Vincent Lee : My Reelity

That’s what 2008 could be described in a nutshell. It’s been a year of almost-es, in almost every aspect of my life.

It began brightly enough, with me landing a lead role as early as January. It then went steadily, very steadily, downhill after that.

There was of course that big, almost burning the bridges, showdown with a certain station. But my woes had already long begun before that, so I’m pretty sure it had nothing to do with that.

Acting-wise, this year is definitely the slowest so far. Its been a year of near hits mostly; going for auditions and not clinching the roles that I wanted. Getting calls out of the blue saying I was shortlisted for something, but not quite making past the final cut. Its been that sort of a year for me.

That trend kinda spill into other aspects of my life as well. I also almost had a new client, I almost had an article published, I almost got my six-pack … well, you get the idea.

It’s been frustrating as hell, when it seems every corner you turn seems to steer you towards a brick wall.

Still, the irony of it all, is that things could have been far worse.

Despite very few note-worthy performances this year, there seems to be a deluge of re-runs which coincided nicely with the screening of my first TVC. It made me more noticeable; I get stares and looks from people so much that I had to check if my fly was open then.

On the money side of things, I’ve lost projects and gained a few, so the final count at the end of the day is about the same as last year. Not quite what I’ve targeted, but at least I’m not worse off. But the point to note is that I achieved all this in far less time than last year, so much so I really felt I was wasting my last quarter of the year away.

Of course, the grand plan was to do more acting in the last quarter, but in this year of almost-es, my plan was always almost going to succeed. Or fail, depending on whether you are the half-empty or half-full type.

The trend also continues for matters of the heart and I’m gonna leave it as that.

I’ve done all that I’ve could this year to not be a victim of circumstance, and on some occasion, I’ve succeeded but have also failed at other times too. What can I say, I’m only human.

As I looked back on my cherries popping entries, I’m glad I’ve at least managed to pop a few this year. In the words of the great philosopher, you can’t always get what you want.

But if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get something you need.

It has not been a good year for me and when it’s this close to bottom, chances are Oh Nine will be just divine.

And I hope it will turn out divinely for you too, my readers.

Happy New Year!

When I first took these photos with my iPhone, I never had the intention of making a montage of a year’s worth of these photos.

The idea only kinda popped into my head as I realised I liked taking these pictures, even though I wished I had flash and/or zoom at times.

You know that ancient sitcom Cheers? This is what Wala is like for me; its a place where almost all the staff knows my name, if not, my face.

Its a place where I can relax, chill out and rock my heart out.

Its not been such a great year for me, but I’m glad I had a place to go when the going got tough.

But I like to wish all my readers a Merry Christmas anyway.

And, Happy Birthday Lord!

So it came to pass on the eve of the eve of Christmas morn, I was asked at the end of the audition to take off my shirt.

And yea, they wanted the back view too.

I can almost hear the camera lens cracking; I just hope they don’t sue me for the damage.

To have an inkling on how bad it can be, check out this :

Star Home Video

2 months ago, I killed off the old blog addy, which resulted in me being knocked off the perch from google.

Yesterday, I did a search on my name again, and lo and behold! I’m numero uno again.

2 months of anonymity was all I got, despite not even blogging regularly. o.O

Oh which reminds me, its been two months since I’ve said I wanted to revamp the site but didn’t.

Time to get cracking, since the site’s so visible now. >.<

So it finally happened.

I finally max level an MMORPG toon.

Yesterday I did my shoot for the Total Defense project.

This was one of the rare few projects that landed on my lap without an audition. I’ve worked with the director Naresh on the Portable Film Project earlier this year and I was under the impression that he had specifically asked for me again.

He might have, but while on the set yesterday, I found out that their mentor was actually Sam, a director I worked with earlier this year for Moonface. Seems like he recommended me too.

It’s nice to know I’m getting referrals in what has been a very slow year. It assures me, in no small way, that at least I’m good enough to be recommended. ^.^

The project was a simple shoot; the highlight being it the first shoot where I got offered alcohol, courtesy of the director. Smirnoff with green tea posed as my stage prop for beverage and the crew insisted I was already drunk halfway through the scene.

But of course I wasn’t. And of course I had to finish the drink, because we all know its bad manners not to finish a drink when offered.

I had to remind the producer I was the way I am even sans alcohol. After all, I did ask her if the “Heroine” spewed over her T-shirt was the follow up series to “Heroes” even way before I started drinking.

Which really got her flabbergasted then because she thought it was a really lame thing to say. You should have been there, Jill. Both of us would have driven her nuts.

In fact, they were supposed to rope Jill in as my wife again, but she couldn’t make it. I’m sure I would have spoken more than two sentences to Jill if she had took the role.

Booze and payment right on the spot.

It doesn’t get better than this.

The shoot was one of the most physically grueling ones I had, and the bruises I have all over my body is a telling testament to that.

The end product was worth the effort I guess. The playback of the scenes had me wincing at the body blows my character received, and the director was also concerned if there was real contact.

I didn’t feel anything untoward during the shoot of course, but the very next day, the places where the punches landed actually felt a bit tender.

That and a lot of bruises all over my arms, shoulders and elbow, make for one very bruised Lee.

After a spell of almost 10 months, I finally got my next tv role.

And contrary to what my “fans” are thinking, its not a villainy role.

It was kinda flattering when the casting director told me they thought I was good and was considering a few roles for me. But then again, I’ve always known I was good.

This small role comes at a time when I’m experiencing one of my slowest acting spell. It comes at a time where I’ve done numerous auditions for the past few months and have nothing to show for it. It comes at a time where it really looks like I’ve committed career suicide by rejecting super bit roles from Chinese drama.

It comes at a time where I’ve almost given up.

And yet, I had the balls to ask to look at the script first, and had the balls to ask for decent remuneration.

I do like to live on the edge hor?

I’m currently experimenting with new themes for the website… so bear with me for a while hor.