I'm not a squatter, I love Malaysia!

Okay.... Here we go!!

2010-01-12T10:11:00.002+08:00

I'd say last year's resolutions have been achieved 60%....

1。博士班的名是报定了。要好好充实自己。

at the end, i haven't registered for it yet... TOTAL FAILURE!!! =_="

2。做一切事情都要全力以赴，事业学业亦然。

probably achieved 50%. i'm more hardworking than previous years...

3。把身体搞好，吃好的，多运动，生活要有规律。

This one definitely i've improved a lot... not only have i signed up for gym membership, i've been swimming, running, spinning, yoga-ing quite regularly. 80%!!!

4。多认识朋友，扩大生活圈子。

this one definitely 100% success... know a lot and a lot of good friends, who i can hang out and chat, and also have social activities together... travel, sports, movies, meals... and old friends also i've maintained good relationship and become even better friends. :)

5。储蓄，置业，投资。

perhaps a 60% success rate... saving wise - not bad, can be improved. also start investing in mutual fund... didn't buy any property yet... :D

6。保持心情愉快。

100% success rate. i may not say it's a happy-happy year, but it definitely is a calm one. and i think calm = real happiness. i definitely have very very minimal grunting and complaining about anything at all.

And few more things not in the plan have also been done... for example, i've (officially) become a buddhist, turned vegetarian, traveled to so many places etc... Good things have been coming my way, and i hope they keep coming in... but even if bad things are going to happen, i think i have the strength to face them too now.

This year's resolutions:

1. okay... i have to keep telling myself - PhD!!! you lazy bum!!!

2. present paper at international conference

3. volunteer myself to help up in the meditation retreat.

4. smaller tummy and weight = 62kg.

that's all. again, set small targets and achieve them! gambatte ne!!!

Travel Plan for 2010

2010-01-06T18:41:00.001+08:00

On previous post, i've summarized my 2009 trips... this post is going to be my plan for 2010!

CONFIRMED PLANS

1. Yogyakarta (Borobudur), Indonesia - 14-16 January 2010

Leaving shortly - next week to Jogja... The main purpose is definitely to see the amazing Borobudur temple! i guess that's the only purpose. hahaha...

2. Taiwan - 5-15 May 2010

always want to visit Taiwan for the yummy food and great books. since now i'm a vegetarian, i think food hunt will be quite limited... but that's not the main complication, sigh... i just found out that the final exam weeks for this semester fall exactly on the planned date!!! gosh... i will have to pay Air Asia to delay the tickets!!! urghhh...... but i'm so determined to go!!! hahahaha....

Taipei!!! see if i can spot some celebrities & singers that i like or not!! and 101 Tower.

Cheng Pin Bookstore that open 24 hours! i'm going to shop till i drop!!! hahaha...

Yang Ming Shan National Park for sightseeing and hot spring! oooo.....

Hua Lien for the beaches and also whale spotting! should be fun!!!

3. Bangkok - July 2010

5 days shopping trip to Bangkok for the second time. i want to buy t-shirts, jeans and so much more!

4. Krabi - September 2010

A getaway trip with buddies to the sun, beach and sea! nothing much to do but to relax and hang out with friends!

UNCONFIRMED PLANS

1. Sipadan, Mabul, Kapalai, Semporna, Tawau - really want to go there for snorkeling and possibly taking up my diving license course...

2. Redang or Perhentian - for quiet break away from the hustles and bustles of city.

3. Mount Bromo, Indonesia - breathtaking sceneries... :)

Upcoming event: Vipassana Meditation Retreat

2009-12-22T10:17:00.001+08:00

Coming wednesday i'll be going to somewhere near Kuantan for Vipassana meditation retreat... full 10 days of meditations, that would be something new and definitely a challenge for me. i'm looking forward to the experience and possibly inner peace.

so, see you guys next year! an early Merry Christmas and Happy New Year greeting to all. :)

Crazy traveling year 2009

2009-12-22T10:10:00.002+08:00

This year i have had a crazy traveling year... so this post is to summarize my trips in 2009:

1. Siem Reap & Phnom Penh, Cambodia: 31 December 2008 - 7 January 2009

Experienced the street party at Pub Street, Siem Reap! Full of people... but it's super fun!

Totally enjoyed myself dancing 2 hours nonstop, drinking long island ice tea from a bucket, and totally wasted! :D

But of course the main purpose is to see this 7 wonders of the world - Angkor Wat. love it!!!

Brought the bear along too! :P

Took the boat from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh and chatted with this swedish guy. Nice tatts!

2. Siem Reap & Phnom Penh, Cambodia: April 2009

Tried my hand on drawing during my second trip to Angkor Wat... i drew this famous Tomb Raider tree at Ta Phrom. and also this:

3. Bali, Indonesia: May 2009

Second time to Bali, still enjoy it very much!! thank you Chee Aik for taking this photo for me, i love it a lot! this is Kuta Beach.

Not to be missed - smoked duck at Bebek Bengil restaurant, Ubud, Bali... super yummy!!!

4. Hainan, China: September 2009

Enjoying Yalong Bay at Hainan. We stayed in Holiday Inn and lazing on this private beach... amazing blue sky, white sand and jade sea...

5. Salsa Cruise Asia, Singapore-Port Klang-Phuket-Singapore: 22-27 November 2009

Such a luxurious king size bed... my first time staying in a 5-star hotel - Ritz Carlton Milenia Hotel, Singapore...

First time seeing christmas deco at Orchard Road, Singapore. thanks Ken for accompanying me in the wee hours of the morning. forgot to take photo with you because everything's a rush!... so regret! next time lah! :)

first time going on a cruise trip! super excited.

Not to mention first time learning how to salsa! and first time winning such a luxurious trip! memorable indeed!

新年快乐！

2009-01-25T21:39:00.000+08:00

洋人新年我在柬埔寨渡过，来不及写新年展望。乘着已丑年的到来，就来写写未完成的展望吧！

1。博士班的名是报定了。要好好充实自己。

2。做一切事情都要全力以赴，事业学业亦然。

3。把身体搞好，吃好的，多运动，生活要有规律。

4。多认识朋友，扩大生活圈子。

5。储蓄，置业，投资。

6。保持心情愉快。

就这样。哈哈，不算太贪心吧？

在此祝各位牛转乾坤，哈皮牛耶儿！

This is MADNESS!!!

2009-01-11T00:57:00.000+08:00

I just came back from Festival Filem & Video Pelajar Malaysia Ke-6 at UPM co-organized by FINAS & UPM. Me and my colleague called our dean at once after all the awards have been announced - omg... we won big!!! BIG!!! Our dean Dr. Carmen was pleasantly surprised and totally proud too! out of 33 awards, we won 14! that's more than 1/3 of all awards given out tonight!! and most exciting thing is we swept all big prizes!!! Best Documentary, Best Short Video, Best Production Group --- all these awards come with HD camera each --- Best Short Video being the biggest award made one of my student a proud owner of a brand new RM20,000 HD video camera... lucky bastard!!! hahahahahaha!!! i'm so happy and proud for these hardworking & talented students, they definitely deserve the prizes & recognition as they have worked like donkeys for the past 2 months besides their studies & exams... SO PROUD!!!! ~~hopefully i'll get a good pay raise & 4 months bonus!!! (yeah how i wish!!!!)~~

The list of all the awards received by UTAR tonight:
Anugerah Perdana (Super Pitch)
1. Best Short Video
2. Best Supporting Actor
3. Best Editing (short video)
4. Best Documentary
5. Best Directing (doco)
6. Best Editing (doco)

Anugerah Cipta
7. Best Production Group
8. Best Music Video
9. Best Promo/Advertisement
10. Best Directing (short video)
11. Best Cinematography (short video)
12. Best Art Direction (short video)
13. Best Editing (short video)
14. Best Audio (short video)

Photos to come after i got them from my students.

What a good beginning for year 2009!!! :D

哈皮冬至

2008-12-21T18:45:00.002+08:00

祝大家冬至快乐！吃汤圆没有？

昨天去了同事家house warming 及提前庆祝圣诞节吃火鸡。对他家的圣诞装饰大感兴趣，播给大家瞧瞧：

ho ho ho!!! 圣诞老人入侵民宅。真的好可爱呀！当然，最主要的目的还是跟朋友同事聚聚聊天打屁bbq。度过了蛮开心的冬至前夕。

今天则没有那么悠闲啦，必须把明天截止的论文edit好，否则将赶不及submit给有关journal。
加油加油！

乱语

2008-12-21T18:42:00.001+08:00

三毛说，当人生已不再精彩，留在世上就不再有意义。

我也曾经在忧郁时闪过自杀的念头，但稍纵即逝。所以，我能了解，但无法认同这悲观的想法。

不认同的是，活着真的只为了精彩吗？而人生必然有高潮低潮，难不成每次面临低潮时都要寻死？

我选择了，也宁愿相信，人生是平淡的。没有事发生，就是好事。我对自己更没有过分的要求。

对感情我也秉持同样的态度。我不要轰轰烈烈，只要细水长流。虚拟的完美伴侣，只会彰显现实真实的不足。人的欲望是可怕的，当有不满足的黑洞在心里扎营，渴望将无止境的扩大。长一大把年纪，我已不相信完美的伴侣，只有方便的伴侣。好的人比比皆是，能契合的人也多不胜数，哪一个才是你的完美伴侣呢？难道要骑牛寻马，永远的活在前方还有更好的心灵黑洞中吗？

说着说着，我有点混淆了。安定的生活，安定的伴侣，其实也是一种不切实际的苛求吧！？苦苦追求安定，不也让我这几十年来吃尽了苦头？不也让我心里不得安宁？这是何等的矛盾，何等的无奈。

活着，就已经是美好了。

幸福是什么？

2008-12-15T19:37:00.000+08:00

很喜欢元卫觉醒的这首《鸵鸟》，它将是我下次卡拉ok时的必点歌曲。哈哈。

喜欢歌词里的认命及让爱的心态。是的，当爱已变质，再纠缠也只是让大家难受。倒不如在一旁默默的祝福，祝福对方能找到他要的真正的幸福。

“我還愛你”再不會說出來。

希望大家会喜欢这首歌。

元衛覺醒 - 鴕鳥

你說不愛了于是我就承擔
不問我心里想的是相反
陽光很燦爛我卻笑不出來
它讓我看清楚你已離開

我忍著悲傷和無奈
就躲在房間不出來
無法阻擋時間在快轉

只能把愛藏在回憶深海
不想面對的事學著習慣成自然
我會把愛隱藏到誰都看不出來
它还在繼續卻與你無關

你說不愛了于是我就承擔
不問我心里想的是相反
陽光很燦爛我卻笑不出來
它讓我看清楚你已離開

那動人完美的獨白
沒說完你就先離開
就算遺憾我也不推翻

只能把愛藏在回憶深海
不想面對的事學著習慣成自然
我會把愛隱藏到誰都看不出來
它还在繼續卻與你無關

這不是鴕鳥的心態
只是我還無法釋懷
我還愛你再不會說出來

只能把愛藏在回憶深海
不想面對的事學著習慣成自然
我會把愛隱藏到誰都看不出來
它还在繼續卻與你無關

只能讓愛離開回憶深海
不想面對的事只能學著習慣成自然
對你的愛沉默了我卻還在依賴
你要的幸福卻與我無關
你要的幸福卻與我無關

我要去玩了！

2008-12-05T09:51:00.002+08:00

柬埔寨，我来了！

其实年中就已决定了要在学校假期走这一趟，当时甚至计划了长达2个星期的旅程，横跨越南-寮国-柬埔寨。但是世事难料，最终还是没有去成，然后就把部分钱拿来读了韩语，为我再一次到韩国背包旅行铺路。

昨天午饭时一个同事突然提起会独自到暹粒跨年并约我同行。坦白说我这2个月的生活非常凌乱，而大部分的事情都在这两周内不在我控制下草草落幕。一旦我还在既有的环境中，心还是会浮浮沉沉的得不到安宁。所以昨晚上网查了机票价钱适中，把心一狠，手指按下enter，一切就这样确定了。

我来了，神秘的吴哥窑。我要沉淀我的思绪。我要埋葬我部分的记忆。我要像周慕云一样，悄悄跟你述说我的故事，然后把它寄放在你那里。

just completed Korean Language level 1

2008-12-01T08:20:00.007+08:00

안녕하십니까? How do you do?
만나서 반갑습니다. It's nice to meet you.
제 이름은 마준구입니다. My name is 마준구.

after 5 torturous weeks, i finally completed the Korean Language level 1 course. Today, the result was released and this means i no longer need to go twice or thrice a week to study all these scientific-looking characters... hahahaha, that is until next february when level 2 starts again.

it is actually a fun class. the teacher has her way to "force" us to practise and exercise the foreign language. she often share with us her 9 years experience living in Korea, which is very relevance to learning the language. Koreans are very very particular about their social status - speaking to friends (same status) is totally different from speaking to your superiors or seniors.

this is the October 2008 class:

(pls click on the above picture for bigger version)
as you can see, there are young and old, even a Malay student, in our class. the Malay girl Fatiha is sitting for her PMR this year... and the girl in the middle right behind Fatiha, Lui Xia is also very very young, probably only 13yo? the girl in front of me is my sister. hahahaha, actually the reason i took this course was to accompany my sister, but now i actually quite enjoy learning the language, i think i will continue with level 2. oh, the other interesting thing is, 3 girls here are my broadcasting students, hahahaha, 2 girls in front with grey jacket and blue shirt, and another girl in orange vest. luckily i got better marks than 3 of them, gegegegege, so not so memalukan. :P

today is the last day for this semester, so the teacher, Jane, has brought us some food:

she brought cheese+egg sandwiches, Korean eggrolls (kinda sweet but nice), and of course the highlight - KIMCHI!!! yum yum. hers is very authentic, not too spicy and not so salty also, she used Korean chilli and shrimp paste (something like "jinjaruk" in Malaysia) so the taste is quite aromatic... yum yum!!

at the end of the class, i've taken photo with our dear teacher, Jane.

사랑하는 선생님, 감사합니다.

another blogger arrested

2008-09-17T19:09:00.002+08:00

the same headline was posted in Malaysiakini just now... breaking news...

it is Kickdefella Syed Azidi this time being detained under sedition act. he was caught due to his upside-down national flag campaign on his blog. he is famous also for satiring the politician, especially Pak Lah, with modified movie posters.

first it's Raja Petra, then Tan Hoon Cheng, followed by Teresa Kok.

Now, an ex-colleague and a good friend of mine, Azidi... those Utarians who have been taught by him before must have remembered his wits and humours... this is so depressing...

How many more?? When will they stop using all this draconian acts?

this is so frustrating, one has to wonder what's wrong in this country...

In the midst of marking final exam papers

2008-09-16T17:00:00.002+08:00

Half way through marking final exam papers, I abruptly stopped it to give way to my paper writing for my professor... sigh, was supposed to send a WIP report to her yesterday, but i was down on food allergy, whole body was full with swollen, itchy rashes. At first i though they were some kinda mosquito bites, but the next morning i realized they were all over my body and berlonggok-longgok, i know it cannot be... so took the med doctor gave, drowsy and knocked out for half a day... Only managed to send out the WIP to my professor just now... feel so sorry for her... written an apology note... kekekeke, but i doubt it will help with the situation.

Before that, i was hungry half way writing, too lazy to drive out to makan, i cooked myself some spaghetti. just screened through the fridge and see what ingredients available... mmm... capsicum, dried shrimp, tomato paste.... ah, will do then.

1. boil your spaghetti in a pot of water for 12 minutes with a pinch of salt.
2. while boiling, saute minced garlic and shallot until it's golden. Then put in dried shrimp & capsicum cubes and continue saute for 2 minutes or so.
3. add tomato paste, a cup of water, and simmer for 3 or 4 minutes.
4. put in salt, black pepper to taste. if you are up for some hot spicy sauce, can also put in chilli pepper.
5. pour in the al dente spaghetti, stir a bit, and serve.

here it is:

but while cooking, i accidently pour in too much chilli pepper, ok... actually half a bottle fell in, i scooped a LOT out... =.=" so this is like EXTRA HOT GILA MAMI spaghetti.... i tell you, i eat until my sweat and tears "dua lui dua lui" come out!!! but very syok lah that is! :P

Ok, now, back to finalizing my coding sheet, and later will have to continue marking exam papers.... sienz... =.="

Scriptwriting 101 - Evaluation of a script

2008-09-12T15:14:00.006+08:00

"Kolsken's photo was teared into pieces, publicly. Maltians of Cheeny heritage were being warned not to be like Joey in US the A, and don't corner the Muays or they will be forced to fight for survival. Ironic as it is, when the reporter asked Artificial Intelligence (AI) what if he is to be detained under Institutionalized Citizens Act (ICA), the reporter instead is being accused by AI himself for being seditious. So?

AI's membership in UMPTE has been suspended for 3 years. So?

A lot of ppl (politicians & citizens) asked for him to be jailed under ICA, but few others said let's not request the use of an unjust Act that we all condemn for so long. So?

The major turn of event: Raj Poomy has been detained under ICA for 2 months. So?
The reporter has also been caught. So?
Even another totally unrelated Meshed Potatoes was caught. So?
They said there's a long list to come. So?

So what? haven't you seen it coming?

There's no hope for this M&Ms country... perhaps until the alleged 9/6. That will be the climax of the whole episode, if it happen."

Short question: Please read the above script/draft and criticize on its narrative structure. (10 marks)

Sample answer: The story is very forced, the build-up to the climax is weak too despite being too obvious. I also think that the role of protagonist and antagonist are blurred, audience will not like to see ambiguity. Personally i think the twist of the story is the major weakness of the whole script, as it comes in unannounced, which only will give our audience a shock, a jolt, but this technique is inferior to suspense which will sustain the audience's thrill for a longer time.
I suggest that the climax should come in earlier, and instead of allegation, which is weak in nature, it should be a concrete plan. Audience needs to feel hope in the story, and not a doomed setting.
In general, the story is unbelievable and unreal, it will not happen in real life, hence audience will find great difficulties in relating to the story. Without audience's involvement, the script will be a failure.

i cooked green curry chicken again... ;)

2008-07-26T01:50:00.000+08:00

today decided to cook green curry again, last time when i cooked it, it was an instant hit... hehehe... but last time i didn't have the complete ingredients - lacking in a lot of things such as kaffir lime peel (i used the leaves as substitute), shrimp paste (replaced with salt), lesser/fingerrroot ginger (used more galangaal instead), fish sauce (used soya sauce) etc... so as you can see here... the color really not so ngam lor....

some more, i accidentally cut my own finger & fingernail when i chopped something...

this time, the 2nd attempt, i have gotten ready all the ingredients!!! hopefully i will have a more authentic green curry chicken!!!
all the ingredients for the green curry paste...

garlic, lemon grass, shallot, galangaal, kaffir lime, green chillies, corriander roots, lesser ginger or fingerroot ginger, tumeric roots, fish sauce, & shrimp paste.

then i started pounding all the ingredients............... until......... until i felt so tired and decided to give in to modern technology.... i took out the blender and the rest you know liao lah........ -___-"

so, the green curry paste is readied now!! the outcome.... was too watery, but the blender need water to function properly... sigh... so gotta compromise lor... what to do?

now all the ingredients for the green curry chicken are readied too... only lack off eggplant.... i forgot to buy lah... -.-"

coconut milk, baby corn, sweet basil leaves, cilli padi, kaffir leaves... and of course you need chicken meat lah... preferably slice into small small pieces, easier to cook later.

and wualah....

yeh, i think this time taste more like authentic thai dish lah...
forgot to take pic after everyone ate... not a single drop of gravvy is left... ^__^ *proud*

March General Election banner war at Penang

2008-06-29T09:30:00.002+08:00

when i was writing a paper, these banner war at Penang caught my attention, and i was simply amazed by the creativity of these political parties...

at first, Barisan Nasional, the ruling coalition put up their banners stated "to change again" simply to plea from Penangites a chance to prove BN can change and improve.

but we all realized, especially the opposition parties, that Penang's economy is slugging after so many years of Gerakan's ruling... hence, this has irritated the opposition parties. Keadilan decided to put this banner under BN's.

It simply said "round & round, the more you turn, the more you can't"... well whatever, my translation sucks.
but of coz, the most creative one came from DAP, where they hijacked BN's idea and used it to their advantage:

where they copied exactly the same font and style, only changed the color to their party colours - red and white. now, these slogans read: "to change again, vote for rocket (DAP)".
that's just brilliant, and it rhymes in mandarin mind you. i'm sure Penangites were all smiling and grinning cynically.

of coz , the taiko felt the poke on their back... so they decided to take down the original batch of banners, and put up a new wave of banners to ridicule DAP.

it basically picked up from the previous sentence, it reads, "vote for rocket (DAP), they'd disappeared, so don't be fooled." but what's funny is the lower position has been taken by DAP, so they cannot "tag on" to their banners... well, this is not so creative lor... they should have just written on their banner "if you want to be fooled... vote for rocket (DAP)"...

but anyway, the war ended here...

only if they take their time and creativity to develop the nation, rather than involve themselves in this word games, we will be thankful.

ok. now back to writing the paper... -.-"

(disclaimer: i do not own any of the photos above. none photographed by me. i found them on the net, majority from www.malaysiakini.com please support them and subscribe to their news service)

OMG (UPDATED)

2008-04-20T22:52:00.001+08:00

I was supposed to join my students to attend this Nextgen Contentpreneur Awards co-organized by Astro tonight/just now. then i was down on flu, so decided to call it a quit. but like my students told me just now through phone that it's really the worst timing to get sicked!! as they have won 4 awards from the competition. so proud of them weiiii..... but they really deserve the awards as they worked really hard for it. Bravo and kudos to them, hope that they will excel and do well in the future! i'll update the awards that they have won later when i got the details and photos ok.

UPDATED

the 4 awards won are:
-=OUTSTANDING MUSIC VIDEO=-
-=PHENOMENAL ART DIRECTION=-
-=FINEST MUSIC & ARRANGEMENT=-
-=EXCEPTIONAL LYRICS=-

out of 11 categories, this music video was nominated for 6 awards and they won 4. quite a good outcome i reckon. this will definitely boost their spirit and wallet. well, there was a comment on my evaluation stating that i'm kinda "questionable" because i approved a RM800 budget music video, i guess with these awards, it answers this query.

hahaha, hopefully the next production will be even better than this. if you haven't watched their latest production "the last exit" which i posted in my previous entry, you should!

now, you can enjoy the music video:

OK i know it's yesteryear's technology but...

2008-04-19T23:00:00.000+08:00

it's really fun to play with this stupid function called Face Warp. I tried it on my mom and we all have a good laugh until my mom was holding her stomach and tears fell... we then took turns trying out our faces, although my dad refused to join the fun! =.=

here are a couple of not so crazy me, but funny enough... hope you'll enjoy! :P

i think the first one look handsomer than the real me... grrr... =.=

talented students' works.

2008-04-16T22:56:00.000+08:00

Watch this short film produced by my (ex) students... i think very good lor... must support. Then proceed to the part 2 & 3 below:
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ_PDkUjUWg
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AoVPcxvzoU

And when you have done with that, also listen to the original soundtrack that was written and performed by the student's sister, it is haunting and very professionally done, not to mention suits the mood of the short film perfectly. And don't miss out the final part of the song where you can hear her haunting soprano.

people are so talented and genius nowaday!! i feel so inferior... haha.

This is really good! enjoy ya!! :P

2008-03-13T07:31:00.000+08:00

Hahahaha, good job done Comedy Court! laugh until nearly pengsan... :P

dye my singlets DIY

2008-01-19T22:29:00.000+08:00

i have bought a sling bag from Bac Ha, Vietnam for my sister, it's in dark purple color and really pretty... but the H'mong ppl use dye extracted from plant, so they tend to come off easily. after using it for the first time yesterday, the purple color "kena" her shirt and hands... so she has decided to soak the bag in water.... after it has been soaked for few hours, she hanged the bag to dry, and there lied a whole bucket of purple water... so what to do with the water, my sister suggested that i dye my singlets that turned a bit yellow and old... and i agreed.... hehehe... here comes the result!!!!

the bag...

the singlets...

the one at the back i did nothing... the front one i tied a few rubber bands here and there, so some circle patterns appeared...
take a closer look...

yeah... nice hor, now i got new singlets to wear liao!!! :P

The outcomes!!! :)

2008-01-16T21:24:00.000+08:00

kekeke, finally i've harvested my pear enzyme and pineapple+kiwi enzyme!
this is the outcome of the pear enzyme:

Now, the remainders of the enzyme, the fruits can also be eaten, in fact, they are quite nice, strong "liquor" smell, and very "crunchy" leh... no joke!

Then, this is the pineapple+kiwi enzyme outcome... surprisingly for the huge bottle of enzyme, only a little more than half bottle outcome nia... sigh...

But the fruits hor kinda smelly... so i threw them liao...
So, how's the taste of the drink...

SWEET!!!

but after you dillute with water and put ice cubes in... which is roughly 1 part enzyme + 4 parts water... they are nectar from heaven!!! so nice and refreshing!!

My whole family like it, my relatives like it, my friends like it!!!

YUM YUM!!!

now, i have done the red dragon fruit enzyme!!
didn't have to wait long, just after a minute i sealed the bottle, can see juice coming out liao...

after 2 days...

YUM YUM.... can't wait!!! :P

My first kid...

2008-01-04T20:54:00.000+08:00

My first kid is from Yunnan, China. He is a 9 years old boy with single parent, his mom is a farmer, he has a sister. For a 9 yo boy, he hasn't attended school yet, which is a bit sad. I just hope that with the RM50 i sponsor every month through World Vision, he will have a chance to get away from his daily chores at the farm, and finally have a chance to go to school and learn. Today when i received this envelope from World Vision, after seeing the photo with description of this little boy with no smile but a little anger display on his face, i have this feeling that cannot be explained... part relief, part happy, part sad... but it helps me to forgot the little little problems i faced at uni this morning, because somehow my trouble can be overcome and not really that important. no wonder they say by helping others, you help yourself too. going to write him a letter to communicate, and maybe send him postcard, color pencils and ruler. i start to feel like a dad. :P

Enzyme in the making!

2007-12-26T17:41:00.000+08:00

kekeke..... recently me and frens have this craze of making enzyme... so far, my fren has done few bottles of them - red dragon fruit, white dragon fruit, and papaya... and yesterday another fren did some more - ginger lemongrass, guava...
well me on the other hand has tried making pear and pineapple...

Day 1 - 24th December 2007
this is the bottle of pear enzyme (in the making)

you have to sterilized all the utensil and bottle, clean your fruits and let them dry. cut the fruits into small cubes or slices. then place 1 layer of sugar blocks, follow by 1 layer of pear, then 1 layer of lemon, then go back to sugar blocks and so on until the last layer. but the last layer has to be sugar. then seal the bottle, store it in cool shaded area and wait for 1 week... open the cover, stir it a bit, then seal it again. wait for another week, by right, it is then considered done!

Day 2 - Xmas night...
this is my pear enzyme so far:

See how juicy the enzyme has become... kekeke... but the fruits on the top layer got a bit too dark... i don't have good feeling... strong feeling it will not work out... nvm lah, first time mah...
then, i spent another 1 hour doing the second bottle - this time it is pineapple and kiwi enzyme, same procedures, just replaced the pear with pineapple and kiwi.... kekekeke.... the bottle look like this:

Day 1: Xmas night...

Hopefully this one will also turn out fine.... kekekeke... i'm an impatient person... dunno if i can wait til 2 weeks... :P

UPDATE
day 2 of the pineapple + kiwi enzyme... the boxing day... here's the pic!!

Look nice leh... i think if this one doesn't get busuk after few days (touch wood), it will be very very nice to taste!!! :)

Job Opportunities

2007-12-19T09:12:00.000+08:00

Anyone who is interested in the following job vacancies (production houses), do contact me for details:

1. Assistant Director/Director
2. Production assistant/coordinator
3. Scriptwriter

(the above jobs can be permanent or on project basis)

4. Admin/ Finance
5. Artiste Asst
6. Script Writer (Trainee)
7. Research Writer (Trainee)
8. Producer (Trainee)
9. Asst. Producer (Trainee)
10. Tape (Lirarian)/ Props/ Wardrobe
11. Location Researcher
12. Scheduler
13. Scheduler (Trainee)
14. Driver/ OB Boy
15. Personal Asst.

(for 4-15, fresh graduates may apply to those jobs stated “trainee”, and all applicants must be Chinese literate)

Contact me by leaving a message here, or beh2046@gmail.com, or if you know my phone number, just call or leave me a SMS.

我想要一些改变

2007-11-27T13:00:00.000+08:00

毫无由来的，这想法停留在我脑里。
或许是厌倦了既有的生活，一成不变的反复踏着自己昨天的脚步。或许只是纯粹想要再体验那改变带来的一刹那的快感。或许也是不愿面对和甚至欲逃避当下的问题与烦恼。或许我是这样的人。
窒息，不安，彷徨。
但改变就能逃离了吗？那，如果欲改变的是自己而不是周遭，才是正确的吗？

Sapa, Vietnam

2007-11-20T09:52:00.000+08:00

This is the kind H'mong lady, whom helped my travel partner a lot throughout the hike.
Well, no doubt she intended to first help and then sell something to us, but her genuine kindness was natural and no great actor can fake that. It is just sad that commercialized tourism and quick way of earning money will eventually (or have already) gets to her or the ppl there... this really is the double edged knife kinda issue... on one hand tourism (supposedly) helps them earn more money, boast the economy, but at the same time corrupts their ways of living, made them lazy, and exactly how much money earned from the tourism directly benefit this group of minorities?

Photo taken at Sapa, Vietnam at 5th November 2007

Halong Bay, Vietnam

2007-11-20T09:48:00.000+08:00

This is the photo i took on Halong Bay. The fishermen were working against such a breathtaking backdrop. but i was wondering, did they stop to admire the great nature, or they are so busy surviving. Similarly i was working in KL, did i really admire its surrounding. I've fallen into deep thoughts... what about life? Are we merely living? or have we ever truly understand and admire what we are doing now? Do we ever stop for a while, appreciate our surroundings?

Photo taken on: 6th November 2007

Temporary travel plan in Vietnam

2007-10-24T12:45:00.000+08:00

31st October 2007 (Wednesday)
Arrived at Hanoi in the evening, check in to hotel... remember to book hotel before going!!
Checking out Hanoi night scenes, maybe talk to ppl and newly made friends about traveling in Vietnam.

1st November 2007 (Thursday)
Have to book train tickets to Sapa and also package trip to Halong Bay in the morning. If possible also buy tickets for the water puppets show.
Spending the afternoon drinking dripping coffee by the roadside watching Vietnam ppl and lifestyle.
Maybe catching the night train to Sapa by 11pm if manage to get tickets.

2nd November 2007 (Friday)
Hopefully arrive at Sapa in the morning... check into hotel and walk around Sapa town.

Afternoon exploring H'mong village and do some hiking, watching terrace field.

3rd November 2007 (Saturday)
Morning market at Sapa highland... witness all minority tribes gather to sell cultural goods and accessories, get myself something too... shirts maybe.

Catch the afternoon train to go back to Hanoi.

Reached Hanoi in the evening, check in back to hotel.
Night hopefully go to Jazz Pub to listen to live music and spend the night.

4th November 2007 (Sunday)
Morning 7am going on trip to Halong Bay

Reach Halong Bay in the afternoon, hop on junk boat, enjoying the sceneries, hopefully no mist!

Overnight on junk boat.

5th November 2007 (Monday)
Sunrise watching on the junk.

Cave exploring, maybe even kayaking depends on the tour package.

Evening back to Hanoi.
Savouring Hanoi street food and a little shopping.

6th November 2007 (Tuesday)
Museums, parks, temples, travel spots.
Eat eat eat, shop shop shop.
Water puppets show at night.

7th November 2007 (Wednesday)
Last minute shopping and exploring...
And it's bye bye time in the late afternoon.

懒洋洋的几天

2007-10-19T12:43:00.000+08:00

从星期四开始就随父母回到了小鱼村班台, 因为是外婆死后一百日的祭日, 老家挤满了亲戚, 更多的是吱喳不停的小孩子. 我尽量躲在角落看书做自个儿的事, 毕竟我不喜欢小孩! 也不想他们来缠我... 哈哈!

几天前才出席了堂弟的婚礼, 现在却是白事, 生命无常, 颇玩味. 才在外公家里拜读了"相约星期二"(Tuesdays with Morrie), 相当赞成书中提到的好一些对生命及死亡的看法. 要道出自己的观点也许太难, 脑中的想法非常模糊. 嘿, 又有谁对生命及死亡如此抽象的概念能说得出个所以然?

书也读完,翻译也做得闷了, 表弟们转了又转的卫星电视台, 播放的尽是明星八卦无关痛痒的鸡皮蒜事, 突然觉得自己的生活充满了许多无聊的小事, 花了好多时间在不重要的人跟事上. 讨厌花心思在虚伪做作的人身上, 也讨厌写些吹嘘自己以赢得注目的文章来打发时间. 倒不如花时间在旅游中探看不同的人生百态, 从而沉淀及重新思考本身的定位和生活未来的方向. 好期待即将踏上越南的路程哦!

share with you all

2007-05-11T10:25:00.000+08:00

just got a photo from a fren... can't wait to share with all of you... hehehe... i brought someone up to the summit that day too... here it is:

it's my beloved teddy bear!!! he accompanied me to go up all the way! :P

i figured if i cannot be the first to be up there, i wanna be the first to bring teddy bear up there... hehehehe... :P

(and someone adds: i look like Digi-yellowman "I will follow you..." all the way up to mount KK! :P)

photo storytelling

2007-05-08T10:03:00.000+08:00

2 years ago, i returned to Penang with this black and white cert - which stated the peak is 4095.2m, but i only managed to hike up some 3272m...

i didn't really felt defeated, cause i knew myself, i am just not fit to finish that task.

so 2 years later, last week, i returned to KL with this beautiful full colored, embossed cert, that stated i have made it to the peak...

first, we have to register ourselves at the Kinabalu Park head quarter near Timpohon. and outside its office, we could see our destination quite clearly that day...

above the clouds, there where we wanted to go:

Mount KK summit.

taking the route as illustrated here in this postcard:

I took 3 hours from Laban Rata Resthouse (the brightest spot on the postcard), follow exactly the white dotted line to Low's Peak (the highest peak).

and shortly after the sunrise, on my way down Low's peak, i snapped this photo:

it is magnificent, no? this is the Kinabalu South peak. and i think this is the most beautiful peak of all.

scratch off 1 item from my list of things to do before i die.

2007-05-05T13:50:00.000+08:00

~ 3rd May 2007 thursday 5.30am ~

ya, and this time i finally stepped on Low's Peak, the highest summit of Mount Kinabalu.

on 4095.2m above sea level, i was thrilled to tears.

no no, it is definitely nothing tough for physically fit ppl, but it is an achievement, personal achievement for myself.

i was standing on the spot of these 2 ppl in the photo... 5.05am... 0.5km away from the highest peak... my mind was telling me to give up, it was too tiring, your legs would suffer so much, you are out of breath... but my heart was telling me the other things, that your friends are all waiting up there for you, the sun is about to rise, and you will regret if you give up now... so my feet kept on moving, step by step...

the day before this dusk, i have walked some 8.2km of trails through Mesilau route all the way to Laban Rata, where we stayed a night. i was carrying 10.5kg bag, panting ever so heavily every 100m... it was raining the last half of the hike, i was too tired to even rest for a snack or a sip of water. so in about 7 hours and 40 minutes of walking on my sore feet, i reached Laban Rata by 4pm.

when the white resthouse appeared before me, memory caught me - 2 years ago, i WAS here too! that time, my right knee was killing me, as if my knee cap was going to drop any minute... i knew then i could not make it to the summit due to the injury... which was true, the next morning 2 years ago i was watching my other teammates getting ready to conquer and wishing them goodlucks! bad news hit us that morning that due to heavy rain we were all forbid to go up to summit... boo... SO, this was my second attempt!! seeing that white resthouse - LABAN RATA, has so much meanings for me!!

we rest for a night, and by 2.30am, we were again hiking from Laban Rata with our head lamp, 3 layers of jackets, track pant, a bottle of "energy-boosting" plain water and a bar of snicker. it was dark and crowdy. everyone was walking slowly, perhaps haven't recovered from the pain we got from the previous hike... we followed each other's footprints slowly but nonstop, expected a hard climb of 3 hours, or more, to reach the summit before sunrise.

so, after so much hard work, on that spot i was stadning, my heart told my mind... YOU JUST CANNOT QUIT NOW!!!You just has to finish that damn 0.5km!!!!

Here i am, i told myself on the signpost that marked 4095.2m Low's Peak, i felt like i could achieve just anything! the chilling winds were blowing, but my heart was warm. no word can describe my feelings and the stunning views from the peak... no photo can fully depict the grand view of the huge granite rock that i was standing on... i just felt like everyone has to do it once in their lifetime. so, here i scratch out 1 item from the list of things to do before i die - i have no regret!!! :)))

(photos are from http://www.mysabah.com/ and not my own... when i got my photos from others' cameras, i will post them up!!)

WORLD VISION finding sponsors for 5,000 children

2007-03-30T09:58:00.000+08:00

Dear friends of World Vision,

Thank you for your help in spreading the word about our mission in finding sponsors for 5,000 children this year.

You may be pleased to know that as at 20 March, 2,190 out of the 5,000 children have been sponsored by kind Malaysians.

However, 2,810 children are still waiting. If we can find sponsors for 15 children each day, beginning today, by the end of 2007, all 2,810 children will be given a chance to break the vicious cycle of poverty.

If you are receiving this email for the first time, we invite you to spread the word by emailing the following e-card to your family & friends.

Every effort helps.
Thank you!

Warm regards,
World Vision Malaysia
www.worldvision.com.my
Tel: 03-7880 6414

Korea - 2nd day, part 3

2007-02-21T11:36:00.000+08:00

The blue trail

it is sorta recreational trail, not much adventure really. tall trees, calm stream runs through valley, maple leaves on rocky routes, crystal clear pond... i guess i'll just let the photos do the talking:

silhouette of maple leaf and hue of maple colours

jade green pond, although the signboard said otherwise (it says the water is supposed to look BLUE). and me posing.

the walkway...

a look at the valley

A maple leaf trapped between rocks at the bottom of the clear pond.

Since it only took us a little less than 45 minutes to complete this trail, we still have some time for the red trail.

The red trail

now, this is how maple leaves turn red.

the bleeding tree. no photoshop here, it was THIS red!

maple leaves that we missed... if only we arrived 2 or 3 days earlier we would be able to catch up with the full red! but i guess nothing is going to be perfect, so i was contented to pose near this tree:

the low angle view of the tree trunk...

colourful patches of colours resembling the pattern of army uniform appear on the trunk... a very close look.

the veiny me posing before leaving this place...

we decided to leave this haven for all the hustle and bustle of city... we didn't complete the red trail due to time constrain. on the way out, we saw this banner:
cute cartoon characters eh... since the information booth has already opened, i jokingly asked the lady there whether the bears really appear. she answered almost impulsively "yes, they sometimes come out for food!" me and sis looky at each other, held our breath for a while... bloody hell, if only i know Korean to be able to read the signboards, we should have been more cautious!! hahahaha.... luckily we didn't become FOOD for the bears... :P then again, judging from the drawing on the banner, the bears look super-friendly to me.... maybe they are vegetarians??? yeah right. haha.

on our way back to the homestay, we came across this tree:
we have seen these trees all over the hills, people's gardens, roadsides along our bus journey here... we figured it should be persimmon, but we were not sure cause some of the fruits were so big and in heart shape.... mmmm.... but this tree here the fruits look like persimmon no doubt... and we were even more sure when we saw the shop kidna hanged these fruit to wind-dry them... later they would process them into biscuit form for sale... tried this round shape one, very sweet and juicy... but the heart/love shape one is big, but not so sweet and a bit hard and dry... hehe.

we went up to our room to pack our bags, at the same time the ajumma helped us call taxi to go to nogodan, another peak in the Jirisan national park. when the taxi arrived, we realized it's just a normal jeep, maybe belongs to the relative of this ajumma.... but nevermind lah, as long as we got the transport to leave this small town. we paid another Won25,000 (RM100) just to hop on this 30 minutes ride to the other hiking spot.... damn... so expensive!!!

it was a very bumpy trip, me and my sis felt almost wanna throw out already... when we arrived, we were so happy to just ran out from the jeep for some fresh air!!!........

(to be continued)

Korea - 2nd day, part 2

2006-12-20T14:51:00.000+08:00

After having breakfast, we walked out, the cold breeze was tolerable after a hot bowl of soup and some spicy kimchi. so me and my sister started to look for any signboard that's useful to us.

but of coz, the scenery along the road was so nice, we couldn't stop snapping photos. until we finally saw another signboard at the end of the street, we stopped...

It is of no use to us again, coz there's no english words again except that bloody Jirisan National Park... hell, of coz we know it's Jirisan!! but anyway, at least, we kinda knew where our exact spot was by then... see the close-up:

Then after a few more steps, we arrived at the tourist info booth but maybe because it's still too early (it must be only 6.30am or so)... but from there, we finally saw the entrance to the national park... so protocol, photo must be taken!

And finally this time we saw more English words... haha, and finally get to know the story of this Baemsagol Valley... i'll just let the pictures tell the stories...

and then we got to see this signboard which highlights the 2 routes that we can take and the time needed...

both trails need about 1 hour to complete, but we decided to take the blue trail first because we have very limited time and the blue trail will bring us back to the entrance but the red trail will bring us to the other point, and we probably will need another 1 hour back from there...

so off we go, we walked along the blue trail.... crossed the bridge, and walked towards the camping site...

If you see it from the other side, maple trees of different colors appear before your eyes... it's really great just to be there and the feeling was indescribable... so, again, a photo has to be taken!!

I was a happy boy with all these purple, red, yellow, orange, green maple leaves surrounding me... it felt magical!!
of course it wasn't as "bloody" red as i expected them to be, but the splash of so many colours amazed me a lot! i think it's better than a monotonous full of red. :)

ASEACC

2006-12-18T08:57:00.000+08:00

3rd Annual South East Asia Cinema Conference

Have just attended this 4 days conference from last thursday until sunday, so exhausting but definite gain a lot and see a lot. Not only i get more ideas in writing my PhD thesis, also it strengthen my will to shoot my own production soon.

comparing this conference to the previous one i attended in Korea, this one is definitely more focused - it only talked about cinema and film. speakers were allocated more time and interactions. the topics and area of discussion were so diversed - ranged from Filipino to Vietnamese's films, from independent digital filmmaking to queer cinema, from urban identities to sexuality. Not only the topics are diversed, the format of the conference too impressed me - a good combination of academic presentations, panel discussion with festival people, workshop with indie filmmakers...

i truly enjoyed the conference. next year it will be held in Jakarta, Indonesia. hope i can present paper next time.

Korea - 2nd day, part 1

2006-11-20T20:29:00.000+08:00

26th October 2006

WOKE UP, for a moment i forgot i was already in Korea... next thing i noticed was my 2 legs were numb... and my whole body was so cold, freezing cold... i tried to touch my legs, they were as cold as ice i can hardly feel the warmth of the blood at all... then i suddenly realized, gosh i AM in Korea, and i remembered very well the night before the room was as hot as an oven!! must be the bloody ajumma and ajoshi switched off the heater already, so damn cold.

checked the clock, it's 4.30am... damn, still a long time to dawn... i quickly took out my long john and put them on, took another blanket and covered myself... still too cold... i took out 2 sets of socks and put them on too... now i felt my bladers were full too... couldn't help i have to make that trip... i quickly put on my jeans (i still have the long john on)... i walked out and felt myself has become so clumsy... i entered the not-so-clean toilet, couldn't help... quickly squat down, GOSH my butt could feel the cold air... but it has to be done...

*here skip 2 paragraphs of details* haha

after about 15 minutes finally i got all my business done coz the day before i have never "done" it, i probably fell sick for that, that's why i have to get it all out... ok, too much details i guess, haha! then i tried to flush... it's a very old-school flush system... once... flaaaaa.... didn't really work... i stood there and wait for another 3 minutes for it to refill... then flushed again.... flaaaaa.... didn't work too... another 3 minutes... flaaaaa.... still not working... i got fed up, so i went to the bathroom next door, took the pile and filled it up with water and manually flushed the **** down... hahaha... finally...

when i got back to the room, it must be about 5.15am already... my sister was sitting up looking at me... i thought she must have felt too cold too... hahaha... i went in our bathroom to check... damn, no hot water too... i quickly washed my face with the icy tap water, changed into my winter clothing, haha, and cursed the bloody ajumma... hahaha... i should not curse... i didn't , i just exaggerating...

after just a short while, the sun come out and it's all shiny and everything, i looked out the window, mmm... there's actually river and brigde just opposite our homestay and it's actually quite pretty... i could see a few maple trees from the room already... me and my sis decided that no point we stayed in the room. it's so cold, we might as well just walk out and look around and perhaps find some breakfast to eat.

so around 6am, we walked down the stair and to the street... here in the photos, the red arrow is pointing to the room we were staying. and this street is the only street in this small town, or so we thought...

and this is the river that i talked about... pretty or not??

then i saw this big signboard which illustrates the whole Jirisan...

when i took a closer look, it is not really helpful at all because... you guess it right again! - NO ENGLISH... sigh... the only 5 English words are "information of Chiri National Park". Don't worry, we were not in the wrong park, Chiri and Jiri are the same... unlike Cheongju and Jeonju they are different!!! so damn confusing!! sometimes "ch" can replace "j", sometimes it can't!!! gosh... hahaha! so since it's not really of any use to us, we walked down the street hoping to find breakfast... i got too hungry and decided we just go back to the ajumma's place for breakfast...

when we walked in the restaurant, the ajumma was still sleeping on the heated floor... reminded me of how i was waken up by the coldness... damn... the ajoshi was smoking with another ajoshi, either a friend or a guest and he quickly woke up the ajumma... we walked up the wooden floor... awwww... so warm... (bloody hell)... we sat down, the ajumma just did her eating gesture, we nodded... and she didn't even bother to ask us what we want to eat and walked straight into the kitchen... haha, i guess she has figured out that we couldn't communicate anyway, so she just made her own decision of what we should eat. hahaha...

and tada, you can all see the picture above... that's our breakfast... the truth is the beansprout soup was super nice because it's hot!! just nice for my empty cold stomach!! but the kimchi... hahaha, again they were too hot for me! i didn't finish all, i don't really eat breakfast... somemore it's 6am so early... and Malaysia time was only 5am!

we took our time to eat, coz it's really cold outside... after we have finished, we paid, if i'm not wrong, won10000 or RM40... and then, we started our first travel itinerary - Baemsagol Valley, Jirisan Park...

just a teaser, so that you stay tune... this is one of the picture we snapped there...

from now on, there will be a lot of photos... so many that you will beg me to stop... hahaha... so, stay tune!!! coming soon...

Korea - the 1st day - 2nd part

2006-11-15T10:34:00.000+08:00

25th October 2006 late afternoon

Ok, i woke up around 3.10pm, the bus was still on the road. i was getting a bit sick of the scenery outside, and thinking to myself why the hell i'm here? then, the bus slowly approaching a ... temple... err... yeah it looks like a temple to me... oh no, it's actually a toll!! goodness...

i checked my watch again, mmm... 3.15pm... we might just make it to the 3.30pm bus to Baemsagol. i was so hopeful. but very fast, the bus caught up in the traffic, stopped by a few places, i kept on looking around if those were the places i supposed to stop... but i supposed i shall only leave the bus when it TOTALLY stop... so i still waited... 3.20pm... 3.25... 3.28... up til this point, i know my chance has gone. buses in korea are very punctual one.

true enough, we reached Jeonju bus terminal 3.35pm, ran straight to the counter and was informed that 3.30pm already left. the counter lady was very helpful... mmm... too helpful that she suggested us instead of waiting for the 5.05pm last direct bus to Baemsagol, we could consider taking a bus to Inwol (引月) and there will have more buses going to Baemsagol... okay, i GUESSED that's what she meant!!! i don't think i will understand any of them fully with 1% English 50% Korean & 49% body language...

At this stage, me and my sister exchanged eye contact, and we just purchased the tickets to Inwol without thinking. i think we both were really tired and whatever will be will be lah... you said so we trust you... hahaha... and by the way, i like the name of the city very much, very poetic! well, is it even a CITY?? we shall find out soon... haha...

3.50pm, we were on the bus again!! and i don't think i've ever changed so many buses before in my life. worse still, in a foreign country to an unknown destination... the bus went into more rural area now, the roads became narrower, the sceneries became browner, houses became smaller and simpler... passengers got on the bus would talk and joke with the bus driver. at this point of time, we knew, we were going into some village area.

the bus stopped for a few more times, then it reached a small station around 5.10pm. everyone on the bus left. the bus driver stepped out from his seat, talked to us in Korean, which of course i don't understand a single word except "Baemsagol, Baemsagol". he signalled us to follow him with his hand, but we were not sure whether we shall go down or wait, moreover we have big heavy bags with us, we were not sure whether to leave the bags and follow him down or what? we slowly lifted our bags, the driver got impatient, walked up the bus and talked to us louder this time, so we were pretty sure we WERE supposed to follow him. we quickly moved our butts and followed his lead to yet ANOTHER bus... sigh... i asked the driver don't we need to buy tickets, he just shaked his head and pushed us up the bus... gosh... i felt so insecure.

we walked up the other bus, i asked the other driver how much... he didn't seem to understand me, he just pointed to the seats and hurried us in. apparently he has to leave already. before we could even sit down, the bus has started to leave the small small station, which we suspected is not Imwol... where were we?? i felt so damn lost...

here are a couple of photos my sister took on that journey...

Pretty they are, but i was not in the mood to appreciate them that time. i was too busy feeling insecure, as you all can see, it was getting dark and the place was getting more and more "ulu" now... and we were not sure whether we got on THE correct bus or not...

more students came up the bus, making noise, shouting to each other... the bus stopped by the side of the road, the driver shouted at the few kids at the back, those kids walked down and waved goodbye to the driver and some of their friends still on the bus... few aunties hopped on the bus... and it was completely dark outside just few minutes shy of 6pm... we went deeper and deeper in...

until about 6.10pm i think, the bus stopped by a gate/entrance, which suddenly i felt relief coz i was pretty sure it was the entrance for the Jirisan National Park. an uncle came up the bus, walked to us and uttered more Korean words, but by tearing 2 tickets in front of us, I think i know what to do. i checked the price stated on the ticket and gave him Won3200 (RM12.8) for 2 tickets. the bus continued into the darkness again... after 10 more minutes or shorter i was not sure anymore, we stopped at I-don't-know-where-the-hell street and we walked to the front of the bus (only left 2 of us), and the driver said "3 thousand won"... i knew we were there already. to double check i asked "here is Baemsagol", the driver answered "yeah yeah".

we walked down the bus, freeziing cold and dark street, just 1 row of shops and NO ONE is around... it's like a DEAD town... we were so so so so so lost... then out of the sudden, an aunty walked out from the 1st restaurant and started talking to us in Korean... &@%$^*!%#$*^@!#!*%... which we waved our hands and said "we are not Koreans"... the aunty then mimed a sleeping gesture by putting her hands to her canted head and said "min-bak? min-bak?" thanks to my sister who watched Korean dramas faithfully she understand min-bak means "homestay"... too tired to think, and desperately need a rest and a place to put down our bags that were getting HEAVIER, we agreed to go upstair with her.

we walked up the stair, walked passed a dimly lit and wet (dirty) corridor, and reached a room. the ajumma (aunty) opened the door. my sister said okay, i guess she was just to tired to think anymore. we asked for the price, ajumma said "yee-man-wu-qian-won"... which i thought it means 15000 won (RM60) which is quite cheap for a room with TV and attached bathroom... but looking at her finger, she pointed 2 fingers up, only i realized in Korean, "yee" means "two"... so it is actually won25000 (RM100)... well i was tired too, so i took out the money and paid her. she smiled at us and left...

wait a minute, isn't she supposed to give us a key or something?? then only later i found out that no key will be given and it's actually SAFE to leave the room unlocked.

so here you go, my accomodation for the first night in Korea. it's called a "ondol". lay maitress on the heated floor, and you can go to sleep already. not bad an experience.

after putting down the bags and tidy tidy a bit, we decided to go down take a look at the street and perhaps ask some information about hiking Jirisan. we walked to the nearest convenient shop, which we came to realize owned by the same ajumma renting us the room... so using our not so useful English, and her not so useful Korean, i think we got a faint idea of what we should do tomorrow morning. and suddenly we felt hungry and decided to go look for dinner. and we ended up having our first dinner in the restaurant owned by the ajumma too... hahahaha.... ok ok we were hopelessly tired and lost all our adventurous spirit. hahahah... but the dinner was actually pretty good.

We had bimbap (which means mixed rice with vegetables in soya paste or something) and kimchi tofu soup or something... okay, you guess correctly, we didn't even know what we ordered because again, communication breakdown. so we just simply point point here and point poin there, have our fingers crossed and hope for the best. wuahahaha.

so, not bad hor by the look of it... the turth is, only the bimbap is nice... the rest are either too salty or too hot. YES, you heard me right, too hot!! i don't mean the temperature, i mean the "spicy-ness"... we MALAYSIAN kalah lah if compare the hotness of the food there! the kimchi soup and most of the kimchi side dishes were so hot that we couldn't finished them. then the ajumma and her husband and family were having their dinner too on the next table. we took a peek of the uncle (ajoshi) eating whole green chili with red chilli paste just like that!!! pengsan terus... when the ajoshi noticed us looking at him, he offered us those green chillies, which we quickly rejected... then he offered us "shou-ju" (rice liquor), which we also quickly rejected... wa lao wei, these people really enjoy life hor!!! wuahahaha!!!

after dinner, we paid (won12000 or RM48) and went up to our room to take bath... my sister then realized there's no HOT water to bath... so i went down to the ajumma to ask... now i again mimed like a crazy charlie chaplin, repeat "hot hot? water water? bath bath?" like a million times... the family looks puzzled, the younger daughter broke into laughters, the ajumma brought out a pile, i shaked my head, tried harder to explain, the ajumma brought out another ladle... i gave up. i thanked them and walked up. my sister was very upset coz there's no way we could take the bath with the icy water in a freezing weather.

i decided to give it another try. this time i brought along a travel guide which it teaches how to pronounce "hot water" but of course they mean to order hot water to drink lah... but it's worth a try... so i asked the ajumma with my half past six Korean "mul? mul?" she thought i want water to drink... then i did my famous taking bath gesture again... still she didn't get me... i then pointed to the water filter and pointed to the red button (indicating hot water), then repeated the bathing gesture again... then finally the ajoshi understood... he also mimed the gesture of turning the water tap to left hand side... (of course we have tried turning the tap to left, we are not idiots, but it didn't work)... well, i very malas to explain any further, just thanked them and went upstair to tell my sis the bad news...

ok, so we decided to do as they said, but left the water running for longer time. after about 3 minutes, the water turned to hot... yahoooo!! bathing time!!! it got so hot i nearly got burnt!! hehehe... and the floor was very well-heated too... i changed to my singlet and short pants... and quickly fell asleep....

to be continued... the next morning when i became the iced-leg-man... :P

Korea - the 1st day - 1st part

2006-11-10T14:34:00.000+08:00

24th October 2006

KLIA, me and my sister are taking Cathay Pacific flight from KL to HK. we were there around 3.30pm to catch the 5.55pm flight. Reached HK airport by 10pm to transit to Incheon by 12.20am.

so for 3 hours there, we wandered around the magazine shop where i bumped into some porn magazine that displayed shamelessly (haha), this amazed me! then we rest at the food court area... didn't buy any food, my sis slept for a while, and i was busy preparing my powerpoint presentation with my laptop there. it was so quiet, 90% of the stalls have already stopped their business for the day, the cleaning ladies came out to work. so we left that area and proceed to the departure gate 25 for our flight.

25th October 2006

The flight was on time. we had our supper on plane and i was hoping to catch "the lake house", but was too tired and dozed off. later about 3am i was awake by this severe headache, more like a migraine or electric shocks, that maybe due to the pressure change... didn't know i have that problem. but luckily we were about to arrive at Incheon in less than half an hour time... so i rubbed my head.

We arrived 3.40am or Korea time 4.40am, and in this early morning, me and my sister were stopped by the imigration officers and were detained for interrogation. i was so blurred i didn't know what happen but just follow the direction given by the officer and went into the room. later i saw my sister walked in too. the female officer hold a small microscopic lens and inspected every single page of my passport, same thing to my sister's too. the male officer who's infront of my sis kept on asking her what's her purpose of going into Korea. i found the whole thing funny though. after about 10 minutes i finally realized i could be held here for a long time... so i asked the lady what seems to be the problem?... then only she threw me a smile and explain that Malaysian passports are easy to forge. mmm... so by then i was a suspected "jump aeroplane" person. then finally she asked me the million dollars question of why i went to Korea, so i answered her for conference. her eyes sparked a bit and asked for any documentation to prove, for that i passed her the invitation letter of the conference. then another officer (of higher rank) was called in and after a while we were released.
about 5.30 in the morning, nothing was opened, we wandered the airport to familiarize ourselves and to look for any information booth. the first thing we did is to rent a handphone of GSM system and insert my sis's sim card in. Tada it works wonderfully, it was so easy.

Then we found a spot and sat down, can't sleep at all... i guess we were too shaken by the imigration drama. haha. we waited until 6.30am when most of the counters and shops started business. we approached a few airlines like Korean Air and Asiana Air for tickets from Gwangju to Jejudo after my conference, but to my surprise they were ALL FULL... which made us panicked cause it would ruin and totally change our traveling plan...

Here is our original plan:
25/10 - morning take bus to Cheongju, reach there by afternoon for Hotspring and flower rice. evening take bus to Namwon to stay a night.
26/10 - morning going to Jirisan national park to hike and to experience autumn red maple forest. afternoon take bus to Gwangju and i'll be able to attend the welcoming dinner.
27-29/10 - my conference. then by 29/10 evening we take plane to Jeju
30-31/10 - tour around Jejudo and shall take the earliest flight on 31/10 back to Seoul/Gimpo airport, then the rest of the day until 1/11 will be at Seoul before our flight back to Malaysia on 11am.

but now, if there's no ticket from Gwangju to Jejudo, we sorta wanna change our plan to go Jejudo first then take a reverse plan to tour all the way up north... so we checked with airline and it seems that all flights to Jejudo from Incheon was also FULL until late evening.... OMG!!

We got panicked, until 7.30am when the famous travel information booth opened, we quickly ran there to seek for advice... i shall skip all the craps... and go straight to 8.15am... yes, we spent 45 full minutes there asked this and that... there must be 10 different plans, and we finally settled to go to Cheongju by airport limousine bus (original plan). the girl at the counter was very helpful. she phoned to another person and confirmed that there's a direct bus from Cheongju to Jirisan national park and we can stay a night at Baemsagol Valley which is located inside the Jirisan. she pointed us to the correct gate and taught us patiently how to buy ticket from which counter and how much... so we just followed and finally got our tickets 8.30am... then only we realized we were so HUNGRY. my sister quickly ran to a shop to buy roti and milk while i went to find the correct bus and hold it. it was a pain in the a** for there's no English word at all and people there don't speak English at all. so i have to compare the Korean words printed on my ticket to every bus and finally found it... my sister ran in on time and the bus left punctually 8.30am... phew....

the girl at the information booth told us it will take 4 hours to reach Cheongju, so we expected to reach there by 12.30pm. so we slept and slept. i woke up around 11am, and just a while later we arrived at Cheongju...
WAIT A MINUTE... aren't we supposed to only reach here by 12.30pm?? how come now only 11.20am dah sampai pun??

anyway, since we were already here, so nevermind lah, early is better than late mah... we didn't suspect anything wrong. then just when we stepped down the bus, we saw another tourist information center, so we happily went in hoping to get more information. the girls inside the center were so so helpful and friendly. only 1 girl - i think called Minghyang or MingYung or something, their name sounds all the same... - who can speak good English. and shockingly to us, there's NO direct bus from Cheongju to Jirisan as been told to us by the girl in Incheon!!!! *add thunder storm sound here*

So, we showed Minghyang the plan laid down by the Incheon girl, and she told us laughingly that we have come to the WRONG city!! the Incheon girl meant "Jeonju" and not "Cheongju"... pengsan terus...!!! no wonder so fast reached liao lah, kononnya Jeonju is yet another hour away from Cheongju... GOODNESS!

But not to worry, Minghyang said, since you are here might as well visit some of the tourist spots here lor... she recommended some fortress and paper museum, but we were having the hotspring and flower rice in our mind. then she checked checked and come back to us with yet another shocking news - if we want to catch the last bus to Jirisan, we only left a little less than 1&half hours in Cheongju, which means hotspring and flower rice are just too far from us!! so we suggested take taxi there, we rather pay more money than doing nothing there... so this very helpful girl walked us to the taxi stand across the road and checked with the driver, and again we were so disappointed to find out that to take taxi to the flower rice will take us 20 minutes, to and fro 40 minutes, which means we only have less than 40 minutes... sigh...

no choice, Minghyang then suggested us to take bus to the nearby paper museum. we waited at the busstop where i suddenly miraculously know how to read Korean words on the electronic board and found out we have to wait for another 22minutes before the next bus arrived. i confirmed it by miming to the ajumma (aunty) there... so me and sister decided not to go anywhere but to find ourselves some lunch and hop on to the earlier bus to Jeonju then to Jirisan.

We went to the nearest shopping mall, if not mistaken it's LotteMart... and immediately my sister was all hyped up! why? because she found a bakery called "Paris Baguette", not because the bread there are of any special but because the spokeperson for the bakery is Hyun Bin - her idol. she snapped snapped some photos, and the ajumma inside started to giggle and a few of them started to gossip. we left the bakery without buying anything.

then we stopped by a fastfood restaurant because we can't find anything decent to eat. so we decided to have something safe. it's called Lotteria, and we have a rice burger with some cheese roll and mixed salad. quite yummy the rice burger. not bad not bad. for 2 sets of the meal, it costs us Won8500, which is RM34 (expensive also hor). only problem is we went thru hard time explaining what we wanted to order cause again they don't speak English not even a single word... sigh...

Then we went back to the information center, told Minghyang that we didn't go anywhere, she was so surprised... we took our bags and laptop that we left there earlier and proceed to the bus terminal.

This time we were extra careful when purchasing ticket, cause we didn't want to end up in Seongju or Keongju. so we have already asked Minghyang to write us our destination and plan in Korean on a piece of paper.

We went to the counter and showed them the paper and asked for 2 tickets. and this time we were quite sure we got on the correct bus. i think we must have left Cheongju around 2pm. We should reached Jeonju 3.30pm so that we can catch the 2nd last bus to Baemsagol by 3.30pm too, or else we would have to wait for the last bus which was 5.05pm... and yes, that day must be our unlucky day, we reached Jeonju 3.35pm, and the 2nd last bus has left....

to be continued...

The early morning radio show

2006-11-08T18:58:00.000+08:00

It was 19th October, a fine thursday night. i have just finished watching "Open season" on IMAX and have been both amazed and tired of experiencing the 3D effect (again, last time was "Polar Express"). After saying goodbye to my friends in Times Square, i sped my way to Angkasapuri, get lost for a while cause the hidden entrance was so freaking hard to find! finally by 11.20pm, i managed to, after much worried and frustrated, find the glitzing grand entrance of our famous government owned radio and television stations - RTM.

This was not my first time here, last time i was visiting my friend who worked there as news editor, so i was very well awared of the procedure of surrendering my identity card and some interrogation... haha... like visiting palace like that. then i walked my way toward the radio building and looked for AiFM. when i walked pass a whole stretch of radio studios, i can feel the coldness, not only from the centralized air-cond, but also of the clean empty well-lit corridor, which really was lacked of human warmth, and i wonder to myself - who would want to work here? it's the feeling of loneliness that killed me.

Half way through the corridor i found AiFM, i showed myself in to the guest room and i saw JiAn (the DJ) and Ho YuHang (film director) were inside the recording studio doing the 1st 2 hours of the show. I was scheduled for the 2nd half which is very much graveyard 12-2am. it was a torture for old man like me to stay up and awake after 12am nowadays, and of course the DJ noticed this, so this has been some sort of practical joke for the programme that whole morning... sigh...

so, how was the show? i must say... boring... maybe because of the topic we discussed, or maybe because of the mode of delivery, or maybe it's due to the content that lacks depths, or even maybe due to the late hours, i can't help yawning...

2 films we discussed. the 1st hour we talked about "the sound of music", the ever ever classic musical. and the 2nd hour we talked about "dancer in the dark", the ever ever cult musical. i told JiAn that for the classic i will mainly focus on my nostalgic but faint memories of watching it, hence it'll be mainly personal, but for the cult i would really like to discuss the inconventional usage of musics as motif and style. but i have to confess that i was and am still disappointed that we ended up recalling the plots and playing the songs.

i have to admit that i'm not familiar with the show at all... maybe his format is like that - talking about plots... but i'm sure that's not the case with other guests like Tsai MingLiang or Yasmin Ahmad... maybe it's me... i don't know... maybe because of the DJ's lack of interest in musical genre. OK, i was the one who wanted and suggested the topic - musical films, and JiAn already told me that he wasn't too familiar with musicals, and even he is kinda cynical towards musics in films. He believes that if films can touch people without music, why do we need music? and he also expressed his disgust of the "abuse" of music in most Hollywood films. i dare not agree at all.

here's my arguments! i studied music, i played piano, i learned music theory, i have my diploma in pianoforte performance. to me, music is an expressive channel. musicians use music to express their love, hate, passion, anger, without the help of visuals. musics has its own history thousand of years before film. So, i always believe that if use properly, music can be a very effective element in telling film stories. let's not condemn music simply because a few films overload with meaningless music. i can give you tons of examples, but i guess i'll save this for future post.

that's the reason why i would like to talk about musical on his show - to argue for the importance of music in movie, and to talk about few films that creatively use music... but we ended up talking craps... i was also deeply disappointed of myself not being able to uphold my intention due to the domination of the DJ, just like i was told by a few friends that the DJ was doing perhaps 80% of talking. it is not easy to cut in an unplanned speech of an agressive DJ. i was known as the most, if not second most, sarcastic lecturer in my university, or even my ex-college... but i was shot down that night - for my age, my job as lecturer in an "university", and my all-so-mainstream taste of films - which i unwillingly laugh it off during the show. it's pointless to argue with a young and talented DJ, which only will make me 'sound' shallow on air.

ok, i'm not here to backfire or anything, if i want to talk bad about this i may go on and on for 2 nights. in fact i'm flattered that an unknown guy like me was invited to a national radio to talk about films, and i admire his (the DJ) passion towards films - i mean how many people will dare to host a radio show about films? more so, with an intention to promote local films and independent and alternative films. but i told JiAn over the phone 2 weeks before the show that radio is just not THE medium to do show like this. i meant to say that radio is mainly an "audio" medium, hence it is weak to convey a "visual" medium like films. Television will be a perfect medium. but i still think the show is necessary looking at the lack of programme of this kind. some TV programmes are targeting movies, but they are just a mere promotional tool to promote mainstream commercial movies, nothing critical. hence, i still think the shows should go on. so, gambatte JiAn.

I'm back!

2006-11-06T12:28:00.000+08:00

ok, i "was" back last wednesday night. touched ground 7pm and damn drained out. Korea is okay, i have had so many wonderful experience and have done some soul searching too. so, all-in-all this trip is worth every single cent that i spent. i'll definitely go back again, maybe end of 2007 or 2008.

10 impressions about Korea & Koreans

1. They are driving in the different direction, so Malaysian license holders cannot drive there. and i have a hard time accustom myself to "look left" rather than "look right" when walk across roads! (nearly got banged few times)

2. Koreans are so good looking!! okay, apart from the surgery thing, they go out wearing great attires!! men wear formal tie with suits, girls all make-up and wear fancy dress... the view on the street is nice and eye-feasting.

3. Koreans are nice people. I'm not surprised if it's one of the countries with lowest crime rate. the atmosphere is so peaceful. even if you leave your laptop or handphone on the table, no one is going to steal it! stealing and cheating are just not any part of their lives.

4. Another prove is no one is going sit on the seat for handicaps or senior citizens on subway trains... i mean none!! unlike malaysia. even if the trains are totally full, the young and trendy and hip teenagers will not even sit on those seats!! i'm genuinely impressed!

5. They are really helpful people... ok, although most of them are of no help because they can't speak a word of English, but they are STILL helpful people. even if you have made known to them that you don't know Korean, they will still try to help you by speaking non-stop Korean, as if you somehow will miraculously understand them! hehe...

6. They are really warm people. Most time when we met a group of unlces and aunties, they ill extend their friendship, hand you some food and drinks, give you a ride, bring you personally to the place you ask for eventhough it means walking away from their work for 10 minutes!!!

7. Their food is always red in colour!! hehe... okay, and most of the food are vegetable, they seldom have meat. and Koreans love spicy and hot food!! some are so hot, i as malaysian also have to admit "kalah"... and yes, most of the food are also fermented... my sister on the way back told me that "the whole country has this fermented smell" and too much of the smell makes her sick!

8. cosmetic and facial masks are really cheap there!! no wonder people there have so beautiful and translucent skin texture! okay, i've bought a lot of facial masks too! :P

9. Korea is not a "friendly" place for foreign travellers, especially backpackers... cause it's really really hard to navigate around Korea for there is NO english words at all!! no english on road signs, billboards, notices, public transportation, ticket counters... and to make it worse, most Koreans don't speak English at all!!! so you better bring along your english-korean dictionary, or follow tour where the tour guide will do the job for you.

10. It's FREAKING expensive in Korea... bring a lot of dough or you shall starve to death!! one proper fried rice in Korea is close to RM20 per plate. a bottle of mineral water is about RM2.50. BBQ set for 2 person is close to RM200. youth hostel or even homestay are about RM100 per small room. proper hotel room cost about RM200 or more!!

Lost my voice...

2006-10-12T08:13:00.000+08:00

i lost my voice. my throat was getting dry, there's sign yesterday. and this morning i woke up realizing my voice has gone... so i figure writing is my next solution. damn the bloody haze!

update...

school reopened, the kids are back to the circus, life is again full of endless classes, supervisions and meetings. but i guess it's time for me to step back to become an observer like before, i like to be a hunter and not otherwise.

many things happened/happen/happening recently, which got me again thinking and questioning about my next big move. after a short chat with Yasmin Ahmad over dinner yesterday, i suddenly relive my passion for filmmaking, yet again. i always like storytelling, i have tons of stories in my balding head urging to come out... but where is my passion? i'm waiting for a perfect timing, but i guess it will never be perfect. i just have to start somewhere.

Towards the end of the dinner, she asked, "what do you think constitutes good screenplay?" and it did sound like a test to me nonetheless. :) i was speechless, i struggled with my answer. being an educator, we have a syllabus to follow, we read books written by both academicians and industry people, and i don't think those are the answers to her. i know damn well about conflicts, characters, structures, climax, turn of events, subtext, context, whatevertext, blahblahblah! but the truth is, i was never fully convinced these are the ultimate answers to all screenplays.

perhaps i shall put it simply, "a good screenplay tells a story about people in an interesting way". and by no mean this statement is going to be conclusive, i'm still learning.

I'm going to Korea soon! :)

2006-09-25T08:55:00.000+08:00

September 21st, 2006

Today i received a long awaited email from the Asia Culture Forum... finally, after 10 days delay, i've received their confirmation email... at first i thought i don't have a chance already, so i've already forgotten about the whole thing, and didn't do my preparation at all... now i've gotten it, i start to get panicked already!! i have only a little bit more than 2 weeks to write a FULL RESEARCH PAPER!!! gosh... how can i do it!!

but but but.... i need this... for my career, and also to go travel in Korea! so, i don't care... i'm going to break my butt this two week doing a fulltime research and writing and make it to the deadline to submit my full paper! and actually, i have no turning back already... my name and title have already been printed on schedule and website... so if i ever rejected them, i'm going to have a bad name!!! super tension...

here, my name is stated: http://www.asiacultureforum.org/cinema/01program.html

September 25th, 2006

Already bought ticket to Korea on 24th October, cost me RM17XX... sakit hatinya!! but all worth it lah. MATTA fair is so FULL of people, and korea trip is HOT HOT HOT... until the extend i was so worried that i might not even got 1 single ticket to go there at all!!! luckily, found this last 4 ticket on 24/10, rather than 21 or 22 that i originally plan. coming back on 1st of November... 8 days there, i shall enjoy to the max!! but now, it's time to continue writing my paper already... cheers!!

random stuffs ~~

2006-09-18T11:12:00.000+08:00

finally my busy hectic days are (temporarily) over!! all the classes have been completed, all the courseworks have been marked, all the final exam papers have been submitted! so i shall enjoy my serene weeks to come, reading books that i've bought and borrowed last few months, and watching wayyyy overdued movies in my shelfs, and doing house chores that takes forever to be done!! -.-"

exam

invigilating is one of the lecturer's duties - although in local uni this thing will be conducted by the exam department... but i do enjoy invigilation. and some will ask WHY? simply bcoz i like to observe people. i have a habit of watching ppl's reactions to things, and be amazed how different everyone is and unique in their own way. and during extreme situation (like exam), it's even more interesting to observe...

some are scratching their head, forehead, nose, cheeks, chin, foot out of nervousness, regret and panic... some are quickly hynoptized by the question papers and doze off... some are looking at the invigilators constantly as if looking for inspirations or looking for chance to cheat and peek over others' paper... some are frowning maybe bcoz what they read were not what comes out, or they are trying hard to memorize all the mental map they have drawn but fail to remember... some are grinning maybe they have the "spot-on" questions or just out of plain desperation... some are constantly watching here and there trying to see if others are suffering just like them or waiting to build an alliance with others... some are just write and write non-stop as if they are JK Rowling working on her new prologue or epilogue (gosh how i hate marking long-winded answer scripts!!)...

well, conclusion is, that 2 or 2.5 hours are normally pretty entertaining ot an observer like me... sometimes when some funny actions appear, i can't help but grin... :P

of exam again

on my last day of invigilation, i was the relief invigilator - meaning if some (bloody irresponsible) lecturers fail to turn up, i have to takeover their (bloody) invigilating job!!! and yes, you guess correct - i ended up invigilating- UTAR mah... what do you expect??

and on my last duty of this semester, i caught someone cheating - so unexpected!! a uni student, hiding a finely written notes underneath his answer booklet, always looking around like scary cat, flipping his answer booklet suspiciously, and reading under the booklet in a weird weird angle - come on, tell me you are NOT suspicious!! (how smart!!)

well, i told the chief invigilator about this, and we decided to slowly take action.

well, being a buddhist (haha), i gave him another chance. i stood just in front of him for at least 15 minutes, i even looked straight into his eyes with a i-know-what-you-did-last-summer look in my eyes (i thot it is very obvious liao)... so i told myself any sane creature would have get the message already. then, someone at the back raised her hand, so i walked over to her and handed her a piece of A4 paper, then i turned back and walked in front again... and guess what? that boy was happily copy the answer again from his note.

so i told myself - you treat me like an idiot, so you shall be treated as one too!! i grabbed the note, grabbed his ID card and exam slip, and reported to the chief and handed him the evidence... DONE!!

no, not done yet, the chief then told me that since i'm the one who caught him, i have to write a report and pass it to the exam department... well, nvm, i'll do that since i'm a bit annoyed and pissed... then only to find out that not only i need to write the report, when the board hold a meeting to investigate or to decide their disciplinary action to this student, i'll have to be present too... WTH!!! i felt like i'm the one being punished for catching him!!

these aside

it has been fun catching up with frens - drinking tea and talking nonsense, and window shop... sometimes it's good to just chill...

of buddhism

well, i was lucky to be exposed to buddhism although i was borned in a taoist family. i bought the ideas of reincarnation, karma and doing good deeds. but i have never have any real motivations to explore these knowledge and really read the books...

i joined buddhist society back in uni, but just for a short 1 semester, then i proceed to the swimming team and life-saving society. i read books but failed to grasp the true and deeper meanings... no one to guide me, being the impatient person, i put all these books aside.

but recently, i've chatted a lot about buddhism with my fren and was happy with the knowledge he told me. he was so kind to lend me some books for me to read. well, this time i shall start with some "easy-learning" books so that i don't get "lost" so easily and then decide to stop again. no no no, this time is for longer time, hopefully for my lifetime!

of my parents and rat

one night, i woke up bcoz of nature-call. after returning to the bedroom and trying to sleep again, i heard a noise resemblance to book dropping on table... i got up, and see a big fat rat standing on my computer monitor rubbing its feet... ok, i made this up, i was too shocked to notice any of its actions at all... i think the rat must have been equally shocked by me too, so it jumped off the table and hide under my wardrobe. i was sitting on my bed thinking and panicking of what should i do next... then in a split second, it sprinted out from the wardrobe towards the door, and squeezed itself thru the tiny door gap and escaped! i felt so relief.... gosh, i'm so afraid of rats!!! :P

then the next morning i told my mom about this little rendezvous, she told me the rat also messed up the reading room and left some shites too... hahaha!! and she knows it has been hiding under the washing machine for quite sometimes and mess up the kitchen a little too... but this time it has stepped on my mom's nerve for messing up the reading. so my mom setup a trap, hanged a piece of fried squid - the ultimate bait for rat!!

we don't have to wait for long, the same night (which is yesterday), after a short 1 hour, the rat was in the trap! my parents said let's take the cage out and killed it tomorrow morning with boiling water... a chill sent thru my spines... "should we??" i asked in my heart... okay, my parents have done that before killing an "intruding" rat with boiling water... and i never had a problem with that last time... but i felt so sorry for this small animal this time... it has done nothing wrong, it's only living its most natural way, and does it deserved to be killed?? definitely no. and there's definitely another way of dealing with this than killing it.

i calmly suggest to my parents that why don't they release it tomorrow to somewhere far... my mom said it will return... then i said far far away lah... no reaction from them... well ok then, i will release it tomorrow on my way to work... they said ok... so settled!!

then later at night around 12am, i then felt bad again about this little creature - it has been placed outside the house, and what if it rains? (and yes it really rained last night in the wee hours of the morning) the rat will be so cold!! so i walked out from my air-conded room, and approached my dad... i told him let's go out and release the poor rat now. with an annoyed look, my dad refused as he still have his football match to watch... i said i just need him to accompany me coz it's late at night... well he told me why so "mah-fan" just kill it tomorrow... well nevermind then, i'll go out by myself lah - i told him.

so here i go, in the middle of the midnight... i drove myself and the rat out to the empty ground near a petrol station 5KM away from my house, and opened the cage. the small creature walked out calmly, turned back to look at me as if saying goodbye and make itself into the longkang. i said "amitabha" and may this return goes to my parents. i am happy for what i have done yesterday night... this is perhaps my little step to practice the buddha way.

this is so hillarious! :P

2006-08-30T08:52:00.000+08:00

I have a good laugh yesterday, it lighted up my otherwise boring afternoon!

I have learned a lesson from a security guard

2006-08-29T15:05:00.000+08:00

i was walking to the cyber cafe last saturday night. i parked my car quite far, so i have to walk pass this corner shoplot. there's a guard sitting in front of the shop. it was quite late, about 10pm, so the shop was already closed. i didn't take note what kind of shop is that, how come they have a guard for overnight... must be some big company huh... but, that's not my point. i saw this guard was holding a book and read. on closer look, he does not look local - not chinese, not malay, and not indian too... more like a mix Nepal-Bangladeshi kinda man. and again... that's not my point. my point is the book that he was reading... one glance, i gotta know already, it's a dictionary that he was holding!!! YES, a dictionary! an English-Malay dictionary!!

now, the moral of the story... we always have some stereotypic perception about these foreign workers that they are (sorry if my language is going to be inappropriate!!) lazy, not intelligent, criminal, uncivilized.... well, sorta, and we seldom see the other sides of them. that night, i have the pleasure to witness this - a man, searching for knowledge. he came to faraway land to seek fortune, or some are here simply to survive. they have a tough life back in their motherlands, they do not have the opportunity for good education, let alone comfortable life. yet, this guard that i saw, not only he is not lazy, he grabs whatever chances he got to improve himself.

i was standing there, stunned and somehow motivated!! --- i can do my PhD -- no problem at all!! i can get my resources much easier than the guard, i'm earning much better than the guard, i have my family and frens to support me, i got all the privilleges that the guard would never have... so what am i complaining about my life?? it seems that most of the time, the person/thing that hampers us is ourselves!!

i have learned a life lesson from a guard i met. have you?

Click my life away

2006-08-21T12:28:00.000+08:00

Have heard about how good the show is from my students... so when i went in to the cinema, i have had high expectation. ok ok, maybe not high expectation lah... afterall, the students are just youngsters who got excited over small things (haha), and Adam Sandler does not get me go hoo-haa too (btw, i purposely missed the Waterboy so what do u expect huh?), so i was a bit cynical at the beginning. but i do have expectation lah. :P

Half way down the movie, i was really entertained. Sandler holds his forte well, the comedies are fresh and fun, although it could be a bit too "sexual"... but hell, this movies are not for children anyway. i like sundance humping a duck, hillarious! but still until this point of the movie, it is still a commercial film as far as i concerned.

it's only when the remote control went uncontrol, or rather the remote control started to get control, the movie takes a quick turn - plot and style wise - into something not fun anymore. the pace is slow, the characters are sad, the plot are becoming unbearable, the message becomes heavy -- that's the time i started to think about the real message. it is truly about living "now". it's just like a extended version of public service announcement, but it's more fun.

i believe a lot of viewers after watching the film, must have thought about the importance of family, friends and true meaning of "living"... it's not about making more money but at the end of the day have no one to share with, and worse, loosing everything you love and important to get money.

but i also believe that after we walk out from the cinema, and walk back into the busy work life, where the pace is just too fast, where everything cost you money, where everyone around you set target and expectation to you, how many of us still care what message the movie send??

a lot of people think that the movie got huge impact on audience, but in this case, the reality still win! nothing changes really, people still busy chasing money, sacrificing a lot to get promoted. everything changes, yet nothing changes, life goes on!

It got me thinking too, we use remote control to change TV programmes... and while we sit on the sofa and watch them... we are actually clicking our life away... maybe it's time for us to have some real activities to be with our family, friends, and loved ones. :)

my rating: 7.5/10

Vain i know.... hahahahaha! but it's fun!

2006-08-21T09:47:00.000+08:00

the first time i disagree with Paul Moss

2006-08-19T12:28:00.000+08:00

Yesterday night, i was watching one of my favorite show One In A Million. i followed the programme faithfully because

1. i love watching Dayang's steady performance - it's a total pleasure enjoying the vocal expression of an artist without having to worry about the fundamental technical flaws (pitching, tempo, etc) that always happen to amateurs.

2. i love watching Suki's sweet smile and feeling proud of the ONLY* chinese who make it through. she got a powerful voice and potential image to be a superstar - but she is too nice and perhaps even lack of enthusiasm. her form is getting worse every week - it's worrying.

3. i love watching Faizal's creative approach to songs and performances. his voice is simply amazing, his attitude is so positive... and i was so shocked to find out yesterday that not only is he married, he has got a son!!! BIG plus point. i would be very happy if he actually win the million bucks!

4. i love watching Azfar's outdated style and criticize him "kao-kao" after each performances of him... and yet there are people in the audience who supported him so much! that's so funny... and worthed watching! i can't wait for him to be voted out. and if he really has, you all can be sure that i've contributed enough OUT votes to kick him out!!! hehe...

oh, by the way, i love the show because finally this time they have the OUT vote system... although the system is not really transparent. but can't deny, it's just another way to make more money. and if it's abused, it could actually encourage "hate" culture among viewers - worried!

yesterday, for the 1st time Faizal sang a slow number. and i was touched the 1st part, then he became too technical in the 2nd part, so the genuity was lost... but still i like him and his style. then after singing, he was asked the lame question as of what artists can do the society. this young man said artist are role model and educator, they have to set good example and educate the fans. I was all hands and legs, can't agree more.

Then.... out of the sudden, our beloved Paul Moss yawned... "boring... how about those artists who are so popular but doing all the bad things... (something like that lah)"....

all this while, i have my respect to mr. Paul because of his genuine comments... unlike Syafinaz and worse Fauziah Latiff's fakeness... but this time i just CANNOT agree with Paul... come one... artists are watched by millions billions of youngsters, and they do not have to EDUCATE the crowds, but at least please don't set BAD example and influences to them!!! who said positive message things cannot be entertaining?? it's the matter of ETHIC!!! and don't we dare forget about it!! SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY!!!

any of you disagree with what i said, i'm very worried!! i seriously am!

...to be continued!

* i hate to highlight this, but i really like Ching - the rock&roll barbie who got kicked out during the 2nd chance round. i think the judges (or THE judge) were biased!! No doubt, Zai got big voice, but Ching got the whole package, a totally new brand that will sell!!! the judge(s) was totally blind by their own perception. sad sad sad.

i still remember Syafinaz said she couldn't understand why Ching dress up like a princess / barbie doll, but rock on stage!!! i felt like wanted to shake this lady (syafinaz) to wake her up... come on, please don't continue to be an ethnocentric person... go look at Japanese rock chicks... it's HAPPENING to dress up cute but still ROCK!!! *geram betul*

Please support!!! everyone!!!

2006-08-19T12:02:00.000+08:00

文良港 (特别是 wangsa maju 区)治安严重亮红灯，上述地点已被列入黑区。
前阵子发生了多宗撩夺案，地方官员也受促加强保安，可是到目前为止，究竟治安改善了多少？为
何罪案还是不停的上演？凶手还在逍遥法外？
身为一名好公民，我们是否应该挺身而出，为了我们亲爱的家人与朋友的安全发挥小小的绵力，
一起推举这项万人网上签名请愿活动，促请有关当局做出以下几点：http://%20www.you-zi.net/AskForPeace

Respect or ?

2006-08-19T11:32:00.000+08:00

there are a lot of different kind of educators actually. well, i used to be student, and now that i myself am an educator, maybe i shall reflect on this matter. there are lecturers/teachers that we respect, or dislike. so what kind of teachers will gain our recognition, while what kind of teachers will be hated?

generally (thru my observation) there are few categories as listed below:

1. those who treat lecturing/teaching as merely a job. this kinda teacher just treat job as a way to earn money to survive. hence, they normally just do what is required of, and they will do just enough... i will see them as just another normal human being. i respect them for their responsibility.

2. those who treat lecturing/teaching seriously and think they have an obligation to educate the students. this kinda teacher apart from teaching knowledge, they like to develop the students to be a useful person. hence they mix around with student in hope of raising them up. i respect them as they are wiser, i respect like an elder, a friend.

3. those who treat lecturing/teaching as a career. they constantly push education to a higher ground. they raise their expectation from time to time, to themselves and to students. it's very stressful to attend their class, as the students are always behind. i respect them for their passion in searching for knowledge.

4. those who treat lecturing/teaching as a... errr.... joke. these are the people who think education is a business, and students as customers. as long as the students are entertained, and satisfied. as long as telling jokes still work to enliven the class, they don't really care whether they have help the students academically or even personally... these kinda lecturers are lazy and always taking an easy approach to teaching. these people i shall disparage.

there are still a lot of hybrids to the above category. but i think i would like to be the mixture of no. 2 & 3, and i'm working towards achieving them. :)

A sincere message from me to all of my students

2006-08-18T16:19:00.000+08:00

To all students:

Thanks for all your presence for the talk, it was indeed a wonderful experience to have Ping. he is a friendly guy, but of course you all should have seen him work - he can be very domineering at time, in fact i think if you ask him, he will admit it.

but by saying that, i'm still kind of disappointed that you all did not show much passions during the talk. you all can be very tired, but at least wipe off the boring faces, and start reciprocating with the speaker! i was particularly annoyed when he asked "how many of you have written script before?" and none of you raised your hand although ALL of you UAMB2023 students have already passed up your scripts!!

one thing Ping asked me during our tea was why there's lack of enthusiasm in the class, i practically told him the students are shy and perhaps lack of confidence... and as a supportive friend, he said he has seen worse during other talks else where... but i know he didn't mean that.

i mean, come on, i got you all one of the best director in Malaysia, and you all just being shy about it? as a broadcaster, we CANNOT be shy. i must have told you a million zillion times about it, you all should have a say, an opinion, a perspective about basically everything... talk!! communicate!! or else you can never go far in this industry.

some of you are going to do your industrial training next year, and hopefully all of you will start thinking what area of broadcasting that you are interested in, and work towards achieving it. Ping doesn't mind having you all working for him, afterall you all are cheap labours (sorry about this truth). but please don't be mislead by the joking tone, you all NEED this opportunity to prove that you are worthed the permanent job!! so you all really have to be passionate, and work hard to achieve it. there's no free lunch, and there's no gain without pain. you just have to DO IT! and please start training yourself up in university. don't be lazy... be focused!

a lot of people will tell you, you should have fun in university, because when you come out to work there will be no more fun... what full of craps!! of course we have fun during university, but while we have fun, we work harder. there's time to work, and when we work, we are damn serious about it. and then come the time to have fun, and we really have fun! that's the correct way...

the wrong way is putting fun as your priority... then in that case you don't work as hard as you play... you learn nothing, and you got a crappy job... ok, you might get jobs, good jobs sometimes, but you will need to work extra hard to catch up with your incompetency -- then of course working life is no fun anymore.

imagine, if you work hard (while play hard) in university, those works outside are made easier, so you can actually have time and the state of mind to relax and have fun too... it's the matter of the balancing act we are talking about here.

ok, i don't know how many of you actually read this post, and make it till this point of the lengthy essay... hahaha!! but that is truly what i want to say to all of you.

so good luck in your final exam, and work hard if you have a dream.

mr. beh.

ps... i didn't quit the industry because i couldn't get used to the pace and the stress... like what Ping jokingly said. hahaha. we pull each other legs sometimes... we always say he is very authoritative too... hahaha!!! but i quit the industry for many other reasons that accumulated and after much thoughts about it... i just want to clarify this thing before some of you think that he's serious about it... and think that lecturing is an easy way out for me. hahaha. but thinking about it, you all better start improving, of else i would just go back to the industry because teaching does not mean anything to me without you all really appreciating it. :)

正面与负面

2006-08-17T15:50:00.000+08:00

人的情绪是很微妙的东西。

正面的情绪 - 比如欢愉，知足，乐观，平静，总能开拓视野，看到机会，并能感染身边的人。
而负面的情绪 - 比如消极，悲愤，哀伤，劳累，却会蒙蔽双眼，裹足不前，更能散发不好的磁场。

许多与生俱来的情绪，好比年少的叛逆轻狂，总要经历岁月的洗礼，菱角方能磨平。我们常说要学懂控制情绪，更有人高喊EQ万岁，但真正能把情绪收放自如的又有多少人？

多少憾事，还不是在后悔那一刻的情绪失控？
多少不悦，还不是情绪在作祟？看清事实的真相后，少不免嘲笑当时的小题大做。

在探讨情绪的话题，不妨也谈谈是什么引发某些情绪。我本身还是认为就是“正面及负面”在作怪！

当一个人的脑子充满了负面的想法时，他就
1. 只会注意到不好的事情，因此引发不满的情绪
2. 猜测别人背后的意图不傀，因此搞得自己疑神疑鬼
3. 语气及言语上都不会太好，因此身边的朋友不是受他影响，就是不敢吭声

反之，若一个人心里总是正面的，他就
1. 对一切从容面对，因而得以平静
2. 会看到身边美好的人事物，因而心生喜悦
3. 常善待他人不妄语，因而朋友都乐于亲近

正面及负面说来禅味十足，其实不难了解，但却也做来不易。谁不懂心存正念，但污浊的社会和人群总是每分钟不断的试探及诱引我们跌入负面的情绪及想法。但我还是要相信人性本善，只要我们先明白这些道理，才可能鞭策自己善待自己及他人。我们都要加油！

ps. 今天我相信与友人因误会而在口角上发生了一些争执，双方都不肯退一步。老实说伤了和气，也让我自己的情绪变得相当负面。若你读到了，先说对不起。我突然想到证严法师说过的，对朋友要如同君子之交，我们可能都太熟了，而导致言语上没有忌禅，若真这样而让友情蒙上阴影岂不可惜。

安全走影地带 - 8月份电影欣赏会

2006-08-14T14:51:00.000+08:00

从南洋周刊看到这影展的消息，贴上来让更多人知道。
Have read about this film screening info from Nanyang... and think they are good films.... mmm... better than the ones in Japan Foundation one.... hahahahaha!!! so hopefully those interested can go check them out.

movie电影：《昨天》(Yesterday)(2004 南非)
date日期： 19/8/06 （星期六）7.30pm
venue地点：雪华堂
电影导读：吉隆坡爱滋支援服务社义工和医生，AiFM《安全考古地带》DJ 张吉安

movie电影：《隐藏摄影机》(Cache)(2005 法国)
date日期： 26/8/06 （星期六）7.30pm
venue地点：雪华堂
电影导读：马来西亚注册心理辅导员李志祥，AiFM《安全考古地带》DJ 张吉安

the first film is about AIDS which was nominated for best foreign film in Oscar. i supposed it will be a heart-warming drama, and definitely worthed watching. mmm... this saturday... maybe!

the second film is called "Cache" means "hidden". it talks about voyeurism - well, from france mah - what else can they talk about?? but with Juliette Binoche, it still worthed watching lah!

Mohamed - the undergrad with 1 leg

2006-08-05T14:01:00.000+08:00

the second video is about this guy who studies in UUM. he is born with 1 leg, but this doesn't stop him from being happy and achieving things.

now, GuangMing Hero Award is not about great great achievers... the recipients are just ordinary ppl like you and me, but they possess certain extraordinary spirit and determination, gone through some ups and downs, and they show us great humanity... so they are GREAT in some ways!

I have written about him here!

王荣民 - 竞走英雄

2006-08-05T13:30:00.000+08:00

This is one of the minidocumentaries that i produced last year for GuangMing Daily's "GuangMing Hero Award". although these videos were produced in a rush, but i watch them from time to time to remind myself of either how lucky i am, i shall not be lazy, everybody should have dream and work hard to achieve it... etc... in short to motivate myself!! just look at the spirits of these people, then we will know that we have not done enough for ourselves, for the society.

so here, i would like to share with you all these videos... starting from this old man. he was 91yo last year, he still very much into jogging and joining walkathons. i cannot imagine myself being as fit as him when i'm his age. and what's more, the prizes and money he won from these runs, he would donate them to charity -- mainly to chinese private schools for their fund... mmm... how noble!!

PhD - think!!!

2006-08-04T10:54:00.000+08:00

Met up with a fren this week... she is currently doing her PhD in Japan. and yup, for those who knew me for a long time might still remember that i applied for the Japanese scholarship last year but failed... no no no, i don't mean i want to apply for that scholarship again, in fact i've lost interest in that. but what i want to know is the PhD itself? what is it? what do i need to do?

this girl told me it's hard to do PhD in Japan, a GOOD candidate will normally spends 5 years doing it, and rarely, with an exphasis, they finish it in 3 years.... and they are normally required to attend seminars and workshop worldwide, do lectures and publications are big plus! mmm...

then, another fren who is currently teaching KTAR has already registered his PhD in USM... so i called him while meeting this girl 2 days ago. he said doing PhD in USM, there's no course you need to attend, only spend 3 years writing the research... mmm... that got me thinking... don't PhD researchers need to present papers in seminars, publish books, have public lectures, write articles/researches to journals?? is it only writing that 1 research??

maybe every university has own structure and requirement... maybe even every supervisor has own expectation on their students too... i don't know...

but hey, i've been planning to do my PhD, i mean seriously i can go register in USM like now... but there's a lot of considerations in my mind:

1. do i have enough time to focus on research?
2. do i have enough money?
3. do i plan to put my family and frens aside (for let's say 3 years)?
4. what topic should i do?
5. what do i need to do before graduated?

but i think generally it's no.3 and no.4 hold me back... if only i can and may do it long-distanced (part time), then i can forget about no.3... and that also will take away a lot of my free time that i can spend with my family and fren.

and no.4 REALLY hold me down... i don't know what subjects interest me, and will motivate me to work hard... i would like to continue doing my "national film" topic... or i can switch to research on "blogging" or "podcast/videocast"... but both topics has it's pros and cons, and nothing really excites me at this point of time...

hai...... life's so difficult...

Please give bloggers a break!!

2006-08-02T10:39:00.000+08:00

This news came in as a shock to me!!!

Read the news here!

finally this moment has arrived, when the control of the authority has reached blogs... they no longer feel secure with the extramural freedom of speech enjoyed or abused by the bloggers nationwide.

on one hand, i agree that blogs could be abused, and people do spread slanders and arouse dissatisfactions that might hurt the nation's development and harmony. but on the other hand, with this warning of controling bloggers, i'm very worried that the power in our government's hand will also be abused to merely control information that potentially hurt the ruling parties and dominant groups. if now, bloggers feel "safe" to expose cases like violence in UPM, schools and comment freely about their frustrations of the inabilities of the police towards snatch cases etc... they will be afraid of being sued or accused of defamation and slander, and worse -- ISA. in return, a lot of cases will again be covered... or worse, manipulated for their own advantages!!

look, it is only with blogs and podcast and videos online that the majority of the publics got to see the "real" event that day, and finally realized that the mere saga of the "handshaking" drama organized by the UPM themselves without involving the victims (Student Progressive Front )... this would have been easily get passed and forgotten by the general public last time... but now with blogs and videos, ordinary people like you and me are no longer information-handicapped, and hence will be able to understand the truth, and therefore will not be fooled by respective party...

and now, with the control, or warning... bloggers will not be so daring to expose the truth because they are afraid of the lawsuit... how sad it is!!! that for so long, we finally enjoy a bit of freedom of speech and is quickly taken away.

My question is: are the people so naive and easily manipulated by the information they receive? if that is the case, all these years of education really just washed down the drains... and we should start looking into the quality of our schools, and our teaching methods of spoon-feeding. if not, let's start feeding them with a lot of informations, so that our people become knowledgable and intelligent enough to know how to make sense for themselves. BLOCKING OF INFORMATION is not a solution. if it is, we should just banned the tobacco business straightaway if we want to educate the public about the health threats of smoking.

please give bloggers a break!!

Japan Foundation's Film Screening

2006-08-01T07:27:00.000+08:00

The film screening is on again. the timetable as below:

1. Pekin no Suika (Beijing Watermelon, 北京的西瓜) 5th August 2006 4.30pm
2. Mainichi ga natsuyasumi (Summer Holiday Everyday, 毎日が夏休み) 19th August 2006 4.30pm

Venue: mini auditorium, MTC, 109, Jalan Ampang, 50450 KL
Contact: Japan Foundation 03-21612104
Transportation:
LRT - Dang Wangi or KLCC LRT Station
Bus - Intrakota No 23,24C,34C Metro No 28
Cityliner No 174,175,176,182,183,185
KL Monorail - Bukit Nanas Station

The screening is free, with the comfortable seats and hall, it's worth going.
For those who want to know how to get there, you may take the LRT to KLCC, once you find your way up to the main road, Jalan Ampang, you should start asking people where to go to ZOUK, or Sekolah Lai Meng. MTC (Malaysia Tourism Centre) is just beside ZOUK, and opposite Lai Meng. Easy bitsy.

This saturday, the film is "Pekin no Suika" directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi, 1989 color. The film is based on true story to follow a greengrocer, Shunzo's experience in helping poor Chinese students. with his generous (obsessive) helps, he got his own business and family into trouble, and in turn helped by the poor chinese students.

don't ask me whether the film is good or not, i will write review only after saturday (if i go). but from the look of the photo, and the storyline, it could be just ordinary. haha. but since the screening is free, if you have time, or want to experience some movies that's out of the mainstream Hollywood, why not?

La Caja 507

2006-07-28T16:43:00.000+08:00

So, on Wednesday night, me and few colleagues and friends decided to catch a free movie screening in UM. it's "La Caja 507", a spanish film.

first of all, the place where we watched this is kinda wrong already... it's like conference room, a big one lah, situated in the Faculty of Linguistic in UM. but then again, the light's off, it still look like a cinema hall to me.
(i so hope that UTAR will finally have a movie club, and then we can screen movie weekly in a proper theatre hall or something! and i seriously think that the students of broadcasting shall pick up the responsibility to do so -- they just watch too little films!! sigh... )

secondly, when it's stated there Spanish Film Festival, we expected to see some arty farty national cinema... but it seems that the film is a spanish commercial/mainstream movie. so we were disappointed in general. simply because our expectations were not met, and not because the movie is not good!

La Caja (pronounced La Caha) means the box... box no. 507 is the key to the story. it talks about a banker - Modesto, whom unluckily become the target of a group of bank robbers. they tied him up and drugged him, while swipe out most of the safety boxes. after Modesto woke up, he vomited in box 507, and discovered some strange documents from the box, which are related to his daughter's death 7 years ago. as he pursued the truth, he revealed even bigger scandal.

the story is very flesh and original, you can't really predict what's going to happen next. the actings are believable. and i particularly think that the control of pacing is great... there's no single boring plot, very energetic film. but like i said, because we went in with different set of expectations, all these strengths only appeal to me after i reflected on the movie. i was originally hoping for some Almodóvar rather than this.

my rating: 7/10

说话的艺术

2006-07-26T15:37:00.000+08:00

在某网页看到以下的文章，颇具意思，转载来与大家分享，共勉。

( 点击此阅读 - 说话的艺术 )

说话当然要有艺术。否则说再多名言金句人生真理，说得不好听刺耳，没人听得进去事小，得罪人多事大。倒不如别说的好！

偏偏很多人不懂这道理，认为自己说的是对的，别人听不进去是别人修养不够。比方说，我有个朋友，小强，在百货公司逛街，突然遇到一个女孩正在头痛着该买哪一件衣服。他人心肠好，看不下去她的困境，便上前帮忙。原来那女孩在考虑着该买同一款式的红色还是蓝色的衣服。

强：买红的吧！
女：为什么？
强：你这么苍白，穿红色的衣服，不是更显得你脸色不好！
女：谁要你鸡婆？

小强回来后跟我投诉那女孩多没有修养，他说的都是事实，她听不进去就算了，干嘛骂人鸡婆？真的是好心被雷劈！

我只好跟他说，说话也要有艺术，说得不好就是得罪人的艺术。他应该说，“穿蓝色的吧！比较称你白皙的肌肤。”

他瞪了我一眼说，“我不屑说奉承虚伪的话。”

我说那就算了，我对你说得出这些话，也预了你会说我虚伪。大不了什么都不说，免得你骂我鸡婆。说了就要承当后果，别事后骂人没修养，好心被雷劈。

对，我就是冲着他骂！他又狠狠的瞪了我一眼，然后走开。从此不再跟我说话。事后我想，也许当时我也应该奉承着说虚伪的话，那他就会听我说了。哈哈。看来，说话的艺术，我也要多学着点！这跟学历智力无关。

Re-cycle

2006-07-24T12:04:00.000+08:00

OK, i admit i went to watch this movie due to the actress, patriotic mah. :P but i am still amused by her performance in "the eye".

the movie, according to a lot of audience, is a boring piece, a let down. but i, on the contrary, like this movie. disappointing? perhaps you went in with an expectation to see a typical horror movie, or wanted so much to be scared - maybe only the first half an hour of the movie satisfied your need, the rest is just a... well, letdown.

it is actually a serious arthouse movie, i mean the subtext - if not the text. it talks about the things, the people, the ideas, the memories that we've forgotten or taken for granted. all this forgotten materials are kept in a secret realm, and will get recycled once it's been totally forgotten. ok, it sounds illogical, but when all those sepia-toned images appeared in front of my eyes, i got such a nostalgic feelings - especially that merry-go-round and the old library. they sorta summarize what i wished for in my childhood, a mysterious circus and a room full of books to read... but when all these appear in a forgotten land, i was like getting a slap on my own face -- i have forgotten about all these things too!! i no longer got attracted to circus, fun fair, not even merry-go-round anymore. i no longer crave for books, no longer enjoy the fantasy world of a book anymore... what a shameful feelings.

so, yes, it's the "recycled" movie idea of "Alice in Wonderland" or "Wizard of Oz", but this is a much gory one, and a more adult version. it talks about how Lee Sin Jie, the protagonist, accidentally bumped into this realm of forgotten land, and trying hard to find her way out. (i shall not be a spoiler and tell you how the story ends) the setting of the "wonderland", in this movie it's the "recycleland", is simply wonderful -- of coz you can't compare it to the multi-billion-budget Hollywood movies. The mood is right, the young girl's acting is superb, the old man's acting is good, the main actress' acting is... errr... forget about it... :P

ok ok, i have to admit the last scene of the movie has gone over the top... ok ok, even the 2nd last scene is a bit cliche... ok ok, so the pace of the movie especially in the "wonderland" is draggy like hell... (ok ok, i know i mumble too much without reviewing much about the plots, character development blah blah blah)... but so what, i enjoyed the movie, i got my own imagination running throughout the film, and that's enough for the price of a ticket.

rating: 6.5/10

Superman Returns

2006-07-22T11:52:00.000+08:00

yup, i've been wanted to watch the movie when it returns after so many years. hehe. me and frens even went to Cineleisure 2 weeks before the premier only to find out that the movie was not on yet... hehe, really paiseh!

few reasons why i wanted to watch the movie:
1. to experience my childhood again, i remembered quite well that superman's series are among those of my early exposure to movie world.
2. to feel the heroic actions of superman all over again, and to believe that there's a savior to the world.
3. to listen to the theme music again, and be (somehow) motivated.
4. to go watch Kevin Spacey, he is my all time favorite actor since American's Beauty.
5. to witness the mysteriously LARGE bulge of the actor as reported by newspaper, which also claimed to have been altered digitally. i wanna see for myself how are they going to shrink it, and if i can spot any scene that is not edited... wuahahaha! :P

so yes, finally me and a few frens went to Cineleisure for the wednesday cheap session of the movie...

the review:
all of the above reasons to watch the film failed...
1. soon i realized i can't have my childhood back, it has long past, no more fantasy... sigh... can't deny the fact that i AM old already. -.-
2. i realized i don't believe in hero anymore. all of us have to depend on ourselves. and it's very clear that superman is just a product to sell - he's NOT real!
3. when i listened to the theme song while the "planets" credit sequence is shown, i finally realizeed that i've mixed up Star Wars' theme song to Superman's theme song... hahaha!! paiseh... :P
4. Kevin Spacey just didn't perform, or he has no chance to perform at all. the director has done an appalling job to design this antagonist. it's very superficial and have no weight at all. audience don't get to know who this Lex Luther is, seriously, let alone giving him a childish and somehow moronic motivation to create an island!!!??? come on, who are you kidding??
5. well, don't get to see the gigantic manhood -- it looks normal to me! (my frens rolled eyes to me) wuahahaha! i wonder if the news is true or it's just promotional. but seriously, why the media make a fuss out of it?? does superman need a super willy in order to appear super and to save the world?? sigh... -.-"

my fren complained to me 1 hour down the movie and said, "where is the story going? i don't even know what's the important plots or core of the story yet!!" very very true... i think the script is poorly written, the tension and the conflicts didn't build up at all the first half of the movie. too much of reminiscence slows the whole movie. the last 30 minutes of the movie only the pace picked up, which is a little too late. then everything followed happens too fast too rush.

another fren told me after the show that he fell asleep for at least half an hour in the first part of the movie. he asked me what have he missed. nothing, i answered... that shows how bad this movie is!

okay lah, the special effects are good no doubt, the colour of the film is superb too. technically, nothing's wrong with this movie! but it's just not enough in so many fundamental aspects - storyline, structure, character design, control of the pace....

my rating: 5/10

The memory

2006-07-04T10:51:00.000+08:00

This one is more like a memorial kinda music video to record our quarter and practises and also the recordings done in studio. None of the shots are planned, just like a big collage of everything and happy moments.

Final video - Concern

2006-07-04T09:19:00.000+08:00

This video was directed by Kun Cheng, i was the DOP/cameraman and Kang Tak was helping me. we kinda want to try out animation, although the final result was not all satisfied, but it's definitely one hell of an experience. talented Kun Cheng do all the drawing and design, while i edited it. it took us 1 day to shoot and 1 week to edit, not included those days he used to draw and plan the whole thing.
The song itself has stayed in the AiFM's "Our Chart" for many weeks and has managed to stay at 1st place for 2 weeks. Sang by jookyie.

The fourth video

2006-07-04T08:47:00.000+08:00

This one is called "Ostrich", i was the cinematographer and editor, and was directed by Sally, and one of the singer/talent is jookyie. do checked it out, we have tried to show the beauty of USM and penang, and our version of Twins. :P

The 3rd video

2006-07-04T08:16:00.000+08:00

the 3rd video i'm going to present to you all is titled "the 3rd hand". hahaha... it was produced by me (i mean all videos in this album were produced by me anyway.. hehe...), but it was not directed nor shot by me. i edited it, and scary enough i acted in it. :P wuahahaha!

Another video

2006-07-04T07:51:00.000+08:00

This one is titled "funeral". not directed by me, but was co-cinematographed and edited it. some effects have been put in to achieve a dreamy and old-movie liked mood.

The music video i produced

2006-07-03T16:06:00.000+08:00

The following video was produced and directed by me some time ago, last year. the video, together with 5 other videos were produced to celebrate the 15th anniversary of our group "The Wanderers" when i was still in the university.

the whole video has taken me 1 day to shoot and 1 week for post-production. it was my attempt to try out the effect of putting 2 images of the same person into the video. see if you guys like the video or not, and do comment ok. :)

parody and satire... can they be considered as arts?

2006-04-10T13:04:00.000+08:00

talking about intertextuality, parody and satire are 2 possible expressions. but can they be considered as arts? that's really arguable.

i have seen steve martin's many movies, and some other comedies, and even comedies that make fun of famous horror movies. extremely funny they are especially if you have watched the original movies, but in terms of production values and quality, even creativity, they are far from being an artform. perhaps with an exception of "scary movie" (don't hit me).

not long ago, a singer in hong kong named 林海峰 (Jan Lamb) have written a song titled 流行曲 "pop song". if you miss the lyrics, you've missed the best part. he's being really satiric about chinese formulaic pop songs that focus mainly on cheesy love story, and how to design the vocal and arrangement of the songs to make it really karaoke friendly... check out the lyrics if you know chinese: (those who know chinese n english, pls help me to translate, hehe)

林海峰-流行曲(粤)

清唱一开口用喉咙声清唱
这样才会令你为我拍掌
扮偶像派系我理想

感动段段歌词要写得感动
能够讲鼓舞及明日理想
一浅白易明人就唱 wo

假音唱到第二段嚟个假音
震音震爆个尾音至够压场 wo
惨情我爱你抵死冇好收场
煽情必两粒眼泪情绪高涨 wo

(chorus)
去到 chorus chorus 要易记易唱 wo
记住要重复重复我为k迷着想
仲要 repeat 又repeat 这旋律先算最强
流行曲要大众随时随地唱

点唱手机响用和弦声即唱
这样日与夜我会到处响
日播夜播就最理想 wo

和音要大量和住咪我走音
懒音好有风格人人会跟得上 wo

repeat (chorus)
流行曲要令到全场大合唱

再上再上呢段要越唱越抢
再上再上呢段会越唱越娘
争住唱你记住要出我份粮 (冇钱点唱)

再上再上乸实块面唱做样
再上再上一定会断气内伤
三连音三连音三连音
三连音三连音三连音音

wo chorus chorus要易记易唱 wo
(repeat chorus)
流行曲唱就唱咪求其是但唱

我首流行曲一定中一定爆
争住点唱攞硬奖

download the song!
(you can go download the song from the above link. just right click on the link above and select "save target as")

the funny thing is, he sang this song in a really typical chinese pop song format, followed exactly what he is satire of in the lyrics! funny... now this is what i call an artform... a personal statement that has been made!

then, just last week, i also read a really satiric blog by Kenny Sia... entitled "kenny sia attempts to write a bimbo blog"... his version of parody towards highly popular bimbo blog... damn funny... go read his blog in the following link:
read this first.
and also you can read the bimbo blog his was refering to here:
then read this!
both are funny!! i like them... wuahahaha!!

如果还有明天 - 纪念薛岳！

2006-02-22T09:33:00.000+08:00

一个生命力如此强的歌手，虽然顶着被肝癌侵蚀得不堪的肉体，却仍然坚持做专辑开演唱会，我又怎能不感动？忘了那一天电台播着《如果还有明天》，摇滚的节奏，我发现我竟然可以跟着哼起来。新歌吗？怎么我会唱？旧歌吗？是谁的啊？有种熟悉的感动。直到又有一天在电视上看到MV，才猛然记起薛岳，那个曾经用他的生命鼓舞我的人。在他最后一场的演唱会，他披着火红的衣服，挥动着一头长发，狠狠的哭诉“如果还有明天”。两个月后他就死了，只留下这首歌一直在我脑里盘旋。

如果還有明天
演唱:信/薛岳/柯有倫

岳:我們都有看不開的時候　總有冷落自己的舉動　
岳:但是我一定會提醒自己　如果還有明天　

信:我們都有傷心的時候　總不在乎這種感受
信:但是我要把握每次感動　如果還有明天

岳:如果還有明天　你想怎樣裝扮你的臉
信:如果沒有明天　要怎麼說再見

信:如果你看出我的遲疑　是不是你也想要問我　
信:究竟有多少事還沒有做　如果還有明天

岳:如果真的還能夠有明天　是否能把事情都做完
岳:是否一切也將雲消煙散　如果沒有明天

信:如果還有明天　你想怎樣裝扮你的臉　如果沒有明天　要怎麼說再見
岳:如果還有明天　你想怎樣裝扮你的臉　如果沒有明天　OH～要怎麼說再見

岳:如果還有明天　　信:如果還有明天
岳:你想怎樣裝扮你的臉　　信:裝扮你的臉
岳:如果沒有明天　OH～要怎麼說再見

[柯有倫:RAP部分]

1990的秋天　演完最後一場　生老病死的對話　送來新的希望
下雨了下雨了　那是你的眼淚嗎　將我淋濕可以嗎　讓我感受你的痛啊
笑我吧　不管黑夜是否太傻　笑我吧　走在邊緣只剩掙扎
笑我吧　哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈　還有明天

1990的秋天　演完最後一場　生老病死的對話　送來新的希望
下雨了　那是你的眼淚嗎　將我淋濕可以嗎　好讓我感受你的痛啊
笑我吧　不管黑夜是否太傻　笑我吧　走在邊緣只剩掙扎
笑我吧　哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈　如果還有明天　是否這生命能夠聽的到
希望我們的夢想永遠不會被忘掉　希望有一天哈哈　可以再見面

click on this link to download the song by 信，薛岳及柯有伦 for a limited time only!
click on this link to download the original song by 薛岳 for a limited time only!

(摘自http://www.cdnet.com.tw/Catalog/ShowPerformer.asp?PerformerID=7)
36歲的薛岳在這一年面對了人生中最痛苦的生命掙扎，卻也在劃下休止符前，他將自己的生命用音樂燃燒到最後，留下燦爛的光輝樂章。
這一年，薛岳真的好忙，忙的卻好有意義。第五張個人作品「生老病死」及「灼熱的生命」演唱會在多位好友的努力配合下完成，在他走前，他仍不忘記留下這些他熱愛的音樂，希望在音樂裡帶給我們生活上的不同體驗。
作品「生老病死」不僅是薛岳個人音樂上的成長紀錄，從搖滾、爵士風格蛻變為更自由的音樂型式，也是個人演唱詮釋的最佳表現，雖然他在唱片製作過程中，虛弱的身體讓他一天只能工作三小時，過時則可能會發燒、體力不支，連在錄音室唱歌都必須以高腳椅抵住臀部支撐上半身的重量才能順利完成，但是他的毅力和來自生命中的親身感受讓他在唱腔上有著豐富的情感表現。一張薛岳用生命餘燼然燒出來的作品聽來格外讓人感動。
有人說薛岳的「生老病死」專輯是「捶著傷口」錄出來的，那又何忍答應讓一個身體虛弱的人再去面對群眾舉辦一場「加速自己生命燃燒」的演唱會呢？薛岳試圖要在生命的盡頭前綻放自己最後的光芒，他用信心和對音樂的執著完成了這場於國父紀念館的演出，雖然館內早已準備好救護車和醫護人員，他還是精彩唱完了演唱會！那一夜，不僅是媒體閃光燈的集中地，更是台上台下音樂感動淚水的一夜。
演唱會後，薛岳在媒體寫了一篇文章，其中一段說：「幕總是有起有落，現在對我個人來講，就是落幕的時候了」。　不禁讓人想起了Queen（皇后）合唱團的一首歌The Show Must Go On，歌詞中寫道：「縱然我的心已碎，臉上的彩妝將落，我仍會笑容以待」。　薛岳就是這樣，在人前絕對是張笑容常開的臉，「灼熱的生命」演唱會裡還不斷表現出他的幽默感，但卻也就是這樣才格外讓人心疼。　十月二十四日，他要求剪去蓄留多年的長髮，只因為他「不要再麻煩媽媽了!」，十一月七日，下午2時零4分，薛岳安詳地走了，他的生命真的落幕了。

brokeback mountain

2006-02-15T15:04:00.000+08:00

the movie is actually pretty old school: old-fashioned cinematography and plotlines, the acting style is not over the top. it definitely helped with a Chinese director Ang Lee. he with his poetic touch not only successfully bring his previous "Sense and Sensibilities" to life, but in this film, give the film new breath. i haven't read the book, but i doubt it's going to be this poetic. Music definitely shape the mood. acoustic instrument, solo guitar with often monotonous melodies, create surprisingly haunting surreal ambient rather than a calm one. all in all, a genuine work of art.

i like the fact that the "couple" actually started the relationship with lust, but thru the years, it built up to be a true love. this no doubt is not a breakthrough notion of gay relationship, but often untouched (or actively avoid) by filmmakers (could it due to the fact that it lower gays' self-esteem?). We might question their lustful relationship first, but couldn't deny the intensity of their love after so many years. sadly, it only became clear to Ennis, that the love between them is so strong, after Jack died. don't we all love tragic moments in film? the moment where everything is going on a one-way train heading a wrong direction, and all we can do is sit there and sigh "if we could only turn back time!"?... that reminds me of another line from Jack again, "It could be like this, just like this, always." our life is full of so many "if", but we are never satisfied with "if", but yet we are so afraid of facing the truth hence we turn away... how nice if Ennis decide to take on Jack's proposal to open a range of their own (metaphor for building a family together)... then the ending will forever changed...

hopefully after the movie, ppl will realized that it will only bring more miseries if we deny and dicriminate the gay community. all the gay bashers, even if you don't bash the gays literally, the ideas of your mere existence haunt them forever. look at Ennis, how the image of the death/humiliation of an old gay cowboy left such an impression on his 9 yrs old mind, and the fact that his father could be the person who bashed the poor man even reinforce the resistant he has when Jack suggested to open their own range together... so the pain and misery spread out to both's wives and kids... and it also reminded me of another film that i watched, "The Laramie Project", where there is one scene when the lesbian mother said she was walking down a street with her gf and daugther, a truck passby, the "macho-man" driver looked at them with hatreds, and how she was so afraid that the truck would turn back and knock them... although the truck didn't really knock them... but the thoughts and insecurity that they will, already kill them... and it's not fun at all staying in fears... what am i talking about....??? hahahaha.... guess this movie just give me too much things to think about, and that is how great a movie can get!

i also like the way Ennis's character is constructed. praising the cowboy slang that Heath Ledger "mastered" is superficial... but his mumbling words, he habitually lowered his head, constantly looking away while speaking to people, cowboy hat that cover more than half of the face, all these really make his character become 3D and real... excellent job both Heath and Ang Lee...

Let's see if it will win Ang Lee another best film and best director... i really hope the best for my favorite director (man, Ang Lee's "Wedding Banquet" is perhaps another of my all time favorite movie!)... Go watch it, grab a copy if you can, don't miss it!! standby a box of tissue at the end of the movie if you think you are as emotional as me... :P

Another CNY entry! :P

2006-02-08T14:59:00.000+08:00

We hosted a small get together at my home on last friday night, uncles auntie were turning up for steamboat dinner. it was fun to see all the relatives (once a year), hahaha!

My lovely home...

my cousin brother who stayed with my parents during his secondary school years. now he is a doctor, his wife is a doctor, and his kid is so damn cute! hehe!

that's me with the nephew... me tried to haunt him from behind! hehehe!

my uncle loves kids... dunno what tickle my nephew, laughed until like that... -.-

my young nephew was holding my little nephew... hahaha, see how curious a kid could get!!

Then on Sunday night, we all know it's the time for the hokkiens to pray to the SkyGrandpa... hahaha, pai tin kong! my family do that every year too...

table full of offerings! hahaha!

check out the mouth of the dragon... got smoke come out from there... hehehe!!!

tea, tang-yuan, and nian-kao in yuen-pao shape! then they are all sorta kuih and bread and fruits! notice all of the offerings have to be wrapped with a red stripe...

and of coz we have to offer 3 types of meat... chicken, pork rib, and duck

then the event continued with burning of hell moneys...

(what a waste... hehe) see... what's left??

after the god has been fed, it's time to feed the humans now... hahaha!

my mom forced me to take photos of her plants and garden... hahaha....this is the plant she bought for the new year... don't mistaken, it's not cherry tomatoes, it's chilli!! (ask my sis, she knows, she tasted it before!!! so damn hot she said.... wuahahaha!)

and this is the flowers that my mom's very proud of... during CNY, suddenly there appeared 6 blossoms together, and she thinks it's a good sign!! hahaha, chinese what... what do you expect? :P

My trip to 佛光山东禅寺

2006-02-08T08:51:00.000+08:00

It was a pleasant saturday and my family and I decided to pay my uncle a visit at Banting... and we also wanted to go to the famous Fo Guang Shan - Dong Chan Si. A heavy pour that day, so the weather cool down, just the perfect day for visiting. we parked our car pretty far away from the temple, and we walked 3 streets to reach the entrance. there were cars, people, stalls, buses everywhere, it's so happening... and i can't imagine a small town with such big crowd! thanks to the temple, at least the small town is back alive now.

There weren't really much to see, but the garden were really pretty with nicely trimmed giantsized bonsai... hehehe... but it was dark, so my dumb digital cam just don't work well under that condition.

Here, i found 1 part of the garden they put some stones carved in the shape of 12 animals as in chinese year... whatever lah... hehehe... so here i put 2 of them, rabbit for me, and horse for beh, hehe

On the 2nd floor of the main building, they have the exhibition of international flora whatever, which my mom was very interested... it's nice lah, but most of the flowers are there for too long, so a bit layu already. :P

so when we finally drove home around 10pm... it was totally jammed on the way back!!! we reached home around 12am... what a day! so sleepy! hehe!

Let's have some pics!

2006-02-06T14:10:00.000+08:00

New year is the time for family gathering... here i am taking snaps of the younger generation!

And this is Shogun, the japanese buffet restaurant at 1U... hehe, time to feast the stomach! yum yum!!

如果。爱

2006-01-24T13:47:00.000+08:00

昨天看娱乐新闻时，主持人问来宾谢霆峰喜欢什么样的女孩子。他想也不想的回答，“如果能够说出喜欢这个人的什么，那就不是真的喜欢她了。”

这早熟的男孩说出了我心里的话。很多人都说，我要找的女孩子是长发飘逸，或身材苗条的，或眼睛大大的；有些人则说，我要找的男孩子是粗狂有型的，或驾名车的，或浪漫风趣的。但当你把这些条件列下来时，你正把这些人给物化了。这时你不再是喜欢这个人本身，而是喜欢他的某一部分而已。当他的其他缺点更大于他的优点时，你的眼里心里就再也容不下他了。那又何爱之有呢？

又或许是我太执著或太完美化了。你大可说，喜欢可能就只止于那一刹那的悸动，或只是对某一方面的仰慕而已，无需太偏激。那，爱呢？当你说爱一个人的时候，你的心态是只止于喜欢般的肤浅吗？或是已下定决心要完全的包容这个人呢？

许多人说爱是喜欢的升华，我则认为，爱是喜欢得毫无理由。当你对这个人已经是喜欢得可以忘记他的优点，包容他的缺点，那你就是爱上他了。

非常喜欢《Sepet》里的一段对白，当Orked的朋友取笑她已经被阿龙喜欢上了时，Orked回答，“错了，他不是喜欢上我，他根本不认识我，又何来喜欢上我呢？他，是爱上了我！爱，那是有分别的！”

我是相信一见钟情的。你可以取笑我的浪漫主义，但我宁可相信爱情的命中注定，也不愿看到爱情的廉价贩卖。

Happy CNY everyone...

2006-01-23T13:08:00.000+08:00

every year my mom will buy these dunno what it called... i think something like "lak mei" (err... wax plum blossom or something lah... hehehe) (baru i tahu... it's actually called "Pussy Willow" <---- what a dumb name!! hehehe!) i used to think they look horrible, ugly dark brown and furry silver ball after the caps come out... but this time my mom got some advice from from the florist... and look at them - new shoots have come out, even the flowers are growing bigger.... TIPS: change water everyday... if possible, use icy cold water! then the plant can tahan for more than 6 months.

and with these flowers... i would like to wish every bloggers happy and prosperous CNY!!! i'll definitely enjoy my holidays! :)

Memoirs of the Geisha - Hatsumomo my dear

2006-01-19T15:34:00.000+08:00

Since yesterday i went to watch "Memoirs of the Geisha" premiere, i might as well write something down. the movie is ok ok only, hollywood standard what, don't expect mediocre and also masterpiece lah... hahaha...

i personally quite like the opening scene, like i told my students today about treatment of a scene... the opening is about how these 2 sisters Satsu and Chiyo been sold to geisha house in Tokyo. the director chose night scene which is definitely suitable to portray certain uncanny and uncertainties. what is good about this opening scene is the direct employed a lot of tracking shots and follow shots, and more often the shots are shaky, bumpy and unstable. i doubt everyone will get nausead by watching that opening scene. moreover, the composition of the shots are normally tighter shot, especially when they reached Tokyo streets, through the lens we see lamp light, doors and houses, smokes etc... so throughout this scene, there's actually no room for us to breath or rest. all these design helps to create tension to audience, audience are forced to experience what the little girl has gone through - helplessness, loneliness, scared in a strange unknown world...

Another thing i like about the movie is the character Hatsumomo acted by Gong Li. Not only because of her superb acting skills, but the character design itself is very 3D. we cannot deny the fact that geishas, no matter how u want to portray them differently, are only prostitutes guised with their artistic appearance and dancing or singing skills. don't get me wrong i'm not having any prejudice about ppl who are in the "lust" industry, but being brought up in this kinda environment when money, luxuries, fighting for survival mean everything in this world, they cannot help but be shallow. Hatsumomo's character successfully reflects the real geisha, flesh and blood, with complete personal history of why she become someone evil, using strategies that only she thinks they are clever... the truth is, i am like Nobu, he got all the rights to hate geishas. let's face it, Memoirs of Geisha is after all kinda autobiography, when ppl tell you their story, they will kinda beautify the story here and there, even when i explain something to my parents, i will always make it a bit beneficial on my part. there is no wonder i doubt the character of Sayuri/Chiyo is really genuine...

But seriously i don't like the ending of the movie, it's too "happy ending" until it looks really fake and pretentious... well, the chairman will never never or can never accept Sayuri after so much things had happened. although the narration at the end kinda telling us that Sayuri can only be some substitute wife and can only be with the chairman after night falls, but i just can't stand the romantic cheesy scene when the chairman broke into tears and hug Sayuri.... it just... too... jarring!! sigh...

There are more to discuss... but time is golden and i've gotten better things to do now... hahahaha... see ya!

rating: 3/5 (worthed watching but don't expect too much, or go to watch it if it's free or if you have few extra dime to spend.) :P

Remind me why i love her so much!!

2006-01-09T13:43:00.000+08:00

Click on the links below...

Please pause and wait for it to complete download before playing. enjoy, all the jac fans!

烟花

2006-01-03T16:07:00.000+08:00

稍纵即逝的花火
映红了沉寂的夜空
璀璨却命短
格格不入的承诺

人群中传来了赞叹
仿佛不懂失去的苦痛
蒙蔽了双眼
追求迷途的快乐

眷恋是因为曾经拥有
遗忘是伤口难以愈合
那又何必等待残酷的烟花
那又何必执著短暂的你我

我的青春回来了

2005-10-22T10:22:00.000+08:00

其实是我的青春...豆回来了。 -.-

我右脸颊的活火山自从去云顶后就一直蠢蠢欲动，昨晚终于天惊地裂的爆发了，现在留下了浮肿的印记。另外鼻梁及下巴也陆陆续续的蕴粮，蓄势待发，真可谓...惨不忍睹啊！！！苦矣...

我，只要青春，不要豆！

931

2005-10-13T16:35:00.000+08:00

在9月终了及10月开端的那1秒钟
在心里默默许下对你的承诺
以后的每个365天能有你作伴
祈祷你在这1秒也能感受
单纯的希望这秒能是1天
让我在日历留下印记
虚无的日期却是我们的纪念日
梦幻般的邂逅却造就了真实的伴侣
9月31日日历里不存在的日期
这样的纪念日我虔诚许愿
我们能走得长长99

月光下，我记得。

2005-09-30T08:55:00.000+08:00

触觉突然敏感了起来
当你额头紧压着我下腹
欲望战胜了恐慌
抗拒的手轻拥你入怀
充斥着罪恶感的吉他
还被搁在门栅
我明瞭此行的目的
但脑门至趾头不听使唤
只会反射性的配合
沉浸于被长期压抑的快感

小路上归来的你唤我
眼光只能放在远处朦胧的绿岛
我污亵的身体经不起你注视
你温柔的整理我凌乱的衣衫
“我是无耻之人，”
颤抖的唇颤抖的嗓音
“请你忘了我吧，
我不配让你喜欢。”
耳鸣阵阵刺痛
只听到自己的心在淌血
面对你更难
我选择大步走开

- 28/9/05

Convo!!

2005-08-09T18:43:00.000+08:00

First of all, thank you to my parents who always support me for whatever decision i made in life. i will do you all proud. but please don't push me for marriage anymore. and thank you for driving down all the way from KL last night and ta-pao me the super delicious "gao lam fun" from Ipoh. sob sob.

Thank you friends and students who gave me flowers and gifts, so appreciate your warmth and support.

and this is the group photo for graduants who took Master in Communication. (lacking 1 girl)
i so enjoy the time studying with you all.
plus, if you all who read this have a pair of sharp eyes, yes, the girl at the the right hand side is Daphne Iking, the host for Explorace and Vector Challenge. She was sitting beside me during convo, and she is a real fun person. at first we thought she'll be very arrogant, but turn out she is a fun loving person who joke a lot... i laughed all the time during convo. well, "Dapin Eekin", nice to meet you doll!

And YEAH, i graduated!!When's PhD?...

Will not be online for a week or so...

2005-07-21T09:01:00.000+08:00

Yes, it's about time. i'll be flying off to KK in 2 hours times for the hike of my life - Mt. Kinabalu. which i totally have no confidence in. hahahaha!!! really hope i can go up to the summit and snap beautiful pictures. at first i was hoping to bring along viewcam, now on second thoughts, i better not carry more thing, which add on weight and also psychological pressure (viewcam belongs to college). so i'm just going to enjoy myself there. 1 week i won't be able to go online unless i go cyber cafe. so, will update again only next wednesday when i come back ok!! tata!!

DAY 2 (part 1): Bali rediscovered! Welcome to the dark side...

2005-07-03T20:53:00.000+08:00

Tuesday 24/5/2005

0700 --- Woke up! Alex was still sleeping. I took my DVCam out to the balcony hoping to shoot the dawn… only to find that it’s all bright and hot outside already. The sun rises and sets so early here in Bali! So different from Malaysia. The staffs of the inn were cleaning the swimming pool, i'm impressed!

0730 --- We went down to the concierge to ask for breakfast, the lady there pointed to the restaurant next door. We were received warmly by the waitress there, “we have set breakfast for you, you can choose coffee or tea, waffle or pancake or toast with egg or banana, and also a plate of fruit.” So Alex being the not so adventurous one order toast with egg and coffee, me ordered banana pancake and coffee. Turned out his toast and egg was so plain and tasteless claimed him, I would not have ordered that in million years especially being the person who dislike egg. My pancake turned out to be something quite similar to roti pisang here, kakaka, but it’s served with honey and lime… quite tasty though. But the Balinese coffee was definitely great! Rich aroma, but needed to put a lot of sugar or it’s too bitter… and strange too, coz there’s a lot of “sisa”!

0800 --- We had a little morning walk on Poppies Lane II, I was hoping to buy a nice pair of shoes because I did not bring any for the volcano hiking trip. After passing by a cozy restaurant called McWilliam (funny one, bcoz they had the flipped McD logo!), a group of ladies was squatting at the roadside. When they saw us walking past, quickly they approached us and started chatting with Alex. I was so aware that this was a trap, only Alex so naively believed that they were being friendly!! So I walked along the street searching for my shoes without even talking to them, only turned to find Alex was not following me. Shit! So I turned back. One lady on the street told me Alex has already gone into the back lane! Gosh!!! What was he thinking? Hesitated, but I couldn’t leave Alex alone. When I walked into the little shop, I saw this girl tying a wristband onto Alex hand and started putting lotion onto his fingernails. I whispered to Alex, “do you know you gotta pay for all these?” he was smiling naively to me and said, “but the lady here said it’s free!!!” I cannot help but rolled my eyes, gosh!!! This is fcuking bloodsucking Bali in case you forgot!!! The lady that led me in here was now ready to put a wristband on me too, I rejected nicely and she looked disappointed but persistently insisted that it’s free! After much persuasion, I thought to myself, aiya what the heck, I’m ready to pay some dime lah, so finally I gave in. They started giving us this cheap skate manicure… when it’s done, I asked for the price, they said “not expensive”. Then only Alex realized it’s not free (god!), so he asked the lady didn’t she said it’s free at first. The look in the lady’s eyes was like “now I gotcha” kinda grin, and she said, “the band is free, the gift of Bali for you to remember. But (pointing to the fingers) this is my job!” I was a bit pissed, so I asked “How much??” She calmly hold my hands, “normally we charged Japanese, (point to my left hand) 350 and (point to my right hand) 350!” WALAU WEI, it was like way out of my expectation, you mean for a 3-mins manicure you are going to charge me RM300?! “NO (fucking) way! We don’t have that kinda money!” The lady grinned some more and said, “for you… Malaysian, 150 & 150…” That’s RM120. “I still dun have that kinda money!” At this point, the ladies suddenly looked impatient and angry. They shouted at us, more like scolding us, “So how much? How much you want to pay?” I looked at her and I said 5.000, and I heard Alex said 10.000 (that is RM4). The lady in front of me turned to Alex and shouted, “10 thousand is NOTHING!! Your fren (that’s me) here said 50.000 also nothing already!!! 10 thousand (with a grunt)!” She must have heard me wrongly!!! Now, Alex really looked shit scared, he later explained that he was worried about the RM3000 above Nikon camera that hanged around his neck which he just bought for this trip. So he hopped out of the shop. Luckily before this I’ve already kept my viewcam in my pouch, so I slowly took out my wallet while walking out of the shop. I took out 10.000, the lady’s eyes were like about to pop out from her eyes… looked very much like the Barong!!! She was really mad and scolding us with Balinese language. She grabbed the money, we quickly run, and we heard her scolding us from behind “FUCK YOU!” We dare not to look at her, but just walk out to the main street! It was scary becoz we were at the back lane and there were quite a number of them surrounding us… jeezzzz, what an experience! We quickly threw the wristband away and walked our way to Poppies Lane I. Rp.10,000 abt RM4 for an unwilling manicure.

0830--- We realized the homestay we found yesterday night is just opposite of the manicure incident. To tell you all the truth, we dare not stay there! So we managed to find another homestay at Poppies Lane I, Diana Homestay. Rp. 40.000 RM16 for 2 persons not inclusive of breakfast, but no problem since we will be leaving for the volcano hiking trip as early as 1am next morning, so we will be skipping breakfast anyway. We walked back to Poppied Lane II, sprinted through the ladies, quickly went back to our room, packed everything, checked out, hopped on the bike, and moved to Diana straightaway. I have to admit my heart was still pumping hard by then… :P

0930 --- We decided to visit Denpasar on bike this morning. But before that we would like to revisit Kuta beach to see what it’s like in the morning. No difference, only the sand is not as white as we thought it is when we were here last night, and also there’s a lot of aunties to bug you to buy things and do this and that… kinda annoying! Especially after the morning incident.

1030 --- We knew we were very near to Denpasar, the 1st stop planned was to get to the memorial monument at the heart of the city (similar to Tugu Merdeka in KL)… but again, we were lost. So we just stopped by 1 temple to visit and take photos. Then we grabbed an uncle on the street and asked for direction… seems that we were just 2 blocks away from it. Then we spotted a temple (supposedly quite famous lah) on the map called Pura Masopahit, one of the oldest temples in Bali, just a street a way from where we were. So we decided to visit it 1st…… then we lost again, kakaka, it seems we have missed a turn, then we got to do a big round back again. The temple is cool, they worship the naga (dragon) god there although at first I mistaken it as snake, haha! The aunty who loaned us the yellow waistband was busy making little tiny baskets for their daily blessing and praying. She chatted with us and also willing to let us take her pictures… 1 thing, she doesn’t look like 64 years old to me! There’s also a bunch of aunties nearby who were really noisy and kepochi, and I seriously believe that they were flirting with us, they just laughed nonstop and joked in their own language. One aunty even wanted to marry a young girl to me after she found out that I’m still single. Wuahahaha!!! Rp.10,000 abt RM4 donation to the temple.

1115 --- We finally reached the central park with the monument, very… err… normal! Nothing much to see really. Not recommended unless you are fine with only visiting the landmark lah! So, we only stayed for 5 mins and decided to head back to Kuta already.

1130 --- Suddenly Alex suggested visiting a Catholic church and on the map, there’s one nearby, so off we go. Well, the church seriously does not look like a conventional one, but blended in Balinese wood and stone carving and can I say, Hinduism!! I’m impressed seriously by the adaptability of the Catholic. We also see all these Balinese culture and traces in the other buildings like shopping malls, banks, and even fast food outlets! It’s traditional yet exotic and unique!

1200 --- We were heading back to Kuta, and we were hungry like bulls. So we decided on the bike that the next stall or restaurant that we see, we would just go in. I spotted a roadside wooden stall with quite a numbers of people lining up, so we pulled over. Mmm… roasted meat like chicken… well, what the heck, just order anything for 2 lah. So I asked the girl there, “apa ini?” they just laughed, “Babi guling.” Oh… so this is the famous babi guling (roast piglet)! I supposed not many foreigners come here, the locals there kept looking at both of us. Anyway, the rice was served… kinda oily, with roast pork, some char-siew-like meat, fried intestines, prawn crackers (I think), and sate. The sate on bamboo stick was simply superb, it’s different from Malaysia’s and so aromatic. The fried intestines had this weird stink, so we passed. Couldn’t finish the rice, too big a portion. With Teh Botol (my favorite drink), lunch cost us Rp.65.000 or RM3 each… SUPER CHEAP!!

... to be continued!

Bali: the journey continued… FIRST day on the island of Gods!

2005-06-27T17:02:00.000+08:00

I would like to list down my 5 days itineraries in Bali before I forgot… hehe! So, here we go with the first day:

Monday 23/5/2005

1100 --- Flying from KLIA to Ngurah Rai with AirAsia… then the plane delayed for 30mins.

1430 --- Arrived at Bali, so so so hungry, still we decided to go to Kuta first. So we grabbed a taxi (Rp. 25000 abt RM12) to Kuta. The driver offered to find us clean home girl for “service”… such a pimp!!

1500 --- We checked in to Bali Sandat Inn at Poppies Lane II, recommended by the taxi driver. Cool room, 1st floor, with balcony overlooking the inn’s swimming pool, queen size bed, fan (no aircond), with cold water. Many mat sallehs hanging around the pool too. Room for 2 pax Rp. 90000 abt RM40.

1530 --- We were so hungry, but yet we didn’t eat, but wasted no time to find a motorcycle to rent so that we can catch the sunset at Tanah Lot temple. We got the motor just around the corner for Rp. 40000 abt RM16 a day.

1600 --- We digested the map a bit, asked for directions a bit, off we go! On the way to Tanah Lot we managed to stop at a small restaurant for a quick bite. The restaurant looks very much alike to our malay economic rice stall. So our lunch cum hi-tea with big portion of rice and meat and coke cost us Rp. 5000 abt RM2 each. CHEAP! But very salty, not good!

1740 --- We reached Tanah Lot, just on time to catch the sunset that would happen around 6pm. So lucky we bumped into their Full Moon (Purnama) Festival, so we got our chance to be blessed by the pendeta (priest) there. They put rice on your forehead and a bunga melor on your ear. Ticket to enter Pura (temple) Tanah Lot: Rp. 3600 abt RM1.5 each pax, blessing donation Rp. 5000 abt RM2 each.

2100 --- Backed to Kuta, but we were lost trying to find Poppies Lane II… asked around, people are friendly in Bali, they will answer you with a smile. It happened we bumped into 2 Indonesians who worked in Malaysia before, they were too friendly… at the end of our conversation, they asked us if we wanted to buy “ecstasy” from them… damn! So we reached our room safely, and without any drugs!

2115 --- We were hungry again, so we went out hunting for food. But I was attracted to a store selling clothes. I was looking for short pants since I didn’t bring any. So finally after much bargain, me and Alex bought a surfer short pants each for Rp. 35000 abt RM15 each. Then we stopped by MBA (a travel agent) to asked for Mt. Batur (a volcano) hiking trip… very expensive! Will cost us around USD55 abt RM200 each pax for that day tour. So we decided to ask around first. We managed to find another agent on the main road, the guy Edwin sounded very promising and attentive beat us with a price of Rp. 335000 abt RM150 for both of us. Of coz this did not include the entrance fees to Mt Batur and the trek guide fees lah, but still it save us more than 50% compared to MBA, so we decided to go for it and paid the deposit of Rp. 100000 abt RM45.

2230 --- We stopped by a convenient store called “OK” or Circle K (similar to 7-11 here), we bought 2 Indomie instant cup noodle mee goreng, 2 Bintang beer, TimTum and mineral water for dinner. That cost us Rp. 31000 abt RM13.

2245 --- We found a very budgeted homestay at Poppies Lane II that will only cost us Rp. 40000 abt RM16 for 2 persons inclusive of breakfast!! WOW!! What a steal! So we decided to come here to stay the next night.

2300 --- Indomie is good. TimTum is better. But Bintang beer is GREAT!!! So under the full moon, at our balcony, we cheered to our 1st day at Bali.

2345 --- We couldn’t sleep, so we decided to check out the nightlife there. We hopped on the bike, drove around, surprise!! No club!! However, we just went to the Kuta beach, lazed on the extremely soft fine sand, enjoyed the cool breeze, full moon, sound of the waves hitting the shores, listen to my favourite Frank Sinatra’s jazz numbers with my MD walkman. It was definitely heaven!!

0100 --- It’s time to go meet Mr. Chow’s daughter. Sweet dream!So here’s my first day there. Great day, won’t you all agree?? Well, wait until you read my second day’s entry. The world’s ain’t always beautiful!!!

Total spending 1st day: Rp. 383200 abt RM180 (each pax RM90… not bad for the 1st day)

Sad

2005-06-19T22:34:00.000+08:00

i've been rejected for the japanese scholarship, received the letter when i was back from KL just now. guess i shouldn't be too sad. besides, i can try the scholarship again next year as long as i got it before my 35th birthday! "choi yoong se ma, yan zhi fei fook" i guess maybe this is fate, it might be a better arrangement. but too bad Sheou Hui and Lih Sing, i cannot join you all in Kyoto lor... so disappointed... (is my English that bad meh..... :((((

Kecak Ramayana and Fire Dance at Uluwatu Cliff Temple

2005-06-06T02:07:00.000+08:00

They say that every visitor to Bali should see at least one dance and if you plan to see only one then this should be it. The combination of ancient ritual, dance, drama, sunset and cliff of setting makes Kecak Dance one of the most spectacular dance performances imaginable.

Accompanied by a choir of chanting and singing men, this will be a memory that will stay with you long after you leave this Island of the Gods.

ACT 1 – RAMA, SITA, LAKSAMANA & KIJANG

Wandering in the forest of Dandaka during the exile of Rama, Sita sees a beautiful golden deer dancing in front of her, she pleads with her husband to catch it for her. Rama, fearful of what may befall Sita if left alone in the dangerous forest, leaves Sita in the protetion of his brother Laksamana. Shortly after Rama’s departure, a cry for help echoes around the forest. Fearful for her husband’s safety, Sita sends Laksamana to his aid leaving herself unprotected and alone.

ACT 2 – SITA, RHAWANA, BHAGAWAN AND GARUDA

A sudden storm envelops the forest and Sita becomes fearful. Rhawana appears before her but she is protected by a magic circle and his attempt to seize her fails. He disappears only to come back disguised as a poor old man, Bhagawan, seeking shelter and water. Sita falls for Rhawana’s trick and he kidnaps her. Taking Sita to his palace of Alengka, Rhawana is attacked on the way by his mortal enemy, Garuda – King of birds. Though defeated in the fight, Garuda lives long enough to tell Rama what has happened to Sita.

ACT 3 – RAMA, LAKSAMANA, HANOMAN & SUGRIWA

On his search for Sita, Rama meets Sugriwa, the red monkey King, whose help he enlists to find his wife. Together they select a scout to find Alengka and locate Sita. Hanoman, a white monkey with magical powers is chosen and Rama provides him with a ring to give to Sita as a token of his love and has proof of Hanoman being his envoy.

ACT 4 – SITA, TRIJATA, HANOMAN & THE GIANTS

Hanoman locates Alengka and enlists the help of Trijata to meet with Sita who is about to take her own life in despair. Hanoman shows Sita the ring and tells of her husband’s impending rescue attempt. Hanoman then attempts to destroy part of the palace and is caught by the giants who attempt to burn him to death. He escapes causing much mayhem throughout the city.

ACT 5 – THE FINAL BATTLE

Rama is guided to Alengka where the monkey army defeats the army of the giants. Rama meets with Rhawana in face to face battle and defeats him. He is then reunited with Sita.

2nd Day Evening - Uluwatu (24/5/05)

2005-05-31T01:56:00.000+08:00

I'm going to update my Bali trip randomly hope you all dun mind! :)

today, i want to talk about my 2nd day evening trip on Bali island. Alex and me went to Uluwatu on bike, and it's the southest part of the island. we heard the sunset at Pura Uluwatu (Uluwatu Temple) is really nice, and have a wonderful Kecak and Fire Dance on every evening 6pm. and we kinda eager to see the beautiful cliff as shown on Discovery travel guide.

So, here you see something like the end of the world isn't it!! trust me, to see it with my own eyes it's breathtaking!!

What i was really amazed with the place is the colours! the rich blue and jade green of the water, foamy white waves, crystal clear water that from far, i could still see the corals in the sea... f**king amazing!! i even spotted few people fishing down there... wonder how they get there... i dare not!!

Now, this is my travel companion for this time. Alex is my ex-student, who worked as a photojournalist, notice the big Nikon camera on his neck?? well, i think he took about 400 photos this trip!

This is the place where we see the Kecak and Fire Dance performance that evening. Ticket for the show is Rp.50,000 per person (about RM20). They said you must at least go for a dance performance in Bali, so we chose this one. No regret! the dance and chanting is superb, with the sunset behind the performance, it's simply marvelous!

Well, the dance is a story about how a princess has been caught by an evil, so the prince has to ally with the monkey army force to win the princess back... i'll update the full story tomorrow... (you all don't need to know anyway! haha)
They are at least 8 main characters in the show, all dressed up in striking colours - red, white, gold, green, and all dance with cramp-like finger movement!!! very entertaining! then there will be 100 bare-chested men circling the main stage, chanting with different tones and pitch and rhythm, that sounded pretty annoying at first... but when you get used to the 3D-like chanting, you started to enjoy the catchy "chak-ka-ta-ka-chak-ka-ta-ka" routine.
at the end of the show, i took a photo with the artists... most photos were taken by Alex, so i have to wait for him to burn CD for me first before i could upload them up here... so bare with me ok!!! :)
that's it for tonight! (more to come... stay tune!)

Photos of the award night

2005-04-22T01:44:00.000+08:00

光明勇士奖冠军－抗癌义工曹巧菁

光明勇士奖殿军－重生义工聂存仪

光明勇士奖十大入围－陈约翰

光明勇士奖十大入围－余银珠

光明勇士奖十大入围－UNCLE WONG

光明勇士奖十大入围－MOHAMAD

光明日报总编辑－叶宁

表演佳宾－巫启贤

表演佳宾－阿牛（在老黄吃芽菜鸡后）

Photos when we went for shoot outstation

2005-04-22T01:38:00.000+08:00

at Seremban Museum, behind is the Minangkabau style long house

inside the long house, worried that it might fall! hehe!

this is me posing!

eating siew yu very very spicy at Petaling Street, with a bunch of my students most of them already found jobs in KL.

Melaka, this is the location of 1 of the scene in 《夏日麽麽茶》when Sammi and Richie argued in a restaurant.

mmm... not so happy day.

2005-04-20T00:43:00.000+08:00

today got the result for my dissertation, i got a B for it. was hoping for better grade, although B was also in my expected list, but it was the lowest i expected, and i got the lowest!!! damn!!! now my CGPA has dropped to 3.47 from 3.62... so damn tulan. but then again, nothing i can do now, neither can i turn back time, so gotta accept it and graduated with 3.47.... hehehehe!!! so long as i get my master, who cares what grade i got right?? HOORAY... i finally graduated!!!

these few days have been really relaxing because i've done the big project of guangming heroes. so i finally have time to sit down and watch my DVD collections, after so long. yesterday night i watched "the shutter" and "tomb raider", tonight i've watched "phantom of the opera", the night before yesterday i watched "hainanese chicken rice"... all are nice movies!! will watch more tomorrow! what's you all suggest me to watch?? got a few in mind... probably "ray", "A1 headline", "series of misfortune event" or even "million dollar baby"??

and ya, forgot to tell you all 1 thing, last thursday night i was at ipoh attending the award night at Syuen hotel. when i got back to penang it's already 3am, and i realize my flat got no electricity. and the 1st thing i noticed is the kitchen was all wet... seems that the electricity was off since afternoon, so the ice melted and banjir the whole place... sigh... that's not all... the next morning before i went to work, i wanted to iron my shirt, but the iron was not functioning, at first i thot it was the iron... but then it was the extension cord... seems it's blowed! then i overheard a couple chatting about the power failure in the lift, it seems the TNB had fucked up the connection and let the power overflow or whatever that means lah... some household even lost 6000 worthed of electrical appliance due to that mistake. so when i reached home that evening, i quickly checked all my stuffs, most importantly the fridge.. phewww... nothing burned... so lucky, only the extension cord. stupid TNB!

Mount Kinabalu, here i come!!!!

2005-04-16T01:42:00.000+08:00

Have decided to go Mount Kinabalu end of July, everything has been set, only waiting for that days to come!! yahoo... didn't travel for a long long time, really looking forward to it.

here are the itineraries:

Thursday,21 July 2005

6.20 pm

i) depart from Senai (RM49.99)

ii) depart from KLIA (RM79.99)

8.40 pm arrive at Kota Kinabalu (KK)

10.00 pm stay one night at Kota Kinabalu Airport or KK town

Friday, 22 July 2005

8.00 am Breakfast

10.00 am to Manukan Island

1.00 pm lunch

4.00 pm proceed to Kota Kinabalu Park

6.00 pm arrive Kinabalu Park for registration

7.00 pm check in to Mesilau Nature Resort (RM30 per person – bunk beds, 3 bedrooms with heater –RM350)

7.30 pm dinner

Saturday, 23 July 2005

6.00 am breakfast

7.00 am start climb

1.00 pm check in to Lapan Rata (room with heater: RM34 per person, without heater: RM17 per person), orGunting Lagadan Hut (RM 17 person without room heater)

2.00 pm lunch

Sunday, 24 July 2005

1.00 am light snack before climb

1.30 am start climb

5.30 am summit – sun rise

9.00 am breakfast at Lapan Rata

6.00 pm check in to Poring Hot Spring

7.00 pm Dinner

Monday, 25 July 2005

7.00 am Breakfast

12.00 pm check out from Poring Hot Spring and proceed to KK

2.00 pm lunch

3.00 pm walk around KK market

5.30 pm seafood dinner

6.30 pm proceed to Airport

9.05 pm depart from KK (RM49.99)

11.20 pm arrive at JB

9.15 pm depart from KK (RM99.99)

11.45 pm arrive at KLIA

Look mom, i'm on newspaper and website.

2005-04-13T00:38:00.000+08:00

This is the press release of the video shooting experience... I really need to sleep now... yesterday rushed the edits out, so didn't sleep at all...
http://www.guangming.com.my/hero02/content.phtml?sec=1&sdate=&artid=200504101333

I will stop writing for a while.

2005-03-26T22:04:00.000+08:00

Now is another busy time of video shooting and editing, and i also bought a lot of DVDs, not mentioned the DVDs that accumulated since 2 years ago... so i think i better concentrate on watching all these DVDs and working on the videos... plus looking for jobs and scholarship in KL. so, i'll disappear for a while. :)

Fight for Chinese school - Mr. Lee

2005-03-24T21:07:00.000+08:00

We said bye bye to Melaka by 9.30am, reached Seremban toll by 10.30am. Met up with the reporter, and we drove to Mr. Lee’s farm. Mr. Lee has been driving kids to school for 8 years for free. The school is far inside a rubber estate, no student wants to attend the Chinese school anymore, but he felt that it’s very wasted to shut down the school; he volunteered to send students with his van. 8 years of doing so, the money that he spent on petrol is enough to buy a terrace house. During the interview, we found out that he was only doing so because at the same time he was sending his children there too, no other kids are like tumpang lah. When asked after his children finished school, will he continue to send other kids to school, he said no…. hahahaha! Not very noble lor… but then think back again, he can always send his children to other school at town, easier, but he still insist on sending them to that school, he must has loved the school so much!

We went to the school, a very nice one, fresh air green scenery, even got internet access now! Whole school has only 7 students, all in their standard 5 and 6. The school next to it is a Tamil school, packed with students! Such a huge comparison. They wanted to move the school out of this estate to the town so that the number of Chinese schools in Malaysia won’t be dropping, but faced a lot of problems from the government. Still he is fighting for it…

After taking some shots of him picking up the students after school, we said goodbye, and the reporter brought us to have lunch in Seremban. Bought a few famous Seremban siewpao, we were ready to go home to KL. Stopped by Seremban museum to see some Minangkabau architecture and snapped some photos, we drove back to KL by 3.30pm. Reached KL around 5pm. Went to Petaling Street for dinner, this time the ikan bakar was MUCH better!!! We treated the students, and another students who are now working in KL, some sort of gathering. Again we ate like bulls…. I must have gained weight a lot! Then we went shopping there, noticed a lot of “pirated” shoes selling for RM60 o.n.o. So tempted, but managed to control. We went back to my house, and slept!

The next day, we went to the press office at PJ, talked to the chief editor, got some videos from them, I then brought my students to APV to meet up with Chen. APV changed a lot!! So different from last time when I worked there… the design is ok lah, more modern and glamorous, but I prefer the warmer feel last time. Asked my fren to bring my students around and brief them on the online, telecine, tape room, and offline… my students are so amazed. Then we went to the mamak nearby for lunch with Chen, ah Bo and other ex-colleagues. They were still the same, we joked like last time, and my students were amazed to see me that crazy. Ah Bo got a crush on my student, gave him her card… so funny!

Originally wanted to go Ikea, but too tired, and everybody was eager to go back Penang, so we leave KL 2.30pm. Sayonara.

The jail counselor - Mr. John Tan

2005-03-22T23:56:00.000+08:00

We leaved KL by 6.30am. We were supposed to reach the Kluang train station by 9.30am. The night before, I’ve already phoned up a fren to check for direction. So, no problem in finding it despite a few wrong turns. Hahaha! Reached there probably by 9.40am or something. The reporter brought us to the cafetaria next to the station to have according to her the famous coffee and toast. We ate like bulls, hungry like hell, wallup all the toasts, nasi lemak, eggs, fried beehoon, and the reporter gotta belanja… hahaha! That’s not the point lah, I mean I did insist on paying mah…

Mr. John Tan came to the station by 10am to bring us to his house. A very kind 50s man, soft spoken and very polite and friendly. Hard to imagine he was a gangster head before, and also a drug addict. He quitted drug, but the side effect stays, we could see his hand and leg were with bandage and damn bengkak. Now with his experience and successfully quitted with the help of religion (Christian), he is a full time counselor and give seminar all over the world. In fact, he was going to Australia to give talk 2 days later.

During the 1 hour interview, he told us a lot about gangster life, drugs, counseling, even gave us his VCDs, acted for us to shoot. 1 thing I learnt from him is – never tempt an ex-drug addict, he will starts taking it again. Those who successfully quitted normally did it with the support of their families, leave the circle of frens they used to have, and a very strong religious support. John’s house also been transformed in a “half-way-home” for the druggies to stay if they have no one to turn to – with 1 condition: they have the determination to change for good! John told us, he thinks it’s his duty to do this job, because he was once a drug addict and gangster, so he could relate well with them, and more credible in persuading them that it is VERY POSSIBLE to quit all these bad habits.

I’ve asked John about a fren's case of wanting to try cocaine out of curiosity, he told me NOT to!! There was a case when 3 doctors tried it with the same reason to understand how addicts feel… 1 ended up suicide by jumping down tall building, 1 dead of OD, another still addict to it… Nobody is strong enough to fight it, and to put a stop to a second shot, so DON’T CHALLENGE IT!! Please don’t even start! Ok!

We’re done with John by 12pm, and he suggested treating us lunch, we turned it down coz wanted to meet a fren (the pregnant lady’s fren) in Segamat. Only later found out that the fren in Segamat was sick. So we headed to Melaka straight. Reached Melaka by 2pm, supposed to meet up with a student’s fren, but she got work until 5.30pm, so we drove to the town by ourselves to look for the famous Chicken Riceballs… so hungry!!! We just parked the car at roadside, walked down, grabbed an aunty and asked which restaurant is the famous one… she told us “Chung Hwa”. So we walked there, ordered and makan!! Nothing special, just the shape of the rice… hahaha. And so expensive! After makan, because of 1 of my student saying he wanted to visit the red house, and a-farmosa because it’s his first time here, so we walked with him, snapped some photos, and really really tired!!! Sat down had cendol, then the ladies wanted to go shopping already!!! (they were not tired meh??) So, we walked to the Chinatown and cruising shop by shop because we still have 2 hours to kill. Nothing to buy, but I bought a massage stick for my mom, and some scented sticks for my frens back in Penang.

The fren sampai around 6pm and brought us to her aunty’s flat… that’s where we would be staying for a night. The aunty looked very young, like 30-something, but actually she is already 43! She could not believe that me and the pregnant lady are the lecturers, she said I look like 24yo…. HAHAHAHAHA!!!! I told her I want to belanja her satay celup!! But then she was not free to join us, so we went with the fren, her boyfren, for satay!! It’s very much like “Lok-Lok” in Penang, but quite nice lah. The boyfren looks like gangster, but actually he is very very nice man. While eating satay celup, he was already thinking of where to bring us next. Then he brought us to the Portuguese Village for ikan bakar… mmm…. Not so nice, the fish got funny smell, the la-la was good though. We returned to the flat around 10.30pm, he still wanted to tapao some kuih, white kuih that only could be found in Melaka sort of thing, but then the shop closed lah… we were so tired, we slept straight away!

The swimming instructor - Mr. Ng

2005-03-21T23:49:00.000+08:00

We reached Seberang Jaya Swimming Pool by 2pm. At the entrance of the pool, we could see a dark and fit man talking to some Malays, but we were not sure whether this was the guy we were waiting for. By 2.15pm we saw a lady who look like reporter walking towards the man, so we also approach them.

It was a bloody hot day, 21/3 was supposed to be the hottest day ever. Trust me, shooting at the middle of the pool, no shade at all, we knew it was the hottest!!! Damn, my face and hands darken quickly. This man, Mr. Ng, is a swimming and life-saving instructor, and his assistant, Mr. Teoh, both were like charcoal, so what did they care about being dark? They talked to us under the hot sun, while training a girl of Down syndrome in the pool, casually, while we were trying to be professional but hot to the max.

Well, enough of complaining, back to why we were interviewing them… they teach disable children for free – like Down syndrome, handicapped, or generally they call them “special children” or “challenged children”. They also perform physiotherapy to them for free. If they can swim well, they will also train them for free to join any sport events or paralympic. This girl (Down) that he brought today to let us video is one of his student who enter competition. A very shy girl name Shi Ling, who knows all 4 strokes including butterfly, and according to Mr. Teoh, she is probably the only Down syndrome person to know Butterfly… I was puzzled so I asked why? He told us that people who suffers from Down normally have an extra or distorted bone at the neck that stop them from swimming butterfly, the stroke might dislocate or hurt the bone and will cause death. Besides, Down syndrome ppl also have hole in their heart, so they cannot swim too aggressively.

The Malay lady teacher that brought Shi Ling also is remarkable!! She teaches in special school with very very low salary (I think is around RM400 only), yet she is willing to bring students to swim here and there, for absolutely no fee, not even the petrol… wow! She really loves these students. But of course during the interview, they were taking the opportunity to urge the public to donate some money lah, but that’s understandable.

After the shoot, we went over to the Malay stalls opposite the pool, Mr. Ng wanted to belanja us makan. So we had ais kacang, mee goring… mmm… yummy!! And we chatted more. Then I told Mr. Teoh that I’ve met him before, that’s when I was still a lifeguard in USM years, I also saw him during life-saving competitions.

By 4.00pm, finally we were done, and ready to drive to KL, then the pregnant lady wanted to go home to take bath first. I have to agree lor, so we only started driving to KL by 4.30pm. All the way to KL, there were heavy pours, could hardly see the roads clearly. We reached KL by 8pm, my mom has all the food readied, so we just makan lah! Yummy!! By 9pm, fetched my other student from Kelana LRT, she was coming from Genting to join us, brought her home to feed her. By 10pm, we went to SS2 to meet up with Chew Yan to pass her VCD and info of the logo and to brief her on how we would like the graphics, logo, and opening to be.

We went home after supper by 11pm. Watched a little bit of 《不见》directed by李康生, the 1st 10 minute was all about a grandma looking for her missing kid in a park… boring shit! But however, I would watch it again on my own, just don’t want to bore my students to death! Then it’s goodnight after that cause the next day we need to wake up by 6am to depart for Kluang, Johor.