I want my MT...erm, [V] !

I don't watch television (shockingly enough, I don't find my attention span up to it), but I do like appearing on it once in a while.

So here I am being interviewed by Nicholas Saputra last week for a Channel [V] programme that will air next month. I am babbling about the book and my movies.


I worked with Nicholas in 2004 and would like to do so again, since he's such a level-headed type. By contrast, some of the Malaysian quote-unquote stars one has had to deal with in this vale of tears are screeching banshees!

* Photo by the award-winning Chris Chong, with whom I am now working on a secret book.

Singapore civil servants do the darndest things

During one of my interviews to promote the book I mused, perhaps rashly, that "Singaporean politicians are more media-savvy, so they won't do or say anything that might embarrass them."



Thanks to Ben Slater for the heads-up. Ben is younger than me, but he has a most recommended book, Kinda Hot, which actually galvanised me to start publishing non-fiction books when I read it last year. I made sure to name-check him in my interview in this month's TELL magazine too.

Malaysian movies in Jakarta

My documentaries Apa Khabar Orang Kampung (Village People Radio Show) and Lelaki Komunis Terakhir (The Last Communist) are just two of several Malaysian movies to screen at the 9th Jakarta International Film Festival next month. The others are Mukhsin, Love Conquers All, Flower in the Pocket, and Chalanggai (Dancing Bells), all of which I cannot recommend highly enough. All the pemutaran are gratis!

Also showing are several films in a P. Ramlee retrospective: Bujang Lapok, Hang Tuah, Labu & Labi, Nujum Pak Belalang and Laksamana Do Re Mi.

This is a rare chance for "old" and "new" Malaysian cinema to screen in one function. I will, of course, have more to say about P. Ramlee in the book 120 Malay Movies, since he will be the director with the second-highest number of films in it.

Despite its ubiquitous macet, (a word I find myself using even in Malaysia) Jakarta is one of my favourite cities. So it's a shame I will miss the festival, but the two documentaries will be represented by Danny Lim, who is so busy he has not updated his site in exactly two years.

20% discount for first edition

To celebrate the fact that we are now in our 3rd edition (in the space of 3 months!), I am offering a 20% discount on the remaining copies of the first edition solely at Kinibooks. So now it is a mere RM24.

I am so happy that it has sold almost 4,000 copies in the first two months. This is faster than I expected. So in the spirit of the film producer David Teo* (who gave his director a Mercedes for the fact that Jangan Pandang Belakang is the most successful local flick), I wanna spread some of the lurve around!

The price in actual bookshops remains the same: RM30.

The reason I wanna support Kinibooks is because it's run by Malaysiakini, the best newspaper in the country, despite the fact that it does not distribute paper.

* I have my own David Teo anecdote which I was saving for my sensitively wrought memoirs but which I might as well blurt out now. I hardly know him. But during the time when Lelaki Komunis Terakhir was being banned and discussed in the papers everyday, we found ourselves at a function in the KL Convention Centre. He came up to me and said, "You punya filem komunis ah, banyak publisiti oh ... kalau release sekarang ah, boleh untung oh!" Then he walked off.

How Rafidah Aziz will help promote my book

(This is for the launch of the latest Times bookstore at KL's latest shopping mall).

Date: 23 November 2007
Venue: Times bookstore at Pavilion KL
Time: 9.30am till 12pm

Programme:

9.30am:
Arrival of Guests & Media
Sign-in
10.00am:
Arrival of Guest-of-Honour, Dato Seri Rafidah Aziz, Minister of International Trade and Industry
Welcome Address by Dato’ Ng Jui Sia
Speech by Dato Seri Rafidah Aziz
10.15am:
Opening Gambit comprising the book signing activity by 5 authors (Daphne Lee , Lydia Teh, Rehman Rashid, Amir Muhammad and Florence Thomas)
10.25am:
Author-related Activity
10.35am:
GOH tour of Times bookstores and demos (self-help kiosk, PDA) led by Mr Ong Khiaw Hui
10.50am:
Proceed to early lunch/refreshments

Author's Roles:
For the launch mechanism, the books of all attending authors will be printed on the backdrop of the stage.

Dato Seri Rafidah will sign on a large book located in the middle of the backdrop and this will be followed by all the authors signing on their books on the backdrop.

After all books are signed lights and music effects will precede the opening of a hidden door on the backdrop which will take all guests into the bookstore.

Some authors will be participating in pockets of entertainment. The pocket entertainment will be held inside the bookstore when Dato Seri Rafidah begins her tour. For example, Chef Wan has agreed to make the GOH of Merdeka Salad to try.

We have also asked some of the other authors to participate by reciting poerty or reading a passage from a book.

(end of press release)

I wonder if Wanita UMNO leader Rafidah Aziz will make reference to the fact that the shopping mall is built on the grounds where one of the country's most famous girls' schools, BBGS, had stood for a century?

From the Consumer Affairs Dept. of Matahari Books

Got some feedback from the least likely site today; it read:

hmm nak komen skit pasal buku 'malaysian politicians say the darndest things' tuh boleh tak,aku dah belek buku tuh kat kedai buku,tapi tak belilaa,off the edge tiap2 bulan promo buku tuh,hmm nih nak cakap pasal qualiti paper dia,ok sebab dia guna paper woodfree 80 - 100 gram?
tapi masalahnya payah nak belek sebab paper keras sangat,so kalau vol.2 keluar try guna 60 - 70 gram,lembut sikit.

So I replied:

130 gram, actually.
sebenarnya the third print run (masih untuk volume 1) gunakan kertas yang lebih lembut dan pudar tapi tetap recycled :-)
3rd print run akan ada di pasaran mulai bulan depan :-)
kalau nipis sangat, tak leh dapat kertas recycled yang memuaskan, dan juga kekadang sedikit transparen dan akan spoil gambar2 kartun yg ada.
recycled itu penting atas sebab-sebab ontologi, kerana buku itu sendiri merupakan kitaran semula petikan yang sedia ada.
off the edge akan promo bulan depan juga, tapi mulai januari akan promo vol 2 :-)

It's not the most elegantly written of replies but, hey, it was not even 7am. And it's not like I was replying to someone who'd actually purchased the book. Mwahaha!

Take this with a fair-sized Siberian saltmine

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