Details of Wang Leehom’s Hua Tian Cuo (my Housewife version)

我有空的时候再加中文翻译。

Artistic interpretation is really a reflection of yourself rather than the artist sometimes.  Most people who watched this felt my video was humourous. I didn’t feel that way when I was watching or editing it. Well, not if you’ve done this (as in housework) hundreds of times.

Hua Tian Cuo by Wang Leehom was about the contrast of two worlds, one attracts him more than the other. If you haven’t watched my video above, it is about about me fitting a wannabe musician and a housewife together. Me trying to record the singing and the flute parts in the morning in between chores, and me trying to play the bass guitar and other instruments in the afternoon, fitting them inbetween chores again. One reality is definately more attractive than another. I think I appear as a happy musician, but who smiles when doing household chores right?

But than again, though there are no smiles or laughter when doing chores, I think there is a beauty to household work. A quiet, persevering and sacrificial kind of beauty. Ok whatever. Back to the point – the contrasting of realities.

Here are some minor contrasts I included into the video. I will provide some written description, but the interpretation of these is up to you.

In the video: dangling of keys

Description: Two sets of keys dangling. Pink one on the left are keys to my home in Sg. The one on the right are keys to my home in NYC. Two different worlds, both are me. The order of percussion is Sg → NYC → Sg.

Pair of chopsticks with symbolic indentations of marital bliss

In the video: Cheap Chopstick vs Expensive T & Co Crystal Vase

Description: The chopstick is part of a pair that has symbolic indentations of a dragon, a pheonix, and chinese words of marital bliss inscribed onto it. The flower vase is an expensive Tiffany and Co gift from my sister-in-law for last year’s christmas.

The crystal clear “ding!” sound you hear in the vid is made of one part chopstick of marital bliss, and other part crystal vase that has never held flowers.

Between Videos: Washing Machine Coin Slots vs Opera Percussion

Description: In the interim of the song where the erhu wails a beautiful solo, Wang Leehom’s version is accompanied by traditional chinese percussion. Mine is accompanied by the percussive sounds of slotting coins into the washing machine.

In the video: Right vs Wrong side of the guzheng

 Description: (Top) The right side of the guzheng is the correct and typical area to play music. (Bottom) The wrong side of the guzheng is typically used as a pitch modulator ( it is not usually used for music itself, but occasionally it can be used to ornate neo-classical songs like 《战台风》. ). In my video, I played both the right side and the wrong side (which produces a dull twangy sound) to add a contradictory sound to the music.

I played 223535 (re- re-mi-so-mi-so) on the wrong side, you can hear it more often from 03:15 onwards. The sound clashes with the right side of the guzheng, because the pitch is about a third of a semitone lower.  You don’t have to be an audiophile to be able to tell.

In the video: Poor vs Good eating habits

Description: Above you see me eating lunch (a quick-fix) at the computer table while watching Wang Leehom’s vids. Below you see me scooping nutritious painstakingly prepared food for a family dinner at the dining table.

===================================

People need company no matter what, whether it is the company of family and friends over dinner, or lunching with the company of the internet if you have an lonesome occupation. Not sure if any one can identify with the pictures above, or whether it makes any sense. But then again, it’s art. What you think is more important than what I think.

Love,
Seren

中国的朋友网友们最最最最棒了。心情好多了。

  不知道在国外的朋友们睡了没有?我心里很烦,不知要对谁说…… 11:06 AM Apr 25th via MOTOBLUR

dxzhao @SerenKoo 都没睡呢 11:09 AM Apr 25th via iTweet in reply to SerenKoo

美国听说是个有很多“好机会”的地方。看起来真的好像是这样,但不知道他们是不是太积极了。更可怕的是不知道他们做的是不是正当事。 11:12 AM Apr 25th via MOTOBLUR  

虽然有时我觉得他们说话时不集中,也可能喜欢说大话,我不觉得会有什么危险。我老公却觉得非常危险,最好不要再和他们来往。 11:16 AM Apr 25th via MOTOBLUR

kday1923 @SerenKoo 怎么了 11:17 AM Apr 25th via Gravity in reply to SerenKoo

当然,作为人妻,我是听老公的话的,照他意思去办,不贪这些“机会“ 11:19 AM Apr 25th via MOTOBLUR

但刚才在电话上告诉他们…我和我老公一起决定不要参与他们的活动,我不上他们戏台表演,不要上他们的电视节目…其实自己的手在发抖 11:26 AM Apr 25th via MOTOBLUR 

zqy0034 @SerenKoo 出了什么问题了? 11:30 AM Apr 25th via web in reply to SerenKoo

“那你什么都不要,那要干什么?就永远做个家庭主妇?“ 11:30 AM Apr 25th via MOTOBLUR

我对他说“是的“。没办法,拒绝别人就只好能那么说。心里呢就希望自己能找到一个老公会批准我走的路。 11:32 AM Apr 25th via MOTOBLUR

这个“机会“老公觉得不良或不适合我,我就只能找另外一条路走了。结了婚就是这样,要考虑对方,要珍惜婚姻,不能只考虑自己。 11:36 AM Apr 25th via MOTOBLUR

我也相信老公是为我好的。那个想给我“表演机会“的人也觉得他是为我好的。在这两个人之间,我应该相信的是爱我的丈夫。对吧?对。是对的。对对对。 11:40 AM Apr 25th via MOTOBLUR

@zqy0034 @kday1923 @dxzhao 就是为这些不知真或假的“机会“而烦咯~ 只是在我住的这里,不知能对谁说。谢谢你们。 12:08 PM Apr 25th via twidroid

zqy0034 @SerenKoo 其实我只是觉得或许可以让老公陪你去看看 以他的人生阅历去判断是否应该继续。很多时候夫妻之间是两个人的事情,女人不是只是工作或者只是呆在家里。既然分享就选择彼此 12:17 PM Apr 25th via web

@zqy0034 老公他已经陪我去看那位“想给我机会的先生” 。过后他立刻判断最好不要和他们来往。他不能确定它们是坏人, 但他觉得应该以防万一。 12:45 PM Apr 25th via web in reply to zqy0034

aaronrain 其实有时候能做家庭主妇是一家非常幸福的事情,RT @SerenKoo: “那你什么都不要,那要干什么?就永远做个家庭主妇?“ 12:37 PM Apr 25th via web

非常同意!我觉得他这句话是要试探我的。@aaronrain 其实有时候能做家庭主妇是一家非常幸福的事情,RT @SerenKoo: “那你什么都不要,那要干什么?就永远做个家庭主妇?“ 12:57 PM Apr 25th via web

dxzhao @SerenKoo 不谢。其实看到你唠叨很多,我也不好说什么:) 12:49 PM Apr 25th via iTweet in reply to SerenKoo

呵呵,很唠叨吗?不好意思。@dxzhao @ SerenKoo 不谢。其实看到你唠叨很多,我也不好说什么:) 12:58 PM Apr 25th via web

dxzhao @SerenKoo 没什么,郁闷的时候,发泄一下就好了 9:47 PM Apr 25th via iTweet in reply to SerenKoo

zqy0034 @SerenKoo 不好意思,昨晚早睡了。如果先生做出了这样的判断,那么还是相信为好。证明自己的方法很多的,但要保证自身安全。 7:49 PM Apr 25th via dabr in reply to SerenKoo

supermonkeyboy 相信你的老公吧,毕竟他是你要长相厮守的人。RT @SerenKoo: @zqy0034 老公他已经陪我去看那位“想给我机会的先生” 。过后他立刻判断最好不要和他们来往。他不能确定它们是坏人, 但他觉得应该以防万一。 10:31 AM Apr 27th via API

Nada Sou Sou (the movie) 淚光閃閃 涙そうそう

This post was written in Chinese because… I think that sometimes things are better expressed in Chinese. Especially words from a child.

我刚在土豆网上上传了几个音乐视频。上传到《泪光闪闪》的古筝独奏后,便点击看看。土豆呢就自然会在播放的视频下展现相关视频。虽然我大概知道《泪光闪闪》这部日本电影的故事,但事实上没看过。这年代的我们(消费者) 真幸福,要看戏也不太需要消费就能在网上看电影。我知道侵犯版权是不对的,可是当东西免费摆在你面前,真的很难控制自己不去看吔!如果你有两小时的时间,你也能看看以下贴的视频,不然就向下滚动,继续读吧。^_^




一边看,一边哭……没父母的孩儿真辛苦啊!好才还有妈妈+有比我大九年的哥哥照顾我长大。妈妈从我小时候就每年清明带我到爸爸的墓,拿点好菜给他“吃”,有酒给他“喝”,也给他烧点香纸,银子,纸衣服,纸鞋子之类。以前叔叔们来扫墓时,也会烧只香烟给他。

最有趣的就是我每年拿着香,在爸爸的坟前“报告”我一年之内的生活可好。

幼儿园的我当然只会说“爸爸喝酒!”(小手拿着小红杯把酒洒在地上)“爸爸吃饭!”, 其他的话都让妈妈去说,因为生前的爸爸不懂得太多英语。我小时英语讲得很流利,中文却差得很。但过后呢,自己也学会对爸爸坟墓上的照片说话了。

“爸爸我今年小学一年级了,助我好好读书,乖乖听话…”

“爸爸我现在十三岁了哦, 助我快高长大……要高一点哦……再多几年就长不高了”

“爸爸我二十一岁了,是成人哦!三年前拿到奖学金时,一直都没跟妈妈拿零用钱了吔!很棒吧!”

“爸爸我有男朋友了,你觉得他是个好对象吗?”

“爸爸我要结婚了……”

“爸爸这是我老公,我要离开了,要到纽约去。不知多久才回来”

“爸爸我买了机票回来家乡过年,也来看你。虽然以多年失去了你,我真的不想也失去妈妈。不知你能不能助她信耶稣呢……”

小的时候对爸爸的照片说话是大大声的。不知不觉,人长得越来越大,但话却变得越来越小声,只在心里说了。好啦,享受享受以下我为清明节做的视频吧!

Time to have children

When is the right time to have children?

This Lunar New Year, darts of questions came flying about whether I was going to have a child soon. From people who say “No pressure lah huh!” to people who say “Better Hurry Up!” to people who even suggest “have 4 children”! And of course, grandma stretches out her hand to rub my belly and mumur words I could not comprehend. She was speaking cantonese without dentures.

Speaking of grandma, I was sad to see that her health is not as pink as it used to be. I spoke to her over a long distance call about a month ago and everything seems fine…she sounded good. But now, face to face, I know that it’s really not that good afterall. She is not overly ill, and everyone is convinced that this is just a normal part of aging. She is afterall in her late 80s.

Life goes on, and my younger cousins who used to be geeky are now grown and worldly-wise. And the greatest change would be the little neices and nephews I haven’t seen in a while. Wow, how much the children have grown! My niece is now so much friendlier than when she was a baby, and she can speak so many complex sentences, reflecting what’s going on in her mind.

It seems that my peers are having kids too. I just found out that my best friend from 5th and 6th Grade has a 5-month old daughter.

Wow. Am I waiting too long? I feel that there is so much I want to do before I become a full-time-24hr-standby-no-sleep-for-the-first-few-months Mom. So much that I want to learn in terms of music, and to develop Spirit Teahouse more.

Lord, guide me.

It’s good to be home

After a long flight of almost 24 hours and lots of nice inflight movies, I am finally back. My in-laws were waiting at the airport for me and my husband. The air is warm and humid, and I find myself smiling alot to everyone that I meet. I am smiling alot more than when I was in New York City. 

Btw my dad-in-law and mom-in-law are the best people in the world. They are the warmest kinddest people I know. I am so lucky.

Ah, it is good to be home.

Bugs & Bubbles (a FREE new iPhone game by Floating Cube Studios)

Hey guys, if you are not aware (although some of my twitter and facebook followers might know) I did some sideline work for a friend, Ian. He started up a company called Floating Cube Studios to develop iphone apps, and he needed background music for an iphone game he and his team were constructing. So I helped out.

Here’s the trailer of the game, you can hear three quarters of the loopable tune that I helped design for them.

Bugs and Bubbles Poster

FCS Bugs & Bubbles Credits

Anyway, this game is FREE, so if you have an iphone, check it out. Support floating cube studios, and feel free to give them comments and encouragements! I don’t have an iphone though. LOL

Hmmm I was wondering how to catagorize this blog post… I guess since this was volunteer work, but I personally get to build up my “portfolio”, I shall catagorize it under both ‘personal’ and ‘social work’. Hehehe.

====

Ok a word about the music. I must say that I learnt alot during this experience – I have never been “comissioned” to produce a piece before, and I have learnt to put other people’s tastes as a priority over my own when working as a team.

Independent songwriting is great, you get to write whatever you want, and you can identify yourself to the music. You are the BOSS and you don’t have to discuss it with anybody else. If you have fans that love the song you wrote, great. If they don’t, doesn’t have to matter too much. 

But game songwriting is different. It is not about realizing the vision about songwriter, but about realizing the vision of the game creator… your tastes in music could be similar… or yours tastes could be totally different. You may not be able to identify with the music at all. I didn’t identify with this 2min+ piece of loopable music I created for Floating Cube Studios… it’s just not my style.

It was also not my 100% original creation, but an innovation from a 10 second copyright-free clip of mp3 that Floating Cube Studios sent me (Haha yeah, I’m really honest ;-) ). And as a first timer, that really helped me to understand the kind of music they wanted. Therefore I guess the term “Sound Composer” is apt because I added sounds to the original, such as guitar sounds. 

In conclusion: (1) There is no right and wrong to music, (2) put others’ needs before myself when writing a commercial piece, and (3) realise that I can expand my capacity to create styles of music that is different from my own.

Ahhh…Life is a learning journey. ^_^ I was also asked to create “sound effects”, but I was notsuccessful with those. I don’t have skills and resources to make suitable sounds, and I don’t have proper recording equipment… and I realised what an extensive field of knowledge and skill sound engineering is. Wow.

Luckily there are other sources where they could find appropriate sound effects for the game. Praise the Lord. =)

Love you all. Remember to check out the game if you have an iphone ^_^v

I’ve got a new SerenKoo.Com custom-print cap! 我有个新“网站标志”帽!

Tada! I’m absolutely delighted!

I wonder what you guys think of it? 不知你们有什么感想?

Here’s what it looks like close up:

Front of SerenKoo.com cap. SerenKoo.Com帽的前样。

Tell me what you think. Is it cute? wierd? I think it’s just plain fun.

Please comment! And visit the gallery for more pictures. <3!

I have the MOST adorable nephew. 我的侄子是最可爱的。

The title says it all. :-)

My True Love gave to me… …

This was from an email forwarded from my mom-in-law.

===================================There is one Christmas Carol that has always baffled me.
What in the world do leaping lords, French hens,
swimming swans, and especially the partridge who won’t come out of the pear tree have to do with Christmas?

The 12 Days of  Christmas Song

 

This week, I found out.
From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were
not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone
during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics.
It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning
plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each
element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality
which the children could remember.
-The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.
-Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.
-Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.
-The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.
-The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.
-The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.
-Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit–Prophesy, Serving, Teaching,  Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.
-The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.
-Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit–Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness,  Faithfulness,
 Gentleness, and Self Control.
-The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.
-The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.
-The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles’ Creed.
So there is your history for today. This knowledge was shared with me and I found it interesting and enlightening and now I know how that strange song became a Christmas Carol…so pass it on if you wish.’
Merry (Twelve Days of) Christmas Everyone

===================================

Wow, Interesting huh.

Merry Christmas to you. Love you all.

真是不顺利…… and I broke my camera today

大家, 你们都知道我从2010年就要展现些音乐视频, 所以这个月有很多准备工作要做。

As you know, I intend to do some instrumental music videos for 2010.  And that takes alot of work.

我一早就把头发弄起来,化了一点妆。

Earlier today, I hair-styled and put a little makeup on.

今天的天气也很不错,是个录影的好日子。

Natural light from today’s good weather would make it a great day for my video shoot.

不过,录着录着,邻居突然把音响系统开得好大声。

But while recording, my neighbour decided to blast his speakers. With TLC & Lady Gaga.

唉~算了自己弹得大声一点应该就行了吧……

Sigh~ Nevermind. I’ll just try to play my guzheng louder. It should record just fine.

可是那么大声的音乐,地板和墙壁都好像在振动。

The bass was really strong though, the floors were thumping and the walls were vibrating.

这种音乐,真的是让我开始头疼了……

The music was starting to make my head throb… …

就在我最心烦的时候,电话响了。

In the midst of my frustration, the phone rang.

我赶去接电话的时候,把相机撞倒了……

I rushed to the phone and knocked over my camera.

 

大事不好了……

 Oh no… …

相机的开关好像有问题!!!?!

There seems to be something wrong  with the camera’s lens movement and functions??!?!

可是……亲爱的相机,我不能没有你!!!!《心灵茶馆》需要你!

But my darling camera, I need you!!!! Spirit Teahouse needs you!!!

你已经跟了我那么久,我怎么能舍得你走?!

You’ve been my camera for so long, I can’t bear to let you go!

你是个旧模型旧型号,不知道修理人能不能救你?

You are an old model – I don’t know if the repairman can save you!

 

还有……就是……

And… … And… …

 

!!!  我没有钱了啦 !!!

 

I have NO MONEY FOR THIS!!!!!!

 

悲哀啊!

I am so… grieved…

 

* 12/24/09 中文改正:旧模型 -〉旧型号,谢谢 @santonin!

大家如果还有什么要改正的请告诉我。