This is Captain, my best furry friend

*Another #throwback post, originally posted on 12 Dec 2014, in honour of my best friend who was with me for 12 years. Hope you're enjoying yourself in dog heaven buddy.

11 Feb 2002 to 12 Dec 2014

This is Captain. 

In 2002, when I was done with Form 6 and was in the midst of my Law studies. My Father decided that the family would go into the agricultural business. And that included a lot of excursions into jungles and unexplored lands by himself. His intention was to get a dog who could accompany him when he went on these excursions. 

For me, it meant getting a dog!  

My Father did the research and decided to look out for Labrador Retrievers. He felt they had the right temperament and size. Happy, friendly, intelligent and easy to train whilst being a good size that enabled them to scare off smaller creatures or humans who weren’t smart enough to know that Labs are likely the most playful of all dog breeds. 

We went to a house breeder in Aman Suria, PJ and when we saw the litter of Labs scurrying around, I was immediately drawn to Captain. As cliched as this sounds, this is a #TrueStory. All of the other puppies looked lethargic and scared. Captain was the only fella that followed me around as we browsed the compound at the other available pups. He was spunky and I loved that. 

Later on, I realised this also meant he was very head strong and stubborn, which made it super hard to train him sometimes. But I loved that about him. When he was still new in my house as a pup, he used to hide under the living room table and I would lie down on the ground at his level and just stare him in the eyes. I read that a headstrong dog would stare right back. And stare right back he did. 

When we got him. I almost named him ‘Snook’ or 'Snooky’ because I thought it had a nice ring to it and I was playing snooker almost every other night at the time. Luckily my Father veto’d that and suggested 'Captain’ to which I thought felt totally right. It was dedicated to my eldest brother who was a Captain in Singapore Airlines. 

Right before Captain runs off to fetch!

Captain has quite literally seen me grow up. 

From my silly days as a college student trying to brave my way through my law studies to me today as an adult, married and getting on with life.

When I was a student, on the nights before my exams, I would wander down and open up the wooden door to find Captain lying there. Then I’d talk to him. I shared my anxiety of the exams with him. And he would just look at me as I talked, as if he understood. He probably just wanted me to take him out to play. 

Captain is the talk of my neighbourhood. They are impressed that I can take him out for walks without a leash. That he would stop walking when I stopped walking. That I could play fetch with him for exercise. That he didn’t bark unnecessarily. And how when other dogs try to antagonise him, he just looks back at them with a look that’s like, “Chill dude. I’m just here to take a piss." 

My family history thus far is filled with a bunch of pet dogs. None stayed with us for as long as Captain did. 12 years. Almost hit 13. He fought all the way. Never letting on that age was getting the best of him. Acting like he was 5 all the time. Jumping out of my car when I take him to the vet before I can catch him, knowing full well he can’t land properly anymore. Running out the gate when my Mum opens the gate to drive herself out. Mucking about when I try to bathe him. 

I’m glad I made this crappy video of one of our walks.

We had loads of this types of walks in the last 12 years. I’m going to miss him. 

My IMDB Profile Page

#Throwback to June 2018, when I stumbled upon the fact that I had not just one but two IMDB profiles listed - Michael Chen (IX) and Michael Chen (XXXII). I have no idea who or how my profile got created in the first place. However, both were poorly written and did not represent me at all. So I took it upon myself to set the record straight and try to merge both.

Michael Chen the 9th.

Being my first time writing such a profile, I used Brad Pitt's IMDB profile as a sample. After all, if I’m going to have an IMDB page, I might as well model it after an actor I admire right? 

At the time I did it, I was informed by IMDB that the changes I did would not take hold till very much later. The process is not very straightforward but not totally impossible either. It took me a bit of googling and figuring out but I don't think I ever followed up.

Fast forward to now when I was reminded via FB memories about this and I checked. I am happy to announce that only the 'Michael Chen (IX)' remains! And it is very much following the copy I created.

So hey to all my actor friends, if you find that you have a profile on IMDB (or two!) and don't know how it got there in the first place. Know that you can indeed make changes to it.

As you can see in my image above, now I will not have an excuse if I ever forget my wedding anniversary!

Are You Creative?

I took this online test recently, mycreativetype.com by Adobe. It's pretty, fun and I felt, quite accurate. Guess which type I am?

According to the website, there are 8 types: The Artist, The Thinker, The Adventurer, The Maker, The Producer, The Dreamer, The Innovator and The Visionary.

No prizes for those of you who guessed it right. Cause, it says so right at the top of my website!

Creative Strength : Strong leadership skills and ability to make things happen.

I have taken this test a couple of times and I was told that my ideal collaborator could be 'The Artist or The Dreamer'. It makes sense to me.

The point of this post is that I am literally looking for someone to work with right now at IHM | www.ironhillmedia.tv. If you take the test, and turns out that you could benefit from working with a Producer, why not reach out?

If you have my number, drop me a message. Or contact me here. More deets below.

I am looking for an 'ideas' person to collaborate with me on the daily with what I already have on my slate and find new concepts to develop into a TV series or films.

Do you think you fit the following description?

Job Title : Junior Creative Content Writer | Reports To : CEO of IHM (me) & President of IHM.

Job Overview : You will be an ideas person, who dreams up a concept and takes it from zero to hero. If you are successful, you will have the opportunity to develop materials that will be pitched to OTT platforms on a local, regional and international scale. In the long run, you can be part of a studio that aims to tell world class South East Asian stories to the world.

Responsibilities & Duties : You will be expected to -

• Write fresh content based on research and brainstorming for existing projects in development on the IHM slate.

• Seek new commercially viable content based on research.

• Work alongside with internal and external stakeholders in various 'pre-development' projects, in the prep to seek a buyer for our ideas.

• Develop creative materials that can be included in a 'pitch bible' using a multitude of media creation and graphics editing tools.

• Perform administration and ad-hoc duties to facilitate the company’s operations.

• Any other duties that may be assigned by management from time to time.

• *Optional : Pitch, develop & produce a calendar of engaging content that can take the form of articles, blogs, short videos and etc for social media to entice and engage the masses, keeping in mind that the produced content is intended to building a presence online to influence future opportunities.

Qualifications : No prior experience is compulsory but related skill sets and personal interest / passion to make good art is highly valued.

Salary : Junior Exec. Level - Enquire within.

Alternatively, you can go directly to ironhillmedia.tv/careers and fill up the form and submit a resume along with your contact details so that I can get in touch with you soonest.

If you know someone who might fit the bill, do share this along.

Thank you in advance. Stay safe people!