Entries from September 2007 ↓

Imagine this scenario:

You get into a plane that has only 1 class - cattle… I mean economy.

You sit down and buckle your seat belt. When the plane is airborne, you try to lower your seat and finds that it lowers about half an inch. You are left sitting in a position just slightly over 90 degrees.

You realise this will be your sitting position for the next 13 hours.

You smell food and take out your wallet to pay for your dinner. Then you pay for your mid-flight snack. And your tidbits. And your breakfast.

You choke on the dry airplane air and reach for your bottled water. Ah! But it has been confiscated at the airport. You are no longer allowed to carry your water on board and you need a drink.

You pay premium price for a 500ml bottle of water. Repeat this once an hour over the next 13 hours.

You get cold in the plane and look around for your blanket only to realise that… yes! You have to pay for it!

You stare into space due to the lack of in-flight entertainment. There would probably be something… if you paid for it.

When you arrive at your destination - London - you are bored, stiff, hungry, thirsty and cold and you can’t wait to get out of the tin can that took you 8000 miles from Kuala Lumpur to London.
After paying for all the miscellaneous items, you may have been better off just paying for a ticket on a  commercial airline as opposed to a budget airline, even if the ticket fare will cost you only half the normal ticket price.

I’m sorry I’m cynical  but there is no way I’m getting on a budget airline for a long-haul flight. Not even from KL to Australia which is between 5-8 hours away. I think flying budget all the way to London is just taking it too far.

Flying to London on a commercial airline in economy is already bad enough. There is barely enough space for you to sit in much less move around. But at least there’s a blanket, in-flight entertainment, food and drink. I cannot imagine a flight with none of those things, or with those things being optional only. This is especially with the present restrictions on carry-on liquids.

London is a wonderful place to be and it is very expensive too. But saving on the airline fare just isn’t the way to do it. Getting on a budget airline is great for a close-by destination. 3 hours is the longest I’ve been in a budget airline and I did not think I’d want to do it again or for a longer period.

In my view, the best way to truly truly enjoy a holiday is to save up for it, take a comfortable flight there, have a great time, and then take a comfortable flight back. And crash from the jetlag. Then, work hard, save up and do it all over again.

Budget airline to London? I’ll pass, thank you very much.

Here’s a little about me. When I fall in love with a tv series, I fall hard. I love it to the death and sometimes even in their afterlife too. There are numerous series of which I am a die-hard fan. When I say die-hard, I mean die-hard.

I will read up about the show, immerse myself in their world (yes I know its all make believe but don’t spoil the magic yes?) and like all fans, know the characters so well, they are like friends or real people. I collect the whole series on video (then, that was all I had) and I watch it over and over and I can remember bits of dialogue. Damn! I’m such a geek!

But I’m always afraid of falling in love with any series because everytime I do, or everytime I get into a cult following of a tv series, they get cut. I used to be into series like Due South and Space: Above and Beyond. I can almost see the blank looks on your faces. Yes dear readers, these two series were excellent but were given an untimely death after one or two seasons due to “falling ratings”.

So, it is with much trepedition that I declare my love for Bones - a tv series by Fox.

Bones is a crime solving drama that has its light moments which is what makes it so endearing. The script writers are really good too in the way they have developed the characters and script. Witty repartee abounds and the chemistry between the various characters draws you into the show. Not to mention the technology and unusual ways of solving crimes too.

Essentially, the protoganist of the show is Dr. Temperence Brennen (Emily Deschanel) who is an anthropologist in the Jeffersonian Institute. Her speciality lies in being able to identify people based on the bones left behind after a crime or bones found at a scene, thereby earning her the nickname “Bones” which is the title of the show.

Her partner (and there is always a partner) is Seely Booth (David Boreanaz) an FBI Agent who works with Brennen in solving cases. There are another 4 people in the team who consist Angela Montenegro, Zach Addy, Dr. Jack Hodgkins and Dr. Camille Saroyan. In the first season there was a black guy who was replaced in the second season by Dr. Camille.

I felt the first season was a little slow and I did not really get into it until it was halfway through. What really first caught my eye about this show was how much Emily Deschanel resembled my fluffy pink sister! The resemblance seems to have worn off in the second season but in some angles its still there. It might be the shape of the face or the jawline but yep its there.

And the other reason I got into it was David Boreanaz. :P Yes, give me a clean cut strong silent clueless FBI Agent type and I’m all over him. Incidentally, I was not into Mulder (David Duchovny) of the X-Files. It was always Scully the sceptic for me. But I’ll make an exception for David Boreanaz.

As can be expected, there is the usual sexual tension between the two main characters - Booth and Brennen so it all makes for pretty good viewing, maybe because Brennen has a past and isn’t so experienced so her character can react quite funnily in some cases. Oh and she has no TV in her house. HOW DOES ONE LIVE WITHOUT TV?!

I hope the writers don’t get them together though. Its all the tension and chemistry between the characters that make it interesting and fun to watch. Once they get together, everything tends to take a downhill turn from there. Anyone remember Moonlighting and Remington Steele? When it was in the stages of “would they or won’t they get together” the series was at an all time high. Once the producers got the main characters together, ratings fell and the shows died.

So, I hope Bones does not go that way. Its too new and there is still so much promise in the series that I hope they continue it for a few more seasons.

Bones currently airs on NTV7 at 8.30pm on Wednesdays. Its presently halfway through the 2nd season and I think the 3rd season is starting in the USA at the end of this month. I can’t wait!

So, you know where to find me on Wednesday nights - at home, cuddled up, watching Bones. DO NOT DISTURB!

I understand the proponents who want to make September 16 as important a day as August 31. August 31 was the day our country (Malaya as it was then) was declared independent from the British. September 16 was the day Malaysia was formed when Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore joined Malaya.

If you want to be technical about it, Malaysia as a nation only came into being on 16 September 1963. So, Malaysia isn’t technically 50 years for another 6 years but the original states in Malaya are. That is, if you want to be technical.
I used to be bugged by this too.

However, I now rationalize it this way. Malaya attained its independence on 31 August 1957. When other states joined in later, they attained their independence, but the country they joined was already independent. Therefore, it would be awkward to celebrate independence twice.

Just look at the USA as an example. When the Declaration of Independence was signed on 4 July, the existing 13 states at the time that formed the USA attained their independence. However, the other states did not join the USA until much later, with Hawaii joining only in 1959 and I’m quite sure, not every one of them joined on July 4th.

So, all I’d say to this is that there is only one Independence day and that is the one day we should be thankful for.  After all, its only 2 states that joined on 16 September vs 12 that were already independent on 31 August. Majority wins right?

While reading the newspapers last week, I came across a full page advertisement for Sony and their laptops and various products. One of it was a music player that allows you to play your music from your computer anywhere in the home, without having to turn your computer on. I suppose it acts somewhat like a MP3 hi-fi.

They tried to show in the advert that you can use it in many rooms in the house including one called a “PIRATE ROOM”. You can’t see it very clearly in the picture - blame it on my camera phone. I don’t have a proper camera at this time.

But I’m wondering. What is a Pirate Room?

I mean, yes I know many MP3 downloads are in fact, pirated copies of the music because seriously, how many people pay to download their music? Don’t ask me how though, I have no idea how it works. My last foray into music downloaded ended at Napster which is either now defunct or a paid download site. And I also know that many people actually still buy pirated DVDs for movies.

I don’t think Sony is actually advocating this though by having a “Pirate Room” though. Any views on what a “Pirate Room” might be with regards to a Sony product?

I’ve been reading Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman’s Good Omens - it has to be one of my favouritest books ever by one of my favouritest writers.

What that brings me to is that I’ve learnt that “Nice” in old archaic English also means “Accurate”. So, it is with great pleasure and grace that I accept this award from Giddy Tigers and Pink Elle for having Nice (accurate) Matters.

“This award will be awarded to those that are just nice people , good blog friends and those that inspire good feelings and inspiration! Those that care about others that are there to lend support or those that are just a positive influence in our blogging world!”

Roses are red, violets are blue,
This award comes from me to you:

Most people I know have been tagged but if you haven’t, pick this one up simply because you are nice and I never forget people who have been nice to me

• Tine - because she’s just married so pink suits her
• Beetrice - because she carried back Terry’s chocolate orange from London just for me!
• Kittycat - because she was one of my earliest readers back in the days
• May - because she always leaves comments even when she is busy
• Pablopabla - because um…ok pink doesn’t suit you but you are nice