Didn't Yasmin use the name Orked in Rabun as well? posted by fooji foojihoe@gmail.com
Feb 28 2005 17:49:32 yes fooji, the girl in rabun was also called orked. it's my sister's name.
(i just realised how keen i was to answer this simple question, after ducking to avoid poisoned arrows for the last few days. oops! spoke too soon! here comes some more!) posted by yasmin yasmin@leoburnett.com.my "
Now I have reason to feel good for the rest of the week.
And by the way, my dear friends/visitors - ten cents for each comments, okay? I'll pay on a monthly basis, so please comment.
Last night, 11:40pm. Most of the audience were surprisingly Chinese. With Malay/Malaysian movies being generally horrible and cheap attempts most of the time, Yasmin Ahmad's SePeT is of course a worthy watch.
It poked at normal Malaysian dillemas like halal food, Malay-Chinese relationships, lazy Malay men, rich shallow Malay teenagers, humility towards servants, parenting, bad fathering, unfair scholarships, road safety, dan lain-lain lagi.
I do not really agree with the ending, but hey it is of course worth a watch. Congratulations, Yasmin. Looking forward to another one from you, maybe an even better one.
The appetite for India and things Indian was rejuvenated last Sunday when I was spellbound by Ramli Ibrahim's Spellbound - Odissi Live at the Istana Budaya. Not only did I enjoy the dance very much (my first Odissi experience), I got to photograph the dance maestro himself. (will post it up soon)
Suddenly, I realised the Indian experience which was supposed to be rich enough to leave behind vivid memories, is leaking away from my troubled hippocampus.
To keep abreast with India, The Week is the best site so far to get the most relevant and interesting news about Indian politics, entertainment, Indian cities and of course Miss Rani Mukherjee.
The pillar theory in the movie ‘Constantine’ is that God and Satan are like 2 childish Powers on a game of influencing humans into their kingdoms without physical force. It is just a game of persuasions of the mind.
Nothing physical, just subtle influence. Yet this show banked a lot on physical, ‘see-able, imaginable’ visuals to drive the story home. We see demons at their ugliest, most violent form. We see angels with blonde hair, and beautiful wings. We see demons getting destroyed with holy water and holy bullets. Blood, the spear of destiny, all that are considered essential to the fulfillment of prophecies.
The struggles between the good and evil have been to reduced to mere visual conflicts between darkness and holiness. The rules are still based on Old Testament mentality.
If only it were that simple, I would have been a much stronger Christian because the ugliness and darkness of the evil is so much more apparent than the real thing.
In the real world, Satan does not need to have dirty feet, bloodshot eyes. We do not need ugly demons to destroy us. And the most beautiful things created by God may not be the most beautiful things according to us. We do not need to dwell in the supernatural to experience the power of God.
In the real world , the demons that will take us away from God can never be put away by someone like Constantine. The demons we face everyday are the Worldly Treasures like Money (some called it Mammon), Power, Pride, Popularity, Public Acceptance, Fear of suffering/Love for Comfort, et cetera. Nothing supernatural.
In real life, we do not need demons with red corneas to disturb us, to flutter our hearts away from God, to make us condemn God, to sin against Him. So many things on earth less ugly than those demons have made us forgotten about God and hence, utter disbelief in God.
Phillip Yancey said this in his book, ‘…I went to the local supermarket and looked over the magazines as I stood in line at the checkout stand. The progression of magazine titles over the past few decades tells a story of narrowing interests: Look and Life to People to Us to Self, from Cosmopolitan to FHM to Maxim to Her World…Every magazine on the rack featured a beautiful woman showing off her curves in workout gear, a bikini or other revealing clothes…as if America has no men, and as if the divine standards of being human is to attain those curves and sexiness…The world market economies, with their insatiable demands, press home a message that has become a yuppie bumper sticker: “The one who dies with the most toys wins.”
The majority of this world, the sanity of this world has been described by parameters like this:- - the best kind of humans are those who can run the fastest, create the biggest bombs, etc. - the most powerful, greatest ones are those who control the media, command the loyalty of millions, who run the government - that being financially independent is the highest attainable thing on earth, as if you can transfer funds to an ‘afterlife’ bank account - the most beautiful ones are those with the best hairstyle, the sexy double eyelids, perfect teeth, sexy cleavage, nice shapely breasts, shapely legs, killer curves - the best student is the one with the most achievements, most awards, highest grades
Satan has worked through all these to trap us, he does not need evil half-breeds to unsettle us, to screw up our lives. Let me end this entry by quoting Frederick Buechner:-
“If the world is sane, then Jesus is mad as a hatter and the Last Supper is the Mad Tea Party. The world says, Mind your own business, and Jesus says, There is no such thing as your own business. The world says, Follow the wisest course and be a success, and Jesus says, Follow me and be crucified. The world says, Drive carefully – the life you save may be your own – and Jesus says, Whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. The world says, Law and order, and Jesus says, Love. The world says, Get, and Jesus says, Give. In terms of the world’s sanity, Jesus is crazy as a coot, and anybody who thinks he can follow him without being a little crazy too is labouring less under the cross than under a delusion. “We are fools for Christ’s sake,” Paul says, faith says – the faith that ultimately the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men, the lunacy of Jesus saner than the grim sanity of the world.”
After almost 2 years of blogging, I thought I have gone past the phase of deriving good satisfaction and feeding my ego with good statistics of traffic to W.I.B.
For the past one month, traffic has been really bad (less than 20/day), and this tauke is not happy!!!
At the same time, blog ideas do not come. Very few issues, not even if Samy Vellu going bald or Najib getting assasinated interest me to make some good entries.
The grammar and the vocabulary are getting poorer too.
Midlife crisis at 24.
Sigh, even this entry kind of sucks. A sign of poorer traffic ahead. If you feel like doing charity, or are worried about me slipping into depression, datanglah ke W.I.B ramai-ramai. Free what...
"... Mahathir himself failed to reveal the strategy which can be implemented to overcome Proton's present weaknesses, and only placed his hopes on the (somewhat abstract) "abilities and loyalty" of the rakyat who love Proton! For example, he admitted that he was not able to overcome the challenge of the glut of cheap cars. He was amazed how there could be nations which can churn out cars so cheaply - their "landed price" was only RM11,000!" - Lee Ban Chen, Malaysiakini.com
"... Efforts to smear my name appear to be continuing. One by one they surface. Sometimes no names are mentioned but the implication is still the same. That makes me sad. Just let me retire. Do not disturb me, or I will be forced to defend myself." - Mahathir Mohamad, Mingguan Malaysia - Feb 13, 2005.
"...The Proton issue is only one of many matters which are still linked to Mahathir. In many other issues like the mega-projects and the financial situation and fiscal policies of the government, his name is still mentioned. Sometimes positively, and sometimes negatively." - Aman Rais, Malaysiakini.com
Tauke feels that we should:-
1) Let the man retire la! This means that we should not be moved by whatever 'political clout' he has left. Mr. Badawi won the mandate in the previous election, not Mahathir. He may only get there because Mahathir chose him, but Mahathir did not help him win the election. Therefore, Mr. Badawi should make the best decisions for the country, whether Mahathir likes it or not.
2) Let the man retire! This means that we stop worshipping him, unnecessarily offering him titles and positions and advisorships, also spare him from the limelight, for good or bad.
3) Let the man retire! We all know the doctor had done lots of mistakes as the PM, but most of us chose to give him the mandate at that time. Since most of us would be too soft to bring him to court, just FORGIVE this old man. There is no need to highlight his past sins again and again.
Dr. Mahathir is NOT the Prime Minister anymore. Forget him, forgive him.
_________________________________________________________ 2 Overheard: 'what? I am starting with PCM!!! Shit!!! You good la, you go Medicine first. Who are my group members?? No other Chinese??'
How did it sound to you? The phrase, "CHINESE new year" (CNY). Sounds a bit racist, isn't it?
No, this is not an entry about 'isu perkauman', just that I would prefer it to be widely called Lunar new year, which the Chinese traditionally celebrated as the biggest, grandest event of the year. The lunar calendar, special in many ways, and magically accurate in predicting climate and seasons, is close to the Chinese tradition.
Two weeks ago, when the new year music CDs, new year mandarin oranges, new year Bakkwa, new year tanglung, firecrackers were hotly put on sale, there was not much CNY spirit in everyone. The hot weather did not help too.
"It is not like last time already. We were kids. Now...," a friend said.
"Too much festival. Spending power no good....," said another.
Yet, since last weekend, cars are filling the highway, supermarkets roaring in business, crazy pork-eaters like me lining up in SS2 for bakkwa (heavenly barbequed sliced pork), TV showing humourous yet meaningful CNY adverts.
Even being caught in traffic jams in Ipoh, with all the KL and Singapore cars, adds to the gradually soaring CNY spirit.
Indeed, CNY, despite the hot weather and the empty bank account, is still the best festival in the Malaysian calendar. This is the season when even my mother will close shop and take a week of rest. This is the season when almost all my old school friends and family, scattered all over the country, will regroup in Ipoh.
The versatility of the way we can celebrate and interpret CNY is amazing, and much less pretentious than the commercialised 25th Dec and 1st Jan:-
For the kids, CNY is a time for angpow, goodies, and other children to play with.
For the hardworking, this is a time to rest, and to catch up with old friends and family.
For the superstitious, this is a time to pray for a better year and everything nice.
For the fengshui masters, this is the time to get famous and try to sound wise and convincing.
For me, CNY is a time for family and old friends. CNY is about going home CNY is a time for Ipoh. CNY is a time for good food, good jokes, good conversations. A time to reminisce the good old times, to laugh at past pursuits, to smile at new attempts.
A very blessed Lunar New year to you all!
After second thoughts about writing an entry that ridicules the zodiac readers and the fengshui masters and the Choi San worshippers, the tauke wrote this instead. Anyway, Rumah tauke dibuka pada hari ke-3, 11/2/05. All are welcome for new year goodies, and angpow.
Gamble.... money
risk of being caught
risk of failing
Is sitting in the room doing nothing, a form of gambling?
Gambling on the possibility of succeeding without effort.
Choosing a career... money
risk of being unhappy
risk of being overworked
risk of to sacrifice
risk of occupational hazard
Is choosing a career a form of gambling?
Gambling on the possibility of being happy without passion? Of being rich without conviction? Being contented despite having no life?
Pursuing...... some girl
some car
some property
a future wife
Is pursuing something you love a form of gambling?
Gambling on the possibility of rejection? Of making the wrong choice? Of depreciation? Of getting cheated/conned?
Doing it right.... in everything
Thinking it right....
in everything
Getting it right....
in everything....
What if right is not really right? When majority is not authority? When wrong is perverted? When 2+2=5? When everything evolves? When the mystery is too thick?
Be humble, dear friends. For we do not know what we do.
*W.I.B is the personal blog of fooji. He works for the ministry of health seven days a week, skips his breakfast and looks forward to a good dinner at the end of the day.
w.I.b:warung ikan bakar:
