Five for Yasmin Ahmad

One.

I have a copy of Yasmin Ahmad's Talentime, original DVD, that I want to give out. It's not subtitled - I've watched it before in the cinema and I think the major languages used are English, Malay and Tamil (logical deduction - could be Hindi for all I know), perhaps with a slight smattering of Mandarin. So if you understand English, Malay and Tamil, or know someone who does who will enjoy this movie, get in touch with me (june dot tan at gmail dot com) and I'll make the arrangements to send the DVD to you. It's a great movie and I don't want the DVD to go to waste with me because I can't understand parts of it, so I'm going to send it to you for free. Consider it as a gift from me.

If no one contacts me within a week of this post, I will put up a notice on the Couchsurfing forum and give it out through there (since the forum has more than five readers). So do be quick if you're interested =)

Two.

Muallaf is now screening in Malaysia. I watched it in Singapore first, last year, and this trip back to Malaysia I watched it again at GSC 1Utama. Catch it before it stops screening!

Three.

I bought this book called Yasmin Ahmad's Films, by Amir Muhammad, yesterday. I find it a delightful accompaniment to the movies as it highlights some details that I missed in the movies, and the commentary is very useful for foreigners who may not understand some of the cultural references that are uniquely Malaysian. RM30 at major bookstores.

Four.
photo credit

I teared when I saw this. It's graffiti art drawn at the Klang River, Pasar Seni, by two local artists named Jeng and Kioue, after Yasmin Ahmad's death. Sigh. Damn sad.

Five.

I've created a new label called Yasmin Ahmad and there are 12 posts that I've tagged with the label. I didn't realize that I had written so much about her before. Here are the previous posts that I've written on Mukhsin, Sepet, Muallaf.

Kena curi lagi

It is that time of the year again. What time of the year, you ask. Well, the time of the year when I get my personal belongings stolen, of course. What else?

Last year on November 27th, I was robbed in Kota Kinabalu. This year on November 28th, I lost my bag and its entire contents to a thief who somehow figured out the padlock combination of our dragonboat locker cage. Five or six bags were stolen, including mine. This is the first time that something of the sort has happened in my team, although someone cut through the American team's cage before, apparently.

Things I lost: My trusty Esprit bag, which YKent who bought it from Hong Kong sold to me, and it has weathered through so many conditions formal or rough because it's so versatile. Sigh. It was a good bag. My wallet which was cheap and falling apart, so no love lost there. S$100 which I had just withdrawn the day before, and a couple of hundred RM, which, don't ask me why I was bringing all around Singapore when they don't accept RM here. My student ID, my debit card (which has 2 bucks in it, they're welcome to it), my ATM card, my EZLink card, random transport cards that I collected from the US. My phone, the one that I hated. Well good riddance, except that all my contacts and sim card were in it. My umbrella. A library book - Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, which I had not finished, damn it. And it looked pretty old too, bet it was published a long time ago... well, let's just hope that the thieving bastards would appreciate classic literature. My Vegetarian t-shirt =( and my very absorbent gym towel. My house keys.

Things I didn't lose: More important forms of ID - my passport and Malaysian IC or driver's license. My research notes and camera which I took out right before I left, because I didn't want to make them wet.

Things I thought I had lost but didn't: my pencil case, my supervisor's library book, the cable for my external hard disk, my mp3 player which contained the 3-hour interview with Tope my Nigerian CSer (!!!).

All in all I suppose the damage wasn't huge, since most of the stuff that I lost are replaceable, apart from that vegetarian t-shirt that I got from San Fran... but I guess I could be thankful to the fact that I didn't lose my Old School or "If you can read this: make me a sandwich" t-shirts that are my favouritest t-shirts in the world, bought from Wellington, which have been with me through thick and thin, through leech infested tropical jungles and dry dusty deserts. Sucks that I lost all that money, but then money doesn't have emotional value so that's fine. Ambivalent that I lost my phone, along with it old and musty messages that hinted of relationships that could have been, people whom I've lost contact with, dear messages from my good friends that I can always accummulate again. I shall think of it as a yearly cleansing ritual, losing a phone and all the contacts, and building up again the core of people who matter.

The police took ages to arrive and in the meanwhile everyone crowded around to cancel credit cards and phone cards. The ones who weren't affected stayed back to give emotional support. There was this British uncle who kept growling in frustration every five minutes, haha. A really nice Indian guy loaned me 50 bucks. People kept speculating how it happened, and after they had already exhausted the possible scenarios they just repeated themselves over again.

After settling the collective police report (I'll have to make another individual report later) - I had a fifty dollar bill on me and a card with the case report written on it. And an old energy bar wrapper in the back pocket of my shorts, from the Grand Canyon hike. I could choose to go home, and wait till Housemate David gets home, but that could be a long wait. I decided to go get my sim card fixed at Raffles City instead. Then I changed my mind because I didn't have any form of ID on me and they probably wouldn't take my case; so I took a map from the Concierge and ran all the way to Chinatown to catch the free public screening of Gubra, a film by late Yasmin Ahmad, my favourite Malaysian director. After watching the (really good) movie I met Adibah (a Singaporean CSer) and her friends by chance, and they walked me to Outram Park MRT, although I told them that I couldn't be mugged since I didn't have anything on me. Well apart from 48 bucks and a case card and a Singapore map, but what are the odds, seriously?

There I took an MRT back to Pioneer, stinking everyone within a 3 feet radius of me with a combination of dried sweat and dried river water. After that I walked home from Pioneer MRT. Apparently it only takes less than 20 minutes, and it was nice walking under the night breeze in the knowledge that I had already exhausted the probabilistic quota of being robbed within a day.

RIP Yasmin Ahmad

This morning I returned to Singapore from India, to a world that has Yasmin Ahmad no more. I am very sad at her passing. She was one of the directors whose movies I never failed to watch, and every time I watch them I am moved to tears and laughter, she was truly an amazing storyteller. We have lost a national legend, a kindred spirit who was able to see beauty in small details of life, and express them so that people all around the world are able to see what she saw. I don't think I can say anything more. Rest in peace, Yasmin Ahmad.

Yay Malaysian Arts!

Waaaaa Talentime Free Screening!

I'm as prolific as humping rabbits today - three posts in a day! Anyway, another community service announcement - there's a free screening of Talentime (by Yasmin Ahmad) at 3pm, May 23 this Saturday - but I'm going to have to miss it because I'll be camping =(

But you can go! There's a Q&A session after the free movie, YASMIN AHMAD'S GONNA BE THERE, and the co-author of my blogging book Prof Wan Zawawi Ibrahim will also be on the panel. =D (I curi-curi tumpang glamour.) Movie screening will be held at Pawagam Mini P.Ramlee. Pretty much identical information (without the hyperness) at Yasmin Ahmad's blog here.

Toilet

This evening I went to KLPac and watched Toilet (dance/theatre). After kena ffked by numerous people one after another, I ended up watching it alone, and I'm really glad I did. Somehow it lifted the pressure of hoping that people I invited would like it, so I immersed myself thoroughly in the message that they tried to convey, on life, on indulgence, on internal conflict, on humanity.

I'm no critic, this is the first ever dance performance that I've ever watched, but I did enjoy it. I loved how the stage was designed - there was one sequence playing with disco lights and mist that is exactly how I imagine being stoned would be like - and the dance movements were engaging although I could see some trembling of the limbs which might be signs of inadequate training, I wouldn't know, have to ask Yuen.

Also there is girl-on-girl kissing action on stage. With passion, and not only once, I might add. Do I see some guys perking up right there? (Boy-girl kissing also have. And there was one boy-girl intimate dance sequence that I really liked as well.)

So check it out if you have time - it's only showing till May 24 - tickets cost RM37 for regular price, and if you happen to have a student card like me you get to pay only RM24 ;) Link here.

Kaleidoscope: Hands Drumming Festival

I picked up a flyer when I was at KLPac and it features drums, something that I'm a little partial to. Drumming workshops and performances will be held from 10-14 June during the festival.

For ex-Chonghwarians you would know 吴圣雄老师, pretty much the Art teacher, and he's also behind the drum team 二十四节令鼓in Chong Hwa. I don't know whether he's still in CH or not, but I do miss the drum team, and if I remember correctly he's the founder of Hands Percussion Team. Oh yeah he is, just checked out the official website.

Sadly the dates are on probably my masa kegentingan for Double Deadline 15 June, so I probably won't make it =( Someone go with my spirit can?

Sell Out! (updated)

I was chatting with KF and realized that he didn't know about Sell Out! yet, so probably many others are still in the dark. Sell Out!'s a Malaysian-made musical/comedy, and as you can see from the trailer below it has got many international accolades, so make sure you catch it before it leaves the Malaysian cinemas! It's showing in Singapore too in Cathay cinemas.

Here's the trailer. I did enjoy the movie, it is very unique and the songs are just... XD



Like I told KF the movie does have its shortcomings, but do go watch the movie and find out for yourself =)

updated: I found this other scene, which is actually cut out from the movie, but it's a taste of the satirical script to expect within the movie:

So Hindi songs are awesome.

Why did no one tell me before? Do you people not like me?

I am currently listening to soundtracks of two Hindi movies, Aaja Nachle and Lagaan. I found Aaja Nachle through the song O Re Piya, which is featured in Yasmin Ahmad's new movie Talentime (showing on March 26!! Jump jump jump!!!)

O Re Piya - Rahat Fateh Ali Khan

And here are the trailers of Talentime, the first one gave me goosebumps, and the second one made me laugh, Yasmin Ahmad is seriously the greatest.




I read somewhere that Talentime is going to show in Singapore one month later than in Malaysia (where it premieres on March 26), you lucky bastards, go watch the movie go watch the movie go watch the movie!!! But DON'T tell me the plot or I will freaking kill you.

Since Fridays are my gym days I am not to be blamed for dishing out death threats. Or doing the Indian head bob. Or looking like I'm nodding vigorously when I'm actually doing the Indian head bob. Damn them flexible Indian heads. Gosh that sounded racist. Oh well, while we're at it, damn us Chinese sepet eyes as well. I can't think of any Malay body parts to damn. Damn Malay perfection!

Click play if you haven't already. Three times. Up there. *points*

She is a peacock in everything but beauty.

Ah what a delightful insult, such room for imagination! Oscar Wilde is a genius.

I am back in The Land As Big As Lake Kenyir. Homesickness struck last night but I am back to my old indestructible self now. Am focusing full time (kinda) on my work, this paper has to be out by this week I swear, so that I can work on other papers in the pipeline. Just found a good paper so I am sprightly.

Chinese New Year found me coughing and hacking and not having any CNY tidbits, which is a horrid pity because that's reasonably the only time of the year when you get to have all the junkfood you can eat without the guilt, and I'd already missed it last year because I was in NZ. Ten thousand woes. Well there's always next year.

The lack of real food was supplemented by soul food. During the holidays I read Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde) and half of Emma (Jane Austen), which is still my loo-time reading now. Hooray for books you bought when you were young but never appreciated because when you get old and contemplative and boring you're bound to like them somehow. I suppose classics are classics for a reason. I still can't bring myself to read Great Expectations though. I think just by holding the book my cool factor would degrade by ten. Maybe another five years down the road. In the meantime I shall hunt down more of Oscar Wilde's books, I find his flamboyance really delightful and Jane Austen just pales in comparison.

Also I saw 2046 by Wong Kar Wai and I liked it. I liked the ambience, the storyline, and of course Tony Leung who was in it. I didn't like Happy Together (by same director) ten years ago when I saw it. Maybe I should rewatch it with my older, more contemplative and more boring soul.

Sharing with you this music video of "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz. Love the travel vibes it's sending. My thoughts go out to Val who's right now wwoofing in Italy, lucky bastard, wish I could do the same but I shall keep focused and continue trying to get funding to travel.



OK back to academic reading, cool stuff on media and conflict.

While waiting.

Whiling away time, I have an 11am meeting and I thought it probably would make no sense to dive into my research now, since that I would be interrupted 20 minutes later. And I hate being dragged away while I'm at it because it takes some time for me to settle down and actually start doing it again.

"My spring has come," I told the girls yesterday. Because it has. I mean, finally I can do my own research without worrying about other coursework which, I told my supervisor last sem in a rather presumptuous manner that were only distractions to my real work. In time I found that it was not true, the coursework that I did, especially the one by Prof K was really useful in giving me the theoretical foundation, of what was available out there. But I'm glad that's all over and December, although cut in the beginning and the end for homecoming purposes, will be my "spring" for all the ideas frozen underground to sprout and to take shape.

Already I've found this guy Eric Uslaner who works on trust and social capital, whose work is exactly what I'm looking for, and he provides this huge list of papers which I am going to comb through today, syokness!

Oh yeah I watched Muallaf yesterday! (Wikipedia contains spoilers! I recommend you read only after you watch the movie - here.) It's directed by Yasmin Ahmad my favourite director, showing at The Picture House. It was really good, although I'm not really spiritual or religious but the movie gave me goosebumps anyway, it shows faith with forgiveness, with love, with beauty; which is a far cry from the contemporary media portrayal, what with the banning of yoga and suicide bombing and religious warfare and etc. For the first time in perhaps ever, I thought maybe I'm missing out, being an agnostic. No I'm not an atheist, I have this really vague idea that might be considered as my religion, of karma and of a personal guardian angel who looks over me. But I don't belong anywhere and there's no verses that I chant nor hymms that I sing - upside is that there's no religious bigot to tell me what to do and not, because I'm the only one belonging to my religion and I make the rules. Downside, well, I suppose there are reasons why the big religions are big. I just don't know enough about them to actually believe in them.

OK gotta go.

It's all Asa's fault

I am transfixed.
Source: here, click on picture to enlarge.

Too much angst lately. I've decided to take things in a stride. So I'm going to take up the student rep committee post, I'm going to grit my teeth and enjoy my stupid group project, get through this semester, work hard on my own research topic, then (somehow) go Europe and come back to Southeast Asia via train =D

Quote from a movie that I watched yesterday:
"What do wily temptresses do?
That's right. They tempt. In a wily fashion."
Hahahahahahaha.

Friday mood today somehow. Though I'll most probably be working most of the weekend anyway, it still feels good =) There's a Chinese orchestra performance that I'm going for in the evening, at Nanyang Auditorium, and it's free.

You three-headed shape-shifting son of a bitch.

I watched The Mummy 3 today. The title is quoted from the film. I wait for the day when I can use it on someone. In fact I shall practise it every day at the mirror so that when the moment comes, the words will roll effortlessly and spectacularly from my tongue, succeeding in a 15-hit combo that will render my opponent defenseless and speechless.

Hell yeah. I rule. No one messes with me. No one.

I am very bored. Very, very bored. And a bit lonesome, if I would care to admit it. But no, only losers get lonesome. Solitary confinement does not scare me. No it doesn't, you three-headed-shape-shifting-son-of-a-bitch. Shut up and go away.

Yesterday I went out with Roman and his European buddies to the National Day Parade (widely known as the NDP amongst acronym-loving Singaporeans). Pictures.

People.
People on a bridge.
Roman dancing to some schoolgirls' singing.

Then I left early and went off before the fireworks to meet my Chinese officemate, Kristy for dinner. She's really adorable, and I mean both looks and personality-wise. Her friend was supposed to come along but ffked, so there were only both of us at the end. It was an invigorating 90 minutes of badmouthing the male population in general, zooming in on personal experiences and hearsay.

She ended up deleting the contact of her offender from her phone and I whooped on Orchard Road in celebration. We don't need men, what are sperm banks for??

Oh. Right. We do need men to keep the sperm banks stocked. My apologies on the oversight. Won't happen again.

Then today I went out with Mei Zee and saw her for the first time in 8 years. Gosh she's changed. But she's still as sweet as ever, sweeter if possible. I commented that she got prettier. She commented that I looked exactly the same. An awkward school girl with ungainly short hair in a school pinafore two sizes too big springs to mind. 17 was not a good year in the looks department.

Then we went to watch The Mummy 3. Good mindless fun. Don't question the logic. Don't question why

SPOILER AHEAD!!

SPOILER!!

yetis were significant allies of the good guys. Yes, yetis. If not for the yetis the baddies would have won. =_= Michelle Yeoh the 2000 year-old Chinese sorceress cast her spell in English. Brendan Fraser looked 30 when he was supposed to be at least 50. His wife did look 50 though. Why did they take away Rachel Weisz why. The army of dead chanted "freedom" (in Chinese) when they were revived. Cheesy cheesy Hollywood propaganda. (America! Fuck Yeah! Coming to save the motherfucking day yeah! <-- one of our favourite songs during the Rainbow Frank Experience) And yeah. That was how the Terracotta Army was formed. Totally.

END SPOILER.

And you'll be alright.

Then after that we went to buy me a new cell phone. I got a Sony Ericsson W910i at SGD198 for a two-year student plan. I pay SGD25.68 every month. 200 free outgoing minutes, unlimited free SMS and MMS. I did not do much research before buying the phone. It is charging now so I shall explore what I can do tomorrow.

I am still very bored. I have nothing planned for tomorrow. (Except for reading my cellphone manual.) I have still not done my academic reading. The thought of an empty day is extremely depressing. I don't feel like going out because I have gone out for two consecutive days and I don't fancy overcrowded malls. I don't feel like staying in my room. I don't feel like calling anybody to arrange plans. And what plans? How do people use their weekends in Singapore?

I went out for a walk around half the campus this evening. It made me feel a bit better. Marginally. Then I came back to my room and plunged into full-blown depression yet again.

I am delaying going to bed so that tomorrow won't come as soon. But my head hurts so I guess I should. Good night and thanks for all the fish.

My, Jay Chou's such a homely character

But I would die in his strong, piano-playing fingers...


Oh well. Back to work.

So Transformers Sucked.

I don't care what everyone else says. It didn't work for me.

First and foremost I have learnt that my inability to recognize faces triples when it comes to robot mugs. Half the time I didn't know which side was which, so the battle of the century boiled down to screeching metal, flying debris and screaming humans. And a little bit of fire here and there. For 30mins or so.

I was bored. I glanced sideways at YKent and saw him suppressing a yawn. And that is why we are steamboat buddies. (Not 'coz he's perpetually sleepy, but 'coz we are steamboat-eating birds of a feather.)

Another major gripe, illustrating the ultra-cheesy script is that I don't get why the good robots were so nice to humans. I laughed out loud when Megatron flicked the "disgusting" human blocking the road, because that is exactly what I would do if I were him. Not because humans are disgusting per se, but because I am a ten-storey-high invincible chunk of metal, and cannot be expected to have compassion of a saint. Optimus Prime's stark contrast at refusing to harm any human at all (with no good reason except for having the compassion of a saint) is, sorry to all his fans, very pretentious.

Other movie-related questions and gripes I am willing to attribute to the reasons: that I drifted away half-way through due to boredom, and that I did not follow the original Transformers comics. Maybe that's why I don't get why The Cube had to be sent to dunnowho (why didn't Optimus and Co. take it and take off back to their home planet?) in a densely populated city instead of some nicely isolated wilderness.

The effects were good, no doubt. But effects are so commonplace nowadays that the really winning movies are those who move beyond effects, with good content and meaning. I have only this to say about Transformers: What a waste of a good two hours and RM7. Luckily today's Super Wednesday.

Intermission

OY! Why cut sini cut sana lah tu censorship board??

I am proud to announce that I can understand Sepet thoroughly. Many dialects wei! (And the subtitles suck man... )

I am going for a "kench". I know something happens to Jason later (thanks to reading too many reviews before buying the movie) so I'm trying to delay that moment.

It rocks man. I may like it more than Mukhsin!

Back to the movie.

*Update* 30 minutes later

Well, I didn't like the ending. It was rather... overly dramatic. The scene in the car, the crying and stuff? I mean of course lah I'd be weeping buckets (and I did weep buckets) when KF and I have to be separated, but what's with the mum crying as well? Hmm. But other than that, it was good. LOVE the little details put in. Love the music, love the script, love the snippets of background conversations. And Orked's Cantonese also not bad ya!

I can't decide between Mukhsin and Sepet though. Sepet would probably have won if it weren't for the ending. And I will totally buy Mukhsin when it comes out, if only to rewatch the cameo scenes of Jason and Orked.

I was going to blog about shoe shopping (for the ladies, you men already had your ABCDs) but it's getting late and I ought to retire to bed. Meeting up with the throat specialist tomorrow.

Mukhsin

Mukhsin. I loved it.

I don't want to do a review on it, rather I just want to gush about it like how I did when I called YJ right after the show, squealing, "You have to watch it! Ho Yu Hang's back is featured in it!" and how I told Wiun, "After the movie I just wanted to hug the person beside me and say, 'I'm a Malaysian too!'" or how I hopped around the kitchen while Wiun and YKent were preparing sandwiches and wouldn't stop distracting them with sporadic ejaculations of "It was great! You should watch it! It was so Malaysian! There are worse ways you can waste RM10 you know! Who wants to watch Sepet? Oi why so long one I haven't eaten since breakfast!"

Don't let me overrate it for you. I know sometimes it's just irritating when someone says it's so incredibly nice and you walk out of the cinema feeling cheated. These things are subjective and different people look for different things in a movie.

Enough with the subtle disclaiming!

The storyline was simple - that's what puppy love is all about. Carefree and slightly wistful when it ends. But the parts I really liked in the movie was actually the scenes secondary to the storyline, the bits and pieces that followed the development of Orked and Mukhsin's budding love. Orked's irreverent parents. Good-natured gossip from Kak Yam. The blackboard in Orked's room. Orked's defiant spunk and English accent. "Pencemar budaya". So many so many little things inside that make you chuckle, or slightly thoughtful, or go "Hey, that's Malaysia!"

There are so many media products out there, from the U.S., from the U.K., from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, etc. Watching them gives me a slightly detached feeling, kinda like being an onlooker or an outsider. It's like watching through a glass into worlds where Devils wear Prada, or construction workers climb up bamboo sticks, or where all girls look the same and act stupid. Even some shows in Malaysia. I don't identify with that dunno-from-where accent. I don't get the slapstick humour (which made me lose all interest in local productions). And I definitely don't get that lobster suit you're calling a lizard.

But Mukhsin. I felt at home. I felt proud of it being shown in Berlin and winning. I felt proud of the community and family ties and multiple languages we have. I felt proud of identifying with all the symbols within that hint of Malaysia. Our culture. *beams*

OKlah maybe I haven't watched too many local productions to say only Mukhsin is Malaysian. It isn't. But this certainly restores my faith in local movies and please please please Yasmin Ahmad Tan Chui Mui Ho Yu Hang Amir Muhammad and co., make more movies and I promise I'll see them all! (And make all my friends go too!)

Other random jots:

• The scene I loved the most was the dance scene in Orked's livingroom. The warmth penetrated my soul and my eyes welled up for reasons I don't know. It was comical, yet slightly sad. Maybe it was sad because such moments are so precious and once they are over, they are forever gone.
• Tiny little gripes: a couple of scenes involving Chinese were a little fake. Didn't see much of Indians within.
• Yasmin Ahmad's blog can be accessed here.
• Ho Yu Hang is a local director who directed Rain Dogs, a movie which YJ loved.