Over the weekend, the new Harry Potter book was released. I stayed clear of all bookstores and shopping centres. If Malaysia celebrated Halloween, it would look darn close to this. For those who can’t get enough of Potter-mania, here are interesting facts you may or may not already know about the boy wizard and his billionaire writer: Top Ten Things You Didn’t Know About Harry Potter by Simon The J.K. in ‘J.K.Rowling’ stands for ‘Janji Kaya’. Or ‘Just Kopy’. In Book 7, the Weasley family will trade in their Ford Anglia for a Proton Savvy. Before the first movie was shot, Tom Cruise turned the role of Harry Potter. He…

What’s AP? Approved Permit? Associated Press? Advanced Placement? Apasal Pulak? Audio Precision? Alternative Press? Asia Pacific? Ah Pek? What’s NAZA? Nasimuddin & Zaleha? A new anti-HIV drug banned by the FDA? No AP, Zero Automobiles? Short form of NaZaK? Back to main page.

My wife is following that Korean series ‘Jewel in the Palace’ which is dubbed into Cantonese on Channel 30 (Astro). I’m not a big fan of these slow moving dramas, but apparently there is a lot of hype going around it and other Korean dramas. I’ve no idea what the show is about, but I’m sure most Malaysian will remember another huge craze some years ago called ‘Winter Sonata’. Oh yeah, that one was so big even the malay ladies in my office were talking about it non-stop. Even my brother and sis-in-law went on one of those ‘Winter Sonata’ tours in South Korea for their honeymoon. According to them,…

I’m watching this show on TV right now. OK, it’s Desperate Housewives, I’ll just admit it here and now. It’s that part where the hunk of burning love Mike Delfino mentions to Teri Hatcher (whatever her screen name is…Susan?) that his wife’s dying wish was for him to take care of Bongo her dog, an Alsatian. That’s a tall order, taking care of a dog as somebody’s dying wish.(Let’s just talk about dying wishes on the make believe TV shows, here, OK?) But thankfully, for Mike Delfino, it could be a lot worse. Like, imagine she said this: “Don’t ever forget me, darling. Promise me you’ll never marry again, or…

I noticed the Star is doing that Word Puzzle thing again. I think this is the third time they are doing this. The first two years were in a form of a Crossword puzzle, this time round they’ve simplified it to a linear puzzle. All to achieve the sole purpose of selling more newspapers (as if they have any REAL competitiors).I remember the last time they had this contest. Man, some people were really CRAZY about it. Some of my colleagues bought a bundle (yes, one BUNDLE) of the Star newspaper every morning. And they used like 5 different dictionaries and thesaurus (real and electronic) just to do one puzzle.…

(This is a continuation of yesterday’s post. Please read it first before proceeding, thanks)The scene was set. Malaysia had beaten the Mighty Indonesian House of Badminton in the two previous Thomas Cup semi-finals in the 80’s leading up to 1992, but each time, Malaysia could not match up to the might of the new force in world badminton – China. The Great Wall of China, year after year produced dozens of cookie cutter champions – all poker face, emotionless smashing machines like Yang Yang, Zhao Jianhua, Xiong Guobao, et al. And yeah, they also had the formidable Tian Bingyi and Li Yongbo, the arrogant crack doubles pair. But in 1992…

Lee Chong Wei just won the Malaysian Open badminton last weekend. It seems that our local tournament is the only competition our local shuttlers can win, aside from one or two obscure European tournaments here and there. Thereby justifying the ‘jaguh kampung’ tag. Unless if we meet an Indonesian player in the final. Then ‘jaguh kampung’ also don’t have. Actually Lee Chong Wei is just the latest in the long line of local boys from our academies to play in the international scene. This line stretched back to the early 90’s, with players like the Saha brothers, Lo Ah Heng, Roslin & Hafiz Hashim, Wong Choon Hann. Sometimes the story…

Yes, we trust you, Arsene, but I hope you know what you’re doing. In all these years you have been at Highbury, we HAVE trusted you, and by and large, you have delivered. Not wildly unimaginable success, but more success than in the past 50 years.But I hope you know what you’re doing. Patrick Vieira is our talismanic (as much as I dislike that cliche) captain. 9 years is an eternity in football, he stayed on despite the lure of bigger clubs and European glory, and he has matured into one of the best defensive midfielders in the world (yes, Roy Keane, that’s right).Those who criticize Arsenal’s lack of real…

Most attached guys I know face this problem: What to get your wife or girlfriend for her birthday? Or Valentine’s Day? Or your anniversary? Oh, that’s easy, some of you might say. Get her some flowers and chocolates. Sure, that works fine the first few times, but after a few years of courtship (assuming your girlfriend stays with you that long) you start running out of ideas. There are those who never face this problem. That’s because they never buy their girlfriends anything. Why? I dunno. I suppose there’s a few reasons. Boyfriend is an ultra-cheapskate. Guy has a incredible ability to forget every important date (Most likely to get…

Further to my post last week, these might just jog some of your memories…:More RTM shows Simon Does Not Miss From the 80’s: Hari Ini Dalam Sejarah. (or its English version, This Day in History) Those ‘informative’ short segments by Filem Negara Malaysia where they teach you how they make things, like wau (kite), statue of a parrot, gasing, etc. Falcon Crest. (Seemed like it went on and on and on…) Paint Along with Nancy. (Actually this one was quite good. She paints with a spatula!) Sapphire & Steel (What on earth is going on?!) Empat Sekawan (Don’t get me started on this one…) TV Pendidikan English Language shows featuring…