So so many things had happened for the past few weeks man! And oh…before I forgot, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

Days pass by so swiftly…and I didn’t realize it, but yesterday was actually the last day in class for our Advanced Diploma course. OMG!! And we didn’t even take pics to commemorate that special day! I didn’t even spend much time with YY and Lydia. Guess most time I spent with yesterday was with Mr. Big, KF since I sent him home. And since he is not going to the UK, I guess I was supposed to say a more meaningful bye-bye, rather than just dumping him at his doorstep haha. As for YY and Lydia, I know I’m gonna see them again haha…I can just drive to YY’s and make her belanja me makan haha…And speaking about Lydia and YY, it’s gonna be Lydia’s burfday soon! 

Well let’s talk about Lydia a little then…she’s like the most adorable and blur friend I’ve ever met. Sometimes, when you spend time with her, her blurness just makes you laugh your butt off. But no matter how blur she is, she is so caring and nice and to have her as my friend is like one of the most wonderful blessings ever. I remembered once I had like a very bad fever, Lydia came down multiple times to check on my temperature. My little sis, who was then my roommate, just left me there on the bed to ahem…die. LOL…not that I care lar…but still~ then when see saw how nice Lydia was to me, she even asked Lydia why was she so nice to me. Well, Lydia is just so nice. Having her is like having a really kind and compassionate big sister. That time, I felt so grateful and touched by what she did for me. Lydia is a friend that must be treasured. This year…hehe…we’re gonna make her birthday a great one (I’m gonna give a huge KISS and LOTSA HUGS…Chris Richardson will find a way to forgive me hehe)…she doesn’t read my blog so no secrets are out yet. If you guys have any brilliant ideas in making her burfday a memorable one, plz let me know. 

But seriously…IT’S THE END OF THE SEMESTER!!! And I’m gonna miss every single one of my classmates!! All of YOU GUYS!!! The next time we see each other, could be during the exams (or Lydia’s birthday cuz we plan to invite everyone)…and after that…yeah…a long way to go~

                                          (Pic taken during last Christmas party @ Nic's)

Sigh…this semester was not satisfying at all. It just comes and goes like that. You get nothing out of it. Just 5 hours of class…I know I’m complaining again, but then, it’s true! 

Oh…also something very important is happening this weekend…my cousin Shereen is getting married! YAY! Finally… someone is my family is getting married. I know I’ve said this before previously, but this weekend is it! The ceremony!! 

And…this is an important announcement also…and it’s a change in my life that I’m really happy to go through. My whole family is finally moving over to KL. The 5 of us shall now be unified as one again. I guess my mum is still very uncertain and unprepared for the move, but I really hope she could fit in. I really like the warmth of the whole family being together. I mean, previously, I had like 3 places I call home (Ipoh, my dad’s place in Cheras & the hostel), which is cool, but then, sometimes, you just wished that there’s this absolute cozy place, in which you can really chill and settle in. And home is really home when you have your mum and your dad with you. Call me a pampered brat, but I really like mum her because she’ll clean up after me, which is always a good thing lol. Like today, haha, when KF was in my room, I was pretty embarrassed because my room was REALLY …ahem…messy. And not only that, the thickness of the dust on certain items in my room (such as the 3 in 1 milo packets, the chairs etc) I think scared him a little. Aiya, actually I prewarned that friend of mine about the condition of my room and I made him promised he won’t comment because I know he’s like my dad – he likes things clean and tidy and organized *slaps head*. You should hear what my dad told my mum about me and my room. Lydia prior to this has also nagged me a couple of times about the cleanliness state of my room haha. YY, well, she is in no position to say anything since her room is somewhat like mine, except the fact that she has got now a 12-hour maid (sorry Eugene) to clean up for her lol. But anywayz…I thank all my friends and family for being honest la...
But I still feel that messiness is actually a form of identity. Identity is very important okay~

Anywayz…ALL ME FRENZ READING THIS…my new home has been officially reallocated to Cheras on January 5th and of course you guys are welcome to visit ;P...
If you don’t wanna see my face, then plz stay away from Cheras then lol…I’m serious!

Recently, to reward myself for the endless hours of burying my face in laptop in order to complete the assignments, I watched 3 movies – “The Midnight Meat Train”, “Wild Child” and few hours ago I watched “Number 23”. My favourite among the three? - “Wild Child”.

Okay I’ll admit that “Wild Child” is another teen flick – yes, with the same standard storyline that you’d basically get to watch in most teen flick. Themes – love, school, hot boys, friends, rebels…biarch, biarch and yeah, more biarch… that’s about it. But if u don’t like teen flicks, well, just watch to check out how hot Emma Roberts is. 

I don’t think that i need to tell u in detail the storyline. Basically it’s about a rebellious American girl who was sent to boarding school in England by her dad. Yes, as the story goes, she hated the school…bla bla…then met some friends and then…impressed the hottest guy in school…and yes, finally realized how much she actually liked the school. Needless to say, it’s very predictable. But then again, who says PREDICTABLE cannot be equivalent to NICE right? 

So overall, I like that it’s simple and in some ways very inspirational, especially the last part, when you see how proud her father was with her. I personally was holding back tears when watching that part. Overall, I’d definitely recommend this movie to you, especially when you’ve had a rough day and you just want to watch something not too heavy. Plus, the lead guy, Freddie, is so sweet.  He's not like the super handsome kinda guy, but he certainly has a certain charm that makes girls adore him. 

My next pick would be “Number 23”. Yes, I am aware that many reviews have only bad things to say about this piece of work by Jim Carrey. I mean, Jim Carrey in a non-comedy. To me, it’s always weird. Well I love movies with twist, and this one has got one. It is somewhat similar to “Secret Window” actually…it’s just that it sort of links everything with the number 23. In the movie, number 23 is like a curse. So if your life is in any way connected to this number, you’re cursed. Actually, I think it’s all in your mind. In the movie, Jim Carrey is too obsessed with the number and therefore, he just keeps linking stuff to number 23. But I dunno, if there is a number that is linked/related to my life, then it has to be number 11. I was born on the 11th, and my house number is 272 = 2+7+2=11, and in every way, I just love the number eleven. But 11 to me is more a lucky number than a curse. 

The problem with Number 23, for me, is that it’s too draggy. There were a lot of elongated sex scenes in the movie that are unimportant. I mean, I understand that in some ways, sex (or violence) sell and usually both comes together. However, when u inject too many of these elements inside that doesn’t contribute to the movie, the movie automatically become seen as trash. One thing effective about this movie is definitely, I think, the sound effects. Many times I was shocked by the sudden thuds and crashes. Either it’s because I have a weak heart, or because the effects were really good. The good thing about this movie though is that it has a good ending. At least to me it is good. But overall watch it when you really have extra time to waste.

Lastly, “Midnight Meat Train”. For me, I would advice you to watch this movie only when you are DESPERATELY BORED and THERE IS REALLY NOTHING LEFT IN THIS WHOLE WIDE WORLD THAT YOU CAN INVEST YOUR TIME ON.

Ok, is it that bad? Well…sadly, in my point of view, yes! It is a psychoanalytic film that fails in terms of a worthwhile storyline. Psychoanalytic movies are all about extreme violence and sex. I could be immune, but I think that the violence in the movie just doesn’t work for me. I mean, yea, some parts are definitely ghory and bloody…and not to mention, revolting. But for me, I don’t really get satisfaction watching scenes like these. They say psychoanalytic movies fulfil your pleasures because when you watch those actions, it somehow releases your inner desires to commit such acts in this world, but can’t due to the moral institutions set by a realistically driven world. 

I would say I’m biased because this is not exactly the kinda movie genre I like, but, I’ve watched psychoanalytic movies that at least have better meaning than this one. I mean, the ending of “Midnight Meat Train” seems so… forced. It’s like, something that is suddenly created just so the movie has an explanation for the ending. Nothing at the beginning of the movie provides indications that lead to the ending. It’s like, anything can be the ending. I don’t know but I just don’t enjoy that the mystery behind the killings is such a lame and uncreative. But then again, I guess psychoanalytic movies all have simple storyline and meaning because the main point is to excite viewers, not inspire or awe. Truth be told, if you just wanna see this movie based on how exciting and brutal this movie is, I can tell you that you can find many more violent and insane movies out there – eg: The Dentist, Silence of the Lambs. You don’t need this one to excite you at all. I don't like this movie, no! But yeah, you might have a different opinion.   


And most lastly, comments on JT’s blog on S.H.E Balls!! (I really wanna make it clear that it’s S.H.E. Balls! With an ‘s’ ya…it adds another meaning to the title) 

JT’s BLOG LINK: www.jiatengmovie.blogspot.com
(Read it to understand where I’m coming from)

First of all, I wanna kudos to JT for his fab reviews on all our works. I think JT could be one of the best movie reviewers in future haha. But every review is a statement of personal opinion, and even JT himself agrees to that and has made it SO CLEAR in his blog. So I guess I am also entitled to counter-comment his comments right? Well, basically, when I give comments, I’ll usually end up writing lenghty grandma stories (yes, since I have not written for so long, you have to expect this to be a long post)…so I would therefore provide my point of views here, in my own personal state, instead.

Let me start by saying this…wrong poster! Sorry but our team dislike that poster so much because it kinda represents our IDENTITY (again, like I say haha identity and image very important) There are also grammatical errors there which are intolerable.
The yellow poster just reminds us of those ciplak Bollywood movies and therefore, we have a better one, which is red in colour…REMEMBER TO UPDATE YA JT! And together in this blog…*TA DA* the final poster! At least better than the yellow one…in my opinion, so no offense.

                                                                  (The Poster/CD Cover)

                                                                              (CD Back)

I would also wanna take this opportunity to give credits to my lovely cousin, Doreen Chew, who is a professional graphic designer-artist-illustrator and I’ll just call her pure creative-genius. She did this poster in a few hours, last minute due to my desperate pleads and the results were already good. If she had more time, I can assure you that you’ll see a definition of beauty.

Her website link, if you wanna see how cool some of her other works is:
www.doreenchew.com

Anyway let’s get back to JT’s comments. Like I said, he’s short and precise = good. No wonder Ms. Ras also like his answers ;P
I appreciate his comments on S.H.E. Balls…I truly do because they are honest. 

I agree with JT on the editing. Maybe we didn’t realize it but yeah, we did repeat the editing techniques multiple times. 
The beautification scene (in which KF was turned into a horrific version of Rainie Yang) and the training scenes were supposed to be montages. It was basically my fault for wanting so many montages. But the reasoning behind it i– 20 to 30 minutes short drama, too many things to convey – so packed it into a montage. Besides, that’s how teen flicks usually do scenes like this. 
But then again…I think the editing team is fantastic because they managed to come out with a product like that, seeing that we really have very limited shots.

I think JT is right when he says that we are greedy. I totally AGREE! Haha…we are a bit too ambitious in the sense that we wanna do everything. I guess, in some ways it’s a good thing because we really got to try various stuff, which was indeed an experience for us – for example, Bollywood style, love & romance, comedy and though we failed, we did try to do sports oriented film. 

We failed because we really should know that a movie’s theme should be simpler and more focused. A good movie maybe just needs one or two themes, which should developed in thoroughly and comprehensively to make the themes more memorable. And usually meaningful movies do not need fancy fancy editing to compliment the storyline, because it stands alone. That I know because I love movies with simple but inspirational and momentus storyline – such as Kite Runner, Music & Lyrics etc.

I’m really glad that you like the twisted ending because Mr. Jerry didn’t. We all wanted an unexpected ending because we know S.H.E. Balls is very predictable all the way. Mr. Jerry wanted the lead actor & actress to end up together, (according to YY since I wasn’t there for the evaluation) which in my opinion, would make S.H.E. Balls PREDICTABLE ALL THE WAY & IN OTHER WORDS BORING! If I was there during the evaluation, I’d make that super clear to Mr. Jerry.

S.H.E. Balls was definitely a risk. And to be honest, wouldn’t be able to succeed if not for the bunch of people in the group. I can honestly tell you that I am not a person who can come up with comics like that. If the whole project were solely mine, it would have been on social issues…because as much as I like comedies, I know I can never pull out a funny movie. Only my friends, with their talents, can. 

And also, I’m really sorry but I really dislike the fact that everyone keep saying that SHE Balls is funny because they know the cast members. Not true at all. We’ve run tests around with our other friends and family, who has no relationship what-so-ever with the casts and they actually laughed too. I just want to make that clear. Most of them liked a few parts – YY’s fan scene, Bollywood scene, KF vomit scene.

If you ask me, it would be much more accurate to say that only Malaysian audiences will laugh at the show because I can assure you the ‘kwai-loes’ (foreigners) won’t understand the comics in the show, because of culture differences. We laugh at different things. I’ve experienced these a couple of times. I realize that Malaysians are sometimes more lame and goofy in their presentation of comedy. Some American and British comedies are wittier, but for those that are not, they are even lamer and stupid. But no matter how lame, if the comedy makes people laugh and had entertained a few good people, I think it’s good enough lar. Like “Don’t Mess With the Zohan” is one of the most repulsive, lame comedy I’ve watched this year, but many liked it. I like Zohan because of its meaning, but some like it because they were humoured. The conclusion – different people, different opinions.

“You laugh because you are entertained by their make up and acting, in fact, there is nothing to laugh with”

I want to seek some explanation from the person who made this comment. I’m sorry and no offense ya but I think when you watch a comedy you’ll be entertained by one or all of these - the lines, the acting or the make-up. We’ve fulfiled 2 out of 3 criteria. 

I don’t see what is wrong with making people laugh using make-up and acting. A comedy aims to make people laugh, regardless the means, if it makes you laugh, it’s a comedy. 

EG: Last time during my intern, I was working on set of “Duhai Si Pari-Pari”. The fairy’s father appeared everytime in ridiculous outfits. Like once, he wore an alfro hairdo, once he was Elvis, once he was a cowboy…etc…I thought “Wah lame betul! Wat’s so funny about that?” Then, I saw everyone passing by laughing. It could be because of the bounciness of the alfro hairdo when the father came out from the cab. No one expected an alfro dude inside tha cab. For me, I was immune because I saw that shot like multiple times that day, but I realized that comedy can be as simple as that. It made people laughed, it could have made somebody’s day better. 

It can be an extremely stupid method, but I don’t see any problem with making people laugh using make-up and acting? In fact, I thought if the acting makes you laugh, then the comedy worked. I admit though that the lines weren’t exactly that chic and clever, but I can say we tried our best with it. ;P Maybe there’s nothing to laugh with (actually not sure what that means…sorry I’m so shallow), but there is, hopefully, something to laugh at. Haha…


I agree with JT, and I believe that the whole group agrees that the match part was too long and draggy. Personally, that I know is the truth, but I really credit KF and Eugene because I know that doing that part is not easy at all. It might look easy but that part was the most screw up part because we really have very very limited shots. And with what we have, KF managed to arrange all the shots to make the whole match come together. Maybe it’s just me, but I’m impressed because if you ask me, I wouldn’t have the patience to do that. The match scene itself took almost 3½ days…

Though it turned out to be one of the worst parts in the movie, I still credit KF and Eugene for making the best out of what we have. Everyone can criticize that part, but since I know how hard they worked to make that part work, I think for me, their efforts had made that part great in its own way. 

We had taken some time to re-edit some parts of SHE Balls during the beginning of the semester, and mainly what we did was try to cut short the match scene and do some minor lighting adjustments. 

Lighting is something that I don’t like at all. I don’t like studying it, and I don’t like applying it in theory. For extremely good lighting – you need good lighting equipments. For us, it’s difficult because we don’t have that. The production crew I worked with has an entire truck packed for all lighting equipments, and all we have was…well 2 small 800 W lights. But then again, lighting is again something so subjective. An extremely bright scene can be criticized for its bad lighting, but also can be credited for its ability to create certain moods in a particular scene. There’s nothing perfect about lighting, just how you see it and of course, who is directing it haha. If Steven Spielberg includes a blindingly white scene in his movie, viewers will perceive it as good, brilliant technique used to enhance the scene etc etc…it’s usually like this, even in other situations – when a person of authority says or does something, usually people will highly credit it.


In the industry, producers usually make a movie for commercial reasons and that is to make $$$ (My company’s producer always wants that). 
Personally, from a producer’s point of view (I dunno abt my other groupmates), my aim with SHE BALLS is first to challenge myself. Secondly, I want to do something different from the artistic movies that our senior present to the lecturers each year. Plus, I know that with the group members we have, an artistic movie is not a good choice because we are not good at Cinematography and other related aspects. For example, you can’t expect Steven Spielberg to direct an artistic movie too right? They can try and therefore we also can try that some other time but that was our only project then and we wanna do something we’re more confident and comfortable with. And I think our group is more suited with the comedy genre. Thirdly, I just feel that I’d want to produce something that can make people laugh because I always believe that laughter is the best medicine. No matter how sad you are, a good comedy can wash off all of your troubles. For me, when I’m sad, I just go to the comedians in my class haha. 

But also, with SHE Balls, even though it’s a comic all the way, I just hope that people would see the implicit meaning in it. Believe it or not, I tend to less stereotype transvestites after the production of SHE Balls. Really! I somehow understand how it feels to be stared at and discriminated because I have somehow hung out with a few (Sexy, Easy and Honey) of them myself. And even when we were shooting SHE Balls, you see the public’s reaction towards them. That’s why we usually let them hold the camera, so that people know that they are acting. It’s so sad because Malaysians still finds it hard to accept this group of people. I hope that SHE Balls does help change our perception on Transvestites also lar, even though, yea it’s like we’re making fun of them also in the movie, but we really mean no harm.

The idea and script I suggested to my group was for something meaningful…a love, friendship story which touched on various social issues…because like I said, that’s the kinda movie I’d love to someday make. Mr Jerry banned it because the scope is too wide. We won’t be able to compact everything in 30 mins. Again we were too greedy. I’d either make a movie that inspire and touched (something like “Who Will Care”, but more complicated and the issues I’d touched on would be on social issues) or one that would really entertain. So we discussed again the idea and Eugene was joking about this ‘ah-kuah’ and volleyball idea. The girls realized it! We wrote the script and handed in to Mr. Jerry. Lol…and the guys…well, as you can see in the short film, they are stuck in ‘chick-suits’ for a month hehe. They hated it, but no time to write a new script…sad but good~

My advice to guys out there:
- Never suggest stupid and lame ideas in front of just for fun, because girls might like the idea and then finalize it
- Never mess with the girls, because when we say we’ll do it, it means we’ll do it. Dressing up you guys in chicken outfits is not easy, but we can still manage hehe


So, yeah, really sad to say, if I ever become director or a producer, I don’t intend to invest my time on artistic movies, unless they are easy to understand and inspiring.

One more thing though, why the term artistic film for those boring movies with 10 minutes of long shots? No offense, but then, I consider every movie artistic because all are works of art, right? Even chick flicks or superhero movies are all works of creative people. So let me rephrase, 
“So, yeah, really sad to say, if I ever become director or a producer, I don’t intend to invest my time on movies with 10 minutes of long shots, unless they are easy to understand and inspiring. I’ll never do ‘What Time is it There?”

I personally liked “Who Will Care?” (a production by another group of friends of mine) most. Why? Because it is inspiring and meaningful. Okay, some parts don’t make sense, because of continuity factors, but still overall the story is simple, yet able to touch hearts. I learned from this movie that, some themes can be presented in just a very simple storyline. It doesn’t need expensive props or any fancy costumes. Just a camera and some human beings haha. Beautiful! 

It was a touching story….but didn’t manage to tear me up. Maybe I’ve heard so much and was hoping to be really moved but it didn’t happen. Maybe because I can’t relate to it. But whatever it is, it is one good film as it is meaningful and funny as well. Love it!

JT…my comments on ur group’s short film. Ehehehe…..”Jad…” opps….”PERFECTION”
One thing I really really like about this film is THE THEME! I love how the theme revolves around perfection…because yes, nothing is perfect. And even when you put everything that you think is perfect together, the outcome wouldn’t be perfect, or in fact, it could be a disaster.

I am the first to say that I am not a perfectionist. I know nothing is perfect. I like to do things as it goes, because I believe that life is about going with the flow and in the process, enjoying it. The good thing abt not being a perfectionist is that you are happy with basically the most fundamental of things. But if seen negatively, you are a person who isn’t motivated to go further and challenge yourself. You settle easily with mostly everything. I really hope that I’m somewhere in between lol….

Anywayz ‘Perfection’ is basically a film that basically expresses what I feel about perfection. To be honest, I really dislike people who seek perfection all the time. I mean, what you want could be beyond other people’s ability. Besides what is perfect? Everyone has different viewpoints. 
For example, Chris Richardson is the perfect guy for me…but ahem…NONE of my friends think so. Sigh…

I don’t really like hanging out with perfectionist, because they stress me out but sometimes, being overly obsessed with perfection is actually a mental illness. So I do pity people like this. Anywayz, back to “Perfection”. Nice theme – very good acting. But stunts are a bit …sorry ya JT…fake. Like when Pai Wah hits the guy from behind…cud be more convincing. Sound Effects also DARN GOOD!! The beginning of the movie…the intro to the movie is my fave part! Very very effective. The combination of everything is fabulous. It makes people want to watch.

The first two killings were good. But then later, like I’ve told you before, the story becomes predictable. You will know that she will kill guys for their ‘perfect’ facial features. Towards the end, no more excitement. The ending where Pai Wah kills her bf was a bit unpredictable, which is good. But I knew that her piece of work won’t be perfect even after all the killings. That I can predict after the first two killings. The poster though, I’m not so into. Well it’s a really beautiful poster, but it doesn’t represent the film. When I look at the poster, I think of a movie like Superman or something about space. It doesn’t go - “Perfection”.

But overall, CREDITS to you guys for doing such a challenging movie, since it involves violence haha. I like it. If that day during the preview I wasn’t so worried about my SHE Balls, I’d enjoy it even more.

“Jaded” I can’t really give comment because I was two times late for the previews, so I actually missed the whole front part of the film both times. Maybe after I get it I’ll comment on it. 

Today is Christmas and I thought it would be also nice to think about those people who are not as lucky as us…
This song is called “Nobody’s Child”. This song brings back memories from my childhood. When I was young, I listened to loads of oldies, thanks to my dad. I love oldies and this song is one of my favourites. The lyrics are extremely beautiful and it reminds us to help children who aren’t as lucky as us.

“As I was slowly passing, an orphan's home one day.
And stopped there for a moment just to watch the children play.
Alone a boy was standing and when I asked him why
He turned with eyes that could not see and he began to cry.

I'm nobody's child
I'm nobody's child
I'm like a flower just growing wild.
No mommy's kisses and no daddy's smile

Nobody wants me
I'm nobody's child.

People come for children and take them for their own.
But they all seem to pass me by and I am left alone.
I know they'd like to take me but when they see I'm blind
they always take some other child and I am left behind.

(No) mother's arms to hold me or soothe me when I cry.
Sometimes it gets so lonely I wish that I could die.
I'd walk the streets of heaven where all the blind can see.
And just like all the other kids there'd be a home for me.”


Yes, I know this post is too freaking long. So before I stop, (FINALLY! I hear some cheers) I think we should all take sometime today and in fact, everyday to ponder upon this. We should be grateful that we’re all warm and happy. Everyday is a blessing, and to me, that’s so true. Count your blessing and stop complaining. (or maybe just complain less lar hehe)



TAKE CARE EVERYONE
~Tammy the awesomist~