A musical evening @ Book Xcess

On the 4th and 5th March 2011, the Book Xcess bookstore organized what I call a mini live gig at their store in Amcorp Mall, Petaling Jaya. They call it Music Appreciation Night. The place is just a stone's throw from my office and about 15 minutes drive from home so I thought of paying it a visit and tried to see what was it all about. The bonus was that if we RSVP for attending the event through their Facebook, we'd get a free membership and a book thong that night and if we're already a member, we'd get a free gift of pre-selected books. The free membership is rather cool, isn't it? So, why not? Furthermore, I was intrigued as who would be the local young talents whom they brought out to the spotlight in the first ever event of its kind for the bookstore.

The gig started off a little after 8.00pm after sound checks and equipments testing. It all happened in that little, cute space that they have in the middle of the bookstore where they had gracefully put the newly acquired piano. The opening band was The 'A' Band which consists of 6 young guys who I assumed as friends of each other. They had 2 female back up singers with them that night. They sang several songs; Baik Baik Sayang (Wali Band) and Kau Ilhamku (Man Bai), just to name a few.

The 'A' Band

The second talent to perform was probably my favourite of the night, a 17-year-old kid named Herman Ramanado. Oh, he belted out cool songs like Fix You by Coldplay and Wonderwall (Oasis) so effortlessly while playing his guitar. He has a really nice voice and successfully spiced up the tunes in his own way which I enjoyed. His taste, I think, was well suited with various groups of listeners as he also chose to do a classic Frank Sinatra number, In Other Words (Fly Me To The Moon). Interesting choice of songs. And preferring genres like funk, soul, reggae and real R&B for a young kid like him is interesting, in my opinion.

Herman Ramanado

Another talent worth rooting for is the young band hailing from Klang, How Should I Know. The band captured my heart with their cover of Taylor Swift's Back To December, which is my current favourite song right now. They performed several more songs afterwards including a Malay song. These guys might probably be no more than 18 years old as in the introduction the MC said that they were friends since 4 years ago when they were merely 14-year-olds. And yet they have already won several competitions around Klang. They can go further up if things going on good.

How Should I Know

The final act of the day would be my first encounter with Mr. Azmyl Yunor. I've never heard of him before and yet when I read the introduction of him that night, I had a feeling that he's going to be fun to watch. And indeed he was. Equipped with a guitar and harmonica, Azmyl performed five of his self-written English and Malay songs with great energy, yet he maintained a modest, laid-back presence, with occasional playful, good-natured remarks. Perhaps dear readers can find him in the internet domain well enough as he has his own website, Myspace and Facebook, and also featured in Wikipedia to know who he is. He promoted his latest independent cd that night and I got the chance to meet him in person, had a small conversation and bought the cd with his autograph on it. Yeah, I could say that I was quite stoked in a way. A really nice guy.

Azmyl Yunor

In the end, it was really a night of appreciation of good music. Unfortunately, I couldn't attend the second night for some reason, headache and fatigue being two of it. Therefore I cannot make a review of it here. However, I was glad to attend this event. Good music brings good vibes. Haha...me and my vibes!    

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p/s: I'm thinking of uploading the videos I recorded, so until I've finished figuring it out, keep yourself posted to this blog if you are interested in watching.. :)  

Katakanlah Kata Kata

Aku kagum dengan orang yang boleh bersuara demi kebenaran. Samalah juga dengan orang yang tidak segan menyatakan pendirian. Begitu juga dengan orang yang tidak mudah gumam dan kelu apabila dilawan.

Tapi....

Aku tidak gemar mendengar sesuatu perbualan berunsur kritikan mengenai orang lain pada tahap yang berlebihan. Memang kita berhak meluahkan perasaan tidak puas hati kita. Tetapi ..... perlukah kita berlebihan mengkritik seseorang seolah-olah orang yang kita perkatakan itu sangat bodoh dan tak ada otak? Sedangkan orang yang diperkatakan bukanlah sebegitu... mungkin kadang-kadang kita tersilap, kita kan insan. Kadang-kadang tersilap cakap. Sometimes, people can be harsh with their words when it is concerning other people. Tapi kalau tentang diri sendiri, tahu pulak berkata yang semua manusia boleh buat kesilapan. Itulah kita.

Mungkin aku juga pernah begitu tanpa disedari. Tapi harapan aku agar aku tidak akan sekali-kali merendah-rendahkan seseorang dihadapannya mahupun di belakangnya. Dan, kalau aku ingin meluahkan perasaan tidak puas hati ku akan seseorang pada satu orang lain yang aku percaya, haruslah aku menjaga lontaran suaraku agar hanya didengari oleh orang itu. Dan menjaga tutur kataku agar tidak berlebihan. Jika ia bukan untuk pendengaran orang lain, jadi mengapa perlu sebaliknya, kan? Dan lagi, kenapa tak sound direct je kan pada yang berkenaan? Hmm...nak sound pun, agak-agak la berhemahnya, janganlah kita terjah je, kan? Orang lain pun ada hati dan perasaan.

Understanding the exquisite..

Can we admire and be perplexed at the same time?
Can we admire something that we do not understand?
One can't help but to wonder, how the mind works.....
how the eyes see
and which is more powerful in perception
the eye, the mind, the heart
or all of them?

...or am I blind...

Some can be understood if one has prior knowledge...

And some are down-to-earth natural...
















..in the end, it depends on how do we perceive it...in what way we see..

...still untitled...

I was doing my work....until I came to a point of static. . . . . . . . .

Contemplating this....where do I belong? Where am I going to put myself in this chart? The place is going through constant development, but nothing seems to stick through. I wonder if this situation is caused by indecisiveness or development in slow-mo. I do not prefer half-done work. And I am not fond of waiting. I want to finish this, but I don't know where to put myself in it.

Maybe next week, there will be some answers. Answers that may cause me headaches and anxiety, but hopefully I can persuade myself to relent. If I am not willing to do anything here, I have to be at someplace else. Even though I may not like it, I would just try. I don't have to pretend. I don't have to be afraid. I'm tired of self-deprecation. I am tired of this battle.

What you said is true, my dear. Let go of the little things.

Apa itu rocok?

(Nota kepala : Penulisan berdasarkan sudut pandangan dan perasaan si penulis semata-mata, tidak mewakili si empunya karya dan produksinya.)

Malam tadi aku menonton teater, terima kasih Cik Azreen.....walaupun aku hampir ketinggalan mengikutinya, biasalah...orang yg pernah fail geografi masa skolah dulu mmg ada masalah ini (speaking for myself only)..apa kaitan fail geog. dgn teater...entah, suka-suka aku je nak kaitkan..huhu..Apapun....

Apa kes?

Merocok-rocok

Sapa punya kes?

Paradoks Production

Tempat kejadian?

Stor Teater, DBP (...kenapalah bagi nama stor...??)

Dari pertama kali aku dengar, aku dah tertanya-tanya..pekebenda merocok-rocok nih? Adakah ia sesuatu yang ganas, berseni atau lucah? Jangan dicari dalam kamus online, tidak berhasil. Temuilah jawapannya pada si pengarah...kerana hanya jauhari mengenal manikam...tetiba je.

Makanya, ganas? bolehlah...sebab ada pembunuhan.

Berseni?...of courselah, nama pun teater...satu cabang seni

Lucah?...err..taaak...sensual sikit ada..heheh

Love. Lust. Betrayal.

Penceritaan berkisar tentang perhubungan. Perhubungan cinta yang tidak kesampaian. Cinta yang bersegi-segi, mungkin. Cinta dan kepuasan cinta. Kecurangan. Dendam. Cinta tanpa pedoman. Penceritaan diselang-selikan dengan randai, yang mana, dari kaca mata seorang yang tiada latar belakang seni seperti aku, perlukan sedikit pertolongan dalam memahaminya. Penghayatan yang mendalam. Aksi bersahaja dan kadangkala spontan, selitan jenaka yang menghiburkan. Secara ringkasnya, seorang jejaka pernah berkasih tetapi keadaan menyebabkan kasihnya putus di tengah jalan. Menemui kasih baru, tapi nasibnya masih sama. Jejaka sangat terluka. Bekas2 kekasihnya itu menemui cinta baru dan membina keluarga. Namun, perkahwinan yang awalnya bahagia tiba-tiba dibayangi kecurangan pasangan masing2. Pertemuan semula dgn si jejaka ini membangkitkan memori lama dan ..... Apabila pasangan2 ini berdepan dengan masalah perkahwinan mereka, keadaan menjadi tidak terkawal dan nyawa melayang. Si jejaka menjadi suspek utama. Diinterogasi, dinilai pakar sakit jiwa...akhirnya, kebenaran ditunjukkan. Mungkin si jejaka tidak melakukannya, ....tapi boleh percaya ke dia tak terlibat 100%?  

Apapun, mintak maaf adik kakak, teater ni dah abis... 

Good work. Tiket RM20? Takde hal...lagi best dari beli tiket rege sama tapi dok nun jauh kat seat atas kat IB...

Studio Ghibli Craze...

I first watched an animation production of Studio Ghibli (SG) when I was a teenager. However, at that time I didn't know the existence of SG. It was Laputa. Many years later, I watched Spirited Away and loved it. Still I didn't know about SG. In fact I didn't remember when did I know about it. SG has produced numerous brilliant animation since 1985. What I love about these productions is the story, and the theme for some of them, because there's a certain theme which I never found in any animation. The creativity, the imagination. Remarkable. Even for the earlier ones when there wasn't any digital imaging or high-tech process. When I found out that my niece have the compilation DVD of SG productions, I was struck with joy and borrowed it, of course. My, there's a lot more good stuff I haven't seen, I realized later. So, all of the followings are the "good stuff" that I have enjoyed so much viewing....

Grave of The Fireflies (1988)

Grave of The Fireflies

This is the first film that I watched. And my, it was really touching. Usually we see animations as something of fun, hilarious and interesting. Well, this one is really interesting...but sad. It is a heavy emotional depiction of individual struggle in war-torn zone. The era is at the end of WWII in Japan. A tale of two orphans, a boy (Seita) and his younger sister (Setsuko) and how they had fought with their lives to stay alive after their parents were killed in the war. The two ended up staying over at an aunt's house, who was kind at first but after some time, when the war was prolonged and the food was rationed, the aunt became hard on them and resentful. Feeling that they were no more welcomed, Seita and Setsuko found shelter at an abandoned bomb shelter and made it as their house. The story ended tragically and I was teary-eyed at the end. There's no propaganda or ideologies in this film, just plain strokes of images telling a story of the aftermath of war to ordinary, simple people.

Ponyo (2008)

Ponyo

This story is very cute indeed. It is about a fish-girl (it's referred to as goldfish in the film) who is very adventurous. On an outing with her overly-protective father under the sea (who was once a human but said to be frustrated with human's attitude in contaminating the sea, he transformed himself to be able to live under the sea), she escaped to see more of the world but got 'tangled' in a mishap that landed her near the house of a cute 5 year old boy named Sosuke. The two just clicked together. Sosuke named her Ponyo. After that, it was an adventure when the father started to look for Ponyo and succeeded. But Ponyo was strong-willed to be with Sosuke that she escaped again, bringing together a massive tsunami that engulfed the island town where Sosuke lives. A lot more adventures as Ponyo transformed into a girl, Ponyo helped Sosuke to find his mom after the tsunami and the finale where it depended on Sosuke's feelings for Ponyo, that if he really loved Ponyo, she would stay as a girl and live with his family, but if he couldn't accept her, she'd return to the sea. One curious matter is that, unlike in other stories where children normally call their parents "otoo-san" (father) and "okaa-san" (mother), Sosuke calls his parents by name. A little odd there, I think. But a lovely story, love knows no boundaries...and forms, isn't it?

Spirited Away (2001)

Spirited Away

I think this movie is well-known by most people, since it had won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature. This fantasy story is full of adventure and good lessons to be learned as it tells the story of Chihiro, a girl, who reluctantly followed her parents into an abandoned amusement park as they found it when they were lost in the way to go to their new house. In a string of events, her parents turned into big, fat pigs and Chihiro was left alone to save herself and her parents. In her adventure, Chihiro would encounter many kinds of characters in many forms of creatures. Topping all that is Haku, a mysterious boy, and Yubaba, a kind of sorceress who runs a bathhouse for gods and goddesses. There's a lot of fun elements in it and we would see Chihiro's transformation from a sulky, whiny and timid girl into a brave and courageous girl with a big heart. There's no true protagonist in this film, since all of them changed for good after meeting Chihiro...(well, I couldn't speak for Yubaba..). Haku is 'kakkoi' (cool)! 

The Cat Returns (2002)

The Cat Returns

Another amusing fantasy-adventure feature where the main character is Haru, a shy and modest teenage girl who were sort of 'emotionally tortured' by her feelings towards the most popular boy at school, who seemed to already have a girlfriend. A courageous act of saving a cat from a traffic accident, led to a series of dumbfounding events afterwards. The cat was actually Lune, a Prince in the Kingdom of Cats. After promising to repay her kindness, Haru found herself treated to cattails, catnips and...mice! The King of the Kingdom, however, has bigger ambitions and wanted Haru to marry his son. Haru was then adviced by a 'beautiful voice' in the air to look for a big white cat who can lead her to the Cat Bureau, where she could find help. The big fat cat was Muta, and although complaining all the time, he did bring Haru to the Bureau where they met the Baron, a really 'cool', debonair male cat. Haru was kidnapped anyway, but Muta, Baron and their bird friend, Toto went to the rescue. They landed inside the kingdom where Haru changed little by little into a cat. Here, the message is to stay true to oneself for as Baron told Haru, the more she lost herself in the world of cats, the more cat-like she'd become. Then the challenge of maze ensued where they have to escape to the portal to go back to human world but the King was adamant in keeping them. Finally, it was revealed that the Prince had never intended to marry Haru. Later, some matters were revealed as who was the 'beautiful voice', who was the person (...or cat) that Lune would like to marry, and who were Muta and Baron. They finally escaped although their effort was nearly broken by the 'crazy' King. After the event, Haru returned as a more confident girl and didn't matter about her the boy of her crush anymore.

Whisper of The Heart (1995)

Whisper of The Heart

Oh, a lovely teenage romantic love story. Tsukishima Shizuku is a bookworm and reads voraciously. She frequents the library and borrowed lots of books from there. One day she recognized the same name in the library card for most of the books that she had borrowed. 'Amasawa Seiji'. It seemed that the person is also a reader as he borrowed many books before Shizuku. So, Shizuku started to wonder and fantasized about how would the guy be. At about the same time, she had a few encounters with a boy who enjoys teasing her with insensitive remarks and made her feel irritated. Anyway, one day, while following an interesting cat, she came across a cool antique store owned by an old man and there she saw a doll of a cat, which is the same as the Baron cat in the "The Cat Returns" (if you watch the previous movie before this one, you'd definitely recognize it) But in this movie, there's no magical fantasy, the doll is just a doll. Shizuku is totally mesmerized by the kind old man, the doll and his store. To cut long story short, the boy is actually the grandson of the old man, and he IS Amasawa Seiji! Before that she learned that Seiji is talented in crafting violins and playing it. Even his grandfather has a three-piece band played together one evening with Shizuku on the vocals. The story revolves so much on the song 'Country Road'. What's interesting is that the two fall in love but very modest with their feeling and just reflect their feeling through indirect conversation. Another interesting point is how love make them feel inspired by each other to find their callings in life. And how sweet the meeting at the end...aahhh, cute love.

Ok, I haven't finish watching all movies in the compilation. Maybe afterwards, I'll find more movies to my liking. Until then, I enjoyed so much the above ones that I watch some more than twice. Great entertainment!

Movie : Black Swan

Depressing. Confusing. Mental madness.

Well, this is a psychological thriller after all. The theme? Ballet. The backdrop? New York. The issue? The talent to play the Swan Queen in the upcoming 'Swan Lake' production.

It's dark, and deep. And at times, intimately sensual. We get to see the main character here is Nina, a talented ballerina from a prestigious company in New York. Thomas LeRoy, who is producing a new version of the classic and famous Swan Lake, is looking for a new star for the main role, to replace the aging veteran star, Beth. Nina, among others, attended the audition and is selected for the production. But for playing the Swan Queen, it's another story. Thomas thinks that Nina is perfect for the innocent White Swan but lacking the energy for the devious seductress in Black Swan.

So, for those who are unfamiliar with Swan Lake, don't worry, we will be educated about it in the movie. For simplicity, let me just say, a princess is turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer and the only way she can be human again forever is a faithful eternal love. When a prince falls in love with her, the sorcerer sends another disguised as the princess to trick the prince and succeeded, thus, the spell remain unbroken and the swan princess will forever be a swan. The only way to break free is by being dead, so the princess kills herself. There's more to this story but in the movie, it stops at this point. For the story's purpose, the same ballerina should play both swans, that's why the selected ballerina should be able to act for both characters.

Back to the movie, we get to see that Nina has a competitor for this role, Lily. We also can see that Nina has some issues with herself and always having hallucinations, which at times are really scary. She lives with her mother who seems to be overly protective (whether that's the effecting reason of her being 'crazy' or the affect from her being 'crazy', I don't know..). Sometimes, I wonder who has more unstable mind here, Nina or her mother.

Anyway, in the end, after getting the role, dealing with her hallucinations, and being a perfectionist, she masters both roles, especially the Black Swan. But will she able to do it all on the real stage? As her hallucinations becoming more elaborate and real, can she differentiate it from the real world? Can she save herself from ..... herself? We will have all the answers and we will know Nina's level of appreciation for her role in the Swan Lake at the end of the movie.

Deep. Dark. Depressing. Maybe causing a little suffocation..

bed time story

..lemme jot down a few lines, before I go to sleep..and call it a day..

within a couple of days, i have a few new tasks to solve
a bunch of blog drafts waiting to be finished and published
a bunch of other 'to-do's as a human being, and a good citizen...blah!

yet at times, i feel definitely bored

we dream
we hope
we wish

when will it happen

a.f.f.o.r.d.
a mighty word

r.e.g.r.e.t.
an ugly word

l.o.v.e.
a beautiful word

i am thankful that there are kind souls who really 'get' me, and accept me for who i am, and never make me feel down
they are not many
but they are q.u.a.l.i.t.y.
i hope, that's who i am too, for them

s.m.i.l.e.

Good night! Sweet dreams....

..dared by ms. christie..

MPH Subang Parade, 15-02-11

I was torn....arrrggghh!!

Going Places : Sanriku Area Part 3

Allrighty..., now we are on the 3rd day..please click on the links if you haven't read day 1 and day 2 yet...

27th May 2009: Ofunato - Kamaishi

Before I started writing this, I wondered myself, why it took me more than one year to put all these experiences and memories in a blog, it's not that I didn't have a blog before. But finally, and anyhow...to say of doing something, or to think of doing something, is wayyyyy much easier than to actually do it. So never mind that, glad that I could write it anyway, let's move on to my story for today....

In the previous post, I left you all in Ofunato, the small harbour town, located on the southeastern side of Iwate prefecture...we did some more learning stuff there before we later moved on to another city, Kamaishi.

the view of Ofunato Bay from my hotel room

So, while we were still in Ofunato, we visited the Ofunato City Hall, we had a lecture there and then together with the resource persons we went to several places to learn about their disaster mitigation systems....

Mr. Sasaki, the officer in charge of our trip in Ofunato

At the fire department's control room, we 'made acquaintance' with some tough cool guys...

These 'tombstones' are actually memorial stones set up as a remembrance of the past tsunamis in this part of the country...

macam batu nisan...

i honestly didn't remember where i took this...

During the trip, I had the chance of enjoying the local sweets...or cookie..er, whichever..called kamome no tamago (seagull's egg) which was of course, not actually seagull's eggs..but made of wheat flour, sugar and butter in the shape of a seagull's egg..it's yummy..

Kamome no tamago

We also went into a forest to look for a treasure...

into the forest..where robin hood n merry men jest..?

The interesting part for us, other than learning and seeing new stuff, was that at some places we had some people from the local newspaper and tv network following us, taking our pictures, and interviewing us for their newspaper and tv news. It was cool, of course. They were covering our stories, about these guys and girls from foreign countries coming to their country to learn about managing disaster. Thanks to our sensei, we get to keep the copies of those newspapers and the recording of the tv news with us.

me being interviewed..with the help of Okada-san in interpretation 
(thank you Titi for the picture..:))

Finally, it was evening and we had to hop on to the next city...Kamaishi...

..there they had more marts and markets..but like the other cities, the place had the laid back atmosphere and peaceful environment..

you don't really need to look up to find your way..

...and tomorrow would be another journey...

to be continued in part 4...