Rabu, 17 Julai 2013

The Star Online: Metro: Sunday Metro

0 ulasan
Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info
Sumber Asal Berita :-

The Star Online: Metro: Sunday Metro


A new lease on circus life

Posted:

KATHMANDU: A young man climbs atop a human pyramid and performs a perfect handstand, while nearby, a girl effortlessly swings a dozen glittered hoops around her hips.

Like most troupes around the world, performers from Nepal's Circus Kathmandu have been practising their tricks for years.

But unlike others, most of these artists, until recently, were not given a choice.

Eleven of the thirteen-strong troupe are rescued victims of child trafficking who had been sold into circuses in neighbouring India and made to perform to crowds.

Now they are free to perform because they can, not because they have to.

"I like the fact I'm not being forced into doing anything now," says Anjali Chhetri Khadka, 20, who joined the troupe when it formed in 2011.

"I'm performing on my own free will and I can do whatever part of the performance I choose."

When she was seven years old, Anjali's parents sold her to traffickers.

She was smuggled across the border into India where she spent the next four years doing unpaid work at a circus in Darjeeling before being rescued.

Families, impoverished and desperate, receive as little as 1,000 Nepalese rupees (RM32.90) for the sale of their child, experts say. They are often tricked into believing a better life awaits their child across the border.

But the reality is usually quite different.

Like many trafficking victims, Anjali does not like to talk about her past.

"There are children there (in some circuses) as young as five or six years old," explains Leslie Brown, the Nepal representative for Freedom Matters, a British-funded non-governmental organisation that works to rehabilitate rescued circus performers.

"They are taught to interact with and perform with wild animals, and they are very commonly abused, neglected and sexually molested," she says.

Young Nepalis have traditionally been favoured by circus owners due to their small builds and fair complexions, according to Brown.

Once far away from their country and families, and unfamiliar with the local language and culture, trafficked children are easier to exploit and control, and less likely to run away, she says.

A typical day at a circus starts at dawn with several hours of gruelling training followed by at least three shows to the public that last late into the night.

"Some young girls are forced to carry out private performances to groups of men," according to Shailaja CM, who works for non-profit group Sano Paila and has carried out dozens of raids on Indian circuses since 2004.

Working alongside Indian authorities, they have rescued almost 400 trafficked Nepalis, including most of those now at Circus Kathmandu.

When they find them, 80% have tuberculosis, some are pregnant and most are suffering from injuries after years of physical abuse by trainers, she says.

"At the worst circuses, the children are normally happy to see the rescuers, but at others, they are frightened because the circus owners have told them that we will sell them into brothels and not take them home."

Years of successful raids and the criminal conviction of circus owners, encouraged the Indian and Nepali governments to continue to crack down on the exploitation of these children.

In 2011, India's Supreme Court also ordered circuses to stop employing children and instructed the government to rescue and rehabilitate working minors.

The following year, Nepal endorsed the National Plan of Actions Against Trafficking of Persons which focused on preventing trafficking of women and children and prosecuting those responsible.

As a result, numbers of both child performers and children being trafficked for that purpose have "dramatically dropped", according to Shailaja.

But the rehabilitation of those already rescued continues. Most children return home to the lives they lost, but for some, reintegrating back into their families is impossible.

"It depends on many factors, for example, stigma within the community, the belief that the child has brought back HIV/AIDS with them, that they are somehow spoiled," says Brown from Freedom Matters.

The organisation works to provide medical care and shelter to those in need and then helps get them back on their feet by teaching them new skills so they can earn a living.

Sunita Karki was trafficked into a circus when she was nine and rescued three years later. Now 20, she is studying for a law degree in Kathmandu and wants to help those who have suffered a similar fate.

"I'm going to work with organisations that rescue people from circuses," she says.

"I want to become a professional lawyer and be good at what I do so I can help those in similar situations."

But for members of Circus Kathmandu, performing is a way of life and has become a career.

Theirs is the only contemporary circus in Nepal, and they have set their sights on performing overseas, with a debut planned in Britain next year. — AFP

Mother sues daughter over share of property

Posted:

A 63-year-old woman, who is being sued over a Housing Board flat by her mother, claimed that 91-year-old widow Eileen Chia Yoke Mui had been "put up" to it by her sons, who are not party to the case.

Yvonne Goh Mei Ling yesterday told the High Court that her siblings, Eric Goh Wai Mun, 69, and Evan Goh Wyming, 65, had "orchestrated" proceedings to reverse a move by their parents to share the property in Clementi with her and her sister Yvette Goh Meich'ang, 53.

She insisted that her father – late scout pioneer Dennis Goh Chin Chye – wanted them to have a "home base" to stay whenever they return from England, where they live.

Chia claimed, however, that Yvonne harassed her into making her two daughters the joint owners of the property in 2009, and that she had not been properly advised on its legal implications.

The sisters claimed that the partial transfer was a gift from their parents.

When a co-owner dies in a joint tenancy, her share goes to the other owners.

But if Chia is successful and the sisters' names are removed, all four siblings will get an equal share when their mother dies. — The Straits Times/ Asia News Network

Experts: Electric shock from cellphone ‘unlikely’

Posted:

How safe is it to use a handphone when it is charging?

Concerns have been raised after a 23-year-old flight attendant in China reportedly died last Thursday from an electric shock when answering her iPhone 5 as it was being charged.

She had also reportedly just stepped out of the bath when she answered the call.

California-based Apple, which makes the popular iPhone series of mobile phones, has said that it is helping the Chinese authorities to investigate the matter.

Local experts said that using a phone by itself poses little danger of electrocution.

"Electric shock from a stand-alone smartphone is not likely since the voltage and current levels are all very low," said Professor Yeo Tat Soon, a director at the Temasek Defence Systems Institute.

But when the phone is connected to the wall outlet for charging, it works like any other household appliance, such as electric kettles.

If there is a fault in the wiring or the charger being used, for instance, then electrocution is possible, Prof Yeo explained.

"If the phone is charging, then it is a different story.

"The phone is actually connected to the main electric supply via the charger," he said.

"If the charger or phone has a leakage or short circuit, then the situation is not unlike a person touching any faulty appliance."

The Nanyang Technological University's (NTU) division head of circuits and systems, See Kye Yak, pointed out: "There is a possibility of an electric shock from the charger, as it is powered by 230 volts of alternating current when connected to the home or office power outlet."

This is why using an approved charger with safety marks is crucial, experts said.

A report by the South China Morning Post yesterday claimed that the victim Ma Ailun may have been using an unauthorised phone charger.

The chances of a fatal electrocution from using a mobile device are slim "under normal use and circumstances", said senior scientist Choo Fook Hoong, of the NTU Energy Research Institute.

Last October, Spring Singapore banned an unregistered "JinShunli Multifunctional Pot" because its plug did not fit main sockets in Singapore and was deemed a fire and electrical hazard. — The Straits Times/ Asia News Network

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio

0 ulasan
Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info
Sumber Asal Berita :-

The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio


Taken too soon

Posted:

With the recent passing of 'Glee' actor Cory Monteith, the Spudniks remember other TV stars who died sudden, tragic deaths.

I READ an article about the late John Belushi (actor/comedian and brother of According to Jim's Jim Belushi) written by film critic Roger Ebert (who also died recently, R.I.P.) titled "Why John Belushi Died" some time ago and I remembered one line in particular from that rather lengthy article – "tragedy is when you know not only what was, but what could have been".

When I heard about the death of Cory Monteith on Sunday, that line popped up. I was never a big fan ofGlee and therefore had very little television exposure to Monteith.

Still, the news of his death made me sad. Not merely because he was just 31 but also because, as Ebert wrote, of "what could have been". I am well aware of the stresses of Hollywood life but Monteith's star was just rising – he had talent, good looks, money and a girl whom he loved. What a shame!

Monteith's death follows on the heels of the death of one of my favourite actors, James Gandolfini, who immortalised the character of mob boss Tony Soprano in The Sopranos, easily one of the best television shows in recent times.

FILE - This undated publicity photo released by HBO, shows actor James Gandolfini in his role as Tony Soprano, head of the New Jersey crime family portrayed in HBO's

James Gandolfini in his role as Tony Soprano, head of the New Jersey crime family portrayed in HBO's 'The Sopranos'.

Gandolfini was in Rome en route to Sicily to accept an award at the Taormina Film Festival when he suffered a fatal heart attack. I was devastated when I saw the news on my Facebook news feed. At 52, Gandolfini wasn't all that young but he had so much more to give as an actor (and not to mention he leaves a loving wife and two children behind).

It was tragic.

I think the last time I felt this way (about a TV actor's demise) was when I heard actor John Ritter died while filming an episode of 8 Simple Rules in 2003Ritter collapsed on the set and was taken to a nearby hospital in Burbank, California but it was too late.

I loved John Ritter from back in the day when he played Jack Tripper in the 1980s (late 1970s, in fact) comedy Three's Company. In the sitcom, Jack is an ex-navy boxer who moves in with Janet Wood (Joyce DeWitt) and Chrissy Snow (Suzanne Somers) after the two girls find him in their shower the morning after a party.

Jack crashed their party (or, as he puts it, was a friend of one of the crashers) but since the two need a roomie urgently, they take him in. They tell their landlord Stanley Roper (Don Knotts) that Jack is gay so he will allow a man to move in with them (it was the 1970s and he was rather prudish). So, much of the comedy was watching Jack pretend to be gay in front of Stanley while at the same time trying to score with the many ladies he dates! Ritter (and Gandolfini and Monteith) would undoubtedly have gone on to star in many other hit shows but life had other plans. – SI

I HAD two missed calls from my daughter who usually never calls unless she needs the car or money. It must be urgent, I thought. When I eventually called back (I was in a remote area near Trolak, Perak without much coverage), she told me that Cory Monteith had died. Glee is one of the few programmes that all of us (me and my kids) can sit down and watch together for some inexplicable reason, and Finn was one of our favourite characters because he was just such a good guy. One couldn't help but love him. Later, when I told my niece about his untimely demise, she almost burst out in tears.

Monteith had that charming quality about him, the boy next door who could capture anyone's heart. Finn played football and was in the Glee Club, now that's not your run-of-the-mill jock for sure.

So many of the television stars we have grown up with and loved have left us over the years.

I remember watching Diff'rent Strokes as a child, and until today so many of us go around spouting that catchprase "Whatchu talking about Willis?" made famous by Gary Coleman's Arnold. Coleman was the child star of the 1980s – he was such a spunky character and seemed to be able to carry off all the best lines. Coleman eventually died in 2010 of brain haemorrhage. His Diff'rent Strokes co-star Dana Plato (who played Kimberley Drummond) died in 1999 of a drug overdose. I remember reading about the Diff'rent Strokes curse, and how all the three child stars of the show had always been plagued by emotional and drug problems. You can google the curse if you're interested to know more.

There were three stars of Saturday Night Live – John Belushi, Chris Farley and John Candy! Although I never really watched much SNL, those three were famous enough for me to know about them, and to have watched them in many a movie.

Belushi died in 1982 after overdosing on drugs, at the age of 33. Farley died in a similar manner at the same age! Candy, whom I am most familiar with because of his numerous movie appearances (Spaceballs, Uncle Buck and Planes, Trains And Automobiles) died of a heart attack in his sleep at the age of 43.

All three were such great talents that went too soon.

Remember Jon-Erik Hexum who played Phineas Bogg in the TV series Voyagers!? Bogg was a time traveller used a hand-held device called an Omni to travel in time so he could ensure that history unfolded properly. Strangely I can't remember details about the show but I remember liking it at the time, and I remember some of my classmates thinking Hexum was cute. The American model and actor died as a result of an accidental self-inflicted blank cartridge gunshot wound to the head on the set of another TV series, Cover Up, at the age of 26.

What about Tattoo (Herve Villechaize)? Surely, you remember him and the series Fantasy Island. The French actor first became famous for his role as Nick Nack in The Man With The Golden Gun. In 1993, at the age of 50, the 1.19m actor ended his own life at his home, leaving a suicide note saying he was despondent over longtime health problems. So sad.

There are many others – Brian Keith (of Hardcastle & McCormick fame, who committed suicide at the age of 75), Vic Morrow (my father's favourite actor from the series Combat!, who met a gruesome death when a stunt helicopter crashed on him during the filming of Twilight Zone: The Movie in 1982), Nicholas Colasanto ("Coach" on Cheers, who died of a heart attack at 61), George Reeves (the original TV Superman, died at 45 from a gunshot), and David Carradine (you know, Kwai Chang Caine in Kung Fu, who died in 2009, of auto-erotic asphyxiation).

Last but not least, we take a minute to remember the Crocodile Hunter himself, Steve Irwin (pic below). While most of the other stars mentioned above met sad deaths, I always like to think that Irwin died happy. The Aussie wildlife expert and conservationist died in 2006 after being pierced in the chest by a stingray barb while filming an underwater documentary film titled Ocean's Deadliest. He was in an environment that he loved, and he was doing what he enjoyed best. A pretty neat way for a wildlife warrior to bid the world adieu, methinks. – AMC

Go for Broke

Posted:

Beth Behrs spills the beans on what it's like starring in the hit sitcom 2 Broke Girls.

ACTRESS Beth Behrs, who turns 28 on Boxing Day this year, has been performing on the theatre stage since she was five years old. These days, however, Behrs is more known for her portrayal as Caroline Channing in the popular sitcom 2 Broke Girls.

Caroline is the ditzy trust fund princess who is forced to take up a waitressing job after her father is imprisoned for tax fraud and she goes broke.

At the diner, she meets sassy, streetwise Max (played by Kat Dennings) who has a talent for baking. Together, they decide to start a business selling cupcakes, but since neither has the extra cash, Caroline and Max must keep working at the diner to achieve their goal.

The sitcom started in 2011 and is now into its third season in the United States. In Malaysia, 2 Broke Girls is currently showing on Warner TV (HyppTV Ch 613) every Wednesday at 9pm. In an interview transcript provided by HyppTV, Behrs talks about starring in a TV show that is fast-gaining popularity worldwide.

How are you most like your character, Caroline?

I don't "come" from her – she came from a billionaire background to nothing.

So, I can relate to the "nothing" part, to being broke, but it was hard for me to imagine what her life would have been like. I definitely share her optimism, and I think I've become even more optimistic as Beth because of playing her (Caroline) for so long – she's just like the eternal optimist! I can relate to her work ethic and drive. However, I'm a little bit more down to earth and goofier.

What do you think is universal about this TV show that people all over the world can relate to?

Well, I think everyone can relate to having a goal or a dream in life and what it takes to get there. No matter if you've been broke or rich, I think everyone can relate to having a goal and trying to reach it. Also, I think the friendship between the two girls is interesting.

We have had fans coming up to us, who are like 80-year-old men, and then, there are 12-year-old girls. So, it's definitely cool to see how it's hitting.

What about your relationship or friendship with Kat?

(It's the) same way, we're such good friends. We're less opposite in real life than we are on the show.

We're much more similar as far as our        personalities are concerned. I'm not as prim and proper. And she's a little bit nicer than Max. So, we meet in the middle. We're        very similar in real life ... we grew up with similar backgrounds and stuff.

Do you think in real life it would be possible, this friendship between them?

I think it's realistically possible because they both had nothing and needed each other. Like, Max before Caroline, was alone, and I think that she's enjoyed having some sort of family, because she didn't have one growing up. And then, Caroline needed that because she had lost everyone in her life that she was close to. So, I think their friendship is kind of built on needing each other.

How do you balance your life?

It's been a dream come true (becoming an actress) ... it's been amazing. I've loved it since I was a little kid, so I'm happy that I actually now get paid to do what I love every day.

How has the show changed your life before and after? Is it a big deal?

The crazy thing about us is we're kind of in a bubble when we're working. We're with each other at the studio and we have this family that we've had from Season One to Season Two.

But then, I was in New York last week, and it's definitely interesting to be walking down the street and hear people yell, "Cupcakes!". Your day-to-day is definitely different when you're out in the real world.

As far as how I've changed, nothing other than just being able to support myself, pay my rent every month, and not have to stress about it.

Keep on truckin'

Posted:

Donal Logue is happy to have a busy life.

THOUGH actor Donal Logue is working on three TV shows simultaneously, set in three different centuries, filmed in three different countries, he doesn't depend on his acting career. The Canada-born actor has had his share of feckless days, but now, he's wisely diversified. "I have a trucking company and a hardwood company out of Oregon. Last year, I delivered loads to Los Angeles in an 18-wheeler, sold my first novel, did three TV shows.

"I tell my kids (boys, 12 and 14) you can do whatever you want. When the front door's closed on you, you go around the back, break a window and you get in if you have to."

Logue, who spent seven years as the young dad on Grounded For Life, is playing the Boss Tweed-like character on BBC America's Copper, which is filmed in Toronto, Canada.

Of Irish descent, Logue identifies strongly with the role. "When the Irish showed up, they were the most wretched people that anyone had seen, because at that time in history, during the famine, they were dying by the millions," says Logue, who was a history major at Harvard.

Logue also co-stars in Sons Of Anarchy, which is filmed in LA, and in The Vikings, which shoots in Dublin, Ireland. While he says he's grateful for the opportunity, he understands it could all end tomorrow.

"Seventy-two hours in any direction can change your life," he says perched on a maroon-flowered settee in his publicist's office in LA. "I've been sober a long time. I quit drinking 22 years ago, and I'm always thinking you can make a weird decision in life ... It's just how to beak ruts."

He has a history of breaking ruts. The biggest came when he was 25 and found himself drifting. "I was sitting in El Centro, doing drugs, listening to heavy metal on this boom box – a mobile home with lawn furniture in it, and someone said, 'Hey, bro, somebody said you went to Harvard.' I said, 'Yeah, I did.'

"I realised I was supposed to be the guy who left this town on the Mexican border ... Then, one day you wake up and say, 'I own you. I dictate everything about your life. You need to feed me.' So, I said, enough is enough. I'm done with it. That was May of 1991 and it changed my life."

Logue's parents were missionaries and he moved often as a kid. Adept at athletics, he showed promise in both tennis and soccer. When he was 14, he was a heralded distance runner with Olympic ambitions. But those dreaded 72 hours intervened.

"I won this big race, and the next day, had to do a report but got hit by a car and was laid up for six months in traction." He suffered seven compound fractures in his right leg. "Hence, I spent all this time – my family had to work – so I was left in a room with a tennis ball can to pee in. I went from being this guy with all these athletic dreams. I was used to winning but I wasn't going to be that level of athlete anymore. I think those months made me become more inward thinking, reading all the time (changed me)."

In his sophomore year, he became obstreperous and his parents sent him to England to live with his aunt and uncle. But he was kicked out of school there and returned. "So, I got back to the United States and made a promise to myself that I would clean up my act, get it together and focus on going for things, and using what I had," says Logue, whose unruly hair is captured loosely in a pony tail.

"Luckily for me, an academic decathlon came along and I won the state speech championship that year. I went to Boys' Nation, which is this American Legion thing where they take a kid from every high school. I was elected Boys' Nation president, and got my pick of universities."

But Harvard didn't save him either. He discovered acting. "My mother, Irish immigrant that she is, reacted as though I'd joined the motorcycle club. It was so heartbreaking," he says.

After graduation, Logue, 47, found himself in Los Angeles. "I was working as a janitor and I was happy. Then, of course, the universe opens and someone says, 'You should talk to this casting director.' She says, 'We're doing this movie Sneakers and having a tough time casting this one part of a mathematician.' I went in and just nailed it. You get a few windows of opportunity – just recognise them." – McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: World Updates

0 ulasan
Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info
Sumber Asal Berita :-

The Star Online: World Updates


Greece approves scheme to fire thousands of public workers

Posted:

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's shaky coalition government scraped through a vote on Wednesday on a bill to sack public sector workers as thousands chanting anti-austerity slogans protested outside parliament.

The vote was the first major test for Prime Minister Antonis Samaras's two-party coalition since losing an ally over the abrupt shutdown of the state broadcaster last month, which left it with a scant five-seat majority in the 300-seat parliament.

After midnight on Wednesday, 153 lawmakers out of the 293 present voted in favour of the bill, whose passage was required to unlock nearly 7 billion euros (6 billion pounds) in aid from European Union and International Monetary Fund lenders.

The bill includes deeply divisive plans for a transfer and layoff scheme for 25,000 public workers - mainly teachers and municipal police - that had triggered a week of almost daily marches, rallies and strikes in protest.

About 5,000 Greeks flooded the street outside parliament as the vote neared, with some chanting: "We will not succumb, the only option is to resist" and holding aloft black balloons - though turnout was much smaller than in protests last year.

"After 12 years on the job, they fire us in one night," Patra Hatziharalampous, a 52-year-old school guard in uniform said between sobs. "If they have any guts, they should say no to the bailout and take some of the bill's articles back."

The reforms were passed hours before German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble - Europe's leading proponent of austerity blamed by many Greeks for their woes - arrives in Athens for his first visit to Greece since the debt crisis began in 2009.

Before the vote, Samaras announced Greece's first tax cut since its crisis began nearly four years ago, in a bid to placate protests and an increasingly restive public mood.

"We will not relax," Samaras said in a surprise television address to announce that value-added tax (VAT) in restaurants would be cut to 13 percent from 23 percent starting August 1.

"We will continue climbing up the hill, we will reach the top, which is not far, and better days will come for our people."

In a clip that became an instant hit on social media site Twitter, television stations accidentally showed Samaras fumbling at an initial attempt to read the statement and swearing "Damn my head, ******" as he walked off the podium.

"DRAWING BLOOD"

The government had made a show of arguing for the restaurant VAT cut during its latest talks with lenders, and analysts said the move was a symbolic attempt to show austerity-hit Greeks that there was light at the end of the tunnel.

Samaras said the cut would help curb tax evasion, a major problem in the country and one of the reasons it slid into a debt crisis in 2009, but warned that if evasion persisted VAT would revert to 23 percent.

"The crucial thing is that it was announced now and not after the summer," said Thomas Gerakis, head of Marc Pollsters. "How it will benefit consumers remains to be seen."

Athens has been limping along on two bailouts worth over 240 billion euros ($315 billion) since 2010, which it has secured at the price of wage cuts and tax rises that have triggered a six-year recession and sent unemployment to 27 percent.

The latest bill agreed with lenders includes a luxury tax on houses with swimming pools and owners of high performance cars.

But the move that has drawn the most anger is the plan to place 25,000 workers into the layoff scheme by the end of 2013, giving them eight months to find another position or get laid off. Greece's public sector is widely seen as oversized, inefficient and filled with patronage hires, but many Greeks believe society can no longer go tolerate cuts or tax hikes.

Uniformed municipal police, garbage collectors in orange vests and hundreds of other public sector workers have taken to the streets of Athens almost daily on motorbikes in over a week of protests, blowing whistles, honking horns and blaring sirens.

(Additional reporting by Angeliki Koutantou and Karolina Tagaris; Writing by Deepa Babington; Editing by Michael Roddy)

Families of Newtown shooting victims to each receive $281,000 in donated funds

Posted:

MILFORD, Connecticut (Reuters) - Families of 20 children and six adults killed in the mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school each will receive $281,000 (184,860 pounds) from the $11.4 million in donations, an oversight board said on Wednesday.

The Newtown Sandy Hook Foundation, which oversees the donations, also decided that the families of 12 children who witnessed and survived the attack at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December each will get $20,000 and two teachers who were injured will split $150,000.

Of the total $11.4 million in donations raised with the help of the United Way charity, $7.7 million was set aside for the victims of what was one of the worst mass school shootings in U.S. history. The remaining $3.7 million was dedicated to a long-term community fund, a decision by the foundation board that has been criticized by some victims' families and Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy.

"You really have to ask the foundation board why it decided not to distribute all the donated funds to the families," said Kenneth Feinberg, who advised the distribution committee and also oversaw compensation for victims of the September 11, 2001, attacks, the theatre shootings in Aurora, Colorado, and the Boston Marathon bombing.

Dr. Charles Herrick, chairman of the foundation board, pointed out "the board decided to distribute 95 percent of the funds directly to the families, but there are many, many victims - including 400 students at the school that day and all the first responders.

"We wanted to ensure there are some funds left for the future needs of people in the community who are going to need help," said Herrick, a Newtown resident and chairman of the Department of Psychiatry of the Western Connecticut Health Network, which oversees Danbury and New Milford Hospitals.

"This is a balancing act and there are other victims we have to think about too," he said. "This is a marathon, not a sprint and there's no way to know what problems will arise over the next 10 years."

In a letter to the board, Malloy insisted that an independent third party from outside of Newtown be chosen to oversee any remaining funds. Herrick said the board would press ahead with its plan to appoint another local distribution committee by mid-September to oversee the money.

Panama calls in U.N. to inspect North Korean arms ship

Posted:

PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - Panama said on Wednesday it had called on the U.N. Security Council to investigate a North Korean ship caught smuggling arms from Cuba, piling more pressure on Pyongyang over a possible breach of U.N. sanctions.

Panama stopped the ship last week and seized its cargo after a stand-off with the North Korean crew in which the captain tried to slit his own throat. Authorities discovered missile equipment, MiG fighter jets and other arms aboard that Cuba said were "obsolete" Soviet-era weapons being sent to North Korea for repair.

"It's going to be transferred to the U.N. Security Council. They will decide what to do," Panamanian Security Minister Jose Raul Mulino said in Panama City.

Five U.N. investigators, including one from the Security Council, are expected to arrive around the beginning of August once the ship, the Chong Chon Gang, has been unloaded, Panamanian government officials said.

The North Korean government urged Panama to release the ship and its crew, who were detained and are in the process of being charged for failing to declare the arms on board.

"This cargo is nothing but aging weapons, which are to send back to Cuba after overhauling them according to a legitimate contract," a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman was quoted as saying by the official KCNA news agency.

The incident has not derailed U.S.-Cuban talks on migration, which went ahead as scheduled on Wednesday, but U.S. officials said Washington would raise the issue of the ship with Cuba very soon. One senior U.S. lawmaker called the matter a "grave violation of international treaties.

The United Nations has imposed various sanctions on Pyongyang, including strict regulations on arms shipments, for flouting measures aimed at curbing its nuclear weapons program.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon praised Panama on Wednesday for seizing the vessel, adding that the U.N. sanctions committee would take up the issue promptly.

About 350 police and border patrol officials were combing through the ship, which has a dead weight of some 14,000 tonnes.

Before their arrest, the ship's crew burned the electrical system to disable it, which slowed the process of unloading it, a Panamanian Foreign Ministry spokesman said. As a result, it could take up to 10 days to unload the ship, he added.

"This ship was loaded so you can't unload it," security minister Mulino said on his Twitter account.

Two more containers with suspected arms have been found on the ship in addition to the two already discovered.

Access points to the ship's storage areas were all "completely blocked" in breach of international regulations, when Panamanian officials boarded it, Mulino said.

Britain's U.N. Ambassador, Mark Lyall Grant, said the ship appeared to have violated the U.N. arms embargo. Britain is a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council.

An eight-member panel of experts appointed by Ban Ki-moon monitors the Security Council sanctions imposed on North Korea.

The experts are mandated to "gather, examine and analyze information from States, relevant United Nations bodies and other interested parties" on allegations of sanctions violations and report back to the 15-member Security Council.

CREW TIGHT-LIPPED

Marie Harf, a spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department, said Panama had asked the United States for technical assistance on the matter, which would be provided. She said Washington would be talking to Cuba "very soon" about the ship.

A State Department official said the scheduled migration talks with Havana went ahead on Wednesday as even though the United States believes Cuba broke U.N. sanctions, the issues were deemed to be "apples and oranges."

According to Cuba, the weapons on the ship included two anti-aircraft missile batteries, nine disassembled rockets, two MiG-21 fighter jets, and 15 MiG-21 engines, all Soviet-era military weaponry built in the middle of the last century.

Servicing of weapons would also be in breach of the arms embargo imposed on North Korea sanctions.

A U.N. resolution adopted in 2009 says the embargo applies to "all arms and related materiel, as well as to financial transactions, technical training, advice, services or assistance related to the provision, manufacture, maintenance or use of such arms, except for small arms and light weapons."

U.S. Democratic lawmaker Robert Menendez, the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued a statement condemning Cuba, saying it needed very careful monitoring.

"The shipment ... is a grave violation of international treaties," he said. "Weapons transfers from one communist regime to another hidden under sacks of sugar are not accidental ... and reinforces the necessity that Cuba remain on the State Department's list of countries that sponsor state terrorism."

Hal Klepak, a history professor at the Royal Military College of Canada, said Cuba was "using weapons and equipment of staggeringly old vintage" and that the Pentagon had long since written off the island as a military threat.

Since Cuba's military doctrine was designed to deter any attack, it needs to maintain the arms it has, he added.

"Cuba cannot afford to buy anything newer and does not have repair facilities of its own for such needs. Thus if it is not to scrap, for example, the aircraft entirely, it must repair and potentially update them in some areas," Klepak said.

Panama's Foreign Minister Nunez said his country had no problem with Cuba but had been under a U.N. obligation to stop the North Korean vessel and inspect its contents.

Javier Caraballo, Panama's top anti-drugs prosecutor, said 33 of the 35 crew members had so far been charged with crimes against Panama's internal security for trafficking undeclared arms. All 33 members had invoked their right to remain silent, he added. The government said it aims to charge all the crew.

Separately, IHS Fairplay, which monitors the movement of ships, said it had found another North Korean-flagged vessel made a similar journey to Chong Chon Gang last year. The O Un Chong Nyon Ho docked in Havana during May 2012, IHS said.

(Additional reporting by Gabriel Stargardter, Louis Charbonneau, David Adams, Paul Eckert, Marc Frank and Michelle Nichols and Ju-min Park; Writing by Dave Graham; Editing by Claudia Parsons, David Brunnstrom and Stacey Joyce)

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star eCentral: Movie Buzz

0 ulasan
Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info
Sumber Asal Berita :-

The Star eCentral: Movie Buzz


Tom Cruise film in the works

Posted:

Tom Cruise's upcoming sci-fi thriller will be called Edge Of Tomorrow.

Edge Of Tomorrow has been announced as the title of Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt' upcoming sci-fi thriller, directed by Doug Liman and based on the book All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka.  

The movie, from Warner Bros Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures, is set for a release on June 6 next year, and the first look at footage from the film will be unveiled by the studio at the 2013 International Comic-Con: San Diego on July 20 (Saturday).  

The announcement was made on Monday by Sue Kroll, worldwide marketing and international distribution president of Warner Bros Pictures.

Teaser poster of Edge Of Tomorrow 

Kroll stated, "We are extremely pleased to be able to give the Comic-Con audience, who've always been so supportive of us, the first peek at footage from Edge Of Tomorrow. The movie has all of us at the studio very excited, and we can't wait to see the reactions of fans who know and love the sci-fi genre so well."

The epic action of Edge Of Tomorrow unfolds in a near future in which an alien race has hit Earth in an unrelenting assault, unbeatable by any military unit in the world. Lt Col Bill Cage (played by Cruise) is unceremoniously dropped into what amounts to a suicide mission. Killed within minutes, Cage now finds himself inexplicably thrown into a time loop – forcing him to live out the same brutal combat over and over again.

With each battle, however, Cage is able to engage the adversaries with increasing skill, alongside Special Forces warrior Rita Vrataski (Blunt). As Cage and Rita take the fight to the aliens, each repeated encounter gets them one step closer to defeating the enemy.

The international cast of Edge Of Tomorrow also includes Bill Paxton (Aliens, HBO's Big Love), Kick Gurry (Australian TV's Tangle), Dragomir Mrsic (Snabba Cash II), Charlotte Riley (World Without End), Jonas Armstrong (BBC TV's Robin Hood), and Franz Drameh (Attack The Block). – Source: Warner Bros Pictures

Jungle Book reboots

Posted:

Mowgli and friends are returning ... to the big screen. 

SEVERAL movie studios are simultaneously working on the famed adventures of Mowgli, first told in Rudyard Kipling's 19th-century fables, yet again for the big screen.

The Jungle Book has already been adapted numerous times, though the most famous version is still Disney's animated musical of 1967. Nonetheless, this collection of fables clearly hasn't yet exhausted the imagination of movie studios in Hollywood and abroad.

After adapting Alice In Wonderland (2010), Sleeping Beauty, Maleficient (due out in 2014) and Cinderella (directed by Kenneth Branagh and slated for 2015), Disney continues to co-opt the classics.

Justin Marks, who wrote The Raven (2012) and Street Fighter: The Legend Of Chun-Li (2007), has been attached to script a live-action Jungle Book for Disney.

Meanwhile, Warner Bros has put its own scribe on it, attaching Steve Kloves, who has adapted all but one of the Harry Potter series, to write and direct this project.

As if that weren't enough, DQ Entertainment (Ireland) Limited is planning to start up its own features department with a 3D adaptation in 2014.

So the next few years are going to be chock-a-block with little jungle boys raised by she-wolves, along with happy-go-lucky "bare necessities" bears, benevolent black panthers and bloodthirsty tigers. – AFP Relaxnews

Del Toro's monster

BRITISH actor Benedict Cumberbatch, known for the BBC series Sherlock and as Khan in this year's Star Trek Into Darkness, is set to play the Mary Shelley classic in a remake which Guillermo del Toro has been developing for years.

According to the Daily Telegraph, del Toro has not given up on his idea of adapting the novel for the silver screen. The project was initially supposed to star his longtime collaborator Doug Jones (Hellboy), but apparently the director has finally opted for Cumberbatch instead.

The English actor, who'll also be starring in del Toro's gothic haunted house flick Crimson Peak, has the advantage of already having played Frankenstein on stage.

In 2011 director Danny Boyle had Cumberbatch and co-star Jonny Lee Miller take turns playing Dr Frankenstein and his creature at the Royal National Theatre in London.

Before del Toro's project gets under way at Universal Studios, 20th Century Fox is already planning its own version by 2014, featuring Daniel Radcliffe as Dr Frankenstein's assistant Igor. – AFP Relaxnews

Ad-Rock in talks to act in a film

Posted:

Adam Horovitz, aka Ad-Rock of the Beastie Boys, is in discussions to join Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts in Noah Baumbach's indie movie While We're Young, an individual familiar with the New York-set project has told TheWrap.

Horovitz made his acting debut as a troubled Los Angeles youth opposite Donald Sutherland in the 1989 drama Lost Angels, though he hasn't tackled a substantial movie role in two decades. Written and directed by Baumbach, While We're Young stars Stiller and Watts as a married couple that strikes up an unlikely friendship with a free-spirited younger couple, to be played by Adam Driver (Girls) and Amanda Seyfried (Lovelace).

Schedule permitting, Horovitz would play a married friend of Stiller and Watts' characters who just had a baby and can no longer relate to the childless couple or why they feel the need to hang out with twentysomething hipsters.

Scott Rudin and Eli Bush are producing the long-gestating project, which will start production this fall.

After Lost Angels, Horovitz went on to tackle a supporting role alongside Matt Dillon and Max von Sydow in the 1991 thriller A Kiss Before Dying, as well as appear in the 1992 road trip movie Roadside Prophets.

He recently played himself in a 2009 episode of 30 Rock and starred in the Beastie Boys concert documentary Awesome: I F***** Shot That, as well as Spike Jonze's Funny Or Die short Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win.

On the music side, the Beastie Boys had songs on the soundtracks for both of J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movies. Horovitz also provided music for The Ben Stiller Show in 1992. He's represented by WME. — Reuters


Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: Nation

0 ulasan
Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info
Sumber Asal Berita :-

The Star Online: Nation


Malaysian student in Australia charged for attempted murder

Posted:

ADELAIDE: A Malaysian student has appeared before the Port Adelaide Magistrate's Court charged for attempted murder, The Advertiser reports.

Cheong Sim Siong, 21, was alleged to have stabbed a woman several times at Athol Park in Adelaide on Friday night.

The 26-year-old woman was found with multiple stab wounds at a car park at about 10pm.

On Tuesday night, the police arrested Cheong and charged him for attempted murder and one count of aggravated assault causing harm.

Cheong made no application for bail and was remanded in custody.

He will face the court again in September.

The woman has been warded at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and was in critical condition. - Bernama

Malaysia fuel prices eighth lowest in the world, says Ahmad Maslan

Posted:

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's petrol and diesel prices is the eighth lowest in the world.

"Out of 227 countries in the world, Malaysia's petrol and diesel price to its motorists is the eighth lowest," said Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan.

He said the cheaper price was due to the significant subsidy given by the government for petrol and diesel as well as cooking gas.

He disclosed this when winding up the debate on the Supplementary Supply Bill (2012) 2013.

Ahmad said the government had given a subsidy of 90.4 sen for each litre of diesel and 90 sen for each litre of RON95 petrol.

He said the people had only to pay RM1.80 per litre of diesel instead of RM2.74, and RM1.80 per litre of RON95 petrol.

"Without the subsidy of 90 sen per litre, the price for RON 95 petrol should be RM2.80 per litre," he said.

Ahmad said cooking gas enjoyed substantial subsidy as well, with a 14-kg cylinder costing RM26.60 instead of the actual price of RM47.46.

"This means that the government is giving a subsidy of RM20.80 per cylinder," he said. - Bernama

New RM118mil military camp to replace Rasah Camp in Port Dickson

Posted:

SEREMBAN: A new military camp costing RM118mil will be built in Port Dickson to replace the Rasah Camp in Seremban.

The Army's 3rd Division Commander Maj Gen Datuk Razali Ahmad said the project would be built on a 68-hectare site in Bukit Hitam, Sunggala.

"It will start next year and take 24 to 36 months to be completed. Now, we are holding discussions on housing with the Public Private Partnership Unit (Ukas) from the Prime Minister's Department.

" When completed, the new camp will house the 1st Armoured Brigade," he told reporters after witnessing a handing over of duties ceremony at the Royal Malay Regiment's (RAMD) Senawang camp Wednesday. - Bernama

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies

0 ulasan
Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info
Sumber Asal Berita :-

The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies


Tom Cruise film in the works

Posted:

Tom Cruise's upcoming sci-fi thriller will be called Edge Of Tomorrow.

Edge Of Tomorrow has been announced as the title of Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt' upcoming sci-fi thriller, directed by Doug Liman and based on the book All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka.  

The movie, from Warner Bros Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures, is set for a release on June 6 next year, and the first look at footage from the film will be unveiled by the studio at the 2013 International Comic-Con: San Diego on July 20 (Saturday).  

The announcement was made on Monday by Sue Kroll, worldwide marketing and international distribution president of Warner Bros Pictures.

Teaser poster of Edge Of Tomorrow 

Kroll stated, "We are extremely pleased to be able to give the Comic-Con audience, who've always been so supportive of us, the first peek at footage from Edge Of Tomorrow. The movie has all of us at the studio very excited, and we can't wait to see the reactions of fans who know and love the sci-fi genre so well."

The epic action of Edge Of Tomorrow unfolds in a near future in which an alien race has hit Earth in an unrelenting assault, unbeatable by any military unit in the world. Lt Col Bill Cage (played by Cruise) is unceremoniously dropped into what amounts to a suicide mission. Killed within minutes, Cage now finds himself inexplicably thrown into a time loop – forcing him to live out the same brutal combat over and over again.

With each battle, however, Cage is able to engage the adversaries with increasing skill, alongside Special Forces warrior Rita Vrataski (Blunt). As Cage and Rita take the fight to the aliens, each repeated encounter gets them one step closer to defeating the enemy.

The international cast of Edge Of Tomorrow also includes Bill Paxton (Aliens, HBO's Big Love), Kick Gurry (Australian TV's Tangle), Dragomir Mrsic (Snabba Cash II), Charlotte Riley (World Without End), Jonas Armstrong (BBC TV's Robin Hood), and Franz Drameh (Attack The Block). – Source: Warner Bros Pictures

Jungle Book reboots

Posted:

Mowgli and friends are returning ... to the big screen. 

SEVERAL movie studios are simultaneously working on the famed adventures of Mowgli, first told in Rudyard Kipling's 19th-century fables, yet again for the big screen.

The Jungle Book has already been adapted numerous times, though the most famous version is still Disney's animated musical of 1967. Nonetheless, this collection of fables clearly hasn't yet exhausted the imagination of movie studios in Hollywood and abroad.

After adapting Alice In Wonderland (2010), Sleeping Beauty, Maleficient (due out in 2014) and Cinderella (directed by Kenneth Branagh and slated for 2015), Disney continues to co-opt the classics.

Justin Marks, who wrote The Raven (2012) and Street Fighter: The Legend Of Chun-Li (2007), has been attached to script a live-action Jungle Book for Disney.

Meanwhile, Warner Bros has put its own scribe on it, attaching Steve Kloves, who has adapted all but one of the Harry Potter series, to write and direct this project.

As if that weren't enough, DQ Entertainment (Ireland) Limited is planning to start up its own features department with a 3D adaptation in 2014.

So the next few years are going to be chock-a-block with little jungle boys raised by she-wolves, along with happy-go-lucky "bare necessities" bears, benevolent black panthers and bloodthirsty tigers. – AFP Relaxnews

Del Toro's monster

BRITISH actor Benedict Cumberbatch, known for the BBC series Sherlock and as Khan in this year's Star Trek Into Darkness, is set to play the Mary Shelley classic in a remake which Guillermo del Toro has been developing for years.

According to the Daily Telegraph, del Toro has not given up on his idea of adapting the novel for the silver screen. The project was initially supposed to star his longtime collaborator Doug Jones (Hellboy), but apparently the director has finally opted for Cumberbatch instead.

The English actor, who'll also be starring in del Toro's gothic haunted house flick Crimson Peak, has the advantage of already having played Frankenstein on stage.

In 2011 director Danny Boyle had Cumberbatch and co-star Jonny Lee Miller take turns playing Dr Frankenstein and his creature at the Royal National Theatre in London.

Before del Toro's project gets under way at Universal Studios, 20th Century Fox is already planning its own version by 2014, featuring Daniel Radcliffe as Dr Frankenstein's assistant Igor. – AFP Relaxnews

Ad-Rock in talks to act in a film

Posted:

Adam Horovitz, aka Ad-Rock of the Beastie Boys, is in discussions to join Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts in Noah Baumbach's indie movie While We're Young, an individual familiar with the New York-set project has told TheWrap.

Horovitz made his acting debut as a troubled Los Angeles youth opposite Donald Sutherland in the 1989 drama Lost Angels, though he hasn't tackled a substantial movie role in two decades. Written and directed by Baumbach, While We're Young stars Stiller and Watts as a married couple that strikes up an unlikely friendship with a free-spirited younger couple, to be played by Adam Driver (Girls) and Amanda Seyfried (Lovelace).

Schedule permitting, Horovitz would play a married friend of Stiller and Watts' characters who just had a baby and can no longer relate to the childless couple or why they feel the need to hang out with twentysomething hipsters.

Scott Rudin and Eli Bush are producing the long-gestating project, which will start production this fall.

After Lost Angels, Horovitz went on to tackle a supporting role alongside Matt Dillon and Max von Sydow in the 1991 thriller A Kiss Before Dying, as well as appear in the 1992 road trip movie Roadside Prophets.

He recently played himself in a 2009 episode of 30 Rock and starred in the Beastie Boys concert documentary Awesome: I F***** Shot That, as well as Spike Jonze's Funny Or Die short Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win.

On the music side, the Beastie Boys had songs on the soundtracks for both of J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movies. Horovitz also provided music for The Ben Stiller Show in 1992. He's represented by WME. — Reuters


Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: Lifestyle: Arts & Fashion

0 ulasan
Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info
Sumber Asal Berita :-

The Star Online: Lifestyle: Arts & Fashion


Heed the inner voice

Posted:

A chance to learn about Theatre du Soleil's production ideas through improvisational exercises.

THE IMAGINATION is a muscle, and Shaghayegh Beheshti has been exercising hers on a regular basis for most of her life.

When the Iranian-born Parisian wasn't doing theatre, she was dreaming of it. Both her parents studied it in one form or another, which deeply influenced her – aged eight, Beheshti was writing and illustrating her own version of A Midsummer Night's Dream, and by 12 she was reading Ionosco, a foremost figure of the Absurdist Theatre movement.

It is perhaps ironic then, that her first real taste of acting only came in her 20s. Though she'd always wanted to be an actress, a traumatic experience in primary school held her back: "You'll never be an actor," someone had screamed at her introverted, six-year old self. Then, one day in 1997, Theatre du Soleil came to town.

"If there was ever a place in the world that corresponded with every level of my childhood dreams, it was Theatre du Soleil," says Beheshti in an email interview. Plucking up the courage to put her crippling fear of the stage behind her, she auditioned for one of their productions – and the rest, they say, is history.

"The stage is both a marvellous and dangerous place. When one is so fragile (on stage), one can catch fire, or be devoured," adds Beheshti, 39.

This was her first and most important lesson about acting.

But being part of Theatre du Soleil, meant there was more to come. The French avante garde performing arts collective, which has been around since the 1960s, is unique.

Reknowned for its epic productions, merging of art forms and utopian approach to theatre, its creations are often the result of a hierarchy-free collaborative process. It is also flexible about the gestation period of a show; often leading to productions that can span between anything from three and half to seven hours.

This month, Malaysia is going to get a rare taste of it, because Beheshti, who has had 16 years to absorb everything Theatre du Soleil has to offer, will be making her way to Kuala Lumpur for a nine-day workshop on the Muscle Of Imagination, starting tomorrow at The Actors Studio@KuAsh Theatre in Taman Tun Dr Ismail.

Theatre du Soleil's troupe often develop production ideas through improvisational exercises. And for eight hours a day, Beheshti will teach students how to use the imagination as a source from which to draw richer and broader visions with which to improvise.

As she says: "There is no game without imagination, the imagination drives the game."

But Beheshti wants to be clear, even if it means debunking myths and dashing hopes – there are no techniques utilised in Theatre du Soleil.

"Instead there are laws, attitudes and state of mind towards work.

"This is another feature that sets us apart from other schools, we can use the word discipline, but not technique – there are no recipes, this is not like studying music or dance where technique is indispensable."

Taking part in the workshop will no doubt mean getting a rare insight into the Theatre du Soleil's creative process.

Like the group's founder Ariane Mnouchkine says at the beginning of each production – it's a quest, one does not know what one will discover, and it is the stage that will reveal things to her.

This approach certainly contrasts with the idea of working towards a preconceived idea, in a quest, there is this notion of "revelation", or at least a path to traverse before attaining it, explains Beheshti.

In acting, what is important is to learn to listen to oneself, and to learn to see.

"This may seem obvious and simple, but there is nothing as complicated as this," she says.

Often, people tend to be too descriptive or too didactic when doing improvisation work.

Beheshti explains; in life we move forward, without necessarily knowing what is going to happen the following minute. And this doesn't bother us. Why? Because we listen and respond naturally.

"But often, on stage, it's as if a demon starts gnawing at our heads, asking 'what am I going to say? what am I going to do?'"

Beheshti's point: if we go with too many instructions, where is freedom, where is surprise, where is fortuity?

Too often, people believe they know. They listen and they see, but they are blind and deaf.

"I try to put myself and my participants in a state of mind where one is in a perpetual state of listening.

"Above everything else, we must have courage to accept that we don't know everything."

In other words, she will teach you to flex those imagination muscles and just go with the flow.

Part of this, will be done through music – you're own personal soundtrack if you like.

Beheshti believes that listening to music, whether played on a speaker, or internally, is a good way of filling up the internal silence which we otherwise tend to occupy with anxiety, obsession and fear. For her, "acting in music" can help free us from this mental oppression, and help us raise visions, and therefore enter a transposed and poetic dimension.

"It stimulates the imagination and invites us to take a walk in the country of our own dreams. It can inspire a thousand and one possible stories, and lead us, in spite of ourselves, to our own hearts."

Curiosity piqued?

Muscle Of Imagination runs from July 17 to 27 (July 22 is a rest day) from 10am to 6pm at The Actors Studio@KuAsh Theatre, in Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Kuala Lumpur. Presented by Kakiseni and organised by Capricomm and Need Entertainment, tickets for the workshop are priced at RM1,000 or RM500 for students. If you are simply interested in theoretical aspects, observer tickets are also available, priced at RM500. For more information, contact Gan Hui Yee at 016-208 4449, or visit http://goo.gl/VyK8L.

Soul of a nation

Posted:

'Kembara Jiwa Fukuoka: Expanded Passion' is a sampler of Malaysian contemporary art bound for Japan in October.

A FINE selection of different modes of Malaysian contemporary art practices will go to Fukuoka, Japan, as part of Galeri Chandan's Kembara Jiwa (Soul Train) project.

With the subtext, "Expanded Passion", Kembara Jiwa Fukuoka will feature 17 emerging and established artists selected by project curator Nur Hanim Mohamed Khairuddin, including seven from the 21 who took part in the first Kembara last year in Jogjakarta (Taman Budaya) and Bandung (Sunaryo Art Space) in Indonesia.

The exhibition "proper" will be held at the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum (FAAM) in Japan on Oct 3-8. A Malaysian preview is currently being held at Galeri Chandan, Publika in Kuala Lumpur till July 22.

Gallery founder cum owner Nazli Aziz said that the annual project is a vehicle to expose and raise the profile of Malaysian artists abroad, with the next stop planned for Singapore next year.

"The project falls under the 'community' component of Galeri Chandan's three-pronged strategy with a view to upgrading the Malaysian art ecosystem, the other two being 'commercial' and 'charity,'" said Nazli, whose core business is in interior design (ThreeHundredSixty).

"This is not a profit-making enterprise. Whatever revenue made will be ploughed back into the project fund, to ensure its sustainabity, and the gallery is not making money from this," he added.

Galeri Chandan also supports an artist's residency called Nafas in Jogjakarta for periods of one, three and six months, with a recent addition in Penang, in collaboration with Universiti Sains Malaysia.

The Fukuoka-bound works include two collaborations of Kamal Sabran (Space Gambus Experiment)-Goh Lee Kwang (20-minute short film of improvisational sounds screechy jerks in part, Bunyian Aneh Dari Batu Gajah), and Izan Tahir-Marvin Chan's Pendekar Jari (oil, lino print and resin). Goh has another work, a Conceptual Art of a dumb incapacitated TV with the tagline, Boycott, but with a RM5,000 tag.

A husband-and-wife team, Azliza Ayob and Ilham Fadhli 'Kojek' Shaimy, presents two different world-views, both using collage.

Azliza entices with her amorphous rainbow-hued fractal of objects of feminity with shades of Frida Kahlo and Georgia O'Keefe. Azliza had spent 70 days in a residency at FAAM last year.

Ilham insinuates Lilliputian figures with an Antony Gormley loneliness. It is the Theatre of the Absurd in a mock apocalyptic Hieronymus Bosch scenario.

The works are irreverent, ironic and facetious with a serious socio-political sandiwara, with some touching on gender, identity and heritage. Not all works are wall hangings, with some New Media installations like those of Hasnul J. Saidon, Haris Abadi and to a lesser extent, Samsudin Wahab with his flashing coloured bulbs on Damien-Hirst skull imagery; or the De-Constructed contraption of Noor Azizan Rahman Paiman (better known just as Paiman), or the whimsical stand-alone ornamentative ceramic totems (on cylindrical concrete base) of Umibaizurah Mahir@Ismail.

Samsudin, Haris and Umibaizurah were from Kembara 1, the others being Jalaini Abu Hassan ('Jai'), Juhari Said, Phuan Thai Meng and Haslin Ismail.

Jai's diptych, Tiger Tamer, is layered in meanings and subtexts about cultures (clash of?) and desires (individual and regional/location) using symbolisms and Malay pepatah with one half using a backcloth of Nusantara "teardrop" paisley-leaf motif which doubles as a tattoo on the "protagonist" wielding an odd floral-duster cum fan – his talismanic "weapon" to subdue the tiger? An added ambiguity comes from the side inscription, "Omotesendo Hill", referring to Japan's Harajuku park, in the other half of the work which also has an insignia of the dragon of Imperial Qing. Will the tiger lose its stripes, and thus power and identity?

Juhari uses the dog, a pedigree dalmatian in a side-winding double image because of its stark design, in a begging stance to reflect on the docile nature of society, in Two Dalmatians And Red Line, using woodcut on large watercolour canvas (230cm x 110cm). Juhari has consistently taken printmaking to new areas, like in his ground-breaking Okir (Carving) printmaking on wood stumps in 2007.

He will be reunited with his woodcut sinseh, Yoshisuke Funasaka, who is one of two Japanese artists invited to join the show, the other being sculptor Mamoru Abe.

Haslin, a major award winner of the coveted Young Contemporary Artists 2010 noted then for his architecture from book shreds, plumbs for an organic bioscape of internal protoplasmic entrails in intricate tangle from his just-ended Transfiguration solo at G13 gallery, combining bio-fantasy with mock sci-fi.

Phuan's trio of works I See, is a pun on identity cards and the IC issue in Sabah.

Hasnul's Ripples In Fukuoka is an updated version of his work during his research residency during Ramadan in Fukuoka in 2003, which became strangely what he conceded as a "spiritual catalyst" in consonance with the lucidity of Zen. Morphing altered faces questioning notions of self, identity and existence appear and vanish in a flat "crystal ball" here.

Paiman is back with more "madcap" gizmos, this one from his Circus Elementary School series with a symbolic doll bust on a console pedestal (with fake drawers) on either side. On one side is a diva of extravagance (an expensive-looking ring is seen on its back window when lit) while the other side is dominated by the iconic Psy doll with a trigger for the sensational Oppa Gangnam Style song and a Duchampish miniature toilet bowl in its casing. The "magic" is in the duck effigy, the proverbial quack, encased in a coffin-like box which somehow survives as a sawn-off groove in the centre reveals.

Fauzulyusri and Suhaidi Razi complete the list, with Fauzul popular for his beauty in imperfections of child-like conteng (graffiti-like), stains, mottling, textures and layers.

This will be the first time a dedicated selection of Malaysian art gets to show in Japan. In the past, it was under the South East Asian or Asian umbrella like the Contemporary Asian Art Show (1980, 1984, 1989, 1994), Asean Art (1990), the New Art From South-East Asia and the Asian Art Show in 1992, the Birth of Modern Art In South-east Asia (1997), and Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale (1999 onwards). The only Malaysian to have featured under the museum's Asian Artist Today programme was Tan Chin Kuan, in 1991.

Kembara Jiwa Fukuoka: Expanded Passion is on till July 22 at Galeri Chandan, Lot 24 & 25 (G4) Publika, Jalan Dutamas 1, Kuala Lumpur. Opens 10am-5.30pm. Hotline: 03-6201-5360.

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my
 

The Star Online

Copyright 2010 All Rights Reserved