This bulk just doesn’t appeal very much.

So I was around town with some friends last weekend when a massive vehicle pulled up in front of us, shadowing us with its towering shiny metal body and intimidating us with its colossal wheels the height of a 10-year-old. Its monstrosity crass and boorish, so crude it makes you cringe and wonder: why in the world do you need such a beastly car here?

Our roads are well tarred (apart from the occasional very fatal potholes) and mostly flat anyway. You definitely don’t need a Hummer to take on our ‘treacherous terrains’. And our roads are just as narrow as when goons double-park all over the place. Oh the frustration when it comes along, threatening to run you over or swallow you whole, then pile up an entire line of cars as it eases slowly in and out of a narrow lane …

I say, there really is no space for a Hummer here. I know, I know; it epitomises strength, wealth, and all that jazz, but really, I think you can leave a better aftertaste with a sleeker, faster car that intimidates the same yet slips in and out of narrow lanes with ease. This bulk just doesn’t appeal very much.

Anyway, puzzled aside, we had a rather good laugh. My joker friend couldn’t help but pull a fast one on the Hummer. He said: “Looks like somebody needed some reassurance of his endowment”. Good one, boy, good one. But it is working nonetheless isn’t it? From the fact that we were turning our heads again to take yet another final look.

Graffiti

Hey peeps, we apologize for the very lack of updates. It’s been so long since we last penned down some thoughts.
But, anywayyyy…here’s something new in our office! Our meeting room is being remodelled to a lounge room.
Doing away with all the stuffy board room chairs and table and boring, naked walls.

What we did first was asked Zaki the artist from KLMU, who was also featured on our cover page for September 2nd to come over and go wild on our wall. Zaki who goes by the monicker EscApe Artist was a true professional.

First, he started of drwing on our wall to roughly gauge where the pieces go. Followed by lots and lots of spray painting from 11 a.m all through to six, breaking only for lunch. Nope, we did not force him, he was just dedicated like that.

Did we mention that he did it all without the protective mask? Even as, we did a tad filming of the action, we couldn’t stay longer than a minute in that closed space.. Truly a new found respect for him and all graffiti artists out there!

Please bear with the pictures as it was taken with a phone =D

First few stages..

 

Making the features pop!

 

*spritz*spritz*spritttttzzzzz*

 

Tadah!!!!!

 

We’re so proud of your masterpiece in the office Zaki.. you did an amazing job.. Thank you!

The one where you see..

I was back in Malacca for the Cheng Beng prayers last weekend. A Chinese festival where family members pay respect to the dearly departed ancestors. The day started off early as we armed with food for offerings, joss-sticks and paper money made our way to the Jelutong Cemetary.

Year after year, it was the same..the older generation (my parents, aunty and uncles) will lay the food and paper arrangement on the tombstone, coupled with lighting the candles and joss-sticks while the younger ones namely my sister, cousin and I will be decorating the grounds with paper money gilded with silver and gold.

This went on to three other graves as we paid our respects. Shortly past noon, the temple was our final destination.

Just outside the Seck Kia Eenh temple, there was a sugarcane stall where an old couple was busy running those canes thru the ‘juicer’ filling up the orders of thirsty cutomers and also busily swatting the bees which were buzzing round them. I was one of them waiting and watching them. In between pouring and putting the ice and packing them in plastic bags, the wife went into a little tirade at how her husband had prepared the orders wrongly..

And I thought “Poor man, must be tough working with his wife, seems a bit of a bully”.
Just as that thought had left me..I saw next the wife swatting away a bee on her husband’s arm, before it got the chance to poke its’ stinger thru it.

The husband turned to his wife and smiled that tiny thank-you smile and went back to sieving the husk from the juice. That’s when I noticed the wrinkles around their eyes and mouth.

They must be a contented couple. I don’t get to see that often these days. That must be true love. Something, we younger folk are too impatient for.

Fine Food at Fairies

Klang is a part of town which I don’t get to visit that often, so when a friend of mine mentioned about a simple place there with good food, I was curious to go check it out. A little eatery in the cozy part of town, Fairies Café is located just a stone’s throw away from Jusco Bukit Tinggi. You simply can’t miss the huge faerie shop sign.

When you see this, you are there!

According to cafe manager and co-owner Karmen Chuah, while the whole concept behind the name comes from a love for mythical and magical creatures like fairies, there is no set theme and the outlet has various promotions throughout the year.

One particular themed event was their Halloween Party late last year where the walls were decorated with cobwebs and diners were served spooky-themed drinks. The seating arrangement is also flexible, as you even have the option to sit cushioned on the raised floor in some parts of the cafe

Thai - inspired Lemongrass Fishball Satay

While cafés usually have a wide selection of food to choose from, Fairies Café does offer some hidden gems. Starting off light, we had the Thai-inspired Lemongrass Fishball Satay (RM9), which was tasty without being too heavy. It seems fusion is the entire buzz these days and their Black Pepper Fried Seafood Udon (RM10.90) is an excellent example.

Black pepper fried seafood udon

With succulent prawns and squid, this new take on the popular Japanese noodle is a must-try for black pepper fans (like yours truly).

Chef wok-fried Spaghetti

Worth a try too is the Chef Wok-Fried Spaghetti (RM11.90), which is lightly fried with chili, garlic and plenty of seafood.

Crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, Chicken & Ham (RM10.90) proved to be a real treat too, despite its simplicity.

Check out that portion of chicken!

Those wanting something less adventurous may opt for the Indonesian-Style Chicken Drumstick Rice (RM12.90), which features spicy coconut gravy and kunyit rice.

The fancy-sounding drinks are stars themselves as they are all named after fairies! The Breena (RM8.90) is a refreshing treat made with watermelon, Ribena and Sprite. Just don’t make the same mistake as this reviewer and remember to stir before you drink.

The Breena

The refreshing Donella (RM9.90) is also worth trying, with its cooling mix of lychee, honey, mint and blue curacao. If these are too fancy for your tastebuds, there’s always Ice Honeydew Tea (RM5.50).

Donella

Another pleasant surprise is the addition of live relaxing music to soothe your mood during dinner. The resident performers even accept song requests from diners as well, making dining at Fairies Café a fun and interactive experience.

Fairies Café
80, Jalan Mahogani 1,
Bandar Botanic, 41200 Klang
Tel : 03-33244828/ 012-2122738

Our Culture?

Youth Trends 2010 FULL version

View more presentations from Bernard Hor.

Ivan’s Pick and Pickle

 

Ivan’s pick:

Malaysian Today will be making a trip down to Johor Bahru. Everyone in the company is excited about this trip as it will be the first time we’re going on a trip together. Our gratitude to Ju An who put in a lot of effort in planning and organising this trip. I am sure it will be a great one!

 

 

Ivan’s pickle

There has been much news lately with regard to petrol price increasing and subsidy issues. Personally, I feel that if steps were taken aggressively to improve our public transport services, a lot of road users will shift from driving to using buses, LRTs, and other modes of public transport. I am sure that we will enjoy an efficient public transport in future but when?

Second Season of SyokShock

SyokShock is back for the second season, peeps!

March 25th, Republic Sunway

Calling all student performers!!!

If you are in a BAND even a SINGER-SONGWRITER, RAPPER, DANCER or whatever it is that’s your specialty, show off your talent and share them at SYOKSHOCK- The only student showcase party in KL!!! 

This is opportunity knocking on your door now for you to perform live and hear the thunderous applause and hopefully get discovered… drop us your demo, email us your videos or just call us up and impress us on the phone(whatever you think it takes to wow us..just do IT!)

Send in your entries by March 7 to make the line-up March’s performance.

For more information and to submit your demos, zoom it over syokshock@gmail.com  

or call our Syoklines at : 012-672 0306 / 012-268 3818
*psst..make sure you say “SyokShock baybeh!!” when the call goes thru.. =)*

Gnawing into the Byte-Sized Digital World

An Update!

First up: As many of you would have noticed, your friendly neighbourhood Youth newspaper is now a bi-monthly publication.

Yeap, you will no longer see us every week… at least not physically. We’re going virtual!

What’s going on now is that we will be publishing our physical copy every 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month (take notes folks). Thus, the weeks between will be put up online, and will be a ‘+’ edition of sorts.

What you’ll see in the ‘+’ editions are expansions, complements and multimedia versions of the stories in our physical copy. For example, a video interview of our main story, or a slideshow, or any additional information or pictures that will add to the story in the physical copy. New content will continue to be posted, however – columns such as Let’s Chat (that’s where we play Aunt Agony!) and Check it Out (events listing) will be uploaded weekly, along with our favourites of movie reviews, tech reviews and such – as and when there is great content.

So while you won’t see our familiar orange logo weekly, we will be putting our energies and efforts into connecting with you in the world you’re most familiar with – The World Wide Friggin’ Web!

So visit our website as often as you like, there will be new stuff in it all week.

And Unto Something More Personal

Yeah so this particular writer has been bugging the rest of the MT team with stories of her new dog – found three weeks ago, lost, abandoned (I can’t be sure) and so skinny his ribs were just completely visible.

Male, all black (save for a white patch on chest) and very licky. Super-playful and extremely friendly. Took him to the vet, who pronounced him healthy, except for being too skinny. Will post a ‘before’ picture here, so watch out for the ‘after’ picture!

Three weeks ago, a skinny mongrel was found by this writer. He has since been christened as 'Lucky'

I am pleased to announce that he is no longer that skinny, and continues to put on more and more weight. He has eaten me broke too. Nonetheless, am pleased to have saved at least ONE dog’s life.

Small problem: Whoops, there goes Dad’s 400-ringgit leather shoes! >_<

Seven Vices of Highly Creative People

It’s a tad lenghty but it’s worth a read for some laughs and giggles,

http://www.frictionmagazine.com/artful/columns/7vices_print.html

Blast from the past

Whilst looking at my profile on (the-very-abandoned) friendster, I stumbled upon these words which I’ve forgotten,

I forgot how much I loved the last two stanzas and suddenly all kinds of emotion start reeling in.

The poem at that moment in time, mattered as instead of it symbolizing death;
It only somehow to me, meant that I had to take a spade and bury the death of a romance.
A fantastic poem t’was:

W. H. Auden

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good.