Because You Said So?

I was watching a movie at Astro, Because I Said So, just a few minutes ago. The comedy was about an over-protective mother (Diane Keaton) that was trying very hard to be a matchmaker of her own daughter (Mandy Moore) but ended up with bad consequence. It's neither the best movie nor a bad one, but it has a special meaning to me and it sends a very powerful message to the viewers.

I can easily relate this movie to any over-protective parents. Generally, I find Malaysian parents being over-protective. Every parents want their children to be doctors, engineers, lawyers and all the boring occupations. They may be shock with anger if their children say that they want to be an artist, singer, barber, firefighter, etc. I have personally gone through similar experience when I told my grandmother that I wanted to be a soldier - I was beaten up by my mother. From a soldier, my ambition eventually proceeded to scientist (a mad scientist), pilot (actually a military pilot), singer (actually a punk rocker), linguist, astronomer, inventor, etc. None of them came true. I ended up with a boring occupation eventually for the sake of making money to pay for loan. Crap, isn't it? I believe parents should let their children do what they wish. Even if they screw up doing silly things, they will find out and learn eventually. If the parents do not give them the freedom, they will never grow up. Call me Western minded if you wish, but don't you think Westerners are more creative, innovative and more willing to open up their minds, comparing to Asians?

From the movie, I can also relate it to the current Malaysian leaders. Malaysian leaders are generally over-protective. Look at the way they over-protect some of the Malaysian companies (every Malaysian should know what I mean). They also over-protect themselves - they cannot stand any criticism and threaten the people with Internal Security Act. In my opinion, being over-protective absolutely does not grant any benefit to the general Malaysian population. We will never grow this way. I hope some of the politicians will grow up or step down some day.

The Rave On Ronettes

Here's another Danish indie band I have admired for the last few years, The Raveonettes. The duo consisting of Sune Rose Wagner (on guitar, instruments, vocals) and Sharin Foo (on bass, guitar and vocals). The name of the band is originated from Buddy Holly's song, "Rave On" and The Ronettes. You may notice some Buddy Holly and The Ronettes influences in some of their songs. The other more obvious influence that I notice in this band comes from the famous British noise-pop duo, The Jesus & Mary Chain.

Honestly, I came across this band by accident years ago on the internet when I was surfing for noise-pop & dream-pop material. Yeah, I am a sucker for noise-pop and dream-pop. I used to confuse them with The Ronettes due to the name similarity and furthermore some of their songs have 50s and 60s influences. The only difference is they incorporate more noise.

Here's a video clip from the great Raveonettes with the song, Heartbreak Stroll.



Lyric:

Take A Little Time To Get To Know Me
The Night Is Open Don't You Feel The Same As I
Cause I Can Do Everything
A Heartbreak Stroll With Someone Special
The L.a. Lights Will Never Be The Same
Tonight I Kill Those Memories

Get It All Now Cause I'm On The Prowl
Come On Baby Right Now
Get It All Straight Cause You're Whistle Bait
Come On Baby Right Now
Come On Baby Right Now

Feel The Earth Move When You're Shaking That Thing
Hard To Be Around When You Got Nothing To Gain
I Gotta Go Home And Sleep It Off

Be The One

Due to lack of good radio show in Malaysia, I have started listening to online radio shows of the U.K. I am returning to my roots. Yes, British radio station was my roots. Malaysian radio shows did not suit my taste in the late 80s and 90s, so I tuned in to BBC, Voice of America and Singapore's Perfect 10 at short wave frequency. Those were the radio stations that got me exposed to The Cure, Jesus & Mary Chain, New Order, The Smiths, Nirvana, etc. In the mid 90s, I was studying in the U.K., so obviously I listened to BBC's Radio One daily - my favourite radio shows were hosted by the late John Peel (alternative music)& Andy Kershaw (world music). Unfortunately, both of my favourite British DJs are no longer on air - John Peel has passed away years ago & Andy Kershaw has some personal problem with his relationship.

Last night, I came across the song, Be The One, by the British duo, The Ting Tings, at Zane Lowe's radio show at BBC's Radio One online. The Ting Tings are Jules De Martino (drums, guitar, vocals) and Katie White (vocals, guitar, bass drum). They are basically unknown in Malaysia but they are considered the hot new band in the U.K. The genre of their music is basically a mixture of indie-pop, dance and tiny bits of punk. Their album is generally too cheesy and poppish for my taste but Be The One caught my attention. It's something that could cheer me up after having a depressing week due to the political situation in Malaysia. The guitar of this song reminds me of New Order. The female vocal is sweet but not cheesy here. This is also a more matured/serious song from their album in my personal opinion. I hope The Ting Tings will generate more songs like Be The One in the future.

Here's the video clip:



Here's the lyric in case you wish to sing along:

You say it's not what you do,
It's what you're thinking of
Well I think it's just an excuse
It's what you put across
And I don't wanna be the one
Only overjoyed
Yeah I don't wanna be the one
Making all the noise
Yeah I don't wanna be the one

So make sure you're thinking it through
You've let me down again
Offer me something
I know you really meant
Cuz I don't wanna the one
Only overjoyed
Yeah I don't wanna be the one
Making all the noise
Yeah I don't wanna be the one
Hey!

What you gonna offer now?

I don't wanna be the one
Only overjoyed
Yeah I don't wanna be the one
Making all the noise
Yeah I don't wanna be the one
Hey!

What you gonna offer now?
What you gonna offer now?
What you gonna offer now?

This was not my idea
Don't you keep me waiting
This was not my idea
Don't you keep me waiting
This was not my idea
Don't you keep me waiting

Internal Security Act

It's sad that the government has decided to use ISA (Internal Security Act) against fellow Malaysians again.

ISA is an outdated "tool" used by our former colonial master to overcome the attack of the communists in Malaya decades ago. When Malaysia got the independence from the British, ISA was carried forward to the new born country because it was still threatened by communists. However, when the communists put down their arm struggle, the relevant authority decided to keep ISA. The reason was obvious - it was a great "tool" to crush the enemies. What other better "tool" was available better than arrest without trial?

In my opinion, ISA is very undemocratic and it is against the principle of human right. It has no difference from dictatorship. It is an extremely dangerous "tool" used against the innocents. In the post-communist threat era, ISA had been misused very frequently to crush political opponents. This is very unprofessional from political point of view. It's a dirty tactic!!

The call for the abolishment of ISA by opposition parties, various NGOs, the government of U.S. and even some members of the ruling party has been ignored for decades. In the modern era, the tool used to suppress the communists has turned even more dangerous than Communism.

I salute the minister, Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, from the ruling party that threatens to resign if the government continues to use the ISA against political dissidents. His action proves that he is a responsible leader that cares for the well being of the nation. He is a good example that more Barisan Nasional leaders should learn from. I hope his sacrifice will not go to waste. The ruling party often loses good responsible leaders. It's ashamed that Datuk Zaid Ibrahim is also undergoing suspension for criticising the UMNO Disciplinary Board which was considered as insulting the party. When will the party learn to accept criticism? No wonder the popularity of UMNO is fading!

Free Teresa, Abolish ISA Online Petition


Download MP3 of Carburetor Dung dedicated to ISA: Hanturaya Putrajaya


Lyric (Courtesy of Carburetor Dung):

Suara mu yang lantang melawan, siapa punya?!
Rumah mu yang indah tersergam, siapa punya??!
Hidup mu yang kenyang senang-lenang, siapa punya???!
Kebebasan mu yang ada, siapa punya?!

Cuba-cuba naikkan suara,
Aku heret, aku ikat, aku tangkap, aku sumbat!
Cuba-cuba naikkan kepala,
Aku ketuk, aku lepuk, aku luku, aku cantas!
Cuba-cuba celikkan mata,
Aku cucuk, aku sembur, aku genyeh, aku jolok!

Jangan lupa!
Aku yang berkuasa!

Pagi hari kan ku terkam!
Pintu rumah kan ku terjang!
Kan ku berkas, kan ku bungkus!
Kan ku heret mu kedalam!

Jangan kau lupa!
Jangan kau alpa!
Ingat lah semua!
AKU YANG BERKUASA!

Traitor

Based on the legend of Hang Tuah, I remember my History teacher taught us a very good lesson about who was the actual traitor. It's sad that the younger generation may not get to learn this due to the fact that it has been removed from the text book. The reason for the removal is full of speculation and I do not intend to elaborate here.

Being the more fortunate one that had the opportunity to be taught about the legend, I would like to share my personal thought. I believe Hang Tuah was the actual traitor - the traitor of friendship. When the Sultan ordered Hang Tuah to be killed for messing around with the Sultan's concubine, the Bendahara betrayed the Sultan by hiding Hang Tuah instead. I admire the courage of the Bendahara. When Hang Jebat heard about the fake news that Hang Tuah was killed, he ran amok and went against the Sultan. He did it for the sake of friendship. Unfortunately when the Sultan found out that Hang Tuah was alive, he ordered Hang Tuah to kill Hang Jebat. The "blind" Hang Tuah obeyed the Sultan and killed his friend. The act of Hang Tuah truly showed he had no compassion towards his friend. He could have done what the Bendahara did to him by hiding Hang Jebat. In this event, I consider the Bendahara and Hang Jebat as the true heroes - they cherished their friendship. As for Hang Tuah, he was just a puppet of the cruel Sultan. The biggest villain was the Sultan who misused his power.

I hope someday the young generation will somehow managed to learn from this legend from somewhere. History and legend are not for us to read and sit for an exam. We have to learn from the mistakes and prevent them from happening to ourselves. Sometimes I still see people repeating the same mistakes in the real world today - people that behaves like Hang Tuah and the Sultan. This is very sad indeed!!

I dedicate this article to my favourite History teacher in secondary school, Cikgu Zainol. I will always remember the lesson he gave us.

Tasteless!

Some people find the latest movie of Adam Sandler, Don't Mess With Zohan, tasteless due to the sex scene and making fun of Isrealis and Arabs being offending. In my opinion, a lot of movies by Jim Carrey and Stephan Chow are equally tasteless. However, there is something about this movie that is very meaningful. If you observe the movie and use your brain a bit, the movie is not just about making fun of the Jews and Arabs. At one part of the movie which the Jews and Arabs started talking politics, it showed that they are so similar and they have something in common. The movie also shows us that Jews and Arabs can live together peacefully if they try hard enough - there is hope for peace! This is something that Malaysians should learn from this movie that many Malaysians find disgusting and angry with the censorship board for not banning it. I am not praising the Malaysian censorship board though because they did a major mistake for rating the movie as suitable for all ages of audiences.

Related to the topic of tasteless, I find the agenda of the politic and social issues in Malaysia very tasteless these days. We have too many stupid leaders and politicians running the country. There are so many leaders from the ruling party saying things they should not have said and do things they should not have done - their behaviour show that they are childish and stupid.

Example Number 1: When non-Malays asked about the special right of the Malays, a "smart guy" said non-Malays had no right to question it. Are we living in a country run by a dictator? Is this a Malaysian Apartheid? You call this equal right? As a good leader, this kind of question should be tackled smartly and not just sweeping it under the carpet. I dare to bet that a few years down the road, someone will ask the same question again. The question may not come from a non-Malay, it may come from a Malay. I have come across some Malays who are actually smart enough to worry and think something is not right about it. I am not trying to cause any racial tension - I would not want that. I personally have many good Malay friends and I don't want to lose our friendship and trust....all because of race. It's not worth it!

Example Number 2: A "Mr. Smart Guy" called non-Malays as immigrants. However, it's only true for the ancestors of non-Malays. Why bring up this issue when it has nothing to do with the current generation in the first place? Isn't he stupid enough to create trouble for himself? If we trace back the roots of Malaysians, I wonder how many Malaysians are not immigrants based on history. Chinese came from China. Indians came from India. Malays came from various parts of the world (i.e. Arab, Indonesia, China, etc). Even some of the natives were immigrants. Why dig for the roots of our ancestors? If "Mr. Smart Guy" is smart enough, he should focus on the current issues and solve them. We don't need any leader that talk rubbish.

I am pretty sure that these kind of nonsense coming from Malaysian leaders and politicians will never end unless we kick them out of their power to keep their mouth shut permanently. We don't need these leaders/politicians, do we?

The Death of Alternative Music On Malaysian Airwave

29 August 2008 Midnight was the day alternative music died on Malaysian airwave. 28 August 9pm - 12am was the last Alternation radio show hosted by the DJ, Maya, at Traxx FM. I could not think of anyone from Traxx FM qualifies to replace her. I am pretty sure that the show is considered dead since Maya is no longer with Traxx FM. I was almost heart broken when Maya sent me an SMS telling me about the bad news days before the last show was taken place. Of course, I listened to the last Maya's radio show for the last final 3 hours. The last 30 minutes was a mixed feeling of sadness, anger, frustration and happiness - happy because Maya would be leaving the "evil" radio station.

I consider all Malaysian radio stations "evil" because they often make my favourite genre of music a scapegoat all the time - they get rid of the DJ and the show to prove their power. Before the 90s, there was completely no radio show in Malaysia that was catering for alternative music. I don't consider playing one or two Green Day or Oasis songs in one radio show being good enough because it obviously won't satisfy the thirst of any alternative music fan.

Here are a list of scapegoats:

Scapegoat Number 1:
When Time Highway Radio was established, we had Fly Guy playing some interesting alternative music (something out of the norm those days) in his program mixing with other commercial stuff. As I mentioned previously, this was not good enough. At the same radio station, there was a DJ named Kamil Othman hosting a once a week evening show catering for rock music in general. Every now and then you would hear alternative music. I even sent him an email telling him about my taste of music and he wanted me to be in his show but I "chickened" out by giving various excuses - I still feel bad about it. One fine day, I found his radio show disappeared from the airwave.

Scapegoat Number 2:
Several years down the road, ever since Kamil's radio show was terminated, I stopped listening to Malaysian radio stations. No, I didn't hate radio. I was one of the members of Radio Society back in university days trying to set up a radio station, how could I hate radio? I just hated Malaysian radio stations. I happened to come across on the media that a rather new radio station, Red FM, had an alternative radio show name Clash (It could be named after the legendary band The Clash). The show was hosted by Zack Yusof and Daryl Goh. At one point, I found the show being moved from one time slot to another. This gave me an idea that the show was in trouble. Eventually, I was right!! Red FM got rid of the show!!

Scapegoat Number 3:
I have already mentioned above. This is of course Traxx FM's Alternation radio show hosted by Maya.

I wonder why alternative music has been made a scapegoat all the time in Malaysia. The authority gives the bands headache and radio stations hate them in a funny way. Being the most creative and opened minded music genre, does it instigate fear to the management of radio stations and the authority? Why the British, the American and other foreign countries could even have radio stations fully playing alternative music but Malaysian cannot even keep a radio show for alternative music for more than 5 years?? The Malaysian radio stations often accuse that alternative music radio show generates no money but have they tried their best to get any sponsor or advertiser? I doubt so!!

I don't see any hope for serious music fans to keep listening to Malaysian radio stations. Not just alternative music! Jazz, classical, blues, classic rock, etc suffer the same fate. The never growing up Malaysian radio stations are only suitable for teenagers listening to Pussycat Dolls, Britney Spears and all the crappy nonsense!!!

Micro Fish In Macro Mode

Here's my experimental photography shot using Olympus E-520 with Zuiko 35mm macro lens. I am very satisfied taking photo in macro mode for the first time.

Below are a group of tiny beautiful Ember Tetras which are very hard to capture with a compact camera in macro mode - I have never successfully taken any good quality photo of Ember Tetra in the past.

There's no regret for heading for DSLR!!!

Tanks - After Minor Rescape

Cut off some of the Marsilea with green spot algae and moving the position of Marsilea over the weekend. Also throwing away some Spiky Moss with hair algae. If you see carefully, you will notice some sections of the moss are brown. Those areas I overdosed with Seachem Excel unintentionally - I was trying to get rid of hair algae but unfortunately I killed the moss as well. There are three different moss in the tank - Taiwan Moss (Right), Spiky Moss (Middle) and Christmas Moss (Left).


The following is another tank that I have my bitter war with hair algae. It gives me the impression that moss is a hair algea magnet. Hair algae seems to love living side by side to moss. I consider moss as a very high maintenance plant. Honestly, I almost threw all the moss away because of my frustration with hair algae. I threw over 70% of the moss which covered almost the entire tank during the weekend.

Trouble With Tenaga Nasional Berhad

I received a notice for not paying the electricity bill on time from our "favourite company" TNB. That's a mistake on my part. However, I managed to settle the bill before receiving the notice.

In the notice, there was a number to call - 03-79557733. In order to inform them that my bill had been settled, I called them. Totally, I called them 4 times. Each time, there were at least 5-6 ringing tones with nobody picking up the call.

Finally, I decided to let it continue ringing. Eureka!! The call was routed to the call centre after countless number of rings. The customer service that picked up the call amazed me. Here's my conversation with the "woman", it may not be 100% accurate but the the incident is accurate:

Customer Service: "Hello"
Me: "Hello, saya terima notis pemotongan....." (Translation: Hello, I received a termination notice.....) [I was interrupted half way when the call was being transferred]

My goodness! How rude was the customer service representative! She didn't even ask me to hold on. She just cut me off in the middle of conversation. If I knew her name, I would have given her a headache by now.

Thank goodness. The following guy who picked up the call was very pleasant.

Coming up is "Trouble with Telekom Malaysia"...stay tune!!

I Walk The Line

Tanks I Admire

The following are some tanks I admire from a fellow friend from Portugal that I met at MAC forum, Filipe Oliveira. I believe he has a very natural talent and very willing to try different varieties of aquascaping. What you see here are just the tanks I admire. He has more beautiful tanks at his blog, http://faao.blogspot.com/

Comparing my tanks with his, it's like Heaven & Earth.

Thanks to Filipe for the permission to post his tanks here.

Another Video Clip of Fish Tank

Another 2 feet (15 gallon) tank with mostly Moss and Marsilea.

Aquarium Videos

The following are the video clips of my various tanks. Not all of them are here though. Sorry about the bad quality videos. Thanks to the lousy camera.

"Kuih Kapek" of Good Old School Days

Back in the 70s, I remember before I started schooling, my dad sometimes brought back some "kuih kapek" (also known as Love Letter) from school. I don't mean the Chinese New Year type. The one I refer to is the big triangle one with a piece of newspaper hidden in the "kuih kapek". If you're lucky, you may find 10 cents wrapped in the tiny piece of newspaper. Nowadays, people may consider the newspaper as unhyginic but those days who cares!! My love for this "kuih kapek" continues from pre-school, primary school, secondary school, college and university days till now. The "kuih kapek" become rare since the late 80s. I guess it's almost extinct or already extinct today because I have never seen the big triangle "kuih kapek" for the last 10 years.

I miss those "kuih kapek" that taste like fortune cookies commonly used in Chinese restaurants in the U.S. I guess due to the taste similarity, I love the taste of fortune cookies too.

Recently my wife found the "kuih kapek" at pasar malam (night market). The shape is rectangle rather than triangle. The taste is not as good as it used to be but good enough to fill my urge. Meanwhile, my hunt for the large triangle "kuih kapek" continues....

Glugea

Glugea is a rare fish disease. It's the first time I have seen it with my own eyes. The disease looks like bubbles on the body of a fish. Once burst, it will spread the disease to other fishes. So, it's best to separate infected fish from the main tank. There is no cure for the infected fish but I don't have the heart to terminate the life of any fish myself. I have no idea why my Kuhli Loach is infected by this disease. Hopefully, the disease has not spread to other fishes.

Here's my poor Kuhli Loach that is suffering from Glugea. I hope it will die as soon as possible to avoid suffering.

Be More Liberal, My Malaysian Friends

The political situation in Malaysia is so shameful lately. I have nothing to be proud about the politicians based on their childish ways of accusation & blame for the sake of politics, instead of doing their duty to improve the lives of the common people. I can observe that the country is currently stagnant or rather going down hill. It's very sad indeed!

I am pretty sure that most of you are aware that the local underground band, Carburetor Dung, has gone "upper ground" now. Thanks to the media. Thanks to the conservative people. And of course, not forgetting the boxer short stunt. The incident showed how narrow minded and conservative are some Malaysians. Tell me, what's the difference between a boxer short and a short??? Does a boxer short shows any bare skin of the butt? Yeah, you can say that showing the boxer short stunt is not a part of the culture of Malaysia. What about throwing bottles and whacking people? You have created a bad name for PKR by doing the stupid act - now who is laughing? Obviously BN! I am not defending the band because one of the band members is an old friend of mine. I am voicing out because I am sick of of some Malaysians who are extremely narrow minded. "Macam katak di bawah tempurung" (a frog in a coconut shell). I don't blame this incident on the political leaders but I blame this on narrow minded individuals.

People!! Even if you intend to turn this South East Asian country into an "Arab" country, please bear in mind that some Arab countries are even more liberal than our society. I have Muslim friends travelling to Jordan telling me the women in the city are more liberal in their dress code than Malaysians. Those living in rural areas are different story though. Do we want to learn from those coming from rural areas? Stoning an unmarried couple to death because they held each other's hands? Thank carefully!!! In a multi-cultural country this is not acceptable. By the way, imitating Arabs is not a local culture too.

Grow up and be more liberal, my dear friends!!

Aquarium Tanks (Not Military Tanks)

Here are some pictures of my tanks....

3 Feet Tank (50 US gallon):

A Closer View:

Taken with Flash for Clarity(but annoying flash):



2 Feet Moss Tank (15 US gallon):













2 Feet Jungle Tank (15 US gallon):

Fish Food Used (Frozen Blood Worms has been excluded from the photo):

The Curse of Mamak Restaurants and Soccer

Every soccer season, I would be cursing the nearby Mamak restaurants and soccer. Why? They gave me sleepless nights, not because I was watching the matches but I was awaken by the noise of the bloody soccer fans at the Mamak restaurants at odd hours like 4am. Complaining to the building management, security guards and even police are useless. If I have the money I will shift away.

The law of forbidding pubs, night clubs and karaokes to close before 12am should also be imposed on Mamak restaurants with tv sets. Why the double standard? The noise from Mamak restaurants is equally noisy!!!

It's worse when I was scheduled to do a 7 days X 24 hours support. I really need my sleep!!! Bloody Hell!!! F*ck the soccer match, Mamak restaurants and big mouth soccer fans!!! F#ck them all!!!

I wonder why some people are so inconsiderate. I wonder why all these people don't have to work and able to watch soccer in the middle of the night. Are they pimps or just c@ck shakers?

Here's my curse again!!! I wish the Mamak restaurants will close down as soon as possible. My boycott on Mamak restaurants have started!! No more oily food!!!

Poor Decision By Our "Big Boss"

I personally think that it's another very bad decision by our "big boss" to hike the price of petrol and electricity. His action showed us very obviously of his poor leadership. I have to agree with Tun Dr. Mahathir that's it's time for him to step down. Ever since he took the top post of the country, how many times have the prices of all kinds of goods gone up? He's good for increasing inflation rate and nothing else!

I think it's very stupid to argue that he did it to lessen the burden of the poor. It's so obvious that the poor will have to cope with the extra burden. Yeah, the less than RM1000 annual rebate is "big deal"! I don't have to be an accountant to show you that his statement above is absolutely rubbish. If you're a person with common sense, you'll know for sure that the price hike of petrol and electricity will surely lead to the price of every items in the country to go up! Food, clothes, transportation, ...you name it...the list will never end. This is what we call inflation! How on earth are the people going to cope? Surely, the rich people will not be affected. Average Joe like us will have to pay for it.

I don't know whether this is what we call capitalism. I hope the wrong decision of the leader will not lead to a big chaos that our forefathers fought against. Once again, I am stating very clearly that I am not a leftist. I would like to warn our leader that this kind of issue often lead to the rise of leftists in various countries around the world. Please do not repeat the same mistake! Learn from the history!!!

If this kind of leadership remains in the country. I am pretty sure that our country will be in a big mess like Indonesia one day. I vote this "big boss" out for sure!