my first public screening

"My New Home" finally went on its first public screening. It's the first time my fellow crews, and actors, and even close friends, get to see it. ;-) Thanks to Mien and Effa who organized the Filmmaker Anonymous, through word of mouth and a post on a mailing list, we managed to get not less than 40 people at Indiescene Cafe to come watch the 10 short films. Well, it's my first piece I direct since I left school, didn't expect much. It did feel vulnerable to be standing alongside other directors after the screening for Q & A. There were some shorts that I really really like, very well done. If you were not there, too bad.

Anyhoos, it's new year's eve.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2007~!! *hugz* and thanks for reading my blog.

peng you

adrian and colin are among my most favourite friends in high school. they are cousins. one i see on and off, the other last i saw was years back. we spent a wonderful few days catching up and just did stuff. it was good to feel that our friendship hasn't changed. 10 years, it's been that long. :)

end of the year blues...

it must be end of the year.
the time when you look back and ask,
what have i done?

christmas songs filling the air,
friends and families getting together,
buying gifts and shopping malls,
cheesy lovers hugging tights.

romantic comedy makes you cry,
white snow you wish but rain you get,
people are happier, lonely ones tear,
traffic jam only makes me fear.

old friends i see, memories i had,
schooltime, innocent days, all that i cherish,
in that one box i brought along,
since the day i left, till i perish.

now it is,
it is end of the year.

Stuffs we did

Here's a few.
hanging out at the beach

bita in action

in the mall with a lady behind me

bought herself a 'dish-dash'

the 7star hotel as background


Finally the last bit of photos I want to post are all done. I may now close this chapter. ;-) moving on...

The people we met

We were very lucky to have met very kind people who helped us along the way. John is one of them (the guy in the first picture). When I told a friend who used to live in Dubai to pass me a contact, she gave me one number and said he'll take care of me. And he surely did his best. :) Among other photos are women we interviewed and friends we stayed with. one day as we were walking down a street we've not been, bita met her classmate from melbourne who just arrived on that day, eating lunch by the roadside. for a class of only 9 ppl, it was such a pleasant surprise to meet someone across the globe in a country you've not been. bizarre. (the couple in the shisha pictures)

photographs...finally.

Some of the places I stepped foot.

The desert on the picture is taken out from zarrin's balcony. she's a malaysian friend of mine who works in dubai and i'm very thankful that we get to bunk with her for few days. look closely and you will the skyline of dubai - they've got lots of high rise on their main highway, the syeikh zayed road, which can get horrendously jam. it's awful. the camels are chilling on the desert, and as how zarrin would describe it "i wake up and see camels outside my window, who else got a view like mine?"

First few days we didn't know where to go, and the cheapest food was fast food. there were iranian restaurants and lebanese restaurants, but they were not cheap, nevertheless we still enjoyed the variety. kebab, hommous, salad etc etc. yummy!

Land of the Emirates

I think I should definitely drop a line here while I'm in Abu Dhabi. It's day 9 in UAE Land, with first 7 days in Dubai, and a couple of days in Abu Dhabi, and leaving back to Dubai again before I fly back.
It has been work, work, and work! Calling the few contacts we have, looking through newspapers finding interesting stories and speaking to friends' friends or even strangers on the road or in some conference we crashed, our only aim is to find THE ONE woman whom we would like to feature. I am but the humble cameraman in this team of two. But really, I have learnt a lot - not the easiest way. Imagine, me and Bita (the director of this documentary) both flew a total of 40 hours (plus transit time) to meet here in Dubai, FOR THE FIRST TIME, and have to work so closely as though we've known each other for ages. Definitely there's some clashes of personalities, different methods, adjusting to each other and all that jazz. I came with no expectation whatsoever. I really didn't know what to expect. I just keep reminding myself to be open-minded about this and try to learn as much as I could. It really challenged me in many ways which I figured only by sitting down with me, you'll get the real impression of what I went through. (hope it doesn't sound all that bad)

There are some days that are slower which we just logged our tapes at home, or sampai jalan buntu kut so we went to the beach and chill. (yupp, I've dipped into the blue sea of arabian gulf). Mediterranean weather at this time of the year is nice, cooling and yet still sunny.

I might come back earlier than I think. Funny that I knew I was going to miss home and I DO - the secured feeling of routine, the warm and loving group of friends, understanding and patient colleagues and bosses, my own chill out pad and loyal sunnyboy waiting for me... or maybe just cheap 'xue cha' (cold chinese tea) and banana leaf rice that I miss. hehe. been eating lots of fast food 'cause everything is SO EXPENSIVE here, also kebabs and more kebabs. ro-boy must love it here a lot. they've got lime n lemon for most stuff, the humus, the mint leaves, tadik, salad, etc. all that.

Also, Bita's an American of Iranian origin. I think I have never had a close American friend and they are different from the usual Asians (duh!) definitely. We misunderstood each other quite easily at times, even the simplest way of saying things can come out different. For those who know me, *you know how malaysian the way i speak right*. I told myself I should probably stay in one of the caucasian countries one day, for a year or two, just so that I could comprehend the different culture a bit better. In another words, learn to deal with people who are a lot more vocal. ;-) (bita if u're reading this, love u k.)

Photos will be posted when I'm back. Till then.

Dubai

Leaving tomorrow night. I'm so excited! There will be lots of first in this trip. I've not been on a long haul flight. I've not been to a middle east country. I've not travelled THIS far to meet up with someone I haven't met. I've not... the list goes on. But overall, I'm quite nervous and hope I do a good job with the purpose I'm there.

My boy is going to miss me.

ps. please do not sms me in the next 2 weeks, I have to pay just to receive your smses. email me, and if REALLY urgent, you can try calling me. rumor has it that receiving calls might be free on my end, but have to confirm with ro-boy first.

alright, no blogging for 2 weeks! OUT.

.a

farming

busy. busy. busy.
this new magazine show i'm working on right now is called "Seeds", and the whole purpose is to promote agriculture in the country. I remember when I was presented with 3 different programs, asking which I would like to pick, my 'fun' side wanted to do a reality show - young, hip and happening, but somehow I thought while I'm still young and should always try to push my limit or take challenges, I opt for this agriculture thingy. My producer was taken aback and wanted to know why. I didn't really explain, maybe because I'm trying to understand myself why Shoghi Effendi refers farming as one of the noble professions. hopefully by the end of the show I find my answers. :)


yo buddies! dinner tonight?

sicklee

been sick for so long it's just not funny. woke up one morning with dry throat, then sore, then flu, then cough, then swollen tonsils. saw doc, gave antibiotics, finished them, couple of days later it got back, with fever and headache. another doc gave me a new set of antibiotics, stronger ones, after a week, gotten better. friend's birthday we had crabs together, i thought i've recovered! next day, sore throat, swollen tonsils, cough... the whole cycle again! and it seems, a friend told me today i might have astigmatism. it seems if i look at the lamppost and see lines coming out from it, it's time to get myself a pair of spectacles!

OH NO!!!
i was just thinking of how some ppl look more intellectual when they put on their glasses, but, but.. i don't want to be one of them.

besides that.
new job. new tasks. new experience. new things.

and probably. new country to conquer.

keceriaan mengambil gambar kanak-kanak

Had a few activities with children in the past weeks. I didn't have to handle any big responsibility, which means I had more time to snap photos. yeay! good thing about stills is u snap, u photoshop, u post. video you gotta shoot, capture, edit, edit, edit, then transfer, or convert, or computer hang, or restart computer, or... you get what i mean. =)

TOYM award night

I guess this was one of the things I've been busy with for the past 2 weeks. You saw the 3mins clip manesh n i did. It was screened on that night before soonkam, our fren who won the award, went to stage and gave his speech. It was a very meaningful night - not because he won the award, but mostly because of the recognition given to the work he was involved in, and what the community is doing - namely the children's classes and the junior youth gatherings.
Jenjarom is well-known for its notoriety even for a small town. some parents were happy to see their children involved in healthy activities, to learn about virtues and to be of service, but there were also some who are sceptical about these free classes. anyways, action speaks louder than words (and awards). the transformation the children/youth had, only themselves or their parents would know.

*TOYM = the outstanding young malaysian award.

pictures below>>1)i like how this photo turned out 2)the video team with soonkam 3)soonkam and family 4)guang liang (aka michael wong) is also one of the winners! i've been listening to his songs since a decade ago, so excited that he's there. too bad i didn't get to take a picture with him. this isn't the best photo i have of him, but i thought it's funny that the man on the right corner (probably a doctor, a scientist, or a humanitarian volunteer) had the peace sign. ^_^

one night when i was yamcha-ing with my frens...

yes, one of those mondays that used to be reserved for futsal, became one of the lets-go-out-n-hav-drinks nights. for malaysians especially, 'having a drink' or having supper u may call it, is a very imperative norm in many young people's lives. maybe it was the togetherness, maybe it was the lively conversation, maybe it was just killing time, maybe malaysians don't read, maybe nothing is on tv that night, maybe it's the nice weather since it's been drizzling at night, maybe it's just bad diet, and maybe that's why we all have bellies because we eat more than we exercise!

anyhoos, that one night (finally getting to my point), i was 'storying' my frens about a huge hole clarice n i found on a road one day. then someone said "oh, i saw it on newspapers." you should have seen me - mata aku terbeliak, hatiku berdebar-debar, senyumanku tak segan - i was just SO EXCITED that i rushed to buy that day's newspaper at 11pm. it was the last one left.

ceritanya macam ni... clarice n i was on this street one morning at 730am, and it was still fine, until 10am when we went pass the same road, we saw a huge hole and was just totally amazed at how it collapsed by itself. lucky no car went in. being curious, we both parked our car and walked to the crime scene and decided to take photos. when we got back to the office, we called up a newspaper's hotline and thinking that they might actually reward us for giving them such an interesting news, all they said was "thanks, we'll send our people there." FINE. since the two of us didn't wanna waste our photos, we sent in to this column where they pay for interesting pictures. the next day, it was out. woohoo! though we didn't win the rm50, we were just excited to see our work - my photo and her words, out on newspapers. haha. cheap thrill.

Arise!

you can say i was bumming all the time at home - but at least i got something out from this week! let me present to you "Arise!" a once in 3 months newsletter for the community of PJ. I used Pages, a mac software that has lots of nice templates, and all I had to do was collect some stories and pictures and put them altogether. though a last minute effort, but thanks to the support of many others, we managed to launch it at the right time! ;-)

I'm only showing 2 out of 8 pages here, hehe.

Temple land visit

Finally last weekend, I get to visit our temple land in Kuala Kubu Bharu. It was about one hour drive away from Petaling Jaya, and thank god the weather was alright. It wasn't too hot, and it seemed like it was going to rain, but it didn't. We had to park our cars bit far off as the road was blocked by puddle of water, and everyone, young and old, started walking as far as 600 meter to reach our temple land.

As we could only receive funds from Baha'is alone, raising the money to buy this land which will build our future house of worship, is definitely a challenge. But in the end, of course, it was purchased. There's many other stories which we could hear from some individuals on how the land was found, purchased, leveled, etc etc, which I personally believe must be God's intervention.

A beautiful devotional was prepared and we all stood around and enjoyed the breezes caressing our faces as we listened to the chants and prayers recited. It was an overwhelming experience for me. Since my visit to the Mother Temple in India, to be at a spot where the House of Worship will be built - where people from all walks of life, despite religion, race, status and what not, come together and worship under one roof. That's the symbol of unity.

The Bahá’í House of Worship is dedicated to the praise of God. The House of Worship forms the central edifice of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár (the Dawning-place of the Praise of God), a complex which, as it unfolds in the future, will comprise in addition to the House of Worship a number of dependencies dedicated to social, humanitarian, educational, and scientific pursuits. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá describes the 191 Mashriqu’l-Adhkár as “one of the most vital institutions in the world”, and Shoghi Effendi indicates that it exemplifies in tangible form the integration of “Bahá’í worship and service”. Anticipating the future development of this institution, Shoghi Effendi envisages that the House of Worship and its dependencies “shall afford relief to the suffering, sustenance to the poor, shelter to the wayfarer, solace to the bereaved, and education to the ignorant”. In the future, Bahá’í Houses of Worship will be constructed in every town and village.(excerpts from the Kitáb-i-Aqdas)

friends in china...

so sad people in china actually couldn't log on to blogspot, and maybe other blog providers too - mainly coz the government controls the flow of information i guess. anyways, below is a video taken last year but i never really sat down n finished it up until recently. guess extra time at hand (that's right - i've been "bumming") does push me to fill it up with tying loose ends. enjoy this video. ;-)

good thai food

went to see a doctor this morning. so glad to find a relatively cheap doc - consultation plus 2 packets of antibiotics and some pills for my blocked nose, altogether rm22. with the haze and people getting their tonsils swelled up, blocked nose, sinus problem, etc, there's definitely many people swarming to the clinics.
"no cold drinks, no spicy food, no oily, fried stuff for you..." *sob sob*

guess i just have to look at them and drool........

*see the burning lips? that's how spicy they are. yummmmmyyyyyy!!*

last year this time...

received a message from sufy saying she's busy decorating her department for the coming-up halloween party. and that she's started to see lots of people dressing up in the wildest costumes parading the streets. how fun! well KL ain't florida, definitely not a culture here.

since it's such a bore this year, maybe i'd post some pics from what i did last year this time - carving pumpkin (it's almost impossible to find an orange pumpkin here in south east asia i suppose, we had to paint a green one), and having a halloween costume party on a hut house, ain't that fun? the makeups were fantastic i must say, haha!

a crazy wedding joke

this happened last year. and i thought it was darn funny!! my ro-boy is mr.darth vader (and yes, looks like he's walked down the aisle with some other gurl huh! *sniff*). and look, that's the 'sticky' me. now, pizzas had helped putting me the pounds in a real short time. besides the point, hope this lovely cute young couple friends of mine are doing fine across the globe. drop a line some time peepz! -luv-

some nice music...

i'm never the type that knows much about the latest music, singer, band - yupp, that's right, i dunno the name of the lead singer of red hot chilli pepper. but i love music, good music, especially the one sang with a sincere voice accompanied by clean guitar background.

now, get yourself a glass of juice, or a nice hot cup of tea, let your hair down and just sit back - close your eyes and enjoy. :)

devon gundry
ferraby lionheart
meichern
reza salleh
pete teo
rhapsody
alexparks
khalil fong

a treat for my blog readers.

i was only going to blog it after it's premiered next saturday at the awards night - but heck, not everyone is going to be there, and looks like our fren soonkam himself also have showed the video to his family & friends, so i thought, WHY NOT? =)

happy anniversary bloggy!

i've been wanting to blog this - my blog is officially a year old now! i just skimmed through all my entries over the months, and hell, it's been ONE year. =)

i've also slowly discovered new addition of friends who read my blogs - pls dun hesitate to drop me a comments so i know u exist. hehe.

just switched to google blogger to see what's the fuss all about, just as i was so excited when i found out there's the counter to show me how many hits i get, google blogger took it out - anyone knows how i can add it back?

ro-boy flew back to the land of hornbills today, and the deeparaya break is also coming to an end. time to get back to work now!

a quiet weekend...

... has been spent editing in my room, for a friend of mine who's won the outstanding young malaysian award. i must say i am utterly proud to be his friend, and yes, having some free time at hand - few of us took our big and small toys, some borrowed some dug up from the layers of dusk hidden in the corner of the room, and took a road trip down to jenjarom.

soonkam won the award on the category for moral and religious leadership - for his work and involvement (with the rest of the youth as well) in starting children's classes and junior youth empowerment program in a chinese new village called jenjarom. it was my first trip there though i've heard of many stories in that town, and one of the most inspiring things i encountered was this young vegetable seller whom we interviewed. he used to be one of the gangsters, went around doing 'bad things', then somehow he and a few of his friends started joining the program and he actually found himself liking it lots. i saw him singing with the children, holding hands with them (there's few classes, each almost 30 kids crammed in one small center, with less than 5 teachers but lots of young helpers - and most importantly, all happy) walking them to the sink to wash hands while serving tea and biscuits, just small but sincere simple act of service.

no words could fairly describe how the community has transformed - and how this group of young people have helped throughout the years.

the 3 mins video will be screened at the award night before he gives his speech.
(pic1>some of the friends we interviewed; pic2>soonkam & grandma; pic3>friends we met at jenjarom baha'i center)

party~!!

it is my deepest regret that i forgot to snap a pic of the host and hostess! it's been awhile we have a party since new year's, and to have 50 people coming and going, food contributed by pot luck, i must say everything went pretty well. i enjoyed the company. =) and yes, our theme was supposed to be traditional costume, but only a few wore. nonetheless, HAPPY DEEPA RAYA!!















































** i hav problem putting photos and texts next to it, html-illiterate la me. basically, those who were there - there's the chinese kung fu masters, the macca-brothers, the chill-out-i-only-wear-jeans dudes, the pretty girls, the i-wanna-show-off-my-traditional-costumes ppl with yours truly, and more smiling faces! ;-)