Fruity

Aaron, a dude from my course, popped in to the media lab yesterday (he was due to shoot some scenes in Eddie's movie Police Man, Story, which looks really good. Will publicize it when the time comes) and he saw me on my comp working on Captivation and Shazzy starting her documentary work on her recent Langkawi trip. Wilson was there fiddling with some equipment as well.

Aaron said, "Hey, newsflash, in case you didn't know ah, this is term-break."

Yeah well. All three computers were running full steam in film productions for jobs as well as film fests.

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Today we were at it again. And today Sarah showed up to meet us for lunch. So she told me that she's got this new part time job with some EPL magazine. I asked her, "Name me a player from the EPL."

"Err. Beckham?"

"Aiyer, Beckham is in Spain now lah..."

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Later in the day Kerry-Ann and Wani came by as well to help Shaz with her video. By then I have completed everything I wanted to do for Captivation, and was loafing around doing nothing. So what I did was take the video camera (never leave me with the camera, I almost always do something with it) and videoed Sarah talking on the phone outside at the corridor.

Then I made a one minute video mocking her.

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Later, as we were all walking to Sarah's car, I told Kerry, Shaz and Wani about the EPL thing. Everyone laughed at Sarah's stupidity quite hard.

Then Wani said, "EPL is European Premier League kan?"

Bodoh kan?

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We went to A&W for waffle and root beer.

The thing about my course is that its male deprived. So it's really quite a normal thing to have females outnumber the males. So there I was sitting with 4 beautiful women talking. Well, its more like me listening to them talk.

Sarah was going to start telling a really interesting story, when she pointed her finger at me and said, "YOU BETTER NOT BLOG ABOUT THIS OKAY!".

I think she was confirming what Shaz was commenting to me in the morning, "I notice you're quite an efficient blogger huh. You update it very fast."

Only when its something stupid lah.

Anyway I can't blog about what Sarah said.

Later, Kerry-Ann was talking about strawberries and papayas and pineapples, and somehow diverted to talking about overweight athletes who can't jump around for nuts.

K I'm talking crap already.

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Ding.

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Yesterday Girl TMY flew over to Melbourne for a short holiday as well attendher convocation. Her trip is timely, I must say, as it gave me the opportunity to pass her a CD with most of my films, particularly Captivation. So she's there to publicize and create awareness of the existence of Superratty Films.

No lah. She's just there pass the stuff to our friends there, like Mal, Shaz, Lu, Kris, Zul bla bla.

So I can say that Captivation is open to limited worldwide release. Hahaha. Let's see if I can spread this to wider audiences than The Door.

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Becoming Female

I was driving a CF friend, Serene, to Taylor's college today, and she was telling me about stuff that has been happening. You know, the regular catch-up thing.

At one point of time, we talked about males and females. She was telling me that females mature faster than men, so how can females be more stupid than men as I earlier claimed. I went on to explain to her that men can be immature but not stupid, and females mature or not are stupid. Okay, the point of this blog post is not to debate about women's stupidity.

She disagreed with me. She told me that Taylor's College is having this Cancer Awareness week thing going on, and that some hot chick celebrity is going to be giving a demonstration on how to check one's own breast for signs of breast cancer. She told me that all her guy friends are going to go, and added that she wouldn't be surprised if a majority of men showed up for the demonstration.

Then she said "See? Men are stupid as well."

And again, that's not really the point. The following conversation is largely accurate, with minimal paraphrasing...

But I did tell her, "Men CAN get breast cancer, you know"

"Yeah. Very rare. It's very rare. It shouldn't happen, usually..." she agreed.

"Yeah. It's usually men with very slight female make-up physically who get it..."

"Yeah. Men become more female after eating wrong sorts of food."

At this point of time, I thought she made a lot of sense. After all, she is studying nutrition science as a degree. So I wouldn't mess with her on this one. But I asked her what sort of food anyway.

"Chicken. Those injected ones."

I figured it made sense. Eating a crate of hormonified chicken can probably femalize someone.

"What else?" I asked.

"Soya Bean."

"WHAT? HOW?!"

"I don't know. My mom told me that one."

Okay... I asked her what else.

"Papayas."

"WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?!"

"Yeah, they say that if you eat too much papayas your breasts will you know, grow huge." (or something along those lines)

"REALLY... what about Soya Beans, how does that make you more female?"

"Well, I hear it makes a guy impotent..."

I told her to go study her nutritional science properly and tell me again when she's sure.

Until then, men, stay away from injected chickens, papayas, and soya beans.

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It certainly was a very enlightening conversation.

TMY's Weekly Matchup #2 - Squids vs Prawns

This week, we feature two sorts of animals.... the squid and the prawn... for the Boneless Sea Animals Championship Title!!!



Squid factfile
- It has 8 tentacles. This makes its reach far superior to that of the prawn.
- It has the ink-squirting capability, which renders its enemies blind. This gives the squid the chance to be a coward and run away, or, if it is less cowardly, spring surprising attacks on the prawn.
- Its boneless form gives it a flexibility few other sea animals possess.

Prawn factfile
- It has body highly inpenetratable body armour. The piercing all over its body makes the prawn a sort of Roman gladiator.
- It has stingers all over the place, ready to rip its opponent to bits.
- Its extremely sharp tail can easily kill the squid in one blow, if aimed carefully.

Vote for who you think is the more powerful animal in the poll on the right toolbar!

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Last week's winner
Steven Spielberg 73%
Martin Scorsese 0%
They're both just as good 27%

Film is completed.

8 mins 43 seconds.
Mandarin with English subtitles.

click here to visit Superratty Films website
click here to view Captivation details.

Nuff' said.

TMY's Weekly Matchup #1 - Spielberg vs Scorsese

Steven Spielberg vs Martin Scorsese



Measuring in...

Steven Spielberg

Notable films
1) Schindler's List
2) E.T.
3) Saving Private Ryan
4) Jurassic Park
5) Indiana Jones

Notable facts
1) Nominated for the Oscar 5 times for Best Director, winning twice, for Saving Private Ryan and Schindler's list.

2) His films has been nominated for best picture 4 times: Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Color Purple, Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan. Schindler's List won.

3) Directed 9 actors in Oscar-nominated performances. None of them won.

Martin Scorsese

Notable films
1) The Aviator
2) Gangs of New York
3) Goodfellas
4) Raging Bull
5) Mean Streets

Notable facts
1) He has directed a total of 16 actors in Oscar nominated performances. Five of them won. (Ellen Burstyn, Robert De Niro, Paul Newman, Joe Pesci and Cate Blanchett). This reputation has led to many actors wanting to work with him.

2) Nominated for best director 5 times, and has lost them all. He is one of only three directors to have this losing streak.

3) Has 5 films nominated for best picture. Taxi Driver, Gangs of New York, The Aviator, Goodfellas and Raging Bull. All of them lost.

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Who's the better man? Vote in the poll on the right sidebar!

1998/1999 (more like 1997-2000)

Here's a photo taken sometime in 1998/9, I think. It was taken in the rain.


From left, Tien Ann, Kok Kien, Choon Siong, Ka Yong, Chee Chin, Vincent, Chee Wai, Horng Jin, Giap Chee, myself. (Missing from the picture is our goalie, Yoon Chuan)

This is the most complete picture of my secondary school footballing days. It featured 10 of us, minus the goalie. I can't remember why he's not in the picture. We played as a gang, and later as a team from 1997 to 2000. We all met in form 2, and started playing either at the field behind our school, or a park near my place. We were just this exclusive bunch of boys who loved football.

I remember starting form 3 (1998), boys from other footballing groups around my housing area would come by "our" place to challenge us. We lost the very first time. I remember, 3 - 0. Very clearly. Because I remember that it was that first time that we played as a team that made us want to always play as a team.

We swore vengeance against that nearby bunch of boys, and a week later a trounced them in return. I can't remember the scoreline, but I remember I scored. (The very interesting thing about me is that in my team, I'm the starting striker, but I hardly score. I find myself passing the ball to the scorer more often than scoring myself. I sucked at football. I can't defend much [because I'm not very tough], I'm not very fast, I can't dribble long [because I get banged over], I can't always score, but I sure can pass. :P)

Basically, we started playing with other guys from our school. We would meet them at the field on Saturday mornings and play against them. For most of 1998, we sucked. We hardly won any games. We did join a school tournament, though. We won the first game 6 - 0 (Again, I was the starting striker, but I did not score. I did, however, pass) then lost the following two. The fact that I can remember the scorelines of the games we won is proof that we hardly won.

Then came 1999. We were form 4. Now this year, we finished undefeated. We played with anyone who played against us on Saturdays. We beat teams with school team players, we beat teams with more renown players, we beat them all. I remember the manner in which we won most games. In 1998 we lost because we tried playing like everyone else. In 1999 we started being kiasu and not want to lose. So we played like Italians, with an army of well orchestrated defenders... with me as the lone striker. We won most of our games 1-0, I think. I did not score a single goal in 1999 for my gang of friends. But I did, however, made passes.

Too bad we didn't have a tournament that year, or I think we would have stood a chance of winning.

2000, we just played regular football. Win some lose some.

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That's my footballing career. I saw Tien Ann the other in MPH, and he's working now.

Kok Kien was running a VCD stall in Summit for some years after form 5. He never finished college. I used to get cheap PC games and movies from his shop. It closed down early last year. I have no information of his whereabouts now.

Choon Siong finished his studies in TAR college, and I have no idea where he is now.

Ka Yong returned to Seremban after form 5, and worked with his uncle as a mechanic.

Chee Chin completed his pre-university, then started working in his family's car mechanic shop. We meet up once in a blue moon. He has a girlfriend, and he always tells me about how car salesmen and parts salesmen are super conmen and not to be trusted.

Vincent is my childhood friend. We played with each other since we were toddlers. We remain best friends today.

Chee Wai now works in a bank, having completed his studies in Australia. We used to sing in class to annoy our teacher. Yet despite his nonsense he was one of the most brilliant students.

Horng Jin is currently in Stamford College studying IT. He has miraculously found a girlfriend who is shorter than him. She is a piano teacher as well as a student. We would play pool at times.

Giap Chee and I lost all contact after form 5. I have no idea of his wherabouts.

Yoon Chuan is working now, I think. I see him occasionally. He participates in futsal tournaments, as goalie. He was the only player in our team to ever make the school team.

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11 boys. 11 futures.

I love blurred pictures sometimes. It forces dormant memories to come alive.

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I can't believe I just spent 30 minutes blogging about me and football.

Monash Graduation 2005

Many of my good friends graduated today. So I decided to be nice to them, so I showed up and took pictures of them and their families. We had a good time. Here are some pics.



Ben's family.


Kerry-Ann's family.


Shazana's family. Every time I set out to photograph events or parties, usually a few pictures stand out more than the rest. Usually it's this ONE picture that I look at and feel that it's a really gratifying picture to take. This pic of Shaz and her family is by far the best pic I took today.

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Now to some poser shots.


Jia Xin and Michelle.


Kerry and May Yee trying very hard.


Fikri and I squishing two beautful women.


Shazzy and her cousin.


Me and Ben


I took a few black and white photographs of Kerry the academic. I shot this one, and felt that her face looked really beautiful. But she was holding the flowers the wrong way. I took a few more with the flowers held outwards, but this pic still looked the best. Who cares about the flowers, I care about Kerry. See, flowers wither and die. She doesn't.

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Here's something really stupid. Jia Xin told me to stop taking pictures and get in the picture myself. So I said ok, and as we were about to take the picture, she gave me a few directions as to how she wants the picture to look like. Here's how it should look like, according to her:



Really sweet and all, but...

In truth, what she had asked me to do was this:



She made me bend down so that she would look taller. Vain right?

Then horr, she and Kerry-Anne decided that since everyone had left, they want to do the cap toss thing anyway. So the two dummies did it by themselves.



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And as always, I need to display one goof pic in every set of photographs that I take. Today's goof pic belongs to...



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Graduation sometimes sound like a chore, a routine. I generally dislike ceremonies and formalities.

But as I was watching these people, their families, and their smiles through my mechanical eye, I cannot but help realize these fathers, mothers, uncles and aunties were proud of their children. Their smiles, their goofs, their anxiety was centered around their love for their kids, and their pride and their children's successes. For me, I'd say that these moments are far too few, and very precious.

It kinda makes the chore worth enduring.

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What I realize is that most of us don't fear the wrath of God.
Instead, I find that we fear the love of God.

A little bit of help, God.

Psycho 3 pics

Lazy. I actually have assignments to do but I found myself browsing through my old bag. I did not touch it since returning from Bangkok. I found my old journal in there, and clipped in the pages are the storyboards for the second half of Psycho 3, which I filmed in Bangkok.

So here are the storyboards, for entertainment...

I remember I was in a conference, and I was falling asleep in one of the talks. So instead of taking notes, I drew this picture of the very lethal femme fatale, the "Martian Mama" (eventually to be played by Suet Yeing) and framed the shots.


Martian Mama with a foot on the toiletbowl. Red boxes indicate key frames.

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Complete storyboard for the second half of the show...

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Anyway, for fun's sake, let me show you how some of the shots turned out. It's actually the first time I've followed my storyboards almost shot by shot (I did it for Psycho 2, but in less detail)

Here's the "Martian Mama" sequence. Follow the sequence by matching the lettering on the original drawing and the actual movie frames. The small pics are frames between section (b) and (c)



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Hope you enjoyed this. Bye bye.

The four letter word called "love"

The right to love is something everyone has. It is a right given by God Himself, when He chose to die for us and actually let us decide for ourselves if we want to love Him back. Even God knew that love is meant to be decided by everyone on their own, not to be forced upon, not to be imposed, and certainly not to be denied.

It is the first right of everyone. Rich or poor, obese or hungry, black or white, sexy or ugly, smart or stupid, it will always be their right. No caesar, monarch, Hitlers, Stalins or anyone else in this world can take away one's right to love.

It is not true that love conquers all things, for it does not. However, love cannot be conquered.

And none of you, no matter how hard you try, can take my right to love away from me.

Munich

I read this piece of news from my daily browsings of film news on IMDb.com. It's about some terrorist dude critisizing Steven Spielberg's current project, Munich. Anyway, read...

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Steven Spielberg has been criticized by the only surviving Palestinian terrorist behind the massacre at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany, because the director failed to consult him over his new movie dramatization of the tragic events. Mohammed Daoud was a member of terror group Black September in the early 1970s and was responsible for the deaths of 11 Israelis in Munich's Olympic Village. He has been on the run ever since. But Daoud is so angry with Spielberg's supposedly pro-Israel stance in new film Munich, he contacted news agency Reuters to put forward his side of the story. He says, "If someone really wanted to tell the truth about what happened he should talk to the people involved, people who know the truth. Were I contacted, I would tell the truth. (Israel) carried out vengeance against people who had nothing to do with the Munich attack, people who were merely politically active or had ties with the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization)."

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I'm a fan of objectivity, fairness, and all sorts of equality.

But do you really think Steven Spielberg really cares about what the Palestinians think, especially the dude involved in the event? Yala I know the authenticity thing and all that. But really...

Just a thought.

minesweeper flags is not a great game, but it kills time pretty well. And I get to teach some good minesweeping lessons at the same time. And it gives me a good excuse to not do my assignment.

I need my fix. Am staring at Microsoft Word, and I've typed four words so far, "A cult film is..."

grr.

Ta Kau (formerly known as Stickfight)

As promised, poster and photos from my recent short film. I've renamed it as "Ta Kau", which literally means "Fighting" in Cantonese.



Stills from Ta Kau


The defeated Wilson.


Lau Gao (which means arguing). Usually after the "Lau Gao" part comes the Ta Kau part...

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Fikri highlighted that "I can see another Psycho in the making..."

Aaron and Eddie have expressed interest in filming a sequel to continue their violent rampage
in uni... Looks like it's another franchise...

So Fikri, you're right. Haha.

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Stickfight

Today I shot and made a short film with Eddie Goh, Aaron Lee and Wilson Lee. All three guys are dudes I've never cast before. Basically I said to Aaron and Eddie, "hey wanna do a short film? Basically you just come in and tell Wilson that his face is ugly and start beating the crap out of him" or something along those lines. They both agreed to my delight and proceeded to beating the crap out of Wilson. Quite a fun watch.

Thing is, during the first take, I gave Aaron the thumbs up sign to walk in the door. And he was actually chatting with some chick outside, and I was waving, "GET IN THE ROOM SILLY BOY!" and I could hear him, "hey I gotta talk to you later. I'm doing a film. No it's not for a project. No not an assignment. I'm doing a film." Man, talk about hitting on girls while filming. Lol. But he was a natural and fun. Eddie was violent and so was Wilson. Fun watch. Potential sequel.

Sorry I don't have a pic to preview you ppl. That's cos my FTP is not working and Szen has my pen drive. So wait till monday...

Oh, and its called "stickfight" because Szen said it should be "Stickfight". Mostly it means that its a fight between men. I titled the file "Ta Kau", which means "FIGHTING" in cantonese.