Role Models

Just finished Role Models, and lo and behold, I'm smiling. Really, this movie has surpassed what ever expectations (or the lack thereof) I had for it.

Story's simple. 2 co-workers, Wheeler (Seann William Scott) and Danny (Paul Rudd) was forced to do 150 hours of community service as mentors to 2 problematic kids. Wheeler got a 10 years old foul mouthed prankster while Danny got a teenage nerd who finds solace in a live action midieval role-playing cmmunity.

Wheeler, is a positive thinking, but irresponsible, charming lad, while Danny's a negative person, who thinks he's better than others. Match them up with the kids, and that's where the fun begins.

You can see the transformation of each characters, as they become what the program is supposed to create (the program is noble, but the founder is a nutcase herself). while the kids found the role models they need, the grown-ups themselves realizes how much they have forgotten their inner-self.

This movie, is however, not suitable for minors, since foul languages in abundance, and some topless scenes thrown in. Seeing Seann (or more famously known as Stiffler from the American Pie series) in there, I guess the topless scenes complements the only character I think he is truly tailor made for.

Speaking of which, Seann's choice of movies after, even during his American Pie have been deep and moving to me. Not all, but moving nevertheless. Only thing is his character always seem to be the same over and over again.

And oh, I love the end serenade Danny gave to his ex-girlfriend. Sweet, and original.

I don't really know why I enjoyed this movie. Maybe it's like the dark cloud slowly lifting during a monotonous ensemble is playing. The movies's pacing itself is somewhat sombre and monotonous, much like Knocked Up (also co-starred by Paul Rudd). In the end, as they show off the best of themselves, I was smiling.

And I still don't know why.

It's About Time

Marina Mahathir wrote about Anas Zubedy's advert on The Star tomorrow. after all this while, one or two letter about this have surfaced in the papers, but Anas took a step further and bought a full page advert just to ask our politicians to stop bickering ad save our economy...

here's the excerp:

Dear Malaysian Politicians,

Please stop the power chase, call for a truce and focus on the economy.

I do not claim to speak on behalf of all Malaysians, but I have strong convictions that many share my sentiments. 

Our concern today is not who rules the country or heads the state governments but the looming bad economy.

Whether Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat leads, it is meaningless if Malaysians have no job to go to, no money to pay rent and no means to put food on the table.

I am a business owner, like other business owners and managers of corporations I have a responsibility to ensure people under my care and payroll continue to have jobs and a decent income to take home. We work hard and willing to go the extra mile to make sure our nation not only survive this crisis but come out stronger and wiser. We need your help.

Let me explain. I am in the business of Training, Development and Consultancy and have 20 people in my team.

Saedah is 42. She keeps the office clean and helps organise the training rooms. She has four children and her husband is unemployed. She was first hired on a part time basis, because she is very hard working and has a great attitude, we offered her a full time job to help provide a stable income for her family. Even then, when her third child started school this year, it was a struggle for her to buy new school uniforms and other necessities. Saedah lives on a ‘kais bulan, makan bulan’ basis, so, if she is jobless, her tap runs dry.

Samsuri is 27 years old. He lives with his sister and her family in a low cost government flat in Sunway. He does our despatch, helps with various clerical works and occasionally acts as a driver. During the first week at zubedy, we learned that he not only did not have money to buy new clothes and shoes for work, he had no money for lunch. Like Saedah, if he has no job, his tap runs dry too.

Alicia in Client Servicing turns 26 this year. She lives with her dad who is 71 years old and retired. Her mom passed away when she was little. Alicia is a hard-working team member, has a gentle caring outlook and fun to be with. (We like to poke fun at her as she blushes easily). Last May her dad went through a major operation, thank God he has recovered well. Alicia needs a job, both for herself and her dad.

Sudesh, 38, is one of our facilitators. When his father passed away last year, he moved back and lives with his mother in Seremban. He shuttles between Kuala Lumpur and Seremban daily, leaving home sometimes as early as 4 in the morning and returning late at night. He is no stranger to hard work and sacrifice, he knows what he needs to do to survive and to care for his mother, but he too needs a job.

Like fellow Malaysians, every one of us in zubedy needs employment, those that live from hand to mouth like Saedah and Samsuri and others like Alicia and Sudesh with family to care for. We Malaysians need the Malaysian economy to be strong. We need you, our leaders, to work hard and to work together to make our economy viable.

So this is my plea.

Pakatan Rakyat, please stop your attempts to take over the federal government and persuade BN’s lawmakers to join you. Stop all legal proceedings, no more 916 and let go, just let go. The nation can wait till the next general elections if they want change. By doing so, Malaysians will see your party as caring, unselfish and gracious and give you their support in the next elections.

Barisan Nasional, please stop any attempts to take over PR states and win over PR’s lawmakers. You have proven your point with Perak. The nation can wait for the next general elections if they want your party. Focus all your talent, energy and hard work in steering the country out of an economic downturn. By doing so, Malaysians will see your party as caring, unselfish and smart and give you their support in the next elections.

BN and PR! Call for a truce. Get together and compromise. Someone has to give in. Or has hate consumed your heart till it blinds you? You can do it. You have enough intelligent people between you. I am sure you can find solutions. Take the nation to heart. That is why you are in politics in the first place.

Focus on the people.

Focus on the economy.

Anas Zubedy
Managing Director
Zubedy (M) Sdn Bhd

Geng: Pengembaraan Bermula

There is never a moment that I was proud enough to watch any movie, that I watch it thoroughly, even to the point reading the end credits. Not until last Saturday, after I watched Geng: Pengembaraan Bermula (Geng).

And I was not kidding about reading the end credits. The whole freaking end credits. And I even scolded at the projector operator for cutting it a couple of minutes (i think) short.

Geng, had been on the news since a couple of years back, when they started a series of interviews on the movie. Les Copaque, the animation company behind Geng, also released a series of 5 minutes episodes, especially during the fasting month of Ramadan.

But then, they are quite apprehensive about audience acceptance of another Malaysian animation, after the relative failure of over-hyped animations, like Silat Lagenda and Puteh. But after seeing how audience loved the main
characters used in the mini-series, Upin and Ipin, I guess they think it's time to release the big kahuna.

Geng is a simple children's story of a city kid, Badrol, and his pal Lim, who went back to Badrol's hometown, to investigate a story about "Hantu Durian" (Durian Ghost) as told by Badrol's grandfather, Tok Dalang, on a news report.

It is simple that half way, I've already know who or what the culprit was, although it didn't change the fact that
this movie is darn enjoyable.

Bear in mind, that this is a cartoonish production, not a serious movie. Once you have that set in mind, the journey is no where near boring. Laughs are aplenty, from start to the end. The supporting characters, especially Upin and Ipin, provides the gags that are genuinely cute and funny, and not cheap. Kudos to the writers in that department.

The visual are nice too. Even when we are accustomed to those from Dreamworks and Pixar, still, Geng's visual are nowhere near skimpy. I've seen similar treatment way back in 2004-2005 in a final year project portfolio, so I'm guessing the same animator responsible for the look and feel of Geng.

It's just, at times, the animations are too fast, such in case of the snake chases, where it loses a bit of it's niceness.

In other times, the animations are smooth as silk, and pair that with a funny script and a bunch of cute characters, it's hard to get it wrong from there.

Audio wise, I would say it is better than most Malaysian movies. The lip-snyching are done prefectly, losing all sense of dubbing, and the lines are both funny and cute. Everthing that both a kid or a grown-up can relate to and laugh together. There no overly witty lines that goes beyong the head of a child, so don't worry about bringing your kid to watch it.

But I believe that Les Copaque should be very clear about the age limit. I mean, the end fight are pretty intense, and scary. Even for some of the adults (my partner were clutching my hand until some time after the fighting scene ends). Pair dark visuals and convincing sound effects, and you'll get kids to cry. Hey, if they even cry when watching Tai Lung ran amok in Kung Fu Panda, then they're better off watching it in the comforts of their own fully lit home.

Having said that, I love the snake and the animals. Much attention to details have been put on their movement, and the snake does look scary. The final bout even seem like a smaller, cartoonish version of King Kong versus T-Rex.

The pacing, was typical, and while it does have it's dynamics, the graph is pretty flat towards sugar-high. I guess they don't want the kids to be boring. Luckily, they didn't resort to use slapstick too much, since this is where many animations fail to balance. Put in too much slapstick in a sugar-high animation, and the only ones enjoying are the 5-year-olds..

Logic? I don't want to discuss logic in a cartoon. Especially when the kids end up on top of a hill, after going for a downhill ride.

All in all, Geng is a polished movie, set to entertain both adults and the children. It is light, but also beware, some of the scene might not be suitable for minors. Having said that, I am still proud of those behind this movie, that I hope they'll continue the good work. The first is usually the best since you have all the time in the world, but the next step defines the path Les Copaque will be threading soon. The Pengembaraan (Journey) had just begun!

Spoilt Choices

Okay, I have to admit, i'm spoilt for choice!!!

New Trailer of Transformers 2: Revenge Of The Fallen

Watch this while it lasts

Flasher Cum Stripper

My line of work involves me doing certain tasks for the creation of a website. And of current, I'm involved in these activities, Flash-ing and content stripping.

Flash-ing means that I need to create Flash contents using Adobe Flash. I'm sure most of us knows this. Many website have this now, whether visible or not.

Content stipping means separating the container and it's content. this is usefull when you have a backend system that generates the content for each page, taking it from databases, that enables quick updates of contents. Blogs are an example of this system.

So, I can simply say, in my current Job Description, that I'm a Flasher cum Stripper for a website. I'd like to see how any interviewers would react thi that in my resume.