amount of reach it has and the amount of influence it can have over other people so i would like to apologise...'

It just leaves us wondering what could conceivably render the feisty maverick blogger to be unable to 'afford to do that anymore'.

Considering how the formerly-feisty-blogger could 'afford' to blog full-time largely becos' she actually earns her sole income from the various commercial endorsements she does on her blog, it is not difficult to put two and two together that the public apology was in most likelihood made in order to placate the advertisers who see feisty blogger's increasing unpopularity as a bane to their products which are under her endorsement. it's not even about the nebulous ideal of 'protecting my own freedom of expression' anyone. it's about corporate realism. in exchange for her income, feisty blogger has consequently relinquished the 'freedom of expression' which she previously held so dear.

i remember reading this rather insightful comment somewhere in the wake of the 'seditious blogger' incident. In discussing about the differences between the conventional media and blogs, the writer states that the greatest comparative advantage bloggers have over journalists in gandering mass appeal lies in the fact that bloggers are not shackled by the obsession with commercial interests which journalists faces and is thus more predisposed in writing creatively. if what a blogger writes is boring or offensive (but within the limits of law), all he/she faces is just a dearth of readership. big deal. but if what a journalist writes is either too boring or remotely offensive, he/she faces the possibility of losing his/her job. the media business is after all, a business first and foremost. the writer then argues that it is precisely this constraint that prevents journalists from writing more creatively and instead prompting them to choose the pragmatic way of churning out pages of 'tested-and-proven' job-security-safe' articles.

it appears that feisty blogger has committed herself to that very faux pas. those who followed her blog long enough could certainly remember the good old days when her entries were more interesting and had a greater personal touch when she wrote about stuff like 'how she screwed up her life' or exposing the picture and email of a guy who try solicit sex from her.

yet, boring or offensive or what not, a blog in its purest form is nothing but a diary hosted online and a decision to read someone else's thoughts online is quite simply an informed choice the reader makes. caveat lector. no one stumples on a particular blog 'accidentally' without really making a concerted effort to search for it. if some blogders could just go easy on in their witchhunt for errant bloggers. it is even more ridiculous when you actually see people setting up hate blogs churning out unorignal posts with the sole aim of disparaging certain bloggers.

but then again, isn't that mudslinging and controversy that makes our blogosphere so much more interesting than our placcid mandatory daily read? on second thoughts, i would probably rather stick to watching the showdowns =)

Monday, October 17, 2005

The Malaysian Dilemma

" I got out on the 26th of September 2005 afternoon on bail. I was driving past the Kuala Lumpur Twin Towers on at night and I thought to myself, it does not mean anything anymore. I used to be proud to be Malaysian, the twin towers used to be a source of pride. But now, all my nationalistic pride is gone, I had just been treated like a criminal by my very own country. A country which I loved… Used to love. I used to think that this country was beautiful. But now all I see is a country so currupted [sic] and so dirty. No amount of washing will clean away this feeling. "

-- abettermalaysia


abettermalaysia, a malaysian blogger was recently arrested in a drug bust in nightclub in KL after preliminary test identifited him as a suspected drug user. ABM was put into lockup for almost 2 days and was only released when more comprehensive blood tests proved that he was drug-free . Through his blog, ABM documents his harrowing experience in lock-up and exposes the overt police corruption he and his fellow detainees saw while in custody.

beyond the alleged atrocities of the entire incident, the most telling aspect of the blog was how ABM -who claims to be very proud malaysian before the entire incident- relates his feelings in the aftermath of his arrests, and more pertinently his disillusionment at the state of corruption in the police. and judging from the comments on his blog, it is a point of view that found solidarity amongst other malaysian blogders.

i remember having a chat with a couple of my malaysian frens here in uni and all of them remarked that they had experienced demands for petty bribes at one point or another, either from the traffic police or from their driving test invigilators. they even went as far to say that it had become a 'neccessary cost' to incur just to dispense with the various inconveniences associated with not-resorting to bribing. According to Jerm n Chris, not bribing the tester is virtually means that you're doomed to failing your driving test. It's rather lamentable to know that such a vice has actually become something that is to be tolerated rather than curbed.

It is not my intention to disparage malaysia or nor to condescend the malaysian bureaucracy by comparing it to that of singapore's, for the simple reason i do not have any first hand experiences with bribery in malaysia so it would be uninformed and unfair of me to draw such a conclusion. (In fact bribery might actually be still pretty prevalent in singapore too albeit in less conspicuous form, considering how certain popular primary schools insidiously request donations to the school building fund from desperate parents who seek to enroll their kids into such primary schools.) Rather it is my belief that an exposé should deserve a wider audience and that those who are unfortunate enough to face the brunt of the scourge of such sytemic injustices shouldn never be afraid to speak out for fear of any backlash.

"I have also gotten a letter from a fellow detainee who's girlfriend was one of the 8-9 girls. She was proven innocent too, but I was denied the permission to post the letter. I will try to meet up with her and guess we'll take thing from there. From the letter, it could be seen that some of the girls were guilty and that they were jailed and that they were caught for drugs abuse before.

The letter was not written by the girl itself but by a friend of hers because she was too traumatised to write. Not many of us are as strong and as bold as some of the people that were listed on the comments of this blog. I'm not, Jack's a little stronger, and most of the rest just really want to get back to their lives and I don't blame them. Because so do I."



I did try to recommend this blog to tomorrow.sg about 3 days ago (since it has a tag on malaysia and has a fairly large malaysian readership), but it appears that the editors over at tomorrow.sg seem to have a greater penchant for more innocuous articles like knowing 'what malaysians think about shopping centres in singapore' or 'reasons why MRT rides are not boring'. Well i guess I can't fault that for that. After all, the recommendation disclaimer on tomorrow.sg did say that it seeks '...Internet content about Singapore or by Singaporeans' and being singaporeans, it would be inappropriate to post anything remotely critical about our northern brethrens ala Zoolander. Censorship is perhaps one of our defining traits as Singaporeans haha.

Sadly, abettermalaysia's blog isn't gonna be up for long. as ABM mentioned in his latest entry:

" But for reasons I do not believe many would understand, I may be shutting down this blog on Wednesday. Though I would like to see justice and to continue telling my story, my family cannot suffer because of me. I won't let that happen. "

Self-censorship motivated by the fear of persecution prosecution .... perhaps our malaysian brethren really aren't so different from us after all.

It should be noted that it was never the intention for abettermalaysia to demand or exact any form of retribution on the corrupted individuals. all he sought was to tell his story, and ultimately seek closure after the whole shebang.

" So I will be making a lot of noise. And hopefully the news would travel to somebody with the power to change things and justice can prevail. How many were there before me and how many will there be after me I will never know.

But a better
Malaysia begins with me. And with my friends and fellow blogger’s help, hopefully this country would just be that little bit better. Do forward this link to everybody you know, as everybody deserves to know. "

Let us give him the recognition he deserves before the demise of his blog....

Sunday, October 16, 2005

Gunners kenna I.A

no not again... first it was Chelsea, then Boro, but losing to West Brom??! and to have a former Gunner to score against his old club just rubs salt into the wound.

it's not even about the lack of financial muscle now, it's the pure lack of self-belief. or have we really used up all the karma during the unbeatable 03/04 season?

it sux not having cable, and it sux even more not being able to watch EPL reruns on SBS cos' our TV reception is fucked.

and if having a cheesy name like 'Emirates' for a new stadium name and breaking the bank in the process wasn't bad enough, the possiblity of seeing the inferior half of North London getting a 70,000 capacity stadium for next to nothing just adds further proof to Murphy's Law.

Great. That just fucking made my day.

Thursday, October 13, 2005

迎接最后的战役

, 请别以父之名

如何我一定读书.

就算你不, 我也始懂了 文凭的价.

我明白捞捞叨叨是你的关怀方式,

着了解, 忠言逆耳,

叨的, 我越会装做听不到.


然我最近旷课, 全是情非得以.

年中考试时我夜夜,

以至如今日夜, 仿佛白天不懂夜的黑.

次醒来后才发现早已睡过头. ....


得拿回中四会考成那天,

怒的得哭着"".

后来 我才 , 男人不该让女人流泪.

天意, 今生注定 一个笨小孩.

但无论结果如何, 我一定持到底, 并鼓起勇气来面.



放心吧, 我一定不再保有任何借口,

玩的心情, 安静,

对这一个月后, 最后的.

就算得从黄昏清晨五点, 无所.

我相信我吃得起苦


不知在新加坡的朋友最近好.

然好久不,

但我相信谊历久一样浓

若没有了他,

也不北半球的一个小点而已.

恨不得能赶考完, 立刻回国.

踏入, 放下行李

亲亲亲说一句"爸我回来了"

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

now, perth ain't no hill-billy country no more

it's rather incredible. For the first time in its 90 odd year history, the University of Western Australia has produced a nobel laureate. Barry Marshall and Robin Warren, medical researchers at UWA the 2005 medicine award for proving a bacterium, not stress, caused stomach ulcers and gastritis. it's rather amazing how some of the simplest ideas sometimes require the most convoluted proofs, like the idea the John Nash's nobel winning work on game theory which seems rather simple to understand, but would probably probably require a whole lotta grey matter to prove or apply it, though in Barry Marshall's case, he actually went the extra mile to swallow the stomach ulcer causing bacterium just to prove his point.


now that UWA is a university which produced nobel laureates, it's interesting considering the weird antics of some of our medical students. the med sch students here in UWA, are without a doubt among the brightest in WA, with like a entry cutoff to med sch of like 99th percentile or something. yet some of the annecdotes we hear of med students seem to run contrary to that empirical proof haha. simon, our ex-UDU pres and soon-to-be med grad once jumped into a pool during Worlds 2005 at MMU with nothing but his leopard print underwear only to get up and start grooving to the movin'. Hsien, a soon to be psych grad as well, during the river cruise party at Westers, took off his shoes and was all ready to jump into the water and swim back to the shore if not for some timely intervention. and the best i've heard so far, was the one alex told me, though it seems too bizarre to be true. as the 'campus legend' goes, a couple of years back, there was this med sch student. during one of his lab sessions which involves dealing with cadavers, he suddenly decided to have some fun while he's at it, so he went on to amputate the cadaver's penis and sneak it out of the lab. Our young castrator then decided to go down to the Guild Tavern for a drink and as the legend goes, after a couple of drinks, an inspiration hit as he planned a gag worthy of MTV's Jackass. Here's what he did, he took the penis to the toilet, went into the cubicles to do the neccessary arrangements (as u will soon understand) and waited for a couple more people to enter. When there were like two other people at the urinals, he went out to the urinals, and nonchalently took out the amputated penis and pretended to pee. After a while, he dropped the penis onto the floor and started screaming out in pseudo-pain. That freaked the hell out of the other two guys who ran straight out of the toilets. The castrator probably did it for a few more times, cos' eventually, someone who din see the humour and was disgusted by what he was doing (understandably so), reported him to the school authority and the castrator was expelled from Uni. Then again, considering the weird antics Barry Marshall does himself, the uni probably shouldn't have sacked that undergrad 'castrator'. Who knows, he could have been another nobel laureate someday, or at the very least, a really creative comedian.


Both laureates are perth residents and in fact their research labs at the Royal Perth Hospital are just across the road from the place i'm staying. That's one up over the eastern states, suckers! hehe. yet considering how despite accounting more than 1/3 of Australia's land area, and being just one of the two states (the other being NSW) that contributes more money to the Federal system than it draws, culturally and economically speaking, WA seems to have a disproportionately small impact on Australia. The stereotypes of WA from the eastern state ppl it seems are probably that of a 'rural, agricultural-based economy with next to nothing happening'. And in terms of the hip-factor, i would say, the general perception (from foreigners like me at least) are that perth (WA's capital) is probably not exactly a very vibrant meteropolis like Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane, though it is probably more fun than Adelaide and certainly much more happening than Hobart, Canberra or Darwin. Especially Canberra, i all i recall from my visit there back in 2000 was that apart from the really empty streets, the huge parliament building, and the fact that they have got really bad chinese food. Well anyway, for perth, there isn't even a HMV, or Starbucks, or Borders anywhere in sight. It's probably not a negative thing i guess, since it offers quite a respite from the globalised commercial homogenity served on a dish back home in singapore. Besides, the cafe with the moving rattan fans in the city serves much better lattes than coffee bean or starbucks. Well to be fair, for a city with a little more than half the population of singapore, comparably Perth probably has a rather decent nightlife with probably at a higher bars/clubs per capita than singapore. for a place which hosts gigs like the recently concluded Godskitchen, the upcoming MOS annual tour, Black-Eye Peas etc, Perth really isn't doing too bad after all.

Well the metropolitan lethargy aside, the tranquility is perhaps the biggest niche Perth has, and personally, i feel Perth is far more deserving of being dubbed the 'Garden City' than Singapore. And ironically, Perth is sometimes referred to as the City of Lights - a title which is somewhat incongruent given the lack of street lighting. It's amazing how during spring now, even those on grass patches on the road dividers have nice little yellow flowers all in bloom. it never fails to brighten my day as i drag my sleepy body to uni, jaywalking across stirling highway and stopping at the divider to admire its beauty. Strolling along Swan River can be quite an enjoyable experience too. And the houses here, boy are they gorgeous, especially those in East Perth. While real estate prices remain bullish, comparably, housing costs still remain very much more affordable than cities like Sydney or Melbourne. All these are probably reasons while Perth is considered argubly an ideal choice for middle-aged or retired folks from either south east asia or the prohibitively expensive eastern states to settle down, while youngsters who fail to see beyond the facade of 'lethargy' shun away from.

Either way, when it's time to go after i graduate, i am certain that i will miss Perth, my adopted home away from home.


Thursday, October 06, 2005

'我看呀看着电视, 拥抱未来往事, 痴心陪我一辈子'

i was watching the highly addictive House on aussie TV, when i inexplicably developed a craving to watch channel 8 drama serials. no, i'm not exactly thrilled by the prospect of watching the new channel 8 serials this coming summer cos' the last time i watched channel 8 dramas when i went home in june, the quality of their serials are woefully pathetic, with crappy shows like 同心园 being aired. what i am really craving for are the old channel 8 serials produced during the good o' 'pre-mediacock' days.

much as you may hate to admit, most of us who are born in the '80s grew up on a healthy dosage of SBC/TCS/Mediacorp channel 8 drama serials. even my non-chinese friends in primary school would duitifully watch each episode, squinting to read the subtitles and discuss the plot with the rest of the class. it is perhaps one of the defining things that makes us singaporeans. channel 8 with all the nationalistic propaganda insidiously slotted into the plots of its dramas like 出路 and 和平的代价 has clearly entrenched itself as THE social-engineering institution. and yes, that title doesn't belong to the straits times, cos' the ST is the political-engineering institution.
when i was back home in june, i bought two albums which featured some of the themes songs from the old TCS dramas. and listening to it really brought back lotsa good memories. you'll be surprised how after all these years, after listening to the song, you can actually remember the lyrics and sing to the theme song of 早安老师 !

anyway, here's my personal list of favourite SBC/TCS drama that brings out the greatest nostalgia from the deepest trenches of memory:

15 Superb Drama Serials

15. 神雕侠:


i was never really a fan of fann wong, but this has to be my favourite fann wong serial. many people feel that the serial didn't do justice to Jin Yong's novel but it was certainly certainly one of the best
古装片 TCS has ever produced in my opinion. the scenes were well co-ordinated, the cast wasn't too bad either although the 照型 of 轮法 and 李莫愁 was quite buang cos' the 轮法王 not only had hair, but it was also bright red, while 李莫愁 just looks like she's pregnant and wearing a rabbi cap. the character that i fondly remember was 黄蓉 played by 何永芳. 何永芳 if you remember was an actress from china and back then i felt she was super lao chio dressing up as 黄蓉 . i think the serial aired when i was in sec 3 and back then the entire school was Jin Yong siao cos' just about everyone was playing this chinese RPG game 金庸群侠 and we were all reading comic version of 神雕侠 which drawn by a singaporean cartoonist. watching the characters you play in games or read in comics fight it out on TV was really quite fun.

14. 法医故事





before the CSI induced frenzy into forensics, there was
法医故事 which starred 陈丽贞 as a forensic pathologist. The serial was apparently based on true crimes encountered by the late Prof Chao Tze Seng, Singapore’s top forensic expert. I remember it fondly cos’ just before the serial aired, I read ‘Murder is my business’ a very interesting book which described the bizarre cases which Prof Chao encountered throughout his career.

13. 阳光列车



This was a cult classic that established 陈汉伟’s heartthrob status in which he starred as a maverick teacher. I think the show also starred Fann Wong and Ann Kok. It definitely was original cos’ the show aired way before GTO was made into a Jap drama. I remember the mtv of the 插曲 which sung by 陈汉伟 was rather funny with him pressing his face against the walls and it was parodied by me and my classmates for quite sometime, hehe.

12. 家人有约




This was a super heart –warming serial starring 黄碧仁 and 谢韶光. 谢韶光 was a rather cheebye surgeon who mean to his family and was cheating on his wife played by 黄碧仁, until he met with an accident that made him semi-retarded. The story then slowly describes how the misfortune eventually transforms the family for the better and how 谢韶光 eventually became a less wretched person and how 黄碧仁 stood by him through out all the trial and tribulations. 谢韶光’s acting in this show was perhaps unsurpassed by TCS standards and if I’m not wrong, the serial earned him and 黄碧仁 the best actor and best actress awards in that year’s 红星大奖.



11. 七月俏佳人




This was a telemovie who starred 陈汉伟 as a terminally ill rich boy from the US who was trying to meet his longtime penpal sweetheart (played by hongkie actress, Athena Chu) before he dies. The plot in itself was not too bad but the acting by the supporting cast like Robin Goh, the bimbotic Ziozio Lim and some other random guy diminished the show. The best thing to come out of the show is definitely the theme song 关怀方式 which for many subsequent years was a staple on the airwaves of 933FM. The song was so popular that even my malay platoon mates in BMT were able to play the song on guitar and we just sang it together, yet another example of the pervasiveness of channel 8.

10. 奇缘



I dun exactly remember much of the plot details from the serial other than the fact that it was a 古装片 with several independent story segments. I was probably very young when I first watched the show and I watched several episodes of it from the afternoon reruns when I came back from school. But the sets, the stories were very intricate indeed. It's a huge pity that Mediacorp dun produce 古装片 like this anymore, and even when they do, they're those sorta crappy collaborations with some random china TV station kind. The theme song really suited the show and it just stuck on my mind for many years. I was fucking happy when I found the mtv of the song on the net. You can view the mtv from here.

9. 迷离夜



It was a serial in the same vein as 奇缘, except the fact that it had a contemporary setting. The show was really very very creepy and its theme song made it worse with its mystical, creepy feeling. The defining scary scene from the show is probably the scene with the ghost of an old auntie dressed up in those super old shamfoo with those sorta head band with a jade on it waving at you. Eee.. The only plot details which I can recall is that it starred 朱乐玲 in 2 of the segments, one which she recalls and is confronted by memories from her previous life, and eventually finds some ornament embedded in her body cos’ she was cremated in her previous life and her lover left the ornament inside the urn with her ashes. The other segment was about butterflies who would swamp her all the time. It is definitely the best horror show SBC ever made.

8. 再战封神榜




This one superb
古装片starring 周初明 as the Deity of Fire who fell in love with another fairy and ended up being re-incarnated as a mortal named 华光. I was told by my grandmother who was a former opera actress that 华光 was also the deity which the opera troupe prays to so I guess 华光 was eventually reinstated as a deity. I can’t really remember much of the plot but I do recall that the costumes and 照型 of the actors and actresses was super cool. The Deity of Fire, for one had long red hair and wears a warrior’s armor. I think it was 周初明 first serious role cos’ he was usually cast into comedies before that and so his acting was a little too idiosyncratic for a serious drama. But anyway, it was a superb show with a really good theme song as well. I think it was sung by a random duo group from Singapore but I can’t for the life of me remember what the name of the song is! Arggg. Oh! But guess what, while googling for pictures of the serial, I stumbled upon a website that offers rmvb downloads for the entire serial! Guess I’ll know where my bandwidth will be going for the rest of the month.

7. 出路



This is one of the all time blockbuster serials ever made by TCS. Of course, being a national education propaganda flick that describes the life of our pioneering forefathers probably helped as well. It has a rather strong cast featuring 许美珍, 谢韶光, Ivy Lee, Tay Ping Hui and Terence Cao. From what I can recall, 许美珍 was a reluctant bride who shaved her head to get out of the marriage and eventually ran away from China to Singapore to meet her beau played by Terrence Cao, only to fall in love with the local gangster played by Tay Ping Hui. 谢韶光 on the other hand was a rich good for nothing brat who detested his virtuous wife played by Ivy Lee. Plot aside, the 2 biggest things that stands out was the aesthetics of the cinematography as well as its theme song 我吃得起苦 which was performed by 动力火车. That was a super inspiring song and considering the fact that I followed the drama which aired somewhere after my woeful O level prelims, and just before my upcoming O levels, I adopted the song as my mugging theme even till today.

6. 迷情专访

This is in my opinion the best telemovie ever produced by TCS which starred Zoe Tay as investigative journalist who was relentless in exposing corporate scandals. 谢韶光 stars alongside her as an embittered corporate highflier whose company was under Zoe Tay’s investigation. The script was awesome, laden with imageries and metaphors like those likening a maverick journalist Prometheus who in defiance of Zeus, chose to give light and warmth to the mortals. I know this probably don’t sound very convincing by really it is one good movie. I can’t wait to get my hands on its VCD release from here.

5. 豆腐街




The shows stars 许美珍 as the main protagonist who was forced into marrying to a young little boy called 镙头 as a wife cum nanny according to old Chinese customs or what is termed as a 童养媳. While she initially detests this, she eventually resigns herself to her fate playing the unconsummated wife to 镙头 who refers to her as 姐姐. The most heart wrenching portion of the plot is occurs when 镙头 grew up to be a rather handsome and well-learned young man who fell in love with a young girl his age played by the singer Mavis Hee. Now a middle-aged woman, 许美珍 does not lament her fate nor stops 镙头 from marrying Mavis Hee, but rather offers them her best wishes at her own sacrifice while quietly receding into solidarity, contented at fulfilling her role as just a 姐姐 to 镙头.

Another notable member of the cast is 郑国平 who plays a brutish boar hunter nicknamed 山猪雄, who has a mentally ill and disfigured younger brother played by 陈文聪 as a result of torturing by the Japanese during WW2. 山猪雄 then fell in love with the reluctant bride (played by lo and behold! lao chio bu 何永芳) who was conned into marrying 陈文聪. Much as 山猪雄 struggled to suppress his love for 何永芳, he soon found himself torn between his love for her and his love for his younger brother. The ending was a rather sad one when 何永芳 was accused of adultery or wrongly murdering 陈文聪 I think. and if I’m not wrong, in order to protect 何永芳 as well as to preserve his loyalty to his brother, 山猪雄 chose to confront the police and crowd demanding to get a piece of 何永芳 and eventually getting himself shot dead in the process. It is worth noting that both 郑国平 and 陈文聪 had a superb performance in this serial and it is a huge pity that neither of them found fame nor recognition for their acting prowess. 郑国平 for one is probably one of the most underrated actors in TCS. The theme song ‘城里的月光‘ which was sang by Mavis Hee was really superb as well.

4. 锦绣前程

This was one of those 7pm serials which starred 周初明 as a vocational institute student or VI – the predecessor to the ITE – who had no passion in life other than to get a cheong bike and to play water polo. It also starred Terence Cao as his nemesis who was a rich JC student, and a friend to 周初明 ’s neighbour, a JC girl played by 林璃宾. 周初明 s widowed father who was played by 陈树成 was very a really funky cab driver who himself was rather supportive of his son and trying to put off the love interest from his mamasan admirer played by 刘秋莲. There was a very funny scene when Terrence Cao challenged 周初明 to a bike race. At the scene of the race, 周初明 was waiting for a bike which his father promised to buy for him. It turns out that his father bought him a scooter. Other members of the cast include 周崇庆 -who plays the friend of 周初明 who lacks confidence and wanted to commit suicide when he realizes that he was going to VI but eventually goes on to poly after graduating -, 关德辉 who plays ‘cool man’ a classmate of 周初明 who went blind after an accident, and the then very cute Michelle Chia who plays the love interest of 周初明 a westernized friend of 林璃宾. There was one scene where 周初明 was supposed to attend the prom with Michelle Chia but was turned down at the door cos’ he was underdressed. Michelle Chia innovated by removing her scarf or something and made it into a bow tie for 周初明 and somehow they eventually made it in.

The theme of the show was ostensibly an attempt to demolish education-based snobbery by portraying VI students as hardworking and motivated youths, given the right influences given its title. The theme song was brilliant too. It was performed by all of the actors in the serial I think and it starts like this '有谁不曾在生活中受了伤?有谁不曾在期待中迷失方向?' Awesome song, awesome serial. In fact, it had such a huge impact on me and my friends then that we started imitating 周初明 by referring to our pri 3 English teacher by calling ‘ello!’, much to her dislike, heh.

3. 双天至尊





This is without a doubt a TCS classic featuring the 2nd generation golden couple of Caldecott hill, Li Nan Xing and Zoe Tay. (the original was perhaps 黄文永 and 向云) . For some inexplicable reasons, 双天至尊 II was enacted into the all time top 50 serials on the mediacorp website instead of its predecessor. In my opinion, the 2 subsequent installments was crap, especially 双天至尊 III. Needless to say, the characters are now eternalized as part of TCS folklore. Li Nan Xing plays the gambling prodigy 言飞 who’s being coached by his father played by 陈树成 who wants him to avenge his defeat in the hands of his mortal nemesis 龙庭光 played by 朱厚任 whose daughter, 嘉嘉 (played by Zoe Tay) is the love interest of 言飞.

I think the serial aired when I was in pri 4 and that really sparked a gambling craze in my class when we imitated 言飞 by trying to guess the dice roll by moving our ears (I could still do the ear moving thingy now) and trying to throw the cards across the air like the way how 陈树成 coaches 言飞 by flipping to random chapters of the 三国演义 book and asking his son to throw a card specifically to that chapter. The theme song ‘沉默的羔羊 sang by 赵传 was a sleeper hit which although wasn’t famous, is probably still residing in the deep recesses of the minds of every one who’s a kid in 1993.

2. 最后一个大侠

I simply cannot understand why this serial wasn’t enacted into the all-time top 50 list. Throughout primary sch, sec sch and even JC, I just cannot find a guy my age who do not like this serial or anyone who cannot sing its theme song. Go ahead, just try and ask any Chinese guys who’s about 22 years old if they can sing the song from 最后一个大侠 and chances are that they will start singing 为什么武林高手都要做天下第一, 为什么人在江湖都要说身不由己….’


If it isn’t obvious by now, i was quite a
周初明 fan when I was young. The serial stars 周初明 as wild jungle-book-like child named 英武 who was brought up in the forest and has hair all over his body like a monkey who is yet again the long lost son of 陈树成 who plays a top martial arts exponent named 骆传风 I think (quite similar to the names of one of 黄药师’s disciples I think). When 英武 grew up, he was treated by a 神医 and coached by this highly skilled Taoist priest who was able to stretch his hands. The priest was the mortal enemy to this 江湖恶人 named 紫逻刹 or purple killer. The interesting thing about 紫逻刹 was that he is an ah-gua with purple eye-shadows and purple long nails who leads a double life as a some well respected person when he isn’t 紫逻刹. He was apparently the friend of 骆传风 and the reason why he became ah-gua was cos’ 骆传风 passed him his martial arts manual which are lacking in some pages, and so when 紫逻刹 tried to practice the kung fu on the manual, he 走火入魔 and have yin-yang imbalance and hence become ah gua. Then I think both the priest and 骆传风 got killed by 紫逻刹 and 英武 wanted to seek revenge and somehow managed to kill 紫逻刹. But then, 紫逻刹’s son who is also 英武’s friend also mastered his father’s skills and also became ah-gua and so wanted to avenge his father by fighting 英武. I think in the end, the new ah-gua got killed and 英武 退出江湖 to live happily ever after with his love interest the神医 ‘s daughter played by Zoe Tay leaving a unsurpassable kung fu accomplishment, hence becoming 最后一个大侠.

Man, this really brings back lotsa fond memories. There’s this guy in our class called Cai Zi Cong who always fantasied himself as 杨过 cos’ whenever we play fighting during recess, he would fight with only one hand and tucking in the other behind his back…nevermind the fact that he always kenna zham big time cos’ everyone will be fighting him at the same time. So when we started playing 最后一个大侠 and designating roles, we always bullied him and make him 紫逻刹 cos’ his face was pale and had dark rings around his eyes resembling 紫逻刹’s eye shadows whahahaha! His protests din help, so he was 紫逻刹 everytime. But unfortunately for us, he remained just as enthu about his role and so zealous was he that we all kenna scratched by his fingernails when he imitated 紫逻刹’s killer moves. Poetic justice eh.


1. 早安老师



tada!! Is it any surprise that
早安老师 is my all time favourite? I guess it is probably the all-time favourite of most gen-y guys or gals my age. If every guy can sing the最后一个大侠 song, then CONFIRM every guy AND girl can all sing the theme song from 早安老师 that goes 老师早, 同学们好. 我们开始上课了!’ If you can’t get enough of the song, you can view the MTV here.

The serial stars 陈莉萍 as the ‘Aiyoyo’ 老师 who’s a rich girl who was sent to teach in a kampong primary school called 立仁, i remember this cos’ I’ve got a pri school classmate called Yang Li Ren who always prides himself sharing the same name as that primary school. There she met many students like this two damn funny and cute fat twins called 旺财 and 发财. Their father was a widowed fisherman who fell in love with the principal of 立仁, 张校长 played by 洪慧芳. At the kampong, Aiyoyo met 四眼周 played by Li Nan Xing whom she eventually married, much to the dismay of 四眼周’s father, a medical hall owner who disapproved of Aiyoyo’s westernized behaviour.


There was also a paikia student who would always play truant and ran away from home to the city and joined gangs there. It was Aiyoyo who eventually brought him back and reformed him.
朱厚任 also acted in this show where he played a poor but upright teacher. His wife played by 陈丽贞 was a go-getter who couldn’t stand sharing poverty with her husband and hence left him. Then there was this overage female student played by 朱乐玲 who had a crush on 朱厚任

but her love was unrequited by 朱厚任. Then I think one night when 朱厚任 was getting all upset over his wife’s departure and getting drunk or something

朱乐玲 went over to his place to console him and 朱厚任 mistook her for his wife and gave her a kiss (they probably din shag, cos’ the serial is very G one not PG). The next day, 朱厚任 realised his mistake and told 朱乐玲 that he din like her, thus prompting her to run away from home. Her mother complained, made a big fuss and 朱厚任 was forced to resign.

There is also this really obnoxious teacher played by
王昌梨 who was a relative of one of the directors of the school who always tortured students who misbehaved. Then somehow, the board of directors decided to sack 张校长 for some damn stupid reason I think by making her responsible for 朱乐玲’s 离家出走 and the obnoxious teacher was then made principle in her place. This new principal made things very difficult for the rest of the school and eventually accidentally burnt the school down when he one of his unstubbed cigarettes set fire to the school. I can’t really remember the ending but I think they managed to rebuild the school and the cheebye principal was sacked and 张校长 was reinstated. During her hiatus, 张校长 served as a home tutor to this mentally disturbed rich girl. Apparently the young girl became mentally disturbed when she resulted in the death of her grandma cos’ she willfully insisted that her grandma retrieve her doll which fell into the river thus resulting in her grandma’s drowning. 张校长 somehow managed to open her up and cured her I think. That was I think the only disturbing aspect of who was a rather light-hearted and cheerful serial.

The popularity of 陈莉萍 itself is testament to the success of the serial. For like 10 years after the show, 陈莉萍 always found herself among the 十大 of the star awards even when she appeared in little or no drama serials. Her Aiyoyo character also created a huge number of spin off education programmes that features her speaking in her clichéd ‘Ai yo yo ‘ punctuations. I just cannot think of any other serial that can surpass this in terms of popularity and nostalgia factor.

On the other hand, there are quite a few ‘buang’ cases throughout the history of TCS. Here are a few:

Buang Cases:

- 敢敢做个开心人-

The show is not even funny at all. The fact that the stupid sitcom survived for like 4 seasons and created spin offs featuring its characters like Lobang King only makes it worse. The theme song is fucking irritating somemore the one that goes dunno what dunno what ‘made in singapore’. It’s those sorta pathetic brand humor that really destroys whatever little sense of humour we Singaporeans have left.

-
不老传说-


Sad to say, this is yet another buang case that features周初明. I never really watched the serial cos’ I was damn put off by the first few episodes I watched and it was obviously a rip off from the more successful Hongkong serial about vampires : ‘我和僵尸有个约会’. To think medicorp has the cheek to hail it as one of the top 50 all time serials.

-金枕头-




Hongkong accents aside, just seeing the far too overaged and overweight 万梓良 acting as a heartthrob who wins the hearts of not only Zoe Tay and Fann Wong is just too much to take. If that isn’t bad enough, the fucking serial actually drags on for like 40 episodes with one pseudo arty farty ambiguous ending with Zoe Tay, Fann Wong and 万梓良 pressing their ears against that oversized gold nugget while asking 你听的到吗? 我听到了’. No wonder this scene is always parodied in the old 搞笑行动. And believe it or not, this was also enacted into the all-time top 50 list! PUI!

-卫斯里传奇-

For some reason, TCS simply cannot produce sci-fi flicks for nuts. The plot setting was just too over convoluted for its setting, and the details of the progression of the plot just too flippantly dealt with. Acting was crap, action was too random. I think they even got their story wrong cos’ in one of their story segments 蓝血人 the 蓝血人 was portrayed to be a villain when in 倪匡 novel he was supposed to be a good alien who’s marooned on earth. Pathetic.

-
莲花争霸-




This comes as a close second for the all time buang case, If not for the fact that it was a swordfighting serial so the action probably mitigates the damage. There is little to no originality to the plot. First the shows stars 刘秋莲 as a sultry proprietress of a tavern who in secrets has a team of assassins placed under her charge. She fell in love with the younger handsome, cool assassin played by Li Nan Xing. Come on lor, this is obviously a rip off from the plot of 流星蝴蝶剑. And if that wasn’t bad enough, there’s this owner of a castle played by 朱厚任 who adopted this sidekick as his foster son played by…..female actress 塔灵托雅!! And the best part, this foster son eventually castrates himself to learn the some 神功 from a 武林密集 which is named –wait for this- 莲花宝典 and eventually becomes feminine and sultry!This is CONFIRM guarantee plus chop a plagiarizing of the storyline from movie version 笑傲江湖之东方不败, and not even from the novel version cos’ it is in the movie version that 东方不败 was portrayed as young, pretty and sultry. In the novel, 东方不败 is just a lao bapok. Super duper jialat. The worst part, when I was googling for pictures from this serial, I actually found out that some vcd company in china is ACTUALLY SELLING THIS CRAP to the china market. I hope the china viewers dun go blind after watching this shit.

All time buang case -错爱今生

The show is so buang that I dun really recall much despite being forced to watch it cos’ it airs at 7pm and my grandma and auntie would watch it while we have dinner. I do remember that it stars Christopher Lee, Jaclyn Tay, Irin Gan and one other random actor. Together, they form 2 couples and the two guys were good friends. Then for some weird ass reasons, the couples broke up and they ended up switching partners! Wah lan eh, might as well all go and have a good foursome together! I remember my grandma cursing at the immorality which the show preaches and the serial did draw a lot of flak from the media. The acting was damn bad also. Plus the fact that the plot was super incoherent as to why they ended up breaking up. So that has to be the worst serial ever. The only mitigating factor which I can think of is that we get to see Irin Gan strut around in the show, and even so, she isn’t exactly super chio.

There’re probably tons of worse serials out there, and when I last checked, that irritating show with Pierre Png acting as a retard who kept repeating 美人渔is probably a strong contender for the top spot if not for the fact that I only got to watch one or two episodes. Also there're a couple from Channel 5 as well, such as Masters of the Sea and the serial with unsurpassable tacky names 'VR MAN' featured erm, the VR Man and professor click click.

And of course, there're probably many more good serials that i haven't mentioned. Gosh, this could even be a meme in itself.


So what are your favourite old channel 8 serials?