So this guy, Patrick Moberg, from New York, spots the girl of his dreams while waiting for a subway; love at first sight if you will. He’s 21 and a designer for Vimeo (a startup, think Youtube in high-res). Said guy quickly makes a sketch of her and posts it up on www.nygirlofmydreams.com. Can you guess the ending?..
Yes! Word gets around, even in crusty New York, and he finds the girl. She was Camille Hayton, an Australian interning in the city. An update on the site read:
FOUND HER!
A friend of hers came across the site, recognized the description, and sent me an email. We’ve been put in touch with one another and we’ll see what happens!
But there’re endings, and there’re endings. Real life ones. www.nygirlofmydreams.com was updated a few months later with a wistful farewell:
Here’s where it gets tricky… In our best interest, there will be no more updates to this website. Unlike all the romantic comedies and bad pop songs, you’ll have to make up your own ending for this.
Not good enough for the noseys around though, and the real ending was indeed dug up by an Australian magazine. They broke up after two months.
I think each person would take away something different from the tale. Is it the journey or the destination? :). In Camille’s words:
I wanted to give it a go, so I wouldn’t later wonder, ‘What if, what if?’
Out of boredom I started watching Human Weapon and Fight Quest a while back.Both are serial semi-documentaries that explore various martial arts around the world. They are very similar (but Human Weapon aired first) - the only differences I could see were that HW had cool motion-captured animations explaining the forces behind the main techniques of each art, while FQ’s hosts were more critical of the martial arts they went up against.
There were real whoppers in Human Weapon’s coverage of Malaysian silat though - to believe their version of silat’s history, 20% of Malaysians practice silat and “thousands of silat warriors” died to achieve our independence in 1957! I’ve a clip that shows what they said at the beginning:
Batman first came alive for me when I read Frank Miller’s landmark graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns (1986), which told the story of an aged Batman returning to fight crime. Its grim take on superheroes and mature themes remain an influence on comic books today (and who could forget the iconic panels of Batman showing Clark who’s boss?)
So The Dark Knight was a much awaited movie for me. Batman Begins was a decent film, but most of the time was spent on the origin story (no super powers, borrring..) and let’s face it you can’t remember the villain’s name, can you? TDK would feature two of Batman’s most famous opponents: the Joker and Two-Face.
Living up to Hype
Early reviews had nothing but praise for the late Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker, which half worried me, would I go in expecting too much? Superhero movies are a dime a dozen now; this summer alone has seen Hancock, Wanted, Iron Man, Hulk, and Hellboy all grace the screen. Is there space for a hero with no powers?
There is :). What I liked most about TDK was that yes, Ledger’s performance deserves all the accolades you can throw at it. But less mentioned is that the rest of the ensemble: Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman), and even Alfred (Michael Caine) all put in stellar performances (Morgan Freeman was good too, but at this point I go “WTF not YOU again” whenever I see him in a movie). In fact, given that I already knew Ledger would be awesome, Eckhart’s portrayal of Harvey Dent knocked me off my feet. He could easily have been overshadowed by the Joker, but his descent from being the “white knight” of Gotham into Harvey Two-Face was tragic and believable. Watch the movie in a different way, and The Dark Knight could just as easily been about Harvey Dent.
A Script Apart
I think that TDK is the film it is because it all meshes together; the acting, the costumes, the action the cinematography, all based on an amazing script. It’s easy to take a superhero movie and turn it into a blockbuster - just get the origin story right, maybe add a catchy theme, put in the fancy CGI, a DID (damsel in distress), a cheesy dialogue about how good triumphs over evil. And trust that the otakus will rush in anyway. Or if all else fails, just pull in Will Smith (god Hancock was bad). TDK has raised the bar, so much so that I look back now to Spiderman - which before this was generally regarded as the standard for superhero movies - and think “Cheer up emo kid!”.
Depicting morality outside of black and white is not just elusive to a hero movie. All movies - heck, games, books, music; every form of art has always struggled with putting forth a valid painting of gray. That is the real reason why The Dark Knight is not only the best superhero movie, but the best movie this year. Batman deals with getting the job done without feeding his darker side. Gordon struggles with having to deal with a corrupt force, his friends among them. Harvey has to balance himself on a pedestal, set up as the moral beacon of Gotham. The insane, anachronist Joker sets up impossible dilemmas for the Batman, one after another. Beneath the violence and choices lie moments that make you think: Now what would I have done?
The resolution of the ferry scene made me want to cry! Oh me of little faith :)
It’s a whopping two and a half hours long, and scorns the typical “Intro-conflict-resolution”, but trust me it’s all worth it, all the way to Gordon’s closing monologue, which would have been cheesy in any other film, but in TDK it sums up perfectly; how the best of us can fail, and how it is in our nature to need a hero to project our hopes and fears to - which Batman paradoxically cannot be, and in the end, the people of Gotham get the hero they deserve.
The Dark Knight is required watching this year, or be prepared to be left out of many dinnertime conversations to come!
Postscript: Shattering records
TDK is on its way to breaking box-office records, and has shot to the top of IMDB’s highest rated movies, which is unprecendented:
On March 1, 2008, then Cabinet Minister Rafidah Aziz said this about PAS’ calls for a debate with Abdullah Badawi on their election manifestos:
Rafidah also said that it was unnecessary to accede to a PAS suggestion for the party to have an open debate with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak because it was irrelevant in terms of the culture of Malaysian society.
“The BN track record is there for us to scrutinise and appreciate. We do not emulate the American style of open debate,” she said.
The right way would be to debate with the people themselves, and discuss the issues with a view to resolving them immediately.
“We debate with the villagers. We debate with the urban folk. That’s our way. Debating here means holding ceramah (talk), discussions and question-and-answer sessions on local issues,” she said.
Things have changed indeed! Shabery Cheek, the current Information Minister, agreed to debate Anwar himself over the rising oil prices, and the papers reported this:
Information Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek today expressed the hope that debates between two sides with differing views would become a culture in Malaysian politics.
“These (debates) have yet to be institutionalised in our political system and last night was the beginning,” he said in reference to the debate on the fuel price increase between him and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) advisor Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Hari Ini Bentuk Kerajaan, Esok Turun Harga Minyak
I actually missed the hour-long live telecast (because of you Marv :< ), but I wasn’t too worried because I knew it would be on Malaysiakini and Youtube :). And sure enough it was. I’ve just watched it and here’s my blow-by-blow. Spoilers, obviously, so you might want to go watch it yourself if you haven’t already. The Youtube vid above is the first of eight parts. I also ripped the audio out and made an mp3 of the debate (right click, save as; 23MB ).
Let me state here though that I am NOT a diehard Anwar fan, in fact I’m quite the skeptic when it comes to him. It’ll take a bit before I’ll be 100% convinced he’s changed his spots. So bear this in mind (oh did I just spoil it for you??).
Opening statement
Anwar started off with the main points he would reiterate throughout, starting with his proposal to reduce oil prices by 50 sen, which would cost the govt RM 5 bil. He criticized the lopsided contracts given to IPPs, and stated that if TNB reduced its power reserve from 40% to 20%, RM2 bil would be saved. He points out that corruption and “leakage” contributed to the situation; bailouts of Perwaja amounted to RM 13 billion.
Shabery’s starts off strongly with a statement that a 5bil estimate was outdated, oil prices have risen so high that we would now need 50 bil to finance that reduction.
He then follows up with a personal attack (first of many) on Anwar, reminding him that he led protest against price increases during the Yom Kippur War in the 70s, and accusing him of being a “populist”.
Round Two
The moderator then invited comments from both speakers on this statement: Given that Petronas only owns a 40% share of the local fuel market, a govt subsidy affects foreign conglomerates like Shell and Exxon-Mobil as well.
Shabery replied first by stating subsidies needed to be pulled back so the govt could spend on the people. He attemped to rebut Anwar’s claim of wastage by pointed out that even developed countries like Norway and Finland had raised prices. (This led to applause from his supporters, but I couldn’t see the connection).
Anwar then addressed Shabery’s personal attacks by going for the high road, stating wryly that this was not a debate about “Anwar and Shabery” and he wouldn’t, for example, bring up Shabery’s previous involvement in Semangat 64. He then jumped on Shabery’s weak rebuttal, saying that Norway’s GDP was 10 times Malaysia’s (wow, preparation!), and said there was no basis for a straight comparison. He took the chance again to point out the hardships of the poor (stressing that the majority of the poor were Bumis) and that the increase showed the govt was out of touch. He said that when money was given to industries and projects, it was called “incentives” or “bailouts”, but when given to the people it was negatively called “subsidies”.
Panelist questions (first round)
A representative from each side then posed a question to the opposing.
Shabery’s rep quoted figures stating that local oil operations represented only a small portion of Petronas’ profits, and got a carried away into a speech accusing Anwar of being like a child who was using his dead father’s inheritance to distribute, so that he could be popular.
Anwar answered that Petronas was only in the top 100 oil companies, but it was in the top ten based on profits. He said that he would not touch Petronas’ profits directly, but took issue with the profits that was given by Petronas to the govt.
Anwar’s representative then posed his question. He stated the govt had claimed the RM4 bil saved from the 2006 fuel hike would be used to improve public transport, but only RM 900 mil had actually been spent.
Shabery sarcastically said that if he were in the opposition, “bagi free pun boleh“, but oil prices had doubled. He then went off on a tangent reiterating that other oil producing countries had high inflation, and brought in the govt’s ability to offset the food crisis (Huh?).
It was quite obvious though that Shabery had failed to respond to the query on public transport.
Panelist questions (second round)
This time the reps asked their own side questions.
Anwar was asked about his efforts to establish a Tabung Warisan ala Norway. He briefly touched on it but then devoted the remaning time to rebut Shabery’s statement on inflation, saying there was no logic in pointing out that low oil prices led to inflation, since it didn’t follow that high oil prices would lead to less inflation.
Shabery’s rep again went off into his own speech, but was basically “asking” why Anwar had not focused instead on decreasing tax, or inflation, but chose oil prices instead.
Shabery chose to go back to Anwar’s earlier speech, but amazingly decided to wave off Anwar’s statement about only taking from Petronas’ profits (Anwar had said Petronas was among the top 10 oil earners). He said our oil would soon run out, and made time to praise Mahathir for his handling of Petronas.
Cross-examination
The next round, Anwar reiterated that his main points were the sudden spike in fuel price and the wastage of funds, and why the govt, after having promised not to raise prices before the election, had now raised prices and manipulated the media against reporting opposition points accurately.
Shabery pointedly refused to address the question directly, repeating instead that oil prices were a global phenomenon. He tried another ad hominem attack, accusing Anwar of having brokered unreasonable deals with IPPs in the first place, and brought up the old “Anwar wanted to sell us to IMF” argument from 1997.
Shabery then asked Anwar what would be done when the country runs out of oil in 2015.
Anwar parried the attack by reminding us that the 2015 estimation is only based on Petronas not finding any more oil fields by then, and that it had once been predicted that Malaysia would run out of oil by 2005. He praised Petronas for its resourcefulness. He rebutted Shabery’s personal attack by announcing that he had, in fact, actively opposed the terms of IPP agreements along with the former TNB chairman, who resigned over the issue, and this would be backed up in the records (oo burn!). He said he would debate the 1997 crisis in any forum in the future. He then takes advantage of the recent announcement by Petronas that an additional RM 6 bil would be given to the government - saying that if a billion of that were to be given to the public it would benefit them greatly.
Conclusion
The time given for this round was short: 90 seconds each. Anwar quickly summed up his points again. Shabery continues making personal attacks, painting Anwar as a rebel, and saying that Anwar had once praised Mahathir to the heavens.
——————————————
What I think
It was sadly obvious that Shabery simply wasn’t in the same league as Anwar. DSAI was persuasive yet affable and hit the right tone at the right times, and had ready answers for nearly everything Shabery threw at him.
Shabery came across as confrontational, mocking and sarcastic. The brunt of his argument comprised personal attacks which may have entertained supporters in the elections, but were conspicuously vacuous in a debate setting. He didn’t have answers to key questions.
This is not to say that Anwar was 100% right - it is true that he had been using the fuel hike to his advantage even before it took effect, knowing that it was inevitable. But he whipped Shabery good in the debate, and while people are comfortingly saying everyone came out winners, the debate was a big step forward, etc; I don’t think there will be another debate featuring DSAI soon. It’s pretty obvious why the government is scared stiff of him.
I’d actually heard of gold dust and teeth making an appearance way way back but I didn’t know it was making a return to Charismatic circles until I heard a sermon about it on Sunday. A lady went up after and said gold dust had appeared on her during the sermon.
My first thought was “why gold fillings or gold teeth?” Heaven is supposed to be paved with gold - now why would God fill your tooth with pavement? Why not just restore the tooth? Aren’t gold teeth status symbols of the rich? Strange that what is termed a “spritual revolution”; faith in the unseen, makes great weight of teeth bring turned into gold or gemstones appearing from nowhere. From several accounts, the people had specifically prayed for teeth fillings to be turned into gold - why pray for something of zero practical value, and something that could have been easily put in by a dentist?:
Skeptics can also point to Dick Dewert, president of CJIL-TV in Lethbridge, Alberta. Dewert claimed during a fundraising campaign that God had given him a gold tooth. But he retracted his claim March 25 after his dentist, Jack Sherman, reminded him that he had given him the filling 10 years before.
“The media tend to hit on the ones that are questionable, unfortunately. But this is why we want to move carefully, and to seek medical verification,” says Rev. Dr. John Roddam of St. David’s Anglican Church in Tsawwassen.
There was also the usual scoffing at skeptics who would rather question than believe this phenomenon; I wonder what the reaction is then for the “miracles” seen on the other side of the demoninational divide, e.g. visions of Fatima , or statues weeping tears of blood, or Hindu statues lapping up milk (I spotted posts on Catholic forums mocking this as “theology for gangsta rappers”).
Reactions from Christians themselves range from the amazed to the cautious, and the outright disbelieving. An observation I found stood out in my mind, and pretty much summed up my last thought on the matter as well:
Questions are raised in our minds about God’s goodness and open-handedness when, on the one hand, he seems unwilling or unable to prevent Auschwitz or the contemporary tragedy of Kosovo, but seems both willing and able to adopt the role of a modern dentist and provide not only cosmetic wonders, but phenomena more in keeping with the Fortean Times than the Bible.
Today was the big day for Cheryl and Alex! Not their actual “big day” though, they already had the ceremony in AU and were having this dinner here just for us.
Coincidentally, it was also the first time I got to try out my new camera: a Panasonic Lumix FZ-8 which is an old model but came with a good price :). Well OK not really a coincidence, I kind of rushed the buy so I could take pictures. My sister broke my old camera a few years back and I’d never bought one since.
I think Macy summed it up pretty well in her short speech when she said that knowing that Cheryl was such a careful, cautious person, Alex must be really some guy to make it all the way through; the longer part of the their relationship being long-distance nonetheless! It was both funny and nice to seem them “glammed up” in their wedding photoshoot pics as well.
I got only one really good pic with my camera tonight - well OK I have to admit my sister took the pic but someone was blocking my view…
I think some of us who knew her through the years were wondering if she was thinking “Am I filling the glasses symmetrically?”
Her sister Debbie performed a cute number with her bf on guitar, for the life of me I can’t remember the song right now but I was humming along to it then.
Dinner was Cheryl-worthy I think. Forgot to take pictures but dessert was something I had never seen before - soya bean milk with quail eggs. It was an interesting combination. All the aunties in the hall were shooting warning looks at the uncles though (quails’ eggs have high cholesterol).
Anyway all the best in Australia Cheryl… we will all miss you :( keep in touch!
Pennsylvania experiments with painted “speed bumps” - optical illusions - which can be produced for much less than the real thing.
Man from Oregon uses helium balloons strapped to a lawn chair to safely fly 200 miles, using a BB gun to slowly pop enough balloons to lower him to earth.
Ethics
In contrast to heroic stories from the Sichuan earthquake, a secondary schoolteacher tells of how he fled rather than help his students evacuate: “I’m only really concerned about myself”.
Writer Christopher Hitchens, who had initially opposed the designation of waterboarding as torture, decides to undergo the procedure himself. His conclusion: “Believe me, it’s torture!”
Romanian rape victim is allowed to have an abortion that would usually be considered illegal
Should we give convicts the same opportunity for (expensive) treatment?
Internet
France government strikes a deal with its ISPs to block porn, terror, and hate web sites
Associated Press draws up rules that require you to pay $12.50 every time you quote more than 5 words from any of their syndicated articles. Uh-oh!
A stroll through Wikipedia shows disparities between the attention given to certain subjects: Call of Duty, the popular WWII game, has a longer content total than actual WWII articles.
Speed test of the latest browsers shows Opera still ahead of the pack! (FF3 is ahead in RAM usage, but most computers have enough RAM, and most browsers use up unused RAM anyway to cache data.)
Science
Evolutionary biologist Richard Lenski takes a single e. coli bacterium and cultivates its offspring, which make a significant evolutionary shirt in the 31,500th generation.Some editors at Conservapediatake offense, demonstrating their ignorance of scientific research while hassling Lenski to reveal “his data”.
Survey of undergrads finds the more men choose romance over success.
Consumer
P&G evades sales tax by claiming that Pringles “are not potato chips”
Bioshock’s forte is its breathtaking art direction, and it wastes no time in showing it off. You start as an anonymous passenger on a plane that crashes into the Atlantic Ocean. Water and fire are gloriously, fluidly rendered as you swim in the wreckage and eventually you spot the only land in sight: an island with a solitary, imposing lighthouse. The commanding use of light and shadow here set the tone for the rest of the game. It is also the last time you will be in an open space - Bioshock is set in the underwater city of Rapture, and uses clever, claustrophobic level design and a limited but expressive set of enemies to keep framerates smooth.
You soon descend by bathysphere into Rapture, a utopia envisioned by Andrew Ryan to be free of the failures and limitations of the surface. As Ryan’s iconic speech goes:
I am Andrew Ryan and I am here to ask you a question:
Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his own brow?
No, says the man in Washington. It belongs to the poor.
No, says the man in the Vatican. It belongs to God.
No, says the man in Moscow. It belongs to everyone.
I rejected those answers. Instead, I chose something
different. I chose the impossible. I chose… Rapture.
Admist the towering monuments to the greatness of Rapture, something becomes clear: there is trouble in paradise. Genetic advancements have gone awry, turning its citizens into scavenging mutants with only twisted memories of their past lives. They all crave ADAM - stem cells which power genetic abilities - and will gladly kill you for it. Also roaming the corridors of Rapture are Little Sisters, eerie children who harvest ADAM from dead bodies, and the hulking Big Daddies, who protect them.
Gameplay: Well designed, user friendly
Genetic modification is a thinly veiled replacement for what magic and spells are in other games, of course. Througout the game, you use ADAM to purchase plasmids and genetic enhancements which grant you special abilities, as well as more slots to equip these abilities simultaneously. Your abilities are complemented with “conventional” weapons, from the standard-issue pistol, shotgun, and SMG; to the more exotic flamethrower and crossbow. There are three ammunition types for every weapon. There was an innovation I liked: the research camera, which is used to “shoot” enemies, giving you research points depending on how good the photograph was, which leads to combat advantages against that enemy type, or information about their weaknesses.
Combat is unavoidable and plentiful (this is an FPS after all). There is enough variety to keep it fresh, and ample opportunities to use the environment to your advantage. You can use Telekinesis to throw gas canisters at your enemies, Incinerate on oil spills to set your enemies aflame, Electricity on enemies in water to electrocute them, etc. Unlike in Deus Ex, your genetic implants can be swapped out whenever you find the correct machine, leaving you with the abilities for every situation.
Sound: simply masterful
Voice acting, dialogue, and sound direction is impeccable in this game, from the objectivist monologues of Andrew Ryan to the demented screams of the splicers, and the rumbling grunts of the Big Daddies. An one memorable instance I came across a phonograph, turned it on, and the lilting melody of Patti Page’s (How Much is) That Doggie in the Window filled the air. It was a testament to Bioshock’s ability to immerse that I didn’t hear a cute cover of a nursery rhyme, but a haunting remnant of an attempt to invoke memories of the surface world and loved ones left behind:
I must take a trip to California
And leave my poor sweetheart alone
If he has a dog, he won’t be lonesome
And the doggie will have a good home.
But not perfect
That said, Bishock isn’t without its flaws. There is an over-reliance on audio journals to reveal backstory and advance the plot. Granted, the voice acting is absolutely superb, but it still detracts a little from the immersion - what are the odds that *every* inhabitant in Rapture happens to go around recording key points in their lives for you to pick up?
Security-related minigames seem to be the “in” thing in recent games, but most of them miss the mark - the only two games I can remember having decent implementations were Deus Ex, where your skill level determined how long a terminal would stay open and determine how much time you had to fiddle with controls and read classified information; and Oblivion’s lockpicking minigame, which tried for *some* realism. Bioshock’s hacking minigame sadly, falls short of the bar. It’s essentially an adaptation of the puzzle game Pipe Dream. The minigame itself is ok (even though it doesn’t make much sense) - but after about twenty times, it gets old. In theory, hacking is optional, but in practice, since you have very limited ammo and even cash capacity, you’ll find yourself having to hack everything that can be hacked, which spoils the immersion.
Bioshock is also nearly completely linear, which can be a turn-off. There is only one decision you need to make in the game: whether or not to harvest Little Sisters for ADAM, which enables you to purchase genetic upgrades; or to save them, which only grants half as much ADAM. And no, I don’t consider this a spoiler since this aspect of the game was trumpeted in every preview. I found the “decision” to harvest or save the Sisters moot - for one thing, you get “gifts” of ADAM as you save the Sisters, which lessens the penalty. You don’t actually need that much ADAM to get through the game, especially if you have played many shooters. Excepting your first few Big Daddy battles, the game is pretty straightforward otherwise. You know that a game isn’t presenting enough of a challenge when you actually down the final boss on Hard in your first try (and I’m not even very good at shooters, ask my friends!).
Verdict: Instant Classic
Quibbles aside, Bioshock is a game that is destined to be a classic for its immersiveness and artistry, as well as its unique steampunk-noir theme. If there were a reason to go out and buy a good graphic and sound card, this would be it. I liken it to one of those art films which you go “wow!” at, and rave about to all your friends; but know you may never watch again.
Rating: 85 +5 if you really love good graphics and sound -5 if non-linearity puts you off
Postscript: Technical Issues
When first released, Bioshock featured a fairly restrictive DRM which limited every purchase to two “activations”. This limit was subsequently increased to five, and recently abolished altogether. There were also issues relating to how widescreen FOV was being implemented, but that’s fixed in the latest patch (Turn “FOV locking” off in Options).
Fine, a lot of people are posting about this already - but hey, it could be worse; I could be blogging about XX vs DY…
It’s just all very odd. Mkini conducted a poll and a whopping 95% of its readers thought that it was a political conspiracy against Anwar. Unsurprising really, given the political climate, not to mention the fact that the previous sodomy charge was overturned in court.
Our Govt can be really dumb, make no mistake. We after all had a Tourism Minister who accused bloggers of being lying and unemployed, and a bungled attempt to prevent indelible ink from being brought into the elections based on “reports” to the police - that couldn’t be produced when asked for. A government that said it would not serve foreign cars at petrol stations near the border, abolish that directive, and then introduce a dual-pump system - all in the space of one month. A government that said it would remove subsidies from RapidKL to be fair to other operators, and then announce that they would be giving RapidKL more buses two weeks later.
Yes, a kid playing SimCity might make better decisions than our govt sometimes. But this (being a conspiracy) just sounds too stupid a move, even for our government. Consider the facts:
1. A 23-year old youth being sodomized by a 61-year old man with back problems - oi, you can’t rape the willing.
2. The myriad photos of Saiful hobnobbing with BN leaders barely months before - surely no conspiracist would be this careless!
3. Correct me if I’m wrong but proving anal rape isn’t rocket science. There would be bruises/tearing, DNA samples.
4. It was a luxury condo, likely with strict guards who would surely remember someone as famous as Anwar going there.
5. Anwar was already absolved of a previous sodomy charge, which he publicly thanked Pak Lah for not intefering in. Surely there are other ways you can fake charges for.
I’m sure there are many other things you can think of. The point is, there are just too many holes. But the alternatives?
a). Anwar planned it.
Not impossible (unless you are a diehard Anwar fan). Having disappointed those who were waiting as deadline after deadline passed for the anticipated crossover of MPs, he is on a roll now - holing up in the Turkish Embassy, declaring he was in danger of being assassinated ( why would the government bring him into the limelight with a fake sodomy charge and THEN assassinate him when he is likely to be under the spotlight? ), holding mass rallies, and planning a nationwide tour.
b). Anwar did it
My aunt used to say “No smoke, no fire” :). Like I said though, DNA evidence should tell. Considering the fact he has not one, not two, three, four or five but six children though (and that Saiful is engaged), there’s your proof that bisexuality is indeed a middle ground :).
c). Someone who wants to see BOTH the govt (or at least the leadership) and Anwar go down is behind it.
Reasonable conclusion, but hard to get proof for…. and too many suspects.
d). The government is just that stupid
What do you think? I’m afraid I can’t tell you what I think - I might piss people off ! :)
Explosive claims linking Najib to Altantuya
In the statutory declaration, Balasubramaniam said he was told by Abdul Razak on Najib’s links with Altantuya. These include:
Abdul Razak had been introduced to Altantuya by Najib at a diamond exhibition in Singapore.
Najib informed Abdul Razak that he had sexual encounters with Altantuya and that she was partial to anal intercourse.
Najib wanted Abdul Razak to look after Altantuya as he did not want her to harass him since he was now the DPM.
Najib, Abdul Razak and Altantuya had all been together at a dinner in Paris.
Altantuya wanted money from Abdul Razak as she felt she was entitled to a US$500,000 commission on a submarine deal she assisted with in Paris.
Meanwhile, during the course of his investigation, Balasubramiam said Altantuya made some disclosures including:
She met Abdul Razak in Singapore with Najib.
She also met Abdul Razak and Najib at a dinner in Paris.
She was promised a sum of US$500,000 as commission for assisting in a submarine deal in Paris.
Abdul Razak had initially bought her a house in Mongolia but her brother had refinanced it and she needed money to redeem it.
Her mother was ill and she needed money to pay for her treatment.
Abdul Razak had married her in Korea as her mother is Korean whilst her father is a Mongolian/Chinese mix.
Since Balasubramaniam disallowed her from meeting Abdul Razak, she hoped that he could arrange for her to meet Najib instead.
Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.”This may be the best four minutes and twenty-eight seconds of your week.”, said the entry at Boing Boing. Well it’s only two days into it, but I’ve a pretty good feeling it will be.It’s basically a goofy dance done by Matt, “a 31-year-old deadbeat from Connecticut” - done in countries all over the world, most times with sporting locals. There’s really something magical about the whole thing.
A few months into his trip, a travel buddy gave Matt an idea. They were standing around taking pictures in Hanoi, and his friend said “Hey, why don’t you stand over there and do that dance. I’ll record it.” He was referring to a particular dance Matt does. It’s actually the only dance Matt does. He does it badly. Anyway, this turned out to be a very good idea.
A couple years later, someone found the video online and passed it to someone else, who passed it to someone else, and so on. Now Matt is quasi-famous as “That guy who dances on the internet. No, not that guy. The other one. No, not him either. I’ll send you the link. It’s funny.”
The response to the first video brought Matt to the attention of the nice people at Stride gum. They asked Matt if he’d be interested in taking another trip around the world to make a new video. Matt asked if they’d be paying for it. They said yes. Matt thought this sounded like another very good idea.
…
Things settled down again, and then in 2007 Matt went back to Stride with another idea. He realized his bad dancing wasn’t actually all that interesting, and that other people were much better at being bad at it. He showed them his inbox, which, as a result of his semi-famousness, was overflowing with emails from all over the planet. He told them he wanted to travel around the world one more time and invite the people who’d written him to come out and dance too.
After you watch this I’m betting your first thought will be “Damn ima quit my job now!”.
And if you wondering, no Malaysia isn’t one of the countries he visited :((. Singapore’s in there somewhere though.
