Star Trek

13 Nov 2010 - Last Sunday we had the comeback Star Trek movie on HBO, and it was great fun. Star Trek has a huge fan base, and I believe the fans were not disappointed by the re-make of the classic late 1960s TV series. The 2010 story about the crew of starship Enterprise was entertaining and full of good action. Director J.J. Abrams, known from hit series Lost and Alias, reinvented Star Trek and brought it into the 21st century. He chose a younger cast for his reboot, with sexy Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto taking on the roles of Captain Kirk and Spock respectively. He also added less known villains, the Romulans, into the picture. The result is a fast-paced reintroduction into the Star Trek universe, and it is much edgier than all previous incarnations. It is a big compliment that both die-hards and newcomers appreciated the movie. So did I.

Meet Patty

12 Nov 2010 - A typical hamburger patty is packed with the meat and fat of 50 to 100 cattle from two or four countries. Eat two hamburgers a week - as the average American does - and in a year's time you have wolfed down 5,200 to 10, 440 cattle. High quality hamburger patties are made entirely of minced beef and seasonings. The patty needs to be cooked at an internal temperature of 80 degrees Celsius as food-borne bacteria such as E-coli may enter due to improper preparation of the meat. In Japan, restaurants regularly serve the hamburger meat without the bun, and call it a hamburger steak. They are served with brown sauce or occasionally in Japanese curries. Mind you, I am talking about the perfect patty here, and I am not sure if you will get the same quality in MacDonalds or the Burger King.

The First Asian Games

12 Nov 2010 - The Guangzhou Asian Games will soon be underway. It all started for the Asian Games at 1948 Summer Olympics in London. Sportsmen from China and the Philippines were reminiscing about having an event where Asian athletes could call their own. This led to the formation of the Asian Athletic Federation, and the announcement of the start of the Asian Games. On March 1951, 489 athletes from 11 countries came to New Delhi, India to show their support and compete. The first ever gold medalist was a Singaporean - N.C. Kok, who won the 1500 meters swimming freestyle gold. The Games were also notable for Japan's first-place performance, a showing made more noticeable because they were barred from the London Games for initiating the Pacific war. However, their misdeeds in warfare did not prevent them from flexing their sporting muscles.

Supermarket Selling

10 Nov 2010 - Every day we go to the supermarket, we buy something and we leave. It may sound as suimple as that, but there is a whole system at work to motivate us to buy more more more. The supermarkets prefer us to shop using a trolley as it looks rather empty with only one or two items and the impulse may be to buy more. The milk is placed at the back, so we have to pass many temptations to get there and walk to the cashier. We find some small items like chocolates and chewing at the cashier, as we may buy them on an impulse. And make no mistake: the most expensive items are placed at eye level, so we notice them easily and may not search the shelves for cheaper varieties. The free sampling and specific events are of course also only designed with the only purpose in mind to let us buy more. There is nothing wrong with all these marketing tricks, but I am sure many people are not aware of them. Is that manipulation?

Saturday Night Fever

9 Nov 2010 - Believe it or not, but John Travolta turns 60. For those of us growing up in the 1970s the movie Saturday Night fever, starring John Travolta, defined a generation. After the Beatles and the Stones in the 1960 the disco-era started around 1977 when Travolta strut his funky stuff on the dance floor. The impact of the iconic movie was tremendous, because soon after its release all men were all wearing high heal and got their leisure suits on, while polyester shirts were THE fashion item. Interesting enough, John Travolta's character Tony looked ubercool in this outfit, but some of us looked right out ridiculous in the outfit. The high heels also meant a health hazard for many, as many ankles were twisted while clomping around. However, the white suit and black polyester shirt became iconic after Travolta appeared on the poster wearing the signature suit. 

Man in Disguise

8 Nov 2010 - A young Chinese man, who boarded an Air Canada flight in Hong Kong elaborately disguised as an elderly white male, is seeking refugee status in Canada. Border officials were stunned and called it an "unbelievable case of concealment". The man boarded the flight in Hong Kong wearing a remarkable silicone mask to make him look like an elderly man, which obviously worked. The man boarded the flight as an elderly Caucasian who appeared to have youthful looking hands. During the flight he went to the washroom and re-appeared as a young Asian male in his early 20s. Reports said the man had a bag with him with the silicon head, a brown leather cap, glasses and a think brown cardigan. Some passengers and cabin crew thought the man had swapped seats during the flight. The reports did not say if his Passport name revealed the name Bond or Houdini (the cartoon is from the SCMP).

Fatwa on Women Cashiers

7 Nov 2010 - Women cashiers were at work in several supermarkets in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia as their employer ignored a fatwa by the country's highest religious authority forbidding female checkout clerks. The popular Marhaba chain kept the women on the job despite the week old ruling, which contradicted a key government policy to create jobs for women. A Marhaba official said the women would keep working until they received an order from the Labor-ministry to stop the practice, which only began in the past three months after the Ministry said it was permitted. Marhaba has more than 25 women working in its branches. The official fatwa-issuing body under the Council of Senior Scholars ruled that the cashier jobs were not permissible, because they resulted in the women mixing with unrelated men.

Durian buffet

7 Nov. 2010 - First of all: I really do not like durian fruit. But I am now in the part of the world where people grave for the smelly fruit. The best way to enjoy durian is - they say fresh from the market. And that is not the supermarket, but the wet market. The latest trend is the durian buffet, which can be found at the roadside in KL and other parts of Malaysia. At jalan SS2 at least four durian stalls are vying for the customers' attention, but most of them offer the same deal: RM10 for all you can eat (fresh kampaung durians only). It sounds like the perfect treat for durian-lovers (and there are many), but ther is also a downside. One has to finish a durian before ordering again, and the stall holder picks the durian for the customer. Effectively, that means one is bound to get some watery or rotten ones sometimes. Not for me!

Great Picture (24)

5 Nov 2010 - The first time I came to Kuala Lumpur was in 1988, when I was backpacking South-East Asia. These days I have been reminiscent of the trip, as I could never ever have thought that I would be living in the same city more than 20 years later. I always thought I would end up in Capetown, which was the end point of another great trip. One of the highlights of that African adventure was a visit to the desert in Namibia, where the lights and colors are breath-taking. Hence this picture.

Annoying Tourists

5 Nov 2010 - People love lists. Normally they make a top 10 or even top 100, but in the KL Time Out magazine I saw a top 9 of the nine most annoying things about tourists. This is summary of what Malaysian find annoying about their visitors from overseas, but most of these points seem universal?:
1. The matching T-shirts (mainly mainland Chinese);
2. The backpackers on the metro who knock people over with their bags;
3. The incessant taking of photographs when you are trying to walk down a pavement;
4. The sudden stopping in the middle of said pavement to take the photograph;
5. The ones who like to remind us they come from a better country;
6. The sheer volume of their voices;
7. The fact that they are willing to pay rip-off taxi rates because it's still cheaper than at home;
8. The way they automatically assume that malaysians don't speak any English;
9. Their predilection for socks and sandals (and socks in sandals);

So what's at number 10? 

Ginseng

4 Nov 2010 - Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) highly values ginseng. The ideal ginsend specimen resembles a person, with a small knob at the top, a proportionately sized torso and evenly placed branches, for the legs and arms. It is probably safe to assume that ginseng is not consumed for its flavour - it has a distinctive, bitter taste that is not to everyone's liking. The root though, can fetch very high prices because of the myriad curative powers attributed to it - among other things, it is believed ginseng increases sexual prowess and longevity, boosts energy levels and cures cancer and diabetes. The shape, cultivation methods and age of a root determine the price. Scientific studies show that at least some of the medicinal values attributed to ginseng are valid.

More of Dog Poop

4 Nov 2010 - Following the story about the Korean "Dog poop girl" a few days ago (see below) there is more to say about naming and shaming dog owners who refuse to clean up their pets faeces. In the United States and Germany residents are trying to trace offenders with DNA testing. According to AOL news, residents at an upscale condominium complex in Baltimore are fed up with people who don't pick up after their pooches. They are taking action by proposing all dogs living at the building are swabbed for their DNA. Then, any dog faeces left behind would be sent to a lab and tested for a match, and offending owners would be slapped with a USD 500 fine. The proposal raised criticism from animal rights groups, who felt it was unfair and violated the dog's privacy rights. They also claim the inititive will not solve the problem as visiting dogs cannot be traced down.  

Fung Shui

2 Nov 2010 - Kuala Lumpur is full with urban development. Wherever one looks skyscrapers are being erected. I was told that many of those buildings are empty and that people are waiting for the big boom in the real estate market, but so far it does not stop developers from building more, higher, bigger. What does this mean for fung shui in KL? One could be living next to a park or empty land with lots of greenerey and vegetation but the fung shui could be disturbed by the construction of a highway or power station on that plot. Village people are often much better in tune with nature and have long protested such developments. Christian missionaries in the 20th century tried to discredit these villagers and their fung shui beliefs, as they saw construction as development. They did not loike them to complain about the installation of electrical and telegraph poles near their homes. There are no more Christian missionaries in Malaysia in the 21st century so construction is on. And fung shui appears to be forgotten.

Dog Poop Girl

2 Nov 2010 - Most dog owners love their dog. They believe there are so many wonderful aspects of owning a dog: companionship, loyalty and love. But one of the most dreaded tasks in taking care of man's best friend is picking up its faeces. Some people refuse to perform this chore. in 2003, a woman in South Korea boarded the subway with her dog. After the dog relieved itself on the floor, the owner refused to clean up het pet's mess, even though another passenger offered a tissue. The incident was caught on camera and posted on a website. Within days, internet vigilants identified the pet's owner and posted her details in cyberspace. Known as "Dog Poop Girl", she drew the attention of local broadcasters and international newspapers, and the ensuing media frenzy was so great that shw was forced to leave her hometown. It is not known if the dog moved with her.

Mandarin Oriental Tokyo

1 Nov 2010 - It is now possible to rent the Mandarin Oriental Tokyo hotel for a party. But the price is tag is not small, one has to pay 55 million Yen for it. From 3 pm until noon the next day, customers get use of the entire hotel, including nine restaurants and all spas and rooms, for the equivalent of HKD 5,247,300. The luxury hotel in central Tokyo began selling the plan a week ago as "something splashy" to commemorate its opening five years ago, said spokeswoman Chie Hayakawa. It would include a cocktail reception for 500 people.

Dump the Mini Skirt

1 Nov 2010 - Taiwan still has a military draft, but over the years it has been watered down to an average of just over one year - one of the shortest in the world. The army generally prefers volunteers but a recruitment drive this year has been so far off target that military brass tried to resort to cleavage and miniskirts to appeal to young men's patriotism. Thus the idea of hiring Lin Chiling, often billed as Taiwan's most beautiful woman, to pose in military fatigues with a special designed miniskirt, according to a leaked memo. Lin apparanetly agreed to do her petriotic duty, but her asking price would have taken up more than half of the budget earmarked for this years' army recruitment. Oh well, capitalism trumps patriotism - tell that to the masters in Beijing.

Halloween

30 Oct 2010 - Although I always thought Halloween takes places on 31st October, I was explained that tonight is actually Halloween night. Maybe it helps that the Saturday more attractive than another dull Sunday? Anyway, I have very little with the Halloween phenomena and I am quite surprised to find the event all over Asia. It is big in Hong Kong, and in Kuala Lumpur it is also all pumpkins, witches and Harry Potter gadgets. Worse is that all commercial TV station air an overflow of B-class horror movies (and even A-class horror movies are terrible)  The Malaysian New Straits Times published the Top Ten of scary creatures from horror movies. I had expected Hannibal from Silence of the Lambs, or Jack Nickelson in The Shining, but none of them. It's heavy stuff like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Scream. The only scary creature on the list is Damien Thorn (at number 2) from The Omen. The newspaper explains that one should not be fooled by his innocent appearance of this anti-Christ who sports the devil's symbol of 666. I remember the little fella ... and yes, he did give me the creeps.

Social Media Training

30 Oct 2010 - Beijing city officials are being trained to use the mainland's fast-growing social media in the latest government move to guide and monitor public opinion, state media said. The City's Communist party school is offering a training to "bureau-level leading cadres" to help "leaders catch up with internet currents", the Legal Evening news reported. The training will "raise cadres' understanding of information dissemination, and social and public sentiment in order to better respond to sudden crisis", it said. Mainland blogs, chat rooms and other sites have become lively outlets for expression given traditional media are tightly controlled and freedom of speech is curtailed. In particualr, Twitter-like microblogging sites have grown fast, with tens of  millions of people believed to have opened accounts in the past year alone. The propaganda machine has reached the 21st century.

No MIni-Skirts

29 Oct - The mayor of the southern Italian seaside town of Castellammare di Stabia got his way on Monday, when the city council approved a ban on football games in public parks and squares, blasphemy out loud and "very skimpy clothes". Conservative Mayor Luigi Bobbio said that miniskirts and other provocative outfits would still be allowed as long as they were not too revealing. "its a matter of commonsense, of common decency,: he says. A handful of local female politicians protested in front of the town's city hall during Monday's vote, if any, wore miniskirts. The measures also included a ban on men going around shirtless. Violations will be punished with a fine of up to EUR 500. The measures went into force immediately, Bobbio said.

Superbug

29 Oct 2010 - More than 7 years ago I arrived in Hong Kong in the middle of the SARS outbreak. I clearly remember the scary world of empty streets and masked faces. SARS killed almost 300 people in Hong Kong and many more worldwide. Luckily, it never came back. It seems somewhat ironic that I picked up that the first case of the antibiotic-resistant superbug infection was detected in Malaysia. The female patient has made a full recovery and - according to the Ministry of Health spokesperson - poses no threat to the public, the Ministry continues to take precautionary measures to ensure that the bacteria does not spread.