AFF Suzuki Cup 2010

We lost the battle, but we won the war!

I was not expecting much, but after the match ended with INA 2-1 MAL I was happy. We lost the match but hey we won the cup by aggregate 4-2. Obviously we got flak from INA supporters telling us we cheated again, but hey it wasn't our fault INA missed the penalty. Mind you there was a single brave Malaysian in the Bung Karno Stadium waving the flag in the midst of thousands red/white fans so he couldn't have lasered the penalty kicker lest he wanted to get mauled by the mob.

These are not Malaysian supporters mind you.

Anywho congratulations, you guys have broken our 14 years dry-spell. Kudos to Rajagopal & his young tigers! Let's hope they are not showered too much with rewards to the point of being spoiled. Viva Malaysia!

Priceless. We won the cup at their home ground. And this time we didn't cheat.

Malaysia vs Indonesia

It's Konfrontasi (again *sigh*). With Soccer. And Lasers!

Thanks to twitter from our neighbors, our players are now fearsome footballers with laser eyes created by some underground government project.

Last night's match was explosive and managed to put me off to watch BPL matches after that. Apart from the adrenaline-fueled explosive display of 3-0 killing spree from Malaysia to send the reds home, the match was also literally explosive. Supposedly, Malaysian fans threw firecrackers and aimed lasers at the Indonesians around the 53rd minute and this forced the referee Toma Masaaki to call off the game, supposedly. After the raging crowd of reds and yellows chilled a bit the match resumed and led to the 3-0.

Alas, after the match, there was a cyber-war between Malaysians and Indonesians about the supposedly controversial match with the latter side accused the Malaysians of supposedly played lasers at their keeper Markus, supposedly. The "Malaysia Cheat Laser" trended twitter that same night. Sadly we were zerg-rushed by the Indonesians online (240 million of them against 28 million of us) so it really did looked like we were the guilty party. But were we?

Bollocks. They're just pissed we won and we're not guilty. Here are the reasons:

1. Lasers
This is the picture that is supposedly showing the Malaysian fans pointing laser at the field to blind the keeper. Apparently it could be a fact that many viewers are color blind OR they did not see the match at all and proceeded to flame us. At Bukit Jalil last night, the stadium was filled with reds (Indonesian) on one side and yellows (Malaysians) on other. This was viewed from a 42" LCD TV and I can confirm there were no small patch of black shirts mourners who just sat there without waving their respective national flags. Or more Arab-looking. I do not recall wearing the Arabic headgear or keffiyehs as a cultural norm in Malaysia (look at the crowd, I counted 6). FAIL.

2. Scores

How are these scores considered cheating? These are real skills and look at how pathetic Indonesian defense was. Oh this occurred in the 60th-70th minutes. The firecracker & laser incident that put a halt to the game was at the 50th. Unless the players have a time-lag response issue, there is no way the 50th minutes lasers helped the Malaysians to cheat to get the goals in the last quarter of the match. Or is it possible the lasers have some effect to the players similar to how kryptonite weakens Superman?

3. Did you even watch the game?!
Very few Indonesians humbly accepted their defeat due to their poor defenses as seen in the match. But these few were shot by fellow countrymen (maybe 99% of them that happen to not watch the match) who blasted Malingsial as cheaters. -.-

This was just the first leg of the finals. I'm not sure what will happen in the decisive 2nd leg in Jakarta on the 29th December. Maybe bomohs and black magic will be used. Or we might see the usage of the biggest super laser weaponry known to man; the Empire's Death Star blasting everyone to oblivion from space... Now we can only hope for the players to come out of the match in one piece and if possible alive.

And perhaps hope for some help from Japan!

You can read the match report here, although it's less dramatic and has more texts.

Merry X'Mas & Happy Nuclear Power!

Freaking A haven't update in the longest time. Anywho, Merry Christmas and happy new year! Although it won't be a merry X'mas because a lot of BPL matches have been postponed due to extreme weather. So much for having a White Christmas in England.

Apart from that there's not much interesting issues that came up recently. There's the nuke thingy. The government wants to build a nuclear power plant in Sarawak (as if Bakun isn't enough to worry about) by 2021. Thankfully we have some sane politicians to sound some protest about having a potential Chernobyl in Borneo. We'll see if we can handle nukes by then ,but I myself do not wish to explain the logic of why the government is building all these seemingly unnecessary facilities to my three eyed grandchildren.

Oh and our Pehin got married again, this time discreetly to a 30s year-old Lebanese. Taib still got it for a 74 years old dude. Many may question the CM's decision of marrying someone almost half a century younger than him, but I guess it can be lonely at the top. And some may think this as a hypocritical move (government keep telling us to Belilah Barangan Buatan Malaysia but CM marries import). Looking at the trend, CM may want to avoid a longhouse of in-laws to come visit him in comparison to having foreign faraway in-laws. Anyways, congratulations Pehin.


As for the rest, well one may notice the sudden surge of developments around town. New roads. Contractors rushing to complete projects (they've just completed the Simpang 3 market. And it's Orange Yellow.) The election must be coming REALLLLLLY soon.

Erm. That's all I guess. Life in Kampua Town is really boring. Sometimes I question my decision to make Sibu my Kubu. Apart from work, nothing exciting happens besides the occasional races and karaoke sessions. Speaking of races, I finally saw African and Asian Mormon missionaries riding their bikes in town. A nice change of view besides the common white 19-20s males cycling around in their Mormon formals.

If any of you by chance are holidaying in Sibu just give me a call for any yumcha or limteh or movies. I'll be more than happy to go hang out within 24 hours after call to see people of my age range again. Number is in FB, cheerios!

I Love You, Boy

If you thought I was going to discuss the trouble I had with male stalkers, well this ain't it. I was rummaging through my old drawers doing some archeology on my past because I was really effing bored. When I hit the 2000AD layer, I found some old and ancient-smelling artifacts. This is one of them:

Huh... almost forgotten about this

Awww... (blurred out the too-personal message)

Yes, females back then were very feisty. Most of them were really shameless about expressing their feelings towards someone. These girls broke the Golden Rule and initiated the first move themselves. I'm sure some of the male readers agree on this and may have experienced their own personal admirers or stalkers back in the old days. And what did I (and maybe most of us young boys) do? We ignored them because we were disgusted by such expression of emotion. YUCK! But 10 years after that we changed and yearn for female companionship thanks to our testosterone. Or not, if you find the similar sex appealing.

Anywho, we go back to the girls and their attitudes. So yes, when girls are young they express their love openly and share it with friends, making it an embarrassment for the target boy who will be ridiculed by his peers. But gradually this shameless attitude becomes silent as the girls grow older. You won't know their affection UNTIL you can take a hint of what's happening. Like from their Facebook statuses. Or from one of their friends who can't keep a secret.

I can't find specific reason for such decline. But maybe it is caused by our culture where it is expected for the male to make the first move first. Our females slowly acknowledge the said culture and wait for the guys to pop the question. Man, can you imagine how awkward it will be if the girls retain such bold attitude till adulthood? Imagine you are going out of the lecture hall and the girl kneels down in front of you offering an Xbox 360 saying "Be My Husband". What's your respond if you are a male?

WTF?!
Accepts Xbox 360
Accepts Xbox 360 & the girl's proposal
Syntax Error
WTF?!
WTF?!

I'm not gonna say 100% relationships out there started with male's initiatives. Somewhere some females did break the Golden Rule and asked the dude. I salute them, as much as I salute brave men who used up all their balls (metaphor for face, pride etc) to throw themselves into the front line with 50-50 chances of success just to ask the girl he admires to be with him. So dudes, appreciate the effort some of your admirers did to get your attention and your affection. Of course with the exception of crazed stalkers. You may be hunting in accordance of the Golden Rule, but rules can be broken and you may be the one hunted. Good hunting!

Bintangor's Legendary Tumpik

I finally had a taste of the much hyped about tumpik of Bintagor. This traditional baked rice delicacy is a rare treat for me, and if it's legendary enough to be featured in a newspaper must mean that it's worth the 40 minutes drive to Bintangor. It was.

Google Maps can't calculate the route, unfortunately

The 40 minutes drive towards the outskirt of Sibu includes going out of town using the treacherous roads of Lanang, pay some cash to please the Lanang bridge toll operators (RM5 for large vehicles like mine sienz) and finally some relaxing kampung style journey to the small pekan of Bintangor.

The said tumpik is available at Bintangor's central market which looks like a green church. This church-inspired market houses typical Sarawakian foodstuff, supplies and cafes to cater the denizens. You can't miss it, it's the biggest building in Bintangor. Bintangor is not that big to get lost in. And it's easy to find the stall that sells the legendary tumpik. The stall name is Tumpik.

The plain tumpik biasa

Tumpik special

I tried out 2 of the available tumpiks, the normal plain one and a special one (with prawns inside). IMO lah, the plain tumpik was ok-ok lah but the prawn special tumpik was amazing. Maybe because the prawns were jumping 2 hours ago. I jumbled up the order so didn't ask for the exact prices. But both cost Under RM7. Was it worth it? Yes.

3 Jedi Tricks Fruits Sellers Can Do To You

Fruits. We all buy fruits at certain points of our lives. Guava. Lokam. Bananas. Pineapples. Corns (vegetables). Etc. But after a few years, one may notice the methods certain fruit sellers do to cheat you. Remember how your mom/aunt/yourself said "Cilaka, the seller said was manis but it's not!"? Well here are other tricks they can do:

1. Unmeasured Wanderers
Okay, sometimes when you are eating at a coffee shop or restaurant you will occasionally be visited by freelance street vendors. These people walk table to table selling food, Buddhist trinkets or outlandish but innovative made-in-China toys. Fruit sellers are a sub-species and have different modus operandi. Unlike toys or packaged food that can be quantified and sold at a standard price, fruits are usually sold in a plastic bag and customers are told that it's 1KG or 2KG of XXX fruit. They won't carry a scale to confirm that the plastic bag really has 1KG of fruits. EVER. So you are taking a risk of buying a bag of fruits that may be less than it's worth. Score 1 for the Dark Side!

2. Two Face
This applies to both stall AND freelance wandering fruit sellers. Some fruits are well packaged in the white netting thingy. The half part that faces you looks delicious and sexy, but once you bring it home and undress it you'll find the other half rotten. If you do this mistake often, do not go to any Red Light District.

3. Keep-Promoting-A-Certain-Fruit
Similar to "No worries, this fruit sure manis one" trick, the fruit seller might try to promote a certain fruit many times before and after your purchase. When you arrived at the stall he promoted to you durian, when you have bought rambutan he promoted durian, and when you wanted to leave he shoved durians at your face as you ran towards your vehicle. I'm sure you can tell something is wrong.

So be wary and be more careful out there brave fruit seekers!

Maroon 5, Taio Cruz & Linkin Park's New Album Review

Artist: Maroon 5
Album: Hands All Over
Ham's Rating:

Adam Levine and his crew are back with their 3rd studio album. This is supposed to be their last album as Levine believed Maroon 5 have reached their peak and he doesn't wish to do similar gigs when he's in his 50s [Rolling Stone (1029):16]. Although this is a sad news (and I wish there'd be another one), I personally enjoyed all their tracks and think they'd would be enough to mark the band's exit. Personal favs include Never Gonna Leave This Bed (mmm reminds one about being lazy to get up for morning classes), Misery and How.

Preview: Maroon 5 - Never Gonna Leave this Bed

========================================

Artist: Taio Cruz
Album: Rockstarr
Ham's Rating:

I heard him for the first time on the radio with the song Break Your Heart back in Perth. After getting his album I was hooked with Taio's musical beat and lyrics. My top favourites from his Rockstarr album are Dynamite, Dirty Picture & No Other One. Lyrics in songs like Break Your Heart really made me more optimistic about love life and reminded me on greater things; CELEBRATE MY LIFE. A good album to listen at night in your car, loud.

Preview: Taio Cruz - Break Your Heart ft. Ludacris

========================================

Artist: Linkin Park
Album: A Thousand Suns
Ham's Rating:

???. ???. ???. I first heard The Catalyst from the radio and I could barely recognize it's actually Linkin Park. Then I got the album, and my definition of Linkin Part was thrown out the window. Sadly, there's not much memorable songs from this 4th album unlike their predecessors. All I heard are just digitalized voices, outlandish un-LP techno rhythms, strange scriptural choirs and chimes. Simply put, the whole album is monotonous.

Now some LP fans will point out that the band is 'maturing', but I a fellow LP fan says that this radical shift of style sounds like unfinished, experimental songs with chao ah beng techno. Just listen to alternate studio versions of LP songs like Points of Authority and you'll know what I mean. Even the album cover is unimaginative. Expecting better results for the next album. C'mon LP you can do it!

Preview: Linkin Park - Waiting for the End

River Disaster Strikes Sibu (Not Really)

Timber Companies! Global Warming! Aliens!

It's not as freaky as it looks like from here in Sibu. Looks like normal scenery shot. But there were still some driftwood and junk floating by the river, attracting locals who have never seen such strange phenomenon. However this is just moderate as to what's happened to Kapit yesterday. Click on pictures to read the details:

Could be the timber companies. Could be the government who as of now is not doing anything to calm the people down. Could be the Bakun dam that they will flood in a few more days.

The Iban dude said it's a bad omen. The Chinese dude said it's the end of the world. The other dude I met at the ferry point said Kapit got a lot of fish harvest (half-dead fishes), sounds just like what happened prior to the 2004 tsunami. Whatever this leads to I suggest some of you in the low lying areas to pack up just in case the 1960s mega flood repeats itself. And here's a video on Kapit in Facebook (click).

Steam Updating Problem Fix

Steam.exe main exception

To run Steam, you must first connect to the Internet

If you have:
1. Encountered the message above when updating Steam
2. Already connected to the Internet
3. Already turned off firewall
4. Windows 7 user
5. and Googled your way here

Then congratulations you're one step closer to solving it. Here we go mate:

Step 1
Click on Windows go to Control Panel then in the Search Control Panel box type firewall. Click on Allow a program through Windows Firewall as shown below:



Step 2
Scroll down until you see Steam. Make sure you ☑ it for both Home/Work (Private) and Public. It should look like below:

Step 3
Restart Steam, and try updating again. This time it should work as shown below. Enjoy!