What Are You Doing New Year's Eve

I remembered last year at this same time, I was playing this song over and over again... haha.... tat's kinda embarrassing to admit to be frank. The gloomy mood, with the rain outside, the cool weather inside the apartment. Only the cup of old dependable nescafe is warm.

Found the rendition below in YouTube. Nice. Piano + voice. Nuff said.



But for the perfect rendition, you gotta hand it to the Lady, Ella Fitzgerald whose rendition remained to be my favourite ever. Take it, Ella!!!




Hope you won't thinking about the same question again. I am not. Good luck.

No Christmas for Me - How About New Year?

Courtesy from Sophia who sent me this link, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMH86_UqFw4&feature=bzb302

Her voice is nice and soothing. Her cover of other songs are nice too... Like the comment by one of the surfer, the voice is on par with Norah Jones and Nerina Pallot. And mind you, she composed songs too.

Enjoy and Happy New Year 2008.

Cheers

达尔文 (Darwin) - 蔡建雅 Tanya Chua

Charles Robert Darwin was an English naturalist. After becoming eminent among scientists for his field work and inquiries into geology, he proposed and provided scientific evidence that all species of life have evolved over time from one or a few common ancestors through the process of natural selection.

But the song below, 达尔文 (Darwin) by Tanya Chua was excellently written. Using the Darwin theory as the theme for a love song is quite refreshing especially in the mushy-mushy ridden love songs from Taiwan. Hm... Now I'm now expecting more love songs written based on other scientific theory or formula? Maybe Bernoulli Principle?......

我的青春 也不是没伤痕
是明白爱是信仰的延伸
什么特征 人缘还是眼神
也不会预知爱不爱的可能

保持单身 忍不住又沉沦
兜着圈子来去有时苦等
人的一生 感情是旋转门
转到了最后真心的就不分

有过竞争 有过牺牲 被爱筛选过程
学会认真 学会忠诚 适者才能生存
懂得永恒 得要我们 进化成更好的人

我的青春 有时还蛮单纯
相信幸福取决于爱得深
读进化论 我赞成达尔文
没实力的就有淘汰的可能

我的替身 已换过多少轮
记忆在旧情人心中变冷
我的一生 有几道旋转门
转到了最后只剩你我没分

Benazir Bhutto Assasinated

The political sky of Pakistan is getting dimmer and gloomier. Bhutto was assasinated along with at least another 20 others killed. Who did it? In such a messy potpouri of political clashes, I guess it's not easy to find out though her supporter will no doubt storming to blame Musharraf on this.

Bhutto was gone, Nawaz still uncleared. Only Musharaff left. The mess is getting more tangled up. Besides Musharaff, I guess the most restless person with this latest development will be Mr. Bush Jr. who's adamant that Musharaff is the last hope of democracy left in the murky Pakistan.

Also, I am particularly interested in our nation's politicians response on this, especially with the national TV stations full of snippets of the Pakistan and Myanmar demonstration, "Ini Bukan Budaya Kita" recently. Let's see what our own bunch say....

Oppsss....they did it again!

Well, they can't stop doing tat can they?

I have another new inductees to the Hall of Shame of our nation's messy political stage. The timing can't be bettwe than days before Christmas is celebrated.

So, here to introduce the new inductee (drum rolls.....................), Datuk Johari Baharum, Deputy Internal Security Minister for his stunning display of his linguistic and religious ignorance in saying the following :

"Only Muslims can use the word Allah"

"Allah" is a Muslim word"

"It’s from Arabic (language)"

"We cannot let other religions use it because it will confuse people"

"We cannot allow this use of Allah in non-Muslim publications, nobody except Muslims"

"The word Allah’ is published by the Catholics. It’s not right."

"The word ‘Allah’ can only be used in the context of Islam and not any other religion"

Our Datuk Johari said those during the debacle surrounding the usage of Allah in the BM version of The Herald, a publication of the Catholic Church in Malaysia now risking its licence to be revoked by the KDN.

Points to ponder:

1. Arabic language was used in the middle east region before Islam widespread as the religion.

2. Arabian (Arab people) does not mean Muslim as Muslim does not mean Arabian as there are Chinese Muslims, Indian Muslims etc. Equating religion to a race or cultural root is never done anywhere in the world except in Malaysia.

3. Allah means God in Arabic language where Arabian Christians (if you are confused, relook point no. 2 above) used in their Arabic version of the Bible.

read more about it here.

also read an enlightening piece by Farish A. Noor, "Do Malaysian Muslims understand what 'Allah' means?"

More points to ponder:

1. I am sure now some of my readers (well..the one-hand countable lot....), especially those younger generations like me, churned out by the politicised education systems of our country will be surprised to learn some of the revelations above. What this shows us? How "enlightening" and "effective" the system are!!!

2. How desperate some of the politicians now trying to make an impact to their rakyat to remember them as the election (or erection as Zam said it.....I'm sorry as I can't stop making reference to this silliness of our politicians) is getting nearer and nearer.

3. This is formulaic as it happened before when the Bible in Iban language was banned a few years back due to the same usage of the word though the ban was lifted after objections from the Christian community.

Merry Xmas

To everyone of you...............................

No fancy pic, no fancy write-up. Just normal plain 2 words.

And the new year is coming. Festive season is here. Explains why I made some calls and remember sudden people. Of course, the people I love will always be in my heart and mind.

Happy 2008 in advance.

真的吗？Is It True? - 莫文蔚 Karen Mok

this is the Karen's version with the cantonese dialogue in the prelude....



this is lin you jia's version which led to the quite-fake-dramatic-crying hoo-ha in the singing reality show

真的吗

离别的话我不想要 现在清楚听见

而你可以不用回答 什么都不要说

我的笑容没有快乐 是否看得出来

昏黄的天别告诉我 快下起雨了

清晨的风贴在脸上 吹乾落下的泪

一整夜的思绪难眠 等待你的回音

爱情没有太多理由 可以不用要求

但希望你明白了解 真心在这里

不像你爱可以轻松

我真的爱你爱你 你还是走

i miss you i miss you i miss you

baby everyday i miss you

心里的深处思念依然在

你真的不再回来

i love you i love you i love you

baby everyday i love you

不要让我懂 真的不想懂

想要躺在你胸口

Heard one of the contestant in some singing reality show (yup....I watched those) sang this. Karen is one of my all time favourite singer and this song is definitely one of my long list of her songs that I love. It's not a hit song in the album; her songs in the Rock Records era. Especially love the intro of the osng where she uttered some dialogue in Cantonese. Her Cantonese is so sexy and sensual.

Enjoy it here : http://www.7yin.com/play_ok/a8f104f2f125b52c.htm (Be patient cox the streaming may take some time).

我好想你 I Really Miss You - 昊恩家家 Hao-En Jia-Jia

我好想你
词/曲/唱 ：家家

一片乌云打断我思绪
一场大雨淋湿我心情
你可曾懂得我想你的心情

我好想你 我好爱你 你懂不懂 我想你的心情

Da La La La - 昊恩家家 Hao-En Jia-Jia

Da La La La

词/曲/唱 ：家家

我享受着这一份孤寂 是你给我的一份礼

我默默接受 却也无奈的承受着 想你

这是什么 是我在哭泣 没有别的 都是你害的

请你闭上眼睛 倾听我的爱语

因为我想你 真的好想你 你在那里 这是什么东西

我想你 好想你 你在那里 请你给我一点回应

Da la la la ~~~

因为我想你 想你 想你

Creative Advertising

Creative ad placement from the insect repellent company. The image is powerful enough to tell the message even without any wordings. This is a perfect example of the strength of image over words.

Selamat Aidil Adha

Buat Muslimin dan Muslimat sekalian, Selamat Aidil Adha.

Kundasang 临老入花丛？？？

Dangerously pretty

Contrasting purple-blue

Bruised pitcher plant? Periuk kera lebam?

Pure in Red Secubit suci di lautan merah

Normal only Biasa aje....


The failed macro...due to the blurred focus prism of my DSLR

It's hohohoooooo Christmas time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Another nice striking contrast - I mean the flower lah....

Lost Mickey and Minnie?

Mickey and Minnie sasat?

A tribute to you - you know

Sabah Tea

Never been here eventhough I drive past the entrance N times KK-SDK or vice-versa. Finally, went to have a look during the short weekend Raya holiday with my mom and sis.

The entrance

Datuk Siti Nurhaliza with her brand called CT Tea. So, CT Tea made in Sabah?


The tea plantation which I found to be slightly different from the Cameron Highland.

The drying process of the tea leaves I guess......

One or Two MPs do not make Malaysia (BUT ISN''T THAT ENOUGH????)

Long hiatus.

OK, some may say that this is an old-issue. Well...this happened quite some time, in fact it did happened quite sometime before it was hotly debated in the Parliament. The issue of missionary schools with statues and crosses in the school.

So, in my personal Malaysian MP Hall of Shame, there'll be two new inductees who asked the government

patung-patung hendaklah dirobohkan, salib-salib hendaklah dimusnahkan dan pengaruh-pengaruh gereja hendaklah dihentikan

(statues to be demolished, crosses to be destroyed and the churches' influence to be stopped).

the typed record

Yes, they are totally out of their mind. And to start with, I wonder do they have anything inside their tengkorak!!! And do they get any punishment for saying something so obviously discriminatory??? NO!!!!! Off the hook as usual.

And when I read the old copy (last week) of The Sunday Star, its editor was so spot on when he quoted this;

Their remarks can best be described as irresponsible and ignorant. They have no business to be MPs for the Barisan and, certainly, the leadership must consider dropping them as candidates in the next general election.

Well said, Chun Wai. Read the full article here .

So now, let's pray that in the next erection (like wat Zam said..... - it's supposed to be election to those who haven't see this), the ruling coalition will drop the followings from the candidate list for the sake of the sanctity of the August House.

1. MP Parit Sulong
2. MP Sri Gading
3. MP Jerai
4. MP Jasin
5. MP Kinabatangan

~sigh................

The Bomb Was Dropped

The bomb was dropped. Anwar released the remaining 6 mins of the Lingam videotape.

Thank God It's Tony...

OK, watched the 44th Golden Horse Award and like my title said, thank god it's Tony Leung. I was petrified to learn that the chances of Aaron Kwok scoring a hattrick will materialize this year after being awarded Best Actor 2 years in a row 2005 & 2006. His nomination came this year with the challenges from Tony Leung in Lust, Caution, Zhao Ben Shan in Luo Ye Gui Gen and Gurmit Singh (yes... the yellow-boot Phua Chu Kang).

I still haven't fully recover from the amounting tension waiting for that announcement hence, I need some rest before blogging abt the ceremony. (OK...OK...I know this post will make me sounded like some stupid kid who's still reading entertainment news etc etc but I dun care!!!!)

However, enough said that Tony Leung won instead of Aaron Kwok. Fuh............

Hostage 人质 - Amei 张惠妹

我和你啊存在一种危险关系

彼此挟持这另一部分的自已

本以为这完整了爱的定义

那就乖乖的守护着你

相爱变成猜忌怀疑的烂游戏

规则是要憋着呼吸越靠越近

但你的温柔是我唯一沉溺

你是爱我的就不怕有缝隙

在我心上用力的开一枪

让一切归零在这声巨响

如果爱是说什麽都不能放

我不挣扎反正我也没差

相爱变成猜忌怀疑的烂游戏

规则是要憋着呼吸越靠越近

但你的温柔是我唯一沉溺

你是爱我的就不怕有缝隙

在我心上用力的开一枪

让一切归零在这声巨响

如果爱是说什麽都不能放

我不挣扎反正我也没差

人质 在这一刻得到释放

相爱的纯粹落得如此下场

你满意吗我们都别说谎

Her song from her previous album. Hauntingly touching. Nuff said.

Sun, Wind, Grassland and Ocean - A Celebration of Taiwan Aborigines Music of the Puyuma Tribe

纪晓君 (Ji Xiao Jun) I got to know her from the radio. I really forgot when I bought this but the album was released in 1999 which is my 1st year uni. So, it should be from the late night program which I always like to listen to in 988. Hmm....I think should be the DJ Ji Zan Xiong. Her voice captivated me the moment I heard the song Puyuma Homeland 故乡普悠玛 a song deeply ingrained in her Puyuma tribe root.

During my recent visit to Taiwan, Chia-Chun, my host from Taipei told me that 纪晓君 is actually Jia Jia's sister (家'家 of 昊恩家家 - featured in my previous post) !!!!!!!!!! No wonder it's not a surprise I was attracted to her voice and immediately want to look for their album, considering the fact that I only heard a few seconds of their songs during the 金曲奖 award show when they announce the nominess!!!! So, it's fated hehe.....

You can search for 纪晓君 in YouTube as well. Some live performances available.

So, now who's this uncle pulak? 陈建年 (Pur-dur, his tribal name) is actually another great singer from the Puyuma tribe and given that Puyuma tribe is a minority, even among the minority Aborigine tribes itself, 陈建年 is actually uncle of both 纪晓君 and 家'家. Like 纪晓君, I first heard the song 海洋 (Ocean)from the radio and it got me hooked to it already. The voice is so synonymous to the feeling of the song, and you can feel the ocean, the wave, the strong wind the moment the song is played. After I got the album (courtesy of Sherry who asked her sister to buy it from Taiwan - by the way, thanks Sherry cox I remember she bought the David Tao's 1st album from Taiwan for me as well cox at that time, no one knows him and his album was not released here) 乡愁 (Home Sick) really got me addicted. The song is so touching and melancholic suiting the theme itself and if you are really home alone in the foreign land, I think it's not a surprise if you find yourself shedding a tear listening to it. A little trivia is that he's actually a police. How cool is tat?

It's a great effort from the music label TCM (Taiwan Color's Music) to produce and release albums from these unique tribes in Taiwan, who's famous with their singing ability. The album by Pur-dur and HaoEnJiaJia that I owned were released by them and Bravo!!!

P/S : Aborigines in Taiwan are well known for their singing talent. Think A-Mei 张惠妹, Power Station 动力火车, Shan Feng Dian Huo 山风点伙 (Jeff, you should blog about them - remember them? 深藏不露。。。。。。), Zhang Zhen Yue 张震岳 and Landy Wen Lan 温岚 (some aborigine blood) etc...

昊恩&家家 vs Double Take

I mentioned in my previous posts on the CDs I bought from Taiwan [here] and the one that I took the pics with it as the background is the best among them all... oh yeah... even better than Tanya.

It's a group called 昊恩家家 (Hao En Jia Jia) which snatched the Best Music Performance of Group in the recent Taiwan Golden Melody Awards 金曲奖. Their album is the MUST-BUY item when I decided to visit Taiwan.

The verdict? I LOVE the album and so far, I burned a copy for my sister, Sophia (did I?) and also a treasured friend...hmm...also a few copies to be ready to pass to others. Yup, tat extend.

A search in the YouTube yielded in some very nice snippets of their performances in some Taiwan TV Variety Shows including the Kang Xi Lai Le 康熙来了 and Hei Si Hui Mei Mei as well as some launching mini shows in a bookshop, some concerts snippets and live performance in some intimate pub scene such as 女巫店。Speaking of which I have to check 女巫店 out the next time I'm in Taiwan.

Provided the link of some really nice YouTube here and enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiXZa8b93gY&feature=related

This is from 康熙来了 and besides Hao En and Jia Jia 家家, they also featured 戴爱玲 (Dai Ai Ling) and 林凡 (Lin Fan), a funny segment indeed. 家家 did a version of "Close To You" and her low husky voice is very sexy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-6tFsBdC10&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRxKyRNpoqc&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ4xu2Dgp2A&feature=related

All the above is their live performance in 女巫店.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tw_JzJ0rtE&feature=related

This one is on Hei Shi Hui. I never really love the song 月亮代表我的心 (Yue Liang Dai Biao Wo De Xin) yup yup... I dun like overdone stuff but their "RnB"ed version is good. Well...way much better than David Tao's version in his previous albums.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odWZq6NXAH4&feature=related

Also in Hei Shi Hui where Jia Jia 家家 did 2nd vocal.

OK, why I drag Double Take here as well? I guess it's very obvious. They are very similar. I mean both are duo, with a female vocal and a male finger guitarist. And of course both 家家 and Mia Palencia have big voice and they both MESMERISED me.

Previous write-up of Double Take.

http://atanck.blogspot.com/2005/11/double-take-in-coffee-bean-damai-kota.html

http://atanck.blogspot.com/2007/08/first-kk-jazz-festival.html

NOW MY WILDEST DREAM IS TO SEE THESE TWO GROUPS PERFORMING ON STAGE, JAMMING!!!!! Will definitely mention this to Mia's Brabon Entertainment. Maybe in next year's 2nd KK Jazz Festival?

How Malaysian Are You? From Lin Peh

I remembered last year near to the Aug 31, I took part in online quiz on Kenny Sia's website questioning how Malaysian am I and I was "found" to be as Malaysian as Michelle Yeoh.

See the following:
How Malaysian Am I? Part 2 : http://atanck.blogspot.com/2006/08/how-malaysian-am-i-part-2.html
and
How Malaysian Am I? : http://atanck.blogspot.com/2006/08/how-malaysian-am-i.html

Now, I found another one and since the owner of the blog mentioned that there's no kopiright wan... I copy and pasted here. Feel free to try and gauge ur Malaysian-ness.

Of course, do visit the blog here :
Owner : linpeh (is he/she from Johor...cox linpe is sooooo Singaporean)
Name of Blog : Tok 3 Tok 4 (now... is he/she Hakka/Cantonese? nice name anyway)
However, please note that the blog may contain some vulgar language or offensive pics to certain party.

How Malaysian Are You ?
If you want to know how stupid you are, go take the IQ test.
If you want to know how Emo you are, go take EQ test.
However, if you want to know how Malaysian you are, please take the following MQ test developed by Lin Peh without any kopiright wan!

The test is very simple one. Just answer the following questions and add up you score:

1. When waiting for lift:
A) You press the up button when you want to go up and down button if you want go go down (1 point)
B) You press the up button when you want to go down and down button if you want go go up (5 points)
C) You press both the buttons regardless whether you want to go up or down (10 points)

2. When the lift arrive:
A) You make sure eveyone come out already before you enter (1 point)
B) You see some peeple come out already only you enter (5 points)
C) You no fuck got peeple no peeple come out, you just bulldozer your way in like Maradona wallop the Engrand defenders.

3. On the street:
A) You walk fast fast and drive also fast fast fast (1 point)
B) You walk slow slow and drive also slow slow (5 points)
C) You walk like turtle like that but drive like Formula 1 (10 points)

4. When riding a bike:
A) You ride alone (1 point)
B) You have ONE passenger at the backseat (5 points)
C) You have your entire fucking village on your backseat like circus like that and a whole reban of ayam in the small metal basket in front, I might add(10 points)

5. Which side of the road do you drive:
A) Left (1 point)
B) Right (5 points)
C) Either side depend on what I like or maybe doing some zigzag (10 points)

6. You think Washington is:
A) Name of a president (1 point)
B) Name of a city (5 points)
C) Name of Apple (10 points)

7. You think someone with a "bin" in his name is:
A) A Terrorist (1 point)
B) A Rocker (5 points)
C) Own 30% of everything under the sky (10 points)

8. You know Mawi as:
A) Name of a place in Hawaii (1 point)
B) Name of a tribe in New Zealand (5 points)
C) Name of a rock star hahahahahahaha, maybe THE OWNER OF MAMEE MEE??? (10 points)

9. On Education:
A) You failed everything and cannot get a job (1 point)
B) You pass some, fail some and cannot get a job (5 points)
C) You scored all A and cannot get a job (10 points)

10. On Politics:
A) You love your gaoment and you vote for them ( Minus 10 points)
B) You fuck your gaoment and you vote the opposition (5 points)
C) You fuck your gaoment but still vote for them (10 points)

Please add up you score and check the following:
10 to 50 points - You don't belong to Malaysia. You shall be deported !
51 to 99 points - With some training, you can be a good Malaysian. You shall be awarded PR status.
100 points - MALAYSIA BOLEH !

Scam - Finally

Read about the telephone scam in the papers frequently and heard from some of my friends that they receive those scam calls as well but...ok, touch wood, I haven't............

tat is until....few days ago.

Hello, can you speak Mandarin (she spoke in Mandarin)
Me : Yes.
I'm calling from ^%$ Electronic Company (still in Mandarin)
Me : du....du....du.....

HANG UP THE PHONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


P/S : The weather is gloomy in this part of the world now. Guess the monsoon rain is on the way already. Inevitable you say? Yup. It's the same every year you say? Yup. And who am I to change it? Beware of the sun and rain, it's the great recipe for flu and related sickness.