30 May 2025

Heard from a film director about how he struggled to work around background extras who make themselves conspicuous on camera – such as wearing shocking pink – when he wants them to be unobtrusive, perhaps through an all-black attire.

28 July 2025

Heard from a action director about how to work with directors who seem clueless about how to achieve stunts on camera (think: kungfu moves like Neo's, in The Matrix series). Sometimes they ask for stunts that human bodies are physically incapable of achieving – this is when the action director, or stunt choreographer, (instead of raging in exasperation), tries to help the director achieve a desired outcome, by suggesting movements that are more suitable for the human body.

29 September 2025

I heard from a veteran actor: “sometimes your ambition depends on luck. I also want to be as famous as Andy Lau – but can that realistically happen or not?”

25 October 2025

Heard from an intimacy coordinator, who briefly introduced her field of work. She shared a resource: Boundaries for actors: Yes / No / Maybe list, by Carly DW Bones. It's over there.

25 May 2026

Heard from a young female who works as a KOL (short for Key Opinion Leader, which is another term for Instagram-era celebrity, or “influencer” in layperson lingo). She suggested developing a Content Calendar – this might help a would-be KOL plan what to post on social media, even on days when no juicy content comes up.

She suggested inviting friends to help you film content or brainstorm content – sometimes they might be happy to receive a sugary drink or a fast-food burger as reciprocal gesture. (Her words, not mine).

21 Sep 2026

Heard from a film director that he had to learn to find a distributor for the film first – before sinking in effort and time to make a polished film. He had learnt the hard way, regarding the importance of a distributor.

I am grateful for countless beings' benevolence in making these kopitiam sessions happen. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

#acting

In my brief mortal life, this cycle has seen a few conferences and gatherings, large and small in number of participants.

The below diagram shows my reflections after one such conference, organised by IPOS (Intellectual Property Office of Singapore). I categorised it into Fun, Done and Learnt.

Yesterday I caught a theatre show that featured practitioners of puppet theatre. It is a form that is practised in rural areas of Tokushima, Japan.

More information on that at: https://joruri.info/jurobe/english

Until the silver fire of the full moon and the silence of the next new moon -

#lunaticus

It was from a 2016 book: “Applied Theatre: Facilitation Pedagogies, Practices, Resilience”, by Sheila Preston. Chapter 1 presented a case study where:

a member of a mental health institution expressed his disquiet at the idea that other members of the group were happy to perform, in public, a play about the experience of mental illness. He felt uncomfortable with the association and that they would be representing “him”.

Indeed, any intervention – which may sometimes be a facilitated workshop, or a staged theatre production – may run the risk of reproducing dominant narratives, leading to anxiety and sensitivity among the disenfranchised.

What then is the role of a facilitator in this social and cultural system that surrounds the facilitator on all sides – whether at the family dinner table, or at the workplace desk, or during the morning commute?

I attended a workshop to find out – it lasted fourteen hours over two days, 10 AM to 5 PM each day.

The host, H.L., was candid about the setting of the workshop: “Workshops are romantic. They allows participants to meander on topics. After the workshop ends, the participants – and their accumulated know-how – are tested by the reality that awaits them outside of the workshop venue.”

The books referenced in this workshop did not make for light reading:

1. “Theater of the oppressed”, a book by Augusto Boal (a Brazilian).
2. “Pedagogy of the oppressed”, a book by Paulo Freire (another Brazilian).
3. “Games for Actors and Non-Actors”, by the same Boal.

Time does not suffice to elucidate the proceedings of the workshop in detail. Nonetheless I attempt a sketch.

The participants numbered about thirty. Most appeared to be in mid-career, whether as a facilitator of workshops within a large, top-down organisation, or as a founder of a small enterprise.

H.L. started the workshop by inviting participants to set the rules of engagement.

Two participants collaboratively volunteered the first rule: “Hold space for each other's choices”.

Another rule was volunteered: “have fun”.

As a group of strangers coming together for the first time, this first activity served as scaffolding for the next seven hours of the first day.

H.L. introduced the “banking” concept of education (from Freire's book) where students are seen as docile cabinets that store the knowledge that trickle down from the teachers' authority-position; think: large imposing teacher's desk in the classroom, and quite possibly a punitive device, such as a rattan cane.

But H.L. draws from Freire's idea of the problem-posing method: here is a problem that has emerged; how shall we solve it together? This dissolves the dichotomy between teacher and student. In Freire's words (as translated by Myra Bergman Ramos):

“He [the teacher-student] does not regard cognizable objects as his private property, but as the object of reflection by himself and the students. In this way, the problem-posing educator constantly re-forms his reflections in the reflection of the students. The students – no longer docile listeners – are now critical co-investigators in dialogue with the teacher. The teacher presents the material to the students for their consideration, and re-considers his earlier considerations as the students express their own. The role of the problem-posing educator is to create, together with the students, the conditions under which knowledge at the level of the doxa is superseded by true knowledge, at the level of the logos.”

H.L. has his own spin on this afore-mentioned “re-considering of earlier considerations” – he coins the term: Negation Of Negation. (A heady brew of words, for sure).

In other words, the facilitator considers the downsides of the participants' choices, and then performs an intellectual leap to re-consider his own thoughts about the supposed down-sides – what if I go along with the participants' choices? What choices would be lost? What would be gained?

This idea could certainly be lost in a stew of cerebral-sounding words that ring hollow for participants and clients of the facilitator, so H.L. has provided a role model during this workshop, by having all 30 of us engage in activities that involved our physical bodies. These were games titled: “Take my name”, and “Sword and shield”.

“Learning involves the body and the emotions,” H.L. observed.

After the games, we sat down and formed a pair to discuss what happened during the game. This was particularly insightful as every one of us (30 pax) had brought a refreshing perspective based on our differing professional experiences: for example, one was a theatre performer, while another was a social worker.

According to H.L., the praxis of building possibilities together in such a teacher-student collective exploration, comes from (a) action and then, (b) reflection.

There was certainly plenty of time for games, and plenty of time to reflect on how the game illuminated these aspects:

1. What did I notice about me as a person?
2. What did I notice about Facilitation?
3. What did I notice about myself as a facilitator?

In retrospect, I realise that the game serves as the problem-posing method. What happened in the game just now? How can we play better the next time?

This brings me back to the topic of this workshop, Critical Facilitation. Such a process of Critical Facilitation serves a dual purpose: (a) identifying the forces at play, in a oppressive dynamic – for example, to consider a dynamic between an alcoholic father, and his worker-children who toil away in sweatshops to send him money to feed his alcoholic addiction: there may be a toxic dependence on each other, and that is why the children are reluctant to leave: they rely on any crumbs of affection from the father, while the father is unable to find a job due to an economy that prioritises cheaper labour from women, and then he feels useless, and then he drinks to numb his pain.

A workshop setting (hopefully) allows the disenfranchised to build the world they live in, giving a voice to tensions that exist in this situation but which may have gone unheard in the outside-workshop setting. H.L. quotes Thomas Hardy here: “The caller always calls but is not heeded. That is why love falls through.”

Question: can the caller be heeded in a facilitated workshop?

But such a singular purpose is not enough. Critical Facilitation serves the second purpose of (b) imparting skills so that participants can make change after the workshop, as they return to their communities, in the hopes that they themselves can participate in such change.

A question for myself: what kind of skill might be useful to an adult child of an alcoholic father?

I think, perhaps that might look like instilling a greater sense of confidence in that individual's own gut feeling and intuition, which may likely have been buried under the shame of having been abused verbally and physically by the addict-father.

But, in the spirit of curiosity, and to apply Negation Of Negation, perhaps my above-ventured intervention could run the risk of being repulsively prescriptive – perhaps a facilitator could more skillfully serve the adult child by being asking what he, or she, wants – what she (i.e. the adult child) finds helpful and what she finds unhelpful.

However H.L. sounds a caution for any would-be facilitator, by quoting a Jewish proverb: “When humans plan, God laughs.”

This corresponds with the Biblical Book of Proverbs, chapter 19, verse 21: “Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails.”

At this point, I want to end this short reflection by listing the questions that H.L. has invited us to carry out of the workshop venue:

1. What did this space just admit?
2. What limits us here?
3. What will you bring into your space of practice?

Thank you for reading.

#acting

A howl emerged from the character on stage. “You're a bag of rats!”

The character had a pot belly, wore a beard, and sported a mass of curly, rust-brown hair – and when he got upon his feet, after having lain down conspicuously, the audience could see, stretching around his corpulent belly, the waistband of his off-white underwear.

“My mental health is going from bad to worse!” he screamed.

The character was not in a monologue; for the large part of half an hour, he had been verbally jabbed, poked, and mocked by another character: buxom, blonde and lipstick-ed. And cruel.

Cue cruel laughter.

“It's one thing after another with you people,” this latter character said, in a whining voice. “And you always blame it on me.”

What a havoc-wrecking, mind-contorting use of the language of victims, to bully and further victimise the former character, who had finally lost his patience with the relentless verbal assaults. Was he wrong to erupt in rage?

Nestled among the smartly-dressed audience of about seventy people, comfortable in my seat near the stage (third aisle from the front), I believed him. It was realistic.

The characters had said before opening the scene: “This is a play. If anything on stage bothers you, this is not real.”

But even if the play features a group of actors living realistically under imaginary circumstances, as tutors of the craft of acting like to repeat as a mantra, the audience have palpably resonated with the chaos and emotional upheaval on stage.

Look! It is a parody. A parody of the infinite pinpricks that ensue from living in society as someone who looks conspicuously different: a stammering speech, for example. Or a pot belly. Or a hand that never stops twitching.

That was why the audience laughed. They recognised somebody in the mirror. The mirror that is the stage.

Once upon a time, in a kindergarten far, far away, a young boy loosed his faeces inside his kindergarten shorts. His classmate made a disgusted face and would loudly tell a parental figure about it, at the kindergarten gates. The kindergarten teacher smelled the faeces within the hour, and quietly decided to resign from the job as soon as possible – perhaps the next day. That young boy was five years old and his name was Derrick. Question: where is Derrick today, and does he remember that day in kindergarten?

Back on stage, the play ended with the sound of wind and rain. A character named DeathWeather clapped his hands and the lights switched off.

The popular king's military campaign ended with failure because the winter had proven too cold for the horses and chariots he had had sent into the northern country.

I am grateful today for: no hurricanes, no earthquakes, no food-poisoning (cue diarrhoea and vomitting), and no Covid lockdown.

There are doubtlessly multiple bad things in the world. But I am grateful that it is not worse.

I will tell my sister I love her.

• fin

Note: “As an ensemble of actors who identify as having an intellectual disability or as neurodivergent, Back to Back Theatre continues to prod and confront audience expectations and prejudices. Multiple Bad Things wades further into treacherous waters, with thrilling results.” (Quoting from a 2024 review by Tim Byrne from The Guardian).

#acting #PostPerformanceThoughts

Since the previous new moon, I have had the opportunity of stumbling upon remnants of the Berlin Wall (above).

The information board (below) might do a better job of explaining it than me.

bookshelf

• Voyage in the dark, by Jean Rhys.

#lunaticus

You are the moon Hiding my face Eclipse today

Our shadow, dancing For the people below

Now you are here Now you are gone

We touch in the sky of our memories

#poems

Dory in Finding Nemo said: “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.”

snapshots

Recently I learnt

The below photos show a method of brewing coffee, known as siphon.

It relies on a combination of immersion and percolation techniques to extract flavour from the coffee.

The glow in the photos come from a halogen heating element.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention – there appears be a filter layer in the siphon set-up (not shown in the above photos), which resemble the filter layer in brewing devices known as Hario V60; this filter layer in the siphon mechanism has been made of cloth in earlier years, but has become paper recently.

Thanks to Elaine for the demonstration.

bookshelf

1. “From nerd to pro: A coffee journey”, by Patrik Rolf.

#lunaticus

Since the previous new moon, I have been touring various locations where earthlings gather, colloquially termed “watering holes”.

Observing your hidden resentment, and open conflict, I am reminded of one of the proverbs from your ancient sages from China:

“君子和而不同，小人同而不和。”

short stories

Allow me to present a few sketches of human behaviour, that I have dreamt about. Perhaps this might entertain you until the next new moon.

Graphic and disturbing imagery follows. Reader discretion is advised.

Harold

The wind flipped the pages of the Harold's book, but he did not notice. The pungent, smoky titillation that the Scotch whisky presented to his olfactory senses proved too captivating.

Gazing at the honey-coloured concoction, Harold marvelled that he had had an entire bottle of the delicate liquid to himself. Not too long ago, he had watched enviously as men in tuxedos poured a dram for casually-dressed, corpulent tourists from abroad, and now he, Harold McDonald, could have this bottle, all to himself, in the convenience of his lodging. What a little convenience that an inheritance makes.

But, unbidden, a memory came to Harold like a grainy video: long hair, flying in the wind — green leaves, rustling — laughter, tinkling like little windchimes.

Where was she now? The bottle of Scotch sat expectantly on the shelf before Harold, as if eager to please, while he roamed a restless hand across his bald scalp and frowned; how could he ever rid his mind of this video? Dang these thoughts!

It wasn't fair! He had retired! Everything his friends strove for, he now imbibed in excess! Private gardens! Famous acquaintances!

And yet — and yet — her voice came, floating to his ear of ears: “I'm getting married to Mark. This is goodbye, Harold. I don't think we should meet again.”

• fin

Siti

“Help me,” said the woman, sobbing piteously.

Sheena stopped mid-stride, looked up from her high heels, which she had been inspecting for dirt, and then noticed the woman: red puffy eyes, tear-streaked cheeks, mucus —

“What's wrong?” Sheena softened, and knelt down to where the woman was perched on the curb of road.

“My boss —” the latter choked out, “My boss —”

“My boss make me fuck men!” At this last burst of emotion, the woman started wailing.

Sheena found that a lump had formed in her throat, and she attempted to swallow it. What should I do?

“Let's go to the police station,” she said, trying to keep her voice steady. “I'll go with you. Can you manage to walk?”

The woman silently nodded. She has no bags with her, thought Sheena. Did she escape from her boss, in a hurry?

“What's your name?” asked Sheena politely.

“Siti. Siti Sri Bandar.”

A pause swelled into the conversation.

“I have a daughter,” continued Siti, “back home in Mujina. She's turning 10 years old, this year. Please don't tell her about this.”

Siti looked at Sheena, pleading.

“Your story is safe with me, Siti. But I want you to tell the police officer everything. This is not right, what your boss is doing. If they go after your boss in a criminal investigation, this may appear in the news. I hope the reporter or the judge keeps your name anonymous.”

Sheena paused.

“I'm so sorry this happened to you, Siti. Can I buy you a cup of teh?”

• fin

bookshelf

1. Editor: Margaret Thomas. “The politics of defeat: Preliminary chapters and the secret diary of Francis Thomas”.
2. Publisher: NVPC, Singapore. “Guide to Impact Measurement: from intent to impact, for non-profits.”

#lunaticus #CraftingStories

I have been attending so-called “town-hall discussions”, in various industries; and cherishing precious moments with friends, and (chosen) family.

I would like to present a haiku from a friend:

no one said the road was easy; but no one said it was not joyful

And today, someone lent me colour markers and I enjoyed myself by playing with them:

As an acquaintance has reminded me:

“Just an ordinary island, with ordinary people, living ordinary lives: what an extraordinary day!”

bookshelf

1. Will Guidara. “Unreasonable Hospitality: the remarkable power of giving people more than they expect”.
2. Dr. S.E. Aw. “Chats with Uncle Loh: First Aid in Theology”
3. Gail Sheehy. “Passages in caregiving: Turning chaos into confidence”.

That's all, folks! I wonder: what will the next lunar cycle look like, for you and for me? How exciting!

#lunaticus

People gather up the courage – or recklessness – to ask the pianist to play their favorite songs. Is the pianist up to the task of playing a song that he has, quite possibly, never heard of, until this encounter with a stranger who is now gazing at the pianist expectantly?

Now, then, gird your loins, (as the writers of 2000-year-old texts like to say), and let us investigate the scary ocean of Song Requests.

1. Polski drogi (translated as: Polish Roads)
2. “She's a lady”, a song by Tom Jones
3. Theme from The Godfather (a film)
4. Aerith's Theme, from Final Fantasy VII (a video game)
5. “Tadhana”, a song by UDD (a Filipino band)
6. “Exodus”, by Maksim
7. Theme from The Bund (上海灘), as popularised by Frances Yip. A television series goes by the same name: The Bund (上海灘).
8. “Song of healing”, from Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (a video game).
9. Golden Hour, a song by JVKE.
10. Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You, a pop song.

#lists