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Saturday, July 09, 2011

BERSIH Rally

Most of my blog readers are not from Malaysia. Many are from Japan, or perhaps people interested in Japan. Unsurprising, considering that I'm in Tokyo.

Therefore, I find a need to create awareness of the Bersih ("clean" in Malay) Rally happening right now, yes, RIGHT NOW, in Malaysia.

And mass arrests are happening. Our ever-diligent police had set up road blocks, deployed trucks mounted with water cannons, seal off parts of the capital Kuala Lumpur, in an attempt to prevent this banned rally. (While I am writing this, a couple of people I know have tweeted that they've gotten tear gases in their eye)

You can read more about it here.

Quote a few paragraphs from the article to give you some context.

Friday, July 08, 2011

Breathing in a library

So, aside from writing in McDonald's at night, I have also been going to the library in Waseda University during daytimes to write. After all, what better place than a library where you won't be distracted by noises, or say, the Internet (main reason why I don't write in my room), right?

Have this ever happened to you? That in order to try your best to be silent, you become hypersensitive and paranoid to the sounds around you? This happened to me just now. For a while, I stopped from writing when I was mildly distracted by the sound of breathing. Was it the sound of my own breathing? I seemed to be wheezing, it sounded a little distracting.

Then I held my breath, and realized that the sound of breathing remained. So it really wasn't the sound of my own breathing after all, but the guy sitting opposite my desk. A wooden plank separates us, but I could totally hear him breathing. Perhaps he was nursing a cold, or maybe he was a heavy breather.

Here I am, in the library, supposedly writing a screenplay, yet I end up blogging about the mundane instead with my iPhone.

Location:1丁目,Shinjuku,Japan

Thursday, July 07, 2011

"The Downtown Star Festival" (Shitamachi Tanabata Matsuri) at Kappabashi-Hondori.

Today is the 7th of July, which is the beginning of the Tanabata (七夕, meaning "Evening of the seventh"), the Japanese star festival that originates from the Chinese Qixi Festival.

You might have heard of it, the meeting between Orihime and Hikoboshi, the Weaving Princess and the Cowherder. The Milky Way separates these lovers, so they are only permitted to meet once a year, on the 7th of July. You can read more of it here.

Therefore, celebrations are supposed to begin today until the weekends.

I caught wind that a Tanabata Festival is usually held at the Kappabashi Street (official website here), which extends 1.2 km, from Ueno Station to the Tsukuba Express Station in Asakusa, the famed Shitamachi Tanabata Matsuri. So I headed there with a friend for a walk.

Wednesday, July 06, 2011

The world is a cruel place for artists! LOL!

Okay, I've disappeared off the past week to do some writing.

I managed to finish a film treatment, which I'm absolutely excited about. Am now working on the screenplay, not an easy task, but am trying my best. Creativity is a precious little thing to hold on to.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Nationalistic Pride?

I returned to Tokyo 3 nights ago and resumed my usual quiet, solitary lifestyle, kinda like Colonel Aureliano Buendía during the twilight of his years.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

The Korean movie LATE BLOSSOM left me a blubbering wreck

Me: I'm glad I wear sunglasses in the plane. I was watching this Korean film, LATE BLOSSOM (그대를 사랑합니다), during the flight and it made me cry like a little girl. Jeez.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Asian New Talent 2011 Award Ceremony

Yup, got back from Shanghai last night.

The Asian New Talent Award Competition was established in 2004 by the Shanghai International Film Festival for Asian filmmakers making their first or second film, kinda like Pusan's NEW CURRENTS competition, or Rotterdam's Tiger Awards.

The award ceremony was held on the 17th of June. (here are the results)

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

WOMAN ON FIRE LOOKS FOR WATER in Shanghai

Back on Sunday, 12th of June, which was my second day in Shanghai. I went to the WOMAN ON FIRE LOOKS FOR WATER screening. I was accompanied by an old friend of mine, Joey, who used to study in Tokyo and whom I met in Japanese Language classes 3 years ago. She graduated this year in March and had since returned to her hometown in Shanghai.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Conversations between Iwai Shunji and Tan Chui Mui

Shunji Iwai and Tan Chui Mui video conversation


An early phone call from Malaysian filmmaker Tan Chui Mui woke me up this morning. It was 7 in the morning, her assistant passed me stuff before I came to Shanghai so I could pass it to her.

So I met her 20 minutes later for breakfast. She told me she was going to have an interview of sorts for Japanese filmmaker Iwai Shunji's official website.

Like many of my Japanese film lovers of my generation, I was captivated by his works like LOVE LETTER (still a personal all-time favourite) and ALL ABOUT LILY CHOU-CHOU during my youth. I fell in love with LOVE LETTER when I was 13, that was 14 years ago, and my love never wavered. It was through his influences that I make my films that some have considered visually poetic and sensitive.

Thus I followed Mui along for their meeting.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Feng Xiaogang - John Woo Masterclass

12th of June. Second day in Shanghai. I attended half of the John Woo - Feng Xiaogang Masterclass where both filmmaking heavyweights dissect and analyze the 8 projects of the CFPC (China Film Pitch and Catch) of the Shanghai Market.



What I remember most was something John Woo said. He commented how most young filmmakers and arthouse ones are very into casting amateurs and non-professionals in their films to preserve some authenticity and purity of their story, since some things are really hard to be replicated. It also helps to minimize budget.

However, he asked these filmmakers to consider the possibility of casting name cast members for their projects if opportunity arises. After all, why not try to allow your own works to reach a wider audience? Why not aim higher? Aim bigger? Great actors all around the world are waiting for a good script anyway...

Location:Zunyi Rd,Shanghai,China