Making A Difference

We get too many e-mails and newsletters about the disadvantaged and unfortunate, about children needing donations for surgery, among other things. Most of the time we don’t even read them, probably a testament as to how many of them we receive a week, not to mention wariness of con jobs and scammers.

My long time blog pal Inevitable and his colleagues decided to make a difference. Read about it here.

It has seriously reminded me to act on some of the voluntary stuff I have been putting of for too long a time.

Read Inevitable‘s post and see the pics, even if one other reader acts to make a difference, it’s for the better. (but dude, Hoobastank? )

Top Ten Excuses To Give Your Parents If You Fail Your SPM Exams

Here’s a good joke i came up with some years back.

Question: What blue, black and really hard?

Answer: The SPM.

SPM is still on isn’t it? That accounts for the shopping malls not being as crowded as it should be during school holidays. In a month or so McDonalds and Starbucks will be getting load of applicants for temp jobs. That is, after the students go ballistic after exams for about a week and then they realize they need more pocket money.

For the uninitiated, SPM is the local equivalent of the ‘O’ levels. I remember my SPM. I was sitting next to the prettiest girl in my class. That explains why is nearly failed it.

Top Ten Excuses To Give Your Parents If You Fail Your SPM Exams

Technorati Tags: SPM, exams, O levels

‘Jewel in The Palace’ (Tai Cheong Kam) Has Come To Puchong

I don’t know if its licenced or not, but there’s this Korean BBQ restaurant called ‘Tai Cheong Kam’ (‘Jewel in the Palace’) or Tae Jang Gum somewhere in Bandar Puteri Puchong.

We were trawling the area last night looking for a place to eat, it came down to this Korean BBQ or a Japanese BBQ joint. I supposed the huge pic of ‘Jewel in the Palace’ actress Lee Young Ae at the front of shop probably swayed a lot of the fans of the show (my wife included).

The food was OK, but the price was astronomical. 4 adults and one kid came up to almost RM180. Good lord, for that kind of price, i’d expect Lee Young Ae to personally make an appearance at our table!

Some waterfish tips for would-be patrons:

• Don’t go if you’re vegeterian. It’s all meat, red and bloody, huge chunks of it. In fact they probably served us half a cow at our table last night.
• There’s this chimney thing that sucks the smoke up from the grill, but your face and clothes will still reek of the smell. So after a meal here, you’ll notice stray dogs following you, licking their lips.
• There’s a selection of Korean beer here, so if you fancy drinking like those Korean girls on TV, step right up. And from what i learnt from those shows, one bottle serves 7 glasses. Why? Aah, that one has a good story…
• Did i mention it’s expensive?
• The proprietors were this Chinese couple speaking Cantonese. Our waiter was Myanmarese, I think. The cows probably came from Batang Kali or somewhere like that. So the only think that came from Korea was the price. Did i mention it’s expensive?
• Is there going to be a ‘Winter Sonata’ restaurant here soon? I’d sure like to grill a slab of meat shaped like the face of that lead actor Bae Yong Joon.

Technorati Tags: Bae Yong Joon, Lee Young Ae, Winter Sonata, Tai Cheong Kam, Jewel in the Palace, South Korea, Korea

Nelly Furtado and… The Pussycat Dolls?!

I don’t listen to pop music a lot these days, but does anyone else thinks that Nelly Furtado’s new single sounds a whole lot like the Pussycat Dolls?

Nelly Furtado used to a normal singer with a good voice, then one day she (or her manager) woke and said, “Say, if she whored it up like Christina Aguilera, I might sell a whole lot more records! Whoa! I’m a genius! Wait, while I’m at it, why don’t I get songs loaded with innuendo of sex, T&A, sex and more sex? Who cares about subtlety anymore? Okay, I’ll put in one or more nice songs, because I don’t want to, like, sell out like Christina Aguilera…”

I bet this whole revelatory experience happened exactly the same way to Jewel a few years ago. But okay, Jewel is really talented, but i dunno why she chose that road.

But okay, let’s talk about the Pussycat Dolls. Screw subtlety here, man. Sex sell, no holds barred. But whale tails and bustiers aside, I know that they recruited that Nicole chick to add vocal credibility to their singing, but don’t the other 5 faceless girls get jealous of her? Sure, she’s the lead singer, but 68% of their video time are headshots and close-ups of her (estimate only la, I didn’t actually time it). And she’s the one that gets centrespot and the spotlight everytime they perform live. It’s like ‘Nicole Scherzinger and the Pussycat Dolls’, much like ‘Josie and the Pussycats‘ or Joe Ragunathan and the Mighty Mighty Bad-a$$ Sounds of the Kulim Machaas (never heard of that one? Quite good la).

It’s also a bit like the Black Eyed Peas, but I suppose the other 3 less bootylicious members of the band are accomplished musicians / rappers / dancers themselves before they recruited Fergie to sell them a few million more records. But make no mistake, the Peas make awesome music, and music with a message at times (but not necessarily the ones with Fergie shaking her booty).

Anyways, on a lighter note about today’s hit songs, when’s Kanye West coming out with another album? And Linkin Park?

(all images from wikipedia…)

Technorati Tags: Pussycat Dolls, Nelly Furtado, Black Eyed Peas

Some Things You Probably Don’t Know (or Don’t Need to Know) about the New PS3

I was watching the news the other day while on vacation, and they showed this report about the midnight launch of the PS3 in the US. These guys even camped overnight in the rain and cold just to be the first few ones to own the spanking new game console. Talk about hardcore fans, man.

It looks like it’ll only be released here in Malaysia some time next year.

While the water cooler debate of PS3 vs. Nintendo Wii vs. X-box 360 rages on, here’s some stuff about the new PS3 especially for Malaysians.

Some Things You Probably Don’t Know (or Don’t Need to Know) about the New PS3

• When it is launched here in Malaysia, it’s not going to be cheap. Hell, no.
• Despite point no.1 above, in 6 month every other 10-year old kid you know would have one already. Not to mention the 30-year olds with deprived childhoods (like yours truly).
• Less than 1 month after launch, the ‘special’ version (modded) will be available all across the country (“Welcome to Bolehland, my friends!”)
• Crash Bandicoot will be back. So will Lara Croft, Gran Turismo, Resident Evil, Final Fantasy and Tekken. Sooner or later.
• I’m thinking the games will cost about RM8 (USD$2.18) here. Original games? What’s that?
• Retailers here will probably give you 2 free controllers with the console, and one of them won’t be original.
• They’ll also package in 10 free games – most of them Japanese B-titles.
• In one year’s time, every other game top selling game will have a roman numeral at the end of the title.
• There’ll be even more games with fantastic FMVs and graphics. But crappy gameplay.
• Movie tie-in games for the PS3 will still suck.

Technorati Tags: Sony, Playstation, PS3, Wii, X-box

Selecting Baby Names for Chinese… Part 1

My good friends, a couple are expecting their first baby, a girl soon. I’m not sure if they’ve settled on a name yet.

See, choosing a Chinese name is very tricky. Why? Let’s break it down. The average Malaysian Chinese name has 4 words or names – 3 Chinese words and 1 English. Like Lilian Tan Ah Lian (if you haven’t figured it out yet, ‘Lilian’ here is, surprisingly the English name).

You can give your kid 6 English names and one Chinese, e.g. Charlie Peter Alfonso Albuquerque Giuseppe McDonald Chua, but the poor sod will probably get beaten up a lot in the school playground.

Anyway, back to the standard 1 + 3 name. The surname is mostly non-negotiable, unless you want to give the grandparents a premature heartattack. In some families, the last 2 Chinese names are sometimes pre-selected in some ancient book written by some forefather 1600 years ago back in Shandong Hill. For others, you can whatever name you want.

But a few tips in selecting Chinese names, for the uninitiated:

• Make sure it doesn’t sound like some vulgarity, embarrassing body part or swear word in every Chinese dialect known in Malaysia. And English and BM, too.
• You might also avoid names like Ai Ken Fatt and Soh Ken Ai.
• Repetitive or rhyming names were quite popular some time back with some people, but a little less common these days, like Tan Ching Ching, or Tee Mee Mee. I’ve heard of a Lily Lee Li Li.

Let me just stop at three before I get spam comments on this. Next – how to avoid English names like Valentino Tan or Zidane Wong. Stay tuned.

Technorati Tags: baby names, baby, names, Chinese, Malaysia

Top Ten Things You Will NOT See in the New 007 James Bond Movie

Hmm. Another Bond movie, new actor, reinvention through Fleming’s first 007 novel. Although I grew up watching the franchise, I was never really a big fan, was more into Star Wars and Indiana Jones. I haven’t watched this new movie, but…

Top Ten Things You Will NOT See in the New 007 James Bond Movie

• Explanation why James Bond is only becoming the secret agent 007 NOW in 2006 when he’s been one since the Sixties.
• Getting a speeding ticket for doing 160mph right in downtown London while chasing baddies.

• James Bond practicing abstinence.
• Any logical explanation why James Bond hasn’t aged a bit since 1962 and looks surprisingly like a totally different person from a few years ago.
• Meeting with women with normal names like Lilian Tan Ah Lian.
• Any serious acting or convincing dialogue.
• Guest appearance by Sean Connery as Bond’s father, with whom he has an estranged relationship.
• James Bond doing any form of paperwork – just like any other government employee.
• Any British parliament debate on where the Secret Service gets its funding to pay for Bond’s gadgets (that inadvertently get blown up all the time) when the fact is that Tony Blair is losing his pants over Iraq.
• Guest appearance by Dr. Evil.

Aw, heck, I can’t think of any more… at least until I see the movie.

Technorati Tags: movies, 007, Daniel Craig, James Bond, Casino Royale, Ian Fleming

Going Back to Wisma Atria

Some time ago when I was on school holiday, I came up to KL by express bus to visit my sister for a few days. She was living in SS2 at that time, and the one thing I remembered was she brought me to Swensen’s near Wisma Atria in Damansara Jaya.

That was the very first time I came to Wisma Atria. Yes, long before The Curve or 1 Utama or Mid Valley, PJ had Wisma Atria, the modest shopping mall surrounded by shop offices servicing the middle class residents of Damansara Jaya, SS2 and Damansara Utama. It was never as happening as those huge malls in KL at that time, but it thrived as a community mall, with its family based shops and eateries. There was also a little Parkson, where housewives came to do their shopping during the weekdays, and families hung out together during the weekends at Esquire Kitchen or KFC.

Then later when I first came to work in KL and stayed in SS2 as well, I came to Wisma Atria almost every weekend, during the times when I wasn’t in Imbi Plaza (that’s another place I should blog about someday…!). I remember back then there were these huge PC shops outside Atria, CompAsia being one of them, the other the names seem to escape me. There were also other frequent haunts – the old magazine shop where I could get PSOne mags cheap, the Playstation shops on the 2nd floor, and the PC games shops at the top floor. And also Victoria Music Station, where I fed my dose of underground metal in those days (Campbell Complex was too far).

The other day, I was in Shah Alam for a party, and I got an SMS that my pal HM’s grandmother had passed on, and that a wake service would be held somewhere in DU that same day. So to kill time, I decided to drop by at Wisma Atria for an hour or so, I didn’t want to go to madness that is called 1-Utama.

I had known that Wisma Atria had been in decline for many years now, but it had been a long time since I stepped in there. It was still early on the Sunday evening, and the place was almost deserted. Parkson was gone, replaced by the depressing new Giant. All the cool Playstation lots facing Parkson were all gone. All my usual haunts upstairs were also gone, replaced by other tenants that don’t seem to last very long. Only a few familiar places were still around, one of them was the PC store at the top, but inside, I didn’t see anyone I knew.

Dave’s Deli was gone, the bookshop replaced with some faux couture place, at least Victoria Music Centre was still there. I didn’t go in.

Wisma Atria is now a shadow of its former self, with the kids in the area all grown up and moving away. The newer generation of kids and students are obviously more attracted to 1-Utama and the newer malls, it isn’t hard to see why.

I don’t know how long the place can last, even though the management is still desperately trying ways to revitalize it. I think it pretty much depend on the lunch crowd from the surrounding offices. I dunno, maybe it’s better to redevelop it as a kind of rebirth, but it may not still work.

At least Jaya Supermarket is still doing well, although only just.

Top Ten Signs You Should Start Updating Your Resume (…and Consider Quitting Your Job)

Another year end. Time to start doing all the work you were supposed to have done in the past 10 months, review coming up… Another year of hoping for a non-existent bonus, another year of promises by the management.

Where’s that floppy with your resume, then?

Top Ten Signs You Should Start Updating Your Resume (…and Consider Quitting Your Job)

• Every morning, in order to get into your office, you have to dodge the chettiars and money collector thugs banging down the front door looking for your boss.
• Company has reported a RM4million pre-tax loss for the 3rd consecutive, while all your boss has just upgraded his brand new Lexus Harrier to the an even newer E-Class Merc.
• Every Friday evening after work, instead of having drinks together at the pub, the company accountants spend the whole night shredding documents. They call it a ‘good housekeeping practice’.
• Analysts have downgraded your company’s stock from a call of ‘hold‘ to ‘sell‘ to ‘sell immediately‘ to “OMG, get the hell out NOW“.
• You joined the company 5 months ago as a junior exec. Yesterday they just promoted you to the CFO – the 7th one in the company this year.
• Every time you ask your Financial Controller “How’s the SC investigation coming along?” he inadvertently runs off and curls under his desk in a foetal position, bawling “I don’t know anything about it…!” like a baby.
• One fine day, while reading in the toilet, you realize that your company’s business plan, mission statement, 5-year strategy and SOP were all copied entirely from old Dilbert comic strips.
• The last time you’re the server crashed, the office computer guy valiantly saved all the data – after getting serious help from the tea lady, the garbage collector and an imaginary friend called ‘Skippy‘.
• In order to get past the first round of interview of this job, your GM required you to beat him at online Texas Hold ‘Em.
• At the Google and Microsoft offices, they have machines dispensing free soft drinks and candy for the staff. Your office has vending machines dispensing Prozac, Maalox and legalized weed.

Technorati Tags: Dilbert, Google, Microsoft, Prozac

“K-Fed”? (The Post About Britney’s Ex)

‘K-Fed‘? Is that something like a nasal spray drug? Like Actifed?!

Or is like the K9 units of the FBI? I know stars, like Paris Hilton like to carry around cute little dogs, but…

And so that make Roger Federer “R-Fed“?!

Anyways, Britney, I’m here for you…

(Image from www.britney.com, official website at Jive Records)

Technorati Tags: Actifed, K-Fed, Britney, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Roger Federer, Kevin Federline