gambitch - now available in blue

Saturday, February 24, 2007

What happens when the sweet and nice and perfectly smooth-humming life you're used to ends up turning a little boring? What happens when you try to rekindle the passion a little bit by having some fun and games? What happens when your effort to spice things up ends up being rather hotter than you had planned for? When it comes to love and emotions, how much of it is controllable and how much of it do you not try to toy with?

Those, in short, are the questions that confront us when we watch Game Play. That's the show I caught this afternoon, having to squeeze in some early sunshine time for that because I have other commitments in the evening. But this was a show I knew I wanted to catch from the very beginning, because it looked interesting, and because an old classmate of mine was acting in it. I know, I'm a theatre nut like that.

The premise of the story is simple. A still-quite-young couple have been married to each other for ten years, and everything seems to be going smooth and perfect. They love each other, and they have their romantic touches when it comes to dinner, gifts, whatever. All they're missing is a kid, though it doesn't seem like they mind that too much. Besides, it allows them to keep living in their lovey-dovey world designed for two.

The only problem with human beings is that, sometimes, when they get too used to something, they take it for granted, and over time, they even ask why it has to always be like this. It's that desire for something different, something that could excite simply because it's new and it's unexplored. Same thing happens here, so the couple decide to play a game. For 100 days, they will let each other go out there and have an affair with anyone they like, with some (not too many) rules of course - basically, "no sex" is right up there in the rules. They have to share how their affairs are going, of course. Underlining this exercise is the seemingly-simple premise that both love each other so much, this game doesn't really bother them.

Arguably the rest of the story is pretty much predictable, so I won't go through that in much detail. Point is, as this play shows, even the simplest of premises which seem so rock-solidly given can turn out to be not quite so given after all. There's that bit of protective jealousy when you realize how un-given your givens really are, and only when the threats to the perfect peace show up do people start fretting. Well, maybe they shouldn't have been made to fret in the first place if it really meant that much to them.

There are plenty of nice bits in the play. The dancing flower that sings You Are My Sunshine. The whole continuing thread about a jigsaw puzzle the guy bought but never finished, and the girl started putting together with her boyfriend (guess who finished it in the end?). Habits involving nearly-expired orange juice. Flowers. Things like that. Every thing seeming little, but it's the little things that stick in the mind.

All said, a rather nice production, with the somewhat bittersweet ending of regretted imperfection and the inability to find true closure. Right down to the closing, heavy, un-upbeat rendition of You Are My Sunshine, all leaving us to sigh about how a little game started out of a playful desire to spice up a marriage that wasn't going wrong in the first place ended up breaking it all up instead.

Be careful what you do.

gambitch [ 11:27 PM]

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Back to the YouTube!

I could have sworn I've posted this MV before, except I checked through my blog and realized I haven't. So I've been a little bit late...

But anyway, I've grown to like this song over time, and it's one duet I really wish I can actually sing. No, my voice isn't bad, it has recovered, thank you. I'm just saying - well, you know what I mean.

I don't usually do duets. Most of the time, if not all of the time. Duets have a certain challenge level to them if you want to do them half-decently.

But anyway. From Taiwanese band FIR (Fantasy In Reality), I give you this song...

Enjoy!

gambitch [ 11:34 PM]

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

I knew I had to expect some kind of heartbreak at one point or another, but John Vito and Jill eliminated in the first leg? This is not a good start to TAR:AS, I swear!

I just don't know how to describe the immense sadness I feel to see them go out like this. I know they've trained. I know they've worked pretty hard. I know they've overcome the fact that they've broken up (I still can't believe that) and were willing to have a go at this Race all over again. And like so many people who have followed them, I was wishing they'd be back together as a couple through this Race, and maybe get plenty of airtime being a bit subtle-huggy with each other even as they kicked the stuffing out of every other ass on the show.

But it was not to be.

They started so well, too, first off the blocks in the race to the bag and coming right out of the parking lot behind locals Danny and Oswald. Jill looked great, ever the eager little bumblebee who just liked to be in this race. Yes, I do love her for that. And they were ahead for so long until they got to the wrong entrance at Cotopaxi, when bad directions from locals screwed them over.

Ah yes, locals. Don't you love them in this Race?

"This is not how we wanted to come back." That's what Jill said at the end of their Race, when they were eliminated. I so totally understand. This is also not how I wanted it either. Nothing against Kevin and Drew, who finished second last - I want to see them stay too - but sometimes you just feel that luck plays too big a role compared to the merit and ability displayed by some of these teams, especially John Vito and Jill. Think Lena and Kristy, for example. Or any number of other teams who were really great competitors but just didn't have the luck.

The only good to come out of this for them was how it's shown they really do belong to each other. The bond just completely came back from the very start, as both of them acknowledged. They knew they were more than just friends, they care too much for each other to have it any other way. But now they have to explore where that relationship could go without being on the set anymore. Which might not be a bad thing; I heard something about Sequesterville being a very nice place this season that allows them all to chill by the pool. For at least a couple of days, that could be their love hut until the next eliminated team comes along.

But this is not a show all about John Vito and Jill. There have been other funny moments. Like "I told you, less martinis and more cardio!" from Danny and Oswald. Or Kevin and Drew's "I'm sure Peru is nice; we're in Ecuador!", which was absolutely ridiculously funny. These guys have been great for humour, as have Team Guido, who interestingly aren't looking quite anywhere near the evil team they were touted to be in Season 1. Maybe they've mellowed. But they're also funny. "We come Miami every seven years!" Oh God, you mean the show has been around that long?

Still, nothing is going to stay in my memory of this episode as much as seeing John Vito and Jill go crashing out. I wish they were around. I wish I could see them all subtle-huggy for longer than the one hour we ended up getting, because I love watching these guys kick ass with their hands held close together, just like Rob and Amber (even in competitive mode, they're so together).

But we won't get that now. And for that, I'm probably going to have to mope for a couple of days.

gambitch [ 12:47 AM]

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Happy Lunar New Year!

I'm going to keep this short. There's just too much to do!

gambitch [ 12:01 AM]