Scriptwriting on my mind

When I was in college and university, I was active in the theatre groups and did time on stage myself, but what has always appealed to me was script-writing. This is evident in my everyday writing as I tend to have strong dialogues in my stories.

But I have always been hesitant in making the leap from writing articles and stories to scripts. A leap to some but to me, its like the cow jumping over the moon.

Yet, it has been on my mind lately. So the question I posing here is, how do one make the leap into script-writing in general and also for the Malaysian market?

Post your answers in the comments.

I’ve moved my blog…

No, it’s not because the Malaysian authorities came knocking at my door and asked me to simmer down (though some friends are concern for me *thanks*) but I finally got round to getting my own domain name.

Folks, I’ve successfully moved my blog to my own name. You can find all the goodness over at www.macleanpatrick.com, so please update your bookmarks and links and I appreciate having you drop into the new place. This site will still be up, allowing access to all my articles but everything else will be at www.macleanpatrick.com. So see you all there!

A (web)site of my own.

I’ve been putting it off for ages and today I finally came round to doing it. I purchased my own domain name – www.macleanpatrick.com. I’m a webmaster by profession and I manage close to 67 micro-sites for the local university and I never came round to purchasing my own domain name.

I’m pleasantly surprised my name is even available. Though I’m also happy that www.maclean.com is also a tech-guy himself.

I’ve purchased a hosting plan and will be porting over the contents from this website over to the new site. I’ll be setting up some form of monetary plan to help pay for the site but it won’t involve any purchases on your part. It’ll probably be some ads on the bottom or right-hand menu columns.

I will keep you guys posted on the progress and when to start updating the bookmarks. I don’t think WordPress allows redirections.

Cheers!

A day without my iPhone.

I left my iPhone at home and I’m not missing it. Instead, I welcome this sense of not being connected to the world for a day. I’m not jittery about the thought of missing calls or text  messages. A day of not hearing from me would not kill any-body. In fact, I know all the people who would contact me and most would do that after work, when I am at home flipping through the television channels.

I blogged about the day when I did not have email for half a day at work and I did not miss it. Now, I want to go 8 hours without my iPhone and (frankly speaking) I am really not missing it.

So if  you ever feel the need to have some time off for yourself, just leave your hand-phone at home and go about your life. A moment of dis-connection would do you wonders. It lets us focus on ourselves for a few hours, giving us that space we need to breathe and know that in life; not texting or calling people, would do us no harm.

Change is coming to Malaysia

I normally don’t want to talk about politics on this blog and reserve it for my articles at FreeMalaysiaToday.net, but I can’t help in commenting about the Sibu by-election and the slim win by the opposition party, DAP.

I got a text message at 9.30pm, yesterday evening, that DAP was leading. I had known since 1.30pm that they were in the lead after the rural votes were tallied. With my friend’s text at 9.30pm, I knew then that a half miracle had happened. The opposition DAP had won in a city which, for all it seems, was going in favor to the ruling government – Barisan Nasional (National Front).

And as expected, not much is commented about this win in the main-stream media. A small mentioned in The Star Online and a whisper in The New Straits Times. After a week of lop-sided coverage, news of the results going against the establishment is relegated to obituary status. This is the mind-set of news-reporting in Malaysia. News reports should always polish up the standings of the current government.

I’m in a way, happy for the results of the Sibu by-election. It shows that the Malaysian public is waking up and deciding for themselves who they want in parliament.

Credit to warriors who make mistakes.

Critics are worth absolutely nothing: all they do is point an accusing finger at the moment the strong suffer a defeat, or when they commit a mistake. True credit goes to those who are in the arena, their faces covered in dust and sweat and blood, fighting on bravely.

True credit goes to the one who makes mistakes, who fails but little by little gets things right, because there is no effort without mistake. He knows great enthusiasm and deep devotion, and spends his energy on something worthwhile. That is the true man, who in the best of hypotheses will know victory and conquest, and in the worst of hypotheses will fall, yet even in his fall he is great, because he has lived with courage and stands above those small-minded souls who will never know victory or defeat.

(Part of a speech that Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States, gave at the Sorbonne in Paris on the 23rd April 1910)

Article : A Party is Not Government

Another article of mine where I think the chances of the opposition party winning in the Sibu by-election is slim.

Separation of government and political party is a must, if politics in Malaysia is to mature.

But the idea that BN is government has been a mainstay of every election since the formation of Malaysia. The people are reminded time and time again that BN is government, that Malaysia has no future without a BN government.

Article: A Party is not Government.

Story for a friend.

I’m in the habit of writing short stories to illustrate what my thoughts are on a given subject. It is the character in my story that becomes my voice, some how speaking in the third person is a lot easier than speaking out straight.

I wrote a story for my friend Norhayati, when I was in Kuantan in April and she has posted it onto her blog. She had titled her post True Love according to Maclean Patrick. I am no expert on this matter of Love but those are my thoughts on the matter.

As a writer who writes on themes of love and hope and lost, people often asks me on Love. Some-how, people think that writers, who write about love and such; should have this profound answer that will encapsulate and dispel questions people have about love.

Unfortunately, I myself am going through a process of discovery and reflection. It is only because, I have the talent to put my thoughts into writing and to share these thoughts with mt readers that the idea of me (a simple writer) holds the answer to that age old question, “What is true love?”

All I can say is, the answer is not in gaining the answer. True love (most times) has to be lived out. If you still want to know what my answer is, then hop over to Norhayati’s blog and read True Love according to Maclean Patrick.

Gentleness

There are days I get myself caught in a rut. And it is not a pleasant feeling. I don’t bounce back like I use to, it just takes time for me to pick up momentum again. But as I get older, my views of life has changed and there are days I question why I am in the rut in the first place. At times, I rather be in the rut than anywhere else.

I could be there because someone decided that it was the best place for me, because I did not perform well, because I did not conform to what people believe I should be like, or simply because I don’t talk back. It is when I am in the rut, I am in most need of gentleness.

Gentleness is a lost art nowadays. We live in a world that’s full of “get-up” slogans. The kind you hear self-help gurus say all the time. Some-how I think self-help books have diluted the whole fact that people do suffer and suffering should not be trivialized into slogans. A measure of pain may be needed in order for one to build up strength and in these cases gentleness is much needed.

Gentleness on the part of the one attempting to sooth the one suffering. Not add to the suffering. And let me say, that soothing does not mean quoting something one read in a self-help book. Rather, soothing comes from a gentle heart, a gentle spirit and gentle soul. To sooth another is a heart-felt exercise and not one swamped with many words.

Gentleness. It’s something this world lacks yet is most needed in today’s time of stress and distress.

My reading list : Barack Obama

I stepped out for lunch today and managed to stop by the bookstore on the way back to office. I picked up Barack Obama’s books and have placed them into my to read list. I’m one of those people who buy books by author and since Obama has written two (2) books in total (so far), I decided to buy both.

I’m just interested to see how this man’s mind ticks. It is rare that one can read writings from an actual president and bearing in mind these books were written before he was elected. Which can give a degree of insight into what makes Obama, Obama.