I drafted this on 28th January, but somehow it escaped being published. Still, it’s better late than never…

Anugerah Juara Lagu is probably the most prestigious and most watched event in Malaysia’s
entertainment scene - highest number of eyeballs. Winners are surely superstars, at least in the country. It’s probably a surer ticket to superstardom than winning Akademi Fantasia, that wildly popular reality show, but which seems to have passed its peak. On that note, it was probably for the best that Rich was booted out of AF4 in the 3rd week. It was just nice - he had that first bit of exposure. Had he gone further, his reputation as a “underground” artiste could’ve suffered.

For the first time in its 21-year history, AJL was won by a Sabahan group. Previous winners of this included giants like Francesca Peter’s “Sekadar Di Pinggiran” (1986) and Search’s “Isabella” (1989).

Perhaps sweeter is the fact that they defeated the nation’s undisputed number one vocalist, Siti Nurhaliza.

Sabahans, in particular Kadazandusuns, have always been known to have a good ear for music. At first, it was more to do with singing. In 2005, Asmin Mudin a.k.a Umbut won AJL, albeit a lesser role, as lyricist for “Gemilang.” With this achievement, that reputation is cemented.

Regarding their performance that night, a good live performance is something that is not exactly the same as the studio version, but still familiar-sounding enough to get the audience get into it. That night, IMHO Estranged did not get it quite right; it’s not terrible, but it could’ve been better.

It was a surprise win.

In his acceptance speech, Rich chose the perfect first phrase: Aramai Ti. In a single stroke, he achieved two things. First, he endeared himself to every true Sabahan. He achieved what Felix did in mid-2005 while at AF3: making his father’s day speech in Kadazandusun. Second,
suddenly the whole of Malaysia is buzzing with that phrase - its popularity has peaked - it has entered into the national (well, at least the national entertainment circle) psyche. Suddenly, EVERY Malaysian knows that phrase so popular among Sabahans.

The sky’s the limit for Estranged now, provided they exploit this moment fully.

Click here to see their live performance that night

Canada has always been a bit of a mystery nation, at least to me, not least because of its close proximity of its more illustrious neighbour, the United States of America. Most, if not all of us have learnt at least a little bit about it during our Geography lessons at secondary school. Perhaps I speak don’t speak for all of us, but I think we “forced” ourselves to learn about Canada then just to get that A grade. Yes, I got an A in Geography, and promptly forgot everything about Canada after taking the paper.

I read a little bit about Canadian history just now, and still I can’t get the big picture. About tourism in Canada, I can’t remember seeing any marketing moves on it in this country. Most of its visitors come from its neighbour, the USA, so probably that explains it - it makes better sense to concentrate their efforts on the world’s biggest economy.

Digging a little bit, apparently tourism’s importance to Canadian economy is increasing, but it’s not one of its very top priorities. Having said that, other countries, even as far as China now have sent more visitors than ever before to it, making flights to Canada from the Far East a viable option.

Having said all the above, Canada surely has very interesting places to visit. The very fact that it’s the world’s second largest countries already concocts this idea. And being a history buff, the first Canadaian city I’d visit would surely be Quebec - dubbed the most charming city in North America. This world heritage site has beautifully preserved buildings hundreds of years old. Since it is the only walled, fortified city north of Mexico, it’s a must visit place.

On another matter, I would be able to finally wear my medical id here.

UPDATE 12 Feb 2008: Daily Express’ newsreport on 10th Feb about the car I mentioned at the bottom of this post.

Click the following thumbnail for the full size:

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Here are some pictures I took of the first day of CNY:

We traditionally spend the first day of CNY at my mother-in-law’s sister’s house. This year they had 10 lions:

As usual the lions’ biggest fans are the kids:

On the way to the house, one of the lion’s steps got caught in a tree branch, hence they had to cut short the routine:

Click here to see more pics

I was at Mimpian Jadi Golf and Beach Resort for work on 6-7th August 2007.

Probably it’s the only resort in Sabah with Moai-like statues. Three of them, no less. I think they’re at least 6′ tall.

But what really struck me was the presence of curious wooden structures inside the resort building, including some which looked like they’d developed naturally, taken straight out of a jungle, polished up, and mounted for display.

The biggest was located at the back. It was at least 7′ tall. Apart from a hand-like figure pointing to the sky I have no idea what it’s supposed to represent:

Then right next to the main entrance there’s what looked like a horse. It was at least 7′ long and 4′ tall.

Displayed near the lobby area wall is a much smaller “sculpture”, but no less curious. Does it look like fish to you?

Read the rest of this entry »

Lilian Suzette Gibbs (10th September 1870 - 30th January 1925), an English botanist was the one. She’s definitely one of the most adventurous women of her time.

She organised botanical expeditions to far-flung places. These days it might be easy, but during the early days of the 20th century, they are no mean feats.

Graduating from the Royal College of Science, her trips included:
- 1905: Southern Rhodesia (now known as Zimbabwe);
- 1907: Fiji and New Zealand, Queensland and Tasmania

In February 1910, she became the first woman to reach the top of Mount Kinabalu. She was 40 years old at that time. Supremely fit, hence, I think it’s safe to say that she’s not the kind of woman who needs a Houston tummy tuck.

She took more than 1,000 botanical specimens, many new to science, from that trip and donated them to the British Museum.

A bamboo species, bambusa gibbsiae (Miss Gibbs’s bamboo) was named for her.

After Borneo, she made a botanical trip to Iceland in 1912. The next year, she was off to the East Indies and Dutch New Guinea.

In 1921, she had to abandon an expedition to South America due to her sudden health problems. Apparently, she spent the remainder of her life as an invalid. She died in Santa Cruz, Tenerife, in January 1925.

From the National History Museum:

Various obituary-writers praised Miss Gibbs’ considerable personality, her ability to organise journeys of exploration, her ability to play the role of a delightful hostess, her dogged determination and good physique, and her role as “a keen upholder of the rights of her sex.” She was a serious and dedicated scientist, but one suspects that a major attraction of her chosen field was that it enabled her to escape from the confines within which respectable Englishwomen were expected to live.

Source
Natural History Museum, UK

UPDATE 19th February 2008:

As requested by the apparent owner of the car, I have removed all references to the plate number.

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Update on my sighting of a Ferrari F430 with Sabahan number plate on 25th January.

I saw it again in Lido on the morning of 2nd February. Driver looks to be thirtysomething, average-looking Chinese male with glasses.

A little bird informed that:

The Ferrari above belongs to the son of one Datuk Pang of Sandakan. Datuk Pang was the owner of Terus Hidup Plantation, a palm oil plantation in Kinabatangan, which he has sold for between RM80 and RM100 million.

But a mere Ferrari pales in comparison with a private jet costing RM18-20 million, belonging to Datuk Andrew Lim (Sandakan too). Of course, he too owns at least one supercar (either a Lamborghini or a Ferrari).

There’s a timber boss in Tawau who owns a Lamborghini

There are at least 3 Lamborghinis and 5 Ferraris in Sabah, with Sabahan number plates. The owners include Datuk Andrew Lim, his brother Datuk Peter Lim and their business associate Michael Chia. All are from Sandakan and involved in the timber business.

Hmm… with even its steering rack costing a fortune, I doubt whether it will ever be practical getting a Ferrari for oneself.

The following has been making the rounds via email forwards.

There are several levels of funniness - this one is at the highest level - I was laughing until I cried. However, you’d need to be very familiar with how Sabahans in general speak Bahasa Malaysia.

This might never win Anugerah Juara Lagu, let alone a Grammy for Song of The Year, but it will surely get my vote as the funniest broken-hearted song ever, at least here in Sabah.

Apparently made by Baha Tungau. Enjoy

Lyrics (I was chuckling even as I write this):

di mana kau sikarang ini
saya cari cari kau inda saya nampak
di mana suda kau balik
kau balik kampung kau mangkali

ada yg dulu saya jumpa kau
di sana tamu
tapi kau tidak tingu saya kau jalan nopo turus

kenapa kau begitu
kenapa kau tidak suka sudah sama saya

dulu-dulu kita bersisinta di bawah kulung
kita bilang i love you i love you
kau pernah cakap lagi
kau bilang saya mau yang kau mau kawin

mana sudah yang kau janji janji dulu
betulkah apa yang kau cakap itu ataupun kau kasi main saja saya
betulkah kalau betul-betul marilah kita jumpa
jangan kau kasi main-main saya, sakit bah itu kana kasi main-main
jangan lah bah kau buat begitu, sayang

sikarang saya tinggal satu urang di sini
saya tunggu tunggu kau punya surat, SMS pun tidak juga
kenapa kau buat begitu
sampai hati betul kau sama saya
kenapa kau buat begitu
sampai hati kau buat begini sama saya

UPDATE 3rd Feb 2008:

Thanks to all of you who gave suggestions.

Personally, I was thinking of the following: Pageant Only Had 3 Contestants.

And no, I was not thinking that one of them was in need of natural acne treatments.

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What caption best describes the following picture? Only politically correct captions are allowed. A hefty dose of wit recommended.