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Saturday, March 10, 2007

300 is a film of sheer manliness

300 poster


Just came back from seeing 300, which is based on Frank Miller's graphic novel that I haven't read.

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

VIDEO: Happy Birthday To Me! Swifty Plays The Piano

On 6th of March, 1984. I was born.

Happy birthday to me. I love you all.

Decided to film myself playing the piano (yes, I used to play the piano) just because I wanted to do something I've never done before during my birthday.

Prefer the J-dorama version of Ima, Ai ni Yukimasu いま会いにゆきます over the film version



I've recently fallen in love with Mimura.

And I think it had to do with the Japanese dorama, Ima Ai ni Yukimasu.

Saturday, March 03, 2007

Screenshots of my short film, Girl Disconnected, on The Malay Mail!

On today's Malay Mail:

ROCKY BALBOA could be my favourite Rocky sequel (behind ROCKY 4)

Rocky Balboa punches Mason Dixon


Rocky Balboa, believe it or not, was a major childhood hero of mine, him, along with Spider-man, Raphael of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (the one turtle who seemed to rebel against everything the other three seemed to believe blindly in), and maybe er... Son Gohan of Dragon Ball Z (a person constantly living in his father's shadow). Even as a child, I related more to the underdogs, the rebels, or the social outcasts, and in some ways, these childhood heroes, with profound influence upon me as a child, shaped me into becoming what I am now.

Whoa.

Friday, March 02, 2007

Thoughts on Oscars 2007

Right, I'm a couple of days late, sorry about the lack of updates. I've been busy playing Final Fantasy 12 like a possessed madman, weeping like a Taiwanesehousewife while watching the dorama version of Ima ai ni yukimasu and falling asleep on the sofa trying to reignite my artistic fire, thus I hadn't had the time to post that much, hence asking my sister to post a few more of her kiddie pictures as distraction.

One reason why I didn't come up with my Oscar predictions this year is, well, I didn't manage to watch most of the nominated films, and even though I know whom the hot favourites were, I felt that it would be pointless if my predictions were same as everyone else's. No chance for me to predict some based on my own gut feelings (although for a while, I started thinking that maybe Little Miss Sunshine would actually take it all, instead of my earlier pick, The Departed based on its momentum).

Sunday, February 25, 2007

Visiting Filmmakers Anonymous 2, Central Market Annexe

So yes, just as I've mentioned here, I went to Filmmakers Anonymous 2 at the Central Market Annexe last night for the Malaysian premiere of my latest short film, Girl Disconnected.

It was an interesting experience watching my film again on a big screen. It was first screened at Murdoch Uni in Perth last December, but unlike the rushed version shown then, the Girl Disconnected I submitted for last night was pretty much the definitive version that I'm satisfied with (I did some re-editing at the last third of the film, slightly increasing its running time, changed some music during my trip in India earlier this month, and had been working non-stop on it in the few nights leading up to the Filmmakers Anonymous 2 gathering... hence the lack of updates on the blog lately)

Of course, one of the worst things about being a perfectionist is that some of the teeny weeny flaws would bother me greatly. During a ballerina scene towards the end of the film, I almost gasped in horror when I noticed I made an embarrassing editing goof where I didn't manage to cut off a split second of unwanted footage. For a while, I got really scared that other people at the screening would notice my mistake too.

One of the most pleasant surprises was seeing my old friend, Kai Wen, who really managed to make it to the screening, and Danu, a friend of mine I met at Murdoch Uni whom I haven't met for a year since her graduation.

Danu and I at Filmmakers Anonymous 2
Danu and I


Kai Wen And I At Filmmakers Anonymous 2
Kai Wen and I


I looked... stoned.

But anyway, here are some brief thoughts about the films screened last night.

Saturday, February 24, 2007

An Interview With Quentin S. Crisp

Quentin S Crisp


I've talked about Quentin S. Crisp before - he's one of my favorite living writers. His 'demented fiction' is unrivalled for its poetic quality and general, um, dementedness, and I suspect it won't be long before he has a major mainstream breakthrough - not that there's anything particularly 'mainstream' about him, but his stories and novels are certainly of world-class quality. Anyway, I sat down with him recently to discuss his writing, his favorite films, pop music, the meaning of Mishima's death, the real reason why most people study Japanese, and other relevant topics. Suffice it to say that this is probably the most important thing I have yet posted to this site, and it certainly touches on more or less everything Swifty and I have put up here at some point. It is thus mandatory reading. Apart from that, it's probably the last substantial thing I'll post for a while, time constraints being what they are. Read on and learn more...

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Malaysian Premiere of my short film, 'Girl Disconnected' this Friday

Reminder to anyone living near Kuala Lumpur: My latest short film, Girl Disconnected, will have its Malaysian premiere this Friday (23rd of February) at Filmmakers Anonymous 2. Screening (which is FREE!) will begin at 8:30pm, the venue is Central Market Annexe. Central Market Annexe is located behind Central Market, near the Pasar Seni LRT station.

The version shown on that very day is the newly edited version of the film different from the one that was screened in Perth last December. (I fixed it while I was traveling at India)

Make sure you arrive early because Girl Disconnected is going to be the FIRST FILM screened at the event.

Hope to see you there! (there will be a Q & A session after the screening)

Here's a teaser of the short film I put together last year, uploaded by my cinematographer, Brian.


Preview of the ballerina scene in Girl Disconnected


You can also check out some screenshots and production photos of Girl Disconnected on my Flick account.

I've also written and posted a video of Filmmakers Anonymous 1 here early last month.