The Adventures of Shaz

MTV Asia Awards

2008-08-04T10:17:00.001-07:00

Ok Well i'm going to try and keep this blog post short as I tend to have an tendency to ramble. Lets see if I'm successful.

So I went up to Genting for the MTV asia awards recently and had a blast for the most part of it. A lot of confusion going on and the bad planni

ng for the event was very apparent.

I will give them props for the room the gave me to stay in for 3 days. Not he typical first world hotel pigeon hole. It was actually pretty decent.

I went to the press confrence and came to know pretty quickly Malaysian press either don't follow instructions very well like to do whatever the hell they want.

It was pretty chaotic and Denise and Ut had to control the press several times when they were asking questions. Among the artist that came that day were.

Jated Leto- 30 seconds to Mars

Pussycat dolls

Loana Lewis

The Script

The Click 5

Panic at the disco

Super Junior (The biggest boy band on the planet. Korean. They had this really weird chant thing that they did which I thought was kind of gay actually. Thats just me though)

Jabawookeez (best dance crew in the states)

I admit I was kind of Starstruck having all those huge ce

lebs right in front of me. I took videos of most of them. Hopefully I will be able to upload em soon.

Next day was the actual awards and I got so called VIP tickets to watch it. Some people approached me at the gate to ask if I had extra tickets. I said no. Much later I found out that the tickets were not for sale and th starting price for the normal tickets was 1.5k. The VIP tickets were 2K+. If I had known that I would been my kiasu self and said screw the awards. I'll watch the delay from the pressroom. My only consolation was that the ones that asked me were kids. I doubt they would have had the money. Or would they? I dunno.

After the awards there was an after party but only the really thick faced media would be going as we were not invited. Security was pretty tight. Even I had trouble accessing certain areas.

At the end though the media kinda had our own after party at Starbucks. Haha. trying to cheer ourselves up i guess. Thats pretty much how it ended.

I net day I did something I thought I would never do. I went shopping in Genting. It really weird some stuff there is cheaper than KL. I have no friggin idea why.

I hope they have it in Kl again next year. However since this year was not exactly smooth we'll have to wait and see.

So was it short? Oklah kan.. haha

This month..or so.. in the adventures of shaz

2008-07-07T12:44:00.000-07:00

I'm not really a frequent blogger so it would seem. Every once in a while when I got moodlah. So Anyways whats been happening with me? Well just about to start production on my 4th short film "Another Life". I usually improve from film to film. So I'm hoping the trend continues. Please stay tuned for more updates :D

I have however been watching quite a few movies. Lets face it. Compared to 2007..2008 sucks! Besides the whole prices of everything going up.... Movies this year just don't measure up...

Just to give a a reminder....

Yup believe it or not all these movies came out in the same year. I actually think the problem here is that Hollywood has actually outdone itself. Too many good movies in 2007 and not enough in 2008.

In fact when you look at the figures..

300----- $70Mill ++... 300 broke the record for the highest weekend debut in March.

Spidey 3---- $151Mill ++... Spider-Man 3 broke the record for the highest weekend debut of all time, and Spider-Man's record ($114.8 mil) for the highest weekend debut in May. Spider-Man 3 was the first film ever to gross more than $150 millions in one weekend (3 days). Spider-Man 3 had the highest weekend debut of 2007.....and then some.....

Shrek 3---- $121Mill++.... Shrek the Third broke the record for the highest weekend debut for an animated film.

Pirates 3--- $114Mill++... Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End broke the record for the highest Memorial Day weekend debut.

Fantastic 4--- $58mill++... Didn't break any records but was still a good movie I think

Transformers---$70Mill++... The movie every kids who grew up in the 80s and early 90s was waiting for

other honorable mentions are...

The Bourne Ultimatum broke Rush Hour 2's record ($67.4 mil) for the highest weekend debut in August.

and

I Am Legend broke The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King's record ($72.6 mil) for the highest weekend debut in December. Best opening weekend for Will Smith.^{[5]

Now that we've got that out of the way it pretty clear that 2008 would not be able to match up to 2007.

In fact before the summer movies started The only film I remember watching was}

Both of which I had beef with. Cloverfield was good but I didn't like the fact it ended so suddenly without even explaining stuff.

Jumper was surprising good actually. Well I think so anyway. My beef was that Darth Vader was the good guy and Master Windu was the bad guy? Whats going in with the universe?

And thats it.. I mean i don't remember watching anything else after that until IRONMAN.. which in my opinion is still the best movie of 2008 so far.
Raking in $102Mill++.. it is the highest earning movie for 2008 so far. and deservingly so. I am IRONMAN right at the end. Classic. I think I watched it twice.. hmm.. then with the whole Avengers thingy going on at the end. Awesome.

Then Came Indy. Personally I think it was an OK OKlah only movie. I dunno I feel that Steven is losing it. Don't get me wrong the man's a legend and I totally admire him. Its just that tak habis habis dengan alien. The AI movie also alien.. this one also alien. Movies that have nothing to do with aliens suddenly got aliens at the end. What? anywayz screw what I think this movie is the second highest grossing movie of the year at..$100Mill++.. just slightly less than IRONMAN. I suspect it has something to do with Indy fans cheering their hero is back, and for an old guy Harrison Ford's still got it I think.

I then watched THE INCREDEBLE HULK

NO NOT THIS HULK!

NO NOT THIS HULK EITHER!

AHHHH.. this onelah! The so called new and improved HULK! but to be perfectly honest I don;t think it was so much better than the previous one with Eric Bana. For me its either just as good or worse.. definately not better. Only cool thing is IRONMAN appearing at the end for the avengers thingy again.. Apparently slotted for 2011 after the Thor and Captain America movies..

Then I watched Kung Fu Panda

Can't do much wrong with cute cuddly PANDAS! Although I was expecting better..

Right after this I watch 3 movies back to back to back.. Sometimes it can be a fun way to spend your day..

What a disaster! Not as in whats happening in the movie.. The movie itself. Really bad! from the plot to the acting. Which is kinda surprising cuz we all know Marky Mark can act.. He'll always be Marky Mark to me.. Mark Wahlberg just doesn't sound as nice.

A good movie but sinse they can do the whole bullet time thingy it still doesn't eplain why physics don't seem to apply to them. Tipu punya wayang lah this.. better than the happening though.

This was the best movie I watched that day. One of those days I got lucky and watched the best movie last. Although it's not as well at the box office. But it's a comedy/action film and it hits the nail right on the head with both. A lot of the jokes are really funny and fast if your not paying attention you will miss it. Like when Ann asked Steve "Did you see anythign when I was dancing?" He replies " Yes one time he lifted you too high". I was cracking up like a crazy person in the cinema. Thing is macam the rest of them didn't get it. I was the only one laughing. Go figure. Its also a nice bland of slapstick and verbal humor you don't see very often. I really did like it.

Last but least I watched Hancock. Now I am a big Will smith fan. from the Fresh Prince and Boom boom shake the room time lagi. However although it wasn't an absolutely bad movie..it was at best ok oklah. I actually liked Wild Wild West better.

Now that we have got movies out of the way. I will be back in KK from the 10th to the 21st to shoot my next short. Then I'll be back in KL. Then on August 2nd I have a dilemma to choose from....

I was originally slotted to go for the MTV Asia Awards. but now they are telling em that I need to book my own place. Problem is it seems as though all the 10K rooms in Genting have been taken. So either I drive back really late or sleep in my car. and that place sejuk you know. Well wait and see. On the flip side if I don't go I'll get to cover some kinda beauty pagent thingy. Under normal circumstances I would jump at that with the "manalah tau" attitude. but i really wanna go for the MAA.. seelah how.

Also TRAXX FM has rebranded fools!

Catch me on Tuesday's and Thurdays 2pm-3pm

Wed, Sat and Sun 9pm to Midnight

90.3 in the Kland Valley YO!

Where's My Water?

2008-06-18T04:03:00.000-07:00

Well I finally finished it. My short film Where's my Water? premiered in Kk last week on Thursday. Let me know what you think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzNAPCQ6WGs

The Making is here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Rm2GbBi2pY

BMWshorties

2008-05-05T02:13:00.000-07:00

Ok so recently my friends and I decided to shoot another short film for another short film competition. BMWshorties. I don't know when I'm going to learn. Local film competitions are just not for me I guess. I mean go to www.bmwshorties.com.my and watch the top 10 films.

Some of them barely have any dialogue.

One of them for sure doesn't have any. I know I sound like a sore loser. I most likely am one but really technically most of the films were lacking. They were very very artistic I'll give them that but the layman wouldn't enjoy stuff like that. I find it very hard to swallow that those films were better than mine. Oh well...

So the question now is do I become a sellout and make an artistic film or stay true to my Micheal Bay ways?

You can check out my videos at www.youtube.com/user/eminem80.

eXtreme Nights

2007-12-13T17:29:00.001-08:00

Ever heard of it... Me neither until someone from my office called me up and told me I was going for it. See what happens when you work in Traxxfm is every once in a while you get to go to functions and act like a famous person. Cuz I'm not really famous, but when I go to these function I like to act as if i am. So anywayz its like a PC fair for the 2 Fast 2 Furious crowd. Cars modified like crazy and is in no way practical. A lot of the cars aren't even Malaysian I think. There was also a model search competition, B-Boying competition, concert performers and ofcourse Traxxfm's prize giveaways. 1st is Rm6000 worth of equipment mind you.

4 Speakers in your door is normal apparently.

Just gimme one of them lah.. Freaking stingy people!

The Finalist for the model search dancing to Gimme more. This they allow but they have problems with Beyonce? Why?

Me Trying to look cool next to the car.

Prizes given away and another with a fellow supporter

DO...YOU THINK ...IT..HAS..ENOUGH..SPEAKERS?

Two of the many models there. Think I was checking them out more than the cars. If it wasn't for security giving me a stern warning after i "accidentally" groped one of them, I would have taken more photo's with/of them. There was one is a school girl uniform that was just..right back to the cars.

Gaya..Mutu...

Small cars also got. There are some wicked toy car drifters.

Wah the cars here got makan orang also!

Gotta get one of them Gatling guns for my cars. No more traffic jams for me! Oh don't wanna get outta the way ah... Target locked..

Oh No they've come for me!!

This is Barricade from Transformers. He's quite nice in person and not all Decepticons are bad. don't believe everything you see in the movies.

Now this car sounded like CNY firecrackers and had fire comin outta its exhaust. When your standing behind it you can get blown away and die of carbon Monoxide poisoning .

They got me!! (short post this time)

2007-12-13T17:27:00.000-08:00

Ok you guys know how i'm always lecturing you all about be carefull with your credit card details. Don't give any info over the phone and yada yada yada. 3 years in HSBC has thought me that fraud is very real so be very careful, and I am one of the most paranoid people I know when it comes to these kinda things. However even though I try my best to be aware of all this, I'd like to think more so than the average person. They got me!.. yup you are reading the words of a credit card fraud victim.

Maybank called me today and asked me if I made 2 credit card tran sactions to Airasia. So I'm like..what? Uh no. So then I realised ok maybe my sister used my credit card. Most of the time when she uses it she does ask me 1st though(most of the times) so I thought it was a little weird. Just as I was asking the Maybank CSR if she could call me back while i confirm with my sister, my sister calls me. So I pick up the other phone and my sister is hysterical on the other side because she was just in an accident? Whats it now? like accident 4 this year Jula? I think its because your car is too red and people just like to hit it. Well anyway I'm hysterical asking her if she made the credit card transaction and she's hysterical cuz she just got hit so you can probably guess that wasn't a very calm phone call.

Finally we get our messages across and i tell the nice lady from Maybank it wasn't me so then she gives me the name of the people that the ticket was issued to

Manfari rafqul ulum
Ailing chay

If any of you know who these two are pls kick them in the groin for me. I'm pretty impressed by Maybank actually. I mean usually when i speak to the branch staff it seems like they are missing a chromosome or something. Lately however Maybank seem to be improving. The jury is still out though. So now I gotta use my VISA.

Apparently its not a credit card clone. They got my credit card details from somewhere. I know a lot of ways this can be done. The easiest way actually is lets say you pay something at a restaurant with your card, they take your card take a photo of the front and back with their phone then return it you. All the info is there.

One way to prevent this is to remember what the last 3 digits on the reverse of your card write it down somewhere else and scratch it off your card. You only use that number when you're making purchases on-line anyway so it's safer if its not on. Yalah I know me! pandai give advice but never do myself. Lucky I have a VISA as well so I'll scratch off the numbers and use that in the meantime.

Just be careful guys there are so many other ways you can be defrauded. Wow this is one of my shorter posts. I'm pretty proud of myself. *GIVES A TAP ON SHOULDER*

The adventures of Shaz in Singapore

2007-12-13T17:26:00.000-08:00

Well some of you might not know but I recently went down to Singapore for a 3D2N holiday. It was kinda interesting as I haven't been down that south since 1995 and as you all know. I do love to sidetrack from my intended stories, and this post would be oh so left out without that trademark sidetrack, and yes in case any of you were wondering. This IS going to be a yet another long post. Good news is i have photos this time.

Now Singapore and Malaysia are kinda like Canada and the United States, UK and France and maybe even Taiwan and China. All of these countries are sorta similar they are neighbors but at the same time your not really sure if you really like each other. Well my mum almost became Singaporean and i have a lot of family in Singapore but does that mean I think they're ok? Not really. First of all I want to address the fact the Malaysians are split into 2 : one side hates those kiasu Singaporean bastards, and the other love and admire the fact they are so successful and how we should be more like them.

Well people are like that I suppose. Nobody wants to actually analyze a situation. people just want to know who are the good guys and who are the bad guys. The whole word is in black and white so choose your sides. In actual fact there is no such thing. The whole world is in different shades of Grey. Singapore has its advantages and disadvantages. Same and us. So both of you shut up.

I would like however to clear some misconceptions about Singapore. There are a few, but I wanna point out 2 very common ones.

1. Singapore left Malaysia. This is in fact very incorrect. We severed Singapore from the Federation of Malaysia. At the time they were not happy but I'm sure now we are all better for it.

2. Singapore is a richer country than Malaysia. Well this is up for debate. It really depends on how you look at it. How rich a country is is based on several factors.

All these facts are international placings in the world based on the World Bank

1. Largest Ecomonies in the world based on GDP . =>How much trade actually goes on based on gross domestic product.
37 Malaysia
41 Singapore

Malaysia 1-Singapore 0

2.Foreign exchange reserves (also called Forex reserves) in a strict sense are only the foreign currency deposits held by central banks and monetary authorities. => This basically measures how much foreign currency a country has.

8 Singapore
12 Malaysia

Malaysia 1- Singapore 1

3. Gross domestic product (GDP) derived from Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) calculations. =>This basically compares living standards and inflation.

34 Malaysia
54 Singapore

Malaysia 2- Singapore 1

4. List of countries of the world sorted by their Gross Domestic Product (nominal) per capita, => Roughly I understand its hoe much the country earns divided by how many citizens it has.
24 Singapore
62 Malaysia

Malaysia 2- Singapore 2

Ok we are tied here. They got some, we got some. So who is richer? Well let me put it into perspective for you. Which country do you think is the richest country in the world?

If you answered the United states then we are looking at.
1 United States -- Largest economy in the world followed by Japan and Germany.
37 Malaysia
41 Singapore

1 United States-- Highest Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) followed by China, India, Japan and Germany
34 Malaysia
54 Singapore

So if you believe the US is the richest country in the world based on that same belief, we are richer than Singapore.

If youre basing it on Foreign exchange reserves, here is the richest country.
1 Mainland China
2 Japan
8 Singapore
12 Malaysia
14 United Kingdom
15 Italy
20 United States

So if Singapore is richer than us does that mean we're richer than the UK, and US?

What about if its based on Gross Domestic Product (nominal) per capita?
Who is no 1? Is it US? UK? Japan? China? India? Germany?

Well the answer is actually no to all.

1 Luxembourg <= ever heard of them? Me neither
8 United States
23 Brunei
24 Singapore
25 Spain
34 South Korea
56 Botswana
62 Malaysia
67 Turkey

Yup people are living it up in Botswana compared to us I tell you!!

Ok Ok this blog has been very bias. However i would like to stress I do not hate Singapore. Opposite actually I really respect them for how they have dealt with their country. I just wanna poke some fun at those people who constantly say how Singapore are doing so much better than we are.

Lemme break it down for you.
1. We are a richer country compared to Singapore. We earn more money and have a bigger economy.

2. Singaporeans individually though are richer than us, and an average Singaporean has more spending/buying power than a average Malaysian. This is because they have 3 million citizens while we have 26 million. While our population is about 8 times theirs our economy is not.

So the next time somebody says to you Singapore is richer than us correct them.

Ok now lets move on to my trip....

Well about a month ago I was planning a trip down to Singapore for the Deepavali weekend. So I got my passport done and things look set to go. So I was looking for a place to stay and man oh man after you convert the currency things are crazy expensive. I found this place called South East Asia Hotel and it was charging
$88 SingDollars with breakfast(so times that by 2.3). Sounds good but then by the time I got around to booking it and got a reply from them it turns out they are fresh outta rooms. So in a panicked state I asked and found out there is this chain of hotels called Hotel 81. Now I know it sounds dodgy but its actually a respectful hotel line. When I was booking it on-line I saw it was $90. Ok not bad. Just a little more expensive. So i saw there were a list of places where the Hotel was located. I saw Geylang was one of them.

Now for those of you who don't know prostitution is legal in Singapore, and they operate outta Geyland. The red lantern district. Ok I'm not going to Singapore for that..really... I'll book somewhere else. Then i saw Orchid road. Hey ain't that like their Bukit Bintang? Yeah sounds like a posh area. Why not? Turns out that was Orchard row, and Orchad row and Orchid road is not the same. So i specifically didn't want to go to Geylang and guess where Orchid road is? Yup!

Too late so now I check in at the Singapore immigration and this dude asks me where I'm staying. So i say geylang. So then he says "banyak banyak tempat you tinggal kat geylang". Then hinted i was looking for hookers and asked me to not spend all my money. Welcome to Singapore.

So anyway there is this place called bugis in Singapore and its kinda like all these small shops selling everything from earrings, to The "Singapore is a fine Country" T-shirts, to Dildos (yup) to food to clothes.. everythinglah. Walking distance to Bugis is Bencoolen and there was a Hotel 81 there as well. So I thought hey maybe I can stay here instead. I mean its the same hotel chain why not? Turns out the prices are not the same. I ended up paying around $300 for 2 nights. Yikes. Ok time to eat more maggi. Haha. Ok its not that bad. I still managed to stay within my budget. Kinda. However what i was very unhappy about was the hotel breakfast. it was really bad. The worst hotel breakfast i have ever eaten. I think alang-alang no needlah if ur your gonna serve such crappy food.

Travel advice No1 for you guys who are planning on traveling to Singapore, stay in JB. Because for about RM350(roughly what I paid) a night you can get a really nice hotel. In fact I think nice hotels in Malaysia start at RM90. Cross the border everyday if you need to. Really its not that bad and you'll save a lot. Plus JB is so nearby it doesn't really make a difference in terms of distance.

1st day I go went to VIVO city which is Singapore's biggest mall, and to be perfectly honest with you I was kinda let down. I mean some people have been raving about how Singapore is a like a shopping heaven. Their goods are all branded and cheaper than ours. Their malls are better. Its all lies! I mean its a nice mall. However it definitely falls short compared to Mid-valley or One Utama. Our malls are giants compared to theirs. Of course they do live on a tiny island and have a little problem when it comes to space.

So i hear they have this theme park called Sentosa and I go to check it out. Turns out its not really a theme park. I mean not in a roller coaster kinda way. So scrap that idea.

Their MRT though is pretty amazing. Most of it underground and it even has two layers of trains at some parts. I mean the system there is really changgihfied. Everything is linked up like their trains and buses and stuff. Weird thing is their trains are wider and longer than ours because it transports so much more people but its so much quieter than ours. For a few reasons I think.
1. Their trains are generally quieter
2. Its underground and no ambient noise.
3. Singaporeans are actually pod people!!!!!

I mean really. Everybody kinda whispers and is really placid. Almost emotionless. I tried to play along so that they wouldn't assimilate me. I mean really the crime rate in Singapore is so low they actually put up posters hoping people will spot some so that the police will have something to do.

I guess if you do commit a crime you don't really have anywhere else to run. I mean your on an island. The police will bust your ass. They were also having this whole be careful of terrorist thing on how you be wary of bags left by other people. I think its good to make people aware but they keep on playing it in the stations and it makes me wonder if the Singaporeans are so bored that they have to stir up something. Well I guess being safe rather than sorry is always the better way to go.

I was also checking out the chicks in Singapore, and I can very proudly say Malaysian girls are hotter and we have more variety. I mean even if there is a hot Singaporean girl, they all kinda look the same. The only mixed couples I saw we're Ang Mo and Asian. Not so many mixed couples like in Kl. I mean Gurmit Singh is proof there are mixed couples in Singapore so I know there are lah, but I didn't even see 1 when I was there. Also Singaporean guys all kinda look like Magic players.You know the kinda awkward looking but brainy and nerdy type. Yeah magic players will know what I'm talking about.

So i go to this place called Queensway that sells sport Gear and just basically go crazy. Spent a lot of money I shouldn't be spending. Oh well. Go Arsenal!

I was also looking for some Black shoes as mine have torn and found a pretty nice pair of AND 1s. Some stuff in Singapore is really cheap. Basically the Old stuff. If it newer it may only be a few RM cheaper. I did see a lot of good buys though, but this was more within my price range. Really you guys should check it out though. Queensway if your looking for shoes especially, and Jerseys and stuff. The older designs are cheaperlah and me being the Kiasu person that I am I only get the best deals.

So the second day I go to JB since i figure I very rarely go south so why not kill 2 birds with one stone. when you cross the border from Singapore to JB there is a huge difference. Like Singapore is so calm and well organized and clean, JB is the total opposite. It was dirty, chaotic and loud. I really feel the government needs to clean up Jb as people will be comparing the two and when you hold them close to each other Jb is kinda like an eye sore. In some parts. Not everywhere. One thing is when i was in Jb I felt really rich paying in RM. Spent a few hours there went back and I start to think how ridicules that Singapore and Malaysia is not the same country. Its so near by and yet so different.

Like for example their Burger King sells BBQ chicken. BLASPHEMY!!!! BLASPHEMY I tell you!!

I mean I'm from Sabah so in terms of distance I found this very unusual. Them not being from the same country part not the Burger King part. Although that was kinda weird also.

So the next day I head back to Kl and I feel this was an interesting trip. At least i know what to expect the next time I come down and stay in Geylang..uh I mean Bencoolen..uh I mean JB.. Singapore is a very nice place. Very clean and slightly sterile but worth visiting for a few days. Don't stay too long though or you'll soon be broke like me or be assimilated into the collective or become a pod person.

Damn I bought the away kit as well. I don't earn that kinda money. Ok time to go eat some maggi, for the next 5 months. I hope I don get sick from MSG poisoning.

If America is Astronaut..Malaysia is?

2007-12-13T17:25:00.000-08:00

Yalah. America is Astronaut, Russia is Cosmonaut, China is Taikonaut, Malaysia is??

Can-or-not... hehe.. ok lame joke..

I was just thinking that day about this whole Angkasawan promo thing thats goin on. Is it just me or is it getting blown waaaaaaaay outta proportion? I mean yeah we should be proud that there is a Malaysian in space. Its no harm keeping the public updated in the NEWS whats goin on with him. We should see news reports and articles on this in the papers. However..National hero? All the billboards and ads on buses? WTF?

Its not like we freaking put him in space using Malaysian technology, or like he freaking built the rocket. Fair enough we didn't spend any money putting him up there (we had a deal with the Russians after we bought some of their jets) but really he's nothing more than a space tourist. Its not like he freaking climbed everest or sailed around the world or became the no 1 squash player, those things are freaking hard to do.

All he did was go for the training program in Russia, sit in the rocket, get blown into space, float around, come back down to earth..and this makes him a hero somehow? Ehhh even I also can do ok, you also can do, in fact just go into a mall, spin around in a circle until you get dizzy, close your eyes and just grab the first person you can. That person also can do.

My opinion. Good for him for being the 1st Malaysian in space, but its not a big of a deal as National Hero. Common..

Problems of a Wannabe Film Maker

2007-12-13T17:23:00.000-08:00

Being a wannabe filmmaker is not easy. First of all I'm naturally a lazy bum. So getting off my ass and doing something for myself is very unnatural for me. I have been working on a new project though. VERY VERY SLOWLY working on a new project.. but I am working on it.

Trying to break into showbiz is proving to be a lot more mah-fan than I thought. I spoke to a buddy of mine who is in the business. She is actually doing what I want to eventually be doing..sorta.. she is constantly on site shooting and she has even directed a few TV episodes. She basically advised to start churning out videos and put it on Youtube and told me as well that some production houses shoot pilot videos for their tv series in order to push the idea to a network. The risk is if they don't like ur pilot idea then what ever money u spent will just be burnt. So after considering my options I have decided that the next video I shoot has to be good. As in I wanna do it semi-professionally. So that if someone saw it they would think hey thats not bad maybe I wouldn't mind watching something like that on tv. Which basically means. I'm gonna have to cough up some mooollaahh. Yup it's gonna cost me.

Shaz's guide to making a video (in theory and completely based on what he thinks is right as he has never actually shot a video so how would he really know for sure)

Step 1: Know what you want to shoot and write your script.
So i got my script ready and i have fixed a lot of problems which i got wrong in my previous shoot. Basically not so many actors and locations. A more manageable project that must be shot and wrapped up in 3 days. My last shoot took about 2 months and in the end it was a disaster because of being a little too ambitious.

Step 2: Get your equipment, locations, cast and crew ready
One other mistake I made in my previous production was that I was acting in it as well. While it did solve my problem of finding one more actor however I couldn't pay 100% attention to directing it. So not gonna do that this time around. Plus the main cast for this show is only 3 characters.

Equipment- Ok I have a camera. Now what I need are some lights, a dolly with track and maybe a crane. I called up this cinema rental agency and boy are they inefficient! When I call they say send e-mail when i send an e-mail they tell me to call. The person I need to speak to is never there and when I finally spoke to him he didn't have all the info I needed. Crane cost RM1k per day.. yowzah! Ok so maybe I don't need a crane. Dolly and Track will cost RM250 a day. Much more manageable. He didn't know how much lights we're and told me he'd let me know via e-mail. I'm still waiting for his reply. sheesh!

Locations- There are 4 main location shoots for my project. Apartment, DJ studio, mall and beach.

Apartment..well I suppose I could use mine. Check!.

DJ studio. Yup thats where I work Check!.

Mall..I tried to ask Giant if they we're cool with it. After a few days of being bounced around from dept to dept they told me...guess what...no. Apparently they only allow documentaries and videos that are regarding Giant to be shot in their malls. brilliant. So now I'm looking for a new mall. So no check..

As for the beach I need to contact a resort in PD to book it i suppose. I have had bad experience shooting in locations which i thought we're open to public. So these ones better be booked and nobody better bug me when I'm shooting

Cast and crew- I actually think this might be the easy part. If I managed to pull 5 people to act together in my last show I think I should be able to pull this one off. Hopefully. However it's the pre-production crew that has got me stumped. Get this this is the full list of crew required for a proper shoot.

The director, who is primarily responsible for the acting in the movie and managing the creative elements.
The assistant director (AD) manages the shooting schedule and logistics of the production among other tasks.
The casting director finds actors for the parts in the script. This normally requires an audition by the actor. Lead actors are carefully chosen and are often based on the actor's reputation or "star power."
The location manager finds and manages the film locations. Most pictures are shot in the predictable environment of a studio sound stage but occasionally outdoor sequences will call for filming on location.
The production manager manages the production budget and production schedule. He or she also reports on behalf of the production office to the studio executives or financiers of the film.
The director of photography (DP or DOP) or cinematographer creates the photography of the film. He or she cooperates with the director, director of audiography (DOA) and AD.
The art director manages the art department, which makes production sets, costumes and provides makeup & hair styling services.
The production designer creates the look and feel of the production sets and props working with the art director to create these elements.
The storyboard artist creates visual images to help the director and production designer communicate their ideas to the production team.
The production sound mixer manages the audio experience during the production stage of a film. He or she cooperates with the director, DOP, and AD.
The sound designer creates new sounds and enhances the aural feel of the film with the help of foley artists.
The composer creates new music for the film.
The choreographer creates and coordinates the movement and dance - typically for musicals. Some films also credit a fight choreographer.

I'm doing all of this at the moment. It's not fun. Fair enough I don't need some of the ones mentioned and I can double up some of the other ones. But really if any of you dunno what to do with your time. *whimper* help!*end whimper*

Step 3: Production.
This is where you start shooting your project. Can be very tiring and it can be boring at times if you need to re-do shots over and over. The problem I had with my last shoot was that all the people acting in it were my friends and they we're doing me a favour. I mean the moment they say "eh tired lah Shaz" or "enouglah for today very hotlah" I can't force them. Shooting schedules can be like from 8am to 2am a few days in a row. So I don't really blame thme, but the next shoot I do I'm gonna have to make sure my actors understand I own their ass for the duration of the shoot.

Step 4: Editing and clean up.
Basically this is where you gather all your footage and set up camp infront of your pc while you go through he very tedious process of editing. It can be fun at the end when you see how the final product will look and sometimes you will see problems with the shots here that you didn't realise earlier on. For example the boom mic dipping into the frame. So you might need to do a re-shoot, but pray that is not needed. You also need to find a good soundtrack. And in this case I will need to produce it originally can't be ciplak. So I have a few musical contacts lets hope it wont be that hard to produce it.

Idiot Criminals

2007-12-13T14:16:00.000-08:00

Ok If your going to be a criminal it might help if you were a little smart.

Ok what happened was I got this call from this very dodgy lady claiming she's from Bursa somethin or rather and she wants to send me a servis card. So i'm like what the fuck is that? and she says it they are sendin this card to all VISA and MASTERCARD holders in Malaysia as a back up card incase you lose your card. ( a likely story)

That sounded like the biggest load of bullshit I have ever heard. I use to work in bank for 3 years. So I was a bit suspicious. Then she says she needs to ask me information about my credit card to verify my details kononnya. She ask me for which bank I have a card with I tell her Citibank. A lie. I don't bank with them. But she continues asking if its VISA or MASTERCARD then asks for the expiry date. One thing I do know is that you never give any of your creditcard details over the phone to someone who calls you.

So I tell her in Malay that I think she's full of shit. She tries to defend herself but eventually I tell her i don't want her stupid card and hang up. Another thing is that this Idiot couldn't speak English. I mean what kind of customer service person can't speak English at all.

This scam is fairly simple I think. She knew my Name and phone number which is kinda scary, but thats it. The rest of my card info she planned to fish it from me. I was thinkin where could she possibly have gotten mydetails from. Then I remembered I submitted My name and phone number to this CALTEX lucky draw thingy a few days earlier. I have a strong suspicion it's from there.

Well trying to defraud a DJ who use to be working in bank is like the worst possible person you can call. On my next show and a few more shows after that and a few more shows to come I'll be sure to annouce on National radio what this idiot tried to do and Myself and Jeremy are gonna come out with PSAs to warn people of these idiots. Oh yeah and you guys be carefull too.