Marsha Maung:: Freelance graphic designer and writer

 

 

 

I am not a very superstitious person and sometimes can be quite aloof when it comes to things like stepping over cracks and under ladders….but still!

My book review for “The Star” on the book ‘It’s called a breakup because it’s broken” is published on FRIDAY the 13^th (hear the Twilight Zone song yet?)

So far, nothing untoward has happened to me today…yet...partly due to the fact I've been sleeping the whole day because of late night working on client’s website and is still kind of groggy right now. Touch wood, touch wood.

But sometimes I think the famous Friday the 13^th is all fiction and no fact. Why would it be bad luck day only on Friday the 13^th? Fear of Friday the 13^th has a scientific name, by the way, and it’s called paraskevidekatriaphobia. (I dare you to try to pronounce that!)

 

Points to ponder:-

• If Friday the 13^th is an unlucky day, the whole world will suffer at the same time and nobody will win lottery on this day.
• Friday the 13^th is really all fiction because it’s a complete national (International?) unfounded trepidation
• The stock market will crash on Friday the 13^th
• It’s all in the mind. Ever heard of THAT one? If you think Friday the 13^th is going to be a bad day…by golly, you’ll get nothing but bad luck all day. But if you snub your nose at the notion, you will have none of the ill fortune
• Nobody should go to work on Friday the 13^th because nothing will go right. The printer will not work, the coffee machine will explode, virus will penetrate the intranet, files will be corrupted, clients will leave, documents and legal agreements will be lost…etc
• Nobody gets married on Friday the 13^th
• Nobody will ever give birth on Friday the 13^th
• Nobody will go to the doctor or dentist on Friday the 13^th
• Nobody will start a new job on Friday the 13^th, lest they get fired on the spot for no apparent reason.
• Nobody will buy insurance or shares on Friday the 13^th

 

Imagine, the world would have complete stopped spinning because…it’s black Friday.

Anyone watched Astro Wah Lai Toi’s award-giving ceremony on Saturday? I did! I couldn’t not watch since some of my favorite young stars were present and were being nominated. Among them, my faves were Raymond Lam and Myolie Wu. Well, Christine Ng and Chilam (Julian Cheung) rocks too.

 

<picture of Raymond Lam Fung>

Unlike people my age who shy away and restrain themselves from admiring younger stars, I have no qualms about it. In fact, me and my mother (who is also a TVB fan) share faves – Raymond Lam Fung.

 

For those who didn’t watch, Raymond Lam won the favorite leading actor and Charmaine Seh won the favorite female leading actress award.

 

Others

Favorite Drama – War and Beauty

Favorite Theme Song – Point of no Return

Favorite couple – Charmaine & Chilam

Favorite Dad – Damien Lau (Point of no return)

Favorite Mom – Christine Ng (Twin of Brothers)

Favorite Lethal Beauty – Gigi Lai (War and Beauty)

Favorite Shot – Wong Hee (Net Deception)

Most memorable moment – War and Beauty

 

Favorite Actress

Charmaine Seh Si Man won the award as Yee Sun in War and Beauty. I had it all planned – if Gigi Lai won the award, I would throw myself off the KL Twin Towers in protest!! No lah, I like Gigi Lai but I think Charm deserves recognition as well. Considering the fact that she’s got a huge following here, her win was expected. She did an extremely good job as well. Read on to the Favorite Lethal Beauty where I write why she deserves to win. Her portrayal of evil is superior to Gigi’s.

 

<Charmaine Seh & Raymond Lam>

Favorite Actor

I was in a limbo as to this award….Chilam or Raymond? Raymond or Chilam? If Ron NG Cheok Hei won, I would, once again, throw myself off of KL Twin Towers in protest. Raymond, Ron and Chilam are big here so it was really a toss. Roger Kwok did well too and he’s got lots of fans here too but his role in To Get unstuck in Time just wasn’t good enough. So, to me, it was between Chilam and Raymond.

 

And deep inside, I wanted Raymond to win and yet I knew Chilam was going to win. There they were sitting all in a row, Raymond with his arms crossed, Ron leans forward and Chilam staring straight ahead like in a trance. Miss Lok (the presenter) announces “Twin of Brothers” and the hordes of female fans SCREAMED. ChiLam is out – there’s only two left…Raymond Lam Fung and Ron Ng Cheok Hei. I was thinking….God, NNNNOOOOOO, NOT RON NG…..PPPPPLLLLLLEEEEEAAAAASSSSSSEEEEEEE!!!”.

 

<poster of Twin of Brothers>

Ray and Ron sat there glued to their seats, expressions remained the same. And then “Khow Chung” (Ray’s character) – no one moved – not even me, just in case it was a mistake. Then “Lam Fung” – it took several nanoseconds to register. Then, YES! Raymond beat other bigger stars to find his footing in Malaysia. Well-deserved, well-deserved. I don’t care what others have to say about Twin of Brothers (some people say that it was boring and too lengthy) but to me Raymond’s portrayal of Khow Chung was remarkable. It was one of the best portrayals ever – his one-screen chemistry with his long-time friend, Tavia Yeung Yi is expected – BEYOND EXCELLENT. But his chemistry with mainland China actress, Li Qian, was even better which goes to show that he has chemistry with just about anyone he acts with.

 

<pix of Ramond Lam & Li Qian in Twin of Brothers>

From a young and innocent (penniless) bloke to someone in love, from someone with ambition to someone with power, from someone with evil thoughts to someone who sacrificed his life (whoops, DEAD giveaway here) for the country – Raymond Lam Fung’s portrayal was formidable. There was depth and diversity on his side. Although Chilam did a good job too but we’ve seen Chilam do it before…but for Ray, this is the first time and it left a very big impression on me.

 

Good on you, Raymond Lam Fung!

 

Favorite Drama

War and Beauty took the award. What can I say? I secretly wanted Twin of Brothers to win but this result is totally predictable. We all expected it to win but considering the popularity of Raymond Lam and Ron Ng has here, I was cheering on their behalf anyway. And besides, I think it’s a really good ancient drama despite what others have to say about it. The shots were really good and revolutionary. It had many great scenes and fighting sequences that some people don’t take notice of. If you watched ‘the making’ of Twin of Brothers, you’ll agree with me. But not everyone is as fanatical as me, so, I forgive everyone who voted for War and Beauty.

 

Favorite Theme Song

I wanted, once again, Raymond Lam to win with his Twin of Brothers theme song but…my conscience comes a-calling. I like Chilam too and if I pitched Raymond Lam and Chilam together in a one-to-one singing competition, I would choose….Chilam. Not only is his singing slightly better (more experience) but the song is very difficult to sing with extremely off-the-beat kind of way. Most of the time, you’ll find Chilam chasing after the beat but it’s supposed to be that way – make no mistake about it. Even I have problems knowing where to come in and when to go off when I try to sing the song with him (AS IF I KNOW HOW TO SING A SINGLE WORD IN THE SONG).

 

Favorite Couple

Chilam and Charmaine deserved to win – period. They were formidable in other partnerships and in Point of no Return, they really rocked. No contest.

 

(pix of Charmaine & Raymond Lam with their awards on Saturday)



Favorite Dad

Personally felt that Ben Hui played a better father in To get unstuck in time. Ben Hui literally had no contact with Roger Kwok except for the end of the series. And the tears we see him cry in the show were all done over the phone. And yet, there was so much emotion there – it was simply brilliant. But Damien Lau won for his fatherly role in Point of no Return as a father to Chilam. Damien Lau did an exceptional job as the rotan-yielding rich man who had a hard time taming his son. A lot of times, I feel like picking up the rotan myself and whacking Chilam’s character too and his portrayal was intense and exceptional.

 

Favorite Mom

Despite her image as a sexy lady, Christine Ng won the favorite mom award. Although I feel that Gigi Chiu deserved to win this award more, I like Christine Ng, so…… J It was during the filming of Twin of Brothers that she built a very close relationship to her ‘sons’ in the show, Raymond Lam Fung and Ron Ng Cheok Hei. In real life, they got along so well that they become God mother and sons off the screen.

 

Favorite Lethal Beauty

Gigi Lai won the role – but I think Charmaine was more evil. Gigi’s character was out rightly evil, maybe too much so. There’s something about the way she blinks away that totally irks me. She’s pretty and very, very talented but in terms of being evil, I thought Charmaine was more so. Because? Well, Charm’s subtlety had something to do with it. Very quiet, very smooth, very evil. Some people think that in order to be evil, you have to SHOW that you are evil but Charm’s portrayal was better because her movements were very slight, a single look, a pause, a blink, a soft smile, a lingering glare, a slight raise of the eyebrow….bbbrrrrrr!!!!

<pix of Kevin Cheng Kaw Wing....yum yum)

 

Favorite Shot

Wong Hei won this award. The shot was him yielding two guns, Chow Yun Fatt, style shooting off at bad guys. No fight, no fight! Sure win, sure win. I would have wanted Kevin Cheng Kar Wing to win this award because he looks damn good in a suit with a gun in his hand too. But no one can compare to Wong Hei when he has guns in his hands. His upturned face, arrogant look, that smirk and that grin that totally speaks of confidence. He’s like saying, “Come on, you b******s! Shoot me, shoot me. Otherwise, if I pull the trigger, I won’t miss! Come on!”

 

The attitude, to me, is incomparable. Not even Chow Yun Fatt has his attitude. The only person I can think of who has mastered the GANSTA attitude is Simon Yam. The arrogance is despicable yet so loveable.

 

Most memorable moment

War and Beauty. The moment was when Yu Fei (Sheren Tang Sui Man) cried to the ‘sky’ (God) with her baby in her arms. I felt that Point of no Return should win. The scene that I chose was where Chow Ming Hin announces to his family that he was going to marry Yuk Heng (Gigi Chiu). His first wife objected, he’s married, but he shunned her and told her that if she didn’t like it, she can just pack up and leave. Otherwise, she’d better be contented with her position in the family. His wife begged and cried and asked Meng Hin not to be so cruel to her but Meng Hin has already given up on his first wife.

 

Oh, the shame. Oh, the embarrassment. Oh, the humiliation. By the way, she stayed on.

I am a mess. No, not mess as in mess but messy as in messy. Ppphhhttt, as if THAT made sense but I loathe the idea of calling myself messy so I will settle for calling myself ‘organized in a messy way’.

There.

Since I am going to be moving out to my own place next week (my grandmother found the PERFECT lucky date to move, so, there’s really no escaping. Unless I like the feeling of having a knife in my rear end planted there by well-meaning elderly people in my family – BOTH sides), I thought I’d write a little about housework, mundane and pain-in-the-butt chores like picking up your own clothes, doing your own laundry, sweeping your own floor, mopping the damn floor, wiping and dusting tabletops and computer tops and TVs and….see, I get even get TIRED writing about it. Plus, I have this sinus problem that makes it impossible for me to sweep or dust anything without popping a few blood vessels in my nostrils.

I’ve used my sinus problem as an excuse quite successfully over this lifetime but I guess I will no longer have a choice when I move out without my maid in tow.

Yeah, I have a maid but we’re leaving the maid with my mother-in-law since I am younger, more energetic and supposedly more able than her. Sometimes I question this logic. She may be older but if you look at my mother-in-law, you’ll see that apart from creaking knees, she moves without much effort around the house. In fact, she runs faster than me! But since all the families congregate in my mother-in-law’s place (my current residence) everyday, it would make sense to leave the maid here instead of having to get another maid and contend with another full-blown ‘How can this maid be so dense not to understand what ‘’o-oi’ and ‘mum-mum’ mean?’ problem. They don’t teach maids our baby-language (which they should, by the way) as in mum-mum means eat, shee-shee means pee, mm-mm means big business in toilet, o-oi means sleep…etc.

I think housework is a stupid chore. Why can’t we live in organized clutter? I mean, isn’t it OK if we all know where things are and where the broom, the mouse, the speaker phone, the handphone charger and the fork and spoons are? Isn’t that enough already? Do we have to live in hotel-like environment in order to function? Isn’t it enough that we have clean clothes to wear, half-decent shoes to put over our feet, and a home that does not smell like the insides of an ashtray? If not, then let's all move to Hyatt Saujana or something.

I mean, let’s look at it this way…you wipe, mop, sweet, vacuum…and whatever else it is that you do to a home….tonight, you go to sleep in a this sterile environment feeling extremely proud of yourself and then you wake up in the morning and there’s dust everywhere. DUST, DUST, DUST!! It’s frustrating because you’ve worked so hard to keep the place clean and then all you get is a night sleep without enjoying the cleanliness at all! Why bother?

My table is the messiest place in any place that I live or work. In the bank I used to work, I heard the receptionist say to my client when he came to visit me, “There, see the table with four piles of files stacked up on the front of the table? That’s Marsha’s table” You can’t see me coming in from the door because the files form a sort of protective wall from public eye. Eh, I like it this way, ok? But my office mates laugh at me and my boss asked me if I had enough space to write anything when I pile everything on top of my table and I say, “Sure”. But in the end, they got me a special second table where I pile MORE files on top of it. The extra table did not help me clear the original table but instead, I built a longer wall of files!

It is ironic that when I was living with my parents, I shared a bedroom with my sister. Now, she’s someone who is totally opposite of me! I couldn’t care less and she cares about everything - sad to say, she’s my YOUNGER sister. I make a mess, she cleans up. She puts her toiletries in organized compartments, mine can be found under the toilet bowl. She organizes her perfumes and lotions in sections, mine can be found dumped inside my underwear drawer. In fact, she’s so meticulous that she used to iron my school uniform when we were in school!! She complained but my mom has given up asking me to do the task because I was never home, anyway.

Now that I am married, my HUSBAND has taken over the role. He is the kind of person who WANTS and NEEDS to stay in a hotel-like home and don’t want to lift a finger to do anything! Therefore, in my personal, opinion, he should just take his ass to Indonesia and find himself a bride there! Harumph! Accordingly, many Indonesian women know how to clean a home (any home) with their eyes closed.

And as I was saying, housework is tedious and mindless. Why do housework when you know that everything is going to be messed up again – especially if you have kids? You put their toys back into their organized toy boxes with special labels, and the next minute they are everywhere again. Why bother folding the blankets and comforters when you know they’re going to be used again tonight? Why bother mopping when you know one of the kids are going to spill their VITAGENS on the floor again?

But even if my own personal space is cluttered, I have to keep the rest of the place clean and as organized as I possibly can. In other words, I will clean every other spaces that affects others. When it comes to my own space, leave it alone! I like the organized mess that I am living in right now.

Written in jest, of course. Sometimes, I DO wish someone would clean my mess up for me......any takers?

House cleaning tips

 

House-cleaning schedule (there’s a SCHEDULE??)

 

Springcleaning

 

Getting organized

 

Cleaning up after pets (Urgh!)

 

Marsha
www.marshamaung.com