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Documenting the change in our world, our city, our campus and ourselves.
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RMIT HANOI CAMPUS ISSUE 09 OCTOBER 2014THE CHANGE EDITION
CurrentMedia
Current Media is a free, student-run publication for the RMIT Hanoi community
Email: [email protected]: facebook.com/CurrentMediaRMIT
CurrentMedia
DAO THU HAChief Editor & Writer
EDITORIAL & DESIGN
HA THANH LAN Writer
DIEN HUYEN LINHWriter
HOANG THUY TIEN Writer & Designer
PR/SALES & FINANCE
NGUYEN THU HIENWriter
TRINH CHI TRUNGLead Designer
LE GIA HUNGDesigner
NGUYEN DIEU LINH Designer
NGUYEN VIET ANHDesigner
NGUYEN THIEN LANDesigner
VIEN HOANG HAPR Executive
TRAN QUANG HOANG LONGLead PR Executive
PHAM THU TRANGPR Executive
NGUYEN MINH HOANGPR Executive
DO THUY DUONG PR Executive
NGUYEN HOANG ANH Treasurer
LAM QUANG VIETPR Executive
NGUYEN TUAN PHONGEditor & Writer
NGUYEN THAI HAPR Executive
CONTACT US
(*) Please note that the views expressed in these pages are the personal views of the writers, and do not necessarily reflect the views of RMIT management.
DANG NGHINH XUANPresident
TRAN QUOC TRUNGDesigner
TRAN VIET TRANGWriter
NGUYEN THI THUYWriter
NGO QUANG DUONGPR Executive
Content O C T O B E R 2 0 1 4
02 Editor’s Letter Let Change Happen
03 Fashion Style Endures
06 Campus Report
08 Cover Story On Important Stuff
10 Insider’s Story Changes to Come
12 Insider’s Story Treasure in the Library
14 The Talk Nguyen Phuc Tuan Anh
16 Tips How to be an Adult
18 Perspective Studying in Melbourne
17
10
03
20 Perspective Last Night in Saigon: A Hanoian’s Diary 22 Fashion Autumn/Winter 2014 - 2015 The Season’s Touch
24 Entertainment Book Review: The Buddha in the Attic
26 Voices Of RMIT How Vietnamized Are You?
28 Around The World Molecular Gastronomy: Behind an Art
30 Around The World Technologies that Will Change the World
32 The City Bravo Contemporary Arts
34 Short Story The Carnival
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Editor’s Letter
Without doubt, we’re living in an interesting time.
We were born in an era of naked Miley Cyrus and strategic terrorists. Boom! Another journalist was beheaded! An-other plane has crashed! The Ebola has killed 3000 more people! And there’s no sight of Batman! You have all the rights to feel doomed, but are things really that bad?
If you deliberately shut out world news to prevent cynicism, turn to page 7 to be informed and comforted. But first, take a look at what the city is evolving into. Instead of remaining a squalid third-world capital struggling to re-cover from years of wars and isolation,
Hanoi is blooming with opportunities, with expats flooding Tay Ho district, business growing like mushrooms, and contemporary arts coloring our audiovisual culture. And yet, don’t turn a blind eye to the upcoming changes in our beloved, tiny campus at the moment. It doesn’t get bigger any time soon, but behold for upgraded facilities and more gathering space. Yes, there is a good chance that things are getting better, if not bigger.
A new semester has begun. Many new faces will populate the campus, and many will kiss it goodbye. Whether staying or leaving, we all take a bated breath and embark on this unpre-dictable yet exciting journey called growing up. I’m sorry Peter Pan, we’re
all marching into adulthood. Not as a grumpy spoilt kid, but well-prepared, embracing both freedom and respon-sibilities.
So many changes are taking place at an incredible speed over the globe, in our city and inside ourselves that it can feel dizzying – but admit it, this is much better than going stagnant. Current Media in this issue, besides documenting changes around us for your entertainment, is committed to making a positive impact at RMIT. Let the change happen.
T H E C H A N G E I S S U E
Ha Dao Thu - Editor in Chief02 October 2014
03 October 2014
FASHION
When the leaves are turning red
and the breeze getting chilly,
you may want to try on something as
gentle and mellow as this time of year.
Take a look at the latest collection from
Ha May store, which was exclusively
designed for girls who love being a little
traditional. It brings a breath of sweet
nostalgia with all those traditional
colors and manual embroidery, but is
convenient enough for you to move
around during your hectic schedule.
Trend vs Tradition
Written by Than Quang
Photos by Nguyen Phuc Tuan AnhMake up by Heidi Vien
Model: Phuong Q. Nguyen
04 October 2014
Nowadays, lots of people hold on to the notion
that fashion is all about trends. It’s quite common
to say that as long as you trendy, you are fash-
ionable. And that is the biggest mistake you can
make with your wardrobe.
Be confident and comfortable with whatever
you want to wear, because that is the best way
to be beautiful. So the key to be fashionable
is to make yourself confident and unique, not
trendy and awkward.
“ Fashion changes, but styl e endures. ”
- Coco Chanel
05 October 2014
Remember, fashion changes much faster than
you do. Despite how hot the trend is, if it doesn’t
fit you, it doesn’t fit you. You can try to go with
the flow, but at the end of the day, you know it
just doesn’t work. In my personal experience, no
matter how good my outfit is, if I feel uncom-
fortable in it, it looks terrible in others’ eyes.
RMIT students never get up before 8 AM? Myth debunked! A group of SIFErs, together with some Accounting club members and the support-ive Aiman Abousher – lecturer of Economics and Finance, gathered at Ngoc Khanh lake at 6 in an attempt to make the surrounding environ-ment greener. After 3 solid hours of cleaning, 35 hardworking environ-mentalists had managed to fill 10 large bags with rubbish on the lake’s surface and the pavements. The dedicated team planned to hold more cleanup events in the future with a larger scale, spreading the go-green message. Yes, it is not the case that nobody cares about the environment.
Student Council collaborated with Sports and Recreation office to hold a series of RMIT How-to, to equip students with necessary life skills and etiquettes, preparing for different situations in the fu-ture. In the last semester, three events were organized: Indoor rock climbing at Vietclimb, Self-defense by Hanoi Akido club, and Clas-sic dancing with the guidance of National Champion Tran Vu Thach and Mai Doan Ngoc Thuy. Besides modern educational facilities, RMIT students surely enjoy the soft skills they are provided with.
As a collaboration of Student engagement support group (SESG), SIFE and Student Council, Charity trip has become an annual event organized to raise awareness about different beneficiary groups in society. This year, RMITers hopped on a journey to Bat Trang primary school in Hai Phong, the school of underprivileged kids from low-income families or having parents infected with HIV. To prepare for the fundraising, SESG and SIFE members spent days making wooden bracelets, moon-cakes and setting up booths for book donation. Their initiatives receive great support from other students, staff and teachers, as you can notice the handmade bracelets on the wrists of many. On the trip day, the Charity trip
welcomed the presence of a special guest - lecturer Aiman, who has always been backing voluntary activities organized by RMIT students. Despite the 3-hour drive, everyone still kept their spirit high, cheering on the performances of the Bat Trang students and enthusiastically engaged in the games prepared by Student Council. Although the time shared with Bat Trang kids was not long, the Charity trip was a great success with memorable experiences for everyone involved.
Clean-up Ngoc Khanh lake
RMIT How-to
Charity trip to Hai Phong
by Thuy Nguyen and Ha Dao
Campus
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Photo from Sife
Photo from Sports & Rec Office
06 October 2014
CAMPUS REPORT
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Got the impression that Chess club members are all engrossed in intense yet bor-ing and quiet competition? Yet, Chess Club RMIT proved you wrong. Chess Gift Fair blows everyone’s mind and is definitely one of the most exciting fund-rais-ing events happening in Rmit Hanoi campus this semester. With the incentive to contribute a part to help Agent Orange children of Amity Village’s charity, Chess club members applied the idea of “One man’ trash is another man’s treasure” to organize a fair in which students got to their used or unused clothes, jewelries, or shoes, getting 80% profit while donating 20% to the beneficiary group; so that students can both sell and buys products at a good price. The event ended with a hectic Gift fair day on 28th August, contributed with lovely handmade brace-lets of SIFE, good food and music from Environmental club and Music club.
Following the success of The amazing race 2013, RMIT Event club hosted another memorable, exciting but also demanding race this August 2014. 32 participants, di-vided into 8 groups, had to cycle (yep, no motorbike) around Hanoi in the blazing sun for the whole day to complete an ongoing 5 rounds. The tasks ranged from easy to disturbing, and were all quite unexpected: kissing 10 strangers on the street, fin-ishing a dish of bun cha with sticks and straws, or finding messages in a box teemed with chubby worms. The race was suspenseful and unpredictable as the rank of 8 teams changed continuously after each round. Even though there was only one first winner, the competition left unforgettable experiences of teamwork and stamina.
We came back home with an aching body after 4 solid hours of “Fast and furious” competi-tion, a tummy hurting from too much laugh-ing, serious sore throat after one night scream-ing to the music and most importantly, with a mind full of unforgettable memories. RMIT outing is definitely more than just a celebration of belated summer but a blast for every Rmiter involved. Organized by Student Council, Rmit Outing 2014 is a two day- one night trip to Thai Hai Eco garden with a range of exciting activi-ties. The race “Fast and furious” in the afternoon hyped up our spirit with a series of 16 games taking place at every single corner of the large eco garden. Physically and mentally demanding, the games had pushed every team to go beyond their limits and maximize their teamwork spirit. Then came the most expected night of EDM, when everybody got loose and let the “youth adrenaline” rushing through blood vessels. Time passes, experiences live on; the experiences remaining after the trip are definitely worth the long wait. Let’s send a big shout out to members of Student Council for putting up such a great plan and managing the activities so smoothly!
Chess gift fair
Amazing Race by Event club
RMIT Outing
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Photo from Chess Club
Photo from Event Club
07 October 2014
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On Important
Stuff
CONTENT WARNING: This article is about very adult, very important and very serious stuff. Specifically, this article is
about social issues, big changes in the world and how society is changing with it.
Nowadays, if you share something particularly uplifting with friends on Facebook – say, a video of a nice lady giving massages to 10 home-
less people, the response is usually the same: “My faith in humanity is restored! It’s nice to see something positive in this awful world!”
In other words, positive news is treated as unusual and it’s understandable because the world can be depressing as hell. Turn on the news and you’ll see wars, diseases and disasters in just about every corner of Earth. It’s even harder to remain positive when old people keep saying how ours is the dumbest generation in history, all self-absorbed with our selfies and video games. Every-one is just convinced that the direction of civilization is clearly downward; the end is near! The only problem with this belief is that it’s absolutely false. In fact, the exact opposite is closer to the truth: in more way than one, the world is better than it has ever been before.
Don’t worry, you’re still free to worry about Ebola outbreaks or terrorist attacks. But just take a moment to read this article and appreciate that you’re living in the goddamned golden age of human civilization.
1. THE WORLD IS GETTING SAFERLet’s start with the big one: we’re almost closing on world peace! It’s ridiculous I know, but the numbers don’t lie, the world is getting safer. The first decade of the 21st century saw the lowest number of wars and battle deaths in human history. For example: a decade in Afghanistan cost America about 3600 soldiers, which is terrible. But comparing that to War World II in which one single battle would sometimes cost up to 100 thousands to over a million of soldiers, I’d say we’re making progress.
At home you’re also less likely to die. Police records have shown that we are 3% less likely to be a victim of violent crimes than folks in the 20th century. We are also about 110 times less likely to be murdered than someone living in 14th century England. No matter how you break it down, violence is slowly going out of style.
2. THERE IS MUCH LESS DISCRIMINATIONOn the human rights field, compared to a prejudice-free utopia, we’re a disaster. But just compare us to the actual world at any point in the past, things look pretty good.
written by Phong Nguyen
08 October 2014
COVER STORY
A few decades ago, women are housewives physically abused by their husbands, gays are put in concentration camps to die and black people get lynched just for exist-ing. Today, gay marriage is legal in 17 countries around the world, plus in parts of the U.S. Women are actually treated as people rather than objects thanks to this thing called feminism. Finally, globalization is shrinking the world, making us much more tolerant to other races and cultures.
That is not to say things like racism or sexism are all gone, they’re not. But at the same time, these social issues are now recognized as serious problems deserving our attention while bigots can no longer get away freely with hate. Most measurable indicators suggest that the younger generations, OUR generation is increasingly open-minded. Old big-ots are dying and are replaced with more tolerant infants every day! Either way, the arrow is pointing up.
3. KNOWLEDGE CAN DO WONDERS
A quick Google search will also show you other big transformation, like the dra-matic drop in poverty. In fact, from 1990 to 2012 the number of the world’s extreme poor countries was cut in half. Healthcare has eradicated dozens of diseases, making fewer people die young while allowing more to live longer. In the response to the previous generation treatment of nature, Gen-Y is getting increasingly environmentally conscious. The very word “environ-mentalist” didn’t exist until shortly before we were born, around the same time serious green movements receive mainstream success.
All this progress can all be attributed to the fact that we’re living in the most educated, most literate world ever. 84% of the current world population can read. While that might seem trivial, take Vietnam for example, just 50 years ago 90% of the country was illiterate. Meanwhile today, every
kid with a Twitter account in this country can comfort-ably enjoy literature’s greatest romance, Twilight.
But they don’t just read supernatural romances, many kids use their reading powers to read textbooks and get diplomas. Thanks to proper education, our genera-tion is, more than any other generation, aware of how much shit we’re in. That’s why you might see the world as a worse place than it actually is, because you have
more information about it. The world never got worse, your eyes just got wider.
But we don’t just know, we do. Our generations is already taking up the challenge of fixing our parents’ and our grandparents’ big mess of a world. Teenagers every-where are taking up causes, becoming activists and join the push to make the world a better place. From that girl who regularly writes angry Facebook statuses on social problems to your friend who regularly do actual charity work, they’re all doing their part.
Ultimately, ours is a generation born of so-
cial awareness. We have, more or less, dispelled the manipulations of the media to decide what’s right or wrong on our own. The access to each other has allowed us to say in a big loud voice how we feel about things, and unlike ancient Rome, our generation is voting for good. Instead of wallowing in despair, if we could all focus on improving things and fulfilling our potential, imagine how great the future could be. What will our future look like? No one knows. But we do know it’s getting better and has gotten better in every generation. To end, I’ll quote Whitney Houston’s 1985 hit “The Greatest Love of All” because I feel it’s true: “I believe the children are our future“, and the future looks bright.
Malala Yousafzai, 17 years old and already won a Nobel Peace Prize
09 October 2014
10 October 2014
At 16, he opted for apprenticeship to be a chef. When he was 20, he left the culinary flame behind, back to schools to explore the maze of financial records and statistics to be an accountant. ‘I have two dreams: become a chef and an ac-countant; I pursued both’, he said when beaming a warm smile.
Over 20 years accumulating academic knowledge and practical experience, he forayed into CQ Rescue - an Australian rescue helicopter service, accomplishing over 500 rescue missions, saving many lives in catastrophic accidents. Then, in about 2010 and 2011, he landed in Ho Chi Minh city during a business trip when he was drawn in the vibrant and fertile land of opportunities. He returned to Australia, talking to David Wilmoth – founding CEO of RMIT Vietnam – who suggested him to work at RMIT Vietnam. After about one year in RMIT Saigon South, he came to Hanoi in the middle of winter when freezing rain and icy wind chilling to the bone. Being appointed as the Head of Hanoi Campus, he kicked off with tightening the library’s rules and upgrading its facilities, and still nurturing more radical changes for Hanoi Campus.
We have an exclusive interview with Philip Dowler to uncover his plan to transform RMIT Hanoi Campus. ‘In the future, Saigon students will be envious of us, because our campus is gonna be amazing’, he emphasized.
INSIDER’S STORY
Changes to Come
Q: Do you have any stories about students in RMIT Vietnam?
A: I enjoy hearing their stories of many students I met, particularly their backgrounds and their parents’ back-grounds, how they overcome adversity in finance to study here. Some people think RMIT students are very rich when it’s not the case. I remember a young girl from Vung Tau who studied in HCM city. Her mother died when she was very young and her father brought her up
alone. He worked so hard because they didn’t have a lot of money.
Q: Do you think we should do something to support student tuition fees, for example we can let them borrow the money? A: We do plan to expand the scholarships here in RMIT, and we also attempt to get a bigger pool of money for the students to borrow in the near future.
Interview with Phillip Dowler - head of RMIT Hanoi Campus
Written by Lan Ha
11 October 2014
Q: Does RMIT meet your definition of an international university? I mean except that the university is exported from Australia?
A: Yes, we have teachers from different countries, the small diversity of student from different countries such as Pakistan, Germany in the last semester, USA, and coming is Libya. In- September or October, Hanoi campus will welcome a manger for international student to recruit more international students.
Q: What is your plan to change this campus?
A: I want to have more student facilities; I would like to have more study spaces around the campus. I want to see students on every floor. About eight weeks, designers will come to Hanoi to redesign the building. It may take six months or nine months to finish. Every floor will be remodeled. This is the concepts. We want to make this place to look like RMIT in Australia, much more vibrant.
I also plan to build a canteen here, little booths for coffee and lunch on level 5th or level 9th at an affordable price. And I intend to build a functional gym with equipments such as weights for students or clubs to use.
Q: In response to student’s opinions that the teaching quality in Hanoi campus is declining when lecturers are leaving and there are more Vietnamese lecturers, what do you think?
A: I understand students thinking, but every year we have lecturers leave. We still have enough lecturers for every course we teach. I ask the head of RMIT Saigon if it is possible to send some lecturers to Hanoi to create some difference. Meanwhile, we are recruiting lecturers now. Today I actually interview three candidates.
About the Vietnamese lecturers, we don’t actively recruit Vietnamese people or non-Vietnamese people, we recruit the best lecturers. Here we have 70% of teachers are foreign, 30% are Vietnamese. Last semester, two teachers who have the best Course and Student Survey results are Mrs Linda Nguyen from Professional Communications and Mrs Quynh - a Law lecturer. They are two top lecturers and they are Vietnamese.
Q: What’s about the concern that lecturers teach course that doesn’t match their specialties?
A: I heard this rumor too. For example, a lecturer teaches In-dustry Project, he has a master degree in Business, so it is still his specialty. To solve this, we will make sure that the lecturers put up their CV on the blackboard and talk more about their backgrounds.
Q: How do you see RMIT Hanoi Campus in five year from now?
A: I think it will be a bigger campus; we are actively looking for a new campus. We have the director of RMIT Vietnam coming up regularly looking for sites around Hanoi; it shortlists about 6 sites in Hanoi. We have to present a business case back to the board of management in Australia to seek the best option. My plan in five year is to have about 3000 and 5000 students. Now we only have 1000.
Q: Finally, do you want to send a message to students here?
A: You are fortunate to have such as great country and there are so many opportunities for students here in Vietnam. The opportunities here are incredible. Reflect on Vietnam 20 years or 30 years ago and Vietnam nowadays; think about you parents in your age and what opportunities they had. The future is yours.
The Power of Art by Simon Schama
“Great art has dreadful manners”, Simon Schama stated dryly right at the introduction. “The hushed reverence of the gallery can fool you into believing masterpieces are polite things, visions that soothe, charm and beguile, but actually they are thugs”. From the start I know this heavy, 500-page book on an equally heavy topic of Art history will not be boring.
This book is an ambitious project of the award-winning critic Simon Schama, who as-pired to reveal the evolution of Fine art through documenting the lives of 8 extraordinary embattled heroes: Caravaggio, Bernini, Rembrandt, David, Turner, Van Gogh, Picasso and Rothko. Originally, it was a blockbuster BBC series then condensed into a book, but through his vivid storytelling, watching wouldn’t produce better imagery than reading. It took the lives of long-dead old men close to heart, unfolding unspoken stories of often troubled and adverse circumstances in which these artists gave birth to such unprecedented masterpieces. It’s another approach to art history: not about rigid genres or art movements, but artists as individuals with a life like we all have. We would close the book with much greater appreciation for art and its creator, and finally find an answer for the nagging ques-tion: What’s art really for?
Readablity: 3.5/5Usefulness: 4.5/5
Justice: What’s the right thing to do? by Michael J. Sandel
There are few new things to say about this already hugely popular work of Michael Sandel. Originally, it was a series of lectures of Law/Philosophy at Harvard University, uploaded on Youtube and attracted world-wide attention. Michael Sandel has a rare gift of unraveling com-plex theories to young students. Surely the concept of utilitarianism (don’t fret because of the long word) would be much more understandable if being explained by the competition between Shakespeare and the Simpsons, right? Michael has successfully taken Plato, Immanuel Kant and John Stuart Mill out of the classroom and showed how relevant these theories still are in the construction of Western society in this day and age. Written in a conversational tone without compromising the gravity of the subject, this is an educational yet brilliantly entertaining read.
Readablity: 4.5/5Usefulness: 4.5/5
Our curated 5 books that are definitely worth your try. Guys, it’s not free to study at RMIT, let’s make the best of the facilities.
Treasure in the Library written by Lan Ha & Ha Dao
12 October 2014
INSIDER’S STORY
Benjamin Franklin once stated, ‘Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing’. If you opt for the former, make sure you know what is worth reading and how a writer does it. Creative writing may not be passed on from teachers to students, but it can be inspired and learnt by reading other’s work. You don’t leaf through pages for temporary entertainment; you absorb words, sentences, paragraphs flowing in the narration lacing with dialogues of different characters. This book taps in to guide you how reading is illustrating the writing process of the writers. You don’t just see the characters, you observe the creator behind it. For those who love writing or simply want to hone the skill for your studies, a writer is a reader who writes.
Readability: 4/5Usefulness: 4/5
Reading Like A Writer by Francine Prose
Venturing into a complicated subject with an academic journal or book is fine, if you brave the jargons and pages full of words. It can be an intimidating task that squeezes your inquisitiveness. I suggest you pick a lighter book in ‘For beginners’ book series with illustrations to grasp the basic knowledge before digging deeper into the subjects. A variety of heavy subjects such as modernism, philosophy and literature are covered and explained in a simple, witty manner. One of the books in this series, ‘Shakespeare For Beginners’, rekindles my extinguished interest in this universally acknowledged popular playwright. Summary and explanation accompanied with animated illustra-tions of Shakespeare and his characters whip up my interest in exploring his plays. I believe that it can whip up your interest in any intimidating subjects, too.
Readability: 5/5Usefulness: 5/5
For Beginners - Documentary comic book series
On Film-Making: An Introduction to the Craft of the Director by Alexander Mackendrick
Don’t let the treadmill of deadlines drain your passion in other areas. There is always a corner in the library where you follow your childhood dream in the film industry. ‘On Film-Making: An Introduction to the Craft of the Director’ is one these books shedding the light on the process of creating story, dialogue, dramatic construction, script, camera movement and more. So have a look at it. You will be surprised flipping through this book to find out that film-making is self-exploration, putting yourself in other’s shoes to write a script or to create a dramatic effect. Suddenly, you are the middle of a film-making class in California; in front of you is the author who is a famous Hollywood director. In case you are not interested in film-making but love watching them, the list of staple Hollywood films in this book is awaiting.
Readability: 4/5Usefulness: 3.5/5
13 October 2014
Nguyen Phuc Tuan Anhwritten by Ha Dao
Ah, freedom. Isn’t that notion irresistibly tempt-ing to us all, who have passed teenage years with ridiculously early curfew and regulations on al-
most everything? Yet to young folks fresh out of college, freedom can just feel terrifying. No more deadlines and fixed schedule appears much of a hazy bleak landscape than a laidback summer vacation. What now? Head to a big corporate and chain yourself to an office? Study a master degree right away to suspense going to work? Get married? The 3-year journey has stopped, now the world is your oyster - sounds like heaven, except for the fact that you are ridden by indecisiveness and unnamed fears, barely ready to take responsibilities.
Nguyen Phuc Tuan Anh didn’t wait until graduation to face that freedom/quarter-life crisis, whatever you call the phase. Curious enough, he’s dropped out of RMIT to pursue fashion photography.
“Do you have any regrets? Ever have second thoughts about staying just a little longer until the end, as you were already at the last semester when you decided to leave…”
As expected I received a flat no. Apparently a degree in Commerce has nothing to do with a career of fashion photography, but at least it’d feel safer to head out with a plan B in your pocket, to make sure you won’t starve under any circumstances, right? However, Tuan Anh was ruthless in his pursuit. “I was bored to death and couldn’t go on. My parents? Of course they were dissat-isfied with my decision. But well...”
Like many fresh 18-year-olds, he entered university majoring in Commerce, following his parents’ will back in 2011. “It was a shame I hadn’t had thought it over”, he admitted. It was in the middle of his college years that he discovered the latent flair for managing light, color and composition. Like many other burgeoning artists in Vietnam, most of his knowledge is self-taught. Fortunately the worlds of Tumblr, Flickr and Behance always open their doors for curious explor-ers of visual arts. By now “Unbox the Light” has become a favorite name of many photo maniacs on Flickr, each of his works attract-ing around several thousand views. “Flickr is a huge source of inspiration and encourage-ment for me,” he said.
14 October 2014
THE TALK
His photos explore the beauty and frailty of women’s body, with a focus on details and soft tone to convey the mood. He shoots mostly friends, only occasionally mod-els, which gives his images such intimate quality. Pastel color tone and soothing natural light add to his works a dreamy, somewhat surreal touch. Speaking of his “muse”, he told me about a girl with Amelie Poulain short hair and relaxed facial features who appeared on his photo-graphs a lot. He was determined on his models having no makeup on – probably because cosmetics give out a feeling of distance.
Tuan Anh recently moved to shooting film and learnt to develop his own film rolls. He admits to be slow-paced, which perfectly suits with the time-consuming process of developing and scanning films. He dedicated his Kodak to visions of Hanoi, the quiet night streets, glowing roads at twilight and spindly tree trunks on old stained walls… The organic light leaks and scratches of film photography add a tune of nostalgia in harmony with his subject mat-ter. His images connect public and personal spaces, are intimate and nostalgic, romanticized, but also candid.
I asked why he chose photography as the ultimate form to express himself, knowing that he could also draw and play the guitar. For him, photography is a process of col-lecting memories that can only keep their candor through visual artifacts. “I just want my memory to stay as it is.”
“At first I thought my passion will feed me. In fact, it’s the opposite: I have to feed my passion.
So can creating images that tickle the mind of others can actually be a career? Speaking of his decision, Tuan Anh admitted passing many nights musing over it. For an untrained self-claimed artist, challenges and pressure are everywhere. But the money matter still proves the biggest roadblock.
“At first I thought my passion will feed me. In fact, it’s the opposite: I have to feed my pas-sion. People advised me to have a non-artistic job first for financial security, photography can wait. Once I tried commercial photography – taking yearbook photos actually – but I couldn’t stand creating such mediocre images. Anyway, I believe with enough effort, my passion and I can eventually feed each other”.
After college, Tuan Anh plans to study profes-sional photography in Europe, starting every-thing from scratch. In the face of relentless achievers, he remains quiet and pursues his own values of authenticity and emotional hon-esty. His idea of success is to be satisfied with himself, and by himself he means his works.
What will you do after graduation with such given free-dom and responsibility? Many of us flee from one cage to another, avoiding possibilities for fear of the unknown. There are no rights or wrongs, but there’s one significant question you should ask yourself: Is what you do align-ing with your value? Actually, freedom isn’t that scary, according to Albert Camus: “Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better.”
His works can be found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/unboxthelight
15 October 2014
”
Becoming an adultBecoming an adultBECOMING AN ADULT
I am a twenty something old man-dude-person who cringes at the thought that I’m technically an adult now. Growing up is a frustrating thing because while I’m very much still the same person I was in high school; society now treats me as if I’m a completely different person, an “adult” person. Now I have adult responsi-
bilities and adult obligations. What do adults do anyway?
Yet even as I have no idea what the world expects of me, I do these five things and the next door nine-year-old kids calls me a “grown up”. That means it is working, right?
1. Look the part:
First thing first, an adult needs to looks clean and healthy. Start exercising just for the sake of it. Eat fruits and veg-etables that to satisfy your refined “adult” palate. Bathe everyday if you can. Go to sleep early. Finally, please wear nicer clothes. You now have a social obligation to look proper, at least in public.
I envy those perfect individuals who shower 3 times a day, floss their teeth, always on diet and go to the gym daily. I am not one of those people. It’s a good day if I even brush my hair. But at least I pretend that my hair is artily disheveled like a French artist and my sweater is supposed to be wrinkled.
Do what you need to do to look the part; no one needs to know your secrets.
By PHONG NGUYEN
16 October 2014
TIPS
2. Know what is going on in the world:
Being an adult means being involved with the real world, which includes the boring things like politics, or worse, the economy. You need to keep up with the news in order to keep up with the world.
There are many ways to be kept updated in this day and age. No need for TV, now you can get news via various social networks. Better yet read a newspaper - that will really make you look like you know what’s up.
Make this effort and you’ll learn all kind of stuffs. Even when you don’t want to, keep updated anyway. Because when that hot guy asks your opinion on American airstrikes on Syria, I bet you’d look smarter if you’d watched the news. I, myself know exactly how to impress him because The Global Movement on Instagram told me all about it.
3. Do chores. Voluntarily:
This list is getting worse isn’t it? Well so is your life.
A responsible adult have to accept that there are things that just have to be done. Your parents aren’t gonna take care of you for much longer so start practicing essential life skills, like cooking and cleaning , right now. Start small from cleaning your room or cooking meals for yourself then grow from there. Nowadays, thanks to Youtube and the Internet, you can pretty much learn the basics of anything on your own.
And who say chores have to be a chore. If you put a mind to it chores, especially cooking, can be fun and rewarding, becoming a hobby even.
4. Think before you act:
YOLO is fine when you’re young, but it’s the grown-up who has to deal with the consequences. Think hard before you take risk and held back your tongues.
Do less dumb things like pretending that your fingers are guns as you says “pew, pew” or drive drunk. If someone annoys you, try to keep friendly and find a way to respectfully express your disapproval of their existence. If your crude joke could offend someone, consider not telling it.
Switch on your brains every time you act and you might turn your life from a PG-13 slapstick comedy into a thoughtful Academy Award winning film fit for adults.
5. Learn. Learn. Learn:
The biggest part of becoming an adult is realizing you never stop learning. Read books, absorb knowledge like crazy. You don’t learn for grades now, you learn to live.
Then learn from life experiences. The best advice my mom’s ever given me was that you will never get to the point where you think “I’m an adult now”. But you do get to the point where you think “I’ve dealt with this before, I can do this”. The older you get, the higher the chance you’ll have experienced things you’ve already been through. Have you ever do taxes? No? Someday, you might, and the next time it happens, you’ll know the adult thing to do.
Becoming an adult is less of a destination, more a journey that never quite ends. It’s rough journey, but on the bright side it sucks equally for everyone. Just don’t give up. Your worries might seem big now but when you made it, you’ll look back and wonder why you ever worried at all. Until you’re there, the key is to fake it until you make it!
17 October 2014
Studyin
I arrived in Melbourne when the city shivered through frosty days with arctic winds and torrential
downpours. The city conservatively dressed in shades of gray; people shuddering with their gloves pulled on whizzing by, amid slick apartment towers, curvy office buildings glittering in daylight, while street musicians’ voices bouncing around corners in the blend with the buzz of a vibrant city.
My aspiration to study abroad surged from the passion for travelling, for cultural mosaic and culinary delights. At times, this aspiration seemed to dissolve, but it still sprang up whenever I came across others’ experience in a foreign land. That brought me to Melbourne, the place of excellent education where my
thirst for cultural diversity to be fulfilled. That also heralded my independence obsessing with finance, accommodation, and other basic needs.
When the wish was supported by my family, I immediately sought assistance in preparing the school papers and visa from the Student Service. At the same time, I immersed myself in researching accommodation in the rose-colored glasses brochure to sketch out my life in Melbourne, yet it was funny how the brochure seemed to assume that all students were wealthy. So I sought advice from a former exchange student and joined the group of Vietnamese students in Melbourne on Facebook. Others told me to be ready for unexpected troubles brewing from the
exorbitant cost of living, time dragging on public transportation, and enormous distance to the university. Not to mention homesickness hovered around. ‘Sound like I have just peered into a dark tunnel’.
It took me about 1 month and a half for school paper and 1 month for the visa completion. This period was embroiled in problems. All my friends received the acceptance letter from the Australian Embassy except me. I waited for one month until I found out that the office where I applied my visa changed the location and phone number. The idea of failing in visaapplication pounded my head. Finally, one week before departure, I received my visa. ‘One more day for health examination will exhaust me!’, I
Melbourne Diary July 2, 2014
written by Lan Ha
18 October 2014
PERSPECTIVE
cursed myself when I forgot my glasses during health examination including x-ray, urine tests, and eye examination. Luckily, I could borrow glasses from my friend. ‘Luck rarely struck again and again’, a lesson learnt. Then comes the hopeful beginning at RMIT. The glittering colorful Swanton Academic Building of RMT with state-of-the-art learning facilities, including the library, magnetized me. In the first class, I was surrounded by 100 people in a theatre, tripling the number of students in a class of RMIT Hanoi. I decided to take 3 courses for more time to explore the city and arranged a meeting with the course guides to allocate sufficient time for each course, at least 6 hours for Spanish.
‘How uncanny was the first lecture!’. I had to teach the whole class how to
pronounce my name ‘It’s Anh, A-n-hhhhhhhh not An’. Poor my friend; the lecturer mistook her name Thuy for Thoi. Also, English mingling with different accents plunged me over the edge of confusion and misunderstanding. Umm! Errr! ‘What do he/she means?’ that question hanged over my mind all day. I had bought a new bike for travelling around the city, but the first days in Melbourne went awry when I was stopped by a police and fined $200. Ironically, riding a bike in Melbourne required more procedures than driving a motorcycle in Vietnam. I needed to equip lights on the back and front of the bike, wear a helmet and bright colored clothing.
Yet there was a glimmer of hope. I happened to know a program called
‘Mate’ designed to group exchanged students in events such as movies or camping, where I made lots of new friends. Another encouraging news, I got a part-time job as a waiter in a small restaurant, and my friend got a job as a salesperson at a seafood shop in Victoria Market. A prepared CV paid off. Finally I could paid for soaring 12$ a bowl of Pho with the money I earned.
Early experience in Melbourne ripened me into a skilful waiter who could juggle dishes, orders of customers with assignments and the concern with daily life; a currency specialist who could exchanged Australian dollar into VND in the blink of an eye. /
### The first 3 months ###***Special thanks to these exchanged students in Australia, a really great Profcommer Le Tuan Anh for all his inspirational stories, Mr Nguyen Tri Dung (Business Marketing) and an alumna Nguyen Thu Hang (Commerce Marketing) for finding time to answer my
long list of questions.***
19 October 2014
Saigon, Bui Vien alley 10pm
“You better enjoy that Sunrise Mar-garita. It may be your last.”
The hustle bustle came along with glassware clanks of cocktail shots and cheery laughter in the air was what actu-ally prompted those high-speed folks to take a peek at the flickering limelight of Saigon centre, Bui Vien alley. Our freshman-to-be young lady was dangling herself over the mellifluous 2014 mash-up of Anthem Lights at a mere-pavement spot of Boheme, an edgy open pub, when she was choked with the tequila sip by her Southern bud’s half-hearted joke. Yes, right in the feels! Having swallowed the bittersweet sensation down the belly, she told herself she was not ready. No, she was never ready for this; the idea of leaving her head over heels Margarita to the hands of those adroit waiters or even worse, leaving Saigon.
Like many other eighteen fellows who had just received a “good kick” from the Entrance exam, this Hanoi getaway was a reward for all the blood, sweat and tears;
for coming back alive from the final battle with a bunch of scratches, metaphorically. At last, after more than a decade, flames of liberty had rekindled in her velvety black eyes…
Saigon, Bui Vien alley 11pm
She glared across her table to the alley’s turn, visually ransacking for people she once encountered, at the same spot, in the exact time and on her first day to Bui Vien…
As she was taking a sip from the peach glace’ Margarita, she saw a merry lovebird swinging towards this way. Like, literally, they were swinging, and without hesita-tion, quickly settled at the centre spot of Boheme, hands in hands. “Fearless!” That was what she thought. As a habit, she peeked around other tables searching for signs of sneer or giggling mock, she found none. Glee in her eyes, she shoved the last pinkish-yellow droplets into her throat.
“Best of luck, boys. Amidst these non-judging Saigon folks, you two will make one fine couple. Cheers.”
Saigon, Bui Vien alley 11.25pm
Glancing at the flashing lights signaling an incoming call, she brushed off the thoughts, called for the bill check and sailed towards the next midnight-booked port, Ninz Lounge. Last night in this place, she went for exuberance and curve lines.Time flies too fast to stay put, and here at Saigon, the healthy version of “Fast and Furious”, it’s even faster.
But anyway, like that could even make a good jump scare. As for us Paul Walker’s brothers and sisters? We just couldn’t wish for more.
Saigon main street, cab radio was play-ing “All of our stars” 12am
Shedding its dehydrated skin riches of sunshine dusts and heat burns, Saigon re-suscitated its grandeur in those nyctophilia worshippers, grandeur that always lives up to its name: “Dreamland of the night-time wanderers”.
Echo of a jazz polyphony on the porch of Municipal Theatre; seemingly overnight
Last N ight i n Sa igon : A Hano ian ' s D iarywritten by Thuy T i en
20 October 2014
PERSPECTIVE
the Taiwan guys, who were also their friends, shouted:
“We got this, you guys go outside and wait!”
A bit of relief swept into her heart, but then again, her Southern friend’s voice slashed through that little merit, in a blink of an eye:
“No. Put that away. Equal share or never again call me your friend.”
When everyone had paid their shares and went outside for another stop, she then turned to the confused Taiwanese, explained:
“We are friends, not lovers. You can treat me a meal but not this. When it comes to money and such, Saigonese wants it to be fair and square.”
Saigon, Mr. Potato 2.15am
Next stop, fast food for a fun-sized belly.
As they jostled in a French fries fran-chise, a 1980s Broadway stage of New York Subway came into view: High-above traffic light flickered in sequence; street lamps glittered over brick red walls, velvety black ceiling dotted with stars and LED station billboards scattered all over. “New Work, here I come!”she uttered and dwelled on a Potato Fondue set with hot-boiled chilly sauces, crispy-moist chips and steamed veggies.
It was not until she devoured half of the dish that she figured out the young res-taurant owner, who had just arrived, was a friend of the group. After apologized for being late as he had to wait down stair for the orders, he greeted us with the Q&A session:
“How were the sauces? Why not mustard?
Did you try the new chicken nuggets? How was it comparing to those KFC’s? Any ideas for the new side dishes?...”
Hours henceforth, she felt herself getting pulled into a marketing pros and cons evaluation stage,right at the product headquarter, which is wicked!
“Did you ever think the French fried idea would beoutweighed by those private-owned fast food stores?
“I did. I exploited the main-dish potential in French fried but still offered alterna-tive options. A total reverse huh? It’s a risk indeed, but you will never know until you try.”
…
“Man, I’m in love with these Saigon people,” said her mind, on the way home, 6 am.
She heard about this a lot. She heard about youngsters who want to move into Saigon for studying and living. And the reason? Mostly would be “Because it provides international chances, working opportuni-ties, up-to-date lifestyles, contemporary society, dynamic youth, modern infra-structure blah blah blah.” Cliché.
Ever wonder why those traits existed? People.
She personally thinks it’s all about people. Nonjudgmental, fast-paced, vigorous, straightforward and risky. Got yourself exposed and perceived by these faucets of Saigonese and you will understand why people choose this booming city, radically of course.
Burger Kings came into sight and the smell of those buttery stir-fried corn ken-nel from cart vendors only made her fall in love with this city harder and harder. Her eyes stung as the cold air rushed part them, but she kept them wide open. She didn’t want to miss any single moment. She once asked her Southern friend about her inefficient sleeps and got this quote-like sentence in return.
“Why waste precious time dreaming when waking life is so much better?”
“Dang!” she screeched. “Live fast die young, am I right?”
But she got it now, crystal clear. In this hectic Vietnamese city, the only way to balance out the hefty pressures and stifling heats always sucking them dry is to smash those curfews and be on a night track. Veering away from common sense, their golden rule of reviving the energy was to charge it with another one, not to hibernate it. Any Saigonese could be a nightlife tour guide, long as they remember (which they do) to include Snails dishes district 10, Sax n’ Art jazz club, Taiwan Bobapop, Boheme Bui Vien and several other kick-off visits on their first-hand checklist.
Saigon, Ninz Lounge 2am
Legend has it: “What happened in the club, stays in the club”.
As for her? A bit of flashback wouldn’t do you any harm.
“Clubbing would feel like heaven until that never-ending bill drag you down with him.”
Although she had seen this coming, the numbers still gave her some cold-shake goose bumps. By the time she and the girls were on the verge of covering their shares,
21 October 2014
Autumn - Winter 2014 - 2015
The Season’s Touch
Akris
Alexis Mabille
Altuzarra
Written by Tran Viet Trang
22 October 2014
Akris
“Be your own stylist” - Karl Lagerfeld on Channel show 2014
Leaves start falling gently to the ground and afternoons stretch into evenings in a flash, signaling another autumn to come and another Autumn-winter collection to see. In the previous season, boots and trainers flooded in every corner of the
streets. This time, let’s take a look over the painting and see which dots are championed.
1. Monochrome:
They cross through almost every season yet designers never seem to stop experimenting with these primitive colors. In Autumn-Winter 2014-2015, we can see a myriad of head-to-toe black, white-on-white or the classical black & white but flew sophisticatedly in different materials like fur trench coats from Akris or wool blended silk from Aganovich.
2. Belts:
After earrings, necklaces and bracelets, belts start to rock the catwalk as a statement for strong femininity. If Altuzarra, Balenciaga and Barbara Casasola follow this theory with a slight personal touch, a wild player like Alexis Mabille certainly is up to turn heads when putting a belt into an unexpected uses – for tying knot and bow.
3. Prints:
Although bringing the central theme as down-to-earth simplicity, semi-couture touches are still found wholly in each collection. Little in details to be noticed, yet they are recognizable for a similar inspiration from folk tales. They are embellishments from Celine, bejeweled brooch confections from Erdem or a move from smudgy shades to more solid blocks of colour over naïve-motif prints from Alberta Ferreti, Dries Van Noten and Matthew Williamson. The tales are boldly told through animal-print embroideries from Atonio Marras, Stella Jean, the marvelous Valentino and all-time gorgeous Dolce & Gabbana.
As the city grows in a mess of browny red hues, outstanding creations and inspirations are all here awaiting for you to make your own decision, your own autumn. And I can’t help quoting the very last saying of Karl on #boulevardChanel: “Be your own stylist”. Dears!
Alberta Ferreti
Alberta Ferreti
Dolce & Gabbana23 October 2014
FASHION
ENTERTAINMENT
before the war. Besides getting you lost in the unique stories, it gives you a perspective of the somehow mivraculous transformation these women go through after such ordeal.
The journey starts off with a group of young virgins from different parts of Japan on a boat-load heading to California, the so-called land of hopes and dreams. Holding in hands pictures of their future husband that they merely know about, they share the similar excitement and great anticipation of a new life in a new land, just to later realize how brutally their expectations would be shattered.
“On the boat we could not have known that when we first saw our husbands we would have no idea who they were. That the photographs we had been sent were 20 years old. That when we first heard our names being called out across the water one of us would cover her eyes and turn away — I want to go home — but the rest of us would lower our heads and smooth down the skirts of our kimonos and walk down the gangplank and step out into the still warm day. This is America, we would say to ourselves, there is no need to worry. And we would be wrong.” The great anticipation turned into greater disap-pointment right during their first encounters with their husbands.
Once picked up by the husbands who look noth-ing like in the pictures, the girls enter the next phase of their life. First nights pass by, destroying the very remaining hopes about their husband’s inner beauty they tried to console themselves with. Their encounters with “the Whites” hardly included “verbal talk”. The only word they learned to speak was “water”, and was only
Japan. The land of the rising sun, unique culture, developed economy, high ranking in metrics of prosperity – that’s what we are often told of. And not to forget atomic bombing in Hiroshima at the end of World
war II. But taking a deeper look into the past, the war has done more to the cities and its people than smashing concrete buildings. “The Buddha in the attic” unfolds heart-wrenching stories of a whole lost generation of Japan, when women fleeing their homeland to America in search of a better life
24 October 2014
shouted out when they almost died on their boss’s farmland because of dehydration. Being socially treated as second-class citizens and physically exhausted from the laborious work that they have no other choice but to get used to, those once hopeful, innocent girls gradually develop a more mature, down-to-earth outlook on life. And then babies happen. Vastly different settings yet equally destitute conditions, the sight of giving birth is no exception to any other events happening to them on this foreign land. With the presence of their children, their lives are colored with both joyful memories and heart-wrenching experiences. Towards the last few chapters, things seem to settle as rewards of years of hardship with busi-ness well established and their children reaching maturity.
But then comes the Pearl Harbor and a series of tragic happenings. They are forced to leave behind everything they built up from scratch: a family with their growing up kids and well-devel-oped business. They are taken to make-shift, ill-equipped and over-crowded
“assembly centers” where almost 120 000 Japanese - American are crammed together before being transferred again into internment camps in remote areas. Despite living in rickety barracks barely heated by wood stoves and eating in crowded mess halls; with guards in gun towers watching the perimeter of the camps and shooting those who try to escape, these girls – now women - adapt as best they could to life behind barbed wires. They manage to plant gardens, organize community activities and even form groups advocating for the rights of the Japanese - American with the hope of maintaining the semblance of a normal life. After months and years of suffering in the internment camp, these resilient women were finally released to face the daunting tasks of starting all over with nothing.
Extraordinary lives of these women teach us the lesson of perseverance, of determination, of delicate yet undy-ing hope of the future even during the darkest moments in life. In the most difficult periods, when life seems to lose its meaning and giving up is the easiest
thing to do, they still stay strong and never lose sight of their ultimate hope: a better life. Struggle and sufferings are just essential parts of life cycle for these unbreakable women, for it’s what to push them try harder, to prove to those “white people” that they are strong, they are hard-working, they are capable and they deserve it.
Things could have been much easier if these women did not risk their lives to move to the land of dreams and hopes. Their lives might have turned out differ-ently if they did not expose themselves to the changes. Yet, they do not look back nor regret, but bravely live on with the changes, just like how C.JoyBell C’s famous quote: “The only way that we can live, is if we grow. The only way that we can grow is if we change. The only way that we can change is if we learn. The only way we can learn is if we are exposed. And the only way that we can become exposed is if we throw ourselves out into the open. Do it. Throw yourself.”
25 October 2014
Admit it, the transition from high school to university puts you in
many situations that take quite some time to deal with. Starting with a clean slate in a whole new environment, you must get used to new teaching styles and unaccus-tomed study habits, and be nice to every stranger before they become friends. And to top it off, imagine all the complications our international friends encounter when they go through a life-changing journey:
to study and live in Vietnam.
For them, the change is neither simply about the freedom to make their own decisions nor the concern about making friends with a bunch of strangers. Their change covers a larger surface - adapting to a new lifestyle, a new culture, and sur-viving in a foreign country, where hair-dressers smile in confusion when you try to explain your new look, the food just smell wrong and the traffic, oh, the traffic!
We asked some international students about “Things that they have changed
after coming to Vietnam” and here are their replies.
“I think the biggest thing to get used to was the traffic. The traffic in Vietnam is
much more chaotic than it is in my country, where people usu-ally follow the rules. Here, people just do as they please and drive wherever they want. I thought this was really cool, so after be-ing here for a few weeks I started
learning to drive a motorbike.
One other thing that’s changed is that I’ve become more depen-dent on others. It’s difficult to get things done when you don’t speak Vietnamese, so I often rely on my friends to help me with things I
would normally do alone. I usu-ally bring a friend with my when I need to buy something, get a haircut, or anything else that requires me to communicate to people. It’s just easier when there’s someone around to trans-late for me. I want to try to learn Vietnamese, but haven’t man-
aged to do so yet.
It’s hard to say really what else has changed. After being here for a year, my lifestyle feels natural to me and I can hardly remember
the way things were before.”
Traffic and friends
26 October 2014
VOICES OF RMIT
“My favorite Vietnamese food…hmmm…That’s really hard to pick out. I enjoy eating all different
kinds of food in Vietnam. I used to be scared of eating or drinking outside on the streets, but now I am much more comfy about it. I can’t really choose one. But for my favorite Vietnamese word, I would choose “sanh dieu” and “sang khoai”. Thank you my friend Dung for teaching me these sanh dieu words :D
I used to go home right after my classes in the first and second semester, but now I tend to stay around school and
have a little chit chat with my friends.
”
“My outlook on life has changed dramat-ically over the past two years I’ve spent in Vietnam. I’ve become a more ac-
cepting person and am more tolerant about cultural differences because I come from an African country and moved to South East Asia where the perceptions of beauty, music, sexuality and even studying are very differ-ent. But I believe that the most considerable
change was in how I look at the world.
I attended an international school when I was in Mozambique with people from Paki-stan, India, South Africa, Brazil, Portugal, Paraguay and various other nations in one single classroom, so I am quite limited in terms of the diversity of friends that I have
here which has forced me to become used to sitting in a classroom where more than 5 of the students are of the same nationality. I believe that that has changed my own under-standing of being in an ‘’international’’ aca-demic environment. By this I mean that in my old school in Mozambique, I had friends of various ethnicities, creeds and customs which made me very accepting of multicul-turality. But now I have learned to be com-prehensive in a less ethnically and culturally diverse context but it’s still foreign to me in the sense that the people here and I come from dissimilar lifestyles and some of them have lived beyond Vietnam. So the sense of ‘’international’’ is not so clearly marked as it was for me in Mozambique but the idea of studying with people from a national back-ground that is different from my own is still
existent.
Having said that, I’ve been taught to accept diversity not in the manner that I am fa-miliar with but in a manner that shows that diversity isn’t always about having as many nationalities as possible in one class but ac-cepting that I am in an environment which has qualities that are strange to me. So in that sense, it’s changed my own understand-
ing of diversity and how I regard it.
Food
and
frie
nds,
too
27 October 2014
AROUND THE WORLD
Written by Viet Trang Photo credit by Chef Steps
Molecular
Gastronomy
28 October 2014
In fashion, through years of morphing, the basics still claim the
ultimate interest. Regard-ing cuisine, the journey is quite similar yet much more exciting, since the transformation all happen in a dish.
Emerging a long time ago and being considered as exclusively for pharmacy, it was not until Ferran Adria fused science into culinary concepts that molecular gastronomy rise to prominence among food-lovers. The chefs take their love for food a level higher, researching how
certain ingredients taste and behave under different temperatures, pressures and other scientific condi-tions. Molecular gastron-omy is a style of cuisine in which ingredients are transformed physically and chemically, and presented in a purely original way. In other words, molecular gastronomy, in which sci-ence collides with cuisine, are not only technical but also artistic. It is alterna-tively named as the “Salva-dor Dali of the kitchen” by the pioneer Adria.
Behind the new style of cuisine lie the difficulties
confronting chefs. Cus-tomers assume that foods lose its original tastes as the result of the change in appearance, not to men-tion its assumed “artificial” and “unnatural” character-istics. This prompts talent-ed Michelin Chef Adrian to work out a method to remain the original tastes. Adria ran his restaurant – El Bulli for years serving the most sophisticated mo-lecular gastronomy dishes. It was such a pity for customers when El Bulli was shut down, due to spiraling production costs and Adria’s risky plans to develop the cuisine with young chefs. Still Chef Adria maintains an artistic viewpoint of molecular gastronomy, ignoring the matter of money or reputa-tion. In cuisine, ‘art for the art sake’ objective is yet to stand-alone.
Fortunately, more and more chefs are chasing this culinary style. Anne-So-phie Pic is the only woman in her country owning a three-star Michelin.
Anne owns one-star restau-rant and three-star restau-rant for middle and upper middle customers, releases cookbooks such as Le Livre Blanc about molecular gastronomy. René Redzepi, with his Noma, is among the best chefs on this style of cuisine.
The molecular gastronomy picture at present is painted with a riot of colors from each chef with their own method. Differences in concepts and techniques all embody the spirit of culinary art, imbued with objective to deliver the finest dishes. Customers, from first seeing the dishes to tasting them, run the gamut of experience.
29 October 2014
Take a look at sci-fi oldies like say, Star Trek, you can see that people were once pretty excited for the future. But then something happened. Now look
at all the recent movies about the future. It’s all apocalyptic, post-apocalyptic, catastrophic and the general message is that pretty soon now, we’re all gonna
die. I missed the days when the whole world dreamed of flying cars and traveling through space instead of waiting to die in a zombie apocalypse. Why does everything
have to be cynical nowadays to be considered “realistic”?
Neil deGrasse Tyson sums it up the best: “In the 60s and 70s, you didn’t have to go more than a week before there’s an article in Life magazine about “The Home of Tomorrow,” “The City of Tomorrow,” or “Transporta-
tion of Tomorrow”. All of that ended in the 1970s. After we stopped going to the Moon, it all ended. We stopped dreaming.”
But more than anything, I believe hopes and dreams are important, and that optimism isn’t always dumb. So to remind you all to start dreaming again, Current Media compiled a list of 6 world changing technological
advances we’ve recently achieved. They all sounds like they’re straight from science fiction and they are definite proofs that our future is gonna be pretty awesome.
Ok I’ll admit it looks silly but just listen to this: Oculus Rift is a display headset that will allows
you to step into your favorite virtual world itself. Thirty years after the idea of virtual-reality was first re-alized, it is now finally cheap enough for the consumer market. This visually immersive interface will lead to new forms of entertainment and communications. Just imagine Skyping with your friends in virtual reality! Or better yet, playing multiplayer video games!
NASA’s Impossible Space Drive1
2 Oculus Rift
The biggest obstacle between us and space travel used to be energy: how can we supply enough
power to sustain an engine powerful enough to get us through the vast emptiness of space? Now, we’ve found an answer. Dubbed the EmDrive, this radical invention broke Newton’s 2nd law and has proven that space trav-el is in fact possible. Experts believe this invention will allows us to send people to Mars in the very near future.
30 October 2014
AROUND THE WORLD
No longer just a cool way for you to make handcraft art, researches from Australian doctors have found that
3-D printing will soon revolutionize medical science. New advances now allow 3-D printers to print organic materi-als using micro-sized biological tissue. In simpler words, it means we can now create brand new body parts. Being born with a defective heart or losing a liver because of a disease will soon no longer be so unbearable when you don’t have to wait for organ donors to save you. Scientists have already successfully printed functioning blood vessels and bones.
Speaking of losing body parts, this invention will make be-ing an amputee no longer means being disabled. Engineers
from MIT have invented new prosthetics legs flexible enough for you to run, climb or even dance. The creator of this amazing invention, engineer and biophysicist Hugh Herr, himself is an amputee who lost his left leg in a mountain climbing accident. Yet it only made him stronger and more determined to change everyone’s lives for the better. Now with this invention he’s regained his favorite hobby: climbing. And any day now, no one will ever have to give up a normal life again because of a random incident or lose a dream over a physical limitation.
Finally, this is a technology that will revolutionize your water balloon fights. Bunch-o-Balloons is a simple tool that lets you
fill hundreds of water ballons in mere minutes. Starts as a hum-ble Kickstarter idea from a dad who wants to help his kids have the most epic water fights ever. The project immediately received global attention for its simple ingenuity. And hey, we all need more simple joys in our lives. This invention is proof that incred-ible things can come from everyone and not just scientists. In the age of crowdsourcing and Kickstarter projects, even YOU can come up with cool ideas and help make the world a happier place.
So you see, there are plenty of great things for you to look forward to in the future and not just alien invasions and nuclear wars. This world needs your hope and your dreams to run its cogs and all of us needs to keep look forward
because our future lies that way. In this future, you will be able on to enjoy all these nice things, and then some.
But for now, let’s just dream on and dream well friends!
4
5
3Microscale 3-D Printing
Bionics Limbs
Bunch-o-Balloons
31 October 2014
32 October 2014
THE CITY
BravoC o n t e m p o r a r y A r t
Written by Ha Dao
Art used to be exclusive to the privileged upper class, locked up in galleries and opera houses. If you still keep that notion, wake up, it’s 2014. Hanoi contem-
porary arts are growing diverse and vibrant, taking a major role in framing our audiovisual culture. And of course, it’s not just for the rich and educated (wait, aren’t you?); most of the cultural events are free entrance or cost no more than two cups of coffee. If you keep saying that Hanoi’s boring, here’s a wrap-up of what you have missed out.
INDIE MUSIC“Cá hồi bơi / Ngược dòng nước dữ dội / Đời phiêu lưu mệt mỏi / Rồi chết”(That’s the intriguing beginning of the song Cá hồi – Salm-on by the promising band Ngọt. Thank God they sing about something rather than love.)
The way people listen to music varies through time. Years ago you could only enjoy it live at theatres, later at home with vinyl discs, then VCDs and the Internet happened, reaching grow-ing audience at ease.
Even though the Internet has made it much more conve-nient for singers to get famous, they are following the trend to go underground
Because in the already saturated music market, it’s not all about the fame for an artist, but the sense of “being there” – the feet-tapping, finger-snapping and hip-swinging. The emergence of music cafes/bars in recent years has enabled amateur singers/bands to introduce their music and communicate with their listeners in a much more in-timate atmosphere. Though the number isn’t significantly large, the audience is likelier to be supportive because of the cheerful experience that can never be shared through a computer.
Expats are joining with locals in the scene, too. You will witness various nationalities not only in the crowd but also on stage. It doesn’t matter sometimes not all can un-derstand what the singer’s saying; music proves to be the universal language. And what I personally love about indie music is that it feels authentic, as if their songs were taken from their diary.
Dao Anh Khanh’s performance at his palace
33 October 2014
“Letters for One” by Tran Trong Vu at Manzi Art Space
THE SEVENTH ARTThere isn’t much development at first glance; we’re all fed up with tacky Victor Vu’s comedies at the cinema now.
Hanoi isn’t really a place to make blockbusters that earn billions like Hollywood. It’s still a close-knit society, half modernized, where cultural values and life beliefs usually clash among gen-erations.
That provides the setting for the award-winning independent movie “Flapping in the Middle of Nowhere”, and numerous other short films by young filmmakers that examine the complex rela-tionships in a family or a run-down neighborhood. The movie directed by Nguyen Hoang Diep just won many awards at Venice and Toronto festival, even though it’s open to doubt whether it will make it to the screen silver in Vietnam. The story is not at all pop-corn, but rather tense and dark: it’s about a high school teenager struggling with unwanted pregnancy, her loneliness and the destructive relationships with a good-for-nothing boyfriend and a man with fetish for pregnant women. Cinematography, just like other forms of art, are not only for fleeting laughter but provoking thoughts. It’s good omen that Vietnamese movie is tinkering with more sensitive and complex themes, and nudity is there for a reason.
Film enthusiasts can find abundant support in the city too. Mar-cus Manh Cuong Vu, founder of the online short film festival YxineFF, have been kindling cinematic endeavors in the young community, aiming to utilize short films as a tool for social change. Hanoi Doclab of the independent filmmaker Nguyen Trinh Thi has become a gathering place for collaboration in doc-umentary, experimental films and video arts, organizing special-ized workshops cand screenings for free.
The Centre for Assistance and Develoment of Movie Talents (aka TDP movies) have implemented their inclusive project “We are Film Makers”, providing high school and college students
The indie-rock band COCC at Hanoi Rock City
with knowledge and equipment to make their own films at no cost.
Check out: Hanoi Cinematheque, Hanoi Doclab, TDP movies.
VISUAL ARTS
This is the realm where I believe the growth is most noticeable. The number of artists is increasing, as well as the mediums they employ. Besides traditional medium like paintings and sculpture, artists have been experimenting with more interactive and creative means of communica-tion, like installation, video art and performance art.
There lacks the presence of critics and very often you are confronted with these vexed questions “What does it mean?” or “Is it art or anti-art?”. However, art is never meant to be understood, but to provoke a feeling or a thought. It can be a personal obsession, like the installation “Letters for One” by painter Tran Trong Vu, or cover large social-cultural issues like “A Woman’s View” exhibition by various female artists in Goethe Institut. Overall, it enriches our visual perception and drops a latent message here and there as we start trying to figure out the embedded symbols.
Check out: Manzi Art Space, Goethe-Insitut, L’espace, Japan Foundation, Nha San Collective, Work Room Four. Hanoi’s unique environment brings on equally unique creative responses. It is Hanoi where foreigners come for inspiration away from home and locals pick up changes that are shaping their city. The struggle between globalization and maintenance of cultural identity plus the battle between the authority and the outcry for aesthetic freedom still go on, becoming an endless source of inspiration for creatives. If you are a lover of Hanoi, you may well see the stamp that their complex relationships with the city have on their artworks. Give an exhibition a shot, drown yourself in the energy and vibrancy that it exudes!
34 October 2014
SHORT STORY
The tree is creaking. The air is autumn-colored and autumn-scented. Pink clouds are sliding like tongues across dark orange sky.
Nearby, the carnival is growing.
Shouldering itself up from the dark earth, beams and supports, tarps pulled taught, dark-eyed and slump-shouldered figures moving carts and stringing lights, spitting into the dust. A breeze courses through my legs as I turn lazily back and forth.Oil is crackling in a fryer somewhere close. Machines are cack-ling, grainy laughter rattling up from throats of tin and wire. The dirt path by the tree is lined with leering jack-o-lanterns. Behind me, a gruff voice speaks.
“Ugh,” says the voice. “Fuckin’ nasty, that.”
“Someone’s idea of a joke,” says another voice, higher.
“What should we do with it?”
“Leave it,” says the high voice.
“Adds it to the decor.”
Another breeze blows. I twist again, more this time, and for a moment my vision fills with rough bark. The tree creaks. I twist in the autumn dusk. With each passing minute I can feel my skin softening, feel gravity pulling at the loosening bones of my fingers and toes.
Evening is coming.
I try to speak, but my lips do not move. My throat does not clench. My lungs take no air. I am silent. My legs refuse to move. My weight does not shift, despite my attempt to sway. A small breeze turns me gently in place, but otherwise, I am still. My arms disobey my command to raise. My muscles are leaden and inert. My fingers are still. I cannot move.
I watch the red-orange sun sink beneath a distant crest of hill. Tiny fingers of cool air slide between my bare toes. The tree sighs. The rope creaks.
A raven lands on my shoulder. He leans forward and looks into my right eye. His own are black and glassy, and they reflect nothing. He considers me for a long time, then turns his head and watches the carnival grow. For a time we watch together as the strange-smelling strange-sounding festival gathers breath and brings itself together.
The raven turns his head and pierces the skin of my face with its beak. It punctures the flesh of my cheek. He bites down and tugs, widening the wound. The sun continues to sink. The
purple dye of twilight works slowly across the orange canvas of the sky.
I wish the raven would leave me alone, but I know that he won’t.
The raven peels a strip of flesh away and tugs it free, and then he begins slivering with its beak. As he eats, the raven whispers to me.
“Why did you do it?”
“Because of loneliness. Though I did all I could, gave all I had, loved all that I could, stillthe halls of my home stayed empty, I was alone.”
The raven chews pensively on the scrap of skin.
“I will stay with you for a time, if you like.”
“You will stay only until you have fed yourself. You will take what you can, and then you will leave, and I will be alone again.”
“Perhaps once you had more to offer” whispers the raven, “but now...”
The raven falls silent and continues to eat.
I watch night devours the dusk as the raven eats away at my cheek. The carnival has finished its growing, a jagged mass of splinters and sounds and red-white tents, cackling and crack-ling away in the October night.
I can feel my skin softening even as the raven pulls more of it away. In hours, or perhaps days, it will be waxy and malleable, like gum. I will rot and soften, and as gravity continues to pull, the rope will dig deeper into my neck. Perhaps, if enough time passes, the body and head will come apart.The carnival’s eerie siren song has begun to draw people from the nearby town. They walk in pairs down the dirt road, huddled together, marching toward the sound of calliope mu-sic and laughing demons.
The raven watches from atop my shoulder as people file past. They laugh, or they say nothing, or they shout. Most of them do not look at me.
Some do.
A trio of teenagers sees me and groans aloud. Then they laugh and joke. One of them holds up a cell phone while another steps beside me and intimates licking my cheek. There is a flash. They laugh again and move on.
35 October 2014
I say nothing.
The sky has gone dark. A moon the color of a burning house sits atop the crest of a far, black hill. In the darkness of the outskirts of town, the carnival is a bustling, kaleidoscopic beacon, a festival of light. A breeze presses against my legs. I sway.
A man and a woman, late-comers, walk unhurriedly arm-in-arm. The woman is close to me. She is coming closer, her gaze else-where.
Then we collide and she screams, loudly. Both she and her com-panion lurch back. The collision sets me swinging, twisting. The branch and the rope creak together. A few dead leaves drift down-ward.
The raven, jostled from his perch, takes flight and disappears into the overhanging night. As he flies, I hear his whisper one last time:
“Enjoy your prison.”
The woman sobs once, then composes herself and stands straight. The man looks equally distressed. Their face is contorted in dis-gust.
“Jesus god in heaven,” she mutters.
He puts a hand on her back and attempts to laugh. “Hell of a deco-ration, huh?”
She nods slowly. Her eyes never leave mine. “Yeah,” she murmurs.
“I mean, you’d almost think it was real.”
A group of young women, standing close together and chattering, pass before me. One of them looks up, sees me, pulls a loathsome faceand makes a sound. The rest look up and parrot the first girl.
“Okay, that is seriously sick,” says the first girl.
“It’s so ugly,” says a second.
“Why don’t you go stand next to it. I bet it totally won’t grab you.” one girl says.
“Shut up,” says the first girl. The others laugh. They move on.
A mother carries her toddler against her chest. It clings to her neck as she walks, turned backwards, staring past her shoulder. She moves past without seeing me. The toddler, however, does. Its face reddens. It begins to wail.The mother looks to her child, then behind herself, then to me. She, too, begins to laugh, consoling her child, its fear amusing to her.
“Oh, honey” she laughs, “it’s okay. It’s just a scary decoration.”The toddler is not consoled. Its eyes are locked to mine. I do not understand the expressions of children, but for a moment it seems as though the child is crying not from fear, but from overwhelm-ing pity.
The raven says nothing, but watches all of this transpire with an academic curiosity.
“This never happens to us,” whispers the raven.
What? Unkindness?
“We always know our own dead,” whispers the raven.
36 October 2014
