On some level, I knew this would happen. And by “this” I’m specifically referring to my steadily declining output for this wonderful website. Every time I check the main page for updates, I find the blogroll mocking me on a daily basis, reminding me that I haven’t updated this blog in close to two months. And so, I sincerely apologize to you few, you happy few who actually take the time out of your day to read my stuff. Thanks a million for your support. But I have to tell you, my hiatus from blogging was not without good reason.

To make up for Sanjuro’s two month blogging hiatus, Singapore’s very own Stefanie Sun wishes LoveHKFilm.com readers in the U.S. a belated Happy 4th of July!

For one, I’m in a PhD program. My areas of interest are 20th century American literature, Asian American literature and film, hard-boiled detective fiction, and American film noir. I’m taking my qualifying exam in the fall, so that basically means I’ve been spending the last several months of my life and will be spending the next several months studying my ass off for what I am certain will be the hardest final exam I have ever taken in my life — which, by the way, has a timed written component as well as an oral one in front of a wizened council of elders. In my worst nightmares, I imagine it looks something like this:

 GUILTY!

So to make a long story short, the last few months and the next few months for me means reading a lot of fiction and a lot of critical theory, as well as watching a lot of films that don’t have anything remotely to do with Hong Kong cinema.

When I do have free time, this is what tends to happen. I’m in a happy relationship, so that’s my number one priority. But aside from trying to be a good boyfriend, I — as some of you might remember — am also trying to be a good writer, and so whenever I get a sliver of time to myself, I work on my writing in the hopes that someday I’ll have another story, collection of stories, or novel to submit for publication. I’m actually pretty close to finishing a first draft of some new work, so I’ve got my fingers crossed that everything will turn out for the best.

Anyway, I guess I just wish I could split myself into three people — a movie reviewer, a would-be professor, and a writer of fiction. I guess I’m too ambitious for my own damn good.

Another thing that caused the hiatus is the simple fact that there are too many short-term distractions that I find myself succumbing to — I mean, when you can play Rock Band with friends, read the ever-addictive 20th Century Boys, or watch the latest episode of Supernatural for free, one feels less inclined to blog about one’s silly little opinions on Hong Kong cinema.

On the bright side, I’m going to be taking a short trip to Singapore, which I’m hoping will put me right smack dab in the Asian cinema loop. Last time I went, I saw Jay Chou’s Initial D car on display. Bam! That’s a blog post right there. I’m a little pissed that I won’t get to see/meet unofficial LoveHKFilm.com mascot, Ekin Cheng, as he’s set to kick off a 150-day countdown to the release of Storm Warriors. He’ll be there July 20-21, and unfortunately, I don’t get there ’till late August. Still, when I see the life-sized replicas of the two Wind and Cloud swords at VivoCity, you can bet your ass I’ll take pictures and blog about it. That’s a promise!

 I really wanna see you! I really wanna be with you!

Of course, I will watch any Asian film in Singapore theaters — even Murderer, despite Kevin’s warnings, simply because I think I might get a kick out of seeing that outrageous twist ending that he so graciously spoiled for me and all his Facebook friends. One thing I really love about Singapore theaters is you get the Asian equivalent of Kettle Corn popcorn . Another great thing is that every film has English subtitles. Thanks to that, I’ve gotten to watch everything from Hideo Nakata’s Dark Water to Jay Chou’s Secret during my intermittent trips to the Lion City.

Also, a trip overseas means my Asian DVD collection is sure to expand, despite the fact that I still haven’t completely whittled down my unseen DVD pile just yet. I’ll catch up with Singaporean cinema, which has a small enough movie industry that one could actually watch every film made in the last ten years if one were so inclined. Singapore is also a great place to get affordable Japanese and Korean films and television dramas. Last time, I picked up Nodame Cantabile and Sailor Suit and Machine Gun (review forthcoming!?) for a very small sum. Buying Hong Kong films is a little trickier, though, because sometimes the Singaporean distributors don’t include the original Cantonese track. For instance, my copy of Invisible Target only has a Mandarin dub. So…new DVDs means new blog posts.

I will be drinking a lot of this in Singapore. Admittedly, Coke tastes a bit better, but this is somehow more addictive. I think they may put crack in it. No wonder it’s not available in the United States.

Anyway, I guess I the whole point of this blog post was to say 1) I haven’t abandoned the blog, 2) I’m really sorry for the hiatus, 3) I had my reasons, which I’m sure you’ll understand, and 4) things are looking up.

So, in the words of our illustrious governor, I’ll be back.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 11th, 2009 at 12:23 am and is filed under Singapore, Ekin Cheng, Hong Kong cinema. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.