Die lah!

I've just realised that Star Movies is showing a Die Hard marathon tonight: it's showing all the Die Hard movies back to back.

What this really means is that we can watch Bruce Willis age through the evening.

Reunion Dinner

It was a strange thing; going to a reunion dinner which is not your own; this is what precisely happen this Saturday night as the gang was invited to Mr Wong's reunion dinner. However working on the premise that one should not turn down a free dinner, we all turned up to a slap up feast and lots of whisky.

The dinner turned up to be a karaoke session and I was also called to the stage to perform a rendition of "Hey Jude" with Mr Ho. (the Sith Lord in training) Let's just say that the sound system wasn't any good, and there was more feedback then melody. Apparently that was enough for the Gohs and Kohs, as they left during our melodious moment. Some people just can't appreciate good talent!!!!

  

Jim's Merdeka Barbeque Mash

As it's the Independence Day weekend, someone (not sure who) decided that it would be a good idea to have a Barbe in the Pub. Well actually, the Webber was set up behind the pub, not actually in it.... but that's me being pedantic again.  

So there I was on a Friday afternoon, peeling 20 extra large spuds to make Mash Potatoes to feed 20 persons. By 7 pm the Mash was ready, so off to Jim's I went to be greeted by the gang, who all surpassed themselves this time around.

There was a Tomato and Onion soup from Mr Koh (though I'm sure Mrs Koh made the soup); the Sith Lord set up the Webber and smoked chicken, sausages and some wonderful lamb chops to go with some equally good onion sauce; Mr Goh brought the briquettes(?!!?); Bee Yen (the proprietress of Jim's) provided the salad; Doreen provided not 1 but 2 outstanding desserts, a lemon tart and a custard caramel; Mr Wong the fruits and I provided the "would you like some potatoes with your butter" type of mash.  

The Sith Lord lording over the Webber

Mention must also be made of the aperitif, a Cloudy Bay 2005 provided by the Sith Lord. Oh yummy!!!

Doreen: Please Sir... may I have more Tomato soup?

All this followed by some wonderful coffee. Oh... what a meal!!!

 

Big Ship

What's this Heap Big Ship doing parked outside my window??

Got back home today and saw this ship parked outside my window. Living with a view of the Straits of Malacca, one does encounter some unusual sights out there from time to time. But having a ship parked so close inshore is unusual. This one's parked especially close to an outcrop. (You may just be able to see a little white beacon close to the bow of the ship)

And the phallic symbol you see there, well that's the minaret of a mosque.

The Mummy - Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

Look! No strings!

Tuesday nights seems to be my Cinema night. Last night I watched the latest installment of The Mummy. 

The verdict? Well it's another Whoosh, Wham, Bamn film. Great action scenes, with some nice comic touches. Worth watching if you like that sort of thing. 

Of course I have my usual gripe with the Malaysia Censors, however with a big action film such as this, it can only be fully appreciated on the big screen; 2 rows from the front of course!! 

Datuk Lee Chong Wei

Did he not lose in the final???!!!!

Beijing Olympics

It was not too long ago

The Olympics show was a go

Now it's about to come to a stop

Beijing's about to close shop

So maybe it's time

To reflect on what was sublime

Was it Phelps

Or the Jamaica Bolt

For me it was a jolt

Realising that the women are now in revolt

To look like ladies

Rather then laddies

Before - Fatimah Whitbread a laddie   

Now - Leryn Franco definitely a lady

Not convinced??! Try these

Google Antonio Bourdain

Did you know that if you googled Antonio Bourdain, top of the list is my post of the 17th of May? How did that happen, It's even ahead of Tony's own blog!!! 

Now that's cool!!!

What's in a Name?

I'm about to buy a Schnauzer she-dog (okay.... bitch), she'll probably be delivered this week.

I'm having trouble picking up a name for her, so I thought I'll post my short list and ask everyone's advice.

1. Pork Chop - My feeble protest for Article 11 to be respected.

2. Athena - Greek Goddess of Wisdom

3. Pandora - She of the box.

4. Vesta - The virginal Roman Goddess of the hearth and home, also a subject in the song "The Whiter Shade of Pale" by Procol Harum.

5.Phoebe - After my favorite stock; Public Bank (PB geddit?) 

The Hungry Ghosts

Last night, the 16th of August, we had the 7th moon prayers at Ole Sayang, to feed the Hungry Ghosts. Done annually, this the Chinese equivalent of "All Souls Day", however, it lasts for a whole month. Apparently the Chinese souls are hungrier then the others!!

The Invincible Man - Olympics Ad.

Oh Rodger, the ads say that you're invincible
Today, the results proved unsustainable
Young Rafael has now broken through
And turned the ads into turkey stew

I guess that you'll be feeling blue
That this year's results were just poo
I hope you won't bid adieu
In the resulting hullabaloo

Briefly....

I've just received this, thought it was so funny, I had to post it immediately.

This is a good one. It really prove that Malaysia Boleh. We are better
than Russian+German+ Israel . Haha
*Medical Advances - M'sia the best. Boleh mah.*
*An Israeli doctor says ..............*
'Medicine in my country is so advanced that we can take a kidney out of one
man, put it in another, and have him looking for work in six weeks.'
*
A German doctor says ..................................*
'That is nothing, we can take a lung out of one person, put it in another,
and have him looking for work in four weeks.
*
A Russian doctor says ....................................*
'In my country, medicine is so far progressed that we can take half a heart
out of one person, put it in another, and have them both looking for work in
two weeks.'
*
The Malaysian doctor, not to be outdone, says ...............*
'You guys are way behind, we recently took a man with no brains, out from
Kepala Batas, Penang, put him in the Parliament for 5 years, and now half
the country is looking for work.'

p.s. forgive the grammer, but it is a Malaysian joke!

Briefly....

Yes!!! I've finally got an African visitor to this blog. South African as a matter of fact. This means that I've had visitors from every continent except for Antarctica. Isn't that cool...??

The X Files - I want to believe

Tonight, Tuesday the 12th. of August, I decided to watch The X Files - I want to believe. 

I was lucky to be able to get in to see it as when I went to the ticket office, they informed me that they may not be showing the film as they require a minimum audience of 5 persons, to run the film, and as I was the only person who was interested in watching the film so far, they may not be running it today. So with bated breath, I waited hopefully for more like minded individuals to turn up. Thankfully the quota was filled with 5 minutes to go, so off we went into the auditorium.

As it was, the film turned out to be as disappointing as the crowd. It was like watching a 2 hour edition of a not so interesting TV episode. I mean there I was 2 rows from the front, expecting to be blown over by ET's version of a GTi and what do we get??!!! A film set in a continual blizzard! This on a day which was cold, wet and overcast!!! Brrrr.... especially in a 200 seater auditorium with only 10 persons in it. Double brrrr!!!! 

Really... the film isn't worth reporting on. 

Counters

Having started this blog, I've often wondered if there were people reading it as there were not many comments left. Apart from the few people who spoke to me personally about what they read, there was no other indication of the presence of visitors to the blog. Someone then suggested that I install a counter to the blog. So I looked at that idea, investigated a little, and on the 20th of July, I activated "Analytics" on the blogsite. Further research showed that there were other programmes available, and as they were free I then attached "sitemeter" on the 7th of August 2008.

Both programmes not only allowed me to keep track of the number of visitors, but also other characteristics like, location, browsers used, time on site but not who was actually visiting. This because most surfers use dynamic IPs which are assigned every time they log on the web. Fixed IP users are identified, however those are few and far between.

Analytics provides lots of detailed information, however it is very difficult to trace the traits to each individual user. Sitemeter however, displays each user and their traits individually.

So, with Analytics, it will display that 20 visitors used Firefox as a browser; while sitemeter will display, say, 50 visitors of which 20 of them would list Firefox as the browser used. ( I would have to count up the 20 visitors individually) 

Well... enough technicalities!! So what has these counters shown?

According to Analytics, since the 20th of July, I've had 120 visitors (including my visits) to my site, of which 52 are "absolutely unique" visitors.

There have been visitors from 18 countries; including Peru in the West to Japan in the East; Argentina in the South to Moscow in the North.

With sitemeter, I was able to identify a visitor from Flushing, New York who visited the blog after googling "Antonio Bourdain". I wonder??..... could this be a visit from Tony, after a personal vanity search?

So the next time you surf the web, please note... Big Brother may be watching!! 

Tour of South China- Day V Shenzhen

As this was our last day in China, we had a little bit of a lie-in before we were taken to an extremely large shopping mall, or more accurately, several shopping malls which were linked together. By mutual agreement, the ladies decided that they would go shopping leaving the men to do their own thing. We decided to go to a day spa, which was eye opening to say the least. This place was LARGE! By that I mean,  you enter on the first floor, which housed the changing  and shower rooms. Then via a lift, you are then taken to the lounge floor which had at least 200 large  and sumptuous recliners, each with it's own personal mini LCD monitor. There you could get massages for you feet, head and back. I also had my ears cleaned. There was a whole list of pampering you could get done whilst you were seated in those recliners. 

So after 2 hours of pampering, we left to meet up with the ladies and got ready to leave for the airport.

At the Airport, we said goodbye to our local guide, Mary. We were then greeted by the news that the Air Asia flight was possibly delayed. There was confusion as the monitor display indicated that the flight was delayed 'til 12 am, however the counter staff said that the flight was on scheduled to fly at 10pm. Typical Air Bloody Asia. Anyway we were mollified when Raven, our tour coordinator informed us that she bought a roast goose soas we do not go hungry during the wait for the plane. Unfortunately, the photos of us enjoying our last pig-out of this tour was lost when airport security requested that Yew Pun delete the photos as we were by the exist gate.

As it turns out, the Air Asia fight was late getting in, so we had to endure a 2 hour delay. Which meant that we arrived back in LCCT at 3 am. There the group split up and went our separate ways. I bummed a lift with Yew Pun and Doreen, who dropped me off at Straits Meridian at 5.30 am.

THE END

 

 

  

Tour of South China- Day IV Shenzhen

After last night's fun at the karaoke, it was a bit of an effort to wake oneself up and get down to breakfast. I also had trouble finding the coffeehouse as I did not remember being told that it was on the fifth floor. So after an unscheduled tour of the "Mary Celeste" I finally found the coffeehouse and gobbled down my breakfast in 15 minutes.

Then it was off in the mini-bus to Shenzhen. Needless to say I slept most of the way, only to wake up periodically for a wee at a rest stop. We finally arrived in Shenzhen at approximately 3 pm where we decided to find some food after checking into "Days Inn". Of all things, we found a halal cafe which was still serving food at that time of day. This was the place where I had my "shaggy yak" noodle, which wa

s detailed in an earlier post.

After an afternoon rest it was then off to a very touristy cultural s

how. It was bright and spectacular, more Las Vegas then traditional China. 

Then it was off to dinner at yet another randomly selected restaurant. Once again we had a feast, this time around, the herbal soup took centre stage; as we all tried to guess what was in it. We of course could not, however, it did not stop us from ordering a second pot of the same soup. However a bitter taste was left in our mouths, when the bill came with a 800 remimbi "arithmetical error".   

After last night's drunken frolics, an early night was the order for the day. 

Tour of South China- Day III Night Time Frolics

Now where were we in this saga? Oh yes. Having visited the Bird's Paradise, we then completed our journey to Jiangmen, were we immediately checked into the "Celeste Palace Hotel" our abode for the night. It was more like the "Mary  Celeste", big gloomy and soulless. 

After checking in, we decided that an early dinner was in order, as we had skipped lunch, so in 15 minutes we were back on the mini-bus and on the way to dinner within that time. This for those who know me was a real achievement, as within that 15 minutes, I even had a shower!!!

Once again, there was another roast pig and lots of alcohol at dinner and in a drunken stupor, we all agreed to go to a karaoke after dinner.

Ban Tong showing us the traditional manner of drinking in China 

So then it was off to the karaoke which was in the next wing of the hotel, which was a good thing as I needed help in getting to my room later. Thank-you Ban Tong for ignoring my protestations, and sending me back at about 1am.

Yew Pun and me about to leave yet another musical corpse in our wake 

The ladies, also having their fun at the karaoke

MacBook Air II

Yeah!! I've got my MBA back!!! Life was strange without it.

Anyway, since I got it; 5 months ago; the following have been replaced:

1. The Screen

2. The Battery

3. The Logic Board.

Thank god it's still under warranty! It would have cost a bomb otherwise.

 I suppose I'll have better extend the warranty now. 

08-08-2008

As the Eighth of August approaches
It is the problem of the coaches
To keep their charges
Calm and away from unforseen discharges

All the travel shows
Are intensifying the flow
Of images of all things Chinese
As it is now the bees-knees

So there goes Tony
Ian, Magen, and Bobby
To the Great Wall
Where they've all had their call





Pictures of the rehearsal of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, from my on the ground reporter, Jackie Chan, who has been in Beijing preparing the TV coverage of the games.

Le Weekend

The weekend just gone was a weekend devoted to the elders of the family.

It began at 7am with a drive up to Kuala Lumpur (KL) in order to attend the iCapital AGM at the Sime Darby Convention Centre, after dropping off Mum and Dad at Aunty Rose's.

The AGM stretched until lunch time with Tan Teng Boon having to stop taking the non-stop flow of questions regarding the economy. Like a good contrarian, he was absolutely bullish on the matter.

Then it was a lunch at a Tapas Bar with Ser Heng at Bangsar Shopping Centre; thanks Ser Heng for lunch.

After a quick rest at the hotel, it was then off to Uncle San's (for those who these things matter, he is Dad's third sister's husband) Birthday dinner at Kelana Jaya at 6pm. It was good to catch up with all the cousins and older folks.

The San's Family Protrait

The Seet Siblings - Dad, the Aunties; Anna, Amy and Rose.

On Sunday, it was off to Ikea with Mum and Dad. After spending 4 hours in Ikea, it was off to Lunch at i-Dragon, where the sweet and sour pork ribs were excellent. Then it was a visit to the VW show room to view the new Polo GTi. Lovely car! Dad was impressed with Golf, hmm... is that a new car I hear??

Then it was off to the pet shop to check out the puppies. Those Schnauzer puppies are just soo... cute. Then it was off home to Malacca via the scenic Putra Jaya.

A good week-end over all.

Anwar- the new PM?

Read the news this morning that Wan Azizah has given up her seat to allow her husband, Anwar Ibrahim, to run for the vacant seat.

Immediately the following scene, set in the Anwar household; jumped into my head.

Anwar: Sayang, would you mind wearing that nightie we bought from Victoria's Secret tonight?

Wan Azizah: Bugger that!!
Tell you what: I'll resign my seat and you can begin your push for the PMship.
You may have my seat, not my ARSE!!!

Crass....but funny nevertheless. ;-)