justin_guber - @ 20six.co.uk

The Bad, The Good and The Show-Off

First, the bad:

"Thank you for your submission of Bootlegs to the 32nd Seattle International Film Festival. Regretfully, I must inform you that Bootlegs has not been selected for participation in this year¹s festival..."
Bugger.
The e-mail then goes on with their formal apology and so-and-so's. Ah, well. I kinda expected this, to be honest. I always knew Seattle would be a long shot but I was really hoping for it. It's the biggest film festival in the States and I kept thinking about how cool it would be to go to Seattle to check out my film on the big screen.
At least they sent me an e-mail to tell me I wasn't in. Closure...
Then, the good:

"Greetings from Stockholm! I hope this e-mail finds you well. We are very interested in your film ”Ciplak” for the 17th annual Stockholm International Film Festival 16-26 November, 2006..."
Wow. Singapore International Film Festival says no (well, more like ignores my entry), Seattle International Film Festival says no and I get an e-mail from the Stockholm International Film Festival.
Three S.I.F.F.'s in a row. Third time lucky, I suppose.
And in case you're wondering how this happened, I've got Amir Muhammad to thank for that. He passed my e-mail to them, which I think is the coolest thing ever. In comparison to the independent music scene here, the filmmaking scene appears to be a lot more... what's the word... friendly? More community-like?
I dunno. But dig this: I've never said more than three or four words to James Lee, he e-mails me a huge e-mail on ways to go about getting my movie on screen. I've met Amir Muhammad only in passing, never really having a conversation, and this is the second time the dude's given me an opening to get my immature films on screen (the first being 'Shortcuts'). I've hung out with [name censored to preserve his on-line annonymity] only a couple of times and he hooks me up with GSC.
These guys are helping others out in the scene without even knowing them too well. Compare that to the music scene where, sorry to say, a lot more backstabbing and cocksmoking goes on.
Then again, I could be wrong. If I don't write about how my back aches from knife wounds and my mouth tastes of salty balls and semen a year from now, I guess it's safe to say the local indie movie scene is a lot nicer and helpful.
(Not that I'd ever turn my back away from the music scene. You're prying this guitar off my cold, dead hands!)
And now, the show-off: Another write-up for Ciplak came out over the weekend, this time in the New Straits Times on Sunday (or do I use the 'Sunday Times' name when referring to their output on this day of the week?) which I'll upload soon. My old CD from Grey also sent over an mpeg of the last thing I worked on, a TVC for a kids drink which looks pretty much like how I imagined it to be.
And the studio is going swimmingly. We're now onto the duller part of the job: accounts. Bleurgh...

3.5.06 04:16

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FINAS?

Just when I thought it was clear sailing...

GSC just called, we talked about the movie release and all that, when something came up.

"Are you registered with FINAS?"

"No, why?"

"Aaah..."

Apparently, I need to be registered with FINAS as a movie producer to have my movie go through the censorship board and this and that. So now I have to register with FINAS.

And, considering the website is out-dated and completely in BM (English language link doesn't work), they took two weeks to answer an e-mail of mine with a four word answer and I have no idea what they do, this should be very interesting indeed.

Bugger.

3.5.06 05:02

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Sleepless In KL

Something's been keeping me awake these past few days, and it's not the shitty mattress 'cos that's been changed to a much nicer one.

Unfortunately, I can't talk to anyone about it, not even my closest friends, because... well... it's complicated (and silly).

But it's this very complication and the fact that I fear talking about it with my closest friends that's making it extremely buggin'.

I can't even bring myself to write about it on the internet.

But it's buggin' the shit out of me.

And I can't sleep because of it.

Fuck-a-doodle-dandy.

5.5.06 06:57

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Did the levy break?

'Lelaki Komunis Terakhir' (The Last Communist) was passed by the censorship board with no cuts. It was even screened to the special branch due to its 'sensitive' subject matter (us Malaysians don't like them red Commie bastards, apparently) and was let through.

But now it is banned. Details are at this link which will lead you to an entry in Amir Muhammad's blog (the director).

I now fear for Ciplak. I already have a release date. I'm about to sign on with FINAS. If they ban it, someone's gonna get a hurt real bad.

11.5.06 04:48

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Red Eye

Right now I'm at Voxel, about to check out the final animation for
the title sequence for Ciplak. After that it's off to the studio to
sort out all teh administrative bollocks that comes with starting up a
business which I intensely despise: balance sheets, cashflow
projections, budgets, contracts, etc. Then I'll probably have another
meeting later at night till 3am.
Welcome to my life.
On the
plus side, I get to wake up late (unless I have a meeting scheduled)
and I'm doing what I love. On the other hand I've been so goddamn busy
this is the only chance I've had to blog, let alone check my e-mails
and watch time wasting flash videos.
So much is happening right
now it's insane, and I only hope things slow down ever so slightly next
week, enough for me to actually write a proper post as opposed to these
"hi-bye" write-ups.
I am tired. Send me copious amounts of cocaine.

19.5.06 09:10

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Random Pics For Follicle Enticement

So here's my little bro at Jake's Charbroiled Steaks with me on Mother's Day. The cheeky bugger's been up to a lot.

This somehow includes multiplication tables at the age of six (which kinda freaks me out...

...and leaving his Transformer's in my room (no, you haven't stumbled onto Albert's blog).

In other news, Y2k entered the Red Bull Battle of the Bands during the X Games tryouts. It was also sponsored by Warner, so the judges were forced to hear band after band play "I'm not OK". We skanked our version up a bit and Hermano Grande jumped from the stage, about 6 or 7 feet high, into the crowd wearing only slippers as he landed on concrete. We got 2nd.

And finally, Momma Cat.

21.5.06 07:23

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So what have I been up to?

What indeed? A busy bee such as me, running about to and fro... I wish I could bore you with the details but so much has been going on I wouldn't know where to start.

Let's just go random and see what happens:

The FYI Films company is being registered, so it's a short step away from being registered with FINAS and other government bodies; the studio is looking good, and Saiful's already in training (by yours truly) on how to record n' shit; I'm broke as hell, which may not seem like news to you, except this time I never had any money to begin with to blow on useless shit, just surviving off the good nature of friends and family (which is wrecking havoc on my ego and pride... if I had any); Y2k's album is in the final, final final stages of artwork, about 99% approved, before we go and print the fucker to sell to you all; Triple 6 Poser's working on a whole bunch of new songs and still auditioning drummers; may be sending 'Ciplak' to film festivals in England, Norway and Australia... or maybe not, depending on my mood; and by the way, it's release date is probably August 24th in selected GSC cinemas; and last, but not least, I've picked up a new hobby - I'm going to start customising my guitars.

Yes, that last one is something that only guitar-geeks will appreciate, and the rest of you will probably respond with an "oh, that's nice" reply. But for the guitar-geeks, here's an overview of what I'm thinking of doing. Comments will be much appreciated -

First off, my old Encore strat. I'm thinking of changing the neck to a maple tele neck (reversed-headstock of course, 'cos it's too difficult to get lefty necks here), followed by a new bridge (or at least the saddles) and a Seymour Duncan hot rails on the bridge with the selector switch removed and all three knobs used as individual volume controls for each pick-up. At the same time, I'm gonna install a Hot rails into my tele, split the pick-up and have one of the tone controls act as the volume control for half the pick-up.

Geeky, huh?

God, the urge to type is there, but not the mood. Now I'm reduced to writing this damn blog in cyber cafes and (on a good day when cash is in hand) Starbucks'. Soon, my pretties. Soon...

25.5.06 10:22

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First Time I Met The Blues

The chronological details are a blur. I know for a fact that the first ever guitar-based song I ever heard that stuck to my head was Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" (although I can't remember whether I heard the original first or Marty McFly's) which led to my love of 50's rock n' roll.
But that's rock n' roll. I'm talking about the blues. I'm sure I had heard blues before, but never really understood it or fell in love with it. Not till I had the blues. And that moment I do remember.
I was in Geneva, visiting family friends (Ahmad's parents, for those who know who Ahmad is). My love for movies had kicked in and we were renting shit-loads of vids from the local video store run by a really cute 16 year old (I was around the same age at the time) and her over-bearing mother who probably thought we were trying to steal her daughter away. What can I say? Mountains, clocks and delicious chocolates aren't the only thing they make well. They also produce fine booty.
But back to the blues.
Casino had recently come out, and I was already a fan of Scorcese. So when we were in Geneva, shopping around, I came across the Casino soundtrack: a sprawling two-disc set covering music over three decades. Bought it, loved it.
On that disc was one song that will forever stay with me: B.B. King's 'The Thrill Is Gone'.
A couple of months later, I broke up with my then girlfriend. Needless to say, I wasn't feeling too good and was doing my best to forget about it. The Casino soundtrack was on and I was going about my business in my room when that song hit. And by God it hit.
I remember stopping everything I was doing and just listening. That hauntingly painful guitar solo, B.B.'s voice full of sorrow, the strings tugging at your heart.
I'm almost a 100% certain I started crying.
For the next few days I had that song on repeat. Why? Because it was exactly how I felt. It tapped into the exact emotion I was feeling and fucking clutched my heart with every note.
I remember reading somewhere, someone describing the blues as an expression of a single, specific emotion concised into two simple lines and a 12 bar chord progression.
That song got me through most of my heat-ache and opened up a whole new world to me: the blues. And it ain't just sad. The blues can be anything, but it's specific. A moment, a feeling, captured in two simple lines that say exactly what it's all about.
That's what I love so much about the blues. The chord progressions, the music, the kick-ass solo's, those are all great, but secondary. True blues taps into you, it says what you want to say or what you're thinking or feeling. So much of the music I hear on the radio these days tap into a general, broad emotion: happy, sad, angry, melancholy, etc. But they don't pinpoint specifics. Not as much as the blues does.
That's why I love the blues.

(And, in case you're wondering, I bring this all up because I've been spending a shit-load of time trying to write a solo for a blues song Henry wrote for Triple6Poser and it's driving me fucking insane.)

30.5.06 08:36

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