On A Slow News Day

You know it’s a slow news day here for Malaysian papers when Paris Hilton makes the front page of our national paper for being released from jail. Well, actually the unsinkable Ms. Hilton had to share the front page limelight with the equally unsinkable Tan Sri Eric Chia. One is convicted for violating DUI probation in a land half way across the globe while the other was acquitted for embezzling something like RM73million. That’s a lot of roti canais.

So when the Old Spice Spice Girls released their comeback album, are they going to make the front page too, showing off their liposuctioned bodies? Maybe on an unfortunate day they may have to share the coveted space with the latest ‘twist’ in our nation’s ‘trial of the decade‘… Maybe the results of the DNA test on the underwear of the murdered foreign model will be discussed, or the judge will release the private, lacivious SMS between aforesaid model and her high-profile Malaysian ex-lover…

The picture would probably show the high-profile Malaysian ex-lover smiling in the cover shot, next to this old man wearing a T-shirt emblazoning the words ‘I’m his car mechanic, and PROUD of it!!!’

I dunno. Maybe it may just be another ‘shocking expose’ about how Malaysian girls are obssessed with being thin. Oh no wait, that has ALSO happened. And i thought it was one of those slimming ads.

Technorati Tags: Paris Hilton

Chris Benoit Is Dead

Chris Benoit, the Canadian Crippler, the Rabid Wolverine, is dead.

Reports are circulating about the possibility of him killing his wife and son, then committing suicide, like this article.

I like Benoit. I don’t watch wrestling anymore, stopped watching it for many years, since they dropped the kayfabe thing and started coming out in the open… never mind.

But i like Benoit. He’s old-school, as the younger people would call him a ‘technical’ wrestler. Just like i am a fan of Steve Borden aka Sting, Bret ‘the Hitman’ Hart, i like Benoit because he was a wrestler first and foremost.

I loved him in WCW, but he later joined WWF (it was still WWF back then) together with Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko and Perry Saturn. Ironically, Eddie Guerrero passed away only a few years ago.

Alongside Guerrero, Benoit joins a long list of famous wrestlers passing on in recent years due to various extraordinary reasons – Davey Boy Smith, Curt Hennig (Mr. Perfect), Dino Bravo, Rick Rude, Yokozuna, Hawk (Road Warriors), Owen Hart, and four of the famous von Erich brothers. Google it up and you can see even more.

If he really did murder his family before doing the suicide deed, i can never understand why he did it, superstar or not. Whatever happened, i hope he rests in peace. As one of the news articles puts it, wrestling is fake, but the carnage left behind is real.

Technorati Tags: wwe, wwf, benoit, wrestling, chris benoit

Top 100 Movies of All Time…? Or Better Yet…

The other day, i read in the papers that AFI just released their new ‘Top 100 Movies of All Time’ series updated for 2007. They only named the top 10 in the article, you need to be a member to login to their website to see to full list. But judging from the list, NINE out of the TEN movies were released before i was born. The other was released when i was still in school.

So what’s the point of releasing this top 100 thing every year? Okay well, maybe one or two recent films get to break into no.87 and no.99 (i’m speculating here), but by and large, i am thinking these people who voted on these things will always think that old is always better than new. But anyway, different people have different tastes.

Here’s the list from 10 to 1. I happen to have watched all ten of the movies, they’re all classics alright, but movies from a different era are not for everyone today. So i’ve put my suggestions of recent movies in comparison… Don’t worry, no spoilers here.

Number 10 – THE WIZARD OF OZ
A kind of kiddie movie where this girl from Kansas, a tin man, a scarecrow and a lion go on sort of a road trip along the yellow brick road. A lot of singing and smiley faces ensues. The ending is a bit of a cop-out, if you ask me.
Modern day recommendation: Little Miss Sunshine – A dysfunctional family take a road trip across America to take part in a beauty pageant for small girls. Lots of swearing, gay jokes and also a dead body. My vote for movie of the year.

Number 9 – VERTIGO
Classic Hitchcock psychological thriller about a cop who thinks his girlfriend is more than who she says she is.
Modern day recommendation: Any episode of CSI. Or any of those cop dramas on TV. At least they are in colour.

Number 8 – SCHINDLER’S LIST
Nazis killing Jews. Banned in Malaysia.
Modern day recommendation: Borat – Kazakhs chasing Jews. Also banned in Malaysia. But a lot funnier.

Number 7 – LAWRENCE OF ARABIA
White man fighting with the Arabs on camels in the desert. Very exciting movie, primary school teacher made us watch this in school. (He also let us watch the world cup and thomas cup in the school library).
Modern day recommendation: Alexander – A lot more blood than Lawrence of Arabia. Actually there aren’t many movies about Arabs these days, you can understand why. Aladdin does NOT count.

Number 6 – GONE WITH THE WIND
Aiyah, that black and white love story with the ‘frankly i don’t give a damn’ and ‘play it again’ lines, la. The ones your grandma always talk about one…
Modern day recommendation: Any rom-com starring Hugh Grant.

Number 5 – SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN
Gene Kelly er.. singing in the rain.
Modern day recommendation: Can’t think of any other movie about someone er… singing in the rain.

Number 4 – RAGING BULL
Great story of De Niro as a boxer.
Modern day recommendation: Rocky I. Or Million Dollar Baby.

Number 3 – CASABLANCA
Bogart and Bergman in a romantic movie set in the Moroccan city of Casablanca. Ends with that famous line, “Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
Modern day recommendation: Any rom-com starring Sandra Bullock.

Number 2 – THE GODFATHER
“You’ve gotta keep it in the family…”
Modern day recommendation: The Sopranos. Okay, that’s not a movie but the similarities are uncanny.

Number 1 – CITIZEN KANE
A lot of these websites always rank this in the top 3… it’s good, but i don’t really like it. But of course i can’t think of any other new movie that is as ambitious like it. Nope, not even Shrek the Third, or ‘Dude, Where’s My Car?’ haha.

Technorati Tags: afi, movies

Hong Kong Memories… Final Part – Disneyland!

Yep, folks, we’re at the last instalment of the series in the travelogue. Next time i should use one of those picture viewers with the caption below so that it’s easier to post lots of pics… Anyway here are the earlier posts in the series:

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3: Ocean Park and Victoria Peak

Day Four was the highlight of our 5 day trip. We packed up everything in the hotel we’d been staying in for the past 3 nights – BP International in Kowloon, cause we were spending the day and one night in Hong Kong Disneyland…! Or as the locals called it “Tik see nei”. Yeah i know it sounds vulgar, but that’s how it is.

The day didn’t start off too well. Our tour bus was over an hour late. The bus finally came, with a different tour guide from the previous days, this guy looked a bit like the bad guy in the 9.30pm series on Wah Lai Toi currently showing. Yes, the one Adam Cheng acting one.

Anyway, Disneyland is on Lantau Island, which is towards the new airport, and the journey too less than an hour. Along the way, we could see beautiful mountains and steep coastlines, plus lots of tankers and liners in the water.

This was our hotel, Hollywood Hotel. It’s the more affordable of the two available near the resort. You don’t need to ask how much the OTHER hotel costs.

The room (which we checked in later at night after spending the day in Disneyland) was REALLY impressive by HK standards! It was big, it had a flat screen TV, and almost everything was Disney or Mickey theme! From the toiletries to the shower curtain to the bathroom slippers… let’s just say we took off with lots of ‘souveniers’… heheh.

Anyway, back to Disneyland proper. It’s big. I know lots of people say it’s small and disappointing, but it took us more than 10 hours to go through almost everything! We went for every ride and saw every show, even the kiddie-kiddie ones. Since it was all paid, anyway. It wasn’t crowded at all, we didn’t have to wait more than one round for most of the rides, some we didn’t have to wait at all.

We took tons of pics, so it isn’t possible to post ‘em all or even talk about half of what we did, but here are some of the more candid pics.

Took us awhile to wait in line for a family pic with the charming host and hostess… this one is of him alone. Actually i suspect it’s not the REAL mickey, just some short guy in a rubber suit…

We didn’t want to line up for DONALD, but snuck a paparazzi shot from inside the shop. Also, what’s with the fur? I thought ducks had feathers?!

Along the main boulevard entering into the other areas, there were shops on both sides of the street, all selling either food or merchandising. They have REALLY cool stuff there, the kind you won’t find here in Malaysia. This one was so cute we had to snap a pic of it. The cheapest item around here is no less than HK$35.

Dsineyland HK is divided into 3 distinct areas – Tomorrowland, Pirateland and Fantasyland. This one is taken from atop Tarzan’s treehouse, looking into the jungle cruise waterway.

This is part of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, found in every Disneyland across the world. The same one you see at the end of Disney movies.

One of the best live show here is this one about the Lion King. You’ve got to see it to appreciate it.

At the end of the day, everyday of the year, there is an awesome fireworks display atop the castle. It’s amazing, better than the show at Mines during CNY here in Malaysia.

Disneyland was fantastic for us, we practically filled out or 2GB memory stick full of photos and movies!

The final day, Day 5, we packed up all our stuff, and the tour bus took us all back to the airport. So it was goodbye to Disneyland, to Hong Kong, and a great week of holiday…

… and back to work in Malaysia. Sigh. Anyway, i had to do all 4 parts of the travelogue in a bit of a rush, seeing my time schedule these days. I’d love to have done it better, but well… but thanks for being patient, guys.

Remembering Princess Diana

Taking another break before the last in the series of the HK travelogue.

If some you may have noticed, it’s 2007 already. In fact, we’re almost half way through the year.

That means that it’s been ten years since Princess Diana died in that much publicized car crash. She passed on on 31 August 1997, our 40th national day. Not hard to remember.

The thing about dying young is that people will always remember you as a young person, not the old, frail version if you are advanced in age. For Diana, whom at that time was the most photographed person in the world, i think the world couldn’t get enough of her.

(pic from wikipedia, as usual…)

I remember watching her wedding broadcast ‘live‘ from St. Paul’s Cathedral on our local RTM as a small kid. It was probably one of the first time i watched a ‘live telecast’, even football was mostly delayed at that time. i also distinctively remembered that the telecast was sponsored by Public Bank, which at that i that time, i thought was a little odd.

When the news of her death came to my phone via SMS, i was actually at Bukit Gasing – i rushed down to get a copy of the Star, for commemorative sake. I also got the TIME magazine special edition on her. Not really a big Diana fan, but for posterity’s sake. At the time when the news broke, my first reaction was, “boy, are her two sons going to grow up pretty much screwed up…” At least for now it hasn’t happened yet.

When my friend went to Australia, soon after that, she got me a copy limited edition CD single ‘Candle in the Wind’ by Elton John.

Anyways, here’s to remember Princess Di. I think she would make a better Queen than that Camilla would, but we’ll never know for sure, now, would we…?

Technorati Tags: Princess Diana, Princess Di

Hong Kong Memories… Part 3 – Ocean Park and Victoria Peak

This is the second last in the series of post on my recent trip to Hong Kong, you can check out the first and second parts here:

Hong Kong Memories… Day 1
Hong Kong Memories… Day 2

Okay, okay i know, too many travelogues are a little tiresome, so one more post and i’m done, okay?

So on the third day, it was a free and easy touring day for us. We didn’t have to wake up too early like in the earlier days, but not too late, since we had lots to do and see. This is the view from our hotel room in the morning. All concrete buildings, can hardly see the streets!

So we went for some local ‘wan tan mee‘ for breakfast (at unbelieveable prices) and then we took the MTR from Jordan to Admiralty. Outside the Admiralty station, we took a bus that brought us to…. Ocean Park!

This years OP is celebrating their 30 years anniversary, can’t believe an amusement park that’s so old can still look so good and remain popular as ever. I wonder how Sunway Lagoon will be in 20 years time…?

Ocean Park is located on the hillslopes facing the ocean, it has all the attractions of a good theme park – rollercoasters, fun rides, dolphin live shows, lots of exotic animals, and family fun allround. The park is divided into two parks – Lowland and Headland, connected by cable car and a series of long escalator rides.

First stop – we took the raging river ride – and got wet!!

This one is quite spectacular. The roller coaster goes above the water, while you are swirling around, it feels like you’re going to drip into the ocean anytime… Not for the fainthearted.

There’s a revolving tower that goes up to give you a view of the Ocean Park and surrounding areas like Aberdeen and Repulse Bay. It’s something like the Carlsberg Tower in Sentosa. The view is quite impressive.

We spend almost 10 hours at OP, too many photos to share, but this one is when we were returning to the Lowlands via cable car. It’s a bit scary if you’re afraid of heights – the sea on one side, rocky slopes on the other!

After OP, we went to the top of Victoria Peak via the tram. The view from the top is something not to be missed. I heard in the morning it is better, maybe next trip we’ll come at sunrise…

From the peak, we took a cab to the ferry station and caught a late Star Ferry back to Kowloon… What a tiring but fun day.

And tomorrow… DISNEYLAND!!!

Technorati Tags: Hong Kong, Ocean Park, Victoria Peak, Star Ferry, Kowloon

Cool Car Plate Number!

Taking a break from my Hong Kong travelogues.

Talk about COOL CAR REGISTRATION PLATE NUMBER!

To the owner of this car, my apologies, but you have one kick-ass ride, and not to mention an even more bad-ass car plate number? Did you also own that old night-club in town sometime back?

Hong Kong Memories… Day 2

(This is a continuation of the previous Part One)

So the second day of our stay in Hong Kong, we got up really early to follow this half day city tour organized by our tour agent. I’m used to waking up early, but not while on holiday… besides we had to wake up early to eat breakfast, which was cup noodles and 3-in-1 coffee in typical Malaysian fashion.

They came round punctually at about 7.30am, by then the city was already buzzing with people and traffic.

This is our tour leader Ah Fai, a really nice and funny guy. He tells lots of humourous stories about life in Hong Kong and some gossip about the stars. He also says that from the left, he looks a bit like Andy Lau… yeah, rii-iiight…

Our first stop was dim sum breakfast. They didn’t tell us they were bringing us there, we wouldn’t have eaten it earlier! Anyway it was to this fairly large restaurant somewhere in Kowloon where they had an awesome array of live seafood displayed in tanks.

The dim sum was a little different from what we get here, there were 8 varieties to eat, but we weren’t really in the mood to stuff down so early in the morning. But i’d say it was one of the best meals we had on the entire trip.

The first stop on the tour was the The Golden Bauhinia Square in Wan Chai North, just beside the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. The view was magnificent, we were on the opposite side of the harbour from where we were yesterday. According to Ah Fai, the Square was laid out like a bird facing North, representing Hong Kong’s return to the motherland, and the Golden Bauhinia monument was at the tip of the bird, and was given by Beijing to the territory.

Further down the promenade was this monument. Sorry my China not powderful, no idea what it says.

Then from there we went halfway up to Victoria Peak, where we had another view of the skyline. The tour guide told us that the highest peak we can see on Kowloon in a distance is the famous Lion Rock, or Si Chi San, made famous by the late Roman Tam in his song “Under the Lion Rock”. There was also a TV series in the 70′s with the same name.

After Victoria Peak, we went to Repulse Bay! There were lots of rich people staying there, and the highest villa shown here is purportedly owned by Jackie Chan. Notice how the peak of the range is made to look like a dragon’s head.

Repulse Bay is also famous for this temple with a lot of deities inside, but the two more popular ones were Goddess of Mercy Guan Yin, and the God of Prosperity. People line up just to rub money on the latter for good luck.

Last stop on the half day tour was Aberdeen. It’s famous for two things – the floating restaurants, and the exclusive yatch marina.

We took a half hour long boat ride around the Bay, where they pointed out all the expensive yatchs owned by the stars. This one is supposed to be owned by Li Ka-Shing. Further out the bay, there are lots of things to see, including the remnants of the boat people, and lots of tankers.

The tour ended with a great lunch in a swanky restaurant. After that we went back to the hotel as we were really tired. Later that night we went to the famed Ladies Market and Temple street, but we didn’t take many photos, save for this of Jordan Street.

Technorati Tags: Roman Tam, Hong Kong, pictures, holiday, tourism, wan chai, golden bauhinia square, kowloon, Jackie Chan, Repulse Bay, Aberdeen,

Hong Kong Memories… Day 1

Yep, i was in Hong Kong with my family last week, it was a beautiful place. It was very hot, though, as hot as Malaysia, plus it’s dry and not much wind despite being an island.

We went to a whole lot of places – Disneyland (stayed a night there), Ocean Park, the night markets, Repulse Bay, the Peak, etc and took a whole lot of photos, but i won’t kill your modem with all the photos here, but i’ll show a few choice photos from each day i was there. So here we go…

On day 1, the first impression after touching down was the new Chek Lap Kok airport. It’s pretty small compared to KLIA, but it’s very crowded:

Onto the streets of Kowloon we go! First pic – a Hong Kong taxi! Just like the ones we see on the famous TV series!!

This is our hotel, BP International. It’s good, but small as most HK hotels are. I later found out BP stands for Baden Powell, which explains the fleur-de-lis and Scout paraphenalia all over the lobby. I can’t even get a good shot of the hotel with so many skyscrapers all around.

My wife says this clock tower is famous and has appeared in a lot of HK TV series! (She says that a lot over the length of our stay…) I looks nice, it is located just next to the Star Ferry Terminal.

Along the Avenue of Stars, which is like a smaller version of Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, you can see star plaques for many famous celebrities associated with HK’s film and music industry. All the famous people are there – Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Run Run Shaw, Anita Mui. But this one is the special one…

HK is absolutely beautiful at night, seen here during the laser light show that comes on at 8pm every night. The buildings are lighted up and flash together with the music, as seen from Kowloon. A must see if you are there… Even on my cheap camera it looks awesome.

Next, Day 2 – The Peak, Repulse Bay, Aberdeen, and food…

Technorati Tags: Hong Kong, tourism

A Death In The Family

Last Monday morning, exactly seven days ago, my brother went home to be with the Lord at about seven in the morning. He would have been forty this September.

He fought a short uphill battle against leukemia and chemotherapy, but lost the struggle in less than two short weeks. It was only last year that he endured the indignity of radiotherapy for cancer. I know, life sucks.

When i received the call, I was waiting on the waterfront of a foreign shore. I waited awhile to tell my wife, as she was laughing with my two children almost a stone’s throw away.

When she walked to me, I started with, “I am now the only son left…”

My brother James was vagrant heart, never an easy one to understand, but for a few years in my younger days, i felt i understood him. But in the recent times, we drifted away, just as flotsam away from the promenade i was standing on when i heard the news.

“Live fast, die young, leave a beautiful corpse”

i would often joke in morbid way to my friends. But in light of this, it only seem a ironic reality far away in the reserves of our collective consciousness. “Blood is thicker than water“, they always say, but life is often always more complicated than two substances for an overused proverb.

Years ago, when i first heard ‘Face to Face’ by the band King James (more irony), i immediately knew it was the song that was to be played at my own funeral. But for my brother, i would gladly lend him the song, even if i was not there for it…

Rest in Peace, James, say hi to the angels and our forefathers, and our brothers of the chosen generation.

For my loyal friends who were anticipating some photos of my recent trip, i apologize for it, perhaps another day…