Quote of the Day

Trouble is only opportunity in work clothes.
~ Henry J Kaiser ~

Ways of the World

"You create your opportunities by asking for them."
- Patty Hansen


How serendipitous that the above quote appeared on my iGoogle the same day I got a very interesting offer. To not reveal too much, it concerns the website idea that I've been working on for the past half year, and how it (and I) would get funded. I was made a very interesting offer that I need to spend some serious quality time thinking about - the main issues being the time-investment required as well as the being accountable to someone else for this pet project of mine.

Then came recent conversations about the future of The Oral Stage - the direction it needs to go and what needs to be done. There's an exciting vision behind it all, so there's great potential and I've love take part in being responsible for it.

And then there's Agel, and then there's the acting. All great opportunities I asked for, and am now learning to juggle effectively and efficiently. Life is madness and I love it.


Funnily, all the above things reminded and led me to search for a book which I'd forgotten about - and to discover another one that I thought I'd lost. It has been said that this book, Conversations With God Book 3, can only be read when you're ready for it and I believe that (I only just found it again, didn't I). It IS a challenging read - mentally and spiritually - but thoroughly enjoyable and mind-blowing. The book I was actually looking for was The E-Myth Revisited, which I read about 2 years ago. I need to read it again now, having learned all I have since that time - and to think I only realised it when I had to look for it for Kelvin.

It's about running small businesses and I think it's a fundamental read for anyone who's looking to start a business or who's running a business.

A Freedom of Information Act? Here??

YES. We have a petition going on now for a Freedom of Information Act, here. SIGN IT!


Okay a little more explanation: as you may or may not know (but probably have suspected for some time), the new Opposition state governments are slowly discovering that there's a lot of dodgy shit going on, and want to make it right. They want to expose as much of it as possible, so we can all fix it - and that includes stuff in the other states, as well as at the federal level. In catchphrase format, they want more Transparency and Responsibility (which, by extension, includes Accountability) for Good Governance.

Ideally, a government (or governments) that is open in the way they do things allows for greater efficiency and creates citizens who genuinely care about what their government is up to - simply because it's their money and they know exactly what's going on with it. For longer explanations, read up this blog, which has a couple more links for more info.


At the end of the day, ignorance is no longer a valid excuse.

Sign the petition.

How I Learned To Drive Roadshow notes 2

We did our stuff at Sunway Pyramid yesterday. It was initially meant to be at SS15, but we quickly discovered that Saturday lunchtime is a dead time at that area - even Asia Cafe was quiet! The great thing that came out of that was a contact we made, with The English House (website under construction), who's interested in collaborating with TOS on stuff. They also take in part-time teachers, so that'd be an interesting lead to follow up on.We (eventually) ended up at Sunway, at the J.Co entrance. We negotiated 5 minutes with one of the many guards there, and did our stuff - it lasted longer than 5 minutes and we caught the interest of one of the mall management staff, so we scored our biggest point: permission, practically almost an invitation, from them to do our stuff there. Coolness.

Didn't collect too much, but the results were good for a virgin act. Now we have to plan our mall strategies - where we place ourselves based on our target market, based on where they'd go.

Also got to try out our new acts: Mexican wave-based tableaux, and word-/emotion- based tableaux. Not bad, I think it looks great. Hoping Nick/Amelia will come out with the pictures soon.

Ah yes, best part! I was having a good private laugh whilst performing as I saw a bunch of chef-hatted staff of a nearby restaurant ardently watching us. I thought that we even got the attention of some chefs. After we retired for a break and a debrief, lo and behold - they started doing their own tableaux, promoting their restaurant. Blatant and shameless ripping off!

But what can I say. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

How I Learned To Drive Roadshow notes 1

We planned a roadshow for TOS to raise funds as well as to publicise HILTD today, at Pusat Bandar Damansara (PBD). The intention was to set up an area opposite Menara Millenium (as it had decent office crowds) and put up a show - skits, mimes, physical theatre, tableaux, whatever theatre-/arts-related that could draw interest from a crowd. We'd have some performers doing the show, and some sandwich-board wearing people going around talking about the show and collecting donations.

We started with some difficulty - a couple of performers cancelled 25 minutes before we were to meet for briefing, and we almost gave up for lack of participation. After some brainstorming, we decided to proceed with just the sandwich boards and 1 money-collector - if nothing else, get the word out there about the show. And so we did.

We made 2 rounds around PBD handing out leaflets about TOS and the show, and me banging away at the metal pail with coins. Rhythmically lah. We found that it was really effective at generating interest in the show, while not so conducive for getting money - after all, who wants to be approached randomly or during lunch for donations? We then proceeded to set ourselves up at an open square in the middle of PBD, initially to rest.

We then proceeded to do tableaux to make use of the space and our time there. With our sandwich-board clad people spread around and me with the donation pail, we made poses and stood rather still for interminable amounts of time until we decided to change positions, in synchrony. More or less. And we had Nick Chin (who joined us at some point) go around and explain the situation to random onlookers, many of whom proceeded to pop a donation into the pail. Great job Nick!

We didn't make all too much, but I think we did a good job in getting the image of HILTD into people's minds. And we got the attention of a marketing company based there. And some encouragement from passersby. Lots of valuable experience, too.

So what did we learn?

• sitting still and asking for donations is better than going around demanding it
• putting on a show (even if a very still one, like a tableau) is worth a donation
• sandwich boards are better still than moving
• Malaysians aren't used to impromptu shows, so having someone explain it helps lots
• people enjoy shows and this kind of free entertainment

Some ideas for the next one:

1. Spread out tableaux with a nominated caller (to call out changes or even themes), a money-collector and leaflet / postcard distributors. Some of the performers will wear the sandwich boards. "Explainers" will go around the crowd and tell them that it's okay to take the leaflets and postcards and give donations, and talk about the show.
2. Lined-up mime show with a nominated caller + money-collector - every time someone donates, the caller will call out a word or emotion or a phrase (eg "Thank You!", "Joy!", "Selamat Hari Raya!") and the mimes will change position to reflect it one-by-one, Mexican-wave style. Another option is for the donor to pull up a list of lines from the script (eg "For blue balls") and the caller read it out, for the mimes to perform. We could even do that as a "selective pricing" thing - RM10 donations means a script read, or whatever.
   
3. TO BUILD A CROWD: we have 1 or 2 music-making instruments (ideally percussions) at the central location making some music. We could have some physical theatre going on. Then people with sandwich boards and leaflets/postcards could begin at far ends of the location and slowly make their way to the centre, informing people of a show. We could have a nice climax once all the sandwich-boards are there, culminating in a tableau that segues perfectly into the next show.
4. Physical theatre: we could have fluid sessions of these - nominate a director, who then nominates a musician, and then tells a story. Eg I could go, "Alfred, take the drum; Kelvin in the centre. You are in a jungle... now, Amelia jump in - you're a gorilla wanting to scare Kelvin away." etc etc.

Oookay that was much longer than expected. Anyway interesting day.

What's the key to working with film?

As an extension of the CLEO bachelor thing (and Kenny Sia's take on it), I was asked to be part of Deal Or No Deal. As a model. Yes, holding one of those briefcases. No, not in a dress.Contrary to popular opinion, it is not as easy as it looks. It was a rather painful experience as we had to stand there, look good and smile for hours. What looks good on TV isn't necessarily comfortable, so we had a rather awkward standing pose that was neither here nor there for me, and a horrendously wrist-breaking position to hold the briefcases while we stood and waited.

(click the image to try out the game at your own leisure)

Over the course of those hours, I had numerous people mention - oh you must be used to this, you must work with TV lots - and I had to reply numerous times that I wasn't, in fact, and this is one of the harder things about TV that I'm still learning to cope with. Basically, it's the annoying chunks of time between shooting that you hang around and wait for. Especially annoying because you don't know if it'll be 5 minutes or 50 minutes. Or 5 hours, if shit hits the fan.

With a different character to play, it's worse - what do you do, stay in character and try not to piss everyone around you off? Get out and rest, and resummon the energy and character when the time comes? Work harder and build on the character?

The problem is that of balancing character and energy. For a particular scene, your character is this way - and for the overall show, your character is this way (a superset of the scene, ie not radically different to that of the scene). Yet, a scene can be shot multiple times and in multiple times of the day - so you have to remember what your character was like at that time. Then comes in the energy part: your energy will fluctuate over the day, yet it has to be consistent throughout a particular scene and of course congruent over the whole show. And for an intense bugger like me, I burn up tons of energy every segment of "action" and "cut".

So my dilemma is this - what is the key to acting with film? How does one effectively manage the triangular scale of time, character and energy?

Some charity work, finally!

Through networking and the magic that is Facebook, I got involved with Soroptimist International's Charity Bachelor Auction this year. Nothing to do with CLEO's. Basically, what they do is get a bunch of bachelors and auction them off at a major dinner event. I suspect they'll ask them to do silly things on stage, probably perform their skills and all that. At the end of the day, it's all about doing things for charity - the auction is to raise money for breast cancer, and the purchased bachelors are to contribute their time for charity.

I've already done my pre-event work - spending time with the kids at Rumah Charis - and I loved it. I love giving and I know that I don't do enough of it to charity, so I jumped at the opportunity and had a blast. I think I actually feel insecure about contributing time to charity but anyway.

Earlier today I spent quite some time navigating the small streets of Pudu - and it is one labyrinth there, no doubt filled with hidden treasures - to find the design office of The Dude and The Duchess. Cool name eh. Cool office, too - one of those gems hidden in the rather ramshackle buildings situated along Jalan Sungai Besi (not the big sexy one that's been highwayed to Seremban but the kuchi-mayung one in Pudu).

Who are they? They are the ones who are dressing the tops of the bachelors of the event. I ended up with a faux jacket-vest combination which is damn bloody cool. Apparently it's a limited edition thing which they're only making 5 of, and right now I can't afford to get it. Dammit. Anyway, the label is launching next week at Bangsar Village 2 so look out for it! It actually belongs to a mover-and-shaker in the fashion and makan industries but I'm not revealing who. If the jacket-vase I wore is a sign, then I think they're gonna bring some much-needed oomph to male fashion in Malaysia.


Edit: found pic. Ignore the blur look on my face.
Ain't that a cool piece? And this was how I was told to pose:

How I Learned To Drive notes 1

Hard to believe that it's not even been a month since we started rehearsing for How I Learned To Drive. To fill you in, it's an amazing Pulitzer Prize-winning script (wiki) by Paula Vogel, and The Oral Stage (go check out the spanking new website!) is producing it in early June at The Actors Studio, Bangsar Shopping Centre.We've been rehearsing like crazy, at multiple venues and I've been told that it's coming along really nicely. That's a welcome relief as it started as a rather daunting project - small company doing really big play kinda thing, but getting into it revealed that the play doesn't have to be all that big. However, the director being the director, he has come up with an ambition plan for the set and the stage which, if we pull it off, will be mind-blowingly amazing.

I'd been involved with the production from early stages, running the auditions for TOS. Of course, it was weird when the director told me to audition at the end of the day - but I must admit that I was flattered when he insisted I play the part. We then worked together to assemble the team and I sincerely hope that the next month will see us getting beautifully aligned and working the play so artfully that the show will be a huge WOW!

Yeah I'm kinda excited about it. The script is fabulous, I rave about it about every twice a week. We've got some really good stuff in there, good talents, good people and good ideas. Ah yes, we have a production blog as well! Check it out here.

Here's a cool shot taken during our rehearsals:
Nope, no idea how that happened.

COME WATCH IT NEXT MONTH!!!

May, already?!?

Time flies. My 2008 just broke the sound barrier. My blog is like one of those pigeons that get sucked into jet turbines - okay it's not. It's been awhile, and there's so much to say that I don't know where to start. I owe you a whole load of shit, I know. So much has happened, so much is still happening.

In very short, acting career's going great. Getting lotsa work, lotsa exposure. Agel's kicking off again, and feeling fantastic. Lotsa new ideas coming in all the time, striving to get website grinding forward again and looking to make the card game really happen.

Behind it all, I'm shit scared. I'm worried. Income is not, deadline is. I owe a lot, and unless I work something out in these 2 months, I'm fucked. It's back to the 9 to 5 race, and that's one race I'm not interested in winning. I so dread the day that every time I thought of it in the past year, I dreamt of dramatic euthanasia - some spectacular way of saying "see what I was driven to"; a quickening of the slow, painful process. No, it's not a solution, but against the hard wall I'm facing, this hard wall that I've banged my head so many times against, nothing is enough.

But I'll find a way. I'll find my way.