Today’s Star had this bit about the (much belated) police crackdown following the recent bus fiasco:

Konsortium Express Penang manager Albert Chew said his company was having problems getting replacement drivers after 20 of its 140 drivers went missing after Ops Bersih started on Aug 22.

…

A Gunung Raya Express ticketing officer Abadi Abdul Kadir said 30% of its drivers were affected and he anticipated that between 60% and 70% of bus commuters wanting to balik kampung this Hari Raya would be affected.

I’d bet most of you, especially those who studied in uni, would find the names of those companies familiar (I know I do!!) - just think how lucky you are to be alive people. Thank goodness I never came back that often…

Popularity: 14% [?]

Odex, the main distributor of anime in Singapore, has forced Starhub (a Singapore ISP) to give up names of people involved sharing anime titles which are licensed by them - even a 9-year-old was not exempt (a copy of the letter here). DarkMirage has some solid criticism of the issue.

Even blog posts regarding the issue are being frowned upon.

Someone pointed out on Lowyat though that since Malaysia doesn’t have official anime distributors, we’re unlikely to suffer the same fate - at least for now.

Popularity: 28% [?]

Magic, pure magic - that’s how I’d describe Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Anyone who has read any of the books will already know that Rowling is a storytelling genius: the world of Harry Potter ranks right up there with Middle-Earth or Narnia - perhaps higher, given how easily you can relate to her world and appreciate her parodies on society and politics ([edit] I’ll say it again - the Ministry of Magic is sooo like our Govt, have you read about how they’re trying to paint Anwar as a lapdog of the US and the Jews?) without squinting for religious analogy or keeping track of odd names. Granted, her writing isn’t impressive in a literary sense (I believe someone commented that Rowling “never met an adverb she didn’t like”) - then again, I cringed at Tolkien’s attempts at songs too. She also takes pains to flesh out her characters, even the minor ones, and lets them grow with every book. And of course, I’m also a personal fan because of her rags-to-riches story writing the Great British Novel(s).

The last book was like the finishing of an intricate spiderweb. (Seemingly) small details from the previous books came together, nearly everyone has their moment in the sun, and the pace was breathtaking. The final chapters especially were glorious. The only problems I really had were the last two deaths, which didn’t seem to contribute to the story much by that point; and the epilogue, which was horrendous. She’s going to produce a final booklet for charity though, and if you want a better epilogue check out the transcript of a 90-minute chat between Rowling and MuggleNet.

Will end with a quick note about the Deathly Hallows price war: A letter in the newspaper observed that the major bookstores are getting a taste of their own medicine - many small retailers haven’t bothered stocking Harry Potter even before this, because they could not match the prices of the major chains. That said, it was a little… weird to see Deathly Hallows being promoted in a Carrefour newspaper ad - next to a promotion for potatoes. I preordered my copy from Borders, so it didn’t set me back much anyway - RM88 total, with 20% off the next two books.

Popularity: 28% [?]