Wednesday, April 13, 2005

Sarawak + Dun Flock to Rome

I think I did wrote a lot on Miri, Sarawak and my admiration on the oil town. During my recent outstation to Bintulu, Sibu and Kuching, I surprised myself! I think I start to like Kuching more, and of course Bintulu and Sibu, even Sibu is flooded. Bintulu - being the gas town and recently I was impressed by the fact that Bintulu is the 3rd largest port in Malaysia, after Port Klang and Tg. Pelepas, Johor. The road condition is so impressive, wide road (I'm talking road in town friend!) and well-lighted (I think they dun owe money to the SESCO like what we did in Sabah haha.... municipal council owing to SESB.... hey, if government is a penghutang, who can be blamed for not paying taxes, fees etc?????? Lead by example man!!!!) The coastal road is nicely lit. Though the night life is not that booming (maybe I dunno the place...)... it gave a serene feeling indeed. Personally I have yet to discover the library... hope it's as nice as Miri's. Parkcity is the best hotel in town so far and given it's location near to the seaside, it's very scenic. Sibu - wow... the town centre is nice though it was flooded the time I was there. The centre is dictated by a nicely-paved square with some fountains and light, which looked beautiful at night. The town is still filled with walking people (they really walk or relax but not squatting suspiciously along the road side) even it's already 10pm (which to us EM people, it's sleeping time). Tanahmas Hotel and Premier is strategically located at the centre. Kuching - I gotta take back my comments about Kuching which I had lamented a few times to my friends. I mentioned that it's boring town with nothing to do at night besides strolling along the riverfront which is just lights and lamposts without life. OK, I take it back..... with action. Sometimes we tend to like something only after knowing it better and for my case, I made my assessment too early without having the whole picture. In addition, I tend to form first impression on sth I encounter (haha.... who dun????) for the first time. I remember the first thing I know abt Kuching is the airport. It's old and tired from even the outlook itself. SO, tat made the pathway for my not-so-fond memory of Kuching. However, this time around, I get to travel more around Kch and manage to sneak into the old town at night. Wow... the area is so enigmatic at night compared to let say... KK. (Sorry KK folks) I like the way some new cafe giving some facelift to the old street in Kch. The fusion of old architecture (sth like old Ipoh) with some new beautifully and artistically decorated cafes is so enchanting and it provide some great places for the youngsters to hang out. Bing Coffee Company is nice and I like the way the owner write the orders on the aluminium-like table with white-board marker on the order bar, which can be erased once the order is executed. Cool. Nice place with cosy sofas but mind you, most of the time, the sofas are reserved for regulars. Given the fact the place is more of a hanging out place, the patrons normally seldom leave early leaving lots of people have to leave due to unavailable seats. It will be even better if the place is being renovated to cater for patrons in the 2nd floor... open air... with flexible shades... that would be nice. Then there's SOHO and Grappa.
Both more like bistro pub type which unfortunately I haven't go in yet. Will definitely check it out next time around. The Grappa shot is a bit smeared due to my shaking hands with the camera. I'm starting to feel worried with the current condition of the congested Rome. The pope's death and funeral had inticed almost million of people flocking to Rome and almost paralyse the traffic system in Rome. I'm quite worried that I'll have trouble getting tickets to Rome from Florence and all the places will be overbooked by the time I reach Rome. Of course, increasing rate is one thing the availability is another thing! I have to rethink or even replan my scehdule to visit Vatican City. Secretly I just hope that whole election process ends ASAP then it will be nice. But I know... chances are slim. :(

30 yrs + Muhibahness

Not only we are the champion of creating records, most of the time you-wonder-why kind of record as a manifestation of our Malaysia Boleh spirit, we are also the JUARA when it comes to changes! As much as I think there're lots of truth in the quote "the only truth in this world is change", I can hardly keep up with our forever changing Malaysian policy esp in EDUCATION. Youth (ok, late youth ok?? !) like me had underwent tonnes of changes when we were still under our ever-changing (in this case, definitely not dynamic!!!) education system here in Malaysia! Let's recap! We were the pioneer batches introduced to KBSR and hence KBSM without knowing what it is until now, we were the generation who practise Bahasa Baku (proud to say East Malaysians are very baku in pronounciation without uttering words like "sayE" instead of "sayA"!!!) then there's no need to baku anymore, Bahasa Melayu-Bahasa Malaysia-Bahasa Melayu-Bahasa Malaysia (what the heck??? when's tat going to stop??? what's the correct one now?), degree in university from 4yrs to 3 yrs then to 4yrs (esp certain professional courses), from penggal to semester then back to penggal and who know what it is now?, and recently the hoo-ha of reviewing our decision of making English as the medium for S&T (mind you, it's science and technology babe!) subjects !!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm tired and very very tired indeed. I wonder how the teachers cope with all these changes which goes on like for eternity ???? We had gone thru the process of debating, arguing, picking up fights and raises some so-called sensitive issues such as "di mana nak diletak maruah bahasa kebangsaan (which by the way, is it Bahasa Melayu or Bahasa Malaysia is still under debate)" and finally settled for this policy. Not an easy one and looked promising as government spend lots of money investing in this new changes, e.g. providing laptop for teachers involved, slight (yes.... very slight) increase in salary for the "keperitan mengajar dalam bahasa inggeris" (which i make me think, is it sth too much to ask for, for a teacher to master another language so widely spoken and reward had to be given for such a thing???) etc and NOW WE HAVE TO REVIEW THE DECISION AGAIN, WITH ONLY LIMITED RESULT. We lost another great religious figure. I think the last religious figure's death which great generated comparable magnitude to this was Mother Theresa's. St. Peter's Square is full of thousands of people flocking to see the pope for the last time. But lately, it had been something like a celebration. News in TV featuring people shouting happily boarding the train to Rome to join the crowd makes me thinking what's the real motive of these people? But to think about it deeper, can't this be a celebration? A celebration of the end of suffer to the old and dying pope. A celebration for the fact that the world is still appreciating the great leaders. A celebration on humanity.

SEPET RulesWatched Latte@8 and Sharifah Armani, the main cast of Sepet was the guest. She looked familiar to those of us who sticked to TV watching Malaysian Idol coz the gal co-host is her sister. Young and still acting young (which is good, for not being pretentious) I hav no doubt that she's being herself as portrayed in the movie. Sepet made us proud and I wrote my rant on Sepet previously. I asked my frens to go and watch it and some of my die-hard Chinese educated frens also took up my challenge to watch it and they LOVE it !!!!!!! Again, finally the 1st MALAYSIAN movie was made and I'm so happy it receive great response from the cinema-goers as some of my frens didn't manage to get ticket for it. Tiket Habis??? Way to go Yasmin !!! Get Rabun out to the cinema. Pat on the back to Columbia Tristar too, and certainly they hav good taste in films...... Kung Fu Hustle also receive modal injection from them!!!

Finally when we are in the 30s, we found out that things we dun even have any courage to attempt the things we dare not attempt when we were 20s! Hence, those dreams when we were 20s will never be achieved when we were in the 30s. So, to avoid having the regrets and living in "what-if" later in our whole life, we might as well live our life to the fullest NOW. Finally it came as a revelation, just a little bit more of courage, our life can more and more exciting and colorful NOW. <> OK, tat being said.... wat I want to make my life more colorful ??????????????? Hey, S!!! It's raining heavily now in KK actually and as we chatted today (or is it yesterday?)...

OK, our nation in the past few days was blasted with the big hoo-ha of the F1 but since I'm not a great fan (sorry, people!), I'm more attracted to other issues that sort of dominated the media for few days (at least the Chinese papers). The sekolah bahasa ibunda issue. Sparked by the finally-determined MCA to request more Chinese primary schools to be built, it was fueled by "allegedly" our Pak Lah's comment of not approving it, the issue of our racial integration is finally surfaced again after so much "tenggelam-timbul" situation. Ironically, aren't we harmonious enough ??? Well... our media and also national TVs always show our "Muhibah'ness" on TV with endless reports on "Rumah Terbuka" during EVERY SINGLE celebration with patrons from all walks of life and ALL RACES???????? And now with that "strong" muhibahness that we have built in our citizens, one could not question the chinese primary schools are going to be a threat to national integration? I recently read an article by an English-educated parent who send his children to chinese primary schools with the reason of hoping his children getting the chance to learn Chinese. Yes, suggestions sprung up to introduce chinese classes in Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) but frankly I dun think it's enough, in addition, the Chinese classes proposed will be held outside the normal school session, thus means sth like kelas tambahan! Not an encouragement I would say. Education issues are tricky and unavaidably sensitive but since it was agreed as the right of the citizens, simple economy principle should apply, when there's demand, the should be enough supply! Furthermore, it's not the race issue already since lots of non-Chinese parents send their children to Chinese primary schools. And almost 95% of these chinese primary schools end up in Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan with the so-called "national curriculum" and why the national integrity is in question? Too late to instill racial integration in secondary school??? How about those study in religious school then? Or those "elite" and "outstanding" students who study in Sekolah Berasrama Penuh / Sekolah Menengah Sains all around the country which always the TOP SCORER with clean 100% passes??? However, I'm glad that Pak Lah finally said it's stated in the constitution that it's the citizen's right to have mother-language education system! Well.... I think we need more Yasmin Ahmad's movies (oh I wonder how long will I have to wait till they show Yasmin's previous work, Rabun? And I can't wait for her next work, Gubra is it???), more real plot rather than the stereotyped drama such as "Tin Gei Bin" shown in TV1 or some cheesy Cerekarama (ok, some are brilliant), more Mew Tsang Ching and Ramli Ibrahim's dance performances shown in TV than the ever-boring muhibbah-filled type of dance called "tarian rampaian" with dancers in extremely colorful attire (even those fashion show in Milan during spring season pun kalah) presenting a rojak dance of all the "allegedly" traditional dance of all the races in our country (and mind you, as stereotype as it can be, "Tien Mi Mi" and "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai" is like the must-have when the Chinese and Indians were featured and come on.... traditional dance??), more Chinese listening to Sheila Majid, Ning and M. NAsir or more Malay listening to Fish Leong or Penny Tai, more constructive efforts to promote our local food than doing questionable and laughable gimmick (come on.... bring nasi lemak, roti canai to the space???? hey, that's not muhibbah!!! what about char kuay teow? tosai? kuih lapis? or better send another chinese bloke with thick glasses and sepet eyes and another macho Indian guy with moustache all over to make up the muhibbah picture???? imagine watching the image of muhibbah-inspired astronauts coming from satellite on our TV!!!!!)

AI 230305 + Ability to Criticize + Deception Point

Things get unpredictable in a competition. AI yup... AI again. This week, I mean the performance which I saw just now. Maybe the guys shone too long but honestly I think it's the gals turn now, of course, with the exception of Mikalah. Her seriously-pitchy rendition will definitely get her kicked out if the voters vote wisely. Haha... yea.... I'm too self-absorbed by saying that but judging her position in the bottom 2 last week, it'llbe her turn tomorrow. Swan song Mikalah and I hope you sing it better tomorrow. The guys were OK nothing great but the rockers provides some freshness haha.... though Constatine still squeezing in the rock feel in it. Anwar tried to add some grrove into his performance but I think it's quite awkward for him as he seems not that comfortable with the walk-down-the-stage routine. Another thing, he sometimes sounds very woman-like. I never like Jessica Siera and this time, I kinda like her. She always get to sing the last song and to some extend it really help her coz she's like doing the closing grace. On style, Nadia's stunning in her Mohawk though the whole package seems a little overboard. haha...... Constructive criticizing is never the main concern or even part of the syllabus that form our sacred education curriculum. We were told not to speak our mind or even tell others what we feel openly. Never complain or give suggestion, even when asked! Dun be smart Alex! That makes us sometimes follow what the mass think or do. We always think that's the perfectly safe way of carrying oneself in the crowd, be it in the social circle or even in the work place. Sometimes someone blame all these characteristic as the byproducts of the Confucianism which promotes "zhong yong" (someone help... dunno the exact translation of this Chinese word). However having that siad, it didn't mean that we can never change that. All these reality shows such as AI, MI or even Akademi Fantasia and other same-like shows actually in some way or other encourage us to speak our mind. And when lots of people putting out their thought on the table the meals are colorful and so diversed and subsequently this will lead to another important quality that we always tend to miss. With all different opinion and thoughts, we will face objections and criticism from others while protecting their own. Appreciating the diversity is not that easy to do. Well, my fren brought up an issue on diversity etc. In any realtionship, is diversity something to be treasured or not??? Couples having different idea ect??? Is this acceptable and is this healthy to the relationship? Huh..... one issue leads to another.... Forget it. I'm really ranting here. OK, something lighter. Kester lent me Dan Brown's and I finished it in around 2 days and to be frank, I enjoyed it more compared to Da Vinci's Code. Maybe it's the whole hype abt Da Vinci that made me have extremely high expectations of it. With the controversial points on Leonardo da Vinci and the whole Christianity in question, surely it made me in suspense and keep turning pages. However, the tension built is not peaking the way it was built for but instead it goes to somekind of anti-climax!!! It's like foreplay for an hour and then stop and turn the TV on to watch the 8TV boring drama starred Chen Sau Man !!!!!!!!!!! OK, to some who find my analogy too obscene, sorry but that's just an analogy k? I truly think the mid-part of Da Vinci spoilt it all the ending is so abruptly done. But anyway, thanks Kester! However, no more Brown for me in the next 6 months.

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

Medley (Old Post from LiveJournal)

I love it! Just LOVE it. Love it's frankness, love its bravery for breaking all the stereotypes, love its boldness in portraying the real thing, using Chinese songs as opening song, love it's opening credits, love Yasmin Ahmad, love Ida Nerina and Adibah Noor, love Thor Kah Hong and his thick Cantonese (he used even thicker and "foul"er Cantonese in one of the theatre I watch) and of course his fantastic SKOOB bookstore, love Ipoh and its nice laidback environment, love the different languages used in the movie, love the scene where Ida n Adibah sang Siong Hoi Tan, love the 2 scenes Ida sleep in "tak larat mata memandang" kind of posture, love the cheesy and overly done Harith-Ida sleeping scene, love the scene where the barbie n boy toy move together, love Harith's car, love dance move Jason perform early of the film, love the sudden end of the film, love the Nokia 3210 (is it 3210 model? i mayb wrong coz Nokia release too many models) ringing unanswered, love the last scene which makes everyone ask "who-is-answering-the-phone", of course love the dialogue referring to 5A's and 7A's, love the witty dialogue on the scholarship etc ........ JUST LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOVE THE FACT THAT FINALLY THERE'S A TRULY MALAYSIAN MOVIE

11:53 pm
Singing in the RainIt's a blessing that it rains in KK........... finally. The rain starts something like 9-10 in the morning and it continues to around 4-5pm... of course not REALLY non-stop but it really clears up the sky and also make the air fresh and cooling. Wat a waste of a rainy Sat without jazz (Sinatra, Fitzgerald,Holiday and Stacey Kent respectively) , books in the comfy bed or sofa with a cup of hot coffee next to you??? Of course I'll not let the chance to slip away like tat.... had a nice and relaxing petang!!! Wat did I read.... due to my coming travel.... which I'm anticipating enthusiastically...... browsed lots of books on the places I'm going to be. Found some nice and useful books in the good old state library... though it maybe outdated and details such as currency, price rate etc is not valid anymore... they're still useful sources. Surfing the net is also another way but too much site available etc.... makes me confused but found some really good source which you should pay a visit such as virtualtourist. Found that Venice is *&^% expensive and near impossible to get sth within the budget. So, gotta allocate more budget for the stay in Venice bt with its romantic and unique characteristic... how I can miss it??? Plan to spend 3 days in Venice and hopefully it's worth..... by getting myself lost in the place whereby such romantic movies like Only You, Wings of the Dove and Casanova were shot. Gondola is way out of the question sadly :( coz it's too expensive but I'll settle for less grand version of gondola called Traghetto. Huh.... Firenze should be okay since the accomodation was taken care and now planning for the Roma pulak. OK, tat's all for now. Ciao!

11:53 pm
SPM 17A's, Funeral Song & SPM 17A's, Funeral Song & The newly announced SPM results further reinstates our passion for record breaking as some patriotic sign in line with the Boleh spirit. This time around, it's a Malay gal who reportedly despite being a high-achiever, still live like normal teenager without sacrificing her knack for TV, radio, internet, hanging out with frens.. etc.... STAR reports a DECLINE in number of students who achieve all A's in all the papers taken and it was written as some disappointment... well coz the number is increasingly going up before this, defying the statistical gravity (wish our stock market points is having the figure like tat !!!). Hey, if I reflect back to my schooldays (yea.... I know it make take lots of time for rewinding ok...) the results were not tat SHOCKINGLY perfect! I remember it's like 24 people only over the whole country scored 10A's (not 17 mind you!). It's very much different now. OKlah..... enough jelaous ranting of the SPM results haha..... OK, recap my previous conversation over yum-cha session with some buddies last time. It's some compilation of selected "song" that may be ironic enough to be played in the funeral. We even made joke of requesting to play those songs in our funeral. Here's the compilation, you guys feel free to add-in later: 1. Qi Shi Bu Xiang Zhou - Emil Zhou (the chorus is the killing part hahaha....) 2. Nei Mut Yao Hou Git Guo - Amanda Lee Wai Man (a very versatile selection as it's it serves as balas dendam song as well) 3. Wo Deng Zhe Ni Huei Lai - Bai Guang 4. Xiang Jian Ni - Guang Liang Ping Guan There's a tactic in strategy planning called "yim ngan sut" or camourflage. It's the special ability of the politicians and v in Malaysia is fulled of politicians born with this ability. The trick is to switch the attention to something which can spark up the attention of the mass from the more serious issues whereby no solution yet. It can be seen from the history too. Even the movies are using the same plot i.e. by Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman (if I remember it right). Tat's what the Indonesian leader is doing now... Trying to spark up the sentiments of the local rakyat in Indonesia..... issues like Indon maid and the dispute over the fight of the oil field near Tawau. Burdened with the low economy situation and instable politically scenario... tis "yim ngan sut" really a good way to switch over the attention from the hot burning problems in the country. Hopefully this staged drama will not spread like flaming fire blaze.......

11:52 pm
American Idol again!American Idol AGAIN??? OK, I admit that I was glued to AI and boy they can REALLY sing!!!!!!!!!!!!! But this time round... they boys are better and original in their rendition, not to say daring enough to try out different things. It's always a joy to listen to Anwar taking sky-rocket risk trying to tackle over-covered songs like Moonriver and tis time around, he tackled What a Wonderful World and did it splendidly !!! I'm sure Louis will be smiling looking from above. Mario another gem OK, the show is going on..... at least Mario, Lindsey, Respect Singer (black) and White Boy Anthony.... ohhh.... Carrie Underwood Nadia (I'll bomb the show if she's not in!!! Come on, she's a young Tina Turner!!!) Gosh the 2 rockers were in!!!!!! Bo and Constantine !!!! OK... till now.. .I think aside from the rockers... it somewhat repeating the same trend like last yrs.. at least u know Nadia as Fantasia, Anthony as John Stevens, Respect mayb Jennifer Hudson... ok... it starts ANWAR is INNNNNNNNNNN... hey, I;m definitely bombing if Anwar is not in!!!!!!!!!!!!! OK.... Jessica is in with her rendition of The bOys are Back.... Personally I think McKella will be in unless Renee's supporter is too overwhelming to be overcome. I'm not sure with th evote profile or where Renee from but if it's sth like what happen to Jasmine Trias last yr... tat would be a sad thing. Though I dun like McKella, I think she's sth with her attitude and style. OK... it's back again.... GOSH !!!!!!!!!!!! It's Scott!!!!!!!!!!!! I expect Nikko to be in but yea..... things happen... now the gals pulak McKella made it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OK, the bitch made it but I like it tat way! Huh.... it must be an interesting watch later in th eseason!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

11:50 pm
Taurean are Talented hahaWow.... 50% of the final 8 boys are Taureans! Tat sealed my hypothesis just now! And the final Taurean, Anwar nailed it again with his own modified rendition of the zillion-renderred-song What a Wonderful World right there! Gosh... they should record these rendition later and sell it. I'm gonna buy it for sure! OK... again.... v Taureans are artistically talented hahahahahaha..................

11:49 pm
American Idol + Wedding + Babies + etc I dunno wat else1st of all, I have to say that I'm a proud Taurus here coz out of the final 8 boys... at least 3 of them are Taurus. Is tat sth like masuk bakul, angkat sendiri? Haha.... who cares? I'm quite surprised that only now the contestants chose Ray Charles' songs after the big buzz it created in the Grammy and Oscar. Good wise Taurean chose a Charles' classic Georgia on My Mind and he rendered it beautifully. Yea.... it's here... not the heat wave, not the emptiness of the city after the immigrants left but yea... the wedding rush and babies making their waves.... Just in this week alone, I received like 3 wedding news and also child birth news, not to mention pics of babies (u know who u r S!)... yea.... this age like mine... u'll be flocked by these kind of happy news... yea... though I'm nowhere participating or join in the bandwagon, I'm totally happy 100% for all of them! Wat else??? Life is quite hectic now as I'm struggling with more workloads in terms of training planning and also my own preparation for the company training in UK and tat said, of course my 1st lonely travel in Italy. Yea... yet to purchase my digital camera and I'm gonna take tonnes of photos this time.... (I guessed it should be MBs of them). Yea... I guess this should be enough to compensate my lack of writings for the past weeks. Ciao! la vita e bella (tat's the only Italian phrases I know besides perfecto mundo hahaha.... if tat's Italian !)

11:48 pm
47th Grammy AwardOh mon dieu !!! Those were what I called performance!!! And not even one of the recipients of the awards should be ashamed of themselves coz we will not see any out of tunes singer like what we see in those cheesy-staged award show from HK. What can I say? With performance line-up from ppl like Alicia Keys (she's goddess), Kanye West, Usher, Norah Jones etc.... they were fantastic!!! Not forgetting veterans like U2, Bonnie Raitt, Tim McGraw, James Brown, Melissa Ethridge gosh..... It's absoulutely a feast! Personally I like Alicia's performance the most... well... a bit biased here coz I like...hmm.... crazy about her. Her collaboration with Jamie Foxx is another delicious surprise. I would say Foxx won't need the much-deserved best actor nod from Oscarfor his performance in coz it's obvious he got it from the thunderous applause he received. Then it's Kanye West's collaboration with the gospel singer. It's so magical! I mean the performance is just captivating! The whole ensemble of the story-with-song is so delicately crafted and Kanye ended it well with the angel-in-white-tux and the Grammy he won. Kudos to the gospel singer as well... gonna check out their album as well. Then it's Joss Stone + Melissa Ethridge. Gosh... I bet Janis Joplin must be smiling from above. Indeed her brother and sister did. Joss Stone is another gem... her voice is so soulful for someone not even 20 yo! Melissa is so cool with her new hair style.... not every female celebrity can be so cool with a bald head except Sinead O'Connor and Karen Mok. Usher's performance is also awesome. James Brown's appearance at the end of the stint is fun to watch. His dance move is a threat to Usher's smooth and slick moves I would say. Kudos to Mr. Brown for those still feet ankle there. As usual, Usher's so fun to watch and his dance move is so captivating and make ppl wanna take up dancing... well at least me hahaha..... Finally Bonnie Raitt's tribute to Ray Charles is just magnificient!!! I'll definitely grab her previous works and pile my my existing collection of Ray Charles' work. And of course the movie is sth that I should not miss either. The rather less interesting set is JLo and Marc Anthony's stagy performance. I would say it's like watching the 4 o'clock Latin soap opera on ntv7. LONG LIVE MUSIC !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

11:47 pm
Business during CNY1st definitely is the food. Ppl are willing to pay 2 times the normal price for the food and drinks and tolerate the tasteless (well... mayb not all) food, bad service and smaller portion of the food sold. But who force you to dine outside? Well, if you wanna skip the task of dealing with cooking mess in your deco-kitchen during CNY and save the trouble of thinking wat dishes to prepare... what other choices do you have than dining outside? So, stop complaining and pay at least twice the normal price! 2nd is the photo shop. With the growing digicam population in the market plus the more affordable price now, ppl now have their digicam tucked with them and after numerous shots, photo shop is the place to go. 3rd is the RM10-per-cup-of-kopi-o kinda heavily-decorated cafe. To boost up the ur business you can even find some hot-young chicks to prance around in ur business premise to keep your cash flowing in. OF COURSE, the best way is to casino in the house. Yea... it's illegal, speaking abt risk taking. Any other suggestions? It'll be JIT to start prepare for next yr!

11:45 pm
CNY advertisementI always like to watch advertisement. Ads I like are not those "hard sell" type whereby the products appears prominently throughout the ads but more to those with storylines and need not to promote the product only. I always like Petronas ads, be it the CNY or the Hari Raya and the Kongsi Raya period. It may appear to be artificial esp those Kongsi Raya ads but at least they tried to portray the of a multi-racial nation. OK, this year I am waiting for the Petronas ad and maybe bcoz I'm watching satellite-TV more often nowdays, I only manage to watch Petronas ad that I had been waiting, a few days before CNY. It was beautifully done and the story is so touching. The ad is nothing but TOUCHING. The storyline is so touching and the mood is suitably crafted by the background music. The part whereby the wound of the granny was shown is so "menyayat hati". You'll not find acting skill here as the kid and the granny obviously are not professional actor which successfully inject more realistic feel to the ad. Nice and touching ad. Another ad which I always like is the one by Tenaga Nasional. After the one which cause quite a stir, "Dun acting lah.... we're one family mah", they come up with a Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon-inspired ad where the whole family fighting to sweep the last piece of rubbish before the 1st day of CNY comes.... finally won by the granny who obviously has better thunder-storm-style kung fu. That granny is SO cool. The one by 8TV also not bad, featuring the language-versatile Alvin Wong in its CNY ad. The kongsi gelap dai lou is so cool until the God of Prosperity appears haha... tat is fun. My fren J particularly like the one where the old man initially thought no one is coming back for reunion dinner with him but later it turns the other way round... the reason she like it is he looked so pathetic/kesian.... Cruel gal


11:41 pm
CNY 2I always feel that CNY is too short to meet all the frens we intended to meet. Of course v can anytime minus those v wish v never bump into hahaha..... J & S you should know who I'm talking abt. But really !!!! It's too short. Had a small gathering with ex-classmates yest and it's fantastic. Our dear fren came back from Australia and v had a great time with his little baby!!! Boy... he's cute little baby who's VERY "guai". There'll be another one on the 3rd day and I think that'one should be merrier with more ppl. Kinda looking forward to that day indeed.

11:41 pm
Traffic jamEver notice wat pp do in their car in traffic jam? I saw this guy who use his finger to dig his right ear. He's using both of his hands to give his right ear some well-deserved cleaning, I guess it's the "gotong-royong" before CNY haha.... The thing is that he's not only digging it but he actually have an inspection of the treasure he dug and with some nods of satisfying (I can only guess as I can only see his back), he "jentik" his treasure inside his car. OK, I never against this cleaning activities but the thing is that I guess you need not do it in public. Do it in the comfort of your own room! Enclosed is the pic haha..... sorry kelisa driver :) It's always interesting to notice what ppl do in traffic jam!

11:38 pm
CNY againWoke up early hoping that more things can be done. Work tasks aside, some house work to be done. Some friends are coming back today and I guess it will be more and more in the coming weeks. It's just 9 days before CNY. It's pretty true that as you grow older the enthusiasm wears off but again what doesn't when u grow old haha!!!

11:33 pm
CNYOK, it may sounded too cliche but I felt the new year breeze. Looking forward to meet those old buddies and catch up. You know, after consuming so much of our Mother Earth's resources for almost quarter of century, some of us ought to have some major changes and progress in our life. Hey guys and gals, I watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind last night after having my dose of Friends and honestly, this is the 1st movie by Jim Carrey that I like after Truman Show. Love Kate Winslet although I can't get myself to like her in her equally-huge Titanic.