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

Berbuka puasa bersama cip kodok!

here's a short one..

Kepada sekalian kodok yang berminat untuk berbuka puasa bersama cipkodok dan kodok-kodok yang lain pada 12 Oktober 2006, hari Khamis bertempat di NZ (Atas) Curry House, Wangsa Maju (next to Carrefour Wangsa Maju/ Pizza Hut), sila hantarkan email bertajuk "BERBUKA PUASA LAGI BERSAMA AFDLIN SHAUKI" kepada Anne di kodokgonewild@gmail.com. To spice things abit, apa kata korang semua datang dengan berpakaian warna hijau atau putih atau kedua-duanya sekali..Kita akan berkumpul di NZ (atas) pada pukul 6.45ptg..

See you guys there..

POWER TO THE PEOPLE
Afdlin Shauki

More pictures from the deep!! How deep my dissapointment is.

Don't ask me to name the fishies, kami budak baru belajar. Penyu, Humphead and giant kerapu tu aje gua tau.... oh TITAN TRIGGER fish pun gua dah kenal, dive buddy gua kena attack dengan ikan tu so ada aksi bertumbuk dengan ikan dibawah air. Pelik pasal ikan tu nampak ganas but wadafak! ganas gila bila kita lalu rumah dia waktu dia menjaga telur dia. (hmmm... that sounded kinda rude)

On a completely unrelated note, I think some individuals in the Malaysian Film industry are like the lumut at the bottom of the boat pancing. First bang! orang ni, bang! orang tu kata filem diorang tak membayangkan budaya kita, then kena sound dengan menteri semua tersipu-sipu macam sotong takde tulang belakang nak ban orang ni orang tu dan akhir sekali selfish, kerana pilih filem diorang untuk pergi ke Asia Pacific film festival. BULI BALIK was not chosen as one of the entry because they deemed that it was not good enough to reflect our malaysian society so they chose Persona Non Grata, Castello, Pontianak Harum Sundal Malam 2, Bilut, and Gubra. Where i don't contest the validity of GUBRA and BILUT, i do also believe that BULI BALIK is good enough to represent the country.
Yes i am a bit emotional about my baby not being picked because i feel the movie would make a difference at the festival. SO now, once again FINAS gets to bring an entourage of people to the festival, half of which are not event relevant to the current film industry, give them a paid holiday to go shopping. I am disappointed with the selection, but my life will go on as i tell myself that i am in this industry to make a difference for the people and the old fogeys in the power positions will one day die and will not be able to fight the wake of revolution, when people demand them to be better than what they are now.
I know my heart may not be so sore in a couple of days time but as for now, the film industry has disappointed me so and I have lost respect and faith for many a people in power in the industry because at the end of the day whatever they do is all for themselves. All they think about is - How can i gain? How can i use my position to make me prosper? and not, how to make the Malaysian film industry better?.

And to think that i was afraid of SHARKS.....

POWER TO THE PEOPLE.

Conquering my fear at last!... If i can do this, there's nothing you guys cannot do la.

Where i have been since early last week was at Pulau Perhentian Besar, trying to conquer my biggest fear. I'm glad to say that ALHAMDULILLAH, i did it! I actually freaking did it.
The most important thing i learned during my brief moment of insanity is that - Fear is a concept. It is not real. It is cooked up in our mind during it's idle time and is fuelled by the media hype and sensationalisation of shark attacks, stingray poking people's chest etc to sort of protect ourselves from ever wanting to come out of our comfort zone and to be safe players of life always. Granted fear is not all bad, as it also keeps us from being stupid 24/7 but in general fear is the reason why people don't learn and don't grow intellectually.
So here it is gang - my journey to become a PADI certified Open Water Diver. Hope you guys get something from this. From my greatest fear , to a growing rush of adrenalin and a blanket of calm at the same time.
Muka CONTROL BERANI gua dengan seorang advanced diver yang baru saja diadvancekan.
Tengah cuba equalizing.
sedang mencari tandas dengan pantas. Seksanya kalau nak kena buang air besar ketika scuba diving.
Alamak, nak buang air ada ikan pulak dalam gua ni..
Holy Cow ! My new haircut cost how much?
Gua yang tengah buang air tetiba ada manusia pulak kat dalam air n tengok gua, ek eleh lepas tu ambik gambar lak kat situ.
baik gua belah dari sini... nanti penyu tu mintak otograf gua pulak susah nanti.
Hi kodok-kodok semua, bila nak buka sama-sama?
MY diving BUDDY (HANS ISAAC) who took damn good care of me. Am forever iindebted to his kindness dan generosity
walaupun jendulnya tidak banyak berbeza, ini adalah HUMPHEAD FISH dan bukan Harith Iskander.

POWER TO THE PEOPLE
Afdlin Shauki

Selamat Berpuasa Semua dan for those yang tak puasa Selamat continuing to do what you always do!

Firstly.... Have a great and blessed ramadhan to all may we all cuci sikit sifat-sifat kita yang perlu di cuci tu.

OKlah down to business
Ramai yang mungkin bertanya kemana perginya cip kodok setelah membuat kitorang semua steam kodok dengan cliff-hanger ala Miami Vicenya awal minggu ni?

Sebenarnya apa yang telah berlaku pada malam STAKE-OUT tu adalah : After the car was spotted by one of BOB's friends, dia telah menelefoni kami dengan lokasi kenderaan itu. We went to the location to find the car and LUCKILY all its content too but BOB WAS MISSING. We latter found out that on the night he was last seen at that location, he was rushed by a group of people believed to be policemen and taken away. The curious thing about it is on the day we filed the missing person's report, which was one day after people there said he was taken, the police said they have no one by that name and description in any of the holding cells in and around KL. Hmm... how peculiar.

I was asked to say no more about this, so no more will be said. Alhamdulillah everything has somewhat returned to normal and i feel blessed that the lost items were recovered in such a short time. Thank you for all your kind thoughts and once again Happy raya and think happy thoughts

Cip Kodok kena cilok! I'm pissed off but what can i do? so i just redhalah...

Last saturday a production runner working for me called 'BOB' (his real name will not be revealed here)RAN off with my Mazda MPV and a whole bunch of production lights, and equipment that was in it. GUA ni penyabar gila tapi bila sesuatu macam ni berlaku gua rasa panas sikit macam ada api sudah naik atas kepala. Vision Works adalah one of the nicer production companies around, i believe because we are a company that believes that people are our most important asset so we pay people what their worth and our profit margins are often small. Bodoh some of you might say but I think in production of a creative work we must take care of our raw material and in this case i mean people, but as god would have it, we KENA big time this time round, over 60 thousand ringgit worth of stuff.

BUT when shit like this happens, i question my sense of morals and judgement. Is it wrong to put trust in people and if so, what is the BIG lesson here?

I am just so thankful that no one was hurt or kidnapped or anything like that, because that is the van used to pick up some of the artistes.

I'm sure other people osso kena before but it still stings when it happens to you. Why is our country getting more crime infested? What can we do about it? how can we make our society more concious and make our beloved city, country a safer place?

For the life of me, when on the first day the MPV was a no show, we were really scared for his safety.... what if dia kena langgar ke? hapa ke? so we filed a missing persons report but when we found out he had a record with the police for being in possesion of stolen goods we suddenly went hmmmm. Now this guy has been working for us since april, he never struck us as a bad guy (but this could have been his MODUS OPERANDI) and he had many opportunities to steal something then, So why now? this baffles me.

Note for everyone: For your information (cause i just found it out), You can run a check on any potential worker or business associate at any police station. Just provide the full name and I.C. number and kisah benarnya akan terbongkar.

AC mizal was quite baffled with my state of mind when he asked how i felt about losing the car because i responded, "Nasib baik gua belum 'pimp my ride' lagi dengan kereta tu".

So why am i blogging about it now?, you might ask, well because att 11pm, i got a call from one of the crew guys saying that he has spotted the car in pandan indah, so i am going to go there now with a few of my friends to do a LOS dan FAUN but more info is coming in and i gotta go....

Mintak-mintaklah BOB tu tak baca blog gua...... Tapi kalau lu baca BOB, gua harap kalau bukan niat lu nak CILOK gua that you are ok. But if it is then try buat keje lain bro.... cause setinggi-tinggi tupai melompat.

HERE's to the HUMAN RACE... MAY WE NEVER FORGET TO BE HUMAN.
The power!, as CELCOM says IS IN YOUR HANDS.

Kalau Free sabtu ni pastikan tengok CIP KODOK lepas gian.

Salah satu cinta gua adalah menyanyi dan ini satu aktiviti yang dah lama gua tak lakukan. Tetapi ahad lepas gua sempat melepaskan geram dan dendam gua dengan menyanyi lagu BAIK PUNYA CILOK di konsert gemilang Anugerah Era yang akan ditunjukkan hari sabtu ni,Jadi siapa yang berminat untuk melihat gelagat tiga jejaka pingitan freak out dan break it down, dijemput menonton beramai-ramai. Brader Awie tak dapat hadir so tempang sikitla but we had a great time nontheless. Ini ada berberapa gambaq time rehearsal.... gua ada rasa macam Mawi sikit pun ada. hee hee.
Nyanyi kodok jangan tak nyanyi!... Feeling tuu...
Bil letrik ERA pasti akan meletup bulan ni.
AC main kejo-kejo kat pentas
"Dengan ini saya ingin mengisytiharkan perkahwinan saya dengan Siti Nurhalimah!" - Datuk A
"Best jugak bontot tiga mamat kat depan ni!" - Mamat kat belakang
Bila tiga otai perasan muda.... sorang pun tak tengok rehearsal kitorang!! agaknya Mawi tengah press konferens kat sebelah kut.
Afdlin buat stail Jaclyn Victor
Macam dah kurus sikit penyanyi hensem ni!
Macam KRU pun ada jugak... terutama sekali Hans

And i forgot to say last month, but my blog is ONE YEAR OLD already and still going strong and i would like to to thank all my friends. fans, KODOKZ, curious net users, accidental readers etc for keepin the faith and allowing me to be myself in this world we call cyberspace. In my next entry i will detail my next year plans and you guys will know ahead of any press members... not that they seem to be interested, since my name is not MAWI and any chance of marrying Siti has gone up in smoke (i wish her all the best but she really doesn't know what she's missing. i have a saying " If you never tried obese, you won't know what you miss!! heehee). Anyway thanks again y'all and all together now....

Happy birthday to my blog... happy birthday to my blog... happy birthday to selamakodok!!!.... happy birthday to my blooooogggg!!!