Wednesday, August 23, 2006

sharifah amani (star of sepet and gubra) thrashed mercilessly!...

again.. my question is... is this has got something to do with the mentality of some people who react like this?!?... and/or a double standard practice some authorities are practising?!?...

personally... s.amani is indeed one of the most talented and most natural young actresses ever produced in the malaysia filming industry!...

to say such things about her and the way some authorities 'crucifying' her is totally mindless!...

do go big and do go far and make them eat their own words!....


p/s ; just imagine a young and budding actor said such things to ida... prolly a police report is already done by now... double standard?!?... i think so too!..







Suraya Al-Attas on Saturday: Why pick on Amani alone?

19 Aug 2006

HOW tragic. A young actress who�s just beginning her journey in the film industry gets thrashed mercilessly for unwittingly offending the audience at the recent Malaysian Film Festival (MFF).

Yet, the perverted act of a veteran actor/director towards an actress many years his junior at the same event went completely unnoticed.

Can somebody explain why the people who were quick to crucify Best Actress Sharifah Amani for her now-famous acceptance speech � "I�d like to make my speech in English because I sound stupid when I speak Malay" and "If films (like Gubra) taint our culture, let�s do them more often" � did not find A.R. Badul�s distasteful remarks and actions towards his co-presenter, Ida Nerina, the least bit offensive?

What does that say about our people, particularly the film folk?

From the moment Ida sauntered onto the stage, Badul�s remarks were full of sexual innuendoes.

His obscene sense of humour was much more difficult to stomach because Ida had proudly declared that she recently got married, and pointed out her husband in the audience.

You�d think that he�d put a lid on it right after that. Of course not. Instead, he leered at a certain part of her body before commenting that her "mudguard masih boleh tahan" (Your "mudguard" still looks good).

This is totally unacceptable behaviour. In any culture.

How did Badul get off scot-free while Amani was lambasted?

At least, 20-year-old Amani has youth in her defence. What excuse does Badul, who�s pushing 60, have for such appalling behaviour?

Predictably, nobody noticed. This whole week, most entertainment pages of newspapers have focused solely on the Amani issue, filled with responses from industry folk, including actors, producers, heads of associations as well as ex-presidents of film associations and academics.

Save for a handful like actress Azean Irdawaty, who expressed concern about the harsh punishment meted out to an industry youngster, most have come down hard on Amani.

The fact that Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim voiced his anger with Amani immediately after the festival seemed to have emboldened these people � mostly industry veterans � who think they have equal right to pass judgment. Why, some appeared even more incensed than the minister!

It seems they are all out for Amani�s blood. So bent are they on killing her career that they�ve called for various kinds of punishment, from stripping her of the Best Actress title to banning her from acting.

Making matters worse were some newspaper reports which had happily misquoted her (speech), including this one: "Let�s do it more often ... filem yang mencemarkan budaya Melayu" (Let�s do it more often ... films that taint the Malay culture).

This, of course, angered even more people, especially those who were not at the event or had not watched it on TV. Can we blame them?

Did anyone pause to think this is a young girl � with a bright future in the film industry � they were attacking? Even more terrifying, several veterans were heard openly instigating a couple of journalists at the MFF post-party to "belasah dia" (thrash her)!

I can understand if these were her peers; then it�s easy to put it down to jealousy. But no, they�re old enough to be her parents.

As industry elders, they should treat Amani like their child. After all, it is the likes of Amani who will take over the industry one day.

So when a child does something wrong, would a parent whip her with the rotan until she bleeds, and then throw her out of the house? Shouldn�t these wiser, older folk guide their juniors?

Strangely, I don�t remember any of them condemning producer Raja Azmi Raja Sulaiman when she wrote the novel Cinta 100 Ela which was yanked off the shelves because of its pornographic content not too long ago. At least not in the way Amani is being attacked now.

I didn�t know whether to laugh or cry when yet again Raja Azmi, who seems to be on an ongoing crusade against director Yasmin Ahmad�s works (Sepet and Gubra, both of which star Amani), was asked to comment on Amani.

Just a few months ago, Raja Azmi, conveniently forgetting her "masterpiece", spoke on morality, religion and culture as she criticised Yasmin�s films on RTM1�s Fenomena Seni. I mean ... really!

The way I see it, Amani is guilty. Yes, she�s guilty of being ill-prepared for her moment of glory, of not preparing a politically-correct speech after accepting her Best Actress award. She�s guilty of being overexcited to the point of saying something that she now regrets.

Should she be reprimanded? Absolutely. But does she deserve to be punished and crucified in this manner? Certainly not.

So, early in her career, Amani has learnt how vicious the industry can be.

And if she chooses to bow out quietly, you can�t blame her because in this country, an artiste has little room for mistakes.

But for the sake of her fans and the rest of us who believe in second chances, we hope Amani will keep her spirit up and chalk this episode down to her experience as "anak wayang".


http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/nst/Saturday/Columns/20060819082943/Article/index_html

meow...

tired... worn-out... exhausted... sweaty... sleepy....

that was how i felt as soon as i board the plane in kuching heading back to kl...

initially it was supposed to be a day trip last thursday (17th august 2006).. just go there with chan to check and monitor on the loading of their 2 boilers into 2 x 20' gp ctnrs... some miscommunication happened.. they arranged nothing, absolutely nothing for the loading!... we indicated the lumpsum charges without the loading and off loading...

we had no choice but to stay over a night in kuching... no extra clothes and phone low batt... managed to get a decent room to stay... good thing was, opposite our hotel, there's this kuching food festival!... food galore!..

knocked off very early that nite... got up very early the next morning too... can't really sleep, thinking about the operation the next day... my main worry was that the lorry crane don't turn up!...

all good the next day... to cut in short, everything down by 1700 hours... almost 10 hours under the hot sun and a little hazy too then... all in the name of prieceless experience!..

a lot of things cropped up during the entire journey... very tiring, not physically more like mentally... the difference of slightly less than one inch between the bolier hooking point and the ctnr entrance enough to gimme the creep then... all in all it was a good trip!...

Friday, August 04, 2006

wat title should i put for this post huh?!?...

one of the busiest week am having right now...

all started on monday.. didn't really have time to breathe easily except couple of mins here and there (a dramatic sentence huh?!?)...

things so far so good.. had a lousy july 2006... sales almost break even, not to say i have very high overhead afterall... :) ... need to do up the may 2006, june 2006 and july 2006 accounts soon, so i can plot and connect the dot fm the previous months...

pretty comfy to be working all alone now.. intially i felt the changes since may resigned... but, getting used to it and am all alright now... company performance up or down is on my shoulders... challenging myself to the max!...

this saturday is jj's pharmacy grand opening.. that guy is certainly going places!... good for him!... things are looking pretty good for him and his partners... understand people already looking for him for franchise!... simple concept, some niche market products, very strategic location, reasonable rental, flexible building management and most importantly excellent workforce... after all this reasons, dun see why they cannot do. way to go forest springs!...

also, realised i have been pretty vocal lately on the stuffs the government is doing to my frens, via a network board, etc... not to say am against them or wat, but i just can't seems find any proper explanation as to wat, when, why, who and how matters.. this kinda frustrates me as a citizen of malaysia and i strongly believe i have all the right to know wat's happening in my own country (a corny sentence huh?!?)... couple of my frens actually ask me wat am i going thru and wat made me started this kinda 'outburst'..... hello people!... those who know me well enough, i have politics and government interest since my school days... just that i realised lately with my additional voice thru the right channel/s, HOPE things can change for good... i meant improvement, HOPEFULLY!... there are many people i know of who dun even bother to know wat's happening in and out of the country yet making so much noise about this and that... go for voting, it's yr right!.. if you can't even fulfill this simple task, i'd rather prefer you to keep quiet then... durh!...

it's pass midnight now and i supposed to have gone to bed approx 2 hours ago... need an early nite sleep, VERY long day tmr... collection of docs in bukit kemuning, do shipping marks in jenjarom/carey island, fowarding meeting in port klang, back to kepong to meet a client and pj for some stuffs... looking at the iteniary itself makes me tired!... anyway, the consolation for the packed friday will be an eventful weekend which am pretty much looking forward to...


seek and you shall find, but make sure you know wat you are seeking for in everything and anything...