Pakatan's survival rests on High Chapparal issue.

A visit at Lim Kit Siang's blog today shows the contrast of support compared with days of March 8 euphoria. His recent posts, especially with ends bashing of the PKFZ scandal and the High Chapparral controversy shows maximum 30+ comments compared with up to hundreds of comments (maybe even up to 1k) in height of issues such as Teresa Kok's arrest under ISA (322 responses). Yesterday it has been reported that Kedah DAP has quit the Pakatan govt over the illegal pig abbatoir issue. With today's headlines reporting PAS Youth and UMNO Youth having dialogue together, it is obvious Pakatan voters especially those who loathed UMNO already felt betrayed and stabbed in the back. Dillusionment and apathy have already set in for people like me who have already casted the ballot last March 8th.

Within months ago, Barisan National was in such state of shambles that it was only a matter of time for Pakatan to finish them off in the next General Elections. Alas as it stands, Pakatan has not shown sufficient proof that it could govern differently than Barisan. PAS shows their true colours for being a chamaleonic party like their much despised arch-rivals UMNO. In Selangor, the party is hell bent on banning liquor sale and in issues such as Rulers postponement of Conversion discussions and Najib's scrapping of 30% bumiputra equity ownership, voices from Hadi and PAS Youth has shown strong support for Bumi rights obviously not heard since pre-March 8th. So much for PAS supposed motto "PAS for all".

The damning verdict in on Lim Guan Eng who still behaves like an Opposition Leader instead of a Chief Minister, showing much of his incompetence in the High Chapperal issue. It is true the State Government is walking quite a tightrope, by buying High Chapperal out the state government will set dangerous precedent for rakyat's taxmoney to be held ransom by developers but then when Guan Eng and DAP made promises to those folks over there before March 8th, they should have figured out already how to solve the issue! Amazingly despite governing a State, Guan Eng chose a convenient way out of skirting his state administration's inadequecies by passing the buck to former CM Kok Tsu Koon.

Is it so difficult to figure that if Pakatan does their job well governing the remaining four states with less pointing the finger at Federal Government and less internal bickering should they take over whole Malaysia in next General Elections, the bloody buggers can do whatever the fuck they like? With Pakatan wielding federal power over the whole country, people like Lim Kit Siang can then make heads really roll by persecuting the buggers responsible for the whole PKFZ fiasco instead of whining in the Parliament incessently and jack shit happens. Now momentum is already lost and should Guan Eng allow the developers to evict the High Chapperal settlers, he has already set precedent for Pakatan's waterloo in the next General Elections, not just in Penang. Woe the day rakyat loses faith on 3rd class politicians of both sides.

No Country for Old Men

"Badass" is an underwhelming description for that hairdo

Here is a little warning if you haven't watch this movie. This isn't a SLASHER FLICK ala Friday teh 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, Terminator, Predator etc although in this movie Javier Bardem's Chigurh character would've dispatched most of baddies mentioned with his airgun and not bat an eyelid (hell, even "badass" is an understatement for this villian). If you hate indie movies with passion, then NCFOM (acronym for this movie) is a typical award-winning fare that critics love and Transformers-loving teenyboopers would wince if shown to them in a detention class. Have I spared you two hours?

The first ten minutes would have lulled majority of Malaysian movie goers either into sleep or leaving the cinema for good. Camera panning into distance of a desolate landscape, virtually dialogue free activity focusing on Josh Brolin's character who is hunting on a desert. He finds two million dollars in a suitcase on site of a massacre. Brolin finds the money and buggers off, but then returns to the place where he found them. Back there was a dying old man who needs a sip of water. Lesson of the day: Never take what isn't yours or even if you do, leave and never turn back. Moss got found and what is worse is not a bunch of raging Mexicans after his ass, but a hired assasin with a seriously whack hairdo. In the movie also, a Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) is assigned to track Moss down and to protect his wife Carla Jean (Kelly McDonald) but on screen he may be seemed a pretty useless character who laments increasing violence in his good town and "lack of old manners" that is much different than "back in good old days". What is the use of a whining, toothless sheriff who pretty much impotent in this movie? He doesn't even meet Chigurh in the whole duration of the film (or almost) but that would do little to spoil the movie, relax.

The movie will snap sense onto your head when it reaches the credits. This is also where most people at this point will cry "Bullshit". NCFOM is a movie that demands repeated viewings in order to piece together things that doesn't make sense at first viewing. The movie's main themes centres most on free-will and predestination of fate, or rather also how we respond to inevitability of things, such as force of evil. Chigurh is a fascinating character, much like Joker in The Dark Knight who has their own "integrity" and code of conduct and has no history of injustice or abuse that justifies the character. Whereas Joker's "story" of how he got his scars are most likely mere fantasy, Chigurh is incorruptible in his pursuit that even if Moss hands him back the million dollars he will still blow his brains out with his airgun. The only way Chigurh's target could survive if he himself offers to toss a coin in deciding the fate of his victim.

Also without spoiling the movie since Chigurh represents Death in this movie, the characters such as Moss also represents how we deal with it. Some choose to continue weasel their way out, even knowing that running away is futile. Some prepares for Death and makes no apology for whatever manner that may lead it to them. In any case, you don't need to be an artsy critic in order to appreciate this movie. Still if you're renting this, watching Bardem's character with that bad hairdo walking about with his airgun still kicks ass.

Quit being a retard, Muhiyiddin.

Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin gave a speech in light of recent by-election defeats in Bukit Gantang and Bukit Selambau. In a rencana interview by Utusan's Mingguan Malaysia tabloid, the DPM said the Chinese voters have duped BN despite millions of ringgit given to the community for development and they were tidak mengenang budi (ungrateful). Muhiyiddin later lambasted the Chinese press for supposedly twisting his words in that interview.

"I think it's the Chinese papers. I don't know. I don't read Chinese but I got people who reported to me and they (the Chinese dailies) twisted my statement," he said. He also denied saying the Chinese were ungrateful in the interview. "No, no (I didn't say ungrateful). Did you read my Bahasa (Malaysia)? Even (deputy education minister) Wee Ka Siong knows Bahasa. "In Bahasa, I said 'seolah-olah tak menghargai' (‘They seemed to be unappreciative'). You have to read the whole context. Don't pick up just like that," he said. He also appeared to be annoyed with reporters who continued to pester him on the issue. "If you don't understand Bahasa, I can send you to school to understand it." He said that his language in the interview was "very clear and straight" and there was no way it could be twisted. "When you start twisting the whole thing, it puts me in sort of a bad light among the Chinese community," he said.

Muhyiddin unfortunately looked as if has a low-IQ capacity in his lame attempt to defend or sidetrack the remarks he made. Following is the full interview posted here on Utusan Online, HERE.



What is even more disturbing here is that the whole interview smacks of xenophobia ala Hitler who ascended to power by making Jews scapegoats for "corruption" of Germany. The headline entitled Kuasa penentu Melayu hilang jika terus berpecah had Muhiyiddin opined that the minorities (Chinese and Indians) knew they're kingmakers in the elections and warns Malay race that they will turn into a minority if they keep rejecting UMNO in next upcoming elections. These minorities are deceitful people who applauds when BN delivers millions of ringgit in development but then snubs their contribution when it comes to votes, hence they're ungrateful bastards.

If the Chinese press are to be blamed for taking his remarks out of context, here is an actual quote from Utusan website, word by word:

"Saya fikir paling jelas terbukti masyarakat Cina dan India belum bersedia menerima apa-apa bentuk pimpinan kerajaan yang seperti ada sekarang ini, lebih lagi agak terlalu menonjol ialah terhadap apa yang berlaku di Perak itu sendiri. Sesetengah masyarakat di sana, melihat ia dari sudut yang rasis, kerajaan orang Cina ditumbangkan oleh kerajaan orang Melayu walaupun tanggapan itu tidak betul.

Mungkin mereka tidak berapa jelas cara dari sudut Perlembagaan dan peraturan, maka mereka melihat apa yang berlaku sebagai satu bentuk menolak hak majoriti rakyat, mereka mahu kerajaan dipilih seperti pilihan raya lepas."

It is apparent from my understanding that he remarked the minority voters who rejected BN are not educated enough to understand the workings of the law and Constitution.

"Tetapi bukankah setiap kali pilihan raya kecil, permintaan kaum bukan Melayu dipenuhi, malah di Bukit Gantang walaupun peruntukan RM1juta diberikan tetapi kaum Cina tidak juga menyokong BN?

MUHYIDDIN: Ya, kadang-kadang kita berasa terpedaya juga kerana zahirnya nampak macam 'ok', sambutan dengan tepukan gemuruh tetapi mungkin sudah ada tertanam dalam hati iaitu sesuatu tidak mudah hendak berubah, pokoknya masalah isu Perak terutamanya di kalangan masyarakat Cina yang mungkin telah dipengaruhi dengan sentimen simpati kepada Datuk Seri Ir.Mohamad Nizar Jamaluddin, kononnya dia 'dijatuhkan', lepas itu kononnya dasar memberi pegangan tanah selama 99 tahun dilihat dasar yang menguntungkan.

Ini yang mungkin menyebabkan sukar BN mendapat sokongan walaupun kita fikir bila mereka hendak sekolah Cina dibantu, kita bantu, sepatutnya mereka membalas budi. Pada waktu itu, kita pun tidak berharap sokongan kaum Cina akan meningkat 40 peratus dan sebagainya cuma kita berharap ada peningkatan sedikit tetapi apa yang berlaku ia mencatatkan penurunan, macam tidak ada penghargaan terhadap apa yang kita lakukan."

Note also Muhyiddin repeatedly said these words were twisted out of context, as if it existed in the first place! Furthermore he add, much to his annoyance of reporters who kept pestering him that "If you don't understand Bahasa, I can send you to school to understand it." and he said that his language in the interview was "very clear and straight". His modus operandi to deny his prejudice now is to retort to the interpreter that his/her command of B.M is weak. Amazing, isn't it? Those Chinese reporters probably didn't even get a simple credit in their B.M paper in SPM! Blame those illiterate, ungrateful, deceitfully conniving reporters!

It goes to show Najib hasn't learned from the mistake of his predecessor Pak Lah "Work with me not work for me" Badawi's cakap lain serupa bikin attitude. His deputy's xenophobic views contradicts his 1Malaysia blueprint vision. But then again, we all know its a fucking facade of lies since this PM made a statement back when he was UMNO Youth leader in early 80s that he will bathe Chinese people's blood in keris. We all know BN's same old modus operandi for winning votes in by-elections; talk about national unity, promise development to non-Malay voters while talking dirty about pendatang and how they're usurping the rights of bumiputeras to Malay voters.

As consolation to haters of BN, they have not learnt their lesson! I suppose the lack of I.Q content by leaders such as Muhyiddin is a good thing. They are still clueless about why non-Malay voters were ungrateful to them?! Use those time and money you're going to spend on "feedback" on more productive things, like going to fucking Disneyland on context of "lawatan sambil belajar" (credit to Khir Toyol). As Malaysiakini put it aptly quoting a popular saying, “Fool me once, shame on you but fool me twice, shame on me!". Voters aren't going to be fooled thrice and elect this retard as the Prime Minister of this country.

I don't buy the Earth Hour claptrap

Freaking rant.

I initially wanted to join the whole Earth Hour claptrap until at eleventh hour the whole BS to me is just appalling when the fact struck me that event feels as hollow as celebrating Valentines Day. Most of the "celebrities" and people who are psyched by this event are probably hypocrites when it comes to doing real energy conservation.

For instance at 7.10 p.m someone I know someone from college sent me yet another SMS telling me to switch off lights at 8:30 till 9:30 p.m to "save planet earth" when this guy at college goes off to lunch everytime leaving the goddamn air-cond on in the practice room. His excuse? Cool down his instrument in order to preserve the pitch. >_>

Then I read in NST Zainal Abidin says he will switch off the lights in his house at 8:30 p.m then will spend the whole time doing BBQ with his family.

Thats like a crook saying he's giving up robbing banks and go raping women instead. You switch off lights and use CHARCOAL to fucking grill meat during the hour?

And as usual those hotels and reputable corporations are using the whole Earth Hour shit for cheap publicity, no need to deny them. Corporate responsibility my fucking ass. Announce loudly in newspapers your offices will switch off power completely or "non-essential lights" for that hour. Then rest of the freaking year your company would use 10 times more energy than a normal company would do eg: CEOs who drive petrol guzzling Jaguars, Mercedes or SUVs (hell worse, those who have private jets for Chrissakes). Companies who bulldozes forests and shoo away natives to build exclusive bunglos for the rich. Companies whose factories emit enough carbon to rival those in Beijing. List goes on.

Then shopping malls, hotels, etc are celebrating Earth Hour by inviting artists to perform in a candlelight or "low-powered", "unplugged" concert, organizing candlelit dinners, bla bla and naturally patrons will switch off lights at home and travel there with...petrol powered vehicles. Pointless exercise again unless you're one of the patrons who either take LRT, cycle or walk. Then you're getting a cookie from me at least.

You want to do your part in "saving earth"? First do watch Al gore's film "An Inconvenient Truth" regardless your political affliations or if you think Gore is a pretentious freaking liberal. Use air cond only when its absolutely necessary, even better if you're sleeping at night switch air-cond only for three hours then switch off and use electric fan for remaining night, like what I read in the paper. Minimize use of A4 papers, better use digital softcopy to submit your assignments. Try refuse plastic bags offered in supermarkets, if you do make sure they're recycled. Use containers whenever you tapau/takeaway cap fan, kai fun or whatever since polestrene is evil (which I'm struggling because polestrene is also convenient, but we all try). Whatever helpings you take in buffet, finish them or else smuggle your leftovers out for your dog to finish. The organizers will dump their foie gras, oysters, sashimis into the garbage bin anyways.

And of course, don't brag out loud to everyone you're a "green" hippy. Nobody will give you a medal for your efforts to conserve earth. Don't be like PETA hippies and make our lives miserable. Preach what you want, but don't shove them down their throats.

REC - Blair Witch meets George Romero?

Nothing kicks ass like a good workout for the heart. Um, not by normal cardiac workout. What constitutes one is a good jolt of kick by getting thrilled or scared the bejeezus out of your ass. I always thought the video game medium is more scarier than movies when it comes to deliver good scares. You name it; Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Fatal Frame series. Instead of scares being delivered by whims and from a fixed perspective set by a so-called director who supposedly knows how to deliver the goods, most of the time its a let down. Not so in an interactive horror game - explore the vast but unseen heavily misted stretches in the woods or claustrophobic, dark often very-very dimly lit corridors in a abandoned storehouse/mansion/apartment/etc? The gamer is given free will to get jolted in different ways possible, either from getting chased by a tyrant with a hugeass chainsaw/hammer or risk getting gang-raped by a horde of zombies.

Not to say the film medium is totally flawed. I've seen really good films that even made me switch on lights to sleep at night after watching it; Ju-On series, The Shining, Blair Witch to name a few. The really good movie experience is akin to being chained on a chair being forced to watch a live corpse being dissected to its bare bones. REC is but one example.

The makers of this film doesn't give you any pretentious bullshit, hence you won't find anything groundbreaking or "original" to top Blair Witch Project the film that gave birth to "first-person documentary" style of filming. There is no room for "plot development" and all characters basically whine and yell at each other most of the time. Hence I do not understand stupid critics who denigrates this film based on those criterias, like the one from Variety: http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117934528.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

Premise of plot is simple, no need for fancy side-stories about a protagonist's hidden secret past or an excuse for a stupid sex scene (typical in slasher movies) despite the fact the female protagonist is hot. Female reporter covers a typical day of a firefighter for a weekly documentary, which leads her and cameraman to an apartment after a distress call about an old lady getting stuck in an apartment. Over there, shit happens when the old lady attacks one of the policemen, then in an attempt to secure help the apartment is sealed off by authorities fearing an epidemic outbreak. The reporter and cameramen, trapped with fireman, a camera-phobic cop and distressed tenants have to find a way out of there while things in the apartment is getting ugly.

This movie is seriously only Blair Witch with zombies. Thus if you have watched it before, the good thing it retained is the indie-feel, real budget film making and quality without fancy shit like CGI, orchestra and fancy lighting. While Blair Witch is basically the fear of what we cannot see, REC basically ramp things up with that plus the fear with things we can see, hence the zombies.

And why did I mentioned video games in first paragraph? The penthouse as you will see later in the film is an obvious homage to the Resident Evil and Silent Hill. Only gamers will understand what I mean and I don't think that would spoil the sheer awesomeness of this movie. The only flaw is that the movie is too short. I thought the last 10 minutes could be stretched a little more. But then that would be too much of a good thing to finally give way to an actual heart attack. It is that terrifying.

As usual if a horror movie from a non-Hollywood scores big by satiating the lust of screen masochists, its guaranteed for a remake - from Hollywood. However it is also an unwritten rule that a superior remake is like finding speck of gold in Saharan desert. So if you come across the title "Quarantine" but have yet to watch this movie for Chrissakes give it a pass. Even if reading subtitle is a chore, its just a little chore compared to ruining yourself watching an inferior Hollywood remake. Best experienced lights off, after midnight, maximum effect; alone.

Kinta 1881 - full of promise, but ultimately tanked.

Do not be deceived by the sheer coolness of this poster. You're better off spared your RM 10 and 90 minutes of your time.

What pulled me to watch this first ever local produced martial arts flick was a review in The Star written by if not mistaken, S.B Toh. It was one of the most well-written review I have ever read and the writer commented that it is essentially a Testosterone-charged movie just like 300 where as soon as you finish the movie you will rush to join a monastery and endure masochistic workout regime for hell of it. After watching it is safe to say I have NEVER been conned by a reviewer ever in my life. Heck in fact I won't be surprised if the writer is paid to seriously write a fucking damn good review like that to lure The Star readers watching that movie. Holy shite.

I do not want to diss a local effort like that even if it falls short of my expectations. The fight scenes are frankly lame, with terrible editing and moves that looked too scripted and unconvincing. That is okay. Screenplay is a total mess with some scenes that are 3-4 minutes long actually RECYCLED in flashbacks and the betrayal by one of the main lead characters still baffled me by the end of the movie and I do not understand why. I can endure that. What freaking pisses me off are the amateurish script writing and usage of terrible cliches that should've died in B-movie martial arts films made in 80s.

To start one, I suppose ALL the voices you hear are dubbed to the film that the actors acted out. That means they read the script and recorded in the studio so its obvious that whenever Patrick Teoh speaks he sounds like he's been dubbed by somebody else. The numerous groans during the fight scenes are reminiscent of Malay-dubbed Anime we're accustomed to. WTF.

The way the story unravels feels like you're watching a school play. No kidding Sherlock. We're told the main protagonists along with the mine workers are exploited and it just happens they realised it when one day eating dinner the dish ain't different from what they had for the past few weeks (supposedly) and one of those folks couldn't take it. (insert cliche) "We have to do something about it!" Then the main baddie in the movie Patrick Teoh after hearing their grouses decided to dispatch his henchmen and eliminate the miners.

So the entire dormitory the tin miners were staying burned to ground and the surviviors scampered away to the woods. They were found by Malay villagers and were nursed back to health by women clad only in sarong. Here, the protagonists endure several flashbacks which most of the time were tedious to sit through. Typically there are several love stories which was godawful including one which involves Patrick Teoh's daughter having a crush with Tiger, one of the protagonists. I felt like giving a bitchsmack to that actress and her gwaimui friend for their "partnership" atrocious enough to win a Razzie award. The way she introduced uncle Tin Sok (the uncle who takes care of the miners) was excruciating; "Meet my uncle Tin Sok, he's in charge of the miners" "Oh, Tin Sok? Tin Sok?" replies the gwaimui in awe. You might be forgiven that so-called British lady is actually some Belgian who doesn't speak any word of English >_> Another protagonist fell in love with a mute girl whom her dad was brutally murdered by the baddies. Here's a question. Before the old man was murdered, he left a letter asking anyone who read it to take care of his poor, defenceless mute daughter. One of the protagonists picked it up. Did the old man actually included a passport-size photograph? You tell me.

The only saving grace of the movie is the cinematography. Yes, considering the same guy made "Three Generations" featuring Amber Chia which I assume is a total dud not worth my time anyway. One of the fight scenes involves in a Ipoh limestone cave and the shots were gorgeous. Not to mention the murder of the mute girl's dad is actually the highlight of the film, from how the spear went through his neck which was graphic and how he was hanged. Too bad the fight scenes didn't look as cool as that.

Kinta 1881 had a climatic fight inside a cage which is an exhibitionist match arranged by Patrick Teoh to select new Head in charge of the tin mine. Now the fight scenes here are much more realistic compared to rest of the lot earlier on. Not surprisingly the movie ends abruptly in an anti-climatic manner. What does it leave us?

Judging from the hype and the way the film is promoted, I won't be surprised if the producers recouped the money from making this film. I am actually looking forward for another local martial arts movie as long as C.L Hor stays out of it, even if he's very capable of shooting beautiful scenary and gorgeous shots. Thailand, whom we Malaysians snobbed as a less developed country than us has more than just Ong Bak flick to boast to the world. We have long, long way to go.

The Hulk remake is just as shite as Ang Lee's original

With Edward Norton injecting lifeline into the Hulk "regeneration" movie, nothing can go wrong. Oooopppsss...another experimental failure.

The new Hulk movie by Marvel (yes Marvel has their own movie studio) promised to make viewers forget about the melodramatic tedium of Ang Lee's original. Even better they assigned Edward Norton to be the lead! Yes, the guy who acted in American History X and Fight Club. Finally this is the real deal, sonny - not.

The movie is much faster paced than the ponderous original, yes action scenes are relentless especially the factory showdown and the fight between Hulk and Abomination which was nail-biting I have to admit. However director Louis Leterrier's credits which includes Jet Li's Unleashed and Jason Statham's Transporter series looked capable of producing only MTV-catered B-movie action films only. Therefore that explains character and plot development which was fucking pitiful.

Apparently the director decided to shift all the backstory about how Dr. Bruce Banner was turned into Hulk into the freaking original opening credits! It looked like Marvel is taking exorcism of Ang Lee's tedium melodrama too seriously. So if the original was trying to have too much soul, this remake is void of it. When you're not empathizing with Edward Norton despite the ordeals and trouble he is undergoing as Dr Bruce Banner, something is terribly wrong. The army is chasing his ass all over Brazil at one scene yet I've never felt so indifferent over a lead character before.

The CGI is no different than Ang Lee's original Hulk. Yes the Hulk remake looked more chiselled and enormous strength in muscles but if there is a little compliment Ang Lee's Hulk looked like a freaking CGI cartoon while Leterrier's Hulk looked like its ripped from Warcraft III. The big fight between Hulk and Abomination is bloody intense but if this were shown amongst other videos in E3 or other gaming conventions, it looks like a PS3 demonstration. When Hulk and Abomination were crashing and flying through buildings the background textures lost its photorealism and the differences between two minutes previously was like night and day.

Hulk doesn't suck so bad like a typical (insert_______) Movie or a Uwe Boll trash you'll mourn for the loss of at least one and a half hours but what is pitiful is the terrible waste of acting talents such as Edward Norton and Liv Tyler. I thought both had great chemistry as a couple but the script had let them down. Now terrific action movies such as Bourne trilogy or Die Hard shows that a decent script with decent character and plot development makes a kickass popcorn flick, not this shallow comic-book CGI tedium.