The Making of "Idiot Nation" day #2

Idiot Nation/March 6

A 'live' election broadcast from the Idiot Nation of Faltasia is coming to town!

March 6

The film is complete after a long day's work. Now just doing some minor touch-ups and packaging the whole thing.

Here's the complete set of promotional pictures. Enjoy.

Based on the promo photos alone, who gets your vote?
	P. Zulfadhli
	Lily Lola
	Stat Booker
	Hottie Harriot
Free polls from Pollhost.com

See you soon.

Idiot and Easter

So today the cast for the Easter play had a read through. It was pretty alright for a first session. Half the people involved have some form of experience before so they weren't too shy about anything. Grace was... grace-like enough (though sometimes I wish not :p), Gideon killed some of the lines which I must say I didn't expect from the first reading. Abel was Abel, you know, the brat sort of boy; Chewie was pretty enthusiastic since I think it's his first play, so he was over-reacting and over-touching Abel. Had to remind him it's a heterosexual play. Jas sounded fine, contrary to popular belief, and we still have a few guys to cast. Joel agreed. And so far that's that.

*

Tomorrow with a little energon and a lot of luck I'm going to thunderbolt through the rest of Idiot Nation. Anna should do a swift audio recording of the opening statement, then Eddie should hopefully do his nerd thing (trying to break his idiot stereotype, which is weird, since it's a movie about idiots and I'm giving him the opportunity to look mildly intelligent) and maybe a surprise last minute usage of Lynette to be a bimbo. She doesn't know she's supposed to be a bimbo yet, but I'm cashing in on all the investment I've made by fetching her to campus for the past year. Muahaha. Then if I'm insane enough I'll cut the whole thing by nightfall.

*

Superman Returns for the Oscar.

The Oscars - Root for these...

The Illusionist - cinematoraphy


Children of Men - editing


Kate Winslet (Little Children) - Best Actress


The Departed/Mark Wahlberg - best picture/best supporting actor


Superman Returns - Best Visual Effects

Seasoning

In the Western sense, there are 4 seasons in a year.

Winter - when all things freeze
Spring - when all things melt
Summer - when all things dry
Autumn - when all things soak

Each season lasts approximately 3 months before it segues into the next season and the next and the next.

Pick your least favorite 3 months from the above 4 categories.
And that's the new season for me that starts right about now.

Recently Watched

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (tv)
A-
witty but not quite as briliant as the west wing

Heroes (tv)
B-
first 3 episodes were great then the remaining 9 became wayyyyyy too draggy. The cow's out of milk, slaughter it already.

Ghost Rider
C-
Save me. Stupid show.

Music and Lyrics
C
Nice song. But quite a bore.

The Illusionist
A
If today right now I get to decide who gets the best picture award. The Illusionist wins.

*

Am going to watch very very soon:
Pursuit of Happyness
Little Miss Sunshine
Babel
Rocky Balboa

Heart Break

Eu asked me to blog about heartbreaks. I was singing my favorite Roxette heartbreak song, CrashBoomBang and she said I should blog about this. So ok. Here goes.

She wants me to talk about how after hearing numerous horror stories about heartbreaks people still fall into love, and how people can be so silly to give up everything for the one we think we love, and neglect the ones who truly love us.

I can't be as complicated as Grace.

Here's what I think. You go the morgue, dig up a body, cut out the heart, put it on the floor, and take a hammer and splat splat splat. That's a heartbreak. Big one. Quite bloody too.

And anyway, the heart not very pretty oso, dunno why the fuss. Like Clive Owen said in Closer, "Have you seen a heart? It's like a fist, covered in blood."

Then I was at some friend's party and I sportingly put a big pink heart on my chest to...well... just cos I felt like it.



Then later in the evening some small kid jumped up and stole my heart. My heart didn't break. It was stolen.

Then.

yes, by now you'd have realized that I'm wasting your time on purpose.

Love should never be a secret.
If you store something as complicated as love inside, you'd go sick.

Sometimes it's instantaenous vomiting and pooing. Sometimes it takes a few months.
Sometimes you stay sick forever.
And sometimes you get cured.
And sometimes not.

Transformers 2 : It's Prime Time!

First Film for 2007

My first short film for the year 2007, released on Chinese New Year's Day!!!


Hope you enjoy it! It's only 48 seconds long

The other thing about Easter this year

is that there's a play going on. That's the coming 8th of April. It's a Sunday.

Abel and I wrote the thing and I'll be trying to pull the thing together. We've strung together a cast of ah beng-ish, bimbo-ish, intelligent-ish, timid-ish, and funny-ish people for the thing.

It's Easter so in a big way the play will be related to this person called Jesus Christ. He's also known to some circles, such as the Christians, as God.

Will relate more info as the days pass by.

The working title of the play is called Second Chances, which I must admit I feel like changing into something a little bit more... u know... mengyoeish

The Making of "Idiot Nation" #1

So I've started work on this new short film called "Idiot Nation". It's set in this fictional country called Faltasia. The film is set during election season, and 4 candidates, including the incumbent, have a chance to address the nation on television. Today I filmed two characters :)

The film is nothing special. Just a rant of sorts in one small room.

p/s The music you hear in the video is the national anthem of Faltasia. Do stand when you hear it. Thank Eddie for the fast work.

I'm only half done with the shooting.

This is the RM 7.20 set for the film :)

Here's a rare occasion where I had my picture taken on the little set. Busy scribbling changes or whatever on the script.

To round the post up, here are two promotional posters. Click to enlarge.

Upcoming

Very soon

Idiot Nation
A short film about four presidential candidates of a fictional country called Faltasia giving short campaign speeches about why voters should... well... vote for them. If I am lucky, I will start shooting tomorrow.

Some wheels have start spinning, which is a good sigh. Eddie has created a temp of the national anthem. It's 20 seconds long, and it's very patriotic. Am trying to round up some friends to read the monologues.

And well, hopefully it'll fly.

If I am not so lucky, I won't ever get started on this.


Soon

Still untitled Grindhouse-wannabe film about people dying
This is a collaboration with Fikri. It'll come soon. I have the idea in my head but nothing else. If I am lucky, I will start shooting late feb and finish sometime in March/April.

I keep telling Lynette that she's in this show because she is rake thin and pale and deathly and I want to tell a story of a dying chick. What sort of chick I don't know yet.

But it's Lynette because I think I owe her from Lov. I put her in a scene where no one could hear her properly, so now I'm making up for it by letting her hog all the screen time.

If I am not so lucky, I won't ever get started on this.

*

I have been tempted time and again to just make another love story. I have a dozen love stories in my head now. But every time I feel like picking up a phone to ask someone to help me out I think of the amount of raw fish I'd have to buy Shu Yi if I made another love story.

And no one believes in me.

Here's an example:

TMY: I made a bet with Shu Yi that if my next video is a love story, I'd buy her sushi.
Friend: I'm with Shu Yi on this one.

*

No love stories for a while. Ding.

Ah. A Valentine's Message

[insert personal shortfall. Preferrably the worst sort] and I know that's no woman's dream of a man, or a father, nonetheless I think I'm falling in love with you.

If you wanna run I understand.

But you better get a good head start cos I'm comin for you.

- Danny Tripp, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

I Endorse

I watched the first 3 episodes, and I want to watch more. There are about 8 more episodes on Sizzling's hard disk. And after that I'm going to demand for more. And more.
And more.

And more.

And more.

And I'm gonna reach a stage where I tell NBC that they should stop benching this show and put it on at PRIMETIME.

But that's just me.

Brick wall, break away.
Iron fence, rust away.
Wooden cage, rot away.
Hm.

Obstruction, go away.
fade away.
fly away.
sink away.
crumble away.

Old

Earlier I was at Shu's place for a farewell makan of sorts with some of the CF people who are leaving. I didn't know most of them well because well, it's a generation beyond me already, but it was alright. Had some fun.

Later in the night Shu invited everyone to a tour of her oversized room. While everyone was busy doing this and that and looking for photos of men and dare I say women, Shu pointed an old CF group photo to me and Vincent. It's a black and white pic dating back to early 2004. We both got so excited and started naming everyone we remembered.

Feels weird. To be frank I never quite got into a social groove in CF last year (2006). It's really not because I'm old (ok maybe a bit), but there was a sense that it's past my bedtime sorta thing. I did meet a lot of new people that I have come to love very much and will continue to care for and all that cheesy stuff, some perhaps more than the people that I've lost touch with during 'my' time... but still. For whatever reason, I missed my day. My prime. Whatever.

And the photo was a good memory. The people that made up the season which I believe for a very long time to come, will be referred to as "the time of my life" or "some of the best memories ever", or "when I met some of the most important people in my life", or "the most hectic yet amazing season". Bruce was in the photo. His girlfriend, Eline too. So was Ck. Kajang. Xiao Jing. Jane. Sue still had pretty hair. Vincent had upright hair. I looked good as usual. Nat. Li Yit. Lydia. (while they were still in denial). Huey, when she was still pretty (still is. a bit.) Becka. Mic. Steven. Shu's in it. Think it was when she first joined. Peter and his oversized head. Uncle Lee. Yuong Eng. so on. so forth. there were some faces i didn't quite recognize anymore.

Anyway.
In light of all these, here's a photo from 2 weeks ago. The committee from 04/05 met up at Susie's house for a makan. peter and mr.lee and ribena couldn't make it, but we're meeting up again tomorrow anyway so maybe another pic.



Clockwise from top left. Li Yit (and Lydia. She's a plus-one. haha.) Michael, Me, Susie, and Huey. Right in front is my best and only dog-friend, Hans, who belongs to Susie's family.

We made this joke when planning the dinner.

That Susie would just tell us what she wants
and Michael would take note of and do her bidding
and Becky would publicize our dinner and make the calls
and Li Yit would ensure we all had transport to get there
and Hsien Huey would pay for everything (i like this part)
and Peter would lead us in song
and I in word

just like old days.

These are people that I would go to hell and back for if I needed to. And it hasn't changed much.
Though I don't really show it.
Cos u know.
I'm the cool one.

P/S the next generation has been doing very well. And I am sure by the time they are done, their CF storybook would be twice as thick as ours, with tales of God's faithfulness and wonders and blessings, as it should be. And the next next generation's would be four times as thick. And so on and so forth.

And Susie, I don't mean to always clarify that I'm the second oldest person in CF and point to you as the oldest. But it doesn't mean I intend to stop doing that.

AC Milan

Dear football fans,

I bought a Milan jersey.

Okay. Start insulting me.

glad to see 2006 go?
some parts.

how old were you in 2006?
old lah.

the best part of 2006?
weirdly enough, the two months I was at some company that doesn't quite pay its employees on time. Those were the days where people would take huge samurai swords and slice off my head and see the blood spill out of my neck like a raging fountain. Much like Kill Bill.

the worst part of 2006?
Here and there. But I think the weeks where I stared into the screen with no words to type for my stupid thesis ranks among the worst.

any new crushes in 2006? who?
Well, generally speaking, my great and mighty presence crushes a lot of people.

who will you never forget?
Apart from the obvious people, I think I won't ever ever ever forget... you.

who do you wish you didn't meet?
Hm.

did you have a boyfriend in 2006?
I most certainly did not have one.

did you fall in love in 2006?
Not with a boy, that's for sure.

did you catch someone in lie in 2006?
Many

did you call them out?
For what...

did you get caught in a lie? what was it?
I'm sure I got caught for whatever it was, and I'm pretty sure it was Grace who found me out. It usually is. She has this detector thingie beside her when she talks to me so when I say something that's not the truth it sorta injects hot blood into her veins or something like that.

funniest moment of 2006?
Probably one of the below
1) girl tmy making a complete fool of herself
2) sarah jane making a complete fool of herself
3) josh making a complete fool of himself

most embarassing moment of 2006?
Dunno about embarrassing lah, but it was when... then lah. You know lah.

did you take any vacations in 2006? where?
I went to Krypton, the Caribbean, stuff like that.

any new hobbies of 2006?
Got. I started developing a love for calling cards.

did you get a new job in 2006?
Had a lot of freelance jobs.

did you lose a job in 2006?
Not really.

did you host a party in 2006?
nope.

where did most of your money go?
Fuel. Phone. Food.

what song will always remind you of 2006?
The stupid love song from Lov. The puppy love thing.

what do you wish you'd done more of?
Ate more Sushi. But I can do that this year.

what do you wish you'd done less of?
Er. Getting sick?

biggest achievement in 2006?
Finishing my stupid thesis. 18645 words.

biggest failure of 2006?
Finishing my stupid thesis wayyyyy too late.

in 2006, did you lie to miss a day of work/school?
Technically my attendance wasn't kept. So I went to campus whenever I wanted.

did you move in 2006?
Literally? yeah. I'm not dead.

did you wish on a shooting star in 2006?
You don't really get to see shooting stars here. The haze takes care of that.

what was your greatest musical discovery?
I suppose if 2005 I discovered BeiYan then in 2006 I discovered Eddie.

what was the best book you read?
Stardust

what was your favourite movie of the year?
Tentatively? Either Children of Men or Deja Vu

what did you want in 2006 and got?
Hahahaha.

what did you want in 2006 but didn't get?
I wanted to make at least one more short film. But didn't get to.

did you make out in public in 2006?
No. But I think one day I'm going to ask people to make out in public for my films.

what kept you sane?
Ah who else if not the girl of my dreams. Ha. Ha. Ha.

who did you miss?
Well I think at some point in the year I wanted to kill Grace. I also probably wanted to kill most of my classmates. But I missed every time.

what one thing would have made your year immeasurably more exciting?
If U2 came to town.

did you drink too much in 2006?
Never too much. I'm always the driver

your favourite commercial in 2006?
Got lah. but can't remember off the top of my head. Not local for sure. Can I say favorite trailer? It's a commercial too. Then I think the Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer trailer is very cool.

something you couldn't leave home without in 2006?
clothes.

how did you spend New Year's 2006?
I remember quite distinctly I was asleep. I'm asleep every new year's day.

valentine's 2006?
I'm quite sure it was meshed up with Chinese New Year.

halloween 2006?
dun even know when the exact date is. Oh wait I remember. There was once after classes I had a quick bite with a CFer at this place in subang parade and all the waiters and waitresses dressed up weird. And they were screaming and all.

thanksgiving 2006?
I don't celebrate american holidays

christmas 2006?
I can say I toook a friend out for a very eventful lunch. It was littered with traffic jams on the road. Traffic jams in the building. And you know. Stuff like that.

your birthday 2006?
I finished my thesis on the day of my birthday.

tell us a valuable lesson you've learnt in 2006.
Well.

They say when you meet the love of your life, time stops, and that's true.

Ilan Eshkeri

To answer my own earlier question on who's making the music for Stardust, Ilan Eshkeri's doing it.

Never heard his work before.
Let's hope and see.

Here's Claire Danes, Robert De Niro, and Charlie Cox.
I must say, I seem to be endorsing the underdog movie for the summer. Oh well.

Wish List and Zimmer

Watched The Holiday last night (was supposed to watch Babel, but I blame girl TMY for making me miss Blood Diamond, Babel and many other things because well. It's just her fault.)

Show's okay
But I wanna buy the soundtrack. Hans Zimmer ya know. And something buyable by him since... well... since a while... Since The Last Samurai, actually.

(Technically I did d***loa* Batman Begins and King Arthur, both of which I would have gladly bought if I had a little more money and less itchy d***loa*ing instincts). I stayed away from The Da Vinci Code (for apart from being an absolutely horribly made film, and I say this not because I'm Christianly and all, but it's really horribly made, Zimmer couldn't quite save the film as he's done before for many bad films), Madagascar, Pirates 2 (trust me, any frequent listener of Zimmerisque music will understand me when I saw that the music for Pirates is an insult to the Zimmer fan base), and The Weather Man (which I have not seen).

Since I'm ranting about Hans let me just say that he's my favorite film composer, right beside Johnny Williams and Joe Hisaishi (the remaining superstars like elfman, ottman, goldsmith, silvestri, arnold, doyle, marianelli, morricone, horner, santaostupidlala, lag far behind).


Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard/Batman Begins

I remember when I was 15 or so, the only recognizable film music for me was Star Wars and maybe Indy Jones and perhaps Superman. All John Williams. Then I think my brother played the soundtrack for Backdraft on the speakers and it converted my musical religion to Hans Zimmer. I listened to Backdraft for a trillion times, and listened to it everyday for the next year or so.

So you can credit two people for my immense passion for soundtracks, my brother and Hans Zimmer.

Then when I finally got mildly bored of it, I watched The Rock, and that was it. My love for his music was re-affirmed.

Then the internet started flourishing and I checked out his works, and found out the beautiful lionish roar roar music from The Lion King was his work. Then in my mind there was no other composer who could do music like him.

Then I listened to Crimson Tide. Then I decided that he's one of a kind. And that was it. No one's ever gonna convince me there's a better composer than he is.

Then I watched As Good as it Gets, and since then I decided in my head that As Good as it Gets is the most amazing romantic CD I've ever heard and will dare play in front of anyone.

Then there was Gladiator, which many wonder why it did not win the Oscar for.

Then Hannibal came out, and the brood and the blood in the notes turned out to be one of my greatest inspirations for my assignments.

Then he scored Pearl Harbor, which despite being a cinematic failure, had one of the best most epic/romantic main theme I've heard in years.

Then at different points of time I listened to music from Driving Miss Daisy, a film from the 80s, and I used the main theme for two of my CIMP talent nights.

Okay. I'm boring you.
Just saying.
If you ever wanna start buying someone's CD, buy Hans Zimmer.

(to be fair, anything John Williams is pretty good. And Harry Gregson Williams. And certainly some John Ottman. And a little bit of David Arnold wouldn't hurt. And the occasional bearable stuff by Danny Elfman)