Farhan didn't win

Did anyone of you catch Akademi Fantasia 4 finals last saturday?

This was the first time I watched the entire show this season.

As I had predicted before, Farhan didn't win even though she was the most talented among the lot. She was amazing with her version of Spain by Al Jarreau from the album This Time (1980). If she comes out with an album, I will definitely buy it.



One thing I noticed was that a lot of the AF students were giving the "sign". And Lotter was the guy doing it most of the time. Check below if you don't believe me (all pictures from the Astro website).






The lyrics for Spain.

Yesterday
Just a photograph of yesterday
and all it's edges folded
and the corners faded sepia brown
and yet it's all I have of our past love
a post script to it's ending

Brighter days
I can see such brighter days
when every song we sang is sung again
and now we know
we know this time it's for good
and we're lovers once again
and you're near me

I can remember the rain in december
the leaves of brown on the ground
in Spain I did love and adore you
the nights filled with joy were our yesterdays
and tomorrow will bring you near me

I can recall my desire
every reverie is on fire and I get a picture of all our yesterdays
yes today, I can say
I get a kick every time they play that spain again

I can remember the rain in december
the leaves of brown on the ground
Our love was a spanish fiesta
the bright lights and sounds were our joy each day
and the nights were the heat of yearning

I can recall my desire every reverie
is on fire and I get a picture of all our yesterdays
yes today, I can say
I get a kick every time I see you gaze at me
I see moments of history
your eyes meet mine and they dance to the melody
and we live again as if dreaming

the sound of our hearts beat like castanets
and forever we'll know their meaning
I can recall my desire every reverie is on fire
and I get a picture of all our yesterdays
yes, today, I can say
I get a kick every time I see you gaze at me

(music solo)

You gaze at me
I see moments of history
your eyes meet mine
and they dance to the melody
and we live again as if dreaming

the sound of our hearts beat like castenets
and forever we'll know their meaning

I can recall my desire
every reverie is on fire
and I get a picture of all our yesterdays
yes today I can say
I get a kick every time I see you gaze at me

be do de
(scat solo)

You gaze at me
I see moments of history
your eyes meet mine and they dance to the melody
and we live again as if dreaming

the sound of our hearts beat like castanets
and forever we'll know their meaning
I can remember the rain in december
the leaves of brown tumbling down

in spain I did love and adore you
the nights filled with joy were our yesterdays
and tomorrow will bring you near me

I can recall my desire every reverie is on fire
and I get a picture of all our yesterdays
yes today I can say
I get a kick every time you sing that spain

whoa, whoa, oh yeah

Related Posts:
- Farhan singing the blues on AF4
- I love you or satanic salute 2

Tags: Akademi Fantasia Blues Farhan Music

Blog statistics

My blog has a Google page rank of 5 and is listed as a Crunchy Crustacean in the TTLB Ecosystem. This is quite impressive but looking at my web statistics, this doesn't translate to a high number of visitors.

According to OneStatFree.com, the average visits per day is 65, whereas it is 55 according to Sitemeter.com. If you think that's a lot, think again. Famous Malaysian blogger, Kenny Sia receives like 9000 visitors to his blog everyday.

Discussed this situation with a few friends (regulars to my blog) and they pointed out a few possible reasons:

1. ah ok lah is too serious. Malaysians don't like serious topics.
I don't really agree with this. I often post "light" stuff too.
2. I don't post pictures of myself. I don't think this policy would change. I prefer to remain anonymous.
3. I don't post pictures of cute and/or sexy girls. I don't think this policy would change either. My wife is my censorship board and she says "No cute and/or sexy girls in your blog" and I have to agree.
4. None of the famous bloggers (not even the Malaysian ones) link back to ah ok lah. Nothing much I can do about that.

Anyway, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the regular visitors to my blog.

TAGS: Blog Statistics Visitors

Lebanon - Scary scenario and some facts

Thought up this really scary scenario:

After several months, the fighting between the Israeli army and the Hizbollah doesn't let up. Even thought they don't want to, the regular Lebanese army joins the fray on the side of the Hizbollah.

US supply of weapons to Israel continues. On the other hand, there is a steady flow of weapons and volunteers from Syria and Iran and some other Arab countries.

Israel attacks Syria accusing them of supplying weapons and supporting the Hizbollah. Iran also joins in. Now the war is on a full swing.

Other Arab countries hang onto the sidelines watching closely while public opinion grows against their Government's inactivity.

The US finally joins in on the side of Israelis. Countries like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq and Egypt who don't realy like the Hizbolllah or the Iranians forced to choose sides - and you can guess which side.

Now it's officially World War 3. Other countries forced to take sides

Finally, nuclear bombs go off in the region and THE WORLD ENDS.

The End

Anyway here are some facts about Lebanon that you might not know:

- Muslims form the majority of the total population (estimated about 60%). The rest are Christian and maybe some Jews.
- It is one of the few democratic countries in the middle east. It held it's first free (from foreign interference) legislative elections in May-June 2005.
- There are approximately 15 million people of Lebanese descent, mainly Christians, spread all over the world. Brazil has the biggest Lebanese community abroad.
(Source: Wikipedia and CIA World Factbook.)

Some interesting Lebanese Blogs:
- UrSalim. Has a lot of links to other lebanese blogs.
- Beirut Live

Tags: Israel Lebanon Third World War

I love you or satanic salute 2

Some more pics I noticed on other blogs.

#2. At a concert (from Kinky Blue Fairy's blog)


#3. Afdlin Shauki's doing it too.


Send me your hand signs


Oh yeah! Spread your smile here.

Related Post: I love you or satanic salute

Tags: Hand signsHumour Love sign Satanic

Growing your house

When I was a kid, there was a huge Royal Poinciana (Delonix regia) tree in front of my house. I loved to climb up and hang upside down from the thick branches. Somewhere in the middle the main trunk branched out into three. That was where I would settle down with my legs straddling one of the big branches and my back on the main trunk.

With the tree swaying in the cool breeze, it was easy to doze off. I learnt that a tree is not a good place to doze off when I fell off once. I lay there on the ground and thought that I was dead - could not breathe and move. Don’t know how long I lay there but I remember that my mom picked me up and made a big fuss. She forbade me from climbing up the tree ever again. However after a few months, I was up the branches again.

I had always dreamt of building a tree house on that tree but my father never agreed and I didn’t have the expertise or the facilities to do it myself.

Anyway, last weekend in KL, I was flipping through the Property supplement in the NST when I came across an interesting article about growing your own house. Yes, I mean “growing” and not “building”.

I love this new concept of home design, which was developed by the MIT’s Human Ecology Design team comprising of Mitchell Joachim, Lara Greden, Phd and Javier Arbona, SMArch. They call it the the ‘Fab Tree Hab’. According to them the

“design seeks to protect and embrace the ecosystem as a source of sustainability in the built environment”.

As mentioned in their website:

Our goal was to propose a method to grow homes from native seeds. This enables these new local dwellings to be a part of an absolutely green community.

1. Composed with 100% living nutrients.
2. Harmonize & embrace growth.
3. Make effective contributions to the ecosystem.
4. Accountable removal of human impacts.
5. Involve arboreal farming & production.
6. Subsume technology within terrestrial environs.
7. Circulate water & metabolic flows symbiotically.
8. Consider the life cycle, from use to disposal.
9. Achieve a fitness with our earthen web of life.

They use an ancient method in horticulture known as ‘Pleaching,’ which involves weaving together tree branches to form living archways, lattices, or screens. Not sure how this differs from Arborsculpture, which refers to the art of shaping tree trunks to create art and functional items through bending, grafting, pruning, and multiple planting.

Growth stages


The house

I found out that this is not a new concept. In fact Wiechula, a German agricultural engineer wrote a book called Developing Houses from Living Trees in 1926.

There is only one concern of mine. Not really keen on sharing my bed with ants and other bugs, which would definitely be attracted to a living tree.

Related Links:
- How To Grow A Chair: An Interview with Richard Reames
- Index - Fab Tree Hab

TAGS: Architecture Ecosystem Fab Tree Hab Tree House

Moving abroad

It's only a few more months to go before we pack up and fly to UK.

Leaving the security of a job is really hard, especially when I have settled down and am doing so well. I try to console myself saying ‘this sacrifice is for a better future’.

I was not sure whether my office would give me a farewell party, so I decided to give them one - a simple lunch this Thursday. This is a chance for me to say my byes to all the guys. I realize that even though I complain a lot – I love this place.

Although I have already secured a place to pursue my PhD, I still don’t have the funds to pay for it. My scholarship applications were not successful but I am sending off several job applications. Even though I may not get the jobs but at least they have my name in their database. With my qualifications, I am optimistic that I would be able to secure a job once we get there (based on my friends already there). Till then, I guess I have to depend on my wife and our savings.

More bad news, the University suddenly announced the increase in the annual tuition fees – to UK Pounds 9150 (approx. RM 62,418). My next plan is to study part time and pay by installment.

I am really jealous of one of my friends who also secured a place in the University of Nottingham. The university is giving all successful PhD candidates UK Pounds 3000 as a “settling down” money, when they register. I regret not applying there.

Right now, I am trying to get rid of all the stuff that I have accumulated. I have been able to sell off most of the small items like laser printer and other electronic stuff but I still have one big item to get rid of – my car. So far, I haven’t received any enquiries as yet. We finally got a tenant for our apartment too but have to settle for a paltry sum of Rm650/ p.m.

Next week we are going to apply for our kid’s passports at either Subang or Putrajaya. Then visa applications after that. Promise to keep all of you updated.

TAGS: Education PhD UK

KL to Singapore in 90 minutes

If Tan Sri Francis Yeoh has his way, we will soon be able to reach Singapore from KL in 90 minutes.

Estimated at around RM8 billion, Yeoh's vision is to build a superfast bullet train rail link, which could be an extension of the Sentral-Kuala Lumpur International Airport train service that is currently operated (60-year concessionaire) by Express Rail Link Sdn Bhd (ERL). For your information, YTL Corporation has 50% share in ERL.

If approved, the project will be the largest to be launched on a private finance initiative basis, as encouraged under the Ninth Malaysia Plan.

According to the Tan Sri:

"We can extend the airport line to Singapore. We can also find ways for the rail link to pass through the newly developing southern Johor Corridor enroute to Singapore,"

I just wish there was a bullet train project to connect KL to Alor Star. Then I could stay in KL and travel to work every day. Presently a one way bus trip takes around 6 hours. Last week I took the Durian Burung double decker express bus and they stopped everywhere taking around 8 hours to reach KL. Express my foot.

Related Link: Transport Minister confirms YTL asked to look at KL-S'pore rail link

TAGS: ERL Francis Yeoh Train YTL