Tanda Putera Bombs

That shameful and scandalous film called Tanda Putera could not even muster enough Malay support. And so it bombed at the box office – its takings were a miserly RM930,000 after 25 days in the cinemas.

Made at a huge cost of RM4.7 million, this work of fiction disguised as history is said to have earned a loss of approximately RM3.77 million. Political support from UMNO and other nationalist groups couldn’t salvage it despite trying so hard.

On the other hand, the Malays can’t have enough of zombie movies and ‘KL Zombi’, which like Tanda Putera began screening on August 29 was able to rake in RM2.93 million for the same period. This flick which has elements of action, comedy and horror only cost RM1.8 million (less than half of Tanda Putera's production cost), and it is still screening in the cinemas.

On Thursday, I was at the Satu Hati Toastmasters meeting and I was also the General Evaluator. The meeting was much better organized this time around and even the speeches and evaluations had improved significantly. It was a good meeting and I would score it a 7 over 10.

 

Newspapers' Readership Plummets

The readership of top newspapers in the country tumbled in the run up to GE13 over biased reporting. According to The Edge Weekly, which obtained the Consumer and Media View report by Nielsen, newspapers saw a drop of between 10 percent to 40 percent in readership during the second quarter of this year. [This coincided with the 13th general election period when Parliament was dissolved on April 03 and polling day was on May 05].

 

"The decline is mainly due to the 13th general election," The Edge Weekly quoted Omnicom Media Group Malaysia chief executive officer Andreas Vogiatzakis as saying. He was further quoted as saying that readers sought alternative news between March to May this year with a 60 percent surge in online traffic for political news sites and 20 percent increase for news websites in general.

 

However, media analysts noted that newspaper readership may bounce back. I think that is misplaced confidence. I really hope that Malaysians don't go back to these thrashy newspapers! I say Malaysians should continue to boycott all mainstream newspapers!

 

Celtic enjoyed a 5-2 win over Kilmarnock in their Scottish Premiership clash on Saturday. The former raced to a three-goal lead in the first half-hour through a Kris Commons strike (20) and a Georgios Samaras double (24, 26) but the Killies grabbed a lifeline when midfielder Sammy Clingan (35) reduced the deficit with a great free-kick before defender Sean Clohessy made it 3-2 in the forty-second minute. Samaras (88) finally sealed Kilmarnock’s fate with a stooping six-yard header and there was still time for substitute Amido Balde (90) to scamper clear and pouch a goal for Celtic.

 

A good win but Celtic will be tested more in their Champions League Group H clash with Barcelona at Parkhead on Tuesday night.

 

 

 

On Sunday, Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez inspired Liverpool to a 3-1 victory over Sunderland – a much-needed boost that put them in second place in the EPL table. Sturridge put the Reds ahead in the twenty-eighth minute and then collected Steven Gerrard's brilliant cross-field pass with a stunning piece of control, eased past Carlos Cuellar and squared for Suarez to roll home (36). Emanuele Giaccherini pulled one back for the Black Cats in the fifty-second minute. But the game was sealed for Liverpool when Suarez led a breakaway, fed Sturridge and then took his return pass to fire into an unguarded net (89).

Fighting in Zamboanga

The Sulu gunmen who intruded into Sabah were allied with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) under the leadership of Nur Misuari. Since they were neutralized in Lahad Datu, I had speculated that we will continue to see trouble, whether in Sabah or in Mindanao.

 

I was right. On September 09, 2013, about two hundred armed fighters – supposedly MNLF rebels – attacked Zamboanga, a major southern Philippine city that has one million residents. Hundreds were dead or injured, civilians were taken hostage and houses burned to the ground.

Image credit: http://metro.co.uk/2013/09/12/gallery-muslim-rebels-attack-philippines-city-3965920/residents-scramble-to-fetch-water-to-douse-burning-houses-caused-after-a-clash-between-government-soldiers-and-muslim-rebels-from-the-mnlf-in-zamboanga-city/

Image credit: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/regions/09/08/13/2-dead-4-hurt-mnlf-clash-zamboanga-city

Image credit: http://www.mb.com.ph/afp-says-those-in-zamboanga-are-rogue-mnlf/

Image credit: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24079198

Image credit: http://1-ps.googleusercontent.com/x/www.nst.com.my/w1.nst.com.my/polopoly_fs/1.353909.1378901236!/image/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_454/image.jpg.pagespeed.ce.izl10PPe2P.jpg

 

Image credit: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/breaking-news/2013/09/12/government-warns-mnlf-end-zambo-standoff-302848

Malaysians will remember that our Prime Minister Najib Razak stayed in the background – presumably for personal safety reasons – when the Lahad Datu "invasion" took place.

 

In contrast, Philippine President Benigno Aquino was on the ground on September 13 to take direct command of operations. Four thousand five hundred soldiers were deployed to the city to flush them out.

 

In seventeen days of fighting, 110 insurrectionists were killed with 117 others taken into custody. Eighteen soldiers and police and fifteen civilians lost their lives and at least 114 were wounded.

 

The Philippines are not afraid to deploy all necessary firepower to annihilate the rebel threat. Unlike the Malaysian authorities, they didn't make requests. Neither did they negotiate.

 

This part of the country is dubbed as the alphabet soup of insurgents. Besides, the MNLF, there are also the villainous Abu Sayyaf and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, the defunct jihadists Jemaah Islamiyah, the communist New People’s Army, and the MNLF splinter group the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

 

In fact, MILF had hammered out a peace deal with Manila last year. It was believed that the accord had caused ructions through a redistribution of power and even upset traditional relations.

 

It was also largely behind the Sabah insurgency earlier this year after a minor Sultan – insisting he be recognized as the Sultan of Sulu – decided to re-assert his traditional claims over the neighboring East Malaysian state.

 

As a prelude to the current violence in Mindanao, the MNLF had also threatened to repeat its claims over Sabah and Sarawak, along with large swathes of the Southern Philippines. Misuari took a big gamble to launch this assault.

 

Now he and his followers who survive the bloody offensive will probably spend the rest of their lives behind bars, an ignoble end for the former University of the Philippines lecturer in political science who risked all, including the lives of many thousands he had once sought to protect.

The Gold iPhone 5S

Apple on Monday announced opening weekend sales of the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C had topped a record-breaking nine million units since Friday’s launch of both phones.  And in case, you didn’t know, these iPhones that flew off the shelves nearly doubled the "over five million" units of the iPhone 5 sold in its opening weekend last year! 

Analytics firm Localytics revealed that the iPhone 5S outshone the 5C by a factor of 3.4x and some countries such as Japan had seen ratios of as high as 5x. In Hong Kong and mainland China, it’s all about the gold iPhone 5S. As you know, the Chinese are madly in love with gold. Favored by emperors and representing wealth and luxury in Chinese culture, gold means status and prestige.

And so Apple's first gold-color iPhone 5S sold out immediately in the said territories.

In the US itself, owners of the said iPhone knew this and they were more than prepared to hawk off their smartphones. One seller “papakar” sold the iPhone 5S Gold for $10,100 on popular auction site, eBay! Below is the proof of this jaw-dropping bid and win. For those curious, no the iPhone is not made out of real gold. 

eBay is a good place to purchase items, at typically reduced prices. Except in the case of the iPhone 5S Gold. The phone retails $649.99, yet the starting price begins at $1,500 and is selling roughly upwards of $4,000 and more for the phones.

The Scottish League Cup remains the one domestic trophy Celtic boss Neil Lennon has yet to win and he will need to wait at least another season after Morton booked their place in the quarter-finals with a timely 1-0 win on Wednesday. 

The first 90 minutes produced a goalless outcome and then Douglas Imrie scored from the spot in extra time after defender Efe Ambrose was penalized for handball. Celtic had their chances but to Morton’s credit, they defended superbly and in the end, they claimed a famous Cup scalp. Celtic was so disappointing!

RM2.8 million on Najib's Hari Raya Open House

Did you know that this year's Hari Raya Open house hosted by Prime Minister Najib Razak and the Malaysian Cabinet cost a whopping RM2.8 million? Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Shahidan Kassim confirmed this profligacy in a written parliamentary response on September 24, 2013.

 

Najib can afford to be lavish, extravagant and opulent – and why not? He’s spending taxpayers’ money. Ordinary Malaysians, however, have no choice but to tighten their belts as the cost of living escalates!

 

Absolut Vodka is an interesting drink. It's a brand of vodka from Sweden but its advertising caught the world's attention when it began to stretch the boundaries between advertising and art. The ads are all witty variations on the same simple theme: a picture of the Absolut Vodka bottle with a two to three word caption starting with the word Absolut and often saying something complimentary about the product or its consumer. Always, a flash of recognition will come as you make the unlikely connection.

 

Check out a sample of these ads:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today Absolut Vodka is a media sensation. And all because the advertising campaign is centered around two simple guidelines – (1) all advertising should center around the bottle and (2) the product should not be identified with any particular lifestyle.

The iPhones 5S & 5C

Apple have unveiled two new iPhones this month. One is an update to its high-end smartphone called the iPhone 5S, an aluminium-clad powerhouse in gold, silver and space grey and the other is a lower-cost version available in five vibrant colors, i.e. white, pink, yellow, blue and green called the 5C designed to supposedly appeal to price-conscious buyers in emerging markets. 

With iPhones 5C and 5S, Apple are wanting to have it both ways. They desire to give the growing mid-range market a product that feels fresh, maybe at even higher profit margins than before. At the same time, Apple aspire to make a clear argument for spending more on the high-end iPhone.

Non-Apple fans may drone the tired line that the latest iPhone is nothing more than a minor improvement, and of course, there will be Apple fans who maintain that the company don’t need to reinvent the iPhone every year. 

Actually, it’s not important which side of the divide you are on. Apple know they need to remain in the public eye. Constantly. So new launches and new innovations will regularly create a marketing buzz and that's what they want!

Absolut Hibiskus

Full bloom: Abs Lee’s Rage: Black & Red, created for the Absolut Hibiskus x 3editions art collaboration project.

Art and Absolut Vodka have always gone hand in hand, ever since the Swedish vodka producer commissioned the legendary Andy Warhol to create an original artwork for the brand back in 1986.

 

Warhol was the first in a long list of artists who contributed in turning the Absolut bottle into the icon it is today, a list that includes not just conventional artists and painters, but also photographers, sculptors, graffiti artists, typographers, cartoonists, interior designers, art glass sculptors, architects, and even Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood.

 

Well, now Malaysians can be proud that for the first time, four of our own talented artists, i.e. Abs Lee, Michelle Lim, Tan Howe Qin, and Hyacinthe Kaur, have joined the ranks.

 

In conjunction with the launch of Absolut’s first ever floral-flavored vodka, Absolut Hibiskus – the local distributors of the brand, Pernod Ricard Malaysia have collaborated with 3editions, a contemporary online art & design gallery at www.3editions.com – to design four unique artwork pieces as part of their interpretation of this premium vodka that is bursting with rich aromas of hibiscus and fused with ripe and round notes of freshly sliced pomegranate.

 

A must-try – the Absolut Hibiskus was introduced to celebrate Malaysia’s Independence Day and Malaysia Day. Perkasa if they know about this will probably scream blue murder because it is bound to offend Malays and Muslims! LOL!

Utusan Claims Chin Peng Died A Day Earlier

Mingguan Malaysia, the weekend edition of Utusan Malaysia, quoted an anonymous source on Sunday as saying that Chin Peng had breathed his last on September 15, and not September 16 as reported. The newspaper also claimed that Chin Peng’s date of death on the 50th anniversary of Malaysia Day had been faked by parties to make his passing a memorable event.

 

This sleaze of a newspaper had denied the veracity of Thai reports pertaining to Chin Peng’s death. Bangkok Post first broke the news on September 16, with the Thai news portal reporting that he was pronounced dead at 6:20 AM and that he had died of old age in a Bangkok hospital.

 

Like it or not, the Thais were implicated – the Malaysian newspaper hinted that the former had not been honest about the date. So it means that the Thais had manipulated the event for reasons best known to them. If you choose to believe Utusan that is!

 

Actually, the wretched UMNO mouthpiece could not bear the thought that Chin Peng’s death would be constantly remembered whenever Malaysians celebrate Malaysia Day.

 

In fact, I wouldn’t even be shocked if in the next few days, Utusan Malaysia reveals that Chin Peng actually didn’t die – that he had faked his own death and that he is living somewhere in the country. Or maybe that Chin Peng was not real – there was no such person and that he was merely created by historians to add color to Malaysian history. After all, we had an uneventful independence because it was peaceful and to some, just plain unexciting!

 

Yesterday, I was again back at the Tropicana Golf & Country Resort in Petaling Jaya – this time as the General Evaluator for the Crystal Toastmasters meeting – at the invitation of Yip See See who was the Toastmaster of the Evening. There is no doubt that it was a good meeting and I am happy to award it an 8 over 10 score.