Yasmin Ahmad started life as a Man

I first knew Yasmin was a man at a party in Kinrara when one of the Kinrara neighbours who works in Astro as a voice-over talent told us about it

This is a picture of Yasmin  when he (then known as Zulkiflee Ahmad)  won the second place in the singing contest of the 70's Bintang RTM........

This is Yasmin when she chose to be a woman....she was a hermaphrodite........

It really doesn't matter whether she is a boy or girl, the fact remains that she was talented and had a knack for making adverts that had you in knots.

Ke Panggung Sky, Sky Cinema,Hotel City Villa (Asia Hotel)

When I attended a final ULBS course (to tablulate up all the marks) at ancient Hotel City Villa, fomerly known as Asia Hotel right smack in Kampung Batu ( the last  Malay Village within a city), I discovered a very strange signage while going to my car in the old, old, old carpark (so old that it reminded me of the hotel in Cambodia...where everything was un refurbished and untouched.......

It read: To Sky Cinema......

This is the sign that disturbed me: Ke Panggung Sky.....on the wall of an abandoned staircase...
Everything looked so dreary and eerie, ....do I dare to check it out??????I FOLLOWED the arrow!!! I am so brave, but, wth, it is 1.30 in the afternoon, no ghosts will spook me right?



It really was a cinema, the Sky Cinema: in its heyday, it must have been frequented by Ah Bengs and Ah Lians......The First Class ticketing counter

The reserved class was for those who pak thor or dated....what they call 'making out' now?

I remembered when  we were kids, we always looked at stills of coming shows "NEXT CHANGE"

We queued up to buy tickets at turnstiles like these!!!! I remembered in Batu Pahat, once, I realised that I had never had the experience of queueing up to buy movie tickets. So I went early and was No 1, and the ticket window was still closed.  A crowd built up. Then it opened. And it happened. The crowd surged forward. I found myself pinned against the poles, my cheeks flattened on patterned ramps (I was very short). I could have died, trampled and with my last breath squeezed out of my lifeless body.  I honestly did not know how I got out.  I only know I did not manage to see that show. And that it was my first and last time buying tickets!!! My brother did all the buying for me after that!!!!

Picture, if you will, people milling around here, socialising and waiting for the next show to start, must have been quite a happening place!

Spine-chilling and sssssccccarryyyyyy now!  So deserted!....Only the jaga napping on a canvas bed.

 

This staircase looked absolutely spooky and if it were not in the middle of the day I would have run for my life!!!

Stacks of old movie posters..all in chinese...must have a chinese cinema.."spring", "eastern....story"....Heavenly dreams.......I only know a smattering of  Mandarin!!!!

Ironical title......Dreams in Heaven......now everything is but a dream

This marble floor tile must have been quite a novelty in those days...it looks well trodden , now Untrodden...If you are doing a project or thesis on old cinema, or even ghost story or indie, go to this place now, before it is demolished and flattened forever, like all those stand-alone cinema in town.  This is appropriately named Sky Cinema, because it was situated on the top floor of a hotel, a good idea once upon a time ........Fast forward to the future: I will post a picture of GSC at Pavillion when I find the pic!!!

Flavours-California Raisins Baking Workshop

Attended a cooking workshop today....sponsored by Star, Flavours magazine, California raisins and Ajinomoto....This is what we learned
 i.Square California Raisin Brioche
 ii.California Raisin Round
 iii.Clafoutis California Raisin Tart



                        Square California Raisin Brioche


               California Raisin Round

           Clafoutis California Raisin Tart

        The Interior of the D'umami Station




         The chef: Chef Yukichi Matsubara




The demo kitchen was at D'umami Station inside the grounds of Ajinomoto Factory, Old Klang Road




There was no hands-on....the chef demonstrated and we watched on two big screen, no going to the front of the kitchen either...very ineffective way of learning to cook eh?





       Yet the place was packed!






This what they served us to eat....very stingy eh, I am used to a more lavish spread!!
My door gifts: Flavours magazines from Star, mugs from California raisins..err I was so kiasu I took 2 comments gifts! so, two mugs,2 sets of mags and 2 recipe books by Chef Wan(not shown)
Love the apron:not any woven apron but real cloth with elaborate embroidered and sewn- on motifs..had to ask a question to get one!