Squeek? Screech? Err... Nibble?

A visit to the animal house today as a part of the ethics lecture proved to be enlightening yet disheartening. I have always been against the use of animals as test subjects but it is something unavoidable in my line of study. The animals I seen in the animal house were cute and it is just so hard to accept that many of them will be subjected to various tests that would inevitably shorten their life.


Meet Ina the baby monkey. She is so cute isn't she? She even has a playmate, a male baby monkey called Mawi :)





Spot Gemok, the monkey anyone? He's called Gemok because he was weaned later than all other baby monkeys and thus he is larger and fatter.




Then we have giant rabbits. These rabbits are so large they could easily trounce cats in a battle . They look rather average in the pictures but up close they are damn huge!



And of course the animals famed for experimentation that a whole new term were named after them, the guinea pigs.



There were also giant rats that reminded me of my sixth form days where we dissected these guys. Poor things.


This is the label of cages. There are various acronyms used for different cages for description. SHR simply means spontaneous hypertension rats. This means these rats are bred to have hypertension naturally.



Here we have tiny, delicate baby mice all suckling on their mother. Love the pink tails!


And lastly the ultimate picture. Can anyone spot the baby elephant in the picture? :)

Quote of the day!

Jangan tanya saya macam mana. Sememang macam tu!

- Human Physiology lecturer,
2.15 p.m. 27th February 2007

In response to why plasma calcium levels drop when plasma potassium levels is extremely raised.

A big round of applause to the Malaysian educators.

A book review: One Good Knight

This is long overdue and I best get over it before my fingers turn to lead again. As much as I have listed Mercedes Lackey to be one of my favourite fantasy authors, I find this book to be mediocre at best. Her previous tale in the same hundred kingdoms series is so much better and this just doesn't compare.

The story is about a princess whose kingdom is being besieged by a dragon and the only solution is to provide virgin sacrifices to appease the dragon. All seems simple enough until she herself is chosen to be sacrificed.

A tale that goes against all traditions with an iron-willed princess, a gender-confused knight and dragons that are guardians of a different kind of treasure.

The story seemed a little rushed and the characters were flighty at best with an ending that is most abrupt. The title of the book is also kind of off as the story revolves around the princess and not the knight. When I bought it a friend commented that the title sounded like a title for a porn video. Come to think about it yeah he's true ><

Thieving Pugna

If I was Slardar I would feel so retarded. Imagine Pugna stealing the gem back from your own fountain...

Pet peeves ~ 1

Condiments are like old friends—highly thought of, but often taken for granted.

-Marilyn Kaytor

Somehow being compared to condiments isn't very flattering to me and I do so very hate it when I'm taken for granted.

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Wishing everyone a happy and prosperous Chinese New Year. May your year be filled with an abundance of of good fortune and year-long serenity. Let's all celebrate with never ending camaraderie!

And to those who just have had their reunion dinner, here's to a night of over-indulgence and feasting. Pack on those kilos everyone :S

Before...

And after!

Tribute to Anna Nicole Smith

It is really some shocking news when I read that she passed away recently and at such a young age too. It was really unexpected. She was a great supporter of PETA and that is how we all want to remember her for. Her love for animals.
Read about her work for PETA here.

Head aches and mind breaks

It's officially my holidays now and strangely I'm not much excited about it. It is rather odd as I'm usually happy as hell over holidays no matter how short they are but this one I'm greeting with insipid enthusiasm. I guess it's because this holiday marks that the mid-semester point is here and I really don't want this semester to end. Why?

I've been putting off thinking about it and even writing about it here releases apprehension as though the mere mention of it will make it arrive faster. I'm talking about my research project I'm suppose to do after this semester ends for my thesis. It is so overwhelming and rather intimidating. How do I start? What do I do?

Of course you're assigned a supervisor to guide you but then again, it is really a big thing. What more, it carries 10 credit hours and I so want to get an A for it. With that much credit, scoring anything else but an A will drag my grade point average down a lot. It will make or break my goal of getting into the first class honours list.

And thus I'm all for procrastination, putting off choosing a research project till the official list comes out but several of my course mates are already going around fishing for research titles from the lecturers. Obviously they can't let things lie for the moment and let me enjoy the remainder of my semester. Well, I'm never the one to be left out and neither did I want to be one left to pick out from the leftovers so I did a little sniffing myself and manage to unofficially get one promised to me but it's not a sure thing. It is from the pharmacology department but it's molecular biology work regarding schizophrenia. I'm not much clear about it but the professor said she'll get materials for me to read up on after the break for me to see whether I'm into it or not.

I gotta go rest. Thinking about it gives me a headache...

BOOM?

My mid-semester break is here. Strangely time has been rushing by as though as I'm enjoying myself. If it passes this fast when I'm bored and weary, imagine how fast it can go when I'm actually enjoying myself. I'll be like having fun and *BOOM* (time breaking the sound barrier flying past)

A movie review: Stranger Than Fiction

Imagine that you're running your everyday life which, simply put, is rather average when you suddenly hear a voice narrating your every action. Bad enough that you're distracted and spooked out by the ominous voice, it suddenly hints that death is close in the near future with the inevitable development of your life's plot. You then do all you can to find the owner of this 'voice' and stop it from narrating your life to a tragic end.

This is exactly what happened to Harold Crick who is an auditor with a very much average life, that is until the 'voice' descends on him. He is a man so ruled by numbers that he sees figures everywhere. He counts the number of strokes while brushing, the exact number of minutes he takes to knot his tie and even the number of steps he takes to the bus stop. This all is disrupted when he suddenly hears a woman narrating his life and suddenly dropping a hint that his story ends soon with his death. He then does all he can to try to find this author and change the ending of his story before he is dead.

I would like to say that this movie is certainly entertaining enough if you're an avid reader of novels and you appreciate the magical development of a novel's plot and the significance of all the elements that the writer touches on, that ultimately adds meaning to the ending. Literary buffs will enjoy it when the story of Harold Crick is critically analyzed and dissected in his search to piece together the mysterious identity of his narrator.

It is a movie yet in every sense it embodies a novel with a masterful literary touch of reflections on a quiet man and the change in his life that could very well end in tragedy. A very strange man in a very strange story with a seemingly strange ending.

I do not care what others would think!

I do not care for anything.
I do not care to ride, for the exercise is too violent.
I do not care to walk, walking is too strenuous.
I do not care to lie down, for I should either have to remain lying, and I do not care to do that, or I should have to get up again, and I do not care to do that either.

Summa summarum: I do not care at all.

Soren Kierkegaard (1813–1855)

Sometimes I feel I shouldn't care too and I should just do what I want, pursue what I want and just get what I want.

*Yawn*

Artwork on my hand courtesy of Joyce who wantonly felt the urge to burst out with creativity in a dead physiology class.

Life goes on... and on.. and on...

It has been almost a month since my new semester started and I think I've finally gotten my sleep cycle regulated. Getting up in the mornings for 8 a.m. classes isn't as life threatening anymore but it still proves to be a pain, a big one.
Everything is pretty much mundane again - classes, lab work, assignments. Day in, day out, things have been boring and fraught with unexciting matters. I have less practical lab work this semester but then more assignments in return.
Let's see what do I have currently. I have to write an article, magazine style, for one of my classes which is due next week and I have not even chosen a topic yet.

Titles that crossed my mind.
1. Fight Cellulite Right
2. Finding The Gay Gene.
3. Say Hello To Aloe Vera
4. A Few Maggots A Day Keeps The Doctor Away

Which should I pick?

I totally agree

Famke Janssen in support of PETA!

I'm undergoing withdrawal

Been two days and I can't stand it anymore... Classic symptoms of withdrawal has surfaced such as depression, anxiety and craving.What can I do?

I don't want to admit it but I have to say I'm addicted to holidays...

Happy New Year!

Wishing everyone a very happy new year. Resolutions anyone? :)

Dreams and more dreams

What is it with dreams? For the past week I have been getting one every single day when I go to sleep. Oh, they are not recurrent but they are odd nonetheless. The worst thing is that after a few hours I can't remember what was it and what's left is just a lingering memory that I have been dreaming something odd. This is rather disturbing because I'm not the one to have dreams. Maybe an occasional one every once in a while but that's all. This sudden bout of dream diarrhea is really worrying...

Updates... and Eragon sucks!

The water has gone down two days now and everything is back to normal in Malacca. It's been pretty much dry too with no rains whatsoever and certainly no signs of a flood rising again. What have I been doing? Pretty much hanging out with friends as all of them are back for the Christmas holidays.

I watched Eragon yesterday's afternoon and I would like to say that it is a complete waste of money. I feel the suitability of the actors and actresses casted was bad. They simply did not carry the characters well and the characters were not developed appropriately at all. I felt most of the people acting were wooden and it's like they did not really know their characters at all. Maybe it's excusable that the story line was hashed up to fit it in a movie but not till the point where it became so bad it was laughable.
Nobody has ever seen a dragon grow from a fledgling to full grown in seconds!

Arya, the elven princess was the worse I have ever seen. She was described to be beautiful yet strong, a steely fighter with the grace of a dancer, emanating an aura of power, but in the movie she was neither beautiful nor strong. In fact she looked weak and anorexic even when she was cured of the poison afflicting her. Her fight scene was brief and not really impressive.

Angela the witch is probably the biggest letdown in the movie. I know fans of the book wanted to see her character come to life on screen but she appeared only as a cameo. Her werecat, Solembum was the most intriguing character in the book but he was cut out altogether.

Brom was not acted out well and Arjihad was simply wooden. Need I comment on the other people in the movie? The only person I felt was up to par is the lead actor, Eragon. The others were a letdown.

Fans of the book should indeed stay away from the movie and those that have not read it, you are advised to watch some other movie.

Ps: Merry Christmas! :)

City under water - The sequel's sequel!

And the water keeps rising! Albeit being slow, it's a steady rise nonetheless and now my kitchen is now submerged. My room? Thankfully is dry and water free :)


The lake in front my house :)


My books piled high, and that's only the half of em!


And............ on a footnote, I am watching Malaysia Hari Ini on tv3 since I'm up so early because of the blasted flood and there is this news on Utusan about a girl reading 2200 books and she's only 11 years old. What the heck? I think I've read that much and more at that age. This is because what she reads and counted involves books, magazines, and comics... Comics? I bet you she read all the episodes of doraemon, sailormoon, dragon ball and a whole lot more comics and that probably made the bulk of her book count. I can easily top that and more, if only books weren't so damn expensive.

I've read a lot too, why am I on the news too? Bah!

City under water - The sequel!

Hmmmm... it seems that it has not been raining since yesterday but the water keeps rising and rising. This morning the water level was high enough to flood half of my porch and now its high enough to reach my door. Apparently, water in the Durian Tunggal reservoir of Malacca has reached its maximum level and water is being let out. This is what that is causing waters around Malacca to rise continuously. What crap!

Oh and my internet connection is still unstable, I was cut off for over 12 hours again... And the field in front of my house had turned into a lake. Hey I now live in a lake-front house with a beautiful view and a pleasant breeze. Fancy aint it?

City under water

It seems my hometown is on the verge of being submerged soon. I really thought so too until, thankfully, the rain ceased in the afternoon. It has been raining for about a day when it finally stopped. I heard on the news that several areas on the outskirts of Malacca has gone under water, and in Johor too, floods has been raging. Furthermore, the internet service has also been disrupted. I heard about streamyx not functioning for some people and I couldn't get online for more than 12 hours until now.

The weather is freezing plus everything is damp and wet. Somehow, I can't help thinking that maybe someone's wish for a white Christmas didn't come true quite as expected ...

Sometimes my words speak louder than my actions too :)

The Human Mind

It's really true. Try it and see. I could read it fluently without any stops whatsoever. Once again, the power of the human mind shines through.

Olny srmat poelpe can raed tihs!

cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm.

Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

Tis the season to be jolly!

It's that time of the year again. My favorite festive season where I feel a distinct lift in my mood that strangely makes me lightheaded. Some may say that it has to do with the fact that Christmas always coincides with the holiday season, whether it be school holidays or university break but I beg to differ :)

I feel that the simple belief in the Christmas spirit makes it all magical. I think that Christmas is such a universal celebration where everyone alike can rejoice and make merry. It isn't so much confined to religion anymore and you do see Christmas parties being thrown everywhere and offices having gift exchanges.

To me, it isn't Christmas until you walk into a shopping complex and you hear carols blaring off all angles. Then it really hits you when see those pretty window displays that are all cutesy, and you think to yourself, "It's Christmas time again!".

Then it comes down to the age old question, "Have you been naughty or nice this year?"

A book review: Wicked

After reading about in on isorule I was intrigued but I wasn't planning on getting it. However I was at Borders and when I spotted it on the shelves naturally I was tempted to read it.

Wicked simply tells the tale of the wicked witch of of the west from the book Wizard of Oz. It describes her childhood and in particular, her days at school. Gregory Maguire illustrates the journey from a child named Elphaba to her emergence as the Wicked Witch of the West.

I would say Wicked is not exactly a good read but it isn't bad either. The author did give a new portrayal to the wicked witch of the west (Elphaba) we all know so well, making her misunderstood and not evil but I felt the other characters in the book were not clearly developed. I felt the sister (Nessarose) was pushed into the role of the wicked witch of the east haphazardly as it was conveniently so and I didn't see how the character developed into that. Furthermore, her long time acquaintance from university (Fiyero) suddenly bumped into her after a couple of years and oddly they developed a romance. Convenient huh?

The book challenges the conventional notions of what's good and what's evil and it pushes the boundaries of societal norms. The tale also has a lot of political agendas weaved into it and I felt that the author left too many loose ends in his tale. Overall I enjoyed the idea of the story but I wasn't impressed by the details.

Back from Langkawi Island :)

Langkawi with friends had certainly been superb. What more can I ask for? With lots of places to visit, chocolate shopping, gaming, great views and a wonderful bunch of friends to sweeten it all. :) It was nice that we could rent a car and just drive around where ever we wanted, making it a relaxing, free and easy holiday.


The view of the sea was obviously breathtaking, have a look.


Have a look at the Pulau Dayang Bunting or the Pregnant Lady Island. Can you see the resemblance to a pregnant lady below?




The cable car ride is certainly a must for anybody visiting Langkawi. Take it to the top and you can take a walk along the curved bridge. It is certainly an experience worth bringing home to be remembered always.




With all the yachts about it kinda reminded me of being in the Mediterranean :)


And of course the place we stayed in, Bella Vista. A beautiful name for a beautiful place. I was satisfied overall I guess, despite a few problems cropping up here and there.



And what will Langkawi be without all the animals you can find there? Fishes, capybaras, penguins, feeding eagles, mating damselflies, cute little crabs and of course the ubiquitous monkeys.

Enya - It's In The Rain

Presenting to you Enya with a lovely song - my coursemate said she's the girl with the suara macam angin :)


Everytime the rain comes down
Close my eyes and listen
I can hear the lonesome sound
Of the sky as it cries

Listen to the rain
Here it comes again
Hear it in the rain

Feel the touch of tears that fall
They won't fall forever
In the way the day will flow
All things come, all things go

Listen to the rain... the rain
Here it comes again... again
Hear it in the rain... the rain

Late at night I drift away
I can hear you calling
And my name is in the rain
Leaves on trees whispering
Deep blue seas, mysteries

Even when this moment ends
Can't let go this feeling
Everything will come again
In the sound falling down
Of the sky as it cries
Hear my name in the rain

Whoop ass skellie

I think I've gotta lay off the RPG games for a while. It just says that you play too much games when you dream you're in one. I had a stupid dream last night where I was a sorcerer wielding ice, fire and lightning partying with a knight and an archer. The bad part was that we encountered a skeleton in my house that is immune to ice, lightning, fire and physical damage. The only thing that could very well destroy it was holy damage and I the powerful sorcerer did not have any holy spells in my repertoire of spells. So naturally we were chased all around the house and I promptly proceeded to hide myself in the toilet -_-

However it just shows that the rule of the thumb while playing this fantasy games still apply. You've got to have a balance party. Too heavy on elemental spells and you're in trouble when you encounter an elemental immune monster and vice versa if your party is heavy on physical damage.

Sigh... if only I had a cleric in my party last night in my dream

Einstein's riddle

I heard about it watching a morning talkshow on ntv7. Apparently Albert Einstein wrote this riddle in the early 20th century and he said that 98% of the population would not be able to solve it. I gave it a try and it took me over an hour to get the answer. Hey I'm in the top 2% of the population :) Anyway, I think it's fake. The part about 98% of the population not being able to solve it I mean. Anyone is able to solve it provided they have the patience. Want the answer? Ask me or google for the answer...


In a street there are 5 houses painted 5 different colors.
In each house lives a person of a different nationality.
The 5 homeowners each drink a different beverage,
smoke a different brand of cigar, and keep a different pet.

The question is: Who keeps the fish?

HINTS:

1. The Brit lives in the red house.
2. The Swede has a dog.
3. The Dane drinks tea.
4. The green house is on the left of the white house.
5. The owner of the green house drinks coffee.
6. The person who smokes pall mall has birds.
7. The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhills.
8. The man living in the center house drinks milk.
9. The Norwegian lives in the first house.
10. The man who smokes blends lives next to the one who has cats.
11. The man who has horses lives next to the man who smokes Dunhills.
12. The man who smokes blue master drinks beer.
13. The German smokes prince.
14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
15. The man who smokes blends has a neighbor who drinks water.

Choices and more choices

I didn't think choosing subjects for next semester was gonna be so difficult. Already there were many problems I faced before I even registered...

Problem 1

Two subjects I'm interested in taking has clashing schedules. The practical slots for diagnostic virology and medical physiology is at the same time... and this has been the same for the last year and the years before. The excuse given is that they can't helped it. Bah! I mean how can that be? My course being a three year course and this being my second year means there is no way I can do an advancement of either subjects if I drop one of them. I took the problem up to the head of my department but she can't do anything saying that if she shifted one of the subjects then it will clash with other subjects as well. I guess it's just my luck that I'm interested in subjects that have clashing schedules.

Problem 2

Another subject I'm interested in taking is not offered next semester. It is in the course programme structure and it is supposed to be offered but then due to some circumstances it has been dropped. The coordinator for that subject is on sabbatical and one of the lecturers involved has retired or something... And once again this means no advancement for me in that particular subject. Sigh.. I have to say goodbye to haematology.

Problem 3

I have to take 4 credits from subjects out of my faculty to graduate in my third year. However third years and above are allowed to register earlier so naturally they grabbed all the good ones. I took a look and many good ones are already taken... Most that are left are subjects so boring I'll probably go into coma in class. I guess I'll wait till I'm in third year when I have the first pick of things.

World AIDS Day

I almost forgot until I read about it in the news and with a friendly reminder from Gin Jhen's blog. I'll do my little part and feature a post and keep a link to UNAIDS in my blog in support of World's AIDS Day.

Be careful what you wish for!

*Sniff sniff*

What a way to start the holidays.. by getting sick. Why is it always my trips home are always so eventful? The last time I hit myself in the face with the taxi door and now I completed my journey home by almost fainting several times. Everytime I felt like fainting I had to go sit down to let the feeling pass. Sigh... The doctor diagnosed I had a mild food poisoning.

The holidays are here!

The time is ripe for much enjoyment,
Of merry, little bouts of fun,
For after such a long confinement,
Life just seems like a very bad pun.

The time is right to slough off all reservations,
To unlock life's dull encryption,
And to drop all polite inhibitions,
To have some fun without trepidation.

The time is set to rush on by,
Now that enjoyment is ressurected,
For Father Time is very much sly,
He'll make sure your fun is expediated.

The time is made to look extended,
But actually nothing is more ephemeral,
The length is overrated,
For it always seems so temporal.

The time is hailed by every student,
To be a saviour of our sanity,
For as much as studies are concerned,
It doesn't fit in with our propriety.

The time is here,
Although long in travel,
But we shouldn't fear,
For it has arrived: A student's carnival.


To all my friends on their break, happy holidays :)

Menghitung Hari

My all time favourite Malay song!

Word of the day!

LIPOGRAM

Do you know what a lipogram is? Past sounding like a fat tumor (lipoma), I did not have a notion too as to what was it. Naturally, I ran to Wiki, of which I found this out:


A lipogram is a kind of writing with constraints that consists of full paragraphs or books in which a particular symbol, such as that fifth symbol (which is most common in writing), is missing. An author must submit to an awful handicap, allowing only consonants and A, I, O , U, and Y. This is ordinarily a quorum of six fours plus half of two.

I was curious about such a thing and I did look about and I found this.

Gadsby

Thus, I would want to say that such a thing is odd but I'm much drawn by it and I took a stab at it in this post.

Look, no fifth symbols in this post!

The gaming freaks we all are

She's my star

She's none other than Marsha Thomason. I got to know her from watching the entire two seasons of Las Vegas on DVD and she really stands out for me. She plays Nessa Holt a.k.a. the ice queen, in Las Vegas. Ruling over the gambling pits as the pit boss, she seems to epitomise power in women. What works for me is that she looks less ethereal, compared to the other girls in Las Vegas. The other girls are either stick thin or with overinflated boobs in dresses too tight. Marsha is just prefect the way she is with her killer smile :) Besides, I love hearing her talk, because her British accent is simply too cool.

However she is no longer acting in season 3... *Sob* I'll miss her very much...

The lucky seven of season 1 and 2

Language handicapped

I have always felt that I'm handicapped because I have a good grasp of the English language. Oh yeah, I'm not crazy or anything. Take for example in exams. I had this question appearing in my multiple choice question in my pathology paper today:

The difference of hyperplasia compared to neoplasia.

A. It may be reversible.
B.
C.
D.
E.

It is a true false question whereby we have to state true or false for each statement, A-E. Look at the stament in A. The fact is hyperplasia DEFINITELY IS reversible. So since it states 'may be' does that make the statement wrong? Because 'may be' gives us the idea that it can be reversible or it can be non-reversible. Am I thinking too much?

This isn't the first time whereby I had lots of ambiguities about the meaning of questions in exams. Back in my school days, I would be the one in class arguing the language aspect of questions while everyone else just doesn't see it. They just seem so oblivious about how the incorrect use of a single word can change the meaning of the whole sentence. To make matters worse, when I do argue, I get brushed off by the teachers. To them the questions were correct because all the other students were able to figure out the right answer and I get reprimanded the same way everytime.

"You are thinking too much"

Am I? Is this how we Malaysians are nurturing our young minds? To not think?

In my last semester finals I asked a coursemate about a question in the finals for biochemistry. In this dry practical where we had to do calculations for an experiment, the figures given where strangely different from those in the real experiment we did before. Obviously I calculated it wrongly because I followed the question figures. The others? They blindly followed the figures in the one used before. When asked why they didn't use the ones provided they answered, "Follow the old one la, sure the same one". What the hell! Did it occur to them that the experiment protocol may have changed? Are we all to be mindless zombies to get something correct?

It is sad when a kid learns at a young age that thinking is not beneficial and it is wrong... And we asked ourselves why Malaysia is not a first world country. How can we be, when we have such a third world mentality.

Ennui sucks

Got another six more papers to go and I have one tomorrow... What have I been doing all week? Hmmmmm.. let's see. I have been watching the entire two seasons of Las Vegas, played a hell alot of online games, and certainly haven't been studying. Besides I just went to the movies to catch The Covenant. It was an ok movie I guess, nothing much to brag about. The plot was crap so they hired alot of beautiful people to make up for it. Figures doesn't it?

Anyway, why do exams always make you lose the mood to study? Ennui sucks. Until next time then, gotta at least read a little for my pathology paper tomorrow :)

I need writers for my life too...

Time flies!

Two whole weeks are up and my first paper is gonna be on Monday... Have I put these two weeks to good use? I would say no. Oh, yeah I have been studying, but have I been studying HARD? Nope. The tv, computer and bed have all conspired and they have succeeded in pulling me away from my studies with tempting entreaties of being lazy. Aha, I guess it's true that it is easier to do the wrong thing than to do the right thing.

Well what may come, I'll just do my best.

What is beautiful?

What is beautiful?

Everything is. Take a good look around and breathe in the beauty of existence. We tend to associate beauty with something we can visualize but in truth, beauty is transcendental. A song may sound beautiful, emotions can feel beautiful and a book may carry a beautiful tale. In truth, beauty can be everywhere and anywhere. Pair the word 'beautiful' with anything and instantly it becomes beautiful. A beautiful house, a beautiful scenery, a beautiful country - the things we can beautify is endless. Thus, it all bears down to how we view things. Until we all can learn to look beyond worldly traits, beauty is bound by our earthly minds. Entombed and waiting to be set free by all of us, beauty patiently waits. When that time comes, everything will be beautiful.

What is beautiful?

Movie Review: The Prestige

The prestige takes us into the world of magicians and lands us right smack in the middle of a rivalry. The rivalry between sophisticated, Robert Angier and the more rough around the edges, Alfred Borden which quickly escalates into a deadly competition. They started off as friends and partners but that all ends when a blunder by Alfred causes the death of Robert's wife during a trick on stage. They then become enemies for life–each intent on outdoing and upending the other. It all culminates till the point where life and death is a price worth paying for the downfall of the other and science is brought on stage as new and wilder stunts are sought.

The twists and turns in this story are really something to look out for. Nothing is what it seems to be and nothing is final. What more do you expect when the story revolves around magicians whose whole life depend on trickery and sleight of the hand. The whole tale is like a magic trick performed on stage where there are three acts. Act 1, the 'pledge' where the magician shows you something ordinary, act 2, the 'turn' where that something ordinary does something extraordinary and act 3, the 'prestige' which is the part of the twists and turns.

However watch out for the 'reveal' for that is the thing about it all that is truly magical...

Selamat Hari Raya To Everyone

Muslims celebrate the festival of Aidilfitri – popularly known as Hari Raya Puasa, or simply Hari Raya (in Malaysia – to mark the culmination of Ramadhan, the holy month of fasting.

It is a joyous occasion for Muslims, as it signifies a personal triumph, a victory of self-restraint and abstinence, symbolising purification and renewal.

Happy Deepavali!

Also known as the festival of lights, it celebrates the triumph of good over evil, of light over dark. In Malaysia, it is celebrated with joyful vivacity, with bright lights and even brighter smiles, as though to underline the traditional meaning and message behind it.

To everybody who is celebrating Deepavali today, I would like to wish you all an enjoyable Diwali :)