Ranking the Pixar Movies

It's most likely that the next movie I'm catching is MONSTERS UNIVERSITY, the prequel to the wonderful MONSTERS INC.

Last night, after reading The Playlist's "From Worst To Best: Ranking The Pixar Movies", I decided to come up with my own list as well.

More photos from my "Floating Sun" location scouting

I got myself a Blackmagic Cinema Camera recently for two TV shoots. (one of them is BUDDYZ Season 2, which is currently airing on Astro Ria every Wednesdays and Fridays at 8:55pm, each 5-minute episode is available on Youtube a few hours after it's on TV, here's episode 3)

One of the most convenient things about the camera is that I could just re-use my old camera lenses from my Canon 7D, even got myself a new Tokina 11-16mm 2.8 lens to help with wide shots. This morning, while doing some location scouting for my new short film Floating Sun, I managed to put the lens to good use.

Location scouting for my new short film "Floating Sun"

As I prepare to shoot my new short film "FLOATING SUN" at the end of June, I traveled early this morning for a round of location scouting with James Lee the producer, TK the production manager and Lesly the cinematographer.

Armed with my new phone, the Huawei Mate (technically, with its 6-inch screen, it's really a "phablet" and not a phone), I traversed into a place which was absolutely wonderful (and photogenic) for my film, taking some photos.

Excerpt from my new short film, SPRINGTIME NOSTALGIA 残香

A new short film of mine, SPRINGTIME NOSTALGIA, is premiering at next week's Shanghai International Film Festival, followed by a screening at the Taipei International Film Festival in early July as part of an "in focus" program for actress/producer Kiki Sugino.

This Ikebana-themed short that was commissioned by Kao last year

The kind folks of Taipei International Film Festival posted a one-minute excerpt of the short film on Youtube which featured the three main cast members, Kiki Sugino (who did EXHALATION with me back in 2010), Qyoko Kudo (who did KINGYO with me back in 2009) and Eriko Ono (who was probably a baby when I collaborated with the aforementioned two actresses in my previous works).

Mieko Kanai 金井美恵子

You might not have heard of the Japanese writer Mieko Kanai (金井美恵子), but she wrote the short story "The Moon" that inspired my short film "LAST FRAGMENTS OF WINTER".

I stumbled upon her works by accident. It was September 2010. My uncle (father's younger brother) passed away suddenly, my parents, who were in Tokyo with me for my graduation ceremony, had to fly back to Malaysia immediately.

I was left alone in the hotel that my parents were supposed to stay for a few more days. Overwhelmed by solitude, I went to my favourite Aoyama Book Center in Roppongi, hoping to distract my mind with literature.

Going through the shelf, "THE WORD BOOK" by Mieko Kanai, a collection of her short stories, caught my eye. Maybe it was the cover. THE WORD BOOK came out in the 70s, but it only just got translated into English that year.


I flipped through the book, went through some stories, and found myself captivated by the imagery of her dream-like tales. I didn't buy the book immediately, but her words lingered. (I bought the book a few days later on Amazon)

This is the opening paragraph of "The Moon":

Q and A session for WOMAN ON FIRE LOOKS FOR WATER at CineMalaysia

On the 30th of May, the screening of Woo Ming Jin's WOMAN ON FIRE LOOKS FOR WATER was held right after the screening of my short films at CineMalaysia Film Festival (a film festival for Malaysian films held in Tokyo).

Q & A session for my short films screening at CineMalaysia Film Festival

I have just spent three nights in Tokyo to attend the CineMalaysia Film Festival シネ・マレーシア, a great film festival organized in Tokyo to show Malaysian films. This was its inaugural edition. The film festival ran from the 24th to the 31st of May. I was around for the last two days.

James Lee uploaded his entire 2009 feature film, CALL IF YOU NEED ME 黑夜行路 on Youtube

These days, the Malaysian director and independent film pioneer James Lee had been uploading his works on his Youtube channel Doghouse73pictures. Both short films and feature films, from his earliest to his latest.

Last month, in April, he uploaded his 2005 breakthrough film THE BEAUTIFUL WASHING MACHINE (one of the seminal films of the Malaysian New Wave) in its entirety.

Today, in conjunction with its screening at the CineMalaysia in Tokyo (a new film festival that is showing only Malaysian films), James has uploaded his 2009 gangster film CALL IF YOU NEED ME 黑夜行路 online for us all to see.

Set photos from the Buddyz 2 TV shoot

(On the set of Buddyz 2, with the iconic kombi van and some yellow umbrellas. The guy in yellow and seated in the background is actor Shaheizy Sam, reading the script)

Last year, I made a passing mention that I was involved in a TV shoot for a series of 5-minute episodes called Buddyz. The series started airing last June.

Discussing the short film medium

Back in January, I was on Kenneth Chaw's The Star article "Short Films starting to appeal to a bigger audience", discussing about my thoughts on short films. Filmmaker James Lee and Youtube sensation Jinnyboy were interviewed too.

Prior to that, Kenneth had actually done a very lengthy email interview with me in preparation for his article. While a number of my quotes were in the final article, I thought I would like to share our entire discussion with everyone. I'm doing it now, with Kenneth's permission. (In truth, I have wanted to do this since January, but, ah, I never had the time.)

So, here we go.

Kenneth's questions are in bold.
My answers will just be... normal text.

WATCH: James Lee's award-winning film, THE BEAUTIFUL WASHING MACHINE

The Malaysian director James Lee's Youtube channel, doghouse73pictures had become increasingly interesting recently. Not only is he uploading his short films online, both new and old, he's also uploading his full-length films online so that everyone can watch them.

RIP Roger Ebert

I woke up to sad news of Roger Ebert's passing.

Shibuya at dusk captivates me

I was in Shibuya yesterday evening before I headed off to Haneda Airport for my flight back to Malaysia.

Even though I have been in Tokyo for five years, I still find myself discovering something new all the time. And the joy and surprises of these tiny discoveries can sometimes accumulate into something wonderful.

For example, I don't think I've ever seen Shibuya at dusk looking like this.

Spring Snow in Sapporo

After my joyous Graduation ceremony, my family and I headed off to Sapporo, Hokkaido.

The last time I went to Sapporo was 6 months ago, for the Sapporo International Short Film Festival. I was honoured to receive the Japan Tourism Agency Commissioner Award for my short film, LAST FRAGMENTS OF WINTER.

When I arrived at Sapporo, I was a little surprised that the place is still snowing. It's already the end of March, and in Tokyo, the cherry blossoms were already blooming.

My speech at GITS Commencement & Graduation Reception (26.3.2013)

I just went through my graduation ceremony yesterday at Waseda University. For some odd reason, I managed to get myself a doctorate.

I'm sure my secondary school teachers would have been mortified.

Revisiting Cicerello's Fish & Chips restaurant (Fremantle)

After visiting Fremantle Market, I headed off to Cicerello's.

Revisiting Fremantle Markets

I was in Perth from 2004 to 2006. The last time I visited the place was 2007 (for my graduation ceremony).

That was the time before Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube. It was also the time before iPhone and Android phones. There were many things I experienced then that I could not instantly share, nor capture properly.

All I had was this blog. Which was created during my time there.

I used to carry a camcorder with me most of the time then, taking videos, editing them (yeah, my editing was self-taught), and carrying my laptop around to different houses hoping someone I know would watch the videos. Perth was probably the place where I picked up photography. Life was quite different back then.

Last Friday, my parents and I flew to Perth to visit my sister, who is currently studying there. We were supposed to celebrate Chap Goh Mei together (the 15th day of Chinese New Year).

On Saturday, I visited Fremantle. Some of my fondest memories of Perth were in Fremantle (technically, Fremantle is considered a different town in Western Australia). My solitary trips here had been to look for inspiration every time I felt crippled by loneliness. The Fremantle Market itself on Friday nights is a wonder, the CD shop, the live performances, the food. And the lights.

My final student film had a scene shot at Fremantle Beach. That was 2006.

Rest in peace, Loh Yin San and Claudia Theophilus. This is their documentary TWELVE 11

In 2007, I caught a documentary short called Twelve 11 by Loh Yin San and Claudia Theophilus about the Highland Towers tragedy. Immediately after that, I wrote:

"I was truly enthralled by the events documented by TWELVE 11 (a rarity, frankly), and was actually hoping that Loh Yin San would post her works on Youtube or somewhere just so that it could gain a much wider audience beyond festival circuits as she has had some difficulties trying to get TV stations to broadcast the documentary. I personally would try to help her spread the film around."

At the 3:19 minute mark of this video that I shot during the screening, you can see me discussing with Loh Yin San about uploading her work on Youtube for the sake of helping more people gain awareness about the problems recorded in her documentary.

James Lee, Jinnyboy and I talking about short films (The Star, 6th of January, 2013)

Back in December, I did an interview with The Star's Kenneth Chaw for an article about the rising popularity of short films in Malaysia. The article came out exactly three weeks ago while I was still in Kanazawa. (I found out about that, naturally, from friends on Facebook.)

The other interviewees were filmmakers James Lee and Jin Lim (more popularly known as JinnyBoy), well, excuse ME for not having a name that starts with J.

Kenneth and I had a really long email interview, which never really made it to the final article, but I will be posting that later. For now, you can just have a look at the full article:

Solo adventures at Kanazawa (part 2)

I'll continue chronicling my Kanazawa trip from two weeks ago before it the tiny details slip out of my mind. Some of the anecdotes here were posted on Facebook, but I'll try to expand.