A Kadir Jasin, the NST & local magazines..

oh it feels like so long since i last post an entry here. So here's basically my summary for the past week.

Another big name in the journalism/media industry, A Kadir Jasin, ex- NST Group editor-in-chief, one of the many few that i highly admire, has now started up his own blog at kadirjasin.blogspot.com. I used to follow his weekly column, 'Other thots' when he was still the NST Group editor in the late 90s, '.

You can say that i grew up reading the NST. Lazarus Rokk and Khalid Redza were among the few NST Sports journalist that i could still remember during my primary school days back in the early 90s. Those days i only read the Sports section, checking on the M-League football results and blablah.

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Magazines

I usually spend around 20-30 Ringgit per month for magazines. I just can't help it. Magazines is a must for me and most of the time i would read it in the office. I am a frequent reader of Off The Edge and Personal Money. I read Time, Malaysian Business and KLUE occasionally. If you don't mind, I'd like to recommend a few magazine columns that is a 'must-read' for me.

Off The Edge (they got lots of fresh contents and good writers)

-Hishamuddin Rais's Tapai column

-Those were the days by Dato' Abdul Hamid bin Dato' Sidek

-Citizen Kam by Kam Raslan

-Teohlogy by Patrick Teoh

Personal Money

-Keeping Time by Rajen Devadason

-Spare Change by Azizi Ali

Malaysian Business

-Other Thots - A Kadir Jasin

-My finances by Rajen Devadason

-My Wealth by Yap Ming Hui (author of You Can't Manage Your Money .. Especially When You're Rich)

-Fahmi Fadzil's 'Focus' in KLUE is also another favorite of mine. I like his outspokeness and the way he expresses his writings on certain issues.

btw, any of you noticed that Sharifah Amani is featured in 3 magazines this month? She's in the cover of the February issue of KLUE, Rapi (a women health magazine) and Pengantin (got sumore ah?). Ah isn't she so shweeet.. :p Can't wait to watch her in Yasmin Ahmad's latest film, 'Gubra'.

Here comes March. byebye February.

Dewa - Dealova (Dealova OST) (oh mann, Dewa is so 'addictive'. been listening to them for the past two weeks! First it was 'Larut', then 'Laskar Cinta' and now, 'Dealova'. such beautiful songs. Deep lyrics.)

review ringkas muzikal PGL

..PGLtM, Istana Budaya

Ni cuma review ringkas je. Niat nak blog panjang lebar, tapi mood tengah takde. Nanti kalau ada masa boleh update lagi..
- Teater muzikal Puteri Gunung Ledang sememangnya gempak dan hebat! Hang Tuah je kurang hebat. 'Gerak', gaya dan lenggok dia; keras, kaku dan tak ada langsung keMelayuan, apatah lagi sebagai seorang pendekar agung Melayu, Dato' Laksamana Hang Tuah. But to be fair to him la kan, nasib baik jugaklah suara dia sedap.

- Seperti beberapa review yang aku dah baca kat internet & suratkhabar, lakonan AC Mizal sebagai Gusti Adipati Handaya Ningrat, Raja Majapahit memang antara yang paling menonjol, selain tak lain tak bukan, Tiara Jacquelina sendiri, sebagai Gusti Putri Raden Adjeng Retno Dumilah, Puteri Majapahit/Puteri Gunung Ledang. Lakonan Adlin Aman Ramli pulak, sebagai Sultan Mahmud Syah dalam filem PGL lebih menyerlah berbanding dalam teater ni. Dalam teater ni watak beliau sebagai Sultan, macam kurang feel sikit. Umpama Cappucino favorite aku yang tak cukup gula gitu.

- Soundtrack semua memang best. Salute you brader Roslan. Paling diingati, lagu, "Melakaaa, Melakaaa lalala.." (hahaha part tu je ingat :p) Lagu yang cukup membangkitkan semangat. Dah habis teater pun masih terngiang-ngiang dalam kepala otak. Pastu lagu masa Demak menyerang Majapahit. Memang semangat habis! Drumbeat & muzik masa scene perang tu paling best. Ada banyak lagilah. Tak dapat nak recall.

- Set pentas paling aku minat masa Act 2 - Istana Sultan Melaka. Hebat2. Set pentas yang lain-lain pun ok, tapi istana Sultan Melaka tu yang paling aku suka. Bravo kepada Mr. Zahim Al Bakri.

- Kemudian, part lighting pulak, palinggg aku rasa bestgile masa scene yang macam wayang kulit tu! Tiara tengah sembang dengan Bayan, pastu ada penari-penari di belakang tabir yang membentuk gerakan tarian macam dalam wayang kulit. Macam pembentukan imej dalam kaleidoskop pun ada jugak sikit-sikit.

- Satu lagi yang aku suka- tarian zapin beramai-ramai di pekan/pelabuhan Melaka. Ni macam benda sampingan je la kan, tapi sebab aku minat dengan tarian zapin, so tulis jugakla kat sini. Tarian jawa aku tak berapa minat. Jangan marah ye Mawi..hehe

- Rasanya ada lagi beberapa scene menarik yang aku tertinggal untuk senaraikan kat sini. hmm.. apa ya?

Kesimpulannya, aku sangat sangat puas hati. Walaupun aku kurang minat pada watak Stephen Rahman sebagai Hang Tuah, tapi untuk aku, secara keseluruhannya kelemahan Stephen belum cukup kuat untuk mencacatkan keseluruhan kualiti pementasan PGL yang sememangnya gempak. Syabas kepada Enfiniti Production & semua krew. :)

Okeh. Sekian komen PGLtm yang tak cukup masak ni.

Disebabkan baru lepas nonton teater muzikal PGL ni, membuatkan aku tercari balik novel karya Sri Rahayu Mat Yusop yang belum berhabuk lagi di rak buku, 'Bukan Legasi Lalang', sebuah novel fiksyen sejarah (pemenang tempat pertama Hadiah Sastera Utusan 2000), yang dah lebih setahun tertangguh nak baca.

Oleh sebab aku dah hampir lupa jalan cerita dia, so aku copy paste je la sinopsis novel ni kat sini;

"Membunuh Jebat menjadi hutang yang tak tertebus oleh Tuah. Hutang yang terbeban menjadi legasi ratusan tahun.

Tuah, Jebat - dua sasabung yang di lagakan kerana semberono kesumat, kuasa, wanita, fitnah, keadilan. Perlagaan yang tak pernah usai. Penuh intrig berlarut-larut. Justeru hakikat pertarungan yang adil hanyalah anganan yang wuiud dalam mimpi.

Kering jiwa Tuah menumpahkan setia taat kepada tuan. Dan Jebat tak ubahnya sehelai lalang yang cuba menolak ribut. Cuma sehelai lalang. Di padang luas terbuka."

-- fotopages

Matchbook Romance - Goody, Like Two Shoes

[p/s: oh, di awal penulisan blog ni tadi, memang tengah takde mood giler. Hajatnye nak post 2 perenggan je. Sekali bile dah start tulis memang susah nak stop pulak. :p]

PGL the musical ~

Wuhoo, I'm going to watch Puteri Gunung Ledang the musical tonight! It'll be my first visit to Istana Budaya as well. I'm so excited! Though I've read many positive reviews of the musical recently, I won't be expecting much from it, scared that i might end up feeling dissapointed. So, hopefully it'll be a night to remember. :)

Happy weekend ppl~

--fotopage updated!

anti spam anti spam!

Oh man. This spam mail thing is becoming even more worse. How could it be possible that i just sent a spam mail to myself?? Guess what, it was the third email message that i received from 'me'. damit! So, if any of you happen to receive a weird looking email from me, just ignore and delete it. Have a look at this. It's kinda funny though.

..siap ade attachment lagi tu

I guess they just get better and better each year, finding their way through the spam filters. Damn you spammers!

[Note: shahnon_2020 are main email addresses]

Dewa - Larut (currently in love with this song..)

national level beggar

Cerita ni aku baru teringat nak share kat sini. Ada sesiapa biasa lalu tak area dari KL Sentral nak ke stesen Monorel tu. kat open space car park tu kalau waktu pagi rush hour mesti ada sorang pengemis bertongkat di kedua-dua belah ketiaknya yang kakinya terbalik sebelah, satu mengadap depan, satu ke belakang (kanan mengadap utara, kiri mengadap selatan. tak dapat nak dipastikan sejauh mana kecacatan dia).

Masa awal nampak dia dulu adalah macam kesian jugak. Tapi bila dah lama-lama dah jadi macam eyesore pulak. Pernah sekali masa aku balik kerja dulu aku telah mengantoikan dia. Agaknya mase tu shift 'kerja' dia dah habis kot & dia macam nak cepat balik gamaknya, rileks je dia jalan laju, berlari-lari anak! Terlopong kejap aku pandang dia 2,3 saat. Dia tak guna langsung tongkat tu, setakat pegang camtu je. Aku perasan ada beberapa orang lain yang lalu lalang terkejut jugak tengok dia berlari-lari anak.

Ha, tu baru mukaddimah je. Pernah sekali tu aku terserempak dengan dia jugak kat depan stesen Monorel Bukit Bintang. Mula-mula tu macam terkejutla jugak. wah merata jugak dia ni jalan-jalan cari makan. Tapi aku macam tak berapa kisah sangatlah. KL Sentral dengan Bukit Bintang tu dia boleh naik monorel je. hehe. Ha, ini yang paling mengejutkan aku..

Minggu lepas waktu aku baru balik dari Singapura, masa baru keluar dari kawasan Kastam Johor Bahru tu, dia ada kat tepi jalan tu!! Ye! Dia la. Memang dia! Dulu aku pegi kerja naik komuter & monorel memang setiap pagi la akan nampak muka dia. Tak pernah miss. Memang tak ragu-ragu langsunglah..tak berkelip mata aku pandang dia! (isk macam pandang awek plak) Serius do. Memang terkejut gile! Agaknya dia pun naik AirAsia tiket murah dari KL-JB tu kot. Hebat hebat. Lepas ni boleh bagi award, 'National level beggar' kat dia. hoho.

Ok, sekian. itu je la cerita yang agak ntah apa untuk hari ni. ehehe.

the so-called cabinet reshuffle

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced a new Cabinet line-up at 2.45pm. - TheStar online

So the most anticipated and much awaited event under Pak Lah's administration - the cabinet reshuffle, finally came today after months of talks and rife speculations. Generally speaking, i think it was more of like just a minor reshuffle. Nothing major in it. What more when you have people like Zainuddin Maidin and Tengku Adnan being promoted to a full minister post and few other old timer from the early days of Tun Dr. Mahathir, were still around. sigh. Certainly there is nothing much to shout about. In short, it was a dissapoinment.

After nearly two years of holding the premiership post, i don't seem to find any major or drastic changes that he made. He appears to just play it safe. He is not much of a risk taker unlike Tun Dr. Mahathir. Maybe i have yet to see his visions and ideas being laid out clearly. Well, i just don't know. Hopefully it's all for the better. Sometimes i miss the days of strict authoritarian-like leadership rule of Tun Dr. Mahathir. You either love him or loathe him. You see, i just couldn't help but to distinguish between these two leaders. hmm..

related news:
Bernama - PM Maintains Continuity in New Cabinet

Alright then, I guess I shall leave politics aside for awhile.

Dewa - Larut (my current fav. thanks to Mukeh :D)

Discovering Singapore

It was my first visit across the Johor causeway and yes, including Johor Bahru as well. Haha. Finally after more than 22 years! From my two days visit, all i can say is that Singapore is indeed a great modern city. Frankly speaking, even Kuala Lumpur is no match to Singapore. Lee Kuan Yew, the Singaporeans and the Singapore socio-politics aside, i think it was a worthwhile experience to get the chance to see for yourself how developed the country is. I'm not trying to belittling my own country but i guess this is what my thoughts are about Republik Singapura.

Those Selayang Municipal Council (MPS) councillors and officers should just take a look down south across the causeway instead of wasting money visiting Mauritius and South Africa for the sake of visiting a dozen toilets and blabla. It's so funny reading TheSun's report on one of the councillors comment on the 'Safari trip';

"As the cleanliness committee chairman, I saw 12 public toilets and they were really clean," he said. --Sun2Surf

So, one of the purpose of the trip was that they went all the way there to just check on their toilets?? hehhe. Well, i don't know much about our Majlis Perbandaran issues save for the fact that i know they are the most corrupt government entity but I think even schoolboys lawatan sambil belajar could be even more meaningful.

Ok, I'm getting a bit carried away here, so, I'll just let the photos speak for themselves.


01..view of the causeway from my hotel window


02..sorong papan tarik papan, berhenti seketika di stesen MRT Kranji, (haa sambung, sambung.. :p)


03..Kampong Glam pedestrian mall


03..the majestic 80-years old Sultan Mosque at Muscat Street, Kampong Glam


04..Istana Kampong Glam at the Malay Heritage Centre [Istana yang dibina di zaman Sultan Hussain Syah sewaktu pemerintahan British pada lewat kurun ke-19. Semua keturunan mereka makan gaji buta tinggal di sini. British bayar stipend atau nama lainnya political pension. Angkara perebutan takhta dan kebijaksanaan Stamford Raffles, tanah kesultanan Melayu tergadai. Kerajaan Singapura sampai sekarang masih membayar stipend kepada cucu cicit keturunan Sultan Hussain Syah. 100 tahun lebih sudah berlalu, Melayu masih mendendangkan lagu sama..]


05..Sentosa Island (me sitting on a dragon's nose)


06..breathtaking view of Singapore skyscapers


07..Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay (Singapore's premiere art centre)


08..Serangoon Plaza in Syed Alwi Rd. Little India


09..Orchard Road

>> So, that's it for today. Check out my fotopage for more pictures.

Mae - We're So Far Away

Updating via mobile phone ..

Wuhoo, i'm updating my blog using my hp! Gile jakun kejap. Brape ntah DiGi charge ni.. Anyway, i'm in JB now. Spend d whole day in Singapore just now. Travelled mostly with the MRT from Woodlands to Harbour Front to Bugis station & blablab.. Ok,am so tird already now. I'll update more when i get back. Kinda excited to actually blog using my hp.hehe.Tomorrow's another full day in the city-state for me. So better get some early sleep now. Daa.. :-)

off to Johor Bahru and Singapore..

I'll be back on Thursday. insyaAllah.

Later guys.

[p/s: Finally i 'did' something with my blog layout after more than a year without any update. hehe. Well, nothing to shout about, though. :p]

Mae - The Sun & The Moon

Sarah-Akmal engagement~

Alhamdulillah.. my sister's engagement went fine. I feel happy for her. i wish them both all the best. :)

These are the few shots i took using my Kodak EasyShare LS743-color-science-chip-inside digicam..

..sarah n cousins

..me and me cousins

..me and my Canon EOS 66 SLR. [Question: Who took this pic? heehe :p]

I'll post my SLR shot photos soon. So, later folks! Ciao.
>> Fotopage

[p/s:Yay can't wait for Singapura & Johor Bahru!]

Maal Hijrah & Sg. Gabai

February 1 2006 marks the 4th anniversary of my website. So happy birthday dear website! Click here to my previous website layouts, from 2002-2004.

Sg. Gabai retreat!

(L-R: Mon, ohno, king, kamil, me and nik. Lionel not in pic.)

It was my 5th trip to Sg. Gabai, Hulu Langat in four years, that sums up why i'm not that ecstatic to go at first. But since there was nothing else better to do on a Tuesday morning, so might as well just go lepak dgn budak-budak ni and menikmati deruan air terjun deras yang mengasyikkan, yang jauh dari hiruk pikuk kebisingan ibukota. hehe

The water seems to be extraordinary cold than usual! I was shivering in cold for quite a while. sejuk giler. tapi best la kann. :p Luckily we arrived early around 9.15am and managed to find a good spot for our nasi lemak picnic. The place was too crowded by around noon. No surprise, it was a public holiday. The cars were even parked way up past the main entrance! But anyway, all in all it was a good day.

Check out my fotopages for any updates.

Happy New Year to all Muslims. (1 Muharram 1427H.)