I was searching for good movies to watch. Recently I've seen some funny Singaporean shows like Where Got Ghost and Money No Enough 2, and they were pretty hilarious so I set about looking for Malaysian movies that I might enjoy.
That's when I stumbled upon filmmaker Amir Muhamad. And his films have a tendency of being banned in Malaysia.
The first film that got banned, The Last Communist, is a film supposedly inspired by communist party leader Chin Peng and is basically interviews with the people who shared the same hometown with him. The film takes a satirical approach by inserting songs modeled after propaganda music.
The second film that got banned, Apa Khabar Orang Kampung, is a show about a village of South Thailand where retired members of the communist party of neighbouring Malaysia goes about in their daily lives, inter spread with a Thai radio soap opera. There were no mention of the word communist in the whole film and its a continuation from The Last Communist, which may explain why it got banned (not really).
His latest film, Malaysian Gods, was spared the ban from Malaysian authorities, but instead they chose another tactic which is to limit screening from cinemas and TV, effectively banning the show without actually banning it. You can still buy a copy to watch at home, or have it screened on campus, which will definitely get the show right in front of the future generation of voters, where is matters most.
The film chronicles the key events leading to and after the sacking of Anwar Ibrahim and his subsequent trial by fire for corruption. The whole film is done in Tamil. It also chronicles the events of the past 10 years after the fated Reformasi protests.
The film manages to reveal that, among the older generations there is a guarded reservation when it comes to airing their thoughts, while the younger generation is more vocal and less afraid to give their opinions on the matter, indeed this will be the new political landscape and against all this, dry satirical humour perpetuates the film
The director has announced a hiatus from filmmaking, and this will probably be his last film for a long time to come, seeing as to how he never gets a chance to screen any of his documentaries to the public at large. However, he has found a willing audience down north at the Singapore International Film Festival, and I hope to be able to enjoy this film soon.
You can download Apa Khabar Orang Kampung from:
http://rapidshare.com/files/270087651/Village_People_Radio_Show_-_Amir_Muhammad.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/270105792/Village_People_Radio_Show_-_Amir_Muhammad.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/270398685/Village_People_Radio_Show_-_Amir_Muhammad.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/270413993/Village_People_Radio_Show_-_Amir_Muhammad.part4.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/270441120/Village_People_Radio_Show_-_Amir_Muhammad.part5.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/270458538/Village_People_Radio_Show_-_Amir_Muhammad.part6.rar
Read http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_450337.html for background.
Let's start off with some statistics. Singapore's Marine Industry is the backbone of their economy generating S$18.7 billions dollars of manufacturing output in 2008 alone. The marine cluster which consists of some 3000 companies provide 20 per cent for ship repair, 70 per cent for jack-up rig builds and 70 per cent for the conversion of Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) units in the world.
Back when I was interning at Keppel FELS, the company had three yards around the west area. I'm sure there are some historical reason behind the separation but anyway I think it would have been more convenient for everything to be in one centralized location. A colleague once related to me that during the SARS crisis few years ago, they had half the engineering office working at a separate location; in case of a quarantine, at least only 50% of the staff will be affected (the other 50% will be in for one heck of a working week). However after a period of time, everybody was pulled back because it was just too much of a hassle (or maybe the risk had lowered enough, who knows).
However the Integrated Yard seems like a nice idea from Sembcorp Marine. It's size is a massive 206ha, or about 490 football fields combined! It will be doing pretty much everything from rig building, ship repair, conversion, etc. From an efficiency standpoint, bringing everything under one location will definitely improve logistic cost and allow for more efficient use of personnel. It's an interesting idea but with no firm completion deadline (yet).
Keppel Corp on the other hand have enjoyed huge profits following the S$13 billion of contracts back in 2008. A year later, with many of rigs delivered, it is now looking at securing S$2 billion or more from Petrobras next year, which will keep the yards busy from 2013 through to 2018. However, Brazil has historically requested that a percentage of the rig construction activities carried out with local content. Nonetheless, the whole company stand to gain a huge opportunity to increase their contract orders if the deal goes through in 2010. Which is just nice because that's when I graduate =P.
This deserves its own entry.
When i heard that MJ died, i was under alot of pressure back then. didnt get a chance to have a good cry. he deserves that much. after speaking to a lot of people only i realized how lucky i was. a lot of people knew who MJ was. heard his songs. knew what he was famous for. i have real memories of watching him perform. no, i didnt go to his concerts but i watched him perform on tv all the time. i had his DVDs which i watch so often i know his videos by hard. i memorized his songs. i was a real fan. most people i talked to didnt have that. they missed the magic that was a big part of my childhood before i was 7 years old.
MJ was working hard for his comeback show. all sold out. all the hype. most people just wanted to see him fall and say "I told you so". Few wanted him to succeed. thats huma nature. Bad press sells more than good press. Hollywood is so superficial.
when i heard that he died, i was shocked and upset. but at the back of my mind, i thought, "At least he didnt perform and become a laughingstock. at least he died with whatever dignity he had left.". i loved MJ but i didnt think a 50year oldman who hasnt performed in decades could just pick up where he left off. when he was famous, there was only 1 MJ. no one could do the Moonwalk. no one moves like him. nowadays theres SO MANY!
what if he got up to stage and performed less than they did?
i wanted to remember him as the dancer who made me go AWWWWWW when i was 5.
when i heard that the movie was coming out, i thought that it was just a ploy, a scam by Sony and all those companies who felt cheated cos they invested in someone who died before the big bucks came in.
i was thinking, if he was going to be bad during the show, what more when he was filmed practising?
even so, i was a huge fan and i just had to see for myself what happened to my idol the last few months of his life.
it was like a time warp. he didnt change. the way he moved, the way he sang, it was as if im 5 again.
he was perfect. he redid some things and updated parts that werent so relevant anymore. you can see how hard he is working all the time. everything he did, he did it for the fans. you can tell, working for him is a whole new experience you cant get with any other stars. for one, he is hands on. he has to be there for every single thing. every tempo, every light, every cue. theres not a song rehersal that he did without dancing, testing his moves to perfection. he did nothing halfway. he had to have everything exactly the same way ALL the time.it is... you cant help but admire his dedication. no song was too small, even a simple hand gesture or where the musician stood mattered. all eyes of course would be on him when he performs but he cares that the audience would be able to see the guitarist face.
he genuinely cares.
he is so sweet...so soft and gentle all the time.
from the way everyone treats him, you can tell he is like this fragile little flower. no one raises their voices, no one contradicts him, everyone is patient. its like dealing with a child. and i believe that is MJ's mindstate. he never matured into adulthood. which is why he loves children. they are his maturity level. which is why i believe he never did any of those horrible unspeakable things. children dont molest other children.
you can tell also that the way he composes his music, his moves developed differently from others. he gets a vision of something. when he thinks its perfect, he will work towards it until he sees the perfection. those who work with him know better than to do other than what he say. and they can see the genius of his idea.
all his dancers are well built, professional and the best in the world.
they also look like they came out of a dancer factory. all muscles and funky hairstyles, suave, smooth...
take a look at MJ. he is thin as a stick and fair (vampire like) and he doesnt have an inch of muscle on him. he doesnt exagerrate his moves like his dancers. which makes him stand out in the crowd. he is slick,fast,and cool. his moves have not been compensated by his age.
what else can i say?
they filmed new videos for the concert. to be played at the screen on certain songs. all of them were wonderful. not too much graphic til it looks like a video game but the made 11 people into 11 000 people. that was awesome.
last month i saw an expose saying that MJ was using 8 different kind of heavy usage drugs for many years now. go watch the show. he did not look like a drug addict at all. he made jokes, danced while dealing with the sound crew, sang live while dancing around like a monkey..he was lucid. as lucid as can be. he didnt even look 50!
certainly wasnt dancing like one.
i thought it was a tragedy that he died before he could regain his dignity and performed 50nights in front of his fans. to feel loved again. back into his glory days.
now i know that it was a blessing he died. if it werent for his timely death, the whole world would not have been able to see him in his glory.
instead of making his comeback on a stage in London, he made a comeback on the big screens. the whole world watches it simutaneously everyday,many times a day for 2 whole weeks. and later i can watch anytime i want on my illegally downloaded HD version.
so Michael, rest in peace. you have reclaimed your dignity and your fame. even in death
PS: today i celebrate 800 happy days with my darling.was going to write a post about it but i decided MJ was a better post
