Off To The Port of Incense

As you guys are reading this, I will be in Hong Kong for a long awaited holiday with my family.

Hong Kong Disneyland

Victoria Peak

Ocean Park

I thought of using Twitter to doing a live update while i am there, but decided against it when i took into account the SMS charges! Anyway, when i come back there’ll be loads of pics to share, some more my digital camera got 2MB card one…

If you don’t know how Twitter works, you should check it out.

Meanwhile, let’s hope the weather holds up in Hong Kong while i am there. Among the many places we’re going, we are also planning to drop by Tai Cheong bakery, where there’s this famous ‘taat tart’ (egg tart), supposedly to be Chris Patten’s favorite (Patten was the last British governer of Hong Kong).

See you guys back in Malaysia…!

Looking Down on the City

I went to the Eye on Malaysia last week. I know, I know. Everyone else has already gone there.

But i took one day leave, sort of a break in the week, just to see what the fuss is all about. It seemed like only a short while ago that i was watching the launch of the event on New Year’s Eve.

On the whole it was okay, due to some issues, we got nine rounds on the giant ferris wheel, more than the usual.

Coincidentally, i found this report in the NST about how it has not been attracting the crowds as expected.

I suppose it’s good for a visit at least once, but for a better view, KL Tower and the Petronas Skybridge is better.

Technorati Tags: VMY, Malaysia, tourism, Eye of Malaysia

Music When I Was 18

This is from Nick, of JJCM fame. Interesting tag, i love music.

Here’s the rules of the tag:

1. Go to www.popculturemadness.com

2. Select the year you turned 18

I was 18 in 1991… ah, i remember it like it was yesterday…

3. Get all nostalgic over the songs of the year

i did some googling to help me jog my memory of that particular year. At age 18, people say you are at the prime of your life. I was a bright eyed and optimistic, it was the year i enter uni, my life before me. As i listened to the fantastic world of format FM stereo radio Singapore, and met new people from different background, my mind was opened to a brand new voice of powerful music of metal (Metallica, Iron Maiden) electronic dance (KLF, M People), white metal (Guardian, Whitecross) and the then new sound called ‘alternative’ and ‘grunge’. What an exciting time.
4. Write about it

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No.1 Enter Sandman - Metallica

The Perfect 10 (98.7FM) for all it’s indistinguishable fluff it plays these days, was responsible for introducing Metallica to me, circa the Black album with songs like Of Wolf and Man, Unforgiven, Nothing Else Matters, and the of course, Enter the Sandman. Thus began a long affinity with the greatest band of all time until this very day…

*******

No.2 Fading Like A Flower (Everytime You Leave) - Roxette

It was not just hard rock only that i liked. I loved Roxette’s brand of chirpy pop. But this song, along with Almost Unreal, are my two favorite tracks by them.

*******

No.3 Silent Lucidity - Queensryche

This song blew my mind when i first heard it on the radio, still blows me out of the water now. Prog metal never really caught on back in the early 90’s, but this song still gives me goosebumps today.

*******

No.4 Rhythm of My Heart - Rod Stewart

Young man leaves his wife and kid for the frontlines of war. As the song says,

Oh rhythm of my heart is beating like a drum
with the words ‘I love you’ rolling off my tongue
No never will I roam for I know my place is home
where the ocean meets the sky, I’ll be sailing

*******

No.5 Losing My Religion - R.E.M.

REM is cool. Enough said.

Technorati Tags: music, pop, rock, metallica, queensryche, REM, rod stewart

Nuffnang’s Special Screening ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End’

Yep, i was there with my wife yesterday night.

For those who missed the whole thing, Nuffnang booked the whole cineplex Hall 9 for the special screening of ‘Pirate of the Caribbean: At World’s End‘ on opening night.

(pic from official website)

I saw a few familiar faces there, like Jolene and yee hou, and Jeff (okay, well, everybody knows Jeff…). Also at the counter, managed to say ‘hi’ to Nuffnang’s Timothy, always the nice guy. I also bumped into Earl-Ku while lining up for our free popcorn and drinks (sponosred by Exabytes). Also met Zeo and partner while going in. Also saw jason and cely. Oh wait, i also said hi to Wings before i got booted off the VIP seats…

On the whole wasn’t really in the mood to socialize, partly because i was very tired from my extremely long day…

So the movie? Well, it was okay, i won’t spoil it for those who haven’t seen it. But you know, it has all the hallmarks of a summer blockbuster - swashbuckling action, romantic side-story, snappy one-liners, convulted storyline, everything. The whole queer pirate Johnny Depp thing got a little tired some time 20 minutes in the previous movie, and here they still manage to milk it to the max. But all in all, great movie, albeit the ending with Elizabeth and Will Turner, um… never mind.

Anyway, thanks a bunch to Tim and the guys at Nuffnang, it was a great event, touted as the largest gathering of bloggers in Malaysia. Let me plug them for a bit - if you want to make some money from your blog, try them out - it dun matter if you have 4 or 4,000 readers, it still works. End of plug.

Technorati Tags: nuffnang, blogs, blog, blogging, pirates, pirates of the caribbean, pirates of the caribbean: at world’s end, johnny depp

Favorite Food in Your State or Country?

What do you do when you have no mood to blog? Do a meme!

This one is from God’s Little Angel from sometime back, apologize for the delay. By the way, did you know there’s a spelling mistake in your blog url?

Let me see… favorite food in my state, Johor… Frankly speaking isn’t famous for anything really, or not that i know of. Laksa Johor is okay, but everyone has a different interpretation of what it’s suppose to taste or look like.

So we will have to go with fave food in my country. Okay, of the top of my head:

Dim Sum - yeah i know it’s a Hong Kong delicacy, but the local flavor is what i’m accustomed to. Growing in a Hokkien & Teochew town, there not a single dim sum place, i only tasted it whenever we went to my mom’s hometown near Ipoh. But these days in KL, i eat a lot of it.

Curry Puffs - i love curry puffs. Whether it’s the small Malay types that sell for 30sen or the expensive fluffy ones you get at the posh bakeries. I love any type. Even bad curry puffs is still great to me. But I like big ones with everything inside.

Dry Curry Mee - Either noodles or with wanton mee. If possible with fried wanton. Teh awesomeness.

Nasi Briyani - who doesn’t like briyani? Unfortunately finding a good one in KL is NOT easy, trust me. A lot of them are a poor rip-off. Anyway, my cholestrol level is not good due to this.

Goreng Pisang - or, the correct term would be ‘pisang goreng’ (fried banana fritters). Again, only a few stalls sell damn good ones. My fav is the one in BK5 in Bandar Kinrara. That guy Razak is legendary.

Sorrylah, i got no mood to find some pics for you all, but i doubt any Malaysians will not know any of the above… anyway there’s always google images…

The Staples of Malaysian Chinese Weddings

The Staples of Malaysian Chinese Weddings, or should i say, my pet peeves about them.

• They never start on time.
• They always have the same sequence of dishes - cold dish, shark’s fin soup, chicken, fish, prawn, vegetable, rice, desserts. Which slight variations here and there.
• The obligatory power-point presentation showing the couple as kids and how they met.
• Halfway through the dinner, they start interrupting your meal with speeches and boring stuff when all you want to do is eat peacefully.
• The football live scores SMS for the guys that have to attend the wedding but would rather be watching the game live.
• The latecomers walking in halfway through the 4th dish.
• If you are unlucky, you get stuck at the odd table, with people you don’t know.
• The foreign waiters that have a knack of ignoring you.
• The long breaks between dishes. Do they really think we eat like old people?
• “I’m sorry, but I don’t eat shark’s fin soup. How can YOU even eat it? Do you know how it’s made? First, they cut off the fin from the live shark…”

Well, okay, attending weddings are to celebrate the matrimony of your friends, so probably i shouldn’t be so negative.

Short Update

Not having much time or inclination for an update, so a short one will have to do.

Everyone in the family is having a difficult time right now. There is a critical illness in the family, one that is not easy to go through.

But hopefully after 6 months of treatment and suffering, things will be better.

***

On another note, my elder daughter is also suffering from fever. It’s serious when a usually lively kid is feeling down and lifeless. Ouch.

Anyway, i might bring her to see a doctor tomorrow. I need a break too.

My mom used to crush half a Panadol with 2 spoons and mix it with water for me when i was sick. We didn’t have kid’s medicine when we were small, and i distinctly remember disliking the taste of it.

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Tried the SMART tunnel for the past few days. It’s okay, but the jam has shifted from Sg. Besi up north to Tun Razak.

The Green Green Grass of Home

The other day, we were having Mother’s Day dinner at this posh international hotel, and these 3 buskers working for the hotel came in. They serenaded a few songs, then went from table to table doing requests – mostly for the mothers present.

They were old-timers – a kindly Eurasian geezer with a sense of humor, backed by 2 old Malay uncles, all three on acoustic guitars.

They sang a few goods songs, but one that I have not heard for a long time…

The old home town looks the same as I step down from the train,
and there to meet me is my Mama and Papa.
Down the road I look and there runs Mary hair of gold and lips like cherries.
It’s good to touch the green, green grass of home.
Yes, they’ll all come to meet me, arms reaching, smiling sweetly.
It’s good to touch the green, green grass of home.

I don’t know who originally sang the song, but the version i had when i was a kid was by Tom Jones. It’s was in a cassette tape belonging to my dad from the early 70’s… probably at that time Tom Jones hadn’t turned into the bronzed Vegas cliche he is now.

I loved that song. Especially in the late teen years, when i left home at 18 and never looked back…

The old house is still standing tho’ the paint is cracked and dry,
and there’s that old oak tree I used to play on.
Down the lane I walk with my sweet Mary, hair of gold and lips like cherries.
It’s good to touch the green, green grass of home.
Yes, they’ll all come to meet me, arms reaching, smiling sweetly.
It’s good to touch the green, green grass of home.

Of course, i never had any ‘Mary’ waiting back at home for me, let alone anyone with cherry lips. The oak tree, that one i’m not sure la.

Then I awake and look around me, at four grey wall surround me
and I realize that I was only dreaming.
For there’s a guard and there’s a sad old padre -
arm in arm we’ll walk at daybreak.
Again I touch the green, green grass of home.
Yes, they’ll all come to see me in the shade of that old oak tree
as they lay me neath the green, green grass of home

Years later when i was a little older, i realized the song was really about a convict about to be executed. It’s funny how when we were kids we never fully understood the songs we liked. Nonetheless, i still love the song…

Technorati Tags: Tom Jones, green, green grass of home, music, oldies

Fullmetal Alchemist

After almost 8 months of start-stops, i finally finished the entire Fullmetal Alchemist series. All 51 episodes.

All I can say is that’s a long storyline, with almost too many side characters (although not as many as the manga I am told) with an intricate storyline. I sort of found my interest waning especially early in the second season, but decided to finish it off regardless (which explains why it took me that long to finish).

Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is Alchemy’s First Law of Equivalent Exchange. In those days, we really believed that to be the world’s one, and only, truth.

But all in all, i think i enjoyed it as a whole. The animation is excellent, although it looks old compared to newer 3D ones like Black Lagoon or Last Exile. But even in 2D, the detail is awesome, especially Al’s suit of armor. The strength of the series is undoubtedly the well-researched storyline about alchemy, the philosopher’s stone and the homunculus. They explore the concepts in details, sometimes a little too detail for my interest…

Equivalent Exchange.

Philosopher Stone.

I wonder if there will ever be a third season following the movie?

Technorati Tags: fullmetal alchemist, anime, fma

Kuaci Cap Helang (Eagle Brand Sunflower Seeds)

For some reason I am reminded of Kuaci Cap Helang. That’s Eagle Brand Sunflower Seeds.

Never tried it? Here’s the story.

Back in the old days (at the risk of sounding old), when there wasn’t such a thing as ‘cineplexes’, we all watched movies in old, wooden cinema halls with names like Rex or Cathay or Lido or Iswaria (that one mainly for Hindi movies la). A ticket cost very little those days, at my day it was two bucks for Class 1 (ground floor) and two bucks fifty for ‘Special Class’ upstairs. What’s so special? No idea. Can’t see much in the pitch darkness. These cinemas were notorious for a lot of things – lice in the wooden seats, stinky toilets, bubble gum on the floor, rats bigger than house cats, but in the age of two TV channels and no computers, cinema was as good as it got.

And there were 2 staples in the darkened hall – one being kacang putih (one day I’ll blog about that one) and of course, the other being the humble Kuaci Cap Helang.

It came in a large flat white paper pack with a picture of, what else, an eagle in the front. Where do you throw the shells in a dark cinema, you ask? Well, the time honoured tradition is to throw it on the floor. So when the movie finishes, and when the dim lights come on, you’ll piles of kuaci shells around particular seats and you can tell who’s been munching on then during the show.

Eating a RM5 combo pack of popcorn and cola in a carpeted Cineplex just doesn’t feel the same, sometimes.