hin bus depot garage sale

last saturday i went to a garage sale at hin bus depot in georgetown. the place used to be a bus depot (as the name very clearly suggests), but it has recently been renovated into a creative space, with art exhibitions and murals everywhere.

i brought my pentax to the garage sale because even after 6 failed attempts at film, i was still obstinately refusing to admit that maybe i'm just not good at it. this roll turned out to be my first successfully developed roll, after three completely blank ones (as they had gotten stuck in my camera) and three that looked like they'd been bathed in piss – they were horrendously yellow – by the studio that developed / ruined them. however, i'm still not wholly pleased with the results. there was a sort of greenish, yellowish tint in all of the pictures, and i ended up having to tweak the temperature on lightroom, which is bollocks, since part of the reason why i wanted to shoot in film was because there's no need for any editing. i tried, but some of the colours are still a bit weird.

nevertheless, i hope they're decent enough.

an installation from the kayu exhibition.

the mural on the right is by a lithuanian artist called ernest zacharevic, who is behind many of the beautiful murals that dot the alleyways of georgetown, including the 'boy on motorcycle' and 'children on bicycle'. the painting of the boy was by far my favourite mural at hin bus depot.

the run amok gallery was housing the minorities: report "Cambodia" exhibition by pein cheong lee.

despite the fact that i don't drink coffee, i love visiting cafés. there's something about the murmuring chatter of background voices and the smell of sugar and coffee and cosy interior designs that just make me a very happy gal. the bricklin café bar is right next to hin bus depot, so if you want to relax (or hide from the rain, like i did), just pop in there.

i've never been to a garage sale or a thrift shop before, but i've always wanted to buy secondhand gear because i find that worn clothes have a sort of timeless beauty to it, hidden in scuffed sleeve edges and patches of fuzz ball. i bought a wicked green men's jacket from this guy with the absolute best fashion taste and the absolute best clothing choices of all the stalls at the garage sale. my mum didn't really approve of my purchase (it's an asian thing – read point #5 of this link), but i adore it anyways.

over and out,

watching the legend of tarzan

i went to the cinema to watch the legend of tarzan yesterday. it's the third film i've watched alone at the movies and i'm really loving it. i hate when people talk to me when i'm watching a movie, and sometimes, if i'm watching a film i'm really excited about but the other person isn't, then i start to panic that they'll be bored, and then i can't enjoy the film anymore. which sucks.

i can't really say i love the film (all my favourites so far have left me with a hollowness as the credits start to roll - i think it's the feeling of having been too engaged in that alternate universe and the difficulty of extricating myself from it at the end. and with the legend of tarzan, that wasn't the case). but i enjoyed it nevertheless. it's one of those films where you have to force yourself to ignore the fact that the plot is as shallow as a kiddie pool, and just sit back and marvel at the special effects. it also helps that alexander skarsgård and margot robbie are such good-looking people (seriously though margot robbie is probably the coolest human alive).

one thing i was very angry about, however, was the fact that the sex scene and the final, epic kiss scene between jane and tarzan at the end were censored – because apparently malaysia is still stuck in the 1920s. this never used to be the case. why is an act of love being censored?? i really can't even fathom why anyone would deem a kiss "inappropriate". i'm positive there's a religious reason behind the decision, but it still doesn't make sense to me, and i'm still angry about it.

over and out,

big bang - made world tour

on july 24 i saw big bang live in kuala lumpur and it was a beautiful night.

i have been waiting for a really long time (3 years) to see them in concert and i've always missed it because if they were going to china, i wouldn't be in the country, and it was the same with if they were in malaysia. but when i found out that i'd be in malaysia at the same time as them i freaked out and just had to buy tickets (much to the sadness of my dad and his wallet).

i watched it alone, so it was a different experience from the three previous concerts i've attended before with my friends. yet it wasn't just the fact that i was by myself that made it a different experience - big bang's stage presence is unlike any other. i love how they alter their songs to make it different from the original, track version. i love how colourful their set is. i love their energy, the vibe they give off. it's indescribable.

daesung is adorable.

the section where i was seated was actually pretty decent, and i'm really happy with how my photos turned out. but when they would come over by the side-stage-thing, the people in  the first row of my section were the luckiest, as they were on the same level as the band memebers and could make eye contact with them (!!!)

after the concert the taxis started charging us (parents + i) crazy prices for a not-so-long ride home, and a girl and a guy who were together approached us, asking if we wanted to split a cab. naturally, we said yes as we were desperate to escape the liverpool crowds (there was a liverpool game happening in the arena just beside us). the girl was in the rock zone during the concert, and were crazy close to big bang, and she airdropped me a whole bunch of g-dragon photos (because we both love him very much). we fangirled over the concert and the band and had some pretty interesting conversations and it was really nice to be able to bond with a stranger over a mutual love for five korean guys.

  

it was the best night of my life. and i'm not exaggerating when i say that.

over and out,

alexius.

also, i apologise profusely for that horrendous, lopsided layout above. i'm a nightmare with html (meaning: i don't understand jack about it) and i do not know how to solve this problem so bear with me.

the journey

having spent nine years away from malaysia, and spending only an approximate two months every year for the holidays, i don't get many opportunities to feel very malaysian. oftentimes, when i return home, events are happening that i'm not aware of, people are speaking in dialects i am slowly starting to forget, and that in itself makes me really sad, because malaysia is supposed to be my home, yet it is growing into something so different from what it previously was before i left. it's growing into something i am unfamiliar with.

which is why watching the film 'the journey', directed by a local Chiu Keng Guan, made me so extremely and irrevocably happy. every single thing, from the malaysian lingo (pancit tyres, yes) to the little details (how we buy clothes at street markets), had me feeling so much at home.

every time, after a line is uttered by someone onscreen that perfectly portrays the Malaysian society and lifestyle, there would be roaring laughter from the audience, with people repeating that particular line to a friend, a lover, a relative, or even a stranger sitting beside them, as if by repeating it, they could embed it into their brains to remember for a future conversation. it felt amazing, sitting there in this big and dark cinema, bonding unconsciously with people i've never met and might never meet again after we leave that place, and in those two fleeting hours, i felt more at home than i have felt in a long, long time.

this film is a local film, and it's only showing in local cinemas. a part of me wishes that everybody else outside of malaysia could watch it, but they would never understand it, due to the multiplicity of languages and dialects spoken (dialogues are often said with one speaking cantonese and the other speaking chinese). places where us locals laugh would probably be greeted by silence if viewed by somebody who wasn't malaysian. i just wish they could see how amazingly diverse my country is. even so, i guess the fact that this film might never be watched (or understood) by non-malaysians can be a good thing, because this is something that only we will ever appreciate. a sort of inside joke, if you will.

i've spent half of this post praising this film, but that's not to say that there weren't flaws. there certainly was, from the occasional cheesy lines delivered by the lead caucasian male to the fairly predictable plot line, but it was all in the tiny details, as well as the fact that it resonated so well with the people in that cinema and beyond that makes it, in my opinion, one of the best films i've seen in years.

till next time,

alexius.