Kasih ... Dia

Bukan aku tak pernah memikirkannya. Acapkali.
Bukan aku tak pernah merenunginya. Saban hari.
Bukan aku tak pernah menyesalinya. Dasar kalbu.
Bukan aku tak pernah menginginkannya. Satu misi.

Dia
aku percaya
aku kasih
aku cinta

Aku
dia percaya
dia kasih
dia cinta

Mereka
kami percaya
kami kasih
kami junjung

Pohon kami...fahamilah....

Sedetik waktu berlalu
sedetik usia penantian
sedetik rindu menimpa
.
.
.
.
.
bagai sezaman ....



The Dreamer©2011

When two hearts collide...an anniversary dedication

makanya..

...kadang-kadang frust juga bila kita perlu buat sesuatu tanggungjawab demi kelangsungan hidup kita di bumi Allah ini, tetapi masa itu kita sangat berat hati...mungkin setan banyak bergayut di pelupuk mata, telinga, jari-jari tangan dan sebagainya..makanya kita asyik la tekun dengan kegiatan-kegiatan yang bermoral tapi tak kena tempat dan masa..

...kadang-kadang dilema juga, bila kita tak nak buat dosa, tapi langkah2 yang akan mengelakkan kita buat dosa tu, jika diambil selalu akan menyebabkan kita kekurangan merit...lantas, mana lebih utama, merit di dunia atau merit di akhirat? dah tau tanya lagi...tapi sedikit sebanyak masih ada dilema, makanya...kenalah cari alternatif lain...

...bukan saya tak mahu bersuara dengan awak, tapi saya rasa seperti kita ni magnet yang sama kutub, bila sama kutub mana nak melekat kan...saya tak suka berada dalam keadaan bosan dan tidak ikhlas dalam melakukan sesuatu...makanya, sebab tu lah saya cuma bersuara apabila perlu dengan awak, saya tak nak bergantung dengan awak, saya ada stigma terhadap awak la...

...kita selalu ingin berhijrah dan cuba keluar dari yang norma, tapi kita selalu juga umpama aiskrim yang cair sebelum sempat dimakan.....meleleh-leleh, akhirnya dikesat dan dihilangkan...makanya, tidak ada cara lain lagi, it's do or die..

Makanya...

usahlah ditanya lagi...dah tau, buat je..tak perlu dicari sebab demi justifikasi sendiri..

Movie : Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa (The Malay Chronicles: Bloodlines)

Spectacular! Yet another courageous effort from KRU Studios in dabbling with the silver screen. Yes, this movie is one that you can not miss if you are looking for a difference in our "son of soil's" brainchild. Actually, I have seen this movie much earlier, however, due to the turns of events, I only manage to write about it today.

google image

The production company chose one of the revered ancient literature documents of the Malay chronicles; the Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa or The Kedah Annals as its latest production. As I understand it, this ancient literature script is also a document of historical accounts telling about the ancestry of Kedah rulers, yet it was weaved with such intricacies inclusive of mythical figures and miracles. However, let us be reminded that in the production's website, they explicitly said that this movie is "loosely" based on the chronicle, and so, what we would see is the production's interpretation of the chronicle and their choice of highlights in order to produce this movie. In general, we know that Merong Mahawangsa is said to be the descendant of Alexander the Great and the founder of Langkasuka Kingdom which later on became Kedah, and later on produced a line of kingdom rulers including the Sultan Mudzafar Shah.

The Gist (full synopsis can be read here: KRU Studios)

It was 120 AD, a prince from the Roman Empire was set to marry a beautiful princess from the Han Dynasty in China. Both empires agreed to execute the wedding in a neutral land, called the Golden Chersonese (Malay Peninsula). When the Roman ships was heavily damaged by the rough weather, they seek help from a sailor and traveller named Merong Mahawangsa when they met him Goa, India. Merong successfully escorted the Roman prince to the wedding site and met the Chinese envoy. However, the success was short-lived when an army of pirate nations called the Gerudans came and wreaked havocs at the camp in order to kidnap the princess. The Gerudans actually had a more sinister plan. Merong was later saved by a native villager who turned out to be a wise man (or tok guru), and later became his apprentice. Merong was then able to find out about his family and then set up a new kingdom which we later knew as Langkasuka. A reunion later brought Merong to use all his might and wisdom to face the Gerudans and save the princess. Will he succeed?

The verdict

Thumbs up from me! I think Stephen Rahman-Hughes has done a good job in delivering the lines and embracing his character. Khir Rahman brutal giller! All in all, all the actors performed really well. Good story line. The brawls and the war were rather violent and quite real. Kudos for that. And kudos for the special effects too. The best in Malaysian film industry so far. It was classy and I feel proud watching it, satisfied too.

It was a great experience watching this movie. And I wish the KRU brothers will continue to produce good quality movies in the future.

Cat O' Nine Tales by Jeffrey Archer

Bear in mind that this is not the cat o'nine tails. There's a difference between the two and imagine my confusion when I tried to look for some significance in the title's meaning with the book and found images of a scary whipping device instead.

Anyway, Cat O' Nine Tales is a compilation of short stories written by the famous (and perhaps controversial) British author, Jeffrey Archer. During the course of his life, Archer had been incarcerated in several prisons in his country for some reasons (lo and behold the web world for you to seek for it) and in those times he had encountered many kinds of inmates. Making full use of the time there, he managed to extract stories of the inmates he 'befriended' with and wrote them. Since then, he had produced several compilations of prison stories and this one is the first one that I've read.

In Cat O' Nine Tales, there are 12 short stories in which 9 of them were derived from real life stories from the prison. I had enjoyable time reading all the stories in the sense that they were told in a simple way and at the end of each stories I always felt a sudden jolt of interesting feelings. Maybe it's because of Archer's ways to write the stories, or maybe it's because of the stories themselves. The stories are real, they came from real people, real life, and there's always something to learn in life. All of the stories came from people who definitely broke the law in one way or the other, but they way they broke it, the reason, the chain of events, the motivation...when we read it, sometimes we couldn't believe it. But those were the choices that people made, whether unknowingly, reluctantly or....most of the time, purposely.

google image

Anyway, this book is good for those who seek light reading without losing the the charm of learning and uplifting spirit.

Gempa di Jepun...the earthquake that shook the whole nation..

Sumber: USGS

(Penafian: Artikel di bawah ditulis berdasarkan sudut pandangan penulis serta pengetahuan sedia ada beliau. Artikel ini tidak bertujuan menjadi jurucakap bagi mana-mana pihak selain penulis sendiri dan tidak mewakili mana-mana institusi dan agensi yang dinyatakan di dalam artikel ini.)

Pada jam 1.46 tengahari waktu Malaysia (0546 GMT), 11 Mac 2011, telah berlaku satu gempa bumi kuat yang bermagnitud 8.9 pada skala Richter di luar pantai Honshu, Jepun, 130 km dari daerah Sendai. Gempa bumi telah dirasai hampir di keseluruhan negara Jepun dengan skala intensiti tertinggi direkodkan adalah 6 upper. Bagi negara Jepun, skala intensiti 6 upper yang merupakan skala kedua tertinggi di dalam kriteria skala intensiti Jepun.

Skala Intensiti Gempa. Sumber: JMA

Gempa bumi dengan kedalaman hanya 24 km dari permukaan bumi dan berlaku pula di kawasan perairan itu menyebabkan berlakunya tsunami di perairan Jepun. Sehingga waktu artikel ini ditulis, tsunami telah dikesan berlaku di kawasan berhampiran perairan Jepun berhadapan Lautan Pasifik dengan ketinggian gelombang tsunami yang mencapai hampir 10 m. Antara kawasan paling awal dilanda tsunami adalah Sendai dan Miyagi yang merupakan antara kawasan paling hampir dengan pusat gempa (epicenter) tersebut. Tsunami tersebut turut menjadi fenomena global apabila ia turut melanda beberapa kawasan perairan pantai barat Amerika Utara dan Hawaii. Pihak-pihak berkuasa telahpun menyebarkan nasihat dan amaran yang berkaitan ke pusat-pusat amaran awal tsunami di sekitar Lautan Pasifik.

Walaupun perairan Malaysia agak kurang terdedah dengan ancaman tsunami yang berpunca dari gempa bumi di epicenter tersebut namun terdapat pelbagai faktor dapat memungkinkan kesan-kesan yang bakal terjadi bergantung kepada magnitud gempa, ciri-ciri bathymetry di dasar laut serta bentuk muka bumi di antara sempadan lautan dan daratan dan lain-lain lagi. Oleh itu, Jabatan Meteorologi Malaysia sebagai agensi yang bertanggungjawab dalam menyebarkan amaran tsunami telah mengambil langkah segera bagi memantau perkembangan dan menganalisa keadaan tersebut mengikut kemampuan yang sedia ada. Segala maklumat berkaitan telah disampaikan kepada media massa dan turut disebarkan kepada umum melalui laman sesawangnya di http://www.met.gov.my dan laman sosial Facebook dan Twitter.

Jika kita mengikuti liputan berita di televisyen, pasti kita dapat melihat bagaimana ganasnya tsunami melanda kawasan terbabit. Dijana oleh kekuatan tenaga yang amat tinggi merangkumi keseluruhan bahagian air (water column), tsunami tersebut dapat menenggelamkan kawasan daratan sehingga beberapa kilometer jaraknya dari pesisiran pantai dan membawa bersama serpihan-serpihan struktur, bot-bot dan kapal-kapal dan apa juga yang berada di laluannya. Bahaya tsunami bukan sahaja terletak pada kekuatan arusnya yang luar biasa, tetapi juga serpihan-serpihan yang turut dibawa bersama.

Negara Jepun yang terletak di kawasan pertembungan beberapa kepingan tektonik yang sangat aktif dan kompleks, sememangnya telah terdedah kepada bencana seumpama ini sejak berkurun-kurun lamanya. Namun, bencana yang mempunyai kekuatan setinggi ini biasanya berlaku dalam selang waktu yang lama, sekurang-kurangnya sekali dalam 100 tahun. Namun dalam sehari, negara ini sentiasa menghadapi sehingga ratusan gegaran gempa yang bermagnitud rendah yang mana ada di antaranya tidak dapat dirasai sama sekali di permukaan bumi.

Lantaran itu, negara ini telah membangunkan pelbagai teknologi bagi membantu rakyat mereka menghadapi bencana ini dengan lebih baik dan untuk mengurangkan kesan dan impak bencana yang dihadapi. Dikatakan, atas usaha-usaha tersebut itulah, kadar kematian dan kerosakan dihadapi adalah kurang daripada yang mungkin terjadi sekiranya sebaliknya. Namun, tidak dapat tidak, negara dan rakyat Jepun pastinya bukan kebal untuk menghadapi kuasa Tuhan yang didatangkan oleh-Nya dengan skala yang amat besar.

On a more personal note...

Ever since I knew about the above calamity, I have been worried for the safety of the people that I know there, including my colleagues and the people that I had met when I was in training there a couple of years back. Alhamdulillah, most of them are safe after experiencing perhaps the scariest moments of their life, what's with all the countless foreshocks and aftershocks in between the main shock that proved to be the largest to occur in the last century. My mind is somewhat transported back to the days where I visited the Sanriku area, which is the main area affected by this latest disaster. I still remember all the beautiful dan peaceful places there, the people that I've met, and I wonder, what has become of them. My dear Japanese friend whom I managed to contact by e-mail (and thank God he is safe too..) said that those places have been devastated by the tsunami.

With the spirit of global friendship and humanity, I do hope that the country and its people will be able to stay strong and rise up after this awful mess. Let us hope for the best.

  

aku ingin keluar

aku ingin keluar....

dalam ini sejuk
sejuk nan beku

dalam ini panas
panas yang rimas

dalam ini sempit
sempit yang menghimpit

dalam ini sunyi
kendati berpenghuni

wahai penghuni ruang yang sunyi
izinkan aku mencari ganti
yang lebih mengerti

wahai sang peneman setia
perwira di hati beta
nantikan aku di sana


The Dreamer©2011

The King's Speech

I was interested to watch this movie because of ....

... Colin Firth, I like his performance in Dorian Gray, which was my first encounter with him.

... the genre; historical, however I was aware of the balance/imbalance between accurateness, imagination and dramatic effects included in the movie.

... the subject matter, the ancestors of my motherland's former colonial government. What more can I say..

The Gist

 The period was during the late 1920s to 1930s in United Kingdom. Prince Albert, the Duke of York, the second son of the reigning King George V, had stuttering problems since he was a child. He, with the assistance from his wife Elizabeth, the Duchess of York, had tried several treatments to cure it but the efforts were not so successful, until the Duchess met Lionel Logue, an Australian speech therapist living in England. Although the Duke was reluctant at first, losing confidence and feared for another failure, Logue's unorthodox ways of treatment and his understanding of the Duke's plight made the two started working together to improve the Duke's speech. During those times, the Duke had to handle some difficult times as when his father died and later the abdication of his older brother from the throne when he wanted to marry a divorcée. And also a test of trust as he found out that Logue actually never had credentials as a speech therapist. Yet, Logue was able to convince him that he never took any title of credential and he learned all his expertise from experience and managed success from it. As the next successor to the throne, the reluctant Duke, afterwards King George VI, had to battle his own self-esteem on becoming a King as part of his duty was to make broadcast speeches, especially during the World War II. I'd say, Logue had put some sense in the King's mind that the King finally found his own confidence, and his own voice. In the end credits, it was stated that Logue continued to be the King's speech therapist, assisting him in many speeches he did and continued being best friends till the end.

The verdict

google image

Whenever I walked out of a cinema with a broad smile, a feeling of pleasant disbelief and high spirit, I knew I've got the best deal for every shillings spent. I believed in the characters of the King, Queen and Logue. I loved to see the relationships portrayed between each of them and the lines. I probably had a slight problem catching up with the true British English accent. But it was ok. Perhaps the only character I couldn't feel or believe in was the guy who played Winston Churchill....but never mind. And I had a fair share of laughter in several scenes. A good treat. 

127 Hours

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Actually, I didn't anticipate myself to watch this movie at first, didn't matter whether there's James Franco in it or not, or whether it was one of the nominated movies in Academy Awards or not. My interest in this movie started when I learned more of the storyline and when I knew that it's based on a true story. Yeah, maybe I'm quite a fan of biographical movies.

Anyway, in a gist, this movie tells you that you should never go anywhere without telling anyone, especially if you are going to some risky place with the intention of doing something dangerous.

And that was the ultimate lesson for Aron Ralston from the ordeal. He was probably the sort of guy who didn't take relationships seriously, even with his family. Or maybe he did, but he didn't show it or didn't feel that it matters to show. So, that was why he thought it won't harm a thing when he went off canyoning in Blue John Canyon without telling anyone where he was actually going. He's doing his thing, his passion, his hobby....just what could be wrong. Or so he thought.

However, as he started to descend a narrow passage, a suspended boulder wedged between rock walls gave in and fell down the canyon with him, only to land again, but this time with Aron's hand pinned between the boulder and the rock wall, trapping him. During the time he was trapped there, Aron had tried everything he could think of to free himself, while battling thirst, hunger, loneliness, helplessness, coldness of the night and weather. He knew that no one knew he was there, and no one would notice that he was actually missing until a few days later, so it was really up to him. It was a suspense to see him trying desperately while keeping his mind straight amidst all the delusions caused by lack of nutrition.

During this ordeal, Aron also occupied himself by recording a video diary with his video recorder and taking pictures. Aron thought a lot about his family and his former girlfriend, probably re-thinking what had happened, what he had missed or what he should or shouldn't done before. I'd say, he contemplated a lot about his life. In the end, Aron was a fighter. He finally freed himself by doing the thing that I had expected him to do, yet I didn't dare to wish for it to happen. But he did. And I was thankful that although the scene looked real, it wasn't so gory. So, yes....I didn't searched for spoilers before watching this movie, so i didn't know then how it would end. After watching it, I almost couldn't believe that he still had a second chance after being trapped deep inside a canyon for 127 hours. And continue to live, and wrote about his experience in a book, which then picked up by Danny Boyle the director and made this good movie out of it.

And Aron Ralston continue to pursue his passion after that, without forgetting to leave a note or message to somebody of his whereabouts. :)

Yes, I was satisfied. What I like about it is the story. The story of a real person learning a real lesson. And in desperate time, people can do the unimaginable to survive. The real Aron survived.

My next agenda? The King's Speech, The Adjustment Bureau and Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa.

Till then.

i've figured it out ...

or you can also go to my channel here ...

A musical evening @ Book Xcess

On the 4th and 5th March 2011, the Book Xcess bookstore organized what I call a mini live gig at their store in Amcorp Mall, Petaling Jaya. They call it Music Appreciation Night. The place is just a stone's throw from my office and about 15 minutes drive from home so I thought of paying it a visit and tried to see what was it all about. The bonus was that if we RSVP for attending the event through their Facebook, we'd get a free membership and a book thong that night and if we're already a member, we'd get a free gift of pre-selected books. The free membership is rather cool, isn't it? So, why not? Furthermore, I was intrigued as who would be the local young talents whom they brought out to the spotlight in the first ever event of its kind for the bookstore.

The gig started off a little after 8.00pm after sound checks and equipments testing. It all happened in that little, cute space that they have in the middle of the bookstore where they had gracefully put the newly acquired piano. The opening band was The 'A' Band which consists of 6 young guys who I assumed as friends of each other. They had 2 female back up singers with them that night. They sang several songs; Baik Baik Sayang (Wali Band) and Kau Ilhamku (Man Bai), just to name a few.

The 'A' Band

The second talent to perform was probably my favourite of the night, a 17-year-old kid named Herman Ramanado. Oh, he belted out cool songs like Fix You by Coldplay and Wonderwall (Oasis) so effortlessly while playing his guitar. He has a really nice voice and successfully spiced up the tunes in his own way which I enjoyed. His taste, I think, was well suited with various groups of listeners as he also chose to do a classic Frank Sinatra number, In Other Words (Fly Me To The Moon). Interesting choice of songs. And preferring genres like funk, soul, reggae and real R&B for a young kid like him is interesting, in my opinion.

Herman Ramanado

Another talent worth rooting for is the young band hailing from Klang, How Should I Know. The band captured my heart with their cover of Taylor Swift's Back To December, which is my current favourite song right now. They performed several more songs afterwards including a Malay song. These guys might probably be no more than 18 years old as in the introduction the MC said that they were friends since 4 years ago when they were merely 14-year-olds. And yet they have already won several competitions around Klang. They can go further up if things going on good.

How Should I Know

The final act of the day would be my first encounter with Mr. Azmyl Yunor. I've never heard of him before and yet when I read the introduction of him that night, I had a feeling that he's going to be fun to watch. And indeed he was. Equipped with a guitar and harmonica, Azmyl performed five of his self-written English and Malay songs with great energy, yet he maintained a modest, laid-back presence, with occasional playful, good-natured remarks. Perhaps dear readers can find him in the internet domain well enough as he has his own website, Myspace and Facebook, and also featured in Wikipedia to know who he is. He promoted his latest independent cd that night and I got the chance to meet him in person, had a small conversation and bought the cd with his autograph on it. Yeah, I could say that I was quite stoked in a way. A really nice guy.

Azmyl Yunor

In the end, it was really a night of appreciation of good music. Unfortunately, I couldn't attend the second night for some reason, headache and fatigue being two of it. Therefore I cannot make a review of it here. However, I was glad to attend this event. Good music brings good vibes. Haha...me and my vibes!    

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p/s: I'm thinking of uploading the videos I recorded, so until I've finished figuring it out, keep yourself posted to this blog if you are interested in watching.. :)  

Katakanlah Kata Kata

Aku kagum dengan orang yang boleh bersuara demi kebenaran. Samalah juga dengan orang yang tidak segan menyatakan pendirian. Begitu juga dengan orang yang tidak mudah gumam dan kelu apabila dilawan.

Tapi....

Aku tidak gemar mendengar sesuatu perbualan berunsur kritikan mengenai orang lain pada tahap yang berlebihan. Memang kita berhak meluahkan perasaan tidak puas hati kita. Tetapi ..... perlukah kita berlebihan mengkritik seseorang seolah-olah orang yang kita perkatakan itu sangat bodoh dan tak ada otak? Sedangkan orang yang diperkatakan bukanlah sebegitu... mungkin kadang-kadang kita tersilap, kita kan insan. Kadang-kadang tersilap cakap. Sometimes, people can be harsh with their words when it is concerning other people. Tapi kalau tentang diri sendiri, tahu pulak berkata yang semua manusia boleh buat kesilapan. Itulah kita.

Mungkin aku juga pernah begitu tanpa disedari. Tapi harapan aku agar aku tidak akan sekali-kali merendah-rendahkan seseorang dihadapannya mahupun di belakangnya. Dan, kalau aku ingin meluahkan perasaan tidak puas hati ku akan seseorang pada satu orang lain yang aku percaya, haruslah aku menjaga lontaran suaraku agar hanya didengari oleh orang itu. Dan menjaga tutur kataku agar tidak berlebihan. Jika ia bukan untuk pendengaran orang lain, jadi mengapa perlu sebaliknya, kan? Dan lagi, kenapa tak sound direct je kan pada yang berkenaan? Hmm...nak sound pun, agak-agak la berhemahnya, janganlah kita terjah je, kan? Orang lain pun ada hati dan perasaan.

Understanding the exquisite..

Can we admire and be perplexed at the same time?
Can we admire something that we do not understand?
One can't help but to wonder, how the mind works.....
how the eyes see
and which is more powerful in perception
the eye, the mind, the heart
or all of them?

...or am I blind...

Some can be understood if one has prior knowledge...

And some are down-to-earth natural...
















..in the end, it depends on how do we perceive it...in what way we see..

...still untitled...

I was doing my work....until I came to a point of static. . . . . . . . .

Contemplating this....where do I belong? Where am I going to put myself in this chart? The place is going through constant development, but nothing seems to stick through. I wonder if this situation is caused by indecisiveness or development in slow-mo. I do not prefer half-done work. And I am not fond of waiting. I want to finish this, but I don't know where to put myself in it.

Maybe next week, there will be some answers. Answers that may cause me headaches and anxiety, but hopefully I can persuade myself to relent. If I am not willing to do anything here, I have to be at someplace else. Even though I may not like it, I would just try. I don't have to pretend. I don't have to be afraid. I'm tired of self-deprecation. I am tired of this battle.

What you said is true, my dear. Let go of the little things.