Selasa, Februari 19, 2008

~ hujan turun rintik-rintik

Hari ni hujan turun...dah lama aku menunggu saat ini...musim panas macam ni seronok betul kalau hujan..teringat kat kampung...tapi hujan kat sini takde laa selebat macam kat kampung aku...masa aku perabih zaman kanak-kanak dan remaja kat Kota Tinggi dulu waktu hujan laa paling tak seronok..sebabnya tak boleh keluar bermain...tapi bila dah meningkat dewasa waktu hujan laa paling seronok sebab ada masa untuk berhenti seketika dari berbuat sesuatu..contohnya tengok tempias air hujan kat tingkap...

pagi ni aku bangun awal betul...rasanya dah hampir seminggu aku tidur awal...rasanya kalau kat KL mesti aku orang yang akan bangun paling awal..masakan tidak, kalau ditukar waktu maunya aku bangun pukul 4 pagi...tapi okay laa tu kot..bangun pagi pun seronok apa..mujur bilik aku takde air-condition...kalau tak mesti aku bangun pukul 10 pagi....hai tak sabar betul aku nak balik Malaya...jumaat ni aku ada appmt. dengan Brian..harap-harap laa pakcik tu bagi respon baik sikit...kalau tak terpaksa laa aku delay flight aku lagi....

Sabtu, Februari 09, 2008

The summer days are gone too soon...

Dear Shah,

Great to hear from you. Summer seems to have disappeared from Adelaide too. We've used our heater for the last three days; it has been cold. However, not much rain. It pelted on Thursday in the city. The carpark at Target was leaking with sheets of water on the top floor, but it did not rain at Aldgate. More rain would be good. I had been at uni in the morning returning a script to one of my colleagues from creative writing (I saw Katie C and John McConchie in the Plaza). Then I went into the Barr Smith to read a book in their rare book collection because the copy that was a Flinders has gone missing. While it rained I had lunch at Knoodle -- very tasty.

I sympathise with your supervisor problems. At least you are well ahead. I have yet to define my project and present my proposal. I am cross this milestone has not yet eventuated and would feel happier and more secure about what I am doing if only... Still, I am working towards an absract for a Creative NonFiction conference at the Uni of Newcastle in May, and hope it comes to pass -- focused work at least. Two nights ago I went to see the Bangarra Dance Theatre at Her Majesty's Theatre. It was a brilliant experience. The work is based on Indigenous Culture and the dancers seemed to breathe at one with the Land -- recreated with a wonderful set and lighting effects. The performance was at the same time deeply traditional and ultramodern in style and movement. The contemporary music score is superb. The outing put me in the mood for The Fringe and Festival of Arts, and of course Writers'Week here on the Torrens River by the Parade Ground.

I had a great holiday and enjoyed my stay in Canberra with my sister -- civilised kind of city. But I've come back to many admin and working chores -- concentration required. My brother, his wife and my nephew are arriving from Scotland at the end of Feb for a month's stay, mostly to see my mother who is growing frail. Val and Sam are busy clearing the middle room of Sam's stuff so we can make a spare bedroom. So if you do make it to Adelaide for a break, remember you are welcome here. The washing machine is also on its last legs. It is funny to see it hopping about the laundry and whining like a jet engine. The smell of burning wires is appalling. Val has ordered a new front-loader which arrives on Monday.

Molly is pleased I am home; I think the "boys" have not bothered to walk her properly. Frisky is holding her end up well for her age. Yoyo and Merry are cuddlesome and adorable as usual. Alex is moving to a house near the Ashford hospital and sharing with two friends. He will be much closer to his work in the city, have more space and be closer if we need to fetch him for anything (he still does not drive). Gotta get some work done now.

Cheers, Christine

Ahad, Februari 03, 2008

greeting from Amina ~ Scotland

Hello Shah,

thank you for the greeting e-mail. Australia might be so far away, but once you test it and you meet those wonderful friends you can never forget them. Sorry to hear you are not going to UK to study, but I am sure your time Down Under will be more rewarding and enjoyable. So, the very best of luck with your new position. Everything here is going ok, in my free time I travelled to some places in Scotland, there is the megabus, a cheap bus that gets you everywhere. I attached some pictures of Edinburgh. I hope to get some good results for my project, so I would like to present in Australia. How is Deljian doing? Please give her my greetings.

Take care, amina

an e-mail from Peter Kemp ~

Hi there Shah
I like your list and LOVE your pithily cryptic captions...OK, here goes my list:

1) Meet Me in St Louis: for Judy Garland at her heart-tugging best, and because it's about the family I never had.

2) The Night of the Hunter: the age-old battle between utter Evil and benevolent Good, as witnessed by the fairy-tale-like innocence of children.

3) Mary Poppins: the most philosophically profound film ever to emerge from Hollywood: magical. mysterious, joyous, politically subversive, and genuinely sad.

4) Notorious: Hitchcock's glamorously sexy, emotionally complex suspense classic with Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman at their peak.

5) La Belle et la Bete / Beauty and the Beast: Versatile Jean Cocteau weaves a visually sensual cinematic spell around a classic 17th Century children's-fable-for-adults...

6) The Awful Truth: the supremely talented Cary Grant once more, matched every step of the way by gifted co-star Irene Dunne in Leo McCarey's witty, giddily romantic, deeply meaningful screwball farce.

7) Rio Bravo: Howard Hawks's almost transcendental 'chamber Western' about the heroic potential of friendship and 'making negatives into positives'.

8) Une Partie de Campagne / A Day in the Country: Jean Renoir's sublime and sensually charged adaptation of a 18th Century Guy de Maupassant short story into what can be justifiably claimed as 'a perfect film': idyllic, benignly good-humoured, pantheistic, unbearably poignant.

9) Happy Together: Wong Kar-Wai's iridescently hued psychodrama addresses many different kinds of love between three different kinds of men, who also, incidentally, symbolize three different kinds of 'China-ness'. An existentially tuned post-modern classic, superbly lensed.

10) Topsy-Turvy: Mike Leigh frames the story of Gilbert and Sullivan staging 'The Mikado' around a richly observed, wonderfully funny, humanly bitter-sweet, musically splendid portrait of life in the theatre, life-as-theatre. theatre-as-life. One of my favourite endings to any film.

Cheers, PETER KEMP

Sabtu, Februari 02, 2008

Canberra ~ another postcard from Christine

Hi shah,

Just thought I would show you an aerial shot of Canberra. I'm impressed with the city. Yesterday I swam in the Murrumbridge River at Casurina Sand ~ lovely. Today up early and looked at the City Centre, before walking around Lake BG to the National Museum ~ brilliant building. Bus travel so efficient - if you have a bike, easy.

Cheers, Christine

Canberra - a postcard from Christine

Dear Shah,

Canberra is a beautiful city ~ vey clean and excellent bus service. I've been doing the sighst in the morning and working in the Chiffley Library at the ANU in the afternon. The Australian national Film and Sond Archive was very interesting. I went to Old Parliament House yesterday and the Bushfire Memorial. Today visited the Bus Market.

cheers, Christine