Happy 80th birthday, Andrei Tarkovsky

I was quite surprised when Radoslav Sharapanov left a comment on my recent Andrei Tarkovsky Facebook post that today is actually Tarkovsky's birthday.




Tarkovsky died in 1986 at the relatively young age of 54, when I was only 2. He would have been 80 years old this year. Same age as my grandmother.

Experiencing Japan's strongest storm since 1959

3rd of April 2012. It's been 4 years and 1 day since I first moved to Tokyo.

This special event was marked by Japan's strongest storm since 1959.

Remembering Leslie Cheung and Anita Mui

During the last few hours, I was wondering why everyone's suddenly posting photos and videos of Leslie Cheung on Facebook. An internet meme I knew nothing about?

And then I remembered that he died on the 1st of April, 9 years ago.

Sharing some episodes of ROAD TO AFA that I directed

This is very late, since the Asian Film Awards ended two weeks ago. So you probably already knew that the Oscar-winning A SEPARATION was the night's major winner. (full results here)

But I haven't been updating this blog much these days, so please bear with me.

You might remember that I mentioned directing a series of interviews with a few major Japanese film figures last month while suffering from a hideous food poisoning as part of the ROAD TO AFA (Asian Film Awards) program hosted by Janet Hsieh. A month earlier, in January, I was in Taipei for these interviews.

I didn't exactly blog about my Taipei escapades, so I'll post up some of my old tweets related to it.

Some nice scenery during my TV shoot

I've been doing my TV shoot since the 10th of March (hence the lack of updates).

The majority of the shoot took place in Sekinchan. This marked my 4th shoot in that location, from my short film LOVE SUICIDES in 2008, to Woo Ming Jin's WOMAN ON FIRE LOOKS FOR WATER (which I produced) in 2009, to last year's LAST FRAGMENTS OF WINTER.

It's unsurprising that this region had became quite a popular place for film and TV shoots, the scenery had often been stunning.

These are some of the sights I saw early in the morning, just before camera rolled.

6th of March, 2012. Happy birthday to me!

Forty-five minutes ago, the clock struck 12, I have been bombarded with Facebook and Twitter birthday wishes from friends, family, acquaintances, people I've never met, film people, former primary school friends, former secondary school friends, former university friends, frenemies and the like. Thanks, folks. It's been a colorful life.

A year ago today, I was in Tokyo, spending the entire day in the editing room, editing a little half-finished short film called LAST FRAGMENTS OF WINTER. I met a few friends who dropped by, had a meeting with my producer Yuiko, and then at night, I left for the airport, and prepared to fly to Kuala Lumpur... I almost lost my computer bag.

A year has passed. The difference is that I'm now spending my birthday in Malaysia.

But at this very moment I am trying to complete a script for a little project that I'm doing in April.



In a few hours after I sleep and wake up, it will be rehearsals for a TV series that I'm directing. (it's the main reason why I'm back)

Yes, it's all work.

But I wouldn't have it any other way.

EMPTY KINGDOM interviews me

The very awesome arts and culture website Empty Kingdom had just posted an interview they did with me.

In this interview, I discuss why I stick with short films, and mostly on my latest short LAST FRAGMENTS OF WINTER.

Rest In Peace, Aunty Mak Fong 楓姨，一路好走

Yesterday, I found out with sadness that the veteran actress Mak Fong 麦楓 had passed away after a brief battle with lung cancer. She was 77.

Regarding the Oscars...

The Oscars is just a few hours away, and if I don't oversleep until the afternoon, I might be able to catch its live stream on my computer.

Creative Spotlight: Episode #96 – Edmund Yeo (JAPAN CINEMA interviews me)

The awesome Japan Cinema had posted a very in-depth interview I recently did with its editor-in-chief Marcello as part of their "Creative Spotlight" series.

It's hard to direct a series of interviews with legendary Japanese directors when you are ill.

I came back to Tokyo on the 8th, arriving early in the morning.

As the day went on, I knew something was wrong.