Anugerah Bintang Popular Berita Harian 2007

I have been watching a lot of TV this weekend. Something I don't often do. I missed the Akademi Fantasia concert #2 on Saturday night as I had to attend my cousin Kak Fadzilah's daughter's engagement. No problem - caught the repeat this morning. Also watched quite a bit of Astro - Asian Food Channel, AXN, Discovery Travel & Living. Hmmmm..must remember to call Astro Customer Service to subscribe to Discovery Real Time & BBC Entertainment.

Anyway, at 9pm caught this awards show. This awards apparently is totally based on public votes. No professional panel.

The theme was Batik Glam - or something to that effect- which resulted in some rather garish and gaudy outfits being worn by hosts, presenters and artists. Sigh....

The show hosts - Raja Azura & Ogy Ahmad Daud were funny but a bit over-the-top for my liking. Anyway, the crowd seemed to lap it up hook, line & sinker! Anyway, I'm sure I heard Ogy introducing Datuk Yusni Hamid as Datuk Yusni Jaafar! ( maybe I heard wrongly). Some of the presenters were quite funny too. I especially liked the presenters for the best nasyid artist category, the boys from CUCI (and also from Baik Punya Cilok)- Afdlin Shauki, Hans Isaac, AC Mizal & Awie. Real funny!

The opening act by our singing Dato' - Siti Nurhaliza was quite good! She sang the theme song to Spa-Q. Nice performances by Anuar Zain (Ketulusan Hati), Bob (Redha) & Atilia (I don't recognise the song). Dato' Jalaludin Hassan also sang Antonio Banderas' Beautiful Maria - not too shabby, Dato'! There was also a performance of that famous Malay rock ballad, Kepadamu Kekasih by Hattan, Awie, Ramli Sarip, Ella & Amy Search - this was excellent. Mawi & Heliza also performed their hit Doa Dalam Lagu with Mawi wearing this ridiculous glittery suit and Heliza wearing this funny frilly outfit with this out-of-this-world headgear. Ning Baizura was the closing act singing this English techno-dance number, Age of Pollution.

All in all, I enjoyed the jokes from the presenters/hosts and the musical performances rather than the awards itself. Let's face it, the results were nothing unexpected.

Anyways, here are the results!

Pengacara TV Lelaki Popular (Most Popular Male TV Host)

Aznil Nawawi

Pengacara TV Wanita Popular (Most Popular Female TV Host)

Fara Fauzana

Penyampai Radio Lelaki Popular (Most Popular Male Radio Presenter)

Faizal Ismail (Hot FM)

Penyampai Radio Wanita Popular (Most Popular Female Radio Presenter)

Fara Fauzana (Hot FM)

Artis Komedi Lelaki Popular (Most Popular Male Comedy Artist)

Saiful Apek

Artis Komedi Wanita Popular (Most Popular Female Comedy Artist)

Sheila Rusly

Artis Baru Lelaki Popular (Most Popular Male New Artist)

Dafi

Artis Baru Wanita Popular (Most Popular Female New Artist)

Mila

Penyanyi Nasyid Popular (Most Popular Nasyid)

Rabbani

Penyanyi Lelaki Popular (Most Popular Male Singer)

Mawi

Penyanyi Wanita Popular (Most Popular Female Singer)

Dato' Siti Nurhaliza

Artis Berkumpulan / Duo Popular (Most Popular Group/Duo)

Sofaz

Pelakon Filem Lelaki Popular (Most Popular Film Actor)

Rusdi Ramli

Pelakon Filem Wanita Popular (Most Popular Film Actress)

Fasha Sandha

Pelakon TV Lelaki Popular (Most Popular TV Actor)

Rosyam Nor

Pelakon TV Wanita Popular (Most Popular TV Actress)

Dynaz

Anugerah Sepanjang Hayat (Lifetime Achievement Award)

M Nasir

And...the big kahuna award of the night

ANUGERAH BINTANG PALING POPULAR 2007 (Most Popular Artist 2007)

MAWI! (Bleahhh!)

Of course, the camera panned and focussed on Mawi's current beau, Ikin who was wearing a tudung!

That's all, folks!

Ciao!

Amir Fuad.

Akademi Fantasia 6- Concert #2

I was expecting a better concert this time round after last week's generally lacklustre. So, was I happy with this concert? Yes & no.

Yes - i. because AC Mizal handled the show much better. He seemed to be getting the hang of things this time round.
ii. because some of the students did better - Saida, Faizal, Rina, Stacy.
iii. Adlin Aman Ramlie added the much needed comic relief and witty remarks that livened up the show a bit.
iv. Ning Baizura was a bit more frank this time round.
v. The presence of dancers made the performances easier to watch.

No - i. Most of the students either didn't improve or became worse e.g. Ika bombed with Dina's Malu Tapi Mahu.
ii. I wonder why the Menuju Puncak dance was done "lip-sync" style. Took the oomph factor from the dance but I suppose the students could concentrate on the choreography better.
iii. The aura surrounding the concert is still not up to the level I was expecting...sigh!

Toi was boring...zzz. Nuff said.

Aliff was his usual boring self. The lively song sounded sedate with him singing it.

Stanley, the "tenor" of the lot surprisingly did not do justice to Imran Ajmain's Sudah Tu Sudah.

Rina, did a fairly good job of Misha Omar's Ku Seru - although one would probably expect more from a seasoned club performer. Still, she showed that she can handle a ballad just as well as she can belt out a rock number.

Lufya's dangdut number is forgettable and if she continues like this she'll be out soon.

Ika was terrible. She couldn't handle a simple ballad like Kesetiaan and yet they gave her a complex song like Dina's Malu Tapi Mahu. This song requires a voice with a wide range, unless of course, they gave her this song knowing she will bomb it in order that she will be booted out soonest.

I like Saida's voice and this time round she showed a different side to her. She just needs to concentrate a little more so her full potential is brought out.

Stacy did a good job of Rela although her one attempt at falsetto was a bit weak. She clearly has the best female voice in this competition and hopefully will be a finalist.

Naim's performance of Aspalela was not good. He stuck to the same style as Saiful Apek. I expected more as he is a singer first, unlike Saiful Apek who is a comedian first. He may not last long if he continues this trend.

Nadia didn't do as well as last week. Her diction sounded strange to me - "...Now its raining more than evahhhh, tols you i'd be here forevahhhh..". What the &%#@ was that? Maybe you should stick to singing in Malay, Nadia! Still, I feel she is a potential finalist.

Faizal improved - much less pitchy than last week, but I really don't like the nasal singing style of his. Fair performance fo a rock number.

Nubhan has a nice "serak" tone, very Indonesian-type of sound. I like his voice but he needs to put forward more than just the serak tone. He needs to give more feel in the songs he performs. i hope he goes to the final.

Riz was so-so. He may have done better if he didn't need to dance so much. But, he is one of my favourites to be a finalist.

AC Mizal handled the show much better although I didn't quite like some of his jokes. Nevertheless, I liked the "Rela" gag and also how he handled Saida's one minute with her family. He appeared more confident and less intimidated by student's or "pengkritik"'s comments this time round. He's no Aznil but I'm sure he'll be OK.

Ika's elimination was expected. I felt she deserved to go last week actually.

My current top 5 (In no particular order)
1. Stacy
2. Nubhan
3. Rina
4. Riz
5. Stanley

OK That's all! Ciao!

Amir Fuad.

I've Been Tagged!

Yes, I have been tagged by quachee(quachee.blogspot.com)!

Thanks, quachee. This is my first time being tagged. I will try my best!

Here goes.......


1. What's your favorite book at the present time?
- The Life of Pi by Yann Martel

2. Given the chance, what special ability/power would you like to have?
-Teleportation- you know, like the guys in the movie Jumper! It would certainly be cool to have breakfast in Kuala Lumpur, lunch in London(Fish & Chips) dinner in Italy (mmmm appetiser: mushroom brushchetta, main course: Grilled Salmon in Cheese Onion sauce like I once had in Genoa, Italy and for the dessert: Italian pancake with gelato).
I also would like to teleport myself to Kashmir, Turkey, New Zealand, Rocky Mountains, the great Wall of China, Dubai's the Palms, Rome's Colloseum, Ayer's Rock in Australia, etc, etc!

3. What's your favorite color? Why?
- Blue. Why - I donno!

4. Where is the place you want to go the most?
- the places where i would teleport myself to as listed above - a bonus if I can take my wife and kids along!

5. If you have one dream to come true, what would it be?
-I am not bragging but at this stage in my life, most of my dreams has come true.. Oh yes, there IS one- to have a muscular and fit chick-magnet body like say.... Usher? Hahahaha....

6. Do you believe in seeing a rainbow after the rain?
-No.

7. Do you think friends are important?
-Very!

8. If you win $1 million, what would you do?
-Pay up all my debts, put in for my children's education and provident fund. Invest in something/things that can give handsome monthly returns for my wife & I, give some to deserving charities, buy good property and some to take my family ?& I for a nice holiday.


9. If you meet someone that you love, would you confess to him/her?
-Yes

10. List out 3 good points of the person who tagged you.
-Malaysian, an entrepreneur, has an interest in batik.


11. Which type of person do you hate the most?
- Dishonest people.

12. (My personal question)How do you feel about growing old?
-I am OK with it.

13. If you have fault, would you rather the people around you point out to you or would you rather they keep quiet?
-Point it out. Maybe discreetly.

14. What do you think is the most important thing in your life?
- Happiness, of course!

15. Are you a shopaholic or not?
-No.

16. What is the one thing you like about your country?
-We are very much free from earthquakes!

17. If you have a chance, which part of your character you would like to change?
-My tendency to procrastinate.

18. Is there anything that you have done which you regret?
-No.

19. What makes you different?
-The ability to keep cool. (Seriously, a lot of people tell me this!).

20. Do you feel good to be friend with the person who tagged you?
-Yes!


I'll decide whether I will tag other people or not later. Kinda late and feeling very sleepy.
Gotta go!

Ciao!
Amir Fuad.

Department Morning Tea celebrating my promotion!

As you can see by the invite put up on the department notice boards, the makan was organised by three people. Datin Ouzrei & I gave the makan to celebrate our recent promotion to Associate Professor while Linda gave it as a farewell do. Starting 1st April this year, Linda, our department's Administrative Officer will be transferred to the Corporate Affairs division of the University of Malaya Medical Centre.

The department ladies patiently waiting for the guest of honour, the head of department to come from her busy interventional radiology posting.

The guys of the department also patiently waiting while their growling stomachs provided some cool background music to the atmosphere. Mmmmmm....sounds like Kenny G!

The food was ordered from Emima Cafe, the cafe located at the 3rd floor of the Medical Faculty, right next to Lecture Hall 2. These are potato currypuffs, one the items on the menu.

Fried Meehoon with chilli. Another item on the menu which I forgot to take a picture of is the kuih cara manis.

Jam, Herwan & Tinie chatting while waiting for Lisa, the head of department to come and start the ball rolling.

Senior Radiographers Hanizan & Chanthriga and our department engineer, Haliza pose for the camera trying not to let their hunger show on their faces.

The head of department, Lisa finally arrives! Suddenly all stomach-growling activities respectfully halt. She gives a short introduction and calls on each one of us to give a speech. I start off mumbling something about kerjasama, wawasan, cemerlang, gemilang, terbilang and all that mumbo-jumbo. The response to my speech was expectedly lukewarm. Then, I passed the floor to...

...this very elegant lady, Datin Ouzreiah! Her short and sweet yet very inspirational speech was very well received by the attendees and received thunderous applause and cheers.

Linda giving her very touching farewell speech. There was not a single dry eye within a 25m radius of the food table. We almost ran out of serviettes as our staff used them to wipe away their tears. It was a good thing the caterers came with extra serviettes.

After our staff regained their composure, they tucked into the makan and started to PAR-TAY!!!

Yuzairif & Fadhli contemplating on whether to take more food or not.

The whole thing ended around 11-something where we all went back to work. Some of the staff who had to work when the thing was going on had their friends pack the food for them.

I have always enjoyed this office makan culture where we celebrate career milestones of colleagues. It certainly is a nice break from the monotony of work and we get to meet the staff on a very casual level while at work. Of course, I skipped lunch as I felt very full after the makan.

Ciao!

Amir Fuad.

A New Government Approach On The "Alternative Media"

Picture taken from: http://www.indexation-referencement.com/images/marketing_internet.jpg

In today's NST Online (26 March 2008):

INTERNET SERVED A PAINFUL LESSON

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Barisan Nasional lost the online war in the general election.

"We didn't think it was important. It was a serious misjudgment," he said at the opening of Invest Malaysia 2008."We thought that the newspapers, the print media, the television were important but young people were looking at text messages and blogs."Abdullah said the influence of alternative media "was painful. But it came at the right time, not too late".

The web and SMS allowed parties like DAP, Parti Keadilan Rakyat and Pas, which have long complained of bias in the traditional media, to reach voters directly.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Also in today's NST Online (26 March 2008) - an excerpt:

WATER DEAL STANDS

"...... Meanwhile, Shaziman (Dato' Shaziman Abu Mansor, the new Energy, Water & Communications Minister), said his initial focus as minister would be to meet all the regulatory bodies for the industries that come under his portfolio.

Shaziman, who last year called for the registration of bloggers due to postings critical of the government, welcomed a recent statement by Information Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek that the government should now engage bloggers."I only said we may want to consider registering bloggers.

There is nothing wrong in blogging as long as they follow guidelines under the Multimedia and Communications Act. There is no harm in engaging them and listening to them."

------------------------------------------------------

In today's NST Online, an excerpt from a Bernama report) 26 March 2008:

MINISTER DROPS RTM RULE

"......Shabery ( Information Minister, Dato' Ahmad Shabery Cheek) said the mainstream media still had a major role to play though the current worldwide trend was to turn to alternative sources of information.He disagreed with the notion that Malaysians turned to the alternative media as the mainstream media was biased.

"Even in advanced countries where the media is said to be more independent, the people still choose the alternative media," he said.

Shabery believed that a better approach in the way the media disseminated information would help the people understand issues such as the rising fuel prices."One of the factors the people did not support the Barisan Nasional in the just-ended general election is because they did not understand the issue and were taken in by opposition promises to lower fuel prices," he said.

Shabery said he will meet media organisations to better understand developments in the local media circle."I will meet every media organisation in order for me and my colleagues in the ministry to know the challenges that should be given attention." - Bernama"

-----------------------------------------------------------

My thoughts...

1. It's good to know our Prime Minister has gone out of denial (or suddenly realised that he was ill-advised) about the influence of the "alternative media".

2. Dato' Shaziman Abu Mansor wants bloggers to register? I wonder whether this exercise can be done effectively. Anyone can create (and delete) a blog using a free online web-based blogging service, e.g. blogspot, wordpress, myspace, blogcity, etc within a few minutes, a handful of mouse-clicks and some creative qwerty-keyboard manipulation. Blogs come and go by the dozens (or more?) in Malaysia, I'm quite sure. Can they keep up?

So once these thousands of Malaysian blogs have been registered, then what? Some staff need to be hired to surf the web and monitor these blogs, many of them which are updated on a daily basis. Sit down at a computer and read blogs for a living? Man, I WANT THAT JOB!

3. It's funny that bloggers are being lumped into one category. I swear that there are blogs which are quite harmless ( I have come across a blog which has nothing but recipes for cookies, another blog about a single mother raising her children, a blog about someone who loves to photograph airplanes, a blog about a woman dealing with her cancer treatment, a blog about a man dealing with diabetes, a blog about a 40-something radiologist and how he spends his free time - hang on, THAT'S ME). Do these blogs need really monitoring as well?

4. Most of these blogs are done using blogging-services hosts which originate outside Malaysia. I am not a lawyer but I do wonder whether our country's existing laws have the ability to tackle blogs that do not "toe the line".

5. So which ministry is actually in charge of the internet? Is it the Datuk Shabery's Ministry of Information or is it Dato' Shaziman's Ministry of Energy, Water & Communications?

6. Datuk Shabery's saying that he disagreed with the notion that Malaysians turned to the alternative media as the mainstream media was biased is hard to stomach isn't it? I am sure many will agree with me that the mainstream media being biased IS THE reason all of us turn to the alternative media for political news.

I suppose, some people still want to live in denial...sigh!

Personally, as I am sure most people are, I am for minimising regulatory practices in the media and the internet. While it's good that the government is finally realising their ignorance about the influence of the alternative media, it's sad to note that they are still in denial about some things.

Well, it's always baby steps first, right? Not everyone can go through things the cold turkey way.

Let's sit back and see what happens. It should prove to be interesting.

Ciao!

Amir Fuad.

LEGALLY DIVINE HUMOR

(Picture taken from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alaskabody-dolls/215998112/ )

One day, an engineer dies and goes up to the gates of heaven. He does not suspect that there will be any problem with him getting in as he feels he has lead quite an honest life.

However, when he gets to the gates an angel informs him that he cannot be let in because of a minor offence (against God) that he committed when he was younger. He pleads with the angel, "Please, let me in, I could do so much good work for God in heaven. Whatever kind of systems you've got in there, be in water systems, electronic or other kinds of systems, I can work on them and make them even better. I could even build entire new systems for you." The angel frowns and says, "I'm sorry, there is nothing that I can do. It was a minor thing but still we cannot let you in."

So, the engineer goes down to the gates of hell and is let in. He sees all the poor souls suffering down in hell, souls burning in eternal flames, etc., and he decides that he wants to help them. He starts building bridges so that the souls in hell can travel over the flames and not suffer as much. He builds cooling systems and the like.

Now, every couple of weeks, God would phone the devil and ask him how everything was going down in hell. About two weeks after the engineer arrived in hell, such a conversion took place between God and the devil. While they were talking, the devil asked God, "Do you remember that engineer chap that you sent down here?" "Yes," God replies, "What about him?" "Well," the devil says, "he's doing all kinds of strange stuff down here. He's BUILDING bridges down here so that the souls here don't have to burn in eternal flame. It's incredible."

"That won't do" says God, "that won't do at all. It looks like we made a mistake. He is a good person. We want him back."

"You can't have him," says the devil, "he's staying with us."

God is not happy. He shouts, "Look, we are taking him back OK, we'll take this all the way to court to get him back."

The devil grins and retorts, "Oh yeah? Well, where are you going to get a lawyer??"


Ciao!

Amir Fuad.
P.S. : Got this joke from my friend & colleague, Bux. Thanks, Bux!
Apologies to any of my lawyer friends who may be reading this!

Akademi Fantasia 6 - Concert #1

The sixth season of Akademi Fantasia is here! The season where the age limit was raised to 45! The season where Ramli MS, the principal of the 2nd season, arguably the best principal so far, has been given the honour to be the principal again. This is also the season where the host for the past 5 seasons, Aznil Hj Nawawi, won't be in. AC Mizal of 4U2C and Astro Ria's AC Disini fame is the host.

On the whole, today's show was generally lukewarm. All the contestants and even AC Mizal took some time to warm up and the excitement generally associated with previous AF concerts was not there? Why? AC lacked the flamboyant bubbly style of Aznil - it may not be fair but it's hard not to compare AC with Aznil as the latter left rather large shoes for AC to fill in. Most of the contestants were obviously nervous and that clearly affected their performances.

The first contestant and also the oldest, Rina, in my opinion performed rather well, but not that great. Her showmanship and her voice was just OK. She performed Tina Turner's Simply The Best- not a terribly exciting performance.

The "kejutan" in which her daughter and granddaughter came on stage was a bit blah - partly because of Rina's muted reactions to the surprise and also the way AC Mizal did the whole thing - one would suspect that something like this would happen - I mean who could forget the tone-deaf Mas of AF2 on-stage drama when her parents and kids were brought on stage. Now, that's one very memorable kejutan!

This is the start of the lousy performances. Alif singing Sayang Sayang. Not a very good song to begin with but Alif managed to make it sound even worse than the original. Yucks!

Lufya who sang Bunga Cinta Lestari's Ingkar was one of the many lacklustre preferences of the night. Boring! If she continues to perform this way, she'll be out soon.

Naim giving a sleepy version of the rousing Hattan number, Memburu Rindu. His voice is not that bad, it's just that he lacks the essential passion in his voice that one must have when presenting this song. Gosh... I stayed up for this?

Ika, was supposed to sing Rihanna's Umbrella. The faculty gave her the song for this week as it was in her wishlist but they had to change it to Siti Sarah's Kesetiaan instead as she was clearly unprepared to sing Umbrella. What the %*#@? What part of wishlist did she not understand? Duhhhh.....!

Anyway, she did a lousy job of Kesetiaan.

Toi - one of the better performers of the night. Simple and honest though not perfect performance of Hujan's Pagi Yang Gelap. One of them who saved the night from being decimated into oblivion. Congrats, Toi!

Riz - nice tone and less pitchy than the others. Fairly good rendition of Anuar Zain's Ketulusan Hati and just when you think that he is sticking to the original singer's style, he does some improvisations. Nice feel, too. Hopefully he stays on long and improve further as he does seem to be someone with potential.

Yana singing Diriku Tapak Sulaiman. Boring vocals and presentation. If she continues on like this, she should be out pretty soon. Hang on, she DID leave the competition tonight!

Nubhan sang Letto's Ruang Rindu and I thought he did quite a good job! Nice raspy tone and good feel too. Nice!

Stacy has a good voice and her pitching is quite OK. The trouble with AF contestants when they sing in English is that, they tend to copy the original singer's style too closely. This seem to be less of a problem when they sing in Malay- why? I don't have the faintest idea! All in all, not too bad, maybe we will see more of her potential in the weeks to come.

Faisal, the nasyid guy of this season sang Rabbani's Satu Kiblat Yang Sama. He sang in the typical on-and-off nasal way many singers of the nasyid genre do, although his singing didn't quite work out for him tonight. Obviously pitchy to even non-music people like me, he has a lot of work to do.

Saida, the elder sister of Dato' Siti Nurhaliza sang Rossa's hit Terlalu Cinta. She started a bit off-tempo but picked up at the chorus only to go off-tempo again at some places throughout the song. Looked pretty nervous throughout the performance and looking at her you would think she would want the floor to swallow her. She actually has a very nice voice, nothing like her famous sister, but nice nevertheless.

Anyway, AC's "Datuk-K-with-fake-moustache" gag fell horribly flat. C'mon AC! You can do better than that!

Stanly sang Josh Groban's You Raise Me Up. Nice voice, obviously a fan of those "popera" artists like Josh Groban, Russell Watson, etc. Too bad he did not hit a few high notes and his improv at the end of the song sounded very amateurish. Still, he has raw talent that can be polished and his performance was honest and heartfelt. Also one of them who saved the night.

I forgot to take Nadia's picture but she performed Hetty Koes Endang's Rindu very very well! Nice powerful and punchy vocals, good pitching and very original presentation. She was one of the bottom few at the begining of the concert but I'm sure after her performance, her votes were coming in by the bucketloads!

AC Mizal looking better in his shorter hairdo than his previously coloured straight long hair do (or was that a hair-don't?).

The "Menuju Puncak" dance routine was poorly executed. Many of them were out of sync and the overall effect was rather messy. Well, it's still the first week and they will improve as the weeks go by, I guess. The vocal arrangement for this theme song was a bit more interesting though with those with stronger vocals (Nadia, Riz, Stanly and Stacy) doing some of the lead vocals.

The usual blah, blah, blah then followed the elimination process.

With three bags being brought out, it gave an indication of the 3 lowest scorers,.In the end however, it was Yana who was booted out. No surprise!

A more boring than usual 1st AF concert of the season. Maybe its too early too judge, after all, there are many new ones at the helm. Let's hope it will get better and better in the coming weeks.

Ning Baizura did not comment on the contestants' vocal techniques, as I would expect her to, a la Syafinaz Selamat. Ogy Ahmad Daud was her usual self and as usual I did not understand some of her comments. Ajai's comments were what I could identify with. Man, it was as if he was reading my mind!

Yana giving Cikgu Fatimah Abu Bakar a goodbye hug.

That's all folks!

Ciao!

Amir Fuad.

My Saturday.

Ahhhhhh...how nice it is to be a civil servant with a 5-day work week. I love this 2 days that we have to wind down from the madness and chaos that is work.

Woke up around 7.30am to a breakfast of pancakes. Yummmm!

After breakfast, took a shower and lepaked a bit. At around 10.30am left for piano class with Dayana. After class, went home and picked up Julina & Hilman and went to Cineleisure Damansara where Julina sent her car for a wash.

Then we went to Tony Roma's for lunch. It's an international restaurant chain serving Tex-Mex cuisine, similar to the one served at TGI Fridays and Chilli's. This was our third time there so we knew what to expect. Julina had the Shitake Cheeseburger, Dayana had the Kids cheeseburger, Hilman had the kids' Fish & Chips while I had the Chipotle Salad with salmon (half portion). The food was good but portions are huge, typical of American restaurants. None of us finished everything that we ordered. My daughter, Dayana, as usual, enjoyed her "Dirt Cup" desert, consisting of chocolate ice-cream, dark chocolate granules ("dirt") with edible gum-like worms. Yup, sounds el mucho grosso but it actually tastes quite good!

After lunch, we did some shopping and all of us, save for Julina got some items of clothing each. At around 4-ish, we decided to go karaoke-ing at Red Box Karaoke. Cool place! Room rental rates is only RM 24++ for 3 hours and you can partake in the buffet dinner which starts at 6pm for a price of RM 10++ per pax. We all melalak-ed like there's no tomorrow! They have a lot of the latest hits e.g. the High School Musical Songs, Tattoo by Jordin Sparks, Rehab by Amy Winehouse, Wait For you by Elliot Yamin, Beautiful Girls by Sean Kingston, What I've Done by Linkin Park, Ordinary People by John Legend, No One by Alicia Keys, etc. Also there is a good selection of songs in Chinese, Malay, Indonesian and Hindi.

We left at 7.15pm, 15 minutes short of the time allotted to us but the kids need to go home and get to sleep. We were all tired, too. I also wanted to catch the 1st concert of this season's Akademi Fantasia.

Ciao!

Amir Fuad.

New Malaysian Cabinet!

No, it's not that kind of cabinet, you twit! (Picture taken from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/milktard/1444831365/ )

Here they are!

Prime Minister:Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi

Deputy Prime Minister: Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Abdul Razak


Ministers in the Prime Minister's Department:
Minister: Tan Sri Bernard Giluk Dompok
Minister: Datuk Ahmad Zahid Hamidi
Minister: (Sen) Datuk Mohd Zaid Ibrahim
Minister: (Sen) Datuk Amirsham Abdul Aziz
Minister: Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz

Deputy Ministers Ministers in the Prime Minister's Department:
Deputy Minister: Datuk Johari Baharum
Deputy Minister: (Sen) Datuk Dr Mashitah Ibrahim
Deputy Minister: S.K. Devamany
Deputy Minister: Datuk Hasan Malek

Ministry of Agriculture & Agro-Based Industry
Minister: Datuk Mustapa Mohamed
Deputy: Datin Paduka Rohani Abdul Karim

Ministry of National Unity, Culture, Arts & Heritage
Minister: Datuk Mohd Shafie Apdal
Deputy: Teng Boon Soon

Ministry of Defence
Minister: Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Abdul Razak
Deputy: Datuk Wira Abu Seman Yusop

Ministry of Domestic Trade & Consumer Affairs
Minister: Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad
Deputy: Jelaing Mersat

Ministry of Education
Minister: Datuk Hishammuddin Tun Hussein
Deputy: Datuk Wee Ka Siong
Deputy: Datuk Razali Ismail

Ministry of Energy, Water & Communications
Minister: Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor
Deputy: Datuk Joseph Salang Gandum

Ministry of Entrepreneurial & Co-operative Development
Minister: Datuk Noh Omar
Deputy: Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah

Ministry of Federal Territories
Minister: Datuk Zulhasnan Rafique
Deputy: Datuk M. Saravanan

Ministry of Finance
Minister: Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
Minister: Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yackop
Deputy: Datuk Ahmad Husni Mohamad Hanadzlah
Deputy: Datuk Kong Cho Ha

Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Minister: Datuk Seri Rais Yatim
Deputy: Datuk Seri Tengku Azlan Sultan Abu Bakar

Ministry of Health
Minister: Datuk Liow Tiong Lai
Deputy: Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad

Ministry of Higher Education
Minister: Datuk Khaled Nordin
Deputy: Datuk Dr Hou Kok Chung
Deputy: Datuk Idris Haron

Ministry of Housing & Local Government
Minister: Datuk Ong Ka Chuan
Deputy: Datuk Robert Lau
Deputy: Datuk Hamzah Zainuddin

Ministry of Human Resources
Minister: Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam
Deputy: Datuk Noraini Ahmad

Ministry of Information
Minister: Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek
Deputy: Datuk Tan Lian Hoe

Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs
Minister: Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Syed Jaafar Albar
Deputy: Datuk Chor Chee Heung
Deputy: (Sen) Datuk Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh

Ministry of International Trade & Industry
Minister: Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin
Deputy: Datuk Liew Vui Keong
Deputy: Datuk Jacob Dungau Sagan

Ministry of Natural Resources & Environment
Minister: Datuk Douglas Uggah Embas
Deputy: Datuk Seri Panglima Abdul Ghapur Salleh

Ministry of Plantation Industries & Commodities
Minister: Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui
Deputy: (Sen) A. Kohilan Pillay

Ministry of Rural & Regional Development
Minister: Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib
Deputy: Tan Sri Joseph Kurup
Deputy: Joseph Entulu Belaun

Ministry of Science, Technology & Innovation
Minister: Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili
Deputy: Datuk Fadillah Yusof

Ministry of Tourism
Minister: Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said
Deputy: Datuk Seri Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Taib

Ministry of Transport
Minister: Datuk Ong Tee Keat
Deputy: Datuk Anifah Aman

Ministry of Women, Family & Community Development
Minister: Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen
Deputy: Senator Noriah Kasnon

Ministry of Works
Minister: Datuk Mohd Zin Mohamed
Deputy: Datuk Yong Khoon Seng

Ministry of Youth & Sports
Minister: Ismail Sabri Yaakob
Deputy: Wee Jeck Seng

Those out: Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz (once dubbed "Singa Malaysia" by the Indonesian press - the longest serving trade minister in the world), Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid (former Natural Resources & Envoronment Minister- also the one who married "the most beautiful Malay woman"-Datin Seri Normala Samsudin), Datuk Seri Dr Jamaludin Jarjis (former Science, Technology & innovations Minister), Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor (former Tourism Minister)& Datuk Seri Radzi Sheikh Ahmad (former Home Affairs Minister) & Datuk Fong Chan Onn.

Those making a comeback: Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib (former selangor Chief minister), Datuk Shahrir Samad (Former FT Minister and UMNO Backbencher's Club President).

Among the new ones in: Datuk Amirsham A Aziz (who just retired form his CEO post at Maybank) & a lawyer, Datuk Zaid Ibrahim.

Rumors that the Higher Education & Education ministry to be merged into one single Ministry of Education entity did not materialise. Rafidah Aziz's exclusion is a surprise (or is it?) to many. So is the exclusion of Azmi Khalid, Radzi Sheikh Ahmad, Jamaludin Jarjis & Tengku Adnan Mansor. Do these people pose an image problem to BN or were they not cleared by the ACA? The country's First Son-in-law (Khairy Jamaludin-lah, siapa lagi?) also was not appointed, as was expected by some people - good news or is it bad news?

Hmmm..all we can do is sit back and watch how this cabinet performs I guess. Everyone is a wannabe political analyst nowadays and I'm sure talk whether this cabinet is OK or not will be rife in the coming days and weeks. The stronger opposition representation in Parliament hopefully will perform the necessary check and balance that is expected by the people on the ground.

Ciao!

Amir Fuad.

Dayana's Birthday Party!

This afternoon, at 3pm we had the party for my daughter's 10th birthday. Dayana's birthday was actually on Wednesday but as usual, we decided to have the do on a weekend. It was a simple party - the attendees were mainly Dayana's friends from school or around the neighbourhood, Julina's siblings and their spouse/children. My siblings could not attend as they had other commitments to fulfill.

Here are some photos from the party:


Sate from the famous Haji Samuri Kajang Sate.

The bowl of assorted candy at the dining table.

Another bowl of assorted candy at the living area. All the candy in the two bowls were gone before the party ended.

Emir, Izam, Haikal, Linda & Megat.

Dayana failing to get a seat when the music stopped during the musical chairs game.

Musical chairs with the remaining contenders, Eisha, Faseha, Kimberley, Danelle, Ashmeta and Faris. Presha looks on while Harith (my neighbour and Facebook friend, Faizal's son) is preoccupied with something else.

Haikal playing ball with Hilman. They are the same age and therefore clicked with each other well.

Kimberley Yeoh pinning the tail on the donkey. I honestly can't remember who won this game!

Haikal, Hilman & Emir playing ball. There were naturally more girls than boys at the party but the boys managed to find ways to amuse themselves despite being the minority gender there.

The "gift box"-shaped pinata which I bought from Party @ World at Ikano Power Centre.

Harith giving the pinata a good hit with the baton. Danelle managed to hit the pinata so hard that the box fell down. It didn't totally break but I opened it up and scattered the candy all over the floor and all the kids rushed to grab all that candy.

Dayana blowing the candles on the ice-cream cake which was sponsored by Megat & Linda.

Dayana cutting the cake after making a silent birthday wish. Hmmmmm...I wonder what she wished for? Thanks, Megat & Linda, for the birthday cake sponsorship!

Dayana, after getting some cake smashed onto her face by her friends, Ashmeta, Presha & Danelle. Faris joins in the fun with colour glow sticks.

Some of Dayana's friends stayed on quite late as they continued on the party in Dayana's room by eating, surfing the net and playing computer games. Julina's brother, Joe, his wife Leen & Julina's cousin, Ivan from Melaka also stayed on quite late as we chatted until about 8.30pm.

I am now very tired and looking forward to some rest tomorrow.

All in all, I am glad my daughter and her friends enjoyed the food and the party very much. Alhamdulillah it did not rain until all the party games were over. Also thank God almost all of the food was finished - so wastage was kept to a minimum. I also met some of Dayana's friends parents and got to know them better. And my neighbour Faizal, I actually talked to him in person for the first time in many months although we have been exchanging messages quite a fair bit on Facebook!

Ciao!

Amir Fuad.

On call

The thing about being a radiologist in a teaching hospital is that when you are on-call, you stay at home. We have trainee radiologists doing the work and you only will be called when there is a problem, or some one important (VIP, staff member or their relatives) comes for an MRI or CT Scan. Anyway, last night was such a night. A staff member's parent who is also a VIP of sorts came for an MRI.

My senior-most medical officer on-call, Dr Wati called me around 8-ish pm to inform me about the case. Just as the patient was being called in around 9pm, Dr Wati SMS-ed me. On the way to hospital, I received another SMS saying that my on-call team is hungry. I replied something like, why didn't you guys eat? Dr Wati replied that they were too busy to have dinner. I asked them what they wanted and they said they wanted 3 McChicken Value meals. So I dropped by PJ Section 14's 24-hour McDonald's outlet and bought the take-away meals for them. Of course, I added a Spicy Deluxe chicken burger thingy and a bottle of mineral water for myself.

Anyways, then came to the hospital with the takeaway and gave the food to my all-ladies on-call team comprising Dr Wati, Dr Haniza & Dr Zaidah. Kesian pulak diorang lapar.

We talked a bit and not surprisingly the conversation topic turned to the elections. Who doesn't talk about the elections nowadays especially with the unexpected poor showing of Barisan Nasional. Everyone is talking about it everywhere I go! From doctors, nurses, clerks & basically everybody! Hmmmm..wonder if the Indonesian cleaner ladies talk about our elections?

Anyway, got the MRI scan done and reported by midnight and all of us went home feeling very sleepy- except for the senior most MO, Dr Wati - she sleeps in for the duration of the call-which is until 8 am today.. It's now 1.38am and I just can't sleep- that's why I am writing this post- I don't quite know what else to do!

Ahhh...yaaaawwwwwwnn!!! Feeling very sleepy. I really should try to go to sleep as I have a busy day ahead!

Have a swell weekend y'all!

Ciao!

Amir Fuad.

12th Malaysian General Election: Jokes I received via SMS

Taken from: http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20080307/capt.8b3aab86ffca4f268578afe8090b3bf3.malaysia_elections_kl105.jpg

Yes, I know the election is over and by now everyone knows the results, blah, blah, blah.

It's just that I keep getting election-related jokes via SMS and I would like to share some of the "gems" that I received. Most of them are in Malay. Sorry if you don't understand the language but I won't be translating it as the punchline will be "lost" in translation.

Just so you people know, I am apolitical. This means I have no political afiliations whatsoever. I decide who I vote on the election day itself. I don't see a point in being loyal to any political party as they all consist of mortal human beings like you & I and therefore prone to imperfections.

'Nuff said. Here goes....

1. Barisan Pembangkang akan menunaikan janji manifesto untuk turunkan harga minyak di 5 buah negeri bermula dari hari esok:
i. KEDAH - minyak gamat
ii. PULAU PINANG - minyak buah pala
iii. KELANTAN - minyak lintah
iv. PERAK - minyak urut
v. SELANGOR - minyak rambut.

Syabas Barisan Alternatif!!!

(Thanks to my sis, Aida and my friend from Kuantan, Azlin.)



2. Datuk Seri Samy Velu & Datuk M Kayveas have collaborated to form a new party called FBI (F***ed by Indians).

(Thanks to my colleague Anu.)


3. GURINDAM PAK LAH

Panas ku sangka hingga ke petang
Rupanya hujan di tengahari
Kelantan ku sangka mudah ditawan
Rupanya ku hilang lima negeri

Sungguh malang nasibku ini
Dah tiada kampung dah tiada negeri
Pulau Pinang negeriku ditawan DAP
Tak tahu ke mana nak bawa diri

Ada baiknya ku undur diri
Bagi peluang kepada Khairy
Sambil kutumpu pada isteri
Manalah tahu kot dapat baby!

(Thanks to my sis, Lela!)


That's all folks!

Ciao!
Amir Fuad.

Boeing versus Airbus: The Inside Story of the Greatest International Competition in Business

The commercial aircraft making industry is a complex and fascinating one. Boeing, a household name in the industry has been the market leader for decades and has rendered practically all noteworthy rivals within the US such as Lockheed and McDonnel-Douglas irrelevant. Being at the top caused Boeing to become arrogant and complacent. This was when an emerging force form the other side of the Atlantic Ocean in the form of Airbus, slowly began to rival Boeing.

Airbus started of as a consortium of aviation companies within Europe which had a lot of government financial backing. Its foray into the business of making commercial aircraft started rather modestly. Insidiously, it began to make inroads in to the "middle" sector of the market, being the choice of airlines looking to replace their aged DC-10s & Lockheed Tristars. Soon, they began to control the market in this sector.

This book details the ups and downs of the rivalry between Boeing and Airbus. There are lots of interesting facts and "behind-the-doors" information that is fascinating especially for someone like me, a layman who is interested in the goings-on in the commercial aviation industry. Lots of information on how each company runs their business under the various leaders and how much government intervention actually goes into the business decisions that these companies make. Learn how Airbus developed this idea for a new superjumbo A3XX, later named the A380 which now has taken the title of the largest commercial aircraft away from the Boeing 747. This book also explains why Boeing scrapped the idea of a superjumbo (to rival the Airbus A380) and also the Boeing Sonic Cruiser. What makes it decide that it will make better business sense to build the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and an extended version of the Boeing 747- the 747-800 instead? It's all in this book and more.

All the facts in this book are quite interesting. However, they are presented not in a chronological order but in "bundles" relating to business aspects e.g. Being Number One, The Very Large Airplane, Trading Places, etc. This makes for a confusing read especially for a non-aviation person like me. The organisation of the facts in this manner results in many of the facts being repeated again and again, albeit in different contexts. It wasn't an easy read and I took a few weeks to complete the book as it was very exhausting mentally. Even then, it exposes to the layman what makes the aircraft manufacturers and airlines tick. Not that many books are as this informative but the organisation of the material could have been a little more reader-friendly.

Ciao!

Amir Fuad.

P.S. Starting to read my next book now.