Word Play 101

Have you ever taken a second to ponder over our Malay language and some of its words? Sometimes I wonder what those people in DBP are actually doing because the way I look at it, they seem to be resting on their laurels and not doing much. Especially since information becomes informasi and globalization becomes globalisasi and the list goes on and on. But the best has got to be these two words: didemutualisasikan and diliberalisasikan. Whatever happened to dibebaskan? Doesn’t that carry the same meaning as that diliberablablabla word? Perhaps dibebaskan is just not fancy enough. I mean seriously, DBP, what the hell do you people do? Add a di and a kan and give yourselves a pat on the back for a job well done?!

What about words like serenti, pengurup and menyampah? Hahahah now this will boggle your mind, I kid you not! Just work with me for a second here. If a word begins with a se- or a pe- and me-, they are known as imbuhan hence there’s a root word in there somewhere. For example the root word for penyapu is sapu. Therefore for the three words I mentioned above, I challenge you to tell me what is their root!

Here’s my take on it….

The root word for serenti is renti (which means stop according to the northern dialect!). Serenti is a place for drug addicts (oh wait sorry, the politically correct term these days would be drug users!) so the root word renti works fine here. In short, rentikanlah isap dadah tu! Hence, serenti.

As for pengurup, that has me stumped! Could it be kurup, or urup or ngurup? Macam cakap jawa la pulak!

Menyampah literally means having had enough of someone or something to the point of hatred. So the logical root word here, according to word etymology by me 101, is sampah! You hate sampah, don’t you? So that’s where menyampah came from!

I’ll bet there are more of these words around, but you get my drift.

Back on the screen....

After a few years of staying behind the camera, I went back on screen for a short stint as the model for Adnan Othman's video clip for his song Norma. Yes, I was Norma.

Had to embody the perempuan melayu terakhir thing but I guess it turned out okay. Not too bad. Of all my past acting gigs, I was never asked to do a video clip, so this was a first. But I had a good time. We shot at Dataran Merdeka, luckily they weren't too many onlookers with the exception of a few tourists who found the whole thing amusing. The crew was nice and funny and made everything easy.

Adnan Othman was a nice man, very humble and obliging.

The heat didn't seem to bother him much. He was willing to sit in the middle of that area playing his guitar for the clip. And then we had like a little dating scene which was funny but turned out to be a lot of fun.

I must say these past few days have been quite a few firsts for me. But all in all, I enjoyed every single moment of it!!!!

My Directorial Debut!

After almost ten years of devoting myself to the exciting yet gruesome world of entertainment in this country, I finally got myself a directing gig. It wasn't much but I cherish the opportunity. A big thank you to Dreamchaser Entertainment who placed their trust in me and allowed me to direct the video clip for Azlina Aziz's Di Sini Buat Pertama Kali! (hahahah now that's what I call a freakish coincidence! But that's another story!). So there I was, last Sunday, August 16th 2009, my concept, my ideas, my directorial debut!

Initially it was supposed to be Wajah Siapakah Di Hatimu, but someone made a ruckus and insisted that it be Di Sini Buat Pertama Kali. So I scrapped the ideas I had for Wajah Siapakah and came up with brand new ones for the Pertama Kali. Simple ideas, I wasn't even sure how they would gel together, but I had faith and I decided to go ahead and just do it.

The first location was Quattro at Avenue K! Macha's place.

Felt right at home there considering I've hung out there quite a few times. Did the first scene at the stage section of the Spring Lounge. The next scene was at the Rain Pathway. Beautiful corridor made for a brilliant scene.

If Azlina was agreeable to rainwater, I would have had the management turn on the sprinklers at the pathway but never mind, the scene still came out beautifully. Then we shot an autograph mob scene at the entrance to the Spring Lounge.

I had my doubts about the male model we were using but he turned out ok on camera.

The last scene at Quattro was at the Winter Bar.

After that we went back to the studio to finish up a few more scenes there and then at 10pm it was a wrap! I was on a directing high that was beyond words. Couldn't describe how ecstatic I was!

Anyway, yesterday I went to see the editor and we sat down to finalize some adjustments. The video looked great! I mean it wasn't totally fantastic, I know I could have done better, but all things considering it turned out absolutely great! Everything just gelled together brilliantly. Thanks to John, the editor who cut it up and joined everything together nicely.

All in all, can't wait for my next gig! Azlina Aziz was extremely nice and co-operative. She was humble and obliging. Very understanding to the fact that this is my first directing job. The male model also worked out fine although I had my doubts when I first laid eyes on him. With the exception of the Wicked Witch of the West whom I completely ignored throughout the whole thing, everything went off without a hitch! Oh and of course,how can I forget, a big thank you to Terry and Ray for believing in me!

Retards!

I have always wondered why do seemingly normal people can't help themselves from parking in handicapped spots? The kesimpulan is; they are retarded. So by that logic they qualify lah! Bengang gila when they masuk ikut sedap hati ja parking kat tempat handicapped. Bukannya matter of life and death pun, setakat nak pi makan McDonalds ja! Takpun pi shopping. It's really sad when parking authorities have to resort to cordoning off the handicapped slots with chains just to make sure non-qualified people don't park there. So the actually handicapped ones have to go hunt down for the authorities, ask them to remove the chains and then park. Tak masuk akal langsung. But I understand they have to do that sebab Malaysians are so considerate. They park at handicapped spots and make life difficult for other people.

Itu belum mention lagi pasal the double parkers. Or as I would like to call them, the double-fuckers!

But that's another story....