Gold Rain & Hailstones

Directed by Zahim Albakri

Starring Lin Jaafar and Jit Murad (also the playwright)

I went into the play without prior information about it at KLPac last Sunday afternoon, other than what Patrick had told me that it was very well received when they first staged it back in 1993. Repricing their roles, Jit is extremely funny and right on the dot in terms of his comedic timing while Lin Jaafar was equally stunning and captivating in delivering different roles all together. I particularly loved the script and how things unfold in the play itself. It touches upon issues that most Malaysians are familiar with - how are we to deal with our identities, our culture, and most of all, our root and the sense of belonging. Basically, it is all about our experience as a Malaysian. It hit a note in me, on some of the things said and felt by the characters that they were portraying on stage, as if I were the one up there, talking, but of course, if it were me, I would most probably be standing in the spotlight, talking to myself in an empty theatre for I have never been able to see myself as a performer on stage. I have always been the one behind it. The fact that Patrick and myself were able to be there enjoying the play was solely due to the fact that we owe our dearest friend, Sidney a big favour for getting us there. Sid and Crystal are also the two talented people who were responsible for the interesting projections we see during the play, the art direction to the whole experience on stage. My memory of Sidney dated way back in 1998 when he was the first friend I had made at work in my first job after graduation for he came into the office the day after me. The rest are history as they say but eventually he became Patrick's friend too. I missed those good old days where we used to talk about films over teh tarik sessions...but I guess we have come a long way and both of us are truly proud of his talents and work and will always be grateful to have such a friend like him. Thanks Sid...

Justin Lim Momentum Solo 2006

It was a Thursday evening and it started drizzling when I reached this art gallery called Taksu, somewhere in the busy small meandering streets within Dato' Keramat kampung area off the main road of Jalan Ampang. It was also my first time around this small packed area. If it weren't for Justin, Patrick's cousin's invitation, I would have discovered this place much later. Nonetheless, as I approached a corner dead end road, what greeted me was this mysteriously green garden and porch, with a funny shoe rack shaped piece of work mounted on the wall leading to the main entrance. Once I stepped in, Justin straight away greeted me with a grin and said, "You are the second first person to arrive..." I was delighted for I knew I could explore the place much better without the crowd. Truly, it was a unique place to be. I met Wan, the owner of the art gallery and also spoken to him briefly. This bungalow unit turned art gallery is quite spacious and intriguing. It has quite a few interesting pieces of sculptures lying around the house, not too imposing yet significant enough to catch your eyes. They even have a small swimming pool outside the garden. Of course, friends gradually piled in and everybody started to settle into the food, drinks and the pieces of Justin's paintings on displayed that night. I was truly impressed with how far Justin has gone in his work of art and the things which he loves to do - playing music and all. A fine young guy with heaps of artistic juices flowing in his brain. Secretly, I was even glad that he is our relative, and a close one too, to begin with for I felt so proud and happy for his achievements. Some of my favourite paintings include Elements, The first Clash of Silence, World Wide Web 1 and The Polystructural Method. I love the way bold colours were used and with such passionate strokes and lines. Definitely a night out worth escaping into.

Origami

Written, directed and edited by Jack Wung

Starring Harada as Kana, Mory as Antoine

Director of photography - Wutthitrai Piriyapakdeekul

Costume Design - Justin Kwok

Production Design - Mariana Thome

You can't even tell that this is a student work, the same when I watched Patrick's thesis film EXIT more than 8 years ago - such maturity in terms of their understanding of the language of film itself. As Dr. Anuar Nor Arai puts it in his film review on EXIT, "At the age of 22, Patrick Lim grabs very early the subject of alienation. Quite independently creative with his materials, Patrick Lim takes on a conceptual fling at expressing the motivated style of space and time and tries to recreate them in terms of the mind..."

Patrick brought home a copy of this short film called ORIGAMI on dvd and said that I have to watch this. The minute the film started, I was immediately impressed by the clarity and the look of the film. It is so beautifully shot that it almost seemed unreal for a student work. You could see that much care was taken into the consideration of what goes in the frame and what not - great mise-en-scene. The same goes to the creative use of the colours RED and BLUE. I love the mood the whole film evoked though it was only a mere 10 minutes. Good use of colour and the fact that dialogue were so minimal that only visuals speak for themselves make the film even more memorable. Definitely a well done piece of work! I am sure by looking at these images you would be able to guess what the story is about already, right?

Picture Perfect Sunset

Sometimes you will be amazed by how beautiful mother nature can be. I was there at that point in time and got the boys out to our front porch to take a glimpse of this little surprise. We would normally be in the house during that time of the day, but that evening, I just happened to walk out for a minute and there it was, this fantastic sight caught my eyes right away. It was truly breathtaking. No wonder they called it the "magic hour". The clouds looked like small fluffy white cotton balls which hung right out from the purple tinted orange sky, and it seemed to taste like pink sugar candy floss on a stick! Really spectacular but it only lasted for a while and disappeared into the night...