Socially emphatizing capitalism!

Give a man a fish, he will stay full for a day. Teach him to fish and he will not be hungry in his life-time. So says an ancient Chinese saying which are all well aware.
Amma used to say, "Your thumb can only swell to the size of your thumb". A man can only earn this much. Don't get your fingers burnt with greed, some say. This are all naysayers and negative vibes according to giant megalomaniac unabashedly capitalistic minded enterprising moguls.

Another fallen leader of a failed system:

Czar Nicholas II of Romanov Dynasty.

"Aim for the moon! At least you do not make it, you would be among the stars." does not sound quite so right, as the moon is 240,000 miles away but the stars, many light years away. That seem to seem to be the mantra of most greedy CEOs who are basically the product and creation of the capitalistic system whose productivity (interpreted as profit) can only go one way, i.e. up and up only! The last thing they are bothered is athe suffering workers who toil the sweat and hours to realize the dream of the bosses -i.e. without the labour laws. The lip service that is given through community services and handing of big mockery of a mock cheque is nothing but tax write offs!

Trump card: Obnoxious wealth -almost vulgar

On the other hand, if the society believes in ensuring that everyone is taken care of by hook or crook by the state, things will surely be hunky dory when the going gets good. This alms receiving citizens will swear that there is no state as good as theirs, the state is caring and they would worship the hands that hand them the handouts. Over time this would be expected of the state and eventually will transform into their birth right. When the tide goes down, when the going gets tough, when the coffers for the handouts dwindle, then it gets tough. The state induced paralysis of able bodies need massive Faradic stimulation and physiotherapy to incite axionic action potential to trigger the sodium pumps to generate work all over again. In the interim, there is bound to be chaos and instigators who would promise their own way to blissful paradise...(with something up their sleeves too)!

Minimum wage, minimalist life?

My heart bleeds every time I see security guards waiting meekly at the malls, looking at the passers-by at the mall he is guarding. I wonder if , with his measly pay and long hours, he could ever think if spending time and money with his children and loved ones at the malls just like the passers-by. I wonder if, when his kids stand drooling at the sight of mouth-watering buns and steeply priced roasted chicken pieces. Would he just blame it on his fate or live happily without a care in the world on credit and then blame the whole world for his dire straits?
RRB and his siblings had all been in similar predicament before. Peeking through the railings of of our balcony into the opposite neighbour's living room into the brand new colour TV and admiring the spanking colourful eye catching hues that scintillate from it; waiting anxiously for Appa to come back with a packet of Craven 'A' Meehoon Singapura at the end of the month and enjoying the once a month 'A Block' Char Koay Teow. We have been there!
As all of us can see around us, the gap between the haves and have-nots have leaped by leaps and bounds over the years, no thanks to all the capitalistic minded Government policies.
This is what the socialist minded leaders, with the helplessness of the workers' community at heart (since workers' right died before Merdeka), have been advocating all these while - minimum wage and an earning capacity to alleviate them off the poverty line. But how can you go and for how long can you sustain it. Humans has that insatiable appetite that cannot be easily satisfied.

Trima Kaseeeeeeh!

Our good old David and his gang with the Merdeka month promo!
Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!

Don't expect others to do your dirty job!

Now that the dust has settled over yet another racially controversial ad over the telly, soon it will be yet another issue for everyone to ponder.
Actually if you ask me, (nobody will), if you want to fast, fast by all means. Just do not expect everyone else to fast with you. In fact, in my books, the basic tenet in doing penance is to control our inner desires against worldly pleasures all around us and to feel for those who are not lucky enough as us to have all pleasures in front of them. This act itself is supposed to humble mankind and to remind us that we are so fragile and weak as compared to powers of the universe (a.k.a. God).
This recent brouhaha just reminds me of a Tamil song in the late 70s where this guy goes on scolding everyone for hogging the road and blocking his path as he is learning to ride a bicycle! It is nonsensical for him to be so selfish and deny others from using the road for his convenience when it is public property.
Just like that you cannot expect others to change their way of life just to suit your flavour of the month. It is common sense. You cannot demand, people will give it to you when they deem fit, from your actions!
News on the controversial ad over 8TV...

A bit like the Tamil song from a movie in 1979...A little bit country...

Lu langsi Lu mati!

Just finished watching a Malaysian movie (Yeah, not Malay movie) just now. This is one Malaysian movie that I enjoyed after a long time. It was made in the very unusual genre of action comedy. It tells about a Thai assassin who starts terrorising the City of KL. That started the antics and bumbling movements of police and gangsters alike. Unfortunately, we are left wondering why the hitman hits KL in the first place or who hired him. Maybe the producer (David Teo) has plans for a sequel!... The martial arts sequence is quite nicely choreographed. So were the car chase and the comedy involving the 1-Malaysia gangsters which did not fall flat as it usually does in most Malaysian movies. Some of the high rise building stunts, however, could be better. 'Kongsi' is the name of the film. Go, watch it! You would enjoy it better if you appreciate the intricacies of the Kelantanese dialect and the Penang slang as well like I do. Lu Langsi Lu Mati may mean (in colloquial Malay - Bahasa Pasar) you show off, you die!

Forever 27!

Dedicated to Amy Winehouse

Harry Potter and the 3D-dreamy chamber of slumber!

So, in the name of family bonding, we as a family decided to catch the last instalment of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter franchise. Just for the record, I only managed to catch HP1 and HP2 after reading the story books which seem light years ago. As the tickets were selling faster than the flame off Harry's wand, we could only manage to catch the 11pm show. There we were, after a hard day's work and hard earned money, we paid for the tickets, pre-show snacks and fat-laden noisy junk food in the form of crisps and pop corns! Donning the 3d spectacles,the lights dimmed, the cine-ads began and trailers of upcoming movies were screen. Hey, there is Captain America who would able to save the sagging American economy and the country's dwindling credit ratings!
And the HP7 Part 2 started with the three main characters staring at each other in a dark room. That was the last thing that I remember. After that I was transported in and out of slumber-land, from my twilight vision, all I saw was the occasional silhouette of people pointing twigs at each other and sparks emanating from its ends and loud orchestral music. I thought that was the end of the movie but no...
By the time I was finally got off my sleepy head, the 3 main characters (Harry, Hermione and Ron) had aged and were sending their children to Hogwarts. And that was also the end of the movie. None of my family saw my antics in the cinema hall as my seat was far away in Siberia from theirs as we could not get adjoining seats.
And that, my friend, is the story of 'Harry Potter and the 3D-dreamy chamber of slumber'!