Guardians of the Galaxy

(Wrote my thoughts on GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY on Facebook just now, I'll post it here too, with slight revisions)

The Kirishima Thing (桐島部活やめるってよ)

Once in a while, when I have witnessed something brilliant, I need to post it on this blog just to help myself remember.

THE KIRISHIMA THING (桐島部活やめるってよ) is a film that I've been curious about for a rather long time. Last year, my professor, Ando-sensei, told me that this was one of his favourite Japanese films of the year. It ended up winning both the Best Director and Best Film awards at the Japan Academy Awards.

After missing its screening at last September's Japanese Film Festival (a festival for Japanese films had been held annually in Malaysia for the past decade), I finally got to watch the film yesterday.

反堕胎短片 (a list of anti-abortion short films to cheer myself up...?)

(This post will be in Chinese. Many friends of mine in the industry had been making anti-abortion short films in the last few weeks for a competition, I'm sharing some of their works, but there are no English subtitles. Though I think some films below CAN be watched without subtitles...)

最近， 好多电影圈里的朋友们都参与了这个以“选择； 生命”为主题的华语微电影比赛， 主要都是拍一些反堕胎的短片。

以下的，都是他们的作品！

Lost a friend on MH17

Yesterday, a Malaysian Airlines plane crashed in Ukraine. It was shot by a missile.

298 people were killed.

Just now, I found out that I someone I know was actually on the plane.

Her full name was Shubashini Jeyaratnam, but I knew her only as Shuba (Shuba Jaya was her stage name). She was on the plane with her husband Paul and her baby daughter Kaela.

My memories of World Cup matches

The World Cup finals ended two days ago, and I finally got a good night's sleep. I can finally say goodbye to the days when I have to wake up at 4am with dad to catch a match, and go back to my normal routine (... of sleeping at 4am instead)

After a nice World Cup-less night of sleep, I woke up and read some articles on Grantland (it's one of my favourite daily reads these days). Ever since my mom discontinued subscription to The Star newspapers earlier this year, the internet became my replacement for "things to read while having breakfast", after all, it's hard to kick off a routine that I had for more than twenty years.

What caught my eye today was Brian Phillips' article, Full Time: Fading Images of the World Cup, which has one of the most beautiful paragraphs ever about sports-watching.

Watching sports is, among other things, a special way of experiencing time. Sport is like music or fiction or film in that, for a predetermined duration, it asks you to give it control over your emotions, to feel what it makes you feel. Unlike (most) forms of art, though, a game has no foreordained plan or plot or intention. The rules of a game impose a certain kind of order, but it’s different from the order of an artwork. A movie knows where it wants to take you; no one can say in advance where a game will go. All of its beauty, ugliness, boredom, and excitement, all of its rage and sadness emerge spontaneously out of the players’ competing desires to win. For however long the clock runs, your feelings are at the mercy of chance. This happens and then this happens and then this happens. You’re experiencing, in a contained and intensified way, something like the everyday movement of life.

Post by Edmund Yeo.

I guess this is one of the main reasons I have been following the NBA for more than two decades, the relationship with time is apparent, watching players arrive, grow and then retire, being replaced by other younger players, it's a cycle that is both beautiful and horrifying, just like life. As a child, these NBA players are larger-than-life Greek gods, performing superheroic feats in a battle for eternal glory, as I grow older, I started noticing that the players are becoming younger and younger, and players I have watched in my teens are gone, one by one, some disappearing, some becoming coaches, I recognize some names, either from memories of watching them in rare telecasts during weekends, or through the NBA Live games that I used to play on the Playstation.

Rediscovering productions photos from CHICKEN RICE MYSTERY, my first ever short film in 2008

In the last few months when I worked on my debut feature RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS, I couldn't help but remember my own experiences of six years ago, when I was shooting my first ever short film, CHICKEN RICE MYSTERY, in 2008.

It's been six years, and I've done countless projects since then. But the fresh feeling of working with a professional cast and crew for the very first time continues to linger in my mind. Nothing makes me feel more excited than a film shoot, and it's a good thing that nothing has changed in these six years.

Post by Edmund Yeo.

Yangsze Choo's THE GHOST BRIDE

Last July, my friend Lydia sent me an article about a US-based Malaysian author Yangsze Choo, whose debut novel THE GHOST BRIDE had just been released.


The author was a family friend from Lydia's childhood.

In the book, its protagonist Li Lan receives a proposal of marriage from the wealthy family of Lim Tian Ching, a young man who died of fever a few months earlier.

My Instagram photos from RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS

Over the past half a year since I was location scouting for my film RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS, or during its production, I had taken quite a lot of photos. Some were uploaded immediately, some I uploaded only recently.

Doghouse 73 Pictures - James Lee's attempt to bring Malaysian independent cinema to all

A few days ago, filmmaker and pal James Lee won an award for Best Content at the DiGi WWWOW Awards with his brainchild, Doghouse 73 Pictures.

This is quite a big deal because the WWWOW Awards is the Malaysian equivalent of the Webbies, and it is recognising James' efforts in the last year and a half to bring Malaysian independent cinema to the internet for everyone.

Post by James Lee.

James, as some of you might know, is one of the pioneers of local independent films, having made his own self-financed films in the early 2000s when digital filmmaking technology started becoming attainable for the public. What he did then would lead to the attention of international film festivals, and a movement that was then known as the "Malaysian New Wave" with other filmmakers like Tan Chui Mui, Liew Seng Tat, Yasmin Ahmad, Ho Yuhang and my regular collaborator Woo Ming Jin. Regardless of what people in the country would think, James' place in the history of Malaysian Cinema is more or less assured.

Me vs Malaysian Moviegoers

#172940788 / gettyimages.com

I go to the movies almost every week, and had dealt with my share of unruly moviegoers in the cinema. I had a particularly annoying experience yesterday when I went to THE ROVER (the Australian film by David Michod that stars Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson), but more on that later.

I decided to compile the tweets or FB statuses I have posted this year which I bitch about people lacked cinema manners.

Finishing up RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS

Ever since I finished the principal photography for RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS in early March, I have been spending my time editing and then tinkering with it. It's actually a habit of mine, that I'm never satisfied with the editing of my works until it has finally premiered somewhere, and I know that I can't touch it anymore.

I spent the whole first week of June doing the reshoots for Ming Jin's SECOND LIFE OF THIEVES, then I shot an extra sequence for RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS with almost the same skeletal crew.

The new sequence involved the lead actress Daphne, and a child actress Zoe, who was supposed to play the child version of the protagonist.

培才华小的杰出校友？ Notable alumni in Puay Chai primary school？

去年十月， 我母校培才华小欢庆建校90周年， 出版了纪念特刊。 很荣幸被列为培才杰出校友校友之一。 感恩。

以下是特刊给我的特写：

Finishing up SECOND LIFE OF THIEVES

Immediately after I returned from Tokyo, I headed off to do the reshoots for Woo Ming Jin's SECOND LIFE OF THIEVES (which I co-wrote, produced and edited).

A farewell to my second home in Tokyo, a revisiting of memories.

I have finally returned to Malaysia today after taking a 10-week sabbatical in Tokyo (needed to recuperate from the RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS shoot, while enjoying the cherry blossoms season).

During the last few weeks, I have been cleaning up my room in Tokyo, the same dorm room that I've been staying at since 2008. Even though I finished my doctorate last March, I had yet to officially check out from this room because I had so many things in it. This time, I was supposed to put an end to this chapter of my life.

In 2008 to 2010, my wall was covered with film flyers that I collected from cinemas and film festivals, and also photos of nice celebrities. Since I was going to live such a solitary life, I figured that having some happy-looking faces around me would lighten up the atmosphere.

My Thomas Cup Finals 2014 commentary

So, the Thomas Cup Finals had just ended. Malaysia made the finals after a 12-year-drought, but lost, which continues a 22-year-drought. No big deal, when more than two thirds of my life had been filled with disappointment, the pain just becomes a sort of numbness. Am I right? Right?

WATCH: James Lee's new short film ALL FOR LOVE 为了爱 starring Daphne Low

Oh goody, Malaysian independent film pioneer James Lee (and producer of my last short film FLOATING SUN) has just uploaded his new short film ALL FOR LOVE.

Here's the mysterious synopsis:

A girl sends her old SLR camera to a reclusive camera repair master. In the course of getting the camera fixed, the girl develops a special relationship with the master.

Of course, you have to watch the 12-minute short film yourself to know the nature of this special relationship.

The beautiful visuals of THE CRANES ARE FLYING and I AM CUBA

Last week, when the Cannes Film Festival was about to begin, many film sites that I've been following started publishing their lists of best Palme d'Or winners. I figured it would be a good time to catch up with some of them, especially the older ones.

In Praise of Shiina Ringo's Music Videos

Last month, after getting hold of her two albums UKINA 浮き名 and MITSUGETSU-SHO 蜜月抄 (both albums were released to commemorate her 15th anniversary in the music industry), I became addicted to the songs of Shiina Ringo 椎名林檎 again.

Edward Yang

(I posted this on Facebook in December 9, 2014. I'm going to expand upon it.)

Post by Edmund Yeo.

Last December, it started out as a Hou Hsiao-Hsien marathon. The original intention was to watch films directed by Hou Hsiao-Hsien, but I ended up watching the film which featured his one and only starring role. Edward Yang's TAIPEI STORY (Hou was also the producer).

And because of this, I finally completed every single Edward Yang film in his oeuvre. Unintentionally. Because I didn't want it to end so early.

One of my favourite directors ever. And, in my opinion, one of the greatest. His works had influenced me a lot. I wrote more about my own experiences with the works of Edward Yang in June 29, 2012, marking the 5th anniversary of his death. That was before I watched MAHJONG and the first two films of this career, THAT DAY ON THE BEACH and TAIPEI STORY (I watched both in 2013, on Youtube, because both films are notoriously difficult to find).

The first Edward Yang film I saw was YI YI, that was 2007, shortly after his death. I was mesmerized by his brilliance. YI YI would become my main influence when it came to editing Ming Jin's films telemovie DAYS OF THE TURQUOISE SKY (2007), because its ending, where the protagonist summarized his thoughts on CATCHER IN THE RYE, was a homage to YI YI's ending.

Found some long-lost photos from a 2005 trip in China!

Selfie, 2005

My time in Tokyo is coming to an end.

After my graduation last March, I was supposed to leave the Wakeijuku Dormitory that I had been staying since 2008. (Haruki Murakami used to stay here too!) After all, the place was meant only for students.

Clean up and clear my room. Then return to Malaysia.

But that turned out to be too difficult. Many things were left in the room before I left.

I promised them that I would come back "in a few months" to clean everything up. I came back almost a year later. The folks in the dorm were kind enough to leave my room vacant for this whole period of time.

So, right now, I am trying to put an absolute end to a chapter of my life, even though it really should have ended last year.

Spent the last few days clearing things up, throwing a lot of old stuff which, as expected, left me a little nostalgic.

I used keep many of my data in blank DVDs, I decided to get rid of this whole pile of them by transferring most of the data into a new hard disk I bought.

I was surprised that many of the data dated from 2004 to 2006, during my time in Perth. My music and movie collection. Those were the times when those films I had were in .mpg or .rmvb formats. Very low resolution. It was amusing.

My music collection surprised me a little, when it dawned upon me that I have been listening to such bands like Ego-Wrappin', Deerhoof, Arcade Fire for nearly a decade.

A few hours ago, I went through a data disc and found only photos in it. They were actually photos taken during a family trip in China around December 2005. This blog has already existed then, in fact, some of my earliest Youtube videos posted in this blog were videos of this particular trip. There were even a few heavily photoshopped photos here and here.

But why did I choose only those few photos to upload? What about the rest?

For nearly 9 years, I thought I've lost these photos!

Looking at them now, even though my photography skills then weren't as good, and I was using only a cheap Canon Powershot camera, I don't think they were that bad at all!

More and more, this blog has become a place to help me remember things. Therefore I decided to upload all those remaining photos on Facebook, and also put them here.