of firsts and doing the unordinary...

Early morning today... with it being Hari Raya and all.

Solat sunat Aidil Adha was performed at the surau near our house. I was really sleepy and I struggled to stay awake during the khutbah :p There was a modest makan2 at the surau afterwards. Someone had generously prepared lemang and rendang for the jemaah. The lemang was perfectly soft and rendang tasty albeit a bit pedas, even pour moi who likes spicy food.

At home, Mama had prepared nasi lemak... with sambal udang and rendang daging. Yesterday she asked me as I was getting ready to go to work "Raya nak makan apa?"... and I told her nasi lemak. My wish came true! :) So second round of makan... all before 11am, hehe...

Tapi Mama couldn't eat... her pain is making it difficult for her to chew. So after makan, us four siblings went to the new Tesco Extra to find something for Mama. I was excited to go to Tesco because believe it or not, I've never stepped foot into any Tesco (well... I have, but that was in Dundee). That's the thing about staying at home... usually Mama would go do groceries during the week when we're all at work... when there's less crowd.

On the way, Ina and Amt gave me the 101 of the hypermarket... how it looks like, the layout etc. The Tesco Extra near our home sits on the spot where Makro used to be... about 5 mins away.

With it being Raya and relatively early in the day, there were very few people there. I had to curb my enthusiasm to jalan on each aisle - upstairs and downstairs - ye lah... checking out a new store ;) Bought some stuff including dumb bells for my aerobics class and stopped at King's Confectionery to get some fruit tarts... Mama's favourite. Not bad lah the place... ada Laksa Shack should the craving for laksa attacks. I was frustrated to discover that they've closed the shop in BV (now occupied by Marco's) 2 weeks ago. With this discovery, senang lah :)

Last night I did something which I don't normally do... tengok drama Melayu on TV. Mama is a big fan of Malay drama series... the more orang kaya internal conflict, posh large houses, nasib orang miskin yang selalu kena buli the better ;) I don't fancy those kind of dramas so I usually avoid them.

However, last night, sempena Aidil Adha, there were several made for TV movies on air. After dinner I joined Mama in front of the telly. Saje je... lepak with her. And I got glued watching "Janji Seorang Anak". The story started quite typical like other Malay dramas... orang miskin from kampung, one son attends university and promises to take care of the family bila dah berjaya, one son mat rempit, the husband a bit weng because of an accident several years back... hidup susah etc. You can imagine the jalan cerita already... Mama Ina and I were already reciting how the story would develop during the first 3 minutes of watching the show (and we weren't far off).

But somehow I stayed on with this one... because although the storyline wasn't something to shout about, the acting was brilliant. Most amazing was Abu Bakar Omar who played the role of the weng father... every movement, facial expression, right down to the mata juling and lidah terjulur was perfectly acted. I've always been impressed with his acting and to me he's one of *the* actors in the local scene. Fauziah Nawi played the role of the mother in her typical way... a bit over but serves the scenes well, especially one scene when she bergegas to go to the market to buy ikan keli to make masak lemak ikan keli for her favourite son. The veteran Mariani had a small role as the ailing nenek... small but effective. When I first saw their names, plus Ngasrial Ngasri... I knew that this would be something worthwhile watching.

But I had some reservations about the model-turned-actor Azizan who played the lead role, anak derhaka bernama Syamsul. My concerns were allayed... he acted as the anak kesayangan yang pandai mengambil hati mak(read: bodek) well. I wouldn't say that he's in the same league as Abu Bakar Omar or Rosyam Nor, but well enough. In fact, his actions reminded me and Ina of someone in the family and we both laughed with a knowing smile each time such scenes were acted, hehe... I was most amazed with his ulat keluar from mulut scene towards the end of the movie at which point all us ladies shrieked in disgust. OK... an actor who is willing to do that is worth his salt, IMHO.

Another star is a young starlet, whose name I tak tahu, who played the role of the youngest and only daughter. Mula2 her role was just as a naive sister... it was towards the end of the movie that she exhibited her true talent as a drama actor. You could feel the anguish and conflict within her... especially when the mother rejects her. A great talent in the making...

My entire family was amazed to see me sit down so absorbed with the movie. My dad, my brothers... semua made comments "Along tengok drama? Drama melayu? On normal channel?". It's not that I have anything against malay movies/dramas... it's just that so many turn me off... either due to the storyline or the acting. So often the plots are so silly and the acting so kayu... harap muka cantik je, or overacting. Ye lah... kalau masa nak tido pun makeup tebal seinci or si jelita yang miskin always look perfectly coiffred. And my pet peeves... kalau kat restaurant mesti order fresh orange, the obligatory disco scene to portray moral decay (unfortunately Janji Seorang Anak pun ada such scene but due to the strength in other aspects, that can be forgiven lah), some rich Dato or wannabes talk about *projek besar*... eaish, so typical. Takde idea lain ke...

And it's not just drama melayu... drama Indon pun sama. But once in a while, jewels like "Janji Seorang Anak" shows that there is still talent and hope for our local entertainment scene. I have watched several very good dramas (mostly on TV... box office fares are usually $$ driven so very few have quality in mind) but unfortunately they're so rare and only once in a blue moon baru lah ada yang timbul.

Malaysian TV/movie producers are not the only bad guys here... the American stations are equally guilty with such nonsensical reality show. When I was in the US, Linda introduced me to this show about guys and girls competing for the affection of a bisexual lady... she would be frolicking in a jacuzzi, with the competing male and female... smooching with the guys one minute and the ladies the next. I don't think that show will ever touch Malaysian shores, but what amazed me was that the show actually received strong ratings in the US. What??

Apa-apa lah...

Update:
I've just discovered that someone has uploaded Janji Seorang Anak on youtube. Those interested, pergi lah tonton at http://hk.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=D4958C75002F2582