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The Visitor |
To quote Dante from Clerks...
...I'm not even supposed to be here today.
I was supposed to be at a shoot, which I was, but felt somewhat insulted throughout the whole thing and decided to leave before nasty words were exchanged between the director and I.
The shoot started at 7am. The sun wasn't even up.
And, prior to that, I wasn't even sleeping.
Yes, prior to that, I was making sure the cut that's shown at the press/preview screening tonight works. Tweaking bits, fixing the sound where I could, adding some re-transferred footage, some new animated bits, a 'blooper-gag-reel' ending credits, then making sure it burns properly, then testing the fucker.
Takes a while.
Prior to that, I was preparing the final invite list for the door together with the catering with my girlfriend.
Prior to that, I was at work whilst also taking some time out to talk to Tony and Saiful about them helping me out to set the place up for the screening.
Prior to that, I was yelling at a brain dead suit who expected a visual that would take two days to do at the least to be prepared within forty minutes. And she's telling me, the copywriter, this.
Prior to that, I was waking up to the sound of my mobile phone ringing.
And, prior to all this, I honestly thought this would all be fun (right after I typed all this, a baby cockroach landed in my coffee).
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1.3.06 06:56
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Ciplak Press/Preview Screening
So yesterday, in a complete daze, buzzing off of a latte to help me through a quick brainstorm, I looked at the clock on my phone: 5:25pm. Technically, the earliest I could leave the office was 5:30pm, but clouds were forming outside and I wanted to beat the jam. Besides, I'd been up since the day before and technically started work at 7:00am for a shoot for a client at a high school (with a director I shall not mention but never enjoy working with).
I figured 'fuck it'. It's my press/preview screening, I should be there early. So I left without a moment of hesitation and by the time I stepped into my car the rain drops started slowly dropping. A light drizzle at first. I dashed across Jalan Sultan Ismail whilst it was still clear and the jam was just about to form behind me. By the time I got to my house to shower and change it stormed like The Day After Tomorrow.
Using my brother's tiny umbrella (my parents took all the adult ones) I rushed to Paul's Place to find it absolutely spotless. Anyone who's been to Paul's Place knows that the place is never clean. Occasionally tidy, never clean. Saiful and the other Paul (from my band Y2k) had cleaned up the entire place, top and bottom, by themselves (I now owe these guys steaks and I reckon they deserve it anyway).
Then the SMS's and phone calls started pouring in. A large number of people couldn't make it because of the rain. Almost half, to be precise. I was quietly relieved, though, as over 100 people RSVP'd and I only had 60 chairs.
At around 7ish the photographer from the Star came to take photos quickly because he couldn't attend. I pulled some stupid poses I will later regret and hope they don't print.
At around 8:30pm I started the screening, first by thanking everyone involved and everyone for coming, then rambling a bit with a few jokes and apologizing for my blur-ness (no sleep, go figure). Then the screening started.
At first, the audience was pretty quiet. A few giggles here and there and not much else. No worries. There's one gag in the movie which is the deciding factor and if they laugh at that scene I know I'll be fine. Then I realized something: we made the screen to suit a 16:9 showing so we don't get black bars at the top or bottom. But in one of the scenes which had a time code on it the time code was only partially visible. The 'deciding factor' gag involved subtitles, and if those subtitles aren't clear no-one will get it. I was worried. Very worried. Then the subtitles popped up. And they laughed.
Hard.
After that it was smooth runnings. After the screening I went over to everyone for chit-chat and small talk. The food arrived but it was for a 100 people so it overflowed a bit (and I felt kinda bad considering my girlfriend's mom cooked it all). People came, people congratulated, people praised and me? I was over the frickin' moon.
So yeah. Thanks to all those that helped out with the screening (really couldn't have done it without you guys) and those from the press who made it through the horrendous rain. Most of all, thanks for all those that came to show support.
And for those that couldn't make it, don't worry. There'll be plenty of screenings in the future.
(And no, Man Method, I haven't forgotten. Soon, buddy. Real soon.)
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2.3.06 04:47
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And it burns, burns, burns...
Last night, in a fit of extreme hunger, I chowed down two chilli dogs at Hartamas.
Today, my cornhole is paying for it with an extremely burning sensation that may or may not have inspired the classic country song "Ring of Fire".
Other updates in my sordid life:
1. Got a gig in Penang this coming Sunday. If any of you readers happen to be in Penang pop on over to the Church Street Cafe on Church Street from 7pm onwards. Cover charge is RM$12 and both my bands Y2k and Triple 6 Poser will be performing alongside Psycho Sickness and Saerze together with Penang bands Hearts On Fire, Leather Charms, White Light and Poseidon. Click here for a flyer.
2. Got a date booked for the next screening of 'Ciplak', which will be at the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Center. Once I get the details sussed out I'll let y'all know. Most probably will be in the afternoon.
3. Speaking of 'Ciplak', checked out the 3D modelling that's been done for the opening credit sequence and it looks kick-ass. Voxell represent!
4. Also, speaking of KLPac and gigs, I've got a solo gig coming up in the 'Troubadours' series they're having. My set'll probably consist of some of the new songs I've written that don't fit both Y2k and Triple 6 Poser, as well as some of the old songs from my Khaimano days. I'm also thinking of experimenting with my set by bringing my laptop with me and laying down some beats and ambient random-ness together with my guitar. Hopefully it works. For some reason I'm incredibly tempted to do a crunk version of the Khaimano track 'This Is Black Metal'. Will keep y'all updated about this.
5. There'll also be another gig with Y2k at Jam Asia in Hartamas, an acoustic set no less. We're seriously contemplating doing an acoustic version of a track from the Hustle & Flow soundtrack (even though we know hardly anyone in the audience would have seen the movie). That gig'll be happening on Saturday the 18th of March (I think).
6. And yet another gig is in the works for this month, this time in Singapore. Both Y2k and Triple 6 Poser will be hitting it up. For some reason all I can think about now when thinking about Singapore is hitting up all the fast food joints: Taco Bell (even though they don't have any beef), Carl's Jnr, etc.
7. And finally, my end date. Yes, I'll be leaving Grey on Monday 27th of March to concentrate on all the FYI endeavours: FYI Entertainment, FYI Studios and FYI Films. Hopefully all goes well and if it doesn't, well, I guess I'll be well and truly fucked. But that's ok. Ain't the first time.
And now it feels like once again I'm going to fall down the burning ring of fire. Ciaoza.
...I'm sure the cleaning lady must hate me.
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3.3.06 05:59
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Hey, Oscar!
Missed the Oscars, read the winners, most were as expected. I was kinda hoping Terrence Howard would win best actor but when a black pimps up against a famous writer and a famous singer, it ain't gonna happen.
BUT Hustle & Flow did win something: Best Original Song for "Hard Out Here For A Pimp"! I was strangely jubilant about this. It may be due to the fact that out of all the winners, the only movies I'd seen were Hustle & Flow and King Kong (and was anyone really surprised Kong won best visual effects?).
Click here to check out the Three Six Mafia perform the song.
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7.3.06 04:17
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No Go With Singapo
Check out the Singapore International Film Festival website today. Looks like 'Ciplak' didn't make it in.
Then again, the cut I gave them was horrendous: bad sound, poor compression rate, crap pacing, huge chunks of story missing. I don't blame 'em. Would've been cool if it showed there but what can you do.
This does make me wonder about the other SIFF: Seattle. Sure, I sent them a better cut, but maybe it's just the production quality, or the style, or the story that doesn't cut above the rest. Who knows. Either way, I'll be finding out whether or not it gets accepted in May.
In other news, the screening at KLPac is temporarily postponed. A couple of things I have to sort out on my end with regards to the movie (which may be for the better... will keep you posted).
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7.3.06 05:46
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Vanity
So, yeah. After a couple of situations where I needed to give a photo of myself and having to resort to crappy pics of me, I've finally gotten around to getting some decent pics of me done:
Am I riffing on Hellblazer? I think so.
Photos were taken by the very talented Ariff Aris of Lika Studios who was also one of the directors of photography on Ciplak. He's for hire, and he's good. Check out his stuff, give him a buzz (am I pimping him? Yes, I am).
Updating my Flickr site with a whole bunch of other stuff. Will post whatever else I put up in a bit. Pics of the Penang trip. And cats.
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9.3.06 04:18
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Penang Pics
Pics from the Penang trip, randomly selected by a Flickr badge. Click here for my Flickr page or click the pics below to the Penang batch.
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9.3.06 04:57
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X Men 3 Trailer