Jayemmcee.com, creative shoebox
Select Datethis week i have bin mostly...
branding a boutique and interviewing that rasta poet
So, my flatmate's boyfriend gave me a contact number of some dude who owns some fashion outlets in KL.
Said he wanted some photography doing for his new shop.
It turns out he wanted to propose it to other sohpping malls and needed a presentation making.
but he wanted it doing in two days time.
So in one day I shot the interiors and the products, went home, made up some copy, then edited all the pix, then went and bought all the materials, then went back home again and printed the images, made up the story, laid them out, stuck them down and then went to bed.
then the next morning i met the dude, showed him his 'new' shop 'ENVEE' and he gave me five hundred quid in cash and told me he wanted the next shop doing next week, and the next one the week after.
he's got 9 shops.
i roped my mate choen into the mix aswell and we've planned a separate fashion shoot for the interiors.
then we have to start on the visual merchandising.
so, one fone call to a random dude has just made my career very lucrative.
anyway, enough of that.
after i dropped off the presentation i had to go to plan b office.
today was a big day.
today i was interviewing Benjamin Zephaniah.
the british council brought him here to do a few performances at the lit fest that's happening.
actually, quite cool.
in fact, the only cool stuff [really] in Malaysia comes from the british council.
heh
so yeah, i interviewed him.
he was kinda cool.
although he's a rasta that doesn't smoke weed [apparently]
but he replaces it with being a martial arts expert.
respect.
anyway, choen shot his portrait and it's the next plan b cover story.
And that was this week.
Tomorrow I’m gonna balik kampong and see my hokkien ‘family’ and my best mate chun tee.
He’s 14 now I think.
Heh
Anyways, I’ll leave you with the ten minute on the spot copy of that new shop called ‘ENVEE”.
Heh, five hundred quid.
this is ENVEE
A deadly sin for those who do.
our young and energetic concept breeds envy amongst those who don’t
stocking a selection of vibrant apparel and accessories imported from India, our mission is to deliver high quality fashion at high street prices to the modern woman
with a finger on the pulse, we offer the latest in Bohemian Chic
charming casual wear, hip party clothes and alluring dinner wear, ENVEE offers combinations for every occasion
striking and effortlessly chic, ENVEE products guarantee to turn heads.
hahahaha...laters
heh
finished me homework
now i've got one night off!
Waalau-eh!
So, since I got back from Vietnam i've been locked away in me room doing me homework.
except for the day i had to go and stay at the sunway resort and spa to get overfed in the jungle.
that was kinda nice - only the whole day was spent carting around all the camera equipment and lights and stuff - by meself as usual.
anyway, so yeah, i finished me homework.
basically, I've just written five stories on MICE tourism in Vietnam - about 7000 words worth, wordsworth.
and i'm knackered.
cos i had only a week to do it - quite tutworthy to have such stupid deadlines but what to do?
so i went to plan b office every day [cos i had to make up the days i spent in vietnam, dammit] then when i got home from office at about 9 or 10pm [as you do] i had to start work on MICE.
Aiyah!
and that basically went on all week - minimal sleep, maximum coffee and the entire weekend goggle-eyed in front of the computerbox.
dammit.
anyway, i've finished now - woohoo!
and now i've got a night off to do nowt then tomorrow start all over again writing my features for form [about the most expensive consumer products ever!]
kinda fun i guess.
oh, and a new story about socks.
not sure why, but socks keep popping up all over the place here - and not literally, well, yes literally, but not in reality, not like real socks - just like, erm, errr, well, just socks are floating through my subconscious [keeping it warm]?
and people keep mentioning random things about socks.
so i thought i'd get it out of me system and write a story about socks - and i told everyone they were invented in 1983 by professor alan sock.
And they were only invented to complement bare feet that were invented in the late '70's.
and people will probably believe me.
anyway, i guess that's what happens when you don't sleep more than 3 hours a night for a week.
nevermind, i've got a full day off in two weeks time so i can have a proper sleep in then.
oh, that's after i do my next coverstory.
i have to interview the rasta poet benjamin zephaniah for plan b may issue.
nobody else knows who he is so that means coverstory for me - yay [?]
i'll knock him up some rasta pasta and hash-brownies and we'll roll a fat one and have a party.
or not, we'll see.
laters p'taters
i just wana go to sleep
MICE in Viet Nam
issue two cover option
It came from nowhere!
one of my 'mission' in Hanoi was to find a suitable image relevant to MICE in Vietnam.
so, I bumped into these two girls and loved their outfits so much that I thought they'd be perfect to show the link between the traditional and modern in Viet Nam.
I found a swanky location and somehow it all fell into place.
So thanks to Huong for being so helpful and thanks to Hien and Nga for being such fantastic talent - and not minding being 'famous' covergirls.
myamyam Viet Nam!
Pretty girls in pretty dresses - a sure winner?
Back in/from 'Nam
I saw Charlie in the hills
I didn't really.
I was asking if anybody knew were Charlie lived but nobody knew him.
Anyway, I went alone to Vietnam on a 'mission' to infiltrate the MICE tourism industry and had an amazing time.
It's so easy to move around and conduct experiments in Hanoi and the city is so charming that it was a shame to come back.
The only problem with Viet Nam [in relation to working] is the government red-tape.
They're not so co-operative unless you know the right people so after being turned away from a few places, I was thankful for my 'Malaysian' counterparts who happen to run most of the 5* hotels.
One place in particular, the NCC [national convention centre] which happens to be a masterpiece of modern architecture.
They wouldn't let me in full stop.
But I was introduced to two high-brow Malaysian diplomats earlier and I called them and they pulled some strings for me and the next thing I know i'm on a whirlwind tour of said convention centre.
So in one week I reviewed and shot four hotels, 3 restaurants, 2 spas, 3 convention centres plus i interviewed 3 corporate bigwigs, shot their portraits and even managed to somehow create a covershoot out of thin air for the second issue of MICE in Asia.
phew!
and all the while, in true Hanoi style, on the back of a motorbike without a helmet...hmmm...
Oh, and the last thing I did before I left was have a six course 'dog dinner'.
Dogmeat is not particularly nice to be honest.
the restaurant is nothing more than a wooden stilt house where you sit on the floor and the meat is served on a sheet of newspaper.
and they only open in the first two weeks of each month as its unlucky to eat dogmmeat on the last two.
So, we had pickled dog's liver and cured stomach meat - euuwww.
followed by some braised meat complete with fat and skin - also euuwww.
the meat is intense, bitter, fatty as hell and generally unpleasant to taste.
A dog curry [all fatty and skin attached]
The dogs foot and shin [on the bone, stewed]
And oddly enough, the only dish I could actually stomach - that wasn't bitter and euuwwwish [although euuwwish by nature] was...wait for it...
fried dog's intestines.
Yup, long stringy sausage type material that was nothing more than stomach tubes deep fried in a pan.
I tasted much like sausages and despite being a dog's intestines, I ate more of that than any other dish.
Although, after while it started to make me gag a bit as i was thinking about the dirty fat dog it came from.
to top it all off, however, and literally the most euuwwwish of them all - was the 'wine dick dog', as my friend duy called it.
clueless to such matters I had to inspect where my drink came from.
And sure enough, it was a glass bell jar filled with about 100 pickled dog's dicks [honestly!].
the dude syphoned some out therough a tube into a glass and I had a sip.
Much like rice wine but very tart and disgusting by default.
But, I did it anyway and live to tell the tale.
but I won't do it again, I don't think.
So that's about it for Viet Nam. Love the place and it's a shame to have had to leave.
now i'm back in KL working like a slave to get the issue to print.
Until next time...
Cam on, Xin chao Viet Nam!
Thit Chó dogmeat restaurant. Tastes nowt like chicken