And so life begins ... "WORK" & "THEATRE"

hello all.

i'm glad to say that i've now officially finished one chapter of my life. a chapter i'm not very proud of - but happy nonetheless.

i've passed my law exams. i am now a 3rd class law degree holder - a graduate of the Uni of London External Programme. i'm not very proud of my results. i'm just glad its over. everybody says you'll look back and miss the good 'ole days.

maybe i will - however, at present, i certainly don't think so. the only thing i'm grateful for taking up the UoL External Programme at ATC is that the course provided me with a lot of free time to indulge in all the other activities that i'm very happy to have found.

THEATRE. KICKBOXING. WRITING. SINGING. etc ...

all those years ago, after form6, had i chosen to accept to go to USM in Penang and take up Mass Comm - (it was my 3rd option on my application form - my 1st 2 were to do Law at UM or at UKM) - would life be very diffferent? perhaps i wouldn't have picked up kickboxing then ... or maybe i wouldn't have had the time to really indulge in acting here ... who knows?

WORK:

ANYwho... if you've read the "24" post - you'd probably be thinking that i'll be hopping on the next wagon of life - that is to look for a job that'll lead to me being a "Producer".

an exerp from "24" -

"...i've decided that i want to be a PRODUCER. i will start with TV but i want to get to a point when i have the ability and know-how to produce anything from theatre, radio, tv and etc. i want to be someone who would be able to conceptualise new shows, combining all sorts of elements to blow people out of their socks.

yes, i've decided that i will take that plunge into the 'entertainment' industry. so now, i'm not just working on trying to get in front of the camera, but i will also learn to be behind the camera."

and i shall. even though i'm having some doubts about it at present - it could be just 'cold feet' - i need to do it. there's another option to continue studying (ovreseas....) - something related to media - my Father put it to me after i told him about my results. as much as i would like to go overseas ... the thought of putting off going to 'work' and figuring out what i want to do with the rest of my life is not very appealing.

that being said, i'm going to be sussing out some more contacts and details before i make my final leap and start working.

THEATRE:

but i've got something to keep me busy while i suss out my details. i've gotten a role - my biggest role yet - in Gavin Yap's next play. it's called FRANKENSTEIN in LOVE (FiL for short - click to get to the production blog).

FiL can be described to be a "play of dark, airless places taht have been long sealed from any hope of sanity". (cool right?)

below is an exerp from the production blog written by the director himself ...

" Inspired by Mary Shelley's classic horror story, Clive Barker has has taken the Shelley's tale and basically put his own spin on it. The result is a sort of 'what if' scenario. What if Dr Frankenstein had actually succeeded in creating a race of half dead-half alive creatures? And what if these creatures still had the ability to think and feel the way normal people do, but yet at the same time be very much aware of what they are and the fact that they have no real place in the world.....what would happen?

What happens is that it causes a huge uprising and there is a revolution. This serves as the backdrop for the play. The emotional core of the story is a tragic romantic triangle that develops between El Coco, the leader of the revoution (played by Rashid Salleh), Veronique, one of Frankenstein's creations (played by Melissa Maureen) and the good Doctor Frankenstein himself (played By Mano Maniam). Its a beautifully tragic relationship that doesn't just hint at the unimaginable but actually has the balls to go there, which is what I love so much about it. This is a play that truly grabs you by the short and curly's and dares you to try and run.
Aside from the three romantic interests, there is a host of colorful, equally fucked up characters that inhabit Barker's crazy world. There is Maria Reina Duran (played by Mary George), a dead fan-dancer who also serves as the play's narrator. Cockatoo (played by Michael Chen), a crazed revolutionary who loyally serves El Coco, all the while wearing a crazed broad grin on his face. Then there is Lazaro (played by Douglas Lim), a half-witted friend of Maria's. There are the two flesh-eating creatures Follezou and Mattos (played by Rauf Fadzilla and Bharani Rasaselvam) who assist Veronique in her quest for vengenance, first on the list is a faithless Cardinal (played by Reuben Arthur)! We have President Garcia Perez (played by Patrick teoh) the nation's current President that El Coco seeks to overthrow (amongst other things) and lastly the hilariously morally ambiguous duo of Camilo Bozuffi (played by Reza Zainal Abidin) and Dr Fook (played by U-En Ng), a tailor and pathologist who have a hideously amusing business relationship.

Indeed, this is a play that is designed to scare and disturb but trust me, it isn't without its share of good laughs. We had a our first reading of the play last night and there were points where we had to stop cos we couldn't stop laughing. We'll be reading through the play all this week (without Douglas, who's finishing off Broken Bridges and Reza, who's doing Second Link) before we start blocking Monday next week. As rehearsals progress, you can expect the usual input from the cast and crew. Only this time, we've got a lot more goodies coming your way as you'll be treating to previews not only of the set design but also the costumes and make-up, which I promise you, is going to be off the fucking chain."

as you can see, i'm in the company of players whom i have great respect and admiration for. hopefully, i can hold my own in their company. i am indeed very excited about this play because it's a f*cking cool play! and also, because it's the biggest role i've ever had!

so yeah ... it'll be staged in LATE OCT and EARLY NOV - so stay tuned!

once i'm done with the play - chances are - i'll start a job. so that's my life from the way it looks on this day.

sounds exciting...

signing off, the commonjack.

Open Mic Aug 6th 2006.

and as promised ... a post about my open mic.

actually, i've done two. one was with the Troubagangers and the other was Project OMG (last Aug 19th).

Troubagangers:

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this was quite nerve wrecking - cause it had been such a loooong time since i last sang at an open mic - not only that - this was only my 2nd time ever singing an open mic. to make things worse, i was in the company of people who were really used to singing open mics. most of whom had their own CD's for sale that night. plus ... there were lots of people walking in to sing who were realllly good too.

however, all things considered, i think i put up a decent performance. good enough to give me confidence to try another open mic last Aug 19th!

anyway, i went up right after this band called 'Ask Me Again' ... who were really, really f*cking awesome. i wanted to buy their CD immediately! the place was packed with people whom i can only imagine have heard of them before. when i was told that i was going up right after them - i was a wreck!

when my name was actually called, people actually started getting up to leave. luckily, i had a fair amount of friends there to support me (THANK YOU GUYS FOR COMING!!!) and they clapped loudly for me - that got the attention of most of the people who were getting out to leave - so they stood around a bit to check me out 1st.

i was given 15 mins. i sang 4 songs. 3 are my own compositions ... "Come Back to Me", "I Do It All to Myself" and "Don't Judge Me". my 4th song was my own rendition of U2's "With or Without You". i f**ked up a bit with some lyrics with my 1st and 3rd song. chiefly because there are new songs and also because i was nervous as hell!

i felt quite good towards the end of my 1st song because there's a part of the song where i go acapella and i just sing without playing my guitar. people were clapping along to my singing! which made me believe that i had their attention and they were actually listening to me! lol. i even saw some people who got up to leave earlier sit down again ... which was a nice thing to see.

whatever it is, this open mic has given me the confidence to want to invest in a proper semi-acoustic guitar so that i can give a better performance. i intend to do more open mics. eventually - i want to record my songs proper and distribute them DIY - very low key and see where that takes me. if i can get ONE person to come up to me after an open mic and buy one of my CD's which i will probably only sell for like rm10 or something ... i'll feel immensely sated.

Project OMG:
this was done very near my house ... at a place called FOOD FOUNDRY. (click on Project OMG to check out the blog.)

OMG is an abbreviation for 'Open Mic Gig' - they are pretty much a greener version of the Troubagangers. they are a younger crowd looking to help show off local students works ... be it short films, shorts, poems, songs and such. very cool. i found out about them when i was surfiing through kakiseni.com for auditions.

i sang 3 songs ... i planned to sing "Insomnia", "I Know Why" and "I Wanna See You Everyday". the 1st song is quite emo and the 2nd one is a song i haven't played in a loooong time (which is the reason i wanted to play it). while the 3rd song is a really, really new song.

when it was time for me to go up to sing, i surveyed the crowd and realised that most of them there weren't really interested in listening. they were largely there for 'dinner'. as such, i figured an emo song would just turn them off even more. so i had to change at the last minute and played another one of my gushy love songs "If I could Only" and snubbed "Insomnia".

it wasn't too bad. although, i did not practice sufficiently and was a little shaky singing and playing it.

"I Know Why" was better. but i don't think i did my best. and on my last song, i screwed up royally, i forgot my bridge and final verse lyrics! i had to make it up as i went along and in the end - it sounded a lot like the 1st song i played. *sigh* ...

oh well ... of course, since it was my own song, no one was the wiser. once again, i had a fair amount of supporters (THANK YOU ALL!!!).

they all had nice things to say ... but i personally know i usually do a lot better than that ... oh well. there will be a next time. :)


so that's it lah. i'm off...

p/s: coming soon - i'm in another play! and i've gotten the biggest role i've ever had the honour of getting! (it's practically a lead role!haha) the play is called "Frankenstein in Love" and will be staged on OCT 27th till NOV 3rd. stay tuned for a production blog and my own personal entries about it here ... !!

Post Birthday Party

this year - i had about 40 people coming in and out of my party. and as mentioned earlier - somehow everyone knew someone else - its a small world after all - and that made it easier for everyone to kinda hang with one another.

so it was cool. i got a little high during my party. note: NOT DRUNK. i was high. just nice. so some of the photos that you will see below will be featuring the high me, the generic toothy smile, red eyes, red skin, etc. :) what can i say? i'm chinese and i got good blood circulation!

i missed a photo op with some people ... davina being one of them! other than that, i think i pretty much took a photo with everyone who came - just to prove to myself that i *do have friends! even if i only see some of these fellas once a year! lol

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My Mum & I.

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The Guys! (The original 4)

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Form 6 mates ...

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Getting Brian drunk!! (YN Yap next to him doing all the coaxing)

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Outside bunch - fr left to right ... TNT ppl : Oliver, Jessie, Carl, Calvyn (non-TNT person but theatre friend fr Julius Caesar days), Shirley (Carl's gf), and Oliver's gf (sorry i forgot the name!! Heather is it?)

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My Malay friends!! haha - Johan and Faisal.

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Some of the Malats ...
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Bunch of ppl who spent most of the night playing monopoly in my TV room...
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Calvyn the EX-Cleo Bachelor (LOL)
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Jessie - my Surrogate GF.
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Just Anrie and ME!
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Myself, Azhar and Paik Yin.
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Me, Ons, Carmen.
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Kuan Seng - my childhood buddy...

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Catherine and I...

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Group Photo!!

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Oliver & Meg and me.

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Regina and I

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Joanna and I

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Yue Neng and I

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Joanne and I

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Victor and I

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Huei Wearn, Myself and Kell Jay (i think i spelt it right)

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Myself and one of my Presents ...

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The Last Few who stayed right up to the end...

so, that's it folks! i've posted up most of the photos here. sorry it took so long to post up.

a post on my open mic at la bodega - coming soon (hopefully) ... :)

i'm singing again!

1st of all - let me thank all those of you who came to my birthday party this year! and to those of you who paid attention to my *wishlist* - many, many thank yous!! i had lots of great prezzies this year! think i shall adopt the shameless attitude next year as well... haha.

this year the party was a good one because all my different groups of friends somehow managed to mesh well together. so instead of having one group there and another group here - everyone sort of hung out together and that made all the difference!

i will post up pictures and write more about the party soon - but for now ... i want to let you lot in on something.

i'm singing again!!

Read Below...

Hi beautiful people,

Coming Sunday, we'll be gathering once again upstairs La Bodega in KL to listen to some of the klang valley's newest talents. Or not. ;)

Presenting jazzy-ish indo-pop croonerADY SUWARDY

Also, featuring:

*** ASK ME AGAIN***

SPINABIFIDA ***

MEKARNYA SATU KEMATIAN***

MICHAEL CHEN

So we'll be seein u... aren't there enuff gigs these days? Yeah.... but still not enuff open mics / stages eh. Keep it on strong! Let's flood KL with indie song, poetry and talk!

More www.webprojx.com/troubaganger

--Posted by Doppelganger Open Mic KL to Doppelganger Open Mic Open Stage at 7/30/2006 02:11:00 PM

i've been given the 11 pm slot. but give or take half an hour before or after ... i should be performing around then lah. so, try and get there by then at the very latest. i'm assuming the rest are probably more exposed to the open mic scene than me - so if you can make it at 8 pm to catch the rest ... come lah earlier ... i should be there.

plus, another friend of mine will be singing too - We Jun - his blog is listed on my site. Malaysian Noir.

ok ladies and gents... thats it for now. laters.