I am at the car service center now. My car's brakes were making lots of noise and I thought I better get them checked.
Apparently the brake rubber was already exhausted and the brake disc was scratched. Hmm... that sounds expensive!
(posted via mms)
I went to KLCC's TGV for a movie last night. It felt like a decade since I last stepped my foot on KLCC's ground mainly because I have this perception that KLCC is too far away from where I am staying and working; and that I would have to brave through the horrendous traffic jams to get there. Well.. I was not the one driving there last night and with 80% (probably) of KL folks already back to their 'kampung's for Raya, it was okay.
We went there to watch "Painted Skin". Apparently KLCC is the only cineplex that is showing the Mandarin version. As most of the cast members are Mandarin speaking, we thought Mandarin version would be more "authentic". We later found out that it really didn't matter whether it's Mandarin or Cantonese version.
I think 10 minutes through the show, I was already yawning away. There were just too much of dialogues, scenes were transitioned from one to another almost abruptly and the effects looked fake!
What made it worse was that there were these 2 idiots at the back of us doing commentaries to each other throughout the movie. All the shhh's in the world didn't seem to shut them up. Besides that, at least 8 people's phones rang throughout the show. Instead of turning their phones off, they answered the call and chatted away! I thought KLCC patrons would be better educated in human decency than that. I was so wrong!
Anyway, "Painted Skin" is a film adapted from one of the stories in an ancient novel written by Pu SongLing. This novel is a collection of supernatural tales about spirits, ghosts, scholars, exorcists, etc. "Painted Skin" is the story about the vixen spirit (Wu Li Jing).
The beautiful Zhou Xun (from "Love Perhaps" and "The Banquet") played this character. I thought she did pretty well in bringing out the pretend-innocent, cunning and evil side of the vixen spirit.
Another good acting came from Zhao Wei who played the wife of the man the vixen spirit was trying to seduce. She played the character so vulnerable and I was amazed how easily tears can just flow down from her eyes.
As on why the title "Painted Skin", I have this question myself. Perhaps it's from this part of the movie where the vixen spirit took off her human skin and started to paint on the skin.
Well in short... other than the strong acting from these 2 lead actresses, I found there is really nothing left to be desired from this movie. I wished I could have my refund...
Kek Lok Si Temple is a Buddhist temple located in Penang, Malaysia. Within the vicinity of this temple, there is a 7 storeys pagoda called the Pagoda of 10,000 Buddhas. The following pictures are the different views of this beautiful pagoda.
PhotoHunt
We had a Buka Puasa party at the office today. Come to think of it, this may be the only time when I get so many different Malay food presented in front of me. Yummy!!
Nasi tomato and Nasi Lemak
Kuih Muih
Murtabak
Mee Hoon
Sate
Otak-Otak
Roti Jala
I finally got Axel back last weekend after leaving him for 3 weeks with Gan's family. My initial plan was to collect him back earlier but due to some apartment matter, I had to leave him there a bit longer.
I found out later that Axel been a naughty naughty boy when he was there! He would wake up very early in the morning and make a lot of noise to get someone to release him from his cage... and apparently he had been waking earlier and earlier each day. Early as in 5.00am! The poor sitters were so deprived of their usual sleep!
Back in my apartment, Axel sleeps in the corridor in front of my door, so he seldom make any noise to wake me up. Even if he did, a firm "No" or "Shhh" from me in my room would silent him.
At home, Axel sees me as the alpha dog. Over at Gan's parents, they are just not comfortable to discipline him. Guess that's why Axel tend to bully them. I must teach them a few tricks to get Axel to behave himself.
I really hope Gan's family are not put off by Axel's recent stay there. If they are, then I have to find other alternatives whenever I need to be away. Any nice soul out there willing to dogsit Axel if that happens?
It's 1.00am now and I really should be sleeping. However I got so engrossed with this Chinese-Mongolian singer/songwriter whose album I have just purchased a few hours ago. The artist is Sa Ding Ding and the album is "Alive".
I understand that this album was released late last year in other parts of the world, but I only saw it hitting our music stores recently. I was enthralled by the album cover with this lady in a meditative position looking all calm and serene... well... and pretty too.
After listening to a preview (or rather pre-"listen") of a few tracks, I was tempted to buy it. However I held on until I saw it again today (oops...I mean yesterday) at Popular bookstore. I did not regret my purchase cos as I was listening to it on my way home, I just felt calm and peaceful. It's really hard for me to explain why I feel the calmness although some people may find it noisy with all those instruments and music arrangement.
Perhaps it's her voice... perhaps it's because she was singing in Sanskrit (She also sings in Tibetan, Chinese and her own made up language in the album).. I really don't know.
Just listen to her title song "Alive" and see whether you feel the same way:
To know more about her, head over to her very cool site.
HTC Corporation announced their 3 new models of Touch yesterday - Touch Viva, Touch 3G and Touch HD.
They looked super gorgeous!!! I especially have my eyes on Touch HD with its big screen (the screen is bigger than Iphone's!)
Touch Viva and Touch 3G will be available in early Oct 2008; while Touch HD will be available in Europe in Q4 2008 and other markets shortly after that. No information on how the prices are going to be yet. Ohhh...can't wait to be touched!
Their specs (info from HTC website) are as below:
(Click for bigger image)
As I was reaching my office this morning, my phone rang and upon seeing that the call was from my apartment's management, I actually panicked for a while. "Oh dear... did my apartment explode or something?", "Did they find out that I am keeping Axel (my pug) in my apartment?".
Upon answering the phone, I got to know that my downstairs neighbor complained to the management that the water from my toilet is leaking to their unit. Although this sounded better than the 2 other possibilities that I initially thought of, still it is not a good news... Then again, how many apartment's managements out there are actually the bearer of good news, right?
Anyway they wanted to come to my apartment to inspect my toilet to find out whether the problem is really on my side. As I won't be at home during office hours and they refused to work later than their office hours; we have agreed to get that done during the weekend. Well, that will give me enough time to clear Axel's smell from my apartment and to hide all his stuff. See la... that's the consequences of breaking rules (in Malaysia, we are not allowed to keep dogs in apartments or condos). Thank goodness Axel is still at his nanny's. Guess I probably need to leave him there longer while attending to this leaking mess.
Really hope the leakage is not from my unit... else there will be a big leakage in my pocket too. Sigh....
Last weekend I made a trip to Singapore again. The highlight of my trip this time around is the East Coast Park. This is very large park along the beach on the south eastern coast of Singapore.
To read more about it, go here.
Some pictures taken there are as below:
I heard this song on the radio recently and got haunted by it since. I did some searching and found out that this song "Crescent Moon Bay" was the first single released from F.I.R's 2007 album.
It was inspired by the Crescent Moon Spring located in Dunhuang of northwestern China's Gansu province. This song was used to promote public awareness on how the ecological environment is being challenged due to over-exploitation of its groundwater.
Pinyin lyrics for 月牙湾 - FIR
Axel is at his nanny's place. I sent him there last Sunday as I am going for a holiday (not to Bangkok!) this weekend. My apartment suddenly became so quiet and empty.
This little devil is really very much a part of my life. His absence just made my home feel so different. Well looking at the bright side, at least I don't need to wake up so early or rush home after work to feed him; or to clean up his mess and vacuum his fur off the floor and the couch; or to constantly have him staring at me when I was watching the TV.
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Sigh... I miss him.....
Call me "chicken" all you like, but I have decided to postpone my trip to Bangkok.
Last night I told my travel partner that we will proceed with our plans unless situation got worse and Thailand declared a state of emergency.
This morning when I got into my office, a friend who is working in Bangkok MSN'ed me and informed me that the Prime Minister has declared a state of emergency for Bangkok after some serious clashes between the anti-government protesters with the pro-government that left at least one person killed and about 40 injured.
That was the deal breaker that convinced me that I should not go. What's the point of going for a holiday but having so much worries in mind.
Anyhow I do hope the situation there will become better soon... for the Thai people as well as for travellers like me!
To celebrate my coming Thailand trip OR to cry over my cancelled Thailand trip (depending on whether situation there got worse), here is a very very very nice Thai song titled "yahk roo tae mai yahk taam".
No idea what it means... but that doesn't matter as music is universal, right?
I am so depressed. I have been looking forward to my holiday in Bangkok next week but now with the ongoing demonstration there, I am wondering whether I should still go. Most of the things are already paid for and postponing or canceling may mean I will be losing some money.
I am so so sad...and have been following the updates there to gauge how bad the situation is. The thing is, from the news it may sound bad but when I asked those people there, most said that life is as usual as long as you don't go to those affected areas.
Guess I will have to follow up on the news for the next few days and see how things are. Anyhow, I am definitely going for a vacation this coming weekend, Bangkok or not!
The latest news on this from Bangkok Post is as below:
(BangkokPost.com, with agency reports)
A special joint session of parliament opened on Sunday afternoon with a fiery Democrat Party call for the resignation of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej - and an equally flaming reply from the premier.
Opposition spokesman Jurin Laksanavisit got the debate off to a slightly delayed but volatile start. He said Mr Samak's "aggressive manner" had poured fuel on the fire of the PAD protests. Then he called on the prime minister to resign.
"It is time now for the prime minister to consider himself and decide whether he is still fit to be prime minister," said Mr Jurin. "If he insists on clinging to his office, the problems of the country will escalate."
Mr Samak immediately replied. "Aggressive behavior is my nature," he said.
"It is not a matter of indecent behaviour. I did not do anything wrong and have the right to continue my work as prime minister. How I have behaved has not caused any damage to the country."
The special joint session of parliament opened on Sunday afternoon in an attempt by Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej to defuse the crisis brought by street protest and the seizure of Government House by anti-government demonstrators.
More than 1,000 government supporters gathered outside the parliament building as lawmakers began the special debate.
"Samak, fight, fight. Samak, fight on; Samak, fight on," the crowd roared as police looked on. Before heading into the session, Mr Samak said: "I will not bow. I will not step down and I will not resign no matter how much pressure on my government. The government cannot resolve the problem, so this joint session of parliament is the best way to try to find a solution."
There was no immediate sign of a breakthrough from the lawmakers. Opposition Democrat Party members called on the coalition government to be both sincere and resolute in solving the political unrest.
Sathit Wongnongtoey opened the debate for the Democrats, but merely urged the government to be sincere in solving the political crisis by listening fully to the opinions of members of both houses.
Mr Samak agreed to a special joint session of both the lower House of Representatives and the upper house, or Senate, after police failed to oust thousands of anti-government demonstrators from the seat of government on Friday.
The premier said on Sunday morning he expected to hear criticism from both the opposition Democrat Party and some independent, non-elected senators over his handling of the Government House crisis.
At the same time, he has made it clear that he will not resign over the matter.
"I came to power in accordance with the law," he said on his weekly "Talking Samak Style" TV show on Sunday morning. "I have done nothing wrong."
On Saturday evening he got a huge personal boost when the six coalition parties in the government made clear they backed him, despite the intensifying protests aimed at toppling his seven-month-old government.
"Fear can cause damage, but I am not afraid," said Samak in his weekly talk to the nation.
He blasted the PAD for breaking the law in seizing Government House on Tuesday, and trying to create a "spark" to bring down the government.
He got a further moral boost on Sunday just before parliament went into session, when airports at Phuket and Krabi began normal operations again, after protesters abandoned their siege at the tourist centres.
However, nationwide rail service remained closed. The labour union of the State Railways of Thailand shut down most routes last week in a show of support for the PAD.
"We closed the airports to tell them we can do this on a much, much bigger scale if they don't listen to us," said PAD founder Sondhi Limthongkul in an interview with the foreign media.
Mr Samak was not amused. "The people who caused airports to close are causing damage to the tourism industry," he said. "They are smashing our rice bowl."
But the premier will not go easily. In fact, on Wednesday, parliament will debate and probably pass his proposed national budget. After that, some observers expect he will call a snap election to ask for a new mandate.
This is Axel. He was born on the 11th Nov 2005. He used to have his own blog Axel the Pug but as his daddy (me!) found it hard to maintain 2 blogs, his stories is now a part of fishdiary resurrection.
