28 October 2005

Selamat Hari Raya Wishes!

Happy Eid Mubarak
Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri

Holiday wishes to all of my family, friends, colleagues, blog-comrades, faithful readers, visitors, spammers, anonymous...

Have a good Hari Raya. May Allah Bless U All..

I'm off to Alor Setar on the 1st of Nov. I'll probably be writing something offline.
As of now, this blog is temporarily close until 14th of Nov 2005. See you then.

Safe driving everybody! Take Care!

20 October 2005

Takziah

Takziah diucapkan kepada keluarga Perdana Menteri kita atas kematian Datin Seri Endon Mahmood. Semoga roh beliau dicucuri rahmat dan ditempatkan di kalangan orang-orang yang solehah. Sama-sama kita sedekahkan Al-Fatihah..




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I had the chance of meeting this extraordinary women while I was on my roadshow. Although it was brief but it was mesmerizing because not everyone have the chance to get up close and personal with our First Lady. She had lost her battle with cancer although she was a true fighter. She was fighting until the end of her life..

Tuhan lebih sayangkan beliau...

19 October 2005

Buffet Bond

Hujan. 6.15 ptg dan aku tersangkut di ofis sbb hujan. Time aku bawak keta dtg ofis, hari panas terik. Time aku bawak motor hujan la pulak.. hmmm. Berbuka ngan air kosong la jawabnya ari ni. Tah kul baper baru leh makan. Tapi ok gak at least bleh update blog aku. Aku cuma harap masa free macam ni aja la.. kalau tak mmg tak sempat nak update.

Semenjak aku kerja agensi kerajaan ni, biasanya bila time bulan puasa mmg banyak undangan berbuka puasa di luar. Biasanya buffet ramadan kat hotel la. Unit aku iaitu Unit IT ni mmg salah satu unit yang paling banyak dapat invitation. Semua vendor2 kitaorang and vendor2 yang nak cucuk line or nak masuk tender for sure akan ambil kesempatan untuk undang potential or existing customers in the name of business. Biasa la kalau nak buat bisnes kena la kuar duit sket. Tahun ni dah 2 undangan aku dah pegi. First one was at the Westin Hotel, Jln Bukit Bintang. The buffet was nice but the interior design of the place was magnificent. Nampak very chic and trendy. And dia dah convert the conference room to a very posh looking bilik sembahyang . The second was at Hotel Singgahsana, PJ. Rabbani was there to perform, so that was nice. Ustaz Asri voice can bring chill down your spine, man. Dia azan Maghrib untuk kitaorang berbuka hari tu. Masa tengah berbuka tu aku perasan yang ramai orang mula datang ke meja sebelah aku. It turns out that Adam AF2 ngan group dia was sitting right next to our table so ramai la peminat dia yang datang nak amik gambar ngan dia. Nak berbuka pun tak berapa selesa sebab ramai orang kerumun kat meja kitaorang. Susah gak jadi artis ni kan nak melayan peminat-peminat. Occupational hazardz, maybe. There's a funny moment when Ustaz Asri of Rabbani spontaneously undang Adam naik ke pentas untuk say a few words. Dia siap nyanyi chorus lagu Tak Tahu with his thick Arabian accent siap dengan dengung dan idhamnya! The crowd was laughing like crazy. Very funny to hear him sing that way.. Boleh tahan gak Uztaz ni. Lepas Adam naik tu dia minta maaf sebab his version, in his words 'bunyi Arab sket...'. Hehehe..

Last Sunday, my girlfriend and I went hunting for a digital camera at Bukit Bintang. Saja nak compare prices. We are going nuts about Panasonic Lumix FZ5. Banyak review yang aku jumpa dalam internet suggest that the camera was very,very good. So aku rasa by next week maybe boleh dapat la kot digital camera. Finally, dapat jugak beli digital camera, walaupun terpaksa buat easy payment scheme sebab tak mampu nak beli cash. Boleh la aku upload banyak sket gambar dalam blog ni. Tu pun kalau girlfriend aku kasik pinjam sebab kamera tu kamera dia.. hehe. Masa kat Bukit Bintang tu we met up with Fadz sebab aku janji nak pinjamkan dia citer Night Watch untuk completekan dia punya '10 days to halloween movie marathon'. Kita tunggu review dia kat blog dia. In the meantime, baca review kat blog ni dulu.

So the big news this week in entertainment has got to be the announcement of Daniel Craig as the new James Bond. Daniel who?? If you noticed Daniel Craig was in Sylvia, Road To Perdition and Layer Cake. He's a very good actor indeed dan memang terbukti lakonan dia bagus. Tapi as we all know, James Bond yang kita kenal daripada dulu is a very suave, stylish looking bloke with a killer instinct. Melihat kepada Daniel Craig ni, aku memang tak sure dia memang sesuai atau tak untuk pegang watak James Bond. Maybe jugak the producers of Casino Royale was looking for something different. Bagi aku, Clive Owen adalah orang yang paling sesuai untuk watak Bond ni. Or maybe Jason Statham. We'll see what Daniel Craig has to offer. Aku masih ingat ada satu TV movie lakonan anak Sean Connery (..my fave Bond) Jason Connery. The film was Spymaker and it was about the secret life of Ian Fleming and it was a very bad TV movie. In my mind, Jason Connery was the first blond Bond. Jason Connery has the honour of turning James Bond into James Blond. Let' s just hope that Daniel Craig doesn't turn Casino Royale into another Spymaker.

But all this talk about James Bond makes people forget the best thing about a Bond movie, at least for me. Not the cool gadgets, or the fancy clothes, or the shaken but not stirred Martinis, or the menacing villains. But Bond girls. Aaah.. Bond girls. Who's your favourite Bond girl? My favourite is between Diana Rigg in On Her Majesty Secret Service and Honor Blackman in Goldfinger. Who is the next Bond girl? That would be interesting to find out....

13 October 2005

Update on upcoming movies - local

Update on the list of movies that I wanted to see this year (..and next year). Here are some of the promising upcoming feature films by our very own local filmmakers. I really can't wait...

  1. Puaka Tebing Biru - a horror film directed by Osman Ali and stars Nasha Aziz, Umie Aida and Sharifah Amani among others. Could this be our Ringu or Ju-On? Hope so.

  2. Susuk - Another horror this time directed by Amir Muhammad. The topic itself is very interesting and never have been discussed as a subject matter in a movie.

  3. Lelaki Komunis Terakhir - Another one from Amir Muhammad. It's about the notorious Chin Peng. It's part musical, part docudrama and part road movie. Now THAT I have to see..

  4. Love Conquers All - Directed by Tan Chui Mui who is also the producer of Chemman Chaalai. Don't you think it's time for Malaysia to have a decent romantic movie?

  5. Rain Dogs - Directed by Ho Yuhang. It marks the collaboration of Yuhang with Andy Lau's film company and will feature appearances by Yasmin Ahmad and Pete Teo. Should be great.

  6. The 3rd Generation - CL Hor helmed this one. One of the first local Chinese feature films in a long time. Plus Carmen Soo and Amber Chia is in it. Nice.

  7. The Flowers Beneath My Skin - Directed by Kit Ong. Another horror. But more disturbing than scary. Will feature scenes that contains foot binding, castration and skin peeling. And it's a silent movie(!). Can't wait to see how the public will react to this one.

  8. Gubra - Everyone knows that this is going to be another masterpiece by Yasmin Ahmad. And I know everyone wants to see this.

  9. Baik Punya Cilok - Directed by the only local Malay comedian that matters right now, Afdlin Shauki. The early poster prints of the movie reminded me of Reservoir Dogs - but funny. It should be a 'tendang bontot' (..Afdlin's own word!) movie.

  10. Buli Balik - Another one by Afdlin. Enjoyed Buli very much. Hope this will turn out better. Can a sequel be better than the original? If it can, this might turns out to be our own Godfather Part 2! (..well, not quite exactly.)

  11. Rock - Mamat Khalid's tribute to 80's rock 'kapak', the days of big hair, tight spandex, bad fashion and great music. This will bring back memories..


Interesting aren't they? What makes it even more interesting is that these movies are Made in Malaysia by Malaysian. I hope these movies will be seen by a lot of people so that they could know and realize how much Malaysian cinema has grown. And how I just wish Puaka Tebing Biru and Susuk will scare the living hell out of you. To tell you the truth, I had enough of Prof Razak labeling his useless craps such as Mistik and Potret Mistik as a 'horror' films. His whole idea of a horror film involved mindless annoying screamings of women from start to end. Come on, Osman and Amir! Show him the right way to do it...!

12 October 2005

Peace, Love and Nasi Kandar

It's been a hectic week. Too many things to do and too many things on my mind sampai takda masa nak update blog. Cuma sempat menempel kat blog orang and reply msg dekat tagboard aja. Friday lepas aku balik kampung. I don't know why kali ni aku macam excited sangat nak balik kampung untuk sambut puasa. Maybe sebab lama tak balik, and rindu kat mak aku. Or maybe sebab kawan2 rapat aku semuanya nak balik walaupun keadaan kewangan masing-masing dalam keadaan yang tidak begitu stabil. But anyway it was worth it. Hari jumaat ari tu aku keluar awal sket dari ofis sebab kawan aku Fariz and Jimi decided that we should gerak before berbuka puasa untuk jimat masa. Tapi as usual, dengan keadaan trafik di KL time orang keluar ofis, dicampur pulak dengan sesat diaorang masa nak datang jemput aku kat umah (..3-4 kali datang pun sesat lagi..!), diaorang sampai depan umah aku tepat time orang azan maghrib. The journey seperti biasa memang sempoi although a bit tiring. We met with my other friend Shah and his wife (..and his new Honda City!) in Sg Perak R&R. Biasalah, bila kengkawan lama berjumpa, ada saja la cerita yang keluar sampai tak sedar dah dekat 1 jam jugak kitaorang lepak kat situ. That's what I love bila balik kampung dengan kengkawan aku. Memang fun and a bit thrilling. And u can also save a lot of money bila balik kampung berkongsi kereta. Sampai di Alor Setar dalam pukul 3.00 camtu, kami decide nak pegi sahur and where else - Yasmeen Nasi Kandar! Aku tak tahu kenapa, tapi nasi kandar di Alor Setar memang tak sama macam nasi kandar di KL ni. Everytime aku balik kampung memang hampir pasti aku akan singgah kedai nasi kandar. Kalau tak Yasmeen, mesti pergi Ali (..which is by the way, serves the best nasi kandar EVER!). Entah berapa banyak tepung kas-kas yang dituang ke dalam nasi tu pun aku tak tahu. Yang aku tahu bila makan memang sedap dan puas hati. Aku yakin kalau korang tanya sesapa pun orang asal dari Alor Setar kebanyakannya memang suka makan nasi kandar. We're addicted to it, man!

Sampai umah aku dalam kul 3.40 camtu, aku pun dah ngantuk gila. Tapi tepat pukul 5.00 mak aku kejutkan aku bangun sahur pulak. Walaupun perut aku dah kenyang gila makan nasi kandar tadi, tapi bila terpandang aja lauk pauk atas meja selera tiba-tiba datang. Cadangnya nak rasa sikit aja. Tapi maybe sebab aku dibesarkan dengan makanan lazat mak aku, banyak jugak aku makan sahur pagi tu. Lagipun salah satu reason aku balik kampung ni disebabkan terlalu rindu nak makan masakan mak aku yang tak pernah berubah rasa sedapnya dari dulu. Mak aku memang champion bila bab masak memasak ni. Ini memang diakui oleh ramai orang yang dah makan masakan dia. It's perfect. Aku pun terpikir, kalaulah aku masih tinggal dekat kampung, memang bertambah besar la badan aku ni. Tiap-tiap hari dibesarkan oleh masakan Mama dan Mamak! Hehehe..

So now I'm back in KL. Back to the hectic, crazy living in the city. Living the daily routine redundant life. Over and over again. I remember one of my friend said to me while we were eating nasi kandar the other day, "..apsal bila aku balik Aloq Setaq aku rasa tenang?". And he was dead right. You only experience real, total calmness only when you're home. Your real home. It is where your head suits you right. I guess many of us who lives in the city went back home just for the sake of finding that peaceful escape. Even though it's only for a day or two. It's true what they say... home is where your heart is.

Issh..! Tak sabar plak aku nak balik raya..! :)

05 October 2005

Ramadan datang lagi..!

Selamat menyambut Bulan Ramadan yang Mulia to all my friends and constant readers of this blog. May Ramadan bring u all the goodness and prosperity in life. Selamat menjalani ibadah puasa. Thank you for visiting this blog regularly.

Puasa kasi cukup tau..!

04 October 2005

Into The Blue (List Countdown : 2 Down 28 To Go)>



Synopsis from Yahoomovies - Into the Blue is a thriller set in the deep, shark-infested waters of the Bahamas. When four young divers discover a legendary shipwreck rumored to contain millions in gold at the bottom of the sea, they believe their dream of buried treasure has come true. But nearby on the ocean floor, a sunken plane full of illegal cargo threatens their find. The friends make a pact to keep quiet about both discoveries so they can excavate the shipwreck before a rival treasure hunter uncovers their secret and beats them to the gold. But their plan goes awry when they realize dangerous smugglers are already closing in on the missing plane, and one of the friends makes a fatal decision that quickly turns the treasure hunters into the hunted.

Tiada apa yang istimewa tentang filem ini. Apa yang aku boleh puji tentang filem ni hanyalah shot-shot underwater yang menarik dan lively. Jalan cerita yang biasa serta lakonan yang mendatar tetapi diselitkan dengan babak-babak aksi yang OK. Bolehlah kalau setakat untuk menghabiskan 1 jam 50 minit of your time. Oh yeah and of course there's Jessica Alba. Lots of Jessica Alba. In bikini of course. And don't worry, for the girls theres also Paul Walker. And did I mention Jessica Alba? Oh yes, I did didn't I..

:)


03 October 2005

The Superior No. 16

Another weekend spent at the office. Tapi minggu ni ofis aku ada tournament futsal. So sempat jugak la aku ke bukit jalil untuk tengok diaorang main. Nama aku actually ada team department aku. Tapi tak tahu kenapa aku malas nak main. Lagipun aku ada keja kat ofis. Aku takde la terror sangat main bola ni or in other words 'benchfeet' jugak la, tapi boleh la setakat nak main biasa-biasa. Aku dapat rasa yang aku lebih minat kepada the tactical side of football. Ramai orang ingat main bola ni setakat sepak bola ke depan aja. Open play, offensive, defensive, attacking press, counter attack, long ball.. there's a lot of tactical play involved in football. Aku suka tengok the different way a football team play against a different opponent at a different time. Benda-benda tu la yang buat aku tertarik pada bolasepak ni. Aku rasa aku lebih minat jadi coach dari jadi player. Aku penah jadi coach/manager team bola kolej aku masa matrik dulu. Walaupun benda tu takde la hebat sangat tapi i love every minute of it. Jadi coach bola best gak kan? Hmmm..



The biggest news in football this week has got to be the Roy Keane statement in MUTV. REDS captain Roy Keane has shocked United fans by admitting he is set to walk away from Old Trafford at the end of the season. Keano (as we Red Devils refers him to) contract is set to expire at the end of this season, but it had been expeced that he would extend his stay at the club by another year and start his move into coaching. But instead the Irishman has announced that he intends to leave the club once his deal is up, and will look to extend his playing career outside the Premiership. Celtic are expected to be his first choice with Keane being able to start talks over a move out of the club in January.

Shit. No Keano in MU? That's like losing a family member, man. I grew up watching him play! He's the guy that took the torch from my reason for supporting Man Utd, Bryan Robson. And he gave me another solid reason for me to suport the team. A midfield dynamo. One of the most influential player ever. Supreme footballer. He is the epitome of the unwavering spirit and desire to succeed that Man Utd stands for. Few sportsmen lead from the front in the way Keane does, both on and off the pitch. A natural leader and skipper. Certainly will be one of the greatest player in Manchester United. I mean, have you ever heard any other footballer with a London musical entitled 'I,Keano' writen specifically about him?. Or any footballer with a tribute song entitled 'Roy's Keen' by lifelong supporter, Morrisey? That's how great he is. So when u realized you are losing one of your greatest player, you panic.

But I guess that time has come. Great players come and go. I had the same feeling when Cantona decided to call it quits. He certainly can't be playing football up till he's 45 years old. But I do hope he call it quits while he’s still wearing a Man Utd jersey. The sight of seeing him in another team jersey is too much for me to stomach. I guess the statement that he made in MUTV is just a hint for the Man Utd management to offer him a new contract comes January. But everybody now is already talking about his replacement. Smith, Ballack, Gerrard, Diara, Zokora, Gravesen - are some of the names mentioned as potential candidates for his replacement. Wanna know what I think? Shut up! You cannot replace him! He's irreplaceable. I guess Carlos Queiroz said it best - "You don't replace great players like Pele, Maradona or Roy Keane. You just create new players in new teams. That is why the game moves forward."

Nuff said.