On my planner 00:01

1) Go to book launch this Saturday
2) Meet up with schoolmates Jag and Valent (hopefully both can make it)
3) Go to Miri, Sarawak.
4) Gym? Kot.
5) Write story.

For 5), my bus ride inspired me. I need time to sketch some stuffs for the story. It would be less taxing! A spy story, I tell you. It'll be fun! I hope. How long will this story be? I'm not sure. Hopefully it's not long.

Lepaskan Geram. 23:19

It's one of those days where I'm alone again in the room typing away furiously at the keyboard over nothing important like this.

It's almost that time again for me to say my hellos to the new year and goodbyes to the almost dead previous year. And as the year comes to a close, I feel utterly useless with my graduation approaching and uncertain that any magazine or newspaper or any media would wanna hire me with the current economic situation.

Of course, friends and lecturers have complemented on how I write my news and articles (not forgetting my high marks - at least on paper) but I'm worried that I might not get a job at my desired field. If not, I might end up doing something I don't really like - teaching.

Of course some would say it is not that bad to teach, not forgetting the supposed steady job being a teacher. But the thing is that I'm not sure if I was a good teacher to anyone. If I couldn't be a good teacher to anyone, how can I be a good teacher to 40 students (Primary school students on top of that!) or even 100 students? Guess I'll be the teacher who talks from slides and finishes the class early. I'm not really into that type, but I guess when you are so demotivated with students these days, that might just happen.

And having an "expensive thing" to play with thanks to your katoot, you feel even more obligated to get first class honours in exams like my toot, get a job THEY WANT YOU TO BE and then get married and make babies. But recent events made me think - am I going to firstly, get a job? Do I HAVE to teach? Am I man enough to protect my girlfriend? Will I be able to please my parents?

I guess the recent events have woke me into realising that I do not need a girlfriend, but a BIG HAIRY BURLY MASCULINE BOYFRIEND instead who can protect me, give me assurance and make me feel comfortable for who I am. I want to be this boyfriend instead of having one like this, but what will make me become this? Tongkat Ali? I'm not even sure if drinking the whole carton of Extra Power Root Tongkat Ali in one day would do just that.

And recent failures (it's actually not too bad, but it pulled my marks down for sure), on top of toot's pressure for me to be an exact copy of my katoot who scores FIRST CLASS HONOURS FOR ALMOST EVERY EXAMS made me really suicidal. I almost did it, twice. I saw how my face turned blue from strangulation and the height from which I should die. But I'm worried if I fail to be 6 feet under, and had to suffer from long term disability. NO WAY. So that's why I'm still here, ugh.

Not only that, I feel apathy instead of empathy towards some people whom I should feel empathy. I should help them, make them happy, please them. But all I feel is anger, hatred, disgust, sarcasm and nuisance towards them. I wished many many times this year that all of them would die, or I die.

I have an winning entry I didn't want them to read, even though I should have shared my joy with them. I am scared they might find out who I am and throw me out of the house. But maybe I should, and live away from these demanding people. At least I can be myself, who I can be without having to lie to myself and others.

Everyday I hope that the world will end soon and that everyone will die so as to cleanse the world of this mess humans created. So many humans are such lowly creatures they don't deserve to live.

Sorry for the vulgar language, but I'm just releasing my frustrations. I hope I can sleep well tonight.

Pisau Cukur review 08:41

Writing this blog entry wasn't easy. I was split on whether to write this or write something else. That split feeling was what I felt when I thought of watching a Malay movie in the cinemas for the first time. I couldn't decide whether to watch award-winning Papadom (featuring Aflin Shauki, about an overprotective father's ethics with his daughter) or Pisau Cukur (featuring a stellar cast of MAYA KARIN, FAZURA, AARON AZIZ, and the list goes on and on about some gold diggers)

But I decided to "tickle my funny bones" and so I decided to watch this movie.

The movie wasn't marketed as those typical Malay comedies (just imagine any Senario movies, Mami Jarum...you get the picture, no?) And I knew producer Bernard Chauly produced quality works (movie Gol & Gincu, drama series GODA), so I decided to go and watch this movie. Not forgetting the buzz on the mass media about this movie...

As usual with movies that don't really appeal to the other races (Tamil films, Malay films...) I was (presumably - I didn't really pay attention) the only budak cina in the whole cinema...the rest were giggling minah bertudungs alongside their (presumably forced to follow along) guy friends.

So straight to the movie review...I'll start off with what I like about the movie:

1) STAR STUDDED CAST

Hunky Aaron Aziz in L'Oreal Paris ad. Gosh, the leather jacket...wanna get one of those!


The beautiful Nur Fazura was an MTV veejay before this.

Maya Karin was a vampire, a Channel [V] VJ...

So superficial kan for me to watch this movie just because there's the SMOKING HAWT (a) MAYA KARIN, (b) NUR FAZURA and (c) the HUNKY AARON AZIZ? Of course, the other actors are also worth mentioning - Umie Aida, Nas-T, Rafidah Aziz, Kartini, Yasmin Yusuf, Nabil (Raja Lawak) Aflin Shauki...and the list goes on and on...these people are big names in the Malay entertainment scene! Talk about a buffet of performances!

2) The mystery behind the death of one of the rich guys the gold diggers (played by Nur Fazura) was aiming.
When that Datuk died, no one knew for sure who killed the Datuk - could it be the 3 wives he had? The daughter whose boyfriend broke up with her because of the money offerd by the Datuk to split up with her? Or the son whose GAY relationship (though indirectly stated) was condemned by the Datuk? Everyone was a suspect, yet the director has managed to spin around realistically and long enough to create suspense and unpredictability. Not forgetting the omnious music played whenever Nur Fazura and Aaron Aziz's characters (the former played a TV news reader, while the latter played a private investigator) interview the suspects.

3) The Cinematography and CGI
It was realistic enough to watch, more or less on par with Western films...

4) The inclusion of Gay and Lesbian characters into the film
The Datuk's son was gay (his partner, as revealed in the last part of the film, was the equally HAWT HENRY GOLDING of 8TV Quickie fame), one of the wives had a lesbian relationship, and had her act recorded in a VCD. Too bad this is Malaysia, so don't expect tongue-to-tongue action or toot toot toot!

5) The use of Bahasa Rojak in the movie instead of formal BM like so many other Malay drama serials
The use of unnatural BM (formal BM) is the very reason I don't watch Malay drama serials in the past, and now (eventhough now I think they have relaxed the rules)

What I DIDN'T like about the movie:

1) Over-gedikness of the main characters
Their over-gedikness (gedik [gә.dik'] (v) overly feminine actions that annoy people), while provide many catchphrases that is suppose to entertain the audience ("Panasss" is the overly used one, while there were some equally hillarious bimbotic phrases such as: “I nak pergi ‘memancing’ lah. Agak2, ader ‘ikan besar’ tak dekat sini?”…”Jom kita cari?!” and "Jalan-jalan cari husband!"), they get tiresome after a while. It's painful to see professional actresses Maya Karin and Nur Fazura act so bimbotic. While good, we know that they usually act in characters that don't require such bimboness. Maya Karin apparently had a hard time getting into her bimbotic self during acting!

2) Jokes and Humour that didn't really catch on with the audience
Pisau Cukur, as mentioned earlier, was supposed to be a funny movie right? Well, it wasn't really that funny. Entertaining? Yes. Funny? Not really. Most of the jokes were forgettable. The audience just sniggered but not laughed out loud at some of them, but mostly remain silent. The only time the audience laughed out loud was this:

Fazura: (something like) I want that Camphor oil also, no matter what it takes!
Rafidah (who plays the Spa attendant): Hello, we're on a ship! In the middle of the ocean! How do you want me to get it? Do you think I can just hop onto any turtle and hitch a ride to the nearest island to get you the oil?
Fazura: Whatever it is, just get it for me! *storms off*
Rafidah: SEWEL (super high pitch tone)

3) Owh My (Sponsor)
Owh my Toot! So annoying when Fazura's character keep on saying "Owh My Dior! Owh my Gucci! Owh my Prada! Owh my Jimmy Choo! Owh my (one looooooooooong name)!" Gosh , can't you just stick to one? Yoh, I know la SO MANY HIGH CLASS SPONSORS for this movie but do you need to ruin my mood by hearing all of this???

Basically, this movie is a good to watch for its stellar cast, good plot and conspiracy and more natural speech but smeared by over gedikness, less-than humorous humour and OWH GOD that OWH MY TOOT! Overall, 3/5.

But this won't stop me from watching more Malay (high quality ones) in the future! ;)

Old Town White Coffee Bad Service (at least in one outlet) 13:01

Today, my mum and I went to the Old Town White Coffee branch at the CIMB Bank tower, opposite Sogo in Kuala Lumpur today.

We sat and ordered:

1) My Noodle Set (RM5.50), and

2) Springy Noodle with Chicken Sausage and Egg (RM6.30).

My mum did not order the set as she wanted to drink only plain water. The set came with either white coffee (too thick for her), lemon juice and white milk tea.

As usual, the drinks came first. and then waited a long time for our noodles to be ready.

Initially, I didn't know that my mum ordered the "instant noodles" (the name was different then - Nissin something, I think.). I thought it was some dish with yellow noodles (the name springy noodle implied something else other than "instant noodles"). But when the noodles came, I was so shocked that we had the same noodles!

On one hand, the "springy noodle" ordered a la carte costs RM6.30, and on the other hand, the "My Noodle Set" costs RM5.50. I was like, "Hey, you should have ordered the set instead! So much more cheaper!" My mum was so shocked that you can have noodles AND coffee for RM5.50 while the noodles themselves costs RM6.30!

Unsatisfied, my mum called one of the waiters to explain the difference in pricing. They explained that my mum ordered a la carte, while I ordered set. She was really unsatisfied because the NORM is that ordering a la carte the noodles (or the dish) itself SHOULD and MUST be cheaper than ordering the set.

Still unsatisfied, she demanded that the waitress who took our order come and explain to her why the noodles itself is more expensive than my set. She explained the same thing, and my mum continued to argue with her. In between, I asked if we can change the noodles into the set.

The waiter said no.

That further infuriated my mum and she demanded that the manager come and explain to her. And so, the manager came and AGAIN explained the same thing to her. My mum, AGAIN, demanded why the difference in pricing and argued that the waitress should have informed her about the noodles she was ordering. The manager said the same thing AGAIN and my mum, unsatisfied, just accepted whatever she was saying.

After we ate, I went to the cashier to pay and told the manager that your waiters and waitresses should inform us if we are ordering something that the set has to offer. For example, if I were to order the Springy Noodles a la carte, the waiter/ess should recommend us to take the set instead because it's more worth the price.

Instead, the manager, with an annoyed face, told us THE SAME EXACT THING and not only that, told us that WE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN. He argued that we (the people running the Old Town White Coffee) allowed you people to slowly look through the menu and make up our minds on what we wanted to order. I was like HELLO MACAMLAH EVERYONE COMES HERE EVERYDAY AND WE ARE SUPPOSED TO KNOW EVERYTHING ON YOUR MENU. In the end, after my mum argued the same thing with him, the manager HESITANTLY apologised.

We left the place unsatisfied and angry that:
1) we have been cheated of our money because the noodles itself is more expensive that the set
2) the manager doesn't know why it was priced like this, and
3) the waiter/ess did not inform her that it is more worth ordering the set and
4) We cannot cancel our order.

While I may not agree with my mum about no.2 (because the manager was only the BRANCH manager who is only responsible for the outlet's well being and not about the reason why the price of the goods is as such), I was certainly unsatisfied with no.4. HEY, MACAMLA YOU PEOPLE TAK TAU THIS THING CALL VOID ORDER (cancel order). So that means if we have ordered something and we don't want it YET WE HAVEN'T PAID FOR IT, we STILL have to pay for it laa is it? Stupid.

I certainly hope that the management of Old Town White Coffee will read this and take action.
Owh, did I mention that there was very few people inside yet it took 10 minutes to serve us the noodles?