MY SINGAPORE FLING! A weekend to remember for a long time.

First of all, before i start, i wanna give a shout out and a big Assalammualaikum to all my Singaporean Fans and KODOKS that i managed to meet with during my break in Singapore the past couple of days. You guys were awesome and it was ultra-terrific to finally be able to meet you guys.

How can one describe the feeling of sheer joy, the feeling of pride and the awesome experience of being there in singapore to support my friends and the group of outstanding Malaysian artistes who performed their hearts out at the Singapore Esplanade for the past four performances of Puteri Gunung Ledang the musical. DAHSYAT DAN MEMBANGGAKAN!!!!

Even the Guy who runs the ESPLANADE (a huge theatrical space much like Istana Budaya, which has hosted many international theatre productions ) was so terkejut (in awe) at how the singaporean audience responded at the show : STANDING OVATION for all shows!!! gempak siut. And i have been made the official groupie of PGL, pasal muka i memang tak tau malu.... as my wife cakap. One of the top Malaysian celebrities a groupie... PERSETANKAN! aku kata, aku bukan artis kontrol macho dan tak berperasaan... KERJA YANG BAGUS kita sokong habis-habisan.

I manage to wrangle some tickets to watch the matinee in singapore so i took all my visionworks staff there and we had a ball. Sampai terujalah sehingga tak nak balik the following day. We managed to wrangle our way into the VIP box for the last nite’s performance and although the viewing was limited we were barely three metres away from the stage and we found another level of appreciation for the performance. Me and my lovely wife were in PGL heaven and loving every minute of it.

What i was really surprised with was how the Malaysian artistes were treated there. We would assume because we think the singaporeans are all kiasu that diorang pun sure kontrol-kontrol gak but to the contrary... they were amazingly warm and supportive. I think my beautiful wife was also kinda surprise at how well the stars were treated there, kat Malaysia ni, unless u are MAWI or DATUK SITI... Nak suruh orang tepuk tangan pun... berlepek-lepek bunyinya.

The main cast were Amazing as usual.TIARA AND STEVE were reprising their roles, which i can never see anybody else doing because they have stamped their mark and sheer class into their characters. Stand out performances came from the ADIPATI (AC MIZAL), MAHMUD of MELAKA (ADLIN AMAN RAMLIE) and to my surprise an exquisite performance from BAYAN (IDA MARIANA). Tapi yang amat outstanding adalah the CHORUS LINE (the dancers and extras to some of you). Komitmen diorang sampai berlenang airmata gua tengok. They really gave it their all, HEART, BODY SOUL and whatever else they can give.

Pemuzik-pemuzik tengah 'break it DOWN' for the curtain call.
Standing ovation di esplanade memang gila babs..
Pamanku Patin taking a well deserved bow.
The picture says everything.Nasib baik last show, kalau tak memang tak pegi keje la aku esok.
Aqasha and Adlin after the show, memang dahsyat mamat tu. Hats off to you brada.
Mac Chew the new musical director is all smiles and all hugs.
Stephen Rahman aka Hang Tuah pun kuat peluk orang jugak rupanya. Tapi gua pasti mereka 'HANYA KAWAN'. heehee.
Mohd. Afif anak sultan Mahmud juga berlakon filem SUMOlah... Watch out for this kid he is going to be a major star in our country.
The creation team of PGL the Musical. Thank you guys for the gift. I would watch this journey over and over again.
Bersama the chorus line. What hard working talents they are.
You guys deserve another photo.
The wonderful, talented , sexy and married Ida Mariana who plays Bayan, what a performance by her.
I'm too sexy for my shirt.
the cast thanking the musicians in the pit while going to their meet the fans session.
Jenny Chin, Boudeng, Mac Chew and Me. The Roslan Aziz Production team reunion or as MAC calls it, 'The masih boleh cari makan club'
My bro AJI the latest addition to the musicians line-up. My songwriting partner for ERTI HIDUP.
The most talented ensmble of Malaysian musicians ever to be put together for PGL THE MUSICAL.
The stage backdrops hanging on the trusses
Mukasurat terakhir skrip PGL the Musical yang sedang terbuka onstage
stage manager punya console to make sure everything is going well. macam sekuriti guard punya control room aje.
PAT GUI, PGLM punya stage manager. the person running the show on stage.
View from stage left at the Esplanade theatre.
And so the journey ends in Singapore.

I am so proud of them and so proud that we as Malaysians have a world class production in our hands. As I have said before and I will say it again, this production deserves its own home in Malaysia where people from everywhere can keep coming and be filled with all the energy , zest and talent that our country can offer.

As for my wife and me, well let’s just say we had a great time and loved our time together. She is my love, a great companion and I am so blessed to be able to experience life with her. Oh and she is a major PGL groupie too.

POWER TO THE ARTS

AFDLIN SHAUKI

SOMETHING NEW.

Thank you all for your posts and creative reasonings why one poster should be the one. It has given us a little insight to the workings of the minds of our friends and kodoks. More stuff will be coming your way, for example our first teaser trailer is ready for viewing. Our technicians are currently fighting over what is the best way to deliver it to you guys. But trust me kodoks it will be worth the wait. Ong gedeg gedeg gedeg!!

Last weekend i graduated from the Asiaworks Mastery course and i feel my paradigm shifting again. For those of you not in the know, Asiaworks is involved in self-development training programmes for the public and corporate sector all over the world. it is also involved in the character building modules for our national service programme.

Never before have i been around a group of people, so dedicated in creating a better society than these people; regardless of race, religion or creed.

You know, we go thru life thinking that we know what the world is about, what our life is about but due to our experiences and armed with this knowledge we build judgements and boundries that define who we think we are. Many a times we are so fixed with 'what we know' that no new knowledge or information can filter through. The problem is how much we know (or think we know) and what we let ourselves experience is just a speck compared to the actual knowledge that could be gathered out there.

Why do i care for some people and hate others?, why do i care for certain things and not others? Why do i entertain certain notions and not others? Why can't we take a little time off to care for the underprivilledge or the needy? Why do we not love ourselves, eventhough we say we do? Why some of us preach religion but are not practising what we preach? Why don't we challenge ourselves, to make us more balanced human being through ie religion , love, commitment to peace and justice etc?

Why do we judge people by their appearances? or even by what people say?... Must a Muslim be a terrorist? Are all Americans evil?..... Most of us in this world form our own conclusions and judgements based on information that are fed to us because we either don't have the capacity or are too lazy to get off our butts to actually experience it ourselves.

A Mongolian model gets murdered in our country... what do our internal voices say "thank god she's not Malaysian?... thank god its nobody i know?... thank god it wasn't me?".... Personally i was very disturbed that something like this can happen here in our country because i have always believed the propaganda that "Ini bukan budaya kita!". Agreed, the actions of a few does not constitute the sentiments of a nation but how the nation is reacting to this incident, is. It doesn't have to be just this incident but any other incident where public reaction is warranted.

So what is happening to our budaya? Obviously all the public service announcement ads are not working. So we go on with our lives saying.... "tulah siapa suruh reporter tu pakai seksi?" (different incident). Maybe we should start to care more about our fellow human beings regardless, maybe we should start living our slogans rather than just saying them, Maybe? it's just an idea. I don't assume to know all, only god knows all but we all have the ability to choose.

I am a Malay and proud of it but more so, i am Prouder to be Malaysian and i am commited to making this country a better, safer place to live in. Yes, i am but one person, but imagine if everyone started saying it. Imagine yourself saying it and then put to action your intention in whatever way no matter how miniscule. Wouldn't we just have ammassed an army of people who are committed to a better world, for us living now and our loved ones in the future.

YOU CAN CHOOSE TO LIVE YOUR LIFE OR YOU CAN WATCH IT FROM YOUR COMFORTABLE SOFA.

YOU CHOOSE.

LOVE

AFDLIN SHAUKI

More 'SUMOlah' Artwork from the Fabulous Isma.

For those of you who didn't like the Malaysian Poster, here are some samples of the International Posters for SUMO. Tell me what you think.

SUMOlah International Teaser Poster
SUMOlah Teaser poster.


POWER TO THE PEOPLE

AFDLIN SHAUKI

ARE YOU READY FOR THE BIG SHOW?!!

Ok gang, SPECIALLY for the internet community ang bloggers khususnya, here it is THE FINAL KEYART for 'SUMOLAH'. Gua excited gila to unveil it for u guys first. Tell me what you think and Kepada semua yang sanggup help promote the movie online please do so by taking the keyart and putting it on your blogs or website... This is my first SOLO baby and this is one movie that i dare say will make the country proud because seeing it conceived has made me proud. So if you guys sudi help out please spread the word around and let's make this the biggest movie event Malaysia has ever seen. Enjoy.

This is a bonus caricature of TERRY GALLYOT, Malaysia's own Mr. Asia who plays a baddie in the movie.

The movie editing is almost finished and dubbing should start by the middle of the month. Estimated release date will be february 2007.

Arigato Gozaimasta

POWER TO THE PEOPLE

AFDLIN

SELAMAT HARI RAYA!!! SELAMAT PANJANG UMUR !!! SELAMAT BERBAHAGIA!!!

Hi gang, kepada semua yang wished me selamat hari raya dan i tak sempat reply, SELAMAT HARI RAYA back. Sememangnya ketika ini ada satu pergolakan besar yang berlaku didalam hidup gua yang membuat gua sering bertanyakan kepada diri sendiri "Am i challenging myself enough in this life or have i let complacency set in?" ataupun didalam bahasa melayunya " Pak Abu tempang selalu pergi gunting bulu hidungnya kat kedai Muthu". Kadang-kadang gua rasa macam hidup gua sekarang dah macam 'On Autopilot'. Tersangat rutin, takde cabaran, yang mengingatkan yang kehidupan yang diberikan tuhan kepada kita ni fragile dan pendek.. so why aren't we living it to the fullest.
How many people out there actually actively think about their mortality? how many think that "if i don't ask for forgiveness from so and so today, my life might end today and i would not get a chance to... ever". How many of us keep putting off saying i love you to our parents, to our spouse, to our children or even to a potential life partner because "i can tell him/her later lah!"... But come LATER you might be in ICU or 'tergolek dog' on the highway after being run over by sebuah lori menyeludup gula dan ayam.
I really think that many of us, myself included, have the tendency to drift and forget especially when REAL LIFE sets in, that once things get too comfortable or once we have something all the time, for example CLEAN AIR! OXYGEN! OUR FIVE SENSES, OUR LOVED ONES, FOOD ON THE TABLE etc. .... more often then not, we take all of these things for granted and we just don't give a damn about them. We think we have so much time to fix a wrong that has happened in our life..... we think sometimes that because we never get ill or hurt that we are invincible and are probably going to live to a ripe old age, but Allah swt can take as fast as he gives my friends...
SO why don't we just give a 100% effort to our lives if we want it better , let's make it BETTER .....NOW! not tomorrow, minggu depan la, lepas dapat gaji la,... all these reasons are merely excuses that stop us from really experiencing life to the FULLEST. And trust me my friends there is a lot to EXPERIENCE. Kebesaran Tuhan = The Glory of God.

And for those of you who are wondering. Yes i baru balik from another scuba diving trip.

THE POWER IS IN YOUR HANDS TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE

POWER TO THE PEOPLE

AFDLIN SHAUKI