Language Arts Creative Group Performance... SUCCEEDED!

On Sunday night, I had to go back early to campus for our Language Arts Creative Group Performance meeting. I always dread going back to my campus early because that means I need to part with my family earlier, which is no big deal, but I find myself constantly struggling with parting and saying goodbyes to my loved ones. It's just a me thing. It's like I'm scared that something might go wrong when I'm not at home, although everyone is fine and everything is better than ever. This is why every Sunday night I struggle so badly when I want to drag myself back to the campus.

The same thing happened on last Sunday. I dragged my heavy heart along with me back to the campus and went straight to gelanggara for our meeting. I was feeling a bit confused at that time because I didn't know if the character I'll be playing is Barnum or Domino. Oh yes, if you didn't know already, the title of the drama at we have chosen for our Creative Group Performance was "The Greatest Showman". Our group consists of 8 people who has different Majors and Minors. Some of our group members are completely obsolete of Language Arts background, which I think it's totally fine because then it would be great learning and discovery experience for them. Plus our lecturer - Madam Rovena is super nice and understanding as well (people who study literature are lit!), so that made them feel at ease and stress-free during lectures and assignment presentations. 

Of course, as a TESL student, I volunteered to be the scriptwriter for this project. Working along with me is our beloved Cai Xin, whom I really adore because she's always so bold and straightforward. We took about 3 hours ++ to complete the script, of course by referring to the original movie "The Greatest Showman". Chewing was super nice because she stayed back with us to write the script and even helped us to the extent where she downloaded the movie into her phone because my portable WiFi sucks.

We selected a few important scenes and characters then built the backbone of our script together from absolutely nothing. Although our script does not contain a lot of literary devices, I think we deserved a pat of the shoulder because we really did our best and squeezed our brain juices really hard. Huge thank you to everyone who helped to complete the script! PS/ If you guys haven't watched this movie yet, please do because the plot is really interesting and it's just a very vibrant, colourful and emotional movie.

That's the secret babe!

Besides our technical role, we also needed to choose our characters to play in the drama. Since I am the scriptwriter, I added a new character that I borrowed (or stole hah) from "Deadpool 2" called Domino, whose super power is lucky for me. She's just a little different and eccentric and I think that I wouldn't need to try so hard to act because I'm pretty much in the character all day everyday. Also, I think that lucky is a quality that always intrigues people. You can't really pinpoint the quality of being "lucky", I mean, a lot of people are lucky at some points at their lives, but Domino? Domino is ALWAYS lucky, and I think that it's only right to consider that quality something extraordinary.

During the discussion on Sunday night, we finalised all the people who plays each of the characters and started practising our dialogues. We didn't really do much on Sunday night because it was pretty late and everyone has not memorised their lines. So we went through a few rounds and went back to our room to memorise the dialogues for the rehearsal next day.

On the next day, Madam Rovena came to class and asked about our progress. We told her the big idea of our drama but not really the whole picture because she wanted "the element of surprise". After she left us to rehearse on our own, we really practiced through the lines and scenes together with the backdrop projected by the LCD and the background music and sound effects. The LCD in our class malfunctioned, so Cai Xin contacted the technician to come repair. Of course, they didn't come until much later in the afternoon around 2:30pm :( So couldn't use the LCD for the whole morning.

Around 10:30am, we exchanged venue with the other group (yes, we have 2 groups) and went to gelenggara to continue practising. When the other group was done using the classroom, we then moved back to the classroom again to practise until 3:30pm and called it a day. When we were using the classroom, we also tried to set up a temporary "dressing room" by using tables and boards because some of us needed to change in a short period of time. We realised that the lines were fine, but our acting skill and the most important element of all in a musical drama/play - the songs were not so fine. And the transition from scene to scene were not as smooth as well, so we needed to coordinate that night.

Meanwhile, while I was back in my room, I tried to figure out the outfit for Domino. I Googled some of my outfit idea and initially the outfits below were my choices. I wanted to my outfit to fit my character - Domino is confident, fearless and definitely a Queen. The outfit that she wore in the movie was a bit to tight-fitted and showy but I didn't want my outfit to be that way because it wouldn't be appropriate for academic purposes. 

I went to Kim's room to borrow some props for my team only to discover that she has ALL the perfect clothes for every characters in our drama. Her clothes are mostly vintage and elaborated, which fits the characters in that setting. At this point, basically everyone's costumes and props were settled while I was still scratching my head what I should do with Domino. Domino... she's different. She's not a character from that time and place yet her characterestics were so strongly engraved in my mind. The one thing that I was sure of was - I wanted to preserve her initial personality and characteristics because I didn't want to lose the originality just because I incorporated her into a play of another setting.

Without hesitating further, I called my best friend Aina to have dinner together at Gurney Paragon and accompany me to find the perfect outfit for Domino. And the bombshell? She is so spontaneous that she agreed immediately! She's leaving to mainland for praktikum next week and we have been planning to eat out as a farewell dinner for her anyway, so what better opportunity than this, right? We always talked about cafe-hopping but I figured having a dinner at somewhere fancy is kinda same. I let her pick where we should eat and finally, we ended up eating at Four Fingers, which according to Aina is always jam packed with people who wanted some Korean fried chicken goodness.

Pardon my sleepy eyes cause I was really restless that day! Aina looks pretty btw~

Both of us order different flavours and exchanged half of our fried chicken with each other to test out the flavours. It was indeed finger-licking good. Sorry, this is suppose to be KFC's tagline, but I just could not find a better way to describe how I felt haha. I'll write another post on 4 Fingers cause I'm scared I'll go on and on until I'm completely off the trajectory for this post. Foodie always gets carried away ya know!

Okay, back on my costume-hunting game, we went to a few shops that have clothes on sale like H&M, VS Outlet, Cotton On and Kitschen but to no avail. Although we went back to my campus shortly after that because we had rehearsal around 7:30pm that night, our trip to Gurney Paragon did give me another idea for Domino's outfit. I knew that I wanted that "badass bohemian" vibe (quoting Aina haha, yeah, my friend's crazy and I love her) because it's more practical than the "sexy killer" look that might end up being too revealing or too hard to find. Aina also very kindly lent me her black boots that were definitely the essence of my whole outfit because it gave me that edgy and no-nonsense vibe.

During our rehearsal, I was less nervous about other's costumes and props because Kimberley very kindly lend us her whole closet! Huge shoutout to Kimberley for being the best friend / fashion designer to me. Though, I was feeling a little antsy about our song. The songs that me and the other two freaks (Cai Xin and Kevin) that we were suppose to dance and sing to were - Come Alive and This Is Me. We hadn't really figure out the dance steps or gestures for the two dances, so we quickly made up some moves and practised to synchronise. Take this advice from a person who cannot dance: as long as your dance moves are synchronised in a group, simple moves and steps here and there are enough to make your performance look KABOOM. We run through the scenes about two times and called it a day!

After the rehearsal, I was practically worn out because of the vigorous bodily-kinesthetic activity - dancing that I just carried out, but I couldn't slow down for a minute because I need to find the outfit for Domino! Dayang needed to do the fake "poster" for our circus show and she needed our pictures. At last, I borrowed a black plain top from my roommate An Qi and a pair of bohemian loose pants from Ko Ing. For a finishing touch, I went around asking people if they have bohemian headscarf but none of them had. I had to go back to Kim again and thank God she has it. I know I can always count on her.

By the time I gathered all the pieces for my outfit, it was already past midnight. Since I am the scriptwriter, I still needed to make some corrections and adjustment to the script because each group needed to hand up a hard copy for Madam Rovena on the next day during our performance for her to evaluate. I was so tired that I couldn't even makeup. I dressed up right away, took a photo and editted my face with LOTS and LOTS of makeup with my trusty app - Pitu. If you guys are curious which photo editor I always use, I only use Pitu all the time because it's easy to use and it's the best.

This is the final product and I'm kinda happy that I got away from face-tuning my face because nobody asked haha. Kudos to Dayang for this amazing poster!

I couldn't remember exactly what we did that morning, I think all we did were the slides and the music and sound effect cause there was something wrong with it. Of course, we were all ready with our outfits and props by then.

Some of the things I didn't tell you guys early was - I asked Kevin to borrow a super dramatic wig from his Malay friend cause I saw he was wearing that bomb in his profile pic and thought that it would make my character weirder haha. Plus the original Domino had that kind of hairstyle too! On Monday night, when I tried putting on the wig, it just wouldn't fit into my big ol' head. Kevin insisted that it would fit just fine if I just tie my hair into a bun and shove it underneath the wig nicely but I believed that it was the wig's fault that I couldn't fit my head into it. It was also very unstable when I wanted to make some dance moves, so I figured I'll have to leave the wig behind.

When I went back to my room to print something for the team, I saw the wig sitting nicely on my bed and just thought of playing with it. Holy crap, it fitted! I looked into the mirror and I didn't think that I looked half as bad as I expected. An Qi helped me to secure the wig by pinning bobby pins and hair clips onto my hair. After putting 7-8 bobby pins and hair clips, the wig was officially secured! That's how I transformed from slutty Domino to totally-da-bomb Domino. You'll see later!

We went back to gelanggara and I helped my team to makeup. A lot of them actually did their own makeup too, which was better because we always know ourselves the best. I brought along my makeup bag just in case. After rehearsing a few important scenes, we changed into our character's outfit and it was show time!

The other group started first and their performance was absolutely mind-blowing! Their storyline was a spinoff from Snow White. The script was good and actually I have to admit, theirs is better because they have all the very bombastic language and huge amount of literary devices. They also very intricately incorporated a few classic lines from Macbeth into the dialogues, which I think was brilliant! All of them were really into their characters, but I really need to give extra credits to Nadine, Wei Hann and Wee Meng. Nadine was born to be Snow White's Stepmother because her acting was really that good and pure evil. On the other hand, Wei Hann was so confident when delivering his lines and his acting skill skyrocketted. Wee Meng doesn't have Language Arts background at all but the way he acted and spoken was definitely good!

I can definitely tell that Madam Rovena really liked it. The pressure on us was real. As we were acting, we definitely got into our characters way better than when we were rehearsing.

I definitely think that our drama has very important messages to deliver as well:
1. Family love: Barnum loves his family and he wanted to do everything he can to keep his promise to his wife, Charity and make Charity and his daughter - Caroline happy.

2. Dream VS Reality:  Sometimes we might get knocked down by reality, but we must not forget the dream within us. "Those who don't believe in magic will never find it? Who knows where it will lead us to?" Luckily Barnum persevered and followed his heart and made his dreams come true. We need magic in our mundane life, and sometimes magic exists simply by believing.

3. Embrace our differences and reject societal conformity: The freaks are a little different from other people and lived in shadows for their whole life because of certain expectations or standards set by the people in the society. Through the drama, we see the development of the freaks - from how they were lack of confident to performing the freaks anthem "This Is Me" proudly and unapologetically.

4. The celebration of humanity / Equality: Barnum gathers all the freaks or weirdos and gave all the confidence for them to perform on a bigger platform. No matter what shapes, sizes or colours you are, each and everyone of us are special and should be treated as equals.

We ended our drama by singing and dancing to the song "Come Back Home" together with the audience. The atmosphere reminded me of TESL night and it just made our drama so much more enjoyable and memorable because we really had fun. There were a few slips and mistakes here and there but it was definitely the learning experience that counts.

Madam Rovena gave both groups some comments and finally announced that both of the groups will be receiving full marks! Although it sounds unbelievable at first, we were soooo happy when the information finally sank in and made sense in our brains. We were so so grateful to have a lecturer like her who is always there to guide us and mould us into a better person in the future. Overall, I was happy that it was over, but also sad. A pang of bittersweet hit me right after we went back to our own rooms. It has been awhile since I really put effort into doing something and achieving something together with a team of really talented and hardworking team members and that feeling definitely makes me feel good.

Let me introduce to you, our peculiar casts of The Greatest Showman !!!

From left: Tyng Tyng as Charity, Dayang Nabila as Caroline and Zheng Hao as PT Barnum

The wife who turned into a tomato even by shaking her husband's hand haha. You did your best Tyng, proud of you!

"Daddy, I wish for a pair of ballet slippers." She is MOST adorable!

The peculiar circus familia

From left: Cai Xin as Lettie Lutz, Kevin as Shorty, me as Domino

Chewing as the very hardworking worker

An Qi as the weird man and theatre critic - Mr Benett

Looking back at all the photos, I think I looked pretty hideous HAHA Is it a bad thing that when I am hideous or silly I don't notice that at all? In fact, I also thought that I was more cool than weird but what happened was the exact opposite. I guess all the photos brings this post to its end. I just wanna express my gratitude to each and every person who made my Language Arts journey so fruitful and full of love. Below are some of the photos I took with friends from another group, enjoy~

Nadine as Snow White's stepmother. She's da best!

The darkest Scorpio duo

Jing Ting as Snow White

Terry as "The Prince" who sweet talks. Beware! xD

My dearest Si Yu as the mirror on the wall and dwarf. She looks cute with the sun-burnt look.

Stephanie as the narrator and dwarf. Look at her vans though :oooo

I certainly gained a lot of literary knowledge and widened my horizon in terms of Young Adult literature. What is more precious to me, however, is the relationship and bond that we have built with each other. Through the Language Arts subject, I got to communicate and work with so many brand new faces. I definitely learned so much from you guys too, you guys have the best attitude and work ethics, I swear. I wish all of you the best during practicum and I definitely hope that the bond that we have built will last a lifetime.

Now, time to listen to all "The Greatest Showman" soundtrack on repeat, k bye :P

Our beloved lecturer - Madam Rovena. We are forever in debt to her for she has the brightest personality and greatest soul that gently touches us brought a shift of thoughts and perspective in our minds. Thank you, Madam Rovena.

Love, J.

(some of the photos are taken from Google and screenshots from the movie)

HYPE HYPE: LIANG Sandwich Bar 粮全其美手抓饼 | Foodie Hunt

I'm sure a lot of you must have heard about "LIANG sandwich bar" by now. A whole heap of Penangites are going bananas over one of the new food store opening at Gurney Plaza, which is LIANG Sandwich Bar, a brand that serves traditional Chinese sandwich inspired by Taiwanese onion pancakes (香油葱饼).

The only thing that I would shamelessly admit is that we are not going crazy because of the sandwiches, but rather because of its ambassador - Jay Chou! I'm sure all the die hard Jay Chou fans are going crazy when they heard that LIANG Sandwich Bar is coming to Penang. The Jay Chou effect is surely not slowing down by any means even after weeks of the grand opening at Gurney Plaza. In fact, LIANG Sandwich Bar has taken a new height on the frenzied crowd in Penang by opening another branch in Queensbay mall this week! They're definitely here to establish the sandwich kingdom.

The Queensbay mall branch that just opened this week!

Actually, Jay Chou is not the only ambassador of the LIANG Sandwich Bar. I didn't know this until I went to the Queensbay mall branch, where they have a huge poster behind featuring Jay Chou and another female artiste called 孟丽 (Meng Li). Like most of you, I have zero idea of who she is. So I looked her up on Mr Google and I'm shocked to know that she's now only aged 25! Since the brand appointed Jay Chou and Meng Li as the LIANG ambassadors in 2013, which was 5 years back then - she was only 20 when she endorsed for LIANG Sandwich Bar!

Who exactly is 孟丽 (Meng Li)? Meng Li is a famous China atress who stepped into the entertainment industry in 2006 after she managed to nabbed a few titles at a reality TV show in China called 《综艺满天星》(Zong Yi Man Tian Xing). So after doing some maths, Meng Li was just 13 at that time! Speaking of a successful and empowering young woman, what a shame that I didn't get to know her earlier.

Overall, in terms of customer flow (客流), I think there are definitely more customers at the Gurney Plaza branch. Maybe it could just be wrong timing, but most of the time I'm there, the crowd at Gurney Plaza are definitely "hotter". In terms of how strategic their location is, both of them are located at the lower ground floor, which is where most of us would go when we think of food. In comparison of their menus, since they are franchaise, they have the exact same menu. In terms of customer service, I think it's definitely a win for the Queensbay mall branch. The cashier at the Queensbay mall has a smile that could light up the whole town, literally.

I love that he tries to make recommendations for the customers and tries to spark up conversation with the customers. For example, there was this one time where my friend and I approached the store just to take photo without having the intention to buy because we just had our lunch, but he smiled at us and said: "Don't worry, you can take photos as much as you like." Personal remarks and connections like this really helps to make good first impression in customers. The Gurney Plaza branch is not bad, but I think overall the freaking busy situation doesn't really gives them the opportunity to chit chat with the customers too.

Menu wise, I love all the names as they are all based on very personal experience of Jay Chou. This is why Jay Chou fans shouldn't miss this! "地表最强"is what he always refers his team to at 《中国好声音》.《简简单单》 reminds me of 《简单爱》, which is one of his really famous songs from the olden days. “哎哟，不错哟” direct Manglish translation: "Aiyo, not bad leh!" is his favourite line to say. Last but not least, I am sure a lot of you are familiar with the line "学做蛋饼" as it is the lyrics to his new song 《等你下课》. All the direct reference to Jay Chou, a very smart marketing strategy I would say! A die hard Jay Chou fans just couldn't resist not to try these Chinese sandwiches.

JC Soya Drink (RM4.90 ala carte, RM3 in set)

The first time I tasted the JC Soy Drink was at the Gurney Plaza branch. I think you guys can definitely tell from the picture that it looks way too clear and water-like for a soy bean drink. Indeed, it was tasteless and awful. I didn't pay my money to expect this kind of soya drink ya know :(

The other day when I was at Queensbay, I thought why not give the JC Soy Drink a second chance since it has the initial of Jay Chou in it? Thankfully the second try was a pleasant one. You can definitely see from the picture that it has more normal soya bean look to it - has froth that indicates that it's more rich in texture. It has a really natural soya bean aroma and it's not sweet at all. The sweetness on the scale of 1 - 10 is somewhere around 3. So for y'all who likes to indulge in the pure goodness of soya bean, definitely give this a try.

香葱抓饼 Scallions sandwich (RM3.90)

This is the most basic flavour where it has nothing else stuffed inside except for the sandwich itself. I LOVE THIS THING! I have gone back to have it a few times. It just tastes very crispy and smells really good because of the scallion (scallion is a type of onion btw). Highly recommend this flavour!

蛋葱抓饼 Scallions Sandwich with Egg (RM4.90)

This is from the "Basics" category as well. I would recommend this if you want something fuller than the Scallions Sandwich, but not those sandwiches that are stuffed with chiken meat and whatnot. It tastes softer because of the texture from the egg. There is some sort of oyster sauce in the middle of the sandwich that tastes very seafoody, so if you don't like seafood, definitely steer clear off of this.

粮派秘汁鸡肉抓饼 Liang Chicken Sandwich (RM9.90)

I actually didn't see the name and literally thought it was named "周董最爱" (Jay Chou's favourite) since there are so many other Jay Chou reference in the names haha. This one is definitely for more heavy meals, I actually think it's the equivalent of the Westerner's Subway. We have our very own oriental "Subway" too, yay! There are chicken meat slices, tomatoes, cabbage and egg. I think that it's savoury and it's a perfect balance of a healthy meal and a slightly unhealthy meal, where it makes you less guilty about what you're taking because there are veges in it.

Definitely add on the drinks if you wish to quench your thirst because they are much cheaper! Any hot beverage @RM3; Any cold beverage @RM2

These are just some other signature flavours that you could pick if you don't know what else to try or you're basic af, like me.

To be honest, I'm kind of surprised by how affordable everything is when you think of a brand that's endorsed by Jay Chou. He's an international public figure, he's so talented and his fan base is just humungous! Who knows how much LIANG Sandwich Bar even pays for his endorsement. But you get what I'm saying, I mean RM3.90 for a piece of Scallion Sandwich that tastes so good and is endorsed by Jay Chou, I'm down for it. Even the most expensive one also costs RM9.90, which is still below RM10 and you can get so much stuffing in it! Not that much, but still you get chunks of chickens seasoned with Jay Chou's sauce, so it's still pretty worth it for the price you're paying. 

The feedback I get from most of my friends at their first sight of the 手抓饼 is that it looks like one of our Malaysian's favourite food - roti canai. The ultimate question to end today's post is - what is the difference between 手抓饼 (Chinese sandwich) and roti canai? To me, they definitely taste different. The 手抓饼 from Taiwan / China is more flavourful and has more layers and texture to it while the roti canai can be pretty tasteless on its own but of course you can order roti planta or roti bom if you want more flavourful ones and the dough is thicker. 手抓饼 usually has stuffings while roti canai does not have, and is usually complimented with various kind of curry sauces to make it more spicy. Malaysians love everything spicy, don't we? Actually some are not spicy at all, just to add a tinge of "kick" to it. Generally, the 手抓饼 are more salty while roti canai in more flavourful forms like roti planta or roti bom are sweeter and more buttery.

 

Anyway, I asked Mr Google again what's their difference and I found out that roti canai is referred to as "南洋风味之简易版手抓饼" that carries the meaning "the easier version of 手抓饼", which explains the lack of layering and texture to it. Anyhow, I love both of these equally and I feel like they are both tasty, it just depends of whether you're in a "salty" or "sweet" mode that day. Definitely stop by Gurney Plaza or Queensbay mall on the day when you feel "extra salty" and grab some of the Chinese sandwiches! PS/ You can get a free photo with "Jay Chou" as well, so why not? xD

Love, J. 

some of the pictures are from Google and I do not own the copyrights to them