Rimbun Dahan

On Saturday night I attended the art exhibition launch by artists David Jolly (Australian) and Chang Yoong Chia (Malaysian) at Rimbun Dahan....

As always... the food was EXCELLENT! Really good stall foods.... kuey teow, lamb, mee curry.... etc.... Definitely ate more than I needed to..

The art was amazing and some of it really grabbed my attention...

The following works are by Chang Yoong Chia....This scary image was painted into the inside of a crab shell... See how the artist uses the outline of the shell to form the image of the monster? Amazing! The monster is looking over a girl and boy too... look closely and you will see it....

these eyes were painted onto the insides of shells!!


these rabbits look scary to me!



This image is definitely something out of a nightmare!!!

They have a real Alice in Wonderland fantasy plus absolute nightmare feel to them.... Sometimes you're so glad you're in that land and another moment you just want to wake up. The painting behind me in the above picture has so much detail! It's one of those pieces that everytime you look at it, you will notice something different. There are fairies, rabbits but also men stuck in a huge spider's web..... Your nightmare or fantasy? For me personally, they are all nightmares...

When I first saw David Jolly's work, I thought they were photographs because they are just so clearly detailed.... it was only when I read the description of the work did I realise they are actually oil paintings on glass!


And the above work was made entirely out of ant's wings! Definitely took a lot of time collecting ant's wings to do this piece....

Another artist's work that was featured was Htein Lin (Burmese)


He says his work is inspired by his time spent in jail.... All cramped up in small cells... Look at the piece below and you will see an abstraction of the human form coiled up and the box shapes arround them represent the cells..... Initially just visually beautiful, but once you start to analyze the form a bit, the content becomes quite dark....
For anyone interested, the exhibition is on at Rimbun Dahan from the 28th of January to 11th of February...

For more information, please visit www.rimbundahan.org

Oh what a night!!!!

Sunday, 21st of January - one of the biggest nights of the entertainment industry in Malaysia - Anugerah Juara Lagu

So of course, all of the guests put in a lot of effort to look their best.... especially with the red carpet GLAM WALK being televised live on TV3!!!

What did I wear? Remember how I said I would try not to wear black again for my next big event.. Well, I didn't! I wore beautiful red, grey and white songket evening gown designed by Zang Toi! Yahoo!

I was so excited to wear this dress.... I remember it being modelled during KL Fashion Week and thinking to myself ......if only I had the chance to wear that dress...

And unbelievably... I DID!!!!

Now getting dressed into this elaborate creation was a mission and a half. I required my sister's help to button it up at the back and 4 safety pins to pin it to my corset so it wouldn't move/ fall down/ wardrobe malfunction ala janet jackson.... the bag I decided to carry is a beautiful vintage Christian Dior bag from the early 90's given to me by my dear friend Sarah.

My little bling bling loving cat Joberg was completely fascinated by the trimming on the bottom of the dress and tried to pull it off!!! AAAARGH! My sister had to pull her off.... Tippex just looked at me with his usual confused expression. He obviously doesn't understand couture.

As I was waiting for my brother to send me to Bukit Jalil for the event, Skitso came home drenched by the rain and cold... poor thing... while wearing the gown I had to towel dry her so she wouldn't get sick...

My sister's comments on the dress - "It's a really nice dress... Can see the skill of a designer in it... what a shame you can't keep it" (I borrowed the dress... not bought! Believe me.. cannot afford to buy it)

My brother's comment - "It looks like a glamourised table cloth" (typical lack of appreciation)

Anyway, it's still pouring outside my house when my brother and I leave. I had to carry.. yes.. CARRY all that fabric up high so I didn't get it wet and ruined...

As we get into the car, my brother looks at me and asks

Bro - Do you know how to get to Bukit Jalil from here....

Me - Sort of... do you?

Bro - Sort of... let's just start driving and see what happens...

Oh my God! I was starting to wonder what time would I get there!!!! Hopefully not once it's all over... All Malaysians know heavy rain can bring the traffic to a complete standstill!

So we drive... and drive.... and miraculously we get there without making a wrong turn and in good time!!!

But then my next challenge... walking from the car to the entrance of the event elegantly while holdingthe dress up to again avoid muddy puddles around the stadium.. for security purposes, my brother couldn't get right up to the entrance...

I get to the beginning of the red carpet and I take a moment to readjust everything to look half decent for the cameras. I have to do this as discreetly as possible because the crowd watching the red carpet event is huge!

After adjustments are made... I walk down the red carpet.. pose for the cameras... keep changing angles..... the usual....

I get inside and my colleague rushes up to me... "Sasha, go back to the beginning of the red carpet and walk again... we want to show you on tv.."

So I go back and walk again...

Upon completion, I start to make my way into the stadium so I can take a seat a before event starts...

Another colleague comes up to me... "Sasha, can you wait here for a moment please.... we might need you to walk the red carpet again"

So I wait... and talk to colleagues....

Suddenly, a colleague from another department comes up to me and says "Ok Sasha, standby please....in about a minute we're going live on air and you will be presented an award.."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing.. "An award? ME?! For what?!"

Her reply, "You've been chosen as the most glamorous person of the Anugerah Juara Lagu Glam Walk event so you have now won the L'OREAL GLAM AWARD 2007!"

WOW!!!!

I seriously couldn't believe it!

A few moments later I was holding the award....

After I won it, the first thing that went through my mind was that I was going to have the best time telling my brother that this "tablecloth" dress won me the L'OREAL GLAM AWARD....

Of course, lots of people came up to me to say congratulations... and I received sms on my phone too....

The awards show started and it was fantastic.. I know how hard my colleagues toil and sweat to pull of a huge show like this and they did a great job...

My heartfelt congratulations to the night's biggest winner.. Adibah Noor. You totally deserve it...

At about 12.30 am, my brother picks me up...

Bro - How did everything go?

Me - Good... you know how you said this dress looks like a tablecloth..

Bro - yeah... so.. why?

Me - Well look at this... (I show him the award)

Bro - YOU won an AWARD???!!! For WHAT??!!!

Me - For being the most glamorous woman on the red carpet tonight....

Bro - Oh.....

And that was all that the clown could say.... he he he he... such sweet revenge!!

By the way.. I was wearing red shoes under the dress..... :)

Star Article - dancing her way to stardom

Dancing her way to stardom
By PAUL CHOO
paulchoo@thestar.com.my
THE thought of performing in front of an audience had always fascinated Sasha Bashir, even at a young age.
While her peers were involved in other activities, she would constantly pester her parents to send her for dance classes.
That persistence has paid off as it paved the way to stardom for the ambitious 10-year-old.
The multi-talented lass, now a TV3 personality, reminisces how the pieces of the puzzle came together when she landed her first job as a back-up dancer for the Kit Kat Klub in the early 1990s.

Sasha: ‘Having to juggle between my daily school work and hours of dance rehearsals was not an easy task.’“I was so young at that time but as chance would have it, Linda Hashim (of Akademi Fantasia fame) became my dancing instructor when I enrolled in a dance school in Ampang,” said the 26-year-old.
“I must have left a good impression on her because a few years later, Linda called me up to see if I was interested in becoming a back-up dancer for the Kit Kat Klub, an entertainment and events company that was headed by Datin Seri Tiara Jacquelina.”
Despite a hectic schedule, Sasha, who was the former Explorace host, was determined to achieve her dreams.
“Having to juggle between my daily school work and hours of dance rehearsals was not an easy task. However, I knew that once I was in, there was no turning back,” Sasha, who is of Malay-Australian parentage, said.
Sasha admitted that her first job was truly unique in the sense that she was constantly surrounded by cameras and celebrities.
“I vividly remember dancing for artistes like Amy Mastura and Ning Baizura, to name a few, and constantly being under the bright spotlights of the studios,” she said.
“This may explain why I’m so comfortable now in front of cameras.”
Sasha also performed in other popular programmes such as Anugerah Juara Lagu, Anugerah Industri Musik, Anugerah Skrin and Sinaran Passport Kegemilangan.
This is obviously an impressive resume for someone who was only 15 at that time.
When at the Kit Kat Klub, she ventured into other fields, such as acting and singing, which opened up even more opportunities.
However, this resulted in her having to sacrifice her weekends for performances and rehearsals.
“It was rather sad when I had to temporarily leave it all behind when I furthered my studies at the Western Academy of Performing Arts, Australia,” she said.
It was deja vu because just like her early days, she had to struggle with studying and teaching dance and choreography to high school students as a part time job.
On top of that, she had taken a job as a waitress in a restaurant.
She returned to Malaysia after completing her studies with a renewed passion for the performing arts and soon landed leading roles in stage plays such as Lady Swettenham and My Bollywood Summer.
“That was when I met Sabera Shaikh, Masakini Theatre Company’s artistic director. I hold her and the others very close to my heart, as they have helped me blossom in the industry,” she added.
Sasha is also an avid painter. She recently contributed a painting themed Water Goddess to Sabera’s fundraising cause called “Banjir in the village.”
The fundraising bazaar will be held on Feb 3 and 4 at the Bangsar Village shopping complex to help victims of the recent floods.
Being a victim of the collapse of the Highland Towers, Sasha understands the pain the victims were going through and wanted to play a part in helping them.
When asked about the future, Sasha said she hoped to act in more movies and venture into singing.
And she also hoped to indulge further in her favourite hobby – blogging. Fans of Sasha can read more about her on her blog http://www.sashabashir.blogspot.com/.

Water Goddess

Being a victim of Highland Towers over 13 years ago, I know what it's like to lose EVERYTHING!

On that fateful day, December 11th 1993, my brother, father and I were out of the apartment but my mother and sister were at home. The story as they have told me is that my mother heard a massive thunder like sound and she still doesn't know why, but she grabbed my sister and ran out of our 3rd floor apartment to the ground level. The ground in the carpark had buckled and my mother knew that something was VERY WRONG.... Her instincts drove her to grab my sister again and run out of the building. A few seconds later.... they turned around to see the building falling....

my mother and sister survived the collapse by a matter of seconds....

yes, we lived in Block 1, the building that fell...

My family were homeless, without any of our legal documents (birth certificate etc...) and I cannot even begin to describe the helplessness one feels when you are in that situation....

Imagine having no spare clothes. all you've got is what you're wearing. You may have money in a bank account, but no way of proving that it's yours cause you have no legal documents.

I don't have to imagine.... My family and I were in that situation...

But it is in your darkest hour of need that you see the angels in people. SO MANY people came forward to help my family and other Highland Towers victims.

I went to school after the tragedy in a t-shirt and pants borrowed from a relative. Immediately my school friends and teachers came together to help. I was given some new school clothes, shoes, socks, bag and pencil case by a classmate. Money was also raised and donated to my family to help us get us back on our feet again.

It's a very humbling experience to be on the receiving end of charity.

The Pan Pacific Hotel provided us free hotel accommodation for a month. In that time after the tragedy, of course as most Malaysians remember it was all over the newspapers and all anybody could talk about. I remember these two women who were travelling around Malaysia and staying at the Pan Pacific who came to see my family before they left with a bag full of basic amenities.. eg shampoo, conditioner, soap.... I tell you, you don't realise how much you take these basic items for granted when you don't have them!!!!

I remember my mother asking these two women, "Thank you so much... you don't have to do this. Why are you doing this for us?"

The reply I will never forget..." Because we don't know when it's our turn to lose everything. Nothing in life is guaranteed..."..... as I write this I can still remember her face...

And she is so right. NOTHING in life is guaranteed.... I can tell you from real experience, what you have right now, you may not have in a few hours....

Come Christmas Day, a nameless human angel donated barbie dolls for all the girls and toy cars for the boys who were victims of Highland Towers as Christmas presents.... and I still have that barbie doll 13 years later.... I keep it to remind me that all it took was someone's generosity and most of all, thoughfullness to put a smile on so many childrens faces....

Whenever tragedies like the recents floods happens, I am very quickly reminded yet again of that helpless feeling and relying on the good will and generosity of others to help you.

So when Sabera Shaik of Masakini Theatre contacted me to be involved in a charity bazaar at Bangsar Village on the 3rd and 4th of February called 'Bangsar in The Village" I jumped at the opportunity to contribute.

You loyal readers of my blog know that I enjoy painting and that Mr Manager (www.mrmanager.blogspot.com) has two of my paintings which I gave to him. Towards the end of least year, I remember telling him that I would like to donate paintings for charity. It's one of my new year resolutions for 2007. I'm very happy that I've managed to fulfil this resolution so early on in the year!

I painted my 'Water Goddess' painting especially for this charity and it is being sold via silent auction. The organisers have decided on a starting bid of RM 1000.

If you would like to bid on the painting, please feel free to email Sabera Shaik at masakini.theatre@gmail.com

Spread the word about this bazaar where you can find all kinds of things!

I will be there at some point. I will inform you which day and time.... do come and don't be shy or afraid to come up and say hi to me and introduce yourselves.... I don't eat humans!

In the meantime, I thank God everyday for what I have...

Anugerah Skrin

The last big event I went to in 2006 was the annual Anugerah Skrin... I know I have a few international readers so I'll explain what Anugerah Skrin is... It is an awards event to recognise the efforts of the locals film, tv and broadcast industry and the event was shown live over TV3...

Earlier in the day, I was flat out busy at the office editing the segments I produce and direct for Apa-Apa Aje.... Nothing glamorous about that I can promise you....

But of course, for a big event like Anugerah Skrin, I pull out the glam factor!


I wore a dress I bought while shooting Explorace in India with a choker I bought from MNG ages ago.... yes, I wore black again..

A few of my colleagues who were with me in India recognised the dress because I was parading it down the hotel corridor after I bought it....

I saw Mr Manager (www.mrmanager.blogspot.com) back stage. He came up to me...

MM - Nice dress... I want to touch it but don't flatter yourself that I'm touching you.. I just want to see what the dress feels like....
Me - Sure... go ahead.. (he touches the beading)
MM - Very nice.... Good choice... Love the choker too... (he starts walking around me)
MM - HMMMM..... WHY is there a safety pin holding your choker in place?!
Me - Cause it broke.... Do you know of any other way?!
MM - Yes! Send it to a shop to be fixed!!! You can't go around with a safety pin holding your choker in place.. Me - No One will notice...
MM - I did...
Me - you're too observant and no one else will be standing as close to me as you are now...
MM - Ok... but you should still get it fixed...
Me - Ok....We then sat down and chatted about other stuff... we have presents for each other but we haven't had a chance to meet up.... we are still trying to find a time.... Mr Manager if you read this, try and find time ok!

I don't think Mr Manager posted a pic of Ning presenting during Anugerah Skrin, so for all the Ning fans who visit me here, this photo is for you....

Show finished then there was an after party with some food..... I didn't eat much.... didn't really feel like it...

I must tell you what happened when I got home. The dress I wore was very heavily beaded and I glittered with every single step. When my little cat Joberg saw me walk in the door, her eyes opened up so wide, she blinked a couple of times and was totally mesmerised and hypnotised by all of the glitter on my dress.... As I walked pass her, she suddenly jumpued on the dress and started trying to pull the beads off the dress!!!!

AAARGH!!!

My sister had to come to the rescue and pull her off my dress... she did manage to loosen a few beads... but nothing to noticeable.

It didn't take me too long to get organised for bed that night. When I do my hair myself, I don't put any hair spray in it, so i just brushed it out, removed make up, showered and I was done! Yay!

Remembering my incident with Joberg and the glitter on the dress, I bought for her a collar with diamantes as a new year present. So as all my cats are treated equally, Skitso and Tippex got new collars too.... but no diamantes for them.... they don't like diamantes...

For Anugerah Skrin last year I wore black as well.... the skirt is from Margaret McCallum, the same people who did the costumes for 'The Red Kebaya' movie.... As I didn't have a blog then, I'll post that pic now.....
I'll try and NOT wear black for my next big event!

My Chocolate Recommendations and recipe!

I LOVE CHOCOLATE!!!

I don't smoke, drink alcohol or do drugs....

I just do chocolate.... LOTS of it....

As someone who has as much of it as I can without feeling sick, I think I'm in a pretty credible position to tell you about the best chocolate based foods I have thoroughly enjoyed...

The following list is not really in any order of preference..

1- Chocolate mud cake at Bon Ton restaurant
served warm with vanilla ice cream, it's rich and thick...... forget dinner... just desserts..
I don't even know where BonTon is now.. it's changed location SO MANY times.. if you know,
please tell me...

2 - Chocolate cake at Delicious
very similar to the one at Bon Ton. Since I don't know where Bon Ton is now, this is a good
replacement

3 - Everything Chocolate based at Bakerzin
If you don't like stuff that is too rich, the cakes at Bakerzin are great...
they also layer it well.. eg one layer mousse, one layer cake, one layer biscuits.... real good!!

4 - The dessert section of Bubbly Brunch at Westin Hotel
On weekends, the Italian restaurant at the Westin in KL has a 'Bubbly Brunch'. You get a
whole buffet, free flow of champagne too! Since I don't drink, the free champagne ploy is
useless on my, but the dessert section of this buffet is to die for!!! The last hour I was at this
buffet, all I ate was chocolate based desserts... mousse, cake.. even souffle! My friends who
were with me during this buffet were speechless while wacthing devour more chocolate than
all of them together.... I had to tell my friend's children not to follow Aunty Sasha's example
of eating so much chocolate...
(to mr manager- you and I should go for this!)

5 - After 8 mint chocolates
Rich but the mint makes it refreshing too... I have and still can eat a whole super size box of
these....

So those are my favourites and my recommendations....

Now another thing about me is that I can't cook to save my life.... at all... really... making salads and sandwiches is about it...

but I can make one chocolate dessert which lots of people I make it for love.... Here's the recipe... try it...

100 g icing sugar
100 g cooking chocolate (dark chocolate is better, not milk chocolate)
70 g of Philadelphia Cream Cheese
chocolate rice and/or shredded coconut

Directions
Melt the chocolate. add icing sugar and cream cheese. Mix well. Put in freezer for about half and hour to harden it a bit. Once hardened, roll mixture in small little balls then cover in chocolate rice and / or shredded coconut. put back in freezer for and hour to harden completely. Then it's ready to eat and enjoy...

Easy idiot proof recipe for complete kitchen fools like myself..... but still tastes good...

try it...

if you know of any other good chocolate places to try, tell me.....

To all my readers...

To all my readers...

first and foremost... it's now January 2007 and I hope all of us achieve new dreams and goals this year...

I have been so slack about updating my site cause the server from my place has been SO unpredictable and makes it difficult to upload pics...

and, I just realised that I have received many touching and sweet comments on my site... my apologies for not reading and finding them earlier. this sometimes blur Sasha doesn't know how to navigate around and find things!

I would like to thank ALL of you for taking the time to post comments and I am SO touched by those of you who have also lost kittens/cats and how sweet your posts were. Thank you so much... it's always comforting to know I'm not the only one who feels such pain....

I'm pleased to let you know that all three of them, Skitso, Joberg and Tippex are getting along fine now. Skitso is teaching them way too many naughty things. Example, when it's bedtime, run in different directions so they are hard to catch... sigh!!!

Tippex went missing the other day and after much searching I found him frightened under a chair in an empty house in my neighbourhood, filthy and oily.... I nearly had another heart attack!!!! Thank God I found him!!! I had to climb over a huge gate into some one else's property to get him back too... the things my cats put me through!

To the girls who love shoes... keep shopping and keep enjoying... by the way, I DID go back and buy another pair of the red sequinned 'Dorothy' shoes to keep... So I'm wearing the other ones now....

I also managed to buy the 'Wizard of Oz' on DVD and watched it one night recently... those shoes look so good!

I really don't understand why Dorothy would want to leave Oz! If I were Dorothy, I would have figured out a way to kill that stupid wicked witch of the west MUCH EARLIER, ruled Oz with the Wizard and had a WHOLE wardrobe designed to match the ruby slippers....

My brother (of all people!) sat and watched the movie with me... and he told me something interesting. Dorothy's shoes were actually supposed to be SILVER, but when they started doing the movie, technicolour technology was advancing and the movie studio wanted to highlight the beauty of technicolour, so they changed the colour of the shoes to red to make them more obvious... hmmmm.... interesting..... my brother is not so ?<:@>^@:"% after all!!!

I still have pics from The Red Kebaya promo tour to Penang, Fendi Launch and some other things to share with you....

coming soon.... promise promise promise....

stay tuned....

ANYA HINDMARCH

Anya Hindmarch and I

Like lots of women, I love clothes, shoes, jewellery and handbags.... and when one spends a lot of time reading, living and breathing fashion, I can't help but have a few favourite designers/ brands/ places to shop..

One of my favourite designers is Anya Hindmarch. I had the pleasure of meeting this talented designer about 3 years ago when she came down to Malaysia to launch her 'BE A BAG' campaign at Carcosa Sri Negara.

I like Anya's designs for a number of reasons. Her designs are beautiful but with quirky and fun details.... example, one of her evening bags that I have is a beautiful leather gold clutch with red stones on the clasp... it's elegant and timeless... but INSIDE the bag which makes up the lining is a very graphic and colourful image straight from the KAMA SUTRA!!!!

The last time I used this clutch, I took all the contents out of it to show some friends the image inside. There were many squeals of laughter... It kept being passed around that at one point I was worried I might actually not get it back!!

Another bag I have of hers, is a picture bag with a very vintage looking photo of two women playing chess. except that there were no king of queen statues on their chess board.. they were playing chess with tubes of lipstick on the chess board!

It's fun, cute and quirky details like this which are totally unique to Anya Hindmarch and you can't help but smile when you see things like this... this explains why I have 3 of her bags! and with more to come I'm sure...

After meeting Anya personally while she was here, I can also tell you that she is an incredibly down -to-earth person, soft spoken and just a pleasure to be with.. I hope I have the privilege of meeting her again...

Shopping is not only about trying to find new things to add to an ever expanding wardrobe, it's also about the experience and the customer service received while in the store or boutique.. and I can confidently say that the service at the Anya Hindmarch boutique at KLCC is superb.

I have to thank Shea Pin, Yvonne and Lina for always looking after me and for going to the effort of making sure I received this priceless photo with Anya.... I'm sure there was some time spent looking for this photo as it was over 3 years ago that it was taken... thank you so much. I really appreciate it...

Let me tell you about a little experience I had at a very upmarket boutique in KL recently. I won't mention labels but it's a high end brand favoured by many, many people. There was a particular item I liked but they didn't have it in the colour I wanted. Being such a luxury brand, I asked if they could try getting it in for me from nieghbouring stores or even neighbouring countries. Their answer? NO.... Why? I don't actually know why... I got such a lazy answer, eg their other stores have to keep their stock.... basically, they were not going to try..

At first I thought I was expecting too much... so I mentioned it to a few friends who are shopping junkies. They were all horrified when they heard this!

"WHAT?! They won't call around for you and see if they can get it?! This is not customer service..."

Seriously, they didn't even bother to pick up the phone and try..... My shopping junkie friends tell me they should!

Compare this to the service at CHANEL. A few years ago, I saw a gorgeous top in the CHANEL boutique window. I went in and asked to have a look at it. They took it off the mannequin. It was a size 38. I mentioned that I'm actually a size 36. Immediately the salesgirl said that they have a size 36 in Hong Kong and will have it sent down for me if I wanted it. One look at the price tag and I knew I couldn't afford it, so I told her it wouldn't be necessary. But my point is that without me even asking, she was willing to make sure I got my size in the top if I wanted it...

That is customer service... and from high end luxury labels, I expect this kind of service from the staff...

Again, I will mentin that the staff at CHANEL are very good to me. I'm greeted by name when I walk in and they really make an effort. Special thank you to Cindy Chua and Julie...

So there... my little chatter about shopping.. more stories as and when they happen...