2 million hits milestone!

 The 2 millionth mark reached!

A giant step for the blog; hardly changing mankind!

Yay! A giant landmark in the blog's history. Today we hit the psychological mark of 1 million hits. Thank you to all visitors for their support all these years, seven years to be specific.

A sobering Malaysian saga

188, Hugh Low Street.
The Stories of the Scissors Sharpener's Daughter. Written by Ipohgal. 2013.

This is not a story of conquerors or industrialists who shattered the course of a civilisation or something like that but rather of the stuff that Malaysia is made of -  of small people who had a big strong heart to work hard to bring a better future for the family and the country.
Ipohgal, an avid blogger, has earned another feather to her cap. Now, she is an author and this is her maiden publication.

It traced to a time when it was peaceful and safe where children could play in the streets without a care. They did not need expensive gadgets to pass their time but rather they used their ingenuity to improvise. To give a nostalgic twang to her book, Ipohgal managed to capture a few pictures of the inside and outside the building that she knew as home. Coincidentally, the Indian eatery that she refers to 'Kedai Nasi Ganja' is the same one whose owner's son (deceased) was my brother-in-law's best friend.

The book starts by tracing the birthplace of her parents and the circumstances that brought them to Malaya. Her paternal grandfather, fleeing from the Qing Dynasty, landed in Batu Gajah with his young village headmaster's daughter wife. He built a reputation as an excellent bean curd maker. In those days, if you wanted a helping hand in your business, you just contacted your people in China and they would send you, not maids but rather maidens to be your wife. Like that, her Grandpa got himself a third wife after the second one got raped en route to Malaya and fell into depression. There is a funny part where the first wife avenges the husband through the grandchildren by cajoling them to get their grandfather broke by asking for this and that!

After panning through some harrowing moments during WW2, her father moved out of Batu Gajah to 188, Hugh Low Street, Ipoh to start a coffee shop. This shop was witness to many eventful events in the writer's life. Her parents were married and all her childhood memories were in that simple shop.

Kedai nasi kandar 'ganja', aptly named for 

the addictive quality of the food. Customers 

do not mind queueing long to be served!

The book goes on to innumerate many significant events that happened in her life - her memory of playing near the drain of her home, of a time she fell into the drain, her first exposure to the work peeping tom, her exposure to movies, the interesting places of leisure in Ipoh at that time, of the various tenants and characters who rented rooms in the building. A great proportion of the book is spent on the most important moment of anyone's life, the schooling years. 

Thanks to her stubborn mother, the father relented and Ipohgal received English education, unlike her elder siblings. Bad times befell on the family in the early 70s when like an avalanche, barrage of misfortunes fell on them. The family savings were exhausted when two close relatives where inflicted with aggressive terminal cancers. To add salt on wound, the shop licence was suspended. Her father had to give up the shop and had to use his resources to support the family. That is when he learnt the art of scissors and knife sharpening and he carved a name for himself as Ipoh's famous scissors sharpener.

She further narrates the many fond and sometimes unpleasant moments of her schooling life, especially in primary school. She soon discovered about discrimination and class segregation.

All good things must end. The last few chapters were melancholic as it describes the passing of her parents in such descriptive and touching manner. Their home is now in unkempt and is in a deplitatory condition, occupied by foreigners. Another topic that keeps popping up every now and then is the ability of the author and some of her relatives who had an eye to be able to see visions of the dead!

A light enjoyable read that reminds all its readers of where we came from. Like what the old adage states, 'One who does not know where he came from, will not reach where he is going to', I think it is important for all to be reminded of the past so that success does not go into our heads. It helps to maintain sobriety!

Alvivi forever?

Sex blogger takes to Facebook to blast media, critics

By Lydia Gomez | Yahoo Newsroom – Mon, Oct 22, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, Mon.: When it comes to sex bloggers Alvin Tan and Vivian Lee's attitude towards their expose', the phrase 'taking it in their stride' is a gross understatement.

The duo, whose mercurial rise to infamy became the topic of frenzied online discussions and non-stop media coverage, have bulldozed their way through the harshest criticism with what appears to be confident, sarcastic rebukes.

Tan, an ASEAN scholar and law undergraduate at the National University of Singapore (NUS), took to his Facebook account to systematically rebut the highly publicised brickbats thrown at them, mostly through local news headlines.

 Taken from his profile, these are his posts:

 "I love these NUS Board of Discipline hearings, where the judge and the prosecutor are the same people" - [The NUS is conducting an internal disciplinary hearing into the sex blog].

 "Psychologists who have clever things to say about our behaviour should tone it down. How credible is your "appraisal" if you haven't even met us, much less conducted a proper assessment on us?" - [In a recent report, a psychiatrist claimed that both Tan and Lee's sex blog was nothing more than a 'cry for attention']

 "To those who say that we teach children the wrong things, look: those are your children. The world is bad and evil, and it is your job as parents to shield them or educate them about things like this. Ultimately, we don't owe more than an ounce of responsibility towards the young individuals whom you bring to this world. If your children get their hands on this so-called obscene material that we published, you only have yourselves to blame for not knowing how to control your kids. It's not our duty to make parenting and education easy for you, so go and learn how to be good parents instead of blaming others when it is you who failed." [ In a related report, parents labelled both Tan and Lee as 'stupid, disgraceful and selfish']

 "Shame on me as a businessman. They're making a FORTUNE out of Vivian and me -- just look at the numbers! APPEARANCE FEE TIME. >.<" [on an article about him and Lee 'still hogging the limelight'].

 "I used to look up to (MCA president) Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek, sexually. Funny how things turned out." [MCA Youth chief Datuk Wee Ka Siong blasted the pair for giving a 'free show']"Datuk Seri Wong Chun Wai's overly-kind words of me; I'm flattered 1,000%" [In response to The Star's Group Chief Editor Wong Chun Wai in which Wong observed and said : Tan seems to be your average boy next door. He is polite, plays the piano really well (his repertoire includes classical numbers) and is a gymnast. His body is well-toned with a six-pack to show off, as those who have seen his pictures on
the Net would know.
He speaks impeccable English and talks in measured tones, very controlled and yet very open. He would put many of our politicians to shame when it comes to fielding questions from the media, really.
He is after all a graduate from the prestigious Raffles Institution in Singapore, an Asean scholar, and is reading law at the National University of Singapore. He is obviously a very smart guy. I try to think that the smartest and cleverest ones have a certain streak of eccentricity in them."]

 "P.S. Given how sophisticated the level of discussion was... People with bad English, please stay out -- you might as well be listening to French. :D" [ On the 'tricky' interview with Capital FM and Red FM].

 "Getting into the media limelight was never my intention. But now I have media attention knocking on my door, I have two choices: hide from it or learn to manage and use it to my advantage. The point is that a lot of people are focused on the wrong aspect; they are focusing on the nature of my publicity (sex, morality, ingratitude to certain institutions, etc.). That aspect, i.e. how I rose to fame, is immaterial. I, being the cunning and conniving character I've always been, am focusing on the magnitude and thus potential of that publicity."

In another lengthy post from Saturday, Tan reflects on the nature of the media which he sees as 'hungry canines' that would 'discard you faster than a woman would discard a heavily-soiled sanitary pad once they milked all there is to milk out of your story'.

"Before they get the story, they will treat you like a king or celebrity. That is the cold, hard truth that I know and accept."
Tan, who has never shied from the media spotlight (apart from taking down his blog) since his 'Sumptuous Erotica' sex blog exploded earlier last week, had this to say about reporters: I would personally send all those so-called journalists back to journalism school for forgetting the key legitimising characteristic that the media should have: objectivity.

 "I also overwhelmingly prefer TV/radio interviews over newspaper interviews, because, with the former, there's much less latitude to twist and turn my words. They have to present my views and opinions in their original, sensory format, except maybe for some cutting and pasting and bleeping. Newspapers, conversely, are actually secondary sources, even with the use of quotes (here's the truth: newspaper quotes are almost never verbatim -- "(sic)" is an obsolete concept). Even the so-called credible newspapers, like The Straits Times and The Star, have the annoying tendency to take quotes out of context to print the story that they want to portray, not report the story as it is."

In his latest post (yesterday) Tan dedicated the following image to 'the 9GAG generation':

I write a blog...

After a few weeks of cerebral constipation and writers' block which was not helped by a vacation, (what do you expect when there is no substance between the ears?), I am sitting down to pen down a few words which are void of literary craftiness. Did I mention about of the nightly episodes after episodes nocturnal viewing of 'Law & Order SVU' (thanks to Uni-fi) which seem to be frying my brains of whatever there is of intelligence? Unlike Barry Manilow who wrote his songs for the whole to sing, I doubt Rifle Range Boy, the blog, is ever going down the annals of nostalgic history of mankind. But I still write....
Blogging is a catharsis of sorts. Ideas that nobody has the time or care to listen can be written in full glory at his leisure and pleasure in his own outlook for individuals with nothing else better to do (in other words, 'got no life!') to peruse, percolate and masticate before they spit it out or find common grounds. (Losers get together!). Blogging also helps to create electrical transmissions in the non dominant brain which has been lying dormant in the brains of most Asians and when you only escapism from the tentacles of poverty is academia, not creativity. Culture and creativity have been left in the back burners for too long a time.
Like other personalities in the creative field like Vincent van Gogh and Freddie Mercury who gained stardom post-humously, bloggers still stand a chance.....

 The song 'I write the song' was written by Bruce Johnston of 'The Beach Boys' and had been sung by 200 over artistes including Frank Sinatra. The original song was released by 'Captain & Tenillle' and David Cassidy in 1975 before Manilow skyrocketed it to the Grammy and beyond! 'I' in the song refers to God, not an ego trip for the writer. It is rather meant to sing the glory of God and the magic of music!