a great singer and a stupid manager

Last Friday, I went to see Atilia singing at a Restaurant. (Yes, I’m not gonna promote that restaurant!) Atilia was great with a capital G! GREAT! What more can I say? She’s truly a great singer and performer. Betullah kata pepatah melayu, kemana tumpahnya kuah jika tak ke nasi! Salamiah Hassan (Atilia’s mother and also a great singer of hits ‘Menghitung Hari’) would be so proud!

Oh, about why I’m not gonna mention the restaurant name? it is because of the stupid manager. First, because my name was not in the reservation list walaupun 2 kali I called to make the reservation and CONFIRMED it! I said I want a table nearest to the stage to watch Atilia, malangnya she said name was not on the list. For your information, this is not the first time this happened to me at that restaurant. It’s my 3^rd time! Duh! Tapi itu bukan lah perkara yang paling buat I bengang. Bila dah takde seat, terpaksalah I berdiri near the bar. Sebab takde table, malaslah nak order apa-apa. Susah la, dengan nak pegang bag lagi, dengan orang yang lalu lalang lagi. So, this stupid manager datang dan tanya I nak order apa-apa tak? I just said I don’t want to order anything kalau I tak dapat table. Nak tahu apa dia jawab yang buat I geram?

She said, I quote….

“If you not going to order anything, you can stand outside XXXXXX and listen to Atilia. We have a very good sound system and you can still clearly listen to Atilia from outside. This area is strictly for XXXXXX’s customer only.”

Bodoh kan? Kurang ajar! I pun marah la manager perempuan berambut panjang yang bodoh tu! Sampai dia terdiam and at last, I got my table! (Duh!) tapi masa tu, my moodmeter was at zero! Tapi sebab nak tengok Atilia, I stay juga.

Ok, cukuplah pasal that stupid manager. Lets continue with Atilia. I would like to apologize to Atilia sebab sebelum ni, I have said yang dia bukan penyanyi high-note. The truth is, she is! Yes!

Secara keseluruhan, persembahan Atilia sangat menghiburkan. Yang paling best, she’s sing all my favorite song! Sempurna, Duyung, Sudah, Selagi, selalu denganmu dan of coz, Salah Sangka! Bila salamiah hassan menyanyi bersama Atilia, my heart was pounding like crazy sebab diorang nyanyi my ultimate favorite song, ‘For once in my life’ by Stevie Wonder. It was Superb! The French will say C’est Magnifique!

Jadi, walaupun dengan rasa bengang yang teramat sangat, I pulang dengan perasaan yang sangat gembira. Atilia is a very good singer dan tak lupa, dia peramah! (Bonus Marks!)

A note to Atilia…

Sis,

Keep up your good work and please, please, please always be “ATILIA” forever! I had a wonderful nite and will never forget it. Thank you for the magical of your music!

Love always,

XOXO

Areed

a boy and a camera

all pictures by me

visit: areed.deviantart.com

When I was a little boy, I always wanted a camera. I wanted my ‘own’ camera. One day, I told my ayah about my desire to own a camera. He then told me that we are so poor so that we can’t afford to have camera. But I asked him back, “why we need two televisions then, if we are so poor?” but his answers then never satisfied me.

That was it. At that moment, I am disappointed. But, what can I do to change my ayah principle? Nothing much and till now, it never happened and never seems to happen. I have to come to a stage that I almost forget about the passion that I had in photography.

On one sunny day while walking in the park looking at people taking wedding pictures, I remember, as a little boy I always admire to look at advertising and fashion strips in magazines. But I always realized it’s not the model or the fashion that I admire. It’s the work behind all of it. Fashion’s photography is the answer. It is my passion.

Now, after realizing my true passion in photography (and watch several seasons of America’s Next Top Model), I manage to pulled back all the passion in my heart. Whenever I have free time, I always looked for fashion’s photography pictures either on the net or magazines. I also bought some expensive magazines just to have the pictures in it. Magazines like America, Glam, Elle Magazine, Vogue, Mademoiselle and Vanity Fair is the best reference for me to learn more about fashion photography’s techniques. Like the old saying said, if you want the best, learn it from the best.

The website that I always refers to if looking for inspiration in fashion photography is www.deviantart.com (under the keyword fashion photography or fashion portraits). In this website, we can view all the artwork and photos from photographers all over the world either they are amateurs or experts. On this site also we can ask opinion or advise regarding photography from the experts. Besides, we can load our artwork and ask comment from others. Other website that is interesting to explore is www.fotopages.com where we can look at lots of good and interesting pictures.

International names like Gil Ben Simone and Nigel Barker is my idols in fashion photography. Gil Ben Simone is French’s man who discovered Twiggy, the 1^st fashion icon. Besides Twiggy, he also has shot lots of big name such as in the millennium, name like Heidi Klum, Tyra Banks and Kate Moss. Simone, have shot for many magazines and his work always become a hits in the fashion industry. Commercials like Covergirl, Lancome, Christian Dior and Versace have all succeed through Simone’s lenses. He also is so great until he become the prizes for the winner of America’s Next Top Model (ANTM). Every winners of ANTM will get a chance to be shot by Simone that will be a spread in Elle Magazine. This already shows Simone credibility in Fashion’s Photography. While Nigel Barker, besides being one of the judge for ANTM, he actually is a prominent and professional photographer that have shots for many advertising and fashion strips.

Before studying in the Photo Communication subject, I never take a picture using the manual mode. ‘Automatic’ at that time is my best friend. The only thing that I always concerns is the angle and placing in taking pictures. But as I go trough this subject, I found that photography is not just all that. Besides giving messages and tell stories, composition, depth of field and exposure also are very essentials in photography. The combinations of the techniques will pull out the best from the subject that we captured.

One day, I hope that this hidden talent that I have would make senses. I also sometimes have think that maybe photography can be an option of career. Sometime, I gain experience by takings pictures at relatives and friend’s wedding.

2 Pakcik, Amani and Mualaf

picture by: gruvistim
visits: gruvistim.deviantart.com


Recently, I have accidentally listened to a conversation between this two ‘pakcik’ at a kedai kopi. The conversation goes like this. (lebih kurang la…)

Pakcik1: Macam-macam budak zaman sekarang ni! Sebab duit sanggup botakkan kepala. Dunia dah nak kiamat kot!

Pakcik2: Biasalah si Yasmin Ahmad tu. Pencemar Budaya. Dulu dia buat Namron pegang anjing. Sekarang dia botakkan pula si Amani tu. Huh!

Pakcik1: Dia memang sayang sangat budak Amani tu. Semua filem dia, ada Amani.

Pakcik2: Sebab tu Amani tu pun nk jadi cam dia. Pencemar budaya. Ko tengok je la dalam FFM tahun lepas!

Pakcik1: Kalau menang lagi tahun ni tak tahulah! Macam bagus sangat!

Pakcik2: Aku tak tahu! Aku tak pernah tengok filem dia. Kau dah?

Pakcik1: Belum. Tak nak lah! Buat apa tengok filem ‘pencemar budaya’!

Pakcik2: Ini semua sebab takde orang ambil tindakan!

I don’t know the rest of the conversation because after that I just kept laughing! These two stupid uncles, I call them ‘fcukin’ maggots!’. They didn’t even care to watch the movie first before said all the nasty words! ‘Pencemar budaya’. What is that supposed to mean? I felt so sorry for those two Pakcik because of their narrow mind!

To tell the truth, I also have an uncle yg kritik Yasmin macam nak gila before dia tonton film Yasmin. Tapi, one day after menonton filem Gubra bersama saya, segala pendangan jadi berbeza. Dia kata dia bangga sebab Yasmin berjaya menggambarkan umat islam sebagai kaum/bangsa yang sangat penyayang dan tak pernah hokum orang lain. Apa salahnya menunjukkan sisi islam yang baik iaitu islam yang penuh dengan rasa cinta?

Apa salah namron memegang anjing (yang kering)? Didn’t they learn it from school? Diorang ni tak pernah dengar cerita seorang pelacur dengan seekor anjing yang pernah diceritakan Rasulullah ke?

Apa salahnya Amani membotakkan kepala dalam filem Yasmin jika Erra Fazira dibenarkan bertukar-tukar rambut palsu dalam filem Yusof Haslam? (sekadar contoh)

Kalau nak cakap pasal halal-haram, dua-dua pun haram kot. Tapi who are we to judge?

At the end of the day, I’ve concluded that the pakcik will always be the pakcik! But I really hate it when people say certain things/ or thinks in a certain way just because other people said/ or thought so! Orang-orang macam ni takkan ke mana!

p/s: tak sabar nak tengok Mualaf.

xoxoxo

areed

how some people annoyed me!

picture by: *larafairie
visits: larafairie.deviantart.com



In life, people often annoyed me. i know for sure that i've annoy some people too but u just hate it when it happened to u aite! i'm sure do!

its annoy me when people that know nothing act like she/he knows everything.

its annoy me when people that are great act as if he/she is a loser in life.

its annoy me when people are always late!

its annoy me when people thinks she's the great one while she is just a shit!

i am sure there are more to list down but its enough for now...

sangkar by atilia

Sangkar by Atilia is a GREAT album!

i kept listening to it again and again for this past one month and i really felt that i have bought one of the best ever album that had been produced in Malaysia by Malaysian! congrats Atilia! congrats to Roslan Aziz too!

Atilia voice is not so 'high-note' like Jac or Siti but still, her voice is like an angel's voice (as if i heard one!) her voice is so soothing and make you want to cry, laugh, smile or just kept wondering. (Mostly, i smile!) Sometimes, her voice kinda sound like Sheila Majid but of coz, this album is produced by Roslan Aziz (u know who!).

my fav song will be 'salah sangka', 'sangkar', 'selagi' and 'Duyung'. salah sangka is a superb song! it is my fav song now! not forgetting tompi's 'selalu denganmu', Atilia version of this song is totally unique because it is more easy listening.

I hope Atilia future in this rotten music industry will rise as shine as it can be! she's one of the best in Malaysia and i pray all the best for her!

xxooxx
areed

visit atilia's myspace : http://myspace.com/rajaatilia

This is Atilia's comment about this article. YEY!

Jul 19, 2007 9:11 AM at Myspace

oh my god...i read your blog and it almost brought tears to my eyes. thank u so much for appreciating what i did. if only we have more people like you. thanks so much for making my day...and i will be singing at alexis tomorrow and day after. if you can come, please ya...i'll be more than happy to meet you.


the magic of music is boundless!

love,
atilia