Bonhamie, blithe, ebullient, effusive, insouciant.

This week, Noriyuki "Pat" Morita, the wise old Karate sensei of Karate Kid fame has passed on. Karate Kid was one of the first movies I watched while growing up, and in a way, has inculcated a sense of honour and respect in me towards treating others and towards life. It was one of the first movies that made me feel mortal, the fear of death, at the old age of 5.

To my first martial arts and life teacher, I bid you farewell and to have the afterlife you seek and deserve.

I had a fascinating week, not that you should care, but I am writing, so that gives me the right to write (pun unintended) whatever I want to write.

SPM this week starred two subjects:

Uh... Hold on while I check (flipping through black folder)-

Pendidikan Moral (Moral Education) - The fact that I had to actually open my bag to recall this subject should be enough to explain my feelings towards the subject. That said, it marvels me to no end how my mind can turn innocent moral phrases and definitions into twisted sadistic animated shorts (think Futurerama). Everything became surprisingly easier to memorise once I did that. The key is to not inhibit the threads your mind will take. C

Additional Mathematics - Calculus, statistics, and everything in between. I loath this subject. But I still consider loathing better than apathy. It was horrible, terrible, vegetable... Whoops! Sorry, reverted into Manglish there. Having passed this paper only once in 7 attempts, I had extremely low hopes for this paper. In fact, My friends who hung around me before taking the paper actually became worried about taking the paper because of my reputation of, as they put it: "he's never worried." Anyway, the paper went relatively okay, and humans will still slaughter one another even if I fail the paper. C

Note: Words in colour are my expected grades.

Next week, I will slay a dragon and eat its entrails.

P.S. Those who own a driving license and have a huge amount of money to blow on a new car may want to check this out.

Live Long & Prosper,
May The Force Be With You,
Be At Peace With Death.

In Memory of Noriyuki "Pat" Morita,
The greatest on-screen American Karate Sensei.

Finally! Me and my buddies, acquaintances, enemies and other fifth formers have reached the halfway line of our very important high school exam.

The verdict:

• Chinese - Easily one of my worst subjects. How did I come to that conclusion? I only passed once in the last two years. SPM Chinese was slightly easier, but I'd be contented with a pass. C
  
• Malay - Easy and hard at the same time. Easy, because I could answer almost all the questions immediately. Hard, because I had to write a lot of stuff. In fact, this is the first time I didn't have extra time to check my answers for Malay exams. A few of my friends didn't even manage to finish some of the questions. B
  
• Sejarah - Disastrous second paper (essays). Other than that, pretty much average (meaning passable). C
  
• English - My favourite. Ludicrously easy papers (at least for me). Whipped through both papers with a combined leftover time of two-and-a-half hours, leaving me enough time to think of stuff I wouldn't dare write for my essays! A
  
• Modern Mathematics - Easy, with a few (very few) hard questions. A
  
• Physics - My weakest of the three science subjects forced upon me. I was expecting the worst when I took my seat for the first of three papers, having failed every time I took the test this year, and almost laughed out loud. The paper was insanely easy. How easy? I could have answered (almost) every question correctly without any revision. It was so easy, it's actually harder trying to fail! B
  

Note: Words in colour are my expected grades.

That's all for this week and last week. More updates next week.

For now, I can only look forward to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire when I finish my exams.

Live Long & Prosper,
May The Force Be With You,
Be At Peace With Death.

This week, the most important high school examination of my teenage years will take place... And I don't give a damn, well, not a lot.

Yes, folks, the SPM (Sijil Pengajian Tinggi) is right around the corner and I-DON'T-CARE.

The reason for my general apathy towards the whole thing is the fact that whatever happens in this test, not to mention the immense difficulty I have to go through to actually FAIL IT, I'll still move on to Form 6 next year.

So there, end of story, goodbye.

This week, I had the pleasure of watching two modern Malaysian made movies that were ACTUALLY GOOD!

Sepet: Excellent movie about love between two individuals with different skin tones (a particularly touchy subject here in Malaysia). Ahh... Watching this movie reminds me of the time when my primary school teacher reminded us NOT to marry Malays.

Quick Recap: Anyone who marries a Malay in this country MUST WITHOUT EXCEPTION, convert to Islam.

Back to the movie - I must say the director managed to somehow broach the subject very effectively without directly confronting overzealous government officials and censors. It did it in such a way, that if any aspersions from any official will result in political suicide.

Must watch for all Malaysians and the global audience at large.

Pontianak Harum Sundal Malam: Tired of Hollywood slashers or Hollywood remakes of Japanese horror or East Asian horror? Try something South-East Asian for a change.

This movie is based on an unfortunately all-too-real supernatural entity known in Malaysian folklore as the 'pontianak'. The closest thing to it in the West is the vampire.

But not close at all in my opinion.

A pontianak is born from a still born child, women who die while giving birth, and women who were killed by the pontianak or their spirits captured by them.

More info regarding pontianaks, who, believe me, are scarier than anything Dracula can throw out, can be found here.

Back to the movie - This movie is reminiscent of Dark Water (Japanese Version) where we actually empathise and even sympathize with the (somewhat murderous) specter. The scenes switch between the past and present fluidly and the acting here is excellent. My only gripe, and this is a tiny gripe, is that some of the CGI effects look fake.

But it's scary, believe me. It was so scary, I believe any male of the human race shown this movie will NEVER EVER lay a hand on women.

Definitely more effective than all periods of Moral Education in a lifetime.

Only for those who wish to learn more about Malaysian culture, want a good scare, and people who abuse their wives.

And that's all for Deepavali and Hari Raya Aidilfitri. Next post might or might not come next week, depending on (ahem... SPM) circumstances.

Oh, by the way, China make a clean sweep at the Hong Kong Badminton Open. - No comment.

US$50. That's the number today.

Before you feel the urge to label me another money-sucking capitalists, the US$50 refers to the plea from the World Wildlife Fund for Nature, which will be put to use in its efforts to protect the Amazon rainforest.

Why?

Because the cold fingers of mild guilt are brushing the inner linings of my stomach, causing mild discomfort, which could build up into nausea.

Basically, I don't have US$50.

But many of you do, and if you wish to save your home (literally), please find a place for the people, creatures, plants, and other denizens of the Amazons between that must-have Goblet of Fire poster and cowboy-boot-shaped potato chip.

On a cynically ironic note, tiger flu might not be so far fetched after all.

An article in North Malaysia's premier newspaper, The Star, caught my eye, in which people who normally handle chickens, e.g., the local chicken farmer who slaughters the meat for the market, don't get the (bird) flu.

This could mean 2 things:
1. These people's immune systems are significantly different than ours as a result of daily contact with birds.

or

2. Chickens aren't spreading the flu, but are totally innocent. Stray cats and dogs might have somehow contracted the bird flu and are spreading the disease in populated areas.

No matter what the conclusion will be, one thing is for sure:
Mess with nature long enough, and EVERYONE gets burned.

This week's Daily Show with Jon Stewart was pretty, for lack of a better word, fascinating. Let's just say if the Bush administration was trying to raise the American public's morale regarding the Iraq war, they failed spectacularly.

Americans, if you watched that episode, I hoped you realise you've just re-elected a moron to arguably the most powerful empire in the world.

On a lighter note, I realise writing this stuff down and knowing no politician in my country is reading it is quite a relief. This is due to the fact that I can be arrested under the Internal Security Act if I become too reckless with my choice of words.

More on my country's troubles later. But at least we haven't had any outbreaks of H5N1, yet. Oh, wait... That's because we actually export endangered species of birds instead of importing them for consumption like Vietnam & China. Well, at least that will stem the demand for exotic birds for a while.

I hope there's an outbreak of tiger flu next.

Hmm... I thought my year-and-a-half absence would automatically qualify my blog for the Grand Archive of Forgotten Stuff (aka Garbage Bin) of cyberspace. It seems Blogger doesn't have a limit on the amount of time that elapses before you next login. Very comforting...

A lot has changed and I too have changed, so I will first start by substituting my first drab template with a more colourful and eye-pleasing creation.

Hopefully, my next update won't take too long.

Until then,
Live Long & Prosper,
May The Force Be With You,
Be At Peace With Death.

This is my first ever posting on my very own BLOG! Welcome to all who visit. I've chosen a fairly simple template for my blog so that it will load faster. Not everyone has broadband you know. I hope to add more of my thoughts in the coming days?, weeks?, months?... Who knows. I'm just going to end my first posting with these words:
May The Force Be With You,
Live Long & Prosper.