Filed under: The Malaysian Insider, internet, journalism, new media, news, politics, press, video blog, writing | Tags: anwar, facebook, khairy, satay, The Malaysian Insider, unity government
Unity? How about some satay? Check out the video I did this week for The Malaysian Insider. His satay really is good!
Also featured is my latest column entitled ‘Facebook is a crime’. Who’s that poking you? Is it Khairy or Anwar? Go read now! Here’s an excerpt:
JUNE 21 – I’m a very New Media guy. I have a website, a blog and a YouTube and even Twitter page. I have one of the latest PDA phones and two iPods. I produce and direct digital films. And I have been an IT journalist for the past nine years. But somehow or rather, I had never subscribed to an online networking site. Until, of course, Facebook came along. [Click for more]
Filed under: The Malaysian Insider, internet, journalism, new media, news, politics, press, video blog | Tags: general elections, maimun yusof, malaysia, terengganu, The Malaysian Insider
I had to give more of the spotlight to my ‘favourite’ political candidate ever… Tok Maimun Yusof! This time, the video is for The Malaysian Insider. Check it out and make sure to voice your comments!
Filed under: The Malaysian Insider, internet, journalism, new media, news, politics, press, video blog | Tags: 1malaysia, malaysia, muhyiddin, saravanan, shabery, The Malaysian Insider
Ever wonder what 1Malaysia is really all about? Well, wonder no more! I took to the town to find out. The video story above (which I did for The Malaysian Insider) reveals my findings!
Filed under: The Malaysian Insider, internet, journalism, new media, news, politics, press, video blog, writing | Tags: babi, cat, dog, islam, pig, samak, The Malaysian Insider, ustaz
Here’s a short documentary I did about ’samak’ some time ago. And to my delight, because of this, I was immediately promoted to the rank of ‘Ustaz‘!
Here’s an excerpt of my latest column/reaction to my new found status (which can be read in it’s entirety at The Malaysian Insider):
JUNE 3 — “Assalamualaikum,” said the woman on the other line.
“Wa’alaikumsalam,” I replied.
“Boleh saya bercakap dengan Ustaz Zan Azlee?”
“Err… Zan Azlee bercakap.”
“Saya nak bertanya, saya baru sahaja membeli rumah. Perlukah saya samak lantai dan dinding rumah tersebut?”
I’m definitely not an ustaz (Islamic scholar) and I’m definitely not an expert on issues relating to samak. I had no clue as to why she called me asking for advice on cleaning her house. [Click for more]
Filed under: The Malaysian Insider, internet, journalism, new media, news, politics, press, writing | Tags: The Malaysian Insider
Fresh from my video story I did for The Malaysian Insider… I then went and wrote an opinion piece for them. Go check it out here.
It’s going to be a fortnightly column… where I will scour the Internet for interesting videos and comment on them based on current affairs and pop culture.
Below is the video (click on the screen capture to view) and an excerpt of what I wrote:
“MAY 15 — I never like taking responsibility for mistakes I’ve made. It means admitting that I was wrong at something. And when I admit that I’m wrong, it means that I’m not perfect. I can’t stand not being perfect. The reason being, I am perfect.
So I guess I can relate to people who can’t seem to admit to their mistakes. Let’s say, for example, the mayor of Crumble Rock City wants to develop his town. He encourages the construction of buildings all around so that the city looks modern and sophisticated.” [Click for more]
Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah!!
Filed under: The Malaysian Insider, directing, documentary, internet, journalism, new media, news, politics, press, video blog | Tags: da huang pictures, johor bahru, liew seng tat, may 13 1969, saga, The Malaysian Insider
May 13th is today! I did a special video package for The Malaysian Insider. Check it out!
Props to my hometown’s (Johor Bahru) popular Warong Saga and my biatch Liew Seng Tat at Da Huang Pictures!
Filed under: al jazeera, broadcast, directing, documentary, internet, journalism, new media, news, politics, television, video blog
I’ve been so busy you won’t even believe it! But I did get to put in some time producing a short vox pop package for Al Jazeera for their special coverage of Obama’s inauguration as the USA’s first black president. You can view those from other countries here.
Filed under: al jazeera, broadcast, documentary, internet, journalism, new media, news, politics, television, video blog
Above is my special report for Al Jazeera. Don’t I pull off a great standupper?? Muahaha!!!
You can view the complete Al Jazeera Human Rights Focus here.
Filed under: al jazeera, broadcast, internet, journalism, new media, news, politics, press, television, video blog
Al Jazeera had a special project in which they asked videojournalists from all around the world (and moi in dirty ol’ KL!) to file in reactions to the 2008 US Presidential Elections. It was ’special’ because we were told to use 3G phones (in the spirit of Web 2.0) to do it. So, above are the videos that I did. The interviewees are Mass Comm students from HELP University-College.
Filed under: al jazeera, broadcast, internet, journalism, new media, news, politics, press, television
I covered the 2004 and 2008 Malaysian General Elections as a journalist. It was exciting and fun to be a part of the country’s history.
I’ve gone international now baby! I’ll be covering the reaction to the 2008 US Presidential Election in Kuala Lumpur for Al Jazeera!
The time slots for my reports are:
4th November 2008 (but in Malaysia, it’ll be 5th November lah!)
0100GMT
0300GMT
0500GMT
0700GMT
0900GMT
So make sure you tune in to Al Jazeera (Channel 513 on ASTRO)! Woohoo!
Filed under: I May Be Malaysian But I Carry A Big Stick, directing, documentary, film, journalism, new media, politics, video blog
I found a picture of myself in front of a line of riot police taken by my brother at the Sunway anti-toll hike protest in January 2007. I was filming for my ‘I May Be Malaysian, But I Carry A Big Stick’ documentary film (yeah… it’s been 2 years since I started working on the film).
This is a picture of one of my favourite documentary filmmakers, Sean Langan, who happens to be filming in front of a line of riot police too (in Argentina, I think). Somehow… he can pull off that ‘cool’ look way better than I can!
Here’s my video of the Sunway demonstration (I first posted it online on 8 January 2007). After the general elections last month, the guy who increased the toll rate is gone and some of the participants of the demonstration are now members of parliament! Wooo! This is the first time I’m working so long on a film and it’s pretty cool because you get to see things evolve and change.
Filed under: I May Be Malaysian But I Carry A Big Stick, I'm Muslim Too!, broadcast, directing, documentary, film, film festival, new media, politics, television, video blog
Have you heard of APOSTROPHE? Its a yearly art project organised and sponsored by DiGi. Its been going on for two years now (the first focused on literature while the second was on photography). This year is the third installment and it will focus on filmmaking. I’ve been asked to be one of the mentors (the others are Azharr Rudin, Woo Ming Jin, Tan Chui Mui and Mussadique Suleiman). There was an article in The Star recently which you can read.
Recognising how my blog has such a massive cult following, the organisers kindly asked me if I could help promote the project. And being the humble superstar celebrity that I am, I obliged.
Basically, its a competition where all you need to do is to produce a film between 90sec and 160sec based on the theme ‘makan’. Winners will win prizes and a trip to some obscure country, I think. Just go visit the website at Apostrophegallery.com for more information. Once there, you’ll also get to see the works of the mentors which were done specifically for the project.
I cheated though… I cut out a short scene from my film ‘I’m Muslim Too!’ which I thought fit the ‘makan’ theme and could stand alone. The video above is of the original scene from my film. For the purpose of the Apostrophe project, I did make a slight adjustment (I’m not that much of a cheat!). So if you want to watch that version, check out the website, yeah?
(The 2008 General Election heat is still pretty intense. I have so much documented on video which would be great to release online right now, but I think I should hold on as the main purpose is to complete the feature length film, ‘I May Be Malaysian, But I Carry A Big Stick’, and not to have a newsflash blog. Woo!! Suspense wohh!!! Can’t wait for the film huh? Well… there’s still a little bit of shooting to do and then editing. So just hang on.)
Filed under: I May Be Malaysian But I Carry A Big Stick, broadcast, directing, documentary, film, journalism, news, politics, television, video blog
Jeff Ooi knows how to win the hearts and minds of his constituency. When other candidates spew out speeches, he rocks out with a guitar! This is during the DAP rally on the 6th of March 2008 which saw more than 60,000 people showing up. Pak Lah could only pull in 6,000.
‘I May Be Malaysian, But I Carry A Big Stick‘ is going to be a tough film to complete. I’ve been following Jeff around since January 2007 (check out my entries since the first day). Tons of footage to go through. And I still need to shoot more!
Filed under: I May Be Malaysian But I Carry A Big Stick, directing, documentary, film, journalism, news, politics, video blog
Barisan Nasional = Opposition
Filed under: I May Be Malaysian But I Carry A Big Stick, directing, documentary, film, journalism, news, politics
The day started out fine and sunny. Unfortunately, I got up to a late start. The bed and air-con was just too comfortable! By the time I headed out it was late afternoon, and the heavy rain threatened to drown everyone.
You would think it would stop people from heading out to vote. Heck, even my camera started acting up and decided to go all foggy on me! But the people kept on coming in droves.
After the polls were closed, first stop was the Gerakan operations centre. Things looked grim. Every time a result was called in, it was a huge margin for the opposition. After a few hours, they just stopped counting.
Things were different in the DAP camp. Hugely different!
DAP won all the seats they contested. 19 state seats and 7 parliamentary seats. The new Penang state government consisting of DAP and PKR gave their first press conference to a horde of media representatives.
And what about Jeff Ooi? Salam sejahtera YB!
As for the rest of the country… PAS retains Kelantan and captures Kedah. DAP-PKR-PAS capture Perak. PKR settles down in Selangor. Big loss for Barisan National. Finally, some democracy!
(Videos to come very soon. And for more of the low-down, Oon has it here.)
Filed under: I May Be Malaysian But I Carry A Big Stick, directing, documentary, film, journalism, news, politics
Today (Friday) is the last day of campaigning and everyone will go to the polls tomorrow. Jeff Ooi had to make 2 final stops. The first was in Bagan where he campaigned for Lim Guan Eng. The second was in his own constituency of Jelutong.
The crowd was massive!
It’s too bad that the mainstream media won’t be reporting on it. But let me tell you, citizen journalism is at its peak. Isn’t it wonderful how accessibility is democratising the media?
Karpal Singh, the former Tiger of Jelutong (who is currently contesting for the Bukit Gelugor parliamentary seat), endorses Jeff, the new Tiger of Jelutong.
Jeff can really work the crowd even without a guitar.
The crowd went crazy over him just like how people would go crazy over Hollywood celebrities! They actually mobbed him. I have never seen anything like this in Malaysian politics. Not even with Anwar Ibrahim! This would all make for a good film, don’t you think?
All photos by me this time. It’s really tough juggling between my video camera and my still camera. Damn I’m good!
(Check out more pics and details at Oon’s)
Filed under: I May Be Malaysian But I Carry A Big Stick, directing, documentary, film, journalism, news, politics
I’m in Penang. Reason… to follow Jeff Ooi as he campaigns and contests for the Jelutong parliamentary seat this general election (remember my long term film project ‘I May Be Malaysian, But I Carry A Big Stick‘?).
The big ceramah by the Opposition last night at Han Chiang High School saw more than 50,000 people showing up… apparently the biggest in history. The crowd was almost as wild as a crowd at a Foo Fighters concert (almost lah!)… thanks to Jeff’s Dave Grohl impersonation.
Pictures here are courtesy of Oon Yeoh. I’m traveling with him and you can view his pics and read his take on the evening here. I’ll have my still camera with me today so I hope to be updating more tonight. Videos will come later, of course.
Filed under: I May Be Malaysian But I Carry A Big Stick, broadcast, directing, documentary, film, internet, journalism, new media, politics, television, video blog
(UPDATED ON 11 OCT 2007)
Here’s the video of the small gathering at Blog House in Damansara Heights a day before the forum.
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I hope none of you have forgotten my (extremely) long term film project ‘I May Be Malaysian, But I Carry A Big Stick‘. Well, in relation to this, All Blogs (National Alliance of Bloggers) organised a forum on Digital Democracy with David Sasaki of Global Voices Online as the main speaker. Other’s included Jeff Ooi, Rocky and Datuk A. Kadir Jasin. It was held on 3rd October 2007 at KLGCC, Kuala Lumpur. I was there to document the event on video. Check it out yo!
Filed under: awards, directing, documentary, film, film festival, journalism, politics, video blog
Part 1 of 3.
Part 2 of 3.
Part 3 of 3.
I made this film in 2004 after watching a couple of Errol Morris’ films. Muahaha! The film is 30 minutes long but I’ve broken it up into three parts here for easier online viewing.
R.A.H.M.A.N. (2004)
Synopsis : Malaysia’s first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, is such a respected man. So much so that his name RAHMAN has been turned into a prophecy in determining all future Prime Ministers of the country; R – Rahman, A – Abdul Razak, H – Hussein Onn, M – Mahathir Mohamed, A – Abdullah Badawi. While N has yet to come, many predict that it will be the current Deputy Prime Minister, Najib Razak. How true is this prophecy? And what is in store for the country after R.A.H.M.A.N. runs its course? This documentary is a snapshot of the lives of several Malaysians during the country’s 2004 11th General Elections.
Screenings & Awards:
- Malaysian Video Awards 2004 (‘Best Short Film – Documentary’, Silver Award)
- 2004 Asian Film Symposium (Singapore)
Filed under: I May Be Malaysian But I Carry A Big Stick, directing, documentary, film, internet, journalism, new media, politics, television, video blog
So I attended the Bloggers United Malaysia Gathering 2007 (BUM2007) last Saturday. After such a long break from the ‘I May Be Malaysian, But I Carry A Big Stick’ film project (due to work that actually pays the bills and feeds the stomach!), this event was just what I needed to get the momentum going again. I also have to mention… the roast lamb was excellent! Thanks Howsy and gang for inviting me.
(Apologies for the less than satisfactory audio. My mic was acting up. Should have paid more attention. So much for wanting to be a pro!)
