The Bogus Circus: December 2008

Hello 2009!

To Our Dear Readers,

Heartfelt syukur to God for the year 2008,

Happy New Year 2009.

With Doa our days ahead be blessed with more

C O L O U R S

and

L O V E

Jom Sambung Baca...

3am

Pukul 3 pagi di Newcastle.

Pasang Seloka Budi dan Senyum Minang Manis.

Dan saya berjoget.

Sleep well Helmi and Faiz

Jom Sambung Baca...

Why Indian Deserved to be hated

Betul, memang aku benci diorang. Tah haper haper tah. Dah la they've made this one very stupid movie! And I've spent 2 freaking hours to watch it.

Seriusli, I hate the Indian for being soo talented. And the Slumdog Millionaire was a very very stupidly honest and spectacular movie. Yang pada pendapat ku, tak kurang hebatnya berbanding movie-movie Yasmin Ahmad. (Ada certain bit yg this movie is better than that of Yasmin's, for example it uses a mixture of musical elements yg menjadikkan cerita ini tidak bosan).

p.s. and likewise, ada jugak parts in yasmin's movie outshine this movie. And kena ingat, although Slumdog Millionaire is a much bigger budgeted movie, and Yasmin was somehow able to convey the same degree of honesty and same level of entertainment to her targetted audience.

Movie ni, kalo korang harap nk tgk cerita bollywood, dengan tarian dan nyanyian, lupakan je laa. This is not a typical bollywood movie. In fact, it's a British production, hence you can see lots of differences, though similarities pun banyak jer...

Synopsis From the Net:

Jamal Malik, an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who is just one question away from winning a staggering 20 million rupees on India's ‘‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?’ Arrested on suspicion of cheating, he tells the police the incredible story of his life on the streets, and of the girl he loved and lost. But what is a kid with no interest in money doing on the show? And how is it he knows all the answers?

And to me, this film memang best giler. Giler giler punyer best. Tahap gaban! (maybe terover expressive sket, sorry). Tapi the way India was portrayed, fascinates me. You don't see this kind of movie every year. Movie yang memburuk-buruk kan India sebagai sebuah negara dan indirectly melabel India sebagai satu negara yg bukan sekadar negara cantik berlatar belakangkan the great Taj Mahal.

Slumdog Millionaire jugak, dah mengajar aku. Yang kemiskinan tidak selalunya menjadikan seseorang itu daif, and living in a slum doesn't strip a person from his right to being happy.

now, time for my quick review.

the oh-so-good:

Walaupun ini movie British yg berbahasa Inggeris, para pelakon menggunakan English yg ber-accentkan India. Though this makes some parts (and perhaps all songs) arguably not understandable, I think this is what made the movie genuine and very natural. Sebab, aku expect to see Indian when aku tonton Indian Movie, takkan plak nk tengok orang putih celop dalam movie India kan...?
Movie ni, storyline dia mantap. Teknik penceritaan lain dari yg lain. The story can be divided into 3 timelines - kisah silam, kisah semalam, dan kisah hari ini. Dan kisah silam Jamal was told in a flashback manner, which was further subdivided into 3 sections. Time dia kecik (5-8 tahun), time alam sekolah menengah (11-15 tahun), and time sekarang (16-18 tahun). Walaupun dgr sangat komplikated, tapi truth is, cerita ni tak membuatkan kepala aku biol. Sekurang-kurangnya, tak de la sepening filem susuk lakonan Ida Nerina haritu. Itu memang, ultimate giler berselirat jalan cerita.
Para pelakon, walaupun hebat-hebat. Yang paling aku suka, adalah time the trio (Jamal, Salim - his brother, and Lalita - his childhood sweetheart) as 3 very young kids (time umur 6-10 tahun). Aku rasa, the movie was the most honest then. Sebab kalau dah namanya budak tu, lakonan mereka would either be disastrous ataupun sangat real. And the trio are easily classified as the latter.
Watak utama, Jamal (lakonan Dev Patel) looks quite convincing. Serius, masa tgk movie ni. Tak terpikir pun yg Dev Patel was born and bred in London. And his accent was considerably thick. Sebab, dalam movie ni, he sounded just like all other actors. English with Indian Accent. I wonder how much research did this guy do to temporarily shed his British Accent off.
Slumdog Millionaire betul2 tunjuk the life in a slum in India. Extreme poverty, Child begging syndicate, Muslim-Hindu fight, Theft in Taj Mahal, etc were all exposed and well presented. At the very least, babak-babak ini sangan educational terutama untuk orang yang mahu travel ke India macam kitorang. he he he. selingan sket.

the blah bits of the movie:

Songs were sang by Indian Singers, but in English language. The melody suits the scenes pretty well, but I was having difficulties trying to decipher what the singer sang. Sebab selain accent yg sangat pekat, the songs have a very fast tempo.
nothing else that I can think of as for now.

Akhir skali, the verdict. 9 out of 10. A must see film indeed!

p.s. Lead actress sedikit sebanyak kelihatan seperti Jaclyn Victor. Maybe itu perasaan aku je kot.

p.p.s. This movie, requires 3 characters to be portrayed by 9 different actors. How's that! and rotten tomatoes gave it a stunningly 94%. Take that too!!!

Jom Sambung Baca...

From Friend to A Friend

I was kindda lazy to check my mail this past few days. But when I do, I received the most heart-warming and pleasant email ever, from Zamri

By doing this, he strengthens our friendship. Thanks God, for giving me a good set of friends. And Zamri's definitely one of 'em.

Sometimes, it's these little things that moved a person a BIG time. Muchas Gracias Zamri!

Jom Sambung Baca...

Turkey: Whirling Dervishes

Last time, while in Turkey. We got the chance to go and see the Whirling Dervishes, dance of the sufi. Yup, seblom pergi, I've wrote about this dance. and seriously, was enchanting!

I was captivated by the hymn/song and the ritual itself. Erm, tetiba terfikir plak, I don't think that dance itself is an appropriate word, sebab it wasn't actually a dance. It was a ritual, as how the turkish describe it.

this is a quote from wikipedia, which pretty much sums this ritual up.

The whirling dance or sufi whirling that is proverbially associated with dervishes, is the practice of the Mevlevi Order in Turkey, and is just one of the physical methods used to try to reach religious ecstasy (majdhb, fana). The name "Mevlevi" comes from the Persian poet, Rumi, whose shrine is in Turkey and who was a Dervish himself.This practice, though not intended as entertainment, has become a tourist attraction in Turkey.

The ritual ada some quranic recitation as well as nasyid (hymn), which in my humblest oppinion at par with the christian church choir yg sedap didengari. The voices mix up well, and they perfected each other vocal range. Ada gak solo part, which literally gave me goose bumps!
Best best dan best!!!!

And sesapa yg intend to melawat turkey, this is a must see activity. Otherwise, baik korang simpan je duit tu dalam bank. Macam, rugi giler kalo pergi turkey, tapi x tengok. Like zamri said, turkey trip is not complete unless hammam is experienced, and whirling dervishes is seen.

The dervishes are getting ready before they began

Yg menariknya, this dance ada 2 phases. I didn't quite understand what each phase is for/representing though, tapi yg pasti. While "whirling" they'll have their palm di 'mangkukkan' dan di 'telangkupkan', so that one palm is facing the earth, while the other is facing the sky (heaven).

and from what I observed, while dancing mereka akan menutup mata (but not throughout the entire ritual), probably untuk reduce tahap kepeningang dan ke-berpinaran kepala otak. And yeah, they did sweat, but very minimally. Mungkin that was the peluh dingin, rather than peluh 'penat'.

And here's a bit of what we say. The Dance!

Also, it fascinates me to see that the ritual take approximately 1 hour, and mereka tidak muntah. I've asked my Turkish friend, and she said that only a selected few will be able to perform the dervishes. Katanya, hanya orang2 religious dan pious (I kindda doubt that I'll be able to be that in my near future). *blushing in shame*.

p.s. just so you know, dervishes was derived from "Darvesh", literally means door to door, i.e. ~~'beggars'~~ 'very2 poor people'.

p.p.s. for those planning to go to turkey/Istanbul and are planning to see this. We went to the sirkeci (pronounced sir-kay-ji) train station, for 30 New Turkish Lyra (around 15 euro). Some restaurants advertised yg diorang ada this show live, tapi i think most of them are bluffing to attract customers. For a cheaper alternative, this ritual are sometimes combined with other turkish folkdances (including belly dancing), but my friend said that it wouldn't be as nice because everything will be so short and packed. But hey, it's 30 NTL and you get to see more. Se the choice is entirely up to you really.

Jom Sambung Baca...

Turkey: Reviewing the animals pulak. Boleyh?

Seminggu di Turki, lensa mata ini tidak dapat berhenti mengagumi keindahan aneka haiwan ciptaan Tuhan.

Lantas, terus setting kameraku di tukar ke scene Kids & Pets.

They are all just plain adorable, I really want to seludup a cat in my flight bag.

I hope one day God gives me the power to understand their language~~

Well, itu mmg mustahil, but you can always understand them when you look them in the eyes.

No, not Jonas Brothers' eyes, the Animal eyes okayhhh....

Penciptaan mata oleh Tuhan mmg sgt ajaib.

Remember, dari mata turun ke hati.

Macam hanjeng ini yg kujumpai di Cappadocia.

He snogged my jeans. OK I know i xmandi sehari tapi jeansku itu tidak la sebusuk mana yeah...
His teary eyes say "Adopt me, i'm hungry" i think laaa.

He's so cute. It's either He plays with the little cat or doing cat hunting.

"I'm beautiful no matter what they say", bisik hati kecil kucing ini

Selain hanjeng itu, these are the other animals in a random manner.

Saya adil orangnya, wah boley?

#1: The Fresh Fishes of Istanbul

Don't leave Istanbul w/o trying the Eminonu balik ekmek fish sandwiches.

#2 The Birds Adoring the Minaret

#3 The Mysterious Cat in Aya Sofya

#4 The Sad Cat in the Cement

poor you. who put u into the cement? tell me tell me. im gona kick hiss ass. meow!

#5 The Brainy Cat

tekun join the tour guide. he surely the clever breed

#6 The Dreamy Cat

Maybe he's thinking why he was born a cat not a statue

Ok, I realized too many cats.
Here's the last cat(s) in this post.

#7 The Vogue Cats

Byk gila kucing kat Ephesus they're like guarding the broken columns and all the Hellenistic statues. These two cats pon dah pose ala2 statue. senyap jeee duk diam2

#8 The Cursed Dog

Me: eh hanjeng komenlah sikit?
Hanjeng: The Wickedest Wicked Witch of Oz turns my nose pink like a piggy.
Good news she's dead now!

***Ok, sorry saya masih demam tgk Wicked the Musical***

#9 The Pigeons at Pigeon Valley

Still occupying the ancient pigeon holes milik nenek moyang mereka dulu dulu duluuuu

#10 The Unta

Ok, binatang ini busuk gila. lebih busuksss sssss dari stokin saya semasa travelling.
Duk mengunyah2 hapa benda hentah tak tahu tapi mulut penuh buih.
Hampir terkena scarf ku.

Lalu, Wilhemina the Witch sumpah the unta jadi batu... and proud of it.

Well, most of them are cutes, except the smelly camel and the pink nose dog.

While in Ephesus, I think the tour guide talks a bit too much like i know u know everything but can u just tell me the gist of it instead of turning my holiday into a history lecture, plz?

But at least he's not like my idol Miss Carol Beer from Little Britain.

so me being bored snap snap pictures and i bumped this dead little frog.

#11 The Dead Frog-

dearest darlingest katak,

kau mmg mati secara mati katak.

plz R.I.P

That's all for now.

xoxoxoxo,

Jom Sambung Baca...

a Santa Claus shot 8 ppl on Xmas day

California--Dressed as Santa, Bruce Jeffrey Pardo walked up to his ex-in-laws' home in Covina, California, on Christmas Eve and knocked on the door.

Bruce Jeffrey Pardo was sought for a Christmas party shooting before taking his own life, police said.

An 8-year-old girl, elated to see Santa, ran toward the door.

That's when, police say, Pardo lifted a gun and shot her in the face.

Pardo, 45, with a gun in one hand and a wrapped present in the other, began shooting indiscriminately, police said at a news conference Thursday.

He sprayed the living room with bullets.

Police said Thursday afternoon that six bodies had been recovered. The Los Angeles County coroner's office later said two more bodies had been recovered. The names of the victims have not yet been released by authorities.

Source: CNN

wot the hell?THIS IS SO BLOODY CRAZY!

Jom Sambung Baca...

Turkey: Reviewing fellow Travellers

A 12 days trip, was more than enough to let me meet loads of people. And all of them are very interesting. The cultural diversity, and the language barrier, added flavour to the trip. lol.

In the trip, we met some Australians, a handful of Americans, 3 English, and Lots of Asians. and to me, quite frankly, the Asians are the most interesting. Apart from those from Malaysia and Singapore, the Asians that we met were the oriental Asian (and japanese). Whom mostly, speak little English. It was challenging yet interesting to converse with them.

With Robert - An English who decided to leave England because he doesn't quite like the country.

at the Hostel, we met this Japanese Lady (hostel employee), whom didn't speak English at all. But she was sooo Kawaiii (cute), personality wise - she's probably in her 50 - but she speaks like the hyped young Japanese Teenagers. The kind that you'd see in many J-Drama. ki ki ki ^_^

as well as this dude. Probably a born-rich dude. You can basically tell by looking at his Bvlgari necklace and the fact that he's not working but still manage to travel for about 4 months straight. Similarly, he doesn't speak English - but super Zamri managed to save the day. He put his Japanese class on a good use last time. *wink wink*

with the probably born-rich dude and the kawai lady. he he

Korean - are the most of the foreigners that we've met. I grew friendly with Joon, Yunmi & Mi Jyung, and also Rocky (and Mark - of whom I met in London). Yunmi and Mi Jyung are from Germany, Mark is an American, and Rocky was technically everywhere (we're talking Japan, USA, Saudi Arabia, etc here - he lived in all those countries before). I was touched by the fact that Yunmi is on her conquest of studying religion. She is many times better than me, in respect of I might have taken my born-with religion for granted. Hopefully she'll find what she's looking for.

with Joon in a van at Capadocia

Korean Dude A and Korean Dude B

p.s. Yunmi is an photo artist (don't know the term... he he), Mi Jyung is a singer (she was kindda shy about this though), Joon is an IT personnel, Rocky's deal with stock (i think) while Mark is a student. Just some random blabbering again peeps.

Mi Jyung on the left, Yunmi on the right

and finally but most important of all. The Singaporean Malay Family. (alert: attractive girl ahead). First met them in the Blue Mosque, and we bumped into each other for soo many times (every 30 minutes - quite literally). And we even had lunch together. Makcik Badariah was so kind, that she offered us her food. She said "Nak rasa??? Tak yah segan. Anggap macam makcik sendiri je" (wanna try, no need to be shy. You can think of me as your real aunt). How's kind is that!!! *salut to her*

Makcik Badariah on the furthest left, and Uncle Syed sitting next to Zamri

and unluckily, i didn't get to ask for the girl's name or email address. But she's Makcik Badariah's niece, just so you know. Her mom is Indonesian, and her dad (Uncle Syed) is working with the Singapore Airlines.

Dariel, a little malaysian girl from penang. With her dad. She's uber cute!

there were a lot more, but it's 1 a.m. and I seriously need to go to bed. Gonna run to the mall tomorrow. Boxing Day frenzy is about to begin. Enough Said!

Jom Sambung Baca...

New Layout Unveiled ^_^

Hi peeps!
Yup, I think it's time for a new layout for the blog.
A more personal touch, so that tak de la tetiba nnti, kalau blog hopping. Ternampak sedara kembar blog ni plak.
Zamri likes the old layout so much, and I feel bad sebab menukar layout dgn tetiba.
Sorry Zamri! I'll cook you something later kayh...?

I've been working on this new layout for about a month now. Kenapa lama sangat??
Sebab I had zero knowledge on photoshop. Tapi usaha tangga kejayaan.
I've watched numerous youtube photoshop tutorial, and read some articles,
and finally boleh la sket-sket kalo nk pakai photoshop...

the blogger layout???
Digunapakai dari wordpress template, yg diubahsuai jadi blogger template.
nama dia, "WP Premium"

korang boleh tgk live demo kat sini

header picture tu pun, telah di pinjam dari blogskin.com.
live demo kat sini

and finally, dialog dalam bubbles tu, was inspired by my friend's (Atin) photoshop artwork. And sebagai tribute buat beliau, ni nak kasi dia femes sket. Dia ni, memang perangai sgt cute. wakakak. Sorry Atin~