It's 31st Oct...........

You know the Chinese gambling game of fish, prawn and crab? Why when they play the game, prawn alway lose?

Because it's ha lo win (pronounce in Cantonese please)

Happy Haloween!!!!!!

Fireflies in the Garden (2008)

having a son is not the same as being a father

Cast : Ryan Reynolds, Willam Dafoe, Emily Watson, Carrie-Anne Moss

Special Appearance : Julia Roberts

You know something was wrong when the poster is having Roberts being featured so prominently. Though I suspect it had something to do with Danny Moder being the cinematographer for the movie, also explains why Roberts willing to do a small role plus having the old make-up in one of the scenes.

It could have been much better. I mean with the list of cast. Emily Watson got me all excited but she's kinda wasted here. And Dafoe as well? No wonder the movie didn't get much attention though I think Reynolds kinda good here.

Ambitious attempt by the director Dennis Lee but again, it could have been much better.

Laskar Pelangi (2008)

Laskar Pelangi

hidup ini, untuk memberi sebanyak-banyaknya, bukan untuk menerima sebanyak-banyaknya

Our film maker should really from our neighbours. Look at how Thai and Singaporean film makers make name for themselves with their movies around the world. We, Malaysian somehow or rather still caught in the P. Ramlee and Keris Movie era. Of course we have gems like Yasmin Ahmad and Osman Ali and maybe way before people like U-Wei Shaari and Shuhaimi Baba and of course a lot of independent movies director with the likes of Ho Yuhang, Tan Chui Mui, James Lee and lots more but the mass was left entertaining themselves with cheap slapstick movies that do not even contribute to the healthy laughter as tension release and do not even dream of wishing it to be of intellectual stimulation of the slightest bit.

And then recently I watched Laskar Pelangi, a very nice movie from Indonesia. The story is very simple, based on a best-selling novel, a part of a tetralogy (which the author found that the fame is too much and decided to quit writing after completing the tetralogy). Yeah.... I mean, what?
I strongly recommend the movie especially to those teachers and educators and of course to all the youngsters in the country, those of us who're lucky enough to have the chance to pursue education however bad ours is indeed.

The movie is so simple yet poignantly beautiful and the most precious part is that it will appeal to the mass (well, I think at least in Malaysia, it will appeal to our majority citizen with its simple, touching premise and not forgetting funny too!).

It drew some reference to some other movies such as Children of Heaven (Majid Majidi -Iran) and Not One Less (Zhang Yi Mou - China) but I guess it's not any fault of the film makers or the author as children's education is a universal theme.

Seriously, I hope Malaysian government will show the movie instead of showing tonnes of stupid local made slapsticks or join the trend vehicle (like the recent craze of horror movie.... what happen to the so-called syirik ban on the horror movies? again, censorship board should stop playing the ignorant hand by determining what to be watched and what not) or some pointless movie from Hollywood.

Seriously, watch if you have the chance.

Seriously! (OK, I'm watching Grey's Anatomy 4th Season now....that explains the repetitions of Seriously)

Happy Deepavali

Festival of Light. As much as we like another day of holiday, let's get to know more about Deepavali. The light is very much a symbol of enlightenment and wisdom that come with it.

Let's enjoy the light and keep the light, burning and shining bright.

Man and Boy

The man is one year short of 30 years old, the supposingly the start of the golden age of a man. Oh no..... I'm not talking about myself but it's the protagonist, Harry in Tony Parson's book best seller, Man and Boy.

But of course, I'm that age too though I'm doubtful how "golden" will the age be in the future hahahaha...... Reading it now and it's quite true to some comments such as...

"A grown up novel that is simultaneously a heart-rending read and suffused with an irresistable reality" - GlasgowHerald

What's Left & What's To Look Forward To?

Someone told me tat the McD's fries is the best around. Still remembered I was being laughed and almost insulted (haha......) for saying the rival, the KFC's not bad.

In the airport now waiting for flight for another few days of outstation, which explains the lack of posting here.

Economy is definitely not like what our PM-in-waiting says... Guess he's still shocked in the state of euphoria that he finally have a chance to strike the PM post.

Anyway, with news of bail out and market tumble crash everyday in the newspaper... it's really bad. Zewt's blog made me think a lot of my career and how limited sometimes the choices we are left with. Anyway, life goes on and choices are choices, need to be made.

Happy Surviving 2008.

Should We Be Surprised?

The election petition filed against Kulim PKR MP, Zulkifli Nordin was dropped by his opponent from UMNO Abdul Aziz Sheikh Fadzil (sounds familar??? you guess....). Why you might say?

So he can join UMNO loh.... Looks like Anwar's got a blow from defection from his bloc 1st. However, to say it's a blow is not entirely true as this Kulim MP bugger is the one who stormed in to the Bar Council Inter-Faith Forum and threatened the whole group of civilised Malaysian who's trying to resort a matter related to day-to-day living of fellow Malaysians. He's also a tumour in the Pakatan Rakyat alliances as this action was of the similar impact as the one done by Ahmad Ismail which no action had been taken against him.

So, maybe Anwar wanna say merci beau coup to UMNO this time? Aiya... again, it's difficult to say one... who knows later people say it's Anwar's "mou-gan-dou" spy in UMNO? It's a chaotic world. I just tunggu and lihat. Unlike Jed Yoong, I can't be a flower girl so I will just get some nap.... By the way Jed, wish your shop "sang yi hing loong"!

Shah Rukh Khan got Laduk ah???

The Bollywood Shah Rukh Khan (SRK) was bestowed with the Datuk title awarded by the Malacca's nominal head of state, Mohammad Khalil Yaakob..... read here

(with all due respect, is this the Khalil Yaakob ex-Information Minister from UMNO???? So, UMNO man can be the head of state just like tat? Oh...what can I say, just look at the list Sabah's head of state know already lah.... OK, another story)



.....for his contribution in promoting tourism in Malacca!!!



Wow... am I supposed to be outraged? Of course not!!!!!!!!!! Aiyah.... all this laduk laduk thing like shopping in the flea market nowadays already.... it's NOTHING RARE lah (like the Cantonese says, if you take a M16 and do a shooting spree on the street, you will definitely hit quite a lot of them). Sooner maybe Ali Rustam (AR)can give award to laduk or tansili or maybe even dun to Afonso de Albuquerque for if it's not because of Afonso, AR won't get the job and speak so much to show the whole world how clever he is.

It's Chilling Family Dynasty Business !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

krystie, blake and alexis?

Regarding UMNO election, from http://www.malaysianinsider.com/

Mukhriz son of Mahathir scored 38 nominations to be eligible to be in the run for Youth Chief while it's rival, Khairil Jamaluddin son-in-law of AAB trailing at 19 as of now. One question... since when this two names come into prominence? Before 2002?

For Vice President, we have Hishamuddin son of Hussein Onn leading the numbers now.

For the President, we have Najib son of Razak getting the ONLY nominations.

Notice all the nominees are son of past leaders of the country, if you haven't. Of course, I haven't trace out the extended family connection, e.g. si polan A kahwin ngan si polan B punya adik perempuan dan sebagainya.

you wanna label who's who???

With this dynasty generation stuff, do we need to wonder what is the meaning of transparency, nepotism etc anymore??? I mean it's not a rarity among the countries in the world as we have seen the Lee dynasty down south and also the Kennedy and Bush family but to have such a high number of family related business in politics is really a feat, a kind-of Malaysia Boleh absurdness.

Of course, we do not only see this in UMNO only as you have a fair share of those in PKR with Anwar and Nurul Izzah, Lim Kit Siang and Lim Guan Eng, Lim Keng Yaik and Lim Si Pin, Ong Ka Ting and Ong Ka Chuan but you gotta hand it over to UMNO for this disturbing trend. It's indicative of its patronage and feudalism mentality heavily embedded in all its members mind.

Seriously, we are so short of talent or there's a certain clique of who's who that's hard to penetrate? But having said that, genuine and corruptless players are welcomed but that's definitely not what we are seeing now most of the time.

Come on, even Dynasty stopped its airing ages ago (1989) lah!!!!!!!!!!

Wow.... Wow.... Wow.....

"Najib must keep cronies and family at bay, says Mahathir"

The above was quoted by TDM. And he continued....

"There are several former members of parliament and experts whose advice he should seek to run the country," the former prime minister told Bernama after addressing a Malaysian youth seminar at the University of Melbourne. See??? Who do you think he means here?

"But Najib must not try to do everything himself. He must get proper advice from the right people. Aiyo... sudah terang bersuluh pulak!!!

"The votes we lost were protest votes. Malaysians were not happy and this was reflected at the ballot box," he said. Notice how he used the word "we"? Thought he left UMNO already. Now why we?

The old monster is set to barge in. Brace ourselves. Or pray hard.

What Happen To The World's Economy

Got this while browsing through some blogs, http://sjsandteam.wordpress.com/

If you have difficulty understanding the current world financial situation, the following should help…

Once upon a time in a village in India , a man announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for $10.

The villagers seeing there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest and started catching them.

The man bought thousands at $10, but, as the supply started to diminish, the villagers stopped their efforts. The man further announced that he would now buy at $20. This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again.

Soon the supply diminished even further and people started going back to their farms. The offer rate increased to $25 and the supply of monkeys became so little that it was an effort to even see a monkey, let alone catch it!

The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at $50! However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would now act as buyer, on his behalf.

In the absence of the man, the assistant told the villagers: ‘ Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has collected. I will sell them to you at $35 and when he returns from the city, you can sell them back to him for $50. ‘

The villagers squeezed together their savings and bought all the monkeys.

Then they never saw the man or his assistant again, only monkeys everywhere!

Father (Bapak) of.................

Wow........ when everyone started to drift away from Pak Liar since he already passed the baton, Koh Tsu Koon (KTK) did the reverse and call Pak Liar "Bapa Demokrasi" / Father of Democracy!!!

Well, we have Bapa Kemerdekaan, Pembangunan, Kedamaian and what's TDM's gelaran?

I would say Pak Liar's loosen grip on the media that subsequently led to more space/freedom to express our views was just accidental, due to is indecisiveness etc.

For me, I think it's flip flop.

A Smile for the Weekend (Oh...It's Not Just A Smile, It's A ROTF Laugh!!!!)

From Zorro's blog, below is the excerpt from the hearing of the RPK's case and you will realize how brilliant our prosecution team are:

Prosecution: This is the email your received?
Witness: Yes.
Prosecution: How come there is no signature to this email?

Or maybe the learned prosecutor referring to electronic signature? Maybe...it's me who's jahil apparently.

Have a good and sick-less weekend!

Malaysians Are An Incredible Lot

The Soiled Leg is running for Deputy in MCA coming election.

The "I No Speak Inglis" MMT is running for Deputy in UMNO coming election.

The ex-Sabah CM OS who was owing the casinos in UK a few millions debt also running for his UMNO division head.

Feel free to add on to the list....

When You Are Sick....

... the biggest problem is what you gonna eat. I mean for example when you have a flu or fever, your appetite drop tremendously and you lost your tastebuds; everything tastes plain and flavourless and you stay away from things oily or deep fried etc...

That will leave you with what? Bread. Yeah... and in my case, it will only be the plain sandwich bread; tasteless and err...plain. And when you are done finishing the whole loaf of it and you are still sick like a dog what do you crave for?

from www.mum-mum.info

I crave for what I call sickness food. I thought it's comfort food but upon checking Wiki, I found out that comfort food is totally another thing. It's not some special menu but basically mom's cooking (yeah....mommy's child!). It can be macaroni or noodles cooked with meat without oil or porridge. Or something like that. It doesn't really matter cox the sickness food will make you heal faster. I guess it's the tender loving care from your families or your loved ones that heal you indeed. For that, I am forever grateful.....

Wish List

Saw this wish list in Malaysiakini by Meng Yee. In a way, if Pak Liar dares to do even one of the following, I will cease to call him Pak Liar haha...

1. Insist that the trial of the decade be completed by December. Expose whoever was behind the murder of Altantuya and bring justice for the family of the deceased.
2. Unleash the ACA fully and give them the green light to bring to book any alleged corruption involving the defence ministry and the ministry of trade and industry in the last five years. Prosecute those who have plundered and robbed from the citizens.
3. Reshuffle your cabinet and bring back Zaid Ibrahim. Remove all those who challenged your presidency. Give Zaid Ibrahim a free hand in reforming the judiciary
4. Revisit and call for a royal inquiry into the 1988 judicial crises and prosecute those who have wronged the nation.
5. Investigate and prosecute all those involved in Project M where illegal immigrants flooded Sabah and were given Malaysian ICs.
6. Repeal the ISA and free all ISA detainees or bring to court those who are truly criminals.7. Implement the IPCMC for the Royal Malaysian Police

Personally, I hope to see #5 being dealt with but the possibility is highly unlikely.

論盡 (Clumsy) - Eric Kwok

It's a romantic song. Too bad there's seems to be no MV of it at the youtube.

So, to have a preview, click at this link : http://hk.music.yahoo.com/index.html?purl=album-song.html%3Fsongid%3D8709

Choose song number 8 and click on the little "play" icon next to the number.

作曲：Eric Kwok 填詞：林若寧 編曲：Eric Kwok/Ted Lo

過廿年　不理中風

震著牙　跟你抱擁

無論手指一一冰凍　結他都玩得出眾

懷舊舞跳到更青春　情話手機傳送

＊歲月擁抱著飛逝　多一歲都不要荒廢　

人難道與你養烏龜　平靜到故居為獻世　

當八十七歲沒關係　可跟你飛車再踩掣　

浮華大世界放不低　(能遊玩帶你上天梯)　

餘下光陰何必浪費　(來日即使回歸上帝　死都抵)＊

過廿年　花甲老翁

再廿年　心態放鬆

仍在囍囍通宵起哄　縱使雙腿都失重

無論變了個老公公　如舊穿高橋盾

歲月擁抱著飛逝

保管你天真看幾米

仍流浪法國買東西

還未到老死未厭世

當八十七歲沒關係

都可聽嘻哈聽一世

誰人話老了要深閨

年邁色衰仍可交際

REPEAT＊

Encounters

I saw the actor who made the nations awake early 2008 with the circulation of a video of him having sex with a woman not his wife. I was with liangmoi in the biggest hotel in Sandakan, went to play squash and while waiting for her to buy the cakes and pastries at the hotel cafe (well, it's 50% discount after 5pm)... I saw Soiled Leg walking towards the lift. Not a surprise since it's the MCA's meeting in Sabah I guess. Well well well..... scouting for support what else??? He's aiming at the Vice President post, in a 3 corner fight with with Ong Ka Chuan and Donald Lim (well, another genius who claimed that Malaysia is so good with the success of the Malaysia the 2nd home program but later revealed that his sister also migrated and also mentioned that Malaysia is VERY good already.....get this... compared to Myanmar!!!!!!!!!!!!!). Liangmoi was so stunned and she even asked me to take photo of him, which of course I didn't. She should take it and maybe asked for a signature too. Actor mah....

And then while trying to get my late lunch cum tea-time, I saw another local ADUN in Tanah Merah. Well well well, not the first time but he was like those "cool" dude sporting a polo T that used to be so "in", with the BIG polo sign at the front left, and some words on the sleeve..you know the type? And to add more "youthness" with his polo Tshirt collar "up"ped.

Gosh.... I wonder who will I see later on???? And that makes me wonder if I am given the opportunity to meet any politicians, who will I want it to be??? So, who will be your choice?

What A Growth !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

From Malaysiakini, a revelation from Eric Majimbun from the left-BN SAPP during his other revelation that an unknown Filipino shared the address with him:

The peeved parliamentarian reiterated his call for a probe into the whopping 285 percent growth in population in Sabah over 30 years.
He said according to the 1970-2000 census, the population in Sabah increased from 636,431 to 2,449,389 (285%), compared to Sarawak's 106 % (from 976,269 to 2,012,616) and Peninsular Malaysia's 113 % (from 10,439,430 to 22,202,614).

My take:

Looking at the figure alone, I think SABAHANs should be concerned enough to really request for the investigation on the alleged PROJECT IC.

What I Did During Raya Holiday

........................was watching Brothers & Sisters errr...... 2 seasons in one go albeit I watched the Season 2 before rewatching the Season 1.

I had been very selective with the sitcoms/series that I watched since series took a lot of time, chasing episodes after episodes and I have only bought some series which I really treasure.

The first series I bought was Six Feet Under. I have full 5 seasons and in awe with the great performances of actors such as Rachel Griffiths, Lauren Graham, Michael C. Hall and Frances Conroy.

I had Grey's Anatomy as well, but only have Seasons 2 DVDs. The show is funny with very poignant themes every episodes though it became lacklustre during the later seasons.

I bought Dexter (Season 1 & 2), a series about a serial killer who's also a police at the same time. Yeah... talking about crime fighting right? OK, mainly because it stars Michael C. Hall who's also in Six Feet Under too.

And Brothers & Sisters is really a good purchase. I don't want to hard-sell but it's REALLY good.

Having watched Brothers & Sisters, both seasons, it's really a emotional roller-coaster ride.

Family brings out the best and the worst out of us.

Learning from TV (#5) - Brothers and Sisters (Season 1)

Sarah (played to perfection by the superb Rachel Griffiths) was having her session with her shrink talking on her problems in marriage.

[Sarah]:

Why can't you say anything?

One thing to make this feel better?

[Shrink]:

There are not short cuts, Sarah.

In life or in love.

This pain must be felt.

The alternative is much worse.

It's what makes us special, what makes us beautiful, what makes us worthy.

The pain of how we love.

But that pain is accompanied by something else, isn't it?

Hope.

With your pain, there's hope.

And that is where you are.

Somewhere between agony and optimism and prayer.

So, you're human.

You're alive.

And that's what we have.

Come back tomoorrow. We'll go on.

(yeah... so true. and shrink earned so much money!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Rubber Band in YouTube

As - Rubber Band & 小肥
One of my favourite songs.




What A Difference A Day Made - Rubber Band & 小肥
Jazz classic. Love the versions by Dinah Washington and Jamie Cullum.




Put Your Records On - Rubber Band & 小肥
Cover of Corrine Bailey Ray


Actually I'm looking for a song by the Rubber Band I heard from radio but don't know what's the name. Meanwhile, enjoy the cover versions of the songs by them.

盧廣仲 - 早安晨之美

Holiday!!! Enjoy this song. It's about breakfast, oh, my most important meal of the day.