Third Entry - Critically Beautiful Boxer

Date : 28 & 29 January 2010 (Thursday & Friday)
Place : K-Broadcast, Library KPMIM
Time : 9.00 a.m. - 10.00 a.m. (Thursday) & 8.00 a.m. - 9.00 a.m. (Friday)

Brave, that's the only word I have in mind to conclude my preception after watching this 2-hours movie. Nowadays, there are a lot of new movies in the world, Hollywood, Bollywood or even Asian movies, you name it. Producers and directors struggle and trying their best to produce an interesting and different storyline from any other film that have been ever produce. That is the main factor why recently there are a lot of new movies which focusing on taboo or sensitive issue, in order to make the story unique and different from others. Its good actually to have this kind of phenomenon in the world, as we can watch different genre, with different perspective movie.

In the last previous class, Miss Shazwani showing us a movie entitled Beautiful Boxer. It is a Thailand movie. The movie is about a boy, who wants to be a girl, but at the same time, he earns money from Boxing Competition. Transvetite is the main issue of the movie, as it is shown that the protagonist of the movie, Nong Thoom changed himself totally from being a man, to a woman. Along the movie, there are a lot of scene which focusing on his battle in the ring, wearing make-up like lipstick and blusher, and also wearing pink and flourish boxer. It is also shown in a lot of scene that he is actually attracted to man, instead of woman. From the movie, it is said that the main character have a the superstitious belief that he is actually making a sin in previous life, and was been punished in this generation. Thats why he has to transgender himself to become a woman.

The movie indeed an intresting and goose-bumps storyline and such an amazing and outstanding cinematography. A lot of eye-brows scene and great acting by the actor and actress. What I have perceive from the movie is that we can't simply making decision or choosing whats the best for us, and go for it. We can't simply follow our desire, because we don't know it is right or wrong. As a Muslim, we have our guidence, which are Al-Quran and As-Sunnah. So, we can follow our dream, as long as it is not against our religion. The movie also taughts us that challenge can come in any way in this world. For example, personally, I like the scene where it shows contradict situation for the main character, the ring and also the stage for dancers, and how the two contradict situation is combined. Sometimes, in our life, we have to confront with different types of challenges, in any which way in this world. So, we have to be prepared, so that we can tackle it with rational and it will not mislead us in the wrong way. Everything is possible. It's just that we have to back to our roots in order for us stay in the right track.

Critical enough, maybe. That's all about my reflection about the movie. As for my last words, will a new Malaysian movie "Anu dalam botol", directed by Raja Azmi, going to look like this movie?

Second Entry - 10 Rules to be a Critical Thinker!

Date : 20 & 21 January 2010
Place : K-Broadcast & Class (will edit)
Time : (later..)

Isn't it interesting to think beyond everyone else? Of course it is. So, I'm very excited to learn how to think critically from the very base. Before this, when we watch Crime Scene Investigation at AXN, probably we will wonder, how they manage to solve a complicated crime scene within a single evidence? Of course I am impress with all the tricks and skills which shown in the TV series. Learning the basic of how to analyze an article maybe one step to be an expert like them, I guess. So, here it is, the 10 rules to analyze an article, or in other words, to be a critical thinker!

First thing first. We have to know the TOPIC. It is basically to know what is the focus of the article, or to help us predict what will we read in the article. We move on to the CONTENT, obviously. This part where we to read the content, to understand what is the article is trying to say. And then, SOURCE, where it will help us to know where the article comes from. Next, we have to know the AUDIENCE for the article. How to determine? It is based on the word used in the article, to know whether it is refers to professional workers, or for the public. Another essential rules for analyze an article is RHETORICAL FUNCTIONS. It is interesting if you see this style of writing in an article, because it will trigger you out. Next is PURPOSE. At this stage, you will understand, what is the writer's intention towards the reader. Its either to persuade, to advise, to inform and etc. PERSPECTIVE and POSITIONING coming next respectively. This is where you can see the stance of the writer. For IMPACT, it is to ensure what is the effect of the article to the reader. And lastly, the VISUAL LITERACY where we check the other part in the article, like the font, the size of the font and also the picture.

In these class, we are studying basically two articles. First is the newspaper article, entitled 'Convicted Killer Back at Work', and secondly a song lyric entitled 'What About Now'. I am very happy to participate in the class discussion and I must say that I am very impressed with the way Miss Shazwani manage the class.

~ AsRi.

First Entry - First CL's Class & Critical Ice Breaking.

Date : 13 January 2010 - Wednesday.
Place : K-Broadcast, Library KPMIM.
Time : 11.30 a.m. - 1.30 p.m.

Today, Miss Shazwani enter my class for a first time and it means that Critical Literacy class for this semester is officially started. Firstly, she create a good atmosphere in building the chemistry with the class members by recognizing each particular person in the class. For me, it is important to build the chemistry with the class lecturer as i think that it will help in our studies in the future. I also have asked some seniors about this subject and they find it quite difficult because it needs us to think critically about something. So, I am sure that having a good and nice lecturer will help to enlighten our difficulty to study in this subject. Next, she admit herself that she never teach this subject before but she will try her best to teach and guide us through this challenging subject until the end of this semester. After that, she tells us the rules in her class.

After that, she also brief us about what we will face throughout the semester. It also includes the briefing about our upcoming assignment and it's percentage. During that session, she also introduced us with the text book that we will use. As expected, in this first class, she is not going to give us any lecture. But, she is making an Ice-Breaking session, but also related to Critical Literacy. We have to divide ourselves into two big groups and after that, we have to select a person in the different group and we have to explain what we know about the person we have chosen. To make it more interesting, or to kick-start our critical thinking, Miss Shazwani asked us to pick a shape to symbolize or describe the person's personality. The shape that we have to choose are triangle, square, circle and wavy line. Each person in the group have to make sure that we do not take the same person in the group.

As for me, I choose my friend, Atikah Hani binti Yaacob during the session as my subject. She is one of the closest female friend that I have in the college, so, I guess I know a lot of things about her. I describe her from what I know and I explain it briefly so that everyone can know about her. There are also some things that they didn't know about her. I pick triangle to describe her, as i said it symbolize scarf - her stance, tissue - her inner feelings and peak of a tower - her determination. Suprisingly, she also pick me as her subject. Specifically, all the things that she explain about myself is accurately true. Every members in the class also enjoyed the session so much as we can share our thoughts and opinions about someone else in a creative way.

~AsRi.