After all the past years of K-drama addiction, I got bored and watched more variety shows. But alas, my command of the language and eyesight deteriorated, so I was looking for entertainment where I didn't have to keep my eyes glued on the screen and follow the (sometimes poorly translated) subtitles.
I got back to looking for Chinese language singing competitions which we watched occassionally on TV. And I am so glad that the (almost-complete) playlist were still around on the YT channel of the broadcaster.
So many resources had been shared online, for keeping the young ones entertained, educated(!?!) and occupied, and to fight off boredom for the seniors (and everyone else in-between!!!!)
Just compiling my own list here. Leave me a comment below if there are links that don't work, cos I don't visit all of them... You know, in between cooking almost 3 meals a day, marketing and household chores, screaming at the kid, trying to catch up on some of my work, and keeping myself sane with Korean shows... Heehee
General
Read/Listen
Even before the Covid-19 situation hit, I have been a fan of the collection of e-books offered by the National Library Board, Singapore eResources platform. Just sign up for your 'myLibrary' account (if you are Singaporean or a NLB member), and you are set to read on a browser, or using the NLB mobile app, or download to read offline using the Overdrive or Libby app. See what you need here.
Amazon Audible has made Stories free available online for kids, as long as schools are closed.
Teaching and Learning Resources
As part of a global initiative to support parents and educators through these times, Scholastic has been providing free access to digital resources which are developmentally-appropriate for children aged 4 to 15 years.
Cambridge University Press has also stepped up to provide educators with resources to support the teaching and learning during the school closure period.
Nature
Part of the #PlantOneOnMe series by the Gardens By the Bay, Singapore. This is a multi-episode series on tours in the Cloud Forest conservatory. We will be eagerly waiting for the day when they will be open again and we can actually use our membership...
The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. features two online exhibits through Google Arts & Culture. One features watercolour renderings on American fashion from the Index of American Design; whereas another is on Dutch masters of genre painting, or scenes of daily life.
Performing Arts
Esplanade Offstage is provided for all to enjoy performing arts in Singapore and Asia. You can easily filter by your preferred form of performing arts, and enjoy one-stop page of links to their partners. Besides reading about artists, Offstage has also listed videos for us to enjoy the performances online via "The show goes on---line" since the national performing art's centre is closed.
Of course, not forgetting the weekly full-length broadcasts of famed musicals via the Youtube page The Shows Must Go On!. We enjoyed The Phantom of the Opera and Cats.
BroadwayHD is a subscription-based internet service that lets you watch musicals without getting to Broadway itself. It offers a free 7-day trial, so plan when there's a long weekend/holiday stretch coming up.
Music
Facebook live broadcasts are one of the ways musicians used to continue to showcase their craft.
This "Museum of the World" virtual museum tour of artifacts brought by the British Museum and the Google Cultural institute allows us to pick and choose the time period and cultural setting we want.
Christianity-Methodist
Even as The Methodist Church in Singapore celebrates 135 years in Singapore this year, we are constrained by the ongoing Covid-19 situation to stay at home as much as possible. But that doesn't stop us from continuing to come together to pray and worship online as a community. I signed up to receive whatsapp updates to receive the daily prayer prompt on whatsapp.
Entertainment
Of course, it has been almost impossible to get Y to guai guai complete the never-ending list of chores (cos she doesn't complete them) and assignments set. All she hankers for is for her own game apps and the Xiaomi phone we bought last year. We have been considering whether to get on the Netflix bandwagon after our Starhub contract ran out and we decided not to continue (we hardly sat down to watch anything at all, since we all had our own choices of entertainment on our phone/tablet/laptop/desktop anyway). So I started looking out to see if the Netflix offerings were suitable. Some links/lists here for those who already have a subscription include:
I don't remember a lot about my childhood, compared to some of my friends and siblings, but 《倚天屠龙记》 was one of the first Chinese sword-fighting drama I watched. I recall eagerly waiting for the episodes to be aired on TV on Sunday evenings. Then we didn't have the internet or on-demand TV programmes. Just the good old, free-to-air TV channels and a trusty videotape recorder. I remember, in some cases, being the one to set the VHS tape to the desired location, and waiting for that exact moment when the episode aired, to press the red "Record" button. And of cos, some of the instances, when we would panic upon realising the tape was coming to the end, and hoping that there would be an advertising slot so that I could quickly pause the recording and swop a new blank tape. I would also sometimes sneakily, snap off the small square at the corner of the tape, so that it would prevent someone else from recording over that particular tape.
A youtube playlist of the 2019 drama
Back to this particular story, this 2019 version is probably the 3rd rendition I've watched. I marathoned-watched this 2019 version on Youtube(actually "watched" is the wrong verb to use, as I mostly listened to the Mandarin dialogue while doing household chores), then tried to find some (decent quality) videos online, of the original one I watched, but failed. Watched the above playlist from start to finish again a second time, which cemented my review of it as being lesser than the 1986 TVB version, starring a very young Tony Leung (see picture below).Ah, the psychological effects of first impressions and nostalgia combined. I even went one step further and found the original novel text on 金庸网. I am no good at reading Mandarin text, so I was lucky to find websites with the full length text and exported to play it on my mobile using the "@Voice Aloud Reader" app. That became my latest entertainment means after I'd stopped watching Korean dramas early this year.
I started watching "Reply 1988" after watching "Love in the Moonlight" and "Jealousy Incarnate". Partly because I wanted to see Park Bo Gum's and Go Kyung Pyo's previous works and also because it was on my KIV list .
Although I do not belong to the same generation as the leads and the songs are foreign to me (cos they are mostly in Korean), I enjoyed the storyline for the bromance and family stories. And of course, I was spared all the angst of "finding the husband", that was characteristic of the Reply series, because I only started watching after the whole drama was over.
In the earlier post on "Moonlight Drawn By Clouds" OST, I promised more on Hwang Chi-yeul (See wikipedia). Here we go.
The youtube playlist below is by Sarah Bosch, stringing all 8 videos of Hwang Chi-Yeul's journey through the Chinese version of "I am a Singer" season 4.
When his version of the MDBC OST was released, I was so excited I actually played it in the car for my husband to listen. And he could identify Hwang's voice as he had been watching some of the Chinese singing programmes. Now I am wondering whether to marathon "I am a singer" Season 4... Hahaha
😀
Bugs (벅스) is a South Korean music company I first came across when searching for the lovely soundtrack of the 2016 hit drama "Moonlight drawn by clouds".
Below is the playlist of the Moonlight drawn by clouds playlist on Youtube.