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Some Shift Things for Your Consideration, Well, more like MY consideration. But some for your consideration too. Oh shush.

Dear all,

The last time I posted something was during Christmas. Before that I posted some ambiguous stuff about my losing interest in blogging here anymore. The truth of the matter is, I've outgrown 'Mental Toys'. I set it up some time three years ago at the urging of the then very green and innocent Sze Ning (whom I hope is still innocent, but less green. But she's brown-ish. Nvm). I was inspired her commitment to journal her life's experiences online, while at the same time using this space as an avenue to get stuff out there.

The field is crowded, of course, but it's still public. So it was worth the shot, and it still is. Of course, we could get into the whole dynamics of targeting specific audiences and stuff like that. But that's not the point. The point is to actually have stuff out here in cyberspace and it's open to an infinite amount of possibilities. Never know, Prime Minister might stumble on your blog.

Ok rambling.

So I blogged, under the inspired 'Mental Toys' mantra. Everything is up for grabs. All stories can be twisted, perversed, messed about, made fun of, and told. I think the one true season where I think this blog lived up to its own name was when I was in the 2nd/3rd year of my studies in Monash. The 50 something Wasting Away posts, while best to be read by internal audiences, served as the centerpiece of absolute stupidity, with fresh stories of lunacy produced and served on a silver platter mostly by Sarah Jane, and sometimes, the other friends.

It was mostly half truths, and half lies. But the state of my mind was an honest one as presented here. I liked lunacy and twisted-ness during that time, and I expressed it on the blog and on my friends. Oh, I still like lunacy. But in a different way. My classmates were my primary audience, and while it lasted, it provided me a way to remember them.

Near the middle of 2006, I had lost my purpose here. Nothing seemed so mental anymore, and life started being less of a toy. I put up many announcements, but made fun of fewer things, mostly because there were fewer people around. And when the old faces returned, I preferred to savor their company in positive light rather than chickenlittle them up (ala Girl TMY). And I don't always post those shining moments, because those shining moments are uncontainable.

So after I finished Bible school and started working for real (before that I worked at Monash, and I suppose you can't exactly say that I wasn't working 'for real') I didn't have the sort of luxury to think of ways to insult my friends here anymore. Sure I've mocked the government several times, the opposition, and a lot of other things. Talked about Superman way too many times. Posted too many movie links, and made this place more of a press-release place. But it's no longer Mental Toys.

Plus I've found other avenues to vent my crap. My girlfriend thinks I use my time lecturing students trying to turn them into political animals with sharp claws (yes, I do that, but God knows if I changed anyone's life at all). And I tell Ah Beng jokes (lessons well learnt during my time at Bible school).

But it's okay. That's what we call 'life'.

That's why you don't see many posts here now. In fact, I intend to stop here completely. The banner says "Look, something is happening!", and this is the 'something'. I intend to blog again, sometime in the near future when the mood returns. But it won't be here, and it'll be more than just press-releases of Transformers 2 coming out and The Dark Knight killing the Joker before the movie is even out.

So that's that.

And here are the press-releases: HAHA.

I still have intentions to make short films, though 'life' is very busy, and what little time I have I invest in something called 'life'. Cheesy, but true. Not that films aren't important to me. Just not at the moment.

For those who are not aware, Faltasia 3 is suspended due to a number of reasons. Partly because I've been unable to secure May Yee to do her will-be-iconic climax of the film. Partly because my computer(s) have been unable to keep pace. Partly because of the lack of equipment. Stuff like that. But I intend to finish it. Hopefully by the end of my lifetime. Because it sure looks bleak at the moment.

I finished a short story! Not that it's something to shout about in the context of shaping society. But my friends who know me know that I like to make things up (much like Edward Bloom, though less far fetched), I try to write short stories for my personal enjoyment sometime. Well, I used to be able to write stuff here and there, but I finally FINISHED one in a very very long time.

It's called Prince. It's about a man who drives forever to my semi-canonized fictional land of 'There'. (I like rehashing things I've used before, because it allows me to be lazy. Trust me, you have yet to see the last of Faltasia, on film or on paper.) Along his journey he meets some people. It's a fairy tale, though most probably won't agree with me.

Maybe sometime down the road I'll post it somewhere. Embarrassing lah.

Initially I wrote it as a script, hoping to film it as something a little closer to heart in terms of 'romance'. Then decided that since filming things are bleak-ish for my current life, I wrote it as prose. The film would've been titled, This is a Road Movie: Told by the Driver Regarding Some Unique Passengers of His.

Yes, long title. I was in a mood.

Then there's this sizzling idea since a year plus ago, thought up by Eddie and I, about abstract art. I've been tossing it around on whether it should be a documentary or fiction. But I think I'm settling on being both at the same time. In separate sections. Again, possibilities are bleak at the moment, but no harm thinking. If I do get to make this, I'll be calling it Which Denomination Decides the Abstractness of Things and Which Denomination Matters Anyway?

Yes, I have a thing for long titles recently.

Heath Ledger died. I'll salute him for The Patriot, 10 Things I Hate About You, even A Knight's Tale, and Ned Kelly. That's all. I'm sure to appreciate the Joker in The Dark Knight, and probably in the Terry Gilliam thing. A good talent lost.

Now, I just vomited a pile of things here.

But expect me to not return until I have something new worth announcing here.

Watch Charlie Wilson's War. Aaron Sorkin rocks.
Watch American Gangster as well.
Grindhouse is, while entertaining, really stupid. Sorry Bob, you just didn't quite make it this time. Quentin, you too.

Ok guys,
I'm out.

Happy Cinapek new year. And back to FacebookScrabulous

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Blessed Christmas Everyone.

But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.”

Please, for the love of all things good, put Christ back into Christmas. Regardless of what faith, gender, profession, race, nationality, culture, attitude, mentality, so on and so forth.

We acknowledge that (despite not celebrating it) that Hari Raya is the Islamic (not Malay) New Year. That Chinese New Year is the New Year based on the Chinese calendar.
Deepavali for the Hindus.

We pop the moon and the star and the reds and lanterns and oversized calligraphy in the shopping malls. It's unmistakable that we're celebrating whatever we're celebrating.

Then we put trees with little gold balls (sometimes red, white, silver, purple or something else), plant a shining star on top the tree. Mark our doors with mistletoes and put on the trillion bulbs of mostly yellow light, paint everything red and green. Which frankly, are not the symbols of Christmas. It's the magic of a man made festival.

At most times it's fine.

Then I ask, where is the cross? We don't see them in shopping malls do we.
We see the reindeers but we don't see the manger.
We see the tree, but we don't see the cross.
We see mistletoes, but we dont' see the crown of thorns.
We see the reds and greens, but we don't see the red of His blood.
We see the Santa, the gift-giver, but we don't see the the One who comes to give life.
We see the gifts of many colors but we don't see the gift of eternal salvation.
We see everything that is quite frankly, not wrong. But we don't see God.

Christmas is a Christian celebration.
People should start a decor revolution.

A blessed Christmas to all.

Post-Script: Moving Links

Here I post many links that may have slipped your interest over the season that you've been reading this blog, however long that might have been.

Meng Chwen's Wedding Photography
This is my brother's online portfolio for his freelance wedding photography work. It didn't use to be very relevant, but seeing that more and more of my friends are considering getting married some time in the future, and that the 'm' word is becoming increasingly commonplace in our vocabulary, I figure you wannabes will need a photographer. So check him out. Good work guaranteed. I would know, I'm the brother. Hah.

Sze Ning's website
If you are interested in things that are not wedding related, try out Sze Ning's website. She's more of the nature-nature kind of girl, which might suit your fancy. Her pictures are very good, and I remember doing some crazy shots with her. Mostly, she's hot, and she doesn't mind being terribly vain on her blog, so you get some free camwhoring environmentalist pictures on her site. She's pretty accomplished too, physically at least, as she has threatened to beat me up many times before.

Neil Gaiman's journal
These days it's not too terribly fun anymore, but every now and then there are still a few good posts. If it's your first time visiting his website, go check out the 'stories' section and read his essays and short stories. Very the good. By the way, he wrote Beowulf, so WATCH IT!!!

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The Mental Toys

When I was small, I had the tendency to destroy my toys. I wasn't the sort of kid who knew the value of an unwrapped or a shiny-scratchless toy. I used to have a Thundercats sword, and my cousin had one too. My mother would tell me after some months about my cousin kept his sword nicely, occasionally taking it out to have a good look at it, then point to my sword, and noted how battered it had already become, like it has seen actual battle.

Then there were a few other Thundercat toys, one or two Transformers, a ton of military vehicles, armies of infantry, grenade launchers, and a zoo's worth of animals (they don't make toys like they do anymore I think). I took a lot of pride in destroying the toys, which is partly why I don't have a great collection of ancient toys. My once vast World War 2 battalion is left with perhaps 5 or 6 veterans (the rest are in peace (or pieces)). I made them fight. I made them heroes with scars. A hand torn. A leg dismembered. A head severed.

I didn't know the value of toys. Not that I regret it. The way I handled my toys reminds me a little of what I'm like. I'm always trying to make things real. Make things happen. Always imagining, and sometimes taking it too far. And sometimes being unreasonably illogical. [I could give the example of my brother, who had the habit of painting my toys, and his toys, and all his models, not in a sparkly clean way, but in a detailed 'used' and worn-out way. He was very meticulous in making things look used, and cool, at the same time.] It doesn't mean I didn't love my toys, because I did. It's just that I saw it fit that I disfigured them, because that, to me, was their purpose.

Then naturally, over the years, we put the toys in boxes. Closets. And mostly, I don't miss them. They've done their job. It's really just time to put them away, and get excited about new things.

The physical toys, and the mental toys.

The Mental Toys: Intended for larger things

'My muscles couldn't keep up with my bones, and my bones couldn't keep up with my body's ambition. So I spent the better part of three years confined to my bed, with the World Book Encyclopedia being my only means of exploration. I had made it all the way to the "g's," hoping to find an answer to my gigantification, when I uncovered an article about the common goldfish.

"Kept in a small bowl, the goldfish will remain small. With more space, the fish can grow double, triple, or quadruple its size."

'It occured to me then, that perhaps the reason for my growth was that I was intended for larger things. After all, a giant man can't have an ordinary-sized life.'

- From Big Fish. The most inspirational movie, in an entertaining way.

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Kept in a small bowl, the goldfish will remain small. With more space, the fish can grow double, triple, or quadruple its size.

It occured to me then, that perhaps the reason for my growth was that I was intended for larger things. After all, a giant man can't have an ordinary-sized life.

Intended for larger things.
Ordinary-sized life.

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And I wish that were true.

The Mental Toys: Domenech the Stupid (2)/Ick

I know I should spend my blog-space cheering for the deservingly mighty WORLD CHAMPIONS, but let me remind the readers of how stupid Raymond Domenech is.

He dropped my favorite French player for the upteenth time from the French national team. David Trezeguet, 10 goals in 11 matches for Juventus so far, easily the most potent finisher in Italy, possibly among the best in Europe. And he won't be playing against Ukraine. So let's hope for France to have no bite next week.

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I am glad Donadoni is not saying much about the Scotland game. I am anxious. The WORLD CHAMPIONS have an incredibly tricky game to secure qualification. One can only hope that Italy goes all out to do what they do best. Shut out the enemy and go for a 0-0 draw. If they can dive and nail a penalty that would be great, too.

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The Phoenix Suns is off to a not so great start. But they will pick up eventually. I'm not very worried.

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Tomorrow is Tung Ling alumni dinner. Am very the excited as it will be a chance to meet friends and more friends.

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Transport is an unpleasant disaster as a whole. I try not to talk about it publicly, but I am generally very irritated every Saturday and Sunday. And on other days I'm irritated because I know I'll be irritated on Saturday and Sunday. So that must sound like I'm perpetually irritated.

And people kinda mix me and Daniel up, calling us on wrong days. And calling me a day earlier knowing full well I don't take anything down because I'm usually trying to fulfill other commitments.

But that's that.

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I spent the last two days writing quite a lot of different things. Been a while since I felt productive. Some for official business, some for personal pleasures.

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Susanna made me addicted to a new game. It's called 4 second something. It's here.
http://www.jmtb02.com/flash/foursecondfrenzy.htm

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Watch Stardust. It's a very good love story.

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Look! Something is happening.

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And a quick update. I finally got forced into buying a striped shirt. Hurrah for the girl.

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The Mental Toys: I Support The Golden Compass!!!

Stardust is very good. Apart from the less inspiring change in ending (which is still nice), the movie is one of those love stories that holds my heart and spins my head into a childish frenzy. Yes. Watch. Easily 9.9578563/10.

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The fuss about The Golden Compass irritates me just about as much as the fuss about The DaVinci Code about a year ago. I firmly believe there is a tremendous amount of power that can be generated with silence and conscious ignorance. I am a Christian. I naturally am displeased with the themes found in The Da Vinci Code and The Golden Compass, and even Harry Potter. I generally discourage children from watching these things (although yes, I do read and watch some of these things to know exactly what the fuss is about, but that too, is changing within me). Yes I do think it is an abomination to write about these things. Yes I do think that these books contain lies that are severe and very very damaging to people's lives.

But I would rather not give these books and movies free publicity. I sometimes think that street protests and massive online campaigns to boycott certain shows and movies contribute largely to these films' overall revenue, thanks to stirring intrigue and interest.

A very nice example would be a recent local documentary, The Last Communist. It was banned in Malaysia for literal reasons. I'll be frank and tell you that the pirates will sell it well. People will order it off the net, bring it in from other shores, and watch it. Because it was so openly critisized and scrutinized and reported in many major newspapers.

Now let's be honest and realistic here. If no one said a thing about it, it would've screened in the cinemas to a small audience, create almost no fuss, and pass on into the archives of completed films in two weeks. End of story. No controversy.

I'll address this issue once. I might address again it in the far future. But I don't want to be wasting my words and time and effort and money shouting out protests and appeals for boycotts because quite honestly, it's really stupid. It's free publicity for things I don't like.

Sometimes we need to make a stand, don't get me wrong. But most of the time, seriously, we need to just take no heed, and let it pass. And you'll realize that nobody cares.

Yes, Nicole Kidman and all that jazz will make people watch it anyway. Bla bla bla. But for goodness sake, stop highlighting the whole atheist thing. If you highlight it, and a kid chooses to watch it anyway, that will be the only bloody (mind my language) thing they will see in the show. Opening your big mouth is sometimes the biggest harm you can do about these things.

Again, sometimes, I think, we need to make a stand. Most times, shutting up would do.

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And anyway.

It's just my personal observation, and my personal stand. Feel free to be offended. Feel free to take it personally. Because even if I said don't take it personally, some people would take it personally anyway. So I might as well go with the flow. Hah.

The Mental Toys: FGT - 365 Student Ministry

So it's finally online. The video that took me and Paul wanted to do for some time.
This is Full Gospel Tabernacle's youth ministry, also known as 365 Student Ministry.



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So come!

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I must say I had tremendous fun shooting this little project. It was nothing particularly fancy, really, but it was a fun experience.

It started some time in 2007. The previous youth promotional video was getting outdated, and me and Paul decided that we were doing too many videos and wanted to do something that would last at least two years before anyone's gotta think about a promo video again.

You see, the usual case would be, I write the thing. I draw it out. Then either me or Paul will shoot it. Then Paul will cut it up. Sometimes it's good. Sometimes it's bad. So this time. We were lazy.

Or rather, I was lazy.

So I got him to ask a bunch of other youths to write out ideas and proposals. And we collated maybe about 4 or 5 ideas. And Jamie's one stood out tremendously, mostly because it had some visual potential that excited me. Then we parked it in my brains and left it for a few months.

Then we wrote the thing out properly (it's scaled down a lot) and shot the thing. It was very fun dragging Jamie (she's the actress too) and Paul around Subang Jaya shooting stuff. And that was that. Then we cut it. And we screened it.

Mental Toys: Domenech the Stupid

This man insults me. The French coach. Raymond Domenech.

Domenech said France would go all out to win in Ukraine.

"We are not Italy. We play every match to win it. Anyway, we have our fate in our own hands," he said.

Like I said. This man insults me. I sincerely hope Ukraine stuns the French. France will probably qualify for the Euro finals, then it'd be great if Italy meets France in the final again, and this time we'll win in a more convincing fashion.

Wait. I hope France and Italy gets drawn in the same group again, then have the French shut out of the playoffs because Italy played to a draw against them. That would be very fun.

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Zoo Photos

Zoo

More to come. Sarah's pretty emotional right now after a day at the zoo (due to her meeting her long lost relatives. I think she shed a tear at some point, when she saw the chimp, and also when she saw the Hippo [I think she recognized her future form there] and yeah, well. She's very emo now. She didn't want to leave. [and she felt a connection, a bond of sorts with the babi hutan] but shhh she doesn't know I'm telling you all these), and I don't have my photoshop with me cos I just reformatted my PC, so here's just one pic. Will post more later.