Kampua 4 Life

Bandong Gym Review

2012-02-16T23:20:00.002+08:00

Bandong Gym

Bandong, Sibu

★★★★☆

Located in Bandong just on top of Agro Bazaar K Shoppe, you can find the latest addition of fitness and body building facility in Sibu. To get there you must get up the stairs on the left side of the block. See picture for more details.

I really enjoyed the ambient there. For one, there is the new gym aura and the red, black and white tone compensated by hip hop and rap music gave a more aggressive mood compared to other gyms. The people there are friendly too and disciplined as they put back the dumbbells and weights on their racks. The open-air design allows faster recovery after a heavy workout and feels less stuffy. But by 7pm expect more BBQ smoke and delicious aroma to enter the building as the hawkers in Bandong below begin to cook satay and whatnot.

There's only one level (so far as I could visibly explore) but the equipment are all adequate for the few chaps working out with you.

For a relatively cheap RM5 per entry (non member) you'll like it if you prefer a fresh and aggressive body building environment. (Terribly sorry, forgot how much membership cost, but I think it's RM25-RM30 per month). Plus if you prefer privacy, new equipment, and friendly advises from fellow bros and trainers, do check out Bandong Gym.

Stressful Valentine's Birthday

2012-02-15T21:02:00.000+08:00

The past weeks have been so stressful for me. And to keep up with my now 6 kids I think I fooled my body into thinking it's fighting a bear for a week. The stress hormones released are detrimental, but on the bright side I burned calories fast enough to lose some grams. Work AND get in shape, jyeah!

Maybe I should avoid calling my SBUs and projects "kids" as what some had advised, I get forever alone because of it. Owh well at least they all have grown up.

Latest project. It's so epic the picture got out of the blog's frame limit.

On the side note it's Valentine's Day and that means it's Kampua4Life's 5th birthday. So happy birthday dear bloggie, although I hadn't post new things often like in the old days.

And also another side note I wasn't forever alone this V-Day, I think I was just too rusty and haven't been in the game for a long time. I'm glad you liked red roses :)

Those dogs can smell my fear and anxiety despite the poker face. Happy V-Day!

Happy Chinese New Year 2012

2012-02-01T11:48:00.000+08:00

It's the year of the dragon, dovahkin, DRAGONBORN! Pics from here.

Epic Skyrim Nordic choir ensues...

Alright it's the year of the water dragon and the dragon is a very auspicious animal among the other 11 animals in the Chinese calender (each year another animal who won the race Buddha conducted e.g. dog, goat, monkey etc.)

Ideally people would rush to get married or make dragon year babies (it's not too late until April, if you know what I mean. But some people would go against the idea as it's not that good of a year. Dragon kids will most likely have to compete in a heavily competitive environment filled with fellow Dragonborns due to previous efforts of making a lot of Dragon babies. This competition endures throughout the Dragonborn's education, work, marriage(?) etc.

Anyways Googling what holds for everyone for the year of the Dragon is shabby (seriously, so many different interpretations). But generally we all should be optimistic about this year. Go with the flow.

As for me, it's my year so let's make it legend-wait-for-fus-ro-dahhh-dary!

And if you still want to see how your horoscope will fare this 2012, you can read it here (not to be taken seriously). Below is a summary from the website if you can't be bothered to open a new tab.

1. Dragon 1916, 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000 and 2012
It's a mix of good and bad in your bag this year. Although 2012 is your year (Dragon), your luck is not very good and the year is going to be rough for you because your horoscope sign is in conflict with the Grand Duke Jupiter and the Five Yellow. The former brings obstacles, aggravations and hindrances in your life that will break your will and hope, while the latter brings all kinds of misfortune and losses. You need to persevere and work at being strong to cope with the strong dose of Feng Shui afflictions in 2012 in your chart, with much of it causing a setback in your monetary luck. The 48 year old Dragon seems to have higher resistant to this though. You must be mindful and make every effort to suppress the feng shui ills that threaten to squash even your best plan.

2. Snake 1917, 1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001 and 2013
For the past couple of years, things were good for you but in the year 2012 of the Dragon, your fortunes and luck prospects decline sharply. This is because the Snake born is plagued by the Five Yellow in the year 2012. Although it's the scariest and most unforfunate affliction, it's also one that has many effective cures. Simply place a 6 inch Trinity Pagoda or 5 Element Om Ah Hum Singing Bell with Tree of Life in the SouthEast, carry a Trinity Five Element Pagoda Keychain and wear a Bejeweled Five Element Pagoda Feng Shui Pendant and you're protected from its malicious effects which brings bad luck, money loss and tragedies.

3. Horse 1918, 1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002 and 2014
The horse is in full direct conflict with the Three killings. The dreadful Three Killings or “San Sha” – a combination of three “Sha” namely the Year Sha, Robbery Sha and Disaster Sha. Impediments that set you back may be caused by the Year Sha; financial losses may be due to Robbery Sha and frequent accidents and mishaps could be because of the Disaster Sha. Feng Shui cures are Feng Shui Three Divine Guardians in the South sector and carry a 3 Celestial Guardians with Implements Keychain. If you manage to safeguard yourself from the Three Killings, the year of 2012 is going to be very productive and exciting for you because the Victory star is in your chart.

4. Sheep 1919, 1931, 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, and 2015
A better and more meaningful year for you this year than last year and it will show in career and financial luck. Your economic situation will have greater stability and improvement. Many of you will enjoy good health luck. Not a good year to make big decisions based purely on instincts. Let your head rule your heart. You enjoy good recognition luck too, so your hard work will pay off well and a promotion is likely. Strategize carefully and be prepared to work hard and you will see quite spectacular achievements to your effort. Projects will get completed and what you strive to achieve will get actualized. However, the Sheep is flanked by the 3 killings and quarellsome stars. 3 Killings brings deadly disasters, such as accidents, sickness, etc. The cures to be placed in the South are 6 Rods 3 Chi Lin Windchime with Mystic Knot or Feng Shui Three Divine Guardians. Also, you are advised to carry this amulet at all times: 3 Celestial Guardians with Implements Keychain.

5. Monkey 1920, 1932, 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004 and 2016
A definitely better year than previous year especially in your work life. You will gain confidence and be a lot steadier in your career after some of you finding yourself sidelined professionally in the past two years. Your instincts are good so let your inner voice lead the way when you are unsure about anything. There will be tension between married couple if you are a Monkey-born. Tempers will flare and harsh words will be exchanged between spouses or family members if this affliction is not weakened. Do not let things to happen that is irreparable and you will regret later. It's very important to keep your calm and suppress your temper tantrums this year as you are not only influenced by the hostile quarrelsome Flying star is, your chart is also flanked by two Yearly Conflict Stars brought by the 24 Mountains. This means arguments, disputes and violence may erupt. Lawsuits and litigations might follow. Be extra careful in the months of August and October when the energy of the negative afflictions doubles in strength. Carry feng shui amulets such as Ksitigarbha Keychain or Flaming Magic Wheel Keychain. Display Bejeweled Red Dragon with Flaming Sword in the Southwest to counter it. Invite a statue of the guardian deity into your home to invoke protection. This will help repel jealousy, politicking and gossip that will cause you much aggravation, depression and worry. Be watchful over your temper.

6. Rooster 1921, 1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005 and 2017
Your good fortune luck is shining bright this year. The year of the Dragon 2012 is going to be eventful and wonderful for Rooster born - so many good things and opportunities appear on the horizon just waiting to manifest for you. It's going to be quite benchmark year - definitely a year to expand and move into new levels of achievement and to pursue almost anything you wish as it's almost certain that it will turn out successful. Wealth luck is good and it's going to be a turnaround year for you as you are well supported by lucky Feng Shui winds namely the 8 Prosperity Star and the Yi Duo Enhancing Star, which when combined, brings abundance and every kind of good fortune. Some of you may even enjoy a sizable windfall of some sort. It would be a shame for you to not take fullest advantage. To maximize this good luck, enhance them with crystals - Five Element Fengshui Crystal Balls, Ammonite Shell on Stand, Star of David Crystal Balls, Clear Quartz Crystal Cluster and Citrine Bracelet with Tibetan Dzi Bead of Your Choice. Place the crystals in the West sector.

7. Dog 1922, 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006 and 2018.
In 2012 the Dog's fortune reflect a waning of the glories of the previous year. There is danger indicated and should not be taken lightly. Older Dog-born will have better luck but generally, all dog people have low chi essence. Relationships with people will be filled with mistrust. Be brave and confident, and take some chances based on your gut feelings in your friendships. The prosperity 8 Star is in your chart, which means projects get completed and financial luck improved. Wear some crystal pendants or crystal bracelets to enhance the earth energy of the 8 Star. Amethyst Bracelet with Tibetan Dzi Bead of Your Choice, Colorful Liu li Crystal Mystic Knot Bracelet, Amethyst Crystal Point Pendant with Stainless Steel Necklace, Ammonite Shell Pendant (L) or Feng Shui Ingot Crystal Pendant with Necklace. Your birth elements brings a much more positive outlook, indicating strong success luck which might bring quite outstanding achievements to all the effort you put in. Many of you will enjoy good health luck this year except 78 and 18 year olds.

8. Boar 1923, 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007 and 2019
The boar person will immediately benefit from cosmic blessing, giving you a good start in the year 2012. Success and good fortune luck is very high. You will gain recognition and attain new heights. It's a year when you can be as ambitious as you wish in your career and business undertakings as success luck and new opportunities are present in your chart - this is because you are sitting on the Star of Heavenly Seal.

9. Rat 1912, 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996 and 2008
It's a mixed of good and bad for the Rat born in 2012. Dragon is an ally of the Rat so this will be a smoother year for you. However, your horoscope sign is afflicted by the Illness energy of Flying star #2. Affected, you will tend to feel weak, tired and exhausted. You are vulnerable to sickness and find yourself lack of energy. You feel pessimistic and uninspired. Remedy with Brass Herbal Wu Lou and carry a Bejeweled Double Wu Lou Keychain for Health Luck or wear a Aventurine Hu Lu Pendant for Health Luck. If you are able to stay healthy and strong, with the right timing, you will successfully ride the year of the Dragon with some amazing transformational luck for the better.

10. Ox 1913, 1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997 and 2009
A somewhat tougher year for the Ox Born in 2012 than 2011 but still better than many other horoscope signs. You are slightly affected by the sickness bringing energy of the Feng Shui winds. Place Brass Wu Lou with Eight Immortals (s) in the north sector and wear Amethyst Wu Lou Pendant for Health Luck. Carry a Wu Lou with Mystic Knot Keychain if you dislike wearing it. The Ox born is also indirectly conflicted with the Tai Sui which brings obstacles and challenges in your endeavors, plans and career that can wear you down. Wear a Tiger's Eye Pi Yao Protection Pendant Amulet and place a A Pair of Pi Yao for Good Luck in the SouthEast Sector.

11. Tiger 1914, 1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998 and 201
Tiger born enjoys quite a brilliant outlook in 2012. You are blessed with the #4 star and #9 multiplying star which bring good love, academic and prosperity luck. Make sure you optimize these luck with enhancers such as Bejeweled Double Happiness Keychain for Love Luck, Rose Quartz Mandarin Ducks on Lotus Leaf (M), Clear Quartz Feng Shui Pagoda and The Dragon-Snake Nine Rings Sword of Power. Your energy is high and are blessed with heavenly protection and guidance of the Star of Golden Deity.

12. Rabbit 1915, 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999 and 2011
Quite an excellent and transformational year for the Rabbit in the year of the Dragon 2012, definitely much better than 2011 in every aspect with many good things coming your way. Unlike last year, you will enjoy excellent victories and successes in 2012 thanks to your renewed confidence and auspicious energy present in your chart. You have the Big Auspicious Star in your chart which holds the promise of something big, something with very high growth potential for you. Go for it this year! It's beneficial to be highly ambitious and chasing over big challenges and goals. Our advice is to be very relax in your vigilance at opportunities coming without being too anxious about it. It pays to listen to your gut feelings and common sense.

Wikipedia Blackout

2012-01-19T16:26:00.003+08:00

Some posts were trending in 9Gag telling us about the blackout in Wikipedia. I checked it out and truly enough I was shown with this screen:

So what happened? Wikipedia has made its stance clear to go up against SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect Intellectual Property Act). Basically these Acts will censor a number of the content on the world wide web and prevent access to free and open Internet. They will not stay idle and allow such oppression on the flow of information to happen. Kampua4Life for one supports the cause to prevent SOPA from materializing. Information should not be manipulated nor only selected information be distributed lest we want to live in a fascist Internet age.

You can read more on what's really happening here.

Fire in Sungai Merah

2012-01-19T15:33:00.003+08:00

I was having a nap when a friend buzzed me about a fire in Sungai Merah, or more precisely pronounced as Sungei Merah (Red River, dark red on normal days Teh C Peng during flood). This is the second fire I've known about to occur within a month in Sibu with the first one in Bandong.

The fire gutted the lot but firemen managed to put it out before further damage could be done.

All pictures are from Facebook.

Rumors has it that a faulty air conditioner sparked the flames so please do check your homes and business premises regularly for any wiring or electrical problems.

Strange Rumbling Sounds in Samarahan, Sarawak

2012-01-13T12:42:00.000+08:00

Finally some real X-Files material happening in Sarawak. Okay the full article is here but here's the summary of what happened.

During the wee hours of January 11 and 12 several people in Kota Samarahan heard strange ominous sounds apparently coming from the sky. The sound of unexplained nature, lasted from around 2-5am. Some managed to record it (although choppy due to phone quality) and the effort to find the source did not yield any answers. If you're not sure what to listen for, it sounds like someone snoring.

There are 2 theories. The first was the palm oil factory about 8 kilometers away was still operating yet a quick rush there showed the facility was closed and the sound persisted. The second is the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program or HAARP. The HAARP is a project by US and some other parties to develop ionosphere (the outer atmosphere) based technology. To conspiracy theorists HAARP allows manipulation of weather and earthquakes we see happening today. Either way the HAARP caused the sounds they heard in Samarahan.

Too bad the news came to me a bit late and the strange phenomenon stopped after 12 January 2012. Later that day there was a 7.3 Richter scale earthquake in Sumatra. So were the conspiracy theorists right about the HAARP or was it just a coincidence?

Apparently we're not the only ones experiencing this unexplained phenomenon. Strange ominous sounds have been reported all over the world since 2011. No worries these guys have different gadgets so the quality is better. Get your pop corns ready, we're going for a marathon of strange ominous bass-like sounds.

Czech Republic, unkown date

Kiev, August 8, 2011

Chile, January 12, 2012

Canada, 2012

Costa Rica, 2012

Hungary, January 11, 2012 (The loudest one)

Aliens? Government conspiracy? The incoming Planet X? Earth's tectonic plates movement? The angel blowing the trumpet to signal the end of the world as mentioned in the Holy Books? Or just a well orchestrated gimmick for the movie Cloverfield 2?

I think we'll find out soon enough... until then maybe one of us might be lucky enough to Shazam the sound.

Another Sibu Businessman Shot Dead

2012-01-12T12:19:00.000+08:00

The victim.

The crime scene near Brooke Drive.

The victim's vehicle. All pics are not mine.

Barely a few days after the burial of the victims of the quadruple murder, Sibu is shocked once again by a broad daylight murder of a businessman. Around 10:30am Jan 11, Lau Leh Hing, a 42-year-old pub owner was shot point blank from the back as he was entering a shop to buy a safe deposit box. The shooters fled in a Proton Sage and no one caught a glimpse of its registration number.

Again people in town is worried and live in fear as the murder could've been gang-related and more "blood-for-blood" killing between gangs could blow up at any moment. Alas we've been reassured that the authorities will not let such a thing to happen and spoil the 2012 Chinese New Year mood. Read more about the shooting here.

Be careful out there.

Murder in Sibu (Update)

2012-01-09T11:50:00.000+08:00

Picture from TheBorneoPost

So the brutal murder of 4 was considered solved with the arrest of a 17 year old teenager. He was suspected to have entered the attic, opened the ceiling panel and dropped into the victims' house (due to absence of wall divider between the houses) before murdering the unfortunate victims. His intention of doing so is a bit unclear but it could've been to steal some stuff but everything went downhill.

The teenager was said to be a bit mentally unstable, and the story went deeper due to the parties involved with the missing divider, but alas I don't wanna rely too much on rumors. Bottom line is Sibu is safe once again. Read more here.

Murder in Sibu

2012-01-05T00:37:00.000+08:00

SIBU: Sarawak and some parts of Malaysia were kecoh about a horrifying murder in Kampua Town this week. From my staff at my workplace to the dudes at the gym, everyone was talking about the murder of a family that involved kids bludgeoned to death. Here's a summary.

Police carrying the bodies of the family out of the crime scene. Picture from Borneo Post.

A family near RTM road was found murdered by a blunt object around 7am. The 4 victims were:

1. Timber businessman Ling Tong Hock, 36

2. His son David, 10

3. His daughter Amy, 7

4. His mother Leong Nyuk Lan, 76

Ling divorced his first wife and kept his kids. He married to his second Li Xiao Lan, 28, who is from mainland China. There was a commotion downstairs and Ling decided to check it out, only to cause more commotion that spooked his second wife. She somehow survived and escaped through the window of their bedroom and fled towards the nearby coffee shop to seek help. Everyone arrived to find the 4 brutally murdered.

Police tried the CCTV installed at the house to catch a glimpse of the killer but failed. Li was remanded to help with police investigation.

Li Xiao Lan remanded for 7 days.

At first this could've been a business rivalry gone too far, but the people of this sleepy town would not commit such heinous act to the point of killing children. We'll wait how this story goes. At the mean time you can read more by clicking here.

UPDATE: We have an update on the case here.

Chopsticks and Relationships

2012-01-01T23:51:00.001+08:00

I was having dinner the other day when I was told that the way one holds a chopsticks determines where his/her spouse would come from. I didn't knew there were such things but I had a vital update on my life.

Alright ideally you will need to hold your chopsticks like this:

The closer you are to the end, the closer your spouse would come from. Judging from my buddy Jas, his way of holding chopsticks normally like the figure was proven with his spouse hailing from our own hometown Sibu.

As for me, I hold my chopsticks like this:

My spouse would come from as far as the Americas by the way all the colleagues told me (I really hope they're joking, but then again exotic's not bad). So FAR OUT!!! :/

So am I gonna change my methods handling chopsticks? Naaah. I'm good. I just need to master how to pick up round dim sum with chopsticks without embarrassing myself. The darn things keep rolling around the plate because of its roundness.

Happy New Year 2012

2012-01-01T23:47:00.000+08:00

Uncle: Not impressed by fireworks and the whole end of the world shenanigans.

First off; HAPPY NEW YEAR! XI NIEN KUAI LE! SELAMAT TAHUN BARU! Would like to wish everyone a blessed new year and may it usher in prosperity and great opportunities.

As for it's morbid existence, I look forward to this "End of the World" year as the 'Mayans predicted' which falls on 21st December 2012. This End Year may have everyone on the edge and pushes others like me to do as much as possible, I still however look forward to LMFAO as I predict me and 7 billions other humans will be okay after the said date.

Happy new year!!!

Serian-Sri Aman Road Runtuh

2011-12-29T12:50:00.002+08:00

The broken road connection caused major traffic to all travelers and stray dogs.

The Serian-Sri Aman road collapsed or what local engineers call runtuh/roboh/pesak/tebik/putus/etc today causing a major disconnection between people travelling between the two areas. The incident at Kilometer 77 near Sebangkoi happened about 9:30pm last night probably due to rain or something more 2012-ish.

Whatever it is, please drive carefully especially during this wet monsoon-cum-flood season. Read the news here (Google Translate required).

I wonder if this is just coincidental with the wet season and has nothing to do with the recent earthquakes in New Zealand that might have caused shockwaves all the way here.

COD MW3 Review

2011-12-21T16:51:00.000+08:00

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
by Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer Games et al
For PC, PS3, X-Box 360 and Wii

★★★☆☆

"Could've been better"

We're back in the fight! It's World War III and you're playing as many different characters during this troubled times where one man's madness may spell the end of humanity. Ladies and gentlemen, we are at the verge of a nuclear Armageddon. Check out the trailer.

I bought this game for its campaign. This is the third and hopefully the last installment in the Modern Warfare series because great stories cannot be elongated into 6-8 books or expansion packs. This is the most anticipated First Person Shooter (FPS) of the year along with Battlefield 3.

MW3 continued where the story left in MW2. Here's a summary of the storyline since MW1 (SPOILER ALERT, or skip and scroll further downwards until End of Spoiler):
======================================================================================

SPOILER STARTS

Modern Warfare 1:

'The Coup': Uprising is trending in north Africa and the Middle East right now...

An uprising in an unnamed Middle Eastern country saw a violent coup d'état that overthrew its president. The coup leader Khalid Al-Asad threatened the world with nuclear weapons. The United States of America intervened by invading the said country. However on the verge of defeat the nuclear device was detonated, causing a catastrophic nuclear explosion that devastated the country and the US forces.

Intelligence report showed that the Russian Ultra-nationalist party had supplied the weapons to Al-Asad. SAS and Force Reconnaissance operatives were dispatched to hunt down the supplier Imran Zakhaev, the party's leader, who wanted to restore Russia to its former Soviet glory days with him as the head. However his idea caused a civil war between the Ultra-nationalists and fellow Russians loyal to the current government.

Zakhaev eventually launched nuclear missiles towards the East Coast of the United States. But the SAS and Force Recon operatives managed to disarm all the nuclear warheads before impact. Zakhaev was killed in the end by the remaining operatives.

Modern Warfare 2:

'No Russian': The terrorist massacre that started the Russo-American War. WARNING: The content may be disturbing.

An airport massacre in Russia caused a global outrage. The terrorists, suspected to be Americans, led to Russia declaring war against the United States.

The Russo-American War began and military intelligence suggested the terrorist was Vladimir Makarov who was also an Ultra-nationalist party member. He is a mad men hell-bent on making Russia take over the whole Europe and weakening the US.

Special operatives were dispatched to hunt down Makarov which led to the discovery of the person who helped made the Russian invasion possible; a US General Shepherd who lost his soldiers in the same nuclear blast in the unnamed Middle Eastern country years ago. He wanted to be seen as a hero, be given all the military resources and take down Makarov himself. General Shepherd was killed in the end.

Modern Warfare 3:

'Turbulence': One of my favourite mission, the kidnapping of the Russian President Inception style...

The Russian invasion of USA was in full swing and the US army was on the defensive. Meanwhile in Europe chemical terror attacks occurred in major cities like Paris, Hamburg and London followed by a full-scale invasion of the Russian forces in the said cities. It's WWIII.

The hunt for Makarov was still on and operatives searched from Africa to Europe to gain intel on his whereabouts. The President of Russia sought peace with USA but was kidnapped by Makarov to extract nuclear launch codes from him. The President was rescued and eventually Makarov was killed.

END OF SPOILER

======================================================================================
That's it. In a Tom Clancy-ish style of warfare fiction, I played it for the campaign and the multiplayer as an added bonus. Sadly, MW3's story was really WTF. I could not link some of the plots together. For example since Makarov was a terrorist, how on Earth did he muster a company of well-trained soldiers WITH attack helicopters to attack our protagonists hiding in India? Why was he seen working with the Russian army? Why we needed to fight all the way down a mine only to be assisted by our attack helicopters in the end, couldn't we just flown down there instead?

MW3 campaign is full of loopholes and weak plots. I felt it was made just for the Hollywood effects. Build the beautiful and detailed maps first, then find out how to relate them all with the story line. After the epic climax build up to MW2 I was served with an anti-climatic ending. What a real disappointment.

Apart from that the graphics are the same but there are some small changes to the multiplayer. The moment I finished the campaign I tried out the Special Ops (nothing exciting) and then the Multiplayer. The match-making needs some tweaking. I mean, my first 3 matches of Free-for-All and Confirmed Kill mode I was pit against Level 50-70 players. I was the only one at Level 1. These Level 50-70 players don't treat noobs so easily. I like to be a sniper in any FPS but sadly MW3 offered little sniping point, or maybe I hadn't found one yet. It's basically a frantic laser-tag style of gauntlet where everyone consistently run around blasting at other players on impulse. Oh did I mentioned the AC-130 gun support that basically obliterates all the players on the map? Apparently you can't outrun the gunship's cannons.

Then I turned off the system and called it a day.

In conclusion, COD: MW3 was okay, but could've ended more epicly. I guess it could be something to do with the company firing the people behind MW1 and MW2, Zampella and West. Apart from that it's an okay game and fun nonetheless.

Comrade Kim Jong-il Dead

2011-12-21T11:53:00.000+08:00

Nations of communist and non-communist bloc like China, Russia, Cuba and Malaysia expressed their condolences this week to North Korea.

Condolences to the people of 조선민주주의인민공화국 (Democratic People's Republic of North Korea) for the passing of President Kim Jong-il.

The great leader died in a train due to a heart attack at the age of 70 years-old on 17 December 2011. May the Great Successor Kim Jong-un lead North Korea into a new glorious era.

The whole country is in mourning...

iPhone Airplane Mode

2011-12-17T23:08:00.002+08:00

Little Boy's Hands Crushed by Men in China

2011-12-14T20:08:00.000+08:00

Not sure what's the back story, but I suspect the boy was caught stealing and the mob surrounded him and punished him. I don't support this kind of inhumane punishment, he's just an 8 year-old boy. Supposedly happened in Canton (Southern China) on August 13th, 2011.

First it was the little girl who got ran over many times. Then this. What's this world turning into...

Skyrim Review

2011-12-13T02:59:00.000+08:00

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
by Bethesda Game Studios
For PC, PS3 and X-Box 360

★★★★★

Perfect. A masterpiece. I used to avoid role-playing games as they are repetitive and time consuming, then I went to Skyrim and took an arrow to the knee. Behold, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim or TESV Skyrim. Before we continue to delve deeper, check out the official trailer (ignoring the ads) to get an idea why this is ~~one of~~ the best game of 2011.

And this was my reaction 20 minutes into the game...

This is the fifth installment of the Elder Scrolls series and I have yet to play all the predecessors but TESV Skyrim, my fellow brethren, is perfect. The game puts you in the northern parts of Tamriel (previous games occurred in other parts), in the land called Skyrim.

Like its predecessors, Skyrim puts player in a sandbox world where he/she can create his/her own character and be anything and do anything. The last game I played from Bethesda was Fallout New Vegas and in comparison, Skyrim had blown my mind by its storyline, quests, depth, details, music, physics and the sheer size of Skyrim that one can explore.

I won't spoil much of the story because this game is deserved to be played by oneself to truly experience Skyrim. Basically you are Dragonborn, some kind of a special being that has the power to stop the dragons who had returned to end the world. Along the way you can pick up many side quests that gave deeper experience and most of the time demands your decision that will ultimately affect the world. Yes, you will be faced with many choices in the game and it's up to you to approach it. Met a farmer who is darn pissed at the jester who is never satisfied by the farmer's aid? Will you help blackmail the jester to let the farmer return to whatever farming things need doing, or will you help the jester and fix his cart so he can bury his mother. What? Hahaha...

As mentioned earlier you can be anything and do anything. You fancy some alchemy? Then go out into the wilderness and harvest some herbs and insect and concoct potions at the alchemy table. You like exploring caves? Go ahead but I don't think the bears and vampires would like your intrusion. Wanna be a vampire? Sure go ahead get bitten by one and you'll turn into a REAL non-Edward Cullen vampire in 4 in-game days. Don't want to do the main quest and finish the game too soon? Easy... buy houses, get married, slay some dragons, join the Thieves Guild, be a Dark Brotherhood assassin, become a successful trader, hunt mammoths, swim in the icy cold northern waters, cook fish, manhandle a bear, steal things from one town and sell them in another, make cool apparels out of the wolves you just killed, learn magic from the College of Wizardry, go to Bards College and learn how to play music, talk to strangers and help them get their stuff they left in caves, fight a clan of Werewolves, get bitten by a Werewolf and turn into one, burn the whole village down just for kicks, run away from the law, make a pilgrim up the 7,000 steps to reach the top of the mountain, troll a troll, troll a snow troll, annoy a giant, etc. etc. etc...

All those I mentioned above are not fake, but actual things you can do in Skyrim. Alright I hope you're hyped up to get a copy of Skyrim and be an adventurer! And take an arrow to the knee! (Skyrim joke). Go forth Dragonborn, FUS RO DAH!

Enjoy the screenshots.

Me exploring Skyrim with some buddies.

Talking to villagers who are somewhat not impressed with a dragon which had been killed heroically...

Standing near folks in taverns and just listening to the villagers talking might drag you into quests unwillingly...

You can make leather from animal hides you hunted.

You can be a blacksmith and make flimsy to awesome weapons and armor.

Travel around the beautiful towns, holds, villages and castles in Skyrim.

Have a hot cappuccino after a long day completing quests.

Being a busybody seriously drags you into new situations.

Fancy some red meat for dinner tonite?

Chilling under a tree, showing off Skyrim's more warmer region.

See two Sabretooth tigers attacking a Mammoth. Or are they licking its toes?

"I need a bigger arrow"

No creature is too big. Mammoth snout tonight!

Slaying a dragon is a 24/7 job. No matter rain or shine, night or day.

I accidentally shot my Housejarl or companion during an ambush. And she is permanently dead... Sorry Lydia! It was dark!

I used to get bored by the overused arrow to the knee joke, then I took an arrow to the shoulder.

This is NOT ASSASSINS' CREED! THERE IS NO RANDOM CONVENIENTLY PLACED HAY STACK!

Roast or soup?

Fudge.

A dragon teaching me the third Newton's Law.

You can also be a miner...

You can climb the highest peak in Skyrim. I'm the small dot near the curved rock on the upper left.

Still no conveniently placed clump of hay.

You can chop wood to earn a living. Each firewood sells for 4 gold, I think. I quit being a lumberjack 1 moon ago.

You can do alchemy, but not until Full Metal Alchemy level. Just some mixing at the table.

You can be an assassin, like Altair or Ezio.

"Checkout my fancy bloody dagger!"

I'm on the boat. Well on the mast.

Nord fishing village? Seems legit.

Visiting a museum and getting a personal tour from the curator.

I just arrived in this new small hamlet to resupply and this dragon appeared. PERFECT TIMING!

You guys should build a museum.

Oh... fudge.

Watching a Giant about to club the dragon to death, and save my time and potions from doing all the killing.

Sneak Level 100. Creeping onto a dragon while it's sleeping.

Riding a dragon, like a boss.

Playing a gold coin game I don't understand with some bandits.

You can even swim in the sky.

Visit Official Website.

iPhone App Review: The Sims™ Medieval

2011-12-12T01:12:00.000+08:00

The Sims™ Medieval
by Electronic Arts

★★★★☆

Thy Sim adventures not enough for thyself? Rejoice, there is a Sim Medieval app cometh down from EA forged especially for thy iPhone and other Apple devices.

Lo and behold! Sate yourself with a Sims game based on Medieval times fit nicely into your pocket. Although noticeably a more simplified version from its PC counterpart, Medieval offers all one could expect from any Sims games such as filling your basic needs, interacting with other Sims and drown your Sim with Medieval... nectar?

Anyways you start by creating your Sim, then you control him as you progress through your kingdom by completing a variety of quests in the world. It's a fun way to pass your time however watch out for the battery as you might get occupied with the game. Here's some screenshot of my Sim looking like a typical medieval Asian dude with a hammer.

The world or kingdom where your Sim can roam is fairly big enough and acceptable for a 62.5MB game. I'm not sure though if you can progress long enough and discover more of the world.

Meet other Sims of the medieval times and listen to their tales of the yore. Help them complete quests and you'll unlock more "Occupations" and Sim abilities like Taunt or Preach other Sims to repentant.

Why not plant vegetables and sell them at the market to earn Simoles (gold). Cabbages seems to be the main thing Sims eat during the medieval times.

Meet even more Sims and experience their love hate relationships. Intervening is optional but it's noticeably easy to make friends with anyone. Once you befriended them, as the Sims tradition dictates, you unlock more interactions with them from hugging to some ye olde medieval debaucheries.

Oh there's fishing.

And there's also some medieval street brawling, with tangerine-glowing hammers.

Click here to download.

iPhone App Review: Shoot the Bird

2011-12-11T01:02:00.000+08:00

Shoot the Birds
by Infinite Dreams Inc.

★★★★☆
Finally something else besides throwing birds with anger management issues at pigs in shabbily fortified castles(?). Now you can shoot em down with your crossbow!

The game is a simple swipe-hold-and-release shooter game where you control a scarecrow with a pumpkin head. You'll be shooting at random farm variety of birds that fly across the screen. The arrow physics and seeing the birds getting shish-kebab is very fun and somehow therapeutic. A good game to play while you're stressed, in the toilet or just wanting to shish-kebab as many birds as you could and see your anti-avian pumpkin-head level up until he looks like Freddy Krueger.

Click here to download.

Tropico 4 Review

2011-10-27T22:39:00.000+08:00

It's all work and no play for el Presidente!

K4L Rating: ★★★★☆

Developer: Haemimont Games

Publisher: Kalypso Media

Genre: City Building and Management Simulation
Platform: PC and Xbox 360

Click here to play the game music in the background to get the mood on (optional)

This is a city-sim with some slight RPG added with some good old dictatorship. You play as a dictator ruling a banana republic and the story picks off where it left in Tropico 3. Noticeably there is not much improvement to the graphics but the gameplay itself has been revamped to the point that it is very addictive. The sense of humor and sarcastic content is downright LOLable. Heck, it was the game I looked forward to at the end of the day for the past week.

Okay so you are el Presidente, a dictator who dreams to turn Tropico from a backward Caribbean nation of islands into a world economic and perhaps military superpower. You basically approve blueprints for building constructions and manage Tropican policies. YOU control your people's well-being! Planning to be on the good side with the communists? Build up acres of farms, double the food ration and approve free housing policies! Wanna be on the capitalists side? Invest in tourism, build up skyscraping hotels and plunder the Earth to make big bucks!

You can turn this...

Into a panorama straight out of Fast and Furious 5! See that cruise ship back there? Bought it for only $20,000.

Tropico 4 LOOKS EXACTLY like Tropico 3. Apart from recycled ideas and graphics that haters gonna keep on hatin', I'll highlight some of the pleasant improvements. This time the Almanac gives you the overall view of what's happening on your island from Tropicans' happiness to your relationship with foreign powers. Last time in Tropico 3, I was not sure where my economy and the mo-ney (that's how el Presidente says it) was going. The Almanac does some book keeping and now you can simply read and make economic decision quickly.

The factions return in Tropico 4 and make more impact to the game. We have the Capitalists, Communists, Religious, Militarists, Intellectuals, Loyalists, Nationalists and the Environmentalists. Any of your Tropican citizens may be aligned with any of these factions just like in the real world where you either join the government or opposition party. The factions now are more lively thanks to the humorous caricatures representing them. The hippy and Mother Nature-loving Environmentalist leaderSunny always appear showing her concern for your disregard for the Tropican beauty. The KKK-ish Nationalists leader El Diable strangely resembles a tattooed White Supremacist with Caribbean accent, and can be heard in the radio throwing out illegal immigrants when you issue the 'Anti-littering' policy. All these characters make Tropico more alive.

And let's not forget the radio. Last time in Tropico 3 we were entertained by Juanito who brings updates and news prior to his assassination (SPOILER). Now we have your loyal adviser cum radio announcer Penultimo who regularly broadcast news of your achievements. Most of his announcements are just plain hilarious complimented with his serious but silly accent. "The people demands election and el Presidente demands your vote! Vote for el Presidente!..... or else".

Did you enjoy the music in the link? Again like its predecessor Tropico 4 includes scores of entertaining Caribbean-themed music. If you play the game in the living room your family might gather around and starts dancing haha.

Another new feature are disasters. We have volcano eruptions, drought, earthquakes, tornadoes, oil spills and tsunamis that will pose problems and your decision affects the outcome. Will you spend $300 per month to contain the oil spill? Or will you just say "Fish? WHAT FISH?!"

Not another oil spill! Luckily Tropican brilliant minds have come up with an ingenious solution: GOLF BALLS.

Oh and you can also share all your accomplishments and awards through the in-game Facebook and Tweeter features. Not a biggie, but quelling a rebellion might look interesting in your resumé.

This is a highly recommended game and you'll get hooked if controlling people and make your nation grow is your cup of tea. Buy now and vote for el Presidente, or else.

It's sometimes a simple RPG where you lead el Presidente to lead the army to fight against rebels. Your Presidente is customizable and you can select attributes that suit your gameplay e.g. select War Hero attribute to allow el Presidente to perform better in combat.

Suit up in a game.✔

Stun rebels with your awesomeness, in a suit. ✔

Once you get enough power and resources you can build up your own nuclear program and USSR and USA will not dare to touch you!

Surviving assassinations, military coups and quelling uprisings are just another day's work for el Presidente. This here is a Loyalist angry mob running down the streets chasing 'traitors' during a doomed uprising.

The level of detail in Tropico 4 is now deeper, you can place an umbrella as shade for you loyal soldiers. Rebels need not apply.

What is a game without blimps? Most of the games with intimidating blimps have been the Red Alert series, thanks Haemimont Games for putting the ability to send propaganda using these huge balloons. Check out the trailer below.

Visit Tropico 4's Official Website here

What Did Gaddafi Do Anyway?

2011-10-26T20:33:00.000+08:00

If I were on the wrong side of the 'good guys', the media would give me funny article titles too

As expected Muammar Gaddafi's death did not receive much respond by the world compared to Steve Jobs' passing. He was as a tyrant who deserved to be toppled violently by fellow Libyans. I, as a representative of the average Joes who only know the basics of the African conflict thanks to Internet, sees him as an evil dictator. The people were unhappy with his rule and desired to topple his regime. Then the power of the people prevailed and it was a happy ending...

Then again, was he really that evil? It's not like he conducted mass murder or threatened the world with nuclear weapons. A quick Google on "Is Gaddafi really bad?" contradicts the image portrayed by the media. Instead of a typical tyrant, he's one of the rare good dictator who changed the lives of his people. For example during his time literacy jumped by leaps and bound from 10% to 90%, free electricity, free farming capital and he approved free-housing policy to name a few. Do all these justify him being shot to his head and abs, paraded half nude and recorded on low quality phones? Something was not right.

Why was NATO so keen in helping the rebellion to bring him down? Why the investment and effort to topple Gaddafi's regime in less than a year when they could've done the same to other dictatorships and regimes like Myanmar and North Korea?

The answer may be Gaddafi's idea: Gold Dinar.

He wanted to use gold dinar to replace the failing and ailing currencies in a gold-for-oil policy, of which received negative backlash from certain proxies. The idea threatened the system the world was established upon and of course upsets those whose interest lie with the current system. Can you imagine how much paper money would devalue when solid honest money from the Earth is pitted against fiat money which is printed out of nothing? That RM100 in your ATM now might devalue to the price of a piece of paper. Hence, the uprising opened a window of opportunity for the proxies to bring him down and thus the intense support from major Western powers.

Now that the damage is done, we'll see how 'democracy' is bringing change to Libyans. Remember Egypt's revolution that toppled Mubarak? It brought change alright, for worse. Egypt is now rolling downhill, or down the Pyramid. Do Google and catch up on news of places where the proxies have invaded, toppled and 'forgotten' by the media. The proxies breaking the strength of African and Middle Eastern nations seem to fulfill the sea foam prophecy. We could be next.

And hey you can choose to listen to whom you think is speaking the truth. I may be the victim of the skeptical media targeting the mainstream media who might think its exposing the truth. Whoever controls the media is the good guy.

Choose your side wisely.

Solar Flare?

2011-10-24T12:50:00.001+08:00

It's Monday yay. But today's a bit different as some services like Celcom and Maybank are down or unstable. Not long ago I heard some Astro users receiving the message "...service interrupted due to solar flare..."

I wonder if they all are related? Go ahead and get excited all you 2012 junkies... At the mean time enjoy this morbid end of the world video showing how current tragedies are mimicking end times foretold by the earlier generations...

Cooking Oil Shortage!

2011-10-19T00:22:00.000+08:00

First it was the chicken, now Sibu is facing a severe cooking oil shortage. Most supermarkets and kedai runcit have no cooking oil for sale and this could be blamed on panic buying which caused an artificial shortage. The theory is, large restaurants buy the small cheap cooking oils by the bulk, this leaves the regular household consumers with nothing. The near empty shelves make them think that there is a shortage and hence they buy as much cooking oil as they can. This panic buying leaves the other husbands and sons who like buy their groceries late with nothing.

So please, chill and don't panic. I'm not looking forward to eating expensive steamed chicken or waste my time going to 3-5 kedai looking for cooking oil. If you suspect the shopkeeper is hoarding or overcharging, quickly call the Consumer Ministry or Kementerian Perdagangan Dalam Negeri KPDN at +603-8882 5500, 084 329202 (Sibu) or go to their website.

iOS 5 Review

2011-10-18T18:04:00.000+08:00

★★★☆☆
Not so bad, if you overlook the glitches, bugs and battery consumption rate...

I like the new notification system. It bundles all notice from messages, missed calls etc into one place. You can simply drag the top of your iPhone screen and bring down this clean UI. They include updates on weather, apps, stocks and more. Once done you can push it up to hide it and get back to what ever you were doing.

There are some new apps which I find useless (like Videos) but Newsstand is kinda useful. It gathers all downloadable (IAP) magazines from the Store. Kinda useless on an iPhone due to it's small screen but useful for iPad users.

The last useful app addition is the Reminders. I used to rely on third party apps to remind me to buy new toothbrush, do groceries or remind myself to add things-to-do to my reminder list. A very simple and clean app.

BTW take note of the battery consumption. 72% at 4:20pm and 65% at 5:16pm. Fast, no?

As for the rest, I'm still pissed at the Music playback issue. However there are online remedies to help you out. As for the playback I found this simple solution.

1. Plug in your device and start iTunes.
2. Under Music tab, uncheck ALL the songs manually.
3. Sync.
4. Check all the songs you wanted again.
5. Sync.

It's a quick fix, but it still messed up some songs where their album covers are missing. Looking forward to iOS 5 update 5.1

iOS 5 Messed Up My Playlist

2011-10-17T18:45:00.001+08:00

Imagine hearing those fearsome Russian Red Army soldiers singing alternative rock songs...

After the long wait to update my iPhone to iOS 5 (despite all the problems and 3200 errors) last night, I was somewhat impressed with the new features like newsstand, reminder, camera options, cleaner notification system etc. Then later today I was about to get pumped by listening to some good old Russian Red Army Choir "Katyusha"... Only to be interrupted by Staind.

My Danza Kuduro was OneRepublic, some songs were unplayable and Linkin Park turned Indonesian. I'll update you once I get the solution to this. At the mean time I'll enjoy Menunggu For The End by Linkin Pan... or watch my iPhone endlessly scroll through all my songs without playing any...

UPDATE: BTW, here's an update on how to fix the playback issue.

Bumiputera SME High Mortality Rate

2011-10-10T13:49:00.002+08:00

I've seen businesses come and go. In less than 5 years a shop lot in Bandong, Sibu may see 2-3 times of ownership change. From kedai kopi to car wash to boutique, many gulung tikar.

Let's take a simpler example: The new food court at Simpang 3. It was good, so good some people who are well-established wooden stall food & drinks operators could not get the approval to set up shop there. The ones running the new eateries at Simpang 3 are newbies and unfamiliar faces except for Koleksi Azza clothes boutique. Where's the Kedai Roti Canai and the corner Kedai Runcit? Gulung tikar...

They all ran well. Facilities were good and rental was around RM450 per month (whoa!). Then came Raya on 1st September. After the Raya holidays, 2/3 of the eateries never open shop again until now (10th October). What happened?

1. Cannibalism

Look at Taman Harmoni food court. I can see at least 2-4 eateries selling the same Nasi Lemak and Mee Goreng with similar prices with only taste to differentiate them. Basically this food court was a cannibalistic ground. Can you count how many food operators who managed to survive until today? How can one survive when your competitor is just 5 feet away and it all comes down to feng shui or where customers parked (or in most cases rely on friends to support the business).

Recommendation: A law or accord must be set to allow Bumiputera SME to offer a set of different product or services within a certain commercial area. Anyone who wants to sell something similar, goes to another area. So far I'm just aware it's a canis canem edit world, every man for himself.

2. Low Market

Seriously, looking at the volume of customers I wonder how small businesses can survive. For example there was a furniture shop at a corner lot at Bandong. The market is low-middle income buyers from Kampung Abang Barieng, Nangka or maybe some economic outliers. Can you expect people from these groups to come and buy furnitures everyday? No. Some products and services are seasonal and furniture might only sell during Raya, Gawai etc. Then when they do buy some may go for loan. This is risky as the customers may not pay and default. Where's the Bandong furniture shop? Gulung tikar...

Recommendation: There should be an initiative from existing agency like SEDC to help provide market research to SMEs. This way the SME can know where to locate their business for best profit and performance.

3. Lack of Skills

Businesses run on dreams, passion, money, customers and skills. Sadly most SME proprietors run on dream and passion, which is not enough. They open shop with high entrepreneurial hope but some have no basic business skills. For example there are those who do not know business and the owner(s) are two separate entities. Profit earned from business should not go into personal accounts. Marketing, PR and competitive skills? Mostly based on hunch and experience. Those who remain usually knows the selok-belok.

Recommendation: Enough with the kerepek pisang with photocopied Microsoft Word 2003-typed simple packaging. There should be an initiative to teach and train SME proprietors the basics to run a successful business such as marketing, book keeping, contingency plan, service etc.

4. Master Plan

Excuse as I will revert to Bahasa Sarawak for this important section. Okay kita mun berbisness mesti tauk long term juak, bukan nangga untung bulanan. Tuk contoh senario long term:

Tauk sik bus terminal lamak dekat RTM? Banyak kedai dekat commercial lot sekelilingnya nak? Plan membangunkan commercial area tok ada brutal sikit. Bila ada area commercial mok didevelop, semua bus terminal, lot, rumah etc dipolah sekelilingnya. Bila dah sik berkembang, sidak transfer bus terminal ya kat tempat nya baru nun untuk dibangunkan. Best kan area bas terminal baru ya banyak lot commercial besar dari area terminal lamak? Pas area ya sampe tahap tertentu agik, bas terminal ya akan ditukar agik gi area Salim untuk memajukan tempat ya gik. SME dekat terminal kinek tok akan terimak nasib sama ngan area RTM. Stagnant.

Recommendation: Sometimes we need to know what the government or developers have in their master plan. If you know they are going to Salim next, invest there early on. Be dynamic. Be alert. Mok share nasib dan invest dekat area cam bas terminal lamak? No.

5. Killer Giants

The amount of giant players like big supermarket, fast food etc are killing the small SME everywhere. Have you seen what happened to the old Ngiu Kee? With each new Super or Hypermarket that opens in Sibu, the less market share one can get. If Ngiu Kee, Sugarbun (Cathay) etc are facing danger or already gulung tikar, what chance do small and new Bumiputera SMEs have? They are at the mercy of these invading superpowers and the only thing keeping them alive is either determination or luck. For now you might think "Oh kedai kopi ok eh, can invest", but what if one day Starbucks come here and the new market by then, the younger generation, prefer to go there? Gulung tikar la labu...

Recommendation: Will share with you at a kopitiam somewhere, just call my 017. We can still go against these empires.

iPhone App Review: Waze

2011-10-04T00:49:00.001+08:00

★★★★★

Finally! A FREE app that'll help you to navigate when you're driving around. Depending on your GPS interpretation, it could be a Global Positioning System or Guna Pun Sesat...

Waze is a GPS navigation, tracking and mapping system where the roads and traffic updates are done by the users. Let's see the cool features and why does it deserve such a high rating:

Of course it uses GPS to help relay information from your iPhone to the satellite to give you real time info of your whereabouts. The system allows landscape or portrait view, below is a portrait view:

To make things fun you can "eat" your way to your destination. You'll munch dots on some roads that'll help you to level up (not sure what's the implication though). It's like Pac-Man but you're driving. And heck that Pac-Man Car thingy is really cute! Now look at me munching Jalan Tun Abang Haji Openg... on nom nom nom

Sadly maps like Sibu is not updated. I looked at the road system and I can tell it's from pre-2000. Or maybe pre-1990. Some roads have yet to exist and some were using the old layout. Look at this one, I'm driving into the abyss...

Fortunately one of the feature I like is the "Make you own road!". As most roads may not appear on the map, you are able to contribute by driving along the uncharted road and then update it at Waze's website. This here is me bulldozing and making the road of Jalan Awang Ramli Amit, while driving at 57km/h.

And Waze also has the night mode feature. However it's just graphical. And can you see the 5 tabs at the top of the screen? The one with the !20 is like Facebook's notification system where other Waze users post updates like weather and traffic conditions of roads they are using. Sometimes they post stupid and fake stuff but hey look at Facebook...

A highly recommended app for people who are bad at navigating, for road-mappers who want to contribute or for those who fancy looking at Pac-Man-Car thingy chomp dots along their travel route and level up.

DOWNLOAD NOW from the app store

iPhone App Review: Big Time Gangsta

2011-10-03T00:09:00.000+08:00

★★★★☆
Riding dirty, blastin fools and taking over the city block by block all in your pocket. And it's FREE. Alriggghhttttt...

Okay this is one good game if you're interested in RTS-ish, Final Fantasy-ish (huh?), gun-tapping or just feeling gangsta. BTG allows you to control your own gang and take over the city block by block. There's not much back story except for the intro rap song which explains how you just got out of prison and will have to take back the city and every last dime (honestly, the rap's kinda lame).

But luckily the song's just a minor 1 minute con compared to the whole content. Let's check it out:

You can control up to 6 gang members to a fight for new turfs. You'll meet some uniformly dressed gangs like the Colombians, the Guatamalans, some old biker-gang bangers and more. This is where you tap tap tap on screen to select whom your gangster should blast. Reloading sucks though.

This here is your crib or HQ. This is where it all starts and you can do missions from here. It may not look much but it was pretty hard to get that SUV, the two bouncers and the Jacuzzi on my crib's porch.

If you have the papers you can upgrade your crib into bigger pads like Da Kastle which may worth 1 hour of MTV Cribs review. You need dollars and credits to buy stuff. Dollars are collected from story missions and apartments you've taken over. However like all games credits are IAP but they can buy a lot of fancy stuff and guns. Did I mentioned guns?

Apart from pimping your puny bungalow, you can also purchase guns and other equipment for your gang members with even bigger guns with spoofed names. I though AKA GRILLA was a cool AK-47 spoof, until I saw the GOLD HAMMER... Gold-plated AKs are so gangsta!

This here is the snapshot of apartments you need to take over. The more you take over, the more money you get, the better equipped your gangsters are and the more turfs you can fight for. Repeat.

The map is kinda huge for a game this scale. For now (version 1.2.2) there are two of areas. Apart from story missions, taking over turfs and pimping your stuff, you can participate in an all out gangs vs gang gauntlet in the Arena.

Overall this is a good game. Beats a typical gangster game where you are required to buy random stuff to do a mission and do that mission a few times until you level up. Then use your imagination to visualize all those icons and numbers fighting among themselves. Highly recommended but can still be improved. Like, WHY IS THERE A GANGSTA WHO LOOKS LIKE AN ASIAN HERMAPHRODITE?

DOWNLOAD NOW from the app store...

Level Up!

2011-09-30T23:32:00.000+08:00

Oh yeah now I'm level 23 and of course happy birthday! Looking back at my achievements for the past one year well... they ain't so bad. But honestly I'm feeling more and more embarrassed celebrating birthdays with a crowd and slowly preferring some small time dinner with closed ones (getting old, much?).

Thanks to all comrades, colleagues, bros, dudes and especially the ladies for all the birthday wishes. Let's see what Level 23 has in store...

Chicken Shortage In Sarawak

2011-09-28T11:56:00.000+08:00

There's been a serious chicken shortage in Sarawak for a few days now with places like KL Farming or CCK not having any chicken meat for sale at all. I thought this was just Sibu exclusive case, but apparently it's all over the State. So you can say chickens are going extinct in Sarawak.

What started as an already high RM9.00, chicken meat are now sold at RM13.50/kg thanks to the shortage. What the heck? We're exporting chickens from West Malaysia and the crisis is expected to last until next month.

Oh well, seafood it is then. Or alternatively you can go to KFC and buy some uncooked chickens from them. Or uh... remember the sugar and cooking oil shortage crises? Maybe some are unethically hoarding the chickens and you can get them from under the table or the back door...

Dog Pissed On My Car, Sertu Required

2011-09-27T15:28:00.002+08:00

A dog pissed on my car's wheel right in front of me when I was having breakfast. I didn't go all Spartan on him (or was it a she?) since well, it's an animal and it also pissed on the wheel of the Ninja King parked beside me.

As most of you know Muslims and dogs (or swine) don't go along together. There are 3 levels of uncleanliness that hinders someone from performing religious obligations.

Level 1 Najis Mukhaffafah (Light): Piss from breastfeeding kids under 2 years old

Level 2 Najis Mutawassitah (Mid): Anything coming out from animals or your anus, private parts

Level 3 Najis Mughallazah (Heavy): Anything from dogs or pigs

As required I needed to purify my car's wheel on the basis of hygiene. You never now what's in that stray dog's urine. This purifying or cleansing process for level 3 uncleanliness is called sertu.

Step 1: Grab a fistful of earth.
Step 2: Put the earth in a bucket. Add water.
Step 3: Pour the water mixed with earth onto the unclean areas.
Step 4: Pour clean water onto affected areas 6 times.
Step 5: You/your stuff have been purified and good to go.

Warning: Don't dip unclean things into a stagnant water/bucket. Water must be poured or splashed on.

iPhone Accessory Not Optimized Fix

2011-09-27T14:54:00.002+08:00

This morning I woke up seeing my iPhone turning on and off, as if I got some messages coming in every minute. And this notification appeared instead:

This Accessory is Not Optimized for this iPhone

You may experience noise caused by cellular interference and a decreased in cellular signal strength.

I was like WTH? I didn't add any new accessory or app to the iPhone recently. So here's a quick fix on how to clean and clear the problem.

Step 1: Undock the iPhone if it's still docked.
Step 2: Look at the iPhone's charger outlet (at the bottom of the only physical button)
Step 3: Fork out the lint, dust, dirt etc inside the outlet with a toothpick.
Step 4: Use cotton or twisted tissue to clean the remaining dust.
Step 5: Gently blow the iPhone's outlet.

Step 6: (Optional) Bang the iPhone on the table to unstuck whatever is lodged in the outlet.

There. That should stop the message from popping out. If problem persists contact your retailer.

Command & Conquer Generals DirectX 8.1 Error

2011-09-21T20:14:00.003+08:00

Let's say you were able to play Command & Conquer Generals or Zero Hour before and now this error pops up:

DirectX Error: Please make sure you have DirectX 8.1 or higher installed. Also verify that your video card meets the minimum requirements. I bet most of you now have DirectX 11.

Here's an easy and quick fix.
For C&C Generals: Go to My Documents > Command & Conquer Generals Data
For C&C Zero Hour: Go to My Documents > Command & Conquer Generals Zero Hour Data

Then delete the Options.ini

The highlighted gear thingy is the Options.ini (may be other icon on other OS). Its Type is Configuration settings. Delete it. Destroy it without further thought.

Then run the game again. Enjoy!

Sleep, Like a Boss

2011-09-21T00:32:00.000+08:00

Can't sleep? You sleep well in a rain? Want to know how Don Corleone slept??

Step 1:

Play this and lower its volume to 15%

Step 2:

Play this at max volume while this first video plays. Put it on Full screen.

Step 3:

Profit.

If you want them to loop throughout the night, click both of these links.

The Godfather Theme Song

Fireplace on rainy day HD 1280 x 720

Thanks to one of the YouTuber for this idea.

iPhone App Review: Blogger

2011-09-16T12:16:00.001+08:00

★★★☆☆
Because I can't (or don't know how to?) arrange the images or post links. Apart from that it's nifty. There are rooms for improvements.

I'm writing this post and the previous one on the app Blogger. Very nifty for those always on the move. Finally less excuse for me to not blog regularly. Ahh nuts. Now I need to figure out how to post app links from the iPhone app store.

Internet sold separately.

Click here to download the app.

ISA Abolished

2011-09-16T12:05:00.001+08:00

When the PM announced that he had an amanat or presidential address, I didn't expect this to be one of the issue. The Internal Security Act (ISA) was really useful when clamping down extreme communism but otherwise too much when used on media reporters, civilians or political opponents. And here's the catch, there will be a new revised system to replace ISA.

Salam Eidulfitri 1432H 2011AD

2011-09-01T07:47:00.002+08:00

Man seriously when I said the month of fasting was going to zip past fast, it did. Wasn't really ready for Syawal and now I know what they meant by feeling sad when Ramadan leaves. Oh well it's now Eidulfitri and I would like to wish everyone Selamat Hari Raya, maaf zahir and batin!

DotA 2

2011-08-16T11:02:00.003+08:00

Title says it all. Defense of the Ancients (DotA) is the game that caused many teens and youths to sleep late, break up and learn many foul words in at least 10 languages/dialects, has now been revamped by Valve. Valve has set up 112 servers worldwide before the game release hopefully before the year ends. The best part is? It's graphics-friendly and most computers will be able to handle it.

DotA 2 Minimum System Requirements:

OS: Windows® 7 / Vista / Vista64 / XP
Processor: Pentium 4 3.0GHz
Memory: 1 GB for XP / 2GB for Vista
Graphics: DirectX 9 compatible video card with 128 MB, Shader model 2.0. ATI X800, NVidia 6600 or better
Hard Drive: At least 2.5 GB of free space
Sound: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card

DotA 2 Recommended System Requirements:

OS: Windows® 7 / Vista / Vista64 / XP
Processor: Intel core 2 duo 2.4GHz
Memory: 1 GB for XP / 2GB for Vista
Graphics: DirectX 9 compatible video card with Shader model 3.0. NVidia 7600, ATI X1600 or better
Hard Drive: At least 2.5 GB of free space
Sound: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card

Release date is unknown, as Valve always likes to delay their game to make it more polished. At the mean time you can check out their simple, secretive official website here.

AHHH FRESSHHHH MEAATTTT!!!!!!

No Time!

2011-08-12T22:45:00.007+08:00

That's my frequently used quote nowadays. I'm sure some of my friends and families are familiar with it. But really, I seriously have limited time per day with even lesser time for myself. For the past 3 months.

All the demands from raising 4 kids (metaphor for business and other commitments of course) is detrimental, I'm starting to feel like the Burning Godzilla from the movie Godzilla vs Destroyah.

I'm gonna explode!

Apart from feeling the inevitable meltdown last felt since the great Assignment Rush, I'm feeling a bit apathetic. Far out what am I talking about it's not like anybody gonna continue reading this post anyways unless I throw in some relationship, the girl I'm chasing, gossip, money, etc. Aih must be another after-effects of this "No time!" disease. You know what? I think my aunt is right, no man's an island. I need a woman in my life. I need a life! Haha I'm talking crap again, must be from fatigue. The tomorrow me is so gonna look at this and give a facepalm. Anyways enjoy the final moments of a dying Godzilla versus Destroyah (metaphor of what I'm going through).

It's truly sad to see your childhood hero dies in front of you. Song by Rise Against "Paper Wings"

London Riot - Bleeding Malaysian Student Robbed

2011-08-10T05:16:00.011+08:00

In what appears to be like a typical movie plot where humanity collapse like dominoes after the US market plunged all time low, we were served with the London riot after a father of 4 was allegedly shot by the police. People who were pissed snowballed the whole thing and voila we have a burning, looting, rioting fiesta in London. If you do have friends or family there (check the riots map here), do tell them to be careful.

Sadly a video appeared from the chaos showing a teenage boy, a Malaysian student named Mohd Asyraf Raziq Rosli or Asyraf Haziq (whichever news is correct), bleeding (after being beaten up by another mob previously) before being robbed. Video recorded by Abdul. Contains blood and decadents. For inquiries you can contact the Malaysian High Commission Wan Zaidi Wan Abdullah at +44-020-79190242 or wzaidi@kln.gov.my

Read full news. And here's a complimentary song by Matchbox 20 - How Far We've Come.

Movie Time: Valley of the Wolves Palestine (With English Sub)

2011-08-06T09:55:00.003+08:00

★★★☆☆

Language: Turkish

Run-time:1 hour 45 minutes

Something you don't see often in the global movie industry. Usually we see Rambo single handedly takes on hordes of terrorists, communists and military juntas without a scratch while staying true to American freedom idealism. Now imagine a group of Turkish commandos hunting a Zionist responsible for the flotilla massacre while the hero single handedly takes on hordes of Israeli Defense Force, without much scratch.

I'd give it a higher rating if not for the overly exaggerated aimbot cheat the hero use to take down like... an entire platoon of IDF. The last battle scene is epic though. And it's good to see someone else besides the Americans making movies to show their idealism.

Warning: Contains strong anti-Zionism sentiments, antisemitism, gore and violence. Some sense of humour required. Enjoy!

Salam Ramadan 2011 1432H

2011-08-01T10:16:00.003+08:00

We welcome again the Holy month of Ramadan and what better way to keep this message short other than posting a video of US President Obama's 5-minutes speech.

Very Normal Activity: 10 Things You'll Meet While Driving at Night

2011-07-19T00:00:00.000+08:00

VNA is back since the reformat for another midnight edition! Not long ago I posted about driving by a graveyard, let's see what to expect when you do drive at night.

A lot of things happen after midnight. Illegal races, rempits, ah guas...

1. The Umbrella Lady

Quite common, since the typical story you would hear is how a lady in white with or without an umbrella waves at you by the roadside, apparently trying to tumpang you. Desperate much?

2. The Black... erm... Thingy

Usually you can't make out what it really is, just a black figure by the roadside which may be idle or moving. Since the colour black is usually associated with the dark side, I don't know if it'll wave nicely at you. Slowing down to record a poor 3GP video of it is not recommended either.

3. The Noisemaker

You may or may not be alone. Then suddenly you'll hear the cooler full of fish at the back of your car thrashing itself. Problem: the fish you bought died 8 hours ago. Or you could hear a lot of knocking on your roof. For this one, don't. stop. Keep on driving.

4. The Chasing Head

You open your window to get some fresh air to prevent you from further getting sleepy. With your arms resting on the window sill, you notices something strange at the rear view mirror. Holy! Something is chasing your car and it is quickly gaining distance towards you. Is that... is that a freaking head? Quite common in plantation areas somehow.

5. The Passenger

You may or may not be driving alone. Looking at the top rear view mirror, you notices a new hitchhiker sitting in the back seat. You look back, nothing. Then you focus back to driving. Minutes later you look at the mirror and hey! Someone's sitting there again! You look back nothing. Then you start to get goosebumps behind your neck... may also appear as a gunny sack/plastic bag/flowers/etc.

6. Hit-and-Run?

You are driving when suddenly you see a plastic bag floating in the wind hoping to start again. Ahh it's just a plastic bag so you just continue driving and hit the plastic bag. Instead of a quick plastic splet, you get a THUD. You slow down or stop your car. Only to see something rising up beside you...

7. The Annoying One

Quite similar to The Passenger, except this one is more physical. While driving, you feel someone touching your ears. Then you look back, everyone's asleep/no one's there. Moments later more touching around your head, your nose, body, etc. You get so annoyed and scared at the same time, you lose control.

8. The Radio Changer

Your radio is on and it's playing some generic songs that's putting you to sleep. Suddenly static and/or changes to a gibberish channel. You change back and it changes back too. Eventually you turn it off. It may remain quiet OR suddenly burst back into life OR plays a song by Justin Bieber, which frightens you and make you lose control.

9.The Stench/Aroma

You are driving when suddenly you smell something foul/aromatic. If it's foul, you usually had to open your windows or stop to pick up some flowers to freshen up your car. If it's aromatic, that's dangerous. Somehow having sweet aroma in your car could mean something just hitchhiked with you. In both cases, check your rear view mirror...

10. The Girl in the Middle of the Road

Kinda cliche in many horror movies. You're driving and suddenly there's a girl/woman appearing/walking on the middle of the road. You either avoid and crash into a tree, OR run her down and get #6, or end up with #2, #3, #4, #5, #7, #8, #9. Seriously, what will you do when you see a girl in the middle of the road at this hour? Will you use common sense and listen to what your mom says, or endure 8 hours of Silent Hill-ish horror.

To end, here's a random youtube video for you before you sleep. Good nite, and drive safe...

Rooney Stripped By Liverpool Fans

2011-07-16T08:49:00.004+08:00

I'm not sure if this guy just got balls. Or just plain stupid. Walking into a nest of Liverpool fanatics wearing a Manchester United jersey is something Kratos or Chuck Norris would do. As a Gunner I'm ashamed by some gooners booing fellow countrymen who wore the yellow national kit in the last 4-0 Arsenal-Malaysia Asia tour friendly match. But this...

C'mon dudes, be civilized! Stripping off a ManU's fan kit won't help you guys get the cup this season. Tonite we'll see if that poor topless dude will get his vindication with Malaysia-Liverpool match.

Zynga's Empires & Allies Review

2011-06-09T00:35:00.011+08:00

This morning I woke up to tend to my citizens need in Cityville when I came across the in-game ad Empires & Allies. The word 'Empire' always turns me on and a quick check showed a favourable rating on its Facebook page. So what the heck I clicked the "Allow Permission" button.

After producing a few games ending with '-Ville', Empires & Allies (E&A) is the latest addition to a fleet of Zynga's simple, repetitive but addictive games. Despite the lack of the traditional suffix, the game feels like an Empireville where traditional concepts remain, such as building stuff, harvesting them after a set amount of time and share your achievement on your Facebook wall and newsfeed for your buddies to see.

The island where you start your destiny as a glorious leader.

Zoom in a bit. And hey those coins look so familiar. Must... click... coins...

Your intimidation is so... [Clean Edit]

The game puts you in the storyline of how your little island town just got bombed by the appropriately named Dark Empire, and you as the leader are now on a warpath of vengeance to defeat all the Dark Empire's armies, island by island. A good plot and puts you in the mood to play but in-game storyline isn't new to Facebook apps. However you do experience something new: Battle.

Looks like a cute Pokemon battle on a Nintendo.

Traditionally most Facebook games use texts to display the battle progress on and make your mind does all the work imagining how your wicked sick 500 armed mafioso just whooped another mafia called Master Street Thug "LoveFrodo69" Level 235. But in E&A, you'll be served with an interactive new screen showing your army charging towards the enemy army. Endlessly. And you'll be able to click on whatever target you want them to shoot until one side loses everything.

Say what?

And here comes the con. If you don't like tending farms or had added applications with "-Ville" at the back and left it after a few days, this is not your cup of tea. Some similar concepts may turn off some players who will say "Oh no not another building, harvesting and wall spamming game". Unless you are willing to tend to your farm in Farmville then jump to Cityville then E&A the go back to Farmville when your energy had recharged. Speaking of energy, the battles in E&A use energy so sometimes your trigger happy finger may stop when the menu pops up telling you to ask your friends to give you Energy, or just buy them. It's a good game nonetheless, and uh... add me up!

Pros:

Clean and beautiful graphic.
Battles are entertaining.
Wall posts only display to friends playing E&A.

Cons:

Same gameplay concept from many Facebook farm/city building games.
Energy usage in battle sucks out the fun.
The "Immunity" feature stops you from attacking your friends for hours.

There's room for improvement Zynga! Play now by clicking here.

Awesome! But why does she reminds me of someone...

Oh.

10 Awkward Songs to be Played Near Graveyards

2011-06-03T22:53:00.008+08:00

My work involves going home late occasionally. And passing by a few graveyards is a must, occasionally. Since it's usually close to midnight I just blast my car's sound system because it's less annoying with less people on the road. But there are a few songs I don't recommend playing loudly when passing by any graveyards:

1. Linkin Park - Waiting for the End
Oh the irony and morbidity. It's like you're too emo to live and can't wait to join the grave folks. "Waiting for the end to come, wishing I have strength to stand, this is not what I have planned, it's outta my control..."

2. Linkin Park - In the End
More irony. The lyrics "...in the end, it doesn't even matter" makes whatever you're doing now as pointless. Because you'll end up dead anyways. Depressing much.

3. The Lonely Island feat. Akon - I Just Had Sex
Seriously? Do you have to announce it to the dead? "I just had sexxx and it felt so good"

4. P.O.D. - Alive
We shouldn't be showing off. "I~~~ I feel so ALIVE! For the very first time! And I think I could fly!"

5. Black Eyed Peas - The Time
"I've~~~ had the time of life~~~ and I never felt this way before..." Awkward moment for the living and the dead.

6. Avril Lavigne - What the Hell
"All my life I've been good but now... ooohhhhh I'm thinking what the hell". Indeed.

7. Jay Sean - Down
"Baby are you down down down down down down?" Yes they are. 6 feet under.

8. Jay Sean - 2012
We don't have to remind the dead the overrated year of THE END. And we don't have to announce our party about it to them. "Gonna party like it's the end of the world!" What a hedonistic generation we have become.

9. Ganjaguru - Overload
The very bass from this music is sure to stir the slumber of those under the ground. Get ready to see shuffling dead people.

10. ???
[][][][]???[][][]???[][][]??[]??? Some scholars predicted that the end of the world falls on the fifth day of the week with the sun rising from the West. Click the "Expand" button (1st button from your right) on the YouTube player to watch full screen.

Dream Within A Dream

2011-06-02T14:12:00.016+08:00

Best read while listening to this [OPTIONAL]

Dear blog.

I've ALMOST managed to control myself having a dream within a dream. This time I went four levels deep and I failed to wake up in time.

Not joking.

Thanks to the movie Inception some people might have tried this dream within a dream concept. In the movie we have a gang of dream infiltrators who "went deeper" into someone's dream by putting him or her to sleep to think it's just a dream if things get messed up. Then they infiltrate that dream and ask another subject to sleep again to access into another dream to be infiltrated. It sounds so complicated it's cool.

What happened?

It was very blue, could be early morning. I was standing amongst the ruins of an apartment complex with a few other armed people scouring the place. Something was really wrong here and I was on a mission to do something important. As I walked along the ledge I stopped and everyone started shouting or shooting. Then came plant/alien/tentacles hybrid creatures terrorizing the place. Phuck this I'm waking up. So much for playing Aliens vs Predator and watching Species.

I was at work and realized I was needed at another location at 3:30pm. I was dead late because it was already 3:30pm when I started driving my car. I was driving was ridiculously fast. By the time I was 80% near my destination, my tachymeter watch showed that it was already 3:50pm (it's a 3 km drive). I was going to be late. Then I got the kick. Today is June 2nd, still Gawai holiday. And why did it take me 20 minutes to drive 3 km?! This must be a dream. Then I woke up.

When I woke up I was still late. I looked at my watch and I was late for another task somewhere else. As I rushed (again) to the destination I looked at my watch. HANG ON. I don't own a tachymeter wristwatch! And my generic wristwatch was permanently dead last Monday. Today is June 2nd, Thursday. This must be a dream. So I woke up.

A sigh of relief. I woke up and I was still on my bed. Logic, compared to waking up and suddenly finding yourself with important tasks you didn't remember accepting. So I updated my Facebook status saying:

Had 4 levels of dream today.
1st Post apocalyptic aliens/plants/tentacles invasion.
2nd Late going to somewhere and woke up when I remembered it's Gawai holidays.
3rd Late again and woke up when I realized I don't own a tachymeter watch that told me I'm late.
4th

WAIT. I can't remember the 4th one. Why is my memory a blur? How did I end up typing with my laptop's keyboard when I was typing the status on my iPhone a few seconds ago? Oh look my dream is collapsing. Then I woke up.

This time for real. I woke up at 9:22AM. I was not late for anything because it was still the holidays. No alien tentacles thingy. No tachymeter watch. And my old watch is still dead. My Facebook too remained unchanged. This is the world as how I remembered when I left it.

How to Enter Multilevel Dreams?

It's rare but feasible. Work hard the whole day. Either you sweat it out or you squeeze your brains out. Drink warm water before you sleep. Non-alcohol or non-caffeinated. A mug would do. Then when you sleep, you'll face three possibilities:

You go into deep sleep. All you remember is just blackness.
You go into minimum 2 levels. What happens after that is purely your will to wake up.
I'm no neurologist but you might:

Feel a 'tug' on you feet, forcing you to wake up. Your body's natural 'kick' alarm.
You feel like falling, or dream about doing work. You'll wake up tired.
Isn't that DiCaprio? And why is Ken Watanabe shuffling in my dream?
You wake up late and miss your ride to work/campus.

On a side note you'll switch dreams when you are almost killed, when something decisive is about to happen, or when you realized it's a dream. Having "totems" or things to help you check if it's a dream is impossible. You'll only have logic to beat or get out of a dream. And time doesn't slow down in dreams. What felt like an hour of dreams, you'll wake up realizing it's been 2 hours. That's why "Mmmm just one more minute" ends up "Holy shrimp! It's 12pm!".

DISCLAIMER: I'm not responsible if you get killed and ends up in a limbo or unconstructed dreamspace.

More about dreams here.

Selamat Gawai Dayak 2011

2011-06-01T23:28:00.005+08:00

Selamat Ari Gawai. Gayu guru gerai nyamai. Bulih duit bulih ringgit. Lantang senang. Kaya raya nguan menoa. Oooh haa!

Gawai is a harvest festival celebrated in Sarawak mid-year. The festival, along side Sabahan's harvest festival of Pesta Kaamatan, is celebrated by the Dayaks (from Iban to Bidayuhs). Like Raya and Chinese New Year we can see a massive movement of families going back to their villages and longhouses for reunion, ngabang (house visit) and other festivities. If you're making a ngabang make sure you try the pansoh manok (chicken in a bamboo) or if you can drink, go for the tuak (rice wine). But drink responsibly yo! Go easy on the langkau!

K4L Reformat

2011-06-01T21:41:00.003+08:00

Kampua 4 Life just got a facelift. The old 2009 theme was... getting old. So here it is the theme which hopefully will be used for 2011-2012. More High-Definition and cleaner. Let this post be the dividing point between the new and old era. Itadakimasu!

Vlog003 - 3 Stress Relieving Apps

2011-03-24T00:19:00.002+08:00

Going for High-Definition... sort of

Vlog002 - Where Got Supermoon?!

2011-03-21T00:17:00.002+08:00

Did you see it?

Vlog001 - Hey It's A Vlog!

2011-03-18T21:55:00.000+08:00

Too busy to type

Malaysian Ghost Movies Review

2011-03-17T16:00:00.008+08:00

Jom tengok cerita hantu!

Lately the Malaysian movie scene has experienced upgrades in terms of quality. And since tonight is Friday night we'll review 3 of the latest horror movies that are worth watching:

1. Sini Ada Hantu

This is a ghost movie about ghost stories. That's right, there are 3 ghost stories within a ghost story. We begin with delivery service drivers Ah Meng and Bakri being recruited in the last minute to send a Chinese coffin to its destination before the next morning. So as the duo were traveling the quiet highway through the night, they share ghost stories together while hilariously debating whether the Malay or Chinese ghost was superior. And we have a ghost story involving Ah Meng and Bakri, with more plot twistssssss! Watch it!

"Hantu Cina mana ada kacau Melayu" <-haha XD

2. Hantu Kak Limah Balik Rumah

A sequel (somewhat) to Zombi Kampung Pisang, the story follows Awie again as he return to his beloved village as a successful man to marry a girl he had once broken up with. Things get messed up when the whole village of only 10-15 villagers is terrorized by the ghost of Kak Limah. It's a comedy with a lot of cameos, spoof and pokes on current trends, like the old government. Hell, even the bomoh from Ngankung makes a cameo hahaha! WARNING: This movie contains heavy mixtures of dialects, accents and Manglish. Watch with subtitles on.

3. Khurafat

After 2 comedic horror movies let's look at something that takes horror seriously. This is a M- Night Shyamalan style horror movie with plot twistsssssssss. I won't spoil it, so watch it! It's very serious horror movie with a lot of blue and night scenes (somehow) about a recently married mortician who is haunted by a strange entity. Enough said.

Happy V-Day & Happy 4th B'Day!

2011-02-15T20:23:00.002+08:00

Happy Valentine's Day & Happy Birthday K4L!

Kampua4Life is now 4 years old. Time flies eh, I could remember how noob this blog was when it was conceived back on V-Day of 2007.

Well like usual I'm not celebrating V-Day because there's 2 problem:
1) It's now haram or Islamically illegal to celebrate it for unmarried couples
2) Hello! I'm single!

Busy with work too on that day so I just let it go like any other weekday. Anywho I'm still on a waiting period for a lot of things. Waiting for ministry approval, waiting for a working prototype, and waiting for even more approvals from government and private sectors. Why? Because I'm experiencing this urge to find more sources of income to feel more secure and well established. I'm actually experiencing how money can corrupt one's mind and determination. Besides that after I've done much calculation on when I can be a millionaire after considering expenses and the current inflation and monetary value, I've pressured myself even more. I welcome myself to the RAT RACE!

That or maybe I'm tired of 'fishing' and wanna let the fish to come to me.

So there you go. Don't expect regular updates because it's physically impossible for me to sit down and blog nowadays. Time is a luxury I cannot afford. I finally understand why God said:

"By the declining day; Lo! Man is a state of loss!"

See you when I got the time. For now can't really slow down, because I have to be LEGEND-wait-for-it.... DARY!

Egypt in Conflict: Fun on TV

2011-02-06T12:07:00.002+08:00

But not so pleasant if your family is in the conflict

Watching the news in anticipation of what the government can and will do.

This year's CNY eve was marred by the escalating conflict in Egypt. I don't have to explain what it is about as there's a whole Google for that topic. But if you've been hu-ha-hee-hee ing without knowing what's happening to the pre-apocalyptic world, the Arab Republic of Egypt is facing an uprising from its citizens who are unhappy with the way the old Mubarak's government is handling many things especially their silence on the Palestinian conflict (another long story, read this older post).

So anyways we have Malaysian students in Egypt trapped in the middle of the revolution to oust President Mubarak. News from them include food shortages, being looted, gun pointed to their heads, sleeping with knives and many expected news from a chaotic country. My cousin is one of the students in trapped in all that chaos. So basically I got a first hand experience of what's happening there and here in Malaysia.

Apparently the States and other countries have supplied planes to evacuate their own students but there had been almost no contingency or evacuating plan from Malaysia apart from sending a ship to transport the students to nearby Jeddah (through the pirate infested Gulf of Aden). One Malaysian student fled to Moscow and the rest scattered all over Egypt from Cairo to Alexandria with their friends to take shelter from the angry mob on the streets. Sadly not many students are rich and can purchase RM4,000 emergency flights back to Malaysia as many are sponsored.

So after a few days of planning (I think) Malaysia sent 1 C-130 (I think) military plane to bring the students home. AirAsia offered similar assistance and MAS followed suit. Sounds good, albeit a bit late, but it gets worst. Students are limited to carry 7Kg of luggage only. Heck, I came back from Australia with minimal 50Kg (mostly souvenirs). Laptop is already 2Kg, clothes maybe around 10 Kg so imagine the sacrifice the must do to get home. Hence some opted to go home via other airlines. Oh and some students may not have laptops as they were robbed off their electronics on the way to their airport.

But nonetheless I'm thankful my cousin and the rest of the students are on their way home from the troubled northern African country. Although still in chaos her lecturer told her there will be an exam on the 19th February and I guess she and her friends ditched it in favor of personal safety. Talk about job commitment.

While we wait for our students to arrive, let's just see how things in Egypt develop eh?

Happy Chinese New Year 2011

2011-02-05T11:26:00.000+08:00

It's the Year of the Golden Rabbit!

And also the year 4709 according to Chinese calender. Despite its festive nature, I don't feel the aura of a typical cheerful CNY mood. Could be the slumping economy or the new generation couldn't care less about it. Heck even the fireworks were meh and I didn't bother to take a snap the somewhat empty midnight CNY skies.

Anywho I'm being optimistic about this year. Gonna enjoy this year, work hard, get money, live happily and do some spiritual and physical balancing. If anyone got open house SMS me yeah or just drop me a message on Facebook. Wishing everyone a prosperous and bountiful new year! Huat ah!!!!!!!!!!

Fallout New Vegas Review

2011-02-02T17:38:00.004+08:00

The Future is SO Depressing :D Actually I played this throughout December 2010, and only got time to review it today. So here's a late review.

Fallout New Vegas or FNV is considered as a sequel to Fallout 3. FNV follows the traditional Fallout story about you as one of the survivor in a post-nuclear war world. In FNV most of the stuff and environment is Wild West and of course Las Vegas themed. Roughly 200 years after the nuclear holocaust (radiation lower and people started to repopulate) you play as a Courier who was shot in the head by a gang of thugs who stole the stuff you were delivering. But you were saved by a doctor. Now you're on a path of vengeance trying to find out who killed you and get back the package you needed to deliver to New Vegas (rebuilt Las Vegas).

The Book of Eli, I Am Legend, Apocalypse
The movie titles above inspires the game a lot, and the developers got that post-apocalyptic mood right. I do feel like I'm a lone wanderer in the nuclear wasteland filled with lunatics and optimists.

Yup, this feels post-apocalyptic alright.

This used to be somewhere I think. Now it's just a gloomy gigantic nuclear bombed crater.

Thank goodness post-apocalyptic people don't dress like Final Fantasy folks. And chicks dig guys with rusty ammo chains around his torso.

Factions:
One thing I like about FNV is the factions system and how your actions affect your relationship with them. For example lobbing grenades randomly in a small town will cause the townfolks to hate you and chase you out with Vermin Rifles. Helping a tribe with their quests will cause them to like you and aid you in whatever way possible. There are many factions in FNV, ranging from the militaristic group NCR, the Roman-inspired tribe Legion, some band of Gatling-gun-wielding supermutants, a bunch of zombies who believed they are destined to go to the Promised Land, crazed bandits, loose prisoners and many many more. They all make your experience unique (P/S: be nice with guys with guns).

I decided to be nice and join the NCR Rangers. Because red berets are cool!

Red beret. Cool innit? Oh this is my buddy Boone.

A Splinter Cell-ish attempt to spy on the Legion revealed a dull warrior culture made up of slaves and conscripts from conquered tribes. Just like the Persian army in the movie 300. Not really my cup of tea.

Karma:
Although it is an open-ended free roam game, the main storyline will lead to a final epic battle for the control of the Hoover Dam (SPOILER). Your actions or inaction will decide what the final outcome will be at the battle and after the battle. Helping a Boomer tribe get in touch with the girl he likes will give good karma and this will lead to the Boomers doing a bombing run at the dam (SPOILER). Abandoning or harming certain tribes will of course cause bad karma and somehow you'll feel the guilt in real life. Aahhh... I wonder what happened to the Bright Followers zombies with their crazy idea to fly to their Promised Land in their old salvaged rockets.

Karma: What happens after you whack a mutant Bloatfly with a sledgehammer.

Companions
You can have certain NPCs as your companions in your adventures in the wasteland. They can range from a NCR Ranger with a dark history to a Supermutant auntie with some nyanyuk or Alzheimer-ish condition. They help drive the story even deeper by revealing their own quests as the story progresses.

I introduced Boone to you earlier. Well, he got issues...

And this is my cybernetic dog Rex. He's 200 years-old.

Gore & Violence:
Let these pictures tell the story:

Meet my big f****** gun! (that I looted from a dead mutant)

Just enter the targeting mode and choose your desired target. I like heads.

Then blast your way to pure gory funness! Paint the ground red! BWUAHAHA!

Out of ammo? Go melee! Use your Power Fists and smash their skulls!

No Power Fist? Chainsaw your way to get to the Legion's boss Caesar! Then kill his bodyguards to get Power Fists THEN beat Caesar to pulp!

Rating
I guess everyone got their own unique experience in FNV. For me, I enjoyed mine and took over New Vegas for myself AND killed all other factions just to seal my place as the dictator of the Mojave wasteland. Hahahahaha!

Hello 2011

2011-01-02T17:18:00.002+08:00

Happy new year peeps! We're 1 more year away from the overrated 2012, we're entering the Year of the Rabbit, and well I'm not anticipating much to happen after seeing how 2010 went by. You can find many forecasts online saying this will be a better year with some difficulties (didn't they say that last year?). Well here are my predictions:

Economy:
The recession will go even deeper. And the prices of local goods and food will increase accordingly by 10-50 cents. Eventually going to have breakfast at coffee shops will be somewhat a luxury. RM5.00 kampua? Bring it!

Political:
There will be changes in power, although the new power in charge wouldn't do much because the already miserable state of everything. So despite the happy galore of new changes, there won't be much changes.

War:
North and South Korea go to war! Tension between the two will be unbearable and all their supporters and benefactors will be dragged into the war too. Eventually this will lead to a global war; World War 3 a.k.a. Armageddon. The prophecy will be fulfilled, wohoo!

Astronomy:
Whatever shit that was flying from Pluto towards Earth will be made official and undeniably get everyone in a state of panic. 2012 will be abuzz and trending the online world. The age of Pisces is upon us!

Culture:
Not much, since we're shifting everything to digital and online world. So that means we'll leave no culture whatsoever if there's a nuclear war. All our culture we made online from deviantart to LOLCats will be wiped out in the war. And our music? Expect more hedonistic party songs and Bieber's voice breaking.

Not a very optimistic forecast but it's based on trends from the past years. Live long & prosper!

AFF Suzuki Cup 2010

2010-12-31T16:58:00.003+08:00

We lost the battle, but we won the war!

I was not expecting much, but after the match ended with INA 2-1 MAL I was happy. We lost the match but hey we won the cup by aggregate 4-2. Obviously we got flak from INA supporters telling us we cheated again, but hey it wasn't our fault INA missed the penalty. Mind you there was a single brave Malaysian in the Bung Karno Stadium waving the flag in the midst of thousands red/white fans so he couldn't have lasered the penalty kicker lest he wanted to get mauled by the mob.

These are not Malaysian supporters mind you.

Anywho congratulations, you guys have broken our 14 years dry-spell. Kudos to Rajagopal & his young tigers! Let's hope they are not showered too much with rewards to the point of being spoiled. Viva Malaysia!

Priceless. We won the cup at their home ground. And this time we didn't cheat.

Malaysia vs Indonesia

2010-12-27T17:36:00.004+08:00

It's Konfrontasi (again *sigh*). With Soccer. And Lasers!

Thanks to twitter from our neighbors, our players are now fearsome footballers with laser eyes created by some underground government project.

Last night's match was explosive and managed to put me off to watch BPL matches after that. Apart from the adrenaline-fueled explosive display of 3-0 killing spree from Malaysia to send the reds home, the match was also literally explosive. Supposedly, Malaysian fans threw firecrackers and aimed lasers at the Indonesians around the 53rd minute and this forced the referee Toma Masaaki to call off the game, supposedly. After the raging crowd of reds and yellows chilled a bit the match resumed and led to the 3-0.

Alas, after the match, there was a cyber-war between Malaysians and Indonesians about the supposedly controversial match with the latter side accused the Malaysians of supposedly played lasers at their keeper Markus, supposedly. The "Malaysia Cheat Laser" trended twitter that same night. Sadly we were zerg-rushed by the Indonesians online (240 million of them against 28 million of us) so it really did looked like we were the guilty party. But were we?

Bollocks. They're just pissed we won and we're not guilty. Here are the reasons:

1. Lasers
This is the picture that is supposedly showing the Malaysian fans pointing laser at the field to blind the keeper. Apparently it could be a fact that many viewers are color blind OR they did not see the match at all and proceeded to flame us. At Bukit Jalil last night, the stadium was filled with reds (Indonesian) on one side and yellows (Malaysians) on other. This was viewed from a 42" LCD TV and I can confirm there were no small patch of black shirts mourners who just sat there without waving their respective national flags. Or more Arab-looking. I do not recall wearing the Arabic headgear or keffiyehs as a cultural norm in Malaysia (look at the crowd, I counted 6). FAIL.

2. Scores

How are these scores considered cheating? These are real skills and look at how pathetic Indonesian defense was. Oh this occurred in the 60th-70th minutes. The firecracker & laser incident that put a halt to the game was at the 50th. Unless the players have a time-lag response issue, there is no way the 50th minutes lasers helped the Malaysians to cheat to get the goals in the last quarter of the match. Or is it possible the lasers have some effect to the players similar to how kryptonite weakens Superman?

3. Did you even watch the game?!
Very few Indonesians humbly accepted their defeat due to their poor defenses as seen in the match. But these few were shot by fellow countrymen (maybe 99% of them that happen to not watch the match) who blasted Malingsial as cheaters. -.-

This was just the first leg of the finals. I'm not sure what will happen in the decisive 2nd leg in Jakarta on the 29th December. Maybe bomohs and black magic will be used. Or we might see the usage of the biggest super laser weaponry known to man; the Empire's Death Star blasting everyone to oblivion from space... Now we can only hope for the players to come out of the match in one piece and if possible alive.

And perhaps hope for some help from Japan!

You can read the match report here, although it's less dramatic and has more texts.

Merry X'Mas & Happy Nuclear Power!

2010-12-26T16:41:00.004+08:00

Freaking A haven't update in the longest time. Anywho, Merry Christmas and happy new year! Although it won't be a merry X'mas because a lot of BPL matches have been postponed due to extreme weather. So much for having a White Christmas in England.

Apart from that there's not much interesting issues that came up recently. There's the nuke thingy. The government wants to build a nuclear power plant in Sarawak (as if Bakun isn't enough to worry about) by 2021. Thankfully we have some sane politicians to sound some protest about having a potential Chernobyl in Borneo. We'll see if we can handle nukes by then ,but I myself do not wish to explain the logic of why the government is building all these seemingly unnecessary facilities to my three eyed grandchildren.

Oh and our Pehin got married again, this time discreetly to a 30s year-old Lebanese. Taib still got it for a 74 years old dude. Many may question the CM's decision of marrying someone almost half a century younger than him, but I guess it can be lonely at the top. And some may think this as a hypocritical move (government keep telling us to Belilah Barangan Buatan Malaysia but CM marries import). Looking at the trend, CM may want to avoid a longhouse of in-laws to come visit him in comparison to having foreign faraway in-laws. Anyways, congratulations Pehin.

As for the rest, well one may notice the sudden surge of developments around town. New roads. Contractors rushing to complete projects (they've just completed the Simpang 3 market. And it's Orange Yellow.) The election must be coming REALLLLLLY soon.

Erm. That's all I guess. Life in Kampua Town is really boring. Sometimes I question my decision to make Sibu my Kubu. Apart from work, nothing exciting happens besides the occasional races and karaoke sessions. Speaking of races, I finally saw African and Asian Mormon missionaries riding their bikes in town. A nice change of view besides the common white 19-20s males cycling around in their Mormon formals.

If any of you by chance are holidaying in Sibu just give me a call for any yumcha or limteh or movies. I'll be more than happy to go hang out within 24 hours after call to see people of my age range again. Number is in FB, cheerios!

I Love You, Boy

2010-11-20T00:30:00.017+08:00

If you thought I was going to discuss the trouble I had with male stalkers, well this ain't it. I was rummaging through my old drawers doing some archeology on my past because I was really effing bored. When I hit the 2000AD layer, I found some old and ancient-smelling artifacts. This is one of them:

Huh... almost forgotten about this

Awww... (blurred out the too-personal message)

Yes, females back then were very feisty. Most of them were really shameless about expressing their feelings towards someone. These girls broke the Golden Rule and initiated the first move themselves. I'm sure some of the male readers agree on this and may have experienced their own personal admirers or stalkers back in the old days. And what did I (and maybe most of us young boys) do? We ignored them because we were disgusted by such expression of emotion. YUCK! But 10 years after that we changed and yearn for female companionship thanks to our testosterone. Or not, if you find the similar sex appealing.

Anywho, we go back to the girls and their attitudes. So yes, when girls are young they express their love openly and share it with friends, making it an embarrassment for the target boy who will be ridiculed by his peers. But gradually this shameless attitude becomes silent as the girls grow older. You won't know their affection UNTIL you can take a hint of what's happening. Like from their Facebook statuses. Or from one of their friends who can't keep a secret.

I can't find specific reason for such decline. But maybe it is caused by our culture where it is expected for the male to make the first move first. Our females slowly acknowledge the said culture and wait for the guys to pop the question. Man, can you imagine how awkward it will be if the girls retain such bold attitude till adulthood? Imagine you are going out of the lecture hall and the girl kneels down in front of you offering an Xbox 360 saying "Be My Husband". What's your respond if you are a male?

WTF?!
Accepts Xbox 360
Accepts Xbox 360 & the girl's proposal
Syntax Error
WTF?!
WTF?!

I'm not gonna say 100% relationships out there started with male's initiatives. Somewhere some females did break the Golden Rule and asked the dude. I salute them, as much as I salute brave men who used up all their balls (metaphor for face, pride etc) to throw themselves into the front line with 50-50 chances of success just to ask the girl he admires to be with him. So dudes, appreciate the effort some of your admirers did to get your attention and your affection. Of course with the exception of crazed stalkers. You may be hunting in accordance of the Golden Rule, but rules can be broken and you may be the one hunted. Good hunting!

Bintangor's Legendary Tumpik

2010-11-20T00:30:00.009+08:00

I finally had a taste of the much hyped about tumpik of Bintagor. This traditional baked rice delicacy is a rare treat for me, and if it's legendary enough to be featured in a newspaper must mean that it's worth the 40 minutes drive to Bintangor. It was.

Google Maps can't calculate the route, unfortunately

The 40 minutes drive towards the outskirt of Sibu includes going out of town using the treacherous roads of Lanang, pay some cash to please the Lanang bridge toll operators (RM5 for large vehicles like mine sienz) and finally some relaxing kampung style journey to the small pekan of Bintangor.

The said tumpik is available at Bintangor's central market which looks like a green church. This church-inspired market houses typical Sarawakian foodstuff, supplies and cafes to cater the denizens. You can't miss it, it's the biggest building in Bintangor. Bintangor is not that big to get lost in. And it's easy to find the stall that sells the legendary tumpik. The stall name is Tumpik.

The plain tumpik biasa

Tumpik special

I tried out 2 of the available tumpiks, the normal plain one and a special one (with prawns inside). IMO lah, the plain tumpik was ok-ok lah but the prawn special tumpik was amazing. Maybe because the prawns were jumping 2 hours ago. I jumbled up the order so didn't ask for the exact prices. But both cost Under RM7. Was it worth it? Yes.

3 Jedi Tricks Fruits Sellers Can Do To You

2010-11-20T00:14:00.015+08:00

Fruits. We all buy fruits at certain points of our lives. Guava. Lokam. Bananas. Pineapples. Corns (vegetables). Etc. But after a few years, one may notice the methods certain fruit sellers do to cheat you. Remember how your mom/aunt/yourself said "Cilaka, the seller said was manis but it's not!"? Well here are other tricks they can do:

1. Unmeasured Wanderers
Okay, sometimes when you are eating at a coffee shop or restaurant you will occasionally be visited by freelance street vendors. These people walk table to table selling food, Buddhist trinkets or outlandish but innovative made-in-China toys. Fruit sellers are a sub-species and have different modus operandi. Unlike toys or packaged food that can be quantified and sold at a standard price, fruits are usually sold in a plastic bag and customers are told that it's 1KG or 2KG of XXX fruit. They won't carry a scale to confirm that the plastic bag really has 1KG of fruits. EVER. So you are taking a risk of buying a bag of fruits that may be less than it's worth. Score 1 for the Dark Side!

2. Two Face
This applies to both stall AND freelance wandering fruit sellers. Some fruits are well packaged in the white netting thingy. The half part that faces you looks delicious and sexy, but once you bring it home and undress it you'll find the other half rotten. If you do this mistake often, do not go to any Red Light District.

3. Keep-Promoting-A-Certain-Fruit
Similar to "No worries, this fruit sure manis one" trick, the fruit seller might try to promote a certain fruit many times before and after your purchase. When you arrived at the stall he promoted to you durian, when you have bought rambutan he promoted durian, and when you wanted to leave he shoved durians at your face as you ran towards your vehicle. I'm sure you can tell something is wrong.

So be wary and be more careful out there brave fruit seekers!

Maroon 5, Taio Cruz & Linkin Park's New Album Review

2010-11-01T20:57:00.010+08:00

Artist: Maroon 5
Album: Hands All Over
Ham's Rating:

Adam Levine and his crew are back with their 3rd studio album. This is supposed to be their last album as Levine believed Maroon 5 have reached their peak and he doesn't wish to do similar gigs when he's in his 50s [Rolling Stone (1029):16]. Although this is a sad news (and I wish there'd be another one), I personally enjoyed all their tracks and think they'd would be enough to mark the band's exit. Personal favs include Never Gonna Leave This Bed (mmm reminds one about being lazy to get up for morning classes), Misery and How.

Preview: Maroon 5 - Never Gonna Leave this Bed

========================================

Artist: Taio Cruz
Album: Rockstarr
Ham's Rating:

I heard him for the first time on the radio with the song Break Your Heart back in Perth. After getting his album I was hooked with Taio's musical beat and lyrics. My top favourites from his Rockstarr album are Dynamite, Dirty Picture & No Other One. Lyrics in songs like Break Your Heart really made me more optimistic about love life and reminded me on greater things; CELEBRATE MY LIFE. A good album to listen at night in your car, loud.

Preview: Taio Cruz - Break Your Heart ft. Ludacris

========================================

Artist: Linkin Park
Album: A Thousand Suns
Ham's Rating:

???. ???. ???. I first heard The Catalyst from the radio and I could barely recognize it's actually Linkin Park. Then I got the album, and my definition of Linkin Part was thrown out the window. Sadly, there's not much memorable songs from this 4th album unlike their predecessors. All I heard are just digitalized voices, outlandish un-LP techno rhythms, strange scriptural choirs and chimes. Simply put, the whole album is monotonous.

Now some LP fans will point out that the band is 'maturing', but I a fellow LP fan says that this radical shift of style sounds like unfinished, experimental songs with chao ah beng techno. Just listen to alternate studio versions of LP songs like Points of Authority and you'll know what I mean. Even the album cover is unimaginative. Expecting better results for the next album. C'mon LP you can do it!

Preview: Linkin Park - Waiting for the End

River Disaster Strikes Sibu (Not Really)

2010-10-08T16:01:00.007+08:00

Timber Companies! Global Warming! Aliens!

It's not as freaky as it looks like from here in Sibu. Looks like normal scenery shot. But there were still some driftwood and junk floating by the river, attracting locals who have never seen such strange phenomenon. However this is just moderate as to what's happened to Kapit yesterday. Click on pictures to read the details:

Could be the timber companies. Could be the government who as of now is not doing anything to calm the people down. Could be the Bakun dam that they will flood in a few more days.

The Iban dude said it's a bad omen. The Chinese dude said it's the end of the world. The other dude I met at the ferry point said Kapit got a lot of fish harvest (half-dead fishes), sounds just like what happened prior to the 2004 tsunami. Whatever this leads to I suggest some of you in the low lying areas to pack up just in case the 1960s mega flood repeats itself. And here's a video on Kapit in Facebook (click).

Steam Updating Problem Fix

2010-10-06T00:06:00.005+08:00

Steam.exe main exception

To run Steam, you must first connect to the Internet

If you have:
1. Encountered the message above when updating Steam
2. Already connected to the Internet
3. Already turned off firewall
4. Windows 7 user
5. and Googled your way here

Then congratulations you're one step closer to solving it. Here we go mate:

Step 1
Click on Windows go to Control Panel then in the Search Control Panel box type firewall. Click on Allow a program through Windows Firewall as shown below:

Step 2
Scroll down until you see Steam. Make sure you ☑ it for both Home/Work (Private) and Public. It should look like below:

Step 3
Restart Steam, and try updating again. This time it should work as shown below. Enjoy!

Very Normal Activity: Strange Things at the Sea

2010-10-05T22:11:00.008+08:00

Fishermen's tales about the sea that they don't usually blog about

I've accumulated enough stories from uncles who go out to sea to fish as work or hobbies in the west coast of Sarawak. They have all these weird encounters at sea that they don't really talk about, maybe because they are more excited to show off and take shots with their big catch. As strange as they may sound these paranormal activities have their respective explanation. Below are the things they shared about what they encounter at the sea... at night:

1. Flying orbs

Brief Description: Flying lights
Horror: 1 (they're just lights)
Encounter: Occasional
Explanation: Aliens! Or simply Malaysian weather balloon...
Reaction: Just ignore

They hover in the horizon or just the distance from the fishermen. To confirm they are not seeing stars from a rocking boat, these orbs fly in formation harmlessly from point A to point B where they usually just vanish. Sounds like the very orbs the members of TAPS keep talking and documenting about. A variation of the encounter includes that those orbs if close enough are actually eyes (for orbs that come in pairs) that fly around the fishermen. Watching them until they got bored.

2. Giant Legs
Brief Description: A pair of gigantass legs
Horror: 5 (i don't wanna get stepped on bro!)
Encounter: Rare
Explanation: Sea illusion. Malaysian weather balloon
Reaction: Go back to sleep

So you wake up and decided to go out of the cabin to pee into the sea. Then you see your boat under between 2 gigantic legs. Each footing into the sea to your left and right. You can't see the rest of the body because of its massive height above you. You took a leak and went back to sleep. Though I did forget to ask what gender the leg was...

3. Flying Heads
Brief Description: Flying Heads
Horror: 10 (mother truckers they're flying heads!)
Encounter: Occasional
Explanation: Malaysian weather balloon
Reaction: Run! Abandon hooks! Drive the boat away!

Flying heads at the sea in the middle of the night? Enough said. Could be mistaken for flying orbs at first but when they start flying closer towards the boat, the sight of an incoming flying head would scare the sheet out of anyone. Unlike the game DOOM those fishermen were not armed with futuristic laser rifles to blast those flying heads back to Hell, so they pulled anchor and fled.

4. The Bull-Snorting Swimming Baby
Brief Description: A baby snorting like a bull, swimming towards you
Horror: 10 (refer Brief Description)
Encounter: Rare
Explanation: Malaysian weather balloon
Reaction: Abandon hooks! Steer the boat into neighboring waters

This is really random. You're sitting there at night with your mates fishing. Then you heard a splash nearby. You thought something fell into the water. When you guys check at the direction of the splash, you see a baby swimming towards you. The baby's snorting angrily like a bull. Run.

Breaking the Boyfriend's Code

2010-10-02T02:15:00.009+08:00

In case of a break-up, break glass heart

After seeing another 3 friends getting burned last month alone, I've decided to speak up a little bit. I got burned myself for the 6th time many moons ago so I believe I have the credibility to expose some of the dude's code in a relationship. Below is the boyfriend's side of story in case of a break up.

#1. It's okay I'm alright
When couples break up, many assume the girl would take the most emotional damage and the boy would be okay as he is a tough man. FALSE.

The Bad News: For the dudes who were serious about the relationship and had worked hard for their future, a break up from the girlfriend's side is devastating. Many girls would simply cut their hair or post emotional songs or posts online. For dudes, emotionally they'll be scarred but they just won't cry about it. All the emotion manifest itself into drastic physical changes. Hairstyle change, purchase of random items, body mass fluctuation, change of habits. Or worse turning homo. The most obvious thing for one to spot is the absence of smile. No dude smiles after such emotional holocaust, and they'll only smile when near other close mates or if being forced to. A shadow of doubt have been cast onto him when he's near his ex or other non-friend females.

The Good News: This phase only last a few days to a few months with or without support. (depending on your playboyility) Gradually he will move on from checking out other girls, to stalking Facebook profiles, to going out to clubs etc. until he eventually meet a new one.

==================================================================

#2. FML
An elaboration for #1, whereby the dude goes through the after break-up phase. This is the critical phase where the dude is the most vulnerable and susceptible to anything. Usually applies in situations where the girl initiates the break-up, detrimental relationship from both parties, or a mistake from the dude that leads to the break up.

The Bad News: Although short-lived, this phase of after break-ups is the worst for any dudes in his life. He tends to phuck up everything he was doing and thinks he's a failure, loser, an ass, don't give a damn, you name it. It is an indescribable feeling that only those who had experienced it will understand. The best I can describe is the man had his very existence broken down to his foundation of what he had worked and believed all these years. Full support from family and friends are required as the dude may attempt to do stupid things. During this phase too friends should advise the dude to stay off any girls as they will only be his rebound girl.

The Good News: Just like #1 this phase is short lived.

==================================================================

#3. That's not my ex, that's my mistake
In worse case scenario when it is the female's side who triggered the break up, the sentence "let's just be friends" is meaningless to the boyfriend.

The Bad News: Any decent dudes with pride and face would never accept such insult to injury. The feeling of being toyed, used or fooled into false hope will turn trigger his soul to see the thing he loved into something he despised the most. Then the term "friends" will further give false hope to the dude to get back to her. Many will go into shock and try to get the relationship going. After a while the dude will realize he deserves a better life than begging forever. His brain would simply shut out any memories that will sadden the heart to allow the dude to move on with life. In certain cases the ex-girlfriend is non-existent.

The Good News: Time will heal. After months or years of needed desolation from the ex, the dude's brains usually almost deleted all the memories by then, allowing him to say "I was an ass, let's be friends again". By then both parties should have a new partner and all's good.

==================================================================

#4 Rebound Girl
The new void created from the absence of a loved one needs to be filled, fast, no matter what the cost.
The Bad News: Shortly after a break up a dude needs all the console he can get. Sometimes his female friends will give the best consoles as the dudes just suck at comforting another dude. This is when the dude will slowly grow attached to the girl and his heart says he needs her. She has become his rebound girl. This is dangerous as there is a high chance that the rebound girl will find out she was just substituting his ex-girlfriend's spot, which is creepy. The ensuing breakup will only devastate the dude more and he'll simply lose the will to live. GG.

The Good News: Many relationships involving rebound boy/girlfriends do work. Although the max I've seen was only 5 years. But I do believe somewhere out there a rebound relationship did work till marriage though you are betting on maybe, 10% success.

==================================================================

#5 Burn Baby Burn
I'll never fall in love again...

The Bad News: Some dudes may have gotten their first burn, others their 10th, 50th, 100th burn. Anyways, after a certain n number of burns the dude will simply say enough is enough. He'll never seek love anymore and indulge himself with whatever he has left. Like what Taio said "I wanna celebrate and live my life"... so you can kiss your love life goodbye. Friends and families, support his celibacy to encourage him to live on and be successful in life.

The Good News: Whenever a dude says it, somehow he'll end up with a new partner eventually. It's like a touch wood thing, except those sentences attract good things.

==================================================================

#6 If I Can't Have You No One Can!
This is the scariest, most evil intent a boyfriend's heart can create.

The Bad News: After the break up, if the boyfriend is not begging or done doing so he will resort to the next stage; revenge. This is when he will come up with many things to destroy his ex-girlfriend's life literally, metaphorically or both. Spreading bad rumors about the ex, blocking her access to you or your friends, etc are the few things a man is capable of doing. He will continue to do so until he sees her destruction with his own eyes.

The Good News: Usually happens to those new to relationships. The veterans will be matured enough to not do such things. Plus after seeing how he had destroyed his ex-girlfriend's life, he will have this guilty feeling and feel sorry for her.

Anywho give the dude some time to mourn, recover and then get back on his feet after a break up. Bros over hos code should be observed by close brothers of the dude to encourage him to get back into the game. Or not. People get burned sometimes and it is these burns that will shape and show you the exact partner that suits you. And hey, it's not so bad being single. Welcome back to the sea my friend. Once you sober up I hope you'll be swimming in it again. Cheer cheers~

Fly the Malaysian Air

2010-10-02T01:33:00.006+08:00

Foreigners' Guide to the Malaysian Air Travel Culture

First time travelling into Malaysia? Or a Malaysian that's going to use the airplane for the first time? Then let me share with you an air travel culture that's uniquely Malaysia :)

Only in Malaysia (most parts) will you see passengers getting out of their seats, opening and claiming their luggage from the overhead compartment, or ready to jump off the plane when the captain announces the aircraft's arrival (not fully landed). It is a 'herd-effect' whereby when more than 50% of the passengers stand up to claim their luggage and the remaining 49% will follow suit. However there is a minority of 1% that's willing to avoid the long queue of waiting for the aircraft door to open by sitting at their seats for the whole process.

When this happens you could either choose to join the 99% passengers in the queue or the 1% sitting minority. Both are enjoyable traveling experiences. If you are curious on what this culture is called, it is known as kiasuism (key-ah-sue-ism) with practitioners called as kiasu (key-ah-sue). It is advisable for you to point out at the 99% and say "hey, you are kiasu!"

Then when you reach the terminal prior to luggage claim, toilets are readily available after a few minutes of walking along the terminal inclusive of stairs and/or escalators. Bring extra tissues as the toilet rolls at the toilets are on high demand everyday so supplies are limited. And when you are doing your business enjoy the advertisement posted at the doors which may provide useful contacts during your stay.

Let me translate for you "No. 1 liar in Sarikei and Sibu * Mr Lau"

I'm 22

2010-09-30T23:24:00.001+08:00

But aunties keep thinking I'm 18

First off, thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes. I am satisfied with my previous 1 year experience myself though I got burned for the 6th time in a relationship mid year through. Apart from that I'd no regrets on the successes and milestones I've achieved for future propaganda.

My staff makes my singularity a regular jest in the workplace, occasionally promoting me to customers while stressing my singularity, jokingly of course. (If you happen to read this, thanks for the party at the office ya haha). However this is not the point. The interesting point is that as the joke develops, 100% of the female clients assumed I'm 18. FTW? I'm both offended and pleased(?) that I look 4 years younger(?). (see see see, I'm cute AND young haha take that Amie!)

I knew my age and newbie status into the brutal Sarawakian business environment was expected to bring hostility. People tend to look down upon noobs. And in less than 2 months meeting clients I got toyed around by 2 SMEs because they thought I was a joke. Mother truckers don't know who they're dealing with. No body was found floating in the river as a repercussion thankfully.

Anywho I think the first edict I'm going to roll for my 22nd year is an image change. Will post some narcissist pictures on Facebook once done. Hopefully that will make me look as old as I am (funny yes, because many try to look young).

Owh and as tradition dictates, I got myself a present too. A set of Altec Lansing to put some bass in my barren home sound system. However this is a small sleepy village I'm living in so I can only set the volume up to 20% to avoid public bass pollution. I need to sound proof my room... well, I'm only '18' and the nite is still young. Let's partaayyy!!!

Graduation

2010-09-24T22:12:00.003+08:00

I'm a grad mother truckers!

After my short trip to Miri I set off to my next point of pilgrimage: Perth. This one was for my graduation. Looking back from my noob years as a fresh blood foundation kid to the day I finally got up that graduation stage, I've seriously come a long way.

What's next? As few more comrades fight on to fight the war, I'll be stepping out of it gracefully to wage another war that will ultimately decide the fate of the Motherland. I'll be waiting for you guys at the other side and will continue to believe that we can still revolutionize the country by hook or by crook.

I'd like to personally send my infinite thanks to Boss and Big Boss who were there for financial and moral support. My fellow comrades who were there with me during our fights on or off screen. My fellow kamchengz from 5008, 3666, Senadin, Vickery and the Lawson Street gangs who shared the same sheet different day with me. My S.O.B. familias especially the school of Management and Marketing. And finally Creator for providing spiritual solace and all the people I've mentioned earlier. *bows down* "domo arigato".

Exotic Animals, Money, Sarawak

2010-09-22T21:15:00.005+08:00

Get lucky by throwing money at exotic turtles!

Literally "horny snapper turtle"

This one is located in a busy, musty and hot Niah restaurant, 1 hour south from Miri. There's a special section in the large restaurant for an assortment of captured exotic animals that are being displayed for the passing travelers. The notice at a tank below caught my attention:

This "Dragon King" would be an awesome addition to my Pokemon collection

Although bearing an awesome name and came all the way from a Holy Temple of I'm not sure exactly where, this Dragon King or Snapper Turtle (English name) don't look as excited as any celebrity should. I wanted to poke the thing but the whole tank is locked solid and the restaurant's toilet keeper at the back was looking at me suspiciously. He may not seem big from this angle but I can assure you he is 4 times the size of your desktop or laptop you have there. So what am I supposed to do with it? Make a wish? No problem let me throw in some cash...

WHAT A WHOPPER! This guy is making more money than I am (jobless student's income is always negative). So what you have to do is throw in some cash, make a wish and hope the King will grant it. Generally this sounds crude, but I saw some requests hand-written from an orphanage seeking money. I'm not sure if their wishes have been granted but the turtle must have some awesome telekinetic money-raking prowess to make him credible enough to earn this much. Anything goes here in Sarawak.

Alright people. Grab your cash, make a wish and throw it at the turtles below. If the cash gets stuck at the screen your wish may come true, if it flies off well, try another wish.

The Dragon King's less intimidating but happier cousins in another tank. Throw some money at them.

Selamat Hari Raya

2010-09-12T11:41:00.002+08:00

End of Ramadhan already? What it's year 1431H already?

Man time flies faster and faster as you get older and older. I anticipated it, and yes it felt like yesterday when I said "Day 1" on Facebook. Oh well.

Salam Eid Mubarak to all. Maaf zahir batin. I know I may have offended you in anyway, being an ass in front of you somehow or simply forgot to reply your SMS and Facebook comments. So forgive this dude for all the mistakes, and slap him in the face the next time he does a mistake.

P/S: Sibu line pathetically slow again somehow after the quake in NZ (hmmm), thus it turned me off from giving updates. I forgive you zahir-ly TMNet.

Dam You

2010-09-01T15:05:00.006+08:00

Bakun: Decade of Damnation

Remember Empangan Bakun? The very big dam that's supposed to power Sarawak's development? The first time you heard it should be from Kajian Tempatan textbook from Primary 4 or 5 (forgot already). Well for me I've read that book more than a decade ago. 10 years later Bakun is still a project overdue many times and used as the same school textbook reference of what Sarawak can offer, as well as the occasional cause for the displaced natives to be pissed about.

Still pissed. And confused.

Then recently Borneo Post stated that the Federal government pulled out from purchasing the dam for RM8,000,000,000 due to financial crisis (another story). So now the Sarawak state government can move in to buy it for RM6,000,000,000.

RM6bil is okay for this epic functional dam. Oh wait, this is 3 Gorges Dam. Completed earlier than Bakun. (Source)

RM6bil is a lot of cash. It will do good for Sarawak as the mega hydroelectric power will fuel Sarawak's Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) projects. BUT I will side with the political pundits this time.

WHY THE PHUOC DO WE NEED TO SPEND RM6,000,000,000 ON AN UNCONFIRMED-CAN-BE-FINISHED DAM? RM6bil could've been used on finishing many much-needed roads in Sarawak. Shock absorbers ain't cheap dammit!

And let's not forget about how cursed Bakun is. The Coxsakie outbreak that coincided with the dam's relaunch in 1997. The leptospirosis (rat fever, kencing tikus, Mickey's bane) at Bakun as well barely a month ago. And also rumors of black magic and other wrath incurred by the pissed off locals to stop the desecration of their ancestral lands (imagine Avatar, minus the blues).

Flaming online works too I guess...

The money that's apparently spent on the 2,400MW dam is never enough to complete it after a decade. It's like a black hole. No matter how much paper money you throw at the dam the Google images will show the same pictures of it 5-7 years, showing that the contractors do not have built-in cameras on their phones.

Apa ni?

I won't bash much as I'm respecting the month of Ramadhan. The rest of the things about Bakun are common knowledge based on how the government roll. And here's more readings on why you should be worried if you are a taxpayer.

Owh did I mention the government wants to make another 2 new dams? Damn, just think about all those new black holes, more displaced natives and superior government planning for energy supply enough for maybe 1/2 of China (not sure, I'm no Civil Engineer). We need transparent public spending report dammit!

Aggressive Biscuits

2010-08-26T14:27:00.002+08:00

First there's Oreo. Then there's Cream-O. Now there's Bis-O.

I haven't tried Bis-O due to it's shabbiness though, obviously. The hilarity in this imitation wars is further enhanced by the latter's pronunciation which is close to bisul... what's next?

Tension With Indonesia Again

2010-08-25T14:16:00.009+08:00

Indonesian extremists threatened to 'sweep' Malaysians off Indonesia, again.

While Malaysia Barat is tearing themselves apart from the recent case of the racist principal telling Chinese kids to go back China, trouble is brewing with our neighbor to the south. Barely a year ago the Benteng Demokrasi Rakyat (BENDERA) announced that they will invade Malaysia to cause havoc with its 40 well-trained, bamboo-armed and black-magic-protected men.

And a few days ago, the action of Malaysia capturing 3 Indonesian maritime officers triggered another proxy war, with Indonesia 'silently' retaliating by arresting Malaysian fishermen. The whole thing snow balled into a crisis as protesters threw shit at the Malaysian embassy in Jakarta. The nationalist group BENDERA then declared another 'sweep' to kick off Malaysians allegedly violating Indonesia's sovereignty out of their country. It's officially the season to 'ganyang Malaysia' again.

Now at this point I share your blurness on what really pissed them off to the point of throwing human faeces at the embassy. This simple but crucial disclosure may reveal a bit why the tension between the two countries are on high again:

"...according to Malaysian officials, they received satellite photos that the 15 fishermen in five boats were indeed in Malaysian territory – their GPS clearly showed this. An Indonesian maritime boat which encroached into Tanjung Punggai in Kota Tinggi confronted the boats and arrested seven fishermen.

Good sense prevailed as Malaysia released the Indonesian maritime officers while Indonesia sent the fishermen home to Malaysia on Aug 17.

...the Indonesian government sent a diplomatic note to protest the arrest, claiming that Malaysia had violated Indonesian integrity because the incident occurred in Indonesian waters.

Indonesia’s Maritime and Fisheries Minister Fadel Muhammad said Indonesia freed the seven fishermen due to lack of proof...because he needs to pacify his countrymen to show that Indonesia is standing up to Malaysia (Kiasu la).

Malaysia has since quietly responded to the note and made it clear that the Indonesians had encroached into Malaysian waters"

Source: The Star

To summarize, there's a water border dispute between Indonesia and Malaysia. This dispute caused the clash of jurisdiction between the two countries who claimed the incident occurred in THEIR territory. BENDERA just jumped in to light up the fuels of war and all these protests came to be. What started as a hate-war accusing Malaysia of 'curi budaya' or stealing the culture of Indonesia last year is now made bigger with this recent events.

It all started with this...

Then this 'sapu Malaysia', roadbloacks to spot-check for Malaysians and ask them to GTFO...

mmm... she's hot

And we're supposed to fight with these BENDERA elites...

The Indonesian government does not endorse nor support these extremists' actions. BENDERA's October 8th 2009 invasion is way overdue by almost a year. And this fresh ganyang Malaysia thing is predicted to pass away with time. Malaysians in Indonesia should take care of themselves. If BENDERA's willing to grab shit and throw it with rage at the embassy, who knows what else they're capable of while ignoring all the don'ts during this Ramadhan.

Don't join in the fray, just be rational and let us get a move on with work, assignments, life etc.

Sungai Merah is Dead

2010-08-24T16:05:00.008+08:00

Sibuians surrounded bridges along Sungai Merah to fish in dead fishes. Fish market sales and stomach ache cases increment predicted tomorrow.

Today's weather is hot and sunny. And the flood have receded in most places, allowing simple Sibu-folks to go around their business normally again. However today I stumbled a large crowd in Sungai Merah.

People here only crowd around bridges for fishing, pakto or if someone just jumped off the bridge. Curious if it's the latter, I decided to join in.

Turns out they are netting fishes. Dead and dying fishes floating downstream along the Sungai Merah lit. Red River.

Another person kepoh like me told me there were more of the floaters in the morning and several opportunistic Sibuians grabbed as much fish as they can, leaving virtually nothing for me to take pictures of by then (3pm). However some persistent fishermen caught whatever leftovers the river yielded. And for leftovers, some of the fish are quite a pricey catch. Keli, sepat, buris, and some more fish of which I'm not sure what their native names are.

Although it's a free for all free fishing, or simply netting, I'm wondering what killed these fishes. The very same kepoh person told me there's been some logging upstream that killed them, however the logic escaped me. I'm assuming the recent flood unleashed something in the river and killed all the aquatic life, the same thing that happened in 2009's January near Kapit (read the news here).

It looked like this in Belaga and Kapit last year and it could've been like this this morning in Sg. Merah. (Image source)

I'm predicting a huge influx of random fish from buris to empurau in the market tomorrow. OR a huge influx of people with dire stomach pain checking in the hospitals. My advise is to not buy any fishes for the next few days.

Sibu Flood & Leptospirosis

2010-08-23T10:55:00.008+08:00

Deadlier than Jaws, kencing manis and horny hamsters combined

The recent flood obviously caused overflow and mergers of canals, drains, lakes, rivers and other water bodies in Sibu. And for those who still remember the leptospirosis infections, deaths and detections in Sibu waters, you guys should be able to apply the logic of how the flood can unleash the kencing tikus disease upon the simple Sibu-folks.

Name: Leptospirosis aka Rat Fever aka Kencing Tikus

Transmission: Direct or indirect exposure to infected animal fluids or excreta (shit)

Early Symptoms: Severe body aches, frontal headaches, red eyes, flu-like symptoms (fever)

Complications: Meningitis, extreme fatigue, hearing loss, respiratory distress, azotemia, renal interstitial tubular necrosis, death.

Source: wiki, image from kagakribet.com

The virus has been detected in two places in Sibu; Junaco Park National Service Camp and Permai Road recreational park (source: nst.com.my).

Although quarantine efforts were made, I still strongly believe the Health Minister should warn kids or anyone else from playing in the water. Touch wood, the leptospirosis may have spread wide into the flooded residential areas and now we are waiting for the news headlines in Borneo Post, See Hua etc... but if no one is doing it yet, I'll do it.

SIBU, Aug 23 - The virus causing the deadly Leptospirosis disease that was been detected in Junaco Park and Jalan Permai may have spread to other areas via the recent flood. Every sane and health conscious individuals are advised to stay away from the flood as much as possible and drink clean boiled water. Flee to the high ground if it's necessary, barricade your homes and report any unusual behaviors. Wait for further instructions.

The teh-c peng special waters is now served with rat's piss.

Sibu Flood August 2010

2010-08-22T23:20:00.004+08:00

I keep seeing the anti-BN related video of the Sibu flood being shared on Facebook, which I think and believe is baseless. Sometimes some things in life are not caused by politics. As for this year's flood, it's the King Tide and the near full moon. Here, enjoy a video I made on this lazy Sunday. It's a personal tour around the flooded Sibu.

Owh for those who are not familiar with this lil' Venice hometown of mine, these kind of floodings are usual annual events.