What I do (Part 1)

A lot of times people ask me what I study/research/degree. This can briefly be summed as follow

X: So what is your Master degree on?

Me: Molecular Biology.

X: Oh. Sounds fancy/interesting.

*awkward pause, where you can tell they clearly have no idea what I do and don't know how to proceed*

Me: *in attempt to sound friendly* It's kinda like Biotech, but Biotech is more like the business aspect. This is the basic research part.

X: Oh.

Actually, I wasn't really telling the entire truth, kinda like watered-down and measured-in-PPM kind of truth. From Wikipedia:

Molecular biology is the branch of biology that deals with the molecular basis of biological activity ... Molecular biology chiefly concerns itself with understanding and the interactions between the various systems of a cell, including the interactions between the different types of DNA, RNA and protein biosynthesis as well as learning how these interactions are regulated."

It's kinda like saying I'm doing Biology. Or Physics (hah!). It's just a general term for a field of study. While I do quite a several aspects of research, my main interest and focus is on molecular phylogenetics.

For now though, let's focus on understanding the concept of phylogeny.  Rather than throw lines of jargons at you, I was pointed to this excellent and well-produced video, which I think does a great job of highlighting the wonder of nature, the concept of phylogeny and why we study it.

  

More to come.. 

Pretty fly

If you're an avid radio listener, chances are you would have heard Keri Hilson's Pretty Girl Rock (which I would say sounds like it's inspired by the rather terrible Pretty Boy Swag by Soulja Boy).

But have you seen the video for it?

It's actually quite awesome, and not a typical "scantily-clad female prancing around with gaggles of males leering after her as if they've never seen an attractive female" music video.

I'm not a music pop culture expert; when I first watched it without reading the description I wasn't really sure what was different transitions were about. Then I quickly identified the similarities of two particular scenes to Rhythm Nation by Janet Jackson and Creep by TLC. Intrigued, I checked out the video description and re-watched the video more carefully this time.

From the official video description:

Follow Keri Hilson through the decades in the video for her single "Pretty Girl Rock," directed by Joseph Kahn. Keri transforms herself into women who have paved the way for black female artists, including Josephine Baker, the first world-famous African-American entertainer; singer Dorothy Dandridge; disco queens Diana Ross and Donna Summers; dance music legend Janet Jackson; and R&B trio TLC.

The order of the artistes, as I've manage to dig around are:

1. Josephine Baker

2. Dorothy Dandrige

3. The Andrews Sister

4. Diana Ross

5. Donna Summers

6. Janet Jackson

7. TLC

As a homage video, I think it is very well-done and it really captures the essence and highlights the differences between each era/artiste. From the rather innocuous flirting of the first 3 artists to the synchronised swaying of Diana Ross and finally to the "tough gal" hip-hop dance of the TLC, I really marvelled at how things have changed and evolved in music and dance and the portrayal of female performers.

I was a little curious about Josephine Baker, so I dug around Youtube a bit and found this: Footage of Josephine Baker performing her infamous Banana Dance at the Folies Bergère in Paris, France c. 1927

If you have not seen the original Rhythm Nation by Janet Jackson, the one portrayed by Keri here is admittedly, quite a watered-down version. But then it's a quite difficult task to recapture the power and awe of the original video by Janet herself, which if I'm not mistaken, probably set the standard for flawless synchronisation and complex choreography in music videos, and an excellent showcase of the raw energy and power of group dancing.

TLC was among the pioneer groups that made hip-hop more mainstream, and females as hip-hop performers in general. I'm not entirely certain about this part, but as hip-hop became more mainstream, I believe hip-hop as a dance also evolved to be accepted as a type of dance - it's a very in-your-face style, wide arm and leg movements, and very energetic. As an example, you can check out this hip-hop routine performed on SYTYCD.

All this stuff might not mean a lot to most folks, but I find it fascinating and interesting, and definitely gives you a slight sense of pause and a raised eyebrow and how things have changed.