To hear the Cockney accent

Ah, to hear the cockney accent again certainly brought back memories. It has been almost 12 years since I came back from UK after spending "a while" trying to be better educated. Hearing those "cuppa tea"s and what nots certainly made me smile.

Yes, was again priviledged to go watch "My Fair Lady", this time on the opening night, with the troupe from London itself. To be honest, was initially hesitant to watch this musical. Have seen the movie before, and enjoyed it then, with some memorable songs which were sung in this musical, but wasn't sure whether I wanted to watch a live performance of it. But what the 'eck! :)

Overall, it was definitely better than Grease, especially in terms of singing quality, the overall choreography, the dance moves, and certainly, one or two casts definitely shown.

What I liked about the musical:
a. Free tix! Yippeeeee!!
b. 'Enry 'Iggins's character was very well acted. Very natural.
c. One supporting cast really shone in the dance moves.
d. Very energetic.
e. Good use of props.
f. Good Choreos.

What I didn't like:
a. Sound system for chorus line was not good. Blend was not there.
b. Sound system for orchestra was heavy on the treble. Bass sound was quite mute.
c. Quite a lot of "shouting" - maybe in the hope of generating energy.
d. Draggy at certain parts.
e. "A bit" long, didn't finish until about 11:20pm, but I guess some would argue that it was value for money. Hmmm.
f. No announcement of intermission. Quite abrupt end to 1st half.

I wonder how many Malaysians who have not been previously exposed to the cockney accent would be able to pick up what was being said or sung. Certainly an interesting contrast to what may be perceived as the "Queen's English" or even "Manglish". Somehow, it made me think back to the time when I first started working, and one day, I picked up my colleague's phone call:

Caller: "May I speak to T?"
Me: "I'm sorry, but he is currently indisposed".
Caller: "He's WHAT!?!" (to the point of shouting)

Can certainly laugh at it now, but at that time, the "He's WHAT!" certainly made me think and tried to "localise" a bit more. As they say, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do"... or something like that.

Ok, back to topic. It was good to hear the songs again, and I enjoyed the intermittent injection of humour into the musical. Just wished that certain parts moved at a faster pace. For now, anyone fancy going for "a cuppa"?! :P

True Story

This is a true story of a young college girl who passed away last month, at Shah Alam. Her name was Priya. She was hit by a lorry. I don't want to mention the name of the college.

She had a boyfriend named Shankar. He stayed in johor, and both of them were true lovers. They always talked on the phone. You can never see her without her handphone. She spent 3/4 of the day talking with Shankar. Priya's family knew about their relationship. Shankar was very close to Priya's family (just imagine their love) .

Before she passed away she always told her friends, "If I pass away please burn me with my handphone", and she also said the same thing to her parents. After her death, people can't carry her coffin. I was there. A lot of them tried to do so but still can't, everybody including me, had tried to carry the coffin, the result was still the same.

Eventually, they called their neighbour, a "bomoh" from Thailand (Pak Darin), who was a friend of her father. He took a seat and started speaking to himself slowly. After a few minutes, he said "this girl misses something here". Then her friends told Darin about her intention to burn her with her phone. He then opened the coffin and placed her phone and SIM card inside the casket. After that they tried to carry the coffin. It could be moved and they carried it into the van easily. All of us were shocked (can you feel the fear? I'm shaking at this moment).

Priya's parents didn't inform Shankar that Priya had passed away (pity Shankar). After 2 weeks, Shankar called Priya's mom.

Shankar: Aunty, I'm coming home today. Cook something nice for me. Don't tell Priya that I'm coming home today. I want to suprise her.
Mother: You come home first, I want to tell you something very important.

After he came to Shah Alam, they told him the truth about Priya. Shankar thought they were playing a fool. Laughing, he said:

Shankar: Don't try to fool me. Tell Priya to come out. I have a gift for her. Please stop this nonsense.

Then they showed him the original death certificate. They gave him proof to make him believe. (Shankar started to sweat) . He said... "It is not true. We spoke yesterday. She still calls me".

Shankar was shaking. Suddenly, Shankar's phone rang. "See? This is from Priya. See this..." he showed the phone to Priya's family. All of them told him to answer. He talked using loudspeaker mode. All of them heard his conversation loud and clear. No cross lines, no humming. It was the actual voice of Priya & there was no way others could use her simcard since it was nailed inside the coffin. They were so shocked and asked for Pak Darin's help again. Pak darin brought his master (Tok Chen) to solve this matter. He & Darin worked for 5 hours.

Then they discovered one thing.............













DiGi.
Best coverage ever, ONE LOW FLAT RATE~!!!!!!!
Anyone, any network, anytime, ANYWHERE!!!

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HAHAAAHAA! Got this from a friend's blog. Interesting.....hmm....

Apocalypto, and what nots

Had some friends over for dinner - Oppsss! Wrong movie (grins)! Nope, did not watch Hannibal Rising nor Silence of the Lamb this time round, but instead, saw Mel Gibson's "Apocalypto" movie, released earlier in 2006. Have been intending to watch this for quite some time already, but never gotten around to it until last night.

The movie was set in Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula before the Spanish contact, and it depicted one man's experience during the decline of the ancient Maya civilization. A few highlights about the show:

a. Violence involving human sacrifice. Strangely enough, during the afternoon prior to the movie, I was watching Discovery Channel, and they showed "Top 10 Sacred Places", and one of the places shown was of an ancient civilisation temple involving human sacrifice. Eerily enough, it was very similar to the movie, whereby, the heart was cut out and the head lopped off. Discovery Channel highlighted that during one of the king's rule (forgotten the name), at least 20,000 human sacrifices were made to appease their God for something or rather.

b. Violent, but captivating fight scenes, with blood spurting, spikes poking, etc.

c. A few "surround sound" screams permeated the air around us watching just before the snake struck. Now, this is only one snake, and I had the experience of previously watching "Snakes in a plane" with most from the same group, with them also screaming even more in the cinema. I guess snakes and them are not the best of friends.

d. "We are starting a new life" - or something to that extend as a notable quote.

e. Very nice waterwall and other sceneries.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie. Later, we progressed to watch "House of Wax" midway through on Astro, with about an hour left before ending. I actually blurted out "Wah! An hour left", not with the intention of chasing my guests away, but was surprised after one of the girls mentioned "almost finished". Seriously, "almost finished" does not equate to "an hour left" to me. :P

This reminded me of some "correctional society plans" being aired over the radio, whereby, "On the way" to quite a few Malaysians is the same as just getting ready to leave the house. Oh, Malaysians are so notable for being late, but strangely enough, my friends were early for last night's meet up, probably hungry and wanting to be fed! :)

Ok, back to "House of Wax", a typical slasher movie, which did not generate screams from the group, but some tense and jumpy moments. Did not freak me out, but I guess people get scared differently for different reasons. I know some friends can't take mutilation, slashing, cutting of limbs, massacre movies, but enjoy supernatural horrors to the max, whereas I, although fascinated, would typically chicken out of watching the supernatural ones (as I tend to think about it even after the movie). Now, how am I to build more courage without being subjected to watching and experiencing such? Hmm.....