Thank you, Lee Chong Wei!

Lee Chong Wei; a name that no Malaysians will not know and a name that has made a huge impact to the badminton world for over 19 years. A three-time Olympic silver medalist, Datuk Lee Chong Wei is truly a badminton legend and an inspiring Malaysian hero!

After diagnosed with nose cancer since last year, he has no choice but to stop his badminton career to focus on the cancer treatment at Taiwan ever since. The news shocked the whole Malaysia and we pray nothing but the best of health for this man. After confirmation of his recovery, he returned to the court but has been advised of not to undergo anymore intense training to avoid the relapse of cancer. Today, he decided to retire officially and we wish him all the best!

His achievement is nothing short of breathtaking. Although he has failed in three past attempts to win Malaysia’s first ever Olympic gold medal, but he never gives up. Winning 3 Olympic silver medals in a row, he is the most successful Olympian in Malaysian history. Although always losing in several crucial final matches (I always find that luck is always not on his side), but he is the one that unite all Malaysians through sport. People of all races gather together at mamak stall in the evening to catch his action live on huge television. Crowd cheering when he win points or hearing your neighbours scream when he won are some of the memories I had in the past (I’m sure you experienced those time too). Only Lee Chong Wei has the ability to do that.

He do wish to compete in next year’s Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games (will be his fourth attempt) but health shall comes first nevertheless. It’s okay, Chong Wei! You have tried your best and you have already made Malaysians proud! You have done enough and it’s best for you now to spend more quality time with your family and friends.

His achievement is not just limited to the Olympics. He has won a total of 69 badminton titles including a record-breaking 12 wins at the Malaysian Open. He is also a three-time Commonwealth Games gold medalist, and a four-time All England champion. He is also the king of BWF (Badminton World Federation) World Superseries with 47 titles. He held on to the position as world no.1 men single player for 6 years consecutively (from 2008 to 2013). Impressive, isn’t it? His career is so amazing that it has even been turned into an autobiography (book titled ‘Dare to be a Champion’) and a 2018 movie with his name as the movie’s title.

Thank you, Datuk Lee Chong Wei for all the contribution, inspiration and great memories you have given to us. Your superb plays on the badminton court in the past will be missed! It’s time now for the youngsters to step up the game to be back at the world stage in badminton.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

 

Zaha Hadid, the woman behind many fantastic architecture.

Zaha Hadid is a name no one will not recognize in the world of architecture. Her name always appears in whatever discussion I had with my colleagues about design projects. Her name also appears frequently in architecture-related news or articles since she and her office have been actively producing a lot of striking designs. Well, I guess she is the most famous now among all the present star architects. Well, how did she get there and how did she manage to climb to the top of the profession so successfully?

Let’s talk about a bit of her background. She is an Iraqi-British architect and would be turning 65 by end of this month.  She was born in Baghdad and grew up in one of the city’s first Bauhaus-inspired buildings during an era in which “modernism connoted glamour and progressive thinking” in the Middle East. She studied mathematics at the American University of Beirut before moving to study at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London.

In 2004 she became the first woman recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, the world’s highest honour awarded to architects annually. On the other hand, she had also received Stirling Prize in 2010 and 2011, and RIBA Gold Medal in 2015 (these two prizes are the most prestigious British awards for excellence in architecture). In 2008, she ranked 69th on the Forbes list of “The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women”. In 2012, she was also made a dame. Her architectural design firm, Zaha Hadid Architects, employs more than 350 people, and is headquartered in a Victorian former school building in Clerkenwell, London. She is also currently a professor at the University of Applied Arts Vienna in Austria.

Her buildings are distinctively neofuturistic, characterised by the “powerful, curving forms of her elongated structures” with “multiple perspective points and fragmented geometry to evoke the chaos of modern life”. She has been one of my idol architects because her designs are mostly very iconic, striking and usually stood out among the rest. She challenges the typical forms and structures, she gives new depths and dimensions to her spaces, and she ‘carved’ out things that we have never seen before most of the time. I believe that is what makes her works always being regarded as groundbreaking design. Here below are ten of her completed works that I admired:

Hungerburgbahn Station, Innsbruck, Austria.

Bridge Pavilion, Zaragoza, Spain.

Guangzhou Opera House, Guangzhou, China.

Galaxy SOHO, Beijing, China.

Riverside Museum, Glasgow, Scotland.

Heydar Aliyev Center, Baku, Azerbaijan.

Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, Michigan, USA.

Jockey Club Innovation Tower, Hong Kong, China.

Dongdaemun Design Plaza, Seoul, South Korea.

Wangjing SOHO, Beijing, China.

These projects above are only the ones completed as she do has a lot of designs not materialized since they are mostly too ambitious and some simply couldn’t accept due to the technical difficulties, high cost, and excessively extravagant appearances. For the most recent example, her winning design proposal for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Stadium is scrapped by the authority due to the above reasons I mentioned earlier. (image below)

Also, actually, Zaha Hadid had designed a skyscraper in my city, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It’s called Sunrise Tower. Another futuristic looking design with two giant holes puncturing the building’s facade. (image below) However, the developer named other architect to design and Zaha Hadid’s first work in Malaysia could not be materialized. Too bad.

I’m now thinking that it must be very good to work in Zaha Hadid Architects’ office. It’s like you are in a very distinguished design office and whoever ask you, ‘Who are you working for?’, and then I’ll say ‘Zaha Hadid’. Their reaction must be ‘Wow!’. I’m dreaming. Well, it’s like everyone knows her. Yes…even some people who are not in anyway involved in architecture knew her name. How I wish I can be as famous as her in architecture field in the future.

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)

 

Computer vs. Hand in Architectural Drawing.

In the architecture world, there are a handful of persistent debates that arise time and time again: the challenges of being a woman in the field of architecture is one of them, for example; the problems of a culture of long hours and hard work is another. But one of the most enduring arguments in architecture – especially in the academic sphere – is the battle between hand drawing and computer aided design. If you are an architect or still an architecture student, which category you are good in? Computer drawings or manual drawings? Or are you good in both? If you are, then you must be doing very great either in your study or in your job.

Me? I can say that I’m much better in hand drawings. Even before I pursue higher education in architecture, I have started sketching buildings on unwanted papers during my years in secondary school (when teachers were not around). There were friends who complimented my drawings and that just gave me further motivation to study architecture. And here, I am, a Part I Architect currently. I like sketching. It’s my hobby. Sometimes, whenever I’m out for a vacation, I would bring a small sketchbook along so that when I have the mood, I can directly draw things on it quickly. Of course, I’m not trying to say that I’m fantastic on my manual drawing skills. It’s just that I’m trained to do that especially since my past 4 years of study in my architectural degree allowed me to focus on excelling in manual drawings.

So, what about my skill in computer drawings? Ahhaa…that’s where the trouble comes. When I finally graduated with my degree few years back, I realized that I emphasized too much on hand drawings. All my past design works were manually produced and were only slightly edited by Photoshop. That’s all. Not using any CAD softwares at all. I started to feel regret knowing that I’m sucks in computer drawings and that’s a must-have skill when you are out to work. Fortunately, after these few years of working, I am able to improve quite significantly on my AutoCad skill. Well, still not very pro yet. On the other hand, I’m still at beginner level to the 3D modelling softwares like Google Sketch-Up and rendering softwares. I guess it shall be the time for me to work on these skills which are very important in architectural profession.

Hopefully, I can find a balance soon, where I can be very good in both hand and computer drawings. But right now, my stance is that both hand and computer drawings are equally important and both can actually co-exist to bring out the best of design ideas. You can follow my advice which is to focus slightly more on manual drawings during your study years and then when you start work only then you can polish your computer skills. It’s because you will not be able to learn drawing manually once you are out to work. Once you are working, you have to deal with computer drawings everyday and that’s where you can learn and improve on computer drawing’s skill as much as you can. Computer drawings and renderings are cool, accurate, realistic and useful for construction. However, hand sketches are great too when you are at the design stage, when you have no computer while on project site to show out your design solutions, or when you are meeting client and they wanted to see things real quick. Sketch on spot for them and they will be impressed.

The reason I wrote this for my blog post is because that Archdaily is also posting an article on the similar topic recently. The article is here: http://www.archdaily.com/627654/the-computer-vs-the-hand-in-architectural-drawing-archdaily-readers-respond/. It’s interesting to know that finally a famous architectural website is brought it up and I would love to be part of the debate, since I have my personal experience on this issue too.

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)

Remembering Robin Williams (1951-2014)

Quite shocked and saddened by the first news I heard this morning; the sudden death of a popular Hollywood actor and stand-up comedian, Robin Williams. He was 63. I have just recently saw him on the teaser trailer released not long ago for the film ‘Night at the Museum 3’ set to be released this coming Christmas. He was back on the big screen as President Theodore Roosevelt’s wax character in the movie. Didn’t expect that one to be his last film.

Robin Williams was a successful and an award-winning actor. Before he ventured into film career, he starred in several TV series back in 1970s and 1980s. I was not even born yet, hence not having any knowledge of his earlier roles in television career. He had also established himself as a popular stand-up comedian, having organized a number of stand-up comedian tours from 1970s till 2009. He had also involved himself into singing and theaters career and also contributing a lot in charity work. Wow…he was such a diversified star.

Perhaps, we got to know more of him from his roles in multiple films. His notable roles in films such as ‘The World According to Garp’, ‘Good Morning, Vietnam’, ‘Dead Poets Society’, ‘Awakenings’, ‘The Fisher King’, and ‘Good Will Hunting’ for which of the latter, he received Academy Award (Oscars) and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actor. He was also frequently nominated in Academy Awards for Best Actor; three times from 1987 to 1991 eventhough not winning any for this category. However, he had won Best Actor-Musical or Comedy for his role in ‘Good Morning, Vietnam’ at Golden Globes Award. A great achievement indeed.

His other more popular roles were voicing in animated films like ‘Popeye’, ‘Hook’, ‘Aladdin’, and ‘Happy Feet’ as well as acting in ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’, ‘Jumanji’, ‘The Birdcage’, and the three films in the franchise ‘Night at the Museum’. ‘Jumanji’, a 1995 movie about a board game turning to life is a very interesting film which is then followed by a sequel named ‘Zathura’. But too bad, Robin didn’t return in the sequel. I enjoyed his performance in ‘Jumanji’ very much. He was also doing very well as Theodore Roosevelt, a supporting character in the popular ‘Night at the Museum’ movie franchise. I’m going to watch its latest third installment this coming Christmas.

Earlier reports indicate that he died from asphyxiation. He may have committed suicide in the midst of battle against depression. That’s a very unfortunate dark end to this highly talented actor. I felt so sorry and sorrow just to hear on that. Anyway, I sincerely thank you for all the happiness that you have brought to us through your films. May you rest in peace, Robin Williams (1951-2014).

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)

 

 

 

An in-‘deppth’ look to Johnny Depp’s success over the decades.

I don’t think I need to introduce Johnny Depp. He is such a famous Hollywood actor known for his ever-changing, dynamic, vibrant or colourful styles and appearances in every films he involved in. He was born in June 9, 1963, which means that today is his 50th birthday. Happy birthday to this spectacular actor! Let me take an in-‘deppth’ look to Johnny Depp’s successful and award-winning career over the decades.

Depp was born in Owensboro, Kentucky, and raised in Florida, as the youngest of four children of Betty Sue Palmer, a waitress, and John Christopher Depp, a civil engineer. The family moved frequently during Depp’s childhood, and he and his siblings lived in more than 20 different locations, and finally settling in Miramar, Florida. He encountered problems from within his troubled family and also from his love relationship with partners that each didn’t last long. But that is not the case for his critically-acclaimed acting career that span for almost three decades.

Depp’s first major role was in the 1984 classic horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street, playing the boyfriend of the heroine. In 1986, he appeared in a secondary role as a Vietnamese-speaking private in Oliver Stone’s Platoon. In 1990, he undertook the quirky title role of the Tim Burton film, Edward Scissorhands. The film’s success began his long association with Burton. Depp, a fan and long-time friend of writer Hunter S. Thompson, played a version of Thompson (named Raoul Duke) in 1998’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Depp later also starred in The Rum Diary in 2011, based on Thompson’s novel. 

The first major film that turned Johnny Depp to a box office star is the Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl in 2003. Depp’s performance as the pirate captain Jack Sparrow was a major draw for audiences. He then continued as the main lead in the three  subsequent sequels; Dead Man’s Chest, At World’s End and On Stranger Tides that performed very well in worldwide box office. He had also starred in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street in 2007 directed by Tim Burton which won Depp the prestigious Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy in Golden Globe Awards. He had been nominated several times in Academy Awards for best actor too. The many faces of Johnny Depp in films:

Johnny Depp’s other notable works including Sleepy Hollow (1999), Finding Neverland (2004), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), Corpse Bride (2005), Public Enemies (2009), Alice in Wonderland (2010), The Tourist (2010), Rango (2011), Dark Shadows (2012), etc. His upcoming work would be The Lone Ranger which he played as an American Indian spirit warrior. The film is scheduled to be released next month. He had also been the director, producer or writer of several of his films. Okay..I better stop here. If I am to continue on writing his success story, this post would becomes a long essay. He is no doubt a talented actor that need no explanation any more. Happy birthday to Johnny Depp. He had made a powerful impact to Hollywood big screen.

(All images and information in this post are from various credible sources throughout the world wide web)