David Attenborough's season on Eden

With a career spanning nearly 50 years, Sir. David Attenborough is one of the World's greatest naturalist film-maker.

To celebrate their David Attenborough season, Eden (Sky channel 532 and Virgin TV channel 208) is now featuring a number of natural history programming, including some of Sir David's greatest works. They are also running a competition where you have to guess what Sir David is describing in a short video clip for a chance to win an Olympus digital camera.

This is the fourth and last week and the last chance to win the Olympus TOUGH 3000 digital camera. Go over to the Eden contest page to take part.

Before you send in your answers you might want to take a look at the clip here:



Visit Sir David Attenborough's BBC website.

Thanks for the info Sophie.

Hooked on house makeover show

Homes under the hammer, 60 Minute Makeover, Grand Designs - these are but some of the TV programmes I am hooked on right now. I guess the common themes that run in all these programmes is making a house a home.

It surprising because I have never done much DIY work before I moved to the UK - we just hired someone to do it because labour is cheap in Malaysia. Some may disagree but I assure you, it's way cheaper than in the UK.

My wife hates these programmes but I think that it is something amazing - watching people turn a dilapidated house into something beautiful. I think what really appeals to me is watching how these people overcome the obstacles to make their dreams a reality.

Homes under the hammer comes on weekday mornings on BBC 1 and shows how people buy people buy properties in auctions and do them up. Not all of them are successful and I have learnt a number of tips that I should keep in mind should I ever decide to buy in an auction. 60 Minute Makeover is on ITV1 and a team redesigns a house in exactly 1 hour. My favourite is of course Grand Designs. It is on Channel 4 and presented by Kevin McCloud. Watch people build the houses of their dreams (which sometimes turn into nightmares). I have blogged about it before. Read My Grand Designs.

I would have loved to do up this house that I am living in and God knows that it is desperately in need of a huge makeover. I have actually done quite a lot. Unfortunately, I am just renting it and I guess I have to wait until I get my own house.

Flying penguins

A BBC team has found a unique species of penguins.

unlike any penguin...

These penguins can fly and they migrate to warmer climes in winter.

Check out the Penguins video on the BBC site.

BTW, today is April 1st.

Gay teletubbies

First it was the popular cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants, which was accused of being "pro-homosexual". Read 'Will Spongebob make you gay?' FYI, I am referring to the contemporary usage of the adjective, "gay" here.

Now, Poland's conservative government is planning to probe if Teletubbies are gay.

Teletubbies, is BBC's popular children's television series and my kids love it.

Ewa Sowinska, the spokesperson for the government appointed children rights was quoted as saying:

I noticed (Tinky Winky) has a lady's purse, but I didn't realize he's a boy.

These people are crazy.

Tags: gay SquareBob SpongePants Teletubbies

University of Warwick students are the best

Wanted to blog about that earlier but I left it as a draft and forgot all about it.

I don't know about you guys, but quiz shows can be really exciting. You feel really great when you know the answer but the contestants don't and followed by "the answer is xyz, stupid!"

It has been proven that the University of Warwick has the brightest students in the country. A team from the University recently won the TV show University Challenge 2007. This was out of a total of 28 teams from various Universities here in the UK, which entered this year's competition.

The winning team from Warwick was made up of Daisy Christodoulo ( the Captain), Harold Wyber, Rory Gill and Prakesh Patel. To reach the finals they beat Emmanuel College, Cambridge in the first round; University of East Anglia in the second round; Aberystwyth in the quarter finals and University College London in the semis. In the finals, they beat Manchester University, the previous year's champions (170 points to 140). The finals was aired on BBC 2 on 16th of this month.

Related links:
- The University of Warwick Wins University Challenge
- Warwick wins University Challenge

Listen to the Apprentice winners

The Apprentice is one of my most favourite reality TV shows ever since it started. Currently season 6 is running on NBC. The part I love the most is when Donald Trump says the dreaded words: " You are fired!"

It is one show that I always recommended to my MBA students back in Malaysia. gives them a taste of what the real Corporate World is all about and what you need in order to succeed in that brutal World.

Now, you have the chance to hear straight from the show's former winners, Randal Pinkett, Sean Yazbeck, and Kendra Todd. This is part of the Trump University Speaker Series. Take this opportunity to listen to their experiences - from their professional lives and The Apprentice show and learn how you can apply them to your own career.

Tags: Donald Trump Apprentice Kendra Todd Randal Pinkett Sean Yazbeck

Battlestar Galactica fan

I haven't watched a single episode of Battlestar Galactica ever since I moved to the UK. Just learned that they have killed off Captain Kara "Starbuck" Thrace played by Katee Sackhoff on the TV series..

Got this piece of info while going through the Lubyvision blog. Chris, the owner of Lubyvison.com and another Battlestar fan, has decided that Starbuck is not dead and bases it on a few reasons.

FYI, Chris is the director at a summer camp in the Texas hill country.

James Cameroon challenges Christianity

Now for some highly controversial news.

James Cameroon, director of the movie "Titanic" has claimed that he has found the tomb of Jesus Christ and his family in a documentary that he says will "rock the foundation of Christianity".

Cameron and filmmaker archeologist Simcha Jacobovici sets to to prove that the Talpiot Tomb uncovered 27 years ago, once held the remains of Jesus of Nazareth and his family.

The really shocking part is where he claims that Jesus fathered a a son named Judah with Mary Magdalene.

The documentary, "The Lost Tomb of Jesus" will be on the Discovery Channel on March 4th on the Discovery Channel at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

Related links:
- Discovery Channel To Roll Out Freemason Cameron On Jesus Tomb Claim
- Academy Winner of "Titanic" James Cameron Navigates "The Lost Tomb of Jesus"
- James Cameron finds grave of Jesus & Son

Tags: Discovery
Documentary James Cameroon Jesus Mary Magdalene Simcha Jacobovici

Gene detectives on BBC

Gene Detectives is a new series on BBC 1 (Channel 101 on Sky) at 9:15 am. In the show, genealogy expert, Anthony Adolph helps people track down long lost relatives.

We are shown three possible candidates, one of which is the missing relative. I am pretty sure the producers of the show knew who the real relative is but they keep the secret hidden till the last moment. Of course they can tell us straight away who the real relative is but then it won't be that interesting and they won't have a show either.

It's quite emotional and nice to see fathers reunited with daughters and sisters with their long lost brothers.

Anyway, I was recently contacted by someone who had the same family name as mine. The guy has traced back his branch of the family back to 1760. He had traced back the family name back to a little place called Brandon in Suffolk, England, where they had lived from 1800 onwards until about 1965.

It's really surprising because that means that we have two families with the same surname on almost opposite sides of the planet - one is obviously British and another Asian (my family).

Tags: BBC Genealogy Gene detectives

Alcohol and the youth

Channel 4 is fast becoming my favourite channel here in the UK. They have so many interesting documentaries.

Today morning there was this documentary called "Booze: A Young Person's Guide" on one major problem in the UK. I am sure you must have guessed it from the title.

It was not really shocking for me to see young people boozing away like there's no tomorrow because I went through that phase myself. Was just an inch away from becoming an alcoholic during my undergraduate days in University. We drank alcohol to enjoy ourselves and that meant getting dead drunk.

I no longer drink and haven't touched anything alcoholic for a little more than 6 years now. No more beers, whiskey, vodka or even an alcopop for me. I don't care when you try to convince me that "it contains only 1% alcohol". Never for me means NEVER!

Coming back to the documentary, what was shocking for me was watching kids as young as 16 drinking hard liquor, which had been bought by their parents.

A BBC report reveals that "alcohol causes more problems amongst teenagers than any illegal drug".

The documentary also points out that half of all date rapes are alcohol related. Something which an earlier BBC report had warned about.

Picture by Rick A. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License.
Tags: Alcohol Channel 4 Drunk Teenage drinking

Is God green?

This Monday there was this very interesting documentary on Channel 4. Presented by Mark Dowd, the documentary "God is Green" seeks to find out why leaders of the World's major faiths are saying so little on a very important issue facing the Earth today, namely Climate change.

It was really sad to see that most of the religious leaders approached by him didn't really seem to be concerned. For some it's inevitable - "the end of the world is coming". Other's blamed the west.

FYI, it will be repeated on Monday 5th March at midnight.

Shilpa is Celebrity big brother winner

Images from the Official Celebrity Big Brother website.

Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty has just won the "Celebrity Big Brother" UK reality show. She received 67% of the final votes and she deserved to win.

The 31 years old, beat 13 other contestants. My wife was rooting for Jermaine Jackson, older brother of Michael Jackson. She actually voted 3 times for him. I really admire him too - he has this rare positive aura that only certain spiritual people have and he had a calming effect on the other housemates. He came out second followed by actor Dirk Benedict.

It may be a coincidence, but both Shilpa and Jermaine don't consume alcohol as compared to others who were drowning in it whenever they got the chance, leading to some very silly actions and comments.

The results is a clear indication that the British people are for racial equality. There are a few bad eggs but so do other countries. Come to think of it, I personally don't think that it was ever a racial issue. Rather it was a case of some insecure girls with a bad upbringing lashing out against someone who was more cultured and elegant than them.

Wise words from Jermaine:
- "Kindness is a strength"
- "you can't reason with stupidity"

Related posts:
- 2 celebrities evicted from CBB
- Jade evicted from CBB house
- International row over TV show

p.s. Many newspapers and websites have reported that Shilpa received 63% of the votes. My info (67%) comes from the official CBB website.

Tags: Celebrity Big Brother Channel 4 Jermaine Jackson Shilpa Shetty TV

2 celebrities evicted from CBB

Now for some UK entertainment gossip.

Yesterday, two of the Celebrity Big Brother housemates were evicted. Ex S Club 7 star Jo O'Meara and actress Cleo Rocos left the house in a double eviction. Jo received nearly 48% of the vote while Rocos got 28%.

Jo was part of the group that ganged up on Indian star Shilpa that blew up into an international row. Now she has to go and defend herself.

Cleo was doing well in the house until she suddenly made a fool out of herself, until it got quite painful to watch her.

My favourite in the show is Jermaine Jackson who now calls himself Muhammad Abdul Aziz, Michael Jackson's big brother. He's been the perfect gentleman and often offers good advise to the other housemates.

Shilpa Shetty is tipped to win the show.

I wasn't be surprised that Jack, the only non-celebrity in the house and Jade's boyfriend was among the finalists. By laying low profile, he's avoided offending or hurting anybody. In fact he's never been up for eviction.

BTW, for those who are not following the show (most Malaysians) Jade was recently booted out too.
Tags: Celebrity Big Brother Channel 4 Jade Goody TV

For fans of soaps

I am not talking about the stuff that foams when you rub them under a tap, but instead to those ongoing dramas that unfold on the small screen, I mean the TV. They can get so addictive.

I remember my wife rushing home from work during her lunch breaks just to catch a popular Filipino soap drama. My mum is a big fan of the Bold and the Beautiful, one of the longest soaps ever (I may be wrong). It was so confusing. I give you an example, the ex girlfriend of one character (or ex-wife) may become his step mother. to understand the stories, you have to be a loyal follower. Once you get hooked, that's it.

Now for some trivia, did you know how this particular form of entertainment came to be known simply as 'Soaps'? Well, it seems that the name originate from the various sponsors of these dramas who were soap manufacturers. As the target audience were almost exclusively female audience (as they are till today), they came to be known as soaps.

Soaps.com is a relatively young site (only 5-6 months old) but is becoming very popular. They carry the latest news, daily updates and list of shows, Readers can register and discuss their favourite shows in the message boards.

So far they list only the soaps from the three major TV channels in the US, namely, ABC, CBS and NBC. I am not sure about other people but I would definitely like to see more pictures.

So if you missed an episode or wanted to get some spoliers, log on to the site.

Sponsored post

Jade evicted from CBB house

Latest Celebrity Big Brother update: Jade Goody has been evicted from the house. Quite emotional. I couldn't help but feel a tinge of sadness for her but I guess she have to face the consequences of her actions. Debenhams and The Perfume Shop have removed her scent Shh… from their shelves.

All it take is but just one bad step to take away all that she had achieved since.

She's not the only one losing out. Her pal Danielle Lloyd has also lost a six figure modelling contract because of her involvement.

The events in the house has caused a international uproar and unlike in the past, the public have been barred from the eviction. Complaints to Ofcom, the broadcasting regulating body has risen to 38,000. The major sponsor, Carphone Warehouse Group Plc, has also suspended its £3 million sponsorship of the show. I guess Channel 4 has nothing to worry about as there are a number of sponsors who would like to take the place of Carphone Warehouse.

And guess what? I was thinking about Malaysia.

Related post: International row over TV show

Tags: Celebrity Big Brother Channel 4 Jade Goody TV

International row over TV show

People are protesting on the streets in India over a UK TV show and causing a diplomatic row between the two countries. It has also been raised in the British Parliament.

The whole fuss is over the alleged racism towards Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty by her British housemates on the UK reality TV show Celebrity Big Brother.

Channel 4 denies the 'racism' allegations. I agree that there is a case of clash of cultures. However, even though they might deny it, the actions and words of some of the housemates reek of racism and there is no excuse for that short of thing.

One good thing that has come out of this issue is that more viewers are tuning into this show, which is of course a good thing for the TV channel and the sponsors. They definitely benefits from this kind of exposure despite their threat to quit the show. And of course we love anything controversial. Even my wife who used to complain that the show "is so boring" is presently glued in front of the idiot box watching it as I write this.

Related links:
- U.K., India Voice 'Big Brother' Worries
- Blair and India step into CBB row

Tags: Celebrity Big Brother Channel 4 Shilpa Shetty TV