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.

Finished Charles Yu's THIRD CLASS SUPERHERO in a day. Loved it.

I bought this book at least 2-3 years ago. (Probably closer to 3 than 2, I am not sure) It was an accident, I was ordering a graphic novel on Amazon, this book was recommended to me, I figured it was another graphic novel (by an Asian American artist? okay!), so I bought it too.

The next day, when the books arrived, I was surprised that Charles Yu's THIRD CLASS SUPERHERO turned out to be a collection of short stories, and not a graphic novel ("whaaat? no pictures?" I whined to myself, becoming a parody of people I despised)

Because I had so many other books to read then, I put it aside. Years passed. It was then left in a box at the corner of a room in Tokyo that I left vacant for ten months. I found it again only a few days ago, in the almost-forgotten box with my almost-forgotten stuff that I left here.

Having spent the entire week working on the music of RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS with my composer, I finally got to rest. Yesterday evening I was supposed to go to Ogikubo. A train ride there would take 16 minutes, return trip would be 32 minutes. So I took the book along with me and spent the whole time reading. In that amount of time, I managed to finish 2-3 of the 11 short stories in the book. I was intrigued.

After a night and a day, I finally finished the book. There are some stories that stood out to me:

WATCH: GIRL IN THE WATER short film by Jeppe Ronde and Woo Ming Jin that I produced

Hm, the short film's been online since early last year but I've never posted about it. Speaks a lot about how low-profile I am, yeah?

Anyway, this is GIRL IN THE WATER, a 2011 short film co-directed by Ming Jin and Danish director Jeppe Ronde as part of a collaborative project set up by CPH: DOX (that's the Copenhagen International Documentary Festival), I was one of the producers and editors.

GIRL IN THE WATER stars the Thai actress Sajee Apiwong and chronicles the plight of a young Thai woman who got washed upon the shores of Malaysia.

The passing trains of Hou Hsiao Hsien's Café Lumière

A few days ago I decided to catch The Amazing Spider-man 2 in Shinjuku. The only available ticket was the 10pm show at night, I bought it and went to Akihabara for a walk.

Wandering aimlessly, I found myself at an area that I've never been to before.

李安对话张艺谋 Dialogue Between Ang Lee and Zhang Yimou

听了两位大导演的话， 有很大的感触和启发。

的确， 很多时候， 也觉得自己不是在导电影， 而是电影在导我。

Obama in Malaysia

U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Malaysia last weekend was quite a big deal to many in the country because it was the first time in 48 years when the president of United States came to visit us small Malaysians. (last one was Lyndon B. Johnson) That's why I have to post this for remembrance.

A few days before that, he was in Tokyo.

I didn't know about it until I was in Ginza, where the entire place was swarmed with police, roads were blocked, and lots of news team around.