MICHAEL JACKSON (1959-2009) R.I.P

Speculation mounted that Michael Jackson's fatal heart attack might have been brought on by an injection of painkilling drugs after a rehearsal for the pop star's comeback concert in London, dubbed "the final curtain". Revered as the 'King Of Pop', the tortured music icon's death at the age of 50 sent shock waves across the world. As thousands of fans gathered outside the Ronald Reagen UCLA Medical Center, where Michael was pronounced dead at 2.36pm on Thursday, 25th June (3.56 am Malaysian time on Friday, 26th), detectives searched the rented mansion in Holmby Hills here where the singer had been living.

According to reports, the personal physician who was with him at the time attempted to resuscitate him. Michael's death was confirmed by his brother Jermaine Jackson in an emotional press conference. He said that Michael had suffered a cardiac arrest at his home, however the cause of his death is unknown untill the results of the autopsy are known. Here are some of his background history for those who don't thoroughly know who Michael Jackson is.

1958- August 29, Michael Joseph Jackson born in Gary, Indiana. 7th of 9 children. Brothers, Sigmund "Jackie", Toriano"Tito", Jermaine, Marlon, Steven "Randy", sisters Rebbie, Janet and LA-Toya.
1962- Michael joins family pop group The Jackson 5, with Jackie, Tito, Marlon and Jermaine.
1968- 10 year old Michael and his brothers sign contract with motown records.
1969- Debut single I want You Back, hits number 1.
1970- Jackson 5 becomes first group in pop history to have their first 4 singles top the US charts.
1976- Solo career loses momentum, signs with his brothers to Epic as the Jacksons.
1977- Singer lands starring role as a scarecrow in an all-black film musical THE WIZ, a retelling of THE WIZARD OF OZ. The movie was a box office disaster but Jackson meets music impresario Quincy Jones.
1979- With Jones producing, Jackson records his solo album, OFF THE WALL. Album goes on to sell over 7 million copies.
1982- In Quincy Jones-Produced Thriller, Jackson duets with Sir Paul McCartney, brings in guitarist Eddie Van Halen for jaw-dropping solo, and Vincent Prince for a creepy recitation. Thriller becomes biggest selling album of all time with 40million copies worldwide.
1983- Massive hits from Thriller include fiery Billie Jean and Van Halen anti-gang-violence track Beat It. Jackson performs moonwalk dance step for the first time on TV.
1984- Jackson lands largest individual sponsorship deal in history with US5m ad campaign for Pepsi Cola.
1987- Release of 3rd album BAD. Buys the Neverland Ranch.
1988- Publishes autobiography, Moonwalker.
1991- Signs US65m recording deal with Sony. 4th album DANGEROUS marks end of singer's collaboration with Quincy Jones.
1993- Accused of molesting 13 year old boy, but categorically denies it. Pepsi cancels sponsorship deal.
1994- Marries Lisa Marie Presley.
1995- Releases History: Past, Present and Future, Book 1 album.
1996- Lisa Marie files for divorce. Jackson marries nurse Debbie Rowe. Fathers 3 children, Prince Michael (1997), Paris Michael (1998), and Prince Michael 2 (2002).
2001- Releases Invincible, album gets cool reception.
2005- Following 4 month trial Jackson is acquitted of charges of child molestation.
2008- Jackson and and music promoter AEG Live announce he will perform 50 concerts at London's 02 Arena.
2009- June 25th, Michael Jackson suffers cardiac arrest at his Beverly Hills home. Pronounced dead at UCLA Medical Center.
RIP Michael JACKSON, may god bless your soul.

SCREEN PRODUCTION:The 6th Batch of Graduating Students from the Department of Performance & Media

March 07, final year students from the Department of Performance & Media are presenting their final pieces of film works at Sunway University College; The Props of Life and Crumbling Cookie. Both films have been executed by the students’ themselves from pre-production through to post production.

The Props of Life, which has been separated into three different parts, is a narrative film which wheels around the importance of life, family and relationships. Here, a prop is used to unfold the stories within a circle of ties. It is directed by: Rebecca Dawson, Howard Law and June Wong.

Crumbling Cookie, on the other hand, is a story of a young man, Timothy, who has hit a low point in his life. Having lost his parents and his fiancée leaving him, he is contemplating suicide as a viable way out. Presented in a docu-drama and experimental style, Crumbling Cookie, directed by Joyce Tay centres around the life of Timothy, together with interview snippets from real life cases.

The Props of Life is presented by Aaron Wong, Howard Law, Joanna Soh, June Wong, Khaz, Olivia Kang, Rebecca Dawson & Reuben Cheow;

performed by Shah Rizuan, Melinda Wong, Amir Izwan, Howard Law & Joanne Ooi.

Crumbling Cookie is presented by Alou Dembele, Dwayne Tan, Joanna Foo, Joyce Tay, Khoo Ee Ping & Roger Liew;

performed by Khaz, Syamsul Azhar, Ty-lene Cook & Diandra Arjunaid.

Publicity by Gabriella Robinson & Joanna Soh

Acknowledgements: Leow Puay Tin ( Head, Department of Performance & Media Sunway University College), Joe Yan, Bernice Chauly, Mr. Jasbir (Media Manager of Monash University), Monash University, Joanna Foo & Family, The Befrienders Organization (Kuala Lumpur), Madam Chew Pek Moi, Mr. and Mrs. Tan Teong Sin, Irene Goh, Mr. and Mrs. Liew Ah Chuan, Grace Yeoh & The Department of Performance & Media, Sunway University College.

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead!!

To all you theatre and drama lovers, Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KLPAC) is having a new show called Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead (R&G), perform by the Thatre for young people (T4YP) 2009 group. Directed by Christopher Ling, R&G is a comedy that centres on two bewildered minor characters from Shakespeare's tragic tale of Hamlet. They are thrust centre stage and given the chance to finally take lead roles in this fabulously inventive take on Hamlet.

But R&G do so in a world where reality and illusion intermingle, and where fate leads the two heroes to a tragic but inevitable end. Unaware of the roles in the much bigger picture Hamlet, R&G get themselves into hilarious situations. Although the play is primarily a comedy, they constantly stumble upon philosophical truths in the midst of the ludicrous ramblings.

Enough of the explanation, if you want to know more about R&G, go watch it at Pentas 2, KLPAC (Sentul Park, Jalan Strachan off Jalan Ipoh), at these times and dates:

18th-20th June: 8.30pm
21st-22nd June: 3.00pm & 8.30pm

Tickets are priced at RM25 and Rm15 ( for students, senior citizens, and disabled)
for more info call 03-4047-9000 or go to www.klpac.com

From Carlo to Carlos... COME AND JOIN THE BLUES

LONDON: Carlo Ancelotti has made a dramatic attempt to win the race to sign Carlos Tevez by telephoning him personally. The new Chelsea manager called Tevez after obtaining his number from the striker's Argentina colleague Hernan Crespo and stressed he sees him as an integral part of his plans.

Crespo who worked with Ancelotti when loaned by Chelsea to Milan 4 years ago, helped the italian make contact with Tevez and it is believed they spoke on sunday. Ancelotti is spreading his net as far as possible in the hope of securing players to strengthen the squad he inherits at the start of next month and sees Tevez, who has been frustrated by a lack of games at Manchester United, as a key element in the changes.

Kaka, David Villa and Frank Ribery topped Chelsea's list of transfer targets but Kaka has gone to Real Madrid and the other 2 are likely to follow, even if Chelsea remain determined to lure Ribery from Bayern Munich. Sergio Aguero is another player under consideration, with talks having taken place with representatives for the Atletico Madrid striker.

Manchester City remain the most likely destination for Tevez, who is available for 25million euro (RM132 Million) when his loan deal at old trafford finishes at the end of this month. Ancelotti is known to be an admirer of the hardworking striker and if he can convince him to move to Stamford Bridge, he will ask Roman Abramovich to meet the asking price set by Kia Joorabchian and his investors.

Ronaldo: Hate me or Love me!

His proposed 80 million pounds (RM464Million) move to real madrid may make him a hated figure but Cristiano Ronaldo isn't worried at all. In fact, the hatred that people have for him is the galvanising factor in his bid to "re-write" history of football.

He said he loves it when people sneer at him, hearing the insults. its doesnt bother him one bit, he will only feel bad if he plays bad. Among those who have warned Ronaldo about what to expect is the star the portugese will replace as the world's most expensive player, Zinedine Zidane.

However, former United assitant manager, Carlos Queiroz beleives that Ronaldo was wrong to join Real Madrid and has raised concerns about off-field distractions at the Bernabeu. Queiroz is Ronaldo's coach at international level with Portugal. He quote " I have my opinion about my wish regarding the career of Ronaldo and i think Manchester United was the right club for him. Its something to do with the fashion, the television, a different game that is in place nowadays. i must say that at Real Madrid, these things can happen very easily."

Left 4 Dead 2 is coming out soon!!!

To all you gamers out there, especially the left 4 dead gamers, spread the word to all, the 2nd installment of left 4 dead is coming out some where around the end of the year. For those of you who are not familiar with this game, left 4 dead is about 4 survives, basically sacrificing, sweating, bleeding themselves out to save mankind and revive the country from the vicious infectants a.k.a zombies from taking over. There are a series of different maps and locations in the game, each with its own challenges and obstacles.
The great thing about this game is that you can choose to either play survival mode, which you can play with 3 other people and try to survive the game or you can play versus mode, which consists of 8 players, survivors vs zombies, 4 players on each team. For those of you who likes to show no mercy, you will enjoy being a zombie, not just any zombie, but the 4 special infected zombies which is the smoker, hunter, boomer and tank. The smoker is a zombie which uses its tongue to capture the enemies (survivor), and the good thing about the smoker is that you can attack from a far distance at any height. Hunter is the one zombie that gives a lot of the damage to the enemy as its specialty is pouncing on people, which causes the survivor to be off guard easily. The only thing good about a boomer is that it can blind a survivors view by vomitting on them which will also attracts the normal infectants to attack them like a neon light attracting a fly to fly towards it. A tank is just basically a huge monster/zombie whcih moves slow but can kill a survivor instantaneously with less than 10 hits.

Enough about the explanation, if you wanna know more, go and play the game. If you think this game is awesome, wait until the second one comes out. It's a much larger game than the original, and features new co-op and versus campaigns, all-new Survivors, boss zombies, weapons, and items, as well as melee combat. That is all for now, until then...

Department Of Performance+Media

Hey there again, iv introduced myself in the first post, and talked about myself a bit. Now im going tell you all about the course that im taking, which is Performing Arts and media. The Department of Performance and media at Sunway University College offers a 2.5 year combined course in theatre and video production, leading to a Diploma in Performing Arts. The diploma course produces versatile graduates who can choose either to work or stud further on completion of their studies. These options are built into the course to provide:

• Pre-Professional training, including internship, in both theatre and video production.

• A strong foundation for further studies in theatre, film and television at universities locally and abroad.

Over 2.5 years, under the guidance of skilled and established lecturers, students learn to work across disciplines and boundaries, and gain confidence in themselves as creators an thinkers.

Introduction

Hey all, my name is amir izwan and this is my first post of my blog. Im 18 years old and im studying in Sunway University College, im taking a course in Diploma In performance+ Media. If you're wondering what performance and media is, its a course where you'll learn acting in film and theatre and also the technical part of it such as video tools, stage management, media and communication and thought and writting. It's not an easy course nor is it a playful course, its serious and it takes most of your time. Classes are everyday, assignments are alot. Some of them are interesting some of it are just stressfull. At some point of the course, we would have theatre project and film project, where we are tested based on a play and a film that we have to create ourselves. Here are some of the projects that were created by my senior.
Well this the post for now. Ill be in touch for the next post soon. If u have facebook, do add me. amir_izwan7@hotmail.com