What is TEIRESIAS??

Hurmmmm...it is the first time ever when I read the play, I can’t understand and get the view of that play for my first glance through it. This play of Oedipus Rex as I has mentioned in my previous blog, is fairly tough to comprehend it. The book itself is called Critical Casebook:Sophocles, so is such a critical time for me to finish it..Heehehehe..But I have tried my best to come to the end of the play..In this play, there are various kinds of characters and the one that I really wanted to know is the character of Teiresias. It is such a dynamic character. When Dr. Edwin asked us to find the information about this character, I have made some study of it. In Greek mythology, Teiresias is a blind prophet, the son of the shepherd Everes and the nymph Chariclo. Teiresias is a priest of Zeus, and as a young man he encounters two snakes mating and hits them with a stick. He is then transformed into a woman. As a woman, Teiresias became a priestess of Hera, married and had children, including Manto...Hurmm I don’t think to write Teiresias’s entire story here because we already discuss it in class right. So, here we can see that Teiresias's background was important, both for his prophecy and his experiences. The figure of Teiresias has been much-invoked by fiction writers and poets. Since Teiresias is both the greatest seer of the Classical myths and a figure cursed by the gods and a man/woman, he has been very useful to authors. If you guys need more information about this character, you can simply surf it from the internet, perhaps we can share something different from these...

...cultural dance...

Hurmmm... maybe something interesting i can share with you guys about this time topic of cultural dance..When i was in my first year degree in johor, i had the experience of getting involved with “Tarian Zapin” for “Sambutan Kemerdekaan”. My batch is the one who is chosen by our college to perform this traditional dance at Dataran Bandaraya Johor. It is such a wonderful experience for me to learn about this dance, although it is quite difficult to learn it at the first time, but when you are able get the steps, you’ll definitely love it. Trust me!! Hehehhe..i really hope that one day i’ll get another chance to perform this dance. In Malaysia, i think cultures have been meeting and mixing in Malaysia since the very beginning of its history. Our Malaysia's cultural mosaic is marked by many different cultures, but several in particular have had especially lasting influence on the country. Chief among these is the ancient Malay culture, and the culture of Malaysia’s two most prominent trading partners throughout history the Chinese, and the Indians. Then, they will have their own cultural dances. For example Joget is the most popular traditional dance of Malaysia. It is a lively rendition with fast upbeat tempo and performed by couples who combine fast hand and leg movements. The Joget has its origins traced back to the Portuguese folk dance which was introduced to Malacca during the era of the spice trade. Besides, when you guys see or watch on special Chinese festivals such as the Festival of Hungry Ghosts, actors in heavy make-up and elaborate costumes perform period dramas laced with songs backed by traditional music. This one is called Chinese Opera. For the Indians, Classical Indian dances are traditionally performed in temples by devadasi (servants of God) because these dances are regarded as an offering to God, higher than offerings of donations, flowers or mantras (prayers). Then, there are many others cultural dances in Malaysia such as Mak Yong, Kuda Kepang, Sumazau, Bhangra, Datun Julud and so on. As a Malaysian, we should to be proud of our country to have these varieties of cultural dances and it would be seen as part of our country’s marks by others.

emmm..what should i do??

i don't know what to do this night and i also don't know why suddenly i pick up this critical casebook: Sophocles that i have got last few days and trying to read it for the first time.. but wow!! what kind of book that i am reading right now!!! after read only one and a half page i have asked myself, why i am learning this kind of subject..huhuhuhu it's hard for me to accept and force myself to get into the text. i have tried to continue my reading but my brain stop at the 2nd page and i am starting to think that what should i do to be a good teacher if such of text i couldn't make an effort to read it and understand it...but in the previous classes with Harold, we have done some read of dramas script and that one it seems quite ok for me to understand. perhaps it comes from our Malaysian writer..i think such kind of scripts are suitable for our students' level of proficiency and of course the Sophocles is one of the example of critical reading and Dr. Edwin knows why he gives us that book..as future teacher, we should also learn from the different sources and not only from our country itself and it's not as easy as ABC.it's such a challenge of us to be more open and learn from others.as for me,i will work hard towards this subject although sometimes it's hard for me to set up my mind that now i am learning this kind of language, i mean this language of drama...but, i'll try the best for the sake of my future as to be a teacher...

My first class of DRAMA!!

Hurmmm.... The first day of my drama class, what can I say? Perhaps for some of my friends everything will become extraordinarily normal; they can’t come late to class because it was Dr. Edwin’s class. Everyone came early for the class and for the first lesson Dr. Edwin gave us a brief explanation about his subject and luckily he was in good mood. As the initial lesson for this semester, Dr. Edwin gave us lecture about the development of theatre and based on his clarifications, I personally asked myself on why did some prefer drama over comedy since I had a long semester break at home and most of my family preferred to watch comedies during their leisure time? Emmm..... Definitely the answer was everyone interest was different and dissimilar from others and perhaps by watching comedies, it was a way to relief their tensions and will make them relax. Although I felt quite sleepy on that day, I tried my best to listen to what Dr. Edwin was trying to convey to us. Honestly, the first thing that struck my mind when this class of ‘drama’ was mentioned was fear! The night before the class, I already surfed in the internet about the definition of the drama and anything that related to it. So, here I want to share some notes about it with you guys. Besides the core factor that it’s a Dr. Edwin’s class, hehehe I’m scared if he will ask me and I don’t know anything, so it had made me to make some “research” about it. The word “tragedy” referred primarily to tragic drama: a literary composition written to be performed by actors in which a central character called a tragic protagonist or hero suffered some serious misfortune which was not accidental and therefore meaningless, but was significant in that the misfortune was logically connected with the hero’s actions. Tragedy stressed the vulnerability of human beings whose suffering was brought on by a combination of human and divine actions, but was generally undeserved with regard to its harshness. This genre, however, was not totally pessimistic in its outlook. Although many tragedies end in misery for the characters, there were also tragedies in which a satisfactory solution of the tragic situation is attained. Some days, everyone around seemed to be seeking out drama in their lives. As for me, I liked my life plain and simple…a slower version of life is always good. For some people they liked to practice drama. Not me! Tragedy often showed the lack of escape of the protagonist, whereby he or she could not remove themselves from the present environment. Whatever it was, I prefer my life simple…..good food and friends and lots of travel. I really hope that through this course, it will offer and give my course mates and me a lot of skills of teaching the language of drama as we were going to be future teachers soon and everyone of us will complete this course with flying colours...