Chinese Dramas

ARE SICK.

(my sister pointed me to this. I will never look at her the same way again)

Love Thy Rabbits

Burn them Crosses

Tuan Syed Hood bin Syed Edros [Parit Sulong]: [Some unrelated stuff first] Yang Di-Pertua, I would like to touch on a matter regarding the Ministry of Education, which are Christian missionary schools like Convent, La Salle, Methodist, and so forth. I was made to understand that the Board of Directors at these schools are partially administered by churches in foreign countries, for example in the Vatican City. I was also made to understand that the application to build a ’surau’ in some of these schools had to go through the approval of these Board of Directors whereby they are partially administered by the church. Therefore, it shames me that the school administrations are still controlled by the church. I was also made to understand that many Muslim parents send their kids to these schools, and that they have complained that sometimes, the school is started with church songs. I do not know if this is true, but what I discovered from these parents are the display of religious symbols. I feel disappointed that in an Islamic country, Malaysia, if I go to a convent school, the statue of St. Mary is displayed in the front of the school.

Datuk Haji Mohamad bin Haji Aziz [Sri Gading]: [Stands up]

Tuan Syed Hood bin Syed Edros [Parit Sulong]: Please proceed, Yang Berhormat for Sri Gading.

Timbalan Yang di-Pertua [Datuk Dr. Yusof bin Yacob]: Yes, Yang Berhormat for Sri Gading.

Datuk Haji Mohamad bin Haji Aziz [Sri Gading]: I am not shocked at all, Yang Berhormat for Parit Sulong. It’s not just a simple question. The question is, why has this happened? One. During the last Hari Raya, I was told by a father, when Aidilfitri was celebrated, these types of schools were not closed. Thank you.

Tuan Syed Hood bin Syed Edros [Parit Sulong]: Not only statues, but fellow Yang Berhormat, go and see for yourselves, Christian crosses are displayed in front of schools. I do not understand the Ministry of Education, did the officers not see that, or is it our policy to allow such a thing? Nevertheless, I, as a responsible person to my religion, race, and country, I state my views that these statues need to be demolished, these crosses need to be destroyed and church influences in these schools need to be stopped. Also, the funds that are collected at these schools. Do we have a report? If possible, the ministry should reveal the funds for these schools. I was made to understand that these schools are also sponsored by the church.

This has, of course, been cleared up by our Prime Minister. Apparently, NO statues or crosses or what-nots will be abolished. But worth sharing, nontheless. I guess a temporary lapse of memory from the UMNO General Meeting when Pak Lah addressed on religious sensitivities.

Frank Herbert's Dune

This book was my first adult science fiction I laid my hands on. I was eleven at that time- and the only reason I bought it was because it bore resemblance to a computer game I had played years before.

The first time I read it, it was a nightmare. Dune was a confusing, bewildering goulash of high-class words and concepts that were beyond my mind. Remember- I was only eleven, and had only finished reading the entire series of Hardy Boys and Enid Blyton. I read it three times through before everything clicked- and damned be it was superb. Heck it won the first scifi award.

Nobody can size down Dune in a single blog post. I’ve tried.

A small excerp as a teaser.

A predatory look filled the old woman's features. She lifted her hand away from the box and poised her hand close to the side of Paul's neck. He saw a glint of metal there and started to turn to it.

"Stop!" she snapped. He swung his attention back to her face.

"I hold at your neck the gom jabbar," she said. "Its a needle with a poison at its tip. Ah ah! Dont pull away or you'll feel that poison."

Paul tried to swallow in a dry throat. He could not take his attention away from the seamed old face, the glistening eyes, the pale gums around silvery metal teeth that flashed as she spoke.

"A dukes son must know about poisons, eh?" she said. "Its the way of our times. Musky, to be poisoned in your drink. Aumas, to be poisoned in your food. The quick ones and the slow ones, and the ones in between. Here is a new one for you: The gom jabbar. It kills only animals!"

Pride overcame Paul's fear. "You dare suggest a duke's son is an animal?" he demanded.

"Lets say, I suggest you may be human."

The main main main plot (for there are many main plots) revolves around the Spice, melange, a greatest substance in the history of humankind. It is a geriatric substance that changes the whole DNA make up of a persons body. It amplifies every higher senses, heightens the body’s immunogenic system, extend the human life span by hundreds of years, gives access to racial memories and enables space travel.

It enables interstellar travel by allowing Navigators to ‘see’ into the space-time continuum, and predict possible outcomes. The ship will not wallop into a star or asskick into a nebula.

Aha! But Spice can only be found on the Dessert planet Arrakis.

So he who controls Arrakis, controls the Spice, controls the future, controls humanity, controls the universe. And that’s what the whole plot is mainly about. Spice. And remember, this book was published circa 1965, so this concept was regarded as very new, and very amazing at that time. It astounded people, and it astounded me.

It wipes out most science fiction books out there on a stellar scale. Go get it in your local bookstores today! This is VERY WELL an advertisement.

Ps- I have read it fifteen times now since eleven. Not including the rest in the chronicles. Yes. Im a fanatic. And im reading it again, after SPM. Let the Spice flow!

Sensory Disarray

Pardon this rather... content-less post but I honestly don't know what else to write.

Watch the video and you'll understand why.

Meow?

If you have cats/dogs, you probably wonder every now and then what your pets are saying to each other. A little twitch here, a flick of the tail there..

Watch these two:

Someone decided to edit this video and added a proper conversation. Here's his hilarious take on it:

This one definitely takes the cake. 0:12 to 0:14 is so adorable!

We developed a language along the way

"OMG."

I thought my ears were playing tricks on me when I heard an acquintance of mine utter those three letters one day. I thought that maybe I had been stressing too much and was beginning to hallucinate (no, seriously, the hallucinating thing has never happened to me before). And then she repeated the three magic letters again.

It got me thinking. Since when do we utter OMG in place of the phrase "oh my God" or "oh my gosh" depending on your preference. I am one who is guilty of using it in my chats and SMSes, but when someone says it out loud, it just sounds.. wrong.

I've heard of people saying LOL out loud when they want to laugh. I mean, for real? Why would anyone do that? Are the abbreviations getting too much? According to some, yes. It has created an altogether different language that youngsters use to communicate, especially online, when they try to secure whatever privacy they have away from their parents. The vocab has expanded so greatly that you and I can just come up with anything we want right now and with some networking, we'd get it out there in no time.

But will we ever get enough of these LOLs (or LAWLs, if you like it that way) and ROTFLMAOs? How much is too much?

Will we all begin to say LOL instead of laugh for real in the near future?

Till then, oh am gee.