Been contemplating my nanowrimo story line these few days. Which got me thinking about common storylines found in books, movies, plays, games and TV shows. They are always the same, whether it was made 50 years ago or yesterday. There is a saying that all over the world in any culture, there are about 10 or so folk tale story lines, and it’s they are all pretty similar across different cultures and country. Anyway, we don’t have to look far. Hollywood recycles the crap plotlines over and over again. Here’s a few. These may or may not feature in Simon’s Nanowrimo novel. Boy meets girl. Boy loses girl. Boy wins…

Yeah, so I braved the traffic jam to get to 1 Utama MPH last night (the traffic wasn’t half bad) to attend the first Malaysian nanowrimo meet-up. It turned out to be quite a fun event, actually, got to finally meet up with Sharon, who gave a good intro about the history of nano-ing. Some bloggers were there, finally had a chance to say hi to minishorts and eyeris, and quite a few other nano-ers. i learnt a few things last night: I’m NOT the only one who does not have a plot ready yet… (phew!) 50,000 words IS A LOT of words! An average posting on my blog is…

My calendar tells me there’s one more week to Hari Raya. No, I don’t have one of those talking calendars, it’s just a figure of speech. Anyways, for those of you who are not Malaysians (yeah, like any of THOSE people read this blog…) Hari Raya is the local name for Aidil Fitri, the biggest celebration for Muslims. And it’s the biggest holiday stretch in Malaysia. Double it up with Deepavali (the Hindu Festival of Lights) just two days before, you have the biggest human exodus in the country. Bigger than Chinese New Year (for the benefit of non-Malaysians, it’s… oh, never mind…) These few days the traffic has been…

I’ve seen it around PPS before, but never really knew what the heck it was about. Until my friend Pat called me and harassed encouraged me to join. So I went home and read about it in the papers. Very interesting, i thought, then i checked out Bibliobibuli‘s blog, coz I remember reading something about it there. And guess what, I decided to join nanowrimo 2005! The project is to get people to write a 50,000-word novel in the 30 days of November. There are no prizes, no strict rules or no pre-qualifications. They just want to encourage people to start writing. For the lowdown, you can check out the…

Top Ten Signs You’re Not Getting That Promotion You Were Hoping For by Simon (who hasn’t been promoted for years) The tea lady and the despatch boy have more company benefits than you. You’ve been working there for 3 years now, they still haven’t confirmed you. Whenever you ask your boss about your promotion, he laughs hysterically until tears stream down his face. They moved your parking space right next to the refuse chamber. You come back to work after a long weekend, and find your boss has forgotten your name. After working there for two years, the company organization chart still shows your position as ‘t.b.a.’. Come the company…

These days there are too many nutjobs and gila people out there, so it’s always good to be extra cautious. You never know your best friend or boyfriend, who is always so mild mannered, soft spoken, drinks Cherry Coke can be a secret maniacal serial murderer… Top Ten Signs Your Boyfriend is Actually Psychopath Murderer He watches House, Medical Investigation, CSI, CSI:Miami, CSI:Bukit Lanjan religiously every week. And takes notes. Every morning at 4a.m. he has to stand out in the cornfields for two hours “to communicate with the mothership”. His dog is named Charlie Manson. He eats meat curry everyday. Chicken meat curry, mutton curry, beef curry, exotic meat…

Top Three Things Guys GET for their Birthday: A Polo shirt. A necktie. Car refreshener. Top Three Things Guys WANT for their Birthday: Motorola RAZR v3 Xbox 360 A crate of beer, Doritos and uninterrupted EPL viewing. Top Three Things Girls GET for their Birthday: Chocolates. Lingerie (they get this from boyfriends AND girlfriends) Teddy bears. Top Three Things Girls WANT for their Birthday: Your time. Your attention. Your understanding. Top Three Excuses Guys give when they are late: “Sorry, traffic jam.” “Sorry, had to work late.” “Sorry, mumblemumblemumble” (the last bit is unimportant, they only want to hear the first word…) Top Three Excuses Girl give when they are…

Please Note: Simon is NOT speaking from EXPERIENCE. He just watches too much TV. Top Ten Ways To Break Up with your Boyfriend/Girlfriend “You know people tend to change when their relationships grows over time…? Well, in the 4 days we’ve been going out…” “Kyle, at first I thought it was cool that we both like Tom Cruise and the Backstreet Boys. But after I found out about your obsession with the Village People and Freddie Mercury, I started getting worried…” “I read you blog today, Joe. How can you say that? It’s over between us.” “Look, Sarah, at first I thought me dressing up as Jabba the Hutt and…

Datin Seri Endon Mahmood, wife to our Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, has passed on this morning. My deepest condolences to Pak Lah and family. The nation mourns for this great loss. Malaysian bloggers have begun to fill PPS with their condolences. As a mark of respect, there will be no postings on simontalks.com for the rest of the day. Other news: Jeff Ooi Reuters UK ABC News International Volumes of Interaction

Simon is kicking a new series of Celebrity Interviews. Today I thought we might look at two of the most annoying kiddie TV stars, Mickey Mouse against Barney. OK, fine, Mickey isn’t annoying, only the purple dinosaur is. OK, let’s go. Interviewer: OK, both of you, why do you think you are so inconceivably popular? Mickey – Ha! That’s because I’m the epitome of good, clean, Disney fun and parents all approve of me. Barney – Well, now. I teach children how to have good manners and sing nice songs they can repeat all day. Interviewer: Yes, but do you know that by doing so, you are also unbelievably annoying…