Shiny New Logo for HUB CLUB, and something a bit musical...

Days to go: 10
Hey guys, sorry for a few days quiet but we have been rather busy.
Below is the new logo for HUB CLUB (Official name now..)..

 

     What do you think? Will it do?

We will be moving into HUB Cafe and setting up this weekend, so expect to see leaflets and posters scattered around there for the rest of the week, along with the sheets for topic suggestions.

Meanwhile here is one of the articles we intend to discuss in the opening week. It talks about how to write a good song, mostly about what makes good lyrics. So could you be a good songwriter? Read and find out...

Here are some extracts from an article we found about how to write a good song, they will be used and discussed on our opening day, but we thought you should have a good look at them first. More to follow.


 Writing a good song

If you are working on becoming a singer or songwriter, make sure that you know how to put everything together by understanding the different components of a song and how they are arranged. When you are able to do this, you can combine everything musical into a complete song. The result is creating something catching and that everyone wants to remember. Knowing what it takes to make a good song is the first theory towards success as a songwriter.

The significance of a song begins with being able to put together the right lyrics, if you are writing in any singer-songwriter genre. It is the lyrics that keeps the song together and acts as the glue. If you are writing lyrics, look at them from different angles. Each angle can be used as you write. One angle to consider is telling a story with the lyrics. A second is considering the emotions or thoughts that are behind the story.With any angle you start to write your lyrics with, there is one thing to remember: the way that lyrics form the song. Most likely, you will begin with having a verse, then a chorus. The verse will always have new lyrics, while the chorus will repeat. In the chorus, you want to make sure that you have a hook line--the memorable sentence that ties everything together and is often repeated.


Here are a few different opinions from online forums:

1.
To me, lyrics make the song. I love good lyrics. Here are some of the things that make lyrics excellent:
1. They fit the music.
2. They tell a story.
3. They are literate.
4. They express something in a new way.
5. They are concrete and not abstract.

2.
I think what makes lyrics excellent is the time and heart that was put into writing the song. I write songs on my own sometimes, because of my emotions or feelings. A song that id find good is 1 that lets out ur sadness, or anger etc. The song must be from the mind or the heart or even sometimes the soul..

3.
I love lyrics that are powerful. they mean something important, and they leave you wanting to memorize them. I think they should sometimes tell a story, but nothing too big or it might start to sound cheesy.


What do you think? Give us your thoughts or come to the opening event to tell us how wrong we are...

Ok, thats it for now. See you all in 10 days :D

An expert is someone who knows some of the worst mistakes that can be made in his subject and how to avoid them.
Werner Heisenberg

Just letting you know what's "up"...

Days to go: 13

A brief article we found interesting. What words do you know with a lot of meanings?

There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any other English two-letter word, and it is "up".
It's easy to understand up, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake up?
At a meeting, why does a topic come up? Why do we speak up and why are the officers up for election and why is it up to the secretary to write up a report?
We call up our friends and we use it to brighten up a room, polish up the silver, and we warm up the leftovers and clean up the kitchen. We lock up the house and some guys fix up the old car.
At other times the little word has real special meaning. People stir up trouble, line up for tickets, work up an appetite, and think up excuses.
To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed up is extra special. Another use of up is confusing as a drain must be opened up because it is stopped up.
We open up a store in the morning but we close it up at night. Do you have the impression that we seem to be pretty mixed up about up?
To be knowledgeable of the proper uses of up, look up the word in the dictionary. In a desk size dictionary, the word up, takes up almost 1/4th the page and definitions add up to about thirty.
If you are up to it, you might try building up a list of the many ways up is used. It will take up a lot of your time, but if you don't give up, you may wind up with a hundred or more.
When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding up. When the sun comes out we say it is clearing up. When it rains, it wets up the earth. When it doesn't rain for awhile, things dry up; as a result, they can even heat up. According to some British speakers and writers, things can even "hot up".
We could go on and on, but I'll wrap it up, because now my time is up; so, I'll shut up.

Bye all, keep smart :)

Where we is and where we aint....

Days to go:17


Just so you know where we are, there should now be a map somewhere on this page that makes HUB Cafe a little easier to find. Thought it might help, as people getting lost seems to be a regular problem in Sai Gon. Enjoy all

Thought for the day:
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. And inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.
Groucho Marx


P.s: The grammar of the title is intentional. Come to the club to understand :P

The saga continues

Days to go: 18


So the tables have been ordered, all the counter equipment has been located and the big shiny sign is ready.

Next week you can expect to see lots of shiny new leaflets around the city, as we go to print on Thrusday.

We're still looking for a couple more TA's as well, so let us know if you are interested.


Interesting fact:
In British English the word nick can mean:
A prison
To arrest
To steal
To give something a small cut
A small cut or scratch

Ok thats it for now. More updates to follow

Keep learning, see you soon ^-^

A beginning

So hello all. We have been planning and preparing for several weeks now, and we have finally got a few things sorted.


We have finally sorted out the seats and rooms. Hope you all like cushions and low Japanese tables :D

For the first day we will definitely be having a performance by several singers, Thai Trinh included, followed by a How to sing in English workshop. There are several topics we want to discuss, and on the side of this page you can find the poll to let you choose which one you want. You can also request workshops on specialist subjects and we will do our best to comply.

We are still looking for a few more TL's if anyone is interested. We want friendly, bright, confident motivated people who have a high level of English and the passion to share their knowledge and skills with others.