Background acting:《都是小黑惹的祸》Koffee Did It!

One day I saw my friend posting on Facebook wall about cast recruitment for a kid's drama in Singapore. She is also from Penang but studied in a polytechnic in Singapore after Form 5 in Malaysia. There was only one character that suits me - a 20+-year-old elder brother of a kid. I really did dare myself to go for the audition and so I went for the audition at the film company (Oak3 Films) at MacPherson.

Well, my friend is the assistant director for the drama and at there I was given a script which I need to sort of memorize and act, then they recorded that as reference. My friend and the main director was there for the audition and he said I sort of shivered when I was talking, but I have a very accurate and clear Mandarin Chinese pronunciation. He even asked whether I'm a stage drama actor. ^^

A few days later I actually heard from my friend that there're about 17 other people went for audition for the same role I went for. Oh my goodness, then I thought never mind, just take the audition as an experience. However, I was told a few days later, that I was selected to play the role!! That was surely one huge good news for the narcissistic me. Haha...

The drama is called 都是小黑惹的禍！(Koffee Did It!). I guess 小黑 is a panda plush doll owned by a little girl, which comes to life from time to time, like Barney the dinosaur.

My casting took place at Block 562, Hougang Street 51 on a Wednesday during the reading week. I'm only background acting so it took only one day to film my 4 scenes with other main scenes. I'm not sure but, I would regard myself as 茄哩啡, a very popular phrase in Cantonese, which means 'extra' or '臨時演員'. However I did have a script and I need to memorize and speak while acting.

I reached there earlier than the crew and spent one full hour there studying PC1432 Physics IIE (I tend to be more productive out of my room with no laptop distraction). I was quite shy when the crew reached the venue as I didn't know all of them. The two kids I'm acting with, a boy and a girl, they're really cute, and the girl is really cute and pretty. Hehe...

These are my scenes (I'm playing Jimmy by the way):

Episode & Scene no.	Script (Dialog in italics)
Episode 4 Scene 18	室外。Joe的家門口。　日 Joe回到一組屋外，拿出鑰匙就要開門。時鐵門打開。一個二十多歲的男生，Jimmy已經打扮好，準備出門。Joe看到哥哥，開心的樣子。 Joe：哥！你在家？晚餐…… Jimmy：我要出門了。晚餐你自己去買。記得看門啊。 Joe失望的樣子，看著哥哥離開。 Joe：（不悅地喃喃）看門？我又不是小貓小狗…… Joe沮喪地打開門，在關上。 不遠處，瑞玲和小黑正在觀看著這一切。門一關上，瑞玲和小黑對望一眼。
Episode 4 Scene 23	外景。Joe的組屋外。　日 瑞玲來到Joe的家門前。她站在門口，正在思考要怎麼開口，這時Joe家的門打開，Jimmy出現在門口，和瑞玲對望。 瑞玲：（打招呼）Hi!請問，Joe在嗎？ Jimmy：他出去了，你找他有事嗎？ 瑞玲遲疑表情。
Episode 4 Scene 27	外景。組屋樓下遊樂園。　日 瑞玲和小黑在滑梯上，看著不遠處的兩兄弟。 小黑在玩滑梯，玩得開心。瑞玲正東張西望地，好奇地想知道兄弟倆在聊什麼。 時Jimmy和Joe已經談好。祥瑞玲走過來。 Jimmy：瑞玲，謝謝你。 瑞玲：（不解）我？ Jimmy：Joe已經把全部的事情都告訴我了。他明天會主動去跟老師道歉。 一旁的Joe卻沒有反應。 Jimmy：因為我太忙，沒有時間去關心他，也沒有注意到他缺乏些什麼。他不好意思跟我開口拿多一點零用錢，才會把別人的文具拿來賣。以後我會多關心他，不會再有類似的事情發生了。Joe，對嗎？ Jimmy看Joe。Joe有點無奈地點點頭。 瑞玲：（會意）原來是這樣啊。（對Joe）我家樓下的雜貨店在請兼職呢，你要不要去面試？我跟老闆很熟的，我可以幫你問！ Joe沒有出聲。Jimmy對瑞玲微笑。 Jimmy：謝謝你，瑞玲。天要黑了，你也回家吧，不然你家人會擔心。 瑞玲點點頭。看著Joe和Jimmy離開。 瑞玲：（喃喃）就這樣？！

Unfortunately it rained that afternoon. Some outdoor scenes had to be postponed until the rain stopped. When I was taking rest, the little girl holding her pink teddy bear approached me and talked to me. She asked whether I've acted in other show before, and said my Chinese is good. LOL~ I was glad that she wasn't even afraid of approaching a stranger guy like me. And ya, my Chinese is damn good, can't help (just kidding, erm... maybe I was just good in switching between accents).

It's a wonderful experience working with the professional filming crew. They really have the equipment a that the professionals should have. Every cast has a mic tacked on the inside of the clothes. Yet they still have boom mic, external monitor for director, lighting, reflector. Every thunderstorm and lightning will make them stop the roll.

I was paid only $60 but I'm contented. I don't even mind paying them to let me act if I have to. LOL~~ I know I'm a narcissist!!
The drama will be broadcasted weekly on Channel 8 10:30am starting from 30 Dec 2012 (Sun). My scenes are in episode 4 so if everything goes fine, episode 4 should be on 20 Jan 2013. Well, I actually wonder which friends of mine watch kid's drama? On Sunday morning some more. Haha...

UPDATE: Here's the video

YouTube Partner

I tried to apply once for monetization (Settings > Monetization) in YouTube. If you don't find the Monetization panel after clicking Settings in your YouTube account toolbar, your country is probably where YouTube Partner Program is not available, that's why I chose Singapore as Country in my channel setting. However I put Penang, Malaysia as Location, proving that I didn't forget my root.

Despite that, I failed and was told that my channel has insufficient viewership. I guess it was at the point of time when I haven't even uploaded a single instrumental cover videos. In the meantime when I go back to Monetization, there was no option for me to enable monetization but just a sentences saying Monetization is available in your country, which is just crap because even when I changed to Japan, it doesn't work. Then I found out that there is a 2-month period which I can't apply from the date of the unsuccessful application. Nothing has changed even in October and I am sure that that was already more than two months counting from the day I first applied.
Until yesterday, when I went to Monetization and there's a button to enable monetization. I clicked on it and received the following email:

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Congratulations javintham, 

Your account is now enabled for monetization. To help you get started, we created the following resource to guide you through your account, our policies, and provide tips to growing your audience.

You can manage your videos and opt them into monetization from your Video Manager. Also, visit the Creator Hub to learn about the latest creator news and resources.

Have fun and good luck,


The YouTube Team

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Well, it seems to be easy, so I'm not sure whether anyone can do that right now, you might want to try if you have a YouTube account with videos.

I went to my Video Manager and I noticed the difference - the extra green monetization buttons.

Apparently those videos that Matched third party content are not eligible to be monetized.

Whether I am a YouTube Partner or not, I wondered, when I found no way to customize my username above my video, and the extra 150px apace on top of my channel. But I remember the phrase I saw on YouTUbe after enabling monetization - You will become a YouTube Partner when you have at least one of your video monetized. Having a few videos of mine currently monetized, I guess I can declare now that I am officially a YouTube Partner!
Well, I better don't yell too loud, as becoming a YouTube Partner easily could become a norm. About the customizable stuffs, I guess the YouTube Partner has to be prominent enough to be like a "Business Partner" of YouTube.

Being able to monetize videos is not the end of the story yet, to get paid, I have to associate my AdSense account to YouTube. I don't really expect to get paid by the way, as my viewership is way too far from presentability.

Oh dear, talking about AdSense, I have a longer story to tell, where some unknown factors lead to the disapproval of my AdSense account. I called Google Singapore this afternoon, without having a chance to even speak to the operator, I was told by the 'automated answering officer' that issue about AdSense is currently not possible to be solved through phone call and I was asked to send email to adsense-support@google.com. This is actually not bad, as you won't be able to reach Google easily because they encourage you to post questions in their Google Product Forum, claiming that their Google Team will take a look at those queries. Right, I did so a few months ago and I didn't get a single reply.

So this is what I sent to adsense-support@google.com:

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Dear Sir/Madam,

Hi, I called Google Singapore this afternoon to seek for assistance for my AdSense account and was asked to send this email because issues about AdSense is currently not able to be sought assistance for through phone.

Issue 1: Blogger
Quite some time ago (more than a year ago), I applied for AdSense for my blog in Blogger (javintham.blogspot.com) by using the URL of my blog and always being rejected because of domain ownership (which I don't really understand why because Google Ads are supposed to be able to display in Blogger), and even after I tried to create a page in Blogger and obtain new URL like javintham.blogspot.com/p/domain-ownership, I still didn't get approved.

And ever since Blogger has an updated layout I've never tried to reapply, until last few months.
In Blogger, I went to Earning, and click on "Get Started", at the Link your AdSense account panel, I was shown "Your AdSense account has been disapproved for a Terms and Conditions violation. View the AdSense Terms of Service." I honestly do not know what Terms and Conditions have I violated.

So I try to reapply through my disapproved AdSense account. When I tried to resubmit, it brings me to a new page with:
Step 1: Review your content
Step 2: Resubmit your AdSense application
and by using javintham.blogspot.com in the field "I will show ads on", I couldn't proceed and was asked to "Please register for AdSense directly from blogger.com.".
Fine, then in Blogger, I go to "Earnings" and select "Get Started", the same thing happens again as explained above.

Few months ago I actually posted this issue onto the Google Product Forum (http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!mydiscussions/adsense/OEjQJAYAP-0) but no one has replied.

Issue 2: YouTube monetization
Recently I am able to monetize my videos on YouTube and when asked to associate an AdSense account, I have two options:
Create a new AdSense account
Use an existing AdSense account
The 1st one does not work because it says that "The specified email address is already in use. If you own this AdSense account, please go back and choose 'Use Existing Account' instead." I supposed it means that the email address for my YouTube account is the same as my AdSense account, as well as my Blogger account. Hence, I have to go with the 2nd one.
For the 2nd one, when I type my email in, it says "The AdSense account for this publisher has been disapproved. We do not allow requests on a disapproved AdSense account."

In short, I need an approved AdSense account. Finally, I hereby seek for your assistance regarding this issue. I cannot reapply as I cannot use my website from Blogger to apply as it will direct me back to Blogger.
I hope that Google can reset my AdSense account so that I do not have to apply an AdSense account by having my own website but able to apply directly from Blogger or YouTube, because I do not think I have violated any Terms and Regulations for AdSense except for maybe using the Blogger URL (javintham.blogspot.com) that I used to apply for Adsense that made Google think that I am using a domain that does not belong to me, as previously Blogger did not have the function of applying AdSense directly through Blogger itself.

I deeply appreciate for understanding my current situation. Hope to hear from you soon.
Thank you very much!

Regards

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I hope the relatively long email above sort of summarizes the problem I faced with AdSense. And ya I have a cool email signature, haha!

To sum it up, if I am one of the few YouTubers that are recently eligible to monetize videos, I would like to thank YouTube for recognizing my effort.

If you haven't, please subscribe to my channel! ^^

Southern Ridges, Singapore

It's just another random outing on a Saturday where Emilia, Wei Jian and I walked some of the parks and gardens in the Southern Ridges of Singapore.

Henderson Waves

If you've ever passed by Henderson Road, you probably have seen a wavy bridge hanging at 36m above the road, and that's Henderson Waves.

We first alighted at the nearest bus stop along Henderson Road and took the staircase at the opposite side, up to the bridge.

It's nothing but a normal bridge, with the fanciness of the sine wave when view from the road.

Telok Blangah Hill Park

It's a forest-looking park with paths leading to some other parts of the Southern Ridges. We took some wrong convoluted paths there before getting into our right path as the way they position the signs is somewhat misleading.

Oh, and I actually brought my ukulele along fortunately, and we sang like no one else was there. However we sang almost everything in C major, you know my chord dictionary is not filled up yet for ukulele. Nevertheless, that definitely kills boredom and numbs tiredness pretty effectively.

Alexandra Arch

After an hour of walk, we reached Alexandra Arch, an 80m long opened-leaf-looking bridge across Alexandra Road that connects to HortPark at its base.

The bridge is lit up by LED lights at night and the lights change colour at intervals from 7pm to 12am daily. Too bad it was 6:30pm when we took the photo without knowing the fact that there's LED lighting starting from 7pm daily.

HortPark

I like the long stretch of road leading to the horizon of sunset (although blocked by hills at the end).

I brought my tripod along as well, so this broad and long stretch of road is perfect for camwhoring, it could be better without the people in the defocused background.

Kent Ridge Park
HortPark connects to Kent Ridge Park via the Canopy Walk. No photos for Kent Ridge Park, as sky has turned dark.

Finishing the walk brought us to the exit at DSO National Laboratories at Science Park Drive, which for once I thought was the one in the Kent Ridge Campus.

And so we called it a day after having dinner at the National University Hospital (NUH).


For more photos, please check out my photo album Southern Ridges on Facebook.

Bruno Mars - It Will Rain (Cover by Cynthia Ng)

Cynthia Ng Yi Xyann, the name one always heard in primary school (Penang Chinese Girls' Primary School), owing to her title of the 'flower of the school' (校花), whom I have not been keeping in contact with for 11 years!!! ever since Primary 6, whoolala. We're in the same class for 2 years (4H, 5H) anyway.

I guess after watching my Happy Birthday A Cappella, she intended to do a cover with me when I got back to Penang, and thankfully when I flew back to Penang from Singapore during my recess week, we managed to make one cover in one night at her house. It's a cover for Bruno Mars - It Will Rain.

Can you imagine how insane Bruno Mars is? The key I played for Cynthia (D major) is the original key Bruno Mars sang in, without her realization. He's just totally singing a female's key. I bet none of his songs is probably comfortably singable by normal guys, except The Lazy Song, I supposed.

Recording the audio was quite an impromptu. Luckily the clavinova at her house which she hasn't been touching for ages is a Yamaha clavinova, I know how to record the playback. Well, the reason of recording the playback is basically, the keys are making too much noise, it could've been louder than the musical notes produced by the keys.

The next fortunate and unforeseen thing was, she has a karaoke system at home. So having no mixer and stuffs, the smart way (or rather unprofessional) is to record her voice with my iPhone, by placing my phone in front of the one of the speakers. But sadly she has no pop filter, and it took me a while to bring down the volume of the 'p' and 'k' air.

Editing the video transition was another pain in the ass, as she kept having different postures (of the way her hands were holding the mic stand) when I was shooting her lip syncing with our first successful recording.

Well, I love collaboration, when you get to halve your effort for publicity.

And I have to say that she has a very voice, which she utilizes well. That's why I didn't even want to harmonize, because my voice just won't fit hers in any way.

So please do check out our cover for It Will Rain!

The More We Get Together (Piano & Harmonica Cover)

There's a Chinese phrase that I've been hearing since young, 「吃飽沒事做」, lit. eat full nothing do. Wow, they rhyme.

So this time it's the retarded me playing instruments in the unusual way.

I just need to play the harmonica by biting without moving it horizontally because this nursery rhyme (a British folk song actually) uses only two chords. So I just blow for a C chord and draw for a G chord (although it's actually a G^7add9 without G itself).

I crossed my arms and faced away from the piano to play and that's really obstructive to my movements, but if you noticed, my right hand was still on the side where is should be and so did my left hand, so it's still not too challenging, unlike those performed by professional entertaining pianists who're able to switch their hands' role.

But still, it's not easy for mine. You can try and see.

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[The More We Get Together]
The more we get together, together, together,
the more we get together, the happier we shall be.
For your friends are my friends,
and my friends are your friends.
The more we get together, the happier we shall be.

【當我們同在一起】
當我們同在一起，在一起，在一起，
當我們同在一起，其快樂無比。
你對著我笑嘻嘻，我對著你笑哈哈。
當我們同在一起，其快樂無比。

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