Since my younger brother Ezbon’s chosen instrument is the bass, I’m putting up some pics. This is him playing his 5-string Yamaha bass at a friends’ wedding reception, 18th November 2006.

His band is called Papier Mache, and they’re available for functions and the like. For more info, contact me.

A few days before the above pic was taken, we visited Sabah’s very own guitar / bass afficionado, Mark Ramp at his house in Putatan. Mark has something like 8 basses. Here I am looking awkward (I am no bass player) posing with a 5 string Warwick bass, which costs around RM8K: Read the rest of this entry »

Yes, he really did on 25th May 2007. He was on a break between programs. It was a Friday and I was bogged down with work until 6pm. So, unfortunately I was not able to be there. He was there for around 4 hours starting 4 something pm.

Karam posing with my mum:

Karam’s note to my younger brother:

Asian Cup Finals: we only made it because we’re the hosts. The only time we ever made it because we could play football at the level it demands was closer to 30 years ago. We are in the same group as China and Iran, 2 teams which we were more than capable of matching then. Now, it’s a matter of how many goals we manage to keep out.

They have at least a few Europe-based players. No European team, not even the weakest clubs, want anything to do with our best players.

Why are they must-see matches, even more must-see than any English Premier League or Champions League match? Because it’s an opportunity to see really how far our nation’s number one sport has degraded in quality, and there’s nothing better than to see our national team, our first XI, the very best players in Malaysia, play against, in a competitive (i.e. non-friendly) match against teams which we used to beat, but have since improved by leaps and bounds, including qualifying for the World Cup.

After seeing supposedly the best of the best in Malaysian football again fail at the pre-Olympics and unfailingly come up with more excuses, this time I want to entertain myself by rooting for the other teams.

Iran was at war for much of the 80s and had greater political upheavals than we ever did, but still they had time to improve on their football.

Hence I would surely put the following on the diary:

• 10th July, 8.35pm, Stadium Bukit Jalil, Malaysia vs China
• 18th July, same time and venue, Malaysia vs Iran

A big thanks to Jacq and Daniel for taking the trouble to organise what could very well be the biggest ever gathering of (mostly) Sabahan bloggers in Kota Kinabalu.

I think it would never be easy to get people who’ve never met IRL to shake off the “social stiffness” in a few hours. Add to that trying to make yourself heard via a less than adequate PA system over the roar of a cruise boat / yacht.

Still, it was quite a night, if only for the location: probably the classiest for any blogger gathering ever held in Malaysia.

Of all times, I forgot to bring any digital capturing device. An aspiring blogger did, in the form of a videocam, but another aspiring blogger managed to entice him to join him at Shenanigan’s with another 2 aspiring bloggers right after dinner. So they missed the little cruise and my Leonardo Di Caprio impersonation. They tried to make it up by asking me to join them at D’Sulap Donggongon at almost midnight, but I’ve had enough to eat and drink by then.

Jefferi has done a de facto coverage of the event.

And thank you sponsor for the thumbdrive!

Ad: Perhaps next time we can go on longer cruises.

Empat Mata is a popular Indonesian talk show, shown on Trans7, a private Indonesian TV station. It is hosted by Tukul Arwana, 44 who reportedly gets paid RM8,000 per 90-minute episode. There are 5 episodes per week (Monday-Friday), 9.30pm - 11pm.

Watch how Tukul Arwana greets Betharia Sonatha, 45 (popular 1980s Indonesian singer, top song being “Hati Yang Luka”) starting at 1:50. In fact, he greets any female guest in a similar way. Read the rest of this entry »

Viewer discretion required. The usual disclaimers apply.

Source:

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Warning: If you are easily offended, please stop reading now. Otherwise, keep an open mind. It was not intended to offend anybody.

I wrote this “article” back in April 2005 when Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope Benedict XVI. The Joseph Ruspin mentioned in the article lives in the same kampung as me, a Catholic but is not known to be much of a churchgoer. In fact, he is more into “worldly” things (I’ll leave you to interpret the meaning of that yourself). Another person mentioned, Benedict Andsunal, is an acquaintance.

This is a picture of him receiving First Holy Communion, December 1980. I can’t remember seeing him ever entering a church since then.

Click here to read the article

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