Political Signs 101

The nation of Israel:

a. is still the chosen people of God (God still has special plans for them).

b. has been replaced by the Church in the New Covenant.

c. is public enemy #1 of the Arabs and Palestinians.

d. is just another country on Earth.


This is not a trick question. Your answer will determine how you respond to the present crisis in Gaza and many other events in the Middle East throughout history.

Boycott yourself

There have been calls by certain quarters to boycott American and Israeli products in protest of their duplicity and complicity in perpetrating the crisis in Gaza. But I'm wondering how to boycott. Should we throw out our Dell and HP laptops? Rip out our Intel chips? Uninstall Microsoft Windows? Throw away Sunkist oranges? Stop using Pantene shampoo? Resist Pringles potato chips? Lose the iPod? Cut up our Citibank credit cards? Resign from FedEx? Just don't buy Nike? Sell off our Chevrolets? Not fly United? Not love McDonald's? Dump Motorola phones? Stop drinking Coke? Don't watch CNN? Avoid Hollywood movies? Flush away Starbucks? Withdraw from Facebook?

An iPhone is designed in America, made in China, most probably using Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese components.

In this globalized world, I wonder who is boycotting who.

To bee or not to bee

I just felt like putting up some pictures...

Money for nothing

And I thought corruption was bad in Malaysia...

One of the things about the now-global economic crisis that befuddles me is that the experts don't seem to know how the crisis happened or "didn't see it coming", and they don't know and can't say who is responsible for the mess. Thus far, I have not heard of anyone being prosecuted for causing this financial disaster.

How could it have "just happened"? Who authorized all those sub-prime loans? Who came up with those "creative" investment instruments? Who fudged the accounts and the numbers? What were the regulators doing for the past years? Why were banks allowed to lend money they didn't have, to people who couldn't repay, for property and investments that were not worth the money?

Is Wall Street operating as the world's biggest casino? If you think about it, the US dollar is nothing but paper and promises of IOU. Scary huh? Is there any free market that is free from human greed? I am stumped by the fact that money can just disappear like that... vanish into thin air. Poof! Which means that all the wealth is merely on paper. Wealth destruction can happen just as wealth creation can.

Proverbs 23:4-5 says, "Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint. Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle."

And 1 Timothy 6:9-11 says, "People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness."

A very high calling indeed.

Well, today I saw this piece of news that the former Nasdaq chairman Bernard Madoff has been arrested for an investment scam that could amount to losses of as much as $50 billion (that's $50,000,000,000!!!). That's a stupendous amount of money. At least he confessed.

There is hope. :)

Light FM?

I was gonna choose this song to sing in church last Sunday, but Uncle YKK beat me to it... oh well... God works in mysterious ways :)

This is one of my favourite songs.



Go Light Your World
Chris Rice

There is a candle in every soul
Some brightly burning, some dark and cold
There is a Spirit who brings a fire
Ignites a candle and makes His home

So carry your candle, run to the darkness
Seek out the helpless, confused and torn
Hold out your candle for all to see it
Take your candle, and go light your world
Take your candle, and go light your world

Frustrated brother, see how he's tried to
Light his own candle some other way
See now your sister, she's been robbed and lied to
Still holds a candle without a flame

So carry your candle, run to the darkness
Seek out the lonely, the tired and worn
Hold out your candle for all to see it
Take your candle, and go light your world
Take your candle, and go light your world

Cause we are a family whose hearts are blazing
So let's raise our candles and light up the sky
Praying to our Father, in the name of Jesus
Make us a beacon in darkest times

So carry your candle, run to the darkness
Seek out the helpless, deceived and poor
Hold out your candle for all to see it
Take your candle, and go light your world

Carry your candle, run to the darkness
Seek out the helpless, confused and torn
Hold out your candle for all to see it
Take your candle, and go light your world
Take your candle, and go light your world
Take your candle, and go light your world

Go Large

Yes! It's happening!

No, not at Selfridges, but at KLPac.

Presented in partnership with Focus on the Family Malaysia, and supported by KLPac, Empowerment, Domino's Pizza, POS AD Group and LiteFM.


Dates:
6-16 November 2008

Times:
Thu-Sat 8:30 pm / Sat-Sun 3:00 pm / Mon-Wed no show

Venue:
Pentas 2, The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KLPac), Sentul Park,
Jln Strachan (off Jln Ipoh), Kuala Lumpur

Tickets:
RM30 adults / RM20 students, senior citizens and disabled
Available from KLPac Box Office (03) 4047 9000
or Actors Studio @ BSC (03) 2094 0400

Websites:
http://www.klpac.com/Welcome.asp?c=whatsontheatreview&theatreID=262&theatrecatID=5
http://www.footstoolplayers.com/current.htm

Pictures adapted from photofunia.com

Undilah Obama

Obama for President :)

Photos from barackobama.com/photos

Click here to see Barack Obama's position on issues

Deep water faith in the shallow end

I drove down to Johor Bahru over the weekend for a good friend's wedding. To accompany me on my climate-unfriendly solo trip, I popped into the player the Casting Crowns CD "The Altar and the Door". The song "Somewhere in the Middle" seemed to grab me with one of its lines -- deep water faith in the shallow end. It kinda struck a chord within me. How can I say my faith is deep when I'm only playing in the shallow end? I gotta go deep man.

Anyway, I listened to this CD all the way to JB, and all the way back. Yea, I was too lazy to change CDs and it was raining all the way, so I had to pay extra attention to the road and not fiddle with CDs. Well, I really liked the songs, so I was fine listening to it 10 times. :)




Somewhere in the Middle

Somewhere between the hot and the cold
Somewhere between the new and the old
Somewhere between who I am and who I used to be
Somewhere in the middle, You'll find me

Somewhere between the wrong and the right
Somewhere between the darkness and the light
Somewhere between who I was and who You're making me
Somewhere in the middle, You'll find me

Just how close can I get, Lord, to my surrender without losing all control

Fearless warriors in a picket fence, reckless abandon wrapped in common sense
Deep water faith in the shallow end and we are caught in the middle
With eyes wide open to the differences, the God we want and the God who is
But will we trade our dreams for His or are we caught in the middle
Are we caught in the middle

Somewhere between my heart and my hands
Somewhere between my faith and my plans
Somewhere between the safety of the boat and the crashing waves

Somewhere between a whisper and a roar
Somewhere between the altar and the door
Somewhere between contented peace and always wanting more
Somewhere in the middle You'll find me

Just how close can I get, Lord, to my surrender without losing all control

Fearless warriors in a picket fence, reckless abandon wrapped in common sense
Deep water faith in the shallow end and we are caught in the middle
With eyes wide open to the differences, the God we want and the God who is
But will we trade our dreams for His or are we caught in the middle

Lord, I feel You in this place and I know You're by my side
Loving me even on these nights when I'm caught in the middle,
caught in the middle

FunnyMoney

In the wake of the recent crisis rocking the US financial system, the government has decided to redesign the dollar bill as a gentle reminder to all...

My dream exchange rate:

RM1.00 = USD4.00

Hard Talk

Which is harder to say?

I love you

or

I am sorry

?

Guilty until proven innocent

Sorry folks, another political post.

I just read with incredulity the news about the police explaining the recent ISA arrests of the eminent blogger RPK, MP Teresa Kok and Sin Chew journalist Tan Hoon Cheng. The way I read it, the police are saying that these three are guilty until evidence can be found to prove that they are innocent. What the??!!!

And I'm ever bemused by the excuse given that May 13 could happen again. I quote the Deputy IGP who warned that "racial and religious unrest can be triggered over small matters and escalate into situations that are damaging and irreversible." That's right. That's why they should be going after UMNO lackeys instead of Members of Parliament and journalists.

Remember the advertisements for Sensodyne toothpaste? The scene with the lightning bolts zapping the poor fella's sensitive teeth as he ate ice cream? The toothpaste was formulated to cure sensitive teeth. Yeah, Malaysians need a good dose of it. There's still too much sensitivity going around even after 51 years of independence. For goodness' sake, how are we going to live in this globalized world if we're so hypersensitive? Every little knock seems to bruise. And it's an excuse exploited by BN politicians to divide and rule the country.

Malaysia is on a downward spiral. It's time to wake up. Don't be mesmerized by the melodious tunes played on the deck of the Titanic as she started sinking. No amount of sweet music could save her.

My prayer now is for the downfall of BN, especially UMNO. It would be good for BN to sit on the Opposition bench for a while. Give Pakatan Rakyat and Anwar a chance. Who knows? Maybe the same katak BN politicians will hop over to Pakatan... uh, which would not be good either, but what have we got to lose?

Crazy Little Thing Called Love

The old song says that “love is a many-splendoured thing”, but reality tells us that “love” can be bittersweet.

Through the medium of live theatre, touring theatre company Footstool Players explores the themes of love, courtship, marriage and family relationships in their new production Crazy Little Thing Called Love.

The play is a collection of sketches, a mix of comedy and drama, but all thought-provoking in some way in highlighting issues pertaining to relationships. There’s innocence, idealism, joy, humour, reassurance, hope, regret, heartbreak, sorrow, and more – everything that comes with that “crazy little thing called love”!

You’ll laugh, you’ll weep. But most importantly, you’ll also think – and perhaps also discover.

The play runs for approximately 120 minutes, excluding a 15-minute intermission, and is suitable for ages 10 to 100!

******

Come and watch me perform! Haha. Yea, right. I'll be one of the men-in-black scurrying around to move stage props in the darkness between scenes. I got roped in as a special forces replacement agent as the company is short of stagehands (the stage manager will be going overseas for a few days). But I'll be "performing" only in the debut show on 6th September and the following night.

I've had the privilege of sitting in and watching the past two rehearsals, and I must say that the production is very good. They practice really hard. Imagine rehearsals from 5PM to midnight. So, go watch CLTCL. They'll be touring a number of churches in September and October, and performing at KLPac in early November.

P/s. Try to spot me in the poster above. :)

Merdeka

Negaraku, tanah tumpahnya darahku,
Rakyat hidup, bersatu dan maju,
Rahmat bahagia, Tuhan kurniakan,
Raja kita, selamat bertakhta.
Rahmat bahagia, Tuhan kurniakan,
Raja kita, selamat bertakhta.

Selamat Menyambut Hari Merdeka!

Recharge recharge recharge

This space is due for an update... but in the meantime, I'll just tell you what happened at the finale of the Malaysian International Fireworks Competition.

Well, I got there at 9:45PM. I thought I would be late, since the show on the opening night started at 9:30. Anyway, a kind soul with hot wheels offered to drive to Putrajaya while I navigated. We left Amcorp Mall at 9:10PM and thanks to the wonders of modern toll highways and Malaysian speed limits, we were at the foot of Putrajaya Convention Centre in half an hour. If you're wondering which way we went, it was the NPE and KL-Putrajaya Highway combo. One way toll = RM1.60 + RM2.50.

We got to the Putrajaya Convention Centre through the back route at the southern end of Putrajaya. People were still milling around, which was a good sign that the fireworks wasn't about to start just yet.

We had to park a distance away from the vantage point at the lakeside. As I walked there, I switched on the camera... and the battery meter started blinking. In other words, dead battery. It couldn't even display the menu on the LCD screen. OK, I have another battery. So I switched the batteries... and whaddaya know, the other battery was gone too. Arrrggghhhh! I had forgotten to recharge the battery after running it dry during the World Vision 30 Hour Famine event last weekend.

I went around asking the other photographers nearby if they had an extra battery to lend me. There were only three other photographers in the vicinity. One guy was using Canon, so, too bad. Another guy offered me his spare battery, but it was for a different model (I think a D70) so it couldn't fit my D80. Another girl didn't have an extra battery. I was stuck with a camera, tripod, remote control and two dead batteries.

So I just stood there and watched the fireworks, for the first time without having to tinker with a camera. Then I realized that my mobile phone could take video! And so I recorded the last 11 minutes of the pyrotechnics on video. It's very low resolution, but better than nothing.

The fireworks were really good. Me thinks it was better than last year's finale. The profusion of colours and lovely patterns filled the night sky. It was a dazzling display of artistic chemistry and creative explosions. The musical accompaniment was heart-moving, or perhaps that was because I was standing just a few feet from the booming, oversized speakers.

In the end, I had zero photos to show, but I went home with videos! 10.9MB worth of low res video.

Moral of the story: Always recharge your batteries immediately after they run flat. But even if your camera batteries are dead, life goes on.

The real moral of the story: There are other more important things in life. So, this Merdeka, let's pray for justice and righteousness to prevail in the land. Pray for God-fearing leaders who will do right. May our nation be recharged with life and passion. Right now, too many people are jaded by the political machiavellianisms, perversion of justice and suppression of truth. It's time to change (repent). God bless Malaysia. :)

Pictures of the MIFC 2008 opening night here.

Mimpi Obama

I had another weird dream two nights ago.

I dreamed that Barack Obama was visiting one kampung (village) somewhere in Malaysia, and I happened to be there too. So I shook his hand.

Later on, my mom showed up too, and I told her I shook hands with Obama but she didn't believe me. Just then, Obama, who was mingling at a house across the road, turned around and my mom was surprised to see him there (yup, just like I told her).

Suddenly, Obama's bodyguards started rushing around. There was a commotion, and people were running down the street. I heard some sirens, and saw Malaysian policemen on their white police bikes coming down the road. Obama and his bodyguards were walking briskly in single file along the side of the road, in my direction.

Amidst the commotion, it appeared that the police were there to arrest Obama. I'm not sure if there were 15 police bikes, but the scene was getting too weird, so I woke up.