Taking on a World Champion!

No guy would hold his head up high and admit losing to a woman. It just won't do for a man's ego. So you'd probably find my confession a rarity. "I'm happy to lose to a woman!"

She's currently the world's top female bowler. She's a world champ! Her youth notwithstanding, she's rigged up with ambition, cloaked with resilience and armoured to push deep into the privy league of the bowling battallion's best. She's got it in her to be right up there with the rest of the world's greatest bowlers. She is 2o-year-old Jasmine Yeong-Nathan and more recently, earning the title of Singapore's Sportswoman of the Year. The last bowler to earn the coveted title was Grace Young sixteen years ago in 1993.

The Singapore Polytechnic graduate is awaiting the commencement of her first semester in university next month and while doing an internship of sorts, Jasmine's been training hard on the lanes for the 2009 World Tenpin Bowling Association World Women's Championships that will be commence this Saturday, 25th July till 3rd March in Las Vegas, USA. We wish Jasmine and her team mates Jezreel, Cherie, Bernice, Shayna and Geraldine strings of strikes at the tournament.

Stan challenges World Champion Jasmine Yeong-Nathan to a friendly game.

"The Living Room" is proud to be the first ever media to feature the much-fancied bowler and have the guts to roll off against the world champion. Pamela and I are always on the prowl for fresher ways of presenting our talkshow and we're literally trying to put ourselves where our mouths are. That would mean taking the show out on location, to have our interviewees in their 'natural' environment (we're not just talking chimpanzees!) and physically involving ourselves in what we talk about. The best ambassadors of any cause would be those who go beyond the 'talking' and get into the 'doing'.

We take The Living Room onsite to Singapore Polytechnic Graduates' Guild.

Jasmine has got a lot going for her and she's determined to compete for a long time to come. Up till now, I have evaded the need to provide you the scoreline when I rolled off against the world's top female bowler at the Singapore Polytechnic Graduates Guild Centre. I shall swallow my pride and have you know she thrashed me 194-138.



Had I been a world-class bowler, she would have without doubt upped the ante and added a hundred more points to her pinfall.


It's not far fetched; she trounced defending champion Ann-Maree Putney of Australia in straight sets with an almost perfect score of 298 to 215 at last year's World Cup in Mexico.

She didn't have to show me mercy. Thanks Jasmine for letting me keep some of my pride and for being game in accepting my proposal for a game.

Sportswoman of the Year, Jasmine Yeong-Nathan. What a gem of a girl!

Yes! We actually went to buy the glutionous rice balls with peanut and sesame fillings that Jasmine had recommended that would be in the vincinty of the polytechnic's campus. Mmm...
Her recommendation and ours:
Ah Balling Peanut Soup
(Blk 20, #01-43, Ghim Moh Market)

Rhythm of the Middle-East

What a treat to have sizzlin' rhythms in The Living Room on a Monday morning. No better way to shake out the Monday blues!

We were shocked when percussionist Amit Gilboa came in lugging gargantuan bags filled of percussion instruments of different shapes and sizes. He tells us that the most widely-used drum in the Middle-East is the Darbuka, which can be played solo (like accompaniment for a belly dance performance) or in a band with string instruments like the Oud. 

Well, Stan & I got to roll up our sleeves and have a hand at playing the Darbuka. Here we are, trying our darnest to keep in rhythm while Amit added a layer of percussion solo over our base rhythm. It wasn't that tough lah, and we had a blast! 

 

Getting into the Groove: Stan & Pam play the Darbuka!

But hey, nothing compares to seeing the Master in action. So here he is:  

This (soon-to-be) father of two formed a band called the Al-Bedouin Middle Eastern Music Emsemble in 2004. You can also find out more about what he does here. Or if you're keen on some 'live' Middle-Eastern music, head down to Shiraz @ Clark Quay on Friday & Saturday nights to catch Amit in action. 

We also found out about Singapore Polytechnic's new Diploma course in Creative Writing for TV & New Media from three lecturers and veterans in the media/broadcast industry. They are Frederick Sui Tan, Lee Sher Lin and Gamar Aziz (pictured). It was a very lively and informative discussion ~ but what would you expect when you thrust five media people together in a room? *grin*  

Find out more about this very exciting course here or at Singapore Poly's website. I truly believe the journalist of the today needs to be effective in multiple platforms, especially New Media ~ this is where it's heading with MediaCorp's Newsplex, so this course is surely timely.