So what's new with you ?

Am away from work along with the rest of the other 20 million or so other Malaysians ( Not a number I plucked out of nowhere, check out http://www.statistics.gov.my/english/frameset_keystats.php , makes me feel really backward because we didn't have access to all this info when I was a student trying to do my primary school projects and I often had to look up outdated stuff in encyclopedias in the days before Wikipedia and before everyone from your favourite bakery to your distant grandaunt had a presence on the Internet.) who are enjoying the long Deepavali-Hari Raya break. Was supposed to be away on holiday but something came up at Kat's office so we scrapped it at the last minute. So I've got nothing exciting to report unfortunately.

The haze , a perennial affair here in Malaysia courtesy of our Indonesian neighbour's forest fires in Sumatra, is still quite bad. They've been cloud-seeding again to get rid of it but doesn't seem to be helping. It's not the worst haze ever but definitely this year's haze has been the longest lasting. It'd driving Kat nuts and her sinus has been acting up.

Seen anything worth seeing recently ?

I'm not sure if watching the haze or rather watching the haze and not seeing anything else beyond the severely reduced visible range of 500m counts as something worth mentioning. Urmmm....seriously though , no I haven't been watching anything recently , but I can tell you what I want to watch sometime soon ?

Been meaning to watch Howl's Moving Castle but haven't gotten down to it yet. The Prestige looks reasonably worth watching but can't seem to convince my girlfriend to watch it with me at the movie theater so it looks like I may have to get a VCD from the friendly neighbourhood pirate. Oh any also, I've heard quite a bit about Nightwatch, this Russian vampire flick that makes me want to hunt it down once I get the time.

Read any good books lately ?

Have just finished Neil Gaiman's Fragile Things. ( Check out www.neilgaiman.com for more info)Decent stuff. It's a compilation of various short stories or prose. Some of them are misses but in general there are more hits as you would have come to expect from someone of his writing calibre.I am particularly pleased that he did a "novella" sequel to American Gods that featured the protaganist Shadow. I am not complaining but it would have been equally interesting if he decided to do an entire story on some supporting character instead. Or did he already do that with Anansi Boys ?

So what are you listening to currently ?

I've just gotten a copy of Thom Yorke's Eraser. (Check out http://www.theeraser.net/Stage2UK/ ) It's not that bad but I was expecting something different and not Radiohead all over again, what with the synths and looped samples. Makes me want to go hunt down Johnny Greenwood's earlier solo album, Bodysong, which apparently was a big departure from the usual Radiohead navel gazing fare.

So what's new with you ?

Well I've had a recent addition to my hat wardrobe in the form of Ratty, the plague rat from UK.

Warm , fuzzy and bubonic, what more could a person ask for in a fashion accesory ?












Seriously though, what have I been up to ?

Let's see.....a few weeks back, I went to the KOMAS Freedom Film fest (http://www.freedomfilmfest.komas.org/) held at Taylor's College.

It was very surreal going back to Taylor's especially when everything seems to have changed so much ( the shops look completely different ) since I was there 6-7 years back. Kinda makes me feel old. Anways...nostalgia moment over.

I watched a number of films but what was funny was that the bulk of the Malaysian entries e.g Andrew Sia ( o he of the Star's Weekender Teh Tarik fame ) 's Kopi O Khau Kurang Manis, despite being reasonably provocative, tried to mask it's inherent uneasiness in dealing with *ahem* "no-no" taboo issues of police corruption/brutality by using a lot of unnecessary humor, which I felt, made it a bit too light. Then again that's just me. I'm no activist.

But it was an interesting way to spend my weekend. Plus it was a lot more interesting to say that I went for an independent film fest focusing on documentaries on freedom of speech and human rights when people asked me what I did over the weekend as opposed to the usual " work-work + tv + catching up on lost sleep".

I also happened to be at Bar Savanh that same weekend, it's this joint down at Heritage Row somewhere beside Sheraton Imperial, for some drinks with a friend/colleague who will be going away soon to work in the UK. Not my kind of thing, clubbing/pubbing. Had some amused co-workers who asked me to stop using my "Work-Face" and loosen up. To which I replied. " I have only one setting, unfortunately and this is it"

Enough about what I've been up to..Back to the program.

Seen anything interesting lately ?

Well. Not really. I am quite pleased that NTV7 has brought back the last few episodes of Threshold, an excellent concept driven sci-fi series about an alien signal and this shady government agency ( American, no less. Typical ) that has to stop it from spreading. I am quite worried though because I read that they axed the show before it could get to the end of the first season. Which is surprising because there is a lot of junk out there that is far worse.

Movie wise, I'm planning to see the "Banquet" but am worried that it might be a massive flop.

Read any good books lately ?

Sadly. No. Have re-read Freakanomics by Steven whats-his-name and have found the second reading to be disappointing. I mean, yes, it is all very interesting how all these statistics and facts seem to lead to counter-intuitive conclusions but what does it all mean really?

Any new music ?

Well I've suddenly discovered myspace and some local Malaysian bands like (the?) Ferns and Furniture but can't seem to find their albums on sale anywhere.

Currently still hunting for the Guillemots- Thru the broken window pane and listening to the Such Great Heights by the Postal Service. It's catchy and guiltily very poppy in a rock kind of way.