Casting Crows – Stained Glass Masquerade

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Is there anyone that fails
Is there anyone that falls
Am I the only one in church today feelin’ so small

Cause when I take a look around
Everybody seems so strong
I know they’ll soon discover
That I don’t belong

So I tuck it all away, like everything’s okay
If I make them all believe it, maybe I’ll believe it too
So with a painted grin, I play the part again
So everyone will see me the way that I see them

Are we happy plastic people
Under shiny plastic steeples
With walls around our weakness
And smiles to hide our pain
But if the invitation’s open
To every heart that has been broken
Maybe then we close the curtain
On our stained glass masquerade

Is there anyone who’s been there
Are there any hands to raise
Am I the only one who’s traded
In the altar for a stage

The performance is convincing
And we know every line by heart
Only when no one is watching
Can we really fall apart

But would it set me free
If I dared to let you see
The truth behind the person
That you imagine me to be

Would your arms be open
Or would you walk away
Would the love of Jesus
Be enough to make you stay

You’ve really gotta hand in to these personalities.
(from hardwarezone forums)

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Idiot 1.

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Idiot 2.

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What the heck is 大雄 doing??

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And to why they’re protesting in Thailand, it’s no wonder they doing so with this type of meditation music they’re producing. A singing alligator dressed as a cowboy getting you to relax, try that for yourself.

The Convert

(Picture from yasminthefilmmaker.blogspot.com – potential spoilers ahead)

When director Yasmin Ahmad chose to release her film in Singapore first, the Malaysian press criticised her as being “disloyal”. But with rampant piracy and censorship issues plaguing the Malaysian film industry, one can probably fathom why she had to make the decision. Dubbed as being the film that “Malaysia may never get to see”, the film opened with little fanfare in Singapore yesterday.

We caught the third screening of Muallaf at an almost full 70-odd seated Cathay Picturehouse. The diverse crowd made up of mixed ethnicity consisted of Malays, Chinese and Sikhs, some probably even coming all the way from Malaysia to see the film. The seats behind me were occupied by a family with two kids who murmured questions to their parents at various parts of the show. Being my second Yasmin Ahmad film after the critically acclaimed Sepet, my expectations of the film were, for sure, high.

Muallaf revolves around the secret lives of two sisters from a Datuk family, who ran away from their father. The Datuk then remarried, and together with their tyrant stepmother, makes life difficult for them. The two English-sprouting sisters, being extremely worldly and passionate in education, but yet retaining their Islamic followings faithfully, are symbols of the perfect mix between modernity and traditionalism. Looking at this brief summary, it pretty much sums up the plot for 3/4 of the film, and we start to wonder which part of “Muallaf”, which means “The Convert”, is being played out in the film.

Although the entire story mainly focuses on the two sisters, the “convert” actually refers to Brian, their 30-odd year old schoolteacher who gave up his Catholic faith because of issues with his father. His chance encounter with the two sisters in the school sees him getting involved in their lives, and eventually, Brian returns to his faith, and reconciles with his mum.

With many issues brought up for discussion in the entire film, I was impressed with how well the characters were developed at the initial part of the story. The seamless exposition about how their personalities turned out to be due to the impact of various events in their lives were extremely well thought out, and what I liked most was the issues the filmmaker wished to highlight weaved beautifully into the plot. There isn’t a boring scene, and the many tongue-in-cheek moments in the film kept the audiences well-entertained.

The earlier part of the film explores the struggles of the two sisters, the elder one who has to work in the pub in order to support two mouths, and the younger one having accused of being a rebel in school. It is because she utters chains of numbers when she’s faced with difficult situations, which is fuelled by the incompetent teachers whom mistakes she tries to correct. Next, we see a scene of Datuk in the nightclub with the company of several scantily clad Chinese girls. The education system also got battered in the film. It’s somewhat like the Malaysian version of Just Follow Law, less of the humour but more of a serious jibe at the politics and governance of Malaysia. One can laugh off the issues in Just Follow Law, but those in Muallaf were more of causes of worry at the state of affairs in the country. For sure, it was no wonder the film sent censors hopping mad.

The later part of the film saw a rather sudden shift in focus of the story to Brian, when he gets intrigued (and impressed) with the girls’ intricate interest in religion. He falls in love with the elder sister, and starts doing things for them when he understands their difficulties. Juggling between the girls and his mum, he is being forced to make a decision between the two parties. At this point of time, the story plunges into a somewhat uncertain direction, and as sudden as it could be, I ceased to feel for the film. Attempts to bring out slapstick humour at the taekwondo lesson scene when the younger sister’s friend saw her dad abusing her mum, and then took her dad down, was a tad too corny in my opinion. Similarly, the drive to play up the female-deprived personality of Brian went a little too far, also.

Putting aside some of these cheesy scenes, occasional unconvincing acting by some of the supporting cast and camera jerks which somehow affected the overall production quality of the film, the exploration of the characters, together with witty lines and excellent casting, the bringing up of a potentially controversial taboo topic of religion to be discussed in a largely conservative Malaysia seems to send a reminder to the country – to progress, or to be left behind. As for Director Yasmin Ahmad’s response to calls of being “disloyal” in Malaysia, she retorts: “I’m not disloyal, my dear fellow Malaysians. I’m just a victim of circumstance.”

Muallaf is now screening at the Picturehouse.
You can visit Yasmin Ahmad’s blog @ http://yasminthefilmmaker.blogspot.com

One of this semester’s greatest regret, is not being able to submit a piece that I can say that I’m proud of to Mr James (my film teacher) to bid him goodbye.

With many limitations to what I can do, lamenting about the have and have-nots in life just somehow cannot be helped. If I have a car, I’d definitely go ahead to reshoot this entire thing, or even “taking risks” to do something entirely different. And if I had all the time in the world to fully dedicate to this module, I would surely do so. All these resources available at anytime. Just how awesome would that be.

The many encouragement from the awesome people around me – I really love all of you. I really still have alot alot of thigns to learn, many many more obstacles to overcome – the beginning’s always the toughest, and I have to acknoledge my handicap with that steep slope to climb.

I assure everybody that this space will not become a space to compile emo musings, nor let it become yet another a wasteland of articles copied and pasted from other blogs. But with the exams around the corner and time running out, the one logical thing to do right now is to focus, focus, focus.

Meanwhile, do enjoy these unedited film stills from New York New York.

Separate Lives (by Canterbury Soul)

He slit the skin of the chicken with his teeth as the aroma of the deep fried stank the hall. She thrashed furiously at the spaghetti mixed with sauce and complained that it was the umpteenth plain dinner. You licked the balls on the ice-cream cone before they melted away into the bin. Me? I savoured every grain in my palm with care and thought of paradise. I counted there were six of them.

He put on “The Incredibles” T-shirt and rolled in the mud, screaming “Goal!” She walked out of the retail with another Versace dress paid from her LV bag. You stripped your wardrobe bare, discarding the old and odd ones into the bag for charity, before dollaring it with the new and unodd ones. Me? I had this piece of linen hanging precariously round my groin, hoping that paradise will bring me something to be hung round my shoulders.

He played the toy soldiers and sent them into a house of dolls, sheltering them from the rain of shells. She had a good bath in the Olympic-sized pool before sipping orange juice on the bench made of cotton and leopard skin. You looked out from the window of your 14th floor apartment and wished you had a roomier luxurious studio. Me? I was sitting under the tree with few blades of grass that screened me away from the sun, knowing that paradise will surely be better.

He pressed the same few buttons over and over again, looking excitedly at the display smaller than my tummy. She danced on the tabletop with strange music louder than my tummy’s growl, obviously indulging in some heavenly dreams. You spent hours turning pages of papers under a warm light after kicking a ball with your crazy friends in a rain-soaked field. Me? I only played two games. I stared and I stared. Oh, when angels from paradise came, I walked. And that was really cool.

You know, as I look at him, her and you, I wish we could all swap places and enjoy each other’s life. Perhaps, next time when paradise comes, we can do that?

Canterbury Soul
http://doorsleftopen.wordpress.com