Demi Moore, Patrick Swayze, Ghost, Clay...

Remember that scene in Ghost, with Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze behind the potter's wheel? Yup, that famous scene.

Last Saturday, a few staff gathered at the Art & Design Department hoping to be able to re-enact that scene. Our dreams of Patrick Swayze shattered when we were told that we had to undergo at least a year of basic pottery training before we are even allowed near the equipment.

Everyone arrived at the Ceramics class organised by A&D Dept eager to get our hands dirty. I even cut all my nails short for the occasion. It's not often that you can see the staff acting like kids.


L-R : Jeannie(Psychology), Yoke Yap(Nursing), Karen(Directorate), Betty(HR) and Irma(ALevels)

Clay is a more complicated material than I thought. I kept treating it like plasticine, until Cindy, our teacher, told us that if any air bubbles are formed in the clay, the whole thing will explode when baked in the kiln (oops).


L-R: Wan(Art&Design), Yati(HR) Neda and Susan(Art&Design), and Cindy(our teacher)

Most of us didn't end up with what we had in mind. Our spirits were willing, but our hands were less-than-skillful. Few of us did though - Betty (HR) managed to make the pot she wanted for her office plants with pretty butterflies surrounding it. Watch out to see if she actually decides to use it in her office.

Our MASTERPIECES before it is dried and sent to the kiln (we think they're beautiful and no one can convince us otherwise):

The Department are organising part-time courses for Basic Drawing & Painting and Basic Pottery. For enquiries, contact Tel: 7491 8622 HELENA (ext. 3500, Email: helenac@sunway.edu.my) or WAN NOORAZILA (ext. 3501, Email: noorazilaw@sunway.edu.my)

15 Grandparents Stories - A Devised Theatre Piece

Yay! Another performance by our Performance+Media students was staged yesterday. I've always enjoyed their shows and never ceased to be amazed at how talented some of these students are. I've caught a few of their previous productions, like Three Fat Virgins and The Coffin is Too Big For the Hole, and I loved...

1) how each student play multiple roles yet carry it off without confusing the audience.

2) the full use of the most minimal of props - simple and 'un-distracting'.

For 15 Grandparents Stories, these 15 students dug for stories from their grandparents to tell to the audience. The stories mostly dwelled on the Japanese Occupation, superstition, a tale or two from Africa (there was an African student in the cast), etc.

When the audience entered the Uni's Roof Top Theatre, the cast was already sitted along the back of the 'stage'.

I like the concept of having no 'backstage' and the actors have to remain in character from beginning till end.

You have to be willing to get physical if you wanna take up this course. I mean, you have to do things like this:

Hiding from the Japanese soldiers in a 'temple'

My favourite story out of the 15 had to be Under The Umbrella. It explained why our grandmothers scolded us for bringing an open umbrella into the house. Apparently, as I found out yesterday, ghosts can 'hide' under our umbrellas and we risk bringing them home with us if we do not close it before entering the house. Interesting...

Not only was it enlightening, but the student who acted as grandmother, ghost and boy-who-brought-open-umbrella-into-house-and-got-a-spanking switched between the roles effortlessly from one to the other and back again all within 5 minutes (see what I mean about the multiple roles?) as another student became the narrator.

They also used bottles filled with water and sand, leaves, and simple musical instruments to create the sound effects. Who knew that blowing unto the mouth of an empty mineral bottle can make a sound unbelievably similar to a ship's horn (see what I mean about making the full use of minimal props?)

They are going to stage the show one more time at SMK Methodish, Ipoh. Break both legs!

Terry Fox Run KL (continued)

So the Terry Fox Run was an immense success! We sent two bus-loads of students who volunteered as marshalls or simply just to run (many thanks to the Student Services Dept for sponsoring the transport).

There were more staff and student who went there with their own transportation.


You gotta love this guy:

Why?

Well, firstly he's a SunU student as you can tell from the 20th Anniversary badge he was wearing:

Second, and most interestingly, while he's busy directing the runners and cheering them on, he can bring a book to study!

Does it say 'Advanced Functions & Introductory Calculus'? Gosh!

SunU students were everywhere! Here they are!



Turn a corner...There they are again!

No prizes for guessing which SunU Admin staff this is:

A final cheer by SunU staff and students along with others from Sunway Group - SUPPORT CANCER RESEARCH!