Let me see, I’ve had my current home PC set up for, um, since 2003? That’s a long time. So are the Sonic Gear speakers I got together with the PC. I guess they’re okay as a first generation speakers, it looks good and works well. But the thing with speakers over time is that the sound gets less sharp, you get more feedback (and that annoying soft, hissing sound in the background especially when you turn the volume up). The other problem with my speakers is that the volume control is stiff. So stiff i can’t adjust it anymore, so i just leave it at max and control the…

Most of you will probably be going to see that new action movie called ‘Clash of the Titans’ this weekend or some time soon. Well, I hope I’m get to watch this new movie, although the initials reviews don’t see too promising. Most of you will also note that the word ‘re-make’ is used to describe it, meaning that there was an older version of this movie. 29 years ago, in fact, back in 1981. I had the opportunity to watch the original version in a cinema (I believe it was Rex Cinema) when i was a small boy, but it was sometime in 1983, not 1981. Back in those…

Our flight home was in the evening, so we practically all day to spare on the final day. So we decided to take it easy and shop around Kuta and Legian. But first things first, the kids hit the pool. We then took a hotel shuttle to Legian and walked slowly back for shopping. The whole area of Kuta, Legian and Seminyak is one whole combined shopping area, filled shoulder to shoulder with shops, stalls and bars and restaurants and more shops (and an occasional temple). One of the most popular area in Kuta is Poppies Lane 1 and 2. And this is how it looks like. This pub has…

Day 3 of our Bali trip was Nyepi, the day of total silence. Its when no one is allowed outdoors or make any noise or turn on any lights for an entire day. The legend says it is to fool the evil spirits visiting on this day (the Bali Hindu New Year) that there is no one on the island, and they will leave the island free from disasters for one year. But this ruling is hardly enforced in tourist hotels, so we all had great fun the whole day. The kids made a big splash in the 2 swimming pools in the morning and evenings. For me, other than…

Daybreak on the 2nd day, we were supposed to get up early, but after the tiring first day, getting up early was a problem. When we left the hotel at about 8.30pm when it was already pretty sunny. This the morning sun on our room’s private patio. Ok then it was a 90min drive northwards to Kintamani and Gunong Batur. It was supposed to be cooling up in the mountains, but the morning sun was already pretty hot when we got there. But the view was awesome. Note the black volcanic rock at the foothills from the last eruption, that’s where they get the rocks to make sculptures. To the…

So after waiting forever, our holiday to Bali finally came. Yes, yes, I know, everyone else has been to Bali except me… But anyway. Most of you can see the larger set of photos posted on facebook, but here’s my post with a little more description. We left KL early in the morning, and this was our first sight of the Island of the Gods. We booked our hotel through AirAsia, for an el cheapo RM100 per night. This was our hotel. The hotel is ok, located some 200m from the famous Kuta beach. It’s very low density with rather small rooms. Quite a lot of mosquitoes if you leave…

If there’s one local company that has made arguably the biggest impact in our lives, its AirAsia (as much as some Malaysians refuse to admit it). For me personally, AirAsia has enabled me to live out the one dream i first thought damn near impossible – travelling outside my small little cocooned world to how the rest of the world lived. Although admittedly the destinations are limited (but growing), its cheap and easy, and its forcing people like MAS and SIA to be more competitive. Back when we were small, living in our small rural town, we never travelled. We only saw the outside world through the occasional travel show…

She was a nice elderly Eurasian woman who lived behind us. The first thing that struck you about her was her black hair permed into a ball, and her glasses that made her eyes look unnaturally large. She lived alone, save for the Indian gardener cum handyman who came once a week, and the Hokkien cleaning lady every other day. She spoke very little pidgin Malay, and struggled to communicate with the two helpers. But she spoke the Queen’s English in a slow, enunciated way. And she that’s what she did, she gave English tuition to kids from primary one up to teenagers. She gave 4-5 classes every day, in…

Well, maybe most of you haven’t heard of it, but among rock classics, the one is at the top of the tree, right there with Hotel California and Temple of the King. Back when i was a kid, if you were learning to play the guitar and wanted to sound cool or impress your friends, this is the riff you’d play (there’s actually a scene in Wayne’s World about this). There’s a lady who’s sure, all that glitters is gold And she’s buying a stairway to heaven When she gets there she knows, if the stores are all closed With a word she can get what she came for Ooh,…

Some time back in December when i wrote about my 2009 Book of the Year (it was Neil Gaiman’s Graveyard Book), I promised to write about the runner-up book in the following post. But other things got in the way, never got round to doing it. So before I totally forget about it, here’s my honourable mention for 2009 Book of the Year. No it STILL isn’t Twilight. It’s a wonderful graphic novel called Persepolis by Iranian-born French journalist Marjane Satrapi. When it was first released in the US, there were 2 parts, Book 1 was called ‘Story of a Childhood’ and the sequel was called ‘The Story of Return’.…