Curry Neh ~ Namewee & Karen Kong (Nasi lemak 2.0)

all of a sudden, all my social media feeds are flooded about this nasi lemak 2.0 movie. like, from all directions. so, ya’ll know what they say about word of mouth advertising, rite? so off i went to buy a ticket and i was NOT disappointed. CK and i both agreed, BEST MOVIE ALL YEAR, man! beats all those million dollar hollywood movies in the ass! mesti tengok, lepas tu, mesti beli DVD yang ori. the movie is THAT brilliant!

 

Someone just offered to consult me on how to use a system, without realising that I designed and wrote the manual for that system.

 

There are nearly seven billion people on this planet. Each one unique. Different. What are the chances of that? And why? Is it simply biology, physiology that determines this diversity? A collections of thoughts, memories, experiences that carve out our own special place? Or is it something more than this? Perhaps there’s a master plan that drives the randomness of creation. Something unknowable that dwells in the soul, and presents each one of us with a unique set of challenges that will help us discover who we really are… We are all connected. Joined together by an invisible thread, infinite in its potential and fragile in its design. Yet while connected, we are also merely individuals. Empty vessels to be filled with infinite possibilities. An assortment of thoughts, beliefs. A collection of disjointed memories and experiences. Can I be me without this? Can you be you? And if this invisible thread that holds us together were to sever, to cease, what then? What would become of billions of lone, disconnected souls? Therein lies the great quest of our lives. To find. To connect. To hold on. For when our hearts are pure, and our thoughts in line, we are all truly one. Capable of repairing our fragile world, and creating a universe of infinite possibilities. ~ Heroes

gosh, the last few days… wait, days? must be like a week in already that i have been feeling like i have just been run over by a locomotive powered by a coal fed steam engine. i want to say that it is the weather. hm. it probably is the weather. the haze and the rain, then there’s the haze and its dry and hot and suddenly rainy, oh, and did i mention the haze? damn the haze, man.

been diving into a bunch of things lately. lots of artsy fartsy stuff. trying to get creative and expressive and widen my world view. mingling with a bunch of new people. good things, mostly. and some that are just too weird and i’m still trying to find something funny to say about them. but hey, the good or the bad of the experience, does not matter. a new experience is a new experience and i think i’ve learnt more in the last month or so, than i have in a long time without needing a passport. heh.

i guess the most important thing about this entire experience of starting a bunch of new experiences (let’s see how many times you got to re-read that) is that i am building some personality, i guess, outside my workplace and certainly outside my comfort zone. at the very least, i can say with right out conviction that i got a life outside the office. at least for now. and i don’t know how imma come out of this, or even if i get out of all this even, but for now, i’m gonna paddle the wave, and catch the next surf.

cowabungga, baby!

 

La Dama Y La Muerte

 

The mish mash Frankenstein-esque birthday cake, and I really wouldn’t have it any other way! :)

i think this whole revolution… well, if you can call it a revolution lah… of not buying a whole cake, and just managable slices of cake instead in different occasions, is pretty much damn right phenomenal. all these slices represent a collection of friends and intimate gatherings, and they’re all a part of this celebration. put all the slices together and i’m blessed with one patchwork cake. beautiful. gorgeous even. and far more interesting than one cake in one occasion.

its been a great start to the year, guys.

 

JABBERWOCKY ~ Lewis Carroll (from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, 1872)

‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought–
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! and through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
He chortled in his joy.

‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

 

Alma (corto animado/short film animated)

 

There are many ways to define our fragile existence. Many ways to give it reason. But it is our memories that shape its purpose and give it context. A private assortment, of images, fears, loves, regrets. We alone choose the importance of each. Building our own unique histories one memory at a time. Hoping the ones we choose to remember don’t betray or trap us. For it is the cruel irony of life that we are destined to hold the dark with the light, the good with the evil. That is what separates us, makes us human. And in the end, what we must fight to hold on to. ~ Heroes

 

Something tells me that I might be in for several attempts of sorts this evening. Must remember to bring an umbrella with me when I go out. Damn, should have worn black pants.

 

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, folks!

 

You thought the cheesecake story is OVER? Well that is before the OREO CHEESECAKE experiement happened!!

tuan-tuan dan puan-puan sekalian, i present to you, the oreo cheesecake! seriously, this one happened just as an accident because, well, i was constrained by time when i decided to do this cake. also, my loyal assistant just happened to used the batu lesung (i kid you not!) to crush the oreo biscuits to powdered smithereens and that it why the cake looks cement mix.

oh tetapi resultnya sangat surprisingly delicious ok! excellent consistency, one of the most solid so far (yes, i have had those that deflated on me :P) and my testers absolutely loved it sampai they cannot stop eating it. oreos yang hancur sampai habuk blended so well with the cheese that the cake turned out so smooth. i had to pause them from all the slicing so i can snap the picture.

ok lah, lepas in nak quit my job and bukak kedai lah.

 

Those of you following my Twitter would have been reading about my cheesecake adventures for the past week or so. Here’s the cheese about the cake!

the actual fact that it is a cheesecake is an utter coincidence. i don’t have an oven, you see, so i was scouting for things i could do that did not involve baking. not like i’m absolutely crazy about sieving flour and measuring cups and all that ding dongs anyway. so when a chilled no-bake cheesecake came frolicking across my google search, i was happy to report that this would do. the very fact that it is a cheesecake is, in fact, a bonus.

that would be my first attempt which, despite the jaggard edges of the biscuit crust (i was going for the whole pie concept, can you tell?), did not taste all that terrible. in fact, if you are into the whole masam manis thing, it was quite enjoyable. i put real lemon juice in it, so the sour flavour really came out with the cream cheese.

my guinea pigs taste testers gave me some pretty interesting suggestions and two attempts later, voila! this is the cheesecake that made it to the lunch table on raya day itself:

this one is an orange cheesecake, made with orange juice i squeezed myself, and pulps! okay, you can’t exactly see the pulps because i sorta blended the thing with the batter and i think it disintegrated somewhere along the way. but the orange lent a nice mild flavour to the cheese. not strong like the lemon, so you can still taste the cream cheese in this one.

of course, the test of a chilled no-bake cheesecake is all in the cut and i am happy to say that this baby was successfully sliced in nice wedges. here’s to adding a touch of homemade love to raya this year :)

 

A Primera Vista by DSRproducciones. So many layers of meaning to such a short snippet of a man’s life.

 

Over homemade yogurt at a roadside cafe in Ho Chi Minh City, I spied on a local man enjoying Vietnam’s favourite pastime

traffic watching is a prime hobby here, not only for the fascinated foreigner, but also the amply humoured locals. they are either part of the spectacular performance, or a spectator of it all.

dining outlets capitalise on the spectacle by having all tables and chairs facing the streets so that patrons never need to miss a minute of the traffic. it is common to stroll by these outlets to see an exhibition of diners chewing on soupy noodles, slurping on fruit shakes and zombified by the buses, cars, motorcycles, cyclos, bicycles and pedestrians braving the streets of modern day Vietnam.

 

The Fisherboy

this is one of my most republished shots in magazines and i thought i’d share with you a link to the story behind the photo.