Tuesday, February 28, 2006

you make me wanna la-la.

petrol prices are up by 30 sen; luckily, i filled up whatever i could yesterday into the landeater, but i fear the next top-up.

the economy's going bullish, but only for the bulls. people are still unemployed, and i fear that my own prospects are slowly going down the drain every day.

i can't really live off my affluent girlfriend all my life, and it'd be even harder to do so if we get married. the embarrassment. the horror. she's married to a deadbeat slacker who can't hold a job down.

luckily, i don't believe in marriage all that much.

but seriously speaking, the world's getting wonkier every day. the weather's been burning these last few days after a period of hard rain. can't God make up His mind? is the monsoon truly over? can i really go out and play basketball on a daily basis and resume losing weight?

i suppose this is the part where the Almighty gives me a smile and a knowing wink.

somewhere, one of my neighbours is whipping something up with cooking oil. it smells good.

Monday, February 27, 2006

the peace prize should go to bono.





















the nominees for the 2006 nobel peace prize include bob geldof for live 8, colin powell for bringing peace to sudan, rudolph giuliani and...(possibly) oprah?

for fuck's sake.

give it to the man.

he's trying to save the world.

Sunday, February 26, 2006

of sex and sand.

it's amazing how this whole tammy incident gets people talking. i'm not going to get into it that much since most of southeast asia already knows the story...i'm just going to say that it's disconcerting when my uncle, with my father in tow, marches into my room asking me if i can download the clips. last night, it was taken to a whole new extreme when my father watched the clips on my pc. i mean, that's a big no-no in the world of being a guy...letting your dad watch your porn stash (even if he was the one who asked you to download it in the first place). it reminds me of that time he wanted me to download the malaysian airlines porno clip...it's just wrong on so many different levels.

i know it sounds insensitive of me to say it, but tammy is hot. and finding the clips is a lot more fulfilling than watching the clips themselves...it was like searching for sacred treasure.

and that's the last of this topic that will be ever brought up.

my family's erratic behaviour doesn't let up. my father wanted to steal sand to replace some lost ground in our small yard that had eroded away due to the recent sprayings of heavy rain. there's a nearby construction site where the drainage system is being reinforced...he felt that it would've been a perfect deal. so, under the cover of darkness (and the barking of a stray dog), we took out two pails and he used a hoe as a makeshift shovel. when we got home, he proceeded to even out the sand i poured out with his trusty hoe. hoe hoe hoe.

i suppose you can call it a stupid, yet incredibly fun, weekend midnight adventure. my father might be off his rocker.

the masterful surprise was discussing the possibility of my father being a clone, taking the place of my real patriach who had been kidnapped (most probably by xenu) for further studies. conspiracies, conspiracies. who knows? let's call ol' spooky and find out.

Saturday, February 25, 2006

i fell into a burning ring of fire.

walk the line most probably is your standard biopic; it's not really that great a movie, and it possibly takes liberties with the story of johnny cash. with that said, joaquin and reese are superb in it. my favourite scene would most probably be the opening set to the movie; the mad rhythmic thumping of percussion as well as the generally frenetic cheering of the inmates at the folsom prison. it's a brilliant build-up and the performance doesn't let you down once we get through the hour or so of flashbacks. the movie doesn't prod along at an arduous pace.

and i've never really been surrounded by so many grandparent-aged viewers before. which made it quite cool...in a way. because everybody knows johnny cash (especially if you're a penta/hexa/septa/octogenarian).

may ann and i spent the whole day shopping around after that. not much to tell, except that she bought a slim PS2 for her cousins for RM 699. it's menacingly small...i'd seen the machine on display, of course, but i never realized how incredibly thin it was. it's hardly sleek...it doesn't have the size to justify that description but i can say that it's a chick's machine. although the cousin in question is male. whatever, yeah.
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i'm starting to hate pet stores. i mean, dogs are cute to look at and all, but those poor bastards as living in a 3x3 glass bowl. with no proper sanitation and erratically scheduled food. if i had money, i'd buy them all out of their detention but the truth is, they're no better with me than they are at the current lodgings. i went to the pet store at ikano and just saw these two jack russells selling for RM 1,188 (for one)...which i think is a steal. but honestly, poor bastards. there was this beagle which was being "re-homed" for six months; i don't know what that means but he was already of age and didn't have a lot of space in his display.

it pained me to see them treated in that way. it probably is a way that things are going nowadays, and as schmaltzy afternoon special-like as it sounds, i hope those poor buggers get a home coz lord knows what's gonna happen to them once they don't.

it is not necessarily a dog's life.

Friday, February 24, 2006

welcome to the guggenheim.

i had a supper set at murni's, which included an egg, chicken nuggets and chicken sausages. quite stupid in lieu of the recent bird flu that's hit kuala lumpur (but only in the gombak area for now). however, in true malaysian fashion, i wasn't the only one eating poultry. the masterful surprise consumed a supper set as well. his rationale? most of the items in the supper set had been frozen and probably were from "older" chickens. i pray that he's right. eggs are usually fresh-ish.

but then again, we weren't the only ones eating poultry products. everyone was consuming a bird. i really hope that whatever goes down in gombak stays in gombak.

earlier today, the masterful surprise had come to my house to drill some holes into my walls. literally. with a power drill, you idiots. black & decker. my father wanted to hang some paintings (which he's subsequently done). it looks a little nicer around here, but not by much. we're missing a video arcade.

my father's a miser. obviously.

however, i believe he's gone a little off the proverbial rocker with his obsession with hanging pictures. i mean, unpacking them and saving space is one thing, but he wants me to borrow the drill asap to drill more holes in. wonderbull.

welcome to the guggenheim.

tomorrow...um...or today will be a good day. i'll be spending the whole day with may ann. might clock in some college time before that.

speaking of which, i posted some photos today from last year's ball onto the board and garnered immediate attention for this year's save-the-ball committee. photos work. also, you get attention for acting like seth cohen in front of a large class while making an announcement about collecting cans to build your giant national flag with. hey, i inspire people. it's my fricking job.

aw, well. onwards and upwards.

Thursday, February 23, 2006

see dick run.

i went down to midvalley yesterday to meet up with sophia and monisha, two girls i haven't seen since the college icon final in september. we caught fun with dick and jane, and it was quite a hoot for a jim carrey movie. i'm as big a fan of jim carrey as the next person, but there's a certain senselessness attached to most of his flicks (with the exception of the truman show). he'll always, always, be ace ventura to me. tea leoni was tea leoni, and i've loved her since the naked truth was shown on the tube. i never realized that alec baldwin was in the movie, and he's quite prominent in it...he rocks (i caught the shadow a week ago on dvd and remembered how campy and good it was).

i mean, which baldwin would you be? alec, stephen, william, or...um...the fat one? (please keep in mind that adam baldwin isn't really a baldwin brother).

we also managed to play some pool at the all-star cafe yesterday where i was humbled. then again, i never really played pool. leave it to the women to soundly defeat me. i am a pale shadow of a man.

ramon left on monday morning. may ann leaves on the upcoming monday. mondays are sad and blue for a wide variety of reasons. yah. mondays. bad.

may ann leaving really does open up a whole can of worms. i'm not sure how long i can stay with her before i realize that she's a continent away and might not be coming back after her return trip in november. the futility of it all is getting to me. i'm not much of a long-distance person. or maybe i'm just looking for excuses for myself to bail? i'm a heartless prick, and for that reason alone, i'm trying my best to keep it going. to prove myself wrong, i suppose. then again, this year is going to be a year of (attempts in) proving myself wrong.

anyhow, whilst playing basketball yesterday evening, kah chong unintentionally stepped on my toe and...i'm not sure what the term is...caused a split within the toenail. the little bugger (who's taller than me, though). my right ring finger is also sore from having my right fingers being bent from an uberpass. i really should be wearing shoes, but these injuries are justfiying my otherwise non-existent existence. it's like........fight club.

gotta roll with the punches.

speaking of punches...i managed to admit i had a girlfriend to the girls yesterday as opposed to my usual avoidance of the topic when asked (or the occasional flat-out lie). not to worry. one of them already has a boyfriend and the other one prefers to pass on complications for now.

the naked truth? i'd probably go out with one of them (i'm not saying which one) if may ann wasn't in the picture. i mean, i'm charming and shit. i'm fluent in english without being anal about it. and i have nice hair. though i'm very fat. and liberal...to an extent. i'm the perfect alpha male. youse all better watch ouuuuuut.

the naked naked truth? i'd try my best not to make may ann leave me...um, for now. maybe it's out of some perverse obligation i have, but she's been there for me all this time and it'd be quite unfair not to be gentlemanly about it. and besides, there's no one else i know who'd swear openly in public as much as her and i. it's a match made in hicksville. and she really does have a great body (the face could use some work --- my apologies if you're reading this, babe, but you can insert some sorta cheeky emoticon or whatever here).

yeah. life's been good to me thus far.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

kellogg's price check.

weird, even dumb, but true.

this was something i checked out earlier tonight when i was shopping at carrefour. i'm not sure how true it is for other outlets.

kellogg's corn flakes, in a 150g pack, sells for RM 2.50. a 275g pack sells for RM 5.70. i don't quite understand.

um. it's not like i'm a trainspotter. random observation.

schooled by rawk.

i had a dream.

i dreamt that i was in a school library surrounded by school kids. i was the oldest one, in my current state. now, being 23 and still in primary school is one thing...but these guys listened to rawk. it was a school of rock (nothing similar to the movie of the same name). and they had to write a hit song to reverse their flagging fortunes. and unfortunately, my own jazz stylings didn't go down well with them, inclusive of rampant scat singing and lots of shoobeeboobahbahs.

they found me a retard, obviously. an old cryptic. a relic from days yonder. it ended with...i can't really remember.

this can be interpreted in a few ways:-
  1. i'm not cut out for the music/entertainer thing
  2. i should stop hanging around with the younger set for basketball
  3. sugar shouldn't be added to cereals
no matter. it's time to take a dump.

Monday, February 20, 2006

my father the teknophile.

he's really trying hard. he's managed to figure out how to turn off the cd player in the car, and he called me from his friend's office earlier today to suggest that we start using skype instead of msn (upon the advice from his friend that the former is better). he e-mails from the pc without assistance. and soon, he'll probably be downloading porn behind everyone's backs. my father, the teknocrat.

watch out. he's going places i never thought possible.

coldplay no more?

here's what chris said at the brits when accepting the award for Best Album: "This means so much to us, especially now. It's going to be a few years before you see us again."

he added: "People are fed up with us - and so are we."

funnily enough, on thursday afternoon (brit time), EMI's share price fell by 1.58%.
But a spokesman for the band said Coldplay were "not quitting" and would be starting work on new material soon. "Coldplay are on the road until July, when their 16-month X&Y World Tour ends in Japan," he said. "They will then continue working on new material."
{source}
it doesn't seem right that they'd split, y'know? however, it does spin the rumour mill somewhat. call me prematurely paranoid, but i hope this isn't the beginning of the end for one of my favourite bands.

Sunday, February 19, 2006

too sexy - behind the video

here's one thing i know: khai lee is a certified nut. and potential uberachieving genius. for budding musicians, established musicians or people who're tempted to give it a go in the local music scene, head over to project bazooka to take a look at his brainchild.

the too sexy video premier reminded me of a biz council event. MCs, a projector screen and a relatively small crowd made up of saer ze's friends and curious onlookers at tower records in klcc. nothing much happened, other than learning that burger king has a new greek sandwich (i can't remember the actual name of the burger, though one thing that instantly caught my attention was its 7-inch length). that was after the event, of course.

saer ze herself strutted her stuff by showcasing three tracks of her debut album, shameless, including too sexy. i was hoping that they would've made some last minute edits to make my appearances in the video more prominent, but they didn't...altogether now...awwwwwww. they also had a "behind the scenes" segment which made me wish i'd skipped my seminar and stayed on schedule for the shoot.

still, i can't complain. i was 10 hours late for the shoot and was paid RM 20 for prancing around like a ninny. the easiest 20 i've ever made in my life.

head over here to catch the video, and head to saer ze's official site for more details. shameless can be purchased at...um...tower records in klcc (that's a certainty).

Saturday, February 18, 2006

reversal/collapse.

this is obviously a very naive, ignorant, and misinformed rant.

in a nutshell:
on december 11th, 1993, Block One of the Highland Towers condominium collapsed. 48 died, while over 1,000 residents abandoned their units in the two other Blocks of the development. now, after 12 years, the Ampang Jaya Municipal Council (MPAJ) has been cleared of liability for the losses suffered by 73 residents, who had filed a suit against it, under Section 95 (2) of the Street, Drainage & Building Act 1974. a 2-1 majority vote had been undertaken by three Justices granting the municipal council immunity from liability.

it's not as bad as it sounds. the 73 residents had already been fully compensated by Arab-Malaysian, and a further RM 374, 000 per resident was paid out to 139 residents of the towers. the municipal council itself was found liable for post-collapse events (though not for the collapse itself). appeals from the defendants were dismissed. justice had been served to a degree.

however, giving the MPAJ a box to hide under only underscores the fact that when wrong, the bureaucratics are given a tight slap on the wrist and then let off. i'm not saying that the MPAJ deserves sole credit for everything; it's just that all other parties had done their share. why was the MPAJ let off the hook? if the council had done a dodgy job, it's only right that it owns up and gets what it deserves for its negligence.

look.

it isn't the MPAJ's responsibility to ensure that your house or condo isn't going to collapse anytime soon; that duty is squarely put upon the developer of your property. but it is the MPAJ's responsibility to ensure that the land your property's situated on is maintained and serviced so that unwanted incidents will not occur. you're living on its space, paying its rates...it's the least that it could do for you.

if the MPAJ was found liable, nothing groundbreaking would have happened...however, a slight precedent could have been set whereby new standards could have been established to ensure that another Highland Towers tragedy definitely doesn't happen again. minimizing the risk to the best effect should be kept at the top of the list.

but granting it immunity send the wrong signals...a light admonishment and it's back to work. just another malaysian thing. ho hum. why couldn't it be recognized that it had to assume a bare minimum of responsibility? they didn't do a good job, pre-collapse and post-collapse; it should be acknowledged in the best way possible - thru "justice".

hopefully, some kind of lessons have been learnt from the whole shebang...b'coz knowing us, we tend to forget them once the hooplah fades.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

oh, them sexy mutants.

click for the bigger picture.

the one with the new car.

getting a new car is a big deal. the last time we legitimately got a new car was when my dad bought the trusty landeater back in the summer of '93. times have been good for the iswara, and now it's been joined by a perdana v6 that my father got on a 20% discount. yes, it sounds dodgy, but it was used during the previous asean summit (the same summit where i'd worked for the indian press), and it hadn't been used since then. of course, in situations like these, the air conditioning wasn't up to par, but it doesn't require fixing...just a very strong push of a button that shouldn't be pushed at all.

it looks so pretty on the outside, to be honest. a two-toned burgundy perdana with those brilliant rear convex lights...and the front has a lip of mesh. the only thing i have apprehensions about is the alfa rip-off front grille...but even that's okay because the car's so pretty. everything falls apart once you step inside and notice that it's a proton...bad plastic, strange dials, wonky "leather" and the aforementioned dodgy air conditioning.

but yes, it's fun to drive. even if it does make strange noises.
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forgive me for the lack of updates. it's just that my time online has been cut short by my father, who enforces a policy of less online time. i can't even chat without being chided for a lack of focus on "studying". it's come down to just opening a book and staring at it to convince the old man that i'm doing something productive, even if my mind is light years away.

i can understand his concern, but his constant nagging is beginning to become noise. i obviously can't give any witty comebacks because he usually gets even more annoyed when i do that, so in the end...if i don't hit the books...i get hit.

no, i don't. i obviously can kick my father's ass by sitting on him. it's the least i can do.
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right now it's almost dawn and i feel so dirrrrty about blogging. ahhh. if only my father could see me now.

it's valentine's day, and may ann has about 2 weeks left in the country. i don't have anything planned besides hanging out with her for the whole day.

i don't really believe in valentine's day. a holiday that isn't a holiday that celebrates love? please. we can do better. this is a woman's holiday. it just is.

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

mr. music video.

i'm in saer ze's too sexy music video! (i'd love to call it a cameo, but i'm not popular enough). i'm in two blink-and-you'll-miss it frames, so...please do look out for the portly chap with the grey shirt, purple tie and beanie. if only i got more air time.

anyway, there's a video launching party.

date: saturday, 18th february
time: 3 p.m. onwards
venue: tower records, suria klcc

you can view the video
here... it's about 7MB.

enjoy.

8 things i seek in a perfect lover.

um. i've been tagged by justin (not the mad doctor). since it's the start of a brand new day, here we go. seeing how this lover is supposed to be perfect, i shall pull no punches.

Gender = female (don't snicker)
  1. Must speak good English; a Masters in Lit. is not a necessity, but...good grammar would be nice. The same goes for diction.
  2. Must be Japanese --- accept no subsitutes.
  3. Must be between the age of 16 and 21. Make that 16 and 19.
  4. Must enjoy and consume sandwich ham with white bread...none of that wholemeal rubbish.
  5. Must be slim or curvaceous (preferably both).
  6. Must listen to indie music (I love music snobs), or at least, rawk.
  7. Must own at least one pair of Adidas and Converse footwear, respectively.
  8. Must accept me for all that I am, and understands my flaws and shortcomings fully. And encourages them. (That would be perfect! Food binging, impulsive spending, crotch-scratching, armpit sniffing, the works...)
i can think of a lot of others that're...unmentionable. but yes. she would be perfect. sigh.

nothing to write home about.

i visited my mom on saturday. there wasn't much to talk about. i didn't plan on staying long. it might sound very bastardly of me, but i intended to make small talk, collect my money and leave. i feel that i did the right thing, though most of my friends would chide me on my lack of apathy.

most visits to my mother usually end in a grand argument that nobody ends up winning. i guess that i've got this incredibly mean streak, or my mother just agitates me. or maybe i just like arguing for the sake of arguing. she always claims to detect such hostility in me, but i suppose it's the way she puts it that makes me even more agitated.

it is my fault for being such a bad son. prior to my chinese new year visit, it'd been about a month since i'd seen her.

my father says she's a lonely woman. maybe she could get a cat.

the family history is too convoluted to talk about my mother's role in things. i've been witness to instances where she has acted like a nut. they were funny at the time, but in retrospect, i should've gathered that something was amiss.

everyone's so uptight.

i really should see my mother more, and it's really my fault for not doing so.

maybe if she got a cat.