For some reason or another, I found myself checking out some videos of songs in various movies, and came across this memorable and delightful performance by Jim Carrey in his smash-hit, The Mask.

See if this doesn’t become your tune for the day. Everyone needs some cheerful soundtracks now and then, especially now.

They call me Cuban Pete. I’m the king of the rumba beat.
When I play the maracas I go chick-chicky-boom, chick-chicky boom
Yessir, I’m Cuban Pete. I’m the craze of my native street.
When I start to dance, everything goes chick-chicky-boom, chick-chicky boom
The senoritas they sing and they swing with terampero-
It’s very nice, so full of spice.
And when they dance in they bring a happy ring that era keros-
Singin’ a song, all the day long.
So if you like the beat, take a lesson from Cuban Pete
And I’ll teach you to chick-chicky-boom, chick-chicky-boom.

He’s really a modest guy, although he’s the hottest guy
In Havana, in Havana.

Si, sinorita I know that you would like to chicky-boom-chick
It’s very nice, so full of spice.
I’ll place my hand on your hip, and if you will just give me your hand
Then we shall try - just you and I. I-yi-yi!
So if you like the beat, take a lesson from Cuban Pete
And I’ll teach you chick-chicky-boom, chick-chicky-boom, chick-chicky-boom

Shake Your Booty, Daddy, Wow!
See ya!

Lyrics from Lyrics007

This is NOT a sponsored post. No, really, it isn’t.

(Photo credit: http://frontpage.my/)

As you may or may not know, there’s a new TV show airing on ntv7 called FRONTPAGE.

It comes on every Sunday at 9.45pm, with the first episode having premiered last Sunday (Sept 7).

So what’s it about? Well, it’s about this fictional English-language newspaper called “The Voice” and the stuff that goes on with the journos who work there.

It stars Bernie Chan (yeah, she who will be racing with her brother in the upcoming The Amazing Race Asia 3) as the newsdesk editor, and Tony Eusoff, Jehan Miskin, Cheryl Samad (my favourite local actress at the mo’, cos she can’t do no wrong ;-)), Nell Ng, Nurakhtar Md. Amin as journalists.

The show is co-produced by The Star, and the shots of the newsroom were all (or mostly, I’m not quite sure) shot in The Star’s newsroom at their HQ in PJ.

Also, it is said that the episodes were all based on real-life stories that were reported in the press. I can’t be sure of how true that is in relation to the first episode, which has something to do with an armed robbery planned by a group called the Kapak Gang, cos after all, we’ve had a lot of armed gangs terrorising us over the years. (In fact, while watching it, I was frequently reminded of various films by John Woo and even Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs.)

But the synopsis of the second episode, to be aired this coming Sunday (Sept 14), should give a clue as to the real-life event that inspired it:

A witch doctor, Maya Saari and her son killed a high profile businessman, and were sentenced to death. Before she is hanged, Maya asks to see Jack to reveal a secret – her list of clients, with photographs as irrefutable proof. It is well known that Maya’s former clientele has been the who’s who of Malaysian society. Each of them has plenty to lose should Maya decide to reveal their black magic practises. Jack finds his life in danger when “someone” goes to all lengths to keep Maya’s list a secret.

Yup, it’s inspired by Malaysia’s favourite homicidal bomoh, the late Mona Fandey. Although the “list of clients” angle is almost reminiscent of the Hollywood Madam scandal…

Personally, I found the first episode to be rather decent, which given the quality of most of the locally-made English-language shows on TV, is a pretty good compliment. I’m not saying there aren’t good locally-made English-language shows on TV, it’s just that there ain’t a lot of them.

Oh, and when I say “English-language”, I mean that the core language is English, but as befitting a show set in our good old “muhibbah-land”, you also get a whole lot of other languages thrown in as well.

I’ll certainly be watching the second episode, just to see how they deal with the sensitive issue of the bomoh-gone-bad.

If you’ve missed the first episode of FRONTPAGE, fret not, since you can always watch it on ntv7’s Catch Up TV feature.

Meanwhile, over at the FRONTPAGE website, there’re also a contest going on, where you can win an MP3 player. You can also watch trailers for upcoming episodes and download photos and stuff.

Personally, I kinda think this web approach to the show is a little Web 1.0, you know what I mean? The PR people should introduce more interactive elements to hook the viewers/fans into a more immersive experience (oops, buzzword alert!). A couple of ideas from the top of my head:

• Facebook - Groups or fan pages could be a good start, to give the fans a place to group together and discuss the show
• Blogs - the cast and director could blog about their experiences about particular episodes, and how they approached a scene or stuff like that. Of course, this would be contingent on the cast being available for such an endeavour.

Well, we’ll see - maybe they’ll read this blog and start thinking about it.

If you have an interest in (digital) photography, you might find this to be right up your alley.

Sunway City Bhd and AMBP are getting together to send a group of lucky bloggers on TWO photography trips: the first, a day tour to Sunway Lagoon Resort which covers Sunway Lagoon Theme Park, Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa, and Sunway Pyramid; the second will be a 2D1N trip to Sunway Lost World of Tambun.

There are lots of activities lined up besides the ones where you go snapping away with your camera to your heart’s content.

Both outings also double up as a contest, where images taken of Sunway premises during the tours will be considered as entries for the Sunway Memories Photography Contest which offers total prizes worth over RM140,000!

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, it’s all FREE!

So what are ya waiting for? Move your mouse on over to AMBP and sign up now!

Ok, maybe failure is too harsh a word (India had won a few gold medals in hockey, I believe), but anyway, here’s an interesting article about India’s surprising ineffectiveness on the global sporting stage (cricket aside), by my namesake, the famous (but-not-as-handsome? :P) Shashi Tharoor.

Every Indian who follows the Olympics has cringed scanning the daily list of medal winners, eyes traveling down past dozens of nations big and small before alighting on a solitary Indian bronze in tennis or wrestling. Worse yet, we have all known the shame of waiting day after day for India to appear on the list at all, as countries a hundredth our size record gold upon gold and Indian athletes are barely mentioned among the also-rans.

An Indian beauty queen, Madhu Sapre, once became an unwitting victim of Indians’ sense of national shame at our sporting insignificance. She was unjustly denied a Miss World title in 1992 because of her answer to the final-round question, “What is the first thing you would do if you became the ruler of your country?” Her response – “I would build a sports stadium” – was considered stupid by the judges, and the almost-certain crown (she was the overwhelming favorite) slipped from her grasp. Sapre’s answer might not have been the brightest, but if the judges had any idea of how desperate Indians are for sporting success, they would have understood that she was not expressing such an absurd priority.

Shashi Tharoor, an acclaimed novelist and commentator, is a former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Read all of it at: India’s Olympic Also-Rans

Ironically, that last one ain’t too much of a challenge anymore. It’s the opportunity, however, that I can’t get.

Find more great geeky, nerdy comics from xkcd.

From Sharon Bakar’s blog:

Bangsa Ria, the centre for the severely disabled, that Kannan goes to, is having a jumble sale this Sunday, 10 August, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. On sale are clothes, second-hand and new, brand new children’s shoes - Land Rover brand (have never heard of the brand but these shoes are pretty sturdy walking shoes) home items (toys, puzzles, knick-knacks including a clock), books etc. Prices are from 50 sen up with the Land Rover shoes going for just RM10.00. We are keeping prices low because this is our way of giving back to the community as well. There are also some pretty good office chairs (swivel), exercise step machine etc plus some simple tidbits - I mean this is Malaysia - we’ve got to think food!

Bangsa Ria (Happy People - isn’t that a lovely name for a centre!) is located at 35, 11/2, which is perpendicular to Jalan Universiti. The first building on this road is Universiti Towers and we are about 5 or 6 bungalows away. Green walls and blue gates - hard to miss!

It’s for a good cause, amigos.

Spectacular.

If you’re reading this, you might have already read other reviews. You might have even watched the movie by now. And thus, you no doubt will agree with me, and all the other countless reviews, that this was one hell of a movie.

If you did not mourn Heath Ledger’s passing before, you will now. We’ve seen his talents previously here and there, but here, in this magnum opus of superhero movies, he shone brighter than a supernova.

If The Joker here wasn’t one of the scariest comic book villains (or any villain from any genre, for that matter) you ever saw, you don’t know nothin’, mistah.

If you haven’t watched this movie, you should. Worth every single copper cent of the ticket price. More, probably.

I want to write a longer review, but everything I want to say has already been said by countless reviewers out there.

The only thing left then, is for me to stand and applaud the collective creative genius of the team that put together this magnificent movie. Especially director Christopher Nolan, and of course, the late Heath Ledger.

*clap* *clap* *clap* *clap* *clap* *clap* *clap* *clap* *clap* *clap* *clap* *clap*

Verdict: 5.0