I wanna watch!
I'm now on twitter.
From blogger to LJ to vox to FB and now... Twitter.
what's next?
I just found out what crab mentality really is.
You do something and all you wanted was to make yourself and some friends happy.
And along the way, it would also make other people (who you don't care about) happy.
But their egos are just too big for any happiness to seep in I suppose.
I know I shouldn't be bothered, it wasn't for them I did it after all.
They're not even friends. And didn't I say I don't care about them anyway.
They probably live very miserable lives I should feel sorry for them instead.
All I'm saying is, crappy people can't get away from the crab in their heads.
LOSERS.
This is how Taku looks in his ongoing drama, except he's usually in a funny-looking plaid suit with a hat that makes him look more like a magician than a neuroscientist.
I missed LH, my former Chinese colleague from Shanghai, so when SS from Beijing came to take over, I felt kind of aloof. I felt no connection between us unlike with LH that we'd go for massages or shop and have lunch on weekends together. I even said that SS and I simply do not have anything in common.
And then came The Call from Mr Manager for Yang Cheng Lin's interview and I had no choice but to pass the phone on to SS. I was scared at first not knowing how mainlanders take to Rainie and I wasn't sure if it would be OK for her to translate. I just had no choice that moment because it was last-minute.
I kept asking her on the way to the interview if it was really OK for her to translate and how she finds Rainie. She said she's OK with her. And she even said that Rainie is very famous especially among the young people in the mainland; young people, who she said, do not care about the "controversies" that got her into hot water with the "nationalists" before. Knowing that, I was somehow assured.
Then the interview happened.
And afterwards, I wasn't the only one dazed. On the way home, both of us said not a few times "she's so nice; her manager is nice" with matching dazed look. And came the confession, that she has turned into a fan of Rainie.
We started talking about other stuff until eventually we talked about Chou Jie Lun. And we found one more common ground. She's a big fan too.
I need diversion from my frayed nerves, thoughts, emotions... whatever!
and this is the perfect antidote. Thanks GailT, saw this in your Twitter.
Aside from Yang Cheng Lin and her manager, I do have people to thank for last night's unforgettable encounter.
Baby hentai and partner-in-crime xwolrax for giving me the "door" to open; and shinbi (who followed me on Twitter for a "live" feel lolz) and my other friends at the "pink home". It's amazing how two individuals could bring together people from all sorts of background. And the best part is having Yang Cheng Lin validating SMART. Now, who could bring us He Jun Xiang to our home???
And lastly, when it comes to things like this, I have become more blase. If it happens, it happens. If not, life goes on, there are other stories to write and people to meet. But the mere fact it happened, then it was meant to be.
So... thank YOU.
The thing with admiring an artiste is the fear that they might fall short of your expectations and disappoint you when you finally get to meet them.
I've been lucky to have seen some of the artistes I admire up close like Chou Jie Lun (just as I expected), Rain (after which I stopped admiring him if that says something), Lea Salonga (a very deserving role model indeed) and Arashi (a very fun experience with Kaytee). And then yesterday, the interview I have been quietly working on the last week suddenly fell through. Yang Cheng Lin or Rainie Yang to you and me. It was so unexpected that I had no time to be excited about it; until now, I am still fumbling with my emotions. Finally, coming face to face with the other half of my OTP, the only concern I had was if I could ask questions about her "other half".
Her manager was very nice and I was wondering, would she be as nice too?
But more than the phsyical, she is very simple and no airs at all. No "I'm a star, look at me" tag on her forehead. Very low-key with only her manager accompanying her in her almost two months stay in the Kingdom to shoot a film. She carries her own bag and does not demand any special treatment (so unassuming that even a hotel staff was the one who acted more like a star with the gall to throw her weight around, which of course earned a complaint from me straight to the GM but that's another story).
She answered the questions straightforward, no fumbling. And the manager did not require me to submit an advanced set of questions to prepare her (unlike other stars and even politicians--the better for them to get their lies ready I suppose). Their only request, no photos of her taken last night to be published and that we focus more on discussing her career, which I happily obliged. They were both very nice about it in the first place, and it wasn't like I wasn't able to ask a question about He Jun Xiang. And she knows a lot of people are rooting for both of them. As to the truth behind them... only the two of them could answer that, not to a journalist like me, but to their very own hearts.
Some artistes are worth the admiration and spending a fortune on CDs, concerts, films, magazines and the like. One of the reason is because they are good in what they do and they work so hard for their craft. But more than being good, I am also one type of fan who would look beyond that. Is the person nice? Decent? Worth admiring in real life? If the answer to all these questions is a NO, then forget it.
True, we don't pay for who they are in real life but who they are and what they do whether on TV, movies or music. For the fantasy and entertainment they offer. I don't agree with that school of thought, however. Because what's the point of supporting someone who aside from having a great voice and good acting chops does not have much to offer as a person? There are always others out there who are as talented and are nicer, more pleasant individuals.
With Yang Cheng Lin, the answer to whether she's nice, decent and worth admiring in real life is a resounding YES. Of course I just spent an hour with her, that may not be enough to judge her wholly as a person. But though it may have been short, if she is a diva or a prima donna, I would have seen it in her subtle body language sooner or later (especially when I was asking the very personal questions or the hotel staff was being a b*tch). I also don't think a nice manager could cover up for an ill-mannered talent.
So thanks to Yang Cheng Lin (and Da Da-ge) for proving that in such a superficial world as the entertainment circle, there is still a nice and decent person who just work hard to do what she enjoys doing and deserves the support she gets from countless of strangers who may not be as lucky as me to meet her personally. Rest assured that she really is worth supporting and admiring, even worth emulating especially her humility and grace.
