Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas!

Felice navidad, joyeux noel etc to all celebrating this fine holiday.


Hope you have lovely goodies and no coals in your stocking, Freddie and Angie! No overdoing the eggnog, okay?

Friday, December 23, 2011

AAAAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH

*clutches chest*

I wants! I wants! I wants to watch The Hobbits!

I struggled through the book for the better part of three years, but perhaps this is easier to digest, no?

This is mega TAK SENONOH!

You have been warned. Seriously skirts Not Safe for Work-ness.

But the reason I wanted to share this video is because it examplifies how tolerance and accommodation of the needs of both partners can lead to a harmonious relationship.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Yo, Joe!

I loved the GI Joe cartoon as a kid. I understood well enough that it was nothing more than an American propaganda, but it sure was fun to watch.

I got to watch the 1st film courtesy of Sophie and it was awesome!



The latest instalment's look pretty cool and fun too. And now that it's got Bruce Willis AND Adrianne Palicki?

Bring it!

*rubs hands with glee*

Midweek Sh*ts and Giggles




Tuesday, December 13, 2011

This is soooo coool ....

If only I had maths teachers who could make maths this simple and fun; perhaps I would not have been so frightened to do chemical engineering and be making gobs of moneh.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Reality check for elementary schoolers ...

Scrooge, much?

*buries my giggles in my facepalm*



Seriously, I would like to think I am just like the last kid. Just keep smiling in the face of misanthropy!

Monday, December 5, 2011

The tree song

This song is mega cute!!! Pity it didn't progress to the finals for the Anugerah Juara Lagu this year.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Hi, my name is Snuze and I am a music addict

Do you have a soundtrack to your life? Does it change with every period?

Mine currently is Pet Shop Boys on a loop *grin*.

I began my love affair with music ever since I started to learn to bop along to Men At Works The Safety Dance when I was six. Music is a major part of my life even though I cannot play a single instrument and am  a mediocre singer. If you drive in and around Klang Valley and see a demented woman howling and/or headbanging along to something in her car stereo, there is a possibility that person you were observing was me.

I got a feel for the music, 'k?

My affection for music crosses genre and language; for me the musical experience is about the harmony of sound and rhythm. Listening to the formerly known as Radio 4 on weekend nights taught me appreciation of opera and classical music (Rimsky-Korsakov anyone?). Klasik Nasional.fm helped me to get in touch with my Nusantara roots: inang, asli, gambus, zapin, ghazal and traditional Javanese music. Keroncong, however, lies together with rap, hip hop and trance music when it comes to my inability to appreciate it.

One of the best birthday presents I ever got was this Sony mp3 player that my sister and brother-in-law got for me a couple of years back. 4 Gb of space makes for a goodly time for auditory bliss. I've changed the original earphones with excellent Phillips earbuds and now I interchange between earbuds, headphones and a speaker (also gifts from sis and B-i-L for last year's day of age celebration). The earbuds are so good that I can listen happily at volume level 1 (maximum is 30) when alone in my room (with no interference from the aircondition or fan).

Because I am a music addict, I am very afraid of losing my hearing due to prolonged use of the earbuds/earphone. The New York Times Magazine had published a lovely (if abbreviated) background to the history of the earphones, its contextual place in the society and a cautionary tale about possible hearing loss due to over-exposure to loud music. The earbuds are particularly dangerous as one tends to crank up the volume to very high levels in public places to block out the external noise. I am often concerned when I sit in the light rail transit and I could hear Lady Gaga from the person seated 3 persons away from me.


If you like to listen to music on the go in loud environments, I would suggest you invest in a good pair of noise-cancelling headphones. However, a really good pair + loud music = you not hearing the mad honking of the driver before you were flattened on the street.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

At least Ally McBeal was mildly entertaining...

In the Barrister’s Chambers (Regency Barrister, #1)In the Barrister’s Chambers by Tina Gabrielle
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The premise was intriguing; a historical romance novel about lawyers written by a lawyer? Sounds awesome, right?

Don't judge a book by its blurb.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Go forth and multiply!

How big is the biggest family you know? 8 children? 12? 29 kids by way of 4 wives?

How about 150 kids?

No, I am not kidding. A sperm donor in North America has fathered 150 offsprings based on the tracking records by this website. That's right. One man. 150 kids. One donor fathered 70 children and had to keep track of them using a spreadsheet. Genetically speaking, this is unhealthy, not to mention increasing the risk of inadvertent incest from siblings who are unaware that they share the same father. Yeah, yeah, the pro-'cest camp will say that the incest taboo is a social construct, but consanguinuous relationships often produce unhealthy offspring who may suffer from physical and/or mental disabilities.

Sperm donation (intentionally or inadvertently due to cheating) has been around since time immemorial to overcome the problem of the male partner shooting blanks (or is just an annoying git whose genes must NOT reproduce). But never has it hit in such a big way as it does today with fertility clinics and sperm agencies flourishing to fulfill baby-making needs world-wide.

I often wonder what drives a man to donate his sperm. Is it out of altruism to help infertile couples? Is it an ego boost thing to be populating the world with his little babies whom he doesn't have to support? Or is it as simple as because the financial transaction for a few fapping sessions is pretty lucrative? (Apparently you get paid more if you are nice looking and have a college degree, but do recipients really know if the donor looks like Brad Pitt or a troll, particularly for anonymous donation?)

The question of sperm donor motivation has been the focus of several studies. A 1994 study in Scandinavia painted that the majority of the donors are driven by monetary gain. I guess a guy gotta finance his grad school education some way; not everyone could be a singing telegram or strip for Chippendale. Or maybe just an ordinary guy wanting to pay his bills.

Paternity is a word that is both frightening and exciting. If it was something sought by a guy, it is probable the happiest news ever. Unless of course, he's left holding the bag for someone else's seed. Or became an inadvertent daddy like the guy in the video below. 

(One of the best romance novels trope, yo.)



Now that we have welcomed the 7th billion person on this planet, should we keep multiplying like bunnies?

*contemplate*

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Dance!

I have always been a fan of Pet Shop Boys since the 80s (yes, I am that old. Shut up.). They have a gift of combining novel musical elements together into something dance-y and yet suffused with a darkness in their message. PSB is also big on stunning visuals and have no compunctions to slip into crazy outfits with every new album they produced.

I don't know how I could have missed out this video; it was released last year. But then again, I kept (and still do) losing the battle for the remote control.
But this! The engaging storyline, mellifluous shots and flow ... a master craftsman product of a video.

Enjoy.

Friday, November 18, 2011

Late to the party

I have just lost my nerd credentials: I only found out today that 2011 is the International Year of Chemistry.

And me, who believe in better living through chemistry.

*hangs head in shame*

And there are pretty posters! Swiped from here.

 Matter as elucidated by Einstein.

Graphene: the strongest material known to man.

Hydrogen: Explosive and yet when combined with oxygen, is the elixir of life.

Radiate! Marie Curie style.

Chemistry is about elements forming substance forming the universe as you and I know it.

Vive le chimie!

And what does 2012 hold for us? Armageddon?

Nah.

Just the International Year for Cooperatives. No pretty posters yet.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

What they never tell you ...

I have always been a bit of a science geek. I did well enough in high school that they pushed me to science stream and I entertained delusions of being an otorhinolaryngologist (ear nose and throat specialist).

Needless to say I'll bet many students have ideas of science as illustrated in the top panel. If they are daft enough (like me) and go into post-graduate research, then they'll discover the truth (as seen in bottom panel).

Friday, November 4, 2011

WTF moment of the week: Friday


All those FB status about stop bullying should have been accompanied by this picture. Revenge of the bully victims ahoy!

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Thinky thoughts

We grew up bombarded by images; stills and videos, in our media saturated world. I am sure many of us are skeptical about the idea of subliminal messages and how we are manipulated to buy, to believe, to act, by a group of nameless and faceless people driving media corporation.

But how many of us believe that pretty girls cannot do maths? How many of us believe that blondes are hotter than brunettes? How many of us obsess over what a female senior administrator look like rather than how well she can do her job?How many of us believe that women are emotional, conniving jerks? If you ever entertained such thoughts, please watch the video below.



If you have mothers, wives, daughters, sisters, I hope you rethink your stance.

There is hope!

... in the face of freaky people who don't believe in science.

Totally WTF.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Hugh! Hugh! Hugh!

Tonnes of Hugh Laurie and a new-found fear of hospitals coming up once you finish watching this video.

*grin*

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

A yellow mind is a mellow one ...

I have been horrible about posting, and I do have stuff lying around in my brain waiting to be regurgitated. But in the mean time ...



(Moar under cut ... beware of tak senonoh stuff)

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Emotification

I love the honesty in her vocal expression. What music rocks your world? Do share.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Pity wishes aren't horses ...

... because, Freddie, I want someone to sing this to me in the morning, hehehe.



I love the 80's pop soul sensibilities. Very the Hall and Oates, no?

Monday, October 10, 2011

Violins and moonbeams

One of the sweetest and most romantic songs ever.

I give you Hujan's "Dikala Bulan Bermain Biola"



I hope you enjoy it.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Midweek sh*t and giggles

I have a lot of things I want to blog about, but am too lazy to organise my thoughts. So here's some more pictures!





Sunday, October 2, 2011

On how I freaked out my friend at the movie theatre

It started really innocuously. I went to watch this movie with Naz ...



And I was a sobbing mess at the end of it. Haven't cried like that watching anything; not since the staging of Lantai T Pinkie and Erma Fatima's amazing monologue way back in 1997. That one was really bad in that there were 4 of us watching the theatre with only 2 pieces of Kleenex between us. FML.

Anyway ... most of my friends know that I have been frothing at the mouth to watch this movie thanks to this man,


who is not only dastardly attractive and massively talented, but also warm and kind and just bloody adorable as seen on his interviews.

But I have to say that I was absolutely ecstatic with how Gavin O'Connor crafted a family drama with mixed martial arts as a sport as a background.

Mad fangirl squeals and massive spoilers ahoy!

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Ear candy but sweet on the lips too ...

If you perceive music more than just a single sensory indulgence, when you listen to this, you may have the sensation of sinking your teeth into a sinfully luxurious Boston creme pie on a lazy Sunday afternoon.



And if that was Boston Creme, the one below is more along the lines of dark chocolate mousse.

Belladonna (Ephemera, #2)Belladonna by Anne Bishop

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


I did not like Anne Bishop's style or the universe she created. I find her unnecessarily convoluted and her storyline unsatisfying. The characters feel like caricatures to me; basically, the protagonist is the textbook definition of a Mary Sue, in my humble opinion.

Am I too harsh? Maybe I got spoiled by Patricia Briggs' sword-and-sorcery books that have the plots tightly woven peopled with engaging characters. But then again, sword-and-sorcery is not a favourite genre of mine anyway.

Ri, jangan marah ya. Nanti kena jual. :p

View all my reviews

Friday, September 16, 2011

Selamat Hari Malaysia!

48 years ago on this date the Federation of Malay States, Singapore (until the secession in 1965) and Sabah and Sarawak decided to come together to form the great nation we now know as Malaysia.



Stolen in its entirety from Freddie Kevin.

Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray to God my soul to keep
Should I die before I wake
I pray to God my soul to take

Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray to God my country do success reap
Should I die before I wake
I pray to God a peaceful land my country make

Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray to God my children's love for country deep
Should I die before I wake
I pray to God bless my country future generation's sake


Original post is here.

Happy Malaysia Day!

Book Response: Deepest Kiss of Winter

Deep Kiss of Winter (Includes: Immortals After Dark, #8; Alien Huntress, #4.5)Deep Kiss of Winter by Kresley Cole

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


I read this, hoping against hope that I'd find 2 new authors to read. Kresley Cole and Gena Showalter are prodigiously productive, but alas, it was not to be.

(Under cut for spoilery spoilers)

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Traipsing down memory lane ...

I was eleven the first time I listened to this song. Although I was a callow child with little understanding of romantic notions, but the sincere emotions illuminated by a sweet melody and illustrated by prosaic lyrics really struck me. The song evoked a visceral reaction in me and I remember going to school, humming this song and trying to recapture the sensation I experience even from the opening bar of the song.



Since then, I have been a fan of Robert Palmer and am working towards collecting his discography. He was a talented musician and singer who delved in genres from pop to progressive rock to swing and jazz. But I love him best when he croons love sweet nothings.

Now, I all I need to do is find a guy who will dedicate this song to me. *grin*

Monday, September 5, 2011

TMI!!!!

Hahahahah ... now that it is no longer Ramadhan, I can post this picture.

So ... which number are you? Either one.

*grin*