While the world was preoccupied with the Iraq war and Asians busy protecting themselves with the SARS virus, a shocking event happened on 1st of April - Leslie Cheung commited suicide. Many thought it was a bad April Fool's joke but wasn't.

Leslie Cheung was one of my favourite Hong Kong actors. Loved his performances in Wong Kar Wai's movies such as Days of Being Wild, Ashes of Time and Happy Together. In a sense, many of us grew up with Leslie Cheung. Who could forget the song "Monica" during the height of the Canto Pop Rock era? He defined the energy and flamboyance of an era now sadly gone.

Perhaps in a morbid way it is a fitting end to an actor who looks eternally boyish and youthful, even at 46 - his youth will forever be immortalized a la James Dean. We will never see a Leslie Cheung graying and withering away as an old man. He will always be an icon of the restless and rebellious youth like the character he played in "Days of Being Wild". For fans like us, his songs and movies are already a part of our lives and will continue living in us throughout the rest of our lives.