Frakk Me! what the hell just happened to my life on Friday??

I am stumped...
Dumbfounded..

I mean what he hell just happened in the last 24 hours of my life.

Got up a bit late friday morning because we had a rocking ACTORLYMPICS nite and i went to play futsal right after that and finished at 2am. Yes memang kita bebudak gila yang main bola ikut European time. I think i might have overstrained myself because at one point i did feel like i was going to die (i am so the drama sometimes, i make me puke). Anyway i got up and started preparing for the friday nite gig for the Malaysian Gas Association's annual dinner nite themed "DANGDUT FIESTA".

Before anyone comes up with a snyde anti-dangdut remark just remember that - hey, a guy's gotta pay the bills alrite!! heehee... Like the answer Forest Whittaker gave me when i asked him why he chose to do a crap film like 'SPECIES' at a dinner in KL, he just smiled at me and said "good call there"...he paused and then he said "Some things you do for love and some things you do because people are literally throwing money at you."

I had to miss Friday's Actorlympics and more importantly the ANUGERAH SKRIN TV3 2005 because we had this gig confirmed way back about a month ago. Being honest, I wasn't really expecting anything from the TV3 award show as i didn't even know wether my film was even considered for any awards and if you look at the stiff competition, you just don't know about your chances. It's not that i didn't believe in my film, it was just that after completing BULI BALIK, i had closed the book on my baby, BULI.

Feeling the need to be represented anyhoo, my bootifoo wife agreed to go in my stead to the awards show. (This is why all you single guys should think about getting hitched - The benefits are endless!!)

So there i was, all dangdut-ified in my batek sarong and ready to shake my bon-bons with the special guest star flown exclusively from Indonesia for this event, INUL!!! The number one Dangdut mega star in the world (yes people, she is much bigger than Mawi!)

where other dangdut singers only shake and swing their hips, this lady grinds and drills her bottom at a fever pitch! (not unlike one of petronas's oil drilling equipment. Holy Friholey, this woman can shake that behind, it was as if it had a mind of it's own and i promise you, after watching her move, you will never look at a woman's behind the same again. RESPECTA!!

During her show, i decided to look at my phone and suddenly i saw twenty sms-ses. when i opened one it said, "cogratulations!! you won best screenplay!!!" and i was stunned out of my mind... Inul's ass started to fade away into memory. I couldn't believe that there were still people who cared enough to still honor the writing i did for BULI which i personally believe is one of the better stories written in our day, besides Rabun, Sepet and even PGL. (Yes, i am shamelessly going into basket and carry myself - but what the hell, if i don't believe in myself, who will?)

Then another stream of SMS's came in and one the said said " You Bastard!! you beat M. Nasir & Rosyam Nor! Congratulations best actor!!"... What the hell. INUL...who?

I was shocked more than ecstatic, so i went out on stage after that dangdut singer from.. from... from... errr.. i can't remember where, finished her showtime, to do the lucky draw and after the last prize was given away, i decided to share this news with everyone in the event. I told them that at the TV3 skrin awards happening concurrently with this event, i had just won best screenplay and best actor. They good people of Malaysian Gas were ecstatic. (they were pobably thinking " thank god we got him before he won the awards because if after, sure he charge us more one!) And then i heard my manager, Shima, shout from the wings " You won best director tooo!!!!!

WHAAAT THE FRAAKK! (Syukur Alhamdulillah)... i was frozen. my feet felt like jello. My face drew a blank as if it was slapped multiple times by inul's butt. My baby won again. The crowd cheered louder but all i could hear was myself saying thank you god, over and over again - i didn't even know there was a trip to hollywood and cash prize involved!!

Somebody finally carried me offstage and my manager then told me we were going to PWTC to catch the tail end of the awards. Like a zombie i just obeyed and when i got there i was greeted with " Aiiya where were you???"... "A bit late aren't you?"... I could only smile, i didn't feel the need to justify myself.

As i entered the main hall, AZWAN ALI was still yakking on stage, but as the crowd noticed me come in some people started to applaud me... It was a very weird sensation. i could only smile. I saw my wife and we hugged. She then said, " i'm charging you for picking up this awards on your behalf!". We hugged somemore. She saw me create BULI from scratch and spend countless hours trying to make it the best i can, " You deserve it baby!" she said, and tears started to well up in my eyes like a MIYAZAKI anime character.

After that there were some interviews and photograph session laaa deee daaa deee daaa.

Chris (my wife), Shima (my manager) and myself, later had coffee at the Pan Pacific, and just looked at each other, quite proud of our achievement so far in the entertainment industry (We all are VISION WORKS the company that has been supporting my creative endeavours for 7 years). We all set out with one vision, to make the entertainment industy better, more exciting and to boldly go, where no Malaysian has gone before. We are not there yet, but i do believe we are a step closer.

what have i learned from this experience?

Maybe.... When you don't expect something and just do things to the best of your abilities all the time, everytime someone recognizes your work, it always feels like an amazing gift.

Thank you, terima kasih to all my kodoks for your kind words and thoughts, i am TERUJA to give you better work and to share all the great new technical and creative knowledge that i've learnt since BULI, in my upcoming films. LOVE U ALL.

POWER TO THE PEOPLE

i'm out