26 April 2009 / 7:00 am / Posted in Art, Music

Two days before the performance of the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra at Esplanade, there was a concert entitled “Treasures of Japan,” performed by the Singapore Chinese Orchestra, together with some of the leading traditional Japanese instrumentalists. One of the things I noticed with Japanese orchestral/classical/traditional music is that it’s very very sharp. The shakuhachi makes a pretty distinct yet sharp tone, while the taiko has sharp and defined beats.

Even if the pieces were performed by the SCO, one would notice that while the pipa or erhu player is using a traditional Chinese instrument, the way they are played are still very sharp.

I particularly enjoyed the taiko performances by Eitetsu Hiyashi and of course the encore. Sadly, I wasn’t able to record anything as it was prohibited (ie. just follow law!).

A day or two before this concert, there was another concert by The Zheng Ensemble at the concourse. Their junior members performed “Butterfly Lovers,” an all-time favorite.

It’s very interesting to see how we see the roots of East Asian music from that of Chinese. Further, if we go down south to Vietnam, we see the strong influence of the Chinese in Viet music and culture. I just find it very interesting that when one quips to a Viet, “oh you look Chinese,” you’ll see long faces. I reckon this is due to 2 things. First, the Chinese invaded Vietnam when Vietnam tried to invade Cambodia. Second, when the French colonized Vietnam, they reformed their writing systems and thus breaking the umbilical cord between Vietnam and China. If the French Jesuit Alexander de Rhodes didn’t invent this new writing system and if he just studied Chinese like Matteo Ricci, perhaps Vietnam would still be using Chinese characters today, and therefore I’d be able to easily read their materials and communicate with them. However, as the French phrase goes, c’est la vie!

4 April 2009 / 5:41 pm / Posted in Art, Learning, Music

Psychology and the human condition has always fascinated me. I was a kid when I first heard about autism; until now, it’s its complexity remains a myriad an enigma to me. Last Thursday was a pretty eventful day. Apart from the DBE Phils preview (see previous post), it was the World Autism Day. I didn’t know that it was that day, and that Autism Society Philippines had an event at The Block.

As I had some time to spare, I stayed on and watched the performances. While watching, I noticed a familiar face on the stage backdrop. Reading the words, the backdrop stated “featuring TumTum Mendoza.” TumTum’s name was no stranger to me. Growing up, I’ve seen his name spread across local dailies. However, it was indeed a treat to see him perform (for free!).

The performers’ condition got me thinking about autistic savants. I’ve read about savants and autism for some time. The common denominator would perhaps be the lack of social skills - that is, the existence of a shell/bubble surrounding that person. Maybe the presence of such is much of a gift in this world where we are continually surrounded and barraged by noise received by all of our senses. A person’s ability to concentrate amid distractions is a skill too precious. Music, math, painting, etc all seem to require great concentration. Perhaps that’s the key as to why autistic savants are so good — because they are innately gifted.

The following is a demonstration of using those gifts, and championing humanity in the process.

Edit: Concentration might not be the right word. It’s more of the unique ability to focus (?) on one task and be very good at it without minding what’s happening around one’s self.

4 April 2009 / 1:54 pm / Posted in Art, Creative, Movies, Tech

I had the great fortune of watching the Philippine preview/premiere of Dragonball Evolution last Thursday, April 2, at SM North EDSA, all thanks to Bong =) — yes, for free. Was pretty skeptical since I heard from friends that it wasn’t good. Further, when I first saw the trailer months back, I kept complaining as to why the protagonist, Goku, was a white guy. I would’ve preferred the hero to be Asian, of course.

Right from the beginning of the movie up till the end, I was taken aback and was just kept in surreal awe and wonder. The movie was so clear — both in terms of visuals as well as story. In fact, it’s the clearest movie I’ve ever seen on the big screen. I deem that it played a major contributing factor for the stickiness of the movie. I understand that the cinema uses the D-Cinema system from Texas Instruments. Rather amazing I should say.

During the end credits, one name drew attention: Stephen Chow. You see, I’m an avid fan of Asian movies — especially Chinese and Southeast Asian ones. If you’ve seen Kung Fu Hustle and/or Shaolin Soccer, you would’ve noticed that the cinematography as well as martial arts choreography of Dragonball Evolution is very similar to those of the former two. When I saw Stephen’s name as the movie’s producer, it all became very clear.

While almost all, if not all, of the characters were Asian, it was very smart of them to place a white guy, who looked Eurasian, to play the role of Goku. I now understand that it’s a very good way to market the movie to the West and adds a breath of fresh air to this much-loved anime.

Dragonball Evolution’s Philippine preview - sponsored by SM Cinemas and Net-25, among others.