Let's get this straight...

Is Chinese New Year a cultural celebration or religious celebration?

If you are still unsure, let someone who actually celebrates it suggest an answer now: Its plain cultural.

I read something one thestar.com.my today, about an issue that shouldn't be an issue to begin with....it was something about Pesta Ang Pows organized in some uni in malaysia to celebrate chinese new year being (i quote) misconstrued as 'religious' festivals...

Anyway, lets see...chinese new year is just a celebration to usher in the new year of the chinese lunar calendar...its to celebrate another 'safe year'...people gather and celebrate when, as legend has it, a man-eating beast called 'Nian' that comes out every new year's eve is scared and driven away by the sounds of firecrackers people light and the red colour everywhere (it fears red)...

so...thats just some background info on d origins of the celebration...but, how is it usually celebrated?

for any simple normal chinese family...chinese new year is about gathering...meeting up for the grand dinner on new year's eve...visiting relatives and friends...then its the firecrackers to spice up the nights and let the younger ones have some fun...ang pows given by the married to the unmarried ones as a gesture to wish good luck (the angpows are actually important for the colour - red, and not the money...money inside is just as a lil something to add happiness)...

maybe chinese new year involves prayers in many chinese families, but its just thanking God for a blessed year and praying for a good year ahead...its nothing about chinese new year being a religious celebration, its just like how muslims have end of year doa and beginning of year doa...and praying on chinese new year can really be suited to your belief...

like the article on the star online said, chinese people of different faith celebrates it without qualms (lets keep in mind that chinese people don't by default belief in any single religion just because they are chinese)...and muslim chinese is one HUGE community, which celebrates it too...

so, if you are not chinese but your chinese friends invite you to join in and care enough to make available halal food etc, if you could, do join in...if you are muslim, please dont let religion be a reason why you can't join...join to foster better friendship and greater understanding...

but then i sense that sometimes, its not that people dont know that it's okay...its probably people just couldnt be bothered or dont care...and in the process of subconcious denial, subconciously makes excuses for themselves saying its not okay...what a pity...

Hate to say I told you so =P

I remember commenting about the websites of some English Premier League clubs...and I mentioned that manutd.com was the best...and chelsea sucks...and I implied that arsenal's ain't bad too...

Well...i read on manchester united's website that manutd.com has received an award for the best website among premiership clubs...and i unbiasedly think they deserved it =)

this was awarded by an internet research panel that 'rated the 20 Premiership club websites on criteria including content, performance, ease of use and traffic'. 'They also studied how the sites sell tickets, merchandise, mobile content and video clips'.

Phil Buxton, editor of digital marketing magazine Revolution, said: "United's site is packed with great content and is by far the easiest to use of any of the sites we looked at."

I have to agree on that...hehe...here's the top 5 list :

(note: chelsea who thinks they are cool didnt even make it...probably they failed badly on ease of use)

1. Manchester United
2. Arsenal
3. Aston Villa
4. West Ham
5. Liverpool / Newcastle

tell the truth, i'm surprised Liverpool made it...but...hey, don't just listen to what i say and accept it as truth (you should never listen to ANYONE and straight away accept what that person says as TOTAL TRUTH just because it sounds good, believable, or holy)....

anyway, as i was saying...judge for yourself! here's where you can find links to all premiership club's website ---> click here

I feel the need...the need for speed!

hahaha...isn't that line just corny? ahahaha...well, you probably can tell that i have just watched Top Gun (again) and it was fun... =)

On friday, a few days ago, me and zek decided to go catch a movie at the "nissan moonlight cinema" (yes, i must include the sponsor name 'nissan'....they friggin put money in it ma)...its an open air cinema that runs a couple of months is summer...we thought it would be a cool experience and hey, its Top Gun - classic!

I was kinda weird for me actually, coz i went there wearing my work clothes (coz i forgot to bring extra clothes that morning to work)....gosh....but it doesnt matter laa...

I had the assumption that we would be sitting on d grass blablabla...but when we got there...we found out that they provide BEAN BAGS for hire! and considering almost everyone in the whole park had one, and looks like we would be lying down...me and zek decided to grab one each...6 dollars + 10 dollars deposit for each...but its a fair price to pay for the comfort - i guess =P

pandai gila ar supply bean bag...they really exploit all possible room to cash in...how clever...

so our spot is relatively near the center-back side...just next to the place where they put the projector, under a huge tree ( that i tot would be cool if i could climb)...when it was dark...we could see bats flying over us all...and some were hanging at the tree above us...hohoho...freaky!

but bats are nice creatures....very misunderstood...they all didnt kacau us at all...except that maybe they were responsible for the things that once in awhile dropped on us from the tree...taik kelawar? tapi dia kering...mungkin taik kelawar kering? tapi mungkin wood chips...well...who knows...we'll never find out...

we didnt have food or drinks...coz we both forgot...yes, they were sold on the spot....but err...mahal ar...maleh la....everyone else was having picnic...eating...drinking....ah well...

the movie was great...hehehe...oh so 80's with the lines and corny scenes...and the songs...ahh...classic....what's fun about it all is the atmosphere...how people go 'uuuuu' or 'aaa'...or 'kiss!kiss!kiss!kiss!...yeaay!!' (during the scene when maverick first kisses charlie)...and then when they said that famous line "i feel the need..." everyone at the park joined in and said "...the need for speed!"...hahaha...and in the end...when they were singing the songs in the movie...the crowd sang along ( i didnt know the lyrics)...

all in all, it was a great experience...we noticed that there weren't many asians there, in fact, the only asians were those that was with their non-asian friends...we couldnt really give a reason to that...mayb its not an asian thingy...mayb its just the L word...maybe sbb waktu maghrib? (movie starts when it's dark...thats wayyy after maghrib)...

check out the website for the list of movies on at the moonlight cinema this summer -> http://www.moonlight.com.au

i have been having too many dreams lately

this morning i woke up...i straight away recall that i was in a dream...and its just so real that because of the dream, im all in a down/confused mode...

i couldnt remember exactly how the dream went, but as i remembered it, me n my whole family except my dad was at malacca, we wanted to juz take a plane back to JB (WTH???)...and at first take off, i took out my mobile fon to turn it off, and suddenly, there was some electrical failure in the plane...they blamed my phone...but HEY, i was juz turning it off! we had to abort take off...and we all went back inside the airport....

thats not the whole story...

in the plane...i was sitting next to a friend of mine...a good friend of mine...i didnt recall her in the previous scenes before we boarded the plane...but she was just there when i was in my seat...i haven't talked to her for awhile now...last we met, or 'almost' met, i was angry at her...well, in the dream...between me and her was just...(now that i think about it) awkward...

yup, its a weird and stupid dream (take a plane from malacca to JB?) - but dreams are always like that anyway...they rarely make sense...having said that, dreams can be really powerful... they can affect you like its real...the thing between me and that friend of mine...gosh...im so confused now...

i think i also had a couple of dreams before that, one i remembered had my dad in it...but i couldnt remember how the dream went...

dreams... *sigh*

have you woke up from a dream crying? or smiling? or angry or frustrated?

when i was small, i remember i had this nightmare one night...it was the end of the world...flames and chaos everywhere...there was this evil 'thing' flying over the whole area...throwing flames and killing people while laughing...i remember i lost my whole family...i woke up crying...

a few days ago...i dreamt i was killed...

i was in a bus, and sensed that someone was trying to kill me...that someone made a series of efforts to kill me in the bus without being noticed, one of his attempts, he tried to wire up my seat to electrocute me, with a very lame excuse given by the electrician to put some wires on my seat, but i sensed the plot, and moved to another seat...then he asked this mad man with a pair of chopping knife...but i fought him off...

then i shouted, "who is it who has been trying to kill me?show yourself" ... a man stood up, took out a gun...and shot me...i remembered saying after that, "isn't that easier if you want to kill me?"



-i have been having too many dreams lately-


p/s - when am i going to dream that i am a manchester united winger? =P

Visit Malaysia Cyber Campaign

I was resting awhile from work juz now and i found out about the Visit Malaysia Cyber Campaign.... (check out the site at www.vmcc.com.my )

So, i decided to be one of their link partners by putting up the banner that you can see up here =)

From my point of view, this is a very good idea in spreading the news of 'Visit Malaysia Year 2007'... generally, this tactic is called viral marketing (click on the term if you wanna know more about viral marketing)...and it can create a very huge hype if executed effectively....

Don't we (you readers who are malaysian) love our country? Don't we think others shud experience it too? Good stuff is to share =) Do join in this wonderful campaign and do our part to make VMY 2007 a success (ahaha...poyo sungguh)...hahaha...no, serius =

Go to this link to learn about being a partner! --> http://vmcc.com.my/be_a_link_partner.php

=)