Leslie Cheung

I had a chance to share a few moments with Leslie Cheung. One time was at a filming location of Lam Gong Juen (Arrest the restless)  directed by Lawrence Ah Mon, as everyone knows that Leslie was a hard working actor and also wanted things to be perfect, before the shooting I saw him hiding himself in the conner and fixing his hair and try to make sure it was perfect, he walked a few step like he is dancing and when he was in the shot , he is ready to be in his character... he said, not just the look has to be perfect but also the body movement, if you are rebel in the 50’s and love to dance, that’s how they should move, movement is part of the character. 

Other time I met him was in a recording studio doing the dubbing for the same film,  he was focus and  patient, dubbing dialog for film is a long process, it took a long time in a cold and dark  recording studio. As who he was , a super star, he could have got someone to do it for him but he insisted that  his voice is part of the acting and he didn’t want to cheat his audience.

Then the very last time I met him was 1997  in a lobby café in Hyatt hotel in Hong Kong. It was just a brief 30 minutes before he was heading home for the game of mahjong, a Chinese traditional table game which he loved.  In that 30 minutes, we talked about the restaurant he liked and the movies he watched,  he talked about anything just like everyone else.  He sipped a coffee and lit a cigarette just like he did it in his movie, at the moment I saw this person in front of me, one of the brightest artist in Hong Kong, deep
down is just a guy, a guy that who is kind and down to earth, you saw that who ever he played  in his movie, rather is Master Twelve in Rouge, the Yuddy in The Days of Being Wild, Cheng Dieyi  in Farwell my Concubine and the Ho Po-Wing in Happy Together or even Jim Law in his last film Inner Senses, you can see they all have a part of Leslie in them, not the look but the spirit, a sentimental, stubborn, perfectionist that’s always felt there’s something missing in his life and he will do his best to get it, maybe his broken family up bringing or maybe his love of his Art, he dedicated himself to what he wanted to be.

Someone who lived and breathed with love. You can listen to his songs in the later time, he is trying to tell everyone that he is just a person and hoping to find someone who will really listen to him and love him for who he really is.   He always felt alienated like he is in other planet.

In 2003 April 1,  his story ended, like Sakura.  Farewell the Little Prince.

Giant Yellow Rubber Duck

I saw the Giant Yellow Rubber Duck floating on the water with that familiar look and that familiar smile, when is the last time you were taking a bath with a rubber yellow duck? When was the last time you took your time to take a bath at all? Not to rush and not to worry for 30 minutes.

To be happy is always began by learning to let go, stop thinking so much because life is full of accidents, sometime it is good and sometime is bad, but life is a journey, we are all here to learn and we shouldn’t take life too serious, blah blah blach , you get the picture ….  When we were born, the first thing we did is to have a good cry  “oh no, here we go, let’s see how I am going to handle my life the next 70 years. If I am lucky”, even if you don’t cry, don’t worry the kind doctor will make sure you do, oh so much of expectation from the first minute to the world.

Many people out there, they are living in stress,  anything can worry them, We learnt to worry, worry about your grade, your job, your height, your weight, am I good enough?  she loves me ? is he going to marry me? will the world end? if not now? when? is the food bad for us, don’t eat this, don’t drink that, don’t drink too much, don’t eat fat, eat fat, don’t smoke, will I get cancer? am I good in bed ? I can’t feel my toes, what happens? I want people love me, why he is always calling? I want my space, why didn’t she call, is there something wrong with me? The list can go on for ever, but do we have to be worry all the time?

Some people see the Giant Yellow Rubber Duck , they will be excited and feel happy, some other will just think why some so-called Artists will do such thing? What for? Some people never happy, what ever you do for them they will find a problem with it. They will never understand life but they will try to tell you how to live yours, they are always the  expert on everything, especially come to health, don’t smoke it will kill you, why are you drinking? you must be an alcoholic, I bet those people even think everyone should have sex with Missionary position.  Some people always think that they are right , they can’t stand to be wrong but OK you are right then what? what’s the different will that make? Just relax because no one really care about what you think. Some people want to control everything not just themselves but people around then, why can’t they just let things be? if you let other to be who they are, and let’s see how things turn out, I am sure it will open new doors, OK, I understand sometimes you want things the way you want, but if you try too hard, and push too much then you will only became Nazi…Why don’t you just learn to relax a little , allow everything and everyone to be just as they are and you will see how much better will that make you feel. Stop blaming others. Stop complaining. Stop trying to impress other people, stop looking in the past – move on! Because you gotta!  Don’t live your life to other’s expectation. Yes, even if they are your parents! Just live your life and own it.  Learn to forgive, learn to love yourself and be happy and the most important, not to Fear!!  Just try it. Worse come to worst, try again!  Most things you fear about, it only happen in your mind, just like first day at school…. We only live once, so embrace it, live it and enjoy it, if you are still stressed, go get a yellow rubber duck and make yourself a bath.

I like that Giant Yellow Duck, what a great idea to make a bath out of all the major harbor around the world , maybe one day we should all jump into the water and play with the duck with lots of bubble ? what?? you are worry the water is dirty? then bring a bar of soap!   

This page is dedicated to one of my best friend Joshua.