Going Places

I am young (with some serious “denial” issues!) and I love traveling. And yes, despite of what my friends might have told you, I do enjoy ‘sight-seeing’ and ‘be cultured’. I am NOT the most disaffected, cube-dwelling drone the planet had ever known and NO, I don’t wile away the days and die in my slow, clock-punching rut. (Glad that out of my system!)

It’s just that previously, I had some ‘reasonable' hesitation that comes along with it - money and company. (Sigh, aren’t we all?)

But now that I am, ehem, older and wiser (more money), I finally learned a trick or two on how to experience the bestest holiday of the lifetime - without actually putting a ozone-size hole in my wallet or with that people that could possibly pop up your blood artery along the trip.

GO CHEAP. I realize I can go places.

I want to experience big, bustling city life, with a lot of shopping complexes and lively nightlife. (KL’s ‘bustling’ is a different meaning altogether)...and or ya...the architecture.

...Or to smell dewy, cool air over tranquil mountainous top.

....Or be in the most glamorous destination with a lot and lot of stargazing and ‘starstruck’ing.

.....Or to take a adrenalin-pumping ride in the wildest theme park in the world on a day-long of fun-filled activities.

To feel snowflake on my fingertip and roll over on the snow bed making snow angel.

To SCORN exotic foods and experience a different, unique worldly culture.

Now tell me, aren’t these enough to make your heart quivers in excitement?

Would I be rocking your boat if I say I have experienced them all - All in 5 days with budget just under RM200?

As a matter of factly - Yes, I did.

The dream holiday with shoestring budget in the shortest time? Hard to believe? Believe it!

Now everybody please it say with me......

“Where ever has Mus been to?”



TA – DA !!!!!

Yep, It was Genting. Yep, third time straight in 6 months! Sigh! But at least I started somewhere.

My Super Smashing Weekend!

Finally, I have something great to brag about my weekend!

For starter, The Incredible Hulk was awesome! Go watch it! (That is, if you love seeing half naked green man smashing army tankers or simply loves seeing half naked man). It’s a million times better than the moody, 2003 version.



So how is it any better than the first one? Well, more explosions, more dead people and errr.. TWO half naked green men? Seriously me think, this one doesn't pretend to 'art-house' phony, it sticks up to what it was intended to be - mainstream, kick- ass, butt-smacking, summer blockbuster hit! Period.

Then, my Saturday morning turned out to be a bigger ‘smashing’ one for me. My dear friend Herman suddenly decided to throw away a pair of free air ticket to me to any Firefly destination. Well, in return for a small favor I have to do for him (No, Not THAT, you perv!) I was touched. Still is. Thanks Herman, you know, this friendship doesn’t come cheap everyday (wink wink)



Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better than this, surprises come in two phone calls

Hafez: “Mus , ambik cupcake ko malam ni”



En Halim: “En. Syed, baju raya dah siap”



Woohoo. I was elated.

So I was running from one side of KL to another before somewhat settling in the middle to meet my brother for a cuppa (more like a platta!).

Two days of fun-packed, everything-rosy and go-my-way days. Loved it!

Wait, it’s Sunday night already?! Wo, It’s certainly didn’t feel like it has been two days already. What a cruel irony of ‘time flies’. Gosh! I need to catch up on time.

So what do you do? You bought a nice, pricey timepiece...like this one!

Now that is surely gonna 'smash' my bank account! Yikes!

Mysteriously, Indeed!

I probably did my own ‘little’ dance. You know, the fat man ‘jump’ - as if nobody saw me. But I couldn’t help it. It felt like a whole lot of weight – the size of statue of liberty - had been lifted off of my shoulder. I felt bliss.

So what gives?

Well, yesterday, I ‘managed’ to finish my assignments – two of them, all in 48 hours! Hurriedly binded them together and ran to MEF for submission 20 minutes before last minute of acceptance! Phew! Can you believe that? Me neither but miracle works in a mysterious way, they say.

(Consider the speed I was doing it, it was indeed an epic proportion achievement. If this is not already a world record, I don’t know what is)

OK, now before you go on and passing on harsh judgment on me, let’s go back and rewind what had been happening from exactly one month before – from the very first day it was announced there would be assignments to be submitted.

Did article on Beyond P. Ramlee, Balik Kampung, PD, Genting, Shopping, Watched Kung fu Panda, did more shopping, Cupcake party, Work, More work, sleeping, swimming, mooore sleeping and more swimming.

See, I have been busy. Life is busy. Isn’t that one hell of a bunch of good reasons already?

OK, not quite, but miracles do work in a mysterious way, don’t they?

P/s No returned assignment is already half of good news for me. Now let’s move on and try to overturn the impending doomsday - 12 July 08 – the final exam! Gosh! The last time I remember I had this mad rush of adrenalin – assignments and exam - was circa late 90s. It surely feels as isn’t much fun as it was 10 years ago.

Beyond P. Ramlee: Fauziah 'Ogy' Dato' Ahmad Daud

Don't laugh at me just yet. Don't accuse me for playing best-friend card (we're all know Arenaku loves Ogy) or for heaven's sake - unoriginal (now that I know my competitor championing the same subject!) Hear me out what I want to say and you'll see why this isn't just about winning the RM50 voucher and why she came on top of my list.

True, Allahyarham Tan Sri P. Ramlee is incomparable; an iconic figure in Malay cinema and no one is disputing that, certainly not me. Although, sometimes, it does sound as if the entire Malay entertainment industry was built upon one name only, we tend to forget that this may not be necessary true.

My humble guessing is our little community has come to embrace and love 'the legend' so much; it was such pain to know there were probably someone close enough out there to match his undisputable great talent. But they are such talent out there. These people do exist. They are people, given enough opportunities and time would eventually brush on with his greatness.

And one of them is our 'Akak' Ogy.

Fauziah Dato' Ahmad Daud, or affectionately known as Ogy was born on 10 October 1962 in Singapore to equally lauded Malay cinema legends Dato' Ahmad Daud and Datin Saadiah. She made her acting debut in Hati Batu (1973) and successfully generated a favorable and detectable industry buzz. Following her parents' formidable footsteps in acting, Ogy never looked back ever since and continued to act in another 15 major Malay movies and hundreds of TV dramas.

There are many actresses whose unconventionally acting method I admire, and Ogy is one of them. She has the ability to immerse into her character in a second with much gusto. She would look normal one moment and hot-as-Sunday-morning sex the next (OK, maybe not!) I meant Ogy has the guts to look like a whore (Bintang Malam) and a bloke (Rentak Desa) at a drop of a pin. Not many our current hot actresses would be able to do that and I believe most of them can attest to that.

Ogy also tried her hands in different spectrum in entertainment industry and singing is one of them. Though it may not as successful and colorful as her acting career she did have few hits ('Wajah Rahsia Hati', 'Bunga-Bunga Berguguran', 'Azura', 'Simfoni Kasih') that still command listeners in our local radios until today.

But until after helming gossip TV's equivalent to E! News -'Melody' in the mid-90s, that her talent in hosting was discovered. The show became a huge success and it became so synonymous with her. She then was offered to host numerous other big, red carpet events like Juara Lagu and Anugerah Bintang Popular and this had shot her name back to the limelight.

Right now, other than hosting job, Ogy is also known for her memorable stint as the 'other' acid tongue judge in Akademi Fantasia, (the other is the Adlin Aman Ramli). Was she great or what? She never minced her words, stole the show in the process and people love her for that. (Not-so-great news for the host, eh!)

A great actress, a great host, and err….OK, not-so-great singer, Ogy had tried them all. She survived a divorce, Janet-Jackson-epic-like wardrobe malfunction and nasty rumors and after all these years, she's still here with us. Her contribution to Malay cinema world is tremendous. Her persistence, her passion, her talent, are very well liked and well received by Malay and non- Malay audience alike.

While Tan Sri P Ramlee was more famous for his versatility, Ogy was known for "trying" on everything. She acts, she hosts, she directs, she produces and she sings (with mixed result). She nominated, honored and won numerous awards that probably put any new talents to shame. (Some icing on the cake, she has won FFM's Best actress three times and BH's Most popular artiste)

So is there anything else she has not done or achieved?

People want to believe and keep saying there will be no worthy substitute to our much beloved legend. While I can totally understand the sentiment, but in all honesty I believe we should all be moved on, well, at least giving credit to where it dues. Doesn't she even deserve that for 'trying'?

Well, I think she does and who are we to stop her?

I Have Questions

Some people work best under pressure but that ain’t me. Yeah, I squished, I crumbled, I floored under a mere push. (So please people save me from your mean, cruel To-fu man joke. You might be soya sauced)

Come two more days, 7th of June to be exact, my essay on ‘Beyond P. Ramlee’ is due. Damn, I haven't even picked the subject name yet. How the hell in the world am I gonna attach at least 300 words to that?

As bad as it is sound right now, my heart jumped on me and shouted, “get it done!” but my head asked back “How?”

Good question.

So I did what my head asked me to do – I bought a CD – supposedly to serve as a much-needed inspiration for me.



How in any Goddamn ways this Usher CD will help me finish the article about possible substitute to Malay-entertainment-industry legend?

Great question.

I guess I wouldn’t know now.

See, without wanting to go on dignifying my procrastination nature here, let me say a few words about this new great CD from one of my most favorite male singer.

I have always been a huge fan of this very talented guy. He rocks, he croons, he dances like there ‘s no tomorrow (I’ll sent the cheque tomorrow, Paula). I simply at awed how this dude would just decide to play in studio one day, out with an album the next day and voila! Go on and ship 9 million albums within the next 12 months. Is he a miracle worker or what?

This time around, his album came out hot in the trail from that destined-to-be-the-biggest hit of the year - E=MC2 a couple months ago and that’s probably explained why there are some tracks here quite a carbon copy of those from that Mariah’s. Hot tracks like sure-fire-hit ‘Love in the club’, slow burner ‘Love in the club II’ and club banger ‘This ain’t sex’ are sure will be burning all top song charts all over the world soon.

But my most favorite of them all gotta be finger-tapping, soul-laden, let’s-make-love song ‘Something special’. It’s so U.s.h.e.r R.a.y.m.o.n.d to the core and that’s the one I love. I know they are other tracks that created buzzing all over US radio right now but nothing beats this solid old school R&B sound on Usher.

To me, in gangster, hip hop, R&B world Usher is king. His smooth silky voice suited fine with making-babies slow jams and gel greatly will club banging shout outs. Though some people might have mistaken him for other R&B male lead wannabe, former boyband (people that are blind, that is) I’d take Usher any day. He’s more convincing, a lot more talented with better abs.

Wait, can I pick Usher to be my subject for ‘Beyond P.Ramlee’ project article, Can I? Can I? Hate me so much Hasmiron cause I don’t see any rule saying otherwise, do you?

Excellent question. Now who’s gonna answer that?