Uploading a whole bunch of photos in my flickr account from my trip to Tawau. Too lazy to link it to here. Maybe do that later.

If you want too, you can go over to my flickr site and have a look at the pictures. It's mostly pictures of Semporna and the seaweed farm I visited. Nice place.

Just finished watching the Merdeka eve countdown on TV. Was too tired to go out and watch the fireworks. Been out shooting the whole day in Klang.

I've been doing all these Merdeka day preparation since last day at work... and it all boils down to me sitting at home watching it live on TV. All I managed to do was to stand up when the national anthem played.

I ran up to my balcony but my nephew was already on the way down and he said I already missed the fireworks over Ikano. Damn. Usually we have a good view of it from my house.

Oh well, happy 50th Merdeka!

More random pictures. The first one I saw on someone's blog. Before you read this, make sure you're seated because the risk of you hurting yourself while rolling on the floor laughing uncontrolably after looking at this picture is quite high.


Okay, now that you've stopped laughing... on a more serious note, this is why we need sex education in Malaysia. You get this poor guy trying to do the impossible and his poor wife just accepting it. Funny to us, painfully embarassing to them.

I walked into the editing suite one day and the producer of Bersamamu showed me her external Hard Disk. She asked me how come the PC didn't want to recognize it. I took a sniff at it and right away I knew what was wrong with it. I unscrewed the Hard Disk inside and put it in my casing and it worked. That means that their external casing was burned out. I could smell melted soldering. It's a cheapo external casing. Not advisable to get something like this if you're going to leave it on for hours. Good thing the Hard Disk didn't burn up along with it!

Ah... I just had to take a picture of this for keepsake. I know, I could have just exported a frame from the project timeline but taking one of the TV is all the more real! Somehow seeing it on TV makes me feel a little better about all the stress I when through (and I'm still going thru!)

One of the factories I when to shoot at brought me to lunch at a place called Bumbu Bali in Puchong. The food's quite good and comes in large portions. I like how they cook the meat, it's barebequed but it's also soft and chews easily. Nice.

Supposed to be doing editing today. I'm behind by 2 episodes already. I have to finish what I can before I fly of to Tawau, Sabah for the next shoot on Sunday. I hate staying in hotels, probably because they just seem so lonely if you're going there for work. Please some hotels give me the creaps.

Once I stayed in a humongous suite in Sabah and it was right by the sea. The hotel gave each of us a room. At night I could hear the waves. I have a very active imagination and I kept imagining some sea creature or pirates coming out to get me.

I hope everything goes well there. I've already spend all the allowance money even before I got it on buying a bag for my equipment. Damn company doesn't even have enough cameras, have to use my own!

Didn't have time to upload some of the other pictures I took over the past few days. Finally had time to sit down and relax for awhile.

I when to Azizah's wedding with Chui Yan. I was curious to know what was the service going to be like at the hotel she was having her wedding at. It's the same hotel I paid a huge deposit to have mine too.

Surprisingly, the waiters were quite good. Food was Malay so its not exactly a good gauge of what we're going to have at ours... however it was edible. I was hungry. I only have two settings when it comes to food... edible and non-edible. So when I say its not non-edible... trust me, you wouldn't want to eat it. There's a lot of things in my edible lists too that most people wouldn't consider eating. Like microwaved potatos; candy that was dropped on the floor; fishball that rolled down a table; food that was already in my nephew's mouth.

Anyway... back to the wedding. Theirs was in the ballroom. Mine was going to be in a much smaller function room. The hotel recently renovated the ballroom so it looks nice. The chandelier looked great.



There were more "pakcik-makcik" photographer's than the usual press photographers. I thought it was quite funny. I'm used to seeing people stop Azizah and take photos with her, but to see this at her wedding was even more amusing. I guest you can't escape from your fans.

I see Azizah every day so sometimes I'm jaded and forget how pretty she is. Even without makeup Azizah is someone who can dazzle you with her looks. For someone her age, she still has it.

I like the suit the groom is wearing. My colleague asked me to get one for mine too. I think it's out of my budget. I asked if I could get it at half the price. She laughed at me and said probably not the same material. What... tree bark material for mine is it?

Looking for something to do while I'm waiting for a file to encode from premiere pro to AVID. Might as well write something while I'm waiting.


Last few days has been hectic as usual. I did manage to find some time to go look for the missing screw on my camera. After calling a few people, I discovered that there was a shop in Jalan Ipoh that specialized in hard to find screws.

Advance Bolts & Fasteners is behind Public Bank in Jalan Ipoh. I walked in there with my camera and showed them an identical screw on my camera. The guy took it to the back and came back with another type of screw. It wasn't exactly the same. It was longer by half an inch and was chrome instead of black. However, the tread size was the same. I bought 5 just in case some other screws decided to go missing on their own. All 5 screws for RM1!

The day before that, I was in Panasonic service centre in Shah Alam. I showed them the model part number from my camera manual. They weren't even sure they had that specific part. They checked their system and came back with a different part number from the one that was printed on the manual. The lady asked if I was a Panasonic staff. I said no, but I knew someone. She said it was RM104 but if a Panasonic staff ordered it, it was RM64. Damn... so expensive. Plus, I had to wait 3 months for it.

I think I'll just make do with my 20 cent screw for now. If I can find a metal saw, then maybe I can saw of that extra length.

I did have the chance the other day to drive on the Pantai Express Highway. There was two RM1.60 toll to pass thru but it sure beats the jam on the Federal Highway. Quite scenic as the highway is elevated most of the way. Took pictures with one hand.

This one is just a random picture of the clouds over Petaling Jaya that I took. I adjusted the level on the picture to give it a more dramatic effect. Would be a bit freaky if we actually had clouds like that over us everyday.

Today is my niece's birthday. I didn't even get her anything yet. Probably drop by One Utama later to find someone for her. Something that's quiet and durable that will last more than a week.

I'm so pissed today. One of the screws on my camera is missing. The worst part is, it gone missing while I was using it at work. Don't think I can get any compensation from the office for this.





Not quite sure when I lost the screw. Most probably from my shoot in Lumut onwards. It was a wierd screw, it was jutting out akwardly from the handle. I always thought one day it might go missing and it finally did.





The camera still works but the screw holds another add-on part of the camera to it. I haven't used the add-on part in awhile so that's why I didn't notice the missings crew.





I looked back at the pictures I took in Nibong Tebal and the screw was already missing. I circled in red where the screw should have been. Damn.

I'm going to try my luck and go to the Panasonic service center tomorrow to see if I can order that screw. Knowing Panasonic, its going to cost quite a lot.

My office has the exact same model camera and a cameraman broke it. Everyone's really piss the cameraman broke it. The track holding the battery was broken, the LCD panel couldn't close and the jog shuttle was broken too. Looks like the camera got whacked pretty bad somehow. Miraculously, the camera was still working.

Panasonic makes some pretty tough camera though some of their parts don't hold up to heavy use. I've seen the Panasonic DV's that my office has. From the 102B to the DVC32. Some of the parts are missing or broken but it still can record visuals. They've been to desserts and harsh winters and still work. I just wish they had sturdier parts.

My other option is to find a screw that's of equivalent size. If Panasonic can't find me the parts for the missing screw, I'm going to go down to visit Ace Hardware to find a compatible one. My camera model is already out of production... keeping my fingers cross they might still have some parts lying around in Japan.

Pictures from my Nibong Tebal trip

I did manage to take some pictures from my Nibong Tebal trip. I had fun shooting with Fadli and Roslan. They're a great team to work with. We left my office at 7:30AM. We were supposed to leave at 6AM but everyone woke up late. I like driving early in the morning because there's always a beautiful sunrise to see. Malaysia is blessed with beautiful clouds.


When we arrived at Nibong Tebal, it was already 12PM. Took longer than expected because we had a few detours.

Fadli's a better director than I am and both of us have almost the same directing style so I didn't have to worry too much about his visual treatment. I gave him a camera and set him loose while I worked with the cameraman. Roslan has a PD150. While I'm not a fan of Sony DV cameras, they get the job done. Roslan has a pretty good tripod which he used to use for his beta camera.

We finished the shoot at 6PM. I was supposed to follow the cameraman to Taiping but in the end, we had a change of plans so we drove straight home instead. We stopped in Bagan Serai to have dinner. I used to stay in this small little town for 3 years. I didn't get stop to visit because we were in a rush. We stopped at a Petronas there to refuel and I managed to take a picture of this beautiful sunset.

The manual white balance on my camera was set for my face but the background came out really warm. Anyway, the picture with the sunset only makes for a great wallpaper.

Yesterday, I when to Nibong Tebal for the day to shoot a factory. We left my office at 7:30AM. On the way there, we saw a terrible accident. My cameraman stopped to take some footages of it while I drove on. We were in the company's car with the logo and everyone standing at the side of the road was probably wondering why we didn't stop.

Later in the night when we watched the news then we saw how terrible it was. Today, I read The Star and it looked even worst. According to my cameraman, he interviewed the Rescue personnel there and they said there was a motorcyclists following behind the bus. The motorcyclists saw the bus swerve a few times before driving of the road. I didn't see any brake marks on the road at the accident site. It was a straight road and it was very low traffic. The accident happened at 5.45AM. I think most probably the driver fell asleep or he had some mechanical malfunction on the bus.


From today's The Star
TAIPING: One of the country's worst road accidents, which occurred in the wee hours of yesterday on the North-South Expressway near here, was a disaster waiting to happen.

The driver had 13 traffic summonses - some still outstanding - and two warrants of arrest against him while the 20-year-old bus, which also had 19 summonses, did not even have the permit to ply the route.

The passengers of the bus, bound for Alor Star from Malacca, never stood a chance against such a poor record - 19 of them were killed along with the 37- year-old driver. Nine others including a three-yearold boy are in hospital, some in critical condition.

The bus company has been ordered to cease operations immediately.

THE VICTIMS

THE DEAD
1. Siti Sophia Ismail, 23, Alor Star
2. Teoh Kee Song, 34, Padang Temusu, Kedah
3. Zaiton Bachik, 56, Malacca
4. Nur Sharul Miza Mohd Khairi, 27, Sungai Petani
5. Tea Choon Joo, 36, Padang Temusu, Kedah
6. Zuliani Buang, 25, Tanjung Keling, Malacca
7. Shahril Afendi, 22, Alor Star
8. T. Krishnan, 46, from Taman Haji Muslim, Kuala Ketil, Kedah
9. Fadliz Ahmad, 22, Jalan Penaga, Taman Maju, Jasin, Malacca
10. Express bus driver Rohizan Abu Bakar, 37, Lorong 1/2, Taman Sri Petaling, Kulim, Kedah
11. Josli Arshad, 39, Jalan Dang Merdu, Jambatan Duyong, Malacca
12. Nazri Nordin, 35, Desa Baiduri, Jalan Ru 1, Bandar Baru, Ayer Itam, Penang
13. Pang Tee Min, 58, Jalan Ong Kim Wee, Malacca
14. Mohd Yazid Md Yusoh, 27, Jalan Kolam Air Utama, Fasa 4, Taman Maju, Jasin, Malacca
15. Kamis Said, 62, Batu 22 1/2, Pasir Gembor, Tanjung Bidara, Masjid Tanah, Malacca
16. Md Basri, Kampung Pulai Darat, Merlimau, Malacca
17. H. Abu Bakar, 37, from Medan, Indonesia
18. Sri Asiah, 32, Indonesian female - believed to be mother of a unidentified three-year-old boy in ICU
19. P. Sunderesvarar, 31, Kedah

* One dead still not identified

THE INJURED
1. Express bus co-driver P.Veeraman, 36, Taman Sri Merbau, Kulim, Kedah
2. Quang Ngol Hung, a male Vietnamese
3. Mohd Fauzi Hassan, 26
4. Chhatrapati Ejam, 24, a male Nepalese
5. Zurina Rashid, 23, Kuala Kedah
6. Mohd Zahidi Che Ahmad, 22, Klawang, Langkawi
7. Ngu Yeh Hui Vinh, 27, a male Vietnamese
8. Siew Ken Ming, 20, Malacca

* One injured still not identified


After we saw the accident, I was talking to my crew and I told them that it was actually the first day of the Hungry Ghost Festival. I explained to them that it was when the ghosts came out to wander the earth for a month. Some came to wreak havoc, that's why the Chinese have opera shows to entertain the spirits during the month.

I was wondering how mythologies like these develope. Could it be that in this month that there were more accidents that were likely to happen? What could cause it? Could it be the heat that makes people more careless? I wonder...

Peter, Paul & Mary - Leaving On A Jet Plane

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go
I'm standin' here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye

But the dawn is breakin', it's early morn
The taxi's waitin', he's blowin' his horn
Already I'm so lonesome I could die

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go

'Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane
I don't know when I'll be back again
Oh, babe, I hate to go

There's so many times I've let you down
So many times I've played around
I'll tell you now, they don't mean a thing

Every place I go, I think of you
Every song I sing, I sing for you
When I come back I'll wear your wedding ring

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go

'Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane
I don't know when I'll be back again
Oh, babe, I hate to go

Now the time has come to leave you
One more time, oh, let me kiss you
Then close your eyes and I'll be on my way

Dream about the days to come
When I won't have to leave alone
About the times that I won't have to say ...

Oh, kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go

'Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane
I don't know when I'll be back again
Oh, babe, I hate to go

And I'm leaving on a jet plane
I don't know when I'll be back again
Oh, babe, I hate to go

But I'm leaving on a jet plane
(Ah ah ah ah)
Leaving on a jet plane
(Ah ah ah ah)
Leaving on a jet plane
(Ah ah ah ah)
Leaving on a jet plane
(Ah ah ah ah)
Leaving on a jet plane
(Ah ah ah ah)
Leaving on a jet plane
(Ah ah ah ah)
Leaving on a jet plane
(Ah ah ah ah)
Leaving on a jet plane
(Ah ah ah ah)
(Leaving) On a jet plane

I get emotional everytime I hear this song. When John Denver wrote this song in 1967, he was sitting at an airport, not so much that he was missing someone but longing for someone to love him like that. The poor dude really did leave us in a plane when he died in an airplane crash (piloted by himself).

When ever I hear this song, I always thing about the time when I was leaving St. Cloud for the last time. I was sitting in the small little jet plane at the St. Cloud airport. It was summer and only my closest of friends were there to see me of. I was looking out of the window as the plane was taking of and I almost cried. I was sad to leave such a wonderful place but also excited about finally going home to Malaysia.

I've been listening to a lot of Peter, Paul & Mary songs lately. Their songs are really haunting. Their lyrics really strike a cord with me. I wonder why I like all these melodrama folk songs. When I was young, my mother used to listen to these on the radio. When I was young, my family used to drive long distances. We would listen to the radio and it was always songs like these that was playing over Radio 4 (now Traxx). Later when I was in the US, I studied music history and I learned about folk music. One of the first few things I did was to go out and buy a folk music CD.

Folk music that was around in the 60's and 70's had the most emotive lyrics. When the Americans were going of to Vietnam and protesting the war, that generation came out with a lot of anti-war songs. I still find these songs relevant today. Songs that were written so many years ago still ring true. They sang about love, family and doing the right thing.

Now the time has come to leave you
One more time, oh, let me kiss you
Then close your eyes and I'll be on my way

I read this article in The Star today

Sunday August 12, 2007
Malaysians are patriotic but some just don't show it
SEREMBAN: Malaysians should not question their fellow countrymen’s patriotism level, said MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting.
He said people who did not openly display their patriotism should not be judged as being less patriotic.
“Accusing one another of being unpatriotic will not do us any good. Some may not be good at showing this but their love for the country has no bounds,” he said.
Without referring to any episode, Ong said compelling communities to accept changes against their beliefs and principles was also wrong.
It was important that Malaysians continued to be progressive in their thoughts and actions, for the benefit of all communities.
Ong said this when launching the 50th Merdeka Carnival celebrations at the SJKC Ma Hwa at the Rasah New Village here Sunday.
Ong, who was greeted by lion dancers, Indian classical musicians and a kompang troupe upon his arrival, said Malaysians should not only cherish but also be proud of their uniqueness.
“We still have very strong bonds now. This unity in diversity has been a beacon of our friendship for the past 50 years,” he said.
Ong said Malaysians should always treasure the spirit of independence.
“We cannot be shallow in our thinking or be swayed by political rhetoric.
“We should abide by the provisions in the Federal Constitution which is the supreme law of this land whose foundation stone was laid together by us,” he said.
Ong said Malaysians should also not be suspicious of one another because of the actions of one or two individuals.
“Don’t judge a community due to the wrongdoing of one or two individuals.
“We have had our fair share of differences in the past but this had always been solved amicably,” he said.
Asked on the Negaraku rap video posted by a Malaysian student Wee Meng Chee on Youtube, Ong said the matter could also be easily resolved.
“We will help resolve this. As some issues can be sensitive, we would rather solve it than bring it in the open as it may cause unnecessary tension,” he said, adding that although this was not a party problem, the MCA was already working on it.
Wee, a mass communications undergraduate at Ming Chuan University in Taipei, posted a six-minute video of himself singing the national anthem interspersed with rap on the popular video site.
The Merdeka carnival was organised jointly by Petronas Gas, Rompin Enterprise and Success Care Enterprise in collaboration with several government agencies.

Hehe... that's how I feel about patriotism. I don't like flying the flag on my car. The reason being, I think it's really disrespectful to the Jalur Gemilang. Why do I say that? Well, first of all the flags that they sell to stick on your car is of low quality. After a few days flapping in the wind, it starts to tear. Soon, you get a Jalur Gemilang that is greyish and tattered. How degrading.

For my, I rather fly a large Jalur Gemilang at my house that someone gave me a few years ago. It's larger that the normal sized flag. To me patriotism can be shown in many ways... it's not wears the most red, blue, and yellow or sing Negaraku the loudest. Patriotism to me is doing service to your countrymen. Making their lives better is much more fulfilling.

Negaraku!

The other day I was watching Primeval. It's a movie about a team of documentarians who go to Africa to capture a killer crocodile. It's got the usual stereotype characters. It's got the alligator expert; the smart mouth cameraman and the hot babe reporter.

The movie was barely interesting because the story has been done before. However, for someone who knows about camera... I found it really funny in how Orlando Jones who plays the cameraman handles his Sony HD camera. In most of the movie, Orlando is never seen with a tripod... I'm thinking, wow now this is one dude with some pretty steady hands man!

Plus he never carries a bag for his tapes. What... the guy shoots the whole documentary with only one tape? Damn. I shoot a 30 minute documentary and I use up 3 tapes.

The Sony HD camera he uses also goes through some pretty rough stuff which makes me want to laugh. I've seen and used the camera before, it's not as durable as how the film makes it out to be. In one scene, Orlando is running for his life carrying the camera through a river. He dips the camera into the river as he makes his escape. In the next scene, the camera is actually rolling again. I was laughing really hard. If that camera even touches a few drops of water... it's pretty much out of action. Orlando must have gotten the 'special' heavy duty Sony HD camera not sold on the market!

Anyway... end of the movie, Orlando gets eaten by the croc. So much for being a smart ass cameraman.

Spend the afternoon in the office editing today. Was cloudy and raining most of the day. I often walk out to the office's lobby while I'm waiting for a tape to transfer or something to render. I like walking out to look at the flags fly or just the clouds drifting over the horizon.

They're flying the Jalur Gemilang at the lobby for the 50th Merdeka celebration. It's going to be a year long celebration. For me, there's no Merdeka... it's more work!



This is my little 'cell'. The AVID Newscutter suite. Not the best of the AVID range of non-linear editing suites but it gets the work done. Personally, I wouldn't buy this with my own money. I'm more of a Adobe kind of guy. AVID only works great in a broadcast television station. Anyway, I usually like to spread all my notes all over the table when I edit. It lets people know that the room is occupied if I leave it for awhile. I can't stand working at a table that's too orderly either. I like it a bit messy so at least I don't feel the pressure to keep things tidy. I know, it's wierd.





The first thing I have to do when I get to the editing suite is plug my hard disk into the PC. I bring my own hard disk now. Too much risk of loosing data when I used the share data server. Things just get deleted on their own by 'ghosts'. I like the casing I got for my portable hard disk. This Hard Box is really durable. The hard disk inside is actually the C drive from my old PC before I upgraded it. I formatted it and it has 150GB of space in it. Currently standing at 24GB of free space. Time to clear some junk.




The other things to do when I first get into the editing suite is check on the digital beta deck. It's old 70's technology but still being used by my office. This one in particular has a jog shuttle that drives me nuts. I have to slap it really hard to change jog modes.

The old machines have a habit of chewing up tapes and not liking even the slightest bit of error on any of the tapes. If the tape condition starts flashing red... you know you're in for a hard time.

Sometimes when I stare at the controls of the deck, I imagine this is what the control panels of the Starship Enterprise looks like. Checking the audio levels; checking timecode and what not. First time I saw this deck, it was the most complicated piece of machinery I've ever seen. I still don't understand most of its function. It's like secret levels of a computer game.

Now I hardly edit deck to deck (linear editing). I used to be really good at deck to deck editing. There's still quite a lot of people in the office who prefer linear editing. It's pretty archaic by today's standard already though some see it as an art form.

At work I try and promote non-linear editing but for certain things, linear editing is still the best and fastest!

I was standing outside my office at the lobby when I saw the flags they had hung up for the upcoming Merdeka celebrations. I saw them blowing in the wind with the clouds billowing in the background.

I was waiting for some visuals to download to the editing system and I had some time to take some pictures of the flags. As I was taking the pictures I thought about what does patriotism mean.



Recently, a Malaysians student studying in Taiwan did a music video with the Negaraku spliced into his rap song. Namewee, the student is quite a talented guy. Before this I've actually heard of him before the politicians started chewing him up in the press for being unpatriotic. I find this to be a cultural clash.

Take for example, in Japan. It's considered polite for one to slurp their soups and noodles while eating. In Malaysia, it's disgusting. Now take for example, the particular culture and background that Namewee came from. Most of the message that he puts in the song such as racisms rings through for him. It's his way of expressing it through music.

To him, using the Negaraku as an excerpt in his song didn't seem wrong to him but to others, especially the politicians it certainly did. I feel sorry for the dude. I symphatize with some of his complains in his lyrics (but not all). In his song, he complains how graduates from chinese secondary school in Malaysia find it hard to get placing in local public universities as their certificates are not recognized. That is quite sad, to be sidelined by local policies like that.

He sings about how Malaysian Chinese are going abroad now to study, adding that the real reason why the government has these policies in place is so that the Malaysians can gain experience before coming home. I too felt like that once.

Before I when overseas, I was quite sarcastic about government policies, especially of the media. Mind you, I've always knew from the start I had wanted to come back to Malaysia to get started in this industry right away. My parents encouraged me to stay on in the US after graduation to get a job. I decided to come home anyway. No place like home.

Deep down, I told myself if I was going to get a job in the broadcasting industry in Malaysia, I was going to be a gatekeeper and make a change for the better. Looking at where I am know, I know I've at least accomplished what I wanted to do. I know I made a change for the better in the lives of my viewers by sharing with them useful information.

This to me is my version of patriotism. This is my country. Negaraku.

Really stressed today. I got a call from my manager yesterday saying that the client had some complains. I spend the whole day today fixing things. The worst part was, most of the problem wasn't caused by me. Sometimes I feel like a janitor cleaning up after a mess.

I hate sitting in the editing room the whole day. It just stresses me out. It makes me feel really edgy. Everytime I came out of the editing room, there was someone asking me for something. I just told them I didn't have time to talk. I have to get my priorities right now. I used to stop and help, but now I can't. If I did, I'll just get more stressed out.

I think tomorrow I'm going to take the whole day of to relax.

It's 5 in the morning. I woke up at 4:30AM. Actually, I was up much earlier tossing and turning. Couldn't really sleep. I when to bed at 11:30PM.

I'm supposed to be in the office at 6AM. I have to be at Ayer Keroh, Malacca early in the morning. Not sure how long it would take but I have to be in Ayer Keroh by 10AM. I hope there's no crazy jams along the highway. There's a company making body armour there.

My best estimates is it will take 2 hours to get there. However, knowing how the company drivers drive... could be faster.

Here I sit listening to Rossa before a long day of shooting. The peace before a storm.

I just added a visitor tracker to my blog. After one day of tracking, I checked it and there was already 7 visitors. Hehe... okay, low traffic but then again I don't write this for others to read.

The surprising thing is, there were readers from the Midwest US... the red dot looks too small, but I think it could be Chicago. The damn dot covers too much ground, can see where exactly it is. The rest of the viewers are in the Klang Valley.

Hrmm... I wonder if anyone in Iceland is going to read this?

I when to watch Harry Potter, The Order of the Phoenix yesterday at GSC, One Utama. I had bought the tickets a few days earlier. I could only get the morning show at 11:45AM. I rather watch in the morning then the evening, finding parking after lunch on a weekend at 1U can be really stressful.





The movie was okay, I've forgotten the background of most of the characters already. Since I didn't read the book series and the damn movies comes out only once a year, I hardly ever keep in touch with the Harry Potter world. Who the heck is Sirius Black already? I remember seeing a Mad Eye Moody but what was his role in the previous movie? I just realize how insignificant this Harry Potter movie series is... none of it when into long term memory.





Anyway, after the movie, Chui Yan wanted to do some window shopping. I when to check out tripods. I walked into my favourite camera shop. I was debating on whether to spend RM1,000 to get a good tripod or get a cheapo one. The reason being, even after heavy use, the head of the good tripod will wear out just as same as the cheapo ones.





In my office, we have some pretty expensive Manfrotto tripods and they all have some pretty crummy tripod heads now. They all have shaky pans and tilts. My current tripod was a cheapo one too and the only reason I'm getting a new one is because one of the foot broke of. I can still use it but it's an inch shorter on one leg. Plus, I can't use it for any pan or tilt shots either. The head has worn out... no more oil I think.





Anyway, this is what I got...

The Slik U 8000 model. Sounds like a cool ultra hi-tech name doesn't it? Actually I was quite surprised by the smoothness of the 3 way head. It pans and til really smoothly. This I tested on the display model. Normally the display model would have been heavily abused already but the shop owner says so far of all the tripod he sells, this one is pretty good.

It doesn't have any water levels so I can't really tell if the camera is balanced unless I have a horizon in my camera viewfinder to look at. Then again, the water horizon on my old tripod didn't work very well either. The quickshoe requires a coin to screw it into the camera. In my old tripod, there was a latch I could just use my fingers to turn and release the shoe. Now I have carry a 20 cent coin everywhere.

It's made in China for a Japanese company. Since China was having all this food safety manufacturing problems at first I was quite cautious. However, it's just a cheapo aluminium tripod so what the heck... I paid RM200 for it.

I hope this one last me for at a year!

On Friday I had to wake up really early. My manager told me I had to appear on a morning talk show to talk about the new program I was doing. I drove over to Glenmarie and got there just in time to meet up with the client who was also going to be on the show.

Was really sleepy. I had to bring the press release with me to make sure I blurted out the same thing. The host was an old friend so that was a pleasant surprise for her I guess. After all these times of running my own live show, I finally get to be a guest on a live show!

I knew the drill about going to the makeup, putting on the mic and all that, but I never actually done it. When the makeup artist put on the lip gloss on my lips, I said out loud "hrmm, nice flavour". The makeup artist laughed and I was a bit red faced. One of the production people came running by with the wireless microphone and was going to teach me how to put it on. I was going to start laughing myself because this was exactly what I use to teach every guest... how the wear the mic. Their mics were a little bulkier then ours. Different brands.

I walked onto their tiny set and the show was already into its first half hour. It was the first time on their set. I was more interested in their equipment. They had some pretty good studio cameras. Cool. Too bad not much cameraman.

The next thing I knew, I was ushered onto their sofa with my client sitting next to the hosts. I was going to look at the cameras but then I realized that was going to look wierd on TV. So in the end, I just looked at the hosts.

They told me it was going to be 10 minutes and I knew 10 minutes is really short. Probably only 6 plus questions. I caught myself repeating the same answers a few times and I had to pause to remember to add other information about the show. I ended up doing most of the talking.

After the show, I drove back to my office. It was still early and I saw some really cool cloud formations on the way back.

Sunrise over Glenmarie

I'm getting a little bit more apprenhensive since they started rolling the promos for the show. I'm really nervous how the first episode will turn out. Even though I had totally nothing to do with the first episode, it's still my responsibility. Stress!

Later that night, when I was with Chui Yan, she took a closer look at my face and asked if I had done something to my face as it was smoother. I realized I forgot to take the powder of. Hrmm... light and breezy makeup, now I know what the makeup commercials were talking about!

I've been busy as usual over the past few days. Monday was the launch of the documentary program I was doing. The launch was in the morning at the office. I was wondering if I was just going to wear jeans & T-Shirt as I shoot later in the afternoon or a suit. Chui Yan made me choose the suit. So I when the office wearing the suit with my jeans and T-Shirt in a plastic bag to change into later.

I got to the launch and one of the bosses came down wearing only the company shirt and when he saw me, he said "hey, how come you're wearing a suit... you told me to wear company shirt only!". I said, you made your own assumption on what to wear. Anyway, there was no dress code.

After the launch, we had a press conference. In all my career, I'm usually the one asking questions at a press conference, this time the tables were literally turned on me. Through out the whole thing, I was just sitting there listening to my boss talk. However, at the end of the thing, one of the reporters asked a question that stumped him and he passed the microphone to me. I just poured out the bullshit because I didn't even know what the question was about.

One of the news reporter said she had some questions so I asked to see her questions before the press conference started. One of her question was so silly, and right away my career flashed before me. I could see myself in her shoe 7 years ago when I just started. I too must haved asked such a silly question. I told her gently as possible, this question you shouldn't ask as it was not relevant. I took the time to explain why it wasn't relevant. I hope she didn't take it the wrong way.

Many a times, I just got the cold shoulders or the evil eye for asking the wrong question during an interview early in my career. I didn't want her to get that during the press conference, especially when the big bosses were there.

Today, I had to go to Sungai Pelek (It's near Sepang, Selangor) to do a shoot. The guy who owns the factory there was really nervous. However, half way through the interview he said "you're really good, made me feel comfortable". Wow, that like really made my day! Rarely has anyone ever praised my interview skills. Damn, I was in cloud 9 then.

One thing I really hate is people who call me when I'm in the middle of a shoot. I try to explain to them I'm shooting and they don't understand. It's like calling someone when they're in the loo doing number 2! Really distracting. I want to turn my phone of but sometimes it could be an emergency so I have to leave the phone on.

I when for dinner in SS2 earlier. When I came back, my car battery was dead. I forgot I left the headlights on. How careless of me. Luckily there was a mechanic opened late at night right across the road. Cost me RM200 to change the battery. My brother came to have a look. Good thing I wasn't stuck someone in the middle of no where. I still have to go to my regular mechanic tomorrow to check my car. My tyre's been making squeaky sounds ever since I've been driving it to far of places like Banting and Sepang.

Just finished some editing. So what do I do to relax? Do more editing... of still photos that is hehe. It's wierd, spend the last 24 hours editing videos for work and to blow of some steam, I edit some still photos.

Anyway, this is a shot I took earlier on the way from Lumut to Bidor. The composition was good, but the colors was lacking. I added a matte for the sky to seperate the sky and the ground. I then corrected the colour for the sky and the did correction for the ground seperately. That's why the sky had the most awsome colour while the road looked like it was daylight.

Luxenclouds

This is one of the videos from the upcoming documentary I'm shooting. I shot this on the bridge near Lumut. I just love the clouds in this one. I changed the video level of the clouds and shot this on time lapse. Looks like a major epic movie doesn't it?

Busy Busy

I've been really busy the pass few days. I was in Lumut for a whole day shoot on Monday. We left at 6:30AM. I had the company driver drive me there. I decided to not bring a crew along, instead I was going to meet my Perak cameraman in Lumut. The drive there was quite scenic and pleasant. I slept most of the way and woke up to see a wonderful rainbow in front of us.

It was drizzling most of the way there. There were a lot of oil palm trees along the way. Some stretches were padi fields, so you could see until the horizon. It's been awhile since I've seen a flat terrain where you could see till the far end of the horizon. Was invigorating.

The shoot took most of the day. I got to visit the Lumut Port. I never knew Lumut had a port. Was quite scenic, since it was at the mouth of a river. Apparently, it's a deep sea port, about 11 Meters. So that's quite deep.

After the shoot, I had the driver drive us for a visit to the new bridge linking Lumut to Pantai Remis. There are 3 bridges that was build over Sungai Setiawan. Each of the bridge is named after a royalty. The highest bridge offers a really scenic view of the river mouth, Lumut port and Lumut waterfront. I was there at 6PM so the sun was almost setting and the clouds floating over head was breath taking indeed. Other than the noise of the traffic, I could stand there the whole evening just enjoying the view. Good thing we when with a company car with the logo. Cops that drove us were flashing us a hello. We parked right on the bridge, even though we weren't supposed too.

I got back home pretty late, at midnight. The next morning, I woke late for the morning shoot. I rushed out of the house to meet my crew in KL. Good thing traffic wasn't too bad. When I got back to the office, I ran into my GM in the lift. I was already tired from shooting when my GM said he wanted to see me in his office and it was important. I was wondering what trouble did I get into this time. He took out an envelope and said it was about the warning letter they send me previous. I was thinking, oh shit... now what. When I opened the letter, turns out it was promotion letter. Cool. I was too tired to be excited about it. I thanked my GM and asked him what was in store in the future. He said keep doing the same thing. Cool... pay rise and I still get to do the same thing.

I looked at the letter again and it was the standard fill-in-the-blanks letter. It was quite funny as it said I was promoted to producer when I was already a producer. Just that I was on a different pay scale now. Not much of a salary hike, only about RM250 extra a month. Lets see, parking charges go up, inflation increase in KL... so my personal income no change. Damn.

Today I when to Sepang to recee a company for a shoot next week. The map they provided me took me the long way round to get to their factory. I should have gone from the LCCT-F1 Track way instead of from Nilai.

When I got to the office, I was supposed to meet the guest for next week's live show in the office to brief her. As I was walking with her following behind me, one of the other producers, walked next to me and whispered who was the pretty lady behind me. He must have been too pre-occupied because he trip and fell over a chair in front of him. I was laughing my ass of at him. Serves him right.

Had dinner with Chui Yan tonight, both of us had something to celebrate. I hope I can find some time to spend with her instead of just working. I have to seperate work and play!

I'm supposed to sleep early tonight but I'm so used to turning in late. I have to wake up at 4:30AM so I can make it to the office at 6AM. I have a shoot in Lumut for the whole day. I was going to drive their and back in the same day for myself but I decided against it. I'm going to have the driver do the driving instead.

It's going to be about 3.5 hours of driving each way. I hope I get there by 9:30AM, if all goes well. Going to be a long day tomorrow. I'm supposed to meet my cameraman in Sitiawan. Kinda of like a military operations. I got a few objectives (visuals to shoot) when I get there. I hope everything goes well!

I'm holding in my hand here a letter from one of the universities I applied to do my masters at a few months ago. This doesn't matter anymore because I've put it on hold indifinitely considering I've got bigger plans.

The letter is from Goldsmiths University, rejecting my application to do a MA in TV Journalism. Hrmph! Got rejected! Heh... then again I'm not surprised considering I didn't really put my heart into the application process. However, Sheffield Hallam has been sending me e-mails asking when I'm going to arrive to start. Wow, they must really want my money!

The nice people from Chevening e-mailed me and asked if I wanted to be on the waiting list, just in case someone pulled out. I declined their offer. My goals have changed. No regrets!

Night-day at One World Hotel

I was going thru my pictures and I found two pictures I had taken at the exact same spot. I realized I could do a lock camera effect. I dissolved the two shots to get the effect of a time-lapse shot. If you look at the cars parked at the street, you would see that some of the cars are not at the same positions.

Life and Death

On Tuesday, on the way back from a shoot in Shah Alam, I remembered that Sim and See Ming were having a baby in SJMC. I dropped by to see the new boy, Max. When I got to SJMC, it was almost impossible to find parking. I had to park at the housing estate and walk over.

When I got to the operating theatre, everyone was waiting for See Ming to come out. The nurses had already taken Max to the nursery. Since I just came back from a shoot, I brought along my video camera to the hospital. Good thing it was my own camera. Was quite fun shooting the eager parents and the baby.

When I finally got home in the afternoon, my mother had some bad news for me. My uncle in Ipoh who had been sick for a long time finally passed away. I thought, "wow... life and death". I thought about what Buddha said about how this is what life is about. There is birth, and there is death. My mother didn't let me attend the funeral in Ipoh because I was going to get married so that's a big no-no.

So I made a copy of this Buddhist chants on CD for my mother to bring to the funeral. It's in Pali language. It's basically a Buddhist sermon given by Buddha to help us overcome sorrow and lamentation. I had to look the English translation of the chant up in wikipedia.

Some thing I'm pretty morbid because I always talk about death... or may be to practical about it. I believe in the Buddha's teaching... except maybe the part about reincarnation. That's one still a bit strange to me. I believe that we can't avoid death. We just have to accept it. Death will come. The more we accept we are going to die, the easier it is to let go of things. Does that make us lazier? No, I don't think so. Life is about purpose, I believe we have to make things better for the next generation.

Army of One

I've been spending a lot of time at home lately instead of sitting in the office. Not that I've been goofing of at home, but I've been editing and shooting. This new project is taking up a whole lot more of my time then doing the regular live show I do. One thing about live show is that you don't have to worry about editing so much, it's all over in an hour.

For the recorded program I'm doing, it's basically an army of one... me. I have to shoot, edit and do the interviews. The hardest part of course is editing. The subject matter is really boring. Not something easily translated into a TV program. I always don't have enough visuals. I know, sounds like bad production planning. I always have a pre-planned storyboard written out in my head but when I do shoot the thing and later come back to edit, it doesn't always turn out right. In the end, I end up using a lot of post-production effects.

I can't edit in the office because the booked editing time is too little. I rather sit at home in my underwear and edit. For episode 3, I shot the whole thing on my own. Plus there was an opening montage which I needed a hand. I shot my own hand in my bedroom. It was really hard trying to shoot my own hand. I had to hold the video camera at a wierd angle with my right hand, while my left hand was lying on the bed. I set up the lights for a studio shoot on my bed. I had a slight cramp in my right hand from holding the camera the whole morning that way.

Good thing I had money to hire a scriptwriter... although I know I should be writing my own scripts. For one, writing my own scripts let me have more control over the story flow. I'm a control freak when it comes to production. I want to control everything, so that way I can have more control over the overall picture. Right down to how many frames to use for the dissolves in transitions! In a way, I'm a perfectionist. I worry that I'm not doing enough to make the visuals better.

The only bad part about having total control is that I'm totally stressed out. I procrastinate a lot and there's so much to be done as the dateline is looming at the end of the month. I used to have so much personal time, now I hardly have any.

Now I tell myself to stop working the evening and only work in daylight, stick to the normal working hours otherwise I'll be too strung out. I still go to the office everyday to touch base with my colleagues. I'm still supposed to run the live show once a week, but I think this month is the last time I'm doing it, after that I'm focusing totally on this new project. I can't handle doing two at the same time, it's suicide!

Here I sit,

Tried to edit,

But ended up blogging

I really should be finishing my editing but procrastination is just getting to me. First of all, I realized I'm missing an interview so I can't edit the whole thing yet.

Anyway, I just remembered the dream I had last night. Normally, we don't remember the dreams we have unless something triggers it. Dreams don't normally turn into memories unless the storyline is so vivid.

I woke up in the morning and I could hear my mother talking to my nephew outside my window. My mother said the last goldfish died. I didn't think much about it until I sat down on my couch and was looking at my cute niece then suddenly my dream came back to me.

I dreamed I was next to a body of water. Could have been a stream or a pond in a tropical setting. The water was very clear and you could see to the shallow bottom. There was a few people around fishing near a wooden jetty that was old and rotten. The jetty was very small and low. There was an excitement and everyone was pointing to an Arowana fish swimming around the jetty. I think it was quite a large adult arowana fish, about the length of my forearm. Some were trying to catch it with their barehands. I remember I was in the water up to my knees and something kept poking my leg behind me. I turned around and it was the Arowana swimming around my legs. I reached down and caught it. It was slippery but I caught it and shouted out for something to put the fish in. Someone came over with a small bucket and we could barely fit the fish inside it.

Some of the chinese guys said it would be good luck if they could make the fish drink rice wine. Now remember, this is a dream so none of this makes sense. I thought, okay so this two chinese guys forced the fish's mouth open and both of them took turns making the fish drink wine. I just watch from behind them. I was wondering if I had a chance to do it too, but I didn't. I think it was because they ran out of rice wine.

Anyway, after awhile I woke up. Now that was a bloody wierd dream. I wonder what triggered it. Could have been the dead goldfish. Not sure where the rice wine part came in. I kept thinking how cruel it was to feed the fish rice wine. Now that I think about it, in my dream, they were calling it the 'dragon fish'. It looked like an arowana fish.

Vista Vs. XP

I spend the whole last night installing a new hard disk. I had problems with this stupid original Vista I bought. A lot of the softwares wouldn't work with it. So I when out to buy a new hard disk and installed it as a slave. I then installed Windows XP on it. It took me a few hours of trial and error before I finally got it right. I had to take out and put back in hardware numerous times. I even had to take the old A: drive from my old PC and install it temporarily. I was going to leave it in the new PC but it was so dusty and a little rusty, I took it back out again and stuck back into the old one. At least now I've learned quite a lot of new things about fixing my PC.

Now I can boot up from two hard disk, one with Vista, the other with XP. XP I use for work, mostly editing. Vista I use for fun! Games work fine so far with Vista. I haven't installed a lot of things into the XP yet, since I'm just going to use it for work. I also have a lot of space in both Hard Disk. Both are 298GB in size. Total current free space for both is 422GB. Not a lot of if you're editing videos. It's 13GB for every 1 hour of DV tape.

I also have an external hard disk that I now carry to work. I put my backup data in there plus my current editing projects. I can edit part of it at work and also bring it back to edit. The original slave hard disk that I stored all my data is now safely tucked away in a new external HD case. I can hook it up anytime, although it runs on USB 1.0. Pretty crappy speed. It's supposed to run at USB 2.0 speed but I think my motherboard doesn't like this old external casing. The new one I got is fantastic. It's got a lock button so that no data can be written on my HD. It's great to use in the office since most of the PC's are full of viruses.

What a relieve everything works now. I actually just finished burning Daphne's wedding registration DVD too. In XP, I can preview what I'm editing on my TV monitor to check for colour. NVIDIA doesn't have the video overlay function in VISTA. Plus the scroll button for the Premiere Pro bin doesn't work in VISTA. It's so wierd that VISTA has all these little kinks that drives me nuts.

The worst part is, quicktime doesn't work in VISTA. It wouldn't play any Mov files. It'll just hang for 20 minutes before playing. Not sure what it's problem is. For now, when ever I want to use any Mov files, I'm going to boot up from XP and run from that.

Paul McCartney - Live & Let Die
When you were young and your heart was an open book
You used to say life and let life
(you know you did, you know you did you know you did)
But in this ever changing world in which we live in
Makes you give in and cry
Say live and let die
Live and let die
Live and let die
Live and let die
What does it matter to ya
When you got a job to do
You gotta do it well
You gotta give the other fellow hell
When you were young and your heart was an open book
You used to say life and let life
(you know you did, you know you did you know you did)
But in this ever changing world in which we live in
Makes you give in and cry

Recently, I've found some of my old university friends through friendster again. It's been almost 10 years since I heard from them. How time flies. Back when we were just kids and now some of them are mothers already. Makes me wonder what happened to the rest of them.

Me and Joe in Hard Rock Cafe in Chicago in 1999. Joe was the guy I hanged with most of the time during my later years in uni. He was from Thailand and had twin younger brothers studying there too. Both of us had a lot of fun visiting Chicago. It was after I graduated and he called me up and asked me if I wanted to take a road trip with him to Chicago for a short break. It was still pretty cold in early spring, so I thought it would be fun. It was my second time to the city so that made things easier like finding a hotel, etc. I love visiting Chicago, it's got all this old skyscrapers and the feel of city is just... wow, so 'kwailoh' haha. Not a place to stay though, I'll get homesick there. I haven't been in touch with Joe since he when back to Thailand. Wonder what he is up too know.

I think it snows half the year in St. Cloud. When spring comes and the snow starts to melt, you get all this 'dirty' sludge snow lying around. Things that were supposed to be decomposing that was frozen up starts decomposing again. This is a picture on the campus. Not sure what building this is, I think it's the performing arts centre where I did my minor in film studies. When it's -20F, you have to run really fast from building to building.

My family didn't make it to my graduation. Back then everyone was still recovering from the Asian Financial crisis. I'm lucky to have just graduated. So it was just me in the hall that day. Notice the floor, it's actually rubber padding on top of an ice rink. Our main stadium was actually an ice hockey ring so that's where we have our graduation. Feels chilly in there. Our gowns were rented, but we got to keep the mortar and tessle. Didn't get much picture of me on stage getting my degree. I don't even remember who was the invited guest speaker because it was obviously forgettable.

What's in a Name

I can tell where I know people by the name they call me. The people I have met through work, I introduce my self using only my family name. So that's simple.

As for personal friends or family members, they know me by my 2 last name. I'm pretty bad at remembering where I have met people so when someone calls me out, at least I can have a pretty good chance of guessing where I have met them before.

Right only a handful of people call me by my last name, my family and chui yan's family. Those who know me from school, college and university call me that too. Not many people pronounce it right too. So those who do pronounce it right and I when I hear it, I usually know who they are right away even though I haven't seen them for a long time.

I also get a lot of people saying to me, "have we met before? you look familiar". I don't think it's a pick-up line because they say it after awhile in a conversation. I just assume every Chinese dude look alike to them. Most of the time, I say I don't remember. Which I don't actually.

First day shooting

Today was a really tiring day. It was the first day of shooting for the new program I'm doing. I spend the whole morning and afternoon shooting it. Good thing it was mostly indoor. Originally, I was going to shoot it myself but my manager talked me out of it. I figured, crap no point saving costs here when we can afford it. I'm just going to tire myself out for no good reason.

I lugged along this huge light kit and the end, we didn't use it. Good thing I had a fantastic cameraman. The reason I like shooting on my own is because I hate working with cameraman who don't take instructions.

I was going to come home to format my alternate hard disk to XP but I guess I just got too tired and started watching CSI for editing and effect tips. Trying to duplicate their editing style. I hate watching fiction with a critical eye because it just looses its appeal after that. I was looking at how CSI does its science sequence and I realized how boring it was. They added music, some visual effects and viola! that's their trademark. Now all I have to do is duplicate that and I'll have a hit!

Wedding weekend

It's been a busy weekend. Daphne asked me to shoot her wedding registration on Saturday. Got to her place kind of late and we rushed to the Church at Changkat Bukit Bintang (near Jalan Alor).

After the wedding, I when home to edit the video. Everything was going fine until I hit a snag. I couldn't import songs into the project. I didn't realize VISTA had this problem with Premiere Pro. Damn.

I did a rough edit and rushed of to Daphne's birthday pool party later in the evening. I picked up Chui Yan from her place and drove to Daphne's in-law's place in Bangsar Hill. Nice place. It was the first time I brought Chui Yan to meet people from my 'other' social world.

In my other social world, I'm quite a different person. For one, everyone in that world is very liberal. What I mean by liberal is that they talk about sex, swear, drink and smoke a lot. I don't drink or smoke but I do take part in the conversation. When I'm with Chui Yan I never swear.

Anyway, the pool party was okay getting to meet new people and some old friends. Sitting around talking about our careers and the good old times from a few years ago.

Daphne's sister, Michelle had us playing games. We all had to sit around the pool and make 3 statements, one of them was a false one. So we all had to guess which of the one was false. Man, all I can say is Daphne has some really strange friends.

Daphne and Ryan's wedding cake. Checkout the cleavage on the bride.

Daphne's birthday-pool-party cake.

All of us sitting around the pool wondering what Michelle had in store for us.

On Sunday, me and Chui Yan both woke up late. We were suppose to catch Transformer at 1U at 11AM. I rushed to her place and picked her up. By the time we got there, there was quite a reasonably large crowd at the cinema waiting to watch the movie already. Good thing we bought our ticket earlier.

The movie was okay. I can see why people are raving it's one of the best action movie of the year. For me, the best is still 300. "Prepare for Glory!" is still my favourite line for this year.

Some of the changes to the robots they made in Transformer was so different from the original cartoon. I didn't mind they changed Bumblebee from a Volkswagen to a Camaro but changing Megatron from a gun to a spaceship was wierd. Soundwave was now a comic relief. I think he still plays casette, although that's an almost obsolete technology in the US now. They don't have any of Soundwave's sidekick, those radio casettes that can transform into a dog, shockwave and another one I can't remember. That movie had sequel written all over it's ending. So like the X-Men. I guest these scriptwriters knew they had a fantastic francise in their hands.

Before watching the live action Transformer movie, I when out to buy the old Transformer the movie cartoon from 1985. Can you imagine that, they had a kick ass animated transformer cartoon all the way back in 1985? I think I enjoyed that one much more. They obviously had more robots in there. All the main character from the original TV series were just minor roles.

I wonder what they will have in the sequel to the live action Transformer movie. Maybe the dinobots! Grimlock rocks!

I'm a little nervous about tomorrow. It's the first day shooting for the new program I'm doing. I still don't quite know what type of visuals I want yet. I have all this high expectation and artistic ideas. I think I'll stick to the simple stuff first. Don't get overtly ambitious.

I'm just waiting for my external hard disk to format before I hit the bed. It's complicated but now I'm going to have two seperate hard disk with VISTA and XP one each so I can boot them up seperately. A lot of stuff don't work on VISTA which pisses me of when I want to work.

I read this in BBC online today.


Malaysia 'convert' claims cruelty

By Jonathan Kent BBC News, Kuala Lumpur
A Malaysian woman held for months in an Islamic rehabilitation centre says she was subjected to mental torture for insisting her religion is Hinduism.
Revathi Massosai, the name by which she wants to be known, says she was forced to eat beef despite being a Hindu.
Miss Massosai was seized by the Islamic authorities in January when she went to court to ask that she be registered as a Hindu rather than a Muslim.
The case is one of a number that have raised religious tensions in Malaysia.
Miss Massosai was born to Muslim converts and given a Muslim name, but she was raised as a Hindu by her grandmother and has always practised that faith.
However, under Malaysia's Islamic law, having Muslim parents makes one a Muslim and, as such, one is not allowed to change one's faith or marry a non-Muslim.
But Miss Massosai married a Hindu man in 2004 and the couple have a young daughter.
Headscarf
When in January she asked a court to officially designate her a Hindu she was detained and taken to an Islamic rehabilitation centre.
Her detention was twice extended to six months, during which time she says religious officials tried to make her pray as a Muslim and wear a headscarf.
However, the claim that will particularly shock Hindus is that the camp authorities tried to force her to eat beef.
A lawyer representing the Malacca state Islamic department responsible for Miss Revathi's arrest, rejected her allegations and said officials believe that she can still be persuaded to embrace Islam.
She is adamant that she will remain a Hindu. In the meantime, Miss Revathi and her daughter have been placed in the custody of her Muslim parents.

Story from BBC NEWS

weddings & saga

Today was another full day. I came to the office and right away I had an interview with a candidate for my scriptwriter position. After that, I had to rush to Carcosa Seri Negara for the live show we were doing there. I gave my colleague Ifa a ride there.

While I was parking my car, I noticed the parking lot was full of this red dots on the ground. I looked down and I realized they were Saga seeds. I picked a few up and showed it to Ifa. I told her we have to collect some later. They make nice decorations once you put them in a nice jar.

I waltz into the Seri Negara building to find that it was a hive of activity. My senior produced walked in and shuffed a walkie-talkie into my hand told me I was going to be one of the floor manager. I barely knew what was going on, let alone manage anyone on the floor. People seeing the walkie-talkie in my hand assumed I knew what was going on and started asking me questions. I just passed them on to the next person.

There were a lot of VIP's there and I had to make sure I was 'extra' polite to them, less I offended them. Though I must say, these ladies had a sense of humour that made them quite pleasant to be with.

After the live show, all the crew rushed to the buffet line. I walked over and saw everyone holding their plates full of food staring around and waiting. I got my food then I realized why everyone was just standing around. They forgot to give us cutleries! There was no fork and spoons. Now how wierd is that? Some resorted to using the teaspoon and I took the soup spoon. By the time the waiters did manage to find any forks and spoons for us, most of us were already done with the food. They didn't even have water for us until we asked them for it. Well, I can't complain much since it was free after all.

After lunch, I noticed the reporters had broken into groups surrounding some of the personalities at the event, namely Datin Norjuma. I bet there's going to be quite a lot to read tomorrow in the papers. I saw Azizah and I asked her what was this rumour I read in the paper about her getting engaged. She smiled coyly and said "yeah, sorry you were the last to know".

After finishing of with the Cristian Dior product launch, me and Ifa finally left the place. She reminded me of the Saga seeds and we spend about 20 minutes picking a few handful up. It was quite tedious work, individually picking up one seed at a time. I did manage to get a picture of the tree. Quite a large imposing tree. I remember there used to be a few in my primary school and we used to play with the seeds. I had a slight phobia of having one of the seeds getting up my nose and getting stuck there. I know, it's wierd.

Anyway, back at the office, I ran into Said. He had just returned from London on his break to write his Thesis. Must have been saving on money because the dude didn't get a haircut. He bought a whole new Apple laptop editing system and was talking about it. Sounds good. Me, I'm sticking with my desktop.

I caught hold of Azizah and asked her who was the lucky dude that finally caught her. She says I know him, but I can't seem to remember. Probably seen him around but it never clicked. She says he's way younger than her. I told her she's so Demi Moore, picking a younger dude. Surprisingly, we are both getting married in the same hotel in Shah Alam except on different month. Her's is in August, mine is in December. She's probably doing a much larger one in the ballroom. Me, I'm doing a very small one in the function room. We talked about wedding preparations, getting photographers, makeup artists, designers, etc. She certainly knows more people than I do. Me, I got a small budget so I can't afford the people she's using. Heck, I probably just going to rent a tuxedo instead of getting a custom made one.

I'll drop by her wedding and see how's the service at the hotel so at least I have some pointers on how they can make improvements for mine in December.

Still playing with photoshop before I go to bed. I looked through my Pulau Ketam photos and I saw the photo I took near the jetty at the island. It was low tide and you could see the mud flats with all the crabs crawling around. They're about the size of my palm. I just hope the restaurants aren't serving these crabs because its pretty gross where they stay. I know, crabs stay in mud but these guys were right next to the jetty and it was strewn with rubbish, not to mention a layer of oil from the boats.

hehe... still had time to play around with photoshop. I looked at the rose and I was thinking how red it was. I wondered if I could use the magic wand and just select the whole rose with it, well it worked. I copied the rose and put it on another layer and played around with the background. Changed the colour to something softer and added a lens blur. Didn't do this one too well, if you look closely at the edges of the rose, you can see there's an outline. That's because I feathered it at 5 pixels. Too obvious I thing. On second look at the picture, now it looks like the rose was cut and pasted onto the background. Looks like its 'floating'.

Stress!

The whole morning today was pretty stressful. Everyone was complaining about something I did or didn't do. Sometimes I think people take for granted that I am nice to everyone. I go out of my way to be nice to people and everyone just assumes that I am like that all the time. Today, I was rushing and I didn't have time to make small talk with someone and the person send me an sms telling me how rude I was. I apologized but the person persisted. I gave up not replying the person. I didn't have the time and it wasn't worth it. I didn't have time or the energy today to go out of my way to be nice to people when everyone else is being a bitch, hoping to make use of me.



Running two shows at the same time is pretty stressful now. Seems that everyone has gotten their priorities right except me. The way I look at it, for everyone else at work, their private lives come first before work. I think it's time for me to re-examine my priorities too.



Right after work, I came home and when to bed. I didn't even shower, I just took all my clothes of, turn on the air-conditioner and slept. I woke up when I heard my nephew screaming. I when to his room to find everyone holding him down because they wanted to clean his ear. His ear was full of ear wax and he has a phobia of anything going into his ear. He was screaming at the top of his lungs as if he was being tortured. The neighbours must thing we're abusing this boy.

I called Chui Yan and she was pretty grossed out I haven't showered before sleeping. I thought it was pretty funny considering how I always do that. Yes, my bed is full of germs but I am immune to them now!



I did manage to read a page from one of my Buddhist books about anger. I like how Buddhism always tells one to be calm and let go of their anger. Makes me feel better, though its not so easy to do.


Anyway, just uploading some photos I took.

I took a picture of this note Ivy left of the table next to mine. Most hillarious. She does look like Altantuya if you squint your eye and look at her from between your closed fingers.

My mother asked me to take photos of her roses over the weekend. So I did. I totally forgot to get a shot of the whole pot of roses. They're so red, it's almost a pain to look at them in bright daylight. I wonder how did nature come up with something so red. The roses are a little burned out on the edges of the petal, well they are organic roses. Anyway, I think maybe I can use some of the rose petals for decorations next time hehe.

Haze is back

In a few days time, the haze will be back. It's already back in the northern states. The number of hotspots in Sumatra have drastically increased. I monitor the NOAA satellite images ocassionally to see if the number of hotspots increased, however after awhile I forget. Today I read in The Star about the haze returning.

I have inserted a picture of the NOAA satellite map from the Singapore Meteorological website which is updated regularly below.



I'm going to clean out my air filter in my room and get someone to come over to clean out the airconditioner also. I probably have to find my face mask I stashed somewhere in my room. I have a heavy duty industrial mask in my car booth somewhere. Hope it still works.