There's No Way But Up

As part of the writers’ team, a few of us (Pastor Niral, Pastor Jean Ai and Beatrix) get to meet Rinpoche on a regular basis to discuss the latest happenings and work assignments. Then, there are days that are spent with Rinpoche just watching what would seemingly be random movie snippets and documentaries. Rinpoche is…

There you go… What do you think of my new video? Actually, it was your Jean Mei, the producer who suggested that the advert should be about me, which I protested initially as I really didn’t want to go on screen. My initial idea was to have another person on screen to read my book and…

A few weeks ago, I was with Rinpoche and we were watching a really good documentary on Youtube. It was about elves, faeries and all manner of supernatural beings in Iceland called “Enquête sur le monde invisible” – Investigation into the Invisible, a 2002 documentary by French director Jean-Michel Roux. Naturally, the dialogue was all in…

The magnificent Buddha statue in Bodhgaya that was believed to be carved in the Buddha’s likeness by a woman who actually beheld the golden face of the Buddha  During this Wesak period, I thought it would be nice to blog about the Buddha. After all, he is the founder of the faith that I profess…

Over the weekend, Tsem Rinpoche decided to treat a bunch of us to a new biopic movie on this Hindu yogi and master, Paramahansa Yogananda, the founder of the Self-Realization Fellowship. Apparently, this was the last day of the screening at a cinema in Pasadena, a charming and historic city. Not knowing much about Hinduism, Yoga…

Yeah, I know. I don’t really like to get into drag but I do it anyway from time to time. I am just glad I don’t have to wear a wig this time around. The terrible thing is I still have to put on some pasty makeup and an eyebrow-liner that makes me look like…

I had just watched this and I find this entertaining and interesting. At times, I couldn’t help myself from laughing at some of the remarks. Anyway, the video is about the negative feedback regarding an upcoming blockbuster movie featuring the life of Noah, one of the early prophets of the Bible. And because of this,…

A couple of weeks, Tsem Rinpoche took quite a few of us for a movie treat in town. It was to be the latest installment of Star Trek. While waiting for the movie to begin, I read the rotten tomatoes review and apparently, it had near perfect ratings with its little red juicy tomatoes displaying…

“We’re all prisoners undergoing a life sentence…imprisoned by our own minds…” These words narrated in the documentary have a particular universal resonance as it echoes the lives of the inmates of Tihar Jail, one of the most notorious jails in India. In 1993, Kiran Bedi was appointed as the new Inspector General of Indian prisons…

The first time I heard of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? was over seven years ago because I was introduced to it by Tsem Rinpoche. He seemed to love the dramatic acting of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. Rinpoche would love to get into character and act out Bette Davis’ character with key scenes from the…

I was at Rinpoche’s residence last night and he called me up along with Paris, Bryan, Ethan, Jean Ai and Jean Mei. We were going to bring up trays upon trays of glorious Wesak Day gifts for rinpoche to go through, one-by-one. Yes, Rinpoche would go through every single note, letter, card and gift. They…

Rinpoche had for the longest time been affectionately calling us clowns because of the way we work and conduct ourselves. It just makes him laugh when we do thinks in fixed ways and we expect a different result. Hence, we were clowns. So, I cleverly bought a court jester hat one day to amuse Rinpoche….

Two evenings ago, I rendezvoused with Tsem Rinpoche at a neighbourhood Italian restaurant for dinner with Seng Piow, Bryan and Ethan. I just had Minestrone soup (because I already had dinner) while the rest had pasta or salads. Then, we adjourned to Wendy’s next door for dessert – French fries and baked potatoes (not exactly the healthiest…

Argh! Here is rundown of the Oscar list for the very interesting list of winners. It is not the whole list but the very important ones at the top. Got it from http://oscar.go.com/nominees Wish I had time to watch these movies though… Check it out! Best Picture The Artist Thomas Langmann, Producer (Winner!) The Descendants Jim Burke,…

Welcome to Laddaland, the latest Thai horror flick to reach our shores. Like many other brilliant horror films from Thailand, it is not a mere mindless scare-fest. It is smart, sexy and packs with enough psychological drama to make the on-screen characters come to life.  Initially, I didn't really like the main character, Thee (Saharat Sangkapreecha)…

I just watched Thor last night (thanks to a treat by Tsem Rinpoche) and although before watching, I was not too thrilled because I was expecting some silly blond guy in Viking armour wielding an oversized hammer. Well, it turned out to be exactly that but this Viking guy turned out to be a Nordic…

I kinda got off track with my blog for the past week so I would just give you a run down of the emotional roller-coaster ride of the past week. After the Gompa opening, we celebrated our Lama Tsongkhapa day at the new Kechara House. We had the great fortune to have Rinpoche grace the…

While I lay at home recovering from a bout of horrible flu, I checked out what's the latest at the cinemas. I realised that Harry Potter is back. Well, the end of the year is coming up and it figures. Time to cash in on holiday-makers.  This time, it is the finale but they didn't…

The whole of Kechara organisation is right now gearing up towards Rinpoche's birthday just two days from now. So, I keep hearing people whispering and asking each other what they should get for Rinpoche's birthday. Therefore, I thought I list here some of the things that Rinpoche likes (from my memory) so it might give…

Prince Siddhartha’s renunciation is often interpreted as removing worldly clinging to his wife, family, inheritance, power and glory. He knew he couldn’t really help his wife and family from the ravages of sickness, old age and death. So, out of great compassion he has towards his wife and family that he went out to the world and sought a…

I heard that many of my friends didn't like this movie. They told me that it was really just typical Hollywood crap. However, I decided to go ahead and watch it anyway. The allure of a movie with glorious Greek gods, mythical creatures and breathtaking special effects was just too much to resist.  Well, like…