'I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.' - Martin Luther King's 'I have a Dream' Speech during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedoms on the 28th August 1963.
The above line had been reverberating in my mind since early morning today. I have been following closely both the Monks March in Myanmar and also the Lawyers March at Putrajaya and been waiting for the update on both the marches and by late evening news began to appear.
The Buddhist Monk's March against the Myanmar Junta had now turned violent according to reports at BBC Online. The military junta had finally turned against the peaceful monk protesters. Reports indicate death, injury and arrest had occurred during the crackdown earlier today. Its really disheartening to see innocent people dying and getting hurt in their struggle to uphold freedom and peace. But the perseverance and determination of the Myanmar people to acquire that freedom and peace was evident when civilians formed the human shield chain around the monks to protect them from the military. Lets pray and hope the march will end without any further bloodshed and justice will prevail there for the sake of the Myanmar people.
On local front, the Lawyers March at Putrajaya in relation to the judiciary crisis was held today and it went on well as planned according to various news websites and prominent blogs. This march might not have been as huge as the Myanmar one, nevertheless its a start for what I think more things to come. Even if someone is not well informed about the recent crisis, seeing lawyers march to protest against something might have caught their attention. Thankfully this march ended in a calm and peaceful manner without any incidents as reported.
All this comes back to us, asking what is this all about? Where do we stand in view of it? The Myanmar march might be totally unrelated to our life, but isn't the motive behind it is seriously related to our current state of affairs in the country? The lawyers march for judiciary reforms might not be closely associated to the man on the street. But it affect the future and the governing of the country in whole which indirectly DO affect each and every one of us in this country.
This is about justice! And when justice itself is in question, where else do we turn to? When the justice itself is accused of being injustice we the people have no else to go to fight for our rights! In any just society or country, Judiciary Powers and Executive Powers are separated to ensure fair and uncorrupted implementation of laws. But if the current crisis are to be followed about, then we are looking at a future where a totalitarian government is what our children will inherit.
I cant help but fear for the 'already hanging on the edge' freedom we currently have. We've been facing one crisis after another and by the way it looks this will not be the end of it.
What tomorrow will bring??????
I am going to look for the excerpt of that Martin Luther King's 'I Have a Dream' on the net and post it in my next post.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Monday, September 24, 2007
80's Cartoons Revisited
Its been almost a week since my last post here! Been super duper hyper busy with work and other stuffs that had limited my access to the Internet.However, hopefully am back to my normal routine now.
The past week, news highlights had been filled with news about the little girl's brutal murder (get that bloody asshole and leave the parents alone) and the usual-nothing-to be-surprised-knee jerk reaction news about corruptions and misuse of powers in the country. Things are getting too stale these days from the political point of view.On the sports front, the sudden departure of Jose MOANrinho(can't resist the dig mate! heheheh) from Chelsea hogged the limelight.
Speaking of Jose Mourinho, either you love him or hate him and there is no way anyone would sit in the middle about him. I hated him to the max for his arrogant attitude. The self proclaimed 'The Special One' was humbled out in a acrimonious fashion. But on footballing terms , he is one heck of a manager. His main strength? He is a too darn good of a motivator. How many times we must've seen Chelsea going into a break chasing a game only for them to come out strongly winning in the second half. For that I salute the bloke. I surely be gutted if he ends up in Liverpool (which he almost had before choosing Chelsea in 2004) but I will approve his rating if he takes over from Steve McClown for England!
Now on entertainment front, 2 news really caught my attention! After the humongous success (I told you so!) of Transformers, work are now in progress to bring to the silver screen 2 more great heroes from the 80's - Voltron and Robotech! Wah wie.. am drooling already!
For all those 80s kids like me , this is surely a sight to behold! Like most 80s kids I grew up watching these evergreen cartoon series. Just to name a few of my favorites, in no particular order - Transformers, Voltron, Robotech, Macross, Mospeada, Thundercats, MASK, GI Joe, Silverhawks, Ghosbusters, Smurfs, Care Bears, Denver the Last Dinosaur, Inspector Gadget and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This list is inexhaustive of course.
So naturally when news broke out about the Robotech and Voltron silver screen adaptation , I was delirious about the whole prospect. I had the same feeling when I heard about the Transformer project by Michael Bay in 2004. The wait for 3 years proved to be worthwhile what with the way the movie turned out.
Coming back to Robotech, for those who cant recall what this cartoon is all about, think of those transforming fighter jets and motorcycles. Robotech is actually the convergence of another 3 Japanese anime namely Macross, Mospeada and Southern Cross. This had also spawned the ever famous video game Super Famicom - Macross Scrambled Valkyrie.News is Tobey Maguire(Spiderman) will be producing the movie and will have a key role to play in the movie as well. This will be made into a 'live action' movie just like The Transformer instead of the famous animated version. The director is not named yet, but I bet it wont be Michael Bay for sure. Whoever it is , I hope he will do credit for the original animated series.
Voltron is the other famous cartoon being made into another 'live action' ,movie. It will interesting to see how they will manage to adapt the 5 lions into the big screen. There are not much news about this venture on the Net though. One site I found had this to say 'The script, by Justin Marks, is described as '...a post-apocalyptic tale set in New York City and Mexico. Five ragtag survivors of an alien attack band together and end up piloting the five lion-shaped robots that combine and form the massive sword-wielding Voltron that helps battle Earth's invaders.'. Lets wait for further news on this.
Hopefully all this remakes do justice to the original series and keep US the fans wanting for more. I have read that more and more 80s cartoons are in the pipeline to be made into feature films in years to come.
I cant wait already
The past week, news highlights had been filled with news about the little girl's brutal murder (get that bloody asshole and leave the parents alone) and the usual-nothing-to be-surprised-knee jerk reaction news about corruptions and misuse of powers in the country. Things are getting too stale these days from the political point of view.On the sports front, the sudden departure of Jose MOANrinho(can't resist the dig mate! heheheh) from Chelsea hogged the limelight.
Speaking of Jose Mourinho, either you love him or hate him and there is no way anyone would sit in the middle about him. I hated him to the max for his arrogant attitude. The self proclaimed 'The Special One' was humbled out in a acrimonious fashion. But on footballing terms , he is one heck of a manager. His main strength? He is a too darn good of a motivator. How many times we must've seen Chelsea going into a break chasing a game only for them to come out strongly winning in the second half. For that I salute the bloke. I surely be gutted if he ends up in Liverpool (which he almost had before choosing Chelsea in 2004) but I will approve his rating if he takes over from Steve McClown for England!
Now on entertainment front, 2 news really caught my attention! After the humongous success (I told you so!) of Transformers, work are now in progress to bring to the silver screen 2 more great heroes from the 80's - Voltron and Robotech! Wah wie.. am drooling already!
For all those 80s kids like me , this is surely a sight to behold! Like most 80s kids I grew up watching these evergreen cartoon series. Just to name a few of my favorites, in no particular order - Transformers, Voltron, Robotech, Macross, Mospeada, Thundercats, MASK, GI Joe, Silverhawks, Ghosbusters, Smurfs, Care Bears, Denver the Last Dinosaur, Inspector Gadget and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This list is inexhaustive of course.
So naturally when news broke out about the Robotech and Voltron silver screen adaptation , I was delirious about the whole prospect. I had the same feeling when I heard about the Transformer project by Michael Bay in 2004. The wait for 3 years proved to be worthwhile what with the way the movie turned out.
Coming back to Robotech, for those who cant recall what this cartoon is all about, think of those transforming fighter jets and motorcycles. Robotech is actually the convergence of another 3 Japanese anime namely Macross, Mospeada and Southern Cross. This had also spawned the ever famous video game Super Famicom - Macross Scrambled Valkyrie.News is Tobey Maguire(Spiderman) will be producing the movie and will have a key role to play in the movie as well. This will be made into a 'live action' movie just like The Transformer instead of the famous animated version. The director is not named yet, but I bet it wont be Michael Bay for sure. Whoever it is , I hope he will do credit for the original animated series.
Voltron is the other famous cartoon being made into another 'live action' ,movie. It will interesting to see how they will manage to adapt the 5 lions into the big screen. There are not much news about this venture on the Net though. One site I found had this to say 'The script, by Justin Marks, is described as '...a post-apocalyptic tale set in New York City and Mexico. Five ragtag survivors of an alien attack band together and end up piloting the five lion-shaped robots that combine and form the massive sword-wielding Voltron that helps battle Earth's invaders.'. Lets wait for further news on this.
Hopefully all this remakes do justice to the original series and keep US the fans wanting for more. I have read that more and more 80s cartoons are in the pipeline to be made into feature films in years to come.
I cant wait already
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
HARDtalk Interview on BBC - Updated
Finally I managed to watch the entire interview courtesy of YouTube.. yet again! What will we all do without YouTube!. Anyway imagine watching the entire 20 plus minutes of clip over a dial-up Internet connection! I almost gave up after the first 2 segments.
But I was really intrigued about the whole thing and decided to finish watching it by hook or crook and finish it I did. It was the same old Spinning Jenny in action throughout the interview. Frankly speaking I was really embarrassed by the answer given by the minister and the way he went around answering the question. Mind you , this show must've been shown worldwide and I cant help but think about the image being sent out about the country.
Below are some of the answers/comments by the minister that caught my attention :
But I was really intrigued about the whole thing and decided to finish watching it by hook or crook and finish it I did. It was the same old Spinning Jenny in action throughout the interview. Frankly speaking I was really embarrassed by the answer given by the minister and the way he went around answering the question. Mind you , this show must've been shown worldwide and I cant help but think about the image being sent out about the country.
Below are some of the answers/comments by the minister that caught my attention :
- Indians in Malaysia have a better household income vs Malays
- 'Total' University intake in the country is higher for Non-Malays vs Malays (notice the 'Total', maybe the minister forgot to mention the difference between the private and public U intakes in the country)
- Government scholarship is open for ALL races without bias
- Non-Malays, especially the Chinese enjoy a bigger chunk of the government contracts vs Malays
- Malaysia is not a racist country and its citizens are NOT racially polarised either
- Lina Joy only wanted to change her name and she is/was not blocked to convert to Christianity or any religion for that matter
- Syariah Court is for Muslims ONLY
- Malaysia is an Islamic State
Apart from being embarrassed , I found it very amusing and funny - the answers given. I suggest you go and view the YouTube clips if you want to be amused. I am just lost for words.
What the SUI!
Have beens.. and what comes!
First of all, thousand apologies to ASTRO for my outburst about the non-live telecast of last Saturday's Liverpool match against Portsmouth. I stated that am pissed with ASTRO due to no live coverage when indeed there was a live telecast after all. Although I do not want to indulge much about that match... sigh.. 2 valuable points dropped....sorry to ASTRO anyway!.
Apart from that the weekend been eventful indeed. Some interesting things happened. Ahem.. ahem.... Lets see where it all ends up at! Although not all are for the good, some do have a silver lining hidden somewhere I guess. I just to find it and pawn it at the nearest pawnshop! I need the money! My dream house is now finally ready but I have no money even to fix the fittings! Super broke... lets hope the plan am working on pays off and I can move in before this year's Deeps!
Next 3 days is gonna be hectic with field works and travelling.Good thing is the Champions League starts today. Let the kicking begin!. Good luck Liverpool! You'll Never Walk Alone
Just hope the week will end in a better note vs last week. Keeping my fingers crossed!
Apart from that the weekend been eventful indeed. Some interesting things happened. Ahem.. ahem.... Lets see where it all ends up at! Although not all are for the good, some do have a silver lining hidden somewhere I guess. I just to find it and pawn it at the nearest pawnshop! I need the money! My dream house is now finally ready but I have no money even to fix the fittings! Super broke... lets hope the plan am working on pays off and I can move in before this year's Deeps!
Next 3 days is gonna be hectic with field works and travelling.Good thing is the Champions League starts today. Let the kicking begin!. Good luck Liverpool! You'll Never Walk Alone
Just hope the week will end in a better note vs last week. Keeping my fingers crossed!
Saturday, September 15, 2007
HARDtalk Interview on BBC
Am sure most of you must've received the SMS today about the BBC interview with our Foreign Minister - Syed Hamid Albar on the current state of our country racial integration. I must've received at least a few dozen of those SMSes. But deep down I had this hunch that it will not be shown at all. It was suppose to be aired on Channel 93- BBC at 10.30pm. Am sitting in front of the TV now alternating between BBC and Discovery and true enough its not being aired.
We have seen this happen once before. Recently there was another SMS reporting that Al Jazeera will be airing a news piece on the recent apostasy case in Malaysia.IN particular it was related to the Revathi case. This was also taken off from the channels and never made it back to ASTRO. For those of you who missed it, you can watch it HERE courtesy of YouTube.
Now coming back to the today SMS about the BBC interview. This interview did happen, yesterday during the famous BBC show called HARDtalk.I have watched a few edition of the show before and let me tell you, this interview is not for the faint hearted as the interviewers can get real hostile if they dont get a good answer for their questions. This is why the show is very famous on BBC.They touch on real issues and the interviewers is not lame enough as well.Apparently our Foreign Minister got grilled over a host of issues in this edition of HARDtalk. Issues like university quota,racial discrimination of the Chinese and Indian community and much more. He is lucky it wasnt the other guy who is the original host of the show.
You can watch the interview at BBC HARDtalk website HERE. The clip is about 23minutes long it seems. I was unable to watch it myself as am still using dial-up at home and my new Vista is not installed with RealPlay which prevents me from streaming the show.
Further checking on local blogosphere, there seems to be contradicting information about the interview.Either way go and watch the interview yourself and make up your mind.
P.S Big up to Julie for watching the streaming on my behalf and updating me on the summary in order for me to update the blog here.
We have seen this happen once before. Recently there was another SMS reporting that Al Jazeera will be airing a news piece on the recent apostasy case in Malaysia.IN particular it was related to the Revathi case. This was also taken off from the channels and never made it back to ASTRO. For those of you who missed it, you can watch it HERE courtesy of YouTube.
Now coming back to the today SMS about the BBC interview. This interview did happen, yesterday during the famous BBC show called HARDtalk.I have watched a few edition of the show before and let me tell you, this interview is not for the faint hearted as the interviewers can get real hostile if they dont get a good answer for their questions. This is why the show is very famous on BBC.They touch on real issues and the interviewers is not lame enough as well.Apparently our Foreign Minister got grilled over a host of issues in this edition of HARDtalk. Issues like university quota,racial discrimination of the Chinese and Indian community and much more. He is lucky it wasnt the other guy who is the original host of the show.
You can watch the interview at BBC HARDtalk website HERE. The clip is about 23minutes long it seems. I was unable to watch it myself as am still using dial-up at home and my new Vista is not installed with RealPlay which prevents me from streaming the show.
Further checking on local blogosphere, there seems to be contradicting information about the interview.Either way go and watch the interview yourself and make up your mind.
P.S Big up to Julie for watching the streaming on my behalf and updating me on the summary in order for me to update the blog here.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Pain in my tuuutt
What the sui! Thats putting it mildly on how am feeling at the moment. Its almost 10pm, am still stuck in the office. I was suppose to go back early after badminton and continue watching The Hitchhiker. It was suppose to be just another day at work and another day gone by.
But as always , there are always some ppl in my life who have this tendency of calling me at the wrong time and say the wrong things just to rile me up. SUI! Its seems like ppl are taking turns to turn my day upside down on a weekly basis. Are they having turn numbers like we have in banks? How many more in the waiting list??? Gimme me a break!
Some ppl got the cheeks to call me and screw me for not calling them or telling them things! Alooooooooooo! I make it a point to at least send one SMS per week to everyone in my few SMS group list in my phone. Thats like 40 to 50 ppl in the biggest list. And how many replies I would get? Two hands is all I need to count it. Darn! But I aint complaining to them am I? And its not about the money or the effort mind you. Some ppl will just go on a hibernation mode for weeks even months and when they come back, its as if the world had been on PAUSE mode for them.
Its ppl choice whether to reply or not. As a friend am just doing what am suppose to do , expecting nothing in return. And what I get in return?? Some of them have a field day wreaking my days. Last week it was someone, today another. Funny thing is this are the ppl that I care about the most in my life! Darn!
Am not angry at them anyway. Am just darn pissed with myself. I should've seen it coming. But I still take things in the stride. I try to be lean mean but I just cant do it. So its my stoooopid fault! Sui Sui Sui Sui Sui! And you know what, next week I will be doing the same thing again. Hahahahah in despair!
Its Friday tomorrow and weekend is taking a peek at us! All am asking is for the weekend to go by just like that. Thats all am asking. Darn there wont be a Liverpool game live this Saturday. They are showing all the games except for Liverpool's. Another SUI for ASTRO. And am on leave on Monday as well. Perfect! That will be 2 weeks in a row without futsal. Life is eventful indeed!
WHAT THE SUI! in FULL CAPS
But as always , there are always some ppl in my life who have this tendency of calling me at the wrong time and say the wrong things just to rile me up. SUI! Its seems like ppl are taking turns to turn my day upside down on a weekly basis. Are they having turn numbers like we have in banks? How many more in the waiting list??? Gimme me a break!
Some ppl got the cheeks to call me and screw me for not calling them or telling them things! Alooooooooooo! I make it a point to at least send one SMS per week to everyone in my few SMS group list in my phone. Thats like 40 to 50 ppl in the biggest list. And how many replies I would get? Two hands is all I need to count it. Darn! But I aint complaining to them am I? And its not about the money or the effort mind you. Some ppl will just go on a hibernation mode for weeks even months and when they come back, its as if the world had been on PAUSE mode for them.
Its ppl choice whether to reply or not. As a friend am just doing what am suppose to do , expecting nothing in return. And what I get in return?? Some of them have a field day wreaking my days. Last week it was someone, today another. Funny thing is this are the ppl that I care about the most in my life! Darn!
Am not angry at them anyway. Am just darn pissed with myself. I should've seen it coming. But I still take things in the stride. I try to be lean mean but I just cant do it. So its my stoooopid fault! Sui Sui Sui Sui Sui! And you know what, next week I will be doing the same thing again. Hahahahah in despair!
Its Friday tomorrow and weekend is taking a peek at us! All am asking is for the weekend to go by just like that. Thats all am asking. Darn there wont be a Liverpool game live this Saturday. They are showing all the games except for Liverpool's. Another SUI for ASTRO. And am on leave on Monday as well. Perfect! That will be 2 weeks in a row without futsal. Life is eventful indeed!
WHAT THE SUI! in FULL CAPS
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Remembering 9-11
Same day today, 6 years ago, the world was shocked by one of the worst terrorist attacks ever. 2 Airline planes hit both the World Trade Center Towers in New York City causing it to collapse. Another plane hit the Pentagon and another crashed in the fields off Shanksville, Pennsylvania.In the aftermath of the attack, the world as we know had changed forever. A total of 2974 souls lost their life's on that day of infamy. Another 24 person are either presumed dead or missing.
I was having a day out after work with a few of colleagues , having 'naan' at our usual hangout food court on that very night. Having just reached back to the apartment at around 10pm , Sue called on my handphone informing of an attack on United States. She asked me to turn on the TV. Having no Astro at that time , I told her I don't have CNN access only to be told its being aired LIVE on all the terrestrial channels.
I was just awestruck at the images I saw on TV. By the time I turned on the TV , both towers were already hit and news were just filtering out of the Pentagon attack. I just slumped in front of the TV for the next few hours thinking of whats gonna happen next. Too many questions started lingering in my mind. Is the start of worst things to come? What is happening to the world now? There I was watching history being written as it happened.
As the ashes slowly settled down, more related news started to appear. Stories about how the 4th flight, United Airlines Flight 93 which was originally intended to crash on the Capitol Hill was thwarted by the heroics of the flight passengers and crashed. Stories about the courageous rescue efforts by the emergency personnel at the World Trade Center. And more stories that followed about the inefficiency of the various US agencies in handling the situation on that day. Suddenly the world's only Super Power nation looked so vulnerable and weak! Never had they been in such a situation since Pearl Harbour.
Whatever the failings there can be, we have all learned a lesson from this. Nothing remains the same forever. Things can get better to worst in a split second. Events that happened thousands of kms away have adverse effect on our lifes and future. I belong to the generation that escaped the wrath of the 2 World Wars and even the Communist Insurgency. So going thru this served as a reality check. Suddenly the world seemed so dangerous and volatile that your life is not safe as we grew up to believe it was. Even in Malaysia!
In remembering this day, let us all pray for the lost souls. The inevitable reality is, this will not be the last attack we will ever see in our life. The world is definitely going to the dogs. So while we are still here , lets make the best out of this life!
Surely for the next few days, the TV channels will be inundated with various reports, documentaries and movies related to the 9-11 which is fair enough. I have watched my fair share of those as well. Of the best, there are 3 movies in my opinion that really portrayed the tragedy without much hoohaa of the usuall Hollywood fanfare. The best of the lot would be Fahrenheit 9-11 by Michael Moore. Followed by the Nicholas Cage starer World Trade Center and the less known United 93.
The are also the usuall conspiracy theories surrounding the 9-11 but that itself will take a few more pages of blog to start with. Maybe one day the truth if there is any will finally see the light.
May GOD bless and save us all
I was having a day out after work with a few of colleagues , having 'naan' at our usual hangout food court on that very night. Having just reached back to the apartment at around 10pm , Sue called on my handphone informing of an attack on United States. She asked me to turn on the TV. Having no Astro at that time , I told her I don't have CNN access only to be told its being aired LIVE on all the terrestrial channels.
I was just awestruck at the images I saw on TV. By the time I turned on the TV , both towers were already hit and news were just filtering out of the Pentagon attack. I just slumped in front of the TV for the next few hours thinking of whats gonna happen next. Too many questions started lingering in my mind. Is the start of worst things to come? What is happening to the world now? There I was watching history being written as it happened.
As the ashes slowly settled down, more related news started to appear. Stories about how the 4th flight, United Airlines Flight 93 which was originally intended to crash on the Capitol Hill was thwarted by the heroics of the flight passengers and crashed. Stories about the courageous rescue efforts by the emergency personnel at the World Trade Center. And more stories that followed about the inefficiency of the various US agencies in handling the situation on that day. Suddenly the world's only Super Power nation looked so vulnerable and weak! Never had they been in such a situation since Pearl Harbour.
Whatever the failings there can be, we have all learned a lesson from this. Nothing remains the same forever. Things can get better to worst in a split second. Events that happened thousands of kms away have adverse effect on our lifes and future. I belong to the generation that escaped the wrath of the 2 World Wars and even the Communist Insurgency. So going thru this served as a reality check. Suddenly the world seemed so dangerous and volatile that your life is not safe as we grew up to believe it was. Even in Malaysia!
In remembering this day, let us all pray for the lost souls. The inevitable reality is, this will not be the last attack we will ever see in our life. The world is definitely going to the dogs. So while we are still here , lets make the best out of this life!
Surely for the next few days, the TV channels will be inundated with various reports, documentaries and movies related to the 9-11 which is fair enough. I have watched my fair share of those as well. Of the best, there are 3 movies in my opinion that really portrayed the tragedy without much hoohaa of the usuall Hollywood fanfare. The best of the lot would be Fahrenheit 9-11 by Michael Moore. Followed by the Nicholas Cage starer World Trade Center and the less known United 93.
The are also the usuall conspiracy theories surrounding the 9-11 but that itself will take a few more pages of blog to start with. Maybe one day the truth if there is any will finally see the light.
May GOD bless and save us all
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
