tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61415908573547368492024-02-20T19:23:26.194-05:00boy-abroadnick has gone to america!neekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15596355522712521210noreply@blogger.comBlogger112125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141590857354736849.post-54181538551440432172011-09-21T10:45:00.002-04:002011-09-21T10:55:52.406-04:00HelloI'm still alive. and working in the system. life is long and good.<br /><br />I used to blog late in the night on a black background. it was escapism. <br /><br />the present becomes the past as soon as it happens.neekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15596355522712521210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141590857354736849.post-11523061381257016192010-02-18T19:04:00.005-05:002010-02-18T21:52:56.616-05:00requiemi'm finishing 3 shows in march... which must be a record; but satisfying nonetheless.<br /><br />just found out i got nominated for best set at Life! Theatre Awards... my second nomination!!!<br /><br />i will be a civil servant this time next year...<br /><br />i'll be doing cinderellah at the esplanade end of the year, should be up to 30 shows by the end of the year!! since i started at 19, this means i'm averaging 6 shows a year... i actually wish it was 14 a year.<br /><br />i'm getting my financial portfolio managed with ippfa, good to start young, since i've got quite a bit of savings now...<br /><br />but i still need to move faster if i'm already 25.<br /><br />really need to set up my furniture design brand soon!<br /><br />i think i will start being more selective with my shows too.<br /><br />i can't wait to get assignments overseas!!!neekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15596355522712521210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141590857354736849.post-49921694634314171162010-01-13T11:04:00.002-05:002010-01-13T11:06:52.618-05:00i am in a good place in my life now.but somehow i feel like things are waiting to capsize around me. <br /><br />between the start and end of a song, entering the title and finishing this sentence, i have already been thrown off my balance.<br /><br />ah. life is not perfect. but the evening pretty darned much was.neekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15596355522712521210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141590857354736849.post-79522747913121306042010-01-08T02:49:00.004-05:002010-01-08T02:53:26.735-05:00i love my new jobdid i tell you about the client whose parking lot is bigger than my house?<br /><br />and about the david gan saloon in her bathroom?<br /><br />and the indoor basketball court next to the living room?<br /><br />strangely enough, the thing i loved most was the wet morning breeze.neekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15596355522712521210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141590857354736849.post-5230246545813109332010-01-04T10:03:00.000-05:002010-01-04T10:05:15.258-05:00因为你是我的影子情人。午後傾斜照進來的光<br />和你之間已經告終<br />我不能告訴你<br />這一季存留多少美麗<br /><br />我選擇絕對或者零<br />不要一些或者中間<br />假如還有回憶<br />留給你自己<br /><br />過去在你身邊<br />猶如沉默的影子<br />這一季已結束<br />夢也該醒了<br /><br />過去在你身邊<br />猶如沉默的影子<br />這一天已結束<br />我也該走<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />保重。neekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15596355522712521210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141590857354736849.post-70127451957037974982009-12-13T12:58:00.002-05:002009-12-13T13:09:41.514-05:002am symptomswas brushing my teeth in the kitchen when the furniture struck me with its arrangement logic. as my parents lay sleeping in the next room, i began to wonder how many more years and permutations my kitchen furniture will see. its morbid to be pondering our mortality at 2am in the morning. but the christmas tree reminds me to appreciate the moment.<br /><br />am already 25. i'm not making my millions yet. so the existential crisis set in last night after meeting up with chuanyang jiaming and zhenghan. thankfully my passion for set design was reaffirmed by morning time. sure the USD$9000 starting pay makes banking sound good, but would i rather be stuck in a bank when i'm 40 or working on my hundredth set design, somewhere nearer to broadway than if i remained a corporate slave?<br /><br />passion. love. city. theatre. history. games. i just hope there's enough money along the way to not starve.neekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15596355522712521210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141590857354736849.post-29913606717944160592009-08-21T06:27:00.002-04:002009-08-21T06:36:02.308-04:00Empire'From the ruins (of the stock market crash), <br />lonely and inexplicable as the sphinx, <br />rises the Empire State Building and, <br />just as it had been a tradition of mine to climb to the Plaza Roof to take leave of the beautiful city, <br />extending as far as the eyes could reach, <br />so now I went to the roof of the last and most magnificent of towers. <br /><br />Then I understood -everything was explained: <br />I had discovered the crowing error of the city, its Pandora's box. <br />Full of jaunty pride the New Yorker had climbed here and seen with dismay what he had never suspected, <br />that the city was not the endless sucession of canyons that he saw for the first time <br />that it faded out into the country on all sides, <br />into a expanse of green and blue that alone was limitless. <br />And with the awful realization that New York was a city after and not a universe,<br />the whole shining edifice that he had reared in his imagination came crashing to the ground.'<br /><br />-F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1932<br /><br /><a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/?action=view¤t=3785836861_361912da34_b.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/3785836861_361912da34_b.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />On the night of May 1st, 1931, from Washington, President Hoover pushed a button that he enlighted for the first time, in New York, the Empire State Building:neekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15596355522712521210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141590857354736849.post-80674168418486800712009-08-16T15:00:00.000-04:002009-08-16T15:01:21.638-04:00The Metropolis of TomorrowBUILDINGS like crystals<br />Walls of translucent glass.<br />Sheer glass blocks sheathing a steel grill.<br />No Gothic branch: no Acanthus leaf: no recollection of the plant world.<br />A mineral kingdom.<br />Gleaming stalagmites.<br />Forms as cold as ice.<br />Mathematics.<br />Night in the Science Zone.<br /><br />-Hugh Ferrissneekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15596355522712521210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141590857354736849.post-57280914871104760822009-07-10T13:15:00.002-04:002009-07-10T13:20:06.782-04:00Jan Kempenaers' Spomenik<a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/?action=view¤t=Spomenik1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/Spomenik1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/?action=view¤t=Spomenik10202007.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/Spomenik10202007.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/?action=view¤t=Spomenik2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/Spomenik2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/?action=view¤t=Spomenik15202007.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/Spomenik15202007.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/?action=view¤t=Spomenik14202007.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/Spomenik14202007.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/?action=view¤t=Spomenik13202007.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/Spomenik13202007.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/?action=view¤t=Spomenik3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/Spomenik3.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/?action=view¤t=Spomenik4202007.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/Spomenik4202007.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/?action=view¤t=Spomenik5202007.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/Spomenik5202007.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/?action=view¤t=Spomenik6202007.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/Spomenik6202007.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/?action=view¤t=Spomenik7202007.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/Spomenik7202007.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>neekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15596355522712521210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141590857354736849.post-81678556736717029282009-05-25T06:51:00.002-04:002009-05-25T06:52:04.722-04:00Car Free Times Square?!Please follow link:<br /><br /><strong><a href="http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=102864863803&h=5nxi9&u=pld3o&ref=nf">Car-free Times Square in New York</a> </strong><br /><br /><br />NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYneekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15596355522712521210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141590857354736849.post-42265885509760633392009-05-12T02:19:00.002-04:002009-05-12T02:26:29.473-04:00Iceland Moto ParkThis is a beautiful project drawing on the genius loci of the site, sometimes, you only need to look to the sky for inspiration. How is our own Changi Racing Circuit (etc 2011) going to react to its context in Changi?<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/?action=view¤t=IcelandMotoPark1small.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/IcelandMotoPark1small.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/?action=view¤t=IcelandMotoPark2small.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/IcelandMotoPark2small.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/?action=view¤t=IcelandMotoPark4small.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/IcelandMotoPark4small.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>neekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15596355522712521210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141590857354736849.post-63832669701637055582009-05-12T01:42:00.003-04:002009-05-12T02:18:50.590-04:00WKCD - etc 2031<a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/?action=view¤t=HongKongCulturalCenter1small.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/HongKongCulturalCenter1small.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/?action=view¤t=HongKongCulturalCenter3small.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/HongKongCulturalCenter3small.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><strong>Field of dreams? <br />A global forum on the city's arts hub has praised the direction the project is taking but also raised concerns</strong><br />24 April 2009<br />South China Morning Post<br /><br />When the HK$21.6 billion West Kowloon Cultural District is fully up and running in <strong>2031</strong>, 15 venues with grandiose architecture will grace the skyline of the 40 hectares of reclaimed land.<br /><br />Before that, by 2015, 12 venues are slated to offer up to 24,400 seats for assorted cultural programmes. However, there are already doubts about whether those seats can be filled. The question is how to cultivate an audience to ensure a steady stream of faithful patrons.<br /><br />One of the biggest concerns is that, in a city which holds some of the biggest private collections of Chinese art in the world, the museum might be disappointing, rather than a leading attraction that showcased Chinese art and helped to educate people about it.<br /><br />"The whole thing has fallen into a repeated, extremely slow, never-ending cycle of consultation and discussions which are then overturned," he said. "The government does not seem to have any stance about what it wants, and doesn't take the initiative to ask for ideas and opinions from established art institutions, practitioners, artists, collectors and galleries in Hong Kong. The core spirit and idea of the whole West Kowloon Project is still lacking."neekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15596355522712521210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141590857354736849.post-78693228126252576902009-05-12T01:30:00.002-04:002009-05-12T02:29:45.517-04:00Back.<a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/?action=view¤t=DSC_0070-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/DSC_0070-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />Took this photo when i came back to Singapore this year. So much to look forward to.neekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15596355522712521210noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141590857354736849.post-89346853757632332122009-04-07T18:24:00.004-04:002009-04-07T18:31:47.960-04:00Rambling words of a madmanEver since i've been back, i've randomly missed summertime episodes of being in Midwest America, taking boat rides and driving under endless skies. Of course, i was also in the Maldives; this makes my current week all the more unbearable. I've bumped in 2 shows back to back whilst working on my graduation submission. This is almost as bad as the time i was doing Rag in the night and theatre in the day back in 06. <br /><br />Singapore is really a shithole.<br /><br />Oh, next week seems so far away... i really need the summer to unwind and live again. <br /><br />Please let this all be worth it...neekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15596355522712521210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141590857354736849.post-7192852816756205932009-03-20T11:30:00.002-04:002009-03-20T11:36:16.867-04:00All in a day's work9.30: SGH to pick up props<br />11.00: NUS for lesson<br />12.30: Sembawang factory to pick out plastic leaves<br />2.00: NUS for meeting<br />4.00: Plaza Singapura to buy plastic tubes<br />4.30: Theatre for stage measurement<br />5.30: Upper Paya Lebar for set inspection<br /><br />Sigh. a gazillion things to do. I'm always saying yes.neekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15596355522712521210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141590857354736849.post-35292391038043353142009-01-12T12:58:00.002-05:002009-01-12T13:05:07.053-05:00cannot blog anymorecos i not abroad anymore mah.<br /><br />but ya, as i was telling tomaso the other day, free time in sg is supper / homework / play games / earn money time. no time to blog anymore.<br /><br />we'll see.<br /><br />rearranged my imeempod to play all my sg emo songs. no more quirky americana like luis miguel, john lennon and josh rouse in yo face.<br /><br />aight.<br /><br />thanks for reading. peaceout.neekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15596355522712521210noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141590857354736849.post-10882014512021373322009-01-07T00:06:00.000-05:002009-01-07T00:07:46.382-05:00now that i'm back,CRAP I DIDN'T GET TO SAY 'NIGGA' IN AMERICA.neekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15596355522712521210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141590857354736849.post-18762352647244620342008-12-21T22:56:00.000-05:002008-12-21T22:57:07.295-05:00i dun advocate chainmails but...A Japanese company (Toyota) and an American company (Ford Motors) decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race.<br /><br />On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile.<br /><br />The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat. A management team made up of senior management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action.<br /><br />Their conclusion was the Japanese had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering, while the American team had 7 people steering and 2 people rowing.<br /><br />Feeling a deeper study was in order; American management hired a consulting company and paid them a large amount of money for a second opinion.<br /><br />They advised, of course, that too many people were steering the boat, while not enough people were rowing.<br /><br />Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting to prevent another loss to the Japanese, the rowing team's management structure was totally reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 2 area steering superintendents and 1 assistant superintendent steering manager.<br /><br />They also implemented a new performance system that would give the 2 people rowing the boat greater incentive to work harder. It was called the 'Rowing Team Quality First Program,' with meetings, dinners and free pens for the rowers. There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes and other equipment, extra vacation days for practices and bonuses. The pension program was trimmed to 'equal the competition' and some of the resultant savings were channeled into morale boosting programs and teamwork posters.<br /><br />The next year the Japanese won by two miles.<br /><br />Humiliated, the American management laid-off one rower, halted development of a new canoe, sold all the paddles, and canceled all capital investments for new equipment. The money saved was distributed to the Senior Executives as bonuses. <br /><br />The next year, try as he might, the lone designated rower was unable to even finish the race (having no paddles,) so he was laid off for unacceptable performance, all canoe equipment was sold and the next year's racing team was out-sourced to India .<br /><br />Sadly, the End.<br /><br />Here's something else to think about: Ford has spent the last thirty years moving all its factories out of the US, claiming they can't make money paying American wages.<br /><br />TOYOTA has spent the last thirty years building more than a dozen plants inside the US. The last quarter's results:<br /><br />TOYOTA makes 4 billion in profits while Ford racked up 9 billion in losses.<br /><br />Ford folks are still scratching their heads, and collecting bonuses... <br /><br />IF THIS WEREN'T SO TRUE IT MIGHT BE FUNNYneekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15596355522712521210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141590857354736849.post-34559184854367366142008-12-19T02:05:00.002-05:002011-05-26T16:24:28.645-04:00i really can't believethat the Woolworth and Ground Zero are just outside the window.
<br />
<br />I live my life for epic moments like this.
<br />
<br />I am just a microbe gravitating from protostar to protostar.
<br />
<br />Maybe one day i can help create galaxy events.
<br />
<br />If its possible in Hollywood, its definitely possible in Singapore.neekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15596355522712521210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141590857354736849.post-31590891438520919212008-12-18T18:52:00.003-05:002008-12-18T22:04:52.220-05:00dun worry singapore<a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/?action=view¤t=skylines.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/skylines.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />we will get there...<br /><br /><br />GFCI just listed Singapore as <a href="http://blog.finetik.com/2008/09/29/singapore-overtakes-hong-kong-in-list-of-best-financial-centres/">Asia's most important financial center</a>, ahead of HK this year. Movie industry ppl are placing their bet on Singapore because of MDA. Movie stars and finance gurus are moving to Singapore cos of the weather. So, dunch worry lah. just be ourselves lor. and take more OT.neekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15596355522712521210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141590857354736849.post-55053222336356148602008-12-17T23:08:00.000-05:002008-12-17T23:09:00.858-05:00Uptown<a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/?action=view¤t=DSC03612.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/DSC03612.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>neekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15596355522712521210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141590857354736849.post-14761374341015036742008-12-17T09:07:00.002-05:002008-12-17T09:10:52.168-05:00New York Nocturne 1Now the nights of one period are not<br />the nights of another.<br /><br />Neither are the nights of one city the <br />nights of another.<br /><br />-Djuna Barnes,<br />Nightwood.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/?action=view¤t=k8744.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/k8744.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/?action=view¤t=13754_std.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/nicholasliha/13754_std.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />Alvin Langdon Coburn, 1910<br /><br />I fell in love on Broadway, at the very same spot, 98 years later.<br /><br />What other city is myth like this?neekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15596355522712521210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141590857354736849.post-81835893450267102082008-12-15T21:42:00.001-05:002008-12-15T21:46:17.105-05:00my christmas was RUINEDat around 3:14:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/C4jEuUSSJ4E&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/C4jEuUSSJ4E&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>neekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15596355522712521210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141590857354736849.post-17363017024179309902008-12-15T00:06:00.002-05:002008-12-15T00:12:16.446-05:00phew. tired.university applications are GRUELING.<br /><br />sigh. u work so hard to get into good american universities. and then you work so hard to stay alive in them. its not like any of the hard work is ever going to end?!<br /><br />If i didn't have to win bread, and if i could live for myself (you know, like be a privileged middle son or only one child out of others), I would be taking things easy and living life. <br /><br />but at least i have a loving family. can't have my cake and expect it to do architecture for me.<br /><br />life is one hell of a rat race. dun like being a rat in new york city right now.neekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15596355522712521210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141590857354736849.post-86278439454373758522008-12-14T21:37:00.002-05:002008-12-14T21:46:44.023-05:00lift yo head up haivanity. hunger. betrayal. jealousy. wrath. revenge. <br /><br />the only thing i can do to distinguish myself is commit to my craft.<br /><br />these sensations are juvenile.<br /><br />there are other plateaus to traverse in life. and i will find more meaning at the end. when there will be something still going on when even human life is extinguished.<br /><br />so here's to anyone who cares: at least i know what i want in life now. and i'm gonna get there. do you?<br /><br />new york is really awesome. all my concerns in Singapore have been given a new perspective.<br /><br />soon now, i will standing at the top of the rockefeller and shouting my arrival in the new world.neekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15596355522712521210noreply@blogger.com0