Ari Adzmin's blog

Monday Night Movie

Directed by Jane Campion

    On the 18th of January, Annexe held their Monday Night Movie, a series of monthly film screenings, with titles chosen and introduced (usually) by guest curators. It was their sixth title so far. This time around it was “An Angel At My Table” (1990), selected and introduced by Jerome Kugan, the organizer of the Monday Night Movie series. Catched the movie with Yasmin, the only one I knew who would actually consider coming along to such an event, let alone sitting through the whole 158 minutes of screen time about a writer in the 1950's. Though one thing that I found odd was that the event's page on fb says it has 153 confirmed guests, though those who actually came was more or less(something to that effect, haha) around 30.

    Anyhow, the film was quite decent. Not a C.R.A.Z.Y., but overall a good movie considering it was made when I was just born. Directed by Jane Campion, more known for her movie, "The Piano" which won her an Academy Award. Oh and speaking of Jane Campion, can't wait for her latest movie, "Bright Star" to hit Malaysian shores. But back to the film that was played at the Annexe, it was a biopic of Janet Frame, about her journey from being raised in a poor family in the 1920's to her discovery and love of writing to being misdiagnosed as a schizophrenic and her rather uneasy rise to literary fame. The film won a few awards including the Grand Special Jury Prize and the International Critics Award at the Venice and Toronto Film Festival, respectively. So check it out and judge it for yourself.

ps; it's been a while since I've been to Annexe, especially post-KAMI. thanks again Ben, for accompanying me, the whole day.

Dear Friend; 1992

...Once on a paper torn from his notebook
    he wrote a poem
And he called it "Innocence: A Question"
    because that was the question about his girl
And that's what it was all about
And his professor gave him an A
    and a strange steady look
And his mother never hung it on the kitchen door
    because he never showed her
That was the year that Father Tracy died
And he forgot how the end
    of the Apostle's Creed went
And he caught his sister
    making out on the back porch
And his mother and father never kissed
    or even talked
And the girl around the corner
    wore too much makeup
That made him cough when he kissed her
    but he kissed her anyway
    because that was the thing to do
And at three a.m. he tucked himself into bed
    his father snoring soundly

That's why on the back of a brown paper bag
    he tried another poem
And he called it "Absolutely Nothing"
Because that's what it was really all about
And he gave himself an A
and a slash on each damned wrist
And he hung it on the bathroom door
    because this time he didn't think
    he could reach the kitchen.

-Charlie, The Perks of Being A Wallflower

Dear Friend; 1991

Once on a yellow piece of paper with green lines
    he wrote a poem
And he called it "Chops"
    because that was the name of his dog
And that's what it was all about
And his teacher gave him an A
    and a gold star
And his mother hung it on the kitchen door
   and read it to his aunts
That was the year Father Tracy
   took all the kids to the zoo
And he let them sing on the bus
And his little sister was born
   with tiny toenails and no hair
And his mother and father kissed a lot
And the girl around the corner sent him a
    Valentine signed with a row of X's
    and he had to ask his father what the X's meant
And his father always tucked him in bed at night
And was always there to do it

Once on a piece of white paper with blue lines
    he wrote a poem
And he called it "Autumn"
    because that was the name of the season
And that's what it was all about
And his teacher gave him an A
    and asked him to write more clearly
And his mother never hung it on the kitchen door
    because of its new paint
And the kids told him
    that Father Tracy smoked cigars
And left butts on the pews
And sometimes they would burn holes
That was the year his sister got glasses
    with thick lenses and black frames
And the girl around the corner laughed
    when he asked her to go see Santa Claus
And the kids told him why
    his mother and father kissed a lot
And his father never tucked him in bed at night
And his father got mad
    when he cried for him to do it...

Civil(ian) (senseless)War

V

The first thing I found out when I woke up today made me go what the F where they thinkin'?! Sorry but this latest matter enrages me in ways you can't imagine. But at the same time it generates a far off fear of unlikely civil war.

First off I'd like to say I'm not a man who's into politics, nor am I that devout, though I believe I'm faithful enough, but the bombings of three churches is just overwhelming. When I was a child I've lived a few years within a colony consisting of Christians and Muslims in the States. We both got along just swell (or maybe I was too young).

Though the fact that we Malaysians are fighting amongst each other (notice that I did not say Christians and Muslims) is the one thing I'm most disappointed with. Regarding the 'Allah' dispute among my fellow Muslims, here's an article from Marina Mahathir to to clear thy mind. But after seeing the post in The New York Times it saddens me to think of how the world sees us now through those photos and words.

I just hope that the vox populi of Malaysians in the future will not be of constant religious hate and civil feuds. But I also do not wish to get too political or religious on a blog so I'll leave you with a link to an interesting post by Dizzy about this event.

photo source: link

Well Uhh...

It's 2010 dammit!

Sorry for the elaborate absence. No, I don't plan to write any resolutions. I don't believe in New Year resolutions since why change for the better only at the beginning of a year when one could change at any moment, no? But anyhow, I shall post something up when I got my shit together for you all to enjoy(stalk) later. Till then pendejos!

photo souce: [link]

In Denmark We Play, In Paris We Sing

Beirut busking 'Nantes' in the streets of Paris, Oberkampf in July 2007 for The Take-Away Show

To those who aren't familiar with The Take-Away Shows, it's a podcast site founded by Chryde and Vincent Moon who are the art producer and director respectively. Everyweek or so they invite an artist or band to play in the streets, in a bar, a park, apartment or even in the elevator, and they film the whole session. Their goal is to capture those priceless hesitations and interruption and the raw ambience of the surroundings.

The site has been around since 2006. A lot of unique bands have been featured by them since then including Sigur Rós, Múm, Bon Iver, Animal Collective, Architecture In Helsinki, R.E.M., Foals, Malajube and Arcade Fire just to name a few. And now directors across the world are joining the project, and they are planning to extend it worldwide. There is a Youtube channel that was inspired by the site and made their own videos, ShootThePlayer. Though I visited their channel only because they had Kaki King performing an acoustic live version of Life Being What It Is.

Also, Chryde and Vincent Moon are the ones who helped made the "Cheap Magic Inside" movie with Beirut, which I'll be talking about later. Till then, enjoy the links.

You've Got Text

Izzy: Baby, sedapkan meatballs yang kita makan tadi tu? Yang kat Ikea tu..
Alia: Ha'ah kan, I suka gravy dgn jam lebih.
Izzy: Tula, I makan 15 meatballs kot tadi. Tula kenyang tu..
Alia: Eh mana boleh kenyang! Who's gonna finish the Daim Cake?
Izzy: Oh yeah the Daim cake, okay now you're making me hungry again.

End of text

Evil couple, Pure Evil.

Of Ink and Charcoal

Blankets

Craig Thompson

Eversince I was a child, I imagined drawing chronicles of the endeavors and phases I go through in life. The first inspirational ignition was from Calvin and Hobbes when I read them as a child, which tells the highly imaginative days of Calvin and his tiger friend Hobbes, which is actually a stuffed toy. Then when I moved back to Malaysian shores it was Mohammad Nor Khalid's(more commonly known as Lat) Kampung Boy, an autobiography of his earlier life as a child living in a traditional Malaysian kampung. When I reached my teens I watched American Splendor, where Paul Giamatti portrayed Harvey Pekar, who writes an autobiographical underground comic book by the same title as the movie.

And now, on the verge of turning 19, my last year of wild nights and constant procrastination before I hit the big double O and all this teenage illusion of security will be shattered by life's cold harsh reality, I finished Blankets; a book I've been meaning to read since the first time I laid eyes on it at Izzy's place a few years ago. Blankets is an illustrated novel by Craig Thompson, a coming-of-age autobiography.

Thompson has said that the novel grew out of a simple idea: "to describe what it feels like to sleep next to someone for the first time". It is named as one of the Top Ten Graphic Novels of All Time by Time Magazine. Indeed it is as good as Izzy's hype about it. It's around 500 pages plus long but it's actually a short read, almost only half as long as The Perks of Being A Wallflower if this book was written in text. In fact I finished it in around two hours plus. But the illustration in this book is just amazing, in my opinion.

And the messages it gives to the readers, some direct, some metaphorical, some just blindingly beautiful. After reaching the last page, I was even more determined to do my own Calvin and Hobbes, Kampung Boy, American Splendor and Blankets one day. In the meantime...

... I wish I would draw as often as I did back then.

And perhaps the day might come, when I'll draw my own Blankets.

page; 129

Fragments

When a horse falls, foam comes out of it's mouth. When it falls, the legs of the horse thrash, and the horse is no good, so somebody shoots it. The horse turns into glue. A machine puts the glue into bottles and children squeeze the bottles to get the glue out and stick bits of paper onto cards. Glue gets on the children's hands, and the children eat the glue..

..and the children become the horse.

- Tracey Burkowitz

Stuck On Route 66

Juicing Up

Shutterspeed Playground

Mok