Wednesday, August 19, 2009

How to capture your kitty in a nice shot

Jennifer say:


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Catster had send me this email:

http://blogs.catster.com/the-cats-meow-a-cat-and-kitten-blog/top-five-tips-for-photographing-your-cat/2009/08/13/?utm_source=catster%2Bnewsletter&utm_medium=pull%2Blink&utm_campaign=090817


The techniques taught is quite good. I usually shot my kitties without flash. Flash usually give my cat a red eye effect. For 'notty' ones, i will use toy to wave while sister took the photos. Sweetie usually dislike us to put any clothing on her whereas DD is very patient to allow us to dress her in whatever clothing we like on her.
I found that the best timing as the site suggest is when the cat is sleepy. Usually i can only carry sweetie like a baby when she is about to fall asleep.
This video is extremely interesting: -The kitty look like a thin vision of Money.

Sunday, August 09, 2009

王泗妹歌仔戏- 父子情 - 9/8/09

Jennifer say:


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Today, mum and I went to see the 田都元帅 birthday at Ang Mo Kio 西莲宫(temple). This is the second time i had watched Ximei ge zai xi. Last year, i had also went to watch their performance. The troupe had especially hired 1 or 2 taiwanese for this performance. I am not too sure if the xiao sheng is a taiwanese. However the Xiao Dan, Chen Cai Yun ( 陈彩云) is a taiwanese.
The temple had hired opera performance yearly. This year, they also hired 舞龙舞狮.

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The temple celebration at AMK opposite blk 463






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The Lions are here

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The dragon arrival - i did not manage to get a clearer shot

Today performance is not too bad. I am slightly late for today performance so i had in fact missed the names of the lead actresses. I am real bad at knowing names when i watched performance halfway.




The story:
Shaojun and his brother were children of a man. ( i am not too sure what is the father called so let named him "X"). In order to gain an officer role, Y left home. On his way, X saved a general daughter, Yan(again duno the name so i just named her anyhow). X fall in love with Yan and asked her father to arrange for their marriage.


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Yan(Chen Cai Yun), the leading xiao dan from Taiwan.




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This is how i get to know the name of the xiao Dan from Taiwan





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Yan with her father





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Yan requested for her father to arrange their marriage between X and her





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The xiaosheng, X with Yan and her father






X informed the general that he was already married but Yan agreed to become the second wife. Yan suggested for the emperor to arrange the marriage. The emperor passed an edict to announce their marriage.








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X first wife with her two children, daughter shaojun and brother







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X announced to his first wife that he had married another wife




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Yan tried to force X to leave his wife
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Using the children as hostage, the first wife was forced to write the divorce letter




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With their mum died, the two children were left alone without their father also






However, when X bought Yan home, Yan tried to threaten the first wife to divorce her husband. As the emperor had send out the edict, X had to marry Yan at all costs even if it meant that he had to leave his own family. Using X own children as hostage, the first wife signed the divorce letter. X was forced to leave the house with Yan.



X wife died as a result of this heavy blow. The two children were left alone and had to bury their mother in the wild. When the two children went to wash themselves in the sea, they played in the water. A large wave caught shoujun away. The brother ran away to ask for help. Shoujun was rescused by a magistrate named Ong whom accepted her as his foster daughter. The brother met a high skilled person and that person agreed to teach the brother his skill.


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Ong saved shaojun and adopted her as his foster daughter. Here, Ong was casted by the boss of the troupe, Wang Si Mei. Her voice is very good and strong for her age of 50s plus






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X and Yan in their bedroom.

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18 years later, grown up Shao jun

18 years later, Yan had already had a son but the son was a dim-witted. Shoujun was a beauty while her brother was taught how to fight. X had a birthday celebration in his house. Shoujun and her brother went to find their father without revealing their true identity that they were his children.

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X scolded Yan for giving birth to a stupid son


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The second son of X and his parents

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Shaojun and her brother contragulating their father but without acknowleding him


The dim-witted son fall in love with shoujun and tried to stop shoujun from leaving. The brother then pushed the dim-witted son whom fall and died. Yan found out and throw shoujun and her brother to the jail.

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The stupid son tried to force his 'eldest sister' to become his wife without understanding that they had the same father. In the end, the first brother accidentally killed the second brother


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At the trail, Yan become the judge and forced X to jail both his children


X visited shoujun and found that both jailed were his own children. x took both out and wanted to leave with them. Yan found out and tried to stop them. However, X was already lose faith in Yan and told her that he will leave the house with his own two children.


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At the ending, Yan was left with nothing when her husband returned to his own children

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Poor Yan begging her husband to return to her but she was in fact suffering from her bad karma as she was the one whom forced X to leave his family

Back to My cats

Hi guys, i decided to post some photos of my babies
Din Din

Tong Tong or called him 安童哥.

My favourite Cat: Sweetie












四季春歌仔戏- 错配姻缘 - 8/8/09

Jennifer say:


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Today, mum and I went to Cheng Huang temple to watch singapore troupe, Si Ji Chun performance. Again same as yesterday, i only wanted to watch because they had hired taiwanese. Understand that they had hired 3 taiwanese. Not sure what is the name of the xiao sheng but the hua dan (xiao Dan) is called Liu Qiu Min. She is quite pretty and act quite well.
I was checking on the profile of Liu Qiu Min as i find her rather familiar. I knew that she had performed her before but cannot recall what troupe she was in. She had acted before with Xiao Qi Ling Opera troupe together with the xiao sheng xia and xiao long nui in May.
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Poster of Liu Qiu Min (刘秋敏)
Unfortunately, their performance are sort of ruined by wrong match with the singaporean actors. As a matter of fact, i would said that Si Ji Chun is quite good esp for the actress acting as the first missy of the family but she is quite old to be known as young and pretty as described in the performance. That is also the reason why i disliked watched singapore troupe performance, as young life do not act in the troupe, only the old act so as a result, aunts in their 40s or 50s will act as 18 year old. Nevertheless, i gave 5 stars for the actress acting as the first missy as she had quite a sweet voice althought from her look, she looked like she is in her 40s or 50s.


The xiao sheng from Taiwan is ok only as i do not like his 'sa sa' voice.


The story:


Hanwen is the crown price of the emperor. He had a younger brother called HanJun. However, the empress only loved the Hongjun as he was her own son. wen birth mum had already died. From young, Hanwen was disliked by his stepmother.


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Crown Prince, HanWen. This actor is from Taiwan but his name was unknown.

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HanWen with his younger brother, Jun

The Tan Family had 4 members. Dad is the general. He had two beautiful daughers, Tan HongJun and Hongfen. Hongjun was mistreated by her stepmother too.

Wen and Jun were ordered by the emperor to resolve the rebels together with Tan general. The rebels were captured. Wen and Jun then decided to go to visit the country area.

One day, Hongjun was ordered to go to the farm to do labour work. It so happened that Wen also passed by the area and met Hongjun. They fall in love at first sight. When they chatted, they learnt that both had the same sad story - a stepmother that do not loved them so they bonded together even more. Wen promised to visit Hongjun in her old hut when he returned.

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Wen and Hongjun at their first meeting. Noted that the female xiao dan is a singaporean. As i mentioned, she is casting as the role of a beautiful first daughter of the Tan family. But ler, the actress is already in her 40s from the look but her voice is still very smooth and sweet.


Hongfen was in the garden tower when she saw the handsome second prince, Jun. They liked each other also. Jun asked his man to check whom missy was that in the tower. His men announced that the lady was from Tan family.

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Hongfen - the second daughter of the Tan. This xiao dan is Taiwanese, Liu Qiu Min.

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At the tower, Hongfen saw the handsome second prince, Jun and both liked each other


Wen returned to find Hongjun. Both spend the night together but wen had to leave the hut when a request was sent by the emperor to return home.


Back in the palace, Jun requested his dad to arrange for marriage with the Tan. The marriage was agreed and the old Tan general returned home to take his daughter home.

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Tan mother welcoming her husband returning home

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The Tan general returning home wanting to take his daughter to the palace.


Back in the house, Tan general took the older daughter, Hongjun to the palace as hongfen requested for her eldest sister to be married before her. Back in the palace, Hongjun was told by the emperor to stay in the palace for 4 months to get used to the life there. Wen met Hongjun and thought that a marriage was arrange for them. However, Hongjun discovered the truth from an eunuch. Hongjun asked the eunuch to send a letter to met Wen in the garden. In the garden, Hongjun told the truth to Wen. When hongjun said that she was carrying his child. Hongjun wanted to tell the truth to the royal family but wen refused to let her do so. Wen told Hongjun that his stepmum had already disliked him, he dared not tell them the truth. To protect Wen, Hongjun had to hide the truth.

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Wen was very happy when he though of the supposed marriage between him and Hongjun


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At the garden, Hongjun told Wen the truth that they did not have any marriage arrangment at all.

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Shock was written on Wen Face when he learnt the truth

4 months passed. On the weddling night, Jun discovered that Hongjun was pregnant. Jun took hongjun to the Tan family. The old Tan tried to kill Hongjun but Hongfen stopped him. Hongfen promised to investigate the truth and explained to the prince. When hongfen met the prince, she found that he was the man she met in the garden. The prince asked for hongfen hand. Hongfen agreed to the marriage only if the prince will take her sister, hongjun home also. The prince out of no choice agreed. So Hongjun and Hongfen marry jun.

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The marriage between Jun and Hongjun

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Hongfen tried to protect her elder sister by asking the prince to accept Hongjun as well as his wife.

Hongjun finally gave birth to a son. She passed the child to the eunuch. But Jun discovered the baby and thought the eunuch had a child with someone. He took the servant to see the emperor. The eunuch informed the emperor that the child belonged to Hongjun. Hongjun was bought to the emperor.

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Jun questioned the eunuch of the baby arrival

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Forced by circumstance, the eunuch told the emperor the truth

However, hongjun refused to tell the emperor whom was the father of her child. The Tan general was bought in also. Tan general questioned his daughter whom refused to reveal the truth. In the end, Hongjun was beaten to death by her own father. Wen was davastered to see this and left the palace wanting to become a monk. Hongfen went to inform the emperor that the child belong to Wen. When the emperor, hongfen went to find wen, he had already become a monk.

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Poor Hongjun died as a result of trying to protect Wen

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Wen becoming a monk as he was guilty he had caused Hongjun death indirectly.

Saturday, August 08, 2009

新燕玲歌仔戏 - Yan Xi Mian - 07/08/09

Jennifer say:


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Today is the first time i had watched xin yan ling opera troupe. I had specially watched this singapore troupe mainly because they had hired 3 taiwanese actress/actors to come to join them. I quite like the guy acting as the lead actor. not too sure of what is his chinese name as i cannot really read taiwan chinese that still use the older type of chinese words used in the 70s. Anyway the actor is someone called Rong from Tainan Yingyun opera troupe(台南鶯藝歌仔戲團). Mum said he looked quite handsome. I would said he is really tall, not too bad in fact esp his powerful voice. Hmm, not too sure if the actor was male or female as i cannot find any information regarding his opera troupe in taiwan. But his/ her height reminded me of this particular handsome teacher in my secondary school days with the same build.
Updated: 5/9/2009: i just happened to learn the name of this group from taiwan: they are siblings ( 羅育忠,羅文惜,羅文君). They will be coming to join 筱麒麟劇團联合 on Lunar August 1 2009 for performance at Tampines road temple: 新加坡仙姑殿八仙瑶池大會. I like Youzhong performance very much so i think will ask mum to go together to watch.
BTW, my "kaponess" also help me to find Xin Yan Ling website set by a fan of their opera troupe: http://xinyenling.multiply.com/journal. I just learnt from their site that they will be coming to Hougang to performance on 16/9 but unfortunately, i only support them if they hire taiwanese to perform. In fact, for me, no taiwaness actor or actress, i will not watch.

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Before the opening. I wonder why xin is spell that way. so funny as the xin is spell correctly for the name of the opera troupe.

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Poster of today lead actor




The story:

Yan Ximian was a high authority officer. One day, his mum saved his cousin, lan jinfeng whom brother died during a fight. After Ximian asked jifeng to swear to the god that jinfeng will be loyal to the Yan family, jifeng was allowed to enter the Yan family as his foster sister.
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The actress acting as Jinfeng aunt, noted that she looked like getai 600. In fact, nowaday, most singapore opera actress looked like 600

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Jinfeng with her brother whom was wounded in a fight. Jifeng is the lady wearing black. The white lady is Chunlan, her maid

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Yan Ximain with his servants.






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Yan Ximian finally agreed to let jinfeng enter the Yan family. Noted how many clothes Jifeng and Chuntao had changed.



Shouqing was married to a woman. In order to get a magistrate job, shouqing decided to leave his town with the support of his wife and his wife brother, lou.
It so happend that Jinfeng was chased by robbers.
Shouqing saved her.
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Robbers said: "Money or Life". Jinfeng screamed: I ran, u chase ok?
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In most opera screen, hero always appear in the nick of the time and fall in love with the lead actress. Wow, actress changed third set of clothes.
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How wonderful if this could happen in reality. Our hero is the one on the right of the screen. The xiaosheng is also the boss of this opera troupe. Mum told me she is called 'Ho Lan'.
Jinfeng gave shouqing her fenghuang pin and asked Shouqing to give the pin to the officer in charge. The pin was supposed to be able to help shouqing claim success in his aim to become a officer.

In the inn, shouqing was followed by the robber. During a fight, shouqing acidentally stabbed the robber to death. The inn boss reported to the lazy magistrate whom announced shouqing guilty without any evidence. Luckily for Shouqing, Ximain arrived and clear shouqing name.
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Yan cleared Shouqing name. The dark blue actor is the magistrate. He looked very young - at most less than 20 of age only. Dun really like him, not much of a character shown on stage but heard he is also from Taiwan.
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Jinfeng with her aunt whom is now her foster mum. 4th set of clothes. Kapo me must count and count and take shots and shots coz i love accient clothing.
Ximain bought shouqing home. Jinfeng was delighted to see shouqing again. Ximain asked shouqing whether he was married. Shouqing admitted that he was married with a wife whom was carrying his unborn baby. However, jinfeng was willing to become shouqing second wife. Jifeng swear to the god that she will be good to her elder sister and her child. So ximain agreed to let jinfeng marry shouqing.

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Yan agreed to be jinfeng matchmaker to arrange for their marriage




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Shouqing and Jinfeng happily together

Shouqing send his guy to fetch his wife home. In the yan family, his wife gave birth to a son. Jinfeng maid, Chunlan then hinted to her missy that jinfeng should be the first wife, now that the first wife had a son, it would be hard for jifeng to claim her husband comfort. Jinfeng realised her maid was saying the truth. Jinfeng promised to kill both the wife and her son.

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Chunlan taught her missy, jinfeng how to plot against the first wife




In the garden, jinfeng pretended to give a wine to the wife. In fact, the wine was poison. Jinfeng then took the baby and pretended to be concerned. Once the baby was in her hand, jifeng revealed her evil side and struggled the poor baby to death. When the wife tried to stop her, jifeng stabbed the wife to death. Jinfeng ordered Chunlan to bury the bodies in the garden. Just then, the wife brother and the yan servant arrived in the Yan wanting to see the baby and the mother. The brother falled into the loosen soil. Upon digging, they discovered the body. Jifeng tried to stop them from escaping but they managed to run. Jinfeng then ordered chunlan to take the bodies into her own bedroom.

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Jinfeng ordered her men to try to murder the brother and the servant




The brother and the servant decided to sue jinfeng by seeking Yan Ximian help. In the court when the brother and servant said they want to sue jifeng, ximian chased them out. However, the servant believed that ximian was a justice man and entered the court again stating their true motive. Ximian asked his guy to dig the garden but discovered nothing. Then Ximain asked his guy to check jinfeng bedroom. The bodies were found under the bed. Ximain ordered jinfeng and chunlan to court.





In the court, Both jinfeng and Chunlan deny their act. Ximain asked chunlan to swear that she had nothing to do with the double murder. Chunlan swear that if she lies, she will be taken away by the ghost. At the end of her words, chunlan was died on the ground supposing to be taken away by the ghost of the wife. Jinfeng then begged for pardon and signed the criminal letter admitting to the murder. Jinfeng begged for pardon and cried for ximain mum. The mum arrived and tried to protect her foster daughter. Ximain tricked his mum out of the court and use the sword to end jinfeng life.

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This particular costom was given to the actor by Taiwan most famous xiao sheng Yang Li Hua. So i took many shots of this same guy.


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At the hearing, Jinfeng and Chunlan deny everything

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Yan' s mum tried to ask her son not to kill his foster sister.


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GoodBye time. Wonderful performance

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