Raining Tea

You must be thinking, what the hell is this? It says 'raining tea' on a sign outside the V Tea Room (at the Esplanade, very near the taxi stand and diagonally opposite Harry's Bar). This means as long as it's raining outside, you get a free pot of tea (yes any flavour at all, gourmet ones included, plus infinite refills!!!) with any slice of cake. Now isn't that brilliant? Only because the V Tea Room is NOT CHEAP and the teas are like, ok, you have to drink to believe ;p

When my friend and I saw this sign, it had just stopped raining. But we thought we'd give it a shot. We asked the waitress 'if it was still raining' (haha don't we sound like idiots?) and she said 'let me check with my matron'. Gosh how Victorian is that? The matron said yes it's still raining although no one was carrying umbrellas and we trooped delightfully into the cafe like little princesses :)

I am not exaggerating when I say it's a terrific experience getting a pot of free tea, and of all places, in the V Tea Room. It's the tea, the waitresses' uniforms, the whole Venetian ambience, the music, the rose petals on each table, the elegant tea tray, the little 'wooden book' in which they store the sugar cubes... luxurious (and I have to add, TAI TAI) to the max! I ordered the macadamia bourbon again (this one you die die MUST try!) and we drank until we had to pee! We also shared a slice of earl grey cake garnished with rose petals, emanating with bergamot essence and melt-in-the-mouth with a little light custard (are you droooling yet?). The bill came up to $4 nett for each person. Sweet sweet deal as we probably downed 12 cups of tea in all. Now you know where to go when it rains. And isn't it comforting to know you've got a pot of tea to warm you up :)? Unlimited tea, unlimited sugar, drink until you pee... you get the idea!

Faith

Faith conquers all. Cliched but true. The woman in the wheelchair in Singapore Gaga who sings and sells tissue paper at MRT stations is one such example. The film shows her singing her 'Jesus songs' with such joy and enthusiasm. I can't imagine myself doing something like that. Not that I'm endorsing what she does. In fact I don't totally approve of it because it would definitely piss off some non-Christians. But her simple, unwavering faith in God has really touched me. In the film, she says that she doesn't sell much tissue paper every day and to pass the time, she sings her 'Jesus songs' to make herself feel happy. At the end of the day, even if her sales are poor, she doesn't feel so bad because 'God always provides'. She even urged Tan Pin Pin to believe in Jesus as 'you will be very happy. I am not lying to you'.

This woman's faith in divine providence is truly admirable. She leads a simple life and it doesn't matter whether or not her sales are poor. She's just happy to sing her 'Jesus songs'. Can I do that? More often than not, when things go wrong at work (and they did on Friday), I sink into a little pit and fret for a bit, wondering if I can get through the next few days. I know I need to trust in the Lord's providence and saving power, but I often fall short. I'm now inspired by this woman who's shown that one can be happy even in dire consequences as long as one has simple faith. Lord, grant me this simple faith in you, that I might not waver in the face of adversity, but instead triumph above all odds and give you glory.

Singapore Gaga

I watched Singapore Gaga at the Substation today. For the uninitiated, Singapore Gaga is a 55 min documentary by local film-maker Tan Pin Pin. The documentary contains snippets of authentic Singapore life that if not captured on film, would hardly be noticed by the average Singaporean. The film features interesting people like the wheelchair bound woman who sings her "buy my tissue paper" Hokkien song, the old man Ying who thinks he's a "national treasure" and performs a harmonica act accompanied with one-hand juggling and clog stomping in MRT stations and Margaret Leng Tan, a Singaporean who's moved to New York and does absolutely nothing for four minutes or so as part of her performance onstage.

Singapore Gaga is just excellent. Tan is really clever at putting little snippets together in just the right way to say something about society: Singaporeans' indifference towards buskers, handicapped or not, the lack of freedom to perform as a busker (Ying was seized and apparently ill-treated by police) and the government's irreversible stance with regards to the dialect policy. As I watched the film, I was both delighted by the authentically Singaporean scenes as well as the undertones that Tan had subtly inserted. The film also has a fair bit of humorous moments. You have to watch it!

Sadly, local good quality films like Tan's rarely get their day in the cinema. I was talking to the marketing guy from Substation who said it's not commercially viable to show such films in the cinemas. How can these films get the exposure they need then? Most Singaporeans aim for the Hollywood blockbusters and can't be bothered to check out lesser known documentaries. So films like Tan's are only seen by a niche group of people--those who are already interested in the arts and who actively seek out what's happening in the arts scene. Singapore Gaga was quite poorly publicised, despite the fact that it has been invited to the Rotterdam International Film Festival and enjoyed a fair bit of attention in the foreign press. Why has it not received the same fame back home? According to the Substation, they did try to market the film to the local newspapers, but only The New Paper and the Straits Times picked it up and even then, Sunday Lifestyle made very brief mention of the film without stating how to get tickets and when it was showing. If the local media and cinema operators do not give the necessary support to such local films, how is the Singapore film industry going to develop? Whether it's commercially viable or not, cinema operators should do something to promote local films. I'm sure they can afford it especially after the recent increase in ticket prices (damn the money suckers!). I'm still waiting for Singapore Gaga to make it to the big screen. The Substation says they're trying to push for it. I hope it won't take too long.

For more information on Singapore Gaga, check out www.singaporegaga.com