We’ve been talking about Pulau Ketam (Crab Island) for the longest, longest time. For more than a year. Every month had its share of distractions, but during one Sunday lunch we finally decided to set a date during the long Labour Day weekend. After some logistics that went like clockwork, we picked up my MIL at 9am who just came down from Ipoh with my BIL. Off straight to the Cheahs’ across the highway. Packing everyone in one car (6 adults and 3 kids), we drove on the Federal Highway all the way to Port Klang. Getting to the jetty is a cinch, just go to end, past Port Klang…

So I hear David Letterman is retiring today after 33 years and 6,000 shows. If you were to ask me if I prefer Leno or Letterman, in a heartbeat I’d answer Letterman. I’ve been a Letterman fan ever since I started watching him on the old MetroVision channel (remember that one?) in the mid-90’s. Even then Leno was more popular than Letterman, especially with the younger crowd. But to me, Letterman was funny, Leno wasn’t. there was this smarmy ‘I’m funny’ side to Leno that I disliked, to me Letterman was genuinely funny. 90’s Letterman was mellowed version of his earlier persona (judging from reports and Youtube clips). After I…

Twin Peaks, a.k.a. “Who Killed Laura Palmer” is often mentioned as a cult TV series, but one I’ve not watched. I watched the first episode on RTM2 when it was shown back in 1991 (or possibly 1992), but I never continued the series. In any case I don’t think RTM finished broadcasting the first season. But I generally know the story, homecoming queen Laura Palmer was murdered, the entire surrealist series explores the townsfolk and seeks to solve the mystery. So while on a break from The West Wing (getting somewhat boring) I started the with the pilot. There’s a two hour premier, followed by 7 episodes of Season 1.…

Its been close to 6 years since I stopped watching animes, the last one was Ergo Proxy, and even that took me a few months to complete. In the interim, I’ve moved on to lots of the other series, mostly American drama and sitcoms. But I’ve always wanted to come back to anime, time permitting. So six years, some reminiscing about Fullmetal Alchemist and Black Lagoon, i started reading about new anime series. It seemed that the scene has changed a bit since my last visit, with better and more matured series. Anyway, i started with Tatami Galaxy, partly because it was only 12 episodes, and easy starter back into…

This post is much delayed, I finished the season 2 months ago during CNY, but never got round to write about it. <img src=”https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e0/West_Wing_S3_DVD.jpg”> This season is ominous because it originally premiered in the US right after the 9/11 attacks back in 2001. There was a special to address this event, done with the best intentions but it was rather boring and preachy to say the least. The good thing was this episode was not part of the main storyline chronology.  Season 3 proper started off with the cliffhanger of the previous season, President Bartlet expectedly announcing he is running for re-election. The main storyline was the leak that the…

This is an ongoing review series, to read my take on the first season, see here: Season 1 After the euphoria of Season 1, I started the second season immediately. The first season cliffhanger was the shooting of President Bartlet, although we all know well nobody’s going to get seriously wounded. Season 2 started off strong, with a flashback 2-parter, showing what everyone were individually doing before the campaign team was assembled for the Bartlet campaing. It was timely to show the backstories of the main characters, because in the course of the first season they’ve dropped tantalizing hints on how Jed Bartlett decided to run, and how the team…

So after finishing up with Jack Bauer’s 24 (read about my reviews here), I was wondering what TV show to catch up on. I was googling up on ‘Greatest TV shows of all time’, and had narrowed down a shortlist like ‘Band of Brothers’, ‘The Sopranos’ etc. As usual, Boone came to my rescue. what about The West Wing? Bingo! I was soon on way watching. Before starting on the show, I had a rough idea that the show is a drama on the life of the President. I assumed it was a serious drama, with heavy issues the President faces in real life. But after a few episodes, I…

There’s a quote going around FB and Pinterest about raising dogs. It goes something like “He might only be here for a part of your life but for him, you are his whole life.” I’ve had 2 dogs in my life while growing up. They were part of my life, and for them, I was their entire lives. The very first of the 2 dogs, I got him when I was only 5 years old. I know this for certain because my dad took a picture of my sister holding him in her arms, the puppy was only a few weeks old. And my mom scratched the date on back…

I reminisce about the darndest things while driving home. Today, i remembered about my first day in uni, 24 years ago. Good lord, has it been that long? It was early July, only my dad came with me. My grandfather had just passed away, so my mom did not make the 3 hour trip down south. It was only my second time there, the first was for the interview a couple of months earlier. UTM back then was not part of UPU, they had their own arcane / clandestine method of selecting applicants. I remember it was a quiet journey, i was unhappy and bitter with my dad for a…

Today is the last day of 2014, and keeping with tradition, I’m doing a review my past year in 9 points. To understand why only 9 (and not 10) you have to go back to the first of this yearly tradition to find out why. The past editions are in the following links: 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 So before the year ends and the fireworks go off, let’s start: *** 1. Annus Horribilis in Malaysian Aviation No matter how isolated or disconnected you want to be from our mainstream news, no Malaysian can escape the horror of MH370, MH17 and QZ8501. What on earth happened? For MH17, it…