Skate or Die

So I was walking around One Utama today with the express intent of getting a haircut when I saw that my regular dude wasn't in the shop and I didn't really trust anyone else in there to cut my hair since he'd been trimming my head pubes since I started shooting 'Ciplak'.

It was then that I remembered the Reverend's SMS last week, foretelling of a new skate shop in the new wing. Curious, I thought I'd go and check it out and sure enough, there it was opposite F.O.S. - The Push.

To see this shop in One Utama was a pleasant surprise - when the Asian X-Games came to Malaysia the country went 'extreme sports' crazy and buying a decent skateboard was pretty easy. Extreme, Radioactive and a whole bunch of other stores sold skateboarding equipment as well as the already established skateboard shops. Skate parks started popping up all over the country.

Then, after they left, so did most of the interest. Only the really enthusiastic skaters were left and the stores slowly dissapeared or concentrated on just clothing with a deck or two available around. To see a dedicated skateboard shop in One Utama was pretty unexpected.

What was even more unexpected were the decks they had. In particular, this one -

It seems that Krooked have brought out a bunch of old school style fish decks. In particular, a bunch of Mark Gonzalez reissues as well as two types of fish decks branded Zip Zinger and Zig Zagger.

And yes, you guessed it, I bought it.

To understand the fascination with this huge, poorly color coordinated monstrosity you have to know my history of love for skateboarding. See, when I first got into skateboarding, back when I was nine or ten, most skateboards and skaters looked like this:-

Yes, those are some godawful shorts. But skateboard decks at the time looked like that - huge, fish shaped thingeys. As street skating became more and more popular the shape changed to the pill-shaped one more commonly known these days. But back when I was a kid, it was the fish.

When I was a kid, though, I had no idea where the skateboard shops were in Malaysia, and instead had those stupid toy ones you get at Toys R Us with the crap plastic wheels. When I got back into skateboarding when I was about 21 I bought myself a proper deck - a Powell Peralta blank deck which I drew on myself but never took a photo of so as time went by and I skated the thing more and more the original image of a giant Godzilla-sized sumo wrestler attacking a city with the words "Who's Ur Daddy?" have long since eroded.

As I walked towards the store, I was thinking of maybe buying a pair of shoes or something, but deep down in the back of my head I was hoping there would be fish decks. At one point when I was in England Powell brought back all their old designs from the Bones Brigade days but I couldn't afford one and when I could they were gone. I wasn't going to let the opportunity slide past me again.

The thing was, technically I couldn't afford it now. At least, not till Monday. But monetarily I had just enough cash. I inquired about the price for a full set up then went off for a cigarette to think about it.

After one cigarette, it was decided.

See, I haven't bought something that I just want in a long time. Everything I buy when I do go shopping can usually be justified - clothes are justifiable, humans need clothing. Shoes are justifiable, humans need shoes. The Canon 5D I recently bought, though something I've always wanted since I saw the footage of it, is predominantly for my work as a filmmaker more than anything else. Even anything guitar related can be justified by my involvement in a band.

There is absolutely no need to buy another skateboard. I've got two older decks that still work fine. It doesn't benefit my work, it's not required as part of everyday life, there is no way of justifying this purchase.

But I want it. I haven't really treated myself to anything in a long time. The sheer pointlessness of the purchase and the nostalgia it brings back was enough to help me decide. I walked back and told them to set it up - stick on the grip tape, pop in the bearings, screw on the trucks and voila.

The difference between this and my old board are huge. Literally:-

The wheels are 65mm in diameter compared to my old deck's 56mm. The trucks are much longer - I was originally going to use my old trucks but the board is a lot wider than my old deck so the longer trucks are to give it a wider wheel base. And it's not just the width of the board but the length is much bigger too.

As I walked back with my board in hand, holding it by its trucks, I couldn't help but smile. I never thought I'd get a deck like this. I always hoped that I could go back to England or the States once more so that I could search for a deck like this, resigned to the thought that I'd never find it here. I can't wait to try this board out and start skating again and even if I don't end up skating regularly again, it's fucking beautiful by itself.

Snoogans.

No Bikes, No Bitches, No Trannies, No Fun

Anybody read the Sunday Times yesterday? I myself hardly ever read newspapers but picked one up because there was an article on the 15Malaysia project. That's when I saw the front page - 'Mat Rempit and Drag Queens OUT'. Apparently, rempits are now banned from film and television because "it is a fact that each time a movie about Mat Rempit is shown in the cinemas, police have to be on high alert".

This has happened because the Inspector General of the Police sent a letter to the Home Ministry stating this fact. I assume because outright banning something is easier than actually educating the public on why illegally racing on the road whilst trying to perform outlandish stunts on a kapcai.

And it's not just rempits. Illegal car racing portrayed on screen will also take a hit. Drag queens are out, as are scenes of men wearing women's clothing, even if it's in a 'Some Like It Hot' type of comedic scenario. No more lose women to be portrayed on screen. No gays or effeminate men in general.

I think it would be safe to say that chase scenes in general will probably be banned at some point, together with fight scenes of a violent nature, women in short sleeve tight t-shirts, the flashing of the ankles and dogs.
I don't have to tell you how inexplicably stupid this news is to me. Local films were in a bad enough state as it is without adding more restrictions. What, pray tell, is the rating system for, then? And are these laws going to be applied on international films as well, or do they get a pass since they're not Malaysian henceforth no one in this country will try and emulate them?

The thing is, I saw this coming. I saw it coming when the first 'Remp-It' movie hit the cinemas. The second I saw the trailer, with it's illegal racing and stunts and scantily clad women I thought to myself, "I can't believe this got past the censor board! I just hope everyone doesn't jump the bandwagon and keep one-upping themselves trying to see what they can get away with or the government's gonna ban it all."
Then this movie comes out:

"Bohsia: Jangan Pilih Jalan Hitam". Great. That's helpful. Sure enough, this movie was one of the ones talked about as apparently, after this movie came out, the amount of rempit activity doubled.

I don't believe in censorship. I believe in ratings to give the public due warning of the content of a movie and to stop younglings from checking out porn at the wrong age. But censorship, especially at this magnitude, is downright obscene.

If you ever wonder why local movies are so dissapointing, look at it this way - creativity is hampered because of censorship laws such as this, combined with producers' greed in wanting to produce something that has all the elements that will sell yet at the same time too afraid to try something new and creative.

And it's this same greed that's landed us in this shit in the first place. We know the government will ban something if there's enough figures to show that it can be related to something that will harm the rakyat, we can't help that. This is the country we live in. And as much as it'd be nice to change that, adding the straw that breaks the camel's back is only going to hamper it.

Dear God, when will there be some kind of news that will allow me to write something nice about the local film industry for once?

Hammer Time

For those who've never been to my little Hub, it's designed in a very interesting way. The staircase is in the middle, leading up to the skylight, making the rest of the ground floor pretty much like a square doughnut. From entering the house, you turn left to the living room and work area, turn right and you end up in the drum area, turn right again and there's a door to the kitchen and turn right one last time to another door to exit the kitchen and take you right back where you started, all the while with the staircase in the middle.

When we're recording in the Hub, in order to not piss off the neighbors we try to let as little sound as possible leak out, so we close all the doors. Once when we were recording the Reverend wanted to go to the kitchen. A few minutes later he couldn't get out. The door knob was stuck. No matter how much you twisted the knob it wouldn't budge.

This was a couple of months ago, and since then that door hasn't been opened, so instead of the square doughnut shape of before, the living room became a horseshoe.

Now, I'm not a big believer in Feng Shui or anything like that, but ever since that day the house didn't feel... right. I could sense, deep down, that something was amiss. Not being able to open that door didn't let things flow properly. I can't explain it, I just knew things weren't right. So today I decided to fix it.

I took out my toolbox and started work. First I tried to find the little button on the doorknob to allow you to dismantle it. No such luck. Then I tried prying the lock open with a pair of pliers. No luck there. Then I tried everything from the otherside. I tried to find the mechanism. I tried to find something I could understand, physically, so that I could fix it.

After an hour of sweating in a hot kitchen trying to figure it out, I gave up and picked up the hammer and started whacking the damn thing in frustration, hoping I'd break it off completely, leaving a big hole in the door but at least the fucker would open.

After three or four whacks, the door knob was fixed and opens properly.

My flatmate in university used to say whilst fixing things "when in doubt, give it a clout". Those words have never rung more true. To hell with DIY manuals. Just beat the fucker with a hammer.