Mannequins of Ginza

This will be the last video I put together for 2012.

Of Mannequins in Ginza.

In truth, it's more like my impressions of Ginza.

[VIDEO] Train Ride to Otaru with Dad

The year is about to end.

There is less than 24 hours left in the year 2012 for me. I wish to end the year the way I wanted to start the next. Just to keep on doing what I love to do, working on my craft, seeing more things.

This is a video that I shot in September 13th, 2012 (my sister's birthday!) when Dad and I took a train to the town of Otaru in Hokkaido. At that time, we were in Hokkaido for the Sapporo Short Film Festival where my short film LAST FRAGMENTS OF WINTER was screening. (I would later pick up an award from the festival)

The footages I shot were left in my hard disk for quite a few months, I decided to finally cut them together.

Christmas lights in Shinjuku 2012

Since I do not have the luxury of being on a plane flying back from Estonia like last Christmas, yesterday, I decided to just go to my familiar stomping grounds at Shinjuku for dinner and also to check out its illumination.

If you are too lazy to read my heartfelt writing, you can just watch my video of Christmas Illumination in Shinjuku. Now.

Experiencing Japan's strongest storm since 1959

3rd of April 2012. It's been 4 years and 1 day since I first moved to Tokyo.

This special event was marked by Japan's strongest storm since 1959.

Thousands of balloons in the air during the countdown to 2012 @ Zojo-ji Temple, Tokyo

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Well, I wasn't expecting to end 2011 with such a downer of a post.

Therefore, I'm going to start this year with a bang, by showing you a video I shot of the countdown to 2012 at Zojo-ji Temple that I went to last night.

(... there was also a rather big earthquake right before I started writing this, when it was shaking, I was sitting on my bed, quietly wondered how serious would it get. And as I was thinking, the quake stopped. Apparently, it was a Magnitude 7.0 earthquake.)

But anyway, here's the video.

60 Seconds of Solitude At Year Zero screening @ Port of Tallinn

I was in Tallinn because of the omnibus film project 60 SECONDS OF SOLITUDE AT YEAR ZERO, the whole concept was 60 directors, 60 seconds each, so that everything comes together as a 1-hour omnibus film. Invited directors range from cinematic legends to exciting up-and-comers and to the utterly-obscure-but-somewhat-cute (me).

The film was supposed to be screened only once, on the 22nd of December, at the Port of Tallinn, and as the film was being screened, it was being burned as well, so there is no way this can be screened again.

Now, you can skip my colourful commentary and beautiful photos by watching the video now.

Yurakucho Winter Illumination

Was at Yurakucho just now for dinner when I ran into a huge crowd, and saw a group of women singing on a makeshift stage. I realized that it was the opening ceremony for the Winter Illumination.

Mitama Matsuri at Yasukuni Shrine 2010

Yesterday, I noticed an increase of traffic for last year's blog post about the Mitama Matsuri (or Mitama Festival) at the Yasukuni Shrine. I checked the date and realized that it's exactly been a year (plus a day) since I went to the festival. Last year I went with two of my friends, Zifeng and Yang Yang, it was a fun experience. We went there in the evening, and left after sunset.

It took me a while to decide whether I wanted to go again or not, with a newer camera, I could take much better photos than last year's. Too bad I would be going alone, but then, it's always been the case anyway.

This time, I arrived at the shrine at around 7:30pm. It was already night.

Cannes leftovers

My old laptop died last month and I ended up being forced to get a new one. Well, it was about time anyway, the laptop had been with me for more than 3 years, a usual life span for laptops?

I just opened its hard disk and hooked it up to my new comp just now because I needed to extract some information needed for tomorrow's final Masters' Thesis presentation. Then I saw some of the photos from my last day in Cannes which I have yet to upload on Flickr, and also an earlier video, so here you go.

This video was taken on May 18th, when Professor Ando was bringing us to this nice place for dinner.

Last days in Brignogan

25th of June. Everyone were leaving Brignogan. Before that they were waiting at the hotel lobby, it was the only place where the Wi-Fi signal was decent.




By evening, almost everyone was gone.

I made my way through the beach...

Sumptuous feast and fun party during last day of Brignogan workshop

24th of June, last day of the workshop in Brignogan. After the session ended, I was interviewed by a local paper! (Orsi of Hungary, served as translator)

Trip day in Brignogan

The script workshop sessions in Brignogan were usually held outdoors. How could it be otherwise? The scenery was great, we get to look at the clear blue sea.





And here's my teammate Anita of Bratislava, Slovakia, enjoying herself.

Sunrise and sunset, Brignogan-Plages, France

Ah, it's good to be operating in full strength again. After my grievous bout of nosebleed, and the upset tummy that lasted for a couple of days. Every time when I was on the verge of recovering, I would eat something... unhealthy, prolonging the pain, so during the weekend I decided to cut down my meals. It was pretty horrible.

Brignogan-Plages, or simply Brignogan, was where I had my scriptwriting workshops. After spending two days in Brest, a car picked me and a few others up at the train station and took us to Brignogan, a village 30 km away.

It didn't take too long.

Brest, France. A travelogue of sorts.

Ask me what I thought of Brest, two days earlier, when I was stuck there after missing my flight, I would have launch into an expletive-filled tirade. But now that I've reached Tokyo, and slept through the afternoon, I look at Brest, not with nostalgia, but with acceptance that the place played a rather big role in my latest trip.

My workshop was mostly in Brignogan, which is 30-45 mins away from Brest, by car. But due to circumstances I had never expected, I actually realized I have spent three and a half nights in Brest, compared to the 6 in Brignogan, I ended up becoming quite familiar with the city center. It's unlikely that I would ever return to Brest, it's not one of those places that I would go to for personal reasons. So acknowledging that fact does make me feel a little fonder of the place.

Anyway, a short chronicle of my days in Brest.

VIDEO: Talking about my new short, INHALATION at THE TIGER FACTORY press conference at Cannes Film Festival

Had been shutting myself away from the rest of the world working on a new film treatment.

Then, my comp died.

I ended up doing the writing at Saizerya (a Japanese "family restaurant" similar to Denny's) in the past few hours.

Will continue writing that.

But for now, take a look at a video from THE TIGER FACTORY press conference at the Cannes Film Festival on the 21st of May, 2001, just before its official screening. Jeremy Segay moderated the Q and A, those present were Ming Jin (the producer-writer-director), me (the producer-writer-editor) and Moon Lai (or Fooi Mun, the lead actress).

Cannes Day 4: Prof Ando brings us to nice restaurant

I've returned to Tokyo this morning. It's been an enjoyable trip in Cannes. The reception for THE TIGER FACTORY was very warm, there was a nice standing ovation, but I'll get to that later.

Singer Yui Ibuki 伊吹唯 performing in front of Shinjuku Station exits

On the 6th of May, before I caught sight of Denis the tap dancing painter, I saw Yui Ibuki 伊吹唯 performing at the West exit of Shinjuku station (I was on my way to Yodobashi Camera to check out some camera lenses).

Denis the Tap Dancing Painter

Last night, as I was heading home from Shinjuku, I saw Denis, a tap dancing painter. I can assure you that it's not really a common sight in Shinjuku. The guy had a lot of showmanship and had attracted a large crowd of people during his performance.

Met old friends. I realized I had an eventful year.

The Japanese Golden Week had begun. I met up with three of my old friends, Ai, Iyo and Maiko. Not Maiko the Producer, but another Maiko, who, like Ai and Iyo, were friends I met during my Perth days in 2005, when they were exchange students.

Behind a scene of THE TIGER FACTORY

This was shot on the 6th of March (my birthday!), during the 4th day of THE TIGER FACTORY shoot. Pang the Sound Guy had to play a minor role, so it was up to the director Woo Ming Jin himself to carry the boom mic.



Making films in Malaysia, you kinda have to do everything.

(another 2 hours before I head off to Narita Airport)