Written by lainie at 02:23 PM on August 1, 2006 in Links / Email, Stupid, but fun..

Greetings, $FIRSTNAME.

Today, Her Royal Blogness will investigate ways for Geekoids to boost up Geekosity Hit Points by exploration of the Innernet (the Outernet being the one you're sitting in).

First, we shall all focus our attention on the article Lesbian Subtext in Action Movies, because as geeks, not only do we love to love women we cannot have because they're lesbians, we love to love women we cannot have even when they're straight.

[ All geeks into naturally grown penis please go to J's blog instead ]

I know I should not say the P word on my blog, what more in a geek post, it traumatises some of the more hardcore man haters out there. Penis. Oh did I say that? Don't think of a penis. Think of flowers. Rainbows. Pretty girls, running naked and free through the grass. Penis. Penis penis penis. I'm only stopping because my friends who wish they weren't deprived of deep dicking will not appreciate being reminded of schlongs.

You know what's the most amazing thing? I *do* know when I'm being annoying. Moving along.

Atomfilms.com holds a competition called the Star Wars Fan Films Awards. This award is probably the most popular thanks to the "George Lucas helps judge it" part. They have categories like "Comedy", "Spirit of Fandom" and "Commercial Parody". About the only thing I really liked was the Comedy section, when the Sith pulls out his huge ass lightsaber. Hah.

No post on Star Wars fanfilms is complete without...TheForce.Net.

However, Star Wars fans being mostly geeks, and geeks being mostly Star Wars fans (this sentence would be so much easier to say before the second trilogy), there's a crazy amount of material available on that site. Did I mention I've not watched the most recent episode because the new trilogy has been so painful on me, I just couldn't bring myself to do it?

So I will tell you about one file they host. IMPS The Relentless, An epic documentary of the best damn job in the galaxy. I always laugh when I watch fanfilms because I imagine all these excited geeks running around in front of a camera, decked out in their Stormtrooper outfits.

Star Wars is great for fanfilms / mashups, because of the masks so you can dub over, or pretend to be a character from the movie and actually look like them. Also, it's a lot cleaner since lightsaber duels are such that you're not supposed to bleed from the wound (please do not quote any bleeding scenes from movies because the literature side is very different from the films, you can spot timeline fuckups even in the new trilogy).

And because I *still* love this site: Jeff Russell's Starship Dimensions. This is not the first time I'm slutting the site out here. This dude has models of spaceships from all SF stories scaled down to pixel sizes.

"In a tribute to Peter Jackson and JRR Tolkien, these nine brave souls will atempt to walk the length of New Zealand, in full Middle-Earth garb, and in full character."
Another from TheForce.Net (a feature, this time), ALMOST THERE AND BACK AGAIN - PART ONE (Documentary).
Haynes Film has heaps more fanfilm stuff.

"Our story about the conquest of the shuttle Tydirium takes place somewhere between the liberation of Han Solo from Jabbas palace and the flight of the rebels to the forrest moon of Endor.
Tydirium, which looks interesting, but I have not seen anything from it yet.

"Music by Hans Zimmer, and a monologue extracted from an authentic Civil War love letter written in 1861, help to set the tone for this movie."
If you're not into downloading, Youtube hosts one of the films on TheForce, it's called Art of The Saber. Two Asian dudes, one lightsaber duel. Costumes damn tak boleh, more Matrix than Star Wars. They kinda look like Kennysia to me. Done by Clarence Ho, Calvyn Ho and Cary Ho - as sad as this will make my humour seem, this makes it a HoHoHO movie. Trinity Ho.
More effort put into it than the usual lightsaber duel fanfilm.

Of course, not all fanfilms are cool. Some are remarkably painful to watch. What do geeks do best when they're not being geekilicious? Being dead embarrassing. Apparently, though I always thought a lightsaber is all that separates a geek from a loser, sometimes many times, a long humming tube of purple light will not save you.

You know why I first loved Star Wars so much? Well, the Brothers Hildebrant helped a lot, but what I really liked was thinking about the special crystals they put into the lightsabers when constructing them - different crystals give you different lightsaber characteristics, which is why you see different coloured ones.

Yah, I liked the Jewels in Sticks (insert childish joke about Lukesabers right about......here). I don't even want to think what that implies. Can we pretend I just like shiny stuff?

That being said, I know lah almost all of you won't bother to download the films. So instead, can I send you to Youtube to watch a 1minute video? Star Wars Ochestra. It's my favourite.

You can also look up more fan films at Star Wars Fan Films Database
Penis.

[ Disclaimer: Please note that having no extreme geekery loves, but rather a penchant to read everything and remember nothing, I am actually closer to the variant of Unsuccessful Nerd, than Unsuccessfully Geeky Geek. ]

Written by lainie at 12:58 AM on August 2, 2006 in Friends.

You know how wine gets better with age?

There's a reason that woman is putting so much alcohol into her body. Desperation accompanies the years, it seems. In honour of her turning a year older, we too, should all pour some liquid despair into our glasses, and clink them over the anniversary of the beginning...of FA.

Well, actually we all began quite earlier than our actual birthdays, but no daughter likes to dwell on that idea. So, moving along to happier things, because this is a gaysome blog:



This is Fireangel demonstrating (over webcam, bless those lil robotic eyes)...Uh. Well, don't do stupid stuff over webcam when there are people who screencapture quickly.

Happy Birthday FA!!

And Like Suanie said...May you get a boyfriend or........something.

Haha.

Written by lainie at 01:26 PM on August 2, 2006 in Daily Life, Arty stuff.

Happy, happy news!

"Some writers love writing. Each morning is a positive hand-clapping, chest-soaring pleasure, their imagination a veritable magic box just waiting to be flung open - let's see what's inside! I hate those people."
(her blog makes me laugh)

The last time Francesca Beard, spoken word poet, performed in La Bodega, well.....We. Loved. It. If you haven't downloaded MP3s of her poetry (why?), go to her poetry archive page.

So it's great to know that this woman laaaady will be back to perform Chinese Whispers in KLPac, 28th to 30th September. Yeay. I mean it: 28th - 30th, don't kacau me. I will be in KLPac. Unless you want to join me there.

Actually, I insist you kacau me - we all go together this time, okay?

=====

So the other night I watched Mak Yung in Akademi Seni Kebangsaan, the last performance for the "Minggu Ngadap Seni". I hope they get into the performances arts festival Paris next year, that'd be cool.

Anyhow, I found Mak Yung the most entertaining, because it's a play that combined music, dancing, singing, and a lot of humour. It was based on a script by Johari Khalid, and the title of the play is "Anak Raja Gondang II".

It's kinda unfamiliar for me to read "II" next to a Malay title, but also kinda nice, in a I-don't-know-why way.

And I'd love to put up photos and videos. But.......Guess who doesn't have her laptop, lalalalallaaaaaaaaa.

=====

For a lesbian, I dream an awful lot about men. I'm blaming it on my period, which is marching across the calendar towards me.

In my dreams (haha, haha), I hooked up with a big tall blonde guy, who donned a brown bomber jacket and blue jeans - actually, he was dressed like a lumberjack you'd see in some American movie about hick towns.

My mother grilled him about his life as we sat in a cable car, while I looked out the window at families of baboons in tree tops, building big nests together (I don't even want to think about that).

His family is from Pahang, my mother scolded me for finding a man whose name implied he might be related to me (turns out he wasn't). His brother owns a house there, and so does he, so space is not a problem when I join him there. He works for HSBC, speaks Cantonese because his parents in Canada raised him multi-lingual (where he stays). There was an aura "Chinese Mother Silently Approves Potential Banker Son-in-Law Who is Oblivious To Fact That He Is Currently Being Appraised Like A Chunk of Beef In Supermarket onThe SiL Stockmarket", and the aura was flowing out her back and creeping around us, performing tentative marriage ceremonies.

Because, you know, my dreams always end on a really sexy note of commitment and family duties.

He wanted to go get dinner - a big bloody steak (he offered to give me a few bites, and I was a bit "How about we both have a steak?"), and wanted to have a friendly beer drinking competition with my father (who doesn't even drink alcohol).

I mean. That's a pretty complete biodata for an imaginary guy. And I usually don't hear words in my dreams.

Then I woke up because Fip gave me an alarm clock that I can't figure out how to switch off, smacked myself and said "Bad Lainie! Bad! Lesbian dreams! Lesbian dreams!".

Before I slept I tried to switch off the alarm clock. Every button I pushed made it screech a beep (if there was such a thing as "alarm clock porn"....). So before my aunt woke up thanks to the orgasmic-alarm-clock noise, I decided to give up and just take the batteries out.

Popped all four out, and the screen was still looking up at me, all numbers, with the alarm bell sign blinking. What the fuck, clock from hell. It's like Chucky, life where there shouldn't be any.

=====

I'm impressed. My junkmail is accompanied by literature excerpts, like George Orwell's writings.

O_o Damn those lil spammers are catching on.

Written by lainie at 04:18 PM on August 2, 2006 in Rants, Music.

Interesting link: Moguls of New Media

=====

One of my all-time favourite punk bands is Tilt. I love many all the songs I've heard, which is something because I'm not the sort to indiscriminately like any song just because I like the band.

Like many punk bands, Tilt can get political - I also listen to Against Me and NOFX, who are even more likely to write political punk songs. Lately, one on their social commentary tracks seems really relevant. Have you guys heard "Old Skool Pig"? It's from the album "Collect 'Em All".

[ Download MP3 here ]

It's a one minute+ song, but it says about all it needs to in that time.

Old Skool Pig:

You'd be a cop
If you weren't a punk
In fact I think
You'd make a better cop
They could use you
You got no remorse
They could use you
On the police force

You'd look cute all dressed in blue
You could brutalize anyone right on cue
You abuse those who are weak of course
They could use you on the police force

Sign up right now!!!
For the Academy
You'd fit in so perfectly
Sign up right now!!!
For the Academy
You're just old skool pig.

Think how you could fuck shit up
You could heft your power like a club
An arrogant fool with authority
You'd crossover so easily

=====

Put a bully in a uniform, give him power, and what you get is a universal syndrome of Assholery. This sms recently started to surface:

"Aceh refugee village of 80 ppl in Putrajaya burnt and looted by Rela at 3am on 30 July. Nothing left. Need urgent donations: cash, men's clothes and groceries".

And so I read from a blog:

"In case you dont know what RELA is, you can check their roles and functions under the Ministry of Home Affairs site here (right navigation bar has more details on this).

Named enemies of the State, as shown through the mobilisation of RELA, are Muslims who go clubbing, and intimate migrants from South East Asia. They've killed, sexually harassed female detainees, and I don't know what else. "

Yknow. About the refugees. They obviously don't have enough shit going on back home, that they had to seek asylum here (in a country that treats all refugee seekers as illegal immigrants, no less). We had to send a bunch of RELA idiots over to raid their village. There are so many things wrong with the idea behind the formation of "RELA", I don't even know where to begin.

If you would like to assist, please ring Adrian from KOMAS directly on 0122900756.

=====

Front Page of The Star: BLOGGERS BEWARE.

Intimidation for breakfast, dear?

In other news, if I had no reason to like the Prime Minister before this, now I have every reason to dislike him. I believe it's highly related to stuff he has recently been saying, like:

"If information in blogs, websites and online portals were incorrect, bordered on slander, caused disturbance or compelled the public to lose faith in the nation's economic policies, their authors would be detained for investigation, said Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. "

In other words, "We only want people to read the opinions we want published, without any of those nasty so-called "analysis" or "commentary" stuff on the internet that makes us look like we're not doing our jobs well. And while I'm at it, shame on you people for concentrating on issues over the internet, that even the newspapers were eventually forced to make a passing mention of, because it was news we wanted to pretend wasn't happening, like us destroying Hindu temples left right center. After all, it'll only "cause disturbances" for you all to find out right?"

He finally discovers a spine and it's one filled with the balls to...Well. Threaten media. Bordered on slander. Bordered on slander. Cause disturbance. Cause disturbance. Cause disturbance. Cause disturbance. Cause disturbance. Detained. Detained. Detained. Detained. Detained. Detained. Detained. Detained. Detained. Detained. Detained. Detained. Detained. Detained.

There you go, he finally has the backbone you guys have been crying for, and it's practically one sentence short of telling you to shut up while waving handcuffs in your face.

[ Keng Yaik says no to regulating and censoring Internet (let's just hope he doesn't start backpedalling tomorrow. ]

The news is shitting sorrow into my days. I don't know what's happening. I wish I did, but only if I'd know how to fix it. Otherwise.... finding out more about what's happening seems rather like looking down a deep, dark hole of infinite blood boiling.

Lainie: God. I'm gonna vomit blood at this rate.
Rach: You should keep the congealed blood, it's tasty.
Lainie: I'll flavour my porridge with them.

Everytime I read the news, I have more condiments to add some kick to my lunch.

In other utterly related observations: Isn't it strange that I have to look up American punk bands to find songs about political situations that (somewhat) concern us?

Local bands, takut apa? It's not like you're being threatened.

====----====

I don't think we have been put in jail or prison (yet?). Not the physical kind, anyway. But in a sense........Are you guys familiar with the Panopticon? It's a smart idea if you ever want to build a prison.

Instead of policing the prisoners you want to control.....You let their fear govern them. Make them behave the way they think you'd want them to. Because they don't know who is watching.

How political. And how useful.

There is much to make a Malaysian sad on any day, but it's been getting bleaker lately. I consider that we only have one source alternative news, by the way. And that's Malaysiakini.

I don't even want to think how this is gonna effect Malaysiakini. Or Kakiseni.

If you're waiting to see who lands in the slammer first, to see where the benchmark is...... Where the invisible lines of the poorly defined "Cause Disturbances" are.....So you know where you can safely step and whisper dissatisfaction, where you won't be heard.

If you're too scared to even comment on this, even if you want to, well then. It's worked, hasn't it?

You are well and truly cowed.

Written by lainie at 01:23 AM on August 3, 2006 in Daily Life, Arty stuff.

[ Written last night, but seemed like overkill to update 3 looong entries in a day ]

Tonight was the opening night for Endgame. Not bad, didn't regret going. Would I recommend it? No - but only because I'd rather not be the one responsible for sending someone to a Beckett play and have them come out realising that "Life sucks, and then you die", might have a bit too much truth in it. You wanna go, then go. Just don't watch the play, then blame Lainie.

[ I have noticed a scary trend amongst people who read my blog to think that I am somewhat an authority on theatre / arts stuff. Mahai, don't scare me okay. I am not. ]

I went for the play with Kat, Suanie, Paultan and Fireangel (ZOMG! All these femes bloggers!). Because I have not read up anything on this play, please note I cannot guarantee anything about spoilers.

I have photos from the play - Which is a bit salah, but I saw the "Must Read" notice outside the venue after the play was over. It said no unauthorised photography allowed. Maybe they should title it "Must Read BEFORE Entering".

Well fuck, I arrived late, didn't get a chance to read that. Also, anyone who's seen me drive will know I have absolutely no natural ability to notice big obvious signs (of course, my gaydar abilities are reportedly also equally sterling).

I am not able to do my own Photoshopping so instead am harassing people with the program to do it for me over MSN - I am now known as "teh pwn" because I can recite all the keyboard shortcuts and stuff to get what I want without looking at the interface (to be fair, i wanted very basic stuff). To be honest, "teh pwn" is the most flattering of the names I got called.

One of my friends is overly familiar with foul, foul language.


U-En and Alvin. It was kinda interesting to see Alvin in a theatre production, I associate him with TV, and Wah Loi Toi channel. Took a bit of time for me to get used to the transition.


U-En. Yknow. This character somewhat reminded me of the first time I watched him in "The Homecoming". His acting was alright, I just have this to say: I hope he doesn't get typecasted, I am rather interested in seeing how he does with other type of characters.


For some reason I end up watching Happy Days thrice - With the parallels between two Beckett plays (this and Happy Days), I couldn't help comparing him to Jo Kukathas' range of expressions and voices in her monologues (a largely unfair comparison since she's been at this for way longer). U-En did alright, he has some bloody grumpy expressions, though the whole "Oooh, love me, oooh puppy" moments could have been more obvious.

In the "breaking the 4th wall" kinda sense, I'd say Happy Days did a better job. I can't say he made me uneasy, which I wanted.............Am I saying I actually wanted something to make me feel uncomfortable? I am unsure.

Then again, the star of the play is the words .


Kelvin Wong and Sharifah Amani. Amani's character has about a few words more than Willie does in "Happy Days". Kelvin had more lines and he did look humorous when he first popped out of the bin.

I appreciated that the set was minimal, served its purpose. I didn't really get the reason behind the way they opened and closed the play, though it was pretty. Also, considering U-En can't see Alvin throughout most of it, since Alvin is standing behind him, the cues were pretty timely (Kat says they missed one very obviously, but I didn't notice it, I must have been averting my eyes at that point).

Overall I thought it was.....well.....I believe I used this word quite often. It was "Alright". I probably appreciate Gavin Yap's work as a director more than I do when he's acting.

The one thing I really didn't like was the lighting.

Were the lights done in such a way to purposely create an uncomfortable atmosphere? Well, I would say that was a bit of an overkill, I ended up with a headache too, and spent a lot of time using my cap's peak to block more of the light away.

Kat had to leave the moment the curtains drew because she was incredibly nauseous from the lights (and had spent part of the play just listening instead of watching because it hurt her eyes so much). She later told me that she might have (literally) thrown up if the play had gone on any longer.

Fortunately the foremost lightbulb didn't get to her because the guy sitting in front blocked it out for her - that's the one that gave me a right headache.

So the play was done, we went out, and I looked at the niiiice buntings they had up, information on the playwright Beckett.

=====

When Kat drove, she made a few mistakes (missed a big turning too) because everytime a car came up behind us the lights further disorientated her. That was creepy. I think we should have waited a lil longer for her to recover from the lights after the play. We had bakuteh, which settled her down somewhat.

Then she dropped me off at Carnegies to join the other three bloggers (it plays 80s music, haha) where I refused to drink much beer (I'm an alcoholic lightweight), and I guess it was ladies night since Suanie said I could get "4 free drinks", but I really didn't feel like it. Suanie kept pushing an insanely huge mug of beer towards me -_-".

I did however watch Paultan and Fireangel drink a lot of beer, and in my inexcusable state of sobriety, maybe groped FA a lil bit out of the kind interests of keeping her warm.

Almost kidding. Yeay, birthdays! What better time to imitate an octopus around people drinking alcohol, I say. Drink and be gay merry!

No gay agenda. What gay agenda?

====

Because "We Are Scientists" are coming down to KL to perform, here's a link to that lovelylovely, loverlyloverly, lovely site, You Ain't No Picasso: We Are Scientists: Hoppipolla. MP3 download available there.

Yeah you read right. The indie geekers covered Sigur Ros' Hoppipolla. What better way to start your evening than with some foreign indie-jiwangness?

Written by lainie at 09:47 PM on August 3, 2006 in Music, Arty stuff.

Lesbian movies posters contest - Shane Scissorhands. Hilarity.

I'm deciding between Shane, My Super Ex-Girlfriend, and The Break Up. Hmmm.

=====

Watch me pretend all my readers are in KL.

4th of August, meaning this Friday, is packed with events. If I were you, I'd be at this event tomorrow:

Sunrise Jazz & Rhythm Fest 2006
Plaza Mont Kiara, free admission.
8.30pm - 9pm: Belly Dancing
9pm - 10.45pm: Cosmic Funk Express
11pm - 12.30am: Jupiter@7

If I may take your eyes off the "belly dancing" part for a while, please note that Cosmic Funk Express will be playing their last gig tomorrow. This is their set list.

PLEASE. SOMEBODY GO THERE AND BOOTLEG THE SHOW I LOVE YOU LONG TIME KTHXBAI.

======

These are a list of the other events.

Rhapsody
8.00pm, Fasta Pasta Restaurant, The Curve (uhm. Nicole, you sure you don't mean Ikano Power Center....?)


Star Bucks Music Series.
8.00pm Starbucks Coffee Subang Jaya SS15
Reza Salleh, Azmyl Yunor, Superbar.


In 1969.
8.30pm, free admission, Sunway College Roof Top Theatre

"A tale of unrequited love, In 1969 is a devised performance based on the text by Beth Yahp, writer and literary editor for the magazine, Off the Edge.

The performance is a joint effort of some very talented Malaysians - director Chee Sek Thim, singer-songwriter Shanon Shah, lighting designer Mac Chan and an ensemble of performers that includes Adrian Kisai, Gabrielle Low, Hari Azizan, Imri Nasution, Mark Teh and Ruza Jajuli."

if you can't make it on Friday, please go to the link and see Saturday night / Sunday afternoon times. This one should really, really, reeeeeeeally be worth your time. Meanwhile, I have two videos of Shanon Shah singing songs from "in 1969", here and here.
It's already free. Smack you if you don't go.


First Friday For Women at The Disco
"come dance with our hot and sultry pole dancing gals"
10pm till the poles melt down! RM28 with 1 drink. Liquid, Central Market.
Pole dancing, who likes pole dancing? For women only yeah. Guess where my friends will be *eyeroll*. Regardless, this actually sounds like a really fun night for the girls.


Joe Kidd's Unclogged Series is back.
8.30pm, RM15 (with 1 drink), Little Havana, Changkat Bukit Bintang (next to Frangipani).
click on the link to see the line-up, the indie tshirt they will sell, and a map to the venue.


All else fails, there's always Wangi Jadi Saksi, and Endgame in theatres.

=====

If you're wondering what a wonderful / bad time I must be having, trying to decide and balance out my budget and travel between ALL these events....That's only your problem.

My wonderful friends have decided, after I have repeatedly told them NOT to do ANYTHING on the 4th, to hold CJ's birthday party, and Kate's going away party, both on the night of 4th August. A combined party of two good friends, one leaving the country for good.

Could I hate the fuckers more? Of course I'm going for their party. Bitches. Bitches. Bitches. I hatechu for putting your party on the 4th.

Pffft. Someone go bootleg CFE's gig for me. Then put it up for download / Youtube it (Alda has put up a notice that you are encouraged to bootleg the show).

I will lovies you long time.

Go, my minions.

Written by lainie at 01:20 PM on August 4, 2006 in Friends, Stupid, but fun..

lainie says:
bai

lainie says:
sweet bai

lainie says:
how are you my india

lainie says:
my papadams

lainie says:
you are my sweeet papadams

lainie says:
what is my rice without your curry

lainie says:
what is my aloo without your gobhi

lainie says:
my palak, unpalatable without thy paneer

lainie says:
oh papadam, papadam.

lainie says:
jaaaaaaaaaan jaaaaaaan, mere jaaaan

lainie says:
hello? are you gonna ignore me, my bai? my india?
PAPADAM! ANSWER ME PAPADAM!

Written by lainie at 02:39 PM on August 4, 2006 in Music, Friends.

Mystery Wolf: Things I miss about Australia - Part 2

Hilarious.

====

How many times can I update my blog in a day? Oh..Hahahaha..hahaha... haha... Good thing I've established quite early on I don't have much of a life then.

[ Oh yeah: If you have a band, and you have MP3s, consider submitting a song to I-band's MP3 Compilation CD project ]

In case you aren't busy enough with the list of events tonight, what ya doing tomorrow?

As usual, my idea of pimping an event is to copy and paste from Kakiseni (I don't envy Juliet's job, I'd go mad). I was just thinking about an I-bands.net vs Myspace.com situation yesterday. I like Myspace because I can add bands to my profile page, and for a .com, it's a lot more like a network than I-bands. I prefer I-Bands because it has charts, and they're a local website so they do organise events.

Speaking of I-bands events:

I-Bands Music Showcase 2

Tunestone Entertainment Club House: No. 31C, Lorong Kepayang, Off Jalan Meru, 41050, Klang Town
Sat 5 Aug 2006 (2pm onwards)
RM10 per person/ RM15 for 2 ppl
You're promised a whirlpool of genres, from Alternative to Grunge to Metal, at the I-Bands Music Showcase 2. The lovely people involved would like to state that it is not a Black Metal gig and even if they do eat mutton, they don't worship goats.

Featuring performances by:

- The Fridays
- Project 8
- Nervedeless
- Sourtury
- Polarised
- Infiltrated
- Frantic
- Vs
- Gloomhilda
- Kultus Kabus
- Zubira

(No drugs, No Alcohol, No sacrificial ceremonies, just pure hard Rockin fun).

Am I the only one who thinks it sucks that before every gig they have to make some "No goats will die onstage" kinda declarations? What if I want a good ol' kenduri with my entertainment? What if I want to good ol waterslide my bum around on the floor with the blood of innocent lambs instead? I for one think it does wonders for my complexion.

You know where the saying "soft and smooth, like a baby's asscrack" comes from? They came out into the world soaked in blood, if that's a hint for you.

Anyhow, I have only linked two bands because if I do go for this gig it will be for The Fridays and Gloomhilda (also, they have MP3s available for download so you can check them out yourself).

Gloomhilda plays funk music (except, of course, very few bands play just one genre now, eveeeeryone's gotta do the "in thing" and blend a few different influences together) - If you're gonna pick one, I'd try "Far East". It's a recording from a live performance during Fete de la Musique (actually, all the MP3s are live recordings), but it's still.......I'd call them groovy, but no one should use that word unless they're making fun of Austin Powers.

As for The Fridays. Their MP3s have consistently been making my regular playlists, and I've never watched them live but would like to. They've taken down some of their earlier downloads, but you can get Lisa Simpson from I-bands and Sundae from Myspace.

The songs I like are Slingshot, Art School Cool and Lisa Simpson. Haven't heard Sundae yet. Since this gig is in Klang, I have to figure out if any of my friends love me enough to bring me there.

=======

And by the way, le horror, Panda Head Curry now has a blog. The only comfort I take from this is that the blogosphere is so mucky they could not possibly make it anything but marginally worse with their sick humour and infideliciousness.

Someone please get these guys in the next gig they organise, the stink of desperation wafting into my inbox every newsletter I get is noxious.

Last spotted leaving resentful "No one picks me to play on their team" comments over at the site of the jolly (well, maybe not overly jolly) Troubadours KL blog. Last seen as two men saying they hate gay people while making the crowd sing along to songs about one-eyed snakes that taste like chicken. Last critic said "They suck balls" (might have been me, actually), but who's to say they don't?


"Firstly, Disarseter Records artist ultraright wing, anti environmental, homophobic and xenophobic Panda Head Curry?, will be peforming at KLPac, 20 August 2006. Please note THIS IS THE LAST CHANCE TO CATCH PANDA HEAD CURRY?.

We shall be disbanding due to artistic differences and goals that have resulted in increasing animosity between the two members. To keep up with Panda Head Curry?'s latest news, surf over to the blog (WARNING: Extremely explicit language and adult situations)"



Near blind people can click for a larger version and let the bright colours finish up the job for you. This is the most Salah poster I have seen in ages, cracked me up laughing for quite a while. Jackasses.

======

To continue from the email I just read:

Ben's Bitches Album Preview (Ben's Bitches has been doing veeeeery well on the I-bands music chart lately).

To help you get through the last few hours till the weekend, here's another preview, "The Cha Cha Ska of Amber Chia" (WARNING: Mildly explicit lyrics in English & Malay) from Disarseter Records artist Ben's Bitches upcoming (still) untitled album.

Amber Chia, by the way, is a Malaysian Guess model. A Guess model, described by Paul Marciano, has the following qualities:

"A Guess girl has something extra special. She is always confident, sexy and strong. The future perception of women will likely progress to where the Guess girl is today. She is a girl who has always been ahead of her time."

So all you girls out there, I hope you realize that being a Guess girl will advance you up the evolutionary ladder. I assume buying Guess products may advance you partially up the ladder. So buy Guess products and that'll take you one step away from being Star Children.

The Cha Cha Ska of Amber Chia
(2006 Copyright Disarseter Records Sdn Bhd)

Click here

(The Cha Cha Ska of) Amber Chia

I am gila (crazy), gila for Amber Chia,
Everytime I go to the health Spa,
There's no girl that come close to you lar,
that's why I gila, gila for Amber Chia (cha cha cha)

Amber Chia, I love you Amber Chia,
Dance with me, and do that Cha Cha Cha,
Hannah Tan, She's shorter than you are,
So Amber Chia, I picked you instead larrrr.

Take a 'Guess', who's wearing a brand new dress.
It's Amber Chia, the spotlight of the press.
May I know the Size of your ... ?
I wonder if my head could ever take a rest. (on
your breast)

Amber Chia, I love you Amber Chia,
Dance with me, and do that Cha Cha Cha,
Amber Chia, Original Cina.
Unlike celup (Eurasian), like Marion Caunter.

The only drawback on you is that, I find you're
way to skinny.
So go put on some weight ,but not too much, like
Joanna Bessey

Amber Chia, I love you Amber Chia,
Dance with me, and do that Cha Cha Cha,
Amber Chia, I love your bee stung lips,
They're so huge, they're bigger than my
tiiiiiiitsssss....

More Ben's Bitches here

Written by lainie at 07:14 PM on August 4, 2006 in Arty stuff.

Where the girls are pretty, and the boys are tortured souls.

This is the cover to "Remember", a graphic novel by Benjamin (also known as Benjamin Zhang Bin) that I picked up recently. The artwork inside is beautiful. Comic? Graphic novel? Does it matter?

[ Well, the cover says "Comic by Benjamin", so there I go ]

It's a one shot, with a few separate stories. The girl on the cover is from Fly / Remember, the first story. It revolves around a Chinese, misunderstood rebel comics artist (a dying breed, since the geekoid webcomic artist seems to be taking over) , and this girl named Rain.

There's a part in the story where he bombs a whole building with a graffiti comic, in her tribute. Then the police and media chase him (for different reasons, of course). When he is not busy running in the rain (haha, haha, look I made a bad pun), he is lounging around half naked, where we are supposed to feel his artistic angst emanate from his washboard stomach and lean, tattooed body. Just cause the comic has pretty people doesn't mean it isn't any good .

The people in these stories all have their own lil dramas. When people are fucked up on the inside, they probably aren't the nicest to other people. Then again, no matter how fucked up I get, I'd like to think that unlike him, should a sexy, impulsive girl, soaking wet from the rain, show up at my doorstep all hot for me, I would....wait, what was I sa...*mumble mumble*....

Right. I should think my reaction is not to push her away (no women were objectified in the comic, or the writing of this review).

I notice he does a fair bit of drawings with people letting go of their inhibitions, flying free in the air (usually head thrown back too). Mostly, they are falling into danger but they don't care. Must be an adrenaline rush.


Frankly, I'd not have chosen this page to show you guys, but Photoshop isn't working so I have to resort to whatever turns up in Google.



This novel also features individual paintings - these are two of the examples. The one on top is slightly different from the one in my comic, which has way more detail in the background, whereas the lower one is slightly cropped in the book.


This is from the second story in the novel. Does the style / paint washes kinda remind you of Takehiko Inoue (Slamdunk, Buzzer Beater, Vagabond) too? Maybe it's cause my first mainstream comic to have that kinda paint wash colours came from Slamdunk covers. I don't mean it's even that similiar, something about it just reminds me of Takehiko Inoue's work, I guess.

Remember is brought to Malaysia by Gempak Starz, under their Foreign Copyright graphic novels section. The colours on my screen look brighter than the printed version (where it's slightly duller, though still le pretty to look at), however, *thunks laptop*, that could just be my laptop.

I think the people at Gempak Starz want to make me cry. They bring a decent graphic novel over, and give it lettering from hell. Why were the dialogue balloons not redone? For god's sake, if you don't get someone to do the letters, at least download a decent comic font. It looks like lazy work. Shit.

Anyway, the lettering should not stop you from enjoying what is otherwise a lovely lovely comic.

You can order it online from Gempak Starz (link), but for those in KL, you can get a copy where I did. In Kinokuniya, at the cashier next to the magazines, they have comics lined all around it. Find this one.

RM7.50.
It's worth it lahhhh.

[ All images stolen from various websites I cannot remember, so there. ]

Written by lainie at 01:13 AM on August 6, 2006 in Rants.

Written by lainie at 02:35 AM on August 7, 2006 in Daily Life, Friends.

Friday night - I warned my friends not to plan anything major for the night because I'd want to go for Cosmic Funk Express' last gig. Obviously they could not give less of a shit for my schedule, and had a combination of CJ's birthday / Kate's farewell party.

Bitches.

The party started late, at midnight, so I got to watch some of CFE's gig anyway - they got Izwin (Plush) to sing quite a few tracks, which was cool. Sat with some bloggers. Met Shaolin Tiger for the first time (really tall bloke).

They had the joy of discovering what an army of my pissed off ex-housemates and dinner partners I'd left behind now know - I take a damn long time to finish my dinner.

Just as I was leaving, I met Ji Yein, an old schoolmate who's friends with the band. Talked with her a bit when I spotted some men in uniform with trained dogs scouting the compound. Having done nothing wrong, I was not afraid at all. Ahem.



I also immediately left the building. But only because it was time for the party.

=====

Kate has fucked off back to America. Bye Kate. I know you'll eventually read this entry you bitch - you'd better get your ass to sending me an email.

I picked the *prettiest* picture I could find of us:


Kate, standing between the two whiniest people she ever met in college. I just realised that's me in the middle (awful sense of direction, tch). Kate, standing beside the two whiniest people she ever met in college.

I met them in Lim Kok Wing (we all make mistakes, mine was LUCT).

First day of college in Lim Kok Wing, I walked into the classroom, and looked at the people. Saw some scenesters, geeks, "annoying fresh grads", more people, more people.....everyone was socialising enthusiastically. Boring, boring, boring......

Then my eyes settled on CJ and Kate. CJ was wearin punk gear and staring dazed into space, mouth slightly opened. Kate looked like someone just hit her on the head with a bottle. Yeay. I went straight up to them and introduced myself. Hey, at least I'm pretty good at spotting my crowd, we all look like a rock hit our heads when we were kids.

It was a quiet house party, some friends, lots of alcohol, a gay pet dog. I swear, that he-bitch is completely devoted to CJ, but I really like Jordie. He wags his tail all the time. Impressed myself by managing to give Lola directions to the house and she understood them.

We played drinking games. I was sober till about twenty minutes before Lola arrived to collect some cds from me - I'd assumed it would have been okay to drink because really, how quickly can I get high? "What do they say about assumption being the brother of all fuck-ups?".

I don't know why it's called "Fuck the dealer", when I wasn't dealing the cards and still managed to get pretty drunk after a few rounds from taking multiple shots of beer / Jaeger / vodka each time it was my turn. Lightweight, me. Impressed myself by giving Lola directions I'm surprised she understood (again!), considering my technique this time round mostly consisted of sending another drunk girl running outside the house to see what was out there, before CJ came along.

Lola's friend was driving the car. I leaned a big pink face down towards the window (both before and after temporarily having my sense of balance challenged), and made expansive, beer drinking gestures drunkardly towards the party. I probably also made the mistake of smiling in what I thought was a friendly manner, and I hesitate to think of how it probably really looked.

Alex came over grinning and told Lola she had to come in and do "the ritual" first, whatever it was. Then he did some Michael Jackson "Auuu!", stuck his tongue out and walked off. The two of us combined in those few seconds probably made the whole party look severely dodgier than reality (CJ's parents were there too, so it was quite normal, reallllly).

After some more gesturing and waving into Lola's car at her alarmed looking friend (who kinda looked like Kanch - was it Kanch?).

Lainie: I think I'm scaring your friend.
Lola: Yes, I think you are.

Oh well. For some reason happily drinking people calling out for the two girls to come join us was not inviting enough. Lola had just gone for a wedding and had shown up in Malay clothes.

Lainie: *gestures* Why are you dressed like that anyway?
Lola: ...Because it was a Malay wedding?
Lainie: Oh. Right. That makes sense.

Ah yes, intelligent conversation, my hobby. And that was when I realised it was probably for the better that we cut short whatever time she spends around me when I'm drunk. Hah. No one drunk should be surrounded by sober people.

We played a few more rounds of Fuck The Dealer, then it was time for the beer bong. If you ever want to drink a whole can of beer in two seconds, all you need is a hose and funnel, like so:



Ben met some people who like his band, Ben's Bitches. He sang a song he made up on the spot and somehow dragged me into the lyrics, in his usual jackass fashion
:


CJ's dog's ass has a heart shape print on it. So everytime Jordie wags his tail, that's 70 years of ass love fanning it's way over to us. We talked so much crap that night. Azmyl said that we now know what evolution is for: To grow fur to fan our asses. So our conclusion is, we are making a mistake covering up our arses, since we should let the wind blow free through it, and let our ass fur wave in the wind. Also talked about Transformers. And how CJ's tiles are small and unfriendly towards unsober people, so any parents that want to stun their children everytime one of them stumbles home drunk, will lovingly tile the house floors from the gates to their room, with trippy tiles.

Hell, tile the whole ceiling and walls too. Sober children forever. I think we were all buzzing pretty much by the time we talked about that. The party slowly ended a lil bit before dawn.

So yeah, Kate is off, back to America. I already miss her so much. She's the one person I hang out with in The Curve heaps, doing the stupid stuff we do, because stupidity can be the funnest adrenaline rush ever. Who will layan me from now on when I want to see if we can piss the guards off, then go for a drive later?

Sigh.

I do think friends shouldn't be allowed to say goodbye. Awfully bummed out about this. Don't think we'll be seeing each other anytime soon.

=====

I stayed over at CJ's place. It's been a long time since I've gone to sleep high. I have the shitest tolerance ever (in case anyone misinterprets - I am talking about alcohol). The next day, CK picked me up and we went to Klang for bakuteh, and the I-Bands showcase.

I met the dude who runs Tunestone Studio, where the gig was held. He asked if I was the Ipoh girl in the Ben's Bitches song, "Girl from Ipoh", so I told him that was about Nessa, my underaged friend (who is no longer underaged and therefore no longer the fun object of youth to throw at older guys with plenty qualms about dating jailbait - with of course no consideration whatsoever towards potential effects this would have upon Nessa, who seems to have turned out considerably normal).

I went up to the rooftop of the building, and the first thing I did was to declare CK and Hamzah*, one of the people running the place, that the walls was asking for graffiti. Missed a few bands here and there cause we were chatting so much (though I did pop downstairs occasionally). Managed to catch some pretty decent sets though.

*Lainie is bad with names.


There was an empty alcohol bottle on the ground bottom of the graffiti.

So yesterday I went for that gig. Then I went for a play. Then today I went for a play. Then at night I went for another play. A break tomorrow, then another play on Tuesday. Whew.

It's late.

I'll probably upload videos / photos another time.

I'll probably update another time too. I'm sleepy.

Another time = tomorrow. probably.

Written by lainie at 02:20 PM on August 7, 2006 in Arty stuff.

I met Effa and Mien in Monash, where I was extremely sleep deprived and needed caffeine. I was also very blur, Effa had called me and I stared at her for a few seconds before I realised I was in a situation where I was supposed to be talking, and not just ....existing.

I was there to watch "In 1969" again (errr...the good thing about free theatre, can watch more than once?). I really liked it, if all goes well it might turn into a full production, and if it does, I'm getting tickets. Before I get accused of being over enthusiastic - I wasn't the only one who watched it more than once .

Trudged to the coffeeshop where I over-amused the waiter trying to get him to understand I needed a coffee. Ended up with a cola instead, close enough. Trudged back to Monash. I was early so I sat on a bench and doodled a grumpy old goat, because that's how I felt.

I draw worse than usual when I'm groggy, but I wanted to try out a brush I had on me. Fun.


Did I mention I was grumpy?

Post Photoshop image: Overlay with colours from the pretty lights reflecting off the floor of Sunway rooftop theatre. Won't be putting up any pics since they requested that there be no documentation of the play, photo, video, or audio. Well that explains the crazy note-jotting I saw the first night.

Mien asked me if I was going to take part in something someone is probably maybe going to organise sometime soon for Katagender.

Lainie: You know. I still have no idea what it is that she does.
Mien: Works. And - uhh- makes the world a better place.
Lainie: Uhuhhhhh.......
Mien: Heals the world. And *hugging motion* hugs trees.
Lainie: Uhuhhhhh.....(at least it sounds like they don't have any idea either).

We walked in and sat on the floor. Numb legs by the time the play was over. While waiting for the play to start, Albert and Yin walked by. Albert saw me, pointed and said

Albert: Ei! Hi! Activist!
Lainie: Huh what? No not me, activist is her. HER!

Then I jabbed my finger in Mien's direction, since when assaulted by someone declaring labels unsuitable for your self, the wisest thing to do is deflect such accusations to the nearest person emanating "activist / volunteer" vibes.

Mien: Are you one?
Lainie: Uh. Noooooo. But for some reason they think I am.
Mien: Maybe because of the Katagender thing last time.
Lainie: Probably.

Blogcred, Tainted. T_T.

I don't even know how I started with the.....Okay I just remembered. Someone put papers into my hand and walked away. I wonder if I can somehow turn this technique into some really profitable way to gather minions. Hmmmmmmmmmm (I am not calling myself a minion, I am merely observing that catching people offguard can be....useful........).

Lainie: Actually, I have no idea what you do either.
Mien: I work with Komas.
Lainie: Oh okay.

I still don't know what that means. I think it involves cameras and wearing anti-ISA badges. Lalalalalaaaaaaaa. Details, pfah.

I'd told Mien earlier that I was the worst giggler ever - can't stop once I start. I forgot something very important that I realised during the Reza / Shanon Shah gig. Part of the reason I had to control myself during the gig was because she kept giggling at the lyrical innuendos during Shanon's performance which included songs from this play.

First giggle from her during "In 1969", and I felt one coming up my throat as I smiled - spent part of the play telling myself not to listen to Mien everytime she laughed. And I needed to pee, how bad would it have been if I laughed too? Haiyo, most evil person to sit next to, evarrrrr.

And so I watched again, as lights dimmed and brightened onstage, and the cast took turns moving, gaining my attention, sometimes banding together, interacting with each other, to show a story about a female prostitute, her child, the man who fathered the child unfolded around me in the political "1969" times. There was a part where she's in the drain, rain is falling on her, and the music starts up. Very nice. And when the couple sings about resenting the future. I don't know why I bother to describe what most of you should have been there to see yourself.

I'm starting to really like physical theatre. This whole "devised from text" thing they're doing under the Kishen Jit Experimental Workshop Series, is working out for meeeee.

I hope this first draft version gets a "Baling Membaling" treatment and makes a college tour. I can't help but have the feeling this is something that needs to be watched by more people.

I suppose it will be very undignified to run after anyone from Five Arts Centre, waving a flyswatter at them while demanding for a full production of this. I had a much better time there than I did at KLPac recently, watching Endgame, where though it was alright, I will hardly be tempted to use physical abuse for them to stage a repeat. Which for their safety, might be a better thing, actually.

=====

At night, I went to Sri Cempaka Cheras to watch We Will Rock You. I don't even want to talk about what kind of fucked up hellishness it was to find that campus. Anyhow, I was there because Tei gave Kat and I tickets for the show.

The play. Much fun - Throughout the performance (which included many rock songs), I was just thinking... "Money....money......money.....Rich.....Rich.....Money....". Seriously, they had the stage, the costumes, and a whole shebang of stuff that made my head reel thinking about the cost.

Some gender-bender names for their characters, a male Britney, a female "Bob the Builder", a girl Meatloaf. Much chance for cheap shots at the entertainment industry. It was kinda ironic that the play was about "breaking out" and having Original Ideas and Original Music, but they were mostly doing covers, really . They have some good singers on their cast.

A lot of rock songs. So much Queen. So much studently enthusiasm, the crowd kept cheering and clapping everytime a song was done / love scene was being performed. Ah school children, I felt too old for that. And I'm too young to give birth and cheer the productions of my womb onstage.

I actually really liked the Killer Queen character. Hah. Nur Fazlina Mohd. Razif. Made me laugh quite a bit with her eyebrow-raised dominance. Fun school production.

=====

So yes. I've been watching a lot of theatre and paying...nothing. Tonight, I will be watching short films and paying.....nothing. (Malaysian Shorts, free entry, hehe). Tomorrow, thanks to Erna, I will be watching the musical she's performing in Refugee: Images......for free.

La Cheaperella. I'm broke okay.

And I lovies you all because I can still watch all these things even though I have no money .

=====

I am filled with this crazy longing to play Crash Bash. I don't even own a Playstation - though technically, all I have to do is download Playstation into my laptop, and maybe even a rom if I'm too broke to buy the CD from Low Yat (which I probably am). Hmmmmmmmmmm.

Written by lainie at 03:22 AM on August 8, 2006 in Daily Life, Arty stuff.

I went for the screening of Malaysian Shorts at Help Institute tonight.

Oh My Goat! by Shan.
The first scene started off with a lil baby goat (okay, fine, a kid). As I watched the kid run around onscreen, I looked at Meesh, smacked my lips and said "Yummmm". Which is slightly creepier than KA, who looks at babies in malls and does the same.

The short: It was kinda obvious. Basically, if you raise goats and treat them as friends, you have to contend with reality that your friend might also double up as your curry a few months later. There was a scene where the goat this girl had raised was tied up and driven away for slaughter, while she watched. The severed goat's head was delivered home and made into a meal. I laughed.

I also said I would feel so bad the next few times I had curry. Then again, I also had Sup Kambing after the screening, when we went for dinner. I can't help it, adverts work well on me, and seeing mutton curry on a HUGE screen just convinced me I wanted some.

I'm desensitised. Pathos? Pffft.

The Idiots by Mohd Alfie.

In the beginning, it kinda reminded me a lil of Step. Black and white, weird noises, comedy feel. Then the weird wanking and sex stuff happened. During the Q&A session someone asked Mohd Alfie about the "Self sexual gratification" scenes, and everyone was like "What? You mean the wanking scene? Jerking off? Masturbation?"

What kind of childhood did he have? What does he say anyway when he needs to jerk off anyway? "Be right back, I have to go self sexually gratify myself". My god, what a waste of syllables. An observation to waste your time: Self-sexually-gratify, in short, can be "Sexify". I think "I am off to sexify myself" works so much better.

Something about seeing three "idiots" wanking to Siti Nurhaliza. When Mawi was used in the short, I waited for the two girls looking at his picture to start wanking onscreen too, but alas. Apparently, idiots like Siti.

The people waging the war had a leader wearing a satan mask who had a "forced fellatio" scene, which is almost an euphemism for when he stuck his massive dick into the idiot's mouth and came all over it.

[ "It's as long as my arm. I wish it was as long as something else". Lock Stock, baby ]

Uh. This was actually a short film about war, and the people who wage war, and the people who don't know what's happening and get fucked over. "Fucked" being a term taken literally here.

I'm not complaining, I'm all for more sex scenes.

During the Q&A, a question about censorship came up. The directors were asked whether they censor themselves. I don't see why anyone should do the damn "job" for the censorship board. Never mind what I think about the censorship board.

[ Blog more about this tomorrow, am sleepy. ]

Amir Muhammad was standing outside and when he saw me he pointed and said "You!" (holy crap wtf?). I was already prepared to deny everything, whatever it was. "You're a blogger!" (oh chei, don't scare me lah). Apparently these filmmaker people google themselves occasionally. What a worrying idea. Not that I imagine it will stop me much.

Sharaad: What will you do when you graduate?
Lainie: Graphic design. Sell my soul to an advertising company, make posters to sell you cola.
Sharaad: Make sure they pay you a lot for it.

Oh, I don't know. Are souls really that precious? I can't imagine giving money to buy one. Not even twenty bucks. It's not like someone can blend it with apples and make some "eternal youth" potion. What am I gonna do with it anyway? Sometimes I think people who believe in souls probably also live on fresh air and sunshine.

Pffft, souls. I bet if they existed in a physical manner they wouldn't even by shiny. Mine would probably have lyrics scribbled all over it. And I'd sell a piece of it to McDonalds, if they'd like to do an ad placement.You know how race car drivers are covered in ads? Mmhmm.

Meesh is interviewing me tomorrow for some article about bloggers. She was giving me thoughtful looks and told me she was thinking of questions.

Lainie: You're not going to ask me difficult questions, are you?
Meesh: .......
Lainie: Can't you ask me easy stuff? Go easy on me? (PLEASE?)
Meesh: .....Maaaaybe.

I feel like I have a 'life exam' coming up. I have suggestions: Lainie, what is your favourite colour? Where do you like to eat? What music do you listen to?. I have a feeling that's not gonna happen. :/

Written by lainie at 04:50 AM on August 9, 2006 in Arty stuff.

Erna was a darling and gave me a free ticket to watch the musical she's in, Refugee: Images. I liked her part as the prostitute of the village. In fact, her scene was one of my favourites, and I'm not saying this just cause we're friends.

I found a lot of problems with the play. Unintended humour, if you will. I quite unsuccessfully held back giggles at how ridiculous some scenes looked. They are singers, and they do that well. The other parts were.....well.......

One Picture Review:


I forgot to draw the lil stool he was balancing on.

Hasty sketch because I have no photo of the play (oh that's a whole other PR disaster story, someone keep the Front of House woman away from the mic), and am taking a few minutes break from work.
I'll update more about the rest of the musical and msian shorts tomorrow. Work work work.

====

[ Update ]

I think it says something about a play, when after we were done watching it, the agreement was the whole musical has tremendous potential as a comedy - that is, if the whole thing was dubbed over with the sound of chickens clucking.

Really - it'd be brilliant if it was.

Apparently this is a Canticle Singers tradition - but, I'm not too keen on musicals that start with "Negaraku". It may be our national anthem, but I associate it with the years I woke up at 6am to stand in line with my schoolmates. I instantly feel sleepy from the first few bars. Very Pavlovian.

The play was way too talky for a musical....I'll say again, it's okay to have a message in the play, but really. This doesn't even border on pedantic, it practically defines it. Where are the bloody songs?

There were parts where men slowly spin offstage with their arms apart, like tops. While wailing melodrama like "My soul is being torn apaaaaaaaaaaaaart"......And they do it one by one, in case you missed it the first time. That's an awfully long time to stop breathing cause you're trying not to laugh, yknow?

Another case of accidentally making fools out of themselves in a serious play? Have some "rat" wine (I assume she meant red).

The "fight scene" in the beginning, where the guard supposedly punches the refugee was so badly done, I laughed. Where they had green lights, smoke, and some dude balancing on a stool as he mimes a "dragon". I laughed. There were scenes where they all sprawled onstage and moaned in what was meant to sound pitiful, I suppose. I laughed.

I laughed because they were doing something extremely ridiculous in a very serious manner. Much accidental humour.

The Canticle Singers are.....Well. Singers. The songs were alright, fun. I liked Erna's scene because it was fun, the performers were more relaxed looking, and it actually sent out a message without anyone needing to do a voice over of exactly what "the issue" was about in this scene.

The rest of it was a bit too unimpressive for me. Go for the singing, ignore everything else.

Anyways - WHAT DID WE LEARN FROM REFUGEE: IMAGES? Suanie will let you know in six seconds:



Hahahhahahahhahaaaa. Pengsan.

Written by lainie at 04:18 PM on August 9, 2006 in Arty stuff.

[ Continued from this post ]

So I went for Malaysian Shorts, presented by Kelab Seni Filem Malaysia on Monday. As we entered we were given a poll to vote for our favourite three shorts.

Some of the shorts I watched:

Under The Bridge by Hardesh Singh
It's a 2 minute shot that gave me vertigo and made me wince. It's just Hardesh, holding a camera, and pointing it down at his feet as he walks to the other side. I make it sound boring - it's actually a pretty entertaining short, had the audience going "oh my god!", and "ahhhhh!" and "eeeeek!". Simple idea, much entertainment.

Apparently it was originally shot during "Lelaki Komunis Terakhir", but they didn't use it in the end. Guess how Hardesh responded to a question about censorship during Q&A, huh?

While You Were Eating by Chi Too.

I like this one heaps, made me laugh. I think my friends will like it too too. I voted it one of my favourites, because the assiness that came out of this was lovely. Undertable sex. Boink boink boink boink boink.

Drink wine, eat meat.

Bavam by ST Bala

This was about a dancer who shows up for her group performance just in time and dances beautifully onstage for an audience -it seems- entirely made up of men. She was gang raped just before that. *Wince*.

I thought it was kinda like a melodrama, which also made fun of old Hindi movies where before a fight scene / drama there'd be some "JENGJENGJENG" music. During Q&A, ST Bala was asked if he purposely gave it the 60s, 70s feel as a throwback to the old school Hindi films.

St Bala: No. It wasn't old fashioned.

I started giggling from there on and couldn't stop, because that short is really just so old fashioned Danlim and I had thought it was a friendly jab at old times. I mean, he also misunderstood the question, and started going on about how the clothes used will always be that type for Indian classical dances (evergreen, phweet).

I turned red from lack of oxygen trying to shut myself up. The only reason I bothered to hold back was because some dude was behind me with a video camera taping the Q&A.

Come and Go by NA Halim Hassan

Was a waste of my time, but then again, it IS based on Samuel Beckett's writing, that asshole. How many hours of my life have I given to that Beckett dude?

Satu Malam Isnin by Raja Azhar

Weezer. Greenday. Getting high. Dying. Not giving a fuck. Yeah, I kinda like this one. The talky bits usually make me laugh.

From the Outphace people - this one actually being one of their more...Uh..Visually appealing shots. Which isn't actually saying much, because I get the impression their shorts are high on dialogue fun. I haven't watched that many Outphace videos though - I think the rest I watched were made by Zan Azlee, not Raja Azhar.

I actually understood the conversation in this one, sometimes their slang confounds me. Funny idea. See them take the piss during Q&A, when someone asked them a serious-ish question on the logistics of how one person in the car can die and not the other two - the audience actually clapped after RA was done answering, probably in admiration for his ability to bullshit on the spot. I know that's why I was clapping.

The Slides Show by Aizil Azlee

? Why were we subjected to that? I think Amir Muhammad must have sniggered when he added that into the list of shorts.

The Wait by Akashdeep Singh.

Two guys, one with broken motorcycle, another fixing it, by the roadside talking about politics (also, dissing it), and so on. Ho Yuhang has a very humorous face - it's the kind where out of the mouth serious words come, but the rest of the expression is just "Cmon. You know you wanna giggle at this".
I thought the short was "Okaaaaaaaaaylah". This one got the audience choice.

Shiit! by Sashitharan Rajoo

A short about being on a train from Singapore to KL and desperately needing to shit. About the most interesting thing was the farting / "plopping" shit sound effects, and that they managed to squeeze two people into a tiny toilet cubicle to shoot that.

The Perfect Date by Dean C Ghazi

HELLO FUCKING BIG BUDGET!!!!!11!!1on1eoneyatyatyat.....
Okay, now that's outta the way.

Love in the modern ages. Loving yourself. Expensive looking places, with expensive looking bathrooms, and expensive looking lighting. Sorry, did I get past how much budget they must have had for this? Apparently not.

They had a lot of nice looking shots, and recognisable actors I like (Edwin Sumun!), but the storyline mostly bored me. Terlalu berdrama this one, like watching a film that was trying to take itself too seriously, and it ended up being a spoof of itself.

=====

Oh hello, I ended up writing about all the shorts that were screened anwyay. Whaddya know. The irony is, I refuse to write reviews for Bernice's Film Appreciation class because I don't like writing film reviews. I've hated everything I've written, yet obviously feel no qualms about assaulting blog readers.

Bernice called Farid and me pathetic because we refuse to give her our assignments and were whining . Farid and I have come to the conclusion that Bernice's writing class (of which Farid and I comprised two thirds of), has produced angsty writers who whine about writing but don't actually.....write anything.

Written by lainie at 06:30 PM on August 9, 2006 in Daily Life, Stupid, but fun., Arty stuff.

No classes today. Didn't go out. The most interesting thing I did was try to catch a lizard at the kitchen sink.

Just so you know, whose opinion you're reading. Someone at home faffing around, thriving on caffeine, instant noodles, and chasing house lizards.

Just so you know.

=====

From my inbox, hishamuddin rais giving a talk:

This afternoon, we received a call from the Masjid management. He told me that they received the pressures from the authority for not rent the hall to our Alternative Course on Ethnic Relationship.

Although Y4C faced these difficulties, we will continue our program as usual. We are going to move to Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall. The details of the program are following:

Topic: Roles of students and ethnic relationship
Lecturer: Mr. Hishamuddin Rais
Date: 10 August 2006 (Thursday)
Time: 8.30pm - 10.30pm
Venue: Lecture Theathre, 1st Floor, KL Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall. Located near the Maharajarela Monorail Station.

Feel free to contact Y4C secretariat Khai Loon (013-3970519) or Yee Ling (012-7355025) for any further information.

====

[ I moved the entry on Refugees here ]

Written by lainie at 11:01 PM on August 9, 2006 in Stupid, but fun., Arty stuff.

....What does one do when deprived of Photoshop? MSPaint. My favourite application till the day I discovered Photoshop.



Supposed to be flat colours (not that it matters, really). MSPaint has horrible jpg conversion, so I settled for gif instead - no I don't want to download anything to fix this.

I'm procrastinating and making pixel art where I should be writing film reviews (this isn't pixel art, the only measurements / lines I took into consideration was making this 45px tall).

I need caffeine.

I need to start doing my assignments.

I need a laptop that works properly.

The newest joke my laptop has pulled - both the "Alt" buttons don't work.

Har har, har har.

*Sigh*.

Written by lainie at 06:00 PM on August 10, 2006 in College, Daily Life.

Today's digital class is from 10am till 5pm.

Past 1pm, I was still the only student there. I felt ridiculous. Big computer lab, one lecturer, one student hiding further back and drumming her fingers, trying not to look noticeable. I was so grateful I found one computer in college with Flash 5 that works, and tried to get as much done as I could because my laptop is rebelling against me. Grateful that I can do my assignments. That's a new low for me.

Three other students, which makes less than half the entire class, showed up one by one in the following hours. I hate feeling like a nerd. I've been granted an extension for my deadline because my lecturer has seen my laptop and knows what a frightful nightmare it can be.

Came home tired.

======

I was just thinking what a relaxing hum of machinery was in the air before I realised I had a headache. Ding! Fuck, they're fogging the area for mozzies! I'm allergic to most insecticides. Saw an open window and ran to close it, to minimalise the effects before it built up to a monster of a headache.

This window has been wide open for the past few months. When I finally noticed it, I decided I was too lazy to walk towards it and make the gargantuan effort of shutting it, thus ensuring privacy.

Instead, I decided it was a fine ol' time to start wearing tshirts when I'm alone at home, before I chance traumatising the neighbours - or as my mother would put it, "Add excitement to their lives". They get raided by RELA every so often anyway, I don't think they need any more excitement OR trauma.

Guess what? The window........It's just a hole in the wall. I don't know where the window's gone. It took me a while to catch up too, mentally, cause I kept reaching out my hands to touch what was not there. We have bars so I'm not too worried about people climbing in.

I do wonder who took the window though. No wonder the men living opposite can admire my creative interpretation of MC Hammer's "Can't Touch This" dance to any song that happens to be playing every night.

Who needs sleep? I need sleep.

"Break it down!
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
Stop! Hammer time! "

Uhn!

Written by lainie at 03:42 AM on August 12, 2006 in Daily Life.

Says it all, yes?
Tired. Update soon.

Written by lainie at 01:19 AM on August 14, 2006.

I didn't realise till I thought about it, but it's been a long weekend.

I went for a talk in the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall. I don't know why I went, but Meesh asked me to and I didn't argue much. It was Hishammuddin Rais, speaking about Ethnic Identity and a student's role in it, somewhat.

The talk wasn't supposed to be there, but apparently the people who manage the mosque (snark) they wanted to hold this at were pressured by "unidentified sources up there" not to allow it - I guess it didn't seem like the righteous Muslim thing to do, discussing race? I suppose it didn't help that Hisham is the one giving the talk, and the speaker wrapping it up few weeks later is Anwar Ibrahim.

[ Hishamuddin Rais is a pretty notorious dude, but most probably known for being being a student activist and getting arrested under the ISA ]

I have audio file of his talk, will probably post it up once I can edit it (only because tabulas can't take very big files). I don't reckon he said much anything surprising, mostly that race is a social construction, brought here by the British, and what Malaysia (Malaya) was like before that happened.

What was surprising was hearing Khai Loon say after the talk that it was all very controversial, but something to think about. I leaned over to Meesh, and asked

Lainie: Was it controversial?
Meesh: God woman, where have you been?

Apparently, I was surrounded by students who in all likelihood join something like "Chinese society" or "Malay society", or basically clubs established based on racial identity (much like our political groups, something I still have difficulty understanding). Meesh than told me something I didn't know - that students are very politically active in public universities, particularly the local Chinese ones.

You know what's weird? I never knew what race was till I hit primary school. And I was unsure the difference between "Nationality" and "Race" that I had to fill out in forms up till...Oh, I think Lim Kok Wing? Which makes it...Hmm. About 2 years back.

Not so much because I couldn't tell the difference, I just wasn't very sure which was called "the race", Chinese or Malaysian. Hah. It actually took me quite a few forms before I realised what they meant. I remember writing an essay once, in Form 5, and sneaking a glance at Shakira's paper to see what she filled in for those blank lil boxes, in case I look stupid and got them wrong (I think it was for something under The Star).

Now I just leave the race one blank, because it seems so irrelevant, but I'm pretty sure it gets filled in for me courtesy of Yeoh surname.

Meesh made it clear to me that many people do think of things from a racial point of view. I'm quite fascinated by these people. I want to know how their minds work, it all seems so alien.

====

After that, we met up with Danlim and Sharaad at this mamak stall where I had gotten lost the last time. I was right excited because I could actually say where it is.

Lainie: Ooooh! I know I know! It's right behind the Bangsar lrt station!
Meesh: ........
Lainie: Really! Right behind it! Hmm. Lemme see where that is.....
Meesh: Lainie, we know. See, we're driving past it right now....
Lainie: Oh....I wanted to sound smart.....

Sharaad was there with some people from Article 11 forum, they were amused when we brought him right back to the mamak, he had just left a few minutes ago. Apparently, the tandoori chicken there is supposed to be good. I almost asked them how they got out of jail, mostly because I forgot they were not arrested for the forum, just ridiculously bullied by some people (I still wonder why they were not arrested, by the way).

After food, Meesh, Danlim and I went to some Chinese temple where some people were praying. Meesh asked me what religion my parents were, and I was stunned because, really. I have no frickin idea.

I certainly don't know what Gazel is, I think my mom might be Taoist or Buddhist, and I've lost track of what my dad's idea of religion is quite some time back. Then I told Meesh that my mother told me while I was growing up that religion is a personal thing, and that no one could decide my faith for me (mother or not). My mom's actually pretty cool (even if I resent that she Sudokus much faster than I do).

Which is why I think all that fuss over the Lina Joy thing is bonkersly crazy.

=====

Speaking of religion. I was on the monorail, and they came up with this AWFUL advert concept of announcing the Mcdonald's beef foldover for every station, reminding us to try the delicious beef or whatever the fuck.

I sat across from a Hindu looking woman. She looked really uncomfortable, listening about delicious beef slices, as she sat next to huge pictures of beef and tomatos (it felt like we were part of a giant sandwich, actually).

I can't help but wonder what it would be like if it was about pork instead. Actually, I don't wonder much. I have a pretty clear idea.

After that, we went to Danlim's place where I stole borrowed some comics. The last time I was at his house, I took a look at the bookcase there and threatened to orgasm in front of it.

I mean, just what Dan needs, lesbians threatening to traumatise his bookshelf.

=====

The next day I met up with 2 people, and had dinner at El Cerdo, followed by a movie. But I'm not gonna talk too much about that, my scary blog and all that .

=====

The day after that one was................

Hmm. Wouldn't you know it. Memory lapse.

I went for a shoot with Ben's Bitches who were performing for some reality rock tv show called "Rock Unite". Oh but I have to show you guys photos, some funny stuff going on there.

======

At night I went for a barbeque with Miriam's friends. Apparently, they spontaneously decided to have a bbq, and bought a few hundred dollars worth of meat before realising they didn't have as many people.

It's been a while since I've been surrounded by private school kids, almost forgot what it can be like. Oh, the accents fly!

After the bbq, Fip and I met up with Tei and some friends to sort some lesbian dramas out. Poor Tei, misunderstood again. People seem to think she's some player of sorts even though she's been single forever. Actually, being picky has really worked against her.

Apparently, "long term singledom = Playing around", when really, in her case it was "long term singledom = hang out with Lainie and Kat and whine all day, and sadly, all night". At least now she's busy with work. And perhaps slightly scared of her reputation for being "The Gay Friendster", a tag I apparently helped to stick on her (how is it my fault she knows so many people anyway?).

She'd been attracting the wrong kind of attention from someone else's girlfriend, never a good thing, and while we sat talking about her latest dilemma, I drew a can of "Tei Pheremones", which I once declared must be the source of her problems, someone was spraying it around in the air. Tei saw it and said "Oh, fuck you Lains". I giggled. What sympathy? None for my friends, their pain exists for my humour only.

I looked round the table. It was ridiculous, everyone was either currently dating, or used to date, or used to crush on, or currently crushing on someone else at the table. And there were only like....5? of us there. It's so L Word.

At the barbeque, I'd talked with Miriam's friend about that. Fiona doesn't know many gay people, and I was telling her the community gets awfully small.

Fiona: Is it really that small?
Lainie: Why, how many lesbians do you know?

After that lesbian drama episode was over, Fip and I went drinking at Lil Havana. I met some bloggers for the first time. Not sure if you guys remember, Su-Yin? Hatim (or rather, [K]), and their friend Sharon.

Su-Yin told me about this horrible doctor who attended to her after her bad car accident. I just knew it would be my uncle, notorious for his bad sense of humour and dreadful bedside manner.

I was right.

Anyway, laughed much, laughed hard, and they sent me home bloody fucking drunk. I don't know how I got upstairs but I near collapsed. I don't remember much what I said, though I do recall traumatising everyone with my theory.

Hatim is about to graduate and said something about getting tassles on his graduation robe. I said put the tassles where his nipples are. Then (and this is where the beer starts talking, I swear), I said, if it's long enough, he can braid his nipple hair into homemade tassles and twirl them around, le sexy.

Everyone drank after hearing that. I think to drown out the pain the visuals brought them.

=====

Spent most of today with a friend, we went for vegetarian indian food at Chat Masala, then hung around in KLCC all day (Hi!).

That is all, update next time, Lainie needs to sleep now.

Written by lainie at 12:42 AM on August 15, 2006 in College, Family, Friends.

It's my dad's birthday today (or technically, 40 minutes ago). I decided not to do anything - Actually, I tried to think of what to get him, and my first thought was "Stay out of trouble for a week 5 days 3 days.

My next thought was "Define...trouble". I couldn't think of anything I do that's trouble anyway, so there didn't seem to be any thing to avoid doing.

My final conclusion is: If I make a conscious effort to stay out of trouble, I'll probably land straight into it, so I'd better not. The more I thought about being good, the more visuals I had of me in prison clothes, waving a birthday card out from behind bars .

So my birthday present to my father is to not do anything.

======

I have 700 emails to check, and.......Yeah I only have this for a few minutes so I'm not gonna. Kiss kiss, will catch up on everything soon.

=====

Typography class today was in KLPac, Imaya let a bunch of us loose there to take photographs. The idea is to take pictures of the environment, and figure out a way to add pretty words there. Maybe poems, quotes.

My first idea was to make...Uh. Floating typography. Cause they have a lake, with seats beside it for people to sit and....Oh I don't know, stare at ducks. I thought, hang an inverted word sculpture above the lake, and on a still day, the lake would reflect some corny inspirational quote about a clear, still day and how it affects the soul.

Then I remembered my laptop died, so I'm probably gonna end up putting a haiku at the koi pond area because........I may not have Photoshop but I have brushes. And ink. Bring itttt bitches, there are like way so many different ideas I have to avoid Photoshop - all of them involve a brush .

This is so stupid. Fortunately not many people can tell the difference between well executed calligraphy and....my scratchy brush strokes.

======

The second assignment was typography letterforms, where we need to construct our own font based on photos we take of things that kinda look like alphabets.

You know what's pathetic?

Lainie: Here duckies...duckies....Swim into a "g" for me.

I spent a lot of time pointing a camera at four ducks, hoping they'd swim coordinated into the shape of an alphabet. The saddest part - so were some other classmates.

Latif: Cmon, give me a "B".

Then again, there's something very yummy looking about four lunch packages with their legs a