JOHN LEGGOTT COLLEGE INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE

CONTENTS1 - Lunar New Year

3 - Chinese Medicine

5 - ‘Well Travelled Woman’

9 - Reviews 9 - Titanic 11 - Toy Story 3 11 - This is England

13 - Girls’ Generation

19 - Asia, Lisa Ono

21 - Onmyouji

28 - Acknowledgements

CULTURE

CULTURE

TRAVEL

ENTERTAINMENT

MUSIC

MUSIC

ENTERTAINMENT

Lunar New Year is one of the biggest festivals in many countries in the Far East such as Korea, Japan, China, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore. The name Lunar comes from the fact that the calendar is based on cy-cles of the moon so the dates are not fixed with the Western calendar. There are twelve months in lunar calendar and the festival is on the first day of the first month when the new moon starts in between late January and early February. This article will provide a snapshot of the Lunar New Year festival across Eastern countries, in which they share similarities, as well as show diversity in the various cultures.

Just like people do their Christmas shopping in November, preparations for Lunar New Year normally start one month in advance. Homes are of-ten cleaned and decorated before New Year’s Eve. Children are in charge of sweeping and scrubbing the floor. It is a common belief that cleaning the house will get rid of the bad fortunes associated with the old year. Some people would paint their house and decorate with festive items which are often red banners, red lanterns, red chain lights, etc., since the colour red is believed to bring about luck and happiness for the whole year.

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The food is often prepared two or three days before new year. Each country has its own tradi-tional food only for New Year. In Japan, one of the new year’s foods is a kind of soup known as ozoni. Basically, it is a hot soup that contains mochi (steamed sticky rice that has been pounded and formed into rice cakes). The soup base can be kelp stock, fish stock, miso-flavoured broth or good chicken stock.

In Korea, the most common food and drinks for New Year are tteokguk (white rice-cake soup), bindaetteok (mung-bean cake), sikye (sweet rice beverage) and sujeonggwa (sweet ginger drink). The tteok in the soup are often a rounded shape which, some people believe to be coined shape bringing wealth to people, others argue to represent the sun.

One of the most traditional special foods for New Year’s (Tet) of Vietnamese is Banh Chung or sticky rice cake. Banh Chung is made of sticky rice, pork meat and green beans; every in-gredient is wrapped inside a special leaf which is called Dong. The cake is green to represent the Earth with humans, animals and trees living on it.

These Asian countries are family oriented so Lunar New Year is strictly a family gathering. All members of a family try their best to get home and have a meal together on New Year’s Eve. At midnight following the banquet, the younger members of the family would bow and pay their respects to their parents and elders. Family members wish each other prosperity and good fortune, and then they exchange gifts. Children receive lucky money in red envelopes, candy and fruit from the elders.

The length of the festival varies among countries. In China, it may last for fifteen days with different activities taking place on each day although people may have to get back to work on the eighth day. The first day is a time when families visit the eldest and most senior members of their extended family; usually their parents, grandparents or great-grandparents and the following days are for relatives and friends.

In Tibet, the festival is celebrated for fifteen days, with the main celebrations on the first three days. For Tibetans, the start of the new year is a sacred time, a time to be with family and with one’s faith. It is also time for feasting and celebration.

To conclude, Lunar New Year is the biggest festival celebrated among many Asian countries. Based on a different calendar system to the solar calendar widely used in the rest of the world, it is unique to Eastern culture. Although it is the same time in all the countries, the celebra-tions differ greatly among them, which contribute to cultural diversity in the area.

Lunar New Year:

CHINESE - (Trad.) 農曆新年 (Simp.) 农历新年KOREAN - 설날VIETNAMESE - Tết Nguyên Đán

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Traditional Chinese medicine includes a range of traditional medical practices originating in China. TCM therapy largely consists of Chinese herbal medicine, acupuncture, dietary therapy, and tui na massage.

The main aspects of TCM’s concept of the human body, health, and disease are yin and yang, the Five Elements, the organs, blood, meridians and the Six Exogenous Pathogenic Factors.

The Shen Nong’s Herbal Classic, a 2,000-year old book considered as the oldest book on oriental herbal medicine, classifies 365 species of roots, grass, woods, furs, animals and stones into three categories:> Superior: Herbs effective for multiple diseases that are mostly responsible for maintaining and restoring the body balance. They have almost no unfavorable side-effects.> Tonics and boosters: Consumption must not be prolonged.> Remedies: Taken usually in small doses, for the treatment of spe-cific ailments only.

Diagnosis in TCM consists of various forms of observation including visual, auditory, olfactory, touch, and questioning. These observations take the form of descriptions of colour, moisture and heat, among many others to ultimately identify a pattern that can be subsequently treated.

Traditional Chinese medicine requires considerable diagnostic skill. A training period of years or decades is necessary for TCM practitioners to understand the full complexity of symptoms and dynamic balances. According to one Chinese saying, a good (TCM) doctor is also qualified to be a good prime minister in a country. Modern practitioners in China often combine a traditional system with Western methods.

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The curricular and extra-curricular adventures of a Pol-ish teacher recruited by the British Council to inject cul-ture into a UK college.

Why did you come to the UK?

Back in 2009 I applied to be a British Council [the UK’s cultural relations body] Comenius Assistant. The scheme enables teachers across Europe to spend time in a UK school as well as travel and experience life in a different country.

What is the idea of the scheme and how is it benefitting you?

I am practicing the teaching skills I learnt in Poland. The scheme also gives me an insight into a totally dif-ferent culture and the way the education system works in the UK. I also get to share views, knowledge and opinions. It is very helpful that I speak English, French and Polish.

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What are you doing at JLC?

I started in October 2010 and my work has been mainly supporting Polish students in their studies. This has included translating during parents’ evenings as well as helping during and after classes.

I have also been able to promote my country. I have shared some Polish history and was keen to mark Polish Independence Day in college on 11th November. I did so with Polish food, music and poetry.

Just before the Christmas holidays I gave a presentation to the General Studies class about the differences and similarities between UK and Polish Christmas traditions.

We had a quiz and winners were awarded with Polish wafers known as ‘Opłatek’. These are usually given at celebrations or during mass. You are supposed to break them in half and say a wish. I showed a You Tube clip to students to make it more interesting. We decided to share remaining wafers with students of Polish and/or Catholic origin.

I am quite partial to the wafers and sometimes my mother will buy me a packet and I will nibble through them all like crisps!

Coming up is a chance to participate in a geography class. I will be talking about recent Polish immigration into the UK. There is also going to be a Polish language course for college staff and I know that several are very interested already. I think it will be very useful given that there are many Polish students in college.

What did you expect to be doing at JLC?

I wasn’t sure what to expect before I started the scheme. I have friends who have done it but they didn’t give many details. I wasn’t sure whether I would be alone and delivering lessons or playing a support teacher role.

As it turns out I am very happy giving support during lessons and not delivering classes. I particularly enjoy supporting Polish students.

Has it met your expectations?

Coming to the UK has had a tremendous impact on me. I have improved my English skills and really enjoy living with an English family, something which I have definitely benefitted from.

At John Leggott College the way students are educated and the expectations of them are so different [to the way in Poland]. It’s really good for them and encourages independence in learning and life.

I love the British culture and I have seen so many places that seemed so far away before.

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What were your impressions of the college staff?

I was surprised how welcoming everyone was. In Polish schools teachers are not so friendly, they are quite serious and there was always a feeling of rivalry and that they were afraid I might steal their job.

My first day at JLC, oh gosh, I really appreciated how many people knew my name, they were smiling and they already knew that I’d studied 2Pac for my dissertation!

What are UK preconceptions of Polish people? Do you think you have helped to dispel these?

The Polish people who came to the UK around World War Two are seen as hard working and good people. The recent migrants are seen as low skilled alcoholics [in my opinion].

I think I have been able to dispel some of the preconceptions of recent migrants. I tell people that even educated people come to the UK and end up in factory jobs. You can do the same job in Poland but earn less money so it is advantageous to come to the UK. The UK is definitely seen as being cheaper than the USA.

There are problems with the labour market in Poland and many think there is no future there. Polish stu-dents at college are money focused but if they had the chance to return they would [since it was their parents’ choice to move to the UK]. It is very difficult for them and of course there is the language barrier. On the whole they are good kids and they just need a bit of extra support.

What did you think England would be like before you came?

Rain and rain! I was looking forward to the famous English humour - puns, intellectual jokes and black hu-mour.

... and Scunthorpe?

I thought it would be small and I was comparing it to my home town Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski (Scunthorpe’s twin town) which is fairly industrial and there’s not a lot to see. Despite my hope to be placed in a city for the assistantship I was pleasantly surprised by Scunthorpe.

What do you do outside college?

I spend my weekends travelling around the UK. So far I have been to Leeds (three times), Edinburgh, Glas-gow, Manchester, Doncaster, Peterborough, London, Cleethorpes, Lincoln and Cambridge. I have also been to Dublin and to visit family in Ennis (Ireland).

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Where are you going next?

Before Easter I plan to visit York and Birmingham where my homestay family have a flat. I would also like to go to Liverpool, London (again!) and Cardiff because it is the capital of Wales and it is essential that I get the ‘Welsh experience’ before I return to Poland.

What is your favourite place so far?

I have three ‘top’ places I have visited in the UK:

1) Leeds because it was the first big UK city I went to. As soon as I walked out of the railway station I was im-pressed by the city centre architecture as well as the rush (though nothing compared to Oxford Street which I subsequently experienced!).

2) Edinburgh has so many beautiful places to visit. There is lots of ‘old stuff ’, amazing architecture, the castle, all streets have something magical. The city has an incredible ambience and I have heard about the festivals there and can imagine how great it would be to go to them.

3) London – because it’s London and you must visit! It is somewhere I had only seen on TV, in films and in my English course books. It gives you a practical grasp of English language and culture and I think every English language student in Poland should come to London. It fills you with inspiration and makes you see the point of learning.ort.

What are your plans for the future?

My time at JLC ends this June and it’s difficult to think about the future. It has been a great opportunity and I don’t want it to end!

I’m thinking about staying in the UK for some time if my friend comes and joins me here, or I’ll go back and look for a job - the perfect one would be dealing with translating/interpreting alongside teaching (English/French) in a college.

FURTHER INFORMATIONBritish Council Comenius Assistant schemehttp://www.britishcouncil.org/comenius.htm

UK to Poland travelBy bus: there are coaches that depart from London Victoria station going to Warsaw/Kraków and take approximately 28 hours.By air: most local to Scunthorpe is Doncaster (Robin Hood) airport where you can take Wizz Air to Warsaw or Katowice. Also Ryan Air from Leeds, but now almost every major city offers flights to Poland. Prices vary but can be dirt cheap flights for example, £20-25 (this is on weekdays and not during holidays). Flights are approximate-ly 2 hours and 20 minutes.UK travelCar: It’s great when you make friends then you can travel to many ‘off the beaten track’ places by car.Train: I have mainly been travelling by train around the UK. Scunthorpe has a station that con-nects to everywhere. A young person’s rail card is recommended to get discounts.Bus: I took the Megabus to London for only £27 return – a top tip!

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Titanic Review by Charlotte Wong

“Titanic” has been said to be the best film in recent times, by many people all over the world. Apart from the main theme, the love story, there are still many other characters who acted very well but we have not praised them. Their stories are also touching and interesting.

Titanic, the ship of dreams, known as “unsinkable” sailed off successfully in 1912. On this epic journey, a poor art-ist named Jack Dawson and a rich girl called Rose DeWitt Bukator fall in love.

Fortunately, this penniless Jack wins a ticket for the ship from a poker game. His fortune helps him set the whole movie rolling.

One night, their fairy tale love suddenly turns into a struggle for survival on a ship about to sink to the bot-tom of the North Atlantic.

Distraught and frustrated with her engagement to Cal-edon and her controlled life, Rose leaves her fiancé.She feels she is worth nothing, so she tries to end her life. Fortunately, Jack is attracted to Rose’s beauty and con-vinces her out of an attempted suicide.When the Titanic collides with the Iceberg, Jack sacri-fices his life for Rose in the end. Rose’s family, Cal, and friends have to think that she has died on the Titanic. The whole story is about the entire journey and how she and Jack meet and love each other so deeply untill the end is etched deep in her memories.In this article, I shall air my opinion regarding some of those characters and their stories that have impressed me very much.

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The upper class people on the Titanic were so pretentious and always looked down upon the poor. For in-stance, Rose’s mother tried very hard to pretend to be a high class lady. In fact, after her husband’s death, her family fell on hard times. However, she wanted to stay wealthy, thus, she forced Rose to marry the rich mer-chant so to become rich again. Meanwhile, when she found that Rose had eloped with Jack, she forbids her to see him again, in fear that she could not enjoy a noble life anymore.

As we can see from Rose’s mother, the upper class people thought that money was always the priority. Eve-rything was based on money. Without money, they would not make friends with you and even looked down upon you. They had a strong class-consciousness. They always thought they had privilege that others would not have, so they always suppressed people from the low class society. Their money-oriented will drove them to be desperately selfish and pretentious.

In the middle class society, there was one enthusiastic woman in the gang different from the others. She was Margaret Molly Brown, a fat woman who was a plain-spoken without the background in high society, so she was shunned by the other upper class people. She impressed me so much because she had a human touch, not so relent as the others. She was somewhat naive and would not pretend to be so lady-like and fake. Her lending Jack a dinner suit indicated that she was not selfish and was willing to help others, even the poor. She also taught Jack how to behave well among the upper class. On the other hand, after the sinking of Titanic, she was evacuated in a lifeboat. She persuaded the lifeboat’s passengers to help with rowing to save the vic-tims in the sea.

The sailors of Titanic were the real heroes. People tend not to notice the sailors who had sacrificed their lives in order to save all the passengers. Were they not the true heroes? When Titanic started to sink, the sailors helped to evacuate passengers to the lifeboats. You might have noticed that they did not wear life jackets. All they had in mind was to save as many people as they could. They put the passengers’ safety first instead of their own lives. Their selflessness and heroism really deserved our highest praise and whole-hearted thank-fulness.

The designers and the captain of Titanic were so calm and responsible for the passengers. When the Titanic crashed into the iceberg and was found to have serious damage, the designer and the captain carefully dis-cussed the ways of evacuating passengers on Titanic instead of just sitting down and not knowing what to do. Since both of them have to carry full responsibility for the Titanic, if there were any predicament, they had to ensure passengers’ safety, prior to their own. They held the responsibility for the accompanying the Titanic on its maiden, but what would ultimately be its last voyage.

There were two scenes that really touched me. One was a mother who was asking her children to sleep as the boat sunk. Her heartfelt lie touched the bottom of my heart because I could feel the parental love, which is the most selfless devotion in the world. Meanwhile, an old couple hugging closely on the bed to wait for death made me feel sad and full of sorrow.

All in all, “Titanic” was a marvellous film as it not only focused on the love story , but also the tiny stories between other characters. Although the film lasted three hours, you would never find it tedious nor boring as this film’s structure is so well-organized.

The Titanic rests in peace at the bottom of the North Atlantic from 1912 until the end of time.

Toy Story 3 by Charlotte & Beth

Toy Story 3 is a 2010 American 3D computer-animated film. It is the third film in the Toy Story series. The feature broke the record of Shrek the Third as the biggest opening day North American gross for an animated film. The film is currently the highest-grossing film of 2010 in the United States and Canada, and the highest-grossing film of 2010 worldwide. It is cur-rently the 5th highest-grossing film worldwide of all time.

The story is about a boy called Andy who loves his toys; he keeps them even until he had grown up. Love can be romantic, passionate; also can be protective and patient, as it is be-tween Andy and his toys. Andy prepares to leave home for college and his toys are hoping for a new life with other children. They just want to play with the children and don’t want to be abandoned .They never ask for anything in return. I walked out of Toy Story 3 feeling as if my heart was so full; the toys are more than plastic to Andy.

Andy takes the toys to Bonnie at the end. He introduces each toy individually, and decides to let Bonnie to have them, even Woody, his favourite toy, and also his best friend. Andy believes that Bonnie will treat the toys well like what he did. When Andy drives off, I can see how Woody waves his hand sadly and says goodbye to his toys. This inspires me a lot and now I understand love is not about what you have, but what you give and share.

This is England Film Review by Jasmine

As the spin drama series This is England ’86 neared its end, I felt a need to watch the film that began the series. This gritty drama set in Midlands, steps back in time to 1983, an era of Doc Martens Boots, Ben Sherman and the iconic “Skinheads”. The film follows twelve year old Shaun a misfit who was struggling to deal with the death of his father and being bullied at school. Things soon change when he met a gang of Skinheads, who soon adopted him as one of them. Shaun and the gangs new found friendship and happiness, it soon destroyed by the return of Combo. The proceeding scenes were a tangled web of racism, love, hatred and graphic violence. The storyline is gripping and the nostalgic sound track with hits such as Soft Cell’s Tainted Love, compliments perfectly. The film sees a host of up and coming actors including Joseph Gilgun (Woody), who is no stranger, to the camera. My only criticism is that there are very graphic depictions of violence and racially offensive material, which at times, made me feel a little uneasy. In my opinion, th Gee was an instant success – topping almost every online chart within a matter of days, taking number one places on almost every music show. ‘Gee Fe-ver’ really had hit South Korea. The song became, and still is, South Korea’s longest running number one, staying there for 9 weeks. Before long, the kids were dancing to Gee with their friends, and the fanboys were hoping the songs cute and love filled lyrics were aimed at them. People praised the song for being quirky, infectously catchy, cute… It was really the starting point of the girls career, and why they are now known as South Korea’s best girl group. But, don’t tell the Blackjacks and Wonderfuls that, okay?

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GIRLS’GENERATION By Connor

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If you had asked me who Girls’ Generation were a year ago today, I’d have answered ‘Some group my friend likes’. Maybe once or twice I might have drawn some ridiculous picture of the members, of whom I couldn’t name or tell apart, whilst joking around with said friend. But, over the past year, just like their hit song ‘Gee’, these girls have grown on me. And now... Well, I can name them all. I know what they like, what their individual quirks are. If you look in my room you’ll find posters of them, along with their CDs. So what happened? I realised the charm of these nine Korean girls. And since then, I’ve never regretted that moment when I willingly chose to listen to Gee. Girls’ Generation, or as they are known in Korean, 소녀시대 (So Nyuh Shi Dae, SNSD), are a nine member (Yes, nine member) Korean girl group, consisting of Taeyeon, Jessica, Sunny, Tiffany, Hyoyeon, Yuri, Sooyoung, Yoona and Seohyun. If you’ve no prior knowledge into Korean pop music, then nine members may come as a bit of a shock to you, but, large groups like this are typical in South Korea.

Girls’ Generation are signed under SM Entertainment, an entertainment giant in South Korea. SM is known for producing some of the country’s biggest groups, such as DBSK and Super Junior. Not only this, and the fact that they have a somewhat questionable name, they’re also linked with ill news of artist abuse, misconduct to human rights, and more nasty things. But… This is an article about SNSD, not about SM’s somewhat unorthodox man-agement methods, but I digress…

SNSD had a pretty respectable debut and start to their career. With their fun and quirky, but just a little bit cheesy (Into the New World was full of forced smiles, seriously) pop songs such as ‘Into the New World’ and ‘Kissing You’, they established themselves as a promising new girl group. The girls loved them for their quirky personalities and charm, whereas the guys… Well, you can probably guess why the guys liked them.

Gee was an instant success – topping almost every online chart within a matter of days, taking number one places on almost every music show. ‘Gee Fever’ really had hit South Ko-rea. The song became, and still is, South Korea’s longest running number one, staying there for 9 weeks. Before long, the kids were dancing to Gee with their friends, and the fanboys were hoping the songs cute and love filled lyrics were aimed at them. People praised the song for being quirky, infectously catchy, cute… It was really the starting point of the girls career, and why they are now known as South Korea’s best girl group. But, don’t tell the Blackjacks and Wonderfuls that, okay?At the start of 2009, something big happened in South Korea. ‘Gee’ was released, and it took the country by storm. In January of 2009, the girls came back with what was to become their biggest hit.

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Gee Fever’ spread even further than South Korea, however. It was a huge hit all over Asia, topping many other charts, and even spread somewhat over the internet into a Western audi-ence. Gee was the song that made me love KPop and Girls’ Generation, and it’s a song that nearly everyone who knows KPop likes. Not only was the song a hit, the choreography also became popular. The ‘crab dance’ featured in the choreography was very popular, causing people to cover and parody this dance all over the world. A simple YouTube search of ‘Gee parody’ and you’ll either laugh yourself silly, or be extremely scared. It really depends if you find middle aged men dancing in tight colourful jeans amusing.

Within a few months, the nine girls were back with their next song – ‘Tell Me Your Wish (Ge-nie)’. As with Gee, this became a huge hit in Korea, but not so much as Gee. It also gave the girls their nickname ‘Legs Generation’, due to the emphasis put on their sexy legs and figures. Honestly, the music video is about 80% legs and 20% SNSD. This, coupled with a catchy dance beat and ‘sexy leg dance’ made Genie a huge hit for these girls. And despite the fact that they repeatedly told us to ‘tell them our wish’, and the fanboys did just that, filling their message board with various wishes, from the cute to somewhat questionable, these wishes didn’t come true. And as Jessica said, they never stated that they’d actually grant them. Such teases.

At the start of 2010, I had become a fan of SNSD. I remember waiting in anticipation when I heard the girls were going to return, and I wasn’t disappointed when they came back with their second album, ‘Oh!’. Well, I wouldn’t let myself be disappointed – there’s only so many times you can stay up until the early hours waiting. That’s called dedication. Lending on the cute, bubbly theme of Gee, the song was an instant success, proving to be almost as huge in terms of popularity as Gee. It was the big comeback of 2010, and they sold the most albums of any KPop artist for the first half of 2010. Again, the Blackjacks and Wonderfuls aren’t too pleased about this. To further expand this, they quickly returned with their repackage ‘Run Devil Run’. This repackage completely turned the cute theme around, instead opting for a dark and sexy theme. Whilst the song was not their most popular, the shift in theme was greatly received by fans, showing just how versatile they could be. I mean, the story video I waited so long for was a huge disapointment. But hey, it just goes to show that you can throw together about 10 seconds worth of new footage and people will eat it up. Good business tactic there,

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SNSD made another shocking announcement later in the year, the announcement that they would soon be expanding into the Japanese music market. Well, it was obviously going to happen, but for all intents and purposes, a shocker. And that’s just what they did, and with a bang. Their first Japanese single ‘Genie’ proved to be very popular, gaining them an Oricon chart entry at number 5 – a first for a Korean artist in Japan. It’s also impressive to say the song is a year old, but, you know. SM are an entertainment giant for a reason. They also soon cameback in Japan with ‘Gee’, which was their first Japanese Oricon number 1, a brilliant feat for a foreign girl group.

Keeping with the shocking announcments, SNSD surprisingly announced their third mini album comeback, ‘Hoot’, in November. Seriously, this mini album sprung up from no-where. There wasn’t even any hints, just a website that popped into existence one day. Regard-less, this was met with excitement by SNSD fans everywhere, and the song was a big hit, with a catchy melody, impressive vocals and dance, along with a sexy new look. Cowboy James Bond? Don’t question it, it makes perfect sense.

In retrospective, Girls’ Generation career has been a brilliant one, and it’s not expected to stop any time soon. They’ve had a string of popular songs, earning them the title of best Korean girl group. Some people may hold some stereotyping towards these girls. I myself, I admit, did at first. South Korea isn’t exactly a very well known country to Westerners. As SNSD were my first taster of KPop, I initially held the same conception as everyone else. I assume that they were just an asian equivalent of Western girl groups, but, I soon discovered that they are so much more. These girls are each unique in their own way. Unlike Western groups, SNSD, and every KPop group holds a special charm that Western groups don’t. They make you feel like you’ve known them forever – you’ll laugh when they tell a bad joke, you cheer them on even when they can’t hear you. It’s something I just don’t feel with Western music. These girls are just so special in their own way. They’re not afraid to be goofy, or weird. They don’t conform to all the standards set, much like Western pop stars do. You might listen to SNSD and think ‘This is annoying’, or, ‘Wannabe Western popstars’, but you can’t deny that they have a unique charm. And if you run with that charm, and let it grow on you like I did, you’ll soon grow to love these girls. So, as they would say in South Korea – So Nyuh Shi Dae fighting!Give these girls a chance, and listen to their music. Who knows, maybe they’ll captivate you like they’ve captivated so many before.

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Like a record, starting from its sleeve.By Jane

When I first saw Asia from Ono Lisa, I was absolutely riveted by its sleeve.At the sunset, Chao Phraya River and Temple of Dawn has a luster resembling that of soft satin. I cannot stop imagining this picture.This album itself contains 9 new tracks, with famous ballads from 9 Asian countries including China, Sri Lanka, Korea, India, Thailand, Indonesia, Mongolia, Malaysia and Philippines.

Tracks:01. When will you come again (China)02. Olu Pipila (Sri Lanka)03. Saichon (Thailand)04. Dahil Sa Iyo (Philippines)05. Rasa Sayang (Malaysia)06. Evening Primrose (China)07. Arirang (Korea)08. Vande Mataram (India)09. Bengawan Solo (Indonesia)10. Buuvein Duu (Mongolia)

I am a Chinese and I have heard different versions of When will you come again and Even-ing Primrose before. I think Lisa’s two songs may be not the best ones, but are the most unique. Lisa’s voice differs from the magnetic and hoarse one of Joanna Wang, a Chinese Bossa Nova singer who is clean and clear, as the Asian women’s light tanned skin mixed with ivory white makeup. When will you come again has been made into the Bossa Nova version again and I think Lisa’s version is more feminine than Joanna and has a more modern feeling than the original version from Teresa Teng which just is the symbol for the 20th century. She is like wonderful art, which is noble and friendly, elegant and romantic, glamorous and gentle with the whisper of singing these Chinese songs. Her unclear pronunciation has a dif-ferent lingering charm. These luxury and dissipation sentences have more old Japanese se-questered beauty through Lisa’s musical interpretation.With the melody and rhythm, you can calm down easily when your mind is in such turmoil. The memories follow each other again and again and the screen showed that different pictures such as the soulful Thai songs on the bus to the Thai’s border, the dream of backing to Angkor in the jinrikisha, the drumbeats in the dragon boat of the For Thousand Islands and the sway with the percussion on the Boracay…

The sun of the afternoon, a cup of coffee, the favorite book and… A clean voice - Ono Lisa.

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by Amy

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:The members of the Valise would like to give a big thanks to O2 for their continued support throughout the (lengthy!) process. The Thing Big project provided us with a budget which will use to further pro-mote and better Valise Magazine in the next college year.

We would also like to apologize for the time taken for the final re-sult to be released. There were many problems we encountered as a group along the way, however, we hope next year we can produce something you will enjoy even more than this issue! Please provide your support for Valise Magazine in the future!

Thank you for reading, and we hope you enjoyed the magazine!

All images used in this magazine are the property of their respective owners. No intention was made to unfairly claim ownership of these images, and their use is strictly for the use of entertainment and infor-mation.

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