So I'm currently attending a course on Implementing Windows SharepointServices 3.0 and Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server 2007. We're on our third day through the course, and all in all it was quitegood. The course materials were fair, but the planning guidelines can prove to be quite useful for my purposes. Our instructor is very knowledgeable, a sharp contrast to the Sharepoint Designer instructor in our last training session. But I particularly like the fact that he wasn't just the total IT geek - currently he's doing research on human thinking, so during breaks he'd pose a bunch of interesting questions, and naturally I eagerly joined in on the discussion.
There's this girl in class whom Jayan would probably consider one who "thinks in black and white terms." We were talking about blogs in general and the instructor asks, "Why do you think people blog?" and immediately she shot out, "Narcissism," and "people love talking about themselves."
Now obviously she thinks the only blogs that exist in the world are ramblings of people about the meaningless and the trifle happenings in their lives (guilty as charged). But hello, there are tech blogs, help blogs, blogs set up for organizations to respond to comments from the public; and that's all she can come up with? "Narcissism?"
To another question, "What do you think, are people born evil or good?" She immediately answered, "Evil. We are all born as sinners." As if good and evil were a math formula with an absolute solution.
But that's not really the point of this post; during lunch break I went to this bookstore called BookXcess and OMG, there were sooooo many cheap books! No we're not talking used or damaged books here okay people, these are brand new stuff!! I totally went nuts. Who cares if I already have a ton of books in the backburner. Here are afew comparisons:
Tolkien's Children of Hurin (Hardcover) MPH: RM 79.90 BookXcess: RM 34.90
Guillano's French Women for All Seasons: A Year of Secrets, Recipes and Pleasure MPH: RM 45.50 (paperback) BookXcess: RM 19.90 (hardcover)
See what I mean? This is incredible.. I have no idea how they pull it off, my theory is that they buy overstocked items from other vendors.. or they somehow managed to get a good deal from the source. But in any case, I'm sold!
3rd floor, AmCorp Mall. To those of you who are interested.
<I was gonna do Puaka Tebing Biru and Chermin in the same entry, but guess I'll push it to Part Deux. Let's do this first, ya? >
Jangan Pandang Belakang
Figured I'd support the local film industry by answering the call to "belilah yang original" and bought the DVD for Jangan Pandang Belakang. Everybody said it was good, from the local media to colleagues to neighbors to PEP friends to the video store clerk, even, so that definitely piqued my interest. Perhaps 'twould be safe to allow myself to believe that Malaysia is starting to churn out movies with potential, and I wanted to see it for myself.
Besides, it was only $15 anyway .
Took it home, popped it in the player, saw it from start to finish, and my single-line review of JPB would be this: will somebody tell me what all the brouhaha was about, really.
Let's look at the list of awards and nominations (taken from Wikipedia.org):
Box Office Film (WON)
Best Actor - Pierre Andre
Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Ruminah Sidek (she was actually quite good)
Best Cinematography - Indra Che Muda Redzuan
Best Editor - Ahmad Mustadha
Let me also recall some of the comments I've heard about the show. "It was quite good, quite impressive for a Malaysian production." "It was one of the scariest local horror flicks I've seen." "I think it's something we can be proud of."
Are you frickin' kidding me? The script was unimaginative if not downright bland, and not to mention repetitive (if I hear "Dharma, kau kat mana ni?" one more time... ). I think Pierre Andre had some good moments at some points (e.g. when he got possessed by the demon thingy), although in general most of everyone's acting was quite kayu. A good actor can only do so much with a bad script, after all (*cough Star Wars Eps 1-3 cough*). But let's not even talk about Jalaluddin Hassan's 'acting'. He was doing this weird deep husky routine and was trying so hard to act macho and cool he just made a total fool out of himself. I don't know what exactly he's trying to do, really.
Ahmad Idham may be considered a promising director by many, but I'll have to disagree with his job on JPB. To be fair, at some points during the movie he did manage to make the fear factor work. But sometimes he'd bring the demon out and scare people with it, only to just kill the moment by making poor directing calls (ok, ok, poor IMHO ). One example is when Dharma was out driving and the demon came floating by alongside his car (Faizah's then reaction: gasp! ) The camera cuts to a long shot of Dharma's car stopping at a traffic light intersection and turning to the right, with the demon (now looking like a bedsheet and a mop stuck on a fishing line in this camera angle) still floating alongside it. In fact it turned right for a bit, if I recall correctly, after which it paused then floated upwards.
What la. That totally killed the mood/suspense man. The director really should've just let it float by the car and left it at that. Personally I think ghosts/demons that only appear in short glimpses and as you turn corners are way scarier than those that just stick around just a wee bit too long than they should. But that's just me.
Which brings us to the representation of the demon itself. Generally it didn't look too bad/fake (a bit mop-esque, but tak apa lah), but when it moves it looks like it was either a) standing on a skateboard, b) sitting on a chair with wheels, or c) wearing a pair of skates. And my god, while moving/floating it also puts its arms forward and does this twiddling thing with its fingers. You know, childish Halloween-bedsheet-ghost-costume-style . Then in one scene, from being completely fine and mobile and floating and flying on highways, it emerges from behind Dharma's kitchen cabinets, crawling on the ground and twitching and clawing. (Faizah's then reaction: "Sadako? ") I didn't even see the point of that scene, really.
Come to think of it, the plot was extremely thin. They exorcized the demon several times throughout the movie, and in the end they finally permanently got rid of it with the clever use of boiled corn. It just makes you wonder why they didn't just use the bloody corn in the first place. But then we wouldn't have a story to tell now, would we? And just like that Sadako moment mentioned earlier, a lot of scenes just didn't have any point nor seemed any way related to the plot at all; Dharma steps out of the elevator as another family all dressed in white walks in, and as the doors closed (unbeknownst to Dharma, as usual) the audience discovers that they had no faces, just black nothingness. Sure, I thought it was cool and it got me going "whoa" when I saw that scene in the trailer, but really, they were there for no good reason at all. They weren't related to the boiled-corn demon, weren't related to Dharma, and were never mentioned again for the rest of the show. So what the heck was that?
My conclusion: Our movies still need to work on their script and cinematography. And I think we should stop trying to stick a scary scene into a horror flick just because it's scary without really thinking about how it fits into the plot and the big picture. We've grown up hearing sooooo many cool ghost stories. Bring on some good plots for a change.
Keep on trying, people.
Dukun
Now here's a movie I really really really wanna see. In fact, I'm not alone either. Word has it that even international circles, from as far as the States even, have voiced their interest in it. Saw the trailer when I went to see Puaka Tebing Biru, and immediately I was left in awe, impressed, and freaked out all at the same time. The synopsis goes something like this:
"Based on a true story, Dukun is an exploration of the practice of black magic in Malaysia. In 1994, the decapitated and dismembered remains of a politician were discovered in the quiet district of Batu Talam, Malaysia. Further investigations led to female shaman named Mona
Fandey, whose services the politician had sought in order to boost his political career. Following a highly publicized and sensational trial, she was finally convicted of murder and was given the death penalty. She was sent to the gallows in
2001, and rumor has it that before the sentence was carried out, she had turned to her executioners and said, 'aku takkan mati'...
...'I will never die'."
When I actually heard that line said in the trailer, I was so freaked out; it didn't help that the awesome cinema THX sound system amplified just about every single crunch and thud her axe makes as it chops off bone and flesh . This looks like it might actually be worth to watch. I was so there.
But just when I thought we were finally starting to come up with potentially good horror/thriller flicks, news broke out that it wasn't gonna get released after all. Apparently the producers chickened out and thought it too controversial. Although I do believe the threat of getting their asses sued by Mona Fandey's family did give them quite a nudge towards making that decision.
Sigh. How typically Malaysian.
You know, I wonder, if Hollywood producers pulled every single movie the moment they spotted the chance of it offending some group of people, how many movies that Malaysians currently love and enjoy would not even make it to our shores?
Astro Shaw, whatever you may think about Dukun, just trust the public to be mature and intelligent enough to be the judge, and release the damn movie already.
Life has been good.I love my job and am thoroughly enjoying it,
I have colleagues whom I can truly call friends (and not just 祖olleagues・or
疎cquaintances・, and there痴 a certain person whom I really would love to see
and get to know more of.Sure, there had
been blips of unpleasantness here and there, but I won稚 complain.Life is good, and I知 really happy.
The floor feels rather cool against my
head.I know You can hear me, so・Thank
you.Really.
So I was assigned to compile materials for a creative assessment survey. They're thinking of making people interviewing for senior managerial positions take it, and use their answers as part of the evaluation. Well, given what I've dug up so far and submitted to Kak Mel, let's just say I won't wanna be in their shoes. Most of it's probably gonna be deemed too difficult and therefore unsuitable anyway, though.
But I digress. I was digging around for more stuff when Kak Mel pointed me to a Creativity Self-Assessment Test by CREAX. Told me to test it out, so I did. I won't tell you what I got, but on the results page, something else caught my eye.
Test takers were given the option to find out more details about how they fared against other people based on different demographics and yadda yadda. All you have to do was give your email address. What interested me most was the "IMPORTANT NOTE" (note bold, red uppercase letters):
"Please be assured that your name will not be passed on to anyone else,
and that we will not send you any advertising or promotional materials
as a consequence of entering this information"
Call me picky or cynical or paranoid or whatever, but I can't help but think the wording of this NOTE quite sneaky. Of course we won't give out your name, we'll just give out your email address. And of course we won't send you ads and all sorts of spam, can't promise anything about the people we sold your email addresses to, though .
But perhaps I'm the sneaky one who's always looking for loopholes in everything. Heh.
Damn a lot of stuff happened since I last wrote. I went in for
Orientation Week (more like 2-weeks, in actuality) on April 2nd @
Uniten, then went to the Sepang F1 track at the end of that week to see
the race. Finished off the remainder of Orientation before being bussed
off to Outward Bound Malaysia, Lumut, Perak, for 17 days of jungle and
ocean.
17 days came and went, and I was all pumped up with adrenaline from all
the so-called character building stuff we did when, supreme anticlimax
of all anticlimaxes, we were once again sent to Uniten, for a two-day
public speaking course. Any trace of OB spirit (all over me,
to-o-da-a-ay )
vaporized, I was once again the bored newbie, and the only shred of
memory that I have of OB is that disgusting bracelet of peeling dead
skin around my wrists. Charming .
This will not be an entry about OB. That merits an entry all to
its own. In fact, I already have it partially written, kept
private until its completion. Let's talk about other things while
we're here.
I'm sitting at my desk at my workplace, located in the South Wing of
the 36th floor of Menara TM. TNB Information and Communications
Technology division. This is where I'll be most probably, save some minor
changes in desk location and job scope, for the next 7 years of my
life. Unless I get switched to management. Then again
maybe not.
First day was kinda slow, didn't have anything to do so I spent the
whole day reading the NST and learning about this and that.
Second day today, attended a meeting for the first time. I was
asked to introduce myself; it felt weird being asked to
sit back down when I began to get up from my seat. I didn't have to stand, because in that
room, we were all equals. Executives. Rrrrright. That
word is now associated with me, the crazy person who only seems to
enjoy video games and music. Now that's weird.
As we speak my status in SAS is still
kinda iffy, as there are some disputes as to where they should put
me. But come what may, whatever project or assignment they throw
at me, I'm ready to take it head on.
Lifetime
>
. 
). I think Pierre Andre had some good moments at some points (e.g. when he got possessed by the demon thingy), although in general most of everyone's acting was quite 
) The camera cuts to a long shot of Dharma's car stopping at a traffic light intersection and turning to the right, with the demon (now looking like a bedsheet and a mop stuck on a fishing line in this camera angle) 
. Then in one scene, from being completely fine and mobile and floating and flying on highways, it emerges from behind Dharma's kitchen cabinets, crawling on the ground and twitching and clawing. (Faizah's then reaction: "Sadako? 
. This looks like it might actually be worth to watch. I was so there.
.
)
vaporized, I was once again the bored newbie, and the only shred of
memory that I have of OB is that disgusting bracelet of peeling dead
skin around my wrists. Charming 