Is Connor Mead the embodiment of a real photographer? Ghosts of Girlfriend Past review

I know a few famous photographer in Malaysia, a country which surprisingly has a few creative people well known around the world. Zang Toi of New York. Jimmy Choo of London. And a few other. Okay, those a fashion icon but we do have a few photographers who are in demand the world over although many in Malaysia may not know them by name. Like my famous photographer name KidChan who is making a name for himself around the world. Go to his blog KidChan.com to see who is this emerging talent who is sought from Australia to Europe.

This post is actually about the concept of photographer being womanisers and bed all those models that they photograph. Meeting and knowing a guy like Kid Chan and a few bloggers who are good in what they do, which is to photograph people, I beg to differ with this new movie Ghosts of Girlfriend Past, which has Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner as the main characters. I got to see it for free last 2 Thursday thanks to Nuffnang and here is my two sen worth of the movie.

Two days before the screening of Ghosts of Girlfriend Past, I also went to watch The Prosposal staring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynold. I have to say I enjoyed the former more. Ghosts of Girlfriend Past surprisingly have more enjoyable moments and even some lessons than the Proposal which does not give the characters room to develop. In GOGP, the characters are interesting like Michael Douglas being a dead uncle who womanise his way through life then became the one who actually gave lessons to Connor Mead (McConaughey) on why being a womaniser is actually bad for you. Of course, the storyline came from Dicken's Ghosts of Christmas Past which was about Scrouge. The premise of this movie is about a Scrouge of love. 

Both movies tried to dispense lessons but only one really succeed. If you have to choose, go watch Ghosts of Girlfriend Past and bring along that selfish friend of yours. Especially if he is a photographer.

 

 

Lessons from being a product tester (P1 Wimax Wiggy)

I returned my tester wimax (fast broadband) thingy last Wednesday after holding on to it for 3 months (or more) and that was the finish of my first product testing in my life. I never got another try with any other product (yet!) and may not even be asked to test any other product, ever. Heck, this company who gave me this product had asked others to test some other product and I was not even one of the testers.  Here is the company's website for you to see what it was I was testing - P1 Wimax.

 

The picture of their headquarters with the name of their parent's company (Greenpacket)

I learned a few lessons from this product testing which I might use if ever I am asked again to do the same :

1) Do ask what they from you. I mean if they have spend the time to ask you to test something and give you something for free, at least know what they want and that require some effort on your part;

2) Do their survey when they asked you to;

3) Keep in touch with them either by email or telephone;

4) Return back the product in one piece;

5) Be nice to them as they may give you another chance to do another product testing;

6) You can always keep in touch with them via their emails, websites, twitter or whatever means, even after you gave away the product you tested;

7) Be appreciative that you have been given a chance to be a tester especially if it is a new thing in the market. At least you get it tp be one of the first to try it out;

8) Be REALLY honest to them about the product. I mean, although it may seem harsh, they do give it to someone as they wanted to know what is the market's reaction to the product. What I love about them was the honesty of their staff including the CEO who said to us "Whack us!" in reference to any shortcomings;

I think there are other seasoned product tester out there and I actually got to do it this one time thanks to an invitation by a blogger friend. Another benefit of being a blogger.

Bookbinders Design : Quality notebooks and such

I have this one friend from my law school whom I considered to be the benchmark for me when comparing my grasp of English with the world. She is half Irish and has even had the difficulty of speaking Malay in her early year of schooling. From her own story (which she might not even remember), one of the word that she learnt of Malay was "pokok", meaning "tree". She is the only person I couldn't beat in our compulsary English class when we were in law school. I considered that to be the best that I can attained, then, as I was never educated in a proper English medium school.

Anyway, when we graduated, she did her chambering and then she practice for just a few years before going off-tangent from the legal fraternity and joined a radio station. It was not even as a radio announcer. It was as a web content editor. Very much not what she studied in law school. Then she decided she needed a new challenge. What she did was she bought a franchise. She opened up the franchise in an upscale neighbourhood and she marketed it through the newly known Facebook. It was actually a success.

She went through up and down. Opened up a few branches. Another stand alone. One within a well-know superstore. Closed the stand alone. Had some dispute with the mall where it is located. Moved the first branch within the same mall but at a different location. Maintain the old clientele. Gain new ones. Trademark the brand, through my office (Yes, We Do Intellectual Property!!!! Hint! Hint!). She is still there after 3 (was it 4) years. And I think that itself is an achievement.

The shop is called Bookbinder Design. And it does not bind books. It originated from Sweden and they actually do their binding of books designed by a few craftsman by hand. Their main site is Bookbinders Design and here is their Facebook link for the Malaysian store. Here are some pictures to give you an idea what they have in store :

 

Words are not sold there

 

Shelves of empty binded books for you to do that

 

All sort of colours

 

Even for those lovely pictures

 

These can be a photo album or to store CDs

 

They even give ideas what to do with their products

 

My purchase the day I went there

I'll Sleep When I'm Dead

I mean, seriously. I was always a night owl once. I called people at 3am just to wake them up and talk to me. Listening to the radio and knowing all the popular radio show (in Malaysia then there was only the government radio with songs which actually lulled you to sleep). I will be looking for food all over town before I went to bed. I was always good for an all-nighter during exams. I was always those who studied only when the exams were just going to happen in 2 weeks time. 

Heck, there was this one year in university, the gang went out to the disco and I was the only one with an exam the next day, I even brought my exam notes to the dance floor. That was how bad I was not wanting to be left out in midnight activities. I even practice this last year and this year when I was taking my post graduate Masters degree (Still am but just need to finish a report on the relevant between my industry and my degree's industry) Bad huh? Hey, maybe that is my gift. Dumb enough to know my capability.

Anyway, I think I have kind of lost that touch. Being (near) 35 maybe have to be one of the reason. I am also afraid that it has to do with the hereditary disease of diabetic which my father has. I hope not as I do test my blood every other day. Diabetic can cause you to be diet easily you know. I have stop taking sugar with any drinks (even my favourite coffee) since I was 30. That is how much I am afraid of this disease. 

However, necessity is the mother of sleeplessness. Don't get me wrong. I am not one of those who lose sleep over anything. One night, I was accosted by my senior in my boarding school because of something I done, I slept like a baby after that ordeal, that the seniors did me once over just to make sure I understand the message. We have a very 'lively' boarding school to say the least (Dead Poet Society is so not us). So, I have decided, I must challenge myself with new challenges again. I need to have that drive. What I know is, as you grow older, you need sleep less. Not more.

Like Bon Jovi said in their song once "I'll sleep when I'm dead"

I missed my blog anniversary, but...(final part)

I had actually wanted to wrap up with my initial intention of listing out all the milestones my blogs had achieved ever since it is in existence. I had just decided to scrap the idea as it will be too much of a hard work and it will reneged back on my sentence which says I am not too much into celebration. If I am willing to do hard work by compiling, looking at the dates, going back to all that I have accomplished, don't all that show how much I want people to know what I have accomplished. Here is Part 1 and Part 2, if you are curious enough.

What I have gained from blogging is actually a borderline between a cure and an illness. Confused? I mean with a blog or blogs, you can help yourself or plunge yourself deeper into whatever disease that you have contracted. What disease you ask? Ask yourself why do you write? A blog is a wonderful tool to stoke egos. You published something without people assessing on your capabilities. You just give in to your own belief that you can write and wallah! you are a blogger. 

Even if what you write may not be good or even worse, you cannot actually write. At all. So, how do you actually know that you have the ability to write comprehensible articles or at least things that people want to read? As I have listed in Part 1 and Part 2, you use aggregators and do rituals to ensure people come by to your blog. They may just stay awhile but without them you may not even have a blog to begin with. Okay, not all people start a blog to announce to the world what they have in mind. Wasn't a blog in its early years supposed to be a private thing? Like a diary? Then some enterprising soul turn it into something else.

Anyway, like all published papers, a blog can be accredited by its peers too. I mean, to gain credibility as a scientist of whatever discipline, you publish papers or present it in seminars and then let people comment on that paper. Isn't that what has happened to the blog culture now. I am not a blog anthropologist (did I spell that right?) unlike some but I believe, when you publish a post then some of your peers commented saying, Yes, I actually believe what you say is true or No, what you say is not what is the reality and such, isn't that a form of accreditation?

I believe it is so, if you ask me...

p/s - again, I have run off tangent in my attempt to celebrate my one year anniversary as a blogger. I better stop and resume normal warble, to at least to sound coherent again...

A prayer for Yasmin Ahmad

As my title say, I just want to stop the clock and just say a prayer for Malaysia national icon who were more appreciated in some country than Malaysia itself. She deserved more than what she ever got here. Which may not even change even though she is no more. 

As too many postings have been done on her accomplishments, I just linked them here, if you are interested to know who is this giant among us :-

1) My earlier post, 3 days ago -

How Yasmin Ahmad became the top Trending Topic on Twitter;

2) By a news reporter - Nuraina A Samad 

- An update - An Update at 7pm on Saturday

- The death  - A confirmation in early Sunday morning (12:29am) 

3) By a blogger reporter - Kickdefella 

- Updates - First one (Thursday) and Second one (Saturday)

- Her death - A tribute after midnight Saturday 

4) By another blogger reporter - Niki Cheong - Personal experience with her 

5) By a blogger turn politician - Jeff Ooi - Although not a Muslim, he says it best 

6) By a financial reporter blogger - Salvatore Dali - Elevating her to a new status

7) By a prolific Malay blogger - Kujie - In Malay it is still poignant

8) By A Malaysian Abroad

9) By Kue

10) by My Adha

11) 2 post by my Chinese friend
- Rants of Orang Terbang 1
- Rants of Orang Terbang 2 

Most of the headlines are given by me and these are just blogs that I follow. Just imagine how she had affected our life here in Malaysia. Her blog is left with a note on an unfinish movie she is making commissioned by another country. The link to her blog The Storyteller, Part 2 where the last post is a song she wished to use in that latest movie.

For me, I am praying for her since the day she collapsed. As a Muslims, there is a belief that when you die on a Friday (the evening she collapsed it was Thursday but for Muslims, our day starts at 7pm, so it was already Friday then) you get a fastrack ticket to heaven. 

Al-fatihah.

I missed my blog anniversary, but... (Part 2)

Continue from yesterday's post

After all those sites that I have listed before, I still has a few other internet websites which I visit every single day to get more traffics. Both involve a bit of work as you have to visit other blogs and websites after you log-in into them to gain points, traffics and even some money. It takes a lot of time and hard work but they are fun. Okay, if you are not really in the mood, it is not fun but it can be, if you take the time. You get to read blogs and in one of the website, you can play games too. These sites are :

Blogexplosion : A website where you list your blog, play games like Blog Tycoon (where you can make lots of points), Blog Rocket and Battle of the Blog. I visit this site all day long when my game has reached its end. If you don't want to play any game, you can just surf and gain points out of it. And surprisingly, playing these games actually bring traffics which has to stay at your blog for a certain time (30 seconds). Click the referral button below to experience it :

Adgitize : I usually visit this site in the afternoon as the time change to 12am wherever this site is parked in the Worlwide Web. Which I can't put a banner here as Nuffnang consider them as a rival advertiser and I will be penalised by them. However, therough them, I actually makes money for visiting other blogs. But, you have to spend it first. Here is the breakdown. For an advertisement for one month will cost you $14-00. For that investment, if you visit 50 blogs per day for a whole month, you will gain $18-00 at least. That is if you have a blog post every day, like me as you get points for your blog postings. This is my priority nowadays for my other blog, As Good As It Gets;

EasyHits4U : This site changed its counts at 3pm my time which connotes 12pm at wherever this site is park (I think). A site which is dominated by websites and only a few blogs. It also can you a little money and traffic but you must also work for it. They divide it into sections of 25 then if you reach 100, it becomes section of 50 then so on. Just joined it recently and not sure of its effectiveness. However, I see a lot of paid ads there so there must be something to it;

Entrecard : Or better known as the bloggers business card. They are those 125 x 125 mm widget you see just beside my blogs which has the letter 'E' below it. It is embroiled in controversy for the past 2, 3 months but is very, very effective in bringing traffics to your site. And it is one of the website where you have to work for it to get visitors. You have to visit 300 blogs per day to be really relevant but if you partner it with your Adgitize dropping (the term use for visiting blogs by clicking on the widget), you can make it easier. I drop my cards after my office hour and this will take me nearly 2 to 3 hours. This is actually one of the problem I have with my wife as I will be rushing to drop cards while we are planning something.

All these are websites I use to bring in traffic as I don't believe in getting traffic from real readere, yet. It has been one year and I still think without some work, I will only be generating minimal traffic. However, tomorrow, I will list out what other things and milestones which I have experience since I started blogging 1 year ago.

And without it, I will not be gaining so much. Like friends, better writing skills, better train of thoughts, opportunity for events and even clients for my business.

to be continued...

I missed my blog anniversary but...

...here are the list of milestones of my blogs according from what I can gather. I have seen the trends among bloggers to do competitions and such when their anniversary arrived but I am not too much into celebration and being quite busy this last few days, I have neglected most of my rituals when it comes to blogging. Oh, before I list the milestones, let me just do that. Give a glimpse of what I do everyday with regards to my blogs. 

1) In my early days, I usually write my posts anywhere I can. I used my Blackberry, my PC, my laptop and then my netbook. But, nowadays, I write my blogs when I have free time at my office or late at night. I try writing a few posts at one sittings but that rarely happens. So, I do really write my post fresh everyday;

2) I still timestamp my blog post at specific time although I may post it to the internet at another time. My timestamp will always be 12 midnight for this blog and 7am on my other blog;

3) I will then proceed with aggregating my blogs using a few aggregators. I usually do this before I go to work at 9am or later. I will visit these sites and ping my blog, which I hope do brings me traffic :

Pingler : a site which helps you ping other sites that you have updated your blog. It can only be done once everyday;

Project Petaling Street : a local Malaysian aggregator which give you new blog posts everyday;

Negaraku : another local Malaysian aggregator which is nearly the same as Petaling Street;

Blogger United : which is a blog community for all, even those outside of Malaysia. You only need to log-in and your current post will be seen by all. And they have one of the coolest referral widget in town too;

Nuffnang innit : which is a kind of an exclusive community for bloggers who shows advertisement exclusively  by a company called Nuffnang, a Malaysian internet advertising company for blogs based in Malaysia, Singapore, Phillipines and Australia. If you are based outside of these countries, you will only see a small banner stating Nuffnang (which is a Jafaikan word for "Real Good/Cool" courtesy of Sacha Baron Cohen. Read more in their blogs). Usually I post my posting for that day a bit later which is 2pm and above as the community consist of college students who wakes up late or has classes early in the morning.

For all the links above, you can click the links to go to their sites.

I think this post is getting longer than what I have intended and to get more mileage from this topic, I am dividing this post into a few posts.

Stay tune tomorrow.

How Yasmin Ahmad became the top Trending Topic in Twitter

I have to start with apologies first. 

One is for it being on one's misfortune to suffer a stroke before it happened. 

The second is that I was one of the people participating in the exercise and may have (but I checked, I didn't) retweet the news about something far worse than a stroke attack.

And lastly, for not having a screen shot of it.

Here how I watch a bit of Malaysia history on the web, unfolded. I was actually going to switch off my PC at 5pm this afternoon when I look at what is on Twitter at that moment. I saw one of those whom I followed saying something like "Please tell me it is not true about Yasmin Ahmad". Then I found one tweet saying she was dead. That was what kept me in my seat. I tweeted a few others asking whether it was true (the news about Rick Astley and others being dead did helped in asking first before retweeting) and then the news came like a torrent.

Before we go further, let me introduced those who is not in the know who is this lady all Malaysian should know. Yasmin Ahmad is a national icon. Consider her as the uber indie film director who bridged the great divide that Malaysia harbour under our toleration of our fellow Malaysian. Her breakthrough film was about a Malay girl falling for a Chinese guy. Simple and poignant. Then she came out with a few other movies in which there was those which was not shown in cinema here. Consider her as our Malaysian Zhang Yimou in his earlier years when he was not allowed to show some of his movies in China, then. She also has her muse, like Yimou's GongLi,  in Sharifah Amani, an unassuming girl who is now a star in her own right.

Anyway, you can read more of her in this blog A Malaysian Abroad by a blogger friend, among others. As for Yasmin herself, her blog can be found here. I met her a few times these last months and even talked to her. I really hope she will recover. Her is a picture of her I managed to take at TedxKL :

Back to the Twitter. Her news came quick and fast. I think within 10 minutes she became the 4th or 5th Trending Topics. Then in half an hour she was the top Trending Topics. That was when I saw a few people asking who is she? I think someone posted her YouTube link and her blog. I retweet that post. I think it last just a few minutes (or maybe hours) but I wouldn't know as I was in some free movie screening.

However, I think it was great to see people from Malaysia (mostly) came together to send positive vibes to her. I also think that the timing of the tweet played a part too as the people who are most on Twitter (the Americas) were mostly going to sleep then. When they do, "Goodnight" always becomes a TT.

I was going to do a piece on Twitter but decided to delay it and now I consider this an opening post for my Twitter post. I will be doing a proper one later. And if you still have not a Twitter account (like those news agencies in Malaysia which do not realised how people can spread unclarified news fast, especially when the event or tragedy was at your premises) then follow me (or not) at Twitter.com/kruel74.

And please pray for Yasmin Ahmad. She is still needed here and hope she will recover soon...

Do not go to District 9, unless you are an alien

This has better be good. Yet another alien invasion movie but just look at that name hanging between earth and that spacecraft. Peter Jackson. The maestro who gave us Lord of the Rings and the new King Kong. Okay, he is just a producer for this one but hey, if he endorsed it, maybe this video game short film turned movie can be something, right? Let us just hope so.

There are a lot of movies out there which languished in obscurity without really making an impact on the movie scene. With Peter Jackson producing it, I hope he flexed his administrative muscle, which is what a producer supposed to do, and do a credible job on it. In short, there is a lot of hope attached to this film. 

And there is also the hope I can watch it earlier than others in Malaysia as I hope this blog post will get noticed by Nuffnang which is holding a contest giving out tickets for the premiere screening of this movie. If not, if the review is bad, I may not even watch it. Which I hope is not the case for a film endorsed by Peter Jackson.

Here is what has been posted in their official website :

Thirty years ago, aliens made first contact with Earth. 

Humans waited for the hostile attack, or the giant advances in technology. Neither came. Instead, the aliens were refugees, the last survivors of their home world. The creatures were set up in a makeshift home in South Africa’s District 9 as the world’s nations argued over what to do with them. 

Now, patience over the alien situation has run out. Control over the aliens has been contracted out to Multi-National United (MNU), a private company uninterested in the aliens’ welfare – they will receive tremendous profits if they can make the aliens’ awesome weaponry work. So far, they have failed; activation of the weaponry requires alien DNA.

The tension between the aliens and the humans comes to a head when an MNU field operative, Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley), contracts a mysterious virus that begins changing his DNA. Wikus quickly becomes the most hunted man in the world, as well as the most valuable – he is the key to unlocking the secrets of alien technology. Ostracized and friendless, there is only one place left for him to hide: 

District 9

I wrote a book and now someone wants to publish it!!!

I have written a book a year ago after I went to this workshop 'On how to write a bestseller in 88 days'. Actually one of my earliest blog entry in this blog is about me going to that workshop. You can access it here (I just realised I published my first post in June last year and that means I have reached my blog anniversary but didn't celebrate it). I had a few books in my mind but was not sure about people's reception of it. Especially with Malaysian being unable to accept Malaysian writers. How wrong was I. 

When I went to the workshop, the company who held the event is also a publisher, albeit a new one. The owner, writer and presenter that day, by the name of Azizi Ali, is a very prominent pilot cum self help writer cum motivator cum business owner cum financial planner cum TV host. He dabbles in a lot of things but is known more for his financial acumen for layman. He has books which was written for layman complete with jokes and easy presentation.

I actually took his way of writing and apply it to writing a book which explain law. As the current 'hot' topic or should I say a topic which never go out of style, is about housing, I wrote a book on what a purchaser of a house should expect when they are dealing with a lawyer. It was specific to Malaysia. It was specific when you buy a property from a developer, meaning a first hand buy. It was the easiest to tackle and explain. I wrote it in a question and answer style, expecting the questions from the purchasers. My firm have dealt with so many purchasers for how many years of our existence that I have heard all sorts of questions.

I was actually also sceptical about my ability to write. I started to write immediately after that seminar and I was surprised by my ability to frame, to write a few chapter and even did the whole introduction/preface. I managed to write one full chapter, prepare the questions for other chapters, then tragedy struck. I discovered blogging. If you see the topics I wrote in this blog before, I think I did I mentioned one of the fun of blogging is the ability to publish and edit (sometimes) your own work. You are the one who controls everything. As I got distracted by the blogs I have and all the perks attached to being a blogger, I put my book on the backburner. 

Then, I got an idea of trying to ask the publisher, which was just 2 weeks ago, whether they are willing to publish just a part of the book. As I have written the first chapter, I asked them whether it would be enough. They asked how many pages were the first chapter and today after looking at it, they agree to publish it. And the best part, that owner who owns the publishing house, whom I admire but wouldn't admit to his face, has been asking for my manuscript since he heard of my idea. 

To tell you the truth, without his endorsement, I may not even have written one word on the topic. And I will reveal properly what I have written, gradually.

p/s - I actually found an entry on the outline of my book here

If you are a boring speaker, start with a joke

I have been attending talks for the past 2 to 3 years after acknowledging that there is a need for anyone who works in any industry to always have a continuing education plan in order for them to be relevant in the industry. The talks thatI attended ranged from those where there are more than one people on stage, better known as forums to the one dominated by one person. 

It can be a talk by academicians, industry expert, ex-Prime Minister, ex-President of USA, Governor of Cental Banks, motivational speakers and various other people. Some have the eloquency needed for such occassion and some are just plain boring. Some knows how to grip an audience (which was usually politician) and some made sure you are asleep within minutes. Not all are born speakers. And this is the fallacy.

These non-eloquent speaker are sometimes are the one who has knowledge to pass to you. They are sometimes the only person who ever did something or has done research on something or have answers to a few other things.

I think, the best way to start off a talk is by cracking a joke. And please practice it. Especially if you are not good at it. I have this one CEO of a new telecommunication industry who is a doctor by profession telling a joke which fall so flat that people actually sniggered at the the back. It was that bad.

Jokes can help break the ice but it must be tailored to the occassion. All those Will Farrell, Ben Stiller and all those comedian's movies showing them doing public speaking and making a fool of themselves? All those are true in reality too. If you do not take it seriously that some of us are born not to speak as eloquent as Donald Trump. 

Crack a joke but be good at it.

What journalism is all about

"Who did what to whom, where, why, when and how"

The maxim of the journalist, so I was told by a former journalist and now a lawyer, Stephen Tan Ban Cheng, who was a senior journalist not just in Malaysia but also in New Zealand. He then became a lawyer and he writes constantly in the Bar Council website and wrote letters to the newspaper to give his point of views on certain matters. He does not believe in being online (except those articles and letters published elsewhere) as he had a few brush with the law when he was a journalist.

He was one of the speakers in the eLawyer-Exabytes Penang Bloggers and Law Forum 2009 which was a few weeks ago. As the forum was in Penang, he was the natural selection as one of the speaker for the forum and I think he was the perfect one for the role. Especially when he was asked to talk about journalism and defamation. He did with stories that he had experienced when he was a journalist and laced them with the law that he has learned as he became a lawyer. Most of the participants did find him effective as the stories and experience that he gave out was relevant to the current issue.

As for me, delving into the mind of a journalist who has been there and seen everything, is the best thing that I like about his talk. I know a lot of journalist, who is always chasing bylines and deadlines and whatever lines there are to be chase around. Meeting someone who understand how journalism and law works together. He is jaded and has experience the pain of trying to stand up to the idealism of youth, of trying to stand up for what one thinks are right and even willing to be jailed or presecuted for what they believe in.

His advice? Follow that maxim in which all journalist should stand by and then make sure the law is executed by the one who knows how. If you do it accordingly, you can live to tell another day all those that will change the world. Observe, report and then get to the next news.

Don't try to change the world all at once.

The man on the moon

'If you believe, there is a man on the moon", so said the lyric from the song Man on the Moon by REM, which has nothing to do at all with the lunar landing. For me, it was an apt song to be played on the radio the 40th celebration of the Lunar Landing on 20th of July but alas, R.E.M is a half-dead band, with Michael Stipes voice nowhere to be heard. For now. Hope they make a comeback before what happened to Michael Jackson happens to anyone on band. Teach the college band on air nowadays what it meant to be a band adored by all the college's kids.

Anyway, this Monday 20th of July 2009, marks the 40th anniversary of the day the immortal words "One small step for man, one giant step for mankind" was uttered by Neil Armstrong. I was at a small event held by Omega, the watchmaker which commemorate the launch of the lunar landing (so, that word may have been uttered a few days after) on Thursday. 

The wristwatch that they make for the commemoration is being sold for RM290,000-00 (USD80,000-00) and Malaysia got one for any interested buyer. In the whole world, there are only less than 100 pieces. The wristwatch comes with small gold bar and get this, the box all these things contained, is worth RM10,000-00 (USD3,000-00). It is made from platinum and has some gold in its face.

Hey, it is to commemorate a very momentous time in the history of men, right? So, paying good money for such privilege is one of the best way to spend it right? Maybe you can see the man on the moon if you look hard enough.

Here is some pictures :

 

  

 

Don't Worry, Be Happy

A song by Bobby McDerrin which won him Grammys in the 1980s but the best advice any business person should always carry in his heart. Ever heard of it? Where he whistle and sang about how his life is taking turn for the worse including being litigate by his landlord and the chorus says 

Don't Worry, Be Happy.

My question of the day, Can You?

Actually, for me, trying to attain this type of peaceful feeling in whatever situation I am in, however bad things have become is one of my personal goal and why I go to work. Weird huh? Working to attain something that you can get if you just go back to the real way people should live. To feed themselves and their families. That is it.

Why life need to be complicated with so many things to worry about is beyond answering? I think no one can be blame or find who started it all. Modern life means not seeing all that what we call waste or having to deal with it. We tend to hide all this and is willing to pay for it.

So, as much as we can live a life of not worrying and always being happy, we can't deny the fact that with the world as it is, there is no such things. Unless we are one of those who cannot think anymore.

 

 

This is what no worries mean...

What in the world is a Google pin (and Malaysia has a few)

It was late Wednesday night when my new celebrity friend, Kid Chan, sent me a twitter message and an sms, which I didn't read until Thursday morning, if I wanted to come and see him get a pin from Google. I actually couldn't undersatnd his note but did not ask for clarification. He shot off a few name like Yasmin Yusuf and Amber Chia which I was not (really) interested as going to an event with him was already exciting. So, at 8.30am I said yes, without knowing when (the where was in the message). Kid answered my tweet telling me it was at Bangsar Shopping Centre, a neighbourhood mall in an upscale area of Kuala Lumpur and it was to be at 10.30am. 2 hours away. I checked my schedule and my office and as I was free, I said yes. And off I went.

 

The place

I arrived there, marvelled at the new wing which was just opened and I went looking for the event. I couldn't find it and as I was late, I walked up nearly the whole BSC until I find the group of people at the Dome, the first restaurant within the mall. They were already out to this big black plaque and is shape like a pin but different. Kidchan was hugging it while the other celebrities were holding these cardboard printout of a colourful kind of the pin. Then I saw a few people wearing Google t-shirts and then these people are swarmed by media with cameras. Then I understood. Let me show you the plaque :

The plaque

You still don't get it? If you ever use Google Map, if you mark a place, say, a favourite hangout, there will be a pin which will mark that place. Like a map on the wall where you place a pin on it. So, Google, which has only one employee in Malaysia (which is another post altogether about how I met that 1 employee, and in this event he was not there as this was done by Google Singapore), had decided to include Malaysia as a place where these pins will be automatically there if you uses google.com.my which has a map of Malaysia. Use this link to understand it better. You can find favourite places of these few celebrities under google.com.my/favouritesplaces in which these are the places where these Malaysian celebrities hangs out. Click the link to see it.

 

Yasmin Yusuf being interviewed

You can see just a bit of Amber Chia at the back and KidChan being interviewed

These celebs are given a pin which tell people the places that they usually hangs out like the place where the media launch took place, Bangsar Shopping Centre. So, this is way cooler than all the other things these celebrities get. You can add a pin of your business which I tried, and failed (which I hope to rectify), but will be verified by Google. 

And here is the picture of my friend, KidChan with his pin which is nearly the same size as him. How many people can say they have a pin in Google (which I bet Google gives to nearly all the countries in the world, in which they presumed as important). Like the tweet that KidChan (here is his website/blog) sent out after the ceremony : Malaysia has arrived!!!

p/s : I was starstruck by Amber Chia who really does not look like her in all those pictures. She is so small (but tall). And she has a company which does events and production (if you are interested) and her website is creations.amberchia.com

If big companies bribe, how about us?

I read this from a blog (though there maybe other avenue for you to know this before me) and I rarely want to repeat what other blog has said or link my readers to it but this is something which I like to comment as it seems that a few of Malaysian politicians theory about bribery being a local or Asian phenomena has just being blown to bits. It seems that bribe is a daily occurrence everywhere. And they are not just done by small contractors or small businessmen trying to get the bigger piece of the pie. It is a fact of life and when the news show a corporation as big as Siemens, a company from German, well known and seems to have its finger in a lot of pies around the world. Read that story here from a blog dedicated to economy, run by a local economist. The thing that caught my eyes was the title of the post "How to do bribery by Siemens".

Get this, there are five countries; Afghanistan, Haiti, Iraq, Myanmar and Somalia which are listed as Transparency International to be where corporate bribery is most common. I bet when you see that list you will be saying to yourself, there is no surprise there. But, get this, Siemens paid most in countries like China, Russia, Argentina, Israel and Venezuela. The best way to bribe? Outside consultants to help secure a contract. And these bribes were tax deductible before 1999 in Germany.

I think you can read the article yourself and chuckle yourself silly as you will be surprise at who Siemens asked to be the conduit in dispensing the bribe. What I would like to know, who never head of Siemens? I bet no one ever not heard of them. Their products are everywhere. They even have products in the medical industry nowadays. I bet they have at least one equipment in any one of the hospital in the world. If a company as big and as recognisable as that needed to bribe to get government contracts around the world, what about those small companies which has just been established needing to find their footing and making it in the world. Sometimes I think, the word government itself is enough to be a dirty word.

Tony Fernandes, the stand up comedian

 

What happened last Friday was a blessing in disguise. Tony Fernandes had the room in stitches when his Acrobat Adobe slides (don't aske me why he did not use Power Point) went bust as the laptop operating system locked-up after being idle for sometimes and no one knows the password. While we waited for someone to tackle that problem, Tony Fernandes took the stage at a talk which was held by the group which had brought a forgotten former finance minister who had took us out of the 1997 economic crisis and the banker brother of our current Prime Minister. Tony was the third in line to speak but was one of the most anticipated.

Rarely can someone grill the man who had been the envy of our government's airline and whatever companies he had to muscle in to get some business. Being small but successful had always been something that people always love to hate. And yes, as much as AirAsia is world famous now, it is still a small and growing airline. It still need all the exposure that it can find and it is still young. So, what happened was, while waiting for someone who could fix the problem, we were regaled with his story on how he came to be where he is today.

Those stories include how he was left in England by his parents with 50 pounds in his pockets, how he thinks schools and colleges are for sports, how he took up accountancy in London School of Economics, how he became a music executive when he was given a break by his now friend, Sir Richard Branson, how he opted out when Branson wanted to start an airline which he predict Branson could only do by selling his Virgin Records, which he did after six months of Tony moved to Warner, how he met Led Zep before he was asked to head the Warners office in Malaysia, how he developed a few well-known talents (until now) in Malaysia, on how he went to see the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Mahathir after Tun had a bad day, how he was refused the license and asked to buy an airline, how he approached an airlines on the verge of collapse and bought t for RM1 (around a few cents in USD) and how he brought that airlines to its current status.

All these were told without slides and when he started to use the slides, it was another round of stories altogether. Some were well-known, some were just pure revealing. AirAsia is a public listed company and its corporate achievements can be found in its website but hearing it from the horse's mouth was more exciting. He did told us some facts about how he encourages all his staff to upgrade themselves and AirAsia now has a few female pilots and one guy was even a bag carrier before. He told us why he sponsored so many things especially sport clubs including Manchester United which he hates as he is a fan of West Ham FC. He is currently trying to sponsor the red card which the referree uses after he managed to sponsor the referree shirt of the English Premier League. Why he sponsored Oakland Raiders in which AirAsia plane will be launched by Gabenor Schwarzenegger this August (or is it July).

He actually wears his heart on his sleeves about what he loves and hates. About companies which he considered as his competitor among them Singapore Airlines, Khazanah and of course, Malaysia Airline System (MAS). All these companies did play a part in stunting his company growth and even his last slide, pictured below is a challenge to himself. At the Q & A session, we were given a very short time to ask and a lady asked Tony to explain how AirAsia can sustain its current gearing was suspected of being a spy of Khazanah really became the center of attention. He answered it gamely and when the talk was over, Tony Fernandes was swarm like the rockstar that all Malaysian thinks that he is (except CEOs of those few companies) and took pictures.

Whatever people think of him or wherever AirAsia is heading, Tony and AirAsia is already a Malaysian success story.

His final slide says it all

Ferrari California : The Cheapest Ferrari?

...if you consider RM1.7 Million (USD500k) as cheap then this is one of the cheapest Ferrari ever.

Was invited to the launching of the car last Thursday thanks to a new friend who had to do with the company that sold the car. I had been to an event thrown by them once when they had a ball opening the new showroom for Ferrari in Malaysia and I expected a good evening during this time too. It was a bit of a letdown as they trimmed the event from a full blown dinner party to a cocktail style reception but it was still grand nonetheless. Here are some pictures of the car and the launch :

The car coming out from behind the curtain

From behind

From the front

I am a bit critical of the look of the car as it seems that it does not look like a Ferrari but more of a certain other sport car from another company. As Ferrari is more known for a certain look which makes it looking like a mean machine which has no mercy if you ever had the chance to be in front of it.

For this new Ferrari, though affordable and is enough for me to dream of owning it (if I can sell all my investments and sleep in the car), I just might not as I don't think people will realise that it is a Ferrari. And having a name like Ferrari California. Hmmmm....

 

p/s : It is named California as it supposed to show the free spiritedness like Californians... (whatever that means)

Liberalisation of legal profession? Not so fast,..

This note has nothing to do with the official Bar Council stands or how things are really happening in the Attorney General Chamber of Malaysia. This is really my opinion on this matter. Our Prime Minister has announced this measures a few month ago and people has actually made this a topic at the dinner table as they thought finally our so-called always-playing-by-our-own-rules-and-never-wanting-to-give-in-plus-always-trying-to-stay-conservative Bar Council of Malaysia had finally gave in and play ball.

Before I write down the story that is still developeing (which might be different from what is being said or even announce by the politicians) and is in no way being endorsed by them, at all, let me just say this. Bar Council actually has wanted to open our legal profession doors since 2002 and their target date for a full liberalisation of the legal profession is in 2015, which is still achievable. Which means that all the local legal firm in Malaysia has to compete with foreign legal firm on all front. Mark my word, all front. The proposal was sent in to the government in 2004 but we were ignored (maybe not by the department which handles it, which is always very supportive of the private legal profession, but by the power that be which can really decide and make the changes in the law). Until Islamic finance came into the picture as THE saviour of all the economic turmoil in the world, according to a few scholars and economists.

When Islamic finance became important and people realised there are serious money in the middle east which can be attracted if your country managed to turn into an Islamic finance hub, the government hoisted up its flag and claim itself as one. This is in competition with London, Dubai, Bahrain, Singapore and Hong Kong, to name a few other ambitious country wanting to capitilise on this 'oil money'. Some did attained it and some faltered (and may try again). Of course, London, being one of the strongest and oldest and a lot of other '-est' economy, they have managed to be one.  After all most serious money still resides in this old city. And they have the infrastructure in which the legal profession is one. So, big London firms starts to go and see what other businesses can they find in other part of the world. Much like what Malaysian construction companies are doing all over the world, where they are welcome (and not).

The government decided that they need to grasp the opportunity before Islamic finance became passe as most fads do or when there are too many hubs and makes it a moot point trying to get the middle-eastern to come. What they did is they set up a few institutions including an education and research centre (which I am a student in), invited a few middle eastern players to set up shops here and even made Malaysia a friendlier environment for middle easterners. Being a Muslim country, it is not that hard. We managed to attract them. But as we have competitions, other than these institutions which the government control directly, they also need a few other component. Among them is the legal profession to allow some liberalisation such as Islamic finance legal practitioners to be allowed to practice in Malaysia. They only want that. Lawyers (or law firms rather) to ply their trade in Islamic finance. Not in other areas.

That is one of the thing that we as lawyers felt grateful for as the government only wants one area of practice to be opened. And what we heard in a session last Wednesday from lawyers who might just be our competitors in the near future from England, they may not be so keen to set up shop here if they are only allowed to practice for that one area. Yes, on Wednesday the 8th, we were graced by the presence of a delegation from England led by the Lord Mayor of London and the British High Commissioner with a representative from their Law Society and a few lawyers who are from British legal firms which set up shop in Singapore. There was a few who really came from Britain to see the potential of Malaysia.

They have heard that the Malaysian government is going to allow 5 legal firms (not lawyers) to come to Malaysia and set up shop. I have been involved in a few of the discussions that we had with the government since they mooted the idea two years ago and there were actually no real agreement. When the Prime Minister announced it three months ago, all those who had attended the meetings were caught by surprise and asked when has an agreement been reached between Bar Council and the government on the matter. It seemed that there was none and when these British lawyers asked, they were actually asked to ask the Bar Council, which does not have any concrete answer.

The government did warned that if there will be no agreement between Bar Council and the government especially when the government wants to push Malaysia as one of the hub for Islamic finance, they might just amend the law to allow for that five firm to practice. In short, take it or loose out. That was how the meetings that we had with the government ended that few times we met them. That was also how our meeting with the British delegation that day ended too.

We did huffed and puffed. And asked them to agree to our proposal of a joint-venture model which will gradually be turned into a full equity owned foreign business venture by 2015 but they did say to us that what if our government itself imposed on us through an Act of Parliament that we allow them to practice here in Malaysia. Wouldn't we then have to accept it? We agree but we did ask them to not turn their back on us as Bar Council will still be the one which will have to administer their movements in Malaysia. 

So, ready or not, Malaysia may have 5 foreign lawyers practising here which may (or may not) be confined to Islamic finance. Yes, there are some form of control like a licensing board consisting of Bar Council and Attorney General office which will oversee the license given and Bar Council still being the body which will oversee these law firms conduct. And yes, they are only allowing law firms and not lawyers to practice here. Better be ready as the future is near.

Scaring the kids in law school with real life experience

Okay, not really little kids as in those you see running around the playground or those in school even. Those that I am talking about were the law students that I met on the 7th of July, on request by my fellow alumnus. The coordinator was my junior who now is taking her PhD in my alma mater and is also a committee member of my alumni society. As the call came just one day before the talk, I agreed to it as she said it will be just a 15 to 20 minutes talk and then I was supposed to be free to go. As it was supposed to start at 9am, we would be out by 10am. Yeah, right. Fat chance. 

I was 15 minutes late but the session was one and a half hour later. As the talk was by the 5 of us, it took us nearly another hour to finish it and another half an hour to answer all the questions. In short, I only managed to get back to my office in the afternoon after spending the whole morning there.

However, it was not a really a waste of time as I think we did imparted certain knowledge and gave these law school students some insight what is the real world all about. There were 5 of us (after I managed to get one of my friend who is a lecturer/PhD student to come with me) and the professions that we are in managed to give them a worldview of what law students become if they pursue a law career. My friend is a lecturer. The junior who invited me and a senior from the 4th Batch of my law school are from the judiciary & legal services and Attorney General office, respectively. There was another lawyer other than me. The lecturer who invited us was also from our university. So, each profession got a representation of two persons.

As the students were in their first week of class and are first year students, we did try to encourage them to study and make sure they graduate before thinking of the career that they choose when they received their degree. Some of us did tell them about our friends who did not finish. Those who changed their majors. All the thing that students always hear adult trying to hammer into their heads.

I approached the matter differently as I told them what is business of law is all about. My forte has been different as I had managed my own business since I was out of law school. I was also the only one within the 5 who had had experience in criminal law, family law (shariah) and conveyancing. So, I actually told them like it is. The competition. The camaraderie in small town and the aloofness of big own. The friends who help you. The friends who brings you down. All the reality of practice and trying to have enough to make it through this world. 

As for when I was in college, as the lecturers and civil servants (and even the lawyer) asked them to concentrate in class and always listen to the lecturer, et cetera, et cetera, I told them that I was always playing truant all the time, read books (which does not have anything to do with the subject taught in front) and argued with lecturers about what was being lectured. I also told them that if they fail in law school, do not be dishearten as there are a lot of those who failed in law school, some never have a degree managed to have a successful career. I told them these to the horror of the lecturer who invited us as we know she is one tough lecturer who was even known to lock doors if you are later to her class. She salvaged my attempt to poison their mind with a stern warning that she will not tolerate such behaviour. I was never in her class, so she never really knew me. 

Okay, maybe I was too frank but I always think that those in colleges and universities nowadays are all mature enough to know all these facts and they should also know that college or university degree is a dime a dozen. This is also a kind of a learning experience for them and not supposed to be some BS session where we tell them all is good and life is just peachy when you get to the real world.

Hope I did not scare them too much... ;)

How lawyers contribute to charity

Last Friday, exactly one week ago, there was a charity event which was held by the Kuala Lumpur Bar which is basically one part of the Malaysian Bar Council. It was an annual event which is done to collect money for charity. As the Bar Council of Malaysia has nearly 12,000 plus lawyers and half of them are practising in Kuala Lumpur, you can just imagine the lawyers who came and contributed to the event. Furthermore, it was run by a hip and cool chairman, who knows what lawyers wanted to see and hear for them to contribute to society.

This years event was their fifth (I think) and they had decided to do it in the middle of Kuala Lumpur, our nation capital. It was at this bar which serves wicked pizza and located at a new lifestyle mall called CapSquare, short for Capital Square which is a throwback to the developer's name Capital Land. The bar hosted the event and as they have a stage which is can be seen from all around the room, people can mingle and still see the show.

How do lawyers get money for charity? Of course, lawyers are notorious for not willing to part with their money without getting some benefit, but some of us do have a heart. So, they throw a showdown contest between lawyers who have firms in Kuala Lumpur (which I do not as my state's association's charity drive is more drab and is a boring affair) and those who did their stuff then has to asked from the crowd to put in their contribution in a box where a member of their firm would asked the lawyers in the bar to contribute. Amazingly, the taking was quite good. The winner of the show is not by the best entertainer but the one which brings in the most contribution. Innovative right?

 Lest I want to be sued, better I let the image be a bit distorted....

Anyway, the one which really made the crowd went wild was the pole dancing by these 3 girls. They flipped and split and even did amazing manouvers which if seen in another situation might be inappropriate. They did got the crowd going. Am not sure how much did they managed to get but I bet their company was one of the highest contributor to the night's coffer.

So, that was how high the standard needed to get lawyers to part with their money. And oh, the girls are lawyers too and one of them I recognised as my junior in college.

Sign of times, online newspapers gaining ground

In another event, which was differentiate by the time of 8.30am for a breakfast presentation, I had seen the future and was impressed with how much online newspaper is currently gaining ground into the heart and mind of the Malaysian people. There is no newspaper company having to close down in Malaysia yet, unlike what I read in the United States, as most of the newspaper in Malaysia has the backing of some political party or company with very deep pocket. In line of liberalisation of news reporting, we are seeing a boom of news agency, either in radio or television or magazine or newspaper. My opinion is that newspaper is the most vulnerable being only able to be in the hand of the readers at least after 6 hours.

Breakfast

In a presentation by one of the founders of an online newspaper called Malaysiakini ('kini' meaning 'now!', as in recent), it was so enlightening and refreshing to see the interest shown by the audience that day. The event was held by an organisation called MIRC which is affiliate to a Chinese base political party called MCA which did not discriminate and allowed all to come, as long as you pay a very small fee for a breakfast (RM50-00/USD$14-00). The idea is to match investors with entrepreneurs, hence the event is called IEX or Investors and Entrepreneurs Exchange. It was my first time joining that session and most of the audience were technopreneurs, unlike me, who was there out of curiosity and wanting to network.

Intently listening

What I think sparked the interest of the attendee on the online newspaper presentation was the fact that they have been running a skeletal crew five years ago and embroiled in a lot controversy that saw them being dragged to police stations and courts with their frank news and in-your-face facts. They tell it like it is and they were the only online newspaper then. By 2008, in which Malaysia had a new awakening in politics, they were at the forefront and there were a few more online newspaper which tried to dethrone them. Although now people have to subscribe to get the full news, they still have a good readership base.

Data to digest and ponder

There was this one venture capitalist (most of the investors were VC) which is directly under the government. The government was one which had tried to close down this online newspaper when it was new. At the session I was in, the Deputy CEO was very interested in the data shown by Malaysiakini. When the numbers were given, he even asked a few clarification. I saw the interest in the face but knowing the mandate in which the government VC operates, I don't believe they will ever finance them.

It is just that it is impressive to see a new company capitalising on a first mover advantage. With a bit more patuience and promotion, I bet they can do more and even beat those pretenders down. Though the traditional newspaper do try to move online and is making their own success story, I bet Malaysiakini can persevere.

You can get  views from different people on this issue through this link here. 

If only one big event for bloggers can be held

I have attended a few events in last month that would have been a big one complete event event for bloggers if it were done together. Don't get me wrong, the two events, PJ Challenge Bloggers 'K'arnival and eLawyers - Exabytes Penang Bloggers and Law Forum 2009 were successful in their own ways.

 

 

For the first event it was held on 20.6.09 and you can read the report for the event here (initial posting), here (presentation by Kenny Sia), here (presentation by Niki Cheong), here (2 beautiful girl bloggers), here (2 visual media bloggers) and finally, here (prsentation by 2 ad guys). As for the second event, which was held on 27.6.09, I posted 2 reports here and here. There was one Bloggers and Law Forum which was held in Kuala Lumpur, earlier the year, which you can read here.

The first event was by bloggers, supported by an association which wants to did something different and in celebration of the third anniversary of a city called Petaling Jaya. The city was considered a town before that although it has been in existence since Malaysia came into existence (that is one fact which deserce a post on its own). Anyway, the blogging event was very well organised and the prizes given were also great. 2 notebooks and 2 netbook among some of them. Sponsors were aplenty. My only complain is the attendance by the bloggers which can be more than those who had turned up.

As for the second event, the issue of attendance was also brought up by the organisers when they found out that there were only a few sign-up 2 weeks before the event. They had to go all out to entice people to come and used all the avenues available. They did manage to get some 30 people to come. As it was within a university compound, the timing of the event which was when the students were on holiday may played a part. Anyway, the lawyers who gave their presentation were good (in which I may be the weakest link) and if bloggers had come, they would have gained more knowledge.

Based on my observation, if someone takes the initiative, there can be one event on a national level where all bloggers whatever affiliate they choose can congregate and meet up and exchange ideas and attend talks and ask questions and give opinion and basically do all the things that bloggers love to do. The level of blogging is already at its best in Malaysia and those in authority or even any one of the big IT guys should take this advantage and maybe use it as a platform to market the products. I maybe wrong in saying there seems to be no effort for it as there are 2 big blog advertisement companies which never seem to do anything together (again, I might be wrong). Maybe this one event have to be sparked off by some higher being, either those in authority or those with money and they will be one of the attendees or even sponsor.

By the way, all this is just a thought though one day we may see it come true and then maybe one day an international one can be held too. Hey, those Google and Intel and Microsoft did trillions of money already what. Why not spend some for a(nother) good cause.