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Flyer for Tali Tenang

Recently, (like, a few hours ago), I participated in the flashmob for “Tali Tenang”. It’s an event organized by RandomActs in the spirit of national unity. Basically, Malaysians were invited to bring along strings, tie them together, and walk in the spirit of 1 Malaysia unity & peace among Malaysians.

It’s a lot less corny than it sounds, and it was pretty fun. It’s like the opposite of bombing places of worship! All in all, it was really nice to see everyone come together to do something positive. You’ll get a good idea of it by checking out the #talitenang hashtag on Twitter.

Here are some pics…

That’s me. Love my Korean 3GS case It’s got a little ring attached (so I can hold it easier while shooting videos/prop up on table) and a mirror! Photo by roflina, thanks!

Taking videos...

More…

Checking videos...

More…

The setup (tying strings)…

Epic picture walking back after the event. Shot by Jeremy.

Here’s a video from Tali Tenang that I shot from my iPhone 3GS (vid quality isn’t too good, just uploaded, it should be better later as Youtube finishes processing it)

Tali Tenang: Crossing the road at Jalan Telawi

And here’s one of the arrival at the the final destination, Bangsar Sports Complex. There were about 200+ people who took part in total!

Cincauhangus also has a great video of the Mexican Wave at the end. Can you spot me? I’m at the second row from the back, on the right side (your right).

Also, if you’ll like to see some pictures from the event, check out this page on Twicsy and also Carolyn Chan’s Posterous.

Here’s a list of tweeters that were there as far as I know:

@andygts, @ZainHD, @nikicheong, @spinzer, @joshlim, @bboyrice, @kruel74, @cincauhangus, @syazaliyana, @feliciazoe, @jibone, @juriiia, @netraKL, @juanajaafar, @tekong, @Rockerina, @ckgord, @haniehidayah, @altmet, @icallitart, @victorliew, @thechannelc, @ling_chan, @roflina, @devuschka, @thisiskj, @dafrosty, @randomalphabets, @yapthomas, @Qishin

And of course, @Rais_Yatim. Haha, just kidding, no he did not.

More to come soon! If you’ve blogged about it as well, leave a comment and let me know, I’ll love to see your shots too!

This Week On Ask Josh:

Ah Josh ah, it is 2010. Is it Twenty Ten or Two Thousand Ten?

Regards, Clueless in Cheras.

I response. OH HAI. YOU CAN HAZ NEW YEAR? YES YOU CAN!

However, it’s 2010. That’s pronounced “Two Thousand Ten”.
Or even, Two Oh One Oh.

It’s NOT “Twenty Ten”.

• Because you don’t say Twenty Hundred. You say Two Thousand. (2,000)
• Because you don’t say Three Hundred Hundred. You say Thirty Thousand (30,000)
• Because you don’t say One Thousand Thousand. You say One Million. (1,000,000)
• Because you don’t say Twenty Hundred Nine. You say Two Thousand Nine.

(I am aware that this is kind of an American habit. Especially the “Twenty Hundred” habit.  Tetapi, Kami Rakyat Malaysia™. Americans are on the imperial system (eg inches. miles, etc). As Malaysians, and we kind of use the metric system more than anything. Here’s a link on why the metric system is better).

Your car speedometer is in kilometers. You give your height in CM for your Malaysian passport. See?

(The exception though, is the penis rule. That one seems to be measured in inches mostly. Unless you so poor thing until have to measure in millimeters la).

Btw, that movie…2012. Did you called it Two Zero One Two or Twenty Twelve or Two Thousand Twelve?

I know some of you object:

Eh Josh ar, but…but…back in 1999, WE CALLED IT NINETEEN NINETY NINE WOR!!

I response. Hello!The previous year was TWO THOUSAND NINE RIGHT?

That’s because…Because One Thousand Nine Hundred And Ninety Nine is 10 syllables, and too long, so we had to settle for the inaccurate, but shorter Nineteen Ninety Nine lor.

Sekarang dah zaman moden tau.

It’s Two Thousand (And) Ten. Or Two Oh One Oh if you like.

Not Twenty Ten la aiyo…

Ahem. One thing that you might not know about me…is that I am a big zombie movie fan.
Here are some that I’ve seen/played (and this is just the ones I can remember off the top of my head)

Zombie Movies: 28 Days Later, 28 Weeks Later, Dawn Of The Dead (2005), Day Of the Dead (2008), Slither, The Signal, G.P 506 (Korean zombie movie), I Am Legend (which I did not really enjoy), Resident Evil 1, 2 & 3 & Sunshine (oops this is a spoiler if you haven’t watched the movie).

Zombie Movies with Shaky Camera Action (ala Cloverfield): REC (Spanish zombie movie), Quarantine (Hollywood remake of REC), Diary Of The Dead (this is one of the creepiest zombie movies I’ve seen).

Zombie Comedies: Black Sheep, Doghouse, Shaun Of The Dead and now…Zombieland!

Zombie Video Games: Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles, Resident Evil Darkside Chronicles, and of course, Left 4 Dead.

FYI: The zombie comedy is a subgenre of a subgenre. Horror > Zombie Movies > Zombie Comedies. You can also call it…a Zomedy!

Here’s a video of the Advertlets screening for Zombieland at Cineleisure Damansara, featuring a few Advertlets bloggers including myself:

I was very happy when Advertlets was given a chance to do a screening for Zombieland recently. Particularly I enjoy zombie movies because of one simple thing. whenever things get bad or I have a down point in life, I think about zombies…and imagine…it could be worse!

Zombieland movie poster

It’s also said that zombies are a reflection of society’s real world fears: overpopulation and fear of crowds.

I was particularly excited about seeing Zombieland due to the high Rottentomatoes.com score (a stunning 89%!). To give you an indicator, The Dark Knight scores about 94%, Star Trek (JJ Abrams remake) scores about 95%, District 9 scores 90% - which puts Zombieland in very good company. FYI, Rottentomatoes.com is a site that aggregates film critic commentary and ratings about movies.

I find myself agreeing with it about 70% of the time…most of the films I enjoy have high scores, though some (less than 10) that I thought were awesome had low scores. Either way it’s a good ‘filter’ for me to decide whether to watch a particular movie.

First off, if you’re a zombie movie aficionado…does it follow the “Zombie Rules” which were established by “The Father Of Zombie Movies, George Romero”? Yes it does! From (here)

1. Undead (meaning the zombie was at one point dead) (Check!)

2. Hunger for human flesh (Check!)

3. Impervious to non-lethal harm (Check!)

4. Killed only by destroying the brain (Even after severing the spinal column, Romero zombies’ heads still live. This rule has been broken by the “Return of the Living Dead” movies, which have terrible zombie ‘rules’ but are fun to watch.) (Check!)

5. Minimal mental processes (This rule seems to be the most malleable within the genre. The classic Romero-style zombies seem to be able to process only the information necessary for following and consuming live flesh, driven mostly on instinct alone, and are incapable of speech or complex thoughts. Outside of the Romero movies, it is not unusual to see this idea bent or broken for the sake of creating a more interesting monster. Still, ’smart’ zombies are very rare.) (Check!)

Rules are important. Because if you don’t somehow attempt to stick to the rules, you end up with films like Twilight, where sunlight makes vampires *sparkle* instead of die. Sigh. Makes them less creatures of the undead, and more My Little Pony than anything.

Btw I am with Team Edward, but I want to have Jacob’s body. lol.

Zombieland also introduces a set of rules (narrated by the main character) throughout the film and in the first 5 minutes of it for zombie survival.

Zombies in the back: "We want a ride too, rawr!"

I won’t spoil it all for you, but one of the rules is “Cardio” (Stay fit! The fatties will die first due to lack of speed), and also “Double Tap” (Make sure the zombie is dead for sure, don’t save your ammo as it could save your life!).

Story wise, the closest in terms of synopsis/story for Zombieland will most likely be Shaun of The Dead, one of the more recent zombie comedies. But Zombieland succeeds where Shaun of the Dead fails, namely:

- The romance in the story is not overplayed
- Genuine tension, zombies are actually menacing
- Comedy is sharp, doesn’t rely too much on uncomfortable moments
- Scale: With a budget of $24 million, Zombieland covers enough locations (from living room, to Hollywood, to a carnival, to grocery stores) to be very enjoyable. This could have made a great video game.
- Emotional scenes are used to good effect
- Zombieland is educational! Some of the tips are really useful should there ever be a zombie outbreak in Kuala Lumpur
- Awesome zombie killing action!

Which means -  if you enjoyed Shaun of the Dead, you’ll probably enjoy Zombieland as well. If you didn’t enjoy Shaun Of The Dead, you’ll probably enjoy Zombieland instead.

A scene from Zombieland which you will not see in Malaysian cinemas. ZOMBIE STRIPPERS!

Plot-wise, it’s relatively simple : Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg, who also starred in a movie called Adventureland [seriously!]) is a loner who has managed to survive the zombie apocalypse, who meets Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), who meets other survivors : Wichita (Emma Stone from ‘Superbad’) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin). They team up, and fight zombies! (Don’t let this put you off - it’s the character interactions and zombie action that make such a thin plot workable).

Emma Stone is a hot chick, and a good reason to watch Zombieland too!

Despite being starred by relative unknowns, you get the feeling that they are very well casted in their respective well-written roles, and all four of them seem “necessary” to the movie. There’s also a cameo role by a certain Hollywood actor (playing himself), that fits perfectly into the movie.
Pace-wise, the film is tightly paced at about an hour and 20 minutes (at most, I think 10 minutes could have been edited) and it is consistently funny - which is good, because some zombie movies fall into the trap of having lots of action then long, slow periods of emotional stuff.

Above all, the movie is fun and doesn’t take itself too seriously while remaining respectful of zombie movie “rules”. The ending sets itself up for a good sequel, AND YES! (I just Googled this) A sequel to Zombieland HAS BEEN CONFIRMED and it’s GOING TO BE in 3D!

ZOMBIELAND ZOMEDY ZUMMARY:

Pros:
- Good use of text overlays for the opening credits and throughout the movie (the text is a star in it’s own right).
- A first for zombie movies: offing a zombie with a banjo.
- Well casted actors that fit their roles
- Cameo appearance by surprise actor
- Stands up to repeat viewings (I watched it twice, and still laughed at the funny parts).

Cons:
- No chainsaw usage in the film (but there’s one in the movie poster!)
- No video game to accompany the movie (seriously, I would play a Zombieland game!)

If you like this, you’ll probably enjoy Zombieland: Playing Left 4 Dead, watching Zombie movies in general, or can stomach horror and enjoy American comedies. (Or if you enjoyed the Jason Statham film, Crank, or Jason Statham films in general).
Watch? Should you watch it? A definite yes. This is probably one of the best zombie movies for 2009. I’m looking forward to World War Z and Jonah Hex in 2010 though!

Wah, ada peraduan kot. Boleh menang RM500 wei!

Contest ini berjaya dianjurkan atas sokongan sponsor yang sentiasa bermurah hati iaitu DSGClicks, Berani Gagal Network, One Malaysia Blogshops, Anisha Online Mall dan Saudacare.

(Kalau you dapat tahu peraduan ini dari blog saya, dan nak sertai, sila letak “Josh Lim (josh.my), itu budak yang hemsem sekali yang beritahu saya tentang peraduan HIDUP BERANI UNTUK GAGAL ini” dalam entri blog anda!)

(Saya tak tahu jika saya layak untuk menyertai peraduan ini kerana dibuka kepada “Satu Dunia Melayu”. Saya bukan berbangsa Melayu. Saya 1JoshLim, 1BudakCina dari 1Malaysia. Tapi saya Google-kan “Satu Dunia Melayu”, dan nampaknya ia ialah “satu dunia agung yang meliputi Indonesia, Brunei, Filipina”. Wadefak! Tak tahu wei…)

Image from voidboi on Flickr. Creative Commons image.

ANYWAYS, untuk entri saya: Walaupun telah mengasaskan Advertlets yang kini akan menjadi 3 tahun pada March 2010, dan saya telah bekerja dalam bidang web untuk lebih dari 8 tahun dan telah membuat projek dan kempen periklanan untuk pelanggan tempatan dan seluruh dunia, saya tidak menggelar diri sebagai seorang yang telah berjaya dalam kehidupan. Tunggu 4 tahun lagi la (at least, untuk Phase 1 complete, masih ada Phase 2, Phase 3…) Perjuangan saya masih belum selesai. Dan, saya telah gagal beberapa kali dalam kehidupan - tapi, tak putus asa. Tahu tak, bila saya seorang belia muda, saya cuba mendapat pekerjaan di McDonald’s? McDonald’s pun tak mahu saya! FAIL betul.

Namun, kerap kali saya ditanya oleh belia muda…apakah yang penting untuk berjaya dalam kehidupan? Saya kerap kata: “Selagi anda belum mati, selagi anda tidak terperangkap dalam najis dadah, selagi anda tidak hamil luar nikah dan terpaksa tamat pekerjaan untuk mengasuh anak, tak ada banyak-banyak yang boleh menghalang anda! Dan juga, kalau kamu belum 25 tahun lagi jangan risau terlalu banyak! Masih ada banyak peluang untuk anda.”

Saya ada cerita yang berinspirasi untuk dikongsi berdasarkan “HIDUP BERANI UNTUK GAGAL“.

Adakah kamu Mat Rempit? Okay, you lihat kat kamu punya kapchai - adalah ia berjenama Honda? Ada tak perkataan “Boon Siew Motor / Boon Siew Honda” di sana? Tahu tak anda siapa Boon Siew? Si Boon Siew adalah imigren/pendatang dari Negara China yang datang ke Penang, Malaysia untuk mencari pendapatan. Bila dia mula berkerja, dia seorang mekanik yang hanya menjana pendapatan $3 sebulan. Betul! Adalah dikataka bahawa sifu dia mengetuk kepala dia apabila dia buat salah. Pada umur 18, Boon Siew membeli 11 buah bas menggunakan $2,000. Selepas tu, dia memperbaiki bas itu, dan menjual ia untuk harga $12,000! Pandai giler.

Tapi, pada 1942 orang Jepun curi dia punya wang! Namun begitu, dia tak putus asa. Selepas Perang Dunia Kedua, dan orang Jepun telah dibelasah teruk dan telah dikalah, dia bermula menjual basikal, tayar dan aksesori motorsikal, dan selepas itu, dia menjual kereta terpakai, transportasi dan bas. Dan dalam 1950, dia bermula penerokaan dalam bidang hartanah di Penang. Boon Siew meninggal dunia pada 1995, tetapi empayar dia makin membesar.

Jika seorang pendatang kuli dari Cina yang tidak berpengalaman boleh jadi tauke kaya dan orang besar dari titis peluh dia sendiri, apa lagi anda, yang telah diasuh dalam rumah yang ada internet, yang ada makanan cukup dan tidak diketuk di kepala kerap-kerap? Selain itu, Jepun takkan menyerang Malaysia lagi, oleh itu jangan risau wang yang anda susah payah bekerja untuk dapat anda dicuri oleh orang Jepun! Kerja keras, jadilah orang berguna kepada bangsa dan negara, berusaha, dan anda akan berjaya! (Kalau tak berjaya pun, tak susah untuk menjana pendapatan RM1500-RM2000 sebulan la).

Post ini ditulis oleh Josh Lim pada lewat malam menggunakan keyboard Apple yang seksi, sistem komputer PC lama yang menggunakan Windows XP, dan menggunakan broadband Streamyx yang pantas sekali! Sekian, terima kasih banyak-banyak, kawan-kawan kecil!

Not much to do with the post, but it's a nice picture, isn't it? :)

Recently, I had an experience that made me think, I should blog more about food. After all, I do know some decent places (and some bad ones), so it’ll probably be good to share. More posts on this topic soon

And also, something that brought up the point of this post. I’m usually not very fussy about food - there are only about 2-3 things that I specifically hate eating. And back in my college days, I ate chicken rice everyday for 3 months. I still can eat chicken rice (or Yoshinoya) if it’s still around everyday. But recently I’ve been visiting some interesting food places, and developing my food palate (thanks in part to Rebecca) and came to the stunning realization that was I was having, sucks. It’s been a while since I found something I didn’t like.

However I’ll like to ask you what you think of this - I have a feeling that the more you experience something and start to dissect it critically  (whether good or bad), it becomes harder to appreciate things that aren’t “high level” or “top quality” according to your developed taste? When you start to evaluate things so critically, does it become much harder to find things that you enjoy?

Like for example, a film critic who can’t watch and enjoy teen comedies.

(Btw some good recent ones - Harold & Kumar Go To Guantanamo Bay, Sex Drive, I Love You Beth Cooper)

Or a food blogger who can’t enjoy eating McDonald’s or fast food outlets.

(Btw fast food wise, best fries are McDonald’s the best burgers are from Burger King, and the best chicken is from KFC, best mashed potatoes from Popeye’s).

Ideally, I’ll probably like to be able to appreciate finer things without losing touch with the pedestrian and the normal.

It’s a weird thing to think about, but it’s something I do think about often.

Some thoughts at 3:48 am. Signing off, Josh Lim.

Josh Lim, Hannah Tan. I'm the one on the left that's not a cute celebrity.

So recently I met Hannah Tan for dinner in Bangsar…yeah I know what you’re going to say “pics or it didn’t happen!”. Got pics. Here. Nah. Pics from Hannah’s blog actually

So anyway for those of you that don’t know who Hannah Tan is - she’s a model, emcee, and artiste. Also, Malaysia’s Sexiest Woman 2006 with brains to boot - she has a degree in Computer Science.  She’s also recently invaded Japan, being one of the first few (if not the first) Malaysian to produce and debut an album in Japan. RM6 mil deal wei!

She’s also the driving force behind the H-Factor Creative Youth Workshops that were held last year. Advertlets was a media sponsor for the event, and I must say that personally I think the event turned out very well.

So, here’s what Hannah told me…

Hannah Tan. Pics from FHM Singapore

She’s Having A Christmas Concert!

She’s having a special charity concert together with other local artistes to benefit disadvantaged children this December 20th in Genting Highlands. Keep that date free, because Hannah Tan asked you to! We’ll be working out an arrangement for you bloggers to get to go, perhaps even arrange a bus to all go up together!

PS: This concert hasn’t been announced yet officially, but she says it’s okay for me to post this up

She’s starring in a new movie, coming out soon!

From left: Carmen Soo, Hannah Tan, Daphne Iking. Pic from Rebecca

Also, Hannah has a new movie coming out called “My Spy“, where she plays the lead. It also stars super-celebrity Advertlets blogger Daphne Iking, as well as Carmen Soo, AC Mizal and Maria Farida.

You can check out some exclusive behind the scenes pictures over at Rebecca’s blog. And yup, we’re going to get tickets for you to watch when the time comes, of course.

So that’s it for now. Stay tuned here and this other blog for details over the next few weeks!

According to Lady Gaga: “There’s this one shot in the video where I get kidnapped by supermodels. I’m washing away my sins and they shove vodka down my throat to drug me up before they sell me off to the Russian mafia.”

The funny thing - when you view the video, it’s actually weirder than her description.

As a song though, the ‘ohhh’ and ‘rarara’ bits at the beginning are more than a bit stupid, but it gives way to a nice 80’s beat and vocal style remniscent of ‘Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)’. But probably closer to the Marilyn Manson version than the Eurythmics version.

But either way, this isn’t about Lady Gaga’s music, or her career. Though I would say I enjoyed about 68% of the song and video.

Nope, this is about…product placements! Can you guess how many product placements were squeezed into one video? For fun, watch the video first before reading the rest of the post…

Watch it below:

Anyway, here they are, I had fun spotting them!

Product placements in ‘Bad Romance’ by Lady Gaga:

Parrot by Starck ($1600)
(0:11)

Nemiroff Vodka ($50)
(0:16, 02:28, implied throughout video in glasses)

Heartbeats by Lady Gaga ($99.95)
(0:24, 0:30, 0:34, 1:12, various times in video)

Carerra ‘Safari’ Sunglasses ($ unknown)
(03:56)

HP Envy ‘Beats Limited Edition’ by Monster ($2,299)
(2:44)

(There’s also a Nintendo Wii controller at (02.43), but it’s probably not a paid placement.)

In total, there are about 8 placements for 5 products, each between 1-4 seconds in a 5-minute video!

You’ll probably see a lot more of this as record sales continue to drop and artistes continue to find other ways to make money around their music, instead of directly from the music. Am I against product placement? Not as long as it’s not too intrusive and it’s interesting (I might consider buying the headphones in the vid) - the format of a music video usually only allows for 1-3 seconds at a time anyway, but the scary thought you have to think is this - will there be a future where all music videos will be this weird, so as to accomodate product placements more easily? As brands can’t fit as smoothly in grassy fields, normal-looking living rooms or plain white backgrounds. Everything will look like weird stuff from Japan!

Oh, and look out for the surprise ending of Lady Gaga sitting on a bed a burnt out skeleton! Really.

Friends: I feel much better than I did yesterday, but running to the toilet several times a day is not a good thing.

Bloggers: You’ll be pleased to know I somehow managed to attend 2 meetings over the past 2 days without puking on any clients. Not the best thing for me to be out and about with food poisoning, but this few days have been pretty good for sales (broke the Advertlets sales record recently), so felt I just had to keep it up.

I remember the last time I was down with food poisoning. I was probably down for about 3 days in total. Couldn’t drive, couldn’t get up, couldn’t even use a computer and could hardly talk on the phone. And guess what, I got food poisoning from McDonald’s of all places. Confirmed case - the other person I had breakfast with (a pretty girl, though that detail is not necessary to the story) also had food poisoning. After that I stopped taking the McD’s breakfast for a year. Then I started again la, since it’s hard to resist…

But recovery seems much much faster this time - couldn’t eat solid food for the first day, but today I had solid food and my appetite is back. Attended meetings, did up proposals, answered some e-mails and calls. And the other half of the time when I feeling too sick to get up, managed to lie down with my netbook to download clips on Youtube, check out some TV series, and look at funny cat pictures on on my Streamyx connection. (Which is pretty fast in my area actually - check out this speed test I ran).

Oh, and best part I seem to have lost 1KG in just a day. Haha!

Anyway, thought I’ll share this with you - largely I think a faster recovery this time around is because I think I’ve found a combination of stuff that works, so you might want to give this a try…

First tip: Don’t vomit in the sink. Vomit in the toilet bowl. You don’t wait to block up your sink.

Now, on to the medicines!

This picture below reminds me of what a certain blogger used to blog about before appearing in a certain Malay paper Nah, these are just normal prescription medications, you can get them from any clinic.

All of these work together to make you less dehydrated, and not feel so nauseous. That’s it for the Western medicine.

On to the Chinese medicine!

These are ‘Poh Chai’ pills. I’m not sure if this is their intended function, but they make me puke instantly - like 1-3 seconds afterwards. I had four of them over 5 hours, and felt much better. They come in ‘buckshot’ like containers, each little pellet dissolves quickly when you drink it with water. Suggest you take this in the bathroom, if you’re going to have a reaction like me.

This is…Ya-Hom Powder Five Pagodas Brand. A friend brought this over to me, together with a few cans of 100plus. Felt much better after that. He said usually one is enough. It really works.

Here’s a close up of how the paper looks when unwrapped (also, in case you need to ask for it in Thai or Chinese)

I also have no idea why they are packaged to resemble ammunition.

Hopefully you never have to get food poisoning, but if you do, try this combination and let me know if it works!

Lastly, if you are currently suffering from food poisoning, here’s something to cheer you up…

Q: What’s worse than puking from your mouth and diarrhea from your ass all day long?
A: Imagine if you had diarrhea from your mouth instead…

Eat safe!

The everyoneconnects.net website

Image from The Star from the article "Song causes a buzz"

At a press conference earlier today in JW Marriott, Kuala Lumpur, the singer was revealed from behind an orange curtain…to a chorus of groans, cheers and “whatttt??”, and “seriously?”

The song has gotten lots of interest on Twitter, and even in the mainstream media - The Star mentioned that it “caused quite a buzz“, and “everyone wanted to know who was behind it”.

The singer was revealed to be non other than Asmawi bin Ani, better known as Mawi - the winner of Season 3 of Akademi Fantasia. It was revealed that this song “Through My Window”, was the start of what would be a side project for him. And that he would be playing with a band, which explains the pixelated images of four people being credited with a song on the official site.

Mawi, lead singer of "Tsu-Mawi And The World" showing off his new indie rock look at the press conference earlier today.

During the 1 hour press conference, where coffee, sirap bandung and “kuih Mawi” was served, the band name was revealed to be “Tsu-Mawi & The World”.

The sponsor behind this effort was also revealed to be non other than TM (formerly known as Telekom Malaysia). This is not Mawi and TM’s first collaboration, as TM was a major sponsor of Mawi’s latest film, Jin Notti.

Said Aziz A. Hadi, TM vice-president and product manager explains that TM is not restricting its involvement to only education and sports events.He adds: “TM is now expanding into the art and entertainment industry and has made the decision to support Mawi so that the local music industry keeps growing. Mawi is a succesful artiste, and has proven himself and we fully support Mawi’s move into the burgeoning indie rock scene.”

Mawi also explained his choices on why he launched a new band:

Said Mawi “Saya dah cuba banyak ‘genre’ musik bertahun-tahun ni. Lagi pop, lagu r&b, lagu dangdut dan juga nasyid”.

“Tapi, satu jenis musik yang saya belum cuba adalah apa tu orang putih panggil ‘alternative rock’ atau ‘indie rock’. Stail musik ini telah dipopularasikan oleh kugiran dari negeri Barat seperti ‘All American Rejects’, ‘Simple Plan’, Fall Out Boy’ ‘Boys Like Girls’, ‘Michael Learns to Rock’ dan juga kugiran tempatan seperi ‘Hujan’ dan ‘Bunkface’.

Mawi continued explaining his decision to go into the alternative rock scene: “Album sales…saya dah jual banyak giler. Diestimasikan bahawa 55% dari populasi Malaysia sudah beli album saya. Dan, kami tahu bahawa populasi Malaysia yang berbangsa Melayu adalah 60%. Dari segi bisnes, dengan menyanyi lagu indie rock dalam Bahasa Inggeris saya dapat mencapai market baru! Dari research kami, dilihat bahawa orang Cina dan orang India tak banyak mendengar lagu tempatan dalam Bahasa Malaysia”.

“Sebagai artis, saya mesti terus berinovasi, oleh sebab itu saya cuba genre music baru. Lihat macam mana si Madonna telah cuba menginovasi imej dia. Walaupun dia sama tua seperti nenek saya, dia masih ada imej yang seksi dan banyak kostum yang menarik”.

A picture from the recording session of "Through My Window" with "Tsu-Mawi & The World"

Mawi stated he had big aspirations for the song, and the upcoming album: “Dengan menyanyi dalam Bahasa Inggeris, kugiran saya boleh juga target market eksport - ke negeri Barat dan negeri Asia Timur Selatan. Market di luar negara best tau - you tahu tak itu band Pop Shuvit? Mereka menjual lebih album di Jepun daripada Malaysia! Tak baik jadi jaguh kampung sahaja, saya nak mengemukakan 1Mawi untuk 1Dunia.“

Then, quipped Mawi: “Macam tu baru WORLD!”. The press and audience at the event went wild with laughter after he said that. After the 35 minute interview, the press conference was ended with a stunning performance by the newly revealed “Tsu-Mawi & The World”. Mawi in particular gave a particularly energetic performance - and indicative of his new style, he smashed his guitar stylistically at the end.

By the way: Here’s the video to the song, now with visuals! Okay, it’s a leaked one, so it’s incomplete:

So, what do you think? Will Mawi succeed in his indie rock flirtation? The viral campaign has been unprecedented, and response to his debut single has been amazing, but will he be a one hit wonder or continue to pump out strong, catchy indie rock tracks?

Update (9PM) Ahem. Guys, it’s a prank. The real singer is Bunkface, not Mawi. Go check out the real  everyoneconnects.net website here.

It’s amazing how many of you fell for my little prank though. Hehe! Congrats to TM, Bunkface and the agencies for a job well done.

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