Monday, August 30, 2010

Happy 53 Year Old Malaysia



I was arranging my excess coin one fine day whereby i suddenly received an inspiration to use coins to buil my own replica of the Petronas Twin Towers. Actually i've always think the building's design are like as if it is being pilled up with multiple giant coins.

Too bad i couldn't pilled up 88 floor due to limited 50cents and 20 cents coin which are more stable. 10 cents coin are not stable when pilled up very high.

Anyway i contribute this magnificent work of art as a birthday gift for my beloved country - Malaysia.



picture taken from thestaronline.

Earlier this year, i came upon a comic book - Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj: His Life Journey Leading to the Declaration of Independence (1903 - 1957) By Eugene Yu.
It's an illustrated cartoon describing our very own "Father" of Malaysia's childhood days to the day Malaysia obtained Independence.

I quite enjoy reading this humorous book and i highly recommend it especially to the younger generation of Malaysian to get to learn our history in a fun and entertaining method.

It describe how our ancestor fought bravely to achieve Independence for our country and we are proud to do it without bloodshed. It also highlighted the importance of the early MCA-UMNO alliance that formed the Barisan Nasional.

Back in those good old days, MCA was a founding parter of BN, nowadays it seems more like MCA is an employee of UMNO. What has happen to this trust and partnership throughout these years?

Some people may say we are lucky to live in a peacefull harmony country so we shouldn't complain about it.

At 53 years old, actually we can do better. I was a bit upset to learn that during the 1970s Malaysia is even more developed than South Korea. But look at us today. Oh well...we don't need to look so far, just a bridge away our neighbour, Singapore. Look how they thrived and developed.

Every country has their own problems, this we cannot compare, but one thing we can compare and one thing that makes the difference is the country's Management. It all comes down to how you allocate and use your country's resources, wisely or wastefully.

This is Houg, signing off and hoping for a better Malaysia.

Happy Birthday, Malaysia~.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

豆浆油条



多年前,被林俊杰的 <<豆浆油条>> 给骗了。

因为没有想象中那么好吃。也许不合我的胃口吧!我倒觉得配 Sarawak Kopi-O, 粥,mayonnaise, Kaya 比较好。


picture taken from here.

多年后, 一天在One-U 看到 <<老油鬼鬼>> 的店。

想一想,好久没有吃了,这间店也看起来蛮不错。就给它多一次机会吧!


picture taken from here.

结果 。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。

。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。

。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。

还是一样不好吃!>_<






后文....

突然觉得自己好懒惰....这个post的两个照片都是用google image找出来:P

好感动啊



在Facebook上看到这个MV,看了好感动,所以就放在这里与大家欣赏。 简单的故事,动人的歌声,虽然没有字幕,但却可以让我体会到故事里老伯伯的欢乐与悲伤。其实,这本来只是个相机广告,可是没想到用多一些心思就可以创造出这么美丽的作品。

各位,多多珍惜身边人吧!:)

Thursday, August 19, 2010

The Last Air Bender - what went wrong?


This was one of my most anticipated movies for this year but the results turned out to be more of a disappointment. Friends and movie reviewers mostly give bad comments and all blames fall on the Director M. Night Shyamalan.

I’ve watched the original, critically acclaimed animation series which this movie is adapted from and I find it very interesting.

The first thing I notice about this movie is that this is the first time I’ve see an American made animation that doesn’t have a single Caucasian character! The characters and background are heavily Asian influenced, thus providing the audience a breath of fresh air. The main attraction is of course its fantastic storyline, a variety of characters, its attention to detail in describing each tribe difference and furthermore the moral lesson and entertainment provided.

Overall, the animation is a huge success. So bringing a successful franchise to the big screen just seems very logical and it is what we would expect from Hollywood.
Actually the animation was called “Avatar: The Last Air Bender”. Due to the fact that they didn’t want this movie to be confused with James Cameroon’s six foot tall blue skin alien, they took out the word “Avatar” . Ok… by doing so doesn’t hurt anything.

Now, the question is “what went wrong?”

When the assembled cast was revealed, many fans of the series complained that the directors are not using Asian actors to play the role (except for Dev Patel who plays Prince Zuko). But in my opinion, this is nothing to complain about because Hollywood still couldn’t manage to take this big leap of faith in casting a non Caucasian as a lead.

I was thinking…Nevermind…as long as the acting is good and appearance are not too different, I can still accept it.

Then came the trailer, it was so awesome especially the CGI fight scene. The director previously has minimal CGI experience, so when I see the trailer can be this good, I started to have confidence that this will be a good movie after all.
Then came the screening time, I was surprised that it didn’t reach the number one spot on the box office. Then I began to read more and more negative comments about the film. I began to get more worried but still I wanted to watch it with my own eyes.

Without putting too much expectation because of the many negative comments, I watched the movie.

I then realized most the negative comment is true>_<

The movie was too packed. Imagine squeezing a 10plus episode (each episode is around 20minit) into a 1 hour 45 minutes movie. It’s like a summary of many episode in which new audience will find it hard to catch up as the linkage between different events is not solid enough. The limited time also makes lesser time to develop character depth. In the movie, you see the actors do this and that, but you couldn’t feel why they are doing it and you certainly couldn’t feel the impact of their actions.

I think at least should allocate 2 hour 30 minute, in which more time is given for character development. But then, maybe the budget is not enough. Maybe the CGI cost too much.

But I do have some good comments. The CGI is perfect as it is very real and believable. All major 4 element water fire earth wind techniques looks good on screen.

The backdrop, costume is also nicely done. The director did a good job to transform the animated world into the big screen which is not too different from the animation.

There are only two funny moments, whereby Kitara accidentally freezed Sokka and whereby Aang tries to hide behind Zuko. It should have more! The animation is originally a kid’s movie so they should have plenty of laughter. If there is more laughter, it will surely make up for it. They are just too much seriousness and monotone feeling in this movie. Even kids find it not fun to watch as they said that “It is not the same at all!”

The movie was planned to be the first episode of a trilogy. If they do make a second movie, I hope the director would improve on it and do a better job next time.
Oh ya…I do have the original animation full set so if you’re interested you can get from me:)

This is Houg signing off in search for another good movie to watch.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Not So Brave

Wah~ i was quite nervous when preparing and practicing this speech for the Toastmaster humorous competition, i think i rehearse around 10 times plus! I am glad that i'm able to deliver the speech smoothly. Hehe, a good start from me, hope to do better next time. so below here is my speech:)

Graduation Trip, The last trip you take before you step into the working world!

How was your graduation trip like? Was it interesting? Was it fun? Was it enjoyable?

Back in 2006, My friends and I, 5 of us, had just completed our degree courses. Having studied and lived our life so far in Kuching, Sarawak. We decided that we should plan something special for our graduation trip, and so we choose to visit KL.

The highlight of our graduation trip is our trip to Genting Highland Theme Park. This was actually a first time experience for us all, so it’s quite fun as we explore the place together.

The First stop, The Spinner~

It is the first game located just after the entrance, it like a more extreme version of Mary-Go-Round. You have this many individual seats, which is connected to a long wire and as they spin faster and faster your seat will slant until 60 degree flying in the air.

It is still considered not too extreme and it’s the perfect warm up!

As it started to spin, we started to shout as the spin gets faster and higher. Suddenly I received a revelation.

Ladies and gentlemen, do you know the reason of having a barricade around the spinner? Beside for anti-collision purpose it actually serves another purpose which I figured it out at that very moment.

To protect you from saliva! Yes, Saliva! I remembered I accidentally release a few drops of saliva for being too excited. Judging from the height and speed of the Spinner, I wouldn’t be surprise if some of it flew~ beyond the barricade and landed on some un-fortunate by-standers face. So Ladies and gentlemen, next time, don’t stand too near the barricade.

Next it’s the Roller Coaster ride. Initially I hesitated because I think it may be too extreme for me, but then my friends provoked and teased me of being “Not So Brave”. This is because previously we had dinner at Nandos and I ordered the least spicy one in which they have a little green flag written “Not So Brave” on top the chicken.

I was thinking “How can I let a chicken insult me like that? I’ll show that chicken…oh…I mean my friends that I am brave enough to take the challenge!”

Before we knew it, we are already seated in the roller coaster and as it plunged into the first dive I already started to regret but it’s too late. All Five of us are already screaming our lungs out like a little girl....Ahhhh!!!! The sudden speed and adrenalin rush is quite unbearable for me especially for the fast 360 degree turn and the bad thing is that there’s nothing you can do about it but to continue screaming along. Because if you don’t scream you’ll feel more uncomfortable as the pressure would build up inside your body so you can only scream to let it out. I even screamed until one point I got too exhausted whereby I actually need to take a few heavy breaths…..and started screaming again.

Finally Thank God, the ride came to a stop. I was so thrilled that it’s finally over. My friends and I were trembling slightly and it took us a few minutes before we are able to walk and talk properly again.

The roller coaster was a thrilling experience worth to try at least once before you die. I’m glad that I did take up the challenge and specially proved that I AM “Brave Enough”. However I think this one time experience is already enough to last me for a lifetime.

We had a wonderful time in our graduation trip, serving both as an eye-opener and life’s lesson. Graduation Trip is special because that’s the last trip you can enjoy yourself as a student and getting student discount too. Oh..Unless you have a young face like mine, which I admit I use it a few times for student discount even though I’m working already. It is important that you have the most fun out of it as you may not be able to enjoy this much of fun anymore in your future working life.

As we grew older we’ll eventually need to take up more responsibility and adhere to more rules of the society which would slowly strip our innocence apart bit by bit. Most importantly is that we try to remain young-at-heart and to achieve balance in our lives.

Over to you.

My 2 Years in KL Report Card

Wow, time flies…. I’ve already been in KL for 2 years now. So it’s a good time to do a self evaluation of what I’ve achieved and where I need to improve. Hehe actually I missed out my yearly evaluation for 2009 and planning for 2010 so I combine it all in this post:P

1. Career – Yeah..i’m glad that I took the brave leap for myself to come to KL to seek a better career. I like the job scope and the challenges, the fact that the company is stable, although pay is not too high, but it’s still o.k. for the moment and I’m glad that I’m able to save up some money.

2. Girlfriend – Hehe, this is more of my personal achievement that ended my years of single status quo. Being in a relationship taught me a lot of thing in life, broaden up my horizon, and makes me a more mature person.

3. Personal Financing – Having item 1 & 2, it further propels me to have a better grip of my personal financial planning. Learned quite a lot of stuff by myself and I don’t think I would be this encouraged to do so if I’m still in my own comfort zone in Kuching.

4. Cantonese – Yes, after 2 years in KL, my Cantonese still sucks. Feel quite pai seh lar,,,ooppss…that is Hokkien, see what I mean? Learning new language is certainly not my strong point and I still have a long way to go.

5. Driving skill – Haha, driving constantly in KL really would improve one’s driving (& swearing) skills, especially when there’s so many KNS driver out there, plus many confusing road sign and traffic directions. Due to the fact that I’ve spend all my skill point investing in my driving skill, at the same time it makes me an noob in KL public transportation>_<

6. Communication skill – I’ve felt that I need to improve in this area, especially public speaking. Yes, it is another challenge for me to step out of my comfort zone to improve myself. Initially I did thought of joining a martial art club, but then I’ve felt that it is more important for me to improve on my communication skill at this stage of life since I’ve already did martial art previously. So, I signed up for Toastmaster club!

7. Sport – I’ve played new sport~ Tennis. I’ve also glad that there’s still Basketball kaki here which I can still participate time to time so that I wouldn’t lose my touch and passion. Football~ Haha although I’ve not played it but I learned quite a lot of stuff by reading “The Sun” football section and now I’m able to engage in Football conversation!

Hehe, I’ll stop at 7 because 7 is a good number. (Actually it’s because I’m lazy to think more) It’s time to wrap things up and get pumping for the future. The Best is Yet To Come! :)