Erica & Alice

The Brave One

Jodie Foster has always been one of my favourite actress since Silence of the Lambs. She hasn't been versatile in her roles but that doesn't stop her from dishing out award winning performances time and time again.



She plays Erica Bain, a victim of a brutal & violent assault which cost the life of her boyfriend. Despite recovering physically, her emotionally scarred life drove her to purchase a firearm illegally. In self defense at first, she soon became a vigilante, killing scumbags of the city. We need her here to shoot them snatch thieves.

How many has been victims of any crime before, only to see the perpetrators get away? Don't we wish we'd have the courage and means to punish them as we see fit?

Resident Evil : Extinction

Ah, naked yet again but im not surprised. Alice (Milla Jovovich) once again battles the dead to save mankind from extinction. Created from the immensely popular console game, Resident Evil comes to it's third installment after Resident Evil (2002) and Resident Evil : Apocalypse (2004). Claire Redfield (Ali Larter) from the series, Heroes looks much better than Alice, I must say. Being the original incarnation from Project Alice, her blood is the key to eradicating the walking dead and perhaps, reversing the effects.

It's sad that these days, movies have resorted to sountracks and shock to scare viewers. Where has all the movies that makes our hair stand just by their mere presence gone? This show is mostly, you jump, I jump. Or was it, you bite, I bite? You shoot, I shoot or something like that. Boring.

Hakka lah, not Cantonese

"Wo Pu Hui Chiang Hwa Yee, Ni Ker Yi Chiang Kwong Tung Hwa Mah?" - was amongst the first line of Mandarin I learnt

Oi! That's neither Hakka nor Cantonese lah.

With my broken Cantonese, I was never really seen as a pure chinese during my younger days. In fact, seeing that my Malay seems to be more fluent, my Malay colleagues have nicknamed me Mat and it has stuck with me for the past couple of years.

You see, my couz, Catherine and myself took it upon ourselves to derive a family tree a couple of years ago from the little information that we have. At the word go, all was plain sailing, seeing that we only had immediate relatives, siblings and cousins to start with. To dig further, it obviously meant having to wipe the webs off family photos, meeting them and engaging them in *boring* conversations on family generations.



Aunt Christine told us sometime last year that we are of Hakka heritage. Huh? Hello? I'm Cantonese ok, so I've been told. Goddamnit, I've been lying to everybody. I have not even mastered the Cantonese dialect, how lah to master Hakka. Anyhow, she said in order for us to see further up the tree, we needed to pay a visit to the Hakka Association. Nah, too troublesome. So, what I have here is all that we know.

If for any reason, you so happen to see someone you are related to on the list, please get in touch with me. I would gladly buy you a "Kat Chai Shin Mui" and you can fill in the blanks of the family tree further. My couz, Catherine can be contacted at cathcsh@yahoo.com and you know where to find me.

Vios 2007

UMW hosted a sneak preview of the all new Toyota Vios for it's Toyota Merit and Tribe Toyota members today at Mid Valley. I have seen the pictures of the new Vios before as Thailand already had them a few months back, and they had the luxury of choosing a manual or an auto tranny.

Going into the vast floor space that they had occupied, I was not suprised to see the new Vios, well not on the outside that is. But within it's new Global Outstanding Assessment (GOA) body, lies spaciousness I didn't find within the previous models. With 60:40 foldable rear seats, boot space became even more flexible. A new 1.5S is available as a choice on top of the 1.5G and the 1.5S models. Side mirror indicator, side foldable mirror, steering mounted media control buttons, front driver & passenger cabin lights, centre arm console, a Multi Information Display are what's new in the 1.5S model. A VVT-i 1NZ-FE 1497cc enginepowers it, providing excellent power to weight ratio.









When the function began, it was the first time I had seen DJ/VJ Serena C up close, and I must say she looks better up close and personal than on TV. Petite with huge eyes. "Look at the Vios, not me" she jokes with the crowd.





And many were waiting for the main event of the function, a performance by our very own artiste, Maya Karin. Singer and actress, she rose to stardom in the local production movie, Pontianak Harum Sundal Malam and suddenly, she was everywhere.



Outside was 2 fibreglass molded Vios 2007, which was given a decal makeover. Bold & cute.

Before Maya Karin came on stage, we made our way to a caricaturist who made a black & white impression of us. He was fast and he is damn good. Don't I look cute?

Bird's Nest 'Soup'

Mr. A & Mr. B, 2 veterans within the company I am currently working for. In these past couple of years, stories of their past usually cause a tickle within my body. And yesterday was no exception. It was during lunch that A suddenly brought up the issue of the re-opening of a "hotel' in Puchong, and we all knew which hotel he was referring to. He knows this particular pimp who use to update him on new 'products' and one in particular was mentioned during lunch. He said, "jin wo" girls are now available. I had imagine that these "products" had skin as smooth as silk and was damn energetic and healthy *wiping sliver off my chin*. He kept asking if we knew what he meant. Being innocent *whistling*, we said no. He had explained that these 'products' will swallow. Ok, but I still did not see how "jin wo" is related to that.

B then changed to a related topic. He mentioned that in Malacca, there is this heritage building which has been renovated to attract birds to build their nest there. And he said, the birds that came are called Swallow.


A Swallow

It was then that we know how it relates to the 'products'. But my curiosity soon discovered the following.

The Chinese name for bird's nest soup, "yan wo(燕窝)", translates literally as "swiftlet's nest" (yan=swiftlets, wo=nest). When dissolved in water, the birds' nests have a gelatinous texture used for soup or sweet tong sui. It is mostly referred to as "jin wo" unless references are made to the salty or sweet soup in Chinese cuisine.


A Swift

A & B, you are mistaken. They are swift, in name and in motion. They don't, I mean, they are not swallow.

Note : Fictional or is it?

Touch Me Not, Yet

30th Sept, 6:01pm, Ring! Ring! +60321712633? Wonder who could that be?

Me : Wei wei?
Caller : Hello, I'm Ivan from from Apple KLCC
Me : Yes?
Ivan : I'm calling to inform you that iPod Touch has arrived
Me : *shocked* Cool, I'll come have a look either tomorrow or Tuesday
Ivan : ok, shall I reserve the 8GB or 16GB for you?
Me : 16GB please

Ivan : see you then

*click*

Heck, I'm not gonna wait till Tuesday. Made a beeline to KLCC yesterday evening and went in with such eagerness to try out the iPod Touch. #!@%*/ this blasted fella was playing with it. While waiting, I was playing around with this iMac on display. It was only a 2.4Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor but it was blazingly fast. Not to mention it would look good on my desk at home. More on that next time, maybe.

10 minutes had passed before I finally got my hands on it. And boy, did I enjoyed every moment of testing it. Here is my review.

Photos
The screen resolution was amazingly clear
It was so easy to zoom in, by spreading 2 fingers and to zoom out, by bringing 2 fingers together. Pictures could be in potrait or landscape by just rotating the iPod

Music
Attaching album covers, it was effortless to flip through multiple albums

Video
I would assume their test videos in there were hi-res videos. So, video quality would be subjective to what you upload. But the screen is capable of playing it in high quality

Safari
Best part of what I like. Loading of web pages was fast and crisp. Unlike mobile phones where web pages are in text format, the iPod displayed a page in all it's glory, pictures and colors.

Contacts
You could either input directly into the iPod individually or you could sync it with either iCalendar on a Mac or Microsoft Outlook on XP or Vista.

Calendar
This was a failure of Apple's design. You could not enter any data in the iPod. Your only option would be to sync it with iCalendar or Microsoft Outlook. Basically it means you would have to update your appointments into your PC before it gets into your iPod calendar. Bad move.

8GB or 16GB
Both units were of similar size. Slim and sleek, thoughs the chrome finishing at the back smudges with finger prints easily.

The iPod Touch is excellent in most areas. But I would defer from purchasing it until they release an updated Calendar function which allows for direct input. Also, 16GB is too small for me. After some tidying up of my media files yesterday, my photos and music compilation adds up to a whopping 11-12GB. This does not even include my videos. And I'm pretty sure not all 16GB is available considering the software would have taken up part of the capacity. Till it happens, I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed.

Hypocrite Environmentalist

Wild animals fleeing, trees being felled all round the world, polar ice caps melting, rise in climate temperature, inhalation of toxic fumes, polluted water and land, erratic and unpredictable environmental behaviour. And here I am being told that I, little ole' me, can affect a change to make it better or worse.

Here is what we can do to;

Reduce your impact at home

Reduce your impact while on the move

Try as I may, there are still bad habits that are hard to inhibit, such as leaving a running tap while brushing my teeth or washing dishes. Or my passion on car modification, which in turn guzzles up more fuel. As Dr. Koh Tsu Koon once said, "We must find a balance between economic growth and preservation of the environment". Well said, but futile. Evolution has shown that need and greed rules the mentality of many nations.

If we can look beyond them, perhaps then, and only then can there be a chance for mother nature. Till then, may she have mercy on us.

Gardens vs Pavilion

Sunway Pyramid, One Utama, Megamall Mid Valley, Suria KLCC, Lot 10, Sungai Wang Plaza, Starhill. One would have thought it's more than we could handle, but noooooooo, they want more of our hard earned money. And we were gullible enough to fall for it.

The Pavillion

With the established Starhill, KL Plaza & Lot 10 lining up just opposite of it, one wonders what more could the Pavilion offer to the public. My jaw dropped when I saw all my favourite retail shops under one roof. Not only were they there, many of them were on multiple floors.







Donuts for breakfast? Now wait a minute, is it donuts or doughnuts? British and Americans, why can't they synchronise.

Man, the mall was huge. We were there from 10:20am till about 4pm, and we haven't even entered most of the shops. It was good training for what I might have to go thru in Japan.



I'll let the pictures speak for itself.





















Baby Lily is the 'alleged' owner of Miss Whatever.

Copyright Disclaimer : This video is not related to Miss Whatever at The Gardens @ Mid Valley or anywhere else. It shall be removed if the owner so request it.

The Gardens @ Mid Valley

Gelatissimo Ice-Cream, this was what greeted me the moment I entered. I was in love already. Unfortunately, it was way too early for them.



It looks huge as well, with Lower Ground going all the way to the 4th Floor. The mall was longish like Mid Valley. Yet, it is dwarfed when compared to the Pavillion.



I miss you







Dare I enquire the ticket price?









This particular staff in Funky Mama came out just as I was about to snap this photo and was all over me, just to tell me I'm not allowed to take photographs, "Management Policy". I've taken so many and this was the only one that stopped me. I sure ain't buying mummy's clothings from her next time.



Calvin Klein, one would assume their staff to be efficient and knowledgeable. I was enquiring on a particular jacket and it had no price tag. No price? That in itself is a scary thought already. But seeing him and his colleague fumbling about to get the price was humorous. After a good 5 minutes of waiting, I left and told them to just get the price. I might be back. And came back I did, an hour later. The price?



Need I say more? On their service desk, there was this sign;



I was flabbergasted that he did not know about it and was searching high and low for the wallet when I wanted to have a look at it. Oh, this is the Calvin Klein within Isetan. Having visited Calvin Klein that was on the Grd Floor, it fared no better with employees speaking like ruffians. Mr Klein's name has been tarnished. Now, did I buy anything above RM1,000?

Pros and Cons

Both were competing with each other to complete ahead of schedule. And due to that, they sacrifice finishing and completion. Ceilings were incomplete, escalators were squeeky, certain floors were incomplete as we were greeted by a wall when the lift doors opened to one of the floors at the Pavilion. It was no better at the Gardens, floors and many areas were dusty. Railings were cordoned and lacquering was still being applied on the wood finishes. The Gardens still had employees manning parking ticket counters instead of automated parking. Something which doesn't make sense when they have huge hi-tech touch screen directories on every floor. I am also saddened that GSC has only design and catered to the higher income group of cinema goers. What about poor me?

Quality of shops are nonetheless nothing short of spectacular. From mid to top of the range apparels and brands, they can be found in both Pavilion and Gardens. Having said that, it is not suprising that the Pavilion holds the upper edge in retail outlets due to their bigger floor area. It was an experience just walking these 2 fantastic and spanking new malls. Wear a good pair of sneakers or slippers and you're all set. Now I'm ready for Japan or am I?