What led you to open this grocery shop?
I decided to open this shop about a year-and-a-half ago so that I would also be able to make plastic flowers, my favorite hobby. My location on the corner of the street is ideal for business. I originally invested about a B100,000 in a freezer, some shelves and other necessities. My income just about covers my expenditure, but thankfully I’m able to make extra money from making plastic flowers.

How do the likes of 7-Eleven and Family Mart affect your business?
They have no effect on mine. My regular customers are generally my neighbors, friends and just people who happen to be passing through. My shop is conveniently located for locals who are comforted in the fact that they can just drop in whenever they need something.

What are your sales like for cigarettes and spirits?
Cigarettes are my best-selling products. I earn little profit from them, even though people constantly come in to buy them from morning until closing time. I have to make a new order almost every day.

How will the increased taxes on cigarettes and alcohol affect your business?
Well, the tax hikes might solve the government’s problems, but they will just make bigger ones for grocery shop owners like me. It may boost the economy in the long-run, but we will have to increase our prices which will no doubt affect our sales. At the same time I can understand the rationale behind the move: increasing the prices of cigarettes and spirits may reduce cases of pancreatic and lung cancer, as well as help the government to have enough money to administer the country. I guess we’ll see in a few weeks whether it results in people drinking and smoking less.

Are customers complaining about the increased prices?
Yes, some are a little shocked, but end up buying all the same. Others just walk away, perhaps thinking they can find the products cheaper elsewhere. But all grocery shops have fixed prices.

What are your views on drinking and smoking?
Personally, I’d be happy if people stopped smoking. I’d prefer not to sell cigarettes, but I’m obliged to. I’m not afraid of losing customers—I’m more worried about people’s health. Nowadays I see firsthand so many young people taking up smoking and drinking spirits. They don’t seem to realize that whenever they light up a cigarette, they’re also burning money and their lungs. I pity their parents. I am so lucky that my son doesn’t smoke.

Have you ever had to choose between love and money?
Personally, no. I have been extremely fortunate in my life. I have a career that I love and that supports me financially, a boyfriend who is generous and loving, and a family who is supportive of the choices I have made in my life. I could not be more opposite from Manon!

Are you a romantic at heart?
Absolutely. Even as a young girl I always wore my heart on my sleeve. I dreamt of being swept off my feet by a man and falling hopelessly in love. Fortunately, I have met a wonderful man who is just as romantic as I am!

What appeals to you about Puccini’s work?
I find his music to be passionate and his characters to be very human and relatable. He also keeps the story moving forward all the way through the opera. Manon Lescaut is one of his earliest operas. But you can clearly see and hear signs of the composer he is to become.

What has been the most rewarding part of this project?
The experience of travelling to Asia for the first time has been absolutely amazing. Exploring new countries and cities is part of what I love about my job. This is my first time working with Singapore Lyric Opera. Getting to know the people in the company and in the cast has been a really fun experience so far.

What do you hope audiences will take away from this show?
I hope that the audience finds the story to be timeless and relevant. Opera is not a historical art form. The struggles these characters face are struggles we still go through today—virtue versus vice, love versus luxury.

Manon Lescaut is on August 31-September 4 at the Esplanade Theatre.

What first drew you to this show?
Rachel Alejandro: It's so funny yet so real. I think the use of puppets is genius because that way the show is able to tackle serious issues like racism, being gay and even not-so-serious things like internet porn without being sleazy or offensive. The story is told in a light-hearted, funny way and yet the audience is drawn to feel for the puppets.

How did you train to work the puppets and make the required voices?
RA: We had professional puppeteers train us. It took me a while to get used to holding the puppets because my hands and arms are so tiny. I have always been good at doing different voices. I can easily switch musical styles from pop to rock and R&B.

What’s your favorite song in the show?
Bibo Reynes: It has to be “Purpose”. A lot of songs in the show may be catchier but this is an anthem for any young person about to take on the world. Its hopefulness is pure and resonant. I also like “The Internet is for Porn.” Any musical audacious enough to have a song about viewing adult content on the net being the one thread all men have in common definitely gets my attention!

RA: The heartbreak song of Kate Monster, “Fine Fine Line”. My favorite line is “I guess if someone doesn't love you back, it isn't such a crime...” It reminds of the countless times I would meet and start dating someone completely wonderful. They would have been perfect except for the fact that they just didn't feel the same way about me. It doesn't make them bad people.

What do you think accounts for the show’s lasting appeal?
BR: The characters portray many stages of hardship a person goes through in life, so people of every age group will have something to look back on, relate to and dread. I think that’s why it lasts, because something seemingly light-hearted can mean so much to so many.

Bibo Reynes and Rachel Alejandro perform in Avenue Q on September 27-Oct 7 on at the Grand Theater (MBS).
 

How did the band’s current line-up come together?
Seph: After my former bassist and drummer left the band, I got to know Toon from the Siam Bass website. I’d known of Art’s great drumming ability for a long time as I saw him playing at a blues bar in Chiang Mai. So, after Art was recognized as part of the Project Rock Dream Team by TPBS, he came to produce an album in Bangkok and I asked him to join Spoonfulz. I knew Tok from my time on the Love Is record label, so when I moved over to Smallroom Records I convinced him to climb aboard too.

Do you feel like you’ve been through a lot?
Seph: Things come easy to some bands, who find fame thanks to being well-off. We started with nothing. In the six years that I’ve been doing this, I’ve seen a lot of hardship. At times we didn’t have enough money to pay for a bus fare so we had to walk with our instruments.

How does it feel to be getting some proper recognition?
Seph: We’ve been serious musically for a long time, and it feels great to be getting more gigs—but that also means more stress. We’ve been spending more of our time in the Smallroom studio than at home lately Art: I feel like we’re getting a better sense of direction, so hopefully we’ll be able to fully realize our potential.
Tok: It’s a real eye-opener. We’re working hard and we’re always tired, but once we finish our album maybe things will return to normal.

What are your thoughts on the domestic music scene?
Seph: Music is like fashion, ever-changing. People may be into a style now because everyone else is, but we can’t predict the future. I feel like, compared to the 60s or 80s, nowadays is just one big mish-mash of styles. Everything seems so fleeting.
Tok: For example, ska was popular for a while but that’s now passed. Then people got into jazz or rock, really adopting the look as well as the sound. Right now, the ukulele is still totally in vogue, but who knows how long that will last.

Which artist, past or present, would you most like to perform with?
Seph: Jimi Hendrix. That man is genius beyond words. Yes, he may have got addicted to drugs or whatever but his music still stands out today long after his death.
Art: Led Zeppelin because I really admire their drummer, John Bonham. The man is a hero to many drummers worldwide.
Tok: I’d have to say Prai Patomporn (Lao rocker). As a kid, I idolized him. He inspired me to be a musical performer. As for English music, I love Blur.
Toon: For me, Tower of Power (an American R&B-based horn section and band).

I dreamt of being a singer since I was a kid. I was inspired by famous singers like Bird Thongchai. I started practicing with a karaoke machine that I bought myself, by saving up my pocket money. My friends later encouraged me to enter singing competitions.

I was really shy when I first took to the stage. I didn’t know how to sing well enough to impress the crowd. But I got to love it more and more. I wanted to entertain people.

Once, I even danced with my guitar to make the audience like me better, because I knew I couldn’t win with just my voice.

One day my dad told me to send a demo to GMM after he heard that they were seeking new faces. But it didn’t work out until I was called in to join the game show Game Hot Pleng Hit.

I didn’t win the show but they hired me anyway. They saw how much I loved entertaining people. Then I became a member of U.H.T. which was a successful boy band back then.

I never imagined doing anything else but singing. But when the U.H.T. project finished and I had a chance to be a DJ and MC, I fell in love with that too. Now, I’ve spent so much time being a DJ and MC, I don’t feel confident when I have to sing again. I don’t even know how to pose or what to do with my hands.

So what if I used to be in this famous boy band and have a gay look. It’s not awkward to me. I do everything I do fully. And it’s all natural.

I’m not going to confirm whether or not I am gay. I don’t want to lie. And I don’t want to make an announcement. I want everyone to look at my work, not my love life. You guys will get an answer when I get married. If I marry a man, it’s yes; if I marry a woman, then that’s a no.

Sex is like eating. It up to you to decide when  to stop, when you feel you’d had enough. If  you’re addicted to it, your life will be a mess.  Everything has two sides, so do what’s right.

The third gender’s love life is actually like straight people’s. Straight people might see the third gender as love gurus but we have plenty of depression, sadness and heartbreak in our lives, too.

The character in my latest movie isn’t even remotely close to the real me. He is openly gay and believes that having sex is just something for fun. But I believe that we should have sex when the time is right.

Experience will teach you to protect yourself. I was heartbroken because I didn’t love myself enough. My ex-lover is a cheater but I tried to convince myself that I was just paranoid. At the end, my fears were actually true.

Love is uncertain. No one owns anyone. I think that it’s all down to karma. I might have hurt someone in my last life so they came to get revenge in this life. Just forgive and move on.

You will find love when you’re not looking for it. There are many people who come to flirt with me but I don’t click with any of them. Maybe my brutal love experiences have taught me to separate between love and infatuation. Your feelings are the best clue to know who is right for you.

I love to do live shows, where things don’t have to be perfect. I do mostly interviews and my style of talking must feel natural. I don’t like faking it. I’m most happy when we can record the show in one take.

I’m a workaholic because I’ve found what I love to do. I can get bored easily without work.

My parents are my biggest inspiration. They didn’t get a proper education but they managed to raise five children. At one point, they had only B20 left to feed all of us. More importantly, we never found out [until much later]. They really sacrificed themselves for us.

Parents are like our children when they get older. We have to take care of them as best as we can. Some people only realize this when it’s too late.

Parents’ jobs look easy when they raise you, but when you start to earn money and try to raise someone on your own, then you understand how hard it is. So give them support while you can, you’ve got the rest of your life to make more money [for yourself].

My success is beyond my expectations. I already felt complete as a singer and I’m still doing what I love.

I don’t want to be rich. I have my TV production company called Eaky Mouth to do shows for TV. But I don’t want it to expand and become too big. I don’t want to work hard until I have no time to appreciate the things surrounding me.

When I’m drunk, I… talk rubbish.

The most embarrassing thing I’ve ever done was… cutting my lip and breaking a tooth whilst jumping on a bed.

I often hum… while I’m eating.

I would never… bungee jump or skydive.

Social media is… great, but I don’t think Led Zeppelin would spend much time on it if they were around today.

The craziest thing I’ve ever done is… move to London without a job or knowing where I was going to live—when I was 18.

After a few days in Asia… I would kill for Camembert and croissants.

If I had a million dollars… I’d buy a desert island and would do a lot less.

Jerry Bouthier spins August 24 at Kitsuné Club Night at Zouk.

What fascinates you?
My quest to get people to examine their own lives, not point their fingers at someone else. I hope to influence questioning of our life our understanding and hope it discloses rather than represses.

Why both film and photography?
It’s interesting—the phenomenon of working with both mediums. In photography, as always, we need to contain the information within the frame. Whereas in film, it always about the next frame.

Who is your biggest influence?
Filmmaker Stan Brakhage. Brakhage always wanted to “make you see,” a D. W. Griffith line he often cited, but with a crucial difference: his films eschew the manipulations of mainstream narrative and instead invite you to a variety of kinds of seeing.

What’s your take on the human condition?
Obey and Consume. Obey and Consume. Repeat until search for truth prevails and the veil lifts.

What’s the meaning of life?
Life is elsewhere. Here is always somewhere else.

Siddhartha Tawadey: Sans Souci is on through September 7 at Art Plural Gallery.

I live my life like my journey has just begun every morning.

I am influenced by great historical figures such as Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Ghandi and Bruce Lee, who all stood for their beliefs and made a difference to their societies.

Closer to home, I am inspired by my parents and generally people from their generation who had to struggle and work so hard to bring us up.

My grandma used to live alone at a kampong at Pulau Tekong and I remember visiting her as a family every week by bumboat. I just loved the community spirit then where everyone from different races knew each other, got along and even shared fruits from the garden.

Timbre rekindles some of those memories, where I see Singaporeans of all race and creed come together to celebrate music. That makes me happy.

Kids who groove to music never fail to bring a smile and brighten my day.

I was very much a loner growing up. I was listening to blues, jazz and other African American music forms since I was 16 and not many of my friends at that time could relate or identify with that.

In retrospect, I am thankful as it helped me immerse myself totally in music, which helped shape my personality and define my purpose till this very day.

As a kid, I wanted to be a policeman. Well, I guess we all feared and respected policemen when we were young and we knew that they protected society.

When I proposed to my then girlfriend in the middle of my performance at the recent Singapore Arts Festival, I was truly happy. It was a milestone in my life and it happened to be my birthday (which was a decoy) and all my friends and colleagues were there to witness it and celebrate with me.

I collect vinyls; all 400 plus of them.

I don’t have any political persuasion, every system has its pros and cons. However I’d like to see young Singaporeans encouraged and inspired to sing, play music and create their own songs.

If we can have a slightly more relaxed and less fearful censorship system to help this process, I will stand for it.

You cannot please everyone, and sometimes you have to focus on your own happiness as well.

Lending money to friends can break a friendship.

At the end of the day, I want to uplift Singapore music to a new level where we have 10-fold more support and a viable music market place so that musicians and artistes can make a decent living.

A mature first world society requires first world arts and culture as well.

Three guys and a nail parlor—that’s a little unconventional. Whose idea was it?
Yijin runs Portrait International, a distribution company representing BioSculpture Gel, as well as other skincare and lifestyle brands supplied to salons and spas. He was the one who turned the integration of nail art with fashion into a business idea.

What was it like starting up?
Aside from the usual problems like finance and managing manpower in an industry we’re clearly unfamiliar with, the biggest challenge was being uncertain about the public’s response. Thankfully, things have worked out considerably well but we still have a long way to go in improving ourselves.

Have you done anything radical in the name of research?
In Singapore, you hardly see guys with buffed nails, much less guys wearing nail polish. Most guys we’ve asked about this immediately shy away, as if doing your nails is a sign you’ve lost your manhood. In that sense, everything we’ve done in the name of research—from learning about nail polish and gel manicures to experimenting with cutesy nail art—has been radical.

What do you think of the startup scene in Singapore?
It’s blooming, thanks to admirable efforts by government bodies in encouraging startups without intervening directly in them. Aside from the well-marketed funding programmes by SPRING Singapore, there are also underlying advantages that startups enjoy sometimes without even realizing, such as the country’s political stability and consistent economic growth. Singapore is a startup haven, and its people are just beginning to realize that.

I never had a goal in life as a child. I just went to school in order to graduate to please my parents and fulfill my duties as their son.

I hate math. It just makes no sense to me. That’s basically why I chose to study communication arts—so I didn’t have to bother with math.

I couldn’t get a proper job after graduating. I got bored easily so I changed jobs a lot. But I was lucky to earn money from being a model and playing music at night with my friend’s band, Kingkong Project.

I even got bored playing music every night. Everything is the same. People are there to get drunk. It’s just not a thing that I love to do.

One day an agency contacted me about a movie role. I rejected it at first because I knew nothing about acting, but they kept calling so I decided to go along and prove that I wasn’t up to it. But they loved me and I landed my first role as Kai Yoi in Dear Daganda (2005).

Acting is the only thing I don’t get bored with. It puts a spark in my life. It’s always exciting planning how to bring a role to life.

I try to base my acting on human behavior. Donald Duck is my favorite cartoon character because I feel he is a realistic portrayal of humanity. He’s not a bad guy but he does have his bad sides. I have many things in common with him—I can be grumpy, bad-tempered and stubborn.

I’m interested in writing screenplays and directing short films. My seniors at GTH have given me the opportunity to explore these sorts of projects.

Thai films like Shambhala are rare. It looks at the great journey of life by tracing a journey to Shambhala [in Buddhist tradition, a mythical kingdom in Tibet]. Most Thai dramas just keep repeating stereotypical plots and characters.

Filming in Tibet was really brutal. I’ve never been so cold. It was like sitting in a freezer without a blanket. It didn’t matter how many coats or sweaters I put on.

The most important part of traveling is the journey, not the destination. Traveling has opened up my mind. I love exploring and experiencing the unexpected, especially abroad. I disagree with people who just aim to work hard, save money and then retire. Enjoy life while you can.

Certain songs have more resonance when you’re sad. I used to ask myself why I felt sad. Is it really worth feeling sorry for yourself? Once you
answer these questions, you can move on.

I’ve had many low points in my life, like when my parents went bankrupt or when I felt I was being ignored by them. We never had much communication in my family, and it pissed me off to be the one who had to solve the problems all the time because we didn’t talk openly. But I’m happy that we’re much closer now.

I’ll never think of myself as weak or a failure. I don’t use my family problems as an excuse to misbehave or become a drug addict. I think many people make trouble for themselves because they are weak-minded.

Being an atheist doesn’t mean I’m savage. I still strongly believe in goodness. I lost my faith after my family fell into crisis and there was not a single soul to help us. Self-reliance is best.

I look down on selfish and irresponsible people because they can only lead a silly life. To improve, society needs people with a solid sense of right and wrong.

When people take sides, they come up with all sorts of outrageous arguments to justify themselves. For this reason, it’s hard to solve our national conflict.

Marriage complicates our lives. Lovers should be able to be together without worrying about social norms or who owns whom. Then if they break up it’s better than divorcing. I guess I have different views and maybe that’s why I don’t have a girlfriend.

Some may say I’m quite individual but I know I’m perfectly normal. I still enjoy using the BTS, taking a cab or walking the streets to get where I want to go.

I can’t drive a car. I don’t see any reason. We’re complaining about an energy shortage, but we still have tons of cars on the road.

I love shopping at JJ market for the rare, secondhand stuff. You can get awesome T-shirts for only 40 baht. They’re not all dirty old things, some just didn’t pass QC.

Cats are the funniest animals. I don’t know why, but they always look nervous. Their poses are hilarious. I just like to watch them in action.

Life is to be enjoyed. But if you only have happiness, wouldn’t that be boring? Trouble is one of the flavors of life.

Special thanks to: Good Question Pub