Vintage Singapore Here is a book people nostalgic about old things and old times will love. A lot of things for them to reminisce about. The book is quite expensive, $40+. I didn't buy it. I looked through and took some pictures.This is the cover.Anyone of you here? Preference I mentioned that if I want to buy a camera I prefer Panasonic or Sony. Same for TV sets. For computer my preference is HP. My first computer was a Datamini, the present one is HP. But it doesn't mean I don't look at or buy other brands.Haha, don't be mistaken. I am not making recommendations. I am not saying that these are better than other brands. It is just personal preferences. But I think the following are some reasons why people prefer certain brands: 1. Because of their own experiences 2. What they heard from friends and others or read from reviews3. Influenced by advertisements4. The country of manufacture is important to them Opera titles in English I watched Opera Nite at the Frontier recently. The English translations of the names of the opera excerpts and songs were quite cute but rather long. I only remember two of them. See if you know the names in Chinese:1. The Royal Concubines compete for love and attention. (4 words)2. Praying to the late Royal Concubine Mei in a snowy night. (5 words)戚超群老師戚超群 & 黄莉莉 新域花旦 - 胡宝燕, 钟丽容, 陳玉芬一生三旦 狄青 黄伟坤在新加坡慈善演唱会演出This song was sung by Wong Wai Kuan and Chan Wing Yee at the Cantonese Songs Charity Concert at Chinatown, Singapore, recently. I took clips of the first part and the last part of the song. There are already some clips of this song at YouTube. Below is the beginning part of the song sung by Wong Wai Kuan..狄青闖三關 - 黄伟坤 Responsibility I mentioned before that I had no intention of buying the Casio camera. I already have a camera, a BenQ given by Starhub and if I buy, my preference was either Sony or Panasonic. Nevertheless, I was persuaded into buying the Casio. I think there were two reasons: It was on special offer and with free gifts and I don't mind having another camera.I thought of a letter in the papers. The writer claimed he went to a bank to deposit money but was persuaded to put his money into some other investment instead. This is not related to the Lehman Brothers or those bonds mentioned in the news..I suppose quite a number of people were persuaded this way. But then if the investments made money and they collected their dividends, I think they would be smiling away. On the other hand, when the investments were not doing well and they saw their savings dwindling, they said they were not told the risks and said the banks should not be allowed to sell such investment products.My view is that people themselves have to bear some responsibility too. Why did they change their mind in the first place and didn't just deposit their money in the bank. Street opera scene at Chinatown, Singapore This is the street opera now on till 30 October at Spring Street, Chinatown. A few years back there was more excitement during this time of the year because on some days there were two operas going on at adjacent fields at the same time, one Cantonese and one Hokkien. At that time there were three empty fields. Now there is a Buddhist Monument on one plot of land and another plot of land was converted into a car park. Still further back ten years or more, I remember there were also street opera at Mosque Street and Keong Siak Street at certain times of the year. Here is a short clip of the scene three days ago. The background singing was by Long Koon Tin and Wong Kum Tong. Perhaps in future when you watch this, you could only reminisce with nostalgia. Another accident First about the car accident.Repairs: about $40 more and it would be $2000, double the amount I first estimated. One unexpected item was replaced - the radiator. Maybe there were damages I couldn't see from the top. Exclude the radiator and probably Victor's and MD's estimate of $1600 were correct. It was only a small accident, yet repairs cost so much. No wonder premium keeps going up and insurers are reluctant to insure accident-prone drivers.The workshop is one of INCOME's quality workshops. I would say repairs are well-done, and there is guarantee for 6 months.Another accidentIt involved my camera, the blue Casio camera I bought more than a year ago and which I had written a post about. It slipped out of my hands, at standing chest-level high, and plummeted about 130cm onto the concrete floor. If you still remember your Physics, when an object falls, potential energy is converted into kinetic energy. You can calculate the speed at which the camera struck the floor. The force of impact depends on the mass of the object and speed at that instance.For example, if you are speeding and your car hit a tree, the tremendous force will smash up the car and kill you.As for the fate of my camera, the impact caused the cover of the battery compartment to break open and the battery tumbled out. The screen and lens were OK. I put the parts back quite easily. It can still function but now pictures taken look like this: Car accident Getting into an accident, even a minor one, gives you a lot of inconvenience and repairs are expensive. Even if you don't have to pay, it may affect your insurance premium. So drive with care.I had a small unfortunate accident not long ago. The damages are shown below. Inside, one top corner of the radiator was dislodged from the front of the car but the car could still be driven normally. How much you think repairs cost?OK, give you answers to choose, to the nearest $100: $800, $1200, $1600, $2000 Fortunately, I had an eye-witness and I think the other side was honest when making his report. But still there was the hassle of taking down particulars & taking photos, reporting, sending to workshop, looking for witness to get his statement, etc, etc. The workshop claim advisor told me that if the other party admits that it is his fault, get him to write it down and sign it on the spot, lest he changes his mind and blames you later on. 铁扇公主双剑舞 ... by 曹秀琴 郭鳳女武场 Some interesting pictures These pictures are copied from other blogs.Rock formation - what creature do you see ?Bookface - see, the woman's face and the face on the book cover in almost perfect alignment三寸金莲, three-inch feet - women in ancient China bound their feet to fit into these tiny shoesPain - I think this is from Shanice's blog. Autumnal Rain, 秋雨 This is the name of a movie. I first read about it in MK's blog.Briefly, the story:A Japanese girl was in China learning Pekin Opera. She and a young Chinese man, who was a Pekin Opera artiste, fell in love. But then they learnt of a horrible secret. In the war years the girl's grandfather was a soldier in the Japanese Army that invaded China. He had eaten dumplings filled with human meat and he was the one who executed her lover's grandfather who was a resolute anti-Japanese fighter. How then? Can they still carry on? So, you see, conflicting emotions were set in motion.This is the Japanese girl (as a princess) in opera costume and make-up.铁镜公主 & 楊四郎 .....In the clip below the Japanese girl performed the opera Si Lang Tan Mu (四郎探母) with her Chinese lover. In one dialogue, the Sheng has to address her as 'my wife'. As he thought of his grandfather's death and as images of the Japanese atrocities in the war flash in his mind, would he say it?京剧 - 四郎探母 Primes Writers normally name their stories in sequence - Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, .... This story book I'm reading, the writer named his chapters 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13,17, 19, and so on. The last chapter is 233.Do you recognize these numbers? Yes, they are prime numbers or primes. Remember what primes are? Well, they are numbers which have 2, and only two, factors and the factors are itself and 1. So, 4 is not a prime number because it has 3 factors - 1, 2, 4. Also, 1 is not a prime number because it has only 1 factor - 1. Mathematicians are intrigued by prime numbers because prime numbers have no formula and there are also no patterns. There is no formula to tell you if a very big number, say 21203, is a prime number or not. There is also no formula to find out for example what is the 1000th prime number. Mathematicians may know the largest prime number to date but there is always the next one waiting to be discovered. All these may be useless information for us. But I read that prime numbers have some very important applications. They have to do with secret codes. The fact that the writer used prime numbers to name his chapters tells us that he loves mathematics. Braised mei cai with pork Not long ago I read YG's blog post about how to prepare this dish. So I tried it out with sweet mei cai and not-so-fat pork. It is quite easy but you must wash the mei cai (mui choy in cantonese) clean and soak it in water for at least 30 minutes. The picture doesn't look very appealing but don't be fooled by its look. The taste is not bad. I would rate it 6.5/10. But as teachers like to tell us 'there is room for improvement'. By the way there was a principal who used to write the same remark in the report book of every sec 1 pupil, from the top pupil in standard to the last. You know what he wrote? Just four words:DEAR ROME TROYS SOBOKYou must rearrange the letters. I think like that more fun for you.Coming: 厦门高甲戏, see Chinese Opera Performance Flirting song 小曲 賣生藕 Another old movie song, 賣生藕, which is a Cantonese term referring to women behaving in a flirtatious manner. Old movie song clip 粵語片小曲唔嫁 - 任劍輝 My Singapore I bought this book recently. From the caricatures of the characters, I think you can recognize many of them. Below are some pages from the book.An Aussie's experience performing Cantonese opera for the first time. Another look at the Monty Hall Problem The book I was referring to looks at the Monty Hall Problem the following way which sounds logical to me:Suppose Door 1 and Door 2 has a goat behind it and Door 3, the Car. Possible outcome:You choose Door 1, the host reveals Door 2.You switch doors, you WINYou choose Door 2, the host reveals Door 1.You switch, you WINYou choose Door 3.The host reveals either Door 1 or 2You switch, you LOSESo if you switch, your chance is 2 in 3 or 66.7%.In other words, if you don't switch, actually nothing has changed. The host is just revealing the doors to you one by one. So your chance is the same as the original, 1 in 3 and not 1 in 2.Revealing a door when you have already made your choice does not improve your chance if you do nothing.Hahaha, logical or not? The Monty Hall Problem When I first read about the Monty Hall Problem I didn't pay much attention to it. Recently MK wrote something about this. A book I am reading has a chapter about it too. If you have not heard of it before, here it is :You are in a game show on TV. In this show, the idea is to win a car as a prize. The host of the show shows you 3 doors. He tells you there is a car behind one of the doors and there are goats behind the other two doors. He asks you to pick a door. So you pick a door. Then the host, who knows what is behind each door, opens a door you didn't pick to reveal a goat. He says that you have a final chance to change your mind and ask you if you want to pick another door.What should you do? Do you have a better chance if you change and pick the other door instead?Most people think it doesn't matter. Whichever remaining door you choose the chance is 1 in 2 or 50:50. Not true. If you change your door, the chance is higher, 2 in 3.It is quite intriguing and not easy to understand but it could be proved.If you are interested, search for Monty Hall problem and read it up.I tried out the game with 3 cards, one card with the word CAR written on it and the other two cards with the word GOAT. Every time I changed the original card I had picked. Results: 7 out of 10 times I got a car. That means if I didn't change the card I got a car only 3 out of 10 times. Classic cantonese operatic song 名伶名曲 : 一代天娇(紅線女) Evergreen Cantonese Melody 廣東小調 - 分飞燕 (陈浩德, 森森)女：分飞万里隔千山女：离泪似珠强忍欲坠仍在眼女：我欲诉别离情无限男：匆匆怎诉情无限女：又怕情心一朝淡有浪爱海翻男：空嗟往事成梦幻女：只愿誓盟永存在脑间音讯你休疏懒男：只怨欢情何太暂男：转眼分离缘有限男：我不会负情害你心灰冷男：只你送君忍泪难女：哎呀难难难女：难舍分飞冷落怨恨有几番男：身心托付鸿与雁女：嘱咐话儿莫厌烦女：你莫教人为你怨孤单合：你莫教人为你怨孤单 makan nasi ayam Last week I was sitting next to a Malay elderly lady while waiting outside the consultation room at the Polyclinic. She asked me something in Malay. I did not understand everything but I guessed she asked me if I had been waiting long. 10 minutes only. I gave her a three-word reply in Malay.Then she started talking to me in Malay. Oh no, I don't understand. So I told her so with six Malay words - 'my malay no good cannot speak'. She understood and nodded.Actually I took a Malay course for beginners long ago at night classes conducted by the Adult Education Board which had many courses for adults who wanted to improve themselves. There is no more AEB now. I think beginners was equivalent to mid-primary level.Malay is our National Language, you know.After many years of neglect and unuse, I think 95% of what I learnt were already forgotten. The title words belong to the remaining 5%. (Anyone knows if unuse can be used as a noun?)So if you are learning a language or want to improve in it, you must use it - speak, read and write. 天女散花 - 彭蝶 I took this video last week. It is very short because the theatre management does not allow people take photos and videos. The performer is a huadan from the Hong Dou Cantonese Opera Troupe.The Kreta Ayer People's Theatre has got a new-look website (link on the right column). Opera snippets These pictures are from a recent opera magazine. Leong Siu Meng, wife and son His troupe's HQ and dormitoryRehearsing for a coming showHere are 4 huadans without opera make-up. Can you recognize them? Nanyin pipa & dongxiao 南音琵琶 & 洞箫These are two of the four main instruments used in Nan Yin. The other two are erxian and sanxian. This pipa is not the same as the one used in Chinese orchestras. Also, it is not held upright but cradled sideways, like this ... This is the dongxiao. You blow it at the end. It can produce very forlorn haunting music ...And now, listen to the two instruments ... Paiban The clappers (拍板) is a unique percussion instrument used in Quanzhou nan yin. Music is produced by clapping the two wooden pieces together. The artiste holds a clappers in each hand.And now, listen to the music ..... 灵台怨(南音段) - 新馬師曾 西河会妻 - 黄伟坤, 蘇春梅 SINGPOST I just paid a parking fine at Sing Post. It was really a penalty for my own carelessness rather than a fine for violating any parking rule.It was quite windy. I guess when I banged the door shut, a gust of wind lifted up the parking coupon from the edge of the dashboard and then it drifted down onto the floorboard. The receipt for the parking fine was a long one because it got a lot of free things. You just have to show the receipt to get them: 1. Additional 5% petrol discount at all Caltex Stations. 2. Get $1 off Shaw movie ticket. 3. Get 5% off your bill at KBox. I suppose these are to encourage you to use SingPost and not encourage you to break traffic rules. Until recently, I didn't know you can pay road tax at SingPost. I used to pay road tax at my insurance company, INCOME. And you can pay other bills at SingPost too. Sometimes you can also buy things like computers and cameras. This branch I went to also has an officer from an insurance company to give you advice. Once upon a time the post-office was just place where you went to post letters or buy stamps. Choya This is a Japanese fruit liqueur. According to the label it is 100% honey and also got royal jelly. Bought this bottle from the DFS at Changi Airport last year. Never tried this before. I like the dull-looking fruits in the bottle.Two days ago I performed the opening ceremony. Hee hee, I even had a 'guest-of-honour' - Samak. He was on tv.I drank some mixed with ice. At first I thought it would be like those cream liquor which are too sweet for my liking. But no, it is not too sweet - sweetness merged with some sourness. The taste suits me. You can also mix it with hot water.Alcohol 15% which is quite low compared to the 40% in cognac and whisky.Today is Mid-Autumn Festival.Cheers, everyone. 名曲欣賞 打神 - 蘇春梅