Thursday, January 28, 2010

Keluarga Besar MHI (Utusan Malaysia article)


Oleh METRA SYAHRIL MOHAMED
metra.mohamed@utusan.com.my
Gambar RASHID MAHFOF

SEJARAH penyiarannya bermula pada 30 Ogos 1987 dengan menghidangkan pelbagai informasi serta rancangan bual bicara mengenai isu semasa.

Nama-nama seperti Christine Ling dan Rosli Dahamin sememangnya telah berjaya membawa program sedemikian ke suatu tahap yang cukup membanggakan ketika itu.

Ditambah dengan kemunculan segmen dinamakan Jejak Kasih kendalian Aziz Desa, Sekapur Sirih memperkukuhkan lagi jenamanya sehingga menjadi program yang boleh dilabel sebagai berstatus ‘wajib tonton’.

Bertahun berlalu, sekitar Mac 1994, Sekapur Sirih ditukar ganti dengan nama Malaysia Hari Ini (MHI) bagi memberi suntikan baru kepada elemen yang lebih inovatif serta segar.

Legasi perantara yang pernah menggerakkan MHI adalah Datuk Mahadzir Lokman, Hasbullah Awang, Suhaimi Sulaiman, Nizal Mohamad dan Omar Abdullah selain Christine serta Aziz Desa.
Ia kemudiannya disambung dengan kehadiran wajah-wajah baru yang lebih segar seperti Ally Iskandar, Mazidul Akmal Sidek, Nik Nor Azura, Ahmad Fedtri Yahya, Abby Fana, Fienda, Mohd. Azmir Selamat (AG), Raja Mastura dan Wardina Safiyyah.

Memasuki 2010, MHI menokok sejarah membina perubahan apabila membariskan 10 perantara terkini yang menggabungkan muka lama dan baru.

Muka lama yang kekal ialah Ally Iskandar, Ahmad Fedtri, AG, Wardina dan Abby.
Bertambah menarik, muka baru yang muncul dalam MHI terdiri daripada mereka yang cukup terkenal di platform masing-masing sebelum ini.

Mereka ialah Ketua Pegawai Operasi Rangkaian Radio Media Prima Berhad (MPB), Seelan Paul; Pengurus Besar (Kandungan, Jenama, Pemasaran) Alt Media Sdn. Bhd., M. Zulkifli Abd. Jalil; Zakiah Anas, Annahita Bakavoli dan Tham Zher Peen.

Perubahan serta penambahbaikan ini dilakukan oleh pengurusan stesen TV yang bernaung di bawah payung Media Prima Berhad ini bertepatan sekali dengan hasrat kerajaan untuk menjayakan aspirasi 1Malaysia.

Lalu, jika diteliti senarai 10 nama personaliti yang menjayakan MHI era 2010 ini, ia sudah cukup menterjemahkan rasa itu.

Cabaran Zher Peen

Selama ini, Zher Peen hanya diberi kepercayaan mengendalikan acara dan program TV dalam bahasa Inggeris kerana kelebihannya menguasai bahasa itu.

Dan peluang yang diberikan kepadanya biarpun sangat menarik untuk mengisi profil kerjayanya, namun, Zher mengakui, tugas ini menuntut cabaran yang bukan kecil buatnya.
Cabaran paling besar menanti Zher ialah meyakini rakyat Malaysia terhadap kemampuannya mengendalikan MHI dalam bahasa rasmi negara.

Namun begitu, dalam satu aspek lain, hos rancangan 8TV Quickie ini menyifatkan, MHI merupakan platform terbaik buatnya memperkasakan penguasaan bahasa Melayu.
“Saya harus akui, saya tidak begitu fasih berbahasa Melayu. Inilah cabaran besar kepada saya apabila diberi peluang menjadi hos MHI.

“Pada masa yang sama, inilah peluang untuk saya memperbaiki kelemahan tersebut. Baru sahaja memulakan tugas sebagai hos MHI pada 18 Januari lalu, tugas ini sangat berbeza berbanding di Quickie,’’ katanya ketika ditemui baru-baru ini.

Sebaik menerima tawaran menyertai keluarga MHI, Zher awal-awa lagi sudah mengingatkan dirinya untuk memberi perspektif baru dalam program bual bicara pagi yang sangat popular di TV3 itu.

“Saya lebih berminat untuk membawa isu terkini berkaitan gaya hidup dan fesyen,’’ ujarnya yang bertugas di Bahagian Pembangunan Kandungan di Primeworks Studio, Media Prima Berhad.

Rasa bangga Seelan

Berbeza dengan Zher yang barangkali cukup asing bagi masyarakat Melayu, Seelan Paul sudah dianggap sebahagian daripada orang Melayu bagi sebilangan besar penggiat seni tanah air.
Masakan tidak, personaliti popular ini merupakan seorang ikon radio yang cukup sinonim dengan stesen radio bahasa Melayu yang kini diterajuinya, Hot FM.

Biarpun begitu, penyertaannya dalam program TV seperti MHI dianggapnya sebagai satu bonus buatnya kerana berpeluang meneroka satu lagi disiplin baru dalam kerjayanya sebagai pengamal media.

Seelan yang juga mula menyertai MHI pada 18 Januari lalu mengakui, hatinya berbunga keriangan kerana muncul sebagai orang India pertama sebagai hos MHI.

Pada masa yang sama, anak kelahiran Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang ini tidak terlepas daripada diselubungi masalah ketika bertugas di hadapan kamera.

“Bekerja di radio dan di hadapan kamera adalah dua situasi yang berbeza. Ada banyak perkara yang saya perlu belajar dengan pantas.

“Mujur juga buat permulaan ini saya hanya ditampilkan sekali saja dalam seminggu sebagai hos MHI,’’ katanya berkongsi perasaan.

Kata Seelan, meski bergelar junior di MHI walaupun sudah memiliki pangkat yang besar di rangkaian radio MPB, itu bukanlah satu masalah untuknya menjalankan tugas yang telah dipertanggungjawabkan.

Sedang biasakan diri - M. Zulkifli

Seorang lagi anggota famili baru MHI yang wajar diberi perhatian ialah M. Zulkifli.
Seperti Seelan, M. Zulkifli atau mudah disapa Zul juga sangat gembira dengan tawaran baru itu.
Sebagai salah seorang pembuat dasar dan pengurus di Alt Media (anak syarikat Media Prima Berhad), M. Zulkifli berpendapat tawaran mengendalikan MHI bak pucuk dicita ulam mendatang buatnya.

Namun, tatkala memulakan tugas di MHI menjelang tahun baru lalu, Zul dilihat seakan kurang selesa di set program itu dan agak kelam kabut.

Mengakui akan perkara itu, Zul menjelaskan, ketika ini dia masih lagi dalam proses membiasakan diri bertugas di hadapan kamera.

“Saya masih baru dan sudah pasti ada kelemahan. Kadang-kadang agak susah kita hendak pastikan pergerakan kamera dan dalam masa sama, kita perlu peka dengan arahan produser melalui alat pendengaran di telinga,’’ jelas M. Zulkifli yang merupakan pencetus idea penghasilan portal hiburan gua.com.my.

Keistimewaan menyertai MHI buat M. Zulkifli ialah memberi peluang kepadanya berkongsi maklumat mengenai media baru dan teknologi.

Impian Annahita tercapai

Beralih kepada Annahita Bakavoli pula, wanita berdarah kacukan Melayu-Parsi ini sememangnya sudah lama menginginkan untuk menduduki hos MHI.

“Sebelum ini saya pernah diundang menjadi pengacara jemputan dalam sebuah program.
“Di MHI, saya memang sudah lama mengimpikannya. Saya sendiri menghantar resume kepada MHI. Bukan mudah untuk dipilih dan saya sendiri terpaksa melalui proses uji bakat,’’ ujarnya berterus-terang mengenai keinginan yang sudah lama bersarang di hati.

Annahita memberitahu, memulakan tugas pada 1 Januari lalu, dia perlu memikirkan sesuatu yang baru untuk disajikan kepada penonton MHI dan bukannya mengharapkan panduan daripada penerbit semata-mata.

Katanya, selepas ini, dia sendiri perlu keluar mencari bahan berita untuk dibawa atau disalurkan kepada penonton.

“Saya lebih meminati hiburan, perundangan, seni dan masakan. Selepas ini saya perlu cari bahan berita sendiri,’’ jelasnya yang baru sahaja pulang mengambil kursus jangka pendek berkaitan teater, penulisan kreatif dan pengucapan awam di Amerika Syarikat.

Persaingan sihat - Ally

Sementara itu, senior dalam bidang pengacaraan khususnya program bual bicara, Ally Iskandar berpendapat, gabungan hos MHI yang ada ketika ini akan memberi warna baru kepada program yang sudah menjangkau usia lebih dua dekad itu.

“Masing-masing sudah dikenali dalam bidang tersendiri. Saya tidak melihat ia sebagai satu masalah kepada saya.

“Memasuki MHI, mereka sebenarnya membawa sekali kredibiliti yang dibentuk dalam bidang masing-masing,’’ katanya yang sudah sembilan tahun mengendalikan MHI.

Tambah Ally, kemasukan wajah baru MHI juga telah melahirkan budaya saing yang sihat kalangan hos MHI.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Las Vacas Steak-Eating Competition

Yes I love food, but this was my first ever eating competition. And what a debut it was. For starters, it's organised by Las Vacas, one of the best steak houses in the land, so at the very least, we get to enjoy some mighty fine steaks.

And secondly, I also covered the event as a MHI "journalist". Yup, some of you might have watched the report earlier this morning. :)
...

Anyway, the rules were simple; gobble down as much steak as you can in 40 mins. And in case you're wondering, the entry fee was RM60. Oklah since they serve all imported meats.



The other important rule: YOU PUKE, AND YOU'RE OUT! And no, no one actually did that at the end of 40 mins. It was a clean competition indeed. Haha!

This was my "starting piece". All in, I had four pieces. Pretty decent lah. And in total, all 24 conteststants devoured some 40kgs of steak on the day.
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So yeah I didn't win, but it was a great first experience. For the record, the winner gobbled down 1.3kgs of meat! Giler ah.
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The two celebrity contestants, rapper Altimet (far left) and actor Riz Ainuddin did pretty well. They were two of just five who consumed more than 1kg on the day. Respect!

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Behind The Scenes: MHI Promo & Photoshoot

So on Thursday, 9 out of the 10 MHI hosts gathered for a TV promo shoot. Don't really know what the concept is gonna be, but doing it was loads of fun. You guys have no idea how funny the guys really are...
,,,

We also shot some stills and did a couple of interviews for both Utusan Malaysia and Berita Harian. It was obviously my first interview as an MHI host, so hope I got all the answers right. Haha!
...




So do look out for the promo and the interviews coming out really soon!

Vince's "Kronologi Cinta"

So on Tuesday, I attended the launch of Vince's latest album "Kronologi Cinta" at Bangkok Jazz. As I had previously mentioned, my contribution is in the form of the lyrics for the song "Apa Jawapannya", composed by Vince.



"Missing" from the industry for the past 3 years, it was great to see that he still has the support of the media, judging from the good turnout. Good for you, bro!

And as a nice gesture as well, Vince and NSR gave customised framed album covers to everyone involved in the album; composers, lyricists and musicians.


Vince also debuted his latest music video for the single "Biarkan" which features the dude as a Vampire (wannabe, haha). And I hear "Apa Jawapannya" will be the next music video to be shot, so I'm looking forward to that.

Anyway, congrats again bro. And peeps, do get the album, it's a pretty good one, I can assure you...


Saturday, January 16, 2010

I Had The Time Of My Life... Thank You, Green Day!


..
Where do I even begin? So okay, I was prepared to love the gig no matter what, considering how big of a fan I am, but the Green Day gig at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Thursday was indeed the BEST CONCERT I’VE EVER SEEN.

Period.
...

But, first things first. Yes, it was a dream come true for me to watch Billie Joe and Gang perform in the flesh. And it did feel like a dream when they burst on to the stage around 9pm to tear into their first number, “21st Century Breakdown”. “Holy Dookie, Batman; this is really happening!” I said to myself.

And from the get-go, Green Day displayed greatness that, I’m pretty sure, would be beyond most other bands in the world today. Oozing charisma and raw punk energy, these guys had every single one of the 12,000-strong crowd in the palm of their hands.
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Tre Cool looked impossibly, well, cool, banging the drums with a smile plastered on his face and not once looking out of breath despite the heavy workload. The dude was also entertaining when called upon to dish out the dramatics; putting on a bra for one of the crazy shticks they did, and even spitting into his pants and on to his… well, you know what.

Mike Dirnt had that crazy energy that was just infectious. I should know, since I was moshed in the pit on his side of the stage!
...
But of course the star of the show was frontman Mr. Armstrong himself. His vocals was in top form, his energy at the highest level and his stagecraft was simply magnificent. Not to say that I was expecting anything less than the best, but to actually see him in action; man, you have to be there to believe it lah.
...

He had everyone under his spell for those 2-something hours; singing, laughing and gasping whenever he wanted us to. He made some people’s dreams come true by getting them onstage and singing along with him. One guy even performed an entire song (“Longview”) with Green Day backing him. Lucky bastard!

Billie Joe also sprayed water and toilet paper (!) into the crowd, broke out into tunes by Elvis and Beatles in the middle of the set, and (here’s the reason why we won’t see them in Malaysia, ever), pulled down his pants to moon the crowd!

As for the setlist, I must say that I don’t have much to complain about, although after the first encore ended, I was kinda bummed out that they hadn’t played “Good Riddance” and “Wake Me Up When September Ends”. But of course they did. Woohoo.

Overall, it was the best concert experience ever so far for me. And it was definitely worth the trip down to Singapore (and some considerable amount of RM as well!).

Speaking of which, a special tribute goes out to the largely Singaporean crowd. They sang their hearts out the entire time and added the final touch of magic to the whole thing. Even Billie Joe proclaimed a few times: “Louder than America!”
...
So yes, it was a dream come true for me, and indeed, I had the time of my life…

Main Set
21st Century Breakdown
Know Your Enemy
East Jesus Nowhere
Holiday
The Static Age
Give Me Novacaine
Are We The Waiting
St. Jimmy
Boulevard Of Broken Dreams
Burnout
Hitchin' A Ride
Welcome To Paradise
When I Come Around
Brain Stew
Jaded
Longview
Basket Case
She
King For A Day
21 Guns
Minority

Encore 1American Idiot
Jesus Of Suburbia

Encore 2
Last Night On Earth
Wake Me Up When September Ends
Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

AJL "Reinvented"


So, some 4.6 million people watched the 24th edition of Anugerah Juara Lagu last Sunday. Not bad indeed :)
...


And there's no denying that the show itself was nothing short of spectacular. With a budget of RM2m, it was a production with the biggest use of LED screens. And over 200 people worked behind the scenes to make sure everything went perfectly.

Of course what I need to plug here is the digital efforts done my own Alt Media team at the event.
...

On top of the usual stuff we do at major live events, like live streaming, live photo galleries and behind-the-scenes videos, incorporating social media in a big way proved to be the cutting edge at AJL24.

With tweeter and facebook embedded on the AJL microsite, the got the hype going through digital word-of-mouth courtesy of the fans themselves.

And the buzz kicked into overdrive the day of the event itself, as the conversations got even more intense starting from the Red Carpet event that was streamed exclusively online.
...


Once the show began, the beauty of social media and a big TV event converging was there for all to see (and be a part of). Clusters of fans were having their own running commentaries on both twitter and facebook.
...
It was an AJL unlike any other with people enjoying and debating it in homes, mamaks, kopitiams, and in the digital world.
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AJL "Reinvented"? I definitely think so...

Wednesday, January 06, 2010

My Latest Song With Vince

With loads on my plate off late, lyric-writing has taken somewhat of a backseat. But when AF1 champ Vince called me up and asked me to contribute something for his new album, I said "hell yeah!".

Vince and I have had some good success over the years. I wrote the words to his first major hit "Mengapa Harus Cinta?", which got into Anugerah Juara Lagu. The MACP royalty's not bad either, haha.

I also wrote lyrics for "Percayalah Sayang", the new track on his Best-Of album which was his last release until now. "Percayalah Sayang" got some good airplay as well as a spot in the semis of Muzik-Muzik.

So the latest one is something called "Apa Jawapannya", a rock-ish tune with an awesome chorus. It's track 2 on his latest album "Kronologi Cinta", which I just got earlier today. I've heard a few tracks, and so far, I'm damn impressed.


The production sounds really good, and Vince's voice is in true top form.

So peeps, do check it out!


Apa Jawapannya

Dari jauh ku terpandang
Wajah mu, buat ku kenang
Hari penuh cinta dan sayang

Kau menyapa diri ini
Kini kau sudah sendiri
Senyum mu pilu

Walau teruja bertemu mata
Persoalan pun tiba

Chorus:
Tanpamu di hati
Ku lemah, tak berani
Dunia bagai berhenti

Namun tak mungkin lupa
Janji mudah kau ingkar
Tuhan aku bertanya
Apa jawapannya?

Ingin ku luahkan rindu
Erat, ku pegang tanganmu
Seperti dahulu

Mengapa perlu kau dusta
Hingga ku hilang semua
Apa ku percaya

Walau hadirmu bagai cahaya
Kelam jua ku rasa

Bridge:
Kini kau memujuk ku
Sambutlah cinta mu, sambutlah kasih mu
Berilahku sedikit waktu
Rayu mu, janji mu, aku ragu

Lagu: Vince
Lirik: M.Zulkifli

Friday, January 01, 2010

Hi, MHI!

This morning, I made my debut as host for TV3's morning show MALAYSIA HARI INI (MHI), and boy did I have tons of fun. It was made easier by the fact that it was a special episode, so we had all 8 hosts for 2010 coming on, making it more like a cosy chit chat session. With a couple of million people watching at home lah. :)
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But seriously, after the initial jitters, I think things went quite well. Thank God. Of course, I've been a guest on the show numerous times, but anchoring it was a whole different ballgame. Apart from yours truly, the other new hosts are Annahita Bakavoli, an actress and ex Dewi Remaja champ, and Zakiah Anas, who's known for another TV3 show, 999.


So, how did I get the gig in the first place? Well, some months back, the boss of Primeworks magazine dept casually asked me by the lift if I was interested to host the show. It came from out of the blue, and honestly I didn't really know what to think then.

After a couple of weeks of contemplation, I got back to him and said I'd give it a shot. In my mind, even if I didn't get the gig, I'd at least learn about the whole process.

So for the past couple of weeks, I went thru some mock-runs with other potential hosts. And one fine afternoon, I got the call to say that I got the job. And that was it really.
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And so this morning, I made my debut with the rest of the gang. The new set looks bangin as well, and with the introduction of some new segments, MHI promises to be a good watch every weekday. So really, the New Year has started rather well. Hope to improve all the time though, starting this coming Monday. Wish me more luck, peeps!

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