Sometimes I see other people's work which are so good, I just can't help but add a few touches of my own ...My apologies to Intysaar and of course Dilbert
PROOF TECHNIQUE #8 - Fool Proof
1. State your theorem.
2. Invite colleagues to comment.
3. If they don't agree, exclaim loudly, "You Fools!"
PROOF TECHNIQUE #1 - 'Proof By Induction'
1. Obtain a large power transformer.
2. Find someone who does not believe your theorem.
3. Get this person to hold the terminals on the HV side of the
transformer.
4. Apply 25000 volts AC to the LV side of the transformer.
5. Repeat step (4) until they agree with the theorem.
PROOF TECHNIQUE #3 - Fire Proof
1. Summon all your inferiors for a departmental meeting.
2. Present your theorem.
3. Fire those who disagree.
Man ... I get so many creative ideas ... during runs ...if only they had something like the contraption above which allows me to blog while I run that pulitzer will be sitting on my cupboard where it should be ... btw ... gimp totally roxs for electronic doodling
Quote of the day :I really like the sound effects of ws_ftp .. : DumbestArse ( 13 / 08 / 2003 )
Legends :
scortum : your's truly
crass292 : A really intelligent and interesting dood who should blog ...
(07:41:37) 147111754: hey dood
(07:54:35) crass292: sup?
(07:55:12) 147111754: hey i want to ask you
(07:55:28) 147111754: what is your take on projects which has a lot of forks ?
(07:56:19) crass292: like which?
(07:56:29) 147111754: sorcerer
(07:56:32) 147111754: postnuke
(07:56:40) crass292: usually that means that the original maintainers are strict, or assholes
(07:56:49) crass292: sorcerer is different =P
(07:57:09) crass292: its usually a bad sign
< continued >
scortum2 (9:27 AM) :
my take on forks
crass292 (9:28 AM) :
go on
scortum2 (9:28 AM) :
is that normally it will happen to projects that have communication problems
crass292 (9:28 AM) :
that's only one case
scortum2 (9:28 AM) :
or two or more equally dynamic and charismatic leaders
crass292 (9:28 AM) :
that's another case
scortum2 (9:29 AM) :
there is a saying in chinese : one mountain cannot have two tigers
crass292 (9:29 AM) :
the chinese aren't democratic either =P
scortum2 (9:29 AM) :
but they were good in coming up with cekap sayings =P
crass292 (9:29 AM) :
hehe, yeah :)
scortum2 (9:31 AM) :
one thing tho ... forks create variety
scortum2 (9:31 AM) :
that's the good side of it
scortum2 (9:31 AM) :
like xaraya
crass292 (9:31 AM) :
they also waste a lot of effort, very innefficient
scortum2 (9:31 AM) :
prolly they ( phpnukers ) weren't too interested to implement support for postgresql
crass292 (9:32 AM) :
yeah, forks many times happen when a recurring problems is not addressed
scortum2 (9:33 AM) :
yeah it gives people like u and me an avenue to at least use the project
scortum2 (9:34 AM) :
i dunno I don't like the aspect of the community splitting tho
crass292 (9:34 AM) :
me neither, "divided we fall"
scortum2 (9:35 AM) :
like how i go to the #lunar channel now and i get shit treatment because i am a "sorcererian"
..... < snip >
crass292 (9:36 AM) :
I mean why do they even care?
scortum2 (9:36 AM) :
thing is ... we should all help each other out fork or not
scortum2 (9:36 AM) :
that is what opensource and gpl is based on
crass292 (9:36 AM) :
I think they've grown bitter
scortum2 (9:37 AM) :
prolly
scortum2 (9:37 AM) :
but postnuke is the same
scortum2 (9:37 AM) :
phpnukers won't help
crass292 (9:37 AM) :
hehe
crass292 (9:37 AM) :
they kinda are
scortum2 (9:37 AM) :
that's freaking bad ....
crass292 (9:37 AM) :
its really looked down upon to fork
crass292 (9:38 AM) :
this a social thing
scortum2 (9:38 AM) :
hey if I did something without ur knowledge would we still be pals ?
crass292 (9:38 AM) :
that's not the point
scortum2 (9:38 AM) :
no you will see the point in a while
crass292 (9:39 AM) :
the point is that the "forkers" decided to hurt the community by splitting the effort
crass292 (9:39 AM) :
and it does hurt the community
crass292 (9:39 AM) :
however there are times that its reasonable
scortum2 (9:44 AM) :
The thing is ... I think that sometimes forks are really necessary
scortum2 (9:44 AM) :
i agree with you
crass292 (9:45 AM) :
yes they are sometimes
crass292 (9:45 AM) :
just like revolution is sometimes necessary
crass292 (9:45 AM) :
but not always
crass292 (9:45 AM) :
and sometimes its bad
scortum2 (9:45 AM) :
Enemosity in the community is what kills forks tho =(
crass292 (9:45 AM) :
have you read Cathedral and the Bazaar though?
scortum2 (9:46 AM) :
yes I have
crass292 (9:45 AM) :
have you read Cathedral and the Bazaar though?
scortum2 (9:46 AM) :
yes I have
crass292 (9:46 AM) :
then we should be agreeing =P
crass292 (9:46 AM) :
unless you didn't agree with it
scortum2 (9:46 AM) :
we are not disagreeing
scortum2 (9:46 AM) :
just like to discuss it with you
crass292 (9:46 AM) :
true :)
scortum2 (9:47 AM) :
there is something i want you to read
crass292 (9:47 AM) :
here's the thing, and its a human problem
scortum2 (9:47 AM) :
always gives me a warm feeling reading it
scortum2 (9:47 AM) :
it's from slashdot
scortum2 (9:47 AM) :
hang on
crass292 (9:47 AM) :
peoples projects are their creation, they react extremely to things that they see as threats to it, and a fork is a threat
scortum2 (9:48 AM) :
http://www.dreamsongs.com/MobSoftware.html
scortum2 (9:48 AM) :
Truly one of the better pieces written
A guide to make a great tasting cuppa chinese tea ( normally oolong / ngam tea ), where oolong and ngam tea is a type of chinese tea that is really delightful if they are properly made. There a lot of types of chinese tea, and differing from boh tea they are usually pure as in they consists 100 % of the same time of leaf. The types of tea are beyond this short entry which is short for saying I am lazy to write about them so please ask Uncle Google for details yah .. Please note that if properly made they will leave the owner of the tea with a really delightful feeling very akin to being high *without* the dumbed brain but with hightened senses....
What you need :
A good small ( >200cc ) zisha teapot. For heaven's sake get it at a reputable tea shop. Tell them you want to make oolong with it. Go with plenty of cash. Be ready to spend at least rm 100.00++ for a good pot.Trust me, with the amount of fun you are going to have it's well worth the price. If you can't get that kind of cash wait for the second part of this article entitled "How to raise the money to make a great cuppa .." which should come promptly after I finish paying the loan sharks.
Good oolong / ngam char. The price ranges for this one is normally from rm 100.00++ to rm 300.00++.The types that I know so far are :
(a) Shui Shin ( Saint of Water ) - a very delightful tea which literally will transform it's taste on your tongue from a strong tea smell to a fruity to lemonly smell
(b) Yuk Kwai - Quite good too with a strong tea after taste which slowly emerges.
(c) Tan Chong - This is the tea I am drinking while writing this article. This tea has a strong fruity taste and believe it or not actually has a lychee after taste which slowly emerges on the center of the tongue. It is a truly sensation.
(d) Tit Kun Yam ( Kuan Yin of Steel ) - This one has a strong flavour of plums ....
Small chinese tea cups. Usually this cups will be very small. Buy the ones which are thin as they will absorb less smell. Remember ! Small cups ! You are drinking this kind of tea for taste not to satiate thirst. For thirst take pu'erh
Pure water - Reverse Osmosis type works best tho this is still a point of debate ( sheesh 8000 over years you would have hope they'd made up their minds ... ). The blog recommends RO tho for best results.
Some patience
What you don't need :
Kiam Siapness : get ready to fork out some dough if you are not ready to do so ... go have some mamak tea instead
Method
Heat your little zisha pot up well by pouring boiling water into it
Leave it to heat up a little pour some hot *over* the top of the pot. Once the water evaporates the pot has heated up to the desired level. Pour out the water and put it about 8gms of your favourite tea into the pot.
Pour some hot water over the **side** of the pot to heat up the leaves inside the pot. The idea here is to open up the dried leaves. Careful not to get water inside the pot. Leave it for like 20secs.
Pour hot water into the zisha pot and then cover and pour hot water over it.
Get your small chinese tea cups ready buy washing them in hot water
Once done washing ( don't hurry the timing for the infusion or the soaking of the tea is crucial ) your cups, align them ( around 6 small cups ) in a circle and pour out the tea in a circular motion over the tea cups. This ensures that each tea cup will get the same kind of thickness of the tea and it's balanced. Look at the color. It should be golden to slightly brown. This is the best color of the tea for oolong / ngam tea.
Time for tasting !! Smell the aroma of the tea first .... if you do smell a strong smell give ur self a pat on the back ! Passed the first test ... test of smell .... Then slowly sip it .... take a small sip. It's pretty much like classical music. First you will taste the bitterness with a small note of frutiness at the back then slowly the the fruity smell will emerge from the back while the bitterness fades to the background. I can almost hear some of the detractors out there saying "that's why I hate chinese tea ... it's bitter". Well to this people I can only say bro you have been definitely taking the wrong tea all this time. The bitterness here fades to the background to reveal a fruity taste. I bet the bitterness you have tasted just sits on the tongue ... and that most prolly meant that you were taking some cheap chinese tea during chinese weddings and such. Those types of tea from chinese restaurants are what I would call the paria of chinese tea and the leaves are usually soaked overnight. In my years of drinking chinese tea made by my own hands ... it has never just tasted bitter and tasteless. Take as much time as possible for this stage as .... this is the best part of the process.... enjoyment of the tea...slowly sip it and you will be amazed at the variety of smells packed into such a small leaf. This is when the rm 100 ++ won't seem so much anymore.... If the smell does change as I described give yourself the second pat as you have passed the second test ... test of taste. Don't be discouraged if you don't notice the change of smell as it will take time and practice to get it right .... if you have any probs don't hesitate to give some comments and I will show you how to do it if i get the chance ... sorry too if this entry has a lot of errors in them i am hurrying to enjoy my tan chong ... good luck !!
Yesterday I was really fucked up coz I had a scruff with one of the dumb ass cock sucking bitches in the office here .There was some dumb assed competition that was going to be held in the office and she basically got fucked with my department and let it out on me. The worst part for me was the fact that she picked on me because I was the easiest to pick on as I was the youngest on the team. What ensued was a few embarassing moments for me as the BITCH just ignored me in amongst our colleagues as I asked her some stuff... I thought sleeping on matters would have made it better but waking up this morning a gnawing in my brain made matters even worse. I realise that I am also like that dumb assed cock sucking BITCH because I remembered that I have done this to someone before too !! What a way to start the morning .... The good thing though is ... I am still in close contact with this friend of mine.
This blog brings you the live apology :
chern_hsing: yes?
sorcerer_low: ah chern hsing u are here
sorcerer_low: there is something i need to talk to you about
chern_hsing: yes
sorcerer_low: yesterday one of the bitches ... in my office picked on me
sorcerer_low: because I was easy to pick on
sorcerer_low: and then when i thought about it
sorcerer_low: i realised something
chern_hsing: yes?
sorcerer_low: I did the same thing to you last time
sorcerer_low: remember the incident where i scolded you instead of mohan and ditesh ?
chern_hsing: ?
sorcerer_low: I am sorry chern hsing
chern_hsing: on gregorian calendar, today ain't April Fool's Day right?
sorcerer_low: no i am serious
sorcerer_low: there was once we were doing a project then i scolded you coz we were running late
sorcerer_low: you asked me why i did not scold mohan / ditesh
sorcerer_low: the real reason is because u were the easier one to pick on
sorcerer_low: now that someone else has done the same to me i realise it feels like fuck
sorcerer_low: and it's a fucking bad thing to do to a friend
sorcerer_low: So I am sorry for doing it to you mate
chern_hsing: alright
chern_hsing: i forgive you
chern_hsing: though its irresponsible to forgive someone for things i have already forgot
chern_hsing: nvm
Took this chat without his knowledge ... so hope he doesn't mind ...
This blog publicly apologises to Lee Chern Hsing for being an asshole.
Week after week I watch Everybody loves Raymond and it really impresses me how good that series actually is, so much so it deserves a special mention on da olde blog here ... Watching raymond is like reading a really good introspective blog about aging relationships and getting in terms with aging and being comfortable with your partner of many years and also the fear of being too comfortable with your partner of many years. It really surprises me how the series is going from strength to strength focusing itself on the issues of everyday lives. The boring mundaness of life is the source of the show's humour. The issues explored here are real issues that partners face everyday such as not being able to talk to your gf or wife about your work and not really being interested in each other's lives .. issues brought to life in a very amusing way by the comic genius of Ray Romano. Today's episode starts out analysing how couples that have been together for a long time settle into a rigid routine and no longer have anything to talk about but ends in a warm way by suggesting that couples become like because they no longer need words to communicate with each other as they are so used to each other and complement each other so well. Of course those who watch the show should just expect Ray's parents to throw a monkey wrench into the whole works ...
Heavy issues in aging marriages such as the earlier passion of couples slowly settling into the daily sex routine and the fears of couples when they realise this fact are fleshed out so effectively by Ray as he attempts to analyse these issues with an everyday man's perspective. Couples who have been together for a long time or who are settling into a marriage life will definitely be able to indentify with the issues being analysed. This blog doesn't do sitcom reviews. This blog just says that It loves Raymond too .. =)
There has been extra discussions going on after the chat ... please look after the chat =)
The chat has it all ....
Legend :
scortum2 : owner of this blog
crass292 : the unwitting co-author of this entry
scortum2 (12:28 AM) :
hey i wanna ask you something totally unrelated
scortum2 (12:28 AM) :
u ready ?
crass292 (12:28 AM) :
sure go for it
scortum2 (12:29 AM) :
you know how we guys look at women clothing color and all right ?
scortum2 (12:29 AM) :
and it sometimes turns us on ?
crass292 (12:29 AM) :
clothing color
crass292 (12:29 AM) :
?
scortum2 (12:30 AM) :
do you think animals notice the mate's fur ?
crass292 (12:31 AM) :
depends on the animal
crass292 (12:31 AM) :
but in many cases yes
scortum2 (12:31 AM) :
wat animal?
crass292 (12:31 AM) :
peacocks
scortum2 (12:32 AM) :
u mean u think peacocks notice their mates colors ?
crass292 (12:33 AM) :
well the females do of the males
crass292 (12:33 AM) :
in most species the male is the pretty one, to attract females
scortum2 (12:33 AM) :
usually the make themselves like look big and all
scortum2 (12:33 AM) :
but i wonder if the color of the mates ... um turns them on
crass292 (12:34 AM) :
well I think that studies suggest that animals in general get not pleasure from sex
crass292 (12:34 AM) :
I think its merely instinctual
scortum2 (12:35 AM) :
oh man
scortum2 (12:35 AM) :
we got it good then ...
scortum2 (12:35 AM) :
p00r animals man ...
crass292 (12:35 AM) :
hehe, I'm not sure about that
crass292 (12:35 AM) :
in fact I wish I had no sex drive
scortum2 (12:36 AM) :
sometimes i see chickens whopping at it and I can swear they enjoy it
crass292 (12:36 AM) :
it would free me to think about more important things
crass292 (12:36 AM) :
hehe
scortum2 (12:37 AM) :
bet animals don have pr0n too
scortum2 (12:38 AM) :
i mean like i wonder if they get turned on like watching other of their species havin' a go at it
crass292 (12:38 AM) :
I seriously doubt it
crass292 (12:38 AM) :
because they have no pleasure sensor for that
scortum2 (12:38 AM) :
why live life then ? ....
scortum2 (12:38 AM) :
ugh ...
crass292 (12:38 AM) :
to replicate
crass292 (12:39 AM) :
I don't think the purpose of life for me is to have sex though =P
scortum2 (12:39 AM) :
this is beginning to sound like a bad terminator pron movie
Ahh now that I am free, I am ready to discuss this further. I have always wondered what animals see in each other ( potential mates I mean ). Do the outer attributes like color of the fur, the shape of the patterns of the floor matter to them ? In short do animals take into consideration of how good their mates look. We humans, generally look for the more beautiful looking or attractive looking among us to be potential mates ( boyfriends,girlfriends the like ) ."Waaahhh chun la that chick".."ooohhhhh he is so cute" are among the norms you hear everyday. It got me thinking while looking at my dogs one day wether they do the same thing .... wonder if that d00d thinks like "ooohhhh that is one sexy bitch ... look at her fur ..... so beautiful" ... I wonder ... if based on my friend's above chat with me that animal desires are at the instinct level. my dog macha would more prolly be thinking along lines like "ooohhh I feel horny now just smelling her she is in heat". I am like thinking .. oh man if that is all you feel then woi brother you are missing on a whole great deal of the package ... look at those dovey eyes weh, those long sexy legs .. long long seductive tail. Woi what is this just concentrating on smelling her pussy la woi ... cunninglus can come later la ... She keeps her fur tidy and neatly licked and that is all you can see ah ? She most prolly wasted as much time grooming herself as human girls waste money buying the latest Armani clothing and all you do when you come to her is go straight to smell her privates ? Come on boy ! She might as well had been spending the time grooming up her pussy for all that matter.How could you choose that disease infected bitch down the street who is in heat over the beautiful bitch next door ?? Euucchhh !! Man I got a good mind to give you some good olde bashing you crazy stud !!
Then would this also mean that the concept of love does not exist among animals ? There exists animals that spend the rest of their biological lives with one mate. I wonder if this is because of some biological programming or do they actually feel "love" for each other ? I bet animals just think of humping most of the time ( that is also like most of the male population in humans ) I guess the only difference is that most of use also desire companionship and some warmth to come with the package. I tell you animals are the true stud of the planet !
Reading about Thiru's attempt to list down a 100 things about himself, I felt compelled to do the same thing but with slighty harder edge to it. I wanted to garner the guts to list down a 100 things about me that I did not want the world to know about me. The reason I want to do this has to do with my wanting to better myself. Putting myself into a sieve to find a better self at the other end. This usually not easy and involves pain as it involves facing parts of me that I sometimes prefer hidden. Looking at my past enteries about myself though made me realise that I have been doing just that... listing out stuff I wouldn't want others to know about me... at intervals.. Things I don't want others to know about me are usually darker secrets and stuff that I feel ashamed about. Cobwebs and dustballs i want to rip through to find the better me ...
The first step towards the betterment of myself I feel would be to overcome denial. Telling and discussing with other people about my short comings, fears, secrets is the best way for me to tear away with the layer of denial my consicousness has built to protect my fragile ego. Once I have brought it out in the open by speaking it out ( no matter how painful the process ), it's out in the open and it becomes easier for me to deal with as I can see it as a short coming and it no longer just resides in the darker regions of my head. This is where this blog comes in. My appreciation for this blog increases as I begin to reveal more and more of myself. It gives me the courage to reveal the secrets *without* the uncomfortable feeling of actually talking to another person. There is no ego to protect. It's just me and this blog. The biggest hurdle for me to reveal and to turn myself inside out is the feeling that I have got an image to protect, to be nice .. there is none of that here...
Axl Rose ( Don't Damn Me ):
Don't Damn Me and don't idolize the ink,
Or I failed in my intention can find the missing link,
Your only validation is in living your own life,
A voracious existence is a fucking waste of time,
So I sing this song to the offended I said what I could and I never pretended,
As so many others do intending just to please,
If I damn your point of view could you turn the other cheek ...
I am on a journey of self discovery and betterment, on this blogs are recorded the first steps ...
Strangely tonight there seems to be some gnawing in my head. I guess I have to put it down here for this ghost to rest in peace. All forms of religions in our world now promises a hell or heaven waiting for us once we check out of this world. In heaven we will be rewarded for all the good deeds we have done in the world and or course there is a hell for all our misdeeds. There is however one aspect to the punishment that is not mentioned in any of the religions. Memories of our misdeeds will be part of our punishment. The memories of our deeds in the form of guilt cuts into my psyche each time the memory is replayed like slicing a blade through an open wound. Guilt has a funny way of perserving the freshness of the memories. Each time my deed is replayed in my head, it is as though it just happened yesterday. Should I mention the incident that happen to me that has followed me all through the years ? I guess I will since I want this blog to put some of my ghost to rest ( hopefully ) by being as forthright as possible in it. ( Membuka pekung di dada ? )
It happened when I was quite young ( standard 3 I think ). I am not really sure of the age. At this age I was spared the pain of seeing anyone die of any serious illnesses in my family. My grandmother died of stomach cancer and the only recollection I have of that was two chinese spitoons used to fill her vomit. I guess you could say that I don't know how to "act" or how to bring myself about during bad times involving relatives as I had little or close to nothing of experience in this kind of situations.
My second aunty ( I have 6 all together ) was and still is one of my favourite aunties. During my younger days we ( my mother,sister and me ) used to visit her in KL. She would bring us all around KL. What I remember distinctly though was that I was one of her favourite nephews and she doted on me. Fate however cruelly cut her life short. My second aunty suffered from a cancerous growth in one of her bones. The cancer was discovered too late as the bone shielded the cancer from being detected during X-rays. I felt a difference on this last trip to visit her. My mom was mostly silent and morose most of the time. I didn't know why, the only news I heard was that my aunty "wasn't feeling well". In my head, "wasn't feeling well" was just someone being sick and they would eventually recover. I thought this "wasn't feeling well" was like my bout of flu. It was beyond me why everyone was being silent and a few times I caught a few of my other relatives receding to some dark corner with their eyes red. I really failed to grasp the gravity of the situation and acted my selfish normal self. Being close to my mom I felt that she did not spend enough time with me. In my stupid little head I was being jealous.
Anyway matters came to a boil in one incident when I saw my aunty vomitting and I went like "yuuuchhh !!" quite loudly. Writing this is causing me to cringe as I feel the memory of this is still painfully embedded in my head after all these years. The jarring slap that came after my outburst all those years ago failed to make me realise the gravity or the seriousness of my actions. Later however as time passed I began to realise what I did and how bad it really was but there was just no place for me to beg for forgiveness, my aunty had succumbed to her cancer shortly after. At one time I thought that the "punishment" for our misdeeds would come in some physical form or some kind of torture like the kind you read about in those little malay magazines like "wawancara" and it's kins. However, now I know that punishment comes in the form of the memory that keeps on playing like a broken record in my head every time I think of my aunty. The pain that she felt hearing her favourite nephew saying something so hurtful. Spitting out words that belittled her suffering. I have talked to my mom and oja5 regarding this and they assure me that my aunty has forgiven me in her own way since she loved me alot but it is no redemption. Everytime I am alone and I start to think about my aunty this image of her looking up straight at me from her death bed is like a thorn in my memory digging deeper and deeper and slowly without realising it a tear trickles down my cheeks. Writing this entry though has made me realise that I am purposely keeping the memory fresh as my guilt will not premit me to let it go. I have done something wrong and I have to atone for it, so I guess this is my way of punishing myself. Because I can never get to say " I am really sorry for being such an arse" to my aunty I guess I would live with the pain of this memory for the rest of my days. It will rest the day when I meet up with her again.
This entry with all it's bad grammar and rambles is dedicated to my aunty. If I could be infront of you now I would just hug u tight and cry the tears I have wept alone all these years. I am really sorry. These are personal thoughts that I am penning down and though some may question my intentions of putting this down here ... It's just my way of letting it out. My electronic scream....
Great News !! The BDBAK ( Braincell Deficient Bikers Association of Kuantan ) are holding our weekly meeting this Sunday again along Jalan Telok Sisek heading up to Telok Chempedak. The objective of the meeting again like all our other meetings are to wake up all the people all along this street. For unintiated new members this will be done by spending rm 80's to put in pieces of metal into the exhaust of our motor bikes. This pieces of metal serves no purpose but to make our motorbikes noisy and the lives of the people who live along the streets misarable. Although there were some complaints in the past of members of this spoiling their motor bikes and later having to spend **more** money to make the exhaust silent again but these reports were remote and unfounded, besides we are lacking in braincells remember ? So quit complaining !
Items :
Members should all bring their kapchais armed with the noisy exhaust pipes but strictly no brains can be used during activities.
Issues :
Although we have stressed many times that members shouldn't be having too much braincells coming to meetings there are still those who are adamant who bring more than half a brain during meetings. This rule is actually for the benefit of the members as some of our activities are so dumb ass that having more than half a brain will impede with the progression of these activities. This time to be sure we have supplied ample amounts of glue for participants of activities . Anyone who feels that their brain is a bit high on braincells count can get a sniff or two of these glue prior to our activities. We hope that this time around participants will adhere to the rule of not bringing too much braincells to the activities as we all want our activities to succeed.
Following on the vein of the post prior to this I am having a blast with my mom translating some well known sayings to english ...see if you can spot em before you see the originals ...
It's taboo to die before you are dead ..
Pantang ajal sebelum maut
You are like the peanut forgetting it's shell ..
Seperti kacang lupakan kulitnya
If there is any winter melon or bean curd with my family i am gonna kill you ( This one is a chinese saying )
Tong Kua Tau Fu
Not 3 not 4 ( chinese saying to denote nonsensical )
mm sam mm sei
Ah my work is 77,88 ( chinese saying to denote near completion )
chat chat pat pat
Haiyo you are very naughty skin not sticking to the bones !! ( hokkien saying to denote someone who is very mischevious )
pui mm tuo kuk
When you do anything don't do it like the heat from chicken faeces
Hangat-hangat tahi ayam
Waa you lying to me ah ... like Telling a lie about the ghost eating bean curd
Ngak Kuai Sek Tauhu
The couple really looks good Like an oil palm split in two Seperti pinang di belah dua
Sorry hehe some of the sayings here require the reader to understand some chinese to really enjoy them ... but I really had a blast writing them down !!
I had a chat with a friend of mine, Glenn ( <-- sorry he doesn't blog sure wish he does though ) who lives Austin Texas regarding the expresssion that Asians embue in the everyday conversations. He couldn't really understand why "lah","mah","leh","ler"'s are so liberally sprinkled all over our everyday conversations even during chat sessions. He wanted to know what those words actually mean ... and I was stumped really. It's so much of my everyday conversation that I don't normally think about it. The words really had no meaning and were just there as conversation sugar to make the sentences sound nicer. "Penyedap ayat" as people in Malaysia would call it. He wasn't really satisfied with that answer and I don't really blame him because it did not sound right to me too. Digging deeper to find the meaning I finally told him what I found to be the closest meaning to the words that is it has no meaning but it has a role in everyday spoken conversation that is to give emphasis to certain sentences. So, while english sentences uses the punctuation mark "!!" to place emphasis on sentences, asian languages have sounds in place of that.
While telling him this I realised how rich actually asian languages are, what with our "Here lohhhh !!" and "Sapadiyaaaa". This versus the coldness and preciseness of the true english language, is like comparing normal cooked tap water to cup of oolong or puerh. There is just no comparison. Asian languages are just so much more richer in terms of marrying the context or the word with feelings. Search as I did I just couldn't find an equivalent of english sentences that does this .... Now my friend in US too uses "lah" occasionally in his chat sentences and it never fails to make me smile... even sometimes he goes to extent of calling his blogger friend here "macha" and the world again becomes smaller by a few hundred miles =)
Just saw one of those local animated series called Keluang Man. The thing about the cartoon is it might as well has been called Rigor Mortis Man instead of Keluang Man as all the characters in the cartoon were moving as though they were all suffering from a bad case of rigor mortis. Our local animated scene has been around for quite some time. It saddens me to see the state that the industry is in. While the story lines has definitely improved, the animation has largely stagnated and is still quite wooden and rigor mortic. At one time only one part of the character will be moving. It's like those ancient cartoon featuring Super Man / Captain America where only the arm of the characters will be moving in one frame with the silly "BLAM" ,"SLAM" dialogs to replace lack of animation !
When you watch these local series you get this disjointed feeling as though the cartoon and the voices behind them do not move in one. The expressive voices behind the wooden characters are practically crying out for more dynamic moving characters ! I am just sitting cringing looking at the unmoving eyes ... the static hands. I can just imagine the cartoons in the series thinking "Why the heck is it that only my mouth can move during my talking scenes ???". Cartoons while aimed at the younger crowd, still can be a useful tool to carry messages across to it's viewers. So come on buck up d00ds / d00dettes ! Look at genre redifining series like Simpsons, Futurama, Samurai Jack and Power Puff girls even who have managed to transcend their simple medium to entertain young as well as old and in the same time effectively carrying their message across. These series have managed to merge the story telling with the animation so well that their characters have depth. Something our local animators have to look into.The characters definitely do not have to be very beautiful looking ( read South Park ) or have fancy animation tricks behind them. Just make the story blend well with the animation. In south park the conversation as well as the story lines involving the main characters fits the mood of the cartoon so much that you laugh at the story not at the woodenness of the characters. You expect them to move and talk that way. The success of the south park series is living testament that you do need fancy / complicated animation to carry a good plot. The animation has to fit the story line. If the story line requires action, please don't put the lead as Mr. Ri Gor Mortis ... you know those kind of things.
I know for a fact that Malaysia is not lacking in terms of technical expertise in this field. I have even seen their unedited work and talk to these people during my Uni days. So what is still stiff stuff that I still see on the tube ? I have enjoyed watching good olde cartoons ever since I was just a kid and continue to enjoy a show or two of these uncomplicated fun machines. Just pure enjoyment. So come on guys and gals !! Come up with a series on our local tube that forces the writer of this blog to redefine what he currently thinks of the local animation scene !! That is my challenge to you.
