Why Hello There!

Greetings and Salutations!

It's been almost five months since I last posted here and the last time I wrote, I said I was a jobless bum.

Nothing has changed. I'm still a jobless bum.

Well, a bum with no real full-time job. I'm what the Japanese would call a Freeter 

I've gone full-time freelance that I have. 

It'd be even more amazing if I was one of those hired guns that had zero free time because of the amount of work coming my way but I'm not. I decided that for the next 365 days that I'd focus on producing content by myself. After working on projects that do nothing but constantly rape my soul, I've decided to be a full-on struggling artist and focus on creating something that I can call, mine.

Here are some of the projects that I'm glad to have worked on.

Lastik: Once Upon a Time in the East - Directed by Nadira Ilana

The Silent Riot / Rusuhan Tersembunyi - Directed by Nadira Ilana

I have worked on a few more videos but I'm not at liberty to post them as my clients would rather not have those videos made public, nothing dodgy about the videos, I just have clients that value their privacy.

Well, that's what I've done work-wise in the past 5 months. Let's hope my own content can hold up to the other projects I've worked on.

:: Insert Sheepish Grin Here ::

Hello, my name is Amir.

Greetings and welcome!

My name is Amir and I'm an alcoholic.

Oh wait.

My name is Amir and I'm a jobless bum.

In my last post, I spoke about being at the crossroads of my life and after enjoying a much-needed break/honeymoon; I'm excited about getting back to the brouhaha of things! I've always wanted to make a video CV for myself but it took some chutzpah to actually sit down and tackle the long list of self-imposed problems I had made for myself. Let me list a few of the down:

• I have very little access to a huge chunk of the programmes that I've worked on.
• I no longer have access to any form of production equipment.
• I'm a broke little bitch.
• Nega-Amir (Had to steal your idea Mr. Bryan Lee O'Malley!)

I suppose they don't call it self-imposed because someone else caused it and I feel that the biggest hurdle one has to overcome is always themselves. Nobody can be a harsher critic than yourself. Don't expect things to magically work out after sorting your own personal self-esteem issues though.

It only gets tougher from here on.

So I managed to say "Fuck it!" and begged, borrowed, and stole my way to get this video done. That was just the first step to greatness. By my calculations, I've got a long way to go before I even have a sip of greatness. 

Either way, time to get things done.

Hit The Ground Running.

Dear Diary....


What?


I'm always at a loss for words when it comes to opening lines for an entry. A part of it stems from the fact that I dislike repeating myself on the grounds of it sounding overused but in some ways it breeds familiarity for the reader. It certainly sounds like I have a short attention span and I think that pretty much sums up my character. Of course, when it comes to certain activities such as gaming or cycling, I can pretty much stay glued on my bike/console for long periods of time.


Well then, the one thing that I do like to do is post up silly videos before I even begin writing about my main topic so here goes today's video, a great spiritual successor or even an Australian version of this video.

Oh hipsters, they're the of this decade. I wonder what the future will bring next? Farmer-core? Bike-ies? Who knows? I don't.


Anyway, back to the topic at hand and that is the fact that as of the 1st of April, I will be effectively jobless.


Boo-fucking-Hoo.


Not really, while I may be jobless in April but as of this moment, there are so many possible avenues for me to pursue, I'm not so sure what I want to do. Here's a quick list of what I could pursue:-

• Start up my own Post-Production Studio.
• Produce a web series.
• Switch careers and become a junior tech writer.
• Go back to film school.
• Become a freelance video editor.

That's all I can think of at the top of my head. The whole bit about starting up my own Post-Production Studio is actually being put into action but I still have my doubts as funding is a real chore when it comes to this. I won't lie and say that this is a very scary time for me and deep down I'm scared shitless but no point panicking about it. All I have to do is soldier on and I should be fine. 

Gosh, it sounds like I'm constantly reassuring myself that everything will be okay.

Silly Boy.

Chasing the Unicorn of Fortune

Before I begin, I must say, typing out an entry with my phone seems very cool yet out-of-place for me. While this must make me sound like an old fogey but if I'm to join the world in its never ending march towards a technological singularity, I damn well better be up to date!


Anyways, hello and welcome back to my humble zone of bits and bytes! Here my random video of the day:




Don't ask me why. It's just a cool video. It also has to do with what I do for a living. I'm not too sure if I've mentioned this before but I am doing my best to make a career out of the broadcast industry. I major in post-production and have worked on a fair number of project ranging from TV commercials to documentaries. I started out as a video editor for television daytime soap operas and eventually made my way up to the role of colorist/editor. I dabble in videography and directing as well but my real job lies in post-production.

Anyways, the reason why I brought up the topic of my career was because of a job I had recently completed. It was your usual freelance job. I was hired on as the online editor and colorist for a History Channel documentary. It was supposed to be a two week gig.

The online edit & colour grading suite I was working out of. Horrible graveyard shift mess not pictured.

The job started in December last year.

I just finished it earlier this week.

Yay for me...

There were a lot of reasons as to why a two week job ended up becoming a four month job but to be fair, I only did a week in December and a week in March. So yes, I kinda sorta did what I was contracted to do. I won't complain about the hours I pulled because if anybody from my line were to read this, they'd think I was a fraud for not getting used to the hours. I actually am used to the hours. If they were actually work hours and not me waiting on people to supply me with the necessary files for me to complete my job.

However, I had a series of interesting events on the last day of the project. Allow me to set the backstory:

We had just finished the programme and laid it back to Digital Betacam. The master had been delivered to the station and DVD copies had been sent to the station's production manager. Pints were drank and everybody went home for some much deserved rest. This monster of a project had been laid to rest. My story picks up the next day.

Digital Betacam Transfer Tower™

 I had a nightmare that night, being on edge for the past week had left me with a buildup of anxiety. The nightmare was simple, I woke up from sleep to only see a hundred missed calls from the director/producer and a series of angry text messages from said person. Apparently I had dropped the ball just as the programme was about to be delivered. Many fuckups were made and I woke up (for real this time) in a panic.

Almost immediately, I asked my wife to pass me my phone.

Zilch. Nada. Nothing.

'twas all but a bad dream it seems. Somewhat shaken, I proceeded to do my morning ritual and I shit you not; pardon the pun. Just as I was about to pinch a loaf, my wife knocks on the door and says,

"Your nightmare's come true. Your post-production supervisor just called."

If there ever was a more ominous sound of shit dropping into water, I'd like to hear it but as of now, this holds the record for most ominous shit. Really. That was that, the shit had hit the fan, or so I thought.


After scrambling away like a headless chicken trying to get to the office as soon as humanly possible, we discovered that the programme was fine but only the DVD copies sent to the station heads were faulty. Yes, I know it sounds anti-climatic but for the first half of my day I thought I was heading towards post-production disaster. So the relief felt was tremendous!


Looking back, it did seem like a whole lotta fuss for something so trivial but in my experience, station heads tend to love trivial matters. 


:End Transmission:
Amir.

Day One, Year Zero.

Isn't funny that every single time I begin to write a post, I have to think of something clever or funny to say? So how about this for an opening line that is completely different to how I write but yet terribly like me.


"Hello and Welcome,


Did you know that a pig's orgasm can last up to 30 minutes? And that Charlie Chaplin had an extremely amazing/strong voice?"





Well, there you go. That was my best attempt at being informational, educational, and somewhat humorous. Did I succeed, well, first of all, stop slouching in front of the damn computer and sit up straight! You'll hurt your back that way. 


Now, I digress. I did not intend to revive my post with random facts and smart jibes but rather, warm up to the concept of writing posts again and perhaps, get back to my extremely ancient Fiction Press Account. Yes, I used to write some pretty outlandish and childish things but hey, everybody started somewhere didn't they? Of course, looking back at it, I wrote those stories when I was but a wee 17 year old virgin with little understanding of how the world worked. 


I've nominated this year to be the year that I focus on the many zany ideas I have stored in my notebook, iPhone Notes app and .txt files. One of them was to get back into writing again and to not concentrate on quality but quantity and consistency. No, I'm not going to spew out whatever crap that comes to mind but I'm going to try and focus on the key things that make me who I am. 


A twenty something hipster who just got married?
A crazy guy on a bike?
A man who like to do maths to the tune of  (8x3)+1-(20^2)-5?
A video editor who is ridiculously friendly with his clients?


I just might do that but for now, I'll try and divide it into neat categories with tags that make sense. So this of course involves me talking about:-

• Food: Be it cooking it or consuming it. I'm big on food. Probably explains why I ended up big as well.
• Cycling: Cycling for fun, competitively and most importantly for the goddamn sense of adventure it gives me!
• My Daily Life: It IS a blog after all isn't it?

I'm also going to link to my wife's blog - The Panicking Wife. She's the one who's a real writer. I'm just along for the ride. I'm hoping for her to teach me a thing or two about adhering to schedules.

And so with that, I bid you all:-

Good Internets!

-A-