Culturally Preconditioned

Wow.. it seems like it was only yesterday that I made this post on the Must Watch TV Shows of 2006-2007. Heroes was basically the only good call I made last year. Jericho was a great show too, but because of the extra long hiatus over the Christmas period, I quickly lost interest (the show was then cancelled, much to my surprise, but was revived once again when viewers complained about the abrupt cancellation. I might download the rest of Season 1 if I have nothing else to do. I did NOT, however, start watching Brothers & Sisters. It sounded like a borefest, kinda like Touched Like An Angel dramacrap that I just couldn’t be bothered with. For those who’s interested, I think Star World is picking this up soon.

Other shows that I did latch on to based on friends’ recommendations last year. Top Chef - for those who truly love culinary programs, this IS the ultimate show for you. I’m so glad it won an Emmy nomination this year, cause frankly speaking, it deserved to win. It’s new, it’s fresh, not to be confused with Iron Chef, I can only give high praises to this show and hope our local tv stations will pick it up soon. And while we’re on culinary show, on the other side of the spectrum, we have Hell’s Kitchen - a show hosted by the infamous chef Gordon Ramsey. It was only after I picked up the show that 8tv starting showing this on TV. It’s basically a show to watch Chef Ramsey blow his top every single episode.. and even though that was completely delicious to watch, the ‘chefs’ competing in the show is a laugh compared to those on Top Chef.

I also picked up The Class - an ensemble comedy written by some of the writers from the Friends sitcom. I am disappointed that this show was cancelled, because it was one of the very few scripted comedies that made me laugh out loud on more than a few occassions. Although I’m guessing lots of people were feeling it had too much of a Ross-Rachel thing going on. Speaking of Friends, I also watched HBO’s The Comeback - a comedy written using the same format as The Office and 30 Rock, it follows Valerie Cherish (played by the fabulous Lisa Kudrow <3 <3 <3), a failing TV actress trying to make a comeback into show business. Hands down, this was the BEST comedy I've seen this year. And we all know my favorite shows tend to get cancelled.. so it did. Fuck you HBO (and Fuck You for cancelling Carnivale too). Other comedies that I picked up.. well Ugly Betty. It’s camp, it’s loud, it’s very telenovella-ish, and I’m proud to say that I enjoy watching this show.

Okay, after the LONG summer hiatus (which prompted me to watch Big Brother 8, filled with the most despicable cast in the history of television), it’s time to get on with the new shows. Granted that I haven’t really checked all of the schedule (some of the shows will be premiering in January like Amazing Race 12 and Lost - which by the way, you can hate it as much as you want, but Lost Season 3 had the best.ending.ever. compared to the other scripted show), so I’ll just start with what I’m currently watching right now.

Top Chef Season 3

The show is coming to an end - the finale is just around the corner, but this is worth a mention. If I need to replace Survivor and Amazing Race on my tv schedule, this would be the show to do it. The show is fun, there’s drama - but not the kind of forced drama that they shove right into your faces, the cooking competitions are fun to watch, and you’ll get at least 8 or more new recipes weekly. The creativity that the chefs show certainly give an aspiration to fellow culinary lovers everywhere. 10 thumbs up!

Psych - Season 2

I first caught the show while browsing through Astro. It was the series premier (season 1 episode 1). I didn’t know it was a regular tv show as the run time for the episode was almost feature length (at more than 1.5 hours). Regardless, the premier was so funny and wiity, that I immediately downloaded the entire Season 1after watching the first episode on TV. If you haven’t seen this show.. it’s like a comedic CSI. LOL I know that sounds silly, but it’s one of those show where you can just watch and relax and enjoy. (Season 3 will be airing next year)

Heroes - Season 2

Season 2 just premiered earlier this week. And you’d think after all my close encounter of the Heroes cast, I’d be salivating over everything that they churn out. NOT. The premier was fucking disappointing (yes, I’ll call it shit, if I think it is shit). I do love the fact that David Anders is probably going to be one of the regular (I loved him as Sark in Alias, but he brings an almost goody aspect to his character in this show), but the premier was honestly trying to jam so much stuff into our throats. Take a chill pill, why don’t ya. It was messy and I don’t like it.. but is that going to stop me from watching the show? Are you crazy? I just hope the show will pick up soon. Oh and I usually hate spin offs, but Heroes: Origins sounds like something that I will truly enjoy.

Ugly Betty - Season 2

This show continues to amaze me. Perfect balance of drama, humor, mystic, pop culture and conflict. And the season premier.. wow. Excellent is the only way to put it without giving up too many away at this point in time (for those of you who haven’t seen it).

Survivor : China

It’s only been two episiodes, but I have a gut feeling that this will be one of the best seasons yet! I LOVE this season. Maybe it’s due to the fact that it was filmed in China (awesome scenery), or maybe it’s due to the fact that we’re back to having just 16 contestants, and no more of that mumbo jumbo racial quota (that sucked monkey balls, btw). The first two episodes are awesome. Moral dilemmas are raised within the first 5 minutes of the show, when the contestants were asked to join in a Buddhist ceremony (a Christian radio show host politely declined to do it, and frankly speaking, I applaud her for standing what she believes in). The cast shows a lot of promise. But most importantly, I just found out that Todd is a Suckster! OMFG. One of us actually made it on to the show.. and it’s pretty cool that he’s one of the guys I’m rooting for because finding out he was a Suckster in the first place. This is going to be an AWESOME season. (insert obligatory FUCK YOU NTV7 comment right here). My early favorites : Todd, Amanda and James. And I sure hope Zhan Hu self destructs soon. Zhan Hu

Californication - Season 1 (new show!)

A new show on the Showtime network. This show basically focus on a writer (played by David Duchovny) iand his fucked up life in Hollywood. Sounds like a been there, done that, right? Well, wrong. The show is called Californication for a damn good reason, and if I were to sum up the show, it has to be a tostesterone-driven Sex in The City. The comedy is wickedly good, but some friends have commented that this show is catered too much for the male viewers, but I digress. Awesome awesome awesome.

Dirty Sexy Money - Season 1 (new show!)

How can forty minutes of television be so fucking fucked up? Well watch this show and you’ll see how. Two friends recommended this show to me, and boy, am I glad they did! The show is about the ultra rich Darling family, and the family lawyer (played by Peter Krausse of HBO’s Six Feet Under - one of the best shows to ever grace our television) who’s out to handle all these weird socilaite behaviours. It’s hard to explain, but I totally fucking love this show. And the ringtones are a hoot! LOL

The Amazing Race Asia - Season 2 (coming soon!)

Well I was tipped off by one of the contestants, Sophie (watch her video diary), on my blog that she was one of the contestants. From that instant, fellow spoilers have gone totally crazy.. and the good folks at RealityFanForum have searched high and low and provided us the details (and pictures!) of the contestants.

TARA 2 TEAM LIST (courtesy of peach and the rest of the spoiling crew at RFF):

1) Hong Kong: Sophie Teng 27 (writer)/ Aurelia Chenat 24 (former model) former roommates
2) Hong Kong: Monica Lo (former Miss International)/ Edwin Lo (event organizer) dating couple
3) Singapore: Adrian Yap 27 (business manager)/ Colin Low 35 (sales director) gym partners–Adrian is 1st hearing impaired racer
4) Philippines: Rovilson Fernandez / Marc Nelson (TV Hosts)
5) Thailand: Paula Taylor (VJ model)/ Natasha best friends
6) Philipines : Henry Reed (retired US Navy officer)/ Terri (Henry’s wife) husband/wife
7) Indonesia: Brett Money (physiotherapist, Jakarta)/ Kinar Yosih (actress/model)
8) Japan: Daichi /Sawaka Kawashima formerly estranged brother/sister
9) Malaysia: Ann/Dianne not seen in photograph (dancing mums)
10) Malaysia: Vanessa/Pamela Chong (sisters of Malaysian reality TV song winner Victor Chong)

I believe this show will start sometime in Novermber, so it looks like we’re going to have TARA2 before TAR12 comes on air in January/February.

SOUR GRAPE ALERT :

Okay, someone tell me what’s the point of having TWO female/female teams from Malaysia? I mean congrats and all for making it onto the show, but seriously? Are they out to make sure that no male/male team wins this year? I truly question the casting folks decisions. Regardless, I will probably end up rooting for them anyway (especially the dancing mom team). And HELLO?? Where are all the fatties? Don’t you know that FATTIES RULE ALL?? I swear to god, this is totally MACTOR CENTRAL (Model+Actor), and I can’t help but think that you have a killer bod or at least become a celebrity to get onto this show. I pray this is not the thing that will kill this show. Can you tell the casting is becoming more and more Americanized? What happened to casting real folks who are real fans of the show? Can you tell that I’m a bitter fatty cunt, right now? LOL And urgh.. just reading this from one of the articles make me sick :

“Monica is an actress who won the Miss Chinese International title in 1997, while event organiser Edwin has been nicknamed ‘Drama King’ by hisfriends. The pair are already calling themselves the ‘Rob and Amber’ of The Amazing Race Asia.

Edwin and Monica have declared the teams from the first season of The Amazing Race Asia to be boring, adding they’ll ‘bring heat and excitement to the viewers’ and make Season Two ‘a better show’.”

Urgh. We don’t need a fucking Asian Romber. And if this is any indication on how the rest of the teams are going to be.. well.. I’ll still watch the show, but they may rival the Big Brother 8 folks in terms of mediawhoreness. Playing it to the camera to instill forced drama <<<<<<<< SHIT STAINED UNDERWEAR.

That said, if any of you racers are reading this, chill out. I’m pretty sure I’ll say the same thing if I was on the show too, no, I’m pretty sure I’ll say worse things than that. So look out for the Amazing Race Asia 2 - coming to you in November on AXN-Asia!

Well, the Meet and Greet pictures were finally emailed to me yesterday. Better late than never, I guess. I was quite bummed that we weren’t able to take photos using our own personal cameras (*cough* unlike certain people.. you know who you are *cough*), but these are pretty good nonetheless.

That’s me and Greg Grunberg. I’ve always loved him as Sean from Felicity (one of the best dramas ever), and from his role in Alias. He was also one of the reasons why I initially tuned in to Lost, cause I knew he was going to be in it. Alas, his character was fucking killed in the pilot episode (ironcally, he was the pilot in that pilot episode). But it all turned out for the better for him in this ensemble. In person, he was as great as I thought he would be. So, that was kind of awesome meeting him. The next picture is of me and Ali, who looks even more beautiful in person.

Apparently, there was no photos of me with Masi Oka.. probably because I was the first in line and the cameramen weren’t ready (that, and Masi looked bored the entire time he was in Singapore). Sendhil sounded like a polite American. That. is. all. And here’s the group pictures of the winners and the cast, which turned out.. not too bad, I guess.

Like I said, I was very disappointed that we were shunned out from the press conference that was held immediately afterwards. But it comforts me to know that the PC wasn’t all that informative and privvy of something that I don’t already know (anggur masam). This next group photo was taken at the Fans Event later that day at the Vivo Shopping Mall. That was quite fun. Here’s a picture of the media folks plus the staff from Star World and Channel [V]. That’s me flanked by three celebrities - Joey G, Zabrina and the awesome Klubkidd himself!

Urghh the fucking RENT T-shirt again!! Oh and here’s a picture from my album of a fan during the Fans Event. Wish I had thought of doing something like this.. so cool! I bet she’s gonna make it on the show. Oh they’re gonna show this Singapore World Tour coverage on Channel [V]’s Poparazzi show next week.. but .. ummm… there’s nothing on there that you haven’t already seen.. so umm.. avoid switching to Channel [V] next week at all costs. Umm.. okay thanks.

HEROES : GENERATIONS is returning in 10 days, people!!

So it’s the first day of Ramadan, the holy month in the Islamic calendar. I should probably try to cuss less.. but it’s painfully hard.. especially when I just bought a Briyani Kambing for RM6 that consists of a 3/4 filled container full of rice (no flavours at all), no side acars, and one tiny piece of lamb meat the size of a fucking tablespoon. It is so beyond pathetic it’s not even funny. I mean, I know people are doing this Pasar Ramadan business once a year, but the level of CEKIK DARAHness is beyond belief. Some more, kasi malu je kat brand Briyani Batu Pahat. And that little tiny thing was uncooked!!!!! I’ve lived there before okay, and this was a disgrace. P*#&% betul. I’m not gonna say which Pasar Ramadan this was from, but it’s definitely one I won’t be frequenting this year. Tempat orang kaya-kaya je ni.. aku ni kayap. And tengok… hilang pahala posa aku.. but that definitely needs to be said.

I keep telling myself over and over and over again, year in year out that I’m not gonna spend a lot when I go to Pasar Ramadans… but what can you do? The temptation is just too damn much! Breaking fast here in Malaysia is .. well.. uniquely Malaysian! The array of food.. the many many choices.. omg. I really hope Boo will do her regular rounds of Pasar Ramadan reviews this year. Hate to say it, but most of the time, I will end up spending more this month on food than I do on regular months. Kinda defeats the purpose of the holy month, huh? Alah… mengaku je la.. we are all guilty of that sometimes LOL. And don’t even get me started on Ramadan buffets (although thankfully, I’ve managed to mostly stay away from that last year). Okay okay.. self control. Gotcha.

Sometimes I wish I was back in the UK. Back then, I did break fast under moderation. Most of the times, it was just eating a date and some fruits during the lectures (we broke fast around 3-4 pm). Even when I wasn’t having a lecture that day, I never did remember breaking fast lavishly.. my favourites were just some plain grilled cheddar on toast, or even better yet, toasts with serunding daging from back home. I just could not be arsed to cook stuff up during the fasting month. I even remember waking up at 1 pm.. and I was like.. “whoopsies.. only 2 more hours till berbuka puasa” and hit the snooze button. LOL what a lazy cunt I was. (still am, btw)

But yeah, I don’t know why I didn’t eat as much back then. Malas ke.. takde appetite ke.. who knows. But my theory is the lack of variety of food that’s readily available for me to eat. Hmm.. maybe that’s why I’m 20 kilos heavier now that I’m back in Malaysia. Bastard! Well, you can’t win it all.

On another note, tomorrow will be my last day working in KLCC! No more joining the rat race for me! Woohoo! But I am a little sad about it though, cause it means no more popping down to the movies immediately after work to catch the latest C-grade horror movies at TGV (by the way.. you should all watch Train of the Dead, and Black Sheep.. both F-grade horror movies, but will come across as an A-grade comedy.. sadly, unintentionally), no more popping down to Kinokuniya whenever I’m bored and no more just hanging out at the many many coffee joints whenever I feel like it.

Goodbye KLCC! Farewell!

oh.. and I will miss most of my colleagues too. Toodles.

I’ve never been into anniversaries. Anniversaries are deemed irrelevant by me. I don’t see a point in celebrating anniversaries, which is why I haven’t bothered celebrating my own birthday for over a decade now. Seriously. True story. The only birthdays that I remember are that of my parents, my 4 sisters, my brother, my OJ and my KC. I can’t be arsed to remember others.. not my grandparents, not my aunts or uncles, not my in-laws, not my 15 nephews and nieces, not my colleagues, not my friends.

But it’s no excuse to miss out on August 31st. It sucked that I missed Malaysia’s 50th Independence Day, but it was nice to see fellow Singaporeans and Indonesians wishing me “Merdeka!” while I was attending the Heroes Meet & Greet last Friday down in Singapore. Even though I wasn’t back on my homeland (wah.. bunyi macam ada kat Antartika je), it still gave me warm little fuzzies.

When I got back to my hometown in JB the next day, I was pleasantly surprised when my mother showed me this coffee table book :

Finally, some sort of recognition to Tok Ngah, my grand uncle who created the Malaysian flag back in 1949. I missed all the technical details, but I think this book was published by Kerajaan Johor and some Malaysian historical society. I’m not even sure if this book is available for sale yet. The book contains a lot of interesting tidbits on how the national flag came about, how the Arkib Negara refused to acknowledge who the creator was because of the lack of proof (until they were unearthed just recently), and some background on Tok Ngah, that I myself had not known previously (did you know, he also created the Habhal kicap cap kipas udang logo? among other things, of course )

Apparently, there was a ‘contest’ of some sort, calling out for designs for the Persekutuan Tanah Melayu flag back then, and over 300 designs was accepted. 3 of them were shortlisted (pictures are in the book, I don’t think I could put it on here because of possible copyright issues) and Tok Ngah’s design was ultimately the one chosen (after a few amendments after his discussions with Datuk Onn Jaafar).

I’m glad that some form of recognition has finally been given to Tok Ngah, even though he is now long gone. Major kudos goes to all the journalists and everyone involved in bringing together this missing piece of our national history to be shared with the rest of the nation.