Spotted at The Gardens at Mid Valley City, Kuala Lumpur, a high-end shopping centre (read: everything is expensive there, hardly any people).

At first glance, there seems to be 2 types of urinal in the men’s public toilet:

But looking closer, the ones on the right are not urinals at all:

Could’ve been easily mistaken for one though, don’t you think?

Therefore, I think these types of sinks should never be installed at places where one would partake of the amber liquid…

Many bloggers have mentioned the second Kota Kinabalu Jazz Festival which was held on the 21st of June 2008 at 1Borneo, that “Largest Lifestyle Hypermall” in Borneo, the 3rd largest island in the world.

It was a great event, and amongst others, the Aseana Percussion Unit showed how to please the crowd. First, get down from the stage and play your instrument among them:

Then take it one step further: give the audience members your instruments, get them up on stage and let them play, in essence let them be temporary bandmembers:

Surefire crowd-winning tactic.

Echoing what others have said, one could’ve seen the concert without even paying anything, and the view from the first floor’s even better than the RM50 seats. Heck, freeloaders had a better view of some of the performers than those in the most expensive seats!

So, for the third festival, you know what to do…

Anyway, on the same level as the concert is surely Kota Kinabalu’s most expensive public toilet, the so-called Platinum Club VIP Toilet, where you had to pay RM1 to enter.

Sure enough, there are aromatics and LCD screens inside, and sinks in every room:

One complaint: it ran out of toilet paper…

Grace Point, or perhaps more popularly known as Double Six, is an open air eatery in Kota Kinabalu with a difference, which some people have described as “a high-end hawker centre.” It’s also located a stone’s throw away from the Double Six memorial.

There are many varieties of food to try, and the place is very clean and parking is free as at the time of writing. There’s a playground for the kids too.

This eatery also probably has the city’s most high-end free-to-enter washroom, boasting undisputably the city’s most interesting urinal:

Yes, it’s the infamous urinal with a garden, and that’s right, you can see through from the other side of the glass, it’s not one-way

A common sight in Western countries perhaps, but in conservative Malaysia?

This urinal has taken at least one person aback.

Do the names Max Martin or Jorgen Elofsson ring any bells to you? If you want to make it big in music, but away from the limelight, learn from these people. They are truly reference standards in pop songwriting today. And perhaps by sheer coincidence, they are all Swedish.

Martin Karl “Max Martin” Sandberg (above), 37 wrote, or co-wrote, the following worldwide smash hits:
- Britney Spears - …Baby One More Time
- Backstreet Boys - Shape of My Heart
- “Oops!… I Did It Again” by Britney Spears
- Backstreet Boys - I Want It That Way
- Bon Jovi - It’s My Life
- Backstreet Boys - Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely
- Backstreet Boys - Quit playing games with my heart
- Backstreet Boys - As long as you love me [one of their signature songs and to me the undisputed pop song of the year in 1997]

Click here to read more

As reported in The Star on 19th June 2008:

Sex VCD exposes wife’s lesbian affair

A HUSBAND suspected his wife was having an affair with another man. He was wrong. To his shock, he discovered a VCD with explicit scenes of his wife having sex with a woman.

Harian Metro reported that the woman was the wife’s office colleague and the affair had been going on for the past few months.

The paper said the man grew suspicious when his wife came home from work with love bites on her body. He thought she might be fooling around with a male colleague.

He confronted his wife, who denied having an affair with any man.

A whole new light was thrown on the affair when the husband found the hidden VCD and discovered that his rival was a woman.

Source

In my opinion, he’s the best ever Kadazandusun singer. Better than even the legendary John Gaisah. Of all the local artistes, he’s the one of whom I have purchased the most original albums.

I first heard him back in 1992 when absolutely everybody was singing his biggest hit, and to me still is the greatest song ever written in the Kadazandusun language, “Kada Tilombuso Sinduolnu.” Unsurprisingly, his first album is still his best-selling ever.

I first saw and heard him sing live onstage during the 1994 Kota Kinabalu Unduk Ngadaus at the Community Hall. He was singing, appropriately the song “Unduk Ngadau” from his 2nd album then as he led the participants to the stage.

For once, I was entranced more by the singing than the participants! In fact, I thought that that performance was better than the studio version of the song in the album.

I have heard him sing various times since then. But the biggest thrills were when he sang “Kada Tilombuso Sinduolnu” live during a wedding reception, many years after I last heard it, when the hosts specially requested for it. Then there was that other occasion when I did not even realise that he was sitting in front of me at another wedding reception at Dewan Tun Fuad. The hosts called out for Evaristus, and there he was standing up and making his way to the stage. He sang the classic but overplayed “The Wedding.” In most cases I would’ve turned off, but I must say what I heard was the best rendition of that song since Julie Rogers’ original way back in 1965! Needless to say, when Evaristus returned to his seat, I shook his hand and profusely congratulated him.

Then just now I saw an article done by Valentine Sianggal Jr on my favourite Sabahan singer at kadusmusic.com, which was a great article on his experiences all these years.

I summarise:

He was born 1966 (now 42) at Kg Kituntul, Tambunan.

He was champion of Bintang Kaamatan 1991 (now known as Sugandoi Kaamatan). In fact he also competed in 1990 but did not get any placing.

He has produced 4 solo albums and a karaoke album:
- 1992: Kada Tilombuso Sinduolnu: sold very well, his best-seller
- 1994: Ika Tinongkiadan Ku;
- 1996: Rombituon;
- 2000: Sondukut
- 2006: Evaristus Gungkit Top 10 (Karaoke versions of his most popular songs)

He made it to the last 8 of Bintang RTM 1992.

In 1995, he won the Sabah State Civil Service singing competition.

He’s married to Hilda George Mool and has 4 kids.

When he first started out, he thought he could go professional. His experiences told him otherwise: being a singer in the Kadazandusun language does not provide enough income to justify doing it full time. Being popular does not mean a high income level. Hence, singing has been relegated to just a hobby, providing income on the side.

His first album, “Kada Tilombuso Sinduolnu” sold very well. He didn’t have to rely on royalties from the recording company because he marketed the album via his own label. He also paid for the making of that album with his own money. Demand from music shops were also good at that time. Unfortunately things went downhill for the next albums.

The sales of his subsequent albums generated just enough income to pay for itself in order to produce the next album.

This is a real eye opener and a very honest advice.

One saving grace is the fact that he’s still being invited to perform during functions, most notably by RTM Sabah and the Sabah Cultural Board.

His advice to aspiring artistes: explore all avenues to show off your talent. Be well prepared, including attending vocal classes. Do not rely on just luck.

Of all the supposedly 1,000 crocodiles at Tuaran Crocodile Farm, this one fascinates me the most:

According to the label on the wall:

Name: Bujang Sukau
Age: 70 years
Length: 19 feet
Weight: 3,000 pounds
Profile: Killed a man in Kinabatangan River in 2006 & bit off the leg of a man in February 2007.

Here’s another view of that guy:

Now I am having nightmares of accidentally falling into that pit.

These handbags do not even carry world-famous brands like Chanel, Louis Vuitton or the like, yet they carry eye-popping pricetags. And they are located not in KLCC, Mid Valley or even Kota Kinabalu, but rather the small town of Tuaran.

All the handbags cost at least RM4,000, including this one which cost a whopping RM30,888:

Personally speaking, even if I had the money, it does not look very appealing.

I’d much rather prefer this green one:

Yes, of course I’m talking about the handbags and other accessories made of crocodile skin at Tuaran Crocodile Farm.

Everthing made of crocodiles inside that shop (and the shop next to it) is freaking expensive, even this one foot long stuffed croc baby cost RM150:

The cashier said they were made in Singapore. I should’ve asked another question: how many people have bought things from here so far?

I did my A-Levels at Felsted School, a private school in England back in the 80s. And no, I didn’t have a privileged upbringing, I was just an ordinary kampung boy who somehow ended up there (will talk about that in another post).

In the same school, a year my senior was a certain Sheila Nicholls.

In May 1989 Nicholls, then 19, was suddenly a hot topic at the school due to her exploit: performed cartwheels while streaking at an England versus Australia cricket match at arguably the world’s top cricket pitch, Lord’s Ground in London. Yes, she was totally naked then live on TV.Pashmina shawls were not on her, definitely.

I can still remember the front page of The Sun: HOWZAT, with Nicholls and a smiling Sir Ian Botham, one of cricket’s greatest ever players, in the same frame. The video footage was apparently then included in the video Streaker, narrated by George Best.

The Sun is the UK’s top tabloid newspaper, the largest English-language daily newspaper by circulation, in fact it has the highest circulation of any daily English-language newspaper in the world, with millions of copies being sold daily, so you can imagine her fame in our male-dominated school then.

Back then, I could see how skilled and how determined the tabloid pros dig for dirt. Somehow they romantically linked her to one of our science teachers. It was quite unreal to see his name being mentioned in the paper. If I remember correctly, he disappeared for a while, presumably to let things cool down before returning to the school to teach. Needless to say, usually rowdy classes went very quiet when he first made his reappearance.

Later in the year, against her family’s wishes, Nicholls went to the US and began performing with her band, Sheila Nicholls and the Splendid Frock, and achieved moderate success.

Her song “Fallen For You” was included in the 2000 Hollywood flick High Fidelity which starred amongst others, Catherine Zeta-Jones, John Cusack, Jack Black and Tim Robbins. In promoting her album Brief Strop which contained that song, she toured extensively, and even had several gigs alongside k.d. lang.

Now based in LA, in 2002, she released her second album, Wake. The following video is of that album’s first single, “Faith.” It made the charts.

Click here to see the video

There was a songwriting competition by MAESTRO which ended recently. Those selected will get the exposure afforded by Akademi Fantasia (AF) 6 finalists.

Here are two of our submissions.

All vocals, melody, arrangement, lyrics done by the respective composers.

By Ezbon a.k.a. Golib: “Kembalikan Senyum”

[audio:Golib - kembalikan senyum.mp3]

By Mackley a.k.a Bodidi: “Kepalsuan Hidup”

[audio:Bodidi - kepalsuan hidup.mp3]

Everything recorded and done in a home studio by Ezbon, an entirely self-taught musician and home recording expert:

He’s also proficient in jingle-making and songwriting.

More details, or if you want engage his expertise, please do leave a note.

Source