facebook is trend

Antara perkara yang membuatkan aku geli bila bercakap tentang facebook :

1.Status makwe dan pakwe yang saling cinta-mencintai seperti 'Good morning fiance' atau 'My ada dalam hati Dy'. Aku geli habis bila baca. Write pula on the wall of each other. No need to show the world how much both of you in love lah. We already saw the engaged with who in your profile (tapi aku baca gak. Sebabnya, kadang-kadang aku suka dan perlu rasa geli itu. Dan lagi, aku ada cerita nak kutuk mereka dengan orang lain yang kenal mereka)

2.Orang yang click ‘like’ to their own status, link, photos etc. Kelakar!

3.Boyfriend/girlfriend, Fiance/fiancée yang suka status, link or photos of each other. Sungguh cliché! (aku tak kisah kalau suami isteri)

4.Status seperti ‘Today’s Lunch: Nasi ayam, Air Oren’ or ‘at mamak eating Maggi kembang’ (ok, sekadar rekaan)… who in the world wants to know what or where you eat for lunch. ok, mungkin ada. but every time you eat? No, thanks.

5.Status ‘zzzzzzz….’ Sungguh tak perlu!

6.Status yang mengutuk tempat kerja. Tak senonoh, makan gaji gak!

7.Ex-girlfriend yang stalk facebook ex-boyfriend yang dah ada makwe lain and vice-versa. Get a life, he’s so over you!

8.Mereka yang upload gambar makanan setiap kali makan di tempat-tempat favourite dan tagged kawan-kawan with a tagline ‘nyum.. nyum..’. pwtttt ~ sebab aku takde masa nak pegi makan kat situ.

9.Mereka yang update status every 2 minutes. Gila crazy. Takde kerja ke apa?

10.Status seperti ‘hmmm... should I break with him or not’. Kejadah? Do I even know him?

11.Status ibu-ibu muda yang baru lepas bersalin. Selain dari tak habis-habis upload gambar baby, status setiap jam bertukar. ‘sara berak’ ‘sara mandi’ ‘sara minum susu’ ‘sara dah ada gigi’. Adoi, penat aku ‘jaga’ sara kau ni. Bukan nak dengki kau dah ada family sendiri, tapi tulis la sesuatu yang lucu untuk memulakan hari aku yang bujang ni.

12.Status sakit seperti‘hari ini demam’ or ‘got mc today’. memang sakit nak minta simpati.

Anyway, most of the thing yang menggelikan of course la status update. Ada juga orang yang jadi glamour kerana facebook. Bayangkan, just a normal human being living life. Not penyanyi, not ahli sukan. But the next day, a facebook page has been set up for you, by someone who hates your status. And the page has 10,000 facebookers yang click ‘like’. Wow, bukan senang ada 10 ribu orang kat Malaysia yang kenal kau yang takde bakat apa-apa selain daripada mengutuk agama, negeri or bangsa.

Facebook memperkenalkan privacy setting. Facebookers boleh memilih nak bagi siapa tengok status update or even our entire wall. Seperti kes budak Salleh Gregor tu, I think orang yang capture print screen page his facebook status is someone not so close to him, considered there’s only one mutual friend. I don’t give a damn about a spoil kid like this. Their mind is still young. Their experience has yet to come. And thus they had their own judgment about religion, faith and god according to their level of thinking and experience. Well, screw you Kid! You should set the status private. So it can viewed by your only closest friend that shared your ludicrous judgment of religion.

But the most outrageous status is by the pregnant woman from Kedah lives in Johor Bahru. She rise to fame by complaining about Johor having only one Famous Amos shop and adds a preposterous word that sparks controversy among Johorian. Well, needless to say, she is so famous than Famous Amos. Pictures of her profile with her kid are everywhere. Bloggers talk about her. Johorian set up a HATE page for her in facebook. Hey woman … do explore the privacy setting next time.

Aku nak belajar cara-cara meng- hack facebook account. Ada sesiapa boleh ajar? (tanduk kat kepala is to keep the ‘halo’ up high).

guardian of the sacred spirit

Recently, I was on a hunt of a new anime [tired of waiting next episode for the likes of Bleach, Fairy Tail, Uraboku & Occult Academy]. I stumbled upon an already complete anime series by the title Seirei No Moribito - Guardian of the Sacred Spirit. I usually had this distortion feeling watching half of the series of any anime series. But this one is a Wow! I don't even know where to begin with this.

A drop dead gorgeous animation, quite simply and a masterpiece from start to finish. Superb artwork and animation I have ever seen in an anime series. Almost movie quality. Characters are detailed and beautifully animated. Not to mention the always gorgeously detailed backdrops. Combat is incredibly fast-paced, intense and is over so quickly that you’ll miss it if you blink your eyes [ok, kidding]. Well, nothing less expected from anime studio of Production I.G. It has brilliant acting, amazing character development, engaging yet not overly complicated story, beautiful musical score. Directed/co-written by Kenji Kamiyama [Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex]. All of those elements come together to form one of the most well-produced anime.

The story is actually quite simple. Takes place in a feudal setting of Japan, it follows the adventures of Balsa, an incredibly skilled warrior, as she is tasked with the seemingly impossible duty of guarding the life of Chagum, the second prince of the Imperial Family. Balsa first catches the royal family’s eye when she rescues prince Chagum after he falls off a bridge and into the rushing river below. That night Chagum’s mother reveals to Balsa that her son is apparently possessed by the spirit of a water demon, doomed to bring a devastating drought to their lands. For this reason his own father, the emperor, has secretly ordered the prince to be killed.

Balsa accepts the job of protecting the prince and flees the castle in the dead of night knowing full well that on one hand the emperor’s most seasoned warriors will be sent after them, and on the other hand keeping the prince alive could mean the death of thousands due to the prophesized drought. But for Balsa there is only one choice. She will not go back on her word and the prince’s life will be protected at all costs.

The cast of the show is not that large and everyone has an important role to play in the story. Balsa and Chagum are often accompanied by four of their closest allies. First we have Tanda, a childhood friend of Balsa who is an expert herbalist and has been acting as Balsa’s personal medic for years. Next we have shaman Torogai. She is Tanda’s teacher and has incredible knowledge regarding the spirit realm and as old as she may be, she can actually hold her own in a fight. Finally Balsa is joined by Toya and Saya, two orphans who were rescued by Balsa years ago and will do anything in their power to try and repay her.

I really love anime series of a feudal Japan setting and a female protagonist that looks powerful and can take over the world in one swing of her weapon, like Erza Scarlet of Fairy Tail. [hehe].

This one is definitely my favourite of all time. Reasons?

1. So to say, it contains no fan service to speak of. No lolitas, no 14 year olds with DD breast, etc. [I’m kind of tired with that theme]


2. Fantastic action sequences. Do not expect any still-frames, one minute stare contests or lengthy mid-fight discussions. Fully choreographed action and as realistic as it could get with extremely fast and fluid movements. However, this isn’t an action/shounen anime, so fight scenes only occur when the story calls for them. They also do not take entire episodes. My most favourite is the fight between Jiguro Musa and his best friend in the Nine Warriors team that served the King of Kanbal kingdom. Jiguro is Balsa’s caretaker. He raised her up as her father’s request and they live constantly on the run from the King’s assassins.


3. Extraordinary music scores [Kenji Kawai – The one who gave you Ip Man’s music]. The OP, Shine by L'Arc-en-Ciel and EP, To the Loved One by Sachi Tainaka are quite appropriately conveys the pace and mood of the show. But the main strength is the Original Soundtrack. Feudal setting makes the music more traditional-sounding. The most stand-out song is “Nahji no Uta” [the Yakue rice planting song], which is used throughout the series in various forms, relatively important to the central themes of the series and is directly connected to the story. It crops me all over during the series and eventually shows up in full strength, complete with lyrics near the end. It's a beautiful, heart-felt song that is even more powerful when heard in the context of the series.


4. Every character seems to be morally good. With the exception of anecdotes concerning the ruler of a neighbouring empire, no real evil character or general bad guy can be found. Even on the battlefield people seem to be divided only due to circumstances. Everyone basically seems to make the correct decision given the choice. [I will feel tired watching anime with too evil character with the exception of Aizen-sama of Bleach, Hehe.]. Well, after all even in real life most people aren’t inherently good or evil. They’re simply on opposite sides due to events outside of their control.

It is actually the first part of a ten volume fantasy novel series by Nahako Uehashi. The anime aired in Japan on April 7th, 2007 consists of 26 episodes. 2007? Why I haven’t seen this back then? I must be busy catching Bamboo Blade, Rosario Vampire. Ahh, world of ecchi, tsundere, harem etc. [Haha]. Like the first book in the series, the anime's story is concluded but left open-ended enough for a sequel. So far there's no word on whether Yami no Moribito (Guardian of Darkness) will be made into an anime but like all good books, I would love to be reunited with these characters again. Let's hope that Production I.G. and Kenji Kamiyama decide to do another series. I want to see Tanda again. [Oh, why my dream guys always appear only in animation?] Teheehe.

clear your mind

A few days ago, I went for lunch with my officemate somewhere in Sungai Besi area. After lunch, she wants to buy Kuih Apam Balik. It’s a narrow road, penuh sesak dengan kenderaan dan takde tempat parking, and so aku terpaksa turun while she waits in the car. I went to the Apam Balik stall across the road and found an old man and a lady whom I think is Indonesian and probably his helper. I said I want the bigger Apam Balik. There’s only one left. She said okay, and to my utter dismay gets the Apam Balik with her bare hands. HER BARE HANDS, FOR GOD SAKE! I despise people who touch the food with their bare hands especially those yang selling the food. Many times I encounter these so-called situations. And every time I just watch helplessly. I positively thought that there will be no harm on eating it since everyone does the same. When my officemate offered me the Apam Balik, I just said ‘No, Thank you’.

Another time in Bazaar Ramadhan, I went buy some kuih. The girl did wear plastic glove but then with that plastic glove she touches everything else includes the money. A money had gone through many hands includes those touches or selling food you didn’t eat. How unclean is that? Many times I was tempted to ask them to change the food and use a clean plastic glove or just tell them ‘tak mau la, you dah pegang with your bare hands. Dah kotor!’ But of course I never heard anyone ever condemn about that so I thought it would be unnecessary to cause a scene. I just gave jelingan tajam yang to them is worthy not more than seringgit.

Well, of course I didn’t get diarrhea eating those foods but then why waiting to get one if you can prevent it, yes? Its sure is hard growing up with a father who will scold you when you touch your own food walaupun makanan tersebut hanya masuk perut sendiri.

the biggest religion in this world called FOOTBALL

Haish ~ lama sungguh tak update.

Beberapa hari yang lepas, aku nampak iklan World Cup di tv. Dalam hati ‘heh, baru nampak batang hidung’. Years ago in 2006, the World Cup celebration came years before, terasa bahangnya walaupun game belum start. Mungkinkah kerana World Cup kali ini diadakan di suatu tempat yang tak berapa glamour, i.e South Africa? Atau aku je yang rasa tak glamour sebab aku tak minat watching 22 men chasing a black and white ball that if ever an alien invade earth, it will question ‘why must men fighting over one ball’? Don’t they have their own err... balls? Dengar berita, masih ada 500, 000 tiket belum terjual. Yang bangang pegi jual tiket secara online kat negara miskin mcm tu buat apa?

Anyway, bila nampak iklan tu, kawan aku yang turut sama menonton tv pun berkata, ‘wey, aku harap Manchester United menang world cup tahun ni’. Aku pandang dia dengan pandangan yang berkata ‘ko-lebih-ngok-daripada-penganjur-yang-jual-tiket-online’. Walaupun aku bukan lah orangnya yang stay-up until wee hours in the morning just to watch the game held in other part of the world, aku tetap ada rasa ingin tahu siapa menang, siapa kalah, siapa jaring gol… dan World Cup is not about Football Club. Bukan nak tahu David Beckham ada jaringkan gol ke tak (tak kira team mana yg main).

Musim bola tahun 2006, aku tinggal bersama kakak dan abang ipar yang hantu bola. Ketika menjaga kakak yang sedang tunggu hari nak bersalin di PPUM, abang ipar ternampak satu rancangan tv yang mana wartawan akan menemuramah sesiapa sahaja secara rawak. Maka, adalah minah ni... kena tanya, ‘pasukan Negara mana yang anda rasa akan menang match kali ini?’ Minah tu jawab ‘tak kisah lah, yang penting dapat tengok David Beckham’. The match is between Portugal and France. I’m not really a fan of Les Bleus, but surely David Beckham doesn’t sound French to me (ok, takde kaitan).

Anyway, my brother-in-law came home that afternoon and gave me a stack of magazines, all about football. He said ‘if ever a reporter interview you and ask about this World Cup things, don’t embarrass me by knowing only David Beckham. Football is not about him.’ But then, my sister said, it is about David Beckham. Nonetheless, he put a match schedule in front of my room. My duty is to put the score in each box, while he accompanies my sister in labour room. Dutifully, I put the score of every match… which mean, I had to stay-up until late midnight. I did cheat some times. I phone my friends or I just watch the news.

Sebelum World Cup 2006 bermula, berikut adalah perbualan aku dengan Abang Ipar.

Abg Ipar: Which one is your favorite team?
Aku: urmm… it’s between Japan and Korea
Abg Ipar: (look at me dengan hidung berasap) you think this is some sort of Korean Drama with predictable storyline or Japanese animation with a handsome bloke doing kungfu?’
Aku: err… Kungfu kat China kot
Abg Ipar: Whatever… (Put a match schedule in front of my room). Put every score of every match!
Aku: (dalam hati) Mesti cari boyfriend ~

Aku dapat boyfriend yang tak suka tengok bola, tapi suka F1.

Musim bola tiba lagi. Yang kerja kat kedai mamak tambah shift. Mesti bising, susah nak tidur bila jiran atas bawah apartment melalak tiap kali bola ditendang masuk pintu. Nasib baik aku dah ada kereta nak ke office.

battle with angels

I spent my recent weekend with a marathon, from the land of tooth fairies to fighting a legion of angels for the sake of mankind. What an adventure, whew! but skip the tooth fairies land, because I’m going to write about my battle with angels (I thought angels supposed to be a saintly character by which derived the word angelic?). Even though the title is LEGION, don’t expect legions of angels rendered in expensive special effects.

The story follows as a bunch of characters who find themselves thrust together at remote truck stop diner and gas station called, ironically… Paradise Falls. Apparently, God, having lost faith in mankind, has ordered the end of the days – Armageddon, apocalypse, doomsday, whatever. So weak and meek people started getting possessed by angels by which apparently does not make the characters have clear skin and perfect teeth but instead they become almost zombie-like and start to kill all humans. The whole world falls prey to the possessed-by-angels meek and have inherited the earth (this happen off-screen, though).

What happen on-screen is focuses on Paradise Falls. Unaware of the chaos unfolding around the globe, the owner Bob Hanson, and partner, Percy goes about business as usual. The diner very pregnant waitress, Charlie, serves breakfast to Sandra and Howard, a well-heeled suburban couple and their teenage daughter, Audrey as they wait for their car to be repaired by Bob’s son, Jeep. Tyrese Gibson plays Kyle Williams a character with a troubled past, stop by at the diner to look for a phone.

The possessed start coming in as an old woman (Jeannette Miller in a very memorable scene) in a wheeled walker following by a lot more possessed humans, apparently trying to kill Charlie’s unborn child. Things look bleak, until the rogue archangel named Michael shows up without his angel-signature-wings driving a stolen police’s car and some awesome 21st century weapons. 9mm Handguns, assault rifles and wow! a rocket launcher for good measure. With Michael support they became humanity’s last line of defense. Michael gets everyone to hold up in the diner until the birth of Charlie’s baby which according to him should not exist, making it humanity’s last and greatest hope. Why? How? He didn’t explain because Archangel works in mysterious ways. Perhaps the child is the second coming of Christ? Or John Connor?

Ok, enough with the story line. Let’s see the loopholes, shall we?

First of all, God lost faith in mankind? Hey God, if you wiped out mankind, who’s going to live on earth? (Okay, maybe you’ll destroy earth too) Second, God wants to kill an unborn child. Okay... so what does he do? He literally sends a grandma, on wheeled walkers and a creepy ice-cream man to do the job. Seriously? An earthquake would be good. Tornado, hurricane, volcano, meteors, lightning, heart attack, bad fall… whatever. But God just send grandma with bad teeth to kill a baby under protection of a handsome and rogue archangel. And its just took a few slugs to stop the ice-cream man. Oh God...

The big problem I had with the movie is the fact that there are no billions of angles shooting at each other with sub-marine machine guns and hacking at their limbs with big knives or swords like the trailer and poster made of. There are only two of them. And there’s a moment before they start their hacking and shooting, Michael was trying to persuade Gabriel to stop the fight before it started. Okay, so the flashback send us to their moment in a place literally only God-knows-where (heaven, anyone?) when they were fighting side by side as brothers. But back to earth, the brotherly moment was a bit awkward. Or is it just me hoping that at some point the brothers will kiss each other and give us some thought about origin of err… Gay?

Actually, this movie is not that bad. A reminiscent of The Mist by Stephen King and also like the Evil Dead trilogy, just not as funny. But shades of Terminator 2: Judgment Day in the end, making it quite a confused movie, making me blinking with a thought ‘God was just testing His angels’ loyalty and feelings towards mankind or mercy to each other or whatever but seriously, wiping out mankind just for that?, God.. You got better reputation down here on earth and don’t make your attractive-looking angels kicking each others’ ass... please.’

By God here, you know which version of God I’m referring to. So, peace!

a little late celebration

It's New Year. Gosh! It's 2010. Time for new resolution, but I guess mine will be the same as last year and the year before. Last New Year of 2009, I said I wanted to be the best of everything for someone, and it turns out I am indeed the best but that someone isn't the best for me. You see, human problem is, when they gave something away, they expect the same thing or more will be given to them in return.

Can't we just give something unconditionally and still be happy about it? So this year I'll stick to the same resolution and added some ‘sugar’ to it. I'm going to be the best of everything to someone without expecting anything in return, unconditionally. Even if the end doesn't favor me (which I can already see coming with warning), I will still be happy about it. I wanted something to remember for a lifetime, like a memoir collector.

The cellar door and rainbow is celebrating her life.