Survial thingy

Keeping a job means survival. It also means do whatever it takes to earn for a living. A person would have to choose either to be in the right direction or the wrong and of course, in between. For example, being in positive direction means is to become a teacher and to have a negative career means selling drugs. In Thailand, prostitution is a legal career.

However, we need to clarify ourselves, what is the purpose of our career and what will the direction be in the future? It almost comes to whatever it takes to earn for living. I was amazed, disgusted and feel for what happen concerning the video my friend pass to me via email, showing how badly raccoons slaughtered while they are still breathing. All because of cosmetic demands, such beloved noble creature such as raccoon, become victim of human. I told my colleague that if I ever see the guy who slaughtered the raccoons, I’m going to ‘kill’ him. However, my friend told me that killing won’t solve anything, as he is also need to earn for living, which he has a point.

Sometimes, never that I thought to see anything around that bothers me other than my family, friends and work. Yes, there are sometimes that I would go and pay a visit to old folks home in Taman Melawati or attend charity or AIDS volunteering program but after seeing the horrible video, there are those out there who face much worst than I am, so I am thankful for that.

I know that we spent almost two years back then in Geelong, Victoria buying few kangaroo skin for home decorations. Without realizing today, my home has now seems to be free from any of that. I don’t see any kangaroo skin or sheep’s skin lying on the floor in our living room. If I do see it in future, I would kept it in our store (Je ne peux pas le brûler ou bien ma mère serait folle à moi!). I’m glad to use Body Shop range as it’s free from animal-test. I think we need to think and act intellectually about it. From this moment on, I would like to ensure that neither me or my friends or anyone around me should wear any animal skin if possible especially fur. If there's a way we can do it, we can start by spreading this awareness. Killing precious creatures is not the best way to go especially the contribution is for cosmetic. So you ladies, just make sure you don't..

You can request for the video, if you have the courage to see it. Just a precaution, make sure you had your lunch or you’re not munching anything in front of this blog in your computer. Terrible things might happen. You might loose your mood or appetite to eat.

Chances Are:

This picture, which I like, was taken by my dear friend who is now in South France. Gabby, thanks! (Click for hi-res). Skali tengok cam bertapa la pulak! cheh..

'Wish I wasn't, in love with you, so u can un-hurt me'. I always listen to this song sang by Heather Headley. It's nice. To you, my love, there are times we can forget things but the love we have wasn't just love, it was a life. This is the chance for both of us to prove to ourselves that we can make it, till the end. I'm lost without you again, and not to be able to see you again, it would be helpless. But stronger I get, and learn from my mistake, as well as yours, all it takes for us to communicate with each other, that what keeps the day upon us full of sunshine. Never walk out of my life again.



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* another spin...

From Paris with luv

Saturday was awesome. If it wasn't for Riz, I won't be able to experience the most funkies chillout club with Dimitri From Paris at Luna on a VIP pass :P. Hanging out with bunch of creative people from Leo Burnett (and Arc) and few from MFX, Luna was one of the probably best club I've been (for a long, long time) located on the top floor of Pan Global building, next to KL Tower.

I never thought of laying on the semi-sofa nearby the pool watching people having fun while listening to great music, especially when Dimitri From Paris was around. Wish I have the whole list of tracks that night. Thanks Riz!

Sunday? Three open house. I eat so much! From Riz's open house to Yunus (my collegue) and to my sister's (Abby) friend Zizie's open house, it was definately a 'jalan-jalan cari makan'. Yummilicious.




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* two night of dance!

Art Exhibition @ Gema Rimba

Excited and nervous at the same time, I finally join the free-designer exhibition, this time with my juniours who's more successful, famous and artistic than me which includes my pet brother Saiful Razman and dearly sister Rina Shukor, along other

Art Show (Synopsis)
This group exhibition is the first in what is to become an annual Gemarimba Gallery event, where the gallery opens its doors to exciting young talents and established artists, with art works priced at below RM1000, done to make art more accessible to all.

Open House will feature some 60 works from 28 artists, showcasing everything from jewellery works by Terry Law to sculptures by Goh Chiu Kuan and even paintings by Suzlee Ibrahim, just to name a few.

Other participating artists are Abd Latiff Padzali, Abu Bakar Idris, Angie Seah, Baktiar Naim Jaafar, Filib Schurmann, Hasanul Isyraf, Juita Jaafar Manap, M. Bakir Baharom, M. Fazli Othman, M. Firdaus Shah A. Karim, M. Radzi Ismail, M. Razif M. Rathi, M. Sarip Abd Rahman, M. Suhaimi Ahmad, Maggie Tan, Muid Latif, Niki Cheong, Norhaslinda Nordin, Nurul Aida, Rina Abd Shukor, Saiful Razman, Salmah Ali, Sharaad, Wan Mohd Zulkifli Wan Yaakob and Yazila Yaman.



Date:
Sun 27 Nov - Mon 26 Dec 2005

Venue:
Gemarimba Gallery
B-8, Taman Tunku Apartments,
Taman Tunku, Bukit Tunku, 50480,
Kuala Lumpur
Phone: 603- 6201 3505

Tues - Sun: 11.30am - 8pm;
Mon: By Appointment Only

Admission: FREE

For futher information, you can visit the link provided below :)
http://kakiseni.com/events/exhibitions/Nzc2NQ.html

Thanks guys! Oh..and credit goes to Rizal & Suzanne for helping me out with the canvas.



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It's A Designer's Life! (Part 4)

It seems obvious what we have seen in today’s design community. Either we aware or not, besides plagiarism, there are more things that reflects the growth of the local wired culture. I’ve been in communities for years, but recently, we are able to see a lot of new young and emerging designers put priority not on their works, rather their appearance (face, name and glamour). So how can we see passion in designers today?

Are we vain?
Can we entitle ourselves designers or celebrity? There are so many ‘celebrities wannabe’ out there who don’t understand the definition of DESIGNER and CELEBRITIES. Why do I relate to celebrities? One of the few example, there are few individuals who likes to approach to online communities, portal, medias and press carrying the title 'designer' but none of that particular person show how strong his/her ideas & concept. Hmm.. talk about getting famous for nothing? It's like you join a reality-show (for example, Malaysian Idol and such) to gain popularity, being featured his/her face in TV shows, newspapers and magazines without realizing the fact that his/her album only sell less than 15,000 unit? That's what's going on in both industry. We want to be so popular as whatsoever we want to call ourselves but we don't care to emerge, improve and grow from our work, taking on step ahead further. I mean, I had that problem once, but when I mix with different crowd, you will get to see and experience more. You learn more, you gain more creative. You take risk to explore and try out new things. I start out using Photoshop, now I love to use Illustrator which I thought I can never use any of the tools. I never thought doing graffiti can be so much 'fun', where I discovered how to differentiate thick and thin lines, working out a throwup in dark and that feeling when you felt like someone is watching you ;-). I began to carry my sketch book everytime I went out of the house. Like Shieko (one of my mentor) said, keep drawing, you will master it. So what do I have to say when I refer to celebrities? Joshua Davis. WWFT (Mike Cina & Young). There are more! This people have passion as an artist/designer/ideas/and achieve themselves as a star.

Designers invent, recreate, design, Celebrities live for what their put their effort on – work, and taking the advantage of it to gain more business, but we locals seeing it as popularity, not to work hard and smart to get more income in our lives. Why do we see so many young designers out there emphasizing on their name so much, yet we see less work, which doesn’t assemble with the quality of work they do. So, are they to into themselves?

Not revamping, not facelift but recycling your ancient work
I came across many websites especially the local designers. This is by no means to put their self-esteem away, but rather to take this so-called issue for positive act and finally to find a solution. When I browse their website or portfolio, what I can see is only a huge label of names (example ‘AZMIL MUSTAFA’) which however showcase such a small amount of work. It is more tragic to see the work that they had showcased is from their very own college work, which happens to be way back years ago. Do we ever came across our mind that there are web visitors out there who has been following our works and progress? The answer is yes. Like art, an artist MUST NOT recycle back their artwork. They are hurting their collectors and buyers.

A lot who claim to be web designers could not even figure out how layout works. Why? Don’t use a blogger template or some other templates to layout your portfolio. It’s not a professional way to do it. If you want to be smart, there is a way and we called it ‘creative modification’. This is because YOU are building your brand through a website; you want to sell your own idea, NOT from other people’s idea or work. If you said you don’t have the time to build your website or a portfolio, there’s always time. We designers also should read more, do more research and be mature in our creative thinking. Don’t ever be in one circle of community, mix and communicate because communication is important, and it’s the key to all of us, designers.





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* more to write ;)

another obstacle, another day...

Private Graf Session with ARTVST, Shieko and our ultimate DELTA!

So so many stuff to update, so little time. You guys can visit my fotopages for updates on iDN trip to Singapore. I'm working on so many stuff including upcoming art exhibition at Gema Rimba in Damansara on the 26th of November. Moga ada rezeki
lah hendaknya....

For my friends who came to my open house (part 1), thanks for coming. Riz Ainuddin, BJ, Ika, Rahim & Family, you guys are most unexpected guest ever! Many thanks!


Click to see this pic in hi-res, from Bangkok with luv

Reschedule my time
Yes, been having trouble sleeping so I'm currently trying to get back to the system. Multivitamins, Tongkat Ali and Ginseng will be my pet for timebeing.

Other than that, reading more books and I had started back my water color sesion. Need a lot of improvement on this. Let see how my new direction goes.

Webby?

Google seems to be getting busy day by day, with much success. Now you can
post classifieds and ads at Google Base!

Ok, I'm pretty much of a Windows user now but Tiger has never been better. With better UI, Microsoft will be releasing Windows Vista soon. To support or not?

We all know Favorite Website Awards (FWA) features stunning website across the gallaxy, now revamp with funkylicious front+backend. Way to go guys!

Have u guys seen V for Vendetta starring Natalie Portman? She's wicked!

For futher updates on the Malaysian Kancil Awards 2005, check out Riz's bloggie.




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*looking back at my past to find out what really accure..what I do wrong. Another new resolution for me to upgrade myself for a better 'Muid'.

Farewell Ramadan, Welcome Syawal

Now that Ramadhan is over, there will be no more of money- saving for me and this month will be ‘an expensive’ month as I had almost spent my money for Raya (Eid Aidilfitri) preparation. Starting with car service, Raya ‘shopping’ (I hate that word) with nice t-shirts and clothes. Then I bought Adidas shoe (here we go again), ‘belanja’ (bought) Abby a pair of really nice MNG shoe, then The Body Shop line (yes, I’m getting old and need some skin-care as describe by my physician). I bought more supplement multivitamins and last but not least, I bought more of ‘barang dapur’ (grocery). I never thought buying grocery can be so expensive these days (well, actually depend on what you need), for RM60 spent on ‘lite’ food (which can only last 3-4 days) is really expensive, but to think that I usually top-up or reload my prepaid mobile with RM60 twice a month, I think it’s worth lah.

We had recently went back to Ipoh & Batu Gajah, Perak with my family back to our hometown. Thought of having an open house, but I forgot that this entire week, I will be in Singapore for iDN DesignEdge conferrence. I will be continuing my DMP revamp for the entire month. I don’t want to talk a lot on office work, God knows why. More than 50 mocks produced in just one month. To me, it's a great practice.

For 'other' side of the story of my Raya, kindly proceed to my sister's blog.

Self-improvement (again)

I’m converting myself as a 'vegetarian' starting this month, as a result of Gaby (My French dearest friend) taught me how to make French Salad. I’m making and eating as much salad as I can (I once hate anything green on my food) and eat less ‘red meat’ as possible. I like the Arabian Salad at Food Court, KLCC. It’s nice. Talk about KLCC, last Saturday we had our breakfast (Iftar) at KLCC. The usual cast are SWS (with Ewas, finally!), Rooty & Zul, Perez & Emma, Yadd, Iki & SamWise. And I just had visited Sona / Mika's Open House in PJ with such nice makan-makan, along all his mat salleh uncles and aunty speaking French. Haha...

I bought few books and magazines, including ‘Learning French Audio CD’ which currently ‘invaded’ my iPod (besides the marvelous Coldplay, Foo Fighters, Kelly Price, Melly Goeslow and Adibah Noor). Walking everyday now and then with ‘Berlitz: Rush Hour Express French’. It’s really effective and will buy Japanese & Italian soon. Oui! As ya’all* know, Apple is facing another lawsuit from it’s consumer for iPod Nano, so I’m not planning to buy new iPod anytime soon. If ONLY I have extra budget, I would rather just buy the new iPod video (where I can enjoy watching Samurai Champloo Season 2 on-the-move) which I might be getting it somewhere in December or January next year together with the nicely-designed Seiko Chronograph watch which I had been eyeing for the last two weeks (and I know it’s the watch I can afford to buy*).

*In American-African tone / expression

The Magic Mind

I already began my research on Islamic Rug design and ceramic design for my new artworks for 2006. You guys might wanna check out few great new book releases at the Gift shop of Islamic Art Museum, Kuala Lumpur. Anyway, I got an upcoming art show this 28th of November where I will showcase my web installation series (digital print on canvas) and my new mix media artwork for sale. Another side income I have to make in order to help my family (especially my sister Aniq who’s getting married this December). I hope I will participate and submit more works to magazines such as Juice, KLue, Play (Singapore) and Territory 5. Everytime I hang out with Orkibal, Shieko, almost the entire SWS team, I felt very inspired and envy, that they all can do great characters and can come up with brilliant ideas. I love hanging out with them, you'll get more creative and think out of the box. Can't wait to see the ARTVST team in Singapore. Which remind me to call up Suzane of Izu Gallery to assist me on canvas.



I’m now back in my botak (bald) look, I want to keep it this way lah. It’s been so hard to manage a hair, plus I get to save my money on ‘Minyak Rambut’, Hair Gel and stuff).

Have you try the personally test?

I was given the opportunity to become the Final Judges (for the 2nd time) for the Philippines 6th Web Awards along other top super guru’s such as Joshua Davis, Carole Guevin, Drew Europeo and the rest, so I found out one great community portal which have this interesting personality test. I got 6 points and it’s worth trying. Anyway, you guys can start voting for cool & great websites over PWA official site.

URL: http://www.itzamatch.com/per_test_intro.jsp


About My Blog

First of all, I don’t really like writing this, but I need to justify myself in my own blog. I’m just seeing a lot of true colors of people lately. Sometimes it can be quite offensive to talk about people. I just want to make this blog as a part of my virtual place to meditate and express myself. However, there has been few temper tantrum visitors who express ‘negative comments’ about my attitude or my personal life. This blog had been created to express myself what I feel to write and what I like to have because I own this. Critics I most welcome is that I love to accept anyone giving me motivation, tips, improving my writing (especially my spellings and grammar mistakes).

So, having said that, I decided to remove my ‘Shoutbox’. It’s useless to see such person ‘abuse’ technologu. You see, bangsa lain bagi ucapan ‘Salam Raya’ (Like Caryn, Chris Goh, & My dear friends like Godot, Deheart, Awan and the rest. Yang Melayu tu tak habis-habis khianat bangsa sendiri. Never ending ‘Your Wrong, I’m Right battle’ la kan. Sometimes I don’t even know why the waste their time reading my blog if they found my blog is annoying to them, why they keep coming back? Look, there are thousand of creative out there made it well and of course, much more successful than I am, and I’m glad to learn from them and be a part of them, I got lots of things to catch up and still learning. I have the privilege to become someone who had inspired the new generation of designers. So if you said my work is not important, honey, believe me, it’s really important. Most important is that for you to keep up with me either my life is like cats and dogs or sunny days; I’m all good and fine. I get paid for what I do and a part from that; I channel my experience to the new generation for the better future careers. At least, it all paid of as few did email me and thank for giving them something to share. So to these haters, doesn’t mean you work in some big agency or some big production house, doesn’t mean you can talk cock like you’re the 10 years of expert, action speaks louder than words, dude. If you have the balls (or pusshy), prove not only to me, but to the youngsters out there that you’re not f*cking scared to channel and share your knowledge and experience to others. Tak elok kedekut ilmu. Another thing, pick on your own size la kan. For example, jangan la you drive Hyundai ke, Kia or Toyota ke, nak berlumba dengan Proton Saga or Perodua Kancil kan? Itu namanya looser.

Anyway, I’m not really mad, just want to let some of you visitors know what’s going on. From today on, I will talk more about sharing ideas & experiences. Banyak sikit pahala dari dengar/layan orang yang dah tentu tak tenteram hidup menyakitkan hati aku nih. Hampeh.

Now, this blog is officially under >disclaimer<.




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