Monday, August 13, 2007
@tmosphere, Bangunan Tun Datu Mustapha
This place will not be out of place in New York, paris or any other metropolitan city in the world. If you happen to be in KK, do drop by to enjoy the breathtaking sunset in the rotating restaurant (only during lunch and dinner). Price? How to pay for the nice decor? You decide.
Kota Kinabalu Jazz Festival
Below are my 2 cents worth of opinion and they are strictly personal.
The festival scheduled to start at 6pm but recently, the sun sets quite late and at 630pm, the sky was still bright with the amazing sunset. 
The festival was held at the Jesselton Point with its nice T-shape jetty.
The plane on the skyline. Amazing coincidence.
The 100 bucks seat near to the stage.
Another T area where the seats were located.
The show started with some local bands playing to warm the audience up. Personally, I think the 1st group not bad. The flute is a nice touch-up. Then another group incorporated the traditional Chinese musical instrument er-hu in its performance and that's a fresh take. Not a surprise though cox fusion is highly sought in music nowadays. Other notable performers; the set of the singer-songwriter from Labuan with his catchy tunes and Rimba, who was playing ethnic jazz (according to MC Jasmine) really showed that our local musical talents not only restricted to the SMS-hyped Akademi Fantasia, Astro Talent Quest and tonnes of other talentime reality show but there are other hidden gem waiting to be discovered and supported.
The Jazzelton Quintet. They were the first act and June was the vocalists cum keyboard player. They rolled out some notably standard jazz tunes started with Cheek to Cheek (heaven.... I'm in heaven.....) and an instrumental version of Have You Met Miss Jones? They ended their set with a surprise jazzed up version of the theme song the Flintstones. This managed to get the crowd in tune as some of the jazz standards played are not that familiar to the audience.
Then, my favourite act came out and do their thingy. Yes, it's none other than our local duo, Double Take, Roger Wang (guitar) and Mia Palencia (vocal). Mia had a flower in the hair (very much like the great jazz diva Billie Holiday in her glory days, nice touch Mia!!!) and she sang beautifully as usual though her voice doesn't comes off as powerful, maybe due to the microphone and the open air venue.
Mia got the crowd cheering with her rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow then moved to the next tune which she thinks all of us are familiar with. It turns out to be Bila Larut Malam...shobe do wa shobe do wa (imagine background vocalists of 3 ladies in fitted kebaya and shades, with their hands shaking left and right, their legs twisting front and back like in the P.Ramlee movies) and some of us (yeah... uncles and aunties, me included) recognized it.
Then Roger continued to dazzle us with his fantastic fingerwork on his guitar and Mia keep us on her string with their rendition of I've Got The World On A String. Of course they did! AND the crowd asked for more, chanting en core which the MC promised that they will be back for the finale.
Next is the Gambus-man Farid Ali. He jazzed up the crowd with his Middle-East-infused piece of equipment and provided some mystically enchanting element to the rather pop-infected concert. He sang some of the tunes as well, Getaran Jiwa that I remember.
OH yea.... how can Digi-Man be left out here? Thanks DIGI for being the main sponsor and yes, their coverage in Sabah now is way much better than their other Red and Purple rivals. And I didn't get sponsors or deducted bills from them. Though tat's kinda welcomed.
The final act was specially brought-in-from-US, Dennis Mininfield whose performing style is something akin to the great Tina Turner. Hers is fueled with energy and power, accentuated by her raspy vocal and it's not a disgrace her to quote reference to Tina Turner. She really worked out the crowd from the beginning with a powered-up version of The Way We Were (I have to apologize here... cox I couldn't be 100% sure. Correction appreciated). She went on to sing some signature sure-to-heat-up tunes and what a better choice than a party-tuned Yesterday from Beatles. Strictly-speaking, her choice of songs are not all that jazz but with the crowd worked-out and the fun that obviously everyone had, who cares? She interacted with the crowd well and children were invited to dance onstage with her, a group of Japanese tourists were invited to sing as well; everyone's happy. Of course party-goers and clubbers got their dose when she belted out Can't Get My Eyes Off You (ba lat ba lat ba lat ba lat..... I love you baby....) She sang Superstitious by Stevie Wonder too. It's obvious that she's a seasoned performer from her songs choice and the way she bantered with the crowd. And the crowd loved her too!!!
The much awaited finale WAS a let-down for me indeed. I mean, I was expecting some jamming sessions from all the vocalists and musicians but it didn't happen. Mia was given a mic and when Denise asked her to sing a song, which I hope to turn into some great duet at least... Mia just shook her head and I was disappointed. Maybe she didn't want to rope the attention from Denise's set but I think the better way to build up to the finale is that they sing something more high and the jamming of all the guitars or drums or bass to end it up. It's kinda awkward when Denise asked the musicians to drum up some tune and nothing came up. It was even a bit awkward when one of the guest sang To Love Somebody by Michael Bolton (OK... I'm from that era, betraying my age here). Not to say he's singing badly, in fact he sang it well (must be his karaoke yum go) but the song just didn't sound right for a much-awaited finale.
To save the silent (not that silent to be frank cox the music still playing) awkward moment, Denise sang Superstitious again and yes, this sounds more like a more apt finale. The Venezuelan percussionist from the previous acts Son2Nos were given a chance to showcase his mettle when he was doing solo; the sporting and highly-excited Datuk Adeline Leong had her share in the showcase too. Bravo Datuk for really showing enthusiasm for the music and as the co-organizing chairperson, Datuk is really into the music. My heart goes to Datuk who was supposed to be the 1st Mayor of Kota Kinabalu before being transferred to Sandakan. Oppss... that's another story. But Datuk, really respect you for the percussion showcase! The organizing chairman Mr. Fu got his share in showing his musical talent as well with the tambourine.
The night was a typical party night, went on to sing a Happy Birthday tune to one of the backstage organizing members. Denise said something about the importance of celebrating our birthdays and dun worry Denise, we Malaysian loves celebrating birthdays. Go to any of TGIF restaurants in Malaysia and 80% of the time you will get to hear the birthday-song-plus-We Will Rock You-come-with-the-foot-thumping-choreograph sang by the TGIF staff. I think that's a pre-requisite for the recruitment in TGIF.
The band who performed for Denise's set includes our very own Malaysian, the well-known Mac Chew. Those who's familiar with the Malaysia music scenes or buy CDs (original with lyrics booklets) will know who Mac Chew and how good he is. With his partner Jenny Chin, they are the frequent winner in the AIM (Anugerah Industri Muzik) and you can find their name in the albums of many Chinese singers, especially those with Rock Music (滚石). They are the frequent musical partner for Jonathan Lee 李宗盛.
Of course the crowd still wanted more when the finale was completed and as cliche as it can be, the crowd's wish was fulfilled and Denise came out to perform the last song. Before that, she parted some advice asking the audience to love ourselves. By loving ourselves, all the other love will come along the way. What song you ask??? One of my favourite song by the talented Alicia Keys If I Ain't Got You.
My Comment :
1. Seating should be arranged so that only 1 side stage as it's easier to manage. Put the food section in the covered area at the entrance not only easier for foodstuff buying (yesterday, you may have to walk to two area) but also from logistic point of view, moving the foodstuff to the stall will not disturb the audience, the trolleys moving, the staff carrying big tray.
2. Some audience who purchased 100 bucks complained that their view is blocked by the standing crowd in front of the stage where yours truly was one of them, admiring Double Take from near. How? One: no seats and same price ticket. Then you can choose to sit on the floor, lean on anything or stand or dance. But this will turn off many elderly and family with kids. Two: Prepare a dance area (or 摇滚区) where the dance enthusiast can swing and sway. More big screen so the audience sitting/standing far away will be able to see the performer (double joy of senses mah... though music more important here).
3. The MCs were a blessing for the sponsors due to their never-tired-attitude of mentioning the names of the sponsors. Great camaraderie I would say though personally I think Jasmine can cut down on defining the music as which category of jazz cox most of the time, it's hard to define the style as acid jazz, fusion jazz and etc. Just let the music speaks for its own. Also the first few sentences of Jasmine on what is jazz which she found out from the internet was redundant.
4. The tickets says the show starts at 6pm but the entrance and ticket checking counter was still not in place/in order when we went in at about 610pm. Seating especially the descending area next to the entrance should not be seated as it's crowding the whole area.
Kudos to the organizer for bringing our own jazz festival to KK and as a first instalment, this is really a great success. Improvement should come along and I strongly recommend that the next organizer should go visit other jazz festival such as the Miri International Jazz festival or the coming Penang International Jazz Festival. It's of course not fair since the place/venue is different but I think this current venue has it's EDGE and ADVANTAGE as the sunset view can be very nice and breathtaking. All it needs is just a little fine-tuning on the stage and seating arrangement. MY 2 CENTS WORTH OPINION
Friday, August 10, 2007
The Best Mind-Provoking Petronas Merdeka Advertisement
Go You Tube and watch the Petronas Advertisement as a lot of them can be deemed as masterpiece portraying tonnes of social commentaries on our "50-years-old-harmoniously-multi-racial" society.
Looks like Yasmin Ahmad has more compatriots sharing her vision of Malaysian society. Lots of the ads now are deep, not skin-deep. My recent favourite is the one where a boat is built. Think about it. I MEAN... REALLY THINK ABOUT IT.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jmc4ZkB12Z0 Try to post the video here but having some problems.... Will keep trying though.
Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!
Couch Surfing (CS) and Hospitality Club (HC) - Friends III
One fine day.... I got a message from a member from Hospitality Club, stewgreen ....
Hi this Stew Green and Selva (username selva) from HC in KL we will becvoming to KK on Monday stay a few days Selva will go back Friday me ...a week or so later ... any of you KK guys want to meetup
I haven't been hosting anyone for quite sometime though met up with some CS and HC friends who visited KK. So, I replied that it's great to meet up and gave them my phone number.
Stewart and Selva having coconut drink and a not-so-impressive normal dish in Tg Aru foot court, a place we went after the usual hang-out place I bring visitor to, Fu Yuan in Damai was closed on Mon.Stewart and Selva put themselves up in Lucy's Homestay, quietly tucked in the "printer-street" of KK and next to the City Police Station. Talking about safety huh?
Both Stewart and Selva are active members of HC in KL and they are enthusiastic about the whole HC concept and like to meet and talk to people. Personally I enjoyed their company and listening to their funny travel and hosting stories really made up my day and definitely lots of lessons learnt as well.
Stew is currently staying in Malaysia and his knowledge of Malaysia can certainly beat most of the Malaysians, especially the youngsters as he is very aware and learned about Malaysian society, politically too. A real traveller who's interested in knowing in-depth about the place he's in. Selva is a easy-going and good conversation partner who's very experienced in life and both his travel stories and his career stories are very interesting. Thanks for the advice pal!
They rented a car and did routes that even I, as the local Sabahan also never went on before. They drive from Kota Belud to Ranau using the hilly road, went half way towards Pitas-Nangoh new road and drive from Ranau to Tambunan, which is in very bad condition. True blue travellers who know how to enjoy their travel, I hope they enjoy their trip here (for Selva, a short one) and all the best for the rest of exploration in East side for Stewart. Hope to see you two and other HC members in KL!!!
Taken with Selva in the Seafood Restaurant in Gaya Sports Centre in Inanam, KK.
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Disclaimer, Copyright and Other Blog-Related Issues
Initially I posted a section on the disclaimer and copyright and alter the post date so it will appear as the 1st post everytime but changed my mind as it will create a confusion thinking I haven't been updating anything at all so I changed it and put the disclaimer stuff etc at the bottom of the page.
Vote for RunWitMe
oMy friend, RunWitMe was selected as the Top 20 among 600 blogs participated in the AllMalaysianBloggers project and do give your support to his superbly written blog, Running With Passion and hope he can run it up to the Top 5 as he wish.
Go to this post here and VOTE for him.
Malaysiaku Gemilang? Gemilangkah kitorang?
(extracted from http://www.gethosted.com.my/, via msn image search)
OKOK, I followed the trend of the other bloggers now to talk about our nation's 50th birthday but who cares right? The minister called bloggers as goblok anyway. (hm... in the spirit of National Day, how patriotic is it to describe bloggers with a word originates from our neighbouring country???)
Recent survey done by the research house Synovate Malaysia on 900 respondents aged 15 to 64 in Peninsula Malaysia. (OK, my question, why not in Sabah and Sarawak? No funding??? Or you guys dunno that Sabah and Sarawak is part of Malaysia???)
On the 2007 Merdeka theme:
88% dunno or unaware; 4% still thought it's Kernamu Malaysia and interestingly, 4% of those aged 35 and 44 (baby boomers) gave the correct answer. ONLY 4%?????????
On naming all the Prime Ministers of the Country (OK, tips... 5 of them)
12% of those aged 25 and 34 (oh..... my age group) were not sure of the names and failed to name the leaders.
Information Minister Datuk Zainuddin Maidin who famously quoted the use of goblok said explained the gemilang in the theme "Gemilang means we have achieved independence and success through unity and development". Hm........
Anyway, it's my nation and my country. I love her, with her flaws and shortcomings, though fully understand that's the way she is and seriously hoping that she can change and HAVE to change. God Bless.
Below are the link to the posts about my feelings last year on the Merdeka month.
How Malaysian am I? Part I
How Malaysian am I? Part II
Azean Irdawaty - The Actor and The Fighter
Picture source : http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/content.asp?y=2007&dt=0711&pub=Utusan_Malaysia&sec=Hiburan&pg=hi_01.htm
"Don't cry for me, Malaysia. Instead, send me positive energy. Let's tell this cancer to go to hell"
~ Azean Irdawaty
Recently diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer, this brave enigmatic actress who graces our Malaysian cinema, Malay movies specifically made the above statement; a testament to her strong faith and determination to combat the disease that took away our previous 1st lady, Datuk Seri Endon's life away.
I still remember Azean's portrayal of the character of an actress way past her glory days under the direction of Shuhaimi Baba in "Layar Lara" and of course her acting sparring with another great Malaysian actress Ida Nerina in the same movie.
She attended the recently held Malaysian Film Festival in Penang to collect her Best Supporting Actress Award for the movie "Waris Jari Hantu" in her near-balding head. She quipped, "As for losing my hair, bah, it will grow back". I guess there must be a standing ovation for her bravery that night.
Let's hope Azean will win her battle and the respective artistes' association will provide the financial assistance needed for this great actor.
(written after reading the news on The Star)
Dr. M did it Again
pic found on net, satirising Dr. M's latest business venture of a bread franchise with his Japanese partner"As always, I have a radical solution" that's what Dr. M said which drew laughter from the floor when he took over the microphone in the Langkawi International Dialogue and suggesting that countries should start charging developed nations for the intellectual properties (IP) "that have been robbed from us".
This was after a delegate who aired his frustration over difficulties in getting hold of drugs for HIV/AIDS because they were too expensive for less developed countries in Africa to provide to the millions of sufferers. This is the ages-old debacle among the huge pharmaceutical companies who claimed that millions has been spent on the R&D and they need to recover the expenses hence the high price of drugs vs the humanitarian calls around the world to make these drugs accesible especially when some of these pharma giant did human testing in those less developed countries as well.
Dr. M drew example by saying that countries spent money educating our people, right from kindergarten to university only to have the brilliant ones "whisked away" by developed nations hence, he was suggesting that we charge these nations for IP.
Brilliant. I mean, put aside the logic or practicality or even whether will it be implemented or not, he did made his point acrossed and gained the attention once lost from him, back to him again.
My take on this, especially when our 50th National Day is just around the corner, I would suggest that we do more to keep the brain drain stopped. How? Keep the education system based on merits and award EQUAL opportunity to every single RAKYAT, that is!
The First KK Jazz Festival
(article below by Lois Gilbert from http://www.jazzcorner.com/; photos are scanned orginal CDs of yours truly's own collection, ORIGINAL man!!!)
KK Jazz Fest promises to be world-class affair Kota Kinabalu:
The first-ever Kota Kinabalu Jazz Festival promises to be a spectacular world-class affair and an opportunity to do your bit for charity at the same time. Audiences would be entertained non-stop from 6pm to midnight by more than 20 international, national and local musicians performing at the Charity Concert on Aug 11 (Saturday) at the historical Jesselton Point overlooking the idyllic South China Sea.
the debut album from Double Take; they mesmerised me the first time with Mengapa Kasih and after that, i was captivated
The five performing groups are Denise Mininfield (USA), Son2nos (Venezuela), Farid Ali (KL), Double Take (Sabah's very own solo fingerstyle guitarist Roger Wang and vocalist, Mia Palencia) and Jazzelton Quintet (comprising June Tan (piano), Professor Hanafie Mohd Imam (bass), Mohd Nizam Attan (violin), Vincent Chin (saxophone and flute) and Mohd Shaun Yazeed (drums)." The concert will feature internationally-acclaimed artistes like Farid Ali a.k.a. Mr Gambus (Malaysia), vocalist Denise (dubbed live-wire on stage), British-born jazz pianist Asif Pishori and youngest brother Imran (keyboards), and Venezuela's James Vielma (percussion/vocals) who has been involved in Latin Music from a very young age. (Son2nos also performed in the 2nd Miri International Jazz Festival May 2007).
the christmas album by Double Take; a nice take of the festive mood songs
The inaugural Kota Kinabalu Jazz Festival is jointly organised by the Rotary Club of Kota Kinabalu, Society for Performing Arts Kota Kinabalu Sabah (SPArKS), Suria Group and Kota Kinabalu City Hall (DBKK). Main sponsors, DiGi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd, will be giving away prizes during the festival. Other sponsors include HSBC (cash), Heineken (cash), Suria Group (provides the venue for free), DBKK (provides the stage and chairs for free), and Hotel Megah D'Aru (subsidised room rates).
Calling for public support, Organising Chairman Frankie K.O. Fu from the Rotary Club of Kota Kinabalu said the club has earmarked a number of community projects such as gravity feed water supply in Kota Marudu and Ranau, donations to poor schools in rural areas, and continuation of the Avoidable Blindness Programme. "While we inject a bit of excitement into the night life of KK City through the Jazz Festival, our thoughts will be on disadvantaged groups in need of help, anywhere in Sabah. "In this instance, music serves as a vehicle for us to raise funds for charity. For a start, we are targeting at 2,000 people to get them to patronise the concert for a noble cause," he said, adding that the festival has the potential to be a tourist attraction.
Co-Organising Chairperson, Datuk Adeline Leong could not agree more, emphasising the need to enliven the music scene in the city by introducing Sabahan musicians and music enthusiasts to the world of International Jazz Music. She said one of the objectives is to help raise the standard of musicians in Sabah by showcasing high quality performance. "With this musical extravaganza featuring local and international performers and offering a wide variety of jazz music, we hope it will create appreciation of this genre of music among the local population. "We (organisers) hope to make this festival of international standard an annual event in efforts to promote Kota Kinabalu as a centre for performing arts, in addition to the plan to make KK an educational hub. "That being the case, Kota Kinabalu would have a musical festival that residents can call their own," said the Protem President of SPArKS.
Meanwhile, Wang said the festival brings together a musical kaleidoscope of talents for the enjoyment of the public and education of our budding young musicians in the State. "Definitely, the event will reinforce Kota Kinabalu as a major international, regional and domestic tourist destination. We hope to incorporate the festival into Sabah's annual calendar of events. That way, we can tap into the burgeoning 'music festival' industry to generate an annual influx of regular visitors," he pointed out.
Tickets for the Aug 11 charity concert are priced at RM30 (students only), RM50 and RM100. Call 088-212121 (Sabah Tourism Sabah) or 088-235787 (Selina Yapp, Jesselton Point). Enquirers may log on to http://www.feeltone.com/. my/en/ for more information on the festival or call Sri Pelancongan (088-232121).
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Happy 75th Birthday Venice Film Festival
Lido beach, the vacation heaven for Italianos in the summerVenice Film Festival turns 75 this year and the festival, regarded as the oldest in the world had lost its appeal of being the stage for edgy works of directors and filmmakers all around the world. Though critics condemned the festival recently for its invitation of big Hollywood stars to pull in the crowd, the festival is still respected for its contribution in bringing to the world some of the great filmmakers. Interesting facts is that the festival was conceived initially as the propaganda tools for the Mussolini dictator administration. Read more about the history of the festival here.
This is the place the stars arrived in gondolas attending the premier screenings or checking in to the glamourous hotels in Lido, Venice.The festival had been generous to the Asian cinemas with the honored list such as Zhang Yuan, Gong Li and Xia Yu from China, Abbas Kiarostami from Iran and Takeshi Kitano from Japan.
The famous hotel in Lido, Venice where the stars stay and dine and being paparazi-ed.
Having said that, the festival had its share of what-the-hell-is-going-on? moment such as honoring Ben Affleck last year for Hollywoodland. It had also being known as having some pet actors who kept being honored such as Shirley MacLaine and Javier Bardem (no qualm though).
NOTES : ALL PHOTOS TAKEN IN 2005 DURING MY 10 LONELY DAYS BACKPACKING THROUGH ITALY, NAMELY VENICE, FLORENCE AND ROME.
Tribute # 1 : POWER Badminton Shoes (1999-2007)
I'm paying tribute via this post to the dutiful pair of badminton shoes who had been faithfully rendered its service to me, the humble owner. As you can see from the pic, the soles were outstitched and presented a state of existence similar as the open-mouth garoupa. The latest fatal injuries were sustained during a squash games with Kevin and Kester last Saturday.
Walking down the memory lane, I first bought this wonderfully-durable, no-nonsense-fashion-wise pair of Malaysian made POWER badminton shoes during my 1st year in the ivory tower in the remote Tronoh (wow.... try the link cox it's in Wiki!!!), Perak. Staying in the hostel, there's no other sporting facilities other than badminton (which the courts were ALWAYS full) and the not-so-popular-that-time game of squash. Being the prudent and poor student I was that time, I decided to buy a pair of sports shoes to suit both the games and without the squash rage that time, there's no squash shoes available in Ipoh, which is the nearest city to Tronoh. Well, to be frank, if there's any squash shoes available, I wouldn't able to buy it that time too. So, I ended up buying this pair of gem which were on sale.
So, here I'm dedicating this post to this pair of wonderful shoes. Thanks for the service rendered, I appreciate that. Thanks again. RIP.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Hideous Olympic Logo?
The 2008 Beijing Olympic is only about a year from now. How the logo looks like? The slogan will be One World, One Dream and the logo above was named the "Dancing Beijing" as its derived from the stylised Chinese character 京 of the Chinese name of Beijing 北京.
How about in 2004 where Olympic was back to its birthplace Athens? The logo was actually an olive wreaths or kotinos in Greek which were the crown for the ancients victors and the color of the logo comes from the Greek flag.
And for 2012 London Oympic Games, this is what the Londoners have in store for the world.
Bob Neill, 2012 Olmpics spokesman for Britain's Conservative Party who condemned the logo as "hideous" and a "waste of money" said, "Was there an open competition to supply the designs? If so, what on earth do the rejected ones look like?" Brilliant huh? I always admire the British accent and its dry humour.
Thinking in the same line of the story behind the logo for 2004 and 2008 Olympic which Greece and China added something synonym to their country into their logo, the 2012 London one seems to suggest that the British is squarish and pinkish? Some described it as "broken window", "hip-hop graffiti" and even a "distorted swastika".
Having said that, I think beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. What do you think?
Give Peace A Chance - John Lennon
OK... pretending to be smart alex by catching up with some reading of the magazines I bought lying pitifully on the table without being touched. Found an survey called Global Peace Ubdex gauged by t he Economists Intelligence Unit in US which ranks countries on its peacefulness using indicators such as number of soldiers killed overseas, level of violent domestic crimes (I'm sure we are doing pretty well in this, especially lately as seen on news headline everyday) and relations with neighboring countries (hm.... our kiasu neighbors???).
Among the ASEAN countries (which Brunei was missing suspiciously from the list. I am sure Brunei will rank higher among all if its in the list), Singapore rank highest at 29, Vietnam at 35 and WE, Malaysia at 37. NOTICE THAT VIETNAM IS EVEN MORE PEACEFUL THAN US!!! It's a wonder why our politicians didn't storm the newspaper in the country and condemn the index as they like to do at the other index such as corruption index, universities ratings etc. Thailand and Myanmar ranked among the lowest, 105 and 108 respectively.
The highest ranked is Norway followed by NZ and Denmark. The Scandinavian countries are the most peaceful region with the remaining Finland and Sweden at 6 and 7 respectively. Iraq, Sudan and Israel ranked the lowest; not surprise since Iraq is still war-torn, Sudan with its Darfur violence and Israel with its Gaza conflict. What about others? The new emerging power-to-be, China and India are at 60 and 109 respectively.
Personally I find the most interestingly ranked country would be Uncle Sam, sitting shamefully at 96. I guess the indicator used (number of soldiers killed overseas plummeted down its position) is not kind to him but being a world police, maybe Uncle Sam should settle his own problem first. Like the Malay saying goes, jangan jaga tepi kain orang.
Global Warming
The one who spice them all, bhut jolokia
No.... no........ no........... I'm not following Al Gore's footsteps and start preaching about Global Warming but it's a title of a piece of articles I read in Time which I find very spot-on. It's about the chili conquering the world of culinary. (Come on people! Chili, hot, warm? Now chili everywhere? Global warming? Get it?) Creativity is what I always find fascinating.
I got to know from the article that chili that we over this part of the world, only associated it with Thai food, Sichuan sizzling hot steamboat, Indian spicy cuisine or the "play-to-death-in-variety-TV-program" tabasco, is actually originated from South America. Now that explains Hot Peri Peri Chicken in Nando's perhaps?
I wouldn't delve into how the chili got exported from South America to this part of the world and the whole process as you can imagine how it happened just like other spices and religion spread in general.
I'm more interested to share with you all that chili "hotness" actually can be measured!!! Just like we measure temperature in deg C, deg F or K, or noise in desibel, dB, the hotness of chili is measured in SHUs (Scoville Heat Units) invented by the American chemists in 1912.
Certification of bhut jolokia as the hottest spice
According to the article, the spiciest Thai chilies come in at around 100,000 SHUs. Most people will be reduced to tears by eating anything above 200,000 SHUs. The hottest of them all is a type of chili grown bhut jolokia also known as the Naga Chili, grown in the northeastern part of India which recorded a SHUs of 855,000, a whopping 4 times the tolerance level of normal people before turning into a crying baby.
Why people enjoy such spicy/hot to the extreme dish is definitely beyond me. Yeah, I am that dull, I dun even enjoy eating fries with tomato or chili sauce. I remember watching in TV about a stall in Taipei which sells spicy mee and they had a "billboard chart" to list the names of their customers who successfully consume the hottiest mee that they ever prepared. Hmm...... I don't understand.
Ministers and Politicians, Stay Away from Sports Association!
Looks like Pak Lah has been quietly following the development of sports in our beloved Malaysia. [here]
Cabinet made the decision to bar the ministers, deputies and respectcive parliament secretary from holiding any management of executive posts in the countries' sports associations. Great decision as politicians are seen to meddle too much in the sports agenda and the evaluations and assessment by the sports council often met with stumbling blocks due to the influence exerted by the ministers holding top posts.
However, another "leading-by-example" case is the recent move of our DYMM Yang Di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Mizan to step down as the chairman of KL World Endurance Cup. Maybe that should serve as an example to other state rulers who still HOLD ON to the posts in the sports association so PASSIONATELY until the recent mediocre performances and other problems with the sports doesn't seem to bother Him at all. I just wonder if Cabinet made the decisions for the ministers, maybe the Majlis Raja-Raja should make the same decision to the state rulers.
The most important thing is, let the experts do their job.
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Judge Wig
One of my most embarassing fashion moment is during the short stint of my tenure as the Parliament Chief Judge in La Salle Secondary School. The ceremonial head wig that I had to wear, the white shoulder length wig was the cause of the joke and laugh story that I had to endure for the rest of my life. And that's not the whole story yet.....
Playback..........
The moment I walked in with the judge wig I wore, I notice Emily who was on the cabinet side, closed her mouth laughing. Liangmoi the Health Minister couldn't contain her amusement. Cikgu W as usual control hensem and I decided to ignore that and stormed past through them to my seat and wished that the whole ordeal will end as soon as possible. Luckily handphone and digicam was still not in the rage, so hopefully my bighead-in-wig moment was not permanently recorded somewhere~
Oh yeah... why I suddenly thought of this "Most Embarassing Fashion Moment" and reveal it here??? Read somewhere that the cost of the a ceremonial shoulder-length wig worn by the British judges and lawyers since 17th century costs USD3000 each!!!!!!!!!!!!! A decision to abandon the wigs in civil and family courts in 2008 recently will save the British government a whopping USD610,000 annually!!!!!!
A SMART decision I would say. I don't know about the British wig but the one I wore in 1997......... I don't know how much it cost but for sure it was d*&^ smelly!!!
Another Two Cinema's Great Left
Next year's Oscar will have a bigger tribute section, with the latest demise of 2 of the great contributors to the world cinema, Michaelangelo Antonioni and Ingmar Bergman.
famous work of antonioni, Blow-Up
Ingmar Bergman
Bergman is a serious Swedish maestro whose body of work is an impressive ones. His famous scenes was a scene where the character playing chess with the death and that was regarded as one of the great scenes in the world cinema, being a text book material for lots of film and art student. His movies are exquisitely dark and always delved into the topic of death. Emma would felt the loss of one of her nation's great son.
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