In Memoriam: Paul Newman

There have many touching tributes to the great Paul Newman over the last 2 days, but i had to pay my tribute to an actor which i held in high regard.

Newman was an immensely talented actor, actor in over 60 films from 1954 until last year, that’s more than half a decade. But for me, there are two roles he played that really stand out in my memory.

One is The Color of Money, which I watched in the age of grainy VHS video tape rentals back when i was a kid in the 80′s. The other, and by far my favorite, was Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. I recently just watched the movie again, thanks to P2P, just a few weeks before the passing of Newman.

Goodbye then, to a quintessential star, a fine actor, and nice guy – Mr. Newman, Cool Hand Luke, Fast Eddie, Butch Cassidy.

Technorati Tags: paul newman, cool hand luke, butch cassidy

Have You SEEN Our Home Minister?!

Talking about healthy living, I saw this pic in the Star today, about our Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar commenting on RPK while visiting our troops on the border…

OMG, look at that gut! A little too many buka puasa ceremonies, eh?

I thought no one could beat Dato’ Seri “I’m-pleading-for-Hindraf” Samy Vellu (when i saw him recently), but the Home Minister has just pipped him…

That pic above has just made me give up late afternoon snacks, so I guess it’s not all bad.

Mamma Mia! With the Nuffnangers

And so yesterday my wife and I went to the preview screening at the Movie ‘Mamma Mia!’ at GSC One Utama. This probably be the only blog you’ll read today about it, since there was like, 200 bloggers there, too…

The movie was great, we really enjoyed it, probably more than everyone there, being the huge ABBA fan that my wife and I are. We were singing along to most of the songs.

Colin Firth was funny as he always is, but c’mon, it had to be Pierce Brosnan, hasn’t it? Dude is 55, and still looks buff, man!

But anyway, for those interested in some older movies associated with ABBA, there are two other films that deserve mention. A must watch is, of course ‘The Girl With the Golden Hair‘, also popularly known as ‘ABBA: The Movie’. Its about an Aussie reporter who follows the band around trying to get and interview.

The second, which has rather a cultic following is Muriel’s Wedding. The 1994 Aussie film isn’t a musical, but it is inspired by ABBA songs and feature their music. Although it is a comedy drama, its pretty dark and features some adult themes.

But anyway, I gotta go dig out my old ABBA CD for the time being…

And a great big thanks to Tim and the good people at nuffnang for organizing the whole event…

Technorati Tags: ABBA, mamma mia

This Day in History

Or, as you would be more familiar with – Hari Ini Dalam Sejarah.

1810 – Independence for Chile. The country, not the hot red vegetable.
1934 - USSR admitted to League of Nations. Free vodka all around the Security Council.
1970 – Jimi Hendrix dies after choking on his own vomit. Obviously, not the highlight of his short career.
1971 – Lance Armstrong, the cyclist formerly known as Sheryl Crow’s boyfriend, is born.
1976 – Mao Zedong’s funeral takes place in Beijing.
2007 – Buddhist monks join anti-government protesters in Myanmar, starting what some call the Saffron Revolution. Hey wait, this was just last year.

And, oh yeah, it’s also my birthday! Heh!

Life Is Full of ‘IF’s

IF I had not agreed to follow my friend to the Dean Sherman seminar in FGA, I would not have met my wife.

IF the genetic dice were rolled another way, I would have lived my brother’s life, and he mine. This is something I think about a lot, not that I have supplanted God’s divine will with the Fates, but an exploration of John Calvin’s predestination.

IF I hadn’t decided to change jobs last year, I’d probably be still working in the office now.

IF I had not met my good friend Dave the Slayer in the first week of university, those five years there would have been a lot less fun. Hell yeah. Late nights playing Ultima VIII on the PC, Metallica blasting on the boombox… riding my Honda RC80 together to the library to use the dial-up Internet there… great times.

IF I hadn’t been saved as a 7 year old child, I would probably never be a Christian until today. Sometimes I strongly believe this. But of course, its one of those things in life I would never find out, for the better.

FIVE “If”s that would have made your life somewhat different today. From 2ann.

We The People

There’s a reason you separate military and the police. One fights the enemies of the state, the other serves and protects the people. When the military becomes both, then the enemies of the state tend to become the people.

Commander William Adama, Battlestar Galactica

In light of the current state of affairs, I can’t help but be reminded by Adama words above, I believe rockybru quoted it in his blog before, too.

Anyone who follows the reimagined Battlestar Galactica will know Bill Adama as leader who is fearless, fiercely loyal, and unflinchingly moral. But sadly for us in the real life here, we do not have a commander anything like Adama.

May the Lords of Kobol have mercy on us.

Remember Those Kjeldsens Butter Cookies?

(NOT a sponsored post!)

I reckon every home in Malaysian has one of those old round, blue coloured Kjeldsens tins lying around. My mom used to put all her sewing stuff in it, I think when i was small we had another one or my Lego pieces (yes, I played with Lego!). They’re extremely useful, don’t rust easily, and when they finally rust, some of my neighbours used them as flowerpots…

The tin definitely outlive the butter cookies by many years, people re-use the container to store all sorts of stuff. But speaking of the actual cookies, they’re definitely one of the best tasting ones around – always soft and fluffy even after the tin is opened for a long time. The standard set came with 5 different types of cookies, stacked nicely in two levels of butter paper cups.

Actually they were pretty expensive back in those days (even more so now), so most of us are more familiar with the tin than the cookies themselves!

Some years back someone gave me a tin for Chinese New Year… I’m pretty sure the tin is around somewhere, probably being used by my kids as a container for their hundred and one Barbie accessories…

Must go and check if Tesco has them…

Technorati Tags: Kjeldsens, butter cookies, cookies