MXV • Views from a KAPJAI

Give credit where it is due BY TERENCE FERNANDEZ DON’T get to watch much television but my friend Leon did not allow me to have my lunch in peace when we met last Thursday, as he was going on and on about this movie he caught on HBO, Flash of Genius. I chanced upon it on Saturday and decided to see what the fuss was all about. Halfway through the film, which stars Greg Kinnear, I was thanking Leon. It is the true story of Robert William Kearns, or Bob Kearns, the inventor who came up with the intermittent windshield wiper. He had tried to sell his idea to Ford, Chrysler and General Motors but all three did not show any interest, although Ford had asked him to prepare a cost analysis. Despite the rejection, these companies proceeded to install the intermittent windshield wiper which Kearns had patented. It was at the launch of the latest Ford Mustang that Kearns discovered that his idea had been stolen as the intermittent windshield wiper – which Kearns invented based on the blinking ac...

SHOUT! The Mod Musical @KLPAC Pentas 1, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Director's Notes THIS IS AN unfulfilled dream coming true – a 20-year wait to direct a full fledge musical after returning home to Malaysia in 1990. Soon after recovering from a fractured femur and since late 2009, everything slowly aligned when God-sent angels dropped at least 5 musicals on my lap to direct. This is the first to come true. Foremost, I must thank God for His love, gifts, care and grace. Secondly I would like to thank Aylwin Santiago for initiating the spark and Casey Koh on trusting me with this maiden production. The music of "Shout!" simply rings throughout our lives. I fondly recall the many vinyl records my parents (Johnny & Mary Voon) and Aunty Ernestine Voon had bought - especially Lulu's "To Sir With Love" . My mum used to tell me how puzzled she was of me when I was under 4 years old. Before I could read, I was already proficient in placing the needle on the exac...