ASAM sketching session 1

So we successfully held our first ASAM sketching/photography event.

Turn-up was good, those who woke up early on a sunny Sunday morning reaped benefits in the form of colourful pictures (to add to their collection).

Picture credits go to Christina Seow, Charlene Chen, Tom Kitchen, Ratna Wu, Sue-Anne Lim. For beautiful old-school camera pictures, you can follow Charlene at http://plasticstory.tumblr.com/

Some more pictures of...

Pity Poetry #1

We try something new this week: Pity Poetry.

This the chance for all the ASAM (otherwise known as Aku Sepi Aku Merana) fans out there, to share their emo-ness to the world.

Don't limit your unhappiness to status messages and constricting tweets, put them here for all cyberspace to see for eternity.

As Shrek would say, 'better out than in!'

As no proper poet managed to send their pieces in time, as the editor I thought I'd get the ball rolling with 2 cringingly amateur, but definitely emo, poems of mine.

If you think you can spare me further embarrassment in the future, send your works to asam.melbourne@gmail.com - Ltf

Soul-baring begins after the jump

Best of October's ASAMevent 2010

Videos after the jump

3rd ASAMevent and counting

I always been in love with live acts where spontaneity rules. Sure, there are hiccups, but a person is only a mere human being. This is the philosophy of ASAMevent.

So what is this ASAMevent? ASAMevent is a platform for people to share their stuff with others. To express their feelings and thoughts to the audience rather than keeping it to their self. Better yet they do it by expressing those sentiments through their songs, poems, movies, and etc.

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Local boys Fear of A Brown Planet bring up the heat at Allah Made Me Funny's Melbourne gig

A group of people walked out of the audience after a joke about ANZAC Day.  ‘It’s not funny!’ a lady shouted to the comic before walking out with the rest of the group. The comic, Amer Rahman, coolly replied, ‘Then why is everyone else laughing?’

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Joaquin Phoenix doesn't want to be famous?

We will never know if Casey Affleck made a mistake when he let slip that 'I'm Still Here' is a work of fiction early in the film's release. The announcement, planned or otherwise, colours how a viewer views this mockumentary.



 For a long time, the many stunts, appearance and media buzz that sprung from Joaquin Pheonix career change allowed the project to be question mark in the public's mind: is this actually happening?
The number of views, column inches and airtime that the Letterman appearance alone generated showed how valuable this confusion was to the makers of the movie.

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Short Flicks 2010: good stories shine through anyway

I guess it’s natural to be dismissive of home movies. We generally like our entertainment to be shiny and smooth-looking, qualities generally absent from the grainy outputs of our wannabe auteur friends.

For the technical purist, La Trobe Student Film and Theatre’s Short Flicks, would have been an unmitigated disaster. In the time it took to watch the 9 shorts, you would have learned a lot about how not to shoot a film.



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Not being a friend’s home screening, slipping out for a drink midway wasn’t an option. Sitting through it was the only polite thing to do, besides being the only option. Slinking out unnoticed from the middle row of a cinema is actually very hard to do.

By now, I would’ve made a fair number of new enemies with the above review, but wait seething friends, there’s more!

Films are more than just dollies and good lighting and good, levelled sound, it’s also about the story.

Technique has to come paired Tale. We end up with Avatar otherwise.

The short films screened at Short Flicks offered many different stories to the viewers. The coordinators selected very well, and judging by the audience’s reaction, their efforts were much appreciated.

The beauty of the short film format is the flexibility to experiment and really be out there, without having to really worry about trivial matters like continuity, plausibility and the like.

The shorts on show demonstrated this. The final selection covered a wide range of genres, from bro-coms to surrealist love stories. There were few dull moments in the program.


WHAT WE LIKED:

Blended

Built around the simple premise of being slusheed by a masked stalker, George Lingard’s  beautifully shot tale of suspense plays on the paralysing dread we feel when facing predictably bad days.

In the dark

Is there a term for human-furniture romance? This short film follows the budding romance between a girl and a desk lamp. A surreal love story set in the suburbs, we see how everything just wants to be loved.


Eulogy

Almost like a stoner movie of two bros writing each other’s eulogies. Almost.

Short Flicks introduces future auteurs

by Syar S Alia

Short Flicks is a short film program held by La Trobe Student Theatre & Film and has been going on for more than 10 years. We ask for script submissions - they can be about anything and can be anywhere between 1 minute (or even less if you want) to about 20 minutes (we negotiate with those who want to do something longer, we try and encourage people to keep it simple) - sometime in May, select from those submissions a handful to support and fund. We have 9 this year that has made it all the way from script, and on October 4th when we show them at ACMI cinemas, to screen.

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In Sydney: The Robots Came... and Went

When I first came to Melbourne, I was intrigued with public sculptures in the city, like the three business men and the dog at the corner of Collins and Swanston St, which is apparently named Larry Latrobe!

credit: http://melbourneartcritic.wordpress.com/2009/08/17/melbourne’s-public-sculpture/

I mean, sculptures makes us stop and stare admire, and think; which is what I was happy to see happen in Sydney for The Robots Are Coming exhibition (being part of the organizing team that made it happen).

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Spring 2010: what to wear?

Say goodbye to harsh weather and icy winds, Melbourne, because winter is finally over. It's finally time to keep our heavy coats away, reorganize our wardrobes and make way for spring. This season, it's a lot about getting girly and feminine- lace, nude, light-wash chambray and flowers!

Style tips and more after the jump! 

'14 years on, Sheila on 7 is still our home'

ASAMtv is super excited to introduce our latest guest: SHEILA ON 7!

video after the jump

Make anything a reason for you to write

So you're a writer in your mid 20s/30s. Yes young, and have everything else against you. Are you being overly critical

or is it just the nature of young ones to feel insecure and think that nothing is right. 

Credit: Dylan

When, you first picked up a pen and wrote, you just wanted to bash everything up, from the public's bad taste in music, typical soapy films that you think should only be in vcds, not in the cinema, on how cities should have more green places and so on and so forth.

Apart from maybe causing an uproar to the readers, you gain something. You revise your style of writing, your language, and your content. Maybe back then you are 'too young' and wanted some attention from the readers that you opt for extreme edgy kind of writings. Though, not all things suddenly turns wrong. It's just you.

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sunday sketching, 26/9/2010, 10.30am

Date: Sunday 26^th September

Time: 10.30am

Venue: Fitzroy Gardens, meet outside conservatory

http://www.fitzroygardens.com/Index%20Page.htm

Activity:

Photography, drawing

You need not be an amazing artist, just bring some pen and paper or your camera. Meet us, get into chat mode, and we’ll get some creative juices flowing in no time! And soon, we’ll be exchanging notes and ideas! It’ll be fun!

And the best part is, it’s FREE! (Did you know that people pay amounts to sketch at life drawing classes?)

Jia's story after the jump

We 'eid' too much

We're taking a break to rest our bursting stomaches today.

Who knew having so many nasi himpits, rendangs, almond londons, tat nenas and assorted other juadah cause so much discomfort!

From the ASAM family, Selamat Hari Raya!

Cory Doctorow: Artists earn more from sales if they do more

Don’t hate that downloader, he might be making you rich. ‘The most profligate downloaders are the most profligate anything,’ according to Cory Doctorow of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, ‘They are the ones who enjoy the most music, the one who downloads the most music and goes to the most gigs.’ Artists and content creators risk destroying valuable, financially lucrative, relationships by coming down hard on the illegal activity of these fans.

Marriage, the invitation to bridal misery

By Jiayueh Choong

credit:

LadyVampiress

So I’ve found the reason why Disney insists on playing on the sappy story line where the ditzy princess’ aim in life is no higher than settling for marriage with Mr. Love-at-first-sight.

Ever noticed that treasure-seeking adventure stories mostly involve an exploding temple/shrine/cove? I believe that therein lies a subconscious moral, to warn us that money should not come that easily to those who don’t work hard for it. Robbing/taking treasure that you did not collect comes with great life-threatening risks.

A backstage ticket to Malam Gemilang 2010's trailer shoot

In a special collaboration with KUAM, ASAMtv goes behind the scenes of this year's Malam Gemilang trailer shoot.



The producers recreate the feel of a 60s cocktail party on a chilly afternoon in a Melbourne suburb, with cues from classic P Ramlee films, giving it a unique Malaysian flavour.

Check out the costumes!

Video by Lutfi Hakim for ASAMtv.

Malam Gemilang 2010 Trailer after the jump.

Just Acapella it!

So you think you got talent eh? Rest assure, your not the only one with the talent. Here are round of talents that i've managed to gather, thanks to Youtube that had made the talent-sphere more reachable which might inspire you out there to go for extra mile. Seriously, don't hold back, unleash your talent. Who knows you might change the world. ;)

The Acapella.

So it's Merdeka again...

The humidity, the heat, the haze, we are thousands of miles away from all that.

credit: Zaiful

The cramped units of the cheap flats, the perilous hours on the roads; some of us have never seen that, some of us would rather forget.
But come the 31st, we raise our hands chant, 'Merdeka.'

Wanita dalam Pasungan: Some girls just don't get it

This movie was made in the late 70's, we were reminded halfway through the Q&A. 'Women in Indonesia then weren't expected to voice out,' Hendrick Gozali, the illustrious Indonesian producer, said. Male figures were not to be challenged. The thought itself was indecent for women.

So goes the thread in the movie 'Wanita dalam Pasungan' (Shackled Woman), a movie from 1980 screened as part of the Indonesian Film Festival. Fitria, a Javanese girl from Jogjakarta, is put under pasungan by her father to lift her insanity. He locks her away for years until a nosy Jakartan reporter discovers her existence and convinces her to tell her story.