If you have it, don't flaunt it!

Ever since Mel Brooks used the line “That’s it baby, when you got it, flaunt it! Flaunt it!” in the 1968 not so famous film 'The Producers' and Braniff Airways ad slogan screamed “When you got it – flaunt it.” (1968 to the mid-1970s), that became the mantra of the then new generation (The late baby boomers and early Gen-X).
We are living in an era where showing off and smoasting is an accepted way of life. What is construed as boasting by one may be accepted as self confidence by another.

If you have the assets, then may as well flaunt it, the dream of capitalism being met, an ambition realized, down the drain to moderation and middle path, pride and joy to the clan!

1967 Slogan of the year

The assets here may denote physical attributes or the age old desire of man- materialism. In the feudalistic era, kings were worshipped as demi-gods due to their ability to make dreams of mammoth proportions possible. Builder of Taj Mahal, Ruler of Ayuththya, Pharaohs are some of the figurines that fit this bit. The subjects (illiterate simple minded contended peasants) would just be mesmerized by the awe, worship the dust that he walks upon and sing hymns of praise of their conduct without questioning for a part of the lion's share. Those were the days....
Now, you have a gargantuan majestic epic proportion wedding procession with elephants and the royal regatta or feed a feast of a few hundred thousands mouths, people are bound to talk and query the emergence of such affluence. The masses have awoken. They have and will show their discontent in the ballot paper or even in the playing fields of politicians and members of Scientology sect- the courts.
When you talk about the flaunting of physical assets of the erotic kind, the society, as it matures respects individual expressions and freedom. It is well and fine. In the ground, however, people of stature still condone travesty of this individual spaces. Repeatedly, we have heard of police officers, religious leaders and conservative portion of the society stressing that those who are flaunting it are actually 'asking for it'. 

Immersed in endorphins!

At a time of weakness, I must have signed up to this 30km run organized by the Pacesetters. After coming to my senses, it was then the question of pride to finish the run (not a race as such, unless you are running against your inner demons and naysayers)! This 'Back to Basics' 30km run is mainly a preparatory run for Penang Bridge Full Marathoners, but what the heck, I must have thought, too much of endorphins would not hurt anyone! Amidst bruised knees from a freak fall from a temporary lapse  of coordination and concentration sustained 2 weeks prior to , life on the long lonely run went on...(not Life in the fast lane by Eagles)
The running buddies were either too bruised by injuries or too cowed by the distance to partake.
So, it was just me on the lonely run in the pitch dark Sunday morning @0530h.
The course that was chosen is the familiar running hills of Bkt Tunku, the last bastion of green lung in the heart of KL. As those familiar with this route may vouch, it is not an easy route but an undulating one with ascents and descents! The weather today was pleasant at 22C if the monitor on the one of the roads is correct. (I doubt it as during our second loop run, it was still showing 22C when the sun was well up!)
From Padang Merbuk, the back roads along Jalan Berjasa brought us to Samy Vellu's ex-office and all the way to road parallel to Lebuhraya Mahameru. The other side of the road was the real killer stretch with acute inclinations. After scaling all these obstacles, we reached the now all too familiar Jln Duta stadium area. With the help of dedicated traffic policemen and compassionate drivers, getting over to State Mosque area was a breeze. From the mosque, it one circle around the Publika and back to Mosque. It was already around 14.5km by then. We headed back to near starting point via our usual Sunday morning route and the whole process was repeated- 29.82km.

Back to Basics: Pre-historic man used their limbs for

everything including bringing themselves from Point A

to Point B! [A scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey]

Besides, immersing myself in endorphins, I was basking in glory as I managed to slice off a few minutes of my self imposed desire to complete the run in 3h30m. I completed the run in 3h27m45s according to my Garmin610.

Cold and dark...

Forbrydelsen (The Crime, Danish; 2007) Season 1

Just got suckered into another mini series. This time it the original make of 'The Killing' in Danish. The Danish language edition of the American counterpart is supposed to be more engrossing with more human element. It is a cold and dark story befitting the country it is shot in.
Three main characters/couples are mainstay of the show.
Sarah Lund is drawn into a case of missing teenager, Nanna Larsen, on the day she is supposed to do her last police duty as she is leaving her job to settle in Stockholm. She is so sucked into the case that she lets her family leave without her. On the side, there are the parents of the missing teenage girl who get the bad news of her death at the end of episode one. Then there is Troels Hartmann, the local candidate for Mayor in whose car the murdered girl was found submerged in the lake.
The story drags on to 20 hours (20 episodes) before the mystery of the murder unfolds.
It proceeds slowly exploring the trauma that the parents of teenagers go through, questioning their failure as parents, questioning the plan of God. The police, albeit their officers' dedication, only proceed slowly. This film reveals the bits and piece of evidence that they pick up in crumbs to tie the case together.
On the political front, there is definitely something brewing... Let us see how it ends!
It is interesting to note how a typical Nordic society have absorbed Arabs and Pakistanis into their society. Of course, the immigrant society have also absorbed the language. (unlike ....)

After 8 episodes.....
Sarah Lund keeps postponing her trip off to Sweden again and again as she literally becomes obsessed with case. At one point, she practically stopped the pilot before lift off when she thought she had bode farewell to her job, just because she decided to complete her investigation.
The parents of the victim are still reeling over their loss. Mrs Larsen calls for blood. The father, on the other hand, practices restraint with his prior brush with the law but looks like he may take the law into his own hands.
One of Nanna's teachers, Rama, is somehow seem to be the last person to have seen her alive and is initially high on the suspect list. Police investigation actually reveals that he may actually be trying to save an immigrant Moslem girl from a forced marriage.
The Mayor prospect politician who advocates role models in immigrant population to uplift living conditions in the community, had used Rama as one one of his icons. As the investigation initially implicated Rama as a possible murderer, pressure mounts on Troels to drop Rama. Standing on the dictum that one is innocent until proved guilty, he declines. This brings to a situation of a vote of no confidence against me in the party and possibility of dropping of him as the candidate for Mayor of Copenhagen.
And the story drags on...

Everything is wind*

There are guys who like to bring it upon themselves to make sure that people around them are aware of their affluence by including phrases like 'When I was in Frankfurt..." or 'during my umrah' to subtly announcing his 'holier than thou' devotion to his new found faith. I remember a guy who was boasting about his multi million ringgit project just not to have enough money to pay his minuscule clinic bill!
In short there are many around us who are pure show offs (and some empty vessels with a lot of noise).
There is this small built guy with a rather strange head gear which looks like a cross between a turban and a beanie with an ever willing toothy smile and a piercing stare whom I had the privilege of meeting through my line of work.
He appeared to me to be timid, soft spoken and courteous. One day, he presented to me a CD and asked me to have a listen. It turned out to be his debut instrumental composition album, a 7 track musical extravaganza with he as the composer whilst playing the melodious and hypnotic Indian flute of Bansuri. Even though I am neither a connoisseur of music nor play any musical instrument, surely I am qualified to say when the music is simply spectacular and this is one of it.
Many musical  instruments are included in this production, bansuri being the main attraction. He is trying to infuse styles of various parts of the world here, Java being the highlight and my favourite track. It is suitable for relaxation and would be an ideal backdrop for businesses that promote Bali spa! It starts and ends with an scenario of a jungle with chirping birds and splashing water. It later goes on to introduce flute music and a kind of gamelan music. Nice stuff. The rest of the pieces have heavy Indian influence.
I just found out the track is not out in the market yet and he is still looking for a VIP to do the necessary stuff. In the meantime, he was hand picked to be our ambassador to perform for Prince William's state visit to Malaysia.
He was also seen on TV Malaysia playing flute for another artiste (see below).
Anyway, Sesatre, Happy Fatherhood! May your newborn and her crying set new ragas and talas to your imagination and your next compositions.
*'Everything is wind' is his motto on his calling card. Probably quite apt for his line of profession, playing wind instruments. Hope for his professional life ahead to be smooth sailing and not like 'a candle in the wind'!

Alvivi forever and ever?

In the limelight but for how long?

By now we are all too familiar with the now infamous blog 'Sumptuous Eriotica' with the authors' (s)exploits and public display of their supposedly private expression of their casual love. And the hysteria that had followed suit, by the main stream newspapers who would otherwise have to continue churning out oft nauseating news of praise of the ruling party and bashing of the opposition.
The issue, stems from the fact that it is just a difference of importance placed by two different generations. The older generation lived a life trying to pacify the needs of the society whilst sometimes sacrificing personal needs or desires. The newer generation on the other hand live for themselves, to satisfy their needs and care a damn of others. They can all go to hell for all they care. It is already a challenge trying keep pace with others and establishing themselves in this competitive world. Compromising for others is not on their agenda right now. The social norm has changed. The differences between the Eastern and Western accepted social mores have become blurrier as we speak. What was taboo a generation ago in the Eastern culture is now embraced wholeheartedly by the generation next.
Gone are the days where the youngsters are seen and not heard. Their voice are heard loud and clear the world over.
This friction between generations (a.k.a. generation gap) started with the Elvis the Pelvis when he started his hip gyrating rock and roll numbers. Expression of the youth have never been the same...

FG says... It all started in Silicon Valley when everything everything started becoming informal; you don't have to dress up to go to work, you can dress down; you don't have to work fixed hours, you work flexi hours; you don't need hierarchy and cubicle in workplace, you practice open concept; this type of lackadaisical attitude slowly permeated into all facets of daily life; rules and regulations are made to be broken....

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':

That time of the year..

It is that time of the year again! No, not the time of Yuletide, snow and cheesy movies showing love, humanity and kindness. It is that time of the year where nobody bothers switching off lights after leaving a room, sleeping double wrapped up in blanket when air conditioned rooms are intentionally set at 16 degrees C! This sheer wastage of power and recklessly leaving carbon foot print all over the place will go on all the way through Diwali, Christmas, New Year and Lunar New Year until the last Saturday of the month of March, on Earth Day. It is at this time that perfectly sane people will call friends to their homes for birthday parties just to sit in semi darkness with only the brightness of wax filled lit tea cups for light. For 1 whole long hour, the young generation will insists on doing usual chores, besides littering, exhaling CO2, cruising in their petrol powered oil guzzling automobiles and scrolling on their nickel battery powered smart phones and other digital devices.
Commercially minded radio stations and other media will join the bandwagon and trumpet the countdown to the auspicious hour. Suddenly the need to conserve hits high on their agenda.
After that one 'long' hour, it is business as usual with the usual comfort and hustle and bustle of daily living.....