Peter Hoflich

Well, another few days have gone by. Monday I wrote, after seeing Dog Soldiers. Tuesday was a regular day at work – go jogging in the morning, eat a disgustingly buttery kaya toast at the hawker centre near work, get to work 9-ish, work, have lunch, go home around 7:00, eat dinner at the hawker centre in Clementi, have Sean over to watch a Bergman film, drink sherry, go to sleep all lonely around 12:30 or so. The Bergman film was very nice, better than Wild Strawberries. Wednesday I went for a jog in the morning, but it was very very rough, difficult, no energy. Lay in bed stunned for a while, feeling bad. Terrible. Went to work, the usual work stuff, worked, had lunch, worked, had dinner. Yawwwnnn… At night, Sean wasn’t into watching a movie, so I watched the Ladykillers (the 1955 original, not the Coen Brotherrs remake or last year or so) by myself, went to sleep. Thursday, went jogging, feeling better, went to work, worked, had lunch, worked, went home. Had a strange experience in the train – at 6:00 or so, the train was packed. The people in front of me get on the train, but stand there at the edge with their back to me, seemingly not willing to go further into the train to make room for the people trying to get on after them. Sure, the train is full, but there’s always room for more, so I push my way in. Maybe I push a little too hard, because suddenly people recoil and there’s all this room for me all of a sudden. Then this lady, holding a big bunch of flowers says “you horrible man!” or something like that, while the guy on the other side of me says “sorry.” I was embarassed, and didn’t say anything, but I wish I’d laughed and said “oh, sure, but you’re lazy – isn’t it lovely that there’s all this room now for people trying to get on the train!?!?” Went over to watch “…And God Created Woman” (the 1956 Roger Vadim film with Brigitte Bardot, not the 1988 Roger Vadim remake with Rebecca de Mornay) at Sean’s, the kids were getting to sleep. Hana asked Mihoko “why is Uncle Peter always coming over recently?” Mihoko went out to friends to watch “Red Eye.” Of course the Bardot film was better… Friday was an OK day – I didn’t go jogging, went in to work, did chores, errands, worked, transcribed, wrote articles, hung out, ate lunch, worked, wrote an article, did a bunch of important stuff, went home at 8:30. Think everything will be OK for the trip to Beijing. Got home, cooked dinner, drank beer, hung out, read Ramones biography – terrible, terrible book, won’t finish it! Sleep! Saturday a nice morning, breezy, sleep in since I doubt I’ll get much sleep Saturday night. Yuck. Mum and Dad phoned at 10:00 and we chatted. They asked about the price of gas, which is something that I don’t think of much to be honest, but I’ll have to look into it. Went to West Mall to return DVDs and the crappy Ramones book. There was a Red Cross blood drive on, so of course volunteers were harassing me to give blood. I thought “sure, why not, but then I realized that I will be flying and having a tough night/weekend/week ahead. But giving blood improves your endurance in the long run, right? So I asked the girl there if the short term effects are bad, and she said “walk around and think about it” which wasn’t an answer, and I told her so; next I asked a westerner, a volunteer, wondering if he might be a medical professional, but he said “I suppose it shouldn’t have any effect at all.” Okay, this guy is just as uninformed as anybody else, so I asked for a doctor’s opinion, and he just said “no way, man.” Volunteers are the most empty-headed people around; I wasn’t so surprised to get this sort of “I don’t know, but I’ll make like I know” attitude from the Singaporeans, but I was a little surprised to get it from a westerner as well. He seemed Dutch… Went to the library, got three books – “Marrying Buddha” by Wei Hui, the controversial Chinese author who wrote “Shanghai Baby,” and then two Graham Greene books, namely “The Quiet American,” and “Brighton Rock.” Looking forward to reading all three. Had trouble at the ATM, went home, did chores, ate, read, hung out, thought about packing, went swimming, bought wine, went to the gas station to inquire about a rise in gas prices. Apparently, the price of gas has gone up 10 cents in the last month – one month ago it was about $1.80 per litrer, now it is $1.90 per litre. Fascinating! Listened to music like Rollins Band, Nina Simone, Nico, Serge Gainsbourg, Nana Mouskouri, and other cool French and Brazilian music I borrowed from Sean. Nina Simone, nice… Phones Naoko, seems like she and Zen are pretty bored in hot, sweaty Japan, looking forward to being here again I suppose. Me too, I’m looking forward to seeing them too! Went for a swim, wrote blog. Gonna go to the airport around 10:30.

DVD review – Smiles of a Summer Night: Fantastic Bergman film, his breakthrough actually, very nice and shiny and happy and friendly, four couples have absurd encounters, and there is strange anguished switching. Part “the Brothers Karamazov,” but also part “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Shakespearean wooded bacchanal, and all sorts of fun stuff. Great dialogue: “A young man loves always… himself. His self love and his love of love.” “Your body has a perfection that even perfection lacks.” Droll mother, full of epigrams. Baron shooting with his wife, lesbian bed scene, the m oving bed for the king.

“This is a historic moment – you’ve finally been hit with tremors of feeling above your navel. I am perfectly calm – can I help it if I have a temper? You long-nosed baboon! I wish that just once you’d shatter to theh core so that not a fart was left!”
“I’ve suffererd a lot!”
“You’ve suffered from what? Tight shoes? A solicitor whose head is as orderly as his desk. I’m going to speak even if I have nothing to say! You made me so furious I forgot what I wanted to say.”
“What were you going to say?”
“I forgot.”

DVD review – the Ladykillers: Droll Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers (his first major role), Herbert Lom comedy about a criminal gang that uses an old lady’s house as the base for their bank robbery. Unfortunately, it’s the last thing they ever do! Very clever, black ending, but unfortunately none of the characters ever flesh out their comic potential, except maybe perhaps Alec Guinness, who is truly wacky and even a bit fruity as the mad criminal genius.

DVD review – And God Created Woman: Classic film, Vadim’s first and BB’s fourth or fifth, it was a breakthrough for both as it showed the scandalous life of singles. BB is hardly scandalous by today’s standards, but at that time they were liable to electroshock girls deemed too horny (see “Rambling Rose”) and stuff. Great San Tropez scenery, and it seems like BB has made love with dozens of guys, two of them onscreen. Classic wedding night scene, the type that makes me yearn with regret. Nice line “the future always ruins the present” or something like that. Only after watching this movie does it really sink in that… filmed in 1956… could it be that Brigitte Bardot is now… 71 years old? SHRIEK!!!

Hey, another day at work. Woke up at 5:30, thirty minutes before my alarm was supposed to ring – bummer. Got to work, first one there, had our meeting, debriefed myself slowly from my 2-week absence, went off to lunch with a PR person from a bank (rack of lamb – yummy), then back to work, writing, hanging out, chatting, emailing. Off to ride the bus with Elena and Peal to go to the Esplanade library and meet Sean to rent movies. Got Dog Soldiers, the Ladykillers (1955), …And God Created Woman (1956), and Smiles of a Summer Night. Went back by taxi (traffic lights…), had curry dinner with Sean while Mihoko went off to play tennis and the kids slept early, then listened to Elvis Costello and watched Dog Soldiers with Sean while drinking gin and lime. Home near 11:00, do dishes, write blog, shower, sleep…

DVD review – Dog Soldiers: British horror movie, shot on a tight budget, with big-head werewolves (see also big-head aliens in “Alien,” big-head sharks in “Jaws”) stalking soldiers in the Scottish highlands. Feels like a “Night of the Living Dead” remake until a few interesting plot twists (and a few bone-headed ideosyncratic “sudden scenes” break the tension in two. Good ending too – very tight, although also a bit gimmicky – i.e. the silver object introduced in one of the first scenes plays an important part at the end of the movie.

Had a nice Sunday, with some hanging around – went to IMM mall in the morning to see about my watch, seems like the shop has gone, which is no surprise really, so I’ll have to fix my scratched dial some other way. Relaxed around the apartment all day, went swimming at 6, met Sean and Mihoko and family, had beers and dinner with them, then back home to do some work, then watched “Wild Strawberries” with Sean.

DVD review – Wild Strawberries: an Ingmar Bergman film about an old man in a car voyage from one city to another, as he goes from his home, where he lives a cold, lonely life, to Lund where he is to collect an honorary degree. Kind. Pleasant. Surrealistic car rides. Dream sequences, including one about a handless watch, a horse cart catching on a lamppost and dropping a coffin (very weird motion in the seqemce) and all sorts of other craziness. Plenty of heavy dialogue too, but also some fun stuff: “I never want to see you aqgain, at least not before lunch.” (Say it with a Swedish accent) Heavy sense of childbirth in the angst-ridden year of… 1959?

Hey, ho, going a bit nutty with loneliness… Got a lot of spam mail… Ate not-so-great meals, in and out.

My new haircut, and my new roommate and constant companion

Friday I slept in until 11:00 or so, although mum and dad did call me at 8:00 to chat – they just got back from Toronto and thought that I was going in to work. Yeah, right!! Got up, ate, went downtown by bus to do some shopping. Got out, checked out HMV – expensive!!! The Best of Iggy Pop double CD and DVD that I bought for $32 at Grammophone is $45 there!! A single Ministry CD was also $45!!! Yoiks!!!!! Went to the movie theatre, but nothing good is playing now, pity. Went to Takashimaya, bought two pairs of pants and two shirts, mostly nicen linen stuff but I saw that one shirt was a linen-rayon blend – YUCK! Oh well, it looks nice at least. Wandered around Kinokuniya bookstore, which was nice, seeing the comics and stuff. Looked at “Songwriting for Dummies,” which seems like a good new venture for me to start, but it was kind of expensive. Wonder if it’s cheaper to buy these books online – initial cost is less, but shipping will be a killer to Singapore! Hrmmmnnn… Walked around and looked at stuff, nothing interesting. Noticed how many well-dressed gay men shop on Friday afternoons, interesting. Where do these guys work? But I guess it’s okay to take a Friday afternoon off work to look after your fashion needs. Took the MRT to City Hall and checked out what’s happening there, feeling empty – so many people walking around, nobody to talk to. Went to the DVD library, signed up for another year, rented a bunch of cool movies – the Stepford Wives (1975), Wild Strawberries, Throw Momma From The Train, and Star Trek Episodes – episode 1, 78, and 99. Also borrowed a book about the Ramones, although it doesn’t seem very well-written, and is awful doting. Went home, watched Star Trek episodes, and also Throw Momma From The Train. Saturday I cycled around, went to the post office to picke up a package for Naoko, it was books from Aki. Cool day – it had rained a lot at night, and the windy morning was light and cool. Cycling was not a problem – not tiring or sweaty at all. Great! Dropped off my suit for dry cleaning, bought some groceries (mostly beverages) and got a haircut. Ate lunch, then went to explore the local malls again. Found a cool fish shop in Beauty World Centre, and also a sex shop (!!!!) in Bukit Timah Shopping Centre, but not too much else that was spectacular or moving. Went home, hung out, relaxed, did computer, napped for 10 minutes, went for a short jog, went for a swim, went home, drank lime and gin, watched City of God (excellent!!), and the Stepford Wives (1975).

DVD review – Star Trek episodes “Turnabout Intruder,” “the Cage”: In Turnabout Intruder, Kirk discovers a jealous ex-flame on a remote planet (of course), she switched bodies with him and tries to take over the Enterprise. Interesting to see Shatner acting like a woman acting like a man. “The Cage,” which was the pilot episode of Star Trerk, is kind of like Solaris, where the commander of the Enterprise Christopher Pike (played by Jeffrey Hunter) is put in a cage and is manipulated by aliens into falling in love with a virtual human woman. All very cerebral, and the aliens have bulging domes. The only character in the pilot to be in the full series was Leonard Nimoy. Lucky guy! Interesting lines like “perhaps you made me out of dreams you’ve forgotten.” Semi-pornographic lines like “I can be anyone you like.” “Let me please you.” Space martinis!

DVD review – Throw Momma From The Train: seen this movie before; liked it a lot and wanted to see it again to see if my memory of the film did it justice. Turns out it was still a very funny movie after all these years. Good lines like:
Billy Crystal: “I want to make love with you… some time in the near future.”
Girl: “Why now now?”
Billy Crystal: “I have writer’s block.”
Girl: “You have writer’s block? Everywhere?”
Other lines are also good: “She’s no writer!! She couldn’t write her name in the snow.” “Just meet her – maybe she’d be somebody you’d LIKE to kill.” “Go bury him in the yard before he stinks up the place.”
Sure, Billy Crystal is quite good, Danny DeVito even better, and Anne Ramsay best of all; sure, they’re caricatures, but it’s still a very funny movie.

DVD review – City of God: This film somehow didn’t really capture my interest, but my work colleague raved so much about it (deserves all of the praise it’s been given; definitely belongs on all of the “best 100″ lists) that I had to see it. And of course, all of the praise is true!! One hell of a story, and one hell of a story-telling technique. The tense opening scene of a gang’s confrontation with the police starts off a series of flashbacks that goes back and back and back. Important characters are introduced, with the caveat “we’ll hear more about him later,” and there are mini-chapters all over the place. Certainly there are too too many murders, can life really be that cheap in the slums of Brazil? Weird to think of a slum as being literally gang-controlled – the police don’t really have authority. Amazingly, the pax romana of the gangs showed that ultimately the slum was better off with a single strongman running the show. Scary to see how a 10-year old would have such a thirst for killing. Shorty and his wife – sad, sexy. Weird thing about the banana sex/ Shaggy’s death; the Tender Trio; shot in the foot and thinking they were off the hook; the runts; Li’l Z like Hitler – no girlfriend, no sex, no love. Seu Jorge, who sings the amazing acoustic Bowie covers in Portuguese on the soundtrack for the Wes Anderson film “the Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou,” is in it as Knockout Ned. Nice sexiness in some scenes, including the discrete “sorry, I don’t have a guest room, you’ll have to sleep in my bed.” Apparently, journalists are not good lays! Too intellectual?

DVD review – the Stepford Wives (1975): No, not the Frank Oz remake, the original with Katherine Ross. By the author of Rosemary’s Baby, and you sure can tell – the tension builds up in almost exactly the same way, ha ha. Long wistful silence at beginning, long musical travel/credits scene at beginning somehow telltale for movies of that era. “We’re not allowed to drink anything on the job, except beer.” Very little soundtrack music. “I shouldn’t say this, but… I just love my brownies.”
SFW: “Which one do you like?”
NH: “Oh, I don’t like either of them.”
Is it the town of Twin Peaks, or is it Stepford? “If I’m wrong, I’m insane; and if I’m right, it’s worse than if I’m wrong!” Waits until the end to start the whole “where are my children?” plot. The epitome of “hello how are you I’m fine.” Interesting documntary about the making of the film – it’s clear that the director, a very proper English gentleman, hated all of the people on the project, including the screenwriter, and the male and female leads. Must have been lots of animosity on that set, but maybe that’s needed for such a tense, creepy thriller. Apparently Diane Keaton was asked to play the lead, but she turned it down on the grounds that her therapist said it had “bad vibes.” Well, it’s no Exorcist, at least. Peter Masterson, playing the lead, is the father of Mary Stewart Masterson, who is here as a 9-year-old in her film debut. The Stepford Wives was followed by two sequels, the Revenge of the Stepford Wives (with Don Johnson!), the Stepford Children (apparently one of the worst films ever made), and the Frank Oz remake with Christopher Walken.

DVD review – Iggy Pop, live at Avenue B: reminds me of “Systeme D,” the Les Rita Mitsouka album that Iggy Pop sings a duet on (“My Love Is Bad”). Just goes to show that Iggy Pop live is ten times better than Iggy Pop in the studio, which is not too shabby either. The leathery star is an amazing 52-years-old in this concert, and he looks ten times better than most 20-year olds. Amazing movement onstage, perfect command. Cool acoustic bits “Nazi Girlfriend” and “Avenue B” which he plays on acoustic guitar while kneeling. Cool. The songs were from his (then) just-released album “Avenue B” with Medeski, Martin and Wood. All of the other songs are Iggy Pop’s greatest hits. The DVD comes with the new “A Million In Prizes” anthology.

Yes, two weeks away from home and boy am I stinky!! Yes, at a conference, staying in a hotel where they charged stupid rates for laundry and then bouncing from one relative’s house to another with no time to do laundry and get it done on time – well, the first thing I did when I got home was to take a nice, long shower and do laundry. And now everything’s copacetic. Oh yeah, NEWSFLASH – I also shaved off my little beard (sometimes called a van Dijk) so that now I’m just with a mustache. Well, I don’t know if I’ll keep it this way since it looks a little odd… maybe “odd” is not the right word, but there’s probably a synonym of “odd” that I’m thinking of.

Also, here’s an amazing headline from the US. It seems like the scales have finally fallen from someone’s eyes:

Well, I don’t know exactly what I was doing in the final week before I went to Copenhagen, besides finishing up stories and organising interviews like a madman, but it couldn’t have been as interesting as my odyssey. Naoko and Zen went to Japan on Monday morning, and I was a bachelor for a few days, which meant crappy meals eaten alone.

Our story picks up on September 3rd, when I woke up at the crack of dawn so that I could be on the good ship lollypop… er – I mean my Thai Airlines flight to Bangkok. The flight to Copenhagen from Singapore was over Bangkok, but I took it as a stopover and booked the earliest flight so that I could spend time wandering around town. Tired after five hours of sleep, wondering what made me so ambitious to desire 16 hours of wandering around a crowded Asian city. No brekky. Nice cabbie. Check-in: for no apparent reason, I was escorted to the first class priority check-in. A bitchy little girl at the desk there looked at my ticket and asked me which flight I was on (d’uh – it was printed right on the ticket she was holding in her hand). She made it clear that she thought I didn’t belong there with my economy ticket! Then my overweight baggage was a problem – she called someone about it, but got approval; then my 16 hour stopover in Bangkok was a problem (apparently they only do 12 hours – more than that you have to take up your luggage and re-check it in, which was news to me, and generally unacceptable as far as I was concerned), but she called someone else about it and it wasn’t a problem. Harumph!! With my boarding pass, I went through the special First Class Detour into the customs area that bypassses the first security check. Well, I guess that’s all just window dressing anyway. No Danish Kroner to be had, oh well. Bought “Eats, Shoots And Leaves,” the recent bestseller about punctuation (!!!). Saw a queue for the plane snaking across the hall at the end of the escalator. Dumb. Flew to Bangkok and walked around, tried out my baht in a taxi to get to Khao San road to walk around and hang out. Walked up and down, then went for lunch in one of those places. It was all right. Heard a Thai ad that uses “Three Is A Magic Number” from Schoolhouse Rock. Another ad was for “Clean Air” in a spray can. Next time I’m in Thailand I’ll have to get that. Walked around, discovererd that the temple area south of Khao San Road has been developped and is clean and nice. I’ll have to stay there next time. Cool Korean backpackers hanging out. Took a river tour, which was fun and breezy, and got out at the Sky Train station near the State Tower. Wandered around there for a while, then on the trian to Siam Centre, hoping to do some shopping but it was under renovation!! Found out where Jim Thompson House is, they told me to take the Sky Train one stop, then I saw that it was really just walking distance anyway. Got through the House, which is an amalgam of six old teak houses, custom-fitted by Mr. Thompson and full of blue china pieces, tables, beds, and all sorts of things Thais didn’t use at that time. Nice canal nearby – I crossed the canal bridge and wandered around the old Thai neighbourhood for a while, which was fun, but I wasn’t really welcome there, so I left. Then I didn’t know what to do – thought about going to Pat Pong Road, which was nearby, or back to Khao San Road, which was far away. Couldn’t get a bus at first, nor a tuk-tuk, but I finally found one that would take me, which was nice. Started raining while he was getting me to Khao San Road, and I ducked into a restaurant I had seen earlier. Ate crappy Thai food (lunch hadn’t been good either) and drank beer, then went to a pub where I met grouchy German backpackers from south Germany, and a spaced-out American guy that reminded me of John, then I wandered around Khao San again. What a change from the morning!! Lots of people, lots of Thais!! Great live music from a guy playing acoustic guitar and a girl singing, bought a Mr. T t-shirt, had a beer, admired the huge bikes of the Bangkok Harley Davidson’s Riders Club, and had a good time enjoying the buzz. Lots more clubs on Khao San Road, people don’t need to go far away any more, and the old dives that people used to sit in and watch movies and drink beer are not so popular. Good. Lots of gorgeous Thai girls hanging out in front of the clubs – paid to be there to attract guys? Took a cab (ripoff) to the hotel, paid the airport fee (ripoff) and got on the plane feeling good about my time in Bangkok (but not so good about the twin ripoffs at the end of it), and totally exhausted from my long day I slept for about seven hours of the ten hour flight. Not bad – I usually only sleep two hours on flights, especially the 5-hour night flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, or Tokyo.

The Ronald McDonald of Khao San Road

Thai river view

Harleys on Khao San

I woke up in Copenhagen. Tried to take the train downtown, but got confused about which platform to be on (and nearly took the train to Malmo, ho ho ho…). Finally got to the place, walked around the King’s New Square, first in the wrong direction – dragging my heavy heavy suitcase – until I finally found the way. Asked a couple directions – she was tall, stately, blonde, he was even taller (at least a head taller than me) with cool hair and a very fashionable leather jacket. Europeans are so well dressed! Got to the hotel checked in with the freaky weird middle-aged lady with the blah-blah-blah British-Danish accent. Strange person. The room is narrow and small and stinks of sweat, but it’s a room and I can chill out, call my ex-colleague to hang out and see Copenhagen together. I meet her at Nyhaven where there is a huge anchor, we go off to get bagels, eat at the waterfront while drinking Tuborg beers from plastic bottles (plastic bottles hurt less when hurled at your head, and they don’t smash into messy little pieces of glass), there was a big pile of Sunday-afternoon Vikings drinking there, and a leathery middle-aged woman who was obviously smashed out of her mind. Talked about stuff like life changes, moving from Malaysia to Denmark, and then took off to see the four royal palaces across the square from each other with their funny beefeater guards. Across the water from there is the massive new opera house, pass by the Maersk building, called the building with the blue eyes, another David (a la Michelangelo), then along past a big fountain and a church to the wonderful Little Mermaid, and all the dumbasses taking pictures with her. Got a bunch myself, then walked back, said goodbye to her, then went back to the hotel to chill out, drink beer, and think about life. Went for another walk around town, found the Round Tower, where there was going to be a party on Tuesday night, then around all sorts of walking areas, then up to the big old park where I saw people lounging around on the grass and enjoying the last warm days of summer. Apparently there wasn’t much of a summer this year in Europe, so it was a special treat. The garden was nice, and walking around the palace was nice too, then down through the roads back to the Russian church, Nyhaven, and back to the room again. Whew!! Went for a crappy burger dinner down the street, and back to the room. Tried to stay up for when my boss came in, but it was 8:30 and I just couldn’t keep my eyes open… At 9:00 he knocked on the door, and I had a sleepy-eyed conversation with him, then went to sleep for real.

CD review – the Plastics “the Plastics” – ironic latin-influenced Krautrock (not the legendary Japanese band of the same name) that is somehow a weird blend of Gipsy Kings, Belle and Sebastian, and Bongwater. Eleven tracks, including two versions of “Rote Ampeln.” My cousin Kai, and his girlfriend, did the graphics for the thing, and they are supporters of the band – apparently they are lots of fun live, and they do a nice version of the Johnathan Richman song “Dodge Vegematic” (except they call it “Toyota Vegematic,” or something like that). Song-by-song: “So Schon” – latin-influenced, female vocal; “kreatief” – latin-influenced, male vocal, Kai and Tanja mentioned in the lyrics (Tanja is rhymed with pirhana); “jungle” – funky bossanova (in German?); “harmlos” – “we’re so harmless” funky “Sweet Jane”-like song, with Belle and Sebastien flair (but not as sweet). “Menstruation in H-moll” (“h-moll is German for “B minor) – funky sassy female vocals “both the moon and my breasts get fuller” – Bongwater-esque; “jazz is much to complicated” – ska beat, simple – sassy vocals; “beziehungswaise” – funky, heavy, male/female harmonisations like “les Elles,” funky heavy guitar; “love to fall” – funky acoustic, female vocal; “stadtbucherei” – latin-flavoured, talks about going to the library to meet good-looking, earnest young girls; “wo bist du?” – romantic, keyboards, french; “rote ampeln” (radio version) – funky french la-la-la song that is airy and light and reminds of stuff happening in oh-so-trendy Japan. Good work, guys, nice sound, good look, cool CD.