RIP Davy Jones (1945 – 29 Feb 2012), was a member of The Monkees, sang lead vocals on Daydream Believer (1967), who many might associate with a KFC “Theme Song”. At their peak, The Monkees rivaled The Beatles in terms of ability to cause mass hysteria. Possibly the most mismatched opening act-main act concert happened in July 1967 when Jimi Hendrix opened for them.

Some people say hearing this song immediately makes them feel hungry – for that alone he deserves a trophy from KFC.

Free As A Bird was originally composed and recorded in 1977 as a home demo by John Lennon. In 1995 a studio version of the recording, with contributions from Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, was released as a single by The Beatles, the first new Beatles single since they broke up in 1970.

John Lennon – Free As A Bird (Original, 1977)

Read the rest of this entry »

Dato’ Sudirman Haji Arshad is probably the only Malaysian singer that approaches P Ramlee’s legendary status. He was variously dubbed “Singing Lawyer” and “Elvis of Malaysia.”

At his peak, he was like Employee Pricing Promotions: he got top billing every time, guaranteed: everybody wanted to see him perform.

The diminutive 4′ 9″ local legend passed away exactly 20 years ago, on 22nd February 1992 at the age of 37.

My favourite songs of his:

1978: Jali Jali, Kasih, Kerana Mata, Maya

Regarding Kasih, I remember us modifying the line “ku datang dengan harapan membawa [unprintable]“. Also sung by another legend, Broery Marantika. Songwriter: Ahmad Nawab.

1979: Gerimis di lautan, Mat Disko

1980: Hidup Sederhana (Basikal Tua), Hoore Hoore, Jamilah (Untuk Jururawat), Aku Penganggur, Anak Gembala

1981: Pulang dari kilang, Chow Kit Road Chow Kit Road

1984: Balik Kampung

1986: Apa Khabar Orang Kampung, Kesian Dia, Milik Siapakah Gadis Ini, Merisik khabar

Delifrance Sandwich World Cup claims to be the premier sandwich-making competition of the world.

In its latest edition on Valentine’s Day 2012 held at the Paris School of Bakery and Pastry in France, the winner is Malaysian chef Darren Chin, 32, a graduate of Le Cordon Blue Paris culinary school.

His entry was a pork sandwich with herbs and spices and decorated with vegetables. It was served in a bamboo box and accompanied by a small julienne salad and tonka vinaigrette.

Among the herbs & spices: kunyit (turmeric). That one ingredient could’ve made all the difference.

Darren defeated 8 others in the finals.

Marks were given by an “international panel of culinary experts” based on:

- flavour association
- speed of preparation
- ease of assembly and consumption
- nutritional and cost price

Source:
The Star, 21 Feb 2012
Cordon Bleu website

One of the local legends, in the 1970s mentioned in the same breath as DJ Dave, Hail Amir & Uji Rashid. IMHO, this is his greatest ever song which I heard countless times during my primary school years.

The following is a live version of his most famous song, apparently done in November 2011:

Updated 4 Mar 2012

Another returned yesterday, and brought this:

————————-
20 February 2012

A relative just returned from a trip to the Philippines, and brought back something I’ve never tried before:

Different, took some time to get used to it.

Lucky Me!

Here’s a partial list of audio which I found so entertaining that they have, at one time or another, become my ringtone, or played in the car for days at a time.

“Entertaining” here usually means they are either world-class good, or terribly bad. Middle-of-the-road stuff are usually not so interesting.

Differences between this and the usual stuff include them being unintentionally funny and/or done by relatively unknown person(s).

Many of these I first heard or seen from another phone or emailed, but invariably they’d make their way to youtube.

MSG – Pokok Klapak Remix (2007): OA Marsha AF3

Read the rest of this entry »

Asian Zone Qualifying Tournament

Before the qualifiers there were fears that Malaysia might not even make it to the finals in May. You’d have to make the semis in order to qualify. In early February a BAM spokesperson was even quoted to have said that qualifying is not as important as the Olympics in July.

Seems very far from the glory days of 1992: the moment Cheah Soon Kit/Soo Beng Kiang won it for Malaysia after a 25 year wait

Malaysia have failed to qualify for the finals twice: in 1973 and 1979. The 1979 match in Kuala Lumpur went 5-4 to India, with Prakash Padukone and Syed Modi winning 2 matches each, the winning point won by Sanjay Sharma/Shri Pradeep Gandhe.

14 Feb 2012: Malaysia 3-2 Hong Kong, this result did not bring any cheers at all. In the past, we would’ve easily swatted them aside 5-0. This time our shortcomings in the singles department were embarrassingly exposed.

- Lee Chong Wei beat Wong Wing Ki 21-18, 22-20
- Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong beat Lo Lok Kei/Leong Chun Yiu 21-9, 21-14
- Mohd Hafiz Hashim lost to Hu Yun 20-22, 18-21; Hu is turning into his bogeyman; Hafiz made many unforced errors + poor judgement
- Lim Kim Wah/Goh V Shem beat Wong Wai Hong/Lee Chun Wei 21-14, 21-16
- Liew Daren lost to Chan Yan Kit 21-17, 16-21, 19-21

15 Feb 2012: Malaysia 3-2 South Korea (2nd seed), becoming champions, hence made the quarterfinals. This perfectly showcased the common perception that Malaysia’s men always manage to rise to the occasion in team events.

- Lee Chong Wei beat Lee Hyun-il 21-13, 21-15
- Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong beat Ko Sung-hyun/Yoo Yong-sung 21-14, 21-19 in 39 minutes, their first win in 7 matches against their bogeymen. This was the crunch match and kudos to KKK/TBH; they delivered when it mattered most.
- Mohd Hafiz Hashim lost to Shon Wan-ho 22-24, 16-21
- Lim Khim Wah/Goh V Shem beat Lee Yong-dae/Shin Baek-cheol 18-21, 21-19, 21-11, another upset.
- Mohd Arif Abdul Latif lost to Hong Ji-hoon 17-21, 15-21

16 Feb 2012: Quarterfinals: Malaysia 3-0 India. Taking no chances, we fielded our strongest lineup. Winning this match confirmed that we’re going to China in May.

- Lee Chong Wei beat Ajay Jayaram 21-12, 17-21, 21-8
- Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong beat Rupesh Kumar-Sanave Thomas 21-14, 23-21
- Mohd Hafiz Hashim beat P. Kashyap 21-17, 18-21, 21-11

Semifinals: Malaysia 0-3 Japan, LCW & KKK/TBH rested
3rd place playoff: Malaysia 2-3 Indonesia

Finals:

Malaysia finished second behind Denmark in the group stage. LCW retired against Peter Gade, then the Danes won the first doubles, giving them a 2-0 lead. Then somehow Daren Liew won, giving us some hope. The Danes won the 2nd doubles.

In the quarters, Malaysia lost 0-3 to eventual champions China. Lin Dan toyed with Daren Liew, giving him less than 10 points in the 2nd and 3rd sets. KKK/TBH simply couldn’t handle the great Cai Yun & Fu Haifeng, while the most Hafiz got from Chen Long was 11 points.

In fact, China swatted aside everybody 3-0 all the way to the trophy. They are truly invincible now.

Usually scammers will take your money and run, but this one had the cheek to send you something. Why did they even bother to send those things?

On 3rd January 2012, Faizal Hussin, 41 purchased an iPhone 4S from online merchant Jay One Communications and Services, a company registered in Muar, Johor.

It was advertised for RM1,750 which was lower than the usual price of RM2,400, so he thought he got himself a good deal. He called the mobile phone number listed for enquiries, and banked in the amount to a bank account under the name of Yow Wei Xian.

He received a package on 5th January, and upon opening it, found it contained a toy phone, a used paintbrush and a Chinese novel. He went to the registered address and found it to be a house rented out to a few Malay guys.

He has since brought up the matter with the Consumer Claims Tribunal, which advised him to also lodge a police report. The company reps didn’t attend the hearing.

In another case, on 6th December 2011, Mohd Haizrul Hisham Mohd Hashim, 30 purchased 3 smartphones from the same company.

He paid RM3,250 for them, banked into the account of one Lim Than Kim.

Alas, all the package contained was a stone mortar (lesung batu).

Source
Harian Metro
New Straits Times

I first came across her blog sometime in 2011 with her bluntly honest take on Kota Kinabalu. Perhaps that time nobody took notice, but this time could be different.

Hong Yi, 26 is a Sabahan who’s working as an architect for an Australian company in Shanghai.

On 10th January 2012, she uploaded to youtube a time-lapse video of her painting basketball superstar Yao Ming onto a canvas using only a basketball and red paint.

Then she casually mentioned it on her Facebook page the next day.

After that, the viral power of the internet took over, earning her attention from the likes of Yahoo!, NBC, Huffington Post and Gizmodo.

Apparently first mentioned at Gizmodo on 24th January: that’s when the view numbers really picked up, the site has since generated more than 50,000 views.

3 weeks later, it now has more than 443,000 views, with the following milestones:

01/26/12 First embedded on – tabonito.pt 26,396
01/25/12 First embedded on – cnn.com 13,752
01/25/12 First embedded on – blic.rs 11,739
01/25/12 First embedded on – 10minutesaperdre.fr 7,860
01/24/12 First embedded on – gizmodo.com 37,629
01/24/12 First embedded on – thedailywh.at 12,071
01/11/12 First view from a mobile device 41,564
01/11/12 First embedded on – facebook.com 24,804
01/11/12 First referral from – facebook.com 10,206

She could be the first Sabahan to be a true worldwide internet celebrity.

Source