Sunday, February 24, 2013

Tumbu's Flight


Tumbu’s Flight

Itinerants ambling along with their luggage, looking at their watches.
Suddenly, they start sprinting towards their departure hall and their barding gate. They’re late!
Tumbu stares at the vicissitude of tourists,
One’s sitting on a chair, flipping through a manuscript.
Tumbu appears to have lost his sense of orientation – his bearings.
His eyes dart around, valiantly trying to catch the attention of a fellow traveller.
His eyes chance upon a couple. They’re hugged intimately in kisses.
Mr Boyfriend exchanges his ring and Ms Girlfriend willingly accepts.
Retentions of his own sweetheart erupt intensely in Tumbu’s mind.
The distress of losing this relationship, indeed, is one of a kind.
As he reflects, he glances at his watch. It’s time to board the gate.
The location of the F9 gate which he has no clue.
Kathmandu is his destination.
An upcoming reunion with his beloved family clan is a Christmas present well sent:
Uncle Rahop’s stories, inspiring him to live according to life’s philosophy
And his band includes musicians who always miss singing Tumbu’s favourite songs.
Sitting at his seat in the plane, Tumbu gradually succumbs into a deep sleep just as a pretty flight attendant jerks him awake – she wants to know his choice of meal.
Tumbu frowns in annoyance at the disturbance and stares into the flight attendant’s pretty, made-up eyes.
He looks at the menu and requests for the traditional Nepalese lunch.
The petite stewardess hands him his meal and drink.
Tumbu’s food waits for him on the tray as he (once again) falls into a deep slumber of sweet dreams.
Tumbu jolts awake at the pilot’s announcement of landing.
He glances at his lunch forlornly, gobbling down the pieces of flesh with sips of Orange Juice in between each mouthful of meat that’s not so lean.
He looks at his watch, again, amazed at how fast he’s managed to eat!
Just then, the view of Nepal emerges below him as he’s gazing out the window.
His fellow travellers peer curiously at the aerial view of mountains and volcanoes.
The plane lands with her wheels touching the runway ground, so cold beneath.
He is home.
Once back in Nepal, life is brought back into Tumbu’s isolated soul.
Tumbu’s home lies at the outskirts of the Himalayas, somewhere near Mount Everest.
But the treacherous journey back brings Tumbu some altitude sickness problems – ones that he’s willing to endure.
Finally, a reunion with his family, cousins, relatives, aunties, uncles and friends; all whom he’s constantly loved and never once forgotten.
Tumbu is returning Home to thank them all, for their support was once his major concern.
This prose poem was published in the NTU Epiphany February 2013 Online Magazine.
Here's the link to read other poems and short stories in the issue: 2013 February Epiphany Online Magazine
Other links to read poems include: 1) Poems Alive
                                                         2) Famous Poems
Other resources for writing poems 
Basically, I have started inculcating this habit of writing 1 or more poems and continuing scribbling paragraphs for a chapter in my novel project daily. Writing aids one to think clearly and to function more effectively when communicating with others. Just by doing this for four days, I have been more articulate and be more fluent when expressing my ideas with others. All of you should try to keep a diary to write about things that happen to you and what action steps you will take to improve the situation. For all other avid writers, you can write poems or short stories.


Thursday, January 3, 2013

Poem


Tumbu's Journey

Itinerants ambled with their luggage, looked at their watches;
They started sprinting into the departure hall and their boarding gates since they arrived late. Tumbu stared at a viscittude of tourists sitting on the chair flipping one of their manuscript’s pages.

Tumbu appears to have lost orientation of his bearings.
His eyes darted to catch the attention of one of the travellers.
A couple hugged intimately in kisses. Mr Boyfriend exchanges his ring.
Miss Girlfriend willing accepts his proposal after three years.

Retentions of his sweetheart erupted intensely in his mind.
The distress of losing this relationship was really one of a kind.
As he reflected so, he checked the watch time, it was time to
Board the gate. The location of F9 gate, he totally had no clue.

Kathmandu was his destination. Reunion with his family clan
Will be a Christmas present well sent. Uncle Rahop’s story
Sharing inspires him in living life’s philosophy. His band
included musicians who always missed singing his favourite songs.

Sitting on his plane seat, Tumbu gradually falls into a deep sleep.
A pretty flight attendant asks Tumbu the choice of his meal.
Tumbu is annoyed at the sudden disturbance of his sweet sleep.
He stares into the flight attendant’s pretty make up face so pale.

Looking at the flight on board meal menu, Tumbu requests for
A traditional Nepalese Lunch. The petite stewardess hands him
The meal with his requested drink. Tumbu’s food is left on the
Handrest while he falls into a deep slumber of sweet dreams.

Tumbu is awakened by the pilot’s announcement of landing,
He glances at his lunch forlornly, gobbling the pieces of meat
Repeatedly. A cup of orange juice follows after meat so lean.
He looks at his watch, just so amazed at how fast he managed to eat.

The view of Nepal emerges from the windows of the planes below.
Passengers peer curiously at the aerial view of mountains and volcanoes.
The plane lands with her wheels touching the runway ground so cold.
Back Home at Nepal has brought life back to Tumbu’s isolated soul.

Tumbu’s home lies at the outskirts of the Himalayas near Mount Everest,
The treacherous journey back home presented altitude sickness problems.
It is finally a reunion with cousins and relatives he constantly loved.
Returning Home to thank his relatives for their support was his major concern.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Italian Film Festival

Italian Film Festival 2012 is held and screened in Grand Cathay in Singapore from 24-31st October 2012. Here below shows one of the interviews of the film makers of the only film I watched. It is profughi di Cinecittà ( Refugees of Cinecitta) depicting and explaining Italy Cinema and how it was destroyed by World War II. Cinecitta became a refugee compound consisting of the Italian side and the International side. The internation side had more food supplies and rations.

Marco Bertozzi and Noa Steimatsky Discuss the Film "The Refugees of Cinecittà" from Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò on Vimeo.

Italian Film Festival 2012


Monday, October 29, 2012

Freedom Film Festival



This is one of the most thought provoking and alluring film festivals I have attended. It focuses on the human rights issues around the world. I watched one about Malaysian Politics, another about Burma's Military Regime and yet one more about the Bilin conflict between Palestine and Israel at the Gaza Strip. Such issues of human rights demonstrate how disparate countries are in facing the treatment of human rights.



Freedom Film Festival

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Song Composition Technique


Songwriting workshop with Larry Dvoskin

In making a song, 4 elements are present. They are lyrics, harmony, melody and structure.
Lyrics are the words to a song and are usually sung with a melody except for rap or instrumental songs. 


How to Write a Song #3 : How to write Lyrics 

Melody is the tune or the main theme of a song. It is often the result of harmony of chords progression. Depending on the genre and the purpose of writing the song, each melody is played on a different instrument. For example, to create a romantic song with ambience, it is good to use a saxophone.



Melody Composition: Music VLog


Harmony is the progression of chords in the music and it gives the melody strength and context. Structure is how the sections of a song are arranged around each other. It involves the repetition of identical motifs or music sequence in a verse and chorus section to create a consistent and a dynamic song.



Basic chord's theory for Harmony


 Start Writing your songs now.



Migration by TJ Morgan


Sunday, July 22, 2012

Black & White Animation

I dont' know much about animation history. All I know is I am in love with black and white classic films. Animation makes it better and exciting to watch. Animation is the Rapid sequence of images to create an illusion of movement. This is the definition of Animation based on WIKEPEDIA.

Here is a 1961 Chinese animation clip or a movie.. It is called 铁扇公主( or known as iron fan princess). This story is done in 1941 by China United Press or China United Press and was one of Asia's first long feature animation film. This film requires 100 or more people to work and has 20,000 drafts. Usage of papers for this film has been at least more than 400. Shanghai Financial Company has sponsored for this clip. Bai Hong (白虹). Yan Yue Ling(严月玲), Jiang Ming(姜明),Han Lan Gen(韩兰根),Yin Xiu Chen(殷秀岑).



Here's another black and white clip. The name of this animation clip is Samoyed Boy. It is created in 1928 and is directed by V. and Z. Brumberg, N.Khodataev, O.Khodataeva. It is done at 3rd Factory of Sovkinko and is made as a Silent Film. Iris Margolina created this Soviet Animation and is the first film for children. It was done in the tradition of the primitive painting of USSR's Northern peoples (Chuckcha and Eskimos). It was also the first Soviet film based on culture of the Northern people.










References
1) Wikepedia Animation Page
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animation
2) 铁扇公主影片
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPrUQqSRyEU
3) Soviet Film: Samoyed Boy Film Animation clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ui3aVDbigPA&feature=relmfu




Thursday, July 19, 2012

IACS 2013 (NUS Kent Ridge)



http://culturalstudies.asia/call-for-panels-iacs-2013/


Inter Asia Cultural Studies Society (Singapore) is calling for pannels to contribute papers and essays about the theme: Beyond the cultural industry. This IACS 2013 conference will be held in Singapore National University of Singapore , Kent Ridge Campus. Submission deadline is 1st December 2012. Announcement of accepted pannels is 1st January 2013. Email iacs.conference@gmail.com if you have any questions or for submission of panel's papers.


The general theme of the 2013 conference is “Beyond the Culture Industry”. In the past two decades, the cultural sphere of rising Asian economies has increasingly shifted from being marked by the politics of authoritarianism and democratization to being pervaded by the market logic of deepening capitalism. The development of Asian culture industries has come under increasing scrutiny in cultural studies. However, we note that the emphases have been on the cultural policy of developmental states and the production of the cultural economy. For the 2013 conference, we seek to move beyond these emphases and inquire into the politics of culture that accompanies the neoliberalization of the cultural sphere.
We welcome panel proposals of 3-4 papers based on the general theme and other important topics in inter-Asia cultural studies today. Panels proposed will be listed on the Submitted Panels page on the IACS Society website. We will only accept panel proposals, not individual paper proposals. To facilitate panel construction and encourage interaction between scholars, we will be providing the CFP Bulletin Board for prospective panel organizers to put up their panel ideas and contact email — interested presenters are encouraged to either look for a panel to join or to put up a panel idea on the Bulletin Board. The call is now open — please submit your panel proposal using our online form
Accommodation information, registration fees schedule, and other details about the conference will be updated here when they are confirmed.
For enquiries, please email the IACS Society Conference Secretary, Daniel Goh, iacs.conference@gmail.com
For me, I will probably start writing a paper and form a pannel with some other friends.