Mamayang in memory

Lost my aunt last month. Her passing came to a shock for all of us in the family. She was like my 2nd mother. She was 62.

Did a music video in remembrance of her.

Al-Fatihah.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4IfkGxXTo0

A Few Good Creative Men

So one of my favorite movies is A Few Good Men. Superb acting, marvellous script and great ensemble of actors. And the most memorable scene, and I think most of you would agree, would be the one where Nicholson was being provoked by Cruise in the court during the court marshall. Breathtaking acting performance by both without a doubt!

And just now, as I was browsing through the Youtube, I bumped into this A Few Good Creative Men. Very creative indeed. I nearly fell off my chair watching this hilarious parody! Enjoy...

Another Way To Save Money On Petrol

Here's a very interesting way of saving our petrol money. This was emailed to me by a good friend of mine.
Back to the olden days!



Another name to this way = WALKING!

Crazy Midnight Petrol Sale!

So last night was indeed a midnight rush! I'm speaking about the Crazy Petrol Midnight Sale that happened, I believed from 6pm to 1am, last night. It was utter madness, both ways, for the Government and us. An increment of 40% is just too much and too fast! One minute, we got the impression that the petrol hike was going to happen in August, the next few hours, it was the next day. Cilakoi betoi!

And due to that everybody had gone crazy rushing to the petrol stations. Honestly, I don't blame any of us. However, the immediate impact was, TRAFFIC JAMS EVERYWHERE!!! Why? Because people were queuing up at all petrol stations everywhere. Really it was a domino effect.

Petrol Up = Rush to Petrol Stations = Long queues @ petrol stations = spill over to road = TRAFFIC JAMS!!!

Going back from work was crazy as it took me almost 2 hours from Desa Seri Hartamas to Kelana Jaya! And I don't even live in Kelana Jaya! It was just half way!!!! Due to the chaos, me and my girlfriend decided to have our dinner in Kelana Jaya since it was pointless heading back to USJ at the time. I pity for those who had made plans for the night, everything must have gone haywire. Sigh..c'est la vie in Malaysia.

Well-Respected Social Activist Toni Kasim Dies

I'm sad to announce the demise of a well-known women's activist Toni Kasim at 5am this morning. She was suffering from duodenal cancer (cancer in the beginning section of the small intestine) and succumbed to her illness at her sister's house in Batu 3, Shah Alam.

I knew her personally when I attended a workshop on creative scriptwriting organized by Kakiseni.com last October in 2007. She was a participant too. It was a brief encounter but she was very friendly, jovial and smiled a lot. And through the discussions we had I could tell she was very passionate in her work and beliefs. Only later I found out that she was a respected social activist focusing mainly on gender equal rights and have been serving more than 20 years! Indeed a great lost to our community.

Zaitun 'Toni' Kasim may God bless your soul. Al-fatihah.

The X-Files featuring Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Skull

My God! Never thought I would say this but the new Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was a big, big disappointment! I was so looking forward to the new Indy movie to come out but in the end I was totally devastated! Am I overreacting?? I hope so, but I'm not... This time Steven Spielberg and George Lucas have really done it, they have destroyed the legacy of Indiana Jones by producing this pathetic new movie that doesn’t fit to be even close to the other three greats. I'm extremely surprise that both of them can't see that this new edition sucks?? This is totally not an Indiana Jones movie it's like watching a bad TV series with bad acting and bad plot. Several reasons why:

1) Unnecessary/confusing scenes

2) Bad acting – extras (esp. the Russian army and the Mayan warriors)

3) Characters – very questionable

4) Weak plot – Aliens? You gotta be joking! This ain’t an Indiana Jones movie la. It’s the X-Files with Indiana Jones in it!

5) Predictable storylines

Here’s how it happened yesterday (22 May 08)

So I went to the movies last night even though I was sick. Why? Because it's the new Indiana Jones movie you prick! And I didn't want to queue up like mad this coming weekend just to get the tickets!! And thank God I went last night because it's not worth queuing up this weekend. I'm not joking fellas. Indiana Jones is dead, the movie that is. From the start of the movie I felt something was not right. It started off with an army convoy on an open road when suddenly a hot rod with 4 teenagers came out of nowhere and started to provoke one of the convoy to race with them. And one would think that this scene would go somewhere but it didn't. The convoy reached a junction and the hot rod just went out of the scene. What was the purpose of the hot rod kids? If Spielberg wants the audience to know that this sequel is based in the 1960s, I believe there are many other better ways of doing it la. There was also a scene in the movie, in the Area 51 warehouse, briefly; it showed the Lost Ark in a wooden box. It gave me the impression that the story would lead to more of this ark. Nope, nadda, zilch! I don't really understand.

“Then what was the purpose of that scene, Mr. Spielberg?”

Past Indiana Jones movies have well-known villains. In Raiders of the Lost Ark the nemesis were the Nazis, Indian Cult with child slavery and destructive cult rituals in the Temple of Doom and again the Nazis in the Last Crusade. It is as if Spielberg had run out of ideas, he chose the Russians to be the bad guys this time around.

"Better be dead than Red"

Rrriiighhtt... "better not do a sequel if it sucks" is how I would say it.

I don’t really understand why, in 1957, (the year specifically stated in the movie later on) a Russian colonel would want to find this crystal alien skull and return it to Akator (the origin of the skull) in order to have a special power with the help of our beloved Indy. Ironically, in the movie, never was there any instruction from Kremlin to pursuit this mission. Unlike the Nazis in Raiders of the Lost Ark, it clearly mentioned Hitler wanted the Ark. The same applies to the Last Crusade. But in this sequel, it is as if, this colonel is pursuing a personal agenda. Unconvincing enough the plot is.

Enter Colonel Dr. Irina Spalko, an evil KGB agent cum mad scientist aka the main villain, played by the very talented Cate Blanchett. She is obsessed with crystal alien skulls supposed to be able to give a person the insight of people's minds. "Knowledge rules!" Her motto I would assume. Well, it's not that she's a bad actor; it's just that she's not a good enough villain. For starters, her wig looked so bad. Her Russian accent is too. She is forever with her sword and only uses it to show directions! I can't even remember whether she ever killed someone throughout the movie. That's how 'bad' she was as a villain. And I don’t even want to talk about her 2^nd man, not worth mentioning. He even died halfway the movie killed by ants! Very tough this villain is.

Remember the bald guy that had a big fight with Indy in Raiders of the Lost Ark and finally killed by a plane’s propeller? I miss that bad guy.

Another character, George 'Mac' McHale, played by Ray Winstone, supposes to be Indy's old friend cum traitor cum double-crosser cum Russian spy cum Bling crazy cum... I don't know how else to describe this character!?! I mean, one minute he was Indy's old friend, the other, he's a double agent, and then later he's a CIA agent and lastly, a greedy bastard before he kicked the bucket! I'm so confused with this one.

“What is the purpose of this character Mr. Spielberg??” He's so irritating with his over-doing British accent and especially when he can't say enough the word “Jonesy!!" And there’s another character, Ox, played by John Hurt, which I’m not going to talk about at all. He's crazy anyway. Not worth going there.

And why in the hell did you bring in Shia LaBeouf when you under utilized him? This kid is an awesome actor and all he does in this movie is combing his hair!?

"Come on, Mr. Spielberg! This boy can do a lot more. Did you see his acting in the Transformers the movie?? Brilliant!!"

In Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Scums, he played as Mutt Williams, a boy who left school and chose to earn money via repairing bikes. So obsess with his hair and his bike that in one scene, he and Indy traveled thousands of miles to Peru boarding from one plane to another together with his big bike! And the best part was, when they reached their destination, there was no more scene of Mutt and his bike ever again.

“Why the heck did you bring your big bike half way across the world and then don't use it in any other scenes, Mr. Spielberg?”

Oh ya, this Mutt boy turned out to be Indy's son too!!

" Seriously it’s so corny and a sad way to know you had a son, Indy"

To make things worse, this movie re-introduced Marion Ravenwood played by the original actor but now double-the-size, Karen Allen. I don't know how the hell she suddenly caught up in the whole story and appeared in Peru, too. And, as expected, she is Mutt's mom.

“Mr. Spielberg, why must you bring this lady back in the new sequel? Why?”

This movie should be called "Indiana Jones & Family and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull"

Yes, there were some great actions, though repetitions of the same style from the past movies. In the end, after all these obvious story lines, the colonel apparently died after absorbing all the powers from the aliens, YES, ALIENS! And the whole ‘kingdom’ was actually a huge alien spaceship, YES, ALIEN SPACESHIP! After turning on its engine the spaceship just zapped off.

All these while, Indiana Jones movies have been based on histories of the world, digging out artifacts and how Indy tried to save these priceless 'world history' from the wrong hands. Suddenly there are aliens in the latest Indy movie! Aliens and aliens spaceship!? This is a joke, man!

“Where are you going with this, Mr. Spielberg?”

I am speechless la.

In summary, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas got their brains twisted with Indiana Jones, Close Encounter and the X-Files. Seriously, they shouldn’t have come up with the sequel. I believe when they had planned to do this sequel, there was not much thought through and did it just for the money not the fans. And the saddest part was, after the movie ended, as I walked down the stairs heading to the theater exit, it didn't feel like I just finished watching an Indiana Jones movie.

Personally, the last Indiana Jones movie was in 1989, and it was The Last Crusade. Enough said!

P/s: The Kingdom of Crystal Skull = Rambo 4. Get it?

VERDICT: 6 out of 10

Iron Man The Movie

I have to admit, I never was a fan of Iron Man. That changed last Sunday. I went to the movies after a long break to watch another Marvel superhero comes alive in theaters. The last movie was Jumper, a few months back. Well for me, a movie freak, a few months of absence from the movie theater is a long time.

So there I was with my girlfriend, after our 2^nd attempt to watch the said movie (I drove to the wrong mall 10 minutes before the show during the 1st attempt!) Got our booked tickets and had our stomachs filled, strolled to our seats with ease. Strange to see not many movie-goers during the weekends, the scenario was very much different if it was at the One Utama GSC. To buy the tickets alone, one has to ‘camp’ at the queuing line for hours at OU GSC! Maybe coz it’s at Sunway Pyramid, I don’t know. Not so happening as OU kot...

Anyways, approximately 2-3 weeks before that, I was exposed with the trailers, behind the scene program and the write-ups of Iron Man (aren't we all!) And, as usual, I got psyched up! But the fear of another superhero movie let down lurks behind my excitement. Therefore, I didn’t put much expectations or hopes that it will be a hit for me. But the one that really surprised me for this particular movie were 2 things; Robert Downey Jr. and the Iron Man suit.

“Robert Downey Jr. plays a superhero? More like a drunken superhero! Who did the casting ah?”

“Cool superhero outfit, though”

Fast forward: So my girlfriend and I was looking for our seats at the theater, right smack when the movie was about to start. The opening was ok. Straight forward, nothing fancy or whatsoever. Character description for our superhero for the first 5 minutes .

Tony Stark = super rich, good looking, super smooth with the ladies, super hardworking, brilliant and funny.

"Gosh! He could be my idol!"

The story flow was smooth. Each main cast was introduced accordingly. And I like the way the cinematography was done. Nothing too fancy but just nice... secukup rasa laa.. The story of how he became Iron Man also makes sense, logical and it reminds me a lot of Batman Begins (2005). Come to think of it, Anthony 'Tony' Edward Stark & Bruce Wayne are pretty similar:

1) Both fathers were very successful in business.
2) Both inherit the fortune
3) Both parents died at the early age
4) Bruce has Alfred, Tony has Ms Potts
5) Both have countless of super cars
6) Bruce has Commissioner Gordon, Tony has Lt. James Rhodey Rhodes
7) Both are normal human being

"Damn! are these guys related or something?"

Anyways, action wise was impressive too. My favorite action scene would be the fighter jets dogfight. Did I mention how cool the Iron Man outfit was? Superb soundtrack by Black Sabbath! And what is also good about this movie is that, it made me feel like a kid again! That would be the benchmark for any superhero movie for me. My salute to Jon Favreau, the director. I think he did a very good job in making the movie an enjoyable one to watch. And for Robert Downey Jr, what can I say? He made Tony Stark, he nailed it right on the d-o-t. Very, very impressive performance.

“Robert Downey Jr. plays a superhero? Damn! brilliant casting...still looked like he's drunk, though”

“And cool superhero outfit too!”

Having said that, 2 things didn't really hit the mark for me. First; I didn't particularly impress with Gwyneth Paltrow's acting. I don't know but I didn't really like her playing Ms. Potts. For me, I felt she was just being too conscious of herself (control jadi minah baik), too goody-two-shoes la, you know what I mean? Somehow, I guess, she is not suitable to be in a superhero type of movies. Yes, maybe Ms. Potts character is such but I would still rate Gwyneth's performance was below par. Would have been better it the character given to a newcomer like Amy Adams (Junebug & Enchanted) At least she's hot and younger. Second; The villain aka Iron Monger. What a boring , old fart, nemesis? Come on la. In one scene, he just got to wear the Iron Monger suit in like 2 minutes and suddenly he could learn how to shoot and fly sharply even better than Iron Man?? Puh-leeeze...

"Jon, please look into this for Iron Man 2, will ya?"

Oh yes! Iron Man 2 is already in the pipeline. Target to release on April 30th 2010. So overall, I feel that it is a very enjoyable movie, suits for all walks of life and worth watching. After all, this movie made ONLY $400 million in just 3 weeks!


VERDICT : 7.5 out of 10


p/s: did you know that Jon Favreau (director) was in F.R.I.E.N.D.S, portraying Pete Becker, Monica's rich boyfriend in a few episodes in Season 3?

SAM TV

So I just made another 6 month disappearing act again! Hahahaa... No point of talking about the past, let's move forward and talk about what's coming!

Am busy doing a TV production at the moment. Not so much on the content, as 80% is already done, but very much on selling the concept to potential sponsors. Several TV channels have expressed their intent. But what a switch eh, from the marketing sales world to the branding world and now the much anticipated move, my passion all along, the movie world! ...well, TV first la.

Not trying to become like the Mawi World, but more like 'what's-going-on-with Azeril Zolle's head' World that kind of world la. My first TV series is very much targeting on youth, Malaysian youth for that matter. Had the pilot episode made end of last year and the responses have been positive and obviously some negatives as well, but hey! I'm cool. Personally, I'm not the 'Syok Sendiri' type coz I find a lot of moviemakers, locally, are very much into that and in the end the project flopped. So that's the reason I did a lot of surveys, sat down with the youth, watched them from far and near, just to get that honest to God opinion. Homework is very important.
You see, I'm also the type that can take criticism. I'm open.

"If it sucks, tell me it sucks God damn it!" , that kind of thing for me. After all, I believe, my audience are King. In other words, I hate ass-kissers. Very dangerous, they are. And honest to God people are cool, obviously, coz they save you from tonnes of stuff, money, time and energy.

Another thing for me is that, my TV series will be different. What's the point of doing the same thing what others have done right? Therefore, by being different, chances are it'll stand out from the rest. God! Feels like I'm doing a branding class here... Differentiate Or Die!!!

So niways, I would love to share more details on the TV series but for copyright purposes, I don't think it's a bright move if I do. Plus, besides youth, I'm also doing other TV programs, targeting the masses, kids and a brand new reality show! So in the mean time, I'll keep you guys on your toes and keep your fingers cross, SAM TV might be coming to your TV screen soon.. well, maybe end of this year or early 2009 la.. :(

Do It The Six Sigma Way!

So I went for Friday prayers today (after some weeks of MIA). Had a good sermon at the Bangsar mosque, an eye-opener, really. Before that, I had lunch with Abg. Najib at Mahbub Restaurant. He had his specially ordered mee goreng, whereas I had the dull one. Didn't really fill me, but okay la.

After the prayers, I walked to the Bangsar Village, while waiting for Abg. Najib. He had to go to the bank for a while. So I went to the MPH store, rather small. I guess the smallest MPH in Malaysia! Waltzed myself to my favourite section, Brand & Marketing. Only 1 rack provided for their Marketing books, so just imagine how big the store was! As my eyes were gazing through the book titles, one caught my eye.

Sales And Marketing, The Six Sigma Way, by Michael J. Webb

"Six Sigma?", I asked myself. Rather interesting. All these while, I thought Six Sigma only applies fot manufacturing. Very much towards, production and factories and stuff.

Six Sigma, in general, simply means, a measure of quality that srives for near perfection. A disciplined, data-driven approach, and methodology for eliminating defects (driving towards six standard deviations between the mean and the nearest specification limit) in any process. Such a very strong definition, huh? I'm assuming these processes must be a complex one. I got this from www.isixsigma.com

"What the heck has it got to do with Marketing?", I asked again. It really got me curious about the whole process applying to marketing. I'm guessing the book will teach on how to apply the same techniques for production in sales and marketing. Cost cutting and improvising the existing sales and marketing process. Since next week, I'll be having a small operation, so I'll be on MC probably the whole week, I guess this book can fill my time.

I'll be updating you guys on the book, once I kautim it lor!

Kuntilanak - Julie Estelle In Disguise

Last night, after a busy day judging for the AIM, thought of relaxing my mind a bit by watching a movie. So I had a double date with a colleague of mine from the office. After dinner, we head to the cinemas at Sunway Pyramid. My girlfriend suggested the new Indonesian movie, Kuntilanak. I've seen it's trailer on the tv a few times, and it wasn't bad, plus the heroine, Julie Estelle looked boleh tahan cun la.

"Why not.", I said. And everybody else concurred.

RM44 for 4 tickets and some extra ringgos for the tit bits, we were off to Hall 2. Quite a nice spot we got. Everything was okay, as the opening of the movie was not bad. Not till another 15 minutes, some jakuns came in and sat just behind us. Up till then, everything went haywire! The movie started to look like a grade B movie. Having assholes babbling behind you while watching a movie really gets to me. I think most of you guys would agree with me on that. Anyway, here's the sypnosis of the movie:

- Sam has had enough living with her step-father who takes advantage of her. Having no job and money, she rented a large and cheap room, ignoring the fact that it is located in a haunted neighbourhood (btw, a really dumbass decision if I may add). Once arrived, the keeper of the house gave her a tour of the ancient house and told her of the history of Kuntilanak in that area. Funny part was, the house was filled with college students renting the rooms anyway. At the end of the 'tour', she sings an ancient Javanese chant that somehow tap's into Sam's body. Whomever she sings the chant to will die a horrible death. Things go out of control when Sam chants to her boyfriend, Agung, who then disappears mysteriously.

What irked me most about the movie were, it's bad acting and bad screenplay. I'd give some points for the hantu effects and cinematography but apart from that, everything was a B grade movie quality. Till the end, I can't really understand the plot and some of the characters in the movie. What was the origin of the kuntilanak? Why did the kuntilanak choose Sam as the medium to appear in the real world? Why didn't her boyfriend, Agung, killed as others?

Rizal Mantovani, the film director, did little to make the movie feel like a really good ghost/thriller movie. Most of the sets, looked very much like in a studio. Most of the 'killing' scenea were repetitive. Example - Sam unconsciously sings an ancient Javanes chants in front of a person, that person then gets a nose bleed (right nostril, everytime!). Sam would later vomit filled with ulat and stuff. Kuntilanak appears and kills the person. You will get to see the same sequence, 5-6 times in the movie! And can you just imagine, right at the end of the movie, everybody in the cinema hall, LAUGHED! I wish the director was in the cinema, as well. I feel, this movie is a really another "SS movie". (Syok Sendiri movie)

This movie should have been made as a telemovie as it doesn't meet the basic requirements of a movie. For me, it's the same standard as the Bawang Merah Bawang Putih telemovie. Honestly speaking, I felt cheated after watching this movie, as I expected much, much more. The highlight of the movie, for me, was seeing Julie Estelle wearing a nightie. That's about it.

VERDICT : 5 out of 10

CATEGORY: Another dumbass movie. Slighly better than the Sundal Series.