The King of Pop passed away from cardiac arrest this morning in his house in Los Angeles.

Everybody’s got a tribute for MJ today so I wanna have mine too!

But I’ll be brief, hehe.

Strangely, my impression of MJ was that he was a really good guy. I wasn’t really a fan of his, but with some of his songs like ‘Earth Song’, he seemed to me a man with a good cause.

Furthermore, when I was a kid, like really really young, I saw one of his performances on television, where a female fan had ran on stage, plunged onto him and hugged him tightly, and kissed him!

It was to my amazement when I saw that MJ was cool about it, and that he actually hugged and kissed her back!

I was young and when I saw that I was like “wow, this is really a fan-loving guy!”

If I were to see that scene at my present age, I would have thought “OMG after this she can get rich by charging each of the fans $100 to touch that inch of her skin that Michael Jackson has kissed with his royal, sexy lips.”

So generally, I thought good of Michael Jackson… until Southpark came along.

Episode 117 of Season 8 parodied him as a man who behaves completely like a child, has tendencies of molesting children, and ends up having his surgically enhanced nose ripped off his face and his whole ‘artificial’ body gruesomely falling apart.

That, coupled with some previous controversies of him molesting children – successfully planted an image of him as a total freak in my mind.

However, I later learned that the child-molesting charges against him (in real life)  had been dropped and he was acquitted as an innocent person.

Personally, I am not that interested in him being a good person or not, because even if he were a serial killer, I would still admire his sleek moves – the moonwalk, the anti-gravity lean, the trademark yelp – “AW!” and everything else that had been so influential in the past few decades.

He was so cool in his MVs… Can you do his moves? You can’t, so he wins. He’s the man.

His death is a tremendous loss to the entertainment industry. I think the world would never find a substitution superstar who had such a warm, bright smile, such unbeatable dance moves, and such great passion toward penis-grabbing during performances.

Michael Jackson, you will be sorely missed.

(This entry is a rant. So no pictures hehe… )

Despite the fact that my university is owned by these guys, I really have a lot of shit to say about this company – TM.

TM, if I’m not so badly mistaken, is one of the greatest companies in Malaysia. And they have improved a lot since the old Telekom Malaysia times.

But, is it enough? No! Hell NO!

Where to start? A couple of months ago, I seeked their support when I lost my TMOnline password (TMOnline is the website where you can view your bills and pay them etc. and you have to create your own username and password on that site to use it, what I’m saying is – you don’t use your internet account’s password but a different password specially created for that site.)

Also, I know it sounds stupid but I lost my username ages ago too, because I’ve registered on that website since the day I signed up for Streamyx and have never used it since then.

Last year, when I finally had the need to check my bills immediately and not wait for the monthly paper bill, I decided to recover my password. Without my username, of course – I could not use the TMOnline website’s password retrieval system.

So I called the TM hotline, they verified my identity, recovered my username and password, spelt it out nicely to me through the phone, and I happily thanked them and hung up the phone… only to realize that it was NOT the TMOnline username and password that I needed, but they had instead retrieved my StreamyX username and password!

My head steaming, I struggled to recall back and was sure that I had made it crystal clear that I needed my TMOnline username and password, not the friggin’ internet login password.

Anyway, realizing that talking through the phone would not be clear enough, I went to a TMPoint (their customer service centers), queued for 3 hours, and asked them what I should do. The lady in the TM-branded coat pondered my problem for a while, tapped her keyboard confusedly, and turned to consult the guy sitting beside her.

Then, she turned back to me, smiled, and asked me to hold on while she tapped on her keyboard. I sat there, expecting some expertly intelligent solution, only to see her browsing to the website and trying to password retrieve my password using the website’s password retrieval system!

I was  speechless. She then asked me for my username, which I promptly broke out of my stupor and iterated – clearly – that I had lost it.

I continued to tell her that I had tried using the retrieval system before but failed because I didn’t have the username. But she tried anyway, and of all things, she keyed in my Streamyx username instead in the login field! As if hoping that I would have been stupid enought to have confused the two! Of course, it didn’t work.

After trying for some time, she then turned to me and said calmly: “Sorry ya, but we really need your username to do this…”

I wanted to stand up and take off all my clothes to show her that I wasn’t hiding my username underneath my armpit or something, but resisted. I  just repeated that I had, very unfortunately, lost BOTH my username and password.

The lady sat stunned for a full three seconds, as if she had finally discovered the earth-shattering truth and at the same time, had never met with such a moronic customer who could lose both his username and password at once. She then looked up and told me blandly – there was nothing much they could do.

I  asked desperately: “Isn’t there some ways that the system can recover, like, both my username and password? I am here in person and I can answer any questions regarding my identity!”

I was, despite apologetically, told that there was none, and that the only thing I could do was to find my username.

Defeated, I decided that I wasn’t going to use the damn system anymore, anyway. Sticking to the old paper bills would be good enough to keep me alive.

That was at the end of last year.

This year however, in late March, I again found the need to use the TMOnline system to check my bills because I had just cancelled one of my packages (The Voice28 package), and the officer in charge had said that my account had just recovered from a suspension that day, so she would have to do the cancellation process for me the following week (because that day was Friday); the following week, however, would have been April already, so she told me that because they would be processing my cancellation in early April, the bill for April would have already been processed by then and I would have to wait until May for the package to properly stop working. She asked me to check the bill routinely to see if my package made it to be cancelled before April’s bill went out.

Despite having to pay 2 months of extra package fee for nothing (I no longer make land line calls), I wasn’t complaining much, because I knew big companies were memang macam tu.

I had also tried creating a new username and password and somehow, even with the new username and password, I still couldn’t log in to TMOnline. I even used the password retrieval system to retrieve a new password for that new username to confirm that the system recognizes my password – still it didn’t work!

I called the TM customer line again, and this time kept reminding myself to make perfectly sure that the operator understands which username and password I was referring to.

I succeeded in making my point! The lady seemed to finally understand, after many rounds of me saying “No no no no no, not the Streamyx username… the one being used on TMOnline, the TM website used to pay bills!”, that I wasn’t looking to recover my Streamyx password…

… But she seemed clueless of what I was ACTUALLY looking for.

She even blurredly asked me for the address of that website that I was talking about. So I spelled out: “t…m…online…dot…com…dot…my”.

I heard her type on her keyboard and clicked. Worrying over her seemingly confused and uncertain voice that she might have never actually seen the website before (OMG, TM employee?), I followed to say: “ OK, now you see on the upper right hand side, right? There’s an orange box with the login button…”

Jeez, I felt like I was the customer service operator, not her.

She tried, and tried, and tried again to log in with my username and password (as if I have not already tried countless times before calling her), and finally, she seemed a bit impatient and said: “Could you please hold on?”

And she left.

LEFT!

I waited bleakly on the phone for another 1 minute, 3 minutes, 5 minutes… and as I saw the time counter on my phone reach 10 minutes, I hung up.

I GAVE UP.

**********

I just received my telephone and internet bill for May last week. Somehow, I was not too surprised when I saw that the package fee – was still being charged to me.

-

OMG

-

THREE MONTHS STILL NOT ENOUGH TIME TO CANCEL ONE STUPID PACKAGE AH?!

… so I sent them an email to confirm this absurdity.

After 3 days, I got this:

Dear Mr. Chow,

Thank you for contacting TM. Firstly, we would like to apologise for the late reply.

Referring to your e-mail dated 26th May 2009 on billing issue, upon checking in our system, we found that your Voice 28 package is still active. Therefore, we would like to advice you to refer any nearest TMpoint at your area for termination this package. Kindly visit  http://tmpoint.tm.com.my/content.cfm/ID/9B23CE18-F53B-4088-B8B0FFC3D6BFF971 to check the nearest TMpoint outlets at your area.

We hope the above revert to your query. We truly apologize for any inconveniences caused. Nevertheless, we would like to express our high appreciation for your patience and understanding.

For further assistance or feedback, kindly e-mail us at help@tm.com.my.

Alternatively, you can also contact TM at 100 and select “Internet Services”.

Regards,

Che Ashaliana

Customer Care Support, Internet Services,

Customer Service Management,

TM Retail.

-

-

I’m going to sort this out once and for all in their corporate headquaters building – Menara TM, this week.

Hope it goes well.

Although I may have been shamelessly missing in action for some time now, but you can be very, very sure that I will be back to blog for Christmas!

And here I am! Why? because Christmas is the best and most happening festival of all – for me!

Yes, I know – for many of you, Christmas is but a one-day *only* holiday in the middle of the assignment submission week and a week before the accursed MMU final exams…

Why, me too! I’m an MMU student as well! But that isn’t going to stop me from celebrating!

Let’s not wait – Check out my very own Christmas room!

I think it is so beautiful and comfortable! I really couldn’t have done it on my own!

Compare it with last year, and you’ll see that there are some really exciting improvements! The extra mini Christmas trees, the Christmas candles, and…

… the super awesome structure beside my table is the very same Christmas tree as last year – only that this year it is much, much more awesome!

See the tree!

It is transforming into more of a ‘Toy Tree’, actually… But it feels really warm and happy to see such an innocently decorated tree that reminds us of our childhoods – in my own room! 

The first picture of this entry is my classic Teddy-Bear-hug-tree^TM Christmas tree tip decoration! Like last year!

HOHOHO… It’s 2 days till Christmas! Are you ready for it?

**********

Last year, I did an entry on Malaysia’s Top 7 Christmas Malls, which resulted in Pavilion KL topping the list with its magnificently tall, occupy-able, Christmas tree structure.

This year, I wanted to find out if the malls kept up their marvelously good work, so we set off on a journey to check them out again! Santa bless us!

Like I said last year, only shopping malls seem to have the ability to deploy massive Christmas decorations  in Malaysia. Yup, not even the most expensive hotels can do as good!

Throughout the December month, we went though many of the most prestigious malls in the Klang Valley, and, ladies and gentlemen – here is what I consider the seven most wonderfully decorated and ‘Christmas-est’ malls in the country:

*drum roll*

Rank #7 – The Gardens

(Visited December 20th, 2008)

A newcomer! The Gardens wasn’t in my list last year because there were hardly any Christmas decorations in the mall save some usual Christmas trees along the walkway… But this year – it’s different!

The Gardens has deployed a three-storey high Christmas tree and what’s really special is its ‘cage’ theme.

Of course, there are many ‘ways’ to see this theme – it could either be:

(a) a tranquil garden in the middle of city filled with tall Christmas trees and gigantic, nicely-lit bird cages,

or,

(b) erm, looking at the human size structure and the multiple entrances into the cages, is it just me, or do they look like dance cages in strip clubs that would do well with a pole added to the middle and having strippers dancing inside? 

LOL!

I think the chandeliers in the cages are really beautiful and somehow, the combination of lights and finely-crafted cages in the middle of the greenery creates a really peaceful yet elegant impression – if that is what the designers had had in mind, then I think they did a great job!

Yes, I know The Gardens Mall is under Midvalley’s management, and by principle its decorations should be counted as part of Midvalley’s… But anyway, I really think the decorations are that nice that The Gardens deserve a separate rank of its own!

The Gardens: A refreshingly new design concept, but still relatively small in size to leave a deep permanent impression. Yes, size does matter, but great job nonetheless!

**********

Rank #6 – Pavilion KL

(Visited December 7th, 2008)

Don’t be surprised to see Pavilion at number 6, it is really quite a let down this year.

Most malls deploying the same Christmas decorations year after year become boring to us viewers, but few actually become worse - and now we’ve seen one.

The gigantic Christmas tree structure that had proudly stood at the concourse last year probably couldn’t afford the rental fee there, and was thrown unceremoniously out of the mall! Poor tree…

I had walked pass Pavilion a few days before December and had seen the unfinished tree outside Pavilion. I had thought they were just assembling or moving it…

I still can’t believe they actually moved the thing outdoors! They further coated the tree with some white stuff that looks like cotton from afar… and they removed the chandeliers!! (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, see last year’s entry!)

The thing that I applauded the most last year – the chandeliers – was completely dumped! And replaced by some gold baubles that looked like they had been placed on last-minute!

Walking into the mall, this came into view:

The concourse area, looking rather bland with the absence of the three-storey Christmas tree in the middle of the symmetrical escalators, was turned into a decorated shop selling Christmas stuff, operated by Tangs.

The wonderful lights above, decorated with long arrays of (again) golden baubles, is really nice – but insufficient to salvage the interior’s otherwise disappointing Christmas atmosphere.

I’ve tried to be very neutral and not let my previous impressions and expectations blind my opinions on any of the malls that I am going to review… but this really isn’t that good – the interior is just so-so, and the tree wouldn’t exactly be a wonder to me either, even if it were the first time I visited Pavilion!

After the lights are on at night, it looks like this:

The structure is still big and impressive, and decorations in Pavilion are indeed renewed every year. Pavilion still deserves the spot at number 6 in my personal Malaysia’s Best Christmas Malls’ list.

Pavilion KL: An admirable effort to ‘bring about change’ (quote Obama!) to Pavilion’s Christmas decoration concept, but changes seem to not always be for the better. An additional note: In my review I am not expressing disappointment at the shopping mall itself, but just the decors. As a matter of fact, it is the reality of Pavilion being one of the most prestigious and reputable malls in KL that empowers us to hold high expectations for its everything – including Christmas decorations.

**********

Rank #5 – Sunway Pyramid

(Visited November 27th, 2008)

If Sunway Pyramid really did disappoint me last year, they totally made it up with me!

This year, Pyramid’s decors were the first to make me ‘WOW’!

I’ll just make this short: the decorations are simple, they aren’t really humongous and storeys-tall, and it’s apparent that it is not really a super high-budget project – call me childish, but it really brought out the excitement in me! The warm smile etched across my face didn’t fade until I left the area completely. The area radiated a vibrant aura of fun, of joy and of laughter – the spirit of Christmas. They did it!

What’s more, it seems to me that Sunway Pyramid was one of the first malls in the Klang Valley to have its Christmas decorations fully set up! This photo was taken in November!

Sunway Pyramid: A definite improvement from last year. Simple yet joyfully meaningful. I’m sorry for not being able to explain how exactly it is meaningful, I myself do not know why, but it is – at least to me.

**********

Rank #4 – Suria KLCC

(Visited December 20th, 2008)

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! It is still the same!! THE… TREE… IS… STILL… THE… SAME!!

It’s been five or six years already lor!

Petronas must be losing money now that world oil prices are so low… There’s not even lights on the tree this year! Of course, they changed the decorations on the tree, but I still think that the last year’s was way better.

Someone please tell Santa Clause to give Petronas a new tree next year! Tell him a smaller and shorter one is OKAY!

If I were to review this in my own biased, previous-impression-based mindset, I’d think this old tree wouldn’t even make it into the top-7 list… but let’s be fair, I’m not the only person whom they are displaying the tree for.

The fact is: The gigantic five-storey Chirstmas tree bought from Giant Hypermart (yes, just a pun), although being used year after year, is still one hell of a skyscraper to behold.

I came up with this logic: Maybe the guys in Petronas are so proud that their twin-towers is standing as the tallest stucture in the country, they are determined that their Christmas tree should also be nothing – literally, NOTHING – but the tallest.

Suria KLCC – This is one mall that I would not be disappointed if they followed Pavilion’s footsteps; in fact, I had even jokingly suggested it last year – plant it outside the twin towers. It’s time to change to a new Christmas decoration concept, KLCC, you’re good enough for it!

**********

Rank #3 – Midvalley

(Visited December 20th, 2008)

My first impression was… Oh God, a voodoo ceremony!

In my opinion, Midvalley has definitely played down its Christmas decoration budget this year. This year’s fantasy-like theme is a creative idea – but I’d still go for the previous year’s ‘autumn garden’ concept any time of the day.

Anyway, don’t be fooled, the Christmas tree behind the smiling face is three-and-a-half storeys high!

Midvalley has never been too stingy in decorating its interior. This year, a huge, round stage with this enormous, grinning, joker face stared down at the passerbys in the megamall!

“The Midvalley God is watching… Don’t steal.”

It was very impressive: the play of bright colours, the concept of a population of jungle animals all gathering around in a circle like some ancient ritual about to begin… I’m sure there must be great performances on the stage at some other time as well! Too bad I didn’t get to watch them!

In a way, I liked this ‘fantasyland’ theme quite much, especially with all the animals gathering around the stage! I particularly like the elephants, I dunno why.

Another thing incredible about Midvalley is that apart from its main decorations at the Centre Court, it has so many ’sub-decorations’ all around the mall!

And each of these ’sub-decorations’ are not too inferior after all! Like this one at the North Court (or was it South Court?)

The red, old Santa in the middle looks like he’s being hanged to death! And there’s a soldier beside him!

Midvalley: Impressive large-scale project as expected. Although perhaps not that much to my taste, the decorations are evidently the brilliant product of creative design and tonnes of tireless effort.

(P.S. Please don’t hang Santa Clause, breaking into people’s houses through the chimney is a crime – but not one that deserves the death sentence.)

**********

Rank #2 – 1 Utama

(Visited December 5th, 2008)

So gorgeous that it is only fitting to have a diamond exhibition underneath these glamorous babes!

A 180 degrees shift from the playful, innocently cute Toy Soldier concept last year, this year’s electric wired-tree display is simple, yet ingeniously sophisticated!

1 Utama had wasted no time in starting to impress me, way before the stage was even completed. Just looking at the construction site in November tells us that something big is coming up, again!

I realized that 1 Utama had always liked the display concept of a center stage with some huge, towering decorative stuff behind.

The brilliantly lit Christmas trees are somehow reminiscent to last year’s acclaimed Pavilion Christmas tree. I find them so nicely lit (yes, there are trees that are lit but not nicely lit) that I couldn’t take my eyes of it for many, many seconds when I first saw it!

However, this year, young kids will probably NOT be so enthusiastic about the decorations. Yes, they are really nice and everything but they simply aren’t – cute – anymore!

Seems that 1 Utama alternates between captivating the hearts of kids and of adults! Last year, kids were probably crying when asked by their parents to leave the area; this year, adults would probably scold their kids for asking to leave!

… or maybe not!

I think that their theme this year is poker cards – an item long associated to gambling. (less children friendly!) But the entire area was surrounded by this beautiful green wall and just across the entrance was a walking path of gigantic poker card pictures.

Even their ‘regular’ Christmas trees had poker cards on them! How unique!

Haha, I don’t mean to offend the good and thoughtful people of the 1Utama management… but well, the theme and glamorous decorations would really make, and be fitting of, nothing but a splendid casino!

1 Utama: Absolutely fantastic display with a very unique theme, wouldn’t have expected anything less from this great shopping mall (just don’t add roulettes and slot machines next year!). Keep it up!

**********

Rank #1 – The Curve

(Visited December 14th, 2008)

The Curve in Mutiara Damansara reigns as emperor this year for the best decorated shopping mall in the country!

The entire concourse area was turned into a goddamn garden! (pardon me. I couldn’t think of another adjective to describe the incredible awe I had felt at the sight of it)

The area was so vast that I couldn’t even take it all in with my camera, not even in 16:9 widescreen mode!

Everywhere was scattered with brilliant lights and every angle that you turn to, you come face-to-face with beautiful, lush greenery!

With a towering three-storey-high Christmas tree standing proudly at the side, the garden features many really cute animal-shaped trimmed trees!

What’s more, they’ve got adorable Christmas Elves doing the job!

Again, elephant.

I thought Christmas Elves were supposed to be in Santa’s village in the North Pole busy manufacturing presents by now? Or had they taken leave? And it’s almost Christmas already, Santa and his wife will have to do it all by themselves!

People were photographing almost every other step they take, and I believe every photo snap was absolutely worth taking!

To complete the garden picture, there was even a small pool with fountains adding real moisture to the already refreshingly natural environment!

This garden, no doubt, will fascinate both boys and girls, kids and adults, humans and elves alike. And one of the best parts is even when the Christmas display is so magnificent, The Curve has minimal, and really few, commercialisation involved in the decoration area…

… meaning that you don’t see a lot of stalls around the display area. The display is genuinely – just – for display. And we appreciate the intention that the marvelous displays are not there just to attract our wallets, but rather us - as persons – trying to indulge a little in the joyful spirit of Christmas.

The Curve – Uber cool garden themed display! Very fresh concept that is superbly compatible with this relaxing time of the year filled with enchanting dreams of distant fairy tales. Both kids and adults will no doubt adore it! Excellent job!

**********

Overall, I still think that shopping malls are better decorated last year (maybe due to the financial crisis?) But of course, Christmas this year is not that disappointing as well, it is always a very good feeling to be able to shop or simply walk in places where Christmas atmosphere fluorishes!

There are some other shopping malls that I have visited in the month of December but that did not make it into the top-7 list. Here are some of them that are worth mentioning:

IKANO Power Centre

(Visited December 11th, 2008)

Has a great tree…

… an area with fake snow for children to play with…

… and also a small hut for pictures with Santa and Santarina!

-

Berjaya Times Square

(Visited December 7th, 2008)

Dropped out of the list this year… Sporting the same tree as last year:

The most notable decoration was this Santa that looked totally like Doraemon! Cute!

-

Cineleisure Damansara

(Visited December 14th, 2008)

Looks great, doesn’t it?

This structure of a Christmas tree and three angels was actually built ON the fountain in front of the main entrance!

-

Starhill Gallery

(Visited December 7th, 2008)

There was a heavily guarded exhibition in Starhill during the time that I visited.

There were security guards armed with rifles at every corner!

You had to register yourself with your identity card and scan your visitor pass every time you pass through a different corridor!

As for Christmas stuff, there weren’t much:

Just some huge silver baubles hanging from the ceiling.

I’m not sure if they have added more decorations after the exhibition ended on the 14th, or they are just gonna leave it like that for Christmas.

-

The Street

(Visited December 14th, 2008)

I’m not really sure if The Street is under The Curve or Cineleisure’s management (or both), so I’ll just put it as an individual place! (Although I have a feeling it’s under The Curve)

There was no night market but all the stalls were specially decorated for Christmas, and the lighted trees and hanging lights really gives it a distictively Christmas feel!

**********

Now you know where to go shopping this 25th!

HAVE A MERRY, BLESSED CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

-

-

-

Please remember that:

All rankings, reviews and writings in this blog entry are entirely my honest opinions based on my findings and perceptions as a customer being present at the shopping malls at their respective dates as stated. My visits to these places are casual in nature and it is possible that I might have missed or overlooked some or part(s) of the decorations in the malls. Please also remember that there might be better shopping malls out there that I have not visited or known; and that the shopping malls listed above may have added or improved their displays after my visit.

This is not an advertisement – Apple didn’t pay me anything for it but I am writing about it because I am damn impressed!

The quality of Apple iPods is so good, so durable, that I in fact accidentally ‘washed’ it in my washing machine (with washing liquid), went through the ‘rinse’ mode and totally violent ’spin’ mode, and was hung outside under the sun for a few hours…

… and it still works!

Haha, this is really incredible!

I really, really thought that I’d have to buy a new one… and it would be really painful to my finances because I am currently REALLY not in the condition to spend freely.

Besides, I liked my iPod very much, it am totally satisfied with its great performance, and it has never, not even once, broken down since I bought it in Hong Kong two years ago!

I thought I was going to be totally broke. I had just bought a new camera, and I needed to buy a new phone urgently (now not functioning at all); and if a new iPod was to be added to the list – I don’t think I can even survive this month!

HAHAHAHAHA… Apple Inc. saved me!!!

… or maybe they wouldn’t be too happy since I’m won’t need to buy a new iPod anymore!

If you’ve read my previous post you’d know that I left the MP3 player in my pocket, somehow bypassed my ‘pockets-checking’ procedure before I put my laundry into the washing machine, and ended up in a dripping-wet khakis!

It totally didn’t work when I first brought it back from the laundry drying rack, there were visible water marks inside the screen, tried to turn it on but it had no response. Dead.

I knew it was a bad idea to charge an electronic device that had just come out of a washing machine, but I had to try it – I plugged in the USB cable and connected it to my computer.

The screen flickered, displayed the famous Apple logo, and the entire screen faded.

I thought this was it – the Apple logo was probably my iPod’s final ‘goodbye words’. (Now I think – If they really were, then my iPod is really, very ridiculously, loyal to its company! Almost dying and still thinking of Apple Inc.)

I left it beside my bed to dry. I knew that hope was shallow for it to ‘recover’, because unlike a thumbdrive or any other electronic device that draws power from the outside – an iPod has an internal battery!

Having an internal power source means that there is a MUCH higher chance of it being short-circuited when its circuit board receives water contact.

If you don’t understand – your Pendrive (device without a battery) can probably go for a swim in your swimming pool, come up, dry itself, and store pictures for you again; but your handphone (device with a battery) would probably not stand a chance!

HAHAHAHAHA I am still so happy that I can hug Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple Inc., and kiss him on his cute bearded face!

YAY!

Somebody control me. I think I am going crazy…

*********

I wrote this entry a couple of days ago, but didn’t publish it because I wasn’t free but wanted to include a few pictures of my newly ’saved’ iPod before I published the entry; I didn’t have time to take photos at that time.

The “washing-machine-survivable-iPod” incident was supposed to be a refreshing good news in the midst of my chain of disasters which include a lost camera, a damaged handphone and others.

BUT CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?! MY BAD LUCK IS STILL NOT OVER YET!!!

THERE IS NO NEED TO TAKE ANY PICTURE OF MY WATERPROOF IPOD ANYMORE – BECAUSE IT IS NOW F****** GONE!!!

NO, I AM NOT GOING TO CLAIM RESPONSIBILITY ANYMORE! I AM NO LONGER GOING TO BLAME MYSELF FOR NEGLIGENCE AND SHIT!

SOMEONE BASTARD STOLE IT FROM ME! I WASN’T CARELESS!

I’M SORRY FOR COMPLAINING LIKE THIS… BUT YES, I AM VERY FED-UP.

**********

…

**********

Sigh… You know what?

I am very scared now… Almost all the essential electronic devices around me have had terrible things happen to them… one by one… Erm, have you heard of the movie Final Destination before?

The horror movie is about a group of friends who ‘cheated death’ because they had avoided, by pure luck (usually warned by a premonition), the situation in which they should have died.

So, ‘Death’ himself comes to claim their lives, one by one, using disgusting, cruel, freak ‘accidents’ – because they should be dead but they aren’t.

Back to reality – Mysteriously, my electronic devices did ‘cheat death’ before… Haha…

First, it was my camera -

When I first bought my previous camera almost a year ago, I wasn’t used to carrying a fourth item – after my phone, wallet, and keys – in my pocket. And, the camera was considered quite thick for my jeans, so I frequently took it out, put it on the table, and sometimes almost left without it.

Luckily, in every occasion, my friends would remind me when I left it behind. If this counts, my camera had ‘cheated death’ many times.

Second, my phone – I had once accidentally left my phone and my wallet in a pool room in Cyberjaya – almost five months ago.

It was quite bulky in my jeans pocket so I took it out and left it on the table. Yup, this time I really left the place without them. It was until I was back in my house before I realized that I had left them there, and when we drove back to the place to find them – they were gone!

After a few horrible minutes, a kind Indian guy came and said that he had seen my phone and wallet and had taken them – waiting for us to come back and retrieve them!

I was very thankful, he could have just taken them, left, and sold my phone for a cheap price in some second-hand shop. My phone had definitely ‘cheated death’.

Third, my iPod – last week, I accidentally washed it in the washing machine and by some unbelievable miracle, it survived. Electronic stuff are not supposed to survive washing machines, but mine did. My iPod, also, cheated death!

My camera, followed by my phone, then my iPod… Erm, notice something – the chronology… the order? It is the very same order in which they were recently lost/damaged…! Scary, huh?

Now I really fear for my last and most critically important electronic equipment of all…

… My laptop.

I really want to think that my laptop had not cheated death before – but… read this.

Before I start…

I would NEVER do this to my car. No matter how much I support BN – if I ever do – I still wouldn’t do it.

First, it is ugly.

Second, when I remove it later the tape will stick and leave marks on my car.

Third, like… I wouldn’t even be able to see behind while driving! When I look into the rear mirror I’ll see nothing but two enormous, ghostly blue-faced leng chai, not even smiling – but staring at me!

I’d probably crash the car if I was driving at night alone on a deserted road.

Fourth, it is still very ugly.

**********

Last night, we stayed up until after 5am to check out the erection… I mean election results. (The ‘erection’ joke is not mine, it is one of our Minister’s. I dare not take the credit.)

Just a little recap – In the previous general election, BN had no problem securing their 2/3rd majority in parliament. In fact, they had a 90.4% majority in parliament in 2004.

The vote-counting started at 7pm. It was like a roller coaster ride!

At approximately 8pm – We read that Kelantan had fallen to PAS. (Expected!)

At approximately 9pm – Everyone was stunned when confirmation came that Penang had also fallen to the Opposition.

At approximately 10pm – We couldn’t believe our eyes when we found that Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu had actually lost his seat in parliament after more than 30 years being the Sungai Siput MP!

At approximately 11pm – None of us had actually expected to see Kedah being handed to the Opposition, but IT DID!

At approximately 12.30am – Good God, even Selangor went to the Opposition!

At approximately 2am – My own state – Perak – said goodbye to the BN goverment, and went, for the first time, again into the Opposition’s arms!

Five states – Ladies and Gentlemen – the Opposition officially claimed five states from BN… This is truly, truly unprecedented in Malaysian history!

Everyone in our house was really excited throughout the night, shouting updates from rooms and bustling around with laptops… This election was going to make history – we knew.

At approximately 3am – It was confirmed that BN had lost their long-standing 2/3rd majority in Parliament.

Some couldn’t stand the sleepiness and went to sleep, but a couple of us stayed awake. I was interested in finding out exactly how many seats the Opposition could get in Parliament – they got a mere, pathetic 9.6% in the last election!

It was like watching a super unstable company share’s price in the stock market – the percentage was rising and dropping every 15 minutes or so!

At approximately 4am – the drama of the night ended dramatically with 37% of parliamentary seats and 39% of state seats held by the Opposition!

If you have no idea what all these mean, let me tell you in simple words – Politics in Malaysia are going to be very different from now on!

*********

With such a staggering and never-before-happened loss to the Barisan goverment – we weren’t expecting it, but at the same time we wouldn’t be too surprised if some ‘incidents’ were to happen the next day.

Rumors and cautions of riots and other unpleasant incidents were everywhere (It happened in the 1969 election). People were urged to stay calm by political leaders and stay home – not to take to the streets. No parades, no nothing.

However, everyone was still talking about avoiding KL and other urban areas the next day – just in case.

Today, Alvin and a few friends went to Lowyat, and then around the Bukit Bintang area in downtown KL. Meanwhile, me, Jon and a couple of others went to the Curve, and around the Petaling Jaya area.

It was perfectly peaceful.

Perhaps I’ll say this – Malaysia is on its way to true Democracy and success. - On its way - but in my opinion, not quite there yet. This is a time of change for the country – for the better or for the worse, we’ll have to see.

**********

We went to Ikano Damansara today to witness the launching of the new Petster magazine!

There was also a pets exhibition! Jon wouldn’t have cared if there were racial riots in KL or Al-Qaeda bombing 1Utama – wherever there is stuff about pets, Jon wouldn’t miss it – not even his mid-term test on Tuesday could stop him!

The dogs were really cute and obedient! Have I mentioned before? Jon’s house has six dogs! A true doglover! I bet he was wetting his pants while watching the show! Haha….

Although mostly cats and dogs, there were some other pets as well!

Me and a ferret!

Yay! This was the first time I held a ferret!

Have you held one before?

New nude media scandal again! (This time from Hong Kong!) Haha, this post is quite outdated…

First, it was cute Vanessa Hudgens, the star from High School Musical, posing in a series of provocative photos (see news article) and even a nude one, allegedly for her boyfriend – Zac Efron. (Who else?)

Obviously, this is not the nude photo, but one of the ‘milder’ ones. Don’t ask me where to get the ‘extreme’ ones!

She’s evidently not very aware that being a celebrity, taking private digital photos coupled with an internet connection is a very dangerous combination indeed. Apparently some irresponsible dude got the photos from her PC or E-mail and posted them to the public.

OK, to be fair – at least she’s cute, 19 years old, and she’s like, just posing nude in private… Nothing more than that.

Then, came Datuk Seri Dr. Chua Soi Lek, high profiled ex-Minister of Health, Vice President of MCA, being caught on-tape cheating on his wife, having sex with a ‘personal friend’ in a hotel room. (See news article.)

I think there is no doubt in the sharp decline of ‘attractiveness’ between the two… err… ‘casts‘ of these two scandals. Gentlemen, Dr. Chua is 61 this year!

The weird thing is, the DVD sex tapes were selling like hot cakes! People were actually buying them!

Unless the ‘personal friend’ of Dr. Chua was exceptionally pretty, I can only conclude that these people probably bought the DVDs out of curiosity, not for… enjoyment. Because if it were for the latter, I quite believe that there is an awfully huge warehouse of ‘better choices’ out there.

61-year-old Dr. Chua making out with an unknown woman – not really interesting, is it?

Therefore, to top the nude media scandal list, it appears that Hong Kong superstars Edison Chen 陈冠希 + Gillian Chung 锺欣桐 (from ‘Twins’) + Cecilia Cheung 张柏芝 moved in to give everyone’s new year a blast!

Ladies and gentlemen, behold your favorite stars in action! (See news article.)

It is still controversial as to whether the pictures were doctored, but the artistes and their representatives are reacting big.

Apparently, (again) some moron hacked the photos from Edison’s PC or HP, and decided to let the world see them.

As far as I know, the artistes have yet to officially and explicitly confirm, or deny, the allegation that the subjects in the photos are actually them in person.

Truly, censored photos revealed some faces that look like one or more of the artistes… err… ‘in pleasure’. Just repeating what many people are saying out there – can you really, so simply, find ‘pleasured’ faces like that of the artistes, on the internet or in magazines, to be photoshopped into some pornstar’s body?

*This, allegedly, is Cecilia Cheung 张柏芝 with Edison Chen (not in view).*

Some people also claimed that the backgrounds of some of the photos are identical to that of Edison’s room!

I heard that there are many photos being released, each in different, err… positions.

If you are that interested, you can find censored photos of this anywhere online. And NO, I have no idea where to find the uncensored ones. I have not taken the liberty to find out.

**********

Despite allegations and inconclusive evidences to the contrary, I still choose to believe that the pictures are not genuine, and were indeed digitally doctored. I mean, it just can’t be! They can’t be so careless!

Moral of the story: Never store sex photos/videos of yourself, especially digital ones, because they can be easily stolen/hacked. Especially if you’re not completely aware of how telecommunications and multimedia devices work as well as how they can be exploited.

Unlike previous Christmas’s, for which I bought presents of almost the same value for most people; this time, I sorted the names into levels – the higher the level, the more financial and effort priority would be given to the person’s present.

No, I am not being selective or biased towards my friends!

For 50 people, if I buy, you know, ‘cheap‘ items, it would be rather stingy of me to some friends who are much closer to me than the others; but if I buy equally ‘expensive’ items for all 50 people, I would be totally broke before new year!

Anyway, I started my Christmas shopping two weeks ago.

Before and during that period, I, with different groups of friends, visited different malls to get Christmas presents and also to see their Christmas decorations! Because like I said two entries ago – shopping malls are some of the few places where you can experience decent Christmas atmosphere!

Since some of the shopping malls were so nicely decorated, I’m going to spend this entry recording the Christmas decorations of a few notable malls!

Let’ see… I visited seven, so I’m going to describe each of them - starting from the one that ‘needs the most improvement‘, to the best of them all!

**********

Rank #7 – Sunway Pyramid

Basically, I couldn’t find much Christmas decorations in Sunway Pyramid, save an icy little Cartoon Network stage at the mid area with a sign saying “Welcome to the north pole“, which I find to be rather cute.

Actually, there were other nicer decorations as well! I can remember one that looks like a huge toy house, but as far as I know, it was actually set up by Memory Lane and they were selling souvenirs and stuff in it.

Since it was set up by Memory Lane, I don’t think we can consider it a Sunway decoration! Hah!

Their ice-skating rink was nicely decorated, with little Christmas trees mounted on the pillars!

Perhaps it was the fact that Sunway emphasized more on the outside that we found so relatively few decorations in the shopping mall.

Look, the street outside the Pyramid is brilliantly decorated!

Sunway Pyramid: Not too bad, but they sure have a lot of space to improve.

**********

Rank #6 – Berjaya Times Square

The main entrance of Times Square was dominated by a sole, gigantic Christmas tree with huge snowflakes hanging around the upper part of it!

This picture was taken from the second floor, quite a distance away. But if you stand beneath it, it really is huge!

The Christmas tree at Times Square reminds me of my own Christmas tree in my room, because they both have lots of red and white colour-striped candy sticks on them!

Also, Santa and his err… assistant, was in Times Square!

I’m taller than Santa! Lol!

Overall, decorations in Times Square was more of the ‘typical’ type, you know. The Christmas tree, Santa, and the usual bright and colourful stuff hanging around... Compared to the others, Times Square could really do with a bit of motivation in their Creative Department…

Maybe I was just unlucky, missed out some of their events… Or maybe I went there too early, and some of the decorations were not out yet… Hmm…

Berjaya Times Square: I didn’t get any candy or present from Santa! Maybe he thought we were too old…

**********

Rank #5 – Suria KLCC

Lol… KLCC… I don’t know what to say about it!

Like, the 30-metre tall Chirstmas tree in KLCC would be, err, EXTREMELY grand and impressive, if it wasn’t for the fact that it has been there for, I think, FOUR or FIVE consecutive years now – the same old tree every Christmas!

I can still remember watching the Suria KLCC commercial on TV when I was still in Ipoh, few years back, the Christmas tree looked so tall and grand, and I was thinking something like: “Wow… The shopping complex in the Petronas Twin Towers in KL! Of course they have such grand stuff!”

But now, it’s really starting to get boring…

Of course, I understand the cost consideration of simply throwing away such a huge piece of decoration, but still… They’ve got to think of something new soon! Most shopping malls change their Christmas ideas annually!

Suria KLCC: Take the tree down, give it to the old folks’ home, plant it outside the Twin Towers, sell it on eBay… oh I don’t know! Just change it ler~!

**********

Rank #4 – Mid Valley

The decorations at Mid Valley were, all in all, quite special!

They’ve got a huge set of flower-themed decorations at the centre court with a number of tall Christmas trees. At first glance, the centre court looked like a nice little garden during autumn, but with flowers blossoming everywhere!

Inside the ‘garden’, there was a stage on which people took pictures and kids played.

It was very amusing at that time when the people kept asking strangers around them to take pictures for them. I can remember this particular couple of ladies who asked us to operate their camera for them; and even after we left, went on another floor, visited some shops, and when we looked down from above, they were still there – at different positions, still taking pictures!

They must be very photogenic!

Later that night, there was a performance on the stage. It was some kind of Disney performance and dance – from what I made out of the music… Haha all my photos of the performance are blurred, so I don’t think I’ll post them.

Mid Valley: Not bad, really; lots of money spent on flowers, but somehow it just doesn’t seem too ‘Christmas’, to me.

**********

Rank #3 – 1 Utama

1 Utama has the cutest ever Christmas decorations in town!

An enormous 38-feet toy soldier stood proudly, overlooking the tiny little shoppers like us, along with a dozen other smaller soldiers beside it!

The best part of it, they could actually move! The hands holding the drumstick really moved up and down and the head of the giant toy soldier was slowly moving side-to-side! It was very amusing to see the way it swayed its head while hitting the drum!

Check out how big its head was!

I think the hat itself is almost (or bigger than!) the size of my entire body!

Too bad there wasn’t any performance or anything going on when I was there. My friend later told me that there will be performances on the stage, around the little toy soldiers!

Anyway, I found a funny thing there, someone labeled the wrong price tag on this Christmas tree bell… It costs a hundred Ringgit!

Scary, isn’t it?

1 Utama: Very special and charming, any kid would be crying to leave the area.

**********

Rank #2 – The Curve

It was snowing at The Curve!

When I was there, a ’snowing event’ was on, there were people spraying artificial snow (which was actually foam) at The Street from the walkway above – for, I think, around 15 minutes!

The feeling was very special when you actually see ’snow’ flying around, children around you were playing with and trying to grab it, feeling the cool night breeze brush on your face, standing on a street with rows of brightly lit Christmas trees on both sides, and finally with a small live band beside you singing: “Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!”

Wow!

It sure was nice.

Next, stepping in The Curve, I found a nice, warm decorative cottage in the middle – with a piano, fireplace, and a couple of cosy couches inside… Oh, how I wish I could just get in, sit down, and sleep!

But too bad it wasn’t open for public…

All around the cottage were gigantic snowflakes hanging in the air and snow-covered ground with cute snowmen and reindeers!

And beside the house stood a towering Christmas tree, I think like two-storeys tall!

The entire concourse was made into something like a winter wonderland! Actually there was even a small ‘ice-skating rink’ to the left of the house – for kids. It wasn’t really ice, just roller skates, but the kids were enjoying it, and the sight of it all was really nice!

The back of the house is just as nice as the front!

The Curve: Magnificently done, I particularly liked the snowing part!

**********

Rank #1 – Pavilion KL

I know I’ve already mentioned about Pavilion two entries ago, but anyhow, I just can’t leave it out of the list!

Hands down, Pavilion is definitely the most ‘uniquely Christmas’ mall of all the those listed in this entry to me! They’ve got a three-storey-high, brilliantly glowing, silver ‘Christmas tree’ – with lots of bright chandeliers hanging all over it!

The majestic structure stood gracefully in the middle of the concourse area, with the perfectly symmetrical escalators on pointing up on either sides of it… Wow, you just can’t help but stand there and admire its magnificence!

Not only that, other small things like the dimly-lit withered trees along the path and the glittering lights hanging from the ceiling simply fit perfectly together with the overall grandeur!

What’s more, the ‘tree’ is occupy-able! See the brightly lit ‘layers‘ on the tree? They are actually pathways for a whole choir to stand on!

Haha, you must really admire how stable the whole thing is! I can imagine the choir members at the highest level must be totally sweating and mumbling to himself: “don’t looking down, don’t look down…”. Lol!

With microphones on every level of the ‘tree’, the sound volume of the choir was really good, and the selection of songs was even better. I wonder how frequent they’ll be performing there…? Daily? weekly? Or were we just lucky – on that day only?

Anyway, next they even have performances by costume-dancers!

All in all, Pavilion ownz Christmas this year!

Pavilion KL: My favourite so far! The role model for shopping malls’ Christmas decorations and events!

**********

So there you have it! The top seven nicest, grandest, ‘Christmas-est’ malls around!

OK… OK… I know there might be other nicer, grander, and ‘Christmas-er‘ malls elsewhere, but these are the ones that I’ve been to this Christmas, so the others don’t count in my blog!

Anyway, I’m going back to Ipoh for Christmas next week, I dunno when can I update again, so… Merry Christmas!

I’ve always thought that the ‘new’ Dumbledore, the one played by mister Michael Gambon (above), is like, totally ghey.

Bad-tempered, wearing that stupid, permanently annoyed-looking face, and easily losing his composure – if he had any… damn…

I never liked the Dumbledore in the movies ever since good ol’ Richard Harris (below) sadly… er… died.

In any case, being callled ghey by me or anybody else is one thing; but being declared gay by J.K. Rowling herself is… staggering!

So, Albus Dumbledore is homosexual. Since Rowling said it, we’ve got to accept it.

But why didn’t Dombledore openly admit that he was homosexual? Of course, he liked Gellert Grindelwald. It would be extremely difficult for him to admit having dueled and killed his lover.

But what about the other people? Let’s analyse what would happen if he did:

**********

Scene: Late at night, Dumbledore assembling a group of his staff and students in his office at Hogwarts.

Dumbledore - “Guys, seriously, I just wanted to tell you all that I’m, err… I’m… gay.”

-

*Stunned silence*

-

Hagrid - “Eh? Yer wha’, Dumbledore?”

McGonagall – Purses her lips and marches out of the room.

Snape – Stares silently at Dumbledore.

Hermione - Gasps violently and drops the books she was holding. “Professor, but… you’re… how come…? But I always thought… Professor?”

Umbridge – “I’m a tolerant woman, Dumbledore, but this is… I’m going to tell Cornelius, I mean, the Minister, and have your order of Merlin removed!”

Dumbledore – “Look, come on… people… Is it really that ba-”

Trelawney – “I… I knew it! The Inner Eye revealed to me… earlier! I… I’ve already seen… sensed something dark… something evil… in this office…”

Draco – Whispers to a stunned Crabb and Goyle: “See, I told you this old man is loosing his marbles, Father told me…”

Harry – Secretly fears the upcoming private lessons with Dumbledore that are usually at night.

Dumbledore – “……”

Gilderoy Lockhart – “That’s OK, Dumbledore! I’m gay too!”

Phineas Nigellus – Snorts and yells: “Preposterous! I wouldn’t have allowed homosexuals in my school during my days!”

Armando Dippet – *Faints*

Dumbledore - “Whatever, whatever, what-ev-errr…”

Harry - “But sir… Professor Dumbledore, the private lessons… I… Can I…?

Hagrid – “But Dumbledore… yer not sayin’… yer… Merlin’s be-”

Umbridge – “Now see here, Dumble-”

Harry – “Professor?”

Dumbledore - “I’m not listening~~! Say whatever you want! Ain’t hearin’ nothing~!”

**********

If that’s the reaction that he would’ve got, it’s no wonder Dumbledore chose not to disclose his sexual orientation in Hogwarts!

LOL!

Look, this has nothing to do with anti-homosexuality! I’m not ridiculing gays or saying anything about them. They’re totally fine with me.

It’s not homosexuality that’s funny here; instead, it’s the fact that Dumbledore is homosexual that makes it unbelievable! It’s the same incredulity that you experience if you hear that Dumbledore was secretly working for the Russian government as a nuclear scientist!

But why did J.K. Rowling suddenly announce that Dumbledore is gay, without so much of a (rather clear) hint in any of the seven books? I mean, yes, there were ‘hints’ but they could have meant anything.

So my friend and I had a small discussion and we came up with two lame theories on why Rowling announced that Dumbledore is gay, all in a sudden.

Theory 1. Rowling was dared into doing it.

• One day, Rowling and her friends met up in a bar for a drink. When they were drunk, they had a dare contest. Someone dared Rowling to say that Albus Dumbledore is gay, to the media, in front of a crowd of children. Rowling took the dare.

Theory 2. An accidental burst of impatience.

• *This theory was thought of before I read the transcript of the event itself, which proved that this theory is imvalid because Rowling was seen to be extremely patient and was in fact enjoying herself at the occasion*

Anyway, according to our second theory: -

Rowling was being pestered by the audience at Carnegie Hall over trivial, romantic details of the story which are out of the main Harry Potter plot, and irrelevant to the things that she had expected them to ask. “Who does Professor Sprout love?” “No, no, who does Katie Bell like?“”No, wait, who’s Regulus’ girlfriend?”

Rowling: “Alright everyone, like I said, no more love questions, please, OK?”

“No, but, wait – Does Professor Trelawney have a boyfriend?”

Rowling: “Now, please, another question?” *Slightly annoyed*

“Me! Me! Ms. Rowling, does Draco like Hermione? My sister says…”

Rowling: “Ah… No other questions?”

“Ms. Rowling! Ms. Rowling! Does Aberforth like goats? It says on the website…”

Rowling: “Oh… Next!” *Furious*

“Me, seriously! Me! Er… Ms. Rowling, Does Dumbledore have a lover?”

Rowling: “Fine! Dumbledore is GAY! Happy?”

**********

Something like that…

You can either believe in one of my theories, or you can simply accept the fact that Dumbledore, the old headmaster of Hogwarts, is homosexual. There’s nothing wrong with being gay, but just, next time, try not to fall in love in someone like Gellert Grindelwald, it’s like falling in love with Voldemort.

**********

Anyway, this is just a joke and a record of the stupid things that I thought of, when I heard that Dumbledore is homosexual. My friends and I had a laugh, but in the end we had to conclude that, once again, Rowling has succeeded in including people (wizards) of many different personalities and in one single novel, and what an incredible story it is.

*I know grammatically, it should be Dumbledore was gay instead of Dumbledore is gay; since he passed away. But I simply like the phrase ‘Dumbledore is Gay’ more, because Dumbledore lives eternally in our memories, or maybe… I like it simply because it sounds rude.*

This entry was written in the very hour that I finished reading the book, which happened a few days ago. I wanted to preserve every – single – orginal feeling that I had when I laid down the final book.

****************************

“All was well.”

Those are the last three words in the epilogue of Book 7 – an extremely accurate phrase to echo the magnificent ending as the final curtain falls on the legendary Harry Potter adventure.

It’s over, a happy ending, but not before a long, hot sequence of breathtaking suspense and knife-sharp twists, was poetic justice finally served.

It was impossible to tell, until the absolute end, that who was going to die and who survive. Although I sort of predicted (almost precisely) such an ending, along with most of the details – the horcruxes, the survivors, the pairings, R.A.B. and Snape’s identity… – But still, the plot was presented in a way that never, not even once, made me say: “Hah! I knew it!”.

Throughout the course of reading this book, I was bombarded with so much information and long-sought-after answers, all in tremendously shocking contexts, that my brain was in constant overload – blurring my vision, stunning my thoughts, and screaming for me to stop taking in all those unbelievable story plots.

However, the crushing sense of curiosity and burning craving for answers that J.K. Rowling has so ingeniously planted in our minds for the past 7 books, absolutely demanded that I keep reading on and not stopping to digest the paralyzing facts – Ministry of Magic fallen, the way Snape died, Dumbledore’s shocking history, confirmation of Harry being a horcrux, the scene when Voldemort supposedly killed off Harry with the so-well-known green jet of light…

-

RM109.90 unbeatably well spent. All the sleepless nights well repaid.

-

It is surprising, however, how J.K. Rowling mercilessly demolished many of the solid characters and things that we were so accustomed and familiar to in the story.

Voldemort and Snape’s deaths were, after all, rather expected. But characters like Moody, Fred Weasley, Rufus Scrimgeour, Tonks and Lupin, Dobby the house elf, and even Hedwig, were absolutely NOT anticipated to die! Each one’s demise was as violently shocking as the next!

*Sobs* But why, Dear JK, why did you have to kill off poor Dobby? That’s like the saddest part of the entire book… He doesn’t necessarily have to die, does he….? Does he….? =( =(

I think I stole a quiet sniff when I read this:

************

The elf’s eyes found him, and his lips trembled with the effort to form words.

“Harry … Potter …”

And then with a little shudder the elf became quite still, and his eyes were nothing more than great, glassy orbs sprinkled with light from the stars they could not see.

(Book 7, Pg. 385, UK Edition)

************

Sad … Absolutely sad …

We are so used to having to endure just one or two major characters’ deaths in the previous books that each death becomes a huge blow to our minds.

Sirius’s death in Book Five’s got fans all over the world crying for days, Dumbledore’s death’s in Book Six caused outrage and mourning throughout the entire Harry Potter community. And in this last book, we were totally blown off the face of the Earth, to Venus, perhaps.

Not one … not two … but MORE THAN 10 significant deaths in one book!!

I literally yelled when I came to this page:

************

“Voldemort had raised his wand. … Harry looked back into the red eyes, and wanted it to happen now, quickly, while he could still stand, … He saw the mouth [Voldemort's] move and a flash of green light, and everything was gone.“

(Book 7, Pg. 564, UK Edition)

************

WHAT?! Harry was not supposed to die, was he? At least not according to the stupid spoilers…

Surprise after surprise, revelation after revelation; and before we could generate any feelings of sadness or anger towards any particular incident, we’ve had another thrown at us. The roller-coaster ride was plunging down at an incredible speed, taking nauseating turns and dives… And all of a sudden, the ride came to an end, it was over:

“Voldemort was dead, …, and Harry stood with two wands in his hand, staring down at his enemy’s shell.” ( Book 7, Pg. 596, UK Edition)

-

And the battle was over. Harry was victorious. Hermione and Ron survived. The prophecy was fulfilled, in a way that we all hoped to be, Hogwarts was reopened, the Ministry was re-established; and in the epilogue, we were told that Harry and Ginny, and, Ron and Hermione ended up with each others. It can’t get better than that, can it? =) =)

A couple of things that makes me feel awkward is the depiction of Harry, Hermione, and the rest as fathers and mothers at the end. I guess we’re too used to them as being children and teenagers that when the book mentioned: “Harry’s daughter”, or “Ron’s son…”, it just feels totally wierd… :/

Also, the choice for Harry and Ron’s children - Albus, Severus, Lily, James … Uhh … Kinda feels like the previous generation’s back all over again …

-

I’m very glad that Snape turned out to be a decent guy. He’s one of my favourite characters and I’ve never believed him to have gone over to the dark side. I knew he was a brave and noble person all along.

It’s kinda sad that the Harry Potter series has ended. For many years, all those experiences eagerly rushing to bed to get to the books and continue the adventure was exceptionally pleasant and memorable. It’s over now, but I guess all good things eventually come to an end, and there’s no reason for us to grief over it. =)

-

Yay! Now that I have finished the book, I can safely visit HP sites without the fear of accidentally reading spoilers!

Conclusion for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Consistent with expected ending, but not at all disappointing. ‘All was well’, indeed!

Hey, if you’ve read it, tell me what you think!

Image taken using my mobile phone’s camera

In desperation, I have 3 options:

Option 1: Stop putting pictures into my entries, and thus causing my blog to be as dull as my calculus textbooks.

Option2: Take pictures using my mobile phone, but then it’d be absolutely useless when it comes to taking group or scenery photos; and, it also makes me look very unprofessional walking around taking photos with a Nokia.

Option 3: BUY A NEW ONE!

I think the 3rd is the only acceptable solution, BUT, I’ll need to spend a rather huge amount of money again! After spending so much money on my new room, every high-cost spending now is as agonizing as being cast the Cruciatus Curse. (Please don’t mind the Harry Potter terms in my posts these few weeks, it’s Harry Potter season!)

But I guess I have no choice: For the sake of my own pleasure when I want to re-read my own blog a few years later, and for the few readers who visit this website, I’m going to get a new camera!

I have my eyes set on 2 models:

The Sony DSC-T20 T Series Cybershot,

Which has a nice, shiny, full metal body, 8.1 mega pixels resolution, and up to a staggering ISO 3200 film speed!

Glen’s brother has a T-20 and he said that the daylight images he’d taken were incredibly sharp and nice. I haven’t done much research on this model myself, should I believe him?

The specs are all very impressive but sometimes I think any camera with more than 5 mega pixels or higher than ISO 800 is quite pointless for me since all my pictures are going to be scaled down to 400 x 300 pixels anyway, and a picture taken with ISO 800 or higher would have so much noise in it that the resulting image is not at all appealing.

And one thing, the design is just sooo nice!!! I mean, it’s not like the boring rectangular box camera design that almost every other brand is using! And you can choose from 4 different body colours!

Anyway, the other model that I’m considering is the Canon Digital IXUS 70:

Which has an insane thickness of less than 2 cm! It can even fit perfectly in my jeans!

It has a resolution of 7.1 mega pixels, slightly less than the Sony, and a max of ISO 1600, which is also less; but as I said, they don’t really matter much to a noob-user like me. Haha…

I think the design losses slightly to the Sony model, but some of my friends told me that taking images in the dark with a Canon is usually much better, compared to a Sony.

Here’s an image taken by a camera that really sucks in low light conditions, completely blurred out:

Besides, the Canon model looks more rigid and strong, as I’ve had friends telling me horrible stories about how Sony models were so easily smashed and damaged…

Anyway, the most persuasive, and iterated, point I’ve heard from my friends was: “Because, you know, most Pros use Canon.”

Now that’s a good point. No, really, it is! =)

Both models are of almost the same price, one excels in daylight photos and the design; the other dominates in low-light conditions and durability, assuming all that my friends told me are true.

Argh… I dunno, really can’t seem to decide between the two. Maybe I should buy both! Hah! But no way! It’d be like 2 Cruciatus Curses cast together on me! *dies*

I’ll have to think about it, will post it up when I’ve finally bought it!

After the traumatic experience of watching Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – the movie – days ago, I am so, so, SO happy to finally have an ‘original’ Harry Potter book to enjoy!

Who’s going to die? Is Severus Snape good or bad? What/who are the remaining horcruxes? Will Ron and Hermione, Harry and Ginny get together at last? Who is R.A.B. as written on the fake Horcrux? Is Dumbledore really dead? (Sigh… Oh yes he is, J.K. Rowling confirmed it herself… *sob*)

Still, ANSWERS! I NEED ANSWERS! There are just too many questions that need to be clarified!

Anyway, before I retreat to my sweet affair with the book tonight (Aww I really have no life! Not for these few days!), let me record the astonishing event that happened today on the first day of the book’s release.

This morning, to my utter surprise – along with hundreds of thousands of Harry Potter fans in Malaysia – I saw these articles on The Star and New Straits Times.

For those of you who are not into Harry Potter, this might be a small deal; but if you’re an avid fan, and major bookstores in your country are NOT selling the final book of your idolized series, that’s one helluva big deal!

Apparently, MPH, Times, Popular and Harris Bookstores are NOT planning to sell the super anticipated book anymore because the ‘nice people’ at Tesco and Carrefour are selling at a much, much lower price!

I pre-ordered the book more than 2 months ago, and the price was announced to be RM109.90; typical HP book price, I say. True, bookstores like MPH earn substantial amounts of profit every time a Harry Potter book is released, there’s no doubt about it.

I can imagine the people in MPH or Popular eagerly estimating their upcoming profit months before the book was launched… They’d be expecting millions and millions of Ringgit… Perhaps some of the top managers were already planning what to do with the huge amount of money!

And then, all of a sudden, Tesco and Carrefour came out with this!

LOL! The manager of MPH was probably, like:

——-

*Reads the Carrefour newspaper ad*

*Stuns for 1 minute staring at the big ‘RM69.90‘ figure*

*Looks at his own bookstore’s ‘RM109.90‘ banner*

*Tries to say “What the…?!”*

*Vomits blood*

*Faints and dies*

——-

That Carrefour newspaper ad was like an Avada Kedavra sent straight into the Bookstores’ chest, instant kill!

I must say, I couldn’t agree fully with what Carrefour and Tesco are doing. Although it is a competitive business – the lowest price gets the highest demand – but still, hypermarkets can afford to sell the book at unprofitable prices because they have many, many other goods to compensate!

Once you go to Tesco or Carrefour to buy the book, you’ll probably end up buying something else too! But what about the other chain bookstores? You don’t go to MPH to buy Harry Potter and end up buying a whole bunch of other books you didn’t intend to buy, do you?

When I went to MPH in 1 Utama today, I saw the newspaper cuttings of The Star and New Straits Times pasted on the wall announcing the bad news.

For us who pre-ordered the book, we were generously given a choice to either proceed with purchasing the book at RM109.90, or have our deposit of RM70 refunded (now that some people might wanna buy in Tesco instead).

It may not be the wisest thing to do, but without hesitation I chose to buy the book at the original price. First, because I wanted to start reading the book tonight and didn’t wanna waste time going to Tesco or Carrefour, furthermore risk having the ‘cheaper’ books sold out.

Second, I pride to have the RM109.90 price sticker by MPH Bookstores on the back cover of my book. With all due respect to the hypermarts, A Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book with a RM69.90 price sticker (if any) by a hypermarket seems pretty ‘cheap’ to me. (None of the previous hard-covered HP books were that low-priced.)

However, I’m not sure if the act of the major bookstores ‘not selling’ the book nationwide, is really the best way to solve this problem… Yes, Penguin Books (the HP book distributor) might be pressured to stop distributing to the hypermarkets, but what about the fans?

A huge amount of fans have waited passionately for this day to come, they’ve waited for years, and not pre-ordering the book doesn’t mean they’re any less real fans or eager to read the book.

I can imagine how devastated I would be if I were one of them, when I eagerly walked into a a bookstore on the very first day, excitedly hoping to buy the book, only to be told that they’ve decided not to sell it! Damn!

And not to mention that Carrefour and Tesco are not everywhere in the country! Some small towns don’t have them! What about the fans living there? =( They must be really sad and disappointed…

I really hope that the parties involved in this issue could come up with a decent solution real soon. Yes, I know this is business, and business is about profiting; but while considering options to settle this, please try not to choose a way that’s done at the expense of the fans, they really don’t deserve it…

-

-

-

Sad news away, I gotta start reading the book! Oh I’ve used up too much time on this entry. So, see ya! I’ll review the book when I’m finished with it later!

Not to mention that the mamak stall in Cyberjaya IS currently selling Milo at RM1.80 per glass, why didn’t anyone sue them?

Yes, I know… Costs of goods are different in various locations… Right? But what about RM40 for a ‘claypot seafood‘? Or RM8 for a Mi Goreng?

Here’s the price display that everyone saw at a restaurant in Redang Island.

RM8 for a fried anchory, no, should be anchovy… And singular?! RM8 for ONE cute little 4cm-long fish?! Don’t scare the tourists ler, change the word to anchovies! =)

But still, RM8 for a bowl of ikan bilis goreng is a bit too much la…

Look at the cheapest item in the list – French Fried! Literally: ‘Orang Perancis digoreng‘! – RM5!

OMG cannibalism! No wonder we didn’t see a lot of Europeans here in Redang Island! All kena fried already!

Like any other tourist attraction, normal items in Redang are also sold at at least 150% of normal prices.

For example: A bottle of 1.5L mineral water is sold at RM3. And those’re the ones that are kept on the shelf (room temperature). If you want refrigerated ones (a nice, cool drink under Redang’s hot sun), the price of the same bottle of mineral water shoots up to RM3.80!

How can…? That’s kinda like taking advantage of the poor thirsty tourists under the scorching sun…! Since when tourist attractions have the license to monopolise the prices and set high mark-ups like nobody’s business…? =(

Anyway, I must admit that high as the prices are, they are nothing compared to Genting’s RM10 wantan noodles… Haha!

It is supposely ‘The Biggest Thai Horror Film Of The Year‘, as written on its poster. Although I have to admit that the ‘horror’ scenes were very plentiful and non-stop, but they were, as with many other Thai horror movies, awfully predictable.

I’m not saying that Thai horror movies are not good or anything like that, but the directors and script writers could really improve a lot by changing and differentiating their movies from what I call the ‘Standard Thai horror movie plot’!

——————————————————————

• The standard theme: ghostly revenge.
  • Someone did something bad, probably raped, killed, or cruelly left a girl who liked him, and the girl became the ghost or something like that.

  It won’t be other themes like demonic invasion, religion-related, or some other stuff.

• The standard ghost: unhealthy human form.
  • If you noticed, most of the ‘ghosts’ in Thai horror movies are in human form, but with very pale and spotted/ scarred/ diseased/ burnt skin, blood oozing out of eye/ ear/ mouth, severe eye shadows, abnormally gigantic bulging eyes or possibly with red/no eyeballs.
  • Basically like a human with the worst health ever, to induce the basic human psychological instict to fear and resist such ‘people’ from nearing us and infecting us.
  • And I really don’t know why, most of the ghosts are female ghosts.

It won’t be other forms like invisible spirits, ghost in normal human form or possessed animals/objects.

I’ve got an example image of a standard ghost here, it’s the ghost from the Thai horror movie ‘Shutter‘. I can’t simply display it because some people might not wanna see it. It’s kinda scary… Haha…

If you really wanna see it, you can click on the image below.

Woops! Hope that didn’t scare you, now let’s continue… =)

• The standard scary scenes: all the ghost movie clichés!
  • Dark rooms, lights turning-off by themselves, doors slamming shut by themselves, seeing ghost in mirror, ghostly shadows forming on the wall etc.
  • The main character will always be alone with the ghost. He/she will always venture into dark, scary places alone, very brave!
  • Mostly involve the ghost figure ‘crawling‘ towards you. Aikes!

Basically, it won’t be any other scene that is not that obvious a ghost was about to come out.

• The standard ask-for-help: the bomoh (shaman or witch doctor).
  • Well, I guess that’s the culture over there. (No comment)

• The standard shock: EXTREMELY loud and sudden sound effects.
  • It always involves dead-silent background and when the main character is doing something and looked into the mirror and *BANG*!! Sudden extreme and over-exaggerated loud sound effect as the ghost appears on the mirror.
  • I did an experiment in the cinema: I knew a ghost scene was coming up so I looked away to see if the sound effect alone could shock me. And when the *BANG* came, it was almost as shocking as me watching it!

Bottom line, try listening to your iPod while watching, I think it will be as scary as watching Scooby-doo.

AND FINALLY,

• The standard ending: the super-uber-damn-predictable-clichéd ’shocking’ ending.
  • If you ever thought that the ghost is dead/crisis is over before you see the movie credits rolling, you’re wrong. The ghost, or another ghost, will surely come back to the main character in the end, and finally ‘be one’ with him forever and ever or something like that.

———————————————————-
There you have it! The standard Thai horror movie plot!

OK, I’m not saying that all Thai horror movies are like that, there were a few that I’ve seen that were pretty good, really! But seriously, you’ll always find one or two, if not all, of the standard stuff in it.

I would recommend this movie to those of you who like sudden shocks and the feel of adrenaline rush. Try not to get the front seats like we did though! (we got the 2nd row) =( And try not to drink too much water before going in, you won’t have time/mood to go to the toilet.

However, although the stock market is booming in early 2007, the size of Ang Paus are just as constant as ever (if not shrinking)!

To make the situation more outrageous, check out this copy of Sin Chew Daily on the first day of Chinese New Year. On the first page, it says:

“Learn About Financial Management From the Pig*“!

(The “Pig*” is actually the Pig character from the famous Chinese story “Journey to the West”, I just can’t think of how to translate the name.)

Maybe I’ll just use the Chinese translation of the Pig Character’s name, which is Zhu Ba Jie.

For those who do not know, Zhu Ba Jie is the infamous lazy, perverted, greedy, no-action-talk-only and sometimes dumb, character in the story. Now we are going to learn Financial Management from him, how about that?

Just to clarify, I have nothing against the story or the characters, just pointing out the facts here =)

Looking inside at what Zhu Ba Jie has to say about wise financial management during this Chinese New Year, it is really maddening, or disturbing, to say the least, to see this:

It says: “The current ‘market price’ for an Ang Pau is 2 Ringgit.”

–

–

… You got that?

–

–

2 Ringgit… 2 Riiiiinggittt… 2… Ringgiiiitttttt…!! May that figure haunt your dreams tonight!

It is acknowledged on the newspapers that people should give 2 Ringgit Ang Paus!

The Ang Pau price 10 years ago was 2 Ringgit, and now it is still 2 Ringgit! Damn! Haven’t the married adults heard of inflation? 2 Ringgit could buy you some stuff years ago, but now the value is really so small that an RM2 Ang Pau is almost, I think, negligible.

Undeniably, most relatives or the people who know you will give you a lot more than an RM2 Ang Pau, but for the not-so-familiar people, it’s 2 Ringgit, period.

Yes, I know that giving Ang Paus is just a symbol of goodwill, and I do not despise people giving RM2 Ang Paus, because it is really, sad to say, the ‘market price’ now. But you know, maybe I’ll appreciate it only after I get married, when it’s my turn to give out Ang Paus! Hehe…

image from kidswebindia.com

Since centuries ago, the original Santa:

• Was an old man,
• Had a long white beard,
• Wore a red coat with white fur,
• Well… was Fat,
• Was bespectacled,
• Wore white gloves,
• Wore a long red fabric hat with a white fur ball at the tip,
• Held a red sack of toys as gifts for children,
• Slid down chimneys to put toys in socks placed beside fireplaces,
• Had a sleigh pulled by reindeers,
• Manufactured toys at home with his wife and a group of Elves.

Well, the last three conditions may be harder for Malaysian Santas to imitate, I understand, but the rest should be followed as strict as possible.

All was fine until last night when I encountered a Malaysian Santa Clause, let’s evaluate:

• Obviously not an old man, old men seldom do the ‘v’ hand sign. (FAILED)
• Has a white beard, but personally I don’t think it’s long enough, but anyway… (PASSED)
• Has a red coat but no white fur trimmings. (FAILED)
• Fat… Emm… No idea… Let’s just pass this one. (PASSED)
• Bespectacled all right. (PASSED)
• Definitely no white gloves here, and since when does Santa wear sports watches? (FAILED)
• I love the santa hat! (PASSED)
• I don’t see no sack of toys.. Sobs…T_T (FAILED)
• Chimney? Bah… (NOT EVALUATED)
• Sleigh with reindeers? Nanti kena saman… (NOT EVALUATED)
• No wife, no elves, no house manufacturing toys… (NOT EVALUATED)

Our Santa Failed half of the conditions!

Not only does he lack some of the santa features, the Santa Boss is obviously not paying Santa well too!

A rather obvious hole on the hat of poor ole’ Santa! I wanna lodge a complaint!

Really, it’s time we started appreciating our Santas! They are the ones that contribute a lot to the non-religious Christmas atmosphere!

So how do you appreciate a Santa when you see one? Shake his hand, smile, laugh, and shriek with joy (feign it if you have to) when he comes, and don’t ever make fun of them unless you’re a small kid.

I really love Christmas and the atmosphere of it, but sometimes it really pains me to see how the Malaysian community celebrates Christmas. I’m not talking anymore about our poor Santa, I’m talking about the decorations, attitudes, parties, and the overall atmosphere of the Malaysian Christmas celebration. It’s just my opinion, though. Sigh…

Anyway, here’s what I secretly discovered later on the streets. Finally we can evaluate:

• Santa and his sleigh pulled by reindeers!

FAILED.

I suppose a motorcycle is a lot cheaper and easier to maintain compared to feeding and keeping reindeers in Malaysia.

Merry Christmas everyone!