is it true?

Men who are still single in their 30s .... are losers
Women who are still single in their 30s ... they couldn't find a man who could keep up

Look around you ... is it true?

Better than TVB series...........anytime (2)

Just too tempted to add a sequel to this post ... just too many more to add ...

How could we miss out the following:
- LOST ... the best series that I've seen so far. To fully enjoy it, you'll have to start from season 1, eps 1. People who didn't like it, listen - you have not been watching all the eps !!! Mind you, this is not some ridiculous TVB/Korean crap that you can follow even after skipping 10 eps.

- CSI ... ok, might have been overrated but hey, they didn't get to be the most popular show in the world for no reason

- Nip Tuck ... hhmm, ever wondered why there's an MJ look-alike dude in this plastic surgery themed series? ;)

- House MD ... another doctor's show. I'd say there is enough intelligent substance in there to keep you interested

- Travel Spies ... It's hillarious how they managed to convince the manager to let them perform a ritual in this hotel's lobby, in one of the eps.

- good ol' Ripley's ... always enjoyed it.

- the fillers ... Friends, Dharma&Greg, Will&Grace

Of course not forgetting those that we grew up with:

- X files ... you know you're a geek when ...

- 90210 ... yeah, i know ... gosh, what was I thinking !

- MacGyver, The Misfits (or something like that) ... now i'm embarrased and I shall stop here.

Better than TVB series...........anytime

I fear the Hongkong movie and tv industry has failed me over and over again for years, resulting in me not watching any TVB series for the longest time. I can vaguely pinpoint which HK movie is notable enough to be mentioned....perhaps maybe only Stephen Chow's Kungfu Hustle. With a wave of reality shows aired daily..there is really no reason to watch HK-based movies/series anymore. Just a while ago, a friend of mine just newly discovered 24, and he said it made him realize how crappy TVB series are. I mean..the actors and actresses are shuffled in many series, so u may see the same actors/actresses in a few NEW series. And comparatively, TVB series are produced on a low budget basis, which means cheap props (or no props), same repeated locations in HK (up to a point you can even see the same mansion being used over and over again for different series), bad costume/fashion styling and lousy dialogues due to cheap scripts. In view that I am Chinese, I should really be supporting the HK movie industry, but heck, I'm no saint. For I've found many interesting, intriguing series to keep me occupied the whole week...and every week.....Checkout this list
1) Rockstar Supernova (think readers are beginning to see I'm addicted to this) -2nd season
2) Grey's Anatomy
3) National Geographic - No Borders
4) Fine Living Channel- Made to Order
5) Queer Eye for the Straight Guy
6) 24- season 5 available now!
7) Project Runway - Malaysia still stuck at Season 2 (I know Chloe Dao won!yay)
8) America's Next Top Supermodel - (no..its not the Sports Illustrated one)
9) Oliver's Twist
10) Globe Trekker- has to be Ian Wright's...too funny
11) Travel Channel-Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations
12) Sex and the City, Desperate Housewives...well those kind..

And if those aren't available..there's always those tv sitcoms...give me Seinfeld anytime.

PS: For food enthusiasts, pls visit madetoorder to see what's Made to Order is all about....

Rockstar Supernova-Continued...

Week5 - one of the best performance by Storm Large, doing Changes-David Bowie.

Southern KL Waste Transfer Station ($KLT$)

Anyone who lives in the vicinity of these areas; Bukit Jalil, Bandar Puchong, Bandar Kinrara, OUG, have much cause to worry. If you don’t already know, there have been plans to build a “Solid Waste Transfer Centre” right where so many thousands of people have built their homes. That’s right. You have not read this wrong. The residents who live near this Waste Station, will have to live with the stench and breathe in the polluted air (carcinogen from the fumes?), have garbage trucks drive past their homes and as if the traffic is not bad enough already! What I don’t understand is why the “powers to be” decided to place this station right at the heart of a densely populated RESIDENTIAL area. Common sense will tell any “thinking” person that there will be a magnitude of possible problems; health being a glaringly obvious one. So, why? Is it because the persons who make these decisions are not staying in these areas themselves or perhaps they have no relations living anywhere near? Typical, isn’t it? Maybe they have been misguided into thinking that there is nothing critically worrying as technology will ensure that the stench is kept at bay, transportation will improve..blah blah blah.. But we know that a third world country such as ours can sometimes fail in ENSURING and MAINTAINING quality of the very technology we have paid millions for, rite? If I had to be crude, I’d say they are just plain stupid and will most likely have to face the wrath of these residents and not to mention the silent curses (those who are less crude) on them and on their future generations to come. Hmmph! Let’s be honest here. Everyone knows these areas are in fact a particularly-not-preferred-race-dominant area. I don’t mean to incite any politically sensitive issues here but if such things are done, such thoughts will come to an everyday citizen like myself. Frankly, I am appalled but also somewhat numbed. It’s no longer that SHOCKING. Anything can happen in Boleh-land.

Anyhow, for those who are curious and may even have interest to sign the online petition, please do visit this website: http://www.no-sampah.com. There has been recent verbal announcements of scrapping this abominable project, but you never know in Boleh-land. Thanks.

Google Earth

Am I the only one who doesn't know about Google Earth..well, apparently it has been around since 2004 but was previously known as Earth Viewer. For the geographically challenged like myself, I love Google Earth....especially when you're reading the news...I remember asking my colleagues where was East Timor (there were riots at that time), nobody knew or cared actually...well, now I dont need to ask anymore..just Google the street name/place/city/country/ and Google Earth takes you to a journey!

Love is.....

second date

if you don't kiss the girl on a first date, you're a gentleman ....
if you don't kiss the girl on the second date, you're gay ....

Keane-My latest music dig

Courtesy from my friend Sam, ever resourceful, this is a wonderful band! They are an English Piano Rock band from England...one of a kind i think...no guitar shit at all. And the leadsinger's (Tom Chaplin) calming voice compliments well with the piano. One of those bands that you just don't get tired listening to. They were more famously known for "Somewhere Only We Know" and "This is the Last Time", but checkout their other songs, "We Might As Well be Strangers"....the pianoworks are incredible and "Can't Stop Know" and "Bend and Break". It's really refreshing and wonderful how they've infused piano with indie rock......I believe there's more to be expected from this band....Stay Tuned!

Recommended album: start with Hopes and Fears album....

it's a small small world..

Six degrees of separation is the hypothesis that anyone on Earth can be connected to any other person on the planet through a chain of acquaintances with no more than five intermediaries. -courtesy of Wikipedia.

good grief.. and I thought my social circle was small.. small enough at least.. damn

Sometimes in April....

A good movie to start off with before watching Hotel Rwanda. Hotel Rwanda is of a much bigger scale but the impact from Sometimes in April is just as powerful. The name implies the Rwandan Genocide that took place in April 1994, where an estimated 1 million people were killed in 100 days. The movie implores the failure of humanity and the despair of the Tutsis when they were killed in masses by the Hutus. The movie also shows of how the UN reacted to the situation, wherehumanity was put aside merely because Rwanda has no whatsoever political benefits. One cannot help but think what if this happened in Malaysia, what if it happened to the Chinese Malaysian, afterall it's always something trivial that is used as an excuse to trigger something like that. Look at World War 1, that started because of the assassination of the heir to the Austrian throne in Sarajevo.
I must say this movie is not a comfortable watch...but it does makes you stop and ponder...what to do if the same thing happened in Malaysia? Time to start on a contingency plan for no one knows for sure what tomorrow brings.

oily chinese

Why do people associate 'chinese' with 'oily' ? ... Be it human face oily or chinese food oily? :)

TO DIE FOR

It used to be only available at Starbucks....now you can get this everywhere...I get my daily dose at the supermart near my house called Sri Kota (yar..it's a branch of that dirty Sri Kota in Brickfields)..for RM4.30!!! Grab one today...you won't regret it!

Farewells...do we really mean it?

It's a week of farewells at work, with 2 colleagues leaving for yet better hellholes. And it got me thinking....
1) Why are we giving farewells when those colleagues are leaving for better job with of course better salary (or else they wouldnt have left)? We should be CELEBRATING and those who are leaving should be buying US ...and not the other way round! Think about it, you give false congratulatory remarks..when deep down you're wishing you're the one leaving..hahaha..and cursing the guy's luck thinking you're WAY more qualified than him.
2) DO we need to give farewells for colleagues you are not close to? I mean...you and her/him never hung out together BEFORE he/she resigned...so now you have to attend his farewell party? Doesnt make sense...does it matter if you attended or not? Would he/she even NOTICE if you weren't there? And if you weren't there, do you care if he/she is gonna be offended?...afterall, you're never gonna EVER see him again.....hehe
3) And if you were close to the person leaving, is a farewell then necessary? Are you gonna cut friendship ties just because he/she is leaving the company? If so, what does that maketh of your friendship with him/her? SO friendships made at work are ingenuine?? You leave the company and we're no longer friends...our friendship expires here......! Makes you really ponder WHO in your company are JUST COLLEAGUES and who are FRIENDS...
4) I always thought farewells are like funerals ...not a fan of it...but more recently I just think of it as an excuse to 'makan" and get together.

Well..I dont usually bid farewells...or wish them better luck..blah blah...say it when you mean it. and mean it when you say it.. I think farewells are really for saying goodbyes to the dead..coz you're NEVER gonna see them again (in human form anyway). The rest of y'all leaving this rathole, well...you're leaving for a better place...so you're not getting a farewell treat from me!

What did you say again?????

WE seriously need to review the way we Malaysians communicate!! The way we speak, influenced by Malay, Hukkien, Cantonese, Tamil language, has somewhat evolved to some rojak language that I can't quite grasp anymore. I used to think our language is unique..one in a million...now I think we were just fooling ourselves, because even if we were multi-lingual , we most certainly are not living in "harmony" as most travelogues would say.

I had a meeting yesterday with my suppliers that comprises of a Malay, a Mamak and my colleague who was a Malay. We had a coffee session, and I swear, I only understood probably 40% of the conversation, and most of the time, I was giving very general comment like "Oh, yar, yar....", " Oh really?"... And, we were all speaking in a common language, Malay. Even I made an effort to converse in Malay. Throughout the conversation, I fine myself zoning out and wondering if this was caused by bad conversation skills or by the rojak language the Malaysians created........

In much contrast, I came upon this group of well English speakers in the TESOL class I'm undertaking. I mean, they're really good, some are teaching English in International Schools so go figure! The lecturer encourages constant interaction among the students, and there was a live and animatic discussion. But, even so, even with that kind of fluency, there was one particular lady who kept missing the point in ALL our discussions. And mind you, in this class, everyone's expected to speak proper English, so we weren't exactly speaking Manglish. And then there was one who was a teacher but he uses the BIG vocabulary in the wrong context...and this guy is supposed to be an English teacher!!! Have mercy on his poor don't-know-better students!

So, it's definitely time to review and re-evaluate the way we speak. Is it the language we are using? Is it our inability to decipher and analyze when in a robust conversation? Is it the lack of general knowledge? Until we are able to pinpoint at least our own flaws, we Malaysians may never make it to the "international" scene to discuss "properly" with the *big boys*.

Is it wrong ...

Is it wrong to be in a conversation thinking, gosh these people have such ridiculous mindset on the topic, you don't even feel like joining in & explaining your point of view because you think they won't 'get it'?

Is it wrong to feel that some people need to get out and see the world? - yes I'm judging people by their lack of exposure to other cultures.

Is it wrong to judge people just by the topic of their daily conversations?

Is it wrong to be judgemental at all? Well, we hear 'thou shalt not be judgemental' all the time. But realistically, who doesn't judge? At the back of our head somewhere, somehow we are judgemental ALL THE TIME. Racism, sexism and the like exist everywhere. One cannot claim that he/she is 100% non racist or non judgemental because such person does not exist in this world. One who exerts this ridiculous claim of course is subject to being judged by moi :). Indeed everyone tries to be less racist or judgemental and thus one can only be measured by the severity level, thats all.

Is it wrong to choose your friends? Again, we are 'suppose' to treat everyone equally as friends. But that doesn't happen in this world! Everyone chooses their friends/gang/clique whatever you call it all the time. Is it wrong to have no interest in hanging out with a certain group of people? You will be branded as arrogant/stuckup/cocky and the like IF-AND-ONLY-IF you admit it. But the fact is, everyone does it all the time but by not admitting it and be politically correct about it, they're saved from being labeled. Have you ever heard someone say 'I don't wanna hang out with him because he's dumb'. I have. I know it's not the nicest thing to say, but hey I'd give him credit for having the guts to say it out. I'd prefer someone who's blunt on facts than otherwise.

Is it wrong to label something as 'This is soo Malaysian'? Unfortunately, in the Malaysian work scene, people still stick in groups and talk about people and engage in meaningless conversations. And yes, this is 'sooo Malaysian'. Maybe I'm just too cocky to find value in joining the crowd, maybe I'm the one who just don't get it ...

Best Slogans..

It's fascinating when you think about all the wonderful and most celebrated ad campaigns have done over the century..and here i've picked some of the best slogans...
1) The Power of Dreams- Honda
2) I'm Loving It!- McDonalds
3) Just Do It- Nike
4) The World's Local Bank- HSBC
5) BMW- The Ultimate Driving Machine 6) Diamonds are Forever- Debeers
7) M'm M'm Good- Campbell's
8) Let Your Fingers Do the Walking- Yellow Pages
9) M'&Ms melts in your mouth, not in your hand -M&M
10) Connecting people- Nokia
11) Think Different- Apple
12) 1,000 songs in your pocket- IPOD Nano
13) Every little helps. - Tesco
14) Screw yourself. —IKEA
15) The World On Time — FedEx
16) Shift_xxx— Nissan ; where "xxx" varies
17) We're number two. We try harder. — Avis
18) Buy it. Sell it. Love it. — eBay
19) Invent- Hewlett Packard

Mentality

I came across once again, the Evidence, of the typical degenerate mind of certain Malaysians. This time around, the person is supposed to be an Educationist.. the Bearer of Knowledge.. of our country.

Anyone went for the recent Postgradasia Fair which was held from 14th to 15th July, just last weekend? Were you as unfortunate as I was to have only managed to attend the last talk, which was on what one of our LOCAL UNIVERSITY is all about and its postgraduate offerings? If you did, much heartfelt pity for you. If anything, the talk has affirmed my conviction that so MUCH of our tax money is going to complete WASTE.

What seemed to be the focus of the talk was the speakers’ REPEATED adulation for foreign university professors. Over-glorification of everything foreign, how far superior foreign universities’ courses are, their valued comments, their state-of-the-art resources; I think I’ve painted a clear picture. While I am in agreement that foreign universities are certainly top-notch and that they deserve to be so highly ranked due to their commitment to education, their unmistakable dedication, and yes, I have full confidence that it would do us a great deal of good to learn from them, it does not particularly sit well with me that the speaker seem to adore quoting foreign lecturers, the comments they make. I can’t believe we have to get the foreign universities to FORMULATE the courses for this local Uni. Shouldn’t this have been the local professors’ duty? And should this not have been the rightful outcome after they have spent hours (& plenty $$$) VISITING foreign establishments to determine the best education system to emulate (if we are so crippled in designing our own system)? Call me crazy but this is a form of kow-towing for me. If this is where we’re headed, we might as well not have fought for MERDEKA! Are our educationists so inferior that they are UNABLE to form opinions and comments of their own that they need to quote others? One or two mentions is forgivable, but more than that shows the terrible state the education system is in; that among the many fine educationists in Malaysia, are some who are incapable of developing their own thoughts. How can we en-task such persons to educate the brains of Malaysia? And we talk about VISION 2020? No wonder the ‘brain-drain’ syndrome afflicts us..

It makes me laugh that the speaker can mention that the library is modeled after some top foreign university’s library. Is that important? The point that is clearly being missed is that if we have resources that can match the greats, why are we NOT as outstanding as them in academia? All that money spent on housing 500,000 books, and buying those 500,000 books.. goodness, can u imagine how much ALL THAT would have costs?

If you want quality, if you want to be able to stand at par with foreign universities, then it is time to abolish the QUOTA system and have truly deserving students maximize the potential of a 500,000 volume library. After all, plenty of good students are whisked away from the island down south and we hear of so many news of Malaysians doing well in foreign universities. Abolish academia-racism, and perhaps one day we can whole-heartedly shout “Malaysia Boleh” in a more deserving context..

what a storyteller..

If you think you’re possibly the UNLUCKIEST person on earth, how you must have the worst job in the world, or that you have the most unfortunate childhood ever.. I strongly recommend that you read these 2 books, which were true accounts of the life of the writer, Frank McCourt:-

1. Angela’s Ashes
2. ‘Tis

He was Irish. You might wonder how an Asian person could possibly relate to him. But it is the way he tells it. So honest and direct. It is so devoid of any self-pity and at times even ground-shakingly hilarious that makes his books so interesting. But please be fore-warned that it can also be so heart-wrenching that you can't help but shed a tear for him. Such page turners they both were that even when I was supposed to be concentrating on whatever I should be doing, I found myself thinking of the lines in his books.

I hate to spoil your experience, should you decide to read them, but let me share with you the very start of the book that got me instantly hooked..
“When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I managed to survive at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood." – excerpt from Angela’s Ashes

Happy reading..

What I miss ...

I miss walking in the snow on a clear moonlit night by the canal. It's a quiet christmas night. The streets are empty and silent. Yellow street lights lit the path and christmas lights lined the homes. Christmas trees are displayed proudly by the windows. I could hear a faint christmas tune coming from one of the homes. The air is crisp. It's only -18C, perfect for a walk. As the xmas tune fades, came an all too familiar sound of shoveling. Ah, the perfect time to shovel the driveway - while the snow is still fresh & soft. For me, this is the best time for a walk. So peaceful, so very comfortable as I stroll along snug in my winter jacket, scarf, hat and oh so warm gloves. There's a green flag by the canal, indicating that the ice is safe for skaters. There are couples, kids, even babies comfortably secured in sledges pulled by mummy & daddy. A fine winter night will not be complete without a Killaloe Sunrise BeaverTail pitt stop + a warm hot choc or Kettlemann's sesame bagel with homemade blueberry cream cheese.

This is what I miss ...