Black Watch - awesome theatre

Yesterday night went to see the acclaimed National Theatre of Scotland's Black Watch at the Warwick Art's Centre. My wife's friend who's doing a PhD in theatre recommended it. He liked it so much that he watched it five times.

Written by Gregory Burke and directed by John Tiffany, it was indeed a wonderful experience - among the best theatre I have ever experienced in a long time. I say experience because it seemed like we were in the middle of it. Pulsating and high octane right from the start to the end. I was so engrossed that the one hour and 50 minutes just rushed by. It might have something to do with the fact that the actors were so near us. The arrangement of the stage was quite unique with the audience of either side of the stage.

A warning though - there is liberal use of strong language (Hint: four letter words starting with F and C). There are some loud explosions as well - made me jump more than once. The seating was a bit uncomfortable and I had someone's knee on my back and whenever there was an explosion he would jump and give me a light thump on my back with his knee. We were sitting so close that I could almost smell the beer the lady sitting next to me was holding. I guess that was part of the total experience.

Make sure you empty your bladder before hand as there are no intervals and you won't be allowed back in if you decide to go out.

So what was the play all about? Well it's about the famous Scottish regiment of the same name - Black Watch. Tells about the experiences about some soldiers in Iraq and about politics. You also get to learn about the history of the regiment as well.

It was an awesome show. Watch it.

Thang Ta - Manipuri martial art

Thang Ta is a little known martial arts practised in the north-eastern Indian state of Manipur. The art went underground after the state (then a country) came under the British rule. However, it survived and has seen a resurgence.

Some of my friends found it similar to Silat - the Malay / Indonesian martial art.

Check out this clip I found on YouTube:



Also read "Thang-Ta: Martial Art of Manipur"

Gossip Girl TV premiere coming up

The teenage consumer segment is one of the most important from marketing point of view. In fact, in some houses they decide almost every purchase the family makes. Very often now, my younger relatives are the ones to tell me about the latest gadgets or interesting websites.

Talking about teenagers, I first heard about the Gossip Girl series of novels by Cecily von Ziegesar, from one teenage cousin. She told me that it was about the lives of some teenagers as seen from the perspective of the narrator, "a blogger" she told me excitedly.

It was interesting to learn that they have adapted the best selling series for American television. The teen drama was created by Josh Schwartz, creator of The O.C., and Stephanie Savage. Gossip Girl revolves around the lives of young socialites growing up on New York's Upper East Side who attend elite academic institutions. Like all teenagers, they have to deal with sex, drugs, and other teenage issues. At the centre of the show will be best friends Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) and Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester), and their shared romantic interest, Nate Archibald (Chace Crawford). Dan (Penn Badgley) and Jenny Humphrey (Taylor Momsen) are the outsiders. The unseen narrator/ blogger character "Gossip Girl" is voiced by Kristen Bell.

Though it is obviously targeted at teenagers, I won't be surprised if it develops a fan following among older generations as well. Remember Beverly Hills, 90210 during "our time".

The first season of the show will premiere on Wednesday, September 19, 2007, airing on Wednesday nights. Do check out their MySpace Fan Page as well.

Rowling set to start another series

For those traumatised by the end of the extremely popular Harry Potter series, don't worry!

The latest rumour on the grapevine is that Rowling is working on yet another series of books - following the adventures of Ron and Hermione as they grow up and get married. There might be a TV series on the line as well.

Tags: harry potter jk rowling ronald weasley hermione granger

Can you speak BM

For those who are not aware, Malaysia is made up of three main ethnic groups - the Malays, Chinese and the Indians (mostly Tamil) and other smaller ethnic groups. The national language of Malaysia is Bahasa Malaysia (BM), mother tongue of the Malays who form the majority of the population. 

The Chinese are made up of different Chinese dialect groups. This includes Hakka, Cantonese, Hokkien, Teochew, etc. Most of the younger generation of Malaysian Chinese can speak Mandarin too, due to the fact that most of them went to Chinese schools where Mandarin is the formal medium of education. National unity is issue of concern in the Country and also controversial because there are a lot of different views on how to go about it. 

Anyway, read an interesting piece of news on The New Sanctuary blog. The post titled "Chicken and Duck talk", discusses a new Malaysian TV series where most of the characters are ethnic Chinese but they speak BM. According to Anthraxxxx, this is a bad idea. He says,

"It’s fine if these casts are good and fluent in Bahasa Malaysia but if you read the article properly, most of them are not good in that Bahasa."

I haven't seen the series, so I can't really comment. What do you guys think? Would love to her the opinion of guys who have seen it.

Guy with the big smile

Are you watching American Idol? 

Every week I keep expecting one person to be voted off but he's still there smiling his sweet smile. In case you are wondering who I haven't guess who I am talking about, it' Sanjaya. 

I was reading a post "Sweet Sanjaya..how could you?" on Jerri's journal, and totally agree with her. He's good but not that good. I keep wondering "who's voting for him?" 

 BTW, Jerri a mother of 2 and she blogs at "A crack n' life". She has written a book titled "Sleep is Sacred: Sleep Begets Sleep". E-mail her (jareason@gmail.com) to get a copy.

Shilpa is Celebrity big brother winner

Images from the Official Celebrity Big Brother website.

Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty has just won the "Celebrity Big Brother" UK reality show. She received 67% of the final votes and she deserved to win.

The 31 years old, beat 13 other contestants. My wife was rooting for Jermaine Jackson, older brother of Michael Jackson. She actually voted 3 times for him. I really admire him too - he has this rare positive aura that only certain spiritual people have and he had a calming effect on the other housemates. He came out second followed by actor Dirk Benedict.

It may be a coincidence, but both Shilpa and Jermaine don't consume alcohol as compared to others who were drowning in it whenever they got the chance, leading to some very silly actions and comments.

The results is a clear indication that the British people are for racial equality. There are a few bad eggs but so do other countries. Come to think of it, I personally don't think that it was ever a racial issue. Rather it was a case of some insecure girls with a bad upbringing lashing out against someone who was more cultured and elegant than them.

Wise words from Jermaine:
- "Kindness is a strength"
- "you can't reason with stupidity"

Related posts:
- 2 celebrities evicted from CBB
- Jade evicted from CBB house
- International row over TV show

p.s. Many newspapers and websites have reported that Shilpa received 63% of the votes. My info (67%) comes from the official CBB website.

Tags: Celebrity Big Brother Channel 4 Jermaine Jackson Shilpa Shetty TV

2 celebrities evicted from CBB

Now for some UK entertainment gossip.

Yesterday, two of the Celebrity Big Brother housemates were evicted. Ex S Club 7 star Jo O'Meara and actress Cleo Rocos left the house in a double eviction. Jo received nearly 48% of the vote while Rocos got 28%.

Jo was part of the group that ganged up on Indian star Shilpa that blew up into an international row. Now she has to go and defend herself.

Cleo was doing well in the house until she suddenly made a fool out of herself, until it got quite painful to watch her.

My favourite in the show is Jermaine Jackson who now calls himself Muhammad Abdul Aziz, Michael Jackson's big brother. He's been the perfect gentleman and often offers good advise to the other housemates.

Shilpa Shetty is tipped to win the show.

I wasn't be surprised that Jack, the only non-celebrity in the house and Jade's boyfriend was among the finalists. By laying low profile, he's avoided offending or hurting anybody. In fact he's never been up for eviction.

BTW, for those who are not following the show (most Malaysians) Jade was recently booted out too.
Tags: Celebrity Big Brother Channel 4 Jade Goody TV

Jade evicted from CBB house

Latest Celebrity Big Brother update: Jade Goody has been evicted from the house. Quite emotional. I couldn't help but feel a tinge of sadness for her but I guess she have to face the consequences of her actions. Debenhams and The Perfume Shop have removed her scent Shh… from their shelves.

All it take is but just one bad step to take away all that she had achieved since.

She's not the only one losing out. Her pal Danielle Lloyd has also lost a six figure modelling contract because of her involvement.

The events in the house has caused a international uproar and unlike in the past, the public have been barred from the eviction. Complaints to Ofcom, the broadcasting regulating body has risen to 38,000. The major sponsor, Carphone Warehouse Group Plc, has also suspended its £3 million sponsorship of the show. I guess Channel 4 has nothing to worry about as there are a number of sponsors who would like to take the place of Carphone Warehouse.

And guess what? I was thinking about Malaysia.

Related post: International row over TV show

Tags: Celebrity Big Brother Channel 4 Jade Goody TV