PSP

These days there are just tonnes and tonnes of games available. Play Station, Nintendo Wii, X-box, PSP and lots more.

During my days, I played Play Station 1, abah did bought PS 2 but sadly it was stolen before I had the chance to even try it once.

A few years later, my sis bought Nintendo Wii for my lil bros, so they did enjoyed it for a while. Now, they are bored to death.

Even for me, the options for games from the Nintendo Wii company did not provide the interesting range of games.

Thus, my two lil bro, Muqry and Azim are now collecting their money to buy a PSP. As for me, I asked them to buy the X-box because we can play multi-player.

So the conversation begins

Muqry : Abah boleh la beli PSP, muqry guna duit sendiri. Gabung duit azim dgn muqry

Me : Kenapa beli PSP, belilah X-box lagi best, game dia pun banyak

Muqry : X-box mahal la ! Kiteorg takde duit.

Abah : Kenapa nak beli lagi? Kita kan dah ada

Me : Ada apa? PSP ? X-box

Abah : Ala kat dapur tu, Ice box

Muqry and Me : ABAH ITU ICE BOX BUKAN X-BOX LAAAA !!

Abah : La, ingat ke sama je ( being sarcastic)

Siblings

Yesterday went through some old pictures and found some of our kindergarten graduation's day pictures.

My siblings and I went to the same kindergarten and have been taught by the same teachers.

Because I'm the oldest so my picture has to be bigger.

And btw what's with the way that I hold the scroll, my other siblings are holding it naturally.

Maybe one of these days me and my siblings should pay a visit to the kindergarten and see Ms Lim.

Saving mother nature

During my tamhidi (foundation) years, every Thursday I would declare it's 'Save The Earth Day'. I would wear all green, from head to toe. And this trend is sometimes followed by my friends too. So what do we do on a Thursday where yours truly declare it as a 'Save The Earth Day'? Hmm, basically anything is possible.

From taking the bus instead of driving till reducing amount of plastic bag usage.

I know it's not a big of an effort, but still, small steps bring big changes.

As most of you probably knew, I have always helped or may I say being busybody at some of the food stalls that my college have. From selling burgers to selling banana fritters, I have done it all.

Usually I took part as the cashier, the pakciks,makciks,abangs and kakaks has always asked me to be the cashier because as they quoted " Pai, kira laju so senang sikit ". All my years of learning  arithmetical mathematics were put into good use.

So as the cashier, I also have to pack all the food that they ordered, so from that I can reduce the usage of plastic bag. I mean if you buy just one burger, do you really need that plastic bag? Once you get to your room or somewhere, that plastic bag is a nuisance already.

So one day,

"Bang, saya rasa tak perlu la kasi budak2 ni plastik, bazir je"

"Ish, mana boleh, dieorang mesti nak punya"

"Kita kene save mother nature bang,suruh dieorang bawak Tupperware sendiri ah,baru rare"

"Oh tak payah pakai tupperware, kita pakai yang lagi bagus"

"Oh apa tu bang?"

"Kita balut burger ni pakai daun pisang, lagi rare"

Auto Cruise

Definition
Auto Cruise - Cruise control (sometimes known as speed control or autocruise, or tempomat in some countries) is a system that automatically controls the speed of a motor vehicle. The system takes over the throttle of the car to maintain a steady speed as set by the driver.



One morning,


"Abah, laju gila you jog hari ni, I nak kejar pun tak menyempat"

"Oh when I jog, I put on the auto cruise control"

*speechless and almost died*

Of planks, a barber, a hairstylist and a psychiatric

Remember when you were just a little kid, and having the honor of sitting on a plank each time you want to get a hair cut just because you were too short to sit on the normal chair.

Best time ever.

Sometimes I felt like a king/queen sitting on my throne.

"My loyal subjects, bow down to me"

Sorry for the so random intro for today's post. 

There was an article about should we call a person who cuts our hair, a hairstylist or a barber? In that article they also touch about the current fee they charge for each hair cut.

Since I was a young girl until now I will go to the same hair saloon to get my hair cut. This aunty is very talkative. I mean, she is very fast with the scissors and the talking too. A good listener if I may add.

I think being a barber/hairstylist if far more than getting your hair done. There's this soft-skill each of them have, and that is the art of communication.

They will always have the topic to discuss on, whether is it about the weather or your family. They can talk on and on.

Gossips, don't you dare start gossiping, with the wide range of customers they have, they can start a talk show on gossiping only. Oh my.

Sometimes, rather than you get a hair cut done that day, you might solve your problems too. Because these barbers/hairstylist is really a good talker, they can even solve your problems.

So I can say that these people are also a psychiatric, listening to people's problems, solving the problems, releasing all the tension. So it's a perfect combination.

Why go to an expensive meeting with a professional psychiatric when you can just go to a hair saloon and get things solved.







These days, I just have so random thoughts, even a barber can make me think this far -.-

This is my song !

*songs from the 60’s are playing in the background*

“Abah, how can you know if that song is your song? I mean, at what range of age you can describe the song is your genre of song?”

“Depends on what age you started to hear the song but usually when you are teenagers”

“So most of your songs that you hear today, is most from your teenage years?”

“Yup”

“So all these songs are from your teenage years? Wow, didn’t think of that. So this type of song must be the hit song from your time”

“Well depends, if you’re a city boy, mostly your genre would be from the western singers, (insert old singers name here), for me I’m a kampung boy, so my range of songs are from local singers such as (insert old local singers here)”

"But you kids nowadays hear English songs only"

So a few days earlier, I had this conversation with my dad during our routine jog.

And it made me thinking on what type is my song? My first time listening to real music is when I was in primary school maybe. That time Backstreet Boys, Nsync, Blue and other boy bands were pretty popular. 

But if to mention the first ever music I've ever heard is from my kindergarten, I mean, who doesn't know twinkle little star or ba ba black sheep? Well, actually those are nursery rhymes, but still it has a melody, so kind of a song too I suppose?

Then, there's all these nasyeed songs you memorize during your sekolah agama. Just to enter this nasyeed competition. From rabbani to raihan. 

Now nasyeed has a whole new concept, from Maher Zain to Zain Bikha. You can say that nasyeed songs nowadays can keep up with the mainstream songs too.

I really like to sing, though my voice is not that mesmerizing. But I do love to sing. Whether it is the national anthem during the assembly or even singing in the car.

During my school years, the only time I love during an assembly is when we can sing. Though the school song is not cool as an Eminem song, but still I will sing as loud as possible.

I don't know why some people are not in too singing the school song out loud? Is it because you are ashamed? Or maybe the song is not as funky as The Arctic Monkeys? Who knows?

So in the future, I might have the same conversation with my children. They would think that my genre of song is sooooo outdated.

"Umi, what are you listening to?"

*You Only Live Once -The Strokes playing on the radio*

"Oh just a song from my time"

"I prefer North West songs, the songs are so in these days"

"My god, kids these days"

(Could it be possible the child of Kanye West and Kim Kardashian would be a singer in the future? I hope not)

The Making Of Nasi Lemak

Last semester, I had enrolled in a video-making club for my extra curricular activities. Since high school I am very passionate about film-making, cinematography. Well of course it started with my interest in photography, but now it develops to making videos. I just admire the late Yasmin Ahmad's works. I mean, her short films, movies and commercials able to touch many hearts. Also, how humble she is no matter how successful she is.

Back to the post, so during my curricular classes, I was a bit lazy to pay attention to what sir was explaining about video making. My favorite spot was at the very back of the computer lab. Yeah, well it's not entirely my fault, as students, we had the whole day listening to long lectures, so to expect us to focus during curricular lectures, sorry we just can't especially when the class is late in the evening.

For our final project sir has asked all of us to prepare a storyline for a short video, it can be anything, PSA, short story, documentary, or even a music video. At that time our final exam is just around the corner, so I did my storyline as simple as it could be. Nothing drama like, or conflict like movie. Just about unity.

Each of us must present the plot or synopsis of our short video, so I explained in the most simple way.

Sir : Ok Fairus, video awak pasal apa. Tajuknya Nasi Lemak betul tidak?

Fairus : Ye sir. Video ni pasal 2 member, time kecik Haikal duk overseas. Kawan dengan Andy, bila dah besar depa pisah. So Andy ni datang Malaysia nak jumpa Haikal. Setting video ni kat kedai mamak. Time ni la Andy tanya orang kat Malaysia ni mcm mana? Haikal pun terang kan melalui nasi lemak yg depa order.

The thing is we were in groups, so for each group only one storyline would be picked. And I was so hoping it wouldn't be mine, if so, I have to be the director, finish up the script, actor scouting some more. So it's a fuss. But in the end, mine was chosen because it was not so cliche as the others.

The Script

Oh wow, the script, because in my video concept there would be a mat salleh in it, so my script must be in English. So I was the only one who made a video in English. The script was not that hard though, but it was a bit tricky to resemble each of the nasi lemak ingredients with the characters that Malaysia has. It took me about 2 days for the script to be upon perfection. Well, once you finish it and show to your sir, minor alteration must be done.

The Storyboard

Thank God my concept was pretty easy, so the setting is not that hard to find. As the director/editor I can already picture the video in my head, but the thing is my group and sir can't see the same as I visual the video  would be. So I begin storyboarding my video, storyboarding is when you do a roughly sketch for your each scene and takes. And this is the time I discover my talent on drawing is pretty bad, in other words, my 7 year old brother draws better than me, But still it does picture the way on how I would like to shoot my scene and takes for the video.

Actors 

Because at first I was not planning to do this video. So I didn't think it throughly for the future shooting. First problem, where in the world can I find a matsalleh actor in my local uni. But thanks to my friend mira, I found my Andy. Long story short, she has some connections, so I was able to get a matsalleh kid to be the actor. For the other actors I asked my friends to help me out. And promise them to treat them for a meal. And of course my lovely family, I couldn't make this video without them. They also star in this video. Though my dad keep making new dialog for his part. Haha.

The Crew

Remember I mention about the group for presenting our storyline? Yup same group for doing the shooting too. I divided the team into each aspects. For instace Props Manager. Not to forget, Maisarah, she is not from my group, but I asked for her help in shooting the video, because she has the skill on taking good videos. All the important aspects from lighting,angle of shooting,sound system, mostly I discussed with Maisarah.

Shooting

We did the shoot according the scenes, one day at this place, and the other day, different place. But all together it took us 5 days to complete the task. It was very tiring, with the rehearsals, directing, shouting here and there. But it was worth it. To be honest, not all what I planned out, became a reality but it turns out even better. Sometimes acting spontaneously brings so much more that what I have planned before.

Editing

During the editing, we also need to do some voice over for a couple of scenes. But thanks to my teammates they helped that part because at that particular time I had to sit for my midsem test. For the editing, I used Sony vegas pro12, it was my first time using it though, so it was pretty risky to edit using a software that I was not familiar with. But in the end, I made it. The feeling of clicking on the render button can't be describe even with words. At first I wanted to make the subtitles but we had not much time.

The Competition

During the screening, there were 6 videos were shown. The top 3 videos from each class was shown that night. Though it was not as prestigious as The Emmy's Award, but for the first time I saw, my idea was made into a video, and I have this a hall full of people watching at my masterpiece, well not so masterpiece. And never had it occurred in my mind to win the competition. Thanks to those who helped me in making this a reality.

What's Next?

Nasi Lemak also won first place in the video competition held by the Integrity Society. This was a month ago. I'm also waiting for any open video competition in August, for our Independence Day. Because the theme of my video is about unity, so just perfect for our Independence Day.

Also, recently, my friends and I made an arabic short film for our Arabic language final project., 3 Siti. Sadly, we didn't win. Next time, pay attention to the rules and regulation, if it says 10 minutes length so it must be ONLY 10 minutes, and not 10 minutes and 34 seconds. Ours was 34 seconds longer so couldn't even participate for the competition. Talk about bad luck. Nevertheless, it was a fun experience all together.


Future Plans

A friend of mine has asked me to collaborate with him for a special short film project. We had this idea months ago, but since then we haven't yet met up and discuss it officially. Maybe, during the semester breaks we will meet up and discuss the necessaries to our small project.

Tools and Equipments

As for now, my equipments are not so fancy. I only have 2 DSLRs, 1000D and 550D. One camera stand and a laptop. So my plan is, for this semester break I will build my own equipments. Maybe a slider, steady cam and hmm, we'll see.


Well maybe that's enough for today's post

Here's the link to the Nasi Lemak video

http://www.usimonline.my/en/component/hwdvideoshare/viewvideo/700/student-video/filem-pendek-pelajar-nasi-lemak.html

Here are some pictures of behinds the scenes for Nasi Lemak