Phases Online: In Retrospect

Camp review: Residential Bible School

2006-05-01T00:20:00.000+08:00

By Chong Joan-Lynn

Quick fix.
Nice snack.
Poor choice.

If it was your staple diet, you'd be doomed.
But hey, what about your spiritual diet?

As they say, you are what you eat.
- Snippet from RBS 2006 poster

Never heard of RBS? RBS, also known as Residential Bible School, is run by the Brethren Assemblies of Malaysia, as a ministry of Inter Brethren Assemblies (IBA) Youth Development. It is a 5-week-long Christian discipleship school for young people who have just completed their fifth form, or sixth form, or are on a break from college.

RBS is held with a three-fold goal of inspiring you to a heartfelt and committed devotion to God, instructing you in his Word in the fundamentals of your faith, so that you will grow to become a mature thinking Christian rather than a spoon-fed one, and involving you in practical service for God through the mission trips. The practical missions component gives you a chance to travel in groups to various locations around Peninsular Malaysia, where their ministry base will be the local Brethren churches.

The focus is on discipleship based on the Word of God as the foundation for all aspects of our life. It is designed to be a memorable once-in-a-lifetime experience, where the focus is on the learning, discovery and practice of basic spiritual disciplines.

Among the topics taught in RBS are Basic Christian Beliefs, Apologetics, Church History, an overview of the Old Testament and New Testament, Children's Ministry and many more. Also, practical sessions are held to help students improve the depth and quality of the activities done daily, for e.g. Worship, Prayer, Creativity, Anger: A Tool for Change, Sharing Your Faith, Relationships, and Knowing God's Will.

The classroom component of RBS is conducted at the Highlands Christian Centre (HCC). Situated up in Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands, the place is chilly throughout the day. Especially cold at the break of day, and during the night, but what's not to be missed is the weather in the late morning. Rest along the benches provided at the compound of HCC, and feel the fusion of chilly weather along with the warmth of the sunrays on your skin.

RBS not only gives you the head knowledge, it teaches you how to apply it into your heart too. It is said that the debriefing and sharing sessions are the ones that taught the students most. Also, a special session, Re-Entry is catered right before RBS ends to help students enter back into the world without forgetting everything they had learnt in RBS.

Interested in growing your relationship with God? Desiring to equip yourself with a better knowledge of God's Word? Wanting to learn skills to serve God more effectively?

RBS is the place for you.

For more information, please visit: www.rbs.org.my

Art exhibit review: Triptych

2006-04-25T09:40:00.000+08:00

By Benjamin Ong
*All photos courtesy of Benjamin Ong

Triptych: [‘trip-tik]
A set of three associated artistic works intended to be appreciated together.

Art forms, by nature, are designed to stimulate the senses: most are directed at one, while some others, two. Take, for instance, the orchestra. There is visual and aural pleasure to be experienced at a live concert. On the other hand, an audio recording is merely sound minus sight. Then we have sculptures, whose aesthetic value lies along both visual and tactile dimensions. Photographs, however, only appeal to our vision.

With Triptych, photographer Tate Ghazi achieves a whole new language for communicating both thought and feeling by fusing tactile and visual stimuli, creating textured pictures by printing digital images on various surfaces. In his own words, “Technology now allows us to take the captured image to another dimension, enabling us to create an internal synergy between the image and the surface it is printed on. Triptych is a study of such synergy, where the combined effects are greater than their separate effects.”

The exhibition at The Photographers’ Gallery in Starhill features six themed sets of three photographs each, printed on six different surfaces. Grow is a leaf motif on raw silk, while Trunk is printed on wood, as its name suggests. On pulp, rounding up the organic pieces, Shade resembles Chinese ink paintings. Then there are the inorganic ones. Buildings is a road’s-eye-view of skyscrapers printed on aluminium, and Highway is a sturdy composition on concrete. Finally, there is Spirals: three shots of a spiral staircase on stainless steel.

Tate talking about his work, Highway

Taking the novelty even further, the inorganic pieces are displayed very creatively. Spirals is set on the floor of the gallery so as to heighten the depth of the staircase, which was shot from the top down. Too heavy to be hung on the wall, Highway’s slabs are propped up on reinforcement bars, further complementing its construction site appearance. The most modern of the lot, Buildings’ three photos are printed on a single aluminium frame, and attached to the wall using only—believe it or not—very strong double-sided tape.

Yet the most striking thing about the exhibition is that these images go beyond merely describing a scene or an idea. There is a certain presence about them that transcends both physical and mental dimensions, transforming the tiny gallery into a microcosm of today’s world. Here, in this hypothetical universe of the artist’s imagination, the force of man’s advancement is pitted against the fragile simplicity of nature in a dynamic tension.

On the whole, it appears that fewer and fewer boundaries now stand in the way of artistic expression. And this is probably good news for artists whose dreams are too great for the provision afforded by conventional media. In the spirit of true innovation, a member of the audience asked, during the talk given by Tate on 16 April, if images of people would be printed on skin. He replied, as any witty artist would, “We tried, but the girl just wouldn’t fit into the printer.”

The exhibition is on until 31 May 2006. For more information, or to view the pieces, visit http://www.thephotographersgallery.com.my. Prices of the works range from RM 3,000 to RM 15,000.

Book Review: Edith Schaffer's "L'Abri"

2006-04-25T09:32:00.000+08:00

By Eunice Kua

Ever read those school girl tales, the Chalet School series? During my school days, I collected quite a number of these books, about an English boarding school in the Swiss Alps, where the girls learned French, Italian and German, invented pranks, reformed troublemakers, and got an education and later, husbands and children, in the course of the many years of the school’s history.

L’Abri is also about the daily ins and outs of an institution that started in a chalet in Switzerland, but this is a true story, and very inspirational in terms of praying specifically and waiting on God to provide - giving concrete steps and snapshots of the journey that led to and guided the growth of an international community of seekers and believers.

In September 1948, Dr. Francis Schaffer and his wife Edith, and their 3 young children Priscilla, Susan, and Debby arrived in Switzerland, an American family sent as workers to an atheistic Europe. They were living by a very practical faith, both by necessity and by conscious choice. They were there “to show forth, by demonstration, in our life and work, the existence of God.”

The family ran services and discussions, hosted young people from all over the world, provided free meals and board and, most importantly, thoughtful intellectual and spiritual discourse for students, travelers, nurses, violinists, opera singers, doctors, engineers—anyone of any faith (and they had people of many faiths) who came seriously seeking answers, whether they knew it or not, to “the basic questions which bother any thinking person.”

The book, written by Edith, first published in 1969, is a remarkable tale of how L’Abri (which is a French word meaning shelter), began and developed, including the trials of finding a place to stay, being forced out of their village, having to relocate, dealing with busy schedules and the children’s health problems.

Mrs. Schaffer writes in a clear, precise, “just the facts” style that is compelling and fast-paced. I was struck by the nature and clear-mindedness of the prayers made—e.g. for the work of L’Abri, established in 1955, they prayed “that God will bring the people of His choice to us, and keep all others away.” Indeed, at the time the book was written, only those who would truly benefit had visited, and limited resources were being well spent.

Also striking was the active faith and involvement of the whole family—not just the adults, but also the teenage and school-age daughters—a testament to how seeking and sharing truth is and can really be a lifestyle, not a job or a ‘ministry’ for designated ‘volunteers’ or ‘professionals.’

Today, L’Abri (officially called L’Abri Fellowship International) has “study centres” in Switzerland, England, Holland, Sweden, Canada, USA, and Korea and “resource centres” in Australia and Germany. Interested people can still go for a weekend or a week or more. Accommodation is no longer free of charge, but costs are kept minimal. Individualized study plans and helping with the household chores is still a feature, as it was in the early days.

More information L'Abri is available at http://www.labri.org

CD review: Corrinne May's "Safe in a Crazy World"

2006-04-16T20:41:00.000+08:00

By Siaw Mei Li

At the end of a long day at the office, I pull on my headphones, turn on something soothing and carve out a pocket of calm inside my head as deadlines chase their tails around me. On bad days, little rituals like this can feel like the only thing standing between me and a vicious (but well-deserved) kick at a mockingly malfunctional copy machine.

Of late, the music that helps me create such oases of sanity has been that of Corrinne May’s second album, Safe in a Crazy World.

I draw blank looks almost every time I ask someone “Have you heard of Corrinne May?” For most folks this side of the Causeway, the unassuming singer-songwriter-pianist-guitarist is something of a well-kept secret. In her native Singapore, however, Corrinne May-Ying Foo has a considerably stronger fan base.

Hailed as “Singapore’s answer to Sarah McLachlan”, Corrinne May sings in a clear mid-range voice tinged with soulful huskiness that ably transitions between thoughtful, meditative tracks and exuberant upbeat numbers. It is in the quieter songs that she glows, though – showcasing the intimate radiance of her vocals to best effect. Her music is self-penned, a testament to her creds as an English lit major as well as a graduate of Boston’s Berklee College of Music. She has also collaborated with Grammy-winning songwriters Carole King and Carole Bayer Sager on “If You Didn’t Love Me”, a track from her self-titled debut album.

While Corrine May is based in Los Angeles and tours primarily within the United States, she performed for Singaporean audiences as recently as the Arts Festival in February 2006. A devout Catholic who does not shy from expressing her faith in her music, she is especially popular among church circles for whom the spiritual themes of her lyrics are particularly resonant.

Safe in a Crazy World first came to me as a loan from a good friend in Singapore. I started with the title track and everything just clicked. It cut a clear straight path to my tired, work-beaten ears, reminding me I had not only the songwriter’s empathetic words but also God for company in the midst of my daily fatigue.

Other tracks on this CD carry a similarly comforting undertone of reliance upon divine providence. “Let It Go” talks about breaking free from the cycle of resentment, “Everything in Its Time” addresses the human need to know what lies ahead and “Little Superhero Girl” expresses that euphoric desire to make the everyday world a better place with the lift of heavenly joy beneath our wings. For those who enjoy burning mix CDs for loved ones at special occasions, “Happy Birthday” pays tender tribute to growing maturity while “Every Beat of My Heart” is a reluctant parting song that anyone who’s ever had a long-distance love affair will quickly relate to.

As with McLachlan, Corrinne May’s consistent, distinctive voice can border on monotony after several many listens, but it’s not an album to buy for variety. Like a friend who helps you pass quiet Saturday afternoons over tea and good conversation after clubbing the night before, Safe in a Crazy World reminds us that nothing enables the heart and imagination to take flight like being first grounded in the right things.

Corrinne May’s official website: http://www.corrinnemay.com

*NOTE from author: Despite Corrinne May’s relatively low profile in Malaysia, a colleague of mine stumbled upon a pirated CD of her album in P.J. and we took this as a sign that she can’t be doing too badly in Malaysia after all!

Music Review: "Pulse of the Metropolis"

2006-04-09T23:11:00.000+08:00

By Algene Tan

Classical music is wondeful. You can interpret the music in any way you want with a dash of imagination, allowing your emotions to be carried away by the swift expertise of the musicians concerned.

So if you enjoy listening to 'modern' classical artists such as Vanessa Mae, Bond, and Maksim, you will surely love Joanne Yeoh's debut album entitled "Pulse of the Metropolis". And it is proudly 100% Malaysian-made, too! It is a wonderful emotional journey that takes listeners through the depths of melancholy and then surfaces back into the joy of life. It is also a feast for the ears as you listen to Yeoh 'speak' to you through her electric violin, backed up by her excellent band. Most tracks are laced with 'flavours' from all over the world, which further distinguishes her music from Western modern classical artists.

Track One is the title track of the album. Yeoh invites you on a ride to the centre of the metropolis and to feel the hustle and bustle of life as expected in a large and busy city. Listening to this track vividly delivers the message that for city folks such as myself, busyness is a part of life and we thrive on it. And somehow, Yeoh manages to make it all sound exciting!

"Island Paradise" is also similarly very fast-paced, but me it is simply a collection of repetitous melodies and failed to appeal to my emotions (and imagination).

"Valley of the Kings", "The Silk Road" and "New World" gives the listener a feel of mystery, exotica and adventure, as Yeoh tells the story of historical Egypt and the discovery of new lands respectively. So as you can expect, these tracks have a tinge of East Asian music.

Track Four "'Villa' from The Merry Widow" and Track Nine "Yuan's Theme" are personal favourites of mine. Those tracks are like the multicoloured splatters of paint on a white-washed wall so fond as images of postmodern art, and as the climax builds up, even more colours show up on the wall, and the end result is far more chaotic than the beginning. By the end of the tracks, I am left with a mixture of emotions: happy, soothed and sad. Very joyously melancholic.

If you have your Bible, turn to Revelations 16:18 before you listen to the track aptly named "Revelation 1618". I personally felt the fury and fear that Yeoh was trying to portray to her listeners, and had a glimpse in my mind as to how that verse would come to pass in the near future.

Yeoh opens a door to the past and seems to want listeners to reminisce upon the journey in life we have made so far with the tracks "I Remember" and "Jauh-Jauh". They are soothing tunes and nostalgia is what you would feel while listening to the tracks.

I would certainly recommend "Pulse of the Metropolis" to every classical music listener. If you are not, perhaps listening to Joanne Yeoh can make you a convert!

Website Review: Ship-of-Fools.com

2006-04-09T22:02:00.000+08:00

By Hwa Shi-Hsia

April Fool's day was last Saturday, so I'll be thematic. Ship of Fools is one of those websites you can spend hours on, giggling helplessly. I first heard about it in a BBC News article about its attempt to create a virtual church, the rather short-lived Church of Fools. Church of Fools was something in the nature of an MMORPG, except not so big, and survived for several months and even endured Satanic visits before being shut down due to logistical problems. The perfect church for people who can't get off the computer?

Ship of Fools calls itself "The Magazine of Christian Unrest" and certainly fills that description. The name of the site is taken from a 15th century German satire about a ship filled with people practicing various vices such as "Arrogance Toward God, Marrying for Money, and Noise in Church" (Das Narrenschiff, or Stultifera Navis in Latin).

With regard to the "noise in church" bit, if you've recently moved to a new town or are planning to visit another, have a look at the Mystery Worshiper page. This contains reviews of various churches around the globe by SoF readers who drop a calling card into the offering plate to let the pastors know that they've been inspected, since one of the goals is to help churches improve their welcome, not just to poke fun at them. Various aspects of the service are written up, ranging from the serious – "In a nutshell, what was the sermon about?" – to the frivolous – "How would you describe the after-service coffee?" To my surprise someone had reviewed a Malaysian church (Trinity Methodist PJ). Hm...maybe I should apply to be a MW for when I go home later this year.

What's interesting about this site is that although at first glance it appears to be simply taking the mickey on the stupid things religious people do, behind the jokes lies the question "what are Christians doing in this world?" Just as the original Ship of Fools used humour to make readers look critically at their hearts and actions, so does this website. Once you've laughed at something ridiculous that someone has done in God's name, for honesty's sake you must ask yourself if there is anything of yours worth that kind of derision. For readers who can't keep their mouths shut – and of an engaging website like this, there must be a lot – there's a bulletin board section which has its own Ten Commandments, including a board called "Hell" for particularly fiery discussions. There are also a few regular columnists who write more 'serious' essays.

Two particularly funny sections:

Signs and Blunders: The "Signs" part may not be as familiar, since the practice of putting up giant signboards with movable letters in front of churches is not as common in Malaysia as in the US, but that doesn't mean you can't laugh at announcements like "Holy Spirit Fire Sun. 10am followed by BBQ 2pm". The "Blunders" part reminds me of the time I had to edit a bulletin for my dad's church, didn't pay attention to the spell-check software and ended up with "Cupertino" instead of "cooperation". If you have Streamyx, the video of Pastor Blake Bergstrom's sermon on Lot is well worth watching.

Gadgets for God: This section puts me in mind of the reason Pa gave for not wanting a Jesus bumper sticker on our car – "I don't want to embarrass my God". It's devoted to odd religious merchandise such as the Martin Luther Bobble Head Doll and the iBelieve iPod cover. Since I've always been a staunch disbeliever in abstinence pledge movements like True Love Waits (we don't have an anti-coveting pledge, or an anti-liar support group, do we?), the comment on Wait Wear's chastity-themed underwear had me in stitches: "If You're Reading This, I've Changed My Mind About That Abstinence Thing."

And, as I said before, it's a great place to waste time online. Solomon and his cronies really should have written something about 'sluggards' and the Internet in the book of Proverbs.

Book review: "Rumors of Another World" by Philip Yancey

2006-04-02T20:57:00.000+08:00

By Siaw Mei Li

Most of us can identify with having a friend (or two) who absolutely needs to find God. And not the sort who “needs God” because he or she is struggling for moral direction, or flailing for an emotional anchor. If anything, this person is often a model of integrity, with a brilliant mind, flourishing career and genuine interest in helping others. In short, the very kind of person that Christianity won’t reform in any outwardly obvious way.

You don’t just hand tracts to people like this.
But you might want to pass that friend a copy of Philip Yancey’s "Rumors of Another World."

I first encountered Yancey over 10 years ago through "Disappointment with God", which I still consider a masterpiece in popular theodicy. It spoke to me – a teenager tussling with doubts about God’s trustworthiness – and renewed my mind with the understanding that a Christian is not God’s pawn, but his warrior amidst life’s adversities. Most importantly, the author’s honesty reinforced his book’s key message – that sincere questions are more effective than outward shows of religious confidence in bringing a person closer to God.

There, I’ve just written a whole paragraph on a book I’m not reviewing because "Rumors of Another World" succeeds largely for the same reasons as its predecessor – intellectual exploration is seamlessly married with individual discovery to offer the reader ideas that the author has not only endorsed, but embraced.

“I write books for myself,” Yancey said. “I write books to resolve things that are bothering me, things I don't have answers to. My books are a process of exploration and investigation.”

In Rumors, Yancey uses everything from the bible to World War II memoirs to Britney Spears to illustrate his point on the reality and relevance of the God’s love through Jesus. And while he presumes a worldly, well-read reader, he also describes every illustrative anecdote with enough detail for the unitiated.

Most importantly, Yancey writes expecting his reader to be a discerning, thinking, questioning conversation partner – fully engaged in investigating with him those moments when we sense a reality deeper, greater and more awesome than what our five senses will tell us. He explains that Rumors was written, “for people in what I call the ‘borderlands of belief’ — those who probably have a strong hunch there is something real about the whole spiritual thing, but who haven’t found that realized in a fruitful way in a church setting.”

Nevertheless, this book is as useful for Christians re-examining their faith as it is for those seeking new angles from which they can communicate the practicability and relevance of Christianity in today’s world. Yancey thus sums up the place of Rumors among other titles he’s produced: “I admit that I’m at times a reluctant Christian, plagued by doubts and ‘in recovery’ from bad church encounters. I’ve explored these experiences in other books... I’m fully aware of all the reasons not to believe. Yet [Rumors] is my attempt to discover for myself why I do believe.”

*Quotes excerpted from interviews with Yancey at:
http://www.zondervan.com/features/authors/yanceyp/interview.htm
http://www.rumorsofanotherworld.com/home2.cfm

Concert Review: Global Spirit

2006-03-26T23:42:00.000+08:00

By Benjamin Ong

The most exciting thing about live music is the experience of raw energy and communication between the musicians and the audience. This is evident in large orchestra concerts, solo classical recitals, marching band shows and even U2’s live performances. Nothing comes close to jazz and Global Spirit’s concert at the KL Performing Arts Centre (KLPAC) held recently.

Global Spirit, led by saxophonist Greg Lyons of the United Kingdom, boasts a cast of international musicians with roots and backgrounds as diverse and eclectic as their brand of music. The line up includes: trumpeter Damon Brown from the UK, but lives in France; Finnish pianist Jarmo Savolainen who studied with Lyons in the United States; bassist Christy Smith an African-American with roots in two continents; and Lewis Pragasam, hailed by fans as Malaysia’s God of Drums, traces his heritage back to India. Greg Lyons himself lives and performs in Malaysia.

In true Malaysian fashion, the concert began some fifteen minutes late. But though there were false starts (when the lights dimmed several times) before the band actually took to the stage, we were not to be disappointed once they did. Leaving enough room only for a brief round of applause, the band took a bow and launched right into their first piece, a 10-minute blues number, which immediately set the tone for the rest of the evening.

Altogether, they played some nine or 10 pieces (a relatively good number for contemporary jazz) ending with Suraya, which capped the night at 11 p.m., 40 minutes later than scheduled. But after all, that’s the wonderful thing about jazz: it’s impossible to tell when the show will end, especially with the flexible room for improvisations and solos, some of the signature features of jazz.

In this, Global Spirit followed a rather predictable (but highly exhilarating!) pattern in most of their songs. Lyons and Brown led with the melody on wind and brass, while Smith and Pragasam formed the rhythmic backbone, with Savolainen playing something in between rhythmic back-up and melodic counterpoint.

At some point, the saxophonist and trumpeter would take a breather, leaving the Finnish pianist to tickle the ivories with a subtle icy humour. In turn, the rhythm section would take centre stage, with Smith developing the groove (and stretching time as if it were bass strings) and Pragasam heightening the tension with his highly energetic drum solos, before the return of the entire band.

Three things I immensely enjoyed above all. The first was their third number, a composition by Greg Lyons entitled ‘Built to Last,’ whose central melodic theme very much resembles the folk classic ‘Turkey in the Straw.’ (Lyons later mentioned that all folk music across the globe share similar pentatonic features, so it might have also sounded quasi-Chinese).

The second was the informal, inviting setting: the hall (KLPAC’s Pentas 2) is a simple box, very much like a small cineplex, with terraced plastic seats. In fact, there wasn’t even a stage! Nevertheless, this simplicity only served to highlight the excellent music, and complemented by seamless lighting changes and dry ice, raised the overall performance to ethereal proportions.

However, it was the third element that lingers most: these musicians had no airs about them. During the interval and after the concert, they would mingle with the audience, chatting over a couple of beers or so.

In a world defined by glamour and limelight, these highly-experienced international performers proved that what makes music resonate with an audience is its heart and soul. A heart beats in simple and compound time alike across various continents, and a soul is broad enough to encompass the world, yet small enough to gently warm the lives of its listeners.

* Note: Global Spirit was on March 16-18 at KLPAC. Our reviewer attended the concert held on March 17.

Movie Review: Walk the Line - A flawed singer finds redemption

2006-03-26T23:31:00.000+08:00

By Eunice Kua

Walk the Line (2005) had an all-too-short run and minimal publicity here in Malaysia. Coming on the heels of Ray (2004) last year, and being about a very American guitar player, perhaps the distributors decided it wasn’t going to be popular anyway and so did not market it. It played only at GSC cinemas at 1 Utama and MidValley.

This is a pity, as it is a fine movie. Walk the Line tells the story of Johnny Cash (played with dark, good-looking intensity by Joaquin Phoenix; Oscar nomination, Golden Globe win), popular country/rock singer who at one point was outselling the Beatles in his native U.S.A. He is still famous enough that I recognized the name, if not the music (which is hugely infectious, judging by what was in the movie. I had the insistent bass line and tunes running in my head for days afterward).

For non-Cash fans, it tells the story of his enduring love for his second wife June Carter (played by Reese Witherspoon, who won the Oscar and the Golden Globe for this role). This component forms the “human element” and the thread that sets this movie apart from what is essentially, yes, your standard musical biopic, with the tragic youthful loss, the rocky rise to stardom, the drugs and girls and booze, the constant touring, and the unhappy wife at home.

By the end of their lives, Mr. and Mrs. Cash were a saintly old Christian couple who lived and sang together. The catch is, she was his second wife, which means, of course, that he had a first one. And kids. And he left them for her. The movie handles it well, trying not to demonize anyone (except for his father, who gets some tacit blame) or glorify bad behaviour. It is sympathetic to Cash but doesn’t excuse him.

Lest you think this is a sappy girls movie – it really isn’t, guys, as the focus is very much on Mr. Cash and his travails. It opens—and later returns to—his groundbreaking concert at Folsom Prison, playing a testosterone-pumped show with the scary inmates raising a rhythmic ruckus. You see a young Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis, and was that Buddy Holly? on tour. If you are a musician, you may recognize that magic rush you get when you’re on stage and performing in perfect harmony.

I’m not sure how much artistic license the movie took with regard to the “real story”, but you could check out one of Johnny Cash’s autobiographies “Man in Black” (1975) or “Cash: The Autobiography” (1997)). The show has plenty of human drama, a nice kick of music, and, to borrow a phrase from Lemony Snicket, reasonably attractive stars. Young or old, you’ll probably enjoy it. Go watch the DVD.

Further reading:

Cash Film’s Missing Ingredient: Religion by Robert Levine, New York Times, March 4, 2006

‘Man in Black’ Johnny Cash dead at 71 by Todd Leopold, CNN, September 12, 2003

Movie review: The Crucible

2006-03-19T21:23:00.000+08:00

By Alissa Rode

Salem, Massachusetts, 1692: the Puritan settlement in America is stirred up by a group of young girls claiming themselves bewitched. Caught dancing in a forest (a crime in the community of aesthetes), they save themselves by denouncing other “witches” who have compacted with the Devil and forced them into occult behaviour. The village is stirred up into a furor till even those regarded as most saintly are condemned.

The movie is adapted from Arthur Miller’s play (he also wrote the screenplay) based on historical events in Salem. It depicts the dangers of mass hysteria and in particular its threat to a person’s sense of identity. Central to the play is the portrayal of John Proctor, the strongest rational voice in a play about the irrationality of a society. Eventually Proctor is forced to choose between his life and his conscience as he, too, is accused of witchcraft.

Daniel Day Lewis presents a winning if rather understated performance of Proctor—powerful, rational and highly respected, yet torn apart by a guilty conscience and a deep sense of honour. Only towards the end does his character pick up enough momentum to voice out the horror of the situation. He may save himself by confessing witchcraft, but then his friends will hang with the whole town believing them guilty. “I have already sold you my soul, only leave me my name!” he cries to the judge, shuddering—a broken man—in one of the most intense and moving scenes ever to come from a modern play.

In contrast, Winona Ryder plays the role of Abigail Williams, one-time adulterer with the married Proctor. She brings to Williams’ role the characteristic verve and deftness of expression which brought her fame in Girl, Interrupted. It is Abigail who leads the outcry against witchery, hoping to build up a frenzy high enough to denounce Proctor’s wife Elizabeth. She is full of contradictions, at once imagining herself “the finger of God,” yet clear-minded about her motives; exacting revenge and still demanding love: a most formidable type of spurned lover.

The movie (and play) is saved from melodrama by its novelty as a period piece (hence the freedom to use archaic and eloquent language in a rural setting) and the artful interweaving of tense, courtroom histrionics with the subtle undercurrent of bitter suspicion and unforgiveness plaguing Proctor and his wife. Joan Allen deserves a round of applause for perfectly capturing the cold-spirited Elizabeth who struggles with her own weaknesses and lack of trust. Her reconciliation with her husband and her own search for forgiveness at the very end is heart-wrenching even to the stoniest of audiences.

All in all, the 1996 production of The Crucible is a movie well worth watching for the cast’s excellent performance and the emotional experience—from the irrational fear of the villagers, to Proctor’s helpless outrage at injustice, to the pathos of Proctor’s relationship with his wife. It is also an excellent example of how a play ought to be adapted to the widescreen—if possible, by the playwright himself.

More info on the movie at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115988/.

Book review: "Mat Som" by Lat

2006-03-19T20:54:00.000+08:00

By Hwa Shi-Hsia

One of my dad's most noticeable faults is procrastination. After asking my parents periodically through four years of college in the USA to send me a copy of Lat's Mat Som, my dad finally brought one – when he came for my graduation a week before I was due to go home for a holiday anyway. Actually, the reason I'd asked for one – I'd wanted the original Bahasa Melayu edition – was to have some reading material in colloquial Malay so I wouldn't completely lose my grip on the spoken language, which is makin lama makin berkarat after 6 years overseas and no doubt to worsen over the course of grad school.

Mat Som is a true graphic novel in that it's not a collection of comic strips or comic books but, well, a novel with pictures. To my knowledge, it's the longest narrative that Lat has done aside from his Kampung Boy and Town Boy autobiographies. This too has a semi-autobiographical feel, being the story of a young man from the kampung trying to make a place for himself as a journalist in KL. He's stuck in the mid-twenties rut of being an adult but not knowing what to make of it, his freelancer's income is dwindling by the month, and his dad wants him to tie the knot with a woman he remembers only as an old playmate's snotty five-year-old sister (it's hardly a spoiler if I mention at this point that she turns out to be far from snotty when they finally meet up).

One of the things that makes Lat Malaysia's top cartoonist is his knack for depicting not only people, but also evoking a specific world, as in the scene on the back of the book showing two characters are at a mamak stall. The point of view is above them and slightly oblique, revealing that the stall's awning is made from an old Hindi movie poster. Little black squiggles on the ground show its slickness from a recent rainstorm. Lat's art and storytelling plunge the reader into urban Malaysia; Som is his Everyman, the young but not-so-upwardly-mobile professional that many of us have been, will be, or are. He shows both the awkwardness and surprising serendipity one often finds in approaching the opposite sex: "Your cat stole my fried fish!" has got to have at least a consolation prize for one of the worst pick-up lines ever.

The only bad thing about this book is the horrible editing of the English version (Berita Publishing). Adibah Amin's translations are decent, but they were cut and pasted into the speech bubbles in a typeface. It makes you wonder why the publishers didn't ask Lat to write in the English dialogue, or at least get someone else to copy it as hand-lettering. The few speech bubbles where someone is saying a name, or an exclamation like "Oi!" are left untouched, which makes the lettering of the rest of the dialogue all the more jarring. In some bubbles, the words were erased and they forgot to replace them
altogether, as in one scene in a bus where Som shouts "MUSTAHIL!" in the BM edition and "_______" in the English. The omission bothered me so much I wrote in "IMPOSSIBLE!" with a pen.

Bad lettering aside, Mat Som is my balm for homesickness. That, and Yasmin Ahmad's Sepet.

More info on the book available at Amazon.com

Book search-engines review: Project Gutenberg & Google Book Search

2006-03-12T19:45:00.000+08:00

By Hwa Yue-Yi

What comes around goes around—after deserting library research for the internet’s instant accessibility, we now use the internet to locate books. Two good portals for this are Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org) and Google Book Search (http://books.google.com).

Project Gutenberg began in 1971 when a man called Michael Hart was given $100,000,000 of computer time by the operators of a lab at the University of Illinois. He decided that the best use of this time would be creating electronic versions of our libraries. What resulted is a collection of 17,000 free ebooks, which are downloaded in plain text format more than 60,000 times a day.

Project Gutenberg’s books come in three broad categories: light literature (like Alice in Wonderland), heavy literature (think Paradise Lost), and resources (thesauruses, encyclopedias, etc). They are available in more than forty languages, including Iroquoian, a Native American language, and Friulano, which according to Wikipedia is a type of Canadian cheese.

Lit students who use the computer to make notes will love this site; it saves both typing and manual page-flipping. (Recommendation: use with Firefox.) Unfortunately, the site primarily catalogues books with expired copyrights, so few modern novels can be found here.

Navigation is fairly easy—one click leads to the book catalog, three more can get you to the text of your choice. While the design—Times New Roman, black and brown on white—is hardly exciting, fans don’t seem to mind. The evidence of their devotion? Information about donating cash, volunteering to proofread and subscribing to newsletters. You can even access a 6,700 word essay called ‘The History and Philosophy of Project Gutenberg’.

For the less hardcore, there’s Google Book Search. The name says it all: a powerful search engine searches thousands of books for whatever keywords that you feed it. On the plus side, you get speed, scope and the clean Google interface. On the other, you have to sift through many dud results before you ‘find ones that interest you and learn where to buy or borrow them’.

Unlike Project Gutenberg, you’ll find a healthy selection of contemporary books here; Google Book Search sources books from publishers and libraries. As such, only certain (older) books can be viewed in the entirety—copyright laws only allow users to access either snippets or sample pages containing the search words. To enforce this, certain page view may require you to sign in to a Google account. In the words of the FAQ, ‘the aim of Google Book Search is to help you discover books, not read them cover to cover, so you may not be able to see every page you're interested in’.

The pages that you do get to see, however, are worth it: they are displayed in their full glory, i.e. as pictures rather than in text format. To see the books in the, well, paper, there are two options: firstly ‘Find it in a Library’, which will probably not benefit those in Malaysia, and the helpful (I suppose) ‘Buy this Book’ links which lead you to online bookstores.

This search’s amazing breadth makes it suitable for anyone, from the idle browser to the serious researcher. The word ‘apples’ showed up on 278,000 pages. ‘Jesus’ yielded 2,130,000; ‘Malaysia’, 218,000; ‘solipsism’, 18,400; and ‘Friulano’, 1,050.

With the astronomical numbers associated with both of these sites, one wonders whether we will one day have books telling us how to use the internet to find books. Whether or not that happens, hordes of book lovers will be enjoying the convenience and sheer geeky fun that Project Gutenberg and Google Book Search offer.

CD review: Casting Crowns' "Lifesong"

2006-03-12T17:29:00.000+08:00

By Tee Shern Ren

"Worship is so much more than the songs I sing ... If my life does not worship Him, my songs don't either."

Lifesong, the second album by Casting Crowns, explores how faith, song, and life resonate in the Christian life. Are we really living what we say we're believing? The songs in this album, written by youth pastor Mark Hall, work to convict us of our shortcomings and exhort us to come to Christ for forgiveness and healing. Simple words carry deep meanings and resonate with the cry of our souls, longing to sing to God and glorify Him.

The album opens with the titular song Lifesong, an exuberant prayer for God to "let my lifesong sing to You". The lyrics remind us that our actions speak louder than our words: we may sing beautiful words in church on Sunday, but are we living those words and bringing a smile to God by our "lifesong"? The tone mellows a bit with Praise You In This Storm, a declaration of faith in God despite the storms that roll into our lives. This song, written as they watched and prayed for a precious little girl struggling with a deadly disease, affirms that "I'll praise You in this storm / And I will lift my hands
/ For You are who You are / No matter where I am". This builds on the theme of how we are to worship God with our lives as well as our words: true worship finds God even in the tough times.

"Does Anybody Hear Her" introduces the second theme that resounds through this album: how do we react to the lost around us? Does anybody hear her, or are we merely throwing "lofty glances from loftypeople / can't see past her scarlet letter"? If we really had God's love to offer, wouldn't we be able to accept the lost and lonely? This
is asked again in "Stained Glass Masquerade", a song about "happy plastic people / under shiny plastic steeples / with walls around our weakness / and smiles to hide our pain", and "Love Them Like Jesus" describing the best, yet most costly, response to the ones who are desperate for hope. Are we preoccupied with a flawless presentation and a perfect image, too proud to admit that we are flawed? Are we too focused on having all the right answers and all the right words through our own wisdom, instead of pointing people to the right Person?

"Set Me Free" is a charged story of bondage and deliverance, told through the eyes of the Gadarene demoniac (Matt. 8:28-34). It is a testimony to the power of God breaking through and helping someone to begin living for Jesus. What a contrast to the next song, "While You Were Sleeping", describing how some people missed God's big events. While Bethlehem was sleeping, "the King has left His throne / and is sleeping in a manger tonight"; while Jerusalem was sleeping, "the Father gave His only Son". Will America - will the rest of the world - be caught sleeping should Jesus come again "and leave us slumbering where we lay"? Or will be exercising a living faith?

The next song, "Father, Spirit, Jesus", is another exuberant song of praise for God and the work that He has done. "In Me" goes on to look at the great things God has asked us to do, reaching out to a lost world with the gospel of God. How can we go alone? The only way is to rely on "the power of Christ in me". Next is "Prodigal", a song about the prodigal repenting and asking for God's grace again and again, which of us cannot identify with the prodigal's cry? "Daddy here I am again ... will You take me back tonight?" Finally, the album draws to a meditative close with "And Now My Lifesong Sings", which seems to be a song of Heaven, a testimony that once everything has drawn to its close God will be glorified through our "lifesongs".

Artistically, the style exhibited here is mature and tight. If anything, it seems to be mature to the point of being just a little
too predictable. But hey, there are experimental bands and there are mainstream bands - and this band does well at being mainstream. Within their general pop-rock veneer, they explore a spectrum of forms. Defining moments in this album include rock piano riffs with Mixolydian (funky, to those who don't speak music-eses) moments in Father, Spirit, Jesus; a retro guitar intro for Stained Glass Masquerade; and some heavy metal movement in Set Me Free.

There is a tasteful balance between the instruments with the piano driving some songs, guitars driving others, and the strings providing welcometouches here and there. From upbeat rock "praise songs" to slower
ballads and metal-ish minor key cries, right to a beautiful piano-string finale, the band shows ease across the range of songs. A definite favourite! An album which sounds good, thinks deep, and pushes forward.

More info on Casting Crows, go to http://www.castingcrowns.com

Movie Review: Casshern

2006-03-05T22:24:00.000+08:00

By Justin Wong, 18, Bangsar
*Note: Not our regular reviewer

The Japanese: among which thrives a breed of exceedingly innovative individuals, whether in art or science. It was them who created Casshern: the most capturing and emotionally enchanting sci-fi fantasy ever put together on film. Nevermind the unknown director and actors in the eyes of western entertainment, nevermind the troublesome but necessary reading of English subtitles, Casshern is a refreshing breath of air for Anime-lovers and sci-fi fans alike.

Kazuaki Kiriya, director, had employed the use of striking filming techniques which are relatively new and slightly experimental. Layered in thick renderings of CGI and heavy filtering, the scenes were shot in styles and angles familiar to Manga of serious action adventure genres. The entire movie is photo-realistically picture perfect.

Armed with a flawless storyline, Casshern unfolds its plot scene by scene with minimal predictability. Elements include life and death, man and machine, hope and despair, peace and war, as well as love and hate. Set in a post-apocalyptic future (which is by now a bit common), mankind waged war between themselves, drying up the Earth to the last blade of grass. In the face of a growing health crisis due to excessive pollution, Dr. Azuma answers the call with a discovery of a miracle cure.

Upon nearing the completion of his research as funded by the military instead of the health board of the Great Eastern Union, disaster strikes. Rising from the depths came the mutants who became a bigger threat than everything else. It is now up to Tetsuya son of Dr. Azuma, who unintentionally became the only person strong enough to possibly end the war. No other live-action flick to date has a moving ending like Casshern's; when humanity itself is questioned.

The contents of the movie is obviously far more meaningful than what I have just described. Even though the story may not impress as many viewers, the captivating visuals and concepts will. Casshern will be released in the US sometime 2005; when it does, it will set a brand new benchmark for mainstream portrayal of fictional world-saving acts in moviedom. Buck up, western film-makers.

More details on the movie: http://www.casshern.com

Rating: A+

Book Review: "Passion and Purity"

2006-01-28T16:28:00.000+08:00

By Algene Tan

Many Christian youths have read (or have heard) Joshua Harris' books on love and relationships, namely "I Kissed Dating Goodbye", "Boy Meets Girl" and "Not Even A Hint". But what about the book that prompted Josh Harris to write such books on matters of the heart?

This is where Elisabeth Elliot's "Passion and Purity" comes in.

Yes, the Elisabeth Elliot, widow of missionary Jim Elliot.

She wrote "Passion and Purity" mainly based on the courtship she and Jim had, and also based on seminars, talks and letters she received from young women. Despite her age (she's now a senior citizen), she sounds very young at heart in the book, and shows good authorship by knowing where to include her experiences and lining them up with a similar experience by a youth she met/know in the recent years.

"Passion and Purity" is mostly written from a woman's point of view, but men can garner pearls of wisdom from this book too. Ms. Elliot gives practical and sound Biblical advices for both gender, which lives up to the tagline of the book "Learning To Bring Your Love Life Under Christ's Control", on nearly every aspect of relationships: The loneliness ("I'm S.A.D. Single, Available and Desperate."), the look-out period ("What do men look out for in women, and vise versa?"), the waiting period ("Is s/he the one God has given to me as my partner?"), the courtship, ("How can we have passion and yet be pure in this relationship?"), and the marriage ("It was worth the wait!").

Ms. Elliot is not all talk. She personally had placed a heavy emphasis on surrendering her love life to God. She shares candidly of her (and Jim's) experience, likening the surrending to Abraham's act of sacrificing his son Isaac on the mountain in the land of Moriah. Difficult, but the end result was simply out of this world.

The issue of how to control our passions and still be 100% pure (in all aspects, and not just physically) is certainly an urgent issue to address young people of today. Fortunately, Ms. Elliot's book is simply spot on about such urgent issue. I would certainly recommend this book to all young people, no matter if you are single or attached.

*Note: If you want to get a copy of this book, do get it from Evangel Bookstore, because they sell it at RM 7. Considering the fact that the book could cost £5 in the UK (RM 35) that's a bargain!

Here are the book details to help your book search :
Title: Passion and Purity
Author: Elisabeth Elliot
Genre: Christian Living/Relationships
Publisher: Authentic, UK
Year: 2004

*Editor: Agree? Disagree? Or just have something to say about this article? Leave a comment or write to us at phasesonline@gmail.com