Jordin Sparks - American Idol 6

I missed it. Both the performance and the result shows. It's a great disappointment like what I told Johnny cox I followed the season 6 from the beginning. Well... tat also happened to me for Amazing Race (though I watch the repeat).

Anyway, between the battle of "stylist " Blake and the "singer" Jordin, the latter won. Reading the reviews and also watching the You Tube, I think the deciding factor was the rendition of "This Is My Now" which is more suitable to Jordin as compared to Blake. The orchestrated dramatic ballad is definitely not Blake's material which tend to be more edgy. It's like the repeat of the Season 4 finale between Carrie Underwood and Bo Bice.

Anyway, happy that Jordin won though for this season, Melinda IS my idol.

Ciao.

My Must-See European City

Your must-see European city is Rome

What's Your Must-See European City?
Brought to you by Tickle

A smarty like you will feel right at home in the Eternal City. Like your must-see haunt, you're a classic who's both timeless and breathtaking. You can hold your own in discussions and debates whether you're talking about the best pizza place in town or the engineering feats of the Coliseum.Just because you've got so much going on upstairs doesn't mean you don't know how to have a great time. More than the Pantheon, Rome offers exciting nightlife and interesting people — just the right mix for a well-rounded person like you. So gather your friends, sip your cappuccino, and savor being so cool. Ciao!!

I think it's because I throw the coin into the Trevi Fountain so I am destined to go there again!!! However, I dun mind going again. Of course I like the description of myself above MORE haha..... sorry for another self-indulgent post.

Ciao!

Jazz Festival in KK!!!

After Sophia sms me about the upcoming jazz festival in KK, I was so happy and delighted. It's great to have a similar of our own like that in Miri. It will be on August 11 in Jesselton Point. Current line-up from US and Son2Nos (Venuzuela, UK and Philippines) who performed in 2nd Miri International Jazz Festival too. Local line up will be Double Take (Roger Wang and the lovely songstress Mia Palencia - Mia, when's ur album launch in KK????), Farid Ali (the gambus man who teamed up with Roger in some club gigs in Peninsula) and some other local singers. Looking at it, it will not be as diversed as the line up in Miri or maybe there'll still be more coming. Whatever it is, music is borderless.

Oh, did I say that all these jazz made me love KK more???????

More news http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=50003

Sign of Old Age + Days of Surprise Encounter

As the title of my blog tells, I am old. The sign? I was online in the Cafe I mentioned in the previous post and the music that it plays really tears my heart apart! I mean they just on the Astro Hitz.TV channel but the speaker is pumping volume and my heart barely take it! I sat on a table furthest away from the speaker but my heart still pumping maximum speed I guess. The thumping sound really made me sick and I know why I never favour disco umpteenth years ago (well... is the word disco used anymore?) when I was young.

I met Hotma Bailey in the shopping mall in Lahad Datu and it was quite a surprise indeed. I mean in Lahad Datu??? And fresh from that, I bumped into Jonathan at my hotel. He's staying there as well. And in msn just now, Gavin is online. The old man Jit Kang coursemate of mine also there. And my best buddy also chatting from Kanko-ku Korea!!!

What a night!!! Oh.. the TV is playing Linkin Park. Gosh...wish they had better sound system cox the hard-thumping-due-to-bad-speaker sound really takes a toll on me. Better ciao before I drive myself to the hospital. I guess old man like me should retire to my hotel room to have a good night sleep.

Connectivity... or the Lack of It

I was having trouble with connectivity this trip to Lahad Datu and Tawau. As I lamented about my internet deprivity in my hotel, now it's my handphone giving trouble signal. The screen of my Sony Ericsson was off and nothing can be seen at all! It's very frustrating as there were messages coming in and I couldn't see it. Not only that, I have face the risk of having all my numbers deleted should I decided to send the phone for repair!!! How shitty can this be? God save my phone please... my prayer!!!

Music & TV Update

I am currently listening to:

1. Michael Buble's latest album . "Lost" and "Everything" stands out for me.
2. Sean Ghazi's . Deserved the AIM Best New Artist he won recently. Nice touch-up of P.Ramlee's nostalgic tracks and some decent new tracks. "Semalam", "Kuimpikan Bintang" are outstanding new tracks.
3. Elliot Yamin's debut. Nice ballads and old skool RnB.
4. Chet Lam's Mandarin debut.

Looking for the following singers:

1. German folk singer called Ayo.
2. An indie Taiwan gal who used to sing in pub and nominated in Taiwan Golden Melody award for best new artist. I only know her single called "Bao Bei".

Oh yeah.... my pre-final American Idol was ousted. My salute to Melinda Doolittle.
I dun think I can watch the finale as I am now outstation. Staying in a no-phone hotel, what do u expect its TV can do????????? Maybe I can ask them to change the AXN to Starworld hahaha.... just pray so I can watch the battle between the Blake "Beatbox" Lewis and Jordin "Young" Sparks.

Out Of Cyberspace in Lahad Datu, AF5, Bowling and Spiderman 3

You know how *&^%$# up a hotel is when their phone system is out of order for 6 months. I mean the whole freaking 6 months!!!!!! Tat's half a year!!!!

I am staying in the "supposedly" best hotel in Lahad Datu and yes, their phone system is out of order. Not only it cannot dial out (which means you can't even use dial-up, however slow it is!!!), it can't dial the reception even. I had to go down to the reception to ask for an iron and iron board!!! And that hotel is 3-star rated man!!!!!

Then I go survey another hotel which is new and you know what, nothing is malfunction but inherently all the rooms have no dial-out facility. If they wanna dial out, they have to go down to the reception to call out!!!! OK, I know I can't blame anyone cox I should get myself some hp enabled internet connection services.

So I ended up in a nice place near the sea side called Conrado's Cafe. It's quite a hip and happening place in LHD and they have a band playing on Wed-Sat! Not bad huh? And now they have the big TV screen playing channel 16 Hitz.TV and Alanis Morrisette is singing the acoustic version of Hands in My Pocket.

Browsed through Dr. Au's blog just now and surprised he did a write-up on me!!! Guess he did tat subsequent to my previous post of "kind-of-apology" thingy regarding bullying him but getting his reply post was certainly not my intention. Found that he has SUPERB memory!!! He remembers most of the things, just like my frens, Sherry and Julia.

Watched the final of Akademi Fantasia 5 (AF5) in my hotel room just now... no choice, other channel being TV1, TV2, Hallmark (showing the repeat-to-death movie) and AXN (another repeat). Having watched that, I felt the star of the show was not the finalist but Aznil Nawawi, the host instead! He announced few weeks before that this will be his last season hosting so all the contestants, current and previous did a farewell thingy for him and of course, tears rolled down as it should be cox it's a AF for Pete's sake!!! Talking about Aznil, I remember chatting with my sister about him. Both of us watched him in TV like 15 years ago in TV3 in a musics show called Pop Kuiz. It's shown every Sat 6pm if I am not wrong. His co-host is Rina Khan. I wonder how many of you out there watch that. Well, he didn't changed a bit from thsoe days to be frank.

Oh yeah... what I did this weekend? Playing some bowling in the Champs in Sandakan. Nice classy place, the name and deco though the bowling alleys sucks, BIG TIME!!! The computers were out of order and the some of the attendants were not helpful, refused to help us to compute the scores!!! Of course, my bowling scores sucks big time too..... I remembered vividly about 10 years ago, we used to frequent the CPS Bowling Centre in Centre Point, KK. It was our Form 6 years and staying in hostel really suppress us and come weekend, it's our relief time and we stormed to KK either to play bowling or watch movies. It's cheap for students that time and among us, Bernard Wong is the most terror among us. And his skills and style also notable!!! Of course, liangmoi, Bernard, CA and gang used to enjoy movie by bribing the ticket conductor and the stupid me never thought of doing that!!!!!!!!!! My memory watching movie that time??? I lost my wallet once with my IC and cards and stuff and also, surviving the whole 3 gruelling-hours of Titanic.

Speaking of movie, watched Spiderman with my sis last night and for me, it was not bad indeed. I mean, it's enjoyable and entertaining though it can do better with less characters and better actions scenes (yup, I mean it, their were not quite the standards of big-budgets like Spidey or any other blockbuster franchise). So now... looking forward to Pirates 3 and Shrek 3 to complete the 3some's 3rd installments.

2nd Miri Jazz International Jazz Festival 1st Day - 11th May 2007

The 2nd installment after the 1st successful one. Didn't plan to go indeed as the time doesn't permit but suddenly my manager had a change of plan and I need to be in Sarawak so my planned trip to Miri was brought ahead and I took the opportunity to extend my stay lor...

The show hasn't started yet so I stroll along the beach... yup, unfortunately, alone.

I guess that's the restaurant but I couldn't find my way there.

Parkcity Everly Hotel, the venue for the inaugural jazz festival.

The KCP4 performers which combines the mystical Indian traditional musics with the jazz piano and trumpet.

The kickstart was with a bang from our very own David Gomez and the Sextet band featuring Junki Delfino. They put up a great show and yes, jazz can be big in Malaysia like what Delfino said.

Junji strutting her stuff belting out some jazz standards.

Charles from Sabah on the drums and Julian Chan on saxaphone.

The 2nd performer. Mystically enchanting traditional Indian musics blends in harmoniously with the jazz piano and the trumpet. I got to know from one of the audience the female singer was singing some musical notes, some sounds of the drums and some lyrics repeatedly but the atmosphere was mystified. However, not everyone buy it as some of them were restless and walked away. It's personal preference I guess.

Matthias on the trumpet. He's jamming with other groups later part of the show and on the 2nd day as well.

I saw this reporter last year...

And this one too... recognize his cool appearance, with the tatoo and the kungfu hair.

The 3rd performer was Lluis Coloma from Spain, the last year's favourite who was brought back again this year due to popular demand. Their boogie-woogie swing musics are so addictive.

My favourite among the 4 saxophonists. He can play the flute too!!!

But of course the crowd favourite was the youngest and "show"iest one.

Not to forget the drummer, typical Spanish stud look.

Again, my favourite saxophonist of Lluis Coloma.

He is definitely a joy to watch.

His fingers were working so fast and the result was magically enchanting performance.

The crowd started to boogie-woogie to the tune of the Lluis Coloma.

The way the musicians playing the instrument with each other was like teasing flirtatiously with each other.


Another shot of the dancing crowd, which was really worked out by Lluis Coloma.

Even the Deputy Chief Minister was caught boogie-woogie with the musics! Dr. Chan Hong Nan.

This year there were 2 stages. One was the main stage in the Pavillion. The other one was the outdoor stage on the beach. The band was playing at the intervals of about 15 mins for the instruments change over between performances. It's a good arrangement as it successfully moved the crowd around though. The band's members were from Phillipines, UK and Venezuela.

The crowd on the beach.

The organizers were trying to inject some real jazz elements this year I guess. They brought the Dirty Dozen Brass Band this year and coming from New Orleans, the many-considered birth place of all that jazz and boy, they were GOOD!!! The vibe and the groove were so right and it's fun!!!

Matthias from the previous performance was invited to jam together and it was a blast and such a joy to watch such spontaneous collaboration between musicians.

The guitar player was showing his mettle by playing it using his tongue... yes, his tongue.

God know what else can he do with that tongue!!!!

Matthias certainly stole the hearts of the gals with his good looks and his trumpet.

Notice the water droplets when he blow the trumpet.

The trombone player.

Now the Miri Beyonce came on stage.



She was stealing the limelight of the band with dance move. Some of us who stood in front of the stage taking photos were kinda distracted by her unusual appearance but seems like she really enjoy dancing on stage.

Having said that, that Miri Beyonce really did surprise us when she came back the next night with not just her dance move but she got more to offer and it was quite a shock............

(more to come in 2nd part, the 2nd Day)

Temporary Hiatus

As I will be on a 2-weeks outstation trip back to Sandakan, Lahad Datu and Tawau, I may not be able to update my blog regularly thanks to the dial-up land line speed of 48 Kbps which sometimes may drop to something like 12Kbps (yeah... I know how ridiculous this sounds). Unless if steal some broadband connection in liangmoichiam's business premise, then it will a whole different story altogether.

I still hav a movie review of Paris, Je Taime, my pics and report on the 2nd Miri International Jazz Festival, a book review of The Lonely Planet Story, album review of Chet Lam latest Mandarin and also Sean Ghazi's, all YET to be done.

Anyway, hope you guys enjoy the coming festive and holiday mood, especially for those in Sabah cox HARVEST FESTIVAL is coming!!! KOTOBIAN TADAU DO KAAMATAN!!!

Kaki Buli - A Semi Self-Bio Reminded by Dr. Au

I got a comment from Dr. Au in my Friendster profile. He mentioned something about me bullying him and stuff, which are true.

OK, walking down the memory lane.... Most of my friends, especially those from Sung Siew Primary School knows this, either saw me doing that or told by me myself.

I think it's std 2, which is 8 years old. We had a teacher who teaches Moral Education; she's Ms. Maria Chiang. She's a famous Boy Scout teacher and also famous for her age-defying piggy-tail hairstyle. Our class was very noisy and she suddenly came up with this BRILLIANT IDEA.

"If your friend next to you making noise, go and pulas his/her ear!"

And this poor dr. Au was sitting next to me. So whenever I hear him uttering a single word, I will pulas his ears with all my 8 years-old energy I had haha.....

What happened after that? His mom came one day, I still remembered it's a Friday cox we start our class at 1.30pm and said this to me, "In Cantonese: ha chi nei nao sai yan ge yi cai, ng moi gum dai lik ah.... translated as: next time when u pulas sai yan's ear, please dun be too hard ok?"

Of course I never do that anymore lah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry, Dr. Au. Hope next time you will still give me discount if I ever need your consultation one day! Cheerio!

Happy Mother's Day

Unfazed by the stupidity of some of our elected Parliament representatives, I would like to wish my mom Happy Mother's Day. Your son is OK and celebration for the big day will be next week!!! Sorry for the wait mom!!!

Ultimate Shame

“Batu Gajah pun bocor tiap-tiap bulan pun bocor juga”

That's the insult utterred by the most shamefully-outspoken attention-seeking distinguished MPs of Jasin and Kinabatangan during the Parliament session to the Batu Gajah MP (Fong Po Kuan).

Strangest thing happened:
1. They got off the hook due to technicality issue.
2. Not even ONE I mean NOT EVEN ONE of the women MP of the ruling coalition said ANYTHING!!!!!

I hope the female family members of both the mentioned MPs above read the remark made by them and I am VERY interested to know how they think about that!

Lastly, why Kinabatangan MP can retain his seat for so LONG having committed to long endless act of disrespect is something REALLY puzzles me. And being a Sabahan myself, I can't help but think this is really mempersiasuikan Sabahan.

2nd Miri International Jazz Festival

Great music is equivalent to great sex!!!
(sorry for this post opening credit... gotta solicit your attention!!! oppsss.... is solicit another "bad" word.... - didn't mean to make my blog 18SX but hope some politically-incorrect expressions to be tolerated)

The musics are just the most precious gift to humankind and listening to the way different sorts of musics blend in together is just fantastic!!!

The 1st night was started PUNCTUALLY by the our very own Malaysian David Gomez and the Sextet featuring the vocals of Junji Delfino. Then a peculiar yet mystically-enchating ensemble of traditional Indian music and contemporary jazz piano n trumpet from India and Germany building the climax to the coming-back-for-the-2nd-time Lluis Coloma from Spain and the crowd (of course, me included) MISSED them. Too bad they're leaving today cox I secretly hope that they will play for the finale tonight (sigh~~~). The New Orleans band closed the night with a bang!!!!!

And I regretted that I retired to my own room too early cox the jamming continued on till 5am this morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gosh, I should make myself to the after party!!!

The Global Warming Survival Guide : 51 Things You Can Do to Make a Difference

Since Al Gore managed to gain some attention during the previous Oscar ceremony and his documentary feature won 2 awards in the coveted Hollywood inner circle game, GLOBAL WARMING became a hit word and even rumours were spreading that his documentary The Inconvenient Truth had propelled his chance to seek for candidancy for the next presidential election.

Time Magazine ran an issue on the global warming early April and I only managed to read that edition now though bought it earlier. Below are some of the 51 things that I think I can do. What about you? For the remaining unlisted steps, you can browse http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1604877,00.html

1. Change Your Lightbulb
Change to the CFL (compact fluorescent lightbulb) which use 1/4 the electricity than the conventional incandescent bulb and lasts few years longer. The catch? It cost 3-5 times and the 5mg mercury is a worry for disposal.

2. Take Another Look at Vintage Clothes
Well, if all my clothes were branded stuff then 10 years later, it will be vintage clothes. But the reality is that none of them are so this is not relevant to me. What I can do is to prolong the life of my clothing/apparel. I love my Malaysian-made Power sandal which follows me for about 8 years already and gone through the thick and thin in London, Venice, Firenze, Roma, Siem Reap, Phnom Penh, Saigon and Hanoi.

3. Ride The Bus
OK, I surrender in this point cox in Malaysia I seldom take bus. Oh no... I did take bus in KL (after my car was stolen). However, I don't mind taking bus when I'm not in Malaysia.

4. Open a Window
I prefer natural ventilation than air-cond. My hometown house is non-air-cond hence opening the window is the only way to cool off. The catch? No chance to sleep in nude. :)

5. Pay Your Bills Online
YES. I did this to minimise all the papers. Indeed I did e-filing for my income tax as well.

6. Skip The Steak
I don't like steak as it's a heavy meal though I like "dry fry beef kueh tiao". Meat industry contributes more to the greenhouse gas emission than transportation. Yeah, I know it's quite hard to fathom. BMW causes less global warming than Big Mac? The meat industry emit nitrous oxide in manure (from fertiliser) and methane (the shit/dung lah) which has 23 and 296 times warming effect as great as carbon. Those who loves Kobe beef? Hmm.....

7. Just Say No To Plastic Bags
OK, I will only take minimal plastic bags for my garbage disposal. To avoid excessive intake of plastic bags, I will bring my own bag next time I buy groceries.

8. Shut Off Your Computer
Of course I shut off when I don't use it.

9. Remove The Tie
I don't wear one, how about that?

10. Consume Less, Share More Live Simply
This will be like my new-found resolution. Not easy to do I reckon. Quoting E.F.Schumacher in his book Small Is Beautiful "Amazingly small means leading to extraordinarily satisfying results"

Oh, maybe the last one can be go watch "The Inconvenient Truth"

Updated Siem Reap Post

Many things happened the past week. Time is precious and we should make full use out of it.

Updated the pics and write-up of my Siem Reap trip in April.

Found solace in Chet Lam's latest album. Thanks liangmoi for lending it to me. Bravo Chet!

Cheers.

The Lonely Planet Story

Catching Up With An Old Friend 有朋从远方来 不亦乐乎

She's Min Min, my university coursemate in USM. From Penang, she was in KK during the end Apr-early May holiday and the pic above taken in Gayang Seafood Centre where we had a sumptuous dinner hmm....yummy.... It's glad to catch up with her as we didn't meet each other for quite some time already after graduating. Oh... tat's scary as it was almost 5 years ago!!!

Glad that she's happy in her life and she's gonna go to Hanoi!!!! Speaking of which liangmoi chiam and mavis will go to Hanoi end of May as well!!! And they gonna go to Sapa which I missed during my last trip, having to choose between Sapa and Ha Long Bay (which I selected the latter). Anyway, like Siem Reap, hasta la vista I will be back!!!

Speaking of old university coursemate, wondering if the old man has come back or not! Hey, OLD MAN!!! If you are reading my blog (which he once did....), do drop some news OK? If not, I will do a post of you and post some scarily old pics of yours here though I think it will seriously affect the readership of my blog.