Yoga

Muslim Readers look away!
One thing might lead to another and you might just wake up a Hindu Tomorrow!

Ola dear readers, sorry for not writing more, been kinda busy with the band and working etc. Enough with that, has anyone read today's papers? Apparently, our dear country has done itself proud again. In an inspired move, the Islamic Authorithies have now made it "Haram" for a Muslim to practice the art of yoga.

If you have been following the news on this from when they decided to consider it, you will know that it's because apparently, after stretching and what not, you will decide to forget that you are a Muslim and decide to become Hindu. It also says that chanting is illegal in the Muslim religion. Wait a minute, if I read correctly the guy who brought this up is a professor? P.r.o... wait a minute! PROFESSOR?! Oh dear, I wonder what his students think, or probably they now also think the same thing after being (mis)guided by this brilliant Malaysian.

In the nitty gritty somewhere they do state that although not all yoga practices require chanting and deep meditation, one thing will lead to another and the ultimate goal is to be one with God, which is haram in their eyes. Nevertheless, they will ban ALLLLL yoga practices for Muslims. Yes, do not read the previous paragraph again, I did state he was a professor if you went back to check.

Now, I do practice Yoga (Bikram's Hot Yoga) and it's safe to say that all members of their council do not. From an outsider's view it might be easy to assume that once we do yoga, our goal is to reach the ultimate goal and to see God. Oh wait, yea, forget about all the health benefits that we might try to gain for it, it's a cult following that converts everyone to Hindu. Hmm, yes now that I think of it, I do feel a bit Hindu already.

Bull
Shit.

In Bikram's Hot Yoga for instace we don't even do deep meditation, the closest we get to meditation is a sort of part where you lie on your back and just try to clear your mind. But this is to let your body recuperate and reap the benefits of praticing yoga, not to reach God or something. Hot Yoga is supposedly one of the better versions because it works our whole body whilst in 40 degrees constantly. There's nothing like it, you can try their free trial and find out for yourself. While doing it it's almost torture, but afterwards, you feel, peaceful almost, serene. You stretch out all your stress and it helps you sleep. Hmm, wait. I might be mistaken but I don't see any attempt to convert anyone to Hinduism.... strange. In fact I do see alot of Muslims practice this Hot Yoga and some of them are even staff there. Oh well.

"the council chairman Abdul Shukor Husin said practices like chanting and what he called worshipping were inappropriate and they could "destroy the faith of a Muslim".

Why does this nation so often treat it's citizens like babies? Does anyone really think that you are weak enough to be influenced just because you do a certain exercise? Does that not show your faith is weak in the first place? If Islam is so strong, do you really think that just by practicing yoga you will suddenly decide that what you have been studying and believing in for your whole life is not good enough and throw all that away to become a Hindu? Well I think you can answer all that for yourselves, it's like the early ages all over again. Forbidden Fruit.

Then again, this is Malaysia and as we all know too well, Malaysia Boleh!


You can find BBC's take on the story here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7743312.stm

Life is like a box of chocolates,
You never know what you're going to get.

Quantum of Solace

Hello dear readers, finally got down to penning my QoS review after watching it last at 1.30am last Friday. I'm in a rather cranky mood at the moment so excuse me if there are spelling or grammar errors, also I'm using Google's Chrome to blog for the 1st time as my Firefox is acting up, leaving me without a spell-checker.

What is the movie about?

Quantum of Solace starts exactly where Casino Royale ends, and by exactly I'm not exaggerating. The movie literally starts where Casino Royale leaves us, with Bond finding Mr White. The movie goes on into a confusing but weak plot about Bond getting revenge for the love of his life, Vesper (Eva Green), from Casino Royale. Along the way he encounters a few allies from Casino Royale and tries to find out who the "Organisation" exactly is. From there he finds Dominic Greene and the plot once again goes double-layered with Camille's interests. Ultimately it's a over-complex story about revenge for Vesper and also for "M".

Who is in the movie?

Daniel Craig makes a return as a new, hardened and more "real" Bond, lending an air of more strength and yet more vulnerability at the same time to the character.

Olga Kurylenko, of Hitman fame, stars alongside him, playing lead actress, Camille.

Mathieu Amalric plays our villain, Dominic Greene and Judi Dench returns as M. There are also numerous appearance from characters of the first movie such as Mathis and Felix.

Why I found the movie ultimately a let down and draggy.

First of all, despite the fact that I wasn't feeling too well and the movie was at 1.30am, I was actually rather looking forward to watching it and dragged my lazy ass out to go see the movie. Maybe the time and my mood will have affected my review of the movie but I'm pretty certain if I watch it again (which unless I'm strapped down to the seat, I won't) in a cinema, I'll have pretty much the same view.

Now, first things first, Daniel Craig. Is he made out to be our James Bond? After the stellar Pierce Brosnan, I very much doubted if anyone could outdo him as James Bond. And I think the producers felt the same way. While they couldn't beat Pierce Brosnan, they went around him, recruiting no-nonsense Daniel Craig and shaped a new role for him. A new-age James Bond which is more real, more down to earth, much bigger size and very no-nonsense. Don't get me wrong, as Casino Royale proved, Daniel Craig is a very accomplished actor and has proved that he CAN act. Does he portray the Bond role perfectly? In my opinion no and here's why.

James Bond to me has always been this larger than life character, which is what appeals to me.

Even before you watch the movies you know he will come out victorious in the end, with martini in one hand and hot girl in the other. James Bond to me is a secret agent that kills people with no regret, gets out of trouble with his various futuristic gadgets, has a martini and a laugh about it later with a hottie that he seduces. Pierce Brosnan, who is as suave as the character suggests, and fits the description down to a T, was almost born to play Bond. No matter how old he is, he always has that rugged good look to him. Enough about Brosnan though. The new James Bond feels like a watered down Jason Bourne. He has no gadgets, in fact they took out Q, one of the more interesting characters in the movies, as well as Moneypenny. Our new Bond fights his way through everything, earning himself a few scars and bruises along the way. He's direct, rough, and has a very dry sense of humour although seldom showing this in Quantum. Also he's a very vulnerable Bond, is prone to mistakes and also has vengeance on his mind. In short, they've made the character Human. This is why I've found this version of Bond a let down, he simply is not James Bond as James Bond should be.

Down to the actual review of Quantum of Solace. They borrow more from the Bourne series here, mirroring their close-up camera work of the action sequences. While this works in the Bourne series to give us an intense and up-close feel of gritiness, it fails in Quantum. Except for the aeroplane chase scene, all the fight scenes in Quantum feel very confusing and leave you feeling like you wished the camera was zoomed out abit. In the melee fight scenes, I couldn't tell which who was who, frequently only realising when the fight broke and they went into a chase. And then only because when they're running they close-up on their faces. Everything is a blur of flailing limbs or cars in the car chase.

Apart from that, the plot is just a huge mish-mash of build-up that whimpers down to an anti-climax and really doesn't go anywhere. If you haven't watched Quantum, I suggest that you watch Casino Royale one day before going, and you might have a better idea of what is going on. I watched Casino Royale after Quantum and I did get a better understanding of the plot but that also made me realise how I liked Casino Royale much better. Casino Royale gives you a smooth build-up that flows flawlessly, making the movie not seem draggy even if it was much longer. Quantum sort of answers all the questions posed in Casino Royale, but they do it in such a way that you don't really care. Instead of going "Ohhhhhh." youre sorta like "oh....yeah". The flow of the plot is choppy, leaving you sort of asking, what's going on, if you're not paying extreme close attention. The humour that Casino Royale provided us is no longer there, the charm of James Bond is missing. The only gadget he has is his handphone, which he uses like a normal handphone. Going back to the plot, they criss-cross too many petty things, making the plot more complicated than it should be. Bringing in Camille's interests when in actual fact, I couldn't give 2 shits if she got what she wanted.

To wrap it up, Quantum of Solace is an all-out action movie. It does have some well put action scenes and the cool factor is still there. However it tries to be smarter than it actually is, overcomplicating a plot that should have been more straight-forward. During Casino Royale, you are glued to the movie, you want to know what happens next. I found myself checking the time a few times in Quantum of Solace despite it being shorter than Casino Royale. Go, watch it, have a good time, eat some popcorn. Try to enjoy it, because it definitely will not blow you away.

7/10

Keep your friends close,

Keep your enemies closer.

Music for the Night.

Hey this will be the first part in my series of 5 song compilations in tune (no pun intended) with moods. Technically it's my second as I've already posted a Emo one some time ago.

This compilation is a series of songs that you might want to listen to after a long day, relaxing in front of your PC, maybe chatting, having a drink or just spacing out. They're rather downbeat and might tug at your heart, you know for those nights where you feel maybe a little too lonely?

Ah well, enough of me droning on, good music is good music.

Inside is:
1) John Mayer - Wheel
From his Heavier Things album, one of the songs I like most from John. Slow, heavy guitar leads the song which slowly builds. Nice to sing along to as well.

2) Sigur Ros - Ara Batur
From their latest album, this one is simply beautiful. Recorded live (in one take) they have a full choir joining in at the end. This song either puts a smile on your face or a tear in your eye. Beautiful, breathtaking stuff.

3) John Frusciante - Hope
This one is a semi-depressing song by RHCP's guitarist from his Curtains album, just him singing with a guitar. Very barebones which is why you can feel his emotion coming through. Just the opening line, "I feel the hope, running low." Definitely one of my favourite songs.

4) Jose Gonzalez - Deadweight on Velveteen
Lifted from his Veneer album, this one is typical Jose, soft wispy acoustic guitar lines running and him almost whispering the lyrics. Once again, filled with emotion.

5) The Cinematic Orchestra - To Build A Home
From their Ma Fleur album, this one just sounds sad from start to finish. Song starts out slow and grows, having it's up and downs but the whole feel of the song is just that of bittersweetness. Tugs at the heart strings.

To download it, click this link:
http://rapidshare.com/files/160335915/Music_for_the_Night.zip.html

Choose free user, wait for the timer to countdown and follow the instructions from there.

Cheers and enjoy.

P.S. Sorry the file's a little big, the Sigur Ros song is 21mb but it's well worth it.

Time is irrelevant,
it's what you do with it that matters.

Chick of the Week: Jennifer Connelly

Ah, this week I have a special for you guys. This is one I've been meaning to put up for quite awhile but didn't get down to searching for pics because I slightly forgot about her. (I know, put me in jail, NOBODY should forget her!)

Ladies and Gents, chick of this week, is American actress Jennifer Connelly. Not just a beautiful face, she is a very accomplished actress with an Acedamy Award as well as Bafta and Golden Globe awards. Jennifer, who is a vegan, is well respected as an actress with a string of critically acclaimed movies under her belt such as, Requiem for a Dream, which shot her to stardom, Hot Spot, A Beautiful Mind, Blood Diamond and will star alongside Keanu Reeves in The Day the World Stood Still.

The reason I love her is her typical sexpot look, with her sultry pout and extremely beautiful face. She's also not afraid to show off her body and has done so more than once on-screen. Coupled with her voluptuous figure, I present you, Jennifer Connelly.

Everything you would ever need.

Uh oh...

Sultry doesn't even come close to describing this one.

Having sex is like playing bridge;
if you don't have a good partner, you better have a good hand.

Malaysian Drivers.

Hello folks. I'll start with the obligatory apology for not writing more. With that out of the way, I'll get down to the actual post.

For god knows why, today was hell in traffic. A journey which would normally take me 15 mins at most took roughly 40mins. All this in Subang as well. Bumper to bumper madness. Sitting in the jam though, I noticed a lot of things that can only be described as typical Malaysian driver's behaviour.

I'll do this in a list. A list of things I find extremely irritating on our Malaysian roads.

1. Idiots who don't understand the meaning of a line. Every single time there's a slightly long queue at a traffic light, I'm sure you will see this while sitting in line waiting. A small car, usually a Kelisa who thinks he's a bloody smart alec will wriggle his/her way to the emergency lane at the front of the line, hoping to cut in as soon as the light turns green. *Ehm* What makes them think their time is more important than all the other people waiting in line. Idiots.

2. Idiots who seem to think following an ambulance is very smart. As I sat in the jam today, an ambulance came screaming past but was held up at a traffic light, as cars moved to make way for it to go through, there was the usual line of buggers behind in, hoping to jump the queue and take advantage of a person in need of treatment. Not content with that, when the ambulance went through the red light, a string of cars followed it through. I mean, how badly do you need to jump ONE traffic light? I can bet you everthing I have that after doing that they would've a smug look on their face, relishing their infinite smartness. Idiots.

3. Motorcyclist who ride in the middle of the road. I'm sure you've been on the road, usually slightly bigger ones where there's this slow as hell motorcyclist smack in the middle of the road, and you can't really pass it, or when you do try to overtake it, he gives you that disgusted look as if you tried to stab his parents or something. Wait a minute, you're on a thing with 2 wheels, it's called a motorcycle. There's also another thing called a motorcycle lane. I'm sure you can put 2 and 2 together? And then there are those cyclists who weave in and out of traffic, Valentino Rossi wannabes. These are the ones where when you overtake them, they put up their hand in that "What the heck?" gesture. These are also the ones who get into accidents. Risking your own life is one thing, damaging our cars is another. Idiots.

4. Racer boys. Idiots who drive super-souped up cheap cars. Y'know those jacked up Wiras, Kancil's which sound loud, Sagas which spoilers are bigger than the cars? Thinking they own the road or are in a Need For Speed game. Weaving in and out of traffic. Once again these are the idiots who think they are extremely smart. Break down of them are like this:
Chinese: Usually slighty better cars, 350z's etc. Hair usually not the natural colour. Loud techno music.
Malays: One rank up from rempits. Usually local cars, which only the exhaust pipe has been modified.
Indians: Just plain fugly cars with loud booming tamil or techno music.
These are the ones where when you're trying to cut into another lane, they will try their level best not to give up their place, staying as close to the car in front as possible, looking straight, as if on the starting grid of an F1 race. Idiots.

Alright, that's all for this week. Thanx for tuning in. Take care, and drive safely.

Never take life seriously,
Nobody gets out alive anyway.