Medieval Marsupial Meanderings

It's All About Communication

2009-10-06T09:53:00.002-04:00

It really is, when it comes down to it. Music is a clear extension of it... there's some quote from some musician that if he could express what music intends to express through words alone, he'd have stuck to words. But since words aren't enough - he's a musician.

These days there seems to be a new ad blitz on milk products that repeat the well-worn assertion that you should drink a particular product so your kids will grow up, "big and strong". I think it's time for a new paradigm, use the fear factor and all - say, drink this dammit, or your kids will be weak and stupid!

Someone pointed out to me recently that our road signs are too polite, especially when asking us to slow down. Singapore, apparently, gets to the point: "SLOW DOWN NOW!"

Whatever people imply from road signs, I do hope that they don't take too much from our government websites. I got the following under Soalan Lazim (Frequently Asked Questions) under the Immigration Department's website:

Q : Saya telah bergaduh dengan isteri saya dan beliau telah mengambil tindakan mengoyak PMA saya. Apakah tindakan yang perlu saya ambil untuk menggantikan pasport tersebut?

(Translation: I have fought with my wife, and she has taken the action of ripping up my Malaysian International Passport. What action should I take to replace my passport?)

Sheesh!

Keeping it Moving

2009-09-15T13:27:00.008-04:00

You know those scenes in movies where the writer just can't get it right, crumples up a sheet of paper and tosses it into the trash can, where you see about a dozen other failed attempts? Well, I've been having that with this blog posting and I have to tell you, it's a shade less artistic when you click 'select-all' and press 'delete'. Some things get lost in the technology I guess.

I've been back in Malaysia since May of 2008, which makes it fairly long interim before heading to New Zealand in February 2010. There's a certain restlessness that comes from this - a lot of the musical opportunities require a commitment to stay on longer. In this industry there are really no part-time summer jobs, though there are sporadic freelancing possibilities. The MPO auditions every two years. And the local universities... well, shall we say they function in ways complex. Basically, I realized when I turned 30 that I'm in the centuries-old tradition of the wandering musician. The vagabond. The gypsy.

On the positive side though it's given me the opportunity to help fresh some old networks, and build a whole lot of new branches from them. The plan is to get some name recognition, show a bit of what you're capable of, and the next time I'm back for summer holidays have something to do. I've explored with a certain amount of success the art of organizing a one-off event, whether it's a masterclass, workshop, or seminar. The trickier thing is creating a niche where one doesn't quite exist yet. Which makes it somewhat difficult to pitch to people in the market who aren't familiar with it, which isn't that surprising: you can find out a lot easier if someone is a good musician, but it takes a lot more groundwork to establish oneself as a marketable speaker, facilitator, or presenter. To make it even more complex, there's also quite a few differences between being a good musician or a good presenter, and knowing how to market oneself.

But we do what we can. Sometimes you know someone's taking advantage of you but you keep quiet and keep going because it nonetheless doesn't mean you still can't get something positive from the situation. Sometimes you have to push those who find the idea of a fair symbiosis interesting, but have a tough time keeping a momentum going.

And once in a while you have someone selflessly supportive, and you have to make sure you live up to that goodwill. Since my return, on the top of this very, very short list is Brian Tan and all the others at KLPac.

I just wish that that list was somewhat longer, that we had a more inviting atmosphere somehow. We're looking our first real batch of people going into the field with formal training in the viola - myself from the States, Joycelyn in a year from Germany, Chin Ning a little after from Taiwan, and Jebat from Singapore. How many of them would aim for a primary role as an orchestral musician we have to wait and see, but I hope that that does not become the avenue of choice simply because the other choices aren't as stable or worse, unappreciated. I'm clearly biased, but I do hope that when the time comes, the success of music, the success of appreciating the diversity of musicians, and the success of keeping our best of them, will not lean so much on the goodwill of a few, but will really be the spirit of the musical community, particularly the way I've seen done in the Phillippines and to an extent Singapore and Thailand. Because we have to get out of this now somewhat self-fulfilling prophecy that the highest level of Malaysian classical music scene - and ends - with the limits of the MPO. And realizing that if we really, really want to appreciate music, we start with the arena of possibilities. And the celebration of the spectrum as a whole.

A Purple-Toned Celebration: Showcasing the Viola

2009-09-02T13:22:00.004-04:00

Concert programme introduction for An Afternoon of Chamber Music, Sunday, September 6, 2PM.

The viola has been called many things, from the “Cinderella” of the orchestra, to the mysteriously “purple-toned” instrument.* Those who have met the unique viola on the playing field have ranged from the world’s best violinists such as Yehudi Menuhin, Nigel Kennedy and Maxim Vangerov, to more unlikely characters like Jimi Hendrix, newly-crowned American Idol Kris Allen and the fictional Fantastic Four character The Thing.

Perhaps the magic of the viola is that just a shade more so than the signature grandeur of the trumpet or the characteristically ever-graceful harp, the viola’s triumph is in its versatility of colours in truly shaping itself to the hands and ideas of its player. Its imperfect dimensions (somewhat squashed as the ideal size for its pitch range being too long for even the best basketball players to handle) on one hand makes the player work even harder for sound colour. But on the other hand it is perhaps why the viola has been attributed as being able to convey the imperfections of humanity more clearly than any other instrument. Further, while the cello still boasts the frequency of vibration closest to the human heart, it is the viola that fits the range of the human voice.

This afternoon’s selections showcase the viola in the diversity of its roles, from a viola-only duo and quartet, to partnerships with the cello, violin, and a more traditional role in the string quartet. The centerpiece of the programme, Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 is so rarely performed because of its challenging instrumentation focusing on the mid- and lower-range. Here we see the violas shine in a solo light as well as in the ensemble, exploring the full baroque range, celebrating the compositional genius of Bach in fugues and fluid phrases that flow from one viola to the next, and bounce back again.

Andrew Filmer

* And oddly enough, both of those descriptions came from the same violist: the world-renown Kim Kashkashian.

An Afternoon of Chamber Music - FREE ADMISSION

2009-09-01T11:01:00.004-04:00

September 6 at 2PM
ARECA Center of Performing Arts ~ 50, Peel Avenue

Programme:

W.F. Bach: Duo No. 2 ~ Tan Mei Ying and Samuel Khoo, violas

W.A. Mozart: First movement of the duo for violin and viola, arr. viola and cello ~ Joycelyn Tye, viola and Stephanie Tye, cello

A. Corelli: Arrangement of Concerto Grosso No. 8 "Christmas Concerto" for four violas: Lo Mei Yoke, Joycelyn Tye, Wong Chin Ning, Andrew Filmer, violas

J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 ~ Wong Chin Ning, Andrew Filmer, Joycelyn Tye, soloists. Ensemble: Lo Mei Yoke, Samuel Khoo, Tan Mei Ying, Stephanie Tye, Chee Hui Hui, conducted by Khoo Teng Jian.

Handel-Halvorsen: Passacaglia ~ Khoo Teng Jian, violin, and Andrew Filmer, viola

A. Piazzolla: Libertango and Por Una Cabeza for string quartet: Khoo Teng Jian and Lo Mei Yoke, violins, Andrew Filmer, viola, Stephanie Tye, cello.

At the End of the Day, A Real Lesson in Bogus Degrees

2009-08-25T07:01:00.004-04:00

I must say, sometimes these bits of investigative journalism by the Star turn out interesting results. The recent probe into bogus degrees for example. It's only peripherally interesting for me to know about the people who want to sell them (though it's interesting that Google the website of Isles International University and you get a picture of Big Ben!) - what's more fascinating is the people who buy them and then get shocked when they find out that it's not for real.

And what's their response when the little light bulb goes off (and explodes)? That the convocation ceremony was real! Not a mention whether the education was real, not once. And therein lies the crux of the issue, with people thinking that it's about certification and ceremony, and not whether at the end of the day you have a little more rolling around upstairs. There are plenty of stories about pictures of convocation ceremonies with deputy ministers (who obviously aren't too bright themselves), and money gone down the drain, but no complaints about how this could be when I spent so much time in classrooms, pouring countless hours to produce a academically worthy thesis...

You can pity them, I guess, in the sense that you pity anyone who was taken for a ride. But somehow I don't really have much sympathy for these people who essentially thought that money could allow them to cut the cue - putting their quick-and-easy degrees ahead in interviews with others who actually spent time and energy towards getting theirs. So if some of them are worried about their jobs, well, good. Because chances are if it was that piece of paper which got you the job, someone else probably deserved it more.

The real lesson though is that the letters at the end of ones name are only good as an indicator of the intellectual strength of the person. Whatever degree it is, exists as a yardstick to what one has learned, and how useful one can be with that knowledge.

One particular case in the Star:

"Vernon, who works in the hospitality sector, said that he found out about the university from a booth the institution had set up at a Tesco outlet."

Poor man. I could have told him, you can't get a degree... at Tesco.

Whaddayaknow

2009-07-29T14:35:00.003-04:00

First, in the news, an American swimmer has a wardrobe malfunction mid-dive and splits his swimsuit, effectively mooning the arena. What I found particularly interesting is that the Huffington Post's article showed a file picture of the swimmer's face instead of one from the event. Note the Post's explanation, highlighted:

News isn't the only place you learn a couple of things - some of my best teaching is done when I learn something from the process. Sometimes it's a magnification of some of my own technical weaknesses which make it a useful reminder of things to work on. Sometimes it's a newer, better way of teaching something. And today, from a rather interesting student, it was that if you twist a music stand just right, you get the small Decepticon from the second Transformers movie:

That's certainly redefining a musical "point of view".

Tick Tock. You learn some, and then you learn some more.

2009-07-20T03:35:00.006-04:00

Usually I spend each birthday writing down the same number of thoughts as the number of years I've clocked up. But this year, thought no. 1 would be that numbers aren't as important as I used to think (either that or I can't hold thirty thoughts in my head at once).

Or rather they should be less important as I make them out to be. I always aim for a round number in the balance of my bank account when I go to the ATM. The same goes for my fake money in Pet Society. I tend to adhere to keeping my practice schedules to the 12 or 6 minute-hand on the clock. Which doesn't quite apply to going to sleep, coz I usually stay up till I'm ready to downright collapse. Something else you shouldn't quite do at the big three-uh-oh.

Just finished a workshop at KLPac, for the HSBC Classics annual music festival. Made me think that we all work for different things. A lot of musicians work for the pure reason of sound, and the ability to produce it at the best level one can achieve. I personally found that the benefit I got most from the workshop was how much I learned in the research process... to have a job where the major component is that you learn, and grow - well, that's what working in academic is all about. And that's the best advertising I can find for a life in the halls of learning.

I don't know where I heard it, but getting easily distracted is a sure sign you're just not that into what you're doing, and you should look for something better. So true.

I think that the so-called talent to make music is essentially having the ability to adapt. That's how some musicians get things faster - because they're more "in tune" with what their fingers, arms, legs, lungs, lip, and whatever else are doing, all the time. Put another way, it's a positive, and selective, hypersensitivity.

If you're up to grow and develop, by the time you're thirty, you've changed certain world views enough times to know that almost every perspective has merit in some sort of way, and the best answers to most questions in life are maybe, sometimes, why not, and all of the above.

I've been inclined to think that if you listen closely enough, you can not only hear a musician's personality... but a small shadow of the quality of his or her character. Watch an orchestra's reaction when a soloist makes an error and you'll may find an interesting clue too.

That being said, having a musician with a good attitude doesn't necessarily make the music tangibly better. It just makes you enjoy the same thing, just a little bit more. And isn't that what music is supposed to be about, anyway?

You don't need to understand to accept, so says my Vietnamese friend. I've mentioned it before, and it's worth mentioning again.

People judge too much, too often, sometimes.

When we're young we like one colour, and then suddenly drop it for another. Orange, then navy blue, you know? Somewhere along the line we end up gravitating to some preference and stay there. And I think it's a pity that we do. I think life would be far more interesting if I woke up tomorrow with a sudden inspiration for purple.

They say the important things in life are small - or come in small boxes. Some of those on my list are ear-plugs, viola strings... and a cheeky grin.

Lastly, for posterity's sake, a bit of a repeat of my Facebook status. My friend asked me to describe my role as a violist in the simplest form possible. To which I replied, "I AM LOVE."

Zigzag

2009-07-01T11:47:00.004-04:00

I've been meaning to write a bit about finally making a choice as to where I'm headed next year, but I always seem either preoccupied or more likely braindead when I'm at the computer to actually get down to it. I think maybe that's why those games on Facebook are as addictive as they are - when you want to relax and not be intelligent in order to do it, there's something about scrubbing your mouse up and down to clean your pet in Pet Society. It's the whole Mr Miyagi going "wax on, wax off", I suspect.

The things you learn when you least expect it. I told a young kid today that the last time I had students his age was when I was working in Thailand, when I would often ask, "Kow cai, mai?" which meant "Understand, no?" and I sometimes accidentally slip into Thai even today. And this Malaysian kid said that I could go ahead and feel free to keep the lingo. Soon enough there was some technical issue, and I went, "Kow cai, mai?" and he replied, "Eh sai!"

In other news I've learned that in order to say, "OK", you can also go, "Zero killed". How about that.

I've also been wondering that if I were to work in Yemen, say conducting a youth orchestra, and I wanted to encourage them, would I be guilty of emboldening the Yemeni?

One of these days when I'm done zigzagging I'll post more about my plans for New Zealand. All I'll say for now is that I intend to find the most ethically admirable woolen animal I can find, and bring it to my friends, shouting, "Holy sheep!"

I Run, You Run, Iran, Tehran

2009-06-23T14:04:00.003-04:00

Americans are likely to view the current crisis in Iran being familiar with the standpoint of protesters - and how that is a right of free speech and association they have come to enshrine. Malaysians on the other hand, will find the event of particular interest simply because it's the first time it's happened at that scale for an Islamic nation.

It's one of those things where no matter how it ends, it's going to have some upside to it. Americans are going to be made particularly aware that the Iranian government and the Iranian people can be two quite separate entities. More so than after the movements in Georgia and Nepal, Malaysians are going to be made more aware that peaceful protests, especially those done in protection of proper democratic ideals, are not just Western propaganda, and that so-called "illegal assemblies" are often the voice of the people. "I have a dream" sadly doesn't resonate much in this country outside of secluded lecture rooms. But there will be something eerily familiar about the Revolutionary Guard and Iranian riot police and it will not be so easy to see the videos and pictures as protectors of the people.

It's the first time I've seen YouTube take on a "breaking news" role:

- not from the channel, but the ticker at the top of every video I checked today, whether or not it had anything to do with Iran.

The world is changing. I just hope that once the dust settles, people have longer memories.

What One Does for a Little Friction

2009-06-11T11:28:00.003-04:00

I still think my string experimentation shopping and experimentation spree once upon a time was far more caffeine inspired, but the current go on rosins isn't exactly decaf either. Curiosity, they claim, ended the feline's 9-run streak, and its that which has led me first to try the higher end "Superior" hand-crafted Colophane, which was supposed to be an upgrade from the Jade which I've always liked.

I then transfered the Jade to the violin, and used the new Colophane on the viola, which turned out to be a disaster. The viola bows in particular didn't react well - though they could produce a slightly better tone when at slow bow speeds, and when just the right amount of rosin was used, the bows were just careening off the highway with anything close to fourth gear. And for some reason the Jade on the violin just didn't match up to my old Bernadel.

Now here's where human nature takes away from life sometimes. The obvious thing was to go back to what I was using before, but the thing is I have a real life commitment to my viola compared to the violin, and the Jade, the so-called inferior rosin was in a plastic case while the new Colophane was in a hand-crafted wooden and magnetic case with the company seal emblazened twice. It took the viola a while to tell me in no uncertain tones not to aquit the book by its cover. And the new Colophane is working fine with the violin now, and the Jade was reunited with the viola... till I came across the Larsen.

So far so good. It's the first rosin I have tried - or for that matter, heard of - which has a version specifically for viola. It's not the same kind of bite that I hear the cello rosin has, but still, a good grip, without too much dust. We'll see how long this particular affair lasts... I think the last stop on this particular road will be the Andrea Bang. But for now, that will remain another journey entirely.

Talent's Just the Start

2009-05-27T12:54:00.003-04:00

I find myself being unusually hooked to Britain's Got Talent. And mind you, not only because of Susan Boyle, who kind of lost me with the recent semifinals.

Then again, that's the real test of the show - whether you can live on when your novelty's worn out. Susan quite simply wouldn't have been the world class sensation she has turned out to be if she was slim and sexy. She's been called new age parable, but once the ugly duckling turns into the swan, whatever the swan does is somehow less impressive.

I think that's what I really like about it more than shows like American Idol, or Survivor, or America's Next Top Model. There's a certain reality about it, in some ways like watching a sociological experiment in motion. After a low-key audition setting, some shine even better on a massive stage in the semifinals: like last year's winner George Sampson. And it seems that the life stories that come onto the stage matter as much as the performance itself, George being rejected, dancing on the street to earn money for petrol and dance lessons and coming back to conquer the competition. Susan's story of never-been-kissed, taking care of her mother, fulfilling a life-long dream. Most times this adds charm to the show, but sometimes people take advantage of this aspect, prime example being Eugene the Librarian's act intentionally focusing on creating a duckling ugly enough for us to vote on the mirage of a swan.

So all in all it's not always about talent. Or not just about talent anyway. I've never put much stock in talent alone, partially I suppose because I see a lot of young students with plenty of talent but no real dedication to put it to use. And there are times I've worried that a certain superficial showmanship takes over actual ability, like the two string acts which I've seen thus far: the Bond-ish group Escala and Vanessa Mae-esque Sue Son - neither of whom would have, or at least should have, moved upwards in the competition if music was the prime criteria.

Part of the cost of having a multi-angled variety show of course, is that it gets a bit diluted - as my sister rightly pointed out about Shaun Smith, he's good but he wouldn't last long in American Idol. Last year's Ben and Becky were alright, but then when a judge remarks on "perfect form" it's not exactly the microscope you might see on Dancing With the Stars. And that's not expected either - we're catering to a much wider audience, and the significance of that is that the most common denominator is one's personal story. Then only verify with talent. Cue Susan Boyle.

And for that reason I'm glad you can't break your way to the very top with just-so skills on an electric violin. You can make it half-way but so far a good heart seems to outlast other apparent body parts in the very end.

I just hope that my personal favourite this season doesn't lose out because he doesn't have as amazing a life story... and that he manages to fill a large stage as much as he did during the auditions.

Making Sense of Scholarship

2009-05-14T03:19:00.001-04:00

There will, of course, be those who think that my blog title is a little off in a grammatical sense, that it should be "scholarships" or "the scholarship". But the thing is (and yes, I can start a sentence with a conjunction too), the essence of what we call "scholarship" is not a financial grant but the spirit of academic pursuit, the chase of knowledge and fidelity to intellectual maturity. The grant many of us know as the "scholarship" is one of the ways of acknowledging that a person has displayed the potential and earned the chance at being recognized as a scholar (and at a higher level, graduate and teaching assistants). Malaysians tend to forget coveted positions like that of the Queen's Scholar, not just for the financial opportunity it came with, but the responsibility of conducting a career that gave back respect to the award.

But of course the money is important, I know that first hand. And therein lies the conflict between how these two aims not only coexist, but are on each other reliant. It is in this line of thought that I refer you to Ong Tee Keat's comments on reviewing PSD scholarships in today's Star:

Currently, Ong said, the selection is based on four criteria - merit (20%), race (60%), Sabah and Sarawak citizens (10%) and students from underprivileged groups (10%).

He said if meritocracy was part of the criteria, the students’ co-curriculum [sic] activities and interviews should not be included for consideration.

"Meritocracy means it should solely be the students’ results and not any other areas," he said.

If I could take a moment to be self-serving, there is a part of me that wishes that were true. I'd like my current applications to be entirely reliant on GPA, and there's a personal statement - the substitute for an interview - for a New Zealand government doctoral scholarship that's giving me more than a bit of stress. But I understand where Ong Tee Keat is coming from, with all these Chinese students (let's face it, he's saying it on behalf of the MCA after all) with spectacular SPM results who can't get into medicine. And he's right that on an academic level at least they probably earned the level of scholarship more so than some of those who actually got it.

The problem is that he's saying the wrong things, even if they are for the right reasons. Meritocracy does not preclude the use co-curricular activites nor the role of an interview. Leadership ability and the application of theory into practice, for which we have co-curricular activies, are important elements of a scholar. Just as interviews are important not only to assess one's communication skills but to know (especially in our memorization-based public schooling system) that one has skills of analytical thinking that match or balance with the academic results. We need to produce scholars that enter the major academic institutions of the world not to promote our great skills of memory, but to lead intellectual discussions and debates essential to thorough research.

I suspect that Ong knows this, or least he knows that results really isn't what meritocracy is about. Or rather what meritocracy is against. Meritocracy is in truth against the abuse of subjective areas like co-curricular activities and interviews to put people in who shouldn't be there.

More importantly, you can't say that meritocracy is "part of the criteria" - you either have it, or you don't, and all the criteria which any student cannot earn renders it moot.

Of course, race is the hot button when it comes to these discussions, the big taboo. But real meritocracy wouldn't even take into account Sabah and Sarawak, and even the need-basis is often not part of the picture, if someone is truly in need but has not earned the level required. If there are two people for one scholarship award, and one has more need, that's only when it should be taken into account. If there is one scholarship award and no one qualified, then it should not be awarded.

In the end it's not about seeing more Chinese getting PSD scholarships, or I should say it's not just about that. It's not about whose SPM results got them what. It's about who have already graduated from having PSD scholarships and whether they have made their country proud with their public service - that is, after all why they call it the Public Services Department. It's about making sure that whoever it is who gets these scholarships, whether it be 100% Malay or 100% Chinese prove their academic capabilities (and not just their spending abilities), their scholarship, their ability to come back with the title of scholar, proving beyond a doubt that they have given back in stature as much as they have been given in stipend.

Review

2009-05-10T09:40:00.006-04:00

It's an accomplishment for anyone to get a Trekker to say, hey, that was a pleasant surprise. By and large, surprises in Trek history stand in the category of "uh oh" rather than "oh cool". William Shatner's infamous comment to hyper-energized fans that, "For crying out loud, it's just a TV show!" was perhaps the best (or worst) example, but the extension of the franchise to Voyager, Deep Space 9 and worst of all, Enterprise at best divided the fans into niche areas. Certain Republicans say, who liked a certain interpretation of the leadership in war themes of DS9, or a more hormonal reaction of others to Seven of Nine's body-hugging wear, or more accurately the body that was hugged by the wear of Jeri Ryan. To take up that challenge of taking Trekdom by surprise was certainly not the final frontier, but certainly one which no man had successfully gone before. And so here's kudos particularly to Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci for putting together a screenplay which managed to change the very makeup of the Star Trek formula: that you can have all those existential questions, the exposition of self and self-conflicts, without going into a monologue. Somehow they managed to put the purpose-driven, self-discovery core into what is essentially not only its regular science fiction genre, but create a great action movie at the same time.

The actors for Kirk and Spock did well (Zachary Quinto managing to exist as the latter without much side-effects from his Heroes fame) but the one I really thought did well was John Cho as Sulu. Think about it - this is the guy from Harold and Kumar - well connecting with some comedic moments and once again with pleasant surprises in his more serious scenes.

J.J. Abrams gets his own nod simply for keeping the pace going, and not getting into the regular trap of digging too far into Star Trek folklore. He could introduce all the major characters - Kirk, Spock, Sulu, Bones, Scotty, Uhura - for the benefit of those who may not know much about Trek, and at the same time not boring those who know enough about the topic to challenge most university faculties in terms of depth of knowledge in one's specialized area. He managed to introduce Kirk's rebellious, shoot-from-the-hip nature while at the same time enhancing those already familiar with space's favourite cowboy.

His skill of juggling the seemingly impossible dawned on me when I realized that he managed to include Spock's father - iconic in his own right not only in the original Star Trek series but in reprisals later in The Next Generation - without having to drive himself into that side alley at all. In fact, he was always referred to as Spock's father (rather than to involve another specific name: Sarek) which made perfect sense to the other characters who weren't ever introduced to Sarek. Not only does this come back to what it means to have a movie - to move - but it goes one further in allowing for Trekkers and non-Trekkers to have something to talk about after the show. It's enough to act as an introduction to those new to Star Trek, and Trekkers are always keen on discussing their sometimes scarily involved knowledge of the series.

After all, it's not for nothing that I, for example, am a bit of the resident expert on all things Voyager. Never mind that I used to have the script pretty much ingrained in my head. We used to hang out at this place and I remember once at 11pm (when the re-runs aired here) friends wondering whether we should rush back to catch the show at nearby home. So they asked the cafe owner to switch to the channel for all of 10-15 seconds - with no sound - after which I could tell them about the entire episode and whether it was worth it to catch it again.

My criticisms of the film are few: Scotty was a bit over-the-top perhaps, they could have expanded the climatic scene, and the CGI while good still couldn't match some of that of the Enterprise-E. Nonetheless, like how a movie should be a movie, this review is just that - that I'm looking forward to a re-view of the show, with its spirit that with any luck will live long and prosper in more episodes of the intrepid crew.

Downright Scary

2009-05-04T15:52:00.006-04:00

I've never seen a clearer reason why teacher accreditation is necessary. I shudder to think of over one thousand people who have seen this thus far thinking that this is "B minor"... or any other minor. From a series of "Expert Village", to boot.

For those interested, she's not exactly playing out of tune as much as she's playing the Locrian mode thinking it's B minor - in a sense C major, starting and ending on B.

Nightmare.

Sigh

2009-05-01T11:46:00.003-04:00

I have to say, the crummiest thing about being down with whatever throat/cough virus this is, is missing my favourite dessert, my reason for living, the essence by which the earth goes round... see koh teng.

You can choose your own ingredients, or take a bit of everything. Mine has a particular inclination for jelly-like substances. And a couple of fruits - lychee, longan, rambutan with pineapple, and sea coconut. You can try out the stuff I tend to leave out - including red beans (I don't care for how they tend to disintegrate and change the texture of the drink), white fungus, and a papaya-like looking thing called pek kuay. There's also cincau, or leong fun, or grass jelly. I've had this on an average of once a day for the past two weeks (basically ever since I found out I had a license to wallop the stuff, with my low glucose level), and I've cemented my obsession with the following:

See koh teng is mostly sold from a van, and for my favourite dealer, I know his entire schedule from memory - covering three locations, two daily shifts, one off day. Plus I know how well his two different afternoon shifts tend to go, which affects the closing time of his evening one.
I have memorized exactly where all his ingredients are placed, and in what order, so that when I drive and stop next to his van (where I can't see what he has in front of him) I can just roll down the window and say, "One big packet, without row three."
Without a second thought I'll go out in the rain to get my daily ration of see koh teng. Right now I also head to work early every Wednesday just to pick up my packet on the way.

In the meantime I've attacked this cough thing with just about as many ingredients: Cap Ibu dan Anak, a foul-tasting mint drink, Piraton, salt water, honey-lemon tea, Strepsils, cough syrup...

Singu, pluru, aku keliru

2009-04-24T04:58:00.002-04:00

Finally got back to doing some stuff for YouTube, which I hope to upload over the weekend... and it was another reminder to go back and check some of the basics. I still have this maddening tendency not to lock up my elbow joint in off-string passages. And a little issue with my pinkie. More and more, viola playing seems to be not only getting your body to do what you want it to do, but being more aware what the heck it's doing.

I've also found out that I've been pronouncing the word "genuine" incorrectly for decades. Apparently it doesn't rhyme with swine.

Back in Malaysia, I've come to realize that most people use "alumni" as both a singular and plural term... I've known for a while that I'm an "alumnus", but the feminine version "alumna" is fairly new to me.

Also, as we know the plural for Secretary of State is Secretaries of State and by extension it's "Mentris Besar" (why it's not spelled as "Menteris" is another kettle of fish) and not Mentri Besars. Unless the MB is really really fat I guess, and nobody likes him.

And I was thinking, what about your neighbourhood jaga kereta?

You got it...

Jagas kereta.

"Die, mummy bastards, die!"

2009-04-10T08:15:00.002-04:00

I've been catching up a bit with my movie watching, and today's feature was The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. I knew beforehand to keep expectations low, but I didn't expect it to stoop so low as to include the line, "Die, mummy bastards, die!"

Still, a look at one of my old favourites, The Book of Lists shows us that things could be far, far worse. Thankfully this was before the era of sequels:

Robot Monster (1953)
The ultimate in sci-fi insanity, this one features robot invaders in gorilla suits and diving helmets. The producers of the film were not even sure where the strange creatures came from, as the movie appeared under the alternate titles of Monsters from the Moon and Monster from Mars. The reaction to this film was so negative that young director Phil Tucker attempted suicide shortly after its release.

What's in a name?

2009-03-31T05:59:00.009-04:00

It all started when we were on the way to KL and I realized that we passed Lembah Beringin before hitting Bukit Beruntung and I thought that in between the two would be the perfect place to put a casino. Which, by the way, they are building in Singapore:

All that construction for a place to put your chips on chance and yell "PICTURE!" in hopes that you'll make more money out of luck than out of work. By the same people who brought us Genting - that's right, Malaysians. Contrast that with the snail-like pace of the extension of the Penang Bridge, which only carries people to and from work on a daily basis - also, most would say, also at a snail-like pace.

Anyway, after that it seems that I had an inclination to note the names people tend to give places, particularly businesses.

Picking the name of an opera has potential for adding a touch of class, one would think. The bakery named La Boheme - well, I have no idea what that's about. But the one above seemed well thought out; it's charming considering it was near a butterfly expo, and the clothes on sale were distinctly oriental. The only thing is, would you buy someone a dress named after a character who commited harakiri?

Complimenting a potential customer is so yesterday. To gain an edge today you have to be original.

And sometimes being original is provocative in every sense. However, one has to be careful when deciding whether the name of a place is meant to provoke or reflect.

Here, it's hard to say whether that's what they're selling, the customers they hope to attract, or perhaps, a warning to how you'll smell after a vintage steak from 1989.

It's a tough economy and sometimes one has to look to divine intervention when looking to light up the store:

But the best sample I got was from the name of a road. Civic consciousness is always admirable, and the promotion of personal hygeine is part of that. Which includes washing one's clothes, even - or perhaps, especially - lingerie:

For those who don't speak Malay, "basah" means "wet"... and what I didn't realize at first was that "bras" is actually short for "beras" which means "rice".

Good one

2009-03-17T10:42:00.002-04:00

From the biography of violist Peter Taylor, of the Absolute Zero viola quartet:

"It is worth noting that a significant majority of orchestral musicians firmly believe that if a composer is to be any good, then he should also be dead. Deceased composers are infinitely more revered than living ones. It is hoped that, this being so, contemporary composers should do the honourable thing, take the hint, and be prepared to lay down their lives for their art - hopefully, the sooner the better."

Plenty of other hahas in all the biographies there.

Say what?

2009-03-14T02:27:00.003-04:00

A couple of interesting quotes came my way, one from a fellow YouTuber:

"i used 2 play violin but then found out im a wind instrument person"

Interesting how we find out who we are as musicians along the way, and I think most of us who stick with the viola have that story to tell. It makes for a more interesting existence than having been fed that instrument and wondering why we still play it ten years down the road. I guess playing the viola is like a a religion based on conversion. Like, you know, vampires.

And from a student of mine, when I noted that it seems that more students these days seem to exert unnecessary bow pressure:

"The world hasn't changed. It's just you."

Say Cheese

2009-03-12T02:15:00.004-04:00

I heard a while back that dentists say that the amount of toothpaste you actually need is substantially less than the advertising pics you usually see about a good glob covering your toothbrush. Around half or even less is apparently all you need - and the way that toothpaste companies try to increase their revenue is to build a perception that you need more to keep your teeth in tip-top condition to reflect the sun's rays, be friends with polar bears, and wear top hats with that little touch of debonair.

Speaking of advertising, I saw this on a website:

And all this while I might have had infidel paste in my mouth? Who would have guessed that's where my occasionally foul tongue may have originated.

I've recently had the interesting experience to test out certain, well, myths or assumptions or whatever you want to call them. Last year while attending a university conference in Evansville, Indiana, I actually tested the theory that I could sleep through an earthquake. Scalding my left hand yesterday isn't exactly the height of my career as a poster boy for the accident prone (that one I think goes to having a lightbulb blow up in my right hand a couple of years back, or perhaps accidentally ironing myself) but let me announce proudly that smearing toothpaste over the area affected actually does work.

Apparently you can also swallow an inch of toothpaste you can fake a fever long enough to get an MC. But with my record of accidents I think that's one myth I shouldn't test; chances are it'll give me a real reason to have an MC.

Set Meal, Please

2009-03-03T09:53:00.005-05:00

After the alluring Sandman, and the impactful The Graveyard Book I thought I was going to really like American Gods and well, not quite. And because it was in the same line of thought I figured I wasn't quite going to enjoy Anansi Boys and I'm being rather pleasantly surprised. Which just goes to show that, in the words of Forrest Gump, with Neil Gaiman is like a box of chocolates.

Which is only one of the various foods he likes to include somewhere in his narrative. I'm about two thirds of the way through and thus far there's been home cooked steaks, dim sum, sherry with a touch of mixed herbs, baked turkey, stew peas and rice, sweet potato pudding, curry goat, curry chicken, fried plantains, a pickled cow foot, hot chocolate, and a "really nice sort of noodly stew thing". And waxed fruit.

The problem is when I get a book I like, I tend to read a bit before turning of the lights. But when you read a well-written description of corn-based turkey stuffing, and the whole process of cooking it just right, turning of the lights doesn't actually get me straight to sleep. I've been a good boy at replacing my suppers (helped along the way by my nasi kandar boycott in reciprocation to the MACM's attack against American-connected companies) with Milo. But I tell ya, a good walkthrough of the process of baking a turkey, and no amount of Milo will distract you from the possibility of opening up a pack of Maggi mee.

And when he's not mentioning actual food, there are rather clever similes that involve lobsters or cooked goose.

I'm happy that the book's on my menu. It's just that I wish it was a little more low-fat.

Ironik, you know, terbalik

2009-02-22T12:35:00.002-05:00

As the song goes: isn't it ironic?

In other news:

If you look closely at the second line, it actually says: "Dry your head upside down for pure body and control."

So THAT's what I've been doing wrong all this while.

The whole deal with the YouTube Symphony Orchestra Contest

2009-02-18T03:42:00.003-05:00

All right, rather than explain it, I'll let you read it.

First, this:

YouTube Symphony Orchestra Contest

IMPORTANT YOUR RESPONSE IS REQUIRED BY 12PM EASTERN TIME THURSDAY FEBRUARY 12, 2009 TO REMAIN ELIGIBLE FOR THIS CONTEST

February 9, 2009

Dear YouTube Symphony Orchestra Entrant,

As the Official Judging Organization administering the YouTube Symphony Orchestra for YouTube, LLC and the London Symphony Orchestra Limited, it is our pleasure to inform you that your video submission has been selected as a potential Finalist or potential Alternate Finalist!

Please follow the link below and enter your YouTube Username and assigned Password. After entering the Username/Password, please select your preferred language option.

Each folder contains two documents; (1) an Affidavit of Eligibility (or, a Certificate or Declaration as applicable) and (2) an Entrant Agreement and Release. Please print and complete both documents and return to Jeffrey Vitale by 12PM EST February 12, 2009 using one of these three methods: 1) Postal Mail; 2) Fax; or 3) Email with Scanned Attachment.

Cool, right? Good news, right? And then after sending over the affidavit and agreement, a missing video, query and then this:

Re: YouTube Symphony Orchestra Contest
Greetings,

Thank you for auditioning for the YouTube Symphony Orchestra. We received thousands of video submissions from all over the world, and congratulations on having yours accepted and considered for this global collaboration. While you were a potential candidate, only 200 musicians were selected as finalists to move ahead into the voting process of the program. However, your video will still be considered as part of our "mash up" video created for Tan Dun's "Internet Symphony" piece.

Also, once the voting process is over -- your approved audition videos will again reappear on the symphony channel for everyone to see.

Again, thank you for your participation in this unique classical music project!

Kind Regards,

The YouTube Symphony Orchestra Team

I have a "macam itu ke..." feel about it, but thanks everyone who tried to vote. I really appreciate the support.

Technical Setback

2009-02-15T08:06:00.002-05:00

Thanks to everyone who are trying to vote for me in the YouTube Symphony Orchestra contest - for some reason the video isn't appearing on the main voting site. I've contacted the administrators, and with luck that will resolve the issue. The administrators acknowledged receipt of the signed official documentation following the shortlisting, so it's either a technical problem on YouTube or there might be something else in the documents that needs to be settled. This is, of course, a setback in the sense that the longer it takes for it to be out, the less number of votes I can get - but I hope that it all gets solved soon.