Yasmin Ahmad (1958 – 2009)

Photo by The Open Room (Flickr)

Last night, one of  our greatest storytellers, Yasmin Ahmad passed away. I was lucky enough to have to met her at some of her talks and screenings. She was a very bright, down-to-earth, funny and artistic women.

After 50 commercials, 6 films and 11 international awards, Yasmin has done her job well uniting people of various backgrounds telling stories and touching hearts. Now God needs her more than we do. Al-Fatihah to her precious soul.

Here is one of her last commercials

Read her wonderful blogs about films and life- The Storyteller and The Storyteller, Part 2.

Reports on her passing on NST and Malaysiakini(BM).

Rest In Peace THE King Of Pop Michael Joseph Jackson

MJ in London recently announcing 'This Is It' comeback tour scheduled in July. Photo by Newscom

Truly, THE BEST entertainer, artist, musician the world has ever known. A great loss not just for the entertainment industry, but also the rest of humanity whom souls he touched with his music, videos, life performances, originality and personality all these years. He’s in God’s good hands now.

Tribute Montage

Best Dance Moves

HIStory Tour in Malaysia

Condolences to his families, friends and fans.

Related articles on Michael Jackson here and here.

Not All Government Depts. Are Boring!

Photo by NBC

If you love The Office US series, you’re gonna love this one too!

Parks Promo #1 – The Front Lines

Parks and Recreation is a new mockumentary-style comedy series about the work and lives of the people in the Parks and Recreation Department in a fictional town called Pawnee in Indiana.

The series just finished their first season last month and stars SNL favorite comedian Amy Poehler as the deputy head named Leslie Knope, super funny man Aziz Ansari as Tom Haverford, Rashida Jones as nurse Ann Perkins and Nick Offerman as Ron Swanson the online Scrabble-playing department’s head.

Parks Promo #2 – Inspiration

The show shares the same format and style as The Office, but it’s about a government office whereas The Office is about a private paper company. Instead of dealing day-to-day securing paper sales, Parks deals with the work(or the lack of it) of turning an abandoned construction pit into a public park.

I couldn’t get enough of the show and Poehler’s character in Parks greatly resembles that of a female version of Steve Carell’s character in The Office. And Aziz Ansari’s fast-mouth-annoying-sarcastic jokes made the show even more hilarious! Rating: 4.5/5

Parks Promo #3 – Child’s Dream

Watch featured videos, deleted scenes and other funny stuff at Parks and Recreation website.

Image by City of Pawnee

Parks and Recreation

Knowledge & Arts Tour ‘09

Young Muslim Project and The British Council have put together an awesome program for the local Muslim youths to seek understanding and value of Islam in today’s modern times. Knowledge & Arts Tour ‘09 will run from 5th till 15th July and will be divided into two sessions- ‘Arts’ on 5th – 8th, and ‘Knowledge’ sessions on 8th – 15th.

There will be seminars and workshops conducted by local and special international speakers who have good rapport among youths like Islam convert and activist Suhaib Webb from the States, UK convert and lecturer Abdul Raheem Green and graffiti artist, Mohammed Ali AKA Aerosol Arabic who’ll show us his award-winning ‘Urban Spiritual Art’. All three will inspire those who attend to embrace the empowering message of Islam in their daily lives. Non-Muslims are also welcomed.

Check out some of Suhaib Webb’s speeches here and Abdul Raheem Green’s lectures here. Watch Mohammed Ali’s feature on CNN below;

Date: 5th – 15th July 2009 (‘Arts’ 5th – 8th, ‘Knowledge’ 8th – 15th)
Location: Around KL and Selangor
Speakers: Suhaib Webb, Abdul Raheem Green, Mohammed Ali

For updates and more info on the Knowledge & Arts Tour ‘09, go to Young Muslim Project website.

Download Festival 2009

The annual rock concert Download Festival will be happening this weekend at Donington Park in Leicestershire, England from 12th till 14th June.  This year features over 100 bands and will be headlined by some of the biggest names in rock music including Faith No More, Slipknot, Korn(been there, done that ), Marilyn Manson, the original line up of Limp Bizkit(!), Killswitch Engage and Meshuggah among others(just check out the cool poster!).

Why should I be bothered with something awesome that’s happening elsewhere but not good ol Malaysia? Well because you don’t have worry if you couldn’t go or wait for the crappy crowd videos on YouTube or Torrent download sometime later- you could watch it live online on their website! Woohoo! Granted, if Streamyx doesn’t die on us for the whole day like last Monday lah

More info on Download Festival 2009 website.