Author: sarah

Well, this is seriously Sarah and that's all you need to know for now.

An Irish Tour of Singapore

Yesterday was St Patrick’s Day and I chanced upon Rozen aka Rosemary at the parade while I was helping the Jedi in the Star Wars contingent record stuff. Technically, if you were there, you might notice me in this here picture (page 6, 17 Mar 08, Today Paper).

Spot me

Well, I suppose not really unless you zoom in but I was lugging camera equipment around in the background.

Anywho!!

Ten minutes before the parade started, I called out to her for a hello and all and then… GASP!

She shoved me this!

Irish book

An Irish Tour of Singapore, published by Two Trees, her book was finally done! AND it’s published by Two Trees aka HER publishing company. What surprised me most was that it was a HARDCOVER book.

Frankly, how many hardcover books have you seen printed for local books? Not many right? (Books meant for literature class don’t count since those are for students who’re rough on them.) Or they might mostly be for children’s books too… as it is, it’s NOT often!

irish book inside

The paper quality is pretty nice too, smooth and white since there are also pictures printed in it to reference the historical events that has happened.

Although it IS pretty much a history book of sorts, talking about the Irish in Singapore, for some reason, it doesn’t really feel like it. It didn’t feel as boring as some other books I’ve read (for history) and somehow… the writing is sassy.

Maybe it’s because I know the writer or the subject matter of the book but in all, it feels upbeat and you’d go “Woah” over the facts in it.

For instance, I did not know a lot of the roads I’ve been to around Orchard and such are named after Irish people!! Heck, I didn’t even know “Killiney” was Irish. The name only brought “Coffeeshop” in my mind because of the famous coffee and toast around there.

The history it brings makes you realize there’s a lot of Irish in Singapore and the contributions they did in building up the country!

There’s a slight moment on page 59 of the book that hit me as the chapter was about the Catholic Brothers and Sisters coming to set up the schools and teach people here in Singapore (St Joseph’s and CHIJMES for instance). You learn that these people really, REALLY want to help the people back then in giving education, medical help and all.

And okay, I admit.

There was one line too about one of the Sisters marrying the captain of the ship (this is legal back then since it wasn’t in their vows and whatever so she wasn’t breaking anything) AMIDST THE BACKGROUND OF TURBULENCE AND PASHIIOOONE.

Okay, okay…

So not really much on the passion but the book described the journey from where they came to Singapore was not an easy one. They had SHIPS back then and STORMS and fevers and stuff! And to think they’d travel all the way through the hardship to just give the people back then education, help, Churches and etc.

This book has pictures and pretty much a LOT of info on the Irish from the past till the present in Singapore. In fact, page 109 made me snort in amusement because the writer had written about herself winning the Singapore Literature Prize Merit Award under the chapter about the arts, culture and media. This is true (she’s Irish!) but I could imagine her saying “HAH!” or “Me, me!” while writing this bit.

Me thinks, if I get to know more writers and read their books, I’ll start to have a mini commentary in my mind on how they write or something.

If you’re a history buff or need research or inspiration about the past, go pick up the book!

It costs SGD$25.

The official launch is in June so I’ll probably post a reminder till then.

When it comes out, it’ll be available in major bookstores and possibly Amazon too, so hold on until it’s properly released!

It’ll also be on sale at their website.

Creative Lighting Workshop at SMA!

 visitor pass

Okay, on the 26th till the 29th of February, I had a creative lighting workshop at the Singapore Media Academy and it was so freaking cool.

cameras

In any case, the course was only $500 but it was totally worth it. That is if you are interested in lighting. The instructors for this course was Don Bachmeier (he’s from Lowel and here are some stuff he teaches) and Brett Smith.

If you ever wanted to learn lighting, this is the course to go. I used to learn lighting in my polytechnic but I found it boring and had nothing to do with lighting since then (I let the crew focus on the lighting while I did my own things anyway since I wasn’t part of the lighting team usually). It was until I got into this course that I got enthusiastic cause it is that good.

green screen

So if you ever wondered to enroll in it whenever you see it popping up under the SMA website, you can be sure it is THAT cool. You get to learn a lot of techniques and the instructors will help you if you have some scenarios or problems with some lighting things you’re doing at work or school or wherever.

light demo

It SO made me like lighting more than I did back then in school and now I’m totally into wanting to do my own so I can improve the feelings and mood of my pictures and videos!!! I know now how to make them look like what I want now instead of just using photoshop or whatever to improve them.

bunch of lights

Plus, you get to play with expensive lights, diffusers, gels, etc!! Including High Definition cameras (le gasp!!!). In any case, you are supposed to do some stuff in the last two days of the workshop so you can be “qualified” and get your certificates, heh heh.

lamp

Yeah, that’s mine, hur hur. I made the model hold the lamp like that and adjusted the lighting so she would look menacing. I hope the organizers will send us the dvd of our stuff soon! Cause they look SO good in HD.

Meet a Literary Agent…

This is amusing because this was the same title Rozen and I came up with when we did an impromptu Agent session last year at the Writer’s Festival.

For those who missed last year, there’s another literary agent holding a session!

Here’s the info!

Meet a Literary Agent

Ever written a novel and never quite knew where to send it? Wanted some advice about getting your works published but was not quite sure who would have the answers? Then chase away your Monday blues and join us at this session with Jayapriya and Priya from Jacaranda Press, India’s leading literary agent now based in Singapore. You can learn more about the business of literary agents and pose ANY questions you may have to them.

Date: Monday, March 10
Time: 2.30pm onwards
Venue: Temasek Room (Level 6, MICA Building, 140 Hill Street)
Admission: Free (kindly RSVP by 6pm on Friday, March 7, to koh_jau_chern@nac.gov.sg)

Curse of Jeju Island

When I saw this book, I went “Hmmm”, seeing a manga styled cover art with Korean text in the Singapore shelf of the bookstore. I then went “You must be kidding me” when I read the blurb.

Here’s the blurb anyway:

Over fifty years ago, more than 60,000 people were killed during the ‘Jeju Massacre’ on Jeju Island, South Korea, when the South Korean army attempted to brutally suppress an armed insurrection by the people of Jeju. The bodies of the victims – civilians, rebels, and soldiers alike – were sealed in a volcanic cave on Mount Halla to rest, or so it was hoped, in peace for all eternity. However, decades later, some of these bodies were mysteriously resurrected as vampires and they are now doomed to roam the streets of Jeju seeking living human prey and continuing the battles that they once fought in life. Thus, the bitter feud between the two mortal factions – The Regiments (former soldiers) and The Guerrillas (former rebels) – has now become immortal. Today, fifty years later, we meet Han Mirae, a young Korean girl who is caught in a love triangle between Jackie Chang, a swashbuckling vampire hunter from Singapore, and Shin Taewoo a powerful vampire of the Guerillas. And, we meet Kim Hyunsuk, the opal-eyed vampire of the Regiments, who abducts Mirae in order to set a trap to kill the other two.

Can Taewoo or Jackie save the girl in time? And who is Mirae’s real love?

I retranslated the blurb in my mind and grinned.

Seriously, how could I NOT buy the book when you have a vampire slayer named Jackie Chang with hot Korean vampires and an alledged love triangle? The current blurb is wordy with educational historical value but what basically got me into buying this is “Singaporean vampire slayer”, “hot Korean vampires” and “love triangle”.

YOU CAN’T RESIST NOT WANTING TO READ IT.

Sure, it is in the Singapore shelf, which is sadly where most local books… die if they’re not marketted strongly by the authors or shops. Or sometimes, they’re not even reviewed and no one realises the existance of these books… So nonetheless, I must read it and review.

Anywho, after buying Curse of Jeju Island, I went off to read it. Okay, I lie, I read it a few days later because I got busy but I DID finish it and if the author is reading this review, I would like to smack you hard, IN A GOOD WAY!

Because you are evil and ended the first book of this trilogy at a part where you KNOW readers are going “WHAT?! WHAT!?!?? That’s the end for this one?!”.

Right, right. Let me do a “semi-professional” review of this book now.

Curse of Jeju Island is pretty much what it is said in the blurb of the book, however the story takes a rather educational tone about Korean culture and language. Sometimes, you might wonder if you’re reading a book about Korean food and greetings or if you’re really reading about the vampires on the island.

It is useful however since not everyone would know what the Korean dishes or terms are but I suppose there must be a better way somehow of integrating this into the story without making it sound like you were having a tour guide in the middle of the book.

The story is pretty simple and while the writing isn’t too bad, the author could get the story spruced up a bit with a little more editing. For those reading the book, well…

Some of the characters might seem familliar to you, perhaps it is on purpose by the author on having a teenage boy named Jackie Chang as the human hero but as you read on, readers of Japanese manga or watchers of anime might wonder if Ronnie is a fan of popular Ninja series.

For one thing, Hayeon, a girl vampire in the story is a timid shy thing with a description of having opal eyes with no pupils at all. Further more, she wears a thick white jacket with a ton of clasps in the front. If that doesn’t ring a bell to some of you, then perhaps it’s purely my imagination going on overdrive.

On an unrelated note, I’m actually REALLY liking Hayeon and hope she’ll have more appearances in the second book even if she isn’t the “main” character of the story. I just can’t help liking her!

Right, on with the story. To me it felt like it had a slow beginning and the action only started around the end of Chapter Six. Overall, it had pretty action sequences and imagery.

I can’t say more without spoiling so just get the book! I got it for $12.89 at Popular. The quality of the book is pretty good and it’s published by Candid Creation. If anything else, the writer’s blog is at http://ronnieng.blogspot.com to see upcoming books.

I’m definitely waiting for the continuation of Jeju Island and… PONTIANAK SLAYERS OF VAMPINES!

Sometimes you shouldn’t judge a book by it’s title.

School is gonna staaart!

While the website isn’t really completed, it’s technically 70% completed since I haven’t done a new showreel yet… Anyway, I figure why not just get on with the show on the blog side?

After all, this side is pretty much complete and you can read what I’m up to yet.

At the moment I’m about to start a part-time course for the Bachelor of Media Arts. Hopefully, I can get very very good grades for this.

Right! Besides uni things, I’ll be talking about LOCAL books. Or rather, some of them that aren’t your usual “Boohoo, agony, agony. I’ma giiiiiiiirl and you sold me” stuff.

I’m gonna try hunt down amusing/fantasy/romance stories published or written locally. If you’ve suggestions of anything, feel free to comment me.

The upcoming book I’ll review on would be a Korean Vampire story with a teenage Singaporean Vampire hunter… Yeaaah, I know but it seems to have a lovely potential about it.

Besides local books, it might have local writing events or perhaps competitions to publicize etc. Anything to do with writing and stories really.

So, let’s do this thing!