Wrong Portayal of Jesus Christ

I admit, I don't like things that are incorrect or wrong become facts. And in conjunction with the season's greetings (technically no season change here, just soaking wet monsoon), let's talk about Isa @ Jesus Christ. Some churches in Sibu erect statues or prints of the prophet himself in their compound or the interiors. And what would one can expect to see? Jesus with brown hair and beard and sometimes blue eyes. Based on the depictions they clearly show that Jesus Christ was Caucasian/white, perhaps because of the Western influence when Christianity was introduced here in the early days.

So what Jesus was supposed to look like? Jesus was of Jewish ethnicity and was born in Bethlehem south of Jerusalem (common knowledge or just Google read or better read the Holy Books). And thus one can expect a very middle-eastern dark skinned man who did not speak English. Thanks to the effort by the British scientists and Israeli archeologists who used forensic anthropology, they have come up with the most accurate face depiction of the messiah (Read here for details).



Merry Christmas people and remember, Santa did not die for your sins.

P/S: The point of this post was to argue Jesus' supposedly accurate portrayal. And yes race has nothing to do with any religious aspect unless stated otherwise.

Eat Eat Eat Makan Makan Makan 吃 吃 吃

Owh gosh I guess this is the norm for a typical student during the holidays; eat, eat and eat. Everyone has their own eating pattern and I think mine would match some of you guys out there. So how many times do I eat?:

8:00AM Pre-breakfast
This is a lightweight meal where the mind and the belly hasn't really waken up yet. A quick sip of tea and 2-3 Danone's or Hup Seng's Cream Crackers would suffice while reading the news. It's like an automated impulse to eat something while reading, the same why most dudes read books or newspapers while depositing in the toilet.

10:00AM Breakfast
Usually a trip to any kopitiam or coffee shop located in Sibu (I think Sibu is the town with the most registered coffee shop numbering at 20,000 inside and outskirt of town). It's either roti canai or kampua with any form of peng or cold drinks.

12:30PM Lunch
Home from work like everyone else in the house. A heavy course meal with occasional fruit desserts. Nasi tambah (another round) is optional.

3:30PM Afternoon Tea
A quick 'getaway' from work by buying assorted kuih or cucur pisang (banana fritters) priced at RM1 for 3 pieces accompanied by hot tea.

6:30PM Evening Desserts
Not common but usually a quick rendezvous at McTreat for a Chocolate Sundae is perfect to destress before driving home.

7:30PM Dinner
Again another round where everyone comes home for a slightly lighter meal than lunch. Followed by a short session of watching Everybody Loves Raymond before heading back to the office at 8PM.

10:45PM Supper
A drive home that is usually stopped by a burger or kebab stall. Food ranges from RM1.30 beef burgers to RM2.50 beef/chicken kebabs which helps give some heat before going to showers.

Looking at the pattern I must say I can match a Hobbit's haha. It must be the work that requires a lot of fuel or simply bored of the holidays. Susah la like this. When stressed during assignment or exam we eat a lot, depression we eat a lot, bored we eat a lot, happy we go KFC or McD or Pizza Hut celebrate we eat a lot.

But on the bright side when we are back to a new semester our eating pattern kinda messed up with a good chance to slim down. So ahh, yumcha anyone?

Comic Fiesta 2009

I went to KL for a quick vacation last week and dropped by the Comic Fiesta 2009. With a quick RM15 for a 1-day ticket, I suddenly immersed myself in a bizarre yet familiar world...

Spirited Away's No-Face. Forgot to ask for bath tokens :P

You won't see much real girls hogging this booth like this dude does...

I would want to see this crossover in the movie; Jason showing off his goods to a Stormtrooper

What are you people?! Seriously I couldn't keep track of the new generation's anime...

I thought I was outdated with all the new animes running around until I met some 'old skool' Gensomaden Saiyuki

Erkh blurry. Maybe for a reason. Can you spot the crossdresser?

Never thought would see her again after the encounter in Silent Hill yeargghhhh call the Pyramid Head! And yea that's a Pokemon at the background...

The fiesta was okay la... the emcees could sure be changed to a male-female instead of 2 males syok sendiri with inside jokes on the stage. Left around 2pm after walking around for 4 hours because there were more places to go to. I'm kinda glad Malaysia's otakus are able to manage such event. Maybe give it a few more years to get to the Japan animecon level :)

And there was no Gundam booth wtf? Did I miss it? Only Macross and even that is older skool than Gundam 00. Aiyaks... must be the economy... And also the fiesta made me realize I'm not as young and enthusiastic about anime as I used to be hahaha I'm gonna stick to Gintama for now...

Coffee, Tea or Me?

In an unexpected turn of events, AirAsia's Tony Fernandes and Virgin's Richard Branson (also Tony's former employer) agreed to a bet where by the loser of their respective F1 sponsored racing team will have to wear the stewardess uniform of the winning team. Tony would be on the Lotus F1 team and Richard will be on the new Virgin Racing team in the 2010 circuit race. While waiting to see the race AND the new 'stewardess', Tony came up with an early mocking poster depicting Richard in AirAsia's cabin crew outfit:

Weekend Horror Movie Marathon Review

Over the past few days I've been watching a few horror movies just for kicks. Below are the reviews of the more significant movies I've watched:

Seventh Moon Review

CONTAINS SPOILER!: A couple horror movie set in China during the Hungry Ghost Festival. Here we see a slightly banana Cantonese dude with his would-be American wife trying to go home to meet the family in the ulu-ulu area for marriage approval. Things get awry as the taxi driver got lost and went AWOL while asking for directions at a small village. Stepping out of the taxi was a bad mistake, as all Hell broke loose after that. The couple was hunted by the Moon Demons, who came out on each full moon of the seventh month to feast on fresh blood (working hours from night till dawn). They're not that scary anyways, because they look like a pack of Smeagols with asthmatic breathings. But the part of being hunted was thrilling, throw in a short sex scene (somehow, American movie ma...) and a very weak ending plot to end the movie. Yea the skinny Smeagols took the dude and turned him into one of them. The girl was left sobbing as she looked at her fiance who is now a buffed looking pale Smeagol staring back at her. Come dawn then the credits rolled. Boo...

Ham say most of the time you'll only see 98% blackness throughout 89% of the movie. He had more fun staring at his laptop performing a Disk Check. The idea of incorporating a Chinese tradition with LOTR-esque creatures is good.
Ham rates Seventh Moon

Ghost House Review

No Spoiler: Fangurls would love to see Ananda Everingham, and I'm here just to see if there are any other selling points for this Thai horror movie. This one is not a typical no-brainer horror movie you'd expect from American, Korean nor Japanese origin. The movie kicked off with plots upon plots with more questions left unanswered e.g. "WTF is there a boy ghost squatting at the window haunting the little girl?" and "What's the relationship with the man-hating mom (Mai)?"... Ananda, playing a psychiatrist, just played it cool and delved a bit too deep into the single mother & daughter's life. And then it all went downhill.

Ham says the plot seemed simple until you noticed there are actually more than what it seems. And there's a plot twist (spoiler!) that gave him a shocker in the end. If the girls go fangurling over Ananda, the dudes can do the same for MILF Mai :P
Ham rates Ghost House

Phobia Review

No Spoiler: This 4-in-1 Thai horror movie shows 4 totally different movies with their own plots and endings in roughly 1 hour 44 minutes. Despite the time constraint all the 4 stories were told well, well almost. The first we have a girl, a handphone, and a lot of creepiness (ala One Missed Call but this time there is no miss). The second we have a story revolving around school kids, vengeance and black magic.The third we have 4 jolly friends out to rafting with a major plot twist. And finally we have the story of adultery, stewardess, royalty, death and a lot of fear on-board a flight.

Ham says he got mixed reviews. Some stories were better while some just felt weak. All in all it's a jolly good Thai terror time. It's not that scary but the filming quality gave it a style of its own. Expecting something better in the upcoming Phobia 2.
Ham rates Phobia

Paranormal Activity Review

No spoiler: Not even worth spoiling. You must watch it to fear it. It is rare for Americans to come up with such horror movie since most of the time they are full of beyond-believable CG or recycled too much plot from the Thais (Shutter), Koreans (Ju-on @ The Grudge) and Japanese (Ringu @ The Ring). But this can be considered an original, with amateur filming ala The Blair Witch Project, with no CG and no famous superstar whatsoever that makes it believably scary. Terrifying to be exact. The ending too was unexpected.

Ham says you must watch this at night with no lights for full effect. Still getting goosebumps.
Ham rates Paranormal Activity with complimentary

MACC Haunted by Late Teoh Beng Hock

"China Press reported that the spirit of deceased political aide Teoh Beng Hock had been appearing at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC) building in Shah Alam.

It was reported that several security officers had seen his spirit at level five and level 14 of the building.

The daily also reported that a security guard claimed that he was “bitten” on the neck inside a room.

The guard later went to the reception counter and saw Teoh’s spirit walking away. He later felt someone pulling his leg.

The man was reported to have applied to be transferred back to the MACC headquarters in Puchong."

Yikes. Looks like a simple worldy case of corruption, crime, murder and politics took on a paranormal twist. Apparently the corruption in this country even inflicted the nether world... guess things are really phucked up now. Malaysia Boleh!

But seriously. This case has got to be put to justice so his spirit, along with others who have died in the name of Malaysian politics, can rest in peace.

Staring at Boobs Healthy for Men

HERE’s a simple “secret” to ensure longevity for men – stare at women’s breasts for 10 minutes a day to live an additional five years.

Both Sin Chew Daily and China Press reported that a German research published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that men ogling at breasts for 10 minutes a day was equivalent to a 30-minute gym workout.

Lol who would have guessed? Read more here.

TMNet Makes Fun of P1 W1max

Barely a post later, we're talking about TMNet again. This time from marketing prospective. Malaysian law prohibits any company from 'attacking' another company in advertisements e.g. Dynamo vs Jenama X ad is okay (Malaysian ad scene is not as aggressive as other countries though, so consider this as the most offending). However it does not take a smart-ass to figure out TMNet Streamyx's somewhat aggressive campaign against newbie P1 W1max... For me, I'd rather have alternatives instead of having a single monopolizing ISP who can barely provide proper service above satisfaction. Until that day happens, the ad below will only be a shameless assault on what could be a potential threat to Streamyx:

Poor TMNet Service

The reason I missed a lot of posts (add in the fact that I forget things easily) is due to the absence of a proper, stable line. Ever since I came back on the 22nd November, I've been relying on Vodafone Broadband as my Screamyx was out of order. For most of you who are familiar with it, the yellow LEDs on the router were not all lit up. WLAN ok, DSL yes connected, and the last and vital LED the Internet was not lit up. So that means no internet.

Calls upon calls were fruitless. Below are the chronology of how we tried to fix the problem:

Week 1:
Call #1: Calling 100, we were told to cabut this and that cable, splitter and all those shit. But I'm no idiot. From past experience, if the router can connect to the server DSL in Semenanjung in less than 10 seconds, Internet should be okay what on condition you have paid the bills.

Troubleshooting #1: Despite the busyness of the week like renewing passport and stuff, my sis and dad helped send the whole router and bills to solve the problem at the local TMNet (bill as proof of payment and router just in case it was the problem). Then we were told it was the router as it wasn't used for the past 2 months (away for semester, most use broadband due to traveling). The dude fixed, reset the password and settings thingy and said it was good to go. Went home, same shit. Last LED the internet was not lit.

Call#2: Just a simple call to local TMNet telling about the problem, and was told the complain has been sent and pending response in 2 days.

Call #3: Called the 100 again, same shit about splitter thingy etc. And then was told "underground cable putus" "5 other people complained and faced the same thing". ... ... ... Should've told this earlier. But asking where these complainants were from to find out if it's a local problem the answer was "tak tahu"... I suspected that can't be the problem because loads of other dead-free and bored Sibu friends were online and playing Facebook happily. Called it a day because 'the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing'...

WEEK 2
Troubleshooting #2: Local TMNet again, with the same frustration. Upon being told about the same problem, we were told the complain will be resent and pending reply in 2 days. Again.

Troubleshooting #3: Went to Medan Mall with the router to see if it was really the problem. Like most stuff going to repair, it worked magically in front of the tauke and made us waste time only. But it did not work on our home account. Confirm something is wrong with the account. I suspected the payment confirmation was not verified by the office in the Peninsular. In other words, one of the workers slacked off and forgot to activate the account. Why? Look at Call #4...

Call #4: At the same place and time at Medan Mall while the tauke showing off to me a Yahoo page with Obama on the headlines using our router, my Big Boss made a stern call to 100. I asked the tauke to try again using our home account. Miraculously, it worked. I signaled a thumbs up to my Big Boss as he continued to blast the TM dude on the phone.

Aduh headache la this Malaysian office culture... I'll reluctantly quote one of my juniors' wise sayings (because I'm Malaysian, he's Malaysian and sadly the culture is deeply embeded);

"If there is a Malaysian working in the admin, there's always problem..."

The Ugly Truth: Traveling Food

For the past 5 years of traveling I've seen drastic price changes to the food at rest stops along the trans-Borneo road. These stops, be it small shack kopitiam style or medium scale concrete restaurant that dots every 1 hour of travel distance, offer a variety of exotic food you can find anywhere else in any township you live in. And what makes them unique is the price the owners set for each of those food.

If Labuan have duty free thingy, the shops here in Sarawak have travel tax, foreigner-who-dunno-actual-price tax and you're-hungry-so-have-to-buy tax charged on all goods and services. Well, the toilet is free anyways. If you want running tap water to clean your hands afterward it will be 20 cents. Tissue RM1.

Back to the food, several big rest stops do not put price tags on their goods. Most of them are grab, say and pay. You GRAB a sweet & sour Mr. Potato, the lady behind the counter will SAY it is RM5.00, and then you PAY RM5.00. Then you savor the expensive 20-25 potato chips while arguing in your head "WHY THE HELL LA I BUY THIS THING?"... Well anyways that's the lumrah of a traveler. Below are the list of prices you can expect to see as of 2009:

Drinks: The same as any coffee shops, canned drinks may cost up to RM2.00
Keropok (don't care what): RM3.50 - RM5.00 (normal price RM1.20 - RM3.50)
Maggi Mee Cup: RM3.50 (increased by RM1.00 within the past 6 months)
Meal (nasi campur etc): RM5++ (depending on mood somehow)

So be careful out there and prepare a wad of cash if you are planning to make a lot of stops during your travel. No point arguing with the owner as the next available food might be 200KM away. Travel safe, ciaoz...

2012 Review

It's Final Destination on a global scale

WARNING!: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS

I watched this movie a bit late because of finals (nyeh finished on the second week of finals) but fortunately the movie was worth the wait. Once again Roland Emmerich returned to destroy the world. He destroyed the world with aliens in Independence Day, destroyed NY in Godzilla, and destroyed the world (almost) in The Day After Tomorrow. Now he destroyed the world with a prophetic Mayan calender that ends on 21st December 2012 which marks the end of the world.

The movie had a flair of characters one can attached quickly within the 2.5 hours of the movie run (yeah, it's that long). Once the CG doomsday starts playing, all the ooh-ahhs come out despite the morbid nature of the movie. Too bad some humans (400,000 of them) survived in the end.

Despite all the epic tsunamis, platonic earth shifts, super volcanoes of epic proportion expected from a Hollywood movie, 2012 have some downsides as well. Some parts are way too cliché and predictable. Look! An Aston Martin! Oh noes he's going to hit that AM! Yes he did! NOESS! Worse still several scenes and plots are reminiscence of other disaster movies like The Day After Tomorrow, Deep Impact and the like. Oh yeah did I mention likable characters? Well they all will die in horrendous ways ala Final Destination along with the extras.

All in all, it's a good one-shot movie. I'm not looking forward to watching it again anytime soon. Maybe give me 2-3 days when I return to my hometown to watch it with friends coming back for the semester break.

Yuri: Engine. Start.

Ham: It's been a while since a movie made me go YEAH! OH-HO! and OHSHIT! But some parts are clearly borrowed from previous movies...

Bladder: 2.5 hours?! Are you ******* kidding me?!

Mayan Dude who carved the calender: Dude! I got tired making a calender worth 5,000 years so I stopped at 21/12/2012 before signing up for Facebook. Read the damn facts!