True genius shattles expectation...

That's the comment given by Paula Abdul to Adam Lambert after his performance in week 9 of Americon Idol rocking the stage with his rendition of "Play that Funky Music". I was watching from 8TV across the globe from Malaysia. This week, he has Simon giving him a standing ovation for a touching "Mad World".

Have you ever wonder what would it be like to have the talent and charisma of Freddy Mercury, Elvis Presley and Mick Jagger all merged into 1 body? That's Adam Lambert. He is taking the stage to the best advantage, total self indulgence, showing off his talent and artistry in full power. Which artist in history has such opportunity to show off his talent week after week on TV to over millions of viewers? I once saw a photography contest excerpt that says "we are looking for photographs that make one couldn't comprehend how you managed to shoot it". That is the most common description of sublime in layman terms. It is something so wonderful it's beyond comprehension.
In Lambert case, one couldn't help but to be mesmerized and fall in love with his singing and performances. They are all unforgetable. He knows how to bring the meaning of a song and genre to it's fullest and made you like it even if it's not your cup of tea. If it's a rock song, he totally rocks it. If it's a sensual song, he melts your heart. Johnny Depp has this charisma in the movies and now there's Adam Lambert. Blowing the mind off every audiences.
It has reached a point where I had to visit americanidol.com, for the first time, and unawares, keep repeating his performances on and on and on. It's really magical how he could gain your total attention throughout the performance and for the life of me, how did he made me click "PLAY" so many times??? And how is it each song is so unforgetable in your head? It's so beautiful and bordering evil! And I don't know how to explain, I've never thought such talent could exist! Whether he wins or not, he's one extraordinary talent.

Visit http://www.americanidol.com/videos/season_8/performances/adam_lambert_mad_world and judge for yourself.

KL Taxi, Very Scary

Read this from the STAR, a concern of which is has been something bothering for quite a while now... I wonder if we'll ever see the day when you get NICE taxi drivers????

Tuesday March 31, 2009

Losing battle against cabbies

PUTRAJAYA: The Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board (CVLB) has admitted that it was out of solutions in its war against rogue taxi drivers.

Board chairman Datuk Markiman Kobiran has likened the situation as a “war with no ending like the war between Israel and the Palestinians” despite continued measures to curb the menace.

“Until today, there is no absolute formula to solve this problem. Do we cancel their permits, step up on enforcement and urge passengers to be more proactive in making complaints? We have done all that. You tell me,” he told a press conference at the CVLB office yesterday.

Despite the increase in the number of errant taxi drivers, Markiman said the board was not giving up because it involved the country’s reputation.

In an undercover operation conducted by the board, only 15 of 627 taxis were found to be following regulations.

“Media reports on ‘samseng’ (rogue) taxis, drivers who refused to pick up passengers and those who overcharged were quite disappointing. Upon investigation, we found them all to be true,” he said.

Sixty JPJ (Road Transport Department) officers boarded 627 taxis in the Klang Valley this month and 612 taxi drivers were found guilty of various offences.

The operation also showed that a taxi driver committed on an average of three offences.

“An enforcement officer boarded a taxi from Pudu to a hotel early one morning. He was overcharged and at the end of the trip, the taxi driver told the officer that he ‘dah agak pegawai’ (could guess he was an officer). But yet, he overcharged the officer,” said Markiman.

During the operation, 432 taxi drivers did not use meters, 192 did not display their driver cards, 144 overcharged their passengers and 103 refused to pick up passengers.

A total of 502 taxi drivers were caught for not having driving licences, not wearing seat belts and driving recklessly.

“Five Pakistanis were found to be driving the taxis. We view this matter seriously as foreign nationals are not allowed to drive taxis. We will be calling the taxi operators to explain,” he said,

Markiman said it was important for the passengers to be more pro-active in reporting errant taxi drivers as it would help with enforcement.

Meanwhile, a taxi operator said undisciplined taxi drivers would not only tarnish their company’s name but also cause losses in income.

“The CVLB may cancel or suspend the licence of our taxi drivers if they keep committing offences,” she said.

She also said the company would seize the taxi or forfeit the driver’s deposit if it received too many complaints from passengers.

Happy Valentine's

I was forwarded a wonderful flash which has Kelly Chen's beautiful A Lover's Concerto song embedded. I've put it up here. Go on, have yourself a soothing Valentine's, be it alone or with your darling. :) Hope you like it.

Grandma's Talent

My grandma is about 85 years old. She's an all-rounder.

She's our family doctor.
When I was young, I live pretty much like a Jungle girl. We hung out in the forest, played in the rivers, climbed the trees, treasuring all the nuts and flowers and feathers and bones we found there, made certain trees our 'houses', ran away from turkeys, monkeys and wild boars, scared of crocodiles, tigers, pythons and elephants... ate as much durian and smelly stinky fruits as we like... In those times, nature is our best friend, our best source of medicine. Whenever we felt sick, grandma just had to go and pluck some wild leaves and we would try to chew our life away trying to get these deadly bitter greeny into our stomach, and then... you got cured. Just like that... magic.



Grandma's the best cook on earth.
I maybe biased, but the best fish I've ever tasted was cooked by grandma. The best Shark-Fin Soup I've ever tasted was made by grandma. The best Plum flavoured Sweet and Sour Roasted Duck was served by grandma. The best Hakka stew Pork with Yam, also by grandma. I'm most proud of her Zong Zi - bamboo wrapped glutinous rice dumplings. If you've ever witness her making a batch, you'll be found jaw-dropping. Because it's like magic. You see her start up everything, preparing the pork, mushrooms, chestnuts, salted egg etc, then the next ... err... what? She wrapped 30 of them. And... my god... the rice is so soft and tender and white... it's virtually the dumpling version of J.Co donuts!


Grandma's an artist.
She could just made anything with anything. Look at all these little birdy photos I put up. She made them... recently! She used to make for me, using bamboo, beautiful animal shaped lanterns to showcase to at the yearly Mooncake festival at school. She would decorate our homes with beautiful and unique red lanterns for new year using recycle Red-packets. She will just made anything out of anything.


Don't you think these are cute? :-)
I've always said I want to make an effort to learn all that I could from her... but... it's always the same lame excuse...too busy. I've better start negotiating with my ass now... coz it's really hard to get it to go do some meaningful things nowadays... ha!

Donut Power

Okay, I didn't grow up eating donuts and it's never my favourite dessert. I'm not American.

I'm a cake girl, instead. I love cakes.
Or more specifically, soft and light sponge cake covered with simple and pretty butter cream.
Yes, those cheap and dainty common cakes that you can get for RM0.70 or RM1.20 from the roti(bread) van that comes around your housing area at 4pm. And I especially cannot resist those with a dot of red transparent sweet sweet jam. Ahhhhh... so nice. It's like eating a slice of heaven! They have the power to cheer me up when I'm really down. They can make me forget about my sorrows. They are my best friends. :-D

Anyway, I'm sure everyone in K.Lumpur who's visited the savvy newly opened Pavilion shopping mall has all been struck with awe how people are willing to queue up for at least 30min just to buy some... err... fried dough with sugar coating? (to please their girlfriends probably..)


I'm simply amazed by that. Can it be THAT good? Or is it the Simpson's movie that's creating all the craze? I've always wondered...

I mentioned this to my colleague, we wondered together. The queue is ALWAYS there. Even if it's the shop's closing time at 10pm. I told my colleague, I really wonder if it's that nice!


The very next day, my colleague presented me a box of suspiciously nicely packed box of J.Co Donuts on my table. Err... what's it, I asked...


It does have a J.Co Donuts & Coffee labeling on it. No, wait... it can't be.


Tada...!!



Oh, 6 dainty pastel-coloured cute looking donuts inside! I can't believe my colleague did that... I don't think my boy-friend would have been so nice....
My god, I just can't resist the one that's all covered in almond man... and the one that's oozing with cream/cheese...err... fat!

OKAY, they are too nice to just to be stared at and I gulped in without any delay! haha~

Oooooo....

Ahhhhhh...

Very nice and soft and it melts like a soft mashmallow. Emmmm... the cream/cheese/sugar is just... so baby nice.

Total satisfaction. I officially declare that, this food is for... angels!

Only if I don't have to queue for it!

Fishy Therapy

Hmm... I haven't blogged for a while. My readers must have all ran away because of my... laziness. :)

Well, I'm busy!

But heck, I promise something nice for you today. They are some pictures I've been dying to show you.





Tada...!



It's what I call the ultimate pampering therapy where you get the tiny little soft sucking mouth of little fishy to 'kiss' on your dirty hands and feet. They just love your dead skin.

There's even a cute little fat tadpole... can you spot it?




Ya, this 'disgusting' treatment is discovered by my dad. He asked me to dump in my foot to his filthy little pond (which I reluctantly did so being total me and disgusting and weird and adventurous most of the time) and the next thing I know was I'm TOTALLY ADDICTED to it. It's so 'siok'!


You can just soak in any part of your body and they would just swamp in and take a feast out of your dead skin! I tell ya, it's a win-win situation. The fish get fed and you get cleaned... what's better than that?

Go ahead, try it out in your fish pond and share your joy with me!!!

Experiencing Tsunami as a Form of Entertainment?

What would you do if the police told you a Tsumani is about to hit in your area? Would you stay in house? Move to a safer area? Hope that the warning is wrong?

Or would you:
Penangite A (talking to a friend) : Hey, there's a Tsunami tonight, wanna go and watch?

Penangite B : Okay, I'll bring some potato chips.

This is actually happening in Penang:

Heed tsunami warnings

PENANG: The police are disappointed with Penangites who ignored orders to stay clear of the promenades in Gurney Drive and Esplanade following a tsunami warning issued on Wednesday night.

“Heed our warning. It is for your own good. If a tsunami had really hit that night, those who lingered on could have been seriously injured or even lost their lives,” said George Town OCPD Asst Comm Azam Abd Hamid.

Unconcerned of danger: Many curious onlookers gathering
along the coastal area of Gurney Drive in Penang on Wednesday
night to look out for tsunamis.

Gurney Drive was among the areas here that were badly hit by the Dec 26, 2004, tsunami.

Waves reaching up to 3m pounded the promenade and left the place covered in silt, mud and debris then.

The other places badly hit were the southern coastal areas of Balik Pulau and the northern beaches from Teluk Bahang to Tanjung Tokong. A total of 52 people died in Penang as a result of the tsunami.

Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) lecturer Prof Koh Hock Lye said many Penangities were either not concerned or ill-informed of the danger of tsunamis.

He explained that tsunamis occurred in a series of waves and was not a single large wave as commonly perceived.

“The people must vacate when there is a tsunami warning. It is very dangerous because the waves often take hours to dissipate. That is why the tsunami warning in Indonesia was issued, withdrawn and reissued,” he added.