Chet's Chatter » People

Mystery solved

Chet — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 01:40:47 +0000

I’ve been wondering which keeper from Bifengxia accompanied Yang Guang and Tian Tian to Edinburgh Zoo, and now I know.

Scott with Edinburgh Zoo’s Head of Giant Pandas Alison McLean and Pambassador Jeroen Jacobs (Photo: www.GiantPandaZoo.com)

Scott Xie Hao is a seasoned giant panda keeper and American-born giant panda Mei Sheng’s first keeper when the black and white furball returned to Wolong in 2007. Scott worked for a while in the admin offices in Bifengxia and also spent some time in Old Wolong as part of the “re-introduction to the wild” team.

Ever since my 2008 visit to Beijing to see my adopted panda Feng Yi and the rest of the “Olympic 8″ team, I’ve been interested to know which keepers are sent to accompany pandas on loan to other zoos in China and overseas, mainly to see if I know the keepers, and also to assure myself that the pandas are in good hands.

In the case of Edinburgh Zoo, I am assured that Yang Guang and Tian Tian are in the good hands of an experienced and gentle keeper who will share his knowledge with their new keeper.

Good to see you again, Scott!

Remembering Yasmin Ahmad

Chet — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 02:25:11 +0000

If you walk past the Wh clothing store in 1 Utama (New Wing), you will see this poster.

I actually took this picture in mid July. The poster has been there for quite a while, even before she left us, and is still there. There’s another one inside the store.

I can’t remember if I took it with a plan to put it up on the first anniversary of her passing. But I always thought it’s such a nice picture of her.

Today is as good a day to put up a post to remember her. It’s Hari Raya Puasa, or Eid ul-Fitr, a religious holiday that she had done TVCs about in the past. Like this one.

Selamat Hari Raya 2010 to all Malaysians, Muslim and non-Muslim alike.

One of my all-time favourite TV commercials and the lady behind it

Chet — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 01:27:03 +0000

Created by the late Yasmin Ahmad (1958 – 2009), a movie dabbler (her own words), as you will see from the following talk.

Yasmin the storytelling filmmaker

Chet — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 02:09:33 +0000

She is the award-winning creative director of tv commercials for such companies like Petronas (her multi-racial festive ads always remind me of my childhood) who transferred her storytelling talents to films a few years ago, resulting in such classics as Sepet and Gubra.

Now she’s made a short film for the Singapore Government. Don’t let the title turn you off. Yasmin is THE storytelling filmmaker.

Her blog post and the many comments the film received.

Thumbs up for Ellen DeGeneres

Chet — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 04:43:13 +0000

I remember being very excited about my trip to Vancouver in 1997. In addition to seeing cousin Robert and his family, I was also going to watch the “coming out” episode of the Ellen sit-com. It was one of the most anticipated events of that year, and I was going to watch the premier (I think that’s what it’s called). Unfortunately, as I arrived only that morning, I found myself dozing off during the show. No worries, I got to see repeats later on.

Things didn’t go so well for Ellen DeGeneres, the sit-com’s star, for a few years after that. Ellen herself talked about it during a recent episode of her talk show. In contrast, The Ellen DeGeneres Show is one of the most popular talk shows on TV today. Last night, I put on my FaceBook status that I was watching the show, and received two comments about it. Both comments were positive, and showed what a widely diverse audience Ellen is reaching.

She is funny. She is good. She is caring, too. And she lives up to her name (generous).

Last night’s show was her birthday show, featuring clips of her 50th birthday celebration. Sitting next to her was her life partner, Portia. Looking at her, I found myself thinking “mmm … she’s come a long way from that other woman. Good for her.”