Isn't it

I don't know. Things have been strange. Maybe I've just been thinking too much of things that I needn't go so deep into. Tapi entah kenapa...

Sabar je la kan. Tanak aku jadik drama queen and run away from my problems. I need to stand firm, and deal with them. No matter how painful it gets.

You can tell it's not been a good day.

Actually it didn't start that bad. It was ok, even up until aku gi Sri Pentas 2 for the dry run for the Pop Rock category.

Aku sampai lambat sikit. By the time I got there, they were two thirds done. Some like Estranged and so on tak hadir due to commitments. And those who performed earlier da balik.

Bebudak Meet Uncle Hussain, Spider, Elyana, Mila, Fabulous Cats, Flava were about. Stuck about a while to snap just a few. Esok lebih. Aku hari nileh terlupa aku nya memory card for my cam stuck in my laptop still, and internal memory hampeh, so rely pada handphone je ler nak amik pic. Esok bak digicam aku, snappy banyak sikit.

These were some shots aku larat amik.

Lan, I think, nama dia.. from Meet Uncle Hussain. Dok atas ngan pose bertapa


Mock announcement during the dry run


Mila pose cute


Sumo, Samsairol and Shahdan from Flava. Semua nama bermula ngan S


Aremeer Sofaz and Yanie, one of the cutest PRs around


Some additional info. Ni performance rundown.

Lagu-lagu dalam kategori POP ROCK (dalam giliran persembahan)

1. Separuh Masa (Edry Abdul Halim/Edry Abdul Halim/The Lima)
(akan dinyanyikan oleh Flava)
2. Aku Stacy (Intan Norul Azlin/Intan Norul Azlin & Layla Ismail/Stacy)
3. Kalis Rindu (Aidit Alfian/Ad Samad/Elyana)
4. Mila Bila Cinta (Audi Mok/Ad Samad/Mila)
5. Cinta Si Rama Rama (Edrie Hashim/Edrie Hashim/Hattan)
6. Bukan Di Sini (Sofaz)
7. Aku Lebih Tahu (Ajai/Loloq/Mila)
8. Bukti (Tony Iskandar/Loloq/Fiq)
9. Rimas (Cat Farish/Roxy Tail/The Fabulous Cats)
10. Yang Pernah (Estranged/Estranged/Estranged)
11. Lagu Untukmu (Taja, Tass & Lan/Taja & Tass/Meet Uncle Hussain)
12. Mabuk (Tam/Loloq/Spider)

NOTE : Lagu Sofaz Bukan Di Sini akan menggantikan Ku Merindu (Datuk Syed Elias Syed Ahmad/Datuk Syed Elias Syed Ahmad/Shah & Ella) tapi aku tak pasti atas sebab apa. Aku risik dan bagitau kang. Flava will replace The Lima for performance.

From Sri Pentas 2, gerak ke Curve. Caught a movie with Bob to pass time. Decided to settle for a more bimbo flick in Wild Child. Supposed to catch something more interesting, but it was the only one in a decent time slot... so...

Not too bad. Typical story of rich Malibu kid with LVs in tow whose mom has passed on and dad has new beau, behaving badly and sent to boarding school in England and eventually has horrendous time adjusting.

I thought it would be straight out bimbo flick, but the drama was bordering on being overplayed out. Still, watchable.

Midway through the movie, felt agitated and SMSed someone - slightly ticked off cause not only said individual busy sampai lupa aku and I felt ignored, reply lak only after this second message after ages later from the first.

Entahlah aku dituduh emo and all. Maybe I am. But who likes feeling neglected. I don't know. I am trying to avoid drama after a prime example in front of me the past few days. Tapi entahlah.... ignore je la. Just I think I shouldn't prolong this stupidity of mine.

Was quiet after the movie. Bumped into some people who I didn't care for much on the way out. Avoided conversation. Met up with bebudak 6ixth Sense, minus Wan as usual and jut kept quiet throughout the night.

Pelita seemed a blur tonight. No mood... me just in deep funk. SMS ngan Faz. She's one of the few I can talk to whenever I'm feeling down and cheers me up.

But after an hour or so, the boys got me laughing..

Pose apa nih, Adi?


Staring into space...


Really tired out. Physically and emotionally. Calling it a night...

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World Aids Day 2008

Yes, I am feeling a little lazy to update today as I just need time to rest. But more importantly, I want to to use this opportunity to get a message to about a thousand of you reading this.

Today is World Aids Day.

I won't go into details, but please, if you don't know what this simple little red ribbon means, please find out.

And for those of you who know, educate another person today.

Much of the topics related are taboo in our society, so please, open up. Don't think someone else akan menghadapinya. Disseminate, not discriminate. Ignorance kills.

Whoever you are, no matter what part of the demographic pie you're in, this affects all of us.




PS - For those of you who need discreet testing, or just want to ask more questions and have no one to turn to, not only about HIV/AIDS prevention or anything at all related, or just need counelling of any sort, including on sexuality, CLICK HERE and get more info on people you can talk to, and are ready to listen at Pink Triangle Malaysia.

No matter who you are. You're not alone.

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Holy...#$%^!!!

Damn! It's been a damn busy two days. I am seriously tired out. Semalam had to finish off the script, and with last minute changes and all, had to stay overnight and work things out with my fellow scriptwriter, Saniboey - aka the bimbo himself. Korang baca blog dia tau la dia molot poaka cam aku gak.

Cuma aku skang da insaf. Leh? Heh... beriya je insaf. Matilah ko...

But it was kind of fun, and it was my first real participation as a scripwriter in a live show, and was partly responsible for shaping the approach towards the show - well as far as a script could allow.

Worked closely with Sarimah - who was the host for the Kuala Lumpur International Film Festival, which was a blessing cause while everyone has different ideas and approaches, it is definitely easier working with friends. Ditto for Saniboey as well.

Masa rehearsal, I think I seriously spaced out because there were so many things that needed to be reworked, with many last minute changes coming our way. Tapi dalam pening, ok gak sebab had great people to keep my mind on track of what had to be done.

Sarimah losing it during the rehearsals.. things can get a little mad...


I think Zahid spaced out like me too.


And you thought this job was in any way glamourous? My view of the stage

After rehearsals were done, decided had a lot of work to do to clean up and tighten the script as well as repair the gaping holes left by the many changes.

I headed home, grabbed some stuff at about midnight, and about 2am was back at the hotel. Bimbo and I worked from about 3am, and completed everything was past 8am.

Memasing da ngantuk, tapi nak wat camna kan... tried to sleep but couldn't cause was hooked on watching CNN for their coverage of the Mumbai attacks.

A bimbo at work. The one on the phone lah. This was sometime noon when final changes were made. Dalam pic tu Azreen, wife Saniboey


Still managed to doze off about 9am, and woke up two hours later. After one last round of changes, had to finish off the cue cards and stuff. Besides was bloody hungry so went to grab lunch.

Before you know it, it was time to get ready.

More last minute changes


With last minute changes made, here and there, it was havoc and chaos as everyone began changing while making sure everything was going to go fine.

It takes this much for the transformation... and more...


Tuh dia gigih. Sambil wat rambut dan make-up sekali, leh lagik add her personal bits to the script. Rajin kak Mah


Finally managed to grab a bite, shower and head on down with Syarol who was my guest to lepak to watch the show. Dia belot jap, dari biasa support Dayang nak cheer on for Siti katanya.

Argh... still panicky. Will post more on the show and how it went later.

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M-IFW

Semalam relax sikit, so took up Faz's offer to join her for the Malaysian International Fashion Week 2008 at The Garden, Mid Valley. She was opening for Hatta Dolmat's collection. Bukan setakat opening je, she was his muse. Meaning of course, she was sort of his inspiration for his collection.

First show dia ni for the Bumiputra Designers Association show, and ada lagik satu on Saturday for envy magazine kalao tak silap aku.

Motif, aku pun nak feeling muse pakai pas masuk camni?


Anyway, it was max fun definitely sebab ramai sangat kengkawan about. Firstly there were the designers - who were all freakily flustered. Biasalah backstage time nak show je, ada je yang tak kena and panik merata. But things went pretty well except for a mistake in the running order, and a stupid model running into me and blaming me for being in her way padahal aku dok tepi dia yang ting tong. Heh... kalao accident langgar pokok mesti salahkan pokok kan?

Secondly fun sebab ada Liyana, Irma Hasmie and some other friends... fun sangat dapat lepak camni once in a while.

Anyway, congrats to Hatta for a very good collection. His attention to details has improved a lot, and I can see a shift in the aesthetics of many of the designers, with a more refined look to their collections. This includes Wanie, Nik, Anizam and Zery (paling improved aku rasa dari semua segi tapi tetap menggunakan koleksi Wangsuri kan!!! - matilah aku!)

Two of the collection yang menarik minat aku which I didn't expect was Khairi Sufi and Amir Luqman. Khairi especially menarik sebab dia sorang je tak muted collection dia. He was the only one that went all out with colours and used them well. Plus he has a certain flair and potential yang fresh sangat.

Hatta and two of his models


Faz and Liyana Jasmay (la la la la la la la la... sing with me.. !!! - matilah aku!)


Waheeda pun ada


Craziness


Aku tak up for a lot of picture taking. Malas sangat. So sorry for the lack of pics.

Pas finish, we went for a bite at Alexis I think, and bumped into Sazzy, Dynas, Irma. Lola and her friends joined for makan, before temankan Faz gi shopping tuk barang keperluan (katanya) for her little holiday coming up.

Give me strength... no more handbags... no more handbags...


So we spent time running for her 'essentials' from MNG, then to Zara, then to pick up some stationery, then back to MNG.

Total haul - one bag, a pair of boots, a knit sweater, a leather jacket, and I think a top or two. I lose count. Heh... Aduh.. another earlu night.

Esok ada rehearsal for Kuala Lumpur International Film Festival which I'm also involved in. So kena spend whole day at PWTC. Seb baik ada Sarimah nak keep company since she gonna host the show. Ok la... until tomorrow's entry...


PS - Saw this book at MPH. Was torn between getting it or not. Balik baca sample and reviews... not bad. Amir cepat beli buku nih! Aku leh pinjam dari ko. Heh... me too many books da nak beli this month.

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Video day

Arghhh! Think I'm suffering from retinal burn for staring into my laptop for so long.

Tried to get work done, and deviated a little to spend a whole load of time watching the 2008 American Music Awards. Not that the results really mattered.

Who cares about Chris Brown or Miley Cyrus? Buckets of puke ahoy! Anyone who thinks those two names are better than Alicia Keys or any of the other nominated acts, are really whacked. I mean Coldplay loses out to Brown for Artist of the Year? You've got to be joking right? Anyone's better than him...

Consolation was his girlfriend, Rihanna, won categories for the women, after fighting tooth and nail.For the second year, winners were determined by online voting. They used to be decided by a poll of 20,000 music buyers, now it's online voting to get more people to watch and apparently it's worked with a total of 11.8 million viewers for the 2008 AMAs, up from 10.9 million the year before.

While the awards ceremony itself was so-so, it was the performances that made the show worth watching. Again forget the likes of Miley or New Kids On The Block who recycled their same crap from a decade ago.

Most soulful performance would have to go to Alicia Keys, who was joined along by Queen Latifah and Kathleen Battle for Superwoman. Undoubtedly, Superwoman, and the live rendition of it, justified why she won both for both the Pop/Rock and Soul/RB album categories.



The performance that seemed to work up the crowd though was Christina Aguilera's for a non stop mix that opened with Keeps Gettin' Before it moved on to a medley of her past hits. So she wasn't in top vocal form, but considering she pulled out the stops in her performance with Genie In A Bottle, Dirrrty, Ain't No Other Man and Fighter, it was a pretty damn good performance.



Visually (not vocally - as expected, but who cares) was the PussyCat Dolls performance of I Hate This Part and When I Grow Up.

Vocally superb but boring as hell for bringing the performance style of the Nineties into the end of the first decade of the millenium was Mariah Carey who won an honorary award that night.



Best performance of the night I suppose however would go to Beyonce for All The Single Ladies.



By the way, did you catch the Saturday Nite Live - Justin Timberlake parody of Beyonce's video? Yes, we're talking JT in tights and heels! Can't find the full version, but this one on Youtube is spliced with the original music video in the mix.



Anyhoo, back to Rihanna. I loved her outfit during her performance. It was so.. ernm.. spiky!!! She'd taken off the neck piece in the pic, but watch the video performance of Rehab.

On the subject of Rihanna, she's now the face of Gucci! Rihanna is nowpromoting its new Tattoo Heart Collection, which will see 25 per cent of every purchase go towards UNICEF.
Watch the ad below.

Now got to get back to work....

By the way, my song of the moment is Beyonce's If I Were A Boy, which I guess the 'if' doesn't apply to me, last time I checked. Matilah kau... but lyrics dia memang best gila. Enjoy.. and be posting tomorrow...

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Melodi raya

Semalam gi berbuka Melodi Raya, buat aku batal posa jer. Heh... pandai lak salahkan, padahal sendiri tak tahan.

Ceritanya bermula, last minute baru aku terima pelawaan member nak gi. So I headed for Sunway about kol 6 lebih camtuh. Sampai kejap je.

Tapi akibat orang tertentu yang kurang cerdik memberikan arahan, sampai nama tempat pun tak bagitau, I spent an hour looking for the place.

Mana taknya, bayangkan, memula aku parking kat Sunway Lagoon. Memang lokasi venue tuh kat sana, tapi on the other end, so memang lebih senang kalao masuk melalui Sunway Hotel. So after almost 45 minutes peluh mencari, sampai masuk lorong belakang Sunway Lagoon yang gelap gelita dan horror, aku gi amik kereta dan gerak ke Sunway Hotel lak.

Dari hotel, tak sampai sepuluh minit da cari jalan sendiri ke lokasi. Ceh! Dalam perjalanan stress sangat isap rokok. Lebih kurang time berbuka ler, tapi tatau ler kalao aku batal ke tak. Dah pening pening lalat panas camtuh da tak kira. Seb baik aku ni tak wajib posa. Kalao tak harus dilempang beribu lemon da alasan camtuh, kan?

Sampai je pening bertambah. Mak aih! Ramainya orang!

Ingat memula meka laser kat Melodi mintak artis hanya bak PA seorang sebab takot ramai orang sangat. Konon eksklusif ler. Rupanya... aiyo! Berapa bas mek Ani nih mai nih?

Aku berat nak join the group, tapi seb baik ada geng panggil. Faizal lepak area bilik persediaan nak wat show. So lepak ler borak ngan dia. Dari sana jadik baton race lak. Dari Faizal, borak ngan Jojie dan Ella (orang kampung aku tuh!), Nurul, Jac, Zahid and Nita. Banyak sangat nak catch up.

Event camni ler yang bebetul aku dapat spend time ngan meka.

Faizal cita la pasal isu 90:10 tuh. Aku syukur ada artis muda kita yang ada otak. He pointed out too artis Malaysia patutnya tak takut saingan dan jangan nak harapkan nak sekat orang tuk maju. Usaha, dan juga keyakinan dalam hasil muzik kita sendiri patut ada and you have to keep innovating to survive.

Jojie dan Ella lak, kalao dok ngan aku je cita pasal kampung kita, Klang. Aku kira masih ler dok Klang. Meka je skali skala melawat. So cita la tuh nih, sampai bab aku berubat. Dari sana Zahid masuk ngan Nita. Transfer group member. Syukur adik aku yang oren ni kata nanti dia tanya mama pasal menda ni. Ker sebab nak Nintendo Wii aku je, Zahid? Matilah aku...

But on seeing Zahid dan Nita together aku happy sangat. I think they make a great couple, and aku berharap sangat mereka bertahan sampai ke jinjang pelamin. Dalam aku kenal Zahid berapa tahun, aku berani cakap, this is th happiest I've seen him in a very long time. All the best ok baby bro. Walaopon aku tak bagitau ko, aku bersetuju sangat pilihan hati ko.

Sedondon tuh!


Sapa rambut lagik cantik?


Menjeling.. menjeling..


Photo shoot control abih!


Very berserabut!


Ingat tak fesyen Ina Naim masa ABP dulu? Irma nak top that!


Bebudak 6ixth Sense dan pose pelik meka


Adi 6ixth Sense kata dia single! Sapa berminat? Dia nak awek yang leh jadik stok bini!

Nurul lak ada private conversation ngan aku. Takleh cakap pasal apa. Rahsia! Ada yang sibuk tanyakan pasni. Heh!

Ramai gak ler serempak pastuh. Geng Pelita aku in 6ixth Sense, Irma Hasmie. Let's see Farid Kamil, Noryn Aziz, Fara Fauzana... ramai ler. Tapi pas another hour da lepak, ngan bebudak 6ixth Sense ciao. Nak punch card masuk ofis Pelita lak.

Sebab Stacy call aku petang tadi nak jumpa, aku gerak ke rumah dia. Lepak sat ngan dia. Kos dan Laura dari Stacy FC pun ada. Lepak takleh lama sebab rakan sekerja di Pelita da, so pastuh gerak sana.

Borak, lepak dan sahur.

Tired out. I don't think I'm in the right frama of mind sangat nak enjoy berbuka kat luar. Esok ada dua lagik event berbuka. Tak gi kot... tengok camna.

I think I would prefer to be at home. At least over the weekend. Pastu baru back going about. Be blogging soon.

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Yawn...and then some...

So I needed rest. After the hard rockin' Pesta Malam Indonesia... damn... hell yeah I needed to recover. Lama da tak enjoy concert camtuh. Nak harapkan konsert tuh nih, ada je yang tak bagi saying it's too sexy... too wild... too.... (fill in the blanks here).

But... as usual.. I'm starting off all wrong.

Today was quite relaxed. While awaiting news of the budget presentation of Project R, aku siang tadik ajak Juan singgah Suria FM tuk gi lunch skali ngan Julia. Skali skala kan, lepak ngan kengkawan nak catch up... nak gosip... I mean... erm... nak intellectually debate...matilah... so it's just idle gossip lah. So sue me!

Anyhoo, before and also after lunch, aku kaco ler kehidupan seseorang nih. Sapa lagik kalao bukan taiko sana, Engku Emran Engku Zainal Abidin (motif sampai letak nama penoh?)
Yes, as you can see, Emran was very hard at work.



Merasalah sibuk with that thing Between My Legs (ewwwwww!!!!). Erm... if you bothered to click that link, tuh ler blog dia. But one thing ler... dia sibuk ngan blog dia pun berfaedah.

Sebab Emran for one, who is also the vice-president of the association of local radio stations Commercial Radio Malaysia (CRM) is one of the few who have dared vocally voiced out his opinions AGAINST the 90:10 quota proposed by Karyawan to DICTATE what people should hear on local radio.

CLICK HERE if you want to read what Emran thinks on the issue, plus, also he has some interesting bits (jenuh aku baca tau... sampai juling mata aku panjang gila babas karangan dia). INCLUDING a chat with Amy Search which I found quite insightful... mind you ni the guy which was painted by the media as the head of the mob leading the witch hunt against the Indonesian music scene infiltrating our shores gitu.

Respek gak ngan Emran nih sebab walaupun there are a lot of SNIVELLING COWARDS out there in the form of artists and management, here is one man who speaks his mind. FINALLY!
Few have spoken out on this issue because they think it's not going to go anywhere (let's face it - it's all about political mileage anyway for some). But damn..

CLICK HERE to read my previous post on the issue and what I thought.

And since I am on that topic, just wanted to add some insightful thoughts (insightful ke?)
Anyway - Emran - cheers to you for being proud of what you have between your legs (leh tak aku rename my blog Di Celah Kangkang Aku?) cause you sure have 'em for speaking out. Even though you find it hard to keep your word bila kata nak call ke time ajak minum (matilah akuuuu... lariiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!)

Isn't it strange that MOST acts here don't compose or write their own tunes when the ones they lambast in the Indonesians do?

And remember in the 80s and 90s industry kecoh kata DJ kena sogok (sebab time tuh DJ semua mainkan lagu pilihan sendiri konon syok sendiri dan tak hormat selera pendengar. Matilah da tukar format pun nak carut katakan screw the listeners, the should be listening to what we dictate.

Panjang lak ceramah aku tiap kali bukak bab nih.

Moving on... anyhoo pas lunch, dropped by back Bangsar nak bagik makan sugar glider aku yang tercayang tuh. Merasalah masuk hari keempat tak stock makanan dia. Baby aku tuh mesti kebulur. Singgah to buy some apples from TMC, and then picked up tea.

Yummy! Lama tak camni ok. Just some pics.. korang layan jer la...




Yeap, bought EVERYTHING you saw in the pics above. But bukan aku makan sorang. Ada geng nolong. When was buying stuff, spotted these!



Forgot totally dah Hungry Ghost month, which also brings about the Lantern Festial da. Ah... memories of childhood when I would raze off the eyebrows of at least two of my cousins while sustaining third degree burns on myself when lighting up these dastardly contraptions of fiery doom. Yes, I was a horror even back then. Childhood memories can be so fascinating when you're not feeling the actual pain of it.

Dapat call dari Faz to meet up as promised so we scooted over to Rasta kat Damansara nak melantak. Damn! Lepak dari something like 6pm to I think about 11pm. Faz and PA dia si Jue ciao then but Juan and I didn't, sebab

Wanda and Vee drop by. Konon nak berinterview tapi last last jadik sesi gosip.



And we went on and on I think about almost 1am. Merasalah aku da masa tuh mengantuk nak doze off da. Headed back home and finished this entry. Got some pictures that made me laugh my ass off.

Guess who is this Erykah Badou (matilah Erykah Badut) lookalike.

Erm... playing London Bridge?


Bootylicious? NOT!


Oooh... you better work... COVERGIR! PUKE!


Guessed who it is yet? If you don't know I think the names under the queen in question (in that hideous flowy floral ensemble) should pretty much tell you.

But if you still NEED to know who it is, CLICK HERE!

Me? Going to sleep...

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Pesta Malam Indonesia 2 - Part 3 (The rest of the show)

Pas abih je Sheila On 7, I was already malas with the fest. Bukan apa, satu tak minat sangat remainder of the bands, walaupun Ungu dan Peterpan ada lagu yang not too bad and Slank showmanship and musicianship meletop. Secondly letih da banging lama sangat.

But, after a break, and a technical glitch yang naikkan kemarahan crowd, Ungu was on next. They were pretty awesome. Tapi aku amik pics sikit jer mostly of Pasha, so enjoy them. It was dark by then, so the pics look kind of nicer.










Just as they were settling things, aku gerak lepak kat keta. Nak baring sambil layan. So tak perasan cita Ariel Peterpan bukak baju until the rest of the guys cita ngan aku when they came to the car.

Heh.. rasanya kena kes Faizal Tahir tak? Not like it matters as this is the last performance for Peterpan anyway sebab the band soon-to-be-defunct.

Pics courtesy of dreamerzzz from CARI



Not too bothered about it actually, though undoubtedly ada lak pasni kecoh pasal artis Indonesia wat camtuh. Biasalah amik kesempatan memandangkan isu weirdo in this business versus Indonesian songs and artists.

Whatever...

Anyway, tak minat sangat pun Peterpan nih, ok ok je. Tapi suka kat Uki. Dia ni cool jerk.



Back to the show, I thought this year's fest was ok tapi aku just tak suka the order of line-up. Still think Samsons and Sheila On 7 should have gone on later. But nak wat camna. And erm... tak perlu la Slank lagi. Some bands like Andra and the Backbone or Dygta would be nice.
Tapi overall worth la kalao bayar RM50 to watch so many quality acts.

We adjourned to Pelita when Slank got going. Member sana kata Pasha dari Ungu baru ciao lepas makan sana. Matilah Pasha pun ke Pelita katanya.

Anyway, here's the catch of the day. Irfan campak pick dia pas abih show. Si Ted dapat. Heh! Amik ko... yawn.. need some rest to recuparate. Be posting soon. Three entries in one day with over a hundred pics. That HAS to be a record!

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