Fun at TBS, Ntv7

Appeared on The Breakfast Show on 3 November 2010 to promote Fun for Kids. I think this is the third time I'm meeting Aishah Sinclair on the set but it's the first time I'm meeting Hansen Lee. In person, he looks more muscular.


The green screen at the studio.


On TV, this is what the backdrop looks like.


At the waiting room, met singer Joe Flizzow, Philippa Yoong, national coach of Malaysian Waterski and Wakeboard Federation and her young charges (the girls have read Honk! If you're Malaysian). It was the girls' mum (far right) who kicked off the conversation by saying that she's read my book. I'm glad she did. Surprised to learn that Philippa is a mother of two young kids.

Astro U-Wartawan

Tuesday, 26 May 2009

I was invited as a guest for U-Wartawan (Astro Awani, channel 501) The topic was rude Malaysians. You can listen to the interview here. Didn't think I did a good job, it's been too long since I was a guest on a Malay program.

This program is interactive. They get the man-on-the-street to give their opinions on Facebook and they choose the best inputs for airing. The session which is aired live is recorded in a corner of the Astro Awani office in Menara Maybank, KL. You can see the cameraman holding a hand-held camera in the second picture. The camera is strapped onto the waist but you still need a pair of strong hands to keep the contraption steady.

Did you know that Astro provides transport for interview guests who can't make their way to the studio on their own? Usually I drive myself to the tv stations but since this interview was at night and I wasn't sure of the way, Astro sent a driver to pick me from my house. Cool!




With Nazri Kahar, the talk show host, and my son

Honk! on Hello on Two

I attended the January MPH Litbloggers Meet with Xeus and Tunku Halim as the featured speakers. MPH had arranged for the tv crew from RTM's Hello on Two (HOT) to interview Tunku Halim. Xeus was also pulled in for an interview on her newly released Dark City 2. She asked me and Chua Kok Yee to tag along as we were both contributors to DC2. However, it so happened that HOT's broadcast journalist had done a review of Honk! If You're Malaysian for their new Book Review segment and I was interviewed for my books instead. Though I wasn't dressed or made-up for the occasion, I seized the opportunity lah. That's why I looked absolutely washed out here. Lesson learnt : when attending literary events, be smartly attired as you never know when you might bump into journalists looking for a story.



Thanks to the Samsung SGH i550 which was loaned to me for a promotion campaign, I was able to record the interview which was aired today and post it here. It's the first time ever I'm doing this kind of high tech stunt, so please excuse the amateur quality of the clip.

I shouldn't have stopped recording when I did, because after that the tv hosts (sorry, I didn't get their names) continued to sell Honk! If You're Malaysian. They said that the book is making waves in Malaysia! Since I missed that on the recording, I had to mention it here.

Viewing the clip, I realized that I had again used my 'crutch words' - meaningless phrases that creeped in unconsciously. "You know" was said at least three times and a couple of "uhms." When I asked my son what he thought of my talks (which I dragged him to sometimes), he had pointed out the countless "you know." So at the last talk that I gave at UCSI, I remembered not to use this crutch word. It worked but another faux pas I made was shaking my legs and the notes I held in my hands. Ah, as they say, the biggest room in the world is the room for improvement. If there was a seminar that teaches you how to appear polished in front of the camera and audience, I may just sign up for it.

Venus

Wed, 20 Feb 2008

I was invited on Venus together with Datin Freida Pilus, the chairperson of the Cempaka Schools to talk on "Handphones in School". Datin Freida took the stance of No Handphones in School, absolutely. I'm pro.

Cempaka Schools had for a period of time allowed students to bring the phones to school but discovered that it was too much of a hassle. Now if students are caught with a handphone, they're confiscated till end of the year where they auction off the phones. The SIM cards are returned to students.

The reason I want my kids to take handphones to school is for convenience. Sometimes we need to contact each other, say if I'll be late in picking them, or if they have to go somewhere directly after school and I need to keep tabs of their whereabouts.

As for the security reason for carrying handphones in school, Datin Freida retorted, "Don't you have confidence in the school to keep your child safe?"

Datin Freida is very vocal, or as Aishah said, 'passionate' about the topic. In the last three minutes of the show when time was running out, all three of us were talking at the same time. Interesting!

There were many things we discussed but due to lack of time, this has to suffice for now.


L-R, Host Aishah Sinclair, Datin Frieda Pilus, me, Sariah Wan Jaafar, producer and cohost

Temujanji @ Astro Awani

4 November 2007

I was invited to appear as a guest on Temujanji. This is an interactive talk show on Astro Awani, Malaysia’s first and only 24-hour news and information channel presented in Bahasa Malaysia and targeted at the Malay community in Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia.

What differentiates this talk show from others is its interactivity. Here, members of the floor ask the questions. The show was divided into three slots with two breaks in between. In each slot, two members of the audience get to ask a question each. I had brought the roti horns as usual and got them to sound the horn before the question is asked.

A slogan I coined during this show (thanks to Eric Forbes for the inspiration) is 3B : Baca Buku Banyak-banyak or read lots of books. I hope viewers will remember the 3B slogan when they go to bookstores so that they will buy lots of books to read.


With talk show host, Amir Mahmood Razak


Part of the audience comprising of students from High School Kajang. Usually Astro invites MU students for the show but it was exam time in the university.


Group picture taken after the show.


The people behind the scene : (L-R) Fiza, Suhaimi Sulaiman, me, Yen Nee and Ada

Wanita Hari Ini, TV3

Tuesday, 19 June 2007

I wrote in to Wanita Hari Ini asking if they'd like to interview me for my book, Honk! If You're Malaysian. They decided to do a segment on mummy writers and blogging, and asked if I could rope in two other authors.

That was how Yvonne Lee (The Sky is Crazy), Jamilah Samian (Cool Mum Super Dad) and I ended up at TV3 on Tuesday. It was my first time at their studio. Though the TV3 crew had interviewed me twice for Nona, those sessions were taped at my house.

I think we had more fun during the pre-interview segment when the hosts, Wardina and Ivy talked to us about what they were going to ask during the show. When the cameras started to roll, naturally anxiety came along for the ride.





L-R, Ivy, Wardina, me, Yvonne and Jamilah

Hello on Two

The interview was held today at Hello on Two over RTM2. Since it was the school holidays, I brought no. 2 along so she could see how the interview was done. She also took these nice photos.

There was supposed to be three authors, Mohana Gill, May Zhee and me. The angle was women writing at different age groups. However, May Zhee couldn't make it and it was just the two of us. Somehow without May Zhee (she wrote Vanitee Bee at 15), the angle just sort of got sidelined and we talked at length about our books instead of just writing. Mohana who's in her sixties, started writing just last year whereas I started in my thirties. Naturally she thinks I've got a headstart on her and I think the same way of May Zhee.

Mohana has published two books, Fruitastic and Vegemania. Recently she won an Gourmand Wold Cookbook Awards 2006. Fruitastic!, released in March last year, won the award in the Best Single Subject Cookbook and Best Nutrition and Health Cookbook category. Congratulations, Mohana!



Look at the paper bags on the floor. Aren't they beautiful and attention grabbing? It's not cheap to make them. It's RM5 a piece! Next time I should make some of these (home-made ones-lah) for my tv appearances. They make fantastic visuals. My book is completely overwhelmed by Mohana's paperbags and books.







(L-R) Producer Khatijah, compere Soraya Ghazalie, Yen Nee, me and Zamil Idris, compere (ex-Malaysian Idol 1 finalist).

The Breakfast Show at ntv7

I was at ntv7 this morning for the Readers Corner segment on The Breakfast Show, the show worth waking up for. I was the last guest to be interviewed for the morning. The hosts Nazrudin Habibur Rahman (Naz) and Ben Ibrahim were jovial and breezy. I was hoping to see Daphne Iking, another TBS host but she's in Bali right now preparing for her wedding this Saturday. Congratulations, Daphne!


Ben and Naz (extreme right) having a good chuckle



Wish I could post more pix but the studio assistant taking the pictures for me had shaky hands. Out of 11 shots, only these two didn't have the shakes.

Nona

Nona, TV3 interviewed me for its personality segment which aired today.

The interview was done more than 2 weeks ago at my house. I had to rush the kids home from school as Nona wanted them in the background scenes. No. 3 wrote in his school diary about "TV3 coming to our house because mummy's new book is out." His teacher's comment : So you must follow in your mother's example and be brave to di-la-da and la-di-da (have yet to look up Chinese dictionary on the meaning of these words. No. 1 and no. 2 couln't comprehend the meaning of those words too and to think they spent 6 years in Chinese school!)


TV crew setting up the equipment


Broadcast journalist, Hazrena interviewing me

Honk on Selamat Pagi Malaysia

Interview by Sayed Munawar on Resensi Sabtu, the book review segment of Selamat Pagi Malaysia, TV1 on Saturday, 23 December 2006.