Muallaf (2008 or 2009?)

Bismillahirahmanirahim
In the name of God, the most Gracious and most Merciful

Yasmin Ahmad's Muallaf premieres in Malaysian screen in 2009

After one year of waiting, after hearing stuff about the movie, finally Muallaf will be premiering in Malaysian screens on 24th December 2009. The movie had already premiered in Singapore more than a year ago (27th November 2008). I have doubt whether this is actually a Malaysian or Singaporean made movie (actually the movie involves both MHZ Film from M'sia & The Picturehouse from S'pore)

I don't know how the movie manage to be screening in Malaysia after failing to pass the Malaysian censorship authorities. I heard that there is a masturbating scene in the movie (maybe some sex education from our dear Yasmin Ahmad). I hope that Yasmin's fifth movie will be as great as the others. And Sharifah Amani, don't fail me... huhu ....

p/s: the next post will be the review of the movie.

Mackinac (MAK-in-aw) Island and horses is a better place.

Peace be upon awak~!

Mackinac Island

This is my ideal place to live. Mackinac (pronounced as Mackinaw) Island situated in the islands of Michigan U.S.A is a popular tourist attraction.



The best thing about this island is that it bans all kinds of motor vehicles except for the ones that are really needed (snowmobiles during winter, service vehicles and emergency vehicles). The island's occupants uses horses and bicycles as the main form of transportation.



I have discussed with my dad about making the world a better place by replacing cars and other motors vehicles with horses, but my dad said that it's not possible because the cost of having a horse is much more expensive than a car. Buying a horse is costly enough, maintaining, caring, etc bills is another thing.



I still believe that having horses are better than cars. Yes it is costly to have (buy) a horse nowadays. It's just because the production of horses are less than cars which makes horses more rare. When it's rare, the things to maintain it will also be rare, so does the production of it. When things are rare they'll become expensive, so does things like the spare-parts of a Ford car in Malaysia or the spare-parts of other mega expensive cars.



Somehow we just need to start to use horses again. We just have to start using it step by step. It will be very costly at the beginning, but when horses are produced in a large number (I'm not stating that horses are produce like machinery huhu) it will be affordable to us in the future.



I'm not against motor vehicles in all as some of it are really in need of use such as the ambulance, heavyweights lorries, etc. But having to cut most of the normal motor vehicles will indeed save the earth.

Go green.

Taxi-ani (two Taxis)

Here's a story about two different taxi drivers that I've encounter with. I'll try to write it as a play.

------------

Boy, Man, Malay Taxi Driver (M.T.D), Chinese Taxi Driver (C.T.D)

A teenage boy, standing and waiting for a taxi to town. Came one; a Malay driver in his 30s. The boy enters.

Boy : Bandar ya

M.T.D : Okay.

The trip is not far. Silence accompanies them as they went on the road to reach the destination. The fee is RM1.

Boy: (opens up his wallet, hands the driver a RM5 note) Nah ...

M.T.D : (looks for change) Isshh ... takde duit pecah la (looks again)

Boy : (looks again in his wallet, trying to find coins as substitute) Takde gak ni ... camane ya?

M.T.D : (still looking for change while putting on a thinking face) Kire halal la ek? takde duit pecah ni (smiles)

Boy : (blurs) Ah ... Okay ... (exits the taxi)

M.T.D : (drives away)

(Time move slowly)

Boy (monologue) : Celaka betol ... kena rembat duit aku ... senang betul aku kne tipu ... baik sangat ke aku ni? macam sial rembat duit orang macam tu ... celaka.

Lights off
Lights on

A man walking towards a long queue of taxi. He stops at the one in front of a Chinese driver ones looking in his 50s. He opens the door passenger's seat door. It won't open.

C.T.D : (points towards the backseat)

Man : (opens up the backseat) Wangsa Walk?

C.T.D : Siffllas sd (slurs)
Man : (enters taxi) Mende tadi?

C.T.D : Sila masuk (pushes the meter button on)

Man : Wangsa Walk ya ... Brape ringgit ah?

C.T.D : Tak jauh pun ... lima ringgit pun tak makan.

Destination reached. The meter indicates that it's RM3.80. Two Malay boy is looking towards the taxi outside of it.

Man : (opens his wallet, he only have two RM1 notes and a RM50 note) Takde pecah la ... (hands the driver a Rm50 note)

C.TD : Aiyooh ... takde pecah la (check in his pocket and counts his money for change) tak cukup laa ... (checks again)

Man : (checks his wallet and bag for any possible changes that can be use) ... takde duit kecik la ... camane ya?

C.T.D : takpela (smiles) bagi je dua ringgit ...

Man : isshh ... mana boleh camtu (looks around if there's any shops for change, there ain't any)

C.T.D : takpe, takpe ... saya drive jauh boleh dapat passenger lagi ...

Man : Betol ke ni? Minta maaf sangat-sangat (shakes hands with the driver)
C.T.D : betol ... takpe-takpe ...

The two boys standing outside comes closer to the taxi and signalling the taxi driver for a ride.

C.T.D : haa tengok suda ade passenger ... tak rugi pun ... (smiles)

Man : Terima kasih banyak-banyak ya ... minta maaf skali lagi ... (exits the taxi smiling)

Lights off

-----------

That's the story of my experience taxi riding with two different kind of driver that I'd value the memories. To be honest, I'm quite ashame with the Malay driver as a Malay myself. I always thought that Chinese would be stingy on money (I know it's prejudice). because of this I will never again view people in stereotypes.

For the Chinese Taxi Driver, I really thank you for your hospitality and generosity. Even though it's just 10 minutes ride, I will remember it for the rest of my life.

As for the Malay Taxi Driver, I don't like the way you treat me, but I do thank you for the experience you gave me because it has made me a different person. Thank you.

May God bless you both.

p/s: I would love to take a ride in Robert de Niro's taxi. (Taxi Driver 1976)

Kampung Life Part 2 (raya + explicit)

Assalamualaikum ...

This Raya I want to show pictures of rendang making at my home in Kuantan (how to make rendang our style).

It starts with selecting the right knife (to slaughter the chickens of course). The knife must be extra sharp as to make the slaughtering process easier and less suffering for the chickens.

As we get our hands on the chickens (8 of them) we will start slaughtering them one by one.



Slaughtering a chicken is not an easy thing as we must grab/hold/pinch the right ... thing and slaughter/slice/potong the right part of the neck. The process must be done in haste as slowing it may cause more sufferings to the animal.

After doing that, we will let the animal to die at peace before we pick them to pluck the feathers.

The following image may be disturbing.

Note that we must ensure that it is really dead before we pick it up. Here's one which took so long to die. I had to chop of the head later because my father said that it'll only cause it more suffering if it remains alive like that.


When you are sure that it is really dead then you can dip/rendam in boiling hot water to pluck the feathers easier. This is the part that I hated the most in making rendang.


We have to ensure that all the feathers are plucked because ... how would you feel if there's still feathers on a KFC Dinner Plate?


After that we'll remove the intestines.

While removing the intestines we can find eggs which were not layed yet (the white one) and even eggs which are not yet to become eggs -erk?- (the orange ones) This one you cannot find it in stores/pasar malam.

The you'll cut it to pieces and wash it.

Next we have to get some coconut milk . This the tool used to rip open the cocunut.

Just poke the thing in and rip it open. After ripping off the outer layer, we'll smash/cut the cocunut into half and ... get it processed to get the coconut milk/santan.

After done cutting/slicing/blending the onions,spices, etc we'll set up the place to cook the rendang.

Here's the ingredient from afar . The coconut milk is poured in when the other ingredients are well mixed.

Half way there after pouring the santan/coconut milk. Sorry I forgot to capture the picture of the finished ones.

Here's a picture taken from the net of how the chicken rendang would look like.


Selamat Hari Raya ...

A unique ketupat brought by my aunt. A Ketupat made using (tq teyhah) Pitcher Plant/Periuk Kera.


My dad says that this banana is called Pisang Tanduk/Horn Banana. I never knew that it can get until this big.

MUSE - Uprising

Well, it's the most awaited new single from British rockers Muse
They've been quite in hiatus since their last release, "Black Holes and
Revelations" last 2006. It's been 3 years and with "Uprising", they
signal the release of their comeback album titled "The Resistance". The
band's latest album will be released on September 7

Speaking of the song, it's intro is kind of an interlude as it started
almost a minute into the 5-minute new summer anthem. The effortless
rhythmical arrangement of synthesizers in the beginning of the song is
brilliant. Besides of the infectious "come-on" chants in the
background, there's nothing that "new" in the track. It is still the
same Muse we knew since the early 2000s. The spike and attitude is
still there, and I'm quite envisioning the video to the song. It's
something like a fusion of U2 and Keane, which is quite positive

In conclusion, it's 5-minute combination of a much efforted ingenuity
from one of the greatest bands of the 21st century

Catch the single when it comes out on September 7, 2009. The group has
been also confirmed of a stint at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards

(taken from a website)

Danger of Lying

I fell off(tq xLANx) a motorcycle at Greenwood once, riding with my friend. Me and my friend have some minor injuries and were treated at the IIUM clinic. I didn't tell my parents about this because they have warned(tq xLANx) me not to ride on a motorcycle whatever the case is (they're motorcycle-phobic).

Somehow the news got to my parents, but in a different version. I don't know how the news spread but what reached my parents is that I've been in an accident and I'm in the hospital with my arm broken.

See how things turn out when someone lied.

This might sound totally absurd but think about it : You know that Charles Darwin told us that humans are the descendants of apes. One day if someone tells(tq xLANx) (lying as a joke) that we actually evolve from frogs, as the frog prince fairy tale were not just created without a cause, people might just believe it and discuss about it (we have the whole theorist and philosopher convention on this), thus create another theory of evolution concerning frogs.

I know the example given sounds silly but look wider on how a simple lie can change the whole story ad how a lie that is intended as a joke can change the world.

The Butterfly Effect.

The Prophet (PBUH) "forbade Muslims from lying even if they do so only as a joke, in order to make others laugh."

Satan in Chains (Ramadan)

We have been told that Satan are chained during the Ramadan month. So, there won't be any haunting ghost around and that we're safe from them.

Abu Hurairah, (may Allah be pleased with him) quoted the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) as saying: “When the month of Ramadan comes, the gates of Paradise are opened and the gates of the Hellfire are closed, and the devils are chained.” (Reported by al-Bukhari)




We (Muslim) knows that Satan is the cause of all evil things. So why are there still sins being committed if Satan is actually locked up or chained in the month of Ramadan.

I've asked this question in an IRK (Islamic Revealed Knowledge) class during my undergraduate studies. The lecturer said that we should not take the Hadith literally. By that she means that the Satan are not actually or literally chained but were chained due to our religious deeds (Amal) ; fasting, sunat terawikh ,etc.

I do 100% agree with her explanations. I agree with her that the Satan are not literally chained. Why do we still have sinners in the month of Ramadan if they are actually locked up.

It is our job to lock them up. I prefer to chain them because it sounds cooler (nonsense hehe).

p/s: when I refer to Satan it would include devils, ghosts, djinns, etc.

Selamat Berpuasa, Happy Fasting.

May Allah S.W.T be with you. Amin