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Wednesday, April 25, 2007

No More Mr.Nice Guy

Yup, Mat Salo has graciously exited Bolehland (with passport duly stamped and endorsed) and am now fidgeting anxiously in my base office in Balikpapan waiting for my boss to grant me the honor of giving me "face time".

And no, it's not about the raise I didn't get.

Ancient Mariner said something in his blog the other day in a response to some comments, ' . . . I stopped trying to be Mr. Nice Guy a long time ago'.

And that sat me thinking.

The Good Captain, fortunately has his untold wealth of experience behind him to be able to say this. Down the line, I suspect, most of us will eventually adopt a similiar attitude, but for the moment we'll blame it on our misplaced Youth.

In deep conversation with man-of-the-moment, Rocky Brew

And he also said, ' . . . but I blog merely to inform, to educate and even to entertain as the case may be. It has never been my intention to force anybody to put on their thinking caps.'

It was Ancient Mariner's apologies for declining to be tagged you see. Apologies duly accepted, Sir, because I was one of the two who had tagged him.

Sorry, Cap'n, but he's always got me more-or-less with my "thinking cap" on, as with his other posts - that to me isn't just merely "to inform, to educate, . . . or entertain", as he put it. It's not intentional, I know - but for whom the bells toll?

Ancient Mariner seen with another ancient - Chegu Bernard, The Infamous Unmasked Zorro, with the latter claiming that he is more "ancient" one.

As bloggers (and readers) with our own individual quirks, we never know what stokes one's fancy. One mans meat / another man's poison, that kind of thing.

Another man-of the-moment, Datuk Ruhanie Ahmad (left), a former 14-year MP and vociferous back-bencher who runs two blogs: Kuda Kepang (in Malay) feat.Toyol Code and Ron Cyber Prince - being "interviewed" by The Mariner. Or is it the other way round?

Basically, I'm agreement with the Mariner, because the thing is, as bloggers we're such a diverse lot, and we need to celebrate this diversity. Where else, can you find glorified roughnecks (me), media stars, Members of Parliament, ship captains, film directors, web designers, plastic surgeons and all - sitting down together cheek by jowl, walloping Mee Rebus under a shady tree in PJ?

I just love this shot. Why? Because I got to shoot a "Photographer's Photographer". His photographs has appeared on the cover of TIME for no-less than seven times, seen here with his more famous spouse, preparing a candid shot of the Captain. New York-born Tara Sosrowardoyo's photos has also graced The New York Times, Fortune, and Paris-Match, to name a few. In honor of His Majesty Thailand's King Bhumipol 80th Birthday, Tara was included in a commemorative book which the King (an avid photographer himself) commissioned, listing Tara as one of "55 World-class Photographers".

Each has his own "voice", a particular forte if you will. Some are political and some are not. Like me for instance, I just don't have enough "vocab" to do justice to write about the political situation in Ijok, or a wonderful book review like the one Miss Elviza did on The Reluctant Politician.

But I sure as hell can try - after all it's my blog and I'll do what I want to (sung to the tune "It's my party . . .) because I don't have sub-editors to report to. But sometimes I wish I had though, just someone to proof-read and correct all my crappy grammar and inane sentence construction.

Yeah, that's what we bloggers are, a diverse lot - unceremoniously toiling for goodness what.

If bloggers we're to get paid a ringgit for for each "hit" they get, bloggers like Rocky Bru and Jeff Ooi would be millionaires by now.

Instead of wallowing in millions - with the lawsuit that they're facing - the threat of being sent to the poorhouse is very real.

For that I commend them for standing up and fighting the good fight.

And by the way Cap'n, you'll always be a Nice Guy. Just someone with a more "different" outlook, that's all.

All the better for it, and for Bloggers out there too.

Bereft of original ideas, I've become just a poor plagiarizer of themes . June Tan wrote an excellent piece earlier (which I shamelessly "plagiarized" here) on bloggers and blogging in Malaysia for her Master's thesis. She had just completed it by the way. (I suspect she too was wondering the effects of blogging on Ijuk's eventual outcome). I urge everyone to read her piece and her "debates" on the subject with Susan Loone.

Congratulations on having completed your thesis June!


© 2007 MatSalo Images

11 comments:

tokasid said...

Salam to matsalo:Alhamdulillah hang selamat sampai Balikpapan dah.
Tapi walau sibuk macamana jgn lupa tuleh lam blog hang tau.Boh gambaq kaw2 sama.
Tadi aku pi KL pi one utama.Aku kaut 3 remaster Steely Dan albums( yg aku ada keset dulu2)and DF( tangan gatai kena beli juga).Juga tgk ipod 80G..meleleh ayaq lioq matsalo oi( melaka takdak lagi menatang ni)Nak kena sambaq juga.(D40 kena tunggu la nampak gaya).Dok ingat sekali lagi naik KL kena sambaq la ipod 80g tu...boleh dengaq lagu sampai pekak.

Hang dah tgk entry CGOPD hat baru? Dia nak ucap selamat tinggai kat PD dan Blog united.hang tentu paham kan. Chor hang pujuk dia nanti noo..
Take care di negeri orang noo
Wassalam

Mat Salo said...

Wa'alaikum salaam Bro' TA...

Thanks for your best wishes. I'll try guna my subtle pseudo-psycho-guerrila-charm-offensive nak pujok Doc Geber...

Awat hang timing tak betui naa? FYI, teratak abode hamba walking distance jer drpd One U tu, ko tak bole laa kita, kata org Indo, "ngopi-ngopi" while discussing the intricacies of Messrs. W.Becker and D.Fagen's nyer cryptic lyrics...ha ha

Hang tak pii Pulau Kiasu tu kaa? In Sim Lim and Funan Digital Mall 8GB Ipod Nano murah betul, something like 300 Kepingan Kiasu. The beauty of benda Allah tu sebab takda tolok bandingnya dari segi hi-fi. Jauh betoi beda soundnya nya ngan kaset player hang dulu! Sambaq Mat Sambaq!

Hopefully we'll meet next time around, Insya'Allah...

The Ancient Mariner said...

Oh dear, I see you are now coming at me with both barrels...ha ha.

Actually, having had my days in the sun, I'm way past accolades. Also as an old sea dog, I'm quite used to people calling me all sorts of drippy names during my lifetime!

On hindsight, perhaps I should have just quietly allowed myself to be tagged ...(sigh)

Mat Salo said...

Dear 'Bang Cap't...

"Both guns blazing"...ha ha. No lah 'Bang, but I concur on the "MAS" thingy. You are right tho', but remember you have the wisdom of hindsight.

My point is, we are such are diverse lot, and it is important to respect this. Better still, it should be celebrated.

Salaam Cap'n, no, never my intention to "target" you at all - we'll leave that to snipers like penenmbak badak he...

BTW, looks like the pundits are wrong, Ijuk retains the status quo . . .

Nora aka Anon Fm Miri said...

Pok,

I wanna go to Banjarmasin for conference this month... wat the best route from Miri. Some told me to take flight from Brunei to Jakarta and to Banjarmasin. Wat say you.

Adios

A Black Cat said...

Thanks mate! =)

Plagiarism? Kat mana? *looks left and right*

tokasid said...

Matsalo:
That day I bought a 2003 Steely Dan too. Their latest reunion of sort kot.
Dah rip in wma, belum convert into mp3 lagi. Streamyx aku ada problem so la ni pakai dial up dulu. kalu streamyx dah okay aku boleh hantaq kat hang kalu hang mau.

Mat Salo said...

TA, yang '03 tu compilation or live album? Untuk memudahkan koje2 mengerip, I suggest you dwonload the latest Itunes from Apple.com (free). Why? mp3 tu dah basi. Now it's better to rip to AAC (better sound but the best part smaller file plak tu). Itunes lets u choose bit rates etc. Most hi-fi critiques rip pakai AAC Encoder 128 kbps, but make sure VBR and use error correction checked - and claim indistinguishable from original. Trust me, abih dah aku dok research dulu...hehee... Tima kasih - connection aku kat sini se-low nak mampuih. In fact majikan dah ban U-tube segala mcm. Maklum laa ateh kapai....... Wasallam.

Alliedmartster said...

Eh Bro, salam.
Serve your time, and serve it well.
Will drop in occasionally, (as per usual)..
Itulah...jangan touch touch?? LOL...

shar101 said...

AArrrghhh! I hate blogging. So much time spent, thinking of a posting and then typing it out for publishing i.e. if I don't screw up along the way and lose the draft.

As I mentioned at AFM's, I think I'll follow Zamzam-ala-kazam's advice and be 'classified' a weekend blogger. Then, I'll have loads of time during weekdays to surf blogs and comment as usual.

Whaddaya think, bro? You feel the usual suspects here in K.L will let me do that.

Another five more weeks before you're back. Don't bring your cams and flash on the way back, will ya.
Hahhahahahaha as FL2020 would say.

Thanks for dropping by at OBE.

P.S. You're right about one thing - my one line first post is still the top hit item with some ladies happily chatting away on MY bandwidth. Life is strange sometimes......Talk about the comment section being the blog!

Anonymous said...

macha!

Come back fast! Let's do kemaman coffee. For u i'll risk coffee again.