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Where the hearth is.
Where the heart is.
Love.
Warmth.
Kindness.
Security.
Comfort.
A personal temple,
a solace,
a sanctuary.


One cell.
Insidious.
Multiplying.
So slowly,
so suddenly.
Like creepers,
growing,
enveloping.
Smothering with its cloying malevolence,
shrouding with its malice.

The flames of the hearth fade,
its dying embers a pitiful vestige of its luminous past.
Reduced to a star - cold, distant, mocking with its remoteness.

The heart slackens,
its throbs of life weakening,
its soul fading.


Slowly...


petrifying...

No day but today

Yes it’s the tagline from Rent. Beautifully poignant, those four little words encompass what so many self-help / inspirational / motivational / self-actualising texts are about. Really makes you think… well, the context of the whole movie / musical really makes you think, doesn’t it. We don’t know when our time is up. How long will we wait before we reach for the star that we’re meant for?

What do I want to do with my life? What do I want my life to mean? How do I want to be remembered? The movie / musical’s biggest song (Seasons of Love, sample from Amazon.com) asks ‘how do you measure the worth of a person’, answering with ‘in love’. I am truly blessed in that aspect, in that my life is filled with people who love me and with people whom I love. I know that if I were to die right now, I would be sorely missed. But that’s not enough for me. It’s nice, hell it’s great, but somehow, not enough.

In my wildest dreams my name would mark some scientific or computational law. The Johann Inconsistency Constant. Wacheh. Or some massive foundation. Or charity, or mission. Some kind of institution for the greater good. In my more domestic dreams it’d be roads, or buildings. I just realised that we don’t actually have many statues in this country. A super-bestselling book. Hell, a township.

All that would be nice and good, but what would it be for? THAT is the fundamental question. How do I want to contribute to society? How do I want to contribute to the world? What do I want me epitaph to be, besides ‘Good Friend’?

Sigh. Man and his eternal search for meaning. Excuse me a sec...

*gulp*

Aaahhhhh….


Broken Bridges just had a press conference yesterday. As cool as it all sounds, with the press having a preview of the musical and all the lenses trained on us, it was very not unnerving for me. Surprisingly, considering the last 3 times there were press around I almost collapsed into a massive pile of twitching nerves (once at a rehearsal, see Monday’s NST; once at Shan’s Sew & Soul PC; once during one of the Acting for Beginners class). I think the “visualising” I did with Carliff earlier in the day helped – we were just reflecting on how far we’d come (we did Acting for Beginners together, and had no other prior experience) and seeing a packed Pentas 1 cheering us on.

The preview Joe laid out flowed really well, showing each and every character and showing enough snapshots to entice but not reveal. I understand that the press were suitably impressed, though a quick Google today revealed nothing new. We’ll see in a couple of days’ time. But Pentas 1 rocks. Superfly equipment and space and stuff. Wow. We’ll be working there over this week, together with mics – practically the real deal. How cool is that. Fuwah!

At last, I've found a good English word that sounds like my surname: limn. Having had my ears subjected to a variety of poor homonyms such as limb or limp (and their associated jokes), this is good news indeed. Clan party!

I am finally using Blogger for Word. This entry has been completely done using it. So far so good, but having gotten used to doing it directly in Blogspot, it feels a bit strange. I suppose it’s good for the guilt-conscious as it’s Word you’re typing in, not a web log page. Also good for poor spellers. Something I learned – sometimes Outlook will block the Blogger toolbar in Word, so you need to close both and open Word first. Full details here. Just found out that opening a draft will screw all your whitespaces up. In English it means you’ll have to press Enter a lot after you load a draft. Can't load images in, so that REALLY sucks. Review will continue.

A Tribute

I want to start off by giving my most heartfelt thanks to the heroes and magicians of this weekend past. They have worked ceaselessly, tirelessly and devotedly for our cause: that of our music CD. They're already part of the production (with one exception), but I believe that the past 2 days were above and beyond what was originally required of them.

First and foremost - the hands that gave us tune, melody, timing and familiarity. The person behind them helped too, I guess.

But really, thank you so very much, Gen. Thank you for your consistent effort, rehearsing with us every single day, hardly ever getting a break. Thank you for your uncomplaining perseverance. And most of all, thank you for your unexpected yet great faith in me, giving me my seminal few minutes of fame.


He came to us, rising from nowhere. He took our hands, our throats, our mouths and our diaphragms; He showed us the path from vocal ineptitude. Favouring biting wit, meaningful snorts and unwavering focus; His methods were alien, yet highly effective. His many banishments include: unclosed words, indefinite openings, indefinite closings, invading snakes, boringness, emotionlessness and most of all, an MIC meeting that was threatening to form during 'Just This Once'.

Our future audience cannot thank you enough, Mervyn. And because of that, we cannot thank you enough.


The man in the middle, Terence, is our music man. He's the one who's currently compiling our songs together and running his QC on them: normalising, equalising, whateverfying. He's the man with the equipment whose last touch will make or break our CD. No pressure mate.


But thanks in advance.





And of course, the man himself. I know there's quite some way to go yet, but thank you regardless. For your lessons. For your encouragement to audition. For your giving me this opportunity, even though my voice wasn't quite Pavarotti. For your commitment. For your leadership.


Contrary to what you think, he's not contemplating some major production decision in the picture. He's thinking of what he needs to put into his chicken soup and whether it's too salty or peppery or if...

So lastly Joe, thank you for your chicken soup.



So, yes! We're getting our recording done! What was a possibility is now an ongoing reality! The whole process we'd been going through over the weekend was quite interesting. Got to see the backstage of KLPAC's stages. Very cool, makes a nice change from cramped make-do school hall facilities. There's lots and lots of space, with a big chill-out area called the "green room". Got to learn the spelling of a new word - vormitory. That's the entrance to the stage (for the cast) from the middle of the audience (at ground level lah). Hmmm nothing online on it... maybe it's made up by Joe. Anyway we're all quite happy about it, as you can see.

The mother-of-all-bitchass-thunderstorms (ie a baby typhoon) happened to hit the area while we were at KLPAC, so we weren't quite aware of flying roof tiles, Astro dishes and trees. However, we did hear that it was hailing, and quite a lot of water decided to come in and join our party. Yes, those are the sweepy-dust-scoops you see in the picture they're using. Mops were just too slow going. No, that isn't a highly polished floor you see - it's water. Lots.


And of course, with the rain, come the vagrants. Whether taking shelter and air-cond...

Or happily lazing or playing Sudoku...

They were summarily rounded up and warned that they could only do it Just This Once.


Broken Bridges is in today's New Straits Times! I've been told that there are more pictures in the hardcopy, and that I'm all over them. To be verified, but until then, cool!

Watched Rent (the movie, as compared to the musical) over the weekend. How bloody awesome is that show! The music's great, and the video work is cool, it just rocks! Love it love it love it... Seasons of Love is my current favourite song (so I'm late... by 10 years. Screw you), and I'd die to go see it wherever whenever. I wanna go get the DVD of the musical to see how they do it, and the soundtrack 'cos it's just sooooo awesome.


Okay gotta go grab a bite now. We're preparing for a press conference tonight, which is yet again pretty damn cool. My exposure to the press has increased infinitely this year... where before I'd be complaining about the dumbasses they write about, now the dumbass is me!

Twice in a day??

Yeah, a quickie just isn't quite satisfying enough. Twice a day everyday might be a little tiring though... how to do anything else man?


To: The Vatican City, 21st July 2006


Dear Coven of Cardinals,

I hereby submit as candidate for the office of Pope in your coming election Father Mervyn. His picture has been attached for clarity.

As vocal coach of the musical production, his contributions have been invaluable. He has elevated it to a higher level of purity and has made it resound with the many souls of the production and, I assure you, the upcoming audience. These many joyous and rapturous souls shall see salvation.

And truly, he has been a saviour to us all, for we have been given (from On High) a day of rest. With which I humbly submit this application to your kind attention; for his mercy, generosity and grace should not go by unnoticed.

I would further propose that, upon his ascendancy to the papal throne, he take on the appellation Pope Crocodile I - in recognition of his enlightening efforts upon us ignorant souls, without which we would not have noticed ants along the floor nor the slow excruciating removal of a pin from our antipodes.

Thank you for your kind attention and time. Amen.




Tomorrow marks a most exciting weekend. Another first time for me this year - being in a "sound studio" recording MY SINGING. Even now, if you went "your singing will be on CD for sale to the public" I'd snort "yeah what, for 'How NOT To Sing' is it". But it's true, it's real, and it's just about here. Pinch me. Eh, not there lah. Opportunist.

Tickets are on sale now. Official poster's out, too. Check it out. Awesome-nation!!! And maybe, just maybe, one day there'll be a poster with MY name on it, right on top. One day.

At the risk of sounding like a scratched CD, I am truly truly happy with the journey I'm on with this production. It's a musical awakening for me. I'm discovering how much I enjoy it all, even singing. It's really hard for me to describe my relationship with my own singing before, but it's a lethal mix of one parent singing a tuneless "Happy Birthday", the other's singing irritating me to headaches, and my own conviction of a lack of ability. Now, I really really want to enrol in serious vocal lessons and do a "Music of the Night" that would blast Colm Wilkinson out of the water. To beeee... the Phantom of Malayyyysia!

Okay so I've been watching too many musicals. I think I enjoy them on video better than on stage. Or maybe it's the subtitles... I don't seem to hear words very well when they are sung. Maybe the whole melody takes my attention away from what they're saying. Anyway I've been watching Hey Mr Producer, which has some truly amazing stuff. From Oliver's choreographical masterpiece 'Food Glorious Food' to Stephen Sondheim's works (eg Send in the Clowns, You've Gotta Have A Gimmick) to Five Guys Named Moe to Les Misérables. I'm hooked!

Maybe, just maybe, I'm living up to my namesake and am well on the way to bringing some music into the family.

A quickie

This one's short, I promise. Want a kuku ciao on remote? Check this out (I don't know if that's short). Heh I've always thought that men who drove 4x4s were compensating...

Now I've just been presented the biggest dilemma of the year. Imagine this. You've just entered the dodgiest strip joint in the city. Nope, dingier. No, sleazier. Yeah, add a bit of nasty there. A show's already going on. The woman is Horrendous. I mean, one look and your kuku will drop from 60-0 in no time flat. For the rest of the night. There are rows and rows of seats oriented to Ms Horrendibulous, but they're all filled with people. EXCEPT - there are enough seats in the very front row, dead centre, for you and your friends. Hooray. EXCEPT - Ms Horribility is shooting. Ping pong balls. From you know where. AT THE AUDIENCE.


WHAT WILL YOU DO...???

Of course turning around and walking out is not an option lah, otherwise it wouldn't be a dilemma would it. Ass.

Do you stand there like dumbasses in this dingy dodgy place or do you brave Balls of Nastiness to grab your seat?






I heard this tale over lunch today and I'm so thankful I have the friends I do.

Dramas high, low and everything in between (including mamas)

When I first got into the musical, I knew I was getting into some of drama. What I didn't realise was that I'd be getting into more forms of drama than expected... well, put together enough ppl and the shit stirs itself. What's sad is the lack of maturity in the party involved. Anyway what's done is done - people do what people do.

So are there any lessons to be learned from this?
1. Think about this - what are the stereotypical caricatures of theatre people? Self-absorbed, liable not to think before speaking, attention-seeking, trying to prove themselves, and the like. Given that you'd be in an environment comprised of such people, does it not make sense to grow thy skin a little thicker?
2. The secret to life, the universe and everything, besides 42. Learn. To. Laugh. At. Yourself. Don't make me go all Anthony Robbins on you. Oh what the heck.

Do you want more friends?
Do you want to be happier?
Do you want more respect?
Do you want to live easier?
Do you want less stress and stomach ulcers?
Do you want to exude maturity and sexiness?

What? I can't hear you!

The answer: LEARN TO LAUGH AT YOURSELF!

Fool.

3. Mai Kiau Sai, or Stir No Shit. People will joke, tease, bitch. Sometimes its at other people's expense. Sometimes not. Sometimes harm is meant, and sometimes not. It can be done to de-stress, to build camaraderie, to have fun. If you feel that the person ought to know what others are saying about him/her, think. What is your intention? What results do you want to create by doing this? What are the consequences of doing this? Are you sure you have a clear picture of what's really going on? You see, if people are genuinely being nasty for no good reason, and you stand up against that on noble grounds, lovely. You're a Hero. If you got any part of that wrong, you're a Dumb Ass(tm).


One of the ways I'm thankful that I don't live in the UK, is that I'd be wasting money on things from here. Cleverly called "I Want One Of Those", it's tagline is "Stuff you don't need... but really really want." And it's true! From foam-missile launchers (oh the pranks you could play in the office) to rubber-band gatling guns (your very own drive-by shooting!) to lightsabres (sorry can't find the other items' links anymore), it rocks! And it's not all boys' toys.

On the other hand, THIS would be bloody awesome. Earn London income, live in bloody Barcelona. Holy moly crappity crap! If you haven't been to Barcelona before, go. It is GOOOORGEOUS. Ok caveat is that you need to interested in culture. Antoni Gaudí has some seriously mental works of architecture there, my all-time favourite being La Sagrada Família.

It is a cathedral. Yes, bitch-ass enough to put the fear of anything into you. For scale, you would be about as tall as the shortest tree in the picture. Holy-mother-of-god (whoever that is) indeed. Wikipedia has the above picture in 7MB (about 2 desktops wide and 5 tall). I seriously believe that it is the embodiment of "fear of God", in contrast to other catherals (in my experience, St Paul's in London, Westminster Abbey, St Paul's Basilica and a couple more in Italy) where it inspires awe and grandeur and a certain humility. They shout "God is great!" whereas La Sagrada Família yells "God will whoop your puny mortal ass!"

You can actually go up one of the spires, cross that little bridge (Petronas Twin Towers' skybridge eat your metal heart out) and come down another spire. What is seriously scary about that is that the bridge is open-air. The holes in the spires are windows. Open air. You're climbing up and up and up these stone stairs, and the higher you go the more wind you feel. Does the spire sway to the wind? I don't know, but it bloody feels like you're going to fly off. It gets so damn windy and high but hell it's a fantastic rush. Love it.

The other big highlight of Barcelona is Las Ramblas. It's these flow of streets (where 50% of the street space is pedestrian) with lots of little shops and cafés with lots of street performances going on - mimes and dancing and whatnot. Looooove it. It starts at the Plaça de Catalunya (a square / plaza) and eventually ends at a tall statue of Cristobal Colon (aka Christopher Columbus) proudly pointing at the New World, which overlooks the Mediterranean.

C'mon, imagine this. Take a city. Plonk it between a mountain and the most beautiful sea in the world. Fill it with fiercely independent people who refuse to be told what to do. Who are apt to dress up for no reason whatsoever (I'm talking 3-piece suits here). Throw in an absolutely gila-fied artist / architect and allow him to build a meringue house, an astigmatism house, a rojak park (Park Güell) guarded by a cicak on LSD, and the most kick-ass cathedral in the world. Fill the land and the seas with plenty - fish, fruit, veg, meat, wine, aguardiente, cigars. Yes, I absolutely love Barcelona, I does.


Ahhhh episodic gaming. Interesting idea, is it not? Applying the concept that sells serials like Lost and 24 to gaming. Instead of packing everything into one (and taking all that time, space and resources), break it apart into smaller, more exciting (hopefully) bits that keep gamers more satisfied, more regularly. The dilemma I face is this: the first game trying this novel concept out is Half Life 2: Episode 1. They rock, and I'd gladly buy their games. Except the problem is that I'd have to buy original, in USD. I'd be paying about RM80 for a game that's meant to be done in 4-6 hours. I think the original Half Life 2 took 20+ hours to complete, and I think the original here cost RM160. So, value for money, no. For greater value for money, I'm tempted by their "Gold Package" or whatever they call it - a huge bunch of their original games for USD80. Except of course... there's a bunch of games I'll probably not play. Anyway, I'll succumb soon. When Episode 2 comes out.

Star Wars: Empire at War's getting an expansion pack. Called Forces of Corruption. Now that is one game I'm surprised I don't enjoy more. I was so impressed by the demo I bought the original, but I hardly play it now. Command your own Star Destroyers, with your own squadrons of TIE fighters and bombers, in a decently executed system. Cool right? Dunnolah. I think I've been spoiled by Dawn of War (check out Maybel's promotion of it) with its very fast-paced and varied action. Hope my enjoyment of it gets revived by this expansion.

I just can't stop yakking, can I? Must cut down my estrogen supplements.

KLPAC, my second home

Thank the Gods (Joe and Faridah) that KLPAC's gorgeous. Situated in a beautiful park in Sentul (seriously), with lots of glass overlooking lots of greenery, and the soul-numbing concreteness of KL feeling so far away; no noise of traffic, or the perennial hustle and bustle of people and machinery you get in cities. It's like being in the middle of Hyde Park - you can't believe you're right smack in the centre of London. Look at it!

(picture taken by Kelvin Tan, who does some truly beautiful shots. Check them out here.)

Seeing as I'm spending so much of my life here (3h weekdays + 4h weekends = 23h/week), it's awesome. What I'd do to make it my kind of paradise:
- have a juice stand. The JuiceWorks ppl (1 Utama, The Curve, MegaMall) would rock.
- have a lounge bar, a la La Bodega Lounge / Alexis. Make sure they sell cigars.
- have a reasonably-priced restaurant. Make sure they do good pasta. In fact, maybe integrate with lounge bar above: good tapas would be cool.
- make it all wirelessly connected to the Internet.
- convert one of the studios into my bedroom. Once everything's there, might as well right.

Hmmm come to think of it, it would be sooooo fantasticsimal if they could do a Buena Vista Social Club week or something - bring them in (or the Afro-Cuban All Stars, or equivalents), convert Pentas 2 into a den (a la Cuban social club / music lounge) and make it a themed event - dress your most 50's decadent. 3 piece suits, bowler hats / fedoras, feather boas, feathered everything! Hmmm fancy dress party, anyone? Or maybe one of those Murder Mystery nights! I don't really know how that works but hey, it could!

Watched Superman Returns recently. Check out what Maybel has to say about it (lots!). Not bad, but not great either. Preferred X-Men 3 (except for the "we're X-men!" line). Hell, right now I'm preferring Lost. Just watched episode 20 of season 2 last night, and it is one hell of a WTF moment. Very good. Of course, watching Lost requires you to have a big suspension of reality - why are all their clothes so damn clean? Why doesn't anyone have a beard? Where to they get all those sexy new clothes from? Why is their hair so well kept? Why doesn't anyone have a tan? Why is his botak head still so shiny? - okay a MASSIVE suspension of reality. But the fun premise of the show is that it's character-driven - the people are interesting, and things happen to support the characters. The plot weaves and twirls around the characters. And backflips and all sorts of extreme displays of dexterity. It's fun.

Which reminds me: one of the most fun things about being with Joe Hasham is his flamboyant use of the English language. He uses terms which I know I'll never hear anywhere else in Malaysia. In fact, he regularly provokes the feeling of "waitaminute, I've read that word before... what's it mean again?" from me. Recent examples include inscrutable and gesticulation. Of course he also has some seriously visual metaphors, like "we've got to grab them by the short and curlies", as well as totally WTF names, like "oi! Two dogs fucking!" Yes, he did call someone that, and not simply to be rude. No, no idea mate.

Had an awesome party with my cast and crew on Saturday. It's been too long since I've had one at my place, so it was great fun. Got to (watch people) play Scene It, which is a clever movie trivia game where you need a DVD player to play the game. Got to play Twister for the first time in my life, which is cool. Yoga helps. Haven't seen so many snacks in my place before, and haven't drunk so much wine in a while. Great fun. Eating, chatting, playing board games, eating some more, drinking, singing for cake, singing to the guitar... the simple pleasures of life. Lovely. Pictures when I get them from a gila woman.

Love is in the air...

Humans are horrible social creatures. Given ANY situation where there are a group of people put together for whatever reason, see what happens? They hug, thoroughly upsetting our DPM, who proceeds to reveal his lack of maternal love as a child ("No hugging, we're Muslim" - yes, God Almighty DID send a prophet to us to tell us that, thank you very much). They fight. They bitch. They call each other names. They gossip. They get into scandalous situations. But most (dangerous) of all, they fall in love.

Given that the cast and crew of Broken Bridges (BTW the writers were featured in Kosmo, a local Malay daily yesterday [Thurs 13th July] talking up the production and dropping Joe's name like it's hot) consists of 30+ people, that something was to happen was inevitable. But who might the protagonists be?

(cue music: "Love is in the Air")



(Eyes blacked out to protect their identity. If you can recognise them and you are NOT involved with Broken Bridges, please inform me.)

Disclaimer for the anal: these pictures are put up for humourous purposes only. Whether or not they are involved with each other, is NONE OF YOUR FUCKING BUSINESS. I will be very upset if you use these pictures for blackmail or extortion.


Unless I get a cut.

A weekend of sheer sexiness

What a sexy weekend it's been. There's been awesome progress on Broken Bridges - we've been working on the last few scenes of the play and it's turning out very very well. Quite an emotional rollercoaster. I think they should get Kleenex to sponsor Act 2.

The coolness news, we just heard today. There's a POSSIBILITY that we'll have an "Original Cast Recording" of all the songs from the play, on sale as a double CD. With some kind of royalties tied-in for us. How f*cking cool is that?!? My name, in an album?!?!? Fuwahhhhhh... imagine the day I walk in to HMV on Oxford Street (London, mate) and No. 1 on the hit list - The Original Cast Recording of Broken Bridges, the musical. Wacheh, the writers can tell Lloyd Webber to drop dead man.

This is the smile on our director's face on Saturday. Hallelujah, for He is pleased!


Talking about emotional rollercoasters, I was reminded of AsiaWorks. C'mon, it's all there - working hard, dealing with all sorts of people, emotional upheavals, speaking a different language ("blocking", anyone?), forming a new community of friends. And of course, the resident Darth Vader-equivalent (see left, with opposite emotion). For those of you who don't know what I'm crapping on about, it's an awesome training built around Abraham Maslow's theories on self-actualisation. In English, it builds up on some very useful life skills such as self-awareness, goal-orientation and leadership (ie working with people toward a common goal, or working with yourself toward a personal goal). Highly recommended.

Anyone ever observe China Chinese or Japanese people (esp young girls) taking pictures? Note that Koreans, Taiwanese, Hong Kongers and even other overseas Chinese (who emulate style icons of abovementioned countries) are starting to be guilty of this... crime. Allow me to postulate the "Law of 1-2-5" (originally attributed to a gila-fied woman who is pretty smart and funny). The law states that thou shalt only assume one of THREE postures at a time where a still camera (on video thou shalt look most ridiculous) is pointed at thy general direction.

Enter Exhibit A: Posture "1".

Presenting Exhibit B: Posture "2".

And lastly, Exhibit C: Posture "5".

(yes, it earns you friends)

Is there an exhibitionist, a poseur, an attention-seeker within each and every one on stage?








Now what would make you go and say something like that??

We went to watch X-Men 3 at the new Cineplex in the Mutiara Damansara area (IKEA IKANO TESCO The Curve et al). There's nothing there but a cineplex right now, and it's very Singapore. Lots of escalators and stairs. Awesome show, loved it. There's a part after the credits that ties in nicely with some of the things they talk about, and I think with the storyline in the comics as well. I can't remember much of the comics, except that they were awesome with very very good storylines that never shied away from hairy deep issues like racism and ethics and whatnot. Cineplex is so-so, nothing spectacular. Loads of advertising though - each screen is sponsored by someone, and Nokia's says "take a pic here with your new Nokia" or some shit. Erm... right, because my life is so meaningless that I have to take pictures of movie advertisement at a cinema? In between learning about new Nokias, of course.

Also had a quick makan at Sakae Sushi, which is at The Curve's boulevard or walkway or whatever they're calling it. Ordering system is cool (there's a screen on every table that allows you to click your orders in), there's also a conveyor belt, but the food's very mediocre. Service is quite lacking too, of course. I think my best experience with Japanese in KL is still at PJ Hilton. The buffet is heavenly... especially if you go with a friend who knows the chef - a personal massive plate of salmon sashimi is hard to beat.

Here's an interesting dilemma of manners or propriety: emptying the contents of one's nose into the sink. Is that rude? Is it dirty? Is it fine? Does anyone care? Is there any relation to peeing in the shower? Re blowing your nose into the sink, I don't see any problem with it. So long as the person doesn't get me with any of that crap, and cleans up after himself. I'll use tissues if there are people around, mainly because I don't want to hit anyone with my nose gunk (and have you seen my nostrils? It's like discharging a shotgun into a sink). What is disgusting is the English way of handling it: blowing into your hanky. And replacing it into your pocket. And reusing it later when your nose stuffs up again. And offering it to your girlfriend to dry her tears with. Blimmin' charming, innit mate?

I've downloaded Blogger for Word, but have test to test it. Seems quite clever though - you can do stuff to your blog directly from Microsoft Word, like edit and create. I've also added a couple of extra features on the sidebar on the right: a "chatterbox" and a unique visitor counter. You'll need to mess with some HTML code to do that, though it's not too tricky if you can think vaguely logically. The Blogger Help is really useful, and they're quite forgiving if you make mistakes I think.

Ok I think this post has been long enough. Jo out.

I have sold my soul to Google. To those of you who wondered if I had one, be assured - it's gone. My main e-mail is Gmail. My main IM is Google Talk. My predominant online experience is dictated by Google. Now, the deepest darkest ramblings of my heart (yes, I still have it... negotiations fell through) are belong to them.

"Why hast thou cavéd in to peer pressure and uséd the most commonly uséd blogging site?", I hear ye ask. Apparently it's easier to use - I'll know after a few more entries. It's quicker to log in to. And apparently there's a little app that I can add to my Word to allow me to directly update, without all the logging in nonsense. A full report will be on your desk in a few posts, m'lud.

Multiple AIM 2001 (plus or minus a year or two) award winner Rabbit was busying filming a music video for his latest single, My Mind, over the weekend. I was involved in a couple of scenes, shot at Bangsar Village. Very interesting experience - I've never had so much makeup on before. Foundation piled on and on, it took me about ten minutes to wash it all off. By the way, MAC, if you ever need a male model...

It was my first time in front of a camera (for a wide audience), and all the processes involved were so fascinating. Makeup and costume, to a briefing by the (equivalent to) stage manager, to a briefing by the director, to a meeting to my partner for the scene. We have a couple of practice runs, then an agonising wait. Camera + accessories set-up. Lighting set-up (which involved multiple cars realigning themselves to point at us from various angles). Camera crew briefing. Final makeup touch-up (involving lots of tissue for me - I was in a full suit, bathed in the accusing glares of multiple headlights in an outdoor car park), and we were ready.

Ready? Rolling... Action!

CUT!

Okay, one more just in case. Rolling... Action!

CUT!

That was it. The whole machine was rapidly propelling toward the set up of the next scene already. A bit of time to chill, get into a miscommunication about my makeup, and it was my next scene already. I think this involved quite a close-up on my face - I almost felt my nostrils swallow the scene.

There were a couple more scenes, which went along as above. What is most interesting is the contrast between theatre and video - on video, it's so fast. Wham bam thank you Jo. There's that quick moment between "action" and "cut" where you need to make it happen, and that's it. Of course, you DO need to make it happen lah. I don't know what they do if, on review of the recording, it didn't happen. Reshoot? Rework the scene? One thing's clear: they'll remember you for that.

In theatre, you will be drilled and drilled with practices to make sure EVERYTHING is congruent. Of course, you are presenting yourself for longer periods of time, and usually it's every single part of you. In essence, you could say that in theatre, you're "live". You cannot get away with being out of character at ANY time, on stage. On video, the camera is the mono-focused audience - once it's looking elsewhere, you don't matter. Even if you screw up in scene, it can be reconstituted or simply redone from that point on.

One of the production crew was just telling me that in his experience, people who do theatre and then get into video tend to do better than people who do video then get into theatre.
I can see why. Of course, whether or not it's true, I don't know lah. Either way, it's all about the character - creating, developing, getting into, reworking, believing, and staying in. And, like anything else in life, all this work is totally a matter of self-discipline.

I'll wait for the release of the video before speaking further on it. Guys, thanks so much for the experience, the patience and the friendliness.

It has truly been a most interesting year for me, and I'll relate more of my experiences with theatre and video and the arts and whatnot as they happen.

Something else that I forgot to mention: my MC-ing of my friend's boutique's PC! In long, that's "my being Master of Ceremony for my friend's boutique's Press Conference!" Hmmm I think MC is a verb now, too.


Check out the place - it sells brand name products for a reasonable price, and they're usually very nice things. It's called Sew & Soul, in Bangsar. It's in the Telawi area, next to Kiosk and upstairs; opposite the pondok polis.

Now that was an interesting experience. Conducting a fashion show. Greeting the press for the re-launch of a boutique. Describing the featured clothes the models wore. Calling a top "fun & flirty" (yes I did). My application for Queer Eye is in the post.


Okay this has turned out a lot longer than I expected, so I'll end my 1st post here, here.