ULAM. -- The Escaped Version

Remy: The 'salad' (ulam) was so raw when it started in June, but somehow, 5 chefs with different styles of gastronomy plus various philosophies behind their cooking, joined together in month of July, at a point where the passion of summer and romance of fall met.

I would not say that ULAM July was a haute cuisine but the spirit and the effort showed by 5 panelists were truly amazing, and not forget to mention the creativity behind the dish, it was tremendously shone by the different personalities of each of them.

And tonight in Remy's "What's Cooking" show, we're so honored to have 4 of the panelist with us here, Ey d'lEfty, Flo, Sayuti, and RedRuby; plus the man behind the scene, the Salad Boss, BossUlam. Welcome.

So, Boss, obviously you have the best panelists ever in July. What do you think about them?

BossUlam: Yeah as you described just now, each of them have different personalities, but I'm glad that each of them have the same passion about the project. See, Flo made us fall in love with her romance touch, Ey d'lEfty aka Spidey made us confused of what's inside his mind most of the time; Jannah made us realized and saw and appreciated what a modern literature should look like; Sayuti made us screamed or wailed or whooped because of his brain-twister wit; and RedRuby, made us doffed our hat to her neat composure and full control of every dramatic scenes in the story --- they are all different, but putting these differences together, it made a delicious ulam.

Remy: Indeed... but I really interested in one thing: DO you guys know each other before Ulam July?

Ey d'lEfty: I think I'm the one who knows EVERYBODY here, except Boss. But these people started to talk to each other when they got into this pool.

Remy: So are you saying basically, you guys were working TOGETHER without knowing each other? BUT looking at the story, the flow and the plot was so fluent as if everything was planned and discussed! Incredible! So, Sayuti, after ULAM July, what do you think of the other panelist?

Sayuti: Well, I think Flo is a romantic tourist with an eye for fine arts, while Jannah is a teacher with conspirator's mind. Red Ruby, for me, likes to read and kills character ;p while Spider is VERY confused and twisted geoscientist who, well I basically know his job task, evidently likes to interpret stuff. Haha!

Remy: Interpret stuff? Yeah I actually really surprised with one of Spidey's post which decode your tricky puzzle into something really dramatic...

Red Ruby: No I think Spidey's more 'KIASU' than anything else. It was research, Research, and RESEARCH that he did. :> But at least that makes the storyline more real, don't you think so? Hehe!!

Remy: Really? Spidey, did you do a lot of studies and researches throughout the journey of ULAM July?

Ey d'lEfty: YES and NO actually. Hehe. I have a confession to do here actually, I actually made up a few phrases of Samoan language. ;p Hey I did not MASTER the language, I just tried to MASTER the way to put it real and dramatic. Haha.. ops.. KANTOI!

Remy: That's interesting. But tell me Red Ruby, what do you think of Jannah. I heard from Boss that Jannah has some little problem with you..

BossUlam: Haha.. that's true actually. Jannah used to tell me that RedRuby killed her favourite character and twisted her plot. Hahaha.. Remember KingKong and the 'National Oil Company'? Hahaha!!

Red Ruby: Huh?! I didn't know that?! Sorry for that. But for me, I compare Jannah to Sidney Sheldon, period.

Remy: WOW! That's more than a compliment! and how about you, Flo?

Flo: For me, I think Jannah is crazy, Red Ruby is crazy, Sayuti is Crazy, and Spidey, is also crazy.

Remy: Hahaha!! Funny. And don't forget your Boss, it's his crazy mind that set this crazy scene up! Hahaha!! But how about yourself? I mean of course, we know that you are as crazy as these guys sitting here, but we all believe that you are 'crazy with some helpless romantic touch', ;) what do you think? What do you think of your own writing style?

Flo: That I am a drama princess? *giggle* Well, I like keeping the suspense and surprise. You can also notice this in 'Elle For Love'. Ops.. sorry bout the free promo here. *giggle* Anyway, the suspense, the surprises, most of the time they are so unintentionally appeared in my mind, and sometimes it surprised me as well.

Remy: Spidey, how bout you?

Ey d'lEfty: I think I always have a picture in my mind before starting writing-- the image of the characters, the scenes, the buildings, and also the soundtracks, the background music. Erm.. let's call it 'VisualAudio' oriented. *grin* But throughout the ULAM July, I had problem of jiving my version of image with the other's, I mean, the 'image-conflict' always happened each time a panelist followed up the story. However, solving the conflict was actually the fun part of it, it was like you're gaining a power of recompose everything into places, and then let them flow and see how they evolved, then you recompose again.

Remy: WOW.. that's involve A LOT of thinking process, dude!!

Ey d'lEfty: .. and A LOT of fun!!

Remy: I bet! I guess Sayuti is true bout that, you enjoyed breaking codes and solving puzzles with imagination..I think it really matches with your profession, huh? So as a self-proclaimed 'Human Resource Engineer', Sayuti, what do you think it influence your writing style?

Sayuti: Ah ha! Ok here's the way it goes: I tend to be analytical -- that's what an Engineer will do; and I wil ltry to ensure continuity of the plot and the characters -- and that's what we call HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT!! *grin*..

BossUlam: I think everybody did very good in handling this, as what Sayuti pointed out, the continuity of the plot and the consistency of the characters. That was why there were some readers and even you, Remy, were surprised that the whole story of ULAM July was so fluent and smooth as if it was a planned and discussed storyline.

Remy: INDEED!! and the fast pace and the quick update too.. it was so quick that made me really couldn't believe that each of them even have a time to think and plan the next episode, let alone the code breaking and puzzle solving, and yet to fit it into the story..

BossULAM: .. and among them, I think Red Ruby was the quickest writer since ULAM June.

Red Ruby: I admit that I'm a fast pace action packed kinda person plus twisting the storyline here and there. But I think everybody in ULAM July was really committed. I believe that we all know well that it'll turn our readers away if the story was basically stagnant. Whatever it is, I don't think I'm the fastest writer among all, instead, comparatively, I think I have a 'narrow' vocab so obviously my English is not as superb as the other fellow panelist, and my writing style, is a little bit 'corny' I guess..

Remy: Not a superb English and ... 'CORNY'??! Kidding? I think we all would totally agree if I say you're the most experienced writer among all, Red Ruby. And it was so obviously shown from the way you write and the language you use.. You read a lot, don't you?

Red Ruby: Hmm.... I guess it's a YES...

Remy: ...OK then tell me, Red Ruby, what is your original plot for ULAM July? See it started from a conflict happened in the world of theft and eventually evolved into a mysterious tattoo legend thingy.. Was that what you expected?

Red Ruby: OF COURSE NOT!! I mean who would expect that? I really thought that the story was going to be a 'OCEAN-13 meets BOURNE'S IDENTITY', nothing to do with the paranormal things. However, I love it too if the story sounds like 'SUPERNATURAL'.. Hehehe..

Remy: Yeah, talking about OCEAN-13. Spidey, it was so obvious and everybody had noticed it, the 1st episode, it really had the shadow of OCEAN-13, any explanation? Did you really want it to become a ULAM version of OCEAN?

Ey d'lEfty: I guess I just need to do another confession here.. *grin* Yes I have to admit that I just watched OCEAN-13 when I started writing episode 1, but I think what really triggered the idea of writing a 'story about professional thieves' was the song 'STOLEN' of Dashboard Confessionals, which I'd convinced Boss to put it as the 1st soundtrack of ULAM July.

Remy: It is so obvious that you're such a 'visualaudio' type of writer. *smile* How about you Flo? What will your version of ULAM July be if you're given full control to drive the story?

Flo: Well if I get to control ULAM July, I would not have used Elle but Rachel instead. Then there will be Joey, Monica, Phoebe, Ross and Chandler. It will be about a bunch of strangers boarding a plane and crash on an island and got stranded there for years. *grin*

Remy: That sounds familiar...

BOSSUlam: It is a combination of FRIENDS and LOST, Remy.

Remy: Oh you girls!!! Two of you are SO MUCH into drama series, aren't you?!! Red Ruby just wanted it to be like Supernatural, and you, Friends and Lost!! Hahaha!! That's really funny. I hope Sayuti won't give me any title from P.Ramlee movies, will you?

Sayuti: No. Don't worry, even tough I'm so into HOUSE. *giggle* But I would love to make ULAM July a sci-fi thriller with a lot of twists but will focus on the ULAM folder, and is related to ULAM June.

Remy: .. and that was what you did!! Putting Prof Z and the tail-less goat back into ULAM July!!

Ey d'lEfty, Flo, Red Ruby: OOOOOOOOOHHhhhh!! THAT WAS CLASSIC!!

BOSSUlam: Everybody was really shocked to read the reappearance of Prof Z and the pictures of the tail-less goat, and the college students.. To be very frank I was actually pissed off. *smile* I thought Sayuti had just ruined the whole ULAM July, it was like no turning point at all when he tried to put something really irrelevant but still cannot be ignored back into ULAM July. Actually it was my personal problem, I just couldn't stand to see my failure in ULAN June came back to haunt me in ULAM July! Hahahaha!!

Remy: ..but your panelists managed to solve this out, didn't they?

BOSSUlam: Very much! I was actually, at the time of frustration, *grin* anticipating. I wanted to know what magic would my panelists would offer to me out of the mess.

Remy: .. and what did you get fianly?

BOSSUlam: ..Well.., what could I say more?

Remy: Very well. So panelists, I believe while writing or continuing the story, you guys must have your favourite character that you would, intentionally or unintentionally, put more effort or time to develop, right? So tell me, what's your favourite character? Zip? Elle?

Red Ruby and Ey d'lEfty: ZIP!!!!

Flo: I knew it! I knew it!! Of course both of them love Zip! Spidey introduced Zip at 1st episode, and Red Ruby 'reassured' Zip's status in the final episode!

Ey d'lEfty: Hellooooo.... it was my choice, so what? *grin*

Remy: Haha.. but Flo, I heard that you used to say the most interesting plot would be KingKong is actualy the Prime Minister of Thailand and Elle was actually a 'guy trapped in a woman's body'.. and Zip confesses that he is actually a GAY, did you say that??!!

Flo: *LOL* I think I did.. Haha.. but that was only crap.. In fact, I think since all of us did build up a little bit of history of Kong, Elle, Raoul and Professor Z, that leaves us with Maria which, if given the chance, I would create her to become Raoul’s sister, the twin to the one that died.

Don't y'all think it's pretty cool?

Sayuti: Nope. *grin*

Remy: Haha.. so what's your 'COOL' stuff, Sayuti? You introduced the elements of ULAM June, so is your favourite character Prof Z or the tail-less goat? *wink*

Sayuti: The ULAM folder.

*Everybody burst into BIG laugh*

Remy: *LOL* That was hilarious!! Do you really mean it?

Sayuti: Certainly. Because it bears all the answers for all the secrets of ULAM. AND that's is what we call COOL. *wink wink*

BossULAM: You know in normal condition the panelist who wrote up first episode would always have the privilege to design and develop the main character that he/she wants, and then the next writers would just have to agree and focus on this character. But I tell you, Remy, this is not the case in ULAM July.

Remy: Indeed. Look at Zip. Spidey designed and developed Zip but everybody can see what happen to Zip in terms of the contribution to the story flow.

Ey d'lEfty: Yeah, I noticed that actually. Flo, Sayuti, Red Ruby and Jannah, they were like did not want to give Zip any chance to perform in their story..

BOSSUlam: Yeah, and that pretty much made Zip a LOSER in the story, don't you think so?

Ey d'lEfty: Boss, are you trying to say that the person who develop Zip is a LOSER?

BOSSUlam: No no no. Don't get me wrong, Spidey. I'm trying to point out that, the panelists have their own independence thought. And each of them have their own version of story and the way to develop each character, but still they can jive well with the others.

Remy: .. Yeah, even for Zip, he seemed so not contributing in the story but he ended up becoming a hero and the only character that stay the same since the beginning. Hmm.. But there's one thing that I don't really understand.. the ending, I mean the process to get a ending was actually a mess and a lil' bit confusing...

Sayuti: I'm sorry, it was my fault.

BOSSUlam: No no. It was nobody's fault, or if I have to blame, I'll blame the wrong timing. .. And that's was why I tried to introduce the 'pre-post finale' idea, in order to make sure there's an ending ALREADY... but still, if the wrong timing was still there, we might end up having this 'pre-post finale' hanging as a bodiless tail.

Remy: So, BOSS, any plan for the becoming ULAM? I heard somebody has volunteered to be in ULAM September, is it correct?

BOSSUlam: Well, again, I think it's about timing. I'll try to make sure the new batch of panelist would have sufficient time to keep the momentum from start to end. And that's very important. As far as I know, Jannah will be busy with her academic study, Spidey will be offshore later on, no news from Red Ruby and I guess it's a sign of busy. And Flo will be free in September, not sure about Sayuti.

Remy: You mean, you're going to get them back if possible? What about new members?

BOSSUlam: Well this batch excelled, give me a reason for me to abandon them, Remy. New members? Maybe. But some promotion need to be done before that.

Remy: Well I guess we have come to the last part of the show. But before my final question to panelist, let's have a look on the messages left on the TALKUlam message board, the order of the message was from bottom to top, please read according to the date and time: