Perwajai Anwar

First of all, I don't read Harakah, hardly visit Malaysiakini, don't know what Jeff Ooi's political jabbering is all about, don't understand what Menj's point about Pejuang Bangsa.. definitely not a PAS or Reformasi member.. bla, bla, bla.

**

I was taken by what Tunku Abdul Aziz (President,Transparency International, Malaysian chapter) said about Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi on his pledge to tackle corruption during his tenure.

If he can be happy serving up to six years, between the upcoming general election and the following one, then he can achieve a good deal. If he is focused on staying longer than that, the political realities will set in and he would have to think about paybacks to his supporters.

This was said while the papers were trying to popularise Pak Lah before it's his time to be up.

I looked fiercely through my collections of article right after I watched the interview with Anwar just now and luckily I remembered to keep the above piece. Anwar spoke about how he was asked to bail out exPM's son, exPM's pet mega projects such as Perwaja, Putrajaya and how exPM had thought Anwar was trying to get him ousted when Anwar refused to 'take part' in it.. and so on. My God! Talk about guts! We miss this kind of leader. Berraaani kau Jebat!

Six years in jail for effort to defend the fate of the Malaysian economy (rakyat berbilang bangsa's money) which then was in the exPM and his 'strongmen' hands. Now everything under the carpet is revealed, slapping back at exPM and hopefully named others louder than the stroke of the William's sisters backhand.

As a result of watching too much movies, not for being emotional, we always appreciate the meaning beyond the script. My point is, I don't care what anyone says, through my eyes, exPM's tears and unshameful bawl in public before he stepped out really meant his guilt and worry over things that may not let him really rest in peace, no matter how many more years he's up there, the things spent and 'borrowed' could never be paid back. Only your mega projects can be done in one lifetime Mister, but not everything! Your strong recommendation to get Pak Lah to take over you doesn't mean you will get to redeem yourself and erase past mistakes through him. If any of your pose, Mr. exPM, is suffering from severe constipation over what Perwaja-gate may uncover? I suggest, get some dose of 'sodomee' from TV Smith, it may help.

Pak Lah, I hope, after six years, cum the day you step out, your face will be graced with nothing but a big smile!

Don't want to hear about any house arrest similar to Suu Kyi, or murder similar to the late JFK. Just please, let us witness things that hopefully progress towards a solid closure peacefully.

Would you retuck those lips too?

I think the best artists in this world has to be the plastic surgeons (with exception to Michael Jackson's, none of us wanna look like our stone age ancestors), I'm sure even professional artists sometimes throw their half way done canvases away even if there's nothing wrong with it just that lost their moods.

But the doctors, what do they do with accidentally chipped bones? Or overcut or overstretched skin? Gosh, I still remember the news about that lady who wanted J.Lo's ass-they exploded and she got admitted for 2nd degree burn, the butt cheeks became as flat as a plate. But that's self inflicted, she asked for more gas pumped in when the doctor said it's too much.

It's a lucrative business for these plastic surgeons. They are good at finding their niche, for those who are eating infront of the screen, or rather just, for those who 'eats', get ready for a different kind of 'Exotic Orchids Appreciation Session'.
If there are mothers who read this, wouldn't it be a waste if you still need to conceive again after it?

Thanks to Alphademon for the heads up.

Publicize guidelines for awarding Datukship to artistes..

True, I don't have any qualifications for the entertainment industry. But this is triggered by these factors:

1. The way art is expressed always symbolise the characteristics of its origins in terms of ethnics and way of life.
2. the effort (more like sacrifice) of EnFiniTi Productions for Puteri Gunung Ledang movie in the name of local art (and history).
3. that I have said in my 'Tiara that fits for the Puteri' entry that I will elaborate on why Yusof Haslam should not be our society's favourite filmaker. That that brought me a few emails asking for promise to be fulfilled (you're ready with bullets to shoot is it?).
4. the update regarding Malaysia Film Fest 2004 in Singapore made known to me by MyShinShin. Notice all movies are produced by local directors are not 'Datuk's'?
5. the fact that the Datukship title became terribly diluted during the previous Bolehyears (note: previous).
6. since local movies and music hardly attract the non Malays, how our artistes can prove that their 'perjuangan' has benefitted our society in any terms at all, hasn't been outstanding enough.
With exceptions (of those still alive):

a. Ali Bakar for his fight in putting local rock music in a better place.
b. Pak Ngah for his fight in making traditional Malay songs accepted again through Noraniza Idris and Siti Nurhaliza.
c. Noraniza Idris and Siti Nurhaliza in putting their belief that their albums can sell through the bigger market segment although filled with traditional songs and lyrics.
d. S.M Salim for not giving up although he had to go through very difficult time, for a long time in earlier stage.
e. Zainal Abidin for his belief in singing songs with words of advise concerning the environment and the society in his lyrics instead of love lines.
f. Azean Irdawaty for taking only parts of typical Malay characters no new blood would wanna be seen doing.
g. Raihan and Yassin for consistency, continuity and putting a new breathe in 'berdakwah' through music.
h. Sharifah Aini for being able to keep the diva image in order for her to keep receiving invites to sing her evergreen songs (since P.Ramlee days till now).
i. Erma Fatima and husband, Badar for their belief in making movies which involves thorough research and understanding about our society and history. In investing on good shooting equipment and using new techniques everytime although materialistically they may not as fortunate as Dato' Effendi and Tiara, they still pull it off at getting investors, I'm sure it's a lot of hard work.

7. that people in the entertainment line plays a big role in becoming the society's influencer, especially in helping to make the world a better place.
8. that the price of cinema tickets for watching small budget local movies is the same with foreign multimillion dollar movies. The price of CD's used to be the same, luckily there are changes now.

Back to what I have against why the Malaysia's Six Million Dollar Man for getting Datukship although he mentioned once that he doesn't make 'filem rubbish', although a foreign movie critic called him the Malaysia's Spielberg (arrgghhh!!).
Maria Mariana, Gerak Khas the Movie, Pasrah, Sembilu, Bayangan Maut, Tragedi Oktober, Janji Diana all are cheaply produced movies with zero creativity involved.

Stop the bullshit about instilling morale among the teenagers, none of his movies have unpredictable storylines nor with lessons that leaves any marks in any of us. He knows his kind of storyline can make him tonnes of money which then be used not in investing for better filming equipment, but build bigger house, send wife to Hong Kong for shopping and publish those stories in the papers.

Poor Malays who thinks it is worth paying RM10 per ticket to watch his movies at the cinema. At least one thought it is more worth it to buy pirated VCD version, because it is so bad, you won't feel cheated on his money making scheme which is just as good as 'Skim Cepat Kaya untuk Six Million Dollar Man'. Think about it.

Gerak Khas The Movie 3 with the rape scene's act of a man trying to strangle and rape Misha Omar, yet he says "Sudah lama saya idamkan awak!" What an insult to anyone's intelligence, as if the audience don't get what the rapist's intentions by just through watching his actions? A crook can utter such proper Bahasa sentence? So stop the bullshit that GKTM tells us the real life of our local policemen and scenario of the city crimes. Don't worry, we still know better without the need to watch it. Tell me, how these factors got him a Datukship? Then he moved into doing a jointly produced movie with Aziz M. Osman... I thought 2 brains are better than one, but see what one of us has to say about it:

Excerpt: NARATIF FILEM MELAYU BANGANG & MEMBANGANGKAN?
by Faisal Tehrani
Friday, February 07, 2003

The first page content of our Malay newspaper no longer stupid and non beneficial for our people's minds like it used to be. I hope improvements can be seen in this arena too.

Sheeaaatt! Amir Muhammad wrote back to me.

I am a show off (although some of you don't fancy his writings or don't even know who he is), but I have to put this up although I wish I know how to post the actual yahoo mail page in here so ppl won't think I wrote it myself.

His email is in response to my reply to fooji regarding the comment he left regarding PGL.

I envy his life (Amir's) and his flair for writing, how he laces them with crazy twists. Put him in a coffee shop with TV Smith, the conversation would be awesome, they go over the limits to embrace the society. It's great to be paid to be a thinker, a job that hardly has anyone breathing under one's neck.

Idea: Collected articles of theirs should be booked and sold just like Lat's work for NST. It'll make them and those who carry this out for em good source of passive income. Ehm! If it happens, pls deposit some into my accounts thank you, RM5k pun cukup. TV Smith, if you read this do it, some wants to read your stuff by their bedside or by the beach during holidays, not just infront of the PC.

Now, I wonder if Tiara herself read this (must push my luck laaa).. she'll be thinking "Damn just write about my movie not my private life will you!"
Sorry, I like you very much and this is how I put myself in a 'kedai kopi' conversation where I just say anything without thinking twice.

******
LETTER FROM AMIR MUHAMMAD TO ME, ME, MEEEEEeeeeeEEE!!!

Dear Marini,

Hello! Apa habaq?

Waduh, thank you for your kind
words. But ...

You mentioned in your blog that I was "NOT impressed" by
PGL. I was wondering where you got this idea. I like the movie just fine (although I do have some problems with it). I'd just rather not do a review because the director is a friend of mine and I'd read so many drafts of the script that I can no longer view the film objectively. But I will be writing something about the film later on, more from a sociological angle lah...

Anyways, if you are free October 30 come to my own movie premiere!

http://www.doghouse73pictures.com/tokyo_page

Till then, happy writing.

regards,
amir.

So guys, look out for two things, his review on PGL and the dog thing.

Now, should I write something provocative about Tom Cruise after watching Collateral.... eeeiiihh he's so available now maaan!

Tiara that fits for the Puteri.

When Tiara divorced Hani Mohsin for her current husband, Dato' Effendi, what I assumed was in her mind is that she wanted a credible life partner who can be a team player in both her career and domestic life, yes I'm sure she believes that she too could be the woman behind an already successful man and turn him a bigger winner and also make him discover the real depth of his passion for art together with her.

Then I wondered what could have been in Tiara's mind when she bought over the rights to PGL's script from Mamat Khalid back in 1999. I have followed her life story and I'm sure many people knew she's one helluf an intelligent, determined and a hardworking lady.

How can I measure PGL's budget with others, as it sounds completely bizarre for an epic movie? Okay, I hope using Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (CTHD) could be fair as both have flying acts, heavily scripted, done in the woods, has its own soundtrack, laden with traditional costumes and a variety of shooting set.

Compare:
CTHD used USD15million to make and collected 128mill in US alone. It had won Best Original Score and Best Foreign Language Film for the Oscars.
PGL used USD3.9million to make and collected - yet to be revealed.

Without prejudice, PGL is way better than CTHD. I don't have to waste time to justify that.

I watched PGL with awe although I was half hearted at first to drag my feet to watch it. I thought RM15million huha was getting too annoying and that Tiara is only boasting her husband's wealth.

However, one full page coloured ads for PGL (The Star paper size) is already RM20,974 per page per day. Yet it's also supported by radio ads, billboard ads! That's the calculation that was going on in my head while walking towards TGV. I began to think, RM15million is actually outrageous because I'm comparing it to other Melayu movies lah. I did cleared my mind from any bad conscience before entering the cinema.

Being shot deep within Berichang woods, the efforts of camera crews are obviously done with great lengths to capture every angle of facial expressions and body movements in proximity. But I do find the orbitting scene at the waterfall when Hang Tuah finally met Gusti Putri a bit too speedy, luckily their facial fondling is so intense, we all withstood the giddiness. A good try at expressing emotions beyond words. Tell me, how many Malay movies shoot the scenes of vessels on the sea from the top? Cinematography award from whoever should already be in PGL's hand by now.

Enough of frontal, back screen shots like those we see in Yusof Haslam and every injury must be accompanied with 'Aduh!' and for every phone conversation, the receiver must repeat everything the caller says for audiences' capture, which I will cover in my next article.

If I were Tiara, the returns will not matter to me as much as the successful completion of making this entire project and that my bet on making Mamat Khalid's super poetic script into a greatly screened movie came through. I can look back and say "Hey, my movie had Christine Hakim, Dato' Rahim Razali blaa blaa in it". That's what's great about the producer's team, they had a dream, they went after it at full speed (at emptying the bank book!). This is which people say 'wayang yang menaikkan martabat filem Melayu' and Tiara can say "Hey, it's not even done by a Melayu!" Remember, she was Jacqueline Eu. So maybe you should just shut up and give it a chance!

It's true that there's not enough time for character building in the movie, but it's a good problem. This will hopefully lure more tourists here or lure anyone to read more about our history for a change. How many of us still remember Sejarah Kesultanan Melaka? How many of us read the Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa? How many of us even understand our own Bahasa Dalam/Rasmi or even what our Indonesian maids at home say in their own language? So I'm not surprised why so many said it's slow yet could brave through watching Romeo and Juliet, Passion of Christ even The Bold and the Beautiful! See here, to understand why the progression of the movie is rather slow (choose Production, then choose Who's Who in the Preparation)

To all the cast and crew of PGL, you have made it at giving 'em a lesson! I wish you'd at least break even, at least!. The world is definitely ready for it, but unfortunately, not the Malaysian at large just like we were not ready for 'Bruce Almighty' and produce our own horror movie with a real storyline. As we can also remember, only a minority who can appreciate 'finer' work of art like the satirical comedy in 2nd Bolehwood Award by ICT that got banned.

This movie has to be most appreciated by M'sians because only we know its real beauty that lies beneath the two languages. I bet the subtitles were done painstakingly to keep the meaning intact in order to obtain the same level of appreciation by foreign audiences.

I guess only producers with bus conductor background like Yusof Haslam would understand us Malaysians better.

Hey! Even Madonna aspires to make a memorable movie which I'm sure is a part of her marriage (with a rich director) strategies. Yet nothing has been achieved so far. Well, yes I'm sure they're very much in love too.

Next, let's see what Tiara's step daughter's film called 'Pua' can prove with an RM400,000 personal budget.

Realise your dreams by putting aside your paranoia about not having enough money, facing rejection or doubtful about your physical capabilities.