"My NunBun"

Mani Ratnam’s Thalapathy was aired on Vasantham yesterday, and no matter how many times I watch it, it never fails to create the “wallaow dei POWER lah foo!” effect in me every single time. It’s for me what Nayagan is for many of my friends. I actually prefer Thalapathy to Nayagan because of Rajni. He has this charisma that escapes definition.

Anyway, watching it again made me appreciate more nuances I didn’t really notice when watching it as a teenager. Santosh Sivan’s (the dude who made Ashoka with Shah Rukh!) camera work gave the visual oomph to every shot, being able to impart power dimensions and emotions with his masterful use of strategic lighting and darkness (nevermind the totally off white-balancing for some shots – maybe the reel’s old).

My favourite scenes are easily:

• Jaishankar flanked by Rajni and Sri Vidya on either side of a temple pillar turning towards the sound of a train’s hoot and turning back - their unforgettable expressions

• Rajni’s reaction to being told by Jaishankar that his mother exists
  

• All scenes with Rajni saying “theriyathu, theriyathu, theriyathu!” to questions of who his parents are.

And of course, watching Thalapthy reminded me of many of the themes in Mani’s ventures to date. Step-brotherhood tensions between Rajni and Aravind Swamy (Agni Natchathiram); Rajni killing a bad man not realizing he has a wife and kid (Nayagan); the whole underworld of illegal activities used to help naalu paeru (Nayagan); abandoning the kid at infancy and later reuniting with difficult questions posed later to the mother (Kannathil Muthamittal); Rajni’s wardrobe (Prashant’s wardrobe in Thiruda Thiruda); spousal awkardness and tension between Rajni and Banu Priya (she’s a heck of a babe lah) (Mouna Raagam). And loads of friendship (“Nee yen nunbun.”)

And then there’s Ilaiyaraaja’s haunting “impending dastardly acts of doom” sound effects and background score. Nowadays, Mani goes the way of ARR’s vision of a pop masala mafia (Dol Dol in Ayitha Ezhuthu) when doing it for bald rogues like Maddy.

Speaking of films: Pilot ‘n Jo feature an interview with Juan Foo, the producer of Perth, the apparently very good local movie which I missed and am slapping myself for it. In the interview, Juan gives his views on the compact local movie industry and the stresses involved in being in it.

Nice clouds after a stormy week

After a stormy week of assignments, deadlines and a cruel multiple-choice test, today is the day for a Very Long Exhalation. I made a vow last Sunday that I’d take things easy, I won’t panic, I’ll be okay, blah. But no matter how hard I try, the work just piles up and it sometimes succeeds in getting me worked up.

I have been wondering out very loudly in the last 3 years about the conduciveness of the current curriculum of my School in bringing out the best in a student. The amount of work that is expected leaves little time for reflection of how the things you do fit into the bigger picture of life. Slowly, without you knowing, you end up with a microscopic view of everything that just consists of “dude, what’s the next reading” or “damn, my literature review isn’t enough”. This is a most pathetic state to be in. Fortunately, my juniors are having a more relaxed time, and I wish they make better use of the extra time in their hands. Which I know they won’t, because they haven’t experienced my curriculum to find any comparison.

I entered University to open my mind and think about things in different ways (“the only halal food stall in this canteen sucks, but it’s still food… I’m lucky to have food…”), to develop and train my critical mind (“There has to be democracy! Free Speech! Free lunch!”) and along the way, pick up a skill or two (“Yes! Using the visualizer I can visualize my face on the screen”). I’ve tried to find relevance in what I study to my own life, succeeding to a large extent. And I will keep doing this for the remainder of my final year (although sometimes the Rat Racer in me activates). After this, it will be Finding Relevance of Work in My Life. I’ll tell you about that another day, many months from now.

I took some pictures last week, when I went to the market with my mom, and when I captured quite a sight in the sky in Purmei (see below). My trusty Nokia 6230 is really quite a trusty camera. Well done Nokiakutty!

Last Friday I visited the Al-Mawrid Resource Centre on Islam near Kembangan MRT. It’s a little-known library of rare but power-packed English-based literature on Islamic fundamentals, law and philosophy. It’s an excellent place to just spend the whole day reading. It’s a pity they haven’t worked out a loaning system (I know, it sounds weird for a library to not have a loaning system), but they’ve promised me that it’ll be coming soon. Another superb place for English books on Islam is the bookshop at Darul Arqam Muslim Converts’ Association of Singapore. I was surprised that they had stocks of some good books, compared to how it looked a year ago when I last visited it. Talking of stocks, I had visited a bookshop dealing with English Islamic books called Wardah Books sometime ago, but I was put off by their sensationally exhorbitant prices. But their website, as I just checked out, is pretty cool, and they have a pretty cool “blog” which they use to publicize talks. I think I’ll check this shop out, it’s getting me interested. Regardless if you’re a Muslim or non-Muslim, do check these places out too, they’ll give you a peak into things about Islam you never knew existed.

Yo Yo Ethno! - A Short Documentary

After taking some time off to vent my displeasure at murderous terrorists in Iraq, I resume what the Telepathic Brinjalees set out to do waaaay back in the first second post.

Presenting: a video-ethnography I did in 2003, with the wonderful 'n graceful Farin B Salleh and sweet 'n petite Joanie Koh, examining the identity crises issues the youth hip-hop subculture in Singapore faces. Befittingly, this mini-docu's entitled: Yo Yo Ethno! After Joanie suggested it, it sounded so crazily crass that we all had a good laugh. But still. It's a great title. I love it.

So enjoy it, but it's a bit huge though, 100-over mb. I'm not too sure how to stream it, and whether Internet Archive allows it. If anyone has any bright ideas, let me know.

Click here to download Yo Yo Ethno!


And of course: Credits!

Script: Farin B Salleh, Joanie Koh, Mohd Jalees
Camera: Ditto
Narrator: Farin B Salleh
Interjecting voices and noise: Farin B Salleh, Joanie Koh, Mohd Jalees
Interviewed Folks: Dancers Marie and Mathew, and Rap group “Trilogy”, consisting of Abdillah Fariq and Hafiz.

Iraqi Blues

As people in Iraq get exploded to smithereens, we speak to the one-legged man with a US$ 25 million bounty on his head, who has been giving his TerrorCasts in the media, in a fictional interview...

Telepathic Brinjalees: So Mr Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, you have done it again. After beheading terrorized victims a few months ago, and exploding a couple of areas in Iraq, causing mass destruction, fear, confusion and instability, once again you have succeeded in shedding blood in Iraq, a place noted by many historians as the cradle of civilization, and prominent for its rich history.

Let’s see what you have done in the last few days:

• Killed more than 100 and injured about 160 Shia Muslims in Baghdad on Wednesday
• Killed 17 Shia Muslims at gun point the same night
• Killed another 20 Shia Muslims outside their mosque after Friday prayers today.
• And you’ve promised to kill more.

Zarqawi: As I mentioned in my tape, it’s a war against Shia Muslims, because they’re infidels and they are working together with the Infidel Americans to wipe out us, the Sunni Muslims, our brothers, our Fighters.

TB: So you just keep killing innocent folks. Those 100-over people you killed, they were just labourers, doing their job and trying to earn some money to feed their families.

Z: Innocent? No, they’re not innocent. They are labourers who are helping rebuild the roads and buildings in Iraq with the Americans, who have to be destroyed to purify this land. And they are SHIA Muslims… during Saddam (Hussein)’s time they were kept in their proper places, but now that the Americans are here, they want back what is ours! They are taking over us. Very soon they will wipe Iraq clean of Sunni Muslims! So we need to conduct a pre-eminent strike against them. Heretics, all of them!

TB: But they’re just innocent people who want to get by in their lives.

Z: You… what are you? Sunni or Shia?

TB: Can you tell? Will showing you my arse help in any way?

Z: You rude infidel! You sit in your infidel country and watch your brothers dying here and you just sit there and listen to your iPod and write blogs and -

TB: Alright dude, STOP it. Just bloody stop your crap, man. You’re not killing people, you’re killing Islam. I think you’re the infidel, you’re the heretic who’s out of your bloody mind. You want to fight? Then declare war on those who perpetuate war and target them, not innocents whom you think are helping them. The Iraqi people have been occupied, their lives have been badly shaken, and they will help anyone who can provide with them food, water and shelter, because they are not an anarchic, power-hungry rogues like you. The fact that Islam has been perverted, ridiculed and flung into the discussions of “barbarism” is bad enough, yet you persist in seeing differences among Muslims? Truly, you’re a lunatic with intentions for worldly gain, and you make humans into walking bombs who commit the vilest of sins, suicide, in the name of Islam. Muslims around the world living peacefully with non-Muslims are taking the flak for your and your accomplices’ acts of bloody murder. You’re a disgrace to Islam and everything it stands for.

Z: You’re an infidel, you will perish like the rest. Just watch.

TB: I’ll watch your sorry arse explode before that.

Be(ar) With Me

We take our sense of touch for granted too often, until we learn that for the blind, and the blind-and-deaf, touch is the only receptor of sense they have. To touch is to feel the crevices of another’s hand or face; it is to guide another’s hand toward something or to make that very hand feel something else. Touch conveys so much more meaning, intimacy and humanity than sight or speech.

Of course, smell and taste still exist for someone who is blind-and-deaf. But touch is the gateway to another human being’s soul, spirit and secrets.

Touch, however, can also be the arouser of passion, the murderer of dignity and the destructor of the floodgates of desire. Touch can inflame, touch can kill.

When you watch Eric Khoo’s Be With Me, there is a realization that touch can be the soulfood for the mind, but also the lustfood for the soul.

Khoo also explores facets of teen love, unrequited togetherness, loneliness, abuse and disability in both the heartland and the rich-land in the near-2-hour film. The movie just confirms what a lot of us know from long ago: the most powerful dramas don’t come from movies, but from our own lives.

Be With Me is not a commercial flick that would typically see ticket sales like that of Jack Neo’s films. You need a lot of patience to watch this one, especially with the minimal dialogue and extended shot durations, which makes the experience of watching it waaaay longer than it really is. Watch it if you have time and money to spare. If not, catch it on original VCD.

Bush's Speechwriter

You probably would've seen this elsewhere, nevertheless, it warrants repeated viewings.

http://www.whoomp.com/articles/152/1/George-Bush-Speechwriter-Video

Purmei Alive

My place Bukit Purmei has a tradition of hosting getais every so often, and the festivities go on through the night, but the organizers abide by HDB regulation and cease all rock performances (as I like to call them) by 11 pm.

But yesterday afternoon was a different creature altogether. I’m not sure what the occasion was, but it was quite huge. The small Bukit Purmei road was congested in no time, with 3 buses, 6 cars and vans, and a whole lot of youths in colourful costumes carrying lion-heads and dragons and flags and everything and making a lot of sounds (dom chang-chang). It was quite a sight, but the procession caused quite a bit of a jam and commotion at the area. But it was very interesting to see a major colourful procession in tiny Purmei.

(Kuppai) Thotti Jaya

What starts out as a promising violent flick peters out as a flicker of mediocrity. Of course, there are flashes of brilliance, mainly in form, but nothing new in substance.

The story of Thotti Jaya is tepid and run-of-the-mill, the “one man from the dark side decides to be good, all for love” story. Throw in some extremely unnecessary songs featuring lithe maidens in wet saris, an “Uppu Karuvadu” (of Mudhalvan) rip-off, a villain who looks evil and has the face to go with it, and some fight scenes, you have a Thotti. Apparently it's doing well, but the final box office verdict remains to be seen.

I was impressed with the fight scenes. It was intended to be a fight-fest, and the director Dorai (of Mughavari fame, I read on Sify) has done well to portray a bearded Simbu as a cold, methodic and mechanical fighting machine. Fight choreography was well done, I’m not sure if it was Stun Siva or someone else. But it was good stuff, I like violent action scenes when choreographed well (refer to Batman Begins).

Camera work and editing was good stuff, same guys who did Kaakhe Kaakhe.

Simbu looked like his obese father TR in some angles. For a cold-blooded gang dude, Simbu’s age works against him, beard notwithstanding. The fact that he tosses, punches and whips asses of 30 and 40-something year-old experienced and well-built thugs is too much of a stretch, but hey, in Kodampaakkam, nothing is impossible. Anyway, I felt that they could’ve used TR as an old, washed-out and obese Thotti Jaya in a “many years later” scene.

Harris J gave some good jingoistic sounds for Simbhu’s “I’m here, let the girl go” entry scenes, which worked in Simbu’s favour as Simbu doesn’t talk much in the movie. Yes. You heard me right. His actions and the accompanying music more than make-up for his lack of verbal histrionics he’s famous for in his “Kaadhal Azhivathillai”, "Dum" and “Kuthu”.

Overall, catch it on VCD if you have time. It’s getting very difficult to impress cinema-goers these days. Especially if you go to air-con-less cinemas like Plaza Theatre at Beach Road. Man, the seats are wasting away, my mom said she could feel a tinge of static electricity on one seat (which was stripped of fabric and left the metallic arm-rest exposed). The introductory music they usually play before the start of the movie was epilepsy-inducing, with its faulty rewinding and jumping and looping. In what I think is a 1,200-seater (maybe more), there were 8 people including my mom, sis and myself, and the air was stale and humid. I went there because Yishun’s pretty out of the way, and there were time constraints. But it was a grim reminder for us to know how pathetically the cinema is maintained.

Pardesi

Brilliant, iPod's gone to the next stage: the Rokr, by Motorola. Of course, my Nokia 6230 had been both a trusty phone and an MP3 player, until my iPod mini came into my life. It was 4 gigabytes against 32 MB in Nokia. So, naturally. Anyway, the Rokr can only hold 100 songs at the moment, with plans to release bigger storage later on. If I'm not wrong, Nokia has a 4 GB hardisk phone in its pocket, but its release date is Q4 of 2005. Hallo, Nokia faster lah dei.

I listen to the Pilot n' Jo podcast regularly, and their latest episode was an interview by an American radio station of the Mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, shortly after hurricane Katrina washed out its people. In Ray Nagin's voice I heard such emotion, such helplessness, such frustration and such defeat I have not heard in a long time. Apparently the interview has since been censored. Listen to it at the Pilot n' Jo show under "Katrina".

Anyone caught the new Visa TVC starring Richard Gere recently? I've seen it like 10 times, in the train and TV bloody mobile. Of course, it looks like a well-taken, soppy, sentimental advertisement, with Gere being the Man with a Soft Cuddly Heart and Deep Pocket. Well, let me give you a critical reading of the ad, cultural studies-style.

Richard Gere, the White, civilized man with white shirt and stylish trousers, pays a visit to the backward, wild, untamed but exotic Rajasthan in India, where males wear funny turbans and a little girl is drowning in poverty, not being able to release more than one pigeon at a time. So she becomes the White Man's Burden, the oriental Other. White Man thus takes it upon himself to promote freedom in the land and helping out the poor wretched uncivilised youngling by freeing some birds she can't afford to. He releases a few hundred birds using his Visa card, and only heaven knows where the Turbaned gentleman from rural Rajasthan is going to swipe the card (up someone's arse, maybe?). When the birds are released, a strange cry is heard from the background Indian voice "...pardesi...", as if to cheer on that the White Master, a foreigner (pardesi) for rescuing them from a Visa-less doomsday. There you go.

Rahatulla

Whoa, the past two days have been a real rush, barely had time to talk to my mother. It always happens when Monday comes, then the cycle of "lectures-assignments-meetings-headaches" starts.

I'm doing something some people might find interesting, it's called "ethnography". You choose a group of folks in society that you think are wierd or interesting, and you study them by observing them, talking to them and exploring their "culture", then you write a paper on them by weaving in all kinds of complicated-sounding sociological theories and then you get it published, and the next day, you're a star. But I'm doing this as part of a module, so it's on a much smaller scale. There are the two of us doing this project, and our interest is the role of the Indian stall in foodcourts as the seller of "exotic food" in a multicultural society like ours. (Of course, any food can be seen as exotic, it's a matter of perspective, but we're focusing on the Indian stall. Because I'm Indian. And I don't want to eat pork.)

So a part of doing ethnography is to sit down and observe your participant (the group you're studying) and write down everything and anything they're doing. Like "She grimaced, and wiped her forehead with a polka-dotted handkerchief before burping what seemed to be a smelly burp at 12.36pm". So I and my project buddy were doing this for 2 hours on Monday and the Monday before. I'll be sure to post up the transcripts of the observation real soon.

Listened to some good songs over the weekend: Yuvan Shankar Raja's Kanda Naal Mudhal has a very nice number, called erm, "Kanda Naal Mudhal" sung by a "Pooja" and a "Subhiksha". It's starts off as a classical number but very shortly into the song the drum loops start to appear, giving it a techno edge. Sounds inspired by the 80/90's hit "Love Supreme." Yuvan's getting better and better. But he can never be like ARR lah, sorry ah. He's one notch above everyone. His Ah Aah's really good. Nazhuvuthu thazhuvuthu.

I also had the chance to hear Harris Jayaraj's two new releases: Thotti Jaya starring a bearded T Raje-sorry, Simbhu, and Ghajini starring the main (short) man Surya. Our secondary main man Harris needs to seriously change his tunes. I mean, come on lah dei. I keep hearing the same chorus people, the same tune treatments and even the same loops for many of his movies. Basically, Harris has the "Andangkaaka" (of Anniyan) tune, with the village folk instrumentation; then he has the "Vellaikaara mutham" tune of "Chellame", which sounds like everything he does; following closely behind, he has the "Chellakiliyo" tune (also from Chellame) which he uses everywhere. So Chellame is his "fount of inspiration" lah. Hallo dei, how lah like that? Having said all this, let me say that a good remedy to stop the comparison of tunes is to ignore one soundtrack and just focus on the other. I've quit Thotti, because I can't live with a bearded Simbhu reappearing in my head all the time. Ghajini songs are good, and I'm particularly inspired by the track "Rahatulla", which sounds suspiciously like some Muslim zikr. I mean, Rahatulla? Come on, lyricist. Anyway, it's catchy lah, so there you go. You can check these out at Music India Online.

A few of my "media artifacts" are coming your way, so get ready. The problem is, they are absolutely huge. So I need to find a way to compress the buggers. But expect them real soon.

Security Issues

Even in a clean, safe, no-crime-doesn't-mean-no-crime place like Singapore, the heartlander is not safe from slipper-thieves and sabotuers. We've all had our shiny new Nike or Mizuno shoe stolen by unknown persons (the usual suspects are normally Bangla workers, poor buggers) from right under our hairy noses, but my friend has seen something on another level altogether.

My buddy Shaniz (he's a guy) has his own issues in his housing estate at Telok Blangah. Some looney is causing him psychological trauma by pouring mud or some unidentified curry inside his sports shoes when he's relaxing at home watching Vasantham Central. Yes, CURRY, of all things.

Anyway, after repeated complaints to the Police, Shaniz felt he had to take the issue into his own hairy hands and do something about it. So he went to Sim Lim square for two days, all by himself, no parental company, and shopped for and bought a surveillance camera. Yes, he bought a damn camera to catch the bugger who throws Curry inside his sports shoes (but the camera, with its wires and stuff, was in a small pink plastic bag, commonly used for prata packages = low credibility). He plans to do a Matlock by giving the Police the footage and letting them do their job if the culprit gets caught on video.

The one shown above, fresh from the box (at a private viewing in a hawker centre) is the one he's gonna connect to his hard drive recorder (instead of video tapes, this baby records to a 80 GB hard drive).

Meanwhile, he is also going to install a decoy camera (called a dummy dome: the ones you see in some lifts, but minus the camera inside) outside his flat so that CurryMan will be scared off. Or CurryMan'll smash the dummy thinking it's the real thing and get caught on video by the real one and then get caught by the police and get fined, caned and jailed for causing damage to property.

So folks: you too can get a surveillance camera! At Sim Lim! All for a minimum of $60! But don't use it for stupid things like trying to see what the chick in the opposite block is wearing at night! It doesn't work that way! (You need a telescope for that).

Where the WMDs Really Went

As the world shakes its head at George W. Bush for not doing enough in time for New Orleaneans, massive airlifts and financial aid are being sent to the "world superpower". I saw a picture in the Straits Times of a group of 6 or 7 ladies crying in New Orleans, facing the camera, arms outstretched, and if the caption had been "Women in agony in Rwanda" or something, it would've been a cliched shot of "violent" Africa. But this is happening in America's (back)yard.

Bush's cosmetic linguistics aren't working at the moment, as a lot of folks are mad at Bush (not least the Mayor of New Orleans). After all that talk about WMDs in Iraq. Talking of which -

I'm really proud of this one, my pal Carolyn Quek and I did this as part of an audio project in Feb 2004. *Warning* ignore the first 30 seconds of tone (the peeeeeet), you might want to skip past it. The tone was there for a sound level check.

Where the Weapons of Mass Destruction Really Went

Second Inaugural Posting

This being the historic Second first post, it'll be enough to say I won't be talking about anything too frivolous, like the colour of my non-existent dog's panties, or the chemical composition of pus in my ex-primary school teacher's neighbour's butt boil. Instead, I'll go to great lengths in talking about everything else. Like why it's a second first post. It's a second first post because I added some more unnecessary lines to my first post, and because of these additions, it became a second post. I'm saying waaaay too many "post"s. Post post.

Having spent 3+ years at the School of C & I at NTU, I've been shown the Light, the Dark Side, some Nifty Tricks, some Revolutionary ideas, and for my part, I've engaged in some Cool Things, Best Practices and Said Some Important things. I'll be posting links to audio and video works done and currently in progress, on... (movie-trailer voice-over) The Telepathic Brinjalees.