'Bipolared'!

Despite the overwhelmingly poor reviews, The Heartbreak Kid, directed by the Farrelly brothers, starring Ben Stiler, still managed to gross an estimated $14 million in opening weekend, and making a staggering $67 million worldwide over a month. I dont intend to write another review, the critics have done their job, instead, i am going to write about an illness that, apparently the leading role of this movie, Ben Stiler once stated and twice denied that he has, and astonishingly, i got it too.

According to wiki, bipolar disorder is 'a category of mood disorders defined by one or more episodes of abnormally elevated mood, clinically referred as mania. Individuals who experience manic episodes also commonly experience depressive episodes or symptoms, or mixed episodes which present with features of both mania and depression... Onset of symptoms generally occurs in young adulthood... Episodes of illness are associated with distress and disruption, and a relatively high risk of suicide...' I know what you are thinking, 'woh dude, take a chill pill you suicial-maniac, you may be a little edgy in your last blog but sure you aint crazy!?' The truth is, although i m not mental or sucidal(too painful), i do have artistic mood swings, prone to be synical, depressed and very negative at times, so negative that recently i got one of those 'think positive' books! Despite all this, the idea of me having such a disorder seem far-fetched until this passage just struck me:

'Some studies have suggested a significant correlation between creativity and bipolar disorder. However, the relationship between the disorder and creativity is still very unclear. One study indicated increased striving for, and sometimes attaining, goals and achievements. While the disorder affects people differently, individuals with bipolar disorder tend to be much more outgoing and daring than individuals without bipolar disorder. The disorder is also found in a large number of people involved in the arts.'

They even have an A to Z list of artists, authors, even politicians, with verifiable source citations associating them with bipolar disorder, ranging from Van Gogh, Beethoven, Hemingway to recent stardom like Ozzy Osbourne, Linda Hamilton and Jean-Claude Van Damme(wth?!).

Now, people excel in many different fields based on their great variety of talents, as for me, sadly there is only one, and thats creativity. In fact this is the only gene that runs in my family, creativity or rather, artistic skills, both to draw and identify. My father is a jewellery designer, he has dedicated 30 years in the business, his self-refined design gave him a reputation as 'little(or cheap lol) Van Cleef' from european competitors; my mother also designed jewellery, in her leisure time, she practised chinese calligraphy and brush painting, had her drawings auctioned a couple times; my siblings are both genius in design, my elder sister was pretty involved with CG during her years of study in Boston University, my other sister kelly, studied graphic design in NY Parsons for three years and graduated, her fashion sense is renowned in hk showbiz. What about me? Well, i have always shown great interests in art, though i chose to do design and later on architecture instead cos i didnt want to let my dad down(corporate finance analyst/ lawyer even better). Apart from drawing/designing, I have been an avid jazz fan since very young age, so i improvised a lot when learning double bass and tenor sax, soon after i began to compose, filling in lyrics, and eventually entering the showbiz. 

However, the creative aspect that i m most confident with is none the above, it is in fact acting/scrīpt-writing. Growing up as a kid, watching american sitcoms is a daily routine for me, even though some sucked, and half the time i dont get the jokes cos of cultural difference, i kept watching cos they have pace, with more instinctive expressions and entertaining than say, local soaps back then. As i grew older to study abroad in England, i got a chance to learn about something known as subtlty and serenity(zero background music/fake applause), and its a different brand of style those british people behave when it comes to express their feelings. If you ask me, commercial value always wins, subtlty is not valued as much any more, at least not to the new generation. Anyways after entering the showbiz, i got a chance to act in front of the camera in a filming crew. Along the process I became a different kind of audience, i began to have a habit of 'disecting' performance/song/movie like an actor/producer/scrīpt writer, a common occupational disease (see previous blog), something i cannot recover since. I have written scrīpts of my own, ideas come from my dreams more frequently than every day observation. Alas, many of my scrīpts cannot be produced due to financial circumstances.

I guess i have spilt enough beans for the night, i will leave this topic for another day.

O btw, if you want to know about the movie, it sucked; and shame on you, hong kong censorship, for granting this grotesque movie suitable for under 18 just because its hollywood, whereas its 18 above for local movies like Lust Caution!