Forever songs

Artist Eddie Ng has experienced ups and downs in the music industry for a decade. He has been a singer, a lyric writer and composer.

Pop singer Nicholas Tse (Varsity, February 2001, Pp. 28-30), known as the utmost rebel, has had a number of hit songs at the top of the charts. He also wants to express his feeling through songs.

Eddie and Nicholas had a similar style in their songs when they first stepped in the show business. Songs like “Playing Fire” from Eddie and “Live VIVA” from Nicholas were good examples to illustrate their images.

Sometimes these kinds of songs reveal some social issues and reflect the attitudes of our youth.

However, currently in Hong Kong, most of the chart No. 1 songs are catchy tunes which are too commercial.

But in reality, money comes first. This is Hong Kong.

Songs with sensational resonance and emotions can definitely endure much longer and even last forever.

Jack Lo
Diamond Hill

Playing mahjong and health

I think playing mahjong is lots of fun.

Apart from gambling, it also helps to alleviate physical and mental retardation.

Most people neglect the fact that playing mahjong needs body movement, instant thinking and responses. From a medical point of view, it helps dementia patients. (Varsity, January 2001, Pp. 38-39.)

However, it does not apply to all, like my grandmother and parents; they don’t like to play mahjong.

If I ask them to pile up the tiles and sort out the character of each tile. They were really panicking.

My parents prefer to watch television rather than play mahjong even if I intend to lose money to them.

One summertime when overseas, I went to an amusement centre near the shore. There were a lot of tourists around. I entered a game shop where I found lots of old people playing bingo.

I wondered why they were so keen on playing this game.

I stood behind an elderly lady who had three number cards in her hands.

Several rounds later, I totally felt lost.

However the elderly lady followed amazingly well and managed to cross out the said numbers exactly.

Her mind and hands co-operated so effectively and precisely that no call was missed.

I was much younger than she, but I was much worse than her in playing the game.

I think bingo is also a kind of therapy for dementia patients, but it is for Westerners.

Mahjong is definitely for the Chinese. But before going to the therapy, one must make sure whether the patients want to play the game or not. If not, the therapy cannot succeed. To choose another suitable therapy for them will be much better.

Lo Tak Piu
Diamond Hill