Blessed Christmas.

One friend decided to spend his christmas at Euphoria. Another decided to go for a home party and worship at the booze altar while another was fighting with his girlfriend over where to eat dinner. Some friends actually told me they didn't know christmas was a christian celebration. Well, he is half right, christmas 'holiday' or more appropriately 'holy-day' doesn't feel very christian anymore but more another reason to indulge in alcohol and senseless partying. (Holiday originally referred only to special religious days and originated from the word holy-day)

I do not mean to be anyway preachy but I went to church. I went with Sum and Aurelius. Two of my regular camping buddies. Sum is trying to find faith. Aurelius has been a lapsing Catholic but tries to make it a point to go for church on Christmas at least.

My parish priest, Father Simon Yong, gave an awesome homily(priest personal commentary on a scripture reading). **this is my interpretation and is not in verbatim.**

He started saying that christmas. God becoming man so that we can share in his divinity and how profound that is that God has come into the world to make our faith; a factuality...a reality.
Jesus our savior came. Does our action of making ourselves less to christianity and the celebration of christmas makes Jesus any less Jesus or Christmas any less Christmas? It does not...but if we do give ourselves our chance to be embraced by him, who come that we can share in his divinity. Sometimes our desires for a greater world does not come in grandeur but in the mere bowing in reverence that we are a part of greatness. Creatures before a creator.

This post comes abit late....but blessed christmas everyone. Rejoice for the savior has come.

Maurice the Lizard

Sorry for the delay on the fishkeeping post...still writing it and it's technical.

Anyway, This is Maurice the lizard. He was named Maurice because while I was preparing the film, I had a cat nap in the afternoon and dreamt that maurice came up to me and said,"hello, my name's maurice"
Maurice has a small role in my new film called frog 2, a sequel to my first successful short film demolition frog. I have wanted to do this sequel for so long but it was plagued with so many false starts...but i am happy it's finally off the ground.


Maurice is a pretty good slave labour actor and in the film he has to outrun this...which of course he'll probably fail. But he has a small role anyway so it doesn't matter if he dies.

Still the good thing about directing a lizard is...if he does not listen to you...you can always pick him up and give him a good shake.


until the pleads for dear life.


It's really quite fun.In a sadistic way.

Fishkeeping : Part 1 My Hobby

There is always an oil mark on the glass of my fish tank when I was young. It was where my forehead landed as i pressed my face to the tank to see the fish up-close. They never cease to fascinate me.

**The next three blog posts will be on fish keeping with an overview of the hobby and better instructions that most capitalist fish store would care to educate their customer. More fish die = more purchases = more business.**

Learning
I learned many things because of fishkeeping. I learn to love the dentist because I would be able to blackmail my mum saying, “I'll go to the dentist only if you will buy that RM 6 ringgit molly!” At that time, it was a premium for me to pay for a single fish.

With a container full of coins, I once bought a RM30 Arowana. Yes through fishkeeping I also learned finance and dissapointment. The Arowana jumped out and died three days later.

I also broadened my English vocabulary because of fishkeeping - I could always be found at the 'Mohd, Yahya and Sons' magazine store in Wisma Saberkas, browsing through the Practical Fishkeeping magazine. I will save every dollar I had to buy the magazine and I carried it everywhere I went. Eventually I started a pet club in my school for fellow fishkeepers from which I learned organization and people management, both of which still come in handy when I direct.

A hobby grows

From one single tank, my hobby slowly grew as I asked for a new fishtank everytime my birthday or christmas came along or even when I scored well in an examination.


Fishtank aside, any container that can be filled with water will do as a pet enclosure. It looked very makeshift but I think it’s much more fun to grow your hobby this way than to buy an overpriced mini aquarium with ready-set lights and filter package. You learn nothing from those. Eventually I knew fishkeeping so well I started building my own tank with filtration design. I was thought how to build a filter by N.C. Aquarium in carpenter street who taught me how a biological filter(more of this in part 2) works.. I also started to have a pretty good collection of specimens. As I grew ever more confident in the hobby, I would even buy sick fishes to enable me to afford expensive specimens which would otherwise be out of my range. Sometimes, I traded excess stock with friends who had equal fanaticism for the hobby. I always enjoyed showing friends my fish and telling them about curious observations I made. It was definitely more fun to learn science that way, and i also made some very close friends.

My hobby eventually branched to an interest in marine fish, birds and small animals. This took up half my porch, one spare room of my house, the garden and the back area behind the kitchen.

It became a hobby with about 28 fishtanks of various sizes, one 10ft by 10ft birdcage, one fiberglass pond, three 4ft by 3ft turtle enclosures. I had electric catfishes, salamanders, piranhas, lionfish, red eared sliders, kingfishers, budgerigars, rats, hamsters, guinea pigs, seahorses, crabs …….the list goes on and on.

my marine tank.the technology wasn't available in kuching then but
i did whatever and it worked.I was about 15.This is 14 years ago.

an iguana swimming in my pond

my guinea pig run.they sleep in cages at night but are free to roam in
this movable grass deck by day.organic lawn mowing

Then fishkeeping do a few other things for me: I never took drugs, smoked, drank or mixed with the wrong crowd. My mother never even had to tell me not to, because I was always home tending to my pets. I also learned compassion for animals, which I have till today.

It’s unfair how environmentalists simply dismiss pet keeping. True, there’s the danger of wild caught specimens threatening wild population and also the danger of invasive species from pets freed to the wild. It’s a double edge sword I guess. I am willing to bet many environmentalist and ecologist, their love for nature probably started from pressing their head on a fishtank.

time to re-

alot of people have either been wondering is this blog dead....or whatever happened to the frog...
i humbly apologise to any regular reader of this blog(if there's any) and i hereby pledge that i am back to stay blogging. this advert goes to show exactly what i have been up to....

not that my life is bad but everyone could use a rebirth every now and then.... = )

cheers guys!

7 guys, 1 girl and 1 dog at Lata Kedondong

As soon as I touched down, home from Korea, I wondered if my group are making any trip into the jungle on the coming weekend. I called Eddie and he remarked " nothing, waiting for you"
So immediately said Lata Kedondong, a waterfall which the group made a trip to but i was too busy to follow as I was planning house at that time. But I itched to enter the jungle once again...it's an addiction...i somehow need the river and a good trashing through mud and a whole load of green to bombard my eyesight to feel alive and hence almost every weekend religiously i find myself in the jungle worshiping creation itself.

So on Saturday me and eddie made quick calls and invited friends for this impromtu trip. We gathered 7 guys, 1 girl and 1 dog. Lata Kedondong is a series of waterfall along a river near Ulu Yam.It's about an hour drive from KL.


Though the hike to Lata Kedondong is relatively short, it's 45 minutes one way it was quite a fun hike especially during this rainy season. It's uphill and downhill overgrown mud trails providing enough obstacles to slip fall, jump over, crawl under, climb up and negotiate around. However, it's just enough fun while being easy enough that should one get lost, one could just go towards the river and walk by the river down to the familiar parking lot.
Lata Kedondong has a pool for swimming but heavy currents requires one to practice caution. I didn't swim this time as I had my dog at my side and he needs the company. Still it's always fun to be apart of the jungle...and I was happy just roaming amidst the greenery and breathing the mist filled air that felt so lively fresh. Footstool was savouring it...


To any reader of this blog, should you want to join my group please just leave a note on who you are and why you are keen on joining us your email in the comment section and I'll foward you my contact and details of coming trips. We typically depart from taman tun dr. ismail(near one utama) at 5.30-7 am in the morning on sundays. Trips are free aside from sharing out any cost incurred, your safety is at your own discretion.

Come...new friends always wanted...

Carrying my Flag

I humbly apologise to the government for not putting up a patriotic post celebrating Merdeka Day. How unpatriotic am I, that no Malaysia flag flies outside my home (but there is a big Sarawak flag). I pledged that I just saluted my flag justly and sang the following UMNO sanctioned song three times! I am now in tears feeling really patriotic...

But seriously guys...there are many things wrong with our country...time to act up...let's really carry our flag and let any unjust politician tremble in fear!

Also, is it just me or does it seem that there's hardly any hibiscus plant around whether in roundabout, roadsides, parks and etc. I could be mistaken that our national flower is the bird of paradise, spider lily or bougainvillea seeing how common those flowers are as opposed to the hibiscus...sad...

What i wonder is...what did the cow do wrong?

Unity and Merdeka. Malaysia a beautiful multicultural and multi racial country.
Yeah right.

beauty and two questions to house answered.

"The world is so beautiful...if only we can see that, share it and keep it that way."

I thought to myself as I sat next to a a wondrous roar of water rushing downstream to the sea.My girlfriend Lola, hugged me from the back saying she was cold...

The Yasmin Ahmad tribute is still on the way.It's taking longer than expected as it is not easy to decide what's best to put in or leave out and I do not just want to make an ad-hoc cut that i'll be half happy about.

That aside. I shall respond to two questions pertaining to house.

Why was the Yasmin scene silent?

The Yasmin scene was intended to show that whatever injustices or hurt occur in life, a little bit of kindness and love can bring about healing and we should all try to always give a little of ourselves and make it a better place for everyone because lets face it, we all have troubles and pains.

A trivia for you all is that when yasmin shot this scene, I actually just instructed her that the boy is sad...please comfort him as a passerby with a gift of kindness.
She jokingly said that if she do it her way, she'll hold up a cigarette to the boy and say "Life sucks doesn't it? Here...have a fag, you'll feel better."

But what she say in shot was actually...

Emak belum datang?
Kau sedih ke? Boleh saya teman sementara?
and then when she sat down she waved away saying 'eee...kerengga'

Her dialogue was removed because I felt that it was stronger.After a whole film of piling and noise, maybe I'll just give my audience birds and the kindness of a stranger. That aside, I thing it's also somewhat more poignant if yasmin's last words were not heard but felt.

Is there really such injustices?

The second question is about whether something like house could happen.Alot of ignorant people seem to be commenting that it couldn't.That if the government evict people, it's because the land wasn't theirs anyway.

My answer is yes it happens, sometimes in very big scale.The marginalization and exploitation of the poor has always been an issue since time began. And I am not against capitalism either, just that maybe we should all sometimes remember that we are all after all fellow human being, capable of hurt and pain; and with that knowledge perhaps we should all be more loving and kinder. Please watch the follow video which is an excerpt to a film that can be found here

My new short film House is out.

I am sorry the promised tribute to Yasmin Ahmad has yet to materialise...I was really busy these past weeks.That video will be up in a week I promise.For now,this is my new short film. It is part of 15 malaysia. It does feature a cameo with the late Yasmin Ahmad.

This film tells a small story but one that's very close to my heart. How development and progress sometimes make us forget our kindness and humanity. I always feel a twinge at heart when i hear of people left behind and ignored; here is my small expression of how I feel.

It's a small film, but I am very happy with it...it was also the last time I had a chance to work with my mentor, teacher and friend.

I hope you enjoy my little film and do leave comments if any.

Like Clockwork - Yasmin Ahmad

The following is a picture of Yasmin I took on a casual sunday afternoon in 2005. I was at her apartment in subang for a casual chit chat in and to browse her DVD. she was calm and we talked about everything from how her apartment was renovated really nicely to look very open and I love how she stacked her books on a step ladder leaning on a wall. She asked me about my girlfriend, my parents.We also talked about ghosts.I still can't believe she's gone now... I wish I had more sundays like that with her but as it is...it was one day.One precious day....

Sometimes in life, we don't realise how precious moments are really....

This is something written by yasmin on life and death four years ago on july 29 2005.I think Yasmin has alot of wisdom to share with us in it.

"Like clockwork it happens,
tick by tock by quick tick by hurried tock,
but quietly,
its decibel perceptible
only to the cat and the dog.
The watch on the wrist tries to warn us,
tapping its tiny untiring beat
against the hesitant pulse of our blood;
the clock on the wall tocks on,
in defiance to the time-honoured tradition of
silence in the school hall.
We were not listening.

The body was doomed to stop
even before it started.
Death has a life of its own.
Time marches doggedly
to the cliff of its own end.

We were not listening;
deaf to the decay of the planets and the suns.
Stars were exploding and dying in the night.
We were making love;
making life.
We saw it happen in the garden;
to the trees and the pets,
and still we watched our own dying
with blinkered optimism
- “Today is the first day of the rest of your life” -
oh yes, and by the way,
also one day closer to the end of it.
And curiously, when it happens,
everyone is surprised.
Everyone is visibly moved.
Eyebrows are raised, eyes are lowered,
mouths open like unsuspecting clams,
tongues click.
Surprised, as if we had no knowledge of it,
as if it were a newcomer,
as if it were a sniper.
And when it’s over, everyone walks away,
lamenting the weather and the price of fish.
The grave is forgotten
sooner than it was remembered.

What wisdom descends when I pause to listen to death?
Nothing really.
Except, my beloved’s eyes dance
when he tells me about his day,
and I must remember to kiss them
before they finally close."

posted by yasmin at 5:07 AM

more of her wisdom can be found at
http://yasminthestoryteller.blogspot.com/2005/07/like-clockwork-yasmin-ahmad.html

Goodbye Yasmin....see you again some day....

Tuberoses. they are yasmin's favourite flower. Everyone was holding on to one standing in the rain as her body was taken out of the house after her wake and loaded into the hearse.Many have come to mourn her.It was a sad moment but beautiful.almost like a movie...perhaps it was God's gift to celebrate her one more time.

I've slept largely the whole morning after being up the whole nite at Yasmin's wake and then following her funeral proccedings.It was truly a sad day. I've lost my teacher. I felt even more sad at how much and how good she's been to me. Deeds that can never be repayed. But Yasmin would have wanted it that way as she was always kind and always giving.

I am currently preparing a short video, edited from some behind the scene footage I've collected during the filming of sepet and my latest short film house. I've never shown this video to anyone but I hope now to celebrate her spirit. Below are my other blogposts on yasmin.

Please do add any comments, thoughts or stories of yasmin here if you have any...i would love to have them accumulated and collected.Thank you.


http://thefrogcroaks.blogspot.com/2009/01/i-criedi-knelti-prayed.html
http://thefrogcroaks.blogspot.com/2005/03/sepet-little-wonders-and-how-we-became.html
http://thefrogcroaks.blogspot.com/2005/03/sepet-little-wonders-and-how-we-became.html

Please Pray for Yasmin Ahmad.

Yasmin two weeks ago

In 2003, I had the blessing of meeting someone; who I feel so honoured to have been able to call a mentor and friend. Her enthusiasm for life and spreading love initially seemed coy; but eventually you'll understand that she is one of those very few people who really does see all the beauty this world has to offer, while dismissing the common modern stereotype that being cynical and cold is cool. She has no qualms about holding someone in a warm embrace, she had no reservations about telling you how beautiful you are and she never forget to tell you how much she loves you.

The sepet family 2003

Then,I was rather young and brash, she will actually catch me off guard without a response when she randomly ask me, do i love my mother and have I hugged her? Why would I be caught off guard ? Because it's sad but true that I am more open to voice my anger towards my mother than loving her for all she is to me. I can't bring myself to say a big resounding yes as I should.

She made me realised how important love is in a world that has largely forgotten it. "Love linus, love the world and you will understand the world"she'll say to me with a voice tinged with sweet sentiments.

Remembering all this, I really could not hold back tears today...as I was marching around aimlessly, almost like a ghost in the room just outside the hospital's CAT machine waiting anxiously for any news of yasmin who had collapsed just an hour earlier. Everyone was really anxious as to her condition and reciting the words pray pray pray....she's in a critical condition...pray for her.I did pray. I said the our fathers, hail marys and dedicate them to her...I looked upon god through the window and said God please...but I wish I could do more than to just pray. I wish I could just go up to her and wake her...but I can't and so I cried...

Just two weeks ago, Yasmin was acting in my short film for 15malaysia. She was all smiles and so full of life...I went up and thanked her for coming in for the part...and a suprised reporter asked her why she came...she just said..."i like Pete(pete teo-the producer) and I like Linus"...in a child like manner with a voice so full of joy you can almost hear a "they are my friends yay!" after... That's yasmin for you.So giving, so sentimental, so loving...it gets addictive...and you find that you can't help yourself but want to love and love with all your heart too seeing how much joy loving really can be .


This afternoon while having a meeting at TV3, Yasmin felt unwell and fainted. She stopped breathing for awhile. Everyone immediately jumped on the gossip bandwagon and started saying
that she's kicked the bucket, RIP Yasmin, Yasmin died and etc.. Facebook went wild.Nobody aside her friends ever try to just believe she could be all right. Maybe Yasmin is right to worry about how cynical the world has become. The emergency ward at the hospital was filled with reporters trying to photograph her in her dreary state.With no respect at all they marched armed with their cameras.It's crazy. They weren't praying for her to be well but trying to get the best angle...well maybe they are doing their jobs....but I bet if Yasmin could say anything she'll say "please don't report me being sick, please tell the story of the baby coming into the world next door..."

Yasmin was a true advocate of prayer. She had her telekung and prayer mat everywhere. She always excused herself to pray. She prayed with so much enthusiasm she could say I want to pray again right after finishing one prayer. I once inquisitively asked "do you pray to ask for more blessings?" to which she answered no. I quicky responded " To thank God for all his blessings" She smiled at me and said..."you finally got it."

Yasmin is still with us. She's critical but stable. She had a stroke due to a broken blood vessel in her head. Now you know. Please do not speculate...please don't just say the words pray pray pray. Please...kneel down...however you fell comfortable, light a candle if you want to....and in the quiet corner pray...pray for Yasmin that she'll shine her smile at us again, and pray to for everyone who needs a prayer."And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."
James 5:15-16

Drawing(playing) with light!

Even Pablo Picasso did it...It's a very old photography trick to go to a dark place, put a camera on long exposure and then use a light source like a torch or a lighter to paint in the air with light. The science is simple...the dark place ensure the photo entire photo takes along time to be exposed (and does not get overexposed) while the light source of much greater light intensity quickly expose a burn out light trail that is a line that can be shifted around to form a drawing when viewed on the resulting photo...

During our trip to Endau Rompin we had a dark campsite, friends, torchlights and digital cameras. what better way to pass time and have loads of laughter? Here are the the results.

Aurelius Teo dreams he's superman
The Beautiful Game
Eddie does a dalshim
Dennis likes cycling
An angel meets a devil
and recently in pulau redang...carol meets an alien creature.....

Feel like playing with light too? Have fun guys!

Tarzan is Home! Skytrex

On the 30th of May, the trail trekkers made a second trip to skytrex to try out the newly opened extreme challenge...thanks to Aurelius who was kept in the loop and informed us all as soon as the new trail was ready. Upon hearing the news...I was smiling ear to ear and can't wait to climb the ladder and fly from tree to tree again! God Bless the wonderful wonderful people who started skytrex . God Bless them!!! What a wonderful idea...to have a place that

1) help someone conquer their fear of height
2) learn team building
3) test their physical skills
4) have so much fun
5) swing like tarzan
6) feel so alive...

May they make alot of money to make skytrek even more extreme trail 3

So what is skytrek? Its best summarized as a place where you scale really high up on trees and play tarzan, having a day of fun like no other. You'd probably are either get freaked out or you can't wait to go...after seeing this photos.
But I encourage you all to try it...afterall it's all about just fun...there's hardly any chance of danger as it's all about putting on a safety harness and enjoying the ride. As my brother said to a girl infront of him in queue who was hesistant to jump at a flying fox..."It's not like i can do this better than you...it's not like it takes alot of skill, just snap on the harness and jump..."Yes, alot in life is about jumping...or daring to and I feel that pushing the boundaries of fear is how you stimulate yourself to grow even more. For me...it was a fun ride...
At the end...there was a difficult obstacle that most of the group fell...until one of the girls came along and patiently she made it through.It's an obstacle of pipes and little rings like this.

The objective is to cross over.You have to hold on to the pipe which was hard as it swayed crazily, not a good size for a proper grip and was also slippery so the best way was to hug it. That effectively made it a physical test of your chest and biceps. The little ring at the bottom was too small for two feet so you had to shift your foot from ring to alternate ring without having the luxury of putting two feet on one ring and rest. You also can't move in a circular motion as your safety line will tangle if you were to spin around to get an easier leg shift to the next pole.
It resulted in having to really cleverly maneuver while keeping on one side of the obstacle..not easy...and at time very awkward...

I fell halfway through. Because I wasn't focused and I slipped. I climbed back up but my mind told me to just let go...you can't do it...you're too tired. I went pass dangling from the safety line...I did go back up and restart the obstacle again and am glad to say I did complete the obstacle on the second try.

This obstacle thought me so much...how to conserve energy, how to quickly learn and utilize techniques to accomplish a task, mental focus and strength when faced with something that felt both difficult and overwhelming...

sometimes it's really all it takes...just the mental capacity to say you can hang on and move along...not giving up... a big yay for skytrek...AWESOME! time to go carol! Mum, dad...you're coming too...A last shot of the gang!