Filed under: The Life & Times of an Islamic Insurgency, broadcast, directing, documentary, film, journalism, new media, television, video blog | Tags: documentary, fat bidin, film, heading to the border, I'm Muslim Too!, islam, malaysia, muslim, ntv7, pattani, terrorism, thailand, The Life & Times of an Islamic Insurgency, zan azlee
It’s a matriarchal society in Pattani. The women do everything and the men just get whipped! Damn editing of the film has got my ass whooped!
Filed under: The Life & Times of an Islamic Insurgency, broadcast, directing, documentary, film, internet, journalism, new media, television, video blog | Tags: documentary, fat bidin, film, heading to the border, I'm Muslim Too!, islam, malaysia, muslim, ntv7, pattani, terrorism, thailand, The Life & Times of an Islamic Insurgency, zan azlee
The editing of ‘THE LIFE & TIMES…’ is almost done! Can you believe it? I can’t! This is the fastest edit I’ve done so far for a feature length film! Woohoo! I’ve got some bits & pieces to shoot (mainly of myself looking handsome and cool!)… but aside from that, everything is done.
The video above is still of me and Daniya. He tells me about the risk we have of getting shot or bombed. It’s really exotic and exciting for me to see tanks and soldiers all around town. Good thing I didn’t get shot at!
Filed under: The Life & Times of an Islamic Insurgency, broadcast, directing, documentary, film, internet, journalism, new media, television, video blog | Tags: documentary, fat bidin, film, heading to the border, I'm Muslim Too!, islam, malaysia, muslim, ntv7, pattani, terrorism, thailand, The Life & Times of an Islamic Insurgency, zan azlee
Before you start reading this entry… click and get the video above downloading first! Done so? That red line moving? Okay! Now start reading!
It’s been a while. Work and other crap has been intense! My film ‘THE LIFE & TIMES OF AN ISLAMIC INSURGENCY‘ has been taking a back seat for a while… but not anymore! I’ve started editing and its coming along sweet! Also got a deal with a local broadcaster. Where else but your feel good channel… ntv7! It’s going to have a new special TV title… ‘I’M MUSLIM TOO! HEADING TO THE BORDER’. They want to brand it based on my previous film ‘I’M MUSLIM TOO!’. Keep your fingers crossed… you all might get an annual dosage of FAT BIDIN (A.K.A. = ME!) in the years to come! Muahahahaha!
So… any sponsors or advertisers? National airtime is confirmed you know! Come on… you know you want to! Heheh! My line is always open! Contact me!
Okay… cut the crap! Check out the first video blog from the film and let me know what you think!
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, directing, documentary, internet, journalism, new media, news, press, video blog
My video story for The Malaysian Insider this week is about DVD pirates. Understandably, it was kinda tough trying to get any of them to agree to be interviewed and I had to dish out RM75 on Mandarin DVDs to convince this guy!
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: I'm Muslim Too!, broadcast, directing, documentary, film, journalism, television, video blog
Okay! Keep your pants on! I know all of you have been chewing your fingernails in anticipation of Zan Azlee’s next brilliant piece of work! And here it finally is!
I’M MUSLIM TOO!
Thursdays, 7:30pm (thru Sept 08), ntv7
*shown in four 30-minute episodes
The full 73-minute version will be shown on Hari Raya. Tune in! Yeahhh babeyyyy!
(oh… the video clip above is the awesome trailer I just edited)
Filed under: I'm Muslim Too!, broadcast, directing, documentary, film, internet, journalism, television, video blog
It’s been a while… busy with work… and all that crap! But the crap has paid off baby!!! My latest feature length documentary I’m Muslim Too! now has a screening date (or dates… to be exact!). It has been picked up by my favourite TV channel… ntv7!!
It will be a Ramadhan special and has been broken up into four 30-minute episodes
that will run every week throughout the month of September
(fasting month… hunger and thirst!). Then, the full 73-minute version will be shown on Hari Raya.
The exact days and time will be announced very soon! So stay tuned! In the meantime… check out the short clip above taken from the film… those Palestinian kids got a raw deal!!
Filed under: awards, directing, documentary, film, internet, new media, press, video blog
This is the short film which the winners of Apostrophe produced while in Hanoi, Vietnam, under my brilliant mentorship! Muahaha! (not too shabby… and it’s all their own… I slept while they completed it in the wee hours of the night! hahaha!)
Above is an article in the New Straits Times written by Chai Mei Ling. You can click here or here to read it.
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'm Muslim Too!, broadcast, directing, documentary, film, journalism, television, video blog
Enough about Seng Tat’s winnings (that bugger is making me look bad!) and back to my film.
The video above features Mustafa Mohe, an Iraqi refugee who now lives in Syria with his beautiful wife (feeewiiit!!). I bumped into him while searching for Hezbollah’s computer game, Special Force.
Don’t you just wish you could watch my film? Be patient… I can feel a special screening of ‘I’m Muslim Too!’ in the near future…
