Hunger Games

Who else is excited for Hunger Games?! I've read all three books and thought that the whole concept of children killing each other for survival is pretty cool. Well, not cool cool but cool as this makes you think about life and appreciate it a little more. There- downward social comparison right there.
That happens whenever you look at somebody who's not doing as well as you and you feel better about that. I'm guilty of doing that-I can't help feeling that way. It's one way to keep me lifted and moving in life. I'm pretty sure everybody does it.
Anyways- I'm excited to watch Hunger Games. Especially when I'm going to be watching it with cool and rad (anybody uses this word anymore?) classmates and a super awesome professor aka Ms. Patton. I'm not trying to butter up our already super buttery greasy goodness of a professor but you gotta admit that Patton is one of the best professor that you've encountered so far in our miserable college life. She makes it less miserable, yes? =)

Also, Sara and Quency did a superb job at the Finding Chinatown video. I was pretty blowed away at how good the quality of the whole video was. Entertaining, fresh and humorous- definitely a winning combo. It was fun to read this play but to see the girls acting it out made it even better. It brings it to a whole different level and effect.

Angie: It's late. Time for bed.

Okay, hot mama Angie is making me go sleep now because I barely had any lately. Midterms are killers! Bet you guys know what I mean.. See you guys on Saturday! Bet we'll have a blast!

Play in Class

Chandele : Today was great. Everyone acted in scenes of the plays we read- Man in The Case, Sound of the Voice, Trifles.. It was pretty fun to watch. Also...Ms. Patton brought cake and cupcakes! How awesome is she?

Angie : That's really nice of her. I'm pretty sure not many other professors would do that. Also, how did you do in your scene? Did you get stage fright as you feared?

Chandele : Nope. It went surprisingly well. Yikun and I managed to act somewhat naturally. Our scene was good. 

Angie : That's awesome. 

Chandele : Yep. I like that we're acting out these scenes instead of just reading them like in other class. Acting them out definitely helped make me understand and delve into the writing a little more. 

It also made me notice things that I wouldn't have noticed if I had just read the reading alone. 

Angie : What do you mean by that?

Chandele : Well. I realize that in the Sound of The Voice, there was a sex scene. Well, not exactly a sex scene but it sort of implies it. It's kinda hard to explain but when Ever was acting the part where- 

Angie : Okay, never mind- You don't have to go into it. 

Chandele : Okay. 

On a side note-
Shout out to Ms. Patton for bringing in props for us as well as the chocolate cake and pumpkin cupcakes treat ! You're so awesome !

Sound of A Voice

OMG I hate acting. Why? Because I can't act to save my life.

But anyways- I got assigned to act in the FIRST SCENE of Sound Of the Voice. Yipee.
Honestly, this is the weirdest play that I have ever read in my life. Not that I read a lot of plays.
Still- You gotta admit that the two characters in this play are super weird. Like, really weird.
So in Scene 1, I'm supposed to be this Japanese girl with a fake name "Yokiko". I'm guessing Yokiko is this beautiful, fair-skinned, slender beauty with small red lips, big black eyes and long jet black hair. Exactly the opposite of me. Oh well, my partner and I will have to make it work.
Actually, now that I think about it, my partner would be so much more compatible as Yokiko!!
He's fair with rosy red cheeks and would totally pass for a Japanese. (Ok, I better stop now in case I offend him....)

Chandele : Angie!! What do I do?! I can't act to save my soul. How do you become that sexy bombshell killer in those movies??
Angie : Mind over matter, dear. You just have to believe that you can do it- and you can. It's that easy. Also practice. Lots of practice. You do realize that you have to go over the script more than thrice?
Chandele : Er...yeah. It's not the script that's bothering me- It's those actions and movements that comes along with it. Like here "she walks up to the vase, picks up the flower,..." I just feel really weird doing these with everybody watching.
Angie : Don't be so conscious. Everyone else will be doing the same. Besides, you got the easiest scene in the whole play. So shut up and just do it.
Chandele : ......Hmph. Okay.
Angie : And what props will you be using?
Chandele : Ergh, I would have to wear a kimono and get tea cups, plates, chopsticks and flowers and a mat. Marilyn has all that so I'm all good.
Angie : Well then. Looks like all you have to do now is rehearse with your partner and you'll be fine.
Chandele : I guess so. I should stop fretting over it and just face the fact that I would be having the weirdest "fake conversation" ever with my partner this Thursday. Accompanied with fake tea, fake food and fake flowers.
Angie : Good luck.

Oh, just to say something about this play, I'll talk a little about the props that we're using.
So, I'd just be pouring tea from the teapot into the tea cup this Thursday, but the Japanese tea ceremony is actually pretty extensive.
There are several equipments (chadōgu) used in preparing this tea which is usually followed up by a light meal.

Well, unfortunately I wouldn't be doing the tea ceremony but here's a video for you to watch if you're really interested in the Japanese tea ceremony.
It's pretty darn extensive, by the way- but enjoy, my lovelies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4t4s8P1uVE

=)

Guess what? Today's my birthday! 

(Here's a totally random picture)

I've finally turned 18 years old which is the legal age in Malaysia to drink and drive. 

Not here apparently. (Drinking age is 21) 

But that's okay, I don't see the need to get wasted anyways. 

I guess my birthday resolution would be to study harder and be more engaged in my own life. 

By that I mean to be more participative in the environment around me (And I don't mean hugging trees or anything like that) 

I mean doing something if I don't like something. For instance, I really feel bad for those homeless people I see on the streets in SF where my mom lives (I go back during the weekends). 

During the day, you see a few of them here and there begging for food-But when the sun sets, they appear as though from thin air in herds like the zombies you see in Walking Dead. 

It's sort of scary and I do feel a little uncomfortable walking around their "territory" at night but at the same time I sympathize them. I mean, there's a man who can hardly feed himself but in his cart lay three little puppies that he takes care of. 

So, I guess my way of making a little change to this is to keep my eyes open to my surroundings, be more compassionate and volunteer more to help the unfortunate. I'd like to do something more than just volunteering though- I feel like I can do so much more than that!!

Angie : Hold up there, Chandele. It's your birthday- Stop talking about stuff like that. It's such a downer. 

Chandele : Yeah, but I'm talking about making a change to my life and others' even. Although I'm taking baby steps, at least I'm doing something. Look at you for instance. You're adopting children here and there like the dude from Pokemon who catches those characters with pokeballs. Thanks to you, they are going to have so much advantages and potential in their future. Also, the amount of charity that you do. It's amazing-

Angie : Okay okay, enough about me. Today it's all about you. How are you going to celebrate your birthday?

Chandele : Well, this might sound weird but I am so not a party person. I don't like the attention. What I want today is to spend time with my family and perhaps a few close friends but that's impossible cause they're back in Malaysia. But that's okay- we have Skype. 

Angie : But your mom is here, right? I bet she has something crazy planned out as usual.

Chandele : Yeah. We're going to learn to do stunts on the trapeze later after lunch. I have never even done anything gymnastic related in my life. 

Angie : Your mom is my type of person. 

Chandele : Yep. Both of you are the hottest, most awesome mamas. Hot Mamas. 

Angie : Aw shucks. Anyways, get off your computer and go celebrate! 

Chandele : Wokaaayy.. Buh bye!

Poetry

Poetry has never been something that I liked..
Yes, I can read it briefly and find that it is a beautiful set of writing containing beautiful words- some dark and black, some happy and light.
But whenever I read it critically and try to understand the poem, nothing seems to make sense. The words didn't make sense. What is the writer trying to convey through this poem?
I'm sure that they made this poem for a purpose.
Then, in class today, we read several poems.
The first poem mentioned something about tying up a poem as though it is a person and beating the meaning out of it. That's when I realized that I have been doing that exact thing for all poems that I have read. So, I guess I can say that today, I learned to just enjoy reading the poems and the bewitching words that it contains.
I really liked The Colonel poem. Like Patton said, it is both ugly but beautiful at the same time. The writer managed to incorporate a blend of nastiness of the story with delightful words like dried peach halves. That was something that I would like to learn to do in my future writings.

Or having hot chocolate by the fireplace in a stormy night

Phew!

I'm so glad that we are done with the presentation. Speaking to a room filled with people is not something that I enjoy doing very much. 

Quency did such a great job with her part of the presentation that I am actually kinda jealous….Kidding!

Anyways, the process of presenting our topic "Prisoners' Torture" is rather gruesome and fun at the same time. Gruesome because we had to look up for those gory pictures and I didn't even post those pictures that I found in fear of someone running out of class puking!

The fun part is to see everybody wince and flinch at our presentation going "Oooh. Erghh.. Nooooo.. Ewww. OUCH."

There is definitely nothing fun about torture though. The only fun in torture would be the perverted satisfaction that the torturers obtain from torturing those unfortunate people. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chandele : Hey Angie 

Angie : Hello. How did the presentation go?

Chandele : It went surprisingly well. I didn't have a stage fright this time. 

Angie : That's good, I 'm proud of you. 

Chandele : Thanks!

Angie : You talked about torture, right?

Chandele : Yeah…Not a pretty subject.

Angie : That's for sure. If anyone dares lay a hand on any of my babies, I would kick their ass. Hard. So hard that they wouldn't even know what happened. 

Chandele : I bet you would. You're like a lioness. Mother lion.

Angie : Mother lion. I like that. 

Torture Within Persepolis

Torture is one of the themes in Persepolis. It shows up several times in the novel.

It showed up when Marjane's mother was telling her about her grandfather. She tells her how her grandfather was sent to prison because he was a communist. In prison, he was tortured. Marjane's mother says "Sometimes they put him in a cell filled with water for hours". Due to the water cell and other kinds of torture, Marjane's grandpa got rheumatism. Throughout his whole life he was in pain. Prison had ruined his health. After hearing that story, Marjane had felt terrible for her grandpa, so she took a very long bath as an act of solidarity for him. 

Another example of torture is shown through Siamak Jari, again, and Mohsen Shakiba. Mohsen Shakiba was also a political prisoner who was liberated. Shakiba was also invited to Marjane's family's home. One of the first things Shakiba mentions to Siamak is that his fingernails had grew back. He says "You remember the day they pulled out my nails? They have grown back since. Not in a normal way... but at least I have them." He also mentions how much they whipped him on his feet. He says "They whipped me so much with thick electric cables so much that this looks like anything but a foot." That sounds pretty horrible. And it tells that his feet had never got better, unlike his nails. Also, Marjane's father asks Siamak about a man named Ahmadi. He tells him that he was assassinated. But before that, he tells how he was burned with an iron, and was extorted for information.

Afghanistan Prison Torture Still Happening

The use of torture of controlled by Afghan security forces trained by the US military is still rampant in the country, according to the results of a two-week "fact-finding mission" by an internal Afghan government commission.

The earlier UN report found over half of 635 detainees interviewed had been tortured- including 80 minors- the same ratio found in a similar report in 2011.

Huffingtonpost :
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/20/afghanistan-prison-torture-un_n_2516531.html

Afghan authorities are still torturing prisoners by methods such as suspending people by their wrists, administering beatings to the soles of their feet, electric shocks, twisting detainees' genitals, removing toe nails and putting people into stress positions.

BBC NEWS : 

It says detainees in 47 facilities in 24 provinces run by the Afghan Directorate of Security and National Police have suffered abuses. 

The allegations contained in the report were first revealed by the BBC in September. 

At that time the government denied torture claims and said that the report was politically motivated.

The published report says prisoners were mostly subjected to interrogation techniques that constituted torture under international and Afghan law. 

But the UN made clear that the mistreatment was not the result of government policy.

Based on interviews with 379 prisoners, the report said that many inmates appeared to display visible signs of injuries and marks which suggested that they had been badly beaten or abused. 

Children as young as 14 were among those being held and subjected to torture. 

Nato has now stopped prisoner transfers to 16 facilities as a result of the findings and says it is monitoring the situation. 

Kabul said the report was aimed at disrupting the handover of control of security back to Afghans as foreign troops prepare to leave by 2014.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mux2tTuTxfM

Torture in Syria

I can't believe torturing is still happening. It's happening while I'm eating good food, sleeping, doing things while out there, there are people who are suffering the one of the worst kind of ordeal- Torture.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/syria-eyewitness-beaten-and-burnt-a-familys-tale-of-torture-7627524.html

It was Friday 23 March when Ahmed and his wife Maha, in her late seventies, and their 44-year-old son Yousef were taken from their home and tortured at the hands of President Bashar al-Assad's soldiers. Ahmed was at the mosque when he heard his house in the Bab Sbaa district of Homs had been shelled and rushed home with his son to pull his wife from the rubble. But his relief that she had escaped relatively unscathed soon faded.
"That's when they came and took us," he said. "They were armed and in uniform and they ordered us to follow them to one of our neighbors homes which was abandoned."
It was there that they were led to separate darkened rooms for interrogation. As he was being beaten, Ahmed could hear his son and wife's  cries echoing through the building.
"It was absolute misery," he says. "They asked over and over again who was working with the Free Syrian Army in the area. Then they brought out the blowtorch, like the kind you use for welding metal. I thought we were all going to die."

The hellish questioning lasted three hours. Yousef's back and arms are littered with dozens of burn marks, some deep gouges as the blowtorch was held to his skin for longer and longer. The fact that the family weren't detained for longer, Ahmed says, is evidence that the soldiers knew that they had nothing to do with the opposition and just fishing for information.

This happened last year, March 2012.

Thoughts on Veils and Bald Men

Chandele : Hey Angie. Today is cold. It is so cold that my brain is not functioning well in class.
BUT Marilyn always somehow make the class discussions funny-sometimes unintentionally and that helps a lot for me to focus in class- Even on cold days like today when my I'm close to being brain-dead.

Angie : Hey. Yeah, it's cold but I'm wearing a tank top and skinny jeans because pretty girls have the highest cold tolerance known to man on Earth. Anyways. What did you guys talk about in class today?

Chandele : Today's discussion was briefly about Persepolis. I absolutely love the concept of having a manga-like book to read as part of our assignment. It doesn't even feel like an assignment since I actually enjoy reading it. The only problem I have is reading ahead too far and then forgetting about specific details previous chapters on the day of the quiz.

Angie : That happens to me too.

Chandele : ANYWAYS, our class discussion moved from the use of the veil to how men are more attractive by being bald. Honestly, my mind wandered off for a second but I snapped right back listening to the word bald and attractive being used together. Bald=Attractive? Maybe, if the dude has a body like Taylor Lautner.

Angie : Pfft. Taylor Lautner? Are you serious? That dude has a face like a llama. Imagine him being bald.

Chandele : .........Okay you got me. Marilyn said those women covered their hair because of the shininess that would attract men.

Angie : I guess that would make sense. Men are nasty creatures that can't keep their dirty claws off from us pretty girls with awesome locks. I should go get a veil later in the evening.

Meet Angie Baby

Angie Baby

                                 
      Meet Angie Baby. She is hot. Who wouldn't want to be her.