Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Winter Melon from the herb garden (buah kundur)

A nice, ripe and perfect specimen of a winter melon was harvested from the school herbal garden.

This catering teacher readily holds it up for me to take a picture

Later he will cook it at his catering class

He says he is posing like the reclining Buddha with melon.

Next, I will show you the school vegetable or herb garden (taman herba)

Orange Teachers: Orange Theme For Staff Photo

This year's colour scheme for the staff photo is orange: last year it was purple.

HM in orange and jacket

with Lim

Orange tudung

orange prints and florals

orange shirts

orange punjabi suit and baju kurung

do you know that these 2 rows will be superimposed on the main photo due to lack of space?

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Nicholas Tse wins Best Actor for "Stool Pigeon"

Today, Sunday, I managed to catch a Hong Kong movie on 311 channel "STOOL PIGEON". Normally, I would be sending my daughter for her dance classes but today, it has been moved forward to 9.30 so I was home in the early afternoon and watched the show. I was taken in by the car chase scene ...so realistic and exciting, had me gripping the edge of my seat!!! Then it got very gory and bloody with Nicholas Tse and Taiwan actress Kwai Lun Mei fighting off baddies with their bare hands!! What I did not know was that Nicholas has won the Best Actor award for that role!!! To tell you the truth, I also have not heard of this movie "Stool Pigeon"!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stool_Pigeon_(2010_film)

The Stool Pigeon is 2010 Hong Kong action film directed by Dante Lam and starring Nicholas Tse, Nick Cheung and Kwai Lun-mei. The film is about police detective Don Lee who uses informants to gain information about gangsters. Lee feels begins to feel guilty when his informants are caught, but sends out a street racer named Ghost (Nicholas Tse) as an informant to gain information about a gangster name Barbarian (Lu Yi).
The film was released in China on August 24 and two days later in Hong Kong. The film performed very well in the Hong Kong box office. The film has received mixed reviews.

What I saw in the Star today:

Tuesday April 19, 2011

Little movie, big win

By MIN LEE

http://ecentral.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/4/19/movies/8505104&sec=movies
Action comedy Gallants named Hong Kong’s best film.
HONG Kong’s annual film awards on Sunday honoured a sentimental favourite with its top prize – a quirky, low-budget action comedy about a kung fu master who briefly wakes up from a 30-year coma to train two ageing students and two newcomers.
The US$643,200 (RM1.9mil) production Gallants beat out better-funded and more star-studded movies for the top prize at the 30th Hong Kong Film Awards, including the John Woo-produced kung fu thriller Reign Of Assassins, which starred former Bond girl Datuk Michelle Yeoh; Ip Man 2, the biopic headlined by action star Donnie Yen, and veteran Hong Kong director Tsui Hark’s lavish fantasy epic Detective Dee And The Mystery Of The Phantom Flame.
It was sweet vindication for Hong Kong superstar Andy Lau and his producer, actor Lam Ka-tung, the driving forces behind the long-shot project. Gallants was also beloved by local critics, clinching best picture and best actor at the Hong Kong Film Critics Society’s annual awards earlier this year.

Beautiful people: Hong Kong stars Nicholas Tse and Carina Lau win the Best Actor award for his role in The Stool Pigeon and Best Actress award for her role in Detective Dee And The Mystery Of The Phantom Flame.

Tsui, one of Hong Kong’s most versatile filmmakers whose credits range from comedy to action and animation, however, didn’t go home empty-handed. He won best director and the actress he cast as an ancient Chinese empress in Detective Dee, Carina Lau, took best actress honours.
Nicholas Tse, who played a reluctant informant in police thriller The Stool Pigeon, was named best actor, prevailing in a deep field that included veterans Chow Yun-fat and Tony Leung Ka-fai and past winner Nick Cheung, Tse’s co-star in The Stool Pigeon.
Gallants producer Lam, co-directors Derek Kwok and Clement Cheng leapt up and hugged cast members when the best picture award was announced. Kwok jumped and pumped his fist in the air.
“I really don’t care about how many honours Gallants wins. The most important thing is the spirit and meaning behind the movie – it’s the spirit of Hong Kong people, the spirit of Hong Kong movies,” Lam said.
Kwok repeated the line that was the kung fu master’s mantra in the movie: “If you don’t fight you won’t lose, but if you fight you must try to win.”
“That’s the spirit of the Hong Kong movie industry,” Kwok said.
Gallants also swept the supporting role awards, with Teddy Robin, who played the martial arts teacher, and veteran actress Susan Shaw, winning in their respective categories. The multitalented Robin picked up a second award for co-writing the movie’s score with Tommy Wai.
Tsui, who is known for his work ethic, thanked his crew.
“I have this reputation for working both cast members and crew members very hard,” Tsui said, “I wanted them to win more than me. They worked much harder than I did.”

Singaporean Hanjin Tan clinches the Best New Performer award for his role in Bruce Lee, My Brother.

Tsui’s crew was also duly recognised on Sunday night at the Hong Kong Cultural Center.
Detective Dee, which stars Andy Lau as an ancient Chinese official who investigates a series of mysterious deaths by fire, also dominated the technical categories, winning for best art direction, best costume and makeup design, best sound design and best visual effects.
Tse, who has transformed himself from brash pop star to serious actor in recent years, thanked his wife, actress Cecilia Cheung, and his father, veteran actor Patrick Tse, for tolerating his rebellious behaviour. The younger Tse saw his career briefly derailed by criminal charges after a driver took the fall for a 2002 car accident he was involved in.
“I hope you forgive the impolite kid who had no sense of perspective. To be able to raise such a troublesome kid and still face the public with smiles, you are the real best actor dad. I’m sorry,” Tse said.

A chance to join in royal nuptials for RM75,000!

Guess what I read in the STAR today? They are organising a tour to England to join the wedding of Prince William and Kate......for RM75,000!!! For that price, one would expect to marry a Prince!!

Tuesday April 19, 2011

A chance to join in royal nuptials

THE Wedding of the Century will be broadcast live and watched by maybe two billion people.

No non-governmental Malaysians have come forward brandishing the coveted invitation cards but more than 1,900 will receive one. The recipients will range from top British dignitaries to Governor-Generals and prime ministers of the Commonwealth.
Only 600 will be invited to Buckingham Palace for a lunch hosted by Queen Elizabeth II and this will be whittled down to 300 for the gala dinner.
However, all is not lost. For around RM75,000, you can enjoy a surreal royalist experience by meeting royals and visiting homes connected to the British Royal Family.
Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London is offering an exclusive, extravagant and expensive Royal Wedding Tour, taking in Kensington Palace, home of Princess Diana; Chartwell, home of Sir Winston Churchill; Althorp where Princess Diana is buried; Spencer House in London; and, of course, Westminster Abbey, the wedding’s venue.

Ring side seats: The Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park in London is offering the chance to catch the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton in London with a host of extras thrown in.

More importantly, you get to meet what the hotel describes euphemistically as ‘first-hand family members and associates of the Royal Family’.
This Royal Wedding Tour starts on April 26 when you check into Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park followed by welcome drinks and dinner.
The next day you will be driven to Chartwell, Sir Winston Churchill’s home in Kent where you will be welcomed by a member of the Churchill clan.
In the evening, depart for Spencer House, home of the Spencer family whose most famous member was Princess Diana.
Designed on a grand scale, Spencer House is London’s only surviving 18th century private palace.
Situated in the heart of St James’s, it is a short distance from St James Palace, Buckingham Palace and Parliament House.
Enjoy drinks on the great terrace overlooking Green Park followed by tour and dinner.
On April 28, the eve of Prince William’s wedding, start the morning with a hefty cultural dose by visiting British Museum. Lunch at The Wallace Collection, a national museum in a historic house with 25 galleries.
Dinner will be at the home of a member of the Royal Family at their private London townhouse. The identity remains secret but you should get your money’s worth as this is one of the highlights.
The wedding day, April 29
You did not fly all the way from Kuala Lumpur to watch them tie the marital knot on television or battle the peasants lining the route.

So it is off to the Institute of Contemporary Art where you will assemble at the roof terrace armed with champagne, binoculars and cameras where you will bask in the spring sunshine high above the baying crowd struggling below.
Around 10am or so, Katherine Middleton will pass The Mall below you enroute to Westminster Abbey by car. The Dean of Westminster will conduct the service.
The newlyweds Prince William and now Princess Kate will return to Buckingham Palace on the same route in a glass carriage. As they pass below you, toast the couple and revel in history in the making.
In the evening, you and fellow guests will be whisked off to Kensington Palace, home of Princess Diana which is the next best venue since her son is celebrating at nearby Buckingham Palace. Drinks are served in the sunken garden. Curator Nigel Arch will take you on a personal tour and dinner will be in the newly restored Kings Gallery.
The day after, April 30
First thing is to visit the venue where you were forbidden to enter the day before — Westminster Abbey.
Not as a gawking tourist but in the presence of the Dean of Westminster. With a little luck he might regale you of what transpired during the ceremony and gala wedding dinner.
After lunch, visit the designer of Princess Kate’s wedding gown as by now the whole world will know his identity. Order a frock or buy one off the rack so you can come home and boast of being the first Malaysian to wear a baju from Princess Katherine’s designer.
Dinner at the hotel’s internationally acclaimed dinner by Heston Blumenthal will follow.
May Day
May Day starts with a trip to Northamptonshire for lunch at Althorp, the palatial ancestral home of Princess Diana. Visit the exhibition ‘Diana Princess of Wales’. Stroll through the park and see the small island in the middle of a lake where she is buried.
The highlight is the lunch hosted by a member of the Spencer family, said to be one of Princess Diana’s sisters Sarah or Jane or younger brother Charles.
For details on the Royal Wedding Tour Package, go to www.mandarinoriental.com/london

Maybe I can join this....but, it is a school day.....
For those on a smaller budget, British High Commissioner Simon Featherstone and his wife Gail will host a Prince William and Kate Wedding Party on April 29.
The venue is the Grand Ballroom of Intercontinental hotel (formerly Nikko) opposite Ampang Park.
There will be a live broadcast of the wedding on giant screens as it occurs in London.
The price — RM150 per person inclusive of buffet dinner and three drinks. RM100 for children and soft drinks. Dress code is wedding attire or national dress.
Contact Charlotte 03-2170 2379.

My New Perfume: Paco Rabanne One Million

Congratulations!

You have won the "Paco Robanne" contest

Haven't won any new perfumes for quite a while....and this is my newest:

Paco Rabanne One Million in gold packaging

The smell? very masculine, so it is now on son's dressing table.......

Justin Bieber Concert at Stadium Negara

Justin Bieber has come and gone, and the hype surrounding him has since died down somewhat. Luckily my tween daughter is uncannily matured in that she does not care two hoots about him nor does she understand what others see in him. So I did not try to get (or win) tickets to his concert. Just as well: Look at the crowd below outside Stadium Negara, that is near my old school, MBS....

I would have to bring her and I would be jostling with people like this! Not to mention battling the Friday evening traffic jam, and then the rains! You know KL's notorious thunderstorms...one flash of lightning is enough to fell trees and cause a standstill!
Poeple started lining up at 4 and he appeared only at 8.45 pm.

I am very touched, he brought his girlfriend Selena Gomez along.

Selena looking tanned and casual and dressed down, trying to hide her face.

Tickets to his show are very expensive! Even in the blue zone (RM498 tickets I think) you can hardly see him!

Ticket Prices For Justin Bieber's Concert In KL
Tickets to Justin Bieber's concert in Kuala Lumpur are priced at RM98, RM188, RM288, RM358 and RM498.

And it rained!!!! Luckily, raincoats were provided!!!

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Only In China

Looks like a temporary traffic light or removable traffic light because of the wheels (if and when needed) or when the situation arises for a need of one!

nothing strange about hanging clothes at the window, Malaysian flat dwellers do that all the time

but...a penchant for red under-garments? Maybe CNY is round the corner

Mothers with babes in arms. One babe is breastfeeding, the other babe has his booties showing

another boy who has split pants (makes you wonder, the most vital part to be protected from the cold is actually exposed so blatantly and vulnerably

bacon on the go

double decker to transport as many as humanely possible

except that it does not seem humane

this dog knows where to get his lunch

At first I thought, oh no! I have chosen the wrong cubicle, mine has the door vandalised!

then I saw: every door has a cut-out hole, the owner has painstakingly sawn out a square in each door

do you have the guts to use this toilet? Every which way you turn, you will have your front or back in full view of everyone, might as well not have the door or wall (taken in the men's toilet)

homeless women enjoying her lunch by the sidewalk, oblivious to stares. Later, she picked up all her worldly baggages and went on her way.

this beggar is all but prostrate on the wet and muddy sidewalk, he stayed that way for hours

can you count how many geese? Gravity defying and balance challenging. Those at the bottom of the cage must have been squashed, if not suffocated.

Another one that defies gravity, old man shows you what recyling is all about.

Friday, April 22, 2011

China Signs: Warm Tips and Warm Reminders

English in China suffers from the "Lost in Translation" syndrome and "interference of mother-tongue" or simply put: the nuance of the language and subtle points are just missed.

this is found in the taxi: Only ladies and children are allowed to sit in front

if you are not done with "surferring" you can borrow the personal handyphone!

Swank Lady meets Pizazz Boy!

Luckily not cuckoo

I honestly do not know what this is selling!!

Warm Tips to exhort you not to do drugs, gamble or indulge in porn!

More warm reminders: this one is in perfect English and faultless spelling at the Airport

You have to "keeping" off the grass, but you can smoke here!

you will never see this sign in Malaysia!

In the hotel rooms they have this baffling pictures with moral values.

"the ass ways his ears" I have analysed and synthesised this phrase and I have come to the conclusion: I do not know what it means.

Remember to catch happiness when it flies by you.

The real happiness of life doesn't come form a huge fortune but from the feelings of your heart......(good advice!)

After passing so many of these signs, I manage to capture one, there was also "Do not drive drunkenly" and "Do not drive hurriedly" besides "Do not drive tiredly".