Gala Premiere: Everybody's Business

My fiancé, a brilliant sound recordist, worked on this feature film this year, alongside his brother, who served as the director of photography. Therefore, I had the good fortune to join my fiancé and his parents at this premiere at Golden Village Vivo city tonight.

The film was multi-faceted, entertaining and had some obvious quality work on it. And I'm not being biased. I felt the lighting, steadicam, on-location sound, acting, story & directing were good. Yet bcause of the blatant shameless advertising within the film (my own simple opinion, no one else's) and the script's mild propaganda, only one scene actually touched my heart with its tenderness and truth.

So I recommend it, but if you are eating during the show, try to finish your snacks in the first 45 minutes. You'll thank me later for that piece of advice.

Back on a Blog

So I haven't been blogging.

In the last number of years, it's pretty amazing that blogging has become a profession. And it's got some influence and reach apparently.

I am too lazy to do this every day. And yes I have lots of opinions but most aren't strong enough to be sensational. Unless it's a justice or human rights issue.

I recently started saying a lot more online. My Facebook page (http://Facebook.com/t.jill) has many updates of my work as well as some random finds online.

I don't share much of my personal life online. Maybe I feel that my personal friends deserve more of me than the random stranger who chances upon my sites. No offence of course to the kind stranger who would bother with a nobody like me. Heh... Well, maybe it's just cos I don't think anything I experience is fantastic enough to share. I mean, really, who cares what I ate for lunch or what dress I just bought?

That said, I shall return to blogging about work. It doesn't matter if anyone reads it or if it's a personal diary for me. Armed with a new phone, I have no excuse to laze now.

War On Wheels

November 2009. Click on the article to read it!

A little overdue perhaps but I was, and still am, proud to be part of this. The whole team was amazing. This live event was carried out over weekends of November 2009. Juliana Mattar of Motion apparently gave up APEC to make this meaningful tour happen. She, along with her dedicated team including Hajar, were like Charlie's Angels. Managing everything from start to finish. Now they really don't need a Charlie, do they? :-)

My fellow guides and actors, Hemang Yadav and Adi Jamaludin, were engaging and deservingly received rave reviews! Our director, Tzang Merwyn Tong, put his heart and soul in it as much as he does in his films. How fortunate I was to work with them all.

All this was part of the National Heritage Board's "I Love Museums" campaign, so my gratitude goes out to them as well.

Last but not least, the participants, the travellers who joined us on the journey to explore historical sites of World War Two in modern Singapore. Young, old, local, tourist, man, woman, doesn't matter. We couldn't say we were there during those three and a half years (1942-1945) but we all shared in the human experience of love, loss, sacrifice and hope.

Acoustic Originals - Stand Up & Sing

One night only! Acoustic Original Music Showcase
- Sebastian Ho & Gillian Tan
This Sunday, May 23rd, 7:30pm, FREE, Earshot Cafe, Arts House.

Ok I wasn't gonna make a flyer but I ended up making one. So please click on it for an enlarged view of my work as a pseudo-designer using microsoft paint.

Save the picture, save the link, send it to your friends! And most importantly, save the date and time; RSVP on facebook, come if you can! It's free this Sunday and only an hour. I promise not to tell too many bad jokes!

Thank you and see you there. But first, come to "All the Crazy People"!

I am so sincerely proud to say...

Having had a magical run so far, everyone in "All the Crazy People" from the director to the musicians, from our stage manager to our stage hands, from our cast to our venue sponsors, (phew, deep breath now...) feel we should do another show in addition to our schedule of 9 shows, so.... We have a new 4pm show! Please come! Click on the flyer below for an enlarged view of the information. :-)

Tickets selling fast, so reserve now with Hemang at (65) 8179 6221. Come for the 4pm show on Saturday May 22nd at Post Museum (Rowell Rd, map) and we can have a pizza or beer with you next door at Food #03. These are the kindest places with the loveliest folks, with the tastiest healthiest vegetarian food. You will have Noh regrets. :-)

By the way, our 8pm show on Friday 21st May is at an exciting new venue: Eurasian Association's Community House (Ceylon Rd, map). Lots of seats still available in the multi-purpose hall on level 2.

Check us out on facebook: facebook.com/event.php?eid=112347298796271

"Stand Up and Sing" is on again but this time, with the amazingly talented Sebastian Ho on guitar (he plays with me every Wed at Quarubar) so it's going to be very different. Acoustic and heartfelt. I am very proud of it too but haven't had time to design a flyer. I have a flu now so I seriously am not going to bother. :-p I'll just say it will be an awesome 1 hour show!! Just come!
It's 23rd May Sunday 7:30pm at Earshot cafe in the Arts House (near City Hall MRT, map).

Many thanks to all of you and our kind sponsors. :-)

Stand Up And Sing!

So I had a long hiatus away from my blog. Life happens outside of it I guess. I have some time to myself today and wanted to just laze around and try (try is the word) to pack up my hurricane of a room.

But I am going to record some of my originals in a while. The raw versions of them. I need to warm up my voice now.

I have learnt a lot through my time at Holiday Inn. Oh that, that is over. 4 months and I was too tired. I was already doing that and because the atmosphere was somewhat stifling and the salary was insanely low, I couldn't just commit to that. I was, after all, a freelancer. A performer, a Jill of all trades, a vagabond at heart, a gypsy in my soul. So I did so many other gigs in the day from teaching as early as 7:30am, filming as an actor for various projects, working on my original songs, and rehearsing for a dear friend's play. Click on the e-flyer below!

The play is called "All The Crazy People". Is this e-flyer too small? Click on it to see it in its entirety.

Please come see it! We had a swell opening weekend but we have more shows over the next 2 weekends. Extra shows on 16th and 22nd but under a different name. Call or email to find out more. We are all very proud of the show and the dates listed in this poster are the best dates to come in my humble opinion. :-)

May 14th -8pm at Post Museum,
May 15th - 4pm & 8pm at Post Museum,
and May 21st - 8pm at Eurasian Community House

Book through Hemang Yadav (65) 8179 6221 or email him at wisdomofmonkeys@gmail.com now.

Tickets at $22 each.
But if you buy 2, each will cost you $15.
And if you buy 3 or more, you pay only $12 for each.
Could this get even better? Hell yeah!
$10 for students!

Ok, that's all for now. Will talk about my music in my next entry. See you at the shows! :-)

Night 41 - Yesterday

My illness and pace from yesterday was noticed in a feedback form. How sad. But we did fresh songs: "All I Have To Do Is Dream", "Yesterday" and Ben E. King's "Stand By Me".

The songs worked out beautifully although I had never sung them before, even on my own. I guess being careful in new territory helps. :-)

I don't have time to blog after this. I am sooo tired, drained and stretched out. Will try... but no promises. Thanks for reading!