Venture to Australia

Back to School

Well, school has finally started up again and it's back to the old routine.

This semester's courses include:
User Interface Design
Database Management Systems
Programming 3
Multimedia Authoring

posted by Compmouse @ 2/27/2006 08:48:00 PM 0 comments links to this post   

Australia Wins First Gold in Torino

Australia wins its first gold at the 2006 Torino Olympics and... it was won by a former Canadian! Yes, that's right Dale Begg-Smith moved to Australia when he was young and trained for 2 years to join the Australian ski team.

Does anyone else feel a little sad about this win? I mean, it could have been for Canada. :(

Update: Ok, I feel even less happy about this guy winning as the computer company that he started is/was apparently responsible for a large portion of the spyware that's out there on the net as we speak. The revenues of which allowed him to be extremely rich which the media keeps saying. Unfortunately they make him sound like a great web success by saying such things as, "...this web business millionaire...".

posted by Compmouse @ 2/16/2006 06:12:00 PM 0 comments links to this post   

Anna Chau, International Face-Changing Artist

Tonight I went to see Anna Chau, International Face-Changing Artist, live on stage in the Brisbane Chinatown. From the minute I saw it in the Chinese New Year brochure of events I knew I wanted to go see the show since the only place I can remember seeing this kind of thing was on TV.


According to the Brisbane City website:

The true art form of face-changing is limited to about 100 people in all of China, so this very special performance is a must-see.

First appearing in the Qing Dynasty about 250 years ago in the Sichuan Opera, the secret art of face-changing has been heralded as one of China's national treasures by the Central Government.

After a prestigious career with the Sichuan Lu's Theatre, Beijing Chinese Opera & Dance Academy and Song City, Anna Chau made history by becoming the only female 'Face-Changer' in China.

The place was pretty packed when I got there, but I managed to find a seat on the ground at the centre of the stage. :) The stage was setup in the same way as it was when I went there for Chinese New Year and before the performance there was yet another lion dance and martial arts demonstration.

So... tonight I have a treat for you, 2 videos one small to give you the idea of what the art of face-changing is, the other, a much larger video of some of the performance which includes sound! Be amazed and astounded...

Video 1 (1.5MB - Note: No sound)
Anna Chau takes her performance out into the audience.

Video 2 (17.2MB - Note: Requires DivX)
A dance with some traditional Chinese music as well as a familar tune.

For those of you with an interest in Miss Chau I found this short biography on her.

posted by Compmouse @ 2/04/2006 12:11:00 AM 0 comments links to this post