Archive for the 'MyWeek' Category

While not a great opera fan, I’ve always enjoyed Mozart for the jolly tunes. It never occurred to me you could combine those hummable arias with African drums and tribal dancing and end up with a toe-tapping, cross-cultural take on an old Classic. Until I saw the South African township version of The Magic Flute - Impempe Yomlingo.

The main story remains of a young knight/ warrior Tamina on the quest to rescue Pamina, the daughter of the Queen of the Night, accompanied by comic sidekick Papagena, the bird catcher. When he finds her in the control of Sarastro, he must go through three trials of initiation. It turns out that Sarastro’s not a tyrant but a wise old man and it is the Queen of the Night who is of a much meaner spirit. (Opera plots are all rather ludicrous and this one is no different so I don’t plan to go into the story in any more detail than this - for those who want to find out more, click on the embedded link for synopsis of: the Magic Flute story ) However, the costumes, language, music and instruments have all been transposed to Africa - with African tribal dress as well as modern black icons like Afro hair and kaftans; Xhosa (the clicking language) and English; African drums, wooden xylophones, whistling, voiced harmonies and hand clapping rhythms creating the sites and sounds of an African woodland.

The singing was still operatic in style, though for purists a bit raw round the edges in some cases. The Queen of the Night was spectacular - and very scary! What I enjoyed the most were the moments when the well-known tunes from 18th century Austria loosed into African harmonies and women would start ululating, the ensemble would break into tribal dancing and the drums and clapping would reverberate through the theatre.

What is impressive is that the cast are all from the township of Khayelitsha in Cape Town, with no formal operatic training.

This production is from the same team who created U-Carmen eKhayelitsha, a modern reworking of Bizet’s Carmen set in modern Khayelitsha. I was absolutely enthralled by U-Carmen, the updated setting bringing out the dangerous passions at work in the opera as well as the descent of Don Jose from upright citizen into the inferno of gangs and bar (or shebeen) fights. The Magic Flute was a great opportunity to see the team live but for me was less riveting than U-Carmen - the fault for which I place squarely at Mozart’s feet: in terms of plot, Bizet’s tale of lust and murder wins hands-down any day over Wolfie’s pantomime fable. But still, I came out of the theatre humming along and tapping my toes and that’s all I needed for a wintry Monday evening!

The opera is currently at the Duke of York’s theatre in London until 12 April 2008. If it ever tours to your part of the world, go see it!

Photo credits:
Magic Flute thanks to Official London Theatre
Khayelitsha thanks to elyob from flickr.com

I didn’t manage to post anything earlier this week because I was struck down by a bout of mini-flu. It wasn’t as bad and debilitating as the virus that had me knocked out for a couple of weeks in November but it was enough to confine me to my sick bed for a couple of days.

I’m not very good at being ill. I get frustrated and fed up and bored. When I’m sleeping it’s fine, of course, cos then I don’t notice a thing - and sleep is the best thing for you when you’re ill. But it’s those times in between when you’ve slept too much but you’re still not well enough to walk around or do anything useful.

Back in the old days (5 years ago?), I would have been languishing in front of the telly, turning my brain to mush with day time TV. But these days, it’s podcasts that help me make it through the dreaded influenza. If you choose the good ones, you can be educated, entertained and amused - all without leaving your bed.

Here are just a handful of the podcasts that have kept me sane during the last few days:

The Spirit of Things - Australian radio’s spiritual discussion podcast, whose presenter Rachel Kohn has the most sooting voice I’ve ever heard.

This American Life - an award winning US series that takes a literary look at true stories about ordinary people. Their episode about Testosterone had me laughing out loud - especially, the story about the woman who took a double dose of the hormone and began to lust after sports cars and to understand physics as well as what happened when the radio station team had themselves tested to see who had the most testosterone.

The Politics of Culture - another intelligent and in-depth US program looking at “the intersection where the world of politics and culture meet and sometimes collide”. I really enjoyed the interview with the author of the book “Starbucked” - did you know that Starbucks in the US deliberately built stores on the right hand side of the road as you commute from the suburbs to the city to make it easier for commuters to stop and buy a coffee?

The BBC World Service also has many great documentary podcasts but they are generally very earnest and keen to tell you all the troubles of the world. So, when I am feeling fragile, it’s not the best time to listen to documentaries that begin “I was nine years old when the soldiers came to the village and killed everyone…” or “Every year, 10,000 women die of [insert terrible disease]….” - or anything that refers to “Iraq”, “Jihad”, “Israel”, “political prisoners”, “genocide”, “famine”, “war” etc etc etc! That sort of thing would just make me even iller!

What are your favourite podcasts? Do you listen to different types of podcasts for different activities? Please add a comment and let me know.

We met up with some friends recently whom we had not seen for almost 18 months even though they live in London. That’s part of the London thing - everyone is so busy that it’s difficult to make time to meet up and before you know it, several months - and even years - have passed. For this meet-up, we had to put it in our diaries almost 4 months in advance as it was a matter of co-ordinating 4 diaries and different work patterns and commitments.

We were all so delighted when we finally did meet for a meal last week at Carluccio’s. We talked non-stop, catching up on what we’d all been doing and letting the conversation flow whichever way it fancied - writing, literature, social media, karate, running, health, throwing out old clothes… At the end of the evening, we promised not to leave it so long next time and planned to meet again before too long. I really hope that we will stick to our good intentions as I really enjoy the company of these friends.

I’ve been blogging about “friends” for a couple of weeks now, especially in the context of Facebook and meeting up with these real friends made me think about how my friendships in recent years have evolved since the arrival of social media into my life.

One of the reasons we had not been much in contact with these friends we met at Carluccio’s was that they are not very wired - we’ve exchanged a few emails over time but mainly to do with arranging when we next meet. One of them does not have a working email address. They are both too busy to spend much time online.

In contrast, Angie and I both love emailing, Skype, instant messaging, reading and writing blogs and do spend some time of Facebook even though we’re not great fans of it. Consequently, we have tended to keep up with those friends who are easy to connect with in these digital spaces. More than that, these digital connections have strengthened many relationships which might not have otherwise thrived. I’ve got to know my cousin who lives in Bath so much better in the last two years than in the 40+ years that we’ve been cousins - she and her husband are the most wired couple we know and as a result of Twittering, blogging and Skyping, we come across each other’s daily inconsequentials. Because of her tweets, I know when she takes the kids to the pool and what she’s making for dinner: not the most exciting news but it’s the kind of thing that if she were in my neighbourhood, we might natter about over the garden fence. It’s the small things that can nurture long friendships as much as the deep conversations about life, the universe and everything.

With my non-wired friends, I make a conscious effort to phone them, especially those who live in the Midlands or Yorkshire or Wales or elsewhere far from London, and it’s great to have a long chat over the phone. But it takes a lot of conscious effort - it has to be in the evening after work but not during dinner time and also not too late (I’ve never been sure when “too late” is - 10pm and after?). You also have to hope that you are both on good form so you can have a good conversation - long silences and flat exchanges over the phone are just too awkward. And then after you’ve psyched yourself up for all this, you get the answermachine and you have to leave a message and then it’s up to them to call you back and hopefully, they won’t get your answermachine - and so the game of telephone tag goes on until you both are home at the same time. Whew, exhausting!

Or worse. They don’t call you back. Uh-oh. Does that mean they are snubbing you? They are too busy to call back? They meant to but they’ve forgotten? They are in the throes of a crisis and it’s not the right time for a chat? Or you left your message on someone else’s answermachine - after all it was that electronic lady’s voice on the voicemail and not your friend’s voice…? Do you call again? How many times should you call again before you become a friendship stalker?

You see, it’s all too fraught, this old-fashioned telephone thing, lovely though it is when we do manage to speak. I’d love to persuade these dear but unwired friends into the world of online connection but could I? What will bring them round to the digital way of doing things? Should I even try?

Photo: thanks to Rev Dan Catt from flickr.com (CCL)

It was Christmas Day yesterday and when I woke up, the streets in my neighbourhood were still and quiet. It was like a Sunday but the stillness was much more intense, perhaps because the background hum of traffic was almost silent. Christmas is a big thing in the UK and everything shuts down by Christmas Eve so that everyone can be where they need to be by Christmas morning - for most people, that means being with their families, wherever in the country that may be and no matter how arduous the journey might be to get there, given rain, snow, fog and other transport problems.

Sipping my coffee in the front room, looking out at the deserted street, I pictured all the households in the UK filled with people just getting up and gathering in their living rooms with the Christmas tree and presents. Some of them would have been up already for hours, working on the Christmas lunch of turkey, roast potatoes and the ubiquitous brussel sprouts. There’s an unspoken pact, it seems to me, that no-one is really allowed to leave the safe, warm confines of the house on Christmas Day, unless it is to go en masse for a family walk. Or to go for an early morning run, I noted, as a couple of joggers trundled by.

What did you do yesterday? How did you spend Christmas Day 2007? Were you with your family? Or perhaps you escaped it all with an overseas holiday? Did you, like some poor souls, spend in at the airport - due to delays caused by bad weather?

Angie and I had a quiet day together, just the two of us. Some Christmases, we spend with family and do the whole Christmas festivities thing with presents, party hats, carols and lots of people all around. But some years, like this year, it’s quite nice just to spend it quietly together in peaceful tranquillity. The first time it was just the two of us for Christmas, I felt a bit strange - as if somehow, we were sad, lost souls with no friends and family. But now, I really relish it - though only for some years, not every year!

We had veal escalope in a creamy mushroom sauce for lunch, followed by Sacher Torte given to us by a friend. It took half an hour to prepare and it was delicious. I’m not a great roast turkey fan nor do I enjoy spending a festive holiday cooking for hours, so it was just perfect for us. We watched the Bourne Ultimatum on DVD - a great thrills and spills movie to grip us while outside, the afternoon darkened and the drizzle continued.

We did manage our annual Christmas Day walk in the morning before lunch. In the rain. I reckon that if we had taken a photo every year of our Christmas Day walk, at least half of them, if not more, would show us wet, cold, bedraggled and sodden - just like this year. Because Christmas Day in the UK would not be Christmas Day without rain. It can get pretty grim, I imagine, if you don’t happen to get on with your family or extended family and finding yourself trapped in a small house for 24-48 hours while it rains endlessly outside and there’s nowhere to go and nothing to do beyond the garden gate. I think that’s why on Boxing Day, some people rush to the sales - it’s the relief of running away from the intensity of that enforced time with their families!

In the park where we walk, there’s a bench that is dedicated to the memory of a man who died about 10 years ago, in his early forties. Every Christmas, there is always a bunch of flowers there. This year, there were sprigs of mistletoe interlaced in the wooden slats. I don’t know who he is and we’ve never seen who places these tokens there. But he must have been - and must still be - very loved.

It always makes me think how lucky I am that many of the people we love are still around for us to share this holiday time with.

Let me know how you spent Christmas Day - please add a comment or send me an email via the Contact link at the top right of this page.

So I wasn’t just being feeble, going down with flu a few weeks back. A study shows that the flu virus thrives in cold climates and dies out the nearer you get to the equator where temperatures get nice and hot and humid. The New York Times reports:

“Flu viruses are more stable in cold air, and low humidity also helps the virus particles remain in the air. That is because the viruses float in the air in little respiratory droplets, Dr. Palese said. When the air is humid, those droplets pick up water, grow larger and fall to the ground.”

But before we all up sticks and rush south for the winter, it’s worth remembering that in the tropics, you may not find the flu virus but there are all kinds of other grim illnesses you can get - malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever are some that come to mind.

I was reminded of a bout of fluey-type exhaustion that I experienced in my late teens while I was at Uni in the UK. I went off to the doctor who tested me for glandular fever, also known as the “kissing illness” for its prevalence among college students in the West. It came back negative and my symptoms continued to be a mystery. During the summer vacation, I headed back to Malaysia for the holidays and my parents took me off to a doctor in Kuala Lumpur. This time, they tested me for tuberculosis. I was un-nerved as TB in my mind is a pretty serious, nasty illness that killed off loads of poetic, sensitive types in English literature. But the tests also came back negative, much to our relief! In the end, the symptoms passed and I was restored to full health after some rest and relaxation at home. To this day, we don’t know what it was. But looking back on that time, what is interesting is that the different doctors tested me for wildly different illnesses, based on what would have been the most likely given their location.

It must be tough being a doctor these days in the age of global travel. It seems to me you’d have to know not just about illness that are prevalent in your locality but also about illnesses from the far corners of the earth!

Pic of John Keats: thanks to users.dickinson.edu

…. who sent me get well wishes while I was laid up with flu - via emails, comments on this blog and also Facebook. Don’tcha just love social media? Since anyone who engaged with me face to face would be risking their own health, virtual contact was the best way to cheer me up while I was stuck at home germ-ridden and infectious.

While I was languishing on the sofa, wrapped in a duvet with a hot toddy close at hand, watching rubbish TV, I was struck by how in movies everyone is healthy and if someone starts exhibiting the slightest symptom of anything, you know it’s going to end in tears.

Coughing - if any character in a movie coughs, they will be dead by the next reel. It’s going to be lung cancer, TB or in costume drama, the dreaded influenza. See the Ewan McGregor character in Miss Potter: the moment he coughs on that rainy train platform, it’s “uh-oh” for a happy ending.

Headaches - headaches can only mean one thing: a brain tumour. See Dr Green in ER.

Looking pale and fainting - cancer. See any movie involving a beautiful star playing a mom or a daughter, usually while having a difficult mom-daughter relationship.

The exception is sneezing. A character sneezing is funny for some reason and will be in sweat pants, surrounded by tissues and talking funny (fuddy) through a bunged-up nose (dose).

If you can think of any more examples of movie or TV illnesses, please add a comment so we can compile a definitive list of life-threatening illnesses diagnosed from minor symptoms….

Photo: thanks to yarnivore on flickr.com (CCL)

I’m afraid I have very bad flu so I won’t be blogging for the next couple of weeks while I lie in bed feeling very sorry for myself.

Please do check back in a couple of weeks when I hope to be restored to vigour.

Now that it’s cold and wet, and the night seems to encroach steadily on the day, my body is yearning for comfort food. It doesn’t help that the central heating at home seems to be on the blink and the air-conditioning at work thinks it’s still summer and I seem to have spent most of the last ten days scrunched up in a physical huddle, feeling cold and miserable. All I want to eat is everything that is stodgy and unhealthy:

# Deep fried fish in thick batter with greasy chips, reeking of salt and vinegar - preferably in newsprint paper held in both cold hands as the grease oozes through the paper. And with that distinct greasy paper smell.

# Hot bangers and mash, in a pool of steaming gravy

# Steamed sponge pudding in a pool of treacle, drenched in hot yellow custard

# Juicy minced beef baked into lasagne, moussaka, cottage pie or shepherd’s pie

# Apple stewed with dates and cinnamon and then baked in the oven with a thick, sugary, crunchy crumble on top and enveloped in double cream or more hot yellow custard

# The ultimate English/ American breakfast and/ or mixed grill - bacon, egg, sausages, chips, toast dripping with butter, baked beans, mushrooms, tomatoes, hash browns, steak, grilled lamb chops, grilled pork chops, all washed down with a strong cup of milky, sweet tea

Funny, isn’t it, how the list is made up of primarily English food? Imagine being faced with any of that in the tropical heat, while you’re drenched in sweat and panting. In contrast, this icy, rainy November weather is perfect - especially if you’ve been out in the cold and wet doing something spiffingly British like going for a brisk walk in the rain up a hill or gardening!

What’s your favourite comfort food? Do you try and justify it first like doing some random exercise in the rain? Or do you just eat it anyway, to hell with guilt?

Photo: thanks to ukmari from flickr.com (CCL)

I am pleased to announce that my social media consultancy ZenGuide and Chanda Communications are working with haute couture designer Roubi L’Roubi to create an online magazine, roubiMAGAZINE.com, to showcase the creative and cultural activities, events and personalities that are coming together as part of the Roubi network.

Our first articles for the magazine look behind the scenes at the music and talented individuals involved in the Tune Your Harps concert coming up on Monday 13 November at Claridges. We also interview the conductor Laurence Cummings and violinist Adrian Butterfield.

The concert is organised by the London Handel Society as a fundraiser for its 2008 Festival. There will be a champagne reception and dinner as well. Roubi has designed clothes for musicians and singers and is very much involved in this event on Monday. As he told my colleague Silvia Cambie for her article on the event:

He believes that working with musicians helps to elevate fashion to another level. “Fashion is just another form of art, very much like classical music,” he says. “Highly skilled musicians are the haute couture of music.”

I hope very much you’ll enjoy roubiMAGAZINE.com - and also be able to come and enjoy the music and champagne on Monday.

This is a cross-post from my social media blog ZenGuide

I set up my International Public Relations bookproject wiki a few weeks back but I’ve been hesitating about announcing it on my blogs. I finally blogged about it a few days ago and invited comments and input - and I hope very much that you will help me with my research by getting involved in this project. But the reason I hesitated is that having set up the wiki online, I found that I have a strong streak of “command and control” in my character.

I wrote my two novels all by myself and did not show them to anyone until I had finished typing “The End” on the last page. I did invite input from experts on some of the background information that I needed to create a real world for my characters to inhabit and I did occasionally discuss motivation and plot points with my writer friends. But I kept the bulk of the story and text to myself during the 18 months or so that each book took to write. And I felt very much in control as the author and creator.

So while the “social media”, open and transparent part of me is all for having a go with writing a book via a wiki online, the old-fashioned author in me has been feeling somewhat uncomfortable about this new way of doing things. Will people nick my ideas/ thesis? Will people give me unsupportive criticism? Will I feel pushed and pulled by others’ input? Will I no longer feel like the author of the work?

My worries took me by surprise as I had always considered myself an open and trusting sort of person. (Though perhaps my years of training as a lawyer has overlayed that with an armoury of suspicion…?) Friends and colleagues gave me differing views. Some advised, no way should I put it up online as people might steal my work. Others were more of the attitude: well, try it and see. The advantage is that I can invite the help of others who may have more expertise of a particular issue than I have and I always liked the saying, “two (or more) heads are better than one”. And since I may be approaching experts with whom I have no personal connection, I can refer them to the work online for them to get a sense of what the book is about and whether they feel comfortable contributing to it. Also, as I would like to include a strong cross-cultural focus, having an online presence accessible from all over the world can only be a good thing.

A number of much more well-known authors than me have shared their books online while they’ve been work in progress. Chris Anderson blogged his book The Long Tail and developed it with readers’ input. Marc Wright over at simply-communicate.com is also using a wiki for his book Handbook for Internal Communication, due for publication in March 2008. So I reckon, if it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for me.

So far, I’ve put out a few feelers to a number of experts and I hope to have spoken to an Italian writer this week and also a Korean social media / tech CEO based in Japan.

Do go and check out the bookproject wiki - and let me know if you have any thoughts on any of the issues I’m researching. Drop me an email via the Contact form above or add a comment.

Photo: thanks to smackfu from flickr.com (CCL)