Hired!
I went to Ukay Heights this morning for an interview and yup, I got hired! Yeeha.Personally, I haven't worked anywhere before in my life. That said, my previous semester breaks are spent at home, fattening myself.. which is not good. Anyway, the previous semester kindof got me hooked up to video editing so I decided to go and make use of it. Initially I was thinking more of a 1 month internship thing but somehow I agreed on working full-time, 9.30 to 6.00, Monday to Friday. Haha.. I guess I'm okay with it. My semester break isn't gonna be over till mid February anyways.
So, couldn't really tell you guys much about the work as well as the place. but I'll keep you guys updated. Wish me luck.
Posted on Monday, November 26, 2007 | 5 comments
Bang!
Oh well.. That sure does burst my driving ego..
I was suppose to meet Munggay today for a trip to Cheras and to Ukay Heights afterwards for an interview. Then, this happened.
Well, yeah.. I guess it was my fault. I wasn't driving too fast but my mind was definitely somewhere when I realized it was too late to avoid that Waja. Bang. Thank God for seatbelts. It wasn't as I imagined it to be though, the collision. I've always imagined it to be more shocking. Instead it was more of a thud as I saw my hood crumple like my add maths paper years ago.
As I sit back ant think about it, I remember two things that were in my mind prior to the accident. First, I was thinking of trying to use the car less and travel more using the public transportation I've long abandoned. Yeah, I guess its true what people say.. my car definitely does not agree with the idea. Secondly, coincidentally though about what would happen if I got into an accident. Yes, really.. I'm not making this shit up. I was thinking of who would be the first to come to aid me and if it was serious, who would come to the hospital to see me. Serious la.. why are you laughing? Anyway, when the accident did happen, I kindof went through it alone which is quite scary for a 19 year old kid confronting some older guys. I didn't really know what I was doing apart from my car need to be towed, I need to make a report and that I'm screwed. Where are all your friends when you really need them the most? Hurm..
I feel really really bad. Mak and Abah, sorry.. The guy in the Waja, sorry I messed up your new paint job and to everyone on the MRR2 near Taman Kencana around 11.30 AM, sorry for causing a jam. I really am sorry. To those who did called or texted me, thanks. I really appreciate it. I'll be back to busses and trains for the meantime.
Posted on Thursday, November 22, 2007 | 8 comments
Rakyat, Hartal & 20 October
I've stumbled upon this website last night, thought it'll be nice to share it with you.In the light of Shuhaimi Baba's 1957 Hati Malaya movie, Fahmi Reza came out with his short documentary about Malaysia, 10 Tahun Sebelum Merdeka.
So what is it about? Well, this documentary explore the forgotten part of our fight for independence that is the AMCJA-PUTERA coalition and the Hartal. I kindof remember reading about the topic in History back in MCKK but it kindof lost from my memory until yesterday that is. AMCJA-PUTERA are two coalitions consisting among others, Pari Kebangsaan Melayu Malaya (PKMM), Angkatan Pemuda Insaf (API) and the Malayan Democratic Union (MDU) who opposes the Federation of Malaya. Why? Because they say that it was just another form of colonialism under a sweeter name. They were dead serious about their movement and even proposed a different constitution for Malaya: the Perlembagaan Rakyat (The People's Constitution).
I find it very interesting this constitution because it made me wonder about how Malaya would be if it was selected as the constitution instead of our current one. One of it is that under the constitution, every citizen of Malaya is called Melayu, not Malayan thus creating a new sense of meaning to the notion Tanah Melayu. There would be no racial based politics and all citizen have equal rights as it did away with racial laws. It was the concept of bangsa Malaysia even before there was Malaysia.
One of the most successful thing done by the coalition other than their strong demonstrations throughout Malaya is of course, the Hartal on 20 October 1947. What is a Hartal? It's a total stoppage of all economic activity for the whole day where everything from shipping to fishing to even becas took a day off and not to mention closure of shops. Who says street demostration is not part of our culture?
Nevertheless, the British were not happy with the strong opposition from AMCJA-PUTERA and with the Darurat in 1948, most of the leaders of the coalition were caught and the entity itself was banned and dissolved. Well..
Anyway, just click here to go to the production's blog. You can download or watch the documentary there. As they say, those who don't remember the history are doomed to repeat it right?
Remember remember the 20th of October..
Posted on Wednesday, November 21, 2007 | 1 comments
Hi
I feel dirty. I really do.. tisk.I've just finished my Film & TV course a few days back with my group's short movie, 'Addiction'. No, it's not a bout drugs though, it's about a guy who get addicted to TVs. Sounds interesting? You bet.. kindof worth la, spending 4 days editing the whole 60 minutes footage to create a 5 minutes material. I'll try to get it only later, really need to get people's opinion on it.
One thing that plagued our production this time is probably hubris. Yep.. we think that we are so friggin' cool and though that people would drool over our video so much. In the end, we didn't get the reaction we wanted and it's kindof frustrating.. Yeah, I guess I know how those people working on movies that flopped feel. Ours didn't flopped though, ours was nice.. even Mr. Faizul admits it. We were just plainly expecting an Oscar. Heh..
So, yeah.. we live and we learn, or so they say. We are planning to shoot 2 more videos this semester break, to practice and myself, I'm currently looking for a place to work for my long break which starts next week till 18 February. So yeah..
Anyway, been doing a lot of self reflection recently.. I've been busy but I'll try to update this blog as frequently as possible. Something about my recent posting kindof made me feel slumped.
Till then, have a nice day.
Posted on Wednesday, November 21, 2007 | 0 comments
Today
I had to go through 2 roadblocks just to get from Cyberjaya to Sri Kembangan.. what's up? I guess they're looking for people in yellow tees. Man I wished I wore one just to prove my theory.As Cepe mentioned though, I really hope everything went well for those who'll be at the Dataran today. Let's pray that the usual thing when people with guns and people without guns meet each other does not happen.
Hidup umpama roda. Saya tak takut dengan kata-kata awak.
UPDATE: 10:55 PM
Well, I'm back from KL. Yeah I guess my assumptions were true. The roadblocks does have something to do with the assembly. Here's the excerpt I got from The Star Online about the roadblock:According to PLUS Highway, traffic from the north along the North-South Expressway has been diverted to the Kota Damansara and Damansara exits as the Sungai Buloh-Jalan Duta stretch has been closed. At press time, no reason was given for the closure.Oh yeah, like we are so stupid right? According to some people I've talked with, there were even roadblocks as far as in Nilai. The roads all over KL were blocked and the Masjid Jamek LRT station was closed for the day. As of the time I'm writing this, sources are saying that Jalan Istana is closed to all vehicle. Pergh, talk about overkill..
Anyway, were the roadblocks really necessary? What was really the intention behind the roadblocks? To stop people from going to the Dataran Merdeka right? Well.. that could be it but to me, I believe there's also another more subliminal reason for it: to burden the people, untuk menyusahkan semua orang.
Why am I saying this? Well, here's why. It's a quote I've heard from a guy:Bodoh la diorang ni. Nak buat rusuhan pulak.. Menyusahkan orang
Tadaa! What better way to stop people from supporting future assemblies? Make them hate it. Well, who wouldn't? It's a Saturday. I know many people who organized open houses today being bothered by the jam and not to mention the MCOBA Dinner at Hotel Istana. Who wouldn't hate being stuck for hours in a car right?
I don't know if you guys agree but I personally believe in this deliberate annoyance by our venerable police force who happens to be more interested in causing jams while Adik Nurin's murderer is still at large. The government owned media is also as always downsizing the exact numbers of people attending the assembly. Here's an excerpt from The Star Online:
Police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse a crowd of more than 4,000 people at Jalan Tun Perak here when they tried to march towards Dataran Merdeka for an illegal assembly, said Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan.Now, look at this picture..
Man, that really is more than 4000 people don't you think? What ever happened to journalism ethics? Hurm hurm hurm..
Personally, I hate being political. I never wanted my blog to be a political blog but there are some issues that I feel that I really need to address. Sorry to those who don't agree with me. It's a free, democratic country and I'm exercising my rights. So should you. Do comment. I'll gladly reply.
Images courtesy of Nik Nazmi & Nathaniel Tan
Posted on Saturday, November 10, 2007 | 6 comments
24
Do you watch 24?Well, apparently I stumbled upon the pilot episode for the show made in 1994. Yup folks, 13 years ago. I wasn't even in primary school yet back then. Anyway, go and have a look at the video. For those who've had experience with dial-up internet, Windows version before XP and of course, the days before handphones, this is definitely a tribute to the good old days and to you who haven't had those experience, I hope it's an eye opener.
Yes, there was a time before handphones.
All the things in the video are real and based on the most state of the art technology of the day. I know, it is really a great laugh looking back on how things were back then but you see, how much have changed in 13 years.
Enjoy!
Posted on Friday, November 09, 2007 | 1 comments
Something about music
Been direly stressed recently with a lot of things going on. I have about 2 to 3 weeks left till this semester ends. I still have several essays pending and not to mention a video shooting next week. Tisk.. C'est la vie.Anyway, I currently found peace and solace in 60s and 70s music. Haha.. man I wish I was there through it all. I guess I'm just tired of Sean Kingston, Hey There Delilah and Umberella, ella, ella, ey.
Personally, I've never really liked hip-hop or rap though I think R&B is nice. I used to experiment all types of music from trash metal when I was in Darjah 5 to heavy metal Metalica a year later. I've also been through Creed roughly around that time and switched to pop punk Blink 182 and funk rock Red Hot Chili Peppers around the start of my days in MCKK. Later I fell in love with John Rzeznik's mellow voice in Goo Goo Dolls. The song was Black Baloon, Iris came in a bit after that. Coldplay definitely is the soundtrack for Form 2 for certain reasons. Then I indulged in Linkin Park before discovering Nirvana when I was in Form 3 (Thanks to Haziq's discman). Then I tried going local but I got confused with the direct translation lyrics so I passed. Later I listens to Brit music and got hooked to Oasis. Around last year I was a little bit more towards electronica and Daft Punk. One day I remember listening to Don McLean's American Pie and then after I got hooked to acoustics. I found Sufjan Stevens and Howie Day. I also listens to Johnny Cash's rendition of Scott Treznor's Hurt and found it very moving and deep. Then a few days ago I decided to look up Bob Dylan and Like a Rolling Stones, Times Are a-Changing and Mr. Tambourine Man got me hooked.
Haha, sorry.. Got a lil bit nostalgic up there. Okay folks, just want to let off some steam from the workload. I'll be back soon with something so in the mean time, let Bob Dylan entertain you guys. Cheers!
Then take me disappearin' through the smoke rings of my mind,
Down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves,
The haunted, frightened trees, out to the windy beach,
Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow.
Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free,
Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands,
With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves,
Let me forget about today until tomorrow.
I love poetry.
Posted on Tuesday, November 06, 2007 | 1 comments
From Me
Hi!You may or may not notice, I've set up a new Kedai Kopi on the sidebar. Had to close down the old one. It turned out that it had been doing some stuffs behind my back as in showing up popup ads. Sorry if this issue bothered you before. I turned on the popup blocker on my browser so the issue goes unnoticed 'till today. My bad.
Anyway, currently still working on to get the site fine tuned for most popular browsers. According to the statistics I'm getting, 47.5% of readers (You! (",) ) are using Internet Explorer 6 & 7.
I working on getting the page rendered right on both browsers. Hang in there! As for Firefox users as well as those using Safari & Camino, I hope everything is okay. Please do write to me in case of any strange things you see on the page aite?
On top of that, I really hope to get your feedback on everything about the site: technicalities, grammar, tone, writing style, readibility, you name it. Thanks in advance!
I've passed the 200th post mark a few days ago and really keen on keeping on writing. Thank you for your support all this while and of course, thank you for reading.
Have a nice day.
Posted on Thursday, November 01, 2007 | 0 comments
