Monday, November 14, 2005
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Thena has completed his script. Finally. i read it. I liked it. A lot.
Therefore i have thrown away a script i was writing on originally intended as a back up if Thena somehow didnt get a nice script out.
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SAVAGE CRAVINGS DVD is now in its final process of "marketing".
Clips have been completed, althought a couple have some rendering problems which ive only managed to solve one by spending 5 hrs plaing around with differnt settings. Audi, please rmemeber this; DO NOT deinterlace clips, but render not on Field Order A, but Frame Based.
The DVD menu has also been completed.
And just a few monutes ago, the team was busy swapping around possible designs for the DVD cover. Justin has more or less came up with the final outlook of the cover. I'll post it up here soon enough. Need to edit a few things beforehand.
*the very look of the cover design has made me thinking whther or not to reshoot Savage Cravings, this time at a higher, more mature level, just to bring the video on par with the cover design..
I've also spent about a hundred sixty on a DVD burner from Sony. Nice, i didnt know that we have dvds that can burn on two layers, effectively doubling the recordable disk space to 8+GB.
After 5 long months of exhausive editing, Savage Cravings: Behind The Scenes will be distributed.
Now, to put the rest in my shoes, I'm passing them the raw footages of The Void Within for them to produce a Behind the Scenes video. Joyce seems enthusiatic about it.
Total size of Savage Cravings DVD in AVI format = 9GB.
Total size in conventional PAL DVD format = 2~3GB. (quality sucks though. Recommended for TV only.)
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On to shopping.
I've established a little connection with a company that makes reproduction ww2 and modern combat attire/uniforms.
Found them on ebay (everything's there!) and my little email to them regarding a few questions about their company prompted them to speed up on setting up a show room here and they asked for my contacts as well so there. I'm gonna get a Wehrmacht unfrom for my bday.
The guy's name on Ebay is barrylyndon28, btw
Then i'm gonna live my wacky dream of driving around in my Altis wearing a ww2 trenchcoat with a German officer's visor.
and get a new car perfume as well. Everyday i come to school smelling like a stale flower.
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I feel like i'm developing interest in photography.
Since i'm not into digital technology in still cameras, i''m lookign around for a good analog to buy.
Psycho-ing my father should be easy. He has been hinting to me to get a camera "for the hotel" for a couple of months now.
Black and white photographs seem to be more pleasing to my eyes as well so i guess i'll play around with that.
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I'm slwoly slacking in school, as well. This semester's a tad bit more academic for me.
A few minutes ago, i was trying to figure out how to multiply 18cm, which is 24% of my target measurement, by a number that will give me the full 100% length.
By the time i got my final answer (which i dotn think was right at all. I went - 18/0.24 which gave me 75cm), my palm rest was wet, my seat was hot and humid and sweaty, i was perpisring like a mad man with two viagras and i think i was stressed out cos i felt like fainting.
Oh my... ... ... it's been 15 months since i studied maths.
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Sunday, November 13, 2005
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I think i'm aging a bit too fast for my age. I have a bit of extra skin around my neck and near-drooping cheeks.
Now when the hell will my voice break?
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Quite a bit of luck yesterday night after blogging. (i dont intend this to be a boring entry of "calendar acivity". I'll try my best.)
Henry Tharik and Aik were off for a movie (Emily Rose) and I scehduled to meet them after the movie, around 9, after a haircut (short again, just like the NCC days).
What luck, i rushed down to Northpoint, bumped into not only Clara, but her other little friends, Kai, Eileen and Kee Nee. Well we all sure have grown up.
Then i learnt that Donald was in Funland (Funland is in GV, Audi! the one in NP is TIMEZONE!), so i dropped by to see him, but not after i found Tianyu and Kai Yuan to be together witt he group that watched Emily Rose.
Quite a fun and exciting night. Talked to Donald. Nothing eventful there.
CS seems to be still alive and kicking. pfft. Arcade gamers....
and to the end of the night, we met little Quincy with his hair and rounder-than-usual body physique. I could call him Helium-boy (cos everything then makes sense) but that wouldnt be funny.
Which reminds me. I called Hasrul up as well... you guys will be seeing him on The Mein Bereich Show pretty soon (this time, with a more serious layout.) for another interview.
SAFRA was on our list for the night but didnt feel like going there. IT was abt 1030 anyways.
Took a bus with Tharik back to his home in Khatib (out of the blue) and I discussed with him on our upcoming video (after this NVP1) that will be shot partly in Johor, if need be. As usual, i got the silly X-Files type of story idea again. Rubbish. i adviced him to form up a story based on the abilities that one of us have instead. That should be easier; none of us can crack jokes. =p
Had a bit of time reading up "A Concise Biography of Adolf Hitler.", which i had kept in my jacket pocket the whole day. Fantastic book.
But not after i bumped into Clara, Don and the former's erm.... relative (?), again.
And i had a nice chat with april as well on a few secret matters and sarah came online after being absent for a bloody long while. Got to her for a bit of teasing. Nothing beats seeing her giving that frown.
Such a wonderful day. And to top it all off, I had Hui Wen and Hui Shi beside me while i was having lunch after school, earlier. They came into BK to "study", i saw them, they saw me, we talked.
Not to mention that Javis has reappeared, and depression seems to have been supressed. (depression, supressed.. get it? *shrugs*)
Yeah... Vis is currently laughing in Messenger. :)
God, I miss him...
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Worked a bit late into the night with Sam. Woke up today, in the afternoon, auctioned for a Nazi-era coin from ebay, swastika and all. (and i won. Its on the way now.)
*Currently saving up another 300 dollars to get a reproduced German Wehrmacht Uniform (tunic, cap, trousers and all).
Friday, November 11, 2005
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It all started yesterday. It started right after my lecturer for storytelling, Ryan Ingrassia, gave an outright saracastic remark,"If you wanna tell a story, then tell a story." after I related my little bogus story to the class about Hula-Day and dancing middle-aged men (i should really stop being so dramatic in my presentation. "Keep the hands, Audi!" - Thena)
Right there, i think my lifeline just took another turn.
Storytelling is probably the most interesting module i have this semester. The rest are just technical or academic based. Ryan's from South Carlolina and is very well-traveled. Now i await the day when i can one day just get off a cruise ship in a foreign country, thousands of miles away from home and call up my parents to say,"Mum, tell Dad that I'm moving to (foreign country's name). This is my address."
Anyways, after school, my parents picked me up and off we went to.... guess, to do what?
My mum went,"Okay Audi, let's go buy your suit."
and here i am currently blogging with my three-piece Armani suit worth about 700 bucks plus Bvlgari cufflinks and a 6 dollar striped long sleeve shirt bought seperately at Urban Warehouse.
What the hell am i doing in this attirer? I was just impersonating one of Hitler's speeches so cut me slack; I needed to psyche myself!
I am indeed so glad, but i'm trying to hold back my joy in my writing. Let's just say that my 7-year-old tuxedo can silently rest in peace in a vacuum pack bag somewhere in Perth.
I love suits... though i never had any good time to wear them. But whatever... they're suits!
So i went on a suit rampage today, and when the guys went over to Peacehaven's Salvation Army, I didnt pass the chance to buy one of those cheap BUT well-to-do suits that people have donated. Actually i werent really keen on buying any of those until Shaun started trying out the entire range on display. I picked one jacket up. A black one. Tried it on. It fits. No obvious defects. Plopped down 18 dollars at the cashier and its now at the dry cleaners (because invisible particles flew into my nose and almost caused me to vomit when i tried it again at home.)
So while that soon-to-be casual wear is being cleaned, I went online to Ebay and got myself what i always wanted; a World War Two Trenchcoat/Overcoat/Greatcoat. Sadly, it's American, not German, like i wanted. But since German ww2 militaria, though not only hot to look at, are expensive and getting somewhat rare, American will do. -.-
Oh and i also bought a ww2 Death Certificate of a German soldier. Heil Hitler.
And i also got word that one of my mum's friend actually invited me over to hollywood for a little production job (obviously, the "dirty" jobs...) AFTER my FSV course has been completed. Honestly, Hollywood's a bit too far-fetched for me. Also, it seems likemy father planned a whole lot of tricks and applied plenty of brainwashing techniques on me when i signed for FSV and solely FSV. He urged me to get into engineering or hospitality management or the chef school (obviously, he was desperate to get me far from the media). Now i understand what all those nightly talks on how his little friend took up engineering, went to Germany, got into Audi and is now building cars with a very big house here and there. He even added the line,"And you can even speak German!".
Im also in the mood to splurge myself on material; something i am still totally against, btw.
The turning point of my life brought me many other surprisees as well. I discovered that i had a secret stash of cash in a bank and, I tell you, what's in there is able to last me for two decades of overseas holidays and world war two memorabilia plus a couple of independant, large-budget productions.
Sadly, i dont have the number for it. Parents said it was for my future. So okay. At least i know im well-off.
And from the beginning of this month till now, i magically had 600 dollars on my lap with no effort whatsoever. They come from my monthly allowances, 2 days of the festive visiting and the kind heartedness of my parents. I have them all neatly folded up (the money, not parents), clipped together in my father's money-clip-thingabob, under my keyboard. Tomorrow they all go into the bank because i have this urge to eat again at Hyatt's dinner buffet and sign a form that entitles me to my own office in a warehouse therefore i HAVE to stop myself.
Oh and i will be clearing up my room, for real this time. I'm tearing down all these wallpapers, blinds and throwing away the cupboard and this computer table in exchange for a proper office-type and glass one. Not to mention, setting up a rig that will hold 40 watts repositional lights and a collapsible green screen, which will cover half my room and eventually become my mini studio and sleeping area.
i see no need for plastic trays and shelves in my room. I want it all metal or glass. Beware, you plastics, your days are numbered.
and to top it all off, a touch of black on white on red in its design concept.
Yes, i'm inspired by Hitler's office.
Now, if only i could buy my school textbooks.... and off with the hair!
*Merry Christmas! Ah yes... the REAL celebrations begins soon.
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
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I'm not so crazy about Jay Chou to the extent that i buy every single album he has released or download every single video that has at least a frame or two of him inside or actualy liking every song he produces. Personally, I think he's a very bad rapper or RnB artist.
But everytime i hear him sing one of the more "quiet" or slow-paced songs, i just get captivated by how smooth his voice is. There's this certain aura i sense, whenever i hear that familiar voice fluctuating from midtones to hightones, which, quite frankly, calms me down.
I've been introduced to quite a few other Mando pop artistes throughout the years and Jay Chou still stays at the top of the list for me.
* And what is up with JJ Lin? Did a bee stung his face? :S
And that tear?
Anyways, April said he was good.... so maybe I'd give him a shot. *
Jay released his new album, November's Chopin, beginning of this month. I have it. And I agree with April that it is a refreshing take of his singing abilities. Still not keen on the RnB or Rap bit, tough. In addition, I was pleasantly surprised that the CD had two bonus tracks, Piao Yi and Yi Lu Xiang Bei, from the Initial D movie as well. Finally, I can delete the two files i have of the songs that people sent me which were of really very low quality.
The mixing for some of Jay's songs were of average throughout but a tad bit worse during hip hop numbers, as usual. The depth was just not there and it sometimes made certain high-tone instruments very jarring to the ear.
I've uploaded Jay's music video, Fa Ru Xue, into the player below. I suppose everyone else has seen Ye Qu. (The new file host i have doesnt support streaming so you'd have to wait a while as the video downloads into the player. It's 12 mbs, a couple of minutes to download at most for typical boradband connections.)
Enjoy.
I usually play Jay's songs out loud and just the other day, my father knocked and in the most aggressive tone you can ever imagine coming out from him he commanded me to listen to more english songs than chinese ones.
And I've also been constantly reminded to have more Malay friends (i can count all the malay friends i know on one hand) and at least get a Malay girlfriend (He had a long talk with me on my future relationships and had to succumb to my stubbornness by going,"Okay, you can have an Indian, CHinese, Arab or martian girlfriend or whatever. but she has to convert to Islam." Fine by me. Now let's talk about whether I actually do wanna get married.).
I guess racism runs in the family. Most of the "hardcore" Malays, in fact, have a problem with the Chinese. I always hear them criticising and stereotyping the Chinese as those little nerds you see running around with their bags and are very nasal in their voices.
And every teenager that has either dyed hair or wears practically what you see the teenagers wear these days, are Bengs in my family's eyes. Wonder how it'll be like if i bring home a real Beng back home. My best friend's a Beng as well. I just await the moment where I turn their entire perception of me the other way around, again (they actually thought i cant speak or that i'm very introvert up to mid-2005 when they stumbled on my emails and documents of the various projects i started plus conversations between teachers from North View and Ngee Ann who say that i smile a lot, which i rarely do at home by the way, even more so when it comes to laughter, and lead a very healthy social life. In a way, I'm a hypocrite.)
End of post.
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
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It's that time of the month again, I guess. I can feel the ugliness of depression slowly creeping up behind me again. I guess I'm not as emotionally strong as I thought i were. Or maybe I have a very narrow limit to certain aspects.
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The script for NVP1 has been thrown around, ripped apart and fixed together in the Atrium late this afternoon by Thena and me. Ideas were thrown in. Little jokes were flushed out as well. Personal stories started to unravel. Soon, NVP1 was way behind the two of us. Things got very serious with racism, prejudice, virginity and love being the few topics that came by.
It's amazing how two different people can tell me the same exact thing when I start digging out my thoughts and perspectives on a single matter then throwing it all across the floor for them to examine. Maybe it's true that I'm delusional.
Maybe it's time i call Vis back up and ask him to punch me straight in the gut again. This mind of mine is rotting. It's bad. It's starting to lead me towards my destruction.
.... Javis... I wonder where he is now. Currently, he's turned into nothing else but a series of typed text messages and a shadow of a man that somehow always had people toying around with him. Hope he's fine.
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Parents are out of Singapore again. Leaving me alone as usual. Great timing. Now i can sit down, on the new couch, in my living room, just in boxers (probably the most comfortable attire) and think. Think like how i used to when i was nothing else but a pee drop in this ocean of imagination. I expect to see a lot of death and sorrow as well since depression has finally set in as I end this post. I think I'm destroying myself by keeping all these images and visions in my mind.
End of post.
Monday, November 07, 2005
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NVP1 has been much of a drag from the start, I must admit. I think i've prolonged this project so much so that i find many of the inital crew members silently disappearing from discussions and the teachers either lost my number (again) or lost interest.
Sad that i have a dozen crew members under me and I still can't bear to split them up into two groups because they really need some first hand experiences with how this entire production thing works.
You could say that i've painted myself into a corner. Not just a corner; a corner with deadly shiny spikes jutting out from the walls beside me.
What else could I do but bring in my superhero team into the mix for help.
I've sent up the proposed plots sent in to me by Rastus,Rasmus, Jia Hui, Jason, Hai Ting and my to a few of my crewmates here to critcize and rework them. Currently, i have Thena helping me with the scripts.
Another problem that just could not be easily solved is the availability of that perfect talent to play our characters. It's so difficult and depressing to hear that our aspiring lead actor does not want to act because he's shy or just don't think he can play the part or has no interest whatsoever in performing. I have been thinking of ways to get people to play out our characters; paying them, hiring from Fly Entertainment, changing the script to suit them etc. etc.
Nothing seems to work.
The guys here in Ngee Ann have plenty of contacts from Taiwan, Australia, SIngapore, Malaysia and form all walks of life but it's still so difficult to convince them.
So Charlene decided that the crew and I act out in NVP1 instead.
I've acted out in two projects last semester, though it was below-horrible standards, I kind of liked acting. Thena took up drama classes and there was this one time where he blew everyone away by acting possessed after Shaun, Shah and him went into Old Changi Hospital, at night, many months ago. Shah has been in countless productions as well, and the last I heard, he was on TV a few days ago. Joyce went for the Radio Academy where she met sicko-act-only-wannabe Daniel Ong (He was from North View... and Mdam Aini hates him for his arrogance.) and I heard she did quite well in the academy though i forgot why she stopped. Tink it was school commitments. Justin is in a band, playing the bass guitar, and has somehow got his way through to Slipknot's interview session, thanks to a contact, when they were here a few months ago for a concert. His face is up on a website as well. Charlene's the real bomb in contacts. Being the official PR for Jolin's fan club, you bet she has loads of contacts from Taiwan. Jolin knows her personally as well and Charlene sewed a pair of Hello Kitty toys as Jolin's birthday present this year and it got featured in magazines as well. But a fan can go too far, I guess. A few weeks ago she got in trouble with a few peple from Sony Music. Shaun?We all know Shaun. I particularly love his piano skills and the ability to come up with a well-to-do piece in an instant. I remmeber this time i was listening to a pianist whom i thought was good, and Shaun walked in and said,"Such a bad pianist. There's no feeling in his playing.". I thought it was just another of his talk but now when i listen again to that pianist playing, I think Shaun was right.
I've asked Charlene to be the team's financial manager. i've also set a hundred dollars aside from my own pocket to fund this project. Also, i've got a few contacts where we can rent out a boom microphone for the shoot. Sam the Cam will be sent for repair this weekend after i shoot another Mein Bereich Video tomorrow night. My room will be cleared again to make way for a bluescreen (told you that i was serious with this entire 305 Studios Productions thing).
Everything is set for NVP1. Only thing left is the script.
As for the crew in North View, I'm arranging for them to tag along during the actual shoot. I'll be informing the producer-to-be, Hai Ting, on the progress of the production. Once the real production begins, I would be bringing the key people in the production (cameraman, director, etc etc) along as a little attachment. i feel that this is necessary because I dont like that idea of a director going home even before the shooting ends or some other crew memeber lying down doing nothing (or blogging on her laptop) while things are running around.
As usual, i''m taking the humble position of cameraman again. Maybe as an assistant cameraman to Shah. In any case, script first. Positions later.
This will be a long project.
Did i mention that this video will be sent to a film fesitval if we see it good?
Sunday, November 06, 2005
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here's just a little post made to help pacify me from the sudden influx of idiots into the community (i'd call this a "quickie" but in my book... that stands for, umm, "sneak-masturbation") .
Yes... even in such a modern and rich land like ours, idiots infest the very flesh and soul of our country. They are the ones that fall into a groupthink situation so easily and make blind decisions, sometimes based on silly reasons such as "everyone does that" or "it's cool".
Something must be done about this problem.
and that self-esteem issue... totally irreversible. We're screwed. Save your children.
End of post.
Saturday, November 05, 2005
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once again.... hasrul refreshes this page too much.
and i'm SO sorry HENRY.. i took the video down before i asked you to watch it..... enjoyed the movie and the company of you three today, though. :)
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There are times where i just dont want to sleep cos of the things i regularly dream about.
Ever since young (not that im old now), i keep dreaming of things/-people dying.
well these few weeks ive been having really vivid and real-life-like dreams.
a few things i went through :
I saw my mother die
I saw holiday inn kuching burning down with my father frantically commanding the staff to get what they can to stop the fire
I saw Shaun strolling in and started playing on a keyboard with i think that german guy in ngee ann somewhere in a room with flourescent lightings and i have never seen anyone's hands move as fast as that. Fast as in...... engine-piston-running-at-110km/h fast. Strangely, the song he was playing; it sounded too familiar.
And this strange image of a corpse, wrapped up in white cloth, twitching about, gasping for air.
Just liek joyce, im very intrigued by dreams and what they are all about. I believe that dreams are a mix of what hidden (or not so hidden) thoughts you have in your mind and also.. well... it could also be a form of like... omens...
Then there's that out-of-body experience where they say spirits leave the body and you can freely walk about and stuff and this long thread-like trail connects from the spirt's head to your physical head...
well i dont think that's entirely bullshit.
and i also dont think that only occurs once in a blue moon (yes... you can see that im a firm believer in spirits and the unknown.)
and im sure hasrul and donald remmebered of that time i went up to donald one day and asked,"last nite, you were wearing black shorts and a white t-shirt, you were also lying on the right side of your body."
Donald gave me the strangest look ever (eyes dilated and all) and went,"How you know?"
so.... *shrugs*
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If angels and devils exists.... why not ghosts? yeah?
and no.. i dont beleive ghosts are spirits of "lost souls" or dead people.
let's just say that i think we're not sharing our houses with the family alone.
and these.... beings... also have religions... they can be Christians... Buddhists... and Muslim.... doesnt matter... and they go to work and all that as well.... so they're pretty much like us.... just that... we cant see them (most of the times)... and thye are bloody scared of us.
Then there's that Djinn thingy and stuff.... but that;s another long story.
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After reading all these... kinda makes you wonder what goes through my mind in the oddest moments of the day, doesnt it.?
* back when i was 5 or so... i had this imaginary friend.... and he looked just like me.... Now, you can call me crazy.
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
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well well WELLL...
HEELLLLOOOOO people!!!!
okay Mein Bereich has reached an all time high of over 45 hits yesterday! Seems like you guys just love me making fun of myself.
too bad that this time it's me trying to make fun of others.. muahaha...
The vidoe playing now has been split into two.
The first part's at the top player below, and the second half is at the bottom player... err... below below.
I'm experimenting with the Talk show genre this time.... so i had HASRUL to speak over the phone for us. April was also on the list but im holding her back for some... more.... spicy.... topics.
Today's topic is on blogging and all that jazz surrounding it as it being evil....
Seriously... can we ever eradicate blogs? Blogs feed on our natural desire to feel important. So there.
Till then... enjoy while you can... cos these types of videos wont be produced on a regular basis.
Cheers!
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
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Just something to give my previous video a chance to quietly slide off (you, hasrul, you watched the video too much.).
Today we have a new wacky (by wacky, i mean, irritating-wacky ) up for you guys...
I'd like to call it, The Mein Bereich Show ( Wow! fat hope, audi!)
This show will be compromised of a special segment where i start talkin about people i know (ie. You)
and if you happen to be featured, KUDOS!!!!
Then we have a video presentation on clips ranging from those i made or those found on the net.
Short, under 5 minutes, enjoy.
And dont pay so much attention to that yellowish-grey-skin guy you see blabbering his head off. He's just ghey...
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