Velvet Sky

My current fav pro-wrestling female. Velvet Sky of TNA Wrestling.

Weekend recap

Line of the weekend: "How many carats are those?" said Chermaine Poo while pointing to my earring

8)

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Friday Night - STYLO Singapore Grand Prix

The former 'STYLO' gang @ the STYLO Singapore Grand Prix thingy.

Sigh. Where's AhNeh, AH Yap, and Adri.

Saturday - Bleh~

Saturday was such a bummer. A failed attempt to the MTV Asia Awards and a cruddy night with the boys at the annual Kiara Jazz Fest. The night's main highlight was us singing 'With Or WIthout You' in the car whilst driving home.

Sunday - Late mass service /1Utama window shopping

After shopping at 1Utama, I found Kara mingling with her sister from Johor. :)

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Thinking of headin' to city centre next weekend. Hmm..

Movie log: Hellraiser - Hellworld

Hellraiser - Hellworld (2005) - 1.5 stars

Directed by the same guy who did the horrible one before this, 'Hellworld' is almost as bad and throws the original Hellraiser concept to the rubbish bin. The tagline states "Evil Goes Online". That in itself already tell what crap we're about to witness. Full of clichè scenes, characters and unnecesary nudity.

Trivia: The script was adapted from a treatment titled "Dark Can't Breathe," which was unrelated to the Hellraiser series.



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"Hellworld"'s lead actress Katheryn Winnick (top) shares a big resemblace to Gossip Girl's Blake Lively (bottom) don't you think?

Serving time, whether guilty or not

An interesting read.

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Serving time, whether guilty or not
by Desmond Ho

The legal maxim that one is innocent until proven guilty does not seem to favour foreign workers who have no relatives in Malaysia and who do not have the money to make bail.

I REMEMBER being intrigued with the phrase “the new poor” used by a Jesuit priest in one of his sharings with me. The new poor refer to those who are destitute, those with needs, those who are suffering.

They are the new poor because only recently are we recognising and beginning to be aware of their existence.

In reality, they have been poor for a long time. It is difficult for society to see and recognise them as the new poor due to the clichéd definition of being poor.

I am amused when friends want to contribute to charity for the poor and immediately think of the financially destitute but are oblivious to the new poor – the migrant workers that they meet every day, whether in the market or down the street.

The plights of migrant workers are numerous but I wish to highlight what may actually happen when a migrant worker is arrested and charged in court for a criminal offence.

The following is an account based on my personal experience in court. (Some particulars however have been changed to protect the migrant worker’s identity.)

Nguyen Thanh Dan (not his real name), a Vietnamese migrant worker, was arrested just after Chinese New Year in February over a fight that occurred in the middle of the night with some Indonesian migrant workers outside his employer’s apartment, where the workers resided, allegedly over some derogatory statements he made about them.

He was immediately charged under section 148 of the Penal Code for possessing weapons or missiles at a riot.

He claimed he was the victim as he was outnumbered and that he merely grabbed a stick to defend himself. He therefore pleaded not guilty and claimed trial. But he had no legal representation. He could not afford one on his meagre salary of RM450 a month.

His employer immediately terminated his employment contract despite him not having been convicted yet, and refused to pay the bail amount of RM5,000.

He has a dilemma at hand now. Either he remains in prison waiting for his trial to complete, which may take six months to a year before a decision is delivered, or plead guilty and leave his mitigated sentence at the mercy of the magistrate.

Even if he waits for his trial to complete and is found innocent and set free, he would have languished in prison and wasted months.

This scenario is all too familiar with lawyers assisting migrant workers charged in court for a criminal offence. That he is a migrant worker necessitates the magistrate imposing a high bail amount to ensure his appearance in court.

Yet the legal maxim that one is innocent until proven guilty does not seem to favour foreign workers who have no relatives in Malaysia and who do not have the money to make bail.

The further requirement of a Malaysian surety makes it even more difficult for him. This forces the unwilling migrant worker to remain in prison.

Therefore, there is the high possibility that even after he is found innocent after a full trial he would have already served six months to a year in prison waiting, which would have been his full sentence if he were found guilty at the end of the trial.

To add to his misery, time is not in his favour as there would be postponements of his trial due to the absence of material witnesses, or unforeseen circumstances.

Every time the trial is delayed, he waits agonisingly to be set free, not knowing he has already been effectively “sentenced” and is serving time. The difficulty of getting a foreign interpreter compounds the delay.

Hence, Malaysians should not so quickly forget the case of Nepalese worker Mangal Bahadur Gurung, who was wrongfully imprisoned in 2006 for 51 days and given one stroke of the rotan after having been mistakenly convicted of entering the country illegally.

For that, he was offered a paltry compensation of RM8,340 by the Government. He has since returned home to his old job as a trekking guide, but is reported to still suffer nightmares whenever he looks back on his days as a migrant worker here.

In fact, the migrant worker comes to work in Malaysia because he sees in this country a greener pasture where he can earn a better living, and hopefully send some money back home.

The unfortunate chance of being arrested and charged in court would effectively lead to the scenario of serving time before being sentenced, and paint a gloomy picture of our country.

I would agree that the migrant workers should go through the same legal system as Malaysians.

However, due to the circumstances that they are in, it is my sincere hope that Malaysians will be able to see and recognise migrant workers as the new poor and assist in any way possible.

When we Malaysians travel abroad to work, are we not also migrant workers susceptible to the laws of a foreign land, and pray for our disadvantages to be recognised, and for justice to be meted out accordingly?

MALAYSIA XI 0 - 2 CHELSEA FC

As predicted, Malaysia lost. But heck did they play well. Yea yea naysayers would say that Chelsea 'gave face' and blablabla but did our boys in yellow and black play impressively. Thanks to Nick, he managed to dig up 4 tickets to the game (which were taken by my dad, his dad, Bruce, and myself).


The last footie match I attended was mediocre and took place around 3 years ago when Newcastle battled Birmingham City in Bukit Jalil for some local cup thingy...(i forget). The best thing about that match was watching the legendary Alan Shearer score. This match was was alot more exciting.

The 50,000 odd crowd

Under the stadium lights

MALAYSIA BOLEH!

Movie log: Sex And The City

Sex And The City (2008) - 4 stars

The movie feels like a compressed/compiled version of a new season (with an almost 2.5 hour run time and story spanning almost 1 year) and it captures the series' essence nicely. Bring this back on TV I say!

Movie log: Hellraiser - Deader

Hellraiser - Deader (2005) - 1.5 stars

Another 'Hellraiser' themed movie (which are more like spin-offs now). Unlike the previous 2, this one is down right insulting to the Hellraiser franchise.

Trivia: The original script by Neal Marshall Stevens had nothing to do with the Hellraiser mythos, but when it was decided that this would be a Hellraiser sequel, Tim Day drastically re-wrote the script, including an almost entirely new third act and plot and making the character of Winter a descendant of the toymaker Lemarchand.

Note: What kind of stupid title is 'Deader' anyway?!

DAUGHTRY

Never in a million years would I imagine that Chris Daughtry (my fav American Idol contestant) would ever make his way down to Malaysia with his four sidekicks (making Daughtry) and rock the night away at a umm..."mixed reviewed" street party in Bandar Utama. I have no idea why the friggin opening acts comprised of 'world/jazz'/RnB/Hiphop' and our own Malaysia Idol(Daniel Lee)'s malay/chinese pop would come before the main event. Personally, it kinda fizzed out the 'rocking' mood for me (and I believe others share the same sentiment). Anyway, lined up in the evening drizzle for about an hour before getting through the gates where they actually frisked you and made you turn in you digital cameras and videocams (WTF?). Had to brave 2 1/2 hours of local crap (Im a supporter of local music btw, but mixing other genres with a full fledged rock band is a big NONO.). If they threw in PopShuvit or Estranged, that wouldve kicked @$$. Not a Malay dude, and a Chinese dude acting all Black and sh*t. Argh.

Daughtry finally came on at 11pm and rocked the night away with great success ;)


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On another note, today I bid farewell to my first ever ADSL Ethernet Modem/Router. Sigh. They say that modems usually last 1-2 years. This Hyundai's 6.

So long buddy...if you were a dog, you'd be 30.

Movie log: Hellraiser - Hellseeker

Hellraiser - Hellseeker (2002) - 2.5 stars

Confusing for the most part, this 'Hellraiser' themed psychological thriller meets with a satisfying end. Pinhead's starting to look like he fills his free time eating too much potato chips though.

Note: An almost direct sequel to Hellraiser 1 & 2.

Movie log: Hellraiser - Inferno

Hellraiser - Inferno (2000) - 3 stars

More of a crime thriller than a Hellraiser film, this addition focuses on a sleazy detective who stumbles upon the puzzle box at a crime scene. Mostitled to the core, 'Inferno' feels as though it was created from two seperate scripts. One featuring a dark character driven morality story, and the other featuring the work of Clive Barker. Craig Sheffer plays the protagonist most excellently. A totally different direction by Derrickson brings the dated Hellraiser theme to the 21st century with an interesting vision. 3 parts crime drama, 1 part hell.


Notes:
*Stars Craig Sheffer! (from Clive Barker's other creation, "NightBreed"(1990))
*Directed by Scott Derrickson, who will direct "The Day The Earth Stood Still" this year
*First Hellraiser movie to come direct to video

Hennessy Artistry w Flo Rida

Hennessy Artistry w PopShuvit, Machi, Flo Rida, etc was a sweet ass event!~ Hennessy all nite long baby! Big woots to the event team and the guy that got me tix, my main man Ni P of Hitz.fm. ;)

*chants*

I LOVE HENNESSY~! I DRINK HENNESSY!

The performers were great! Even though I honestly havent heard og Machi nor Flo Rida's other songs, they 'crunk' things up in da house. Pardon my street talk. Fo shizzle.

Little did I know that I was gonna bump into 2007's Miss Hypertune runner-up, Ms. Natalie Fong

~wOOt.

Had to down a few shots of liquid courage before gathering enough to approach her. I ended up looking like a red-faced doofus.~ Oh well. Better a pic than none at all. LOL

XI

Movie log: Journey To The Center Of The Earth 3D

Journey To The Center Of The Earth 3D (2008) - 2.5 stars

Sunday morning family fun. Watch in 3D if possible.









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Watched Hellboy II after this but knocked out after 15 minutes due to lack of sleep the previous night. Will rewatch again sometime in the future. ~

Ambientic air no more!

After months of declaring Kara's air conditioning system as being 'ambientic' (due to its very weak strength), I finally had it checked out last Saturday. Seemed that all along (since Feb), the frickin' air cond filter was jammed up with dust particles!


All it needed was a quick clean, and the air conditioning was super. My setting at the lowest level was now what used to be at max level!

And now after riding 7000kms, took her for an oil change at the family's "usual" mechanic who is known as Sunny, who does his work at a shabby shack in Sungai Way. Dodgy. Watch for the stupid decline slope out of the workshack that will graze your front bumper if you're not careful.

Sunny's workshack

Gotta go rotate tires the next month or two I suppose. Next oil change at 26400kms.

Movie log: The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight (2008) - 5 stars

Brilliant. Simply brilliant. The best movie of 2008 to date.

Movie log: Schindler's List

Schindler's List (1993) - 5 stars

I remember rolling my eyes to this 15 years ago (I was 12. Go figure) but am glad that I've finally watched one of Spielberg's finest celluloid masterpieces. The entire film feel as though it was made at present day (except the final chapter). Not to be missed.

Movie log: Wanted

Wanted (2008) - 3 stars

Exciting but forgettable summer popcorn junk

Good luck Nij...

September 2006 - July 2008

Refresh & Rebond: FJ Benjamin Timepiece Division Getaway / My new kicks!

A rather interesting weekend with my new colleagues. Activities included paintball, archery, and ATV karting. The food at A'Famosa Resort was way below par. Received a 2Gb Ipod Shuffle for my troubles! :)

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After returning home yesterday, I did a little shopping and finally got myself a pair of shoes that I wanted. Spanking new Adidas Originals! =)


Oh, that and 3 work shirts from where else but Padini.

Total damage: RM424.

Movie log: The Happening

The Happening (2008) - 3.25 stars

I liked it