Champions Stuff Incoming!

 

Just some #champions stuff I ordered from the Liverpool website 😁😁

Take A Moment To Reflect

A new month and the world is recovering. Best time to do some self-auditing. What is different now compared to 3 months ago? Are we kinder? More empathetic? More thankful of what we have? Or it's Business As Usual as per the pre-covid days? We live in a world where we need to APPLY to perform some of our prayers and the mosques are still closed at certain times. Let's ponder over what that truly means.

If we have less of everything now, imagine those who didn't have anything to begin with. How are they coping? Or does it mean we just have to be more selfish since we're getting less of the world's abundance? Think about our lowest points during this period. What were we praying for? Protection from the disease and death? To go out to buy bread? To see our loved ones? To keep our jobs? And what are we praying for now? So much to think about. And thank Allah that He actually stopped everything to make us sit and ponder, before it's simply too late.

19 Times! Liverpool Are League Champions Again!

The 30-year wait ends! No other words needed...

The Truth Is...

At the end of the day, the arts industry will always be moved by those who want to do the right thing. It's a cliche, but you need passion to plug away year after year, heartbreak after heartbreak.

The truth is, you need money to run things. And money is usually with the big players. So it's important for everyone within sight of the money to do the right thing. Produce great content, pay people well (yes, PAY people), respect intellectual property, stay clean, learn and relearn the craft along the way, repeat.

And if you work for people down the chain like production houses, do your jobs honestly. Jaga discipline, so schedules tak lari. If you're in charge of budget, don't take cuts from caterers or other suppliers. (Last2, crew and artistes suffer kena makan crappy food, for eg). Be honest.

True, there have been good government initiatives to support the industry (like animation), so thanks to everyone who made things happen. But really, the powers that be will continue to disappoint with dodgy appointments to important posts, condoning sycophants, and by their severe lack of understanding and empathy for the industry. (Till today, there's still no one single overseeing body - having multiple agencies simply means more bureaucracy.)

And yes, be ready to also be disappointed by industry people who can never unite for a single day or work for other than their own ego and interests. In the end, it's about jawatan and what projects they can get.

So if you're in the industry, do the right thing with the right intention. You could be an actor, a painter, a writer, a producer, a publisher, a brand exec, a cameraman, whatever. Just don't let your selves down, and get things done.

If you're successful, build brands and businesses and help others with the same passion. Give back.

So, cherish the small victories. Take pride in your unrelenting commitment. Cos everything else will just disappoint you. And that's a guarantee.

Balik Kampung, NO NO NO, Balik Kampung...

So during my magistrate stint, I had traffic days in my court. This was where I would listen to and decide on all the traffic offences one by one for at least half the day (yes, people break traffic laws like they eat rice). 

Anyway, before I pass a sentence, the offender will be given a chance to mitigate (basically, to give reasons for me to kesian). So in the beginning, a guy would tell me "Oh, nenek saya sakit dah saya kena beli ubat. Sebab tu saya bawak kereta walaupun takde lesen." See? Kesian... So I give a lower fine. 

BUT THEN, the next guy would also have a nenek sakit, ok atuk, or bapak.... and they had no choice but to rempit to the clinic to buy ubat. Memang something fishy lah. 

But I couldn't possibly try to verify each and every claim. How many grandmothers can I call? So I had to accept their reasons without question. I had to take everything on good faith, although at the back of my mind, I knew these flers all just klentong. 

So, when you see thousands of people now trying to balik kampung even though it's illegal to do so, we might sympathise with some who really have elderly relatives to take care of, but the rest of them are just probably selfish idiots who can't give up rendang and the "kampung feel" (to look good on their IGs) to basically save humanity. Pah!