Accidental Blogger

Fast and Furious 7

2015-04-19T12:00:00.001+08:00

So I managed to watch FF7 last week and I must say that despite it being the 7th installation of the film, it still does impress (in a leave your brain at home and don't think too much kinda way)

Honestly for me, I watched the movie for Paul Walker. After FF6 and how I saw them bring down a big ass plane on an ultra long runway, I never thought I would take Fast and Furious seriously anymore. But as I said, I watched it for Paul Walker.

Apart from Paul, the movie was action packed with amazing stunts and you need some kinda wild imagination to come up with that. And that is where enter James Wan, the director for FF7. Now, James is a Malaysian born Australian director. I have been a fan of his work since the first Saw movie. That was some good shit and The Conjuring was some pretty impressive stuff.

What disappointed me about FF7 is that James having his roots in Malaysia, I think Jimmy has been watching too many Tamil (especially Vijaykanth) movies. Some scenes were just too much to bear for me. I am not going to give away any of the scenes. Just go watch it for yourself if you're into this kinda wild action flicks.

It is good that in the movie, a tribute was paid to Paul Walker and I must admit, my eyes sweated a little... Or I had Ninjas cutting onions next to me. Overall, despite the movie having most or almost all the scenes depending on absolute 1 in a million coincidences to save each character, I would say, yeah go watch it in the theatre just for Paul Walker's sake.

Overall, 6/10 rating for me. Just for Paul!

Rape and Male Chauvinism

2015-04-13T20:13:00.000+08:00

Ask a chauvinist how to deal with rape and the most common answer would be "women should cover themselves up and not provoke rape". This is a general view across the board for most males with a narrow mindset. If you had asked me this question say maybe 15 years ago, and my answer would have been the same and I admit it with shame. Though today or maybe some time ago, I managed to change my mindset and see the bigger picture thanks to my sisters who have educated me well. The truth is, you cannot blame people with this mindset due to our patriarchal society. Males have been brought up to think that they are far superior than females. Even in advanced societies, there are still residual notions of male superiority.

Victims of rape are shunned upon in some societies and this is still evident even amongst women folk who are supposedly more sensitive. You'd be surprised to know some women are still not able to accept a rape victim as their daughter in laws even if their sons are willing to accept the victim as their wives. This is the sad reality.

Going back to the topic of women having to cover up to avoid rape, let's understand one thing about sex. Sex is a primal instinct. There are no 2 ways around it. But there needs to be clear distinction between us and animals before we act upon our primal instincts. That is where rationalisation takes place. Most of us have been taught that rape is wrong. Nobody teaches their children that rape is alright. However, my view is that merely saying that rape is wrong is not enough. Parents need to teach their children especially boys to respect women. This is not only subject to mere lip service. Men need to show women respect in a household. Violence towards women in some households are a reason for male children to believe that hurting a woman is pretty okay. Another thing that we need to understand about rape is that it is not only the sex, research shows that rape is also about dominance. It is not the clothes, it is not the pretty face, it is not about what time a woman goes out at night. It is not the victim's fault. It is all about the rapist. That's where the focus needs to be.

Please do not teach your kids that girls who do not cover up get raped. This is simply not true. There are ample cases of women who are covered up who get raped. I for one am attracted to any women in any form of clothing be it a Saree, Punjabi Suit, Kurti, jeans, Kebaya (especially Kebaya), cheong sam or whatever! The attraction is there but is there an intent to rape? NO! If you're attracted to someone, that is normal. If you want to rape someone, that is abnormal, you need to be evaluated.

Just on the topic of covering up prevents rape, explain to me how a fully covered male gets raped. A few years ago when I was visiting the UK, I was in the train station in Liverpool and my friend and I saw a young guy crying profusely and he had his mates consoling him. Being Malaysian and naturally curious, we asked his friends what happened and they explained to us that he had been raped. We were surprised and that was an eye opener for me. Being male, I could never imagine how the poor guy felt. Just put yourself in that situation, what would you do?

What we need today is a society that does not ask a woman to cover up or prevent her from hanging out late. What we need is a society that respects equal rights and one that empowers women. Do not objectify women. They are not baby making machines nor are they your slaves. Male chauvinism is so yesterday. And please do not use religion to try and justify your sick ideas. So I end this with the kick-ass poster below (it's free to use... gunakan tanpa was-was):

BOOOYAH!

Nova Rock - I'm in a Band Now!

2015-04-11T19:24:00.002+08:00

Nova Rock

Somewhere in April last year I was approached by Norman who was my boss in one of my previous employments to feature for a song about friendship. It would be my first collaboration with a rock band and I was excited to see how well the band could play.

As soon as I received the instrumental to the song, I was blown away! Musically, they were very mature and I had no idea Norman could sing that well.

As soon as we had done Nanban, I had this idea that I should speak to Norman and become a permanent member of the band due to the awesome chemistry amongst the band members. Everyone spoke the same language.

A few weeks later, before I asked to join the band, Norman asked me instead to be part of the band upon agreement by all the band members.

We would then go on to push Nanban for radio airplay on THR Raaga (Malaysia's number 1 tamil radio station). Once we saw Nanban getting positive reviews, we started working on our second single, Gaveena. Gaveena would go on and enter the Malaysian Top 10 charts and stay there for about 6 weeks. This was truly surprising as we did not expect such an outcome.

We have shot 2 videos as a band both for Nanban and Gaveena (links below). Being with a band is different from my experience being in a rap group. There is more work involved due to live instruments. With a band like ours, there are even more challenges as we all have day jobs and hold managerial positions so our responsibilities at work usually takes precedence. Nevertheless, we try to commit ourselves to meet up and work on new material.

At the moment we are working on our 3rd single, Sabthame Melody which is a song about music. We are hoping to release it by the end of the month. This would be our last single for now before concentrating on the album.

So look out for our album to be dropping soon.

Nova Rock consists of Norman (Lead Vocals), Jonathan (Lead Guitarist), Shenchker (Rhythm Guitarist), Alvin (Bass Guitarist) and myself (Rapper).

Follow Nova Rock On

Facebook: www.facebook.com/mynovarock
Twitter: www.twitter.com/mynovarock
Official website: www.mynovarock.com

Videos:
Nanban
Gaveena
Nova Rock says Thank You
Sabthame Melody teaser #01
Sabthame Melody teaser #02

Religion

2013-08-15T00:04:00.000+08:00

To say that I am an atheist, may not be true. To say that I am a freethinker, may not be precise as well. I honestly do not know what I am. I believe in a power or rather an energy out there that governs the entire universe or universes or whatever you would like to call it.

Though being brought up as a Hindu, I only use the knowledge I have to pray. Yes, Pray... I do pray.. but not like the way you think... I pray to remind myself; prayer for me is a form of reassurance; you need to tell a certain something to achieve something by believing in something. That's how I am programmed. I need to know that there is a higher authority because I am insecure that way.

I do not believe in reincarnation. I do not believe in heaven or hell. I do not believe that you will have to pay for your sins or reap the benefits of your good deeds. I just believe in being a reasonable human being. Not a good human being but a reasonable one. Why not good? Just because of the fact that assholes deserve to be treated like assholes.

Religion in my opinion has become like an MLM; a business so to speak. Join us, recruit more believers, your sins will be cleansed... Have you not heard that before? NO, WE ARE NOT AN MLM.. WE ARE DIFFERENT. RECRUIT MORE MEMBERS. GOT HUGE BENEFIT WAN!

People seem to have stopped to think; to rationalise and ask questions. Is this what we have become? a majority of followers? a majority of of people with herd mentality? In fact, it still humours me when people still believe in sayings like "Saami kannai kutthirum (god will make you blind if you do not believe/follow/"

What the world needs now are people who are not confined by ideologies. People who are not mere followers. People who are not restricted, and finally, people who are receptive to change. I ask one thing out of you who are reading this, "Question your greatest doubt"

If you wish to debate further, please send your senselessness to vixstarr@gmail.com/ www.twitter.com/vixstarrns

Tonite on The CRIB SHOW – VixStaRR : aforadio.com

2013-06-04T15:25:00.001+08:00

Tonite on The CRIB SHOW – VixStaRR : aforadio.com

Make sure y'all catch this show!

My Take on Alvin and Vivian

2012-10-23T08:00:00.000+08:00

Since the news is so panas in the press and cyberspace, I decided to take a shot at it as well. The blog Scrumptious Erotica has gained notoriety that it was required to be shut down by the couple. If you asked me if I would do something like that, I would definitely say no because I think it is ridiculous. But, that is just me. Should they have done it, well, that is their call really. If they are comfortable with it, then, fine go ahead. Who are we to judge the morality of others. Where do we draw the line when it comes to morality? Who are we to be the moral police? An example would be me; I cuss and swear on my blog but to me, I think that is a fair conduct. I am just expressing myself. You don't like it, you don't read it. Simple. Sure, I post the link on Twitter and Facebook and sure, I send invites for you to like my page. But, hey, don't read it or subscribe to it if you don't like it. It's not like if you don't like, subscribe or read my rantings, a child will die in Africa.

Likewise, what Alvin and Vivian had done are purely based on what they think is right and to them I honestly think they are not bothered. They wanted attention, they got it. Mission accomplished. The repercussions are secondary. It is not as though they're forcing it on you to watch their sexcapades. Watch it if you like. If you think that it is not for you then, why gatal pungkok wanting to watch it? That's hypocrisy right there. If you think what they did was immoral, why watch it? Curios? well fine but you knew what was coming because you would have seen the "dumbed down" images but no, you want to see the juicier ones. So how can one claim to be morally greater than the couple? This also applies for homosexuality. No one is forcing homosexuality on you. No one is asking you to rear end another dude. What the homosexuals are asking is just for their rights. If you deny their rights, that is a greater sin because you are denying the very fundamentals of being human; to have human rights.

You may argue that this couple are airing their views publicly via their blog so you have the rights of freedom of speech/expression. I agree 100% and at the same time, if this couple refuse to apologise for what they feel is not wrong, then please, do not force them to comply to you.

All I would say is, leave them alone and as long as no law was broken, then no one should judge them (pun very much intended).

Don't Steal Quotes - Give Credit

2012-10-12T10:19:00.000+08:00

Disclaimer: If you're easily offended by profanity then, this article is not for you. Please close the window and have a nice day.

I have been on Twitter and Facebook for some time now and it absolutely pisses the fuck out of me when people use quotes without crediting the brain behind the quote. If the quote was from an anonymous individual then please just state at the end of the quote "Author Anonymous" or something to that extent.

Stealing quotes is not cool. It is tantamount to plagiarism. If you want to come up with quotes, make your own; no matter how shitty it is, at least people will know you wrote it. The reason I am saying this is because, when you steal a quote, although you want to make yourself look articulate and intelligent but in reality it is far from the truth because half the shit you write on Facebook and Twitter is either a) grammatically fucked up, b) is beyond your vocabulary or c) you're simply not intelligent enough to come up with something that deep. Through one's writing, you can say a lot about an individual including the level of maturity. For example through my writing, you can tell that I may have a chemical imbalance which is kind of true and I have no qualms about it. I use shit loads of profanity of which you can deduce that I am foul mouthed as hell. Good deduction I must say, Watson.

If you would like to use a quote from someone who is far more intelligent than yourself, please give due credit. That way, you would look more like a learned person who reads a lot rather than a douche. You could also pinch a quote from somewhere and credit the author but at the same time not know the meaning of it but that would make you a bigger turd because you have no idea what you're talking about... a whole different ball game which I may save it for later.

It is incredibly simple to find out if a quote was stolen. JUST GOOGLE IT, when in doubt. If I wrote a quote, it would be simple to find out because my punctuation and grammar to a certain extent is rubbish. I am not proud of it, but at least I am consistent.

If you want to be original and not sound like a wasted douche, do more reading and less plagiarism. There are some nice quotes out there but at the same time, the authors need credit. Some of these people dedicated their lives to something important and when their quotes are stolen, you have just discredit them because more stupid douches out there think that your sorry arse came up with it. It does not matter if what you said is intelligent or not; as long as it makes sense. I have seen so many posts on Facebook and Twitter that are grammatically suicidal but it still makes sense and I respect that because the author is trying to be genuine and at the same time be original. People are smart enough to interpret your writings and at the same time, they're smart enough to sniff out the idiot in you.

P.S. I do not have the IQ of Einstein nor Stephen Hawking but I have the IQ of a regular person to identify plagiarising douche bags!

What is Religion to Me

2012-09-27T09:07:00.001+08:00

Note: This article is a personal thought. Please do not leave comments belittling other faiths as this article is meant to instill respect for all religions as well as atheists. I am not a scholar but just an observer. What I have written below is based on my personal experience. If this article has offended anyone, please accept my humble apologies and I would like to be stood corrected by the actual experts.

From a young age, I had already accepted the fact that god is one and it did/does not matter what faith one practices because what mattered to me is that they do believe in a supreme being. I guess the reason for that was my upbringing.

Having said that, it mattered to me that one has to have a belief in the supreme being or god to put it bluntly, it does not mean I do not have respect for atheist. I mean, that is just a choice and must be respected nevertheless. I guess the only qualm I have is that the fact in the back of my head I feel atheists are arrogant. I am trying to get rid of that thought because it is indeed prejudice (I am just being honest). I love science and most of the scientists that I have read about were atheists so I am sort of in a sticky situation here.

The reason I am able to accept science and believe in god at the same time is because my father always used to explain the science in Hinduism. I do not deny that there is science in other religions from the little that I have read but I cannot comment because I do not know more. This paragraph is just to explain why I can accept god and science and for me religion and science complement each other. The recent discovery of the Higgs Boson has sparked some debate especially to those who do not understand what the particle is about because for those who do not believe in god tend to say, "hah, they have discovered the god particle..." which is far from true because the god particle was initially called the goddamn particle because it was very elusive. They decided to drop the damn and call it the god particle instead.

I accept Hinduism as a way of life as how it is described. It is indeed true as it does not have a creator. It was in a way just a culture to put it short. People lived that way and to outsiders, it may have looked like a religion because they did have a set of protocols to follow. These protocols are what we call rituals. Rituals are merely practices that became a norm; no one questioned it nor tried to find out what they were, for which is why if you ask a Hindu why do we do something in such a way, the common reply is well my parents, grandparents and ancestors did it this way. Today, there are a lot of articles explaining why such rituals are needed and especially explaining the science behind it. Even temples built in a certain way with proper materials serve more as a hospital than a place of worship. I am not making this up but merely quoting the stuff I have read. Why wasn't this knowledge shared by those who introduced it? Well just think 5000 years or more ago, people did not know jack about science. Imagine if you tried to explain science to them, they would think you're a lunatic. Take for example when I was a child, I grew up with cartoons like Popeye and whenever it came to vegetables, my mother used to tell me that if you eat your greens, you will be as strong as Popeye referring to how Popeye eats his spinach and grows muscles. So at that age, I took it at face value; if I eat vegetables, I will have muscles which is far from the truth. So over the years, these practices that mention you have to perform such rituals for god to be happy actually had a more profound meaning. God was used as an excuse to get people to do things that were beneficial for themselves.

God by himself/herself/itself (sorry, I have not met god and I do not know the gender) did not give any instructions. Man used that excuse so that people would do good, do justice and prevent them from committing harm. To me, that is what religion is about. It was a set of moral values, a guideline on how to live. I believe in god for the reason that our existence is not an accident as how some scientists would put it but something that is much deeper than that. I may not be able to find that answer through religion. I would however be able to find that answer through spirituality which is looking into one's self. Anyone from any religion can be spiritual who utilise religious teachings such as meditation, yoga or prayers to obtain the goal of discovering the point of being. Spirituality as well can occur without religion if one is focused enough. Religion is just a set of guidelines. You can do something this way or you can try another method but in the end, it achieves the same goal. Therefore, that is the reason why I respect every other religion. It does not matter to me which religion is superior because I do not put one religion over the other. If the religion serves its purpose of explaining life to someone, then religion has served its purpose.

I would like to write more but it would make this article more complicated as I would have to go into a lot of details. I can write more about Hinduism but maybe I will save it for another day. On the same note, I am only able to speak about Hinduism because I am familiar with it. It does not mean that I only acknowledge Hinduism as the only true religion... if it can even be considered a religion based on the guideline for religions...

Internet Blackout Day, Malaysia - Stop 114a

2012-08-16T08:00:00.000+08:00

I am going to briefly speak about this because I took part in the "blackout" by adding a pop up to my blog and also refraining from using any social media sites. Refraining from using social media was just an optional thing I wanted to do to show my solidarity to the cause. The black out was on the 14th of August 2012. There were some who misunderstood that they should stay off the internet which is not exactly the point. The blackout was actually to raise awareness of the amended section 114a which allows a site owner, victims of identity theft or victims of other forms of mischief such as tweet-jacking to be held responsible for slander, defamation, etc.

Briefly, what it means that if someone were to make a slanderous comment on my blog or on my facebook wall, I will be held responsible for that comment and I am considered guilty unless I can prove otherwise which is a blow to the fundamentals of justice which is innocent until proven guilty.

It does not stop there. The article also allows for someone to be tried if their internet has been leached. Say someone is using my wifi with or without my knowledge to post something slanderous/defaming using an anonymous identity and the person who has been defamed lodges a report, then a trace is done to the IP of where the post came from. Once they have identified the source, the subscriber of the internet account will be held responsible. In this case it would be me although I did not commit the crime nor did I know about it, I would have to prove my innocence.

I will leave you with the link to learn more about section 114A here. Know your rights. Support Internet Freedom!

The Vege-Mon is Back

2012-08-15T08:00:00.000+08:00

Bird Eye Chili

It has been some time since I have blogged about my vegetables. About a year ago, I started a small patch in my porch to grow vegetables such as brinjal (eggplant/aubergine/whatever you want to call it), tomatoes, chili and lettuce. So today I am going to share the progress of it one year on.

The vegetables that made it:

1. Brinjal - I honestly did not think this guy would make it because the plant looked so frail and the stems were turning brown
2. Chili - I have 3 variations now namely bird eye chili (cili api/cili burung), your normal green chili and also a smaller version of the green chili (I think it is different from the green chili because the plant looks different and the size is slightly smaller)
3. Spinach - this guy is slow and steady. Not enough leaves to harvest yet but looking good

The vegetables that did not make it

1. Cherry tomatoes - It bore fruit for a while then it died because I went on vacation and nobody was around to care for the plant. Also, I never had a taste of it because this god damn tupai (squirrel) kept getting to the fruits before me.
2. Lettuce - technically, it made it but harvested only once and it is the first of my produce that I consumed. I need to go buy new seeds now.

The plants that suddenly appeared

Chili

1. Different variations of chili - these plants grew as a result of me using the leftovers of vegetables used for cooking for compost. The seeds were not separated and they managed to thrive.
2. Pumpkin - this guy did not make it but looked promising. another result of seed not being removed from the compost. It died about the same time as the cherry tomatoes.
3. Turmeric/cucumin - growing out of the blue because my mother just threw it into the pot and miraculously started to grow. But again, I cannot really say if it is turmeric, ginger or galangal because they all look the same and this plant just started to sprout. All these plants belong to the same family by the way. Other close relatives include heliconia and banana. They all grow from rhizomes and belong to the order of Zingiberales

The brinjal and chilies

Last weekend I managed to harvest the brinjal and my mom made curry out of it. I did not know when to pick the fruit but a good way to estimate is to see if it shines. If you leave the vegetable too long, it will taste bitter and have too many seeds. I have two variations of brinjal, one is the purple brinjal and the other is green.

To summerise, I now have only the plants from the nightshade family, brinjal and chili. All I need now is tomato to complete the family :). Not all plants belonging to the nightshade family are edible namely belladona or commonly referred to as deadly nightshade. Deadly nightshade does have it's benefits in small quantities such as the extract is used to give clear eyes hence the name Bella Donna which means beautiful woman in Italian. Other plants belonging to this family are tobacco and potato.

Note: All these vegetable have been grown organically with no pesticide whatsoever and fertilised using only leftovers from vegetables and fruits such as potato shavings, onion skin and garlic skin leftover fruits such as bananas, apples and tomatoes. Once in a while it is also advisable to pour the water in which you cleaned your fish before cooking. But do please avoid including the guts of the fish... not a good idea.

Chili

Green Brinjal

Brinjal again

After a good hike!

2012-08-03T10:22:00.001+08:00

Taken at Restoran Sri Paandi

Music These Days

2012-07-23T04:30:00.001+08:00

I was driving back from the LRT station last week when for my radio was tuned in to one of the popular radio stations (I usually play CDs because I am too impatient due to the commercials). As I was listening, Flo-Rida decides to show up with his new song called whistle. As I was listening to the lyrics, it not take a genius to figure out that it was referring to fellatio (decent term for blow job, giving head, sucking, okay you get the picture right..) at that point of time I was wondering that music has come to that level.

I would not deny that there have been songs about sex and drugs have surfaced but to push it to the extreme is another thing. The worst part is that it is being played on radio. I mean call me old school or orthodox but come on, in a time when kids learn about sex on the Internet, you come up with a song about fellatio and expect people not to know?

Back in the day, any song with elements of drugs, sex and crime would not be on radio. You're free to make it but it came with parental advisory. I am huge, huge fan of Bone Thugs N Harmony and their songs back then were about street crime and drugs mainly marijuana. I started listening to them during my teens but by that age, I was old enough to tell between what's good and not. I enjoyed the music and their rap style but did not buy into the ideology. But again, their music was hard to get. It was never on the radio.

In the case of this Flo-Rida song, it is on the radio and to me is not right. Yes, I am all for civil rights, Liberalism and all that; so that makes it okay for anyone to say what they like and behave how they want. But common sense tells you that you need to be careful with what you say because not everyone is at the age to distinguish between right and wrong. So write responsibly.

Note: as a parent, I am now getting more sensitive towards the surroundings we are in. My son is almost 2 and operates an iPhone with ease. God knows what is he going to learn from songs and music videos which are being aired.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Pangkor (with pictures)

2012-06-08T08:00:00.000+08:00

Recently I went to Pangkor for a day trip and honestly, I found it overrated. There is nothing much to see on the island apart from the Dutch Fort and of course the beaches. We completed a tour of the island within 1 1/2 hours. I was disappointed with the attractions but the beaches were awesome.

To be honest if you're going there to sight see, then abandon all plans. If you are going there to relax and chill by the beach with a beer and a good book, then this will be your destination.

I do not want to write too much because there are many pictures to see and I will leave you with them.

Some of the pictures are from Lumut.

A chair... yes, it is...Lumut Valley Resort

Probably a necessity now - Lumut Valley Resort

Kapchai - Lumut Valley Resort

Kapchai from another angle is still a kapchai - Lumut Valley Resort

Bunga - Lumut Valley Resort

Patriotic - Lumut Valley Resort

Being vain - Lumut Valley Resort

Could not resist it - Lumut Valley Resort

Jetty - Lumut

Self explanatory - Lumut

Pangkor Jetty (if you could not read) - Pangkor

An apparatus to make sure you don't walk into a wall - Pangkor

A similar apparatus but on a bigger scale - Pangkor

The Dutch were here - Pangkor

This would have been the view if The Dutch were hiding and peeking at the enemy - Pangkor

a misaligned photo - Fishing Boats, Pangkor

I have no idea what this is - Pangkor

I am slightly religious - Hindu Temple, Pangkor

Finally the beach - Pangkor

Heard that if you trek around this beach, there is a place filled with back-pakers. Normally, we would call it detention centers. Only thing is, these guys have valid travel documents.

A well aligned photo - Jetty, Pangkor

The Ferry - Pangkor

Heads - Pangkor

Another Jetty - Pangkor

A view of the island - Sea

Stilts - Sea

Boat - Sea

More of the island - Pangkor

A man made thing on a god made rock - Sea

Ripples... don't read it wrong...pervs... - Sea

Luckily, there was no use for this - Sea

Lumut ahead... I think - Sea

Not too sure what island is this - Pangkor

The Boat - Sea

Sky vs. Sea - See

As I do not have permission from the parents of this child, I could not reveal his identity - Lumut

Patriotic again - Lumut

Okay, on a serious note, this chopper was doing a search and rescue I believe- Lumut

View from our apartment - Lumut

Another view - Lumut

Rumah Kampong - Setiawan

Dusk - Setiawan

History of Muntri Street, PG

2012-06-03T02:11:00.001+08:00

Taken at Lebuh Muntri （南华医院街)

Bukit Gasing - Hiking (With Photos)

2012-05-23T07:00:00.000+08:00

The beginning of the track

So, I have picked up a new hobby this week which is hiking. The reason for the sudden move is to start keeping fit since I have hit my thirties and this is when most of the health issues kick in. I have never really been fit since leaving college albeit some short stints at the gym which never really lasted mostly because it was too mundane for me.

Hiking however has seemed to have tickled my fancy. I am a nature lover and enjoy views of greenery, hills and other elements of nature. Also, I have enjoyed jungle trekking since a young age especially hiking trips during my school days namely up Penang Hill, trekking to Pantai Kerachut and also trekking through Bukit Hijau in Kulim. I am now glad to have discovered Bukit Gasing in PJ which is the only green lung in PJ and is fairly untouched at least on the Selangor border. The hill is situated near section 5, PJ and is as wide as 100 hectares. The hill sits on the border of Selangor and KL. On one side is PJ section 5 to the west and to the east is Pantai Dalam. There are a number of tracks available to suit your fancy but I chose to use a moderate trail which involves some decent amount of hiking.

Here come the steps

The trail is well maintained thanks to the members of Save Bukit Gasing. There is hardly any sight of rubbish and the the trails are well established so you can hardly get lost. The hill is nestled in between housing areas and apartments but once you're in there, you will have a feel of being in an actual jungle. To say that it is a primary forest is not true because it is actually a secondary jungle that originated from rubber plantation. When you're hiking/trekking, you will see a lot of rubber trees that had once served their time.

Most of the people who trek are senior citizens who are often polite wishing you a good morning every time they pass by. I was introduced to Bukit Gasing by a friend who is a PJ local. He hikes with the rest of my friends on the weekends but unfortunately I would not be able to join due to family commitments. I was however so tempted to go that I decided to do it over a weekday before I go to work. The first time I tried the track, I was impressed and completing the whole track was definitely an achievement because I have not been exactly physically active for some time now. I am planning to make this an every other day activity to start keeping fit.

The Canopy

I have attached a link below to the park's website for more reading and a map for the trail. If you are nearby and are looking for something exciting to do over the weekends or to keep fit, I would definitely recommend Bukit Gasing.

Link:

Click Here for Bukit Gasing Website

The Flora


My favourite part which is the suspension bridge

One of the signs pointing you to the right path

More Steps

You can barely see the summit

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Pokok

2012-05-21T12:45:00.001+08:00

Leaving on a Jet Plane

2012-05-19T06:59:00.001+08:00

Reflection

2012-05-13T16:31:00.001+08:00

Laksa and popiah ;)

2012-05-06T19:50:00.001+08:00

Taken at Sin Tat Garden Nite Market

Bersih 3.0: My Duties Fulfilled

2012-05-01T07:00:00.000+08:00

This time around, Bersih was a family event. I went out to fulfill my duty as a responsible citizen together with my wife and sister. We left the little one with my mom and got a friend to drive us right up to Muzium Negara (right up to the police block and as far as we could go with a car). From there we walked with other families and Bersih supporters to Masjid Negara. Along the way, there were bus drivers who provided us with drinking water and cheered us on.

There was already a crowd gathered at Masjid Negara most donning yellow shirts as were my sister and I. My wife was wearing a red cardigan so we made a cheeky pass at her saying she was representing PERKASA. The crowd at the mosque were gathered around taking pictures of the police human shield. We decided to walk further and braved ourselves to walk pass the police to see what’s on the other side. The police did not stop us and we managed to walk right up to the barricades. It was all barbed wired and there was no way in to Dataran Merdeka.

Look at the reflection of the crowd on the building

We also wanted to be where the majority of the people were as the crowd in Masjid Negara wasn’t a large one and we were pretty sure there were more people out for Bersih based on tweets and phone calls from friends who were at Central Market. We decided then to head out to CM and see what’s the situation there. Along the way, we heard some Bersih supporters taunting the police with various insults which I thought was not very nice of them. The supporters should understand that the cops were just doing their jobs and you may never know that they may also be supporting the cause but had no choice but to perform their duties.

As we were walking to CM via the train station, a cabbie waved and put up a “thumbs up” sign for us as he whizzed by in his cab that had a small yellow flag. We stopped by one of the restaurants just outside the train station and business seemed to be booming; all of which were Bersih supporters. So much for business owners saying that Bersih is ruining their business; I say they should have more Bersih rallies, they would be millionaires in no time.

Another view of the crowd on the marble portion of the building

We finally reached CM and were greeted with a huge crowd there. I would say the size was at least 10,000 and this is a very conservative figure. The crowd was chanting, singing and keeping everyone entertained. The crowd then started to move towards Jalan Tun Perak and we followed. We were all packed like sardines but it was really fun. It was more of a carnival than a protest. Everyone was at their best behaviour and people were smiling at each other, greeting each other; it was truly Malaysian and I was proud to be there.

The crowd kept on moving and converging with other groups such as Himpunan Hijau. The whole group could have swelled to at least 100,000 looking at the pictures. That day, I will not hesitate to believe that there were no less than 200,000 people which is one of the best turnouts for Bersih. It was good to see people from all walks of life. I knew for a fact there, that people have wised up and are out there to see a change.

Once we were in Tun Perak, it was very much a standstill. We were not really moving. My wife, sister and I decided to stand in the shade for a while so we moved to the open space near Mesjid Jamek. As we were taking a break, The crowd started to move and we decided to follow until suddenly we heard shots. One cannot forget that noise if they have been to other rallies. Yes, it was tear gas. We then quickly took shelter at an ATM booth next to the mosque but our eyes were still burning from the gas. It was then I saw how united we were. As we entered the booth, a few Chinese guys (I have to mention the ethnicity to make a point) started giving out salt to everyone and everyone else were sharing water. In that small time frame as well, parents of a young boy were covering his face so that he does not get stung by the gas. The kid asks his mom, “siapa yang tembak gas”? to which the mother replies “Orang jahat” , the boy asks “siapa orang jahat” and the mom says “Siapa lagi; Polis la… siapa lagi lebih jahat dari polis?” which brought a light moment in the booth amidst the flying tear gas canisters.

Unit Amal PAS - They did a good job for crowd control

The situation was getting worse, the gas started to creep in closer and we could even feel it in the booth. I remember on twitter, there was an update from the star online saying only two round of tear gas was fired. BOLLOCKS, I say… Utter BOLLOCKS! If each round were hundred canisters then yeah, it would be two rounds. The light strike force was on a roll! As the FRU were firing their welcome guns, someone came into the booth and urged us to come into the mosque. That was a touching moment right there. The Muslims opened the mosque to non Muslims and urged us to stay in there. That is a scene that will forever be in my memory. That for me was the epitome of unity. That was when I saw the brethren amongst us. Everybody was helping each other! The people had united.

Whilst in the mosque, we could see the FRU spraying the crowd with chemical laced water and tear gas was being used at every corner. The wind wasn’t on our side as well as the gas crept its way to the crowd in the mosque. There was no place to hide. Even when we covered our faces, we could still feel the sting. I would really like our home minister to have a whiff of the gas. Please experience it for yourself to feel the sting in your eyes. It was not once, not twice but several times to the extent, I felt like telling the FRU to go ahead and bring it on.

My heart at that time went out to the old folks and the young children who were out there. Even the youth like us were feeling the pain of the gas, imagine the young children and the elderly? Although it was nice to see people bringing their family but they should have at least left the kids at home. You know from the past that the government does not give two hoots about its people, so why risk it?

After being gassed!

We started to learn from that time that the FRU started to react because some of the protesters broke the barrier and later we also came to learn it was Azmin and his boys. I was really pissed because who are these politicians to dictate what should go on. I may be pro-opposition but this is ridiculous. Another thing which annoyed me is the fact that Datuk Ambiga was with DSAI and Azmin. I strongly believe, she should have gone separately and not be associated with the opposition because this will give more ammo to BN to put a spin on the matter saying that Bersih is to topple them.

And this is me

Although there was a breach, I still do not believe the police should have reacted in that way. This was not minimal force. I say this because, when we tried to leave, possible exits were blocked by the police. We kept being chased back to where we were by the police. It was as though we were being punished for being there.

All said and done, I believe people have now come to realise their rights and that is why they came out that day. I daresay that BN’s days are numbered. 200,000 or even 100,000 is a huge amount of people. Also from the videos on FB, twitter and YouTube, even the fence sitters would have already decided that it is time for a change.

After being tear gassed that many times, I do not think I will ever vote BN because this is what I get as a tax payer and this is what I get when I come out to show my dissatisfaction. I know that the rakyat will never have a voice under the current government. We will be silenced by tear gas and chemical laced water. This is their gift to you, dear citizens of this nation. Right now, I leave it to you to be the judge. Vote wisely. Most importantly, please register yourself as a voter.

Sekian. salam Bersih!

Note: My wife said she was disappointed that we did not really meet people and make friends. I said we would probably not have the time to make friends at any rally. The point to note was that every time there is such rally, it makes you believe that there is still hope for this nation because people have decided to make a stand and the spirit of unity helps you to keep believing.

Bersih 3.0: Sit With Me

2012-04-28T06:00:00.000+08:00

Looks like Bersih 3.0 began earlier than expected. People had started to throng Dataran Merdeka a day ahead of the event. From the videos, it seems to be a large crowd and from the tweets of various people there, the estimate is about 4000 people and increasing. This is a good sign. People have awoken from their long slumber and have decided to fight against corruption, racism, cronyism, nepotism, mismanagement of funds and whatever that a government should not be. Bersih is about the demand for free and fair elections through the 8 points demand (available in the addendum below). Through a free and fair election, we would be able to make sure that there is no hanky-panky in the electoral process which at least guarantees the rakyat that the elected government is legit and did not win through means of gerrymandering, phantom votes, etc.

Today I will be there at Bersih 3.0 to “duduk and bantah”. I am sick and tired of complaining and I am going to do something about it. No matter how much BN says that the EC is doing a good job and elections are fair and clean, I refuse to believe it. Also, Why should BN be supporting the EC? The EC falls under the Prime Minister's Department and that should not mean it is a tool of BN. If experts have found flaws in the electoral process, then BN should join hands with the opposition and say, "yes, there is a problem and let's fix it" and not defend something that is flawed.

Let us just take one of the 8 points of Bersih’s demand which is equal air time in the prime media for all political parties. Do you think that the opposition is getting equal air time? It is evident that the opposition only gets air time when something bad goes down such as infighting which also happens in BN but it is not shown on TV nor highlighted in the press. Why doesn’t RTM provide equal air time for PR to air their policies and also for them to share what’s in store for the people if they become the government? Let the people then decide which coalition is better? But no, all they do is glorify half baked policies of the current government and demonise the opposition.

That my friends is just one example of what Bersih is all about. It is to give you, the voter a right to choose, a right to make sure your vote is secured and not outnumbered by potentially fake ballot papers. Also be very clear that Bersih is not an opposition's doing. Bersih is an NGO. The opposition only supports Bersih’s cause. The opposition will not and should not organise a Bersih rally. Bersih’s 8 points apply to the opposition as well. So even if the opposition tries to play dirty in the elections if they form the government, you are rest assured that your vote is safe because we have a reliable Election Commission (should they agree to all the 8 points).

Going for the Bersih 3.0 rally is your right and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. You will be protecting the future of the nation; you will be protecting the rights of your children and their future. Let them live in a fair nation where there is equality. Do not make excuses anymore. We need change, we need to stand up for our rights and we need to show our lawmakers who is boss. If you think coming out for Bersih is a waste of time, then you have just wasted your country away and anymore complains about bad governance from you, will be your own doing.

I urge you to sit with me today, I urge you to take a stand, I urge you to make a difference and I finally I plead with you to help make my country a better place at least for my kids to live in.

Addendum:

http://bm.bersih.org/?page_id=2673 (Bersih's 8 Point Demand)

Maboks....

2012-04-22T01:50:00.001+08:00

Seriously, What The F*** is Wrong with BN?

2012-04-14T12:30:00.000+08:00

I just read this article here regarding the comics that have been shared with teachers during a briefing titled “Wacana Transformasi Minda” purportedly conducted by the state education department and find it absolutely disgusting that the ruling government has stooped so low to discredit the opposition.

I seriously question their method and wonder if they think that the people are downright stupid to actually be influenced by such comics. If people are actually influenced by such childish and cheap humour, then they deserve the corruption, mismanagement of funds and the other atrocities that are being dished out by BN. I just hope that the fence sitters can decide through this method of begging for votes, they see how and what kind of governance they will receive from BN.

I have been writing time and time again that we need real reforms. Our lawmakers need to start talking about real issues; about the well being of the people and not engage in gutter politics.

What I have just read here is the straw that broke the camels back. I know from here that I as a rakyat, will not benefit in any way another single day under the BN rule. I have lost all hope. I personally believed that the opposition will only be able to take over the government in the 14th general election but I believe it could be sooner now and I pray very hard that it should be sooner.

Just take a look at some of the pages of the comic in the article above, I am just lost for words, cheap.....CHEAP is all I can say. In fact I feel my lunch is about to be spewed across my wall from my gut.

Is this the best BN can do to discredit the opposition? Well, you know they have exhausted all avenues.

Right now, all these shenanigans only strengthens my support for ABU.

Happy Tamil New Year from vixstarr.blogspot.com

2012-04-13T09:00:00.000+08:00

Happy Tamil New Year, folks. Hope you have a good year ahead; Live long and prosper :). Not also forgetting Happy Vaisakhi and Vishu celebrated by the Sikh and Malayalee community respectively from vixstarr.blogspot.com

Grades Don’t Matter

2012-04-07T11:30:00.000+08:00

So my wife and I constantly have a debate on whether grades matter or not. I stand by my verdict that good grades do not prove that a person will be a better worker. This is something that I have seen through my experience. I have seen people without a fancy degree do much better than a person who has one.

A good example of grades do not matter are of course our very own Bill Gates and Steve Jobs who were both dropouts. I do not deny that education is useless. Education is a must and it serves as a catalyst to land us in jobs. But, if you do not do well, do not worry; it is not the end of the world. I strongly believe our education system is flawed as the focus is biased towards academics and there is not much emphasis on other types of intelligence be it music, arts, etc. A lot of our talents are going down the drain except a select few who managed to make it in fields such as music and arts. This is because they realized their talents and harnessed that capability. The others however, let that talent slide because no one was there to guide them and they’re most of time being called stupid because they do not do well in academics. This is absolutely wrong and we need to have a more robust education system that caters for individuals.

There needs to be a realization that everybody is an individual, we cannot be lumped up and assumed to be able to cope with just one area of education. I regret some of the people from my school before who got pushed to the last classes because they were perceived to be not smart enough which is far from true. Some of these guys when they get their hand on a guitar, can soothe you with the melodies they play and that is very well a talent that was wasted because believe me, the perception of being a musician to the average Malaysian parent is a big no no. Every parent wants their children to be a lawyer, doctor, engineer or some sort of “professional”. Very few will actually encourage their children to do what their good at and that is a sad reality.

A point I would like to make in this article is that grades do not determine intelligence nor does it make the individual better than the rest. I honestly believe that a person needs to be “street smart” and that means that they need to be exposed to the real world and deal with the environment out there where text books cannot teach you. And this is what I mean; Just swallowing all the information from a text book and vomiting it out on a piece of paper will not help an individual. There needs to be a more practical approach. This of course happens in most colleges and Universities but not in school. This needs to be introduced in schools because it determines whether an individual qualifies for tertiary education or not. Being oppressed since school by painting a picture that an individual is not good enough because they do not have good grades will only discourage the individual to gain further knowledge. More needs to be done at the primary and secondary school levels. Educationists need to recognize talent and develop it.

I leave you with a pole below to see what you think about grades. Thanks.

Do grades determine intelligence
	Yes
	No
	I don't know

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