Archive for March, 2007
Yesterday, I posted about the Hantu & Jin exhibition at the Negri Sembilan State Museum. One of the people who think that the exhibition should be stopped is the Perlis Mufti (who is a real stand up guy, IMHO) because he says that there is a fear that society might live in a fantasy world. Well, check out today’s Harian Metro’s front page. The full article is here: Budak Trauma. The gist of it is that a house was burgled by an “orang minyak”, which was witnessed by an 8-year old girl and she is now traumatised by it. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. The article ended with this paragraph:
Selain itu, katanya, ada jiran mendakwa orang minyak terbabit menggunakan ilmu hitam untuk mengecilkan tubuh bagi memasuki rumah mangsa melalui lubang angin.
That’s right, the oily burglar uses black magic to reduce his size so that he can then enter the victim’s house through an air-hole. Through a “lubang angin”. This was ON THE FRONT PAGE! Sorry, didn’t mean to shout there, but … I dunno. Arguably then, you might say that the “Hantu & Jin …?” thing is symptomatic of society today. Suanie commented in yesterday’s post that Mastika “is probably the hottest publication in malaysia” and one can only assume that that is so because of the content. Take the April 2007 issue. Among the stories mentioned on the front page of the comic is:
- Hantu Jadian Merasuk Penghuni Bukit Mutiara
- Syaitan Berdiri di Sebelah Kananku
- Mayat Terbang di Angkasa
- Cahaya Putih dan Lelaki Berjubah Lindungi Ustaz
I haven’t read any of the articles mentioned above, mainly because I haven’t found the time yet. I will read them, though, since it is useful to know the mindset of Mastika’s readers. They’re probably the same ones who think that Pak Lah is a stock market expert.
For what it’s worth, rather than just ranting about these things, I think that we should all learn to apply some critical thinking. Just because we can’t explain certain phenomena doesn’t mean that someone else wouldn’t be able to. Nor should we be so quick to assign the someone else role to mystics, voodoo witch doctors, mullahs and politicians. Honestly, I’d trust a magician first (like Penn & Teller, or David Blaine, say) before any of that other shower. After all, magicians and illusionists make a career from tricking us and don’t pretend like what they’re doing are some sort of mystical mumbo jumbo. At least they’re honest about tricking us.
Filed under: Mentera Moden | |2 Comments
Yesterday afternoon I became a good neighbour and picked up my next door neighbour’s daughter from tuition. He was tied up in a meeting and his wife was on a course. He managed to send his daughter to the kindergarten in the morning, picked her up for lunch, then sent the girl off for tuition. Couldn’t run out of the meeting to pick her up, so asked me if I could do it. Since I wasn’t doing anything important (like work, sleep or watching DVD), I said OK lah. While waiting for her to finish up, I went Interweb on my 3g phone and checked my favourite online comic. Sifting through the usual jokes, I came across some very interesting news.
Apparently, the Negri Sembilan Museum is holding a 3-month “Hantu & Jin …?” exhibition and the Culture and Arts Minister Rais Yatim says it should be stopped, since it brings no benefit whatsoever to the community. The Perlis Mufti also said that it should be stopped lest the people live “in fantasy” — since we obviously aren’t already. The political pundek pundit, James Wong Wing On then wrote an opinion piece in the comic, among other things asking:
Why doesn’t the publicly-funded state museum organise exhibitions on more useful themes such as the history of the tin-mining or rubber industries; British colonisation and resistance; the Japanese invasion and occupation; or development of indigenous weaponry?
Why not exhibitions showing the change of the transportation system of Malaya/Malaysia from the use of elephants to Light Rail Transit?
What about exhibitions showing the transformation of information and communication technologies in press rooms, police stations and army camps?
Aren’t these themes more concrete, real and educational than ‘ghosts and djin’, especially to the younger generation?
He then went on to write:
If these questions are asked and answered rationally, surely many would come to the conclusion that there is a malaise in the intellectual system of the concerned museum and curator, as well as the visitors.
Personally, to answer his questions is easy — “Because the things you mentioned are boring, mah!” Now, don’t get me wrong, because I don’t believe in any of that shit, and I can get militant about nutcases who believe all this supernatural stuff. However, for entertainment, I think ok la. Sometimes you go to a museum to get educated, sometimes you go to get entertained. Some people get entertained by getting scared out of their wits. Besides, the museum curator said that there are three experts “… who will answer any doubts or questions the public may have regarding the subject matter.” Not sure what they’re experts of, but hey, they’re experts ok. They’re probably not bloggers so they’re not likely liars, either. I, for one, would like to find the time to go to the museum to look at the exhibits and to ask one of the experts his opinions on several things, such as, “Dr. Mad Jantan of the IIU, don’t you think your name would be a good one for a Bond villain?” and “Dr. Mad Jantan of the IIU, don’t you get sick of people making fun of your name?”
Besides, supernatural stuff have been popular for yonks and continue to be. Take the Japanese, Korean and Thai horror film scene, for example. Even locally, we’ve had Pontianak Harum Sundal Malam 1 and 2, with Susuk, Cermin and Jangan Pandang Belakang coming soon. On the telly, we have that thing on TV3 (can’t remember what it’s called) and Ghost Hunters. People in Malaysia believe in bomohs, pawangs, santau, hantu raya, pontianak, toyol and a host of other things. We share them with the Indonesians. In the West Indies they have voodoo witch doctors and zombies (which also made those things popular in New Orleans, apparently). And the whole world believes in Feng Shui (pronounced fung suey for some reason).
That’s how it goes la. What’s really needed are some good sceptics. People who would spend the time to investigate and thoroughly debunk these things. People like Michael Shermer and James Randi, but local ones. Maybe a nice Ustaz who can also explain scientifically why certain phenomenon are what they seem. So, rather than replacing the “Hantu & Jin … ?” exhibition with LRT stuff, maybe they could do a scientific debunking section as well. That way we can get scared out of our wits and learn a thing or two about reality. Maybe that’s what those three experts are there for. Hmm … must go see la like this.
Endnote:
It has long been a dream of mine to one day travel around the country, checking out the bomohs and their santaus, plus checking out all the hantu raya, pontianak and toyol sightings. Of course, before I go, I would need to get prepared. Must have a GPS locator, 4WD, elecromagnetic interferometer, 3 handphones (for the 3 celcos), laptop, camera, etc. If I suddenly disappear or something like that, one of you bargers better come and pull me out.
Filed under: Mentera Moden | |4 Comments
It is my belief that personal wanking blogs must have film reviews. This makes the blogger sound like a shaper of opinions. So, to that end, we’re going to start some film reviews here. Now, regular readers of mentera.org (all 5 of us) with half an inch of sense would realise two things:
- The phrase “half an inch of sense” doesn’t make any sense; and
- Almost nothing on this blog is original, being mainly derivatives of other (better) works; and
- gier can’t count.
Be that as it may, I would now like to present mentera.org’s first film reviews. Because I’m mostly lazy, I’ve decided to put several in at once, to save time for more constructive activities. Like sleep.
1. The Lord of The Rings Trilogy
Two rather short guys travel all over New Zealand to throw a ring into a volcano. They might be gay.
2. Die Hard
Balding policeman tries to win back his woman by moving around barefoot, wearing a string vest and killing English German bad guys.
3. Die Harder
Same balding dude kills many other people to make sure wife’s plane lands safely.
4. Troy
Brad Pitt kills Dr. Bruce Banner before he (i.e. Dr. Banner) turns into the Incredible Hulk then gets an arrow in his (i.e. Brad Pitt’s) heel, shot by Dr. Banner’s metrosexual brother (who is an elf), who stole Diane Kruger from some dude that Brad Pitt couldn’t give a shit about. A wooden horse was also involved.
5. Gol & Gincu
College girls play futsal against other girls while looking pretty. One of them gets pregnant, one of them gets the guy, one of them loses a guy but makes friends with other girls. Contrary to expectations, there were no girl-on-girl action.
6. Cinta
Five different plots about different types of love. One plot made sense, the others were rubbish. Which made sense, and which were rubbish changes on different viewings. XPDC did not sing the theme song.
7. Heart
A boy and a girl grew up together, best friends. The guy falls in love with another girl, which makes the friend girl jealous. The other girl turns out to be sick, and the friend girl gets into an accident, declines to eat anything. Doctors allow her to starve to death and to donate her liver (hati –> heart, go figure) to the sick other girl. Sick girl becomes better, gets jiggy with the boy — who remains an idiot.
8. Rock
A nostalgia movie about the Malay “rock kapak” scene in the ’80s to mid-’90s. Started off well, then the director fell asleep. Nobody knows how the movie ends because everybody fell asleep as well.
9. Lelaki Komunis Terakhir
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10. Apa Khabar Orang Kampung
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That’s it for this post. Might do some more later. Maybe.
Filed under: Film Reviews | |2 Comments
I’m sure regular blog readers are aware of Tengku Adnan’s statement with regards to bloggers and their lying tendencies. For those who aren’t, you can walk with these people:
- Susan Loone’s post
- Liz Wong’s post
- Marina Mahathir’s post, and
- Rocky’s post
Now, apart from saying that most unemployed bloggers are women (ah so, but are they hot or not?) and that they’re liars, he also allegedly said that these bloggers with incite the country as so:
“Malays will kill Chinese, Chinese will kill Malays, Indians will kill everybody else.”
Since we here at mentera.org are very helpful people, we have prepared a “kill matrix” so that the more cerebrally challenged among us will know where to target.
The matrix is to be read left-to-right. So, as you can see, I have faithfully translated Tengku Adnan’s (alleged) claim regarding the bloggers’ inclinations into a “visual” format, because a picture is worth a thousand words, plus minus one or two. If we are to expand on the matrix, we can see that the winners in all this are the Indians. Because one would presume that the Malays and the Chinese would bantai each other to oblivion while the Indians mop up the “dan lain-lain”. In order to keep things simple, I would assume that the Chindians, Melacins, Mamaks, Serani, Portugis, and other rojaks are all under Others. Also, the Mamaks cannot cheat and say that they’re Indians, ok. Unless your IC says you’re Indian and not bumiputera. I suppose you can side with the Indians if that’s the case.
Filed under: Politics, Rant | |8 Comments
This is not an original, and I don’t know who the original author is. I got this from the fortune program running on my laptop.
Q: How many journalists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
A: Three. One to report it as an inspired government program to bring light to the people, one to report it as a diabolical government plot to deprive the poor of darkness, and one to win a Pulitzer prize for reporting that Electric Company hired a lightbulb-assassin to break the bulb in the first place.
Quite apropos, I thought.
Filed under: Lame Jokes | |1 Comment
Okay, so I don’t play the stocks. I’ve worked in a public listed company with several public listed subsidiaries under it, though. That makes me an expert, because apparently, some people think that the Prime Minister of Malaysia is also an expert. This is because he is the Prime Minister of the country and Bursa Malaysia is in the country. Quad Erat Durjana, as some might say. So, it was not a surprise to read last Thursday an article in Malaysiakini (okay, so it’s my favourite online comic) with the following headline: “PM ‘responsible for market losses’“. In that article, the DAP’s brand-new economic adviser, Tony Pua “has held Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi responsible for the losses suffered in the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) yesterday.”
Mr. Pua, esq. didn’t say the things he said in the article because he’s an eejit. He said them because he’s now a politician. Consider the following:
“Will the PM bear the responsibility for the rakyat’s losses? In fact, the PM might have single-handedly beyond causing losses, destroyed the average Malaysia’s[sic] confidence in the market,� he said.
He posted his final challenge: “Would you dare to believe Pak Lah anymore?�
Of course, his statements are consistent with the Party Line, as evinced by the DAP Sec-Gen’s statement, recorded by my favourite online comic on 21st February, as so:
In a statement today, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said investors may even claim losses from the prime minister should they lose money by taking his stock advice.
As everyone knows, Emperor Kit’s son is no eejit either.
Also, as everyone knows, the drop in the KLCI was due to many reasons, chief of which is the fact that the Shanghai bourse took a konar baring. But that wouldn’t stop the opposition from getting some mileage from the PM’s gaffe, since it’s just too easy. But the hyperbole … Good God Almighty! Are we a nation of eejits and dumb-fucks?
“Yo, people! Big Chief say stock market good. Big Chief say buy stock. Make index many, many points up!”
“Whoa! Stock points go down. Top blogger call Big Chief a big mouth. Many lose money because Big Chief!”
“Make bantai Big Chief! He so stupid. Don’t know how to make stock market go high high! Now must make Big Chief pay!”
You know, someone once said to me that we get the leaders that we deserve. So, we’re all at fault then. However, if you can measure a man by his enemies, then maybe we should also measure the ruling coalition by its opposition.
It doesn’t look good.
I’d vote SIPM next time round, but I’m not sure being ruled anonymously is a good idea, either. Hahahaha!
Filed under: Politics | |5 Comments
Recently, I self-enrolled myself into a certificate course at the RPK School of Journalism. After going through the course, I self-tested myself and found me to be competent and self-awarded the certificate. That this was all done by myself on myself is in keeping with what I consider to be the main thrusts of the RPKSoJ’s teachings, which are:
- Never let facts get in the way of a good story.
- Extrapolate available facts as far as possible.
- When writing about personalities, write as if you know them well. It makes you sound credible.
- Don’t use a sentence to express an idea when you can use at least five.
- Commit copyright violation by wholesale lifting of articles from other online sources (I failed this module, but that’s ok).
Given the above, I am thinking that I should write this post in the approved RPKSoJ style. So, here goes:
It was a dark and stormy night; Amir Muhammad had been tossing and turning in his bed for an hour and a bit, trying to find an accommodating position to drift into sleep and failing spectacularly even though he had checked to see whether there was a pea under the mattress (not that it would have made much difference since he’s not a princess, nor for that matter a queen). Actually, it wasn’t exactly dark and stormy, since the sky was cloudless. It wasn’t even night, since it was actually 2 in the afternoon. However, it felt like a dark and stormy night, because he had the air-conditioning on and the curtains closed.
He finally admitted to himself that his restlessness was not due to any unidentified object under the mattress but was instead due to the banning of his latest film “Apa Khabar Orang Kampung” (AKOK). He reflected that the reasons given by the Internal Ministry were a little condescending and noted that 18 years after the end of the cold war, we seem to be the only country in the world still fighting it. This is probably okay, as long as Beijing and Cuba don’t find out.
He then sat down and penned an appeal to the Censorship Board, except that he didn’t quite pen it, since it was typed on the computer. After which, apropos to nothing, he considered calling Jean Danker to congratulate her on her marriage to the Malaysian Prime Minister. He had met Danker once at a World AIDS Day party hosted by Marina Mahathir, which meant that they are now bosom buddies.
The banning of both his “communist” movies show that there still are some people who are worried about alternate views of the country’s history. The communist bogey, even after all these years remain a cause for concern. On the other hand, the fact that our political system is divided along communal lines does not seem to be too much of a problem, apparently.
Maybe things will change someday, just not today. Not yet.
Filed under: Rant | |No Comments
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