Breaking News: Monash Malaysia Website Ding-ed by Turks

Haha. Nat msn-ed me and told me to go visit the Monash Malaysia website. I went and found that it was hacked by some Turk group. Pretty funny. There's this piece of music that plays a very Turkish sounding song to accompany it. I can't tell what the translation is on the website, but here's the screenshot anyway so if any of you know Turk do let me know the translation so I can laugh about it.

Apocalyptic and Non-Apocalyptic

Wasted some of today's holiday taking pictures. Here are some pics.

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The sun in it's glorious evening gown, with a tinge of blood.



Ok, maybe more than a tinge.

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Couple of days ago I wrote a short story about the end of the world. One of the lines went like, "The sun was there, but that was it. It was just there. Like an unlit lantern suspended in the sky."


This pretty much is how that scene would look like.

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Somebody is always watching you, wherever you are.


Tentacle plants crawling against the wall, waiting for their turn to take over the world.


Finally. The ever elusive squirrel showed up right at my doorstep. I was a little bit too slow to snap a good picture of it, but at least, it's a first.

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Starry starry forest, in a pot.


When my niece was 2+ I would pluck these flowers and place them by her ear, making her look very pretty.


The money plant that has spreaded over a quarter of the exterior of my house. If only my money can grow as wildly and pleasingly as the money plant.

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Independence Day

it is approximately 2.5 hours away from Malaysia's 48th birthday.

So what does it feel like to be a citizen of this country. When I say country, I mean both as a member of the "nation" and the "state".

Well, I must say that even though I've yet to see much of the rest of the world, I can say that I'm quite glad Malaysia is the home to a few things.



Got some more la., like Roti Canai.

And its cheap ok. If you are a non Malaysian reading this post, a plate of Fried Kuey Teow (the plate of stuff on the right) wil cost you more or less USD0.80

Happy birthday Malaysia.

Wasting Away #31: Liberty!

(20 seconds after previous post)

Just when I thought their stupidity has turned stale, Sarah asked, while holding something that she thinks is a torch of sorts, and asked me "What does the Statue of Liberty stand for?"If at that particular moment you were using a ruler to measure the dimensions of her facial qualities, you'd notice that her face was straighter than straight.

"What does the Statue of Libery stand for?"

I said, "It stands for liberty."

Sarah suddenly realized she asked a really stupid question, and Shazzie laughed at her so hard.

Wasting Away #30: I Am Going For Class

Ah Jane (That is Sarah's new nickname on my blog) just typed on her keyboard, "Sarah is going for class."

And guess what, the computer isn't on.

Shazana typed something on her keyboard too, only her computer is on.

And so the idiot is... (fill in the blank)

I am bored. I have decided to revive the wasting away series just for kicks. Sze Ning is somewhere in the building wasting her life away. Fikri is home wasting his fantasies away. Sarah is here wasting her time. Shazzie is writing a piece on Orang Aslis for Szen's thing last week.

Sarah wants to go for a resume workshop. She is complaining that her resume stinks. I am going to pause this post while I look at her resume. Brb.

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(20 seconds later)

"I DON'T HAVE IT IN HERE!" exclaimed Sarah. She didn't save it in her pen drive. How absent minded of this silly little girl.

Shazzie is trying to insert her pen drive into the PC now... Finally, she. Wait. Hmm. She just flipped the PC over to insert the pen drive. She said, "sometimes the front one doesn't work." The computer, after all, has many USB ports. So must use to maximum capability.

I am here, typing away. Recording history in the M-Lab the way I see fit. It is my version of history, and it is a good version. You know why? Because it just so happens that I see it la. Imagine if 500 years from now people stumble across this blog and its the only memento left of our friendship, then my version of history, as distorted as it is, will become OFFICIAL history.

Wasting Away will not be wasted. Ben is working today I think. Check his blog about his rambles. It's linked on the right side bar. We're all looking at Shazzie's resume now. Brb.

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(5 seconds later)

SHe just closed the file just as I was about to look at it. Talk about rude.

Sarah just typed on her nonexistent PC, "I know Meng Yoe thinks he's the most electrifying boy that has ever existed. I think that is true. I think he's an idiot, and THAT's a lie."

I know. I have such an effect on women it amazes me. Everyone's watching me type now. See how everyone is mesmerized by my typing fingers, and everyone is captured by arresting presence that causes them to do nothing but fix their gaze on me. I know it sounds like they are objectifying me, but hey, men objectify women all the time. It's just fair I let them do that to me once in a blue moon.

Anyway, Sarah wants me to burn the CD. So, what I'm going to do, is to go downstairs and but a lighter, no wait, CD, come upstairs, turn on the lighter, no wait, I mean Nero Burning Rom, and burn the CD. Let it go up in flames.

I am bored. Bored BORED BORED. No one is here. I am bored. Sarah and Shazzie's stupidity was exciting for 5 minutes and now I am bored. SO I am not going to waste my time describing their stupidity anymore.

BYE BYE BYE

Oh wait. Ding.

Ten Most Influential Films - No.7

No.7
MOULIN ROUGE!
Directed by Baz Luhrmann
Starring Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, John Leguizamo, Jim Broadbent, Richard Roxburgh



I remember that in sometime in mid 2001, Moulin Rouge was one of the movies that I listed as a "MUST WATCH". It's something like how I've been rambling about how I must watch Sin City this year (I did last Saturday!)... though at the time it was mostly because Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman is in it. McGregor because he impressed me in Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace (Yes, I like the show) in 2000, and I have since made it a point to catch as many of his movies as possible; Kidman because she has been one of my favorite actresses since the days of Batman Forever. So it was purely based on this star power that I wanted to watch Moulin Rouge.

And my word, did it blow me away.

Now, I don't have anything against musicals. I love the likes of The Sound of Music (which gets due recognition in Moulin Rouge), Mary Poppins bla bla bla. I just don't always watch it for fun, for some reason I am not sure of how to explain. Anyway, Moulin Rouge takes the musical genre in a completely different direction, by fusing contemporary pop music with well known musical pieces from the old days. Credit is due to composer Craig Armstrong, who masterfully weaved all the themes from the many eras and adding his own touch of composition into a brilliant collage of songs.

In Monash, one of the things that I've overheard and overlearnt is the term "intertextuality", which means that a media text (film, ads, storybooks) is an inter-text of something else, whether we realize it or not. Everything is inspired by something else at some level, so on and so forth. I won't indulge in this or it'll sound like nerd talk. Ask me again sometime and maybe I'll bother explaining. Anyway, Moulin Rouge blantantly employs intertextuality in a meteoric fashion to a meteoric effect. Think of Shrek, where we all laugh at the references made to other films. Same goes for Moulin Rouge, musically.

I was wowed not only by the music, but by the romance as well. I know the movie is about prostitution, sexual love and a lot of all that sort of thing. But the underlying theme of an almost unconditional love, of that pure, intense, burning passion to share that love with whoever is it that you're in love with.


Christian (Ewan McGregor) woos Satine (Nicole Kidman) in their first meeting with Toulouse (John Leguizamo) peeking away.

Love is a many splendoured thing! Love lifts us up to where we belong! All you need is love... all you need is love... all you need is love....................................................... I was made for loving you baby you were made for loving me...

Those of you who are more familiar with all sorts of songs will see that the above two or three lines of lyrics already contain songs from two or three different places. Anyway, the performance of "Elephant Love Medley", where Christian (McGregor) woos Satine (Kidman) was just so. Argh.

Then there's "Come What May", which was pretty much my personal theme song for over a year. Mostly because I was a naive little boy idealistically and madly in love at the time, and that song was what I felt represented everything that I was. Bleh.

I was a small boy then ok, though I won't deny that it's one of the factors why it has been influential. After all, histories do not leave us, whether we choose to or not. It's whether we bury it and let is be forgotten, or let it turn to ghosts that haunt us in our sleep, or celebrate it as part and parcel of life, or just let it go by the way most other things do. This, Moulin Rouge, is something I choose to let it just go by. In fact, sometimes I choose to celebrate that. I remember all my friends were irritated at me for repeating the line "Love is a many splendoured thing" over and over again.

And that sort of enthusiasm I sometimes miss.

The level of fanaticism shown towards Moulin Rouge was close to drowning out any remembrance of me and the Force. I was that in love with the movie.


Nicole Kidman sends the men Moulin Rouge into a trance with her entrancing performance "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend"

Ok back to the movie itself. Other than the songs, Moulin Rouge was a visual feast! The misc-en-scene of every frame, every set, was so compelling in its static appearance itself the film would have been a good museum of quality art itself, had it not been populated with actors and actresses.

The detail given to every room, every chair, every prop was so delicately busy and jumbled, yet effective. It captured the mood of the Bohemian era, where freedom, truth, something else, and love swept through the land. The busi-ness of each set reminds us so much of a society that went to 5th gear in expressing and experiencing everything there is to experience in life, whether necessary or right. The sets achieve that "everything goes, and it doesn't matter if we need it or not" effect with its China-like population of props, colors, trinklets, curtains, visual effects and so on and so forth.


The movie ends with a final blast of Come What May, performed in the theater of Moulin Rouge

Rightly so, it was awarded for best costume design and art direction/set decoration in the following year's Academy Awards (beating Lord of the Rings, which many already say have the most detailed and amazing sets in recent years).

It's one of those movies that I've watched over and over again since its release up till today, for it reminds me of so much during my pre-university days. Romance, companionship, and a mind blowing cinematic experience helps Moulin Rouge make its mark in my head.

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Quotes from the movie

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return..."

"Love is like oxygen, love is a many splendored thing, love lifts us up where we belong, all you need is love!"

Ten Most Influential Films - No.8

No.8
ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO
directed by Robert Rodriguez
starring Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Johnny Depp, Willem Dafoe, Mickey Rourke, Eva Mendes



It's a only a matter of time before a Robert Rodriguez film pops up somewhere on my list. I've yet to watch Sin City, of which the trailer would fall under the "10 most influential trailers of all time" list if such a list existed. But until then, I must say that Once Upon a Time in Mexico inspired me on many levels about a great many things.

I do realize that if I were to put a poll out in the field, Once Upon a Time in Mexico would probably rank the highest in the "I didn't expect this show to be on the list" category.


Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek and Johnny Depp take the lead in Once Upon a Time in Mexico

So what is it about Robert Rodriguez's films that intrigue me? Well, it's the way he makes them! I have to be careful here to not turn this into a Robert Rodriguez tribute post. So let's stick to Mexico.

I've not seen the original Desperado movie, El Mariachi. But I have seen Desperado, and that one kinda stinks to me, despite all its coolness. Most of the third installment's influence on me has a lot to do with my increasing interest in making films. I watched this film with some knowledge about Robert Rodriguez beforehand. Here are some facts:

1) He makes films at a very low cost. Spy Kids cost 35 million dollars. Desperado cost 7 million dollars. Sin City cost 45 million dollars. Once Upon a Time in Mexico cost 28 million dollars.

In comparison. There are many 100 million dollar shows that stink.

2) He does most of the work. he directed, scripted, edited, photographed, scored and produced the this film. In Spy Kids, he also was the visual effects supervisor. You can call him a dictator, but I call it multi-talented.


Salma Hayek is certainly no sexy pushover in Mexico, as she pumps bullets into almost every living being who stands in her way

So with the above two bits of information in my head, I watched Mexico. And certainly, even today, the film gives me a sort of assurance that small time filmmakers can make it big with a bit of determination and creativity.

The storyline for Mexico is highly simple. It's ultimately a story about a triple-cross, where everyone is betraying everyone, and El Mariachi (Banderas) is the goody goody hero who is merciless when handling evil and love-sick at the same time. Everything about this show is bang bang bang bang, and this film is a good example of why special effects isn't the one and only way to make an action film these days.

Then, you throw in Johnny Depp's role as the CIA agent in the film, and somehow, you've got the formula for a financial blockbuster. Johnny Depp plays an ambigious agent, trying to topple everyone in the game at the same time. His intentions are unclear, and it works to the film's advantage by heightening the suspense of allegiances (though one can argue that there are no true allegiances in latin mafia shows, which is quite true). A lot of Johnny Depp's scenes involve him and the telephone, him and Eva Mendes, him and a boy (which really is his best bit), and him and his empty eye sockets (this is the better best bit).


Eva Mendes just can't resist sticking her lips on Johnny Depp, even though he's blind. Guess a little left of him is still attractive huh?

When I watch movies, I really don't go ALL OUT for storyline, or for acting, as a lot of elitists do (no offense la). If a story is bad, then it IS bad, but there are other things to see! SEE-ing things is what matters most to me in film. I don't just try to watch a good story, but I also try to enjoy visual splendours.

In the case of Mexico, the style of the characters definitely stand out (trademark of Robert Rodriguez), and their appearance alone causes every flaw in the film to fade away.

All the bush-beating aside, one of my short films Psycho 3: A Cross Cultural and Intergalactic Mystery is heavily influenced by Mexico. Certainly, by watching Mexico, I can't help but feel a sense of "If he can do it the cheap way. Who's to say I can't?"

And that's what really inspires me.



Quotes from Once Upon a Time in Mexico

Agent Sands (to El Mariachi)
"El, you really must try this because it's puerco pibil. It's a slow-roasted pork, nothing fancy. It just happens to be my favorite, and I order it with a tequila and lime in every dive I go to in this country. And honestly, that is the best it's ever been anywhere. In fact, it's too good. It's so good that when I'm finished, I'll pay my check, walk straight into the kitchen and shoot the cook. Because that's what I do. I restore the balance to this country. And that is what I would like from you right now. Help keep the balance by pulling the trigger. "

TMY's 10 Most Influential Films: No. 9

No.9
JURASSIC PARK



My dad took to me to a cinema called Rex (no pun intended) in Kuala Lumpur to watch this show. At the time when I was ten, which is just about ten-plus-a-bit-more years ago, Rex featured SDDS sound system and the largest screen in all of Malaysia. THX wasn't introduced then, so you can imagine, Rex was THE place to watch Jurassic Park, one of the most visually titanic films ever made.

Small boys, during my time, and now too I think, have a love for either (a) cars (toy ones at least), (b) robots, or (c) dinosaurs. There are a few more other things that small boys like, but dinosaurs certainly is one of the major categories. I remember reading the book on the making of Jurassic Park, and one of the chapters featured Michael Crichton, the novelist/screenwriter for the film writing on his experience in getting the show made.

He recounted the days in the mid or late eighties where he wanted to write a book on dinosaurs, only he didn't because he felt it was too much of an "in thing" at the time. He wanted to let the dinosaur craze die out a little. It was only after a few years he realized that dinosaurs aren't going to go out of fashion, and good thing. He wrote the book, and Steven Spielberg made the film (Tim Burton nearly got the job).

I remember, when I was a small boy, when I was just slightly taller than my dining table, I called myself a "dinosaur follower" rather than a "dinosaur lover", mostly because I felt that anyone can love dinosaurs, but not everyone follows the progress of its discovery, the ever increasing layers of information... I did. I bought magazines, encyclopedias and bla bla bla about dinosaurs.


Lex (Ariana Richards), Alan (Sam Neill) and Tim (Joseph Mazzello) take centerstage as sane people stuck on an insane island in Jurassic Park

Then Jurassic Park came about! I saw the trailer, and I told my daddy that I must watch that show!

And so we did.

I remember gasping in awe when the first dinosaur, the Brachiosaurus, made its appearance on the silver screen, lifting its two front legs to reach for the heights, and after chewing off a huge chunk of leaves, lands on the ground with a thunderous stomp that echoed through my head.
I remember holding my breath to the point of suffocation when the T-Rex sniffed and searched through the tour cars for those poor unsuspecting souls. I remember feeling a sense of security wash over me when Alan Grant (Sam Neil) held the children in his arms, falling asleep to the voices of the Brachiosaur herd. I remember wriggling in my seat with a great sense of uneasiness when the velociraptors entered the kitchen, playing hide and seek with Tim and Lex (Tim was my age, so I could imagine and identify with him very well at the time)..


One of the best cinematic moments in my film watching experience... Brachiosaurus wow-ing the visitors to Jurassic Park and the audience in the cinema.

Anyway, what's the point to that? Seems like I just wanted to ramble about Star Wars. Well, not really. It was Jurassic Park that made George Lucas (who owns Industrial Light and Magic and Skywalker Sound) finally feel that visual effects technology has reached the level where he feels the time is right to finally film the Star Wars prequels (think what you like, visually the Star Wars prequels really is stupendously amazing. I can write an entire blog post on Industrial Light and Magic, but will save that for another day).

I'm only saying all that to add to the credentials that Jurassic Park is a true visual masterpiece. it blends digital effects, puppetry, and expert cinematography into a believable portrait of dinosaurs living among men. Even today, after watching so many effects laden movies, Jurassic Park still ranks as one of the timeless visual effects masterpieces. It certainly is one of the milestones of digital animation, where visual effects students must look back as a turning point for film, at least technologically.

Oh the film has a great score. Many said that the score for Jurassic Park is a hidden/lost gem in the film industry, mostly due to the fact that John Williams scored for Schindler's List that same year, and that won the Academy Award, casting a shadow over his epic score for Jurassic Park.


STOMP STOMP STOMP. BBRRRRRUUUUUAAAAH. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) being stupid enough to attempt a tango with a female T-Rex who is turned on my his flesh, abeit in a less sexual manner.

All that being said, the movie actually has a very good storyline to match the dazzling visuals. Dinosaur discovery aside, the film brings out many fundamental issues of the human heart, such as greed and its ever thirsty pride. It pits the carnal hearts of human beings against the carnal instincts of the dinosaurs.

And yet in Tim and Lex, and the brachiosauruses, we also that there are those among us who value... vegetables, among other good things.

Ten years ago, I'd give this 10 out of 10, hands down. Now, all in all, it's getting a 10 out of 10 from me again, hands up in submission.

Ding.

Quotes from Jurassic Park:

"The lack of humility before nature that's being displayed here, uh... staggers me. "

"I'll tell you the problem with the scientific power that you're using here: it didn't require any discipline to attain it. You read what others had done and you took the next step. You didn't earn the knowledge for yourselves, so you don't take any responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could and before you even knew what you had you patented it and packaged it and slapped it on a plastic lunchbox, and now you're selling it, you want to sell it! "

"God creates dinosaurs. God kills dinosaurs. God creates man. Man creates dinosaurs. Dinosaurs... eat man?"... "Then women inherit the earth"

TMY's 10 Most Influential Films

Ok. I'm going to be writing reviews of 10 plus or so films that has been of great influence in my life. These films are by no means the BEST 10 plus or so films I've ever seen, though they would easily fall into my top 50 or 100, if such a list exists.

You'll notice that films I rave about, such as The Usual Suspects, Pulp Fiction, The Shawshank Redemption, Forrest Gump, Hero, and stuffs like that are not on this list. This is because they did not change my life.

What do I mean by change my life? Well... take one small example... Ocean's Twelve is not a great film (and its not on this list, though it nearly made it), but it made me want to (and I almost do most of the time) shoot all my short films without tripods, and rely on the handheld techniques. Many people complain about shaky cameras, but Ocean's Twelve is a good example of how it WORKS, and I try to do my shows like that.

Another example would be IT. It'd probably rank 11th if the list is expanded. This is so because IT, or Pennywise, made me hate clowns for life. I've been uneasy around pictures of clowns, real clowns, or clowns of any sort ever since watching that movie when I was a small boy. So this film left its mark, by making me become fearful of clowns.

So anyway, I'll be working my way through from no.10 to no.1 over the days. Now, those of you who know me naturally ALREADY know that the most influential film in my life is a foregone conclusion (think whzzzzzz bwzang bwang zing xiiing woosh argh saya datuk kamu!). Well, you are right, but enjoy the ride to no.2, then.

Anyway,

no.10
The Thin Red Line
Directed by Terrence Malick
Starring: Sean Penn, Jim Caviezel, Adrien Brody, Ben Chaplin, John Cusack, Woody Harrelson, Elias Koteas, John C. Reilly, John Travolta, Nick Nolte, George Clooney



The first thing that captured my attention when I watched The Thin Red Line was its rich quality in photography. If I am to make a list of films that displays the best use of cinematography right now, this show would be in the top 5, or top 3 hands down.


Troops marching through the tropical forest toward enemy lines

There are many films that photograph many beautiful things, but this film shoots not only beautiful things, but also employs these shots to invoke very powerful emotions about the second world war.

The second thing that stood out very prominently for me was the script, particularly the narration. 80% of the show is driven by narration by various characters, primarily Nick Nolte, Jim Caviezel and Ben Chaplin, with short bits by the other characters. In this regard, if one does not pay attention properly to the film, he can lose track of who's narrating, and the story might cease to make sense. So what's so good about the narration?

It "poetifies" war. Before slaughtering me for being cheesy and crappy, let me quote you Eric Bana's line from his less than successful film, Troy.

"I've killed men and I've heard them dying and I've watched them dying and there's nothing glorious about it, nothing poetic. You say you're willing to die for love but you know nothing about dying and you know nothing about love!"

Well, there's nothing poetic about the Thin Red Line in that sense, so no worries. This film relies very heavily on contrasts between the beautiful and the ugly to tell its story, and ultimately reveals that that even what we imagine as beautiful is in fact, very ugly as well. This is very clear in the film's narration, where, yes, it is very well read, and very well worded, but it is also the cries of the soldiers, their lamentations, their unconquered hearts in a newly conquered land.

And that is what changed my life the most, knowing that the most beautiful things in the world can turn into the place where we ultimately, cannot conquer.

Personally, I liked Ben Chaplin and Sean Penn the most. Ben Chaplin because his story was the most tragic, and the most blatant example of how the beautiful can turned sour. Basically after a battle, the letters he received from home wasn't too pleasant to read about, and his world ended in the Guadacanal, the land he just help occupy.


Jim Caviezel and Sean Penn deliver intense and gripping performances as Corporal Fife and First Sergeant Welsh

Sean Penn because he's Sean Penn, and every Sean Penn performance evokes a part of me that is true and usually hidden. Here he is the cold hearted Seargent with a myserious, but probably disappointing past, who is unwilling to show any sign of light in his expression. The one time he did... he asked a dead man "where's your light now?"at the end of the scene.


Madness on many levels are connonated, though rarely displayed


Nothing action packed. Nothing thrilling. But everything beautiful.

And ugly.

This show got 7 academy award nominations, and lost em' all. I thought it should have at least won two or three.

Quotes...

"Are you righteous? Kind? Does your confidence lie in this? Are you loved by all? Know that I was, too. Do you imagine your suffering will be any less because you loved goodness and truth? "

"What is this great evil? How did it steal into the world? From what seed, what root did it spring? Who's doing this? Who's killing us? Robbing us of light and life. Mocking us with the sight of what we might have known. "

"If I should never find you in this life, let me feel the lack. One glance from your eyes, and my life will be yours. "

Operation Bulu Kaki

Whee.

I just got back from Kerry Ann's 22nd birthday party. She's one of my best-est friends since pre-u days in CIMP, and was my classmate through most of my three years in Monash as well.

Oh, for a lot of you, she's the girl who died in my first ever short film Psycho: The Real Mystery, and she's Jezebel the seductress in The Door (two films that has made her earn the reputation as "the porn star", "the b****" [forgive the profanity, it's how it is], "the smoker girl", "the slut", so on and so forth)

Anyway, our gang from Monash decided to throw her a surprise party, and she was surprised! It was a fun night. A few of Kerry's old friends showed up too, and they were pleasant company.

Here are lots of photographs from the night. Every picture has been photoshopped, even the seemingly "normal" pics. For fun lah.

We planned this for weeks over email, and Sarah coined this little project "Operation Bulu Kaki" to avoid Kerry-Ann's prying eyes. Bulu kaki because Kerry's hairy legs is rather... err... well known.

Anyway, to the pictures.



This is Kerry-Ann screaming in shock at us shouting "SURPRISE" when she was led into Shazana's house by Jia Xin (girl on left) and May Yee (not in pic, rather thankfully)

Pic is blur because my cam was set in continuous shooting mode, so this is one pic in a sequence of shockaholic shots.


So we sang her one of the most popular songs of all time, "Happy Birthday"

The song goes like this:

Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday TO you
Happy BIRTHday to Kerry-Ann
HAPPY birthday to you
(capital letters denotes high pitch)

Then she cut her cake


Most of us were really hungry, but birthday girl didn't want to let us eat because "I WANT TO GIVE A SPEECH!", and we had to wait quite a while cos people like Wani and May Yee were walking in and out of the kitchen...

While she was speeching, her hands were constantly fiddling with the spoon on the plate.


Anyway, it was nice that our lecturer Dr.Yeoh (left) joined us. He also contributed veGEtables to our pot luck dinner. On the right is Shazzy, who graciously and generously allowed us to use her home for the party.

For most of the night I tried sucking up to her saying nice things, but she prefered Benji.


Here's a nice poser pic of Kerry and Jia Xin. There are some obscene photos I took with both of them, but I'm not posting it up on the blog. Try not to ask.



Anyway, as always, I tend to get bored with them (ha. ha.) so I started taking photographs of little nothings.

Here's one. Take a guess at what it is.


My camera actually has the capability to photograph X-ray shots. So this really is some of the nerves near Sze Ning's brain. I know it looks rather wire-like and too organized to be something human. But hey, Sze Ning is my PDA, with the "D" standing for DIGITAL... which means to say that Szen is a robot lah.


Bubbles.

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Ok. Here't the Mr.Cheesy competition.

Contestant no.1
BENJAMIN THOMAS
Age 24
Occupation: Astro Boy,
Awards: Sadly, none.
Likes: Kerry-Ann
Dislikes: Kerry-Ann when she's not sitting on his lap


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Contestant no.2
FIKRI JERMADI
Age: 21
Occupation: CEO of Expanded Mainstream Ltd.,
Awards: King of Lame lifetime achievement award
Likes: telling lame jokes
Dislikes: not telling lame jokes


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Contestant no.3
TMY
Age: 22
Occupation: World class prince charming; owner of Superratty Films
Awards: Ranked no.1 in some yet-to-be-published women's magazine as the most electrifying boy in the world.
Likes: to make perasanted statements
Dislikes: to have his perasanted-ness ignored


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let the votes pour in...

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Anyway, all the nonsense aside...

It was a fun night.





And the night was all about this very beautiful girl


Kerry-Ann Sonia Augustin

Impending

It is the end of the world again.

Only yesterday I was telling a friend of mine that we shouldn’t be making fun of apocalyptic movies because it’s really about little insecurities blown out of proportion.

But that’s not to say those insecurities aren’t valid. It’s just blown out of proportion.

One might perhaps equate a cracking heartbreak to the force of “a piece of rock, just six miles wide” that “hit with the force of 10,000 nuclear weapons,” as the narrator from Armageddon, Charleston Heston, put it.

Morgan Freeman said, while in character as President Beck in Deep Impact, that “Life will go on. Life will prevail.” But I do wonder if that really is what most people are concerned about when the thought of the end of the world enters their hearts.

Take smaller disasters, like The Birds, or The Towering Inferno or something of that sort, where not the entire world collapses, but rather a smaller world.

Does life prevail? We don’t really care. At least, if you’re not in the town where the birds are fiendishly tearing away your windows and doors, or if you’re not in the building suffocating to death with no escape. What you’d be doing in such a scenario would be to sit at home, read the papers, turn on the news, lament at such misfortune for a few moments, maybe talk to a friend about it over the phone, then carry on with life, as if you just read a good piece of fiction.

Life does prevail, because you’re not dead, so we don’t really care.

Anyway, insecurities.

What would we do if we were aware of an impending doom. If the world is going to end tomorrow, the day after, the week after, two hours later?

Disaster movies speaks of our insecurities. Blown out of proportion, perhaps, but it always gives human beings a window of opportunity, where we are made to be aware of an impending doom, so that we can prepare ourselves, fight back, or something like that.

Which makes me wonder if it really is blown out of proportion. Because there’s a window of opportunity.

In real life there rarely is any form of “impending”-ness. Our world ends with the force of ten thousand nuclear bombs that knocks our senses dead. In fact, it knocks us dead without us realizing that we’re dead.

So, are you ready to die?

Rocktopia

I was looking through some of the stuff I scribbled when I was in secondary school. I wrote quite a bit of stuff, mostly nonsense and doodles to kill time and gratify my lonesome behavior. Anyway, I did try to entertain some of my friends then with some of the stuff I wrote.

I found this piece rather amusing for a lot of reasons. I wrote this when I was 16 as a four part story. I decided to type it out as a singular piece of work, with very few edits.

Look out for the immense use of intertextuality (Whoa I sound so intelligent). Actually, its about how free I am to try to weave in Harry Potter, Star Wars, The Matrix, The Mummy Returns, Warcraft, X-Men and many more.

Haha. It's brainless ok. Park your brains and read this one.


Rocktopia.

One thousand years ago, there was a kingdom rich and powerful.

Rocktopia.

It’s king, the great and wise Julius ruled the kingdom with a fair and just heart. The people loved him. Nature loved him. The lands were eternally fertile and no one was ever hungry.

But… where there is good, there is also evil.

One night, after years of hiding, the evil sorceror Blorgd, after mastering spells of great limit, came to the castle, infiltrated the palace, sneaked by the guards, and stole the sacred kingdom banner.

The banner that represented Rocktopia was perhaps the most powerful charm there was in Rocktopia, for it carried the inscription of signatures of all the past kings, and held magical powers. Once stolen, the kingdom would decay.

Worse more, Blorgd kidnapped the young princess, Lady Venus, from her room.

Julius, with his fading powers, sought the help of four loyal young men who were known to possess superhuman abilities to retrieve the banner and the princess from the castle of Blorgd. The four young men agreed to the challenge and set off for the distant darkness.

They journeyed to the outskirts of the kingdom, then rested in a tavern.

Albus Nighthawk, Anakin Bear, Neo Toady and Ardeth Gunga drank in the tavern.

“You guys betta drink all ya can. Beyon’ dis tavern, you ain’t gonna find any other shack all the way to the castle of Blorgd,” warned the friendly bartender.

“Thanks. We’ll be fine. We’re going off soon,” replied the ever cool Ardeth Gunga.

Suddenly, a group of ugly looking orcs crashed into the tavern, creating havoc and circling the four heroes. The orcs grunted her and there for quite a while before charging at the four of them.

Instantly, Nighthawk, whose skill is with the sword, slashes his way through the orcs, demonstrating swordfighting as an act of beauty. Anakin Bear morphed himself into a great big bear, thus matching the orcs blow for blow. Neo Toady, who is agile and fast, moves sleekly through the rampaging orcs, hitting their laughing nerves to make them laugh.

Still, the fight was even. Until Ardeth Gunga decided to join the fight by morphing into a big fat Gungan, and jumped on the orcs one after another. The orcs, knowing they were defeated, ran.

The four heroes chased after the orcs, knowing that the orcs will lead them to the castle.

*

“The orcs are fools, I know that. But they achieved their objective. Soon, when the four men come up the hills, they will find themselves in a dire situation. HAHAHAHAHA.” Blorgd laughed while looking into his crystal ball. He snapped his fingers, and suddenly, a large figure awoke from behind him.

“Go, Boomberry. Your supper has arrived,” ordered the dark sorcerer.

The large figure thumped its way to the large window and flew out.

Meanwhile, the four heroes, Anakin Bear, Ardeth Gunga, Neo Toady and Albus Nighthawk continued to jog up the hill. They could then see the castle. It was about 20 minutes away. Albus Nighthawk, with his heightened senses heard a scream from the Lady Venus. He gestured to his mates to hurry, but something is in their way.

A large red dragon with smoke coming out from his nose stood right in front of them. The dragon, Boomberry, started pouring fire at the heroes, forcing them to scatter.

Ardeth Gunga shouted, “Albus, go with Bear to the castle. We’ll distract the dragon here!”

So Nighthawk and Bear ran away towards the castle, escaping the fires of Boomberry and leaving their friends behind to deal with it. The soon arrived at the castle without any more obstacles, but at the gates of the castle of Blorgd, an evil more horrific than the red dragon stood there.

Lady Venus, in a black robe, stared at the two heroes with eyes showing evil. She waited a moment, then waved her hands, conjuring an army to rise from the ground. From the sand, came the great army of Anubis, the Egyptian god of the dead.

Trouble…

*

Ardeth Gunga and Neo Toady were having big problems, for they couldn’t find a way to beat Boomberry. The dragon kept spitting fire, and all they could do was dodge and run.

Then Toady came up with a grand idea.

Ardeth Gunga, holding his battle staff, sneaked round and started poking the dragon from below, giving Boomberry a tickling sensation. The dragon laughed and laughed till it could no longer remember to spit fire. Neo Toady then jumped at the chance to go on the offensive. He morphed into a little toad and jumped right into the throat of the dragon and filled it with his slimy saliva, using his long tongue to speed up the process. After ten minutes, the dragon choked to death.

*

Meanwhile, Albus Nighthawk and Anakin Bear, knowing they could not beat the grand army of Anubis, decided to escape. Nighthawk morphed into a, well, a hawk, and carried Bear away into safety.

Not.

*

Ardeth Gunga and Neo Toady soon arrived at the castle where they figured Nighthawk and Bear was, only to find themselves face to face with fifty thousand troops with bull heads. The army of Anubis and the evil Lady Venus.

Blorgd, furious that his read dragon died and that Bear and Nighthawk escaped, morphed himself into a gigantic green dragon and flies after Nighthawk and Bear. Blorgd carried the banner of Rocktopia in his claws as an assurance that even if he dies, Rocktopia would die with him.

*

Desperately thinking of a way to escape the wrath of Lady Venus, Ardeth Gunga used his skill and power of charm to quickly grab her and hypnotized her, making her lose control of the army of Anubis. Surprisingly, it worked and the evil troops disappeared into the sands again.

*

Albus Nighthawk made a desperate manuever and flew high above Blorgd, then dropped Bear, who on his way down morphed into the great big bear that he is. He landed right at the neck of Blorgd the green dragon, just at the spot where the dragon can’t reach. Blorgd turned around here and there, twirling in madness. His rage triggered volcanic activity around the region.

Soon they were fighting around exploding fires and red lava.

*

Ardeth Gunga and Neo Toady were relieved at how easy they defeated the army of Anubis, and just when they were about to take a five second break, the gates of the castle of Blorgd opened, and a legion of battle droids marched out and started firing their lasers at the two heroes.

They ran, and Albus Nighthawk, leaving Bear behind with Blorgd, arrived to take Lady Venus into the air, and dropped her into a nearby lake that was still unaffected by the volcanic activity. Soon she emerged from the lake, no longer hypnotized and evil.

*

The battle droids chased after Ardeth and Neo, but could not match their speed and agility. Soon, all three heroes arrive at where Bear was battling Blorgd the green dragon. Despite his best efforts, Anakin Bear could not find a weakness in Blorgd’s inpenetratable skin.

“Ah,” Neo mumurred, “but his butt is soft.”

So, Albus Nighthawk flied to the back of Blorgd and started pecking away at his butt. Screaming in pain, Blorgd dropped the banner. One would think that’s a good thing, only the banner was falling right into a river of lava, way out of reach of the remaining three heroes.

Rocktopia was to be doomed.

Only to have a flying pegasus slice through the skies and grab the banner. The pegasus landed right beside Ardeth Gunga and Neo Toady, morphing into Lady Venus.

Blorgd, screaming in pain with his injured butt, struggled his way right into a pit of lava and sunk so deep into it that even if his thick skin protected him from the sweltering heat, the soon hardened lava would fossilize him.

So the evil Blorgd was defeated. Just as Bear was about to fall into the pit with Blorgd, Albus Nighthawk took Bear in his claws and escaped the fate of Blorgd. Then they both landed by the other heroes, watching the volcanoes settle. Then the five of them returned to Rocktopia, with victory in their hands.

-The End-

Click here to find out what this pic is all about.

"What have you got? A hundred years or less before the end of your world."

-from Signal to Noise, Neil Gaiman

Whoosh.

Earth is definitely on fire.

After a week of light to medium haze, the forest fires in Sumatra burned more passionately, which resulted in us people in Malaysia having to endure an atmospheric invasion of smoke and dust.

Here are some photographs taken from campus.


Usually, one would be able to see the giant red indian of Sunway Lagoon as well as some buildings right behind these hostel blocks, but I guess even the red indians are lost.


Taken from the 5th floor... on a clear day, this spot is one of my favorite spots. That's because I can see all of Bandar Sunway from here... the trees, the houses, the lagoon, the hotel... bla bla bla. Of course now can't see anything lah. Almost like Gentings.


It's almost as though Sunway-Monash University has... lifted above the ground towards the heavens...

I don't think heaven is a place of fire... So I think we're still on Earth. Unless we're all going to hell lah.

Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding

People have asked me, what's all my "ding" about.

Well, when I say "ding"... I mean

1) Hi.
2) Yes, I agree
3) Wow!
4) What?!
5) Oops
6) Oh, Yeah.
7) Dong
8) EEks
9) I hit a flag!
10) Finally...
11) Ah...
12) Right...
13) Uh oh.
14) STupid.
15) Arggggh!
16) You silly monkey
17) At last, I hit a flag
18) you are silly
19) correct
20) sorry.

Basically, it is my all encompassing word of expression. I know it leaves all of you wondering what I say when I say "ding", but that's the fun, don't you think?

Well, when I log on to the internet, and say "ding", it means hello. Unless you know for certain that you've pissed me off, then my ding just might be, "WHAT THE HECK IS YOUR PROBLEM YOU BIG FAT TWIT!"

or something like that.

Ding.

(THat means "bye", by the way.)

Ding.

(That means "you should have figured it out you dinghead)

("dinghead" usually means "dummy" or "silly")

Ding.
(That means "you are enlightened.")

Ding.
(That's goodbye again.)

Ding.
(That means, "YOU MEAN YOU DIDN'T GET ME THE FIRST TIME?")

Ding.
(That means, "Agk. Such a waste of my time writing this for you to read")

Ding.
(That means "I'm going now")

Ding.
(That means "bye")

Ding.
(That means "you're a slow learner")

Ding.
(That means "you are crazy to try to understand my dings)

.

To know what exactly was it I learnt in my International Relations class today, click here.

science-fiction rocks.

Shelter for my Soul

The end of my days when I’m called to go,
Into the open arms of the Holy Ghost
To have lived such a life as I have known
Fortune follows me, but I’m brave no more

For the great mistakes I will surely pay
I’m running low and the devil is on my trail.
When fate delivers me all I’m askin for,
Is a place to rest and shelter for my soul

Oh if I could spend my days,
Free from the prison of your gates,
then I could die a happy man
Oh if I could spend my days
Free from the shadow of my name,
Then I could die a happy man

When I’m released from this mortal hole
I’ll take my leave but I don’t wanna go

When fate delivers me all I’m askin for,
A place to rest and shelter for my soul

.

Its by Bernard Fanning. Brilliant song. One of my all time favorites.

.

I can sing it, and mean every word. Even now.

There will come a time when I won't be joking about some of the things I've been seemingly joking about.

Wasted

Dear all,

after much contemplation... I have decided to not post anymore "Wasting Away" stuff. This is because Benjamin Thomas is more or less working now, Kerry-Ann is more or less working now, May Yee is more or less bumming away now (not that she has featured a lot in my beloved series), Malina is away (AGAIN! :(... ) Shaz is more or less bumming away as well...

The series just won't be so cool lah.

Bumming Away #1 will be coming soon. :P

ANNOUNCEMENT

I

AM

GOING

TO

MAKE


THE DOOR 2











I am just joking.

Want to blog, but really lazy. So decided to just copy and paste this poster from the film blog.

Wasting Away #29 - Of Shoes and Skirts and Farts

Just now, Shi Ying was lying under the table. She took off her shoes, and started doing her own thing, which is sleep. She always does. She's a sleeping machine. Which means to say that she is a machine that sleeps. Which also means that she is useless.

Anyway. I took her shoes. I tied the left shoe on the top of the door. And tied the right shoe at the lights.

Later, I was leaning at the table where she was lying down, and I threatened to fart right at her face. She said, "you're welcome to do that."

Anyway, everyone is adoring me and my niece being beautiful in the picture below. I know, I know. I look good.

Fikri is upset that Massa is going to Ferrari. You know what? It sounds cool. Massa Ferrari. It almost sounds like a legitimate Italian name. Massa Ferrari. So will Masssa Ferrari win next season?

What time is it, asked Li Yien.

Does it matter? I think it doesn't, because I'm in the room. And she doesn't care because as long as I'm in the room, she's happy. And happy is all there is to her life.

Shi Ying is reading "LOV" at the moment. I think she is bored off her socks. I s

Good looks

can't help it if my niece wants to look as good as me :p

Skirt Campaign

Today, while waiting for my lecturer Andrew Ng to start tape for one of the movies we're watching, Un Chien Undelou (I'm probably wrong) or something like that, and Battleship Potempkin, I sat there in the AV room watching my fellow students trickle in, seat themselves down, and adjust their head and neck coordination to ensure a pleasant viewing of the show.

So anyway, Shu Yi trickled in as well, and she took the seat beside me. Now that is nothing rare, because Shu Yi does sit beside me every now and then. But what I noticed that was shockingly out of the blue was that she was wearing a skirt! A wavvy pretty teal-ish blue-ish colored skirt that flows all the way down to her ankles.

I didn't have my camera with me so I couldn't take a picture of it. Thing is, since I've known her about a year plus ago, I've only seen her in a skirt TWICE, including today. The first time was during the ball last year, and this today.

I think she should wear skirts more often. It looks pretty good on her. If you are a CFer reading this, go bug her this Thursday to wear skirts to CF. If you are a communications student reading this, go bug her to wear skirts to lectures and tutorials. Then everybody can go "WOW" together.

After a while we'll get bored with her, then we can shift our attention somewhere else.

Wasting Away #28

Fikri is just done something with something and someone.

He basically sounded rather perverted. Then again, he is a thing with a thing. So of course it is only natural that he has things for other things and people.

okay. Things aside. Bei Yan is doing her thing with some sound editing thing. I'm not sure what kinda thing she is thing-ing about but basically she is doing her thing.

Szen is writing up about her thing about the orang aslis on the white board. Kerry-Ann is sitting there doing her thing as well. So is Juli.

Things aside, I'm blogging about everyone doing their thing!

I am bored. Kerry Ann said, "Nah, you nak tengok ke?" She meant, "you want to see the thing?"

Gosh I sound dirty.

Thing is, I don't know what thing am i supposed to talk about.

Fikri said I'm quite hot. I think so too.

He said my head is hot. I do agree. I AM rather handsome. Ask BEi Yan.

She said, "No. but you are what you THINK you are."

so, I AM!

since i THINK i am.

the thing about thinking is that thinking is a kind of thing that people do with their heads.

Fikri says it rhymes with sinking. So sinking is a thing.

Lindy has nice jeans. He likes her ass. It always is the case with Fikri. He looks from the bottom up.

He has superman eyes. So you get what I mean about that thing.

Bei Yan is still composing. She read my script for LOV earlier and thinks that she would be a really good actress as one of the evil women in the show.

I like making things up.

ANyway, i gotta go.

Today's a weird day. Szen is standing on the table. Why? I don't know.

Kerry Ann was talkinga bout her hair. Wonder if its those on her head, or her leg.

I AM GOING TO GO.

HOME.


bye...................... muak muak muaks muaksssssssssssssssssssss.

Wasting Away #27: Astro Boy!

No this is not about the Japanese cartoon Astro Boy.

BEN just barged into the room while talking on the phone like some biggie shotty, and ignored everyone along the way. When Wani barged into the room, she pointed out that BEN is dressed up like a hippie! And it's just because he's working in ASTRO!!! So he's you know, trying to be... err... TRYING to be... cooler. Astro Boy...

Wani just barged in walking like a spineless bodoh-fied woman.

Fikri is drinking coffee, and Sarah is using the other PC. We're in the J-lab today, not the M-lab. Because "M" is lower than "J" in terms of letter ranking, so we're upgrading ourselves a bit.

Wani thinks that "production assistant" means "model". I have no idea what the connection is, but ok.

Ben is sitting there like some big shot. These days he writes news and reads them out on lite and easy. YOu know why? He's light, and he's easy. Think of all the girlfriends (and boyfriends) that he's had, you know that he's easy, and he's light.

Fikri is checking F1 scores. He calls Kimi Raikonnen "Kimi", and Jarno Trulli, "Truly Trulli". Again, I have no idea why, but then again, most of the time I cannot explain any of the anomalies my friends act out. They're just plain... mysteries. IN a weirdo way.

Fikri just said there's no such thing as "F1 Scores". So I must say "F1 results". SO OKAY. KIMI RAINKONNEN won... wait, did I just spell RAIN-konnen? Oops. SOrry, I don't really like finnish people anyway. HACK-Innen, RAIN-konnen... ooh. All sound like some superhero fighters. Ok Let's have a NEW comic book. Starring "HACK-Innen the Hacker" and "RAIN-konnen the Rainer". What their powers are, I don't know.

Fikri said, maybe "Conan" is derived from all these Finnish names.

Ben is sitting there, still posing. He should realize none of us care if he's light and easy because primarily, he's black.

Okay, that sounded racist, but he should know that nothing in the Wasting Away series is really really serious.

Ben just said that he's not black. So that must make him... He just said "Haih..."

So he's "Haih..."

Sarah is Googling. She Googles around... She just said that she's tired, and she's not angry. Does that mean that she's tired of being angry?

"I'M NOT TIRED OF BEING ANGRY", Sarah said.. "Don't misquote me", said Sarah

" I THOUGHT WE WERE ON THE SAME PAGE!" said Sarah. I don't know what page were we on, but as Fikri says, all of us are one anyway, so I guess, yeah we're on the same page. In this case, we're all on the same page that Sarah is tired of being angry.

"I'M NOT ANGRY!" said Sarah, angrily.

I like provoking people. Did I mention that the other day, I took a picture of Sarah looking pregnant? Yeah, start asking questions. I'll post the picture up someday.

Ben said he wasn't at home last night when Fikri was on the same street.

Same page, same street, what else?

Fikri said his friend's mom asked him if he was Chinese. Fikri said, "I'm Malay." Fikri also said, "WO BU MING BAI" which means

WO - me
BU - no
MING - name
BAI - white

"My name is not White"

Ok that's not what it really means, but ok.

Sarah ignored me when I read this part out. I think she's angry.

I should try making her laugh.

Fikri likes the squatting position. I'm not sure what that means, but OK.

Ben says that he's in love. I'm not sure with who.

I'm writing too much nonsense here. I should stop before the "F1-Men" comes invading. Man, I wouldn't want HACK-kinnen to hack me to pieces and RAIN-konnen to rain hell on me.