My knowledge of Physics in the cosmology branch is extremely limited and to be honest, I don't know much about Hawking and his contributions to the field, other than the fact that he's a damn smart handicapped physicist with a computer translator muscle detector thing. I first watched Hawking (2004) last year. The Theory of Everything seems to be a hit so:
The Theory of Everything
Amazing movie! Emotions run high in this one, it being a family-drama cum love story. The Theory of Everything gives us a glimpse into Hawking's (and Jane's) private life, directing us away from his intellect, depicting the struggles of the Hawking family as he succumbs to Lou Gehrig's disease (the famous ALS one, the famous Tuesdays With Morrie one [don't tell me how much you like the book, because I don't]), falling in love, and subsequently out of love. This movie gets in touch with his personality and is so emotional at times I won't be surprised if the movie or the actors get an award in the upcoming Oscars.
Surprisingly, there was the whole "God VS Science" notion underlying this movie. Attention is given to the conflicting beliefs between Jane and Hawking, and together with a waned passion for each other, they eventually split up which also meant tear-jerking scenes (I was so affected by Jane's "I had loved you" and Redmayne's anguish in response). A great deal of screen time was also devoted to family-drama, what with having a fatherly figure addition halfway through the movie and Jane's atrophied willpower in the face of a growing incapacitated husband (who happened to be surprisingly virile for his condition, with children coming one after another; No wonder Jane couldn't take it anymore). I thought that part, the in-between part, was abit too draggy, extremely unlike his sudden physical deterioration from a well-bodied man to a walking stick user as shown in the film.
Great deal of subtle hints were made to give us a prelude to his ailing body; how he's slower than his friends (start of movie), his awkward gait, a trip at the stairs. His eccentricities and his intellect was present but I feel not so much especially the latter?
Even though I probably know little about him, it's so amazing that geniuses like him actually still walk (or er roll, in this case) among us today.
"10 questions, each more impregnable than the last. Good luck, you'll need it."
"I could only do 9"
Overall, an amazing emotional movie fit to acknowledge the humanness of a genius!!!
^ Also check out the resemblance between the real SH and the movie's. I was thinking about how he was already rocking the hipster glasses in his prime at the start of the movie.
Hawking (2004)
A BBC televised film. From what I remember, this film was not as brilliant. It focused on his path towards his brilliant break-through (which I forgot, and still don't quite comprehend after 2 movies), so it was very physics-jargon laden and therefore equipped with a patchy knowledge of H2 Physics, I don't understand. Jane played a relatively minor role in this one, and it was a happy ending for all.
The film was interspersed with scenes of 2 scientists being filmed about their recording of 'hissings' , which I initially don't quite get the point of, but felt that they were entirely appropriate when the film ends with them.
Hawking's disabilities portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch was pretty inconsistent, I feel. I think that Eddie Redmayne was the better Hawking though.
Well it takes hell lot of recognition and respect to have two movies centered on your life, non-posthumously, under your belt. The best thing about these biographic movies is that they remind you that amazing people do grace the planet, and are remembered for good reasons.
鼓筝风采 Strumming and Drumming Concert
The last SCO concert I attended was probably a few years back. I felt really good to see some familiar faces of my previous instructors on stage.
There were several pieces played that made me want to Youtube the song just so I can hear it twice, but some songs we quite unrelatable to me and there was one called <<律动>> (The Rythm) that I was unable to fathom the style it was going for. According to the concert booklet, it was about the tiding and ebbing of the energy of the orchestra, with highlights on the guzheng and percussion.
I was too fixated on the percussion because they had a variety of instruments every now and then but on the whole I thought it was an odd messy cocktail of perc instruments playing at untimely moments and therefore didn't fit into the entire song. Idk it seemed weird to me.
<<印象國樂-大曲>> (Impressions of Chinese Music) was an interesting one, I couldn't help thinking it was some OTS for some grand Chinese period drama (seriously, go Youtube it), but it was nice.
^ <<急急风>> festive Chinese new year type, alot of percussion everywhere-kind (急急风 is a rousing percussion technique)
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| Percussionists duets |
As per Quek Ling Kiong said, the 2 perc showcase songs pit Western and Chinese perc instruments against each other, and I thought that was a very interesting concept.
The New Tomorrow - A Benefit Concert for Children Charities
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| During rehearsals |
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| Mercilessly ripped off FB |
I fumbled alot for a few songs especially <<愿>>, For Good and most of all, Le Encore. But you can't really blame me for Le Encore (lol so pretentiously french) because Mdm Chin insisted LAST MINTUE that EVERYONE should be on stage for our encore, when we (perc) hardly have the correct scores. That meant that my first time playing Le Encore (according to a WRONG, slightly different version of the score ) was during the actual concert. Of course I panicked when we were at parts of the song that was not reflected in my version of scores, but thankfully, other than spacing out during the last long note of the song (by convention, timpani should roll), I did not 放炮 anywhere.
I didn't like any of the songs we played for this concert, because they were "modern" music, ("East meets West" music, "Fusion music", fusion fusion fusion). But I signed up for this because I thought it was an opportune break from my deadly SEDENTARY and aimless lifestyle (think pringles and movies), and to do something for a good cause.
Other than the fact I have to travel back to school twice per week, it was good experience as I've never played along with some seniors and juniors who are probably 5x more musically prodigious that I am.
Most importantly, cheers to the organisers for actually making things work!
:-)
