REVIEW [Theater]: Text, Body and Space

This is a late update of the review I'm so thrilled with. It was a unique theatrical experience that tried to convey the historical events of the local chinese people. 

How late was it? Hmm.. Georgetown Festival was held on August. August, September, October..... and so, nearly two months! Sorry! I was so busy with something else these days~ ='(

A minimalistic theater brought by a local theatre troupe and the director from China. Yeah, minimalistic! Why? The main reason is the setting of the theater itself - the place it was held and the way it was presented. The cost is minimized, the distance between audiences and the cast is minimized, the storyline is minimized, BUT the feeling is maximized, the creativity is maximized and the lesson brought out is maximized!

How a theater can be successfully brought out in a creative way, using the limited resources?

Background/Setting

This was the only theater that I managed to catch up with during the festival. It was held at an abandoned bus station, which was renovated recently for artistic purposes. I was eagerly anticipating and walked in with full of expectations. The most recent event that I'd been was the solo gallery show by Ernest Zacharevic - Art is Rubbish; Rubbish is Art. I remembered the bus station was re-designed with plentiful of street arts and of course, full with crowds.

Street view from Google Maps

Building view from Google Maps

Speaking of the venue, I was surprised as the building itself is not spacious enough to make a proper stage. It heightened me more when the organizers have actually made the roofed space as the ticketing area, leaving spaces right behind the bus depot as the stage.

I took this photo when I was visiting the gallery. This is the right corner of the stage? Eh?

Believe me, this is exactly the stage for the theater! (Taken from The Malaysian Insider)

The night view of the space. (Taken from The Star)

Any idea how the abandoned space was transformed into a great stage? I will show you how they did!

Technically, the theater crew divided the space into as follow, bearing the risk of heavy rain (It is open-air). I was sitting legged on the wood floor. The show started. The lighting was basic and I realized, the cast did not use a mic! Yay, we were sitting real close to the cast and every single movements and sentences could be heard clearly and soundly.

Full floor plan unveiled! The stage was transformed live from stage 1 to 2.

Storyline

It was claimed as a multimedia environmental theater. It combined shadow puppetry, contemporary dance, multimedia visual design, and many more surprises throughout the scenes. The intimacy of the small theater played in the town has traversed the drama's intellectual, moral, cultural roots and historical significance. 

It was all started with a young man who was eagerly looking for his cultural root. The storyline has never been smooth as the cast kept giving way to audiences' cold sweat. They have been suffering from enduring the tough condition during journey wherein they traveled all the way from China to Nanyang, where their cloaked fears were bloodly presented. Live, or die, was the only choice the people able to make. The surviving people have lived peacefully when they made themselves on the ground of the destination. Later, the scenes jumped into the period of British colonialism and the cultural identities were stressed. Ironically, some of the people insisted to protect their tagged identities, some of the people temporized by receiving benefits from the other party,  while some of the people remained neutral. The actors/comedians drove the characters to a greater height using their charisma. Audiences got to see what the young man see, and got to feel how the young man feel.

Now, let me amaze you with some of the photos taken from Facebook of the show (from ZXC theatre and Shipng Photography):

The young man who was the soul of the story

People who were struggling to stay alive during the journey on the sea

People started to live peacefully and mixed around with local people

Shadow puppets fantasizing the cross-over and elapse of time

Unveil of the Stage 2, where more nerve-wrecking scenes were played

The changing of scenes was fast and appropriate

Contemporary dance under the pouring rain

Summary

The approximately 90 mins of the show was full with surprises! The creativity has undeniably made a spin on the audience's head. I particularly love the visual design and the post-show sharing session that get the cast and the audiences one step closer. The message of loving the roots of your people has been effectively delivered.

Beliefs and creativity definitely can transform nothing into something.

Even if you have nothing to laid on, you still can make something big happen if you do it wholeheartedly. It applies to all, to all of us.

Ratings:
1. Setting  ☆☆☆☆
2. Storyline  ☆☆☆
3. Cast  ☆☆☆☆
4. Sound & Lighting  ☆☆
5. Creativity ☆☆☆☆☆
6. Cost-friendliness ☆☆☆☆☆

When Art Meets Science

I find it a huge challenge at the interface of art and science. Since young, I was amazed by how fancy portraits of cellular structure, molecular components and many more are made visualized on the books. I wondered how the graphics are drawn. It remained imaginative till then.

Scientists must embrace the art world in order for invention to occur - John Maeda

But now, a musical party powered by biotechnology?

The correlation between music and biotechnology caught my attention since years ago. The first musical album related to which I came across is the "Sounds of HIV" by Alexandra Pajak. Interestingly, she translated the genetic code of HIV into musical pitches. The album is still available in Amazon.

I did not pay much attention on that since then. Recently, I came across to the term "Chromochord" at random and it reminds me the possibility of relating sciences to humanity. No doubt, scientists are humans. At random thought, however, I think most scientists are insane :P

Alright, let's go into this fantastic little creation. Chromochord, as named by its inventor Josiah Zayner, is able to play protein like piano keys. "Chromo" refers to the colored lights whereas "chord" refers to the strings of a musical instrument.

A chromochord

The chromochord is a small black box which consists of a microprocessor and 12 vials containing engineered oat protein. If you'd love to read more about the protein engineered, just click here. I'm not going to describe any deeper into it as you can find both scientific and non-scientific explanation on the term by simply Google it.

The engineered oat protein

In brief, the theories behind this small box include quantum mechanical transitions and protein conformational changes. Using LED as the light source, protein in each vials responds to the light differently. The response is then measured by a spectrometer. This modulates a set of musical notes and music is then generated by the built-in software in a computer.

So, doesn't it sound awesome when someone says, "I'm strumming a protein instead of a guitar" ?

I love how the young inventor intending to create a way of communication between nano-world and humans. He wishes the people could experience the protein life and feel their existence.

Zayner and Trigueros

It is even more appealing when Zayner paired up with Francisco Castillo Trigueros, a music composer. The Zayner-Trigueros collaboration gave rise to the production of a beautiful music. During the musical installation, the room was dark. As the calming music was played, deep-blue blobs morphing into one another was projected on the wall. Everything was perfect and beautiful. During the second day of musical installation, the music started to become distorted. Trigueros was dissappointed and felt discouraged. Then Zayner revealed his intention. "In our bodies, there might be a million proteins in a cell. Some of them get damaged - things happened, " Zayner suggested, "In the end it's not perfect, but it's still beautiful because of that imperfection." Oh man, these are wise words!

Check out the small clip below to LISTEN to the protein singing ~♫

Here's the full cycle of the oat protein playing:
https://soundcloud.com/castillo-trigueros/chromocycle-protein-lov

And, I'd love to share another video wherein Josiah attempted to play another version of chromochord at 3.50'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJoFazIJ3w4

They are still working on to produce more versions with more shaped sounds (what they've done is merely MIDI though). They even want to listen to bacteria. Perhaps this is insane but I personally think that this is incredible! Someday later, shall we talk to whoever/whichever we wish to?

Disclaimer: All photos and videos on this post belong to the respective creator and are open access.

October Cafe, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

Located at The Peak Vista, Tanjung Lipat, October Cafe is the first leisure cafe in Sabah. You can have the best coffee and the best bread in town. Every crispy bites of their bread enlighten my taste buds. Their pastries are somewhat different from the cafe I tried in elsewhere and worth for another visit. The atmosphere is heart-warming and relaxing for my first visit. After which, I visited them again and the cafe was crowded with diners. As it gained its popularity, I guess we have to make a queue since the seats are very limited.

The cafe is nicely decorated from exterior to interior, with a feel of a vintage coffee house.

 The owner of the cafe is a korean barista and the qualifications and awards he earned are show-cased in the small corner of the cafe. He has a collection of coffee-maker as well.

The menu is pleasantly presented on the brick wall. They have a variety of hot and cold beverages. The savory snacks are, however, only available before evening. 

Not to forget, the cakes here are pretty good too.

Tiramisu. I was surprised to see the plate and the forks.

The honey bread. Topped with nuts and cream.

French toast. Topped with fruits

Korean Street Toast. With a ham and carrot omelette fillings.

This is not Bruschetta. Have no idea what it is but it tastes good.

Ahh, they have homemade bread and pastries also. Perhaps you can grab some home after dining.

Hot cappuccino. Perfectly brewed but it was not thick enough.

As updated Jan 26, 2014

Girls' Gathering @ Chin's Stylish Chinese Cuisine Restaurant, Penang

Yea yea yea. It's our annual gathering again! Uhm, time flies and it was a really special occasion for this year - our 10th anniversary! 10 years of friendship? It's not easy huh! Big big love my dear friends~♥

Uh well, we'd been discussing and planning for this special day since then. It came to a decision for a more luxurious decorated restaurant. The reason behind was, to PHOTO-BOOM of course! :P

You could have heard about QEII in Penang. What about Chin's restaurant? Honored as one of the top fine-dining chinese restaurant in Malaysia, it is strategically located in the heart of Georgetown. It prides itself to offer an affordable luxury combining delightful cuisines and fashionable decors.

So here we are. We reached before evening and managed to have a fascinating view of QEII. It was a sunny day though.

 The main gateway primes the magnificence and stands on the calm water of the harbor.

 Yoohoo~ our next door is the ferry!

 Our director of photography struggled to arrange our positions.

 Cheesseeee~

Behind the scene. Oops!

Uh what?

 Candid?

 Yeah~ First, let us take a SELFIE!

Okay enough enough~ Here we go! 

The signboard of the restaurant. Grandiose!

Simply love the design of the entrance! It's the time when east meets west!

We were leaded to our dining table attentively.

The first thing that strikes my eyes was the uniquely hand-painted plate on the dining table!

What's more was, each of us got a different design!

Compilation of my favorite plate-arts. To my knowledge, they are for sale exclusively here.

Oh ya, a friendly reminder - make sure you selfie with the plate first before they are collected by the dining attendants. Too bad, the plates are not meant to be used.

 Let's take a look on the stylish, contemporary decor of the restaurant.

 The glass-enclosed dining hall allows diners to have a sweeping view of the sea comfortably.

The table setting is enriched with traditional chinese culture. Behind us are the tall shelves displaying wide selection of wines for diners to choose from.

 Even the ceiling is decorated creatively.

Here comes the tantalizing menu of the restaurant. There are a choice of set meals with prices ranging from RM78++ to RM218++ per pax. You can have a pork-free dining experience featuring Hunan and SzeChuan cuisine. Each dish is enhanced with aromatic spices for an awesome goodness of flavor.

We kicked off our meal with a variety of cold and hot starters. Oh ya, I'd love to mention this. The lighting in the dining hall is dear and near to my heart! There is a spotlight on each dining table. Thanks to that!

 Century eggs in grilled pepper - topped with luscious sauce

Behind are garlic cucumber and Hunan shredded seaweed, giving an appetizing bite.

 Sesame prawns on toast - crispy and delightful

 Heavenly blessed joysticks -  Skewer presented with baby abalone, seashell meat and sea fungus. The immersing oil is spicy and pungent. Not a taste of mine though.

**Blessed joysticks ("Shang Shang Qian") denotes an easy draw in chinese lots.

Fried golden needle mushrooms - I love the way the taste enhanced with red chilies 

 The next is the specialties of Chin's - Aromatic Crispy duck.

Personally I dislike duck meat except this one.

The duck is shredded at the table end and you have to assemble the meat yourselves.

 Tadaa! My very own piece of crispy duck roll on a thin sheet of pancake, accompanied with scallions, cucumber and hoisin sauce. 

Make sure you add some chili padi and the taste would become much more pleasing!

The main course includes double flavored wild fresh water fish, cumin mutton skewers, hot wok mixed seafood, "Gele mountain" hot chicken, sauteed hot & sour chinese cabbage and fragrant plain rice. I missed the photos because I went to the washroom and then, only managed to capture on the mutton skewers. Yes, you can see how tasty the dishes are as awfully, my friends didn't even wait for me and ate them all. Ouch! >.<

The dishes came in a generous portion and prepared in a twist of dedicating savory. Remarkably, the poultry was tender and perfectly matched with the unique sauce and fragrance. 

The steamed fish is behind the mutton skewers, if you could see it.

 The dessert - pumpkin cake with sweetened bean paste. It combines my favorite pumpkin and red bean paste for a delightful twist!

Another dessert is a vanilla ice-cream topped with a milk chocolate. Girls always have a second stomach for dessert, yes or no?

The way up to the upstair. Colorful lightning.

Discovered another exquisite dining hall upstairs after dinner. 

 Different from the design at the downstair, the ceiling is tiled with chinese calligraphy.

Walking out from the glass door, wow!

 The bar counter.

 The spectacular night view of QEII

 Group photo of the night! It was such a pampered and entertaining meet-up. See you again next year my dear girls!

Updated Feb 3, 2014.