Watch This Space: November 2008

Hooray.

The four us Shah Alam people (Aainaa, Faris, Shahir, and me) went to Syamim's barbeque party yesterday. Faris was nice enough to offer us a ride. But he was probably being even nicer to Shahir for offering to pick him up from his place. Haha. It's pretty obvious now kan Shahir that your place jauh nak mati compared to the rest of us. No wonder you seem kind of disconnected sometimes:P Anyway, the journey to Syamim's place in Cemerlang Heights was pretty dramatic, exhilirating and adrenaline pumping (Okay, I think I'm exaggerating it a bit. Can't really contain my excitement now, can I?) as Aainaa was trying her best to handle the caramel pudding that she made all by herself from meeting its catastrophic ending throughout the whole journey. Faris' driving skills pulak wasn't really much of a help. Perserverance is the key to success. Fortunately, the caramel pudding survived the drama and made it to the table where the food was served. Aainaa must've been so proud that her pudding received a lot of positive feedback from semi-professional food critics that night. Habis semua kot. Haha.

There were quite a lot of people jugak yang datang yesterday. Perhaps that's why the party rase mcm best je. Even Aidid pun datang, even though he had to leave earlier sebab his family had other plans. Quantum of Solace at Galaxy eyh? Haha kantoi. Some people were even sleeping over Syamim's place. And after makan2, some of us played games while the rest sembang2 at the sacred confession room. I think you get the idea by now how 'alive' the house was after midnight yesterday. Owh and Nonel, we saw your apology card. Haha, gile sweet. Oops:P Tapi the most interesting thing that happened yesterday had to be the convulsion caused by Bandung's car. It had turned its back against her by refusing to start and they all hit the panic button. Trying to console the damsels in distress, Jimmy came with the idea to jumpstart the car. And yeah, some of us tried to lend a hand too. I don't wanna sound bimboish here, but honestly that was actually the first time I ever did the whole jumpstarting procedure. Bandung pun selamat pulang. I hope:P

It was already getting late when we realized that it was time for us to go. Syamim, however, insisted that we stayed over her place, at least until Subuh. But after a long period of contemplation, we decided to head back to Shah Alam.

At 3.00am.
What a night it was.

Thanks Syamim. The party was fun!

For more pictures of the party, click here.

Awesomeness.

Best Script - The Golden Cage

Best Cinematography - The Golden Cage

Best Actress - Alissa in The Golden Cage

Best Emotional Video - The Golden Cage

Best Horror Scene - The Sick Note

Video of the Year - The Golden Cage

Director of the Year - Aiman Rashad

Finally, a proper recognition.
Thank you so much to those who had voted for us.
You people are awesome:)

Anyway, the end of semester dinner last Friday night was super awesome. The food was great, the perfomances were entertaining and the mood seemed right. And the seven trophies were a very much welcomed addition to our collection too:) Can't remember the last time I received one. Oh wait, SPM kot. Also, congratulations Aainaa for both the successful event and the award-winning directorial debut. Siap ade acknowledgement from Mr Zaki kot. Gile ar:)

And to Abu, Nabila, Fatin, Chim2 and Juek,
the post party at the Guard Post was awesome:)
Mmg xley bla:P

So today is the first day of our six week break.
Sunday morning.
Shower.
Breakfast.
Newspapers.
TV.
Internet.
More internet...

...and later, barbeque at Mim's place!
Yay. Can't wait.

Something To Talk About

Tiger and I started working making videos together during HAW 2007. "The Sick Note" was our first baby and personally I felt so happy that finally I was given an opportunity to work on such cool projects. Come to think of it, The Sick Note was probably our biggest project to date - with costumes and props such as fake knife, fake blood etc, I thought we might have pushed it a bit too far. But it was fun! The only thing that bothered me was the fact that it did not get the proper screening it deserved that night due to some technical problems, which might have originated from our lack of knowledge in the rendering process. *Note to aspired film makers of KYUEM* Render your video in MPEG-1 format. It's lighter and reliable. So, based on the lessons learnt while making The Sick Note, we started making more videos. Sampai la HAW 2008 baru2 ni where The Golden Cage got the 2nd place in the video competition.

I like making videos with Tiger. I think we have the chemistry, or whatever thing you wanna call it. Tak tension2. But I must admit I dislike the first part of video making which is the process of idea development. Normally he will come up with brilliant ideas while I just tag along and improvise them. Personally, I'm more interested in the presentation of the story, the cinematography, the script and stuff like that.

I like it when people appreciate our works. It doesn't really matter if we win or lose. We've been taken for granted for quite a number of occasions anyway, so not winning anything is the least of our worries. However, things may have changed a bit this time around. Last couple of months, we participated in the Cambridge 150th Anniversary short film competition where all participants are required to make a short film of 150 seconds long about the essence of our school. Tiger (and a few others) came up with the idea of "My School is My Life". And as usual, we did not put any hope in winning the competition. Banyak kot contestant lain from other parts of the world taking part as well. However, it doesn't mean that we did it half-heartedly. Hard work jugak tu.

And this morning, Tiger received an e-mail. Here how it goes:

Dear Rashad

Congratulations!

You are a joint winner in the CIE 150th Anniversary Competition in the video category.

The judges were extremely impressed by your short film.

All the winners will shortly be announced on our website.

Please can you confirm how you would like your name to appear. It looks different on your entry form?

Also, do you have a contact email to alert your school.

Once again, well done on being a winner in the CIE 150th Anniversary Competition.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Best regards,

Sweet Gill
CIE Media Producer

Yes. We won.
Congratulations weyh!
This one's for you Tiger.
Cheers:)

Owh, here is an update:)

Cambridge Competition Winners Announced

Entrants were asked to write an essay, make a short film or take photographs that showed an aspect of their school life. Over 450 Cambridge students entered from schools across the world.

The judges commented on the high standard of the entries received:

‘The best thing I learned this year is that Cambridge students are creative and talented individuals. They have relished this opportunity to produce some impressive work which truly reflects the Cambridge values of self-direction and curiosity about the world,’ said Geraldine Seymour, CIE International Communications Manager.

In all three categories students showed mature writing skills, strong visual flair and a clever use of composition to tell a story. These entries were highly commended by the judges for their high quality. We hope to publish these in future CIE publications.

CIE would like to thank all those who took part in the competition.

The winners in each category are:

Short Film

Click on the links to view the winning entries.

Shaheer Shahid, Roots Montessori High School, Pakistan
Life in Roots

André Castro Lundin, Sir Alexander Fleming College, Peru
Looking for an answer

Muhammad Aiman Rashad bin Yusof, Kolej Yayasan Uem (KYUEM), Malaysia
My School is My Life

Photography

Click on the link to view the winning entries.

Maaz Ahmed, The Fahims Schools System A-level Karachi, Pakistan
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30360070@N05

Alakyaz Ohan Assadourian, National Orthodox School, Amman, Jordan
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30950848@N06/

M.K. Danial Ron, Bina Bangsa School PIK, Indonesia
http://www.flickr.com/photos/danialron

Writing

Click on the link to view the winning entries.

Tiffany Britton, Eagle Academy of Ohio, USA
The Best Thing I Learned This Year

Gareth Chun Heng Cheng, German Swiss International School, Hong Kong SAR, China
The Best Thing I Learned This Year

Keisha K. Moreau, Dominica State College, Dominica
The Best Thing I Learned This Year

Marc Weissmann, Lodge International School, Malaysia
The Best Thing I Learned This Year

Meena Murugappan, International School of Lusaka, Zambia
The Best Thing I Learned This Year

Mennatallah Hassan Abouzeid, The Continental International School, Egypt
The Best Thing I Learned This Year

Neel Karpe, Bombay International School, India
The Best Thing I Learned This Year

Rayyan Aziz Ansari, Beaconhouse School, Pakistan
The Best Thing I Learned This Year

Sabin Gnawali, Xavier International College, Nepal
The Best Thing I Learned This Year

Congratulations to all our winners!

They Say A Picture Says A Thousand Words

Okay. I really really wanted to abstain my enthusiasm over last Sunday's trip to Sunway Lagoon by not writing about it here, but this picture of the trip was just too interesting to be kept in the computer, unshared. So I'll make an exception for this one. Hehe. Brace yourself people. Here goes.

Something is seriously wrong with the picture, kan? Kan? Even an average, slightly impure mind pun would have been able to spot it right away (tahan gelak). I don't wanna go into details now because the picture itself says a thousand words.

Kelakarlah anda Nabila.
Nanti pegi Scream Park lagi okay? :P

Sabtuday!

Hello. Okay now hold your thought. I think I know what you want to say. Yep2, new blog layout! I figured that the former layout, although very cool in its appearance, lacks practicality and friendliness, providing those who visit my blog with great difficulties to maneuver around the site. So atas feedback kalian, now I'm switching to this new layout. Hope you'll like it.

I figured that I need to improve in my writing skill so that I won't be conveying the wrong ideas in my posts. Lately, I noticed that I sounded rather dark and emotional in my writing. Haih. Trust me, it was not my intention to be so negative with life. I hope I am more interesting than that. I guess from now on I should be writing more on the positive side of things rather than the opposite. Baru best kan? And um, I was told that two of my posts had caused quite a stir within the semi-professional gossip speculators lately. Honestly, I don't know what to comment. Can I just say that I was, um, inspired? Well thanks for bringing that up Nonel. Now the whole of Lembah Beringin has to know. You're such a great friend:P

A series of events had gone by for the past two weeks. Firstly, my AS exams are over! Obviously I'm glad that I've gone through my exam period, unlike some of us who still have papers to sit for. Kan chaletmates? Haha. Apaperpun, all the best to you people. But still, I'm very very concerned at the prospect of me screwing up my exams. Tak best ar camtu. And the thought of me having to resit the papers next year really scares the hell out of me. Hassle woh.

Owh, Garnet won the 2nd place for the HAW video competition! Wee. We received a lot of feedback from the audience, with comments ranging from the contents, the cinematography and even the soundtracks. Personally I feel sooo satisfied. Penat wo. Some people even approached me and expressed their dissatisfaction over the results. Takpe la. The winning video from Topaz memang best pun ape. Teng is like the Godfather of special effects in KYUEM kot.

Marathon was fun. I guess. But honestly, a little more enthusiasm and support by the house members would definitely make it even better. This has always been the case. But it's still yet to be tackled.

And last night Battle of the Bands was held.
Isa and his band really kicked ass!
For the first time I'm proud to be your chaletmate. Haha xde la.

No Solution! We rock too you know.
But um, no more Beat It, please:P

Performing the first song, "The Kill".

Will be heading to Bob's place in a couple of hours. His family is organizing an open house today.
Makanan enak, here I come.

And I'm back. The food was nice, but it was the people who came last night that made the open house even more fun. Muz, at least now you have an idea of what it feels like driving around Shah Alam. HAHA! Kesian wo Muz, dua jam sesat kat Shah Alam. Pusing2 je, balik kat Giant. Jalan sket je, balik pegi Giant. Memang paranormal. Tatau la die balik mcmane. Takpe2, smangat tu yang penting.

Thanks Bob:)