The young whether Europeans,Americans,Africans or Asians are living in a globalised world in which there is no turning back the clock.They travel widely to all corners of the globe thanks to cheap flights and budget hotels.They study in foreign countries,are exposed to a wide range of cultures and are increasingly mobile in their work place or even career choice.They invent disruptive technologies that are shaking up the traditional industries from e commerce,entertainment or even finance.
They are adventurous,brave to challenge the status quo ,some have freed themselves from traditional jobs,some have adopted a sustainable lifestyle,giving up on meat consumption and celebrate diversity.
Our future lies in hands of the new millenials.
Sunday, February 12, 2017
Saturday, February 11, 2017
A Teller of Tales
“Like a child at the cinema, we get caught up in the illusion.
“Like a child at the cinema, we get caught up in the illusion.
From this comes all of our vanity, ambition, and insecurity.
We fall in love with the illusions we have created and develop excessive pride in our appearance,
our possessions, and our accomplishments.
Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse,
Creative licence means that creativity is given free rein and does not need to mirror the exact reality
on the ground but when "nationalists" authorities overseer the appropriateness of content deemed culturally appropriate,then it kills the content provider's free reign over the imagination.It prevents the arising of thought provoking issues and merely surrenders to the status quo of keeping the traditions
alive.But traditions need to evolve with the changing context and keep up with the times if it were to
survive the onslaught of modernity.
The Japanese would be struggling with that conundrum but the transformation is already underway in how anime has allowed the creativity to blossom and even be adopted as a global phenomenon by
the young all over the world.So to "ban" the viewing of "Hema,hema can you hear me sing" is a futile exercise if the movie is released online and the young should be astute enough to discern between fiction and fact. Or they aren't as they are captive to the soundbites and sensationalism of fake news.But still it's better to train a filter that is self critical than to set up a firewall that smacks of moral policing and
by whose standards are we to judge who has better morals as judge not so that ye be not judged.Unless its so violently or sexually explicit,then warning on parental guidance should be issued but to allow screening of shallow stereotypes of syrupy coma inducing happily ever after movies or hair raising horror
movies is to train the young to have an unrealistic expectation of Life that it is
entertaining and no more.No,movies should let us reflect on the flaws of our societies,rip aside the
hypocrisies behind the mask and an unexamined life is a life not
worth living.Even the Buddha exhorted come and see.
Do not believe just because someone said so. Kalama Sutta: The Buddha's Charter
of Free Inquiry."It is proper for you, Kalamas, to doubt, to be uncertain;uncertainty has
arisen in you about what is doubtful. Come, Kalamas. Do not go upon what has been acquired
by repeated hearing; nor upon tradition; nor upon rumor; nor upon what is in a scripture;
nor upon surmise; nor upon an axiom; nor upon specious reasoning; nor upon a bias towards
a notion that has been pondered over; nor upon another's seeming ability; nor upon the consideration,
Truth is in life. So take into account words of the wise, altho’ not passively —but, rather,
through constant questioning and personal testing to identify those truths which you are able to
demonstrate to yourself actually reduce your own stress or misery. If you thus find something of
value, effective in your own life, by all means, take it to heart …
Come … see for yourself …Ehipassiko!
Monday, February 6, 2017
Year of the cockerel
The cockerel has come home to roost
The Canterbury's Tale is a saucy one.
As Chanticleer, Pertelote, and all of Chanticleer’s ancillary hen-wives are roosting one night, Chanticleer has a terrible nightmare about an orange houndlike beast who threatens to kill him while he is in the yard. Fearless Pertelote berates him for letting a dream get the better of him. She believes the dream to be the result of some physical malady, and she promises him that she will find some purgative herbs. She urges him once more not to dread something as fleeting and illusory as a dream. In order to convince her that his dream was important, he tells the stories of men who dreamed of murder and then discovered it. His point in telling these stories is to prove to Pertelote that “Mordre will out” (3052)—murder will reveal itself—even and especially in dreams. Chanticleer cites textual examples of famous dream interpretations to further support his thesis that dreams are portentous. He then praises Pertelote’s beauty and grace, and the aroused hero and heroine make love in barnyard fashion: “He fethered Pertelote twenty tyme, / And trad hire eke as ofte, er it was pryme [he clasped Pertelote with his wings twenty times, and copulated with her as often, before it was 6 a.m.” (3177–3178).
One day in May, Chanticleer has just declared his perfect happiness when a wave of sadness passes over him. That very night, a hungry fox stalks Chanticleer and his wives, watching their every move. The next day, Chanticleer notices the fox while watching a butterfly, and the fox confronts him with dissimulating courtesy, telling the rooster not to be afraid. Chanticleer relishes the fox’s flattery of his singing. He beats his wings with pride, stands on his toes, stretches his neck, closes his eyes, and crows loudly. The fox reaches out and grabs Chanticleer by the throat, and then slinks away with him back toward the woods. No one is around to witness what has happened. Once Pertelote finds out what has happened, she burns her feathers with grief, and a great wail arises from the henhouse.
The widow and her daughters hear the screeching and spy the fox running away with the rooster. The dogs follow, and pretty soon the whole barnyard joins in the hullabaloo. Chanticleer very cleverly suggests that the fox turn and boast to his pursuers. The fox opens his mouth to do so, and Chanticleer flies out of the fox’s mouth and into a high tree. The fox tries to flatter the bird into coming down, but Chanticleer has learned his lesson. He tells the fox that flattery will work for him no more. The moral of the story, concludes the Nun’s Priest, is never to trust a flatterer.
What does a vain cock crow about?
His comb which is never out of sight.
The Canterbury's Tale is a saucy one.
Summary: The Tale of the Nun’s Priest
A poor, elderly widow lives a simple life in a cottage with her two daughters. Her few possessions include three sows, three cows, a sheep, and some chickens. One chicken, her rooster, is named Chanticleer, which in French means “sings clearly.” True to his name, Chanticleer’s “cock-a-doodle-doo” makes him the master of all roosters. He crows the hour more accurately than any church clock. His crest is redder than fine coral, his beak is black as jet, his nails whiter than lilies, and his feathers shine like burnished gold. Understandably, such an attractive cock would have to be the Don Juan of the barnyard. Chanticleer has many hen-wives, but he loves most truly a hen named Pertelote. She is as lovely as Chanticleer is magnificent.As Chanticleer, Pertelote, and all of Chanticleer’s ancillary hen-wives are roosting one night, Chanticleer has a terrible nightmare about an orange houndlike beast who threatens to kill him while he is in the yard. Fearless Pertelote berates him for letting a dream get the better of him. She believes the dream to be the result of some physical malady, and she promises him that she will find some purgative herbs. She urges him once more not to dread something as fleeting and illusory as a dream. In order to convince her that his dream was important, he tells the stories of men who dreamed of murder and then discovered it. His point in telling these stories is to prove to Pertelote that “Mordre will out” (3052)—murder will reveal itself—even and especially in dreams. Chanticleer cites textual examples of famous dream interpretations to further support his thesis that dreams are portentous. He then praises Pertelote’s beauty and grace, and the aroused hero and heroine make love in barnyard fashion: “He fethered Pertelote twenty tyme, / And trad hire eke as ofte, er it was pryme [he clasped Pertelote with his wings twenty times, and copulated with her as often, before it was 6 a.m.” (3177–3178).
One day in May, Chanticleer has just declared his perfect happiness when a wave of sadness passes over him. That very night, a hungry fox stalks Chanticleer and his wives, watching their every move. The next day, Chanticleer notices the fox while watching a butterfly, and the fox confronts him with dissimulating courtesy, telling the rooster not to be afraid. Chanticleer relishes the fox’s flattery of his singing. He beats his wings with pride, stands on his toes, stretches his neck, closes his eyes, and crows loudly. The fox reaches out and grabs Chanticleer by the throat, and then slinks away with him back toward the woods. No one is around to witness what has happened. Once Pertelote finds out what has happened, she burns her feathers with grief, and a great wail arises from the henhouse.
The widow and her daughters hear the screeching and spy the fox running away with the rooster. The dogs follow, and pretty soon the whole barnyard joins in the hullabaloo. Chanticleer very cleverly suggests that the fox turn and boast to his pursuers. The fox opens his mouth to do so, and Chanticleer flies out of the fox’s mouth and into a high tree. The fox tries to flatter the bird into coming down, but Chanticleer has learned his lesson. He tells the fox that flattery will work for him no more. The moral of the story, concludes the Nun’s Priest, is never to trust a flatterer.
Summary: The Epilogue to the Nun’s Priest’s Tale
The Host tells the Nun’s Priest that he would have been an excellent rooster—for if he has as much courage as he has strength, he would need more than seven hens. The Host points out the Nun’s Priest’s strong muscles, his great neck, and his large breast, and compares him to a sparrow-hawk. He merrily wishes the Nun’s Priest good luckWhat does a vain cock crow about?
His comb which is never out of sight.
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
Why is price of petrol hiked up in Malaysia?
In Reuters it was stated that oil prices fell on rising US output,so why are prices going up in Malaysia?
12:45 am, February 01, 2017
Reuters SINGAPORE (Reuters) — Oil prices fell on Tuesday as rising U.S. drilling activity offset efforts by OPEC and other producers to cut output in a move to prop up the market.
Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were trading at $55.10 per barrel at 0516 GMT, down 13 cents from their last close.
Since their January peak, Brent has lost over 5.6 percent in value.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were at $52.41 a barrel, down 22 cents from their previous settlement, and WTI is down almost 3 percent since its January peak.
The falls reflect a sentiment that efforts led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to cut output by almost 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) in order to end overproduction were not big enough to offset rising U.S. drilling.
U.S. investment bank Jefferies said that while “OPEC adherence to production targets has been strong,” growth in U.S. shale oil production was undermining OPEC’s efforts to balance global oil markets by bringing production levels in line with consumption.
“Higher prices will inevitably lead to growth in U.S. production, and activity levels are already picking up,” Jefferies said.
As a result, the bank said it is “not inclined to change our Brent price forecast — $57.75 per barrel in 2017, $71.75 per barrel in 2018.”
Following months of increased drilling, U.S. oil production has risen by 6.3 percent since July last year to almost 9 million bpd, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Goldman Sachs estimates that year-on-year U.S. oil “production will rise by 290,000 bpd in 2017” if a backlog on rigs that are still to become operational is accounted for.
With the differing outlook between global oil markets and that in the United States, traders said a renewed focus on the spread between Brent and WTI futures has emerged.
The Brent premium over WTI for March delivery is currently over $2.70 per barrel, reflecting a tighter global market as OPEC’s cuts bite and a more over-supplied U.S. as drilling continues to rise.
Yet by November this year, this Brent premium is down to just over $1 a barrel.Speech
Why has Ron 95 increased by 20 cents yesterday in Malaysia?
Monday, January 30, 2017
Rise of the neanderthals
Neanderthal's manual
1. Rule No. 1 : Her job is to feed your growling stomach with grub that you have clobbered and dragged home .Some meat that you can really sink your teeth into and not those mushy stuff like stone ground grass and weed those females gather from the field coz they aint got the brains n brawns to hunt and go after the chase.(thumping his bare chest rippling with muscles )
2.Rule No. 2: Women are objects to be groped,fondled and never take no for an answer.Just sock her in the eye if she dares to say so or a few tight slaps or a punch and a kick in her stomach should teach her a thing or two about respect.A man of few words and all action means I mean business.I am the law around here.
3.Rule No. 3: Women are made to replicate and duplicate -and repopulate the nation's dropping birth rate -that's how they contribute to national domestic product-provide the labour force.
4. Rule No 4: If all else fails, get a new one.
1. Rule No. 1 : Her job is to feed your growling stomach with grub that you have clobbered and dragged home .Some meat that you can really sink your teeth into and not those mushy stuff like stone ground grass and weed those females gather from the field coz they aint got the brains n brawns to hunt and go after the chase.(thumping his bare chest rippling with muscles )
2.Rule No. 2: Women are objects to be groped,fondled and never take no for an answer.Just sock her in the eye if she dares to say so or a few tight slaps or a punch and a kick in her stomach should teach her a thing or two about respect.A man of few words and all action means I mean business.I am the law around here.
3.Rule No. 3: Women are made to replicate and duplicate -and repopulate the nation's dropping birth rate -that's how they contribute to national domestic product-provide the labour force.
4. Rule No 4: If all else fails, get a new one.
Saturday, December 31, 2016
Importance of freeing the imagination
I am a dreamer.I free my imagination from the cage of conventions and let it escape.My imagination can only run wild in a make believe world of movies and to me reel life is richer than real life for it opens up our inner world to new possibilities.If Man had not dreamed to fly like birds or swim like fish,would the aeroplane and the submarine be even invented?
So let the world laugh at your crazy ideas,who knows one of them could become reality one day!
I viewed The movie The KIng Of Mask by Wu Tian Ming (thank you for your boldness as I was totally impressed by an underdog Xian film studio producing such brilliant directors compared to Beijing or Shanghai studios) ,it is the film nurturing talent of individuals by the studio that encourages art for art's sake not profit sake).Such a simple story focuses on the need to preserve traditional art forms like changing of the mask and challenging the conservative mindset that it could not be taught to outsiders.But with digital media being used to preserve the technique ,it could be studied one day and revived again.Then again a similar dilemma of preservation of traditional art form is seen in Bhutanese director Jamyang Kyentse Norbu's latest movie in which a troop of traditional masked dancers undergo transformation hidden by their masked selves.I've spent time viewing director's Jia Zhang Ke's movie making process and the creative process of Akira Kurosawa's scriptwriting to directing and I'm amazed by how they bring so many different disparate elements from writing to music to lighting ,from technology to age old acting skills to weave the tapestry into a 2 hour magic on screen.
I'm now incubating on a story that I hope to finish by 2017.It would mesh together the past and the present,use a range of techniques from real life actors merged with animation.It would use animation and be drawn in the style of a batik painting,incorporate wayang kulit but in the modern figures and use Teochew puppets and real life actors.It would show the process of how actors are trained and transformed through face painting into Chinese opera heroes and heroines. That would enable young audience to understand the difficulties of mastering the intricacies of traditional art form like opera.
I would use Chinese paper cutting of figurines to show the part of the Chinese operas,for the wayang kulit I would use traditional music of the dikir barat combined with Indian classical music on sitar.
Outline
Scene 1
This is a traditional story teller,the troop master of a Teochew puppet troop that is struggling to survive in Penang.Its only income is from performing at the Hungry ghost festival when stage performances of classical opera tales like Liao Zhai or the Journey to the West are performed for ghostly visitors .The stage on the other side has a big paper statue of the black faced God of Hell.
Times are bad and earnings are dwindling as the temple committee preferred to hire pole dancers and strip artistes to lure the younger crowd of ghosts and the salivating drooling old Ah Paks unwavering devotion to such titillaing performanes that will surely wake up the dead from their grave and make them hunger for something more than just the pink fatt go,the red ang koo kuih or the paper money. folded into ingots.
Ahh ,people have to keep up with the times.Even the traditional paper mansions and boy and girl paper figures or hell notes are so outdated.Now the in things to burn are smart phones,credit cards and i Pad.
So the Yuen Ching puppet troop is facing stiff competition.
Scene 2
Mr Koo the puppet owner is having problem paying the puppeeters their wages on time .The youngest 5 year old son of illiterate pupputeer Mrs Li secretly smuggles under the offering table and when it's 3 am ,he swipes the steamed pork buns,the ang koo kuih and gulps a few bottle of F and N orange before sneaking out and dumping them into the trash can far away.Let's see who is more hungry-the real person or the ghost?
Scene 3
Mr Koo's wife is a shy and hardworking person.She works as a babysitter to supplement the family's income.The eldest son Ah Chun hardly helps out at the theatre ,preferring to master the skill of auto repair.He spends his time doing drag racing on highways.The only other son An Fatt has a deformed leg .He was abandoned outside and found by the temple caretaker.Mrs Koo was the one who was paid by the caretaker to look after him and adopted him as one of her own.It was An Fatt who was a keen observer and learned the art of Teochew puppet shows. Ah Chun hated An Fatt as he was favoured by his father so he went out of his way to bully the "Lame leg boy"and make his life miserable.
Scene 4
In the temple of the Sleeping Buddha,they held the performance the whole night.Meanwhile the wayang kulit troop master has also lost his audience as no one is interested in Ramayna,Sita or Ravana.The young are glued to their satellite tv and chasing Pokemon Go.He has to resort making wayang kulit figures to sell to tourists as souvenirs.
Kassim his teenage 19 year old son organizes a group to hunt for rare sightings of Pokemon near the temple site .(the scene would be in animated form of wayang kulit as they climbed up coconut trees and dived into the padi fields to catch the Pokemon Go and parallel scenes of Wayang Kulit of Rama chasing to hunt and kill Ravana. controlled by the dalang his father.
Scene 5
The bad blood between the two brothers worsens when An Fatt begs Ah Chun to deliver some equipment to the Rasa temple.When he went back to his beloved car,Ah Chun got a shock.Vandals had removed all four spanking new high performance tyres and replaced them with four stacks of bricks.Macam macam pun boleh,May your whole family be killed ,a string of expletives fly out. From then on ,the rift between the brothers widened.
Scene 6
After their puppet show at 1 pm was the pole dancer's performance which saw a packed to full house
of old Ah Peks on an ogling.Wah that new dancer manyak shiok,you throw some ringgit notes at her er everything also you can see,they leered.An Fatt was secretly admiring the new dancer ,a young 19 year old from a small town in Perlis.She was working to pay off the debts her father owned to the Ah Long.But An Fatt knew he wouldnt stand a chance with his disability.
SCENE 7
To be continued
So let the world laugh at your crazy ideas,who knows one of them could become reality one day!
I viewed The movie The KIng Of Mask by Wu Tian Ming (thank you for your boldness as I was totally impressed by an underdog Xian film studio producing such brilliant directors compared to Beijing or Shanghai studios) ,it is the film nurturing talent of individuals by the studio that encourages art for art's sake not profit sake).Such a simple story focuses on the need to preserve traditional art forms like changing of the mask and challenging the conservative mindset that it could not be taught to outsiders.But with digital media being used to preserve the technique ,it could be studied one day and revived again.Then again a similar dilemma of preservation of traditional art form is seen in Bhutanese director Jamyang Kyentse Norbu's latest movie in which a troop of traditional masked dancers undergo transformation hidden by their masked selves.I've spent time viewing director's Jia Zhang Ke's movie making process and the creative process of Akira Kurosawa's scriptwriting to directing and I'm amazed by how they bring so many different disparate elements from writing to music to lighting ,from technology to age old acting skills to weave the tapestry into a 2 hour magic on screen.
I'm now incubating on a story that I hope to finish by 2017.It would mesh together the past and the present,use a range of techniques from real life actors merged with animation.It would use animation and be drawn in the style of a batik painting,incorporate wayang kulit but in the modern figures and use Teochew puppets and real life actors.It would show the process of how actors are trained and transformed through face painting into Chinese opera heroes and heroines. That would enable young audience to understand the difficulties of mastering the intricacies of traditional art form like opera.
I would use Chinese paper cutting of figurines to show the part of the Chinese operas,for the wayang kulit I would use traditional music of the dikir barat combined with Indian classical music on sitar.
Outline
Scene 1
This is a traditional story teller,the troop master of a Teochew puppet troop that is struggling to survive in Penang.Its only income is from performing at the Hungry ghost festival when stage performances of classical opera tales like Liao Zhai or the Journey to the West are performed for ghostly visitors .The stage on the other side has a big paper statue of the black faced God of Hell.
Times are bad and earnings are dwindling as the temple committee preferred to hire pole dancers and strip artistes to lure the younger crowd of ghosts and the salivating drooling old Ah Paks unwavering devotion to such titillaing performanes that will surely wake up the dead from their grave and make them hunger for something more than just the pink fatt go,the red ang koo kuih or the paper money. folded into ingots.
Ahh ,people have to keep up with the times.Even the traditional paper mansions and boy and girl paper figures or hell notes are so outdated.Now the in things to burn are smart phones,credit cards and i Pad.
So the Yuen Ching puppet troop is facing stiff competition.
Scene 2
Mr Koo the puppet owner is having problem paying the puppeeters their wages on time .The youngest 5 year old son of illiterate pupputeer Mrs Li secretly smuggles under the offering table and when it's 3 am ,he swipes the steamed pork buns,the ang koo kuih and gulps a few bottle of F and N orange before sneaking out and dumping them into the trash can far away.Let's see who is more hungry-the real person or the ghost?
Scene 3
Mr Koo's wife is a shy and hardworking person.She works as a babysitter to supplement the family's income.The eldest son Ah Chun hardly helps out at the theatre ,preferring to master the skill of auto repair.He spends his time doing drag racing on highways.The only other son An Fatt has a deformed leg .He was abandoned outside and found by the temple caretaker.Mrs Koo was the one who was paid by the caretaker to look after him and adopted him as one of her own.It was An Fatt who was a keen observer and learned the art of Teochew puppet shows. Ah Chun hated An Fatt as he was favoured by his father so he went out of his way to bully the "Lame leg boy"and make his life miserable.
Scene 4
In the temple of the Sleeping Buddha,they held the performance the whole night.Meanwhile the wayang kulit troop master has also lost his audience as no one is interested in Ramayna,Sita or Ravana.The young are glued to their satellite tv and chasing Pokemon Go.He has to resort making wayang kulit figures to sell to tourists as souvenirs.
Kassim his teenage 19 year old son organizes a group to hunt for rare sightings of Pokemon near the temple site .(the scene would be in animated form of wayang kulit as they climbed up coconut trees and dived into the padi fields to catch the Pokemon Go and parallel scenes of Wayang Kulit of Rama chasing to hunt and kill Ravana. controlled by the dalang his father.
Scene 5
The bad blood between the two brothers worsens when An Fatt begs Ah Chun to deliver some equipment to the Rasa temple.When he went back to his beloved car,Ah Chun got a shock.Vandals had removed all four spanking new high performance tyres and replaced them with four stacks of bricks.Macam macam pun boleh,May your whole family be killed ,a string of expletives fly out. From then on ,the rift between the brothers widened.
Scene 6
After their puppet show at 1 pm was the pole dancer's performance which saw a packed to full house
of old Ah Peks on an ogling.Wah that new dancer manyak shiok,you throw some ringgit notes at her er everything also you can see,they leered.An Fatt was secretly admiring the new dancer ,a young 19 year old from a small town in Perlis.She was working to pay off the debts her father owned to the Ah Long.But An Fatt knew he wouldnt stand a chance with his disability.
SCENE 7
An Fatt knew his foster father kept all his cash and wife's jewellery in an old safe deposit box hidden in a huge
metal cabinet used to store the stage props.They often moved from small towns to cities to perform.It was more
convenient this way.
"But how to get everyone out,,mmmn this might work,I could use that to pay off the girl's debt and the rest we
could set up a small laksa stall to make a living."
sCENE 8
At the corner of the makeshift stage was a small altar of the God of the Earth"The members prayed and burned
notes before every performance.An Fatt bought some kerosene ,hid it near the perimeters and when his foster
father treated the whole troop to a celebratory dinner at the restaurant ,he would make his move.
The fire gutted the makeshift theatre.The villagers nearby came to help douse the fiery blaze,even Tok Dalang
and his son Kassim pitched in to help.Mr Koo came rushing back with his workers .He rushed in to save his life
savings but never made it out alive.
sCENE 9
Scene of a Teochew puppet show with An Fatt as the puppetmaster.Scene enacted of the filial son who goes to
Hell to plead with the God Of Hades to free his mother from being a hungry ghost.He descends through a part
where souls are boiled in burning vats of oil by the guards with cow heads and horse faces.His mother who was
a lifelong vegetarian had been punished when she inadvertently drank a bowl of pork soup. and lied about it.
Moved by his filial piety,the God of Hades promised that on the seventh day of the seventh Lunar Month,the
gates of Hell would open and the roaming spirits would be freed to eat as much offering as they wanted.When
the angry ghosts or roaming spirits are appeased,they would not disturb the living and the seen and unseen
coexist the rest of the year in harmony.
Ah Chun the mechanic turns into a responsible son and takes care of his widowed mother.
sCENE 10
An Fatt is heartbroken when the pole dancer turns down his proposal.She marries the elderly
62 year old bachelor ( a Getai fan )from Pasir Panjang who owns three shophouses and sells off one of it
to pay off her father's debts to the loan shark.Now she is the towkay so of two jewellery shops.The troupe
is disbanded and some of the puppets end up being sold at the flea market as "antiques".An Fatt moved to the
big city and starts a small business in a digital mall selling computer games.The Zombies or the undead is the
latest craze .and that's how he happened to meet by chance the "old flame" of his youth who came to the city
with her little boy who wanted to buy "The Zombie."She then takes her son to the interactive science museum
where a group of eager children plays with a high tech Japanese designed system which consists of a head
mounted display HMD that shows the performer a live video feed from the puppet's viewpoint,a microphone
for voice capture and photoreflectors for detecing the mouth movement of the human performer.In conventional
puppetry,practising manipulation of the puppet is also required to perform well.The telepresence system
addresses these issues by enabling the human performer to manipulate the puppet through their own body
and facial movements.This would contribute to a new application of puppetry and expand the interactivity
of puppetry and the scope of entertainment.There is also the optical marionette in which the 3D hologram
would reduce the real human figure onto a projected puppet that will imitate the real person's movement and
synthesize his voice. A male could become a female and a human into an animal.The lines between what is
real and not real are blurred.
sCENE 11
Scenes from a Chinese opera-how an ordinary person can be changed into a hero when the real face is masked
by heavy make up and the general's costumes and how a person can be transformed into an animal-a fox or
snake in the next life.How the white snake transforms into a human due to the pursuit of love.(An Fatt learns to
be a Chinese opera star-a romantic scholar,a prince or a general)
sCENE 12
Scene of a modern day cybercafe that captures the souls of humans and makes them into zombies.
Eyes are bloodshot ,face is pale as a ghost in the darkness as the soul zapping machines cast a green eerie glow.
They are caught up in MMPROG of avatars when in real life they are escaping from reality of drudgery of work
and being stuck in dead end jobs)Another shot of trader glued to his computer screen and the scrolling of stock
s run on the screen as the picture of the God of wealth is placed on the side of computer.Modern day zombies walk
into lamp post or car crashes as zombies are glued to the attention zapper.
Scene 13
The wayang kulit is performed by Tok Dalang who has been invited to stage it as a tourist promotional attraction
at the Frankfurt city .The foreigners give it an outstanding applause whereas at his own homeland,he played fo
r a few elderly fans who were fast dying off.The story tells how PuteriDewi Sita was abandoned by her father
Maharajah Sri Rawana at birth because the fortune teller predict that she brings bad omen to the family.
He dumps her in a box at the edge of the sea where she is found and brought up by an old fisherman and his wife.
She grows up as a beauty and marries Dewa Rama who will be the arch enemy of Rawana.
Scene 14
The story also tells the adopted brother of Rama ,Laksamana who is entrusted to protect Rama .Endowed with
special strength and intelligence by the wise old man who lives in a wat with seven golden tiers.He is loyal and
faithful .He is calm and rational,and even gives up his life in the end to defend Rama. against his enemies
To be continued
Monday, December 26, 2016
Slowing down in Luang Prabang
Life in Luang prabang is like life in Bhutan-both landlocked countries relying on hydro electricity generation for national income.But their natural conservation is sustainable when the air is refreshingly unpolluted,the forests green and the cultural authenticity preserved in its daily lives and not commercialized into tourist attractions where live exhibits are hill tribes and not animals .
A big thank you to the European young female tourist who picked up my wallet that fell from my unzipped waistpouch while I was eating dinner at the vegetarian buffet in the alley of the night market.
My holiday would have been ruined otherwise.I forgot to thank her as I was exhausted after walking to the waterfalls the whole afternoon.She wears a pair of cool round rimmed sun glasses which fell also while picking up my wallet.Kudos for your kindness whoever you are and may you enjoy your travels through southeast asia.
A big thank you to the European young female tourist who picked up my wallet that fell from my unzipped waistpouch while I was eating dinner at the vegetarian buffet in the alley of the night market.
My holiday would have been ruined otherwise.I forgot to thank her as I was exhausted after walking to the waterfalls the whole afternoon.She wears a pair of cool round rimmed sun glasses which fell also while picking up my wallet.Kudos for your kindness whoever you are and may you enjoy your travels through southeast asia.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)