I have seen all of Yasmin’s films bar two which made me realise there is a degree of predictability to her works. Her stories all revolve around relationships, familial or otherwise – may it be young love (Mukhsin) or one traversing racial boundaries (Sepet, Gubra). The same can be said in Talentime, which revolves around three different families conveniently representing the main races in our country, plus one family which has become a recurring component in her films – the ever so cool/open-minded Malay family with Harith Iskander as the dad who drives a Volvo 121 (or anything of a similar vintage).

I guess by the time I watched Talentime, I began to appreciate some of the points Jimbo was trying to put across, being one of the few detractors when all and sundry were singing praises. Yasmin is a good director and her films are breaths of fresh air, but in my opinion, whenever a subtle message (may it be about how not to be judgmental or it’s actually not haram to touch a dog) is put across in a scene from the film, you’ve got a feeling that you’ve got it the first time – from one of her earlier works. Of course we know of how the different races in Malaysia sometimes see each other in an ugly light, and of course we know people can overcome any unsurmountable obstacles when they try. Perhaps I was hoping a bit more when the film got past the prologue with the school hall lights switching on in sequence, hoping for something new. All is not lost, I actually enjoyed Azean Irdawaty’s portrayal of Hafiz’s terminally ill mother and a no-frills Jaclyn Victor as Bhavani. A case of the supporting players upstaging the main characters? Don’t get me started with the English accents spoken by Melur’s younger sister and grandmother (her mix of the Queen’s English with a dash of Yorkshire was obviously a case of trying too hard).

As for Pisau Cukur, from the get go the film is all bubble-gummy sweet with a hint of Reese Witherspoon (the attitude, not the plot – think Legally Blonde, perhaps) and filled with eye candy *leleh*. Bernard Chauly and Rafidah Abdullah did it with Gol & Gincu playing up urban Malaysia to the max, and Pisau Cukur may well has upped the ante, with all the designer label references and its good looking cast. It is a fun film to watch, provided you just take it as it is and not put your Leonard Maltin hat on. Despite the gedikness of the two gold-digging protagonists, I thought Nur Fazura (Intan) and Maya Karin (Bella) pulled it off quite well (believe you me, I’ve seen girls who talk like that in real life). From attempts in landing a rich datuk of a husband, the plot evolved into a murder mystery filled with its twists and turns – which thankfully wasn’t that convoluted.

The film had its predictable moments (like the financial status of Faqir, Bella’s admirer-cum-dance partner on the cruise, revealed at the end) and I guess it is essentially a more palatable format of the usual Datuk/Datin-filled Malay cinema that we are so used to get since time immemorial (without the obligatory “Bagaimana perniagaan Datuk dengan Tan Sri” piece). The storyline aside, Rahim Razali’s lecherous Datuk Zakaria and Afdlin Shauki’s fumbling ship captain are somewhat memorable characters in this film, and last but not least, Haris Hue’s cinematography deserves a mention – well composed and great colours (except for the ones noted on the hats Bella and Intan were wearing. Damn).

I may have chosen the run-of-the-mill over substance in this instance, but I say you can’t take yourself too seriously all the time. Try watching these two back-to-back and you’ll probably see what I mean.

No, not of the Penang kind but of the 笹崎 まみ kind. Received my copy of their gig DVD from 2009 today and I’ve to say their a genuine lot – fine tunes and they look like polished pros onstage. Oh, 99.99% of the audience are jantan. What were you expecting? Heh.

It came to my attention that ever since I made the move to a magazine-styled template for this blog, navigating through the various sections got a bit confusing for some of you when compared to the old scroll-down blog format 無秩序の胃 had. Well, if that is what some of you are used to, I’ve added a link on the top right of the screen just below the search box, labelled ‘Arkib’. Pretty self explanatory, really. Click on it and you’ll go to the 無秩序の胃 archives categorised by month and, well, categories. Happy exploring!

Sophomore and live DVD on their way as we speak. w00t.

I am so unfit.

Anywhere we are in the world. This will do just fine.

“Eh! Engkau mesti rajin tulis lah! Bukan sebulan dua kali! Hari-hari! Reti? Baru boleh cekap! Budak-budak aku bilang dia orang selalu nampak engkau asyik ke hulu ke hilir di Meadowhall – apa kau buat? Mengurat?! Make full use of your time! Mesti banyak baca buku… baca novel… baru boleh jadi penulis blog! Engkau banyak baca buku tak?”

“Err… baca…”

“Eh! Ini buku apa ni… tengok! HA! HA! Woi! Semua tengok! Apa si くど baca!”

Remember this? Or this? Got off my ass today to enquire about the above at this place a few klicks from where I live. And if all goes well with the discount I can get through this scheme, I can start again end of September. It only took me four years. [Click here for specs]

Inspired by my pregnant friend, Mrs. Cornell, I have followed suit to make this for dinner (sans the mengidam bit), which took slightly less than an hour. Lamb’s lettuce and cherry vine tomatoes? I can’t stand timun.

Sepultura for a short while played as a three-piece, with Andreas Kisser handling both guitar and vocal duties, before getting Derrick Green to fill in Max’s shoes. I remembered my first Sepultura show in 1999 at Nottingham when the band had just released Against, which I didn’t quite like as I wasn’t used to Derrick’s grating vocals as compared to Max’s throaty growls. The Nottingham show was good, with Greene occasionally played his guitar, but to me, it wasn’t the Sepultura that I was introduced to.

Fast forward eleven years, Sepultura is still around. The lineup had changed again somewhat with the departure of Igor Cavalera (now drumming in Max’s side supergroup, Cavalera Conspiracy). Derrick had by now been in the band as long as Max had (ie thirteen years). They had left Roadrunner Records and to date have five records since Max’s departure. They were in town for their European tour promoting their current record, A-Lex, and I thought it’d be a good night out with some mates.

I have to make another confession here – I have not listened to any newer stuff since Nation, nor had I listened to much of their stuff pre-Chaos AD. Sacrilege, to the max. Heh. A-Lex, like its predecessor Dante XXI, harks back to their thrashier roots. After the synth-y intro of A-lex IV/I, Moloko Mesto was a perfect example. I like the ‘tribal’ sound that Max brought into the band about the time of Roots, but, in my opinion, they didn’t sound too good when they tried expanding to taiko drums on the Against record. So, it was no surprise when the first tune from A-Lex blended in well with Arise which they played next.

As compared to my previous Sepultura experience in 1999, I thought Derrick Green sounded better this time – there is no doubt he is Sepultura’s voice now. We stood quite close to stage right which meant our left ears probably sustained some sort of permanent damage from the PA speakers! Next to us were some Brazilian students some of whom were in their yellow national strip, following which Andreas jokingly made a passing comment on how bad Brazil had done in the recent World Cup tournament. And no band would ever drop in Sheffield without doing the Photograph riff – albeit badly played in this instance! The new drummer, Jean Dolabella, deserves a mention. I thought he was fantastic (check out his YouTube page). Derrick would chip in on percussions at certain points of their set (it was obvious that it would signal the start of songs like Attitude and Ratamahatta!), but no Kaiowas in Sheffield, I’m afraid. It was good to see the set peppered with their much older stuff, like the Void/Schizo medley from Schizophrenia and Necromancer from Morbid Visions. It’s too bad that Derrick wasn’t also on guitars as sounded quite bare in parts with Andreas on his own playing the solos.

The encore included Conform from their current record before finishing their blazing set with the obligatory Roots Bloody Roots. Sepultura may be seen playing more of smaller clubs than stadia these days but rest assured their much-welcomed return to heavier stuff is likely to further retain their relevance in the thrash genre. Why do you think they’ve been around for 25 years now? No berimbau included.

[Photos of the gig can be seen on my Flickr page]

Sheffield Corporation 15.7.10 set: A-Lex IV / A-Lex I / Moloko Mesto / Arise / Refuse/Resist / Dead Embryonic Cells / Filthy Rot / What I Do! / Convicted In Life / Attitude / Spit / A-Lex II / The Treatment / Troops of Doom / Escape to the Void/Septic Schizo / [Def Leppard mess about] / Necromancer / Sepulnation / Slave New World / Territory / Biotech Is Godzilla / Inner Self / [Encore] Ratamahatta / Conform / Roots Bloody Roots