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This post is incredibly late, but fuck it, it's going up anyway. It's incredibly fucking rare, but sometimes, just sometimes, you get a perfect day. The last time this happened I was too stupid to write down the date. All I know is that it was a Wednesday in my first year of Uni, as Spring was gradually turning into Summer. It was a day where nothing necesarily went incredibly well, but nothing shit happened, which was a rarity in itself. I chilled out with friends, shot some 8mm footage with my new camera, the sun was shining, not a cloud in the sky, and later that night we got to see our friend dressed as drag on stage in a University Union 'Blind Date' event. Doesn't sound like much, but it was a day of fun and frolics that will never be forgotten,It was a good day the way Ice Cube rapped about how 'Today Was A Good Day' in the hood, and just like the second xXx Man Method and I felt inclined to write a song about that day, Wednesday. But Friday, 22nd of December, was a different kind of good day. It was one of those days where, by the end of it, you think to yourself "it's never gonna be this good again. I might as well check in to an asylum now before the shit hits the fan and I go cuckoo for real". It started off with a brand new pair of Nike Dunk Lows, a Christmas gift from clients who shall remain anonymous for now, but a great start to the day. After that I took a seat at the Curve and surfed on-line for a bit when a middle aged American woman came up to me with many plastic bags of Christmas shopping. "Excuse me," she asked, slowly and clearly, "do you speak English?" I said yes (deep down a little bugged that she may have thought that I didn't) and she explained to me that she's been trying to call her daughter but can't find a working pay phone (a problem I wholeheartedly understand in this country since not a single pay phone in KL works). She asked whether she could use my phone. No problem. I passed it to her, she made her fifteen second call, then passed it back to me, incredibly grateful. "Can I buy you a drink?" she asked. I declined. "How about some money?" I declined again. It was only 15 seconds and she looked like she really needed a phone. She thanked me again and went over to the counter to get her a drink. A beat later a hand appeared on my table to quickly drop a little Starbucks gift box. I turned just in time to see the American smile as she quickly darted away before I had a chance to decline. I opened the box: RM20 Starbucks gift certificate. Merry Christmas indeed. I could get used to this yuletide cheer. So, two Christmas presents later and I'm driving over to Tony's. The day before I bought myself a Topman suit which would have felt dirt cheap in England (the whole line was called '60 pound suits') but once converted into ringgit became quite a painful little expenditure, but a required one. Friday night was Anugerah Skrin night, and none of my suits fit my portly figure anymore. Once pimped out, Tony and I went over to the PWTC. The red carpet was out for celebrities whilst fans waited at the side with digital cameras. My parents arrived and we walked into the hall, unknowns in a world of glitz and glam (or, at the least, the Malaysian equivalent). Looking for an empty seat, by lucky chance I ended up next to Chermaine Poo, the model/actress/PR consultant/chartered accountant (intimidating? Quite) who Eddy had known from back in the day and apparently wanted to meet up to discuss possible future projects. We chit-chatted for a bit as we waited for the ceremony to start. The event itself was... odd. For me, at least. I didn't know half the people here but knew they had a certain degree of fame. The actors and actresses that I did know were the ones I used to watch when I was a kid, and it was a bit of a shock to see how much time had passed. It was also a shock to see how many fine looking Malay women there were in the entertainment industry. But a pleasant shock, nonetheless. As the entertainers entertained, announcers announced and eulogies were eulogised, that feeling in my gut was there: would Ciplak win Best Alternative Cinema? I was told there was a good chance due to the publicity and press of the movie, but I didn't know. In all honesty I've never really won anything in my life. Whilst most guys have at least one or two medals or trophies from their school years I have none. I tried in advertising and always failed. Why would this be any different? Besides, the more you don't win these trinkets and trophies, the more you question their actual worth. Are they deserved? Are they really that important? All these thoughts were running through my head. And then Erra Fazira, Umi Aida and (I can't remember her full name but she was pretty hot too) announced the winner for 'Sinema Alternatif'. The winner was 'Ciplak'. And I was stunned. So stunned was I that when Tony burst into the air screaming and Eddy yelled his lungs out in the distance I was still sat down thinking to myself "what the fuck are y'all motherfuckers doing?" before it sunk in. Ciplak won. I'll be damned. Everything after that was pretty much a blur: I got up, took the award, a big-ass grin on my face, stuck it out in the air, walked backstage, some PA came and grabbed me for an interview outside, I freaked out when I realized it was in Malay but they said I could answer in English, the PA then pulled me over to another room for press interviews, and finally I found myself in the makeshift cafe next to the hall drinking a teh ais and smoking like mad, a constant stream of congratulatory SMS's coming in, a big-ass award next to me, wondering what the fuck just happened. Eddy and his boss (who were both partly responsible for this Media Prima event) popped over after that to give me manly hugs and we chatted for a bit before going back to the event just in time to catch the end. My mom and dad gave me more hugs before making their way home and I made my way to the after party of finger foods and orange cordial (yes, I know...). Once there, I met a friend of mine's girlfriend who was now in a reality show by one of the sponsors of the event and a bunch of producers and media big wigs that Eddy kept pimping me out too. At the side I saw Bernard Chauly and went over to thank him for the KSFM series and told him that if it wasn't for those events screening my short films I wouldn't have had the courage to keep on shooting stuff. I was still in a daze, though, and couldn't eat due to the tight, tight suit trousers (36 my ass!). Finally, as the night came to an end and I'd changed out of my suit at Tony's and made my way home. Days don't come any better than this. The shit's gonna hit the fan before I know it. But Friday, 22nd of December 2006, is one for the books. So FYI Entertainment now have a monthly slot at KL Jam Asia, last Friday of every month, kicking off this month. Since it's a monthly thing, we're gonna call it TRI Fridays, and this month's TRI is... And if you can name all the people in the background (and the odd one out) you shall have a cookie. I did this video recently for Soft Touch. Well, I say recently. It was shot quite sporadically since October (if I'm not mistaken) but it's finally done. Enjoi. Oh, and you can find out more about this wonderful band at their website by clicking HERE. So, 'Ciplak' has been shown and all is done with it. Now, the only thing to worry about as far as that movie is concerned is the DVD, soundtrack (very overdue, I know) and perhaps a book on how I went about shooting the movie, since there are no reference books on the subject of getting a movie out in Malaysia (although the book will probably consist of pages from this blog, so I doubt you guys will be buying it). Since then, I have been fielding offers to shoot things, no doubt stemming from the press I got from the movie as well as the Anugerah Skrin award I got last month. I am now an industry player. And even though it's my first month in the 'industry', I'm not enjoying it much. With all the offers coming at the same time, I wanted to make sure I struck while the iron was still hot, even though it means having to come up with a lot of ideas - at least three telemovies, a tv series and plans for my next feature film, as well as writing other scripts that I'd already agreed to do a while back. Combine that with the studio, the record label, the current editing jobs, the music videos, and it makes for a very busy Khai. But the workload isn't really that much of an annoyance. I've had to deal with more than I can handle many, many times. No, what's bugging me right now is doing things the proper way. Working with companies. As well as the stigma of making a 10k movie: The Curse of Ciplak Whilst the whole '10,000 ringgit to make a movie' tidbit makes good press, it also brings up a question to producers: "if he can shoot a movie for 10k, why should we give him any more than that?" This is annoying. Incredibly annoying. I've been working on super-low budgets for the past year and would like to have some financial breathing space where budgets are concerned so that I can at least pay my cast and crew, maybe rent a tripod and some lights, whatever. Then there's the flip-side, the result of the cheap production values of a 10k movie: "his production values are appaling! Can he do a 'proper' looking/sounding movie?" This is doubly-annoying. For the record, 85% of the budget was used to buy a camera, leaving about 2.5k to actually produce the fucker. What do you expect, De Palma dolly shots? Being Celup Then there's the other stigma I've been noticing. I began to notice it at the after-party of the Anugerah Skrin and I'm noticing it even more now: people seem to think that, just because I wrote and directed a movie about urban, Westernized kids (or 'Celup's, as they're sometimes referred to), people seem to think that celup-stories are all I have. And whilst it's true that I still have some stories about this minor demographic rocking about in my head, there are other stories I want to do too, dammit! Genre stuff, horror, action, whatever, even straight up Malaysiana. Television Industry-wise, I'm still trying to understand television. I've only just understood the workings of the film industry, but it looks like television is a whole other ball game. The more I find out about things, the more it dissuades me, even though I really want to get into television because it's a medium that interests me and there's payment involved. Yes, payment. I need to eat, dammit. The lure of television has mainly been to keep my company afloat, more than anything. But the more I find out about how it works, the more I don't want to touch it, even though I know I need to if I'm going to keep getting my name out there and get enough income to keep going. But the rules, good God, the rules! Language and content, that's what's sticking in my craw more than anything. Which is why I've made a rule to not do anything that's too original or any idea that I care for too much when it comes to television because there's a chance that the story could be warped by these rules. But I never realized how much they could be fucked with. Corporate Prats And finally, there's the whole 'corporate' thing. The ding-dong-ing of approval through different levels of chains of command. The numerous comments that get filtered down to you after two weeks of waiting. Protocol? Fuck protocol! I'm sick and tired of protocol! I now find myself working with clients again, and especially on some more 'corporate' jobs, it feels like I'm in advertising again. Why? Because I can sense the cold, hard dick of the client thrusting up my rectum, that's why. And the second he cums he's gonna shoot a flurry of stupidity-semen up my ass and expect me to take it like a man. Fuck that. But I guess the main problem I've been having this month is an amalgamation of all this: the balance between wanting creative freedom and needing to balance the books. And whilst I know I have the ability to work out business strategies and documents and finances and accounts (but not actual accounting) I hate doing it because just thinking about it gives me huge migraines. I was working on a budget for a short film the other day and that alone gave me a killer headache that stuck with me the whole night, panadol be damned. I want to tell the stories I want to tell, but I need to figure out the money side. Sigh... I need a sugar mommy. ... ...or a sugar daddy. I'm not fussy. Thought I'd post up some pics from the recent shoots and not-so-recent projects I've been doing. I hope... you liiike. Rabbit - My Mind Those pics above are from the Rabbit video for 'My Mind', which Tony Pietra directed and wrote and I edited. The cool CGI? Courtesy of Voxel, the boys behind the animated opening credits of Ciplak. And if you look at the second pic carefully, you'll notice some other FYI guys - Paul and Saiful, re-animated as black-wearing zombie-type thingeys. Noice. Vid's available at YouTube. Soft Touch - Listen 2 What U C I've already put up a link for the Soft Touch video I did. If all goes well, it should be on TV soon. Pete Teo - Lost In America For the upcoming Pete Teo video, I mainly acted. In about six different roles. All those guys with the TV for a head? That's me. They wanted someone who could play a bunch of different instruments, or at least pull off the image of someone playing a bunch of instruments. So they stuck me on the drums, the bass and the keyboards with a big green cloth over my head held up by a piece of cardboard that stuck onto my head via a hair-band. After that, I played the triple roles of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly (where I am convinced I make a fat cowboy). El director Tony played Vegas Elvis (it constantly bugs me that no-one chooses to present pre-Vegas Elvis, back when he looked like a badass) and Serena C pops up in hot pants as a cowgirl riding a rocket. Other cameos include Patrick Teoh, Jason Lo, Sharifah Amani, etc. I think this was my first paid acting job. That is, if you discount the time I played 'henchman#3' in a Xena-knock off and got paid with a chicken burger without the bun. Wrath Another gig at KL Jam Asia with both my bands, happening this Saturday. Come, you bastards! Come HARD! |
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