This blog will be closed until next semester due to certain considerations and adjustments that need to be performed.

In life everything could be improved and this blog is not the exception. Hoping see you next semester around, please remember to keep looking at your best in everything you do.

Thank you for your support all this time and have a great and enjoyable time going back home or just relaxing.

Sincerely,
Wings Reporter Team.

Cyberjaya – Are you looking for a workout program that’s easy to learn, no equipment, and soothes your soul while toning your body? If strengthening your cardiovascular system, toning and stretching your muscles, and improving your mental fitness and more.

HYPE Club’s Yoga Division started recently their new semester yoga classes at Multimedia University, MMU. Classes began every wednesday and monday with duration one hour totally 13 classes in MMU Glass fit room. They have classes from beginner until advanced groups, male groups too. I personally joined beginner class. I had enjoyed before doing yoga and decided to join again. Yoga instructor is Ashley Chong, lovely and friendly young woman. She has been doing yoga since she was 9 years old. She is yoga instructor in MMU since 2004.

TRANQUILITY AT ITS BEST: Yoga Division recently started their new yoga classes at MMU

Yoga seems like a hot trend nowadays, but yoga actually began more than 3,000 years ago in India. The word yoga is Sanskrit (one of the ancient languages of the East). It means to “yoke,” or unite, the mind, body, and spirit.

Although yoga includes physical exercise, it is also a lifestyle practice for which exercise is just one component. Training your mind, body, and breath, as well as connecting with your spirituality, are the main goals of the yoga lifestyle. Be healthy and do yoga!

UNWINDING BODY, MIND AND SOUL: Yoga has suddenly become the hottest trend nowadays

Cyberjaya – Limkokwing University Hall of Fame was transformed into a spooky scene for this year’s Halloween Celebration titled, Trick or Treat, on Friday, 30 October 2009.

We all know that Halloween falls on October 31st. When Halloween is around the corner, the children can hardly wait to put on make-up and colorful clothes, wearing strange masks, carrying “Jack Light” lanterns channeling households and adults to ask for holiday gifts.

This year on Halloween, the Limkokwing staff gathered in the Hall of Fame to celebrate the spooky festival. The event saw students dressed up in costumes impersonating various characters with heavy make-up.

DRESSED TO KILL: LUCT students celebrates Halloween in style

Halloween activities included trick-or-treating, wearing costumes and attending costume parties, carving jack-o’-lanterns, ghost tours, bonfires, visiting haunted attractions, pranks, telling scary stories, and watching horror films.

EAT ME: A student having a fun time at the event

The night was a success with exaggerated dress combined with the blurred lights, the shuttle in the flow of the “person” with their dressed-up makeup celebrating Halloween, with the special Halloween show invariably the unique charm of the night.

Kuala Lumpur,– An adaptation of various Brothers Grimm Fairytales, entitled “A Grimm Fairytale”, were put together, performed and presented by actors from the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Center (KLPAC) at their studio at Jalan Strachan in the Sentul West area in the heart of Kuala Lumpur on Friday 30^th October 2009.

The play consisted of several well known fairy tales including Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Hansel and Gretel. The play continued for two nights, one on the 30^th October and the second on the 1^st of November at the Pentas 2 of the KLPAC studio in their main building.

The play A Grimm Fairytale’s storyline and presentation has an urban and modern feel to it, while combining video imagery and “old school” theater elements to provide a bold, illusion and imagination based drama, filled with the same fairytale elements we all know and remember. With only a screen as its backdrop, this production will tackle the “happily ever after” image by pushing the limitations of their Pentas 2 stage, the cast of actors and the silver screen.

NOT SO GRIMM: One of the actors (wearing red jumper) from the play mingling with the audience

Imagination is the key word of the play, many scenes required the actors to act out or mime to the audience, 70 percent of the script were without physical props and still managed to be entertaining, light-hearted and understandable without losing the audience midway through the play.

DISPLAY BOARD: Well-known Grimm Fairy Tales all explained

Imagination is the key word of the play, many scenes required the actors to act out or mime to the audience, 70 percent of the script were without physical props and still managed to be entertaining, light-hearted and understandable without losing the audience midway through the play.

The entire play has the duration of an hour and 15 minutes, with directions from the director of the play Helena Foo, artistic director Joe Hisham OAM, produced by Dato’ Faridah Merican, while performed brilliantly by the cast, consisting of Lex Balakrishnan, Claudia Low, Nur Zakuan, Gabriella Robinson, Capri Chin, Oliver Johanan and Seshardi Kalimuthu.

The KLPAC or Pentas Seni Kuala Lumpur (PSKL) is backed by the Yayasan Budi Penyayang Malaysia (YBPM) as well as the Actors Studio Malaysia (ASM) and YTL Corporation Berhad. The YBPM’s role in the newly established KLPAC is to continue the training and funding of such productions. YTL Coporation is famously known widely to be a great supporter of the arts, and the Actors Studio Malaysia is at the forefront of the training and resurrections of the performing arts in Malaysia.

The Actors Studio, was established in 1989, and was founded by Joe Hisham and Dato’ Faridah Merican. They made theatre history by being the first to establish Malaysia’s first ever privately owned and operated theatre houses or facilities.

Every week, our hard-working news team try their best to bring something new,  in other words, something hot for you to read and to keep up-to-date with. As you know, the variety of our coverage is not always confined to the Limkokwing University of Creative Technology’s Cyberjaya campus, or any other Limkokwing Campuses around the world for that matter. In an effort to opening up more to the outside world, we attempt to pick and choose those events that would definitely fuel your interest – to a whole new level.

Let’s have a look at what we have here this week. I myself hailing from Kazakhstan, I hope my piece on the recent Kazakh Cultural Week will give you an insight into our fascinating culture. I am quite sure that after reading the article, you’ll have an understanding of what the country’s culture is like.

Next we have an intriguing write-up on the accounts of one of our team members’ recent study tour to Malaysian National News Agency, Bernama. Sit back, relax and enjoy a tour into one of the oldest and most prestigious news organizations in Malaysia.  All the juicy details awaits you.

We hope that this week’s two major write-up will also cater to your reading needs,  fulfilling your desires to learn more about what’s happening around you. Whether it is learning about a news organization or another country’s culture, you would always be  in for a treat with Wings Reporter.

Manshuk Oryngali

Editor-in-Chief

Kazakh Cultural Week started in 26 October 2009 at Nottingham University SA Circle, organized by Kazakhstani-Russian Cultural Society (KRCS).

The first day began with a media gallery, documentaries and multimedia presentations about Kazakhstan. Everyone was welcomed to visit and to taste Kazakh food. Visitors included international and local students and lecturers. They got opportunity to try horse meat.

A MESMERZING SIGHT: Astana, the capital city of Kazakhstan

The second day of the Cultural Week started with Kazakh Movie Night, in which visitors were treated to watch the film Mongol. The movie is an epic story of a young Genghis Khan and how events in his early life lead him to become a legendary conqueror.

Kazakh Movie Night: Film Mongol

“Kazakhstan is a former Golden Horde, part of Mongolian Empire. Modern Kazakhs are mix of Turks and Mongols. This movie was created in cooperation of Russia-Kazakhstan-Mongolia,” said Amir Zhakipbekov,  head organizer. He has a real passion to organize such events and proudly represents his country Kazakhstan at campus. He started to organize events like Kazakh Movie Night with the film Nomad on 13 February 2009 at Nottingham University.

On 29 October 2009, they showed a film Wanted, Hollywood action movie directed by Timur Bekmambetov a famous Kazakhstani director. The film is about a young man finds out his long lost father is an assassin. When his father is murdered, the son is recruited into his father’s old organization and trained by a man named Sloan to follow in his dad’s footsteps.

Kazakh Movie Night: Film Wanted

Unity, stability and the consent of two friendly nations based on common history and destiny are the main property, which forms the basis of the Kazakhstani-Russian Cultural Society.

“Students should understand that in modern and globalized world, skills of communication, activeness, mobility, tolerance and fidelity to a word is appreciated. Envy, laziness and haughtiness of nation, language and culture, one over another are fatal. Ideas of the superiority of one nation over another contradict with the direction of global development, thus, it has discredited  itself once and for all as misanthropic. All these truths should be acquired and established for our community,” Amir concluded.

Kuala Lumpur –   A bunch of very lucky journalism students at Limkokwing University of Creative Technology got the rare opportunity to visit Malaysia’s National News Agency, Bernama on a study visit last week.

Needless to say, it was a trip to remember. Led by Ms Lai Jia Weng, the team consisting of 18 students including myself were  treated to a tour around Bernama’s Headquarters located in the heart of Kuala Lumpur’s City Center.

A 45-minutes bus ride and much anticipations later, first we were shown into the Editorial Department of Bernama where reporters working at different news desks covering their respective beats explained their daily routines in full detail. The friendly editors generously supplied answers to our queries.

We then moved into a guided-tour of the Bernama’s Audio Visual Department and the Studio. We were  so excited to see the broadcasting center of Bernama that all of us took the advantage of the situation to shoot lots and lots of pictures sitting at the newscaster’s desk. Poses in every way imaginable. It was such fun.

Last leg of the tour was Radio 24, which is situated on the 15th floor in a modern office area with a reception. Introductions were made and queries were answered as we get ourselves familiarized with the kind of work done in a radio station. We were very lucky to witness a live radio broadcast first-hand that day.

Just before wrapping up our informative and quite entertaining tour to Bernama, we were also given a tour of the news operation of Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Malaysia, the workspace for which is located just across Radio 24.

During the tour, we gained practical insights into how media organizations such as Bernama works, obtained a better understanding of international journalism today and gained insights into various types of media work and their inter-relationships including mainstream, broadcasting and online media as well as various tools used in media productions.

We also covered the Korean Cultural Week which is still in full gear. If you fancy Korean culture, here is your chance to know more about it. The Korean Culture Festival with ASEAN is offering a unique opportunity to experience Korean culture and arts through various kinds of performances. Covering various genres, the festival will continue its magic in Southeast Asia for 23 more days. So go ahead and discover it!

Happy reading!

Manshuk Oryngali

Editor-in-Chief

Kuala Lumpur – NAM Institute for the Empowerment of Women (NIEW), an institute under the purview of the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development, launched its first International Exhibition 2009 on NAM Women at Mid Valley’s Exhibition Centre on Thursday, 22nd October 2009.

This event, which will run from 23-25 October 2009, was officiated by YB Dato’ Sri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, Minister of Women, Family and Community Development of Malaysia.

NIEW also launched the NIEW Online Social Network Platform, a web portal to facilitate and promote the activities of NIEW, where NAM members would be able to interact using Forums, Videos, News, Idea Box, Chat Windows and other features.

The launching ceremony began with a welcoming speech by Datuk Rafiah Salim, Director of NAM Institute for the Empowerment of Women.

“It is indeed a great joy for me today to welcome the Honourable Minister, the Diplomatic community, and the distinguished guests to a unique event for the NAM Institute for the Empowerment of Women, where we are launching both an exhibition and online social network platform,” said  Datuk Rafiah Salim.

With the theme Women of NAM: A Thousand Faces, this exhibition aspires to heighten the roles of women worldwide and reflects the diversities not only in the physical features, but also the challenges faced by women in the respective NAM Countries.

Stage events will also be held in conjunction with the exhibition including international cultural performances, talks and video documentaries to showcase the NAM Countries unique cultures and traditions.

Kuala Lumpur – The Korean Cultural Festival with ASEAN held its Opening Ceremony at Craft Complex Amphitheatre with distinguished guests on Tuesday, 20^th October 2009.

The colourful event kicked-off with a greeting speech from Korean Ambassador, Bong Ryull Yang, followed a speech by Malacca State Governor, Tun Datuk Seri Utama Mohammad. Many ambassadors and Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Yu In-Chon of the Republic of Korea, and other distinguished guests were invited to the opening ceremony.

DANCING QUEENS: A traditional Korean dance performed by a group of talented dancers

The Korean Culture Festival with ASEAN is offering a unique opportunity to experience Korean culture and arts, through a film festival, craftwork exhibition and various kinds of performances, including Korean classical music, traditional dance, and break-dancing. Covering various genres, both traditional and modern, the festival will continue in Southeast Asia for 23 days between October 9 and November 12, 2009.

The aim of this event is to contribute to cultural exchanges between Korea and other Asian countries and increase mutual understanding.

“This event is especially significant because the program includes performances by cultural troupes of both countries ahead of the 50^th anniversary of amity between Korea and Malaysia in 2010. Now total trade between the two countries reached US$15.7 billion last year making Korea the sixth largest trading partner of Malaysia, around 270,000 Koreans visited Malaysia last year alone,” said Ambassador Bong Ryull Yang.

The ceremony began with Pencak Silat dance and Korean Flower Crown Dance called Hwagwanmu. Dancers wore colorful costumes and a crown of five-color beads while executing beautiful and graceful movements with their hands.

KOREAN NIGHT: The mesmerizing gayageum sanjo performance

The guests enjoyed with the most well-known form of gayageum music, the sanjo, which is improvisational and also a solo instrumental music. It started with a slow rhythm and accelerated gradually toward the end building in excitement. The gauageum also accompanied solo singing, which is called byeongchang. In 1968, gayageum sanjo and byeongchang were designated as Important Intangible Cultural Asset No.23.

Visitors were delighted in the end when the B-Boys, a professional break dance team, took to the stage. The Korean B-Boys have quite made a name for themselves around the world. It is composed of powerful moves such as windmill and head-spin and style moves such as foot-walk, freeze and etc.

CLASSICAL ACT: Performers showcase their talent at the Opening of Korean Cultural Festival