Kami

Well, what have I been up to? I really hope everyone enjoyed the Thai Insurance ad down there. I find it touching.. really really touching. You don't really ads like that often right? Well, at least not during the holiday seasons here in Malaysia thanks to our cultish Petronas ads. Anyway, while do browse around for other videos by Thai Insurance. Definitely worth your 5 minutes.

Anyway, I've been quite a fan of Kami nowadays. You know, the TV show on 8TV about kids and Malaysian indie and underground music scene? Yeah, that one. I was really looking forward to it but my timetable seems to bar me from watching the show on telly. So how did I watch the show? Thank God for broadband! My sister told me a few days back that her friends and her are watching Gol & Gincu from 8TV website via on demand streaming (sorta like YouTube but with better quality) so I decided to have a look. While Gol & GIncu is not quite my taste (albeit being shot in Limkokwing.. sheesh), Kami found a place in my heart.

Now, why did I say that? Being honest, the lifestyle portrayed in that show is sorta like the one I pursued back when I was around that age (15-ish). You know, the kind of guy who can play guitar well, dresses cool and up to date, listens to indie bands and advocates their gigs and all that. It's sorta like I can quite relate to them but not through my experience but through my aspiration. Well, what the hell.. I guess I kindof passed that phased already.

I don't know what episode is currently being aired on the tube currently but on the website, it's up to Episode 3 which I still haven't had the time to watch. Anyway, up to Episode 2 the main story kindof revolve around drugs. Yes, drugs.. najis dadah, narkoba, call it whatever you may. One is about a bright girl living in Kuala Kubu Baru who writes this very interesting fanzine called 'Kami'. She lives wth her single mother and all that so she sells drug for income, basically to fund her fanzine and to buy a new computer to blog. Then there's this boy Ali who apparently just came out of rehab due to drug abuse. Well, don't wanna spoil the story for you.. Go and watch for yourselves eh? Haha..

It's a good thing to see improvements television contents nowadays. After nearly 2 decades of life (Gosh!) with drama swasta, shows like Kami is welcoming indeed. There's a lot of people actually out there who have ideas and the will to create new contents but they are lacking the one main ingredient: money. Kami is lucky to be sponsored by Nokia, which is clearly visible thanks to their product placement. Other shows might not be so lucky.. It's all about the money folks. It's all about the money.

In the meanwhile while it's still around, go and give Kami a peek alrite? Click on the picture up there to go to 8TV's Kami page. Have a nice day!



Disclaimer:
Pelangi Hitam Putih is not in any way affiliated to Nokia or 8TV.. though we don't mind if they want to. Hehe..

We are running out of time

It's a wicked world..

It's a very sad day indeed for not only us Malaysians, but to humanity. What man could do such a thing to another human being? What makes him do what he did? What makes him tick? I guess we will only know the answer when we finally catch him. Skin him alive and give him a bath in air limau.. that's what we gonna do.

I would like to extend my deepest condolence to Mr. Jazimin and Mrs. Norazian on the passing of their beloved daughter, Nurin Jazlin. In trying times such as this, I pray that the family would stay as strong as ever. Nurin is in a better place now. In this holy month of Ramadan, let us all pray for adik Nurin and her family as well as for humanity as a whole. Let's strive for a world where evil ends and the law is love.

Al-fatehah..

It's a wrap!

Haha.. I'm so friggin' relieved that I've finished editing my first production for the Film & Television class. It's a group work actually but I did most of the editing part with my group members, Ernest and Shawn helping me through it.


I really really love editing and I must say that I'm quite addicted to Final Cut Pro. Seriously! At first it does look quite intimidating but with some tender love and care, it works like a charm. I was literally running to the computer lab this morning to do the editing, something I don't normally do when it comes to work.. It's like, wow! Still, I haven't really unleashed the true potential of the software since I'm still a kid learning but what amazes me is how such a powerful piece of software simply be self-taught in a matter of 3 days and still be relevant for Hollywood. Well, actually we did learn about it in Mr. Faizul's lecture a few weeks back but still, this is the first time most of us actually tried using it on our own.

Being editor is so much fun. You are the one that's gonna make the scenes work. Without you, the footage are just meaningless. Still, it's not all fun and games since you need to take a bunch of videos and mix them up nicely within the allocated time.. not really an easy feat. You need to cut here and there, sync everything up with the audio and all that huhahuha. Anyway, Mr. Faizul is true when he said that it's hard to have the cameraman next to you while you edit. Your job is to cut away unnecessary footage while the cameraman would fight to the death for the footage that he shot. Okay, that's exaggerating.. still.

Anyway, later today I need to go back to the edit lab to transfer everything into DV tapes. I'll try my best to upload the video we did on to here so you guys can critic all you want. Man, I really need to learn more about this stuff. I can't wait for next assignment.

Image courtesy of Amazon.com

Filmmaking

Yeeha! My Equine Park home now have Internet! What a relief.. at least now I can waste my time doing something more fun instead.

Anyway, I'm quite busy this week since I have a Film & Television assignment that need to be done. Basically we need to do a mini documentary about the FTV course in Limkokwing. This is my first production assignment here in Limkokwing and I've been really looking forward to it since the last 3 semesters. That being said, it is a roughly simple assignment: all the scenes and scripts are already given, we just need to visualize it.

Nevertheless, simple should not be confused with easy. On most occasions, it is very tiring.. which is bad since we only used a simple camera with a simple tripod. I wonder what it's like to work with film cameras and lighting equipments. I guess I need to go look for a job during next semester break and found out for myself.

As of today, most of the production phase is done and we've just captured the whole DV tape onto the iMac in the computer lab. The next three days is going to be post production! Now that's my stuff. Anyway, I haven't been using Final Cut Pro since the last time I helped Nik and Ayee edit the MCKK Concert in 2005. Thank God that like any other Apple app, the learning part is simple plus I've seen my lecturer did a demo of it last time. I'm also using the new iMac for editing. It's really new, just more than a week out of the box and I'm the first guy to edit on it. Hehe.. Sadly, the footage from the camera is not that nice.. what do you expect from a small camera right? Still, the show must go on.

It's funny how much work need to go into making a 2 minutes video. We shoot for a week and spent the next week solely for editing. Man, what have I got myself into. Haha.. I really think I need to invest on a editing-worthy setup here at home. At least I can work on my own schedule. Anyway, it's a good start nonetheless. I learned more stuff that what I used to know and my over all knowhow on filmmaking is improving. Learning is fun!

Ramadan

To all Muslims throughout the world, have a wonderful and meaningful Ramadan. Insyaallah.

Move!

Okay, here's the deal: I've moved from Cyberjaya. Hardly a fresh news I must say but that's among the reasons why I haven't been updating much recently. Now, why the heck would I want to move away from Cyberjaya you might ask? Let me tell you a story.

The apartment unit I used to stay in Cyberjaya's Cyberia Smarthomes cost RM 1000 a month which is a hefty sum indeed. It should be okay if you stay there with 3 or 4 friends but after a hard lesson is housemate hunting, I filtered my lists of candidates down to only one eligible candidate. That being said, I might as well kill myself rather than paying RM 500 a month for a house.

Cyberjaya is pretty much a ripoff if you ask me. The facilities here stinks man! An easy example, the restaurants here charge people exorbitantly just because there's a lot of international students here. Imagine paying RM 0.40 for a glass of plain water.. yeah, I know. The neighbourhood itself is not that appealing to me. What's the advantage of having Dell and Fujitsu to a student like me is beyond my mind. I dunno.. I just don't see my money's worth staying in Cyberjaya so I moved.

Now, what about this Equine Park then? What's so great about it? Well, for one the house I live in now costs me only RM 500 a month. I live with just one other guy, my housemate Zul. Yeah, I know it sounds quite strange two guys in a house but I intend to keep it that way. The most I could think of is just one other guy. Nothing more.. I don't want to go through all those trouble again. It's not that far from college too, roughly around 10 kilometers at most. It kindof reminds me of Puchong, just without the tolls.

I must admit that my current place is quite a downgrade from Cyberia; it doesn't even have lifts. Nevertheless, the area is much better than Cyberjaya. Just around the corner of my house is shoplot ranging from clinics, 24 hour mamaks, tom yam restaurants, a 7 Eleven as well as hardware shops. Next to it is a 24 hour drivethru McDonalds and if that is not enough, you might as well go a few hundred meters more to the Equine Park Jaya Jusco. Haha.. Now, that's is what I call a neighbourhood.

So anyway, I've just been at the new place for about a month and I'm still settling down. My Internet connection should be online in a few days so I guess I'll be blogging more after that la. Cheers people.

Kedah pantang kalah!

I've never really been a footie fan but rest assured, I am a fan of Kedah! Congratulations on the 3-0 win over Perak and the wonderful treble!

Hijau, kuning tanahku
Darul Aman negriku
Hijau kuning, tanahku
Negri Kedah negriku!

Busy busy busy

Been busy. Literally. So, what have I been up to recently?

Last week I had to do 2 presentation one after the other for my Journalism and Culture modules. I got to admit that I secretly love presentations though I tell everyone otherwise. So anyway, for my journalism I did on the topic of online radio versus traditional broadcast radio which I concluded the latter as the winner, mostly based on market penetration. Did you know that less than 50% of Malaysians have access to the Internet and less than 10% of that are on broadband? Haa.. Now you know.

For the culture presentation pulak I choose to present on prejudice, stereotype and otherization from a list of several topics. It's quite challenging actually considering all 3 are pretty much the same but once you understand the difference between them, it's pretty much straightforward. So what I understand is stereotype is the mindset where people perceive other people and culture and prejudice is the attitude you have towards that culture based on a stereotype. Otherization occurs when you have a prejudice towards a certain group of people and you see them as other from you in an inferior way. Anyway, I really got some great help from Eric Cartman and friends from the South Park series. See, I was watching South Park before doing the slides and I somehow realized that the series is full of stereotype, prejudice and otherization so I included the videos in my presentation. Based on the audience's reaction, I guess it's a success.

Ops, my Mac is low on battery. I'll continue later. Ciao