Project Happy Malaysia – This One Very Good Story

I’m not one for happy stories, but it’s Malaysia’s National Day, so just humour me.

For the uninitiated, there are 3 major races in Malaysia – the Tour Le Langkawi, the Malay Mail Big Walk and… okay, okay. The three races are Malays, Chinese and Indians. If you’re a Malaysian and not of those 3 races (‘none of the above‘), there’s an term for you – ‘others‘ (in Malay, it’s ‘lain-lain‘), This will include Eurasians, Caucasians, illegal migrant workers who refuse to go home and Amway salespeople.

Okay, happy story. Happy story.

Not resorting to Sang Kancil fairytales or humourous anecdotes about former Prime Ministers, it’s happy stories that make our nation great.

Singaporeans have their legendary Merlion coming out of the ocean, we have actual bodies of mermaids put on display in museums.

Indonesians have their Inul Whats-her-name with her sensual ‘gerudi’ dancing, we have Siti Nurhaliza in a RM22,222 wedding dress, serenaded to by Too Phat.

Brunei has their vast riches of minyak (petroleum), we have our infamous ‘orang minyak’.

Philipines are famous for their Filipino maids and good pub singers, we have our equally powerful armada of Mat Rempits and Ah Beng racerboys with their souped up VTEC Civics burning down the KESAS at midnight.

Thailand has their many pretty women including a former Miss Universe, and their glamourous ladyboys, but no one, I mean NO ONE, can beat watching Dee and Moon do that snobbish Datin routine on TV. (Okay, I’ll have to admit, that was like 10 years ago).

I’ll get to my story. Okay fine, I don’t really have a good story. But everyday life in Malaysia is a happy story. Happy because there aren’t earthquakes or bombings, I can eat my roti canai in peace at the mamak. All at a very cheap RM2.20 for a complete breakfast.

Happy National Day, Malaysia. To all Malaysians, if you don’t remember anything from this Happy Story ™, remember this – don’t pee into the wind be proud to be a Malaysian everyday of the year, even if the other 364 days you don’t get a public holiday for it. Or something to that effect.

(If you want to read ACTUAL happy Malaysia stories, or just find out the context of this post, check out here.)

Technorati Tags: malaysia, merdeka

Top Ten Things Overheard During Siti and Datuk K’s Wedding

Okay, okay, last Siti post, I promise. For this week. No seriously, I was watching the wedding event of the year (after failing to gatecrash the wedding at KLCC in the evening)… aside from the fact this was the longest I’ve watched local TV, and appalled at how drab the colour on TV3’s transmission was, it was quite a grand event, looked like the who’s who of Malaysian royalty and entertainment industry was there, and a few Indonesian stars thrown in…

• “Pakcik, ini majlis kenduri salah lah, pakcik. Kenduri kahwin ‘Joe & Iza‘ depan lagi, dekat Kampung Ampang Dalam, ikut sana jalan terus. Ini KLCC, kenduri kahwin Datuk K dan Datin Siti…”
• “Okay, hall decorations, I’m guessing somewhere between RM45k to RM50k. Or higher. What do you think? Okay let’s guess the price of her catering…”
• “Must go back early tonight. I don’t want to miss the repeat of the Mawi-Ina showdown on TV tonight…! I wonder when is Siti going to cut the cake.”
• “Alamak, how come our table so far at the back one ah? See, Datuk P and his wife are sitting so near to the front! I can’t believe this!!!”
• “You wouldn’t believe the jam at the Kampung Pandan roundabout coming here just now…! I asked for outrider escort, but they couldn’t get me one… Took me 45 minutes just to go the 1km…!!!! Some more first day back to school!”
• “Hai, engkau tengok meja depan tu? Nampak Datuk S tak? Yang sebelah dia tu isteri ke berapa tu? Isteri ketiga ke tu?”
• “Hah, can you believe I was just here 3 weeks ago during the PC Fair?! Right at this spot buying my DVD writer! Hahaha!”
• “Oh my gawd, did you check out the size of the bling bling on Siti’s finger?! I nearly got blinded by the flash from the diamond!”
• “I say man, this wedding got to ‘yam seng‘ one ah?”
• “The third table from the front there… the chick in pink… is that Camelia? No, wait, I think its Amelina… or is it Farah?”

Technorati Tags: Siti, Siti Nurhaliza, Datuk K, kahwin, kenduri, KLCC, Malaysia

Apparently, The Merdeka Football Tournament Is Back On

A few days ago, while flipping through the sports pages in our local newspapers, in between the big articles (with huge headlines) of the ‘in‘ sports like English football, Formula One and pro tennis, I saw a minuscule write-up about the Merdeka Football Tournament currently held somewhere in KL.

Wow, I didn’t even know they brought this tournament after so many years. I remember the last few years they held the tournament (late 80′s? Early 90′s?) the attendance was so poor the organizers made a loss. The report mentioned that the match attracted a respectable crowd of 20,000, which is quite good considering anyone with Astro can watch world class EPL football as an alternative. Plus, this match in KL was played in about an inch of rainwater, so I’m thinking Brazilian-style free-flowing samba football may not be on show there.

Back in the 70’s, I vaguely remember the Pestabola Merdeka (as it was called then) was THE premier regional invitational football competition in Southeast Asia, where they could attract top teams like Burma (Myanmar), Thailand and Asian teams like South Korea (which Malaysia could regularly beat back then) and Japan.

I won’t go into the whole Malaysian-football-was-so-good-then thing here, but this was the team that qualified for the Moscow Olympics in 1980 (but ultimately didn’t go, ask your parents why). Then in the 80’s, the organizers starting inviting European and South American B clubs, in addition to African nations. Of course Malaysia couldn’t dream of bringing the likes top clubs here, but the introduction of these unknown club teams sort of made the tournament lose its luster a bit, it also coincided with the decline of the national team.

At that time, the FAM introduce the Malaysian Tigers, which was a youth team (I think it was U-23) to expose younger players to international football. I remember the format of Pestabola Merdeka was that there were 2 groups of 4 teams each, with a cross over semifinals. The two national teams were separated in the two groups, but I remember that most of the time both teams would finish in 3rd place in their respective groups!

Looking at the papers today, it looks like they’ve kept the tournament to a modest single group of 4 teams, with neighbouring teams making up the numbers. These days, the AFF Tiger Cup is undoubtedly the premier regional footie tournament, followed by the SEA Games football.

The revived Merdeka Tournament may help a bit in improving our 148th placing in the FIFA rankings (or make it worse, I dunno), but for those who remember the old version, it reminds us why local football is fighting a losing battle against cable sports, EPL, the Internet and a lack of talent.

Technorati Tags: Merdeka, Malaysia, football, bolasepak, Pestabola Merdeka, FAM, Merdeka tournament

Top Ten Cliches in Japanese Anime

I’ve been watcing lots of anime recently. I’m somewhat a late bloomer, plus the fact I prefer to watch them slowly, like two or three episodes per week (mainly to make sure they last longer), unlike some people who can finish a DVD season in two day marathon…

I’ve always wanted to blog about the anime I watch, just like Silencers or Dustyhawk, but never got round to doing it, i suppose this’ll be a good way to start.

Top Ten Cliches in Japanese Anime

• The eyes. The big, shimmering eyes. That has got to be the top anime cliche.
• The coloured hair. Pink, purple, blue, green, white (popular for villains) and any other colour on the animators’ palette. Funny considering 99% of Japs (like most other Malaysians) have natural jet black hair.
• One in ten girl characters have cat ears or small horns. But still exhibiting full human characteristics (more or less). Unless it’s Felicia on Darkstalkers, who has bat wings for ears…
• 9 out of 10 girls in the show have bodies like supermodels with 42DD bustlines. And 23-inch waists. Normally proportionately drawn bodies are reserved for mothers, bystanders, khe-le-fehs and shop assistants.
• The angsty, moody anti-hero with the mysterious past (usually involving death of parents). Also usually with a secret power or skill with super-large weapons.
• And his name is usually some bombastic neo-ancient-European-cum-Tolkienesque moniker like Edward Stormbreaker or Zidane Gunblade. Or something like that.
• If the hero travels in a ensemble group, they usually consist of the following: the abovesaid anti-hero, cheerful pretty girl with useful superpower, another dark, morbid beautiful girl with secret past, huge giant (usually pretty dumb) ‘muscle’ character usually with one defining characteristic (dirty-minded, obsessed with food, etc) and one talking pet for comic relief.
• The usual Japanese cliches – flashing the ‘V’ sign with a big grin, the huge sweat drop, the giant screaming head with throbbing vein, strange Japanese words appearing around the character when he or she is either feeling embarassed or cute, etc.
• This one I like – the slo-mo fight scene with the ‘stationery‘ characters and moving lines around them. And the characters shouting out the names of the ‘super moves‘ before they strike. That’s like, giving due warning to your opponent, isn’t it?
• The big stupid evil henchmen. With bodies like Mr. Universe. But gets beaten to a pulp by girl heroine. Without breaking a sweat.

Update: At the moment, I’m halfway through FMA, NGE and GitS. Like i said, late bloomer.

Technorati Tags: Animax, anime, Japanese, cartoon, Japan, Fullmetal Alchemist, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Ghost in the Shell

Siti Nurhaliza, Now a.k.a Datin Siti

Ladies and gentlemen, the biggest story in Malaysia for the week (and month and year), is not the haze, not any political spat, not petrol prices, but this:

(pic swiped from utusan.com.my. Apologies.)

Congratulations to Cik Siti Nurhaliza, or should we call her Datin K, or is it Datin Siti? Back home, my Malay neighbours always say the school holidays are the best time to have kenduri kahwin. That when we put up the zinc roof (dulu where got canvas canopy one), block off the road, use the house compound to make huge pots of nasi minyak, rendang and the kids will run riot the whole weekend. And my favourite is sirap bandung.

I’m guessing this wedding is a little different. Although I wasn’t invited (Siti, did my gold-edged card get lost in the mail? Takkan adik tak ingat abang Simon lagi, Siti…?)

I’m not sure if they gave out those coconut candy like in the old days, though.

Technorati Tags: Siti Nurhaliza, Datin K, kahwin, kenduri,

Plans For National Day

National Day is in, like 10 days or so. Everybody is like getting excited over it. Me, I’m more excited in getting a public holiday. I’m as patriotic as the next guy, but I’m too overworked and tired over the past few weeks to think of anything else. Blame my lack of enthusiasm on my employers for overworking me.

How to tell National Day is coming:

• Look at your table calendar. One of the days says ‘National Day’.
• Taxis with 165 state and national flags stuck on the roof.
• Wira-lutions on the road with flags draped on the front bonnet. Not advisable for cars with tendencies to overheating. Like mine.
• Companies start advertising funny ‘Merdeka Sales’ to cash in because they think people associate our National Day with spending money and fueling the economy.
• Bloggers start using the annually-used term “berbelog”.

So what am I going to do on that day? I dunno. Some of the bloggers are planning something for us to do on that day. I’d love to participate, let’s see what happens. Whether that takes off or not, I can safely tell you what I WILL be doing:

• Stay up late on the night before for DVD marathon.
• Wake up late on the day itself and eat whatever junk food I can find in the house for a nutritious breakfast.
• Go for brunch.
• Continue movie marathon. If I run out DVDs, Astro will have to do. But there’s nothing really good to watch on daytime Astro. But on that day I heard Animax is going live.
• Sleep off the rest of the day.
• Wake up, go jogging.
• Bathe, dinner, then the usual stuff.

Also known as how to vegetate the whole of your public holiday off with unproductive stuff.

Technorati Tags: Merdeka, Malaysia, blogging, National Day, belog, DVD, Animax

Top Ten Ways To Make Extra Money When There Are Two More Weeks To Payday

Payday is not for another 2 weeks, and I’m already broke. Blame it on PC Fair. Some more school holidays coming. What to do, what to do? Ever thought of some stopgap measures to make a few bucks…?

Top Ten Ways To Make Extra Money When There Are Two More Weeks To Payday

• Collect the old newspapers from your office and sell them when the old newspaper van comes to your house. Hey, every dollar goes a long way.
• You know how you never watch again all those hundreds of old DVDs and CDs you have around the house? Sell them. Open a wooden table outside the mamak at night and recoup some serious money. But watch out for cops.
• Raid your parent’s storeroom for old vinyl records and 60’s paraphernalia. Then sell them off eBay. Don’t tell them about it, or you’ll never hear the end of it.
• “Uncle, uncle, job week. Want me to cut your grass for RM15? Very cheap!”
• Don’t shower or shave or shampoo until payday. You’ll save lots of money. Besides people will give you lots of personal space too.
• Make a jug of lemonade and open a stall by the roadside. 10sen per glass. Just like in Peanut or Calvin & Hobbes. Just don’t drink it up all yourself.
• Start an Internet chain mail scam. Send an e-mail with a message like ‘Send RM10 to me (give address) and you will be happy. Send this to 10 of your friends.” See? Nothing illegal, unlike those African scams you get everyday. There’s a sucker born every minute, so you’ll stand a good chance to receive a few facts.
• This one sure make money one. Very simple. Buy face masks by bulk and sell them to passers-by and bikers at a busy intersection. The haze will make sure you sell bucketloads.
• Set up a table, umbrella and typewriter outside the government department and charge old uncles and aunties RM2 to fill out their forms for them. Just like in the old days.
• “Eh, boss. How much you want to bet that I can swallow that dead mosquito? RM20? Bet la…”

What I Bought At The PIKOM PC Fair

I don’t usually buy stuff at the huge PC fairs – whether its Microfest or the PIKOM one, I only browse through on the first day (when the crowd is not so gila yet) to check out the latest gadgets and models available on offer.

Actually, for some reasons, I’m more partial to Microfest than PC Fair, probably I’ve been used to go to Microfest in the early years, when they used to have it at the PJ Civic Centre (and they had those free movie screenings and game competitions).

But anyway, I bought something at the PC Fair last weekend. I didn’t actually GO to the fair at the KL Convention Centre, but I my friend got it for me, he was working with one of the exhibitors. It’s a DVD writer, LG GSA-E10N. The official product description on the box is “16x External Super Multi DVD/CD Rewriter” (Why Super Multi? Is there another version called Normal Uni? Anyway, I digress.) I’ve been looking at DVD writers for some time now, so I finally decided the time was right to get it. (My notebook harddisk being full to the brim being another reason).

(Image from LG Electronics’ website.)

Speaking about the PC Fair, I was at the KLCC LRT station on Saturday night, it was jam packed to the brim with people, man. Most of them were folks came from the PC Fair, judging from the bags and bags computer paraphernalia they were carrying. This Malay guy and his girlfriend were actually lugging the parts for a complete PC (including mouse and keyboard) onto the train.

Now that I’ve DVD writer already, I can start dreaming about buying a new kick ass notebook…

Technorati Tags: PC, computers, PIKOM, PC Fair, LG, DVD, gadgets, tech, DVD writer

Pop Songs That Truly Defined The 80′s For Me (Part 2)

This is a continuation of my previous post, check out the first part here.

Beat It (Michael Jackson) – When it comes to 80′s pop, Michael Jackson is undoubtedly the king of the hill. This was when we first came out on his own to make his second record with Quincy Jones. For the benefit of the those born later, this was when Michael was still black and about 6 nose-jobs ago. The album, consists of 9 tracks, and sometimes cited as one of the most perfect pop record ever made. With the second single, Beat It (looking back, MJ as a gangster mediator seemed a laughable idea), Michael literally took over the world. This single followed ‘The Girl is Mine‘ and the equally popular ‘Billie Jean’. Suddenly, every kid was wearing white socks, shin high pants, one white glove and doing crappy versions of his moonwalk and his falsetto. Then MJ appeared on Grammy Awards with Emmanuel Lewis in hand (see the signs already?) to collect a gazillion awards and the is, HIStory, so to speak. I heard in return for playing solo on this song, guitar maestro Eddie Van Halen asked for one dance lesson from MJ. If there was one song to signify the universal appeal of 80′s pop, I’d be hard press to find another.

Moonlight Shadow (Mike Oldfield) 1983 – Mike Oldfield isn’t your typical 80′s pop band, but this song (apparently about John Lennon) sung by Maggie Reilly is fabulous. I only caught the symbolism in the song much later in life, and it gives me a deeper appreciation of the piece. Funny thing about the song – when i first heard it, i didn’t know Mike Oldfield was a band, so i always assume it was either a girl with a guy’s name, or some dude with a REALLY freaky voice! (Like that guy from Air Supply…)

One Night in Bangkok (Murray Head) 1985 – I bet you didn’t know that this song was written by two of the guys from ABBA and Tim Rice, huh? It was for the musical ‘Chess’ (hence the chess references in the song). I remember at one time this song was so popular it was playing everywhere – shopping centres and music stores, although I doubt if many people understood the double entendres and jabs at Bangkok’s vice lures. One thing I love was the cynical, almost jaded sounding Head’s rap. Another one for the one -hit wonder compilations.

West End Girls (Pet Shop Boys) 1986 – Pet Shop Boys remains one of the most enduring dance groups today, and I absolutely love them. But this is where it all started for me. From the song it was too obvious of the promise the two guys held, but it showed enough for me to follow them. Looking back at their career, they have all too many great songs – Rent (another fav of mine), Domino Dancing, Se A Vida E… But this is the one that makes the list.

Purple Rain (Prince) 1984 – Now Prince was a different kettle of fish back in the 80′s. Heck, he’s still in a different time zone NOW (remember TAFKAP? The symbol? WTF was he thinking?!). The Artist Formerly Known As Talented (okay, okay, anjali, I’ll stop with the jokes…) was in his element back then. He played most of the instruments in his album, and wrote his songs. There is even a movie with the same name about his life (i think). But as talented and richly crafted as were songs (When Doves Cry, Let’s Go Crazy, 1999, Raspberry Beret), he never really endeared himself to the general public. This one goes down my books as one of those “what on earth was he singing about?” songs. (Maybe anjali can help me here…)

Touch Me (Samantha Fox) 1986 – Our favourite page three girl. Some people I know still have her poster on the wall!

Through the Barricades (Spandau Ballet) 1986 – Spandau Ballet was successful in their own right, although lots of 80′s afficiandos always point out that they were never as big as their ‘rivals‘ Duran Duran. But they weren’t short of hits – Gold, Only When You Leave, True (sampled by Seal) and Parade. But Through the Barricades, for me, is in a different class from the rest. Just like Rent by Pet Shop Boys, it was strong voice of the hardships in Thatcher’s England at that time, and inadvertently capture a photograph of a specific period in the tumultous 80′s. This strongs evokes lots of good and bad memories for me, I’ve blogged about it before (You can read ithere).

China in Your Hands (T’Pau) 1987 – I just love this song. I can remember waiting for it to come on shows like Top of the Pops and Europarade. I thought the band (named after a Star Trek character) with Carol Decker on the mic, would be the next great British band, but sadly after only a few years of success, they died out. The song spent 5 weeks at #1 in the UK. I still think Carol Decker is one of the awesome singers from the UK from that era. Too bad she didn’t go solo after it. I remember I bought the tape from this a music store from Subang Parade (top floor, it’s no longer there, can’t remember the name), and this song was the only one i’d listen to…

Eternal Flame (The Bangles) 1988 – Now the Bangles were a different breed in the 80′s. Instead of clueless, pretty airheads packaged together to sell synth-musics churned out ala Stock Aitken & Waterman, these girls were smart, played their own instruments, shared vocal duties (although Susanna Hoffs was always viewed as the lead singer) and played hard edged pop. With great songs like Manic Monday (written by Prince), Walk Like An Egyptian (I remember it was the No.1 song in the US for 1987) and Simon & Garfunkel’s Hazy Shade of Winter. But Eternal Flame, a song written about Elvis ranks as one of my favourite songs of all time. Pure 80′s magic. The Bangles are still around these days, although not headlining any festivals, but Michael Steele (the redhead one) is STILL a babe…

Everybody Have Fun Tonight (Wang Chung) 1986 – Back in those days, most of us watched a lot of wrestling. Not on TV, but on the wonderful VCR. You see, there was this intricate network of pirated VHS system where you can watch American wrestling programs all the time. You could get NWA, World Class and even some indie ones. But WWF was the biggest one, with at least 2 shows per week (Yes, WWF, not WWE). And at the end of the show, they always featured a montage of wrestlers and audience to the soundtrack of Wang Chung’s “Everyone Have Fun Tonight”. This was the second golden age of Kayfabe wrestling, the so-called Federation Years, before Vince McMahon screwed us all over. It was a great song, that one… it was interesting to read that the song was a last minute filler track for Wang Chung’s album. Even now when I hear it, it reminds me of the likes of The British Bulldogs, King Kong Bundy, Andre the Giant and The Hart Foundation…

Epilogue
As with anything with the 80′s, I had a blast writing this. Eighties music for me encapsulated my growing up years, it was the days of waiting for the Sunday request featuring Janet Ambrose, of those pirated RM3 tapes, borrowing my friends’ ‘Smash Hits‘ waiting for those award shows on TV (Grammy Awards were usually one year late) and listening to Casey Kasem every week night at 10pm…

But soon enough, time passed us by, I left school for college, leaving behind the halcyon days. I moved on to rock, metal and other genres and the 90′s came with grunge, Seinfeld, Friends and Die Hard. But we’ll always be Eighties children at heart, won’t we, Patrick?

Honourable mentions (those that almost made the list):
Rent (Pet Shop Boys)
Sweetest Taboo (Sade)
Relax (Frankie Goes To Hollywood)
Especially for You (Kylie Minogue & Jason Donovan)
Sweet Dreams (The Eurythmics)
Don’t Answer Me (The Alan Parsons Project)

Technorati Tags: Mike Oldfield, Purple Rain, Prince, Samantha Fox, Spandau Ballet, Eternal Flame, The Bangles, 80s, 80′s, eighties, Michael Jackson, Casy Kasem, music, WWF, WWE

Pop Songs That Truly Defined The 80′s For Me

Ah, the 80′s – the decade best remembered for its TV shows, movies and politics – and music. The pop music from that decade throughly defined the times – and grealty influence the generation of kids and teens that grew up in that generation. It was the generation of the then new MTV, of Michael Jackson, of Madonna and bands with weird hairdo and make-up.

There are literally thousands of good songs from that era, for me to list down only 20 was extremely difficult. This is my personal list of songs that perfectly captured the mood and exuberance of the 80′s, in the backdrop of my growing up years. Everyone would have a different list, and if you made one, i’d love to read it and hear your story behind it. This post in two parts, the next one will be after this…

Pop Songs Truly That Defined The 80′s For Me

Forever Young (Alphaville) 1984 – Probably my all-time favourite song from that decade of fantastic pop sensibilities. Although for most part, 80′s music was pretty much walk-in-sunshine-cheery, Alphaville’s one of two hits (the other being Big in Japan) was brooding and reflective on the future, with lines like “hoping for the best but expecting the worst/are you gonna drop the bomb or not?” and “sitting in a sandpit, life is a short trip
the music’s for the sad men“. Maybe it was the mournful optimism, maybe it was the creepy video, this song truly encapsulated the 80′s for me. I read recently somewhere this aptly, this song was hugely popular in graduation proms across the US at that time…

Do They Know It’s Christmas (Band Aid) 1984 – USA for Africa’s “We Are the World” was bigger and probably sold more records, but Bob Geldof (Boomtown Rats) and Midge Ure’s (Ultravox) UK effort was the one that inspired the Americans. Released in time for the Christmas market, Geldof gathered round some of his friends and other big names from around Britain and Ireland to raise famine relief for Ethiopia. Among the stars on record were Phil Collins, Sting, Paul Young, Boy George, Bono, and members of Spandau Ballet, Bananarama, Duran Duran and Big Country. Two subsequent versions were remade in 1991 and 2004. The orignal was followed up with the worldwide concert Live Aid. In the decades that followed, superstar collaborations for good causes were more commonplace (Voices That Care, Hear ‘n Aid, All-Star Tribute), but this one had that magic and appeal that will always be remembered.

Karma Chameleon (Culture Club) 1983 – I was never their biggest fan, but Boy George has to one of the characters to define the 80′s, along with Madonna and Michael Jackson. The group was formed as a culturally diverse ensemble, hence the name. But with a cross-dressing member with heavy make-up named Boy George (apparently the ‘Boy’ was added to his first name George as to make clear which gender was he) , the group became a huge hit with the early MTV generation. ‘Karma Chameleon‘ from their second album was instantly their biggest hit, but sadly after that the group faded out amidst drug possession stories of their members. Boy George made news recently, and i was quite shocked at how aged he looked. The song is as perky as they come, along with the colourful video. However, to this day, i can never understand what it was all about…

The Reflex (Duran Duran) 1983 – what list of 80′s music would be complete without Duran Duran? Long before the cheesy era of 90′s boybands was the quientessential British New Wave posterboys who took over the world with 70 million records sold worldwide, 18 singles in the Bilboard Hot 100, and 30 in the UK Top 40. There were so many memorable songs by them, like New Moon On Monday (the first Duran Duran song I heard), Hungry Like the Wolf (cool video, man!), Girls on Film (a girl friend of mine of mine recently confessed she was absolutely fascinated with the video back then…) but The Reflex was the very first single from them that i really like. Yep, the days of recording the songs from the Sunday morning request programs on radio, then playing them over and over again until the tapes dies…

Nikita (Elton John) 1986 – Back in the mid-80′s my brother was lucky enough to go to Australia to study (this was before the exchange rate went through the roof) while the rest of us scrimp and saved for his studies back home. On the first trip back home for holidays, he brought back this strange phenomenon which apparently was huge outside Malaysia – vinyl singles. At that time, we only knew LPs and cassettes, and even vinyl LPs were expensive and hard to find. So my brother brought back with him about 7 red coloured small records, and Nikita by Elton John was one of it (Bryan Adams and Pat Benatar were among the others). On the B-side was “The Man Who Never Died“. So I was introduced to this sweet song about a Cold War love story involving a Russian girl named Nikita.

Rock Me Amadeus (Falco) 1986 – Eternally immortalized in those one-hit wonder specials on TV, Falco probably never envisioned his song about Mozart to be so enduring. Mostly, we probably didn’t know any much more about the Falco than the song itself (it was in German), but we sure knew that chorus that went: “Amadeus, Amadeus…”

Only You (Flying Pickets) 1983 – Perfect pop a capella. I bet if they released this song now and today, it’ll still sound fresh. Note to self - unless you’re a bunch of kick-ass singers, don’t attempt to re-create this song during your high school talentime…

Land of Confusion (Genesis) 1986 – This song makes the list on the merit of the music video alone. Using latex puppets by Spitting Images, it featured caricatures of the band, then world leaders Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, Gorbachev and even an all-star ensemble singing the final chorus in a spoof of “We Are the World”. The MTV video won a host of awards, I wonder if I can find it on youTube…?

Axel F (Harold Faltemeyer) 1985 – back in those days, the unmistakable (and mostly annoying) opening bars of this song meant only one thing – Beverly Hills Cops. The song isn’t much, but for a TV soundtrack to be so unimaginably popular says a lot for its catchiness. Maybe it was just the public’s fascination with the ‘new’ sound of synthesizers. Decades later the simple melody still lives on in ringtones and cheesy TV ads. Then again, the movie was no CSI, either…

Crazy For You (Madonna) 1984 – Madonna has gone through a dozen transformations and controversies, mostly perfectly engineered to get her maximum tabloid space and publicity. But back in the mid ’80, a frizzy haired Madonna with heavily mascara and wearing fishnets all over burst onto the scene. It was her second album “Like A Virgin” (her first was “Madonna”) in 1984 that contained this song, which was also feature in a little-known movie called ‘Vision Quest’. ‘Crazy for You’ was different from most of her early songs, in that for me she sounded real and personal.Even now as Madonna reaches 50 and countless albums, I still think this is still my favourite song from her.

Next: The concluding part featuring Wang Chung, spending a night in Bangkok and our favourite page three girl, Samantha Fox.

Technorati Tags: MTV, youTube, Madonna, Eighties, 80′s, music, Falco, vinyl, Duran Duran, Elton John, Band Aid, Culture Club, Boy George, Karma Chameleon, Alphaville, Forever Young