Apparently, a Spongebob Squarepants book has been banned in Malaysia. (image from Wikipedia. Avert your eyes if you’re under 43 years of age.) Yes, that yellow sea creature, who lives in Bikini Bottom with his pet snail Gary. I thinking he’s banned because some people think of him as a gay icon, like that evil Teletubbies (which one was it? Dipsy? Tinky-Winky? Laa-Laa? Po? Oh no, did I just name all of them…?). By that reckoning, they should also ban other gay icons like Village People, N’Sync, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (yes they do show it on 8TV). And not to mention Winter Sonata, because the guy looks…

Let me get one thing straight. My wife’s the one watching WINTER SONATA, not me. She didn’t watch it the first 35 times they showed it on local TV, so she’s catching it on 8TV daily. Since I can’t get to watch my Seinfeld re-runs, I have to sit through it being shown on the idiot-box while I do my work or read. What’s there to know to about the great and much-talked-about (although a little old) WINTER SONATA? Okay, like i said, i dun really watch, but from what i gather: – ITS BLARDY SLOW. There are lots of scenes where the actors and actresses are talking slowly like…

I can’t believe it has been a year since the last Nanowrimo! Well, actually it has been only 11 months, it ended on 30th November. But yesterday, being the 1st of November, was the first day of Nanowrimo 2006. For the uninitiated, Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month) is held every year in November, where people are encouraged to finish a 50,000-word novel in the 30 days of the month. It isn’t a competition – there are no prizes or anything of the such, you ‘win’ by completing the novel past 50k words, if you don’t, you just don’t ‘win’. In return, you get a virtual certificate, and the warm glowing…

Today’s Halloween. It’s okay if you dunno anything about the occasion, I don’t either. It’s some American tradition like Thanksgiving and Superbowl Sunday. But judging from all the TV programs, its supposed to be a day originating from Samhain where kids dress up like supposedly scary costumes (You want scary? Has anyone dressed up like a barrel of toxic waste? Or a walking monitor with the Windows blue screen of death? Or George W. Bush?) Anyway, like I said, it’s an American thing. Even as hard as those local toy stores try to hawk the merchandise to us here. But speaking of all things scary, does anyone remember the series…

Trigger – Hey, Silver. You know something? I feel a little uneasy around here. This place is a bit… spooky. Silver – Aw, c’mon, it’s spook because it some festival going on here in Malaysia. All the good folks have disappeared off somewhere, leaving the Filipino maids, Indonesian labourers, Myanmar coffeeshop workers and other foreigners like us to rule in the city…! Yee-haw! Trigger – Yes, but don’t you notice something? There’s no other foreigners here but us! And i don’t think the locals are all gone… I can see some of them peeking out at us from inside their homes… I think they’re very suspicious of us… Silver –…

Hari Raya is now in its third day, most folks are still on leave, there’s probably one more day of ‘Raya TV specials’ on air all day. Let’s face it, local TV during Hari Raya hasn’t changed much in the last 20 years. The stars may be younger, and the production slightly better (just slightly) but the staples are still there. Then again it’s the same with Chinese New Year and Christmas too, but anyway. At least they stopped that ‘Rasa Sayang AidilFitri’ kid’s programme in the mornings. And the corresponding ‘Rasa Sayang’ for every other holiday… Top Ten Things You’ll Likely See on Local TV on Hari Raya Last…

Selamat Hari Raya folks. It’s been a good day, so good i had to drag myself off the couch to blog a bit. Okay, just a little. Let me see, today i woke up at 10, went to Mid-Valley Megamall (just before the carpark became a madhouse), tried the new KFC variety bucket, came back, slept it off, lounged around just to see the heaviest storm of the year, spend 1 hour on the treadmill to work off the KFC, and am now blogging about it. I’m going to watch some DVDs after this. God bless our fantastic public holidays. Maaf zahir batin. I’ve been hearing Sharifah Aini’s ‘Selamat Hari…

I’d like to wish Happy Deepavali or Diwali to some notable Malaysians. I’m not sure if some of these people celebrate the Festival of Lights or not, but in the spirit of Malaysiana, I wish them well all the same. M. Karathu – that humble unassuming Perak coach that lighted up Malaysian football all those years back. Those guys from Alleycats – Terima kaSIH!!!! Mr. Rajan – My old neighbour, the retired cop back in the old hometown. He has a son, but he never visits cause he’s staying overseas. My dad used to visit him on Deepavali, and they spend the whole evening complaining about how their pensions can’t…

Stall Owner: Sawadee kap… want to buy silver/silk/T-shirt/priceless-artefact-unearthed-from-ancient-sunken-city-of-Ayutthaya? Me: Hmmm. Just browsing. (Points to something, NOT the priceless artefact, of course) How much for this one? Stall Owner: This one I give very cheap. 400 baht only. (Gives the all famous ‘land of thousand smiles’ smile) Me: (Raises eyebrows). (Side note: I dunno. This raising eyebrows thing is seemed to be taken for representing “Geez, kind of steep price for first offer, isn’t it?” or “What kind of overpaying water fish tourist do you take me for?” Should the price be even higher, you can feign horror as if they asked for your firstborn in exchange for the trinket you…

If you’re wondering where I’ve disappeared to for the past few days, I was on holiday over the weekend to the ancient Siamese kingdom of Lanna, or Chiang Mai as you would call it today. Don’t worry, I won’t be posting like 20 vacation photos here, just a few interesting points about the oldest city in Thailand. First thing I noticed when i stepped off the plane (AirAsia, no less) – no haze. I know, I know, everyone here is sick to death of talking about the haze, but it only takes a few seconds there without haze to realize how unhealthy and smoky it is in Malaysia. Another thing…