R&R in nature

There are many types of travelling. There are those where you go to a huge city and strut along the streets taking beautiful pictures of architectural marvels. There are also those where you go to famous tourist attractions and try to straighten the Leaning tower of Pisa. But most of these can sometimes be hectic and fast paced. How about a long weekend relaxing in a villa surrounded by greenery to rejuvenate and revitalise our weak stressed out bodies? Yes, we have these in Malaysia too.

Awanmulan

Sekeping Serendah

The Dusun

Shorea

Normally I would bore you with lots of words about my trip and how fun it must have been, but this time I'll just put it straight and clear... R&R in nature is probably the best trip any working adult would ever want. And now here are 3 reasons why...

1. No phone signal
OK, not exactly zero signal, but that is the whole reason for going far far away from civilization, away from reality. Being away gives a sense of freedom in that you know your boss wouldn't be able to call you back to work any time. It's sad that in most other trips, even overseas, we never really get far from anything that reminds us about our jobs. So being in the woods is definitely refreshing, to be able to turn off the phone and silent those annoying notification ringtones. Remember a time when there were no mobile networking?

2. Bonding
I have been to many trips with friends and as usual they take place in either historical cities like Edinburgh or super long trip like mine in Italy. Although it is fun fumbling with maps when everyone explore foreign lands together, nothing brings a group of friends together better than a long quiet dinner under the stars. There will always have ample time to relax and chat for as long as we want while waiting for food to cook in a steamboat. We even had time for a groupie!

3. Fresh air and clean water

I know it's really cliche to say this, but 'when was the last time you took a deep breath that made you feel great?'. It is easily the simplest point I can make... the air and water in any city will most certainly be polluted, so why not consider going for a fresh air therapy and have a dip in cool clean water from the upstream. Nothing much to add to the awesomeness, just close your eyes and imagine how amazing it must have felt...

*Honestly, I have been writing and re-writing this blog post many times over the past few months because I have no idea what to write. I went for a trip to Shorea with a bunch of friends almost a year ago and had a great time there. I miss that feeling so much! I never knew how much I miss the peace and quiet moments until I experienced it first hand, in the arms of mother nature.

lalanandaFRY
5/11/14

Fire Power: Nostromo

In the 1970s and 1980s, action movies were all about big buff men showing huge biceps holding an unlimited supply of ammo, charging towards enemies as if they were just target practice... you know, the Rambo stereotype. But not all action movies were like that before, some were slow and creepy, capitalizing on the atmosphere that makes the action scenes in the movie all the more satisfying. Another thing is that not all action movies starred muscular men, some of them, like the one I am featuring here, puts a seemingly weak female officer on board a big spacecraft with an unstoppable alien.

A long time in the future, in a solar system far far away..... There was a spaceship on its way home that gets ordered to answer a distress call on an uncharted planet when all hell breaks loose. Sound familiar? It's like a typical Star Trek episode from the 1960s. But director Ridley Scott created a visually stunning horror action movie out of that simple premise, amplifying the claustrophobic environment of a spacecraft since "In space no one can hear you scream". Most women in horror movies would be portrayed as the stereotypical damsel in distress, and would normally be the first few to get killed off, but Sigourney Weaver who played Ellen Ripley was different. *Spoiler alert: like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the female protagonist survives.*

Sigourney Weaver is 5 ft 11.5 in and as Ridley Scott mentioned, she is masculine but very female, has the authority of a male and not just a junior officer. As the movie progresses, her character evolves not only on her own but affecting all the other characters around her. Therefore it makes perfect sense that her character would have the courage and strength to face the Xenomorph at the end. Nowadays we see strong female characters in an action movies all the time, but back in 1979 this was ground breaking.

7 years later, she played her character again in the sequel Aliens (1986). That movie further cemented her status as a strong heroine when she is faced with not one but a nest of Xenomorphs. She really made an impact at the final showdown with the alien queen, one of the most iconic battle scenes in film history. Weaver starred in 2 more Alien sequels and a variety of roles in other movies like Ghostbusters, Galaxy Quest and recently Avatar. But for me, she will always be the strong pilot of the Nostromo, Ellen Ripley.

This is a tribute to Ellen Ripley, the great Sigourney Weaver.

lalanandaFRY

4/11/14

Fire Power: 三毛 (Three Hairs)

In certain cases, fire power could come just from brute force, no guns, no tanks, just the power of the fist. During the 1970s, martial artists like the late Bruce Lee brought Chinese martial arts to the world. But after his passing in 1973, many others tried to ride on the success and continue making Kung Fu action films till the late 1970s when things started to get stale. A new wave of Hong Kong action stars made their entrance to the big screen, among them was Sammo Hung 洪金宝.

Based on physical appearance, nobody would expect him to be a martial arts expert. However despite being plump unlike most other martial artists, he exhibits superior agility, strength and creativity in mixing humor with martial arts. Sammo Hung is the eldest member of the Seven Little Fortunes 七小福, a performance group of the best students from the China Drama Academy guided and selected by martial arts master trainer Yu Jim-Yuen 于占元 in the 1960s. Among other members of the group are actors Jackie Chan 成龙, Yuen Biao 元彪 and action choreographer Corey Yuen 元奎.

Hung (right) in his directorial debut, 三德和尚与舂米六 (1977)

Since the 1970s, Sammo Hung has been making many martial arts comedies under his and actor Karl Maka 麦嘉's production company Gar-Bo 嘉宝 (subsidiary of Golden Harvest 嘉禾) until 1980 when he decided to start his own company Bo Ho 寶禾, co-founded Duk-Bo 德寶 in 1983 and founded another company BoJon 寶祥 for movies that he acted in. Thus far he has produced a total of 124 films in Hong Kong, many of which are action comedies he also acted and directed.

Winners and Sinners 奇謀妙計五福星 1983, directed and starred Sammo Hung (third from right).

Over the years, he has participated in many films as an actor, director, producer and most notably action choreographer. When his fellow martial arts colleagues Jackie Chan and Jet Li gained popularity in the western world during the late 1990s, US network CBS approached him to make a Saturday night TV series with Sammo as the lead role playing a Chinese police in LA. That series was called Martial Law and aired from 1998 to 2000 for two seasons. The series was successful as a prime time series but Sammo chose to leave after the second season because he felt that he was made into a fighting machine with little else to do. I remember watching this series on TV after dinner and it was so awesome. I think it was facinating to see my favourite action star back then speaking English on an American show and defeating all those bad guys with martial arts instead of guns.

After Martial Law, he returned to Hong Kong and had on and off successes throughout the years. He had another breakthrough in Ip Man (2008) as the action director and in its sequel Ip Man 2 (2010) where he also stars as the opponent to the title character.

Bonus trivia: Hung was nicknamed "Sammo" due to his resemblance to a famous Chinese comic character 三毛 (cantonese: Sam Mou).

This is a tribute to the Fat Dragon, the great Sammo Hung.

lalanandaFRY
13/10/14

Fire Power: The Third Fist

This superstar does not need a gun to have fire power, he makes fire by rubbing to ice cubes together! He is Colt, McQuade and Walker, and he is one of the most famous martial artist alive. Just how did a man who won Black Belt Magazine's Fighter of the Year award in 1969 and black belts in 5 different martial art styles not be immortal?

The first time I ever seen Mr Carlos Ray Norris was in one of his first few movies, the Bruce Lee film Way of the Dragon 猛龙过江(1972). Most people may not have seen the movie in its entirety but definitely know the most famous scene in the movie, the final showdown between Bruce Lee's character 唐龍 and Chuck Norris's character 柯尔特 (Colt), a hired Karate fighter at the Colosseum.

Although Colt was not the main villain of the movie, his fight with Bruce Lee was the highlight of the movie, showing off both their talents in the classic setting of a typical Golden Harvest style duel. At least we know one of Chuck Norris's weakness after watching this scene, chest hair!

In the 80's, Norris gained prominence as Cannon Film's top action star in many Rambo-styled films. He also starred in a long running TV series Walker, Texas Ranger which put him in the spotlight as one of the greatest martial artist turn actor alongside Bruce Lee and Jean Claude Van Damme. In recent years, he gained popularity with Conan O'Brien showing Walker clips on his show, spawning the Chuck Norris Facts craze.

How can I write a Chuck Norris without featuring a few famous facts... hahaha!

Chuck Norris was bitten by a cobra, and after five days of excruciating pain... the cobra died (Norris said it himself in The Expendables 2).

This is a tribute to the Lone Wolf, the great Chuck Norris.

lalanandaFRY
4/10/14

Happy Sweet 16, IMU Buddhist Society!

Many of you, even current IMU Buddhist Society members, probably do not know about this. IMU Buddhist Society is officially 16 years old!

Although it has only been 16 years, not much is known about the origin of the society. When I was in the committee, I got hold of some past documents that gave very little information that were vague. For one, the society was founded sometime around October 1998 by two medical students Tan Soon Kim(M1/97) and Chong Euming(M1/97), who should either be MOs, GPs or specialists by now. Back then IMU was still known as International Medical College and the Buddhist Society was known as Dharma Society. The person who might know more about this is Prof. Dr. Hla Yee Yee, who became the official advisor in September 1999 and is still the advisor until this day.

There is no doubt that IMU Buddhist Society has grown to be well established and isone of the most active societies in IMU. Throughout the years, more and more activities and programs were initiated such as regular Dharma talks/sharing sessions, meditation classes, educational trips and inter-religious forums. The blood and organ donation drive might be one of the most notable biannual events that was initiated by the society and since recent years has been jointly organized together with IMU SRC. Another activity would be the Friday Gathering, a concept conceived in 2009 that gathers members for short but meaningful activities together that fosters fellowship among all members.

the final printed newsletter published by IMUBS, September '09

My baby, the IMUBS blog is also turning 5 years old too. Not sure how many generations actually used it or whether it is still used today. I originally designed it as a medium to replace the monthly printed newsletter/bulletin. Back then as newsletter manager, I was tasked to generate monthly newsletters that was printed. There were only 2 other methods to publicize events and make announcements, SMS and the new social platform Facebook then. I ended up publishing only 2 printed issues and proceeded with multiple online-only newsletters accompanied with regular updates on the blog.

Committee members 09/10 and senior Ming Yi

It has been so many years since I last participated in an IMUBS activity and I really miss those precious moments. I sincerely hope IMUBS will continue to grow and continue to nurture more young aspiring healthcare professionals to achieve both intellectual and spiritual success in their future. May all be well and happy always.

Sadhu! Sadhu! Sadhu!

lalanandaFRY