Sad 4th Anniversary...But There's Someone In Black Likes Him

Sad/Dangerous 4th Anniversary or Bahaya 4th Anniversary...but there's someone in black likes him.

This is the 4th time I am not in Malaysia to 'celebrate' the 4th Anniversary. I'm not sure whether it's a good or a bad thing.

And it's Halloween today! Can he pretend to be Einstein for one day? ;-)

After Elegant Silence, Now He Wants To Talk, But...

A notch better this time. He wants to talk now.

But it seems that he prefers to talk. Rather than to walk.

So you get the drift?

I'm Still Alive...

Just a short nudge here to say that I'm still alive...and surviving.

Dunno when I'll be back into full blogging mode...probably after I get internet access in my apartment.

Meanwhile, let our gobloks ministers and spins from our mainstream media entertain you all...

BRB. :)

So, Which One Is The Propaganda One Again?

Help me choose, okay?



I know the Musang one...

So much easier in Malaysia...you don't have to choose...throw a stone, you'll hit one already. ;-)

(Almost) 48 Hours Later...

While Bedol is busy fondling kangkung launching this and that to fish for votes in Ipoh, I'm watching CSI Miami: The Latest Season live from my room!



Gonna love the first hand series....watching Dave Letterman later. Buahahahahaha!



Just to prove that I'm not in a random hotel room in Bolehland...



I'm missing home already and craving for food...



Bilik* microwave pun ada, so gasak one packet lar...



YUMMY!!!!



Jet lag? As Christina Milan sings, it's From AM to PM. Same time, but different am/pm. ;-)

What's on the news? Ai-rack, Ai-rack, Ai-rack. Obama, Obama, Clinton, Clinton, Obama, Baseball, Baseball, Blue Pill Ads. And what's with the Fahrenheit thingy? As you have had not enough with the left hand drive, weird two pin plug, program-programme, check-cheque, blablabla....

And you gonna 'lurve' the airport security, whatmore when The Bearded Lunatic launches a new video and alert has been raised to Orange. :-0

Wait a minute. All news and bragging from Unilateral-land? What about bashing about Bo_ _ hland?

Later, later. :)

* Bilik refers to temporary hotel room for just two days only. :P

Okayyy...Just The Last One

One more update before I fly. Blogging live from the KLIA using the free WiFi service.

Gotta lurve the free service...

It's gonna be a long journey...almost 48 hours...





Of all the food, I had this...





Hey, that have the satay sauce, which I'll be missing...



Not quite away yet but two major events had already happened in just a short time: the arrival of our outer-space model and M's discharged from IJN...



Snap elections announcement later? Fat hope!

Two more hours to go...

C y'all later!

Fare.Well

Off again. This time to the other side of the Atlantic - the New England.



This ought to be my last post in 2007...while I'm still in Malaysia lar! Will be back again end of next year, mayhaps.

4Fs aside (Family, Friends, Food and Fun in the sun), I will definitely be missing all the SoPo blog buzz in Malaysia, like getting arrested and spending 4 days in detention the Mammoth Mass Meeting March at Merdeka (Square) - MMMMM this Nov 10th, for instance. I hope they will fare. Well.

The other major event is none other than the GE, which I won't be able to vote (for the second time already!). Don't even try with postal voter registration...I mean, the red tape, the phantom transfer of votes...anything could go wrong! I hope the Opposition could really fare this time. Well. We might even see some of our Yang Berblog really becoming into Yang Berhormats- Yang Berhormats this time!

Well, I guess that's it then. I'll be in a hiatus until I get internet connection in Taikoland. C ya!

Oh, Sweeftee is a gorgeous guy. Sweeftee is a handsome guy. Sweeftee is a brilliant guy. Sweeftee makes good films. But Sweeftee sometimes tries to hard to get people read him. Now, give me the prize, will ya? (You might have to fork out extra postage) :P

Want To Try Something Different Besides Bean Sprouts & Chicken in Ipoh? How About Brewster's?

This is not a paid post.

Tired of your regular dose of bean sprouts and chicken kuewtiau everytime you're in Ipoh? Why not try some Western food?

Wasn't quite a fan of Western food whenever I'm in Malaysia (must cherish local food mar!), but since my schoolmates gave me a lavish farewell gift (why farewell? Details later...), they also wanted something in a return and managed to gasak me for a treat last weekend at this place.

Brewster's at Brewster Road or now known as Jalan Sultan Idris Shah.

Apparently, this place was just open for a week and many would have probably missed this place while paying more attention to this historic FMS Bar or while taking a sharp corner turn.

FMS Bar.

Well, it is basically just beside the NUBE Ipoh Branch. Nope, there's no protest on that day.

Notice the sharp photo angle? If I go further, I'll probably be knocked down by incoming traffic taking that sharp turn.

Situated in the nostalgic Old Town of Ipoh (famous for its White Coffee), is it just at the corner opposite of Padang Ipoh (famous for its Rojak).

Ipoh Padang.

And here's the interior of the restaurant.

If there's a large crowd, you'll probably have to combine a few tables.

It has a jazz theme interior design...



Now, what about the food? Well, to be frank, the menu is simple enough - it has just four pages. It has basic Western starters/appetizers like soups and fries, mains like lamb, ribs, steak, fish and chips, pasta and deserts like cakes. (Duh!). Sorta like Chili's (and with the price comparable), except that it doesn't have the free-flow thingy.

Well, what did we order?

Ribs with a dash of Oriental vege.

Lamb chop with honey mustard sauce.

Me English mates, I present you the Malaysian Fish and chips.

Wanted to this a pass as the menu mentioned two main propaganda English dailies (it was meant to give a nostalgic English feeling to this dish with the paper wrappings in the old times). A bit tad tasteless without the malt vinegar, the obligatory condiment in the authentic English F&C, together with salt. (when I requested for one, they gave me a puzzled look).

Malt vinegar. You can't go without it!

And with some lemon cheesecake to end...on the house.



Generally, the servings are generous and the price is above average for Ipoh's standards (should be like kacang putih for KL-ites).

And here are the details of Brewster's:





And presenting the beautiful owner, Anne Dass:

We May Have Space Pahwerr, But We Still Have Ministers Whose Brains Are Empty Like Space (e.g. that JJ Guy)

Space pahwerrr is a term sarcastically coined by Azmi Sharom in his column last Thursday. He wrote that we should cheer and beat our chests that we have space power, albeit with a space in our brains.

Speaking of Azmi, there's the other Azmi, Azmi Khalid, the Natural Resources and Environment Minister, who labeled a RM3.4 million tour jetty complex at Sungai Pinang in Jelutong as the 'joke blunder of the century' as the river is already too polluted as a tourism product.

[Source]

As if this joke blunder is not enough, we now have the racist space minister and with the brain as empty as space, he spoke on how new jetty complex would result in better ferry services and prevent untoward incidents, like the one in Tioman recently.

[Source]

To quote:

“The present number of ferry services is not enough to cope with the high number of tourists going to the island. This can lead to overloading of the ferries.

Child got murdered. Blame the parents. Bags got snatched. Blame the bag carriers. So, what's new?

As a matter of fact, I got this pointer from a letter to Malaysiakini by Norman Fernandez (who is also a blogger).

Dumb and dumber over ferry inferno
Norman Fernandez
Oct 19, 07 7:56pm

Recently, former Singapore Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew called the Burmese generals dumb. Could the dumber ones be here? According to Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis, there is an urgent need for a new jetty at Tioman Island which according to him would result in better services and prevent untoward incident.

Perhaps the minister would like to be informed that people had died from a ferry tragedy and not from a collapsed jetty. As of yesterday, the death count from the Tioman Island ferry tragedy is six and one passenger is still listed as missing.

At this stage, what is important is for the government and relevant authorities to first slap criminal charges on the ferry operator for their omissions (at the same time check on the others) and haul up all those who had shirked from their responsibility in ensuring that the ferries plying Tioman island are not only seaworthy but importantly has all the necessary licences and has complied with all relevant requirement.

What matters most and importantly now is to ensure safe and seaworthy ferries, and not the construction of a new jetty.

So, yes, "We May Have Space Pahwerr, But We Still Have Ministers Whose Brains Are Empty Like Space."

Or maybe not. Construction = Commission = Gravy Train = Masuk Poket Sendiri. ;-)

Aussie K*tek Kecik Ads 'Proven Very Successful'

Remember those Aussie k*tek kecik ads that I reckon that we should emulate?



It has been 'proven successful'!

Manhood road ad 'very successful'

Images of road deaths have not curbed speeding, says the RTA Anti-speeding ad

An Australian ad campaign aiming to reduce road deaths by questioning the manhood of speeding drivers has proved a great success, a survey suggests.

The TV ads show women shaking their little finger - a gesture used to symbolise a small penis - as speeding male motorists race past.

In a government-commissioned survey, about 60% of young men said the ad had made them ponder their driving habits.

The ads have attracted complaints of sexism since they began in June.

But New South Wales (NSW) Roads Minister Eric Roozendaal said a few dented egos was a small price to pay if the adds help save a life.

"Wiggling your pinkie has cut through to that crucial age group of young drivers - they're using it as a way to slow their mates down and stop them acting recklessly on our roads," he told the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper.

The A$1.9m (£805,000) campaign "Speeding. No-one thinks big of you" has been running on TV, in cinemas, at bus shelters and online since June.

The NSW Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) said it introduced the campaign because the shock tactics of previous adverts, showing disturbing images of death and injury in road crashes, had not worked.

The new ads included one young driver revving his engine and rushing through traffic lights in front of two young women and another racing past a female pedestrian.

After both incidents the women wave their little fingers in slow motion with knowing glances.

Speeding is a factor in about 40% of road deaths in NSW each year, according to RTA figures.

The ad campaign was introduced at the same time as restrictions on learner drivers - including a ban on all mobile phone use, limits on the number of young passengers allowed and tougher speeding penalties.

Note: As of Tuesday, the third day of Ops Iraqi-War-in-Malaysia Sikap XIII, 49 were killed.

Malaysia is 124/169 of the just released Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2007

Sorry, this time Malaysia is better than Singapore (141st) and Ghana (29th) is wayyyyyyy better than Malaysia.

On bloggers:

Government repression no longer ignores bloggers

The Internet is occupying more and more space in the breakdown of press freedom violations. Several countries fell in the ranking this year because of serious, repeated violations of the free flow of online news and information.

In Malaysia (124th), Thailand (135th), Vietnam (162nd) and Egypt (146th), for example, bloggers were arrested and news websites were closed or made inaccessible. “We are concerned about the increase in cases of online censorship,” Reporters Without Borders said. “More and more governments have realised that the Internet can play a key role in the fight for democracy and they are establishing new methods of censoring it. The governments of repressive countries are now targeting bloggers and online journalists as forcefully as journalists in the traditional media.”

At least 64 persons are currently imprisoned worldwide because of what they posted on the Internet. China maintains its leadership in this form of repression, with a total of 50 cyber-dissidents in prison. Eight are being held in Vietnam. A young man known as Kareem Amer was sentenced to four years in prison in Egypt for blog posts criticising the president and Islamist control of the country’s universities.

Read the report (in PDF) here.

Here's the full ranking if you insist or too lazy to click the links:

Rank Country Note
1 Iceland 0,75
- Norway 0,75
3 Estonia 1,00
- Slovakia 1,00
5 Belgium 1,50
- Finland 1,50
- Sweden 1,50
8 Denmark 2,00
- Ireland 2,00
- Portugal 2,00
11 Switzerland 3,00
12 Latvia 3,50
- Netherlands 3,50
14 Czech Republic 4,00
15 New Zealand 4,17
16 Austria 4,25
17 Hungary 4,50
18 Canada 4,88
19 Trinidad and Tobago 5,00
20 Germany 5,75
21 Costa Rica 6,50
- Slovenia 6,50
23 Lithuania 7,00
24 United Kingdom 8,25
25 Mauritius 8,50
- Namibia 8,50
27 Jamaica 8,63
28 Australia 8,79
29 Ghana 9,00
30 Greece 9,25
31 France 9,75
32 Taiwan 10,00
33 Spain 10,25
34 Bosnia and Herzegovina 11,17
35 Italy 11,25
36 Macedonia 11,50
37 Japan 11,75
- Uruguay 11,75
39 Chile 12,13
- South Korea 12,13
41 Croatia 12,50
42 Romania 12,75
43 South Africa 13,00
44 Israel (Israeli territory) 13,25
45 Cape Verde 14,00
- Cyprus 14,00
47 Nicaragua 14,25
48 United States of America 14,50
49 Togo 15,17
50 Mauritania 15,50
51 Bulgaria 16,25
52 Mali 16,50
53 Benin 17,00
54 Panama 17,88
55 Tanzania 18,00
56 Ecuador 18,50
- Poland 18,50
58 Cyprus (North) 19,00
- Montenegro 19,00 n. c.
60 Kosovo 19,75
61 Hong-Kong 20,00
- Madagascar 20,00
63 Kuwait 20,17
64 El Salvador 20,20
65 United Arab Emirates 20,25
66 Georgia 20,83
67 Serbia 21,00
68 Bolivia 21,50
- Burkina Faso 21,50
- Zambia 21,50
71 Central African Republic 22,50
72 Dominican Republic 22,75
73 Mozambique 23,00
74 Mongolia 23,40
75 Botswana 23,50
- Haiti 23,50
77 Armenia 23,63
78 Kenya 23,75
79 Qatar 24,00
80 Congo 24,50
81 Moldova 24,75
82 Argentina 24,83
83 Senegal 25,00
84 Brazil 25,25
85 Cambodia 25,33
- Liberia 25,33
87 Albania 25,50
- Honduras 25,50
- Niger 25,50
90 Paraguay 26,10
91 Angola 26,50
92 Malawi 26,75
- Ukraine 26,75
94 Côte d’Ivoire 27,00
- Timor-Leste 27,00
96 Comoros 28,00
- Uganda 28,00
98 Lebanon 28,75
99 Lesotho 29,50
100 Indonesia 30,50
101 Turkey 31,25
102 Gabon 31,50
103 Israel (extra-territorial) 32,00
104 Guatemala 33,00
- Seychelles 33,00
106 Morocco 33,25
107 Fiji 33,50
- Guinea 33,50
- Guinea-Bissau 33,50
110 Kyrgyzstan 33,60
111 Cameroon 36,00
- United States of America (extra-territorial) 36,00
113 Chad 36,50
114 Venezuela 36,88
115 Tajikistan 37,00
116 Bhutan 37,17
117 Peru 37,38
118 Bahrein 38,00
119 Tonga 38,25
120 India 39,33
121 Sierra Leone 39,50
122 Jordan 40,21
123 Algeria 40,50
124 Malaysia 41,00
125 Kazakhstan 41,63
126 Colombia 42,33
127 Burundi 43,40
128 Philippines 44,75
129 Maldives 45,17
130 Gambia 48,25
131 Nigeria 49,83
132 Djibouti 50,25
133 Democratic Republic of Congo 50,50
134 Bangladesh 53,17
135 Thailand 53,50
136 Mexico 53,63
137 Nepal 53,75
138 Swaziland 54,50
139 Azerbaijan 55,40
140 Sudan 55,75
141 Singapore 56,00
142 Afghanistan 56,50
143 Yemen 56,67
144 Russia 56,90
145 Tunisia 57,00
146 Egypt 58,00
147 Rwanda 58,88
148 Saudi Arabia 59,75
149 Zimbabwe 62,00
150 Ethiopia 63,00
151 Belarus 63,63
152 Pakistan 64,83
153 Equatorial Guinea 65,25
154 Syria 66,00
155 Libya 66,50
156 Sri Lanka 67,50
157 Iraq 67,83
158 Palestinian Territories 69,83
159 Somalia 71,50
160 Uzbekistan 74,88
161 Laos 75,00
162 Vietnam 79,25
163 China 89,00
164 Burma 93,75
165 Cuba 96,17
166 Iran 96,50
167 Turkmenistan 103,75
168 North Korea 108,75
169 Eritrea 114,75

Yet More Desecration of the Malaysian National Flag a.k.a Jalur Gemilang?

Yawn! This is a very lame post.

Gasp! Not by our model-cum-one-hand-already-on-Datukship-medal-recipient!



I didn't know that our flag has three stripes, a spiky ball and a not-quite-a-crescent.



And flag-in-shirt? Remember this?

[Source]

And a very fine example...



Just pondering, what happened to all the used-by flags now? Do they end up in the bins or left hanging decayed and dilapidated? ;-)

Eid-ul-Fitr Mubarak 2007!

The Sensintrovert would like to take this opportunity to wish its readers a very blessed Eid-ul-Fitr.







Last year's Eid, M was busy spewing venom and releasing 'mercun bambu' (while The Sleepy Head was busy jotting in his black book), but this year he'll be celebrating at IJN. :-(



Also, last year's Eid, Happy Dick was shaking crocodile tears on national TV begging the rakyat to forgive him, but this year he's boasting and mansioning his Tua Lam Pah (Big b@lls). Castle.

Montage by Lulu. Pics by The Star.

But this year, will The Sleepy Head lie about the number of people attended his open house this year?

It was reported that Abdullah’s Hari Raya open house attracted 180,000 to 200,000 people -- meaning he is very popular with the rakyat. This is what the mainstream media reported. Well, let us work out the sums.

It takes three seconds to quickly shake the hand of each guest if you do not talk to them, ask them how they are, etc. You just shake their hands as fast as possible and say, “Next!” So, in one minute, you can shake the hands of 20 guests and, in an hour, the hands of 1,200 guests. To shake the hands of 180,000 to 200,000 guests will take about seven days. And that is only if you shake their hands non-stop, 24 hours a day over seven days, without taking a break to eat, sleep, pray, go to the toilet, etc.

But I thought the open house was only half a day or six hours at the most? This means the most number of guests you can shake hands with would have been about 7,000. Or did more than 190,000 people just go home without shaking hands with their host or thank him for the food they ate? That's terrible.

p.s. This will be my very last Malaysian festival before I leave again...

Blastoff. Crazy.

Was here during the blastoff.



M also wished that he was here during the blastoff?

The Loaf. Cheapest bun = RM 2.40.

Too many floors (as in levels and lantai), too little chairs.



Ngwap, ngwap, ngwap...



Can you believe that the order was delayed for an hour due to 'no gas supply'? We could send someone to space, but we can't even supply gas uninterrupted in this oil and gas producing country...

Hit the highway after that...



Crazy! Look at the time and queue!



ZZZ now.