Written by lainie at 04:57 PM on April 2, 2008 in Links / Email.

Watching old Anita Mui clips and Leslie Cheung remind me of the stuff I watched as a kid, and why an hour of watching Wah Loi Toi on Astro irritates me so much.

The modern popstar seems so image-driven - I don't know which is worse, all that lip-syncing, or when they sing live and off-tune.
Most of the Hong Kong stars I see on telly now can't sing, dance or act, much less pull off all three without running out of breath (watch a Leslie Cheung & Anita Mui duet and you'll see what I mean - amazing energy levels).



Check out that Anita Mui clip I linked (from Miracles / Mr Canton & Lady Rose) - I always liked her velvet voice best when singing the slower songs.

(if I've linked this video before - I can't remember - it's because I really, really like it).

Written by lainie at 02:22 AM on April 3, 2008 in Events.

Updated the Cammies blog: Kamini Manikam: Nominee for Mandarin Oriental Kuala Lumpur, Fan of the Arts Most Promising Artist Award

I think it says something about what I tell people, when at least three people ask if you did your laundry because you're out in public, and your clothes aren't entirely scruffy (or as Joyce puts it - Stop telling people you haven't done your laundry!). Aren't you tempted to make bad puns about airing dirty laundry in public? Cause I kinda am...

I think if Joyce had a chance she'd burn half my wardrobe (which she has more or less said, with the addition of hoping rats eat them).

Lainie: It's okay, you can look gorgeous for two people, easily.
Joyce: Oh, now all the lines come out la?

I was just being honest . We were both in La Bodega for the same event:

Get wild, get hot, don't stop to think; and just embrace your inner kinky. As such sinful secret parties go, the spread of the evening includes lustful couples, possible playmates, terrific threesomes, cat-suits, hunky window cleaners, bored office types, hairstylist bondage and frivolous role play aplenty the next morning.

- K is for Kinky: An April Fool's Day Secret Tryst (also known as Any Bloody Excuse for a Party).

It was a lot quieter in reality. I had arrived an hour early with Jemufo and Spes, and we played boardgames till the deejays came in. Feeling mentally lethargic, I had suggested Snake & Ladders, but Jemufo insisted on Scrabble. Jemufo's very competitive (but I still won, nyeh nyeh nyeh nyehhhh). I got a bingo, and Jerome helped me place a "Z" on a triple letter score .

The music was good but most people were just working the room, networking. I was too lazy to do the same, though I did end up meeting some new people (it's unavoidable, really), and bumping into an old schoolmate - all grown up, and has been so for many years now.

Some girls got onto the tables and danced awkwardly - wasn't very Coyote Ugly at all. Some friends (or very drunken revellers, hard to say) were cheering them on. They barely moved, didn't touch each other, and kept their clothes on. Kelvin and I were standing together waiting for something to happen before I lost patience and yelled - TAKE IT OFF! TAKE IT ALL OFF!

Not that I wanted to see them naked, but I was getting awfully bored. Yelled more:

TAKE IT ALL OFF! BUT THE PANTIES!! AND THE SHOES!

Kelvin was laughing at me, asking if that was my fetish. Not really -_-". My bad manners usually derive from boredom. By then Juria had just arrived and joined me in the catcalling. The moment they had climbed onto the tables, my eyes went to the switchbox, waiting for an alert waiter to switch the fans off - one did.

Jemufo and Spes had a more productive time bonding over conversation. Jemufo was my ride home, so I left with her soon after. I figured, when tabletop dancing gets as dull as that, there isn't much hope for the rest of the night.

I had a lil to drink, and didn't realise that I knew a lot of people from one end of the room to the other, until I tried to leave. Saying hurried goodbyes took me fricking ages. I started prioritising people in terms of how frequently I'd met them.

I didn't even realise we'd left early, until it was brought to my attention after I got home (and I had to explain myself for acting like an old maid, being home before 1am). Turns out it got more interesting later - some friends got drunk, more friends showed up, a fight broke out at the back.

I suppose I don't mind, I was kinda tired by then, and had a migraine. Took some Panadol and hit the bed.

Written by lainie at 01:25 PM on April 7, 2008 in Friends, Links / Email.

Do me a favour - keep this Saturday night free if you're in KL. I'm doing the art direction for Jerome Kugan's album launch (Songs for a Shadow) in the Annexe.

Besides the muted panic of being thrown into this last minute with no experience, minimal help, a tight schedule and an audience that promises to comprise of people I respect, including my previous lecturers from Cenfad - I'm sure I'll like doing this very much. Reminder to self: I like working under pressure, I like working under pressure.

Moving along: Check out good hippie film love happening on Youtube! I've watched a few of the videos from this series, and I quite like them. Wish I had more time today.

It seems that two days after my birthday in May, some world-kumbayah will happen. Anyone familiar with Pangea Day?

Here's a big idea: Pangea Day plans to use the power of film to bring the world a little closer together. We're divided by borders, race, religion, conflict... but most of all by misunderstanding and mistrust. Pangea Day seeks to overcome that -- to help people see themselves in others -- through the power of film....

Your film could be part of it.

from Can Your Film Change The World?

Spot the Malaysian flag!




Imagine! Japan Sings for Turkey (this is the one I like the most, probably because it looks the snazziest).

I think it's a beautiful concept with lots of room for fun. So, Malaysian filmmakers. What're we gonna do about it?

=====

Lola showed up at my place last night, mostly to drink Japanese beer, eat Yakitori, and discuss some design work for me. I don't live near many beer places, so I'd suggested the cheapie Japanese restaurant near me, which ought to have at the very least, bad sake.

She'd made an unconvincing declaration about being willing to settle for Iced Milo - if you've been subjected to as many fierce glares as I have everytime I tried to order a non-alcoholic beverage around her, you'd be skeptical too.

Ended up standing in the rain outside my house after that, helping some friends lift their car's front wheel out of the uncovered ditch.

Did I mention, I went to Teluk Gong last night? Coconut Flower restaurant (review), famed for seafood. Turns out this bloke's quite a foodie. We went over a very common dinner topic in Malaysia - people with names that translate into unfortunate phrases in local dialects.

Also, inflation, deflation, trade and tight fiscal policies take on a more humourous inflexion when you consider Vietnam's currency - The Dong. Aspointed out, almost half the world's population has a dong in reserve.

 

The food isn't as good as I remembered, and the portions were smaller, but with good company and low prices, I'm quite happy with the night - RM3 for a liter of Todi (coconut wine) can't hurt either.

The day after, I'm falling sick, I have deadlines, and deadlines, and more deadlines. I'm actually still quite happy. Oh, and I called Joanna Bessey just now, for an interview. You know how people sound different over the phone? She sounds just the same.

Hrm.

Written by lainie at 07:18 PM on April 10, 2008 in Events, Arty stuff.

*Eyes my schedule*. Even I don't believe it. I'm pretty much booked solid till middle of next week with deadlines. Handed in an article today, sent out a bunch of files, have a casual meet up at Annexe to reccy it, which is kinda ridiculous cause I'm always there, but I need to get some issues sorted out -  I'm taking a moment while waiting for my transport to arrive to update this.

Here's a quick plug for 59 Seconds Film Festival, which I went for last night (I went on opening night cause there was a curator's talk) - it's in KLCC's Petronas Gallery, just walk in, it's a free screening of very short films. Some are definitely worth the trip there. Check out the Mata Hati exhibition there while you're at it, if you haven't.

After that I headed to Palete Palatte for a talk organised by British Council, Film Festival 101

Mark Cosgrove, Head of Exhibition at Watershed Media Centre and Artistic Director of the Encounters Short Film Festival, will be in Kuala Lumpur this April to share his experience organising a film festival and what it takes to get your film featured in one!

That was interesting - met him after the talk, and we were talking about the differences between Singapore and Malaysia. Apparently he was taken to FINAS during his short visit here - that must have been depressing. He's also been given (Singaporean) Tan Pin Pin's latest documentary, which I'd like to get my hands on too, since I like her work. I wish I had Chi Too's film Penusah Tanah with me then, would have given him a copy.

Those who've read my blog for some time - remember I did the identity for Freedom Film Fest 2007? Well this year they're calling for submissions again, check out the eye-catching website here.

They've extended the deadline, so if you have even a vague idea that you think might be worth turning into a documentary, remember you can win 5K and a production crew from Komas to turn that into a reality. Fahmi's 10 Tahun Sebelum Merdeka is one of the winners.

I know the research looks intimidating - you'll be surprised. Quite a few filmmakers say it's more a process of discovery while filming, and not entirely during filming. But there's only one way to find out, and if you have an idea for a socially conscious documentary, I think it's a good place to start.

Urk. So much more - I type fast, but not that fast. So yes, 59 Second Film Festival in Petronas Gallery, and Freedom Film Fest 2008. Right, gotta run!

Keep your Saturday night free for me! Well, Jerome's album launch, but you know what I mean, yeah yeah yeah?

Ciao!

Written by lainie at 07:21 PM on April 10, 2008.

This comes a day late, but - HAPPY BIRTHDAY VANESSA YEOOOOOOOOOOO!!

You are my sunshine, my nerdy sunshine

You make me happy, when skies are grayyyy

Love ya nerd.

(i did wish her yesterday, but I'd like a post up here too)

Written by lainie at 02:33 AM on April 12, 2008 in work?, Friends, Events, Arty stuff.

My article is up on Kakiseni - Tembak: Sunday Night Lights.

Reza Salleh’s stalker-like tenacity comes in useful as he continues to make more room for music, and music lovers in the city. Lainie Yeoh drops in on Reza’s Sunday Night Lights, outstays her welcome at No Black Tie and lives to write about it.
(introduction from Kathy's editorial)

 

Most late night Fridays I am easily found in Loft, dancing to indie / electro music. Tonight, I was in Annexe with Winnie, Zedeck, Sharon and Danlim, working out projector, lights, furniture and wall decorations for Jerome's album launch. They call me "art director", which I find an inflated title for.....er, telling people what to do. Which I suppose is under "directing". It'd be more ideal for me if I could command art to shape itself, without the need of human minions. That, and when I say "art" I use the term rather strenuously.

Shahril Nizam, Effa and Grace had also popped by earlier to help out (read: allow me the chance to drive them dotty). Effa helped me out a lot, in her usual patient manner, before she had to leave. I don't know where that woman gets all the serenity from.

Lainie: Effa, you're my favourite now.
Effa: I'd better!
Lainie: You are! See, right here. Lainie's List. Number one.....Effa.

(This is Effa Effa Effa!)

The rest of us stayed on after the galleries had been locked up for the night. We took a lil break in the next gallery, indie music blaring over the system. Three of us were dancing amidst paintings that cost tens of thousands, but we couldn't see them because we were dancing in darkness. It was kinda fun, felt like our own little party.

I do think the room's coming along nicely. We've already blown past our (non-existent) budget - I think all we had to do for that was buy sugar paper. I've asked for even more things to add to the mood of the room, which will cost. It's mostly been a question of lighting - we're trying to make it such that the room can handle a crowd, and still have place for fun.

Bau Bau Cafe will be setting up a bar to sell drinks. CDs and other merchandise will also be on sale. Jerome's part of the Troubadours KL, so the other two "troubadours" will be performing too - Sei Hon and Azmyl Yunor.

We have a surprise guest performer you really need to come watch (I promise), Bulimia is also making their debut on that night (a bunch of my friends got together to start up a band that I suspect will eventually be grouped with Ben's Bitches and Panda Head Curry). Bernice Chauly is doing a reading, Fern will be doing an acoustic set, and who knows what else.

Danlim and Sarchan (of WILD!) will be DJs for the night after that, for some dancing.

(winnie taking a break to camwhore).

I think we just need the drunken crowd to make it merry, and we're good to go.

Mark Teh told us a lot of people were looking forward to the night, which is the first party since the elections. Winnie and I looked at each other and said we didn't plan for that to happen. That was a slight "cool, but ooooooops" moment.

Jerome's performing at Songwriter's Round tonight, so he hasn't seen how the room looks so far - hopefully he likes it.

I suggested we put five super duper manja cats in the gallery Jerome's performing in, as part of the decor. I wish we could really do that, but I'm not sure how I'll deal with it when karma calculates all the cat exploitations and dishes it back to me.

At 11.45pm, we drove away from Annexe (the parking ticket came up to RM22.50, which I think is crazy).

Lainie: There's still time! We can go to Loft!

I was ignored by a very tired Winnie and Danlim. Anyway, I yawned all the way back, so I was more exhausted than I realised. I came home to a man outside the house, digging through my neighbour's trash.

Both photos by Danlim. (website). My connection's so bad it took almost half an hour to upload them, fuck!

What I've been talking about the entire entry: Jerome Kugan launches "Songs for a Shadow"

Okay, good night.

Written by lainie at 12:28 PM on April 13, 2008 in Rants.

This is my extremely simplified version of an ongoing flamewar in the comments section for The 60 Second Plug: F for Female - One of the directors, Zachary Wong, says a lot of things that must be causing a collective cringe amongst his production team.

Don't worry, there won't be any lesbians in this play!

Are you saying we should worry if there are lesbians?

What's wrong with homophobic people? Btw, I LOVE LESBIANS!!!

Wtf?

No one reads the comments here by the way.

Idiot. If I had a cousin who said stuff like that, then used me as proof of not being homophobic - I will be very, very displeased.

Is this better?: "Don't worry, there won't be any Indians in this play!"

Followed by this?: "I LOVE INDIANS, more than half the people living in my taman are Indians".

It's not any better is it? What ticks me off is that Zachary claims to be a schoolteacher, but shows minimal capacity for understanding or learning.

There are parallels between these comments and how his play turned out (I didn't watch it, merely gleaned some information from the review W For Woe is Me). People who claim one thing and demonstrate otherwise.

Go ahead and read the comments, if you're so inclined.

=====

I'm wondering if I should go for that "Frozen in Time" thing. A flash mob is happening in KL today. I have updates from Jerome's album launch (success!), will blog about it when I get the pictures. 

I have a hangover.

Written by lainie at 07:43 PM on April 14, 2008 in work?, Music, Friends, Events, Arty stuff.

For those who didn't know, I was to my surprise nominated as "art director" for Jerome's album launch, and given about a week to do it (I've yet to decide if that was ample or no time - I guess whatever I did would have fitted into whatever time span they gave me).

I thought of many alternative, more apt sounding titles, like "The Freelancer has More Time Than the Rest of Us", or "Make Room Pretty" Person, or "Arts and Crafts Manager", or anything else that sounded more accurate forwhat was essentially a group of friends gathering to help in different aspects of Jerome's album launch, Songs for A Shadow.

 

 (photo by Nikki Tok)

Thought bubbles above a sofa. Wanted something like a fun, chilled out living room for his launch.

The following photos are from Friday, a day before Jerome's launch, after we were done with setting up (not to say our work was finished), and were fooling around. Danlim took the photos:

(either Winnie or I took this photo)

I had two columns filled with "bubbles" going up - the room was mostly decorated with cheap black paper, pillows and lamps (collected from friends). I'm not kidding.

 Made those signs to stick on the wall so any fool standing in the room has no choice but to make a statement. This one of Zedeck and I is quite posed, obviously. If you're creative with camera angles, you could have taken a lot of compromising photos that night.

 

 Talking Cock, and Loving It.

Alternatively known as the "Omg! I love Nando's!" conversation.The lights here are quite different by the next night, when more friends loaned us their lamps. Softer, warmer.

---

All photos from here on by Nikki Tok (unless I say so, natch):

 Fahmi was emcee. The screen at the back played a loop of Danlim's photographs of shadows - Setting up the projecter was a real pain in the ass, we didn't know where to put it.

All suggestions seemed  to result in either a lot of duct tape at the ceiling / stairwell, or an obstruction on the floor.

(photo by me, but photo on screen by Danlim)

I finally figured out we could try putting the projector backstage (where i shot this pic) and project it on the back of a screen (a huge white cloth), as long as the screen's thin enough for the images to show through the other side. The solution seems so simple and sensible in retrospect, but it took time to arrive to it. I'm new at this, especially the technical stuff.

I was hugely relieved when it actually......worked.

 My favourite part of the night was when Jerome and (surprise guest) Shahril Nizam did a duet. I took a video on Rach's camera, will upload it when I can.

 Adlin and wife sold Gingerbread Jeromes for RM2 each. So cute!

Sandalwood incense was burned because Jerome wanted them. That's a nice touch I wouldn't have thought of (being allergic to most forms of aromatherapy - including this one). It is, however, a very affordable way to lend some atmosphere to a room. You just need someone diligently lighting them.

Bar with very cheap alcohol (probably responsible for my hangover)

I really like my bubble wall (and bubble shadows).

Jasmine, surprised!

Fang checking out some of the merchandise on sale

One of the two Annexe stages I put in the middle of the room as seats, with cushions and cloth. They were pretty comfortable, and at least not everyone was on the floor, or sitting on chairs in rows like they were at a forum.

I wanted it to look kinda homey, but we had to work within the budget - known as "what budget, we probably can't afford it, whatever it is". I never thought all those times working with Katagender would come in this handy (also another group with a lot of "What budget?" issues).

 

(photo by me)

The priciest thing used to decorate the room came as a gift from Ben McKay and Pang: A 20 x 4 feet printout of Shahril Nizam's cover art for Jerome's CD along the merchandise wall. I'd wanted to nail it up instead of using clips, but Pang suggested this instead so Jerome can reuse the ...very large...poster.

 

 Jerome's music video playing during intermission.

(photo by me)

Winnie camwhoring with some dude. That lamp changes colour every minute. Quite a....bachelor shagpad lamp, lotus flowers optional. There were biscuits on the table - those awesome kinds with the coloured sugar icing on top.

 

(photo by me) I like this.

Both corners of the stage have lamps that doubled up as vases for some lotuses that Pang bought (lotuses feature in one of Jerome's songs, Flowers). Next to them are my housemate's....light balls. Balls of light. Balls made of woven cotton with lights in them. Never mind.

(photo by me)

Ferns performing. I met Abby (right) at a Mak Bedah thing, she's fun.

 Look at the crowd! We reached capacity (!) - Pang came up and told me paint was cracking on the walls, we had too many people coming in. Don't worry, the building wasn't gonna crumble. Just crack the wall paint (I suppose).

(photo by me - I'd prefer not to admit to it, but it seemed unfair to accuse Nikki Tok of this one)

Pang (brown tshirt) had to stand at the doorway and let 1 person in everytime someone else walked out. Most people didn't believe him.

(photo by...Effa, possibly)

The Gingerbread Jeromes were the source of many awful puns that night.

Bulimia's debut performance, quite popular, lots of audience reaction. Anom rapping, with her guest showboys that were trained at Bau Bau Cafe earlier to sing the lines. Fat! Tak Nak!

(photo by me)

Bernice likes to read barefooted.

(photo by me)

In case you don't know what Bernice's face looks like (unlikely, but still).

Borrowed two black sofas, red cushions and a chaise lounge (in pic) from Annexe to put around the room. Really lended to the living room feel.

(photo by me)

Bird pooping on my ex-typography lecturer in Cenfad, and I-Lann.

Jerome's was the final performance, before Danlim and Sarchan took over with the DJ set and we all set to dancing.

---

I had a good time. That was my first time setting up a venue for an event, and I think it went a lot better than I thought it would (for once thing, quite a few people asked me if I'd work with them too).

Being new at it, and quite blur, there were probably issues I didn't notice. But yeah, I think it went alright! w00t! Something very satisfying about putting stuff together.

You can listen to Jerome's music on his blog, or watch one of his videos (starting from Tomas). There are some similarities between the video and the way the room was set up - possible because both play on shadows and lights.

Right. I am tired. Shleepy.....and heading out soon.

 

Written by lainie at 12:12 PM on April 16, 2008 in Stupid, but fun., Home.

It's been a few months since I've moved into this new house with three friends.

Some things I have since learned from living with a cat, called Girlfriend:

• I am of an inferior species.
• My food is not my food, and I am a selfish cretin for not sharing.
• I can jump (arms flailing) from the top of the stairs with a pesky cat adamantly entwined around my ankle, and land safely (if less gracefully than the cat) about 6 steps down, on one foot.
• I can do really high pitched squeaks - especially when she suddenly sinks her teeth in me. Even I was surprised.
• Cats yowls, should they be imported into your dreams, sound like a bomb shelter alarm, I shit you not.
• There is no graceful way to describe what you were doing to the cat if you name her Girlfriend (brb, Girlfriend wants to be petted).
• Girlfriend, stop drinking from the toilet! / Girlfriend, get off me! / Girlfriend! Leave that bird alone and get in here! / Girlfriend, you have fleas! are all examples of things you should not shout if gossipy neighbours can hear you.
• If you're the default lesbian in the LGBT household, people will assume you're the one who owns / named the Cat.
• However dainty your cat is, her poo will smell like Voldemort's been eating petai and liberally crapping in your house.
• She will be jealous of everything else that has your attention, and attempt to sit on it - this includes the laptop, tv, stove(!), fridge, cellphone, and book.
• If you attempt to draw around a cat, she will swipe at the pencil.
• She will do stupid things and never admit to it (fall on her ass, and walk off slo-o-owly like nothing happened).
• Cats dislike being laughed at. They know when you're doing it.

I am typing this because I really need to pee but she's fallen asleep with her head resting upon my foot, and looks so cute I don't want to disturb her. But wow, do I gotta go.

I end with a video of me pampering Girlfriend on my bed - this could sound so much more exciting, but I assure you it's every bit as mundane as my being a cat slave can be:

Written by lainie at 03:30 PM on April 19, 2008 in Friends, Events, Arty stuff.

I've uploaded the Cammies blog with a few new posts: Joanna Bessey, Best Director Nominee, and Mark Teh, Best Director Nominee.

I know Mark, and the interviews were the first time I spoke to Joanna (phone conversation). They're both very friendly people - Joanna's peppier, Mark's got a selamba vibe. Go check out their interviews on the Cammies blog yeah?

-----

I'm broke at the moment, but managed to get out of the house, mostly through goodwill and great luck.

I went for a performance, Melati Suryodarmo: Solitaire, in Annexe the other day. A Germany-based Indonesian performance artist (topographic details supplied solely to let you know this was a limited opportunity to watch her perform here), Melati Suryodarmo, was down to perform her piece, "I Love You".

(photo from Melati's website)

Melati's performance consisted of her dragging a huge plane of glass around a bare room (with members of the audience scattered around the periphery), while repeatedly saying "I love you".

She struggles with the glass. It's heavy. She's dragging it on her back across the room, leaning it against her chest, lying down under it. Everything is done slowly. Intermittently, she says "I love you" to the glass. She says this on her website:

"My personal intention in this performance is to reflect the long unstable relationship which may be caused by too much concluding myself with the collective identification. I have been experimenting myself within the confronted situations, where cultural deviances is very challenging the communication between me and the society I live with. The fears and the joyful feelings I can get at the same time for seeing myself as part of stereotype, has reduced my general justification to what may happen within millions of people who live in different cultures than their origin and who try to express the collective feeling of love. I may have not been succeeded yet to understand the true meaning of love, but I may understand it now that love does not necessarily have to do with language or cultural identity." "I love You" is using a glass platform, which the artist interacts and moves, while she says "I love You!" during the whole duration of the performance. from here

Okay here's two aspects:

1) Watching this fucked with my mind (I liked that) because it made me come up with all sorts of questions* and interpretations.

2) There is only so long I can sit and watch a woman drag a sheet of glass around the room.

Let's face it - it's unnatural for a room full of people to sit and watch one woman struggle with a weighty, fragile object. I kept getting this urge to help her with the glass. But the glass was a symbol here, not just a matter of furniture moving, and the nature of conventional love is not one that others should involve themselves in, unless cari-ing pasal .

This symbol that received her declaration of love was more like a ball and chain, a flat piece of prison she wouldn't let go of, something that didn't give back anything. My frustration was in thinking her I Love Yous were reaching a level of sadness / petulance / ritual chanting, and I kept waiting for her to let go, metaphorically, physically. Of course, like most relationships I was reminded of, the letting go didn't happen anytime before my patience / sympathy evaporated.

Sometimes she's holding a section of the audience in the glass, saying to them "I Love You". At one angle, I seemed like the only person in there. In a literal sense, everyone was seeing different reflections in the glass depending on where they positioned themselves. Sometimes, she looked at the glass / her reflection and repeated the tired three words again.

After about 40 minutes, my butt got numb. I noticed a few of my friends scattered around the room had discreetly left the performance. I thought it couldn't last much longer, how much stamina could this woman have? Then I picked up a brochure next to me.

It said "Performance time: 2 - 3 hours". Holy hell.

Ended up heading to grab free food from next door, and talked with my friends about how we felt leaving a performance midway. Was more interested in her documented works on display (photographs of her other performances, video installations).

Found one dude with a camera really irritating because he didn't turn off the sound setting (I'm guessing he's media, or blur, cause there were "No photography" signs around), so everytime Melati paused in any action, he punctuated it with camera shutter sounds. And he took so many. Like shit, GET YOUR SHOT AND SHUT UP!

*I always think it's silly to say some art begets questions - since the existence or action of anything is to me, inherently filled with much opportunity for questions. However, I of course blatantly ignore that some actions do provoke certain questions. By the way, I said it raised some questions to me, I didn't say I'd share them.

---

After that Rach and Annie (Loft friend) wanted to go see Darryl over at Palate Palette. Rach and I saw some "Nokia Private Event" sign outside, but figured we probably knew enough people inside to crash the party and blend in (I already saw a few people I knew as we drove by).

Turned out I knew so many people because Nokia had invited a lot of musicians for their IAC thing- it's essentially a distribution platform for free uploads and downloads for local music. Of course, in order to supply that content they need the artists to start contributing their material.

My friends were aware this was a friendly way of buying them over (I mean, why Nokia and not...Samsung?), so I guess it's a matter of which brand is better at wooing them.

I know it looks like we were there for the food, but really, we weren't. Went to the usual haunt, Ceylon Bar for drinks after, before I headed to Tei's place.

 

Written by lainie at 12:59 PM on April 20, 2008 in work?, Arty stuff.

Burning up a slight fever. Wanna help Lainie do her job? Read on and consider (yay).

Bernice asked me to work with her on something, and I agreed - so for the next 8 weeks, I'll be writing a travel guidebook again*! This time, will be working on Kuala Lumpur City Guide, for Insight Guides. Interesting for me, because I was flipping through their London version last year, which I quite liked.

Briefly read the intro for the previous KL edition and noticed that my current editor on Kakiseni, Kathy, wrote for the arts section there.

Heh heh heh. I'm starting on the LGBT nightlife section first *gleeful hand rubbing*. All suggestions for queer-friendly KL places (restaurants, hotels, clubs / bars) welcome - I can think of a few queer friendly hotels like Pondok Lodge (for guests, not informed about "friendliness for staff" perspective ala Sleep With The Right People).

Dividing up the sections with Bernice was iffy, because for a lot of the interests I have, Bernice is far more experienced than I am. In some cases (ala Readings), she's the one responsible for the events.

I'll be writing up on nightlife, festivals & events, essentials, environmental impact of travel, dance, and adding to some other sections like restaurants (Bernice is a food critic so it makes more sense for her to focus on this). She's also doing the Children's section, because she actually has kids and I don't (not that I'm aware of anyway).

The irony of this job's not lost on me, considering my sense of direction - drive me fifteen minutes away from my home, I'll have no idea how to get back. I don't remember names, locations, or phone numbers, but put me in a general area and I'll eventually walk into every place, try everything and find anything interesting there is to find.

It's the logistic details that get in the way of the experience. I'm not the kind to plan my explorations. Unfortuantely, it's also the logistic details that go into the writing.

Bernice: And at the end of it, we have to label the maps.

Lainie: *forehead smack* Bernice, I can't do maps. I can't. I really can't.

My sense of direction is stunted. I love KL, but don't show me maps of the place.

It's nice to know I'll be adding to my savings doing something I'm interested in - travel, and pointing out nice places to go to in Malaysia. I need the money, am planning to go to Melbourne / Torquay in the near future.

They're publishing their first edition of the Melbourne Insight City Guide soon. Who knows, give me a year or two there, and I might be able to add to it (if someone helps me with the maps).

*Before this I wrote on travel spots for Kuala Lumpur, then Langkawi for Expedia Guide (London). This seems like a small issue, but I'm encountering a certain obstacle that didn't matter when writing for a UK publication. The spelling. I have to use American spelling.

(WAIIILLL!)

If you can think of any place in Kuala Lumpur that I may overlook (in any category), feel free to let me know and I'll look it up, definitely.

---

Work means I should be spending my time on other pursuits besides blogging, but hey, since we're on the topic of cities:

In early April I went for a onedotzero: graphic cities screening, organised by British Council, as part of their Re-Imagining the City East Asia Tour.

graphic cities is an innovative moving image work exploring artists' interpretations of the urban environment, specially curated by onedotzero.

My favourite from the screening, Hendrick Dusollier's Obras (France):

synopsis: a poetic and graphical journey through wild and irreversible urban developments, explored in a single gradual shot. this highly original film offers a photographic and animated interpretation of the deconstruction and reconstruction taking place in the barrio ribera and diagonal mar, in barcelona, spain. dusollier's outstanding first film.

Usually I like long takes because it removes the additional feel of human intervention that editing gives. Instead, my awareness focuses on the craft it takes to compose a shot so everything is nice - if anything, if puts the human intervention vibe into the camerawork, and not the editing.

The difference here - there is no missing the sense that Obras is one big, continuous edit . I don't really expect what I'm saying to make sense to anyone but myself here.

There's a Onedotzero youtube account, but you get more videos searching it as a term.

It was actually a two part screening - KLUE curated the local films that were screened. Through various other screenings (and trawling the internet too much), I'm familiar with most of them - I can't say it measured up to onedotzero (though I would like to, given how some friends are on that list).

I doubt KLUE could have done much, we don't seem to have many existing films that would have fit the theme to reimagine a city. Not exactly a Malaysian version of a Zaha Hadid exhibition / building coming up here anytime soon to be the catalyst of inspiration, yknow?

I'm not saying we don't have the fodder here, but if what we have isn't fanning any fires...........Either the wrong fan or no fire?

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Am woozy. Lainie hearts Panadol Actifast.

Written by lainie at 07:42 PM on April 21, 2008 in work?, Events, Home.

A Malaysian LGBT metablog is in the making, and I've been invited as designer and contributor. Some interesting (and new) names involved, not your usual obvious ones - except maybe, me. As you know, I can be very, very, public about being very, very, gay.

I'll keep you people posted - I've received emails from readers who occasionally felt like the only gay person in Malaysia, till they read on my blog that there's actually quite an active community (once you figure out how to tap into it, or use Google).

I guess in the mainstream blogosphere, I'm one of the few public, bent ones. Reckon having such a public, obviously queer metablog could be a great thing.

Speaking of gay - it's someone's birthday (happy birthday Elaine!), and she's organising an extremely lesbian-friendly event for this Tuesday night (I know I should have pimped it earlier):

(click on flyer for more details)

It's a Puss in Boots event, and if you want to go for any girly-events, PiB is one of the main organisers (and Attic one of the main venues). This is the show promo:

Step right up! Step right up! To the greatest music show on earth! Yeahhhhh - PiB@theattic presents - "the KL word" - a sexy, sassy night of tunes prepared specially from the back catalogue and inspired by our favourite lesbian tv show's original soundtrack. Bring your loved ones and lovers, friends and foes, your fags, their hags and sit back and watch the drama unfold.

I suppose if you love L-Word's soundtrack, and fellow lesbians, this event is pants-wettingly right for you (insert pun here). I'm probably going, quite a few of my friends are interested in this.

Anyhow, do go say hi and happy birthday to Elaine Foster on her blog: the loudgirl's passport: "A rough guide to surviving in a foreign land" or "a white girl in Asia".

 

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Ended up staring at my cat's very heavy ass, as she shifted its weight around on my phone's button - effectively cutting off my conversation with Zahim Albakri just as I was bye and was about to ask him if he could finish up our interview for Cammies in a few days.

An attention-whore housecat is the best reminder that sometimes, an office environment's way more conducive for work.

Written by lainie at 08:19 PM on April 21, 2008 in Rants.

[ This is the 2nd blog entry for today. The first is here: Malaysian Queer blog coming up soon / The KL Word (L Word music) party tomorrow / the nuisance I live with.]

Just heard a pretty blood-curdling scream, and went out to check what happened. Saw two motorcyclists going by my house, from where the scream came.

My neighbour was just robbed by two snatchthieves. A few other neighbours were already walking towards her to see what happened. I went in again to call my housemates, caution them about coming home tonight.

After that, I went to the victim, standing in front of her house - right next to a busy road. A few men had gathered around, but nothing could be done except for my neighbour to make a police report. It's so suburban here.

Some women standing in their gardens, looking out from behind their gates, talking with people who went by. The victim wasn't injured (no blood, at any rate). There's a sense of community here, a lot of residents seem to know each other.

As the men and I walked off, could hear them exchanging comments like "First house, new tenants", and "snatch thief again".

I also talked with a woman walking her (very beautiful) golden retriever. She said that particular row of houses had seen four consecutive robberies recently. The police said it was some Chinese robbers who marked down houses that they know are empty in the daytime, and burglarise the place.

She said it was the same wherever someone lives, and I told her that wasn't true. I felt a hell lot safer when I used to stay in Bangsar, where I at least saw the occasional patrol car at night. I'm not saying it was fantastic, but at least there were some of them around.

Her dog dragged her on, I couldn't ask more. I don't feel safe here at all. I've noticed that my neighbours are desensitised to being robbed. It comes with staying in Damansara Jaya.

And no, I've not noticed more (or for that matter, any) police presence patrolling this area since I was robbed.

Written by lainie at 07:32 PM on April 22, 2008 in work?, Daily Life.

I am currently in the state of Zen*. I’ve been organising and decluttering, refining my todo list and annhilating distractions. The list takes time, but it calms me down, sets me on a necessary path of organisation I know will not come naturally otherwise.

Primary Deadline Commitments:

1) The Cammies blog.
2) The city guide.

These two last till May.
 
I also owe:

Website designs.
Logo for Lola.
Logo for Bosco.
Article coming up.
Katagender designs.

There’s also the Malaysian-LGBT blog I want to be involved in.

It seems I have much to do, if I really wanna get on that plane to Australia by July. July is a rough target. Fingers crossed that I will meet it. I want to celebrate Christmas with the tentative hope that my strange new home will like me, that I will find friends, fellow arts lovers and interesting people.

Yes, I am planning to migrate. No, I don’t know for how long. I’ve been given the “Oh shit, Lainie's never coming back” looks. My closer friends think I’ll love Australia but will exhaust what it as to offer me, soon, and I will return to the place I love - Malaysia.

Who knows. After Australia, maybe a life in London. I’m still young, with nothing that really ties me down here.

I don’t plan, I go along via intuition. I want to gain some momentum I’ve lost the previous year or two, improve myself, broaden my horizons, soak in experiences and choke them back out meshed with everything I’ve put in me before. I want to meet people who want more.

Bernice is one of my few older friends, and I look to her as a marker of what being older and gaining more responsibilities mean. She was sitting on my couch the other day, feet curled under her, saying “Yeah, get out of here, while you can. Look at you, you’re young!”, and I had this gut instinct that if I didn't make a move now, I never really will. I'll just have a constant feeling of unexpressed wanderlust.
(Of course, it might freak Bernice out if she thinks I’m using her to see how my life could go )

I don't want to take those 2-week vacations that function as a temporary balm, then crack my heart a lil each time I return. I don't want to notice the unsatisfying normalcy of my life. For someone who doesn't plan routines, I've one now, and it doesn't feel like I'm doing everything I can.

I miss having this feeling of..potential...Like when I look at Nessa, and I see so much chance and freedom her youth and energy generates. I don’t think I feel old, so much as stuck in a rut, and this is one of my ways of fixing it.

 There’s a big world out there - I want to get off the plane, and hit the ground running. Everytime.

*to mildly abuse the concept of the word.

Written by lainie at 03:42 PM on April 25, 2008 in Rants.

It made me a bit irritated to see some friends on the "Notable Clients" list for Exabytes hosting today, including Iwraw Asia Pacific, and Disarseter Records. The reason is this, please do read on and see why I think Exabytes is ass:

 

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From: (name removed) <********@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Apr 23, 2008 at 2:41 PM
Subject: Re: Important Changes on Exabytes' Policies with effective on 1st May 2008
To: admin@exabytes.com.my

Dear Sir/Madam,

We are regret to inform you that any content (eg: blog, LGBT-friendly establishments, lifestyle or events, clubs, restaurants, cafes, anecdotes, meetups) related to gay and lesbian (homosexual) will be prohibited to be hosted in our server.

 

[ My friend couldn't take what she called their "borked England", and actually edited the letter for me, but I've decided to show it in it's original, grammatically painful form ]

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Talk about bad PR. Talked with my friend after that, about her email exchange

girl: yeahhuh
  some more in my email
  i was like
  guys you're vague
  and this could be very discriminatory just in case you didn't realise
  and this was the response i got
  -_-
  WITH EXCLAMATION MARKS!

lainie: ................

 I told another friend of mine (a graphic designer), who said she was already aware of the situation (guess who isn't her hosting company).

I've sent Exabytes an email enquiring further. If you have a website hosted under Exabytes, may I suggest you contact them regarding their fucking policy, followed by looking up an alternative server (eg: Integricity)?

[ Update: I contacted friends from Iwraw and Disarseter. Iwraw will follow up, and Rafil from Disarseter sent out the most pro-homophobic-multi-bigotry email to Exabytes praising them for their stand against homosexual content, and all sorts of undesirably right-wing politics, then cc-ed a whole bunch of people including Exabytes admin, activists, journalists, editors, and politicians. I've been giggling over the email, it's so bad. I will update more when Exabytes releases a statement. Currently, only Elizabeth Wong (si, the politician) has enquired further. ]

Written by lainie at 01:14 AM on April 26, 2008 in Events.

On Tuesday night, I went for Puss in Boot's event The KL Word, which also coincided with organiser Elaine's birthday. Upon arrival with Kat and her mystery  “girlfriend” (who turned out to be Zedeck), we were greeted by an Elaine giving out white stickers.

Elaine: You have to put your name, and the L Word character you most identify with!

Then she showed us her sticker: Elaine aka Jenny

Lainie: But what if I don’t -

Elaine: Nope, you gotta do it. It’s not a choice!

I was actually about to finish my sentence with “don’t know the characters in L Word”, but heck. Being the only one familiar with the show, Kat ended up labelling me (Bette, “because she has good taste in art&rdquo, and Zedeck (Alice “because I want to date her").

Someone later told me Bette’s a beautiful, organised, power-hungry bitch, and that I may be more of a Jody, sculpting clay and being activist-y.

---

Elaine said we have to find our "L Word partners", but I didn't know who dates Bette, so I didn't search for her. Wasn't really inclined to anyway. The music was better in the earlier part of the night, kinda fun, people dancing, networking - couldn't help but wonder what brew of an exes network I was in.

There were prizes given out that night, which I found pretty cool. You had to be the first to answer a Season 5 L-Word question to win one.

The prizes were sex toys: A vibrator, and a G-spot vibrator. I'm not sure if there were more.

I think this was one of the girls who won a dildo. Elaine's the one who's about to glomp the mic. Photo shamelessly filched off Elaine's Facebook account.

The event had a really good turn out, a lot of girls, some looked good. I met Sunway there, hadn't seen her since I moved out of Bangsar. It was good to catch up.

---

If you’re not from a “small town” like Ipoh, or gay, you may not be familiar with the mechanics behind spotting someone from your school in a gay event: If you’re not acquaintances, it’s usually a nod of acknowledgement from across the room.

“The nod” is something lesbians do that I cannot understand. I don’t see it outside of American tv series, everyone else I know just says hi, or smiles across the room. Lesbians nod. It’s like being the only two lesbians in a party of straight people. That “yeah, I can tell you’re gay too” nod.

 The other is the “yeah, I don’t know you but remember your face from school” kinda nod. Then both parties tend to stay in opposite ends of the room until some unsuspecting person insists on introducing you.

Was there actually a problem with meeting the other person in the first place? No. Which is why I don’t get lesbians. Maybe I just speak for myself.

It’s some group behaviour thing I cannot explain, like a whole bunch of lesbians pretending they didn’t see a hot woman walk by till she’s out of earshot. "Eh, who was that? Do we know any of her friends? Who's her ex?"

Does anyone notice other quirks like this? Or have I just run out of straight friends and can no longer tell that everyone does the same thing?

To clarify - “the nod” didn’t happen to me. I mean, it was a gay gathering, we'd be bopping like penguins all night nodding to each other. I did however, meet two seniors from my alma mater, Main Convent Ipoh - they'd come for the event together.

I kinda knew the first, who introduced me to a senior I was supposed to know by her accolades in school.

 Lainie: I was really blur in school, and I apologise beforehand because I won’t know anything I’m supposed to.

 Lainie: It’s not like you know me anyway, right? Damn seniors, all the same.

 Not like I recognise my juniors.

[ Update: Ding has expressed severe doubt in using me as a source of information on lesbian quirks. She may be right, please exercise any brainfart from this blog with care ]

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I met a lot of girls I'd not seen in a while, including some from a few years back, when attending "lesbian dinners", which despite sounding like an euphemism for something sleazy, was really a mild meet up over dinner with other queer girls.

Smile picked me up from the party, and I left a lil early because it was time to go surprise Tei for her birthday. We ended up chilling at home, watching The Producers yet again. We were supposed to go makan because I skipped dinner, but Tei's home is like some alternate reality of soft lights, whirring fans and big pillows. We didn't make it past the couches.

I've more to blog, I've been out every night since, but it's already Saturday now, but the cat wants my attention. Ciao!

But before I do: Youtube darling Koko Kaina performing on Saturday (tomorrow, or today, depending what time you read this) at 3pm.

Written by lainie at 12:53 PM on April 26, 2008 in Stupid, but fun..

There's a  lovely looking lady out there raising eyebrows by offering to de-virginise net neutrality supporters. It's almost like bad performance art - crude, simple acts you're likely to read far more into than the performer consciously intended.

Anyhow, like all media-shock actions, it's effectively provocative. I believe her name is Tania Devereaux, and she finds virginity a problem her body is willing to cure!

I think this is as great a time as any to giggle over the sex statistics compiled in MIT / Wellesley some time back. I mean, as stereotype-driven as it is, "0% of studio art majors were virgins, but 72% of biology majors were virgins, and 83% of biochem and math majors were virgins!" is hilarity. Just golden.

There's a lil irony in this post, but hey. It's lunchtime. Mmmm, mmm, mmm, toast.

By the way, some mini updates here: I will not like it if your website host is Exabytes.

It's gathering emails

Written by lainie at 04:43 PM on April 28, 2008.

I'm sick, and my ears are stuffy as heck.

And, my work material just got (accidentally) deleted by my friend, so now I'm dealing with midday fever+work crisis.

Laters.

Written by lainie at 10:14 PM on April 30, 2008.

A bit strange to say it here, when you're downstairs and we're about to go Mambo Jambo soon to celebrate it, but hey:

Happy Birthday, Ding!