No discrimination.....
Friday, August 31, 2007
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Redang Batik Art
Redang Island is great for its pristine white broad beaches and snorkeling activities. At one part of the long beach stretch, one can even find corals and baby sharks (they're vegetarian of course). My son also discovered 2 pairs of spectacles and a 5 ringgit note. Snorkeling is great fun at the Marine Park or even better in the middle of the ocean. Too bad I don't carry an underwater camera case along. For weekend night activity, one can stroll along the breezy beach (don't forget to bring along a torchlight), listen to sweet sentimental songs being played by a live band or hop over to Laguna Beach Resort for DJ disco partying.
One activity though that often goes unnoticed is batik painting. For a fee, one can spend a meaningful half day learning the art (plus you get to show off your painted T-shirt or canvas to your friends back home). The lady below is kind enough to let me take snapshots of her beautiful creations:
Monday, August 20, 2007
Merdeka Chess Team Rapid
The Filipinos have arrived. They came, they saw and they captured the top three prizes in the recently concluded Merdeka Rapid Team Chess championship, held at Cititel Midvalley Hotel on August 18th to 19th and sponsored largely by IGB. And they are probably saying to all Malaysians ‘Mahal Kita’ which means ‘I love you’ in Tagalog. FYI, the top spot carried a prize money of RM 8,000 plus trophy which is high in terms of cash reward in our region.
As with previous event, the Merdeka Team tournament, which is part of the week long chess festival, carried a concoction of strong and weak players, young and old, undergrads, local and state chess clubs, family teams, and even a last minute participation! We have participation from China, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Singapore and of course, the Philippines. Some flew in just in time for the tournament.
We don’t see a lot of brilliancies in rapid games - although there are more tactical play and very little consideration given to strategic planning. This is because of the high rate for mistakes, blunders and missed chances. Perhaps, in real time pressure, it’s a case of whose brain processor is more powerful! Hopefully, we’ll get to see more fire across the board in the following prime event - the Malaysian Open.
There are of course chess personalities like former world champions Bobby Fischer, Mikhail Tal and Capablanca who outperformed their opponents in blitz games, especially when in front of an audience. The best is to stay true to yourself, especially when ‘external factors’ come into play.
I thoroughly enjoyed myself during the event. In between play, I managed to capture a few shots of the event. Here’s my pictorial report :
As with previous event, the Merdeka Team tournament, which is part of the week long chess festival, carried a concoction of strong and weak players, young and old, undergrads, local and state chess clubs, family teams, and even a last minute participation! We have participation from China, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Singapore and of course, the Philippines. Some flew in just in time for the tournament.
We don’t see a lot of brilliancies in rapid games - although there are more tactical play and very little consideration given to strategic planning. This is because of the high rate for mistakes, blunders and missed chances. Perhaps, in real time pressure, it’s a case of whose brain processor is more powerful! Hopefully, we’ll get to see more fire across the board in the following prime event - the Malaysian Open.
There are of course chess personalities like former world champions Bobby Fischer, Mikhail Tal and Capablanca who outperformed their opponents in blitz games, especially when in front of an audience. The best is to stay true to yourself, especially when ‘external factors’ come into play.
I thoroughly enjoyed myself during the event. In between play, I managed to capture a few shots of the event. Here’s my pictorial report :
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Chess meets music
Chess and music are my two great companions. Both complement each other in the way we use our thinking processes. The link between these 2 great art forms are further demonstrated in the world of computing in a soon to be marketed software program called Ludwig, a product of Chessbase, a leading German chess software company. It is discovered that music composition can be programmed in much the same way as chess.
Ludwig, due out in October 2007, should be a great music composition companion for the novice musician. It is able to compose according to any level of competency, accompanied by other musical instruments or even a full orchestra, if so desired. You can choose your own ensemble. It is suitable for people like me who is not used to rote learning and playing from memory. I depend very much on notation, actually. Perhaps, the only thing we cannot control during music composition, I suppose, is the musical style, which should be very Western and classical. Here are some samples of Ludwig’s composition.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Tears in Heaven
To all fellow medical doctors (me included) - don't forget your noble calling. Consider joining Doctors without Borders for a short stint or maybe try a humanitarian organisation closer to home? Even if you belong to non-medical field, you can try applying to join as volunteers or try adopting/saving a child in a third world country at World Vision HopeChild program. Hundreds of top performing artists from all over the whole have contributed to become child sponsors including my favourite, Hong Kong superstar Andy Lau. This is no easy undertaking, of course. However, try to reimagine your humanitarian effort as part of your contribution to a worldwide unified religious affiliation.
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