”我要努力实现导演梦“ (I will work hard to fulfill my dreams of directing) - Interview On Sin Chew Daily

My interview with Sin Chew Daily, Malaysia's leading Chinese newspaper, just came out today. I was truly surprised, and amazed to see that I was on the cover of the Sin Chew Plus section, I'm truly amazed, and humbled, by this.

The interview focused mostly on my determination to chase my dreams, my filmmaking misadventures, and a bit about my short film, GIRL DISCONNECTED.

Check out my interview on Sin Chew Daily's website. It's in Chinese though.

I'll just translate some quotes from myself.

Two Teaser Clips From GIRL DISCONNECTED

Working with me is NOT a privilege.

It's more like a punishment to most. Justin himself can tell you how many takes I would go for just to get a simple shot right. A production shoot with me can be really tedious and frustrating since I'm, er, a perfectionist.

But also, for the sake of reassuring everyone that I'm REALLY a filmmaker and not just some shallow lecherous hack who was only capitalizing on some opportunity to ogle at babes in an event which MIGHT enforce the objectification of women (initially, I was named as the judge without receiving a personal mail from the organizer) like some people do ;-), I shall share with you extended scenes from my last film, GIRL DISCONNECTED, just for a glimpse of, well, my filmmaking style. Enjoy.

James Lee's 'Things We Do When We Fall In Love 当我们同在一起'

This happened last week when I was at the press screening of THINGS WE DO WHEN WE FALL IN LOVE:

VIDEO: Filmmakers Anonymous 3

Filmmakers Anonymous 3

On the 27th of April, I went to FILMMAKERS ANONYMOUS 3 with Chewxy, just hours after attending the James Lee press conference (check out my vlog entry of the press conference if you haven't already).

2 months have passed since the previous session of FILMMAKERS ANONYMOUS, in which my short, GIRL DISCONNECTED, had its Malaysian premiere, (check out my videoblog entry of FA2 if you haven't already as well) I was absolutely eager to check out the list of short films available this time.

The following were the list of short films screened on that night (taken from Filmmakers Anonymous's official site)

HIKARU GENJI 光ゲンジ

HIKARU GENJI

Spider-Man 3 is not that bad (if viewed with irony)

Like most people, this is my most-anticipated film of the year, so I was absolutely excited when it turned out that I've gotten tickets to Hitz.fm's sneak preview of Spider-Man 3 just a day before its nationwide release (Spidey 3 is premiering in Malaysia, Singapore, Japan and numerous other Asian countries on the 1st of May whilst people of USA can only catch the film on the 4th of May, YESSSSSS!!!).

I've long placed SPIDER-MAN 2 high up the pedestal as my favourite superhero movie of all time, because everything about it appealed to me, the humour, the action, the character drama, the romance, everything clicked so well that there was nothing I could complain about the film at all.

SPIDER-MAN 2 had pushed the bar so high that, since then, every single big-budget superhero movie that came out, with the exception of BATMAN BEGINS, seemed just like kiddie movies. Mindless popcorn entertainment that may satisfy only hardcore comic book fans. X-MEN 3 was entertaining for its major explosions (but nothing much), SUPERMAN RETURNS was so overwhelming in its sheer seriousness (and its attempt to make Supes suffer from girl problems like Spidey) that it left a bad taste in my mouth some time after I saw it, GHOST RIDER was rubbish, FANTASTIC FOUR was amusing sometimes (but only because I was in a good mood when watching it, and Jessica Alba convinced me that the film ain't that bad).

SPIDER-MAN 2 is near perfection, and represents, to me, commercial filmmaking at its best, when the artsy fartsy poser types start speaking haughtily about their disdain for Hollywood films, I point at SPIDER-MAN 2, I said that a film like that impresses me much more as some self-indulgent incoherent rubbish that packages itself as 'high art'.

And because of that, I never expected SPIDER-MAN 3 to surpass its predecessor, I'd be happy enough if the drop of standard isn't dramatic, and that it can still be nearly as good as SPIDER-MAN 2. Hearing that there would be three villains in the film had worried me initially, making me fear that the film would end up becoming something like BATMAN AND ROBIN, crushing under the weight of the numerous characters and subplots it needed to juggle.

James Lee's meditative 'Before We Fall In Love Again 念 你 如 昔'

Before We Fall In Love Again is the first film of Malaysian indie director James Lee's planned 'Love trilogy' (a series of three standalone films that share the same central theme and recurring cast members, something like Korean director Park Chan Wook's 'Revenge trilogy', but without the sex and violence, and with a much lower budget). The film is about two men and the woman they both love.

VIDEO: James Lee's BEFORE WE FALL IN LOVE AGAIN and THINGS WE DO WHEN WE FALL IN LOVE Press Conference

On the 26th and 27th of April, GSC Mid Valley held press screenings of two films by the Malaysian indie director James Lee, BEFORE WE FALL IN LOVE AGAIN and THINGS WE DO WHEN WE FALL IN LOVE, both part of his LOVE trilogy, followed by a press conference that featured him and three cast members of both films, Amy Len, Loh Bok Lai and Chye Chee Keong.

'Mr. Bean's Holiday' might be the best Mr. Bean film ever

I was amazed by the popularity of this movie, judging from the fact that it's still showing in the cinemas after more than a month, and still having difficulties trying to get a ticket even though the movie's been in cinemas for that long. (Attempted to see it with family during opening weekend, but to no avail)

I can't call myself a Mr. Bean fan. To me, he can be both repulsive and funny, and I sometimes had problems trying to decide whether I liked him, or hated him. Despite thus, like most people here, I did grow up watching his TV show, so, naturally, watching this new film, Mr. Bean's Holiday, is like a reunion with someone from your past whom you don't really like and haven't met for quite a while (it's been exactly ten years since the first film, BEAN).

10 Things To Do After A Break-Up (PS I Hate You list)

(Edmund: In case you cannot read the name of the author at the bottom of this blog post properly, I would like to point out that this blog post, despite remaining as one of the most popular blog posts of all time here, is written not by me but by the self-published author May Zhee)

Don’t you just hate it when you find yourself still itching to go back to the daily life with your partner even after The Breakup? This especially pertains to those close-knit couples, who will go crazy and pull out their hair or something if they are away from each other.

Why would such a great couple break up in the first place I wouldn’t know. Maybe they grew bored. Maybe their parents got in the way. Maybe I stole their boyfriends. Etc etc.

Since the book PS I Love You tells about the list a girl followed to free herself from the cage of all things lugubrious due to her husband’s death, my list PS I Hate You will tell about what you can do to keep yourself from running back to your ex just minutes after The Breakup.

Apart from building a wall out of potatoes in front of your house, I mean.

Actually, I think that goes into the list too.

How I Survived Writer's Block When Writing My New Screenplay.

Thanks, Dawn.