Heyheyhey!

A peek into the twisted mind of a Natural Born Geek! Learn the shocking truth ! Run away crying in agony ! Gasp at the horror! Showing nationwide in all respectable cinema outlets.

Monday, September 27, 2004

Sunday Bloody Sunday

I lost my *virginity* last Sunday.

As the throbbing pain behind my back started surging up my spine to my brain, I had an epiphany.

From this point onwards, I've lost my innocence......

There's no going back....

Soon i'll turn into..... A WORKAHOLIC !

------
Hahahahaa...gotcha goin there for a minute, eh ? ;-p

Sunday was a cop-out weekend for me. I had to come into work and help my Assistant Manager finish up his submission of our client's prospectus to the Securites Commission.

Real boring stuff that I won't talk about cos it'd put you to sleep.

Neways, I thought it would just be a few hours work, but verdammt(!) I stayed at the office from 11 AM until 9 pm at night ! That's close to 10 hours of work, you might as well not call my Sunday as a weekend then....

However, my company DOES give us double pay when we work on weekends....

Still, my stand remains, TRADING my free time for a measly amount of extra money on top of my monthly wages SUCKS big time...I prefer to have that extra free time to do what I yearn to do in my free time...spend time with my family, hang out with friends, catch a few movies at the cinema or on DVD, etc. etc.

But on that late Sunday afternoon, I didn't care anymore. I've become desensitized to the world around me. I didn't yearn to do the stuff I would normally do on Sundays. The only thing that was on my mind was how to solve the problem in fron t of me so I could get out and leave.

Heck, I was so focused on the work, I didn't notice the hours fly by...when I looked up from my cubicle, to my surprise, the sky had already darkened and I missed doing anything I had planned to do that day.....

Oh well...no point complaining about it now...WORK is WORK and what must be done, hav eto be done, no matter how hard it is.

I guess that's the epiphany that I came to that Sunday evening....when you finally mature and become an adult you realise that you HAVE to compromise in a lot of things in life JUST to make a better living for youself.

You might not enjoy what you have to do, but in order to survive, you have to compromise your ideals and dreams ( I always wanted to write & draw a comic book, or even direct a movie) and be responsible enough to meet the duties you have agreed to.

That's the REAL world ppl, there's no black or white.....just deeper shades of grey.

The factor that ensures whether you make it or not in this world is how willing are you to change / adapt to new challenges ?

Are you a roll-with-the-punches-and-keep-on-going kinda guy or a take-it-sitting-down worrywart?
That's the only defining factor between a CEO of a company and the hobo begging for change on the side of the street.


;-p


Friday, September 24, 2004

Friday Night Anger!

What the fu- ??!!!!

It's bloody Friday night fer fu-'s sake and where the hell am I on this auspicious night, regarded as the hour for boogying and partying ?!

I'm STUCK in the bloody office with my Oh-So-Annoying Assistant Manager (AM), helping my AM finish some last minute work, to be able to send the document to our clients BY TONIGHT!

It's NOT as if they work on Saturdays ANYWAY !!!!!

Verdammt!

It's 10:10 pm soon, and I'm missing out on the 2nd episode of Survivor : Vanuatu (promising to feature a lot of half naked shenanigans seeing as to how 50% of the women on the show are beautiful chicks!)---hey what can I say ladies, I'm Shallow as Hell and when I'm venting my anger, I don't have time to put the 'charm offensive' on, o.k. ?!

Bbbbbbllllloooooddddddyyyyyy Bbbbbaaaasssssttttttaaarrrddd !!!!!!!!!


Somehow I feel a little better....i'm still gonna be missing an episode which promises lotsa booby action tho......


Sigh.......

P.S. To make matters worse, my AM just asked me whether I'd be free to come in on Sunday afternoon...as if I don't have anything better to do on my weekend than to come in and do what I regularly do for 5 days of the week!

U know the only thing making me grin and bear it, & to stay so late plus come in on weekends is cos my company is gracious enough to pay us overtime. Thank God Almighty for a fair company & HR policy.....

I'm SUCH a 'mata duitan' (money-minded) bbbbbeeaaattcchhh aren't I ?

;-p

Wednesday, September 22, 2004

Quote of the Week

"What is HELL ?

I maintain that it is not being able to love;
and for that, one does not need Eternity;
A day will do, or even a moment."

---- Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (1821-1881)

My Guilty Pleasure

I read comic books.

There. I've said it.

I've revealed my ONLY guilty pleasure which would unwittingly draw upturned eyebrows of surprise (some even of derision) when spoken about in a crowd of adults.

If you, the reader, are in the same group of people who think lowly of comic books as simple 4-colored periodicals worthy only of notice by children under the age of 12, then have I got news for you, baby....

*Adopts prissy queer guy pose while slapping your arm in a playful manner*

"Where have you been all this while, dah-ling? Don't you know it's currently HIP to be SQUARE!"

Every ten year cycle or so, comic books resurfaces into the cultural consiousness or becomes hip and mainstream again.

It was true during the 1989-1995 period when Tim Burton's Batman (1989) film resulted in reading comic books being cool. Comics distribution went up into hundred thousand copies per issue and the euphoria felt like the bull run at the stock market. A comic book that you bought on Friday would double or even triple its value by the next Friday in those good old days of 1992-1994.

This period was known as the Age of Artistes as 7 of the best comic pencillers (Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane, Rob Liefeld, Erik Larsen, Marc Silvestri,Jim Valentino, and Whilce Potracio) broke away from Marvel Comics (one of the big comic giant publishing company along with DC Comics) and made their own comics company : Image Comics.

They had a certain energy conveyed in their artwork which resulted in fanboys like me going giddy and wet with excitement ( I know, I know, I was a SAD teenager ;-p). The comic book film exposure also meant everyone and their grandmother started jumping onto the bandwagon of what comic of the month was hot and started buying the same issue of a comic in multiples (in speculation that the price would go up). Comics books in the early '90s era like Jim Lee's X-Men #1 and Tood McFarlane's Spiderman #1, heck even the Death of Superman fetched prices that was 5-20 times the cover price of the comic book.

However, life is a cycle and logic prevailed.

What goes up MUST also eventually come down.

All the speculation was hurting the actual comic book book market because big companies like Marvel,DC and even Image kept pumping out hundred thousands of comics with gatefold covers, shiny hologram covers, even pre-packaged polybagged comics (with surprise trading card inside) which at the end of the day had little to no content of worth.

What's the use of buying a comic if you don't even enjoy reading it and hoard it in mylar-plastic covers instead in the hopes it will pay your children's college tuition fee ? (believe me, some wacko Americans did this). ;-p

And so 1995-1998 was the dark days of comic-book reading.


Joel Schumacher (the DEVIL to most Batman-comic book reading fans) had also just directed the George Clooney stinker Batman Forever (which also starred Arnie and Uma Thurman).

Comic book films had ran away from its roots set up by Tim Burton initially (which respected the core material and made a homage of it in film form). Joel Schumacher had taken eveything cool about the Batman comics and instead turned it into a parody of itself.

Villains wore multi-coloured hues of costumes and were always featured in gaudy lighting. Characters always thought in black and white and it was always good versus evil with no grey area in between. Batman had turned into the campy '60s TV series, instead of being based on the '80s brooding avenger archetype.

-------------


From the ashes of the Age of Artistes arised the comic book writers.

In the 1998-2000 period, great comic books started to surface.

The Writer's Revolution has started, ladies and gentleman.


People that had been brought up on quality comic book writing during the '80s (i.e. Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns and Alan Moore's The Watchmen) such as Warren Ellis, Garth Ennis, Brian Michael Bendis and Garth Morrison started writing comics that broke the rules of the previous decade.

Comis didn't NEED to be just about good versus evil; it became more realistic and adapted to the current world environment. Character's motivation were now logical and methodical. Stories were more technologically fantastic yet at the same time realistic.

Plus, Hollywood was also starting to be invaded by creative people who grew up on those same era of comic books.

1998 brought the Wesley Snipes helmed Blade. A comic book movie about the first human-vampire hybrid who can walk in sunlight (thus named the Daywalker) and slays vampires for a living. The amount of homage and realism given to Blade (which is an obscure '70s comic book from Marvel) gave hope to comic book fans that comics would soon rise into the mainstream again.

Sure enough, Hollywood saw Blade's good response from both the comic book community and also the regular moviegoing public and soon, more and more comic book films started to be greenlighted.

2000's X-Men by Bryan Singer further put comic books into the spotlight as Hugh Jackman's Wolverine brought females into cinemas in droves and reading X-Men comic books became cool again. More and more hits such as X-2 in 2003, Sam Raimi's Spiderman in 2002 and of course, the current uber- comic book film masterpiece Spiderman 2 in 2004 meant comic books have FINALLY arrived back into the mainstream.

Comic books were no longer the hobby of the juvenile, socially inadequate geeks as it was in those dark days of the late '90s. More and more mainstream, audiences have been exposed to the power of graphic novel storytelling and more and more are starting to pick them up based on the successes of the films. Other forms of comic books like Japanese Manga have been translated into English and is also currently selling in millions of copies in America.

Heck, even bookstores like Barnes & Noble, Kinokuniya, WH Smith and MPH are starting to stock comic books in their stores. Try looking under the graphic novels section next time you're in a bookstore!

Beautiful Hollywood stars such as Jude Law, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner have come out of the closet and admitted to being comic book geeks. (hahahaha...I like the weird analogy b/w being gay & comic book readers here...I wonder whether there's more to it..hhhmmmm)

Of course, with the good, there also exists the bad.

Comic book film stinkers such as Daredevil, the Hulk and Punisher are soon going to be the death of comic book films as a medium.

What Hollywood needs to realise is that they have to be TRUE to the source materials. The comic book fans have to be appeased while at the same time the film shouldn't be TOO faithful to the source lest the mainstream audiences don't 'get it'.

That ladies and gentleman...is a hard line to toe.

So I'm grateful for talented individuals like Bryan SInger, Guillermo Del Toro and Sam Raimi who have a love and appreciation for the original comic books yet have the incredible ability to include only what's relevant and make it interesting to the mainstream audience.

I'm currently a giddy fanboy, regaling in the 'mainstream-ness' of comic books. Here's to another 3-4 good years of comic books being in the spotlight until they must again fade away (which is only logical) and be resurrected in a Lazarus-like manner in 10 years time by the next generation influenced by the current crop of good comic book exposure.

Hahahaha...after all, that is LIFE....just ONE huge cycle of events. Going round and round.

We are but bit players in the cycle. Specks of dust on a universal tableu.

They who haven't learned from History are doomed to repeat it!

;-p

Wednesday, September 15, 2004

My Infatuation with.....

What is it about infatuation that makes it SO intoxicating ?

Call it a crush, call it a passing fancy, call it a prelude to love or lust, call it anything.....

Why does it create SO much POSITIVE energy ?

A simple glance, a wave in recognition, even a simple hello can turn a sane person into a beaming, blubbering, buffoon that can't even think rationally just cos ur crush said, "Hi" or looked ur way and waved hello.

Or maybe it's just ME.

Maybe for the first time in my 24 yrs on this god-given Earth, I'm starting to feel something different.

Something not driven by lust or even a burning desire which itches for consummation.

I wonder whether this realization is affected by my infatuation-addled brain or the actual truth.

Maybe things are different this time ?

Who knows except God Almighty ?

Only time will tell.

;-p

Tuesday, September 14, 2004

Movie Pitch 101

Being an avid film geek, I watch (more like consume ;-p) movies like a starved ship-wrecked person who had his first proper meal after years stuck on an island.

I've watched countless movies from multiple genres and with all those hours of movie watching, I can't help but come up with stories of my own.

I dream in pictures and sound and if I can find a way to put those dreams to film, I can make them a reality to be shared with other ppl. Well that's my dream to achieve eventually somehow.

For now, I'm just a film geek that have all these ideas stuck in my head, bursting to come out. So where else to write them but here in my blog, eh ?

----
Today's movie pitch came to me a few weeks back after a certain turn of events made me wish I was something I wasn't. (Sounds confusing right ? Don't fret true believers, just read on and I'll reveal the plot further!)

*Start side note*
In Hollywood, movie producers are constantly busy with the current projects they currently have running, the projects that they are trying to get up and running, and also reviewing projects that they can invest in.

Therefore, Hollywood writers have figured out a novel and fast way of pitching their movies. They use examples of past movies and splice it with others to pitch their project in the shortest time possible. This format also ensures that the essence of the idea is passed on straightaway to the movie producers without them having to go thru the scriptbook. Only if they're interested by the sales pitch would they consider even looking at the script.

Neways, to make it easier for u to understand how this pitching technique works, I'll illustrate a few example of how some Hollywood blockbusters / stinkers might have been pitched:

Species : 'Aliens' meet 'Playboy centerfold model' meet 'softcore porn'
Resident Evil : 'Aliens' meets Zombies
Lord of the Rings : 'Star Wars Trilogy' in RPG fantasy setting
The Mummy : 'Indiana Jones' in Egyptian / post WW1 setting
I guess u get the idea now ?
*End side note*


Movie Pitch 101: 'Freaky Friday' meets 'Big / 13 Goin on 30'
For the benefit of those who are unfamiliar with these movies, here's a rundown of the basic plot of each movie:


Freaky Friday
The recent Disney movie which reintroduced Lindsay Lohan into the hearts and minds of numerous prepubescent teens and also starred Jamie Lee Curtis as Lindsay's mom. The gist of the story is mom and daughter trade souls for a few days because of a curse / spell (look, i DON"T watch saccharine-sweet Disney movies like this o.k. / or I won't ever admit to watching these kinda movies even under duress, so I might get the actual plot twists wrong).

Neways, they get to experience what it feels like to be the other person and at the end of the movie when they revert back to their own bodies, they have a greater understanding and love for the other person (Aaaahhh...such a Disney movie ending innit ?)


Big
This 80's movie (along with Joe & the Volcano) was the movie that catapulted Tom Hanks from an obscure actor to lead acting roles and eventually the star that he is today.

The basic story is Tom Hanks character is a 14 yr old who has this crush on a 14 yr old girl. However, since girls develop much faster than boys, she is interested in 16 yr old boys and goes out on dates with them. Tom Hanks character (who's still a kid at the start of the movie) finds this exasperating and in a cool twist of fate meets up an automated gypsy wishing maching at a carnival (something like the old coin operated parking meters u can find in the streets of KL).

So he proceeded to put a coin into the machine and wish he was big (saying the line "I wish I was big" multiple times) until the machine pops up a card saying "Your wish is my command" or something to that effect.

The next morning, we see the kid all grown up into a young Tom Hanks (this was after all the 80's, so he must be 20 sumthin). Hijinks soon follow as he realises that he can't stay at home anymore since his own parents doesn't recognize him and mistakes him for a stranger who kidnapped Tom Hank's kid character.

Neways, the now adult Tom Hanks, moves to the big city and ends up working for a big international toy company. Being a kid in an adult body, coming up with cool ideas is no problem for Tom Hanks.

Things get exciting as he experiences the freedom that comes with being an adult from having ur own place, to earning ur own money, etc. And there's an added subplot where the CEO of the company likes Tom Hanks for his child-like nature (doh!) and the innovations he brings to the company, much to the chagrin of the VP who's next in line for the CEO post.

The VP is a right bastard and his girlfriend (who also happens to work at the toy company) decides to leave the VP for Tom Hanks once she sees he is on the way top instead of the VP (see, this movie shows that things in life are never black and white. Everyone has an agenda for what they are doing...much like the adult world in reality).

So despite all this attractions (oh,did I forgot to mention that Tom Hanks' kid character gets to experience sex for the first time with the VP's ex?), Tom Hanks' best friend (a young Sean Astin who will eventually grow up to play Samwise Gamgee in LotR) is there to be a moral anchor for him and tell him how much his family is missing him back home (they still think he got kidnapped).
So which path does Tom Hanks choose ?

To be an adult and continue his new exciting life ? or go back to being a kid ?

I'll leave that to you to go rent out the movie and find out. ;-p


13 Going on 30
This recently released chick flick starring Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo is like a female version of Tom Hanks' Big where Jennifer Garner's 13 yr old girl character wishes to be bigger just so she can hang out with the popular girls at school.

Well faster than you can say,"Be careful of what you wish for, it may come true", Jennifer Garner's character wakes up 17 yrs later as a succesful media exec in one of New York's glossy publishing firms. I'll leave the rest of the plot out as I'm sure you must have seen this mushy chick flick story before with its prerequisite comic dance scene (adults boogyin down to the beat of Michael Jackson's 80's hit Thriller).

All I can say is I just don't like the ending as once you start dabbling with time travel to affect the future, you start breaking down the rules of chick flickdom and entering the realms of Sci Fi.

I mean, if Jennifer Garner's character goes back to make things right (i.e. not grow up into the beeeatch that she is, and start dating Mark Ruffalo's character from the start), what's to say this action wouldn't result in an alternate universe / parallel timeline where Mark Ruffalo's gawky, chubby teenage character NEVER lost the puppy fat and grew up into the yummy Mark Ruffalo ?
(I guess, the heartbreak must have been the impetus for the kid to get thin in the first place).

But then I digress.

Observation Damn...this is turning out to be one LONG post! And I haven't even gotten to discussing my plot yet ?!

O.k. so the idea I got the other day was a mix of all these recurring ideas all three movies had of trading souls and potrayal of differences between adults & children.

Basically rediscovering the myth of being a child / teenager compared to the rules, responsibilites and reality of being an adult.


The Plot:
We meet two people at the start of the movie, Jay and his big brother Kay.

Being orphaned recently, Kay has to be the responsible adult and work to put Jay thru college. Jay who used to be a bright student before their parents died have regressed into a quite, sullen young man who's angry with the cards life has dealt him. His grades are going down and he can't be bothered to continue living his life much to the chagrin of his bigger brother Kay who's bustin his ass off workin two jobs just to put Jay thru higher education. (Kay also experiences separation anxiety from the loss of his parents but does not know how to convey this to his brother)

Add in a subplot of the most popular girl at Jay's college who Kay used to tutor thru high school, which Kay used to be secretly infatuated with (except for the tutor-student relationship which stops Kay from taking things further).

Anyway, midway thru the first arc, Jay and Kay get into a fight over Jay's recurring bad grades and the fight gets bad enough that they start to actually physically trade blows until Kay the adult with the cooler head prevailed and stopped fighting. Words were spoken during the fight which cannot be taken back, anger and anxieties were revealed; a rift had separated the brother's bond.

Only something *magical* could truly bring the brothers back together.

Both brothers go to sleep being resentful of the other and wishing how cool it would be, to be the other person even for one day just to escape their tired, daily grind and maybe prove to the other person that they can do things better or handle events in a more positive manner.

Well, what was it that I said earlier about being careful about what u wish for cos u might just get it?!

*note* I still haven't figured out what plot contrivance would be used to result in the soul-change between the 2 brothers. Voodoo ? Black Magic ? Local Malaysian bomoh ? Maybe even something as hokey as Magic dust ala 13 Going on 30 or a Gypsy wishing machine like Big ? Oriental mystic beliefs ?

Neways, both of them wakes up the next morning in roles-reversed state.

Kay's soul is in Jay's teen body while Jay's soul is in Kay's adult body.

Hijinks and comedy ensues as Jay has free rein of his brother's adult body and decides to use it to have as much fun and freedom that being an adult allows (i.e. driving, coming back as late as possible, etc. I don't know...will figure this out later). However, later also we'll see Jay in Kay's body understand the outcome of not being a responsible adult (i.e. getting fired from Kay's part time job, smashing the car up, running out of money from all the entertainment, having to find income to pay the monthly bills & accident, etc.)

Kay who's now in Jay's teenage body on the other hand finally has the chance to woo the girl he previously tutored as an adult and we see some hijinks as well as the Kay who was a teenager during the 90's tries to adapt to life as a teenager in the Millenium. (everything from learning the current lingo, to dressing, to what activities teens do now --- basically play up on the fish out of water concept as much as possible)

Sigh, I might even add in the prerequisite comic dance scene, only now i'd be a riff of the 90's in the millenium...maybe have Jay (with Kay's soul) perform a Nirvana song hip hop style (hmmm...the possibilities are endless... 'Polly wants a cracker' hip hop style or even Smell's Like Teen Spirit to the beats and thump of drum and bass instead of guitar riffs. ;-p )

So the second arc sees both brothers taking each other's bodies out for a spin and enjoying it without thinking of the consquences. However reality starts hitting them hard and each brother realises how hard it is to be the other person, trying to make their way in the world especially after the loss of their parents (prerequisite Disney teary eyed moment should be included here).

The thrid arc starts once both brothers come to the realization of what it's like to be the other person and the bond of brotherhood is re-linked, the magical spell / voodoo / curse resolves and they find that their souls are back in each other's body.

How ever, I haven't figured out how to solve the love interest sub-plot.

Can Kay stand seeing the girl she fancies now being the girlfriend of his little brother ?

Is there a way to write a resolution to this sub-plot which wouldn't end up freaky ?

I mean this girl has been romanced all this while by Kay in Jay's body, yet now that the role-reversal has ended, how does Kay convince the girl that it's been him all along not Jay ?

I'm stuck at this point currently in my plotting thought-process.... anyone care to give me and ending to this story ?


;-p

The Dreamscape

What's in a Dream ?

Have u ever thought about it ?

People go to sleep and dream for most nights of their lives, yet we never put much thought towards what dreams really mean.

Heck, most of us start forgetting about our dreams the minute we wake up no matter how vivid or lucid the dream felt to us while we were asleep!

Why do I ask these questions ?

Well, it's cos I just had a really vivid dream yesterday. One that felt SO real, it was as if I was really there acting out what I was actually dreaming ( and NO boys and girls, it WASN'T a sex dream, sheesh gets ur minds out of the gutter ppl! ;-p ).

I woke up with a start at 4:15 am because the dream felt so real and reached a surprising climax / twist of events (again, I stress that it wasn't a sex dream) that I felt so elated by it and inexplicably woke up....damn...don't u wish u could go back to sleep sometimes JUST to get the chance to continue that really cool part of your dream again ?

Neways, this dream I had last night which felt so REAL has me spooked today cos looking at the track record of vivid dreams I've had before, it usually turns real and I get those deja-vu moments where you realise that u somehow have been through the current turn of events before.

Just like last week as I was sitting in the workshop of my mechanic in his lobby holding a newspaper in my hand as the television was streaming a documentary on the screen.

I suddenly felt a surge of recognition fill my being; as though somehow, someway, i HAD done this before, sitting in this chair, in this air conditioned lounge, holding the newspaper in this same position, with the same view of the tv as it featured a documentary about 9/11.

That day was the 11th of September 2004.

So what does this mean for the dream I had yesterday ?

Is it a mirror into a future event that I would eventually experience ?

Does our body, or soul maybe, when we're talking in the context of the Dreamscape, have the ability to look into the future when we sleep ?

If the answer is yes, I shudder at the thought of my dream coming thru in another deja-vu moment sometime in the future, for it wasn't an exciting dream I had yesterday....more like an embarassing turn of events which if it does come true....would turn out to be a LIVNG NIGHTMARE !

Top 5 Wired Wants

Being a tech geek, there's so many new gadgets that I wish I could own and use, to make myself a more wired person. Unfortunately, there's always this small matter called MONEY which surfaces whenever I fancy myself using one of these gadgets.

If I had all the money in the world (one day my son, one day), these are the Top 5 Wired gadgets that I secretly fantasize of acquiring....

1) A *NEW* Handphone
The handphone I currently wield is SO bloody dated that I prefer to take miss-calls then answer the phone when I'm in the company of people (yes it's THAT old!).
Being a Nokia beeeatch, I wouldn't go for any other brands and would most probably purchase a Nokia 6230, 6600 or 7610.
Since Nokia 6230 is the basic candy bar design (just like the grandaddy of all Nokia phones like the one that I own; the Nokia 3210) I think I'll give it a no-no and consider the other two alternatives. Nokia 7610 looks zany and I wonder whether it can fit into my work-trouser pockets easily. But then the Nokia 6600 is even MORE bulkier when compared to Nokia 7160 so...

Oh well, all this conjecture & guessing won't do much good since I dinnae have the money in the first place to purchase them....yet(!).....oh well...it's always good to daydream.

2) A Digital Camera
Now that I have a blog, having a digital camera comes in handy for capturing those special moments and even giving you all a window into my world by showcasing the people and the places in my life. The two models I'm currently looking at are the Casio-Exilim 5.0 mps or the Sony Compact 5.0 mps.

I think the decision that would swing my vote would be how user friendly is the camera interface, and how easy would it be for me to download my pics from the camera to my PC.

From past experience, my friend have been having problems with her slim & compact Casio-Exilim when downloading pics onto her PC (well the fact that she lost the instruction guide and the editing suite CD doesn't really help either ;-p)...so I'm swinging more towards the bigger, bulkier Sony Compact 5.0 mps.

3) An Apple iPod
I'm undecided on choosing between style over substance.

The new iPod mini comes in 5 new colours and I currently have my eyes set on either the Silver or Blue iPod mini. However the max space is only 4 GB which can fit a 1000 songs.
If I'm serious about buying an iPod, I might as well go for the mother of all iPods ; the original iPod 40 GB which can fit 10,000 songs.

At the end of the day, i'm going to be using my iPod NOT only to fit in mp3 songs but also to move data and artwork around easily like a thumbdrive. So the more space I have , the better.

Oh well, let's see which one's more affordable come the next PC Fair, eh ?

4) A DV-Cam
This is a real pipe-line dream fer me since I haven't thought much about it until just this minute as I'm writing it down.

Yeah, a DV-Cam would be real handy as I fancy myself of being a film director someday. (yeah..."angan-angan Mat Jenin" la katakan! i.e. a Malay saying for dreaming the impossible yet doing nothing about towards achieving the goal)

A DV-Cam would enable me to tinker about and maybe enter a few amateur film festivals like the Malaysian Video Awards and the Cyberjaya CITV which are both held anually and are conduits for amateur film makers in Malaysia to get further recognition and funding for future projects.

One can always dream, eh ?

5) An Apple iMac
And lastly,an Apple iMac would come in handy with it's user friendly video editing function which would allow me to edit the home movies captured using my DV Cam into something worth watching and showing to people.

All of these wants remain as dreams for now, but every day, slowly but surely, I'll take my step by step towards achieving these goals and hopefully towards creating more wants (after all, the human psyche is NEVER satisfied with what it has, non?)

;-p

Monday, September 13, 2004

My Fotopages!

I just added an online Fotopage just to make it easier fer me to store pics instead of storing them here on me blog. Hopefully it'll make it easier fer u ppl with slower internet connections to download this page (ha! as if anyone reads me blog these days neways...;-p)

Just check out http://uunikk.fotopages.com if ur curious.
(Oh just bloody check it out anyway even if ur not curious! ;-p )

And here's a taster of the kinda pics I have up on that page.

Doodling as usual in Pre-school Posted by Hello

Saturday, September 11, 2004

Lil' Bella

This Kid is 2Cute! Posted by Hello


Dun worry ladies, it's not my baby in case u were wonderin...heheheheh

This cute kid is Bella, the daughter of one of Magic: the Gathering's more popular internet columnist : Mike Flores. Neways he put this pics up in his article and I thought it was way too cute to let it go to waste, so I added the caption to fit the mood of the baby....hope Mikey doesn't mind!

;-p

Friday, September 10, 2004

TGIF !

Mmmmm... yummy....

I'm currently munching on a banana muffin filled with orange peel and sun-dried grapes someone baked and put in the common area of the office....

These orange peels are the yummiest bite-size of heaven I've tasted ALL week long !
(O.k., o.k....I'm sure u can see that I'm hungry as hell right now....as usual...hahahaah)

Neways, thought I'd just drop a line as I'm waiting in anticipation to run off from the office and just chill out this weekend.

Have a great weekend y'all!



Thursday, September 09, 2004

test!

I've been having problems publishing my posts today...this is a test to see whether anything can be published online or not....

Test!

The *sweet* Evo 7 Posted by Hello

Damn that's a *sweet* ride! Posted by Hello

Wednesday, September 08, 2004

2 Fast 2 Furious

Met up with some old mates from Edinbra yesterday over at Gazebo SS 15.

*start rant*
For the uninitiated, it's a pricey upmarket version of the local watering hole @ warung mamak. Basically ur paying extra for the decor (which is cleaner than ur regular roadside mamak) and the ambience (soft underlighting and big plasma screens in a pavillion-like dome are way better than the generator-lights and 22-inch tv at ur local mamak).

The service however SUCKS big time.

It could take up to 30 minutes just to get ur drinks served let alone ur bloody meals.
Then again, that might be cos none of us at the table was a hot chick in a tiny spaghetti strap dress.

Damn...I need to get myself one of those maybe just to get some fast service, non ?

Would a black spaghetti strap dress match my eye colour? ;-p
*end rant*

Neways after we were done with the social niceties we headed into regular men-talk territory (which I unfortunately, or fortunately depending on which way u see it, am not going to transcribe here cos the depths of luridity our conversation got to wouldn't be beneficial towards me upholding my innocent boy facade.) Hah! ;-p

If ur curious, the topics we covered were Amsterdam (those boys just flew back for summer hols from Edinbra, which is one hour away from the Dam by flight), which went on to weed & ho's, which *surprisingly* went on to sex, and then on to HIV & STD facts.

We had a doctor in our group who enjoyed regaling us with obscure health info. For example d'ya know that the HIV virus is 4 times smaller than a condom's 'epidermis'? Therefore all the rubber in the world ain't gonna stop ya from catchin AIDs buddy! Much to the chagrin of one of me mates yesterday..... hmmmm he must be a regular.... ;-p

Oh and we also covered topics ranging from keeping fit, to futsal, to going to the gym, to my eternal obsession with fantasy card games (a story for another day, perhaps), to regular card games like poker and black jack, to of course what else but: gambling.

Damn, these guys sure do have some gambling stories and tips on how to bet, despite their clean, innocent lil' holier than thou demeanour.

*Start Gambling School of Thought*
Here's one PROVEN tip if you ARE going to play at the Roulette table:

Choose one color (there's only two honey, either BLACK or RED)

And start ur bet with the smallest denominator the HOUSE allows.

Say the smallest bet the house allows is 2 dollars. Then u start betting on ONE colour at 2.

If u lose, double the bet to 4 for the next roulette.

If u lose again, double the bet to 8. Continue doubling the bet every time (16, 32, maybe stop at 32)

The idea is probability speaking, the roulette result can't ALWAYS be one colour for like 5 TIMES in a row. If it happens, walk away from that table cos it's rigged for sure.

Anyway, since the payout of winning if u hit the right colour is DOUBLE of whatever u bet, u will continually recover ur losses.

For the mathematically-disabled, here's an example I prepared earlier:

Say u roulette ends up on a red colored number when u bet 16 dollars; that means the payout u would receive would be 32 dollars.

Ur initial investment would be the 16 dollars u plonked down for the bet, plus 8, 4 and 2 dollars for the failed bets before it. So ur initial expenditure would be 16+8+4+2= 30 dollars.

U just made a CLEAN profit of 2 dollars!

I know, I know, slim pickings right ?

Well, u have to grow ur funds initially to re-roll it again on the Roulette table.

The main thing to remember is that once u've won. Start again low (i.e 2 dollars) on another color of ur choice (again either BLACK or RED).

Once u've won a few times, you can start playing with the big boys and start ur lowest bet at 20 dollars followed by 40, 80 and 160.
*End Gambling School of Thought*

Now being a nice, innocent lil' Muslim guy, I in NO way condone gambling and have not participated (seriously u gotta believe me! ;-p ) in any gambling activities EVER in my life.

I'm just a born-gamer and love the probability and competitive aspect of gaming...so I resort to playing lame non-gambling versions of card games from fantasy card games like Magic:the Gathering to Cho Tai-Di a.k.a. Big 2, a favourite card game variation on Texas Hold 'Em style Poker created by the ancient Chinese (jusk ask any Orientally-descent person about this game and I'm sure they'd know it lah!)



Neways, to top off the night, as we one by one walked back to our cars, we managed to check out one of my mate's sweet, sweet ride: a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII. He agreed to bring us out for a test ride and I gotta tell u, NO ride that I have ever taken in my 24 years living and breathing on this earth, has been as smooth yet blindingly fast at the same time.

If ur not familiar with Subang Jaya geography, there's a 1 km stretch of straight main road in front of the Gazebo eatery flanked by a roundabout at one end and a traffic light at the other end. So as we slowly took the roundabout, I readied myself for the ride of my life.

We took the roundabout at around 40-50 km/h then swerved into the main road at about 70-80 km/h (the grip of the car was superb, even at that speed with that angle we weren't careening off the road like some souped-up jalopy), hit 100 km/h as soon as we straightened up, then 120, 140 halfway thru, 160 then goddamnit (!) a bloody cool 180 km/h 2/3rds of the way thru!

Verdammt the only thing holding me back from shouting out loud in a squeaky voice like a lil sissy was the fast approaching end of the road and the red stop at the traffic lights!

Luckily, this lean, mean machine comes with ABS and I experienced the smoothest emergency brakes (well there was the red at the traffic lights to think about...unless we were 'dying' for a taste of crashbang pancake la) ever in my life. I didn't even lean forward accidentally like u usually do when u brake suddenly while the inertia motion of the car is still going forward.

Damn..I gotta get myself one of those babies....anyone know any bank that will willingly finance my overworked, under-paid ass for a car loan to a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 7 ?
;-p





Monday, September 06, 2004

Monday Bloody Monday!

Verdammt!

Could this happen on any other bloody day but Monday ?

The power to my office building got cut off around 8:30 am this morning.

Now, being the profit maximizing, results-driven, investment bank that we are, EVERYONE just resumes work normally after the temporary black out using auxiliary power. The PCs are working fine (thank god fer that...I don't wanna have to start resorting to actually having to do PAPERwork).

However, the air conditioning is off and the ventilation system for this building is crap.

It feels as if I'm trapped in a giant tomb with all my fellow office colleagues.

It's floor upon floor of mass tombs with people boxed in their own cubicles considering the stale air hanging around each department.

Heck it's only like 11 sumthin in the day and I smell fucking 'rank' already like I just ran a bloody 10-mile marathon or summat!

At the rate this is going, I might just fall asleep from getting dozy due to the heat or I might start putting people in a coma from choking on me 'rank-ness'. (Note to self: Have to get better deodarant!)

U know looking from another perspective; this might just be what HELL is like:

Masses upon masses of people boxed into itty-bitty cubicles with NO ventilation nor air-conditioning (hey, this is after all, HELL that we're talkin about) FORCED to do meaningless number-crunching and paperwork only for you to come upon the realization at the end of the day that what u r doing has no bearing at all upon the company's prospects and u r just a small cog in the machine.

Heck, I'm getting teary-eyed just from having that epiphany! ;-p

Ironically enough, as I'm typing out these last few sentences, the power came back on and the A/C is on full blast like the chilly winds of the Siberian valley.

Hallelujah! Alhamdulillah!

I'm just happy enough to do a little dance on my chair in appreciation of the A/C returning.

The prospect of being branded an office fool however keeps me back from doing so. ;-p

Oh well, maybe Mondays aren't so bad after all...they just have a bad rep cos their agent is crap at convincing the media of otherwise.
*Thought myself as I mentally boogied to the sounds of cheesy 70s disco music*

Sunday, September 05, 2004

My Guilty Pleasure

Forgive me Father for I have sinned.
It has been a week since I last confessed my sins. ;-p

I am guilty for coveting the 8th Deadly Sin : Reality TV shows.

In particular, one no guy in his right mind would even consider watching in the first place; the one, the only, the show titled "Queer Eye for a Straight Guy"

I have to say, I didn't initially set out to watch this show (no straight man would willingly say they watch this show I guess, when the irony is, it's guys that NEED to watch this show in this first place to learn a thing or two about a thing or two! ;-p ) but verdammt! it's more addictive than watching a gory 3-car pile up on the Federal Highway!

For the uninitiated, Queer Eye is a reality show aired on 8TV (I think u can conclude now that 8TV is the ONLY terrestrial TV channel that I watch...yes ppl, I'm SUCH an 8TV beeeeaaatch!) every Saturday night around 12:45 (*Observation No. 2: NiK doesn't go out on Saturday nights, or even if he does, he makes sure he comes back by 12:45 to watch 5 gay men parade their antics on the idiot box...sheesh what a loser*---Shut up NiK's Conscience! I swear I'm gonna trade u in for a new one any day now)

Neways, before my conscience decided to so rudely interrupt my confession Father, the show is about 5 gay guys (each an expert in a certain field i.e. Grooming, Fashion, Home Decor, Culture and Cooking...gawd I'm a Queer Zombie ! I can't believe I just typed that right off the top of my head... i NEED to start watching some MACHO straight shows now) who each and every week visit a straight guy (i.e. HETEROsexual) to give some personal improvement tips.

One Saturday night, I came back from wherever it was I was previously and turned on the boob tube at the right moment these guys were parading their gay antics on this straight Fabio-like built Italian beefcake. U see this straight guy was a normal straight guy who thinks sporting long hair is cool, likes to work out (maybe too much cos he was built like Schwarzenegger) and still lives with his Italian Momma who cooks and does the laundry for him gladly cos he's her only son (hmmm..sounds kinda familiar..maybe I should start thinking of moving out of the house).

Now the Momma's in a bother cos she knows she can't stay alive forever and who would take care of her pride and joy once she passes away? So she musta wrote to the Fab 5 or summat cos the next thing u know, they're at his house tearing everything apart and turning his life upside down in 24 hours.

He gets grooming tips, they cut of his Fabio-like tresses, Carson the fashionista (the most mak-nyah like queer I've ever seen that if I was in a room with him at a party, I might just walk up to him and give him a bitch-slap for being so 'gedik' on the show) shows him how to dress in casuals and daywear besides gym singlets and sweats. Jai the culture vulture teaches him how to read body language when conversing with a lady and the cook (I can never remember his name...maybe cos he looks so normal and straight) teaches him how to barbecue while at the same time eat healthily.

Neways, watching the transformation of this Italian beefcake going from Macho Fabio to sleek debonair guy was just too exciting that I unfortunately got hooked on the show like an Alcoholic Anonymous given a voucher for a shopping spree in a liquor store. Verdammt was I hooked!

So sadly Father, since that day onwards, I have repeatedly continued my transgressions and tuned in willingly every Saturday night (when I am of course not going out that is.....I have to keep a pretense that I'm this sleek guy that wines and dines chicks EVERY weekend y'know! ;-p ).

One positive note tho' i HAVE learned a lot from this Fab 5 queer guys; I learnt to how to shave properly(slow and steady keeps it ready), got some extra grooming accessories (aftershave balm, etc.), learnt how to be more presentable, heck even pick up home decor and cooking tips! (I'm not particularly proud of those last two, but hey if it makes me a better man, why not?)

So is there any hope for my poor, lost heterosexual soul, O Father ? Can I receive redemption for my sins ?

O Father, Where art thou ?

*Whisper---whisper--whisper* from the other side of the Confessional Box

What the fu- ? The priest is watching reruns of Queer Eye on cable tv u say?

U rat-bastard u, Wait up for me! *Runs off in queer-like fashion*



*Disclaimer*
This post was written out in this context not to make fun of any religion or anything in that spirit...I just felt writing the post in a 'Confessional' type scenario seemed interesting...I especially liked the opening sentence "Forgive me Father for I have sinned" (I've just been watching TOO many Hollywood movies with this line being played out and it kinda sticked on my mind)

Neways, if u did feel offended, do write back in the comment box and I'll be more mindful of others when writing in the future.

Friday, September 03, 2004

Men-Talk : The Penis Dialogues

You know we guys might seem abrupt and cold when it comes to stuff like emotions, but we have worries as well....it's just that we find it harder to emote our feelings cos we've been conditioned since small to be strong and brave and somehow along the way, showing emotions or talking about ur worries seem to be a failing or weak-point.

Neways, when men get together around the pub / mamak stall or even in front of the TV (watching a sport event of course!) or in the gym, we slowly open up and talk to each other about what's really bugging us: money & finances, impotence, going bald prematurely, sexual conquests (usually with lotsa embellishments of course!), dating (or not having a date) and of course marriage (or the fear of it).

So in the spirit of fostering closer ties between men-women relations (hahahaha, as if I'm the ambassador for menfolk worldwide pulak!) I present to you: The Penis Dialogues, chronicling highlights from conversations men get up to when they're together....

Background: This is a conversation had between 2 men in a gym working out in the weight room. One is a well-built fellow with supermodel looks while the other One is lil 'ol Me.
---------------------------

You know what ?

What ?

Sometimes life's just isn't fair....sigh...

Why ?

I mean I've been trying to go out with this girl, right...so I call her day & night, send her flowers, etc. etc. yet she rejects me...and a few months later...I hear from a friend of mine that's she's going out with a guy who doesn't even have a degree, isn't working and is just leeching of her....

Maybe the guy has a BIG dick ?

I'm trying to be serious here !

Hahaaha! Sorry man I couldn't resist. Seriously tho' girls just go WET for that Rebel with a Devil May Care attitude innit ? I betcha every woman secretly fantasizes for a rebel.

Yeah right! I mean what the fuck? I have a degree, I earn good money, drive a good car, yet a Mat Rempit on a motorbike gets to go out with the chick of my dreams!

Hahaha...that's life mate. God made it fair so u get what u NEED, not what u WANT. Cos at the end of the day, human beings have an endless stream of 'wants'. Even if God fulfilled every single thing we wanted, I betcha the human psyche would come up with a million more things we wanted!

Fuck it! Stop going all Freudian on me with your psycho-babble! Life's just isn't fair...sometimes I wonder whether there's something wrong with me or....

STOP!

What ?

I said STOP whatever u were gonna say man cos I would bitch-slap u from where I'm standing here across the room if u finish that sentence!

What the fu- ?

I mean look at you man! You got a body sculpted like a Demi-God. (*Looks down at my own body with derision as I pinch my love handles) I betcha you could go into any club and pick up a handful of chicks anytime. A.N.Y.-time !

I know...I know.....I do that all the time... *grins*

Then what the fuck man ? I know a 100 guys who would willingly amputate their left ball (and I stress this WILLINGLY!) to be in ur shoes man ! U got it good man....guys like me just 'dream' of making it in ur leagues...heck even for a day...no, even for an HOUR !

But then....

But then what man ? Don't tell me all those shaggin haven't been fun ? No, don't ruin my dreams man! I swear, ur making my dreams of paradise into a nightmare right now...

No...no, I mean it's been fun...but at the end of the day, it's empty, frivolous fun...it's like riding a rollercoaster for a buzz...after a few minutes, the buzz stops...and u have to continually find bigger and crazier rollercoasters JUST for a few minutes of buzz...

U mean like EXPERIMENT with positions and shit ?

Yep.

Kama-Sutra shit ?

Done it.

What about hot candle wax and handcuffs ?

Done and done.

Using honey, ice cream and chocolate / whip cream ?

Yep, done that, done that, done that as well...oh and cherry topping helps make it more fun... sigh... *rolls eyes slowly*

S&M, whipping, gagging and vegetables ?

Sigh...done that, done that, done that &...sorry what were you saying about vegetables again ?

U know, when the dildo runs out of batteries and u have to resort to using an oversized carrot or sumthin to stimulate her...

Shit ! What the fuck is wrong with you? That is TWISTED ?! Where do you come up with this stuff anyway ? Seriously, sometimes I wonder why I hang out with you, dude! It's things like this which makes you a bad date you know !

Whhhhaaaattt ? Whaaaatt ?
*(Imitates Fat Bastard from Austin Powers-rubbing my nipples in a circular fashion while exclaiming in a thick Scottish brogue: "Look at Ma Se-xay Bo-dey!")*

Women go crazy over depraved stuff like that man! U know that secretly they fantasize about that as well....

Hahaha...you must be reading up on those Playboy letters section again aren't ya...do you know the editors actually write out those letters since no one is SAD enough to write in ? Take it from me boyo, women wants to feel as if they're special when having sex...not some mixing bowl for a coleslaw you're making laters....

Uuuuggghhh.....BAD mental picture stuck in my mind! U just put me off my dinner u rat bastard u!

Seriously now..I just feel helpless sometimes you know...I ...I....

U what ?

I want to fall in LOVE.....

What the fu- ? Sorry mate I can't help you there...neways all this touchy-feely crap is taking my concentration away from my weights...*hupp*(Attempts to lift weights).....grunt!...*Achkk!*.... Dude....


What ?

I think I just sprained my back....help me up man...

Damn...here we go again...sigh......


;-p