Proud American

Guys, this is SOOOOOO funny, I have to share it with everyone!!!

Here's a trailer of an IMAX film, Proud American.



In case you're wondering, no this is not a joke, it's a real movie!

Guess how did it perform in the box office?

Open in 750 cinemas, its total gross is $96,076, or $128 per venue — one of the worst for any wide release in the US!

Mother & Daughter

Gwyneth Paltrow and Blythe Danner. Mother & daughter.

Beautiful picture. Beautiful women.

My Watch Stopped

My watch stopped. At Sept 11, 2008. The hands point to 6:05:21 (pm presumably). For the first time since I bought it years ago.

The Point of No Return

The latest turn of events in Malaysian politics is disturbing, to say the least.

Source: Malaysiakini

Don’t be like American Jews, Chinese told

Penang Umno leader Ahmad Ismail, the man at the centre of the ‘racial slur’ controversy, warned Chinese Malaysians not to mimic American Jews who not only seek to control the country’s economy but also its political power.

MCPX

In an explosive 50-minute press conference, Ahmad who claimed time and again that he was not a racist, vowed that he would not apologise for his remarks which sparked the controversy.

“While it is not difficult to say sorry - for the sake of my Malay dignity, I resolve not to apologise no matter what others may say. I am willing to take the risk (for not doing so),” he said in a 14-page statement.

The press conference, which was held at the Penang Umno headquarters this afternoon, ended with shouts of ‘Hidup Melayu’ from about 50 local party leaders who were there.

Soon after the event, former Penang Umno committee member Zainol Abidin Hashim, with the help from his colleagues pulled down the photo of Gerakan acting president Dr Koh Tsu Koon which adorned one of the walls in the party headquarters.

Koh’s picture frame, which sat next to the photos of the Penang governor and his wife, was subsequently smashed.

As the glass broke into pieces, Zainol removed Koh’s photo from the frame and tore it into half.

Koh, who is former Penang chief minister, has been trading barbs with Ahmad, the Bukit Bendera Umno division chief, over the issue.

In a hastily-organised press conference at 10.30pm, Koh announced that Penang Gerakan had decided to cut all ties with its counterpart effective immediately.

He said that he was disappointed in the “rude behaviour” of Umno leaders at their press conference.

Earlier, Ahmad told the minority Chinese not to go overboard in hurting the feelings of the Malays and Muslims.

“I want them to know, I want them to take this as a warning from the Malays. Malays and Muslims have been provoked many times. We have been patient because we want to maintain stability in the country,” he said.

“Remember! The patience of Malays and Muslims has its limits. Do not push us to the wall, where we will be forced to reject the Chinese for the sake of our survival.

“If what I say sounds too strong for BN, take this as a warning from the Malays and Muslims as this has nothing to do with Umno. Do not pressure Umno leaders until they are caught in a dilemma.”

He then sounded a dire warning to Koh and Gerakan.

“I want Koh Tsu Koon and Gerakan to take responsibility for whatever untoward incidents that could happen in this country of ours.”

Ahmad also called upon BN leaders to “kick Gerakan out” from the ruling coalition.

The Bukit Bendera Umno chief said that he was asked by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to hold “another press conference”.

Ahmad previously held a press conference last Friday in which he reiterated that he would not apologise for his remarks.

Abdullah (photo, right), who had earlier told the powerful local Umno leader to do so, was silent on the issue the next day when he met with Penang Umno leaders, including Ahmad.

Ahmad, who was backed by all 13 Umno divisions in Penang - Abdullah’s home state - thanked the prime minister for his “understanding”.

The controversy erupted after Ahmad had allegedly said that the “Chinese were immigrants squatting in this country” at a ceramah during the recent Permatang Pauh by-election campaign.

The speech caused Ahmad to come under heavy fire from Chinese-based political parties, particularly from Umno’s allies MCA and Gerakan over the past two weeks. A spate of police reports were also lodged against the Umno division leader.

Ahmad nevertheless argued that his remark was taken out of context by Chinese-language Sin Chew Daily as he was referring to historical events.

At the press conference, Ahmad also urged the different states to hold a gathering of the whole ummah (Muslim community).

“Let us not let it go to waste as the flames of anger among Malays and Muslims has reached new heights. Let us take embrace this anger and come together as Malays and Muslims throughout the land so that we can turn the voices of the Malays into one that will unite all Malays and Muslims into one single movement.”

In an immediate reaction, both Abdullah and Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak are expected to meet Ahmad tomorrow. It is believed that action could be taken against the Umno leader.

This is clearly getting out of hand. Ahmad Ismail should not have turn a personal issue into a vendetta across racial lines. It is obvious he is trying to incite racial tension ala May 13 style, and I do hope that Malaysians are wise enough now not to fall for it. Otherwise, there will be no home for me to return to this coming November...

Coming of the Day of Reckoning

A dramatic "last article" from Raja Petra, before his imminent detention under the ISA:

Is Anwar Unstoppable?

I pretty much agree with him about Anwar's status. Either he'll be victorious, or he'll crash and burn.

September 16, 2008 seems like forever...

News from home...

Condo residents in a bind
(NST September 4, 2008)

ILLEGAL food peddlers hawking on pedestrian walkways, road kerbs and public parking bays in front of the Vista Komanwel B Condo-minium at Bukit Jalil National Stadium are making life miserable for the residents living there.

The hawkers, who hail from different parts of the city, have chosen the spot because of the lucrative business in the area.

The area in front of the condominium, which is located opposite the International Medical University (IMU), has become a sort of food paradise for students from the university.

According to residents interviewed by the StarMetro, stalls have sprung up like mushrooms along pedestrian walkways and road kerbs and they operate in the mornings and evenings.

“All these are happening along a busy four-lane road, which has been reduced to two lanes by illegal hawkers and customers who double park to buy food from them,’’ said Vista Komanwel resident Michelle Tan.

“Pedestrians are forced to walk on the road, thus exposing themselves to danger from incoming traffic. It is also unhygienic and with neither proper toilets nor fresh water facilities,’’ said Tan, adding that waste is just thrown down the drain.

Residents are worried that apart from mosquitoes, rats would soon be making an appearance in their once serene neighbourhood.

The Joint Management Committee of the Vista Komanwel B had on numerous occasions written to DBKL to complain about the illegal hawking going on in the area but apart from sending some enforcement staff to check out the situation, nothing was done to solve the problem.

“Our quality of life has dropped. The situation has caused us all much distress. Apart from the hygiene and smoke emission from the open cooking, the value of our properties have depreciated,’’ said resident Jason Ong.

When StarMetro visited the area recently, many mobile stalls were visible in the area. One particular stall had placed at least 30 tables and chairs right on top of pedestrian walkways.

The stall operates from noon until midnight every day except Sundays. What’s interesting is the fact that the stall operator has even erected a makeshift toilet built over a metal grille covering of a drain.

At other spots, stall operators have placed their food containers and utensils on planter boxes, damaging the plants.

One stall owner even upgraded his ‘service’ by carpeting a stretch of the pedestrian walkway!

“It is not fair that as ratepayers we are denied the right to live in a clean and tranquil manner,” Ong said, adding that something must be done about the matter.

It's amusing to see how after so much changes has happened to my old campus, something always remains the same. >=)

Between Envy and Fear

Written by Martin Khor
Published in the News Straits Time, 11th of August 2008

The Olympic Games has had a spectacular launch. The thrills and spills of the next fortnight are mixed with complex feelings, especially in the West, about the rise of the host country.

FOR the next fortnight, the Olympic Games will dominate not only the news but also the television and Internet attention of hundreds of millions around the world.

The “greatest show on earth” was launched in Beijing last Friday, and the spectacular opening ceremony is still being talked about by many.

It was shrewd of the Chinese authorities to get the country’s top film director to plan the extravaganza, which became an impressive showcase of the country’s history and present development.

While this opening and the new magnificent sports buildings, especially the “Bird’s Nest” stadium, won the acclaim of many, not least the reportedly billions of people who watched the show on TV, the whole Olympics being held in China also attracted sharp criticism, notably from the Western press.

The Times (London) said the Olympics was a subtle agenda for a dictatorship to overcome its crisis of legitimacy. It added that the US$40bil (RM132bil) propaganda coup is paid for by the masses the politicians are seeking to keep in check who have no choice but to cough up.

“No democratic government at China’s stage of economic development would have had the will or the gall for such extravagance,” said the Times.

The claim of the paper is that the Chinese people, if only they could freely voice their feelings, are angry about how their money is being wasted on the Olympics.

Yet the paper contradicts itself by stating that the Olympics is used as propaganda by the government to win political legitimacy. In other words, the extravagant show makes it popular with the masses.

The reality, as affirmed in many a report, is that the Olympics has been largely welcomed by the people in China, who are filled with pride at another “coming of age” of their country on the world stage.

Whether the vast amount of money and human resources that have gone into the Olympics could have been better spent is of course a legitimate subject of debate as it always has been when any large games – be it the Olympics or the World Cup, or the Commonwealth Games or Asian Games – is held, especially in a developing country, where there are competing uses of resources, such as building homes and schools for the poor.

However, China currently arouses especially strong feelings among the governments and people in the Western world.

This is usually dressed in the garb of caring for the human rights of the poor Chinese people, who are often portrayed as being victimised for the country’s development and the supposed personal glory of the political leaders.

But it is hard to deny the other view, that the development in the past 60 years of the highest-populated country has eradicated more poverty than elsewhere.

And whatever we think of the social unevenness and the environmental degradation accompanying the prolific economic growth of the past 10 to 20 years, it has also contributed to realising the economic and social rights of many hundreds of millions of ordinary Chinese.

And that in itself – transforming the image and reality of China from being populated with starving and malnourished people into a thriving developing country – has also contributed to the realisation of economic and social rights of humanity, given the gigantic size of its population.

Much more of course can be done to promote civic and political rights and freedoms, to cater to the legitimate interests and rights of minorities, to resolve the problems in Tibet, and so many other issues.

The urgent need to resolve these kinds of problems can be said of many other countries, too, including in the developed world.

Awe and mutual cooperation, rather then envy and anger, characterise Asean’s view of China.

African countries have recently viewed China as an additional and welcome source of finance and investment.

Though there may be some worry about over-dependence on China, there is more goodwill than fear because China is a major and growing market for the continent’s commodity exports, and its finance comes without the onerous (and often erroneous) conditions that accompany Western and International Monetary Fund financing.

The criticisms against China come mainly from the West. One can’t help but feel that the real source of this is envy and fear. Envy at the 10% plus growth rates, the huge trade surpluses and the gigantic foreign reserves, a bit of which has been used to buy equity in Western companies.

Fear that the balance of world power is shifting to Asia, especially to China, and Western hegemony, including of its culture and civilisation, is significantly slipping.

In fact, China has made itself vulnerable by holding so much of its foreign reserves, which are approaching US$2tril (RM6.6tril) in US Treasury bills.

If the US dollar depreciates significantly, China stands to lose many billions (even hundreds of billions) of dollars in terms of its capacity to import from (or buy assets) in other countries.

The growing dependence of the United States on China, its large trade deficit, and the shifting of US companies’ operations to China, makes this country a source of fear, especially of American workers losing their jobs.

Firstly, this is the reason for the growing protectionist sentiments in America, and secondly it may be an underlying factor for the expression of contempt for the political structures in China.

We can expect to see more of these complex feelings, mixed up with the thrills and spills of the sporting events, throughout the rest of the Beijing Olympic Games.

Protest in Malaysia

If you held a protest without a permit against the government to demand for a fair election, the police arrests you.

If you held a protest without a permit against the Bar Council helding an open forum on 'Conversion to Islam', the police cuts short the forum.

...WTF?!?!

My Birthday Gift to All!

My birthday gift to any readers out there: How to fold a T-shirt in 2 seconds!


How To Fold A T-Shirt In 2 Seconds

For those who can't quite catch it, here's a proper how to.


How To Fold A T-Shirt In 2 Seconds - Explained

Hope you find it as useful as I do! ;)

Obsolete Techs

It's hard to come by articles that are both amusing AND educational. But here's one!

Tech Zombies: 6 Technologies That Don't Know They're Dead

Enjoy! ;)