bad hair day, shoot, edit, gym and CSI!

When I woke up in the morning, within a few seconds of brushing my hair I knew I had a dreaded bad hair day... only way I know how to solve it quickly is to just wear a hat....

Arrive at the office and check final preparations for a shoot I'm directing for Apa-Apa Aje... I always check and re check that I have blank tapes and script for the shoot... I have heard of horror stories from my colleagues who have forgotten tapes when they have gone on shoots... nightmare!!

As I'm waiting for the crew to load the TV3 van with the camera and equipment, my shoes starts to feel strange...

When I look down, this is what I discover....

It has a hole in it! Malunya kasut dah berlubang!!! Aduh!

With no spare shoes available, I carry on... just ignore it....

We arrive at the location and begin to set up for the opening shot...

On the segment I'm shooting today our character Che AAA played by Intan Suraya is highlighting a salt scrub treatment meant to reduce cellulite.. so we have to shoot the process...

The shoot goes well with no dramas.... It's amazing how well thing work when everyone just works together to get things done..... no arguments, no complaining... just do it! and we did....

All done, I arrive back at the office and begin editing straight away.....

This is what one of the editing rooms look like... It's always cold in there! Note the hat hiding the bad hair day...

I also edited the other segment I produce, direct and and act in called 'Luahan Hati" ..that figure you see on the tv screens is actually me...

It was past 6 when I finished editing... I submitted my tape to the editor of Apa-Apa Aje and reminded myself that I said I would go to the gym today...

So I did... and I worked out til I felt like falling asleep at the gym....

10 kms on the bicycle and a full body weights work out.... 5 sets of every exercise... after almost 2 and a half hours at the gym, I was over it! But my trainer still asked me as I was 'crawling' out the door..."what time are you coming tomorrow?"..... "It depends how much pain I'm in tomorrow!!!" I answer....

As I'm starting my car, handphone rings... It's my editor for Apa-Apa Aje

Anis - Sha.... Segmen luahan hati you gelap.. macam tak de lampu.. tak boleh guna on air..

kena re edit.....

Aduh!!! Apa jadi pulak?!!!

I promise her to re edit it first thing in the morning and re submit.... I curse the editing machine!

As I'm driving home my sister calls...

Sis - Where are you?

Me - On my way home.... why?

Sis - CSI is on at 10pm!!!

Me - Coming!!!!

I LOVE CSI!!!! I wish I could be on that show... I would love to act as one of the guys in the lab... not the morgue please... even more pathetic is if I appear as a dead body!!!

I have a really hot shower when I get home, fix myself a salad to eat for supper and make myself comfortable to watch 2 episodes of CSI....

I notice they are trying new ways of directing it which is interesting.. waiting to see how they expand on their ideas....

My 3 cats were creating havoc the whole time I was trying watch the show.... Every few minutes my sister would be shouting... "Joberg! No! Get Down! Tippex! Stop it! Skitso!!! Why Skitso!!!"

Sigh.... They have good days and naughty days....

After two episodes of CSI, I'm sleepy and tomorrow I have to arrive at the office extra early to re edit 'Luahan Hati' and prepare to be Floor Manager for the live airing of Apa-Apa Aje....

So time for bed.... zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.........

Great main course... disappointing desserts

Last night I attended a very lavish Embassy dinner at the J.W. Marriot in Kuala Lumpur... For events like this, I always feel it's appropriate to wear something traditional, so I chose one of my favourite kebaya's, my red lace one and teamed it with a batik sarong, vintage earrings and of course.... red shoes!

I walked into the ballroom and immediately started eyeing all of the huge tables of food..... I wasn't going to worry about a salad based diet tonight.... I was determined to try everything....

My eyes especially nearly fell out of my head when I saw the dessert table! There were at least 20 different cakes and half of them were chocolate.... yum!!!

I did the responsible thing and had healthy food first... fish, salads, kebabs.....

Then I headed straight for the desserts... with a very big plate in my hand!

I took a small piece of every cake which looked delicious.... about 10....

Because desserts are well known to cause dresses to get tighter... what I always do is taste something first, if it tastes really good on that first taste, then I get a bigger piece and enjoy it guilt free!!! If it's not worth the calories and fat content... I stop....

So I taste all of the cakes.... ad keep tasting.... and NOTHING made me want to go back and get a bigger piece! I couldn't believe it! They were all dry and nothing exciting... what a disappointment! All that good looking stuff and nothing worth risking putting on weight for... sigh...

So I went back and had more fish and kebabs.... since they were the best dishes...

I have to go to the gym today for a good workout... to work off those unexciting little chocolate nibbles I had last night... I just know the whole time I'm at the gym later doing weights or whatever I'm going to be thinking to myself... "what a waste of calories on those cakes!!!"

Nevermind.. better luck next time...

Today.... I'm directing a shoot for my Che AAA for next week's episode of Apa-Apa Aje....

Pics from that later....

Off to eat fruits now....

TV3 Jom Heboh Commercial Shoot

4.45 am my phone alarm starts ringing... sigh.... I have to be at the office by 6 am.....

Not exactly a morning person..... But somehow I coped with Explorace having call times as early as 4.30 am... I tell myself I'll survive....

I arrive at the office and with my colleagues go to a studio in Shah Alam to shoot the new TV3 Jom Heboh commercial....

Hair and make up for the first batch of 4 took 2 hours..... Nobody looks good at 6am! Hair and make up is a necessity!



All done then begins the long hours in front of the camera and under really hot lights....

I HAVE TO drink lots of water on shoots like this if not I end up with a really bad migraine at the end of the day... Thankfully there was a lot of water in supply!

The television commercial is to promote the TV3 carnival Jom Heboh which is on every month for one weekend in a different state in Malaysia....

The photo above is of me on standby to shoot my solo segment for the commercial. The foreground is the screen the director will preview the shots on and you can vaguely see me in the background..

A closer shot of what it will look like on tv...


Tv3 personalities Aidit and Ally occupying themselves by giving hilarious comments on what they were seeing on the preview screen... they are only acting serious for the photo....

It is a very lively and fun commercial... all of the 12 hosts really enjoyed doing it cause we got to dance around a lot and have fun... but it was still VERY tiring!!! The back of all our clothes were wet from all the sweat!!!

Again safety pins came to my rescue to hold my belt in place so it wouldn't move all over the place from all the dancing.... hair spray was used too... but no hair pins this time! Yahoo!

The commercial will be on air on TV3 in a few weeks so keep an eye out for it!

THE MET

Several weeks ago now I was invited to be a celebrity model for the launch of THE MET.... an urban sophisticated new hair saloon located at the Park Royal Hotel...

THE MET is the same team of hair dressers who styled my hair for Richard Tsen's show at KL Fashion Week....

For this launch, Richard Tsen designed the clothes as well...

As I just received these photos, I am putting them up now....

Many celebrities were involved in this happening event....

Just take a look at the line up!


Familiar faces include Stephanie Chai, Jeslina Hashim, Emmeline Ng, Jojo Struys, Syafinaz and Azura.....
Again, my hair was teased and hair sprayed in magnificent proportions!


Yes, another late night due to my ritual combing, conditioning and washing routine...

I don't really remember any hair pins though.... hmmmmm......

GLAM magazine - April Anniversary cover shoot

Two weeks ago, I received a phone call from Wirda Adnan, editor of the very successful magazine - GLAM....

Wirda - Sasha, are you free on the 12th?

Me - Should be ok.... why?

Wirda - You have to be ok! I want you on the GLAM magazine anniversary issue cover as one of Malaysia's upcoming Glam girls.....

Me - Really??!!! Oh Wow!!!

Wirda - Yes.... you along with 7 other glam girls....You will be dressed in Louis Vuitton....

Me - ok! ok! I'll be there!

My goodness! What an honour! I couldn't believe it! I have always admired the beautiful covers that GLAM produces every month.... and now, I was going to be on one of them!

A total of 8 upcoming Glam girls were chosen for this auspicious cover....

I arrived early so was the first one to be made up, hair done and dressed.... Then I did my individual shots first....

Behind the scenes photo.... the clothes, the make up and the talented people making sure it all looks good!

The same happened for the others then we started doing some groups shots....Cheryl getting last minute touch ups before her individual shot

The shoes featured in the shoot are incredibly beautiful to look at.... But I couldn't walk in them and had to use extreme balancing skills to stay standing up! All of us were facing the same obstacles.... Please Mr Marc Jacobs (designer for Louis Vuitton) ! Anyway of making them comfortable?!

The clothes were whimsical and fairy inspired... I wore a pretty baby blue outfit....

Cheryl Samad and I at the shoot

Again, I'm not going to spoil the surprise by putting lots of pictures here....

The GLAM - anniversary issue will be out in April.... I will remind you when it's out so you can get a copy!

Oxygen Magazine Shoot

Sometime last week I received a phone call from my good friend Thana who works in the Malaysian fashion industry.....

Thana - Darling! You can still dance right?!

Me - Yes.... why?

Thana - I'm styling a shoot for Oxygen magazine. I want someone who can portray a strong character but still have elegant dancer's grace..... So I think you will be the best model for it.... Can?

Me - Sure! Sounds really interesting! Shall I bring my ballet pointe shoes (the ones I can stand on my toes) to use in the shoot?

Thana - Great idea!!

So leading up to the shoot, I dug out my old ballet pointe shoes which I swear I haven't put on in years to start practising....

Come Sunday morning, I get out of bed and drive to a really cute cosy restaurant called Relish in town, opposite the famed Frangipani restaurant....

I was shot in two dresses designed by Richard Tsen.....

I had forgotten how painful it was to stand in ballet pointe shoes.... my poor feet were in so much pain.. yet I still had to find a way to be graceful and hold several positions long enough for the photographer to take beautiful photos....


The other outfit I wore had a real Alice In Wonderland feel to it... As you can see from the photo above... I felt like a character present at the Mad Hatters teas party! Very Gwen Stefani too!

This wasn't easy either as later I had to stand holding a plate with a delicious Relish burger on it and lettuce was tossed in front of me so that it looks like lettuce leaves are flying all around me! Fantastic concept, fantastic photo but an absolute nightmare to create to perfection. Everyone in the team worked very patiently to get the perfect shot.... I of course ended up with some lettuce landing one me..... oh well..... just another occupational hazard...


The photos will be featured in the March issue of Oxygen magazine so I won't spoil the fun by publishing a whole lot of photos here. Will inform when it's out at the shops so that you can go and buy a copy to see the end result of the shoot done on a hot Sunday afternoon! By the way, the food at Relish is good!

Coach Spring Summer 2007 Collection

Last night at Sassorosso was the launch of the latest Coach Spring Summer Collection.

Luckily the jam getting into town was not too bad....

For the event I decided to wear an authentic 80's vintage sequinned dress given to me by a good friend of mine who actually wore it in the 80's! She gave it to me somethiong like 7 years ago, I've never worn it, but always wanted too so I thought tonight would be the right time!

My shoes are my latest bargain find from Sungai Wang..... surpringly comfortable and stable for cheap shoes....

And the bag I'm holding is one of the bags from the new collection.....


I thought this hat was pretty cute too....

And these guys obviously thought the bags were worth taking pictures with too
Over the next two days I've got 2 exciting photo shoots... so don't forget to come back and find out more about it....

Anya Hindmarch Spring Summer Collection

Fashion is ever changing and evolving...

And I'm lucky enough to be invited to events and previews to see the new collections of some brands and designers....

Today at work, I had plenty of totally unglamorous work to do.....

Labelling tapes of previous shoots, editing footage for my segment on Apa-Apa Aje, emailing managers of stores requesting for sponsorship of my segment, rescheduling a shoot next week because my co-actor can't make it, re booking the shooting crew, discuss some ideas for upcoming episodes for Apa-Apa Aje....the list could go on... believe me I'm not wearing a Zang Toi gown when I'm doing all this! Just jeans and a top....

So when I looked in the mirror as I was leaving work, I knew I had to fix myself up to attend the Anya Hindmarch Spring Summer Collection preview....

Fastest and best way I know how is to stop by the hair dresser and get a simple wash and blow dry done...

Rush home, shower and change then I'm off to KLCC....

Surprisingly, considering it was after office hours, the jam wasn't bad....

I arrive at the Anya Hindmarch boutique and I must say that metallics are definitely in at the moment! They have a great collection of leather bags in different sizes and metallic finishes.



But two little pouches caught my attention because of what's almost discreetly printed on them....

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!!!!

I know that this may not necessarily appeal to everyone's sense of humour but it certainly appeals to mine!

Plenty more stuff is happening this week....

48 hours ago, my schedlude for the next 7 days was fairly light....

But since then, I've received phone calls and emails which means that I now have 2 magazine shoots, rehearsal and fittings for an upcoming tv commercial, 2 social events, 2 tv recording shoots which means more editing and scripwriting.....

As I've said before, you never know what's around the next corner...

But I'm not complaining... it's all good.... and it's much better to be busy than bored....

Water Goddess has been sold!

I'm happy to announce that my Water Goddess painting was sold over the weekend.

I don't know who bought it but Sabera Shaik of Masakini Theatre confirmed with me that it has raised RM 1000 for the fund.

Thank you to whoever bought it! I hope you enjoy it....

Banjir in the Village fundraiser started today!

Today at Bangsar Village, the Banjir In The Village fundraising event began!

And what an event it was!

I arrived at about 11 am. There wasn't that many people there yet but everything was set up nicely...That's Imuda and Shannon Shah with me. I have fond memories of Imuda acting in the Malay sitcom called "2 + 1" when I was still in school. The two lines which I remember he frequently used in the show were.... "My name is S-U-E....SAM! This is my card.... I fashion designer...." and "Saya karate black belt warna biru"....

He was so amused to hear that Shannon and I still remember those lines!

Shannon, if you haven't heard of him is a brilliant musician, singer and songwriter and is surrently working on a new album.

With my painting...


Imuda donated the above painting to be sold as part of the charity event too. Now he is a really amazing artist!!

The table full of great cakes available to buy of which the proceeds will go to the fund....

This totally delicious brownie came complete with this WHOLE tub of chocolate sauce! So many people were drooling over this!Imuda doing personalised caricatures also to raise money for the fund..

Dato Shahrizat arrived at 1pm to officially launch the fundraiser...


She bought this portrait of her done by Imuda for 200 ringgit to be added to the fund.

Then Adibah Noor sang... and boy did she have everyone in the place clapping and cheering!


She was only going to sing one song... but ended up singing three due to popular demand!

Adibah's singing helped to raise over 3000 ringgit for the fund!

Before I left, Sabera confirmed with me that they have received bids for my painting which I was so glad to hear..... So that means it's been SOLD and now it's just a matter of what price it will fetch...

Do drop by Bangsar Village tomorrow to have a look. If you like cakes, you will definitely be in heaven and scratching your head as to which yummy cake to buy and devour!

Banjir in the Village fundraiser started today!

Today at Bangsar Village, the Banjir In The Village fundraising event began!

And what an event it was!

I arrived at about 11 am. There wasn't that many people there yet but everything was set up nicely...That's Imuda and Shannon Shah with me. I have fond memories of Imuda acting in the Malay sitcom called "2 + 1" when I was still in school. The two lines which I remember he frequently used in the show were.... "My name is S-U-E....SAM! This is my card.... I fashion designer...." and "Saya karate black belt warna biru"....

He was so amused to hear that Shannon and I still remember those lines!

Shannon, if you haven't heard of him is a brilliant musician, singer and songwriter and is surrently working on a new album.

With my painting...


Imuda donated the above painting to be sold as part of the charity event too. Now he is a really amazing artist!!

The table full of great cakes available to buy of which the proceeds will go to the fund....

This totally delicious brownie came complete with this WHOLE tub of chocolate sauce! So many people were drooling over this!Imuda doing personalised caricatures also to raise money for the fund..

Dato Shahrizat arrived at 1pm to officially launch the fundraiser...


She bought this portrait of her done by Imuda for 200 ringgit to be added to the fund.

Then Adibah Noor sang... and boy did she have everyone in the place clapping and cheering!


She was only going to sing one song... but ended up singing three due to popular demand!

Adibah's singing helped to raise over 3000 ringgit for the fund!

Before I left, Sabera confirmed with me that they have received bids for my painting which I was so glad to hear..... So that means it's been SOLD and now it's just a matter of what price it will fetch...

Do drop by Bangsar Village tomorrow to have a look. If you like cakes, you will definitely be in heaven and scratching your head as to which yummy cake to buy and devour!

Banjir In The Village Fundraiser

Hi everyone!

This Saturday and Sunday, 3rd and 4th of February is the Banjir In The Village Fundraiser by Masakini Theatre. It will be held at the new shoppong centre in Bangsar called Bangsar Village II from 10 am.

There will be lots of goodies to buy and also some things which you can purchase to donate to the flood victims eg notebooks, stationary..... etc...

As you already know, my painting will be there available on silent auction.

There is to be launch on the Saturday at 1pm which I will be attending....

So come along.... feel free to come up to me and introduce yourselves..... I don't bite!