boon's log 0807.02: Malay, English or Manglish?

During the long holidays, we decided to slot in some time for a movie. And somehow, Chinese New Year is never complete without a trip to the silver screen.

And so we did...

We wanted to catch Nicholas Cage at Gurney, but it was a full-house, so we went for Andy Lau instead. Anyway, that's not the point of this entry...

This is...


Malay, English or Manglish

Simbol Kelasifikasi Filem

If it is not clear enough for you, when translated into English, it's...

"Film Classification Symbol"

Honestly, sooner or later, you do not need to go for a Bahasa Malaysia class to undersatnd the language. Everything will just be a converted from the English language. It's just a matter of intonation, or in this case, intonasi.

And by the way, I just did a couple of look-ups in the many online English-Malay Dictionaries and here's what I discovered...

Film can be translated into "wayang"
Classification can be translated into "Penggolongan"
Symbol can be translated into "lambang"

So, it's actually Malay Translation should be...

"Lambang Penggolongan Wayang"

but that does not sound too cool (or kūl), does it?

boon out...

boon's log 0907.01: Happy CNY 2007 (Pt.2): What ban?

Firecracker. To ban or not to ban? Recently, there were appeals to the Govt to lift the ban on certain occasions, e.g. during festivals. Well, ban or no ban, last night was no different from previous years. Last night, as the Chinese Buddhist community celebrated and ushered in the 9th day of the CNY - Pai Tee Kong (more write-up here)- fireworks enthusiasts were on a frenzy.

Some would then ask, "What Firecracker Ban?!"










Lighting up the skies

It's a toughie, ain't it? To ban or not to ban? We all know that firecrackers have been the culprit of fires and maimed individuals - some, even deaths. Well, if the folks playing 'em and the manufacturers are more responsible, probably those incidences would not have happened. But then again - who can control a projectiled firecracker. I mean, it is not some high-tech missile or something, that you can control the direction of its flight path.

How about having SIRIM (or some sort of authoritative body) set certain standards for firecrackers that can be allowed into the country. Set up a Firecracker R&D Department or something like that. :P Okay, the latter may be a little overboard, but the idea does not - it can also provide job opportunities as well. Remember how big time software companies hire hackers to help them with their codes? Well, we can also hire our local kampung-boys who are so innovative in creating home-made firecrackers to make sure that what ever firecrackers' that are in the market are safe for the public.

I mean, I've always believe that we cannot set too tight a leash on "humans". It's just being human, right? If you see a sign "Do Not Pluck Flowers" next to some bunch of beautiful roses, the next thought that comes to mind is... "Why NOT?" Or something closer to home - I'm sure many of us have seen this (or worse, have participated in it before). Signs like "Jangan Buang Sampah disini" but there are truckloads of rubbish surrounding that sign.

Where there's a will, there's a way. Ban firecrackers? Take a look around. The last time I checked, the "Bams!" and "Bangs!" lasted until about 3AM last night. Again, enjoy responsibly, folks. Firecrackers, are in some ways, like cigarrettes - it may give you a moment's pleasure, but when in excess, may cause angry neighbors on a lighter note or some parts of your body may suffer in that effect.

boon out...

boon's log 0807.05: Happy CNY 2007 (in summary...)

Hope it is not too late to wish all of you a very Happy and Blessed Chinese New Year! Well, officially it is still within the 15-day period. So, there you go!

As with all the Gong Xi Fa Chai wishes, here's wishing you...

- more wealth!
- best of health!
- bear offsprings - truck loads of 'em, if possible (your mom and dad will be proud of ya!)
- meet your prince charming and let him sweep you off your feet!
- promotions for those who are climbing the ladder!
- better business prospects for those with their own business!
- All A's for those who are studying!

And the list goes on! So, take your pick people. Don't be greedy okay? Just take one "blessing" at a time... lest you'll be found guilty of the blessing-gluttony! :P kidding folks. Have a good one!

Hope 'twas a fun time for all of you. Mine was more tiring than the previous years. Yeah, the new addition to the family has indeed added a few more extra baggages here and there, literally and metaphorically speaking. I had to make 3 fully-loaded trips between our home and the car in order to get everything in there, and trust me when I said that it was almost reaching the roof (!!!) - and we live on the 25th floor! But having said that, it was really fun traveling with the additional head-count. Usually, it's just IL and I. But now with AB, it's somehow different. Yeah, though she may cry for unknown reasons during the trip (she's just 2.5 months old), but having her around makes us feel more like a family - perhaps some of you can identify with that.

Anyway, as I said, it was tiring. Why? Well, for example, 2 days before CNY (what the Chinese call the 29th day), after finally getting to catch some shut-eye, after putting AB to bed, that is, I was abruptly awaken by the Queen - yeah, mom. "Let's go to the market", she said... but but but, it was only 4:45AM? Who sells stuffs at this unearthly hour?! Well, some unearthly-people do...



Early birds catches the worm (and does not get enough sleep)
::Scenes from the local wet market in Kampung Simee

Well, okay, I was wrong. People do wake up at unearthly hours and do market-ing. By 5:30AM, the market was about to burst - bustling with loads and loads of people. Major madness, I tell you. People shouting at the top of their voices with elbows shoving and little kids crying ... wait a minute... why on earth would people bring kids to the market at this hour?! Let the poor kid sleep la! Anyway, it was a real lively scene, to be honest, given that it was at such an un-lively hour. Mom knew her stuff. We were in and out, in less an hour, and boy, did we load up the car.

we headed home and then I just knocked out on the rattan chair for about barely 2 hours and was again awaken once more. This time to go out and get breakfast. I decided to go for my all time fav breakfast. If by any chance any of you are visiting Ipoh and looking for a place with good Chee Cheong Fun? Here's one that I think is real good. The name of the Coffeeshop is Sentosa (believe it is still called that...) and here's the guy selling it...


Chee Cheong Fun (check out the revised price, i.e. the blue ink versus the black ink)

Of course if you are not a frequent traveller to Ipoh, then your priority should be the Chicken Hor Fun first :)

Next to it are several shops selling fruits. I heard that the sales of Mandarin oranges is pretty slow this year. I guess that explains the stock-piles of them by the road side...


Mandarin Oranges

The rest of the day was pretty predictable. AB, AB and more AB... ;) The grandparents (especially the grand-dad) was spoiling her, carrying her all around the house. Gone are our efforts of training her to go to sleep without the aid of being carried around... sigh ;). Boy, did she enjoy it, I tell you.

The rest of the extended CNY weekend was filled with visitations in the scorching heat. But many think that the weather is milder this year compared to previous years, with scattered showers. And before we knew it, it was time to make the trip home - what would have normally been a 1.5 hour trip, turned out to be 3hours! The highway authorities / company (PLUS) minimized the lanes going up north at the Toll gates down to ONE - in anticipation of the higher traffic heading down south. But they've forgotten that the single-lane that they created is actually heading up-hill! So all you need is a couple of buses and trailers and you've got your self a bumper to bumper for more than 3 kilometers. I could have cleared that part of the highway in 2 minutes, but that day, it took 30 minutes. Furthermore it was the beginning of the journey, and AB was still trying to go to sleep... and then the crying begins... To get angry at them (PLUS) or not to get angry at them?


Unnecessary Jam at the Jelapang Toll Gates

The rest of the journey was uneventful, except when AB needed to be fed. She had her first take-away meal in the car that day - thanks to the unnecessary jam... She slept most of the way back after that, contented with a well-fed tummy. And upon reaching Penang, she knocked out a few more hours - and so did the mommy and daddy...

boon out...

**pictures were taken with Z610i**

boon's log 0707.01: Tee Shirts that makes you go "Huh?"

Ever bumped into Tee shirts with funny messages? Well, IL and I were doing some CNY shopping last night and while were trotting around Gurney Plaza, I bumped into these two examples at one of the shops.


The "Huh?!" Tee Shirts

The left one reads:

"I Can't Say What I'm Thinking Right Now"

What on earth is the Tee Shirt trying to say? I mean I know what the sentence means, but imagine someone actually wearing that on the streets; what would your respond be? What are the chances of people actually asking you - "What are you thinking, dude?" and all you need to do is to show him/her your Tee Shirt?

And it also seems like the designer is trying to arrange the letters like that found on the Eye-Test Chart when you visit your optometrist - wonder what's the idea behind that...

Oh, by the way, perhaps not a good Tee Shirt to wear when you are visiting your shrink/psycologist


Now the right one. This one's really funny. It reads

"Haven't I Turned You Down Before?"

In order to wear this Tee, you've gotta be real popular. And the outcome of wearing this Tee Shirt - your "Friend" credits will tumble like a humpty-dumpty. If you wanna know how it feels to be from hero to zero, get one of these...

And where not to wear this Tee Shirt? When your boss announces about your promotion and asks you whether you okay with your new salary / promotion...

Shops / Companies come up with really "interesting" statements. I mean who thinks up messages like that and who approves them being printed on the Tees? This is not some pasar-malam stall, mind you.

If they are trying to be funny, well, it's either they failed or they did not try hard enough...

Here's what I think would have been a funny T-Shirt...



boon out...

boon's log 0607.02: Fancy subtitles...

I believe all of us have a fair share of some funny / fancy subtitles before when we watch movies in the Malaysian Cinemas. And you'd have to admit that some of them are pretty darn funny. I've recently bumped into 2 of them through Astro's Movie Channels and it kinda triggered my memory on a few more others that happened along the way...

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In StarMovies' Addicted to Love, there was one part where Anton Depeux (Tchéky Karyo) asked Linda Green (Kelly Preston)whether she will still love him if she finds out that he is broke...

The word "broke" was translated into Malay subtitles as ... "POKAI". FYI, the word "pokai" literally means "fall down flat on the floor/street" in Cantonese, but has been colloquial-ly used to mean "being broke".

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Not sure where I watched this next one (neither do I remember the movie), but the scene was two girlfriends chatting, where one asked the other why she does not want to consider giving the relationship (with the boyfriend) another try. The second girl replied, "It's just that the timing wasn't right..."

That statement was then translated into, "Taimingnya tidak betul...".

Er... Hello?!

TAIMING ?!?!

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Now awhile back, I was watching X-Men with Maz (colleague). If most of you remember, the opening scene of X-Men, Patrick Stewart;s first word was "Mutant...".

It was then translated into... "Mutan". Yup "Mutan" is the official Malay translation for "Mutant".

How do you like that?

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and finally, in Bad Boys II, remember when Martin Lawrence was high after accidentally taking the drug in the mortuary? the scene was Will Smith and him at the front door of the Captain's (Joe Pantoliano) house. Will Smith shines the flash light into Martin's eyes and said something like...

W.S.: [pointing a flashlight at Marcus' eyes] "Have you ingested X? Look at your pupils.
M.L.: Look at my pupils? How the hell am I gonna look at my pupils?

the word "pupils" here was directly translated into "anak murid" as in pupils in a classroom.

It went something like, "Lihatlah anak murid anda."

What a laugh!

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Ok, perhaps one final one. This one's from Shaz... she was watching a war movie with her hubby sometime ago and during some shooting scene, one of the character went "Duck! Duck! Duck!"

Guess what came out?

Yup, you might have guessed it...

"Itik! Itik! Itik!"

*itik as in duck with feathers... instead of the actual meaning of "to stoop or bend suddenly"



boon out...

boon's log 0507.05: Trilogy Completed... and still the best

Yup, I managed to complete the entire Infernal Affairs (Wu Jian Dao) Trilogy this week (PAUSE and PLAY in between AB's crying, that is) - just finished Part III a couple of minutes ago. If you remember, I blogged about Infernal Affairs versus The Departed recently.


Infernal Affairs Trilogy

Well, after going through the entire Trilogy, I think I enjoyed it better than the first time I watched it. possibly because of the fact that the "remake" was so disappointing. In the words of Simon Yam during an interview for his role in "Election", he said (and I quote), when asked about his experiences between acting in a HK-based film versus a Hollywood-based film, "Hollywood has all the money (budget) to try to make a good film, but he prefers to act in HK-based films because though they may not be mega-bucks productions, but the Directors are better and more brilliant compared to the former." How true, no matter how much money you have, even if you have a good script, but you have a bad director, your film's as good as paper-weight.

boon out...