DVD Reality

Here's an example of how technology destroys memories.

One of my favorite movies when I was little was SHANE with Alan Ladd. Cool hero. Great gunfights. One of my favorite scenes from SHANE was the shoot-out in the saloon. Shane had come into the saloon and shot up the bad guys. He looks around, holsters his pistol and turns around to leave. The hero worshipping boy, played by Brandon De Wilde was hiding under the bar having followed Shane into town against the orders of his father, Van Heflin. The boy looks up and sees another bad guy up on the first floor with a Winchester rifle about to shoot Shane. Boy shouts, "Look out Shane!". The vertically challenged hero whirls around draws his Colt and shoots. The bad guy clutches his chest and falls dramatically through the banisters and crashes to the floor.

That was 1950's memory. And now 21st Century DVD reality.....

Boy shouts, "Look out, Shane!"
Alan Ladd turns around. His eyes are closed! He draws his pistol. He fires. At the floor!!! He brings the smoking pistol up to level at the bad guy. Eyes still closed. Bad guy takes the cue and dies!!!!!

Shit!

Malaysian Food

Let's start a chat about Malaysian food here. We all know that Malaysians love to eat and they love to talk about food even more. Try starting a conversation and mention that you've had some good char kway teow and before you can say sambal belachan someone else will jump in to challenge your choice. "No lah. That one not the best. I tell you ah last time I had this char kway teow in ....(insert any number of Malaysian towns and street names here)...." When I was little the rule was that certain Malaysian towns are famous for certain types of food. Penang for its assam laksa and nasi kandar. Ipoh for its sar hor fun and ngar choy. Kuala Lumpur for its bak kut teh and Hokkein Mee (the thick black noodly stuff). Seremban for its beef noodles. Malacca for chin cha lok (actually I don't really know what Malacca is famous for foodwise cos I've never eaten out there) Anyway, you get the picture. But these days it tastes to me that all the best food in Malaysia is right here in Kuala Lumpur/Petaling Jaya. I am an Ipoh boy and I balik kampong quite often. And I can tell you that the food in Ipoh these days is much too highly overated and the hawkers there survive on their reputation more than their culinary results. You want good sar hor fun or ngar choy just stay in KL/PJ. No need to go north. You want great assam laksa? Don't go to Penang. Any number of stalls and shops in KL and PJ will sate your craving with 1st class assam laksa better than that which you get in Ayer Itam.

Of course all this could also be due to age. My age that is. I've noticed that as I get older the hawker food I eat never seem to live up to what I remember. Maybe that's it. It's just me. Dimming memory trying to recapture images and tastes of years gone by.

Anyway, the other night Min and I went down memory lane (for me anyway). I drove her to this beef noodle stall which I remembered from the early days of my migration to KL. Days when I earned RM180 a month and eating out there was an awaited event on pay day. The stall sells beef tripe noodles and was called Ngau Kee. It is located in the Jalan Alor area just around the corner from one-way street, Jalan Alor. I can't remember the name of the street. Imagine her surprise when we turned the corner and were confronted by this huge neon sign with the legend NGAU KEE in bright colors of the rainbow. And 24 hour service to boot. For those of you who are not familiar with the place it is nothing more than a stall on the 5-foot way over a longkang. I admit that I was taken aback too. It was just a dingy stall when I last went there. We ordered. We ate. The food tasted very,very so-so lah. Nothing like what I remembered. Min said that I over-sold her on it. And she was right. Baarger. Another memory down the longkang. I'm beginning to see why McD's and BK are so popular. No need to deal with any baggage. Met anyone recently who claims that McD's in one place is better than the other?

Some nonsense

I just went to read lecram's HNT and had a great laugh. Thanks my friend. You the best. But after the visit I feel like I'm never going to attain that level of blogging sophistication lah. So I thought I'd post this silly joke which I received via sms today from my secretary.

President George W. Bush has announced on CNN that the floods in New Orleans are believed to have been the work of an Iraqi suicide plumber.

Okay, okay so shoot me for wasting your time.

Optical Illusions

Since Patrick is having blogger's block today, here is a fascinating site on Optical Illusions & Visual Phenomena by Michael Bach

http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/

The Rich And Famous

Just came home from attending a launch for a watch. And got a taste of the lifestyle of the rich and famous. This watch is a Swiss watch like the rest of them. Well, except for the Seiko's and Citizens lah. Apparently, there are only 6 pieces in the world. So far. Each one costs RM1.375 million. The one launched tonight is coded #1. So it was a world premier lah. The guy said that they will only make more if people order them. It will take about 6 months for you to get one assuming you already have 1.375 millions in spare cash that is. Strangely, the crowd there weren't the 1.375 million Ringgit bunch as far as I could see. I mean I was invited man! The guest of honor was the Malaysian minister of domestic trade and industry. But I guess with the recent RGT5million farewell party debacle he won't be in a hurry to get one of these timepieces. Wait a while lah. And because YB was the guest of honor it was a dry function. Only got diabetes inducing colorful liquids in champagne flutes. Finger food was from Shrooms which meant it was quite good. Only trouble was that one had to pick up a lot from those fleet-footed waiters if one was inexperienced enough to go to these functions without first having dinner. My wife argued that since it was timed for 7.30 that we would get dinner. But when we arrived and saw the venue I knew it would have to be a grab and bite kind of thing.
All the guests were herded into a claustrophobic enclosure encircled by fake iron bar fences which made the whole thing look like a mini zoo with casual shoppers at the newly renovated Starhill Gallery staring in with immense curiousity. There was entertainment in the form of Mia Palencia. Sheila Majid was the main entertainment event although she sang to an almost disinterested crowd who was a little louder than her sound system. Strangely, at the end of each song she received resounding applause. I suppose fans of hers have heard those songs so often that they didn't really have to pay attention to appreciate her. Some star celebs there included the very beautiful and very tall,Bernie Chan. I requested her to give me a running commentary to what was happening on stage as she was the only one in our group who could look over the tops of people's heads to see something. The delectable Ida Nerina was there. JO Kukathas of Instant Cafe Theatre with her blond locks. A left over from her last role as a South African on the Road To Mecca. The young and the quick Adam Carruthers (TV8). That was all I recognised. I suppose there were also the sprinkling of dato's and Tan Sri's but these are these days becoming very inconspicuous. The event was hosted by FJ Benjamin. The people who continuously bring you new and innovating ways of spending your hard earned money....GUESS, Raoul, Man. U etc. They were nice and even gave me a door gift. Chocolates, facial oil blotting paper, wet wipes....I must ask Paula Malai, Zit Murad, Zahim Albakri, Gavin Yap and people like that what type of functions they attend. They are always showing off new, handphones, watches, cameras and other cool stuff that they claim were their gifts for attending launches and things and just standing around looking cool and famous. Well, I suppose that is the secret. Looking cool and famous. I've got to work on that a bit more. What to do?

SMS a Malaysian into Space.

Some Malaysians are obviously pissed off that the first Malaysian "astronaut" is going to selected through a vote via SMS. Perhaps before we pump up our blood pressures we should do a reality check on ourselves lah. This is not some "to boldly go where no man has gone before" endeavour. It is just a gloirified joy ride because Malaysia spent some billions of Ringgit and purchased some Russian MIG jet aircraft. A simple gift for purchase promotion. Anyone who is fit and can add two and two and come up with four and who can spend a few millions can go. So the fact that some civil servant has come up with the vote-by-SMS idea augurs well for the development of Bumiputra entrepreneurial skills and should be applauded lah. Don't let's get our knickers into a twist and start believing that we are embarking on a Malaysian space programme here. The best thing about this is that we have have struck upon a great idea for a Malaysian reality TV show that can compete with Academy Fantasia and Malaysian Idol etc. Let's hope that RTM doesn't allow this idea to go to waste and use it to finally get back some audience share. Well maybe that's too much to expect.

whish wisky is the besh?

So we're having some sort of discussion about which wishky is the best to drink lah. lecram says he likes a single malt when he can afford it. trashed keeps reminding me not to sink to the level of Mahaguru. Actually have never tasted Mahaguru before. Never even seen it before. Where you get ah, trashed? For years I heard about the tragic results of drinking Mekong but when I finally did it tasted quite okay lah. No I didn't drink it when I was already sloshed. Quite sober that time. In Bangkok. With lots of ice and soda Mekong is very drinkable. And at RM12 per litre bottle you can't beat it for value man. I mean look, I spent RM280++ for that MacCallan and although it was good didn't think it was worth the money or the hangover. Oh yes, the crap served as house pouring whiskey at ALEXIS @ GE Mall is something called Lighthouse (if I remember correctly but don't blame me if I don't cos drinking that shit will fuck up your brain cells) That is absolutely the worse spirit of any name that I have ever drunk. Some years ago my Filipina house help got me a bottle of whiskey from the republic called White Castle. It smelled like the stuff my wife uses to remove nail polish. Got it on the bar one night when the staff came over for a piss up. Of course it was the last bottle opened that night lah. After the BL, WL....the next morning my Filipina said she was proposed to by at least 3 members of the staff.
Goes to prove even bad whiskey has its uses.
Years ago I has a taste of a whiskey called Scottish Prince. At the home of this friend who was then rolling in $$$'s. To this day I claim that it is the best I have ever tasted. Could be due to the fact that I sneaked a peek at the price tag (which was left on the bottle for obvious reasons) The Duty Free price was RM780 and this was 10 years ago! Maybe that's why it tasted so good. So how much does snob figure in the taste of a whiskey?

Snow

We went to Minnesota, USA in March. Spring. My wife, Min and the kids Laura and Adam had never seen snow before and they wished that they would although it was already spring and the winter snows had melted. The day we arrived in Minneapolis/St. Paul airport it was a chilly spring day but no snow. 20 minutes away from our friend's house in southern Minnesota it started snowing. It snowed and snowed and snowed and didn't stop for the next 26 hours! By the end of the snow storm the town, Albert Lea had recorded a 19 inch snow fall. And according to the folks there it was the worse snow storm they'd had the whole winter! Of course for the next few days the Malaysians didn't get any appreciative looks from the residents of the town. We had wished for snow. Actually they're right. Snow is overrated. Sure it is white and pretty and all. But that lasts for about a day and a half. Even for the kids. It is really no fun when each time you want to go outdoors it would involve at least 20 minutes of suiting up time. And when you're out you can't really stay out that long unless you want to get frozen feet or a frozen bum from sitting in the snow. And let me tell you being cooped up indoors when it's too cold to go outside is not fun at all. And then the snow starts to melt. Water on the sidewalks turn to ice. You fall on your bum a zillion times just getting to your car. Then snow turns to slush. Black, oily, yucky. Snow? Nah. I'd take a sunny day on Batu Ferringhi anytime. Well, maybe if it snowed in Malaysia for a couple of days each year it would be alright. Just for the change.

I also don't know why I wrote all that leh. Must be the nicotine deprivation. It's raining and I have run out. Ah what the heck.....I'm going to go suck on a sweet now.

September 12, 2005

Just read in Afdlin's blog that he got to speak to Pak Lah at the launch of Malaysia's latest TV channel MiTV. It is an eye opening insight into the man who is our Prime Minister and the first politician in a long time with an honest face. Go here and read it. It's worth your time. http://afdlinshauki.blogspot.com/ it's the blog titled....

Friday, September 09, 2005

My chat with Pak Lah... THE PRIME MINISTER! Part 2.

Serendah retreat

In case you're looking for a tranquil retreat from city life but have not been reading the papers or socialising with the right crowd to know, here's something you might like to check out. Sure looks like paradise or something close to it from the photos. Go check it out. www.serendah.com

My wife's blog

For all moms and dads here's my wife's blog http://www.lauraadam.blogspot.com/

Tokkok

Wah! I dinch even know that there were so many responses here man. It took my friend Paula to kick me in the butt and make me come here after such a long hiatus. Well, what she said was, "Hey Patrick! Went to your blogsite and there's shit-all there man." Of course have to recover some face right? So came here today while taking a break from writing some other nonsense for Off The Edge, the magazine I write for once a month. They pay over there but not much lah:-) I was so pleasantly surprised that there were posts here for me. Thank you to all of your for your posts. Especially, Afdlin. You the man, brudder. Ok, ok. before I get carrried away I will send this off and see if I have done the right thing. Talk later.